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Welcome to the second edition of "WWE Recap of the Week", where we'll take a look at every major thing that took place in WWE this past week. Starting from Monday Night RAW, we'll take a look at all the storyline progressions and results from the red brand, and then the same for NXT and SmackDown. In the end, we'll take a look at the top WWE news and rumors from the week.
The entire focus of this week on RAW and SmackDown was to build and hype-up this Sunday's "The Horror Show at Extreme Rules". The PPV has an intriguing match card with some first-of-its-kind matches set to take place. As for NXT, three of its Championships were defended on this week's show.
Without further ado, let's dive straight into the WWE recap of the week. Be sure to comment down and let us know whether you enjoyed this week's WWE programming or not. Also, how hyped are you for Extreme Rules?
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#5 WWE Monday Night RAW
WWE RAW kicked off with MVP and his VIP Lounge with Dolph Ziggler as the guest. Ziggler was confident of defeating Drew McIntyre at WWE Extreme Rules and becoming the new WWE Champion. McIntyre came out warned Ziggler to be prepared for the suffering this Sunday before knocking him out.
Next, we saw the Elimination Tag Team match between Andrade & Angel Garza and the Viking Raiders. After Erik and Andrade were eliminated, Garza picked up the victory for his team. Backstage, Ruby Riott revealed her new friend Biance Beliar, who made her return to WWE TV after quite some time. Riott and Belair went on to defeat The IIconics in their tag team match.
After a backstage altercation with Akira Tozawa, R-Truth came out for a 24/7 Championship match against him. But before they could start, Shayna Baszler made her return and took out Tozawa's ninjas. R-Truth, quite sensibly, gave Baszler the mic and she went on to reveal that she's back to set things straight in the women's division.
Seth Rollins came out to cut a promo about his "Eye for an Eye" match against Rey Mysterio at WWE Extreme Rules and blamed Mysterio. He was interrupted by Kevin Owens, who gifted The Monday Night Messiah an eye-patch. This led to Murphy and Aleister Black coming out, which resulted in a match between the two that ended in a no-result after Rollins interfered.
Rey Mysterio and his son Dominik came out and surrounded Rollins. We then got a match between Seth and Kevin Owens. With some help from the Mysterios, Owens defeated Seth Rollins. Backstage, we saw Ric Flair warn Big Show and then Randy Orton cut a promo, threatening Show.
Randy Orton defeated R-Truth with the RKO. Just when he was going for the Punt Kick, The Big Show came out and stopped him. Orton challenged Show to an unsanctioned match on RAW next week, which he accepted. Backstage, MVP once again tried to convince Cedric Alexander to join him but was rejected. Next, Bobby Lashley defeated Ricochet in a dominating fashion.
The main event of WWE RAW saw Sasha Banks & Bayley defended their Women's Tag Team titles against Asuka and Kairi Sane. After an amazing back and forth match, Sasha Banks caught Sane in the Banks Statement, forcing her to tap out to win the match for her team.
#4 WWE NXT
WWE NXT kicked off with the newly crowned NXT Champion Keith Lee who defeated Adam Cole at NXT Great American Bash to become the Double Champion. Keith Lee thanked his trainer Tim Brooks and the WWE Universe before calling out Dominik Dijakovic. The Limitless One mentioned that he wants Dominik to be the first challenger for his titles and with that, the match was set for later on NXT.
Next, Damian Priest took on Cameron Grimes. After an great back and forth contest, the Archer of Infamy defeated Grimes. After the match, Priest took the mic and said that he'll be closely watching Lee and Dijakovic's match. We got to see another vignette of Timothy Thatcher.
We then got a match between Shotzi Blackheart and Indy Hartwell. While the "tank girl" of WWE was looking set to win the match, Robert Stone and Aliyah interfered and cost her the match. The Cruiserweight Champion, Santos Escobar cut a tremendous promo where he put over his teammates and revealed that he plans to build his empire on NXT.
Next, the NXT Double Champion Keith Lee defended his titles against Dominik Dijakovic. After an grueling match, Lee picked up the victory. The two competitors hugged it out, but suddenly the lights went out and Scarlett appeared. She placed a broken hourglass in the ring, teasing that Karrion Kross was coming for the Limitless One.
Backstage, Dijakovic was attacked by Kross, setting up a match between the two on next week's episode of NXT. Timothy Thatcher then defeated Denzel Dejournette. Oney Lorcan came out to the ring after the match and saved Thatcher's opponent from him. Backstage, Robert Stone apologized to Killian Dain, who asked Stone to get him a match against Dexter Lumis, which was later made official for next week.
In the main event of WWE NXT, Io Shirai defended her NXT Women's Championship against Tegan Nox. While there were certain close moments, Shirai managed to retain her title. Just as she was heading back, Dakota Kai blindsided her with a kick and took her out.
#3 WWE Friday Night SmackDown
WWE SmackDown kicked off with various WWE Superstars hyping up the matches on the show. The first match of the night was between Big E and Cesaro. After an intense match between the two powerhouses, Cesaro picked up the victory after some distraction from Shinsuke Nakamura.
With that victory, the team of Nakamura and Cesaro earned the right to pick the stipulation for their SmackDown Tag Team Championship match against the New Day at WWE Extreme Rules. Later, they revealed that it will be a Tables Match.
Next was the "Moment of Bliss" with Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross. The two were interrupted by the SmackDown Women's Champion Bayley and Sasha Banks. The Goddess then brought out her "mystery guest" which turned out to be the RAW Women's Champion, Asuka as the faces started brawling with the heels. This led to a match between Asuka & Nikki Cross vs The Rolemodels. Bayley won the match for her team after a dirty pin on Nikki.
We then saw a unique version of the Firefly Funhouse segment as Bray Wyatt appeared in his "cult leader" persona at the Swamp, hyping up his match against Braun Strowman at WWE Extreme Rules. In the arena, the Universal Champion cut an intense promo before decimating John Morrison in their scheduled match. The Miz helped a limping Morrison out of the ring.
Next, Lacey Evans defeated Naomi. Backstage, Jeff Hardy was attacked by Sheamus. In another backstage interview, the WWE Women's Tag Team Champions made fun of Nikki Cross which led to Nikki attacking Bayley.
The main event of WWE SmackDown saw AJ Styles defend his Intercontinental Championship against the newest member of the blue brand, Matt Riddle. After a great match, Styles rolled up Riddle to retain his title. The Phenomenal One went on to shake Riddle's hands but King Corbin attacked the Original Bro and took him out to end SmackDown.
WWE did a decent job of hyping up the upcoming Extreme Rules PPV on the go-home show!
#2 Top WWE News of the week
Let's take a look at a few top WWE News stories of the week!
After losing to NXT for the past three weeks, AEW won the viewership rating war. NXT drew 631,000 as compared to AEW's 788,000. Chris Jericho reacted to it (Tweet above) and also released his new "Demo God" t-shirt.
Recently released WWE Superstars Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows confirmed that they have signed with IMPACT Wrestling. They revealed that they were very close to signing with All Elite Wrestling last year, before re-signing with WWE, but they regret that decision!
Former WWE Superstar CM Punk thanked John Cena, Scott Armstrong, and the WWE fans, remembering his 2011 Money in the Bank title victory.
The #1 contender for the WWE Championship, Dolph Ziggler revealed that he was told that he would never become a World Champion because of his hair.
Lio Rush sent out tweets about reports of backstage heat with Finn Balor. The Prince responded by saying that there is no heat and invited Rush to call him if he wants to talk.
Kairi Sane mentioned her desire to face Asuka for the RAW Women's Championship on this week's RAW Talk.
Updated Match Card for WWE Extreme Rules 2020 -
Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Dolph Ziggler - WWE Championship
Asuka (c) vs. Sasha Banks - Raw Women's Championship
Bayley (c) vs. Nikki Cross - SmackDown Women's Championship
Braun Strowman vs. Bray Wyatt - Wyatt Swamp Fight
Rey Mysterio vs. Seth Rollins - Eye for an Eye match
Apollo Crews (c) vs. MVP - United States Championship
The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (c) vs Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura - Tables match for the WWE SmackDown Tag Team Championships
#1 Top WWE rumors of the week
Some top WWE rumors from the last week are -
There are reported plans for Randy Orton to win the WWE Championship and defend it against Edge at next year's Royal Rumble or WrestleMania. Drew McIntyre can then win the title again in front of a live crowd.
The planned WWE SummerSlam match card has reportedly been torn up. With the PPV unlikely to be in front of a live crowd, WWE has little desire to have Brock Lesnar on the show. Also, Randy Orton vs Edge is off the charts with the latter's injury.
Jim Ross revealed that WWE thought that they found the next Brock Lesnar in Bobby Lashley.
Former WWE Champion, CM Punk made 'astronomical demands' to join All Elite Wrestling. Cody Rhodes mentioned that those demands were not justified.
Kevin Owens reportedly had a backstage confrontation with Vince McMahon regarding WWE's COVID-19 safety protocols that led to the WWE Chairman making wearing masks compulsory and took strong actions against those who didn't wear them.
Shayna Baszler was reportedly off-TV because her storyline was built around Becky Lynch and with Becky's unavailability, WWE had no plans for Shayna.
WWE is reportedly working towards having longer matches, the reason why there are very less matches scheduled for "The Horror Show at Extreme Rules". The cinematic matches on the PPV are reportedly set to be the longest.
AJ Styles was reportedly "so mad" when he got to know that his match against The Undertaker at WrestleMania 36 was going to happen in front of no fans. He wanted to give a proper send-off to The Phenom, which he thought won't be possible without a live audience.
The rumors of backstage friction between AJ Styles and Paul Heyman are reportedly true. The Phenomenal One moved to SmackDown due to Heyman. Heyman was also reportedly responsible for Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows getting fired.
Bianca Belair's return to RAW was reportedly just her filling in for Liv Morgan (who isn't currently available) this week, who will eventually rejoin Ruby Riott.
Ex WWE writer blasts Liv Morgan HERE
