Here’s what matters today in wrestling 👇
Image Credit: WWE
This was one of those segments that highlights a lot of the issues people have with the current WWE presentation. Joe Hendry & Danhausen are both capable of being very entertaining. Hendry has a knack for writing catchy songs. Danhausen does some goofy stuff, it’s a little hit or miss but when it hits it’s really good. Putting them together has some potential, but it also cuts out a lot of their good points. Hendry’s songwriting skills weren’t exactly on display Monday night during the performance of “I Believe That You Are Cursed”. On paper it had potential, but repeating the same line over and over again rarely results in quality music.
The music was finally broken up by Zuffa Boxing’s Ryan Garcia and the Judgment Day, who beat up Hendry & Danhausen to help build Danhausen’s match with Dominik Mysterio at SummerSlam. I can’t say I knew a thing about Garcia when he made his appearance…I’m not a big fan of current boxing and adding Zuffa’s name to it doesn’t increase my interest. After I looked him up on Wikipedia and found out that he’s one of those hardcore right-wing guys that hates people that are different and has a violent temper, I see why TKO & WWE would be big on doing business with him. Their kind of people. Anyway, this led to Danhausen’s match with Dominik at SummerSlam being made a “Human Monies on a Pole Match”, which will probably make fans laugh. Dom has a main event coming up at TripleMania with El Grande Americano that is probably meant to be a big deal, but I only know that because I review the AAA weekly show. People tell me that Dom is supposed to be a big deal and one of WWE’s top future stars, but it’s been quite a while since he’s been presented that way on Raw.
I’m a lot kinder towards WWE than most critics are these days. There’s some good stuff on their programming. Sometimes they produce stuff that lives up to all the complaints that critics have, and Monday night was one of those times. Doesn’t exactly make one super excited about the SummerSlam event coming up this weekend.
WRESTLING HEADLINES 👊🏽
•Mike Santana Explains Inspiration For WWE Ring Name
Image Credit: WWE
The idea of wrestlers changing their name when appearing in a new promotion bothered me more when I thought of wrestling as a collective universe instead of as competing television shows. It’s not like I got upset when James Spader appeared on The Office as Robert California and insisted on calling him Alan Shore instead because that was what I knew him as on Boston Legal. Of course, wrestling is a bit more complicated than that. Some folks get to keep their names, some don’t. Sometimes it makes sense to change a name, sometimes it doesn’t. Some wrestlers welcome a name change, others don’t. It’s all very subjective, and if you think about it too much you’ll get a headache. Good luck to Cruz Montana, he seems like a decent guy and should add a lot to NXT.
Image Credit: TNA
I was part of that audience for a good portion of the show. The Righteous Deletion segment made no sense at all to me, but I know the Hardys have their audience and they probably loved that brand of nonsense. The rest of what I saw was mostly decent enough wrestling. I didn’t stick around for the main event since I’m old and Nic Nemeth vs. KC Navarro didn’t sound like must-see television. I will say that I was quite impressed with Mila Moore, she needs a bigger role on the show. Is she a good wrestler? I’d like to find out.
MORE MUST-READ LINKS FROM 411MANIA
→Where Do They Go Now? Examining Where Kairi Sane, New Day & More Will End Up
→Hall's WWE Raw Review 7.27.26
→411's WWE Greatest Moments Report: SummerSlam in The 90s
Thanks for reading,
– Steve Cook