Rowdy Recap: Week of July 29, 2019
With so much weekly content on WWE TV, it can be difficult to keep track of everything.
That’s where Rowdy Recaps come in, looking back at the week in WWE TV and narrowing down the highlights of the big three shows (and sometimes more). (205 Live and NXT UK will certainly get some more love and appreciation in the future, but baby steps.)
So: Let’s take a look back at the past week in WWE!
Monday Night RAW (July 29, 2019)
Quick & Dirty Results:
- R-Truth (c) & Carmella def. Drake Maverick & Renee Michelle, in a Mosh Pit Mixed Tag Team match for the WWE 24/7 Championship
- Mike Kanellis def. R-Truth (c), for the WWE 24/7 Championship
- Maria Kanellis def. Mike Kanellis (c), for the WWE 24/7 Championship
- Ricochet def. Andrade, in a Gauntlet Match for the #1 Contendership to the United States Championship
- The O.C. (Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson) def. The Revival (Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson) (c) & The Usos (Jimmy Jey Uso), in a Triple Threat match for the RAW Tag Team Championship
- The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) def. local talent
- Becky Lynch def. Alexa Bliss
- Becky Lynch def. Nikki Cross
- Seth Rollins def. Dolph Ziggler, via Disqualification
The Highlights:
Yes, there was an actual, in-ring match for the WWE 24/7 Championship. Well, “actual.” It’s a Christmas (in July) miracle! The match was essentially a mixed tag team Lumberjack match (as WWE’s definition of “mosh pit” is a lot like its definition of “juvenile delinquent” and “riddles”) with the chaos of the 24/7 Championship thrown in. And really, why did everyone wait for the match to be over to go after the championship when the whole point of the 24/7 Championship is the 24/7? Yes, the internal logic of this title is never quite perfect, but that’s actually what makes it perfect.
Well, that and the fact that a pregnant Maria Kanellis is now the champion, after humiliating and emasculating her husband Mike even further. (By the way, you should also watch the Unsanctioned 205 Live match between Mike Kanellis and Drake Maverick from this week if you want to see how a good, serious match can come out of… any of this.)
First of all, commercials happening during matches is back! That’s a highlight in and of itself. (I mean, I could’ve pretended that “no wrestling during commercials” thing was all in everyone’s heads, but… ) Second of all, it’s back with a pretty fire gauntlet match. When done right, given enough time, gauntlet matches in WWE can be pretty damn good and special. Starting off with Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro definitely got it off to that good and special spot, even though it meant Cesaro being the first one eliminated in the match. But then we also got Mysterio/Andrade action—with Andrade savagely going after the face mask—and then Andrade/Ricochet action. (Sadly, Sami Zayn barely got to do anything before losing.)
Ricochet ultimately won the whole thing in a final match against Andrade, but here was the order of the matches: Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro, Rey Mysterio vs. Sami Zayn, Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade, and then Andrade vs. Ricochet.
Last week, The Club rebranded as The O.C. No, not that one. Or that one. (But now I have both Phantom Planet and Crazytown stuck in my head.) Like, “The Original Club.” Why isn’t Finn Balor part of this? Why are you asking me? This week, The O.C. finally put their money where their mouth is on Gallows and Anderson front, with the Good Brothers winning the RAW Tag Team Champions. So now Undisputed Era really has to get all the titles at NXT TakeOver: Toronto: The O.C. didn’t even make sure a bold declaration, and yet they’re all still champions now.
SmackDown! LIVE (July 30, 2019)
Quick & Dirty Results:
- Kevin Owens def. Drew McIntyre
- Alexa Bliss & Nikki Cross def. Bayley & Ember Moon
- Dolph Ziggler def. Finn Balor
- Ali def. Shinsuke Nakamura
- Kofi Kingston def. AJ Styles
The Highlights:
Well, the first part of this highlight is no Shane McMahon, other than a blessedly brief video saying he would be absent from the show. Hallelujah. The second part is, of course, the Kevin Owens/Drew McIntyre match that followed the lack of Shane. It got a “THIS IS AWESOME” chant, which true—thus the highlight.
I suppose I don’t understand how Charlotte Flair turned a very, very quick loss to Ember Moon on the previous SmackDown into a marquee match against a WWE Hall of Famer on this SmackDown… but the very idea of Trish Stratus wrestling Charlotte at SummerSlam is still a highlight. That’s the highlight, specifically. (Does RAW Reunion exist longer than just the one episode of RAW now? Is that why this came to be on an episode of King’s Court?)
If Kofi Kingston doesn’t retain against Randy Orton at SummerSlam, I’m thinking I might actually cry. That’s how much of a highlight this segment—and this feud, based on logic and history and lack of Shane McMahon—is.
NXT (July 31, 2019)
Quick & Dirty Results:
- Tyler Breeze def. Jaxson Ryker
- Cameron Grimes def. Bronson Reed, in an NXT Breakout Tournament Semifinals match
- Pete Dunne def. Roderick Strong
The Highlights:
Shayna Baszler and her recent challenger for the NXT Women’s Championship, Mia Yim, finally had an in-ring (verbal) confrontation about the past few weeks. You can read more about that here.
After getting that whole Forgotten Sons thing out of the way, this is, of course, the highlight of the entire week: Breezango are back together. (Also, Tyler Breeze won a match, which is always a highlight.) And the Fashion Police are back on the case. Next stop: MAKEOVER.
I’ve written before about how both Roderick Strong (especially) and Pete Dunne could have great matches in their sleep, but this week, they were awake and facing each other. So how do you think it all went down? (It went down very well, that’s my point.)
You can watch last week’s RAW and SmackDown on Hulu and NXT on the WWE Network.