Mikey Likes It, 1-11-17

So, when I'm not doing my "animated" live-blogging, I'll add short posts like this talking about stuff I liked from the most recent shows. (Get it? My name's Mikey? ....I like stuff? What movie is the "Mikey likes it" thing from anyway? #OnTopOfShit)




So I've not made a secret that 205 Live didn't do it for me at first.

However, I watched some of the latest episodes at the gym. And I am really digging the following:

* Alicia Fox - I like that she has relevance with the Cruiserweight division. She was lost in the shuffle of Raw's insistence on keeping sole focus on the epic feud between Charlotte and Sasha (for better or worse). But Alicia can freak out like no other. My wife and I still chuckle at her "let's TALK IT OUT!!" promo with Nia Jax from a month or so ago when she just pelted Nia in the face with a pack of napkins.

Same idea with her part in the Cedric Alexander - Noam Dar feud. It's been an obvious build to her and Cedric splitting up. But that made Alicia's freakout about it no less epic once it came. I mean, yeah, it's standard WWE soap opera schlock...but Alicia commits to the freakout, and makes it so over-the-top that it becomes great.

* Noam Dar - I dig the Scottish womanizer. WWE doesn't let too many guys run with that type of gimmick anymore (Enzo is the only other one at the moment that I can think of; Miz too, sorta, but his wife is on the show), but Noam is executing it brilliantly. His work with Alicia is making them both better as characters and performers.

* The upcoming "I Forfeit" match between Jack Gallagher and Ariya Daivari. The feud has had a great build, and an "I Quit" match between those two can be dynamite if executed properly.




Now for Smackdown:

* I liked the gal with the red hair and the 50s haircut who jobbed to Carmella.

* I like pissed off Dolph Ziggler. His feud with Apollo Crews can do a lot for Apollo. Although I still feel more needs to be done to give Apollo some personality. He's still "just there" now. And in this feud thus far, all he's doing is reacting to Over 9000 Ziggler, not driving the storyline himself. (If Ziggler weren't rumored to be leaving soon, I'd say now would be an excellent time to get him some new music. At the very least someone should raise the decibel level on his current track. Always feels like it plays softer than everyone else's.)

* AJ Styles telling Baron Corbin to do his best AJ Styles impression, and beat up John Cena.

* Wyatts versus American Alpha: Eh, the match was good. Storyline is what it is. The trajectory of Harper vs. Orton has been clear for some time, with the audience multiple steps ahead of it. I just hope once this storyline ends, the Wyatts don't look like putzes again.

* Becky versus Alexa Bliss in a steel cage will be cool.

* Dean Ambrose declaring himself for the Royal Rumble. It being obvious made it no less great to hear.

* I like my version of Lesnar's Raw-return commercial: "Brock Lesnar is back, and probably still using estrogen blockers."

* More AJ: telling Baron Corbin that he likes it when Corbin punches Cena, and to do it again.

* I like the great match we're probably going to get with Cena and AJ at the Rumble. Although I thought they could've had Corbin take Cena to the limit more in this episode's bout. (Cena bury people? Nah, never happens.)