RAW NXT & SmackDown | Recap #9

Hi and welcome back to the blog for another recap of the weeks events on WWE TV. Let's start with Monday Night RAW. There was an actual crowd, when I say crowd, I mean, they were development talent currently training at the PC.

The show started off with the "KO Show" Kevin Owens guest was The RAW Women's Champion. Asuka. They were interrupted by NXT Women's Champion. Charlotte. Followed by Natalya and Nia Jax leading to a fight. This was done to build up to the number one contenders triple threat match later on.

Apollo Crews defeated Andrade to become the NEW United States Champion. Congratulations to him on winning his first title in WWE. There have been rumors of Crews turning heel. I believe that will happen, I just do not know when.

Seth Rollins was backstage talking about Rey Mysterio. Standard heel promo. Nothing special to be honest. It's probably leading to a match between the two.

The IIconics were in the ring to talk about last weeks events & were interrupted by Women's Tag Team Champions. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. The Australian duo beat up the champions.

MVP hosted the V.I.P Lounge. Drew McIntyre was his guest. Drew gave MVP a Claymore Kick to end the segment.

Angel Garza defeated Kevin Owens.

The Street Profits took on Viking Raiders in a game of Golf.

Austin Theory & Murphy defeated Humberto Carrillo & Aleister Black.

Nia Jax defeated Charlotte & Natalya in the triple threat number one contenders match for the RAW Women's Championship. She will face Asuka at Backlash.

Ric Flair made an appearance on the show to predict the outcome of the upcoming Edge vs. Orton match at Backlash.

Liv Morgan cut a backstage promo.

RAW Tag Team Champions. Street Profits defeated MVP & Bobby Lashley by DQ. Lashley put a submission hold on Montez Ford until Drew McIntyre walked out and then he and Lashley fought each other. They were eventually separated.

Let's talk about NXT.

Drake Maverick defeated Jake Atlas & Kushida to qualify for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament Final where he will take on El Hijo Del Fantasma next week.

Johnny Gargano defeated Adrian Alanis. After the match, Mia Yim & Keith Lee mocked the the recent "Dinner with the Gargano's" segments.

Raquel Gonzalez defeated Shotzi Blackheart with help by Dakota Kai after the official was distracted by Tegan Nox and Candice LeRae's confrontation outside of the ring.

Charlotte and a mystery tag team partner, who was revealed to be Chelsea Green, defeated Io Shirai & Rhea Ripley.

There was a negotiations segment between General Manager, William Regal & NXT Champion Adam Cole. Regal announced it will be Cole vs. Dream for NXT Championship at TakeOver in an unknown location. And if Dream loses he will not get another title opportunity against the current champion.

Tommaso Ciampa defeated Leon Ruff. Scarlett was ringside for this match. Karrion Kross talked about their upcoming match at TakeOver. TICK-TOCK!

Kurt Angle was the referee for the "FIGHT PIT" Cage Match where  Timothy Thatcher defeated Matt Riddle. Check out this match if you haven't seen it.

SmackDown began at the scene of a car accident. Elias was hurt and on a stretcher, there was a rental car involved in the incident, which was believed to be Jeff Hardy's who was found injured nearby. He was taken to a police station. Braun was a witness and spoke about what he saw. This clearly was a set up, by who? It's got to be Sheamus. That was my immediate thought after watching this.

Because Jeff was taken to the station and Elias was taken to hospital, there was a 10 Man Over the Top Rope Battle Royal with the winner facing Daniel Bryan in the final of the Intercontinental Championship Tournament later on. Drew Gulak was involved in this match after reportedly re-signing with the company. Sheamus won to go through to the final by lastly eliminating Jey Uso.

Lacey Evans vs. Sonya Deville ended in a double countout.

Nikki Cross & Alexa Bliss hosted "A moment of Bliss" their guests were Big E & Kofi. They were interrupted by Bayley & Sasha which led to Sasha defeating Alexa in an impromptu match. Shorty G defeated Cesaro. Kurt Angle revealed that Matt Riddle was on his way SmackDown. It'll be interesting to see who the "Original Bro" will face in his first storyline on the Main Roster.

Daniel Bryan defeated Sheamus in the main event after the Irishman was distracted by a returning Jeff Hardy. Bryan will face Styles in two weeks for the Intercontinental Championship.

This episode of SmackDown was the best one I've seen after a long time, probably since the build up to Survivor Series where the NXT roster took over the show. After much consideration there will not be a recap released next Saturday (6th June) The recap will be return a week later as NXT TakeOver: In Your House is next Sunday so there will be a predictions blog released prior to that event. Thanks for reading. 

RAW NXT & SmackDown | Recap #8

RAW began with an excellent video package of Becky's greatest moments of her career, including her announcement last week.

Edge accepted Randy Orton's challenge for a wrestling match at Backlash. I have already made my prediction for the outcome of this match, however, you will have to wait for the predictions blog in a few weeks time. 

Seth Rollins talked about why he attacked Rey Mysterio last week, he said that it was unfortunate but necessary, a sacrifice for the greater good (his words not mine) he said it was a cathartic moment for clarity he needed to be the leader he was meant to be. (Who wrote this please?) he spoke to Rey through the camera and said what happened to him was a blessing in disguise and said Rey was welcome. Humberto Carrillo interrupted and said Rollins was a coward. An impromptu match between Carrillo and Murphy was made, Murphy went on to win. Before Murphy could beat up Carrillo, Aleister Black made the save. They will meet later on. 

Liv Morgan cut a backstage promo. 

Charlotte defeated Ruby Riott. 

MVP talked to Bobby Lashley backstage. Edge vs. Orton was made official for next month. 

Street Profits took on Viking Raiders in a Axe Throwing competition. There were clips shown throughout the show.

It was time for Asuka to celebrate becoming RAW Women's Champion. Nia crashed the party, Asuka went after Nia who then walked away. Standard face and heel segment here.

Bobby Lashley defeated R-Truth.

Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross successfully defended their Women's Tag Team Championships by DQ against the iiconics. 

Nia Jax attacked Kairi Sane backstage. Asuka took down Nia with a kick to the head as payback.

Shayna Baszler defeated Natalya in a submission match. 

Kevin Owens returned to RAW to host the "KO Show" his guests were Andrade, Austin Theory, Angel Garza & Zelina Vega. Apollo Crews ran out to start a fight which led to a tag team match. (playa) He miraculously recovered from his injury didn't he? The powers of script writing I guess. 

Apollo Crews & Kevin Owens defeated Andrade & Angel Garza. There was further dissension in  Zelina's group as Andrade & Garza took out Austin Theory. 

Aleister Black defeated Murphy by DQ after a run in by Austin Theory who has now joined Rollins and Murphy. 

Andrade vs. Apollo Crews for the US Championship is set for the next RAW. There have been rumours of Crews turning heel soon. This match may be step one in that happening. 

Drew McIntyre defeated Corbin in the main event. The WWE Champion challenged Bobby Lashley as RAW went off the air.

UPDATE: It's official. Drew McIntyre will defend his WWE Championship against Bobby Lashley at Backlash. 

On NXT Karrion Kross defeated Liam Gray and then Tommaso Ciampa returned to NXT after being taken out by Kross weeks ago. They will meet on June 7th at TakeOver. 

The Cruiserweight Championship Tournament continued with a match in Group B with El Hijo Del Fantasma defeating Akira Tozawa. 

Timothy Thatcher challenged Matt Riddle for a fight. 

Mia Yim defeated Santana Garrett. After the match Candice LeRae and Johnny Gargano walked out and had some choice words, Keith Lee ran out to even things up. I guess we're headed for a tag team match people. 

Roderick Strong defeated Dexter Lumis. After the match, Lumis put Strong in a submission hold, the rest of the Undisputed Era ran out to attack Lumis and then Velveteen Dream cleaned house. 

Oney Lorcan and Danny Birch defeated Ever Rise.

Matt Riddle accepted Timothy Thatchers challenge for a fight and upped the stakes to a cage match. This was made official later in the show.

Drake Maverick defeated Kushida In Group A of the NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament. Byron Saxton then said that General Manager, William Regal, made a triple threat match for the next episode of NXT. Jake Atlas vs. Drake Maverick vs. Kushida. Reason being, these three competitors have the same win loss record (2-1) so the winner of the match will go through to the tournament final.

Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai ended with no winner after Charlotte got involved. This is heading for a triple threat match at TakeOver for sure. 

SmackDown began with The Miz & John Morrison presenting "The Dirt Sheet" they talked about their loss last week against Braun Strowman & Otis. Which resulted in the Universal Champion interrupting the segment, this led to Strowman vs. Miz. The winner of the match was Braun Strowman.

After the match, John Morrison challenged Strowman to a 2 on 1 Handicap Match (this includes Miz obviously) for the Universal Championship at Backlash. Strowman accepted. To quote The Miz. Really??? 

The first round of the Intercontinental Championship continued as AJ Styles took on his longtime rival, Shinsuke Nakamura. with the "Phenomenal One" advancing to the next round, to face Elias. Michael Cole said that AJ was traded to SmackDown from RAW for superstars to be named later. 

It was "Champion vs. Champion" Charlotte vs. Bayley. Prior to commercial break, Charlotte got on the mic and challenged Sasha to get involved in this match, which never happened. Bayley won the match by using the ring ropes, impressive really as she didn't need "The Boss" help after all. Sonya Deville & Dolph Ziggler defeated Mandy Rose & Otis. Ziggler gave Otis a superkick to add insult to injury.

Jeff Hardy defeated Sheamus to advance to the semi-finals of the Intercontinental Championship Tournament. He will face Daniel Bryan next week. AJ vs. Elias will also take place on the same episode. That is it for the recap. Hope you enjoyed. Until next week. Thanks for reading. 





In Memory of Shad Gaspard. Thoughts and Prayers go out to his family and friends.

RAW NXT & SmackDown | Recap #7

Hi and welcome back to the blog. It's time to look back at a memorable week in the WWE that's for sure. So much to recap, let's begin. 

On this episode of RAW. Becky Lynch and Women's Money in the Bank winner Asuka met in the ring for the advertised confrontation. However, for once, a fight didn't happen. Becky revealed that the Women's Money in the Bank match was actually for the RAW Women's Championship. Congratulations to Asuka on becoming champion. She has now won every championship in the WWE including a Royal Rumble victory to her name. That's a hall of fame resume right there. 

Towards the end of the segment. Becky announced that she is pregnant. Congratulations to her and Seth Rollins on becoming parents. She was congratulated by members of the RAW roster backstage. Becky leaving is a huge loss to the company, It's time for others on the Women's roster to step up. 

Bobby Lashley defeated Humberto Carrillo. 

Angel Garza defeated Akira Tozawa. There was some dissension between Garza,  Austin Theory and Andrade. Drew McIntyre walked out and gave Claymore Kicks to Theory and Garza to set up a impromptu "Champion vs. Champion" match against Andrade. 

Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade. The troubles continue for Zelina Vega and her group. After the match, McIntyre spoke about his match against Rollins at Money in the Bank. He talked about a brand invitation and said he will face Baron Corbin on the next episode of RAW. 

This brand invitation is just another way of saying Wildcard.

MVP talked to Bobby Lashley backstage. That is an alliance that would be cool to watch. 

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross hosted an edition of "A moment of Bliss" they were interrupted by the returning iiconics. This led to a non title match which was won by iiconics. 

Cedric Alexander, Ricochet and R-Truth defeated Shane Thorne, Brendan Vink & MVP. After the match Lashley speared Truth and it looks like an alliance between Lashley and MVP is indeed formed here. 

Rey Mysterio & Aleister Black defeated Seth Rollins & Murphy by DQ and then Rollins brutally attacked Rey after the match.

The Viking Raiders took on Street Profits in a Basketball match. Yes. You read that correctly. I actually enjoyed this segment because anything happening away from the empty arena is a plus for in my book.

Shayna Baszler defeated Natalya.

Edge and Randy Orton met in the ring for the first time since their match at WrestleMania many weeks ago. Orton congratulated Edge for his win. and then said the better man won. He tried to walk away but that was difficult for the "Viper" to do so. Orton went back into the ring and challenged Edge to a wrestling match at Backlash. 

Charly Caruso ended the show by saying if this match does happen (and it will) this may be the greatest wrestling match ever. I don't know if that will be the case. It was a good joke by whoever told Charly to say it. They should be awarded a slammy or something.

Time now to move on to NXT.

Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner of Imperium became new NXT Tag Team Champions after Timothy Thatcher walked out on Matt Riddle towards the end of the match. Riddle then tried to overcome the odds but failed to do so. 

Tegan Nox defeated Indi Hartwell.

Matt Riddle spoke to William Regal backstage and Riddle was informed that he would take on Timothy Thatcher later, Thatcher attacked Riddle and walked away. 

Jake Atlas defeated Tony Nese in a match from Group A in the interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament. Later in the show, Nese attacked Isiah "Swerve" Scott before Scott's match in Group B that he would lose against Jack Gallagher. 

Triple H & Shawn Michaels appeared on NXT to announce that NXT TakeOver: In Your House will be on Sunday June 7th.

Cameron Grimes had a shock win over Finn Balor, after an assist from Damian Priest, who revealed he was the one who attacked a Balor a few weeks ago. 

Kayden Carter defeated Aliyah.

In the main event. Matt Riddle defeated Timothy Thatcher. After the match, Thatcher tried to rip off Riddle's arm.

And finally. Let's see what happened on the post Money in the Bank episode of SmackDown. 

The Miz and John Morrison kicked things off with Miz TV. They were interrupted by Money in the Bank winner; Otis. The Miz challenged Otis to find a tag team partner of his choosing ahead of the match later on. 

Sami Zayn relinquished his intercontinental Championship so a tournament to crown a new champion began with Elias defeating Baron Corbin. 

There was another message from the "hacker" 

Dana Brooke defeated Naomi. If the losses continue for Naomi, I would expect her to be a frustrated heel on TV in the future going back to her "Team BAD" days.  

NXT Women's Champion Charlotte appeared on this episode as part of the Brand-to-Brand Invitational and was interrupted by SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley & Sasha Banks. Charlotte attempted to bring tension between the duo. It's only a matter of time till it's they  (Bayley & Sasha) split up from being a team, leading to a feud for the SmackDown Women's Championship. I believe Charlotte accepted Bayley's challenge to a match for the next episode of SmackDown. This was made official later on.

The Intercontinental Championship Tournament continued with Daniel Bryan defeating Drew Gulak to advance to the next round. 

UPDATE: Drew Gulak has since been released, It's a shame because he was good to watch and his match against Daniel Bryan was quality. All the best to him for the future. 

Otis found a tag partner to take on The Miz & John Morrison, it was the Universal Champion. Braun Strowman. The winners of the match were Otis and Braun Strowman. After the match, Mandy Rose walked out and distracted Braun so that Otis would take advantage and cash in on him. This was done as a tease as the cash in never occurred. They continued the tag team victory celebrations as SmackDown went off the air.

Apologies for the delay of this recap. The next one will be available on the 23rd. Untill then, Have a good week. Thanks for reading. 

WWE Money in the Bank 2020 | Review-ish

Hi and welcome back to the blog. Here are the results of Money in the Bank along with my thoughts on the event. 

Disclaimer: Apologies for the late release of this review. Technical issues resulted in this happening. Thanks for your patience and understanding. Enjoy the read. 

Kick off show 

Jeff Hardy defeated Cesaro.

Main Card 

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match 

New Day (c) vs. Forgotten Sons vs. The Miz & John Morrison vs. Lucha House Party

Big E & Kofi only just won the tag titles recently so they were never going to lose them here. Good match to start the show I must say. 

Winners and still SmackDown Tag Team Champions. The New Day. 

R-Truth vs. Bobby Lashley 

It was meant to be MVP facing Truth but Bobby Lashley took his place. Winner: Bobby Lashley.

SmackDown Women's Championship Match

Bayley (c) vs. Tamina

Sasha played her part in denying Tamina a chance to win the title, "The Boss" is getting closer to seizing her opportunity. Winner and still SmackDown Women's Champion. Bayley. 

Universal Championship Match 

Braun Strowman (c) vs. Bray Wyatt

This was actually a much better match than I expected it to be, Braun wearing the black sheep mask and Bray kind of celebrating that was a nice throwback to the Wyatt Family days. Braun won the match and remains Champion. He better watch out though because "The Fiend" is lurking. Winner and still Universal Champion. Braun Strowman. 

There was another message from the "hacker" it looks like we are a while away from the reveal. 

WWE Championship Match 

Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Seth Rollins

Seth debuted new music to go with his "Monday night Messiah" gimmick. Unfortunately for him this didn't help him win the match as the Scot picked up the win in what was for me, the best match in the ring of the night. 100%. Winner and still WWE Champion. Drew McIntyre. 

Contrary to reports/rumours of them progressing throughout the event. The Men's and Women's Money in the Bank Ladder matches were the main event of the evening. 

They advertised Edge looking for Randy Orton on RAW. Why is he doing that? He won the match at WrestleMania. 

Now where do I begin with the main event? There was so much going on I don't even know where to begin. It had the predictable cinematic aspect along with comedy, all of the participants in both matches did a great job as it was entertaining from start to finish, with cameos from various people throughout the match. I like that they revisited AJ vs. Undertaker momentarily. 

Corbin threw Rey and Aleister off the roof of the building. He didn't win the match, thankfully, no offence to him. Here are the winners of the matches.

Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Nia Jax vs, Dana Brooke vs. Lacey Evans vs. Carmella

Winner: Asuka.

Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Daniel Bryan vs. Aleister Black vs. Rey Mysterio vs. King Corbin vs. Otis vs. AJ Styles

Winner: Otis. 

If Shayna wasn't going to win then the next obvious choice was Asuka.  She has the briefcase now and hopefully she becomes a "killer" again from her NXT days. I believe she is going to be called out by Becky on RAW so let's see what happens in that scenario. 

Otis winning the Men's match was a surprise to me but he was many people's dark horse going in this event. Fair dos to those that called it. I'm looking forward to seeing how his story progresses on SmackDown going forward. 

Money in the Bank is now in the archives. Backlash is the next PPV on June 14th. Hope you enjoyed the read. 

Money in the Bank 2020 | Predictions

Hi and welcome back to the blog. Here are my predictions for Money in the Bank.

Jeff Hardy vs. Cesaro

Jeff only just returned to SmackDown. He will get the win here and then go to face Cesaro's former tag team partner, Sheamus.  Predicted Winner: Jeff Hardy.

R-Truth vs. MVP

It looks like they are pushing MVP for a manager role, so he's not losing here.

Predicted Winner: MVP.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match

New Day (c) vs. Forgotten Sons vs. The Miz & John Morrison vs. Lucha House Party

I think this match will open the show. Big E & Kofi only recently won the tag titles so they're not losing them here, I don't think they are anyway.Predicted Winners: New Day.

Staying with SmackDown. During Money in the Bank I believe The "SmackDown Hacker" is going to be revealed as Mustafa Ali. CM Punk is NOT going to be revealed as the hacker. Sorry to ruin your excitement but yeah. Let's continue with the match predictions.

WWE Championship Match

Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Seth Rollins

Drew looks like he is fitting into the role of champion very nicely, he looks like he is in his element which is great to see. Rollins is so good as a heel, the way he speaks, sometimes in riddles, reminds me of the old version of Bray Wyatt. (minus the losing) I'm thinking Murphy will attempt to help Rollins cheat to win, but that will perhaps backfire leading to a win for the champion and then they will meet again in the rematch, because I don't think this is a one and done match at all. Predicted Winner: Drew McIntyre.

SmackDown Women's Championship Match

Bayley (c) vs. Tamina

I think Bayley remains champion here, I did think of the scenario of Sasha somehow costing Bayley the title inadvertently but that probably won't happen, so here is my final prediction for this here match. Predicted Winner: Bayley.

Universal Championship Match

Braun Strowman (c) vs. Bray Wyatt

Remember that is Funhouse Bray and not "The Fiend" challenging Braun for the Universal Champion. I believe "Fiend" will make an apperance after the the match, to set up that match at the next pay-per-view against Strowman. Until and if that happens, here is my prediction.

Predicted Winner: Braun Strowman.

The Men's & Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match will take place at WWE's Global Headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut at the same time. The briefcases will be suspended on the roof of the Headquarters with the participants having to progress their way from the ground floor. Here are my predictions/picks for who will win the matches. Disclaimer: I'm going to choose two people for both matches that I believe will win because I can.

Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Asuka vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Nia Jax vs, Dana Brooke vs. Lacey Evans vs. Carmella

Predicted Winner: Asuka or Shayna Baszler

Men's Money in the Bank Ladder Match

Daniel Bryan vs. Aleister Black vs. Rey Mysterio vs. King Corbin vs. Otis vs. AJ Styles

Predicted Winner: Aleister Black or AJ Styles.

My picks are all members of the RAW roster. That's just a coincidence. Watch both winners come from the SmackDown side instead & to be honest I'm only looking forward to watching the ladder matches. I expect more cinematic elements to them & I believe they are pre-recorded and rumors are progress of them will be shown throughout the LIVE show. I'll be back to review (kind of) the event. That will be released tomorrow PM time. Thanks for reading.

RAW NXT & SmackDown | Recap #6

Hi and welcome back to the blog for another recap. Without any further ado, let's begin with RAW.

MVP hosted the VIP Lounge, his guests were three of the participants for the Women's Money in the Bank match. Asuka, Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax. Nothing of note happened here to be honest.

AJ Styles won the "Last Chance" Gauntlet match to qualify for the Men's Money in the Bank match.

                                       

Cedric Alexander & Ricochet lost to Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink.

The Viking Raiders defeated RAW Tag Team Champions. The Street Profits. The story of the SP never winning against the Raiders continues.

Charlotte defeated Liv Morgan.

Drew McIntyre defeated Murphy. Rollins gave McIntyre a superkick but McIntyre recovered before the Stomp, Rollins avoided the Claymore and RAW went off the air.

There wasn't much to write home about for this episode of RAW as you can see.

Let's switch gears to NXT.

Johnny Gargano defeated Dominik Dijakovic. This was a very good match to open the show. Gargano only just turned heel so he was never losing this one.

The interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament resumed with a match from Group B where Akira Tozawa defeated Jack Gallagher.

Chelsea Green defeated Xia Li after Aliyah distracted Li towards the end of the match.

Karrion Kross and Scarlett made their NXT TV debut, Kross defeated Leon Ruff. It's only a matter of time till Kross competes for NXT gold. TICK TOCK!

Matt Riddle & Timothy Thatcher accepted Imperium's challenge for the NXT Tag Team Championships.

The NXT Women's Championship match between Charlotte and Io Shirai ended in a DQ win for Shirai after she was hit by a Kendo Stick. Rhea Ripley returned to make the save. Could a triple threat match for the Women's Championship be on the horizon?

Kushida defeated Jake Atlas in Group A of the interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament.

Cameron Grimes defeated Denzel Dejournette. Grimes had some choice words for Finn Balor. Balor walked out and approached Grimes. Balor then had some words for the person that attacked him two weeks or so ago.

Adam Cole successfully defended the NXT Championship against Velveteen Dream. It's dream over for the challenger for now and that's Undisputed....BOOM!

I was looking forward to watching this episode of NXT and it did not disappoint. Time now to see what SmackDown bought to the table.

Sonya Deville defeated Mandy Rose in the opening match of the show.

Lucha House Party & SmackDown Tag Team Champions New Day lost to The Forgotten Sons & The Miz & John Morrison. Admittedly I'm not a fan of multi person tag team matches but this was a very entertaining contest to watch.

Jeff Hardy returned to WWE TV for an in ring interview with Renee Young. Sheamus was backstage watching Jeff speak, The Celtic Warrior's music hit and he talked about Jeff's past which led to a fight, predictably, The "Charismatic Enigma" had the last laugh here.

There was a pre match confrontation between Universal Champion Braun Strowman & the challenger Bray Wyatt ahead of their match at Money in the Bank. Wyatt attempted to play mind games with Strowman but that failed.

Tamina & Lacey Evans defeated Bayley & Sasha Banks.

There was another cryptic message from the "hacker" with some Matrix-like graphics, there were clips of Tamina defeating Sasha to get a shot at Bayley's title, followed by the words "Are you watching?" Big E defeating Miz to win the SmackDown Tag Titles, followed by the words, "Are you listening?" footage is shown of Carmella and Dana Brooke talking about focusing on their previous tag title opportunity with the words "Because I am" the "hacker" went on to state "the thing about anger is you hear it before you see it" there was a audio clip saying "payback is coming and its coming real soon" followed by the words "The truth will be heard" shown on screen. They've done a great job with the "hacker" gimmick, hopefully they will continue that by using the revealed person on tv correctly. 

In the main event, Baron Corbin, Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Daniel Bryan, Drew Gulak & Otis. This completes the sixth edition of the RAW NXT & SmackDown recap. NXT was by far the standout show out of the three, as it had TakeOver quality matches. Money the Bank predictions will be out shortly, if you're reading this at a later time, then the MITB blog posts are available for you to read. I hope you enjoyed reading this recap, until next time, thanks for reading. 

RAW NXT & SmackDown | Recap #5

RAW was taped from the PC.

Samoa Joe returned to our screens as part of the commentary team. 

MVP hosted the "VIP Lounge" his guests were: Rey Mysterio, Aleister Black & Apollo Crews. They were interrupted by Andrade, Garza, Theory and Zelina Vega. When that happened I knew, and I'm sure you knew if you watched this, where this was going. A six man tag match. So predictable. 

The winners of this match were Rey Mysterio, Aleister Black & Apollo Crews. Crews pinned the US champion Andrade. This was a long match. 

There was a top ten rundown of Triple H's greatest moments as his 25th Anniversary "celebrations" continued. 

Andrade vs. Apollo Crews for the US Championship was set for later. 

Asuka vs. Nia Jax vs. Shayna Baszler ended with no winner with Nia Jax standing tall. A lot of people have been unfairly criticising Jax lately on social media. That's "keyboard warriors" for you. 

Bobby Lashley defeated Denzel Dejournette.

Liv Morgan defeated Ruby Riott.

Former WWE Champion, Jinder Mahal returned from injury & defeated Akira Tozawa. Good to see Mahal back on WWE TV. 

Andrade retained his US Championship against Apollo Crews. Crews was injured towards the end of the match. He was never going to win. I believe he is now unable to compete in the Money in the Bank Ladder match. His current push only happened because others are at home during the current situation. No offence to Crews. He's a good athlete. I'm just calling it as I see it.

UPDATE: Apollo is now out of the Money in the Bank Match and there will be a last chance Gauntlet Match on Monday to decide who takes Apollo's place. 

Street Profits vs. Viking Raiders is set for this Monday. This will probably end in a no contest and the rematch will take place at Money in the Bank to fill the card.

Cedric Alexander & Ricochet defeated Ever-Rise. I'm not a fan of Cedric and Ricochet as a makeshift tag team. They would better suited as singles competitors. Book these two in a match against each other, that would be fun to watch. 

MVP appeared on screen and said Alexander & Ricochet will face Shane Thorne & Brendan Vink in a rematch this Monday. Am I missing something here? Since when did he become RAW GM? Anyway. MVP also said that the match could be box office. MVP's got jokes now. 

The contract signing between Seth Rollins & Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship ended in a fight as expected, McIntyre gave Murphy a Claymore Kick and Rollins walked away. This ended RAW. Do contract signings ever end without fights? Nope! 

NXT started off with a match in Group B from the interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament. Which resulted in a win for Isiah "Swerve" Scott against El Hijo Del Fantasma.

Fantasma was attacked by some masked individuals but managed to get away from them. It'll be interesting to see who gets revealed as the leader. 

Dominik Dijakovic challenged Johnny Gargano to a match. This was confirmed later in this show.

Candice LaRae (with Johnny Gargano) debuted a new theme song and look as she defeated her former tag team partner Kacy Catanzaro. 

There was a Newly-Bros Show segment involving Timothy Thatcher & Matt Riddle hosted by Byron Saxton. Marcel Barthel & Fabian Aichner of Imperium put an end to the "comedy" by attacking the NXT Tag Team champions.

Adam Cole will defend his NXT Championship next week against Velveteen Dream.

Charlotte defeated Mia Yim. Io Shirai challenged Charlotte to a match for the Women's Championship on the next episode of NXT. This was made official.

Speaking of the next episode. We will see the debut of Scarlett Bordeaux & Karrion Kross. 

Also. Finn Balor will call out the person who attacked him last week. 

Dexter Lumis defeated Shane Thorne. 

Drake Maverick defeated Tony Nese in a Group A match from the interim NXT Cruiserweight Championship Tournament. 

Keith Lee successfully defended his North American Championship against Damian Priest.

SmackDown kicked things off with Daniel Bryan vs. Baron Corbin. Bryan won by DQ and Corbin had the last laugh with help from Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura.

Universal Champion Brain Strowman was in the ring and then he was interrupted by a new episode of The Firefly Funhouse. The build to Strowman vs. Wyatt at Money in the Bank continues. 

Sheamus defeated Leon Ruff. Looking forward to seeing his feud against Jeff Hardy. 

Carmella qualified for the Women's Money in the Bank match after defeating Mandy Rose who was distracted by Sonya Deville, after the match, Deville took out Rose. This feud is far from over. 

The Forgotten Sons defeated New Day. This will put them in contention for a future tag title opportunity. 

It was announced that the Men's & Women's Money in the Bank will take place at the same time. I've always had a sense that would happen and I was right. It will be cinematic that's for sure.

Otis defeated Dolph Ziggler to qualify for the Men's Money in the Bank match. 

This is it for for the recap, hope you enjoyed. Until next time, thanks for reading.