THIS WEEK IN WRESTLING

October 3, 2018

This week’s RAW and Smackdown episodes seemed designed to protect the WWE stars as they get ready for this weekend’s Super Showdown in Melbourne.  RAW revolved around the big six man match between The Shield and the team of Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, and Drew McIntyre; with all six competing in singles matches.

The hype for the match between Triple H and The Undertaker continued, as both men clashed, alongside Shawn Michaels and Kane, to close out the show.  There seems to be a very real possibility to Shawn Michaels will come out of retirement for one more match, possibly at Survivor Series.

Kevin Owens and Elias continue to garner heat as they build towards their match against Bobby Lashley and John Cena.  Ribbing a home town sports team is standard fare for heels, but in Seattle, Owens and Elias generated a stadium full of boos for several minutes.  I was surprised John Cena did not appear to promote the show.

On Smackdown, it was all about the Women’s Championship match between Becky Lynch and Charlotte.  They closed the show, with Becky doing an in-ring promo, before Charlotte rushed the ring to deliver a beat down.

The New Day hyped their feud with Sheamus and Cesaro in a comedic skit, while AJ Styles and Samoa Joe were not live on the show.  Daniel Bryan lost to Shelton Benjamin before copping a beating from The Miz.  Bryan and The Miz will clash on Saturday night in Melbourne, with a World Championship shot awaiting the winner.

The Rusev, Lana and Aiden English storyline continued, with English showing an obviously doctored video footage of Lana appearing to tell English “I want you”.  Not sure how this one is going to pan out, but I remember they did a similar storyline with Enzo Amore, that did nothing for anyone.

Good to see Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas back on television, even if they did end up getting monstered by the Authors of Pain.  R Truth was gold again, but still no Bray Wyatt or Luke Harper.

While the WWE will begin the build towards the all-women’s Evolution event, and Smackdown 1000 in the coming weeks, the NWA will host their 70^th anniversary event on October 21.  Cody Rhodes will defend the World Title against Nick Aldis.  The event will also mark the return of Colt Cabana, who will compete in a six man match for the NWA National Championship, which was vacated in September 2017.  The title has been held by the likes of Jack Brisco, Paul Orndorff, Tully Blanchard, Larry Zbyszko, and Dusty Rhodes.

You can read more about Triple H, The Undertaker, Kane, Shawn Michaels, and the legends of the NWA here.   You can also read about today’s stars of wrestling here.