Fyah
The levels of depth in the storytelling or lack there made for Ember Moon to have a great Raw qualifying match. Follow me; Sasha Banks and Bayley have had beef. Sasha and Bayley both have been the target of the Riott Squad but they haven’t teamed up to take them on. It’s Money In The Bank qualifying time, and we need a way to put Moon over soooooo let’s insert here into a triple threat match with Banks and Riott. Moon moves on; the feud continues. That was real simple right?
The NXT showing kicked off with the One and Only, Ricochet, making his claim to thrill the universe only to be interrupted by the Velveteen Dream. This was a treat to see because I know these two can pull off a banger of a match considering the growth of Dream in the past few months throw in the fact that Ricochet has the pedigree to put on a show, and you have the recipe for five stars.
We continue to see that NXT is taking time to develop its women. Look no farther than the performance of Vanessa Borne in her match with Dakota Kai. Borne’s move set is much more than the holds and take downs she used in the Mae Young Classic; a corner face buster and swing neck breaker highlighted her offence, but she also sold a number of stiff kicks from Kai and the closing modified backstabber.
The bulk of Jay Lethal’s impromptu three way dance with Jay White and Chuckie T looked like a Jim Crow era period piece. White and T formed faux alliance to eliminate Lethal, but just like a magical Negro, Lethal handled both with the greatest of ease. That is until Chuckie caught him slipping to score a quick roll up and win.
Meh
In a two-for-one offering, the brothers of Titus Worldwide teamed with No Way Jose to face Baron Corbin and the Revival. This should foreshadow a Jose shot at the Money in the Bank match more than it does anything for TW. I don’t recall Titus taking a spill this match, but I also don’t recall Apollo getting any shine. So there’s that.
The lone brothers to make an in-ring appearance on SmackDown, the New Day sent Xavier Woods to face Cesaro to prove that Woods is a legitimate competitor. Remember me mentioning that last week? Well, Woods was knocked back down to his “weak link” status after Cesaro pulled off a nearly clean win. The outside competitors did get involved in the skirmish; none of the action was enough to cause disruption to the match. Woods was also featured in an Impact flashback match if that matters to you.
Coast 2 Coast ran the supreme interference on the Kingdom thus helping So Cal Uncensored to get their titles back.
Bully Ray took Cheeseburger to Power Bomb City before taking a count out loss. Let the record books show that Cheeseburger won a match during War of the Worlds over a hall of famer.
Boo
We go to Fort Wayne, IN where Moose and Kongo Kong are already involved in their match of the week. Apparently none of the brothas and sistas in Fort Wayne went out to House of Hardcore because that crowd was bland, but Moose and Kong went on any way. At some point, Moose executed the wackest backhand slap I’ve ever seen. There were folks in the background doing everything but watching the match, which I am guessing is the reason for the awkward ending to the match. Also, the commentary was so dry and off the subject of the match; you can’t bring up Moose’s NFL career as a lineman and say he’s over sized in a match. The guy literally made a living off handling some huge monsters of men.