This Week in the Universe #9

GO HOME! GO HOME! It's Go Home week on all of WWE shows this week as we take the final stops before NXT Takeover: Brooklyn III and WWE SummerSlam! What was good? What was bad?? Here are my thoughts!

Former Shield Brothers Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose continued their will they wont they get back together story as everyone is desperate for them to bump fists. After an argument though they exchange fists tumbling out of the ring like they were drunk fighting! The Tag champs Sheamus & Cesaro came out to try and take advantage but Rollins & Ambrose teamed up to fight them off. Finally Seth & Dean bumped fists and the crowd went WILD!! GM Kurt Angle came out and booked the two teams for the straps at SummerSlam. Should be a good match and I think Seth & Dean will win. Sasha Banks Vs Nia Jax was up next with the winner facing Alexa Bliss for the Raw Women's Title at SummerSlam. Bliss was sat on a 'throne' which was basically a lifeguard seat painted grey. Nia dominated about 80% of the match and Sasha sold well and made the predictable comeback. Sasha won with the bank statement and I think shes got a good chance of winning at SummerSlam. Elias was interrupted by R-Truth mid-song and Elias beat him down before he could get in the ring. I see this mini-feud featuring some kind of sing-off! They hyped up the shark cage match for SummerSlam by having Enzo Amore and Big Show beaten down by the trio of Big Cass, Gallows & Anderson. Hopefully this match wont be long. SummerSlam comes early as thanks to lobbying by Titus O'Neil, Akira Tozawa challenges Neville for the Cruiserweight title. This was a really good match and I really liked the way they built to the finish. Tozawa kept going for the Senton Bomb and failing until he finally hit it and got the win. That's how you build a finisher! Great reaction for Tozawa getting the belt and its a shame to see Neville lose as he has done so much for the division. Hopefully the chase to get the title back will be good. Early in the night Finn Balor was brawling backstage with Bray Wyatt to the point that Angle decided to not make them wait til SummerSlam and they would fight tonight. Another early SummerSlam match! They had an OK match which Wyatt won suddenly. After the match Wyatt poured some red liquid over Balor which drove Balor nuts. Looks like 'The Demon' is coming to SummerSlam! Emma took on Mickie James after they had a confrontation backstage. Nice to see these two on TV and they had a decent match. They are trying to build Emma back up it by having her lose and prove herself. The Miz had a non-title match with Jason Jordan which fell apart in seconds when Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel got involved. The Hardy Boyz came out for the save setting up a 6-man tag after the break. It was a fun match and its clear from the crowd reaction that Jeff Hardy is SUPER OVER! He got the pin on Dallas and I think its probably only a matter of time before Jeff goes solo. MAIN EVENT SEGMENT TIME! Kurt Angle with security came out and was soon joined by Universal Champion Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman. Heyman is the best at selling people on a match and his promo did not disappoint. Samoa Joe, Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns came out one at a time, said a little and then they all started brawling. They got broken up and that was the end of the show. Great segment to build towards SummerSlam. They did so much by giving away so little. I'm still feeling Braun is going to win Sunday and carry on his feud with Reigns over the title.

The WWE Champion Jinder Mahal opened this weeks Smackdown along with The Singh Brothers. He was out there celebrating India's Independence Day and he got the hell booed out of him. Lovely! Shinsuke Nakamura came out to a huge ovation to tell Jinder he is losing the WWE title Sunday. I hope so! Natalaya took on Becky Lynch in a solid match that did its job of putting Natalaya over before her title match Sunday. After the match we saw a stare down between Naomi and Natalaya who was then joined by Miss MITB Carmella. I think Naomi will retain Sunday but I'm not sure if there will be a cash-in. Backstage Lana said she would help Tamina become Women's Champion. Good luck with that! Rusev and Chad Gable had a match that was brief and ended in a double couuntout putting over Rusev's aggressiveness, After a post match beat down Rusev got on the mic and got as far as saying 'Randy' before he was on the end of an RKO OUTTA-NOWHERE!! I think that was one of my favourite RKOs I've ever seen! I think Orton and Rusev can have a decent match at SummerSlam and I think Rusev will win. AJ Styles came out to apologise to Shane McMahon and were not surprisingly joined by Kevin Owens. It ended with Styles and Owens getting into a shoving match and Owens accidentally Super-Kicking Shane. I think Styles will retain Sunday in what should be the best match between him and Owens. The Usos took on Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods from The New Day in another quality match despite not getting alot of time. Usos got the win working over Kofi's leg which might play into the match on SummerSlam. I expect another great match Sunday with New Day retaining. The finale of Fashion Peaks was hilarous with more hints as to who is tormenting them. My money is still on Sanity and we should find out in two weeks! MAIN EVENT TIME!! WWE Champion Jinder Mahal took on John Cena in an non-title match. It was a decent enough match with the highlight being Mahal kicking out of the AA which helps is credibility. Cena managed to hit a Super AA but before he could capitalise Baron Corbin came in causing the DQ. With both Cena and Mahal down Corbin decides to take advantage of the situation by cashing in his MITB briefcase! As the bell rings Corbin is distracted by Cena, knocks him off the apron causing the distraction allowing Mahal to get a sneaky roll up on Corbin to win! Right right RIGHT!! I know there has been alot of negative fallout to Corbin's cash-in but I personally think that we have been due a failed cash-in for a while now it had to happen for someone. Lets just wait and see what happens. At least this gives Corbin and Cena some extra heat for their feud and now I could easily see Corbin beat Cena Sunday or at the very least beating the crap out of him!

205 Live with a fun tag team pitting Gran Metalik & Cedric Alexander against Tony Nese & Drew Gulak. Nese & Gulak have teamed together a few times before and looked to ground their high flying opponents. Several near falls but in the end Alexander took down Gulak with the 'Lumbar Check' for the win. Mustafa Ali and The Brain Kendrick had a decent match but was weary the whole match having been on the receiving end of beat downs the last couple of weeks from Gentleman Jack Gallagher. Kendrick was beating down Ali on the outside until Gallagher showed up to once again beat down Kendrick and giving the Man with The Plan the DQ win as he scurried away from Gentlleman Jack's latest attack. Ariya Daviari took on Rich Swann with Swann looking to bounce back from his loss to TJP last week. Daviari had the advantage early on but Swann got back into it looking like he was going to get the win. That was until TJP showed up wearing a knee brace and with crutches to distract Swann allowing Daviari to take advantage and get a huge win! MAIN EVENT SEGMENT TIME! Titus O'Neil was in the ring with the NEW Cruiserweight Champion Akira Tozawa celebrating the huge victory. Former champion Neville looking rough as hell came out to tell Tozawa he was going to take the belt back from him at SummerSlam. After a few words exchanged they brawl with Tozawa getting the upperhand. Tozawa has to win Sunday surely? SURELY?!?! Yeah he will.

William Regal opens NXT this week with the contract signing for the Women's Title match for Takeover: Brooklyn III this Saturday. I always though its strange when they do these contract signings days before the show! Asuka and Ember Moon come out and exchange some passionate words with one another before each signing the contract. The segment ends with Asuka yelling in Japanese and posing with the belt. Asuka has been an awesome champion but I feel its time for her to lose to Ember Moon and move to the main roster. The entertaining new team The Street Profits took on Chris Silvio & The Massive Lars Sullivan who has been known for beating up tag team partners. This week was no different as following the win for them, The Street Profits bailed leaving Silvio to get destroyed by Sullivan. Ruby Riot took on Billy Kay in a decent match with Peyton Royce in Kay's corner. Ruby got the win but after the match Peyton got on the mic to talk some trash. A video package hyping up the Tag Title Match between AOP & Sanity on Saturday with Paul Ellering reading from his book of destruction. This match should be fantastic and I think AOP will retain and Sanity will be main roster bound. MAIN EVENT TIME! Following the confrontation last week Drew McIntyre took on Roderick Strong in a decent match which ended in a no-contest when NXT Champion Bobby Roode interfered. After the match Roode beat down Strong and Mcintyre some more declaring this moment GLORIOUS. As of writing its still Roode Vs McIntyre Saturday which surprised me a bit because I thought Strong might be added to the match. I think Drew will win Saturday with it surely only being a matter of time until Roode is main roster bound. The other 2 matches in Brooklyn are Aleiseter Black Vs Hideo Itami & Johnny Gargano Vs Andrade Cien Almas and I think Black and Gargano will win those matches.

And that was This Week in the WWE Universe! Overall I would say it was a very good go home week for all of WWE's shows. Some shocking moments with Tozawa winning the Cruiserweight title and Baron Corbin's MITB cash-in failed attempt. I have faith in WWE to deliver two excellent shows this weekend and I can't wait! What do you guys think? And what are your predictions? Let me know on twitter @chris_dons or in the comments section! Thank you all for reading!