IMG Credit: WWE

Summerslam 2017
Date: August 20, 2017
Location: Barclays Center, New York City, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Booker T., John Bradshaw Layfield, Byron Saxton, Tom Phillips

It’s finally time for one of the biggest shows of the year as WWE takes over New York City all over again. This time around the big main event is a four way for the Universal Title with Brock Lesnar defending against Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe. The rest of the card is too deep to break down in short order so let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Hardy Boyz/Jason Jordan vs. Miz/Miztourage

The idea here is that Miz wants to be defending his Intercontinental Title against Jason Jordan but is stuck in this for reasons that aren’t clear. The section opposite the hard camera is MAYBE ten percent full because we’re about an hour and a half away from the start of the pay per view.

Jeff takes Axel into the corner to start and hands it off to Jordan to work on the arm. Dallas comes in and gets the same treatment, sending the Miztourage outside for a breather as we take a break (with empty sections of seats being shown on camera). Back with Jeff in trouble with Miz hammering away and working on the arm.

Matt comes in and throws some right hands but the Twist of Fate (with Matt shouting TWIST OF FATE) is broken up. Miz gets in some YES Kicks but gets sent into the corner, setting up the hot tag to Jordan. The suplexes send the Miztourage flying as everything breaks down. Jordan hits the running shoulder in the corner to Axel but Miz makes a blind tag, setting up the Skull Crushing Finale to put Jordan away at 10:31.

Rating: C-. Ridiculous looking non-crowd aside, not much of a match here. In theory you would have Miz lose the fall to Jordan here to set up the title match but it wouldn’t shock me if they had Miz beat him and then set it up anyway. This match didn’t need to happen and only served as a way to have some of these names on the card.

Kickoff Show: Cruiserweight Title: Neville vs. Akira Tozawa

Tozawa is defending after winning the title on Monday. The crowd is looking far better already with the section opposite the hard camera now mostly full. Neville, in white trunks for a change, gets knocked outside so Tozawa can do his shouting. Tozawa follows him out but gets sent into the LED apron as we take a break.

Back with Neville throwing on a chinlock until Tozawa throws him outside for a suicide dive. A hard belly to back suplex drops Neville and an Octopus Hold has him in even more trouble. Neville makes the ropes and cuts off a charge with an enziguri, only to get kicked down as well to put them back to even. Back up and Tozawa rocks Neville with a right hand but it’s still too early for the backsplash. The superplex is broken up but the backsplash hits raised knees. The Red Arrow gives Neville the title back at 11:47.

Rating: C. And that would makes them 2-2 in 50/50 booking on the Kickoff Show so far. Neville lost the title on Monday and gets it back on Monday for whatever reason, despite having no one left to defend the thing against. I’m sure this is going to thrill the fans so far, now that they’re at least in the arena.

Here’s Elias to sing two songs, one of which insults Brooklyn in general and the other of which insults local singers. No match or anything but this is a thing that happened.

Kickoff Show: Smackdown Tag Team Titles: Usos vs. New Day

New Day is defending with Big E. and Woods in the ring. Before the match, Kofi (in Red Lantern inspired gear) talks about New Day’s history in Brooklyn, which is the first place they sang to the crowd and the birthplace of Francesca. Woods forearms Jimmy down to start and snaps off some rights and lefts in the corner. A raised boot cuts him off though and we take a break.

Back with Woods fighting out of a chinlock before coming up with a dropkick to Jey. Jimmy pulls Big E. off the apron though and it’s a Death Valley Driver into the corner for two. A modified Demolition Decapitator gets the same and we hit the chinlock. Back up with Woods getting in a faceplant for the tag off to Big E. as house is cleaned in a hurry. The Warrior Splash hits Jimmy and Big E. powerbombs Woods onto him for good measure.

In a real twist, Woods puts Big E. on his shoulders for a splash. JBL: “That’s what you’ve come to expect from the New Day!” A move they’ve never done before? Jey comes in off a hot tag and a double spinebuster gets two on Big E. It’s back to Woods who sends Jimmy into Big E. for a Rock Bottom/Backstabber combination and a near fall. Everything breaks down with the twins being sent outside for a dive from Woods, only to have Big E.’s stopped by a superkick.

The Superfly Splash gets two on Xavier but he’s back up with a Koji Clutch on Jey. A Shining Wizard gets two more and the Midnight Hour plants Jey with Jimmy diving in at the last second for the save. Woods charges at Jey, who launches him over the top into a Samoan drop on the floor. Big E. spears Jey through the ropes, only to have the Big Ending broken up by a blind tag. Five superkicks and a double Superfly Splash gives us new champions at 19:09.

Rating: B+. Heck of a match here as the three people/teams who won during the week go to 0-3 on the Kickoff Show. I have no idea what the point is in putting the titles back on the Usos as they cleaned out the “division” in recent months, pretty much leaving New Day alone as a good face team. Breezango barely wrestles anymore and we’ve done the two of them vs. the Usos, but that’s never stopped WWE before.

We get a KFC ad featuring various people auditioning to be the next Colonel Sanders. This cuts to the arena where Shawn Michaels comes out in a sleeveless Sanders outfit, dances around, slides over the announcers’ table, and nothing else. This is one of the most random things I’ve ever seen.

The opening video looks at every match under the slogan Go Big.

No pyro again, but let me introduce you to the ridiculous amount of commentary teams and all their equipment to broadcast live in various languages.

John Cena vs. Baron Corbin

Cena cost Corbin his Money in the Bank cash-in on Monday. For a change of pace, Cena slides to the floor and grabs JBL’s hat while saying Corbin is shaken up. Back in and Cena’s headlock is broken up with some knees to the ribs. Corbin’s slide underneath the ropes into a clothesline gets two and it’s time to yell at the referee.

A World’s Strongest Slam gets two and triggers a WHERE’S YOUR BRIEFCASE chant. That earns Cena a chokebreaker as this is mostly one sided so far. Cena fights out of a superplex with a tornado DDT but the AA is broken up. Deep Six gives Corbin two but Cena comes right back with the Attitude Adjustment for the fast pin at 10:18.

Rating: D. I don’t remember the last time I said this about a Cena match but this sucked. This was Cena getting beaten up for eight minutes and then coming back with a single AA for the pin (which NEVER happens). I don’t know if Corbin ran over Vince’s dog or something but he’s been crushed in the last week for no apparent reason. This was really odd and a big letdown, at least partially due to time.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Natalya vs. Naomi

Natalya is challenging after winning an elimination match last month. Naomi starts fast and knocks her outside, meaning it’s time to shout a lot. Back in and the champ’s leg gets snapped over the top rope and then over the turnbuckle for good measure. A suplex gives Natalya two, followed by a small package to give Naomi the same.

Back up and Natalya blasts her with a clothesline, followed by a Michinoku Driver for two more. The discus clothesline drops Naomi again but she comes back with a Russian legsweep. Naomi declares it GLOW TIME and does her dancing kicks (the ones that make almost no contact) but Natalya pulls her down to the mat instead. Back up and the reverse Rings of Saturn is reversed into the Sharpshooter for the surprise tap out at 10:49.

Rating: C-. Natalya looked far better out there but sweet goodness this division is getting less and less interesting all the time. The longer we wait for Charlotte and Becky Lynch to be in the title picture, the worse this division seems, mainly because it feels like a big waste of time. This match should have been on the Kickoff Show or not on the show whatsoever, but that might mean someone doesn’t make the card and that would just be unforgivable.

There’s no Carmella appearance.

We recap Big Cass vs. Big Show. Cass turned on Enzo Amore for running his mouth too much (gee I’m stunned) so Enzo brought in Show to help deal with him. Tonight Enzo is locked in a shark cage and Show’s hand is broken due to an attack by Cass.

Big Cass vs. Big Show

Enzo runs his mouth before the match and sucks up to Brooklyn, furthering his status as my least favorite person in the company. I don’t think I need to explain to you why Enzo is really annoying but he’s been even more so lately. Show slugs away with his left hand as Enzo runs his mouth about how we’re going to work tonight while dancing in the cage, causing it to rattle loudly. Show hurts his hand on a missed Vader Bomb as Enzo is now jumping up and down.

Cass hammers on the hand and grabs an armbar for some psychology. The fans think this is boring as Show fights up with a left handed chokeslam for two. Cass knocks him down again and Enzo is taking his pants off. He pulls out some hidden oil and covers himself with it, allowing him to slip through the bars. Enzo gets down so Cass kicks him in the head but the big boot only gets two on Show. A second big boot sets up the Empire Elbow for the pin on Show at 10:28.

Rating: D. I don’t remember the last time I couldn’t stand someone as much as I can’t stand Enzo. Stephanie maybe? Cass winning helps a lot here and hopefully he can now move on to ANYTHING else. He looked good in his win and now he can move on to a fresh feud. Show is actually really acceptable in this role as he’s just putting people over on the big stage and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Daniel Bryan comes in to see Kurt Angle to say he thinks Smackdown will steam the show. Bryan: “It’s true, it’s true.” Angle thinks Raw will be better and starts a YES chant. This turns into one heck of a YES/NO battle until both guys get winded.

Randy Orton vs. Rusev

Not much of a story here as Rusev wanted competition and Orton answered him. Rusev jumps Orton during the entrance and beats the heck out of him before the bell. Orton says he can go and it’s an RKO for the pin at 9 seconds.

That right there is the perfect example of why I can’t stand these huge cards. This is obviously, and I do mean obviously, a case of cutting something for time. Why is it being cut for time? It’s so we could have a Cruiserweight Title rematch and a six man rematch on the Kickoff Show. Neither match was good and both matches pretty much advanced nothing (the Cruiserweight Title match actually took us back in time) but they ate up time that could have gone to this match, which could have been interesting. Instead Rusev looks like an idiot and the match barely exists. Just don’t put someone on the card. They’ll be ok.

Sasha Banks is coming to the ring when she runs into Bayley, who gets booed while wishing Bayley good luck.

Raw Women’s Title: Sasha Banks vs. Alexa Bliss

Banks is challenging as a replacement for an injured Bayley. They brawl into the corner with the fans booing the heck out of Sasha. Bliss hits the hardest right hand she’s ever thrown but gets caught with a crossbody for two. Banks gets caught in the corner and faceplanted down to the mat. The New York fans are of course pleased with the woman from Boston getting beaten up, including having Bliss stand on her hair.

Alexa chokes in the corner and hits some double knees to the back. Some more choking ensues but Banks flips her out of the corner for a breather. Sasha makes her comeback with some clotheslines and a dropkick. Bliss tries a sunset flip out of the corner, only to have Sasha flip her backwards and head first into the buckles.

The Bank Statement goes on but it’s way too close to the ropes. Bliss takes her outside and sends her hard into the barricade, possibly injuring Sasha’s shoulder. Banks is back in at nine so Bliss is right on the arm, followed by Twisted Bliss for two. Some shots to the shoulder break up another Bank Statement, only to have Banks grab it again for the tap and the title at 13:17.

Rating: B-. Bliss did most of the work in the match and looked far better than I ever would have believed just a few months ago. This run has turned her into a completely acceptable worker, which isn’t what you would have expected. Banks winning is the right call long term, but they did a pretty lame job of building the match towards the finish. Still though, best thing on the show by a few miles so far.

We see the Shawn Michaels KFC bit again.

Long recap of Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt. Bray seemed to think that Balor was a false idol and promised to destroy him. Wyatt beat him this past Monday and then poured “blood” over him for some extra effect. Balor then said that Bray had his demons, but he did too. I think you know what that means.

Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor

After Bray’s full entrance, a voice starts singing He’s Got The Whole World In His Hands. That means the Demon King returns for the first time since last Summerslam to easily the reaction of the night. Finn crawls around and Bray takes an early breather on the still smoky floor. Back in and Balor hammers away, kicking Bray right back to the floor. Balor jumps over him in the corner so Bray leans over backwards for a scary look of his own.

That’s fine with Finn who sends him outside for a flip dive but it’s too early for the Coup de Grace. A suplex onto the floor knocks Balor silly though and we hit the chinlock for a bit. Balor pops back up and knocks him outside for a kick from the apron, followed by a Sling Blade back inside. Bray boots him in the face for two and declares that he has him. Balor gets in the shotgun dropkick against the barricade and throws him back inside for a quick Coup de Grace at 9:42 in another weak finish.

Rating: C+. As has been the case all night (and ever for the most part), it’s such a waste of a match to do it once on Monday and then again on Sunday. Why should I care that Balor won here when Bray already beat him earlier in the week? Either way, this was hardly a great return for Balor, who was the most obvious winner in the world here. Bray loses on the big stage, again, and it’s time to start his cycle all over again.

We recap Cesaro/Sheamus vs. Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins, which has very little to do with Cesaro/Sheamus. Ambrose and Rollins were tired of getting double teamed and teased getting back together for weeks. It FINALLY happened earlier this week and they were granted an immediate shot at the Tag Team Titles.

Raw Tag Team Titles: Sheamus/Cesaro vs. Dean Ambrose/Seth Rollins

Sheamus and Cesaro are defending. Ambrose headlocks Sheamus to start and it’s a blind tag from Rollins to set up a knee drop. A dropkick staggers Cesaro and the champs are knocked to the floor without too much effort. Sheamus pulls Dean outside for a Brogue Kick though and Seth gets slammed on the floor for good measure.

Seth grabs a Blockbuster for a breather but hang on a second as Cesaro is running into the crowd. He grabs a beach ball that a fan was batting around and rips it to shreds, drawing a heck of a YES chant. I certainly love him a lot more now. Cesaro suplexes Seth down for two but seems to have tweaked his knee.

Rollins gets taken outside for a double beating, only to have Ambrose come off the top with the elbow to put everyone down. Back in and the champs are clotheslined over the top, setting up the double suicide dives. A Hart Attack with a Sling Blade (not a Blockbuster Cole) gets two on Cesaro and the rebound lariat puts him down again. Sheamus gets caught on top for a superplex with Rollins tagging himself in for a frog splash and a near fall with Cesaro making the save.

Cesaro breaks up the double bomb out of the corner and Dirty Deeds is countered into the Sharpshooter. Dean is almost in the ropes but Cesaro switches to a Crossface in the middle of the ring. Since that’s not going to work, it’s a powerbomb/top rope clothesline combination for two instead. White Noise is loaded up but Seth hurricanranas Cesaro off the top into Sheamus for the crazy save. A jumping knee to the face knocks Sheamus into Dirty Deeds for the pin and the titles at 18:35.

Rating: B. Heck of a match here with the ending looking great. That ending was a great touch as the Shield guys worked so well together. I’m not usually a fan of having two guys put together to become champions but it helps to have such a strong history between them. Now all they need is Roman as a surprise and things should be great all over again.

We recap Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles for the US Title. They’ve traded the title in recent months but Owens blames his recent loss on bad refereeing. This meant Shane McMahon was appointed as guest referee, so Owens started bringing up Shane’s history as a crooked referee and his issues with AJ. The question is will Shane screw someone over and who will it be.

US Title: Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles

AJ is defending with Shane McMahon as guest referee. Owens jumps him at the bell and hammers away with AJ’s comeback being cut off without much effort. The Cannonball gets two and Owens yells at Shane. A chinlock and backbreaker get two more on the champ but AJ says bring it. Styles wins a slugout and hits a belly to back faceplant for two but can’t follow up.

Back up and AJ manages the Phenomenal Forearm, only to hit Shane by mistake. That means there’s no one to count the Pop Up Powerbomb so Owens yells at Shane. As you might expect, AJ gets back up and knocks Shane to the floor by mistake. The Calf Crusher goes on and Owens taps to no avail.

Everyone gets back in and AJ forearms Owens down, only to get caught in the spinning superplex for two. AJ comes right back with the Styles Clash for a close two. Owens grabs the Pop Up Powerbomb for the pin but AJ’s foot was on the ropes and Shane calls it off. That means an argument and Shane shoves Owens into a rollup for two. The Pele sets up the Phenomenal Forearm and a second Styles Clash retains the title at 17:25.

Rating: B. This was too much about Shane and they’re not exactly being subtle about the upcoming Owens vs. McMahon match. AJ retaining is the right call here as there’s no need to put it back on Owens if he’s going to be feuding with Shane in the coming weeks. It wasn’t quite the blow away match I was expecting but it was a good, back and forth fight and a definitive ending, which is the most important thing.

Some fans won a sweepstakes and got to go to the show.

We recap the Smackdown World Title match. Jinder Mahal won the title in May in a huge upset and has continued to defy his critics ever since. Shinsuke Nakamura became #1 contender by pinning John Cena clean. There’s also no Baron Corbin to cash-in his Money in the Bank briefcase any longer.

Smackdown World Title: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Jinder Mahal

Jinder is defending and Nakamura is played to the ring by a live violinist. The threat of some kicks brings Mahal close enough to grab a wristlock, only to have Nakamura spin out and send Mahal outside. Nakamura says bring it on so Mahal gets back inside, only to get caught with Good Vibrations. Shinsuke is getting a little too comfortable so the Singh Brothers offer a distraction, allowing Mahal to pound him down and grab a chinlock.

Back up and Nakamura gets in a spinning kick to the jaw and a cross armbreaker but Jinder makes the ropes. Some hard kicks to the front and back of the head have Mahal reeling but here are the Singh Brothers for another distraction. This time it allows the Khallas to end Nakamura at 11:25.

Rating: D+. And Mahal retains to bore another day. I have no idea what’s supposed to interest me about Mahal but it’s really missing. Nakamura might not have been ready to win the title but the Singh Brothers distraction into a Khallas is about as lame of a finish as there is in WWE right now. If he had a great finisher or something it would make a big difference, but sweet goodness this let the air out of the place.

We recap the Universal Title match and simply put, this is going to be chaos. Brock Lesnar is defending against Braun Strowman, Samoa Joe and Roman Reigns with basically a guarantee of pure anarchy. I don’t think you need much more of an explanation.

Universal Title: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe vs. Braun Strowman

Lesnar is defending, anything goes, and he leaves WWE if he loses. Naturally Paul Heyman handles Lesnar’s Big Match Intro and we’re ready to go. Joe goes after Lesnar while Strowman and Reigns head outside. The first suplex sends Joe outside but Reigns posts Strowman to set up the first showdown. The first German suplex drops Reigns and Joe comes in to take the second. NOW it’s the real showdown though with Strowman vs. Lesnar and the fans are way into this one.

Joe and Reigns cut it off though and we’re forced to wait a bit more. The wait is only a few seconds though as Reigns and Joe are knocked outside and it’s Strowman LAUNCHING Lesnar into the corner and clotheslining him hard to the floor. Reigns comes back in and clotheslines Strowman, who calmly shoves Reigns away. Joe grabs the Koquina Clutch on Lesnar but sidesteps a spear, sending Lesnar HARD through the barricade.

Joe Rock Bottoms Reigns onto the announcers’ table but Strowman runs Joe over, leaving him as the last man standing. Strowman goes to load up the table as Graves hopes he uses Saxton as a weapon. A running powerslam drives Brock through a table but Reigns dropkicks Strowman down. Joe’s suicide elbow drops Reigns so Strowman throws a commentator’s chair at both of them.

Lesnar is getting back up so Strowman powerslams him through the second announcers’ table. Fans: “ONE MORE TABLE!” Strowman obliges by turning the last table over on top of Lesnar, drawing a bunch of referees and agents to save the champ. Heyman: “NOOOOO!” We get a stretcher for Brock as Heyman is absolutely losing his mind. Lesnar is taken out and Strowman wants to know where the Beast is now.

Strowman picks up some steps and decks both guys but Reigns slows him down with a few shots. A shot with the steps has Strowman reeling and a third sends him outside, only to have Joe come in with a rollup for two on Reigns. Roman gets two off the Samoan drop but the Superman Punch is countered into the Koquina Clutch. Strowman is right back in though and a double chokeslam gets two.

The Undertaker chants start up and here’s Brock again. Strowman gets taken down and a running forearm knocks him to the floor. It’s Suplex City time with both Samoans being sent flying. Strowman, with a bloody ear, breaks out of a suplex attempt so Brock goes with the Kimura.

Reigns makes the save with a Superman Punch, followed by another one to both guys. A weird looking spear (Lesnar didn’t really go backwards) gets two on Brock but Reigns gets caught in the Koquina Clutch. That’s broken up by a Strowman dropkick (Cole: “Is there anything he can’t do?”) for two on Joe. The Pop Up Superman Punch gets two more on Strowman and Reigns is almost scared by the kickout.

Braun gets two more off the powerslam with Lesnar making a save. Lesnar can’t F5 Braun but Reigns spears Braun out to the floor, leaving him alone with Brock. Joe is back in with the Clutch on Lesnar but Brock reverses into the F5 for two with Reigns making the save for his only positive reaction of the night. Three straight Superman Punches drop Brock but the spear is countered into the F5 to retain the title at 21:01.

Rating: A. I need a breather. You can tell they’re setting up something special for Strowman here as he didn’t take the pin, nor did he have anyone really get the better of him all match. Lesnar vs. Strowman is REALLY tempting right now and I’d love to see it happen at some big match. Like at Survivor Series or so.

That being said, WOW what a fight. These guys beat the heck out of each other for a long time and Lesnar looked incredibly vulnerable at times. It’s amazing how much better these matches are when he’s not the unstoppable machine and it looks like WWE is starting to learn that. It was great stuff here and Strowman looked like a monster, which is all he needed to be here. The fallout from this is going to be interesting and Reigns taking the fall hopefully means a bit of a downgrade for him.

Lesnar looks like he just fell out of a building to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. The first hour of this show was awful and came as close as you can get to sinking what was an otherwise very good show. For once it helps when you have that much more time after the first hour to save things, but hopefully this shows WWE (it won’t) that four hours is too long for a regular show. If you cut out some of the bad stuff, this is a classic. As it is, it’s just a very good show with a great main event. In other words, good, but WWE gets in its own way again.

That being said, I really liked parts of this with the main event obviously blowing away everything else on the show. They have some serious options going forward, assuming they can manage to get Lesnar to show up more than once every few months. Strowman looks like the star of stars at this point and if they don’t do him vs. Lesnar before the end of Wrestlemania XXXIV, they’ve lost their freaking minds. Good show, but it needs an hour or so shaved off to bring it to that next level.

Results

John Cena b. Baron Corbin – Attitude Adjustment

Natalya b. Naomi – Sharpshooter

Big Cass b. Big Show – Empire Elbow

Randy Orton b. Rusev – RKO

Sasha Banks b. Alexa Bliss – Bank Statement

Finn Balor b. Bray Wyatt – Coup de Grace

Seth Rollins/Dean Ambrose b. Cesaro/Sheamus – Dirty Deeds to Sheamus

AJ Styles b. Kevin Owens – Styles Clash

Jinder Mahal b. Shinsuke Nakamura – Khallas

Brock Lesnar b. Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman and Samoa Joe – F5 to Reigns

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

It’s the second biggest show of the year (in theory I guess but that’s for another time) and this year’s show….isn’t really that big. For once we only have ten matches scheduled over six hours, but you can probably guess another match or two being added at the last minute. The build for this one has been a bit all over the place as the TV shows are transitioning to the Paul Heyman and Eric Bischoff era and since we’ve had four weeks since Extreme Rules (including Raw Reunion), it hasn’t had time to be fleshed out. Maybe they can pull off something good so let’s get to it.

Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor

We’ll start off with what should be a pretty easy one. This is Wyatt’s first match back in about a year and now he’s the Fiend, which is the first major change for Wyatt in a very long time. It’s basically his evil side and while that might seem a little redundant, it’s better than bringing Sister Abigail up again, though you know that’s’ coming one day.

As for the match itself, it isn’t going to be in much doubt. Balor is reportedly taking some time off soon so he’s not going to win here, as even WWE isn’t dumb enough…..ok so they are but I don’t think they’ll have Wyatt lose his first match back. The Fiend is a good choice for him and if they do it right, they could have a very evil monster on their hands. Wyatt wins, and he should do so again in a rematch against the Demon.

Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler

Let’s just get this one out of the way early. For some reason WWE thinks the fans want to see Ziggler mock the legends and then get beaten up by one so they can trot out Goldberg again to make up for the horrible Super ShowDown match. I’m sure Ziggler will sell the spear rather well and Goldberg will look awesome, but my goodness this might have been the biggest waste of time I can remember this side of a Baron Corbin push.

So yeah they’re not going to do anything stupid here as Ziggler is scheduled for more comedy shows in the near future and probably needs to go away again for those, meaning some of my medications can go away for the time being. Sidebar: how does Ziggler not qualify for Legend status? Two World Titles, eight midcard titles, Money in the Bank, wrestles part time and he’ll be forty next year. I’m sure it’s in the fine print somewhere but whatever gets him out of here faster is what matters most.

Cruiserweight Title: Drew Gulak(c) vs. Oney Lorcan

Another month with another Cruiserweight Title match all but destined to wind up on the Kickoff Show. This was only set up on Tuesday but Lorcan has been the obvious challenger for weeks now. Lorcan is a hard hitter and someone who will go head first at Gulak the whole way, though that might not be the smartest thing in the world to do against a submission expert.

That hole in Lorcan’s strategy is why I’ll go with Gulak to retain. He’s got something with this new, serious character and while Lorcan is good, he’s not the one to take the title off of Gulak, who shouldn’t be losing for a long time. I’m not sure who does take the title off of him, but it’s not Lorcan and certainly not in this spot.

SmackDown Women’s Title: Bayley(c) vs. Ember Moon

Despite having held the title for most of the summer, Bayley is in a bad place as champion at the moment. She’s winning matches and getting some credibility back, but it’s the same place that Seth Rollins and Kofi Kingston were for months: as long as the big star (Charlotte in her case), it doesn’t feel like this is a reign that particularly matters. It feels like we’re waiting for Charlotte to get the title back and that makes a lot of these matches feel less important.

That being said, Bayley wins pretty handily here as there is no reason to believe that Moon is going to take the title from her. Moon feels like a challenger of the month and while she has the biggest weapon around, I don’t think it’s going to hit Bayley. After this they might do a rematch, but odds are it’s going to come back around to Charlotte sooner or later, because that’s how women’s titles work in WWE (because her dad is Ric Flair and she has to win a bunch of titles you see).

Raw Women’s Title: Becky Lynch(c) vs. Natalya

Yay Canada! Is there any other reason to put this match on the card? Natalya has never been interesting in her WWE career and this will be no exception. She can go out there and have a passable if not good match with anyone, but putting her in one of the highest profile matches of the year doesn’t exactly seem like the most intriguing idea. The promos haven’t worked and even making it a submission match doesn’t do them much good.

Of course Lynch retains because what else are they going to do? The problem here is that there isn’t anyone else for Lynch to face as she’s beaten Lacey Evans and….well who else is there? Alexa Bliss? The women’s divisions aren’t deep at the moment so I can understand Natalya getting the spot, but that doesn’t really make it better. The match should be good, but it isn’t something that is going to draw a lot of interest.

Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon

Has anyone else noticed that less McMahon on the show has made it that much easier to watch? McMahon is still around but he hasn’t been the focal point of the whole thing as of late and I don’t think it’s any surprise that things are at least a little better. I’m sure we’ll be seeing more of him after this, but if Owens loses he’s off of the show. Again: I’m sure.

This seems to be a pretty easy layup and I’ll take Owens for what should be the win. Owens can set up a rematch where McMahon’s power is on the line to get rid of him for good, but he can’t do that if he loses here. What matters most is getting McMahon’s screen time down (not eliminated mind you) and Owens beating him would be a good first step in that direction. Owens wins in one of the most likely picks of the show.

US Title: AJ Styles(c) vs. Ricochet

Of course they’re fighting again because they only had three matches in the span of a few weeks. There is plenty of time left to drive a feud into the ground before people get sick of it. Styles turned heel and joined up with the OC again to get the title and now Ricochet needs to fight back and get his big moment. Winning the title was nice but winning it back at Summerslam is what would make him seem like a star.

That’s what I think is happening too, as Styles certainly doesn’t need the title and Ricochet has everything to gain here. The OC is the kind of stable that can do a bunch of stuff without the title, especially when they already have the Raw Tag Team Titles. Ricochet needs this one and I think WWE knows what kind of potential they have with him. Give him the title back and let him run with the thing for a few months.

Trish Stratus vs. Charlotte

It’s pretty rare to have an actual dream match but that’s what they’ve done here. Charlotte has dominated the women’s divisions since showing up about four years ago and has a serious claim to being the best ever. Then again so does Stratus, who is viewed as one of the goddesses of women’s wrestling. Putting Charlotte in there against her, in Stratus’ hometown no less, could be a rather big moment.

This is Charlotte’s to win and I don’t see any reason to consider the alternative. You don’t bring Stratus out of retirement for the one big singles match and then have her win, so let her go out in a fight and come close to beating Charlotte, only to come up short and show that Charlotte is better. Just keep Charlotte away from the title because we’ve more than covered that one already.

SmackDown World Title: Kofi Kingston(c) vs. Randy Orton

How did we get here? How in the world is Kingston the WWE Champion with a four month reign? This is the match that should have rocketed Kingston up to the main event scene about ten years ago but Orton didn’t see it that way so Kingston took the long route. This has been the best built match on the show and you could easily seeing it being the best match on the show, assuming Orton is motivated.

I’m going with Kingston to retain here but there is going to be a rematch. Eventually I think Orton does take the title from him, but Kingston has been playing with the house’s money since the night he won the title. Who would have expected him to be champion for this long and actually make it into a decent length reign? It has to end sometime, but that won’t be on Sunday.

Raw World Title: Brock Lesnar(c) vs. Seth Rollins

And then there’s this too because we’re right back to WrestleMania and pretending the summer didn’t happen. Rollins had a lot of things working against him during his title reign and Lesnar was a big one, but enough of the problems are likely going to be put on him, meaning I don’t know when he’s going to get the title back.

What I do likely know is that it won’t be Sunday so I’m going with Lesnar to retain. That makes the most sense from WWE’s perspective at the moment (mainly because they have set it up so that Lesnar is the only real option to carry the title until someone, likely named Roman Reigns, gets to take it from him again). WWE is going to want Lesnar as champion when they move to FOX so he keeps it here, as he probably should.

Overall Thoughts

The more I think about it, the better this show is starting to sound. While you can all but guarantee a few matches being added (Reigns vs. Rowan (or at least a segment about them) and Drew McIntyre vs. Cedric Alexander seem to be locks), it sounds very nice to have a shortened card that isn’t overflowing with stuff most people don’t want to see. They have a long way to go to beat last year’s show but maybe they’ve got a trick or two left.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: August 6, 2019
Location: Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

It’s the final show before Summerslam though it feels like we could have another month’s worth before the show. A lot of the feuds have felt like they’ve been rushed on the way there so hopefully they can take care of something tonight. The big story is Shane McMahon on the Kevin Owens Show because of course it’s Shane. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Here’s Charlotte to open things up. She talks about how great she is, making her the real greatest of all time. Charlotte is here every week because she wants to be great but Trish is just here for one more match. Someone truly great would not have ran away as the Women’s Revolution came. The athletes of today are far superior to those of Trish’s era and on Sunday, Charlotte can prove it.

For tonight though, here’s a video of Charlotte’s greatest moments. Hang on though as the video is about Trish, who comes out with a smile. Trish talks about how she wants to come back to prove it to herself and her family. We get a quote from Harley Race, who says there is no better place in the world than underneath those bright lights.

We look back at last night’s Ziggler/Miz/Shawn/Goldberg segment.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Rey Mysterio

Ziggler does a full Goldberg entrance (minus pyro of course) and jumps Rey before the bell. A superkick leaves Rey laying and there’s no match.

Ziggler rants about how he just took out another legend (he’s not a good Randy Orton either) and promises to make Sunday Goldberg’s last match. Cue Ali and we have a replacement.

Ali vs. Dolph Ziggler

Ali nails a spinwheel kick and a suicide dive and we take a break before the bell. Back with Ali making a comeback and striking away, including a high kick to the head. The rolling X Factor gets two but Ziggler flips him over with a clothesline. Sweet Chin Music misses and Ali gets two off a rollup. The superkick finishes Ali at 1:46 shown. Having Ziggler be an Orton/Mysterio/Michaels hybrid isn’t going to make me care about him.

We look back at the attacks on Roman Reigns.

We look back at Brock Lesnar attacking Seth Rollins last night and Rollins promising to beat Lesnar.

We get a sitdown interview with Reigns, who isn’t sure how to handle someone he can’t see attacking him. WWE has been offering him personal security but he’s a man who isn’t doing that. The big question is who is behind this. Reigns doesn’t know, but he apologizes to Samoa Joe for accusing him. The attacker is still out there and he’s getting answers tonight.

Here’s the Harley Race tribute video. If there is a more universally revered name, I can’t think of it off the top of my head.

Ember Moon vs. Natalya

Moon kicks her in the face to start and hits the running Downward Spiral. Natalya bails to the apron to avoid the Eclipse but pulls Moon down into the Sharpshooter on the floor. That’s a double countout at 1:23.

Bayley runs out for the save.

It’s time for the Kevin Owens Show with Owens wasting no time in calling out Shane McMahon. Shane comes out and has Greg Hamilton do the intro, which Owens cancels in a hurry. Owens has been asked a lot of things over the last few weeks, as the fans are wondering why Shane’s career isn’t on the line as well. The answer is simple: he’s a McMahon and can do whatever he wants. Owens has an appeal to Shane though: put up his career against Owens and give the fans what they want.

That’s not happening as Shane has Owens where he wants him. Shane talks about how he could beat Owens in a variety of ways but Owens calls him out for a lack of testicular fortitude. They’re ready to fight right now but here’s Elias for a distraction. They head outside with another Elias distraction earning him a Stunner on the announcers’ table. That’s enough for Shane to get in some shots from behind and turn the announcers’ table on him. Shane dropkicks a chair into his face to leave Owens laying. Shane got to talk here and it was like a terrifying flashback.

Here’s Sami Zayn to talk about Aleister Black. Sami offered Black a gift by picking a fight to him but Black has locked himself in a dark room where he can be safe. Mr. PICK A FIGHT WITH ME doesn’t want to fight Sami at Summerslam because he’s terrified of what is coming. Cue Black, who talks from his rising platform, saying the match is happening now instead of at Summerslam.

Sami Zayn vs. Aleister Black

Black kicks him down to the floor and we take an early break. Back with Sami hammering away and getting some near falls off a clothesline. Black’s strikes are cut off with a backbreaker and a chinlock, which lasts all of a few seconds. Black is right back up with the running strikes to the head and a standing Lionsault drops Sami again. Black Mass finishes Sami at 5:49. Not enough shown to rate but this was a definitive win for Black.

Shelton Benjamin is asked about competing for the 24/7 Title. Shelton: “Well.” This has been the WWE writers amusing themselves.

It’s time for the Firefly Fun House. As Huskus the Pig eats a bunch of chocolate, Bray pops in to say Finn Balor isn’t scared of anything. That sounds like ignorance in disguise because Finn invited the Fiend to his doorstep willingly. Bray gets serious and seems to be having trouble controlling himself. The Fiend is coming so let him in.

Elias makes fun of Chad Gable for being short and even quotes Randy Newman’s Short People song.

Kofi Kingston talks about getting here in spite of Randy Orton. He was starting to stand out in his feud with Orton but then Orton might have used his influence to hold him back. Now Kofi has succeeded no matter what and he has proven that he is worthy to be here. We see Kofi going back to Ghana to show how far he has come but he wants vindication by beating Orton at Summerslam.

New Day vs. Daniel Bryan/Rowan

Non-title. Bryan goes right after Woods to start but gets sent to the floor for the big flip dive. Back from an early break with Bryan working on Big E.’s arm but getting taken into the corner for the tag off to Woods. That means a wristlock but you don’t do that to Bryan, who easily drags Woods into the corner for the tag off to Rowan. Woods has to chop and punch away in the corner but Rowan hits a running crossbody to knock him down again.

It’s back to Bryan for a cravate on the mat but Woods hits an elbow to the face. That’s not enough for the tag so Woods hits a rolling elbow. Rowan still won’t let the tag go through though and knocks Big E. off the apron. Woods gets tossed over the timekeeper’s area and we take a break. Back with Woods knocking Rowan down so Big E. can come in with the suplexes.

Big E. busts out a Brock Lock but Bryan pulls him down into the LeBell Lock. That’s easily broken up with simple power so Bryan switches it into a triangle choke. That’s broken up with a powerbomb so Bryan brings in Rowan for the spinning kick to the face. Woods tags himself back in as Big E. runs Rowan over. The rope walk elbow connects so Bryan dives over for a save. Big E. spears Bryan through the ropes but Rowan hits Woods with the steps for the DQ at 17:17.

Rating: B-. The ending was the right call here as Bryan and Rowan need to save some face instead of losing another match. I was worried about seeing the champs losing again here but thankfully WWE thought it through instead of having them lose twice in a row. The match was a good back and forth fight too with a good build until the ending.

Post match New Day gets destroyed even worse.

Roman Reigns goes into the locker room and tells everyone to get out….except Buddy Murphy. Reigns saw Murphy there last week near the fork lift and wants to know if he did it. Murphy doesn’t know what Reigns is talking about so Reigns threatens violence. If Murphy knew who did it, he wouldn’t tell Reigns a thing. Reigns punches him in the face and throws him hard onto a table, still asking who did it. Murphy says Rowan did it and he didn’t see Bryan involved. We cut back to the ring where Bryan and Rowan don’t say anything to end the show. That was a little lacking, but points for going with something a bit different.

Overall Rating: C+. This wasn’t a show about wrestling as the whole thing was about setting up things for Sunday. That’s what they’ve been needing more of around here, though the ending wasn’t the strongest. It feels like the story needs one more week but since we don’t have time for that, it’s the rushed finish to set up Sunday. The rest of the show did what it needed to do and that’s better than having a bunch of matches that aren’t all that interesting.

Results

Dolph Ziggler b. Ali – Superkick

Natalya vs. Ember Moon went to a double countout

Aleister Black b. Sami Zayn – Black Mass

New Day b. Daniel Bryan/Rowan via DQ when Rowan used the steps

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: July 30, 2019
Location: FedExForum, Memphis, Tennessee
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

We’re in still getting ready for Summerslam and in this case we need to hurry up and get some more stuff set with less than two weeks to go before the show. This time around we have Trish Stratus on Jerry Lawler’s King’s Court and….I’m not sure what for the main event as WWE has announced three different main events for the show today alone. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with Shane McMahon on the screen, talking about how Kevin Owens has been getting to him. His life coach has told him to get his emotions in check though because Shane has exactly what he wants at Summerslam. After Shane beats him, Owens is going to have to admit that Shane is the better man and quit in front of 20,000 people.

Here’s Kevin Owens for a chat. It’s a sad night because SHANE MCMAHON IS NOT HERE but we can get through it together. Owens is near tears but says that without Shane, maybe the show can be about the talent instead of McMahon’s stupid face. Just make sure that the stupid face is at Summerslam because Owens is going to beat Shane as badly as he deserves.

Then Shane will know that he does not belong in the ring. Shane isn’t going to quit, but he’ll know that this isn’t his ring or his show, because this is the Kevin Owens Show. This brings out Drew McIntyre to say Owens talks too much and he’ll shut Kevin up tonight. The fight is on with Owens going into the post and over the announcers’ table. Actually let’s just do it now.

Kevin Owens vs. Drew McIntyre

Owens goes straight at him to start and walks into a belly to belly suplex for his efforts. The armbar goes on for a bit and Drew clotheslines him right back down. Another belly to belly gets two but Owens sends him into the post. The Cannonball connects and Owens goes up, headbutts McIntyre back down, and hits the frog splash for two.

Back from a break with Owens hitting the Swanton (they seem to be gradually shifting away from coming back to a chinlock) for no cover. The Stunner is blocked and McIntyre gets two off a swinging sitout Rock Bottom. The Claymore is blocked with a superkick and Owens hits the Pop Up Powerbomb for two. McIntyre is right back up with a super White Noise for two and they head outside. The Stunner on the announcers’ table rocks McIntyre and the regular version back inside finishes him off at 13:31.

Rating: B-. They were hitting the big moves here and Owens getting a big win is a cool thing to see, but I continue to sigh at McIntyre being the glorified lackey. They’ve spent so many months treating him as a goon and now Owens is likely to have more trouble getting rid of Shane than Drew, which sums up a lot of the problems around this company.

Dolph Ziggler doesn’t care about what fans thought of him after superkicking Shawn Michaels last week. Then Mick Foley got beaten up by the Fiend and Goldberg had a horrible match. Now Shawn is upset and Miz is going to defend Shawn’s honor at Summerslam. Miz isn’t even the best wrestler in his house and Ziggler is more scared of Maryse. Tonight, Ziggler will deal with Finn Balor.

Bayley and Ember Moon are ready for tonight.

Aleister Black is sitting in his room again and says he feels different. His redemption lies in the blood of his soul. He received some of his salvation when Cesaro picked a fight with him and Black salutes him. But how does he move on from here and write the next chapters of his book? Once again he sits here, now a bit less patiently, for someone to pick a fight with him.

Ember Moon/Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross

Moon kicks Bliss in the face to start and it’s already off to Bayley, who drops Bliss face first onto the turnbuckle. That sends Bliss outside for Bayley’s dropkick under the buckle and Moon dives onto Cross. Back with Cross tying Bayley up in the ring skirt so Bliss can hit a baseball slide. Bayley fights back, sends Cross to the floor, jumps over Bliss, and brings Moon back in to pick up the pace. Bliss saves Cross from the Eclipse though and sends Moon shoulder first into the post. A right hand drops Bayley and Twisted Bliss finishes Moon at 6:29.

Rating: D+. Dang it please tell me this isn’t being turned into a triple threat with Bliss getting another title shot. We’ve covered that so many times and Bayley needs to get far away from Bliss. We had what should be a fresh title match and I really hope WWE doesn’t mess it up for the sake of an unnecessary triple threat.

Post match Bayley gives Moon the Bayley to Belly to make up for last week.

Sami Zayn is here to check out the competition but only sees people complaining. One person in particular seems to be Aleister Black. If Black wants a fight, Sami will give him one at Summerslam, where Black will melt under the bright lights.

Daniel Bryan has a chance to make his career changing announcement but again says nothing.

It’s time for the King’s Court with Jerry Lawler bringing out Trish Stratus as his guest. Lawler talks about Raw Reunion and everyone wanting to have one last match. He asks if Trish ever has that feeling and we get a ONE MORE MATCH chant. Trish says she can never get rid of that itch but she’s a mom now and has to do those kinds of things. Cue Charlotte to say you can’t have King’s Court without a queen, but she has a big question: how is she not on Summerslam yet?

Charlotte congratulates Trish on being a mom and, after having Lawler hold the ropes open for her, calls it an excuse. Charlotte makes the challenge for Summerslam but Trish doesn’t say anything. That’s fine, as Charlotte knows Trish can’t hang with the queen anyway. Charlotte tells her to get out of the ring so Trish calls her a b**** (it’s a WWE women’s feud so you knew that was coming).

Trish talks about how there would be no throne for Charlotte without the trailblazers like Trish, Lita, Ivory, Beth Phoenix and others. To be the woman you have to beat the woman so the match is on. Good, as Charlotte is too big for the title again anyway and would just take away Bayley’s momentum otherwise.

The OC is ready to show Kofi Kingston that this is the house that AJ Styles built.

It’s time for the Firefly Fun House. Ramblin Rabbit is excited for Summerslam because he’s a Finn Balor fan. Balor flies through the air and is extraordinary, but the Fiend is scary. Finn doesn’t understand what he’s getting into but here’s a laughing Bray Wyatt to chase Ramblin off. Bray gets serious and says let him in.

We look back at Brock Lesnar attacking Seth Rollins last night.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Finn Balor

Joined in progress with Ziggler charging into a boot to the face and a Nightmare on Helm Street giving Balor two. Ziggler is right back with the Fameasser but spends too much time tuning up the band. Balor knocks him outside….and there go the lights. The Fiend appears, but then disappears, allowing Ziggler to hit the superkick for the pin at 2:59 shown.

Ali vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Non-title. Ali dropkicks him to the floor to start and nails a high crossbody for two back inside. Nakamura avoids a charge but Ali is right back with the rolling X Factor. It’s too early for the 054 though and Nakamura nails the reverse exploder. Kinshasa is blocked with a superkick for two but the 450 misses. Nakamura knees him in the face and tries Kinshasa again, though this time Ali rolls him up for the pin at 2:18. You knew this was coming as soon as Nakamura was shown walking to the ring before the match.

Randy Orton talks about Kofi Kingston saying this had all started in 2009 so let’s talk about 2009. By then, Orton had won World Titles and main evented Wrestlemania so all he had to do was be Randy Orton. Kofi didn’t have that luxury so he developed the personality of being the fun guy who danced a lot. That wasn’t cool with Orton so he RKO’ed him and called him stupid, which we see in clips. If you tick Orton off, you go back to the bottom of the ladder.

We jump ahead to 2019 and Ali is the new Kofi Kingston. Orton injured Ali to take him out of the Elimination Chamber and Kofi got the spot instead. There is no Kofi Mania without Orton so Kofi wants to prove himself. That’s stupid, stupid, stupid and the title reign is ending with an RKO. As has been the case with everything in this feud, this was well done and made me want to see the match.

New Day is in the back and ready to go with the main event. This could be a main event anywhere in the country and Kofi is going to show AJ Styles why this isn’t the house that AJ Styles built.

AJ Styles vs. Kofi Kingston

Non-title with New Day and the OC at ringside. AJ grabs a headlock to start but Kofi flips him over, allowing Styles to hit a dropkick to put him down. Back up and Kofi hits the jumping elbow to the jaw but misses Trouble in Paradise. AJ gets clotheslined to the floor and Kofi loads up a dive, only to get blocked by the OC. Kofi dives anyway but AJ hits a knee to the face off the apron (that looked nasty).

We take a break and come back with AJ hammering on Kofi and putting him on top. Kofi knocks him back down and hits a tornado DDT, followed by the dropkick and clothesline. There’s the Boom Drop and standing double stomp for two, followed by the SOS for the same. AJ is right back with an enziguri but gets kicked in the ribs. The top rope splash to the back gets two on AJ with the OC pulling Kofi out at two. The brawl breaks out on the floor and Kofi dives onto everyone. Back in and AJ’s fireman’s carry backbreaker connects but the Phenomenal Forearm lands on Trouble in Paradise to give Kofi the pin at 12:53.

Rating: B-. I actually glared at my TV when Styles was pinned. You have a champion vs. champion match with multiple instances of the seconds brawling on the floor and you end it with a clean pin? How in the world is that their best idea? Kofi pinning AJ is fine, but the US Title has been bouncing around enough lately and you don’t need to have the champ losing to anyone, even under these circumstances.

We IMMEDIATELY cut to the back with Roman Reigns walking up to announce his Summerslam challenge…..and then someone drives what looks like a forklift to knock a piece of set and a bunch of anvil cases onto Reigns. The camera goes haywire and everyone screams for help, but Reigns is ok and on his feet. The medics want to check on Reigns but he tells them to back off. We don’t see who was behind it (the fans chanting JOE is a likely clue) as Reigns walks off to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. I’m not sure what to think of this show. The wrestling worked well enough and I liked the show, but some of the booking decisions gave me a headache. It’s cool to give Roman a mystery opponent, but we’re less than two weeks away from the show and Reigns is already in a feud with someone. They also had to add three matches to the show in one night, plus Ali vs. Nakamura likely being set up here as well.

This crushed time scale is killing things and while there are things on the show I want to see, it is going to be bogged down by everything going on. Maybe with two more weeks the show could be well built, but what we’re getting is so rushed that I need to look up the card to remember what is going on. Tonight’s show was entertaining and set stuff up, but I’m not enjoying a lot of it due to how fast everything is going. There was so much crammed into this show that the good was being dragged back down, which is rarely a good thing. Unfortunately, it’s happening rather frequently around here and that needs to change.

Oh and no mention of the Sonya Deville/Mandy Rose vs. IIconics match (though it was canceled in a segment on YouTube).

Results

Kevin Owens b. Drew McIntyre – Stunner

Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross b. Ember Moon/Bayley – Twisted Bliss to Moon

Dolph Ziggler b. Finn Balor – Superkick

Ali b. Shinsuke Nakamura – Rollup

Kofi Kingston b. AJ Styles – Trouble In Paradise

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Main Event
Date: July 25, 2019
Location: Amalie Arena, Tampa, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Renee Young

I know this show is built around the idea of recapping but when you consider that Monday’s show included Raw Reunion, the recapping is going to be strong on this one. You can pretty much guess where everything is going this week and that could be good or bad depending on what you thought of Raw this week. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Sarah Logan vs. Naomi

Naomi is the hometown girl here. That means it’s time to escape a few waistlocks and dance a bit, followed by a splits drop for two. Naomi’s sunset flip gets two but Logan forearms her in the face and hits a dropkick to the floor. Back in and Logan pulls on both arms before stomping her down. The standing Cloverleaf goes on, which isn’t as serious as they’re going for given Naomi’s light up shoes. Naomi makes the rope and hits an enziguri out of the corner to start the comeback. Some right hands set up the split legged moonsault to finish Logan at 4:55.

Rating: D. I can go for having Logan show up on this show more often as she has a unique enough style to stand out. She’s not quite good enough to be a star on the main shows but this is better than sitting at home. It was nice to see the hometown star win though, as bringing her out here is a good way to fire up the crowd early on in the night.

Long recap of Raw Reunion.

From Smackdown.

Here’s Kofi Kingston to announce his Summerslam opponent. Before he gets jumped from behind though, he wants Randy Orton out here right now. Orton comes out and Kofi talks about their history from 2009. That would have been in Madison Square Garden when they were in the ring together and the fans were chanting Kofi’s name.

We see a clip of the huge Boom Drop through the production area which should have made Kingston the next big star. That’s not what happened though and Kofi accuses Orton of holding him back. It didn’t work though and now Kofi is WWE Champion. Orton admits that he help Kofi back because he wasn’t ready then. He’s still not ready now though and that title is a fluke.

Orton has been on top for eighteen years and he never had to work hard a single day. He’s gotten where he is by being Randy Orton and hasn’t had to throw pancakes or fake a Jamaican accent. Orton takes credit for Kofi getting a title shot at Wrestlemania because he injured Ali before the Elimination Chamber so Kofi could take his place. Kofi wants to prove himself at Summerslam and Orton agrees to the title match at Summerslam. The RKO will be waiting for Kofi. This was a heck of a segment and them bringing up the history was a very nice surprise.

We look at Bray Wyatt returning to attack Finn Balor.

From Smackdown.

Here’s Finn Balor for a chat. We look at Bray Wyatt returning to attack him last week on Raw with Balor saying that he can’t explain the Fiend. He isn’t scared of Wyatt though….and it’s the return of the Firefly Fun House. Wyatt says he and his friends are fans of Finn but the Fiend doesn’t like him, no matter how many times they tell him how super duper he is. The Fiend has accepted Balor’s challenge for Summerslam. Things get more serious though with Bray saying the Fiend isn’t so nice because the Fiend is power. Let him in. The Fiend appears on the screen and growls the same thing.

Summerslam rundown.

Lucha House Party/Titus O’Neil vs. Robert Roode/Eric Young/EC3/Cesaro

Ok then. Cesaro throws Dorado down to start but the required headscissors is enough to send Cesaro into the corner. Kalisto comes in for the splash and we take a fast break. Back with Kalisto being dragged into the corner and Cesaro getting two off an uppercut. Roode comes in for a backbreaker and Cesaro hits a gutwrench suplex for two more. Cesaro’s gorilla press is countered into a DDT and the tag brings in Titus. Roode has to be saved from the Clash of the Titus, leaving Metalik and Dorado to hit running flip dives. Don’t worry though as Young takes Clash of the Titus for the pin at 7:02.

Rating: D. You can imagine how much of this was clipped for the sake of time as you don’t have an eight man tag that runs for three and a half minutes shown. I do like the idea here as it gets more people in the ring, even if most of the people didn’t get to do much. It wasn’t a good match, but it got wrestlers wrestling so it’s better than nothing.

Video on Shane McMahon and Kevin Owens from last week.

From Smackdown.

Here’s Shane to open things up. He talks about getting to see some old friends last night but he was glad to not see Kevin Owens. Speaking of Owens, he has challenged Shane to a match at Summerslam. Shane accepts, and shows us a clip of Owens quitting on Raw last year in a story that went nowhere. That’s what Shane wants: if Owens loses at Summerslam, he’s gone from WWE.

Cue Owens (Xavier Woods: “I don’t like him but I want to see him beat Shane up!”), to say Shane was smart to find that footage. That was the low point of Owens’ career and he’s a different man today. Owens knew Shane would accept because Shane loves the spotlight. The match is on but Owens isn’t quitting because he’ll beat Shane for good. Owens wants to fight right now but Shane cuts him off and says not until Summerslam. Tonight, Owens can fight Roman Reigns instead.

And from Smackdown again.

Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens

Shane is guest ring announcer, Elias is guest timekeeper and Drew McIntyre is guest referee. Shane does his own rather insulting versions of Big Match Intros but Owens grabs the mic to say he’ll drop Shane tonight no matter what. Reigns takes it away and says he’ll take care of Owens tonight. McIntyre breaks up some early lockups in the corner so Reigns punches him in the face and sends him to the floor. The match is thrown out at we’ll say 1:00.

Post match the fight is on with Shane and company getting the better of things. Owens breaks up a spear from Shane though and it’s superkicks a go go. A spear drops McIntyre and a Stunner drops Elias. Shane tries to escape but gets caught with a Superman Punch and a Stunner. Another Stunner drops Shane again and Owens promises to hurt him even worse at Summerslam to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. I’m actually surprised at this as it was almost all Smackdown save for that one package on Raw Reunion. I guess they need to hurry up for Summerslam as the show is in a few weeks and they’re still announcing matches for the show. It was nice for a change, but Raw was a lot more fun this week and I’d have rather seen that. At least it makes sense for a change, which is more than tends to be the case on this show.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackville
Date: July 27, 2019
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Tom Phillips, David Otunga

This is another special event with WWE presenting a show for the sake of having some competition. The schedule says that this is going to be an hour long show but an overrun would not surprise me. There are three matches on the card and an Elias performance for a bonus, meaning they’re going to be fairly packed. Let’s get to it.

The announcers tell us that Finn Balor is injured and therefore out of the Intercontinental Title match. This brings out Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura to say that he wins by forfeit, but the referee has to count Balor out first. We have a challenger though.

Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ali

Ali is challenging after saying that he isn’t missing another opportunity. Feeling out process to start until Ali kicks him in the face and out to the floor. That means a big dive to the floor and a high crossbody for two back inside. Nakamura knees him in the face and Good Vibrations have Ali in even more trouble. The hard knees to the face get two and it’s off to a front facelock.

Nakamura switches into a front facelock but Ali fights out again and hits the rolling X Factor. Ali gets thrown off the top but still manages to dropkick Nakamura out of the air for two more. Back up and Nakamura hits the sliding German suplex but Kinshasa is cut off by a superkick. The big tornado DDT gives Ali two more but the 450 misses. Kinshasa retains the title at 8:02.

Rating: C. So you know how it seems that we’re watching a house show here? Well this felt like a house show match from beginning to end. It’s cool to see Ali getting a shot like this but they’re not changing the title at a random house show just because it’s getting some time on the Network. Just a match with Ali getting in some hope spots before going down, which is fine.

Samoa Joe likes the idea of a triple threat match because he has multiple targets.

Here’s Elias for his performance and he has several guitars with him. After complaining about the volume of his microphone, Elias plays for a long time, maybe the longest he ever has before. Elias likes that people want to walk with him but he hears no standing ovation. He talks about meeting Johnny Cash here in Nashville, when Cash told him that the Tennessee Titans will never win the Super Bowl.

His first song is dedicated to Shane McMahon….or it would be if the people would be quiet and let him play. Elias going to and from the stool gets the BOO/YAY chants before he says he’ll sing anyway. The song is about how Shane deserves more TV time and to be champion because he’s the best in the world. Vince McMahon calls him to say he’s watching and Elias says Nashville is horrible. Apparently Elias can have as much time as he wants so he sings about Kevin Owens being ugly.

Cue Owens from behind to steal a guitar and send Elias outside with one right hand. Owens has a request: SHUT YOUR FACE. He wants a match right now, so if a referee can please run down the aisle and slide in here please. A referee does so (Owens: “WHAT A SLIDE!”) and we’re ready to go.

Elias vs. Kevin Owens

Owens shrugs off an early beating and hits the backsplash to take over. Elias gets in a jumping knee to the face to rock Owens and it’s an Old School Meteora for two. A headbutt gets Owens out of a superplex attempt and the Swanton connects for two. The Stunner is blocked and Elias hits another knee. Elias’ top rope elbow misses and the Stunner gives Owens the pin at 4:44.

Rating: D+. Well at least it was short. Owens is starting to gain a lot of momentum and if he keeps up the talking and work, he could be a big star in a very short amount of time. Elias continues to be passable enough in the ring but there’s nothing to his matches that make me want to see him wrestle. Talking and insulting sure, but that’s about it.

We recap the main event. Kofi Kingston won the Smackdown World Title at Wrestlemania and has survived ever since. Dolph Ziggler thinks it should have been him and Samoa Joe likes to hurt people. Kofi has beaten them both before and now he has to beat them both at once.

So the Women’s Title triple threat match isn’t happening, though it might not have been official.

Kofi Kingston puts pancakes behind the title and says he wants the challenge to put him closer to being an all time great champion. Kofi: “Right here on Smackville. At Smackville? In Smackville?”

Smackdown World Title: Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe vs. Dolph Ziggler

Kofi is defending and dropkicks Ziggler to the floor at the bell. Ziggler pulls Kofi out with him and it’s the champ going into the barricade. The double teaming begins as the fans are behind Kofi. A double back elbow drops Kofi again but he fights out of Joe’s clutches. The crossbody hits Ziggler with Joe stealing the two count.

That’s enough to break up the alliance and Kofi takes down the arguing villains with a top rope shot to their heads. There’s the Boom Drop to Ziggler but Joe powerslams Kofi to break up Trouble in Paradise. A superplex is broken up and Kofi hits the high crossbody for two on Joe. The SOS gets the same on Ziggler as an angry Joe makes the save. They all head outside and Kofi is whipped into the steps to keep him down. Ziggler gets thrown over the announcers’ table and Joe elbows Kofi in the face back inside.

Kofi jawbreaks his way to freedom from the Koquina Clutch but Joe slaps on an ankle lock of all things. That’s broken up by a Ziggler superkick for two with Kofi making his own save. The Zig Zag gets two on Kofi but Joe suplexes Dolph to the floor. Joe blasts Kofi with a clothesline for two and tries the Clutch, which is reversed into Trouble in Paradise to retain the title at 12:09.

Rating: B-. Pretty good match with the obvious finish of Joe taking the fall instead of Ziggler because if there’s one person more valuable than Samoa Joe, it’s Dolph Ziggler. They had a few nice near falls in there and the action wasn’t bad. For a house show main event this worked fine, though Kofi has got to get away from these two for good now.

Overall Rating: C. This show certainly does exist and that’s about all I can come up with to say. It’s not worth the time to watch even though it’s just over an hour long, but you would be much better off watching something that had some actual stakes involved. If you want to watch the last hour of a house show for some reason then have fun, but it’s not something you’ll ever miss.

Results

Shinsuke Nakamura b. Ali – Kinshasa

Kevin Owens b. Elias – Stunner

Kofi Kingston b. Samoa Joe and Dolph Ziggler – Trouble in Paradise to Joe

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: July 23, 2019
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, David Otunga

Depending on what you thought of last night’s Raw Reunion, this show either has a lot to live up to or a very easy path to being the best show of the week. We’re less than three weeks away from Summerslam and that means we could be in for an eventful night as the card gets filled in. If nothing else, we should be hearing about Kofi Kingston’s opponent, which shouldn’t be hard to figure out. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of Shane McMahon vs. Kevin Owens over the last few weeks.

New Day is on commentary instead of the advertised Shawn Michaels, who will be on MizTV instead.

Here’s Shane to open things up. He talks about getting to see some old friends last night but he was glad to not see Kevin Owens. Speaking of Owens, he has challenged Shane to a match at Summerslam. Shane accepts, and shows us a clip of Owens quitting on Raw last year in a story that went nowhere. That’s what Shane wants: if Owens loses at Summerslam, he’s gone from WWE.

Cue Owens (Xavier Woods: “I don’t like him but I want to see him beat Shane up!”), to say Shane was smart to find that footage. That was the low point of Owens’ career and he’s a different man today. Owens knew Shane would accept because Shane loves the spotlight. The match is on but Owens isn’t quitting because he’ll beat Shane for good. Owens wants to fight right now but Shane cuts him off and says not until Summerslam. Tonight, Owens can fight Roman Reigns instead.

Post break, Elias and Drew McIntyre are very happy with Shane’s decision but Shane thinks it needs to be more special. That’s why Drew will be the guest referee and Elias will be guest timekeeper. Elias: “I always wear my watch. I got this.” Shane can be guest ring announcer too.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Apollo Crews

Non-title. Crews shoulders him down to start as New Day interrogates Tom about whether or not Crews will get a title shot for winning here. We get a crazy long delayed vertical suplex, with Crews walking around for a bit before finally dropping Nakamura after thirty seconds. Nakamura gets set outside and taken down by a big flip dive as we take a break.

Back with Crews getting kicked in the head and taking the sliding German suplex. Kinshasa is blocked with a kick to the head and an Olympic Slam gives Crews two (I bought that because that’s what would happen to the new champ). Crews gets caught on top though and it’s the running knee to the ribs. Kinshasa is blocked with a pop up face plant but the standing shooting star misses. Now Kinshasa can connect for the pin at 8:13.

Rating: C. This seems to be Crews’ sweet spot: the athletic performances where he impresses but never wins the big one. That’s not a terrible place to be as Crews can do a lot of very impressive things in the ring. At the same time though, what does it say that Nakamura surviving against a jobber to the stars nine days after he wins the Intercontinental Title is a relief?

Post match Nakamura hits another Kinshasa to leave Crews laying as New Day wants someone to come help him.

Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville get a match against the IIconics next week and if they win they might get a title shot.

Ali talks about how he has to change the story around here. He was on track to being a star but then he got injured. Now he needs to restart his story and become WWE Champion. No one is writing his story and it ends with him achieving his goals.

It’s time for MizTV. After a quick plug for Miz and Mrs., here’s a package on Raw Reunion. Back in the arena, Miz introduces his guest tonight: Shawn Michaels. New Day nearly has a fit singing Shawn’s music, with Big E. playing the belt like a guitar. Miz talks about Shawn being on Raw Reunion last night, with Shawn saying he’s been on both sides. He understands what it’s like to be a young guy who wants those ol…..legends to get out but like Steve Austin said, they’re all family.

Shawn talks about inducting Seth Rollins into DX/the Kliq (Miz: “Thanks for the invite.”) and moves on to the Summerslam match with Brock Lesnar, only to have Dolph Ziggler interrupt. Miz wants to punch him in the face again but Ziggler has something to get off his chest. A lot of people used to idolize Shawn but he keeps coming back time after time to wave to the crowd. Ziggler: “It was as embarrassing as Goldberg in a wrestling ring.”

Last November, Shawn broke Ziggler’s heart when he came back to wrestle last November because he embarrassed himself. Shawn won’t disagree with him but what’s more embarrassing is working your whole career but being known as a second rate Shawn Michaels wannabe. Ziggler calls Shawn a Shawn wannabe so Miz tells Ziggler to do something about it. Ziggler goes to leave but Shawn grabs his arm and has to duck a punch. It hits Miz by mistake and since this is an angle, Miz goes down from one right hand. Ziggler superkicks Shawn and leaves.

You really could feel the energy go away when Ziggler’s music hit. Shawn is absolutely right about Ziggler doing the same stuff for years and just being known as a Shawn wannabe, but Shawn was famous for one show stealing performance after another. Ziggler is known as being the guy who just stays around and sucks the life out of any angle he’s in. Feel free to leave anytime.

Charlotte vs. Ember Moon

Charlotte knocks her down but here’s Bayley for the distraction into the rollup to give Moon the pin at 47 seconds.

Post match Moon throws Bayley in to Charlotte, who kicks her in the back of the head. Moon Eclipses both of them. Please, not a triple threat.

Michael Cole replaces New Day on commentary.

Here’s Kofi Kingston to announce his Summerslam opponent. Before he gets jumped from behind though, he wants Randy Orton out here right now. Orton comes out and Kofi talks about their history from 2009. That would have been in Madison Square Garden when they were in the ring together and the fans were chanting Kofi’s name.

We see a clip of the huge Boom Drop through the production area which should have made Kingston the next big star. That’s not what happened though and Kofi accuses Orton of holding him back. It didn’t work though and now Kofi is WWE Champion. Orton admits that he help Kofi back because he wasn’t ready then. He’s still not ready now though and that title is a fluke.

Orton has been on top for eighteen years and he never had to work hard a single day. He’s gotten where he is by being Randy Orton and hasn’t had to throw pancakes or fake a Jamaican accent. Orton takes credit for Kofi getting a title shot at Wrestlemania because he injured Ali before the Elimination Chamber so Kofi could take his place. Kofi wants to prove himself at Summerslam and Orton agrees to the title match at Summerslam. The RKO will be waiting for Kofi. This was a heck of a segment and them bringing up the history was a very nice surprise.

Samoa Joe vs. Kofi Kingston

Non-title and Orton is at ringside. They fight over arm control to start with Joe grabbing the ropes to give us a standoff. Kofi goes right back to the arm and has to fight out of the corner with some chops. A dropkick puts Joe on the floor and that means the big dive over the top. Back in and Joe hits a hot shot, followed by the Rock Bottom out of the corner for two. We take a break and come back with Kofi fighting out of a neck crank and hitting the Boom Drop. Trouble in Paradise is loaded up but Orton comes in for the DQ at 7:37.

Rating: C. This was more of a storyline segment than a match and there’s nothing wrong with that (and Joe actually didn’t get pinned). Kofi vs. Orton is suddenly a lot better than it was looking and Kofi hanging with Joe and not beating him is a good way to help set things up. Kingston is looking a lot stronger these days and the match with Orton could look be quite a good one.

Post match Orton can’t hit the RKO on Kingston so he hits it on Joe instead, leaving Kofi to hit Trouble in Paradise on Orton.

Here’s Finn Balor for a chat. We look at Bray Wyatt returning to attack him last week on Raw with Balor saying that he can’t explain the Fiend. He isn’t scared of Wyatt though….and it’s the return of the Firefly Fun House. Wyatt says he and his friends are fans of Finn but the Fiend doesn’t like him, no matter how many times they tell him how super duper he is. The Fiend has accepted Balor’s challenge for Summerslam. Things get more serious though with Bray saying the Fiend isn’t so nice because the Fiend is power. Let him in. The Fiend appears on the screen and growls the same thing.

We recap last night’s wild ride of 24/7 Title changes.

Charlotte wants to know why she was left out of the title match or off of Summerslam in general. She’s going to wrestle at Summerslam and she’ll have a better opponent than Ember Moon.

Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens

Shane is guest ring announcer, Elias is guest timekeeper and Drew McIntyre is guest referee. Shane does his own rather insulting versions of Big Match Intros but Owens grabs the mic to say he’ll drop Shane tonight no matter what. Reigns takes it away and says he’ll take care of Owens tonight. McIntyre breaks up some early lockups in the corner so Reigns punches him in the face and sends him to the floor. The match is thrown out at we’ll say 1:00.

Post match the fight is on with Shane and company getting the better of things. Owens breaks up a spear from Shane though and it’s superkicks a go go. A spear drops McIntyre and a Stunner drops Elias. Shane tries to escape but gets caught with a Superman Punch and a Stunner. Another Stunner drops Shane again and Owens promises to hurt him even worse at Summerslam to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Fans who didn’t like last night’s show probably enjoyed this one a lot more. They announced three matches for Summerslam as the rapid fire build continues. What matters here is they started getting the card ready after last night’s big detour. Summerslam is looking good, though they have a lot more buildup to take care of first. This felt a little more serious than previous weeks, though it certainly didn’t feel like an all new show or really anything close to one. It was good though and these shows are blowing away anything that WWE was doing in the last few months.

Results

Shinsuke Nakamura b. Apollo Crews – Kinshasa

Ember Moon b. Charlotte – Rollup

Kofi Kingston b. Samoa Joe via DQ when Randy Orton interfered

Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns went to a no contest when Elias and Shane McMahon interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Main Event
Date: July 18, 2019
Location: Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Uniondale, New York
Commentators: Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Sam Roberts

It’s another week where things should be getting more interesting but since Eric Bischoff hasn’t taken over Smackdown and Paul Heyman has less than four weeks to set up Summerslam, there isn’t much time to set up anything all that interesting. In other worlds, expect more of the normal Main Event stuff. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Dana Brooke vs. Sarah Logan

Yes again, because it’s Main Event. They lock up against the ropes to start with neither being able to get anywhere. Logan misses a forearm and gets knocked into the corner, setting up a bulldog from Brooke. The running backflip splash gives Brooke two and it’s time for a slugout. Logan’s pop up headbutt puts Brooke down and we hit the howling. The chinlock goes on, followed by a running knee to Brooke’s ribs for two. That means the standing Texas Cloverleaf but Brooke is in the rope in a hurry. Logan misses some running knees in the corner and it’s the Swanton to give Brooke the pin at 5:50.

Rating: D. We’ve seen it, we’ve seen it again, we’ve seen it a third time and this was the four pack. These rematches for matches that aren’t good in the first place are a Main Event staple and a case where you can all but imagine WWE just saying “yeah do whatever we did last week”. It’s not worth getting annoyed over, but with everyone on the roster, you can’t throw someone else out there for a change?

We look at Undertaker/Roman Reigns beating Shane McMahon/Drew McIntyre at Extreme Rules.

We look at Kevin Owens coming after Shane McMahon.

From Smackdown.

It’s already time for the town hall with the roster on the stage. Shane says anyone can say anything they want as long as they’re respectful. Roman Reigns goes first and says that no one respects Shane. That doesn’t work for Shane, so Reigns is going to be fined and dealt with later. Charlotte goes next and thanks Shane for treating her and her family so great. Liv Morgan, who Owens mentioned last week, calls her out for having everything handed to her. Charlotte: “Do you work here?”

They argue for a bit until Shane calls them off and Buddy Murphy goes next. Murphy says he doesn’t like Owens being rude to Shane and wants to slap the taste out of Owens’ mouth. Shane approves of this and declares Murphy no longer the best kept secret in Smackdown history.

Apollo Crews says no one likes Shane and gets called out by Zelina Vega, likely setting up a match with Andrade. Elias says that he is not Kevin Owens but New Day cuts him off. Kofi Kingston rants about how no one gets an opportunity under Shane. That’s enough for Shane, who says the town hall is over. Everyone leaves but Cesaro wants Aleister Black to pick a fight with him tonight. Shane makes the match in a hurry and Cesaro leaves. Cue Owens behind him and there’s the Stunner, after Owens misses Shane’s head on the first attempt. Owens runs off into the crowd to a rather positive reaction.

From later in the night.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens

The threat of a Stunner sends Ziggler outside for a flip dive but the Swanton hits raised knees back inside. Ziggler gets two off a Fameasser and the chinlock goes on. Owens fights up and hits a superkick, setting up the Swanton for a rather close two. Cue Shane with a small army behind him to surround the ring. Ziggler hits the Zig Zag off the distraction for two (I bought that as the finish) and Owens slaps him in the face.

Ziggler pounds away in the corner and sends Owens hard into the post (Shane: “That looks like that hurt.”). A superkick misses and Owens hits the Stunner, only to have Shane pull him out of the ring. Owens hits another Stunner on Shane on the floor before running away in a smart move at around 6:15.

Rating: D+. This was almost all storyline advancement but they had me on the Zig Zag. Thank goodness they didn’t go that way as it would have been the dumbest thing they could have done. Owens looked great coming out of last week and Extreme Rules, so thankfully they didn’t go in the wrong direction by having him get pinned here.

Shane promises to make Owens pay to end the show.

From Raw.

Finn Balor vs. Samoa Joe

Note that the recap and Reigns interview took place after Joe’s entrance. Do they really need to get the crowd ready for a match like that and then have them sit there? Joe takes him down by the wrist to start but Balor is back with a headlock takeover out of the corner. That’s reversed into a crucifix though and Balor is pinned at 1:24.

Post match Joe tries to choke Balor out but gets stomped in the chest. The Sling Blade sets up the Coup de Grace to get Balor’s heat back. The match was so short he probably didn’t even take his coat and shoes off. Balor poses but his music stops and the lights go off. We hear a beatdown taking place in the ring and the lights come back on to reveal….Bray Wyatt, in the Fiend mask, with Sister Abigail to Balor. Fans: “HOLY S***!”

Titus O’Neil/No Way Jose vs. Eric Young/EC3

Here’s your random tag match of the week, though to be fair that’s kind of what I was asking for in the previous match. EC3 sends Jose into the corner so it can be off to Young in a hurry. That’s fine with Jose, who brings Titus in to take over on Young in a hurry. Titus slams Jose onto Young and we take an early break.

Back with Jose hitting an airplane spin for two on Young but an EC3 distraction lets Young knock Jose off the top. EC3’s running neckbreaker and Young comes back in for the stomping. A suplex gets Jose out of trouble and it’s back to Titus for the house cleaning. Jose comes back in as everything breaks down, with EC3 grabbing a rollup for the pin at 8:48.

Rating: D+. Yeah this happened. It was four people being brought in for a random tag match and that’s perfectly fine, though it’s not like any of it mattered in the first or last place. I do like the idea of having random teams like this as it’s certainly better than having the same matches over and over, which can get a lot less interesting than something like this. Still means nothing, but it’s better than the usual.

We recap Brock Lesnar cashing in Money in the Bank to win the Universal Title at Extreme Rules.

From Raw.

Battle Royal

Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins, Big E., Sami Zayn, Cesaro, Braun Strowman, Rey Mysterio, Baron Corbin, Bobby Lashley, Randy Orton

The winner gets Lesnar at Summerslam, Lashley has taped ribs and Lesnar and Heyman are watching from the stage. It’s a brawl to start with Corbin going after Rollins and Strowman punching Lashley in the bad ribs. Cesaro starts running at everyone in the corner to take over, including the Swing to Rey. Another one to Big E. is broken up and Lashley dumps Cesaro for the first elimination. Strowman does the same to Lashley and it’s time for a Strowman vs. Big E. showdown.

Big E.’s running splash staggers Strowman and Big E. manages the Big Ending but walks into the RKO. Sami gets rid of Big E. but walks into the RKO. The 619 connects and Orton gets rid of Zayn. There’s an RKO to Reigns followed by another 619 but Reigns shrugs off both finishers and Superman Punches Orton through the ropes. Rey hits a springboard seated senton on Roman but gets tossed by Orton. We’re down to Corbin, Rollins, Reigns, Strowman and Orton with the latter on the floor.

Strowman puts Corbin in the ropes so Reigns can hit the apron dropkick. A superkick from Rollins is enough to get rid of Corbin and get us down to four. Reigns spears Rollins by mistake and Strowman puts Roman on the apron. It’s the Chris Benoit/Big Show elimination but Rollins knocks Reigns out as well. Rollins thinks he’s won and has to hang on when Orton comes back in to throw him to the apron as well. The hanging DDT brings Rollins back in and Orton stops to stare at Lesnar. The RKO is broken up with a superkick to the ribs and the Stomp is enough for Rollins to get the title shot at 7:47.

Rating: C-. Well that was fast (the women’s match probably took up too much time). This was going to be Rollins or Reigns winning and Seth is a much better pick than Roman in storyline terms. I don’t need to see him fight Lesnar again, but that is the kind of thing you have to expect here. I’d rather they go with this than rush what could be a big story in four weeks so at least it makes sense.

Post match, Heyman promises that Rollins is going to be conquered. Rollins tells Heyman to shut up and promises a repeat of Wrestlemania. Lesnar teases coming down for a fight to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. For once, this wasn’t all that bad as they got in and out with a nice collection of moments from a not terrible week. What mattered here was having a balance between Raw and Smackdown which you don’t get all that often. It’s still not good, but I do like that random tag match for the sake of mixing something up for a change. Not an awful show, but Raw and Smackdown are still a lot to take most weeks.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: July 16, 2019
Location: DCU Center, Worcester, Massachusetts
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

It looks to be an eventful night this week and believe it or not, a big focus is going to be on Shane McMahon. We’re going to have a town hall meeting where wrestlers and people on the show can air their grievances with Shane, which could go a lot of ways. Other than that, Daniel Bryan is going to make a career changing announcement. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of Kevin Owens calling out Shane McMahon for taking over the show.

Earlier today, Owens arrived when Shane met him at the door. Tonight, Owens has the night off because Shane is not having him interrupt the town hall.

We look at Undertaker Tombstoning Shane for the win on Sunday at Extreme Rules.

It’s already time for the town hall with the roster on the stage. Shane says anyone can say anything they want as long as they’re respectful. Roman Reigns goes first and says that no one respects Shane. That doesn’t work for Shane, so Reigns is going to be fined and dealt with later. Charlotte goes next and thanks Shane for treating her and her family so great. Liv Morgan, who Owens mentioned last week, calls her out for having everything handed to her. Charlotte: “Do you work here?”

They argue for a bit until Shane calls them off and Buddy Murphy goes next. Murphy says he doesn’t like Owens being rude to Shane and wants to slap the taste out of Owens’ mouth. Shane approves of this and declares Murphy no longer the best kept secret in Smackdown history.

Apollo Crews says no one likes Shane and gets called out by Zelina Vega, likely setting up a match with Andrade. Elias says that he is not Kevin Owens but New Day cuts him off. Kofi Kingston rants about how no one gets an opportunity under Shane. That’s enough for Shane, who says the town hall is over. Everyone leaves but Cesaro wants Aleister Black to pick a fight with him tonight. Shane makes the match in a hurry and Cesaro leaves. Cue Owens behind him and there’s the Stunner, after Owens misses Shane’s head on the first attempt. Owens runs off into the crowd to a rather positive reaction.

Aleister Black vs. Cesaro

Rematch from Sunday where Black won in a good match. Black flips away from Cesaro to start and has a seat as we take a break. Back with Cesaro holding a chinlock but Black fights up and hits the running moonsault for two. Cesaro kicks him in the face for the same and it’s off to a Crossface. That’s broken up and Black hits a knee, followed by Black Mass for the pin at 6:17. Not enough shown to rate but Black kicking another head off is a good thing.

Dolph Ziggler comes up to Shane in the back and says he wants to teach Owens a lesson tonight. That’s a no because Owens is probably long gone. Ziggler can get him back though, and it can be the main event tonight. That’s cool with Shane.

After Extreme Rules, Daniel Bryan ranted about how he failed in his quest to change the planet. If he still wants to do it, he has to go where Bryan has never gone before and he knows what he has to do. Bryan looked a little insane here.

Liv Morgan vs. Charlotte

Charlotte shoves her down to start so Morgan is right back up with a dropkick and a little wave. Liv gets in another knockdown for two but a heck of a powerbomb takes her down. The Figure Eight makes Liv tap at 2:26. Nice job of trying to push someone fresh but this is Charlotte’s world.

Post match Liv grabs a headset and says that Charlotte was right. When she comes back, she’s going to be real.

Ziggler finds Owens’ number.

Mandy Rose/Sonya Deville vs. Ember Moon/???

Moon needs a mystery partner and it’s…..Bayley. Mandy and Sonya jump them to start and Bayley gets choked on the ropes. Bayley fights back in a hurry and hands it off to Moon for the kicks to Mandy’s ribs. The Bayley to Belly sets up the Eclipse to finish Rose at 1:32.

Post match Bayley says she wants to elevate the division against someone she’s never faces before. She offers the Summerslam shot to Moon, who of course accepts.

Shinsuke Nakamura is proud of winning the Intercontinental Title and is free to rain chaos. Ali comes up to congratulate him and looks at the title.

Here’s New Day for a chat. Xavier Woods brags about Kofi retaining the title on Sunday but Kofi talks about the two of them winning the Tag Team Titles for the sixth time. They’re like three African American leprechauns with all the gold (Woods: “THESE ARE WHITE GOLD!”). They know what Daniel Bryan’s announcement and they accept the Tag Team Title rematch for right here and right now.

Cue Bryan and Rowan….but then they turn around and leave without saying anything. Then they come back, still say nothing, and leave again. They come back a third time but this time Bryan drops the mic without saying anything. Now it’s Samoa Joe coming out to say he’s ready for a championship opportunity. The New Day is throwing out title chances so Kofi can do the same right here tonight.

Hang on though as here’s Elias to cut him off. Elias says Joe has already gotten his shot but here’s Randy Orton to interrupt as well. He hasn’t had the title in a long time and will get it back with an RKO. Elias says they can’t all have title matches tonight but we can have a six man tag instead. New Day likes the sound of it, with each one getting in a playa for a bonus. Orton: “Nah. I’m good.” Kofi accuses the Viper of going limp and the match is on.

New Day vs. Elias/Samoa Joe/Randy Orton

Kofi elbows Elias in the face to start but an Orton distraction breaks up a cover attempt. Joe comes in and hammers away at Kofi but the running double stomp gives Kofi two. It’s off to Woods and New Day hits their parade of various jumping shots to Joe for two more. Elias comes back in and gets caught in the spanking abdominal stretch from Big E., followed by the Honor Roll to give Woods two of his own. Orton gets in a cheap shot from the apron though and Elias takes over.

Back from a break with Woods fighting out of a chinlock but not being able to make a tag. Elias’ superplex is broken up and Woods hits a missile dropkick, allowing the hot tag to Kofi to clean house on Orton. The RKO attempt is broken up as everything breaks down. Big E. gives Orton the belly to belly and Joe is low bridged to the floor. Woods follows with a big running flip dive but Joe grabs the Clutch. Elias tries the running knee on Big E. and doesn’t come close but Big E. goes down anyway. Back in and Trouble in Paradise hits Elias’ side, leaving Kofi to take the RKO for the pin at 9:25.

Rating: C. So we’re going with Orton vs. Kingston at Summerslam? They’re certainly going with the safe paths in the title matches at the pay per view and while that’s not the worst idea in the world, it’s also not the most thrilling one. Hopefully we get something interesting, but you never know how good something like this is going to be.

R-Truth is hiding in some kind of a box when Carmella comes to find him. He’s tired of hiding but she thinks he should hide in plain sight at Comic Con. Truth: “Don’t call me a con. I did my time and paid my debt to society.” Eventually he gets the idea.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Kabuki Warriors vs. IIconics

The Warriors are challenging and don’t even get an entrance. The IIconics are shown at ringside to start so this match really does mean as little as it seems. Shane chops Royce in the chest to start and Asuka adds a running knee for two. The running hip attack misses though and Kay hits a big boot for two. Asuka is right back with a spinning kick to the head to send her outside and the IIconics take the countout at 1:19.

Post match the Warriors destroy the champs even more.

Apollo Crews vs. Andrade

Crews jumps him before the bell and the beatdown is on in a hurry. Crews says he can go but gets knocked into the corner again. Andrade hits the running knees in the corner but Crews crucifixes him for the pin at :54.

We look back at Bray Wyatt’s return last night on Raw.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kevin Owens

The threat of a Stunner sends Ziggler outside for a flip dive but the Swanton hits raised knees back inside. Ziggler gets two off a Fameasser and the chinlock goes on. Owens fights up and hits a superkick, setting up the Swanton for a rather close two. Cue Shane with a small army behind him to surround the ring. Ziggler hits the Zig Zag off the distraction for two (I bought that as the finish) and Owens slaps him in the face.

Ziggler pounds away in the corner and sends Owens hard into the post (Shane: “That looks like that hurt.”). A superkick misses and Owens hits the Stunner, only to have Shane pull him out of the ring. Owens hits another Stunner on Shane on the floor before running away in a smart move at around 6:15.

Rating: D+. This was almost all storyline advancement but they had me on the Zig Zag. Thank goodness they didn’t go that way as it would have been the dumbest thing they could have done. Owens looked great coming out of last week and Extreme Rules, so thankfully they didn’t go in the wrong direction by having him get pinned here.

Shane promises to make Owens pay to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. The best thing I can say about this show is that nothing stupid happened. The right people won the matches (save for maybe Apollo) and there are some people they’re clearly interested in pushing. You can see most of the Summerslam card from here and I’d expect Owens vs. Shane in some kind of a loser leaves WWE match to be added soon. They did the right things here and it was certainly an energetic show, albeit nothing that did anything terribly memorable. All in all, not bad and better than Raw.

One very important note: According to Meltzer, Bischoff was NOT involved in this show in any way and was not even in town for it. No word on the reason for the delay, but this was not his debut episode.

Results

Aleister Black b. Cesaro – Black Mass

Charlotte b. Liv Morgan – Figure Eight

Bayley/Ember Moon b. Mandy Rose/Sonya Deville – Eclipse to Rose

Randy Orton/Elias/Samoa Joe b. New Day – RKO to Kingston

Kabuki Warriors b. IIconics via countout

Apollo Crews b. Andrade – Crucifix

Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler went to a no contest when Owens ran away

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Main Event
Date: July 11, 2019
Location: Prudential Center, Newark, New Jersey
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Renee Young, Sam Roberts

It’s time for more recapping moderateness as we see who else wasn’t good enough to make Raw this week. The big theme for this week is going to be setting up Extreme Rules, which is looking like a hit or miss show for the most part. I’m not sure what that means for this week, but you never can tell around here. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

Natalya vs. Tamina

Yeah I’m seeing why these two didn’t make Raw. Feeling out process to start with Tamina hipping her in the ribs but Natalya pops back up without much trouble. Sam: “Tamina is WWE’s answer to Amanda Nunes.” Nunes is possibly the greatest women’s MMA fighter of all time and is more or less unstoppable at the moment. So yeah, Sam is a moron.

Tamina grabs a wristlock but has to bail from a quick wristlock attempt. They head outside with Tamina blasting her with a clothesline and it’s off to the chinlock back inside. Sam talks about Tamina never getting what she deserves and I’m not touching that one. Natalya fights up and unloads in the corner but walks into the Samoan drop for two. In a decent power display, Natalya grabs a Michinoku Driver of all things for the pin at 6:20.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t even a bad match but WWE has to be kidding themselves if they think there is potential in Tamina. She’s not getting any younger, she has no credibility and she isn’t good in the ring. What in the world does she have going for her that would make the fans care about her, especially near the title picture? Nothing, which has been the case for years now.

From Raw.

Andrade/Zelina Vega vs. Becky Lynch/Seth Rollins

Elimination rules for the sake of the commercials. Becky takes Vega down without much trouble to start but gets caught in a DDT. Another toss sends Vega into the corner so it’s off to the men for a change. Andrade works on a wristlock but gets armdragged down as the announcers talk about the personal and professional damage that could take place should Becky and Seth lose on Sunday. Rollins sends him outside for the suicide dive, leaving Becky to Dis-Arm Vega for the tap at 4:57. Hang on though as Becky goes into the crowd to fight Lacey Evans and we take a break.

Back with Andrade stomping away as Becky isn’t allowed in the match anymore. So….the elimination rules are pretty much worthless no? Andrade goes up top and knocks away a superplex attempt, setting up the top rope double stomp for two. Seth is fine enough to hit the springboard knee to the head for two but Vega, still at ringside, gets in a headscissors.

Becky dives onto her until Andrade breaks it up. Seth freaks out but Andrade runs Becky over by mistake. The distraction lets Andrade hit the running knees in the corner for two but Becky goes after Vega again. That distraction is enough for the Stomp to finish Andrade at 14:13.

Rating: D+. I don’t remember the last story and feud that I can remember that was this much death for everyone involved. I don’t know who benefits from this or who thinks this is a great idea, but egads it isn’t working. Both Rollins and Lynch feel like they’ve lost a bunch of energy and Corbin brings down any segment where he appears. Find something fresh after Sunday, because my goodness this is a disaster.

Post match Baron Corbin jumps Rollins so Lynch goes after Corbin, allowing Evans to pop back in with the Woman’s Right. Paul Heyman comes out and we take a break.

We look back at the two Ricochet vs. AJ Styles matches.

From Raw.

Ricochet vs. Luke Gallows

Non-title. Before the match, Ricochet talks about AJ Styles turning on him and the beatdown from last week. He knows that’s going to happen this week as well so all three of them can get out here. That’s exactly what happens too but AJ grabs a mic of his own. AJ tells Ricochet to appreciate the moment because Gallows is about to give him another beating. Speaking of appreciating the moment, here’s a clip from last week’s beatdown.

Back in the arena, Gallows wastes no time in hitting a big chokeslam. The chinlock goes on and Gallows turns him inside out on a clothesline. AJ is very, very pleased with this beating. Gallows loads up a fall away slam but Ricochet slips out and reverses into a sunset flip for the pin at 2:59.

Hang on though as AJ says Ricochet can leave or fight Karl Anderson RIGHT NOW.

Ricochet vs. Karl Anderson

Non-title again. Anderson runs Ricochet over this time and gets two off a clothesline. The chinlock goes on again as AJ is rather pleased again this time around. This time the comeback is cut off with the spinebuster and Gallows adds a right hand. Ricochet nails him with a flip dive, followed by the middle rope moonsault to Styles. Back in and Anderson hits the post, leaving Ricochet to hit the 630 for the pin at 4:30.

Rating: D+. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere and while I like the idea of Ricochet getting some momentum, I could have gone without having him beat both Good Brothers in a row. That being said, they didn’t have many other options and at least the first one looked more like a fluke. Anderson and Gallows will be fine as big lackeys anyway.

Post match AJ hits a brainbuster on Ricochet, followed by the Magic Killer. AJ says he’s a good guy and leaves, but Ricochet gets up so it’s a Phenomenal Forearm for his efforts.

Video on Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe.

Heath Slater vs. Robert Roode

Roode takes him down without much effort and that means the GLORIOUS pose. Slater is right back up with the hip swiveling and a clothesline as the fans are treating this as you would expect them to treat a Robert Roode vs. Heath Slater match. Roode gets in some stomping in the corner and we take the abrupt break. Back with Slater making a comeback and getting two off a top rope clothesline. The jumping neckbreaker doesn’t work so Slater hits another clothesline for two. And never mind as Roode hits the Glorious DDT for the pin at 7:47.

Rating: D. What else were you expecting here? Slater is little more than a fun comedy guy and Roode has yet to find his footing in WWE despite having been here for years now. This felt a little more important than most Main Event main events but that doesn’t mean it’s a match worth seeing.

We recap Kevin Owens arriving at Smackdown, being ejected, and coming back to rant about Shane McMahon.

From Smackdown.

Roman Reigns vs. Dolph Ziggler

Hang on though because here are Shane, Drew and Elias to watch. Shane is on commentary as Ziggler kicks Reigns down to start and nails a quick Shot to the Heart. Roman fights back up and knocks Ziggler outside for the apron dropkick. A distraction lets McIntyre post Reigns though, which Shane just happened to miss. Back in and Ziggler gets two, followed by another Shot to the Heart for two. A neckbreaker is good for the same and we hit the chinlock.

Another neckbreaker is broken up, as is Ziggler’s running DDT. Reigns starts the comeback but has to Superman Punch Elias, allowing the Zig Zag to hit for two. The superkick is countered with a Superman Punch for two but Elias pulls Ziggler out before the spear. Reigns hits the no hands dive but goes too far and lands face first on the floor. Thankfully he pops up as Shane comes into the ring. Ziggler superkicks Reigns but here’s Owens for a Stunner to Shane. Reigns and Ziggler get back in so the spear can finish Ziggler at 8:48.

Rating: C-. The Owens interference breathed some much needed life into this one but it wasn’t doing well before then. Ziggler and Shane continue to feel like the annoying friends who tag along on everything you do whether you want them there or not. Shane is likely gearing up for a match against Owens at Summerslam and Ziggler….well he’ll be there too, likely saying the same things he always says.

Overall Rating: D. I’m never sure what to say on this show but this was another week that didn’t do anything more than fulfill its purpose in a rather dull way. There was nothing on this show that you need to see and I certainly wouldn’t go out of my way to see Tamina and Heath Slater. Hopefully things pick up under new management, which is certainly a possibility.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6