Raw

Bobby Lashley has bounced around from feud to feud but in somewhere in limbo at the moment. Kurt Angle sent him out to silence the unhappy Baron Corbin. Lashley was noticeably from the Summer Slam card even though Elias made an appearance, and we know about the tension between those two. Lashley served as a match for Corbin physically. Compared to his matches with Moose, Lashley came off more fluid with his performance. He would dispose of the constable in time to make it to catering.

The Riott Squad is back to full strength and ready to start rioting. This means that Sasha Banks and Bayley will need a third to tangle. Ember Moon was the obvious choice as she has handled part of the crew for a month or so. The recipe was the same. Ember took the aggression to anyone who stepped through the ropes; the Squad would find a way to disorient or isolate Bayley and/or Sasha long enough for the match to break down. Finally, Sasha would get rolled up amid all the confusion in and out the ring.

This week, there’s no Bobby Roode and Mojo Rawley to intervene in the Authors of Pain and Titus Worldwide tug-o-war. Enter Dana Brooke. It seems like Apollo almost got some shine until there was a book signing event. Both Titus and Apollo got put on the shelf another week, and Dana came to console a young Apollo.

SmackDown Live

It has been weeks since we’ve seen Naomi. Quite frankly, she deserved a bit of a cooler after the run she had early in the year. SmackDown doesn’t have much room for B-level women’s stories, yet this week we find Naomi involved in a one-on-one match with Peyton Royce. Royce would get a lot of offense thrown her way early in the match; she’d have to pay for those unkind words before the bell. The last word would belong to the IIconics when Royce scored a quick roll up.

The SmackDown Tag Team titles made a main event appearance when The New Day would get a second chance at the Bludgeon Brothers following the DQ at Summer Slam. Kofi and Xavier got the assignment in a match that would have nearly no rules. The fist started flying as soon as the bell sounded. It didn’t take long for the Bludgeon Brothers to gain the upper hand picking both men off at every turn. There were tables, ladders, chairs, and mallets. Rowan’s attempt to take out Kofi ended up being counterproductive after Xavier snatched his partner away. They would work together to dispose of Luke Harper with the aid of a table to sign, seal, and deliver a fifth tag title to the New Day.

NXT

The follow up to a banging TakeOver show was the airing of the opening matches. First up, Bianca Belair returned from injury (honeymoon?) to face Deonna Purrazzo. Purrazzo brought a technical game to keep Belair off balance. She’d slip through Purrazzo’s submission attempts for most of the match. The flashy Belair didn’t take her opponent seriously mocking her throughout the match. Her showboating provided Purrazzo with the opening she needed. She would hold that advantage long though. Bianca slid out of an attempt at an arm bar to plant her opponent with a  modified face buster.