Despite the Superstar Shake-up taking place a week ago, WWE is continuing to make movements between the Raw and SmackDown brands.
Dave Meltzer reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter that the B-Team, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, have been moved to the Smackdown brand. The team’s rosterpages reflect this. They worked a dark match prior to Tuesday’s tapings, losing to Heavy Machinery.
Meltzer has also reported that Nikki Cross, who wasn’t mentioned in last week’s roster moves, is a member of the Raw roster. Her roster page has yet to reflect this, however. Her husband Killian Dain remains on SmackDown.
WWE has made a number of changes in the last week following the Superstar Shake-up that were not originally reported in last week’s shows. Jinder Mahal, The Singh Brothers, Aleister Black, Andrade and Zelina Vega were moved to SmackDown this week while Cesaro and Samoa Joe were moved to Raw.
The Big Takeaway: Two fairly bland matches this week with Rezar beating No Way Jose in the opener and The B-Team & Tyler Breeze notching up another win over Jinder Mahal & The Singhs in a rematch of last week’s main event.
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Rezar (w/ Drake Maverick) defeated No Way Jose (4:26)
On the surface, this match didn’t feel all that different from something that would have appeared on the old WWF Superstars: you had the heavyset villain complete with a milquetoast manager and the babyface trying to pull off a short-sighted gimmick in whacky colored tights.
What was different, though, was the length. This ought to have been a squash match that showed off Rezar’s strength and potential for dominance. Instead, he beat up Jose, who only got some brief hope and spent more than half the match using rest holds.
After making much more of this than they needed to, Rezar ended this with a big boot and a chokeslam in the middle of the ring. The win leaves Rezar undefeated as a main roster singles competitor.
The B-Team & Tyler Breeze defeated Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers (4:34)
This was a rematch of last week’s Main Event match and was almost move for move the same with exactly the same outcome. Breeze, who was the standout again here, is so undervalued at this point that it would do him no harm to hit the reboot button.
Mahal was once again notable by his lack of in-ring presence. He was in and out quickly — and the babyfaces made short work of him in order to clear their path to beat down the Singh Brothers. It’s clear that Sunil and Samir are improving, slowly but surely.
At the finish, the ring was empty with Sunil looking like he was going to finish off a prone Breeze. But Breeze was playing possum and, just as he did last week, sprung up as Sunil was running the ropes and nailed him with The Beauty Shot for the win.
The Big Takeaway: After his strange pairing with The Ascension on the show last week, it was business as usual for Tyler Breeze, who beat Curt Hawkins in the opener.
Taking Breeze’s place in a repeat of last week’s main event, Mojo Rawley teamed up with The Ascension. They lost in a ridiculously short six-man tag match against Zack Ryder & The B-Team.
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After his absence last week, Percy Watson returned from assignment to make up the three-man announce booth alongside Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness.
Tyler Breeze defeated Curt Hawkins (5:55)
Fresh off his Mixed Match Challenge debut with Ember Moon, where he replaced the injured Braun Strowman this past week, Hawkins returned to singles action. Breeze had played a pawn in last week’s six-man tag match here on Main Event, when he teamed with The Ascension, and so this was a return to the normal run of things for both men.
Hawkins looked like he was going to finally snatch a win, as Breeze very much played the heel. After both men had put each other in the tree of woe and both had kicked out of near falls, Hawkins nailed Breeze with a running lariat. But much to Hawkins’ chagrin, Breeze kicked out at two and a half.
With the referee trying to break Hawkins off at the ropes, while Breeze grabbed a rest, Hawkins was ushered away and Breeze was able to nail him with a superkick and then the Unprettier for the win.
The loss for Hawkins took him to 0-238 as of this match. He is winless since November 2016.
The B-Team & Zack Ryder defeated The Ascension & Mojo Rawley (2:26)
When the entrances run longer than the match itself, it’s rarely a good sign — and this was no different. As the time suggests, this wasn’t much to write home about and, inexplicably, it even ran through a commercial break.
Curtis Axel was the star of the show. After Rawley had played his usual bull in a china shop role, the ring filled and they all started to go at it. Ryder gave the Rough Ryder to Rawley and Viktor sent Bo Dallas outside. With the match running at 100 mph, Axel had to take control.
Viktor tried to roll Axel through and use the ropes for leverage, but the ref saw it and called it, stopping the count. Axel seized the opportunity to roll Viktor back through and snatched the three count before celebrating wildly with his team mates.
This trio are now 2-0 and are certainly fun to watch.
The Big Takeaway: Titus O’Neil beat Mojo Rawley in a battle of the big men. Tyler Breeze teamed up with The Ascension in what became a fun six-man tag main event against Zack Ryder and The B-Team.
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With Percy Watson absent from the commentary booth this week, Vic Joseph and Nigel McGuinness felt like a much more cohesive unit.
Titus O’Neil defeated Mojo Rawley (4:48)
Joseph noted that this would be a “strength vs. strength” match from the outset and, given who the “strength” were, that’s about as big a turn off as you can get. But to give them their dues, this was okay and the crowd got into it late on.
Rawley took the main body of the match, taunting O’Neil and posturing to the crowd, while O’Neil played babyface in peril. But when O’Neil got the heat and some revenge for the trash talk, it was fun to watch.
They went to the finish after a few near falls. O’Neil Irish whipped Rawley and went for a back body drop, but Rawley stopped to kick O’Neil. Rawley then charged at O’Neil, but he managed to grab Rawley and turn it into the Clash of the Titus for the win.
The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) & Zack Ryder defeated The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) & Tyler Breeze (6:39)
The story of this one was that Breeze was the odd man out, a babyface trapped on the heel side. They bullied him throughout the match. The Ascension blind tagged him and would use him in assisting their power moves. Breeze played the part well with B-Team pinning him in the end.
It was nice to see The Ascension get to do something a little more creative than their usual outings on Main Event. For most of the match, they cut the ring in half, beating on Ryder and using Breeze aggressively for their own means — tagging him and out at their leisure.
When Ryder eventually got the hot tag to Axel, he cleaned house so that Viktor and Konnor were left unable to make the save on the outside. He and Dallas teamed up on Breeze to deliver a belly-to-back neckbreaker combination on him for the win. This was way more interesting than the normal tag matches on Main Event.
A Tag Team title match and Nikki & Brie Bella’s return to televised in-ring action are set for next week’s Raw.
After Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder defeated them in a non-title match tonight, The B -Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) will defend their Raw Tag Team titles against The Revival next week. Nikki & Brie facing The Riott Squad in a tag match has also been announced for the episode.
The B-Team retained against The Revival on the SummerSlam pre-show when Dawson tried to pin Axel with a cradle and Dallas getting knocked backwards reversed it. The Revival got the better of them on Raw the past two weeks, with Dawson defeating Dallas and Wilder defeating Axel last Monday and The Revival winning tonight’s non-title match.
The Bellas were in action at Sunday night’s Raw-brand house show in Rochester, New York and made an appearance during a backstage segment where they celebrated with Ronda Rousey, Natalya, and Trish Stratus on tonight’s show. They teamed with Ember Moon to defeat The Riott Squad in Rochester. Brie is set to team with Daniel Bryan against Maryse & The Miz at Hell in a Cell next month, and Dave Meltzer reported last week that Rousey vs. Nikki is the working idea for October’s Evolution pay-per-view.
The Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio is hosting next Monday’s Raw. Shawn Michaels is also set to appear on the episode to promote Triple H vs. The Undertaker at WWE Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia.
The Raw Tag Team titles will be on the line on the SummerSlam pre-show.
The B-Team defending their titles against The Revival was added to the SummerSlam card on tonight’s go-home edition of Raw. It was announced after Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas retained their titles against The Revival and Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt. Axel blind-tagged himself in near the finish, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder hit the Shatter Machine on Wyatt, and Axel threw Dawson out of the ring before getting the pin.
There will also be two other matches on Sunday’s kickoff show. Rusev & Lana will face Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega, and it was officially confirmed tonight that Cedric Alexander’s Cruiserweight Championship defense against Drew Gulak will be on the pre-show.
There are now 13 matches announced for SummerSlam. The pre-show will begin at 5 p.m. Eastern time, with the main card starting at 7 p.m.
Here’s the updated card:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Roman Reigns
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defending against Ronda Rousey
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Samoa Joe
Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella defending against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match
Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler defending against Seth Rollins
United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defending against Jeff Hardy
Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens (If Owens wins, he gets Strowman’s Money in the Bank briefcase)
Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers defending against The New Day
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander defending against Drew Gulak (pre-show)
Rusev & Lana vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega in a mixed tag match (pre-show)
Raw Tag Team Champions The B-Team defending against The Revival (pre-show)
The Raw Tag Team titles will be on the line on next Monday’s go-home show.
Raw Tag Team Champions The B-Team defending against The Revival and Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt in a triple threat match has been announced for the last episode of Raw before SummerSlam. Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas faced The Revival in a non-title match tonight, but Hardy & Wyatt interrupted it and attacked both teams for the double disqualification.
On last week’s show, The Revival interrupted a segment between The B-Team and Hardy & Wyatt. That led to them defeating Hardy & Wyatt with the Shatter Machine.
Axel & Dallas were repackaged after The Miz moved to SmackDown in this year’s Superstar Shakeup. They won the titles from Hardy & Wyatt at Extreme Rules last month and also defeated them in a rematch on TV.
Next week’s Raw is taking place at the Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina.
Two tag team matches have been announced for tonight’s episode of Raw.
In a video on Instagram yesterday, Kurt Angle announced The B-Team vs. The Revival and Sasha Banks & Bayley vs. The Riott Squad for the show. Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas vs. The Revival appears to be a non-title match.
Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder interrupted a segment between The B-Team and Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt on last week’s show, which led to The Revival defeating Hardy & Wyatt. The Revival have been positioned as the strongest challengers for The B-Team’s Raw Tag Team titles.
Wilder tweeted about the matchup yesterday: “The Revival vs The B Team tomorrow night on Raw. We’re not second generation superstars. We weren’t guaranteed anything since birth. But someone let B Team know that we’re the best tag going and we’ll always bring our ‘A’ game.”
Banks & Bayley vs. Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan is a rematch from last week. Banks & Bayley won the first meeting after hitting a backstabber into a Bayley-to-Belly suplex on Morgan.
Tonight’s show from Jacksonville, Florida is being built around Ronda Rousey making her Raw in-ring debut against Alicia Fox. Bobby Roode vs. Mojo Rawley is also set.
After losing the Raw Tag Team titles at Extreme Rules, Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt will be getting their rematch next week.
New Tag Team Champions The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) defeated The Ascension on Raw tonight, then a promo from Hardy & Wyatt on the video screen interrupted them. Hardy said Axel & Dallas disrupted the equilibrium of the heavens by winning the titles, Wyatt said he and Hardy will be getting their rematch on next week’s episode of Raw, and Hardy vowed that Axel & Dallas will be deleted.
Hardy & Wyatt won the titles at April’s Greatest Royal Rumble and held them until losing to Axel & Dallas on Sunday.
The Revival were shown watching tonight’s match backstage and were mentioned on commentary as being a team that will likely be challenging for the titles in the future. They were shown watching Hardy vs. Dallas last week as well.
Next Monday’s Raw is taking place at the U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, Ohio. It will also feature Roman Reigns vs. Bobby Lashley to decide Brock Lesnar’s Universal Championship challenger for SummerSlam.
After being set up as the next challengers prior to Money in the Bank, The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) will finally get their Raw Tag Team title shot at next month’s pay-per-view.
Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt defending their titles against Axel & Dallas was confirmed for Extreme Rules on tonight’s Raw. Axel & Dallas won a number one contender’s tag team battle royal on the June 4 episode of the show to earn the title shot.
Axel countered a superplex into a crossbody to defeat Hardy in a singles match this week. Hardy and Wyatt then applauded Axel, with the storyline being that The B-Team didn’t know what to make of them.
Extreme Rules is taking place at the PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 15. As of now, WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Rusev and Nia Jax challenging for Alexa Bliss’ Raw Women’s Championship are the only other matches officially announced for the PPV.
