Another week means more WWE Network additions are here! Like every week, we had several items added to the video on demand library, while we also had some original content. But was it enough?
It should be noted that there were a few more uploads aside from what you will see below. This includes the Subscriber’s Choice collection highlighting Survivor Series along with the Tribute To The Troops collection. But what else was added? And how was it? Let’s take a look:
RAW Pre-Show
The RAW Pre-Show was back again this week with Scott Stanford once again hosting. The guests were the usual Hall of Fame trio with Lita, Booker T, and Jerry Lawler. The RAW Pre-Show feels like a tougher sell than the Smackdown Pre-Show, even if in theory it is basically the same. However with RAW being an extra hour, watching the RAW Pre-Show makes for at least a three and a half hour experience, plus an overrun. I can completely understand people not wanting to put the time in.
Still, I like the show. I find the chemistry to be fun and I find the discussions they have to be entertaining, and sometimes character or angle enhancing. Plus the Charly Caruso segment and Cathy Kelley segment each week is fun enough. This week, the group gives a lot of their Survivor Series predictions as well, so that’s worth checking out if you have the extra time.
State of the WWE Universe
Okay, this was something, wasn’t it? We noted that they gave a brand new folder for this series, which implies future episodes may occur and if its as chaotic as this episode was, I’m looking forward to it. This show featured Renee Young interviewing Paul Heyman briefly to fill time before the main point of the show occurred, which was a bit of a debate between Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon versus Mick Foley and Stephanie McMahon.
And to call this chaotic would be an understatement. Some of it was chaotic in a bad way, with Mick Foley seemingly going off on tangents (although he’s always an entertaining talker) and Renee along with Stephanie trying to reel him in. Then we had Daniel Bryan and Mick arguing, which led to Bryan name dropping TNA and calling Cesaro by his real first name, Claudio. This was a bit of a trainwreck, but I feel like it has to be seen. Check it out.
Smackdown Pre-Show
The Smackdown Pre-Show once again was hosted by Scott Stanford. However this week he wasn’t joined by Booker T, as Booker instead was featured on Smackdown. They did show Booker T talking from backstage at Smackdown Live, though. So the usual foursome ended up just being Stanford, Lita, and Jerry Lawler.
The episode itself was fun, although relatively uneventful. There wasn’t some big interview. Instead it was more of what we saw from RAW. This includes some more Survivor Series predictions. Still, it was fun enough for what it is. With Smackdown being shorter, the Smackdown Pre-Show might be easier to get into than the RAW one.
WWE Talking Smack
Every week it seems like people think finally WWE Talking Smack will go too far and Bryan will be booted or the show will be cut off. And every week the show returns. This week’s edition was extremely loaded with several guests. The hosts were the usual combo of Daniel Bryan and Renee Young, and they continued to be entertaining.
The guests varied, with the first group being the six women involved in the Survivor Series match. This means Naomi, Nikki Bella, Carmella, Alexa Bliss, and Becky Lynch were all there, alongside their coach, Natalya. Later, Edge would be a guest after his appearance on Smackdown Live. Then we had The Miz show up mid way through the show, but I won’t spoil exactly what that was about. Watch Talking Smack, the show is great and continues to be great every week.
First Look
The latest First Look is for the upcoming DVD release Randy Orton: RKO Outta Nowhere. This is a near-30 minute look at that, featuring highlights of a few matches including an extremely early Ohio Valley Wrestling appearance with Mark Henry, a match he had with Christian, and a match he had with Dean Ambrose. Additionally, we had some interviews with Orton discussing his career along with young talent he enjoys. I definitely recommend this gets watched, as it was a lot of fun. Check it out.
This Week in WWE
This Week in WWE continues to not change very much. It accomplishes the goal it needs to, though. It catches the viewer up on the big stories from the last week, and sometimes will hype up an upcoming pay-per-view. This week’s edition did a lot of that. With Survivor Series this Sunday, they had all eyes towards the big show. This means the Goldberg and Brock Lesnar feud, along with the Team RAW vs. Team Smackdown matches. Skip this if you’re all caught up, but otherwise it may be worth watching.
NXT
For awhile now I’ve left NXT and Superstars off of this list. This was due to the fact that I generally reviewed the shows elsewhere on the site, so it felt pointless to do a shorter summary of the shows here. Now that I no longer cover those shows, it makes sense to briefly discuss them again. However for the official review of this episode, click here.
This episode of NXT was added to the WWE Network last week, November 9th 2016. It was the 362nd episode of the show’s history. The big hook for this episode was likely the contract signing between Samoa Joe and Shinsuke Nakamura, although the Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic continued as well. NXT Takeover: Toronto is just about here, and I’m personally very excited for it. Oh, and the Authors vs. DIY tag team match was really good. Check this out.
Match List
Authors of Pain (with Paul Ellering) vs. DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa)
SANITY (with Eric Young and Nikki Cross) vs. TM61 (Nick Miller and Shane Thorne)
Rachel Evers vs. Ember Moon
Superstars
Just like with NXT, since I no longer personally cover Superstars I will now briefly include it in this article. However for a regular review, be sure to click here. Anyway, Superstars was added to the WWE Network on Friday. This was the 396th episode of the show, which is pretty crazy that they’re approaching 400 episodes. Unfortunately, Superstars is generally worse than Main Event in terms of quality, but it can still be fun. This episode was alright, perfectly okay but nothing I’d recommend.
Match List
Neville vs. Titus O’Neil
Bo Dallas vs. Darren Young
Main Event
Main Event 213 has been added to the WWE Network! This episode aired on October 25th of this year. While the delay is still extremely frustrating, its hard to ignore that Main Event despite the delay is still a good show. Compare the match listing for Main Event to Superstars and its usually no content, Main Event looks more interesting. The delay and RAW ads makes it off-putting, but nonetheless I’d recommend giving it a watch.
Match List
American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable) vs. The Vaudevillains (Simon Gotch and Aiden English)
Curt Hawkins vs. Apollo Crews
RAW
RAW 1220 has been added to the WWE Network. This edition of RAW aired on October 20th of this year. And it features a lot of matches. With nine matches, its easy to see why people get burned out on RAW. Anyway, this show was leading towards Hell in a Cell but also featured Paul Heyman making a challenge to Bill Goldberg, along with a Hell in a Cell match being confirmed. I’d recommend skipping this if you’ve seen it already, though. Not worth a re-watch, in my eyes.
Match List
Kofi Kingston vs. Cesaro
Cami Fields vs. Bayley
Tony Nese and Drew Gulak vs. Sin Cara and Lince Dorado
Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel vs. Sami Zayn and Neville
Titus O’Neil vs. R-Truth
Braun Strowman vs. The Splash Bros
Roman Reigns and Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte and Rusev (with Lana)
TJ Perkins vs. Ariya Daivari
Chris Jericho vs. Seth Rollins
Smackdown
The final WWE Network addition this week is Smackdown 895. It aired on October 11th of this year. While not one of the best episodes of Smackdown, it was still a lot of fun. This helped the Ellsworth popularity grow further. Additionally, Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon made some challenges towards RAW. Check Smackdown out, its always worth a watch.
Match List
2 on 1 Handicap: Spirit Squad (Mikey and Kenny) vs. Dolph Ziggler
Carmella vs. Naomi
Jimmy Uso (with Jey Uso) vs. Chad Gable (with Jason Jordan)
AJ Styles vs. James Ellsworth
Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton and Kane
Closing Thoughts
A lot of WWE Network additions this past week, with more coming thanks to a stacked weekend up ahead. Most things are worth checking out, although most of it also isn’t must see. If you have the time, give some of the shows a shot. You’ll likely enjoy them. But as always, make sure you watch Talking Smack.
Stick to WWE Network News for more WWE Network news, reviews, and previews! Also be sure to follow me on Twitter at http://www.Twitter.com/AWWENetworkGuy and to join in on the discussion with your opinions, predictions, and desires about the WWE Network!