Wrestling Thursday: YES! YES! YES!

Lots of things happened in wrestling this week, but none of them comes close in its impact to the one thing that couldn't have been scripted: The medical clearance and unretiring of Daniel Bryan. But we also had a deletion of the ultimate variety and a whole bunch of other things, so let's do this in order. This is Wrestling Thursday.

Raw

Oh, hey, so Brock Lesnar does work here!

Three weeks before he defends his title against Roman Reigns, Brock Lesnar has actually shown up to work, in three consecutive attacks on Reigns, the first two while Reigns was in handcuffs, and a third, rather perfunctory attack, when Reigns was being stretchered out. For me, the attack had no impact (because I deeply dislike Lesnar and want him to lose and leave), but it's a part of the ongoing "make sure the crowd actually cheers Roman when he wins" project, so it's fine.

Alexa vs. Asuka

I continue to be disappointed and distressed by WWE's decision to make the Nia/Alexa feud about Nia's weight. The match itself was great, and Bliss looked strong throughout much of it. Not "beat Nia Jax at Mania" strong, but strong.

Cesaro vs. Strowman

Let's take a moment to marvel at how great Cesaro is. There is nothing he can't do in that ring. I fervently hope that after The Bar loses at Mania and Sheamus retires due to the injury he's been carrying for months. the Swiss Superman finally gets the singles push he deserves.

The Revival vs. Titus Worldwide

There was never any doubt Revival takes this.

Sasha and Bayley have a talk

This gets its own segment because it was the best either of these two have been on the mic since Sasha turned face (I only check the youtube feed after I write, so I didn't even know it got its own video) Sasha can just smell the heel turn, and is so much more comfortable. And Bayley was good! On the mic!

Sasha/Bayley vs. Absolution

Happened. Not the best effort by anyone involved.

Cena Calls Taker A Coward

Cena is doing an amazing job making a Mania feud happen single handedly. I mean, yeah, I guess Kane also showed up. Doesn't he have an election to try and win?

Miztourage vs. Balor Club

This is the strongest Axel and Bo have been allowed to be since long before the Miztourage. The former IC and tag champ and the former NXT champ deserve another real shot. Balor, Rollins and Miz had a thing at the end there, as they do.

The Ultimate Deletion

Was it as weird as The Final Deletion? Nope. Did it have as great a build up? Double nope. But still, compare this with Wyatt's terrible awful, no good House of Horrors match against Orton and it was a million times better. It was weird, it was funny, it was scary, and at the end, Wyatt wins by losing, because he may finally be able to refresh his gimmick after disappearing from The Lake of Reincarnation. Also, the "whole world in his hand" bit was hilarious.

Ronda Meets Dana

This happened after the broadcast. Dana reprises her role from NXT when she was too oblivious to realize messing with Asuka is a terrible idea.

Smackdown

Yes! Yes! Yes!

I had a busy day on Tuesday, and came to SD fresh, so the video package that started SD was my first indication that This Is Happening. Daniel Bryan, WWE's best face of the past 5 years, is BACK. His speech at the top of the show was perfect. And I'm gonna admit I got a bit misty eyed. While I didn't follow Bryan in the indies, I've been a fan since he first showed up at the old NXT "reality" show. That first NXT season was also the start of the Miz/Bryan feud that never died, and that I predict will culminate on Summerslam, if not next year's Mania. So, yeah. Huge start to the night.

Shinsuke vs. Rusev

I think you won't be surprised to learn that while the match was fine, I continue to be irked by WWE's refusal to turn Rusev face already.

Dillinger vs. Corbin

Botched finish, boring result. WWE seems to have successfully made the formerly red hot Dillinger into an afterthought.

Charlotte vs. Natalya

I'm gonna guess someone watched Charlotte's Photo Shoot on the network from last month and remembered how well these two work together. This match was no exception. Nattie winning was an interesting surprise.

Jimmy Uso vs. (Luke) Harper

It was short, but it was fun. As the Bludgeons booking has been terrible until lately, I still don't care about the buildup to the probably triple threat tag title match at Mania, while continuing to really look forward to the match itself.

Jinder and Roode and Orton chatted

Good job, guys! I almost kinda care!

Becky and Naomi vs. Riott Squad

Could have been something, if given more time.

Bryan and Sami and Kevin

Apart from the "firing," this promo worked so great because so much of it was true. And in the ensuing violence, Bryan looked great, and took exactly the kind of bumps he used to. So much for working more safely to preserve his health, I guess. I mean, this was brilliant, but I worry about Daniel Bryan's health. A lot.

Bonus: Bryan Writes His Speech

This was moving because it felt real. Just like the speech itself.

Mixed Match Challenge

I continue to be annoyed by the writers' decision to tie Asuka's winning streak to this. If they had made it clear that if Miz loses, that doesn't reflect on her, this would have been so much more compelling. As it is, we all know Asuka's got a "Title vs. Streak" match at Mania. The only way the streak dies before Mania is if Charlotte advances to the finals of the MMC and wins, probably with Roode pinning Miz to make the Mania match that much more of a grudge match. It would be interesting, but was it worth sacrificing half the bracket of the MMC?

Sasha and Finn annihilate the fan voting with 40 percent, and will face off against Roode and Charlotte next week. That should be SUPER fun.

205 Live

Itami vs. Lince Dorado

As talented as both guys are, this was a bit of a mess.

TJP vs. Kenneth Johnson

Meh.

Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak

Well, this was great. I went into this thing certain Drew was winning. As the match's end approached, I started thinking "maybe Ali has a chance?" and quietly congratulating these guys for making me believe this unlikely result was possible. And then... it happened. I continue to love the fact that WWE is pushing a man called "Mustafa Ali" as the purest babyface. Would absolutely never have happened if he wasn't an ex-cop. Nevah.

NXT

Tommaso vs. the audience JOHNNY!

Welp, it certainly didn't take very long for the "no longer working here" Johnny Gargano to make an appearance and try and get a measure of revenge against his former partner and best heel around right now Tommaso Ciampa. This match, when it happens, will have it ALL. Two amazing workers, who were super popular tag champs together, one a perfect babyface and the other a perfect heel. The booking is straight forward and super effective. Can't we just give HHH the book on Raw? He's doing such a great job in NXT and 205.

Ricochet

Call him Ricochet or Prince Puma, this dude is amazing.

Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch vs. Roddy Strong and... Pete Dunne!

Having Strong say he should get another chance at a title was kinda hilarious. He lost the Roode Feud, lost to Lars in the 1st round of the #1 contender tournament, and lost in the semi final of the 205 title tournament just last week. Adam Cole is right. Dude gets way too many shots. Maybe this time? His history with Undisputed makes it possible, though not likely because Authors of Pain (with whom he tagged - and lost - at Wargames) are probably winning the tournament, losing to Undisputed at Takeover, and showing up on the following Raw to challenge Strowman and his partner.

Ember Moon vs. Aliyah

The match wasn't much, though I'm impressed that Aliyah is still hanging on to her job while far better talents (cough Abbey Laith cough) have been released. This was all about Shayna being an asshole on commentary.

Cien calls out Black

Dude, y'all already have a match at Takeover.

Adam Cole vs. Kassius Ohno

The former Chris Hero continues to be the guy who puts younger talent over. There are rumors that he's going to transition to being a trainer for NXT, which would be great, I guess. But he's so good, I wish he'd been given a real chance. The match was great, and the strongest Cole has looked since arriving. Some of the stuff he did should not be physically possible for a man of his size to do to a man of Ohno's size.

What did you think of Bryan's return and the Ultimate Deletion?

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