Credit: WWE.com
This week, the WWE Universe heard some fantastic promos, but none of them made more of an impact than Becky Lynch’s two promos directed at Ronda Rousey.
At WWE Survivor Series 2018, Becky Lynch, “The Man”, will take on Ronda Rousey in a champion vs. champion match between the SmackDown Women’s Champion (aka the better title) and the Raw Women’s Champion. While Rousey has come off like the heel in her promos, chastising Becky for working “normal” jobs in order to achieve her dream of becoming a pro wrestler, Becky has thoroughly outclassed the first-year WWE Superstar.
SmackDown Live: Becky Lynch Says Ronda Is Not A Champion
Becky will appear on this list twice, because that’s just how dang good she is on the mic right now. Both of her promos this week, of course, targeted Rousey, and the in-ring promo on SmackDown Live was the best of the bunch.
She told Rousey, “Who the hell are you to tell the champ anything?” asserting that while Rousey may hold a championship, she hasn’t proven that she is a champion in WWE yet. Lynch explains that champions “will” themselves through adversity, whereas Rousey hasn’t been tested. That, however, will change at Survivor Series when Rousey takes on Becky.
Lynch skillfully planted a seed in this promo, too, stating that Rousey’s body is made of “titanium” but contrasting that with Rousey’s “weak mind”. That is an allusion to the way Rousey finished her MMA career, and it is a sign that Rousey’s impending triumph at Survivor Series will both establish her a true champion in WWE and be a means for her to show Becky that she isn’t weak-minded. That said, perhaps it isn’t fair to assume that Rousey has a 100-percent chance of winning, because wouldn’t she be fighting through more adversity if she overcomes an early, non-title loss to “The Man”?
In any case, this was another well-delivered promo from Becky that subtly told more about the story of this match, selling the audience on what’s to come. Lynch has done a much better job of getting fans invested in this feud than Rousey, but, well, that’s the whole point. She has the experience and her job is to get the fans interested. It’s up to Rousey to make progress and shine again in the match itself.
NXT UK: Zack Gibson Is The Face Of The Brand (Not Really)
Delusional heels are often the best characters in professional wrestling, and Zack Gibson is well on his way to becoming bigger than the NXT UK brand itself, which is basically what he rambles about bi-weekly. Gibson’s first promo in NXT UK was up to his usual standard of brilliance, as he even caused the fans to throw take their shoes off in protest.
Pete Dunne successfully retained the United Kingdom Championship against Danny Burch after an unsurprisingly grueling match, and the ambitious Gibson, who lost a title match to Dunne this summer on NXT Television, has his eyes set on Dunne next. But after Dunne submitted Burch, Gibson may have to tone down the talk and focus on his preparation.
But who am I kidding? If there’s a microphone available, Gibson will rant, and he continued to cause a scene. Gibson sees himself as the greatest part of the NXT UK brand, and, finally, Trent Seven had enough of his self-aggrandizing statements.
Seven interrupted Gibson, roasting “Liverpool’s No. 1” for sitting at home and watching the UK Tournament from his mother’s laptop. As expected, Gibson didn’t acquiesce to Seven’s challenge for a match, but it’s clear that Gibson will have to get through Seven before he can truly set his sights on Dunne.
NXT: Johnny Gargano Still Thinks He’s The Hero Of His Story
It’s unclear if Johnny Gargano is covering for Candice LeRae, but we’ll assume that he truly did attack Aleister Black out of his own volition, in the belief that he “deserves” to be the one to defeat Tommaso Ciampa for the NXT Championship. Ciampa must be disappointed that “Johnny Failure” isn’t actually on his side, though he can probably take some solace with the fact that he has corrupted Gargano.
In a promo that was even more delusional than Gibson’s, Gargano waxed poetic about how he is still the hero of the story, scoffing at Black’s belief that “no man is every truly good, no man is ever truly evil.”
Gargano’s inability to see the world in anything other than black-and-white is troubling, and it doesn’t bode well for his showdown against Black at NXT TakeOver: War Games 2. Whereas Black is focused and driven to send Gargano packing from NXT, Gargano seems more laid-back, and it is truly surreal to see how his character is teetering on the edge of being a douchebag.
That said, the direction Gargano’s character is taking is incredible, and fans have to appreciate the complex story NXT is telling here. Gargano is still at odds with Ciampa, yet he’s also become more like Ciampa than he could ever realized. Despite his actions, Gargano is no longer the same person, no matter how much he tries to reason with the audience that he’s still the “same old Johnny” as he downplays the ramifications of assaulting Black in the darkness.
In his own words, Gargano has quite literally embraced the darkness, and it may take a catastrophe to bring him back into the light, provided he doesn’t run too far astray.
Raw: Give Me All Of Chad Gable’s Silliness, Please
I like to include at least one light-hearted promos in these weekly features, unless if there are five more serious promos that are too good to omit. This week, Chad Gable’s shenanigans with Bobby Roode backstage deserve a shoutout, and the creator of “Sami Wow-Wow” was at it again with his nonsense. This time, Gable produced a “prototype” for his very own Roode-inspired (is it technically inspired by Ric Flair, though?) robe.
Roode almost has to babysit Gable because the former American Alpha star is so wacky. I mean, the dude literally stole a bath robe from a hotel (at least, that’s what I’m assuming here), bedazzled it and “painted” some blue on it. As Roode exclaimed, “Prototype?!” (Wait until he sees the real thing that his own tailor whipped up for Gable…)
Anyway, Roode and Gable are the most precious tag team on Raw right now, well besides Sasha Banks and Bayley (duh), and I really don’t want to see the Authors of Pain kick their asses again. But I also kind of do want to see it, if that makes any sense.
Give me these silly segments every week. It’s better than what Roode usually does on Raw, and it’s a great usage of Gable’s talents. For as entertaining as Gable is in the ring due to his strength and technical skill, he’s equally entertaining outside of it. You still can’t convince me that he’s not actually Kurt Angle’s son.
SmackDown Live: Becky Lynch’s Backstage Promo On Rousey
You know it’s a blessed week when Becky Lynch makes it on the top five promos list twice, but that might honestly become a regular occurrence going forward, given how bexcellent she’s been lately. I mean, even Seth Rollins can’t touch her game right now, and he’s seen as the year’s MVP by many fans.
Becky’s in-ring promo on Ronda Rousey was something to behold, but this backstage promo was even more direct. Rousey took an ill-advised and fairly uneducated shot at Becky for taking on odd jobs in order to be a pro wrestler. Lynch absolutely destroyed that idiotic argument with her typical, passionate delivery, clarifying that an alarm clock didn’t waker her up every morning…it was a running dog that smacked her head onto the floor of a wrestling gym.
In order to pursue her dreams, Becky had to leave her house at age 15 to go to England and train to be a pro wrestler. She didn’t have help from her mother or society; she had to work to save money to eventually become a “killer” and “The Man”.
She left Rousey with this parting shot, “Your name got you to the main event of Evolution, but my skill got me the ‘Match of the Year’ at Evolution”.
Absolutely brilliant. Go watch this if you have a chance.