WWE Backlash 2020 | "The Greatest Review Ever"

Hi and welcome back to the "The Greatest Review Ever" Without any further ado, let's begin! 

Kick off show Match

United States Championship Match 
I didn't see this match so I cannot comment. Here is the result below. 

Apollo Crews (c) defeated Andrade

Main Card

Women's Tag Team Championship Match

Bayley & Sasha Banks (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics

Sasha rolled up Alexa Bliss for the victory. Winners: and STILL! Women's Tag Team Champions. Bayley & Sasha Banks. They will defend the titles on NXT this Wednesday against Tegan Nox & Shotzi Blackheart. Looking forward to that. 

Sheamus defeated Jeff Hardy. 

Raw Women's Championship Match

Asuka (c) vs. Nia Jax

This match ended in a double countout. Asuka remains Champion. I guess they will face each other again next month at Extreme Rules, unless WWE has other plans in mind.

Universal Championship Match

Braun Strowman (c) vs. The Miz & John Morrison

This match went exactly as I predicted, Miz & Morrison were competitive here against the Champion. Interesting to note that Miz broke up the three count just as Morrison was about to pin Braun. That could play a role in them eventually breaking up. Whenever that will be.

Winner: and STILL! Universal Champion. Braun Strowman. 

WWE Championship Match

Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Bobby Lashley
It was nice to see Lashley compete at championship level, despite it being a losing effort. 
Are we FINALLY seeing the end of the Lana & Lashley story? I hope so! What's next for Drew? more on that later on this review-ish. Winner: and STILL! WWE Champion. Drew McIntyre.

Before they were due to face each other for the RAW Tag Team Championship. The Street Profits & Viking Raiders got into a brawl starting in the parking lot with Dawkins putting Erik through the window of Braun Strowman's car, they continued to fight each other in the building, eventually going back outside where Akira Tozawa rolled up with some ninjas on bikes and challenged the Street Profits & Viking Raiders to a fight, which backfired on Tozawa.

Are you with me so far? 

Tozawa had back up, the Street Profits & Viking Raiders retreated and continued fighting each other and landed in a dumpster from the top of a truck. 

Spoiler (or not) the tag team championship match never took place on this show. 

Ladies & Gentlemen. This is the moment you've been waiting for! 

"The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever:" Edge vs. Randy Orton
I enjoyed this match, however, what spoiled it for me was the piped in crowd noise and chants. You could tell it was from one of the previous 2K Games. Orton punt kicking Edge in the face for the win was kind of cool as it bought back memories of the old Randy Orton from the Legacy days, which was, for me, his best work as a heel. Winner: Randy Orton.

At the end of the match. Orton said to Edge “Go home, Adam. Be home with Beth and your girls and tell all three of them that Uncle Randy said hi.” Rumors are that Edge picked up an injury and will be out for a number of months, what's next for Orton? I have a sense that he will be next in line to challenge Drew for the WWE Championship. That story could start tonight on RAW and go on till after SummerSlam. 

That is it for the review. That was a lot to talk about. As far as ratings go, I give this event a 5.5 out of 10. Backlash is in the books. Extreme Rules is on July 19. A prediction's blog post will be available to read prior to mentioned event. Until then, I hope you enjoyed reading "The Greatest Review Ever" 

WWE Backlash 2020 | Predictions

Hi and welcome back to the blog, It's time to predict the match outcomes for Backlash. I'm not sure if there are kick off matches currently scheduled. I guess we will find out via social media. Let’s begin.

Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus

This has been a good story to follow on SmackDown, they’ve added Jeff’s past issues into the mix, which adds some realism to it all, Could the hacker make an appearance  to provide important information in regards to who framed Jeff? Was it really Sheamus who did it? Reason why I say this is because I’ve thought of someone else who could be involved and his name is Sami Zayn. Who has been absent from television lately. Predicted Winner: Sheamus.

United States Championship Match

Apollo Crews (c) vs. Andrade

Apollo recently won the Championship so he’s not losing here. More dissension in Zelina Vega’s group is on the horizon. Predicted Winner: and STILL United States Champion. Apollo Crews.

Women's Tag Team Championship Match

Bayley & Sasha Banks (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross vs. The IIconics

We know that the end of the Sasha, Bayley team is near, Could it move one step closer with them losing their titles here? Are they transitional champions? I’m going to say yes, because I think a Championship will change hands on this event and it will be in this match. Predicted Winners: and NEW Women’s Tag Team Champions. The IIconics.

Raw Women's Championship Match

Asuka (c) vs. Nia Jax

I expect Kairi Sane to play a key part in this to get revenge on Jax and help her friend remain Champion. Predicted Winner: and STILL Raw Women’s Champion. Asuka.

Universal Championship Match

Braun Strowman (c) vs. The Miz & John Morrison

This could be a quick and competitive match with near falls from the challengers, This is just a stop gap until “The Fiend” reappears. Predicted Winner: and STILL Universal Champion. Braun Strowman.

WWE Championship Match

Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Bobby Lashley

Bobby Lashley has developed into a serious contender since aligning with MVP. I expect some shenanigans from the two I mentioned, as well as Lana, in an attempt to wrestle the Championship away from the Scot, which will prove to be unsuccessful. Predicted Winner: and STILL WWE Champion. Drew McIntyre.  

"The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever:" Edge vs. Randy Orton

It’ll be interesting to see whether or not this match lives up to the slogan. Edge and Orton are great wrestlers with a storied history. I sense that the feud will continue to SummerSlam. To my recollection, in the run up to this match, WWE have never mentioned there has to be a winner of this match. On that note, here is my prediction. No Winner.

There you have it, the predictions are now complete. Hope you enjoyed, the review will be available on Monday. Until then, thanks for reading.  

RAW NXT & SmackDown | Recap #10

Hi and welcome back to the blog. It's time to recap the RAW & SmackDown go home shows prior to Backlash including the post TakeOver episode of NXT. Let's begin with what happened on Monday Night.

Asuka vs. Charlotte was supposed to take place on RAW. It was changed to a triple threat tag match instead, with the team of Asuka & Charlotte taking on Women's Tag Team Champions Sasha & Bayley & IIconics. Asuka & Charlotte went on to win this match. They will meet later on, one on one. 

Rey and Seth continued the build up to a possible match and while this was happening Aleister Black attacked Seth from out of nowwhere as RAW went to a commercial break. 

Aleister Black & Humberto Carrillo defeated Murphy & Austin Theory.After the match, Seth got some payback by beating up Aleister. 

Christian hosted "The Peep Show" his guest was Edge. Christian had doubts about his friends chances on Sunday. He then gave him a pep talk, Orton appeared on screen with some words of his own. This was an excellent segment, one of the benefits of not having a live crowd.

Viking Raiders took on Street Profits in a Decathlon.

Andrade defeated Angel Garza & Kevin Owens in a triple threat match to earn an opportunity to face Apollo Crews for the United States Championship at Backlash. 

MVP hosted the "VIP Lounge" Drew McIntyre interrupted proceedings to promote his title defence against Bobby Lashley. 

MVP & Bobby Lashley defeated Viking Raiders.

Sasha & Bayley joined the commentary team for the main event. Asuka vs. Charlotte. The tag champions were attacked by IIconics. Back to the match itself, Charlotte defeated Asuka after Nia Jax interfered. 

Let's switch gears now to NXT.

The Unidisputed Era opened the show. Adam Cole talked about his title match against Velveteen Dream from Sunday at TakeOver. They switched their attention to Dexter Lumis, who was in the "crowd" playing mind games with Roderick Strong during this segment. 

Cole vs. Lumis is set for the main event. 

Candice LeRae & Johnny Gargano defeated Mia Yim & Keith Lee. Towards the end of this match Gargano hit Lee with the slingshot DDT which resulted in his opponent landing on LeRae. When Lee realised what had happened, Gargano took advantage and rolled up Lee for the win.

Indus Sher defeated Mikey Delbrey & Mike Reed. The winners of this match are future NXT Tag Team Champions, you read it here first. 

Cameron Grimes tried to get out of having a match against Finn Balor by pretending he had hurt his jaw after being hit by Damian Priest earlier. 

There was a Breezango promo, they will face Imperium for the Tag Team Championships on the next episode of NXT. 

Finn Balor defeated Cameron Grimes. "The Prince" exacted some revenge from the previous match between the two. He then challenged Keith Lee for the North American Championship. Sign me up for that.

Dakota Kai defeated Kacy Catanzaro.

The NEW NXT Cruiserweight Champion, El Hijo Del Fantasma was about to speak but was interrupted by the runner-up Drake Maverick, who congratulated the champion on his tournament victory last week. During this segment, two masked men ran out and Fantasma turned against Maverick and attacked him, the two masked men were revealed to be Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde. Fantasma took off his mask and said his real name was Santos Escobar. 

Shotzi Blackheart & Tegan Nox will face the winners of the WWE Tag Team Championship match from Backlash on the next episode of NXT.

In the main event, Adam Cole defeated Dexter Lumis, after help from Bobby Fish & Roderick Strong. After the match, Cole remained in the ring and taunted Lumis, who put Cole in a submission hold. Fish and Strong helped Cole escape and then Velveteen got involved, resulting in a brawl. 

Adam Cole was the only one left in the ring until Scarlett appeared with an hourglass which signalled a challenge from Karrion Kross for a future NXT Championship match. 

SmackDown began with a contract signing between Sheamus & Jeff Hardy ahead of their match at Backlash. The "Celtic Warrior" wanted his opponent to take a urine test (yes you read that correctly, I can't believe I'm even writing this) Jeff had enough of the jokes and threw the, you know, at Sheamus and walked away. 

Its 2020 and that was a segment on a wrestling show ladies and gentlemen. It's embarrassing to watch to be honest with you. In case you were wondering what the test result was (and why would you?) it was negative. 

The first match of the show was a tag team match (playa) where Cesaro & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated New Day. 

AJ Styles defeated Daniel Bryan to win the Intercontinental Championship. This was a hell of a match. There have been classic matches for this prestigious championship in the past and you can add this one to the list. 

Bayley & Sasha Banks celebrated winning the Women's Tag Team Championships until they were interrupted by Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross, there was a video message from the IIconics. 

Matt Riddle will debut on the next episode of SmackDown.

In the main event of this show, Braun Strowman & Heavy Machinery defeated Miz & Morrison & Dolph Ziggler.

Another week of WWE TV is in the books, which brings the weekly recaps to an end, there will be more editions in the future. The predictions for Backlash is available late today. Until then, thanks for reading. 

NXT TakeOver: In Your House | Review-ish

Hi and welcome back to the blog. It's time to review (kind of) NXT Takeover: In Your House. It was a very good show to watch, the two and a half hours went by really quickly, It was better than watching any episode of Monday Night Raw, that's for sure. 

Code of Orange opened the show to perform their song: Underneath. The set had an old school vibe to it which was nice. Let's begin with the review-ish.

Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart & Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez

This was a good match, very eventful start to the show with the face team winning. 

Winners: Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart & Tegan Nox.

Finn Balor vs. Damian Priest

For me, the best match on the card which resulted in 11 wins for "The Prince" a new record at TakeOvers. Would love to see Balor get a NXT Championship opportunity in the future.

Winner: Finn Balor.

NXT North American Championship Match

Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Gargano

Lee went in to this match with recent "injuries" Gargano attempted to injure his opponent further with a key, as predicted, Yim and LeRae got involved towards the end and the Champion picked up the win. Winner: and STILL NXT North American Champion. Keith Lee.

Last Chance Backlot Brawl for the NXT Championship

Adam Cole (c) vs. Velveteen Dream

I expected a cinematic match and that proved to be correct, The U.E got involved to help Cole but that plan was derailed by Dexter Lumis who was hiding under the ring. There were chairs thrown into the ring which had ECW vibes about it. Cole remained Champion after hitting Dream with the Panama Sunrise to get the win. Winner: and STILL NXT Champion. Adam Cole (BAY-BAY)

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Karrion Kross

This was a dominant victory for Kross. Ciampa was an ideal opponent for him to face as he is a NXT veteran so a loss won't hurt him at all. Let's see who's next for the winner.

Winner: Karrion Kross.

NXT Women's Championship Match

Charlotte (c) vs. Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley

Fun main event with Rhea and Charlotte continuing where they left off from WrestleMania. Charlotte, from what I've read, became champion only to boost ratings for NXT. I'm not into that rating business, I just enjoy, well, try to enjoy watching wrestling, even though it feels like a chore sometimes. Io Shirai winning is great, It brings new contenders to face her, who will that be? I'm thinking of names like: LaRae, Dakota Kai & Chelsea Green, that's three heels I've already named right there. Winner: and NEW NXT Women's Champion. Io Shirai.

That is it for the In Your House Review-ish. Hope you enjoyed the content, there will be a tenth and final edition of the weekly recap where I recap Monday Night Chore...I mean Raw. NXT & Smackdown. That will be released on Saturday. Thanks for reading as per. 

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NXT TakeOver: In Your House | Predictions

Hi and welcome back to the blog. NXT has taken over the blog (pun intended) It's sure to be a hell of a show like most, if not all, TakeOvers normally are.

Before we get to the predictions. An Interim NXT Cruiserweight Champion was crowned on the last episode of NXT in the name of El Hijo Del Fantasma, who defeated Drake Maverick in the final of the Tournament. In case you're wondering why interim? The reason is the current Cruiserweight Champion, Jordan Devlin is unable to travel due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, after the match, Maverick was awarded a contract by "The Game" Triple H. Let's get to the predictions.

Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart & Tegan Nox vs. Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai & Raquel Gonzalez 
I think this match will open the show, it's a tough one to call to be honest with you. I think that the face team will win this one. Predicted Winners: Mia Yim, Shotzi Blackheart & Tegan Nox.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Karrion Kross
It's the TakeOver debut for Karrion Kross (and Scarlett) Ciampa is the perfect opponent for him to defeat and to climb the proverbial ladder for a future North American Championship opportunity. Predicted Winner: Karrion Kross.

NXT North American Championship Match
Keith Lee (c) vs. Johnny Gargano
Speaking of the North American Championship. This one, for me is the match of the night, It's going to go down to the wire, Candice and Mia will no doubt play a role here in regards to who wins. The title will not change hands. Predicted Winner: and STILL NXT North American Champion. Keith Lee.

Finn Balor vs. Damian Priest
I'm going to cut to the chase. Finn will get the last laugh over Priest (who attacked him weeks ago) with a win here so there you go. Winner: Finn Balor.

NXT Women's Championship Match 
Charlotte (c) vs. Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley
This should be a fun match, people will probably choose Charlotte to remain champion or Rhea to get her win and title back, however, I'm picking Io Shirai to shock the world and win her first championship.That would be cool. Predicted Winner: and NEW NXT Women's Champion. Io Shirai. 

Last Chance Backlot Brawl for the NXT Championship
Adam Cole (c) vs. Velveteen Dream
(if Dream loses, he can no longer challenge for the NXT Championship while Cole is still Champion) 
Get ready for another cinematic type match, It's sure to be a good one to watch. Dexter Lumis has been involved in this feud by targeting the Undisputed Era, I think he will cost Dream the match and Cole will remain champion when all is said and done here.
Predicted Winner: and STILL NXT Champion. Adam Cole (BAY-BAY)

That is for the predictions. hope you enjoyed.. I believe this is a two and half hour show, the review-ish will be out sometime tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the show if you're watching and thanks for reading.