Botched! 1.20.18: Asuka’s Robe, Jinder Mahal’s Shoulder, More

Hi, hello & welcome to the column that nobody in the world of professional wrestling wants to be in: Botched! It’s a calm before the storm this week, as we’re heading into Raw 25 then the Royal Rumble. There was still enough going on for something to go wrong though.

1. Stephanie Who?: Braun Strowman got fired at the beginning of Raw. Don’t worry, he was re-hired an hour later. Stephanie McMahon called Kurt Angle to let him know that Braun was re-hired. Kurt was a little discombobulated by the whole situation though, and called her something else.

To be fair, I think most of us would be a little nervous and prone to misspeak to an angry Braun Strowman.

2. Asuka’s Robe Wasn’t Ready For The Entrance: There’s a lot going on during Asuka’s entrances. Her robes are a bit less organized than what you see from the likes of Charlotte Flair & Bobby Roode. Loosely hanging fabric can run into problems sometimes, as they did during her entrance on Raw this week.

One of the threads got caught up on the video board, and Asuka had to walk back & unhook it. The entranceway gave her more problems than most of her opponents have thus far.

3. Finn Balor Works Heavy Angle, Wrestles The Next Night: There were a couple of weird moments in the Seth Rollins/Finn Balor match. I figure the referee’s three & a half count on the rollup is part of Jason Jordan getting favorable treatment & using it to help out his reluctant tag team partner. Then there was the awkwardness after the match of Balor selling the Blackout. (Which was absolutely approved in the back and anybody telling you it wasn’t is out of their mind.)

It was a great sell-job by Balor. The only real issue I have with it was that he ended up competing the next night in the Mixed Match Challenge. He obviously showed signs of a concussion & should have been held out of competition until he recovered. Hey, if you’re going to do an angle like this you should go all the way with it. Clearing Balor to compete the next night makes WWE doctors look incompetent.

4. Jinder Gets Jobbed : Nobody outside of India’s 1.3 billion people wanted Jinder Mahal to win the United States Championship. That includes the referee for the finals.

Jinder’s shoulder went up during the pinfall! Luckily, Roode is a seasoned veteran and knew to lean on Jinder to put it back down before the referee saw it. Well, the referee probably saw it. But he’s hindering Jinder, dang it!

5. A Total Divas Botch!: Jeremy Lambert says I’m the only person that still watches Total Divas. I assume this is false, but I was watching the show on Wednesday night because there were no sporting events to occupy myself with. Jim “The Anvil” Neidhart using his shirt as a bib might be considered botch-worthy, but I noticed something else.

Yup, they misspelled “shepherd”. Maybe it’s Bulgarian spelling, but I’m counting it! It was one of those weeks.

Thanks for reading! If you see (or hear) anything wrong in the world of wrestling, let me know via Twitter or e-mail at [email protected]. Have a good weekend!