This Week In WWE Review (28/7/25 – 03/8/25)

Finally cleared

What a crazy match up this is, pairing AJ Styles with Asuka and Kairi Sane to face the Judgement Day. 3 stars who made waves in Japan before coming to WWE. Judgement Day are represented by Dominik Mysterio, Roxanne Perez and Raquel Rodriguez.

We get some nice offence early on from Asuka and Kairi, Dom pulls Perez out of the corner and Kairi hits head first, allowing the Judgement Day to take over. They get heel heat, distracting the referee and sneak attacking Sane in the corner and on the outside. Crowd are duelling chants of AJ Styles and Dirty Dom, both men are equally over which is nuts.

Kairi nearly gets the hot tag but Raquel and Dom knock down her partners. This near tag spot went on for way too long. Kairi finally gets the hot tag to AJ Styles and he starts beating the crap out of Mysterio. The place gets loud and Styles works a hot comeback. He goes for the phenomenal forearm but Perez stands in front of Dom. Styles launches a running Kairi over the top onto Perez and Raquel on the outside, finally hitting the forearm to win the match.

Pretty basic but it was fun and the crowd reacted well. I thought the spot with AJ and Kairi was the highlight, it was nice to see Kairi wrestle a mostly clean match. Hopefully the ring rust is starting to clear.

Naomi teams with Chelsea Green, Alba Fyre and Piper Niven to face Rhea Ripley, Iyo Sky, Nikki Bella and Stephanie Vaquer.

Rhea Ripley gets some good offence on Naomi to start, Chelsea Green is tagged in and she really doesn’t want to face Rhea in a funny moment. Nikki Bella tags in and takes out Green, but eventually the Secret Hervice pull through and take Nikki down. Piper Niven hits a pretty sweet step through elbow drop from the apron.

The heels beat Nikki down for the next few minutes, Iyo Sky gets the hot tag and has a nice flurry of offence before being dropped by a Chelsea enziguiri. Iyo gets beaten up for a bit, there was an awkward moment in the heel corner where Iyo and her opponents stood around looking a little lost. There was a miscommunication there, but it was only short. Alba lands the swanton bomb but the pin is broken up, so the match falls into brief chaos.

Iyo gets the hot tag to Vaquer who gets her opportunity to shine. She hits the Devil’s Kiss on Chelsea to a huge pop, Chelsea does the best selling of the move I have seen. Naomi grabs her title and tries to leave but Iyo stops her. Iyo and Nikki do Iyo’s crazy taunt together which was cute, Piper drops them and does the taunt herself which was hilarious.

Eventually, Vaquer drops Green with the SVB and predictably gets the win. The match was a lot of fun, it teetered on being house show-y but it was still enjoyable to watch. A predictable result for sure. The match was a bit messy at times, but there is so much quality in this match it was hard to fuck this one up. I think Rhea & Co only really got like a minute or 2 each to actually do anything. But still, best match of the show so far.

More Tag Team Goodness

The Judgement Day retained their World Tag championships against the LWO. The LWO get another opportunity to be prominently featured on Raw and they make good of their time.

The opening portion of the match saw the LWO impress with their nimble, high-flying offence. JD McDonagh caught Joaquin Wilde in mid-air with an awesome dropkick to take control. Wilde is beaten down by the champs until he catapults JD into Finn Balor and gets the hot tag. Cruz Del Toro hits his comeback, he nails JD with an impressive coast to coast dropkick to JD in a tree of woe. The fans chant “this is awesome” even though they’ve been quiet and uninterested for most of this.

LWO hit a moonsault then a phoenix splash which gets a near fall. El Grande Americano runs down but Dragon Lee fights him away from the ring. The distraction almost worked, but Wilde wipes out McDonagh and it looks like the LWO are going to win the match. However, ANOTHER El Grande Americano runs out and pulls down Toro and allows Balor to hit the Coup De Grace to retain.

Good match with plenty of fun wrestling. About as good as I expected, though I wish the fans cared more earlier on. I couldn’t tell if that was Chad Gable returning or if this is now a third El Grande Americano. It didn’t look like Chad to me.

Whose the best?

Gunther comes out and calls last week a clean victory over CM Punk, because he went toe to toe in a promo against the best talker in the world, supposedly. He told Punk exactly what he was going to do to him and left him speechless.

CM Punk is not the best in the world, he doesn’t deserve to be world champion and he made him shut up. CM Punk interrupts Gunther just as he says that last bit. Punk says he was dumbfounded, not speechless. It dawned on him that he doesn’t want to be world heavyweight champion. He needs to be world heavyweight champion. Punk needs it like he needs air in his lungs and blood in his heart. He is straight edge but he understands addiction because he is addicted to wrestling and he needs to be world champion so that he can raise it as a thank you to the fans who have chanted for him for years.

For as great as Gunther is, but how dare he say Punk doesn’t deserve to be Best in the World. Punk doesn’t deserve it, he earned it and he can be arrogant about it. Gunther’s career compared to Punk’s career, it isn’t apples to apples. Gunther tries to shut him up but Punk grabs his microphone. “There is levels to this kid, and you are not on my level.” He says he is leaving Saturday as world champion, but at least Gunther can share the ring with the one and only best in the world.

A really fun segment. One of the better, more authentic CM Punk promos we have seen in a while. CM Punk, Gunther and Seth Rollins have been integral in making the world heavyweight championship feel like a real world title, not a secondary prize. I am so excited for this match.

Yeetroit City

After another tribute to Hulk Hogan, we open the show with Jey Uso who is still mega over of course. He tries to repeat the yeet but he is interrupted by Paul Heyman. Heyman means no disrespect, he wants to speak man to man from the heart about family. He cannot believe that Jey accepted Roman Reigns’ offer to team at Summerslam. Heyman says that family is always going to cause trouble. That isn’t a prediction, that is a prophecy. He asks Jey if his mother told him that Santa Claus put gifts under the tree, meaning his mother lied to him. Did Rikishi told him that he wants Jey to be more iconic than he was? He lied about that too. Heyman asks who Roman chose as next in line to be tribal chief, he didn’t pick Jey he chose Solo

Roman doesn’t want Jey to be as big, rich and famous as him, if Roman told him that then he lied to him. Heyman says he is saying this because he loves Jey Uso. He loves him like family. “YEEEEEET”. Heyman throws the mic, the fans chants bullshit.

Jey says that family is why he is here, and warns Heyman about running his mouth. He says Heyman knows Jey, he will support his family at all times because that is who he is. Heyman is out here talking crap about his family, Jey reminds him that he went solo to prove himself not out of spite. He asks Heyman where his family is right now. Jey finishes by saying that Heyman and his boys have caused him and Roman nothing but problems so whatever happens at Summerslam is on his head. He does his catchphrase then says “we gon’ run this shit back” for a yeet party.

A rare off performance I thought from Paul Heyman, far from the promo ability we are used to from him. I understand what he was trying to do, but I think there was a better way to say “you cannot trust Roman Reigns”. Jey stumbled over his words a lot and I had to decipher his response for you to read. The segment was mid, elevated by the fact that Jey Uso is incredibly over and the fans reacted to anything he did and said. Why was he so out of breath though?

Not really a banger

Sheamus takes on Grayson Waller, it is nice to see the Aussie getting some screen time. He is in great physical condition, he looks more jacked than I remember.

This match is what you would expect. Sheamus overpowers Waller, the Aussie tries to run and find ways to gain the advantage, he ultimately fails and is defeated pretty quickly. Rusev then comes out and beats Sheamus up.

This was another fine segment. Although it was nice to see Waller, he was barely featured here. He hit a coll tornado DDT on the apron and that is all I can remember him doing. This was to put over Sheamus and build his feud with Rusev some more. It did the job, but at this point we are an hour into the show and everything has been pretty mid, so it feels worse than it would.

I don’t really understand why the New Day abandoned Grayson Waller before his match, then later they continued to talk positively about him. Are they allies? Do they want to be with Grayson Waller? Are we meant to care?

Becky Stompers?

Lyra Valkyria comes out and hypes up Summerslam a bit. She points out her new trainers and calls them her Becky stompers. In a week’s time she will be the first 2-time IC champ, or she will have failed and cannot challenge Becky again. If that happens, she won’t be here at all because Becky will have to put her in the ground to beat her

Lyra decided to play Becky at her own game by choosing these rules. She knows what Becky is capable of, but Becky doesn’t know what she can do. Becky Lynch interrupts her, preparing to attack from behind but Lyra intercepts. Valkyria beats her up with a kendo stick, Becky manages to retreat and she shouts over at Lyra from a distance.

This was weird. Lyra was teetering on the edge of bombing her promo here. I don’t know what happened, I don’t know if it was the weird crowd reactions but she was thrown off her game pretty early here. Nothing she said really connected with the audience and you could feel them beginning to turn. Then Becky came out to save the segment I thought, but we just got a very brief physical encounter that felt cut short.

Yet another mediocre segment on this episode of Raw.

Dumbass

Our main event match saw Jey Uso take on Bronson Reed. Jey got an early flurry but it doesn’t take long for Reed to absolutely dominate the match. This is what I would call a “John Cena special”. The usual Cena TV match we would get in the day. Hot start for the good guy, but he gets dominated for most of the match, before making his comeback.

After the big dive, Bron Breakker runs down and spears Jey Uso causing a DQ. Bron and Bronson beat down Jey, bringing out the OTC Roman Reigns. He cleans house and stands with his cousin. They go for stereo spears on the outside but it backfirs. Breakker spears Reigns, Reed clotheslines Jey. Breakker spears Jey in the ring and Reed hits the Tsunami. Breakker wipes Roman out with his leaping clothesline from the apron to the commentary desk.

Roman is rolled into the ring and he eats a Tsunami too. Breakker then spears Roman and Jey through the barricade. Bronson Reed steals Roman Reign’s shoes like a high school bully.

Okay, I got thoughts. So, the post-match angle was pretty good and put over Breakker & Reed as monsters, but it overstayed it’s welcome. It just kept going and going and going. They are trying to put doubt that Roman and Jey might lose at Summerslam, which they won’t. Bron Breakker looks more like a star each week though which is a huge W.

For a main event match, Jey vs Reed was incredibly disappointing. It felt incredibly phoned in, I don’t think either guy worked very hard. It was pretty one note and that note was flat. I knew before the show even began that this would end in a DQ, because WWE booking these days is incredibly predictable.

So yeah, cool post match angle but the match itself was lame so I will give it a rating based off that. This was the weakest Raw we have seen in a LONG time.

Miss parker!

After ANOTHER Hulk Hogan tribute video we open the show with Jaida Parker vs Jazmyn Nyx. It will be nice to see Jazmyn Nyx actually being the main focus of Fatal Influence for what feels like the first time in forever. Here last singles match was nearly 4 months ago.

This is exactly what you think it is going to be. Jazmyn Nyx gets heel heat on Parker, but Jaida shows her resiliency and fights back. Jaida Parker hits Hypnotic and gets a quick win. This was fine, merely to put over Jaida strong but also continue the story of Fatal Influence. Jacy Jayne and Fallon Henley shouted at Nyx after the match, clearly not happy with her loss.

I love watching Jaida Parker matches, she has grown a lot and the NXT fans are always electric for her.

I wasn’t talking to you

Je’Von Evans comes out and talks about last week in Houston and speaking with The Undertaker, who gave him some advice. Evans takes up the advice and is prepared to make the call out but he is interrupted by Trick Williams, who says “the biggest dog has finally arrived”. Trick says Je’Von shouldn’t pull Superman’s cape, play Trick Williams or play with the top draw in NXT or TNA, which also happens to be Trick.

Je’Von breaks the news that Trick is not who he was talking about, he was talking about Oba Femi. Trick takes it as disrespect and says Oba wishes he was Trick Willy. Trick thinks maybe he should take the NXT title back and be double champ like Jacy.

Evans warns Trick that if he stands in the way of him and the NXT title, he will eliminate him from the occasion. High Ryze come out and says Je’Von should challenge Oba because he is not on Trick’s level. He talks a lot and doesn’t say much, he basically says High Ryze will keep him away from annoying Trick Williams. Evans wants a match tonight and decides to attack Wes Lee and Co but he is beaten down 4 on 1. Lee hits the Cardiac Kick and says he will talk to Ava and get it booked for later.

I was enjoying the interactions between Trick Williams and Je’Von Evans. Both men have similar but very different levels of charisma. Trick lays it on well, but Evans’ feels so natural. However, I rolled my eyes when High Ryze came out. I don’t hate them, but I don’t think Wes Lee is a good heel. His promos are bad and he doesn’t wrestle like a heel. He is so much more believable and enjoyable as a plucky good guy. Maybe there is a heel version of him that works, but it is not this.

Freedom!!!

Tavion Heights gets another shot at freedom from No Quarter Catch Crew with a match against Charlie Dempsey. I feel like they have dragged this out for too long and it is time for them to just let Tavion go on his own. I want Dempsey to do bigger and better things.

A funny moment during this match is a Joe Hendry jump scare, I assume it was a production mistake. I didn’t even say his name and he appear. The man is a magic.

Charlie Dempsey is such a good wrestler man I love watching him work. He is up there for me alongside a Daniel Bryan, a Zack Sabre Jr or a William Regal who do technical offence and make it fun to watch. Dempsey spends a large portion of this match wearing Tavion down with submissions but the Olympic Kid makes his comeback after the break. Tavion has natural charisma too that makes him so likable.

Tavion runs at Dempsey but hits the steps with his knee, so Dempsey targets it and dismantles him, in the same way the match came to and end in their previous match. Wren Sinclair looks for a towel to throw in but it has been removed. Tavion manages to fight through and hit his belly to belly suplex to win.

A very fun match with a hot crowd invested in the result. I liked the call backs to their previous match. Tavion gets to go on his own and do nothing. Not sure what is next for Dempsey and Sinclair.

NXT is NIA

Lash Legend faces Fallon Henley next and the match doesn’t go very long, nor does it have to. Lash is dominant from the very start, taking on Henley and Fatal Influence on her own. She lays all 3 of the women out and she is standing strong, but Nia Jax makes her NXT return and wipes Lash out. She feeds her to Henley to score a cheap victory.

Nia Jax attacks Lash after the match with the Annihilator.

I am going to completely overrate this but I thought this was awesome. Lash got her shit in and looked like a beast, we got a surprising and awesome return of Nia who follows up on their interactions at Evolution and she is looking to put respect on her name. This was a hot angle and a great idea to put Lash Legend over via Nia.

Bouncing on top

When you see Je’Von Evans vs Wes Lee on the card, you know you are in for a good time. Two incredibly athletic guys who are fun to watch. Unfortunately, Wes Lee is in full heel mode so he is working over at a slow, deliberate pace. It is weird to see him do nimble, athletic moves at a slow pace. I wouldn’t be against it but I have zero connection to his heel character. Still, he wrestled a great match and Je’Von did a fantastic sell job too.

Je’Von makes his comeback and the match begins to reach an insane level. The action was so damn good man. Last night we saw a coast to coast on Raw, so tonight Evans decides to go one up and he does a coast to coast with a swanton. It was NUTS. He follows up with a crazy high frog splash, he landed awkwardly I thought he was going to break a leg and Wes kicked out! Wes Lee later manages to hit his Cardiac Kick but Evans’ foot is on the rope. Evans pulls off a crazy dive and then follows up with his signature springboard cutter to finish Wes off.

Wow, this match went from a good match to an awesome match in a flash. I have watched him wrestle for months now but I am still blown away by Je’Von every time. That boy is certainly bouncy.

Cobra Defanged

Who would ever think that Santino Marella would be main eventing an episode of NXT in 2025. No one and anyone who says otherwise is a filthy liar. Marella was a comedy wrestler and pretty good at it too, but he wasn’t know for his in-ring ability. Now he is well past his prime, so this match always had a glass ceiling over it. Luckily, he is in there with Ethan Page and this doesn’t go longer than it has to be.

Santino showcases that he is still the wrestler he used to be, in fact I don’t think I remember him wrestling like this ever he looks really good in there. It doesn’t take long for Ethan Page to drop him and take control of the match.

Hey look it is another Joe Hendry jump scare! What is happening? Maybe this is not production issues after all.

Santino fights back and does an airplane spin but he topples over in comedic fashion. He pulls out his signature stunner and headbutt, the fans chant for the cobra. Santino makes another comeback and even does a springboard to the outside! He sets up the Cobra, Page uses the referee as a shield before hitting Twisted Grin to retain.

A fun match, better than I expected. Page winning should never have been in doubt but I’m glad Santino got to play some of the hits.

This was a much needed improvement for NXT, a solid show this week.

Finale

I gotta talk about this. The show ended with Tony D’Angelo sitting alone preparing for a meal in a restaurant. He tells the waiter to not call him the Don anymore, Tony D is fine. From behind, we see a shadow approach and it cuts to black before we find out what happens.

I absolutely loved this. This is for the fans of The Soprano’s. That show ended ambiguously, leaving the fate of Tony Soprano a mystery for fans to ponder. I believe that will happen here for Tony D’Angelo too. I expect that this will be the end for Tony D’Angelo, who will probably get repackaged and introduced as a new character.

I am totally fine with that and I think this is a poetic way for it to end.

Brother, Dude

This is not going to impact my overall rating of the show, but oh my god they have played the exact same Hulk Hogan tribute video with the same DOG SHIT SONG playing over it for 3 shows in a row. I am not against Hogan being honoured across all 3 shows, but they could have mixed it up a little at least. Copy+pasting the same video at the start of each episode doesn’t even feel like a good tribute, it feels lazy.

Has any other wrestler been given this many tributes? I don’t think so. I feel bad for the legends who passed and only got one tribute package. I look forward to watching it another 3 more times over Summerslam weekend and Smackdown.

Also, Ordinary by Alex Warren sucks.

ExposÉ

Blake Monroe comes out calls out Booker T for getting her name wrong and threatens to put him in a medical centre. He audibly drools and completely undersells her threat which pissed me off.

Blake says Jordynne Grace has less aura than a protein shake and calls her an “extra” before showing a photo of Jordynne Grace as an extra in a WWE segment years ago. She proceeds to mock how Grace used to look, poking fun and saying she is “gym membership material”. Monroe puts herself over as beautiful glamour who is championship material.

Out comes Lola Vice who interrupts, saying how Blake is so beautiful yet so ugly inside. She toots her own horn about working for AAA and dancing with Nikki Bella at Evolution. Jaida Parker comes out and says she doesn’t need a Bella twin or a betrayal to be relevant, she is making a name for herself on her own.

Jordynne Grace’s music plays and Blake is in fear, but out steps Kelani Jordan. “I guess I am not the Jordan you were hoping for”. The crowd boos this which was hilarious. She puts herself over as being the best wrestler in the division. Blake is shocked that Lani finally has a personality and threatens to injure her too. Blake headbutts her, we get a 4 woman scrap which will certainly lead to a tag match next week.

This segment was weak for a few reasons. One, I understand the thought process about having Blake body shame Jordynne Grace. I imagine it was Grace’s idea, or she was at least cool with it, and it works with the bully character and to try and force Monroe into being booed rather than cheered. I don’t think it is going to go down well, we are just in a time now where mocking people for being bigger than other’s just feels in bad taste. I didn’t hate it and I wasn’t offended or anything, but I think there was a better way to do it if they wanted to go down this route.

Then Lola Vice comes out and her self glazing makes her come across really arrogant even though she is the face. Her mic work is godawful. Then Kelani Jordan pissed off the audience by trolling and I think that it came at an unfortunate time because it didn’t sit well with them. Jaida Parker came out of this segment looking the best. Blake looked great too. I wish this was more focused on Blake targeting Grace rather than doing a tag team set up. We rarely get those segments where someone just cuts a promo. It is always interrupted to set up something else. These multi-person segments always drive me insane, they’re all the same!

Depressed Luca

There is a hilarious moment after The Culling are hyping themselves up and talking about Tatum Paxley getting a title with against Sol Ruca. The camera pans over to see Luca Crusifino who solemnly says “family doesn’t last forever”.

This was so damn funny, but jokes aside this undone weeks of building up Luca Crusifino as someone who is done with representing family and wants to stand on his own. He came across as incredibly pathetic.

Jaida Parker defeats Jazmyn Nyx (C Grade)

Trick Williams & High Ryze Confront Je’Von Evans (B- Grade)

Tavion Heights defeats Charlie Dempsey (B Grade)

Blake Monroe “exposes” Jordynne Grace (C Grade)

Fallon Henley defeats Lash Legend, Nia Jax Returns (B Grade)

Je’Von Evans defeats Wes Lee (A- Grade)

Ethan Page (c) defeats Santino Marella, North American Championship (C+ Grade)

Homecoming

Our show opens with the never seen 17, John Cena. I was fully expecting to see another Hulk Hogan tribute so I am glad we are starting strong. This is the first we are seeing John since the contract signing where he was forced to sign by Cody. He goes to speak, but he is immediately cut off by Cody Rhodes. I must say, that they have been reusing this trope A LOT recently. The immediate interruption. It works and it is effective, but they are using it very heavy handily. It is rare we see a promo without an interruption these days.

They go face to face, the crowd is 50/50 on cheering either man. Cena shushes Cody. He told Cody that he was exhausted and a match at Summerslam would be too difficult. Cody didn’t listen to him, assaulted him, forged his signature and booked the most dangerous match on one of the biggest stages. He has one thing to say. Thank you.

John Cena had a wake up call. 5 months ago he was convinced into making great a choice that would make great TV. But after the dust settled and he made an impact, those who supported him left and now he is alone and pretending to be someone he is not. John Cena doesn’t want to ruin wrestling, he loves wrestling. He just doesn’t want to be forgotten. Today is the day John Cena returned to WWE and he is ready for a fight with Cody Rhodes, the man who brought him back. Cody Rhodes vs John Cena, with Cena at his best in a match Cody wanted. “At Sunday the only platinum rapper coming to whip your ass is me.” COLD ASS DUNK ON TRAVIS SCOTT. The crowd are eating this up.

Cody asks for two cans of beer and says “welcome back John Cena.” They shake hands and toast their drinks. Cody leaves and Cena basks in the crowd’s adulation.

Huh. This is either an incredible mislead from John Cena, or a complete bullshit retcon by WWE. The segment was fun, I am choosing to believe the former but I will come back with an edit post-Summerslam if it turns out this segment was garbage. I can foresee Travis Scott still appearing at Summerslam, hell maybe The Rock might actually show up.

Collecting debt

Damien Priest vs Aleister Black was a match I was looking forward to, this had potential to be a very good match and it ended up being that way. This was a stiff back and forth strike encounter with some fun moves and counters by both men. On the outside, Priest dodges a moonsault attempt and then pounces Black over the anounce table. Things paused for a few seconds and it dawned on me that this was going to end in a DQ. Black popped up and launched a chair at Priest’s head. He beat up Priest, slamming his head into the steel steps and then hitting Black Mass. Damian Priest wins, but Aleister looks strong.

I actually don’t hate the booking decision, but the issue is because WWE (Smackdown especially) have reused to screwy DQ finish so much recently, it feels cheap and it does not feel impactful. All I can think of is “wow yet another lame screwy finish” but it wasn’t even that lame! Understanding booking, but if WWE want moments like this to matter, then stop doing this booking trope so often. Match was good, unsatisfying conclusion.

Fuck You Too WWE

This is being wrote post Summerslam. It turns out that John Cena was not telling lies. He has found his true self once again and John Cena is back to being a squeaky clean good guy. What a fucking travesty this angle has been. John Cena has spent the last 4-5 months being an arrogant dickhead. Then he gets scared about facing Cody Rhodes, forced into a Street Fight and all of a sudden he is the good guy again? What shitty writing.

So why did this happen? Well either to set up babyface John Cena vs a returning Brock Lesnar, or because any plans they did have for heel John Cena either fell through or got canned so lets just retcon the whole thing.

Fuck this fucking company. Changed my mind. Opening segment was trash. Well executed by Cody and Cena, but written like shit.

Another Zelina Vega Match

Our opening match of the night is a championship rematch, Zelina Vega trying to win back her US title from Giulia. Giulia is now accompanied by Kiana James, her business representative. After the exciting, hot opening segment this was a sure fire way to put them back to sleep.

This was incredibly hard to get into, the crowd were completely dead for the first 70% of this match. Giulia was doing solid ring work but the fans were not biting at all. There were some good moments in this match. The top rope butterfly suplex from Giulia was cool, it was followed by the Arrivaderci and an alternate version of Northern Lights bomb for an awesome kick out. Okay so there were two highlights to this match. Giulia eventually hits her proper Nothern Lights bomb to retain. The last couple of minutes were really good but man the start was brutal.

Zelina looked off her game, or maybe on her game since she is regularly underwhelming in the ring. She was moving slower than usual and making a mess of her moves. The crucial ending sequence saw Giulia get her knees up for Vega’s moonsault, however Vega misfired and landed across her head, so the knees never made any contact. Not a complete wash of a match, Giulia looked great at least. The right woman won, I hope to not see Zelina near the US title for quite some time. I personally think she needs more work before getting close to a title again.

Open Challenge

AAA world tag champions Los Garza come out for their open challenge for their championships. Santos Escobar demands New Jersey stand and show them respect. They ask any tag team in the back to come out and face them. It turns out to be…Mr Iguana and Psycho Clown! A nice pop for Mr Iguana, these two are making their Smackdown debut here tonight. Of course we have La Yesca, the iguana plushie, alongside them.

There is a cool part of this match when Psycho clown rips off the face of his mask, revealing another mask beneath as he just peeled off his actual face. It looked fucking awesome. My new favourite mask.

A hot start for Psycho Clown, he then gets beaten up by Los Garza until he makes the hot tag. The crowd are super into Mr Iguana. He gets a nice little showcase, even if he botched his flashy springboard move a little. Eventually though, Los Garza retain by hitting their finish on Psycho Clown.

I thought this was very average and rushed. It was a little rough around the edges, Iguana was botchy at times and there were some awkward sequences from Los Garza. It all feels a little last minute. However, I am a fan of Mr Iguana so I had a great time seeing him do his thing. Does the gimmick have legs to be more than sporadic appearances? I am unsure.

Sucks to be Sicks

The Wyatt Sicks deserve better than what they are being given. They thrive on their character building and their personalities, not their wrestling. They should be getting more time to cut creepy promos or have interesting vignettes. Instead, they are being treated like every other tag team, as if they are not an unstoppable spooky force that wrecked an entire locker room one time.

Dominant (not) Debut

Jimmy Uso has the unfortunate pleasure of being Talla Tonga’s debut opponent. This should have been short and impactful. Jimmy gets an early flurry, Talla demolishes him in quick fashion. Bish Bash Bosh, Talla looks strong as fuck. This match should have been 3 minutes, but this went far longer than it should have and it was painful to sit through. Talla did not do anything remotely interesting. He did an incredibly slow beat down, Jimmy briefly tried to fight back but he was ultimately destroyed by Talla. A bad match.

The post match angle didn’t make sense either. Solo and his MFTs swarm Jimmy in the ring and the Steel Cage comes down. They swarm Jimmy, but out comes Jacob Fatu to slide in just before the cage comes down. Instead of beating up Fatu 4 v 1, Solo gets scared and leaves with Talla, leaving Tonga Loa and JC Mateo to get their asses beat by Fatu. That doesn’t even make sense. That doesn’t put over Fatu as strong, it puts over Solo as stupid and cowardly.

Probably the worst segment on this show. What a wasted opportunity.

Smelly Hole

Our main event segment for another mediocre Smackdown brings Logan Paul and Drew McIntyre out to the ring. I am so damn glad Drew McIntyre made it back to the US, I don’t want him stuck in this weird ass Jelly Roll feud but at least he gets a Summerslam feature. Logan Paul insults the fans, specifically the green shirt guy. He says that he and Drew are defending the WWE from outsiders like Jelly Roll that think they can use WWE for themselves. Logan says Jelly Roll will never belong here.

Drew says what happens to “Smelly Hole” is on Orton. McIntyre quotes Jelly Roll’s song and says that he has God on speed dial. “When he prays, bad things happen.” Cold ass line. A very sad looking Jelly Roll rocks up with Randy Orton, Nick Aldis tries to stop them from going to the ring but he fails. The 4 men get into a brawl, security keep them apart, especially an aggressive Orton. The show closes with Orton hitting security guards with RKOs and Jelly Roll lands a chokeslam.

Oh brother I am worried how much this is gonna stink. Another good piece of mic work by Drew McIntyre and Logan Paul, but Jelly Roll looked completely out his element here. He rolls in looking like a lost puppy, then he get in the ring and lacks any intensity at all. His chokeslam looked fine, felt like I waited an eternity for him to hit it but it was executed fine. I hope this match doesn’t completely blow but I don’t have the highest hopes.

This was a pretty flat way to end the show, even with the security pull away brawl.

The “Real” John Cena is Back (F Grade)

Giulia (c) defeats Zelina Vega, US Championship (C+ Grade)

Los Garza (c) vs Mr Iguana & Psycho Clown (C Grade)

Damian Priest defeats Aleister Black by DQ (B- Grade)

Talla Tonga defeats Jimmy Uso, Jacob Fatu Prevents Beatdown (E Grade)

Raw

Sheamus vs Rusev

NXT

Sol Ruca (c) vs Tatum Paxley, North American Championship

Hank & Tank (c) vs Chase U, Tag Team Championships

Lexis King vs Myles Borne

Blake Monroe vs Kelani Jordan

Smackdown

???