Here at The Scrum Sports we are proud to present to you our newest streamlined recap of the week in pro wrestling. In one nice little package you will be caught up with WWE Raw, SmackDown Live, 205 Live, NXT, and news. We are really excited to bring to you our newest format. So without further ado, here is the week in pro wrestling!
WWE Raw:
The Verizon Arena in Little Rock, AR hosted this week’s edition of Monday Night Raw on 7/29/19.
Ricochet bested Rey Mysterio, Cesaro, Sami Zayn and Andrade in a gauntlet match to earn a match against AJ Styles at Summerslam for the US Title. It came down to Ricochet and Andrade after Andrade snatched the mask off of Rey Mysterio. That should be a quality rematch for the strap to say the least.
We saw the first ever pregnant 24/7 champion as Mike Kannelis won the title after a mixed tag match between R-Truth/Carmella and Drake and Mrs. Maverick. It was short and a scrum ensued after the match where Kanellis got the victory and then was further cuckolded by his wife. He laid down and she won the title.
Becky Lynch attacked Natalya and Fit Finlay earlier in the day and retribution was had after Lynch defeated Alexa Bliss, who feigned an injury to her ankle, and Nikki Cross in back to back contests. The heels attacked afterwards and the segment ended with Natalya running down to the ring and applying the Sharpshooter on a battered Lynch. It looks like the two are headed for a submission match at Summerslam for the Women’s Title.
The OC were crowned new tag team champions as Gallows and Anderson defeated the Revival and The Usos in a triple threat tag team title match. This was a fine contest and after an arduous battle, Gallows and Anderson hit a spinebuster on Jey and then pinned Jimmy after he was softened up with a Shatter Machine and Dash and Dawson were dumped from the ring. Gallows and Anderson join Styles as all three hold championship gold now.
The Viking Raiders were dominant again, beating an enhancement team in record time to further turn heads in their direction.
“The Heartbreak Kid” Shawn Michaels was probably watching at home as his music hit and Dolph Ziggler came out to his entrance after the attack of Michaels last week on Smackdown. Seth Rollins, readying for his Universal Title match with Brock Lesnar, defended his honor in a main event match against Dolph Ziggler. A DQ ended the match as the Universal Champ, Brock Lesnar, was live in Little Rock and he decimated the challenger, softening him up two weeks before Summerslam. Rollins was bleeding from the mouth and it took a pleading Paul Heyman to finally subdue “The Beast”.
Rollins was stretchered out, savagely attacked again by Lesnar, who dragged him out of the limo and all this happened while Becky Lynch looked on and the OC and Samoa Joe attacked Roman Reigns and the Usos who were watching backstage. “The Samoan Summit” evolved into Reigns, The Usos and Cedric Alexander standing tall to end the night after a beautiful dive off the titan tron from Alexander. This was a quality way to start a week’s worth of programming with tonight’s Raw. –Joel Resser
SmackDown Live:
SDL live from the FedExForum in Memphis, Tennessee features Championship stable vs Championship stable, KO vs Drew McIntyre, Bayley/Moon vs Bliss/Cross, two legends arrive, Firefly Funhouse, and Summer Slam matches announced.
The show started off with Shane via phone video announcing that due to his life coach’s advice, he will not be on SDL and the crowd cheered. Leading to Kevin Owens to arrive and tell the crowd “we will get through this”. Drew McIntyre arrives and gives a beating to KO, while telling Owens they have a match.
Solid match, unfortunately the best moments from Owens happened during picture in picture break. Hitting a cannon ball from the apron and a top rope senton that would make Jeff Hardy proud. After a hard battle Owens wins with a KO Stunner on the announcer’s table and rolling Drew in the ring.
Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross faced off against SummerSlam opponents Bayley and Ember Moon. Standard match in which Bliss won the match, but afterwards Bayley gives Moon a Bayley to Belly slam. Payback for Moon giving Bayley the Eclipse last week on SDL. Earlier, Aleister Black again goes in his dark room promo, looking for a fight. Sami Zayn answers and the match is booked for SummerSlam.
Jerry The King Lawler introduces legend Trish Stratus and asks what opponent would bring her to the ring one last time. Charlotte Flair arrives and insults Trish’s mom status and challenges her to a match at SummerSlam. A new Firefly Funhouse! Ramblin’ Rabbit goes on how he is a big Finn Balor fan, this angers Bray Wyatt and it’s over.
Finn Balor vs Dolph Ziggler goes the way of Finn. Balor was in total control until… The Fiend arrives. This time The Fiend just appears on the ramp and the lights cut out again. Leading to Dolph to land a Super Kick and pin Balor. The Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura faced off against Ali. The underdog Ali took it to Nakamura with high flying moves Shin had trouble with. After multiple Kinshasa attempts by Shin, Ali rolls up Nakamura for the win,
A golden promo from Randy Orton is next, Orton calls Kofi stupid for challenging him at SummerSlam. Now it doesn’t sound great here, but just watch it.. it was gold. Kofi with New Day vs AJ Styles with OC was another solid match. The two trade momentum throughout the match, then forcing the stables to get involved outside, leading to Kofi hit the Trouble in Paradise to counter AJ’s Phenomenal Forearm.
Afterwards, Roman walks backstage to announce his SummerSlam opponent. Just as Roman arrives, the scaffolding is pushed over him and the rest of the backstage accessories. Roman visibly shaken up, leaves and we are left up to guess on “Whodunit?!” Another solid show following Raw, the WWE machine is ramping things up before one of the “Big 4” PPVs. –David G
205 Live/NXT:
NXT
In the opening match of the night, Tyler Breeze surprised Jaxson Ryker with a rollup victory. When the other two members of the Forgotten Sons joined Ryker in a post-match beating, Breeze’s tag team partner Fandango made his long-awaited return from injury with the save.
North Carolina’s Cameron Grimes picked up another surprise victory in the Breakout Tournament. The tenacious Grimes overcame “Swerve” Scott in round one and now Australian big man Bronson Reed in round two. He next moves on to face Jordan Myles in the tournament final.
NXT Women’s Champion Shayna Baszler stormed her way to the ring to cut a firey promo on her next challenger Mia Yim. The segment ended with both women staring each other down in the center of the ring. Candice LeRae was shown in the parking lot awaiting the arrival of Io Shirai.
General Manager William Regal eventually approached to inform “Mrs. Wrestling” that Shirai had been given the night off. However, since he understood LeRae’s desire to get her hands on the “genius of the sky” he granted her request for a match at Takeover. The black and gold brand will be giving us two amazing women’s matches in Toronto.
This week’s main event saw Pete Dunne and Roderick Strong revisiting their past rivalry with a hard-fought showdown. Former UK Champion Dunne got the victory via submission, and when North American Champion Velveteen Dream him post-match a “bitter end” was waiting for the champ. Dunne, Strong, and Dream meet at TakeOver in a triple threat for the North American Title. – Jason Moore
NXT UK
General Manager Johnny Saint and his assistant Sid Scala kicked off this week’s show by hyping the August 31 TakeOver in Cardiff. Imperium interrupts demanding to know who will challenge Walter for the UK Title at that event. They get their answer in the form of a sneak attack from inaugural UK Champion Tyler Bate.
Gallus members Wolfgang and Mark Coffey dominate an enhancement team called Pretty Deadly. After the match they get on the mic and demand a shot at the tag team titles. The third member of Gallus, Joe Cofey, was the topic of a backstage interview with “Bomber” Dave Mastiff. The two rivals are set to meet in the ring next week.
NXT’s resident bully Rhea Ripley made short work of an enhancement worker. After the match a video package detailed the history between UK Women’s Champion Toni Storm and #1 contender to that title Kay Lee Ray. Another video showed Eddie Dennis at the hospital having a torn pectoral muscle surgically repaired. –Jason Moore
The Week in news:
- Tenille Dashwood, formerly known as Emma in WWE has signed to Impact Wrestling.
- Eight time X-Division Champion in Impact Wresting and one half of the Motor City Machine Guns, Chris Sabin teases being at WWE’s Performance Center via twitter.
- Paul “Big Show” Wight will be starring in a new Netflix sitcom called “The Big Show Show.” – Scrum Crew
Injury Report:
- Bobby Lashley is out until November with an undisclosed injury.
- Karen Q had to come home early from an NXT road tour after suffering a broken leg.
- Rachel Evers (Ellering) had to be stretchered out of an NXT live event with an undisclosed injury. Her status is not currently known. –Scrum Crew
RIP Harley Race
Legendary NWA Champion and WWE Hall of Famer Harley Race passed away Thursday at the age of 76 following complications from lung cancer.
