Monday Night Raw
Date: August 3, 2026
Location: Casey’s Center, Des Moines, Iowa
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

We’re done with Summerslam and the big Raw story is the end of the Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins feud, as Reigns beat Rollins and they made peace after. Reigns is going to need a new challenger and we might be finding out more about that this week. Other than that, we’re coming up on…geez is there a PPV in September? Let’s get to it.

Here is Summerslam if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of Roman Reigns retaining the title over Seth Rollins.

Here is Reigns, with the fans loving him, to get things going. He talks about how he has called various shots and been right every time, including beating Rolling last night. Reigns says he can only acknowledge so much but the fans can do it for him. They sing his song but here is LA Knight to interrupt, leaving Reigns unimpressed.

Knight admits that Reigns did it himself last night, but Reigns is still a fraud. Knight wants to face Reigns one on one and he can do it anytime. Reigns thinks Knight is the real fraud for wearing a Wal-Mart watch while pretending to be a megastar. He holds up the kind of watch a champion wears and asks what Knight has done besides winning a six man tag. Reigns mocks him and says that’s not enough before going to leave.

Knight says he’s realized that Reigns’ aura goes away when he’s standing in front of Knight, with Reigns always needing help take Knight out. He mocks the Shield introduction and leaves, suggesting he’s still ready for a title match. Knight feels like a B show challenger but it needs to happen at some point.

We look at Oba Femi beating Brock Lesnar at Summerslam, with Lesnar endorsing him after the match.

Je’Von Evans vs. Ethan Page

Page shoulders him down to start but Evans knocks him to the floor for the big dive. Back in and Evans hits a heck of a high crossbody and we take a break. Page sends him into the corner though and we take a break. We come back with Page kicking him in the head but Evans escapes for a springboard clothesline.

Page breaks up a springboard and hits a kind of fisherman’s Russian legsweep for two. They go outside with both of them being sent into various things, allowing Evans to hit a heck of a dive over the barricade and into the timekeeper’s area. Back in and Page grabs a Codebreaker for two so let’s take off a turnbuckle pad. The referee isn’t having that and it’s an OG Cutter to give Evans the pin at 12:41.

Rating: C+. As usual, Evans is rather skilled at being able to make a great comeback and he got to do it again here. Page was beating him up a few times and flying through the air to make his comebacks. I liked this well enough, with Page getting pretty well locked into his spot around here.

Post match here is Big Cass to lay Evans out, including with the East River Crossing (bearhug swung into a side slam). This is the serious Cass who worked well in other places over the last few years.

We look at LA Knight/Royce Keys/Solo Sikoa beating the Bloodline at Summerslam.

Roman Reigns yells at the Bloodline for their loss and seems to want Jacob Fatu to take care of Royce Keys, who is NOT part of their family. The Usos volunteer to go after LA Knight but Reigns calls them off, saying leave him alone. Reigns leaves and Knight shows up to mock the Usos for having to follow “daddy’s” rules.

Post break Royce Keys comes up to see Jacob Fatu and says no matter what, they’re still family. Fatu says they aren’t because Keys is just one of the boys (what Reigns said to him) and wants a street fight tonight.

Here is Judgment Day for a chat. Liv Morgan (sporting a black eye) brags about beating Iyo Sky and doesn’t think she has any challengers at the moment. Morgan praises Raquel Rodriguez for her title win as well and knows Roxanne Perez will take out Sol Ruca.

Sol Ruca vs. Roxanne Perez

We’re joined in progress with Ruca working on the arm and they trade rollups for two each. Perez cartwheels away and slaps her in the face before stopping to pose. Ruca whips her into the corner and grabs a surfboard, followed by a moonsault to drop Perez on the floor. Back in and Perez breaks up the cartwheel DDT and we take a break. We come back with Perez hammering away and, eventually getting an X Factor. Ruca goes up but gets grabbed by Morgan for the DQ at 10:27.

Rating: C+. This was kind of a weird one as you would have thought Ruca was going to get some revenge on the team but instead gets beaten up again. Ruca hasn’t had the best run of success as of late and I’m not sure where she’s going next. At the same time, Morgan needs a new challenger and I was thinking Ruca was on her way there but apparently not so much at the moment.

Post match the beatdown is on but here is the returning Becky Lynch to interrupt. The Man has come back around because she doesn’t want Morgan to go another 100 days without defending her title. Morgan has the worst title reign of all time and it’s not just her saying it. That has Morgan annoyed so she says that Lynch should be back raising her daughter while Morgan is the best Women’s Champion of all time.

Morgan goes to leave but Lynch says Morgan isn’t even the best Women’s Champion to sleep with Dominik Mysterio. That gets a huge OOOO but Stephanie Vaquer is back to run through Judgment Day while Lynch watches on. Lynch and Vaquer stare each other down but don’t come to blows. It’s cool to have Vaquer back but Lynch returning at the same time is going to make Vaquer look smaller by comparison.

We look at Brock Lesnar’s career, including the UFC days, set to I Stand Alone. Unless they have another career highlight package for him set to the same song, this is the same video that aired the night after Wrestlemania, though it does include some clips from his Summerslam match with Oba Femi.

Paul Heyman is watching the video when Femi, in all white, comes in to say he never got to thank Lesnar for his kind words. Femi would like Heyman to thank Lesnar for him, with Heyman saying it would be a pleasure and offering what appears to be a sincere congratulations.

Here is Femi for a chat. He talks about the respect that he and Lesnar have for each other after Summerslam. Femi thought Lesnar knew that he was different after Wrestlemania, but then Lesnar came back and insulted him. Now Femi knows that it was just a test to see if he was that good.

We have an answer to that question and now we have gone from “can Femi swim” to “how long can Femi hold his breath?”. Femi won at Summerslam and passed the test and now the Beast can finally rest. So what’s next? If anyone has a problem with him, they will have to answer to the Ruler. And that’s that, which is good as he doesn’t need to start his new feud immediately. As Femi leaves, the Vision comes out, with Bron Breakker and Femi having a staredown, much to the fans’ interest.

Bron Breakker vs. Joe Hendry

Breakker stares at the entrance with his back to Hendry, who wants to get going. Hendry goes after him but gets dropped with a clothesline. Breakker’s spear hits the steps so Hendry takes out Austin Theory and throws Breakker inside…where the Super Spear finishes for Breakker at 1:39. Yeah that had to happen for Breakker, but dang that’s a bad look for Hendry.

Post match Theory hammers on Hendry until Akira Tozawa runs in for the save.

We look back at Big Cass’ return.

Cass talks about how he’s been gone for eight years and he was left in the dirt. It was nothing personal for Je’Von Evans because Evans was just in the way. Cass is here to stack bodies and Evans won’t be the last. Cass channeling Sid has worked for him before and it can work here again.

Here is new Intercontinental Champion Chad Gable for a chat. Gable wants to thank people who have believed in him over the years. He also wants to thank Penta for their match last night, along with the fans who have stuck with him. Even when he was Shorty G. Gable had promised himself that he would win a singles title here and he is proud to be the Intercontinental Champion.

This brings out Penta to interrupt, as he offers respect to Gable and calls him a true luchador. Gable is touched but here is Judgment Day to interrupt. They don’t like the idea of Gable being called a luchador when Dominik Mysterio is the AAA Mega Champion. The challenge is thrown out so get the referee out here.

Judgment Day vs. Penta/Chad Gable

We’re joined in progress with Penta taking over on Mysterio, who takes him into the corner for the tag off to McDonagh. The beating doesn’t last long as Penta is back up for the tag to Gable. House is quickly cleaned and Penta hits the big flip dive, leaving Gable to Olympic Slam Mysterio for a near fall. McDonagh gets in a headbutt though and a suplex puts Gable down on the floor as we take a break.

We come back with McDonagh’s standing moonsault getting two. Gable gets up again and brings in Penta for the Penta Driver on Mysterio for two more. Gable’s moonsault hits raised boots but he reverses into the ankle lock. McDonagh breaks that up so Mysterio loads up the hammer. Gable cuts that off and takes the hammer away, leaving Penta to hit Mysterio with the belt. The rolling Chaos Theory finishes Mysterio at 10:27.

Rating: B-. Gable gets to celebrate his big win and then win again here, which is a good thing to see. He had an awesome moment in winning the title and following it up was kind of a question mark, as he doesn’t have anything to do at the moment. Judgment Day losing again is hardly a surprise, but Gable vs. Mysterio again in the future could be an option.

We look at CM Punk retaining the Smackdown world Title over Cody Rhodes at Summerslam, thanks to the returning Randy Orton.

Bron Breakker asks Paul Heyman if he should do something about Oba Femi. Breakker also asks where Femi is, but Heyman doesn’t know. That doesn’t work for Breakker, who thought Heyman and Femi were best friends. Heyman knows this isn’t good. As this was going on, Lyra Valkyria and Adam Pearce could be seen arguing in the background.

Jacob Fatu vs. Royce Keys

Street Fight. They slug it out to start until Fatu misses a charge into the post. Fatu shrugs that off and clotheslines Keys out to the floor, setting up the suicide dive. Keys sends him into the steps but Fatu is right back with some rams into the announcers’ table. Fatu’s charge is cut off with a clothesline, followed by a running powerslam through the barricade for the huge crash.

Keys loads up a table, which takes too long as always, allowing Fatu to throw him over the announcers’ table. Some chairs are thrown in, with Keys diving off the announcers’ table with a clothesline. More chairs are throw inside and Keys beats him down with a kendo stick. The table is set up in the corner but Fatu grabs a choke with the kendo stick.

A suplex sends Fatu through some chairs for two but he comes back with the inverted DDT for two more. Fatu goes up but Keys catches him with the super powerslam for a very near fall and we keep going. The USB connects but Fatu pops up again with a Samoan Drop through the table in the corner. The triple jump moonsault sets up a flying….Tongan Death grip to finish Keys at 13:18.

Rating: B. This was designed to make Fatu look like a killing machine again and that’s pretty much what he did, as Fatu kept popping up after everything Keys threw at him. It was quite the smashing with Keys fighting him as hard as he could not but being enough. That’s not great for Keys’ future, but this was Fatu being more like the old monster that got him over in the first place.

Post match Fatu puts it on him again and then hits the running Umaga Attacks in the corner. Fatu wraps the chair around Keys’ throat and hits another Umaga Attack, with Adam Pearce and agents having no way to stop him. Cue Roman Reigns to pose, with Fatu posing back. Reigns leaves and runs into Rey Mysterio, who says he’s the GM of AAA. Mysterio wants to run something by Reigns, who goes with him. I have no idea what that’s going to be, but the fact that the upcoming AAA Worlds Collide event is taking place in the same city on the same day as AEW All Out makes me think we might be getting a guest star.

Overall Rating: B. This show felt similar to the Raw After Wrestlemania, with things wrapping up at Summerslam and moving on to a bunch of new stories. Throw in some returns with Cass, Vaquer and Lynch and this show felt rather strong. The wrestling got better in the end and that made things even better. Good show here which felt like a new start to a lot of things.

Results
Je’Von Evans b. Ethan Page – OG Cutter
Sol Ruca b. Roxanne Perez via DQ when Liv Morgan interfered
Bron Breakker b. Joe Hendry – Super Spear
Penta/Chad Gable b. Judgment Day – Rolling Chaos Theory to Mysterio
Jacob Fatu b. Royce Keys – Tongan Death Grip

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

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Summerslam 2026 Night One
Date: August 1, 2026
Location: US Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Michael Cole

It’s the first half of one of the biggest shows of the year and for once we have a genuine double main event. That includes Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar inside the Cell, plus Cody Rhodes challenging CM Punk for the Smackdown World Title. Those two matches should be more than enough to carry the show but the undercard doesn’t look bad either. Let’s get to it.

The wrestlers arrive, with Michael Cole saying the two night Summerslam takes place tonight. That’s not how nights work.

The opening video is hosted by a Minnesota Viking (I believe Justin Jefferson), who talks about the effort that everyone puts in to get here, with the focus on their training.

Raw Women’s Title: Iyo Sky vs. Liv Morgan

Morgan is defending and goes after her to start, only to be knocked into the ropes. Sky dropkicks her out to the floor, where she uses Green Shirt Guy to get on the barricade and dive onto Morgan. Back in and Morgan goes after the banged up ribs to take over, setting up Three Amigos. An enziguri gives Morgan two but Sky is right back up with a flapjack. A missile dropkick has Morgan in more trouble and Sky sunset bombs her out to the floor.

Cue Judgment Day for a distraction to shove Sky off the top for two but Sky is fine enough to send Morgan outside. A moonsault to the floor takes the villains out but Morgan kicks her down back inside. Cole: “You have to give credit to Morgan for staying in this fight thanks to the Judgment Day.” As I try to figure out what we’re crediting Morgan for if the other people did the work, Sky catches her on top with a super Spanish Fly for two and they slug it out.

Oblivion is broken up and Sky faceplants her for two, followed by her own Oblivion for two on Morgan. Over The Moonsault misses though and Sky bangs up her ankle, allowing Morgan’s middle rope Codebreaker to connect for two. They head to the apron with Sky hitting a German suplex, setting up the Bullet Train Attack against the post. That leaves Sky favoring her knee again, meaning Over The Moonsault misses. Back to back Oblivions (though the first one might have been blocked) retain the title at 13:34.

Rating: B. Morgan did a lot better than I was expecting here and it was nice to see her actually defend the title for a change. Beating Sky as close to clean as she got here is a bit of a surprise and it was a good way to open the show. If nothing else, the fans are always going to respond to Morgan and they had a hard hitting match in the process.

Mark Henry, Sean Waltman, Dan Spivey and Jimmy Hart are here.

Bloodline vs. Royce Keys/LA Knight/Solo Sikoa

The Bloodline gets the Gears Of War inspired entrance (never played the games so I’m going to assume the entrance was good). The non Bloodline rush in to start fast and it’s Sikoa hammering on Jey to officially get things going. That lets Sikoa mock Jey’s entrance and even tease running it back. Fatu comes in to hammer on the rather cocky Sikoa and the running Umaga Attack in the corner gets two.

Sikoa punches his way to freedom and it’s a double clothesline to leave both of them down. Keys gets the tag and starts to beat up Jimmy, including a spinebuster. Jimmy finally gets in a shot to the head and goes up, where Keys hits a super fall away slam. Jey comes in to spear Knight for two but Knight runs the corner for the superplex.

It’s time for the parade of secondary finishers until Keys powerslams a charging Fatu into the timekeeper’s area for the awesome crash. Jey spears Knight again and Jimmy’s Superfly Splash gets two. Sikoa is back up to Spike Jimmy though and the BFT to Jey gives Knight the pin at 11:04.

Rating: B-. I’m surprised by the result but it’s nice to see the Bloodline lose for a change, with Knight even getting the pin. That’s a good sign for his future and maybe we can FINALLY get Knight in the main event picture. That powerslam to Fatu looked great too and it’s nice to see things going the other way for once.

Post match Knight eventually hugs Sikoa as a thank you.

Gunther vs. Nick Aldis

Gunther wasn’t happy when Aldis, then Smackdown GM, wouldn’t put him in the World Title match so Gunther attacked him. Now Aldis is back in the ring for one night to get some revenge. Aldis even gets to come to the ring to Oasis and Barrett absolutely loses it. Gunther backs him up against the ropes to start and takes over, allowing for a celebration on the announcers’ table.

Gunther gets back inside and gets suplexed for quite the reaction from the fans. The King’s Lynn (modified Texas) Cloverleaf is broken up though and Gunther chops him out to the floor. We pause for Gunther to yell at Aldis’ wife (Mickie James) and son before he rocks Aldis with another chop.

Aldis’ chop doesn’t do much good as Gunther sends him hard into the corner. A backbreaker works a bit better for Aldis, who tries and fails at the King’s Lynn Cloverleaf again. Gunther’s sleeper is broken up with a ram into the buckle and Aldis hits a nice superplex. The top rope elbow to the back sets up the King’s Lynn Cloverleaf and the fans go nuts, only for Gunther to make the rope. The sleeper is broken up again so Gunther hits a powerbomb into another sleeper, with Aldis tapping at 11:14.

Rating: B. This was pretty much exactly what it was always going to be, with Aldis doing as well as he could have and giving Gunther a sweat before falling in the end. Aldis certainly didn’t embarrass himself out there and had a heck of a match, with the whole thing being about the King’s Lynn Cloverleaf, which just wasn’t enough. Good match, and if Aldis wants to wrestle on occasion, he’ll be fine.

Post match Gunther leaves and Aldis’ family gets in to celebrate with him.

Bella Twins/Paige vs. Fatal Influence

Brie and Henley start things off with Brie taking over off a Russian legsweep. The YES Kicks connect and they quickly go outside, with Brie being sent into the steps. Jayne adds the running cannonball and the villains get to pose. Back in and Reid grabs a chinlock but is smart enough to cut off Paige to prevent the tag. She doesn’t cut Nikki off though and the tag allows Nikki to come in and take over on Reid.

The Rack Attack 2.0 is broken up though and Paige cannonballs off the apron onto Henley. Jayne has to come in for the save so Brie decks her, despite her arm looking like it’s just hanging there. Henley pulls Brie to the floor, leaving Reid to give Nikki a hard knee to the face. But Jayne misses the Rolling Encore. Paige sunset flips her for tow, only to walk into the Rolling Encore for the pin at 7:33.

Rating: C. Well, I’ll certainly take being completely wrong about the result here. I was sure the Bellas would get their big moment but it’s nice to be wrong here. This started off fine but got bad near the end. As usual, the Bellas are only so good in the ring and it doesn’t help when Brie clearly got hurt in the process. Not good here for the most part, but at least it didn’t go on that long.

Post match the winners leave and the Bellas….turn on Paige to lay her out. Nikki says the lesson is to never take her spot. Wait. Does Brie possibly being hut mean we might have to keep waiting on the Bellas to get their big title win? Good grief.

Smackdown World Title: Cody Rhodes vs. CM Punk

Punk is defending and sporting a Minnesota North Stars themed jacket. Since Rhodes is Rhodes though, he gets a big Street Fighter entrance, complete with a themed mask and helmet. They chop it out to start and Punk knocks him into the corner, with Rhodes suddenly favoring his arm. Punk immediately slaps on the hammerlock, which is reversed int a headlock.

That’s broken up so Rhodes sends him into the corner, meaning they can fight over a wristlock. Rhodes takes over and sends him outside, though the arm is still bothering him. Punk gets in a clothesline off the barricade and drops an ax handle to the arm back inside. Another shot drops Rhodes again but Punk comes up favoring his knee. The running bulldog out of the corner is blocked and Rhodes gets in a shinbreaker to start in on the leg. Rhodes gets in a dragon screw legwhip and it’s time to stomp away. A half crab is blocked but Punk can’t hit the GTS.

Punk can break up a Disaster Kick by kicking him out of the air though and they’re both down. That’s enough for Punk to get up and drop the elbow but the GTS is escaped again. The Cody Cutter, Disaster Kick and a top rope Cody Cutter combine for a series of near falls and the Figure Four goes on. Punk turns it over until Rhodes gets to the rope, but another Figure Four attempt is countered. Instead Punk pulls him into the Anaconda Vice, with Rhodes getting out again.

Back up and Rhodes tries a swinging Alabama Slam but without the Alabama or the Slam, as Punk pulls him into another Anaconda Vice. Rhodes gets up and grabs a Cross Rhodes for two so Punk goes up for a moonsault and another near fall. The GTS connects but Punk hurts his knee, allowing Rhodes to kick out. They head outside with the announcers’ table being loaded up. Neither finisher can hit so Rhodes sends him into the steps. Back in and another GTS drops Rhodes, though he’s able to grab the rope for the break this time.

Punk sends him outside again and loads up the top rope elbow…but completely misses Rhodes for the massive crash, with the knee taking most of the impact. Rhodes throws him back inside but accidentally kicks the referee. Punk hits a GTS and tries another, which is reversed into Cross Rhodes. With both of them down, Randy Orton runs in for the surprise return and drops Rhodes with an RKO. Punk, who didn’t seem to see what happened, gets back inside and hits another GTS to retain at 29:45.

Rating: B+. I liked the ending with Orton running in as that’s certainly a big surprise worthy of Summerslam. At the same time, this started rather slowly and eventually worked with the Punk crash through the table being a huge spot. The good thing is that Punk retained in the end as we need a break from Rhodes as champion. Rhodes vs. Orton non-title is fine and should open up some doors for Punk to face a few of those people he’s been talking about. The match took its time to get going but they got it rolling in the end, which is not surprising given the talent involved.

We recap Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi. They’ve fought twice before and split the matches, so it’s time for the two of them to hurt each other really badly inside the Cell.

Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar

In the Cell and Paul Heyman is here with Lesnar. Femi fires off the uppercuts to start so Lesnar snaps off the German suplexes. That’s shrugged off though and Femi clotheslines him out to the floor. A suplex drops Lesnar on the floor and Femi sends him into the steps. Lesnar doesn’t seem to mind as he picks up the steps for some HARD shots to Femi’s head

Another hard shot, this one with a chair, puts Femi down again and Lesnar suplexes him onto the chairs. Femi escapes an F5 though and gets in a chokeslam for the needed breather. Another chokeslam sets up a toss powerbomb as Lesnar is rocked for a change. The Fall From Grace (without the lift) gets two so Lesnar does and Undertaker sit up and hits an F5, but Femi pops up.

Lesnar does it again and Femi pops up again, so it’s a third F5 to finally get two. The frustrated Lesnar rips up the mat and exposes the boards, with a Tombstone onto the exposed wood (yes including the tongue out) gets two. Femi has had it and pops up, knocks a chair out of Lesnar’s hands, and hits a Fall From Grace for the pin at 11:41.

Rating: B+. Yeah it was kind of short, but this isn’t the sort of match that needs to go long. Sometimes you need to get in there and get out and that was the case with this match. Femi survived everything from Lesnar and won clean in the end, though I was expecting it to take a bit more. There was no reason for Lesnar to win here so it was cool to see them do the right thing in the end.

Post match the Cell is raised and Lesnar leaves, but comes back to hug Femi. Lesnar grabs the mic and offers congratulations and calls Femi the future. He himself is the past and Femi is the future. That felt like a retirement, but then again so did Wrestlemania so we’ll have to wait and see

Overall Rating: B+. It was another rather good one night event, which has me scared for the second night. The good thing is the big matches delivered and most of the rest worked too, though there was nothing that stole the show. I’ll take a show that is a steady supply of good though, even with the constant breaks and ads and all that time being wasted. The show was a strong one though and it was over before 9:15, which I’ll take any day. Rather good first half for Summerslam here.

Results
Liv Morgan b. Iyo Sky – Oblivion
LA Knight/Royce Keys/Solo Sikoa b. Bloodline – BFT to Jey
Gunther b. LA Knight – Sleeper
Fatal Influence b. Bella Twins/Paige – Rolling Encore to Paige
CM Punk b. Cody Rhodes – GTS
Oba Femi b. Brock Lesnar – Fall From Grace

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

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To put it mildly, the Summerslam card is looking stacked. There are some major matches on both nights of the show, but for some reason the more interesting thing is how badly the ticket sales have gone. That’s become the big story outside of the actual WWE programming, which is a shame as the card is looking good. That is certainly the case for the first night so let’s get to it.

Raw Women’s Title: Liv Morgan(c) vs. Iyo Sky

Why does it feel like the big plan was originally going to be Sky vs. Rhea Ripley at the Crown Jewel show in Saudi Arabia? It would certainly fit and serve as a way to do champion vs. champion, though I’m not sure if that’s going to be possible for a few reasons. Not only is Ripley injured, but there is still the question of who leaves with the title here. Morgan has gotten a lot more serious about this one and that has me curious.

As much as it would make sense for Sky to win here, I’m not sure I can imagine Morgan dropping the title. I’ll take Morgan to actually retain the title, even though I don’t think she has defended it in almost four months at this point. It feels like Morgan’s Judgment Day cronies are going to be involved here to help Morgan out and that should be enough to retain the title. At least in theory.

LA Knight/Royce Keys/Solo Sikoa vs. Bloodline

Yeah you knew there was going to be a Bloodline match on here as they are required to be on just about every show somewhere in there. That’s going to be the case again here, as Knight has been having issues with the team for a very long time now. This time though he actually has some help, in the form of a completely randomized team which feels like it was pulled out of a hat.

All that being said, I can’t imagine the Bloodline loses here as it’s just not their nature. Knight has lost time after time and it seems likely to be the case again, probably with Keys taking the fall. This one has me intrigued at least and it’s good to see Keys getting a chance on the bigger stage. Knight still needs to get a big win somewhere in there, but I don’t think it happens here.

Gunther vs. Nick Aldis

Now here we have something interesting as Aldis hasn’t wrestled in years, including at all in WWE. The good thing though is that he is quite the successful wrestler in his own right so this is hardly one sided. It’s a story that has been done for years before and I could go for seeing it again here. Gunther can work with anyone and Aldis is a bit better than most anyone, so they have some potential.

There’s no reason to think that Aldis has a real chance here, but he should put up a good effort in defeat. Let us see what he can do in this kind of a spot, as it’s been set up for a long enough time. I’m not sure how well this goes for Gunther at a show this big, but it should be good for a showcase for both of them. At the same time, at least it feels unique and that’s better than just having him smash through someone as usual.

Bella Twins/Paige vs. Fatal Influence

Ok. You’ve known where this was going the second that Nikki wasn’t able to wrestle at Wrestlemania. They haven’t tried to hide the story in any way and the entire Brie/Paige title reign was just a bridge to get us here. The whole thing has been about the Bellas getting their big title win because it’s been far too long before they get their big moment. That’s what we’re waiting on and this is just a means to get us to that end.

Of course I’ll go with the Bellas and Paige winning here, because it’s the BELLAS and therefore we have to treat them like the all time legends that they have always been. So what if Fatal Influence are the new Women’s Tag Team Champions? The Bellas need the win more and while I’d love to be wrong, it’s hard to fathom that this winds up going anywhere else because of course.

Oba Femi vs. Brock Lesnar

There are some matches where you know what you’re going to get and it’s just exciting to see it coming. That’s what we have here as the two of them are going to beat the living daylights out of each other. While I still do not like the whole King Of The Ring thing with Femi, at least they should be in for a heck of a fight here as Lesnar should know exactly what to do with this one. He certainly seems interested in making Femi look like a killer and this is the best place to do it.

In theory, this should be Femi being the one to finally beat Lesnar in his own big match and I’ll go with that happening. Having Lesnar beat Femi once was questionable enough and I really don’t want to see it happen again. The good thing is I don’t think they’ll do that here so I’ll take Femi to win. I have no idea what either of them do next, but it’s Lesnar vs. Femi in the Cell. That’s all you really need yes?

Smackdown World Title: CM Punk(c) vs. Cody Rhodes

I’m assuming this is headlining but honestly it’s far from a guarantee. The interesting thing is they could easily go with either of them winning and that’s not a place you find yourself in very often. The problem though is Rhodes is in something of a dry spell right now. He’s just kind of there as a top star and there isn’t much about him that makes me want to see what he’s doing next. Granted it doesn’t help that while he’s a good talker, he’s in there with one of the best of all time. How is he supposed to survive that?

Honestly this is kind of a coin flip for me, and while they have planted the seeds of Rhodes turning heel (as per Paul Heyman a month or two ago), I don’t think they’re ready to do that yet. With that not being the case, I’ll take Punk to retain here. You don’t want him losing in his two biggest title matches of the year and really, I think we need a pretty long break from Rhodes atop the title picture. He’ll be fine and there are a bunch of people he could face, but it doesn’t need to be for the World Title right now. Punk retains in a match that really could go either way.

Overall Thoughts

The potential is absolutely here for this, with the World Title match likely being awesome and Femi vs. Lesnar having all of the hype needed. You also have the Women’s Title as a potential sleeper hit and Aldis vs. Gunther should be good. I’m not wild on the two night structure, but the pieces are absolutely in the right place for this to work.

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

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Smackdown
Date: July 24, 2026
Location: Oakland Arena, Oakland, California
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Joe Tessitore

We’re done with Saturday Night’s Main Event and the main event of Summerslam is staying the same. CM Punk and Cody Rhodes defeated Gunther and Sami Zayn to avoid the title match becoming a four way, albeit with some help from Nick Aldis. That won’t sit well with Gunther so let’s get to it.

Here is Saturday Night’s Main Event if you need a recap.

We look at HHH making Gunther vs. Nick Aldis official for Summerslam.

Adam Pearce and Aldis are in the ring for the contract signing with Gunther, who joins them. Pearce gets to the point: Aldis has to vacate his role as GM to face Gunther and WWE is not responsible for what happens in the match. That’s fine with Aldis, who signs without a second thought, saying he’s willing to accept those terms. Gunther says that the match will be the greatest moment of Aldis’ career and this is beneath him.

The reality is that Aldis is jealous of him. Gunther knows that Aldis is a former NWA World Champion but he never really made it. But Gunther walked in and became a huge star, with a watch worth about half of Aldis’ salary. Gunther signs, saying that he’ll put Aldis’ name on a list of legends dumb enough to face him. As Gunther goes to leave, Aldis says that Gunther is trying to buy into this himself. Aldis knows that Gunther is scared because he can’t get out of this situation.

The reality is that Aldis hasn’t had a match in three years and has nothing to lose. When he beats Gunther, all that makes Gunther is the guy whose boss made him a little b****. The brawl is on and Gunther kicks him low, with the powerbomb putting Aldis through the table. The match should be pretty much a lock for Gunther, but it does help that Aldis is an accomplished wrestler so it’s not going to be some big mess.

Post break Sami Zayn interrupts an update on Aldis and says he won the title at Night Of Champions. It became clear that the higher ups didn’t want to be champion and he wound up facing Punk on a show they weren’t supposed to be on. Aldis and Gunther have a match at Summerslam but the guy who was champion EIGHTEEN DAYS AGO isn’t on the card? Adam Pearce comes in and Zayn wants it made right. Make the title match a triple threat

Pearce shuts that down and yells at him, but says that there is a four way match tonight. The winner of that can face Zayn at Summerslam in a #1 contenders match. Zayn hates having to earn it but takes it as Pearce says that’s all he’s getting. WWE doesn’t often do #1 contender matches on PPV so that’s a change of pace.

Brie Bella vs. Lainey Reid

Their associates are her too. Before the match, Reid says Saturday was a big night for them but Bella and Paige are the ones who will remember it forever. Jacy Jayne wants gold around her waist too so she wants the Women’s US Title. Reid jumps Bella to start and they go to the floor, with Bella sending her into the announcers’ table. Back in and the bell rings, with Bella being sent face first into the buckle. A cutter drops her again and we take an early break.

We come back with Bella hitting her running knee in the ropes, followed by a bulldog out of the corner. Bella tries a sunset flip out of the corner but Reid grabs the rope. That doesn’t work and said sunset flip gives Bella the pin at 5:48. Not enough shown to rate but they kept to the point here.

Post match Fatal Influence runs in to beat down Bella and Paige but Nikki Bella runs in for the save. The six woman tag is set for Summerslam.

Finn Balor, in the four way tonight, can’t help but think about his first Summerslam in 2016, when he won the title but got hurt. He has spent ten years trying to get back to that moment and now he is so close. Gunther comes in to say he’s next in line and says ten years is a long time.

Video on the six man tag at Summerslam, with LA Knight/Solo Sikoa/Royce Keys vs. the Bloodline.

Keys is warming up when Sikoa comes in to say Keys might be working twice at Summerslam. That’s fine with Keys, who is from this area and ready to fight in front of his friends and family. Knight comes in to say Keys can handle his business tonight as long as he stays ready for Summerslam. Sikoa continues to talk about the team, sounding more and more like an Uso every day.

Chelsea Green and Tiffany Stratton both want to win, with Green wanting the Interim Women’s Title. With Green gone, Bake Monroe comes in to say she likes Stratton, but wants her to shine that title up for her.

Interim Women’s Title Qualifying Match: Chelsea Green vs. Kiana James

James powers her into the corner to start but gets dropkicked out to the floor. They fight on the floor with James firing off some knees to the ribs and it’s time to go back inside. Green gets in a faceplant but James superkicks her into a Falcon Arrow for two. The Codebreaker connects for James, only for Green to come back with the Unprettier for the pin at 3:27.

Rating: C. They didn’t have much time here but Green going on to the ladder match is a great way to go, as she has done some very good things in previous ladder matches. The fans are behind her right now and that should be the case again at Summerslam. James is pretty firmly locked into this spot as the designated jobber of the division, which isn’t overly surprising.

R-Truth is confused about what Damian Priest is doing (hot dogs and four ways are involved) but Cody Rhodes comes up. Rhodes and Priest say they’ll be winning at Summerslam and Priest promises to win the title. That’s an attitude Rhodes can appreciate and he leaves in peace, which seems to surprise Priest.

We look at the Saturday Night’s Main Event tag match, where Cody Rhodes accidentally hit CM Punk, and the ensuing issues between the two of them.

Here is Rhodes for a chat and he’s in a hurry tonight, as he hits the catchphrase and brings in Punk to join him. Rhodes drops the mic as he hands it to Punk, which Rhodes calls an accident. Punk takes his jacket off though and they go face to face but goes to get his own mic. Punk says it’s a shame that it’s come to this because he doesn’t know if he can trust his friend. Rhodes says he’s going to explain why he needs to win and it isn’t about the title.

That’s what Punk doesn’t get, because the title is more than a good enough reason. Rhodes talks about how they respect each other but he doesn’t like Punk. Back in 2011, Punk cut the Pipe Bomb and Rhodes followed what he said to the letter. What Rhodes also knows is that while he was going around the world doing everything Punk talked about, everyone wanted it to be Punk instead of him.

Rhodes is tired of apologizing though because he’s become the star of WWE. He was on the Tonight Show and he’s going to be on ESPN. Everyone has come for him but the only one he worries about is Punk. For the story to have the proper ending, he has to beat Punk. With Rhodes done, Punk talks about how he casts a big shadow around here and it’s up to the people to decide what he’s done.

Back in 2022, Punk was learning from Rhodes as he showed Punk that there was a way back here. Now though, Punk knows that Rhodes is lying because he has to make himself the victim. If everyone is Rhodes’ enemy, Punk is his only friend but at Summerslam, he’s breaking Rhodes’ heart. Rhodes unbuttons his collar and talks about how they’re going to be teaming on the upcoming live events and he’ll give Punk the traditional main event gift.

Punk says he’s got a gift for Rhodes at Summerslam in the form of a loss. He’s CM Punk and no one can touch him in the ring or on the mic, including Dusty’s kid. Punk goes to leave but Rhodes stops him, saying we’ll play Kingdom so Punk can get a preview of what he’ll hear at the end of their match. Good exchange here and it was easy to follow, though Rhodes’ last ling was pretty weak.

Charlotte doesn’t regret costing Nia Jax a match last week. What she does regret is Alexa Bliss being injured and promises payback on Jade Cargill.

We look back at Fanatics Fest.

Charlotte vs. Nia Jax

Jax powers her into the corner to start so Charlotte kicks her in the face. Charlotte’s Flair Flip in the corner doesn’t do much good as Jax grabs a sitout powerbomb and we take a break. We come back with Jax knocking her down and hitting a middle rope legdrop for two. The Annihilator is countered into a better powerbomb for two more but here are Jade Cargill and the Baddies. Charlotte fights them off and escapes Jax’s Samoan drop, only to get hit in the face by Cargill for the DQ at 8:14.

Rating: B-. This was about all it needed to be as Cargill has a reason to go after Charlotte after last week. The good thing here is that Charlotte has evolved a good bit, as back in the day it wouldn’t have been insane to expect Charlotte to win here despite being down 4-1. It’s nice to see that isn’t the case anymore, as Charlotte has evolved a good bit and it has been a notable improvement.

Post match Cargill and the Baddies beat Charlotte down but Jax freaks out, as she’s lost another match due to a feud she isn’t involved in two weeks in a row.

Summerslam rundown.

Damian Priest vs. Trick Williams vs. Royce Keys vs. Finn Balor

Non-title and for a shot against Sami Zayn at Summerslam in the #1 contenders match. Keys takes over to start fast and we take a break about thirty seconds in. We come back with Balor escaping Keys’ powerslam and Priest faceplanting Williams. Back up and Williams sends Balor and Keys into the corner for a double stomping but has to deal with Priest. With everyone else on the floor, Balor is up with a big running flip dive but here is Solo Sikoa as we take another break.

We come back again with the Usos coming out to brawl with Sikoa so here is LA Knight to even things up a bit. Priest dives onto all four of them and Balor misses a Coup de Grace on Williams. That means a Trick Kick for two as Knight, Sikoa and the Usos brawl to the back. Priest gives Williams the South Of Heaven for two so Keys grabs the USB, only to be pulled out by Jacob Fatu. Keys is quickly wrecked and Balor Coup de Graces Priest for the pin at 12:03.

Rating: B. There was A LOT going on here but the good thing is that it all tied together and made sense. They had all of those other people involved and it fit with Keys being involved in both stories at once. Balor is the logical choice to move forward and I’m not completely sure who wins when he faces Zayn. Good main event here after a show without much wrestling.

Overall Rating: B. The wrestling wasn’t the focus here, as they pushed the stories towards Summerslam quite a bit. The six man got a nice bump and Balor vs. Zayn is interesting. Other than that you had the good talking segments and the Jax story has me oddly intrigued. They’re doing a nice job with Summerslam, though unfortunately it isn’t leading to the best in ticket sales. Either way, good PPV build show here.

Results
Brie Bella b. Lainey Reid – Sunset flip
Chelsea Green b. Kiana James – Unprettier
Charlotte b. Nia Jax via DQ when Jade Cargill interfered
Finn Balor b. Damian Priest, Trick Williams and Royce Keys – Coup de Grace to Priest

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

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Monday Night Raw
Date: July 13, 2026
Location: American Airlines Arena, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

We’re on the way to Saturday Night’s Main Event and that means it is time to finalize the Raw side of the card. The show is only feeling so important with Summerslam coming a few weeks after but that is often an issue with these specials. Hopefully they can put something together here with Brock Lesnar in the house. Let’s get to it.

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

Here are Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, with a bunch of cops, to get things going. The fans keep chanting for Oba Femi, with Heyman explaining how obsessed Femi is with facing Lesnar. Heyman finds it interesting to see Femi being obsessed because so many people are until they get hit in the face.

This time though, Lesnar is obsessed with Femi and has been looking past hunting trips and training camp to get his hands on Femi in the Cell. Before then though, Heyman has gone to a judge and gotten a restraining order to prevent any violence. Lesnar takes his hat off because he’ll be abiding by the judge’s orders, but here is Femi (in a RUN FROM THE RULER shirt, making me picture him as the nun in the Blues Brothers) to interrupt.

Femi is here to fight so Lesnar and Heyman leave, with Femi beating up the cops. With Lesnar and Heyman on the stage, Femi says he would have gotten his title shot but Lesnar would have cost him anyway. At Summerslam, there is no more running. Not much here, but the match has already been set up.

We get the start of a series on Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins, with the formation of the Shield. This is basically “here’s the Shield, they’re awesome”.

Iyo Sky vs. Roxanne Perez

Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez are here with Perez. It’s a brawl to start with Sky taking her down for some knees to the ribs. Back up and they trade some rollups for two each until Perez kicks her in the ribs. They head outside for the fight over a suplex, with Sky dropping her down to the floor. An Asai moonsault connects but Morgan offers a distraction, allowing Perez to twist the leg as we take a break.

We come back with Perez tying her in the Tree Of Woe and kicking at the knee some more. Sky gets her knees up to block a moonsault and hitting a butterfly backbreaker for another two. There’s the missile dropkick but the running knee only hits buckls. Perez grabs a Haas Of Pain, with Sky reversing into a crossface. That’s broken up as well so Judgment Day offers a distraction, only for Sky to roll through a rollup and pin Perez at 9:35.

Rating: B-. This was one of those basic steps in a long story as Sky is on her way to a title match at Summerslam but they have so long on the road to the title match. Sky beating Morgan’s friends is a good way to go and she outsmarted the Judgment Day to win here. They have a few weeks to go and at least this first part went well.

Post match the beatdown is still on until Sol Ruca runs in for the save. That earns her a swing into the barricade and a powerbomb against the post, followed by a belt shot to leave Sky laying.

We recap the issues with the Bloodline on Smackdown.

Here is the Vision, now with Maxxine Dupri, to brag about getting the Tag Team Titles back. Dupri goes to explain but here is the sad looking Alpha Academy to interrupt. They want an explanation and beg her to come back but she didn’t think it was fair that she had to pick between them. Otis told her that Austin Theory was bad news but she insists that they don’t even know Theory. As Otis seems ready to confess his feelings for Dupri, Theory gets on the apron to laugh the whole thing off.

The fight is on with Tozawa diving at Bron Breakker, who suplexes him clean over the announcers’ table. Back in and the beatdown continues but Otis fights back in the corner. Otis goes to kiss Dupri but Theory gets in a low blow. Breakker hits a huge spear to Tozawa and another drops Otis as well. This is supposed to be some big sad moment but I’m really not that mad about Dupri getting to be happy with the successful team over some comedy losers.

Survivor Series is in Houston.

The people in the gauntlet match for an Intercontinental Title shot want to win the gauntlet match for an Intercontinental Title shot.

Royce Keys vs. Jimmy Uso

This is an impromptu match and we’re joined in progress after a break, as the two got in a fight in the aisle during the commercial. Keys hammers away as we recap how the match was set up. A high crossbody gives Jimmy a breather and he enziguris Keys outside. That earns Uso some rams into various objects on the floor, only to come back with a Samoan drop onto the announcers’ table. We take a break and come back with Keys catching him in a powerslam as Jacob Fatu arrives in the back. Fatu comes into the arena and lays Keys out for the DQ at 6:53.

Rating: C. They didn’t have time to do much here as so much of the match was spent in the break. At the same time, Keys is the latest name to be pulled into the Bloodline Vortex, which might seem like a good thing but will likely only lead to a bunch of beatdowns. You really couldn’t have him pin Uso here before the big beating?

Post match Fatu wrecks Keys and wraps a chair around his neck in the corner. Solo Sikoa pops up to call Fatu off though, saying blood is thicker than water. That’s why he’s coming home to the family. They do the big pose and Sikoa Spikes Uso but the Bloodline is back up. LA Knight comes in for the real save, though a chair to the back just wakes Fatu up. Knight chairs him to the floor and says that’s not enough because he wants the two of them in this ring. Throw in Jey Uso too and let’s do that six man thing at Summerslam.

Paul Heyman applauds the Vision for their efforts but says that Maxxine Dupri was so great tonight….that they don’t need him anymore. And Heyman walks away. If that’s it for the team, fair enough, as it really wasn’t working and needs a new direction.

Video on the Cell.

Oba Femi comes up to Adam Pearce and threatens a lot of violence in the Cell.

Bayley is in the ring and invites Lyra Valkyria to join her. Valkyria does show up and Bayley asks for an apology, but Valkyria thinks she deserves the apology. If Bayley could realize her own problems, she would realize why so many people turn on her. Valkyria has always lied to Bayley to make her feel good because the reality is Bayley is a doormat. Her face shouldn’t be on the posters and she drags everyone down.

Bayley has always been the worst of the Four Horsewomen but she lists off some of her own accomplishments. She’s going to add beating Valkyria at Madison Square Garden, because their match is set for Saturday Night’s Main Event. Valkyria’s cheap shot is cut off but she beats Bayley up anyway. They were doing it there or at Summerslam so this makes sense.

We look at the Shield splitting up, with the chair shot that ultimately lead to the creation of the Bloodline.

Big Cass is back on August 3. If he’s alone, it’ll be fine. Therefore, it won’t be fine.

Gauntlet Match

Seven entries for an Intercontinental Title shot at Summerslam and it’s Dominik Mysterio in at #1 and Joe Hendry in at #2. Hendry starts fast and takes over, including a slam to put Mysterio down. They go outside with Hendry being whipped hard into the steps and the fans are all over Mysterio. Back in and the slingshot hilo connects but Hendry blocks the Three Amigos. Hendry gets in the fall away slam but JD McDonagh offers a distraction. The 619 into the frog splash gets rid of Hendry at 4:52.

Je’Von Evans is in at #3 and, after a break, is taken down by McDonagh on the floor. Evans sends Mysterio into the announcers’ table though and a spinning enziguri gets two back inside. McDonagh gets caught interfering so Evans hits him in the face, only to get 619ed. Mysterio goes up….and here is Danhausen to CURSE him. The pyro goes off in the wrong corner (Danhausen realizes he messed up) but it’s the OG Cutter to give Evans the pin at 11:10.

Dragon Lee is in at #4 and sends Evans outside for the big running flip dive as we take another break. We come back with Evans winning a slugout and taking it outside. Lee is sent into the timekeeper’s area, where a big dive takes him down again. They get back inside where Lee plants Evans for two, only to get rolled up for the pin at 15:36. Rusev is in at #5 and we take a break.

We come back with Rusev unloading on Evans, at least until he knocks Rusev outside. The big no hands dive gives Evans two back inside but Rusev slams him down. The Accolade goes on, with Evans making the rope. That’s not acceptable for Rusev, who pulls him back in, only to have Evans stand up (!) and drop down for the save. Rusev pulls him right back in though and Evans is out at 27:15.

Chad Gable is in at #6 and the rolling suplexes have Rusev in trouble. Rusev is able to catch him with a release Rock Bottom though and we take a break. We come back with a superplex and Angle Slam being blocked. Instead Rusev superkicks him into the Accolade but Gable slips out for a German suplex into the corner.

A victory roll pins Rusev at 34:26 but Rusev Accolades Gable again. Ethan Page is in at #7 and Page’s running big boot gets two but he’s caught in the ankle lock. That’s reversed into a Confidence Breaker for two, only for Gable to reverse an Egoplex into the Angle Slam for two. The ankle lock gives Gable the win at 38:18.

Rating: B. This worked well as I wasn’t sure who was going to win. Gable going forward is the right way to go, as he is long overdue for some singles success of his own. I’d assume he wins the title, but the question would seem to be how. For right now, he’s having good matches and the fans are behind him so you can only ask for so much more than that. This was rather long but flew by and that’s a nice feeling for the big featured match designed to eat up a bunch of the show’s time.

Post match Penta comes in for the staredown.

We look at the recent Smackdown World Title issues, leading to a tag match at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Roman Reigns arrives.

Saturday Night’s Main Event rundown.

It’s time for the contract signing with Roman Reigns coming to the ring (already containing Adam Pearce) first. After the catchphrase, here is Seth Rollins to interrupt and join in. Rollins signs before his music finishes playing and says him beating Reigns is one of those things you can’t avoid. With his feet on the table, Rollins tells Reigns to get on with this but Reigns says he wishes Rollins that last week.

Last week Rollins proved himself to be Reigns’ #1 hater (the fans like that one) and Reigns doesn’t like that because it has people believing they’re on the same level. Reigns will prove the difference between the two of them at Summerslam, where he’ll show Rollins what #1 looks like. That’s enough for Reigns to sign and we’re officially set. Rollins is rather pleased with him for keeping the title warm and he’ll see Reigns the next time he wants to show up for work.

Reigns cuts him off and asks what happens if Rollins does win. Is he going to hold the title for a few months and then get hurt again? It’s what happens every single time because some people just can’t handle the pressure of being the top guy around here. That brings Rollins back inside to tell Reigns to just say something. Reigns says he knows Rollins is #2 because after all of these years, he still needs Money In The Bank and a fake injury to win the title. If there was ever a time to be #1, Rollins’ work daddy HHH is basically running the place!

They gave Rollins all of Reigns’ stuff but he still couldn’t walk in Reigns’ shoes. Reigns will always be #1 and Rollins will always be #2 so just acknowledge it b****. Rollins asks if that’s all he has, and says that they’re not doing the same thing. He’s glad that he isn’t Reigns and the fight is on, with Rollins beating him down. The Stomp is countered with a Superman Punch but Rollins uses a microphone to get out of a powerbomb. Now the Stomp connects and Rollins stares down at him to end the show. This went on for a bit and Reigns basically destroyed him on the mic, as Rollins didn’t have much to respond to him.

Overall Rating: B. They were in a rough spot (again) because they’re trying to build to a few things at once. Saturday Night’s Main Event does feel bigger this time around, but when you already have Summerslam mostly set, the Saturday special only matters so much. The wrestling was a big different here too, with one scheduled match, an impromptu match (that’s not a bad thing) and then a very long six fall match. It worked out fine, but this was definitely something a bit different and I’m not sure how often they could pull it off.

Results
Iyo Sky b. Roxanne Perez – Rollup
Royce Keys b. Jimmy Uso via DQ when Jacob Fatu interfered
Chad Gable won a gauntlet match last eliminating Ethan Page

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

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

Smackdown
Date: July 10, 2026
Location: Paycom Center, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Commentators: Joe Tessitore, Wade Barrett

And then everything changed, as CM Punk won the Smackdown World Title on Raw, despite not being a Smackdown wrestler. He might be now, but it’s not sure if that’s the case or not. Odds are we’ll hear something about that tonight as there is a good chance that Punk will be on the show. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a recap of the Smackdown World Title situation on Raw, with Gunther attacking Cody Rhodes and costing him a chance to challenge Sami Zayn for the title. CM Punk stepped in and got the title shot instead, beating Zayn to become champion.

Here is Nick Aldis, who got Punk to challenge for the title, to say that he is officially back as Smackdown GM. With that out of the way, here is Punk for a chat. Aldis welcomes Punk to the show and steps aside, with Punk saying he missed the Smackdown fans. Punk has been negotiating to come to Smackdown and those discussions were expedited on Monday, when he got into his gear at his house and drove to the Allstate Arena where he won the title. When title opportunities fall out of the sky, he’s there to catch them and he’s ready to defend this title anytime.

If someone thinks he has something that belongs to them, come try and take it. Punk brings up Sami Zayn, who deserves a rematch, Gunther, knowing it’s a mistake to bring up, and Finn Balor, who can come get a third shot any time. He lists off a few other names but here is Cody Rhodes to interrupt. Rhodes asks about Punk’s black eye, with Punk saying he knows Rhodes wants to know something else…so what does he want to talk about?

Rhodes brings up the title matches falling out of the sky, but there are other matches that have been built up for years. Punk: “You mean like CM Punk vs. Cody Rhodes?” That sounded like a Wrestlemania main event but they can’t run from each other much more. The challenge is made for Summerslam so they shake hands, with Aldis making it official. Yeah that’s a big time Summerslam match and worthy of a main event.

Jade Cargill, with Michin and B-Fab, has requested and received a match with Alexa Bliss tonight. This is part of Cargill ruining Charlotte’s life and she’s not responsible for taking Bliss out.

Finn Balor vs. Tama Tonga

Talla Tonga is here with Tama and this is fallout from the Tongas attacking Balor last week. Balor double legs him to start and hammers away but Tama gets in an elbow to the face. A clothesline puts Tama on the floor but Talla breaks up the big dive, allowing Tama to get in the shot from behind.

We take a break and come back with Balor striking away, setting up a Nightmare On Helm Street for two. A spinning belly to back suplex gets Tama out of trouble but Balor puts him right back into it with the Sling Blade. Tama cuts him off again and hits a spinning Pedigree for two so Balor backdrops him to the floor. The big running flip dive hits both Tongas and the Coup de Grace gives Balor the pin at 9:47.

Rating: B. I’m not sure what happened but they flipped a switch in the last few minutes and turned on the jets. The final two or so minutes here was an awesome fast paced slugfest with one big move after another. Balor can work well with anyone and Tama held up his end rather well here. It started good and then got very good, which made it even more fun than I was expecting.

Carmelo Hayes is ready to prove himself again because he wants to get his hands on Trick Williams.

R-Truth pays off Fraxiom over a lost bet but the War Raiders come in to say these games need to end. Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu come in, saying they’re looking for Solo Sikoa. R-Truth agrees to tell Sikoa they’re looking for him. Damian Priest comes up and seems ok with them, while also saying Royce Keys is here. R-Truth doesn’t like that, but Priest says Keys isn’t with them.

Sami Zayn, on a mental health break, is on the phone with Nick Aldis, who says he does have the authority to make a match between CM Punk and Cody Rhodes. Gunther comes in to slap the phone away and says he belongs in the World Title match. Aldis has until the end of the night to fix that.

Here are Jimmy Uso and Jacob Fatu to call out Solo Sikoa. Instead they get Royce Keys, who Fatu doesn’t think looks like Sikoa. Keys says their family business is starting to affect him and Fatu doesn’t like that. Fatu says Keys can say a lot, but please don’t go there about OTC business. Uso clarifies that Keys isn’t part of this family but Keys talks about all of the family members he has lost.

Fatu has been his brother and Keys isn’t letting him go. Uso says this is crossing a line that he can’t come back from and he doesn’t want to do this. Keys isn’t here to fight…but steps forward over a line. Uso says that the two of them are going to give Keys the worst beating they’ve ever given anyone. Keys: “We?” This is all on Uso so he says get a referee out here. Keys knocks Uso outside with a clothesline and we take a break with the referee arriving.

Jimmy Uso vs. Royce Keys

Keys knocks him down to start and fires away right hands in the corner. A suplex puts Uso down but they head outside, with Uso sending him into the steps. The chinlock goes on back inside but Keys is up, only to be sent back to the floor. Keys is sent over the announcers’ table and we take a break.

We come back with Keys getting two off a powerslam so it’s time for the straps to come down. Keys plants him onto the announcers’ table but gets posted to cut off the momentum. Cue Solo Sikoa behind Uso to load up the Spike, which brings out Jacob Fatu. The brawl is on, allowing Uso to spear Keys for the pin at 9:25.

Rating: C+. I’m not wild on Keys losing, though it’s even worse when he loses to Jimmy Uso’s spear. Trying to make it the family move is quite a stretch when only Reigns really has the power/explosiveness to make it look good and the Samoan drop already exists. Anyway, this was more of the Bloodline drama, which is going on underneath everything Roman Reigns has going on with Seth Rollins for Summerslam. That’s a lot at once and I’m still not even sure where this part is going.

Post match Fatu lays out Sikoa and then superkicks Keys. Fatu loads up the Umaga Attack on Sikoa, who has a chair around his neck, but hits the brakes and yells at him instead.

After losing the title on Monday, Sami Zayn went on a rant about how unfair the whole thing was.

CM Punk wants everyone to get in line to come after the title but here are Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano. LeRae yells at Punk for taking away their hope of Gargano getting better. Punk remembers him as Johnny Wrestling and says whatever this is, it isn’t working. As Punk goes to leave, Finn Balor welcomes him to the show, with an eye on the belt.

Fatal Influence have had fun taking out Brie Bella and Paige and they’re ready to do it again for the Women’s Tag Team Titles at Saturday Night’s Main Event. I’d certainly hope so.

Alexa Bliss vs. Jade Cargill

Charlotte and the minions are here too. An early Charlotte distraction lets Bliss go after Cargill’s leg and a knee to the face puts Cargill down. That just earns Bliss some backbreakers and we take a break. We come back with Cargill missing a boot in the corner so Bliss can hammer away. The running Blockbuster gives Bliss two but Sister Abigail is broken up. Charlotte gets in a neck snap across the top to give Bliss two so it’s time for the seconds to get in a fight. Cargill gets in a pump kick into Jaded for the pin at 7:04.

Rating: C+. This was another way to continue the path towards Cargill vs. Charlotte, which absolutely feels like a big showdown. I could go for seeing the two of them fight and hopefully they manage to make it work. Bliss and Charlotte have come incredibly far as a team and this was a good use of a story that has worked for years in wrestling.

Post match Charlotte fights off the minions for a bit but Cargill uses a chair to snap Bliss’ arm, allowing Bliss to do her arm out of joint deal.

Trick Williams can’t find his title but Lil Yachty comes up to present him a custom fur lined title.

Alexa Bliss is taken to the trainer’s room. I’m not sure why we needed to see this.

Carmelo Hayes vs. Trick Williams

Non-title and Lil Yachty is here with Williams. Hayes gets knocked into the corner to start so Williams can stomp away. Back up and Hayes gets in a spinning crossbody, earning himself a Trick Slap as we take an early break. We come back with Hayes grabbing Dirty Diana for two and they both need a breather. Williams gets in some leg lariats, followed by a Rock Bottom for two.

Hayes flips out of a fireman’s carry though and grabs a middle rope DDT for two of his own. The jumping neckbreaker gives Williams two but Hayes knocks him off the top, setting up a frog splash for another near fall. The Trick Kick gives Williams two more but he misses a charge in the corner. Yachty gets dropped and the First 48 takes Williams down. Hayes goes up top…but Baron Corbin of all people is back to pull him into the ropes for the DQ at 10:30.

Rating: B-. They were having a good match before the big surprise return. Corbin isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but he could be a great addition to the midcard. As long as he doesn’t become the focal point of the show, he should be perfectly fine and could have some good matches with Williams, Hayes and more. The match itself was good, but these two are likely to have a big PPV match somewhere down the line after their lengthy history together.

Post match Corbin lays both of them out and drops the furry title on Williams.

Here is Gunther, with Nick Aldis coming in to say Gunther can have what he wants. Gunther can have Punk and Rhodes…at Saturday Night’s Main Event in a tag match, when he teams up with Sami Zayn. Summerslam isn’t changing one bit, which earns Aldis a beatdown. Gunther boots him in the face and grabs the sleeper a few times. Cody Rhodes runs in for the save (though the show cuts off when he’s still in the aisle) to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was designed to set up a few big matches for Summerslam, which certainly needs the help to boost things up with a few weeks ago to go. Punk vs. Rhodes being set up is a good move, as that’s absolutely a main event level match. Other than that, some of the matches which were either already set or close to it got a few nice upgrades. I liked this show, as it’s nice to have a more clear direction after everything has been shaken up in recent weeks.

Results
Finn Balor b. Tama Tonga – Coup de Grace
Jimmy Uso b. Royce Keys – Spear
Jade Cargill b. Alexa Bliss – Jaded
Carmelo Hayes b. Trick Williams via DQ when Baron Corbin interfered

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

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Smackdown
Date: June 26, 2026
Location: O2 Arena, London, England
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

We’re taped from London and it’s the night before Night Of Champions. In this case that means the big final push towards to the pay per view and the previews for the finals of the two Of The Ring tournaments. Things have been looking up a bit around here as of late and it would be great to have that continue. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a recap of last week’s World Title situation, resulting in Cody Rhodes defending against Sami Zayn and Gunther at Night Of Champions.

Here are Trick Williams and Lil Yachty for a chat. Williams was missing last week because he was in Jamaica…where he and Lash Legend got married. After stories about the celebration and what happened all night long, Williams declares it the greatest night of his life. He’s ready to go into Night Of Champions and retain the title and move on to Summerslam.

This brings out a ticked off Ricky Saints to interrupt, with Williams threatening him with his back hand. Saints isn’t impressed and says Williams is overlooking him. Tomorrow, you’re going to be looking at the new US Champion. Williams says the only person Saints needs to be focusing on is his dentist after Williams kicks Saints’ teeth down his throat. Saints gets annoyed at Yachty and gets in a cheap shot, with another dropping a distracted Williams.

Alexa Bliss wants to get revenge for Charlotte, even if it means teaming with Tiffany Stratton. Cue Stratton, who says this is a one night only thing and she wants to be left alone after. That’s a rather specific request.

Tiffany Stratton/Alexa Bliss vs. Michin/B-Fab

Stratton and Michin start things off with Stratton grabbing an early headlock takeover. A running basement dropkick gives Stratton an early two and it’s off to Bliss, who is apparently rather popular. The running Blockbuster puts Michin down but it’s way too early for Sister Abigail.

A not so great tornado DDT puts Michin down on the floor but B-Fab gets in a big boot to Bliss as we take a break. We come back with Michin missing an elbow, allowing Stratton to come back in and clean house. The Alabama Slam gets two on B-Fab and there’s a Regal Roll but cue Jade Cargill to break up the moonsault. A spinning X Factor gives B-Fab the pin at 7:41.

Rating: C+. This was a fine illustration of following the basic playbook to build towards Saturday’s title match. Stratton has a reason to be mad now and we might be seeing her more focused on revenge than retaining her title. It should make for an interesting match and this was a good way to set it up, as well as a good use of the minions.

Post match the villains surround Stratton so here is Chelsea Green…who drops her kendo stick. Green is able to send Cargill outside anyway though and Cargill leaves with her goons.

We look at Solo Sikoa costing Jimmy Uso on Raw.

Sikoa brags about taking Uso out but the MFT’s say he’s obsessed with Roman Reigns. They’re out, which leaves Sikoa ranting about how no one leaves him.

Jade Cargill demands a match with Chelsea Green for tonight and Nick Aldis obliges.

AAA Cruiserweight Title: Nathan Frazer vs. Rey Fenix

Fenix is defending. They run the ropes to start fast and trade the flips and dives into an early standoff. Frazer flips away from him out of the corner so Fenix is up with a springboard crossbody to put Frazer down. Fenix sends him outside for the big dive but Frazer catches him with a kick of his own. The big running flip dive hits Fenix and we take a break.

We come back with Fenix fighting out of a chinlock and firing off the fast chops. A Roode Bomb gives Fenix two but Frazer catches him up top. The superplex connects but Fenix pops up for a double kick to the head and they’re both down. Back up and Frazer’s middle rope reverse Spanish Fly gets two and he kicks Fenix out to the floor for a big crash. Frazer’s big dive is cut off though and the Mexican MuscleBuster retains the title at 10:48.

Rating: B. This is another one of those matches where you knew it was going to be entertaining based on whom was involved. That was the case again here, with Fenix getting to showcase himself and Frazer being a perfect choice to hang in there with him. I still don’t want to see the AAA title involved around here, but this was good while it lasted.

Post match respect is shown.

Damian Priest and R-Truth don’t see things the same way on rebuilding the Judgment Day clubhouse but the War Raiders come in to say they want a winner take all title match. R-Truth gets confused and Priest has to take him away.

LA Knight arrives and is on his way to the ring. He also asks why Cathy Kelley, who is supposed to be on Raw, was waiting on him. Fair question.

We recap the King Of The Ring semifinals.

Here is Knight for a chat. Knight talks about how he laid Jimmy Uso out on Raw but he had an unexpected assist. He’d like an explanation on that so Solo Sikoa needs to get out here right now. Cue Sikoa, with the fans chanting for him and Knight finding it a bit catchy. Sikoa says his entire family has left him but Knight isn’t impressed as the MFT’s were useless. Knight doesn’t know what happened on Monday but maybe it was a Roman Reigns initiation.

Sikoa snaps, ranting about how much he hates the Bloodline and he knows he and Knight have that in common. Knight says they should both hate Roman Reigns, just like everyone else in the Bloodline. They’ve all gone back into the Bloodline though so why should Knight trust Sikoa? What’s different here?

The difference is that Sikoa has nothing to lose and they could watch each other’s back and take out the Bloodline. Knight has heard “it’s just me uce” before and he probably needs help, but he’s going to live and die doing things his own way. Thanks but no thanks. That’s an interesting twist, though I liked it better when Montez Ford turned down Seth Rollins to go after the Bloodline about a month ago.

Sami Zayn talks about how no one listens to him, save for Johnny Gargano, but now he can redeem himself by winning the WWE Title.

Paige vs. Jacy Jayne

Brie Bella and the rest of Fatal Influence is here too. Jayne starts fast with the boot choke in the corner so Paige sends her throat first into the top rope. The fans declare this to be Paige’s house as she sends Jayne face first into the buckle over and over. An STF sends Jayne over to the ropes and Paige has to flip dive onto the rest of the team. Jayne uses the distraction to get in a cheap shot though and we take a break.

We come back with Paige fighting up and hitting a clothesline, meaning it’s time to slug it out. Paige snaps off a suplex and the Paige Turner gets two. Rampaige is broken up though and Jayne kicks her down for two of her own. The Rolling Encore is broken up so Jayne grabs a rollup, with Bella cutting off the cheating. Paige takes out an interfering Reid and rolls Jayne up for the pin at 8:34.

Rating: C. It’s nice to see Paige getting a win in her home country, though I could have gone with not seeing Jayne take another pin. She was off to such a hot start when she debuted and has come crashing back down to earth rather quickly. At least Paige and Bella are getting a chance though, as they certainly never have before.

Danhausen continues his experiments on Miz and Kit Wilson when Matt Cardona comes in. Cardona is happy with the New York winning but Danhausen steps away. Los Garza come in to ask where Danhausen is but Cardona tells them to get lost. Danhausen is back to Cardona not to touch whatever is under the sheet.

Finn Balor runs into the Tongas, with Tama saying they do have a past. He has one with Shinsuke Nakamura too and look how that went. The Tongas leave together.

Here are Danhausen and Miz and Kit Wilson (still mostly catatonic) for a chat. Danhausen greets the fans and calls the two of them the Legion Of Danhausen, meaning we get the zombified catchphrases. Los Garza interrupts and jumps Miz and Wilson but Matt Cardona makes the save. Nick Aldis comes in to make the tag match.

Matt Cardona/Danhausen vs. Los Garza

We’re joined in progress with Cardona beating up Berto but getting sent out to the apron. Angel gets in a cheap shot to take over and the alternating beating begins. With that not working, Los Garza beat up Wilson on the floor but the distraction lets Cardona get in a flapjack. Danhausen gets to come in and clean house as everything breaks down. Miz won’t let Angel get a chair so Danhausen grabs a rollup for two on Berto. A kick to the head puts Danhausen down but he curses Berto on top, causing pyro to go off. That and a reverse DDT give Danhausen the pin at 4:32.

Rating: C. This is a completely acceptable way of putting one of the hotter stars on the show as the fans get to see Danhausen live. It’s not like there was anything serious to the whole thing as you had curses, zombies and…whatever Danhausen is this week. Either way, it’s more fun stuff as they’re keeping Danhausen low on the card where he belongs.

Gunther isn’t pleased with Sami Zayn saying their Night Of Champions match is about Zayn’s redemption. A question about his less than great win/loss record against Cody Rhodes makes it worse and he’s off to deal with Zayn.

Video on Liv Morgan vs. Iyo Sky in the Queen Of The Ring finals.

Chelsea Green vs. Jade Cargill

Green strikes away to start and gets in the salute. James sends her outside and grabs a fall away slam as we take a break. We come back with Green striking away again and hitting a missile dropkick for two. Cargill isn’t having any of this and hits her in the face, setting up Jaded for the pin at 6:12 (Cargill looking bored after such an easy win is exactly on point for her).

Rating: C. Yeah this was about all it needed to be, as Cargill smashes through Green on the way to her title match against Green’s one sided friend. It’s a perfectly logical way to go, as is Green not being able to do much with Cargill. I’m sure Green having Tiffany Stratton fully on her side will do the trick though and that seems to be the coming up pretty soon. Just like Cargill’s title shot.

Post match B-Fab and Michin run in but Tiffany Stratton and Alexa Bliss run in for the save. That earns Stratton a Jadeding.

Solo Sikoa is asked about being alone but Royce Keys interrupts. Keys tells him good luck and walks off.

Video on Bron Breakker vs. Seth Rollins.

Night Of Champions rundown.

Lil Yachty and Trick Williams are ticked off at Ricky Saints and ready for revenge. Williams is prettier than Saints too.

Giulia vs. Kiana James

They were friends, they got into a fight and now they’re not. James kicks her in the face at the bell and they’re on the floor in a hurry. Giulia takes over on the outside and they go back inside where Giulia connects with some hard kicks. A headbutt sends James outside again, where she gets in a slam onto the steps as we take a break.

We come back with Giulia hitting a missile dropkick to leave both of them down. They slug it out with Giulia getting the better of things and snapping off a headscissors. A belly to back suplex gives Giulia two but James slams her off the top for a big crash. Giulia pulls her down by the hair but the big knee is countered into a powerbomb for two more. James gets her in a fireman’s carry but gets sunset bombed out of the corner. The northern lights bomb finishes for Giulia at 9:43.

Rating: B-. This was a case where Giulia needed the win a lot more than James, who can be fine as a lackey or assistant etc. On the other hand, Giulia has felt like she has been floating all over the place and looking for something to stick. Maybe this is a step forward for her, as she certainly needs something to work.

Post match Giulia celebrates but Blake Monroe runs in to lay her out.

Here is Cody Rhodes for a chat but before he can get anywhere, Sami Zayn cuts him off. Zayn thanks his fans for being with him no matter what and he’s sorry for interrupting but he’s the last good guy around here. He apologizes for what happened last week, including hitting Rhodes with the title by mistake. Rhodes: “Was it a mistake?”

Zayn goes on about how this isn’t about how he wanted things to go and Rhodes doesn’t buy that at all. Look at what is going on. Zayn is getting a title shot in a country where he is beloved. The reality is that Zayn is exhausting as he keeps trying to take things. Rhodes wishes Kevin Owens was here because Owens would at least stab him in the front. And at least Owens has been WWE Champion (not quite).

Zayn gets in his face and yells about how Rhodes needs to keep Owens out of his mouth but here is Gunther to say that he doesn’t care about all of the drama around here. If not for Zayn, Gunther would be the WWE Champion but Zayn isn’t a threat to him as a wrestler. Rhodes needs to enjoy his last night as champion because Gunther is taking the title. This brings out Jey Uso to interrupt but Gunther won’t let him run it back.

Uso brings up making Gunther tap out at Wrestlemania and the brawl is on. Gunther and Zayn are cleared out and Rhodes squares off with Uso…and here is Oba Femi. Gunther Zayn get back in and are taken right back out, leaving Rhodes and Femi to stare it down to end the show. They’re doing something interesting here as you could have a few combinations here and they’re all good enough. Nice job here and I’ll take that over having the obvious result that takes forever to come together.

Overall Rating: B-. This did a good enough job of giving a final push towards the pay per view and that’s all it needed to do. They didn’t really add much of anything but the tease at the end did make me more interested. The best thing out of all of this though is we’re back to two hours next week, which is LONG overdue. That should do wonders for Smackdown and I want to see just how well things go when we’re on the road to Summerslam with one less hour to deal with a week. Not a great show here, but it did what it needed to do.

Results
Michin/B-Fab b. Alexa Bliss/Tiffany Stratton – Spinning X Factor to Stratton
Rey Fenix b. Nathan Frazer – Mexican MuscleBuster
Paige b. Jacy Jayne – Rollup
Danhausen/Matt Cardona b. Los Garza – Reverse DDT to Berto
Jade Cargill b. Chelsea Green – Jaded
Giulia b. Kiana James – Northern lights bomb

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

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Smackdown
Date: June 5, 2026
Location: Unipol Arena, Bologna, Italy
Commentators: Michael Cole, Wade Barrett

We’re still in Italy after last Sunday’s Clash In Italy and there is some controversy around the World Title. Cody Rhodes did retain the title over Gunther but Gunther’s foot was underneath the rope on the pin. That is going to have some issues going forward and Gunther has a big time complaint. Other than that, the King and Queen Of The Ring tournaments are on and get to continue here. Let’s get to it.

Here is Clash In Italy if you need a recap.

Clash In Italy recap.

Commentators welcome us to the show and here is Gunther to wreck the announcers’ table. He wants justice for what happened, because he is the Ring General and put his foot underneath the rope on purpose. Gunther calls out Cody Rhodes and here he is to answer. Rhodes says Gunther is absolutely right but Gunther is also a pro. Has he never had a finish go against him before?

Anyway, Rhodes only needs to make one phone call so let’s do the rematch right here tonight. Gunther is ready to go but Sami Zayn interrupts to say this is nonsense. Gunther doesn’t want to hear this but Zayn says he knows what it’s like to beat Gunther for a title. Rhodes says he’s kind of busy right now, with Zayn thinking Rhodes is ducking him. Last week, Rhodes said if he beat Gunther, he would teach Zayn a lesson, so when is Zayn getting his lesson? Gunther gets in and jumps Rhodes but he and Zayn clear Gunther out. Zayn isn’t interested in a handshake though.

Miz follows some cables into Danhausen’s laboratory. Danhausen tells him not to touch stuff but Miz touches it anyway…and gets electrocuted.

Gunther yells at Nick Aldis to fix this situation and threatens lawsuits.

Queen Of The Ring First Round: Raquel Rodriguez vs. Bayley vs. Jacy Jayne vs. Kiana James

Everyone else goes for Rodriguez to start and she gets knocked outside. The Bayley To Belly gets two on James, who backslides her for the same. Jayne is back in for a rollup of her own but Rodriguez crossbodies everyone. We take a break and come back with Jayne in control and grabbing a running neckbreaker for two on Bayley. A backsplash gives Jayne two more and she adds a cannonball in the corner.

Rodriguez is back up with a Pounce though and a double spinning Vader Bomb elbow gets two. A powerbomb sends Bayley crashing into Jayne, followed by a double chokeslam and James making the save. We take another break and come back again with James flipping out of Rodriguez’s chokeslam. Rodriguez clotheslines James down instead but Jayne makes the save.

Bayley’s top rope elbow gets two on Jayne with James making a save of her own. The Dealbreaker into a standing moonsault gives James two so she rolls Bayley up, with Jayne making a save. Giulia takes Jayne out but James thinks Giulia broke up the cover. Rodriguez Tejana Bombs James for the pin at 15:41.

Rating: B-. This was a fast enough paced match and it wound up going well, as I wasn’t sure who was going to win until the ending. That’s a good feeling to have, even if I’m really not big on the whole four way stuff. Rodriguez is a good choice to move on and while I don’t think she’s winning, at least she can serve as a solid monster for someone to beat.

Post match Giulia helps James up and James shoves her away, earning a beating from Giulia. If you want to give Giulia a big moment, this makes as much sense as anything else.

Sami Zayn rants to Johnny Gargano until Nick Aldis comes in. Aldis tells Zayn to stay out of Gunther and Cody Rhodes’ business. Aldis has someone else to talk to, in the form of the returning Chad Gable (who gets a ROAR).

Royce Keys vs. Talla Tonga

The rest of the MFT’s are here with Tonga. Keys slugs away to start but can’t get in the slam. Some running clotheslines put Tonga on the floor though and we take a break. We come back with Keys avoiding a running boot in the corner and firing off some clotheslines to the front and back. Keys still can’t slam him so he goes with a pounce instead, followed by the running powerslam (that’s how you build to the slam working). He has to go after the MFT’s though and Tonga hits a chokeslam for the fast pin at 8:01.

Rating: C+. This was pretty to the point with Keys fighting back against the monster and managing to hit the big slam. That was a simple story that worked perfectly well, as did the interference to cost Keys the win. I’m not sure if I’d have Keys losing again, but it seems like this is part of a feud that will keep going.

Post match the beatdown stays on but R-Truth runs in for the failed save attempt. Damian Priest has to save R-Truth and Keys is left laying.

Judgment Day praises Raquel Rodriguez on her win but Liv Morgan makes it all about herself again.

Video on Finn Balor, who is making his debut next week.

Damian Priest isn’t happy with the injured R-Truth getting involved, especially since he doesn’t trust Royce Keys. R-Truth insists that he’s ok and his brother, a doctor, told him. Priest says R-Truth doesn’t have a brother but R-Truth says he does, and said brother is a Doctor Of Thuganomics. That makes Priest walk off so here are the War Raiders (the new AAA Tag Team Champions), who seem to want a title shot. R-Truth has no idea who they are and walks off.

Here is Rhea Ripley, with her knee wrapped up and clearly limping, for a chat. She’s glad to put the Jade Cargill chapter behind her, but her knee is a bit banged up. The reality is Cargill blew her chance thanks to, I guess we’ll say a friend, helping Ripley. This brings out Charlotte (to quite the reaction) to say she’s had fun teaming with Ripley. The Queen Of The Ring is starting up though and she’s a competitor, so she’s coming for the title. Ripley doesn’t seem to mind but here is Tiffany Stratton to interrupt.

Charlotte thinks Stratton is here to apologize but Stratton is here to talk about Ripley’s title. This brings out Jade Cargill and company, who says Charlotte is next for her. Cargill doesn’t think much of Stratton either and the fight seems imminent. Cue Nick Aldis to say not so fast, if nothing else because Ripley isn’t cleared to compete. Charlotte suggests a tag match instead and we seem good to go.

Charlotte/Tiffany Stratton vs. Michin/Jade Cargill

Charlotte powers Michin into the corner to start but an O’Connor roll is blocked. The Figure Four necklock works a bit better and Michin gets rolled around. Stratton comes in with a basement dropkick but Cargill sends her flying with a fall away slam. A blind tag brings Charlotte back in though and a high crossbody takes Michin down again. Another crossbody from the apron hits B-Fab and Cargill but Michin is back up with a suicide dive to Charlotte as we take a break.

We come back with Charlotte dropping Michin but getting cheap shotted by Cargill. That means Michin can Styles Clash Charlotte, who is able to avoid a charge into the post. Stratton comes back in to a heck of a reaction and cleans house, with a Swanton getting two on Michin. Cargill is back in with a sitout powerbomb to Stratton and Charlotte posts Michin. Back in and Jaded is reversed into a rollup for two but a second attempt finishes Stratton at 12:20.

Rating: B. The crowd was on fire for this one and it made for a rather awesome atmosphere around a rather good match. Cargill gets some momentum back and you can see some pretty big matches coming up for the women’s division. It’s smart to give Cargill a win back, though it’s not a great sign to see a champion get pinned, even in a tag match.

Jacy Jayne rants to Fatal Influence about her loss and they take out some anger by jumping Brie Bella and Paige. They also hold up the Women’s Tag Team Titles. I’ll absolutely take that as a way to save us from this reign already.

Royce Keys thanks R-Truth for his help. R-Truth suggests that Damian Priest can help against the MFT’s, but Keys doesn’t think that’s going to work.

Ricky Saints vs. Carmelo Hayes

Saints jumps him before the bell but gets sent outside. That means a big running dive and frog splash for two on Saints before Hayes can even take his jacket off. Hayes clotheslines him out to the floor and we take a break. We come back with Saints hammering away and grabbing a bulldog for two.

Hayes reverses a northern lights suplex into a DDT though and they’re both down for a bit. They strike it out until Dirty Diana gives Hayes two more. Saints’ tornado DDT out of the corner gets the same but he gets caught in the First 48. Hayes loads up Nothing But Net and gets crotched down, followed by a crash out to the floor. That’s good for a nine and a half and Hayes hits a superkick, only to get rolled up for the pin (with tights) at 10:10.

Rating: B. Hayes is someone who can wrestle that fast paced style and make it look effortless, which is quite the talent. He’s incredibly smooth in the ring and that isn’t something you can just manufacture. Saints continues to find himself around here and a win over a former champion is a good step in the right direction.

Trick Williams says he is concerned with himself only and he isn’t worried who is coming after his title. Then he wants to win the King Of The Ring and he starts tonight. Bron Breakker comes in for a staredown.

Chelsea Green asks Tiffany Stratton why she didn’t ask for help tonight. Stratton said it was ok and has to go to the trainers instead of being in Green’s corner. Green’s disappointed face is great, as her one sided enthusiasm is working very well.

Blake Monroe is still coming and seems interested in Tiffany Stratton. Tiffy Time is about to run on Monroe Minutes.

Chelsea Green vs. Lash Legend

Nia Jax is here with legend. Green chops away to start and immediately has to run from a chasing Legend. Back in and Legend stomps her down for a splash with Jax getting in a cheap shot. Green’s sunset flip is blocked and a pump kick gives Legend two. Green fights up and seemingly accidentally takes Jax out before hitting a big dive onto both of them. Back in and a missile dropkick puts Legend down for two but the Unprettier is countered into the Lash Extension for the pin at 4:26.

Rating: C+. Green held her own in there for a bit but it would have been too far for her to be able to beat a monster like Legend, especially with Jax out there. The match showed what Green can do when she is allowed to actually open it up in the ring a bit and that’s a rare sight. The good thing is that the fans are already behind her and it’s easy to see why when she’s that talented.

We look at Jacob Fatu acknowledging Roman Reigns on Raw.

Solo Sikoa comes up to Royce Keys and says Keys needs some support. Sikoa talks about how he’s the only one to call Keys and they need to get ready for war. This seems to have Keys thinking, though Sikoa says to stop making this difficult or Sikoa will make it difficult.

Video on the mask vs. mask match from last weekend’s AAA. It’s worth seeing if you haven’t yet.

Rey Fenix is talking to Fraxiom when Chad Gable comes up. Gable talks about how he and Fenix had a match last year at Wrestlemania but Gable was doing it to mock lucha libre. He has since learned how great the Mexican culture is and wants to apologize. Fenix says he forgives Gable, but he’s not the only person Gable has to apologize to. The fans applauding Gable for what he said shows this thing is working well so far.

Cody Rhodes runs into Nick Aldis, who asks if the offer for a rematch with Gunther is still good. Rhodes says it absolutely is and he wanted to do it tonight but Gunther is already gone. Aldis has been talking to Gunther’s legal team (“They’re no fun.”) and Gunther wants a stipulation, which he’ll announce next week. That’s fine with Rhodes, but he doesn’t want to wait much longer, so the title match is two weeks from tonight. Works for Aldis. This was a rare case of a backstage conversation that actually sounded natural.

King Of The Ring First Round: Damian Priest vs. Trick Williams vs. Dominik Mysterio vs. Bron Breakker

Non-title. Breakker immediately suplexes Williams to start fast and Mysterio bails out to the floor. Another suplex drops Priest and Breakker gives him a running clothesline. The big flying shoulder drops Mysterio on the floor and Breakker shows off by jumping from the floor onto the announcers’ table as we take a break.

We come back with everyone but Breakker fighting in the ring until Williams is knocked to the floor as well. Priest hammers on Mysterio and cuts off Breakker as he gets back inside. Williams and Breakker are sent to the floor again but Mysterio manages to kick away at Priest. Breakker is back in to super Frankensteiner Priest and gorilla press powerslam Mysterio.

Williams makes a save and slugs it out with Breakker with the former getting the better of things. A neckbreaker drops Priest and dang the fans like Williams. The Rock Bottom gives Williams two on Breakker with Priest making the save and taking over. Priest goes up top and gets double superplexed down and we take another break.

We come back with Breakker missing a charge into the post and Priest Razor’s Edges Mysterio. Liv Morgan offers a distraction though and Breakker is back up to wreck people. The spear hits Priest and Mysterio sends Breakker outside, with Williams getting two as Mysterio pulls the referee. Breakker clotheslines Williams through the announcers’ table and cue JD McDonagh to distract Priest. Morgan gets in a low blow and Mysterio’s 619 into the frog splash are enough to pin Priest at 16:53.

Rating: B-. I like Mysterio stealing the win, as it means he gets to face Oba Femi in the next round and that could be quite the situation. Priest losing again isn’t a great sign for him, as it’s kind of his designated role in these spots. At the same time, they might have something down the line with Williams vs. Breakker, which definitely had an aura to it that could go somewhere.

Overall Rating: B. The tournament stuff is giving the show a nice focus and I liked what the women were doing here too. Smackdown has turned around a good bit since Wrestlemania and that is a great sign, as those shows around that time were getting very hard to watch. You can’t do the tournament stuff forever, but it’s working well enough at the moment, with Rhodes vs. Gunther II looking like it has some major potential in a few weeks.

Results
Raquel Rodriguez b. Kiana James, Bayley and Jacy Jayne – Tejana Bomb to James
Talla Tonga b. Royce Keys – Chokeslam
Jade Cargill/Michin b. Charlotte/Tiffany Stratton – Jaded to Stratton
Ricky Saints b. Carmelo Hayes – Rollup with tights
Lash Legend b. Chelsea Green – Lash Extension
Dominik Mysterio b. Damian Priest, Trick Williams and Bron Breakker – Frog splash to Priest

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

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Smackdown
Date: May 29, 2026
Location: Olimpic Arena, Barcelona, Spain
Commentators: Joe Tessitore, Wade Barrett

We’re overseas this week for this Sunday’s Clash In Italy show and we might as well stop here for a breather. The pay per view is mostly set up as Gunther is ready to challenge Cody Rhodes for the World Title. We should be getting some last minute pushes towards Sunday here so let’s get to it.

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

We look at Jade Cargill beating Rhea Ripley in a six woman tag on Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Here are Cargill and her goons for a chat. B-Fab and Michin tell the fans to shut up as they boo Cargill rather loudly. They know Cargill is going to win the title back on Sunday because the future is now. Cue Ripley to interrupt and yeah the fans seem to like her. Ripley says she’s beaten Cargill before and she can do it again, with Cargill looking up at the true champion. Cargill isn’t impressed but here are Charlotte and Alexa Bliss to interrupt. They don’t think much of Cargill either so Cargill insults Bliss, who says she’s dealt with bigger and better stars than her. Nick Aldis, get the referee, now.

Jade Cargill vs. Alexa Bliss

Their friends are at ringside. Cargill powers her out to the floor to start but Bliss is back in to hammer away. Bliss’ high crossbody is pulled out of the air though and a gorilla press drop has her in more trouble. They go outside and Bliss is powerbombed onto the barricade as we take a break.

We come back with Cargill elbowing her out to the floor and getting to pose on the apron. Bliss is able to hit a dropkick into the barricade and a flipping backsplash connects back inside. Sister Abigail is broken up and the other four brawl to the back. A DDT plants Cargill but Twisted Bliss hits her raised ankles. Jaded finishes Bliss at 9:33.

Rating: C+. This was the simple “villains beats up the champion’s friends before fighting the champion” and that’s something that has worked for the better part of ever. Cargill gets to smash through a big name on her way to the major title match. This was a perfectly acceptable match and that’s a good start to the show.

Post match Cargill grabs a chair and gives Bliss another Jaded onto said chair. Ripley and Charlotte run in to clear Cargill off.

We look at Cody Rhodes beating Sami Zayn last week despite Gunther’s interference. Gunther laid Rhodes out to end the show with Zayn walking away.

Rhodes is interrupted by Zayn and has nothing to say to him. Zayn wants an apology and says he helped Rhodes with Gunther last week but then Rhodes stabbed him in the back. Rhodes doesn’t remember it that way but Zayn thinks Rhodes could learn a lesson. After Rhodes deals with Gunther, he can teach Zayn a lesson too. Zayn vs. Rhodes could definitely headline a pay per view and they might be building in that direction.

Nick Aldis wants Danhausen to appear in front of the crowd, as he’s paid to do. Danhausen agrees and goes off, only to be replaced by Miz. As Danhausen is seen loading stuff into what appears to be his laboratory, Miz complains about Kit Wilson not being here. Aldis doesn’t want to hear it and says Miz’s match is next.

The Miz vs. Axiom

Miz is still getting his gear on as he comes to the ring and Axiom (with Nathan Frazer) gets the big home country welcome. Axiom takes him down by the arm to start and the lights flicker a bit, which can’t be a great sign. A middle rope armdrag has Miz in more trouble and he charges into a dropkick. Frazer cuts off Miz’s escape attempt but Miz gets in a cheap shot as we take a break.

We come back with Axiom nipping up and knocking Miz down for two as the fans are WAY into him, as expected. A DDT gives Miz two but the YES Kicks are countered, with Axiom hitting a big kick of his own. Axiom’s high crossbody gets two but the Golden Ratio misses. Miz powers out of a crossface and hits a slingshot powerbomb before going up for some reason. The lights flicker again and it’s a Spanish Fly to plant Miz. The Golden Ratio gives Axiom the pin at 9:16.

Rating: B-. It’s always nice to see someone get what is probably one of the most important wins of his career. Getting to be out there in front of his home country, likely with some family and friends out there, is a great thing for Axiom and he had a good match in the process. Axiom beating Miz is hardly a stretch, even with the electrical issues.

R-Truth is still injured but has gotten Damian Priest a tag partner for tonight. That would be Royce Keys, who will team up with Priest against the MFT’s. Priest doesn’t buy it and doesn’t trust Keys but R-Truth gets smart, asking if either of them are scared. Since they’re not, there’s no reason for them not to team up. Priest chases after R-Truth, mainly out of confusion.

Sami Zayn vents to Candice LeRae, but it’s actually to Johnny Gargano, who still isn’t moving. LeRae storms off and Matt Cardona comes in to try and talk some sense into Zayn. That’s not cool with Zayn and a match is set. They need to pay off the Gargano thing already as it’s been long enough.

Charlotte leaves Alexa Bliss in the trainers’ room and runs into Rhea Ripley, who better take care of Cargill. If she doesn’t, Charlotte will.

Damian Priest/Royce Keys vs. MFT’s

Solo Sikoa is here with the MFT’s. Talla slugs away at Priest to start and it’s off to Tama, who can’t do much against Keys. A running splash crushes Tama in the corner and there’s the powerslam. Tama gets shouldered out to the floor, leaving Keys and Priest to knock Talla outside as well.

We take a break and come back with Tama cutting off a tag attempt but Keys gets in a spinebuster. Priest comes in to clean house, including the running elbows in the corner. The lifting Downward Spiral plants Tama and a top rope clothesline gives Priest two. Sikoa gets in a cheap shot from the floor though, drawing out R-Truth. That’s fine with Sikoa, who goes after the bad arm. Keys goes over for the save but the distraction lets Talla chokeslam Priest for the pin at 9:05.

Rating: C+. The issues between R-Truth and Priest continue and they are likely to result in the titles changing hands sooner than later. At the same time, Keys continues to have issues with the MFT’s and it seems like Priest isn’t happy about it. That could go in a few ways and that is a nice situation to have.

Miz complains to Nick Aldis about the lights and goes in to see Danhausen’s laboratory. This earns him a blast from a fire extinguisher, sending Miz running. Aldis goes to look underneath the sheet, but Danhausen warns him to not do that. Oh dear.

Video on Roman Reigns vs. Jacob Fatu.

Clash In Italy rundown.

Chelsea Green comes up to see Tiffany Stratton (they happen to be dressed alike) and has an idea for their entrance tonight. Stratton says it was just a one time thing last week so she’s passing. Green looks hurt.

Video on the battle of El Grande Americanos, mask vs. mask, on Saturday. That should be a great one.

Sami Zayn vs. Matt Cardona

Cardona’s wristlock doesn’t get him very far to start and we get an early standoff. Zayn is sent outside for a dropkick between the ropes but he’s fine enough to hit a suplex on the way back inside. Cardona scores with a missile dropkick though and we take a break. We come back with Zayn grabbing a chinlock, which doesn’t last long. A faceplant drops Zayn and the Broski Boot connects.

The Rough Ryder is countered so Cardona hits a nasty tiger driver for two more. Another Rough Ryder is countered into a big sitout powerbomb to give Zayn two. Zayn’s Helluva Kick misses though and now the Rough Ryder connects for two, with Zayn getting a foot on the rope. Cardona charges into an exploder though and the Helluva Kick finishes him off at 10:16.

Rating: B-. Cardona is someone who can lose all the time and be just fine, which is about all he does right now anyway. Zayn needed a win to boost himself back up as well, as he hasn’t been doing much in the way of winning lately. They had a good match too and that shouldn’t be a surprise given two veterans being in the ring.

Video on King and Queen Of The Ring, with qualifying matches starting next week.

We look at a new documentary called WWE: Made In America. Oh geez.

Nick Aldis asks Gunther to keep things civilized with Cody Rhodes tonight. Gunther doesn’t like the implication that he would do anything else, but he’ll do it anyway, even in a place like Barcelona.

Here is Trick Williams, with Lil Yachty, for a chat. Williams brags about his success since he came up to the main roster (fair) and now it means he should come for the King Of The Ring. This brings out Carmelo Hayes, who says Williams can be the king of the microphone and entrances, but the ring is Hayes’ place.

Williams thinks Hayes is being melo-dramatic because he’s just not as good as Williams is. If only Ricky Saints hadn’t interfered last week, their match would have been different you see. This brings out Saints, who doesn’t like that suggestion and is ready to beat Hayes and move on to Williams. That earns him a slap from Williams and the scheduled match is on. Odds are a triple threat is coming here one day.

Ricky Saints vs. Carmelo Hayes

Saints chops away to start and knocks him up against the ropes, only to get splashed in the corner. Hayes gets in some right hands of his own but gets sent outside. Saints sends him into the barricade a few times and we take a break. We come back with Hayes shoving him off the top but a frog splash hits raised knees.

A northern lights suplex gives Saints two but Hayes hits him in the face. Dirty Diana gets two on Saints, who is right back with a spinning Downward Spiral for two of his own. Hayes knocks him outside for the big running flip dive, only to get sent to the apron. The brawl continues and it’s a double countout at 11:11.

Rating: B-. That ending is more about keeping both of them active in the title picture and that’s a fine way to go. They’ve got something going here with the three way feud for the title and it’s a nice way of bringing up a few people at once. It’s fun to see the former stars of NXT getting to do this up on the main roster and it’s working thus far.

Post match Hayes lays him out with the First 48.

Video on Brock Lesnar vs. Oba Femi.

The Irresistible Forces threaten Tiffany Stratton.

Blake Monroe writes in her diary about some of the women in the Smackdown locker room. Rhea Ripley is sad and Monroe is going to have to make things better.

Nia Jax vs. Chelsea Green

Lash Legend is here with Jax. Green avoids a charge to start and sends her outside for a suicide dive as we take a break less than a minute in. We come back with Green in trouble and Jax grabbing a chinlock. Green fights out and goes after the knee, only to Rough Ryde her way into a powerbomb for two.

A Zig Zag gives Green two of her own and a missed charge sends Jax shoulder first into the post. Now the Rough Ryder can connect for two but Legend’s distraction lets Jax get in a Samoan drop. Cue Tiffany Stratton’s music so Jax sends Legend after her, only for Stratton to come through the crowd and hit Jax with the belt. Green steals the pin at 6:28.

Rating: C. This was more about Stratton coming in for the assist at the end and not much more. Granted that’s a good way to go, as Stratton and Green could do some nice stuff together. Green has been needing something to do for a long time now and this could wind up being the thing that finally lets her go over to the good side, as the fans seem to want.

Post match Stratton declines a hug. Give it time though, as Green as a face is such a layup.

Here is Cody Rhodes to wrap things up. We pause for the fans to sing Kingdom and Rhodes does his catchphrase in Spanish but here is Gunther to interrupt. Gunther says Rhodes is the perfect choice to represent America because the American Dream is crumbling. When he was growing up, Gunther was told that if he worked hard, he could achieve anything.

On the other hand you have Rhodes, who only had to make some phone calls. That just makes Rhodes an entitled brat. Gunther sees the fans’ approval as unnecessary while Rhodes is just a mark for himself. Rhodes calls Gunther a liar because he doesn’t believe Gunther doesn’t want the attention that comes with being WWE Champion. If Gunther didn’t care, he would be talking to a 330lb version of Gunther at an indy show, rather than one of the best in the world.

Paul Heyman has said that being champion is addictive and Gunther wants to find out. The only thing he’ll find though is the worst thing a pure wrestler can learn: he’s not good enough. Gunther talks about everyone he has beaten and all of the promises that he has kept. Now he promises to choke Rhodes out and take the title with him. This was good stuff, with both of them standing there and explaining their side of things in an intense way. It’s a hard sell for the title match and that’s what they were needing.

Overall Rating: B-. The crowd helped a lot here, but there were some rather good parts of this show. The ending was probably the highlight, with Gunther and Rhodes making their match feel like a big deal. You also have the tease of Green going good, which is one of the best things that could happen to the women’s division. Finally they did a nice job setting up Clash In Italy and I’ll take that as a way to spend a Friday night in front of a red hot crowd.

Results
Jade Cargill b. Alexa Bliss – Jaded
Axiom b. The Miz – Golden Ratio
MFT’s b. Damian Priest/Royce Keys – Chokeslam to Priest
Sami Zayn b. Matt Cardona – Helluva Kick
Ricky Saints vs. Carmelo Hayes went to a double countout
Chelsea Green b. Nia Jax – Belt shot

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

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Smackdown
Date: May 22, 2026
Location: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky
Commentators: Joe Tessitore, Wade Barrett

It’s the night before Saturday Night’s Main Event and the show is not exactly looking huge. There isn’t much to be said about the card and I’m not sure we’re going to get anything else added here. On the other hand, Clash In Italy is just over a week away and is already looking strong. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a recap of last week’s contract signing between Cody Rhodes and Gunther. That was broken up by Royce Keys, whom Gunther had to beat to get the title shot anyway.

Here is Rhea Ripley to get things going. She got jumped by Jade Cargill last week and wants to face Cargill at Clash In Italy. Cue Charlotte and Alexa Bliss, with Charlotte saying they have a six woman tag at Saturday Night’s Main Event. Before that though, Charlotte gets on Ripley for not being there to help last week. Ripley says she was visiting her family and the bickering is on, with Fatal Influence interrupting them. Jacy Jayne laughs at them and says they take opportunities where they can. The result is a tag match against Bliss/Charlotte tonight.

We look back at Talla Tonga attacking Shinsuke Nakamura last week and Solo Sikoa getting taken out by Royce Keys in the main event.

Sikoa won’t let the MFT’s talk about Talla’s match with Shinsuke Nakamura. Keys comes in to yell but Sikoa says Keys was the one who got physical. Keys is going to need someone to have his back and since Sikoa is family, who could be better?

Alexa Bliss tells Charlotte that she’s sick so Charlotte and Rhea Ripley are teaming together. Charlotte is less than pleased.

Talla Tonga vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

The MFT’s are with Talla, who shoves the popular Nakamura into the corner to start. Nakamura gets choked in the corner and a hard whip sends him into another corner. Back up and Nakamura knocks him to the floor, where Talla reverses into a whip to the barricade. We take a break and come back with Nakamura grabbing a triangle choke. With that broken up, a middle rope knee to the back hits Talla, who misses a charge into the corner. Scorpio Rising gives Nakamura two but a Solo Sikoa distraction lets Talla grab a powerslam. The chokeslam finishes Nakamura at 9:20.

Rating: C+. This was pretty to the point, with Nakamura’s strikes still looking good despite not being in the ring very much as of late. Talla continues to look like a monster and that is exactly what he should be doing. You don’t see Talla get in the ring very often and that makes sense, but having him beat someone like Nakamura should help him a bit.

Post match the beatdown is on with Tama Tonga teasing turning on Sikoa but knocking Nakamura out anyway. Damian Priest makes the save with a chair.

Video on Roman Reigns vs. Jacob Fatu.

Cody Rhodes comes in to see Nick Aldis and wants Gunther to sign the contract for Clash In Italy. Aldis says the match is made but he’ll get Gunther to sign. Sami Zayn comes in offer Rhodes his help with Gunther but Rhodes passes, leaving Zayn annoyed. Zayn rants to Aldis and Rhodes comes back in and says he’ll fight Zayn tonight.

Tama Tonga wants to take care of Damian Priest and Solo Sikoa seems to agree.

Women’s US Title: Tiffany Stratton vs. ???

Stratton is defending in an open challenge, as answered by…Lash Legend. Nia Jax is here with Legend and they promise to win both this and the Women’s Tag Team Titles on Saturday. Legend shoves her down to start but Stratton strikes away out of the corner. A dropkick doesn’t do much to Legend but a running version sends her outside. Stratton hits a dive, only for Legend to knock her down. Cue Chelsea Green to cheer Stratton on as we take a break.

We come back with Legend grabbing a chinlock until Stratton gets up and avoids a charge into the post. Stratton’s handspring elbow and handspring Stunner combine for two and a hurricanrana sends Legend into the corner. Legend is right back with a heck of a powerbomb but the Lash Extension is countered into a crucifix for two. Jax has to be kicked away so Green goes after her, leaving Legend to hit a pump kick. Legend grabs Green, allowing Stratton to get the rollup to retain at 9:04.

Rating: C+. They did this well, with Stratton escaping to keep the title again. Green helping Stratton is interesting as she seems to be the next important challenger, which is an interesting way to go. At the same time, enough with the open challenges. The idea has been done to death and it doesn’t exactly add anything. Just figure out something else.

Nick Aldis says the building has a power issue coming from a certain room. That seems to be Danhausen’s laboratory, with Aldis going in to yell at him. There is something under a sheet and Aldis goes to look. Danhausen: “DON’T TOUCH THAT!” Oh dear.

We look at Danhausen uncursing the New York Knicks…who then went on a nine game winning streak.

The Miz and Kit Wilson don’t care about what is in Danhausen’s laboratory and insist there IS NO CURSE. Miz complains about Danhausen causing the Cleveland Cavaliers their playoff series and sitting courtside. Cathy Kelly: “Why aren’t you sitting courtside?” As the fans give that a big OOOOOHHHHH, Fraxiom comes up to mock the idea of a curse. Miz vs. Axiom is set for next week.

Here are Trick Williams and Lil Yachty for a chat. They mock the Miz for losing last week, with Yachty putting down Miz’s accomplishments (Williams: “7 time Tag Team Champion.” Yachty: “7 times he was carried.”). Cue Carmelo Hayes, who says they knew this day was going to come. Hayes praises what Williams has done around here but the fans want to see them go at it for the US Title.

Yachty says Williams has a messy schedule and it won’t be easy. Hayes: “Can anyone understand what this guy is saying?” Hayes brings up Williams always being better playing second fiddle, which has Williams’ attention. The match is on, but Williams makes it clear that it isn’t for the title.

Carmelo Hayes vs. Trick Williams

Lil Yachty is here with Williams, who grabs a slam to start. Hayes chops him into the corner but Williams reverses into a chop of his own and stomps away. The Rock Bottom gives Williams two and he puts Hayes down again. A drop across the top rope has Hayes in trouble but he manages to send Williams outside. Yachty gets in the way of a dive though and we take a break.

We come back with Hayes fighting out of a chinlock but getting dropped with a jumping neckbreaker. Hayes’ springboard clothesline connects as Ricky Saints is here to sneer. Hayes strikes away as we hear some noise in the background, which doesn’t seem to be intentional. The Trick Shot is countered into the First 48 for two and they go outside, where Saints is knocked down. Back in and Hayes rolls Williams up but the referee is with Saints. Hayes goes to deal with him but walks into the Trick Shot to give Williams the pin at 13:24.

Rating: B. Believe it or not, two talented guys who have a history together were able to have a good match. That’s what we got to see here and Saints vs. Hayes gets to continue. I liked the match rather well, with multiple people getting to advance stories at once. That’s not bad for a pair of segments and it gave the midcard a boost.

Sami Zayn is livid in the back and runs into a still silent Johnny Gargano. Zayn talks about how things have changed, but he and Gargano have never changed. Gargano responds by…weakly knocking over a bottle of water.

Carmelo Hayes jumps Ricky Saints in the back.

We look at Brock Lesnar returning on Raw and attacking Oba Femi, setting up their Clash In Italy rematch.

Fatal Influence vs. Charlotte/Rhea Ripley

Jacy Jayne and Alexa Bliss are here too. Henley mocks Charlotte’s strut to start and gets clotheslined as a result. Ripley comes in to kick Reid into the corner and it’s right back to Charlotte. This time doesn’t go as well, with Charlotte being sent outside so Fatal Influence can pose over her as we take a break.

We come back with Charlotte still in trouble and Henley coming in for a chinlock. Back up and Charlotte kicks Henley off the top and out to the floor but Reid gets in a chop block. Charlotte kicks Reid away though and it’s back ti Ripley to clean house. A Razor’s Edge hits Reid, with Henley having to make a save. Ripley superkicks Charlotte off the apron by mistake before hitting Reid with Riptide. Charlotte tags herself in though and Natural Selection finishes at 10:56.

Rating: B-. They’re not hiding that this is setting up a big Charlotte vs. Ripley showdown and that’s a good idea. There are only so many stars who can really give Ripley a challenge and Charlotte is up there. It would be nice to see this version of Charlotte getting a chance and it might be happening in the next few months. Other than that, Fatal Influence continues to feel like they belong here, and now we get to see what happens after losing like this.

Post match Bliss tries to calm things down but here are Jade Cargill, B-Fab and Michin to lay all of them out.

Cody Rhodes is ready for Sami Zayn tonight and would love to have Gunther there in some way.

We look at Roman Reigns and Jacob Fatu setting up Tribal Combat on Raw.

Jade Cargill and company are ready to win their six woman tag and prove how dominant they really are.

Damian Priest vs. Solo Sikoa

The MFT’s are here with Sikoa, who gets jumped to start things fast. They get inside with Priest hitting a jumping elbow to the face but getting pulled into a Samoan drop. We take a break and come back with Priest clapping Sikoa’s ears on the top. That’s enough to set up a superplex before they trade forearms.

Sikoa misses a charge into the post and the Broken Arrow gives Priest two. The MFT’s offer a distraction though and Spinning Solo connects for two more. Back up and Priest kicks him in the head, followed by a lifting Downward Spiral. Talla Tonga gets up for a distraction though and the Samoan Spike finishes Priest at 9:43.

Rating: C+. Priest continues to not have the most success and it seems likely that he and R-Truth don’t have the longest future. The team never really felt like it was going to be the big champions of the future and we’re probably getting close to the time they drop the titles. The fact that Priest is already doing something on his own isn’t a great sign, but it’s not like this is a shock.

Post match the beatdown is on but Royce Keys runs in for the save. Priest grabs Keys by the throat but Keys says he’s here to help, which calms Priest down.

Saturday Night’s Main Event rundown. That card looks dire.

Blake Monroe debuts and doesn’t think much of Chelsea Green. Monroe leaves and the Irresistible Forces jump Green to lay her out.

Royce Keys wants to know what Damian Priest’s problem is but Priest yells at him for getting in his business. A match seems likely.

Sami Zayn vs. Cody Rhodes

Non-title. Zayn shoves him into the corner to start but doesn’t want to follow up. Rhodes tells him to bring it, earning himself a headlock. Rhodes knocks him down but a way too early Cody Cutter attempt is broken up. We take a break and come back with Rhodes still in trouble but managing a suplex. The Cody Cutter gets two but Rhodes’ knee is banged up. Rhodes is sent to the apron and knocked HARD onto the announcers’ table (that was a nasty bump).

That’s good for a nine count before Rhodes makes it back inside, where another Cody Cutter gets another two. The banged up knee lets Zayn grab the Blue Thunder Bomb for two of his own and they both need a breather. Zayn goes after a knee and grabs the Figure Four. That’s reversed with a turn into the ropes and Rhodes gets up for the Disaster Kick. Cue Gunther for the sleeper from the apron but Zayn knocks him down by mistake. Cross Rhodes finishes for Rhodes at 11:50.

Rating: B. Much like Williams vs. Hayes, there was no shock to these two being able to work well together. Zayn continues his downfall, with one more loss to add onto his failures. At some point he is going to hit his absolute rock bottom and it’s going to be interesting to see where it goes from there. In theory it is going to result in him winning the World Title, but we could be a long way from that happening.

Post match Gunther sleepers Rhodes again and Zayn looks at them and….eventually….walks away. Gunther poses over Rhodes and Zayn looks on from the aisle to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. You had a pair of good matches here and a lot of stuff being moved towards Clash In Italy. That’s a nice thing to see, as you don’t have a lot of time left before the show. Clash In Italy got a positive boost here and I’m a lot more interested than I was coming in. Oh and Saturday Night’s Main Event exists too. Yeah exists. That’s as high as we’re getting with that one and that’s pretty clear.

Results
Talla Tonga b. Shinsuke Nakamura – Chokeslam
Tiffany Stratton b. Lash Legend – Rollup
Trick Williams b. Carmelo Hayes – Trick Shot
Charlotte/Rhea Ripley b. Fatal Influence – Natural Selection to Reid
Solo Sikoa b. Damian Priest – Samoan Spike
Cody Rhodes b. Sami Zayn – Cross Rhodes

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

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