Welcome everyone to the 87th edition of Spandex and Suplexes: A Wrestling Review. I cover a week that saw the continued build to WWE Hell in a Cell, the final build to NXT TakeOver: In Your House, and the AEW TNT Championship on the line. Let’s get started.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. The Viking Raiders won a #1 Contender Tag Team Battle Royal last eliminating RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Matt Riddle) to earn a shot at the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships
2. Jaxson Ryker defeated Elias by countout
3. Ricochet vs. Humberto Carrillo went to a double countout
4. Jeff Hardy defeated Cedric Alexander
5. Asuka and Nikki Cross defeated Charlotte Flair and Rhea Ripley
6. Mansoor defeated Drew Gulak
7. Kofi Kingston defeated Matt Riddle
Thoughts: The upcoming WWE Championship match between Bobby Lashley and Drew McIntyre at WWE Hell in a Cell will now officially happen inside the Hell in a Cell structure. During this week’s contract signing, Lashley had McIntyre agree that if The Scottish Psychopath loses, he will no longer be able to challenge for the WWE Championship while The All Mighty is champion. With this added stipulation, I am leaning even more to McIntyre regaining the title inside the Devil’s Playground.
The Viking Raiders winning the tag team battle royal was a surprise as I was sure this was how RK-Bro was going to earn their WWE Raw Tag Team Championship match with AJ Style and Omos. Though Erik and Ivar are the next challengers, I still see Orton and Riddle being the ones to end the reign of The Phenomenal One and his large friend.
Overall, this was a good episode of Monday Night Raw with the highlights being the Tag Team Battle Royal, Hardy vs. Alexander, and Riddle vs. Kingston.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Oney Lorcan defeated Austin Theory
2. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott defeated Killian Dain after interference by Top Dolla
3. Mercedes Martinez defeated Camron Branae
4. The Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake) defeated August Grey and Ikemen Jiro
5. Ember Moon defeated Dakota Kai by DQ after interference by Raquel Gonzalez
Thoughts: This was the go home edition of NXT ahead of tonight’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House. As of this writing, there are five matches scheduled with the main event set to see Karrion Kross defend the NXT Championship in a Fatal Five Way match against Kyle O’Reilly, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, and Pete Dunne. With so many moving parts in this match, it is hard to predict who will walk out as champion. If the plan is to move Kross to Raw or SmackDown soon, then I see this match as the perfect opportunity to have him drop the title without getting pinned. In the end, I am going with Kyle O’Reilly to walk out as the new NXT Champion.
As for the rest of the matches on the card, my predictions are as follows: Bronson Reed and MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) will defeat Legado del Fantasma in the Winner Take All match to retain the NXT North American and NXT Tag Team Championships, Xia Li will defeat Mercedes Martinez, Cameron Grimes will defeat LA Knight in the ladder match to become the new Million Dollar Champion, and Raquel González will defeat Ember Moon to retain the NXT Women’s Championship.
Overall, this was a great episode of NXT with the highlights being Lorcan vs. Theory, Ted DiBiase reviving the Million Dollar Championship, and Io Shirai’s return.
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Results:
1. Christian Cage defeated Angelico
2. Eddie Kingston and Death Triangle (Pac and Penta El Zero Miedo) defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) and Brandon Cutler
3. Miro (c) defeated Evil Uno by submission to retain the AEW TNT Championship
4. Lance Archer defeated Chandler Hopkins
5. Nyla Rose defeated Leyla Hirsch
6. Hangman Page and Preston Vance defeated Team Taz (Brian Cage and Powerhouse Hobbs)
Thoughts: After what went down at AEW Double or Nothing, Team Taz tried to regroup by taking down Hangman Page and The Dark Order’s Preston Vance. Much like he did at Double or Nothing, Ricky Starks tried to interfere to help his Team Taz teammate, Brian Cage. Cage, as he also did at DoN, refused to accept the extra help, which lead to Starks slapping Cage. This caused The Machine to chase down Ricky, leaving Powerhouse Hobbs to be double teamed and defeated.
This is all leading to Cage’s exit from Team Taz, which is fitting as Brian is ready to stand on his own. The question is then what becomes of the FTW Championship? Does Cage continue to hold Taz’s title in defiance, does he drop it to Starks or Hobbs, or does the title become abandoned? Hopefully, AEW does something with it, as they have, so far, done next to nothing with that championship since reviving it last year.
Overall, this was a great episode of Dynamite with the highlights being Christian vs. Angelico, Kingston/Death Triangle vs. The Young Bucks/Cutler (My Match of the Week), Miro vs. Evil Uno, Kenny Omega’s confrontation with Jungle Boy, and the main event.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Big E and Kevin Owens defeated Apollo Crews and Sami Zayn
2. Liv Morgan defeated Carmella
3. Montez Ford defeated Chad Gable by DQ after interference by Otis
4. Shinsuke Nakamura defeated King Corbin
Thoughts: As the family drama between Roman Reigns and The Usos continued this week, Rey Mysterio called out The Tribal Chief over Reigns’ brutal attack on Rey’s son, Dominik, last week, Mysterio challenged Reigns to a WWE Universal Championship match at WWE Hell in a Cell inside the show’s namesake structure. This led to a fight between The Head of the Table and The Master of the 619, but despite receiving help from Dominik, Reigns would lay out both Mysterios to end the show.
While it is unlikely that Rey will end the championship reign of the Universal Champion, a match between Reigns and Mysterio inside Hell in a Cell should still be a hell of an encounter (pun fully intended). The big money matches down the line though, is Reigns vs. The Usos. If WWE was smart, this should lead to match between Roman and Jimmy at WWE Money in the Bank in July and then a big championship showdown between Roman and Jey at WWE SummerSlam in August.
Overall, this was a great episode of Friday Night SmackDown with the highlights being the Reigns/Usos drama, Big E/Owens vs. Crews/Zayn, Ford vs. Gable and Otis’ post-match attack, and the confrontation between Reigns and The Mysterios.
That’s it for this week’s Spandex and Suplexes. I am looking forward to tonight’s NXT TakeOver: In Your House PPV. While you are here on Florida Geek Scene, be sure to check out the second episode of my spin off series, Spandex and Suplexes: The Interview Series, where I interviewed veteran pro wrestler, Randy Hogan. 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.
