WWE Extreme Rules (July 14, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Extreme Rules (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands. It took place on July 14, 2019, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was the eleventh event under the Extreme Rules chronology.

The card comprised thirteen matches, including two on the pre-show. In an impromptu main event, Brock Lesnar cashed in his Money in the Bank contract on Seth Rollins to win the Universal Championship for a record third time, right after Rollins and Raw Women's Champion Becky Lynch had retained their respective titles against Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans in a Last Chance Winners Take All Extreme Rules mixed tag team match. In other prominent matches, Kofi Kingston retained the WWE Championship against Samoa Joe, AJ Styles defeated Ricochet to win his third United States Championship, The New Day's Big E and Xavier Woodsdefeated Heavy Machinery (Otis and Tucker) and former champions Daniel Bryan and Rowan to win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship for a record-tying fourth-time, and The Undertaker and Roman Reigns defeated Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre in a No Holds Barred tag team match in the opening bout.

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Note: I know some of these matches are out of order, but I'm writing this out from memory. So you have my apologies in that aspect. 

Kick-Off Show: WWE Intercontinental Championship Match

Shinsuke Nakamura def. Finn Bálor

Kick-Off Show: WWE Cruiserweight Championship Match

Drew Gulak (c) def. Tony Nese

Roman Reigns & The Undertaker def. Drew McIntyre & Shane McMahon

I was surprised at first that they would open the show with The Undertaker, but after I thought about it more, I guess he didn't want to have the anxiety and pressure of having a dud of match close the show again like he did on the last Saudi show with Goldberg. This match played out very well. They played it smart and to Taker's limitations as they cut him off while allowing Roman to do most of the heavy lifting until they needed Taker to do his trademark spots.

Outside of that spot towards the end where Taker struggled to get Shane up for the Tombstone, I thought this was an excellent performance for Taker. If they are going to do Taker versus Drew next, then I'm all for it if he wants to do the honors and get McIntyre over to the next level. The rumor mill AKA dirtsheets are saying that Taker wants to do that match for WrestleMania next year, but I can't see WWE waiting that long. From the teases in this match right here, I can easily see this being a marquee match on the upcoming Summerslam card.

RAW Tag Team Championship Match

The Revival (c) def. The Usos

I can't complain when it comes to these two teams squaring off. I would have been happy with either team going over here. I have to wonder if The Revival are actually going to renew their contracts or not when their deals are up. It seems like WWE are bending over backwards to try to make them happy in the meantime. As for the Usos, they seem to be "on lock" (no pun intended) for a very long time with WWE and I don't blame them.

2-on-1 Handicap Match for SmackDown! Women's Championship - Bayley (c) def. Nikki Cross and Alexa Bliss

The majority of this match was fucking boring. This would have fared better on the preshow/kick-off or better yet, on Monday Night RAW tomorrow night. The biggest takeaway here is that Bliss wasn't pinned, so she could easily point the blame on her so-called best friend and have her own agenda in terms of a rematch. I really liked the double submission spot towards the end, with the callback to Sasha Banks' Banks Statement applied on Bliss with the leglock on Nikki.

Wrestling With Wregret brought up an excellent question on Twitter during the show that I didn't realize until now.

Even when Ronda Rousey was on the warpath last year, Bliss got beat but she never wasn't written off nor portrayed weak even while injured. That's something I didn't think much of until now. After some of the stuff that shed light upon about Bliss in her WWE 24 special, I can't help but suspect that there's a bit of favoritism for her over a lot of the other women in the company. This is looking like the AJ Lee situation all over again.

Aleister Black def. Cesaro

This was essentially a rematch from their days in the wXw promotion in the United Kingdom roughly ten years ago when they were still going by their Tommy End and Claudio Castagnoli names in their pre-WWE tenures. Call me biased, but I thought this was the best match on this entire show from bell to bell. The right man won clean, but it still brings up a glaring question. WHY THE FUCK ISN'T CESARO POSITIONED AS A MAIN EVENT TALENT IN THIS COMPANY???!!!

Don't give me that brass ring quote from Vince McMahon on the Stone Cold podcast either. This dude has grabbed every brass ring that this company has waved in front of him, making shitty gimmicks and partnerships into chicken salad on a regular basis. This guy busted his teeth out for this company and came back to work the next week without taking time off, looking for more. His wife works there and it's obvious that he's not going anywhere, but toss the man a bone. There's nothing to lose on taking a chance on this guy.

Braun Strowman def. Bobby Lashley

I'm usually not a fan of big man matches, but this was actually better than I thought it was going to be starting off. The brawling around the arena was a bit hit or miss, but I enjoyed this match for the most part. I couldn't help but laugh at the finish where Braun Strowman did his best impression of the Kool-Aid Man bursting out of that box that they both fell into. This seemed like something out of the same vein of Matanza Cueto and Mil Muertes' first collison, but I'm glad that Strowman emerged as the winner. WWE damaged that dude's street cred enough over the past year and it's long overdue that they remedied that. He's not as far gone as someone like Ziggler, so there's hope to redeem him in the eyes of the fans. Lashley can easily shake off this loss too, but I honestly can see him leaving WWE again once his contract expires if he doesn't get that match with Lesnar that he essentially came back for.

WWE Championship Match

Kofi Kingston (c) def. Samoa Joe

If I was Samoa Joe, I would be just like Dean Ambrose/Jon Moxley, counting down the days when my contract expires. It's painfully obvious that this company has remotely no idea how to use this guy. This loss makes a whooping record of EIGHT WWE Universal and WWE Championship challenges that he's failed to capitalize on in losing efforts. It's the same song and dance - Joe talks a strong game but ultimately drops the ball when it matters most. Not to mention that WWE has made his submission hold pretty much laughable at this point. The only Samoan named Joe that they are firmly behind making a main eventer is Roman Reigns and you can easily BELIEVE THAT.

As for Kofi's WWE title reign, I'm not going to knock WWE's booking of Kofi as a legitimate threat. They've done an excellent job since WrestleMania giving him a lot of convincing wins against everyone lined up in his way. My major issue with him is he's just damn fucking boring in this role. Everyone was firmly behind him in support when he was in the chase going into WrestleMania as no one didn't think that WWE was going to actually put the title on him in the first place or consider him at all. It was a happy accident from Mustafa Ali's unfortunate injury that led to that turn of events. I'm happy to see one of my own kind win it big in WWE, but let's all be real here - the honeymoon is over. People aren't clamouring to see Kofi Kingston as champion nor are they filling up the arenas as a result. That could be said for all three of the top main eventers of the company right now, actually, but Kofi is the eye sore that sticks out more than the rest.

United States Championship Match

AJ Styles (w/ Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson) def. Ricochet (c)

Great match and excellent use of the Club at ringside here. They didn't come off as the crutch that Styles needed to win, but gave Styles the sprinkle of heel heat he needed to make this turn convincing. Besides, Ricochet didn't need the belt at this point. It's better to have him in the chase.

Triple Threat Match for SmackDown! Tag Team Championships

The New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) def. Heavy Machinery and Daniel Bryan & Erick Rowen (c)

When commentary pointed out that New Day could be walking out of this PPV with all of the gold, I should have foreseen that they would have won this match. Nonetheless, it still pissed me off. WWE has so many great tag teams signed, especially some called up from NXT that they have been doing absolutely jackshit with outside of comedy segments, but they flock to the tired-and-true New Day gimmick as the ones who need to carry the gold. I'm not knocking the New Day's ability in the ring as all three of them are gifted athletes, but c'mon. Give someone else a chance to establish themselves in this tag division. At this point, New Day should be putting over other teams like the Usos have been doing on occasion. Heavy Machinery shouldn't get the gold right off the bat either, but I wouldn't have minded seeing Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowen hold the belts for a bit longer. You would think that Bryan would want to stick in a tag team a bit longer to work easier on his body.

Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler in a squash

I thought I was going to be able to get a bathroom break at this point, but as soon as I stood up this match was over. After laughing hysterically about it, I came to the conclusion that this is exactly how Ziggler should be used at this stage of the game. He's too stupid to realize that his worth has been squandered in this company, yet renewed his contract, so let him lay in the bed of nails that he made for himself. I'm fed up with feeling sorry for him at this point. If WWE wants to continue the course with this rebel-type direction for Kevin Owens then I'm all for it. It worked for Becky Lynch last year, so I don't see the problem with it here. Just pick up the breadcrumbs where CM Punk left off about challenging the Authority at every turn and pointing out their bullshit and he'll EASILY keep people eating out of his hands with this babyface/tweener turn.

Winner Takes All - No Holds Barred Tag Team Match

WWE Universal Champion Seth Rollins (c) and RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch (c) def. Baron Corbin and Lacey Evans to retain

Before I proceed to shit on this match, I want to applaud the production values in that video package to highlight the feud that led into this match. That was some of WWE's best work there on display. Say what you will about the company as a whole, but when they want to sell you these big matches like a big deal, there's no one else who does it better - outside of maybe UFC or New Japan...

I thought the vast majority of this match was a waste of time as we've seen all four of these individuals butt heads in matches for what seemed like an eternity in the months and weeks following WrestleMania. This was just more of the same with the Extreme Rules stipulation attached. It got to a point where I just drowned the commentary team out of my mind in terms of listening to them ATTEMPT to explain the rules of this match when there's no rules in an Extreme Rules match.

Even though they tried to sell the narrative that men couldn't attack the women and vice versa, I applaud Becky Lynch for selling the shit out of that End of Days towards the end of the match. She took that better than most of the guys do. Of course that set off Rollins quicker than Krillin's death at the hands of Frieza in Dragon Ball Z and he hit a whooping THREE Curb Stomps on Corbin to pick up the victory for his team.

Brock Lesnar cashes in Money in the Bank and defeats Seth Rollins to become the NEW WWE Universal Champion for the third time

(Laughs) I'm not even mad to be quite honest. At this point, it was obvious that it was beneath Brock to go after Kofi's championship, especially after how WWE made a big deal about this was the first time that the New Day would all have championship gold. We all knew that would've went down just like Beast in the East if Brock came fishing for the New Day's titles. On top of that, WWE dodged the bullet on the least likely scenario of having the fans turn on them in that situation anyway.

At the same time, I absolutely LOVE Bryan Alvarez's proposed idea that he pitched for how Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch could have fought off Brock's cash-in together while simultaneously getting both of them over as megastars. Such a missed opportunity in that regard.

At the end of the day, Brock caught Rollins with his pants down and capitalized on his shortcomings. It's as simple as that. I'm just curious to see where they go with this from here.

WWE Royal Rumble (Jan. 27, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts

Royal Rumble (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view event and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and 205 Live brands. It took place on January 27, 2019, at Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona. It was the thirty-second event promoted under the Royal Rumble chronology.

Ten matches were contested at the event, including three on the pre-show. In the main event, Seth Rollins won the men's Royal Rumble match, while Becky Lynch won the women's Royal Rumble match after losing her SmackDown Women's Championship match against Asuka in the opening match. Other prominent matches included Brock Lesnar retaining the Universal Championship against Finn Bálor, Daniel Bryan defeating AJ Styles to retain the WWE Championship, and Ronda Rousey defeating Sasha Banks to retain the Raw Women's Championship.

Pre-Show/Kick-Off Matches:

As usual, I didn't watch the first three matches on the pre-show, but here's the results for them.

Raw Tag Team Champions Bobby Roode and Chad Gable def. the team of Scott Dawson (of The Revival) and Rezar (of AOP)

United States Championship Match - Shinsuke Nakamura def. Rusev (w/ Lana)

WWE Cruiserweight Championship Buddy Murphy def. Akira Tozawa, Hideo Itami, and Kalisto.

SmackDown! Women's Championship Match - Asuka (c) def. Becky Lynch

I thought this was a strong outing for both of these women, even though it was a losing effort for The Man. Given all of this attention going towards the potential WrestleMania main event between Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch, and Ronda Rousey, I hope Asuka doesn't get lost in the shuffle. Her and Charlotte Flair had one of the best matches on last year's lackluster WrestleMania card and Asuka deserves to have some shine after being regulated as an afterthought for the bulk of 2018. I have my fingers crossed that WWE has something big in store for her in terms of potential challengers at WrestleMania.

I LOVED the finishing sequence between them in terms of reversals and counters to each others holds and submissions. I think I'll never get tired of seeing Asuka's "catch" variation of the Asuka Lock either.

Whoever told Asuka to trash talk in Japanese deserves a medal. I was loving every second of that while Becky Lynch was staring at her like she wanted to say, "Subtitles, bitch!"

SmackDown! Tag Team Championship Match - The Miz & Shane McMahon def. The Bar (c)

Man, this match almost put me to sleep. The Bar tried to keep this interesting, but this was mostly Shane bumping around until Miz was able to make the save that got them the win at the end. As much as I grew tired with the hundreds of Usos and New Day vs. The Bar match-ups, this was a piss poor replacement in the void and high standard that those tag team matches brought to the table.

I'll admit that I got a kick out of Shane praying before hitting that Shooting Star Press and Miz's dad celebrating with them afterwards, even though Shane had to show the man how to hold the title properly. Why isn't shit like this on the preshow or at least in that dead spot on the card where AJ Styles and Daniel Bryan ended up?

RAW Women's Championship Match - Ronda Rousey (c) def. Sasha Banks

Going into this match, I didn't see Sasha Banks walking away as the winner, despite her strong promos and trash talk on social media. Speaking of promos, there was so much that was cringe-worthy at that I think it's a no brainer at this stage that Sasha and Bayley are going to be the first two women crowned as the "first" title holders of the newly revived Women's Tag Team titles at Elimination Chamber next month.

This match wasn't bad at all, just not as impressive as the opener. It seemed like Sasha was trolling her (in-character) for the first part of this until she got a rude awakening about who she was really in the ring with. Besides after Ronda does her "Festus transformation" once the bell rings, you'd think most of these girls would be ready to run by now.

Becky Lynch wins the 2019 Women's Royal Rumble Match

Noteworthy spots that I was amused by:

• Liv Morgan was eliminated instantly
• Naomi eliminates Mandy Rose as soon as she enters this match, only for Mandy to return the favor after Naomi "Kofi's" her way back into the match
• Kairi Sane's "splat" at ringside, thanks to the Riott Squad, only for Io Shirai to make the save and rescue her best friend from harm
• Seeing Lacey Evans and Charlotte Flair stare down and throw down - REALLY wouldn't mind a program between them down the road
• Rhea Ripley, Io Shirai, Zelina Vega (dressed as Street Fighter's Vega), Xia Li and most of the NXT women showing up in this match getting little to no reaction upon arrival. Not really their faults when WWE's core casual audience aren't even aware of the NXT product as a whole.
• Zelina Vega hiding underneath the ring until Hornswoggle chased her in and out of the ring and out of this match
• Maria Kanellis "teaming up" with Alicia Fox until they had a falling out, causing Foxy to throw a tantrum in the middle of the ring
• Kacy Catanzaro climbing back into the ring like a spider monkey after being tossed out only to get eliminated by Rhea Ripley
• Bayley and Carmella working together briefly, an obvious throwback to their relationship on WWE Breaking Ground
• Natalya breaking the record at 55 minutes as the woman lasting the longest in a Women's Royal Rumble match, shattering Sasha Banks' previous record from last year.

The narrative towards the end of the Women's Rumble was that commentary was selling the fact that Lana was so brave to make the effort to compete tonight even though she twisted her ankle during the preshow/kickoff when she was knocked off the ring apron during the United States Championship Match. Nia Jax came out and attacked her, effectively making her unable to compete. Becky Lynch races out and demands that Fit Finlay call an audible and put her in for SmackDown! Live. Of course he caves and Becky Lynch is able to enter this match. Funny that she was added in at the last second too because this crowd was clearly ready to shit all over the rest of this show if Becky wasn't the winner of this match. When the Becky chants started up in the twenties, that's when I was saying to myself, "Please don't do anything stupid, WWE..." and then they got quiet after Carmella came out, I was like, "Oh boy..." Fortunately for them, they made the right move and added Becky into this match as one of the bottom four.

I want to note that Charlotte Flair looked borderline insane at one point towards the end. That should be her character instead of attempting to be a cheap imitation/rehash of her father. I loved how Charlotte and Becky worked together to eliminate Nia Jax and Becky shouting throughout this when she had a mock injury at the hands of a salty Nia Jax that "You've (Charlotte) stolen enough from me! You're not taking this from me!" That was great storytelling there, showing that it's not all peaches and cream between Charlotte and Becky at all. Their bitter rivalry from 2018 is still painfully apparent with those wounds still fresh. Obviously, Becky Lynch is going to get that match against Ronda Rousey that she was denied previously, but at this stage of the game, I cannot fathom them leaving Charlotte Flair out of the equation if it's going to be WrestleMania main event. At this point, I wouldn't put it past them not to make it a fatal four way with Nia Jax thrown in there too.

I know people nit-picked about this in retrospect, but I applaud WWE for using the talent on the active rosters instead of relying on a ton of returns and one-off appearances for this second Women's Royal Rumble match. It made for a less exciting match in terms of nostalgia, but I still rate this Rumble match better than the Men's one this year.

WWE Championship Match - Daniel Bryan (c) def. AJ Styles

I haven't been following too much of Daniel Bryan's current heel run as the evil Captain Planet, but any reason to give us more AJ Styles vs. Daniel Bryan matches, I am all for. This match started off slow and picked up over the time that they were given, even though we were past the four hour mark on this card and that's asking a lot from people in terms of their attention spans at this point. That decision, coupled with putting this match in the dead slot on the card following the Women's Rumble match, had Bryan and Styles wrestling to the sound of crickets for the most part. I reiterate - this wasn't a bad match. It was just poor placement on the agenda for tonight to say that this slower paced match was placed this late into the card on a nearly five plus hour card.

I can't speak for anyone else but I uttered, "Meh..." out loud when Erick Rowen came out and chokeslammed Styles for the finish. I guess they are going to give Bryan the returning Bludgeon Bros. as his henchmen in this role as a subtle nod back to their time together in the Wyatt Family.

WWE Universal Championship Match - Brock Lesnar (c) def. Finn Balor

This was exactly what it needed to be. Finn surprising everyone by getting a bit of offense on Brock and managing to "wound" the Beast with those attacks at ringside that rammed him into the corner of the commentary table, giving Brock a literal gut-check. I'm surprised that commentary didn't say anything about his history of having a pretty nasty abdominal infection (i.e. Diverticulitis) that hampered the tail end of his initial UFC and nearly killed him. As a result, Finn was able to get a pretty sweet looking near-fall following a Tornado DDT to counter the F-5 followed by Coup de Grace before going for the cover. Ultimately, Finn fell victim to the Kimura Lock that Brock locked in from this position and retained the title. I don't know why people were surprised at the result as it's the same thing everyone thought what was going to happen when the match was first announced. Sure, it wasn't as fun to watch as AJ Styles versus Brock Lesnar back in 2017 but it was much better than I was expecting on paper. I hope Brock gets more "smaller" guys to toss around like ragdolls. That's more entertaining than him and another "powerhouse" lumbering around slowly for 10-15 minutes only to have Brock kill their aura of invincibility in one fell swoop.

Nothing tickled me more after this match were the two following things: 1) Commentary going on and on, with Michael Cole and Corey Graves shouting, "FINN BALOR MADE BROCK LESNAR BELIEVE!!" as he's beating the piss out of Balor post-match. 2) Paul Heyman tweeting on social media that Brock Lesnar has rewrote the Bible tonight. I thought I was going to die laughing at those two moments.

Seth Rollins wins the 2019 Royal Rumble

Noteworthy spots that I was mildly amused by:

• Jeff Jarrett returns and confronts Elias, only for Elias to eliminate him from this match and stopping him from selling a single portion of that Global Force Gold nonsense... I'll get heat for saying this, but at this point, Double J was better off joining the E machine. Global Force Wrestling was holding on by a whim and a prayer in 2018 and it was going to die within the widespread influence of all of these promotions vying for talent with AEW in the equation now.
• Kurt Angle running out into this match and moving around as if he was in slow motion. Let's just all admit that Kurt's best years are behind him back in TNA/Impact Wrestling. No offense to Kurt in the slightest, but he needs to just call it quits and stop embarrassing himself in this last WWE run. I wouldn't be surprised if he has like one more great match left in him, but all of these jobs he's been doing aren't doing him any favors.
• Mustafa Ali representing 205 Live strong in this match. I don't follow that show at all but I read the results here and there, but I'm glad that WWE finally gave him a solid spot and push on the SmackDown! Live roster.
• NXT being well-represented in this match with Johnny Gargano and Aleister Black making their main roster debuts in this match. I seriously doubt that these were call-ups but merely testing the waters at them on the main roster.
• The biggest surprise was Nia Jax laying out R-Truth and taking the #30 spot. I didn't understand the tweets and reactions by people on social media, acting like it was so revolutionary for a woman to be in the Men's Royal Rumble match when it's actually the FOURTH time it's happened - Chyna first, then Kharma/Awesome Kong, Beth Phoenix (I'm probably mixing those two up...), and now Nia Jax. The argument online was talking about the next part of the women's "evolution" in professional wrestling is to allow intergender matches in WWE as the norm. I don't mind them in Lucha Underground, but seeing it here in WWE just came off as damn odd. Watching live, I could tell the crowd couldn't tell what to make of it either - at least until that pop when Nia got hit with that Super Kick from Dolph Ziggler, followed by the 619 by Rey Mysterio and finally the RKO from Randy Orton in rapid succession.
• Much like the Women's Rumble Match, I'm glad that they didn't bank on a ton of returns/nostalgia to plague this Rumble Match. WWE has more than enough talent signed to their roster(s) and there's no excuse to not use it for filling up big matches like this. 

You could tell that they were rushing people out at random intervals by this point in the card as they were just trying to wrap up this show since they were nearing the SEVEN hour mark if you've been watching since the start of the preshow/kick-off. You would think by now that WWE would have learned that doing these marathon length live broadcasts are simultaneously burning out their talent and the audiences - watching live in the venue and at home. Seriously, Vince, most adults have work in the morning and kids have school the next day. I can't be staying up past midnight for this shit regularly.

That being said, this wasn't a bad Rumble match - it's just a consequence of this show dragging on 5-7+ hours at this point. I thought Strowman was going to pick up the win here for sure, but I'm glad that Rollins sneaked out that win with the Curb Stomp on the ring apron of all places. As of this writing (2/1/19), RAW already happened and Brock F-5'd Rollins into oblivion, so we know we're getting the most sensible match for the Universal Championship at WrestleMania and that's Brock vs. Rollins since Rollins has been ducking that one-on-one match since his first World Championship win.

WWE Backlash (September 9, 2016) - First SmackDown Exclusive PPV -- Results & Afterthoughts

Backlash (2016) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event and WWE Network event produced by WWE. It took place on September 11, 2016 at the Richmond Coliseum in Richmond, Virginia. It was the twelfth event in the Backlash chronology and the first SmackDown branded event following the second brand split in July 2016.

Eight matches were contested at the event, including one match contested on the pre-show. In the main event, AJ Styles defeated Dean Ambrose to win the WWE World Championship. The event also determined the inaugural champions in SmackDown's Women's and Tag Team divisions, which were respectively won by Becky Lynch and the team of Heath Slater and Rhyno.

Becky Lynch wins the 6-Pack Challenge and becomes the first ever SmackDown Women's Champion

This match had a VERY sloppy start, but it came together by the end. Even though Becky won at the end, the unsung star of this match was Naomi from all of her amazing (no pun intended) spots in this match. Natalya definitely no slouch either but she played the part of ring general in controlling the pacing and keeping this match organized for the most part. Carmella and Nikki Bella put more eyes on their personal feud but not at the cost of the title as Nikki was eliminated in an upset by Carmella, who ended up being the final obstacle in the way of the fan-favorite Becky Lynch. I'm just glad to see Becky finally pick up a championship win after being robbed of that opportunity when she was at the peak of her popularity when she was still in NXT. Instead, NXT went with milking Bayley until that well ran dry...

Holy fuck though... the more I see of Carmella's ring work, the more I wish they kept her on NXT to get some polish. She still comes off really green to me. At least Alexa is a much better worker than her.

The Usos def. The Hype Bros to advance to the last round of the SmackDown Tag Team Tournament

It was a little odd to see the Usos not in their traditional gear and looking like they dressed out of Roman Reigns' closet, but I can understand the change in styles if they are going with this heel turn with the utmost confidence. I'm a little surprised that Mojo Rawley doesn't adopt a few of Monty Brown/Marcus Cor Von's moveset to say that they came from similar backgrounds. Besides, it's not like that guy is coming back to the world of wrestling anytime soon - if ever. After seeing the Usos fly around so much for the last few years, I'm glad to see them work a slower more methodical style. Those guys have been injured left and right over the last two years so they deserve to work smarter now.

The Miz (c) w/ Maryse def. Dolph Ziggler to retain the Intercontinental Championship

I honestly didn't give a flying fuck about this match for the most part, save for Maryse looking hot as ever at ringside, but they won me over by the end of it. The crowd was so quiet at one point that you could hear Dolph shouting spots to Miz throughout the match. I didn't have a problem with Miz retaining after Maryse blinded Ziggler with the hairspray, but I have to wonder what do they have planned for Ziggler long-term when they keep handing him loss after loss. The New Era has done absolutely NOTHING to repair the damage that the last few years have done to Ziggler's image.

Bray Wyatt def. Randy Orton via count out since Orton no shows...
BUT Kane def. Bray Wyatt in an impromptu No Holds Barred Match

Outside of the Running Senton spot that Bray did to put Kane through the commentary table, there wasn't much to talk about here. Bray had this in the bag until Orton limped out and hit him with the RKO to allow Kane to pick up the win. I would've had Bray kick out to shock Orton but still have Kane put him away with a Tombstone Piledriver (a la The Undertaker) to pick up the win. Not just that he's laid out already by one move he's already kicked out of previously in this match and a move that's already diluted by an "injured" Orton. That just makes Bray look weak in my honest opinion. We should be salvaging Bray's image here not damaging it further.

Heath Slater & Rhyno def. The Usos to become the first ever SmackDown Tag Team Champions

Much like the previous tag team bout on this card, there wasn't much to write home about other than the Usos' new offensive approach but I was under the impression that Rhyno was going to turn on Slater at the last moment. I'm glad that I was wrong there. Rhyno ends up doing the work to lay out the Usos for Slater could pick up the win but much like the Bray Wyatt match, I would be repairing the Usos' image. They should have been derailed by American Alpha screwing them out of the win, allowing Slater and Rhyno to pick up the win instead. That way you got new champions and a solid tag team feud right off the boot. Instead, it comes off with the Usos looking weak coming off their heel turn after they dominated several teams in this tournament and sidelined Alpha for nothing.

AJ Styles def. Dean Ambrose (c) to become the NEW WWE World Champion

This was a solid main event, which was reminiscent of the Attitude Era and NWA-TNA era main events from both WWF and TNA/Impact Wrestling. That couldn't be more ironic though with Styles walking away with the title. Let's be serious here and admit to ourselves that Ambrose didn't bring anything new nor add any depth nor substance to his gimmick/character nor to the SmackDown brand as champion. As champion, he is supposed to be carrying the show and it was more like the show was carrying him. I'm MORE than happy with this title change. Love or hate Roman Reigns but at least people were behind him one way or another in terms of drawing a crowd. Ambrose was just showing up for a paycheck.

Afterthoughts

After SmackDown Live this week, we have two major matches already set in stone for the next PPV event, No Mercy, in which AJ Styles will defend the WWE Championship versus Dean Ambrose and the returning John Cena and SmackDown Women's Champion Becky Lynch will defend her title against Alexa "Harley Quinn Cosplay" Bliss. I'm puzzled why Cena is acting like he's going to get title win number 16 at a non-Big Four WWE PPV. On top of that, he's set to take more time off until early 2017, so SmackDown must be really in rough shape if they called him off the bench already. No offense to Bliss, but they are grooming her for failure in that match against Becky in an easy title defense.

That being said, this wasn't a bad show - it just lacked star power. The absence of John Cena and the omission of Randy Orton stuck out like a sore thumb to show the entire WWE Universe how lacking the SmackDown roster is compared to the RAW brand. The SD roster worked their asses off on a show that was literally a 2.5 hour episode of SmackDown Live, but at the end of the day, I'm sure more people felt ripped off with this event than satisfied with it, despite the results of the three marquee title matches. This show reminds me of Impact Wrestling on a bigger scale, where the talent is busting their asses to get noticed but at the end of the day, most casual fans won't give a damn because it's not their top favorite wrestlers aren't on the card and as a result, they don't give a damn because they didn't pay to see this.

I really liked a lot of the matches on this show, but I couldn't help wanting more afterwards, especially when the show ended 10:40PMish instead of closer to 11PM.

OPINION -- Going into the 2016 WWE Draft: My Predictions and Thoughts for Tonight

After last night's lackluster finish to Monday Night RAW (7/18/16), I felt the need to express my opinion before we go into the WWE Draft tonight during SmackDown Live.

RAW dropped several exclamation points to make this draft more interesting - the Cruiserweight division was announced to return and to be exclusive to the RAW brand and two General Managers have been named - Mick Foley for RAW and Daniel Bryan for SmackDown.

The rules for the WWE Draft are as follows: 

• Raw has the first overall pick
• Since SmackDown Live is a two-hour show and Raw is three hours, for every two picks SmackDown Live receives, Raw will receive three picks
• Tag teams count as one pick unless a Commissioner/General Manager specifically only wants one member of the team​
• Six draft picks will be made off the NXT roster​ 

The list of current WWE Superstars eligible for the WWE Draft will be as follows: 

Male Superstars
AJ Styles
Alberto Del Rio
Apollo Crews
Baron Corbin
Big Show
Braun Strowman
Bray Wyatt
Brock Lesnar
Cesaro
Chris Jericho
Darren Young (w/ Bob Backlund)
Dean Ambrose – WWE Champion
Demon Kane
Dolph Ziggler
Erick Rowan
Jack Swagger
John Cena
Kalisto
Kevin Owens
Mark Henry
Neville
Randy Orton
Roman Reigns
Rusev (w/ Lana) – United States Champion
Sami Zayn
Seth Rollins
Sheamus
Sin Cara
The Miz (w/ Maryse) – Intercontinental Champion
Titus O’Neil
Zack Ryder 

Tag Teams
Breezango (Fandango and Tyler Breeze)
Enzo and Cass (Enzo Amore and Big Cass)
Gallows and Anderson (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson)
Golden Truth (Goldust and R-Truth)
Shining Stars (Epico and Primo)
Social Outcasts (Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel and Heath Slater)
The Ascension (Konnor and Viktor)
The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray and D-Von Dudley)
The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) – Tag Team Champions
The Usos (Jey and Jimmy Uso)
The Vaudevillains (Aiden English and Simon Gotch) 

Female Superstars
Alicia Fox
Becky Lynch
Charlotte – WWE Women’s Champion
Dana Brooke
Eva Marie
Naomi
Natalya
Paige
Sasha Banks
Summer Rae

Starting right off the bat, I think the single stupidest ruling in this draft is the second one. Just because Raw is three hours, they get more draft picks? Wouldn't this have been the perfect time to scale Raw back to two hours for it's easier to digest on Monday nights? Plus, how can SmackDown compete fairly if Raw is always going to have an extra hour up on them? That's already unfair to start things off. 

We can easily say that Mick Foley was brought in to simultaneously earn brownie points for his son on creative while trying to get a spot for his hot daughter as a future WWE Diva, as well as easily plugging his reality TV show on the WWE Network (Holy Foley?) when we get closer to that release that. The same can be said about Daniel Bryan who could be around to promote Total Bellas while the Bella Twins are away. From a fan perspective, I'm anxious to see what both guys bring to the table. Foley is claiming to run RAW with Attitude Era-themed craziness while Daniel Bryan is claiming to put talent first. Foley's idea isn't going to pan out as there's no way in hell we're going back to Attitude Era-style anything. If anything this would be a throwback to Commissioner Foley's run in the early 2000s for younger fans can get a dose of that goodness. I just don't get why would Foley agree to work with the Authority. That aspect alone makes not one bit of sense when he's been opposed to the Authority for a long time now, especially against Stephanie McMahon and Triple H. Daniel Bryan and Shane O'Mac makes a good combination on paper but I don't know how Bryan will perform in this position. He's had the guest RAW GM role before but this will be a full time gig. How long will it be before he gets the itch to compete again like Shawn Michaels back in that position?

Back to the draft rules though, I can respect the ruling that tag teams count as one pick but why aren't the Wyatt Family listed as a single team, but the New Day are? I'm guessing that they are going to push Bray Wyatt solo while splitting up the rest from the ground. The Lucha Dragons have already split up, so it's looking like the Wyatts might be going in their own separate direction (again) even though that didn't work the first time. I say if they don't pull the trigger on them now to push them as tag team champions now and dethrone the New Day then who else is going to do it? Well, I might be answering my own question with my 10 draft picks for each brand...

Last but not least, we have 6 draft picks from NXT. In my head, I'm thinking that WWE would be insane not to draft Samoa Joe or Shinsuke Nakamura right now, but at the same time, I can see HHH hanging onto his newest acquisitions because it's a no brainer that NXT is going to get raped clean for this draft to beef up both brands. Either way, his precious NXT talent signings would benefit both brands in one way or another. 

My RAW Draft Pick Predictions:

1. Seth Rollins (more than likely champion after tonight or Battleground)
2. Roman Reigns
3. AJ Styles
4. The Club (Gallows & Anderson)
5. Women's Champion Charlotte
6. IC Champion The Miz (w/ Maryse)
7. Sami Zayn
8. Eva Marie
9. Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman)
10. Finn Balor

My SmackDown Draft Pick Predictions: 

1. WWE Champion Dean Ambrose
2. John Cena
3. Bobby Roode
4. American Alpha
5. Sasha Banks
6. US Champion Rusev (w/ Lana)
7. Kevin Owens
8. Bayley
9. WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day
10. Tye Dillinger

I kid you not, I raked my brain on these draft picks for about six hours today at work before settling on these. Keep in mind these picks are NOT in order either. I would go into detail about why I went with these choices, but nah... I think I have a good balance of shockers and surprises. I'm not expecting WWE to go in this direction. In reality, I'm actually thinking that WWE is going completely into left field with a lot of picks tonight. 

WrestleMania 32 (April 3, 2016) | Post-WrestleMania Monday Night RAW (April 4, 2016) -- Results and Afterthoughts

WrestleMania 32 was the thirty-second annual WrestleMania professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) event produced by WWE. It took place on April 3, 2016, at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas.

Kickoff: Kalisto def. Ryback to retain United States Championship

Kickoff: Team Total Divas (Brie Bella, Alicia Fox, Natalya, Paige, and Eva Marie) def. Team B.A.D. and Blonde (Lana, Naomi, Tamina, Summer Rae, and Emma)

The Usos def. The Dudley Boys

Ladder Match for Intercontinental Championship - Zack Ryder def. Kevin Owens (c), Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, The Miz, Stardust, and Sin Cara to become the NEW Intercontinental Champion

This was pretty much what I expected here - a spotfest. There wasn't little else going on other than high spot after high spot to keep the crowd buzzing. I did appreciate that they did take the time to keep people engaged in the Zayn/Owens rivalry so that's something to appreciate.

Chris Jericho def. AJ Styles

I don't understand the point of the finish recycling the same spot that they used earlier in the match. It made absolutely NO sense. I hope Jericho is sticking around; otherwise I don't see are reason for him going over on Styles. I understand that WWE are billing the Springboard Forearm as Styles' finisher but they are diluting the rest of his arsenal when Jericho was kicking out left and right to everything else, including the Styles Clash and Calf Killer.

League of Nations def. The New Day

Nothing outside of the ordinary if you've seen these two teams go head to head for the past few months.

I was glad that the LON went over but burying them to Mick Foley, Shawn Michaels, and Stone Cold Steve Austin killed any momentum they had from that win instantly. I understand sending the crowd home happy with cheap pops but c'mon WWE you're better than this, or I'd like to think so. At least the New Day got laid out too so I can't complain too much here.

Brock Lesnar def. Dean Ambrose in a No Holds Barred Street Fight

This was a really underwhelming match to say that it was billed as a street fight. Dean Ambrose and Brock Lesnar did the same thing they do all the time. Brock hits like a dozen suplexes for the first half of the match while Ambrose sells this punishment like a ragdoll. It was a nice tease that he was actually going to use the chainsaw and "Barbie" before Brock got his hands on him. This was pretty much a weak rehash of Dean Ambrose versus Bray Wyatt by the end of it.

Man, WWE really let me down on this one. I thought Ambrose would at least come close to beating the guy but there wasn't a second that I thought that he was going to win against the Beast.

Charlotte def. Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch to win the NEW Women's Championship and retire the Divas Championship

This was a great match to spark off the new direction for the WWE Divas, or rather Superstars now that they are integrated with the rest of the roster in terms of terminology, but the finish proved that brand labels and a new title isn't going to fix the lingering problems of the Divas division. Bad booking and creative still hinder this division from being truly great and the finish of this match made that fact painfully evident.

You can make all the excuses you want about the finish but that's what matters, despite the girls trying their hardest to put this division over. It's all for nothing if creative can't get with the program.

The Undertaker def. Shane McMahon in a Hell in a Cell Match

Much like Brock Lesnar versus Dean Ambrose, this was another match that didn't really live up to the hype behind it. It was strange that Vince didn't even take the opportunity to come out and gloat afterwards, especially after his own son risked life and death jumping off the top of the Cell for the finish. I'm glad that The Undertaker didn't lose here but I was expecting a LOT more from this match.

Baron Corbin wins the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Why did they save this for roughly the last billed match before the main event? Outside of the moment that it looked like the Social Outcasts were going to win it and the Shaq and Big Show confrontation, this was completely forgettable, especially how Corbin won the damn thing after doing next to nothing the entire match.

If this was his first match to call/move him up onto the main roster, then I'm all for him making an impact with a win like this, but it's all for nothing then if they still have him hanging out on NXT for the next few months despite this huge win for his career.

The Rock announces the Record Breaking Attendance Record for WrestleMania; Wyatt Family interrupts

This turns into an impromptu match with The Rock defeating Erick Rowan in SIX seconds - a WrestleMania record. Bray and Braun Strowman storm the ring and out comes a returning John Cena in what is the most random thing ever on a WrestleMania card in YEARS. The Rock and Cena hit their finishers on the Wyatts to send them running.

I don't get what was the point of all this other than to give The Rock his annual WrestleMania payday, but it seemed more damaging for the Wyatt Family than anything else, even if their intentions were pure.

Roman Reigns def. Triple H (c) to become the NEW WWE World Heavyweight Champion

We were up what felt like hours 5 through 7 at this point and it didn't help that this match dragged along. I don't hate Roman Reigns like most people seem to do, but this match didn't do him any favors to make this conclusion to this night of questionable booking worthwhile. I don't want to say that the match was bad, because Triple H and Roman Reigns tried to keep things interesting but this crowd wasn't having any of it in terms of the boos for Reigns. It got to the point that WWE muted all of the crowd sounds to the point you could CLEARLY hear Stephanie McMahon talking shit at ringside LOUDER than the crowd itself.

Reigns may have won the title after it was all said and done, but I couldn't help but feel sorry for the guy having the fans shit down onto his parade.

---

Post-WrestleMania Monday Night RAW (April 4, 2016)

The New Day (c) def. The League of Nations to retain the WWE Tag Team Championships

Pretty weak match to start off RAW. This was actually worse than the match we saw the night before at WrestleMania. The only reason the crowd didn't shit all over it is because the New Day are over ask fuck with the smarks that compose the bulk of the post-WM crowd.

AJ Styles, Chris Jericho, Sami Zayn, and Kevin Owens confront Roman Reigns for a title shot for the WWE Championship

Sasha Banks def. Summer Rae

Summer Rae calls out Sasha Banks and gets beat in a pretty quick fashion. I was honestly laughing to myself during this match, reading comments on Twitter seeing people say that Summer has improved a lot.

Hello, Summer Rae was always decent since her days of feuding with Paige on NXT! It's just that she never got a chance to showcase said skills on the main roster. That being said I hope she knows that since Maryse is back (see below) that she's going to have to change her ring gear from being a clear ripoff of hers.

I'm sure the smarks won't admit that Sasha Banks and Charlotte would still be irrelevant on NXT if they weren't taken underneath Summer Rae's wing as part of the BFFs (Beautiful Fierce Females). Then again... Charlotte's still as bland as she was back then and Sasha just took ratchet and turned the dial to 11... so nothing really didn't change much.

The Miz def. Zack Ryder (c) to become NEW Intercontinental Champion with the help of the returning Maryse Ouellet

On one hand, I feel bad for Zack Ryder having a 24 hour title reign, but on the other hand, he got his WrestleMania moment and that's really all that matters. On top of that, he came out of this match with a feud when he was almost completely irrelevant on the main roster a few weeks ago.

I totally didn't see Maryse coming back at all. That was a welcome surprise. I'm guessing that WWE is going to use her like Mike Bennett and Maria Kanellis' pairing on Ring of Honor/Impact Wrestling, where she doesn't have to get too physical in the ring unless she wants to. Damn shame that we didn't get Maryse to come back during AJ Lee's title reign when she broke her record or while Nikki Bella was breaking AJ's. Oh well, it's all good. From what I've read, Maryse will be replacing the Bella Twins as one of the veteran Divas on Total Divas once they make their retirement official.

Baron Corbin def. Dolph Ziggler in his RAW debut

Good grief, Corbin dropped the ball on his first promo on the main roster. Same bland and boring shit from NXT and the crowd were more entertained at a beach ball in the crowd than his actual debut.

I TOLD you guys that this guy is exciting as watching paint dry. At least Dolph Ziggler went out of his way to make the guy look good. I'll say that much.

Apollo Crews def. Tyler Breeze in his RAW debut

I'm sure this is one job that Breeze didn't mind doing even though Crews botched the finish. In the back of my mind, I got a feeling that Crews only got called up this soon only because Vince and the rest of the front office thinks that Bobby Lashley is back with the company.

I just hope that his career doesn't end up like Lashley's WWE run.

Women's Championship "Celebration" Ceremony for Charlotte

In a bizarre bit of irony, this segment reminded me of the Championship Coronation Ceremony for the unification of the WWE Championship and World Heavyweight Championship with all of the past and current champions invited to the ring. The expressions on the faces of the Divas in the background were almost as priceless as CM Punk facepalming and laughing during that segment those many years ago.

To say that Charlotte has the honor to have her father, the legendary "Nature Boy" Ric Flair, accompanying her to the ring and acting as her manager, I wish she would pick his brain and get more advice and feedback on how to do promos. She comes off SOOO fucking bland and boring on the microphone. And to say that people were complaining about the Bella Twins on the microphone. This is just as bad, if not worse, in some aspects.

The one of two most interesting moments out of this segment was Sasha Banks storming out with the rest of the Divas following behind her. I dunno if that was a shoot or playing up real life emotions, but it was a nice touch that the entire division are disgusted with how Charlotte won on Sunday. Turn that ugly negative into a positive to move forward for the better of this division.

The second moment was Natalya being the one to confront Charlotte and call her out. I hope this doesn't mean that Natalya is going to do the job - as always, to make Charlotte look good by carrying her through another A+ performance in a high profile match. I'm guessing that WWE doesn't want to jump the gun on the Sasha Banks or Becky Lynch winning the gold quite yet, so they are stalling until roughly Summerslam.

The Dudley Boys def. The Usos in a Tables Match

This felt like a copy and paste of their match from the night before on the WrestleMania preshow. Damn shame that Lillian Garcia and the bell keeper botched the finish.

What the fuck is up with that vignette for Primo and Epico "greeting from Puerto Rico"? I rather see those guys in Lucha Underground with Carlito than another lackluster WWE run...

Enzo Amore and Big Cass debut to confront the Dudley Boys

Unlike Baron Corbin, Enzo took this opportunity to step up to the plate and knocked out of the park with a home run. He had this crowd eating out of the palm of his hand. Cass' success is going to be entirely dependent on how much tied to the hip he is to Enzo with his superb mic work. Otherwise, he's going to be another boring big man on the WWE roster after the initial big push wears off.

As for their feud with the Dudleys, I hope that they allow Bubba to fire back on the microphone against Enzo as they could make some magic in that department, as long as egos don't get involved.

AJ Styles def. Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn Cesaro to become the #1 Contender for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

Sami Zayn got taken out after an attack by Kevin Owens so he wasn't medically cleared to compete in this match, so Shane McMahon names the returning Cesaro as his replacement. While I was happy as everyone else to see the Swiss Superman back, but I was bummed out that he didn't win this match. What was the point if he wasn't going to win this thing? It seems like they are only going to feed AJ Styles to Roman Reigns at Payback just to kill some of his buzz and take some the wind out of the sails of the ex-TNA guy or "internet darling" as how Triple H would refer to him as.

I want to be wrong but with Roman Reigns acting tweener here, WWE would have to be pretty fucking stupid if they think that they can get the crowd to cheer for him at Payback against AJ Styles. Now is a good of time as any to pull the trigger on turning him heel and get the most out of it.

Closing Words

I'm going to elaborate this in detail in a future article, but I want to clarify that I don't mind the new design for the WWE Women's Championship, along with the change from "Divas" to "Superstars" and the retirement of the Divas Championship. I have a problem more with the idea that people found the term "Divas" was so offensive, rather that the way how WWE books and writes creative material for the women on the main roster. This sect of fans act like those changes will be an automatic instant fix to the issues that have been plaguing the division for years now. Proof of that was evident in tonight's Triple Threat Match. Charlotte, Becky, and Sasha put their bodies on the line for an amazing match, but that went down the drain with the piss poor finish. To say that WWE is all for establishing that this is a revolution for WOMEN, why does Charlotte need her dad to bail her out of every hairy situation? I understand that she is a heel, but there's more methods to drive that point home and at least provide a better finish than what we have seen on the typical episode of RAW or Smackdown.

Ultimately, I felt that Brock got the win over Ambrose to satisfy Brock since he's running out of appearances on his current deal, but I can understand why a lot of fans are muffed about Ambrose losing the fight here since the win for Brock does nothing for neither of them. Brock has nothing to follow up on and Ambrose has nowhere to go from there.

I felt bad for Shane doing the bump of the night or better yet, the decade, only to lose the chance at winning his legacy. Everyone watching live in Dallas AND around the world would have been in an uproar if The Undertaker had to retire with Shane O'Mac being his last opponent of all people. What was more messed up was that Shane went through all of that and Vince STILL ended up letting him run RAW the next night... Talk about a lack of consistency in storytelling.

What a way to make RAW feel less important than WrestleMania though... NONE of the big names made an appearance the following night, none of the Hall of Famers, no Rock, John Cena, The Undertaker, Brock Lesnar, Paul Heyman, nada... It just felt VERY odd to say that they went back to their lazy booking for RAW with just stacking the card full of debuts and returns. You can't debut that many people on one night and expect everyone to get over, especially with the post-WrestleMania crowd. I feel sorry that the Vaudevillains have to debut on Smackdown instead of getting the honor to be on RAW like everyone else, but damn, it just seems like they are dooming these new debuts to failure right off the bat. Outside of the main event, there wasn't really too much to write home about with this show. We're right back to mediocrity with typical WWE programming as we move towards WrestleMania 33 next year and to be quite honest, I'm really let down that they didn't give us nothing to sink our teeth into for the new season. Talk about a buzzkill...