SPOTLIGHTED PODCAST ALERT (YOUR ARTICLE BEGINS A FEW INCHES DOWN)...
CODY RHODES/CM PUNK/KEVIN OWENS SEGMENT – HIT
All three wrestlers were very good here. Cody Rhodes was fired up, as he should have been after the SummerSlam finish, and I liked how CM Punk quickly clarified that he had no knowledge of Randy Orton’s interference at the time. This keeps Punk in the good-guy realm (although his mood shifted somewhat with Mr. Owens).
The ‘Two-man power trip line’ gave a cute nod and little glimpse into what could be if the two went on a Triple H-Stone Cold style mad run, which I liked.
When Kevin Owens entered, the mood in the arena changed. Fans were, of course, excited to see him, and Punk instantly got his back up. You could feel the tension. The exchange between Owens and Punk was great, and, as mentioned earlier, I thought CM Punk leaned quite heavily into the heel side here. Some of the comments alluding to Owens’ weight were pretty unlikeable heel stuff. He can just about keep the fans with him despite targeting Kevin Owens in that way when most wrestlers could not. Two great talkers mean the anticipation levels for this match-up are high. The build-up to the match could be fantastic but it doesn’t look like they will have a lot of time to do that.
BARON CORBIN vs. TRICK WILLIAMS – WWE US Title match – MISS
The match itself was better than their SummerSlam match, and no Lil Yachty is always a massive plus. It was ticking over quite nicely; it was just a really lame finish, and I’m not sure what to make of it. My instinct is that Trick moves away from Corbin now, but that would be a weak way for a babyface to leave a feud. However, with Money in the Bank upcoming, it could be an opportunity to reposition Trick higher up, which I am definitely in favor of, so I have mixed feelings on it all.
ARTICLE CONTINUED BELOW…
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SAMI ZAYN/KEVIN OWENS BACKSTAGE PROMO – HIT
More great work from Sami, moaning and whining to Nick Aldis in the way he has mastered the last few months. When Kevin Owens entered the conversation, it all seemed so natural between the two. In a wrestling world where 90 percent of wrestlers sound robotic and desperately trying to recite memorized lines, these two just flowed and sounded believable.
We also got confirmation (kind of) that we will be seeing the WWE Championship match between Punk and Owens in just a couple of weeks in Toronto, which should be electric. A title change there seems unlikely, and with all this drama unfolding between multiple wrestlers, I am sensing a possible multi-man Championship match at Money In The Bank. We shall see.
CHELSEA GREEN CELEBRATION INTO CHELSEA GREEN & TIFFANY STRATTON vs. LAINEY REID & FALLON HENLEY – MISS
The most frustrating thing on tonight’s show. Questions were being asked about how WWE would approach Chelsea’s title reign: Would they give her more credibility or would they continue the comedy route? This was not a good sign.
Giving Green the celebration setup was great; make it a big deal, but then to essentially use her exactly as she was being used pre-title win was madness to me. No extra oomph in the match from her, no signs of taking things a little more seriously; instead, she eats the pin to aid a US Championship match next week for Jacey Jayne against Tiffany Stratton.
That decision is baffling; the only way I can explain it is that Jacey Jayne is winning that championship next week from Stratton, and they didn’t want Tiffy taking two straight pins, but sacrificing your brand-new WWE Women’s Champions credibility right away seems like a really ill-advised move.
But it didn’t end there for Chelsea; she had to take a beatdown from Nia Jax and Lash Legend too. Rough night for a new champion.
RANDY ORTON PROMO – HIT
I give this a marginal hit for the delivery from both Orton and Cody, but man, am I still puzzled why they brought Randy back to go for Cody. The fans will never boo Randy Orton; it just will not happen. WWE creative must know this, so this has to be the ultimate confirmation that booking heel vs. face dynamics at the top end of the card is not a priority. The priority remains to get as many headline players involved with each other as possible.
At this point, we could be heading for the first ever five vs. five babyface WarGames match at Survivor Series.
CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. JADE CARGILL – MISS
The slight miss comes into play here because the finish of the match was just so messy. I actually thought they worked pretty well together for the body of the match, but from the moment Alexa Bliss and Tatum Paxley arrived to counter The Baddies, everything fell to pieces. I feel for Jade; she seems to be getting to grips with matches, and then one thing goes wrong, she seems to freeze, and it affects everything in the immediate aftermath. No need to harp on about the match finish; yes, it was ugly as hell.
FINAL THOUGHTS
A mixture of good and bad on this show. The men’s main event scene is crowded and intriguing. There is still the best part of two months till the next big PLE, so we could be getting some interesting match-ups in the interim, including the title match in Toronto.
Chelsea Green’s first night as Champion was just awful. It seemed like they had never had a plan for this, and it could have been an impromptu decision to give her the championship, probably expecting Rhea Ripley back. With the news of Rhea’s surgery, there are two directions to go now. Either they get behind Chelsea and book her like a champion, or they change the championship quickly. I hope it’s the former, but that decision could be influenced by Chelsea Green’s orbital injury, which was revealed she suffered in that tag match.
And my very final thought, and this is one I’ve been thinking for some time, Joe Tessitore is a great presenter. I think he is fantastic on the panel setups they do, but his play-by-play on wrestling just doesn’t work for me. It’s basic as hell; the odd move screamed out loud, but if ever there was a time to get Michael Cole’s long-term replacement, Corey Graves, a chance on a WWE main roster show right now on SmackDown is the time.
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