Hell in a Cell
Hell in a Cell Results
- Natalya w/ Tamina def Mandy Rose w/ Dana Brooke (Pre Show Match) – **½
- Bianca Belair © def Bayley (SmackDown Women’s Championship – Hell in a Cell Match) – ****¼
- Seth Rollins def Cesaro – ***¼
- Alexa Bliss def Shayna Baszler w/ Nia Jax & Reginald – *¼
- Sami Zayn def Kevin Owens – ***¾
- Charlotte Flair def Rhea Ripley © via DQ (Raw Women’s Championship) – ****
- Bobby Lashley © w/ MVP vs Drew McIntyre (WWE Championship – Hell in a Cell Match) – ****
Before I get to the main show I have to mention that the pre-show match between Natalya and Mandy Rose completely exceeded my expectations and maybe it was just because she was in the ring with a veteran like Natalya, but I thought Mandy looked really good in the match and has improved quite a lot in the ring and it was a pleasant surprise to see her go move for move with someone like Natalya. If Dana has improved as much as Mandy has then they are going to be a great team.
As far as the show itself goes I thought both of the cell matches delivered as they always do, but I think I enjoyed the Bianca vs Bayley match better for all the creative spots using Bianca’s hair. I also liked how they had the spot with Bayley bridging the kendo stick between the ring frame and the cell as it was a nice callback to her match with Sasha from back in October, and as a plus we saw Bayley yell at Michael Cole as he was letting us know that spot failed in the match in October. I also liked how Bianca got tired of Bayley tying her hair to different things so Bianca tied it to Bayley’s wrist so she couldn’t get far from her and then put a beating on Bayley. I thought the finish of the match was very well done with Bianca hitting the KOD on the ladder.
I thought the Cesaro vs Seth Rollins match was fine, but I feel they have better in them and I enjoyed their WrestleMania match a lot better. I still think this match would’ve been better served inside Hell in a Cell more so than Bianca vs Bayley. I expect we will get at least one more match between these two on PPV whether it be a Money in the Bank or SummerSlam.
Oh boy, that Alexa Bliss vs Shayna Baszler match was something else and somehow was even more sillier than I expected, but here is what I will say, Alexa was great as always as she can do no wrong when it comes to character work. With my mandatory Alexa Bliss love out of the way I have to say that I did not care much for this match as the whole hypnotizing people just doesn’t do it for me as I would’ve rather had the change in Alexa mean she was just more aggressive in the ring and not that she had magical powers. I will say I could tolerate the magic powers a lot more if they weren’t used to make Shayna lose a match because for some reason Shayna had to lose clean but Nia couldn’t this past week on Raw. I do wish this feud was between Alexa and Nia and Shayna was far away from it because participating in spooky storylines and matches isn’t what I want to see out of this badass, hopefully they will transition the feud into Nia and Alexa while moving Shayna on to much better things.
Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn was a really good fight as that is exactly what it felt like as these two beat the crap out of each other and it looks like KO could be seriously injured or either he is one hell of a seller as the way he reacted and treated his arm after the tope made it seem like he is legit injured, if he is selling that is two great sell jobs in one match and should be kept off SmackDown for a month as the selling of both the arm and throat were great. There was a moment after the match where Zayn goes over to the announce team running his mouth and he picks up some kind of piece of paper of Cole’s and spits blood onto it and Cole acts if he wasn’t pleased with that as he gets up from his chair and walks off while McAfee continues to converse with Zayn.
I love anytime Rhea and Charlotte have a big time match against each other as they beat the crap out of each other and always do a great job of showing just how much hate they have for each other during their matches. I thought the leg work they did during this match was very well done and Rhea did a great job of selling it. I am fine with a DQ finish for this as I want to see them face each other again under a stipulation as it’s clear that there differences aren’t going to be settled in a regular match, I think perhaps a falls count anywhere or last woman standing match would be really good between the two of them.
The Lashley vs McIntyre cell match was absolutely brutal and McIntyre’s back after the match looks all kinds of messed up. I do think the finish of the Lashley vs McIntyre was very weak as not only did MVP trip McIntyre up but Lashley beat him with a basic schoolboy pin inside of a Hell in a Cell match, if they are planning on doing Lashley vs Lesnar at SummerSlam it would’ve been nice if he had gotten a more dominant looking win over McIntyre. I’m glad to see this feud is finally over and look forward to what both guys do after this, if I had to guess McIntyre could be in Money in the Bank or perhaps he could feud with a most likely soon to be returning Bray Wyatt and as for Lashley I think we get a match between him and Kofi Kingston for Money in the Bank and then hopefully we get the dream match against Lesnar at SummerSlam.
Overall I would say this was a pretty good show as both matches that have the namesake of the PPV really delivered and outside of those matches there was really only one stinker which was the Alexa vs Shayna match, but nobody expected much from it going into the show.
Raw
Raw Results
- Ricochet def AJ Styles w/ Omos – **¼
- Asuka & Naomi vs Eva Marie & Doudrop – *¼
- John Morrison w/ The Miz def Randy Orton – **½
- Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross def Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler w/ Reginald – **¼
- Riddle def Drew McIntyre – ***¼
- Bobby Lashley w/ MVP def Xavier Woods w/ Kofi Kingston (Hell in a Cell Match) – ***¼
Going into this show it was announced that there would be five Money in the Bank qualifying matches and that would pretty much make up the majority of this episode of Raw, but before we get to that it’s time for a celebration as Bobby Lashley opens the show along with MVP and the ladies to celebrate Lashley retaining his WWE Championship at Hell in a Cell. MVP and Lashley relish in their victory and then the party is interrupted by New Day who comes down with a tray full of actual toast and they throw it at MVP and Lashley. MVP runs them down for being clowns and not having a match at Hell in a Cell and then insults them for being cosplaying video gamers. Kingston said at least he surrounds himself with family and friends and not a bunch of users and then questions Lashley if MVP and those ladies will be around when he beats him for the championship, but Lashley isn’t worried about losing his title to someone like Kingston. Kingston reminds Lashley he beat him a month ago on Raw and then challenges him to a match at Money in the Bank which Lashley quickly accepts. Lashley then says he wants a match against Xavier Woods tonight and this leads to a great promo by Woods as he realizes everyone thinks he is the weak link in New Day and after running down his accomplishments and screaming at MVP to shut his mouth he tells Lashley that their match tonight will be inside Hell in a Cell and after some hesitation Lashley accepts.
Wow, four Hell in a Cell matches in three nights is definitely something I didn’t expect to happen as I figured after last night they were done with Hell in a Cell, but I guess USA wanted a Hell in a Cell match on their show just like Fox got on SmackDown. The promo by Woods was really good as he touched on the whole thing with the older wrestlers (who are toxic high testosterone meatheads) don’t like how the younger guys just sit around and play video games and wants to prove that while he may not be considered a big strong man’s man like Lashley he will give Lashley the fight of his life tonight inside Hell in a Cell.
The first Money in the Bank Qualifying match of the night was between AJ Styles and Ricochet and as you would expect this was a good match. The finish comes when the Viking Raiders (who Styles and Omos ran into earlier in the day and had words with) run down and start brawling with Omos, but when he goes to charge at them they move and he crashes through the barricade. Styles goes for the Phenomenal Forearm but gets caught in mid-air with the Recoil to pick up the win and qualify for Money in the Bank.
We get our weekly Riddle and Orton backstage segment with Riddle talking too much and Orton getting frustrated with him. This week Riddle wants advice for Money in the Bank since Orton is a former winner and Orton says to stay out of his way, but when Riddle says that is hard to do if they both win their qualifiers and how awesome it would be if they both qualified but Orton said it wouldn’t be awesome for Riddle.
Randy Orton would end up losing his qualifying match to John Morrison when The Miz sprayed Morrison’s drip stick on Orton and he gave chase which would give Morrison a chance to get back into the match, moments later Riddle would come down on his scooter to chase The Miz who was in a wheelchair around the ring in what Corey Graves called a slow speed chase. Orton would get distracted once again by the chase and Morrison would snap his neck off the rope and then hit Starship Pain to pick up the win. Later in the night, it was Riddle’s turn and he had a really good match with Drew McIntyre (whose back was still cut up and bruised) where he countered the electric chair with a victory roll to pick up a clean win. After the match Riddle walks up the ramp to where Orton was standing and looked for some kind of approval from his tag partner, but Orton is not impressed and doesn’t show Riddle any kind of admiration.
We get an interview with Eva Marie in the back and she explains the reason why she didn’t step into the ring last week and the reason was she had just got a mani/pedi and also had caught a cold but she knew the WWE Universe wanted to see her so she arranged to have her protege to wrestle the match. When the protege goes to talk and tries to tell the interviewer that her name is Piper she is cut off by Eva who goes on to call her Doudrop which brings about a WTF look on Piper’s face. Eva and Doudrop will be facing Naomi and Asuka and the winners will be qualifying for Money in the Bank. It looks like Eva will start the match but she quickly tags in Doudrop and then drops to the floor to let her do all the work. Doudrop beats up their opponents and when it looks like Naomi is done for Eva tags herself back in and goes to pin Naomi but she kicks out, Eva is shocked and looks to tag Doudrop back in but she gives Eva a taste of her own medicine as she drops to the floor refusing to tag which makes Eva panic. Naomi rolls Eva up in a schoolgirl pin to pick up the win and thus Naomi and Asuka qualify for Money in the Bank. After the match, Eva doesn’t understand why Doudrop wouldn’t tag in.
Going into this episode of Raw it was making the rounds that Piper was going to be named Doudrop which I shook my head at and was like of course they are going to screw up another talent from NXT, however, actually watching who they executed this I feel a lot better about this as Piper is not referring to herself by that name and even tried to say her actual name until she was cut off by Eva. I was surprised to see they are already teasing a breakup of the two and I hope they don’t break them up as we need tag teams in the women’s division, but what I would do is have Piper make Eva understand that she may be her protege but she won’t run over and perhaps they can help each other out but only if they mutually agree to respect each other and the first part of that is by calling her by her name and not Doudrop. Eva would go along with this for a while and then eventually go back to her old ways which would eventually lead to Piper going out on her own but not three weeks into them being paired together.
Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville come out to address what happened during the Rhea Ripley vs Charlotte Flair match and invite Rhea to come to the ring which she does and they are not happy about her abusing the DQ rules just so she could keep her championship. Rhea doesn’t understand why they are mad at her when she has seen Charlotte do the same thing and she is never scolded like this. Charlotte comes out and gives Rhea kudos for being smart and strategic but she is still going to destroy her. Sonya grants Charlotte a rematch at Money in the Bank, but as of now no kind of stipulation has been added to the match.
We get a redo of last week’s segment between Natalya & Tamina and the Sexy Muscle Friends except for this time the roles were reversed and when Natalya and Tamina tried to enter the practice ring they were kicked to the floor.
It’s time for the second women’s Money in the Bank Qualifying match as Nia Jax & Shayna Baszler will be facing Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross. Alexa makes her entrance to the ring and she has new music and new graphics that are much more fitting for her character and shows that she is now completely a separate entity from Bray Wyatt. We cut to the back and see that Nikki Cross has a superhero mask on and a lot of blue eyeshadow, Nikki cuts an inspirational promo about how the last few weeks have brought out something in her and she has been looking for a way to physically show the spark inside her heart. Nikki then says no matter how far we may fall we all have the same spirit to win and she wants to represent everyone no matter their shortcomings. The camera pans out to show a blue and yellow superhero suit with a giant butterfly on the chest and she even has a cape. Nikki also has new music and graphics to match her new superhero gimmick.
The match itself starts out fine but once Nia gets sent to the outside and Reginald goes to check on her we see Alexa staring at him from the steps which leads to Nia & Shayna trying to break his concentration so he doesn’t get hypnotized, but this distraction allows Nikki to come off the top with a crossbody. Bliss gets worked over a bit but hits a code red and is able to crawl over to make the tag to Nikki. Nia and Shayna start arguing when Shayna almost hits Nia and Nia threatens to walk out, but as this is happening Alexa has Reginald under her hypnosis once again and tries to get him to slap Nia but he snaps out of it before he connects. Nia and Reginald hug and Nikki takes that moment to knock them down with a dropkick through the ropes. Nikki then rolls Shayna up in a pin and picks up the win which qualifies her and Alexa for Money in the Bank.
There is so much to unpack here, first off I like the new music and graphics for Alexa as she needed a change since she is no longer with Bray Wyatt. The new Nikki Cross gimmick took me by complete surprise as I don’t recall reading anywhere about her fixing to go under a character change. When I first saw it I shook my head as I’m sure everyone else did thinking this was another stupid gimmick that Vince is putting on a very talented wrestler who has always been over with the fans, but it was either during the match or after Raw, I saw on Twitter where Killian Dain (Nikki’s husband) said something about how he was glad to see her vision become a reality so it seems this was Nikki’s idea and if that’s the case then more power to her and I am sure if anyone can pull this off it will be her. Nikki would go into more detail on the character when she appeared on Raw Talk as she knows she doesn’t have superpowers but when she puts on the suit she feel like she can do anything and even if she fails she is going to keep trying because she has to believe in herself and that is all anyone can do is just believe in themselves. If we don’t get a faceoff between her and Mighty Molly next year at the Royal Rumble I will be sorely disappointed. As for the match, I still don’t like the hypnosis thing as a whole, but at least they had spots in this match where when it was used it made more sense as she would use it as a distraction so Nikki could physically take them out, so it was a bit more tolerable during this match. The women’s Money in the Bank so far is looking quite interesting with Naomi, Asuka, Nikki, & Alexa.
We get a couple of segments that felt like they were just used to take up time, the first involved Jinder Mahal, Cedric Alexander, Jeff Hardy, and Sheamus arguing about not being granted a shot to qualify for Money in the Bank. Sheamus then tells Pearce and Sonya to ignore the others as he should automatically be entered since he is the US Champion, but when Pearce asks him if his nose is healed enough to defend his title he starts complaining about it again and walks off. Jinder then tells Pearce that if something were to happen to one of the participants he would like to be considered as an alternate.
Our second segment to take up time involves Mansoor walking up to Jaxson Ryker looking for advice but Ryker is just whipping himself with a strap since he has a strap match against Elias next week. Ryker then tells him not to trust those closest to him as they are wolves in sheep’s clothing. He says there will be no place for Elias to run and hide. Mansoor turns around where Mustafa Ali is standing and he tells Mansoor that he is asking all the wrong questions as he needs to be asking why the people in the Money in the Bank qualifying matches stole those spots from the two of them. Ali then tells Mansoor that sometimes when you can’t get the opportunity to climb the ladder of success then you have to build your own ladder. This segment would be really cool if I felt they were going to do anything with either man anytime soon but I feel we are getting these backstage interactions for the next 3-4 months at least.
The commentary announces that next week there will be a last chance qualifying match for the three men who lost their qualifying matches tonight so it will be AJ Styles vs Randy Orton vs Drew McIntyre for the last Raw spot in Money in the Bank. I don’t see Styles winning as he looks to be headed to a match with the Viking Raiders. If I had to choose between Orton and McIntyre as the final participant I would choose Orton as there is a better story to tell with both Orton and Riddle in the match and it would be interesting to see what happens to McIntyre if his losing streak were to continue and he had no way to get back to challenging for the title.
It’s finally time for the main event as Bobby Lashley faces Xavier Woods inside Hell in a Cell. This was a back and forth match as Woods kept finding ways to take control but in the end, the power of Lashley was too much for Woods as he was hit with the Spear and then was put in the Hurt Lock where it didn’t take long before Woods was tapping out. After the match, MVP would slip into the cage and lock the door behind him as the beating on Woods continued and then Lashley put Woods back in the Hurt Lock while he had his face pressed up against the cell wall and Raw went off the air with Kingston trying desperately to help Woods but there was nothing he could do.
I thought this was a great way to close the show as the match was really good and the post-match beatdown really made you want to see Kingston get his hands on Lashley and MVP at Money in the Bank.
This was one of the better episodes of Raw as of late as pretty much everything made sense on the show and the matches delivered as well and every match had stakes which is also a nice change of pace. If every week of Raw was as good as this one was then perhaps the fans would be more likely to watch every week.
NXT
NXT Results
- Adam Cole def Carmelo Hayes – ***
- Io Shirai & Zoey Stark def Aliyah & Jessi Kamea w/ Robert Stone – **½
- The Way def Pete Dunne & Oney Lorcan – ***½
- Franky Money def Electra Lopez – **
- Hit Row (Ashante the Adonis & Top Dolla) w/ Isaiah Scott & B-Fab def Ever-Rise – *½
- Kyle O’Reilly def Kushida – ***¾
We get a replay video showing the return of Samoa Joe last week as Regal’s enforcer.
Adam Cole opens up the show as he is set to face an opponent of his choosing but he comes to the ring and cuts a promo about how he is being forced to face Kyle O’Reilly at Great American Bash and last week he was assaulted by Samoa Joe. Cole says that just because Joe has returned doesn’t mean he has to follow the rules and furthermore he is not picking an opponent for tonight and the crowd is lucky to have seen him tonight but he isn’t wrestling. Just as Cole goes to leave, Carmelo Hayes comes out and he wants to change Cole’s mind about wrestling tonight. Cole asks Hayes how he is going to do change his mind and Hayes tells him a famous phrase comes to mind and then he did just as John Cena did during his debut as he says Ruthless Aggression and then slaps Cole and sure enough he changed Cole’s mind as he is ready to fight. Cole and Hayes have a good match with Hayes getting some shots in here and there but Cole dominated most of the match and after he catches Hayes coming off the top with a superkick he hits him with the Panama Sunrise to pick up the win.
Franky Monet is hanging with Aliyah & Jessi Kamea once again and she wants to join up with them as the Winner’s Circle, but when Robert Stone walks up she changes her attitude and starts kissing his ass.
We get an interview with Zoey Stark before her tag match with Io Shirai as she says the reason she came to help Io last week was because Io was the first one to give her a big break in NXT and she was just paying her back. Io walks up and says she doesn’t like Zoey but she does respect her and that is good enough for Zoey. Io and Zoey are facing Aliyah and Jessi Kamea this week and this match wasn’t the best but Io and Zoey came out as the winners when Io hit the Moonsault on Jessi.
As that tag match was going on the NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions The Way came out to watch the match and then after the match Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez come out and tell Io and Zoey they are not going to jump the line to become number one contenders for the titles. We then get the arrival of Ember Moon and Shotzi Blackheart who say they are the number one contenders and this, of course, leads to a brawl between all of the teams and Samoa Joe runs down and orders security to break them up. It would later be announced that next week we will see a triple threat tag team match where the winners will face The Way for the championship at The Great American Bash.
We get a video from LA Knight bragging about what he did to Ted Dibiase last week and then mocks Cameron Grimes for caring more about Dibiase than the money. Knight says that the fall Grimes took at In Your House will be nothing compared to when he drops Grimes on his head. Later in the night Grimes shows up to the CWC and someone mockingly asks how Grandpa Dibiase is and Grimes punches him right in the face.
Johnny Gargano and Austin Theory come to the ring for a promo where Gargano says that since we have new management in NXT it’s time we get a new NXT Champion because NXT doesn’t need Kross as champion it needs Johnny Gargano. Gargano says the 57 days he was NXT Champion were the best days of NXT as it was thriving. Gargano says he proved at In Your House that Kross isn’t on his level as he outclassed him every time they were in the ring together. We then get the arrival of Pete Dunne and Oney Lorcan and Dunne says Gargano must be crazy if he thinks he is the number one contender and then he tells Theory to shut up.
Gargano tells Theory that Dunne is trying to provoke him in order to cause chaos but they no longer take part in shenanigans like that as they are law-abiding citizens. Gargano goes to leave the ring and as he does Theory points his finger at Dunne which would be the wrong thing to do as Dunne grabs the fingers and snaps them and Theory does a comedic selling of his fingers being hurt.
Gargano would later go into Regal’s office being super nice to him and he even gives him a new pencil to make up for the one he broke a month ago. Gargano is upset at what Dunne did to Theory and wants to know the consequences Dunne will face and suggests Joe take care of Dunne or Regal go hit him with the brass knuckles, but Regal instead makes a tag match for tonight between The Way going against Dunne & Lorcan and as Gargano argues about this Regal says he is wasting valuable time. The match got quite a bit of time and in the end, The Way picks up the win when Gargano hits One Final Beat on Lorcan. After the match, Kross attacks Gargano from behind.
Adam Cole and William Regal have words in the back as Regal wants no problems between Cole and Joe, but Cole is upset that Joe didn’t face any kind of consequences for choking him out and Regal tells Cole he touched Joe. Cole gets frustrated and says he is leaving.
Samoa Joe and Karrion Kross have words in the hallway as Kross dares Joe to do something and then Joe allows him to pass by him while having a smirk on his face. Once Kross passes Dunne is right behind him and we get another staredown between the two and this time Regal is nowhere around to get them to back up. I have to imagine this is leading to something seeing as they did it two weeks in a row.
It’s time for the encore presentation of the world premiere of Franky Monet as she will be in action against Elektra Lopez. In the early portion of the match we get Wade Barrett talking about how much he loves Franky, but he could do without her dog Presley. This was pretty much an extended squash as Elektra got in a bit of offense but Franky pretty much dominated her until she finished her off with the Glam Slam.
We got our battery charging tease and this week it left off at 51% so it seems like we could be finding out what this is at the Great American Bash.
Bronson Reed is being interviewed when Hit Row interrupts him and they have words as Isaiah Scott has his eyes on the North American Championship just like Santos Escobar does. We then see a video where Ever-Rise tries to tag the vehicle of Hit Row but it turns out that Top Dolla is sitting in the vehicle while they are doing it and when rolls down his window they run off.
We get another squash match at Ashante the Adonis and Top Dolla of Hit Row make short work of Ever-Rise to the point where I don’t believe Ever-Rise even gets one move in on Hit Row.
Mercedes Martinez is informed she has a mixed tag match next week against Xia Li and Boa but she doesn’t have a partner as she says she doesn’t make friends easily and is ready to face them with or without a partner. Xia Li then runs up to attack Mercedes and Boa holds Mercedes until Jake Atlas enters the picture and boots Boa in the head and says he has joined the fight and will see her next week.
It’s finally main event time as Kyle O’Reilly looks to face an old rival in Kushida. We get some nice mat wrestling to start out as both men try to gain an advantage but they know each other so well they are able to counter everything their opponent throws at them. KOR catches Kushida with a boot to the face and then counters a backspring elbow into an armbar but Kushida escapes and then goes for the arm of KOR, Kushida gets in some joint manipulation and then kicks KOR in the back. Both men try to take the other down with a single leg but they continue to counter each other and then they run into each other and crack heads. KOR gains control of the match as he hits Kushida with some knees and then tries for a rear-naked choke but Kushida grabs the ankle forcing KOR to release him.
Both men try to work over the arm of their opponent but continue to counter each other so Kushida kicks the arm of KOR and then connects with a knee to the head. KOR makes a comeback as he connects with a series of strikes and then tries for a single leg which Kushida turns into a pin attempt but KOR gets his foot on the rope. KOR takes Kushida down with a clothesline and then drops him with a brainbuster for a very close 2 count. Kushida sends KOR shoulder first into the ring post and then kicks the arm, KOR tries to fight back but gets caught and hit with an arm-trapped suplex on the apron. Kushida throws KOR back in the ring and we get a back and forth between KOR landing strikes and Kushida trying to go for the arm. Kushida eventually gets the Hoverboard Lock applied but KOR turns it into a small package to pick up the win.
After the match, KOR and Kushida show each other respect, and then Adam Cole is back and he brawls with KOR outside the ring until security and Samoa Joe run out to break them up and they continue to fight through the CWC crowd area. In the ring, Kushida gets attacked by two hooded figures who reveal themselves to be Roderick Strong and Tyler Rust, they are soon joined by a third man who would turn out to be Hideki Suzuki as well as Malcolm Bivens as their manager. Malcolm Bivens throws the Cruiserweight Championship down on Kushida and introduces us to the Diamond Mine, the show comes to a close with this new faction standing tall.
This was another fun episode of NXT as we got a couple of really good matches including the main event technical wrestling clinic and the tag match featuring The Way vs Dunne & Lorcan. We also got a big show ending angle with the debut of the Diamond Mine who look like they are going to be a force to deal with. I’m glad to see that it seems like Malcolm Bivens will be featured more on the show as they should’ve had him on TV on a consistent basis a long time ago. It makes sense that Roderick Strong is in the stable as he is someone who just doesn’t have the charisma or mic skill strong enough to be on his own so he always needs to be paired with someone to do the talking for him. In addition to all of the action that happened this week we also got a big match coming up next week in the women’s tag division to determine the new number one contenders.
NXT UK
NXT UK Results
- Mark Coffey def Sha Samuels – **¼
- Stevie Turner def Laura DiMatteo – *¼
- Teoman def Oliver Carter – **½
- Ilja Dragunov def Mark Coffey & Rampage Brown – ****
This episode of NXT UK started off the exact same way it was going to end with a couple of big men slapping meat as Mark Coffey got his match with Sha Samuels after mocking him last week.
We get a couple of side headlocks early and Coffey tries to knock Samuels down but he stays on his feet and then passes Coffey into the ropes and Coffey goes behind looking for an O’Connor roll but Samuels hangs on to block the move only to turn around into a leaping back elbow from Coffey. Coffey tries to work on the arm of Samuels but he escapes by landing a knee to the midsection of Coffey and then he levels him with a clothesline. Coffey gets up swinging but Samuels reverses a whip into the corner and follows him in with an avalanche and then he takes Coffey down with another big clothesline and this gets an “EAST!” from Samuels. Samuels grounds Coffey and drops a couple of overhead elbows to a sitting Coffey and then he kicks him in the spine. Samuels locks in a chinlock but Coffey fights out only to be slammed right back down to the mat. Samuels tries to go for another avalanche and clothesline but Coffey blocks the clothesline with a boot to the face and then he hits a Russian leg sweep on Samuels. Coffey charges in but Samuels catches him and throws him into the ropes where he takes him down with a body attack. Samuels puts the boots to Coffey and then gets in some mounted punches before going for a pin but Coffey kicks out at 2.
Samuels goes to lock in the Butcher’s Hook, but Coffey blocks it and catches Samuels with an elbow before he picks him up and slams him down with a backdrop. Coffey starts to fire up as he hits Samuels with clotheslines and shoulder blocks before coming off the middle rope with a bulldog and then he follows that up with a big side slam for a very close 2 count. Coffey sends Samuels into the ropes once again and looks for an enziguri but Samuels hooks the ropes to stop himself and then he hits Coffey with a spinebuster for a 2 count. Samuels goes for the Butcher’s Hook for a second time but Coffey kicks back out of the corner to escape and now Samuels is favoring his ribs. Samuels tries to beat Coffey down but it doesn’t have any effect as Coffey pushes Samuels into the ropes and hits him with an enziguri and as Samuels sits up Coffey hits him with a basement running uppercut and that would be enough to keep Samuels down for the count.
I felt this match was ok in parts but some of it came off as very underwhelming given who was in the ring. It looks like Coffey and Wolfgang are now tied in singles action, it will be interesting to see who loses first in a one-on-one match.
We go backstage where Emilia McKenzie is being interviewed about her thoughts on Meiko Satomura winning the NXT UK Women’s Championship when Isla Dawn walks up and someone lights a candle in front of Emilia (the lights start flickering) and licks her lips, Emilia walks away and Isla just laughs. Oh boy, they are combining the Alexa Bliss magic powers with the Bayley vs Bianca laughing feud, but hey I guess they have to throw everything at the wall to try and get Isla over.
We go to the UK PC for the first time in this episode and we are set to interview a girl named Mila but she is quickly interrupted by the lights going out and Aoife Valkyrie enters one of the practice rings. Jinny walks up and calls Mila pathetic for standing there watching someone train but Mila wants to face Aoife and thinks she can beat her like Meiko did. Jinny tells Mila to never look at her and look to the floor and furthermore she doesn’t care what she does. Why do these women in NXT UK all get special light when they enter a room? I can understand if they were coming to the ring but Aoife gets special treatment at the PC.
We see footage from last week after Subculture won their mixed tag match, but as they are celebrating in the stairwell Pretty Deadly walks up and talks some trash and then Dani Luna asks them if they know what they have to do.
We have women’s action up next as Stevie Turner takes on Laura DiMatteo. We get a lockup as both women jockey for control until Stevie backs Laura into the corner and lands a back elbow and then she puts the boots to her. Stevie picks up Laura and locks in a cravate which she uses to take Laura back down and lock in a chinlock, but Laura escapes the chinlock and we get an exchange of wrist locks. Stevie sends Laura into the middle rope with a drop toe hold and as Laura is draped over the rope Steive goes out to the apron and kicks her right in the head and then follows that up with a running forearm to the head. Stevie connects with a sliding elbow to a sitting Laura. Laura tries to fight back but Stevie puts her back down with a bicycle kick for a 2 count. Stevie locks in a straightjacket hold but Laura throws Stevie off and then connects with a running dropkick into the corner, but when she charges in again Stevie sidesteps and drops Laura with an elbow out of the corner. Laura tries to pull herself up using the ropes but Stevie catches her with the Oblivion to pick up the win.
This was a squash match to showcase Stevie Turner who looked like the long-lost member of Tekno Team 2000, but at least that was better than what Laura was wearing as her outfit didn’t even look like wrestling gear as much as it looked like plain ol’ underwear. Also, I found it interesting that Stevie worked this match as a heel as I thought the last time we saw her she was a babyface.
Wolfgang and Mark Coffey are in the back celebrating Coffey’s win but when they approach Joe Coffey he is getting ready for his big match later tonight. We go to the PC where Nathan Frazer is sparring in the ring when Kenny Williams walks up and starts berating Frazer before challenging him to a match.
We get a vignette of a woman whose face we can’t see and she opens a briefcase and pulls out a contract which she signs and the name on the contract is Blair Davenport. I’m guessing that Blair Davenport will end up being Bea Priestley.
We get a video package on the Heritage Cup Championship match that will be happening next week between Tyler Bate and Jack Starz. Starz talks about how he had many tryouts with WWE and failed during most of them but he kept pushing on and never gave up and that is why he finally realized he is deserving of a championship match against Tyler Bate. I’m sure this will be a good match but there is no way I believe Starz has any kind of chance to win this match.
Our third match is Teoman against Oliver Carter who is without Ashton Smith this week as he is with family, but Carter will beat down Teoman for Smith.
Teoman hits a takedown and tries for a running forearm but Carter moves out of the way and takes Teoman down with a headscissors. Teoman slaps Carter in the face which pisses Carter off as he fires away with forearms until he is made to back off and when he does Teoman tries to take advantage but Carter catches him with a side kick and then clotheslines him out to the floor. Carter takes Teoman down with a plancha and then places Teoman on the steps and looks to kick him, but Teoman moves and slams Carter’s arm into the steps. Teoman throws Carter back in the ring and hits him with a sliding forearm for a 2 count. Teoman goes to work on the arm he sent into the steps, Carter tries to fight back but he can only use one arm and Teoman kicks him in the arm to stop his momentum.
Teoman tries to lock in a crossface but Carter is struggling too much so he locks in an armbar which is broken when Carter gets to the ropes. Carter lands an elbow to the jaw and then avoids a handspring by Teoman and hits him with a moonsault off the middle rope. Carter waits for Teoman to get to his feet and hits him with a couple of clotheslines. Carter blocks a punch and attempts a uranage but Teoman elbows out of it only for Carter to drop him with a superkick which gets a 2 count. Carter hits Teoman with a scissor kick for a 2 count. Carter tries to pick up Teoman with his one good arm but gets hit with a back elbow, Teoman goes up top where Carter goes for a hurricanrana, but Teoman hangs on to the top rope causing Carter to crash to the mat. Teoman comes off the top with a tornado DDT and goes for the pin but only gets a very close nearfall and as Carter kicks out Teoman locks him in a crossface and Carter taps out moments later.
After the match, Teoman reapplies the crossface but Rojan Raja comes to make the save which leads to a staredown between Teoman and Raja, Teoman looks like he is going to leave the ring but he turns around and points to his eye and that is when Raja attacks Carter and hits him with a jumping flatliner. Teoman and Raja walk off together.
This was a better match than I was expecting as I liked the arm work done by Teoman and Carter did a great job of selling the hurt arm. Carter is actually someone who I wouldn’t mind getting a push as I have been impressed by what I have seen of him in NXT UK. I was expecting either Carter or Ashton Smith to be the one that joined up with Teoman so Raja joining him was a bit of a surprise, although it shouldn’t be given the giant eye that came up on the screen last week after the Roja vs Nathan Frazer match.
We get a video of A-Kid talking about his match against Jordan Devlin next week.
It’s now time for the main event as we have a three-way match between Rampage Brown, Joe Coffey, & Ilja Dragunov.
Coffey and Brown face off against each other and Dragunov pushes Brown to get them to pay him attention, which they do as Coffey takes him down with a headbutt, and then Coffey hits a backdrop on Brown. Dragunov tries to charge at Coffey but gets hit with a pop-up uppercut. Coffey hits a running uppercut to Brown in the corner but when he tries for the same on Dragunov he meets a boot and then turns around to meet another boot courtesy of Brown. Brown catches Dragunov and slams him to the mat. Coffey reverses a whip and hits an overhead belly to belly on Brown. Dragunov hits Coffey with a running knee and a suplex. Dragunov rolls through to take Brown down where he delivers some elbows until Brown lifts Dragunov and throws him toward Coffey who hits Dragunov with a German suplex. Brown and Coffey try to knock each other down with a shoulder block but neither go down until Brown hits a dropkick. Brown charges at Coffey who slams him to the mat where he puts him in a Boston crab, Dragunov comes back into the match and tries to get Coffey to break the move but he doesn’t budge until Dragunov hits a running boot to the head. Dragunov locks in a knuckle lock and fires away with chops to the side of the neck until Coffey hits jabs to the gut and they start fighting it out while still in the knuckle lock, Brown breaks the grip and drops them both with a double clothesline and then he hits a double suplex on both of his opponents.
Brown picks up Coffey and tries for the Dr. Bomb but Coffey backdrops Brown to the outside. Dragunov takes Coffey down with a judo hip toss and then Dragunov hits Coffey with a couple of chops followed by a deadlift German suplex which gets a 2 count. Dragunov wants to go up top but his injured ribs make him slow to climb and once he finally does make it up top we get a fight between Dragunov and Coffey until Dragunov knocks him to the mat. Brown hits Coffey with a Samoan drop and when Brown ducks a top rope dropkick Dragunov lands on Coffey with a senton splash. Coffey holds the leg of Dragunov so Brown can pick him up just so he can slam him onto Coffey which gets a 2 count. Brown targets Dragunov who he batters with forearms until Dragunov blocks one and tries to take Brown down but he ends up getting hit with a boot to the face. Brown looks to throw Dragunov out of the ring but he spins through the ropes and takes Brown down with a big clothesline. Dragunov fires himself up and goes back up top for a dropkick sending Brown into the corner, but as Dragunov gets back up he is hit with a Glasgow Send Off sending Dragunov flying into Brown in the corner. Brown and Dragunov drop to the floor and fight it out until Coffey takes them out with a double jump crossbody. Coffey sends Dragunov back into the ring and then comes off the top with a dropkick which gets a 2 count. Coffey and Dragunov trade strikes until Dragunov catches him with an enziguri before they start trading strikes once again which results in them knocking each other down. Each man starts to get to his feet and Dragunov charges at Coffey who hits him with All the Best for the Bells, but before he can follow up Brown returns and pounces Coffey sending both of them flying out to the floor.
Coffey and Brown fight it out on the floor until Brown hits Coffey with a powerslam. Brown goes back in the ring for Dragunov who is in immense pain with his ribs but he is able to block a punch and then deliver a series of close-range knee strikes and an enziguri. Dragunov hits a couple of rolling German suplexes, but Brown breaks his grip. Dragunov goes for another German suplex but Coffey comes in and tries to hit a German suplex on both men but Brown holds onto the rope to prevent this and then he is successful in hitting a German suplex on both Coffey and Dragunov. Coffey sidesteps a boot from Brown and hits him with an electric chair drop, but he can’t follow up and this gives all three men time to get back to their feet and when Coffey looks to hit All the Best for the Bells on Brown he is taken out mid-move with a Torpedo Moscow from Dragunov. Brown takes advantage of the opportunity as he hits Coffey with the Dr. Bomb but the pin is broken up by Dragunov. Brown goes for the Dr. Bomb on Dragunov but he slides out and then hits a springboard Torpedo Moscow which is enough to pick up the win.
After the match, Walter comes to the ring and talks to Dragunov while holding the NXT Championship up next to him and as Dragunov looks to get to his feet he is met with a slap, and then he puts Dragunov in a rear-naked choke. The show ends with Walter holding the NXT UK Championship up high as he has a foot on the laid-out body of Ilja Dragunov.
This match was just as hard-hitting and brutal as we expected it to be and I enjoyed every minute of it. I am glad to see Dragunov picked up the win and they are now leading to a rematch between Walter and him which is something I definitely need to see as their first match was out of this world and was without a doubt the best match in 2020 under the WWE umbrella. I really hope they can hold this match off until the fans come back to the shows because as good as their first encounter was, the second one will be even better and it needs live crowd reactions to put it over the top.
That’s it for this week but we have another packed show next week as Jordan Devlin will face A-Kid, Jack Starz will challenge Tyler Bate for the Heritage Cup Championship, and Meiko Satomura will speak for the first time since winning the NXT UK Women’s Championship.
SmackDown
SmackDown Results
- Bayley & Seth Rollins def Bianca Belair & Cesaro – **½
- Big E def Apollo Crews w/ Commander Azeez – **½
- Liv Morgan def Carmella – **
- Jimmy Uso def Dolph Ziggler – **¼
As the show starts Heyman tells us that the Mysterios are not on the show tonight but they are acknowledging Reigns from their hospital beds. Jimmy Uso walks into the locker room of Roman Reigns and Reigns wants to know where Jey is and Jimmy said he got a hold of him and Jey told him that he isn’t coming back. Reigns gets pissed after hearing this who finds Jey to be ungrateful as he took him from just being one of The Usos to being Main Event Uso. Jimmy says that he may be nobody’s bitch, but he has Reigns’ back and this makes Reigns wonder if Jimmy can be his right-hand man like Jey was and Jimmy tells him he can and Reigns wants him to prove it. Later in the night, Jimmy is outside of Reigns’ locker room and he talks to Paul Heyman asking him what Reigns meant by he wants him to prove it and Heyman tells him Reigns needs a right-hand man and if Jey can’t do that then maybe Main Event Jimmy can. Jimmy doesn’t know how Reigns wants him to prove it and Heyman tells him he needs to win a match and if he gets Jimmy a match and he doesn’t win then there could be very bad consequences.
Bianca Belair comes to the ring and cuts a promo about how she beat Bayley at Hell in a Cell and overcame a bully and how everyone at home can beat their bully as well because you are so much more powerful and then she says Ding Dong the witch is dead. Seth Rollins comes out to interrupt her as he is happy about his win against Cesaro and says his win was more dominant than Bianca’s as she just barely beat Bayley. Rollins wants to celebrate with Bianca and offers a high five as he wants to celebrate now because once Bayley is done with her she won’t be able to give a high five from on the mat. Bayley comes out and talks about how Bianca is not the kind of champion the people need and her win was a fluke and Bianca is still the same Bianca Bel-Loser. We get a brawl between Bayley and Bianca with Rollins trying to distract Bianca but Cesaro comes to the ring to even the odds. The babyfaces clear the ring and after a commercial, the match officially starts. The finish of the match sees Bianca goes for the KOD but Rollins runs into the ring trying to get away from Cesaro and he bumps into Bianca causing her to drop Bayley and then Bayley hits Bianca with the Roseplant to pick up the win.
I guess we are waiting until the fans come back to move on from either of these feuds as it looks like we are getting both rematches at Money in the Bank as this will be the third match in both feuds. I do hope the Rollins vs Cesaro match doesn’t happen and Cesaro wins himself a spot in Money in the Bank as he along with someone else who qualifies on this show are my top contenders to win the match.
It’s now time for the coronation of King Shinsuke Nakamura, he is introduced to the ring by Rick Boogs and he takes his place on the throne as Pat McAfee is rocking out on commentary and even is toasting with water bottles ala Steve Austin with the beer cans. Boogs places the crown on Nakamura’s head and then they rock out. We cut to the back where Kayla Braxton interviews a sad and dejected Baron Corbin and was talking in a low voice and really looked pitiful. I wouldn’t mind if they used this to turn Corbin babyface as we haven’t seen that from him since his early days in NXT and if they built him up he could be a potential babyface challenger for Reigns later on in the year.
We then see Adam Pearce and Sonya Deville rocking out to Nakamura and Boogs when Seth Rollins walks in and he wants to be the next challenger for Roman Reigns as he thinks he is more ready than ever to take on Reigns and nobody else on the roster is as ready as he is. Pearce and Sonya agree with Rollins but aren’t ready to make a decision just yet but they will keep it under consideration.
Up next is a Money in the Bank Qualifying Match between Apollo Crews and Big E. Late in the match, Commander Azeez gets ejected from ringside when he is caught sending Big E into the barricade and as the referee and Azeez are arguing Big E sneaks up behind Crews and hits him with the Big Ending to qualify for Money in the Bank.
We get an interview with Sami Zayn who is overjoyed at what he did to Kevin Owens at Hell in a Cell and calls it the greatest moment of his life, however, he is then informed that next week he will be facing Kevin Owens in a Money in the Bank Qualifying match and just that quickly Zayn is miserable once again. We later see Zayn storm into the office of Adam Pearce wanting to know what is going on and then suggests that Pearce just put him in the Money in the Bank match but Pearce declines that offer. Zayn continues to pester Pearce until Pearce gets enough and tells Zayn that the match against KO will be a Last Man Standing match.
Sonya Deville is in the ring to name the first woman from SmackDown to be entered into the Women’s Money in the Bank match because the SmackDown women’s roster is so depleted that they don’t have enough women to even do qualifying matches. Sonya would announce Carmella as the first entrant. Carmella comes out dressed like the sexiest cow I have ever seen. Carmella wants Sonya to reintroduce her as “The Most Beautiful Woman in the WWE” but before Sonya has time to reply, out comes Liv Morgan. Liv has a problem with Carmella being automatically entered into the match when she beat her last week and thinks she belongs more than Carmella. Carmella runs down Liv’s looks compared to hers and this is enough for Liv to deck her and Sonya has to get in between them. Sonya makes a match between Carmella and Liv and tells Liv to prove she belongs in the Money in the Bank match.
The match is joined in progress with Liv and Carmella fighting on the outside and when they get back into the ring Carmella connects with a couple of superkicks in the corner but Liv fights back and is even able to hit Oblivion but that only gets a 2 count. Carmella gets Liv in the corner and goes for the headstand hurricanrana but Liv counters it into a rollup and picks up the win. Not sure what the point of this match was as even though Liv won she wasn’t put in the match although she definitely will be in the match because SmackDown doesn’t have enough women for the match without Liv being in it. I am curious who the other two women in the match are going to be as I guess they could bring Sasha back to make 3 but that 4th spot is a mystery unless they really surprise us and have Becky take that 4th spot. I would love to see Liv win the Money in the Bank as this poor girl deserves it after having her best friend taken away from her and from all accounts everyone absolutely loves Liv in the locker room and have nothing bad to say about her, I think they could do some fun things with Liv having the briefcase.
Jimmy Uso is facing Dolph Ziggler up next and they have a decent match but they are capable of a lot better, the main spot in the match was when Ziggler looked to hit a Zig Zag on the outside but something went wrong and Jimmy’s back landed right on the edge of the steps and it looked like it really hurt. The finish comes when Ziggler goes for a Zig Zag, but it gets reversed into a powerbomb which Ziggler counters into a sunset flip for a 2 count, but when Uso gets to his feet he connects with the Superkick to pick up the win.
Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman come to the ring for the state of the Universal Championship and after a recap video of what Reigns did to the Mysterios we get Heyman on the mic and he runs down all of the people Reigns has conquered since becoming Universal Champion. Heyman says that since Reigns has gone through everyone he is going to have to make an unprecedented announcement, Heyman goes to hand over the mic to Reigns but before he can say a word we hear the music of Edge who is making his return to SmackDown.
Edge storms down to the ring and the fight is on as Edge knocks Reigns to the outside and hits him with a diving clothesline off the apron and then he slams his head into the announce table repeatedly. Reigns is thrown back into the ring and when Edge enters he is hit with the Superman Punch. Reigns goes to the outside to grab a chair but when he reenters the ring he is met with a Spear by Edge. Edge is looking to pay Reigns back for hitting him with a Con-Chair-To but as he goes to hit Reigns he is cut off by Jimmy Uso but Edge takes care of him by Spearing him through the barricade. Edge gets back in the ring but Reigns has escaped and is at the top of the ramp.
Edge looks into the camera and in the dumbest moment of the night, he screams “Where You At Roman”, um Edge if you turn your head to the right you will see he is standing at the top of the ramp. I am fine with Edge being the next challenger for Reigns as there is nobody on the roster left and seeing as Edge never got his one-on-one match it makes perfect sense that he would want to challenge Reigns plus as we saw on the show he wants revenge for Reigns hitting him with the Con-Chair-To. I wonder if Jimmy coming to help Reigns and serving as a distraction long enough for Reigns to escape is enough for Reigns to believe he can be the right-hand man? I predict that after Reigns beats Edge at Money in the Bank he will do another one of these segments where it seems like he has no challengers and that will be when John Cena makes his long-awaited return.
In the News
The all-powerful Nick Khan decided today that the budget still hasn’t been cut enough so he would call for more people to lose their jobs. In this wave of cuts, they pretty much gutted the 205 Live brand as they released Tony Nese, Ariya Daivari, August Grey, The Bollywood Boyz (Samir & Sunil Singh), & Curt Stallion. In addition to those cruiserweights, we also got the releases of Tyler Breeze, Fandango, Killian Dain, Arturo Ruas, Marina Shafir, and the team of Chase Parker & Matt Martel (Ever-Rise).
For myself I have to say that the release that bummed me out the most is Killian Dain as I thought his team with Drake Maverick was a lot of fun and in general, I thought all of Dain’s work was really good and he had a very unique look. It’s also going to be sad to no longer see Breezango on WWE TV as they were always a lot of fun and whether we talk about their time as a team or on their own, neither failed to entertain every time they were in the ring. A lot of the names in this wave of cuts never really got the chance to show what they had to offer to a wide audience as they were either stuck on 205 Live (Curt Stallion & August Grey) which is a show that nobody watches including myself or they were on and off TV in the blink of an eye without ever having a chance for the fans to get interested or invested in them (Arturo Ruas & Marina Shafir). There is so much talent on the list of released talent and I have no doubt that all of them will find success elsewhere and will greatly benefit whichever company that decides to sign them.
In addition to the talent that was released, they also released a writer by the name of Kenice Mobley. Kenice had joined the company as a writer for Raw, but before she started the job she appeared on a podcast where she admitted that WWE hired her without her knowing anything about WWE or pro wrestling in general. This statement by Kenice would set wrestling Twitter on fire as people freaked out that WWE hired someone to write for one of their shows without that person knowing anything about the company, but it’s really not that big of a deal seeing as more than likely WWE’s creative team over the past 20 years has been mostly made up of people who know nothing about wrestling. WWE for the longest time has not considered itself a wrestling company as they are an entertainment company that just happens to consist of pro wrestling and when they look for writers they want someone who comes from the entertainment world and can write episodic TV. WWE just doesn’t want someone to admit they work there and know nothing about the product and that is most likely why Kenice lost her job, unfortunately.
There seems to be trouble in paradise as both Fox and NBC are unhappy with a few recent decisions WWE has made with its programming, according to Dave Meltzer NBC was upset that WWE removed the Roman Reigns vs Rey Mysterio Hell in a Cell match from the PPV (as it would’ve aired on their Peacock streaming service) and instead put it on free television for Fox. On the flip side, Fox is upset that WWE continues to promote NBC’s Peacock so much on their network. It looks like those within WWE are going to have to figure out a way to make both of their broadcasting partners happy.
On Tuesday afternoon while taking over NXT’s Instagram one of my favorites Toni Storm came out as bisexual. Toni is currently dating Juice Robinson of NJPW and Impact Wrestling and was even wearing one of his hats during this video where she came out.
WWE is heading back to Madison Square Garden on September 10 for an episode of SmackDown although WWE’s choice of venue over the past few years in New York has been the Barclays Center they still consider MSG to be their home arena.
On this week’s episode of Main Event, we saw two NXT Champions in action as both Bronson Reed and Karrion Kross were on the show, and from all reports it looks like they are set to debut on Raw or SmackDown in the near future, perhaps as soon as the scheduled WWE draft which is set to happen on the August 30 episode of Raw and the September 3 episode of SmackDown. It should be noted that Kross was without Scarlett by his side and he also didn’t get his usual elaborate NXT entrance which was very strange as he came out looking very generic.
In the NXT UK section above I talk about how they need to wait for the fans to return before they do the Walter vs Ilja Dragunov rematch, well it doesn’t look like they will have to wait too long as WWE are set to have their return tour of the UK this September. The tour will feature the SmackDown brand and they will be headed to Newcastle (9/19), London (9/20), Cardiff (9/21), & Glasgow (9/22). While these are main roster shows the fact that they are allowing fans back in the UK means that it can’t be too long before NXT UK is back with an audience.
Coming up this Week
Raw:
- Drew McIntyre vs AJ Styles vs Randy Orton (Money in the Bank Qualifying Last Chance Match)
- Rhea Ripley, Mandy Rose, & Dana Brooke vs Charlotte Flair, Natalya, & Tamina
- Elias vs Jaxson Ryker (Strap Match)
- Kofi Kingston and MVP go Face-to-Face
NXT:
- Zoey Stark & Io Shirai vs Ember Moon & Shotzi Blackheart vs Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez
- Mercedes Martinez & Jake Atlas vs Tian Sha w/ Yei Ming
- Tommaso Ciampa & Timothy Thatcher face-off with MSK
NXT UK
- Tyler Bate vs Jack Starz – Heritage Cup Championship
- A-Kid vs Jordan Devlin
- Meiko Satomura speaks to the NXT UK Universe
SmackDown:
- Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn – Last Man Standing Match – Money in the Bank Qualifying Match
As always if you have any feedback to give whether it be positive or negative please feel free to contact me on Twitter @MTW3589.
