Wrestling with Work #1

I have a unique kind of job. I can’t tell you exactly what it is, but it involves me sitting at a computer for long periods of time. In the beginning, getting used to the work I do took up a lot of my brain, and I had to really concentrate to make sure I was doing a good job. Now, 3 years later, I’ve achieved a level of aptitude with what I do where I find it hard to pay attention to what has become my typical Monday-to-Friday grind. This happens with any job I get after a while; having ADHD, it becomes near-impossible for me to not be constantly doing at least two things at one time, so at some point, I started watching wrestling while on the job (on mute) to help me keep attention.

This is now a weekday ritual for me: Gather up all the matches from the previous night’s wrestling shows, as well as some other streaming matches I’ve been saving up, and let them be my visual background noise while I plug away. This is how I end up watching the majority of my wrestling content in a week, so I figured, instead of letting it all wash over me, why not see what I retain from this activity while keeping my writing and analysis sharp?

This ongoing series of posts will be micro-reviews of the matches I watch in the run of a day. They won’t be all-encompassing or in very great detail, I’ll just leave a few thoughts, as well as links to the matches when applicable.

Kofi Kingston vs Ivar (WWE Monday Night Raw 9/19/23)

I saw a lot of people raving about this after it happened. It’s a good little TV match, that’s about it. Yes, Kofi is still quite good and spry at 42 and Ivar slots well into the strength vs speed template here, but it doesn’t have the build or time to be anything great. 2023 Raw is great for Good Little Matches, of which this is one.

Rating: ***

Drew McIntyre vs Jey Uso (WWE Monday Night Raw 9/19/23)

Eh, this was fine. This one made the main event thanks to the Judgment Day backdrop behind it, but otherwise, this felt like a “top of 2nd hour” match. I’ve fairly enjoyed the recent spate of Judgment Day 6-man tags, so this felt like a creative and interest-based step down, as Jey and Drew are only okay together.

Rating: **3/4

Bayley vs Charlotte Flair (WWE Clash of Champions 2019)

A very quick match, so not a lot to sink one’s teeth into, but I appreciate that you can feel in the performances of both Charlotte and Bayley that they want to end this quick, especially Bayley.

Rating: **1/4

Kelly Kelly vs Beth Phoenix (WWE Hell in a Cell 2010)

Beth leads Kelly to surely one of her best matches. Kelly’s offense was never good and she never was allowed to have much of a character, a real shame because she is really putting her whole effort into selling for Beth. For her part, Beth excels at being nasty to someone she can easily dominate and she has a great presence throughout this. Pleasantly surprised!

Rating: **3/4

No Holds Barred: Rey Mysterio vs Kane (WWE Cyber Sunday 2008)

Thankfully only 10 minutes long, washed Kane and pre-stem cells Rey commit slow, awkward violence against each other. Towards the end, Rey started selling his knee, which I thought was neat at first, but then I remembered Kane had been attacking his back all match, so I think that was just ol’ Rey’s actual knee pain in 2008.

Rating: *3/4

Brock Lesnar vs John Cena (WWE Smackdown 9/19/2003)

A really fun squash match for this first-ever encounter between two giants of the WWE’s modern landscape. Although Cena is the more experienced one by a couple of years, Brock looks so natural eating him alive here. Cena’s selling is a bit over-the-top, but works to put over the otherworldly strength and physicality of Brock. 2003 heel Lesnar also gets in some great mat grappling; I popped every time he did the bridging pin.

Rating: **1/2

Rey Mysterio vs JBL (WWE No Mercy 2005)

In contrast to the Kane clunker, JBL and a still-fairly-spritely Rey dust off an old classic with this one. Bradshaw is still in the thick of his new character direction and is so easy to hate with his bullying offense and smarmy, self-congratulatory actions. It’s no masterpiece, but it’s a greatly effective story and does exactly what it needs to.

Rating: ***

No Holds Barred: Kane vs Bray Wyatt (WWE Backlash 2016)

Remember the first NHB match above? Add nearly a decade and sub out one of the greatest high-flyers of all time for…not that (RIP Bray), and you get a lesser product. Wyatt’s explosivity is practically the only positive I have here, and his running senton through the table is cool.

Rating: *1/2

Mickie James vs Tasha Steelz (Impact Wrestling Sacrifice 2022)

I’m not terribly familiar with Tasha Steelz yet, but she acquitted herself well against the ageless Mickie James here. I never got super into this one but it was all fairly well done. The match starts very quick and I figured Mickie would eventually lose her long-sleeved, tasseled top to get into serious fight mode, but she never did and I thought that was weird.

Rating: **3/4