Wow.
One day removed from Mother’s Day, Becky Lynch has revealed that she will be a mom.
And the special announcement that she had for the winner of the Women’s Money in the Bank winner Asuka - she is now champion.
This was quite an emotional moment and seemed to take everyone by surprise. Asuka had a beautiful reaction that made the moment that much more emotional.
Becky said that in 2013 when she entered the PC she knew no one. The fans have stood up for her and had her back and because of this, she felt we deserved to hear it from her.
So Becky is gone for quite a bit. Asuka is now our champion. What’s next?
While I was eager to see Asuka with the briefcase for a while, this made the most logical sense, and frees up the women for perhaps a tournament to determine #1 contender. If anything, it gives us a time killer for a three hour show.
More interesting to note, later on Asuka was being interviewed and Kairi Sane popped back up for the first time in nearly a month. The question is - will she be a friend, or a foe?
Old Testament Wrath
Seth Rollins has lost it.
Fresh off his loss to Drew last night, and the surprise announcement of him becoming a father tonight, Seth was in a catatonic state. It was a bit strange to have this booking this week, right as his fiancée announced her pregnancy, because at first, he looked like a shocked first time Dad. Rey Mysterio tried to congratulate him but he just stared ahead and walked away. Rey appropriately called him a dick. By the way, kudos to WWE for having Rey talk about the “secondary roof” and that he and Aleister were saved by it.
During the match between him, his disciple Murphy, Aleister Black, and Rey Mysterio, he stood on the ring apron, and didn’t move a muscle. Murphy tried to get his attention multiple times to no avail. But Rey hit Seth, seemingly by accident, and that was it.
Seth snapped! He shoved Rey’s right eye into the corner of the steel steps. It was gruesome and hard to watch. Weird moment where Rey gets his mask off for the doctors and the camera kept being on him. It was awkward. Just go away, camera guy! After the break, Seth went back to… apologize? to Rey but Aleister attacked Murphy and Seth just walked off.
This was very well done. Seth felt he had no direction tonight, and was just chillin’ in the corner being emo, but Rey had to strike him. Accidental or not, Seth’s reaction was perfect. I’m super interested in what happens next.
Brand to Brand Invitation
Reaction to the actual match that happened before this announcement is below, but I need to have a larger space to talk about this one.
No.
Not necessary at all to have people jumping from brand to brand again. We did this before. Remember “wild card?” I do. It was terrible.
Drew McIntyre announced that the King will arrive on Raw next week and face him in a match, because that’s what losers get. A match on Raw against its top champion. Sure.
No.
So what happens if, and God help us all if this actually happens, Corbin wins? Corbin challenging for the WWE championship? Nooooooo. NO.
Even though we are in uncertain times with COVID-19, each brand has enough performers to survive. WWE - BE CREATIVE WITH THEM! Don’t bring one person here and one person there and Akira Tozawa to Raw, NXT, Main Event, and 205 Live to lose over and over. What is the reason for this, besides “Hey! Someone on SmackDown from Raw? That’s going to bring more viewers!” Newsflash – it won’t!
Why isn’t Jeff Hardy coming to Raw? Or Braun? Otis? You know, winners from Money in the Bank? Winners! This is ass backwards and not creative, which doesn’t give me hope for wild card 2.0 being a good thing.
The Rest
Edge vs. Orton… in a WRESTLING match?!? - This was a masterful segment and continued to prove why Orton is so damn good on the mic. Orton interrupted Edge as he talked about being back after 9 years and he’s ready to move on. Silly Edge, moving on is for kids!
Orton congratulated him and said the better man won at WrestleMania, but not the better wrestler. Edge had the luxury of being in gimmick matches that meant he didn’t have to wrestle, which means he still hasn’t truly come back from retirement. He wants Edge in a WRESTLING match at Backlash.
Edge has the best facial expressions. Immediately you could see he was doubting himself because technically, it’s true. He hasn’t wrestled yet. Charly Caruso asked him if he would accept, and he didn’t answer. This was fantastic.
And guys, it’s going to be the GREATEST wrestling match ever!
An IIconic Moment of Bliss - IICONICS ARE BACK! So incredibly happy to see them return, and they haven’t lost a beat. They were on A Moment of Bliss and challenged Bliss Cross.
Well, too bad it wasn’t a title match because they’d have won them tonight! Next week however, they’ll be in a title match. My expectation is that they’ll immediately be 50/50’ed but hey let’s see if we get a panic button title change. Give me a good shock, WWE!
Angel Garza def. Akira Tozawa - Before the match Zelina’s crew were arguing backstage. Zelina was in between them trying to calm everyone down but was unsuccessful, as we returned from break during this match and they were all still arguing. Interesting to note, it was Garza and Andrade getting in Theory’s face. There was also no reason given as to why this was even happening.
Tozawa lost, and Garza was taunting Theory the whole time saying he can do this all day, all week, and all year. Drew McIntyre interrupted the arguing to get everyone back on the same page, but Garza and Andrade threw Theory into a Claymore Kick and laughed about it. So Drew Claymored Garza for good measure and that led to a champion vs. champion match.
Drew McIntyre def. Andrade - Andrade and Drew are a great time, any time. They are vicious to each other, and have scouted each other well. They had the type of match I was hoping to see last night between Drew and Seth. Both men saw each other’s moves coming. Andrade always sticks to the arm he damaged at TakeOver.
Teasing dissension, and then Andrade loses was not what I expected here. There was a point where both were on the outside attacking each other, and it really should have just ended in a count out. They are so up and down with Zelina’s crew after that one week of showing them to be dominant. Pick a lane and stick to it.
Ballin’! - The Street Profits and the Viking Raiders played basketball tonight. It went exactly how you’d expect basketball between Street Profits and the Viking Raiders to go. The score was not similar to Toon Squad vs. the Monstars. The Viking Raiders don’t play basketball on their ships and have never done anything for fun except kill and ride in a car. Street Profits won, and Viking Raiders let them win because after the (basketball) match, Ivar showed off his real skills.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ we’ll get ‘em next time, fellas. Props to SP for them Kobe numbers on their jerseys.
Bobby Lashley def. Humberto Carrillo - Carrillo got some air and drop kicked a chair into Lashley’s face. Carrillo used that chair to attack Lashley which brought me back to when he destroyed Andrade two months ago. It was not enough however as Lashley made him tap out. The no DQ stipulation made this better. Outside of the ring stuff and the usage of the chair were really nice.
Bobby Lashley had a very good night tonight, because it wasn’t over there. Later, MVP approached him and asked him what he was doing fighting Carrillo, when Corbin will be facing the WWE champion next week. He told Lashley to get back to him. Then MVP ran into Lana and she screamed at him. That was the only time she was shown or mentioned this week though. Interesting.
… R-Truth?, Cedric Alexander, and Ricochet def. MVP, Brendan Vink, and Shane Thorne - This match was continuing the weirdness of the whole night. While really good wrestling was going on, we had R-Truth switching between himself and “Pretty Ricky”, his “cousin.” I’m not a fan of everything R-Truth does. This was also one of those things. This could have been a segment away from a match, and it probably would have worked better. R-truth pinned MVP to win.
After the match, Bobby Lashley came out and took care of R-Truth for MVP, and said they needed to talk. YES! I am onboard with this Lashley push.
Shayna Baszler def. Natalya, and common decency - If you’ll recall, last night I said that Shayna had some psychotic booking leading up to the pay-per-view, and then did nothing of note during the MITB match. Then… tonight.
While everyone was praising Becky Lynch, she chastised her for getting knocked up while champion. Then she said the kid was going to suck because look at the father! And THEN she told Natalya the Hart line ends with her because she won’t have children.
Who cares about this match? Shayna was brutal. That was really the highlight here. I popped for every moment Shayna was on TV tonight. More women stepping up to defend Becky, please!
This was quite a show. Ups and downs, lefts and rights, and everywhere in between. Taking a few minutes to meditate over it, the changes and out of the ordinary booking I believe did what it was supposed to do. There are some changes and different angles I’m excited to see. I was entertained for a majority of the show, but there are two things that worried me the most. Zelina’s crew imploding so early into their run as a stable I do not like. These guys are all talented and could have been title contenders. Instead, Andrade is losing in nearly every match, and once again they get fed to Drew.
Have I mentioned how against the wild card 2.0 I am? Just… no. NO.
Grade: B
What were your thoughts, Cagesiders?