Welcome everyone to the 88th edition of Spandex and Suplexes: A Wrestling Review. I cover a week that saw the NXT TakeOver: In Your House event, the final build to WWE Hell in a Cell, and the continued build to AEW Road Rager. Let’s get started.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Bronson Reed (c) (North American) and MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) (c) (Tag Team) defeated Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Joaquin Wilde, and Raul Mendoza) in a Winner Takes All Six-man Tag Team match to retain the the NXT North American Championship and NXT Tag Team Championships
2. Xia Li defeated Mercedes Martinez
3. LA Knight defeated Cameron Grimes in a Ladder match to become the new Million Dollar Champion
4. Raquel González (c) defeated Ember Moon to retain the NXT Women’s Championship
5. Karrion Kross (c) defeated Kyle O’Reilly, Adam Cole, Johnny Gargano, and Pete Dunne in a Fatal 5-Way match by technical submission to retain the NXT Championship
Thoughts: While I initially picked Cameron Grimes to win the Million Dollar Championship, LA Knight winning it makes a lot of sense as it allows the story to continue. Knight as champion now gives Grimes someone to chase as the underdog. This will make their inevitable rematch so much bigger when Cameron tries to topple LA to win the title and earns Ted DiBiase’s respect. We saw the start of this two day later on this week’s NXT when Grimes saved DiBiase after The Million Dollar Man was betrayed and attacked by Knight.
Overall, this was a great PPV with the highlights being the Winner Takes All Six-man Tag Team match, Grimes vs. Knight, and the main event (which is My Match of the Week).
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Nikki Cross defeated Charlotte Flair by countout after interference by Rhea Ripley
2. John Morrison defeated Jeff Hardy
3. Jeff Hardy defeated Cedric Alexander
4. Piper Niven defeated Naomi
5. R-K-Bro (Randy Orton and Matt Riddle) defeated The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods)
6. Rhea Ripley defeated Asuka
7. Alexa Bliss defeated Nia Jax by DQ after interference by Reginald
8. Jaxson Ryker defeated Elias by countout
9. Drew McIntyre defeated AJ Styles by DQ after interference by Bobby Lashley
10. Drew McIntyre and The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) defeated Bobby Lashley, AJ Styles, and Omos
Thoughts: This was the go home show for Monday Night Raw ahead of tonight’s WWE Hell in a Cell PPV. The Red Brand has, as of this writing, three matches on tonight’s card. My predictions for these three matches are as follows: First, Alexa Bliss will defeat Shayna Baszler. Second, Rhea Ripley will defeat Charlotte Flair to retain the WWE Raw Women’s Championship.
As for the main event WWE Championship match, I have been leaning toward Drew McIntyre winning back his title, but with McIntyre getting the pin on Bobby Lashley this past Monday, that causes me to think that Lashley will end up somehow retaining his championship. With the stipulation stating that if Bobby wins, The Scottish Psychopath can never challenge for the WWE Championship while Lashley is champion, this will mean that it will be up to someone else to end the reign of The All Mighty. Whoever that ends up being is anyone’s guess.
Overall, this was a good episode of Raw with the highlights being R-K-Bro vs. The New Day, Ripley vs. Asuka, and the main event.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Breezango (Tyler Breeze and Fandango) defeated Imperium (Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner)
2. Kushida (c) defeated Trey Baxter by submission to retain the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
3. Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai defeated Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter
4. Tommaso Ciampa and Timothy Thatcher defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (Zack Gibson and James Drake) in a Tornado Tag Team match by submission
Thoughts: The biggest news to come out this past Tuesday’s NXT was the surprise return of Samoa Joe to WWE after he was released back on April 15th. After William Regal initially announced that he planned to resign as NXT GM and give the position to Samoa Joe, Joe declined and instead offed to become Regal’s enforcer. William accepted this offer, but only if Joe did not compete as an active wrestler and did not get physically involved with other talent unless he is provoked. The Samoan Submission Machine did not waste time helping to regain control of the show when he choked out Adam Cole after Cole pushed him while brawling with Kyle O’Reilly.
Joe being back in NXT is great and serving as Regal’s enforcer is a great role for his return. I am assuming that the reason he can not compete in the ring is because he has still not been cleared to compete by WWE’s doctors. Until he can compete, it will be fun to see him on TV every week laying down the law on behalf of Regal.
Overall, this was a great episode of NXT with the highlights being Samoa Joe’s return, Kushida vs. Baxter, Cameron Grimes saving Ted DiBiase from LA Knight, and the main event.
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Results:
1. Jake Hager defeated Wardlow in a MMA Cage Fight by referee stoppage
2. Men of the Year (Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page) defeated Darby Allin in a 2-on-1 Handicap match
3. Orange Cassidy defeated Cezar Bononi
4. Cody Rhodes and Brock Anderson defeated The Factory (QT Marshall and Aaron Solow)
5. Penelope Ford defeated Julia Hart by submission
6. The Elite (Matt Jackson, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson) defeated Eddie Kingston, Penta El Zero Miedo, and Frankie Kazarian
Thoughts: I think it was a mistake to have Frankie Kazarian lose his first match against The Elite since taking up the name “Elite Hunter”. It would not have hurt The Elite to take the L this week, but it would have established credibility in Kazarian as the “Elite Hunter”. How am I as a viewer supposed to take Frankie seriously as the “Elite Hunter” when you have him fail right out of the gate?
Overall, this was a good episode of Dynamite with the highlights being the main event six-man tag team match.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez defeated Big E and Kevin Owens after interference by Sami Zayn
2. Shinsuke Nakamura defeated King Corbin to win Corbin’s crown
3. Roman Reigns (c) defeated Rey Mysterio in a Hell in a Cell match by submission to retain the WWE Universal Championship
Thoughts: This was the go home show ahead of tonight’s WWE Hell in a Cell PPV. The Blue Brand has, as of this writing, also has three matches on tonight’s card. My predictions for these three matches are as follows: Bianca Belair will defeat Bayley in Hell in a Cell to retain the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship, Kevin Owens will defeat Sami Zayn, and Cesaro will defeat Seth Rollins. Personally, I do not see a legitimate reason why the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship match needs to be in Hell in a Cell. I feel that if WWE needed that have a second Hell in a Cell match on the show, then Cesaro vs. Rollins would have made more sense considering how personal that feud has become.
As for why WWE needed to add a second Hell in a Cell match to the PPV, that is because WWE decided to move the WWE Universal Championship Hell in a Cell match between Roman Reigns and Rey Mysterio from tonight’s PPV to this past Friday’s SmackDown. This was the first ever Hell in Cell match in SmackDown history. While the match was good, it ultimately ended as everyone expected with Reigns dominating Mysterio at the end to retain his championship. Due to this move, tonight’s Hell in a Cell will be the first main roster PPV to not feature The Head of the Table in a match since his return at last August’s SummerSlam.
Overall, this was a good episode of Friday Night SmackDown with the highlights being Rey Mysterio’s opening promo, Jimmy Uso’s backstage talk with Roman Reigns, and the main event.
That’s it for this week’s Spandex and Suplexes. I am looking forward to tonight’s WWE Hell in a Cell 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.
