Ring of Honor

The “free agent” push of Shane Taylor has been much needed and is the result of the roster changes in ROH. Taylor is still repping as the World TV Champ, but being denied access to the facility and has an entourage these days. A+

Also backstage, Kenny King is still chastizing his former partner, Rhett Titus. He insulted Titus following a loss only to have Titus remind him that King ran into a cameraman. A

Raw

Last week, Ricochet was named to join an ironic team for Crown Jewel. He hit the ring to face Ric Flair’s new edition, Drew McIntyre. McIntyre wanted to prove to Flair that he could dominate one of the opposing team’s members. Althought it was apparent that Drew would pick up the win, there were several moments where they sold Ricochet getting a clean victory just before a Claymore closed that door. B+

NXT

Stakes were high in the women’s division with so many laying claim as the next to challenge for the title. Bianca Belair found herself involved in a grudge match with Rhea Ripley to assume that very claim. Io Shirai seemed to have served up a big win until Ripley countered with here signature move. Away went Belair’s title shot and a longer wait it will be before she’s carrying gold. B

The feud between Breezango and the Forgotten Sons were used to springboard the momentum of Isaiah “Swerve” Scott. He was introduced as the surprise partner to complete the six-man dance; he’d proceed to do the work from that moment on. By the end of the contest, he’d be given the honor of wrapping the match up with the winning kick/pin combination. A-

There was an annoucement that Keith Lee was injured at some point last week; you couldn’t tell from his in-ring work during the main event triple threat match for the North American Championship. Still doubting? Look no further than Lee execution of a flawless, no-touch tope con hilo to Dominik Dijacovik. The championship would have to wait another day, though. Roderick Strong secured his defense right before the Undisputed Era put boots to Lee. A

Dynamite

It was all action for at least the first 20 minutes of airtime. Private Party and the Lucha Brothers did the dance of high spots over and over again. There was a string of moves where Isaiah Kassidy would execute a series of offensive moves in the ring before springboarding out to put Pentagon down. The Party gained a lot from this match, and even without winning, it put them in position to be a top tier team in AEW. A+

SCU was more prepared for their semifinal match than last week. Scorpio Sky actually had gear and completed the match in shoes. It was apparent the duo has done much work together over the last few years. The contest against the Dark Order went off flawlessly to advance to the finals for a grudge match with the Lucha Brothers for a tag titles. B+

SmackDown

The New Day is back to Big E and Kofi Kingston for a while; and why not? This can redirect the discussion about the end of Kingston’s title run until Xavier Woods has an opportunity to rehab. The business is a tag team event in Saudi Arabia. They would go on to drop a match to Roode and Ziggler. Along with Heavy Machinery, the power of positivity had a jam session when they deposited their opponents and The Revival out of the ring. C