Welcome everyone to the forty-seventh edition of Spandex and Suplexes: A Wrestling Review. I cover a week that saw the WWE Payback PPV, NXT Super Tuesday, and the final build to AEW All Out. Let’s get started.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan) defeated The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce)
2. Bobby Lashley defeated Apollo Crews (c) by submission to become the new WWE United States Champion
3. Big E defeated Sheamus
4. Matt Riddle defeated Baron Corbin
5. Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax defeated Bayley and Sasha Banks (c) by submission to become the new WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions
6. Keith Lee defeated Randy Orton
7. Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio defeated Seth Rollins and Buddy Murphy
8. Roman Reigns defeated “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt (c) and Braun Strowman in a No Holds Barred Triple Threat match to become the new WWE Universal Champion
Thoughts: The biggest news of the night came in the main event with Roman Reigns winning his second WWE Universal Championship. While I think that turning Reigns heel, pairing him with Paul Heyman, and him getting back the WWE Universal Championship are all great, I am disappointed that this title win came at the expense of The Fiend only having a one week reign as champion. The way Roman won also didn’t make any sense. How can The Big Dog legally enter an already ongoing match that he did not sign the contract for prior to the start of the match?
Once the bell rang, Roman should not have been recognized as a legal competitor and signing the contract during the match should not have been legal. I get that they are trying to portray Reigns as an opportunistic, cheating heel, but this action brings up the question of why no one has ever tried to do this before and why shouldn’t anyone be able to try it again if this is considered legal to do? It’s this kind of illogical, inconsistent nonsense that makes me annoyed with WWE’s storytelling sometimes.
Overall, this was a great show with the highlights being Big E vs. Sheamus, Lee vs. Orton, The Mysterios vs. Rollins and Murphy, and the main event.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Keith Lee defeated Dolph Ziggler in a #1 Contender Qualifier match
2. Mickie James defeated Lana
3. Randy Orton defeated Kevin Owens after interference by Aleister Black in a #1 Contender Qualifier match
4. Cedric Alexander and The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) defeated The Hurt Business (Bobby Lashley, Shelton Benjamin, and MVP)
5. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott and Liv Morgan) defeated The IIconics (Billie Kay and Peyton Royce) in a #1 Contenders match to earn a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships (As a result, The IIconics must disband.)
6. Seth Rollins defeated Dominik Mysterio in a #1 Contender Qualifier match
7. R-Truth defeated Akira Tozawa (c) in the parking garage to become the new WWE 24/7 Champion
8. The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) vs. Andrade and Angel Garza in a Tornado Tag Team match went to a no contest after interference by Retribution
9. Randy Orton defeated Keith Lee and Seth Rollins in a Triple Threat #1 Contender match to earn at shot at the WWE Championship at WWE Clash of Champions
Thoughts: The main storyline for this week’s Raw was determining who was next to challenge Drew McIntyre for the WWE Championship at WWE Clash of Champions. After three well done qualifying matches throughout the night, including a very cunning victory by Randy Orton that saw him take advantage of Aleister Black’s hatred of Kevin Owens, the night ended with a great main event. Orton managed to pick up the win in what is My Match of the Week by taking advantage of the damage Keith Lee did to Seth Rollins to earn himself another shot at the WWE Championship.
With the roll The Viper has been on, I would not be surprised to see Orton win the championship. Keith Lee has also been booked very well and I would also not be surprised to see The Limitless One become WWE Champion in the near future, possibly as soon as early next year.
Overall, this was a great episode of Monday Night Raw with the highlights being the three qualifying matches and the main event.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott and Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze) defeated Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza, and Joaquin Wilde)
2. Candice LeRae defeated Kacy Catanzaro
3. Timothy Thatcher defeated Bronson Reed by submission after interference by Austin Theory
4. Finn Bálor vs. Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Tommaso Ciampa in a Fatal Four Way Iron Man match for the NXT Championship ended in a draw between Bálor and Cole 2-2-1-1 (As a result, Bálor and Cole move on to next week in a one-on-one sudden death match for the NXT Championship)
Thoughts: The main event Iron Man match was a great match, though I feel WWE is stretching it by having no decisive winner and pushing the actual determining championship match to next week. This was obviously done due to them having another special Super Tuesday episode next week that they need a big match to promote for.
As for who will become the next champion between Adam Cole and Finn Bálor, I would rather the winner be Bálor as Cole’s last reign was so long and too recent for me to want to see him with the title again. I do have to wonder, though, how The Prince winning the NXT Championship would affect his long-delayed feud with Walter over the NXT United Kingdom Championship?
Overall, this was a great episode of NXT with the highlights being the opening match and the main event.
Credit: AEW
Results:
1. Santana and Ortiz defeated Best Friends (Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor)
2. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and Jurassic Express (Luchasaurus and Jungle Boy) defeated SCU (Christopher Daniels and Frankie Kazarian) and Private Party (Isiah Kassidy and Marq Quen) to earn a match against each other at AEW All Out
3. Chris Jericho defeated Joey Janela by submission
4. Thunder Rosa defeated Serena Deeb
5. Jon Moxley defeated Mark Sterling
Thoughts: This week’s Dynamite was the go home show for tonight’s AEW All Out with the show ending with MJF bloodying his opponent for the PPV, AEW World Champion Jon Moxley, after having Wardlow attack the champ from behind. While MJF is a great heel, I predict that Moxley will end MJF’s undefeated streak to retain his championship.
As for the other major matches on the card, I predict that Orange Cassidy will defeat Chris Jericho in the Mimosa Mayhem match and that FTR will defeat Kenny Omega and Hangman Page to become the new AEW World Tag Team Champions. Hikaru Shida vs. Thunder Rosa for the AEW Women’s Championship could go either way depending on how long term the partnership between AEW and the NWA is.
Overall, this was a good episode of Dynamite with the highlights being the eight-man tag match, Rosa vs. Deeb, and the main event for its comedic value.
Between NXT and AEW this week, I am going to have to give the win to NXT due to the overall match quality. This brings my personal 2020 WNW rankings to: NXT – 13 and AEW – 22.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker) defeated John Morrison and The Miz
2. Shayna Baszler and Nia Jax (c) defeated Bayley and Sasha Banks to retain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships
3. Jey Uso defeated Baron Corbin, Sheamus, and Matt Riddle in a Fatal Four Way #1 Contender match to earn a shot at the WWE Universal Championship at WWE Clash of Champions
Thoughts: Well it finally happened. Bayley has turned on Sasha Banks in the most vicious way possible. After failing to regain the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championships in a match that saw Banks fight valiantly through a knee injury that occurred during the match, Bayley acted like she was going to help Sasha out of the ring before suddenly attacking The Boss by violently going after her knee before finishing her off by crushing her neck with a steel chair. While we knew this break up was coming for a long time, it will be interesting to see the exact reason The Role Model gives for why she destroyed her best friend.
I personally believe it will be revealed to be due to Bayley fearing Banks as a threat to her WWE SmackDown Championship. While you would think maintaining her friendship with Sasha would be the best way to keep her title, it is possible Bayley knew that Banks would want a title shot sooner or later, so she took the opportunity to try to take her out for good. Whenever Sasha does make her return to seek vengeance and championship glory by defeating her now former best friend, it will surely result in a hell of a match between two of the best female competitors in all of WWE.
Overall, this was a great episode of Friday Night SmackDown with the highlights being Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman’s opening promo, the WWE Women’s Tag Team Championship match, Bayley’s brutal betrayal of Sasha Banks, and the main event that set up an interesting dynamic for WWE Clash of Champions as Roman Reigns will now have to defend his WWE Universal Championship against his own cousin, Jey Uso.
That’s it for this week’s Spandex and Suplexes. I am looking forward to AEW All Out tonight and the match for the vacant NXT Championship on the special “Super Tuesday II” edition of NXT. While you are here on Florida Geek Scene, be sure to check out the first episode of my new spin off series, Spandex and Suplexes: The Interview Series, where I interviewed 17-year veteran pro wrestler, Alex Chamberlain. Until next time, I’ll see you at ringside!
Nicholas Slade
Nicholas grew up reading J.R.R. Tolkien's books, watching Disney and Studio Ghibli films, and reading Marvel comics and Japanese manga. The superb storylines and characters ignited his passion for writing. He graduated from Full Sail University in 2015 with a BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment. During his writing career thus far, Nicholas has had numerous short stories and articles published in an array of literary magazines and websites.
