WWE Weekly BreakDown May 26-June 2

                                                                    Monday Night RAW 

Gunther kicked off the show to accept his crown as King of The Ring. And if we’re being honest, that crown and this spot feels like it was made for Gunther. He talked about his superiority over all the other wrestlers and his shot at SummerSlam. At this moment, he was interrupted by Damian Priest. 

Priest, the Champion, attempted to dress down his challenger. However, he struggled quite a bit on the mic. His problems are very similar to Roman’s when Roman broke out as a singles competitor. He tries to rival his nerves and discomfort with trying to look and sound casual and calm. Like he’s having a conversation without the thousands of people watching. I’ve yet to see a wrestler make this work. It comes off conversation and flat. The segment was saved with Drew McIntyre coming out to put over his match with Priest at Clash at the Castle. Something to note, McIntyre was high fiving fans like a baby face on his way to the ring to a massively positive reception. Drew is experiencing a wave of momentum right now where it feels like everything he does is gold. Unless CM Punk costs McIntyre another title match at Clash at the Castle, I can see McIntyre could win the belt from Damian Priest. 

These opening segments transitioned into JD McDonagh taking on the “Monster Among Men” Braun Strowman. JD was chosen to take on the impossible task of solving the Judgment Day’s “Braun Strowman problem.”  Carlito tried to help out and got destroyed in the process. Braun won the match, and JD tried to take his anger out on Braun with a chair. This obviously did not work, and Braun chased after JD backstage. This would tie in big to the main event. 

The next match would be a highly anticipated rematch between Ricochet and Ilja Dragunov. Dragunov’s physical wrestling style is the polar opposite of Ricochet’s high flying, high impact offense. But the two really made the match work. And before we got the result of this great match, Bron Breakker appeared from the crowd and destroyed both men. Adam Pierce came out and gave Bron a pretty angry look. I love this result as both Ilja and Ricochet save face and now have a target in Bron. It’s also way more interesting from Bron’s perspective, because he’s actually working an angle and not just destroying jobbers. 

Right after this match, AOP would face off with the Creed Brothers. AOP looked strong tonight beating a legitimate tag team with athletic backgrounds. Scarlett would protect the former NXT champions by causing a distraction that would lead to AOP picking up the win. I do think The Creed Brothers might want to look into a different look. The college singlet works on NXT, but I think it doesn’t give them any range to develop a character besides this generation's version of Team Angle. 

The next match was Lyra Valkyria VS Io Sky. Lyra might have lost the Queen of the Ring final, but she stays one of the hottest talents on the roster. They’ve pushed her from her debut on the main roster. She finished off her feud with Damage Control by defeating Io Sky. She now has a win against each member. Right after this match they transitioned into Rey Mysterio VS Carlito. The last time these two had a one-on-one match was in 2004. Pat McAfee hilariously announced that he was a junior in high school. The match was kind of flat, and Rey scored the victory against Carlito who continues to struggle to find his way in his return with WWE. 

Bronson Reed VS Otis was never, and Chad Gable was on his typical bullshit tonight. When Otis lost to Bronson Reed in the meeting of monsters, Gable got into the ring to dish out some punishment. He told Otis to hold the rope, and before he could begin whipping Otis with his belt, Renee Dupree stopped him just in time. So Sami Zayn came out to save the day and confront his rival. This led to Gable getting angry and hitting a cheap shot on Sami. Alpha Academy is at the tipping point now and ready to implode. 

The final match of the night was the cage match for the Women’s World Heavyweight Title. Becky Lynch was determined to get her belt back against Liv Morgan. The two women put on a classic Raw main event. I felt like this match was better than their match at pay per view. They didn’t need any reckless spots to get the match over. It also felt like the first time in a while that a cage match ended with someone escaping the cage. As Becky was about to escape, Braun tackled Dom in his pursuit of JD into the cage door. The door slammed shut on the face of Becky Lynch. This interference allowed Liv to escape and retain her championship. After the match, as Raw went off the air, she locked a kiss on Dirty Dom, leaving everyone even more disgusted at him for his betrayal of Rhea Ripley. This is excellent long term storytelling. When Rhea comes back, she’s going to be emotionally charged as Liv stole her title, and now her Dom. We’ll see if Dom keeps denying that he’s in cahoots with Liv. 

The main event was awesome, and closed a great show. There are some questions left unanswered. Why was JD talking to Liv? Is Liv going to be in the Judgment Day now? And although there were some rough patches of the opening segment, the fresh faces promise to have some incredible matches in the upcoming weeks of the show. Triple H has continued to do well with transitioning his NXT stars into the main roster. Bron, Lyra, and Ilja all have had meaningful time on RAW. My only negative comment is what they’re doing with the tag titles. There are too many legitimate tag teams on this roster for them to continue to have the belts on Awesome Truth. We’ll manage for now. Awesome show to build off the pay per views momentum

NXT 

WWE has officially opened the forbidden door that fans thought would never be opened. A TNA star headlining a WWE pay per view even in June. Not to mention, it’s an important event as WWE debuts in the UFC Apex. It’s turning into a must-see crossover event for the ages. And this episode of NXT was the most thrilling episode in a while. It raised a lot of interest for Battleground. 

The show kicked off with rap superstar Sexy Red twerking her way down to the ring. She’s gone viral for her carpool karaoke with Shawn Michaels as they sang Shawn’s entrance “Sexy Boy” together. The crowd was hilarious and got her to break character as they unveiled the Women’s North American Championship. But then Tatum Paxley ruined everything by trying to take the Belt from Red. But Michin came running down to the ring for the save. Michin and Tatum Paxley kicked off the first match with their qualifying match for the ladder match for the Women’s North American belt at Battleground. Paxley had some good spots in this match, but the veteran Michin pulled off the win. It’s important there is some veteran leadership in a car crash of a match like a 6-person ladder match. 

The Chase U storyline continued. Honestly, let’s hope they're coming to a close on this faction. Ridge Holland and Riley Osbourne squared off. Neither man wanted to be in the match, but this was a training session for the students. The match was decent, but this whole faction has gotten so corny. 

Gallows and Anderson worked in another young tag team in Enofe and Blades. Blades and Enofe held their own. But when Brinley Reese caught a stray, it signaled a potential rift in the team. Some have been upset with Gallows and Anderson winning on the developmental brand. But veteran inclusion on NXT has always worked, and there are a lot of young tag teams that need the exposure working with such a knowledgeable team like The OC. The two men are legends, and this work they’re doing now will be mentioned by future stars of the company as pivotal learning moments for them. Axium and Nathan Frazer made a statement against the legends, and called them out to a match at Battleground which should be a clash of styles. 

 So now we need to learn who will face Roxanne Perez at Battleground. The cocky champion claimed nobody is one her level. But an announcement would knock the confidence right out of the champion as TNA Knockouts champion Jordynne Grace appeared in front of the NXT crowd. People lost their shit, and rightfully so. Grace and Perez at Battleground is going to be an absolute banger. And in a month where AEW is opening the Forbidden Door, WWE just stole their thunder a bit. Triple reported after the show that we can expect more crossover events, and WWE stars appearing on TNA Impact. 

Lola Vice came out in a bad mood. She took on Ariana Grace to prepare for her underground match at Battleground. Grace is charismatic, beautiful, and not bad in the ring. To be expected for the daughter of Santino Marella. But she’s no match for the ferocity of Lola Vice. Vice would win the match to send a statement to Shayna Baszler. 

Dante Chen set out to prove his win over Lexus King wasn’t a fluke. But King had different plans for Chen, as he pulled the mats up to show exposed concrete. And he hit his finisher on Chen on that concrete to get disqualified. King kind of fucked up the spot as Chen clearly didn’t take a hit on the floor, but layed their like he was knocked out. The next was another qualifier for the ladder match at Battleground. Kelani Jordan would beat Madi Wrenkowski. The match was rather forgettable, but Kelani Jordan looked really good. With her gymnastics background, she could steal the show in a ladder match. 

The main event had Trick William and Je’Von Evans working together against Gallus. Trick and Evans had great chemistry for two young stars working together for the first time. And Sex Red out there made for quite the charismatic duo. After Trick Williams got the win, the surprises weren’t over. Ethan Page made a surprise debut on NXT attacking Williams and looking great. This is an awesome addition for WWE as Ethan Page is not only a massively talented wrestler, but also severely underused. This would cap off what would be one of the craziest NXT episodes of all time. 

Friday Night SmackDown 

 

SmackDown had its work cut out for it to top RAW. It would be a challenge since they didn’t have a championship schedule for the show. But when the show opened an emotional AJ Styles approached Nick Aldis and asked for time to close the show, hinting that a retirement might be coming. 

The show kicked off with Nia Jax coming out to claim her crown. I really wanted this to feel like a bigger deal since it’s been a while since Nia has won anything big in her career. But this segment turned into a mess. Bayley would come out to confront Nia Jax to promote their clash at SummerSlam. But for some reason, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven came out and crashed the segment. It was a bit random and confusing, even though Niven got her licks in on Bayley the week before. It would have been much better if Nia got her moment, and in a later segment Bayley confronted Niven and Green separately. 

The first match of the night was between Austin Theory and Tomaso Ciampa. The match was a strong back and forth affair. But Grayson Waller opened his big mouth again. Waller said that he made his tag team partner relevant again, which Theory heard from inside the ring. When Waller notices, Theory confusingly asks Waller “why would you say that” before getting rolled up by Ciampa and losing the match. This spices things up with Theory and Waller, two heels who you knew would eventually turn on eachother. I also think that Ciampa and Gargano deserve those belts. The crowd would react to it positively, and the two have done really well elevating the other tag teams. The following match was pretty quick. Andrade took on Apollo Crews who I completely forgot still works for WWE (he should definitely try his hand working for another company). Santos Escobar and Legado Del Fantasma came out and taunted Andrade. It seems the two Mexican luchador legends are on a path 

Meanwhile, the storyline of Solo and this new Bloodline operating under an unknown Tribal Chief continues to advance. Paul Heyman warns Solo that he’s invited some violent dudes into the group. Paul Heyman then crashes the Kevin Owens show. Paul actually shows concern for KO and tries to warn him about instigating Toma and Tonga. Kevin Owens begins to try and make sense of the New Bloodline but before he can go deep Solo, Toma, and Tonga come out. The Street Profits rush out to the aid of a KO, and something of a dream tag match goes on. Toma and Tonga take on the Street Profits in a physical matchup between two of the top tag teams over the last five years. Toma and Tonga’s first match in the WWE together ended with a win. If the Guerrillas of Destiny are reuniting in WWE, this could be the biggest addition to the tag team division by outside stars since The Dudleys jumped over from ECW. 

Bayley & Naomi were the last match of the night. A pretty decent match. Bayley and Naomi have really good chemistry as a tag team. I love the work Chelsea Green has been doing. I think she’s been an excellent veteran presence to the company, and is probably the only reason why Piper Niven is relevant. Naomi is an interesting wildcard on SmackDown. She's versatile and can be used in so many ways. And there are a lot of young talented women on the rise. Naomi’s role will be critical and it won’t include a championship belt. 

The final segment, AJ Styles came out with Gallows and Anderson dressed in a suit. It seemed like we were going to see him retire. He went on about wanting to be a “phenomenal father.” Cody came out, and in a very emotional and genuine way thanked AJ for the match that they had. AJ said that the match they had in Lyon, France was one of the greatest in his career. Cody then raised AJ’s hand in celebration, until AJ pulled his best Mark Henry impersonation and clotheslined Cody Rhodes. AJ would hit a Styles Clash off the steel steps.