This Week In WWE

• We open the show with a sit-down Q&A with Angle/Rousey & Steph/HHH. It was an up and down segment that had portions of awkwardness from the faces. It ended well though with Steph catching Rousey by surprise and putting her through a table to stand tall before Mania.
• Bayley beat Sonya Deville in an okay match that served as build for the battle royal. There was more build for the inevitable Banks vs Bayley match.
• There is a hype video for Asuka's streak. 
• Congratulations to Miz and Maryse on the birth of their child.
• Seth Rollins and Finn Balor had an excellent TV match. Rollins picked up the win after a hard fought 20-minute encounter, that the crowd helped greatly. That probably means that Balor is winning the title on Sunday. 
• Lesnar vs Reigns video package.
• Heyman pretends to talk to the UFC. Angle tells him not to pull any shenanigans tonight. Heyman laughs.
• The Bar doesn't give a toss who Braun's partner is for Mania. Braun says he has found someone and comes out in a different outfit as Brains Strowman. Braun then does some destruction. 
• Matt Hardy and Goldust have a match that was supposed to serve as build for the Andre Battle Royal but was just junk.
• John Cena is out and he is fucking sick of the Undertaker's bullshit. It was another impassioned promo from Cena but the build, on the whole, has lacked because of the one-sided nature. Undertaker mugs him off again.
• Angle tells Reigns not to get involved in shenanigans. He says that he won't. But that, actually, he might.
• Elias promises a great performance at Mania and then squashes Heath Slater. 
• Curt Hawkins wants to be Braun's tag partner. Braun throws him through a wall. 
• Nia Jax does an interview where she says that she shouldn't have trusted Bliss and will squash her on Sunday. I reckon it will be the shortest match on the card.
• Dana Brooke & Asuka took on Alexa Bliss & Mickie James. If you were Asuka, and you had an absurdly long streak to defend, why would choose to team with Dana Brooke? Is she just taking the piss? Trying to prove that she can win with anyone. She did win. 
• The last segment was the Reigns/Lesnar face off. Heyman cut a good promo, as always, and says that Lesnar hates everyone and that nobody is on his level. Reigns turns up and it gets a bit boring. They throw blows at each other but none of it makes me care. 
• As far as Mania go home shows go, this was pretty lackluster. 

• Daniel Bryan starts the show and the crowd is happy about that. He brings out Shane, which I am less happy about. Shane talks about his injuries and says that he is cleared. They say that they are on the same page and that they will kick ass at Mania. I smell a heel turn but I'm not sure who from. 
• Charlotte Flair faced Natalya in a decent match. Carmella tried to cash in but that went tits up and never got officially sanctioned. There were some callbacks to previous weeks but Charlotte won this time. Asuka turns up and says that nobody is ready for Asuka, Charlotte disagrees.
• AJ Styles says that his emotions are his strong point. Pretty certain it's his wrestling.
• Bobby Roode is out to do some commentary for the Jinder vs Rusev match. The Singh brother that is still alive tries to outsing Aiden English. It ends badly. The match was alright. Rusev picked up the win. Orton and Roode cleared house post-match and faced off. The crowd chanted Rusev Day. I agree.
• There is an 8-man tag match featuring wrestlers from the Andre battle royal.Randomly, Primo is in it. Corbin picked up the win. It was a thing that happened.
• Gable & Benjamin claim they will beat Styles & Nakamura. We'll see.
• Owens and Zayn are out to talk shit. They do it so well. They get their mics cut and Bryan and Shane appear. They say it will be the last time you see Owens and Zayn on Smackdown. 
• The main event was the Gable/Benjamin vs Styles/Nakamura match. It was a good match, as it should be, with the faces picking up the win. After the match the heels attacked Nakamura. Styles made the save and then faked him out with a pulled Phenomenal Forearm. 
• Smackdown was solid but unspectacular, which is a shame for the Mania go home show. 

• Buddy Murphy vs Kalisto replaces Gulak vs Andrews on tonight's show. 
• Lucha House Party and Itami/Tozawa went to a no contest. The match was fun while it lasted. Itami & Tozawa stood tall following the match.
• Gulak and Andrews have a bit of a chat, with both men saying that they beat the other next week.
• Tony Nese beat some randomer in short order.
• Murphy beat Kalisto in the main event and once again the match was excellent. Murphy has been a revelation since he moved to 205 Live, putting in fantastic performances week after week. 
• Drake Maverick hypes Mania and we close with a hype video.
• Another really fun episode of 205 Live. They continue to do the right things.

• We kick off with the final of the Dusty Classic. It was a good match until Undisputed Era did a run in and fucked it up. Angry Regal came out and booked a triple threat match for Takeover, with both the tag titles and the Dusty Classic on the line.
• There are video packages for the NA Title and Gargano vs Ciampa.
• Kairi Sane beat Vanessa Borne to keep herself in the public eye. She will probably be involved in the title picture after Takeover.
• Lacey Evans called all of the women on the NXT roster 'trash'. She thinks she deserves a title match despite losing in a minute the other week.
• Undisputed Era are pissed that Cole has to wrestle twice at Takeover. Regal says that if they don't like it O'Reilly can wrestle the tag match on his own, or Cole can pull out of the ladder match. 
• NXT video package is next. 
• Killian Dain vs Lars Sullivan is the main event. They have a solid match before it inevitably breaks down. Ricochet made his first real appearance but does nothing. 
• It was a decent enough episode of NXT. Nothing of major note happened though.

Show of the Week - 205 Live

This is getting a tiny bit repetitive but 205 Live is just such an easy show to watch, from the title tournament to the building of teams to the rise of Buddy Murphy.