Date: May 23, 2022
Location: Ford Center in Evansville, IN
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Show Recap —
There was a video package of the Usos beating RK-Bro to unify the tag team titles on Smackdown. Riddle will team up with the Street Profits against the Usos and Sami Zayn tonight. Jimmy Smith said it was a surprise to see Riddle wrestling tonight after being splashed through a table on Friday.
Riddle entered alone. The crowd chanted for him. Riddle was disappointed. He was also emotional.
He called Randy Orton his best friend, his dude, his bro. Riddle said the last couple of years have been hard for Orton — particularly the past few months. Riddle said Orton had a bad back and could barely walk before the unification match. Riddle said Orton knew how much the match meant to him and to all the fans so he went through with it.
They lost the match and he wanted to give the Usos credit but he hated that they lost the way they did. He called Roman Reigns a tribal piece of trash and promised to get his vengeance on the Bloodline before his career was over.
Riddle loved and appreciated Orton but he didn’t know what the future held for RK-Bro. He wasn’t sure they’d ever team again. He knew Orton was watching at home so he led the crowd in an “R-K-Bro” chant.
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The announcers ran down tonight’s card. There was a countdown to Cody Rhodes’ match against the Miz. Rhodes’ segment will once again be at the top of the 10pm hour.
The Usos cut a pre-match promo saying they accomplished what they said they would. They took out Orton, ended RK-Bro, and had kids and grown men crying.
Riddle attacked the Usos during their entrance and the Street Profits joined in. Officials tried separating everyone as they went to commercial break.
(They did the opening Riddle promo, went to break, did the remaining entrances and Usos promo before going to break again. The match started at 8:23pm.)
Six-man tag team match: Riddle & The Street Profits defeated Sami Zayn & Tag Team Champions The Usos (12:36)
Zayn wrestled in a Bloodline t-shirt. They went to break just over four minutes into the match after the Usos superkicked Montez Ford outside the ring. Ford attempted a comeback but the Usos wiped out his partners. Ford returned the favour by knocking Zayn and Jimmy Uso off the apron before giving Jey Uso an enziguri.
Riddle made the hot tag and hit Jimmy with a knee strike before handing out forearms, suplexes and sentons to Jimmy and Zayn. Angelo Dawkins took out the Usos before Ford wiped them out with a dive.
Riddle gave Zayn a draping DDT before chasing the Usos off the apron. The Usos decided to just leave so Riddle planted Zayn with an RKO for the pinfall win.
Riddle, Ford and Dawkins all did Orton’s pose after the match.
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They announced a rematch between Bobby Lashley and Omos at Hell in a Cell.
Bobby Lashley’s All Mighty Challenge
Lashley was in a good mood after beating Omos in a cage match last week but he knew their war wasn’t over and wasn’t surprised to learn they’d be fighting again at HIAC. Lashley invited Omos and MVP to enter and they did.
MVP complained about last week’s result and blamed it on faulty equipment. (It probably would’ve been better to claim it was entirely due to Omos’ incredible strength.)
Lashley announced his challenge: he would wrestle MVP tonight and the winner would pick the stipulation for HIAC. MVP said he made Lashley before Lashley said he’s the one who made MVP. Lashley threatened to put MVP down with the Hurt Lock.
MVP tried a poorly planned sneak attack as Omos distracted Lashley but Lashley knocked him off the apron anyway.
(This wasn’t much of a segment and it felt like they could have just had Lashley announce this quickly backstage.)
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[SECOND HOUR]
They announced their next show in Saudi Arabia.
Backstage, Dana Brooke told Adam Pearce that she wanted a future Women’s title match. As she left, Becky Lynch barged in wearing Jerry Seinfeld’s pirate shirt. She complained about Asuka cheating to win last week.
Pearce signed a rematch against Asuka tonight and if she won, she’d get a title shot at HIAC. Lynch was delighted to hear it. She was less enthused when he said that if she’d won, it would be a triple threat.
The Judgment Day segment
Edge, Damian Priest and Rhea Ripley entered at 8:53pm but their segment didn’t start until 9:01pm.
They spoke for a while, encouraging people to join them. Edge said he wasn’t chosen to be a top guy like John Cena, he was a miracle of his own hard work. He went on again about the fans being sheep who just do whatever their bosses tell them. He said anyone who joined them would have the opportunity to crash through the glass ceiling the way he did many years ago.
Edge wondered who their next member would be. Maybe it would be Tommaso Ciampa, Corey Graves, Alexa Bliss, Drew McIntyre, Liv Morgan, Finn Bálor or AJ Styles. He told Styles that if he joined them, his kids could refer to him as Uncle Edge.
Mixed tag team match: Rhea Ripley & Damian Priest (w/Edge) defeated Liv Morgan & AJ Styles (11:37)
Morgan took control over Ripley and wiped her out with a dive before Styles clocked Priest with a sliding knee off the apron. Morgan and Styles were getting a fair bit of offense before Ripley distracted Styles, allowing Priest to slam him onto the apron leading to break.
Styles gave Priest a Pelé kick and made the hot tag to Morgan who knocked down Ripley with a missile dropkick and Codebreaker but Edge put Ripley’s leg on the rope to break up the cover. Styles attacked Edge and after Priest tried to save him, Styles knocked him down too.
Morgan attempted Oblivion but Edge held Ripley’s pants to help block the move. Morgan fell and Ripley cradled her for the pinfall win.
— Styles went after Edge after the match but the trio teamed up on him. Edge and Priest gave Styles their spear/leg sweep move and Ripley powerbombed Morgan.
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Miz told Kevin Patrick that he, like Seth Rollins, was sick of Cody Rhodes and said you can’t trust a man with a neck tattoo. Miz said Rhodes could never beat him six years ago and now his ego was so out of control that he had more fireworks than the fourth of July. Miz called himself the Kim Kardashian of WWE because people always wanted to know what he was doing. He plugged his show and told Patrick to go away.
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Jerry Lawler’s King’s Court with guest Veer Mahaan
Lawler asked Mahaan his secret to success. Mahaan just stared him down. Lawler asked why he has targeted the Mysterios. Mahaan said nothing.
Lawler thought it was because of a joke that Rey supposedly told him: Mahaan was so hairy that when he walks his dog, people pet him. And Dominik told him that Mahaan was so hairy that Big Foot took a picture of him.
Mahaan grabbed the mic. He called Rey a legend but he was too concerned with his boy. That made Rey weak so he took them both out. Mahaan wondered if he smelled fear on Lawler. Lawler said it was just his cheap cologne.
Mahaan threatened to go after Lawler but Rey and Dominik marched out. They managed to fend off Mahaan who decided to back off.
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Sarah Schreiber asked Alexa Bliss about Sonya Deville’s recent actions. Bliss sarcastically suggested that Deville seek therapy since he helped her so much. Bliss was looking forward to facing her old partner Nikki ASH and was happy to be back.
(As Nikki entered, Graves mentioned that Sasha Banks and Naomi left last week and disappointed the WWE universe.)
Alexa Bliss defeated Nikki A.S.H. (w/Doudrop) (3:00)
Bliss won fairly quickly with Twisted Bliss.
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Patrick interviewed Seth Rollins about Cody Rhodes. Rollins said the fans used to sing his song every night in every city but now all he hears are “Cody” chants and it made him physically ill to hear that name. He couldn’t believe there was a Cody countdown clock and wondered where the countdown clock was for him. He said there was a clock in his head and asked, “what happens when the clock strikes zero?” He cackled.
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Cody Rhodes entered. He gave his weight belt to a young fan in the front row.
[THIRD HOUR]
There was an Asuka video package followed by an interview. Asuka told Schreiber that Lynch was not ready for her last week because she was too busy crying and she cried so much that she got a rematch. Asuka planned on beating her again and turning her into “Big Time Baby.”
Cody Rhodes defeated The Miz via disqualification (8:56)
Rhodes entered at 9:54pm. The match started at 10:03pm.
Rhodes was in control until Miz crotched him on the top rope and booted him to the outside. After a break, Miz was in control but he runs so slowly that Rhodes was able to dodge a corner clothesline. Rhodes followed with a powerslam, Cody cutter and a Figure Four but Miz got a rope break.
Rhodes went to the top, perhaps for a moonsault to the outside, but Rollins ran down and shoved him off for the DQ.
— Rollins and Miz double-teamed Rhodes after the match. Rollins drove Rhodes into the steel steps and Rhodes sold it like his knee was injured.
As Rollins was leaving, he yanked Rhodes’ weight belt away from the fan in the front row. Rollins hit Rhodes in the back with the belt before leaving.
Rhodes slowly got back to his feet as the fans chanted for him. He grabbed the belt, limped to the fan and gave it back to him before leaving with help from the referee.
This match was a waste of time but that last bit with the belt was great.
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Ezekiel defeated Chad Gable (w/Otis & Kevin Owens) (4:24)
Owens sat at ringside near the commentary table. He wasn’t technically on commentary but he loudly yelled at them for lying about Elias.
Otis tripped Ezekiel which allowed Gable to attack and target his leg. Ezekiel got his feet up on a moonsault attempt and followed with a Stinger Splash. Otis decked Ezekiel as Gable distracted the referee but the ref still figured out what happened so he tossed Otis from ringside. (We just had a DQ for practically the same thing in the previous match.)
The ref turned around just in time to see that Owens was able to attack Ezekiel so he got tossed too. Ezekiel then rolled up Gable for the pinfall win.
— After the match, they tried to attack Ezekiel but he bailed through the crowd. Owens said he was sick of this and challenged Ezekiel to a match at HIAC. Ezekiel accepted.
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Patrick interviewed Rhodes as he left the trainer’s room. Rhodes was dinged up but he could still put weight on his leg which was good news for him but bad news for Rollins. He said it was dawning on Rollins that he was about to go 0-3 against him. If Rollins wanted to finish the job at HIAC, Rhodes would be waiting for him.
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MVP (w/Omos) defeated Bobby Lashley via count-out (3:07)
This was so dumb.
MVP stalled before feigning an injury to distract the referee which allowed Omos to deck Lashley with a clothesline. This was a different ref than the last match and he was too stupid to figure out what happened. MVP followed with a running boot but Lashley came back with a flatliner before driving MVP into the ring post.
Omos was about to attack Lashley outside the ring but Lashley fought him off and the ref called for the bell. I initially thought this was a DQ but it was actually a count-out. You’d think the ref would give Lashley a break considering he was being attacked by someone who was not in the match.
Lashley was disappointed that he got counted out and he put MVP in the Hurt Lock anyway.
(MVP and Omos get to pick the stipulation for HIAC.)
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Lacy Evans returns to action next week.
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10:39pm: Bianca Belair enters. Commercial break.
10:44pm: Asuka enters. Lynch enters.
10:47pm: Match begins.
10:49pm: Commercial break.
10:52pm: Match resumes.
(I wasn’t going to post the times this week but this timed out almost precisely the same as last week. This match did get an extra 90 seconds, though.)
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Becky Lynch defeated Asuka (11:27)
They collided with clotheslines which led to duelling chants. Asuka followed with a German suplex, running hip attack, strikes and a sliding knee for two. Lynch tried a cover with her feet on the ropes but Asuka kicked out and hit a Codebreaker for two. Asuka followed later with a superplex off the middle rope for two.
Lynch dodged a running hip attack and applied a Disarmer between the ropes. Asuka fought back with strikes before knocking her out of the ring with the running hip attack.
Asuka hit a knee strike and Lynch fell into Belair’s lap (she was watching at ringside). Asuka tried a kick but Lynch ducked and Asuka nailed Belair in the head.
Lynch drove Asuka into the table before Asuka scrambled back in the ring to avoid a count-out but Lynch rolled her up for the pinfall win.
The title match is now a triple threat at HIAC.
