Pat McAfee will be absent from calling the action with Michael Cole on tonight’s episode of SmackDown.
During the WWE After the Bell podcast this week, WWE Raw color commentator Corey Graves announced that he’ll call tonight’s SmackDown as McAfee is at Lake Tahoe for the American Century Championship celebrity golf tournament.
This will be the post-Money in the Bank episode of the show. After the broadcast ended on Saturday night, Happy Corbin attacked McAfee and accepted his challenge for a match at SummerSlam in Nashville, Tennessee, on Saturday, July 30.
McAfee wore a neck brace while attending UFC 276 in Las Vegas later that night, but said on his radio show that he was just wearing it as a precaution.
Earlier this week, WWE announced McAfee had signed a multi-year contract extension with WWE and noted the deal “will see McAfee entertaining the WWE Universe for years to come.”
WWE announced this afternoon that Drew McIntyre vs. Sheamus will take place on SmackDown, with the winner earning the right to challenge either Roman Reigns or Brock Lesnar for the Undisputed WWE Universal Title at the WWE Clash at the Castle Premium Live Event.
WWE announced today that Pat McAfee has signed a multi-year deal with the company.
After signing with the company in April 2021 to be the SmackDown color commentator alongside play-by-play announcer Michael Cole, McAfee quickly became a fan favorite.
WrestleVotes reported after the announcement that the deal was signed a few weeks back, and those involved were thrilled with the two sides reaching a new agreement that will see him remain with the company for years to come.
It was said, “WWE knows exactly what they have in McAfee and were steadfast on making sure they kept him around.”
It’s been reported that Vince McMahon is high on McAfee’s commentary and thinks a lot of him personally, as McMahon did his first sit-down interview in years on McAfee’s radio show to promote. McAfee joined Vince, Stephanie McMahon, and Triple H in attending UFC 276 this past Saturday night.
Reactions to Pat McAfee Re-Signing
Michael Cole and Triple H were just some of the people who reacted to the news of McAfee’s extension on Twitter:
Very few can transition from professional athletics to entertainment the way @PatMcAfeeShow has. In short, he “gets it” & the authenticity he brings to his fans & the @WWE Universe is the same he brings to every facet of his life. A pleasure working with him. (Plus, he’s jacked!) https://t.co/eTAHdqcphH
After 25 years in “the booth,” working with @PatMcAfeeShow is the highlight of each week. His excitement is contagious (even if he almost kicks me when standing on our table) and has helped revitalize my love for our business! @WWE, our fans, and I are lucky to have him! https://t.co/RSXPh2F6mh
In addition to calling matches, McAfee occasionally wrestles and has been praised for his in-ring work. The former NFL punter made his WWE in-ring debut in August 2020 when he lost to Adam Cole at WWE NXT TakeOver: XXX before getting back into the ring that December for a WarGames match where The Undisputed ERA defeated Danny Burch, Oney Lorcan, McAfee & Pete Dunne.
At WrestleMania 38 earlier this year, McAfee beat Theory in a singles match before being beaten down by Vince McMahon. The SmackDown color commentator is slated to wrestle Happy Corbin at SummerSlam on Saturday, July 30, 2022, from Nashville, Tennessee.
There have been conflicting reports on the WWE status of Sasha Banks and Naomi. However, an update has come from PWinsider, reporting today that Banks and Naomi were removed from WWE’s Internal roster over the last 24 hours.
It was added that they had heard rumblings that Banks may be doing some signings outside of WWE this fall, but that is not confirmed.
There were reports from Wrestling Inc. and WrestleVotes that Banks had been released. Dave Meltzer previously reported that Banks and her lawyers were still working on getting her release, but the release had not been granted.
Banks and Naomi walked out of a Monday Night Raw event this past May because of creative differences with Vince McMahon regarding a six-pack challenge on the show. The plan was for Naomi to challenge Bianca Belair for the Raw Women’s Title while Banks was supposed to wrestle then-SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey at Hell in a Cell.
WWE later announced that the two stars were indefinitely suspended and stripped of the Women’s Tag Team Titles. They later removed their merchandise from WWE Shop and their contracts were put on hold.
This year’s WWE Money in the Bank was a memorable night with several notable moments. It was also successful for the company.
Fightful Select posted a backstage update on last Saturday’s event in Las Vegas as an internal document that has been making the rounds in the company to executives to tout the event’s success.
The memo noted the event was the “most-viewed” Money in the Bank show in history and drew the second-highest gate in the event’s history.
Merchandise sold at the show is said to have increased 95 percent from last year’s Money in the Bank show, which was previously the highest-selling merchandise for the event.
The event didn’t start to a strong start, as it was originally announced at Allegiant Stadium. After weak ticket sales, WWE pivoted and moved the show to the MGM Grand Garden Arena. After moving to the arena, the event sold around 12,000 tickets.
The event featured three championship matches and the two traditional Money in the Bank ladder matches for both men and women. Theory won the men’s bout while Liv Morgan won the women’s match and later cashed in to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship from Ronda Rousey.
The July 5, 2022 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida, at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Cora Jade & Roxanne Perez def. Toxic Attraction to become the newWomen’s Tag Team Champions.
Trick Williams def. Wes Lee.
Tiffany Stratton def. Wendy Choo.
Carmelo Hayes def. Grayson Waller to retain the North American Championship.
The Creed Brothers def. Roderick Strong & Damon Kemp to retain theTag Team Championships.
Bron Breakker def. Cameron Grimes to retain NXT Title
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
NXT Title Match
NXT Champion Bron Breakker vs. Cameron Grimes was the main event of the show. WWE set up the match a few weeks ago when Grimes challenged Breakker to a title match.
Grimes said last week that he decided to go after Bron because he doesn’t have a back-up plan because wrestling is just that because he couldn’t make it in the NFL. Bron said next week, he will spear him in half and will make him regret challenging for the title. They brawled with Grimes tossing Bron into the turnbuckle and it popped off. Grimes said that he might not be able to beat him 100%, but maybe he can if Bron isn’t.
The match saw them go back and forth. In the end, Bron hit a spear for the win. After the match, JD McDonagh, formerly known as Jordan Devlin, laid out Bron by putting him through a table.
NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions Toxic Attraction defended the titles against Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade.
Jade and Perez won a number one contendership match by defeating Katana Chance and Kayden Carter last week. The two teams confronted one another the previous week leading to a brawl over who should face Toxic Attraction next.
The match opened the show and went back and forth. Mandy Rose got removed from ringside due to outside interference. Perez hit her finisher on Jayne for the win.
NXT North American Champion Carmelo Hayes vs. Grayson Waller took place.
Last week, Waller asked Hayes if he could sign some memorabilia. This led to Hayes agreeing, but later found out that he had unwittingly signed a contract for a title defense.
The match saw Waller have a few moments where it looked like he was going to win it. Trick Williams got involved until Wes Lee took him out. Hayes hit a codebreaker and the leg drop off the top for the win.
NXT Tag Team Champions Creed Brothers vs. Roderick Strong and Damon Kemp was booked.
Strong and The Creed Brothers confronted one another in a backstage segment on last week’s show after dissension in a tag team match against The Dyad and Joe Gacy led to a defeat. Strong was upset so he challenged The Creeds to a title match for next week.
The match was the co-main event. The Creeds were in control for the majority of it. Kemp ate the pinfall. Post-match, The Creeds helped Kemp up while Strong looked frustrated and stared at the Creeds.
WWE NXT Champion Bron Breakker made his latest title defense against Cameron Grimes in the main event of the Great American Bash special of NXT on Tuesday night.
The match saw Bron get a fast start only for Grimes to work him over in the commercial break. Bron won with a spear. Post-match, JD McDonagh, formerly known as Jordan Devlin, laid out Bron by putting him through a table.
WWE set up this match on the June 14th edition of NXT when Grimes issued the match challenge and Breakker accepted it. This was after Breakker gave Grimes an encouraging word by telling Grimes that he will be a champion again someday after his North American Title loss. Grimes said that he was not looking for sympathy from anyone.
Later in the show, after Breakker’s successful title defense against Duke Hudson, Grimes insinuated that Breakker had been fast-tracked due to his family name as the son of Rick Steiner. He said that everyone knows Breakker’s dad and no one will remember Grimes’ late father’s name.
Breakker previously made a title defense against Joe Gacy in the main event of the In Your House event in Orlando, Florida at the Performance Center on Peacock last month.
Cora Jade and Roxanne Perez are the new WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Champions as they dethroned Toxic Attraction (Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin).
In the opening match of Tuesday’s special edition of WWE NXT Great American Bash, the bout opened the show and went back and forth. NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose got involved as she pulled the referee out of the ring when the challengers were going for a pin attempt, so she got thrown out.
Moments later, Perez hit her pop rocks finisher on Jayne for the win, marking the first time Jade and Perez held gold in NXT.
Dolin and Jayne had been in their second reign as Tag Team Champions. Their first reign started last October when they defeated Io Shirai & Zoey Stark and, Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta in a triple threat Scareway to Hell ladder match to win the titles.
Although they later lost the titles to Dakota Kai and Raquel González at Stand & Deliver this past April, WWE had them win the titles back three nights later.
WWE has seen its popularity decline for several years since the Attitude Era, but they’ve been able to stop the huge drop that they had been experiencing in recent years. WWE consistently dropped in popularity (TV ratings and attendance) from 2017 to 2021. However, that has largely halted.
Since launching in 2019, All Elite Wrestling has grown rapidly as they were able to secure a television deal with WarnerMedia just months after launching and have been able to draw over 100,000 PPV buys with every event they’ve presented thus far.
Dave Meltzer went into detail about how WWE is getting more interest than usual of late during today’s Wrestling Observer Radio.
“WWE being up was interesting to me. Almost across the board, whatever they are doing… another interesting thing about that is they’re up (and) one of their biggest drawing cards Roman Reigns is not even on these shows other than Nashville (SummerSlam), which is doing pretty well.
Whatever it is, there’s definitely an upswing in interest in the product, for whatever reason. So that was kind of an interesting thing to see. The ratings of WWE have been up… WWE is on an upswing right now, so they’re doing something right, whatever it is.”
Meltzer noted that although AEW’s TV ratings have been down over the last few months, he cited the mega-list of injuries they’re dealing with as several stars are out of action, including CM Punk and Bryan Danielson.
Brandon Thurston of WrestleNomics has posted an article looking at the key performance indicators for WWE and AEW and how they compare.
This report notes WWE still leads in nearly every category in terms of numbers (TV tapings and attendance). It was said, “AEW’s lower profile consistently grew in previous comparisons, and still is growing.”
For WWE, they have yet to reach popularity to the heights of the years following the launch of the WWE Network in 2014, but it was stated the Peacock deal for its Network rights had come at the same time they were seeing stabilization and improvement in multiple areas.
TV Ratings
Raw’s ranking among other programs on Monday remains strong and improved in the second quarter of 2022. SmackDown continues to remain among the most-watched shows on Fridays.
Dynamite’s key demo ranking is up strongly year-over-year, although the show is having its first negative year-over-year comparisons just slightly after several consecutive quarters of growth.
Attendance
WWE averaged higher attendances for TV events than AEW through all four quarters since returning to touring in July 2021.
WWE also has the edge with premium live events/pay-per-views compared to AEW because they run stadium events.
Other metrics such as YouTube views and social media engagement can be found in the complete report here.
AAA announced a unique match for the Ring Rock StAAArs event on September 10 as married couple John Morrison and Taya Valkyrie are slated to wrestle each other.
Valkyrie will team up with Impact star Laredo Kid to take on her husband under the name Johnny Caballero and Christi Jaynes.
— Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (@luchalibreaaa) July 5, 2022
They have worked for AAA since the start of this year, with the latest show being TripleMania XXX: Tijuana, where Taya called out AEW Women’s World Champion Thunder Rosa and Morrison teaming with Matt Hardy to take on Dragon Lee and Dralistico as a replacement for Jeff Hardy, who was pulled due to his recent DUI arrest.
This marked the second time Morrison headlined an AAA event as he had previously headlined AAA Rey de Reyes, unsuccessfully challenging Hijo del Vikingo for AAA Mega Championship.
At the June 26th tapings, Taya sided against Johnny, cornering Arez and AEW star Rey Fenix as they took on Johnny and Absimo Negro Jr. Taya previously scored a win over her husband at the WrestleCon Supershow.
Since hitting the free-agent market after being let go by WWE, Valkyrie has found a lot of success as she is currently the AAA Reina de Reinas Champion, one-half of the Impact Knockouts Tag Team Champions with Rosemary, the inaugural MLW Women’s Featherweight Champion, and the inaugural XPW Women’s Champion.
Theory can now call himself Mr. Money in the Bank as he won this year’s men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match.
He beat Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Sheamus, Omos, Sami Zayn, Riddle, and Madcap Moss at Saturday’s WWE Money in the Bank event from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Theory was added to the match by Adam Pearce.
The match opened with Omos taking out everyone. Everyone teamed up with Omos with ladders. Moss with a powerbomb to Zayn on a ladder. Riddle did a dive off the top of a ladder to take out everyone. Omos was powerbombed through the announce table. There was a spot where Sheamus had Drew pinned under the ladder, but McIntyre picked up the ladder and Sheamus fell off. Riddle with an RKO to Rollins off the top of the ladder.
Theory now has a contract to challenge any champion in WWE at any time over the next year.
Watch what Theory had to say backstage at Money in the Bank after his big win:
WWE SmackDown Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey made her latest defense against Natalya at the WWE Money in the Bank event. However, there was a surprise with Liv Morgan following the bout.
The match was technical as they focused on submissions. Ronda locked in the sharpshooter at one point. Natalya put her in the sharpshooter on the apron, but Rousey sent Natalya head first into the ring post. Natalya went for the sharpshooter again, but Rousey reversed and put her the armbar for the win.
Following the match, Morgan ran out to the ring and cashed in her Money in the Bank briefcase that she won earlier in the night. Morgan attacked her, but Rousey put her in the ankle lock. Morgan kicked her in the bad knee and rolled her up for the win.
Watch what Liv Morgan had to say after her historic Money in the Bank cash-in and SmackDown Women’s championship win:
Alan Angels made his surprise debut at Saturday’s Impact Wrestling TV taping in Atlanta, Georgia just days after his AEW contract expired.
Angels answered the open challenge issued by X-Division Champion “Speedball” Mike Bailey on Friday night at Against All Odds. When Bailey asked on Saturday night who it would be, Angels appeared.
It will be the second title defense from Bailey, who successfully defended it against former champion Trey Miguel at Against All Odds.
This set of tapings will cover the next two weeks of TV so as it stands right now, there’s no word yet on when the date this match will air. It’s also unclear whether Angels has signed a contract or if this is a one-off appearance considering he’s from Georgia.
Earlier this week, Angels thanked AEW in his departure statement on Thursday as he said he feels his career is just beginning. His full-time deal expired, but he decided to turn down a part-time deal.
Angels made his AEW debut two years ago where he made a name for himself in a competitive match with Kenny Omega.
Undisputed Tag Team Champions The Usos vs. The Street Profits took place at Saturday’s WWE Money in the Bank event from the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
The match was mostly even with both teams having dominant moments. Jey with a super kick to Ford when he was diving off the top rope for 2. However, The Usos went back on the attack on Ford. Ford fought back and tagged in Dawkins. Ford and Dawkins hit the blockbuster for a near fall on Jey.
Ford with a dive off the ring post to take out The Usos. Back in the ring, Dawkins with a spinebuster to Jey and a splash off the top rope from Ford for 2 as Jimmy broke up the pinfall. The Usos with superkicks to Ford then the 3D for the win. In a replay, Ford’s right shoulder was off the mat so it ended in storyline controversy.
The two teams have been feuding as of late with members of each team battling it out in singles matches.
The Usos unified the SmackDown and Raw Tag Team Titles by defeating then-Raw Tag Team Champions RK-Bro (Randy Orton and Riddle) in a winner-take-all match on the May 20 edition of SmackDown.
WWE Raw Women’s Champion Bianca Belair made her latest title defense against Carmella at Saturday’s WWE Money in the Bank event.
The match was short with Carmella getting the majority of the offense. The short match ended when Bianca fired up and hit the KOD for the win. Post-match, Carmella attacked Belair.
Rhea Ripley was originally slated to challenge Belair for the title at this show after earning the title shot on an episode of Raw last month by beating Doudrop, Alexa Bliss, and Liv Morgan. However, she was later pulled from the bout after dealing with a brain injury in the match. As recently as two weeks, she had been on Raw promoting the match.
Carmella defeated Becky Lynch, Asuka, Morgan, and Bliss in a fatal 5-way bout on Raw to become the new #1 contender.
Time will tell whether WWE continues this feud or goes into a different direction heading into SummerSlam later this month.
What are your thoughts on Bianca Belair retaining the Raw Women’s Title? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
Bobby Lashley was the latest star to challenge United States Champion Theory for the title at the WWE Money in the Bank event from Las Vegas, Nevada.
The match was a typical big man vs. small guy match with Theory using his quickness and Lashley using his power. Theory did a dive off the apron, but Lashley caught him and rammed him into the ring post. They did some near falls down the stretch. The finish saw Lashley reverse Theory’s finisher and put him in the hurt lock.
WWE set up this bout on the June 20th episode of Monday Night Raw after Lashley won a gauntlet match, eventually pinning Theory to earn the title match. This came after Lashley interrupted a Theory posedown by squirting oil on Theory so Theory got the gauntlet match booked.
Lashley had to beat three opponents to get the title match. Lashley beat Chad Gable and Otis in separate matches, but the two attacked Lashley after Otis was beaten. Theory came out as the third and final entrant, butlost after Lashley countered the ATL with a small package.
On the April 18th edition of Raw, Theory beat Finn Balor to win the US Championship.
Morgan won this year’s Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match as she beat Alexa Bliss, Asuka, Lacey Evans, Raquel Rodriguez, Shotzi, and Becky Lynch from Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday night.
Just like the men’s contest, she will have a contract that she can cash-in anytime that she wants within a year from this premium event.
The match saw notable spots such as Raquel hitting a double suplex to Shotzi and Becky on a ladder. Morgan hit a powerbomb off the top of a ladder to Evans. Asuka was placed on a ladder between the apron and announce table and Lynch hit a leg drop. The finish saw Morgan kick Lynch off the ladder and got the briefcase.
Last year, Nikki A.S.H won the match and earned the contract where she later cashed in the following night on Monday Night Raw where she beat Charlotte Flair for the Raw Women’s Title. She held the title for 33 days.
What are your thoughts on Morgan winning the contract? Was this the right call by WWE officials? Sound off in the comment section.
The Bloodline could be getting another member if WWE goes through with calling up WWE NXT’s Solo Sikoa.
Fightful Select reported today that as recently as this week, there have been serious discussions about bringing up to the main roster.
It’s unclear which brand he could be on as his brothers, The Usos, and cousin Roman Reigns are technically on both WWE Raw and SmackDown due to them holding the Undisputed WWE Universal and Tag Team Titles.
Sikoa, real name Joseph Fatu, is the son of Rikishi and the younger brother of Jimmy & Jey Uso (Jonathan & Joshua Fatu). He signed with WWE last year.
While speaking with BT Sport last month, Sikoa revealed that before making his NXT TV debut, WWE considered putting him with The Usos on SmackDown. He admitted he was hesitant about it, but they put him in NXT instead.
Solo explained the reason for being hesitant is due to him wanting to stand out on his own and not just be known as The Usos’ brother.
Gunther, formerly known as WALTER, had a dominant reign in WWE NXT UK for several years as the NXT UK Champion before moving to the United States, where he worked in NXT and was later called up to the main roster.
When Gunther went to NXT permanently, William Regal was already off television as the GM. The current AEW manager praised Gunther during the latest episode of his podcast, Gentleman Villain. He thinks Gunther perfectly understands his role in WWE.
“He knows what he is, and he sticks to what he does best. He doesn’t expose anything that he doesn’t know. He knows exactly what to do that’s got him to where he got to. He had a long time to figure it out. I remember him having a tryout and he hadn’t figured himself out at the time. once he figured it out — WALTER, now Gunther, he is the perfect heavyweight lion. A person that was a huge influence on my wrestling style, and in helping me, was my favorite wrestler to wrestle.”
Regal recalled how Terry Rudge taught him early in his career that all wrestlers should wrestle like a big cat – lightweights should be like a cheetah, middleweights like a puma, and light heavyweights should be like a tiger or a panther. Heavyweights should wrestle like either a lion, a tiger, or a cross between the two.
Regal stated that Gunther has perfected this mindset, which he believes makes him the perfect lion.
“If you think of the way a wrestler moves, the way he attacks, and the way — if you’re a good wrestler, it makes perfect sense. Well Gunther, as you say, has perfected being a perfect lion. He knows exactly how to be a lion… If you just think about the way a lion is, It’ll just stalk, prowl up and down, will swat if it has to, and when it has to sprint, it spreads and it kills, and if you look at him like that, you know, he’s figured out his perfect role. How to be a perfect lion. That’s what a really good heavyweight should be.”
Gunther is currently the WWE Intercontinental Champion. He made his most recent televised title defense last week on SmackDown against Ricochet.
Regal is a seasoned talent scout and knows a tough competitor when he sees one. He currently leads AEW’s Blackpool Combat Club faction, comprised of Bryan Danielson, Jon Moxley, Claudio Castignoli and Wheeler Yuta.
A big upcoming talent debut for AEW/ROH was not, in fact, spoiled by AEW music producer Mikey Rukus.
Rukus held a live stream on YouTube where he was just showing off the process of making entrance theme songs for AEW. He also broke down the drum tracks for the theme song for the Butcher and the Blade.
An oversight was spotted by fans when a list of files for recent AEW theme songs he had created was shown on screen. There were tracks listed for stars such as Claudio Castagnoli and Luchasaurus’ new theme song
An interesting name was also listed – current Impact Wrestling Knockouts Champion Jordynne Grace, which you can see in the image below:
Fightful Select has an update – Jordynne Grace actually commented on the music file weeks ago. She clarified at the time that Mikey Rukus has produced songs for her for quite a while, even dating back before AEW existed. She is under contract with Impact through at least Spring 2023.
Rukus also responded to the potential leak, claiming it has nothing to do with AEW.
Sorry to rain on the parade but has nothing to do with AEW ???.
Grace signed with Impact Wrestling in August 2018. She’s held the Impact Digital Media Championship, Knockouts World Championship, and Knockouts Tag Team Championship.
Kenny Omega pushed through the pain for several months last year while AEW World Heavyweight Champion as he helped the company as its top star and delivered great matches.
However, it took a toll on him physically and he decided to take time off to get those injuries fixed.
During a recent Twitch stream, Omega stated that if he suffers another major setback in his career due to an injury then he will be done as an in-ring wrestler because he doesn’t want to go through the painful rehab he has been experiencing.
“No, look. If I get another major setback, that’s it I’m done. I can’t do this ever again. It’s like two or three times a day of really painful rehab. And without even knowing what it’s going to be like when I get back in the ring. I have no clue. It’s scary actually.”
Kenny Omega’s In-Ring Future
Omega’s last match came at Full Gear on November 13, 2021, when he dropped the AEW World Championship to “Hangman” Adam Page. Omega had several injuries he needed to be fixed including having arthroscopic knee surgery. He also got surgery to repair a sports hernia at the end of March.
At the time, it was reported the recovery from knee surgery was ten weeks while recovering from the hernia surgery was about two months.
Omega did go back on the road with AEW to be at TV events, but Omega found it was too early in the healing process to travel with his injuries.
The June 28, 2022 episode of WWE NXT aired live on the USA Network from Orlando, Florida at the Capitol Wrestling Center.
WWE NXT Results
Roxanne Perez and Cora Jade defeated Katana Chance and Kayden Carter via pinfall in 13:46 to become number one contenders
Giovani Vinci defeated Ikeman Jiro via pinfall in 2:59.
Kiana James defeated Indi Hartwell via pinfall in 3:51.
Joe Gacy, Dyad 1, and Dyad 2 defeated The Diamond Mine via pinfall in 13:56.
Sanga defeated Xyon Quinn via pinfall in 5:08.
Nikkita Lyons defeated Mandy Rose via apparent DQ in 5:29 in a non-title match.
Here are the takeaways from this week’s show:
NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship #1 Contenders Match
Cora Jade & Roxanne Perez vs. Kayden Carter & Katana Chance took place in a #1 contenders match to determine who will challenge Toxic Attraction for the NXT Women’s Tag Team Titles.
Last week, Perez and Jade came out to confront Toxic Attraction. NXT Women’s Champion Mandy Rose warned Perez not to challenge her, which led to Perez saying she had a swerve as she was going to use her NXT Breakout Tournament victory to team with Jade to challenge Jacy Jayne and Gigi Dolin for the titles. Carter and Chance came out and a brawl broke out.
The match opened the show. Jade and Perez went over with their finisher. They will challenge Toxic Attraction next week for the gold.
Bron Breakker and Cameron Grimes Meet Face-To-Face
NXT Champion Bron Breakker will defend his title against Cameron Grimes on next week’s show so this week they had one final showdown before competing.
Grimes said if Bron loses the title then he will just get called up to the main roster and put on the SummerSlam card. He said when he lost the North American Title, he decided to go after Bron because he doesn’t have a back-up plan. He said Bron doesn’t have a back-up plan because wrestling is just that because he couldn’t make it in the NFL. Bron said next week, he will spear him in half and will make him regret challenging for the title. Bron said he’s bigger and stronger than Grimes.
Cameron said Bron doesn’t have his heart and Bron’s daddy didn’t have it either. They brawled with Grimes tossing Bron into the turnbuckle and it popped off. Grimes said that he might not be able to beat him 100%, but maybe he can if Bron isn’t. Bron sold his shoulder.
New NXT UK Tag Team Champions Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen cut a promo about their title win.
Last week, Briggs & Jensen won a fatal four-way elimination match on NXT UK to win the vacant NXT UK Tag Team titles by beating Teoman & Rohan Raja, Dave Mastiff & Jack Starz, and Mark Andrews & Wild Boar. They were originally slated to challenge Oliver Carter & Ashton Smith for the titles, but Carter & Smith had to vacate the titles due to Smith suffering a ruptured MCL.
They said they went across the world to fight the best. They said when Carter and Smith get healed up then they will get their title shot. Jensen said that he busted his ass for him and thanked him for picking him. Biggs said that there is one thing left to do and that’s drink some beer. Pretty Deadly came out and said that they couldn’t believe Jensen and Briggs were the champs. They called them dirty and it was time for them to clean the titles up. Deadly bragged about their 200+ day reign. Biggs and Jensen tossed them out of the ring to end the segment.
The former Fabian Aichner debuted his new character on NXT two weeks ago by defeating Guru Raaj. The match was set up when Jiro interrupted a backstage interview with Vinci on NXT last week.
Aichner left Imperium when he walked out on the group during a tag team match this past April.
This was a complete squash match as Vinci went over with a powerbomb.
Britt Baker recently praised WWE’s Carmella on social media for being able to overcome adversity and booking decisions.
On Tuesday, Carmella took to Twitter where she listed all the WWE booking decisions that she has overcome ahead of her scheduled match at Money In The Bank this Saturday where she is slated to challenge Raw Women’s Champion against Bianca Belair.
The former SmackDown Women’s Champion wrote, “You can make me a manager, give me a guy without a chin, a dance break mid-match, change my character, have me wear a mask, be a last-minute replacement and I’m ALWAYS going to show up and show out. I rise to every occasion and you can’t take that away from me.”
Baker responded to that post by sharing a clapping hands emoji to support what Carmella had written.
On Monday’s episode of Raw, there was some crossover between WWE and AEW as Bryan Danielson, Paul Wight, and Chris Jericho appeared on the broadcast to show their support for John Cena, who was celebrating the 20th anniversary of his main roster in-ring debut in 2002.
The three AEW stars congratulated Cena on the 20-year anniversary of his WWE debut.
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— Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D. (@RealBrittBaker) June 28, 2022
More numbers continue to come out for AEW x NJPW: Forbidden Door.
AEW President Tony Khan took to Twitter to thank fans for supporting AEW and NJPW by investing their money into Sunday’s pay-per-view event. He noted they did over $5 million on pay-per-view and put over the show doing over $1 million in ticket sales.
Khan previously stated the show did a 1.1 million gate. Either way, it’s behind the second biggest gate in AEW history behind Double or Nothing 2022. He wrote the following:
“Thank you to everyone, especially wrestling fans around the world, who made last Sunday’s #ForbiddenDoor event a hit, with >$1 million in ticket sales+ >$5 million on ppv! We’re back for Wednesday Night #AEWDynamite on @TBSNetwork @ 8pm ET/7pm CT/8pm PT #BloodAndGuts TOMORROW!”
Khan said in the post-show press conference that early estimates have Forbidden Door at over 100,000 buys on digital pay-per-view. There’s still no word yet on what they did on traditional PPV providers.
Jon Moxley became the interim AEW World Heavyweight Champion when he beat Hiroshi Tanahashi in the main event.
To make it more impressive, the show had a card that was filled with talent that many fans in the United States might not be as familiar with.
Logan Paul is slated to make his in-ring return soon as The Miz stated during tonight’s Raw that he and Paul were returning as a team at SummerSlam.
The Miz cut a promo where he talked about how he was the one who set up pictures of Paul training and at SummerSlam, it would be him and Paul returning together. Kevin Patrick, who conducted the interview, brought up that it was The Miz who laid out Paul after their tag team match at WrestleMania 38 back in April.
The Miz said they talked after the match and how Paul understood that it was simply a teaching moment, and seemingly smoothed things over. Following the interview, Miz worked a singles match where he lost to AJ Styles.
This bout was said up earlier in the evening when Miz grabbed Styles’ leg, yanking him off the apron and eliminating him in a last chance Money in the Bank qualifier battle royal.
Paul recently posted photos of himself training and tagging WWE on Twitter:
