For Raw, the segment between Ronda Rousey and the Bella Twins went a lot better than people probably expected. They traded insults back and forth and it eventually led to some fighting. The Bella Twins brought out security, which Rousey took out easily but the twins got away before Rousey could get to them. Hearing some of the insults they were throwing at each other made this feel more personal and that’s what helps make a solid rivalry.
For Smackdown, out of all the stars they had featured on their 1,000th episode, the reunion of Evolution was the most intriguing out of all of them. While they were listing off their accomplishments, Batista threw a little shade towards Triple H about how Triple H has yet to beat him. Batista did say that if he were to ever come back to WWE for one last run, he would want to have a rivalry with Triple H. So is this a sign of things to come?
The Bad
For Raw, the Finn Balor versus Jinder Mahal match wasn’t even worth watching. It was quick and was just there to promote the mixed match challenge. With the two PPV’s coming up, there isn’t much to really invest with the MMC.
For Smackdown, because of how big there show was this week, they did have to rush some things during the show and one of them was a World Cup qualifying match. The match was between The Miz and Rusev and the Miz won within a minute. Now, this was due to a distraction from Aiden English, which helps push that rivalry further, but this match did deserve to have more time.
The Final Verdict
Both shows were pretty solid this week. They were able to build up both Crown Jewel and Evolution effectively. But, because Smackdown had its 1,000th episode, fans knew that WWE was going to go all out for it. With that being said, Smackdown had the better show this week. Smackdown did a really great job of integrating the legends they brought back for the show into the rivalries they have going on currently. Along with that, they had a great match for the returning Rey Mysterio! Overall, if WWE follows through with Crown Jewel, it truly is looking to be a special event along with Evolution too.
AEW superstar Adam Cole has opened up about what he calls a “scary” recovery from a second concussion that he suffered at AEW and NJPW’s ‘Forbidden Door’ event back in June 2022, with Cole set to make his return to the ring soon.
Cole specifically talked about memory loss as the most troubling aspect of his recovery:
”The memory stuff is the really, really scary part to me” Cole said, during an appearance on Wrestling Observer Radio (h/t CagesideSeats). “When you’re in the middle of a ring and there’s thousands of people around you and I have no idea what I’m supposed to be doing. That was really scary. So, I knew pretty early on after my memory started going that something was wrong.”
Cole’s road to recovery as an especially long one.
“The crazy thing was that after even a month, it was like that’s when real serious side effects started happening” he said. “Everything I said in my return in-ring promo that I did all of that was true, and more. There was a lot of stuff that was happening very late into the healing process, or, what I thought was late, like a month-and-a-half, two months.”
Cole is gearing up for his return to AEW, with all signs pointing to him stepping back into the ring at Revolution next month.
NXT Vengeance Day was a rousing success for WWE on Saturday which saw a number of headlines come out of the event that was well-received by fans, including an injury suffered by Donovan Dijak during his match with Wes Lee for the North American Championship.
Dijak suffered an apparent broken finger during the match, which was seen on camera and shared on social media.
Following the event NXT general manager Shawn Michaels provided an update on Dijak, stating he did not suffer a broken finger – “Yeah, everybody is good” Michaels said. “I announced it at gorilla, it’s got to be a miracle, It’s not broken.
“We got him x-ray, they said it’s not broken and so yeah, I guess what you do is you kind of numb it and put it back in place and that’s what’s happening now. But it is, again, a modern miracle because we all saw it, it was pretty gnarly looking. But, apparently, he’s going to be okay, which is obviously fantastic news for us and him.”
AEW owner and booker Tony Khan is certainly open to the idea of AEW and WWE working together for a potential crossover supershow, despite Khan’s consistent blasting of WWE over the last few years.
“It’s something I would certainly be open to and I think it’s an interesting thing for the future” Khan said during an appearance on WTF with Marc Maron. “It’s not something that’s ever really been done. They’ve kind of existed in their own space. We are working with a lot of wrestling promotions.”
Khan’s AEW has already worked with a number of promotions such as Impact Wrestling and NJPW, and WWE has even warmed to the idea of working with other promotions, as they have with Impact Wrestling, NJPW, and NOAH recently.