WWE Champions Corner (18-19 Jun): Let’s Get Rowdy

We’re fresh from a very good MITB PPV, and the champions are looking for their next set of challengers. Did they find what they were after? Let’s take a look.

WWE Raw Champions

The Universal Title

Well I’ll be damned, there’s actually something to report on the big red belt this week. There’s still no Lesnar, but hey, news is news.

Raw GM Kurt Angle announced this week that there will be a multi-man match at the Extreme Rules PPV to determine the no.1 contender to the Universal Championship. Angle said he will reveal all the participants at a later date, but due to interruptions, he told Bobby Lashley and Roman Reigns they will be contesting in the bout.

So it seems like WWE really are keeping the champion off-screen until SummerSlam. I don’t know why the Raw superstars even want the Universal Title; it ain’t exactly prestigious. Perhaps the worst thing about Lesnar being gone until next month is that Braun Strowman can’t tease a MITB cash-in for ages. Roll on SummerSlam, and let’s get a full-time champ already.

 

The Intercontinental Title

Fresh from his victory over Elias at Money in the Bank, “The Kingslayer” issued another open challenge for his Intercontinental Championship, and the call was answered by none other than Dolph Ziggler.

Rollins and Ziggler had a really good match, much like you’d expect from two of the hardest workers in WWE. Towards the end, Drew McIntyre started to climb the apron to distract Rollins. Taking advantage of the situation, “The Show-off” rolled the champion up. Seth countered into his own pin before Ziggler rolled through again to score the pinfall, becoming the new IC Champ in the process.

This feels really out of the blue. Seth was killing it as champion, and Elias proved to be an excellent potential successor to the title in their match on Sunday. Why WWE decided to put the belt on Ziggler is anyone’s guess. Next week, Rollins is invoking his rematch clause, and as much as I enjoyed his run with the title, I hope “The Architect” doesn’t win it back. It’d make everything that happened this week pointless, and without the IC Championship around his waist, Rollins can enter the match at Extreme Rules to crown a new contender to the Universal Championship.

 

The Raw Women’s Title

About two hours after becoming Ms. Money in the Bank, Alexa Bliss cashed in her contract on Nia Jax to become Raw Women’s Champion, but this week’s Raw was anything but a cause for celebration. Bliss may have took Nia out, but there was one other woman who “The Goddess” screwed over at MITB: Ronda Rousey.

Irate at the attack from Bliss on Sunday — and the condescending remarks about being an over-hyped rookie — Rousey obliterated the champ with punches, strikes with the Money in the Bank briefcase, and a powerbomb through a table. “The Baddest Woman on the Planet” even went to town on Kurt Angle and a bunch of refs. The beatdown earned her a 30-day suspension, but Rousey promised to finish the job she started.

This was so explosive and I mean that in a really good way. “The Rowdy One” may have been pushed into the title scene too soon, but after all my doubts, WWE handled the booking very well. The former champ Nia Jax was selling her injuries this week so she didn’t appear on the show, but we do know that come Extreme Rules, Jax will invoke her rematch clause against “The Goddess”. Something tells me though that Ronda Rousey won’t care if Alexa Bliss is holding the title or not after the next PPV; she’s gonna destroy Bliss just for the retribution.

 

The Raw Tag Team Titles

The B-Team secured a shot at the Raw Tag Team Titles a few weeks ago, but the match hasn’t been set yet. In the mean time, Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel played a few mind games of their own with Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt.

The champs were ready to square off against Heath Slater & Rhyno, but the big screen cut to Dallas & Axel cosplaying as The Deleters of Worlds — and it was damn funny. Unsurprisingly, Bo does a very good impression of his real-life brother. After the mocking, Matt & Bray went on to beat Slater & Rhyno in a bog-standard match.

I’m enjoying The B-Team so much that I’m rooting for them to take home the straps. They’re great in-ring workers, they’re funny, and they’ve won the crowd over. As good as the current champions are, it feels like they’ve already been usurped as the fans’ favourite odd couple; whether WWE are in agreement with the fans is another story altogether, though.

 

The Cruiserweight Title

Cedric wasn’t in action this week, but the main competitors for his title sure were. In the main event of 205 Live, Hideo Itami went out to prove he belonged in the title picture by facing Mustafa Ali and Buddy Murphy in a triple threat match.

So many highlights, there were just so many. From the reverse hurricanrana and DDT combination from Ali to Murphy, to the Spanish fly from the announcers’ desk, and then to a brutal dropkick from Itami to “The Heart of 205 Live” into an exposed turnbuckle, this match was damn awesome. The dropkick earned Itami the victory, and surely he has made his point to the GM Drake Maverick: Itami is ready for the title.

Though it isn’t official, the Japanese cruiserweight has to be considered the no.1 contender to Cedric’s championship. It’ll be one hell of a match so please God book it already!

WWE SmackDown Live Champions

The WWE Title

AJ Styles is done with Shinsuke Nakamura, and now he needs a new opponent for Extreme Rules. Thanks to SDL GM Paige, a five-man gauntlet match closed the show to crown a new no.1 contender.

Things kicked off with Daniel Bryan scoring back-to-back victories over Big E and Samoa Joe. Before he could face The Miz, The Bludgeon Brothers took out Bryan, leaving “The Awesome One” to pick up the scraps. Finally, Miz squared off against Rusev, and in a shock twist, Rusev won with the Accolade, and he will now challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship. “The Phenomenal One” came out to shake the Bulgarian’s hand, and thanks to a little cheekiness from Aiden English, WWE’s residential bard got sucker punched by Styles.

Do yourself a favour and watch the gauntlet bout. Every competitor was booked perfectly, and every match was simply a joy to watch. It’s great to see Rusev in the spotlight; if there’s one star on the roster that really deserved the win, it’s Rusev. Although “The Bulgarian Brute” is most likely a fill-in contender to bridge the gap between now and SummerSlam, I think he could turn a lot of heads backstage once the dust has settled.

 

The US Title

After the brutal attack from Shinsuke Nakamura last week, the US Champ Jeff Hardy had a few choice words for the Japanese superstar.

Facing the completely wrong way from the camera, Jeff cut a rambling promo about how the Kinshasa he took opened his eyes. “The Charismatic Enigma” then turned the right way and revealed his old-school face paint, saying he can see Nakamura.

I’m probably in the minority here, but I didn’t like this promo one bit. I spent most of it wondering if Hardy was intoxicated. When all is said and done though, a feud between two of the most charismatic guys on the roster could really do wonders for the US Championship. I’m willing to let this one pan out.

 

The SmackDown Women’s Title

Carmella retained her championship against Asuka at Money in the Bank thanks to some help from the returning James Ellsworth, but “The Empress of Tomorrow” is far from done with “The Princess of Staten Island.”

‘Mella hit the ring to gloat about her victory, and Ellsworth came out to be as subservient as ever. Asuka then stormed the ramp to shut the pair up. Asuka knocked “The Chinless Wonder” down with a spinning heel kick, but was dropped herself courtesy of a superkick from Carmella. Not wanting to stay in the ring any second longer, the SD Women’s Champion dragged her odd man-slave with her to the back to end the segment.

I kind of wanted this to be the end of the feud between Carmella and Asuka. I feel as though ‘Mella should’ve run through one or two lesser stars in the division before losing the strap to Asuka, but that’s obviously not the way things are going. I can’t see what else there is to do in this feud, even with Ellsworth back in the mix. Hopefully, this peters out after Extreme Rules so we can get a damn good rivalry between someone else for SummerSlam.

 

The SmackDown Tag Team Titles

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson failed to capture the SmackDown Tag Team Titles from The Bludgeon Brothers at MITB, but they were hoping to turn their luck around this week.

Much like their MITB match, this was very good. Nice storytelling, great action, and the crowd was into it. But once again, Harper & Rowan proved to be too hard to beat, and they remain your SD Tag Team Champions. What’s interesting is what happened post-match. Daniel Bryan started to make his entrance for the gauntlet match before The Bludgeon Brothers had left the ring area. After a stare down, Bryan pushed Harper & Rowan to the back of his mind, and set his sights on Big E. Later on, the champs would attack “The Yes Man,” costing him a WWE Championship opportunity.

It seems like WWE are going to be pairing Bryan up with a mystery partner at some point to take on The Bludgeon Brothers. With Sheamus & Cesaro and The New Day free from feuds, I feel like WWE have taken a wrong turn in putting Bryan in the mix. I’ll never complain about D-Bry having a title to contend for, but this is odd. Who knows, maybe Kane is coming back quicker than we thought, and we’ll get The Bludgeon Brothers vs. Team Hell No over the summer.

And that rounds up a pretty good week in WWE. Of course, there were a few issues, but overall, I think Extreme Rules and SummerSlam are shaping up into must-see PPVs.