Friday Night SmackDown | Review-ish | Storyline Developments Aplenty

This episode of Friday Night SmackDown took place from Cleveland, Ohio and the Rolling Loud Festival from Miami, Florida, it was sure to be an entertaining two hours of television.  

Match Results
Finn Balor defeated Sami Zayn. 

Angelo Dawkins defeated Chad Gable. 

Bianca Belair successfully defended her SmackDown Women's Championship against Carmella.

Toni Storm defeated Zelina Vega.

Jimmy Uso defeated Dominik Mysterio.

SmackDown! Review-ish
John Cena opened the show to challenge Roman Reigns for the Universal Championship. Paul Heyman said the champion will answer later on in the show and imitated Cena's theme song while walking to backstage, a truly funny moment there. Finn Balor and Sami Zayn followed up their confrontation from last week with a match against each other, won by "The Prince" 

Big E talked about his victory at Money In The Bank, what a moment it was for him, and very well deserved also, E was interrupted by Apollo, followed by Dolph Ziggler, Bobby Roode, Shinsuke Nakamura and Cesaro, this led to a brawl. We may see a six man tag next Friday Night.

SmackDown shifted from Cleveland to Miami for the Rolling Loud Festival. Wale was the MC. The venue had a WrestleMania look to it. Angelo Dawkins got some revenge for Montez Ford by winning the match against Chad Gable, both Ford and Otis were ringside for this one. It appears we have finally seen the end of the rivalry, for now anyway, between Bianca and Carmella. The EST vs. The Boss is almost inevitable for Summerslam. Subject to change of course.

Edge and Seth Rollins continued their storyline build up for August 21st. Toni Storm made her main roster debut and marked it with a win against Zelina Vega. It has been a disappointing run for Vega so far, since she returned to the company, hopefully she will recover from this and build up momentum.

The end to the Jimmy Uso vs. Dominik Mysterio match was the exact same to the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at Money In The Bank, you will understand the reference if you saw the contest last Sunday.

Here we are, we have arrived at the main event. It was time to see if the Universal Champion. Roman Reigns was going to accept the challenge from John Cena. The answer was no, he went on to explain why. Finn Balor walked out to a nice reaction from the crowd and asked "The Head Of The Table" if he wasn't interested in Cena's challenge, would he be interested in the one from "The Prince"? Reigns smirked at first, and eventually accepted as the SmackDown went off the air.

Will Reigns vs. Balor just be a non-title match that takes place on an upcoming episode of SmackDown? or will John Cena be added to the mix at SummerSlam for the Universal Championship, we are just under a month from the best event of the Summer, lets see how this story develops next week.

WWE Monday Night RAW Review-ish | John Cena Returns To RAW | NEW Champion Crowned

The post Money In The Bank episode of Monday Night RAW was broadcast LIVE from Dallas, Texas. A day or so has passed since it aired on television, below are the match results followed by the review-ish of the key events that took place on the night..

Match Results
The Viking Raiders & Riddle defeated RAW Tag Team Champions. AJ Styles & Omos & John Morrison. 

Jaxson Ryket defeated Elias in a Symphony of Destruction Match.

Women;s Tag Team Champions. Natalya & Tamina defeated Shayna Baszler & Nia Jax.

United Champion. Sheamus defeated Humberto Carrillo in a Non-Title Championship Contenders Match.

WWE Champion. Bobby Lashley defeated Keith Lee in a Open Challenge.

Jeff Hardy defeated NXT Champion. Karrion Kross. 

Rhea Ripley defeated RAW Women's Champion Charlotte Flair via Disqualification.

Nikki Cross cashed in her Money In The Bank Contract on Charlotte to become the NEW RAW Women's Champion. 

RAW Review-ish
John Cena kicked off Monday Night RAW, admittedly the crowd reaction wan not as loud as Money In The Bank from the the previous night. Cena mentioned he will be on SmackDown this Friday to supposedly confront Roman Reigns, the build up for their match at SummerSlam begins there.

Riddle's music hit for a comedy promo with Cena, ahead of the six man tag, which he and the Viking Raiders won. Jaxson Ryker and Elias continued their feud in a Symphony Of Destruction Match as you can see by the results above.

There was storyline devlopment on Monday Night. Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler turned their back on Reginald, who then won the 24/7 title, so he had a decent night overall. Sheamus defeated Humberto Carrillo, can we please move these guys on to different opponents? thank you.

Keith Lee returned to WWE TV after a long unexplained absence, he was a former NXT Champion by the way in case people have forgotten, more on NXT in a moment or two in this review-ish. Lee lost to Bobby Lashley, yes they want to keep Bobby strong for the Summer, but to hand Keith a loss is very strange booking, they probably should have put in s 24/7 title chaser in with "The Almighty" instead, speaking of him, the rumor of Goldberg facing Lashley is true, in terms of what we saw on Monday. 

NXT is one hell of a show on Tuesday nights, Karrion Kross is the champion and great to watch, it's a shame the writers on the main roster etc, do not see it that way, we know he has been on Main Event (the show) in recent weeks. he lost to Jeff Hardy, the social media reaction to it was crazy. The future for Kross doesn't look bright for him if things continue to go this way for him on RAW, likewise for Keith Lee also.

There may very well be content released soon, about why NXT stars struggle on the main roster, be sure to look out for that.

The main event of the evening ended in a disqualification win for Rhea Ripley against RAW Women's Champion. Charlotte Flair. Rhea got some sort of revenge by hitting Flair with "Riptide" outside the ring before she sent her opponent back in to the ring, Nikki Cross then ran down to cash in the Money In The Bank briefcase successfully and celebrated with the crowd in attendance. Congratulations to Nikki for winning her first title, hopefully it is the first of many in her career, she is underrated by many fans that watch week in, week out, all of her hardwork and determination to succeeed has finally been recognised. 

 

WWE Money In The Bank 2021 | Match Results and Review-ish

Money In The Bank was LIVE from Fort Worth Texas, what an event it was. here is a run down of the match results followed by the review-ish. Here We Go!

Kick Off Show Match Result
The Usos defeated Rey & Dominik Mysterio to become the NEW SmackDown Tag Team Championships.

Main Card
Nikki Cross won the Women's Money In The Bank Ladder Match.

AJ Styles & Omos defeated The Viking Raiders to remain RAW Tag Team Champions.

Bobby Lashley defeated Kofi Kingston to remain WWE Champion.

Charlotte Flair defeated Rhea Ripley to become the NEW RAW Women's Champion.

Big E won the Men's Money In The Bank Ladder Match. 

Roman Reigns defeated Edge to remain Universal Champion.

Money In The Bank Review-ish
We have new SmackDown Tag Team Champions, The Usos, their fifth title for that brand overall, an excellent match, if you haven't seen it, go check it out on the Youtube Channel kick off show. Jimmy & Jey are showing why they are the best tag team in wrestling today. 

The event started with the Women's Money In The Bank Ladder Match, won by Nikki Cross, she may not be everyone's cup of tea, but she deserves this moment and hopefully she cashes in successfully, she gets criticised for portraying a superhero by some fans on social media, those fans need to know that Nikki's gimmick is aimed at the younger viewers of the show, following in the footsteps of The Hurricane.  

We move on to the RAW Tag Team Championship Match, where AJ & Omos successfully defended their titles against great challengers in the Viking Raiders, Omos showed his power to earn his team the win, what's next for them? tune in to RAW tonight to find out.

The WWE Championship Match had SummerSlam 2014 vibes to it where Brock Lesnar destoyed John Cena, Bobby's win over Kofi was identical to that night. Charlotte defeated Rhea Ripley to become the NEW RAW Women's Champion, what an excellent match that was, the crowd were really invested in this one.

Congratulations to Big E on winning the Men's Money In The Bank, it was a great moment for him, you could see it really meant a lot to him, he is rumored to be moving to RAW during the draft in a few months time, perhaps he will make an appearance before then, during this match we saw storyline continuation between Drew McIntyre and Jinder Mahal, in terms of an early prediction? A victory for The Modern Day Maharaja will put him back in the title picture after SummerSlam.

(prediction subject to change of course)

The Head of The Table Roman Reigns defended the Universal Championship against Edge, Jimmy and Jey were about to get involved towards the end of the match but their plans were put to a stop by Rey and Dominik. Edge was close to winning the title until Seth Rollins interfered and hit "The Rated-R Superstar" with the super kick, Roman hit the challenger with a Spear for the win. After the match, Rollins confronted Roman until Edge went after Rollins to continue thier own fight. Roman asked the crowd to "Acknowledge Him" and then John Cena's music hit to a great reaction, they had a stare down in the ring before the show went off the air.

John Cena is advertised to appear on RAW tonight. Goldberg also, will there be any more surprises in store?

Thanks for reading. 

WWE Money In The Bank 2021 Predictions

Welcome back to the blog, it's been a while since we have predicted matches for a pay per view isn't it? only difference now is we have a LIVE crowd and not an empty arena full of virtual screens, also, admittedly, not much of WWE programming has been watched in the past few weeks because of the Euros, so it will be interesting to see how the predictions pan out. 

Kick Off Show Match
SmackDown Tag Team Championship Match
Rey & Dominik Mysterio (c) vs. The Usos
If you saw SmackDown from this past Friday, you will know Jey pinned Rey via a roll up in the six man tag, logic states that Rey & Dominik will get their win back here. Predicted Winners: and still. SmackDown Tag Team Champions. Rey & Dominik Mysterio.

Men's Money In The Bank Ladder Match
Ricochet vs. John Morrison vs. Riddle vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Big E vs. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamura 
This is a strong line up for a high quality match up, eight contenders here, time to break down each participant. Ricochet will be part of some memorable spots, for example, flips, dives, hitting the ring rope off the top of the ladder, John Morrison likewise, Riddle is very entertaining to watch and perhaps one would argue he could be victorious here, what a moment that could be in front of a live crowd.

Drew seems like an obvious choice to win because he is not allowed to challenge for the WWE title as long as Bobby is champion, perhaps the Money in the Bank could be a way for him swerving that stipulation. Big E winning here would be well deserved and establish him as a true singles competitor. Kevin Owens has some unfinished business with Roman Reigns, do not forget about that. 

Seth Rollins will aim to win the match and emulate his cash in from WrestleMania all those years ago, he is involved in a story with Edge, perhaps that will play a part. Shinsuke Nakamura will bring his A Game but it will not be enough, but you never know what will happen. Two choices have now been selected. 

Predicted Winner: Drew McIntyre or Big E.

RAW Tag Team Championship Match
AJ Styles & Omos (c) vs. The Viking Raiders
A match that was previously advertised for RAW has now been advertised for Pay Per View, which will end with the titles not changing hands. Predicted Winners: and still. RAW Tag Team Champions. AJ Styles and Omos.

Women's Money In The Bank
Asuka vs. Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss vs. Nikki Cross vs. Liv Morgan vs. Zelina Vega vs. Natalya vs. Tamina
Asuka won last years Money In The Bank, became RAW Women's Champion, however, she was never booked properly by the creative team, if she wins here, it would be nice to see. Naomi is an interesting choice because Roman's faction has The Usos, we know she is married to Jimmy in real life, it would be great see her win the ladder match, cash in on the SmackDown Women's Champion, whoever that may be at the time, win the title and then go on and join The Usos and Roman.

Should Alexa win here, she will play mind games on the champions, which may make interesting television. As a fan of Nikki Cross, it's great to see her part of a prestigious match, even though she is not going to win, she will put up a good fight. Liv is in this match, she has momentum heading in to it, she is one of the choices to win here, however, there is a belief she might be taken out prior to the match, by who? either Carmella or Sonya Deville, if that does happen? and Sonya takes Liv's place in the match? we do not know this will happen for sure, if so, she will be one of the favourites to win, interesting to see how the crowd reacts to that scenario, in terms of Zelina, Natalya and Tamina, they will have close calls but they'll fall short of winning. 
 
Predicted Winner: Naomi or Liv Morgan.

WWE Championship Match
Bobby Lashley (c) vs. Kofi Kingston
Bobby will aim to make a statement with a dominating win against former champion Kofi Kingston, who has been in the mind of the Almighty in recent weeks during the run up to this contest, do not expect this match to go 20-25 minutes. Predicted Winner: and still. WWE Champion. Bobby Lashley. 

RAW Women's Championship Match
Rhea Ripley (c) vs. Charlotte Flair
As you know, not much wrestling has been watched by myself in recent weeks because of the Euros, congratulations to Italy, well deserved, just wanted to say that, in case you do not know who won, apparently Rhea was injured this past week after an attack from Charlotte, so she will attempt to over come the odds even though she is champion, however it will not be enough. Predicted Winner: and NEW RAW Women's Champion. Charlotte Flair.

Universal Championship Match 
Roman Reigns (c) vs. Edge
The following contest will be an all out war between two greats in the business, Roman will want to continue his reign as champion, whereas Edge will want to realise his dream and win the title again, his plans will be denied by Seth towards the end to set up their match for SummerSlam. Predicted Winner: and still, Universal Champion. Roman Reigns.

There you have it, the predictions are complete. Money In The Bank will be an interesting event for sure.

WWE SmackDown Review-ish | Finally! The Crowd Has Come Back To The WWE

Readers the blog, not only has the content returned, the LIVE crowds returned to WWE TV for the first time in seventeen months. What a crazy journey it has been, we have been through the Performance Center times at the start of the pandemic, which then led to the ThunderDome era as it were, tonight's edition was a special occasion, one that we will remember for a long time. Below are the match results followed by thoughts of the show. 

Match Results

Universal Champion Roman Reigns & The Usos defeated SmackDown Tag Team Champions Rey & Dominik Mysterio & Edge.

Shotzi & Nox defeated the Women's Tag Team Champions Natalya & Tamina.

Bianca Belair defeated Carmella to remain SmackDown Women's Champion.

Cesaro defeated Otis via disqualification. 

Seth Rollins defeated Big E to win the Fatal Four Way match. 

SmackDown Review-ish
The crowd in Houston, Texas was electric, it was great hear the cheers again. Vince McMahon walking out and saying "Where the hell have you been?" was a nice moment, the opening contest was a six man tag, as you can see by the match line up, it's worth noting Roman didn't really receive many boos from the crowd in attendance, whereas Edge got a great reaction, Jey rolled up Rey for the win, it will be interesting to see if the tag team titles change hands on Sunday, based on logic, probably not, but we shall see.

Finn Balor returned to SmackDown to confront Sami Zayn, there's a future story line for us to watch, it will no doubt be a good one, Shotzi & Nox won their non title match against champions, Natalya & Tamina, that victory will possibly earn them an opportunity for the gold later down the line, staying with the women's division, Bianca Belair remains your SmackDown Women's Champion after her win against a very impressive Carmella. Sasha Banks has been off from WWE TV for quite some time, it's inevitable she will return to challenge the EST.

Toni Storm will be making her SmackDown debut next week, looking forward to seeing who she will be feuding with on the main roster. Otis vs. Cesaro did not lost long as Chad Gable attacked Cesaro. Otis then attacked Cesaro during the swings on Gable. Baron Corbin cut a promo in the ring about his failures as of late, until he was interrupted by Kevin Owens, who went on to stun Corbin, prior to the Fatal Four Way match in the main event of the evening, Big E vs. Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins vs. Shinsuke Nakamaura, it was one hell of a match, won by Seth Rollins after he stomped Big E on to the ladder, in terms of  SmackDown itself, very enjoyable, the focus now turns to Sunday's Money In The Bank Pay-Per-View. 

Predictions for Money In The Bank will be available prior to the event.