Every week the WWE Network keeps a steady flow of WWE Network additions hitting the service. This includes original content, but it also means archived content such as the ECW episodes that continue to come in. While original content is normally low, thanks to a pay-per-view and two episodes of the latest WWE Network hit series, the Edge and Christian Show, this week turned out to be better than most as of late.
Of course, there were some uploads aside from ECW and those listed below. These were all reviewed elsewhere on the site. In particular, we have reviews for Superstars, NXT, and the Fastlane event. Now, let’s focus on what we are covering today:
RAW Pre-Show
The latest episode of the RAW Pre-Show had a lot to cover. Of course we had RAW last week and tonight, which is the usual focus. Then we had the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view event the night prior, giving even more to talk about. But that isn’t even it, this was a stacked show.
Earlier in the day the WWE released footage of Brock Lesnar attacking and beating down Dean Ambrose, sending him to the hospital. While this was briefly covered on social media, this was the first formal coverage of that. Oh, and they even had two surprise guests: Edge and Christian. That’s right, the former World Champions showed up to plug the Edge and Christian Show. And while the usual panelists of Scott Stanford, David Otunga, Corey Graves, and Booker T are excellent, guests always make the shows just a little more interesting. Even if it is just to plug their show. Speaking of which…
Edge and Christian Show
This was the first episode of the Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness and was titled “Firsts!” To get this out of the way as quickly as possible, this show is a love it or leave it kind of show with little room in between. The comedy is extremely stupid. If you don’t like stupid comedy, you won’t like this. It isn’t a very intelligent show at all, though a lot of the comedy is still quite witty.
With that being said, I enjoy some stupid humor and I liked this a lot. In some ways, it reminds me of Rhett and Link’s “The Mythical Show”. The two hosts discuss a topic which leads to a vignette or segment of some kind that usually fits around a theme. Honestly, the first episode was a hit with me and I can say honestly that I am definitely behind this show.
Edge and Christian Show
After the first episode aired immediately following Fastlane, we were lucky enough to get the second episode one day later. Following RAW, the second episode of the Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness aired and…. I think I liked it even more. I liked both episodes a lot. I think the first might have had a few funnier gags, but I feel like the second was more consistent.
Regardless, I think Edge and Christian are onto something here. I’m not sure how many episodes will be part of this season, I’d guess 8-10 as that seems to be the norm for most WWE Network series, but I hope if that’s all we get they consider doing a second season. The show is quite funny and I can see people getting behind it, especially if they overlook some of the toilet humor and pay attention to some of the more fun obscure gags and references.
This Week In WWE
It has been established many times that This Week In WWE isn’t must-see. It isn’t required viewing in any stretch of the imagination. However, it is also established that it is great for those who don’t follow the main show, it is excellent for children, and in general it makes for some fun background noise.
This week features Scott Stanford on voiceover duty as usual. And the focus naturally was on RAW, Smackdown, and the build to Fastlane. While now most people have seen Fastlane, in case you haven’t, this would be a good way to get excited and caught up before the event.
Main Event
Main Event aired on February 2nd of this year and it happened to be the 175th episode of the series. While most of the episodes are still not available on the service, it is pretty cool to see shows like Superstars, Main Event, and NXT reach such high episode counts. It’d be quite nice to see their libraries filled up at some point.
Either way, this show featured a lot of talent thanks to a big eight man tag match to start the show. While none of the matches were stellar or even great, the action was good and Main Event continues to be a solid show giving a look at some underutilized guys, but unlike Superstars, you’ll also see a Paige or The Usos from time to time. Not bad.
Match List
The Prime Time Players (Titus O’Neil and Darren Young) and The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) vs. The Cosmic Wasteland (Stardust, Konnor, and Viktor) and Tyler Breeze
Fandango vs. Jack Swagger
Team B.A.D. (Naomi and Tamina) vs. Paige and Natalya
RAW
RAW from January 18th of this year hit the WWE Network! This was the last RAW before the 2016 Royal Rumble and it also happened to be the 1182nd episode of the show. This also wasn’t much of a show. While having Chris Jericho back is fun, and him hosting the Highlight Reel with Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman was nice, this show as a whole just wasn’t very good. I would probably skip this, which I don’t often say.
Match List
Special Referee Chris Jericho: Roman Reigns vs. Rusev (with the League of Nations, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio, and King Barrett)
Brie Bella (with Alicia Fox) vs. Natalya (with Paige)
The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, and Erick Rowan, with Braun Strowman) vs. Ryback and The Dudleys (Bubba Ray Dudley and D-Von Dudley)
Heath Slater (with the Social Outcasts, Adam Rose, Bo Dallas, and Curtis Axel) vs. Big Show
Tamina (with Naomi) vs. Becky Lynch
The League of Nations (Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio, with King Barrett) vs. Kalisto and Dean Ambrose
Big E (with New Day, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) vs. Jey Uso (with Jimmy Uso)
Mark Henry, Titus O’Neil, R-Truth and Neville vs. The Cosmic Wasteland (Stardust, Konnor, and Viktor) and Tyler Breeze
Smackdown
This was the last episode of Smackdown before the 2016 Royal Rumble event! It aired on January 21st, 2016 and was the 857th episode of the show, excluding the pilot which isn’t numbered. And honestly.. the show wasn’t that good. I love Smackdown. I consider it to be way better than RAW usually. But this was just an “eh” show. The opener was good and MizTV is fun, but that pretty much is it for this week.
Match List
Dolph Ziggler and the Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) vs. New Day (Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, and Big E)
Alicia Fox (with Brie Bella) vs. Becky Lynch
Ryback vs. Bray Wyatt (the Wyatt Family, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, and Braun Strowman)
Stardust vs. Titus O’Neil
Four vs. One Handicap: Roman Reigns vs. The League of Nations (Rusev, Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus, and King Barrett)
Closing Thoughts
The quality of this week lives and dies on your opinion of the Edge and Christian Show That Totally Reeks of Awesomeness. If you enjoy the show, you likely will really like this batch of content. If not, it is basically the usual and nothing may particularly standout. Personally? I liked the show quite a bit. And as a result, I am quite pleased with the last week. Plus this makes an hour of original content, which while this isn’t anything amazing, or even good, by recent standards it is a nice step. Two nights, two pieces of original content. I’ll take it.
Looking ahead, the rest of the week looks bare. The usual will come, including NXT and Superstars, however nothing else in terms of fresh original programming. When the schedule comes out we will hopefully get an idea of what is still to come, but chances are next week we’ll be lucky if we get both another episode of the Edge and Christian Show and an episode of Ride Along.
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