WWE Wrap-Up
This week in WWE: The chase is on as the build to MITB continues
May 23, 2018, 3:18 pm
The Daniel Bryan vs Samoa Joe dream match happens next week on SDL. Photo by WWE.com
This is a weekly look at the action in the WWE:
Raw
Kurt Angel opened the show but was quickly interrupted by Stephanie McMahon, opening the flood gates for interruptions. Roman interrupted Steph demanding answers for the way management has been screwing him. This lead to Kevin Owens interrupting Roman who interrupted Steph who interrupted Kurt. His sarcasm got him put into a match with Reigns. The theme of interruption continued as Jinder Mahal surprised Reigns with an attack. Seth Rollins raced to save his friend, and the match was restarted as a tag team match. Rollins hit Owens with a stomp to win the match for his team. Mahal got the last laugh, though, as he attacked both Reigns and Rollins with a chair.
Hour two opened with an atrocity of a segment with Sami Zayn and three men dressed up as women who were “Bobby Lashley’s sisters.” Credit should go to Sami Zayn, who tried his best to make the best out of one the worst segments of the year. Lashley came to the ring and handled Zayn and his “sisters.” Ember Moon continued her impressive run on Raw as she defeated the former champion, Alexa Bliss. The B team, Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel, defeated Breezango.
Stephanie instigated the contract signing between Women’s Champion, Nia Jax, and Ronda Rousey. Although it did not lead to blows, Jax explained to Rousey that she would never be able to put an ArmBar on her. Dolph Ziggler defeated Chad Gable with a Super Kick. Drew McIntyre attacked Gable after the match. Natalya, Dana Brooke, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan faced off in a qualifier for MITB. Natalya won the match after submitting Logan with a Sharpshooter. Bobby Roode’s gamble on the top rope did not pay off as Elias caught him up and pinned him for the win. The short-lived tag team of Braun Strowman and Finn Balor main-evented the show. No matter what Balor did to try to stop Braun, nothing worked. Strowman won the match hitting him with a Running Powerslam.
SmackDown Live
Miz TV opened the show with the Miz’s exclusive sit down with The New Day. Miz’s intention was to get the scoop on which New Day member is going to represent the team at MITB. Of course, the New Day did not reveal to him who will represent the team. Instead, Big E challenged him to a match. Thanks to a distraction from The Bar, Miz defeated Big E with a Skull Crushing Finale. Lana upset Billie Kay to qualify for the Women’s MITB match. Andrade “Cien” Almas defeated, no, destroyed another enhancement talent pinning him with a Hammerlock DDT.
AJ Styles had enough, he no longer wanted to wait to find out what stipulation Nakamura would choose for their match at MITB. Nakamura refused to tell him, which lead to a brawl that Styles dominated until Nakamura used a chair as an equalizer. It was not until after he laid Styles out that he revealed their match at MITB will be a Last Man Standing match. Gallows and Anderson defeated The Usos to win number one contender-ship to the tag team tittles. Naomi defeated Sonya Deville to qualify for the Women’s MITB match. Daniel Bryan defeated Jeff Hardy for the opportunity to face Samoa Joe, the winner of the match qualifies to MITB.
Man oh man, what a week for the WWE.
In terms of preparing for MITB, we received another solid week of build. The interesting thing to me is where the company stands with Seth Rollins. Currently, he is the most relevant baby face on Raw. He has the best matches and gets the best reactions. He currently does not have a match announced for MITB, but I cannot imagine the biggest baby face on Raw not stealing the show on MITB.
As far as SmackDown is concerned, we are getting a Daniel Bryan vs Samoa Joe match next week. Boy, what a time to be a fan of WWE.
Of course, the biggest story of the week came from outside of the TV product. Fox and the WWE have reached an agreement for the rights of SmackDown Live. The deal is for over a Billion dollars. At a time when the blue show is at an edge over Raw, this is absolutely great news. There are many rumors on the direction the WWE will go with SmackDown, but one thing is for certain, the deal with FOX means more people will have access to SDL and the WWE Product. Growing up, we did not have cable television. The only reason I was able to watch wrestling was because SDL was on UPN or CW on Thursday or Friday nights. I am ecstatic for the brand and for fans who are in a similar situation as the one I was in.
In case you guys did not know, I produce a pretty good show with Patrick Creighton called Straight Heat. It airs Monday through Friday from 9 pm to Midnight on SB Nation Radio, locally on SportsMap 94.1. Earlier this week, the one, the only, Dave Meltzer of the Wrestling Observer joined the show to talk all about the WWE’s deal with FOX.
The Houston Astros closed out a powerful homestand with a statement series win over the Cubs, led by the continued emergence of Cam Smith and the lockdown stuff of Bryan Abreu. Smith, who seems to live for high-leverage moments, went toe-to-toe with Kyle Tucker and delivered again and again, further cementing his place in Houston’s growing offensive core. Meanwhile, Abreu was simply untouchable—striking out all four batters he faced in a lights-out appearance on Thursday and returning Sunday to toss two scoreless innings in front of Josh Hader’s 23rd straight save. The bullpen continues to impress.
As Houston heads west for a six-game road trip, starting with the Rockies and ending with the Dodgers, the rotation will remain under the microscope. On paper, the Rockies series should be a tune-up—Colorado owns the worst record in baseball. But even in a small three-game set, anything can happen. The Dodgers are a different animal entirely. They’ve been the class of the National League and pose a challenge that may mirror what the Astros saw from the Phillies and Cubs—but this time, Houston won’t have the advantage of home field. Considering the team’s elite pitching and recent play, the Astros should still feel confident, but they’ll need to prove they can sustain this level on the road.
Trade speculation is beginning to swirl, particularly around Baltimore’s Cedric Mullins. Mullins hasn’t lit it up this season—he’s hitting just .213—but his 12 home runs suggest some underlying pop. Houston may believe there's untapped potential in his swing that can be unlocked. It's a move that would fit the Astros’ track record: buying low on a talented player and letting their system do the rest.
Speaking of roster decisions, Christian Walker's bat is officially on watch. Despite showing flashes of life earlier this season, Walker hit just .221 in June and has been dropped to seventh in the lineup. Meanwhile, Jon Singleton has been crushing home runs in Sugar Land and waiting patiently for another big-league shot. The organization has to be thinking about giving Singleton a chance if Walker’s struggles continue.
But not every question has an immediate answer. Lance McCullers Jr.’s return from the injured list was rocky at best, surrendering eight runs in a short outing. Still, the reaction from fans calling for his release is premature at best and delusional at worst. Joe Espada left him in too long, and everyone knew it. It's still June, and McCullers is a proven postseason arm. He’s not going anywhere, not with that contract—and frankly, not with the upside he still offers.
More to the story
Then there's Jeremy Peña. The hope was that his sore ribs were nothing serious. That changed after the homestand, when further imaging revealed a small fracture and landed Peña on the 10-day IL. It’s a frustrating development, but credit the Astros’ medical staff for pushing for clarity—learning from the Yordan Alvarez situation this year. With superagent Scott Boras now representing him, it appeared negotiations were over. But Astros GM Dana Brown revealed on the pregame show this weekend that he’s already reached back out to Boras to reopen the conversation. Whether both sides can agree to new terms is a different story.
So while the Astros leave home riding a wave of momentum, the road ahead holds tougher matchups, key roster questions, and new injury concerns. They’ve shown they’re built to weather all of it. Now they’ll have to prove it.
There's so much more to get to! Don't miss the video below as we examine the topics above and much, much more!
The MLB season is finally upon us! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and Charlie Pallilo for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday.
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