Your Weekly Wrestling Viewing Guide: Feb. 19 - 27, 2017

There’s a ton of wrestling content nowadays and unless you’re a hardcore pro-graps fan, you have to decide what to watch when and what to consider leaving out. That’s where we come in to help.

Every week, we are going to run down the big in-ring happenings for the easily accessible US wrestling. (“In-ring” meaning no Talking Smack nor Total Divas). This won’t cover your indie needs, but ReverendKain always has you covered in his weekly Sermon on the Mat for that. Ring of Honor won’t be making the weekly recap, but you can always find them on their website. Lucha Underground is on midseason break until the summer.

Bear in mind, matches could be added after this posts that would definitely change how worth a show is to watch.

Monday

Monday Night Raw (USA Network)

I undersold Raw last week. While I said that the Raw Women’s title match was worth checking out, and it was, I underestimated the rest of the show. Instead of treading water without Goldberg, they put together the fantastic Festival of Friendship that ended with Kevin Owens betraying Chris Jericho. Plus they started building what looks to be a good Samoa Joe/Sami Zayn feud.

As of writing this, the only thing advertised for this week is Braun Strowman’s next stop on his Tour De Beef when he faces off against Big Show. That should be a fun hoss match. But the reasons to tune in are to see Kevin Owens post backstabbing promo and the follow up on the controversial finish to the Women’s title match. It’s a possibility bad things are coming Bayley’s way.

Last week started some stories that are worth following up on. This is a Raw worth checking out.

Verdict: Last week’s really good episode started stories that are worth watching the fallout from.

Tuesday

SmackDown Live (USA Network)

SmackDown continues to play around with the WWE title match at WrestleMania. With over a month to go, instead of settling into “Here’s our main event, let’s bide our time until Mania,” they are keeping us on our toes. Last week, after Bray Wyatt defended his title in a triple threat match, Randy Orton came down to the ring and told him he would not challenge his master Bray for the title.

Because of that, Daniel Bryan booked a battle royal on this episode of SmackDown to find out who will face Bray Wyatt at WrestleMania. While surely Orton will be in the title match at the Show of Shows, this could either turn it into a triple threat or give Bray a feud he needs to get through prior to WrestleMania.

Also, Naomi will have to defend her title against former champ Alexa Bliss. To make matters worse for the Queen of the Glow, her knee is banged up from her Elimination Chamber match.

And the Natalya/Nikki Bella feud may finally be put to bed in a falls count anywhere match.

Verdict: This episode has more WrestleMania implications and is worth tuning in for.

205 Live (WWE Network)

My take on 205 Live has not changed. Since you can get a taste of the cruisers on Raw every week, unless you’re a big fan of the division, you can skip this show.

Verdict: Skip this unless you’re a fan of the cruisers.

Wednesday

NXT (WWE Network)

Weekly NXT has felt a bit underwhelming as of late. Three weeks of programming after TakeOver and we’ve seen one person in the main event scene once and that was a solo promo by Bobby Roode two episodes ago. Nakamura is still rehabbing his kayfabe (probably) knee injury and Kassius Ohno has only just started getting the video package treatment.

None of those three men are advertised for this week. The main match of note is a triple threat between Liv Morgan, Peyton Royce, and Ember Moon for a chance at the Women’s championship on a later episode of NXT. This is the one match that seems to have storyline implications.

UK tournament wrestlers Pete Dunne and Mark Andrews are advertised for a match and they had one of the best UK tournament matches. However, while these matches are fun, they certainly don’t impact the world of NXT.

Verdict: The women’s match is the only one with future implications advertised. Nothing for the men’s main event scene has yet to be advertised. You can probably check out the women’s match on Demand as this does not feel like a must watch live episode.

Thursday

TNA Impact (Pop TV)

The big advertisement for TNA this week is Cody Rhodes’ return. While he turned heel across other promotions, he left TNA as a babyface. I worry that the story may be that he doesn’t like Moose getting too close with his wife, but that hasn’t been made clear yet.

They are also looking to finally pay off the angle between Maria Kanellis and Allie as part of the forced Braxton Sutter/Laurel Van Ness wedding. This has been a good angle, though has definitely dragged at times throughout it. If you’ve followed this story, it’s worth tuning in for the payoff.

Also, Josh Barnett showed up last week to challenge Lashley for the TNA title. The match isn’t until next week, but they will likely have some build this week.

Verdict: This episode doesn’t feel big, but if you’ve enjoyed the women’s story, the payoff will likely be worth tuning in for.

---

There’s a ton of other wrestling out there and we can’t cover it all on here. So if there’s something you’re particularly excited for this week, let your fellow wrestling fans know in the comments.

See ya next week!