Wrestle Review: Two Days on the Mat Submitted by Andy Sullivan on 08/22/2020 at 11:16 AM
The big wrestling weekend technically started last night with the debut of the ThunderDome on Smackdown. I thought the virtual fan thing was pretty neat. Ho silence, right? There are a couple of non-mat related notes from the week. Renee Young leaving WWE qill be a big loss for the company. I'd say "would be" but, they're bringing back Talking Smack with hosts Xavier Woods and Kayla Braxton. Some say bringing Renee's show back without her is revenge for her leaving or whatever. People, if she's leaving, somebody else has to host, right? Let the "Renee is All Elite" talk commence.
NXT Takeover's are like holiday's for alot of us. Most of the time, they're better tan the "main roster" shows the following day. Now, onto my predictions.
The pre-show includes a #1 contender's tag triple threat between Legado Del Fantasma, Breezango and the team of Burch and Lorcan. I figure Fantasma picks this up. I figure it's time for a heel faction to be tag champions again, or at least #1 contenders.
Fin Balor vs Timothy Thatcher seems thrown together. Well, seeing as Fin lost to Dream in the last chance match just three days ago, it is pretty thrown together. Should be a good match, though. Fin needs to get his win back.
Adam Cole vs Pat McAfee continues the tradition in WWE of wrestler vs football player. In reality, Cole should win. Wrestling, however, isn't reality. What would it benefit Pat to win, though? I pick Cole.
The ladder match for the vacant NXT North American Championship should be crazy! You have Bronson Reed, Damien Priest, Cameron Grimes, Johnny Gargano and the controversial entrant, Velveteen Dream. If the company wanted to put massive heat on itself, Dream would win. People were beside themselves when he beat Balor Wednesday. Could you imagine if he wins that match tonight? I actually do pick him to win and the internet melt down.
I pick Dakota Kai to win the women's championship over Io Shirai. She's got the bodyguard. Io does not. I sense trouble. The main event will feature Karrion Kross winning the NXT Championship over Keith Lee. Are Lee and D-Jac two members of Retribution?
Also Saturday night is AEW Dynamite. AEW's second hour coincides with the first hour of NXT. That could be interesting. Not if you have a Hopper/DR and are recording. But I'll get to Dynamite in a bit. Street Profits defending the Raw tag titles against a team that has screamed split for months: Andrade and Angel. So much so, in fact, that I sort of quit caring. Well, I have completely quit. Street Profits retain.
Apollo Crews should successfully defend the U.S. title against MVP. I know Porter has his buddies on the outside but I'm still picking Crews. Sonya is losing her hair against Mandy. She'll leave to handle this horrifying experience she's going through and will come back with her head shaved at the Royal Rumble and win it.
Asuka's first of two title shots is against Bayley for the Smackdown women's title. She then faces Sasha for the Raw title. I'd like to see her win both titles. Next is the street fight between Seth Rollins and the debuting Dominik Mysterio, If this was a regular wrestling match, I'd choose Seth. However, since Dom can use whatever and Rey can get involved, something has me picking Dom.
As for the main events: I think Alexa Bliss will make her return at SummerSlam, screwing Braun out of the Universal Championship. The Fiend picks up the championship and a new acolyte. Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton headline for the WWE Championship. I know some are already sick of Drew as champ. I also know Randy wants to reach Ric Flair's reign number and face John Cena to see who gets the record. While I don't see that happening, I do see Randy winning the WWE Championship. He's honestly never been better.
Cody and Brodie will headline Dynamite for the TNT Championship tonight. Cody has been champion since March and, well it might be time for Lee to dethrone him. If he loses this title match like he lost the World title match against Mox, what would that say about the leader of Dark Order? It'll make him look like he looked in WWE: like he can't win the big one.
FTR will beat Private Party unless Matt Hardy gets involved. The Elite will beat Dark Order. Madusa will present the Nghtmare Sisters with the women's tag team cup, and will probably crap on WWE in the process because that's what she does. I'll be shocked if she doesn't, actually. Especially since it's been AEW's way to do so.
There you have it: all the wrestling action this weekend! Whatever you choose, have fun with it.
