Two more matches have been added to the lineup for tonight’s SummerSlam go-home show.
WWE has announced that Women’s Tag Team Champions Peyton Royce & Billie Kay will defend their titles against Asuka & Kairi Sane, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville, and Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross in a fatal four-way elimination match on Raw. Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade is also set for tonight’s episode.
Royce & Kay vs. Rose & Deville in a non-title match was set up for last week’s SmackDown, but the match didn’t end up happening. WWE uploaded a video where The IIconics claimed that Kay had “puppy fever” and couldn’t wrestle on the show. Rose & Deville and Asuka & Sane then argued over who should get the next title shot.
Bliss & Cross defeated Bayley & Ember Moon on SmackDown last week.
Andrade eliminated Mysterio during a gauntlet match on last Monday’s Raw. He then ripped off Mysterio’s mask in a post-match angle.
Ricochet won the gauntlet match and will challenge for AJ Styles’ United States Championship at SummerSlam.
The PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is hosting tonight’s Raw. Becky Lynch & Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya & Trish Stratus, a Miz TV segment with Shawn Michaels and Dolph Ziggler, and an appearance by Brock Lesnar have also been confirmed for the episode.
It appears that Asuka & Kairi Sane are finally getting their shot at the Women’s Tag Team titles.
WWE has announced that Peyton Royce & Billie Kay will defend their titles against Asuka & Sane on tonight’s SmackDown. Asuka & Sane getting the title shot was set up when they defeated Royce & Kay in a non-title match at a house show in Tokyo, Japan last month.
There was an angle on last week’s SmackDown where Royce & Kay avoided having their match against Asuka & Sane that night by claiming that Kay was too sick to wrestle.
WWE is also hyping a segment for tonight where Daniel Bryan will make an announcement that “will change the course of his career and shake SmackDown LIVE to its core.”
Bryan & Rowan lost the SmackDown Tag Team titles at Sunday’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view, with Big E & Xavier Woods defeating Bryan & Rowan and Heavy Machinery in a triple threat match. Bryan cut a post-show promo where he said he has to aim higher and go where he hasn’t gone before.
Tonight’s SmackDown is taking place at the DCU Center in Worcester, Massachusetts. Shane McMahon will host a “town hall meeting” after Kevin Owens called out Shane last week for taking up TV time from other wrestlers and calling himself the best in the world. Ember Moon and a partner will also team against Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville.
WWE has announced the first few matches for next week’s SmackDown and 205 Live television tapings in London, England.
On SmackDown, Asuka & Kairi Sane will team against Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville. Rose & Deville defeated Ember Moon & Carmella on last night’s episode. Paige then appeared with Asuka & Sane and announced the tag team match for next Tuesday.
Members of the NXT UK roster will be appearing on next week’s 205 Live. Cruiserweight Champion Tony Nese will face Ligero in a non-title match, which comes in advance of Nese defending his title against Ariya Daivari at Money in the Bank on May 19.
A fatal four-way match between Jack Gallagher, Humberto Carrillo, Mark Andrews, and James Drake is also set for next week’s 205 Live. Andrews and Drake are both on the NXT UK roster. Drake & Zack Gibson are the current NXT UK Tag Team Champions.
Next week’s Raw and SmackDown are both being taped at the O2 Arena in London.
Kairi Sane has been called up to the main roster, but she isn’t teaming with Io Shirai.
After teasing that Paige would be bringing a new team to the women’s tag division, it was announced on tonight’s SmackDown that Paige will be representing Asuka & Sane. Paige called them the next Women’s Tag Team Champions.
Asuka, Sane, Bayley & Ember Moon defeated Women’s Tag Team Champions The IIconics (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay), Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville in an eight-woman tag match on SmackDown. Sane pinned one half of the Women’s Tag Team Champions, with Asuka hitting a reverse DDT on Royce and Sane giving Royce the InSane Elbow to get the win.
Bayley and Moon moved from Raw to SmackDown in the Superstar Shake-up.
Sane was a one-time Women’s Champion in NXT. She also won the 2017 Mae Young Classic, defeating Shayna Baszler in the finals.
Sane challenging for Baszler’s Women’s Championship is airing on this week’s episode of NXT. The stipulation is that Sane can’t challenge for the title again if she loses.
The show opened with the War Raiders making their entrance to face two jobbers.
The War Raiders (Hanson & Rowe) defeated two unnamed jobbers
Hanson and Rowe absolutely killed these two guys quickly, and it was awesome. After the match, the Raiders told William Regal to simply watch, and asked for another tag team. Cezar Benoni and Adrian Jaoude made their entrance.
The War Raiders defeat Cezar Bononi & Adrian Jaoude
This was another quick one, as Hanson and Rowe destroyed their opponents with quick tag team offence, then Hanson hit a combo powerbomb and powerslam on either Benoni or Jaoude.
A hype video aired for Pete Dunne vs. Walter. Another video followed for NXT TakeOver: New York.
Candace LeRae was interviewed about Johnny’s main event match against Adam Cole. LaRae said she also wanted to be the NXT women’s champion. Aliyah and Vanessa Borne showed up and said she was a failure. LeRae said she was going to earn her NXT Women’s title opportunity.
Jaxson Ryker defeated Oney Lorcan
Lorcan and Ryker started with Ryker dominating with hard hitting offence. Ryker put Lorcan on the top rope, hit some overhead arm smashes to the back of Lorcan and went for a superplex. Lorcan shoved him off and went for a dive as Ryker ducked. Lorcan rolled threw but Ryker decided to catch him and hit a gorilla press into a gut buster. Lorcan kicked out, but Ryker continued to attack Lorcan.
Lorcan went for a sunset flip, but Ryker locked on a bearhug, as he continued to try and wear Lorcan down. Oney fought out and started chopping Ryker and hit two European uppercuts. Lorcan hit some running elbows, but Ryker cut him off and hit no remorse for the pinfall. Solid match.
A hype video aired for Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano for the NXT Championship, followed by another hype video for Velveteen Dream vs. Matt Riddle. A recap then aired of Keith Lee vs. Donavan Dijakovic, and Keith Lee cut a promo about being bumped from NXT TakeOver, but the rematch was made for 2 weeks from now on NXT.
Kairi Sane and Bianca Belair went to a no contest
The match opened with some chain wrestling, with Belair showcasing superior strength, but Kairi got angry and hit a massive right forearm. That was a great spot. Sane made fun of Belair, sent her to the outside, and hit a flying elbow off the apron, knocking Belair to the ground. Sane got a 2 count and went for a cross-legged Boston crab.
Belair managed to escape and drive Kairi to the corner before stomping her down. Belair locked on an abdominal stretch with a claw on Sane’s ribs. Belair picked her up and hit a huge backbreaker. Belair continued to get the heat, and put her foot on Sane’s chest for a pinfall attempt while saying “Ahoy!” Sane kicked out and locked on an octopus stretch.
Belair drove her back to the corner, but Kairi went to the top rope and went for a flying cross body. Belair caught her and hit a fallaway slam. Belair hit the ropes and went for a splash, but Sane hit two knees that ended up sending Belair to the apron, where Sane hit a dropkick and drove her to the outside of the ring.
Sane hit a snap suplex then followed with strikes. Sane blocked a kick and hit a dragon screw and two neck snaps. Kairi hit a sliding d and went to the top rope and hit a flying elbow, but Belair kicked out. Sane hit a spinning back fist and went to the top rope again. Belair got up and stopped Sane and hit a spider superplex. Belair came down and hit a standing moonsault, but Sane kicked out. As the two exchanged holds, Shanya Baszler came out and attacked both Sane and Belair.
Io Sharai came down and made the save, and a brawl broke out between the Horsewomen and the other three women. Soon, all the NXT women’s locker room cleared out from the back and started brawling. Belair threw one of the women over the top rope onto everyone. Io Sharai hit a moonsault on everyone. Sharai posed with the NXT Women’s title, with Kairi Sane looking on.
– The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) defeated Cesaro & Sheamus
New Day hit their finisher to win a fun opener.
– Jeff Hardy defeated Shelton Benjamin
Benjamin cut a heel promo before the match. He said he isn’t getting the respect he deserves, that he was hijacking the show, and then challenged anyone to come face him. Hardy’s music played to a big pop.
The match was nothing memorable, but people reacted for all of Hardy’s big moves.
This was originally advertised as a singles match between Royce and Carmella, but as soon as Carmella entered the ring, The IIconics teamed up on her. Kairi Sane came out to make the save, with her surprise appearance getting the biggest pop of the night so far. Carmella challenged Royce & Kay to the tag match.
– United States Champion R-Truth defeated Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev in a triple threat match to retain his title
Truth cut a pre-match promo and thanked the fans for sticking by his side.
The crowd chanted “Rusev Day” for a bit, but they were mostly booing Rusev. He was thrown outside the ring and R-Truth won via a roll-up on Nakamura.
R-Truth and Carmella brought some kids from the crowd into the ring for a dance break.
– SmackDown Women’s Champion Asuka defeated Charlotte Flair to retain her title
Charlotte cut a promo on Asuka. At one point, Charlotte said Becky Lynch wasn’t here. Everyone booed.
During the match, Charlotte got a really bad-looking bruise on her chest. Asuka submitted Charlotte to retain. This was the best match on the show so far.
– Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defeated SAnitY (Eric Young & Alexander Wolfe)
They had a short match with little heat. Gallows had to start the “Too Sweet” chants himself.
– Rey Mysterio defeated Andrade
Zelina Vega got the most heat of the night. This was a really good match. It was very fun to watch — and the crowd was really engaged.
Mysterio won after hitting the 619.
– WWE Champion Daniel Bryan defeated Samoa Joe and Mustafa Ali in a triple threat match to retain his title
This was the match of the night, though Mysterio vs. Andrade was a close second. They all did their spots and had a number of near falls. Rowan came out to break Joe’s sleeper hold and was booed loudly.
Bryan won with the running knee.
Joe was the last person to leave. People were chanting his name before he flipped everyone off (using his forearm, not his finger).
People were disappointed in the end that — despite being advertised — AJ Styles and Becky Lynch didn’t appear on the show.
WWE has announced two matches for next week’s episode of NXT television.
Next Wednesday’s post-TakeOver: Phoenix episode will feature a tag match with Kairi Sane & Io Shirai facing Four Horsewomen members Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir. The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins & Montez Ford) will also face The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler with Jaxson Ryker) on the show.
Those matches are expected to be taped before NXT TakeOver: Phoenix at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona this Saturday.
Sane & Shirai defeated an enhancement team (Amber Nova & Tanea Brooks) on this week’s NXT TV. An interview with Sane & Shirai aired after that, with Duke & Shafir interrupting them to set up their match.
The Forgotten Sons attacked The Street Profits in an angle that aired on last week’s episode of NXT TV. The Street Profits had defeated The Metro Brothers before being laid out by The Forgotten Sons.
– Velveteen Dream cut a cellphone promo where he was in front of Prince’s Paisley Park.
– Jessamyn Duke (w/ Marina Shafir) defeated Candice LeRae
The crowd saw Shayna Baszler’s spade on the screen and popped, but then Duke and Shafir’s names came on the screen and they got quiet quick. It was mentioned that they are a part of the Four Horsewomen.
Duke is much bigger than LeRae. The match was pretty boring and Duke is really green, but she won with an impressive high kick after a distraction from Shafir.
– Bobby Fish defeated Humberto Carrillo
The crowd didn’t know who Carrillo was at the beginning, but his flips and dives got them on his side really quick. Fish won with a finishing sequence of a spear into the corner, knee lifts, and an exploder suplex in the corner after Carrillo missed a moonsault.
Carrillo got a standing ovation as he left the ring.
– A video package was shown of Kona Reeves riding the zip line at the Mall of America. He then cut a heel promo on the Minnesota Vikings.
– Dominik Dijakovic defeated Kona Reeves (w/ Dan Matha)
Dijakovic is huge and ripped. Matha interfered a lot and there were a few good near falls.
The finish was super hot. Matha introduced a chair and Reeves was about to hit Dijakovic with it, but the referee took it away as Reeves reared back. Dijakovic superkicked Matha off the apron, superkicked Reeves through the ropes, hit a running roll-over dive on both, rolled Reeves back into the ring, and hit a torture rack Death Valley Driver into a high knee for the win.
The loudest reaction so far was when Dijakovic got the pin. That was a lot of fun.
– Aleister Black defeated Johnny Gargano
There were dueling chants for both before the match. Gargano was definitely wrestling as a heel. These two were super polished and crisp, and it was amazing that we got this quality of wrestling at an NXT house show. This got the first “This is awesome” chants of the night.
Black won with Black Mass in the best match so far.
– NXT North American Champion Ricochet & Heavy Machinery (Otis Dozovic & Tucker Knight) defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole & NXT Tag Team Champions Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong)
Dozovic and Knight were doing big man comedy spots early, with the crowd eating it up. Ricochet is absolutely incredible, no surprise. Undisputed Era got the heat on Ricochet forever. Dozovic got a huge reaction for a hot tag and was awesome.
Dozovic was cut off and then gave Ricochet the super hot tag — and he was awesome. Ricochet pinned Strong with a fireman’s carry Michinoku driver with one of the legs hooked.
This match was fine and had a lot of submissions. Sane hit her elbow drop, but Duke and Shafir came out and caused the disqualification by breaking up the pin.
LeRae came out to help Sane dispose of the Horsewomen. She hit a couple of nice dives.
– NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defeated Velveteen Dream to retain his title
There were lots of pre-match shenanigans with Dream taking the belt from the referee and posing with it. They had a fun match with a lot of crowd interaction. At one point, Ciampa hit a White Noise from the second rope. They got a “This is awesome” chant.
Ciampa mocked Dream’s poses a lot. He looked to flip off the crowd after they did the Vikings “Skol” chant during the match. Both wrestlers kicked out of big moves, and Ciampa hit the draping DDT for the clean win.
Ciampa cut a great, emotional promo after the match. It looked like someone from WWE was recording it. Ciampa said NXT drew better this year than last year in St. Paul and said NXT was the “A show” and he was holding the most important title in sports entertainment.
Former NXT women’s champion Kairi Sane said on Twitter early Tuesday that she might have hand, foot, and mouth disease. If that’s an accurate diagnosis, she is unlikely to be at NXT’s Wednesday TV tapings.
This past Thursday, Sane tweeted a photo of a thermometer reading 102.74, indicating a fever that is an early symptom of the virus. Then on Tuesday, Sane tweeted the following, translated from her native Japanese via Google Translate with emojis removed:
“The fever has gone down, but now my hands, feet and mouth have a mysterious eczema… Ouch you go to the hospital with it?(even in the United States, hand, Foot and Mouth Disease) It is a disease that infants under 5 years old have been examined, why did the virus enter my body by mistake? lol”
Traditionally an ailment that affects young children, hand, foot and mouth disease is particularly painful for adults with symptoms ranging from blister-like lesions in the mouth, a rash, fever, and a general feeling of being unwell. It is very treatable, but is also highly contagious.
If Sane was diagnosed with the virus, it’s highly unlikely she will be available for Wednesday’s set of TV tapings. NXT has yet to publicly announce her medical status or if she’s officially off the tapings as of this writing.
Kairi Sane and Shayna Baszler will go at it once again at NXT TakeOver: WarGames, this time under a new stipulation.
Baszler, flanked by friends Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir, was being interviewed by Cathy Kelley. She brought up Sane possibly invoking her rematch clause, which Baszler didn’t seem fazed by. NXT GM William Regal then came came in, which caused Duke and Shafir to be on guard. Regal said that in fact Sane had in fact invoked her rematch clause, and this time it would be contested in a 2 out of 3 falls match at NXT TakeOver: WarGames.
Sane lost the title to Baszler at WWE Evolution last month after passing out from the kirifuda lock. The loss wasn’t without controversy as Duke and Shafir made their debut on television, attacking Sane and helping Baszler score the submission win.
NXT TakeOver: WarGames will take place on November 17 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.
Six wrestlers from NXT appeared in tonight’s WrestleMania Women’s Battle Royal.
Peyton Royce, Kairi Sane, Taynara Conti, Kavita Devi, Bianca Belair, and Dakota Kai were the six who took part in the match. The latter five were also in the Mae Young Classic last summer, where Sane defeated Shayna Baszler in the finals.
Devi, who is from India and reported to the Performance Center earlier this year, lost to Kai in the first round of the Mae Young Classic. WWE’s clip of their tournament match currently has 21 million views on YouTube. Conti represented Brazil in the MYC and came out with the country’s flag tonight.
Despite Royce’s inclusion, her Iconic Duo partner Billie Kay wasn’t in the WrestleMania 34 battle royal.
The NXT representatives worked together, with Belair hitting a 450 splash and Sane doing her Insane Elbow. But it came down to Sasha Banks, Bayley, and Naomi. Bayley and Banks teamed up near the end and went to slap hands when they thought they were the only two left, but Bayley threw Banks out of the ring. Naomi then reappeared, hit the Rear View, and eliminated Bayley to win the match.
Last night’s estimated attendance in Citrus Springs was 150 people.
– Velveteen Dream defeated Wolfgang
– Dakota Kai defeated Reina Gonzalez
Shayna Baszler came out to beat up Kai after the match. After that was over, she said it’s exactly what will happen to Ember Moon at TakeOver: New Orleans.
– Chris Dijak, No Way Jose & Trent Seven defeated Wesley Blake, Steve Cutler & Chad Lail
– Ricochet defeated Raul Mendoza
– The Authors of Pain defeated TM61
– Buddy Murphy defeated Mark Andrews
– Candice LeRae & Kairi Sane defeated The Iconic Duo (Peyton Royce & Billie Kay)
This was the first in-ring action for Royce and Kay since November of last year.
– WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne defeated Marcel Barthel to retain his title
