It was revealed on NXT that Lince Dorado has replaced Wilde in the upcoming six-man tag match that takes place this Saturday in Los Angeles. It will now be Dorado teaming with Cruz Del Toro and Dragon Lee to take on Aero Star, Octagon Jr., and Mr. Iguana. The latter three were shown in the crowd during Tuesday’s show at the WWE Performance Center.
UPDATE – After his injury last night, Joaquin Wilde has been pulled from WWE Worlds Collide and replaced with Lince Doradopic.twitter.com/QURwdBHo9o
Dave Meltzer and I are back with our post UFC 311 episode of Wrestling Observer Radio. Paul Fontaine joined us to go over the show as well as the news coming out of it.
Here were some of the rest of the topics we covered:
The former WWE star made a surprise appearance at a NXT house show in Citrus Springs, Florida on Friday. Dorado took to social media to write about the experience.
“Cats out of the bag! Time to get #luchalit,” he wrote.
Dorado’s first run the company started in 2016, when he was signed to WWE as part of the relaunched cruiserweight division. He is best known for being part of the Lucha House Party group with Kalisto and Gran Metalik. After being sent to the Raw brand as part of the 2020 WWE Draft, Dorado and Metalik were released from WWE in October of 2021. Dorado’s last match was a loss to Cedric Alexander during a Main Event taping a month prior.
Since his release from WWE, Dorado has competed in MLW, holding the MLW Middleweight Championship at one point. He also wrestled against Trey Miguel at Impact Wrestling’s Sacrifice event in 2023, coming up short.
A four-way match for a shot at the ROH World Championship will take place on Rampage this Friday.
Johnny TV, Komander, Lince Dorado, and Penta El 0 Miedo will battle it out to determine the first challenger for Eddie Kingston’s ROH World Championship. On Dynamite, Stokely Hathaway, who is on the ROH Board of Directors, appeared and announced that Kingston would be doing commentary for the match.
This will mark the AEW debut of Lince Dorado, formerly of WWE, who has appeared in MLW, Impact, and CMLL recently.
Also announced for Rampage is a tag match with Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida teaming up to take on Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir. An eight-man tag team match will also take place, with Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia, Matt Menard, and Angelo Parker taking on The Hardys and The Best Friends.
Here is the updated lineup for Friday’s Rampage:
Four-way match for ROH Championship shot: Johnny TV vs. Komander vs. Lince Dorado vs. Penta El 0 Miedo
Kris Statlander and Hikaru Shida vs. Nyla Rose and Marina Shafir
Matt Menard, Angelo Parker, Jake Hager, Daniel Garcia vs. The Hardys and The Best Friends
This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in Philadelphia as part of their Battle Riot tapings earlier this year with Matt Striker & Joe Dombrowski on commentary.
Mister Saint Laurent and Microman opened the show by introducing us to Microman’s new theme song which had MSL singing along and orchestrating the crowd to do the same.
This brought out Davey Boy Smith Jr. who has been receiving some mixed reactions since returning to MLW. Smith shook Microman’s hand, but then hit him with a big boot and a running powerslam.
During the attack, MSL feigned shock and horror. However, when Smith grabbed MSL by the neck, Smith and MSL’s faces both turned to grins as they revealed the ruse and their new evil partnership. Smith gorilla pressed Microman out of the ring and onto The Mane Event, who had come out to try and save their friend. MSL and DBS shook hands again and left together.
MLW Middleweight Champion AKIRA defeated Lince Dorado to retain the title
This was a decent match that had a very innovative finishing sequence involving Dorado losing his mask. This was AKIRA’s first defense of the Middleweight belt as he only won it a few weeks ago from Dorado in a triple-threat match which also included Lio Rush.
Dorado had an urgency in the early going and hit fluid ushigoroshis before showing off some great high-flying action with a running no-touch dive over the top rope to the floor and a torneo from the top rope when back in the ring.
AKIRA came back into the match when he crotched Dorado in a Tree of Woe and hit a running dropkick. He later dropped Dorado on his knee with a backbreaker.
Dorado hit a flipping DDT and moonsaults from two of the ropes, but AKIRA got his boot up to Dorado’s jaw on the third attempt.
AKIRA hit a German suplex, which he missed earlier, and got a close two count. As the back-and-forth action continued, AKIRA hit some running boots in the corner. Dorado came back with a handspring stunner and a brainbuster, but AKIRA grabbed and removed his mask while Dorado was attempting another handspring.
Instead of leading immediately to the finish, they were able to pull off some near falls and spots while Dorado was covering his face. Dorado kicked out of a running knee and then countered a piledriver into a hurricanrana, all while keeping his face hidden behind his arm.
Dorado eventually reached for his mask, but this gave AKIRA an opening to hit his Death Penalty elevated reverse DDT and pick up the pinfall win to retain his title.
– After last week’s “expose” exposing those that are not the financial backer of Alex Kane’s Bomaye Fight Club, this week’s second installment had the final four suspects: Conrad Thompson, Jim Cornette, Queen Latifah, and Dixie Carter. Similar to last week, all four were confirmed as not being the financial backer, but we will find out who is this Saturday at Never Say Never.
– In the gym, the Second Gear Crew were talking tactics ahead of their title match later tonight, which included a table drawn on a whiteboard, Hindu squats, and plenty of beers.
– After last week’s attack on Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo, Taya Valkyrie has been fined and suspended for one week. This led the commentary team to question whether Exo will be fit for her title vs. title match this Saturday against wXw Women’s Champion Ava Everett.
Mandy Leon defeated Billie Starkz
Leon continued her winning ways in MLW against the impressive Starkz. Leon has joined forces with Raven, AKIRA, and Ricky Shane Page as part of the main heel faction The Calling, and had to call upon her stablemate henchmen to get the win.
Before Leon’s entrance, a video featuring The Calling was shown. Page challenged Jacob Fatu for his National Openweight title and it was mentioned that Leon is gunning for the Featherweight title.
This match was only a few minutes long, but they put a lot of effort into their time. A German suplex and an Unprettier on the apron had Leon in control. Starkz came back with suplexes on the outside and inside, but the masked Calling henchmen distracted the referee and pushed Starkz off the top rope to give Leon the win.
– Ahead of their MLW title match at Never Say Never, Alex Kane and the champion Alex Hammerstone cut promos backstage. Hammerstone took offense at being called a placeholder by showing how he has bettered Kane at every step during their similar paths in MLW. Kane’s promo was more straight to the point as he again called Hammerstone “roid boy” and guaranteed a win Saturday.
MLW Tag Team Champions The Samoan SWAT Team (Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa’i) defeated The Second Gear Crew (1 Called Manders & Mance Warner) to retain in a hardcore match
The build for this match was one week long and emerged from a friendly sharing of beers backstage last week. That was all these four needed to sign on for a hardcore match, which says a lot about the crazy characters involved here. The match was a callback to the old ECW classics involving The Gangstas where weapons were sprawled all around the ring.
We were straight into the action as all four threw chairs at each other before the outside brawling began. Finau’s head became a weapon against Warner before the “Southern Psycho” decided to go for the eyepoke to get some non-head-related offense in.
Manders threw a chair at Finau on the outside, but it spun off and hit a security guard and tumbled into the front row as the chaos continued. Tables were brought into the ring and set up for a splash from off a ladder.
Warner exploded into life with chair shots to the tag champs followed by Anoa’i taking a big bump off the top of the ladder and through another ladder that was resting in the corner.
Finau squashed Warner with a powerslam, but immediately ate more chair shots from Manders.
Manders then found himself on a table after more chair shots and brawling. Finau went to the middle rope, but was caught by Warner and more chair shots. Warner then ended up on Finau’s back, but the huge tag champ only used this extra weight to continue and crush Manders with a middle rope splash through the table leading to a pinfall victory and the champions retaining their titles.
After the match, and for the sixth time this episode, The Calling’s music hit as AKIRA, Page, Delirious and gas-masked henchmen jumped the SST and Second Gear Crew, all as Raven and Leon watched on.
But unlike most other Calling attacks, the SST got the upper hand and sent The Calling up the ramp as they brawled with Warner and Manders, all after Finau had launched a ladder over the top onto Page, who only saw it coming at the last minute.
This Saturday’s card for MLW Never Say Never live on FITE+:
MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone defends against Alex Kane
MLW Featherweight Champion Delmi Exo defends against wXw Women’s Champion Ava Everett in a title vs. title match
MLW National Openweight Champion Jacob Fatu defends against Calvin Tankman
MLW Tag Team Champions The Samoan SWAT Team (Juicy Finau and Lance Anoa’i) defend against The Calling (Ricky Shane Page & AKIRA)
Timothy Thatcher vs. Tracy Williams
Mance Warner vs. Sam Adonis in a Country Whipping match
This week’s MLW Fusion was taped in New York City as part of MLW’s War Chamber tapings earlier this year. Matt Striker and Joe Dombrowski were on the call.
AKIRA (w/Raven) defeated Lince Dorado (c) and Lio Rush to win the MLW Middleweight title in a three-way
There were a lot of interlocking storylines going on here. Rush had previously stolen Dorado’s title as he claimed himself to be the real Middleweight champion while Dorado was on the end of a recent Calling attack, setting up this intriguing triple threat match.
AKIRA jumped Dorado during his entrance, dropping him with a hard suplex on the floor and taking him out of the opening of the match.
But the champion got back into it with springboards and a top rope twisting dive to the floor. He and Rush then took turns hitting handspring cutters and stunners to take AKIRA out temporarily.
Dorado momentarily got his own torturous revenge by locking AKIRA in an armbar, but Rush quickly broke it up with a frog splash. Rush then hit a dive to the floor but was taken out when he missed another frog splash.
AKIRA capitalized with Rush out of the ring to hit his Death Penalty (lifting reverse DDT) to pick up the pinfall victory and the MLW Middleweight title win — his first in MLW.
– We heard from Jacob Fatu who is set to return to action next week against John Hennigan. We last saw Fatu being attacked by Raven, AKIRA, and Ricky Shane Page. The Samoan Werewolf is out for revenge. He said his Openweight title shot against John Hennigan – that he lost due to The Calling’s attack- will take place next week.
Raven and The Calling then brought Mandy Leon to life in an ominous pre-taped video package. Leon was motionless wrapped in a plastic sheet, but after a kiss to her forehead, Leon’s eyes popped open.
Sam Adonis (w/ John Hennigan) defeated Willie Mack
After being part of the party that screwed Mack out of an Openweight title win against Hennigan last week, Adonis faced the revenge-minded Mack this week.
Adonis got on the mic before the match to rile up the New York crowd, but Mack had his own words for Adonis and Hennigan, promising to put his boot up both their asses.
Mack moves very impressively for his size. In the early going, he worked up the speed to hit a flying kick to Adonis in the face and vault to the floor. After catching his leg on Adonis’ head during a leapfrog, Mack hit another jumping kick to stay in control.
After a break, Mack pulled Adonis off the top rope as Adonis tried to bring some of his AAA moves into the match. Mack again caught Adonis off guard and rammed his fist into Adonis’ gut as the Azteca Lucha member came off the top.
Mack was selling the earlier leapfrog collision as he could not complete his usual kip-up, struggling to hit his standing moonsault.
Hennigan got knocked off the apron after tripping Mack’s leg behind the referee’s back. But with Mack momentarily distracted, Adonis hit a Death Valley Driver/Air Raid Crash slam and a 450 splash from the top rope to pick up the tainted distraction win.
After the match, Sam Leterna brought out Mance Warner for an interview on the stage, but Adonis and Hennigan quickly interrupted and jumped him. Adonis used a leather strap to choke Warner out over the top rope.
– Ahead of his MLW title match against Alex Hammerstone at Never Say Never, Alex Kane again promised to reveal the money man behind the Bomaye Fight Club at the event. Before that, he also mentioned a cash prize being up for grabs in a “Big Apple Grapple” open challenge.
– Before the main event and after a few failed attempts to cut a promo on Delmi Exo due to technical difficulties, Taya Valkyrie stormed off saying she is leaving MLW because of issues like this.
Delmi Exo defeated Taya Valkyrie (w/ John Hennigan) to win the MLW Women’s Featherweight title
Valkyrie had been playing politics recently to delay this eventual title match, but the ending did not disappoint with Exo picking up the win and the title to end Taya’s one year reign as champion.
Earlier in the night, Exo said there was only one way she wanted to win the title and that was with the Delmi Driver, and she did just that after Hennigan’s constant distractions came back to haunt him and Valkyrie.
After a slow-building start, Valkyrie dropped Exo face-first on the apron and Hennigan added a few sneaky shots as Valkyrie distracted the referee. She slowed the match down again and kept in control as she double foot stomped Exo in the gut.
They exchanged close near falls when Exo hit a cross-legged fisherman suplex and a Pedigree for close calls, followed by Valkyrie hitting a Blue Thunder Bomb for one as well. Similar to the earlier match with Adonis, Hennigan grabbed Exo’s foot from the outside, causing the challenger to switch her focus to him.
The champion then went for a rollup, but Exo countered with her own pinning combination. Exo had Valkyrie pinned, but the referee was distracted by Hennigan on the ring apron.
Valkyrie and Hennigan then accidentally collided on the apron which distracted the champion enough to give Exo the opening to hit her Delmi Driver to win both the match and the Featherweight title.
Next week:
MLW National Openweight Champion John Hennigan defends against Jacob Fatu
This week’s MLW Underground was taped in Philadelphia during February’s Superfight TV taping with Joe Dombrowski and Matt Striker on the call.
Last week, Lio Rush was announced as being in action this week, but it appears his match vs. Davey Richards has been postponed or plans have changed to air it due to Richards’ recent real life issues.
Real1 and Mance Warner issues
The trouble between Real1 and Mance Warner continued this week with the build-up to their four-way dumpster match next week that also includes Microman and Matthew Justice.
Real1 opened the show with his usual heat-invoking mic work against Microman, poking fun at his height, and poking fun at the Southern Psycho’s upbringing and hometown.
Warner was happy to take the bait and come out, bringing a chainsaw with him for good measure. He was joined by Justice wildly swinging a steel chair and even Microman who was hiding inside a trash can. This was all too much for Real1 as he darted out of the arena before Warner, Justice and Microman shared some beers on the stage.
Ricky Shane Page (w/ AKIRA & Raven) defeated 1 Called Manders in a hardcore match
This helped build the upcoming War Chamber match where these two will be on opposing sides. The Chamber match will also feature the rest of Page’s group, The Calling, against MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone and the rest of the Second Gear Crew. We saw a quick recap from last week of how Manders, Warner and Justice came to team with Hammerstone during the entrances.
Page picked a weapon from a blood-soaked operating table on his way to the ring, a signature of The Calling’s entrance,
Throughout the match, Raven was speaking to the announcers which could be subtly heard in the background as Manders and Page slammed and rammed each other into chairs inside the ring.
Page got spinebustered into thumbtacks and powerslammed into a wooden board in the corner, but after a break, he was back in control with a frog splash from the top rope. Manders then used his cowbell on Page before flooring him with a tough clothesline for a nearfall.
A table was set up which led to the innovative finish. Manders got hit with a chair and ended up underneath the table. Page was on the middle rope and came off with a senton through the table, crushing Manders underneath to pick up the pinfall victory.
Open The Twin Gate Tag Team Champions The Natural Vibes (BIG BOSS Shimizu & Kzy) defeated The FBI (Little Guido & Ray Jaz) to retain the titles
This was the MLW debut for The Natural Vibes, and it was an entertaining, fast-paced, yet short sprint of a match from the outset. Jaz looked good here with his size advantage and he kept up with the pace of the Dragon Gate crew, especially Kzy when he was in the ring.
Shimizu came in for the hot tag and took out the FBI with a big body block, a flapjack, and a chokeslam before Kzy came off the top with a big frog splash to pick up the pin on Jaz.
– Alex Kane and Mr. Thomas picked their Battle Riot numbers out of the traditional bingo tumbler but kept the close to the chest.
MLW Middleweight Champion Lince Dorado defeated Delirious to retain the title
These two have built up a small rivalry over the last few months being on the opposing sides of multi-man matches involving Microman and some of Cesar Duran’s hired luchadors. This week, they finally met one-on-one in a solid main event.
Lio Rush came out during the entrances and reminded us all that he is the best MLW Middleweight champion in history and joined the commentary table to heavily hint at a future title shot.
Throughout the match, he would taunt Dorado and try to distract him, including as the bell rang so Delirious tried a few roll-ups to catch him off guard but the champion kicked out.
Dorado came back to dominate the opening moments with a suplex, springboard armdrag, running headscissors and a dropkick. Delirious dropped Dorado back-first on the ring apron before contemplating using the title but dropping it in front of Rush.
Dorado’s back continued to take punishment as Delirious focused his attack with a backbreaker and a surfboard. Dorado came back with a springboard la quebrada.
The referee got in the way of Dorado which stopped his momentum in his tracks. Delirious then hit his Panic Attack running knee strike in the corner followed up by his Shadows Over Hell splash from the top rope, but the champion kicked out at two.
After a break, Dorado hit a springboard stunner and then a big plancha from the top rope to the floor. He then powerbombed Delirious back in the ring and put him away with his shooting star press finisher.
After the match, Rush got into the ring with the title (Delirious had dropped it in front of him) and reluctantly handed it to Dorado. As Dorado eventually got hold of his title, he turned to leave when Rush hit his bottom rope springboard stunner and then laid him out with a belt shot. Rush then left with the belt.
Before Underground went off the air, the cameras went to the back to see Davey Boy Smith Jr. chasing off Kane and Thomas as they had beaten down Thomas Billington and knocked his teeth out.
Next week:
Matthew Justice vs. Microman vs. Real1 vs. Mance Warner in a four-way dumpster match
Alex Kane vs. Davey Boy Smith Jr. in a no ropes catch wrestling match
April 18th:
In a War Chamber match, MLW Champion Alex Hammerstone & Second Gear Crew vs. The Calling
The mystery opponent for X-Division Champion Trey Miguel for this Friday’s Impact Wrestling Sacrifice has been revealed.
For the first time since 2012, Lince Dorado will return to the Impact ring as he will challenge Miguel for the title. While the two have been in a four-way, this will be their first-ever singles match.
Dorado was defeated by Frankie Kazarian in an October 2012 dark match in Orlando, Florida, in his lone Impact bout.
In storyline, Impact Director of Security Santino Marella said Miguel would have a mystery opponent at the live streaming special, set for this Friday in London, Ontario, Canada.
Miguel will be looking for the fifth defense of the title he regained at last November’s Over Drive while Dorado is in position to become a two-company champion as he is the reigning MLW Middleweight titleholder.
Here’s the current card:
Impact World Champion Josh Alexander, Rich Swann & Frankie Kazarian vs. Time Machine (KUSHIDA & Motor City Machine Guns)
Impact Knockouts Champion Mickie James defends against Jordynne Grace
X-Division Champion Trey Miguel defends against Lince Dorado
Impact Tag Team Champions Bullet Club defend against TMDK
Digital Media Champion Joe Hendry defends against Brian Myers
MLW CEO Court Bauer announced the news Monday on Busted Open Radio. Dorado’s first match in the promotion will take place at Kings of Colosseum 22 where he will wrestle nZo (FKA Enzo Amore).
The event takes place Friday, May 13 from the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, PA.
“[Dorado] can do it all , can do Lucha, can do American style, can do Japanese style. He brings all that to the table,” Bauer said of the 34-year-old.
Dorado joined WWE for the Cruiserweight Classic in 2016 and stayed with the promotion until his release last November. Since his departure from the company, he has wrestled for The Crash, Warrior Wrestling, CZW and other promotions.
The updated lineup for Kings of the Colosseum 22 is as follows:
MLW World Heavyweight Champion Alex Hammerstone defends against Richard Holliday (w/ Alicia Atout)
Taya Valkyrie vs. Holidead to crown the inaugural MLW Women’s Featherweight Champion
Weapons of Mass Destruction match: Jacob Fatu vs. Mads Krugger
MLW World Tag Team Champions Hustle & Power (Calvin Tankman & EJ Nduka) vs. The Von Erichs (Ross & Marshall Von Erich) vs. 5150 (Slice Boogie & Danny Rivera)
After being booked against two wrestlers who were accused during the #SpeakingOut movement, Lince Dorado has asked The Crash Lucha Libre to remove him from their May show or change his match.
The Crash announced on Wednesday that Dorado & Destiny would be facing Marty Scurll & Travis Banks at their show in Tijuana, Mexico on Friday, May 13. But Dorado tweeted on Thursday that he’s asked The Crash to remove him from the event or change his match. Dorado noted that The Crash is working on it.
“I have asked @TheCrashLuchas to remove me from the show or change my match for their May event,” Dorado wrote. “Nothing else needs to be said. It’s my decision as I’m not influenced by anybody! They are working on it.”
I have asked @TheCrashLuchas to remove me from the show or change my match for their May event. Nothing else needs to be said. It’s my decision as I’m not influenced by anybody! They are working on it.
Banks (real name Travis Bligh) was released by WWE in June 2020 after Millie McKenzie accused him of being in a mentally and emotionally abusive relationship with her when she was a 17-year-old trainee. Banks is 13 years older than McKenzie.
ROH announced in January 2021 that they and Scurll had “mutually decided to part ways.” In June 2020, a woman accused Scurll of sexually assaulting her when she was 16 years old in 2015. Scurll claimed that the encounter was consensual and that he wasn’t aware of her age at the time. Following the start of the #SpeakingOut movement, ROH announced that it had opened an investigation into its wrestlers who were accused.
Two title matches involving members of The Hurt Business are set for tonight’s post-Royal Rumble episode of Raw.
WWE has announced that Riddle will get his shot at Bobby Lashley’s United States Championship on Raw tonight. Lashley’s Hurt Business stablemates Shelton Benjamin & Cedric Alexander are also defending their Raw Tag Team titles against The Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado) on tonight’s show.
Riddle got the US title shot by defeating The Hurt Business’ Benjamin, MVP, and Alexander in a gauntlet match last Monday. That match featured dissension between Alexander and his stablemates.
Lashley attacked Riddle after last week’s gauntlet match and put him in the Hurt Lock.
Riddle, Big E, Daniel Bryan, and Christian eliminated Lashley in last night’s men’s Royal Rumble match.
Lashley quickly retained his United States title against Riddle on the January 11 episode of Raw after attacking Riddle before the bell rang.
Metalik & Dorado defeated Benjamin & Alexander in a non-title match on Raw Legends Night last month.
Metalik & Dorado are taking part in NXT’s men’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic and will face Legado Del Fantasma’s Raul Mendoza & Joaquin Wilde in a quarterfinal match on NXT this Wednesday.
WWE is also hyping that The Miz has promised that he’ll have rapper Bad Bunny on Miz TV tonight. Bad Bunny, who performed his song “Booker T” at the Royal Rumble, hit a crossbody from the top rope on The Miz and John Morrison at the pay-per-view after Miz destroyed his equipment.
WWE Watch Along announced that Gran Metalik and Lince Dorado are heading to the Raw brand. This splits them up with Kalisto, who was drafted to SmackDown.
WWE Network’s twitter account posted an interview with Lucha House Party earlier on Monday. Kalisto was boasting about how he had been in meetings with FOX. When Dorado asked if he or Gran Metalik were brought up, Kalisto said the meetings were only about him. Dorado said that he and Dorado would remain “lucha lit” with or without Kalisto.
Since returning from injury in August, Kalisto has been teasing dissention between himself and the other two members of Lucha House Party, with Kalisto often instigating the confrontations.
Both Metalik and Dorado were in SmackDown’s draft pool, but neither were picked on the show nor were they drafted on Talking Smack the following day, leaving them free agents. Shorty G, who was also left as a free agent, was later confirmed today signing with the SmackDown brand.
The Cruiserweight title match at Clash of Champions is now a triple threat.
Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak will defend his title against Humberto Carrillo and Lince Dorado in a triple threat match at the pay-per-view. Dorado got added to the match by defeating Carrillo in the main event of this Tuesday’s 205 Live.
The episode ended with an angle where Gulak and Tony Nese reunited and laid out both Dorado and Carrillo.
Dorado and Carrillo have been feuding for several weeks. Their match on the August 6 episode of 205 Live ended in a double countout when Dorado prevented Carrillo from getting back in the ring and making the count.
Carrillo getting a Cruiserweight title shot at Clash of Champions was confirmed when he defeated Oney Lorcan in a number one contender’s match last week.
The Spectrum Center in Charlotte, North Carolina is hosting Clash of Champions on September 15. Here’s the updated card for the PPV:
Universal Champion Seth Rollins defending against Braun Strowman
WWE Champion Kofi Kingston defending against Randy Orton
Raw Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Sasha Banks
SmackDown Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Charlotte Flair
Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan
Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Braun Strowman defending against Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode
SmackDown Tag Team Champions Big E & Xavier Woods defending against The Revival
Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defending against The Miz
The finals of the King of the Ring tournament
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Drew Gulak defending against Humberto Carrillo and Lince Dorado in a triple threat match
The Big Takeaway: Dana Brooke defeated Sarah Logan in a rematch from last week where Brooke had suffered a nasty facial injury. The main event saw the random team of EC3, Cesaro & Robert Roode see off the Lucha House Party in under three minutes.
**********
Dana Brooke defeated Sarah Logan (6:13)
Whether this show will reap any of the benefits of Paul Heyman becoming executive director on the Raw side of things remains to be seen.
The fact WWE acknowledged last week at all here is certainly a positive. Quite rightly, they did a rematch and made a much better go of it. Brooke was smiling and fired up throughout and they kept doing spots where she would get her face bashed.
The finish saw Logan with Brooke on the apron again. She went for the running knee that caused the stoppage from last week, but Brooke had it scouted. Brooke countered and then landed a Swanton Bomb from the top rope for the win.
Cesaro, EC3 & Robert Roode defeated The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik) (2:40)
This, however, was a negative. If this show does see any changes, it would certainly benefit if they didn’t throw together arbitrary tag matches where the entrance times out-strip the running time of the match.
The first minute was EC3 getting dominated by the pace and tenacity of the Lucha House Party — before the ring filled and the LHP cleared it, posing in unison. And then we went to a break. Yes, a commercial break, in a three-minute match.
I can also confirm that wrestling took place during the commercials.
The last minute was everyone hitting their finishers but failing to get the pinfall. The finish was Cesaro hitting a European uppercut on Metalik as he came off the top rope. As usual, the timing looked fantastic.
Sullivan defeated Kalisto, Metalik & Dorado by disqualification at Super ShowDown, with The Lucha House Party getting disqualified when they were all in the ring and wouldn’t stop attacking Sullivan. As The Lucha House Party went to leave after the match, Sullivan attacked Kalisto, Metalik & Dorado.
The SAP Center in San Jose, California is hosting tonight’s Raw. Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins will defend their Raw Tag Team titles against The Revival and The Usos in a triple threat match, United States Champion Samoa Joe will appear on Miz TV, and Shane McMahon and Drew McIntyre will celebrate Shane’s win against Roman Reigns from Super ShowDown.
Most of tonight’s Raw is going against game five of the Toronto Raptors vs. Golden State Warriors NBA Finals series, with the basketball game starting at 9 p.m. Eastern time. The Raptors are leading three games to one in the best-of-seven series.
