This Week in The Universe 2018 #3

Braun Strowman came out to open Raw to tell us all a story about a machine and a beast. This brought out GM Kurt Angle who had a story for Braun which concluded with him being fired! Well, that should go well! Security tried to get Braun to leave but he destroyed them and said he wasn't finished! NOICE!! First match of the night is a rematch from last weeks upset as The Bar takes on Titus World-WIIIDDDEEE!! Longer match than last week but once again TW get another win over The Bar this time thanks to an assist from the interfering Jason Jordan. The Bar is hella mad and Seth Rollins came out looking like a disapointed big brother. Braun is stomping around backstage and literally kicks down Angle's door and trashes the room. Braun makes his way to catering and destroys the catering area including slamming Curt Hawkins through a table. As he leaves he bumps into a guy holding chocolate cake, which Braun takes a massive bite out of and then leaves. Finally we have found a weakness in Braun! A repeat from last weeks 205live main event as Tony Nese with Enzo Amore in his corner takes on Cedric Alexander who this time has Goldust in his corner. Decent match but not as long as 205live's last week. Cedric wins with The Lumbar Check that Nese sells like a hero. More of Braun backstage this time as he stomps around a production truck before removing the trailer from the front of the truck and tipping it over! Braun then makes his way to the ring and grabs Michael Cole. Angle and more security show up and Angle tells him he spoke to Stephanie McMahon who said he is now re-hired. Braun is pleased but still throws Cole off the stage and into a sea of security. Thus concludes the Strowman hour and it was fantastic! Asuka Vs Nia Jax is up next. The match was going pretty well until the finish where Nia was selling a knee injury and couldn't get up to continue so the ref called the match off. I guess its a way to make sure neither women lose heading into the Rumble. Angle is backstage picking through the wreckage that is his office and his 'son' Jason Jordan shows up looking smug suggesting Seth Rollins have a match this week with Finn Balor. OOOH YES!! Nia Jax is in the training room with Alexa Bliss then Enzo comes in and they both say they are looking after Nia who chooses Enzo. Ouch! The Revival destroy local talent with the always awesome looking Shatter Machine. Post Match The Revival talked trash about legends and called themselves Professional Wrestlers. Oooooh! Elias came out to sing a great song introducing The Miz and The Miztourage. Next week its Roman Reigns Vs The Miz for the IC title and Miz says he will reclaim his title. Reigns came out for a handicap match with The Miztourage which Reigns won even wth The Miz trying to get involved. Next match is Sasha Banks with Bayley & Mickie James Vs Sonya Deville with Mandy Rose & Paige. The announcers mentioned that Paige was out of the Rumble match due to a neck injury and reports suggest that she is going to have to retire which really sucks. Short match with Sonya picking up a really strong clean win over Sasha. Good to see them building her up. 'Woken' Matt Hardy got a win over Heath Slater as they keep putting over his new character. MAIN EVENT TIME! Seth Rollins with Jason Jordan took on Finn Balor with Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson. No surprise that two of the best workers in the company put on a very good match. The finish got pretty crazy as The Bar came down looking for revenge on Jordan which ended in a brawl involving The Club. With the ref distracted Jordan tripped Balor setting him up for the CURB STOMP from Rollins for the win. HELL YES THE CURB STOMP IS BACK!! Seems like they might be setting up a four way match with the tag titles adding Titus Worldwide & The Club which would be cool.

Smackdown Live kicked off with a US title tournament semi-final match between Xavier Woods & Jinder Mahal. Even though Woods and New Day cut a promo before it was nice to see a Smackdown start with a match. This was a decent match with Jinder dominating the majority of it and Xavier selling well. Jinder wins after a nasty looking Khallas on Woods. AJ Styles is being interviewed hyping up his Royal Rumble title defence against 'Kami'. Styles says he will put an end to 'Yep' movement because this is the house he built. Too right! The second US title semi-final is next between Bobby Roode & Mojo Rawley. Rawley did some good heel work trash talking Roode as he worked over his ribs before Roode made his comeback. Roode gets the win with the Glorious DDT and he will face Jinder in the finals. After the match The Singh Brothers attacked Roode which made Jinder very happy. Roode said he didn't wanna wait til next week and wanted to face Jinder tonight. GM Daniel Bryan came out and said the finals of the US title tournament would happen tonight! Awesome!! Six-Woman tag match next as Charlotte teamed with Becky Lynch & Naomi against The Riott Squad. Decent match as all these women are great and I feel like The Riott Squad are getting better at being heels something I haven't see any of them do before. Liv Morgan gets the win for her team pinning Naomi. Smackdown Tag champions The Usos are backstage hyping up their Rumble title defence before being attacked by Gable & Benjamin who said after the rumble they were gonna be former champions. Lovely. MAIN EVENT TIME! US Title Tournament Finals Match between Bobby Roode & Jinder Mahal with Commissioner Shane McMahon & GM Daniel Bryan at ringside. Good match with Jinder wisely working over Roode's previously hurt ribs and again Roode getting a really good comeback. Really well executed counter of the Khallas into the Glorious DDT for the win and Bobby Roode is the new US champion! Been a fan of Bobby Roode for many years so very happy to see this.

205Live kicked off with a rematch from last weeks opening match pitting Gran Metalik against TJP. Another good match between these two with Metalik winning for the second week which caused TJP to have another angry outburst post-match. Gentleman Jack Gallagher cut a promo on Hideo Itami laying out his plans to make Itami regret coming to 205Live. Enzo Amore and The Zo Train came out to hype the Rumble before Cedric Alexander & Goldust interrupted. Enzo talked some smack to Goldust which made Goldie challenged Enzo to a match. Enzo said he wouldn't face him but would face The Zo Train which is THE MAIN EVENT!?! Goludst in a 3-on-1 handicap match against The Zo Train in the main event of 205Live? Ok....did the 3 cruiserweights win at least? No, Goldust actually won pretty easily!....OH....

First match on NXT this week is a tag match between Heavy Machinery and Sabbatelli & Moss. Not a very good match to be honest between four guys who are still fairly green. Moss got the win with a DIRTY PIN ROLL-UP! Undisputed Era cut a promo backstage with them all bigging up their respective matches at Takeover: Philadelphia. Aleister Black also cut a promo talking about how extreme he will get with Adam Cole at Takeover. Roderick Strong Vs Fabian Aichner is next in a decent match with Strong winning with the Strong Hold. After the match Strong cuts a promo saying he wants a piece of Lars Sullivan. Interesting. Profile piece on TM-61 who make their return to NXT imminently. Looking forward to seeing them back. Aliyah Vs Lacey Evans is up next. I feel Aliyah has been in NXT for a while and is kinda being left behind. Evans gets the win after a punch...OK! Post Match Evans cuts a heel promo calling out all the Women on NXT before she is interupted by Shayna Baszler. Evans leaves as Baszler gets in the ring and chokes out Aliyah. Ember runs out to make the save like last week and gets on the mic to challenge Baszler to a match at Takeover for the title. GM William Regal is backstage and confirms the women's title match for Takeover. Zelina Vega comes in and continues to stir the pot on Johnny Gargano saying he should put hos no.1 contendership on the line against Velveteen Dream. We then cut to Gargano storming to the ring and cuts a passionate promo accepting the challenge of a contenders match with Dream next week. MAIN EVENT TIME! The Street Profits take on AOP with Paul Ellering in a no.1 contenders match for Takeover. This was on OK match with AOP getting the win after the Last Chapter on Ford. This should be the catalyst for Street Profits to get more over as a babyface team now they have suffered their first loss. AOP Vs Undisputed should be AOPs send off as they are more than ready to get moved up to the main roster.

And that's it for This Week in the WWE Universe! What did you guys think? Let me know on twitter @chris_dons or in the comments section below.