We’re back again to give you another week of the top takeaways from each show.  Unfortunately, these will all be overshadowed by the breaking news of Vince McMahon announcing his retirement, but we’ll go ahead as planned anyway because that’s what I do BAY BAY!

So instead of giving a long introduction to try and overshadow the most newsworthy news that the world of professional wrestling has ever seen, I’m going to just jump right into the takeaways!

Monday Night Raw:

Judgment Day is Upon Us

Since Finn Balor joined, Edge got the boot and Rhea Ripley was injured, Judgment Day has been on cruise control not doing much of anything.  They started a feud with the Mysterio’s on an episode of Main Event and the driving force behind this has been Finn and Priest’s determination of getting Dominik to leave his father and join Judgment Day.

This week, we had Damian Priest defeat Rey in a one-on-one match up.  After the match, they were getting ready to execute a conchairto to the legendary luchador before Dom threw himself in harm’s way and told the members of Judgment Day that he would join in a last-ditch effort to save his father.  Only problem there is that’s not how this works, as Damian Priest put it.  You can’t join us to save him, you join us to hurt him.

Well, that was quick…@FinnBalor @ArcherofInfamy #WWERaw pic.twitter.com/dFWT12GjX6

— WWE (@WWE) July 19, 2022

With the 20th anniversary of Rey Mysterio coming on Monday at Madison Square Garden, all the seeds for the Dom turn have been planted and the timing of the turn couldn’t be any better.  Rey will have the spotlight on him as his son does the unthinkable and finally turns on his dad, joining Judgment Day.  This isn’t fantasy booking; the writing is on the wall.  And with Rhea Ripley and Edge both looking for a return soon, it’s time once again for Judgment Day to rise and get started with what they were meant to do from the beginning… eradicate those who refuse to fall in line.

NXT 2.0:

A New Challenger

Mandy Rose has had herself a nice run atop the women’s division since moving down to the NXT brand.  With a stable at her side, she has cemented herself as one of the brand’s best champions in history as she continues to surpass the champions of yesteryear.

It’s been a long road to recovery for @ZoeyStarkWWE, but after winning the 20-Woman Battle Royal she is ready to take the #WWENXT Women’s Title off @WWE_MandyRose’s waist. pic.twitter.com/E06kKbLTe6

— WWE NXT (@WWENXT) July 20, 2022

On this week’s show, we got ourselves Mandy’s next challenger.  After 3 weeks of QR Code teasers, Zoey Stark showed up as the talent behind the segments as she was named the last contestant in the 20-person battle royale to determine the #1 Contender for the NXT Women’s Title.  Zoey would outlast everyone, including Cora Jade who tried the sneak attack approach after leaving in the beginning and will now face Mandy Rose for the coveted championship.  Will this be a one and done shot or will we get a program that turns this into an actual feud?  We’ll just have to wait and see.

AEW Dynamite:

Into the Darkness

This week’s Dynamite opened up with a brilliant opening contest between Darby Allin and Brody King.  If you’ve been paying attention to the show, this was a nicely put together feud that looks to be blossoming into much more after this week’s events.

After Brody completely manhandled Darby, thwarting off any and all offense Allin was able to throw at the giant, Brody King decided he was not finished.  He began to choke the life out of Darby Allin in an attempt to bring Sting out from the shadows.  Why?  Last week Malakai and Sting had a brief encounter before going off into their separate tunnels.  That was merely a tease for what was to come.

GOD KILLER. pic.twitter.com/EN5DVygBMh

— Big Bad Brody King (@Brodyxking) July 21, 2022

And this week… it came.  As Sting came down to the make the save, he became the victim of a lights out spot.  Right when it looked like Sting was going to put Brody King down, the lights would go out and upon them coming back on, Malakai was in the ring face to face with The Icon.  That wouldn’t last long as Brody would begin choking Sting out from behind as Black hit sting with mist simultaneously.  And now we have a feud that consists of many dark figures that will be a fresh addition to AEW’s weekly show.

Miro is also involved in this, but he seems a bit out of place.  I won’t comment further on that part until we know exactly how he fits into this other than the fact he’s not happy about being hit with the mist at Forbidden Door.

Smackdown:

Here Comes the Pain

After the announcement of Vince McMahon retiring, the next big news break was that Brock Lesnar had left the arena out of anger.  A show that was supposed to be built around him was now left to be re-written as the mystery of will he or won’t he return in time for the show.  With SummerSlam a week away, this was a big night for the main event to be built as Roman Reigns was not present at the show.  They needed Brock.  Not just for the main event of their second biggest show of the year, but to help sell that match as well.

So as the show went along, they still mentioned Brock throughout the night.  If Brock walked, why are they still going ahead as planned?

F-5 on the #MITB briefcase! #SmackDown @BrockLesnar @_Theory1 pic.twitter.com/EzSJ2unmKM

— WWE (@WWE) July 23, 2022

Well, as the show came to an end with Theory beating down Madcap with his briefcase, the mystery was no more.  Brock Lesnar’s music hit, and the crowd went nuts.  Theory stood in the ring in shock as Brock slowly made his way down to the ring to do what he does best… destroy.   Brock would hit a few F5’s and beat Theory down with the briefcase himself to close out the show.

Not really the build for his match with Roman Reigns that you’d want, but with Theory becoming the focal point of that Last Man Standing match, this ending works.  This is a true testament to how much faith they have in a young Theory.  A main event at SummerSlam between Roman and Brock, and it is Theory that is selling this match more than anyone.  Will he cash in?  At this point, I think it’s obvious that he will atleast make a move for it but one thing is for sure, the ending of SummerSlam is one that should not be missed.

Agree. Disagree. Sound off in the comments.  Until then, I will see you all again next week!

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