Oct. 23, 2013 - Graves Aims To Misbehave

This week in WWE, everyone is still going down the highway to Hell... in a Cell.  The Authority continued to desperately try to make it clear that, title or no, Randy Orton is still "The Face" of the WWE, while Shawn "HB-Shizzle" Michaels implied favoritism toward the man he helped train.  Daniel Bryan continued to "Yes!" it up and promised to win against Orton, issuing the warning that caused ten thousand smarks to cream their pants: "You're going to get your head kicked in."  But the Bryan/Orton rivalry was really taking a backseat to the Big Show's "nothing left to lose" rampage, as he knocked out Brad Maddox, revealed he was suing the pants off of Triple H, and crashed the contract signing in a big rig.  Meanwhile, WWE played up John Cena's return as if he were coming back from a year-plus absence (instead of merely three months) and Alberto Del Rio amped up his "foreign heel" schtick to the point where he all but invited the audience to look at his craaazy passport.

Oh, and Paul Heyman cut the craziest promo in the last ten years as he ranted about hot boiling lava and CM Punk, while The Ryback stared vacantly into the middle distance. Curtis Axel, meanwhile, tried not to corpse as he, like everyone watching, waited for Heyman to issue a "skronk" and talk about "Ho Kogan" and cockpit doors.

Down in NXT Land, it seems to be that the bad guys still get to win, as the theme of those-in-authority holding down the fan-favorites continues to trend with Sami Zayn, and Corey Graves starts to reinvent himself as the heel he was always meant to be as he kicks off his feud with Adrian Neville.

Oct. 16, 2013 - Sami Gets His Shot

This week in WWE, the Authority shifted from subtle villainy to outright villainy, as COO Triple H and Stephanie McMahon blasted anyone who derived any pleasure from seeing Captain Trips get knocked the F out.  We saw the Bellas show the depths of their acting range (read: not very much), and The Shield finally get handed a major defeat when the Brothers Rhodes pinned them to claim the WWE Tag Titles, with a timely assist from Big Show's deadly right hand.  Alberto Del Rio tried desperately to wriggle out of having to face the returning John Cena, to no avail, and Paul Heyman once again finds himself facing the prospect of being trapped in the ring with his personal nemesis CM Punk.

Meanwhile, down in NXT Land, rising star Sami Zayn finally got his shot at the gold as he challenged the despised Bo Dallas for the NXT Championship in yet another great match to add to Sami's WWE resumé.

Oct. 9, 2013 - Rob Van Dam Drops By

An interesting week thus far in WWE. Once again, fans are denied a definitive finish in the Daniel Bryan/Randy Orton feud.  (Meaning the title reign of Vacant continues for another few weeks.) Big Show finally snaps and decides he's done letting the Authority push him around. John Cena is returning from his triceps tear well in advance of expectations, making me wonder if he's got a decaying portrait in his attic somewhere.  Smackdown is very light on a lot of WWE's top stars, as they left for the Middle East tour early. 

On NXT, we got a look at how "tweeners" shouldn't wrestle each other, a much "hyped" debut, some women's action, and a visit from the human highlight reel, Rob Van Dam

About NXT & Oct. 2, 2013 - The Bo Dallas Invitational

I'm Jay 2K Winger, and I am a wrestling fan.  I've watched WWE pretty consistently since 2000, I follow what goes on in That Other Company (which shall always remain nameless on this blog), and I am a fan of independent wrestling, having followed and attended Ring of Honor for many years, and am a card-carrying member of the CHIKARMY fan-club of CHIKARA Pro.  

It can become a chore to slog through hours of wrestling programming to get the good stuff.  WWE produces eight hours of televised programming a week (plus three more on PPV weeks), plus countless online-only videos on their website or YouTube channel or other social media spots.  But we're going to address the best hour that WWE consistently puts out, week after week:  NXT.