Monday Night Raw
Date: August 16, 2010
Location: Staples Center, Los Angeles, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler

This was a request for reasons not quite clear. It’s night after Summerslam and the big story is John Cena and company vanquished the Nexus, in a match that saw Cena overcome some rather insane odds. Other than that, Sheamus is still Raw World Champion, having retained the title over Randy Orton. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Here is the Nexus to get things going, with commentary saying that the team showed they belong despite losing last night. Wade Barrett (the team’s leader) says they beat SIX of the best that Raw had to offer last night (keep in mind that it was a 7 on 7 tag match) and they are still ready to dominate WWE. They were defeated and that means there will be consequences for Raw.

Cue John Cena, to say that Barrett has the resolve of Winston Churchill and the toughness of Snooki from the Jersey Shore. Cena brings up how Barrett tapped out to cause the team to lose. The reality is that Nexus is expendable and Barrett must be kicking himself in the fish and chips over letting Daniel Bryan go. Then last night Bryan eliminated over half of the Nexus by himself as they proved that Nexus can be defeated.

You have the various members of the team, such as Otunga (an above average male escort), Tarver (looks like a stripper), Heath Slater (the chick from Wendy’s…..so Wendy), Darren Young (a cross between Cena and Buckwheat), Justin Gabriel (he has an “alternative” way of thinking) and Skip Sheffield (who thinks the Meow Mix theme).

All that matters is they are a bunch of humans, with Young tapping out in less than a minute. We get an email from the anonymous Raw General Manager (egads the flashbacks), saying tonight it’s Team WWE vs. Nexus in a bunch of singles matches, with threats made against Nexus interference.

Barrett doesn’t like hearing that he tapped out, but promises that after tonight, Nexus will be stronger than ever. If any of them lose though, their spots might not be safe. Otunga says that’s fine, but if Barrett loses, someone else can step up and take the leadership. We get another email, saying Nexus can pick their matchups tonight. Except for Barrett that is, because he gets to face Chris Jericho. So there’s your show tonight, and they did it in about fifteen minutes. That’s fairly fast for some Raw opening segments.

Chris Jericho vs. Wade Barrett

Jericho kicks him down to start as the rest of Nexus is shown watching in the back. There’s the triangle dropkick to send Barrett outside but he’s able to knock Jericho off the apron for a breather. There’s a big boot to drop Jericho again and we hit the double arm crank. Jericho fights up and hits a middle rope dropkick, followed by the bulldog. A quick Wasteland attempt is countered into the Walls, sending Barrett straight to the rope. Back up and Jericho boots him in the face again, only to get caught with an enziguri. The Codebreaker is loaded up but Barrett reverses into the Wasteland for the clean pin.

Rating: C+. Jericho can be criticized for a lot of things, but he has a reputation as someone who will put just about anyone over. That is a big win for Barrett, especially after last night’s big loss. Barrett being able to hang with someone at Jericho’s level helps him a lot and they had a good match to show what Barrett can do.

This week’s guest hosts are Jason Sudekis, Charlie Day and Justin Long. They have a new moving coming out and seemingly have no idea what to talk about here so they just make weird noises. We hear some NBA insults before the team introduces the Hart Dynasty (Tag Team Champions).

Hold on though as we get another email. As of tonight, the Unified Tag Team Titles will now be known as the WWE Tag Team Titles, so here is Bret Hart with the new (bronze, because of course) titles. Thankfully that means dropping the dumb four belts for two people idea but here is Nexus on the screen. They have picked Hart’s opponent for tonight: Justin Gable, who promises a 450 to Bret. At least those morons were off quick.

We hear about Daniel Bryan replacing the injured Great Khali on Team WWE. No clip for that?

Michael Tarver vs. Daniel Bryan

Bryan goes after the arm to start as Cole goes off about Bryan having no skill or change of becoming a star because he doesn’t eat meat. The rapid fire kicks to the chest in the corner have Tarver in more trouble and a missile dropkick makes it worse. Cue Miz and Alex Riley for a distraction though, allowing Tarver to get the fast rollup pin.

Post match Bryan goes after the Miz but Riley and Tarver take him down. The Skull Crushing Finale onto Miz’s Money In The Bank briefcase leaves Bryan laying.

Post break Miz and Riley talk about how they don’t like Bryan’s popularity, with Miz promising that Riley will be the next breakout star.

Darren Young tells Nexus that he’ll be facing John Cena. Pep talking ensues.

Justin Gabriel vs. Bret Hart

Actually hold on as we get an email saying there is a replacement.

Justin Gabriel vs. Randy Orton

Orton (in his weird bare arms phase) powers him into the corner to start but Gabriel flips over him and starts kicking away. As Lawler tries to figure out what kind of animal Gabriel is poking here (before finally remembering the whole VIPER thing), Orton snaps off the powerslam and the hanging DDT. The RKO is loaded up but cue Sheamus for….not a DQ as Orton brawls with him into the crowd for the countout instead. Well that was a dumb way out of the stipulation.

Post match Orton goes back inside to RKO Gabriel. With that not being enough, Orton grabs a chair and unloads on Sheamus to blow off some steam. That’s not enough so Orton drops Sheamus with the RKO on the floor for a bonus.

Skip Sheffield/David Otunga vs. R-Truth/John Morrison

Morrison works on Otunga’s arm to start before grabbing a Russian legsweep. It’s off to Sheffield to powerslam Truth but Otunga comes back in and gets Downward Spiraled. Cole asks what a Truth/Morrison win would mean for the locker room’s psyche. I’m thinking….not much? Anyway Morrison comes back in to pick up the pace but Sheffield runs him over. One heck of a running clothesline finishes Morrison to keep Nexus undefeated.

Melina/Eve Torres/Gail Kim vs. Jillian/Maryse/Alicia Fox

Gail easily takes Maryse down to start and calls her a gold digger. A crossbody gives Gail two and it’s off to Melina, who is taken into the wrong corner. Fox hits her always nice looking northern lights suplex and the chinlock goes on. That’s broken up and Eve comes in with a bunch of dropkicks. Everything breaks down and Eve hits an enziguri out of the corner to drop Jillian. The moonsault is loaded up but Jillian rolls her up out of the corner for the big upset pin.

Edge isn’t surprised that he led Team WWE to victory last night but here is Heath Slater to interrupt. They’re facing each other tonight and Heath tries to get him to back out. That’s not going to work for Edge, who isn’t losing to a Wendy looking Edge wannabe. Heath decks him and leaves.

Edge vs. Heath Slater

Edge knocks him into the corner without too much trouble to start but Heath gets in a cheap shot. They head outside with Edge being sent into the barricade, followed by the armbar back inside. That’s broken up and Edge makes the clothesline comeback for two. Heath gets in his own clothesline for two, with a fan shouting “I HATE YOU HEATH SLATER! I HATE YOU!” Back up and Edge sends him (Heath, not the fan) outside but misses the baseball slide dropkick. The spear against the steps misses….and Heath beats the count back inside for the pin.

Rating: C-. Well that was nothing, but it’s getting more than a little tough to accept that after eliminating all seven members last night, Team WWE can’t beat a single member of the Nexus here. That doesn’t makes the most sense and it’s leading to some rather screwy finishes. This didn’t feel like something Edge would ever fall for and it’s not something I would buy him doing, which doesn’t exactly make for a strong finish.

Post match Edge hits a spear to blow off some steam.

The hosts are in the back with Great Khali and talk about long distances relationships (which is why Khali hasn’t been doing the Kiss Cam). Justin Long sees a picture of Khali’s girlfriend and the other hosts aren’t impressed. They then find out that Khali understands English, but he admits the girlfriend is ugly. Then he leaves with the Bellas. Cole: “WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT?”

Video on Summerslam week, including a bunch of charity stuff.

John Cena vs. Darren Young

No entrance for Young and that can’t be a good sign. Hold on though as cue Nexus to watch from the stage and Young gets two off a fast rollup to start. Young grabs a headlock and my goodness you can hear the spots being called despite a fairly rowdy crowd. Cena reverses into a headlock of his own but gets suplexed down, setting up a legdrop for two more. Cole: “Remember Young has to win this match.” Lawler: “I think Cena has to win this match.” Cole: “I agree with you.”

A clothesline and neckbreaker give Young two each and we hit the chinlock with a knee in the back. Back up and Cena….charges into an elbow in the corner as this has been one sided so far. Young drops a leg, Cena says “one more leg”, Young drops another leg. A northern lights suplex gets two more and Young is getting frustrated. With nothing else working, Young tosses him outside and then into the steps for a nine count. Back in and Cena quickly starts the comeback, setting up the Shuffle into the STFU for the tap.

Rating: C+. For someone who almost never got used on his own, Young can wrestle a decent match when he is given the chance. Granted having Cena call spots REALLY LOUDLY might have helped, but it was the best Young ever looked in WWE. At some point someone from Nexus had to lose and Young was the only one left by the end.

Post match the Nexus comes to the ring but let Cena go, instead circling Young. The big beatdown is on, with the Wasteland into the 450 splash destroying Young to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. Normally I like the idea of focusing on one thing throughout the show but this was extreme even by WWE standards. Other than the women’s match and some dumb stuff with the hosts, this was all about one storyline. Throw in Nexus dominating most of the show and this wasn’t exactly interesting, with Nexus dominating most of the show despite losing last night. Not a good show, as the Nexus story was instantly a lot lamer after the Summerslam loss. Focusing on a big story is fine, but you have to mix it up a bit.

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Monday Night Raw
Date: August 21, 2023
Location: Videotron Centre, Quebec City, Quebec, Canada
Commentators: Michael Cole, Wade Barrett

We are rapidly approaching Payback and the show does not have much set up as of yet. You can all but guarantee a few matches though, and that should be enough to build from over the next two Raw’s. Judgment Day did some smashing to end last week’s show and that is going to be an issue. Let’s get to it.

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

The opening recap looks at Judgment Day wrecking havoc to end last week’s show, despite having some problems.

Here is home province boy Sami Zayn to get things going, with the fans giving him a VERY long welcome. Sami soaks it all in for a special moment and FINALLY gets his first words in about nine minutes after the show came on the air. That would be a French greeting, but here is Judgment Day to interrupt. They surround the ring, but Sami says of course he didn’t come alone. Cue the returning Kevin Owens to clean house before issuing a challenge for a tag match tonight. One more French statement pops the crowd to wrap this up.

Matt Riddle/Drew McIntyre vs. New Day

Woods dropkicks Riddle down to start before it’s off to Kofi to face Drew. Kofi flips out of a clothesline and hits a dropkick, only to get tossed with an overhead suplex. The same things happens to Woods so Riddle gives him a bit hug. Then McIntyre suplexes him over the top for an even bigger crash on the floor.

We take a break and come back with Kofi working on Riddle’s arm. Riddle fights up so Kofi fights him off, setting up a top rope splash to the back. A jumping knee drops Kofi though but Riddle won’t tag. Instead he hits a fisherman’s superplex to Kofi….and here is Erik of the Viking Raiders to jump McIntyre. Kofi didn’t see it and Trouble In Paradises Riddle for the pin at 9:27.

Rating: C+. The ending is interesting as it’s almost like they’re trying to work on something similar to a division. That’s almost hard to fathom around here but if they get a few more teams in there, they might just have something going on for a change. Then again I have almost no reason to believe that McIntyre and Riddle are going to be a long term thing, so maybe this is yet another bit of false hope for tag wrestling.

Post match the Viking Raiders attack New Day but Riddle and McIntyre make the save.

JD McDonagh is with Finn Balor and is asked about the Judgment Day. Cue Rhea Ripley to say there is a Judgment Day meeting, meaning McDonagh isn’t included.

Video on Shayna Baszler, who wants to burn everything down.

We look back at Imperium vs. Alpha Academy last week.

Gunther is ready to take out Chad Gable tonight, as Gable will not make his own name at Gunther’s expense.

Otis and Maxxine Dupri give Chad Gable a pep talk.

Intercontinental Title: Chad Gable vs. Gunther

Gunther is defending and misses a chop in the corner to start. With that not working early on, Gunther takes him down by the arm for some early cranking. Gable slips out and manages to get to the apron, where a chop sends him hard to the floor as we take an early break. Back with Gable being sent chest first into the buckle but managing to kick his way out of the corner.

The armbar over the rope slows Gunther down, only to have him boot Gable out of the air. The big clothesline gives Gunther two but Gable’s crucifix gets the same. Gunther is right back with a sleeper but Gable powers up and grabs a belly to back suplex for a needed breather. A dragon screw legwhip sets up the ankle lock but Gunther kicks his way out.

Gable hammers away and now the German suplex gives him two. Back up and Gunther shoves him off the top for a crash into the barricade. Gunther follows him out and chops away but a big one only hits the post. Gable suplexes him over the barricade and wins by countout at 13:03.

Rating: B-. That’s an interesting way to go, as Gunther is still on the way towards the record, but having him lose in any way is a big blow. There is a good chance that this is going to set up a rematch, likely at Payback, and that will now have some more stakes. The good thing is Gable didn’t lose here to wrap it up, so this could have gone a lot worse.

Judgment Day argues over who should face Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn tonight, with Rhea Ripley not liking the arguing. She says to figure this out or she’ll do it for them.

Gunther yells at Imperium about the loss and wants them to figure it out.

Cody Rhodes isn’t sure what’s up with the Judgment Day and JD McDonagh….but let’s take this interview into the arena. Cody, in French, asks what the fans want to talk about but first he introduces himself to the new commentary team. As for tonight, he wants to see Judgment Day fall to Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and hopes the people will be in their corner. Like him or not, Cody eels like a star no matter what he is doing and it’s a great thing to see.

We get a video from Shinsuke Nakamura, who explains what he said to Seth Rollins last week. Rollins is someone who has everything he wants, but Nakamura said “I know about your back”. Nakamura knows how much pain Rollins is in and talks about the code tattooed on his back. As in the same back that is hurting. Is Rollins satisfied with his life? Watch your back. This was rather awesome and a very different side of Nakamura, in a good way.

John Cena is back on next week’s Smackdown.

Candice LeRae vs. Rhea Ripley

Indi Hartwell and Dominik Mysterio are here too. Ripley starts fast and runs her over, setting up an early Riptide. LeRae manages to counter into a DDT but Ripley is back with the Prism Trap (which Cole thinks is new) to finish LeRae at 1:15.

Post match here is Raquel Rodriguez on a crutch, which she throws at Ripley and then uses the bad leg to kick her down. Rodriguez takes her inside for the beating before announced that she is cleared and the match is set for Payback.

Tommaso Ciampa is tired of being so close to title shots but never getting there and that needs to change.

Here is Miz for a chat before his match. He talks about how he is a trendsetter around here and will be spoken about in twenty years. On the other hand you have LA Knight, who will be remembered as a flash in the pan. For now though, Miz gets to pick his own opponent, so here we go.

Miz vs. Akira Tozawa

Before the match, Miz says that it’s a shame the 24/7 Title, which Tozawa held, isn’t around anymore, because it’s perfect for LA Knight: an Attitude Era throwback. Tozawa says YEAH a lot and gets into a YEAH/REALLY duel. Miz kicks him in the face and now we can ring the bell. Cue LA Knight so Tozawa can dropkick Miz to the floor. Knight throws Miz some tissues and tells him to cry about that before Tozawa low bridges Miz outside. There’s the big suicide dive and Miz is in early trouble.

We take a break and come back with Knight on commentary and Miz firing off the kicks. Tozawa gets knocked outside for a dropkick through the ropes, but Miz stops to yell at Knight. Back in and Tozawa drops Miz with a kick, setting up a top rope backsplash. Miz gets the knees up but stops to yell at Tozawa, who rolls him up for the surprise pin at 7:11.

Rating: C. The match itself wasn’t the point but there is nothing wrong with a storyline advancement loss. This was about Miz getting too cocky and costing himself what should have been an easy win. You can always get something out of a loudmouth getting what is coming to him and that is exactly what we got here as Miz vs. Knight continues to loom in the future.

Post match Knight lays out Miz with the BFT.

Drew McIntyre is ready to split up the team with Matt Riddle but New Day comes in to talk them out of it (and dub the team McRiddle). New Day already has the Viking Raiders next week but Riddle and McIntyre can have them next. McIntyre doesn’t say no and Riddle will take that.

Rhea Ripley yells at Judgment Day again.

Here is Becky Lynch to be rather pleased at acing Trish Stratus in a cage match at Payback. For months, people have talked about the real difference between herself and Trish, and it all comes down to legacy. So what defines her legacy? It won’t be wins and losses or accomplishments, but rather survival. You can beat her but you cannot stop her because she will always fight.

She has some issues with Zoey Stark so cue Trish and Stark to interrupt. Trish talks about how thankful she is to this city….for nothing. It’s not like this is Montreal or Toronto so we get some Canadian jokes. Now she has a cage match with Becky and yeah she’s scared, but that has been the case before and she’s killed it.

Now Becky is going to see a new side of her, but wasn’t Becky going to say something about Zoey? Becky was indeed going to, because next week it’s a falls count anywhere match with Stark. They got the point across but there were some weird sounding parts to this. I’m not sure if they got lost in the script or what, but Trish sounded like she was on another planet at times.

Piper Niven again tells Chelsea Green that they’re partners and that’s that.

Video on Piper Niven.

Piper Niven/Chelsea Green vs. Kayden Carter/Katana Chance

Non-title. Green knocks Chance off the apron to start so Carter forearms her in the face. Niven tags herself in but gets kicked off the apron as she tries to come in. That leaves the illegal Green to get superkicked, setting up a splash off of Carter’s shoulders. Niven comes in and crossbodies Chance for the easy win at 1:24.

Seth Rollins confirms that his back injury is rather serious, with two fractured vertebrae and he doesn’t know how long he can keep doing this. If Nakamura wants to bring Rollins’ family into this though, he better be ready to face him man to man. Nakamura isn’t even here tonight, but next week, Rollins will be in the ring as the people are singing his song. This was a rather intense promo from Rollins and that was nice to see.

Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens vs. Judgment Day

Non-title and it’s….Damian Priest/Finn Balor, as per Rhea Ripley’s orders. This was so hard to figure out? Judgment Day runs into the ring and starts the brawl, complete with the opening bell. Zayn and Priest slug it out and head to the floor, where Zayn beats Balor up as well.

Back in and Zayn suplexes Balor before handing it off to Owens for the rapid fire right hands (the fans approve). Owens flip dives off the apron onto Priest and hits the Swanton on Balor back inside. The Stunner is broken up though and Balor hits the Sling Blade. Zayn fights back and takes down Priest but here is JD McDonagh to throw in the briefcase. Owens picks it off though and hits Balor for the DQ at 2:35.

Post match the beatdown is on until Cody Rhodes makes the save and I think you know where this is going.

Sami Zayn/Kevin Owens/Cody Rhodes vs. Judgment Day

Joined in progress with Cody uppercutting Dominik before it’s off to Zayn. Balor hammers away in the corner but gets dropped with a clothesline. Owens comes in but gets taken down as well, allowing Dominik to grab a chinlock. They go to the floor where Owens knocks him out of the air, only to have Rhea Ripley get in a slam to drop Owens again. Back in and Priest hits a clothesline for two as we take a break.

We come back with Owens dropping Balor onto the announcers’ table. They get back inside and Owens gets taken down again, this time for a chinlock. Owens fights out of that as well and hits a superkick, allowing the hot tag to Zayn to clean house. The tornado DDT gets two on Priest, leaving Ripley rather scared. South Of Heaven gives Priest two but he gets his knees up to cut off Dominik’s splash. Cody comes in for the Cody Cutter and it’s the Helluva Kick into the Stunner to finish Dominik at 14:24.

Rating: B-. As you might have expected, the match was pretty good but I’m having a hard time caring about these Judgment Day tag matches anymore. It feels like something that has been done to death and there isn’t much left to get excited about from them. They’re far from bad, but how many times now does it seem like we’ve seen the same thing over and over again?

The good guys celebrate to send the fans home happy.

Overall Rating: C+. This was the moving day edition of the show as they st up a bunch of stuff for the pay per view. At the same time, there was a lot of stuff that felt like it was designed to be used later rather than being important here. It’s not a bad show, but it’s the kind of show that really needed to be trimmed down with someone asking “and what about this person” during the writing process. It helped boost up Payback though, and that’s what it needed to do most.

Results
New Day b. Matt Riddle/Drew McIntyre – Trouble In Paradise to Riddle
Chad Gable b. Gunther via countout
Rhea Ripley b. Candice LeRae – Prism Trap
Akira Tozawa b. Miz – Rollup
Piper Niven/Chelsea Green b. Kayden Carter/Katana Chance – Crossbody to Chance
Judgment Day b. Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn via DQ when Owens used the Money In The Bank briefcase
Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn/Cody Rhodes b. Judgment Day – Stunner to Mysterio

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Monday Night Raw
Date: August 14, 2023
Location: Canada Life Center, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Commentators: Michael Cole, Wade Barrett

We are starting on the road to Payback and it is probably time to start getting towards the build to the show. If nothing else, we need some actual matches for the card and it wouldn’t surprise me to see that list built up a bit tonight. Other than that, the big showdown this week is Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch. Let’s get to it.

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

Here is Judgment Day, minus Finn Balor, to get things going. They agree that communication has been an issue, but as long as Damian Priest has the briefcase, they dictate what goes on around here. Priest isn’t happy with Balor not being here, so if they’re supposed to be a team, where is he? Cue JD McDonagh to interrupt and Priest immediately tells him to be careful.

McDonagh has a message from Balor: don’t worry about McDonagh, but rather Sami Zayn and Cody Rhodes. Rhea Ripley doesn’t want to take orders from anyone and Dominik is booed out of the building, despite it being part of NORTH AMERICA, meaning he is their champion. McDonagh goes to leave, but Ripley tells him to tell Balor that they need to talk. Cue Zayn to go after McDonagh, who posts Zayn’s bad arm to stop that cold.

Sami Zayn vs. JD McDonagh

Zayn is heavily favoring his arm, with that big bump on it from last week probably not helping things. A backdrop puts McDonagh down fast and a monkey flip sends him crashing into the ropes. McDonagh gets smart by going after the arm so Zayn tries to take it outside. The bad arm is sent into the announcers’ table and we take a break.

Back with McDonagh dropkicking him out of the air. Zayn hits a one armed Michinoku Driver but McDonagh is back with a Spanish Fly. The crossface goes on the bad arm but Zayn slips out and suplexes him into the corner. Cue Finn Balor for a distraction so McDonagh can roll him up for two, followed by a headbutt to drop Zayn. The raised boots block a moonsault though and, after kicking Balor down, Zayn finishes with a Helluva Kick at 11:43.

Rating: B-. This was even more impressive when you consider Sami wrestled the match with one good arm. That is a heck of a lot more than some could do and to top it off, they didn’t go with the distraction finish. This went pretty well and I could go with seeing it again when Sami is healthy. At the same time, that is a heck of a blow to McDonagh, who still doesn’t have his footing around here in the first place.

Adam Pearce seems ready to strip Chelsea Green of the Women’s Tag Team Titles but she cuts him off and threatens to call human resources. Green wants to hold talent auditions to find her new partner but Katana Chance and Kayden Carter come in. They want the first shot at the new champs, but here is Piper Niven to drop both of them. She says she is the new partner and takes one of the titles. Green agrees, seemingly out of fear.

Video on Imperium.

Cody Rhodes is ready for Finn Balor tonight and is ready to bring it in Winnipeg, as he hasn’t been here in a long time.

Here is Imperium, with Gunther standing on the announcers’ table, for a chat. Gunther talks about how hard he has to work to build the title, and says that as a European, he is always looking forward to come to Canada. Then he walked the streets of Winnipeg this morning and gets why no one likes it here.

For now though, he wants to address Chad Gable, who impressed him last week. In general, Gable has worked hard for years and is a former Olympian. But Gunther has achieved more in a year than gable has in his entire career. Cue the Alpha Academy, with Gable talking about how Gunther put him on the clock a few weeks ago. Well now he Gunther is on the clock because he is less than a month away from the longest Intercontinental Title reign ever.

Gable is chasing him down though and he has been looking for a chance for ten years now. Tonight though it’s Gable vs. Giovanni Vinci so get that big bald head in here. Before the match, Ludwig Kaiser promises that Gable will be embarrassed and then hits on Maxxine Dupri again. He is willing to rescue her from becoming an absolute embarrassment and gets slapped in the face for his efforts.

Giovanni Vinci vs. Chad Gable

Gable goes for the arm to start but a leapfrog is countered into a powerslam for two. A belly to back suplex puts Gable down and a backbreaker gets two more. Gable loses a chop off in the corner but comes back with some strikes of his own. Gable’s moonsault misses so Vinci hits one of his own for two. Not that it matters as Gable is right back with Chaos Theory for the pin at 5:04.

Rating: C+. This is all you need to do with Gable: give him a nice win and make him look like more and more of a threat to Gunther as the title match gets closer. It’s a very simple formula and even if Gable winning the title feels like a long shot at best, they’re setting it up in the right way. Good enough here and that’s all it needed to be.

Post match Gunther says he’s not done and wants Otis right now.

Otis vs. Gunther

Non-title. Otis starts with the giggling so Gunther powers him into the corner. A headlock slows Otis down and Gunther forearms him in the back to send it to the ropes. Gunther slowly pounds him down but the chops wake Otis up a bit. They trade big clotheslines until Otis grabs a fall away slam. The Caterpillar is broken up by a no great looking basement dropkick. Instead Gunther kicks him in the head and manages a powerbomb for the pin at 5:08.

Rating: C+. That powerbomb alone was worth a look and Gunther was selling the Otis goofiness well enough. The good thing here is that there wasn’t much of it to be seen, as Otis was wrestling a pretty straight power style (jiggling aside). Nice enough match here as Gunther got to show off, which is always nice to see.

Post match Gable comes in to after the villains but Gunther gets away.

Damian Priest and Finn Balor are annoyed at each other but Rhea Ripley yells at the to get their killer instinct back. JD McDonagh tries to come up but Priest scares him off. Balor is ready to get the instinct back tonight by beating Cody Rhodes.

We look at the Bloodline drama from Smackdown, with Jey Uso standing tall and then quitting.

Earlier today, Drew McIntyre was interrupted by Matt Riddle, who thinks they can be a great team. He has already accepted a match against the Viking Raiders and asks Drew about being his partner. Drew finally cuts him off and says he’ll consider it if no one else will.

Video on Indi Hartwell.

Drew McIntyre/Matt Riddle vs. Viking Raiders

Cole thinks they should be called the High Landers. Riddle starts for the team and is quickly sent outside, where the Raiders run him over. We take a break and come back with Riddle striking away but getting beaten down again. Riddle knees his way out of trouble and brings McIntyre back in to clean house, including a suplex and neckbreaker.

A Michinoku Driver gets two on Ivar The Claymore is cut off by a distraction and Erik punches McIntyre in the face. Riddle tags himself back in and the springboard clothesline/German suplex combination gives Ivar two. A belly to back suplex is broken up and it’s back to McIntyre as everything breaks down. Riddle’s Floating Bro hits Ivar, leaving McIntyre to Claymore Erik for the pin at 9:27.

Rating: B-. Nice stuff here, and they didn’t even have McIntyre turn on Riddle. While I could see that taking place down the road, I guess we might be getting them as a regular team for the time being. McIntyre needs something to do, though I’m really not sure if that is going to be a mostly goofy tag team. For now though, nice start at least and McIntyre got the pin.

Video on Rhea Ripley attacking Raquel Rodriguez.

Rodriguez gives Indi Hartwell a pep talk.

Matt Riddle and Drew McIntyre talk about wanting the Tag Team Titles but New Day cuts them of and says that’s not how it works. Xavier Woods goes on a rant about how everything is going nuts around here so a tag match is made for next week. New Day’s dancing almost cracks Drew up. Riddle: “The Glas Bro’s accept.”

Rhea Ripley vs. Indi Hartwell

Non-title and Dominik Mysterio/Candice LeRae are the seconds. Ripley throws her around to start but misses a charge into the corner. Hartwell’s spinebuster gets two and they go outside, with Ripley posting her as well. Ripley decks Candice and finishes with Riptide at 2:57.

Here is Shinsuke Nakamura to explain his attack on Seth Rollins last week. Nakamura speaks Japanese before switching to English to say he wants the title. Cue Rollins to say he didn’t like that but if Nakamura wants a title shot, all he has to do is ask. Rollins is a fighting champion and Nakamura can have the title shot whenever, so just name the date. They shake hands and Nakamura says something we can’t hear, which has Rollins confused. Rollins turns to face him again but Nakamura his him with Kinshasa and leaves.

Miz does not approve of the idea that LA Knight showed him up last week. He asks if Byron Saxton is an LA Knight guy now. Saxton: “Yeah.” Miz: “DON’T SAY YEAH!” Miz promises to beat someone next week on Raw.

Trish Stratus vs. Becky Lynch

Zoey Stark is banned from ringside. Becky hammers away to start but Trish uses the face mask for a weapon. Some chops in the corner rock Becky but she’s back with a Bexploder. They go to the floor and Becky strikes away before knocking the mask off back inside. Trish catches her on top but can’t quite get the Stratusphere. The second attempt works a bit better and Becky gets sent into the steps.

Stratus tries to use the mask again but Becky takes it away, only to get choked on the middle rope. We take a break and come back with Becky hitting the top rope legdrop as Trish is draped in the ropes. Trish hits a spear but it’s too early or Stratusfaction. A tornado DDT is blocked as well so Becky gets two off a superplex. They fight out into the crowd and that’s a double countout at 11:30.

Rating: C. Oh boy that’s quite the ending, as this feud has more or less died in recent weeks and now it’s going to continue until Payback (more than likely). I’m not sure how WWE sees that much heat in this thing as it’s already been going on for months. The match itself was ok enough, but I really don’t get this continuing.

Post match the brawl continues into the concourse, with Becky beating hr up at the merchandise stand. The Manhandle Slam is broken up by Zoey Stark, who leaves Trish hanging on a high five. Lynch gets dropped with the Chick Kick and the villains leave.

Gunther yells at Imperium for their screwups tonight and says he’ll defend the title against Chad Gable next week.

Adam Pearce yells at Trish Stratus and Zoey Stark. We’ll get Trish vs. Becky Lynch again, this time inside of a steel cage.

Cody Rhodes vs. Finn Balor

Balor goes to the arm to start and cranks away a bit to keep Rhode sin some early trouble. Back up and Balor chops him into the corner, where he throws in some shoulders to the ribs for a bonus. The chinlock goes on to keep Cody in trouble as this is mostly one sided to start. Cody fights up so here are Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley for a distraction. Balor gets in a dropkick through the ropes and we take a break.

Back with Cody fighting back and hitting a hard shot to the face, only to have Damian Priest come out as well. Cody kicks away from 1916 but gets caught with the Sling Blade. The shotgun dropkick sends Cody into the corner but the Coup de Grace misses. The Cody Cutter connects so Priest grabs the leg for a distraction. Cody’s dive hits Balor and Priest but Balor is back with a superplex. Dominik slides in a chair, which is cut off by the referee. Priest slides in the briefcase, which Cody cuts off and uses on Balor. The Cross Rhodes finishes Balor at 13:57.

Rating: B-. Another good enough but not quite great match here, as Cody using the briefcase is a bit more acceptable when he’s already down 4-1. The Judgment Day’s issues continue and now we get to see if their next step is fixing things or falling apart. For now though, Cody gets a win as he’s waiting for his next big opponent.

Post match the beatdown is on but Sami Zayn runs in for the save. JD McDonagh runs in to break that up and Cody is taken out with South of Heaven. The big beatdown keeps going to end the show with Judgment Day posing. Again: that only works so well when Balor just got beat.

Overall Rating: C+. This was the show about setting up things for the future rather than having much big going on here. You can probably figure out a few of the Payback matches from here and odds are they’ll be made by this time next week. That being said, what we got did work with some good enough matches and the stories being built up well enough. Not a bad show, but probably a skippable one.

Results
Sami Zayn b. JD McDonagh – Helluva Kick
Chad Gable b. Giovanni Vinci – Chaos Theory
Gunther b. Otis – Powerbomb
Drew McIntyre/Matt Riddle b. Viking Raiders – Claymore to Erik
Rhea Ripley b. Indi Hartwell – Riptide
Becky Lynch vs. Trish Stratus went to a double countout
Cody Rhodes b. Finn Balor – Cross Rhodes

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Smackdown
Date: May 30, 2008
Location: World Arena, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Commentators: Mick Foley, Michael Cole

It’s the final show before One Night Stand and as was the case last week, the show is completely set up. There isn’t much more than needs to be said around here as Edge vs. Undertaker in a TLC match sells itself. Other than that, Batista vs. Shawn Michaels in a stretcher match is already there so it should be time for the big final push towards Sunday. Let’s get to it.

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

Edge joins us to start and says he will be introducing a series of clips of the Undertaker throughout the night, because this will be Undertaker’s last night on Smackdown. It will also be his first time on the Cutting Edge, which could be fascinating. Ok more like moderately interesting but fascinating sounds better.

Opening sequence.

Here is Batista to get things going and the fans seem rather happy to see him. Batista doesn’t have much to say because the time for talking is LONG gone. If nothing else, he is a man of his word and on Sunday he is going to hurt Shawn Michaels. Some people will have a problem with that but he hopes they can find it in their hearts to forgive him. After that, the winner of the TLC match between Batista and Undertaker….and here is Vickie Guerrero, with the Edgeheads, to cut him off.

Vickie says that it’s great for Batista to be looking at the future, but maybe he’ll be drafted to Raw. On top of that, what if he loses to Shawn Michaels and his bag of trick (Bag of tricks?)? He would humiliate all of Smackdown and VICKIE WOULD LOOK BAD! Batista cuts off whatever she is demanding and says this has nothing to do with her. This is about Batista vs. Shawn Michaels so go worry about Edge. The Edgeheads are ready to fight, but Vickie makes a tag match later, with Batista getting to pick his partner.

We look at Undertaker debuting at Survivor Series 1990.

Matt Hardy vs. Elijah Burke

Non-title. Burke knocks him into the corner to start but Hardy slugs his way out of trouble. That earns Hardy the Four Up before Burke rains down more right hands. The chinlock goes on for a bit until Hardy fights up. Burke drops him with a clothesline for two and we hit the chinlock with a knee in Hardy’s back. Hardy finally suplexes his way to freedom but it’s too early for the middle rope elbow. Instead Hardy settles for two off a Side Effect but Burke blocks the bulldog out of the corner. Not that it matters as Hardy grabs the Twist of Fate for the pin.

Rating: C. Not much to see here as they only had so much time and a lot of it was spent on punches. This felt like a way to get Hardy on the show but it would have been nice if the match had been a bit better. Burke has been pretty much nothing for a good while now so the title not being on the line here made a bit more sense.

MVP says no one cares about Matt Hardy but Jamie Noble interrupts. Noble thinks they’re a lot alike but MVP doesn’t want to hear it. A match is made for later.

Finlay vs. Chuck Palumbo

Hornswoggle is here with Finlay. Palumbo kicks away to start and hits a heck of a right hand in the corner. Finlay ducks a charge though and Palumbo goes shoulder first into the post. Some arm cranking ensues and they head outside with Finlay sending him arm first into the steps. Back in and Palumbo hits one heck of a big boot for two, with Finlay’s arms rolling back into his head. Finlay’s eyes are fine enough to see Palumbo going to the floor off a running clothesline. That means it’s time to go after Hornswoggle, followed by a chain to Finlay’s face for the DQ.

Rating: C. Well they’re certainly trying with Palumbo and having him take it to Finlay like this was a good way to go. They’re having a nice enough mini feud and even though I don’t think it’s going to be some big breakthrough for Palumbo, I can go for some fresh feuds like this one. Just throw some people out there and see what happens.

Jamie Nobel comes into Vickie Guerrero’s office and is granted a match with MVP without much trouble. He thinks its too simple so Vickie and the Edgeheads tell him to get out.

We look at Undertaker throwing Mankind off of the Cell. Foley being on commentary to talk about how important that was helps a bit.

John Morrison vs. CM Punk

The Miz is here with Morrison. Well in theory at least as the referee ejects him before the bell. Punk grabs a fast rollup for two before kicking Morrison down. Back up and Morrison hits a running shoulder, setting up a kick to the head for two. A seated full nelson goes on but Punk is right back up with the running knee into the corner. The bulldog back out of the corner gets two but Morrison cuts him off again. Punk is fine enough to reverse a suplex though and the GTS is good for the fast pin.

Batista/??? vs. Edgeheads

Batista…doesn’t need a partner so here is Vickie to say this can be a handicap match. Actually scratch that, as Batista said he doesn’t need a partner, but he does have one.

Batista/Big Show vs. Edgeheads

Show wheels Vickie to the back before heading to the ring. Hawkins slugs away at Batista to start and is quickly run over. Batista drives him into the corner for the shoulders to the ribs and Show adds the chop. It’s off to Ryder, who is pulled in (by the head, off the floor) for one heck of a chop. Batista easily fights out of the corner and a cheap shot just earn Hawkins a spinebuster. The chokeslam finishes as Show chokeslams Ryder for a bonus.

Rating: C-. Total squash here, and what els were you expecting it to be? Batista winning this on his own wouldn’t have been a stretch so bringing in a fellow monster like Show made it some entertaining destruction. I’m not sure how much it helps get them ready for their One Night Stand matches, but at least they got to do this first.

We look at Undertaker winning the 2007 Royal Rumble after an incredible finish with Shawn Michaels.

Cherry is rather banged up after Maryse kicked her in the face last week. Maryse comes into the trainer’s room and says she hurt her ankle…when she kicked Cherry.

One Night Stand rundown.

MVP vs. Jamie Noble

MVP stomps him down in the corner to start but Noble grabs a leglock. A shot to the ribs and a faceplant bangs up said ribs even more. Noble gets whipped hard into the corner and we hit the abdominal stretch. The big kick to the head is cut of with a kick to MVP’s knee though and a Cannonball (“Throwing your body at your opponent” according to Cole or “upside down back spasm” according to Mick.) rocks him again. A high crossbody hits Noble but MVP drops him ribs first across the top. The big boot finishes Noble.

Rating: C+. I liked this more than I was expecting as Noble was working (as usual) and they even had something of a story between the ribs vs. knee. This was a match that got more effort than it probably needed but it wound up being pretty nice. MVP needs something to do, though I’m not sure what that could be at the moment.

Undertaker beat Batista at Wrestlemania XXIII.

Vladimir Kozlov vs. Shannon Moore

Kozlov chops him down without much trouble. Moore fights back but gets knocked out of the air. A belly to belly overhead suplex sets up the reverse DDT to keep Kozlov undefeated.

Vince McMahon is giving away money starting next week on Raw.

Michelle McCool vs. Maryse

Deuce N Domino are here with Maryse. McCool fireman’s carries her down, with Foley saying that’s the same thing he used to do. A sunset flip doesn’t work for Maryse as McCool rolls through and hits a basement dropkick. Back up and Maryse chokes in the corner but gets knocked down again. Deuce N Domino offer a distraction so Maryse can take out the let and grab a half crab. Cue Cherry for a distraction though, allowing McCool to switch into a heel hook for the fast tap. These matches still aren’t great, but you can see McCool getting better.

We look back at Edge cashing in Money In The Bank on Undertaker last year.

It’s time for the Cutting Edge, with the World Title above the ring, with a ladder set up. Edge is a little more serious than usual here and talks about his feud with the Undertaker over the last year. It all ends on Sunday because it has to, and Undertaker will be gone from WWE. And FOR REAL this time, not just a few months.

It comes down to experience in the match, and we see a video of the two of them in TLC matches. In other words, a blank screen for Undertaker’s half and a bunch for Edge (with an Indiana Jones theme for some reason). Edge finally brings out Undertaker, who makes his rather slow way to the ring and doesn’t seem overly happy. Edge knows that Undertaker isn’t comfortable about all these things, so here is La Familia with a casket to make him feel better.

Undertaker slugs Edge down and the fight is on, with Undertaker fighting through the numbers game. That just lets Edge chair Undertaker in the back, as well as the head, to put him down. More chair shots let them put Undertaker in the casket, leaving Edge to (slowly) climb the ladder. Before he can grab the belt though, the gong strikes and the lights go out. Undertaker is on top of the ladder and house is quickly cleaned. Hawkins is Last Rided through a table to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This was mainly about Edge vs. Undertaker, which went better than I expected given that they’ve been feuding for months now. Other than that you didn’t get much of a build for Sunday, though there were a few decent enough matches. The Edge vs. Undertaker stuff was good enough, but this was a skippable show as you would be better off just going straight to the pay per view.

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Monday Night Raw
Date: August 7, 2023
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: Michael Cole, Wade Barrett

We’re done with Summerslam and the wasn’t much on the Raw side. Finn Balor again failed to win the World Title from Seth Rollins, Damian Priest still has the Money In The Bank briefcase and Cody Rhodes beat Brock Lesnar again. Payback is in about a month and that means it’s time to start the build up. Let’s get to it.

Here is Summerslam if you need a recap.

Long Summerslam recap video.

We’re commercial free for the first hour.

Here is Cody Rhodes to get things going. Cody talks about how he was face to face with one of Minneapolis’ own at Summerslam and defeated him when he beat Brock Lesnar. After the match, Lesnar shook his hand, which was Lesnar ACKNOWLEDGING him. Now Rhodes feels like he could beat anyone in the world….and here is Seth Rollins to interrupt. Rollins (in yellow sunglasses and what look like massive yellow Crocs) to say he is thanking Cody for helping him, but let’s put this “I can beat anyone” to the test.

Cue Judgment Day (minus Finn Balor) to say they run Raw, including determining the title matches. Dominik Mysterio is the REAL workhorse around here. Dominik takes the mic but Balor runs in through the crowd and the beatdown is on. Sami Zayn runs in for the save and the good guys stand tall. Cody throws out the challenge for the six man main event.

Earlier today, Ricochet complained to Adam Pearce about Logan Paul’s brass knuckles. Pearce can’t do anything, but Chad Gable, Riddle and Tommaso Ciampa all come in to interrupt. It’s a four way and the winner gets an Intercontinental Title shot against Gunther. Everyone gets in their promises of winning.

Ricochet vs. Matt Riddle vs. Chad Gable vs. Tommaso Ciampa

One fall to a finish and the winner gets a future Intercontinental Title shot. Feeling out process to start with no one getting anywhere. Gable and Riddle grab stereo ankle locks but Ricochet and Ciampa make the ropes. That leaves us with Riddle vs. Gable but Ciampa is back in to send Gable outside. Ricochet drops Ciampa with a springboard clothesline for two but Riddle gets the same off a fisherman’s buster.

Gable is back in to faceplant Riddle for two, with Ciampa coming back in with a reverse DDT or two. Ricochet flips out of the Fairy Tale Ending and the Benedriller gets two more. Everyone goes to the corner for a huge Tower Of Doom, with Ricochet bouncing off the mat for a rather funny facial. Gable ankle locks Ciampa, whose rope grab means nothing. Instead Riddle makes the save and knees Gable but has to take Ricochet out instead.

Another knee rocks Ciampa and a superplex makes it worse. Gable and Ricochet both come off the top but dive onto knees, giving Riddle and Ciampa stereo two counts. Ricochet hits a big flip dive to the floor but dives back into Ciampa’s kick to the face. Project Ciampa gets two so Riddle hits the Bro Derek, with Gable making the save off a top rope splash. Gable is back up with Chaos Theory to Ciampa for the pin at 10:06.

Rating: B. The action was pretty much non-stop here and it was cool to see these four getting to showcase what they can do. Gable, the hometown boy, gets another shot at Gunther, which makes last week’s loss a bit more questionable. Leave the five minute time limit thing alone and it would work but instead we’re getting a rematch after Gunther already beat him. Either way, good match here, with all of the moves you could want.

Post match Gable gets to celebrate, even carrying his son around the ring.

Video on Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar.

Sami Zayn has to play peacemaker between Cody Rhodes and Seth Rollins. They’re cool enough to work together to fight the Judgment Day, but Sami doesn’t buy it.

Video on Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso.

Miz is told he has to wait as LA Knight has a photo shoot.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Bronson Reed

Reed powers him up against the ropes to start and runs Nakamura over. Nakamura’s shots to the face have little effect as Reed shoulders him down again. Back up and Nakamura hits a running knee into a sliding kick to the face. Good Vibrations shakes Reed up but he runs Nakamura over again as we take a break (it’s not the end of the first hour yet but I guess picture in picture doesn’t count as a commercial).

Back with Nakamura hitting the middle rope knee and scoring with a running kick to the chest for two. Reed grabs a running powerbomb for the same and a Death Valley Driver gets two more. Nakamura’s spinning kick barely grazes Reed, who hits a hard clothesline. The Tsunami misses though and back to back Kinshasas finish Reed at 11:51.

Rating: C+. This has been a nice feud but I don’t really need to see them fight again. It’s also more than a little weird that Nakamura was showing no signs of last week’s heel turn, which had been built up for a few weeks. Reed losing again isn’t great, but at least Nakamura took some work to put him down. Just let them both move on.

We look back at Rhea Ripley attacking Raquel Rodriguez in recent weeks.

Ludwig Kaiser comes in to the Alpha Academy locker room to suggest that Maxxine Dupri (here alone) would be better off with Imperium (or at least Kaiser). She slaps him in the face and Otis pops up to issue the challenge for tonight. Deal.

Here is Becky Lynch for a chat. She is tired of dealing with Trish Stratus and she is ready to wrap this up next week. It’s the greatest of the previous generation vs. the greatest of this generation (and the next and the next and the next) but here is Zoey Stark to interrupt. She doesn’t like all of this badmouthing Trish, but Becky says Trish is just using her. Stark: “You are d*** right. I am good at what I do!” She rants about how great she is until Shayna Baszler interrupts.

Baszler is a bit banged up but she says you should see Ronda Rousey. Well you can’t, because she got rid of Rousey at Summerslam (Becky approves). Stark says Baszler looks like a tough punching bag, which Becky thinks are fighting words. Cue Adam Pearce to agree. Not the best exchange here, as none of them were exactly feeling it on the mic.

Before the match, we get a long video on Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins.

JD McDonagh is in the back with Finn Balor when Damian Priest interrupts. Priest wants to know what was up with Balor making his own plans earlier. They argue over Balor’s loss, with Priest saying Balor is crowding him. Balor: “That contract is crowding both of us.” Rhea Ripley breaks it up, saying they need to act like men. McDonagh tries to intervene, saying that if the briefcase is coming between them, maybe Priest should get rid of it.

Shayna Baszler vs. Zoey Stark

Becky Lynch is having some lemonade at ringside. Feeling out process to start with Baszler knocking her down without much effort. Back up and Stark kicks away at a variety of Baszler’s injuries, meaning the chinlock can go on. Baszler fights up and hits a few kicks to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Baszler fighting out of a chinlock and making the clothesline comeback. Stark kicks her in the face for two but Baszler grabs a gutwrench suplex for two more (Becky approves). The Kirifuda Clutch sends Stark outside but Becky offers a distraction, allowing Baszler to kick her in the ribs and eventually hit a Piper’s Pit (now the World’s Baddest Slam) for the pin at 12:42.

Rating: C-. This was a good bit longer than it needed to be. I’m not sure if they were playing up the idea that Baszler is hurt and can’t take out Stark like she usually would, but it wasn’t exactly a great first match for Baszler after the big Rousey victory. Baszler can do better than that, but she needs to be more of a killer than all hobbled around.

Becky toasts Baszler’s win.

Shinsuke Nakamura is being interviewed when we cut to JD McDonagh attacking Sami Zayn, who has a HUGE lump on his elbow (that’s either a bad dislocation or a bursa sac).

Otis vs. Ludwig Kaiser

Maxxine Dupri and Giovanni Vinci are here too. Kaiser punches him into the corner to start but Otis gyrates his way out and grabs a slam. Otis hammers away in the corner but Vinci offers a distraction, allowing Gunther to come in with a cheap shot. Kaiser hits an enziguri and gets the pin at 2:57.

Seth Rollins and Cody Rhodes almost argue over who gets to say that Sami Zayn isn’t cleared to compete tonight, so it’s 3-2. Shinsuke Nakamura comes up and offers to be their partner. Rollins agrees without getting Rhodes’ approval.

Here is Miz for a chat. He doesn’t get what is going on here because the fans suddenly love LA Knight. Why is he waiting behind someone like Knight? You’re supposed to introduce yourself when you get here and pay respect to those who came before you. Knight did NOT do any of that and he is tired of the lack of respect.

Cue Knight to say he thought the battle royal was enough of an introduction but sticks out his hand anyway. Miz says no, because Knight doesn’t deserve to shake his hand. He calls Knight the flavor of the month, but Miz thinks Knight is just an Attitude Era fanboy playing cosplay in the middle of his ring. Knight says you don’t want to make this personal so Miz goes on a rant about what he has been doing for the last twenty years.

That sounds personal to Knight, who talks about spending the last twenty years making himself a dangerous man on the outside while WWE bet on all of the wrong horses. Like Miz for instance. He’s been waiting for the right chance to come in but Miz got a twenty year head start because he’s safe. Yeah Miz has won a bunch of stuff and good for him, but Knight hasn’t been here yet. Now Knight is on the rise and Miz’s career is in the toilet. Knight is fine with making Miz a stepping stone (and he doesn’t mean the little ones down there).

Miz goes on a rant about being the main event, so Knight says prove him wrong. The jacket comes off and Miz throws it at him to start the fight. Knight reverses the Skull Crushing Finale into Blunt Force Trauma to knock Miz silly. Knight shakes his hand on the mat for a bonus. This was a good comeback promo from Knight, who has the charisma to make this work, but the Miz stuff needs to be a one off match and not a feud.

Here are the Viking Raiders for an open challenge.

Viking Raiders vs. New Day

Valhalla is here with the Raiders and this is the first New Day match since before Wrestlemania. Woods kicks away at Erik to start before handing it off to Kofi for the same. A Valhalla distraction lets Ivar kicks Woods in the face and it’s a top rope splash to give Ivar two. The beating continues until Woods manages a tornado DDT to escape.

Kofi comes back in for the Boom Drop but misses Trouble In Paradise. The SOS gets two but Ivar splashes him in the corner, allowing Erik to knee him in the face for two. Back up and Kofi kicks Erik in the face, setting up Trouble In Paradise into the Limit Break to give Woods the pin at 5:37.

Rating: C+. It’s nice to have Kofi and the New Day back as the team can be slotted into any spot you want. They’re automatically near the top of the depth chart and that should make for a better future for the tag division. If Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens are both out of action, New Day getting the titles again soon wouldn’t be out of the question.

Shayna Baszler interrupts a Becky Lynch interview and says she’ll be coming for The Man sooner than later. Lynch says she’s not hard to find.

New Day is glad to be back and teaches interviewer Jackie Redmond their dance.

Sonya Deville has torn her ACL and is out indefinitely, meaning the future of the Women’s Tag Team Titles isn’t clear.

Judgment Day vs. Shinsuke Nakamura/Cody Rhodes/Seth Rollins

During the entrances, here is Raquel Rodriguez to jump Rhea Ripley. Indi Hartwell and Candice LeRae are here to help try and break it up but Ripley jumps both of them off, meaning it’s Candice going after Ripley instead. They’re broken up, with Ripley throwing her shoe at Candice.

After a break we get down to the actual match (after Cole says Wrestlemania is coming to the northeast for the first time in eleven years, as math is no longer his strong suit), with Nakamura dropping Dominik for an early two. We take a break and come back with Nakamura in trouble and not quite being able to fight his way out. Nakamura finally manages to kick his way over to Rollins for the tag so house can be cleaned for a bit. Priest can’t get the Broken Arrow so Rollins hits the Falcon Arrow for two.

Rollins hits some suicide dives but springboards into an uppercut, allowing Priest to hit the swinging Downward Spiral. With Rollins outside, Balor shotgun dropkicks him into the barricade and we take a break. Back with Rhodes coming in to pick up the pace but Balor catches him with the reverse DDT for two. The Cody Cutter gives Rhodes the same but Priest uses the briefcase to break up Cross Rhodes. Cue Sami Zayn (with a taped up elbow) to jump Priest, allowing Rollins to superkick the briefcase into Balor’s face. Cross Rhodes finishes Balor at 14:22.

Rating: B-. This was your main event tag match and that’s all it needed to be given the kind of weird circumstances. What mattered here was giving the good guys a win as Rollins is now about as ready as he can be to move on to someone else. Nakamura’s heel turn seems to have been kind of dropped after last week but maybe they’re planning something for later with him.

Rollins and Rhodes reluctantly shake hands and the good guys celebrate…until Nakamura Kinshasas Rollins to end the show. Well I guess it’s later.

Overall Rating: B. They got a lot covered in here and had the action to back it up. There are probably four or five matches set up out of this show, plus the return of New Day for a nice moment. With not much time until Payback, this is the kind of show that they needed and they certainly got out of the blocks fast. Good show here, but more importantly, they did a lot of stuff for the future, which is not something you can often say about WWE TV.

Results
Chad Gable b. Ricochet, Tommaso Ciampa and Matt Riddle – Chaos Theory to Ciampa
Shinsuke Nakamura b. Bronson Reed – Kinshasa
Shayna Baszler b. Zoey Stark – The World’s Baddest Slam
Ludwig Kaiser b. Otis – Enziguri
New Day b. Viking Raiders – Limit Break to Erik
Shinsuke Nakamura/Cody Rhodes/Seth Rollins b. Judgment Day – Cross Rhodes to Balor

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Summerslam 2023
Date: August 5, 2023
Location: Ford Field, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

We’re back with one of the most important shows of the year and the card is rather stacked again. The main event is likely going to see Smackdown World Champion Roman Reigns defending against his cousin Jey Uso in Tribal Combat, with the title of Tribal Chief on the line as well. Raw has a double main event of Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes III and Finn Balor challenging Seth Rollins for the Raw World Title. Let’s get to it.

The opening video features Kid Rock (because of course) and a bunch of wrestlers around cars as the focus is on Detroit. We look back at the first Summerslam in 1988 and some other famous moments. It’s time to rock in Detroit though, complete with noted Kid Rock masterpiece Bawitaba. Oh and Born To be Wild by Steppenwolf because…reasons.

Logan Paul vs. Ricochet

Ricochet knocks him to the floor to start and teases the dive before they run the ropes and trade some dives. Ricochet misses the big kick to the head and gets elbowed in the face. Paul takes him down into the quickly broken chinlock before they head to the apron, with Paul hitting a hanging neckbreaker. Back in and a running powerslam (apparently a shot at Ricochet’s injured partner Braun Strowman) sets up the cupped hand to the ear.

A big boot and splits legdrop (the Hogan Paul, seriously) get two but Ricochet drops him again. That means the People’s standing moonsault for two on Paul and they’re right back on the apron. A standing Spanish Fly from the apron doesn’t work as Ricochet lands on his feet, setting up a regular Spanish Fly on the floor. Back up and Paul hits a Buckshot Lariat to the floor (cool), followed by a standing moonsault for two back inside.

Paul misses a charge into the post though, setting up a super swinging neckbreaker for a huge crash. A springboard clothesline hits Paul and a standing shooting star press gets two. Ricochet misses the big kick but Ricochet ducks the big right hand. One heck of a tornado DDT gets two on Ricochet, who is right back with the Recoil. Ricochet goes up but has to pause because of the bad ribs, allowing Paul to get his knees up to block the shooting star press.

Paul grabs an Alley Oop and nips up to show off a bit more. A frog splash hits Ricochet for two but he’s right back with the Benedriller into a top rope springboard moonsault for another near fall. Ricochet’s 630 misses and cue one of Paul’s goons to give him some brass knuckles. The big right hand finishes Ricochet at 17:52.

Rating: B. Gah that ending hurt it a lot as they just kind of fell apart at the finish. They had a heck of a game of “can you top this” going here and then the ending felt like it came out of nowhere. Paul had to get a win here as he hadn’t won anything since last year at Summerslam and it hut things a lot. Good, fast paced opener here and it did exactly what you would have expected.

Sheamus arrived via monster truck.

Long recap of Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes. Lesnar turned on him the night after Raw and they have traded wins since, with Lesnar breaking Rhodes’ arm at least once.

Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar

Cody jumps him before the bell but gets caught with a quick suplex. A neck snap across the top staggers Brock and a pair of Disaster Kicks make it worse. Cody tries it again though and this time gets rammed into the corner for his efforts. Brock is knocked to the floor for a hard suicide dive though and Cody has an opening. Back in and Brock hits a trio of suplexes to send Cody down and it’s time to bounce a bit.

Another German suplex sets up another suplex and Cody falls out to the floor. Brock knocks him off the apron and tells Cody to save himself but Cody beats the count again. That means an overhead belly to belly and Brock clotheslines him outside again. An F5 on the floor gets nine and Brock is mad. Another F5 through the announcers’ table gets nine and now Lesnar looks more confused than angry.

More suplexes wake Cody up for some reason and he heads outside, where some postings slow Brock down and a steps shot (DQ anyone?) makes it worse. The Disaster Kick and Cody Cutter drop Lesnar back inside and a double springboard Cody Cutter gets two. Lesnar pulls him into the Kimura but Cody makes the rope. Back up and Lesnar is sent into an exposed buckle, setting up Cody’s Kimura. That’s broken up so Cody hits three Cross Rhodes for the pin at 17:32.

Rating: B. They were trying for an epic match here and it just didn’t get that far. Cody surviving and surviving was a rather Lesnar style story and it worked well enough, but I still can’t buy Lesnar losing to the Cross Rhodes, which just isn’t a very good finisher. This was the way the feud had to end though as Cody gets a huge win to defeat Lesnar for good and should be on his way back to the title picture sooner than later.

Post match Lesnar actually shows respect and even high fives some fans as he walks away.

Slim Jim Battle Royal

Erik, Ivar, JD McDonagh, Rick Boogs, Otis, Chad Gable, Ludwig Kaiser, Giovanni Vinci, Ridge Holland, Butch, Sheamus, Riddle, Grayson Waller, Shinsuke Nakamura, Bronson Reed, Tommaso Ciampa, Apollo Crews, LA Knight, Santos Escobar, AJ Styles, The Miz, Austin Theory, Karrion Kross, Cameron Grimes, Omos

We get a quick look at the history of battle royals but hold on because here is MVP to introduce Omos as the final entrant. Omos comes to the ring and throws out Crews plus McDonagh in short order. Boogs is out as well but it’s time for a bunch of people to gang up on Omos. The Brutes hit the triple forearms to Omos’ chest but it’s not enough to get rid of him.

Imperium gets rid of Otis as the ring is clearing out a bit. Gable tosses Vinci and the Vikings are both out. Ciampa’s Willow’s Bell gets rid of Nakamura but Reed tosses Ciampa without much trouble. Theory eliminated Holland and Grimes in an impressive short run, only to get clotheslined out by Escobar. Kross gets rid of Escobar rather quickly and Gable tosses Kaiser. Omos dumps Riddle and Butch at the same time and knocks down a bunch of people.

Knight goes at Omos with some clotheslines but gets booed down for his efforts. Everyone starts getting together to go after Omos though and he’s finally out. Miz and Waller get together for a kind of perfect alliance and toss Gable…at least to the apron. Miz tosses Knight to the apron but gets tossed out by Knight for his efforts. Sheamus gets rid of Waller (gah that was my pick) and it’s Sheamus vs. Knight. Reed cuts that off with a double clothesline before AJ Pele’s Kross out.

We’re down to Gable, Styles, Knight, Reed and Sheamus until Reed tosses Gable out. Knight is sent to the apron again but manages to leverage Reed out to get us down to three. Styles ducks the Brogue Kick but gets sent to the apron by Knight. Kross is back to grab Styles’ leg though and the Brogue Kick gets rid of him. We’re down to Knight vs. Sheamus, with the former hitting a quick powerslam. Blunt Force Trauma is broken up so Sheamus goes up top, with Knight jumping to the top for a belly to belly superplex. Knight hits a running clothesline and actually wins the thing at 12:41.

Rating: B-. Not a great match but that’s how it should have gone. Knight has been needing a big win and he got it right here, with WWE not even to have anyone get pinned to give him the victory. The follow up is going to be even more important, but what matters here is that Knight got the big win after being set up for it. The fans wanted him to win and now we see where he goes from here. Other than that, it was nice to see some feuds advanced in the same match, with Omos looking like a monster again. They didn’t go too long here either and it was a rather entertaining match.

We recap Ronda Rousey vs. Shayna Baszler. Rousey has been the star for years but Baszler has always been there with her. Baszler is tired of Rousey being the star and it’s time to fight.

Shayna Baszler vs. Ronda Rousey

This is under MMA rules, meaning knockout, pass out or tap out to win (no pins, DQ’s or countouts). They go with the grappling to start with Rousey taking her to the mat and hammering on the back. Baszler gets up and kicks Rousey in the head to knock her to the floor. Back in and Rousey hits a heck of a running knee to the head as the fans are NOT impressed so far.

Rousey hammers away at the back some more and they crash out to the floor, with Baszler favoring her arm. We pause for the medics to look at her but Rousey clears them out. Baszler gets a suplex but Rousey grabs an armbar. That’s reversed into the ankle lock on Rousey before switching to the Kirifuda Clutch to knock Rousey out at 7:24.

Rating: D+. Yeah this didn’t work. It felt a lot longer than it really was and the fans absolutely did not care. They would have been much better off with a submission match and a sprint, but instead it was plodding and waiting around for anything to happen. Baszler winning is the absolute right idea, but dang the execution couldn’t have been much worse.

Tonight’s attendance: 59,194.

We recap Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre for the Intercontinental Title. Gunther is about a month away from breaking the record for longest reign in history but McIntyre is back and motivated to take the title.

Intercontinental Title: Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre

Gunther is defending and gets dropped by an early running shoulder. The Glasgow Kiss sends Gunther outside, where he manages a posting and drop onto the steps for a breather. Back in and Gunther drops him with the chops as the pace slows a lot. Gunther snaps off a German suplex but McIntyre comes back with a heck of a clothesline for a double knockdown.

McIntyre snaps off his own suplex into a neckbreaker but the Claymore misses. Instead Gunther dropkicks him into the corner but the powerbomb is broken up. Instead McIntyre powerbombs Gunther into the Futureshock for two and they slow down a bit. The threat of the Claymore sends Gunther outside and McIntyre hits the running flip dive, even landing on his feet.

Back in and a dropkick cuts off the Claymore, setting up Gunther’s powerbomb for two more. Gunther’s top rope splash gets two and slaps him in the back of the head a few times. They chop it out with McIntyre getting the better of things and scoring with the Claymore out of nowhere for two. McIntyre takes him up top for another chop off until Gunther manages a crotching. The top rope splash and a hard clothesline sets up a powerbomb to retain at 13:44.

Rating: B. This was another five minutes away from being a classic but it did do well for what it was. They had two people beating the fire out of each other and I’m a bit surprised that McIntyre came up short. At the end of the day though, Gunther is about a month away from breaking a 35 year old record and it would be quite the waste to not capitalize on that kind of number if WWE wants to. Heck of a match here, but it could have been that much better.

We recap Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor for the Raw World Title. Rollins beat him at Money In The Bank, but Balor wants revenge on Rollins injuring him seven years ago at Summerslam so the rematch is on. The shadow of Damian Priest and his Money In The Bank briefcase hangs over the whole thing too.

Raw World Title: Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor

Rollins is defending and….he looks like a Christmas present wrapped by an unsupervised seven years old. With the coat off though, Rollins reveals the same vest he wore when he faced Balor at Summerslam 2016. They slug it out to start with Rollins getting the better of it and sending Balor into the corner. A kick to the arm slows Rollins down and Balor bends it around the rope in the corner. More arm cranking ensues and we hit the armbar as the pace has slowed a lot.

Balor hammers away in the corner but Rollins is back with some Kawada kicks and a clothesline for two. Balor uses the arm to send Rollins outside though and more shots to said arm keep him in trouble. There’s the buckle bomb against the barricade, followed by a Sling Blade back inside. Balor gets a cross armbreaker but Rollins slips out and hits a pair of buckle bombs of his own.

The frog splash gives Rollins two but the Stomps is blocked. Instead Balor hits his jumping double stomp and a shotgun dropkick into the corner. The Coup de Grace is countered with a superplex, but the Falcon Arrow is countered into a small package. An exchange of kicks leaves them both down for a needed breather. Balor drops him again but the Coup de Grace misses. Rollins is back with the Pedigree for two….and here’s Damian Priest with the Money In The Bank briefcase.

They trade rollups for two each, with Balor’s kickout sending Rollins into a right hand from Priest. Balor hits a Pedigree for two so here is Judgment Day. Priest offers the briefcase to Balor, who turns it down, allowing Rollins to hit a quick Stomp for two. Rollins dives onto Priest and takes out Dominik Mysterio but Balor hits the Sling Blade and another corner dropkick.

The Coup de Grace connects for a VERY close two and Balor is stunned. Balor tells Priest to do…something as the referee checks on Rollins. Priest throws in the briefcase and distracts the referee, allowing Rollins to hit the Stomp onto the briefcase (they telegraphed the heck out of that one) to retain at 18;25.

Rating: B+. I was getting into this one and the near falls near the end pulled me in. They went back and forth here with the rather modern WWE style, meaning it was quite the entertaining match, even if they didn’t do the best job of hiding the ending. This should wrap up Balor vs. Rollins and that opens the door for someone, perhaps Cody Rhodes, to come for the title. The ending is going to set up a lot of Judgment Day drama and that is a good thing, as Balor vs. Priest has potential.

Priest is NOT pleased and glares at Balor, who glares back.

The Alpha Academy and Miz shill Mike’s Hard Lemonade and argue over who is harder/a Mike. Miz is locked in an anvil case for his efforts.

We recap the Smackdown Women’s Title match. Asuka, Bianca Belair and Charlotte have all been fighting each other and cheating the other out of title matches, so snow it’s time for a triple threat.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Charlotte vs. Bianca Belair vs. Asuka

Asuka is defending. Everyone misses a shot to the face to start until Asuka rolls Belair up for two. With Asuka sent to the apron, Belair drops Charlotte but a handspring kick to the face is blocked by Asuka. Charlotte drops Asuka but gets stared down by Belair. That’s broken up and Asuka knees Belair for two, with Charlotte making the save. Asuka German suplexes Charlotte and slugs it out with Belair, until a heck of a Charlotte high crossbody takes them both down.

Double Natural Selection gives Charlotte some near falls before she boots Belair in the face. Asuka breaks up the Figure Four with a Codebreaker for two on Charlotte and everyone is down. They slug it out again with Belair taking over but her handspring moonsault hits quadruple knees. Belair is kicked to the floor and Charlotte gets caught in the Asuka Lock. Now Belair can hit the moonsault to break it up but Charlotte knocks both of them to the floor.

Charlotte moonsaults off the top in Belair’s direction, barely grazing her with her hands and handing about a foot and a half behind her. Asuka is kicked to the floor and Belair faceplants Charlotte, only to have Asuka come back in and steal the near fall. Belair powerbombs Charlotte but gets pulled into the Asuka Lock, allowing Charlotte to roll both of them up for two. Charlotte moonsaults onto both of them for two….and then tries a double Figure Four (Graves: “I don’t think the human anatomy will allow that to happen.”).

With that not working, Belair is sent over the top and lands knee first on the steps, which has her screaming on the floor. Medics come out to check out Belair, who is helped out (with a very, very bad limp, but on her feet). Asuka slugs away at Charlotte, who hits a spear for two.

Charlotte gets the Figure Eight but Belair is back with a 450 to break it up and cover Charlotte for two more. With Asuka on the floor, Belair loads up the KOD but gets armdragged out. Charlotte knocks Asuka to the floor and gets the Figure Four on the bad leg. Make that The Figure Eight until Asuka makes the save with the mist. Then Belair rolls Asuka up for the pin and the title at 20:48.

Rating: C-. Oh man this was rough. It picked up a bit at the end but there is only so much you can do with a bad match layout and a crowd that wasn’t interested. This felt like a match where they had every single thing laid out in advance and had to stick to the script throughout. Belair regaining the title is more than a bit weird, but at least they had a hotter finish than anything else in the rest of the match.

And here is Damage CTRL with the briefcase! Belair goes after Bayley but Sky briefcases her down. The cash-in is on!

Smackdown Women’s Title: Bianca Belair vs. Iyo Sky

Sky is challenging and Over The Moonsault makes her the champion at 9 seconds.

Bayley and Sky celebrate, with Dakota Kai appearing to join them in a nice moment. I mean, as nice as it can be after you attacked an injured woman to take her title.

We recap Jey Uso challenging Roman Reigns for the Universal WWE Title and the title of Tribal Chief. This is the next step in the years long Bloodline Saga, with Jey splitting from Reigns earlier this year and pinning him at Money In The Bank. That was the first pinfall loss for Reigns in over three years and now Jey is coming for everything in Tribal Combat.

Smackdown World Title: Roman Reigns vs. Jey Uso

Reigns, with Paul Heyman (Solo Sikoa was taken out on Smackdown), is defending and this is Tribal Combat, which basically means street fight. They stare at each other for over a minute until Reigns shoves him away. A hard shoulder drops Jey and Reigns hits him in the face. Jey slips out of a suplex though and hammers away, setting up a Rock spit punch. The Samoan drop doesn’t work and Jey kicks him in the ribs, setting up a clothesline to the floor.

The suicide dive mainly hits Reigns in the back and Jey loads up a table, but Reigns fights up and takes over without much trouble. The apron boot to the face connects for two but Jey scores with an enziguri. Reigns is knocked outside so Jey loads up a suicide dive, only to be cut off by a kendo stick shot. Reigns starts talking trash and knocks him into the corner for daring to try a comeback.

The rapid fire clotheslines connect but a Superman Punch is cut off with a kendo stick to Reigns’ ribs. Jey unloads with stick shots to the back to send Reigns outside and now the big running flip dive takes him out again. Back in and the Superfly Splash is Superman Punched out of the air for two. The spear is countered into a rollup for two and it’s a superkick into the Superfly Splash for two more, leaving them both down.

Jey gets in some chair shots to the back and throws in a bunch more chairs for a bonus. Heyman is begging for mercy for Reigns (“HE’S YOUR FAMILY!”) as Jey puts Reigns up top. The superplex is broken up and Reigns powerbombs him onto the chairs for two. Reigns brings a table inside (there is still one set up outside) but has to cut off Jey’s spear. Instead Jey is sent to the apron and manages a Samoan drop to send Reigns through the outside table.

Jey pulls out a strap and whips reigns into the crowd, where Solo Sikoa pops up to take Jey out. Sikoa puts Jey through a table and they head back to the ring, where Spinning Solo plants Jey again. Reigns spears Sikoa by mistake though, allowing Jey to hit his own spear for two. Jey gets in a bunch of chair shots to both of them but takes too long going after Reigns, allowing Sikoa to score with a superkick.

Reigns stops to yell at Sikoa for some reason, allowing Jey to spear Reigns through the barricade. Sikoa is put through the announcers’ table and Jey hits another spear back inside. Jey hits the Superfly Splash…..and Jimmy Uso pulls Jey out at two. Jimmy stares at Jey forever before superkicking him, allowing Reigns to hit the spear through the table in the corner to retain at 36:01.

Rating: C+. This was WAY too long and while the violence and carnage was good, there was a lot of standing around and waiting for something to happen. Shave about ten minutes off of this and it’s way better, but it only worked so well. At the same time, you have the Jimmy twist, which felt like a twist for the sake of a twist. It’s time for something big to happen in this story and that means Reigns needs to either be on his own for a bit or just lose the title. The battling Usos doesn’t seem like a long term story, but I’m not sure who is next for Reigns at the moment. For now though, not a great match, but it had its moments.

Jimmy doesn’t leave with Reigns and Heyman, suggesting that he isn’t back on the team.

The long highlight package takes us out.

Overall Rating: B. This is a rather good show with some rocky points holding it back. The women’s matches didn’t work and the main event was FAR longer than it needed to be and led to a rather lame surprise ending. Other than that though, this was a heck of a show with one very good (if not better) match after another. If some of those problems were corrected, this could have been a great one but as it is, it’s a solid show that went on too long and made some mistakes.

Results
Logan Paul b. Ricochet – Right hand with brass knuckles
Cody Rhodes b. Brock Lesnar – Cross Rhodes
LA Knight won the Slim Jim Battle Royal last eliminating Sheamus
Shayna Baszler b. Ronda Rousey – Kirifuda Clutch
Gunther b. Drew McIntyre – Powerbomb
Seth Rollins b. Finn Balor – Stomp onto the Money In The Bank briefcase
Bianca Belair b. Asuka and Charlotte – Small package to Asuka
Iyo Sky b. Bianca Belair – Over The Moonsault
Roman Reigns b. Jey Uso – Spear through a table

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Smackdown
Date: August 4, 2023
Location: Nutter Center, Dayton, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Wade Barrett

It’s the night before Summerslam and that means we are in for the final push before tomorrow’s big show. The big main event this week is a brother vs. brother showdown between Jey Uso and Solo Sikoa, which should make for a heck of a main event. Other than that we’ll be seeing some of the other matches, including the battle royal, getting some focus. Let’s get to it.

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

Here is LA Knight to one heck of a roar, with Cole saying that Knight is getting support like never before and it is becoming a groundswell. Knight talks about how it is Summerslam weekend and he is ready to be in the 25 man battle royal. He looks at some of the entrants and sees a bunch of stooges. One of the people is Sheamus, who he gets to face tonight. Sheamus has done it all, but tonight he gets another item added to his resume: losing to LA Knight! To say Knight was over here is an understatement.

LA Knight vs. Sheamus

The other Brawling Brutes are here too. Knight starts fast and knocks him into the corner before they crash out to the floor. Sheamus fights back and knocks him down as a bunch of people (all in the battle royal) come to ringside. Sheamus hits White Noise onto the apron and we take an early break.

Back with Knight fighting out of a chinlock and hitting the spelling elbow. A torture rack faceplant gets two but Blunt Force Trauma is countered into the Irish Curse. The super White Noise gets two on Knight and the Texas Cloverleaf goes on, sending Knight to the ropes. They both go up and crash down to the floor but here is Austin Theory to jump Santos Escobar. The big fight is on outside, leaving Sheamus to grab Miz. The Brogue Kick puts Miz down, allowing Knight to hit Blunt Force Trauma to finish Sheamus at 12:45.

Rating: C+. And that’s all you have to do. It’s not hard to give someone a simple push and the easiest way is to just have them win matches. Knight beat Sheamus, who is pretty much bulletproof, and it makes him look like a bigger deal. His momentum is starting to build and it’s a good sign that commentary is acknowledging Knight’s reactions. Now just give him the battle royal, or at least a hot feud coming out of it, and they’re rolling.

Post match the ring is cleared, with Knight running off from the numbers game (smart).

Post break the Club and the Brawling Brutes are about to fight when Adam Pearce seems to make a tag match for later. Sheamus and AJ Styles have a staredown and that could be interesting.

Long video on Cody Rhodes vs. Brock Lesnar.

Brawling Brutes vs. OC

Michin is here with the OC. Gallows kicks Holland to start and an assisted big boot takes him down. Anderson comes in but gets his fingers bent backwards by Butch. The armbar doesn’t do much for Butch and everything breaks down quickly. We take a break and come back with Anderson chinlocking Holland, who powers out and brings Butch back in. Everything breaks down…and the Street Profits, in suits, run in for the no contest at 8:15.

Rating: C. The match was only good enough until the run-in, which is a lot more interesting. Neither of these teams has exactly been doing much in recent weeks so it’s nice to see a talented team getting a fresh coat of paint. Not a bad match, but it wasn’t the point here in the slightest and that isn’t a bad thing.

Post match the Profits beat both teams down and the fans seem VERY interested (fair enough). Bobby Lashley comes out to celebrate with the Profits and gets quite the positive reaction. The fans really like this one.

Video on Charlotte, who is having champagne on a yacht and is ready for the biggest women’s match in Summerslam history. She has won at Summerslam before and knows she is better, so raise a toast to the fifteen time champion.

Here is Paul Heyman who doesn’t know how we got here with Jey Uso vs. Roman Reigns. After tomorrow night, you probably won’t see Uso again and everything that happens to him at Summerslam will be because of Reigns. When Reigns enters this ring tomorrow night, he will be cognizant of the fact that it will be Tribal Combat.

We get a video (narrated by Heyman) talking about the importance of tribal combat on the island of Samoan. Rikishi, Afa and Sika talk about the importance of the lei, which represents the tribal chief. Only one man can carry that honor and tomorrow night there will be a winner and a loser.

Back in the arena, Heyman talks about how Reigns has been Universal Champion and Tribal Chief for nearly three years. Jey Uso will never be either and yeah he could say that’s a spoiler but here is Uso to interrupt (with Heyman knowing he’s in trouble). Jey talks about the violent things he’s going to do to Reigns tomorrow and it is going to result in him becoming the new Universal Champion and the Tribal Chief.

Cue Solo Sikoa (facing Jey tonight) but Jey says he can forgive his brother for what he has done. Heyman tells Jey to stop, but Sikoa glares at him. We get a quick sidebar but Sikoa says something we can’t hear to Jey. Sikoa tells Heyman to get out, allowing Jey to drop Sikoa with a superkick.

We look back at Rey Mysterio being hurt last week, resulting in Santos Escobar moving on to the US Title match against Austin Theory next week. Apparently Rey suffered whiplash and he is day to day.

Austin Theory doesn’t get how Escobar won, but next week, he is dedicating his victory to Rey Mysterio. Tonight, Cameron Grimes is getting his dreams crushed.

Austin Theory vs. Cameron Grimes

Non-title. Theory knocks him down to start and here is Santos Escobar for a distraction, allowing Grimes to hit the Cave In for two as Theory’s foot is on the ropes (they got me with that one). Grimes sends him into the barricade a few times and a high crossbody gets two back inside. The flipping powerslam gives Grimes two more as Theory is totally rocked so far. Theory avoids a charge though and manages to knock Grimes off the top. A Town Down finishes Grimes at 3:02.

Rating: C. This was a very fast paced match and Theory barely got in any offense throughout. I’m not wild on Grimes losing here and he is already feeling a lot colder than he was not too long ago. Theory shouldn’t be losing but was there no one else he could have beaten here? Either way, not much of a competitive match and not the best sign for the champ going into a big title defense.

Post match Escobar comes back in to Phantom Driver Theory. He almost has to win the title at this point.

Video on Asuka, who is ready to defend her title at Summerslam despite not having a champion’s advantage.

It’s time for the Grayson Waller Effect. Just like in life, one woman isn’t enough for Waller on this show so he brings out both Bayley and Iyo Sky as his guests. Waller asks Sky if she is going to cash in Money In The Bank at Summerslam but Bayley cuts her off and says they’re not telling their strategy (Sky isn’t looking pleased).

With Bayley laughing, Shotzi’s voice pops up to scare Bayley out of her wits. That was a joke from Waller…..but here is Shotzi’s tank, which isn’t from Waller. Cue Shotzi from behind to chase Bayley off, complete with hair clippers for a threatened haircut. It’s Zelina Vega (scheduled to face Sky tonight) in the tank.

Iyo Sky vs. Zelina Vega

Joined in progress with Vega firing off forearms, setting up the top rope Meteora. The Code Red is blocked though and Vega hits a butterfly backbreaker. The running knees in the corner set up the Over The Moonsault but we cut to Shotzi going after Bayley’s hair on the stage. Bayley gets away but the distraction lets Vega hit the Code Red for the pin at 2:58.

Bianca Belair is getting her gear ready to win the title back at Summerslam. If you want her to jump through hoops, tell her how high.

Summerslam rundown.

Edge is back in two weeks for his 25th anniversary celebration in his hometown of Toronto.

Solo Sikoa vs. Jey Uso

Paul Heyman is here with Sikoa. Jey grabs a headlock to start and is promptly knocked down. The fight heads outside rather quickly with Sikoa not being able to hit Spinning Solo through the announcers’ table. Instead Jey hits a superkick and a suicide dive to send him onto the table for a big crash.

We take a break and come back with Jey fighting out of a nerve hold but having his suicide dive cut off by a shot to the face. Back in and the Samoan drop plants Jey but the running Umaga attack misses in the corner. Jey slugs away and kicks him in the ribs, only to get blasted with a clothesline. Another shot staggers Sikoa though and a high crossbody gives Jey two. Jey’s running Umaga attack is cut off by a spinwheel kick and now Spinning Solo connects. The Samoan Spike is ducked though and they trade superkicks until Jey hits a spear. The Superfly Splash finishes Sikoa at 10:41.

Rating: B-. Ignoring that this was the same way they set up Cody Rhodes vs. Roman Reigns on the Raw before Wrestlemania, this was a good way to give Jey some momentum heading into the title match. Beating Sikoa still feels like a big deal and thankfully it was off the splash and not Jey’s lame spear. This wasn’t exactly inspired storytelling but it did what it needed to do.

Post match Sikoa goes after Jey again but gets a chair superkicked into his face. Jey takes Sikoa out with the chair, with Barrett pointing out how valuable this could be for Jey tomorrow night (nice point).

Overall Rating: B-. As tends to be the case on WWE go home shows, there wasn’t much in the way of action here, but they did a good job of making me care about Summerslam. The battle royal, the Women’s Title match and Tribal Combat all got some attention and that is what this show needed to cover. It’s certainly not a must see show and it was only pretty good, but I’m more invested in Summerslam than I was coming in so they are definitely doing something right.

Results
LA Knight b. Sheamus – Blunt Force Trauma
OC vs. Brawling Brutes went to a no contest when the Street Profits interfered
Austin Theory b. Cameron Grimes – A Town Down
Zelina Vega b. Iyo Sky – Code Red
Jey Uso b. Solo Sikoa – Superfly Splash

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

ECW On Sci Fi
Date: May 27, 2008
Location: World Arena, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Commentators: Tazz, Mike Adamle

It’s the go home ECW for One Night Stand and we have quite the addition in the form of Big Show. Last week Show returned and decided he was getting back in the ECW Title picture, which is at least more interesting than some of the other recent challengers. I’m not sure how well it is going to go but I’ll take it over the other options. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Big Show vs. Tommy Dreamer

Show tosses him around to start and gets in a shot to the ribs to put Dreamer down. There’s an elbow to drop Dreamer again and Show sits on him for a bonus. Dreamer tries to go up but get knocked out of the air, setting up the chokeslam (or body slam according to Adamle) for the win.

We look at Big Show winning the ECW Title from Rob Van Dam in 2006.

Kofi Kingston vs. Mike Knox

Shelton Benjamin is on commentary. Kofi’s kick to the chest is shoved away as Benjamin calls him “the monkey man from Bloodsport.” Knox chokes on the ropes for a bit and a butterfly suplex sets up the chinlock. That’s broken up and Kofi hits a quick dropkick into a high crossbody. Knox’s eye is cut and the spinning kick to the face, officially dubbed Trouble In Paradise, finishes him off.

Rating: C. They kept this one moving due to the lack of time but it was good to see Kofi get some momentum back after last week’s loss. You can tell WWE sees something in him and it is smart to push someone new around here, especially when they are rather unique like Kofi. Getting a big win over Benjamin could do him some good and odds are that is where this whole thing is going.

Post match the villains beat Kofi down so Benjamin can leave with a smirk.

We look at CM Punk beating John Morrison for the ECW Title last September.

We look at Chavo Guerrero winning the ECW Title from CM Punk in January.

Chavo Guerrero vs. CM Punk

Bam Neely is here with Chavo. An early GTS attempt has Chavo panicking so Punk kicks him in the leg. Chavo manages a quick hot shot for a breather and we hit the chinlock with a bodyscissors. We take a break and come back with Chavo being backdropped to the floor for quite the crash. Neely low bridges Punk down though and Chavo starts in on the back. The half crab stays on said back but Punk makes the rope. The GTS is countered into a hurricanrana though and Chavo grabs a rollup with the trunks for the pin.

Rating: C+. The match was good enough but my goodness it’s hard to get overly invested in Chavo doing much of anything. He just isn’t that interesting and there isn’t much of a way around it. Granted it doesn’t help that his two big feuds of the year, against Punk and Kane, have been done so much to death that it’s hard to care about them at all.

Tommy Dreamer won the ECW Title in April 2000.

Raw Rebound.

Colin Delaney is worried about a whole new set of opponents around here in the Draft. He could go for getting rid of Armando Estrada though.

John Morrison won the ECW Title in June 2007.

Kane vs. Miz/John Morrison

Non-title. Miz and Morrison jump him to start and choking on the ropes slows the giant down. Ranted it slows him down for all of a few seconds as the comeback is on, with Kane grabbing Miz by the throat. Morrison comes in and the double teaming is enough for the DQ.

Post match everyone else in Sunday’s #1 contenders match runs in for the big brawl. Kane and Big Show have a staredown to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. The best thing I can say about this show is that it had a focus. It was building towards one match and almost nothing more, but that’s all it needs to be. The Draft could do ECW A LOT of good at this point, but at least they have have something to bridge some of the gaps on the way there.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 17, 2023
Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Kevin Patrick, Corey Graves

We are closing in on Summerslam and that means we should be in for something interesting. In this case, that means we are going to be graced with Brock Lesnar’s presence, as he might be here to accept Cody Rhodes’ challenge. That should be quite the situation so let’s get to it.

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

Here is hometown boy Cody Rhodes to one heck of a reception. He’s happy to be home and this week he’d like to talk about the large shadow that is Brock Lesnar. Cody calls Lesnar out but there’s no one here. He thinks this is Lesnar being fashionably late but he’ll wait all night if he has to. This is the house that built me, but the woman that built him, his mother, is in the front row. Cody doesn’t like to use this phrase, but his relationship with Lesnar has been nothing but “hard times”. When Lesnar gets here tonight, it’s hard times for him.

Cody tells us to enjoy the show and hugs his mom and some other people before…..Brock Lesnar…..’s music plays. There’s no Lesnar so Cody goes into the back, where Lesnar knocks him down. Lesnar chairs him down and carries him in front of his family. The F5 drops him and the Kimura goes on, followed by another (with Lesnar’s eyes bugging out) back inside. A chair shot leaves Rhodes laying and Lesnar accepts the Summerslam challenge.

Matt Riddle vs. Gunther

Non-title and the rest of Imperium stays in the back. Riddle goes for the arm to start and slaps on a triangle to make it worse. They crash out to the floor and we take a break. Back with the two of them trading strikes in the corner and Riddle getting the better of things. Some running shots in the corner stagger Gunther and Riddle snaps off an exploder. Gunther gets in a suplex of his own and a hard clothesline for two, leaving Gunther (and Imperium in the back) rather stunned. Riddle knees him in the face a few times for two but the Floating Bro hits raised knees. Gunther hits a heck of a powerbomb for the pin at 8:08.

Rating: B. This didn’t last long but they beat the living daylights out of each other while it did. What mattered here was keeping Gunther looking strong while getting rid of Riddle from the title picture. We are probably on the way to Gunther vs. Drew McIntyre at Summerslam and this was a good way to clear the way for the match

Post match Gunther gets on the announcers’ table to say the fans are here to see the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time. Matt Riddle is done and if Drew McIntyre wants to ride on Gunther’s coattails, be his best, but be prepared to fall victim to the Ring General.

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez are ready to defend their Women’s Tag Team Titles against Chelsea Green/Sonya Deville tonight. We hear about some other teams but here is Rhea Ripley to stare up at Rodriguez. She’s not scared of Ripley, with Morgan saying the same. Ripley DROPS Morgan with a headbutt and takes out Rodriguez’s knee to leave the champs laying. I probably liked Morgan getting dropped more than I should but my goodness her “I’M NOT SCARED” stuff is annoying.

Here is Judgment Day for a chat. Rhea Ripley talks about how dominant the team is and promises that all of them will be holding gold soon enough. Dominik Mysterio gets booed out of the building, with Damian Priest having to say that Dominik will win the NXT North American Title tomorrow night.

Finn Balor and Priest promise to win the World Titles, but here are Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn to interrupt. Sami doesn’t think the fans want to hear Dominik get booed so it’s time to beat someone up instead. Priest thinks the idea of he and Dominik winning the Tag Team Titles tonight sounds good to him, so Owens gets to make the angry acceptance.

Raquel Rodriguez is banged up but the trainer reluctantly clears her.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Raquel Rodriguez/Liv Morgan vs. Sonya Deville/Chelsea Green

Rodriguez, with a bad knee, and Morgan are defending. Morgan gets jumped to tart and caught in a delayed double vertical suplex. A few shots give Morgan a breather so it’s off to Rodriguez, who gets pulled into a half crab from Deville. Morgan FINALLY makes the save and gets to come in and clean house. The middle rope Codebreaker sets up Oblivion for two on Green with Deville making the save this time. Deville chop blocks Rodriguez and decks Morgan in the face, setting up Unpretty-Her for two. Another Unpretty-Her and a running knee to the face gives us new champions at 5:08.

Rating: C. The match was good enough for what it needed to be and that’s perfectly fine. Green and Deville have felt much more like a natural team since they were put together and it should be fun to see them bragging about their title win. If nothing else, it frees up Rodriguez to face Rhea Ripley, likely after Ripley massacres Morgan.

We look back at Brock Lesnar vs. Cody Rhodes from earlier tonight. The Summerslam match (sans gimmick) is official.

Sonya Deville and Chelsea Green are happy with their win, though Deville has to pull Green away from thanking everyone.

Long video on the Jey Uso/Solo Sikoa/Paul Heyman segment from Smackdown.

We get a sitdown interview with Seth Rollins talking about potential challengers. Finn Balor is mentioned and interrupts, taking interviewer Byron Saxton’s chair. Balor says the line starts with him and it’s time to do this again. Rollins says they can settle the score right now so take your shot or get out of his face. Balor stands up…and leaves. The interview seems to be over but Balor jumps him for a beating. Balor says make the match.

Alpha Academy vs. Viking Raiders

This is a Viking Rules match, so there is a ship’s head at the front of the ring and various weapons are available. As a bonus, Maxxine Dupri and Valhalla (with Maxxine’s jacket) are here, with Titus O’Neil on commentary for some reason. The fight starts fast on the ship’s head with Gable grabbing the ankle lock. That’s broken up and Gable flip dives onto Ivar before sending Erik into a shield.

Otis wants tables but has to pull a springboarding Ivar out of the air (geez) for a powerslam. We take a break and come back with Ivar hitting a moonsault as Otis makes the save. Erik has to make a save of his own but Gable suplexes him down. The top rope headbutt gets two but Dupri has to dive in to cut Valhalla off. Dupri gets her jacket back but gets speared through a table. Otis gets to clean house but Valhalla gets in a cheap shot, allowing the Vikings to hit Ragnarok for the pin at 10:27.

Rating: B-. I had a good time with this one as they leaned way into the goofy fun that they were having. That’s the best way to go a lot of the time and it worked well here. The Vikings are still fairly ridiculous but they could wind up being turned into one off challengers for the titles if need be. Rather fun match here and that’s the best thing you could ask for with something this ridiculous.

Shayna Baszler vs. Nikki Cross

Cross jumps her to start and gets Kirifuda Clutched for the tap at 20 seconds.

Post match Ronda Rousey pops up in the crowd to mock Baszler (Rousey: “Up here! Above you, literally figuratively, every way possible.”). Rousey talks about how you can take the front door like Baszler by making it through developmental, or the back door, like Rousey did, and dominate everyone.

Rousey is the best ever and Baszler is the knockoff version. Baszler says she’s the better Rousey and tells the real one to come down here right now. Baszler goes into the crowd to go after her but security cuts her off. Rousey says she’ll see Baszler at Summerslam. Rousey is still not great on the mic, as she was talking a mile a minute here.

We look back at Ricochet vs. Logan Paul from last week.

Ricochet is ready to deal with Paul and challenges him to come here next week. He’ll hurt Paul where it hurts the most: his ego.

It’s time for MizTV, with Miz bragging about playing in a celebrity golf tournament and insulting Trae Young of the Atlanta Hawks. With that out of the way, Miz brings out his guest, Becky Lynch, who looks like she is wearing pajamas with the stomach cut out. Miz asks if she has lost a step so Lynch throws the chairs out and shouts about everything she has lost. The one thing she hasn’t lost is a step so get Trish Stratus out here already.

Miz thanks her for ruining the surprise and brings out Stratus, with Zoey Stark. Lynch demands the rematch but Stratus thinks Lynch is sounding like her baby girl. Stratus is going to pass on the rematch because she has already beaten Lynch, though she was hoping to get her to say Thank You Trish.

Lynch was hoping to see Stratus show she could do more than post on social media and hide behind Stark, which is enough to get Stratus to say yes, but under some conditions. First, Lynch has to beat Stark, but if she can’t she has to get on her knees and say Thank You Trish. Oh and she can tattoo it across her chest. Lynch: “Done.” The brawl is on, with Stratus losing her mask, which Lynch uses to knock Stark silly. The tattoo stuff was a bit over the top but they set up the match the needed to set up.

We look at the Brock Lesnar/Cody Rhodes segment again.

Bronson Reed vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Reed kicks him into the corner to start and busts out his own Good Vibrations. Nakamura hits a few strikes to send him into the ropes but misses a knee. Reed hits a running shoulder from the apron and we take a break. Back with Nakamura getting in some more kicks, including a jumping version to the head. A dragon screw legwhip gives Nakamura two but Reed runs him over. The Tsunami is broken up though and Nakamura’s middle rope knee gets two more. Kinshasa is loaded up but Tommaso Ciampa runs in to jump Reed for the DQ at 7:32.

Rating: C+. Someone striking away at a monster like Reed is always going to work and Nakamura can throw strikes like few others. Ciampa running in makes all the sense in the world, even if he is just taking Ricochet’s place in the same story they were telling on the way to Money In The Bank. Either way, this was a story that has been done before and that isn’t a bad thing.

Post match Nakamura takes out Ciampa to blow off some steam.

Post break, Nakamura says he’s tired of everyone getting in his business.

Here’s what’s coming next week.

Tag Team Titles: Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn vs. Judgment Day

Judgment Day, Dominik Mysterio and Damian Priest in this case, is challenging. We get the Big Match Intros and here is Seth Rollins to dive onto Finn Balor and brawl with him to the back. It’s a brawl to start with Dominik getting crushed by Owens’ backsplash, meaning the champs can take over in the corner.

Sami and Priest come in with the latter hitting an uppercut so Dominik can already come back in. A backdrop puts him down so let’s take a breather on the floor. Priest cuts Sami off again and chokeslams him onto the apron as we take a break. Back with Sami escaping a suplex and bringing Owens back in to clean house. Owens knocks Priest outside and hits an apron frog splash, followed by the Cannonball back inside.

The Swanton hits knees though and Dominik comes in with a frog splash for two. Everything breaks down and Priest hits a pop up powerbomb for two on Dominik with Priest making the save. Zayn tornado DDTs Priest for two but he catches Zayn on top with a super hurricanrana (Ripley freaking out is great). Dominik tags himself back in but the 619 is broken up. The champs hit a pair of flip dives so Ripley tries to get involved, only to get cut off by Liv Morgan. Zayn Helluva Kicks Dominik to retain at 15:28.

Rating: B. This got going rather well by the end, though I’m a bit surprised that this wasn’t the Summerslam Tag Team Title match. What we got was a hot tag match though as Owens and Zayn can work well with anyone. Judgment Day still feels like a dominant force around here, but man they lose quite a bit.

Overall Rating: B. This was the show where it felt like they started to move forward to Summerslam, with matches either being announced or being set up. That should be enough to get things going for the next few weeks as the card can be made official. I like them getting this done with some time to spare, as that isn’t something you always see. For now though, it’s another good show, as things are starting to come together at the right time.

Results
Gunther b. Matt Riddle – Powerbomb
Sonya Deville/Chelsea Green b. Liv Morgan/Raquel Rodriguez – Running knee to Morgan
Viking Raiders b. Alpha Academy – Ragnarok to Otis
Shayna Baszler b. Nikki Cross – Kirifuda Clutch
Bronson Reed b. Shinsuke Nakamura via DQ when Tommaso Ciampa interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Monday Night Raw
Date: July 3, 2023
Location: CFG Bank Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Kevin Patrick, Corey Graves

We’re back stateside after Money In The Bank in London and the big story around here is Damian Priest being the new Mr. Money In The Bank. That means there is officially a threat over a few champions’ heads and that could make things interesting for a long time to come. Let’s get to it.

Here is Money In The Bank if you need a recap.

We open with a long recap of pretty much everything that happened at Money In The Bank.

Here is Seth Rollins to get things going. After a long serenade, Rollins talks about retaining the title at Money In The Bank but now he has to worry about that pesky briefcase. Cue Cody Rhodes to interrupt….but he can only get a “So…” out, here Brock Lesnar interrupts. Cody immediately goes outside for the fight but Lesnar takes him side. The F5 is countered and a Cody Cutter sends Lesnar running.

Post break, Rollins is still in the ring but here is Judgment Day (minus Finn Balor) to interrupt. Damian Priest recaps the Money In The Bank concept and Rollins offers him a match tonight. Priest says Rollins can fight someone standing next to him. Rhea Ripley: “Well I’m already defending my World Women’s Title against Natalya.” So it’ll have to be Dominik Mysterio instead. Rollins smells a trap but listens to the fans and says he’ll do it.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Damian Priest

Ripley and Mysterio are here with Priest. Nakamura takes him down fast to start and fires off the knees to the ribs, only to have Priest hit him in the face. Back up and Priest stomps away in the corner, setting up the running elbow. Nakamura manages to put hum on top for the running knee to the ribs as the fans are all over Dominik. They head outside with Priest dropping him onto the barricade as we take a break.

Back with Nakamura striking away and hitting an STO. The sliding German suplex drops Priest and lets Nakamura…go outside to hit on Ripley. With that odd visual out of the way, Priest knocks a diving Nakamura out of the air and hits a good looking spinning kick to the head for two. Nakamura hits a kick of his own and adds the middle rope knee to the chest. Not that it matters as Priest hits a HARD clothesline, setting up South Of Heaven for the pin at 11:00.

Rating: C+. Well Priest is already off to a better start than some Money In The Bank winners as he’s not losing after slipping on a banana peel. Priest has been treated seriously for months now and it is nice to see that continue after he gets his big win. Keep it up and WWE might actually have a star on their hands if they’re not careful.

We recap Shayna Baszler turning on Ronda Rousey to cost the team the Women’s Tag Team Titles at Money In The Bank.

Here is Rousey for a chat but Baszler interrupts, saying people are sick of hearing her trying to talk. Rousey wants an explanation, saying she is owed one. That sets Baszler off, saying she is the reason Rousey got into wrestling so she owes Rousey nothing. The only thing she owes ANYONE is an apology for getting Rousey into the business. Rousey says they worked to become champions, which sets Baszler off again.

Baszler doesn’t remember Rousey building rings to work in front of 30 people or having to fill out an application. Rousey came in and went straight to Wrestlemania. Baszler loves this and owes Rousey the reality that there is someone here who can shut her up. The fight is on with Rousey getting the better of things until Baszler gets an ankle lock. With Rousey slowed, Baszler gives her a running knee and leaves, even as Rousey tells her to get back here. That’s not exactly an explanation, as Rousey and Baszler were a successful team. So Baszler waited until they were a success together to let out all of this anger? That’s a bit odd.

Maxxine Dupri is ready to make her in-ring debut and is ready to prove that Chad Gable is a heck of a trainer. Gable is ready to give the Viking Raiders a dose of patriotism.

Tag Team Turmoil

For a Women’s Tag Team Title shot against Liv Morgan/Raquel Rodriguez (at ringside). Chelsea Green/Sonya Deville are in at #1 and Candice LeRae/Indi Hartwell are in at #2. Hartwell goes after Deville to start but everything breaks down quickly. Green gets sent to the apron but comes back in with UnprettyHer to LeRae. Deville’s running knee is enough for the pin at 1:32.

Emma/Nikki Cross are in at #3 with Cross Checking on the banged up LeRae. Green comes in and gets Russian legsweeped, but Cross is still worried about LeRae (who is gone). The UnprettyHer and another running knee finishes Emma at 4:55 total. Tegan Knox/Dana Brooke are in at #4 and clear the ring rather quickly as we take a break. Back with Deville pinning Nox with the running knee at 7:54 so it’s Kayden Carter/Katana Chance in at #5.

Carter drops Deville for a fast two but she has to fight out of the corner. Green is taken up top but Carter goes up with her. Chance tags herself in and hits a super hurricanrana for two with Deville having to make the save. The After Party is broken up and Deville gets in a cheap shot from the floor. UnprettyHer gives Green the pin and the title shot at 11:49.

Rating: C. Deville and Green are a good enough team to get a title shot out of all of this, but a match like this one really shows you just how shallow the division is. Other than the winners, it’s three thrown together teams and Carter/Chance, who have mainly been treated as losers since getting called up. There might (and I emphasize that word) be a decent division between all three brands, but this really didn’t do the division any favors.

Video on the women’s Money In The Bank match.

Video on Bronson Reed.

Here is a ticked off Becky Lynch who didn’t win Money In The Bank, but wants to finish this with Trish Stratus RIGHT NOW. Cue Stratus and Zoey Stark, with Stratus sporting a face mask to protect a broken nose. Lynch: “HAHA LOOK AT HER FACE!” Stratus: “You think this is funny?” Lynch: “I DO!” Stratus isn’t medically cleared to fight so Lynch will beat up Stark instead.

Lynch isn’t impressed but Stratus calls herself the greatest of all time. Lynch says Stratus is just back to plug some low level show and appear on the cover of a local magazine that she paid to be in. Once she leaves, is she taking Stark back to be the secretary of her yoga studio? Why is Stratus still here? Stratus talks about being the face of the women’s division and Lynch is jealous of all of the attention that Stratus gets. Now Stark is going to break her face….or not as Stratus has a medical appointment right now, so they have to leave Balti-less right now (Graves liked that one). Lynch vs. Stratus at Summerslam should work.

Cody Rhodes comes out, welcomes new interviewer Jackie Redmond, and says Brock Lesnar is back. Rhodes will fight him anywhere anytime…and that’s that.

Alpha Academy vs. Viking Raiders

Six person tag here, with Otis wasting no time in hitting the Caterpillar on Ivar. We take a very fast break and come back with Gable coming in to clean house. A dive to the floor hits Erik and a top rope headbutt hits Ivar. Erik takes Gable down though and it’s the women coming in, with Dupri managing the suplex. Valhalla breaks up the Caterpillar from Dupri though, as Gable moonsaults onto the Vikings at ringside. A sunset flip out of the corner gives Dupri the pin on Valhalla at 7:58.

Rating: C-. I do kind of like the fact that WWE isn’t hiding what they’re doing with Dupri. She is far from a skilled star in the ring but she has nice gear and a bunch of charisma. If they keep her doing low level, mostly non-serious stuff like this, she’ll be fine as someone who can be brought up slowly. Not much of a match but they were smart enough to keep the women’s part short.

Ricochet isn’t happy that Logan Paul was in Money In The Bank so how about they settle it face to face next week.

Raw Women’s Title: Rhea Ripley vs. Natalya

Ripley is defending and gets jumped from behind during the entrance. They go inside for the opening bell and they go straight back to the floor, with Ripley sending her face first into the announcers’ table. Back in and Ripley forearms her in the back, followed by a headbutt out of the corner. A low superkick keeps Natalya down as this is one sided so far.

Natalya fights out of the corner and hits a high crossbody for a double knockdown. Ripley is back up with a basement dropkick for two and we take a break. We come back with Ripley hitting a kick to the head for a double knockdown. Natalya hurricanranas her way out of a powerbomb but Ripley gets up top for a missile dropkick.

The Prism Trap goes on but Natalya sends her into the corner for the escape. Ripley drops her again and goes up for a frog splash (complete with Eddie dance) only to hit raised knees. A powerslam into the Sharpshooter sends Ripley to the ropes but she’s right back with a headbutt. Riptide retains the title at 13:06.

Rating: B-. This got a lot better after the break and they had a pretty good match despite the lack of uncertainty over the winner. Natalya’s problem has never been her abilities in the ring so it’s no surprise that she can get going in a long match. Just stop trying to have her involved in stories and she’s a lot better. Ripley isn’t likely to lose the title anytime soon, so giving her a nice win like this is a good way to go.

Post match Ripley stays on her until Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez make the save.

We look at Miz attacking Tommaso Ciampa last week.

Ciampa says he fought Miz face to face but Miz attacked him from behind. There is a silver lining in this though: Ciampa saw that look in Miz’s eye. He’s happy to have that Miz back and now he can face the good one.

Miz says he’s feeling better than he ever before so he’ll face Ciampa in a no DQ match next week.

Video on the Bloodline Civil War at Money In The Bank with Jey Uso finally pinning Roman Reigns.

Rhea Ripley is in the back and runs into Ms. Money In The Bank Iyo Sky. Ripley says try her, because it would be a huge mistake. Sky leaves and Dominik Mysterio/Damian Priest come in. They haven’t heard from Finn Balor but Ripley threatens Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez. Dominik Mysterio is ready to hurt Seth Rollins, which has Ripley approving.

Matt Riddle vs. Giovanni Vinci

The rest of Imperium is here with Vinci. Riddle kicks away at the chest but Vinci goes after the still banged up ankle. The middle rope moonsault connects for Vinci but Riddle grabs a rollup for the pin at 1:20.

Post match the beatdown is on until Drew McIntyre makes the save. The Claymore drops Vinci and McIntyre stares Gunther down.

We recap Seth Rollins retaining over Finn Balor at Money In The Bank.

Matt Riddle thanks Drew McIntyre for the save and they’re going to face Imperium next week. For tonight, they’re hitting the town.

Seth Rollins vs. Dominik Mysterio

Non-title and the rest of Judgment Day (minus Finn Balor) are here with Dominik. Rollins takes him over with a headlock as the fans are all over Dominik. Rollins’ headlock is reversed into another headlock but he’s right back up with a running clothesline. With Dominik on the floor, Ripley offers a distraction but Dominik gets tossed outside again anyway.

We take a break and come back with Rollins snapping off Three Amigos but another Ripley distraction lets Priest shove him off the top. Dominik hits the frog splash and then does it again but doesn’t bother covering. A third only hits raised knees though and Rollins first off some running forearms in the corner. The running knee drops Dominik again and a clothesline sends him outside. Rollins hits a dive onto Dominik and Priest, the latter of whom comes in with the South of Heaven for the DQ at 9:50.

Rating: C+. This was the right way to go as Dominik isn’t going to be a threat to Rollins straight up, but Dominik with Ripley and Priest could be. It’s also good to not have Dominik take another fall, as you don’t want to run him into the ground. Priest coming in for the DQ to set up a cash in tease worked fine and it was nice to see the champion getting to beat someone up for a bit.

Post match Priest loads up the Razor’s Edge through the announcers’ table but Rollins slips out. Dominik gets in a briefcase shot though and Priest teases cashing in. Cue Finn Balor though, and he knocks Rollins into Priest to break up the cash-in attempt (Priest didn’t do it). The argument lets Rollins escape, albeit after a Pedigree on Dominik on the floor. Judgment Day argues a lot to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This show had quite the level of HHH efficiency going on and that’s a great thing to see. You had the Judgment Day/Seth Rollins stuff going on throughout the show, plus some things being set up for the future. While not officially announced, you can probably guess most of the Summerslam card from a month out and that’s not bad. Keep doing stuff like this and Raw should be in a good place on the way to Detroit.

Results
Damian Priest b. Shinsuke Nakamura – South Of Heaven
Sonya Deville/Chelsea Green won Tag Team Turmoil last eliminating Kayden Carter/Katana Chance
Alpha Academy b. Viking Raiders – Sunset flip to Valhalla
Rhea Ripley b. Natalya – Riptide
Matt Riddle b. Giovanni Vinci – Rollup
Seth Rollins b. Dominik Mysterio via DQ when Damian Priest interfered

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.