This Week In Pro Wrestling: All hail Roman Reigns, Eddie Kingston's mighty return and Kevin Owens' double take
What a great week in professional wrestling! Wrestlemania was a great weekend. I was in attendance for last Saturday night, it was amazing! There was a lot which happened over the last week, but with all that happened this week was a great building block to whatever comes next.
AEW had a great week as well, but before we get there, let’s get into WWE.
It’s all about RAW, dog
Cody Rhodes made his ‘shocking’ return to WWE at Mania as Seth Rollins mystery opponent. After his opening promo which was phenomenal, we have an idea of what is in store for Cody. He’s already my choice for Money In the Bank winner. But, that’s two months away. Right now, Cody gets his welcome back tour underway with Miz this coming Monday. Miz needs to keep an eye on his back though, I can’t imagine Logan Paul will forget what happened at the end of their tag match with the Mysterios.
The other side of this is, where does this leave Seth Rollins? That’s back to back Mania’s he has taken an L. He’s too damn good to not be involved in a major storyline. Where does he go from here? Time will tell. I hope Seth isn’t out of the title picture too long.
Did you all see Ezekiel? ‘Younger’ brother of Elias. Kevin Owens had just finished his segment and then here he comes. Zeke made his presence known with a pretty damn funny spot with KO. What a way to introduce yourself after Owens took on one of the greats in Stone Cold. Ezekiel seems like something that can be pretty hilarious if we play the entertainment card.
Dolph Ziggler was out representing NXT in a title defense against Bron Brekker. This match was pretty good as we saw at Stand and Deliver, DZ was able to retain, only to lose a hard fought match with Brekker in the rubber match. Brekker is going to be a top tier talent one day, he is where he needs to be right now in representing the NXT brand. Can’t wait to see what is in store next for him.
Time to layeth the SmackDown!
Smackdown was fun as well. We got to see the introduction of Gunther (Walter) for the first time on the main roster. He was introduced in a squash match, but there has to be big things in store for him. One of, if not the top talents in NXT and NXT UK, is finally going to showcase his talents on Fox.
In one of the more under appreciated stories, Happy Corbin and Mad Cat Moss had a breakup. Mad Cat coming off his Andre The Giant Battle Royal victory has been on a bit of a hot streak, but Happy lost to Drew McIntyre at Mania halting all his momentum to the top. Happy blamed Moss and Moss was having none of that noise. Mad Cat showed he wants all the smoke. He is primed to take on Happy at some point in the near future, but how will Mad Cat do on his own without the leadership of Happy Corbin?
Roman Reigns. Head of the Table. Tribal Chief. Now, you can call him Undisputed Heavyweight Champion of WWE. He took down the Beast on Mania Sunday. He’s conquered EVERYONE! The Bloodline is primed to take all the gold from everyone who stands in the way. Roman needs something else. Total domination, ordering the Usos to challenge RK-Bro to unify their belts. All the gold for the Bloodline. Here comes Shinsuke Nakamura. I’ll tell you this, while he may not beat the Tribal Chief, I have been waiting for this for a while. Shinsuke will give Roman another unique challenge. The King of Strong Style is not to be taken lightly in this role against Roman. I can’t wait to see this program develop.
AEW had a helluva week as well. Opening up on Dynamite Adam Cole earned a hard fought one against Christian Cage. At the end Cole immediately challenged the Hangman. To which the Hangman wanted to do some ‘cowboy sh*t!’ Next week, Texas Death Match. Cole vs. Page for the AEW championship. Adam Page has had one of the better runs as champion in AEW, I expect it to end in a glorious fashion this coming week. The build for a Adam Cole and CM Punk match would be INSANE!
Speaking of insane, did you see the return of Eddie Kingston?! I mean they beat the hell out of the Jericho Appreciation Society. It was an a$$whooping. This has to end in some sort of brawl street fight type match. No way this stays in a regular match. It would not do the story any justice. Give us something INSANE Mr. Khan!
Samoa Joe is All Elite. That’s the sentence. Joe being in the ring is just right. Sucks he didn’t get healthy enough for WWE to clear him but, he’s where he belongs - in the ring. Love to see it.
Aside from Becky Lynch/Bianca Belair, the best match of the last month was a tag match on Dynamite with FTR and the Young Bucks. These two teams gave all they had and more, and then some more. Just a flat out awesome match. It had everything. I turned off the tv feeling like I had just been through a match. It was that good. FTR managed to retain their titles, but damn did they earn it with the Young Bucks. They may be the two best teams in the world. One of them deserves a shot at Jungle Boy/Luchasaurus. Who is completely up to Mr. Khan. Now we wait.
Yes, I know I didn’t cover everything that happened over Wrestlemania week, but I legit could write a book on all that happened. What did you think of this week? What do you think is going to happen next for WWE or AEW? Continue the conversation in the comments, or hit me up via social media. Find me on twitter: @zero2hero or IG: Rproctor23. See you all next week!