Opinion: Match & Show Ratings for March 22 to March 28

Welcome to TPWW’s Emperor Smeat’s Match and Show Ratings for the week of March 22nd to March 28th.

Match and show star ratings (out of 5):
WWE
WWE RAW (Mar. 23)
* Andrade & Angel Garza vs. Ricochet & Cedric Alexander – 3.0
* Street Profits vs. Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink – 2.0
* Aleister Black vs. Leon Ruff – 1.0 (Squash)
Overall – 2.0
Best – The production changes made to improve the empty arena show.
Worst – AJ Styles’ promo segment.
Show Notes – The small visual changes made was a big improvement compared to recent WWE TV shows. Andrade & Garza vs. Ricochet & Alexander was pretty good. Seth Rollins promo was pretty great. WWE still barely cares about improving WrestleMania’s build with these lengthy past matches being re-aired. Charlotte’s promo was dull as usual. Randy Orton’s promo was good. RAW itself was barely worth watching.

NXT (Mar. 25)
* Austin Theory vs. Tyler Breeze – 2.5
* Killian Dain vs. Tehuti Miles – 1.5 (Squash)
* Cameron Grimes vs. Tony Nese – 3.0
* #1 Contender’s for NXT Women’s Championship Ladder Match Qualifier – Aliyah vs. Io Shirai – 1.5 (Squash)
* Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink – 2.5
* #1 Contender’s for NXT Women’s Championship Ladder Match Qualifier – Candice LeRae vs. Kayden Carter – 2.0
* Matt Riddle vs. Roderick Strong – 3.0
Overall – 3.5
Best – Riddle vs. Strong match.
Worst – Dain vs. Miles match.
Show Notes – Opening match between Theory and Breeze was decent at best. Shirai’s return was great. LeRae vs. Carter was somewhat boring. Riddle vs. Strong and post-match attack angle were good. The Triple H, Ciampa, and Gargano segment was decent. Killer Kross tease at the end was great. This week’s episode was good overall and the best out of WWE’s empty arena shows so far.

NXT UK (Mar. 26)
* Imperium vs. Ashton Smith & Oliver Carter – 3.0
* Nina Samuels vs. Aoife Valkyrie – 2.0
* A-Kid vs. Noam Dar – 2.0
* NXT Cruiserweight Championship – Travis Banks vs. Jordan Devlin – 3.0
Overall – 3.0
Best – NXT Cruiserweight Championship match.
Worst – Samuels vs. Valkyrie match.
Show Notes – NXT Cruiserweight title match was pretty good. Rest of this week’s episode was decent overall.

WWE Friday Night SmackDown (Mar. 27)
* Drew Gulak vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – 2.5
* Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss – 1.5
* #1 Contender’s for SmackDown Tag Team Championship match – New Day vs. The Usos – 2.5
Overall – 1.5
Best – Bray Wyatt’s Firefly Fun House segment.
Worst – Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss match.
Show Notes – Opening women’s promo segment was bad. Gulak vs. Nakamura was decent. Asuka vs. Bliss was boring and dragged too much. WWE re-airing one of the least liked matches in WrestleMania history was a dumb decision. Bray’s Fun House segment was decent. Tag team match was decent but also a big waste of time. This week’s SmackDown was a pretty bad show overall.

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AEW
AEW Dark (Mar. 24)
* Joe Alonzo vs. Jake Hager – 1.0 (Squash)
* Matt Sells & Jon Cruz vs. QT Marshall & Dustin Rhodes – 2.5
* Shawn Spears & Robert Anthony vs. SCU – 3.0
* Suge D vs. Kip Sabian – 2.5
* Brandon Cutler vs. Colt Cabana – 2.0
* Corey Hollis & Mike Reed vs. Sonny Kiss & Joey Janela – 2.5
Overall – 2.5
Best – Spears & Anthony vs. SCU match.
Worst – Cutler vs. Cabana match.
Show Notes – Several of the matches on the show were entertaining. This week’s extra stuffed episode was decent overall.

AEW Dynamite (Mar. 25)
* Cody vs. Jimmy Havoc – 3.0
* Kip Sabian vs. Darby Allin – 3.0
* Jake Hager vs. Chico Adams – 1.5 (Squash)
* QT Marshall vs. Brodie Lee – 1.5 (Squash)
* AAA Mega Championship – Sammy Guevara vs. Kenny Omega (c) – 3.5
Overall – 3.5
Best – Chris Jericho and Matt Hardy’s promo segment.
Worst – Lack of people at ringside to help make the show more lively during matches.
Show Notes – Cody vs. Havoc match and Jake Roberts post-match promo were good. Brodie Lee vignettes were pretty great. Guevara vs. Omega was amazing. The Chris Jericho and Matt Hardy segment was entertaining. This week’s episode was good overall considering the circumstances and the second hour being a lot more enjoyable.

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Other
Viceland’s Dark Side of the Ring – Benoit Part One & Two (Mar. 24)
Overall – 4.5
Show Notes – A chilling tale on the downfall of Chris Benoit’s life and tragic ending of the Benoit family. One of the best ever wrestling documentaries and best episode in the history of Dark Side of the Ring series so far.

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Week awards:

• Best match of the week – AAA Mega Championship – Sammy Guevara vs. Kenny Omega (c) (AEW Dynamite)
• Worst match of the week – Joe Alonzo vs. Jake Hager (AEW Dark)
• Best show of the week – Dark Side of the Ring – Chris Benoit episode
• Worst show of the week – WWE Friday Night SmackDown