WWE Weekly BreakDown: July 8-14

Written By: Danny Albers 

Monday Night RAW 7/8 

CM Punk opened the show to talk about what he did to Drew. Part of it was to brag, and the other part was to send a message to Drew that a fight between the two is imminent. Before long, an enraged Seth Rollins appears to confront his rival. This confrontation was awfully awkward as neither man was really able to do their best work because you can feel the disdain both men have for eachother. Also, CM Punk needs to slow down with the shots at AEW. Every Time he’s got a mic, he fires shots at someone or something, jumping between reality and wrestling. A lot of his comments or slights are for smart fans, as casual fans won’t catch what he says. For example, tonight he mentioned that there are actually fans sitting behind the hard cam, a section AEW famously leaves empty. 

Chad Gable and Jey Uso felt like they had some unfinished business after the pay per view. The two weren’t wrestling very long until the light went down, distracting Jey Uso to hit a spear and pin Gable. He ran away as once again Nikki Cross came from under the ring. She handed another tape to Pat McAfee. The Wyatt Sicks are already starting to feel stale. These video packages are getting repetitive and a bit bizarre. Do they intend to do anything with Gable, or is he just being messed with? Besides Cross, none of the members have shown up. And as creepy as Nikki’s new look is, I doubt an olympic wrestler is afraid of a smaller woman like Cross. They need to hurry up and get to the point. 

Pete Dunne returned to RAW to wrestle Bronson Reed. Reed sent a statement to Dunne’s former friend Sheamus before the match. Reed was in the process of destroying Dunne when Sheamus came out to help his friend. Dunne pulled away from Sheamus despite the friendly gesture. Dunne, made after losing the match, hadn’t forgotten that Sheamus abandoned the Brawling Brutes and left Dunne all by himself. Dunne apparently hasn’t forgotten about that. 

It appears that Damian Priest isn’t done with Seth Rollins. They came face to face backstage, and Priest told Rollins that once he was done with Gunther, he was coming back for Rollins to prove he can beat The Visionary. Priest got a phone call and the segment ended with him smiling. That was the fist easter egg Priest dropped tonight of the shocking end to RAW. Sami Zayn was in the ring when we came back from the break. He talked about the wins that he’s picked up and how this proves he’s no longer the underdog. Breaker interrupted by viciously attacking Zayn. Ilja Dragunov came out to help out Sami. He came to blows with his old rival on the ramp before they were broken up. 

The next match, The Judgment Day clashed with Braun Strowman and The Awesome Truth. JD and Finn are so much better than Miz and Truth with those belts, and Carlito is starting to get comfortable and looking like the old Carlito we know and love. The Judgment Day picked up the win. Miz and Truth had many tributes to Cena in this match, hitting moves from the arsenal of Cena. 

Ilja Dragunov took on Bron Breakker in a match that was brought on by the assault Breakker committed earlier in the night. Bron and Dragunov battled each other in a physical matchup. Dragunov was protected as he won by DQ, but before Bron could officially beat down Dragunov Sami Zayn came out to get revenge. Bron eventually got the better of Zayn and threw him over the announce table, setting up what is likely a match at SummerSlam. 

We got another 6-person tag match when Damage CTRL took on Lyra Valkyria, Kayden Cart and Katana Chance. This was a decent match, but Damage CTRL came out with the win. But after the match, the dangerous trio of Zoey Stark, Shayna Baszler, and Sonya Deville attacked Damage CTRL. This should be a fun feud going forward. 

The main event was a mixed tag team match between Rey Mysterio and Zelina Vega taking on Dominik Mysterio and Liv Morgan. These 4 competitors had really good chemistry in the ring together. Liv and Dom sold it perfectly as they actually began to look like a team out there. Dom seemed like he was enjoying the presence of the persistent Liv Morgan. Dom and Liv won by pin, and it looked like we were going to get a kiss to seal the deal. However, Rhea Ripley returned to confront the unfaithful Dominik Mysterio and fight off the mentally unstable Liv Morgan. For weeks we’ve been dealing with Dom and Liv getting closer and closer and at the very moment it seemed like they were finally going to kiss, Rhea interrupts any potential romance. Dom’s face immediately turned into shock and fear. It will be interesting to see how they work Dom into the feud between Rhea and Liv. But this is giving fans a very intriguing storyline for SummerSlam, and amplifies the Women’s World Title by showcasing it with a proper story that has had time to marinate week to week.  

Show Grade: B+ 

NXT 7/9 

The fallout of Heatwave began with the champion Ethan Page in the ring gloating about his victory. But he was soon interrupted by all the men that he wronged the last couple weeks. Oro Mensah, Shawn Spears, Je’Von Evans, and Trick Williams all came out crashing Ethan Page’s party. Ethan Page doesn’t have his shortage of challengers in day 1 as champion. 

After a couple weeks of trash talk, we got Arianna Grace and Karmen Petrovic inside the ring to settle their problems. Arianna Grace claimed she was the “better Canadian.” The match had a pretty quick ending with Karmen Petrovic picking up the easy win. Afterward, Petrovic was attacked by Fallon Henley. I thought this deserved some more time to work. Both women have been great when they’ve been asked to work, and Grace has been great on the mic. Fallon Henley needs to shit or get off the pot. She looks great and can be a star, but she’s not doing anything. And when she’s given time, she’s as boring as watching paint dry. 

The next match was a Heritage Cup Match between the champion Tony D’ Angelo and Lexis King. Eddy Thorpe played DJ in this match, and after seeing that I was ready for NXT to send him back to the indies. The Heritage Cup rules didn’t really fit Lexis King’s style well. Keep the Heritage Cup Rules to the athletes and former wrestlers. King is best when he’s striking fast and can break a match down into a brawl. He’s not as technically refined as some other stars on the roster. Tony D’Angelo won, and let’s hope this is the last time King wrestles for the Heritage Cup. 

Gallus came out and squashed Tyson Dupont and Tyriek Igwe. This had been building for a couple weeks, and I would have liked to see what Dupont and Igwe can do with time.But after this forgettable match, TNA was featured once again. As Wes Lee looked like he was going to retire, he was joined by Trey Miguel and Zachary Wentz. The Rascalz are in NXT, and it was a pleasant surprise. Many would have never thought that they’d see Wentz again in an NXT ring. Immediately, Wes Lee is back. The three hugged to a “TNA” chant. For someone who grew up when TNA and WWE were bitter rivals, to see this level of partnership is awesome. And everyone looked good from this segment. 

The next match was Thea Hail taking on Izzi Dame. Thea Hail has the weirdest facial expression. Dame looked huge in this match. But Thea Hail has a great understanding of technical wrestling holds. She beat Izzy Dame by submission. Afterward we got into a brawl between The O.C. and OTM. OTM looked better than they’ve ever looked in this match against veterans. This team is the future of the NXT tag team division, and they will have the belts sooner rather than later if they keep putting on shows like this. 

The next match was Sol Ruca taking on Fallon Henley. It seems like a new faction is made with Jacy Jayne and Jazmyn Nyx joining Fallon. They attacked Sol Ruca, ending this match in DQ and protecting both wrestlers. The final match was Ethan Page and Shawn Spears taking on Trick Williams and a surprise partner which ended up being Joe Hendry. Hendry got a full showcase in this match, and looked just as good as the former Champion Trick Williams. The fans went nuts when they heard Joe Hendry’s music play. This was a great show. 

Show Grade: B- 

Friday Night SmackDown 7/12 

BBL Bayley! The hilarious insult that Nia Jax spat at Bayley during the opening promo. This segment was the most interesting part of the night. Tiffany Stratton came out gloating about becoming the young Money In The Bank winner in the history of the WWE. She was cut off by the WWE Women’s Champion Bayley. Bayley didn’t give her strongest promo, and was a little lost because there isn’t a lot of personal material that one can draw on. Nia Jax came out and Bayley seemed to draw some more inspiration from the relief of 3 people being out there. She gave a very passionate speech about how she isn’t the underdog everyone makes her out to be, and no matter what, she will walk out of SummerSlam the champion. Just when things seemed like they couldn’t get more complicated, Mia Yim came out and we got a match between Mia Yim and Nia Jax. This was a pretty fast match given the couple weeks we saw this feud build. Jax came out looking strong, and afterwards, laid out Bayley. Tiffany Stratton attempted to cash in her MIB contract but was stopped by Jax. 

The next match was a tag team match between newly formed tag team Apollo Crews & Baron Corbin taking on Legado Del Fantasma. I’m not sure how I feel about Corbin and Crews working together. I really liked Corbin’s work he was doing on NXT, and I think Crews could be a solid veteran presence on the developmental brand as well. Legado (Angel & Humberto) picked up the victory. Following this match, LA Knight came to the ring with a contract in hand. The contract was fuel for LA Knight calling out Logan Paul to a US Championship match at SummerSlam. 

The next match was between Blair Davenport and Naomi. Naomi got a victory over Davenport, but it looks like these two aren’t finished as Davenport attacked Naomi backstage. I’ve really enjoyed some of the work that Davenport has provided, and I’m waiting for Naomi to break out to similar stuff she was doing while with TNA. This creative regime seems to be more attracted to the slow burn of a build. It will probably be some time before we see Naomi capture gold. After this match, we got a rematch between DIY and A-Town Down Under for the Tag Titles. WWE played a really great video package on DIY before this match went on, leaving no doubt that they were retaining the belts. Austin Theory was taken out by accident by Grayson Waller once again, leading to DIY picking up the win. This match did a good job in giving DIY another great match and victory in a prime spot on SmackDown, and built the feud between Waller & Theory. 

The Bloodline came out to end the show. Jacob Fatu destroyed DIY. Solo claimed himself to be head of the table. Cody Rhodes came out and faced off 4-on-1 with The Bloodline. He got beat down, and Randy Orton came to help. But the numbers game were too much, and The Bloodline destroyed Randy Orton while Cody was tied up in the ropes. A boring segment as I feel like fans are really pushing for a big moment in this Bloodline storyline. It’s been pretty repetitive with their attacks. When is Roman Reigns going to return? Will we ever see The Rock again? This SmackDown didn’t answer any questions, and was a little slow coming off a PPV. 

Show Grade: D