Fyah
Shout out to Titus O’Neil for being one of the two only brothers at the B-Team BBQ and calling out the food that wasn’t served. You know the brothas gotta have that mac & cheese. He and Apollo made sure to dump those baked beans on Bo Dallas’s head, too. We really don’t need Michael Cole to continue to refer to Titus and his slip up in Saudi. We good on that. Then I saw Titus and Apollo’s shirts. Never mind.
Maybe you could tell by the inflection in Michael Cole’s commentary that Sasha Banks is kind of a big deal for winning the gauntlet qualifying match. Her role in the match wasn’t a big one being she entered last and only defeated Ruby Riott. To throw some spice on her performance, the Riott Squad made a brief appearance. They didn’t do too much to thwart the outcome. Congrats, three of the eight women in the third women’s money in the bank match are sistas.
Each week, we grow closer to the realization of our one true agenda. It was a 6-man tag match featuring the New Day and Sheamus and Cesaro with the Miz. The biggest thing to take away from the match is that Xavier Woods is not a weak link. The spot with Big E’s corner slam combined with a back stabber is one that I don’t recall seeing. I did foresee Kofi Kingston dashing post to post for the dive into the Bar. They still are not mentioning who will take the spot in the ladder match; great!
I want to say that this week was the first singles match for Cedric Alexander in more than a month. Buddy Murphy finally got the title shot he was probably booked to have at Backlash. Promoted as a match of a powerhouse challenging a swift striker, this match was highlighted by the two men trading counters, slams, and strikes to the point that it became obvious that Cedric was selling the hell out of his endurance. Queue the distant, dazed expressions. It took not one but two of Alexander’s signature springboard kicks to close that thing; there were still plenty of offense leading up to the climax that you must see for yourself.
My feelings for Bianca Belair is still frighteningly impressed. The vignette detailing her history of athletic accomplishments did little to quell that feeling one bit. The woman is fit and fabulous; point blank, period.
“Anything Ricochet can do, the Dream can do better,” was the statement of the week. Not to be lost in the confrontation was a pretty damn good match with the debuting Chris Dijack and Ricochet. Ricochet and Dijack pulled the tandem work to show off this dead lift of a suplex to showcase his resiliency. The Velveteen Dream was NOT impressed until Ricochet nailed a somersault from ring to ramp in one fluid motion to accept the challenge to meet at TakeOver Chicago.
Meh
The clear fan favorite of the women’s division seems to be Ronda Rousey so in turn we must find a way to sass up Nia Jax. What better way than to have Nia give an in-ring demonstration on a local wrestler while Ronda looks on. As awkward as it was to see Nia laugh in Ronda’s face before turning her back on her, it still was miles ahead of the Bobby Lashley segment of last week.
It’s funny that I mention Mr. Lashley; he received his apology as did the rest of us for the foolishness of last week. The dominant one in his mild mannered form ventured to the ring to challenge Sami Zayn to answer for his atrocious actions. The strong man handshake leads me to believe that we’re setting up for a Sami Zayn miracle win in Chicago.
The appearance of Kenny King helped Austin Aries collect another belt in the ROH TV Title, but not so fast my friends. The match was overturned because the official in the back made the call to disqualify Aries because of King interfered with the match.
Boo
I would suppose that a dance off featuring Naomi would be worth watching, but then why tho’? Of course she dances in her entrance and was once a dancer by trade, that still doesn’t mean she has to have it the at the forefront of her appearance. Lana did show she was a bit more than a white woman with no rhythm, but Naomi didn’t come off as giving it her all. We go through all of that to have Lana sneak attack her opponent. I would also shout out the Usos for attending; they kinda had to considering Rusev and Aiden were there.
Get Dezmond Xavier some better booking. Dude won Destination X, never got a title shot (to my knowledge), and this week, he faced Brian Cage. For what?