WWE SUMMERSLAM

 Metlife Stadium, East Rutherford, New Jersey

NIGHT 1:

JEY USO & ROMAN REIGNS vs. BRON BREAKER & BRONSON REED (21:04): I guess because the WWE is "hot" these days, plus the fact that the new owners, TKO, are trying to maximize profits at all costs, this year was the first time ever that Summerslam was two nights. I suppose it's inevitable that The Royal Rumble will eventually be two nights as well, and maybe even Survivor Series. It definitely waters the show down, as now you don't get all the big stars and big matches on one show. This show was fine but nothing special. The WWE PPV's are entertaining but nothing to go out of your way to see. This was an easy, fairly entertaining show if you watched the replay and could fast forward all the commercials. The show looked like a big deal because it was outside at the Giants/Jets football stadium. The stage was pretty massive. It seemed like there weren't that many seats on the floor, though, but every seat even in the nosebleeds was filled. And the crowd seemed hot for most everything and seemed to enjoy themselves. This opener featured Roman Reigns wrestling in his first match since Wrestlemania. It seems to me that, since the whole heel Roman of The Bloodline storyline ended, they don't really know what to do with Roman Reigns. I think the problem with this match is that it felt like an A team (Uso & Reigns) vs. a B team (Breaker & Reed). Seth Rollins is the only true star of that heel group and he wasn't in this match. Match was fine but never elevated into anything great. ** 

ALEXA BLISS & CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. THE JUDGMENT DAY (RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ & ROXANNE PEREZ) (13:36): Bliss and Flair and a tag team but headed for a split and a feud. So of course they won the tag team titles here. Are there even any women's tag teams? It seems like it's just teams where they put two singles wrestlers together. It also seems like Charlotte Flair was just being booed but she was cheered here. Match was forgettable. 1/2*

SAMI ZAYN vs. KARRION KROSS (8:10): I doubt that this match would have been on Summerslam if not for the two night gimmick. Maybe they should fire Karrion Kross again. He's totally superfluous. Sami Zayn is now wearing trunks with Arabic writing on them. At one point, Scarlett handed Sami a metal pipe so that he could cheat. He didn't. Scarlett is Karrion's wife/general manager. The storyline is that Sami needs to show killer instinct to eventually be a champion, and I guess Scarlett wanted to show him that by giving him the metal pipe. Why she would do that to get her husband to lose the match makes no sense. *

TIFFANY STRATON vs. JADE CARGILL (7:04): Cargill won the Queen of the Ring tournament to get this title shot match. Cargill lost. She didn't look as awkward or as lost as she did in AEW, but she's still not a good wrestler. Tiffany did some exciting dives and moonsaults. Match was just okay. *1/2

DREW McINTYRE & LOGAN PAUL vs. JELLY ROLL & RANDY ORTON (17:05): Jelly Roll is a singer. He's also fat, so it was kind of ridiculous how much offense he got against McIntyre and Paul here. The big moment had Logan doing a frog splash from the top rope onto Jelly Roll through the announce table. That was cool. Jelly Roll was hobbling towards the back with the medical people but then pushed them away and got back into the match only to seemingly become Superman. I get that this is fake but, c'mon. At least Jelly Roll was pinned by Logan Paul. **

CM PUNK vs. GUNTHER/ SETH ROLLINS vs. CM PUNK (30:31): Gunther gave CM Punk some hellacious chops in this. That was good. The problem was that Gunther was in some great, old-school match whereas CM Punk was just lying on the mat. If this hadn't been so one-sided it might've been a classic. Gunther stupidly stood on the announce table to celebrate the beat down and Punk grabbed his feet to cause him to fall. Gunther was bleeding. This caused CM Punk to give Gunther two Go to Sleeps and win the title. The first GTS was great because Gunther didn't fall over, just wobbled and leaned backwards on the precipice of collapse. After Punk won the title, Seth Rollins came out to cash in his Money in the Bank briefcase. Rollins beat up Punk with the briefcase, then cashed it in, then gave him a stomp and won the title. This "surprise" cash in would've been better if it wasn't so obvious. Seth was injured on Saturday Night's Main Event on July 13th. The problem was that his injury was fake and all the pro-wrestling reporters revealed it online. I guess if you don't go on wrestling websites online or anything you might've been surprised. For what it's worth, this was a really good match besides the fact that it was too one-sided. Gunther's chops and brutality were really great. I kind of wish this match didn't have a cash in and Punk actually did a realistic comeback to win the title. This really had the building blocks of being an epic, awesome, classic New Japan strong style, dramatic, long, title main event match...but like most things in WWE lately, they fell short and ended with gimmickry. **1/2

NIGHT 2:

NAOMI vs. IYO SKY vs. RHEA RIPLEY (16:21): I thought night two was the better night. Weirdly, they put all of the gimmick matches on night two. I mean...why put a street fight, a no DQ match, a TLC match, and a cage match on the same show? Makes no sense why at least one of those was on night one. Naomi retained the women's title here. I watched this match yesterday and honestly don't remember much about it. That's not a good thing. *1/2

THE WYATT SICKS (DEXTER LUMIS & JOE GACY) vs. #DIY (JOHNNY GARGANO & TOMMASO CIAMPA) vs. ANDRADE & REY FENIX vs. FRAXIOM (AXIOM & NATHAN FRAZER)) vs. THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS (ALEX SHELLY & CHRIS SABIN) vs. THE  STREET PROFITS (ANGELO DAWKINS & MONTEZ FORD) "TABLES, LADDERS & CHAIRS MATCH" (16:03): This match was fantastic. They did like twenty top rope dives onto tables. A bunch of people interfered, including Gargano's wife, Candice, who ended up falling off a ladder onto a ladder bridge at ringside. Shockingly, Andrade and Fenix weren't the stars. Why are they a team, anyway? Where's Penta? This was just all action and super entertaining. ***1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. LYRA VALKYRIA "NO COUNT OUT NO DISQUALIFICATION MATCH" (25:05): This seemed to go on too long. Becky used a zip tie to handcuff Lyra's hands together. At one point, her hands got free but I guess she still had spots to do so she put her hands back into the zip tie. You know...you're on fucking camera, we can see what you did. She is fairly new, I suppose it's a learning moment. Bayley showed up and ended up beating up Becky. Becky wrapped Lyra in a chair and tossed her around. They used a fire extinguisher. Eventually, Bayley hit Lyra by accident, causing Becky to pin Lyra and retain her Intercontinental title. Match was fairly entertaining but dragged on a bit too long. **

SOLO SIKOA vs. JACOB FATU "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (12:37): The match was strange because there was all this interference at ringside and then in the ring after the match with Jeff Cobb, Jimmy Uso, Tanga Loa, and Hikuleo. I mean...the whole point of having a steel cage is for it to be two guys locked inside and nothing else, right? Jacob got handcuffed to the top of the cage but then seconds later was free. So there were two matches tonight where someone got handcuffed. Solo eventually just left the cage through the door to win. Jacob did do a moonsault off the top of the cage, but that was after he lost. Makes sense. Match was okay. *1/2

DOMINIK MYSTERIO vs. AJ STYLES (10:41): Dominik won by cheating. He hit AJ with his boot when the ref wasn't looking. Match was fine but nothing special.

CODY RHODES vs. JOHN CENA "STREET FIGHT" (37:42): John Cena has been a heel since Elimination Chamber. How would he turn back into a babyface? What great storyline or moment would they concoct to get him back to being the hero? Um...he came out on Smackdown and told the crowd that he's a good guy now. Wait. What? Seriously? Cena's heel run has to go down as one of the worst storylines in WWE history. He turned heel because he suddenly didn't care about the fans or something. This was never explained well. Now he's not a heel because all of a sudden he doesn't want to be a heel anymore. What the fuck is this shit? Doesn't the WWE have writers? They can't come up with something compelling? Dramatic? Exciting? So Cena came out in this match as a total babyface. The crowd cheered him. They did boo Cody a lot when Cody was on offense. This was a long match. They broke tables and brawled around the stadium. The story of the match was that they kept kicking out of each other's finishers...a lot. Cena looked good in this match. He gave Cody an AA through the announce table. Cody undid the bottom rope and used the steel connecting rod to hit Cena a bunch of times. The finish had Cody putting Cena through a table from the top rope then giving him a Crossroads to win the title. This was a fun, exciting match, although it did go a bit too long. Since Cena hugged a crying Cody after the match and they were friends now, the boos for Cody seemed to stop. After the match, Brock Lesnar came out and gave John Cena an F5. Lesnar, if you don't know, hasn't been in the WWE since he was named in the Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit. Vince offered the woman in the lawsuit to Lesnar for sex. Lesnar apparently never had sex with her but did ask for and receive pornographic videos from her and did joke about it all through texts with Vince. I remember the lawsuit saying that Brock texted the woman to send him a video of her taking a piss and then texting her back the word "bitch" after she sent it. Obviously, why would the WWE bring back someone involved in a lawsuit like that? The lawsuit has been ongoing for awhile now and it seems that, like all rich white men, Vince is going to get away with it. He might have to pay more money or something, but I highly doubt he's going to prison or anything. Is that why they brought back Brock? Because they figure the lawsuit isn't going to amount to anything? Or do they really not care that he was involved with the sexual abuse and humiliation of a woman? Lesnar vs. Cena is too big, right? Hell, the crowd didn't boo Lesnar. They cheered his return. What a sad, sad world we live in. The match was good but that ending just put a bad taste in my mouth. ***

WWE EVOLUTION

Atlanta

BECKY LYNCH vs. BAYLEY vs. LYRA VALKYRIA (16:25): The WWE wanted to counter AEW's All In Texas show by running three shows in three days. They had an NXT PPV that went directly against All In Texas on Saturday afternoon. They had Goldberg's retirement to Walter on Saturday Night's Main Event. And then this all women's PPV on Sunday night. I think the problem with this strategy was that most wrestling fans were only talking and thinking about that Moxley/'Hangman' match after the weekend was over. All of these WWE shows were pretty much forgotten. That Goldberg match was terrible and NBC even cut away from his retirement speech to show whatever dumb thing they had scheduled at 10 PM. This show had a decent opener and a good main event. I doubt very many people even watched this show, though. It was originally scheduled last weekend at the Mohegan Sun casino in Connecticut. That show would have probably been sold out and actually watched. They got a decent crowd for this, considering it was only the 2nd all women's PPV they've ever done. If you remember, the first one was spawned out of the controversy of them doing a show in Saudi Arabia and the women not being allowed on it. I'm not sure why it took them so long to do another one or even why they decided now to do it. This first match was fairly good. Becky and Lyra have had a feud going but they decided for whatever reason to insert Bayley into it. It would've been better if she wasn't in this match, honestly. Becky retained. The crowd was pretty hot for most of this show which helped. **1/2 (out of ****)

JACY JAYNE vs. JORDYNNE GRACE (10:28): This was for the NXT women's title. I don't watch NXT, although Bryan and Dave on Wrestling Observer radio seem to always say good things about it. I watched this show two days ago and don't even remember anything about this match, though. *

THE JUDGMENT DAY (RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ & ROXANNE PEREZ) vs. ALEXA BLISS & CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. SOL RUCA & ZARIA vs. THE KUBIKI WARRIORS (ASUKA & KAIRI SANE) (10:52): Sol Ruca was pretty exciting to watch in this match. She wore super short, super tight tights which probably helped. Charlotte Flair got cheered here, but wasn't she booed at Wrestlemania? I feel like she's booed all the time except on this show. At least there was a lot going on in this match with so many wrestlers. **

TIFFANY STRATTON vs. TRISH STRATUS (8:37): I always look up how old Trish Stratus is when I see her wrestling. She's not even that old (49). She must've been a child when she was stripping and barking like a dog for Vince. She just came back to wrestle every now and then a year or two ago. What was she doing for the last 20 years? Did she work in, like, real estate or something? Maybe she just raised kids. I doubt she had a ton of cash from the Attitude Era because I don't think they paid women a lot back then. Tiffany was once a big, bright shining star. She seemed to have cooled off. What happened? Match was okay. *1/2

JADE CARGILL vs. NAOMI (11:15): The only thing I remember from the last Evolution PPV in 2018 was that great main event that had Becky Lynch and Charlotte wrestle in a Last Woman Standing match. I figured they'd have a bunch of gimmick matches to make this all women's show palatable to some people who'd probably never watch an all women's show. You know...like throw a cage or ladder match on the show. This was it: a hardcore match. This just felt silly, especially after seeing Moxley falling on a bed of nails and 'Hangman' being dragged through broken glass yesterday. I mean...that was hardcore. They used a Singapore cane and a table. Naomi lost but then became the champion later. Makes sense. *

STEPHANIE VAQUER "BATTLE ROYALE " (15:32): The WWE signed two big international stars in Stephanie Vaquer from CMLL and Giulia from Stardom. They even pushed them on NXT...so why didn't they have singles matches on this show? Odd. They did give Stephanie Vaquer the win here and gave her a post-match interview with Stephanie McMahon even though she can barely speak English. Vaquer gets a title shot at the PPV in France in August. Why not Summerslam? Who the fuck knows? Giulia was in this match, along with Nikki Bella, Nia Jax, Natalya, and a bunch of women I barely know. I do know Piper Niven...but why is she dressed like Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson from Pulp Fiction? Did one of the writers watch Pulp Fiction one night and then say, "Hey, let's dress up someone from Pulp Fiction!" Probably. This was an over-the-top Battle Royal, so Kelani Jordan ended up on the announce desk at one point and had to do a handstand and walk to the ring so her feet didn't touch the floor. That was cool. **

NAOMI vs. IYO SKY vs. RHEA RIPLEY (26:19): This was by far the best match of the night. Iyo Sky is very entertaining, and Rhea is one of the better women's wrestlers in the WWE. Naomi cashed in her Money in the Bank contract towards the end of the match to make this a three way. She ended up winning the title. The crowd still always goes crazy for these cash ins. Who ever came up with that gimmick is a genius. Seth Rollins has the men's briefcase, but he got injured on Saturday Night's Main Event and might be out for a while. This match had a lot of action and drama and the crowd was into it. Not much more you can ask for. ***

AEW ALL IN TEXAS

 

Globe Life Field, Arlington, Texas

THE SONS OF TEXAS (DUSTIN RHODES, MARSHALL VON ERICH, ROSS VON ERICH & SAMMY GUEVERA) vs. SHANE TAYLOR PROMOTIONS (CARLIE BRAVO, SHANE TAYLOR & SHAWN DEAN) (7:11): This was AEW's first stadium show in the U.S., so it was a big deal. The show was at the Texas Rangers' baseball stadium. They got a little over 25,000 people. It looked impressive, though, which was a plus. The show was good, though AEW has had better PPV's this year. The only negative was that the show was really long. It went 6 hours plus about 1 hour of pre-show matches. There weren't any bad matches on the show, though they probably could have cut a few matches off the show to make it shorter. While the Omega/Okada match was a disappointment, it was still a pretty good match, just nothing near as good as their previous 4 matches years ago in New Japan. What mattered is that the main event and the ending to the show were great. The pre-show opened with this match, with Kevin Von Erich giving The Claw to one of the bad guys, which got a big pop, and something they kind of had to do in Texas. **

BIG BOOM AJ & THE CONGLOMERATION (HOLOGRAM, KYLE O'REILLY & TOMOHIRO ISHII) vs. THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (HECHICERO, LANCE ARCHER, ROCKY ROMERO & TRENT BERETTA) (12:52): Big Boom AJ, his son, and The Rizzler are still a thing? The crowd seemed into their shenanigans, so I guess they are (they're internet stars, apparently). The funniest part was when Trent Beretta pushed Big Boom AJ's son to the ground outside the ring. That was amusing because he's, like, 13 or something. **

FTR vs. THE OUTRUNNERS (16:12): These two teams had a hell of a match two weeks ago on Collision. I guess they figured that FTR has nothing else to do on this show so why not do a re-match? It was fine, though nothing as good as their first match. It looks like they're setting up FTR vs. The Hurt Business, which is kind of weird because both teams are supposed to be heels. The Hurt Business is cheered everywhere, though. **

THE OPPS (KATSUYORI SHIBATA, POWERHOUSE HOBBS & SAMOA JOE) vs. DEATH RIDERS (CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI & WHEELER YUTA) & GABE KIDD (14:29): The main card opened with this trios championship match. Really, they could have cut this. The crowds popped big for Samoa Joe and they cheered for all of Hobbs' big, power moves. Match was fine. **

MJF vs. ANTHONY BOWENS vs. BANDIDO vs. BRODY KING vs. JOSH ALEXANDER vs. JUICE ROBINSON vs. KONOSUKE TAKESHITA vs. KOTA IBUSHI vs. MARK BRISCOE vs. MAX CASTER vs. MISTICO vs. RICOCHET vs. RODERICK STRONG vs. THE BEAST MORTOS "CASINO GAUNTLET MATCH" (34:52): One reason this show was so long is that they did a men's and women's Casino Gauntlet match. The only surprise entrant was Juice Robinson making his return after injury. The Gunns returned, albeit they weren't in the match, they just came out to beat up The Gates of Agony, who were helping Ricochet. The crowd was into this because of the countdowns for each star and it was a fun match. They did a good job on TV the last few weeks setting up MJF vs. Briscoe, who were the first two entrants, plus setting up MJF vs. Mistico. MJF won a title contract. **1/2

DUSTIN RHODES vs. DANIEL GARCIA vs. KYLE FLETCHER vs. SAMMY GUEVARA (14:23): Adam Cole was supposed to defend his TNT title against Fletcher. Cole was injured, apparently with a concussion, so he came out to say he may have to retire and he's relinquishing the title. I think the retirement thing is because he's had a bad run of various injuries the last few years, including a history of bad concussions. Dustin Rhodes shockingly won the TNT title here. He wept like a baby when he won. Is the TNT title that important? I don't think he cried when him and Sammy won the ROH tag titles. Still, it was a nice scene when he won and made the title seem important. **

SWERVE STRICKLAND & WILL OSPREAY vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS (26:16): This match was fantastic, perhaps the best of the night. I was a little upset that AEW didn't have their best wrestler, Ospreay, in a singles match on their biggest show of the year. I can't really complain, though, as this was one of the year's best match. It was super entertaining, dramatic, and exciting. The Bucks came out in a ship a la Washington crossing the Delaware. They were dressed up in colonial garb while the ring announcer read some ridiculous, hilarious screed about them being the founding fathers of AEW. By the end of this match, The Bucks had Ospreay sitting against the ropes while they pummeled him with non stop kicks to the face. Swerve moved in front of Ospreay to save him and take the kicks himself. This was just an awesome match filled with a ton of action and high spots. Swerve and Ospreay won so they're now the EVP's of AEW, whatever that entails. ***1/2

ATHENA vs. ALEX WINDSOR vs. JULIA HART vs. KRIS STATLANDER vs. MEGAN BAYNE vs. MINA SHIRAKAWA vs. QUEEN AMINATA vs. SYURI vs. TAY MELO vs. THEKLA vs. THUNDER ROSA vs. WILLOW NIGHTINGALE "CASINO GAUNTLET MATCH" (27:01): Syuri, from Stardom, was really the only surprise entrant. This worked because the crowd was into it, which helped (they were fairly quiet for most of the TNT match and some parts of the trios match). Athena wins a title contract. She's already the ROH women's champ. **1/2

THE HURT SYNDICATE vs. JET SPEED (KEVIN KNIGHT & MIKE BAILEY) vs. THE PATRIARCHY (CHRISTIAN CAGE & NICK WAYNE) (18:59): Jet Speed did a bunch of crazy, high flying, top rope moves, which at least provided entertainment. The Hurt Syndicate retained the titles. After the match, Nick Wayne turned on Christian. FTR, who were doing commentary, came in to help Nick Wayne give a conchairto to Christian. Before that could happen, Edge returned to spear the bad guys. Then he told Christian to "go find himself" and left. **1/2

TONI STORM vs. MERCEDES MONE (25:11): The crowd was into this, which helped. I was kind of surprised Toni Storm won. She gave Mercedes a top rope Storm Zero to win. Match was okay but never heated up into anything great. The crowds at every AEW show love Toni Storm. Her ridiculous, 1920's Hollywood gimmick works for whatever reason. Storm retained the AEW women's title, though Mone still has, like, seven other belts from various promotions. **

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. KENNY OMEGA (31:05): I didn't expect this to as good as any of their epic 4 matches in NJPW years ago (their last one was 7 years ago). There was a glimmer of hope, though, because Omega vs. Gave Kidd from the Tokyo Dome in January was one of the best matches of the year (I still think that Ospreay/Fletcher cage match was the best of the year). Omega still has it. Okada vs. Ospreay from earlier this year was pretty great, too. Sadly, this was disappointing. It was a good match just not as good as their previous matches. The bar was too high to overcome. I think one reason is that both of these guys are older. Omega/Kidd was helped because of the brutality (chair shots to the head, broken tables, blood) plus Gabe Kidd is young. Omega and Okada are both too old to be doing what they did in New Japan 7 years ago. They did everything they used to do, but it wasn't as fast, exciting, or dramatic as what they used to do. **1/2

'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE vs. JON MOXLEY "TEXAS DEATH MATCH" (35:53): When 'Hangman' beat Ospreay to get into this match, I was truly surprised. Ospreay is the best wrestler in the world. Why the heck haven't they put the title on him yet? AEW did a hell of a job setting up this match and paying it off, though. And 'Hangman' is a cowboy, it's in Texas, they did the Texas Death Match gimmick since it's in Texas. Plus the crowds fucking love 'Hangman' and this match ended up making more sense than Ospreay/Moxley. 'Hangman' and Moxley actually already had a Texas Death Match, two years ago at Revolution. What could they possibly do different? Well, they brought out a bed of nails (which AEW actually used before in that Blood & Guts match with Kota Ibushi). This match was, obviously, sadistic. They had a fantastic camera close up shot with 'Hangman' holding Moxley in a headlock and stabbing his forehead with a fork. He actually was jabbing him because you could see the instantaneous blood popping in rivulets across his forehead. What a grotesque camera shot that was. Jesus. Moxley gave 'Hangman' a suplex off of the apron through two tables wrapped in barbed wire. Moxley brought out a bucket of broken glass and dumped it in the ring then started stepping on the half broken bottles to make more shards. Then Moxley dragged 'Hangman' across the glass, which got a deafening roar of shock from the crowd. The ending had Bryan Danielson return, wearing a Luchador mask for some reason. They didn't even play his entrance music or anything, he just showed up in the ring to do his "Yes" chant and then give Moxley the flying knee. Darby Allin, who had recently been away because he climbed Mt. Everest, repelled from the ceiling then attacked Moxley and the Death Riders, who came out to interfere. They did play a short clip with Darby on top of Mt. Everest, saying he's going to come down from the mountain to take out Moxley. Swerve ended up coming out. This played into a years long storyline of 'Hangman' and Swerve hating each other's guts. Swerve showed up at Adam Page's house to watch his child sleeping in his crib. Then 'Hangman' burned down Swerve's childhood home (really...this one perhaps AEW's best and funniest moment). So those two have issues. But they seemingly made a truce with a locker room chat on Collision this week where 'Hangman' left a chain at Swerve's feet. Swerve came out here and gave 'Hangman' the chain. Moxley gave 'Hangman' a stomp onto the bed of nails. Marina Shafir was handcuffed by Prince Nana by the ring bell so she couldn't help Moxley. 'Hangman' gave Moxley his finisher clothesline and Moxley fell onto the bed of nails. The crowd went wild for that spot. Then 'Hangman' choked out Moxley with the chain while Moxley was dangling off the ropes to the floor. Moxley tapped out. 'Hangman' got the keys to the briefcase that held the AEW championship (it had been locked away since Moxley won it last October). 'Hangman' Adam Page pulled out the title and held it up. This was great and very cathartic. Page wins the title for the second time. This match was excellent and, really, the best way possible they could have ended this show. ***1/2 

WWE NIGHT OF CHAMPIONS

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

CODY RHODES vs. RANDY ORTON (19:48): The crowd was going ape shit before either guy even started to wrestle. Are the people of Saudi Arabia that starved for entertainment? I guess life gets boring when porn and alcohol are banned in your country. Plus, women are covered up and are you even allowed to hit on a girl? I think arranged marriage is the only way to end up talking and/or having sex with a girl. And there's no "going to the club" on a Saturday night, is there? It'd just be men and no alcohol. Either way, the boisterous crowd helped this show and this match. They did boo Cody, which is probably why there's now internet rumors that they're thinking of turning him heel. This was the finals of the King of the Ring tournament. Cody won so he gets a title shot against John Cena at Summerslam. **1/2

RHEA RIPLEY vs. RAQUEL RODRIGUEZ "RIYADH BOULEVARD STREET FIGHT" (14:04): The women wrestlers aren't allowed to show any skin besides their face and hands. Considering they both wore black latex,, Catwoman-esque, skintight, bondage outfits, maybe it would have been less offensive if they could show some bare leg. This was a hardcore match so they brought out a table but didn't break it...which made me wonder if they weren't allowed to break tables. They used the table to balance it on the corner of the ropes and stand on it so Rhea could deliver her finisher down onto the mat. They also used a Singapore cane. Match was fine. *1/2

SAMI ZAYN vs. KARRION KROSS (13:32): Saudi Arabia loves Sami Zayn. His family is from Syria and he's a Muslim. I guess that's why. He was born in Canada, though. Karrion Kross has, apparently, been getting big cheers on whatever show he's on (I think it's RAW...but I couldn't even remember the last time he actually wrestled). I don't know why. Match was only 13 minutes but seemed to go on too long. *

SOLO SIKOA vs. JACOB FATU (12:08): I kind of thought they were pushing Jacob Fatu to be a big star and send him into the main event picture. Well, he already lost the U.S. title here. Jeff Cobb, who's going by the stupidest name ever, JC Matteo, interfered, as did Tonga Loa. Then they debuted Hikuleo, who's another Samoan dude. They all teamed up to beat up Fatu. I guess the ref was knocked out? Match wasn't good even though Fatu is usually in good ones. *

JADE CARGILL vs. ASUKA (8:34): This was the final of the King of the Ring tournament. Surprisingly, Jade Cargill won. An 8 minute final is kind of ridiculous, right? Even the crowd got quiet for this one. 1/2*

JOHN CENA vs. CM PUNK (26:17): At last year's Wrestlemania, everyone raved about the Cody/Roman match. If you remember, everyone and their mother interfered during that match. I'm guessing this gave the WWE the idea that they should always do a thousand people running out at the end of a match since it worked so well that one time. The match was fine but pretty dull before the billion people interfering. The announcers noted that the arena was very humid, which is probably why CM Punk looked dead tired after a few minutes. The ref got knocked out. Seth Rollins' music hit, and he came out with Paul Heyman, Bron Breaker, and Bronson Reed. Rollins has a Money in the Bank briefcase to cash in, but he never got to do it. Breaker and Reed tried to beat up CM Punk. Sami Zayn and Penta ran out at one point. A ref ran down to the ring but Cena gave him a brutal shove to the floor that made me laugh (poor Charles Robinson). At one point, Rollins gave CM Punk a foot stomp and that led to Cena eventually winning. Nobody was talking about what happened in this match, though. Everyone was talking about CM Punk being a hypocrite. Years ago he made an infamous tweet to The Miz that read: "Go suck a blood covered dick in Saudi Arabia you fucking dork." CM Punk has also been very LGBTQ friendly, which Saudi Arabia is obviously not (it's illegal to be gay there). So for someone to badmouth the country all these years and then all of a sudden take the money and go there and then apologize to their king (which he did a few days ago at a press conference) is definitely hypocritical. Oh, well. CM Punk didn't exactly come across as a good guy when he was in AEW, either. This match sets up John Cena vs. Cody Rhodes for the title at Summerslam. That show is 2 nights for the first time ever and at the Giants football stadium outside NYC, so it's a big deal. Will they finally turn Cena back into a babyface and give us the retirement tour we all want? They fucking better. **

WWE MONEY IN THE BANK

Intuit Dome, Inglewood, California

NAOMI vs. ALEXA BLISS vs. GIULIA vs. RHEA RIPLEY vs. ROXANNE PEREZ vs. STEPHANIE VAQUER "MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH" (25:11): This is my favorite WWE PPV of the year because I love ladder matches. It used to be that you'd get two ladder matches and two men's championship matches on the show. That usually made it a stacked show. Those days are long gone. The main event of this show was just a typical RAW main event match. The only championship match on the show was for the women's Intercontinental title. CM Punk and Roman Reigns, two of the bigger stars in the WWE, weren't even on the show. The big, "shocking" return was...R-Truth. Okay. So this PPV, apparently, isn't much of a big deal anymore. That's a shame. Some of this show was entertaining but the three non-ladder matches were mostly boring. This match was uber-sloppy, which was expected. Giulia and Stephanie Vaquer are from Stardom and CMLL, so maybe it's just because they never wrestled with ladders before, but early on it seemed like they were baffled at how ladders even worked. Roxanne Perez was also in this mix, as she's new from NXT. At one point, two of the women wanted to slam the ladder shut onto their opponent and didn't realize you can't do that because of the slats in the middle holding it up. Do they, like, not even practice this stuff? Or, like, study how to work with a ladder? They also tried to throw a ladder on someone and it bounced off the top rope instead of hitting the person. Ugh. With all of these fresh faces, you'd think they'd throw a bone to one of them. Nope! Naomi won. Even Seth Rollins won the men's ladder match. Ladder matches are at least entertaining no matter how sloppy and fucked up they turn out, so this was at least watchable. Vaquer gave one of the women her trademark maneuver on a ladder bridge, which was cradling their head between her thighs and slamming her head down onto the ladder repeatedly. The crowd loved that. Rhea Ripley was also very over. Match was fine but nothing special. **

DOMINIK MYSTERIO vs. OCTAGON, JR. (4:55): TKO bought the Mexican wrestling promotion AAA for some unknown reason. They ran their first co-production show before this show at another location (I haven't watched it yet, but the main event was Chad Gable vs. Vikingo). Apparently they set this match up during that show, as this was previously unannounced. Considering Dominik quickly beat AAA's Octagon, Jr...maybe they wish the WWE hadn't bought them. They're just going to bury all their talent! There truly wasn't anything to this match, although Dominik playing heel to the crowd is always amusing. *

BECKY LYNCH vs. LYRA VALKYRIA (15:20): This match was boring. Considering they just had this match on the last PPV, it was fairly obvious Lynch was going to win. Lynch won by pulling Lyra's tights. Their last match was better. 1/2*

SETH ROLLINS vs. ANDRADE vs. EL GRANDE AMERICANO vs. LA KNIGHT vs. PENTA vs. SOLO SIKOA "MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH" (33:35): This was a typical, clusterfuck, everyone-runs-out-from-the-back type of WWE main event match...but it wasn't the main event. Some of it was wildly entertaining but it definitely went on way too long. El Grande Americano won a 3-way on RAW to be in this match instead of CM Punk. Why would you not have one of your biggest stars on one of the supposed biggest shows of the year? Baffling. By the end, Seth Rollins' heel group ran out to beat everyone up and then Solo's group ran out to beat everyone up. Jacob Fatu turned on Solo, though, and slammed him through a ringside ladder bridge. Eventually Seth Rollins won, which was expected. Penta gave Andrade a Canadian Destroyer on a ladder bridge in the ring. Penta also suplexed Seth off a ladder onto another ladder leaning against the ropes. This was by far the most entertaining match on the show, but when everyone started running out from the back the actual ladder match stopped for, like, ten minutes. Good match but it went on too long. ***

CODY RHODES & JEY USO vs. JOHN CENA & LOGAN PAUL (24:00): For twenty minutes, this was a dull slog. First off, this is a RAW main event to set up a title match at best. This isn't a PPV main event. I guess Cena doesn't wrestle on RAW and it's his last year so that means it's a bigger deal. Finally the match got exciting when Logal Paul did a second rope moonsault onto Jey on the Spanish announce table. I thought he'd given up doing big, suicidal spots so it was nice to see him back doing them. Cena hit Cody with the belt when the ref wasn't looking. Then a masked figure ran into the ring to lay out Cena. He unmasked and it was R-Truth! R-Truth was supposedly fired from the WWE last week. Apparently, he signed a new deal since then...but it kind of begs the question: was his "firing" just to make this surprise even more surprising? Or did the WWE actually notice that everyone was mad they fired him and re-hired him? I kind of feel bad for all the others they've fired recently, like Braun Strowman, Shayna Baszler, Dakota Kai, and Carlito, because they're not coming back like R-Truth. And considering R-Truth just wrestled Cena for the title on Saturday Night's Main Event a few weeks ago...what's the point of re-igniting that storyline? Does anyone really want to see another Cena vs. R-Truth match? At the end, Cody pinned Cena. The next big show is the 2-night Summerslam at the New York Giants stadium. I figured this means Cody vs. Cena for the title there but then I remembered they just fucking did that at 'Mania. The next actual PPV is the King of the Ring finals in Saudi Arabia. Ugh. They're still going there? Jesus. *1/2

AEW DOUBLE OR NOTHING

Glendale, Arizona

ANNA JAY & HARLEY CAMERON vs. MEGAN BAYNE & PENELOPE FORD (12:35): I guess they didn't know what to do with Anna Jay so they threw her in with Harley Cameron, who is still pretty popular with the fans. Megan Bayne was in the women's championship match at the last PPV and now she's on the opener of the pre-show. That's not good. This was only the 2nd Double or Nothing PPV outside of Las Vegas (the 2020 pandemic show was in Jacksonville). I think they went somewhere else because they had a small crowd there the last two years. This crowd seemed to be quiet except for the big spots most of the night, although they did go nuts during the Anarchy in the Arena match and they tended to get louder towards the end of all the matches. This match was forgettable but the crowd was into Harley. *1/2

AR FOX, BANDIDO, HOLOGRAM & KOMANDER vs. CRU (LIO RUSH & ACTION ANDRETTI) & RPG VICE (ROCKY ROMERO & TRENT BERETTA) (13:16): Kind of didn't think I'd see Rappongi Vice back. Not sure why they're using a slightly different name, though. There was a lot of good action in this match. AR Fox has been a crowd favorite lately. Fun pre-show match. **1/2

MERCEDES MONE vs. JAMIE HAYTER (21:17): This was the final of the Owen Hart Cup. The winner will face Toni Storm at All In Texas. I thought it was kind of obvious that Mone and Ospreay would win the Owen tournament. I was wrong! Mone won, though, so I was half right. Match definitely picked up steam and turned into something pretty good. Mone spiked Hayter right on her head with a package piledriver to win. It looked like Hayter was paralyzed instantly, but maybe all that red hair was in the way and it wasn't that bad. She did seem okay. **1/2

FTR vs. DANIEL GARCIA & NIGEL McGUINNESS (23:31): FTR are heels now for whatever reason. Boredom, freshen up things...I guess. Nigel only wrestles once in a blue moon these days, so it was nice to see him back in there. Match was fine. **

RICOCHET vs. MARK BRISCOE "STRETCHER MATCH" (16:11): Good match. I haven't seen a heavy crimson mask like Briscoe had in this match in a while. Because all the fans chant about Ricochet being bald, Briscoe sprayed his head with cleaner and shined it with a rag. Okay. This was AEW's first Stretcher Match. Also could be called an Ambulance Match. Crowd was into it and there were a lot of cool spots. ***

THE HURT SYNDICATE (BOBBY LASHLEY & SHELTON BENJAMIN) vs. THE SONS OF TEXAS (DUSTIN RHODES & SAMMY GUEVARA) (12:38): Is there even a tag team left in AEW to compete with The Hurt Syndicate? They've kind of buried everyone except for other heel teams like FTR and The Young Bucks. Sammy Guevara is exciting to watch so I have no idea why they've demoted him to ROH. Are they still angry that he injured Jeff Hardy like a year ago? Guevara and Rhodes got more offense than most against The Hurt Syndicate. MJF was out there because he's a member of The Hurt Syndicate now. He tried to get Lashley to use his diamond ring to cheat and knock someone out. Match was okay. **

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. MIKE BAILEY (16:02): Bailey looked good. Okada is still his slow-walking self. Match was fairly entertaining. **1/2

TONI STORM vs. MINA SHIRAKAWA (15:52): This show was 4.5 hours long. This is why. Did they even promote this match? Mina is supposedly now signed with AEW. She's exuberant. Toni Storm has always been more entertaining outside of the ring than in. Match was fine but nothing special. **

KENNY OMEGA, SWERVE STRICKLAND, THE OPPS (KATSUYORI SHIBATA, POWERHOUSE HOBBS & SOMOA JOE) & WILLOW NIGHTINGALE vs. DEATH RIDERS (JON MOXLEY, CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI, MARINA SHAFIR & WHEELER YUTA) & THE YOUNG BUCKS "ANARCHY IN THE ARENA" (35:19): This was a hell of a lot of fun. The gimmick now is they play music during the match. They started to play "I'm So Excited!" for comedy and then "Let the Bodies Hit the Floor" five or six times. The crowd loved that. The highlights included Mina Shafir stapling Swerve's tongue with a staple gun and Kenny Omega giving a One Winged Angel on one of the Bucks onto an exploding table at ringside. They brawled outside and in the stands. The Bucks gave Omega a double knee to the face after putting thumbtacks in his mouth. Eventually the Death Riders were locked inside the ambulance that was still by the entrance, leaving the Bucks alone in the ring to lose. I'm still a little bit baffled as to why they didn't make this the main event. I thought maybe because the heels were winning. They weren't! Fun match, though. ***

THE DON CALLIS FAMILY (JOSH ALEXANDER, KONOSUKE TAKESHITA & KYLE FLETCHER) vs. PARAGON (ADAM COLE, KYLE O'REILLY & RODERICK STRONG) (12:48): Good luck to anyone that had to follow up that Anarchy match. This was pretty forgettable because they even turned off the crowd lights because everyone left to go to the bathroom or get something to eat. Normally with a hot crowd this might've been something fantastic. A bunch of guys came out after to beat up the heels. Ishii and Hiroshi Tanahashi came out for no real good reason. **

'HANGMAN' ADAM PAGE vs. WILL OSPREAY (36:59): Everyone online raved about this match and proclaimed it a classic and maybe the best match of the year. It was good but I didn't think it was a 4 star classic or anything. It did shock me that 'Hangman' won. Not in a million years did I think Ospreay wasn't going to win the title in the main event of All In Texas. He's the best wrestler in the world. What the heck are they waiting for? 'Hangman' is great but he's had the title already. Is it because he's a cowboy and All In is in Texas? I mean...Ospreay could win the title in August at Forbidden Door in London. Or they could wait until next year's All In at Wembley. Seems like they're waiting too long, honestly. This was dramatic and the crowd got super into it. They did the gimmick where Page and Ospreay were using their friend's finishers and then their rival's finishers. That was creative. They did botch the table spot because it broke while they were attempting to do a move while standing on top of it. 'Hangman' won with the Buckshot Lariat. So Moxley vs. 'Hangman' is the main event of the biggest AEW show of the year. I did not see that coming at all. ***

WWE BACKLASH

St. Louis

JACOB FATU vs. DAMIAN PRIEST vs. DREW McINTYRE vs. LA KNIGHT (18:14): This was a very enjoyable show. It was a hell of a lot better than Wrestlemania. It definitely helped that every match was good and the show was only 2.5 hours long. The Logan Paul vs. Jey Uso title match was taken off this show and moved to Saturday Night's Main Event in two weeks for no apparent reason. A lot of people online seemed to not like this show, but their main criticism was the constant interference and ref bumps in every match. I actually like that stuff, as did this crowd, because otherwise these matches would be total bores. The crowd was loud and into every match which helped. I don't even really like WWE that much these days but I thought this was one of their best PPV's in the last few years. This opener was very exciting. After everyone battled in the ring for awhile, Drew and Damian brawled in the crowd and Damian gave Drew a suplex off a rig through two tables. They were both out which left LA Knight and Fatu in the ring. The crowd loved Fatu even though he's supposed to be a heel, but that might change as they introduced tension in The Bloodline. Solo Sikoa interfered to take Jacob Fatu off of the announce table when LA Knight was on the top rope ready to deliver an elbow drop. Jeff Cobb then made his WWE debut and Solo told him to take LA Knight out. After beating up LA Knight, Jacob Fatu eyed up Jeff Cobb as if he didn't want his help and didn't ask for it. Fatu retained the U.S. title. This was the best match on the show. ***

LYRA VALKYRIA vs. BECKY LYNCH (18:43): This match was pretty dull early but the crowd got into it when there were a bunch of a near falls towards the end. The funniest part of the match came when Becky was taunting some total nerd with glasses and curly hair wearing a track suit in the front row. The announcers mentioned that this was Lyra's fiancée. Uh...what? How'd that total dweeb score Lyra Valkyria? Not that Lyra is some super model or anything, but she's cute, a WWE wrestler, in great shape, and probably making good money. Lyra retained her title with a roll-up. I think she has the Intercontinental title. I honestly didn't even know they had a women's IC title. The last five minutes or so were fairly exciting. Becky beat up Lyra after the match and put her in an armbar submission until Adam Pierce and a bunch of WWE goons ran out to stop her. **1/2

DOMINICK MYSTERIO vs. PENTA (9:17): Think Penta is wondering if signing with WWE was a bad idea? I suppose losing to Dominick on a PPV isn't that bad. Dominick is one of the most over guy's in the company in terms of heel heat. I still have no idea why they're using Penta and Fenix as singles wrestlers. Dominick did an awesome through-the-ropes dive into a DDT. The Judgment Day guys all ran out at one point, though they were thwarted when Finn Balor took too long to grab a steel chair and the ref saw them. This is playing into Finn being angry at Dominick pinning him at Wrestlemania. Chad Gable, dressed up as El Grande Americano, a Luchador, gave Penta a head butt when the ref wasn't looking. Gable has a steel plate in his mask, thus why Penta was so devasted by the head butt he got pinned by Dom afterwards. Penta hasn't been that exciting since joining WWE, though he wasn't all that exciting in AEW when he wrestled solo, either. Match was at least entertaining. **1/2

GUNTHER vs. PAT McAFEE (14:07): McAfee has only wrestled a few times over the years in WWE, but they've always been entertaining. It was not a total beat down, as McAfee had a few comebacks and got a few shots in. At one point, Michael Cole left the announce table to plead for Gunther to just "end it." Cole, of course, got pulled into the ring by Gunther but McAfee kicked Gunther in the face. This was very engrossing, actually. **1/2

JOHN CENA vs. RANDY ORTON (27:49): There were three ref bumps in this match...so if that's not your thing then you probably hated this. Early on this was a total bore. I figure these two probably wrestled each other a million times over the years, so seeing an Orton vs. Cena main event PPV title match is pretty nostalgic. Orton is from St. Louis, so that's the reason this match was made. At one point, after the 2nd ref that ran out got knocked down, the Smackdown CEO and a bunch of his assistants ran out to the ring. The only purpose for this was so Orton could give them all RKO's. Orton put Cena through the announce table but it didn't break (it fell apart a few moments afterwards) so Orton got a table from under the ring and put Cena through it. R-Truth ran out at one point to stop Orton from kicking Cena in the head. The Cena and R-Truth stuff was a storyline from, like, 15 years ago or something absurd. Probably even more absurd that R-Truth is still around. Eventually when the refs were all dead, Cena gave Orton a low blow and hit him with the belt to win when the ref woke up. Cena definitely did a better job playing the heel here than he did at Wrestlemania. The storyline is that he wants to retire as champion. The problem with that storyline is that they should let him keep the title until his final match. Do we really want to see Cena cheating to win for the next 7 months, though? No. All the interference at least made this match watchable. I liked this show. It probably helped that I didn't watch it live so I could fast-forward all the entrances and commercials. A short show with a hot crowd and a lot of shenanigans. I suppose it's my cup of tea. **1/2