Friday Night SmackDown | Thoughts

Hi and welcome to the Friday Night SmackDown review. A lot to talk about so let's not waste anymore time. Here we go!

A new stage was unveiled for the show and it reminded me of the 2000-2001 Attitude Era. 

We started off with a in ring segment with King Baron Corbin, "The Man" Becky Lynch and The Rock. Resulting in the Rock and Becky beating up Corbin to end the segment, leading to the first match of the night. 

Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair vs. Bayley and Sasha Banks

Winners: Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair.

There was a backstage interview with ya boys: THE NEW DAY! to hype up the WWE title match later in the show. 

Seth Rollins was seen heading to the ring to face Shinsuke Nakamura, this was not advertised prior to the show, Seth was in the ring when we got another episode of the Firefly Funhouse. More mind games from Bray leading up to Hell in a Cell. 

Rollins vs. Nakamura never ended with a winner as The Fiend attacked Rollins yet again, this time on the entrance way and throwing him off the stage. 

Disclaimer: There were a lot of montages throughout the show. Apologies if it seems like I've skipped through some important segments etc. 

Ladder Match: Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon the stipulation of the match was the loser of this match will be “terminated from WWE” meaning they will be fired.

Winner: Kevin Owens. 

Shane is fired. (Until he comes back before Survivor Series or something) this storyline is finally over, Note that The Miz never got his win back from Shane. Perhaps they'll incorporate that reason for if or when Miz and KO have a match or three later down the line. 

It was Paul Heyman's turn to hype up the main event. This was something we've seen and heard before so let's move on. 

Randy Orton, AJ Styles, Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler were defeated by Braun Strowman, The Miz, Otis and Tucker. 

During this match we saw a interaction between Strowman and boxer Tyson Fury. There's one match potentially booked for Wrestlemania next year. 

American DJ Marshmello won the 24/7 championship on the show, Carmella later won it back. 

It was Lumberjack match time. Erick Rowan vs. Roman Reigns

Winner: Roman Reigns. 

Here we go! Main Event time! 

WWE Championship: Kofi Kingston vs. Brock Lesnar (w/Paul Heyman) 

Winner: AND NEW WWE Champion! Brock Lesnar. 

Kofi didn't get any offence and Brock picked him up for an F5 for the win. I can't believe WWE booked Kofi like that. The fans reaction to this has been incredible and rightfully so. Five seconds that match lasted. Disgraceful. Kofi had an amazing run as champion. It's a damn shame it ended like that. I thought Kofi was going to somehow win this match with help from Rey and New Day in some fashion. It wasn't to be. As Randy Orton would say. This was stupid, stupid, stupid. 

After the match, Brock was interrupted by Rey and former UFC heavyweight champion, Cain Velasquez. Cain took down and punched Brock until the new champion retreated to end the show. I'm lost for words. I'm going to end the review here. Thanks for reading. 

The Season Premiere of Monday Night Raw | Thoughts

It was the season premiere of MONDAY NIGHT RAW. New theme, new set and PYRO was back! There was also a new commentary team alongside Jerry Lawlor.

It started off with Rey walking out to hype his match with Rollins for the bubblegum title later before he was interrupted by Brock and Paul Heyman. Who then proceeded to beat up Rey and went after his son, Dominic. The Beast took him out also to send a message to Kofi before their match on Friday Night SmackDown. 

The first of the match was Sasha v Alexa. The Boss picked up the win by randomly distracting Alexa. After this, Becky got on the mic to hype up her and Sasha's match at Hell in a Cell. The second match was a tag team match (playa) Heavy Machinery vs. Dolph Ziggler and Bobby Roode. Winners: Dolph and Roode. 

We had a Miz TV segment. Special Guests: Ric Flair and Hulk Hogan. I was hoping the Fiend would take out Hogan and Flair. That would've been AWESOME! (no pun intended) there was a confrontation of sorts between the two Hall of Famers. I got scared when the crowd chanted one more match. Ain't nobody got time for that! For a second there I thought Miz was about to announce that. He instead announced that there will be a Team Hogan vs Team Flair 5 vs 5 match at the Saudi Arabia show on October 31. As it stands, it looks like its Orton and Corbin in Team Flair and Rollins and Rusev in Team Hogan. 

Backstage. Rusev challenged Rollins for the title since Rey was unable to compete. 

It was tag team match time again playas. resulting in Viking Raiders defeating The OC. Moving swiftly on here. Ricochet defeated Cesaro in a quick fast paced match via the West Coast Pop. Following this was the Firefly Funhouse. It appears that Ramblin Rabbit is no more, they'll probably bring him back next week like Kenny from South Park. This episode of the Funhouse was nothing special, it was obvious Bray was teasing an appearance for later.

Back to the in-ring action. AJ defeated Cedric Alexander. It looks like Cedric's push is now over after taking another L.Before the main event. Lacey defeated Natalya. Hopefully this was the last match between these two and they get drafted to separate brands. 

A White limo entered the parking lot before Raw went to commercial.

Main Event. Seth Rollins put his title on the line vs. Rusev. Rusev was in control of this match before Bobby Lashley's music hit and Rusev just stood there. What is it about people in the ring just freezing whenever someone's music hits. It's been going on for many years and it's still stupid. Anyway. It looked like Lashley was sending for someone and that someone turned out to be Rusev's wife Lana. Lana and Lashley kissed and Rusev just stood there as a dumb babyface. If WWE went for shock value? They FAILED! This was so ridiculous. It also seems to me that they are trying to revive the failed Lana/Dolph storyline. The Fiend then took out Rollins to end the show.

If this was the season premiere of Raw. I can't wait for the season finale. What started off great then dramatically fizzled out. What a dumb ending to the main event. I need to stop watching Raw LIVE on a weekly basis. I'm looking forward to SmackDown on Friday Night (Saturday morning here in the UK) I hope we get a Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin in ring segment. OH HELL YEAH! Considering what happened earlier, the WWE title match between Brock and Kofi throws up some interesting scenarios. Will Rey cost Brock the title to get revenge for his son Dominic? Could Rey get drafted to SmackDown and challenge Brock for the title (if Brock wins) we will all find out in a few days time.

I haven't written in a while so it's good to be back. Thanks for reading. 

WWE SummerSlam 2019 | Thoughts

SummerSlam was LIVE from the ScotiaBank Arena. It's time to go through the matches with my thoughts, so here we go!

Kick off Show 

Cruiserweight Championship Match: Drew Gulak (c) vs. Oney Lorcan

Winner: AND STILL WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Drew Gulak.

Apollo vs. Buddy Murphy 
Winner: Buddy Murphy by DQ. Rowan attacked Murphy during the match after Murphy blamed Rowan for being the one that was attempting to take out Roman Reigns in recent weeks. 

Elias was interrupted by Toronto's own....Edge! What a fantastic ovation for Edge in front of his hometown crowd. The Rated-R superstar speared Elias to end this particular segment. 

WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Match: 

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (c) vs. The IIconics

Alexa and Nikki just recently became the women's tag champions, so there was no way they were losing here, and that proved to be the case.

Winners: AND STILL WWE Women's Tag Team Champions: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.

Main Card matches 

Raw Women's Championship Match 

Becky Lynch (c) vs. Natalya (Submission Match)

This was a decent show opening match, it was nice to see the two using their opponents submission moves on each other. Becky made Natalya tap out for the win. Winner: AND STILL RAW Women's Champion. Becky Lynch.

As far as to who Becky's next challenger should be, It should be Asuka, but shes in a tag team with Kairi Sane these days. For how long? I don't know. I reckon WWE themselves don't even know. I mentioned Asuka in regards to who should face Becky because don't forget when she was SmackDown Women's Champion, she beat Becky clean via the Asuka lock at the Royal Rumble. That right there is a ready made storyline for whenever they want to visit it and I would put the title on Asuka when all is said and done. 

Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler

Despite Dolph trying to surprise Goldberg with two superkicks to try and get the early win. This match didn't last long as predicted. Spear, Jackhammer. 1..2...3! Winner: Goldberg. 

After the match, Dolph insulted Goldberg and he was speared again by the legend. You'd think Dolph would learn his lesson right? He called out Goldberg again! And was hit with another Spear. I liked this especially because it's always great to hear Goldberg's theme music, the chants etc. 

United States Championship Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. Ricochet 
Anderson and Gallows accompanied AJ to the ring. I thought the two would play a vital part in helping AJ, which proved to be the case. After distraction from the Raw Tag team champions. He caught Ricochet in mid-air to hit the Styles clash for the win. Winner: AND STILL United States Champion. AJ Styles. 

SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Ember Moon 
No new champion crowned here as Bayley hit Ember with the Bayley to Belly from the top rope for the win. Winner: AND STILL SmackDown Women's Champion: Bayley.

Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon: If Owens loses, he will quit WWE 
Before the match, Shane appointed Elias, as the special enforcer. Owens hit Shane with the Swanton and the Frog splash. When the referee was down, K.O took out Elias with the chair. He picked up the win after kicking Shane with a low blow, while the referee's back was turned and hit Shane with the Stunner for the win. Winner Kevin Owens. 

Can we please remove Shane from WWE TV now? Thanks. 

Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus

Charlotte played the heel role so well. Trish was really good after a long absence from the ring, and her using the figure 8 on Flair was an excellent visual. Flair later applied the figure 8 to make Trish tap out. "The Queen" prevails in Toronto. Woooooooo! Winner: Charlotte Flair. 

This was a great match, I echo the WWE fans thoughts in the arena in Toronto by saying: Thank you Trish. 

WWE Championship Match: Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Randy Orton 

In the closing stages of this match, Orton stared down at Kofi's family outside of the ring and this match ended in a double count-out. The crowd chanted bullish*t! which it was. Kofi repeatedly hit Orton with the Kendo Stick. This felt like something you'd get from a SmackDown episode. Kofi remains champion after all of this. I guess you could say the booking of this match was stupid, stupid, stupid. That was a bad joke, I'm sorry.

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor 
Yowie! Wowie! Bray Wyatt's entrance as "The Fiend" was great! I'm not even exaggerating to you. Wyatt tried to take Balor's head off during the match. Balor tried to mount an offence but he never stood a chance as the "The Fiend" picked up the win via the Mandible Claw. Winner: "The Fiend" Bray Wyatt.

After the match, we saw a close up of "The Fiend" with the lights flashing. 

Amazing scenes at SummerSlam. I'm gong to watch the entrance and match again. I suggest you do the same. If you want to.

Main Event

Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins

Both guys traded finishing moves in this match, Seth tried to overcome rib injuries to put The Beast down for the three count, Lesnar gained control of the match. Towards the end, Rollins moved out of the way as Brock hit the ring post, on the outside, Brock caught Seth mid air after a couple of suicide dives from Rollins previously, and hit the challenger into the ring post. Rollins recovered to hit a frog splash to Lesnar onto the ring announce table. Back in the ring, Rollins got a near fall with the Stomp after Brock kicked out. Rollins managed to get out of the F5 and followed that up with a superkick, followed by the Stomp for the win. Winner: AND NEW UNIVERSAL CHAMPION! Seth Rollins!

It'll be interesting to see who the next challenger to Seth's title will be. Looking forward to RAW tomorrow night. "The Fiend" was 100% the star of the show. Could 'it' be Seth's next challenger? Let's see. SummerSlam has always been my favourite event on the WWE calendar. This year event was kind of disappointing until the Charlotte vs. Trish match and then it was really good from there. SummerSlam 2019 is now in the archives. I hope you enjoyed the read. Thank you.

WWE SummerSlam 2019 | Predictions

WWE SummerSlam is LIVE this Sunday from Toronto, Canada. Very much looking forward to the event as its one of my favourites. Time to run through the match card with predictions. Here we go!

{UPDATE! Two more matches have been added to the card. Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross will be putting their WWE Women's Tag Team Titles on the line vs. The IIconics. and Apollo will be facing Buddy Murphy. Below are my predictions for both matches.}

WWE Women's Tag Team Championship Match: 
Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross (c) vs. The IIconics
Winners: AND STILL WWE Women's Tag Team Champions: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.

Apollo vs. Buddy Murphy Winner: Buddy Murphy.

Cruiserweight Championship Match: Drew Gulak (c) vs. Oney Lorcan

Winner: AND STILL WWE Cruiserweight Champion: Drew Gulak.

Goldberg vs. Dolph Ziggler

This match is redemption for Goldberg because of the terrible match he and Undertaker had in Saudi Arabia. This match won't last long. Spear, Jackhammer. 1,2,3.

Winner: Goldberg. 

SmackDown Women's Championship Match: Bayley (c) vs. Ember Moon

I would love to see Ember win the title, Unfortunately, I don't see it happening here. 

Winner: AND STILL SmackDown Women's Champion: Bayley.

United States Championship Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. Ricochet

AJ and Gallows and Anderson have just reunited as The Club. AJ won the title just a few weeks ago. I feel that the title is about to change hands here. It will be a great moment in Toronto on a big stage at SummerSlam for Ricochet.

Winner: AND NEW United States Champion: Ricochet.

"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt vs. Finn Balor

Balor is rumoured to be taking a break from WWE after this so he is losing here.

Winner: Bray Wyatt.

Raw Women's Championship Match 

Becky Lynch (c) vs. Natalya (Submission Match)

Everyone is expecting Becky to win this match. I was the same, however, I've changed my mind because, I would have Ronda Rousey make a surprise return and cost Becky her title and help Natalya win the title in her home country of Canada. Ronda's return and music hitting would blow the roof off the place, it would be a show stealer! Winner: AND NEW RAW Women's Champion: Natalya. 

Kevin Owens vs. Shane McMahon: If Owens loses, he will quit WWE

There is no way Owens is losing here. Time to remove Shane from WWE TV. There goes the money! Winner: Kevin Owens. 

Charlotte Flair vs. Trish Stratus

While it will be nice to see Trish win in front of her hometown crowd, I don't think it will be that way so I've picked "The Queen" Winner: Charlotte Flair. 

WWE Championship Match: Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Randy Orton

I was in two minds as to who was winning this match. After much deliberation etc, I'm picking Kofi to remain champion. Winner: AND STILL WWE Champion: Kofi Kingston. I've based that decision on Kofi's next possible opponent, for me, that would be "The Fiend" he would attack Kofi while he is celebrating in the ring and the new story would begin from there. So there you have it.

Universal Championship Match: Brock Lesnar (c) vs. Seth Rollins

Brock will be overconfident, he will then make a mistake and Seth will roll Brock up for the "shock" win. Winner: AND NEW Universal Champion: Seth Rollins.

As I write this, there is no match involving Roman Reigns, perhaps we might get an in-ring segment at SummerSlam with him and Daniel Bryan and Rowan. Notice how there is no tag team match on the card? I wouldn't be surprised to see one added. Speaking of matches yet to be announced for Sunday. I hope the Intercontinental title match between Ali and Shinsuke Nakamura gets added. 

Thanks for reading and enjoy SummerSlam if you're watching. 

WWE Smackville | Thoughts

Smackville was LIVE for a one hour special from Nashville Tennessee.

WWE Intercontinental Championship Match. Shinsuke Nakamura (c) vs. Ali

Originally. It was meant to be Finn Balor vs. Shinsuke but the challenger was injured and replaced by Ali. It was nice to see him wrestling again even though it was in a losing effort. I see a rematch between these two taking place in two weeks in Toronto at SummerSlam.

Winner: AND STILL Intercontinental Champion. Shinsuke Nakamura. 

Kevin Owens vs. Elias

This was an impromptu match after KO interrupted Elias's concert. KO won via the Stunner. Winner: Kevin Owens.

WWE Championship Match. 

Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Samoa Joe

This was always going to be a entertaining main event considering who were involved and it didn't disappoint in that regard. Kofi pinned Joe via Trouble in Paradise for the win. Winner: AND STILL WWE Champion. Kofi Kingston.

Yes, this was a house show but most importantly, it was a fun house show. I'm looking forward to possibly watching more of these type of events and writing about them as time goes on. Thanks for reading. 

WWE Extreme Rules 2019 | Thoughts

Extreme Rules 2019 is now in the books. Below are the match results followed by my thoughts on said matches. So let's begin. 

On the kick off show, two matches took place. The intercontinental championship match between Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura. Resulting in Nakamura winning the championship. It feels like a nothing win to me, seeing as there has been little to no build at all. 

The other match on the kick off show was Drew Gulak successfully defending the Cruiserweight title against Tony Nese. 

As promised, here are the results of the main card. 

Roman Reigns & The Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre (No Holds Barred Match) Winners: Roman Reigns and The Undertaker.

The best thing about this match was the visual of McIntyre creeping up on Undertaker in the closing moments of the match as some sort of a tease for SummerSlam. 

When Shane returned and his music hit a while ago, it was a great moment but now I just want this guy off WWE TV. 

Raw Tag Team Championship 

The Revival (c) vs. The Usos

Winners: AND STILL RAW Tag Team Champions. The Revival. 

These two teams work so well together. Fun match. Nothing else to say really. 

Aleister Black vs. Cesaro

Winner: Aleister Black

During my predictions post, I said this is the best match on the card and it delivered 100% If this was a one off match? Then that would the best correct thing for this. On to the next one as they say.

SmackDown Women's Championship Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross (2-on-1 Handicap Match) Winner: AND STILL SmackDown Women's Champion. Bayley.

This match was boring. I was waiting for Sasha Banks to return and then turn heel. That didn't happen. Ah well. The champ remaining the champ was the right call. That is all.

Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley (Last Man Standing Match) Winner: Braun Strowman. 
I really hope this feud is done. Fun match though. 

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Daniel Bryan & Rowan (c) vs. The New Day vs. Heavy Machinery Winners: AND NEW SmackDown Tag Team Champions! The New Day!

The New Day are all champions now. Did they need the tag titles? No. Not really. Interesting to see what happens next in the SmackDown tag division.

United States Championship 

Ricochet (c) vs. AJ Styles

Winner: AND NEW United States Champion. AJ Styles! 

Decent match. Sign me up for the next one at SummerSlam. I hope they make it a ladder match.

Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler 

Winner: Kevin Owens.

This match was announced on social media like everything is these days. KO won quickly via the Stunner. Owens as a face character? I like that because he says what we are all thinking. He's really good on the mic too. The downside to his character is he's becoming Stone Cold lite. Other than that? It's all good. 

WWE Championship Match

Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Samoa Joe

Winner: AND STILL WWE Champion. Kofi Kingston.

Kofi remains the champion. Joe to me is Bray Wyatt 2.0 now. What I mean by that is that he talks a good fight but he always loses. Speaking of Bray. Can he debut already? Someone should let him in.

Winners Take All Match 

Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans (Extreme Rules Match) Winners: AND STILL Universal Champion. Seth Rollins and STILL Raw Women's Champion. Becky Lynch.

This was a decent match, the best thing about this was Corbin giving Becky the End of Days which p*ssed off Seth. He stomped Corbin for the win. 

BROCK LESNAR CASHES IN MONEY IN THE BANK!!!

Universal Championship Match 

Seth Rollins (c) vs. Brock Lesnar

Winner: AND NEW Universal Champion. Brock Lesnar! 

Brock wins! That's him off from TV till August then. Who will be his next challenger? Strowman? Been there done that. Aleister Black? Bray? My guess is that they'll give Rollins a rematch because I can't think of many people on RAW that are faces. Unless someone comes over from SmackDown using the WildCard rule, from outta nowhere.....

Thanks for reading. Laters.

WWE Extreme Rules 2019 | Predictions

Alright! So....here are my predictions for the matches at Extreme Rules on Sunday. 

Cruiserweight Championship Drew Gulak (c) vs. Tony Nese: 

Winner: AND STILL Cruiserweight Champion. Drew Gulak.

Aleister Black vs. Cesaro

Match of the night for me. Looking forward to watching this. Winner: Aleister Black.

SmackDown Tag Team Championship Daniel Bryan & Rowan (c) vs. The New Day vs. Heavy Machinery This one will trail the above match for match of the night candidate. After thinking about it, I don't see new champions being crowned. I could be wrong but that's what predictions are for. Winners: AND STILL SmackDown Tag Team champions. Daniel Bryan & Rowan.

Raw Tag Team Championship 

The Revival (c) vs. The Usos

For me, The Usos are the best Tag Team in the company. Which is why they are my pick for this one. Winners: AND NEW Raw Tag Team Champions! The Usos.

SmackDown Women's Championship Bayley (c) vs. Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross (2-on-1 Handicap Match) My prediction is that Nikki Cross and Alexa are losing here. Along with a Sasha Banks return with a heel turn on Bayley after Bayley wins. There you go! 

Winner: AND STILL SmackDown Women's champion. Bayley. 

Braun Strowman vs. Bobby Lashley (Last Man Standing Match) 

Braun Strowman seems like the obvious winner, but to me Bobby Lashley needs the win more so he's my pick. Winner: Bobby Lashley.

United States Championship 

Ricochet (c) vs. AJ Styles

I like Ricochet. He's quality. Heel AJ is the best AJ. This is difficult to predict. Here goes...Winner: AND STILL United States Champion. Ricochet.

Roman Reigns & The Undertaker vs. Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre (No Holds Barred Match) This match is going to potentially set up two matches for SummerSlam. Roman vs. Shane and McIntyre vs. Undertaker. I'm picking the heels here mainly because Drew needs the win. Winners: Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre.

WWE Championship Match

Kofi Kingston (c) vs. Samoa Joe

It's good to see Joe challenge for the WWE title. Is he winning here? No. I would like to see him win it, but I don't see it happening. Winner: AND STILL WWE Champion. Kofi Kingston. 

Winners Take All Match 

Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs. Baron Corbin & Lacey Evans (Extreme Rules Match)

There will NOT be new champions crowned. That is all. Winners: AND STILL Universal Champion Seth Rollins and Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch. 

I don't care about this event. Unless I've missed something, it feels like there's no hype going into it. Predictions are done. Thanks for reading.