Welcome everyone to the 99th edition of Spandex and Suplexes: A Wrestling Review. I cover a week that saw the WWE Championship on the line, the launch of NXT 2.0, and the final build to AEW Grand Slam. Let’s get started.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Charlotte Flair defeated Shayna Baszler
2. Drew McIntyre and The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) defeated Jinder Mahal, Veer, and Shanky
3. Damian Priest (c) defeated Jeff Hardy to retain the WWE United States Championship
4. Nikki A.S.H. defeated Tamina
5. Rhea Ripley defeated Natalya by submission
6. AJ Styles, Omos, Mace, and T-Bar defeated The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), Mustafa Ali, and Mansoor
7. Doudrop defeated Eva Marie
8. Bobby Lashley (c) defeated Randy Orton to retain the WWE Championship
9. Big E defeated Bobby Lashley (c) to become the new WWE Champion
Thoughts: The main event match between Bobby Lashley and Randy Orton was great. It was a PPV quality encounter and is My Match of the Week. While the match between The Viper and The All Mighty stood out, it is what happened immediately afterwards that set the WWE Universe ablaze with excitement. Earlier in the day, Mr. Money in the Bank, Big E, announced that he would cash in his MitB Briefcase against whoever won between Lashley and Orton and taunted both men at the start of the show.
Big E would be a man of his word for as soon as Bobby gained the victory over Randy, E ran down to the ring and cashed in. While the weakened champion did his best to fight back, he could not overcome the power of positivity as Big E would hit The Big Ending to win his first ever WWE Championship. It was an awesome moment to see and could not have happened to a better man. Big E is a massively talented and entertaining competitor and is very well liked by his fellow peers. I am very happy for him and hope he has a long reign with the title.
Overall, this was a great episode of Monday Night Raw with the highlights being the opening segment with Lashley, Orton, and Big E, Lashley vs. Orton, and Big E winning the WWE Championship.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Bron Breakker defeated LA Knight
2. Imperium (Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel) defeated Brooks Jensen and Josh Briggs
3. B-Fab defeated Katrina Cortez
4. Kacy Catanzaro and Kayden Carter defeated Gigi Dolin and Jacy Jayne by DQ after interference by Mandy Rose
5. Mandy Rose, Kacy Catanzaro, and Kayden Carter defeated Kacy Catanzaro, Kayden Carter, and Sarray
6. Ridge Holland defeated Drake Maverick
7. The Creed Brothers (Julius Creed and Brutus Creed) defeated Dan Jarmon and Trevor Skelly
8. Tommaso Ciampa defeated Pete Dunne, LA Knight, and Von Wagner in a Fatal Four Way match to become the new NXT Champion
Thoughts: This week saw the “relaunch” of NXT, referred to by WWE as NXT 2.0. The first episode of this new era saw a mix of okay to great moments. We were introduced to several new faces, most notably Bron Breakker (son of the legendary Rick Steiner) and Von Wagner (son of AWA/WCW/WWF alumni Wayne Bloom). Breakker made an immediate impact by defeating LA Knight while Von Wagner impressed in the main event after he was name as Kyle O’Reilly’s replacement due to O’Reilly being attacked by Pete Dunne and Ridge Holland earlier in the night.
With the NXT Championship vacant due to Samoa Joe being stripped of the title due to, as of this writing, unknown injuries, the main event’s stakes were extremely high. After a great match, Tommaso Ciampa would end up picking up the win and become the new NXT Championship, regaining the title he never lost after being stripped of the title in March 2019 due to a neck injury. It may have taken two and a half years, but Ciampa finally has “Goldie” in his possession once again.
Overall, this was a good episode of NXT with the highlights being the NXT Championship match and the Dexter Lumis/Indi Hartwell wedding as it was hilarious to watch.
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Dynamite –
Results:
1. Adam Cole defeated Frankie Kazarian
2. FTR (Cash Wheeler and Dax Harwood) defeated Dante Martin and Matt Sydal
3. Jade Cargill defeated Leyla Hirsch
4. Darby Allin defeated Shawn Spears
5. Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston defeated 2.0 (Matt Lee and Jeff Parker)
Credit: All Elite Wrestling
Rampage –
Results:
1. The Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) (c) defeated The Butcher and The Blade to retain the AEW World Tag Team Championships
2. Anna Jay defeated The Bunny
3. Miro (c) defeated Fuego Del Sol to retain the AEW TNT Championship
Thoughts: These were the go home shows before next week’s special AEW Grand Slam editions of Dynamite and Rampage in AEW’s first ever shows in New York City. As of this writing there are five matches scheduled for Dynamite and six matches scheduled for Rampage. The following are my predictions for Dynamite: First is Brian Pillman Jr. vs. MJF. While my gut leans toward MJF winning with a dirty finish, I can easily see Pillman pulling off a major upset which would continue to build up the tension brewing between MJF and Wardlow. Second, I predict Cody Rhodes will defeat Malakai Black, setting up a rubber match between the two, possibly at AEW Full Gear.
Third, Sting and Darby Allin will defeat FTR. Fourth, Britt Baker will defeat Ruby Soho to retain the AEW Women’s World Championship. Finally, in the main event, in what is possibly one the biggest matches in AEW history, Kenny Omega will take on Bryan Danielson in a non-title match. This being a non-title match really makes this match very hard to predict. I personally do not see Danielson losing his first match in AEW. Due to this, I am going to predict that next week that Hangman Page will make his return to cost Omega the win, setting up a title match between the two at AEW Full Gear.
As for Rampage my predictions are as follows: First, Anna Jay will defeat Penelope Ford. Second, Lucha Brothers (Penta El Zero Miedo and Rey Fenix) and Santana and Ortiz will defeat Hardy Family Office (Isiah Kassidy, Marq Quen, The Butcher, and The Blade) to set up Santana and Ortiz as The Lucha Brothers’ next AEW World Tag Team Championship challengers. Third, The Elite (Adam Cole, Matt Jackson, and Nick Jackson) will defeat Christian Cage and Jurassic Express (Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus). Fourth, The Inner Circle (Chris Jericho and Jake Hager) will defeat Men of the Year (Scorpio Sky and Ethan Page). Fifth, CM Punk will defeat Powerhouse Hobbs. Finally, Jon Moxley and Eddie Kingston will defeat Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki and Lance Archer).
Overall, this was a good episode of Dynamite with the highlights being Pillman Jr. outsmarting MJF and Bryan Danielson challenging Kenny Omega for AEW Grand Slam. Rampage was also good with the highlight being the AEW World Tag Team Championship match.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Finn Balor and Big E defeated The Usos (Jey Uso and Jimmy Uso)
2. Rick Boogs defeated Robert Roode
3. Toni Storm and Liv Morgan defeated Carmella and Zelina Vega by countout
4. Sami Zayn defeated Dominik Mysterio
Thoughts: This week’s SmackDown kicked off with a bang as new WWE Champion Big E and Finn Balor crashed Roman Reigns’ promo. This led to a great tag team match between Balor/Big E and The Usos. Later in the night, due to being embarrassed by their loss, The Usos jumped Big E backstage. It was later announced that this Monday’s Raw will see The Bloodline (Roman Reigns and The Usos) taking on The New Day in a six-man tag team main event. It was smart to get Big E on TV as soon as possible to take advantage of the buzz created by his big title win. The announced match between The Bloodline and The New Day for this Monday is a huge PPV worthy matchup and could be a preview of things to come at WWE Survivor Series should Roman survive both Finn Balor and Brock Lesnar.
Overall, this was a great episode of SmackDown with the highlights being the opening segment, Big E/Balor vs. The Usos, Seth Rollins’ promo, and Becky Lynch running Bianca Belair’s homecoming.
That’s it for this week’s Spandex and Suplexes. I am looking forward to The Bloodline vs. The New Day on Raw and AEW Grand Slam this Wednesday and Friday. 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.
