Meg's Weekly 5 (7-27-20)

Author:: Megan Chibba
Publish date:: Aug 2, 2020

This week in WWE, we had some very shocking moments on Smackdown, some matches made for Summerslam and as always some great wrestling . Let's go through my 5 best and worst moments.

5 Worst Moments

Last week everyone was very excited about the return of the high-flying Mustafa Ali. However this week the momentum he had built was quickly buried when Bobby Lashley dominated Ali. The match itself consisted of Lashley throwing Ali around the ring the majority of the time. Eventually Lashley got Ali in the full nelson forcing Ali to tap out. I was looking forward to seeing a revamped Ali now he has returned but it doesn't seem like much has changed in terms of his booking. I like the idea of Bobby Lashley becoming more of a dominant character in the ring and adding credibility to the Hurt Business but my issues lies with it being at the expense of Mustafa Ali. Let's see how this develops over the coming weeks and if Mustafa Ali can regain some of his momentum.

This week to kick-off Raw, Randy Orton challenged Drew Mcintyre to a WWE championship match at Summerslam. I think most people saw this coming, I know that I did. Both superstars have been in the business for a long time and will no-doubt provide us with an amazing match at Summerslam. After the challenge, we saw Drew Mcintyre in a rematch from Extreme Rules against Dolph Ziggler. At the end of the match Randy delivered an RKO. As always, the commentators yelled, "RKO OUTTA NOWHERE," but it wasn't really from out of nowhere. At the beginning of the night it was very obvious that Randy would do this. It was very predictable and that detracted from the message being sent by Orton. This week everything felt repetitive and predictable, there was nothing that drew me into the product. I hope from next week they will begin to build excitement towards the WWE championship match and we will see some intense storytelling.

Otis and Mandy made an appearance on Smackdown this week but something was missing... the briefcase! A lot of the time I forget all about Money in the bank because this year it really hasn't been important. I wonder if Otis will be the first person to not attempt a cash-in, or if they will retire the briefcase? There is rarely any talk of it from week to week and no one really understands why Otis won it in the first place. Now he doesn't even bring it to TV. The solo push for Otis ruined an opportunity for someone else and moved the focus away from Heavy Machinery onto Otis alone, which was bad for the whole tag team division. This small action made me feel like Money in the Bank was pointless this year. Maybe there is something planned for later in the year or perhaps it will be forgotten about.

It's time for my unpopular opinion. I didn't want to see Sasha Banks become Raw Women's champion. I don't think it was time for a new champion, Asuka's reign was still interesting and there was still more people to challenge her. Sasha being a Smackdown superstar should've meant she couldn't challenge for the title otherwise what is the point of having separate titles. I think it was a bad decision to give Bayley and Sasha Banks all of the gold, it was unnecessary. Bayley and Sasha were already the highlight of the week whether it was a match or just promos. Now even more attention is going to be on them which could be dangerous. The key to success has always been 'less is more', we experience this in wrestling all the time. The WWE Universe can get bored very quickly if they're shown the same thing every week and that looks like the path they are going down. I'm worried about what Asuka will do now and if she will continue to be used on Raw every week even without the title. However, I am wondering if this is to build for someone to take  both Banks and Bayley down and really build up a new top star, we'll have to wait and see.

Personally, this was the worst thing to happen in WWE this week. All year it has looked like WWE were building momentum for Shayna to win the Raw women's championship, but anytime she has gotten close to it something seems to go wrong. When Baszler's music hit this week I got a buzz of energy thinking about Shayna squaring off against Nia Jax, two incredibly strong athletes who seem to lack decent challengers. There aren't many people that could be considered a threat to Jax but I believe Shayna is definitely one of them. This epic confrontation could have lead to an amazing match showcasing both women's in-ring skills, but instead the match ended on a double count out before it really got started. That segment didn't have enough time to build before the brawl started so it just seemed pointless. I don't understand why two really strong dominant forces were diminished to a 2 minute unimpressive brawl. Both of these women have strived hard this year to be taken seriously as the top heels of the division, and this was no reflection of that hard work. I'm not the biggest fan of Jax but I can accept that this segment was unfair on both sides as it was so disappointing. I'm hoping this feud will continue and we can all finally see how this match will play out if given sufficient time.

5. Mustafa Ali vs Bobby Lashley

Last week everyone was very excited about the return of the high-flying Mustafa Ali. However this week the momentum he had built was quickly buried when Bobby Lashley dominated Ali. The match itself consisted of Lashley throwing Ali around the ring the majority of the time. Eventually Lashley got Ali in the full nelson forcing Ali to tap out. I was looking forward to seeing a revamped Ali now he has returned but it doesn't seem like much has changed in terms of his booking. I like the idea of Bobby Lashley becoming more of a dominant character in the ring and adding credibility to the Hurt Business but my issues lies with it being at the expense of Mustafa Ali. Let's see how this develops over the coming weeks and if Mustafa Ali can regain some of his momentum.

Raw this week was underwhelming and there were many spots that I didn't enjoy, I think the show will pack a lot more excitement as we get closer to Summerslam. On a more positive note, let's look at my favourite things that happened this week.

Following on from the phenomenal triple threat match last week on NXT, we saw a continuation of the rivalry between Johnny Gargano and Roderick Strong. Strong and Gargano are two amazing in-ring technicians who can go the distance and always put on fantastic matches. I love watching both of these superstars separately but together I love them even more. The new edge of Gargano matches up very well with the personality of the Undisputed Era member, Roderick Strong. The match lasted a decent amount of time and stayed consistently entertaining throughout. I'm excited to see what's to come for these two moving forward.

On Raw this week we saw Angel Garza and Andrade vs Ricochet and Cedric Alexander vs The Viking Raiders, with the winners going to Summerslam to face the Street Prophets for the Raw tag team titles. This is a match I will be looking forward to. Andrade and Angel Garza are perfect to be the next champions, they have a lot of momentum on their side, not to mention their manager Zelina Vega, and have been mainly successful over the past few months. When they are on the same page they're hard to stop, I've been very entertained by them for a long time now and every week they continue to grow. It'll be interesting to see how they will match up to the Street Prophets with the added pressure of it being at Summerslam. Although they haven't defended the championships as much as I would like, the Street Prophets are always very entertaining and have been good champions during their run. However, I think it's time for a change.

To start this week's episode of NXT, Io Shirai teamed with Tegan Nox in tag-team action against Dakota Kai and Candice LeRae. The NXT superstars showing the rest of WWE how it's done with this amazing fast paced match. All 4 of these superstars have a lot of chemistry and have been apart of amazing history-making matches. Our new NXT women's champion again proved why she has the gold. The women's division always provides us with entertaining action and great wrestling, their skills are unmatched. I love seeing bigger matches with more than just two women in NXT because each person really fights to show they are the best and they always deliver. You will never be disappointed watching these women.

Sonya Deville strikes again! This was the most exciting thing to happen on Smackdown all year. This will forever be a highlight of Sonya Deville's career. I know I should be outraged that she cut Mandy's hair but it was so entertaining that I really can't complain. She promised that she would ruin Mandy and she is definitely trying her hardest. I want to see more of this side of Deville. Recently Sonya has been praised for her mic-skills but as they say 'less talking more action' and that was exactly what happened this week. I had previously thought the feud was over but I'm so glad it's not. What will Mandy look like next week? What else will Sonya do? I can't wait to find out.

The last hour of Smackdown this week provided us with more entertainment than we've seen in a very long time. The closing match ended with Bayley retaining her championship causing a frustrated Nikki Cross to push her best friend Alexa Bliss. Nikki's outburst was surprising enough but the when she left the ring the lights went out and HE appeared. I was shocked into silence, waiting to see what The Fiend would do to Alexa. I never imagined he would put the mandible claw on her, this was really shocking and a brilliant ending to the show. Is this to get in the head of Braun Strowman? Bray warned everyone that nobody was safe. Is Bliss his last victim or will there be more? I'm really impressed with Smackdown this week it was very entertaining and I cannot wait for next week's episode.

5. Gargano Vs Strong

Following on from the phenomenal triple threat match last week on NXT, we saw a continuation of the rivalry between Johnny Gargano and Roderick Strong. Strong and Gargano are two amazing in-ring technicians who can go the distance and always put on fantastic matches. I love watching both of these superstars separately but together I love them even more. The new edge of Gargano matches up very well with the personality of the Undisputed Era member, Roderick Strong. The match lasted a decent amount of time and stayed consistently entertaining throughout. I'm excited to see what's to come for these two moving forward.