Welcome everyone to the 92nd edition of Spandex and Suplexes: A Wrestling Review. I cover a week that saw the WWE Money in the Bank PPV, AEW Fyter Fest Night Two, and the NXT Women’s Championship on the line. Let’s get started.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) defeated The Mysterios (Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio) (c) to become the new WWE SmackDown Tag Team Champions
2. Nikki A.S.H. defeated Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Liv Morgan, Naomi, Natalya, Tamina, and Zelina Vega in a Money in the Bank Ladder match to win the women’s Money in the Bank briefcase
3. AJ Styles and Omos (c) defeated The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) to retain he WWE Raw Tag Team Championships
4. Bobby Lashley (c) defeated Kofi Kingston by technical submission to retain the WWE Championship
5. Charlotte Flair defeated Rhea Ripley (c) by submission to become the new WWE Raw Women’s Champion
6. Big E defeated Drew McIntyre, John Morrison, Kevin Owens, King Nakamura, Ricochet, Riddle, and Seth Rollins in a Money in the Bank Ladder match to win the men’s Money in the Bank briefcase
7. Roman Reigns (c) defeated Edge after interference by Seth Rollins to retain the WWE Universal Championship
Thoughts: This was the first WWE PPV since Elimination Chamber 2020 to have a full capacity crowd and like last week’s SmackDown, it made a major difference in the feel of the show. Nikki A.S.H. was an interesting choice for the winner of the women’s Money in the Bank match as the build to the match made it feel like it was leaning towards Liv Morgan winning. We would find out 24 hours later what the result of this outcome would be. As for the men’s Money in the Bank match, which is My Match of the Week, Big E was the perfect choice the win. He is a massively talented individual who is super popular with the fans and has proven himself as a main event level singles star during his latest run on SmackDown.
John Cena returning was a bit of a surprise as I figured he would make his rumored confrontation against Roman Reigns on the following SmackDown, but it made sense to have it happen at MitB with the first full capacity PPV crowd in nearly a year and a half. I don’t expect Cena to defeat Reigns, but at least the promos leading up to their WWE SummerSlam match should be interesting.
Overall, this was a great PPV with the highlights being the two Money in the Bank Ladder matches and the main event.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Matt Riddle and The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) defeated John Morrison, AJ Styles, and Omos
2. Jaxson Ryker defeated Elias in a Symphony of Destruction match
3. Natalya and Tamina defeated Nia Jax and Shayna Baszler
4. Reginald defeated Akira Tozawa (c) to become the new WWE 24/7 Champion
5. Sheamus defeated Humberto Carrillo
6. Bobby Lashley defeated Keith Lee
7. Jeff Hardy defeated Karrion Kross
8. Rhea Ripley defeated Charlotte Flair (c) by DQ in a WWE Raw Women’s Championship match (Charlotte retains)
9. Nikki A.S.H. defeated Charlotte Flair (c) to become the new WWE Raw Women’s Champion (Money in the Bank cash in)
Thoughts: Nikki A.S.H. cashing in her Money in the Bank briefcase on Charlotte Flair only 24 hours after winning it was a nice surprise and Nikki absolutely deserves a run with a singles championship, even if it took her adopting a silly superhero gimmick to do it. The thing that did kind of suck about it is that it resulted in yet another short title reign for Charlotte as WWE continues to artificially inflate her title numbers so that she can match and presumably surpass her father, Ric Flair’s, 16-time World Title tied record.
Also, Goldberg is back and is getting a WWE Championship match against Bobby Lashley at WWE SummerSlam. Yay?
Overall, this was a good episode of Monday Night Raw with the highlights being John Cena’s opening promo, Lashley vs. Lee, and Nikki cashing in her Money in the Bank.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Bobby Fish and Kushida defeated Diamond Mine (Roderick Strong and Tyler Rust) by submission
2. Franky Monet defeated Jacy Jayne
3. Kyle O’Reilly defeated Austin Theory by submission
4. Odyssey Jones defeated Andre Chase in an NXT Breakout Tournament First Round match
5. Drake Maverick defeated LA Knight
6. Raquel Gonzalez (c) defeated Xia Li to retain the NXT Women’s Championship
Thoughts: The Karrion Kross vs. Samoa Joe rivalry took a more personal turn this week. After Joe spent the night trying to hunt down Kross, he finally took to the ring at the end of the show and demanded Karrion face him. Instead Kross appeared on the screen and revealed that he had done the unthinkable as he had taken out NXT GM, William Regal, stating that he would do anything he wanted anywhere he wanted.
Kross taking out the NXT GM himself shows how dangerous, confident, and uncaring the NXT Champion is. Attacking the man Joe respects the most and who he had made a pact to protect will only further fuel the ire of The Samoan Submission Machine. When the two men finally clash (presumably at the upcoming NXT TakeOver on August 22nd) it should be a physical, intense encounter.
Overall, this was a good episode of NXT with the highlights being O’Reilly vs. Theory, Maverick vs. Knight, and Kross attacking Regal.
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Results:
1. Chris Jericho defeated Shawn Spears in a Chairs match (Only Spears was allowed to use the chairs)
2. Doc Gallows defeated Frankie Kazarian after interference by Karl Anderson
3. Darby Allin defeated Wheeler Yuta
4. Britt Baker (c) defeated Nyla Rose by submission to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship
5. Orange Cassidy defeated The Blade
6. Lance Archer defeated Jon Moxley (c) by knockout in a Texas Death match to become the new IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion
Thoughts: This was the Fyter Fest Night Two special episode of AEW Dynamite. In the main event, the hometown hero, Lance Archer, managed to overcome a bloody and violent Texas Death match against Jon Moxley to become the new IWGP United States Heavyweight Champion. This ended the 564-day reign of Moxley as IWGP U.S. Champ. It was pretty remarkable to see a New Japan Pro Wrestling championship change hands on AEW TV, which goes to show how crazy, in a good way, things have gotten in the wrestling world outside of WWE. It was also cool to see Archer get a big moment in his hometown after a year of having great in ring performances in AEW, but never winning the big one.
Overall, this was a good episode of Dynamite with the highlights being Orange Cassidy’s ringside confrontation with Sting and the main event.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Finn Balor defeated Sami Zayn
2. Angelo Dawkins defeated Chad Gable
3. Bianca Belair (c) defeated Carmella to retain the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
4. Toni Storm defeated Zelina Vega
5. Jimmy Uso defeated Dominik Mysterio after interference by Jey Uso
Thoughts: The end of this week’s SmackDown took an unexpected turn. While we all expected for Roman Reigns to have another confrontation with John Cena (who had attempted call out Roman at the start of the show), we instead saw Reigns deny Cena’s championship challenge, only to be interrupted by Finn Balor. Balor would then lay out his own challenge for a match and after the crowd chanted “Roman’s scared”, The Tribal Chief accepted The Prince’s challenge.
Finn jumping right into the main event scene is an intriguing twist that could set up some interesting things down the line. While I still expect the WWE Universal Championship match at WWE SummerSlam to be Reigns vs. Cena, a non-title win by Balor could set him up to be The Head of the Table’s next challenger after overcoming the former 16-time World Champion.
Overall, this was a great episode of Friday Night SmackDown with the highlights being Cena’s opening promo, Edge and Rollins’ confrontation, and Balor challenging Reigns.
That’s it for this week’s Spandex and Suplexes. I am looking forward to this Wednesday’s AEW Fight for the Fallen. 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.
