WWE SmackDown Before Money In The Bank

Let me talk to ya.

SmackDown was LIVE from the O2 Arena, in London here in England, the show was part one of a great couple of nights of World Wrestling Entertainment. Let's have a look at the key moments.

Sami Zayn & Kevin Owens defeated Pretty Deadly to remain Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions. 

Backstage, Adam Pearce talked to The Brawling Brutes and announced Ridge Holland would take on the United States Champion, Austin Theory, in a Championship Contenders Match. 

Austin Theory defeated Ridge Holland. 

After the match, Theory attacked Holland, until Sheamus ran down to make the save, later on it was announced we will see Austin Theory against Sheamus next week on SmackDown for the United States Championship. LIVE from Madison Square Garden. AJ Styles vs. Karrion Kross is also scheduled. 

We saw an amazing Bloodline montage, telling us all a story of when it all began until where we are now. 

Bayley defeated Shotzi to remain in contention for the Women's Money In The Bank briefcase, the crowd sang "Hey Bayley" during this match, which was great to hear.

Backstage, Bayley and Iyo beat up Shotzi, cut her hair before walking away. 

Logan Paul was the special guest for the Grayson Waller Effett segment, he was interrupted by LA Knight, the two exchanged words until Santos Escobar hit the ring to make his claim as to why he is going to win the Money In the Bank contract, Butch ran in and a fight ensued. 

Butch defeated Santos Escobar and LA Knight in a triple threat match, a great win for Butch in his home country. 

Bianca Belair had a ticket and sat with the fans to watch Asuka vs. Charlotte for the Women's Championship, the EST eventually got involved, resulting in the match ending in a DQ win for Asuka. Bianca hit KOD's on Asuka and Charlotte on the announce table, sending a message she is not to be messed with. 

In the main event segment, the much anticipated Bloodline segment began with Solo Sikoa, Paul Heyman and Roman Reigns walking to the ring, Roman was wearing a shirt with 'The Only One' written on it, which is sure to bring in a lot of money for the company in merchandise sales.

Roman wanted Jimmy and Jey to apologise for their actions, which never materialised, The Uso's talked about the last time Roman lost a match, which was three years ago and suggested Solo be Tribal Chief, which was met with "Solo" chants, Solo looked at Roman, who was laughing at that thought, perhaps that was a prelude for the future, eventually, the Civil War broke out, leading to a brawl, what a way to close out the Money In The Bank go home show. 

Thank you for reading, stay tuned for more content, in the meantime, be sure to check out the archives on this website. 

YEAH! 

   

Monday Night RAW | 2023 WWE Draft | Night Two

Welcome back to the blog for the recap of night two of the WWE Draft, LIVE from Fort Worth Texas, The Game, Triple H once again went through the ground rules before announcing the round one picks.

Round One Draft Picks 
SmackDown Women's Champion - Rhea Ripley - RAW
United States Champion - Austin Theory - SmackDown 
Seth Rollins - RAW 
Charlotte Flair - SmackDown

Looking at the draft picks above, Rhea and Bianca will indeed be swapping titles, Austin Theory going to SmackDown was always on the cards considering Gunther was drafted to RAW, Seth Rollins, an opponent that Roman Reigns has never defeated, will be one of the favourites to capture the World Heavyweight Championship. Charlotte being on the same brand as Bianca is interesting as the EST has previously defeated Bayley, Becky Lynch and the artist formerly known as Sasha Banks, only the Queen remains to complete the set. 

Round Two Draft Picks - announced by Booker T & Sharmell 
Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions - Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn - RAW 
The Usos - SmackDown 
Judgement Day - RAW
Latino World Order - SmackDown

Kevin and Sami were drafted to RAW as predicted, The Usos were drafted to SmackDown, however, this may change in the future and we see Jimmy and Jey go to Mondays in order to reclaim the tag team championships, as a task set by Roman, meanwhile, Damian Priest, Finn Balor & Dominik Mysterio and Rhea Ripley remain together as a faction, likewise the Latino World Order.

Round Three Draft Picks - announced by Shawn Michaels 
Women's Tag Team Champions - Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez - RAW
Asuka - SmackDown 
Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods - RAW
Sheamus, Ridge Holland & Pete Dunne - SmackDown

Liv and Raquel drafted to RAW means the men's and women's tag team champions are on the same brand, great to see Asuka get drafted to SmackDown, hopefully she will challenge Bianca again, Kofi and Xavier could be reunited with Big E in the future when he returns and The Brawling Brutes will remain on Friday Nights...Fella! 

Round Four Draft Picks - announced by Eric Bischoff & Rob Van Dam
Trish Stratus - RAW
Karrion Kross & Scarlett - SmackDown 
Shayna Baszler & Ronda Rousey - RAW
LA Knight - SmackDown

Trish will resume her rivalry with Becky, Karrion Kross and Scarlett will remain on SmackDown. let's see which obstacle they target, tick tock! Shayna and Ronda won the Women's WrestleMania showcase which technically makes them number one contenders for the tag titles. let me talk to ya, SmackDown is still LA Knight's game and that's a fact of life. YEAH! 

Round Five Draft Picks - announced by Molly Holly & Road Dogg
Braun Strowman & Ricochet - RAW
Shotzi - SmackDown 
Bronson Reed - RAW
Pretty Deadly - SmackDown

Braun and Ricochet will look to build their tag team chemistry on Monday Night's, Shotzi is exclusive to SmackDown, Bronson being drafted to RAW potentially rules him out of winning the triple threat match for the United States Championship at Backlash in Puerto Rico. The NXT call ups continued with a Pretty Deadly pick. 

Round Six Draft Picks - announced by JBL & Teddy Long
Otis & Chad Gable - RAW
Rick Boogs - SmackDown 
Katana Chance & Kayden Chance - RAW 
Cameron Grimes - SmackDown 

Shoosh Please! Alpha Academy remain on Monday's with Maxine Dupree, Rick Boogs will have a great opportunity to make a name for himself on SmackDown, Katana and Kayden will be challenging Isla Dawn and Alba Fyre for the NXT Women's Tag Team Championships on NXT before they head to the main roster, while Cameron will attempt to take SmackDown to the moon. 

The following picks were announced by Jackie Redmond and Matt Camp on RAW Talk.

Round One
Dana Brooke, Nikki Cross, Johnny Gargano - RAW
Tamina - SmackDown

Round Two
Angel Garza, Humberto, Akira Tozawa, Piper Niven, Xia Li, Tegan Nox, Emma & Riddick Moss - RAW

Round Three - NXT call ups 
Indus Sher (Jinder Mahal, Sanga & Veer Mahaan) - RAW
Odessey Jones - RAW
Grayson Waller - SmackDown

The Free Agents are: Elias, Brock Lesnar, Omos, Von Wagner, Mustafa Ali, Dolph Ziggler, Baron Corbin, Cedric Alexander, Shelton Benjamin, Apollo Crews & Xyon Quinn, the names mentioned have the opportunity to appear on both shows.

The draft is now complete, the new rosters will take effect from May 8th after Backlash, it will be interesting to see if there will be any trades or wildcard rules in the next weeks or months, the prediction is the Brand Split will last until SummerSlam or Survivor Series.  

Thank you for reading, be sure to check out the archived content on this website. 

Friday Night SmackDown | 2023 WWE Draft | Night One

It's time to shake things up again, it's draft time! Night One took place on Friday Night SmackDown. Triple H began proceedings by going through the rules, also mentioning NXT superstars were eligible. The Game announced the first round.. 

The Round One Draft Picks 
Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns & Solo Sikoa with Paul Heyman SmackDown
Cody Rhodes - RAW
RAW Women's Champion - Bianca Belair - SmackDown
Becky Lynch - RAW

Roman and Cody being drafted number one for their respective brands is a good thing, as that will hopefully quieten down the people who are still talking about the story not being finished between the two, which may have to wait until WrestleMania 40. Bianca being drafted to Friday nights means Rhea will be going to Monday nights, with the titles being swapped, similar to what we saw between Charlotte and Becky last time, speaking of Becky, she remains on RAW. The Man will look to get revenge on the legendary Trish Stratus. 

Round Two Draft Picks - announced by Rob Van Dam & Michael Hayes
The Street Profits - SmackDown
Imperium - RAW
Edge - SmackDown
Matt Riddle - RAW

Like Bianca, the Street Profits return to Friday nights, meaning the rumoured split between Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins is on hold, Imperium will be making the move to RAW including the Intercontinental Championship, currently held by Gunther, logic states Austin Theory will be moving to SmackDown on Night Two of the draft, on this day, I see clearly, Edge is on the blue brand, let's see what is in store for the Hall of Famer. Matt Riddle remains on RAW. 

Round Three Draft Picks - announced by JBL & Teddy Long
Bobby Lashley  SmackDown
Drew McIntyre - RAW
The OC - SmackDown
The Miz - RAW 

SmackDown has, excuse the pun, an almighty pick, Bobby Lashley will set his sights on Roman Reigns in the future, Drew McIntyre will target a fresh start on RAW in a bid to become the new World Heavyweight Champion, The OC were drafted to SmackDown, it was phenomenal to see the return of AJ Styles, the group look set to feud with the Viking Raiders. Miz staying on Monday Nights is......Awesome!

Round Four Draft Picks - announced by Shawn Michaels & Road Dogg Jesse James
Damage CTRL - SmackDown
Shinsuke Nakamura - RAW 
Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn - SmackDown 
Indi Hartwell - RAW 

Damage CTRL were drafted to SmackDown as a collective, Bayley being on the same brand as Michael Cole will bring back hilarious memories and moments of the jokes and banter they shared during the pandemic era, Shinsuke Nakamura will be going to RAW, a match in between him and Gunther will be fantastic to see, if it were to happen, but first he must deal with Karrion Kross on SmackDown next week. Tick-Tock.

Congratulations to the NXT Women's Tag Team Champions Alba Fyre & Isla Dawn and NXT Women's Champion Indi Hartwell for their main roster call ups. 

More draft picks will be announced on SmackDown LowDown and via WWE's social media, the content on this website will resume with night two of the draft on Monday Night RAW. 

Let's Talk About | The WWE Draft & Predictions

Welcome to the second edition of Let's Talk About. 

Today's topic of conversation is the WWE Draft, a two night event beginning on Friday Night SmackDown on the 28th of April and concluding on Monday Night RAW on May 1st. 

Having seen drafts in the past, prepare for the following scenarios to happen, teams to go their separate ways, factions splitting up, Champions to swap brands, including NXT call ups to the main roster. 

It has also been a while since General Managers were involved, we will find out if the role returns. In the meantime, let's delve into the draft predictions.

RAW & SmackDown Draft Predictions

Undisputed WWE Universal Champion Roman Reigns with Paul Heyman & Solo Sikoa to SmackDown & The Usos drafted to RAW.  

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn drafted to RAW. 

Cody Rhodes drafted to RAW, Edge drafted to SmackDown.

RAW Women's Champion Bianca Belair to remain on RAW & SmackDown Women's Champion Rhea Ripley to remain on SmackDown, no title swap.

Latino World Order drafted to RAW, Judgement Day drafted to SmackDown.

Women's Tag Team Champions Liv Morgan & Raquel Rodriguez to remain on SmackDown & Shayna Baszler & Ronda Rousey drafted to RAW.

Intercontinental Champion Gunther with Ludwig Kaiser & Giovanni Vinci drafted toRAW & United States Champion Austin Theory drafted to SmackDown. 

Montez Ford drafted to RAW, Angelo Dawkins drafted to SmackDown. 

Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods drafted to RAW and reunite with Big E, Chad Gable & Otis drafted to SmackDown. 

Asuka drafted to SmackDown, Charlotte Flair drafted to RAW. 

LA Knight drafted to RAW (YEAH!) Miz drafted to SmackDown. 

Drew McIntyre drafted to RAW, Logan Paul drafted to SmackDown. 

Bayley drafted to SmackDown, Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky drafted to RAW. 

Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch to stay on Monday Night RAW. 

Karrion Kross and Scarlett to stay on SmackDown. 

Mustafa Ali drafted to SmackDown, Madcap Moss with Emma drafted to RAW.

Sheamus, Ridge Holland and Pete Dunne drafted to RAW. 

NXT Call-ups 
Bron Breakker to SmackDown.
Grayson Waller to RAW.
Roxanne Perez to SmackDown.

Pretty Deadly to RAW.

Katana Chance and Kayden Carter to SmackDown. 

Cameron Grimes to SmackDown. 
Tyler Bate to RAW.
Zoey Stark to RAW.

Free Agents
Brock Lesnar.
Hit Row.
Alexa Bliss. 
Bray Wyatt.

Jinder Mahal.
R-Truth.
Tommaso Ciampa. 

The 2023 Draft Predictions are now complete, the content will resume with a recap of the first night of draft results from SmackDown this Friday, subject to change of course. 

Let's Talk About | Cody Rhodes

Welcome back to the blog, if you are new? then hello and welcome. 

This is a brand new series called Let's Talk About. It is only fitting we talk about The American Nightmare Cody Rhodes, he was the first person to return from AEW to WWE, at last year's WrestleMania (38) everyone knew he would be Seth Rollins opponent, the pomp and circumstance was fantastic to see though. 

Cody suffered a legitimate injury prior to facing Seth at Hell in a Cell and the reveal of said injury only added to the drama and intrigue of the match that he went on to win. 

When he was written off TV on the following episode of Monday Night RAW and the training montages were shown, it was obvious he was going to win the 2023 Royal Rumble match. 

A lot of fans on social media were constantly suggesting he should be the guy to end Roman's reign at this year's WrestleMania to send a message to AEW, there were so many narratives, that is where the tide turned for me, no disrespect to Cody as a person, I ACKNOWLEDGE that I wanted his character to lose to Roman Reigns and to see the reactions online, which, by the way, were very entertaining.

SummerSlam is way too early for a rematch, he is not ready to challenge The Tribal Chief at that prestigious event.

In order for Cody to be viewed as a genuine contender for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship, he must face names such as: Brock Lesnar, Austin Theory, Gunther and perhaps win a United States or Intercontinental Championship along the way, including the Elimination Chamber next year to earn an opportunity for the top title, someone else should win the Rumble in 2024. 

If this happens? WrestleMania 40 would be a great place to complete his journey, before he loses the titles to either LA Knight, Seth Rollins or someone else, after they successfully cash in their Money In The Bank Contract, resulting in a heel turn for Cody and him blaming the fans that supported him, in true wrestling storyline fashion.

Let's see how this STORY plays out. 

Thank you for reading. Be sure to check out the archives on this website. 

WWE Champions Roll Call After WrestleMania

This year's WrestleMania weekend is now in the record books, bringing an end to another season in the world of World Wrestling Entertainment. below is a list of the title holders that are a part of this prestigious roll call.  

Women's Tag Team Champions
Becky Lynch & Lita

United States Champion 
Austin Theory 

RAW Women's Champion 
Bianca Belair

Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions 
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn 

SmackDown Women's Champion 
Rhea Ripley 

Intercontinental Champion
Gunther 

Undisputed WWE Universal Champion
Roman Reigns

Congratulations to the current champions, there will be an updated Roll Call after Money In The Bank, which will be LIVE from London, England on July !st.  

Thank you for reading, be sure to check out the archived content on this website. 

WWE RAW Before WrestleMania

Welcome back to the blog, this is WrestleMania week, there is so much excitement and anticipation around in the run up to the Grandest Stage Of Them All. Let's take a look at the events that took place on the go home show LIVE from Phoenix, Arizona. 

We began with the Miz TV segment, the special guests were Women's Tag Team Champions Becky Lynch and Hall of Famer Lita and fellow Hall of Famer Trish Stratus, they were joined in the ring by Bayley, Dakota Kai & Iyo Sky to exchange words, Becky was great in this segment, she cut an outstanding promo which led to her defeating Iyo minutes later. 

There was a video package about Asuka's career starting from NXT to this day on the main roster, including the thoughts of current superstars and Hall of Famers, there was a similar version for Bianca Belair later on in the show ahead of their RAW Women's Championship Match, who are currently scheduled for night one, subject to change of course. 

Seth Rollins backstage interview was interrupted by Mustafa Ali, this was a set up to their match, the crowd sang Seth's song, which is always awesome to hear, he went on to defeat Mustafa surprisingly quickly. 

Adam Pearce put Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green against Mia Yim and Candice LeRae to decide who got the last spot in the Women's Showcase Match. 

The weigh-in between Omos and Brock Lesnar ended abruptly, these segments never go to plan, a lot of people have been criticising why this is even happening at WrestleMania, the belief on this blog is this is an opportunity for Omos to prove the doubters wrong and see how good he is, hopefully they will change their views. 

We saw another video package, this time it was about Charlotte Flair which shifted to Rhea Ripley's backstage interview with Byron Saxton. 

The Street Profits & Braun Strowman & Ricochet defeated Viking Raiders & Alpha Academy, a preview to the Men's Showcase. 

Finn Balor responded to Edge's vignette prior to Hell in a Cell, it will be the Rated R Superstar versus The Demon. Cody Rhodes spoke to Cathy Kelley prior to the main event against Solo Sikoa. 

The Bloodline's parody of The Goodfellas was incredible, check it out on YouTube if you haven't already along with the others. 

The United States Champion Austin Theory cut a promo in an empty arena, saying he doesn't do this for the fans, or Cena, he does it for himself. Theory more or less guaranteed a victory on Saturday, this was eerie to watch as it brought back memories of the Performance Center Era. 

Sonya Deville & Chelsea Green defeated Mia Yim & Candice LeRae to qualify for the Women's Showcase to face Liv Morgan & Raquel Gonzalez, Natalya & Shotzi and Ronda Rousey & Shayna Baszler. 

Paul Heyman responded to Cody Rhodes by suggesting The American Nightmare wasn't ready for this show's main event or Sunday Night. 

Dominik Mysterio spoke about Rey finally snapping and accepting the challenge on Friday Night SmackDown. Rey versus Damian Priest ended in disqualification, Legado Del Fantasma ran down to save Rey. 

There were more packages than Amazon on this show, this time about the Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal, including a segment involving some of the participants such as: Elias, Rick Boogs and Bobby Lashley. 

Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn talked about possibly winning the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Championships and ending The Usos reign. 

The Intercontinental Champion Gunther defeated Dolph Ziggler. 

It was time for the talking to stop on this particular occasion as Cody Rhodes took on Solo Sikoa. The Usos attempted to help Solo, however, they were chased off by Kevin and Sami moments later, Cody countered Solo's Samoan Spike with the Cross Rhodes to pick the win and continue his momentum as he looks to finish the story at WrestleMania. 

That is it for the RAW before WrestleMania, there was a lot to unpack here, hope you enjoyed the read, very much looking forward to seeing who wins the Battle Royal and what happens between Cody and Roman before Sunday on SmackDown and more.

The content will continue after WrestleMania with a Champions Roll Call, be sure to check that out as well as the archives on this website.