London Calling!

This week I'm going to do things a little differently. As I was away seeing Iron Maiden I've only just had the chance to catch up on Raw and Smackdown this week. So instead of doing separate posts for both shows I'm going to talk about both shows in brief in this post and then give my thoughts on this weeks shows at the end.

WWE RAW RUNDOWN: May 8th 2017

Announcers: Michael Cole, Corey Graves & Booker T

Venue: The o2 Arena

Location: London, UK

• Dean Ambrose is on the phone to Kurt Angle who makes him GM for the night. Ambrose comes out to set out his plans for the night until The Miz interrupts. Miz says Steph has made him co-GM for the night. This brings out Braun Strowman with his arm in a sling, who talks about wanting some more of Roman Reigns. Kalisto comes out wanting revenge for the dumpster attack a couple weeks ago and Dean makes the match for tonight. Dean also tells Miz after what happened last week he faces Finn Balor....next!
• Finn Balor Vs The Miz is a decent enough match. Maybe they are saving something better for them in the future. Miz tries to get himself DQ'd but Ambrose reverses the decision restarting the match which Finn wins with the Coupe de Grace. 
• Backstage promo with Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax. Nia asks Alexa if she meant what she said last week about Nia being great. Alexa says of course and Nia asks for a title shot after Alexa is done with Bayley. Alexa says she will see what she can do. In the mean time Nia says she will be Alexa's new best friend. I like this pairing should be entertaining.
• Alexa Bliss (with Nia Jax) Vs Mickie James (with Bayley) is up next. Another decent enough match although the crowd seemed more into chanting for Bayley than the actual match. The finish was a bit meh as Mickie got distracted by Nia and just got punched off the top rope by Alexa for the pin. Nice to see Bliss win again though. Actually building up a champion by having them win non-title matches! After the match Bayley chased off Alexa when she tried to get some more shots in on Mickie. Nia did atack Mickie though so perhaps this is where they are going forward.
• Backstage Ambrose and Miz banter about plans for the show. Miz makes the main event for the night which will be Ambrose Vs Bray Wyatt. Not a match we haven't seen before but at least its been a while.
• Samoa Joe is interviewed backstage saying he isn't done with Seth Rollins yet. Seth agrees it seems as he attacks and the two brawl until its broken up by agents and refs. They are booked for a match later on in the night.
• Braun Strowman Vs Kalisto is next. It lasts barely a minute until Roman Reigns comes out to confront Braun. Kalisto has disappeared....I guess he just Lucha'd his way out of there. Roman attacks the hell out of Brauns injured arm. Good way to write Braun off TV for a few weeks while he heals up his injury.
• The Golden Truth are backstage. Goldust is trying to motivate R-Truth making sure Truth is taking this seriously. Its nice to see The Golden Truth being portrayed more seriously for once but will see how long iy lasts.
• Tag Team Turmoil next. Sheamus & Cesaro beat all 4 of their opponents which were, in order of elimination, Enzo & Cass, Slater & Rhyno, Gallows & Anderson and The Golden Truth. Great to see a team win this type of match from start to finish, I can't think of any other time that's happened! It makes Sheamus & Cesaro look like a dominant force. After the match The Hardys come down and again like last week S&C bail leaving the Hardys in the ring to do the 'DELETE' gesture a few times.
• Seth Rollins Vs Samoa Joe after the break. This was a hard hitting PHYSICAL match. More of the same from Payback with Joe working Rollins knee and Rollins showing his resiliency. The match ended in a DQ after Joe blasted Rollins face first into the exposed turnbuckle. After the match Joe beat up on Rollins some more choking him out with the Coquina clutch. Seem to be setting up for something between these two at Extreme Rules which I'm totally fine with.
• TJP Vs Jack Gallagher. Crowd was hot for Gallagher being from England. The match was over in about 3 minutes when TJP rolled up Gallagher but had hold of the tights. After the match Aries saves Gallagher from futher damage. Hard to get invested when they have barely anytime on TV.
• Sasha Banks Vs Alicia Fox I didn't care for and neither did the crowd it seems. Stupid finish as Banks pins Fox but it appears Fox's shoulder wern't down. See where this goes I guess.
• MAIN EVENT TIME! Dean Ambrose Vs Bray Wyatt. Miz and Maryse are on commentary as its announced it will be Ambrose Vs Miz for the IC title next week. If you have ever seen Ambrose Vs Wyatt then this was pretty standard for them. The ending came with Miz hitting Ambrose in the back with the title while the ref had his back turned. Wyatt hits Sister Abigail for the pin. Post match Miz attacks Ambrose some more building up to their match next week. No sign of Balor after last week which I thought was strange. I guess they didn't wanna focus attention away from Ambrose and Miz.

WWE SMACKDOWN SUMMARY: May 9th 2017

Announcers: Tom Phillips, JBL & Byron Saxton

Venue: The o2 Arena

Loaction: London, UK

•  Randy Orton comes out to discuss his title defense at Backlash. This bring out Jinder Mahal with the Singh Brothers to tell Orton he's taking that title at Backlash. Kevin Owens comes out next and says he doesn't care who wins at Backlash he wants to be WWE champion and United States champion. AJ Styles comes out to a HUGE reaction to tell Owens he will never be the face of Smackdown Live. Baron Corbin comes out back from 'suspension' but before he can say much Sami Zayn attacks. All 6 men brawl for a bit setting up the inevitable main event tag match.
• Becky Lynch (with Naomi and Charlotte Flair) Vs Natalya (with Tamina, Carmella and James Ellsworth) is up next. Fine match for the time it was given. Lynch and Natalya always seem to work well together whatever they do. The finish comes after some shenanigans ringside distract Lynch allowing Natalaya to take advantage to get the pin. Kind of a similar ending to the Alexa Vs Mickie match on Raw was kind of annoying. After the break Naomi and Charlotte are arguing backstage until Becky calms everyone down and announces that at backlash it will be Becky, Naomi and Charlotte Vs 'The Welcoming Comittee' at Backlash. PLEASE COME UP WITH A BETTER NAME!!
• The Fashion Files Special London Unit happens and its more hilarious antics from Breezango that we got last week. I don't wanna know what The Ascension were doing in a small room  shouting at each other with chains in hand.
• Erick Rowan Vs Luke Harper is next. Surprised this clash between former Wyatt Family members wasn't given more hype if I'm honest. Good match with both guys looking decent throughout. Rowan wins the match after poking Harper in the eye behind the refs back. Rowan hits a cool looking spinning slam for the pin. Rowan seems to be getting power from his mask which could be interesting.
• Dolph Ziggler comes out to confront Shinsuke Nakamura. Really good promo from Ziggler here. After the awful 'Michael' stuff from a couple of weeks ago its good to see Ziggler reminding everyone how good on the mic he is. Nakamura comes out to a THUNDEROUS reaction. Truly the entrance of a rock star! Nakamura challenges Ziggler to throw down right now but Ziggler NOPES his way out of there saying he will face him at Backlash. However Ziggler tries to sneak attack Nakamura throwing his jacket at him but Nakamura gets the upper hand with vicious knee strikes. Can't wait to see them at Backlash!
• We got hype videos again The New Day and Lana coming soon. Hopefully soon is actually soon!
• Breezango Vs The Ascension is next. Breezango get a great reaction as the crowd is loudly singing and 'Fandangoing'....MEMBER THAT! Breezango obviously win building them up toward thier Tag title shot at Backlash. Speaking of which the champions The Usos come out after the match delivering one of the best promos I have ever seen of theirs. It was very creative and showed a wild intensity I have never seen from them! This feud is quickly becoming one of my favourites on Smackdown.
• Some anti-bullying stuff from Mojo Rawley which was nice. Good they are showing some character development with Mojo at least.
• Another pre-taped promo from Rusev similar to the one we got a couple of weeks ago talking about wanting a WWE title match at Money in the Bank. He feels disrespected by Shane McMahon and wants some answers when he's on Smackdown next week. Good for Rusev!
• MAIN EVENT TIME! Randy Orton, AJ Styles & Sami Zayn Vs Jinder Mahal, Kevin Owens & Baron Corbin. This was another good main event from Smackdown and easily the best match of the week in my opinion. I like it when they give a main event alot of time and the time gave everyone the chance to look good in this match. Zayn of course played the face in peril for most of the match allowing for Styles & Orton to get the hot tags. The match breaks down at the end as per usual. Jinder takes advantage of the chaos pinning Orton after a Cobra slam for the win. Make sense to book Mahal strong going into the match at Backlash. I don't think he will win at Backlash but I do hope after Backlash he doesn't just fade away like many brief no.1 contenders have.

And that was this weeks Raw and Smackdown. I don't think this weeks episodes were as good as last week but at least Smackdown was a better show than Raw this week. Nothing really significant happened on Raw other than the impressive dominant victory in tag team turmoil by Sheamus & Ceasaro. Smackdown had some really good promos from Dolph Ziggler and The Usos and the main event 6 man tag was far better than the Ambrose Vs Wyatt main event from Raw. I'm really looking forward to Backlash. I think it has the potential to surprise people like last years did. Owens Vs Styles and Ziggler Vs Nakamura should both be fantastic and I honestly believe Orton Vs Mahal and The Usos Vs Breezango will be better than people think. What do you guys think? Let me know in the comment section. Until next time, Ta ta for now!