Ring of Honor

The highlight of the week was an all-stars versus champions encounter that somehow aligned rivals, Kenny King and Jay Lethal. None of the men that this review cares about made (Shane Taylor was a part of the opposing team) it to the final bell, but there was a significant effort to show us that King and Lethal do not like one another, even though they were teammates.

Clash of Champions

Given the fued is just beginning, Cedric Alexander and AJ Styles found their US Championship match on the pre-show. Styles would retain, and Alexander caught the barrel of whoop ass from the OC.

The New Day has spent the past few shows selling one injury or another. They finally made it into a title contest against the Revival being that all of the titles were on the line. Big E and Xavier Woods attempted to circle the wagons, but the Revival had accolades to collect on this good night.

They scheduled a Raw Women’s Championship match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch; fortunately for us, a “conCHAIRto” broke out following a brief concession intermission. Sasha’s claim the “winner’s check” was validated, but it was Lynch walking way still Raw Women’s Champion.

The writing crew put a nice little bow on the finale of the Kofi Kingston – Randy Orton rivalry. By the time the match arrived, it made much sense that a Kingston victory or DQ loss was the greatest possiblity for the night. The former was the case as the champ took a relatively clean victory.

Raw

The Viking Raiders were re-assigned to aide Cedric Alexander after his run-in with the OC. Taking a loss would set the tone for Alexander and crew to continue their feud with their respective members of the OC.

A gender reveal party were used as a means to carry out the Kanellis drama, and in doing so Ricochet was named as the father of Maria’s child. Reluctantly, Ric would face and squash Mike Kanellis after being slapped in the face.

Mayor Glenn Jacobs gave R-Truth the tour of UT before the show only to set him up to take the 24/7 Championship. Truth convinced the mayor that it wasn’t in Jacob’s best interest to pursue the title just after taking it back.

Why not bring Sasha and Bayley back around the titles they first claimed and the same titles that seemed to be the reason Sasha left. The former champs took Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross to task just in case there was any doubt about the Banks and Bayley loyalty.

SmackDown Live

The New Day trio taking on FTRKO, Randy Orton and the Revival, was the appetizer for the entree of Brock Lesnar making his claim to the WWE Championship. Kofi sent his comrades away so he could face the Beast alone only to be the victim of an F5.

Sasha and Bayley’s run-in with Charlotte Flair and Beckly Lynch was omitted from he Raw portion, but it leaked into Tuesday’s actions by way of a Banks vs. Flair match up. The Banks of Bayley intiated the DQ and proceeded with business as usual until Carmella intervened.

NXT

The previous feud between Biana Belair and Mia Yim was teamed with the Candice LeRae – Io Shirai rivalry to form a fatal fourway, number one contenders’ match. It was the first big showcase on the live event. No big concern though; Belair and Yim were solid in their appearance but were plot devices to elevate LeRae into the title picture.

Speaking of plot devices, Velveteen Dream was the holder of one of the biggest ones in the story of Undisputed Era. Dream sold the hell out of the tale of a champ who would not be easily disposed, so here comes the remaining members of the Era. The ending saw all four members of the faction celebrating the armed robbery of the North American Title.

The USA audience were also robbed; they were robbed of the opportunity to see the return of the Man of the Hour, Lio Rush! The caveate was that he and Oney Lorcan were competing for a shot at the Cruiserweight Championship. It made sense for Rush to get the nod considering the rise he had during his initial 205 run.