Pre-show
- Becky Lynch cuts a good promo about her two matches. Sam Roberts brings up the good point that Becky Lynch only won one match at Royal Rumble.
The Usos defeated Bryan & Rowan
6/10
- Rowan can really mow em down.
- Why are we seeing this match again?
- Rowan works the majority of the match, and that's not necessarily a bad thing, as he's constantly improving.
- Jimmy Uso did a damn Whisper in the Wind.
- Rowan does a double suplex, which allows Bryan to pick up the pieces. This is a nice change of pace for Bryan.
- Jey gets caught in a Lebell Lock off a splash attempt, but Jimmy breaks it up.
- Rowan catches both Usos on suicide dive attempts, but they superkick and force their way through.
- Bryan gets double superkicked on a suicide dive attempt. Uso splash for the pin.
- So......a Raw team....who just moved from Smackdown.....but came back to Smackdown to lose a title match.....just beat the champions that beat them two weeks ago. That is next level 50/50 booking.
Women's Money In The Bank Ladder match
Bayley wins, beating Mandy Rose (w/ Sonya Deville), Ember Moon, Dana Brooke, Nikki Cross, Natalya, Naomi & Carmella
7/10
- I like Naomi's new look. It was time for a change.
- I'm really happy Nikki Cross is carrying on Sanity's entrance.
- I'm particularly interested to see how Dana Brooke performs on this stage. She's gotten herself in outstanding shape and keeps improving.
- Nikki does a tornado ladder spot that looks ABYSMAL. People running into a ladder like that is dumb.
- Mandy runs up a propped ladder in the corner to hit her knee.
- Naomi counters a catapult be rebounding with a kick to Natayla. She runs across two bridged ladders to land another. Some of these spots work well, some others look like a hurry up and wait situation.
- Tom Phillips' worst "OOOH" offenses are during women's matches.
- Carmella is "injured," but the camera is on her an awful lot.
- Bayley is by far the most demented, violent person in this match, lol.
- I know that Nikki hasn't been on TV much, but the announcers could learn that The Purge is the name of her finish.
- Dana battling with Mandy and HANGS onto the hook. That was amazing.
- Natalya pushes everyone off the ladder, and eats an Eclipse from Ember, who does it from the outside in. Awesome.
- Sonya Deville is ringside and helps Mandy up. Bayley pushes them off the ladder and wins!
- They had the balls to script Charly Caruso to say Sasha Banks has been on Raw.
WWE United States Championship
Rey Mysterio defeated Samoa Joe (c) to become champion
N/A
- Joe kicks out Rey's leg pretty well.
- Joe is busted open early.
- Rey pins Joe, and Joe's shoulder is way up in the air.
- Dominick comes out, and Joe beats Rey's ass really hard.
- I guess this has to continue.
Steel Cage Match
Shane McMahon defeated The Miz
5/10
- Shane immediately tries to run from the cage.
- Shane works over Miz for a bit, but Miz applies a Figure Four.
- Miz really wears out Shane with a chair.
- Shane McMahon gets his foot on the rope, which the ref counts...
- Refs buried in two straight matches, in the first hour of the pape. I hope there's some kind of follow up to the ref stuff in this first hour. If it's gonna happen, at least make sense of it.
- Shane launched into the cage, but climbs over. Miz fights him, but drops Shane and Shane wins.
- One of the first things I was told when I started to wrestle was to not bury the ref in the first matches of the show, because it makes it really hard for the crowd to respect anything the ref does the rest of the night.
WWE Cruiserweight Championship
Tony Nese (c) defeated Ariya Daivari
6.5/10
- The crowd just doesn't care about this,
- There are many who have no idea who Daivari is or why he's dressed like Derek Dietrich.
- The work is really good, but unfortunately, no reaction.
- Nese's springboard moonsault is great. I always love a good leg drop to the back of the head.
- Daivari has a great Straightjacket Slam, frog splash and a hammerlock lariat. He's having a great performance.
- Neese wins with the Running Kneese.
- This would have been a lot higher rated, but the crowd didn't do anything.
WWE Raw Women's Championship
Becky Lynch (c) defeated Lacey Evans
4.5/10
- This is a big, big match for Lacey Evans. She's delivered in so many ways so far. If she can in a title match, it goes a long way
- Becky Lynch has two title matches and a Money in the Bank winner lurking about. The placement of the women's ladder match was very smart. It launches a whole series of questions
- Becky and Lacey go back and forth on each other and there's some nice heat. Lacey has been super protected since coming in.
- A back roll moonsault by Lacey. I haven't seen that one before, but she's got a unique build to pull it off.
- Big miscommunication on a flying dropkick, but production was good on that one. Becky can not jump, and I'm not sure why doing so is such an integral part of her offense.
- Lacey does a half assed Acid Drop.
- Lacey Evans has Becky pinned, but the ref doesn't count. Ref buried again. Gotta be a storyline, but I feel bad for people that are there.
- Becky wins with Disarmher.
WWE Smackdown Women's Championship
Charlotte Flair defeated Becky Lynch (c) to win the Smackdown Women's Championship
4.5/10
- Charlotte Flair immediately comes out and challenges Becky Lynch.
- Charlotte takes over and goes for Natural Selection on the apron, but misses.
- Lacey Evans hits Becky with a Women's Right, but Becky almost wins with an inside cradle. The ref stopped counting before Charlotte actually kicked out. This wasn't as blatant as the others.
- Charlotte hits a Big Boot, and wins the title. It was a real shitty boot.
- Becky attacks Lacey Evans after the match. Charlotte and Lacey double team her.
- Bayley makes the save to big chants. They got Bayley over again. Wonder how that'll go.
- Oh. She's cashing in.
WWE Smackdown Women's Championship
Bayley defeated Charlotte Flair (c) to become Champion
N/A
- Flying Elbow Drop. Win.
- Bayley is OVER at MITB.
- Corey Graves buries the ref for not getting Charlotte up back to her feet for the match.
- Bayley won both of her matches tonight. Charlotte and Becky didn't. Damn bro.
Roman Reigns defeated Elias
SQUASH
- Elias hits Roman Reigns with a guitar backstage. This was very reminiscent of WWE's production style in 2000. I liked it.
- Elias comes out and performs. He's about to leave and Roman shows up.
- Spear. Win. This was fine.
- Elias finished his song. That was neat.
WWE Universal Championship
Seth Rollins (c) defeated AJ Styles
9/10
- Everything about these two early on screams "evenly matched."
- There's a great Buckle Bomb into a frog splash from Rollins.
- This feels like a special match because we haven't seen it 200 times. The crowd is reacting accordingly. They are all about this one.
- Rollins gets dropped across the buckle and German suplexed. Seth had a great pin counter out of the reverse powerbomb.
- Styles does a SUPER SLICED BREAD, but Rollins rolls through into a modifed Falcon Arrow. I need THE HOSE.
- Styles can't get it done with the Calf Crusher or the backflip reverse DDT.
- Rollins OBLITERATES Styles with a superkick, but the Curb Stomp gets countered into a Styles Clash.
- Michael Cole is calling the hell out of this match.
- Rollins catches a forearm into the Ripcord Knee. Superkick and Curb Stomp
LAAAAAAARS
- Random unadvertised six-man tag match on a show with 12 matches already? Aight
- Lars comes out.
- So my question is who were Lucha House Party supposed to face?
- I wondered why Lucha House Party were in their gear on the Watch Along.
- Lars got busted open.
WWE Championship
Kofi Kingston (c) defeated Kevin Owens
6.25/10
- I remember over a month ago when a lot of people called Kofi Kingston the flavor of the month. Long ass 30 days, I guess.
- Kofi goes right at Owens. He fits the Champion role so well.
- Kofi still evolving with every match.
- KO sends Kofi into the ring post then a bullfrog splash to the floor.
- Kofi does a great Mushroom Stomp on the apron, then a 360 dive. He's as good as he's ever been.
- KO counters a Trouble in Paradise into a Boston Crab! A PUPBomb gets two.
- A Trouble in Paradise sends Owens out of the ring. Upon returning, he gets a Stunner, but Kofi grabs the ropes.
- Owens takes off Kofi's SHOES.
- Knees up on the Swanton, Trouble in Paradise. Pin.
Money In The Bank Ladder Match
Brock Lesnar defeated Ali, Randy Orton, Baron Corbin, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre, Andrade & Finn Balor
9/10
- Sami Zayn complains to Triple H about Braun Strowman. We later see Braun chasing down Sami. Sami is then found hanging upside down. Triple H tells Braun this doesn't get him into the MITB match. I thought all of this was done well.
- Randy Orton Singh Bombs so many people. Randy Orton has been used wonderfully of late.
- Ali rolls over Ricochet and tries to climb the ladder.
- Drew is just heaving people into ladders.
- This match features a lot less waiting around and spots than the women's match. The crowd also has a nice constant rumbling to it.
- Holy Super Street Balls II Turbo Championship Edition, a sunset flip ladder powerbomb across another ladder. It was Andrade to Balor, so hopefully that ties into their upcoming match.
- They seem to be setting the table for a future Ali vs. Ricochet match, which I assume they'll hotshot this week on a Wild Card Raw or Smackdown.
- After an Ali Spanish Fly on Andrade, Michael Cole screaming "WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE GUYS!?" was amazing.
- Baron Corbin catches a suicide diving Ricochet with a Deep Six!! Wow.
- Drew McIntyre vertical suplexes Balor on the ladder, then Bammaslammas Andrade onto him.
- Drew sends Ricochet outside through a ladder.
- WWE had Brock Lesnar hidden away all night. There was chatter backstage that he was there, but nobody could/would confirm. Well he's there.
- Brock Lesnar wins.
- Brock Lesnar came out in his gear for that, lmfao
Rating guide
10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor
Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a "star rating," which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive "TV match" lands at a 5.The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
These are opinions, and incredibly inconsistent ones. Don't take them too seriously, and have (and share) your own!
Get exclusive pro wrestling content on Fightful Select, our premium news service! Click here to learn more.
