For Raw, lots of people are not invested in the Bobby Lashley vs. Roman Reigns match at Extreme Rules, but I thought WWE did their best in building it up this week and I thought it was a very entertaining this week. They started the show off with a pull apart brawl between the two and then each competitor got to say their peace after the brawl. While the Philadelphia crowd at Extreme Rules will probably act disinterested in this match, the buildup for it has been really good especially after this week and it does give this match a “big fight” feel.
For Smackdown, we finally got to see the Andrade Almas vs. Sin Cara match that had been building over a month and kept announcing that they would have, only not to have it. That finally came to an end this week and these two put on a great match. It wasn’t that long, but it didn’t need to be as the spots Sin Cara were doing were insane. This finally helps Almas get his foot in the door on Smackdown now that he has a credible victory. It will be interesting to see what happens next for El Idolo (hopefully a run at the US championship!).
The Bad
For Raw, they didn’t even mention Brock Lesnar being on the UFC PPV this past weekend. That is ridiculous considering he is the main champion on the brand and is trying to now become a UFC Champion. Along with that, they didn’t even mention anything about his upcoming plans for Summerslam. WWE has handled the Brock Lesnar situation as poorly as you can.
For Smackdown, the lumberjack match between James Ellsworth and Asuka was something we really didn’t need to see. While fans wanted to see Asuka beat up Ellsworth, the rivalry for the women’s championship is still between Asuka and Carmella, not Ellsworth. While it did help build up the championship match for Extreme Rules, seeing these two fight wasn’t necessary.
The Final Verdict
With both of these being the go home shows before Extreme Rules, both brands needed to focus on the matches featured on the card. I feel that both brands did a pretty good job at doing this, but as far as who put on a better show is the bigger question. For this week, I will have to say that Smackdown had the better show this week. They focused on the WWE Championship match, had a pretty good main event, finally had the debut of Almas against a good competitor, and built up the US championship too. Overall, Extreme Rules is turning out to look like a really solid PPV, hopefully WWE gets positive results out of it and they have momentum going into Summerslam!
Mia Yim made her return to WWE during Monday Night RAW following her release from the company back on November 4th, 2021, during a segment between The O.C. and The Judgment Day, by attacking Rhea Ripley.
AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson had been looking for some help as they battle with the faction, and Ripley has been a factor in their battles. Now, Yim joins them to help neutralize Ripley.
Yim commented on her return during a backstage interview, and made reference to the former Retribution stable that spelled the end for many promising runs.
“Oh my gosh, it feels so good to be back. It took me a year to try and find myself but now I’m ready. I’m ready to go. I’m ready to kick some ass and get my retribution. But the boys are waiting on me so I’ll see ya later.”
Following the walkout of Sasha Banks and Naomi, who were at the time the WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions, details have been mum on what would go on with the vacated titles, but now there finally are some details to share.
With rumors that both Banks and Naomi will be returning to the company with Vince McMahon now in charge, the Women’s Tag Team titles are now back in the spotlight after going off the radar at the time of Banks’ and Naomi’s departures.
WWE has officially announced a new tournament to crown new Women’s Tag Team Champions that will finally begin on Raw this upcoming Monday.
While it seems to lineup the returns of Banks and Naomi, no official word has surfaced as of yet.
For Raw, the main event between Kofi Kingston and Daniel Bryan in a Wrestlemania rematch was a good way to end their show. With this new “Wildcard Rule” being introduced at the beginning of Raw, this led to two Smackdown superstars main eventing a Raw show. While we will look into the “Wildcard Rule” later, the match between these two was back and forth and ended with Kingston retaining his championship. Kofi has all the momentum going into the Money in the Bank PPV, which is great considering he is the WWE Champion.
For Smackdown, after the Hardy Boyz had to forfeit their tag team championships due to injury, the match to determine the new champions was great. After Shane McMahon originally was going to give the titles to Daniel Bryan and Rowan, the Usos interrupted and stated that they should at least get the opportunity to earn them. Daniel Bryan and Rowan ended up winning, which is a positive sight moving forward because it will bring more attention to the division with these two as champions.
The Bad
For Raw, even though things were good for the Usos on Smackdown, they were really bad on Raw. They came out during the Revival’s match and told them that they put Icey Hot on their ring attire. This led to bad acting and just an attempt at humor, which didn’t go well.
For Smackdown, while the Aleister Black promos have been good so far, they are starting to over welcome their stay. This has been going on for about a month, so hopefully we see him in the ring before he loses all momentum.
The Final Verdict
Both brands had interesting shows this week because this new “Wildcard Rule” was introduced. This “Wildcard Rule” means that four superstars from Raw will be on Smackdown and four Smackdown superstars will be on Raw every week. This idea does seem like a bad one though because it will take time away from superstars in their respective brand. Along with that, this is right after the Superstar Shakeup, which now feels completely pointless. As to who had the better show this week though, Smackdown had better matches and was still able to help put good build towards Money in the Bank. In conclusion, Money in the Bank is still about two weeks away, but proper time has been put into it and all the matches gain momentum in build week by week.
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