Cody Rhodes arrives home, Gunther VS Matt Riddle
Cody Rhodes kicked off the show to a big hometown pop before the American Nightmare called out Brock Lesnar to accept his challenge for Summerslam. However, the Beast didn’t respond so Cody went on to talk about his family and specifically, his mother. Brock Lesnar’s music then hit, but the Conquer didn’t show up so Rhodes went over to hug his family who were sitting in the front row. As Cody walked up the aisleway, Brock Lesnar’s music started playing again before Cody ran into the back. This didn’t work out very well for the American Nightmare as Brock started whaling on his rival with Steel Chair shots before he delivered an F5 to Rhodes in front of his mother. Lesnar then locked in the Kimura as all of Rhodes’ family were forced to watch on helplessly. The best part about all of this was the younger kids were shouting “You Suck” at Brock, and Lesnar was just laughing at them! The Beast then chucked Cody into the ring before he once again locked in the Kimura Lock before he accepted the American Nightmare’s challenge for a match at Summerslam. A third match makes sense between the two and I’m sure it’ll be decent.
Grade: C+
The first match of the night then took place as Matt Riddle looked to pick up a massive victory against the Intercontinental Champion Gunther. The advantage that Riddle had entering this match was both Ludwig Kaiser and Giovanni Vinci were banned from ringside and to be fair to Kaiser and Vinci, they stayed in the back (which makes sense because they’re all about rules). The match between Gunther and Matt Riddle was arguably better than their one at Money in the Bank and it certainly felt a lot more hard-hitting. One sequence in the match was particularly good as the Original Bro kept kicking Gunther whilst the Ring General kept chopping Riddle. In the end, Gunther got the knees up when Riddle tried to hit the Floating Bro before the most-dominant Intercontinental Champion ever finished his rival off with the Powerbomb. After the match, Gunther stood on top of the announce table and cut a promo about how he’ll beat anyone, and that includes Drew McIntyre. When you combine the match and Gunther’s post-match promo, this was all pretty good.
Grade: B
The Judgment Day arrive, WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships: Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez VS Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville, Seth “Freakin” Rollins Interview
The WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Liv Morgan and Raquel Rodriguez were being interviewed backstage before Women’s World Champion Rhea Ripley walked in and just headbutted Liv. Rhea and Raquel then brawled before Ripley attacked and injured the lower leg of Raquel Rodriguez. This then led to The Judgment Day coming down to the ring as Rhea Ripley talked about how soon enough, all members of The Judgment Day are going to be wearing Championship gold. Damian Priest then made it very clear that Dominik Mysterio is going to become the new NXT North American Champion tonight before the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn arrived. After a bit of back and forth, Kevin Owens accepted Senor Money in the Bank’s challenge for the Tag Team Championships to be put on the line tonight. This was all totally fine and everyone is really good in their roles.
Grade: C+
Raquel Rodriguez refused to relinquish her WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship so Adam Pearce agreed that Raquel and Liv Morgan’s Championship defence against Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville would still continue. That match was actually on next and it started off with Raquel being in control of her smaller opponents. Rodriguez then tagged in Liv Morgan who hit Chelsea Green with the ObLIVion, but Sonya Deville was able to break the pinfall up with a wicked Knee Strike. Sonya then took out Raquel Rodriguez by targeting her weakened leg before Chelsea hit the “Un-Pretty-Her”, but somehow, Morgan was able to kick out. However, Deville then tagged herself in before Green hit another “Un-Pretty-Her” before the Jersey Devil nailed Morgan with another Knee to score the victory meaning Chelsea Green and Sonya Deville are the brand-new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions. I thought this was a totally fine match, it started off a little slowly, but the drama definitely picked up in the final few minutes. However, my overall feeling towards this match is positive due to Green and Deville becoming Champions. Chelsea Green left WWE, re-invented herself on the Indies (and Impact Wrestling) and now she’s a Champion in WWE which is amazing whilst Sonya Deville has deserved this moment ever since she debuted on the main roster alongside Mandy Rose (and Paige) in Absolution.
Grade: B-
Byron Saxton caught up with the brand-new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions backstage and he stupidly tried to undermine Chelsea and Sonya’s victory. I’m sorry, but this was the first time I think ever that I’ve really not liked Byron Saxton. Seth “Freakin” Rollins was then meant to do a sit-down interview with Saxton and the Visionary went over all of his potential challengers for Summerslam. However, it didn’t last long as Finn Balor walked in meaning Saxton left (good). What followed was a brilliant, back-and-forth exchange between two people that really don’t like each other. Finn just wants to take Seth’s career away from him whilst the World Heavyweight Champion made it clear that the title is more important than either of them which I found to be a really interesting thing to say. Finn then left, but it was all a ruse as he attacked Seth from behind. I liked this a lot, it was yet another really good promo exchange between two top performers. Their match at Summerslam has now been made official and that seems fitting considering that’s where this all started.
Grade: B
Alpha Academy VS The Viking Raiders: Viking Rules Match, Shayna Baszler VS Nikki Cross
It was then time for a “Viking Rules Match” as Alpha Academy’s Chad Gable and Otis went to battle against Erik and Ivar of the Viking Raiders. This match was pretty mad from start to finish whether that be Chad Gable Suplexing Ivar or Otis catching and dropping Ivar with a body slam. The big moment of the match came when Maxxine Dupri won her jacket back, but she celebrated too much before Valhalla sent her crashing through the table. The VR then threw Master Gable head-first into a Viking Shield (it broke in half) and this all angered the Number 1 Guy as he went on an absolute tear. However, it was all for naught as Valhalla hit Otise in the face before Erik and Ivar hit a thunderous Ragnarok to pick up the victory. Whilst I’m not sure about the Raiders winning, I did enjoy the match itself. However, it has to get a downgrade due to Titus O’Neil being incredibly annoying on commentary (yet again).
Grade: B-
The next match took place between Shayna Baszler and Nikki Cross. It went literally about 20-30 seconds and it saw Shayna Baszler win with the Kirifuda Clutch. The crazy thing is this match was so short, it was over before I’d written the match down on my page! After the match, Ronda Rousey cut a promo from a skybox about how she’s better than Shayna Baszler and this angered Baszler so the Queen of Spades went to go to Ronda. However, security stopped her before the Baddest Woman on the Planet challenged Shayna to a match at Summerslam. I’m fine with that as long as Shayna Baszler wins.
Grade: C+
Miz TV, Bronson Reed VS Shinsuke Nakamura
Ricochet cut a backstage promo where he challenged Logan Paul to meet him in the middle of the ring next week. It was then time for the return of Miz TV as The Miz welcomed his guest Becky Lynch. Becky wasn’t in the mood to chat though as the Man chucked the chairs out of the ring before she got very angry at her Marine 6 co-star. The Miz’s selling of this was superb before he welcomed out his special guests Trish Stratus and Zoey Stark. Becky demanded a match with Trish and Stratus accepted, but only if Lynch is able to beat Zoey Stark next week. She also had other conditions before the Hall of Famer and Stark attacked Lynch. However, this backfired as Becky knocked Trish’s protective mask off before she put it on and headbutted Zoey with it. I actually thought this was a good edition of Miz TV. The Miz played his role well whilst Becky’s promo was really good. Also, Lynch putting the protective mask on to attack Stark was really smart.
Grade: B-
The next match saw Shinsuke Nakamura and Bronson Reed renew their rivalry. Bronson and Shinsuke have decent chemistry and they put on an alright match, but the match itself wasn’t the main talking point. The ending saw Tommaso Ciampa arrive and attack Bronson which caused the DQ to the delight of the Big Aussie. Ciampa then turned to Nakamura who was angry and the King of Strong Style kicked the Blackheart. I liked this because Shin should be annoyed with Ciampa, whether they’re both Babyfaces or not.
Grade: C+
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships: Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn VS The Judgment Day
Bryon Saxton interviewed Shinsuke Nakamura backstage and Shinsuke was clearly pretty angry at him. I’m intrigued to see where this goes. It was then time for the main event as Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn put their Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships on the line against The Judgment Day’s Dominik Mysterio and Senor Money in the Bank Damian Priest. Seth “Freakin” Rollins arrived before the match started to take out Finn Balor which definitely helped Kevin and Sami. The match itself was pretty solid and whilst it had a few near-falls, you knew who was going to win. However, Rhea Ripley tried her hardest to help her partners win before Liv Morgan arrived to take her out. This was smart for multiple reasons. This also distracted Dominik who got hit with the Helluva Kick from Sami Zayn after KO Stunned Damian Priest meaning the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions retained their titles. When you combine the in-ring action and the two other storylines that were furthered around this contest, it was actually pretty decent. Also, shootout to Damian Priest who is working on another level right now.
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