Welcome everyone to the 95th, special Wednesday edition of Spandex and Suplexes: A Wrestling Review. After a one-week hiatus due to health reasons, I return to cover a week that saw the WWE SummerSlam PPV, the final build to NXT TakeOver 36, and the AEW debut of CM Punk on AEW Rampage. Let’s get started.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. AJ Styles defeated Matt Riddle
2. Rhea Ripley defeated Nikki A.S.H.
3. Drew McIntyre defeated Veer and Shanky in a 2-on-1 Handicap match
4. Damian Priest defeated The Miz
5. Mansoor defeated Mace after interference by Mustafa Ali
6. Randy Orton defeated Omos by DQ after interference by AJ Styles
7. Karrion Kross defeated Jeff Hardy by submission
8. Charlotte Flair and Nia Jax defeated Nikki A.S.H. and Rhea Ripley
Thoughts: This was the go home episode of Raw ahead of WWE SummerSlam. The stuff with RK-Bro was great as always as Matt Riddle finally earned Randy Orton’s respect, thus bringing back the team and setting up their match with AJ Styles and Omos for the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships at SummerSlam. Riddle and Orton continue to be the must watch draws on Raw.
The stuff with Bobby Lashley and Goldberg was just not good which fits the tone of this entire storyline so far. Their promos with each other in the build up to SummerSlam have been generic and boring with WWE giving the fans no real reason to want to see these two go at it. Even trying to bring in Goldberg’s son in for sympathy points hasn’t done anything to make people care about any of this. I wish I could tell you this all ended at the PPV, but unfortunately that would not be the case.
Overall, this was an okay episode of Monday Night Raw with the only real highlights being the segments involving RK-Bro.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Ilja Dragunov defeated Roderick Strong
2. Cameron Grimes defeated Josh Briggs
3. Dexter Lumis and Indi Hartwell defeated Robert Stone and Jessi Kamea by submission
4. Carmelo Hayes defeated Duke Hudson in in an NXT Breakout Tournament Semifinals match
5. MSK (Nash Carter and Wes Lee) (c) defeated Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) to retain the NXT Tag Team Championships
Thoughts: This was the go home show before NXT TakeOver 36. The show did an excellent job with the final push for the major matches set for TakeOver 36, especially for the NXT, NXT UK, and Million Dollar Championship matches. The Million Dollar Championship feud between Cameron Grimes and LA Knight has been especially well done over the past two months and has successfully made Grimes into a top good guy on the Yellow Brand. Having “The Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase himself involved has made it even better with him going from Grimes minor tormentor to biggest supporter. None of this could have worked without the excellent heel work by LA Knight whose antagonism toward Grimes makes you want to support Cameron all the way.
Overall, this was a good episode of NXT with the highlights being Dragunov vs. Strong, Indi Harwell proposing to Dexter Lumis, the NXT Tag Team Championship match, and Samoa Joe’s promo.
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Dynamite –
Results:
1. Sting and Darby Allin defeated 2.0 (Matt Lee and Jeff Parker) in a Texas Tornado match
2. Sammy Guevara defeated Shawn Spears
3. The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) (c) defeated Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) after interference by Kenny Omega to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championships
4. Thunder Rosa defeated Penelope Ford by submission
5. MJF defeated Chris Jericho by submission
Thoughts: Personally, I feel MJF winning over Jericho was the wrong move. After struggling with Jericho as he tried to overcome all five “Labors of Jericho”, having him just tap out to MJF in the end feel anticlimactic. I know many people will say that the younger guy in MJF should have gone over, but I don’t agree. MJF is already more than established at this point in his career and a loss to Le Champion here would not have hurt him in the slightest. This was just a downer ending to a storyline that has been going on for months.
Overall, this was great episode of Dynamite with the highlights being Sting/Allin vs. 2.0, Guevara vs. Spears, and the AEW World Tag Team Championship match.
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Rampage –
Results:
1. Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus) defeated Private Party (Marq Quen and Isiah Kassidy) in a Tag Team Eliminator Tournament Semifinals match
2. Jade Cargill defeated Kiera Hogan
3. Jon Moxley defeated Daniel Garcia
Thoughts: What else can I say about that CM Punk debut but wow? The arena erupted in one of the loudest pops I have heard in years the moment “Cult of Personality” hit the speakers and the man himself walked out on the stage. Punk gave a good promo that established himself and his reasoning for his return to pro wrestling, with much more teased for the future. The biggest take way from the segment was Punk officially challenging Darby Allin to a match at AEW All Out, to which Allin accepted. I am looking forward to Punk’s AEW Dynamite debut tonight to see what “The Best in the World” does next in AEW.
Overall, this was a great episode of Rampage with the highlights being Punk’s debut and Jurassic Express vs. Private Party.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Jey Uso defeated Rey Mysterio
2. Kevin Owens vs. Baron Corbin went to a No Contest after interference by Big E
3. Shotzi Blackheart and Tegan Nox defeated Natalya and Tamina
4. Otis defeated Montez Ford
5. Shinsuke Nakamura and Rick Boogs defeated Apollo Crews and Commander Azeez
6. Bianca Belair defeated Zelina Vega
7. Bianca Belair defeated Carmella
Thoughts: This was the go home show episode of SmackDown ahead of the next night’s WWE SummerSlam. The show did a good job presenting the final build for the blue brand’s matches, particularly for The Usos vs. The Mysterios, Edge vs. Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns vs. John Cena. Edge vs. Rollins has been a great feud between two of the best talkers and in ring competitors in WWE history. Edge bringing back elements of his old Brood gimmick was an interesting touch and added a last-minute bit of intrigue before their big match at SummerSlam.
In the main event segment, Cena and Reigns once again killed it with their promos, though I was not a fan of Roman adding the stipulation to their match that he would leave WWE if he lost at SummerSlam as it made the match’s outcome super obvious when they had made it seem like it could go either way in recent weeks.
Overall, this was a good episode of SmackDown with the highlights being the Edge/Rollins segments, and the main event promos between Cena and Reigns.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Big E defeated Baron Corbin
2. RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Matt Riddle) defeated AJ Styles and Omos (c) to become the new WWE Raw Tag Team Champions
3. Alexa Bliss defeated Eva Marie
4. Damian Priest defeated Sheamus (c) to become the new WWE United States Champion
5. The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso) (c) defeated Rey Mysterio and Dominik Mysterio to retain the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships
6. Becky Lynch defeated Bianca Belair (c) to become the new WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion
7. Drew McIntyre defeated Jinder Mahal
8. Charlotte Flair defeated Nikki A.S.H. (c) and Rhea Ripley in a Triple Threat match by submission to become the new WWE Raw Women’s Champion
9. Edge defeated Seth Rollins by submission
10. Bobby Lashley (c) defeated Goldberg via referee stoppage after interference by MVP to retain the WWE Championship
11. Roman Reigns (c) defeated John Cena to retain the WWE Universal Championship
Thoughts: I was very glad to see RK-Bro win the WWE Raw Tag Team Championships. They have been the best part of Raw and them winning the titles was a great way to pay off this storyline.
Becky Lynch coming back to challenge Bianca Belair for the WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship after Sasha Banks was not cleared to compete was a nice surprise. I also had zero problem with Lynch winning the belt. My only issue was how short the match was as Becky surprised Bianca with two moves before pinning her for the title. On the other hand, though, I can understand from a storytelling standpoint why it was short as Belair was just caught off guard from the surprise and they could potentially use this to turn Bianca heel.
Did Charlotte really need to win yet another title? WWE went out of its way to make Nikki A.S.H. look weak in the weeks leading up to this match. I thought it would be worth it in the end with her getting a big win over Flair and Ripley, but nope. Instead, they had Flair beat her again, showing everyone that Nikki should have never been taken seriously and giving The Queen yet another inflated number to add to her title record.
Did Lashley vs. Goldberg really need to extend past this show? No, but it looks like we are going to get anther match anyway, just in time for a Saudi Arabia show… Yay. Speaking of part timers, Brock Lesnar is back. I wonder when Reigns vs. Lesnar is supposed to happen? Oh, dear God, it’s going to be Saudi Arabia, isn’t it? *sigh*
Overall, this was a good PPV with the highlights being RK-Bro vs. Styles/Omos, Priest vs. Sheamus, Becky Lynch’s return, Edge vs. Rollins (which is My Match of the Week), and the main event.
That’s it for this week’s Spandex and Suplexes. 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.
