Rowdy Recap: Week of May 27, 2019
With so much weekly content on WWE TV, it can be difficult to keep track of everything. Because there is a lot.
That’s where Rowdy Recaps will come in, as a quick look back at the week in WWE TV, narrowing down the highlights of the big three shows: Monday Night RAW, SmackDown LIVE, and NXT. (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 this week in WWE!
Monday Night RAW (May 27, 2019)
Quick & Dirty Results:
- Becky Lynch & Nikki Cross def. The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce)
- Ricochet def. Cesaro
- Baron Corbin def. The Miz, Braun Strowman, & Bobby Lashley in a Universal Championship #1 Contendership Elimination Fatal 4-Way match
- Seth Rollins def. Sami Zayn
The Highlights:
Finally, all these years of Brock Lesnar never being around has a pay-off: Of course Brock Lesnar doesn’t know about the “one year to cash-in” stipulation of the Money in the Bank contract. The first Money in the Bank ladder match took place a whole year after Lesnar originally left WWE.
Then upon returning to the company, Lesnar was never in a position where he wasn’t either a the top contender or the champion. He didn’t even follow the established rules of the Money in the Bank ladder to win the Money in the Bank ladder match. Plus, do we think Lesnar reads things? No—that’s what he has Paul Heyman for.
Sorry about all the stress, Kofi and Seth.
Sami Zayn said what now? Well, he said “AEW,” but you wouldn’t know that from this version of the video. That missing moment, specifically, is the highlight of this segment.
This really isn’t a wrestling-heavy Monday Night RAW, but please do yourself a favor and watch Ricochet vs. Cesaro. It’s a rematch of their match from last week and the natural evolution of their time on the indies. Plus, you really can’t get much better than Ricochet and Cesaro in the ring together.
I mean, Seth Rollins vs. Sami Zayn is also worth watching (much more than the whole “Electric Chair” segment), but if you have to choose one, the choice is clear.
SmackDown! LIVE (May 28, 2019)
Quick & Dirty Results:
- Kofi Kingston def. Kevin Owens
- Mandy Rose def. Carmella
- R-Truth (c) def. Drake Maverick, for the WWE 24/7 Championship
- Elias def. R-Truth (c), for the WWE 24/7 Championship
- Bayley def. Lacey Evans
- Roman Reigns & R-Truth def. Drew McIntyre & Elias
- R-Truth def. Elias (c), for the WWE 24/7 Championship
The Highlights:
This Tuesday was honestly a big night for R-Truth, which is why he counts as all three highlights of this week’s SmackDown. (But also: Hey, Heavy Machinery. Welcome back.) He became the first ever multi-time WWE 24/7 Championship!
And he challenged (if that’s how this championship works) Drake Maverick—who has been all over his case—only to successfully defend said championship against him… before losing the title to Elias. Luckily, R-Truth was able to defeat Elias for the title again by the end of the night.
At least, the end of SmackDown’s night: The fighting champ made an appearance on 205 Live afterward too.
NXT (May 28, 2019)
Quick & Dirty Results:
- Mia Yim def. Bianca Belair
- Kushida def. Drew Gulak
- Danny Burch & Oney Lorcan vs. The Forgotten Sons (Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler) went to a No Contest
The Highlights:
If you’re in the market for some very good, aggressive women’s wrestling, you can either: a.) go back and watch all of “Rowdy” Ronda Rousey’s WWE matches on the WWE Network, b.) watch this week’s Mia Yim vs. Bianca Belair match on NXT, or c.) all of the above. I’d suggest option c, but option b is the answer I’m trying to get you to latch on to this week. Gotta show some love to the women holding things down in the division while the “Baddest Woman on the Planet” is away from the ring.
Not only is this is a competitive back and forth match, it’s easily the biggest win of Mia Yim’s NXT career so far. Plus, three weeks after Belair used her signature braid as a way to get the win against Yim, it’s nice to see that strategy come back to haunt her.
Another highlight? Both Shayna Baszler and Io Shirai are ready for their NXT Women’s Championship match at NXT TakeOver: XXV. You can read more about how ready they are here.
Because NXT is just an hour, unless the match deserves to be, um, forgotten, chances are the matches in any given episode are all a highlight. So like Matt Riddle’s early NXT match against Drew Gulak, this match is a real barnburner. (That Drew Gulak is pretty damn good at professional wrestling. And sports entertaining.)
Early on, Mauro Ranallo promised that Kushida vs. Drew Gulak would be a “high-speed chess match,” and that was the perfect way to describe this match. But if there’s one downside, it’s that the match didn’t quite get to that next level—that next gear—that one would expect and that both men are very capable of.
So thankfully, Gulak challenged Kushida to a Submission match after the fact.
You can watch this week’s RAW and SmackDown on Hulu and this week’s NXT on the WWE Network. NXT TakeOver: XXV will also be on the WWE Network, live this Saturday night.