Monday Night Raw
Date: August 29, 2022
Location: PPG Paints Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, Jimmy Smith

It’s the go home show for Clash At The Castle but there is a lot to cover tonight as well. This week will see the finals of the WWE Women’s Tag Team Titles as Iyo Sky/Dakota Kai face Raquel Rodriguez and Aliyah, plus a special appearance by hometown boy Kurt Angle. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

AJ Styles/Dolph Ziggler vs. Judgment Day

Rhea Ripley is here with Judgment Day, who Graves says “no one has had an answer for”. As I try to remember when they last won a big match over someone not named Mysterio, Priest stomps Styles into the corner to start and knocks Ziggler off the apron. Styles is back up with a dropkick and a clothesline to the floor, setting up the slingshot forearm as we take an early break.

Back with Ziggler in trouble but managing to counter Balor’s Styles Clash into a Fameasser. That’s enough for the (not exactly necessary) jump into the tag to Styles so the pace can be picked up. Priest knocks Styles into Balor to knock him off the apron but Styles is back with the fireman’s carry backbreaker for two. Balor breaks up the Calf Crusher and Styles is sent outside, setting up the South of Heaven chokeslam to give Priest the pin at 8:30.

Rating: C+. I’m not sure what Graves was talking about with saying no one can stop Judgment Day but they did need a win to put them back on track. The match was good enough for a short opener and that is all it needed to be. Odds are Edge is going to be back for Balor sooner than later and this gives them some momentum towards that match.

Judgment Day goes to leave but we see Edge arriving. That makes the team head back to the ring to wait on him as we take a break. Post break, Judgment Day calls Edge to the ring because we aren’t in Toronto and Beth Phoenix isn’t here to save him. Cue Edge to say we’re not in Toronto but rather Pittsburgh and Beth isn’t here tonight. Edge is confident enough in his masculinity to say he and Beth both wear the pants in his family. That’s because he isn’t a caveman who couldn’t get tickets to the My Chemical Romance tour. Edge is indeed back, but he didn’t come alone.

Cue the Mysterios with kendo sticks (because chairs aren’t a thing in wrestling anymore) but Dominik can’t bring himself to hit Rhea Ripley. Instead he hands her the stick and lets the team leave after a staredown. Dominik continues to look like a moron in this whole story. And he still needs a haircut.

Miz and Ciampa don’t want to talk about Dexter Lumis.

Aliyah and Raquel Rodriguez promise to win the Women’s Tag Team Titles.

Asuka/Alexa Bliss/Bianca Belair vs. Danny Mo/Kay Sparks/Katie Arquette

Belair faceplants Sparks to start so it’s off to Katie, who gets flipped over in the corner. Belair tells the other two to come in and suplexes Katie down. Bliss comes in with a splash before Asuka misses a charge in the corner. Some spinning strikes drop Mo for two and everything breaks down, with Belair hitting the KOD to Sparks. Asuka grabs something like an Octopus on the mat to make Mo tap at 3:17.

Rating: C-. Quick match here with the stars getting a chance to be built up on the way to their showdown at Clash At The Castle. You don’t see that happen very often on Raw and it’s nice to have around for a change. The jobbers got in some offense to keep it from being total destruction but the match accomplished its goal.

Miz doesn’t want to talk about what Dexter Lumis did and since he didn’t press charges, Lumis has been released from custody. He still won’t talk about it.

Here is Kurt Angle for the big homecoming. He hypes up Clash At The Castle but here is the Alpha Academy to interrupt. Post break, Chad Gable talks about how Kurt won a gold medal in the Olympics. Angle: “And I won it with a broken freaking neck.” Gable was ready to continue the open challenge here in Pittsburgh but there is no talent in this town. The fans don’t approve but Gable says there is an Olympic hero in this ring, AND KURT ANGLE, so show some respect.

As a special one night only offer, Angle can join the Alpha Academy with no strings attached. Angle throws the jacket back though, with Gable saying “Exqueeze me?” Angle loads up the It’s True but gets SHHHHsed, setting up a SHUSH off. That’s too far for Gable, but the Street Profits run in before Otis violence can ensue. The Profits set up the match and we’re ready to go. Hang on though: Gable throws in a stipulation that if the Academy wins, Angle joins the Academy. Sure why not.

Street Profits vs. Alpha Academy

Ford chops at Otis to start but gets caught with a gorilla press World’s Strongest Slam. Gable comes in but Ford gets over to Dawkins to pick up the pace. Gable and Otis are sent outside for the running flip dive from Dawkins for a big crash. Back in and Gable dragon screw legwhips Dawkins out of the corner and Otis stands on Dawkins to make it worse.

Dawkins is back up without much trouble though and hands it off to Ford to clean house. A suplex into a standing moonsault gets two on Gable but the frog splash is broken up as we take a break. Back with Dawkins coming in but getting planted by Otis. Ford low bridges Otis to the floor so Dawkins can hit the Silencer for two.

Gable is right back with a bridging northern lights suplex for two and everyone is knocked down. Back up and Gable grabs the ankle lock on Ford, who reverses into one of his own. Otis makes the save with a splash but goes outside to go after Angle. That lets Dawkins knock Otis over the announcers’ table, leaving Gable to get slammed down. The frog splash finishes for Ford at 16:01.

Rating: C+. This was more than a bit longer than it needed to be but the Profits getting a win is a good thing. The problem though is they have nowhere to go as the Usos have the titles tied up seemingly forever and that feud has been done to death. They need something to do to keep the team going, and while this worked for a week, it isn’t going to work long term.

Post match the Profits give Angle a red cup but he spits it out. Angle is ready though and busts out the milk for the feel good throwback.

Riddle and Seth Rollins got in a fight in the parking lot earlier today.

We get a split screen interview between Riddle and Rollins. Riddle wants to fight but Rollins says he isn’t on his level. They’re both ready for the fight, with Rollins not exactly taking things seriously. Riddle promises to prove that there is only one man in their marriage though, and that is Becky Lynch. Rollins gets WAY more serious as we’re out of time.

Miz is paranoid about security as he comes to the ring.

We get some extra footage from after the cameras stopped rolling on the interviews. Rollins wasn’t happy with Riddle talking about his family so let’s talk about Riddle’s family. Oh wait he doesn’t have one because Riddle’s wife left him and took the kids. Riddle wants to know where the f*** Rollins is because he wants to f*** him up. That’s the kind of segment you didn’t get for a long time around here and that’s a nice change of pace.

Miz vs. Bobby Lashley

Non-title and Ciampa is here with the still traumatized Miz. Lashley knocks Miz into the corner to start and then outside, where Ciampa gives him a pep talk. That earns both of them a knockdown as we take a break. Back with Lashley still in control until Miz manages to send him into the steps. Lashley shrugs off some choking and loads up the powerslam before settling for a spinebuster. Ciampa gets in a cheap shot though and a DDT gives Miz two. The Skull Crushing Finale is loaded up but Dexter Lumis is in the crowd. The distraction is enough for Lashley to grab the Hurt Lock for the win at 10:45.

Rating: C-. This was more about Miz being all messed up by Lumis than anything else. Lashley isn’t going to lose to Miz in a cold match on Raw so this was a matter of time rather than anything else. I’m curious about where the Lumis/Miz deal is going, but they are doing a good job of making you wonder what happened to Miz to freak him out this much.

Edge comes in to see Kurt Angle and recreates the messages written on the back of big pictures, talking about the various horrible things Edge did to Angle over the years. The Mysterios find it funny and Angle loses it because Edge did it again. Kurt: “Cripes all Friday!” With Angle gone, Dominik isn’t happy that it’s Edge and Rey vs. Judgment Day at Clash At The Castle but he’ll be there too. That’s the kind of call back that still works because it hasn’t been beaten into the ground.

Video on Connor’s Cure, which started in Pittsburgh.

Here are the Usos and Sami Zayn for a chat. The Usos are excited about Roman Reigns celebrating two years as Universal Champion on Friday but Sami cuts them off. He has been named the master of ceremonies for Reigns’ celebration, which doesn’t sit well with the team. The Usos brag about their success….and here is Kevin Owens to cut them off.

Owens mocks the Usos and Jey is ready to explode. Sami explains the situation to Owens, who doesn’t seem interested in listening. Owens didn’t think Sami could look worse than he did by growing that ridiculous hair out but here he is. Zayn doesn’t get what a joke he is despite being one of the best wrestlers in the world.

Zayn insists that the Usos like him…or at least Jimmy does and they’re working on Jey. Threats are made but Owens gets in the ring anyway, telling the Usos that they can keep sucking up to Reigns, just like when they cost Owens the Universal Title. Zayn says Jey is about to take Owens out, which works for Owens so let’s get a referee out here.

Kevin Owens vs. Jey Uso

Jey Uso and Sami Zayn are here too. Owens starts fast and knocks him into the corner for the right hands to the head. Jey misses a charge and gets Cannonballed as Sami is looking confused at ringside. A distraction brings Owens outside, where Jey hits a superkick and a Samoan drop onto the steps as we take a break.

Back with Owens knocking Jey off the top and hitting the Swanton for two. Jey hits his own superkick and adds a Superfly Splash for two more. Another Superfly Splash hits raised knees though and Owens drops the bullfrog splash for another near fall. Jey gets in another shot and chokes on the ropes as Jimmy offers a distraction….but Sami can’t hit Owens with a chair. Jimmy yells at Zayn, who claims the referee would have seen it, leaving Owens to Stun Jey for the pin at 12:27.

Rating: B-. This is the Owens that I have been wanting to see back for a long time and you can see the long road they are taking with his eventual reunion with Sami. Those two have been joined at the hip for so long but somehow have never won the Tag Team Titles. It would be great to see this story take what seems to be an obvious course, just for the emotional moment at the end.

Bayley, Dakota Kai and Iyo Shirai promise to be taking over.

Miz leaves the arena, despite Ciampa (who is covered in glitter for some reason) asking what happened. Dexter Lumis is in the back of Miz’s car as he pulls away.

We look back at Johnny Gargano’s return last week.

Gargano was in an empty arena and talked about how happy he is to be back in wrestling. Theory didn’t ruin anything because Gargano sees him as family, even though Theory didn’t call when the baby was born. Cue Theory, who asks why Gargano didn’t call when Theory won anything, with Gargano saying they had a baby. Theory thinks that’s an excuse and Gargano must be a bit jealous.

We run down the Clash At The Castle rundown, with Riddle having gotten his Matt back.

Recap of the Women’s Tag Team Title tournament.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Aliyah/Raquel Rodriguez vs. Iyo Sky/Dakota Kai

For the vacant titles and Bayley is here too. Aliyah and Sky trade rollups to start before it’s off to Kai for a change. Kai misses a charge over a splitting Aliyah, who misses a baseball slide to the floor. That means Aliyah gets sent into the steps while Rodriguez gets knocked down as well as we take a break.

Back with Rodriguez getting kicked down for a running dropkick to the back for two. Rodriguez fights up and takes Sky down in the corner for the spinning Vader Bomb elbow. Kai is back up with a kick to Rodriguez to set up the Over the Moonsault for two. Bayley gets on the apron so Bianca Belair, Asuka and Alexa Bliss run in to chase her off. Rodriguez makes a tag off to Aliyah, who immediately drops to the floor to hide. The villains go after Rodriguez, leaving Aliyah to grab a rollup for the pin and the titles at 11:20.

Rating: C. That ending wasn’t the best as the camera almost missed the pin, though it was a clever enough idea. The problem here is simple though: it’s still the Women’s Tag Team Titles, which mattered for approximately 18 minutes after they were established. Aliyah and Rodriguez are the latest thrown together team to win the belts and that isn’t likely to get a big reaction. I’m sure Banks and Naomi, the previous thrown together team to win the belts after about four matches, returning will be a boost, but then why exactly should I believe that things will be different this time?

Pyro goes off and we hear about some big Clash At The Castle matches to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. I wasn’t feeling this show as much but it was still more than a few miles better than the shows from earlier this year. What matters still is that there is an energy to the shows that wasn’t around for so long and that is a notable difference. This was a go home show for a card that was mostly already set and that doesn’t often leave much for the final episode. If nothing else, we can get Clash At The Castle out of the way this weekend and move on to the build for something else, but for now this was hopefully just a one off misstep.

Results
Judgment Day b. AJ Styles/Dolph Ziggler – South Of Heaven to Ziggler
Asuka/Alexa Bliss/Bianca Belair b. Dani Mo/Kay Sparks/Katie Arquette – Octopus to Mo
Street Profits b. Alpha Academy – Frog splash to Gable
Bobby Lashley b. The Miz – Hurt Lock
Kevin Owens b. Jey Uso – Stunner
Aliyah/Raquel Rodriguez b. Iyo Sky/Dakota Kai – Rollup to Sky

 

 

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Smackdown
Date: August 26, 2022
Location: Little Caesars Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee

We are eight days away from Clash At The Castle and most of the card is set. There are still some things that need to be covered though and odds are we can get some of that this week. That would mainly include pushing the rest of the build to the matches we already have set, while probably adding in something else. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Ricochet vs. Happy Corbin

Ricochet starts fast and knocks him outside before backflipping into the superhero pose. Back in and a dropkick sets up a standing shooting star press for two on Corbin. The fast starts continues as Ricochet loads up a springboard, only to get knocked out of the air. Corbin pounds away a bit but gets knocked down for another flipping dive as we take a break.

Back with Corbin hitting something like a World’s Strongest Slam onto (not through) the announcer’s table before hammering away inside. Ricochet tries a handspring and is forearmed right back down as the power keeps working for Corbin. A spinning DDT gets Ricochet out of trouble and it’s time to kick away. Deep Six gives Corbin two but Ricochet kicks him down again. The shooting star press finishes for Ricochet at 12:13.

Rating: B-. This worked well because they followed a pretty simple formula of power vs. speed. Ricochet is able to fly with the best of them and it is great to see him getting a win here. Corbin losing again is a great thing to see and it is nice to see these emotional roller coasters that he lands on so often. Good start here and the rise of Ricochet is nice to see.

Post match, Corbin stays down in the corner, leaving McAfee to bust out the telestrator to explain what a horrible person he is.

The Street Profits meet Hit Row and seem rather cool with each other.

Long video on Drew McIntyre talking about the path his career has taken to get here. This includes a bunch of really cool footage of the early days of McIntyre’s career and his rise through the ranks, from the UK to FCW. McIntyre talks about his mom getting sick and hitting rock bottom when he was fired from WWE. More on this later.

Karrion Kross and Scarlett aren’t impressed because Kross could put his elbow through McIntyre’s head at anytime.

Women’s Tag Team Title Tournament Quarterfinals: Natalya/Sonya Deville vs. Shotzi/Xia Li vs. Tamina/Dana Brooke vs. Doudrop/Nikki Ash

This is a one fall to a finish Last Chance match as Toxic Attraction was injured and a replacement was needed. Tamina superkicks Natalya off the apron to start and hits a Samoan drop on Deville, with Doudrop having to make a save. Li comes in to suplex Nikki into the ropes before dropping her throat first onto the top. Everything breaks down and it’s a parade of everyone being knocked down. With a big pile on the floor, Dana superplexes Nikki onto everyone else, with Nikki’s leg landing REALLY awkwardly. Sonya immediately throws her inside for the pin at 3:13 as I’d be shocked if we didn’t have a bad injury.

Rating: F. This was pretty terrible and I’m not even sure where to start. The biggest thing is Nikki’s leg, as she crashed hard at the end and very well might be in trouble. Other than that, Li looked lost and the match was an eight woman cluster with no one getting to shine. This was a total wreck and I’m not sure how much worse it could have been.

Video on Shayna Baszler.

Here are the Brawling Brutes, with Sheamus promising to beat the sauerkraut out of Gunther at Clash At The Castle to become the Ultimate Grand Slam Champion. Cue Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser, with Sheamus cutting Kaiser off because no one can understand him. Sheamus’ issue is with Gunther, because Sheamus is a ring general himself. Sheamus has beaten all kinds of stars around here and has won almost everything there is to win.

There are a lot of similarities between them and now Sheamus wants what Gunther has. Gunther says Sheamus is a man to be respected, but to protect the title, Gunther will teach him what violence really means. The staredown is on, even as Butch and Kaiser get in a fight. Ridge Holland is knocked outside and Kaiser and Butch are both knocked down, with Sheamus and Gunther not breaking their stare. Eventually they each grab their boys and leave, after one of the more amusing staredowns I can remember in a long time.

Sonya Deville and Natalya are ready for their semifinal match. As they talk, Nikki Ash and Doudrop are in quite the heated argument.

We look at the end of last week’s show with Sami Zayn taking the Claymore from Drew McIntyre to save Roman Reigns.

Zayn goes to see Reigns but finds the Usos instead. The Usos aren’t cool with McIntyre still walking but Reigns tells Zayn to come in. Reigns says Zayn lost but he appreciates what Zayn did to help him out. That’s something family would do and now, Reigns needs another family. He needs McIntyre distracted, which is cool with Zayn as he and McIntyre are facing each other tonight. Zayn says he has this and suggests making it a team effort. Reigns thinks this is all about Zayn though, which he can make work.

Women’s Tag Team Title Tournament Semifinals: Raquel Rodriguez/Aliyah vs. Natalya/Sonya Deville

Bayley, with Iyo Sky/Dakota Kai behind her, is on commentary and Michael Cole looks crushed. Of note: the trio came to the ring before a break and the Zayn/Reigns stuff, meaning I was worried we would come back to them standing there. Instead, we came back to them at commentary, which was such a great relief that WWE stopped that dumb concept.

Anyway, Sonya gets knocked to the floor to start and Aliyah hits a Meteora off the apron. Natalya Michinoku Drivers Aliyah on the floor and we take a break. Back with Natalya breaking up the corkscrew Vader Bomb and kicking Rodriguez in the head. Rodriguez powers out of a choke but Aliyah has been knocked off the apron so Rodriguez knocks both of them down instead. The running splashes in the corner connect and there’s the corkscrew Vader Bomb to Deville. Rodriguez has to take out Natalya and gets kneed down by Deville for two. A big kick misses though and the Tejana Bomb finishes Deville at 8:13.

Rating: C. This was more or less a handicap match for Rodriguez and she continues to roll over just about anyone in front of her. That might be better to keep Aliyah away from the longer matches and let Rodriguez do just about anything. I can’t imagine they win the titles, but the title match should work out well enough.

Post match Sky and Kai come in for the staredown.

Maximum Male Models are having a photo shoot but Hit Row’s bus starts blaring music. No worries though as Maxxine has an idea.

Here is New Day, with Xavier Woods in a wheelchair (with his legs covered with a blanket) for their big return. They’re a bit serious here and talk about how they need to face reality: the Viking Raiders have been beating them up week after week. Then last week, the Raiders burned a bunch of their stuff and that has them thinking….that they’ll be interrupted by the Raiders.

Erik says this is pathetic because the New Day was giving a proper sendoff and yet here they are sniveling. The one thing a viking despises more than anything else is weakness and this groveling makes them sick. Violence is threatened but Woods whips the blanket off and the kendo stick underneath the blanket knock the Raiders outside. This could have been worse, but the feud needs to end already as it is already going too long.

The Maximum Male Models have painted HIT ROW SUCKS on the side of their bus, but Hit Row comes in to say it isn’t their bus. The Street Profits come out and glaring ensues.

Jey Uso yells at Sami Zayn to handle his business and never disrespect Jey in front of the family again.

We get the second half of the McIntyre video, featuring his return to WWE and rise to the top. Now he needs to get back to the top defeating Roman Reigns again. He promises to kick Reigns’ head off his f****** body. I’m not sure how this is going to work, but they almost have to change the title after setting up McIntyre this well.

Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn

Zayn bails to the floor to start before catching McIntyre on the way back in. McIntyre knocks him outside though and it’s time to slug it out on the floor again. Back in again and Zayn kicks the rope into McIntyre’s leg, allowing him to hammer away. Zayn chokes away on the rope but McIntyre is getting annoyed. McIntyre unloads in the corner and there’s the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to put Zayn down again. Back up and Zayn manages a sunset bomb out of the corner to send us to a break.

Back with McIntyre snapping off an overhead belly to belly before snapping off an overhead belly to belly. There’s a neckbreaker to drop Zayn but here are the Usos for a distraction, allowing Zayn to grab the Blue Thunder Bomb for two. McIntyre shrugs that off and hits the Claymore for the pin at 10:26.

Rating: C+. This was almost guaranteed to be at least pretty good and that’s what we got here. McIntyre winning is no surprise as he has a major title match coming up. Zayn on the other hand is on a roll right now and doing some of his best work in years. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him change sides sooner rather than later, perhaps teaming up with Kevin Owens to go after the Tag Team Titles. Nice main event here though, and that’s all it needed to be.

Post match Roman Reigns comes in and the big beatdown is on, with the spear setting up a bunch of chair shots. McIntyre gets sent into various things on the floor, followed by Reigns guillotining him back inside. Reigns puts a chair over McIntyre and sits down to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This show was up and down, with the main focus being on the World Title match and everything else being a pretty hard step down. Other than a nice opener and the awkwardly amusing Sheamus/Gunther faceoff, there wasn’t much of value on the whole show. That four way women’s tag was just awful on every level and one of the worst TV matches I’ve seen in a long time. The show as a whole was ok enough, but the bad part was dreadful and the good didn’t bring it to a higher level.

 

 

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

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Smackdown
Date: August 19, 2022
Location: Bell Center, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Commentators: Pat McAfee, Michael Cole

We’re north of the border for the 1,200th episode and odds are that is not going to be the biggest deal. We are only a few weeks away from Clash At The Castle and now we should be in for some build to the show. There is a lot that needs to be done for the card and maybe we can get some of that done tonight. Let’s get to it.

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

Commentary talks about the 1,200th show, with McAfee name dropping Jim Cornette doing commentary on the first show (or at least the pilot).

Ronda Rousey walks in front of commentary and gets in the ring where she says her fine is paid so Adam Pearce needs to get out here and lift her suspension. Cue Pearce, with security to say that’s above his pay grade, so he asks her to leave peacefully. Pearce says that’s what she did last week and now it’s time to get violent. Security gets in the ring and gets beaten up. That’s too far for Pearce, who has the police come out and arrest Rousey. As she is taken to the back, she asks if this is on Pearce’s pay grade as she is put in the car.

The police car pulls away and Roman Reigns arrives.

Women’s Tag Team Title Tournament First Round: Natalya/Sonya Deville vs. Toxic Attraction

Zoey Stark is hurt so Toxic Attraction (Gigi Dolin/Jacy Jayne) from NXT is taking her and Nikkita Lyons’ place. As a bonus, Bayley/Iyo Sky/Dakota Kai sit in the front row to yell at commentary. Natalya rolls Dolin up to start and it’s off to Deville for a spear of all things and a near fall. Jayne comes in and misses a charge into the post, allowing Jayne to hit a running flip dive to the floor.

We take a break and come back with Jayne loading up a Sharpshooter but getting knocked away by Deville. It’s back to Natalya, whose Sharpshooter is broken up as well. Deville is sent into the barricade in front of Bayley and company for some yelling as Jayne tags herself in. Natalya doesn’t notice and puts Dolin in the Sharpshooter, allowing Jayne to grab a rollup (clever) for the pin at 9:59.

Rating: C-. That’s how the match should have gone as there is no reason for one of the most successful NXT tag teams ever to lose to a makeshift team like Natalya and Deville. Not much of a match, but they did the right thing with Toxic Attraction moving forward. At the same time, it does make me wonder why they weren’t in the tournament in the first place.

Sami Zayn (hometown boy) goes in to see Roman Reigns, who asks how things have been going. Zayn talks about his recent issues with the Usos, especially Jey, who has been telling him to LEVEL UP. We hear about how Zayn took a Claymore for him last week and calls Jey ungrateful. Sami knows he went too far….until Reigns agrees with him. Reigns gets up and his phone rings, with Jey on the other end.

Reigns tells Sami to answer it, which doesn’t seem to go well with Jey. Sami says he’ll take care of it before hanging up. Apparently Jey was yelling about trouble at the border so the Usos won’t be here tonight. That has Reigns looking nervous, but Sami offers his services. He does have a #1 contenders match for the Intercontinental Title tonight and Reigns thinks that title would look good in the Bloodline.

Sami goes to warm up but Reigns asks about Kevin Owens. Sami says they’re still tight so Reigns says to tell Owens that Reigns doesn’t owe anyone anything. As Sami leaves, Reigns glares a bit. This was interesting and some good character stuff, which you don’t get enough of around here.

We look back at Gunther retaining the Intercontinental Title over Shinsuke Nakamura last week. Max doesn’t like the interruption so Hit Row clears the ring quickly. Rapping ensues and goes on for a while. The good thing here is that Max is basically LA Knight instead of that not so great stuff he was doing for a few weeks.

Karrion Kross and Scarlett talk about what Drew McIntyre said about him on Raw. He still has his eye on Roman Reigns too. McIntyre and Reigns are his chosen ones.

Ricochet vs. Sheamus vs. Madcap Moss vs. Happy Corbin vs. Sami Zayn

For the Intercontinental Title shot at Clash At The Castle. The fans are WAY behind Sami with the OLE chants. The ring is cleared out to start, leaving Ricochet to hurricanrana Zayn. Corbin (in a t-shirt, jeans and tennis shoes, likely for reasons of a lost bag) cuts off a dive with a chokeslam to Ricochet and we take a break. Back with everyone brawling on the floor until Corbin takes Ricochet back inside.

Corbin hits the slide under the ropes clothesline on Moss and then knocks Zayn off the apron (Cole: “Sami looked like El Generico there.” McAfee: “Oui.”). Ricochet is back up with a springboard crossbody to Corbin and a springboard dropkick to knock Zayn off the apron as well. A running shooting star press gets two on Corbin as we see a NASTY bruise/cut on Sheamus’ thigh. Sheamus’ leg is good enough to hit Irish Curses on Moss and Zayn, though he does come up limping.

The ten forearms to the chest have Moss and Corbin in more trouble, followed by seventeen forearms to Ricochet’s chest. Zayn jawbreaks his way to freedom though and low bridges Corbin out to the floor. The big flip dive drops Sheamus and Corbin on the floor as we get some old school Sami for a change. Back in and a Michinoku Driver drops Ricochet and the Blue Thunder Bomb gets two on Moss.

Sheamus is back up to take out Ricochet though and a super White Noise sends Zayn outside, holding his arm. Moss gets in his own run but Ricochet cuts him off as Sami is helped to the back. Corbin Deep Sixes Sheamus and Ricochet clotheslines Moss, leaving everyone down as we take a break.

Back with Corbin pounding on Ricochet and dropping him with a torture rack neckbreaker. Corbin and Sheamus slug it out until Corbin gets clotheslined to the floor. A jumping knee gives Sheamus two on Moss but the Brogue Kick is countered into something like a Boss Man Slam. Ricochet Recoils Moss to the floor and hits a shooting star press for two on Sheamus, with Corbin making the save. Cue Sami for quite the reaction and a t-bone suplex on Ricochet. The Helluva Kick hits Ricochet but Corbin pulls Zayn out. Sheamus is back in with the Brogue Kick to finish Corbin out of nowhere at 22:22.

Rating: B-. The time helped here as it allowed the match to be built up instead of rushed. That allowed everyone a chance to show what they could do instead of flying through everything and trying to get a bunch of stuff in. The Zayn injury gives him a bit of an out instead of jobbing in his hometown so it was nice to see them cover that side. At the same time, it’s good to see Sheamus winning, as he and Gunther could have a heck of a hoss fight. I could even see Sheamus getting the title so we might even have some drama.

Video on Drew McIntyre vs. Roman Reigns.

Video on the Viking Raiders. They have torches and face paint because a great battle awaits. Then they burn a bunch of New Day stuff.

We recap Liv Morgan and Shayna Baszler signing the contract last week.

Morgan’s arm is out of the brace and into just tape but she isn’t worried about Baszler. She can’t start playing it safe now because she needs to get in the ring.

Liv Morgan vs. Shotzi

Non-title. Before the match, Shotzi talks about how Morgan is getting too emotional and calls this match a bad decision. Liv slugs away to start and staggers Shotzi a bit, only to get knocked back with a shot to the face. Shotzi knocks her outside and we take a break. Back with Liv fighting out of trouble, setting up a brawl from their knees. Morgan hits a quick Codebreaker and Oblivion for the pin at 6:02. Not enough shown to rate but Morgan fighting through the pain and winning is the right way to go for her.

Post match Shayna Baszler comes in and knees her down before teasing the stomp on the arm but stomping and kicking Morgan down instead.

Ronda Rousey has been released on her own recognizance and Adam Pearce won’t be pressing charges.

Drew McIntyre finds Karrion Kross’ hourglass in his locker room and rolls his eyes.

Here is Roman Reigns (alone), who takes his sweet time getting into the ring. After being handed the microphone, Reigns talks about how he isn’t here every week, meaning every once in awhile, people are going to come out here and say something stupid. If anyone ever comes out here and says they’re the face of this company or the main event and it isn’t him, they’re LYING. The same thing is true if someone says they carry this company, including Drew McIntyre, who is beneath him.

Cue McIntyre to interrupt, saying that since Reigns isn’t here very often, he doesn’t represent the titles and doesn’t deserve to be champion. Reigns is aghast but McIntyre says it’s easy when Reigns has Paul Heyman and the Usos. Right now though, McIntyre sees fear in Reigns’ eyes because Reigns is just a man and a man who McIntyre can tear apart.

The fight is on and Reigns gets suplexed but the Claymore hits…..Sami Zayn, who runs in to take the shot. Reigns hits the Superman Punch but the Claymore cuts off the spear (despite the camera angle showing that McIntyre COMPLETELY missed by a good four inches) to end the show. McIntyre vs. Reigns feels like a main event, but I’m not sure I can see McIntyre taking the title off of him, even in the UK.

Overall Rating: B. There were only three matches but one of them was about ten minutes long and the other was over twenty so there was a nice amount of action on the show. Other than that, you had some good talking and character development, plus some stuff being added to or boosted for the pay per view. They did well here, with nothing dragging the show down and enough to make me want to see what happens next. Rather good show, and it’s nice to be able to say that more and more often.

Results
Toxic Attraction b. Natalya/Sonya Deville – Rollup to Natalya
Sheamus b. Happy Corbin, Ricochet, Madcap Moss and Sami Zayn – Brogue Kick to Corbin
Liv Morgan b. Shotzi – Oblivion

 

 

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Smackdown
Date: August 5, 2022
Location: Bon Secours Wellness Arena, Greenville, South Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee

We’re done with Summerslam and well on the way to Clash At The Castle, which should make for an energized few weeks. WWE seems to want to make this show into something special and they have the ability to do so. The main event is already set and now we get to see what else they have. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a long recap of Summerslam, unfortunately set to that song about Nashville being a crazy town.

The Bloodline arrives (with the Usos driving in what can’t be a good idea).

Pat McAfee gives us a telestrated recap of him kicking Happy Corbin low at Summerslam. We see the impact about ten times before cutting to the back, where a bunch of people are laughing at Corbin. Ricochet laughs a lot and gets a match with Corbin tonight as a result. The telestrator gag went on so long that it became funny.

Ricochet vs. Happy Corbin

Corbin throws him into the corner to start but Ricochet kicks him in the face, setting up the big flip dive to the floor. Back in and Ricochet’s springboard is broken up but he’s fine enough to block Corbin’s slide under the ropes. Corbin has to dodge the apron moonsault and posts Ricochet as we take a break.

Back with Corbin holding a chinlock before hitting a backdrop for two. Ricochet fights up and hits a handspring elbow, setting up a springboard clothesline. The running shooting star press gives Ricochet two but a moonsault is countered into a torture rack neckbreaker (that was nice). A sunset flip out of the corner gives Ricochet two but Corbin is back with a heck of a Deep Six for two. Ricochet goes up but gets shoved off onto the apron, leaving Corbin to go up and stare at McAfee. The distraction lets Ricochet hit the Recoil into the shooting star press for the pin at 11:46.

Rating: C+. This was a power vs. speed match and that is going to work every time. It’s very nice to see Ricochet getting a big win as Corbin’s bad luck continues. I’m not sure where that is leading, but a motivated midcard Corbin is a nice thing to have as it fits him well. Leave him around here doing things like this and he’ll be fine.

Post match McAfee throws Ricochet a football, which Ricochet throws back. McAfee signs it and punts it into the crowd for a nice moment.

Sami Zayn knocks on Roman Reigns’ door. Post break the Usos open the door but say it’s not a good time for Reigns. They’ll text him.

We look back at Liv Morgan beating Ronda Rousey at Summerslam, albeit with some controversy.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ludwig Kaiser

If Nakamura wins, he gets an Intercontinental Title shot next week. Kaiser sends him into the corner to start but Kaiser blocks a kick. Good Vibrations has Kaiser in more trouble but he grabs a tilt-a-whirl faceplant as we take a break. Back with Nakamura hitting a running knee on the apron, only to have Kinshasa broken up with an uppercut. Kaiser suplexes him down for two but has to stomp his way out of an armbar. Nakamura hits a spinning kick to the head and Kinshasa connects for the pin and the title shot at 8:46.

Rating: C. They kept this one pretty much to the point and it worked well enough. I don’t need to see the match again, but they built Kaiser up a bit by giving him a win over Nakamura so this one meant a bit more. Nakamura vs. Gunther should be a heck of a match and it can work well as Gunther’s first test.

We look back at the Viking Raiders taking out Xavier Woods.

Kofi Kingston isn’t used to being alone around here but he promises revenge on the Vikings.

Sami Zayn knocks on Roman Reigns’ door again but gets the Usos. Sami asks if he didn’t get the text because of bad reception but he is sent to the production truck to make sure Reigns’ entrance goes well.

Here is Liv Morgan, with her arm in a brace, for a chat. The fans don’t seem to like her but that is why she is here. She wants to address the elephant in the room, but we first pause for the YOU TAPPED OUT chants. Liv appreciates being called out and says the title means everything to her. It is why she got through the armbars, and yes she tapped, but only once she thought the referee counted three. Cue Sonya Deville to interrupt and mock Morgan before promising to take the title at Clash At The Castle. Why WWE felt the need to have Morgan tap out in her first title defense and then talk about it is beyond me.

Gauntlet Match

The winner gets a Smackdown Women’s Title shot at Clash at the Castle. Sonya Deville is in at #1 and Aliyah is in at #2. Deville wastes no time in taking her down for a chinlock. Aliyah fights up but gets pulled into a reverse DDT (Deville’s Advocate) for the pin at 2:16. Raquel Rodriguez is in at #3 and Deville goes right after her knee to take her down too. The chinlock goes on again but Rodriguez powers up with a side slam. The spinning Vader Bomb elbow sets up the Tejana Bomb to get rid of Deville at 4:43 (total).

Shotzi is in at #4 and we take a break. Back with Rodriguez powering out of an abdominal stretch and hitting another side slam. Another Vader Bomb elbow sets up another Tejana Bomb for the pin at 10:06 total. Xia Li is in at #5 and starts working on Rodriguez’s leg in the corner. A half crab puts Rodriguez in more trouble but she breaks out and hits a fall away slam. The spinning elbow sets up another Tejana Bomb to eliminate Li at 12:57 total.

Natalya is in at #6 and goes right after the knee, including a chop block. The legs are tied up on the mat with Natalya getting to punch Rodriguez in the head for a bonus. Somehow Rodriguez rolls through and muscles her up for two off a suplex. Natalya is right back with the Sharpshooter but a rope is grabbed. Some right hands in the corner have Rodriguez in more trouble but she Tejana Bombs her way out for the tap at 15:35 total.

Shayna Baszler is in at #7 to complete the field and we take a break. Back with Rodriguez fighting out of a leglock but getting her knee stomped to cut her off again. Rodriguez makes another comeback and tries the spinning elbow but gets caught in the Kirifuda Clutch. Rodriguez tries to flip out but Baszler rolls her up and gets the pin for the title shot at 22:05 total.

Rating: C+. Oh yeah things have changed around here and that is a good thing. Baszler is someone who seemed ready to move into the title picture years ago but she was stuck with Nia Jax for the better part of ever. This match was set up well, with Rodriguez getting the superhero push before getting caught in a rollup after surviving the holds. Nice job here, and the result is rather nice.

Sami Zayn bothers the Usos again but this time is told he’s not seeing Roman Reigns tonight. Now either get it together or lose the Bloodline shirt.

Viking Raiders vs. Jim Mulkey/Tommy Gibson

As I chuckle at the jobbers’ names, Ivar slams Erik onto Gibson (who Cole doesn’t think is any relation to Hoot). A super World’s Strongest Slam plants Mulkey and a spinebuster sets up a double pin at 1:28. Total dominance.

Post match Kofi Kingston charges the ring and beats the Vikings up with a kendo stick.

Kofi Kingston vs. Erik

Erik wastes no time in catching a kick and planting Kingston hard. Kingston gets up and hits a high crossbody for two but Erik grabs a full nelson slam onto a knee for two more. Back up and Kofi knocks him to the floor for the over the top dive but he has to avoid an Ivar kendo stick shot. Back in and Kofi rolls Erik up for the pin at 3:44.

Rating: C-. This was kind of a weird one as the Raiders have been unstoppable monsters for a few weeks and here they lose despite having a numbers advantage. There I no shame in losing to a former World Champion so it’s hardly some shocking upset, but it’s a bit of an odd way to go. The interesting thing for Kofi is that he is so associated with the New Day that it was pretty much impossible to imagine someone else coming out there to save him.

A tournament for the Women’s Tag Team Titles starts on Raw. I THOUGHT IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE BETTER NOW!!!

Video on Gunther.

Here is the Bloodline (minus the recovering Paul Heyman) for a chat. After getting his acknowledgment, Reigns talks about how he respects Brock Lesnar but Lesnar put Paul Heyman in the hospital (yes hospital). Cue Drew McIntyre who says he’s ready to fight Reigns right now….but then everything goes black and white. A woman appears in the entrance and Karrion Kross returns to take out McIntyre. The woman, Scarlett, brings her hourglass to the ring and Kross stares at Reigns to end the show. Kross is pretty polarizing, but leather jacket/hair Kross instead of whatever the old Raw version was could work.

Overall Rating: B-. The most important thing about this show is the general feeling of fun. It has an energy to it and it feels like something different might happen. That was the case on Raw too and while I don’t know if it is going to last, it makes a world of difference here. Good show, with a pretty decent amount of wrestling and some stuff set up for the future. That makes for a nice evening, and that is what they had here.

Results
Ricochet b. Happy Corbin – Shooting star press
Shinsuke Nakamura b. Ludwig Kaiser – Kinshasa
Shayna Baszler won a gauntlet match last eliminating Raquel Rodriguez
Viking Raiders b. Jim Mulkey/Tommy Gibson – Double pin
Kofi Kingston b. Erik – Rollup

 

 

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Summerslam 2016
Date: August 21, 2016
Location: Barclays Center, New York City, New York
Attendance: 15,974
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, Mauro Ranallo, David Otunga, John Bradshaw Layfield

A year has passed since I saw this show and I can barely remember much about it. That’s very telling when you look at how stacked this show really is. There are multiple top level matches here and it really wasn’t clear what was going to close the show until the night of the event. Hopefully that means that this SIX HOUR show holds up. Let’s get to it.

So here’s a quick plug. I’m going through the pre-show and there’s a three expert panel of Booker T., Jerry Lawler and Lita. Earlier this year, I met all three of them at WrestleCon. If you’re ever at a Wrestlemania weekend, treat yourself to an amazing time and GO TO WRESTLECON. I met over 120 wrestlers in about four hours. Where else are you going to get to do something like that? Anyway, on with the show.

Pre-Show: American Alpha/Hype Bros/Usos vs. Breezango/Ascension/Vaudevillains

Who would have thought that Breezango would be the most entertaining out of all these teams? This is pretty much the still titleless Smackdown tag division at this point as they had to bring in the Headbangers and throw together Heath Slater and Rhyno to be able to have a tournament. This is also a rematch from Smackdown, which shows how little effort they were putting into the tag division at this point.

Gable and Breeze start things and the fans are WAY into Gable. Chad twists around as only he can to escape a wristlock and it’s off to Jey, who is quickly driven into the corner. English comes in and says that he’s what a man is. That earns him a right hand to the jaw and it’s off to Mojo to work on a wristlock. Ryder comes in to quite the reaction as Mauro says the Hype Bros have more chemistry than the Periodic Table.

Everything breaks down (What took them so long?) and Ascension clears the ring, only to have American Alpha come off the top (the same corner) with double clotheslines (that’s pure Steiner Brothers). English posts Ryder though and we take a break. Back with Gotch putting Ryder in a chinlock, followed by Viktor doing the same. The other heels take turns stomping on Ryder until Breeze grabs his own chinlock. Fandango adds a slingshot legdrop as this is going WAY longer than it needs to.

JBL thinks cold beer uniting the APA is more effective than furry selfie sticks uniting Breezango but maybe he’s wrong. Ascension knocks the good guys off the apron but Viktor misses a charge in the corner, allowing Ryder to get in a neckbreaker on Konnor. The hot tag (with a limited reaction) brings in Jimmy to clean house.

Jordan gets the real hot tag and does his fired up sequence (which he really is awesome at) with a belly to belly getting two on Breeze. We hit the parade of secondary finishers as the referee is imploring them to tag. Mojo powerbombs Breeze and Viktor out of the corner and the Usos add stereo superkicks to set up stereo dives. Back in and Grand Amplitude plants Gotch, only to have Jey tag himself in for a Superfly Splash and the pin at 14:31. Gable is really not cool with that. Eh just wait until your team is split up for a pretty lame story where Jordan is Kurt Angle’s son.

Rating: B-. If you cut out a few minutes from this, it’s a heck of an opener. There are too many people in the match of course but they kept it moving fast enough (for the most part) to really get something fun out of it. Jordan’s house cleaning spot is a heck of a way to fire the crowd up and it made the match more fun than it should have been. Tweak this a bit (eight/ten man tag or shorten the match a bit) and it’s even better.

Pre-Show: Dudley Boyz vs. Sami Zayn/Neville

Sami works on D-Von’s arm to start and it’s off to Neville for more of the same. Both of them get in more shots as we hear about the rivalry over the NXT Title. I do appreciate the history, especially when Graves should know about that match very well. Bubba is sent outside but D-Von breaks up a springboard dive, allowing Bubba to nail Neville from behind to take over. The fans want tables but a back elbow to Neville’s jaw cuts them off in a hurry.

Back from a break with Bubba hitting his neckbreaker out of the corner. Things slow down even more as Bubba is talking even more than he usually does in a match. Bubba: “COME ON ENGLISH BOY! O-LAY! O-LAY!” The middle rope backsplash misses though and the hot tag brings in Sami. D-Von takes the Blue Thunder Bomb for two but the reverse 3D gets the same. Neville escapes the regular version though and we get some heel miscommunication. The Helluva Kick sets up the Red Arrow to put Bubba away at 7:55.

Rating: C-. That would be it for the Dudleys in WWE as they would have one more segment tomorrow night where Anderson and Gallows sent them packing. It’s also pretty much it for Sami and Neville as a team, which is quite odd as you would think they would be a fine choice for a team. The match was nothing you wouldn’t expect on Raw.

Pre-Show: Cesaro vs. Sheamus

You know, because two matches just weren’t enough for the pre-show. This is the first match of the Best of Seven Series, which really wasn’t too well received. After Cole says Cesaro is facing Cesaro and both Cole and Saxton say this is about establishing physical dominance, we’re ready to go. Sheamus misses a very early Brogue Kick but the spinning springboard uppercut is blocked as well.

Cesaro charges into an uppercut but comes back with a dropkick for one. The ten forearms to the chest are broken up so Sheamus clotheslines him onto the apron instead. It’s off to an armbar on Cesaro’s chronically taped up shoulder but Cesaro lifts him up into that kind of reverse Angle Slam of his. They’re certainly hitting each other hard here, which is pretty much the draw of the whole feud.

Sheamus hits a tilt-a-whirl slam and it’s off to a break. Back with Cesaro fighting out of a chinlock because that rule even applies on pre-shows that will never end. The Irish Curse gives Sheamus two as Cole runs down the pay per view card, which only makes me think that there are FAR too many titles in WWE. They fight over a suplex and fall out to the floor in a heap. Back in and Cesaro starts firing off the running uppercuts in the corner, capped off by a dropkick to knock him off the ropes.

The apron superplex (which wasn’t from the apron) gets two but Sheamus counters the Neutralizer into White Noise for two. There’s the super Regal Roll for two more and frustration is really setting in. Another Brogue Kick attempt is countered by one heck of a clothesline though and Cesaro adds a high crossbody for two of his own. Cesaro tries the Sharpshooter but Sheamus gets to the ropes. Back up and a poke to the eye sets up the Brogue Kick to give Sheamus the pin at 14:11.

Rating: B. They beat the heck out of each other and it was a fun match but it also brings up the problem: I’m not going to want to watch them fight six more times. No matter how good things are, having them happen so many times in a row over several weeks is going to get tiresome. It happens in all these series and it’s happening here too.

And now, after more wrestling than you get on an average Smackdown, here’s the actual pay per view.

The opening video looks at New York City, with the narrator telling you how AMAZING the city is. I’m not sure if New York City or Texas is worse about bragging about their home’s greatness. As usual, this switches over to a series of quick looks at the biggest matches on the card.

Enzo Amore/Big Cass vs. Chris Jericho/Kevin Owens

Well duh. That’s about as easy of a choice for an opener as you could ever find for this show. As you might expect, the crowd eats up the opening promo with a spoon and of course we hear a ton of New York City music references. Included are Frank Sinatra, Biggie Smalls and Jay-Z, plus more that probably go over my head. Cass adds in a few songs of his own as this is the only way this show could have opened. Since Graves is the best heel commentator in wrestling today though, he points out that Enzo is from New Jersey.

Jericho and Owens jump Enzo at the bell and the STUPID IDIOT chants start rolling. Enzo comes back with a crossbody and a running right hand to the jaw for two. It’s off to Cass, who drags Owens inside for a beal. That’s some scary power. Enzo gets launched into the corner to crush Jericho but the Canadians bail to the floor. That’s fine with Cass who tosses Enzo over the top onto them in a huge crash. I’ve always loved that spot as it just looks cool.

Back in and Enzo ax handles Owens but turns into a middle rope dropkick from Jericho. The Canadian violence begins with Owens kneeing Enzo from the apron and doing his dance on the apron in a rather funny visual. Owens’ comedic skills aren’t given enough credit more often than not. It’s back to Jericho for the Arrogant Cover and a chinlock with Owens telling Jericho to do it like he taught him.

Owens comes in and adds a gutbuster for two, followed by the running start for a chinlock. It takes real talent to turn a chinlock into an art form but Owens has somehow pulled it off. Enzo finally rolls away but Jericho is there to break up the diving tag attempt. Owens drops the frog splash for two and his stunned looked on the kickout is the usual awesome visual. Enzo gets pulled off the corner to make things even worse but, after blowing a kiss to Jericho, misses the Cannonball.

That means the hot tag to Cass and everything breaks down. Jericho dives into a big boot but Owens breaks up the Bada Boom Shaka Lacka. Cass gets posted on the floor and now the Cannonball against the barricade connects. Back in and Enzo scores with his top rope DDT on Jericho with Owens making the save. A pop up Codebreaker (didn’t look great as Jericho was too far away) ends Enzo at 12:09.

Rating: C+. Odd choice for an ending aside (not surprising of course but odd), this was a good way to get the crowd going. I could have gone for another hope spot from Enzo and more of Cass cleaning house but that pop up Codebreaker could have been a heck of a finisher if done right. Nice opener, though would it have killed them to put Enzo and Cass over in Brooklyn?

Smackdown bosses Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon run into Raw General Manager Mick Foley to brag about how awesome their shows are. Former Daily Show host Jon Stewart and his son come in to ask what Foley is thinking to work with Stephanie. He rants about abuse of power but realizes she’s right behind him. Stephanie yells at him about how great it is to abuse power but thankfully New Day comes up. As the Smackdown bosses and Foley much on cereal, New Day asks Jon if he’d like to do something. He gets out as fast as he can and Stephanie isn’t amused.

We recap Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks. Sasha won the Women’s Title on the first exclusive show after the Brand Split and tonight is the rematch. The other big idea here is Charlotte never loses singles matches on pay per view and Banks has to recreate the magic one more time.

Raw Women’s Title: Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte

Banks is defending and we get the Big Match Intros. Some early WOOing sets up a slightly less early Bank Statement but Charlotte bails to the floor. Back in and Banks climbs the corner for a wristdrag before sending Charlotte face first into the middle buckle. Banks gets caught on top though and Charlotte basically drops her onto the ropes for a backbreaker which almost had to hurt horribly. The fact that Banks had a bad back coming in and Charlotte still did some rather sloppy moves like that got her in some hot water.

We hit a Gory Stretch on the champ for a bit but she comes back with a pair of running clotheslines. That just earns her another backbreaker and Charlotte stomps away at the back. The Figure Eight is broken up but Sasha misses a charge into the corner and gets caught in the Tree of Woe. Charlotte picks her up for a super Razor’s Edge but since that would, you know, kill Sasha, she reverses into a hurricanrana to put them both down.

Back up and a WOO earns Charlotte a string of slaps before Sasha avoids a charge in the corner and hits the double knees to the back for two. Charlotte kicks her in the leg to break up a charge but gets knocked outside again, setting up the double knees from the apron. Back in and the Backstabber doesn’t work but Natural Selection is countered into the Bank Statement (thankfully too as the Natural Selection clearly didn’t send Sasha’s head anywhere near the mat).

Charlotte makes the rope for the break and takes out the knee again. Natural Selection gives Charlotte two so she yells about being better than Sasha. Another Bank Statement goes on but Charlotte reverses into a rollup for the pin and the title at 13:52. Saxton: “Just like that?”

Rating: B. This was just a straight match and that’s the key to the whole thing. The women are getting to show that they can have a good match without the smoke and mirrors, which never would have been the case otherwise. If nothing else it got the kind of time that a title match deserves to develop the story of Banks having a bad back (which would keep her on the shelf for about a month). Strong match here and another of many to come for these two.

Doctors Anderson and Gallows (oh man I had forgotten how stupid this was) run into AJ Styles for a Club reunion. Finn Balor comes up and doesn’t think much of it. Somehow, this has still never gone anywhere.

Intercontinental Title: Miz vs. Apollo Crews

Crews is defending after winning a triple threat match. Miz comes out wearing a glittery Phantom of the Opera mask while Maryse is basically in a one piece swimsuit. In a sign of the changing times, Mauro talks about Miz’s look instead of Maryse. Miz stomps away in the corner and gets two off a running kick to the chest. Crews gets the same off a rollup, only to walk into the short DDT as it’s almost all Miz to start. We’re already in the reverse chinlock before Miz sends him into the apron to cut off a comeback. Miz takes too long coming off the top though and dives into a dropkick to put both guys down.

A crossbody into a nipup has Miz in trouble as JBL rants about Otunga calling Crews a Jackrobat (jacked acrobat). The Toss Powerbomb is countered so Crews gets two off a tilt-a-whirl powerslam. An overhead belly to belly sets up a standing moonsault, which Otunga sums up perfectly: “A man with that kind of size and that kind of muscle should not be able to do that.” Miz teases taking a walk but Maryse cuts him off, allowing Miz to post Crews. The Skull Crushing Finale retains the title at 5:36.

Rating: D+. Standard Smackdown match and something that could have been cut, or at least put in the Kickoff Show in the place of the Dudleys match. Crews felt like an easy obstacle to overcome because there was nowhere near enough build to set the match up. Put some more effort into the title already people, as it’s just not working.

We recap John Cena vs. AJ Styles. They set up the first match when Styles and Cena were in the ring together, only to have Anderson and Gallows interfere to turn Styles heel. Styles went on a great rant about how Cena was a fraud who couldn’t hang in the ring with someone like him. Cena went into a great speech about how he’s here out of love because it never gets old. AJ beat him at Money in the Bank with assistance from Anderson and Gallows, setting up a rematch between the two here.

AJ Styles vs. John Cena

This just feels big. AJ grabs a waistlock to start but is easily knocked away. The announcers go out of the way to put over how AJ has been on big shows before but nothing this big. Oh I don’t know. I remember him being at that Wrestlemania thing earlier in the year. The dueling chants begin and the AJ STYLES side is pretty clearly stronger.

Cena’s headlock is countered and AJ scores with the dropkick but the bragging earns AJ a right to the jaw. A hard whip into the corner sends AJ down for a bit with Cena doing some rare trash talking. They head to the floor and the fans start belting out JOHN CENA SUCKS, only to have AJ turn it into some gasping with a suplex onto the apron. Cena is right back with a dropkick for two and it’s time for some more right hands to the head.

AJ comes back with a forearm to the face, earning himself Cena’s finishing sequence. It’s way too early for the AA though as AJ hits a Pele, followed by the Styles Clash for a close two. The fans were actually more into the near fall than I was expecting as you would think they’d know better this early. The AA gives Cena two of his own and both guys are down again.

Styles slips out of the super AA and grabs the torture rack for the spinout powerbomb. They’re trading bombs at this point and it’s the only way they should be going here. Something like a Big Ending gives Cena two but he can’t get the STF. Instead it’s the AA neckbreaker for two on Cena (not the same as the AA JBL) but the springboard 450 only hits mat.

A faceplant puts Cena down again though and AJ can’t follow up. He manages the springboard forearm but Cena reverses into the worst STF I’ve ever seen. Thankfully AJ slips out and grabs a Crossface, which Cena powers out of as well. That’s reversed into the Calf Crusher which AJ is smart enough to twist away from the ropes. Cena reverses that into another horrible STF (AJ’s face is on the mat) so AJ is quickly up with the enziguri. A tornado DDT plants AJ and there’s the top rope Fameasser for two.

Cena heads up again and gets taken down with a super hurricanrana (Mauro: “MAMA MIA!”), followed by the Phenomenal Forearm for a VERY near fall (drawing Mauro to his feet). It’s Cena’s turn now as he takes AJ up for the super AA and….it’s two. NOW the fans know it’s on as I don’t think anyone has ever kicked out of that before. Cena is stunned and the AA is countered into another Clash. The Phenomenal Forearm puts Cena away clean at 23:10.

Rating: A. I know it’s not going to sound good but a lot of this goes to Cena. At the end of the day, the crowd completely lost it when AJ kicked out of that super AA. AJ wins here not because he got a pin but because he beat Cena clean. That’s a very, VERY short list and that’s what makes it feel so important. Think back to how big of a deal it was when Warrior pinned Hogan clean. That felt like an era changing win, and while this isn’t quite that big, it’s the same idea.

Oh yeah and it’s an outstanding match and possibly the Match of the Year. This was the heavyweight slugfest formula as they beat the heck out of each other with both guys hitting everything they could until one of them couldn’t get up. That’s a really hard match to pull off and these two did it in an incredible match. It belonged on the grand stage and gives Cena one heck of a mountain to overcome, which he somehow did in a better match at the Royal Rumble.

Post match Cena takes off his wristband and leaves it in the ring. He would do dark matches for a few weeks and then be back wrestling on TV in less than a month so this didn’t mean anything.

Some fans won a contest and got some stuff. In other words, let the fans have a breather.

Here’s Jon Stewart for your celebrity appearance. He makes fun of himself for interfering in Cena’s match last year and says the big lesson he learned was to tuck your shirt in when you’re taking an AA. As for tonight though, he’s here to be in New Day’s corner to help deal with Anderson and Gallows. In honor of the moment, he throws on a unicorn horn and does Big E.’s (out injured due to getting crotched against the post) entrance.

Tag Team Titles: New Day vs. Anderson and Gallows

New Day is defending of course and unfortunately Anderson and Gallows are still doing their stupid doctor nonsense, complete with jars for Kofi, Xavier and Jon’s testicles. I hear Paige can help you with one of those. Anderson headlocks Kofi down to start but he’s right back up with the jumping back elbow to the jaw. Kofi flips onto his feet and gets two off the standing double stomp. You can tell the fans are still recovering from the previous match and it’s off to Woods.

That goes badly as the he gets taken into the corner for a beating from Gallows. At least it does bring the fans back a bit with the rhythmic clapping. Gallows gets taken into the corner for the Unicorn Stampede (which they’ve kind of stopped doing in recent months) and the fans are really not responding. Woods sends him outside so Kofi can hit a running dive (while posing in the air) to take him down again. Back in and Gallows kicks Kofi in the head to take over for real this time with Anderson working on the arm.

That goes nowhere as the hot tag brings in Woods to clean house. Anderson sends him to the apron for an enziguri, setting up the rope walk elbow drop. Everything breaks down and Anderson kicks Kofi in the chest, setting up the Magic Killer. Stewart gets in though and it’s time to crotch him as well. Hang on though as he has to tuck in his shirt first. Cue the returning Big E. for the save though and that’s a DQ at 9:09.

Rating: D. I don’t know if it was the previous match or what but sweet goodness the fans did NOT care for this one. It’s not a good match in the first place as Anderson and Gallows aren’t funny in the doctor roles, but the bigger problem here was the focus being on Stewart at the end. Oh and the ending sets up a rematch, which really isn’t what they need to be going with here. Bad match but Big E.’s return did wake up the crowd.

Big E. drinks the fluid in the jar holding his “testicles”. Stewart dances with New Day and the fans…well they care when Big E. dances at least.

We recap Dean Ambrose vs. Dolph Ziggler. Dolph won a six way match to earn the shot and then it all went nuts. Ziggler started talking about how he was tired of being told that he always either too good or not good enough. It was time to turn up the jets and become champion for the third time. Serious Ziggler was nice but I don’t think anyone was buying him as having a real chance here. You know, because he’s Dolph Ziggler.

Smackdown World Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose

Dean is defending and Shane and Daniel are here for no apparent reason. The fans are behind Ziggler and they trade some grappling on the mat with Ziggler getting the better of it (not exactly a surprise). The threat of a neckbreaker sends Ambrose bailing to the floor so Dolph splashes him against the barricade.

Back in and Ziggler’s jumping DDT is countered with Dean throwing him outside again. Ziggler escapes a super Dirty Deeds so Dean slaps on a half crab of all things. You can tell Dean is playing the subtle heel here as the smark crowd is always going to cheer for Ziggler. Dean heads up top and gets dropkicked out of the air but he’s right back with a double chickenwing facebuster.

Ambrose tunes up the band (which is now mocking Ziggler instead of anything involving Shawn Michaels) but shakes his head and tries Dirty Deeds instead. That’s reversed into the jumping DDT and both guys are down again. A double collision gives us another lay down period until Dean is up first and hammering away.

The top rope elbow gets two so Ziggler grabs the sleeper, earning them both a tumble out to the floor. Ziggler gets in the superkick on the floor but it’s barely two back inside. The Zig Zag gets the same but Dean pops back up with the rebound lariat. Ziggler catches Dean on top and pulls him back down, right into Dirty Deeds to retain the title at 15:22.

Rating: D+. And that people, is Ziggler choking again. This would lead to him saying he’s never won the big one, which would turn into him never holding the World Title that long because holding the title is more important than winning it. The match was nothing all that good as we were just waiting on Dirty Deeds, which only happened so Dean could keep it warm for AJ next month. That was completely obvious the second AJ pinned Cena again and that’s all this title needed to do.

Package on Summerslam weekend.

Natalya/Alexa Bliss/Eva Marie vs. Becky Lynch/Naomi/Carmella

Dang I didn’t know the Glow was a year old. Actually hang on a minute as Eva Marie is suffering from exhaustion, anxiety and stress (likely brought on by reading too many Wellness Violation messages, which meant she would never wrestle again) so we have a replacement. At least we got that amazing entrance one more time.

Natalya/Alexa Bliss/Nikki Bella vs. Becky Lynch/Naomi/Carmella

So yeah, you know full well that Nikki is going to be all that matters in this match because IT’S HER BIG COMEBACK THAT EVERYONE TOTALLY CARES ABOUT BECAUSE WE LOVE HER SO MUCH! She does get one heck of a pop though, which is rather scary. During her entrance, Mauro declares her return “miraculous”. Oh man this is going to be a long one.

Bliss rolls Becky up to start and gets in a hard slap for good measure. Naomi comes in to scare Alexa off so it’s Natalya instead. A forearm puts Natalya down and the splits legdrop gets two. Carmella comes in for the Staten Island Shuffle before a missed charge sends Natalya outside. Back in and a powerslam out of the corner plants Carmella before it’s off to Nikki, the heel, for a strong face pop.

We hit the chinlock but hang on as we need some Nikki pushups. Alexa chokeshoves Carmella down for the moonsault knees to the ribs as the crowd is dead all over again. The abdominal stretch keeps things slow until Carmella finally rolls over and makes the hot tag to Becky. All three heels are send into the corner for the springboard kicks from Lynch, followed by a Bexploder on Natalya.

Becky’s top rope legdrop gets two with Nikki making the save. A blind tag brings in Naomi for the dancing kicks with the fans just not reacting at all. Bliss’ springboard splash hits knees so it’s off to Nikki vs. Carmella. A bad looking Bronco Buster gets two on Nikki and everything breaks down. Nikki’s big forearm sets up the Rack Attack 2.0 (Nikki: “I’m back.”) for the pin at 11:16.

Rating: D. This was all about Nikki’s return and that’s not enough to carry a dull match. Naomi’s Glow stuff wasn’t over yet, Becky was stuck around people who weren’t up to her level and Carmella was showing that she didn’t need to be on the main roster yet. The same was true for Alexa and Natalya was her usual self. Just not a good match and it showed the lack of depth to the division.

We recap Rusev vs. Roman Reigns. Rusev and Lana were married and so Reigns interrupted for no apparent reason to insult them and shove them into a cake.

Maria Menunos interviews Rusev and Lana, who don’t like her questions about Reigns. They won’t stand for this and Lana is sure that her husband will destroy Reigns.

We recap the Universal Title match. Basically we need a new title due to the Brand Split and Universal Title was the best they could come up with. Seth Rollins was put into the match as Raw’s #1 draft pick and Finn Balor earned his way in by winning a series of matches. Not much else to it as there’s no major animosity between them but it’s better than pulling the title out of a suitcase.

Seth did get in a great promo talking about how he’s done everything Balor has done but he’s done it a little bit better. He’s not wrong, though that’s not the best thing to do when you have someone so new to the main roster. Then Balor showed up as the Demon and scared Rollins to death.

Universal Title: Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins

Anything goes and the title (which isn’t that well received due to a bad case of being hideous) is vacant coming in. Unless I’m forgetting something, to date this is the only time Balor has wrestled as the Demon on the main roster. We get the Big Match Intros and the title itself receives some hearty boos. Balor dropkicks him into the corner at the bell but it’s too early for the Coup de Grace.

Instead Balor hits a suicide dive to the floor, followed by some kicks to the knee back inside. They head outside again with Seth getting in his first offense via a suplex on the floor. Balor is right back with something like a Phenomenal Forearm off the barricade. Back in again and Balor hits a basement dropkick for two as this is almost one sided so far. Finn stays on the leg as the fans are singing something.

Balor jumps over the ropes but Rollins slides between his legs and powerbombs him into the barricade, completely destroying Balor’s shoulder and putting him on the shelf for the better part of eight months. We’re less than four minutes in though and you can see the shoulder looking all messed up. Back in and Seth gets two off a backbreaker, setting up a chinlock. The chants are still going and it sounds like THAT TITLE SUCKS to the tune of John Cena Sucks.

Seth starts the trash talk and cuts off a comeback attempt. A snapmare into a kick to the back has Finn in even more trouble but Seth would rather walk around than follow up. It’s back to the chinlock for a good while until the springboard knee to the head sets up Seth’s frog splash for two. What looks like a Rainmaker is countered into a DDT to give Balor his first major offense in a long time and he follows up with some forearms.

A basement dropkick sets up the Sling Blade but Seth kicks him down without much effort. An enziguri stuns Balor but he’s right back with the Pele, earning a very nice round of applause. If nothing else the chants about the title have stopped. 1916 (reverse implant DDT) gives Finn two but the Coup de Grace is countered into a triangle choke of all things. Finn falls outside because rope breaks don’t count (anything goes remember) and things slow down a bit.

Back in and the buckle bomb sets up the low superkick for two on Balor with Seth looking stunned on the kickout. A small package driver gets the same count and reaction so Seth goes up, allowing Balor to hit a very loud enziguri to put him on the floor. Balor adds a shotgun dropkick to send him into the barricade, followed by a top rope double stomp to the back of the head for two. The Coup de Grace misses and it’s a Pedigree for two. Finn counters a second Pedigree into a double stomp, followed by the Coup de Grace for the pin and the title at 19:23.

Rating: B+. When you factor in that shoulder injury, this is quite the impressive performance. Above all else though, how good is it that Balor won the title here? If he loses his first major pay per view match and then goes away until April, he’s lucky to come back to the cruiserweight division.

This was a heck of a match with both guys beating the heck out of each other. It took some time to get built up but once they finally got there, the fans really started to accept things, which is a very positive sign. Balor is someone who is going to get a very positive reaction no matter what and giving him the title here was entirely the right call.

Balor can barely move his right arm after the match but finally holds the title up. On his WWE 24 special, he said you could feel and hear the shoulder crunching and crackling as he lifted the title and it probably did more damage to the arm.

The pre-show channel chats a bit and throws us to a KFC ad with Dolph Ziggler dressing up as Colonel Sanders to beat up Miz dressed as a chicken. It’s actually dumber than you remember it being.

Here’s Lana to introduce Rusev, albeit while wearing half of a wedding dress, the bottom of which looks like a diaper. She’s one of the most beautiful women on the roster but she looks ridiculous here.

US Title: Rusev vs. Roman Reigns

Roman is challenging and the booing is strong with this one. Rusev jumps him before the bell and they fight out to the floor with Roman being sent into the steps. The fans chant RUSEV MACHKA because they’ve given up on America over their hatred for Reigns. Roman gets in a Superman Punch as the bell hasn’t rung yet. They fight over a chair with Reigns getting the better of it and destroying Rusev. Reigns finally leaves but comes back with a spear, all while the fans chant WE WANT SLATER. No match of course, likely due to time issues.

We recap Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar. This match was announced as Orton’s return match from surgery and the build focused on Orton being able to hit the RKO anytime, including a sweet moment where Orton interrupted a Lesnar promo with an RKO. The hype video even includes some OVW clips as they came up through developmental together and debuted within a few months of each other. This had a heck of a build and felt like something important but the question was whether Lesnar would have an actual match or just do his usual Lesnar stuff.

Randy Orton vs. Brock Lesnar

Heyman handles Lesnar’s introduction, saying he’s conquering out of the University of Suplex City. Brock seems to get into his MMA stance to start before driving Orton into the corner for the shoulders to the ribs. Orton escapes the first German suplex attempt but can’t hit the RKO.

Now the first suplex connects (with Mauro knowing that it’s the 33^rd Lesnar has hit at Summerslam because he’s awesome that way) and Brock follows with two more. Orton is almost out on his feet so Lesnar suplexes him again. It’s nothing but suplexes at this point and it’s already getting dull. They head outside for a much needed change of pace with Orton being thrown over the announcers’ table.

Orton gets thrown from the front row through the table as this is dominance. The other table is loaded up but whatever Lesnar is trying is countered into the RKO onto (not through) the table. The hanging DDT plants Lesnar back inside and another RKO gets two. Orton realizes he has no choice and tries the Punt, only to have it reversed into the F5 (bad one) for two more.

That’s enough for Lesnar so he takes off the gloves and pads and hammers on Orton. An elbow to the head actually busts Orton open VERY badly. Lesnar just keeps hammering on him while the fans chant GOLDBERG until the referee FINALLY stops it at 11:47. I’ve heard a bunch of answers about what happened but I believe this was the planned ending and a hard way opening.

Rating: D. Yeah this didn’t work when it happened and it didn’t work again this time around. Lesnar suplexing Orton for five minutes then selling a few big moves doesn’t make me think it’s an awesome main event. This was everything wrong with Lesnar’s current WWE run in one match and that made for a really dull match, save for the odd finish that seemed designed to protect Orton. You know, after he was basically squashed.

Lesnar keeps hammering on him until the always intimidating Shane McMahon comes out, earning himself an F5 (which thankfully didn’t lead anywhere). Heyman panics as they leave to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. If you cut an hour (or more) out of this, it’s bordering on the classic level. As it is, this is just a good show that runs WAY too long. At some point you have to cut something out and WWE just refuses to do that. Cut out the Dudleys match or the women’s tag and give us some breathing room here because sweet goodness this show could use it.

Now that being said, there’s some outstanding stuff on here with the Styles vs. Cena match as an instant classic, the Women’s Title being very good, a great Universal Title match and really only the Tag Team Title match being without much value. The show is certainly good and the positives outweigh the negatives but unless the show is a masterpiece, fans are going to start losing interest near the end. It’s a solid show but cut out a good forty minutes to really make it great.

Ratings Comparison

American Alpha/Hype Bros/Usos vs. Breezango/Ascension/Vaudevillains

Original: C

2017 Redo: B-

Dudley Boyz vs. Neville/Sami Zayn

Original: C

2017 Redo: C-

Sheamus vs. Cesaro

Original: B-

2017 Redo: B

Chris Jericho/Kevin Owens vs. Enzo Amore/Big Cass

Original: C+

2017 Redo: C+

Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte

Original: B

2017 Redo: B

Miz vs. Apollo Crews

Original: C

2017 Redo: D+

John Cena vs. AJ Styles

Original: A

2017 Redo: A

New Day vs. Anderson and Gallows

Original: D+

2017 Redo: D

Dolph Ziggler vs. Dean Ambrose

Original: B-

2017 Redo: D+

Natalya/Alexa Bliss/Nikki Bella vs. Becky Lynch/Naomi/Carmella

Original: C

2017 Redo: D

Finn Balor vs. Seth Rollins

Original: B+

2017 Redo: D+

Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton

Original: C+

2017 Redo: D

Overall Rating

Original: B

2017 Redo: B-

That’s quite the drop on Ambrose vs. Ziggler and Lesnar vs. Orton. Some of them are spot on though and that’s not the biggest surprise.

Here’s the original review if you’re interested:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2016/08/21/summerslam-2016-they-didnt/

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

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

AND

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

Smackdown
Date: July 15, 2022
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee

We have about two weeks to go before Summerslam and the question for tonight is “does anything besides Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns matter”. WWE has turned Summerslam into a one match show and that doesn’t leave much for this week. We are getting a Street Profit vs. an Uso though, just in case you wanted some variety. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Michael Cole is in the ring to open things up and introduces Pat McAfee, who has signed a multi year extension to remain in WWE. McAfee talks about how special it is to be here for him because he loves this so much. After a rather pro-Pat chant, McAfee thanks the fans for putting up with Corey Graves for two weeks while he was gone. That included BUM A** CORBIN being an idiot last week, complete with video.

McAfee talks about how he and Corbin knew each other before they even came to WWE. They were roommates together as rookies in the NFL and McAfee knew Corbin was nothing special then either. That’s what he’s going to prove at Summerslam, but cue Corbin on screen. Corbin says he’s ready to beat up McAfee, but he’ll be waiting to do that at Summerslam. McAfee isn’t impressed, despite being one of the most complete packages you’ll see in WWE these days.

Natalya vs. Liv Morgan

Champions Contenders match. Morgan takes her down to start and grabs a rollup, only to be sent into the corner. Natalya knocks her out of the corner but the basement dropkick is blocked. They fight to the apron with Morgan’s Codebreaker being blocked, earning her a trip into the post as we take a break.

Back with Morgan getting out of an over the shoulder backbreaker and striking away. A rollup gets two and a Backstabber with her feet instead of knees rock Natalya but she hits a quick German suplex. Morgan pulls her off the ropes but gets caught in a sitout powerbomb. The ankle lock goes on Morgan sends her into the corner for the break. Oblivion finishes Natalya at 9:04.

Rating: C. This is the kind of win that Morgan needed, but as long as Ronda Rousey and eventually Charlotte are around, her reign feels like it is on borrowed time. Morgan is still coasting on the energy of her title win, though that is only going to take her so far. She has to win some bigger matches to establish herself, and while Natalya isn’t one of the really big ones, she is worth more than some of the other wins Morgan has had.

Post match Morgan is asked about her victory over Natalya not being as dominant as Ronda Rousey’s was last week. Morgan is used to be the underdog but she’ll still be champion after Summerslam.

Theory is ready for anyone and knows people don’t like him. Paul Heyman comes in and talks about how he likes the theory of Theory cashing in, but doesn’t want to leave Theory to blow his chance. What they should do is work together and set up a scheduled title match. Imagine the prestige, the moment and the money if Theory just doesn’t cash in at Summerslam! Theory is still cashing in at Summerslam to become champion and then he can hire Heyman himself!

Here is the New Day, dressed as the Viking Raiders. After explaining who they really are, Xavier Woods accidentally talks like a pirate because he can’t do accents. To prepare for this, they played a lot of Assassin’s Creed and watched ALL of the Thor movies (Woods: “Yes, even the new one!”) and it seemed to have worked. Cue the real Raiders, with New Day calling them ugly and blowing a horn, which brings out Jinder Mahal/Shanky for the save. So Mahal is a face now. I’ve seen everything. Well not really, but enough of it.

Gunther yells at Ludvig Kaiser, who has to fight Shinsuke Nakamura again next week. After some shouting in German, Kaiser gets chopped again, leaving Kayla Braxton looking terrified.

We look at Lacey Evans turning (again) last week and laying out Aliyah.

Lacey Evans vs. Aliyah

Before the match, Lacey brags about herself again before apologizing for last week. That doesn’t work for Lacey, who tells us where we can go and flips the mic away. No match, and Aliyah is just ok with all of this.

Drew McIntyre vs. Ridge Holland

It was supposed to be Sheamus instead of Ridge, but the ring announcer said Holland’s name and Butch rang the bell so let’s do it this way. Drew starts fast and sends Holland to the apron for Sheamus’ ten forearms to the chest. Sheamus offers a distraction though and Holland gets in some cheap shots to take over. Drew starts the comeback so Sheamus throws the shillelagh at commentary, leaving Drew to hit the Glasgow Kiss. White Noise sets up the Claymore to finish Holland at 3:25.

Rating: C-. Since WWE isn’t exactly one for subtlety, it was pretty clear that Holland would be getting this spot as soon as the Sheamus vs. McIntyre graphic went up. That isn’t a bad story to tell as Drew has to go through the lackeys to get to Sheamus, but it’s also a story that has very little drama as McIntyre is all but carved into stone for the Wales title match. This was a short power match with Drew more worried about Sheamus than Holland, though I can’t say I blame him.

Long video on Brock Lesnar taking out Theory and the Alpha Academy on Raw.

Madcap Moss is ready for Theory when Paul Heyman comes in. Heyman reminds Moss of helping him with the biggest break of his career. He remembers Moss giving Happy Corbin a heck of a beating, so maybe Moss could do it to Theory too. It could set up Moss vs. Roman Reigns in the main event of a pretty big show. Think of the money and prestige! Moss thinks Heyman is worried about Theory cashing in at Summerslam. And now it’s time to go to the ring.

Video on Maximum Male Models. Next week they debut their Beachwear Collection, with Max Dupree’s sister Maxine involved.

Madcap Moss vs. Theory

They shove each other around to start until Theory runs Moss over with a shoulder. The posing ensues (with Theory’s shoulder blade sticking WAY out) but Moss powers him up into a fall away slam. Theory gets in another shot and puts on the chinlock, which is broken up without much trouble. A running clothesline takes it to the floor, where Moss’ missed charge goes into the steps as we take a break. Back with Theory hitting his rolling dropkick for two but Moss runs through him with a shoulder. The spinebuster gives Moss two and he knocks theory outside, where a briefcase shot to the face gets Theory disqualified at 11:34.

Rating: C+. Good brawl, though you could see some kind of screwy ending coming a mile away as WWE wouldn’t want either of them to lose. That’s the problem with the briefcase holding period: the person holding it isn’t always a major star so he has to be kept strong, even if that means a lot of screw finishes. Best match of the night so far though, partially because it got some extra time.

Post break Theory promises to cash in at Summerslam but here is Sami Zayn, with his arm in a sling, to interrupt. Zayn says that is disrespecting the Bloodline, so Zayn wants an apology right now. Theory isn’t impressed, but here are the Usos to scare him off. That is enough for Moss to post Theory and throw him over the barricade.

Jimmy Uso vs. Angelo Dawkins

Sami Zayn is on commentary. Dawkins takes him to the mat and grabs a waistlock to start until Jimmy is back with a Samoan drop. Back up and Dawkins knocks him to the floor as we take a break. We come back with Dawkins hitting a heck of a right hand and the spinning splash in the corner. The referee gets bumped though and Dawkins’ rollup gets no cover. Jimmy’s superkick gets the same, so Dawkins is back with a Sky High for the pin at 7:00, despite Jimmy’s shoulder being up (with commentary loudly pointing it out).

Rating: C. I like both teams, but my goodness I never want to see them face each other again. This feels like the 184th time that the teams have had singles matches and that does not make me want to see the Tag Team Title match. Then again, it isn’t like WWE does anything else to set up most Tag Team Title matches so this is all we’re getting.

Post match here is Adam Pearce to announce the guest referee for the Summerslam Tag Team Title match: Jeff Jarrett. Yes that Jeff Jarrett, and yes this is supposed to be a big deal. McAfee spells a lot as the Usos and the Profits brawl to end the show. Of all the people they have available, they pick Jeff Jarrett? Yes I get the Nashville/country music thing but my goodness. When you’re nostalgic for 1995 Jeff Jarrett, put on an Underdog/Barney Miller marathon and call it a day, because nothing is getting better than this.

Overall Rating: C-. It was better than last week’s show and did build up some things for Summerslam, but this show made it clear that Reigns vs. Lesnar is all that matters (at least so far). McAfee vs. Corbin could be ok, but other than that it is a bunch of rematches and WE PROMISE THEORY IS CASHING IN AND WE WOULD NEVER LIE ABOUT THAT. There was more wrestling than last week (not a high bar to clear) but there is nothing worth seeing, making this a rather long two hours with little of importance happening.

Results
Liv Morgan b. Natalya – Oblivion
Drew McIntyre b. Ridge Holland – Claymore
Madcap Moss b. Theory via DQ when Theory used the Money In The Bank briefcase
Angelo Dawkins b. Jimmy Uso – Sky High

 

 

 

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

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AND

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Money In The Bank 2022
Date: July 2, 2022
Location: MGM Garden Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Jimmy Smith, Pat McAfee, Michael Cole

It’s the ladder show as we focus on becoming something close to the #1 contender. That means the show is going to be built around the two ladder matches, so there aren’t going to be many options for the rest of the card. There are enough title matches around to fill things out, but this is all about the ladder matches. Let’s get to it.

The opening video looks at a bunch of the people on the show and how they could make it big tonight.

Becky Lynch vs. Liv Morgan vs. Asuka vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Shotzi vs. Raquel Rodriguez vs. Lacey Evans

Women’s Money In The Bank ladder match. It’s a brawl to start of course with Asuka being left in the ring to strike at Becky. A sliding kick to the face drops Becky and Asuka takes a ladder that Shotzi tries to bring in. Becky kicks Asuka down but can’t drop a ladder onto her. Rodriguez comes back in and powers away with the ladder, including suplexing Liv and Becky onto it at the same time. Everyone gets together and drives Rodriguez into the corner, with Liv being laid on the ladder in the same corner.

Evans hits the slingshot Bronco Buster onto Liv onto the ladder. A bunch of people are piled onto Liv, setting up Becky’s middle rope legdrop. Bliss hits a Molly Go Round onto Liv/Becky/Asuka and is the only one left standing. It’s way too early for that to work though as Rodriguez makes the save, only to get struck down by Bliss. Asuka is back in with a German suplex on Bliss but it’s Evans cutting off the climb.

Shotzi and Lacey take turns pulling each other off the ladder until Rodriguez goes up. Morgan joins them and it’s a sunset bomb to plant Evans in a landing that almost went badly. Becky is back in and goes up but the ladder is off center (and seems to be broken), allowing Shotzi to pull her down. Asuka makes another save and goes up but Rodriguez pulls her down. Their fight knocks the ladder onto the ropes until Rodriguez goes outside to get a fresh ladder.

Instead of climbing, she bridges the ladder between the ring and the announcers’ table and brawls with Asuka. That’s countered into a cross armbreaker but Becky comes in and lays Asuka on the ladder. The legdrop from a ladder onto Asuka drops both of them and everyone is down again. A bunch of ladders are brought in (as tends to be the case) and everyone goes up, with only Lynch being left. Liv goes up but her ladder is knocked over, only to have her kick the rope on the way down and bounce back up, allowing her to knock Becky over. Liv gets the briefcase at 16:29.

Rating: B-. There were some big crashes and falls in there and that is the main thing you want in these matches. As usual it was all about the carnage and insanity but they did something smart by going with someone who has been needing the big win. Now do it right with Liv and you might be going somewhere, though the Nikki Ash result is always a possibility.

We see Cody Rhodes’ preview of the men’s ladder match from Raw.

We recap Theory vs. Bobby Lashley for Theory’s US Title. Lashley wants the title, while Theory keeps bragging about how great he is and seems to think he is built better. It is kind of a weird setup but the match could work.

US Title: Theory vs. Bobby Lashley

Theory is defending and gets spinebustered early. The threat of a spear sends Theory outside so Lashley picks him up but Theory blocks the posting. Lashley gets posted instead but is right back up with a posting of his own. Back in and Theory manages a hard shot to the face for two and we hit the chinlock. Lashley finally powers out and starts striking away, including the running clothesline in the corner.

The delayed vertical suplex is countered so Lashley pulls him out of the air for a gorilla press powerslam instead. Back up and Theory sends him into the middle buckle, setting up the rolling dropkick for two. A Town Down is countered into a rollup for two more but Theory goes to the eyes. Theory hits his own spear but Lashley reverses A Town Down into the Hurt Lock for the tap and the title at 11:00.

Rating: C. I’m not sure what to think about this, but if there is no Raw World Champion, making Lashley the top singles champions makes as much sense as anything else. Theory losing clean is a little weird, but Raw is in a weird place at the moment so this might be the best thing they can do. Not much of a match, though at least they didn’t stick around too long.

Liv Morgan doesn’t know who she is cashing in on but for now, she is celebrating.

We recap Carmella challenging Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Title. Rhea Ripley is injured and can’t get the title shot, so Carmella won a multi-woman match to earn it instead. They have argued a good bit since then.

Raw Women’s Title: Carmella vs. Bianca Belair

Carmella is challenging and we get the Big Match Intros. Belair sends her to the apron to start and Carmella needs a breather. Back in and Belair does the kiss it spot in the corner, setting up the moonsault over her out of the corner. A backbreaker sets up a backbreaker to put Carmella down but the handspring moonsault misses. Carmella finally manages to snap the throat across the top rope and starts cranking on the arm.

That’s broken up so Carmella pulls her down by the hair. There’s a delayed vertical suplex on Carmella and Belair takes her into the corner to pound the turnbuckle in the vicinity of Carmella’s head. Carmella is back with the low superkick for two but she talks too much trash, meaning it’s the KOD to retain the title at 7:11.

Rating: C-. Yeah what else were you expecting here? Carmella had no chance of winning and was nothing more than a fill in challenger, so Belair running her over to keep the title made perfect sense. This was there as a way to get the title on the show and that’s all it needed to be. Don’t go further than that and things will be fine.

Post match Carmella jumps Belair again and forearms her down a bit. That is the most WWE thing I can think of at the moment: the match was just a step above a squash and had a clean finish but we need to keep it going because WWE doesn’t know how to just end a feud already.

We look at Logan Paul signing with WWE and he wants Miz at Summerslam.

Alexa Bliss and Lily plug the WWE credit card.

Tag Team Titles: Usos vs. Street Profits

The Usos are defending and say you should bet on the Bloodline. The Profits come through the crowd for an old school feel. Dawkins takes over on Jimmy to start but it’s way too early for the frog splash. The Usos take a breather on the floor and we pause a bit until Jey comes in for a change. A running forearm drops Ford, who is right back with a crotch chop to Jimmy on the apron.

Dawkins drops Jey for two but a double spinebuster plants Dawkins for a change. Jimmy hits a dive to drop Dawkins on the floor and a right hand cuts off his comeback attempt back inside. Another shot to the face staggers Dawkins but he drops Jimmy, allowing the diving tag to Ford. Jey is fine enough to superkick a diving Ford out of the air for two and it’s time co choke on the ropes.

This isn’t exactly burning up the mat and Jimmy hits an apron kick to the face rocks Ford again. Something close to a top rope Demolition Decapitator gets two on Ford and some more slow shots to the face keep him down. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Jey superkicks Dawkins off the apron. Ford manages to get in a shot of his own but a springboard is cut off with another right hand.

With the beating continuing, Ford finally manages to knock Jimmy to the floor and brings Dawkins back in to clean house. The big running flip dive drops the Usos and the lifting swinging neckbreaker gets two on Jimmy. Everything breaks down and a tackle into a German suplex drops Jimmy for two. A Doomsday Blockbuster gives Ford two more and the Profits are shocked.

Dawkins gets to clean house again but it’s back to Ford, who gets double superkicked for two more. Cole: “We’re going to have an hour Broadway tonight here in Vegas.” No Cole, we aren’t. Ford hits the big running flip dive onto the Usos, setting up the frog splash for two back inside with Jimmy making the save. We get the big staredown and then the slugout until Dawkins is sent into the barricade. The 1D finishes Ford at 23:01.

Rating: B. This felt like the tag team version of Edge vs. Randy Orton at Vengeance 2004: it was long and the second half was good, but the first ten minutes were going in slow motion and seemed to be there to pad the runtime. The Profits weren’t completely nothing challengers and a title change wasn’t totally out of the question, but this could have have about eight minutes cut out and been a much tighter match.

Post match replays show that Ford’s shoulder was off the mat so the Profits aren’t happy.

We get a vignette of someone walking in the dark, featuring a bunch of candles, a cross, a medal hanging and someone walking in the dark. Not sure what that was.

We recap Natalya vs. Ronda Rousey for Rousey’s Smackdown Women’s Title. Rousey is defending, Natalya attacked her one night and ALMOST made her tap to the Sharpshooter, personal insults were thrown, time for a title match.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey vs. Natalya

Rousey is defending. Feeling out process to star with Natalya taking her down into an armbar. The early ankle lock is broken up but Natalya counters the basement dropkick into another ankle lock. That sends Natalya straight to the rope so she hits the discus lariat for two. Natalya works on the arm and even pulls Rousey out of the corner, setting up something like a seated abdominal stretch.

With that not working, the frustration starts setting in but another discus clothesline is countered into a throw. Piper’s Pit is countered into a rollup, which is countered into a rollup to give Rousey two. Another armbar is countered into the Sharpshooter from Rousey, who throws in a Shawn Michaels pose at the same time.

Natalya breaks out and sends her outside to bang up Rousey’s knee, setting up the Sharpshooter on the apron. With that broken up via gravity, Natalya gets thrown down and has to beat the count back in. They trade more submissions until Rousey counters a Sharpshooter into a cross armbreaker to retain at 12:33.

Rating: C. This wasn’t great but again, there was no drama on who was going to win here. Natalya is fine as a hand in the ring and the submission stuff was good, but it felt like a lot of waiting around until Rousey caught her. Rousey needs someone to give her a challenge or at least get a shake up of some kind, because this isn’t working very well.

Post match Rousey can barely stand but here is Liv Morgan with the briefcase.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey vs. Liv Morgan

Rousey is defending and picks the ankle to start. Morgan kicks the bad leg though and a rollup gives her the pin and the title at 27 seconds.

Post match Rousey congratulates Morgan and leaves so Morgan can soak in the YOU DESERVE IT chants. What a great way to make Rousey look pathetic, as she more or less said “oh well, lost the title, time to leave.”

Video on Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar at Summerslam.

Riddle vs. Seth Rollins vs. Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn vs. Madcap Moss vs. Omos

Men’s Money In The Bank ladder match….and hang on because here is Adam Pearce to add someone to the match.

Riddle vs. Seth Rollins vs. Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Sami Zayn vs. Madcap Moss vs. Omos vs. Theory

Still the Men’s Money In The Bank ladder match. A bunch of people go after Omos to start but he shrugs them off and hits people with the ladder. Sami hides behind the post as Sheamus comes in for some failed slugging attempts on Omos. The swarming slows Omos down again until a Claymore puts him on the floor. That leaves Sheamus and McIntyre to slug it out so Theory tries to go up the ladder, earning himself an exchange of forearms to the chest from Sheamus and McIntyre.

Rollins comes in to send them outside and tosses a ladder onto them for a bonus. Riddle jumps Rollins and backdrops him onto the ladder but Sami sends Riddle outside. Back in and Riddle goes up, with Moss being right there to meet him. Omos makes the save and pulls both of them off, including a powerslam to Riddle. Everyone goes after Omos, this time using ladders to put him down again. With Omos buried under a bunch of ladders, most of the remaining people go up some ladders with Theory being the last man standing.

Moss pulls him down for a fall away slam so Sami goes up, with Moss powerbombing him into a ladder bridged in the corner. McIntyre and Moss slug it out on top of the ladder until Moss goes down. Sheamus breaks it up and hits White Noise but Riddle avoids the Brogue. The hanging DDT out of a ladder plants Sheamus and the Floating Bro off the top of the ladder hits a pile of people. Omos is back in and gets to wreck some people until Riddle slows him down.

Theory tries to go up but gets chokebombed back down. A Brogue Kick into a Helluva kick into a triangle choke has Omos in trouble and Moss helps toss Omos over the top. More group beatings slow Omos down again and it’s a team powerbomb through the announcers’ table. Everyone else brawls on the floor until Sami goes up, only to have McIntyre make the save. Sheamus takes both of them down but Futureshock drops Sheamus as well.

That lets McIntyre go up but Butch comes in to make the save with a choke on the ladder. McIntyre is brought back down and Brogue Kick takes him down again. Sheamus puts the ladder onto McIntyre and goes up, only to have McIntyre shove him off for a huge crash. The Claymore drops Butch but Sheamus makes another save. Sami shoves both of them into a ladder in the corner though and goes up, only to have Moss make the save.

Moss almost gets the case (they had me for a second there) until Rollins pulls him down for a Stomp. Riddle is back in with a ladder that is less than a foot away from the briefcase and goes up, with Rollins on a shorter ladder next to him. They slug it out with Riddle being knocked down but coming back up for a super RKO to leave everyone down. Riddle makes the slow climb until Theory makes a faster climb, knocks Riddle down, and wins at 25:26.

Rating: B. The match was good, but this is the ceiling for most Money in the Bank matches. It felt like we have seen every single thing they were doing in here before and adding Theory at the last minute just made it feel all the more obvious that he was winning. These matches are build on the car crash formula and that is only going to get you so far when you have so many people involved and are trying to get in so many things. I haven’t been a fan of these things for awhile and this was a good example of why.

Theory poses a lot to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. As a show, as a match and as a concept, Money In The Bank is feeling more played out every year. The ladder matches didn’t do much and I have little reason to believe that Morgan is now going to join the upper echelon of the women’s division. Theory will hold the briefcase for awhile, but it’s hard to imagine him taking the title anytime soon. I do like pushing some fresh people with the ladder matches, but Liv more or less using a cheat code to get the title doesn’t give me much hope.

Other than that, there was the usual good and bad from WWE, though nothing you really need to watch. Overall, I did like the show enough, but it wasn’t a show that interested me on paper and that is how Money In The Bank tends to be. Even WWE seems to be more interested in Summerslam and based on the fact that this wasn’t in a stadium, the fans might be agreeing.

Results
Liv Morgan won the Women’s Money In The Bank ladder match
Bobby Lashley b. Theory – Hurt Lock
Bianca Belair b. Carmella – KOB
Usos b. Street Profits – 1D to Ford
Ronda Rousey b. Natalya – Cross armbreaker
Liv Morgan b. Ronda Rousey – Rollup
Theory won the Men’s Money In The Bank ladder match

 

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It’s time to climb. We have reached another of WWE’s major pay per view events and this time it is mostly going to be about becoming something close to #1 contender. As usual, there is a men’s and women’s version, both of which should have quite the collection of major spots. These shows tend to be a lot of fun, even if the build could use some work. Let’s get to it.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey(c) vs. Natalya

Let’s get this one out of the way before it puts me to sleep. This hasn’t been an interesting feud as Natalya is by definition not interesting. Rousey hasn’t been much better, but WWE has been trying to turn Natalya into something bigger than she is and it hasn’t quite been working. That is what they are trying to do again here though, apparently due to Sasha Banks’ latest meltdown.

Of course I’ll go with Rousey winning here, as the story of “I ALMOST made her tap to the Sharpshooter in a non-match” isn’t enough to sway me to the Natalya side. I’m sure the match itself will be fine as Natalya can get a decent one out of anybody but my goodness the story hasn’t worked. Just get us on to Summerslam and a bigger opponent for Rousey…assuming they have one somewhere.

Raw Women’s Title: Bianca Belair(c) vs. Carmella

Here is the other side of Banks and Naomi walking out, as Carmella gets this spot instead of, well, anyone who might be a better option. I know they’re going with the MELLA IS MONEY stuff but come on. Carmella hasn’t meant a thing as a singles wrestler in the better part of forever and there is little reason to believe that is going to change against one of the biggest stars in the division.

Belair retains here and she does so after some token control from Carmella. There is no reason to believe that Carmella is getting the title from Belair, especially about three months into Belair’s reign. This match is even more proof that there does not need to be Women’s Tag Team Titles, as Carmella is somehow important enough to go after one of the singles belts. Maybe it is time to merge them, but for now, Belair retains and does so pretty handily.

Tag Team Titles: Usos(c) vs. Street Profits

This is the first title match where I have to pause for a second to think about the results. While it would make all the sense in the world for the Usos to retain, the Profits are just good enough that they could be a threat. The Usos are a great team, but someone is going to have to take the titles from them. While I’m not sold on the idea of it being the Profits, it wouldn’t be the biggest upset in the world.

That being said, yeah the Usos retain here, as this isn’t the right spot to take the belts off of them. The Profits will possibly be champions again someday, but they’re up against a buzzsaw here. Let Ford get in another star making performance before the team ultimately falls, because it is going to take a major victory to get the titles off of the Usos. The Profits are capable of doing that, but I don’t think they do it here.

US Title: Theory(c) vs. Bobby Lashley

This one has my interest because I could see it going either way. Theory is the new hot star in WWE and I could see him going over Lashley for a big win. At the same time, Lashley doesn’t lose very often and it wouldn’t shock me to see him get the title here. Lashley needs something to do though and there is a chance that someone interferes here and costs him the match.

I think I’ll take Theory to win here, as WWE has put a good deal into him already and it would be a pretty big surprise to see him drop the title here. Lashley getting the win wouldn’t be the worst idea or a major shock, but Theory getting a win over a former WWE Champion would look good for him. Odds are there are some shenanigans, but Theory leaves with the title in the end.

Women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match

This is an interesting one as I’m not sure where they’re going, though in this case that’s due to no one really standing out. There are seven participants here and I think we can eliminate Alexa Bliss, Asuka and Shotzi. Bliss doesn’t feel right for it, Asuka has been done and Shotzi isn’t there. At the same time, I’ll write off Lacey Evans because she has been back for all of a cup of coffee.

That leaves us with three, and I think I’ll actually take Liv Morgan. I know it’s a long shot as WWE has refused to pull the trigger on her for the better part of ever, but more or less handing her a win could be a way to go. Morgan is at the point where she pretty much has to win something at some point and a stolen title is better than no title at all. Becky Lynch is always an option and I wouldn’t ignore Raquel Rodriguez, but I’ll take Morgan in my prediction sure to be wrong.

Men’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match

Now this one is a little more interesting as we have a few options for the winner. First of all, we’ll drop Madcap Moss, Sami Zayn, Omos and Sheamus. They’re not winning and there is no reason to believe that they will. I’ll also drop Riddle, as it seems like he is destined for some big losses in the major matches. That leaves us with two options and I think I know where it is going.

The idea from WWE has been that the winner will cash in on the winner of Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar at Summerslam, but I’ll go with the second option and say Drew McIntyre. I could absolutely see McIntyre cashing in at Clash At The Castle for a regular title match instead of the surprise and that is something that fits well for him. It would make sense for him, and hopefully that is where they go.

Overall Thoughts

You never can tell what you are going to get from these shows as the ladder matches can be rather hard to predict. The good thing is the matches should be fun and there is enough intrigue running around to make things fun, but it doesn’t matter if WWE doesn’t follow through on the good. Have a good show, but also have a follow through, which is often the more difficult part.

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Smackdown
Date: June 24, 2022
Location: Moody Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee

We are eight days away from Money In The Bank and the ladder matches need to be filled in. This includes a women’s qualifying match tonight, but odds are some of the focus is going to be on what Roman Reigns vs. Brock Lesnar. You know, because we need to build towards Summerslam before Money In The Bank. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a long recap of Roman Reigns retaining the World Title over Riddle last week. After the match, Brock Lesnar returned and took Reigns out, setting up their Summerslam rematch.

Here is Drew McIntyre to get things going. He’s looking forward to Money In The Bank but he’s looking even more forward to Summerslam, because he is going to cash in on whoever wins between Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Cue the Brawling Brutes to interrupt, with Sheamus saying Drew is off his bleeding rocker if he thinks he is going to be the one to cash in at Summerslam. Sheamus mocks Drew for having someone cash in on him, which Sheamus did to Reigns before.

Cue Paul Heyman to interrupt, complete with an annoyed looking Adam Pearce behind him. Heyman laughs at the idea of cashing in on Brock Lesnar because Reigns is retaining his title. However, even Heyman knows that Reigns might be in danger of a cash in after the Last Man Standing match because Reigns could be a bit vulnerable after such a match. That’s why Pearce has a special announcement: after some strenuous negotiations, neither Sheamus nor McIntyre will be in the Money In The Bank ladder match, because neither of them won. Therefore, they do have a way in though: teaming together to beat the Usos tonight.

I really don’t see this going well, as Sheamus and Drew winning changes nothing other than having the Usos get beaten. Also, it doesn’t exactly make me think that Sheamus or Drew are winning the briefcase, but it does make me think that it’s going to be teased for weeks until Summerslam.

Sami Zayn is very happy with what just happened and is ready to get rid of Drew McIntyre and Sheamus. Then he can win the briefcase and….protect Reigns.

Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Nakamura kicks away to start and hits a sliding German suplex to drop Zayn again. There’s the running kick to the face for two but Sami knocks him outside for a not very near countout. Back in and they come crashing off the top as we take a break. We come back with Nakamura catching him on the middle rope and pulling him down. Zayn is fine enough to grab a nasty Michinoku Driver for two more but he misses something off the top.

The middle rope knee to the back of the neck gives Nakamura two but the threat of Kinshasa sends Zayn outside. Kinshasa connects outside with Zayn having to beat the count back inside. That means Kinshasa can be set up back inside but Zayn catches him with a quick Helluva Kick for the pin at 9:49.

Rating: C. You could tell that Zayn isn’t what he used to be due to the age and injuries, but he has changed his style enough to make this work. The countout teases are a good enough way to go and it’s a surprise to see Zayn win in the end. He’s a more interesting choice for the ladder match right now and I could go for seeing the creative stuff he busts out for the thing.

Here are New Day and Jinder Mahal/Shanky for a dance contest. Why you ask? According to New Day, because no one wants to see this match again and new Day doesn’t do rematches. I’ll let you laugh at that as Shanky dances to Woods’ trombone music and then shoves Mahal away for not liking the dancing. Cue the Viking Raiders’ graphics on screen and then charge in from behind for the big beatdown. They’re rather vicious here and it is working for them.

Sonya Deville storms into Adam Pearce’s office and yells about not being used since she has been back on Smackdown. Raquel Rodriguez sure has been though, which is why Pearce puts Deville in a match with Rodriguez….and Lacey Evans. Next.

Lacey Evans/Raquel Rodriguez vs. Sonya Deville

Shayna Baszler and Xia Li come to the ring with Sonya. Evans drop toeholds her down but Sonya is back with a shot to the knee. Another shot drops Evans so she gets over for the tag to Rodriguez. The Tejana Bomb connects to knock Sonya silly and it’s the Woman’s Right to give Evans the pin at 3:03.

Rating: D. So what were they going for here? Pearce getting revenge on someone who was a villain? I’m not sure why they needed to pick that story up a few months later but hopefully this is it. Having Shayna and Li as Deville’s lackeys isn’t much of an idea, but WWE does love to put women together out of nowhere. Evans and Rodriguez beat her up pretty easily here and I’m not sure I get what they were trying.

Post match the beatdown is on but Evans and Rodriguez clean house.

The Street Profits walk through the back and run into Los Lotharios with a woman, Drew Gulak exercising and Madcap Moss standing there. Dawkins has a joke for him and it doesn’t quite work.

Here is Natalya, dressed as Ronda Rousey (complete with a lot of eye makeup) and pushing a baby stroller. Natalya talks about how she had Rousey THIS CLOSE to tapping out in the Sharpshooter so Rousey should just hand over the title now and get back to taking care of her baby.

Cue Rousey to say she didn’t recognize Natalya without her rack hanging out. Rousey says she didn’t mutilate her body to conform to some beauty standard and isn’t giving Natalya the title now. No one has cared about Natalya before because she has no charisma and brags so much about being a Hart. The closest Natalya has become to being a star in the main event is dressing like Rousey. The brawl is on with Natalya hitting her with the stroller to escape.

This segment summed up the problem with this entire feud: Natalya is not a threat to Rousey and never will be, because Natalya is not interesting enough to be seen on that level. Her entire selling point was that she ALMOST made a tired Rousey tap to a Sharpshooter after Rousey’s match. Oh and she dressed up like Rousey to prove….something. Bad segment to push a bad feud, with Rousey getting in a few zingers to keep it a few steps above dreadful.

Sheamus and Drew McIntyre are ready for the Usos.

Intercontinental Title: Ricochet vs. Gunther

Gunther, with Ludvig Kaiser, is defending. A boot to the face drops Ricochet early and we hit the half crab. Make that an STF (with Cole calling it a Crossface and McAfee making an Attitude Adjustment reference, neither of which is really appropriate). Ricochet makes the rope and flips out of a German suplex, setting up a jumping knee to the face. The clothesline sets up the chop to send Ricochet flying though and now the release German suplex connects. The shotgun dropkick sets up the powerbomb to retain the title at 3:05.

Rating: C. This was just a step above a squash and that is what it should have been. Gunther is flat out better than Ricochet at the moment and there is no reason to have Gunther be in trouble here. Ricochet gets his rematch and loses in an even more decisive fashion and that is all he needed to do. Gunther can move on with the title and Ricochet can (hopefully) move on to something else.

Sami Zayn reassures Paul Heyman that he would never cash in Money In The Bank on Roman Reigns. Maybe on Brock Lesnar….but Zayn realizes he shouldn’t have said that and leaves from a glaring Heyman.

Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Tamina vs. Shotzi

Tamina throws her around to start, setting up a powerslam. Shotzi gets in a shot of her own though and an enziguri rocks Tamina again. A superkick out of the air gives Tamina two more with Shotzi getting her foot in the vicinity of the ropes. Shotzi manages a whip into the post and Never Wake Up (a leg trap DDT) finishes Tamina at 2:33.

We look back at the Viking Raiders’ return.

The Raiders are tired of being forgotten and are here to run through anyone who gets in their way.

Max Dupri’s new models aren’t here tonight because they didn’t get their dressing room demands. Adam Pearce says next week, which Dupri says means they can titillate the juices of the masses. I’m curious to see where they’re going, but the fact that Dupri is still appearing every week gives me some hope for his future.

Pat McAfee stands on the announcers’ table to talk about how Happy Corbin threw a fit last week. We see Madcap Moss beating Corbin last week and McAfee laughing at Corbin as a result. McAfee talks about how much he loves his job and how alive he felt the first time he was in the Thunderdome. He loves talking to the millions (AND MILLIONS) so the challenge is thrown out for Summerslam. McAfee is a better promo than most of the roster.

Usos vs. Drew McIntyre/Sheamus

Non-title and Sheamus and McIntyre have to win to stay in Money In The Bank. The Street Profits join commentary as Sheamus throws Jimmy down to start. Jimmy takes Sheamus into the corner though and it’s Jey coming in for a shot to the face. That doesn’t last long as Sheamus is back with the ten forearms to the chest. Hold on though as Drew goes outside to go after Butch. Sheamus goes outside and brawls with Drew, allowing the Usos to take them down as we take a break.

Back with Sheamus punching his way out of trouble but Jimmy comes in with a superkick. The running hip attack in the corner is cut off with a knee to the face though and the hot tag brings in McIntyre to clean house. Some superkicks drop Drew though and the Superfly Splash gets two with Sheamus making the save. Everything breaks down and Ridge Holland has to hold Butch back. Cue Sami Zayn to go after Drew but Dawkins cuts him off. The Profits and the Uso argue until Drew flip dives onto all four of them. Back in and Jey manages a superkick before the Claymore finishes Jey at 11:12.

Rating: C+. Nice match, the champs lose, and we are right back where we were when this show came on the air. The Street Profits didn’t even cost the Usos the match so I’m not sure who good this does. This felt like they needed a main event and added something in to fill in a spot but this is something that belonged on a house show rather than Smackdown.

Overall Rating: C-. I wasn’t feeling this show as it felt like they ran out of ideas before Money In The Bank and moved on to the Summerslam build. They have announced the Summerslam main event and are teasing another match with McAfee vs. Corbin but Money In The Bank is still over a week away. That is something WWE has done before and it rarely works, though it isn’t like there is much that can be set up for Money In The Bank anyway. Just get to it already before they run even further out of ideas, which was pretty obvious tonight.

Results
Sami Zayn b. Shinsuke Nakamura – Helluva Kick
Lacey Evans/Raquel Rodriguez b. Sonya Deville – Woman’s Right
Gunther b. Ricochet – Powerbomb
Shotzi b. Tamina – Never Wake Up
Sheamus/Drew McIntyre b. Usos – Claymore to Jey

 

 

 

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Smackdown
Date: June 10, 2022
Location: Raising Cane’s River Center Arena, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Pat McAfee

It’s officially Money In The Bank season and that means we need to have some qualifying matches. Maybe they can even play the theme song fourteen times. Other than that, we might get to hear about something related to Roman Reigns wrestling again sometime in the future. But probably not. Let’s get to it.

Here is Hell In A Cell if you need a recap.

Commentary hypes up tonight’s historic show. The lesson here: WWE commentators doesn’t know what historic means.

Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre

In the back, McIntyre throws Butch around and says he’ll see Sheamus out there. They hit each other hard to start with McIntyre getting the better of it off some chops. A Michinoku Driver gives Drew two but Sheamus sends him to the apron for the forearms to the chest. That’s reversed so Drew can hit his own, only to have Butch offer a distraction. Something like White Noise on the apron drops McIntyre and we take a break.

Back with Sheamus hitting an Alabama Slam for two but McIntyre fights up and hits the neckbreaker. There’s the nip up so a spinebuster can give McIntyre two more but Sheamus elbows his way out of a fireman’s carry. Sheamus hits his own Futureshock for two so he goes up, only to get pulled down with a super White Noise for two more.

The Claymore is loaded up but Sheamus knees him down for two of his own. The Brogue Kick is countered into a powerbomb for two but Butch comes in for a distraction. A Brogue Kick cuts him off so Sheamus hits a clothesline to put McIntyre on the floor. They fight in the timekeeper’s area and hit each other with chairs (at the same time) for a double DQ at 12:27.

Rating: B-. I wasn’t wild on the ending and I’ve seen these two fight more times than I can count, but at least they know each other well enough to have a good match almost every time. There is something to be said about two guys this big hitting each other this hard and it worked as usual. I’m sure they’ll have something to keep things going after that ending, but it worked as a nice TV match.

Post break the brawl is still going after the break, with Butch getting involved but not being able to do much. The fight heads out into the crowd, where they’re finally separated.

We recap Seth Rollins seemingly showing respect to Cody Rhodes and then attacking him (again).

Lacey Evans is ready to face Xia Li. She might not be better than Li, but Li certainly isn’t better that her.

Money In The Bank Qualifying Match: Lacey Evans vs. Xia Li

Li throws her around to start and grabs a quick cobra clutch. That’s broken up and Evans elbows her in the face, setting up a slingshot Bronco Buster in the corner. Back up and the Woman’s Right finishes for Evans at 2:30. That wasn’t exactly a smooth match and then it just ends with the right hand out of nowhere.

Drew McIntyre comes in to see Adam Pearce and seems to threaten violence over not being in the Money In The Bank Ladder match.

Video on the Viking Raiders.

Sheamus and Butch also seem to threaten Adam Pearce.

Here is Ronda Rousey to say that she is ready to prove that her armbar is better than Uncle Bret’s Sharpshooter. Cue Shotzi to say she has a bad attitude and the challenge is on for right now. Sure why not.

Ronda Rousey vs. Shotzi

Champions Contenders match and Rousey takes her down without much effort. A belly to belly drops Shotzi for two but she tries a figure four necklock over the ropes. That’s reversed into an ankle lock in the ropes and they fall to the floor, with Shotzi hitting a tornado DDT.

Back in and Shotzi pounds away, setting up a kick to the head for two. An armbar has Rousey in more trouble but she fights out, only to fail at another ankle lock attempt. Shotzi suplexes her for two and then does it again into the corner. Some more strikes seem to wake Rousey up, with the slap to the face being a bad idea. A suplex into the armbar makes Shotzi tap at 7:20.

Rating: C. Some of Shotzi’s strikes looked great, with that kick to the head being one of the hardest looking shots I’ve seen from anyone in awhile. That being said, this was little more than a way for Rousey to get a win on TV and keep her sharp before the Natalya match. It wasn’t a match that you needed to see, but it did what it needed to do.

Post match Natalya jumps Rousey and puts her in the Sharpshooter.

Riddle is ready for Sami Zayn tonight, because if he wins, he gets to face Roman Reigns next week. The juice is worth the squeeze you see.

Intercontinental Title: Gunther vs. Ricochet

Gunther, with Ludvig Kaiser, is challenging and powers Ricochet around to start. The big chop knocks Ricochet silly and Gunther steps on him in the corner as we take a break. Back with Ricochet countering a powerbomb into the Code Red for two but a springboard is countered into a sleeper.

Ricochet escapes and hits a running knee but Gunther BLASTS him with a clothesline for two. Another sleeper over the ropes is broken up but Ricochet stops go to after Kaiser. Not that it matters as a standing shooting star press gets two on Gunther. The 630 misses though and it’s a dropkick into the corner. The powerbomb gives Gunther the title at 8:31.

Rating: C+. This was straight out of the Rob Van Dam playbook: build up a high flier, let him hold the title for a bit, and then drop it to someone on their way up. Ricochet getting the title in the first place showed that WWE might have some faith in him, but Gunther winning is absolutely the way to go as he has all kinds of potential. Gunther winning clean makes it even better.

Paul Heyman tells Sami Zayn to go win the main event and he might be in the Bloodline.

John Cena went to the Netherlands to meet a fan with Down’s Syndrome whose family had to flee the Ukraine because of the invasion. Well that’s about the coolest thing I’ve seen in a long time.

Classic Smackdown Moment: Steve Austin and Booker T. in the (Green Frog) grocery store.

Video on Happy Corbin vs. Madcap Moss, who meet next week in a Last Laugh match.

Max Dupri’s newest client will be revealed next week instead of this week. At least they mentioned it.

Riddle vs. Sami Zayn

If Riddle wins, he gets Roman Reigns next week but if Zayn wins, Riddle is off of Smackdown. Paul Heyman is on commentary and note that the bell rings EIGHTEEN MINUTES after Sami’s entrance. Riddle goes for a triangle choke to start and Sami bails straight to the ropes. That’s fine with Riddle, who sits him on the apron for some rapid fire kicks to the chest.

Back in and Zayn gets in a few shots of his own to take over, setting up a chinlock. Riddle fights to this feet and goes up top, only to be shoved off and into the barricade as we take a break. Back with Riddle being knocked outside again but managing to beat the count. Riddle catches him up top but the super RKO is blocked. Riddle catches him with a jumping knee for two but Sami kicks him down.

Sami spends too much time mocking Randy Orton though and the jumping knee takes him down. Riddle kicks him to the floor for the springboard Floating Bro, followed by the hanging DDT back inside. The Blue Thunder Bomb gets two back inside and the Bro Derek is countered into a cradle for two more. Sami takes too long loading up the Helluva Kick though and it’s the RKO for the pin at 13:08.

Rating: B-. I don’t think it’s much of a surprise that Riddle won here given the stipulations, but at least they played up the idea of an upset being possible. Zayn is still someone who can take almost any loss and be fine, which will be the case here for sure. Riddle vs. Reigns has been set up and while I would prefer it at Money In The Bank, having ANY match from Reigns is better than taking the whole summer off.

Post match the Usos jump Riddle but he’s right back up with a kendo stick to clean house to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Maybe it’s due to things not going so well for so long, but this was a good Smackdown after a good Raw and two good weekend shows. WWE might be on a bit of a roll and that was the case here. They focused on bigger things this week, with the Sheamus vs. McIntyre match, then the Rousey stuff (not so great but she’s a name), followed by the title change and main event. I didn’t get bored once during this show and while I don’t believe it lasts, I will absolutely take a week of good stuff for once.

Results
Sheamus vs. Drew McIntyre went to a double DQ when they both used chairs
Lacey Evans b. Xia Li – Woman’s Right
Ronda Rousey b. Shotzi – Armbar
Gunther b. Ricochet – Powerbomb
Riddle b. Sami Zayn – RKO

 

 

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

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

AND

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