Pay-Per-Views

Goldberg defeats “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt to win the Universal Championship for a Second Time

I believe this was a mistake and a case of Mr. McMahon wanting to revert to his nostalgic attitude he has exhibited in the past rather than sticking to the plan of building the persona of The Fiend. This victory for Goldberg doesn’t do very much for his reputation at this stage in his career, and it basically kills the mystique of The Fiend before WWE even got a chance to showcase its new toy at The Fiend’s first WrestleMania. So now the Saudi Arabia shows are proven to matter with the Universal Title changing hands in the kingdom twice in a row, but the title changes need to make sense within the context of WWE storylines. They cannot be a detriment to one of the company’s biggest potential stars like The Fiend.

The company is doing its best to erase the narrative that these Saudi Arabia shows exist in their own realm of WWE. The company does have time to right its wrong, so the WWE universe does not have to worry too much yet. Perhaps this is just a small hiccup on The Fiend’s road to WrestleMania.

WWE has grown so much from a business standpoint over the last 20 years despite the product not getting much better largely because of the company’s reputation it has built over the years. Mr. McMahon seems to be less and less willing, as time goes by, to create new stars. Maybe he should take advice from Chris Jericho and not be so reliant on nostalgia. The wrestling business is ever-changing, so one needs to constantly reinvent themselves to maintain success.

A perfect example of this is Kevin Owens. With the charisma he possesses combined with his in-ring ability, there is no reason why he shouldn’t be booked like a top-five star in WWE. But instead, WWE is reluctant to pull the trigger with him and is not quite sure what to do with him. Owens is being drastically misused, and rather than putting him in a top-level singles match with Seth Rollins at Mania, the company is hesitant because of the negative reaction it might get.

It’s as if WWE can easily get superstars to a certain level, but when it’s time to make the big jump into mainstream, the company gets cold feet and doesn’t know what to do with the talent.

The Undertaker gets a Victory in the Tuwaiq Mountain Trophy Gauntlet Match

Taker’s perspective: This was a fantastic way to begin building to a WrestleMania 36 match with AJ Styles (this generation’s Shawn Michaels – according to Taker. Pretty hard to disagree with since Michaels and Styles look like carbon copies of each other in the ring). It makes perfect sense for The Undertaker to make his presence felt in Saudi Arabia, as WWE always makes certain to bring back a few superstars from the past at these events.

AJ Styles’ perspective: The Phenomenal One got over in a major way as a heel by dancing when R – Truth was injured and orchestrating for The OC to attack Rey Mysterio before he even got the opportunity to walk out. Styles and The Undertaker at WrestleMania will have serious expectations to live up to because everyone will be comparing the match to Taker’s encounters with Shawn Michaels in 2009 and 2010.

R – Truth’s perspective: Truth was the sentimental favorite to win. He has done everything asked of him over the years and it would have been nice to see him get rewarded in the form of a high- profile victory. But it wasn’t meant to be. Maybe he will get the opportunity to work with Brock Lesnar before ‘Mania like The Beast has requested.

Mysterio’s perspective: Rey Mysterio is nearing his time to retire from in-ring competition. This will be a sad day, but his goal is clearly to put over as much young talent as possible and leave the business in a better state than when he was introduced to it. Styles is not young, but he is younger than Mysterio. The Master of the 619 will ultimately pass the torch to his son Dominic to carry his legacy.

Bobby Lashley’s perspective: The Almighty appears lost and like he is lacking direction for his character without his rival Rusev (who is in the midst of contract negotiations, and WWE probably doesn’t want to move forward with The Bulgarian Brute until they have him under a new contract).

Andrade’s suspension is now over and El Idolo can now resume his United States Championship program with Humberto Carillo. And no one cares anymore about what is in Erick Rowan’s cage because WWE has waited too long to reveal it.

The Miz and John Morrison defeat The New Day to become the new SmackDown Tag Team Champions

It was a smart decision by WWE to go with the fresher act to win the tag team titles. Both superstars are older and have been together before about 10 years ago, but most current WWE fans don’t remember that (or if they do, they are diehard fans). Most of them know that Miz and Morrison were going to win the titles eventually, so the company figured “why wait?” The New Day’s credibility is not hurt at all by this defeat. It will provide the WWE universe with new perspective if they are chasing the titles as opposed to holding them.

 

Angel Garza defeats his Cousin Humberto Carillo

This was a guarantee that Garza will become a regular on Monday Night Raw, and rightfully so because he has an immense amount of potential.

Seth Rollins and Murphy retain the Raw Tag Team Championships against The Street Profits

The Street Profits are an extremely entertaining duo and Montez Ford appears to be the ultimate breakout star of the team (because he is more verbal and has an awe-inspiring vertical leap), but it’s a smart idea to keep the titles with the most dominant faction on Monday Night Raw right now. For now, everything on Raw should revolve around the Monday Night Messiah and his disciples.

However, what might be more interesting is the possibility of Rollins and Murphy dropping the Raw Tag Team Championships to The AOP so Rollins and Paul Heyman can devote more attention to furthering Seth’s singles feud with Kevin Owens (who seems to be in creative limbo right now). This could lead to an ultimate match between them at WrestleMania.

Mansoor defeats Dolph Ziggler

WWE has proven that they will and absolutely should bring out the hometown hero Mansoor every time they go to Saudi Arabia. His next challenge will be to bring that success to the United States.

Brock Lesnar retains his WWE Championship against Ricochet

This is exactly what everyone expected. Realistically, Ricochet never stood a chance against The Beast Incarnate. He found out exactly why Lesnar is a draw, which is the answer to the question “why not me?”

Roman Reigns defeats King Corbin in a Steel Cage

This rivalry went on far too long, but I’m just thankful it has finally come to a definitive conclusion (even if it could have ended at Royal Rumble). Both men will now be able to turn their attention to WrestleMania and their respective programs. Corbin’s is undecided to my knowledge, but Reigns will look to win the Elimination Chamber match and go on to face Goldberg for the Universal Championship at the Show of Shows. The primary goal of this rivalry was to ensure that Reigns is still a fan favorite heading into WrestleMania, so it was a success from that perspective.

WWE’s goal by the time WrestleMania 36 comes around is to have Roman come out a huge babyface. Maybe Mr. McMahon is worried about having him go against a heel the audience loves so much in The Fiend. Perhaps instead Mr. McMahon will go with a Reigns-Goldberg encounter. I’m not saying I love it, but it may be a passing-of-the-torch moment between Goldberg and Reigns.

Bayley retains the SmackDown Women’s Championship against Naomi

Naomi and Carmella have been most likely buying time over the past several weeks for Sasha Banks to heal from her ankle injury. Then she can begin her program leading to ‘Mania on April 5 with Bayley, which was supposed to start right after Royal Rumble.

Adam Cole successfully defends his NXT Championship against Tommaso Ciampa with the aid of The Undisputed Era; and most importantly, Johnny Gargano

This match was great as the main event, despite me being worried about Ciampa’s neck every bump he took. The reason for this booking decision by Triple H might have been because he didn’t want to create another version of himself. Ciampa’s attitude surrounding the major title on the black and yellow brand was starting to become reminiscent of that of The Game back in the day; the attitude of “I need the title because that’s one of the only things I care about other than those I love.”

Ciampa’s obsession with Goldie was starting to turn him into another version of his boss. His longstanding rivalry with Johnny Gargano didn’t necessarily need to be resurrected to accomplish this, but I can’t complain because the entire WWE universe (including me) is extremely emotionally invested in Ciampa’s seemingly never-ending story and his ridiculous amount of chemistry with Gargano.

Adam Cole can, in my opinion, definitively say he is the greatest NXT Champion in history because he has now beaten the most recent champion. He is already at 261 days as NXT Champion, and he will pass Finn Balor’s record reign of 292 days before the next Takeover the night before WrestleMania on April 4. I was thinking he would defend the title at least one more time before then, but he now has a legitimate claim when he says he is the greatest champion in NXT history.

The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly) lose the NXT Tag Team Championships to The Broserweights

Adam Cole is now the only champion left standing for The Undisputed Era. This title change was a case of two men in the form of Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne who have been working to improve their repertoires as performers for a long time. This statement holds true for them both in WWE and outside the company; fans have grown to have a great deal of respect for each of them. This is a great example of the phenomenon of “If you work hard enough, patiently and diligently, great things will eventually happen.”

Rhea Ripley retains her NXT Women’s Championship against Bianca Belair and is attacked after the match by Charlotte Flair; the WrestleMania match between Ripley and Flair is officially confirmed, and they can now solely focus on each other

One has to have a high level of respect for “The EST.” Several women on the main roster have publicly acknowledged that she is a superstar and the aura she creates is special, but this is The Nightmare’s time to shine. Rhea Ripley has truly connected with fans in a way that very few superstars can. She is so young, I could easily see her becoming a female version of Daniel Bryan, whereas the crowds have unwavering support for her.

 

Keith Lee retains his North American Championship against Dominik Dijakovic

The two big men kicked off Takeover: Portland with an unbelievable match that delivered everything the NXT universe has come to expect from them and just a little more; we saw a couple of moves that the universe has never seen from these guys – for example… a corkscrew moonsault from Dijakovic.

Lee just needs to keep doing what he’s doing, and he will one day become a massive star. As of now, he is much more over than Dijakovic simply because Dominik has not had a lot of time on the mic to give the audience an opportunity to get to know him and what he stands for. I have no doubt he can get there, but for now it was the right call to keep the North American Championship on Lee.

Finn Balor defeats Johnny Gargano, Dakota Kai defeats Tegan Nox

Both heels needed to win these matches to propel respective storylines forward and give them momentum to continue. If Gargano or Nox would have won, it could have been the end of their story and fans would no longer have a reason to care anymore. In the women’s match there was also the debut of a new superstar to NXT in Gonzalez, who is now firmly entrenched as a heel after helping out Kai. Another layer was successfully added to the story between the two women. The rivalry between Gargano and The Prince, however, is easily interesting enough by itself.

Men’s Royal Rumble Match

The 2020 Royal Rumble will go down as one of the most satisfying Royal Rumble PPV’s in WWE history because it had such a satisfying conclusion. Arguably, no man deserves to win the Royal Rumble match more than Drew McIntyre. He is a first-time winner, so it received more of a pop than say a second Roman Reigns victory. He has been working on his craft since 2001 at age 15 and was with WWE for years before being assigned to the jobber group 3MB. Finally, at 34, McIntyre has perfected his craft and is coming into his own as a performer. He is finally being allowed to showcase the flamboyance he has with his personality and that charming sense of arrogance.

McIntyre will be very easy to root for in his WrestleMania 36 match against Brock Lesnar. McIntyre has a feel-good story because he has worked so hard for so long in the sports entertainment industry, It is finally paying off. He also brings a certain level of believability to the storyline because it is very believable that a man of his size would believe he could present a challenge to Lesnar and perhaps even defeat him – which absolutely should happen. Speaking of Lesnar, he didn’t bury anyone in the rumble match either – everyone he eliminated got a larger spotlight than they would have if they hadn’t faced off with him.

The McIntyre – Lesnar WrestleMania match has a legit opportunity to be the main event and take precedence over The Fiend taking on his challenger who will probably be Roman Reigns at this point. This will provide a good amount of unpredictability surrounding WrestleMania because some people just assumed that Reigns would be in the main event this year since he has made a pretty full recovery from his leukemia diagnosis.

WWE fans – no matter how much they don’t like him – fans must acknowledge that when The Beast does decide to show up, Brock brings with him an unsettling presence. Lesnar also has a natural ability to elevate the level of star power of every superstar who enters the ring with him because of the amount of attention Vince McMahon has afforded to Lesnar in the booking process over the years.

The biggest surprise of the men’s Royal Rumble match was the return of Edge, who appears to be in unbelievable condition and plans to wrestle a part-time schedule similar to that of Brock Lesnar. This is fantastic news for Edge as well as the entire WWE universe because no one thought they would ever see him wrestle again after his triple fusion neck surgery in 2011.

Women’s Royal Rumble Match

Charlotte Flair could have easily gone her entire career without ever winning a Royal Rumble. Personally, I might have booked the narrative of her career to paint the picture that she had a knack for winning all big matches but struggled for some reason in Royal Rumble matches. This result instead paints the picture that she is attaining yet another accolade that is eerily similar to the accomplishments of her dad (since Ric Flair won the men’s Rumble match in 1992). It had sort of a predictable feel to it because Charlotte Flair is always a favorite in any match. This was somewhat of a letdown, but it was more than made up for with Drew McIntyre’s victory later in the night in the men’s Rumble.

Everyone was so excited to see Shayna Baszler, now at number 30. Everyone in the arena thought she was going to get the victory, as she was the betting favorite to win the women’s Rumble – and the WWE universe got the predictable result in the end. WWE teased the universe for as long as possible before going with the favorite to win.

A nice surprise in the match was Bianca Belair’s dominant showing during the first half of the match. Many of the women from NXT showed up, showcasing the depth of WWE’s women’s division.

The Rest

it was great to see Sheamus as he looked to be in great shape after nine months away to recover from an injury. I as well as most of the WWE universe figured that he retired because he has dealt with spinal stenosis for several years. Shorty G had a little bit of a rough night because he didn’t add much to the story – the highlight was clearly Sheamus’ return.

WWE made the right decision by having Andrade retain his United States Championship over Humberto Carillo. While Carillo makes for an excellent challenger for the title, he doesn’t have the budding superstar aura that Andrade does. Also, while Humberto has received a pretty decent push early on in his WWE tenure, Andrade has gotten a more sustained push and it’s going according to plan (he is a former NXT Champion and has been nearly 2 years now on the main roster).

In hindsight, which is always 20/20, the fact that Roman Reigns earned the victory over King Corbin in the opening match on the main card was almost a dead giveaway that he would not get a second major accolade in the same night by winning the men’s Rumble match. It feels about time for this rivalry to come to a conclusion so both men can move on to something fresh. Otherwise, WWE will be asking fans to put their energy into a rivalry they are not really feeling anymore.

The WWE creative team quite frankly seems to be unsure what exactly to do with Bayley. There was always the possibility that Sasha Banks could have won the Royal Rumble and chosen to face her friend at WrestleMania, but that obviously didn’t happen as she is injured. There is always the possibility that WWE could have Sasha Banks punch her ticket to face Bayley at ‘Mania through the Elimination Chamber or something like that, because I don’t know what other storylines WWE would be able to craft for Bayley.

It was almost a foregone conclusion that The Fiend would retain the Universal Championship over Daniel Bryan. Bryan can easily afford a loss due to how much the WWE universe has resonated and connected to his character in the past, and he will gain more sympathy.

It will be interesting to see what Vince McMahon decides to do with Bray Wyatt’s “The Fiend” persona post-‘Mania. One could envision that this is just a stage in the evolution of Wyatt’s character that he will portray for a year and then move on to something else. It is also plausible that this incarnation could continue for a few years because of how mesmerizing and distinct it is. There are also so many different layers to The Fiend’s psychological puzzle.

Doing away with the red lights during the match takes nothing away from the menacing presence of The Fiend. Some superstars – Seth Rollins in particular – have claimed that they couldn’t see what they were doing during matches with Bray Wyatt’s alter ego. The concept of a scrap match hindered the two superstars more than it added anything – which is obviously what was intended.

Becky Lynch has had many accomplishments over the last year and there will probably be entire chapters dedicated to her in books written years down the road about WWE history. She has now conquered the one opponent she couldn’t seem to beat in Asuka. The Man will now be able to be clear-headed in preparation for Charlotte Flair at ‘Mania.

Jordan Devlin Making Noise

Jordan Devlin made what was by far the biggest impact in the first official NXT Worlds Collide event. He competed in the fatal four-way match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship and got the victory in what was the only title change the night. Very few men in the company deserve to become a champion more than he does, as it has been obvious over the past few months that he has been working very hard on perfecting his in-ring ability.

He also has an innate sense of timing that can only be developed through years of perfecting his craft. He could be one superstar to look out for as he might receive a more focused push in the coming months (it would be reasonable to anticipate he will make a move to the United States as well).

The Undisputed Era may be losing a little steam as they lost an encounter with Imperium (who may be gaining momentum). WWE may also want to think about having Trent Seven form a tag team with Cesaro since they have now both lost teeth in memorable ways in matches (just a thought for something that could eventually happen in a couple of years).

The final PPV event of the decade was very well-done, especially considering how insignificant TLC typically is in terms of storyline development. This is because of the event’s placement right between Survivor Series and Royal Rumble. Samoa Joe could also be a mainstay on commentary.

The night kicked off on the pre-show with Andrade taking his second loss in a week to Humberto Carillo (that name still sounds suspiciously like Alberto Del Rio). Zelina Vega is reportedly going to leave Andrade and no longer be his business associate since they have recently been arguing about Andrade’s losing ways.

She will align herself with Carillo, who will dominate the main roster like Andrade never could and possibly even get a WWE Championship opportunity. But this is WWE and, Vince McMahon is an abstract thinker, so no one can ever be 100% certain what is in his mind.

TLC was officially kicked off with an excellent ladder match between The Revival and The New Day. Personally, one could’ve looked for Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder to take up the victory and claim the SmackDown Tag Team Championships from The New Day for the second time this calendar year. This could have served as fuel to the fire for the rivalry between the two teams. However, I can’t ever complain about The New Day being Tag Team Champions.

Some major respect needs to be given to Aleister Black for even being able to finish his match with Buddy Murphy with what I’m about 95% sure was a broken nose. Despite that, the work rate in this match was excellent and not hampered at all. Buddy Murphy unfortunately did not get nearly the spotlight deserved simply because of Black’s injury.

Aleister would absolutely be must-see TV if WWE were to put him in that role. He presents his character in a way that it has an underground following but a slightly darker feel to it.

The OC will likely eventually take the Raw Tag Team Championships from The Viking Raiders – perhaps even at Royal Rumble. It was also smart for creative to book the match so that no one took a pin to keep both teams looking strong. For now, The Viking Raiders are unequivocally the top tag team on Monday Night Raw, as they should be.

WWE is very wisely investing its full effort and attention into establishing Baron Corbin as the company’s top heel. He is the best I’ve ever seen at giving the audience a reason to genuinely hate him. He doesn’t do anything cheesy either like bang on the city they are in. Everything he says to get heat from the WWE universe makes perfect sense within the context of his storyline.

This is also one of the best events for Roman Reigns to take a loss, because the WWE universe will likely forget about it rather quickly because TLC is a relatively insignificant event.

I think I might love Bray Wyatt and his seemingly innocent character even more than The Feed. Miz, however, played an insignificant role in this match. A Universal Championship may indeed be in Daniel Bryan’s future – maybe even as soon as next month at the Royal Rumble.

But he should not resurrect the Yes! Movement just because he cut his hair. In this situation, he should take advice from Chris Jericho and try to come to the realization that nothing like this is ever as good in the second incarnation. Nostalgia is not necessary in this situation

For the first few weeks, Rusev seemed to be the only reason the storyline was salvageable – Lashley had no personality and Lana was just annoying. Now however, a WWE Championship may be in Lashley’s future sooner rather than later.

The fact that Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair made their entrances first for the main event was a subtle indication that The Kabuki Warriors were going to go over in the match. The Women’s Tag Team Division is stacked – and it was hurting for star power just five or six months ago. Pretty amazing if you ask me. Although, a lot more women could be featured but are sitting on the sidelines for whatever reason.

A probable Raw Women’s Championship match may be booked at Royal Rumble between Becky Lynch and Asuka since WWE can now highlight the fact that The Empress of Tomorrow has now pinned The Man in a title match at the same event two years in a row.

The single biggest take away from Survivor Series was that NXT seems to have been officially established as a third brand in WWE. NXT is no longer just developmental, but rather a place that has more of a focus on recruiting young talent that has not previously been with the company.

It just feels right to have Becky Lynch main-eventing a Pay-Per-View. She creates the same aura John Cena did; not so much in terms of on-screen character but because they both command the attention of the audience so well. They emanate the feeling that they are in exactly the right place within the company that they should be. Shayna Baszler also already feels like a main eventer.

The NXT roster had an extremely strong showing, winning 4 of 7 head-to-head matches between Raw, SmackDown, and NXT overall at Survivor Series. Three of four which took place on the main card.

Three NXT superstars stood out:

1. Rhea Ripley had an amazing weekend, leading each of her respective teams to victory, each with a disadvantage.
2. Adam Cole and Pete Dunne each fought through injuries from the previous night to put on what was probably the best match of the night. This match also put NXT in the spotlight because it was for the NXT Title. I would love to see the spectacle these guys could execute when fully healthy.
3. Keith Lee is another one that stood out, mostly for not only eliminating The Architect Seth Rollins (who is due for a heel turn) and being put over by The Big Dog and the top superstar in the entire company Roman Reigns. Roman is a very classy guy in his own right and legitimately cares about the company more than anything.

While it was nice to see Dominic doing his absolute best to even the odds for his dad Rey Mysterio, it simply was not enough to overcome Brock Lesnar. This was more than expected. It has become somewhat of a staple for Lesnar to have his best match of the year at Survivor Series: AJ Styles in 2017, Daniel Bryan in 2018, and now Rey Mysterio in 2019.

I was somewhat disappointed with the lack of emphasis “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt and the Universal Championship received. At least for this Pay-Per-View, it was relegated to the status the WWE Championship has been under for about the last three years. The Fiend and Daniel Bryan both deserve better than this.

It seems that WWE could possibly create a tag team of Daniel Bryan and The Miz which would be a great idea since they have an extensive amount of history with one another deleting back to 2010 in the first season of NXT.

Shinsuke Nakamura is significantly benefiting from the presence of Sami Zayn. What is happening is that the WWE universe is getting so irritated by Zayn and his punchable face that they are starting to develop a liking again for Nakamura. As a result, I would expect WWE to turn Shinsuke into a fan favorite again within the next couple of months, leading to a match between him and Sami Zayn at ‘Mania.

Potential option ideas for WWE creative to execute at Survivor Series 2020 are:

1. To either have each match have some sort of Royal Rumble implication (I will leave it up to them which implications they choose for the matches to have, but it would be great if the Survivor Series matches had some type of impact in the future).
2. Or, WWE could always go back to the more traditional route of orchestrating it so the Survivor Series matches served to create new, marketable superstars; either way, I just think I speak for the entire WWE universe when I state that it would be beneficial if one of these transpired.

Side Note: The Viking Raiders needed the victory in the tag team match to keep their momentum as an unstoppable force in the Raw tag team division. Very smart decision.

Most true wrestling fans have an appreciation for NXT Takeover events because while only 4-5 matches take place at each one, they are still of the utmost quality and keep fans talking about them for several months until the next Takeover.

The current NXT superstars who will most likely be receiving a sizable push heading into WrestleMania season are Keith Lee and Dakota Kai. Lee has probably traveled about 90% of the road to being built up properly in order to become a champion in NXT. The NXT universe is chanting “Bask in his Glory” when he is not even participating in matches – and this is a telltale sign that a superstar is clearly over with the audience.

The most despicable heel turn of the night goes to Dakota Kai. This will undoubtedly draw eyeballs to the storyline she is involved in, because there was really no clear reason as to why she would attack her best friend Tegan Nox. This could make Kai a household name in the NXT women’s division.

This comes at a great time in her career, because she has had trouble for a while getting over as a babyface. Now in one night, she goes on to be one of the most hated superstars in NXT with perhaps the only exception being Shayna Baszler

I must say that if people really pay attention to WWE they could have seen the Kevin Owens appearance at Takeover coming. Triple H was talking to him on the previous episode of Monday Night Raw about how he has been told on a few different occasions over his time on the main roster that he doesn’t exactly fit the mold of what a traditional WWE superstar is supposed to look like, and he loves it. This is accurate, and Kevin has extraordinary potential in WWE to be a massive star.

He could be like a Steve Austin type of persona if WWE has the inclination to turn him into that, since he’s already got the Stunner. Maybe this was the reason behind his tweet from a couple of months ago that read: 14 – 24 – 20, coinciding with the letters of the alphabet spelling NXT. He could have been saying “I’m coming soon.”

I can’t be 100% positive because he left the ring prematurely after giving Tommaso Ciampa a hug, as if to say this was a one-time thing.

It’s a smart storyline move on WWE’s part to orchestrate an NXT Championship match to take place at Survivor Series. While the matches should all be great, none of them have very many implications for the future other than the couple title matches. It will be nice to add one more. In my humble opinion, I would orchestrate for at least some of the Survivor Series matches to have some sort of Royal Rumble implication.

The most established NXT superstar was booked to win the match which was absolutely the right call – Pete Dunne was the beneficiary. The other two superstars in the match are both incredible talents, particularly Damian Priest. Both are most likely future champions; they have just not built enough of a following yet.

Finn Balor may be a heel, but it has to be respected that he did exactly what he said he was going to do by beating Matt Riddle, a wonderfully talented superstar in his own right.

The first-ever women’s match in Saudi Arabia signifies a major cultural shift in terms of the way women are viewed in society in the Middle East. This societal leap matters way more than the result of the match. It also makes perfect sense as to who was featured in the match. Natalya is a well-respected veteran who has helped the women’s division in WWE make massive strides, and Lacey Evans is a former Marine.

WWE probably didn’t have The Fiend win the Universal Championship at Hell in a Cell because they wanted a major title change to take place in Saudi Arabia (likely due to the insane amount of money WWE receives from the Saudi government – it’s a courtesy to have big, interesting things happen at this event).

Tyson Fury looked good in his match with Braun Strowman. That’s to be expected since he has openly stated his desire to get involved in the sports entertainment industry. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for Cain Velasquez. He looked almost uncomfortable to a degree in his match with Brock Lesnar.

So, Humberto Carrillo’s great start to his WWE career continued at Crown Jewel with a United States Championship opportunity. At this stage in his career, it’s not that important if he wins; but just to get the opportunity is significant.

AJ Styles will begin to be featured in a more prominent role on Monday Night Raw because he is now the only champion on Monday nights (which suits his gimmick by the way).

Speaking of The OC, Gallows and Anderson are beginning to solidify themselves as a dominant tag team on Raw, as they should be. WWE booked the tag team match perfectly in terms of the final two teams, The Viking Raiders and The OC. It didn’t matter who won between those two teams so much because either one would have been hurt by the loss (The Viking Raiders will surely be booked to gain back their momentum relatively quickly).

Congratulations to the hometown boy Mansoor on beating Cesaro. WWE may have a real gem in this superstar; he is young, at just 24 years old. The company might be wise to explore his potential.

The primary purpose of the 5-on-5 tag team match was to give the Saudi Arabia crown some nostalgia to cheer for because the kingdom of Saudi Arabia always makes it clear that they want some stars from the past to be in a featured role at the events. Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair certainly satisfied in that department.

Since 2009 when Hell in a Cell began, WWE has established this event as a slower-paced environment where superstars get the opportunity, and an adequate amount of time, to showcase their in-ring ability and properly tell stories. The event didn’t disappoint this time around as the matches were some of the best I’ve seen in WWE since WrestleMania 35. Not one of them disappointed in the slightest.

The Fiend’s demonic character fits perfectly in Hell in a Cell. Because of this, Vince McMahon may want to consider booking his match at WrestleMania to take place inside the Cell. This would be a special occasion because the last ‘Mania match in Hell in a Cell was the End of an Era Match between Triple H and The Undertaker at WrestleMania XXVIII in 2012. I was in attendance for this, and The Undertaker’s streak was still in-progress.

Seth Rollins is going to be psychologically in a dark place for quite some time. He very arguably turned heel at Hell in a Cell. The entire match upset fans because it didn’t make much sense from a psychology standpoint. Unfortunately, it still wasn’t enough to overcome the Horror movie-like aura of The Fiend. The only superstar who I would dare compare him to is Kane when he debuted in the first-ever Hell in a Cell match in 1997 and he brought the Michael Myers Presence.

I personally thought the psychology of the match was fantastic. Seth Rollins’ character did a complete revolution around the merry-go-round in a matter of one match lasting about 20 minutes.

The match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch was also a barnburner. It served to kick off the show in an unbelievable way. There is a very plausible scenario where Becky Lynch holds the Raw Women’s Championship until ‘Mania next April, which will market one full year of her holding the title. She most definitely deserves it, as the energy she puts out clearly resonates with the WWE universe.

This victory for Roman Reigns and Daniel Bryan appears to be the official starting point of a face turn and change of heart for Bryan. It could also be the start of a major push into WWE Championship contention for Roman right around WrestleMania time (I don’t feasibly see a scenario in which he’s drafted anywhere but SmackDown, as he is WWE’s top star and his character also fits perfectly with the sports atmosphere FOX intends to create).

It was refreshing to see the Kabuki Warriors undergo a character change and win the Women’s Tag Team Championships. They are too skilled of performers to not win these titles at some point. Asuka got a nostalgic pop from the crowd to finish the match by using the mist that Tajiri used to use back in the day.

I have only one thing to say about the 10-time Women’s Champion Charlotte Flair: Woooo! The OC also could not afford to take a clean loss, particularly Gallows and Anderson. Finally, Chad Gable seems to be embracing the “Shorty” moniker. He is someone to keep an eye on because Vince McMahon reportedly really likes him.

His victory over Ali may be a subtle hint that Randy Orton will get another major Title opportunity sooner rather than later, perhaps on Monday Night Raw since he has been on the SmackDown roster for a few years. The victory would definitely be a sign of an impending title match if we were talking about NXT, since wins and losses mean a whole lot more down at Full Sail University.

Brock Lesnar is reportedly scheduled to square off with Cain Velasquez at Crown Jewel on October 31 and is also scheduled to appear on SmackDown more frequently in the coming months. This completely makes sense. FOX probably demands it since they are paying WWE $1 billion to air SmackDown.

This was a very efficiently executed event, and the first meaningful match of the night, besides the Cruiserweight match, featured a hometown boy in Cedric Alexander challenging AJ Styles for the United States Championship. An outsider looking in almost had to expect Alexander to win the title because it took place from his hometown in Charlotte, North Carolina. Another reason one might have expected Alexander to pick up the victory is because he has been receiving much more TV time as of late, and this is most likely because Paul Heyman (who is the executive director of Monday Night Raw) is extremely high on Cedric Alexander and intends to give him a “slow push” to the “top rung” of the proverbial WWE ladder. His in-ring talents are not to be questioned. He also used to be bigger in his past days with other companies, and this significantly helps him to be able to hang in the strength department with bigger superstars. However, despite the fact that what could have been anticipated didn’t happen, no one can ever complain about AJ Styles being a champion of any kind. I just figured that this may be a good way to propel Styles into the main event scene, and it would also be a way to allow an up-and-comer to elevate the United States Championship (maybe not to the level that John Cena did when he was champion, but close).

Being relegated to the pre-show will give AJ Styles something else to complain about. I can already hear him talking about how much of a workhorse he is for the company and how this is an insult. The main card was stacked though. Even Chad Gable and Baron Corbin have to have the final match of the King of the Ring tournament (which was supposed to take place at Clash of Champions) the following night on Monday Night Raw.

Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman were presented with the task of starting the main card of the show and setting the energetic tone for the night, defending their Raw Tag Team Championships against the team of Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler. They took the loss, which served to further their Universal Championship storyline. This also gives Roode and Ziggler something meaningful to be involved in within the company. Rollins turned out to retain his Universal Championship, as he probably should have (after all, he did not sleigh the Beast twice to lose the title a month later). He will be challenged next by The Fiend Bray Wyatt for the Universal Title at Hell in a Cell from the Golden1 Center in Sacramento, California on October 6. Speaking of The Fiend, he is being booked to perfection, making short appearances that serve to make big impacts on the entire roster. His booking should continue exactly this way in the coming months leading to WrestleMania next April.

It was a brilliant idea by WWE to reunite Luke Harper and Erick Rowan – the two former Wyatt family members – after they have both been sorely underutilized for the last two years, approximately. It looks like Harper may have been the big reveal in the Roman Reigns storyline, so WWE may have something else planned for the premiere episode of SmackDown Live on FOX on October 4. Let’s hope this storyline serves to establish Harper and Rowan as upper-mid card heels. The direction WWE will most likely go in is towards having Harper and Rowan play the roles of the monster heels, and Roman Reigns will look to make up and ultimately team with Rowan’s former accomplice Daniel Bryan since Bryan was betrayed by Rowan. The two teams will likely square off at Hell in a Cell in three weeks.

The Raw Women’s Championship match between Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch added a level of intensity to the show that it had been lacking until that point. These matches that the crowd eats up are very rare. The entire WWE universe quite clearly connects with Sasha Banks on a very deep level.

One might have thought it may have been time for Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship again given that it’s been 2 ½ years since he last held the title (one would have to think, since he is only 39 years old, that he will hold the championship at least one more time). However, this is a sign for sure of just how highly Vince McMahon views Kofi Kingston if Vince trusts him to carry the richest prize in sports entertainment for six months.

The pairing between Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura should ultimately lead to an epic rivalry between them. This will be great because they have history in NXT (they had one of the greatest matches in NXT history at Takeover: Dallas in 2016. It was Zayn’s last NXT match and Shinsuke’s first). The WWE creative team reportedly envisions the storyline playing out similarly to the Kevin Owens – Chris Jericho storyline (we all remember that one #FestivalofFriendship). The Miz is still in limbo and creative is struggling to find a niche for him right now. That’s okay though, it happens to most everyone from time to time.

Bayley used classic heel tactics to pick up a victory by taking the pad off the bottom turnbuckle and smashing Charlotte Flair’s face into it. There was a feeling in the air that Flair was going to win the SmackDown Women’s Championship and become a 10-time Women’s Champion in WWE considering the Pay-Per-View took place in her hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina. From that perspective, WWE missed an opportunity.

Nikki Cross took the next step in the evolution of her character by picking up the victory for her team and shining as the standout performer (Corey Graves also was losing it with Mandy Rose and Alexa Bliss in the same match; he didn’t know who to root for).

It also needs to be added that The Revival deserve to be Tag Team Champions despite the fact that they used underhanded tactics to get the victory. That’s also number 6 of 10 complete for The New Day. It is (it may or may not still be) Vince McMahon’s goal to have The New Day break the record held by the Dudley Boyz of 9 Tag Team Title reigns, and they are well on their way.

Great show, but first of all let’s discuss the people who were left off SummerSlam. We’ll start with Roman Reigns. Are you kidding me, leaving your supposed top dog off the shelf? I try to stay away from highlighting the negatives from WWE because that’s just not me, but it’s hard not to acknowledge that WWE left Roman out to dry on this one. Let’s hope they can recover quickly. It’s surprising because he just had a movie release with one of the top actors in Hollywood.

It’s also plainly obvious that WWE has no direction in mind for the Women’s Tag Team Championships, considering they were left off SummerSlam. It has been made public that Vince McMahon reluctantly created the championships with no real direction in mind for them. There is hope for them, however, now that they are in the capable hands of Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross.

The three men who stuck out the most from Summerslam are Kevin Owens, “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt, and Seth Rollins. The match between Rollins and Lesnar may in fact be one of the best Lesnar has put on since his return to WWE in 2012. Nonetheless, Rollins absolutely deserves it despite all the somewhat negative criticism he has received on the Internet in recent months. In this day and age, no matter what you say you’re going to offend somebody. I guarantee I would be guilty of offending quite a few people if I were to be in Seth’s position, so he is handling that much better than I would.

The Fiend is absolutely menacing. This may very well be one of the most, maybe the most, creative characters WWE has ever conjured up. The new wrinkles to Bray’s entrance music are fantastic too, making it slightly more upbeat and menacing. It is also a bit of a throwback to see him using Mick Foley’s Mandible Claw to finish matches. He may look to confront Paul Heyman and challenge Brock Lesnar in the coming months.

Kevin Owens is officially over. Did you hear the reaction he got. There was also great audience participation in this match. This may have been the match at SummerSlam the audience was most into. WWE should look to build a storyline out of this having it culminate with KO winning the WWE championship at WrestleMania (unless WWE elects to have him go after the Universal Championship instead).

The great match between Ricochet and AJ Styles will further the storyline in which The OC is being billed as the new version of The Shield. Ricochet also looks like a superhero out of a comic book with his new ring attire, and it suits him perfectly. I also have an entirely new level of respect for Kofi Kingston after seeing his WWE 24 special. It is very interesting to learn that the concept of The New Day was Xavier Woods’ idea. His match with Randy Orton had a disappointing finish with a countout, signaling that the rivalry will likely continue. I was of the thought that this may be a one – off match to further elevate Kofi’s status, but there’s a reason I don’t have any input… Yet! Orton is also so smooth in the ring.

Dolph Ziggler and Goldberg can be explained in one word: Expected.

Charlotte Flair deserved to be put over by Trish Stratus, but it was still nice to see Trish make a respectable exit from the company. Natalya may not have won the Raw Women’s Championship, but the rivalry with Becky Lynch still more than did its job of seeking to reestablish Natalya as a legitimate threat. She had not been involved in any storylines of note since being involved with Ronda Rousey.