Rowdy Recap: Week of June 10, 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 (June 10, 2019)
Quick & Dirty Results:
- Lars Sullivan def. Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Lince Dorado, & Gran Metalik), in an Elimination 3-on-1 Handicap match
- Ricochet, The Miz, & Braun Strowman def. Cesaro, Bobby Lashley, & Samoa Joe
- Alexa Bliss & Lacey Evans def. Bayley & Becky Lynch
- The IIconics (Billie Kay & Peyton Royce) def. local competitors
- The Revival (Scott Dawson) def. Zack Ryder & Curtis Hawkins (c) & The Usos (Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso), in a Triple Threat match for the RAW Tag Team Championship
- Kevin Owens def. Seth Rollins, via Disqualification in a Special Outside Referee (Sami Zayn) match
The Highlights:
Want to see some athletic big men? (And then wonder why these two’s matches can’t be a lot more like this and a lot less like… arm wrestling.) Look no further than this match:
In fact, like a Stefon bit, this match has everything: athletic big men, an A-lister, blink-and-you-miss-it action, superhuman strength, a general desire for one-upmanship, and a champion walking out of the match once he realizes he has no reason to be in there with people who want his title. This whole match actually happens as a result of all five other men—including the men who would become his tag team partners—coming out to stake their claim as the potential next contender to Samoa Joe’s United States Championship. In fact, poor Joe. I don’t think he realized that getting his United States Championship back—and no longer having Rey Mysterio pestering him for it—would lead to even more men gunning for that title.
“HEY, KAYLA!” And still your longest reigning—and defending*—WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions: THE IICONICS. Because they didn’t actually defend. Okay, maybe the women’s tag team match that actually had some back and forth should be the highlight of the week…
*Allegedly.
This is more like it. (No offense to that Charlotte Flair vs. Lacey Evans match.) Right after Becky Lynch and Lacey Evans have a heated verbal back and forth, A Woman’s Right has never looked so good.
Honestly, I might have to start a new feature altogether just for WWE 24/7 Championship shenanigans.
A number of champions were in action this week—even if “in action” meant “trapped in an elevator with a small man and a potential cannibal”**—but there was only one title defense, the one for the RAW Tag Team Championship. In case you forgot, the titles were held by Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder (who won the titles at WrestleMania 35), until this match, when The Revival won them back—by doing Top Guy things, of course.
**Has EC3 always kept a plastic fork in his trunks? Always?
SmackDown! LIVE (June 11, 2019)
Quick & Dirty Results:
- The Miz def. Elias, in a Gauntlet match for The Miz to face Shane McMahon
- Drew McIntyre def. The Miz, in a Gauntlet match for The Miz to face Shane McMahon
- Shane McMahon def. The Miz
- Heavy Machinery (Otis & Tucker) def. local competitors
- Sonya Deville def. Carmella
- Bayley def. Nikki Cross
- The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods, & Big E) def. Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, & Dolph Ziggler
The Highlights:
Please note: The highlight of this “forced” MizTV segment is The Miz snapping at Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre, and Elias, not the “forced” MizTV segment itself or the continued alliance (and screentime) of Shane McMahon, Drew McIntyre, and Elias. How much The Miz clearly doesn’t want to do this is the highlight. Basically, as usual: When The Miz is on SmackDown LIVE, The Miz is the best part of SmackDown LIVE. Even if he’s there as a “Wild Card.”
The “Gauntlet” match where Miz still had to “compete” against Shane, even after losing? Not a highlight.
Well, as Mandy Rose promised Ember Moon, Sonya Deville beat Carmella. And she did so in quite a good, physical match. Of course, Carmella probably had R-Truth and his WWE 24/7 (or, according to him, “7/11”) Championship woes on her mind during this match… and Mandy Rose’s interference as well. The only disappointment is that the match isn’t longer, but I suppose that’s where Mandy Rose’s interference comes in. Which, hey—at least that means it’s not always just Sonya helping Mandy. There’s reciprocity in this friendship!
Also, I’ve basically been plugging it to anyone who will listen ever since it dropped, but go ahead and do yourself a major favor and watch the Worlds Collide special’s all-women’s episode (April 24, 2019). Sonya Deville takes on Io Shirai—which you definitely aren’t seeing anywhere else anytime soon—but for my money, the highlight of the whole thing is the opening match between Candice LeRae and Kay Lee Ray. I will never have anything but glowing things to say about both Candice LeRae and Kay Lee Ray, and this match is the perfect example why.
BIG E IS BACK, BA-BYYYYYYYYY!!! And he’s got booking jokes. Meanwhile, WWE Champion Kofi Kingston let everyone know who he’s beaten. That would be all three men in this week’s main event six-man tag team match against The New Day: Sami “Sam” Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Dolph Ziggler.
And he beat them again in said main event.
205 Live (June 11, 2019)
205 Live isn’t being regularly featured in these Rowdy Recaps (at least, not yet), but I’ll just let you know, that’s not for lack of quality (the quality is high). Like I said above: baby steps.
Quick & Dirty Results:
- Chad Gable def. “Gentleman” Jack Gallagher, via. Countout
- The Singh Brothers (Sunil Singh & Samir Singh) def. Dos Locales (local competitors)
- Drew Gulak or Akira Tozawa def. Humberto Carrillo & Oney Lorcan, in a Fatal 4-Way***
***It’s a whole thing****
The Highlights:
Yep, this past week saw the official 205 Live debut of a Superstar who more than deserves his shot to shine, Chad Gable. Unfortunately, he wasn’t able to get a decisive victory over “Gentleman” Jack Gallagher, but I’m sure we can give it time. Because what we got was both a technical clinic and still just a preview of what the “American Alpha” can do inside that ring when given the chance. The purple brand is now officially ready, willing, and Gable.
****So, here’s the whole thing: In this Fatal 4-Way to decide the #1 Contender to Tony Nese’s Cruiserweight Championship, rivals Akira Tozawa and Drew Gulak (who had a great match last week on 205 Live) managed to pin each other. Whoops.
As for the rest of the actual match, in true 205 Live fashion, it was one of the best WWE matches of the week, without question. And it got the patented “205” chant to prove it. (Sorry to Oney Lorcan though, thanks to Ariya Daivari. But he got some momentum back on this week’s NXT…)
NXT (June 12, 2019)
Quick & Dirty Results:
- Candice LeRae & Io Shirai vs. Jessamyn Duke & Marina Shafir went to a No Contest
- Kushida def. Drew Gulak, in a Submission match
- Oney Lorcan & Danny Burch def. Undisputed Era (Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong)
The Highlights:
You can read about one-half of Ronda Rousey’s Four Horsewomen taking on Candice LeRae and Io Shirai in the opener of this NXT here.
As promised, Kushida and Drew Gulak had themselves a Submission match. And also as promised, it was even better than their first, already pretty good match from a couple of weeks ago. This was quite a busy week for Drew Gulak, now wasn’t it?
That just leaves the obvious: a tag team match between Undisputed Era’s Kyle O’Reilly and Roderick Strong and Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch. While The Revival may have won back the RAW Tag Team Championship on Monday Night RAW, this is the real tag team wrestling match of the week. (It’s a shame Jaxson Ryker had to show up during all of this though—thus the surprising match result.)
This match features the hard-hitting action you’d expect from all four of these men, leaving it all out there in the ring. It’s hard not to just call all of weekly NXT a highlight and then just call it a day, but with matches like this and Kushida vs. Gulak, it’s clear that not all highlights are created equal.
You can watch last week’s RAW and SmackDown on Hulu and 205 Live and NXT on the WWE Network.