Weekly Wrestling Viewing Guide: Oct 15 - 21, 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. This won’t cover your indie needs, but ReverendKain always has you covered in his weekly Sermon on the Mat for that.

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)

This episode serves as the go home show for the TLC pay-per-view (PPV) in a week. Tomorrow already has advertised a main event steel cage match between Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns. This is to build to the big TLC match between the reunited Shield and the Miz, the Bar, and Braun Strowman.

If this week is like last week, this episode should be very Shield heavy. From what I’ve seen, fans are in two camps for the Shield reunion. There are fans who are absolutely stoked just to see them back together and fans who want to enjoy it more than they are. Unfortunately, I find myself in the second camp. I still enjoyed seeing the Shield put Braun through a table with the Triple Powerbomb (I’m not calling it the Shield Bomb). I just wasn’t as excited as I wanted to me given the complete lack of story.

Either way, if it’s Shield heavy, it’s worth keeping an eye on. Unfortunately, the TLC PPV seems a bit underwhelming otherwise, which could impact this Raw.

Verdict: It really depends on how stoked you are to see the Shield. Because there’s really nothing else going on.

Tuesday

SmackDown Live (USA Network)

There’s more than a month until SmackDown has another pay-per-view, and that’s the duel branded Survivor Series. So last week, they weren’t in a hurry to move much along. They did crown new #1 contenders fro the tag team titles (Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable) and if I were to guess, that’s going to happen on a SmackDown prior to the PPV.

The Sami Zayn/Kevin Owen alliance is very intriguing and something to watch for. But there’s really nothing else going on otherwise.

The only thing announced for this episode thus far is a rematch between Bobby Roode and Dolph Ziggler. Last week, they had a brutal talking segment that was the follow up to a pretty brutal PPV match.

Verdict: There’s a bunch of unknown for what’s next story wise for SmackDown. In that sense, there’s plenty they can do. On the other side of that coin; however, if they continue to stretch things out, it could be a lackluster show.

205 Live (WWE Network)

205 Live is fully the Zo show and he’s got a future date with Kalisto at TLC to try to reclaim his title. But if you’re tuning in for Neville, there’s a word that he’s requested his release from WWE.

Verdict: If you like the cruisers or certified g’s, check it out.

Wednesday

NXT (WWE Network)

There are some fun things advertised this week’s NXT.

SAnitY will face the Undisputed Era. This is the first time that the Undisputed Era (man that name is still lame) will be fighting as a trios unit.

They will also fill the third spot in the Women’s title fatal 4-way when Ember Moon, Ruby Riot, and Sonja Deville participate in a triple threat to fill that opening. The winner will join Kairi Sane and Peyton Royce, who have already qualified. My money is on Ember to win on Wednesday.

There will also be an interview with Drew McIntyre.

Verdict: This looks like a pretty good episode.

Lucha Underground (El Rey Network)

It’s the Ultima Lucha Tres finale where Prince Puma will challenge Johnny Mundo for the title. If Puma loses, he leaves Lucha Underground.

We don’t know what the future holds for LU after this. This could very well serve as a series finale and not just a season finale. Maybe not. Maybe season 4 will happen. But even if it does, it’ll be a while until we see it again.

Verdict: If you’re following Lucha Underground, watch the finale.

Thursday

Impact Wrestling (Pop TV)

With about three weeks until Bound for Glory, they are starting to build the matches for the card.

This week, one of the matches that likely will be added to the PPV will actually happen as Rosemary will face Taya Valkyrie. This is a match I really want to see, but I’d be surprised if this has a clean ending or if the match even happens at all. This is likely just to build to an actual bout at Bound for Glory.

Verdict: Last week, Impact was almost an hour of filler and it really hindered the show. I can’t recommend this show unless they can prove that’s not going to be a consistent.

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If I could only watch one thing this week, it’d be:

Lucha Underground

It looks like a slow week overall. Once again, it’s between NXT and Lucha Underground, and the LU finale gets the nod. It’ll be the last time we get to see Lucha Underground for awhile, and that’s a best case scenario.

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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!