You know the drill. We have champions and they need to be discussed. Let’s get to it.
WWE Raw Champions
The Universal Title
I was excited last week because there was some actual news on the absent title and the champion. Fast forward seven days later, and now I’m fairly certain I’ll never be excited about the Universal Championship again.
In a “contract dispute” (whatever the hell that is meant to mean) Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman and claiming they have no faith in WWE finding The Beast Incarnate a suitable challenger. Because of this, Kurt Angle nixed the multi-man match at Extreme Rules to find a no.1 contender. Instead, it looks like we’re getting a feud between Roman Reigns and Bobby Lashley.
I don’t understand what game WWE is playing, but I’m not having it. If Brock Lesnar ends up missing SummerSlam then surely, surely, the fans are going to riot.
The Intercontinental Title
Invoking his rematch clause for the Intercontinental Championship, Seth Rollins faced Dolph Ziggler in a thrilling main event… well, thrilling until the end segment.
Every match for the IC Title has been incredible for quite some time now, and the rematch between Ziggler and Rollins was no exception. Their desire to put on such a spectacular bout on free TV has to be admired. Then we got near the end, and WWE did what they did best; cock things up.
It looked like The Architect was going to take back the strap when The Show-Off’s running mate Drew McIntyre pulled the ref out of the ring for a DQ finish, meaning Ziggler retained the title. That was problem numero uno. After that, Roman Reigns came down to the ring to clear house. Apparently getting rolled up earlier in the night by The Revival didn’t make him look strong so obviously he had to get the better of Ziggler and McIntyre for no reason. Dolph and Drew made their way to the back, the champ goading about still holding the title.
It was a terrible end to a fantastic match. Again, I don’t know what Vince & Co. are playing at, but a screwy finish to a title match and more screen time for The Big Dog”are just two ways to devalue the strap that has gained so much prestige in recent months.
The Raw Women’s Title
Alexa Bliss may have been destroyed by Ronda Rousey last week, but with The Baddest Woman on the Planet sat at home, the champ decided to unleash a tirade on Rousey uninterrupted — for a while, at least.
Alexa’s promo was nothing we haven’t heard before. Like Carmella on SmackDown, The Goddess is great on the mic, but why can’t the female champs get better scripts? Sick of her rants, Natalya came out to tell Little Miss Bliss they’re having a match, and in Natalya’s corner is the former champ, Nia Jax.
It was a fairly bland match; Natalya can work well with anyone, but this fell flat. Towards the end, Mickie James and Nia Jax interfered slightly to throw Natalya and Bliss off their game respectively. Taking full advantage of Nia’s help, The Queen of Harts locked in the Sharpshooter to make the champ tap out.
I sort of get the booking behind this, but that doesn’t mean it was enjoyable. Bliss came across looking a tad weak, but then again, she performs her best work when she’s on the back foot. Natalya and The Irresistible Force got a measure of revenge, but I didn’t see the overall point because nothing was really achieved. It’ll be interesting to see what happens next week though, just to see how Bliss bounces back.
The Raw Tag Team Champions
The B-Team finally have a date for their dance with the Raw Tag Team Champions. At Extreme Rules, Matt & Bray will take on Dallas & Axel with their titles on the line, and the challengers don’t appear fazed even one little bit.
Before a singles match between Matt and Axel, The B-Team continued their excellent cosplaying. If you want to see comedy done right in wrestling, make sure to watch this promo. In the ring, the match was short and not really a match at all. In a surprise twist of fate (pun definitely intended), Curtis Axel got the victory when The Woken One slipped off the top rope, and the son of Mr. Perfect fell on top of Matt for the three count.
It was funny, different, and I liked it. What more is there to say other than “Go, B-Team!”
The Cruiserweight Title
Cedric Alexander was on the lookout for his next challenger on this week’s 205 Live, and he has his eyes set on one man; Hideo Itami.
The champ had a discussion with GM Drake Maverick about who will be next to step up and face him. Although Maverick seemed reluctant to reward Itami’s recent behaviour with a title shot, Alexander made the point that as champion, he needs to take on everyone to build his own legacy.
Later on, The Soul of 205 Live had a brief altercation with the former NXT superstar, which had to be resolved by Maverick and nearby referees.
It might not have been an exciting week for the champ as once again he didn’t compete on the show, but with a match with Hideo Itami on the horizon, things are about to get very interesting indeed.
WWE Smackdown Live Champions
The WWE Title
The Bulgarian Brute had a warm-up match this week against Xavier Woods to get in fighting shape for his WWE Championship bout against AJ Styles at Extreme Rules.
This ended up being a very good match. Woods got the upper hand to start with but Rusev soon began to dominate. The New Day’s resident trombone aficionado made a slight comeback, but a Machka kick followed by the Accolade put Woods out of action. After the match, The Lion of Bulgaria said he was coming for AJ, but he did so in a way that was more heelish than anything. So much for that face turn we all thought was coming.
The champ wasn’t around for this week’s broadcast, but I do like how the challenger is coming across as a credible threat. If only WWE stopped flip-flopping on Rusev’s face turn…
The US Title
In what has to be the craziest yet most legitimate reason for backing out of a match, the scheduled US Title bout between champion Jeff Hardy and the challenger Shinsuke Nakamura was cancelled because an arena security dog tried to take a chunk out of Nakamura’s leg. In that match’s place, Hardy issued an open challenge and out came Eric Young.
The match was going well until The Usos came out to brawl with Young’s fellow Sanity members. The bout was thrown out and replaced with a six-man tag match instead. That match was also really good and ended with Hardy picking up the win over Alexander Wolfe.
Strictly speaking all the in-ring action was great but I do have to question some of the logic. If they never intended on moving the US Title to someone else, why did Eric Young step up? This would’ve been a great opportunity for a guy like Tye Dillenger to fill the gap until Nakamura is cleared to compete. Secondly, why is Sanity on the losing end of a six-man tag match? Surely that’s their wheelhouse, and with it being so early in their career, they really need to pick up victories to look like a serious threat. It wasn’t bad by any means; I’m just confused about why it all happened.
The SmackDown Women’s Title
No Carmella, no Asuka, just James Ellsworth. How could you possibly want more?
With neither woman on Tuesday’s broadcast, Ellsworth cut a promo about how mean and nasty The Empress of Tomorrow was to him and the champion last week. It wasn’t long before SD GM Paige came out to silence The Chinless Wonder. After a brief moment of pretty funny flirting by Ellsworth, Paige booked him to face Asuka next week before The Empress’s rematch with ‘Mella at Extreme Rules.
Considering every Carmella promo has been a copy and paste job, Jimmy E’s solo delivery was very refreshing. I don’t really want to see Asuka face The Princess of Staten Island again, but I’m very much looking forward to seeing her obliterate Ellsworth. Well done, SmackDown, you have my full attention.
The SmackDown Tag Team Titles
And so we come to the feel-good moment of the year so far. After his altercation with The Bludgeon Brothers last week — and with The Miz adding fuel to the fire on Tuesday’s episode — Daniel Bryan squared off with Harper in the main event.
As expected, it was a great bout. Also to be expected, it ended in a DQ thanks to Rowan. The Bludgeon Brothers took to beating Bryan senseless when Kane made his surprise return to WWE. Together, Kane & Bryan took out Harper & Rowan, culminating in the two hugging it out to the crowd’s Yes! chants. Paige didn’t waste a single minute. She came out to announce that The Bludgeon Brothers will defend their titles at Extreme Rules against the reformed Team Hell No!
What can I say? This made me smile. This could be Kane’s last hurrah before he goes on to do great things as Knox County Mayor, and it’s a great way to keep Bryan relevant even though he’s not in the WWE Championship picture. Not a bad call at all.
So we’re done for another week. It’s been a mixture of good wrestling with bad booking in my humble opinion. If we can get more action like this next week but less DQ finishes, I’ll be very happy indeed.
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