Smackdown 25th June 2021
Smackdown starts with Roman Reigns complaining that Jey Uso isn't around, and being clearly unhappy that Jimmy Uso is.
Bianca gives an in-ring promo about beating Bayley in a Hell in a Cell match. Seth Rollins interrupts, and this leads to a mixed tag match. Rollins and Bayley beat Cesaro and Bianca in a feisty (but limited) mixed tag when Bayley beat Bianca, because WWE just fired most of the women so these two have to fight forever. The issue with WWE mixed tag matches is that if a tag means the other person has to come into the match (men and women aren't allowed to fight) then there is no point in it being a tag match.
The debate over intergender wrestling hasn't moved on much since Andy Kaufman, but to be real: this is theatre. Preventing performers having some roles in the theatre because of their gender is a discriminatory glass ceiling. As for the "realism" angle (which keeps rearing its ugly head in pro-wrestling), well, Asuka for one would make a more credible IC Champ than half the folk who won it this century, let alone World champ.
Nakamura is crowned as the new King of the WWE by Rick Boogs. Meanwhile, backstage the former King Corbin is seen looking sad.
Seth Rollins demands a title shot against his former Shield buddy, Roman Reigns. Sonya Deville "takes it under consideration".
WWE remembered Big E exists and had him beat Apollo Crews in a Money in the Bank qualifier. Decent match, though you know how an Apollo match will go now. Only difference is the referee saw Commander Azeez, threw him out, and Big E responding by immediately pinning the IC Champ. Luigi Loses by Doing Nothing.
Sonya announces Carmella (urg) as the first Smackdown woman in the Money in the Bank match. No qualifiers on Smackdown as we don't have a big enough roster after all those firings. Liv Morgan shows up and points out that she beat Carmella the previous week so should be in the Money in the Bank match. Also because there's 4 women on their roster.
This leads to a short and messy Liv/Carmella match which Liv wins again.
Jimmy Uso tells Paul Heyman he is going to impress Roman Reigns with a big singles win, and takes on Dolph Ziggler, who knows his place and jobs quickly to Jimmy Uso. Which, to be fair, might be Jimmy's biggest singles win in his career.
Jimmy Uso goes backstage and Roman nods at him, but when Reigns goes out to ringside, Heyman gives Jimmy a look to stay backstage. (And subtly we don't know if this is Reigns decision or if Heyman is starting to playing them against each other...)
Roman Reigns gives a speech in the ring about everyone he has defeated, when Edge returns to the WWE and beats him up. Jimmy Uso makes the save and Reigns bails as Uso gets Speared through the barricade. So we are getting Reigns/Edge out of the way before Summerslam. Curious.
This weeks episode of Smackdown was mostly treading water. Short but not memorable matches, some hints of future booking but nothing concrete this week. Oddly the most over person on the show might be Liv Morgan. 5/10
RAW 28th June 2021
RAW opened with a big battle royal. This was to determine one entrant into the Money in the Bank Last Chance qualifying match. As a big fan of battle royals, I approved. Even though Riddle - already in the MITB - entered as a "substitute" for Randy Orton, who couldn't be there. (Last week, Riddle accidentally cost Orton a spot in the match.) This went a while and allowed people lower on the card a chance to shine. We also got some storyline advancement as Omos interfered to eliminate both of the Vikings, giving us a tag title feud for the future.
In the end the match came down to Damien Priest (who has been spinning his wheels since his big WrestleMania match) and Riddle, and both had some nice near eliminations before Riddle won the match, to qualify Randy Orton for the main event.
Hey, Luigi really did win by doing nothing!
Battle royals are fun, and even if this one had a fairly obvious winner from early on, it still gave a sort of spotlight to folk who need one. Also, Mansoor was eliminated by Ali. I'm all for a spirited rookie taking on his corrupt mentor storyline, Mustafa Ali is criminally underused.
Oh, yes, the 24/7 title changed 3 times during the match. I think R-Truth is now a 524 time champ.
Nikki Cross, who is now a superhero (sigh), pinned Shayna Baszler with the La Magistral roll up cradle, which is a sweet move in the wrestling games and in real life. I don't see Cross lasting long with this gimmick, especially now they've fired her husband. Sigh.
Kofi Kingston and MVP had a genuinely great in-ring argument which went over Kofi's apparently slumming it, MVP's parasitic nature as manager, Kofi's overconfidence (he "already beat Lashley"), gave hints Xavier Woods is underappreciated by both, and finished with Kofi hitting MVP with the Trouble in Paradise on the ramp. Great stuff.
Eva Marie and Doudrop take on Asuka and Naomi. Eva Marie walks out of the match just like Piper (Doudrop, sigh) did last week, leaving Niven 2 on 1 against Asuka and Naomi. And so... she straight up beats the tar out of both, and then pins Asuka clean as a fresh sheet. Asuka's star on the decline on RAW but even so, that's a huge win for the former Viper. Apart from the name - which hopefully doesn't last wrong - everything about her debut on RAW has gone shockingly well so far.
Ricochet and John Morrison went to a double countout after a move that looked like a legit stinger.
Team Charlotte Flair easily beat Team Rhea and the Faces (wasn't Rhea Ripley a heel?) when Charlotte pinned Mandy Rose. Dull.
Jakson Ryker beat Elias in a strap match. Sigh.
The main event was a qualifier for the Money in the Bank between AJ Styles, Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton (as played by Matt Riddle due to the opening Battle Royal win). This was an absolute class match which got lots of time - over 25 minutes - and all three men looked like they could win. McIntyre is Mr Reliable in big time main events now and AJ Styles is one of the all time greats in the ring. Riddle is spirited and good at comebacks - and if he didn't have the elephant in the room following his career I'd be a lot happier about his run in all this. McIntyre was a beast in the ring, Riddle kept trying his luck against him, and AJ Styles continually felt overlooked. Riddle took a foot injury but kept trying to rise again, only for Drew to continue his shades of grey by zooming in on it. In the end, Riddle took out AJ Styles only to fall victim to a quick Claymore kick, and Drew McIntyre was in the Money in the Bank match.
This match got 4 stars off the Observer and has 43 8/10 ratings on Cagematch after 5 days. It may be the most positively appreciated match WWE has put on since WrestleMania.
So yes, RAW had one of the best matches of the year. It also had Jackson Ryker. It had a hell of a battle royal. It also had the Charlotte Flair huff push. It gave Nikki Cross ten minutes. It also gave her a superhero gimmick. It presented a huge underdog tale throughout the night. The underdog was Matt Riddle, who may skeletons in his closet.
I mean, you have to celebrate greatness over lousy mediocrities, so RAW gets 8/10. The main event deserves it, the battle royal deserves it, Nikki Cross and Piper Niven deserve it. And all they all deserve more than to be anchored down by the Ryker/Elias rubbish, or bad gimmicks.
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