Triple H was roasted by Shawn Michaels during the celebration of his 25th anniversary with WWE.
WWE programming settled into a comfortable pattern with this week’s editions of Raw and SmackDown, and both shows clearly benefited. After weeks of chaos, establishing a status quo was exactly what WWE needed.
It wasn’t an entirely uneventful week, as the quarterly WWE earnings call offered a few insights into the state of the company, including the decision to forgo an annual WWE 2K title in deference to a new game for 2020, WWE 2K Battlegrounds.
As far as the on-screen product, the biggest focus of the week was the 25th anniversary of Triple H’s WWE debut. The celebration carried over between both SmackDown and Raw, with each show taking a distinctly different approach to recognizing “The Game.”
Here’s everything you need to know about the week that was in WWE TV.
The roast of Triple H
It was easy to wonder how WWE was going to handle the festivities surrounding an evening designed to celebrate 25 years of Triple H in the current environment in which they’re running shows. With no fans in attendance, and little chance of bringing in more than a couple of guests and legends who impacted his career along the way, WWE needed to get creative.
The solution, which took up the last 20-plus minutes of SmackDown on Friday night, was to roast Triple H in every way they could think of. Within a minute of Triple H’s entrance, Shawn Michaels walked to the ring and never really relented as he played both from the cheap seats and as the roast master. Michaels bemoaned the fact that he never got a 25th anniversary show, and then went off on Triple H for the fact that no one bothered to show up, other than commentators Corey Graves and Michael Cole, who “had to be there.”
The highlight reels that played didn’t hit the high notes, and instead keyed in on outtakes from famous promos and Triple H’s multitude of losses at WrestleMania. When Michaels turned the conversation toward how Triple H became less fun after he married Stephanie McMahon, she FaceTimed Triple H and, in a surreal bit of breaking the fourth wall, talked about seeing what was going on on live TV as it happened, and signed off by calling Michaels a “no good, lazy-eyed …” before getting cut off.
Ric Flair called twice, and predictably, the second time he was emotional and crying. DX compatriot Road Dogg was the next to phone in, but he too got hung up on just before Vince McMahon walked out on stage for the roast’s main event.
Vince compared Triple H to the Gobbledy Gooker, brought up the infamous Katie Vick vignettes and even mentioned one of the most-panned promos ever in “Bayley, this is your life.” After a brief, soft note in which Vince said he loved his son-in-law, he lambasted Triple H by saying, “Your performance and you in general are godawful…. Absolutely rotten.” Then Vince exited the stage, instructed the crew to turn off the lights and then cricket sounds played as SmackDown played off the air in the dark.
While it shared some of the chaotic energy of the first crowdless edition of SmackDown, it felt downright bizarre at times. On Monday Night Raw, a more traditional countdown of Triple H’s 10 most meaningful moments played out, with highlights of the 14-time world champion’s career and his efforts with NXT recognized over the course of three hours.
New stars seizing the moment
One of the claims that Vince McMahon made during the WWE’s Q1 earnings call was that Raw’s TV ratings were hurting, in part, because of spotlight being placed on newer talent. That carries from first-time world champion Drew McIntyre all the way down to those who recently debuted and a variety of NXT performers getting the chance to perform on a bigger platform while interacting with more experienced talent.
McIntyre has embraced the opportunity to try to take the show and put it on his shoulders, and he’s adapted to the crowdless shows as well as anybody. Newer stars trying to get their feet underneath them in the most unusual of times have been thrown in the deep end. Austin Theory and Angel Garza were both seemingly injected into the equation due to necessity more than a drive to feature them prominently, and yet each has performed admirably and taken advantage of the opportunity by showing off their skills. The trio they’ve formed with Andrade, under the watchful eye of Zelina Vega, has become a driving force behind the narrative of Raw.
One of the most interesting moves of the last week was to bolster the Lucha House Party in a tag team division that desperately needs more options. Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado have long fought for an opportunity to flash their unique skillsets, and got to show off with a few of the most memorable spots in February’s Elimination Chamber tag team title match.
After WrestleMania season focused the attention on The Usos, The New Day and The Miz & John Morrison, Lucha House Party stepped up, put on a lengthy, entertaining bout with Miz and Morrison and earned a flash pinfall victory over the recently deposed champs. They bring something different to the tag division, and any attention paid to that often overlooked element of the show — especially on SmackDown — is particularly good.
There was also a major step forward from Liv Morgan, who utilized a stunning new finishing move — a middle rope flatliner she calls “Oblivion” — while putting on a pair of really good matches against the vastly underrated Ruby Riott over the last two weeks.
A shakeup for MITB
With the Money in the Bank pay-per-view looming on May 10, the titular matches have been drawing the most attention. With both the men’s and women’s briefcases set to be hung up on the roof of WWE Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut, in some kind of undefined battle from the ground floor all the way to the top, nobody knows quite what to expect. There hasn’t even been a clear delineation from the men’s and women’s matches, prompting questions about if it could be one gigantic 12-person free-for-all.
As of the conclusion of Raw, five of the six spots in the women’s match and four of the six spots in the men’s match have been claimed. Apollo Crews, who won his spot in a breakout performance of his own opposite MVP, who then pinned Andrade in a six-man match early on Monday night, lost his instant United States championship match when Andrade’s attacks on his legs caused the referee to stop the match. Crews was subsequently shown on crutches and ruled out of Money in the Bank, leaving one unclaimed spot and another that will belong to either Otis or Dolph Ziggler. They’ll join Daniel Bryan, Rey Mysterio, Aleister Black and King Corbin — a group that includes a lot of creative wrestling minds who could take advantage of the unusual circumstances of the match.
On the women’s side, Asuka, Shayna Baszler, Nia Jax, Dana Brooke and Lacey Evans have claimed spots, with Mandy Rose taking on Carmella for the final spot. Notably, none of the (NXT version of the) Four Horsewomen will feature in this match — which makes sense, as three hold titles and the fourth, Sasha Banks, is intricately woven into Bayley’s ongoing SmackDown women’s title reign. With a combination of predominantly serious characters, trying to anticipate how the women’s MITB match plays out is a little tougher.
And while the WWE could veer into the territory of shooting too many matches with the same type of cinematic approach they used for the Boneyard match and Firefly Funhouse match at WrestleMania, it’s still a fresh enough format to generate a lot of curiosity and interest.
Can either McIntyre or Rollins afford to lose at MITB?
When Drew McIntyre dispatched Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania, he didn’t have a clear first challenger lined up. Sure, The Big Show challenged him to a match 15 minutes after WrestleMania that wasn’t aired until the weekend was over — and briefly panicked everyone who considered whether or not WWE would put the title on someone to celebrate their new Netflix show — but beyond that, there wasn’t a logical first step.
Rollins, fresh off a decisive loss to Kevin Owens on the same show, wasn’t necessarily in a position of strength coming out of WrestleMania. Yet he inserted himself into the equation pretty quickly with a postmatch attack on McIntyre — the most surefire way to jump the line that professional wrestling has ever created.
Impressive as Rollins has been in the self-righteous jerk role, it’s easy to wonder if he’s the right fit for the moment. He’s a worthy challenger, no doubt, but can either afford to be the loser in their Money in the Bank WWE championship match? Rollins teased a few ominous things on Monday night that could either be a smokescreen or an implication of more backup than just Murphy, who ate a Claymore kick in sacrifice to Rollins to close out Raw.
Even if the forthcoming result is hard to plot out, there’s no denying McIntyre and Rollins have chemistry, and that goes a long way.
The contract for the #WWEChampionship Match at #MITB has been SIGNED.@DMcIntyreWWE delivered a crushing CLAYMORE to @WWERollins‘ disciple, @WWE_Murphy!#WWERaw pic.twitter.com/E0esLnn0Iu
— WWE (@WWE) April 28, 2020
Samoa Joe returns
After a lengthy hiatus, Samoa Joe returned to the Monday Night Raw commentary team, and it was a night and day transition. Not to be disrespectful of Jerry “The King” Lawler, but Joe’s approach to announcing melted seamlessly into what Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton were doing and helped add something to every match on the show. That likely boils down to Joe’s knowledge of the product, as he’s been a part of it from both the wrestling and commentary perspectives.
Stylistically, Lawler’s approach to commentary hasn’t changed much from where he was in the 1990s, outside of him turning the volume down by about 50%. He’s a Hall of Famer for a reason, and with the right partner or partners he can still have great nights. But simply put, he’s not the right fit on a week-to-week basis for where the WWE product is right now.
