Show opens with Logan Paul arriving to the arena greeted by Super Bowl winning Quarterback Patrick Mahomes and then Damian Priest and the Judgment Day.
Out first the new WWE Women’s World Champion Becky Lynch. Becky said she needs to find a new number one contender to defend her title. Liv Morgan comes out and says here I am. After they exchange words, they are interrupted by Nia Jax. Nia said if this was her last night on Raw, she is taking one of them with her and Liv kicked her and said she accepted.
Stephanie McMahon is here to announce round one of tonight’s draft picks.
Raw selects Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser
Smackdown selects Jade Cargill
Raw selects Damage Control (Iyo Sky, Dakota Kai, Asuka, and Kairi Sane)
Smackdown selects Kevin Owens
Gunther VS. Xavier Woods
Gunther worked on Woods’ leg and Kofi tried to throw the towel in but Woods says no he can do it and Gunther tightened his grip and caused Woods to tap out.
Winner: Gunther
Cathy Kelly interviewed Jey Uso. Jey says he is happy WWE signed one of the Paul brothers, but he wishes it was the one with a winning record.
Logan Paul and I Show Speed announce the next round of picks.
Raw selects CM Punk
Smackdown selects The Pride (Bobby Lashley, The Street Profits and B-Fab)
Raw selects Braun Strowman
Smackdown selects Tiffany Stratton
After he announces the picks, Logan Paul says Jey Uso is going to lose at Backlash. As Logan gets in the ring to confront Jey, Finn Balor and JD McDonagh come out and Jey starts hitting everyone. Logan gets out of the ring and Patrick Mahomes hands him his Super Bowl rings and Logan comes but misses Jey and hits JD. Braun Strowman comes out to help Jey. Braun chock slammed Balor then went out and had words with Mahomes.
The Awesome Truth were talking to Chad Gable about a deal Truth just made with Gable and as they walked away a fist came flying and knocked Gable out and it was Sami Zayn.
Cathy Kelly interviewed Booker T. Drew McIntyre interrupted after Booker said he can’t wait to see what happens with CM Punk returns to Raw.
Big Bronson Reed VS. Sami Zayn for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
Zayn hit the Helluva kick and went for the pin, but Chad Gable came in and picked him up and back suplexed Sami. After Gable laid Sami out Reed went to the top and hit the Tsunami and Gable got the title and was yelling at Sami and Reed then gave Gable a death valley driver.
Winner By DQ and Still Intercontinental Champion: Sami Zayn
JBL and Ron Simmons of the APA are out to announce the next set of picks.
Raw selects LWO (Rey Mysterio, Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde, Zelina Vega and Carlito)
Smackdown selects Legado Del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Electra Lopez, Angel, and Berto)
Raw selects Drew McIntyre
Smackdown selects Shinsuke Nakamura
Drew McIntyre comes out talking about CM Punk and Punk’s music interrupts him and Punk is in a sky box suite. He told Drew he is not sitting at home he is here, calling him a bitch, and Ron Simmons does his typical DAMN!
Alpha Academy was in the back and Maxxine was excited for how she did in the Battle Royal last week and Gable came in and yelled at them and said they don’t celebrate mediocrity and she isn’t getting a participation trophy and he then told Otis and Tozawa to get ready and go win a championship.
Cathy Kelly interviewed Bron Breakker, and he said he is here to take this place over and Sheamus comes in and tells him he is a big fan. Sheamus told Bron he reminded him of young Sheamus having banger after banger. Drew McIntyre storms past them and Sheamus stops and watches Drew and Bron said I get after banger and walked away.
Candace LeRae VS. Maxxine Dupri
Dupri had LeRae locked in an ankle lock and Indi went over and ran Ivy Nile into the post causing the distraction and LeRae hit what she called the wicked stepmother stomp and got the win.
Winner: Candace LeRae
Cathy Kelly interviewed the L.W.O. and she asked about how they felt about Carlito being drafted with them and Rey said he has some unfinished business with him, and Dominik welcomed Rey back to Raw and Dominik says he runs Raw and Rey said you can’t run anything if you haven’t been drafted and what is that on your lip dirty Sanchez. Dominik storms off saying Rey is lucky he isn’t cleared to fight.
Drew McIntyre was still looking for CM Punk and Drew thought he found him but only found an autographed picture as Punk’s music came on and Punk is now out to the ring as Drew stands in the suite Punk was in looking down at him.
Punk said he doesn’t want to waste anyone’s time and will do this in less time than he was world champion and Drew is like an ex-girlfriend he can’t get rid of. Punk said when he is cleared, he is going to make Drew’s life a living hell.
Teddy Long and Alundra Blayze are out to announce the next picks.
Raw selects The Judgement Day
Smackdown selects Naomi
Raw selects Ilja Dragunov
Smackdown selects Chelsea Green and Piper Niven
Liv Morgan VS. Nia Jax
Tiffany Straton was shown sitting in the crowd watching the match and Naomi comes out to attack Tiffany. Liv was able to counter Nia and hit her with a code breaker then oblivion for the win.
Winner: Liv Morgan
Cathy Kelly interviewed Booker T again. She then tried to talk to Adam Pearce. He said sometimes the pick you didn’t make are the best and thank God he didn’t pick Chelsea Green and good luck Nick Aldis she is all yours.
The Dudley Boys are here on Raw to announce the next picks.
Raw selects The New Day
Smackdown selects Pretty Deadly
Raw selects Lyra Valkyria
Smackdown selects Candace LeRae and Indi Hartwell
Awesome Truth VS. Otis & Akira Tozawa for the WWE World Tag Team Championship
Truth and Miz hit the Truth Crushing Finale’ on Tozawa to win.
Winners and still WWE World Tag Team Champions: Awesome Truth
The Judgment Day were in the back talking strategy and JD’s head looks bad from being him by Logan Paul and Mahome’s Super Bowl rings earlier.
Becky Lynch met Liv Morgan backstage and congratulated her on her win and her title match. Damage Control comes in and says looks like we will be seeing you on Monday nights. Becky tells them not to touch her title.
Nick Aldis and Adam Pearce are out to make the final televised selections.
Raw selects The Final Testament
Smackdown selects DIY
Raw selects Big Bronson Reed
Smackdown selects Blair Davenport
Main Event Jey Uso, Ricochet & Andrade VS. JD McDonagh, Finn Balor & Damian Priest
Jey hits the splash off the top rope on Finn and gets the win for his team.
Night two of the 2024 WWE Draft continues tonight live on Monday Night Raw on USA Network.
There will be six rounds of picks for a total of 24 WWE Superstars to be drafted on television. Raw will be picking first tonight.
Eligible to be drafted are (in alphabetical order) Apollo Crews, Braun Strowman, Bronson Reed, Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell, Chelsea Green and Piper Niven, CM Punk, Damage CTRL (Iyo Sky, Dakota Kai, Asuka, and Kairi Sane), DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa), Drew McIntyre, Giovanni Vinci, Imperium (Gunther and Ludwig Kaiser), Jade Cargill, Judgment Day (Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, and JD McDonagh), Kayden Carter and Katana Chance, Kevin Owens, Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Angel, Humberto, and Elektra Lopez), Naomi, Natalya, New Catch Republic (Pete Dunne and Tyler Bate), New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods), Odyssey Jones, Pretty Deadly (Elton Prince and Kit Wilson), Shinsuke Nakamura, Tegan Nox, The Creed Brothers (Julius Creed, Brutus Creed, and Ivy Nile), The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, Scarlett, AOP, and Paul Ellering), The LWO (Rey Mysterio, Carlito, Dragon Lee, Cruz Del Toro, Joaquin Wilde, and Zelina Vega), The Pride (Bobby Lashley, The Street Profits, and B-Fab), and Tiffany Stratton.
Other stars from NXT are also eligible to be drafted but no champions will be moving as they are protected in this year’s draft.
The only match announced so far for the show is Jey Uso, Ricochet, and Andrade vs Finn Balor, JD McDonagh, and World Heavyweight champion Damian Priest in a six-man tag match. United States champion Logan Paul will be on the broadcast and CM Punk will appear for the live crowd as well.
Peacock, the home of WWE Network in the United States, will be raising the prices for the second time in two years, following other streaming services who continue to hike up their subscriptions.
Starting in July, Peacock Premium with adds will increase $2 to $7.99 per month, Premium Plus will also increase $2 to $13.99. An annual subscription with ads will rise from $59.99 to $79.99 while an annual Premium Plus will go from $119.99 to $139.99.
For new subscribers, the prices will go into effect on July 18 while those who already have a subscription, they will see the increase on or after August 17.
With 34 million subscribers, Peacock lost $639 million in the first quarter of 2024 and had revenue of $1.1 billion.
Peacock has the rights for the WWE Network till 2026.
SummerSlam takes place Saturday, August 3 from Cleveland Browns Stadium, marking the first time since August of 1996 that the premium live event will be held in Cleveland.
The press release also said that SummerSlam will start airing at 7PM ET, an hour earlier than regular WWE PLEs. WrestleMania also started at 7PM ET this year.
AEW is returning to Chicago at the Wintrust Arena for an episode of Dynamite on Wednesday, July 3.
Pre-sale for this show on the eve of Independence Day kicks off tomorrow, April 30, at 10AM using the code FIREWORKS on Ticketmaster.com.
Tickets go on sale to the general public on Thursday, May 2 at 10AM.
AEW was at the same venue in November of last year on the eve of Thanksgiving in the same week that WWE held Survivor Series at the nearby Rosemont at the Allstate Arena.
AEW has hired Jeremy Flynn as their new Senior Marketing Director of Live Events. The news was announced by Flynn himself in a post on X.
“I am excited to start a new chapter as the Senior Marketing Director of Live Events for @AEW!” Flynn wrote. “There are so many amazing things happening here and I’m excited to be a part of the journey.”
Prior to joining AEW, Flynn held the same role for Professional Bull Riders LLC where he served for two years.
Kosha Irby, who is now AEW’s Chief Operating Officer, wrote that the team got better today and welcomed him “to the madness!” The two worked together at PBR where Irby was the Chief Marketing Officer.
The LDLC Arena has just 16 tickets left available for Backlash this weekend, all at ringside priced at 500 Euro each.
The floor had hundreds of tickets left last week due to high ticket prices but gold ringside tickets were then reduced to 500 Euro and silver ringside tickets were reduced to 300 Euro and were scooped up pretty quickly in a few days.
Just like the past few international PLEs, there will be no stage set up at the LDLC Arena to maximize capacity. Smackdown on the eve of Backlash is also taking place there and is very close to a legit sellout as well.
It’s unclear if any production seats will be released this week. The attendance from seats is now nearing 13,000.
Steven Muehlhausen, who ran the DAZN social media in years past, wrote on X that DAZN dropped out of their three-year TV deal with AEW after just one year.
Citing low PPV, Dynamite, and Collision viewership, DAZN exercised the option to end their partnership two years early.
DAZN aired AEW in countries which did not have a TV deal mainly in Europe.
The countries of Albania, Alderney, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, Georgia, Gibraltar, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, Jan Mayen Islands, Jersey, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Svalbard, Sweden, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan now have no AEW TV coverage unless they pay for Triller’s AEW+ service.
In related news, TelevisaUnivision, which aired AEW on their VIX service, also dropped AEW after one year. VIX covered AEW in Mexico as well as countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, including countries such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Venezuela, Argentina, and many others.
All of Manchester City’s rivals are looking forward to meeting the leaders of Pep Guardiola’s side – defensive midfielder Rodri, forward Erling Haaland and playmaker Kevin De Bruyne. But in the new season, the Catalan coach singled out the achievements of other players who may feel overshadowed by the main stars.
Phil Foden, 23
The England winger won five championships, eight minor trophies and a Champions League title during his time at City. At the same time, he was able to replicate the statistics of Jude Bellingham, who became a star for ‘Real Madrid’ with 28 goals. Although Foden has not always been a starter for England due to competition from Bukayo Saka, he has always been a key player for the club. City’s Phil himself has already been given the nickname “El Wei” (“Dude”) in honor of being next to the team’s star. Phil has already scored against Manchester United this season and is a clear starter following Gundogon’s departure. Additionally, according to https://1win-korean.kr/, he may soon become one of the contenders for the title of best player in the world.
Julian Alvarez, 24 years old
The world champion is improving so quickly in Argentina that City are starting to fear he will leave for another club. Alvarez, 24, has eight goals and eight assists in the Premier League and four goals and one assist in the Champions League. Julian is in City’s top five for minutes played and regularly features in the rotation. Alvarez knows how to feel his opponent’s line, understand Guardiola’s plans and Holland’s way of thinking. Thanks to this, ‘City’ gained an advantage in the offensive line even without De Bruyne.
Jeremy Doku, 21 years old
The young Belgian winger quickly broke into Manchester City’s squad and forced the more experienced Jack Grealish onto the bench. The talented Doku added color to City’s attacking line, showing his outstanding one-on-one skills and outstanding sharpness. Despite his young age, the Belgian will have plenty of opportunities to help the team in important matches at the end of the season. After working with Guardiola, Doku was able to develop into a tactically astute player rather than a speedy winger.
All City players are versatile and can fill a variety of roles. In this way, Ederson often becomes the team’s first playmaker, speeding up attacks with long passes and accurate passes to defenders. Doku, on the other hand, combines the functions of a winger and a striker, allowing Haaland to play his usual role.
With a strong support group in Foden, Alvarez and Doku, and a mentor in De Bruyne, Erling will have ongoing help. Now City must test the effectiveness of their attacking system against their toughest opponents in the Champions League play-offs.
But let’s not forget the Citizens’ other creative player, Bernardo Silva. He is still underestimated by many, but his footballing arrogance makes him unique. Thanks to a strong squad and youth development, Manchester City are the obvious favorites for the upcoming major European cups.
Next week’s Rampage will be pre-empted on Friday again and will instead air immediately following the conclusion of Dynamite on TBS on Wednesday night.
The show did benefit from having an AEW show as its lead-in when it tagged along with both Dynamite and Collision so despite losing its Friday night slot, this is not necessarily a bad thing.
For Wednesday, Rampage will be live.
In other AEW-related programming, Collision will take a break next week and will not be airing on TNT on Saturday due to other sports programming on the schedule. The show returns the following week on May 11.
Darby Allin got hit by a bus in New York City while crossing the street, busting up his nose and face in the process.
“That awkward moment when your crossing the street in New York with a broken foot and get hit by a bus…” Allin wrote in a post on Instagram, sharing two photos, one especially up close of his busted up face.
That did not stop him from watching a Broadway play though, despite his unpleasant encounter with the bus.
The daredevil was supposed to climb Mount Everest but after months of intense training, he broke his foot in Sting’s final match at Revolution and had to postpone the climb to a later date.
Nic Nemeth’s post-WWE career continues to climb to new heights as he won the vacant AAA Mega Title last night against old rival Alberto El Patron during the Triplemania XXXII show.
Nemeth won the match after a low blow and a Zig Zag finisher. The man formerly known as Dolph Ziggler is also the current IWGP Global champion and missed out on the chance to win the TNA World title at Rebellion last week.
After the match ended, Nemeth was presented with the title by Marisela Pena, the promoter of AAA.
The show was held at the Mobil Super Stadium in Monterrey, Mexico and their match opened the broadcast.
Nemeth, as Ziggler, cashed in his WWE Money In The Bank briefcase on El Patron back in 2012 on the Raw After Mania, with the two creating one of the biggest moments in Monday Night Raw history with an electric crowd on hand.
With his contract expiring in a couple of weeks, Drew McIntyre has put pen to paper and is staying put in WWE.
The news was revealed by…The Final Boss in a post on Instagram, who gifted McIntyre a beautiful Scottish Claymore, surprising him while he was having dinner.
“Man of my word…as you’re a man of yours,” The Rock posted on Instagram. “Congratulations @dmcintyrewwe on signing your new @wwe deal.”
There was also a video of staff members coming to deliver a note to McIntyre while another one held the Claymore.
“As we talked about after your #WrestleMania match, I know this Scottish Claymore represents everything that you, your family and your country embody,” The Rock continued. “As you know, I wanted to personally hand deliver this gift to you at your meeting with Nick Khan, but I had warm cheat meals and chilled tequila waiting for me!”
The Rock congratulated McIntyre for his hunger, passion, climbing that mountain, and always entertaining the fans.
The video shows McIntyre reading the note, and then handing it over to his wife, telling her that he’s a man of his word. He then stands up to accept the gift, looks at the camera, and says, “Thank you brother, man of your word.”
Tony Khan came out before the show. In a neck brace. And thanked the fans. And promised they’d give an update on his status during the show proper. He also promised an ‘awesome’ show with the world’s best wrestlers. More specifically, he said the world’s best wrestlers were backstage. So I guess he wasn’t technically lying 😉.
*****
Right to the show, no intro, Swerve out. Schiavone lied and said they had a ‘phenomenal crowd.’ Very few folks here again. Lights low, noise too.
Nana introduced him as the ‘Boss of Bosses, the Anointed One, one hell of a wrestler,’ and the AEW Champ. Fans chanted ‘Thank you Swerve.’ Can you just listen to the dude?
Swerve ran down what happened in the past week – Willow winning, Ospreay/Danielson and etc. And then… ‘Jack Perry’ took out Tony Khan, ‘a man who put all his faith in me.’ (Guess you could write off that ‘faith’ as him signing Swerve to AEW but that sounded very much like this is all fake and Tony picked him to be the champ.) And the Elite too. He again mentioned he’d done some ‘horrible things’ but four elite athletes taking out a non-fighter ‘sounds like a bitch move to me.’
But the most important thing this week was Swerve Strickland becoming the new champ. Yes, he used the third person. He said the real best in the world is whoever holds the AEW belt. The night he won the title, his oldest daughter said she was proud of him but didn’t know him. Due to missed birthdays, games and etc.
He can’t make up for the lost time but he can blaze a trail and make sure it was all worth it.
He knocked down everybody AEW put in front of him. So he wants to defend the title tonight. But only against somebody who really wants to fight. He was leading a ‘Whose house?’ chant when Claudio came out.
They went face to face, Claudio grabbed the mic Swerve was holding and said ‘You’re on.’ Swerve started leading another chant when Claudio snatched the mic back and said it would be his house. So, pointless match, obvious finish, title matches are cheap and the BCC are heels again. At least for the next two hours.
Really wish Swerve’d stop mentioning the ‘horrible things’ he did.
*****
To the announcers, Schiavone played up how disgusting what happened to Tony Khan was before sending to a package documenting things. From the Elite arriving at the start of the night to the attack at the end of it.
Schiavone said Khan suffered multiple head and neck injuries. He’s been advised not to travel but will run the company from Jacksonville while they go on the road. Nigel asked what’d happen if something went wrong on the road, speculating that the EVP’s would be forced to step in.
Don’t really like him not being in worse shape just a few days later but I guess it was hard to pretend when he appeared during the NFL draft.
But…. What about fines? Suspensions? Firings? Anything? They just showed us Punk getting fired for shoving somebody and grabbing a front facelock.
Action Andretti & Top Flight vs Bullet Club Gold (Trios Titles)
Backstory: NONE
We ‘might have seen’ Jay White’s challenge for this match on ‘social media’…
White and Dante to start. Headlock, whip, White shoulder block, Dante to the corner, ducking out, dodging and striking until a White dragon screw. Chops in the corner, Colten in. Schiavone’s word of the night is ‘phenomenal,’ since it apparently describes Colten’s singles career. Seriously.
The heels cornered Martin, quick tags, Colten floatover suplex for two. Nigel said the Elite hadn’t faced punishment for Weds because they’re EVPs. Already cutting corners, doesn’t bode well.
Darius in to run wild, bulldog through the ropes, Andretti took out Colten via tope con hiro. Darius got two on Austin via flatliner. But was drilled by a White lariat outside then front-suplexed onto the apron.
Ads.
The heels cut the ring off on Darius, working him over, mocking the other faces. Darius tried to fight back, landed an enziguri, both down. But the Gunns came in to cut the ring off. But some heel buffoonery allowed the tag.
Andretti in with a bag full of lariats, handspring double back elbow, split leg missed but he rolled through to hit an enziguri on Colten then Spanish fly on Austin for two. Very nice hot tag. Dante then took out all three heels via tope con hiro.
Top Flight did their double team tornado ddt off Darius’ chest, standing moonsault for two. Andretti and Austin were left, Action to the top, Colten took the ref, White crotched him, Dante saved Action from a Bladerunner; took a uranage and 3:10 to Yuma.
Action landed on his feet out of a sleeper suplex, shotgun in the corner, to the apron, springboard 450 missed, handspring caught into a Bladerunner, win.
Nothing about the presentation here suggested Jay White is anything special or there are any plans for him. Fun, fast opener but nothing more than filler.
Winner: Bullet Club Gold
Clips of the tag title match from Dynasty. Until showing Jack Perry (complete with massive crowd pop from the Dynasty crowd – this is your new nasty heel). The announcers breezed over FTR being out but said they’d be back soon (Dax has a concussion, which they didn’t mention).
Oh yeah and Rey Fenix is back next. As is Rush later on. Must be biiiiiig stars right to get such a buildup?
*****
House of Black spooky promo aimed at Adam Copeland. They accepted the Cope Open as a trio. But Copeland won’t know who he’s facing till Wednesday. Fairly sure he can narrow it down to two anyway.
Rey Fenix vs the Beast Mortos
Backstory: Nil
Remember when Rey vs Kenny was a Dynamite main event? More people than are currently watching certainly do.
Fighting to the corner, Mortos walked through chops and landed his own and a big open hand, Fenix slumping. Caught out of a springboard cross body, Rey slipped out, they did lots of gymnastics into a Mortos powerslam.
Mortos then aimed a spinning dive through the ropes (we only caught the end of it due to the way it was filmed). Cool move; this is the total opposite of how you make a returning wrestler feel a big deal.
Mortos easily fought off Rey again back inside, bulldog, weak armdrag, Rey down again. Very delayed pin still got two so Rey basically lost. Mortos began targeting the hip injury Rey’s returning from. Fenix screaming in a leg grapevine until getting the ropes then rolling outside.
Getting Billy Gunn/Jay White flashbacks now: Mortos drubbing Rey around ringside. Then trying to remove the mask inside. Then smashing Rey down again. Then going after the mask again.
Rey struggled to his feet then was smashed back down via shoulder block.
Ads.
Rey finally got some offense: rebound heel kick, roundhouse and thrust kicks with Mortos on his knees, Rey hit a twisting chestbreaker but went down selling his own knee. Looked very strange. Got two, went to the corner, ran up Mortos to stomp his head/shoulders, like he was damn River dancing on dude’s head. Mortos hit back via spear.
Both down.
Mortos then just sprang himself outside off the buckle. For some reason. Rey followed via tornijo from the top. Fans into Rey here. Miraculously after how he’s been booked. Mortos countered a piledriver into a lungblower. Then hit a weird behind-the-back kneebreaker(?), didn’t really understand how it was supposed to hurt Rey. He kicked out at two.
Fenix popped up to hit a trio of thrust kicks, rope-walk punt, thrust kick, to the top, frogsplash for two. Rey then got a cazadora for the win. Baffled.
This was so AEW. Good action. But which highlighted a guy I’d never heard of till 20mins ago. And had one of their established guys return from months away to take a beating then sneak a win over said no-name.
Winner: Rey Fenix
Package pushing the Trent/Chuck match for Rampage. Man that feud’s had some tv time this week.
Some woman backstage was interviewing Orange as the audio went wrong again. Schiavone said her name during the following match. But I couldn’t pick it up.
Rush vs Martin Stone
Backstory: Nada
Rush is back, so within thirty seconds he was running Stone around ringside. And Rush is back, so he totally dominated his opponent. As someone who’s supposed to be a star should on their return.
Bull’s Horns within a couple of minutes. He hit another after the bell then posed. Stone earned his scrilla here.
Winner: Rush
The new girl was with Serena Deeb. Who referred to Toni Storm as someone ‘who everybody loves.’ So presumably Storm is a babyface?
Deeb said it’s time to accomplish something she hasn’t done before, become women’s champ. She told Toni ‘This isn’t a movie sweetie, this is real life.’
Not a clue who is what here.
Toni Storm vs Anna Jay
Backstory: The very heelish babyface Jay attacked Mariah May to boos after losing clean Wednesday; the very babyface heel Storm saved the day to cheers
Or here.
They even sent to this as Storm seeking ‘retribution’. That’s what babyfaces do when they’ve been wronged. Nigel said Mariah May is the rare woman who drives both men and women crazy.
They started by working for control, each working the arm, standing switches, headlocks, into a Storm takeover, break, reset. Jay hit a spinning leg lariat in the corner then hit Toni with her ass. Storm responded with ‘almost like a Thesz Press’ as Tony always calls it. Nigel had to tell him.
And claimed Toni learned it first hand from Lou.
Jay went to the apron, Mariah went to talk trash and Toni hip attacked Jay into her. But then helped May up. Leaving Toni open to a Jay draping neckbreaker upon re-entry.
Ads. Easily the most interesting thing on the show so far since there’s an actual story.
Jay hit a hook kick and Gory special for two. Toni fought off a uranage and landed a sky high for the same. Jay hooked the Queen Slayer after an awkward takedown, May leading the fans in clapping for their champ.
As Storm climbed to her feet out of the hold, Jay on her back, before planting her down, Jay ending up in the corner, hip attack, Storm Zero, win. Short as it was, really enjoyed this. Good from start to finish and the fans actually cared. And there were story developments.
Winner: Toni Storm
Chuck Taylor asked Orange not to interfere tonight. No matter what happens. Man that feud’s had some tv time this week.
Ads.
The Acclaimed vs Grizzled Young Veterans
Backstory: Niente
Caster said they’d injure the GYV necks like Tony Khan and send them packing back to the Impact Zone. Soooo… some babyfaces are making fun of the babyface owner being spiked on his head? Caster’s raps are weird.
Bowens blind tagged in to hit a nice neckbreaker/backbreaker combo with Caster. Then slugged it out with Drake. Gibson in for a double-team lariat. Bowens blocked a suplex, hit one of his own, tag to Caster, combo boot to the gut/swinging neckbreaker, barely two.
Gibson got a boot up in the ropes, another blind tag as Drake in, using his partner to spring onto one of the faces.
Ads.
Gibson dragged Caster outside, Drake came diving onto him. Caster sent back in, battling for a tag, finally making it, Bowens all chops, strikes and thrust kicks. Leaping fameasser. Caster blind tagged – the Acclaimed hit scissor me timbers, or ‘Shiver me timbers!’ as Schiavone yelled.
Gibson kicked out of a double team at two. Caster was distracted and left in a heap outside.
GYV hit a combined dropkick from the top across the ring/lungblower for a near fall. And of course it’s all about Billy Gunn so he ripped off his shirt, distracted the GYV, allowing the Acclaimed to hit their usual finishing combo.
I don’t like the Acclaimed and don’t know the GYV, nor did AEW trouble themselves to tell me. So could not find a reason to care about this match.
Winner: The Acclaimed
They started showing Shane Taylor Promotions beating down Shibata two weeks ago but had to cut it short to go to Shibata with the new girl. He used his phone to say he’d fight Jericho Wednesday and STP on Rampage.
Daniel Garcia came in to offer help. His speaking and presence is improving.
The new girl’s fairly wooden (btw not trying to be disrespectful, would love to put her name, they haven’t said it enough for me to pick it up). But it’s her first week so we’ll give her a chance. Nothing if not benevolent.
Swerve Strickland vs Claudio Castagnoli
Backstory: See start of show
Nana brought Swerve out again. Looking like a drunken uncle at a wedding. Putting Swerve in front of a crowd like this for his first title defense does him no favors.
This started with Swerve trying to target the legs but being taken down. Front facelock into a pin. Swerve kicked free, they did a gymnastics routine, wrists clasped, up to their feet. Until Swerve broke the grip. Claudio offered a hand and Swerve accepted. So the Swiss is now a babyface again.
Claudio got a rollup for two then plucked Swerve out of the air into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker the way you or I might do a football. Looked so easy. They brawled up the ramp to the stage and hit a rana, Swerve sent Claudio back in, cross body off the top.
Swerve got two swinging neckbreakers, maintaining his grip through both into a third against the middle rope.
Exchange of forearms, Claudio on the apron, Swerve inside, Claudio snapped Swerve across the top rope but took a punt as he tried to re-enter. But blocked an apron pump kick, muscling Swerve into a military press and dumping him down at ringside.
Running uppercut to follow, ads. You would have no idea the world champion is wrestling for the world championship based on this atmosphere.
Claudio bridged to the apron, tripped and superkicked off, Swerve pump kick from the apron, diving elbow to the spine, stupid dance. Allowing Claudio to land an uppercut then mock the dance and tell the crowd up yours. So now he’s a heel again. Swerve hit his leaping flatliner for two.
Claudio blocked a brainbuster, Swerve rolled through a Ricola Bomb attempt, Claudio bailed outside. Claudio wandered to the barricade for no particular reason, Swerve took ages then ran at him and was propelled up onto the stage, coming off with a moonsault which looked dangerous as hell.
Claudio flung back in, 450, Claudio out at two. The crowd hadn’t chanted anything was awesome yet tonight so figured they’d better get it in while they could.
Claudio hit a leaping stomp with Swerve sat on the mat. They exchanged uppercuts, Swerve shots to the gut, spinning roundhouse; Claudio shook it off to lariat him down. This has gone so damn long.
Swerve muscled Claudio up into a brainbuster, to the top, Claudio not only sat up like a good boy but dragged himself into receiving distance. Then kicked out of the Stomp. The announcers went mental as if Kyle Fletcher hadn’t done the same the other day.
Claudio caught a house call into the swing. So now he’s a babyface again. The swing went for ages. Into the sharpshooter. Again for ages. Transitioning into a crossface. Nigel had to cover for the crowd being dead by saying ‘everyone’s stunned.’
H&A, Ricola Bomb coming, Swerve dead weighted him but took a running lariat. For two. They’re going for long and dramatic. But there’s no drama.
Swerve hit a ddt after slipping behind out of a suplex. Then dragged himself up the buckle and tried a Stomp with Claudio stood upright. It was supposed to be countered into an uppercut but they didn’t pull it off. Claudio got a near fall anyway.
They again tried to cover for the crowd being dead – ‘mesmerized.’ Claudio continued to beat on Swerve until Swerve got two via backslide, avoided a corner charge, German, Claudio totally ignored a pump kick, propelled Swerve up, the champ came down via Stomp, house call, win.
Hell of a finish. But the total lack of atmosphere for both shows this week – due to so few people being motivated to buy a ticket – should tell AEW what fans really think about these very long ‘good matches.’
Claudio finished the match as a babyface (Big Show was getting worried), shaking Swerve’s hand as Nana danced like a total, total comedy goof behind the new world champ.
Storm/Jay – thank god for this, an oasis of characters and stories around a good match, on a show which seemed to confirm Storm as a good girl
Rey Fenix is back
They did show the Khan/Elite angle
*****
But didn’t create any hype around it for Wednesday – no promos from anybody involved, no promised repercussions, we didn’t hear how other wrestlers feel, there wasn’t even any tease/speculation of how Kenny Omega might feel
Rey Fenix was just thrown out there with no hype, as was Rush, as were a new tag team they told us nothing about, as was a new Mexican wrestler they told us nothing about, as was a world title match: there are tons of small things this company could do better, basic promotion might be #1, they’re abysmal at it
Highlighted best by not a single thing being advertised for next week
And a very weak lineup tonight – between it and the crowd, this felt like a pandemic episode
No follow-up on Bryan Danielson – injured, pah, who cares!? There are matches to get to
Appreciate you reading. Enjoy the rest of the weekend.
It’s another three-hour AEW block on TNT tonight and Collision should have one of the best viewership this year as the show will have the NBA Playoff match as its lead-in which will surely add thousands of extra eyeballs.
Scheduled for Collision are The Acclaimed vs The Grizzled Young Veterans, AEW Women’s champion Toni Storm vs Anna Jay, and a match for the Unified AEW Trios titles featuring Bullet Club Gold vs Top Flight and Action Andretti. Plus, new AEW World champion Swerve Strickland will have his first interview as champion.
Rampage will follow right after Collision and will have a parking lot brawl between Trent Beretta and Chuck Taylor and Thunder Rosa vs Deonna Purrazzo.
With one month to go, AEW’s next pay-per-view Double or Nothing is tracking to be the least-attended of the series so far.
According to the latest figures released by @WrestleTix, AEW has distributed just over 5,500 tickets so far for the show, with the MGM Grand Garden Arena currently set up for just under 7,000 seats.
A typical wrestling setup at the MGM Grand can sit up to 12,000. Last year’s Double or Nothing had 10,500 at the nearby T-Mobile Arena.
Despite the low attendance so far, AEW has surpassed the last time they were there on May 24 of last year where around 4,500 saw Dynamite before Double or Nothing 2023.
Tickets start from $31.25 including all fees and are available now at AXS.COM.
Three more matches were added to the Backlash premium live event for next weekend in Lyon, France.
The tag team of Jade Cargill and Bianca Belair will get a shot at the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles as they face The Kabuki Warriors, Bayley will defend her WWE Women’s title against Tiffany Stratton and Naomi in a triple threat match, and Solo Sikoa and Tama Tonga of The Bloodline battle Kevin Owens and Randy Orton.
These three matches join Cody Rhodes vs AJ Styles for the Undisputed WWE title and Damian Priest vs Jey Uso for the World Heavyweight title.
Backlash will have a special start time of 1PM ET next Saturday.
CM Punk was indeed at Smackdown last night but did not appear on camera, however he did show up after the broadcast ended its live broadcast on FOX.
Punk said he felt compelled to come out and say hello to his friends in Cincinnati and on behalf of everyone backstage, he thanked the fans for the packed house.
The former champion also provided a little update on his injury, saying his tricep is not at 100%…yet.
“But I am on track and I promise soon, I will be back and competing with all the tough badasses backstage,” Punk said to a big cheer from the crowd.
Punk then talked about how Cincinnati’s own Pete Rose should be in the baseball Hall of Fame but was rudely interrupted by Chad Gable and the rest of Alpha Academy. Gable called Rose a cheater and deserved everything he got for being a fraud.
Gable called Cincinnati a pathetic city and then got in the ring along with Otis to rough up Punk. Punk said he’s injured and one-armed but he happened to know a guy who was recently cleared to compete.
Sheamus then came out for the post-show dark match as Punk headed to the back.
Here’s CM Punk full promo in better quality, including the rest of his confrontation with Chad Gable and interaction with Sheamus ❤️ pic.twitter.com/trDOSSG0i8
The 2024 WWE Draft started last night on Smackdown with 16 picks on live television and a couple of more held afterward on social media.
Triple H, Cody Rhodes, Michelle McCool, Tori Wilson, Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Teddy Long, and JBL did the picks on the show.
In round one, Smackdown picked Bianca Belair and Carmelo Hayes, in round two it went to Randy Orton and Nia Jax, in round three LA Knight and The Bloodline – minus Roman Reigns – stayed on Smackdown, and round four AJ Styles and Andrade were picked.
For Raw, round one went to Jey Uso and Seth Rollins, round two got them Bron Breakker and Liv Morgan, round three featured Ricochet and Sheamus, and round four had Alpha Academy and Kiana James.
In the post-show picks, Smackdown also secured Baron Corbin, The O.C., and Cedric Alexander and Ashante “Thee” Adonis. Raw got Alba Fyre and Isla Dawn, Ivar, Shayna Baszler, and Zoey Stark.
Prior to the start of Friday Night Smackdown, Paul Heyman announced that Roman Reigns was withdrawing himself from being eligible to be drafted as he is not returning in the immediate future.
Heyman said that this is not a negative, but it was a way not to hog the number one draft pick spotlight.
Reigns has not appeared on WWE TV since his loss to Cody Rhodes at WrestleMania and is not expected to return for several months. The Bloodline storyline will continue, with his input in creative on the faction, and will eventually lead to his big return later this year.
