Opinion: Match & Show Ratings for March 8 to March 14

Welcome to TPWW’s Emperor Smeat’s Match and Show Ratings for the week of March 8th to March 14th.

Match and show star ratings (out of 5):
WWE
WWE Elimination Chamber (Mar. 8)
* Pre-Show: The Viking Raiders vs. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins – 2.0
* Drew Gulak vs. Daniel Bryan – 3.5
* United States Championship – Humberto Carrillo vs. Andrade (c) – 3.5
* SmackDown Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber – Robert Roode & Dolph Ziggler vs. Lucha House Party vs. Heavy Machinery vs. New Day vs. The Usos vs. Miz & Morrison (c) – 3.0
* No Disqualification match – AJ Styles vs. Aleister Black – 1.5
* RAW Tag Team Championship – Murphy & Seth Rollins vs. Street Profits (c) – 2.0
* Intercontinental Championship 3-on-1 Handicap match – Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, & Cesaro vs. Braun Strowman (c) – 2.5
* #1 Contender for RAW Women’s Championship Elimination Chamber match – Asuka vs. Sarah Logan vs. Liv Morgan vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Ruby Riott vs. Natalya – 1.5
Overall – 2.5
Best – Gulak vs. Bryan match. Worst – Women’s Elimination Chamber match.
Show Notes – Gulak vs. Bryan and US title match were pretty great overall. Tag title Elimination Chamber match was good despite some questionable booking decisions. Styles vs. Black was boring and way too drawn out for the Undertaker spot at the end. IC title match was enjoyable. Asuka’s antics were the only good thing about the Women’s Chamber match. Elimination Chamber was decent overall despite the latter half dragging the quality down a lot.

WWE RAW (Mar. 9)
* Rey Mysterio vs. Angel Garza – 3.5
* Bobby Lashley vs. Zack Ryder – 1.5 (Squash)
* Erick Rowan vs. Drew McIntyre – 1.5 (Squash)
* The Kabuki Warriors vs. Natalya & Liv Morgan – 2.5
* 24/7 Championship – Cedric Alexander vs. Riddick Moss (c) – 1.0 (Squash)
* Seth Rollins vs. Aleister Black – 3.0
* Seth Rollins, Murphy, & AOP vs. Street Profits & Viking Raiders – 3.0
Overall – 2.0
Best – MVP, Edge, and Orton’s segment. Worst – 24/7 Championship match.
Show Notes – Opening promo segment was decent. Charlotte’s promo was boring as usual. All that time spent on Rowan and his cage storyline was a huge waste in the end. AJ Styles promo on Undertaker was poor. MVP, Edge, and Randy Orton segment was great. Rollins vs. Black was pretty good. 8-man tag team match was good but was also very meaningless. RAW itself was mostly a forgettable show.

NXT (Mar. 11)
* NXT North American Championship – Cameron Grimes vs. Keith Lee (c) – 3.0
* #1 Contender’s for NXT Women’s Championship Ladder Match Qualifier – Mia Yim vs. Dakota Kai – 3.0
* KUSHIDA vs. Raul Mendoza – 2.5
* #1 Contender’s for NXT Women’s Championship Ladder Match Qualifier – Tegan Nox vs. Deonna Purrazzo – 2.0
* NXT Tag Team Championship – Undisputed Era vs. The Broserweights (c) – 3.5
Overall – 3.5
Best – Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa arena brawl. Worst – NXT pulling a page from TNA with the parking lot kidnapping segment.
Show Notes – North American title match was very good. Yim vs. Kai was good although bit surprised Kai lost. Rhea Ripley and Charlotte segment was the best one in their feud so far. Mendoza parking lot kidnapping felt very TNA-esque. NXT tag title match was very good. Ciampa and Gargano brawl in the Performance Center was great. This week’s episode was very enjoyable and the Performance Center setting looked good on TV.

NXT UK (Mar. 12)
* DeReiss Gordon & Dan Moloney vs. Pretty Deadly – 2.5
* Ligero vs. Noam Dar – 2.5
* Amale vs. Dani Luna – 1.5
* Alexander Wolfe vs. Finn Balor – 2.0
Overall – 2.0
Best – Ligero vs. Dar match. Worst – Amale vs. Luna match.
Show Notes – This week’s in-ring action was decent at best but the show itself felt dull and very skippable overall.

WWE Friday Night SmackDown (Mar. 13)
* Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss – 2.5
* Daniel Bryan vs. Cesaro – 3.0
* King Corbin vs. Jeff Hardy – 2.0
Overall – 2.5
Best – Triple H on commentary. Worst – Tag Team Elimination Chamber replay eating up time that could have been put to better use.
Show Notes – All of the in-ring promo and interview segments felt weird because of them trying to play to a non-existent crowd. WWE replaying the Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber was a lazy way to eat up time on the show. Bryan vs. Cesaro was good. SmackDown was decent considering the circumstances but should have played more into the surreal aspect of the show instead of trying to play things straight.

AEW
AEW Dark (Mar. 10)
* Kip Sabian & “The Librarian” Peter Avalon vs. Jurassic Express – 2.5
* Severino Corrente vs. Jimmy Havoc – 2.0
* Abadon vs. Hikaru Shida – 2.5
* Sonny Kiss & Brandon Cutler vs. Private Party – 3.0
Overall – 2.5
Best – Kiss & Cutler vs. Private Party match. Worst – Corrente vs. Havoc match.
Show Notes – Kiss & Cutler vs. Private Party match and Death Triangle’s post-match stuff were good. This week’s episode was mostly enjoyable overall.

AEW Dynamite (Mar. 11)
* Ortiz vs. Cody – 3.0
* Kris Statlander & Hikaru Shida vs. Bea Priestly & Nyla Rose – 3.5
* The Butcher & The Blade & MJF vs. Jurassic Express – 3.0
* Joey Janela & Private Party vs. Death’s Triangle – 3.5
* Sammy Guevara & Chris Jericho vs. “Hangman” Adam Page & Dustin Rhodes -3.0
Overall – 3.5
Best – Janela & Private Party vs. Death’s Triangle match. Worst – Britt Baker’s promo segment.
Show Notes – Ortiz vs. Cody was good but the post-match angle was great. Women’s tag match was very good overall. Christopher Daniel’s Dark Order parody was funny. Janela & Private Party vs. Death Triangle was very good. Jon Moxley interview segment was decent. Inner Circle vs. Page & Rhodes was pretty good and has a great post-match brawl. This week’s episode was very good overall with better in-ring action than last week’s show.

Various Wrestling
GCW The Wrld On GCW (Mar. 12)
* Rickey Shane Page vs. Ruckus – 2.5
* Adrian Quest vs. Tony Deppen – 2.5
* Effy vs. Matthew Justice – 3.0
* 6-Man Scramblef**k match – Jimmy Lloyd vs. Steve Sanders vs. Saieve Al Sabah vs. Pinkie Sanchez vs. AJ Gray vs. KTB – 3.5
* Young Dumb N Broke (Charlie Tiger, Ellis Taylor, & Griffin McCoy) vs. 44OH!(Atticus Cogar, Eddy Only, & Gregory Iron) – 3.5
* Nick Gage vs. Ophidian – 3.0
* Jeff King vs. SHLAK – 2.5
* Blake Christian vs. Joey Janela – 3.0
Overall – 3.5
Best – Young Dumb N Broke vs. 44OH! match. Worst – Quest vs. Deppen being cut short due to injury.
Show Notes – GCW’s promoter opening statement about wanting to entertain during these uncertain times in wrestling was great. 6-way match was very good overall. 6-man tag team match was very good but Nick Gage destroying everyone at the end was great. King vs. SHLAK was a crazy bloody bout. Christian vs. Janela was good. GCW’s show was very entertaining overall.

Week awards:

• Best match of the week – Daniel Bryan vs. Drew Gulak (WWE Elimination Chamber)
• Worst match of the week – 24/7 Championship – Cedric Alexander vs. Riddick Moss (c) (WWE RAW)
• Best show of the week – AEW Dynamite
• Worst show of the week – WWE NXT UK