MITB 2025 - SmackDown Fallout....

How’s It Going, Enthusiasts?

It’s kinda quiet in the Wrestling World at present. That doesn’t mean there’s nothing to talk about. We’ll just keep it short.

We’ll start in the Realm of AEW as they graced fans with another 4 hours of programming this week. Naturally, I had to check in to see how the Future is progressing. It appears Adam “Hangman” Page is the next focus for the Riders of Death and Jon Moxley. They essentially kidnapped him and duct taped his mouth to pull him into the ring to tell him how it is. Didn’t stop Page from landing a headbutt, though. I thought he’d be too scrappy for all that but that’s fine. Makes the match to be all the juicier. 

Mox continues to “foul balls” into the stands but it was Wheeler Yuta’s little chat with Kris Statlander that was interesting. Could this be a hint of "romance"? Or are the Riders of Death recruiting? Regardless, it’s a nice touch. At some point, this faction ought to implode but that’s certainly for the Future. Who all is involved can certainly vary and it gives Mox something to work off of when things start to go…against the “prime directives”. We shall see.

Over in the WWE Universe, there are few things going on. R-Truth/Ron Killings debuted a new hair cut that definitely makes you think of Japanese wrestler, Minoru Suzuki. This is fitting because both Killings and Suzuki are in their 50s. However, I hear that Bully Ray was giving Killings some grief for all of this and that, of course, prompted a curt rebuttal. Now, I don’t know what this is all about. Rumor has it that Ray can be an SOB from time to time. Not sure if this is just to build some heat or something else but it seems to work in Killings’ favor so, meh.

On a similar note, word is that Omos has signed a new long-term contract with WWE. Commenters, of course, were begrudgingly polite. The move could certainly be a point of criticism but with Braun Strowman off the payroll, they need a “giant” on hand I suppose. Sounds like we won’t see much of him so, good for him for getting paid to be a large person. You know you’d do the same if you could.

Besides that, the other piece of news that sorta jumps out at me is that there is talk that Jey Uso’s Title reign was cut short to make way for Goldberg’s formal retirement. It looks like they’ll give him a final shot at the Heavyweight Championship. I don’t know about this. I don’t have anything against Goldberg but I’m no fan. I don’t really need to see this so, it’s somewhat on WWE to make this interesting. I won’t say it’s not possible but it’s their uphill battle, so to speak. Most of the talk I hear about Goldberg is that he’s a dangerous worker. Doesn’t really do it for play like he’s supposed to and people get hurt. The last match I saw of his was decent, though so there’s hope. As always, we’ll be watching.

And that brings us to tonight’s SmackDown. It’s the Fallout show for Money in the Bank and then we fully switch focus to Night of Champions. Given that, the evening is full of qualifying matches as the Ladies will have Alexa Bliss, Charlotte Flair, Chelsea Green and Candace LaRae in one. Jade Cargill, Nia Jax, Piper Niven and Mia Yim in the other. For the Men, we have what will probably be a good one as Aleister Malakai Black, Carmelo Hayes, LA Knight and Randy Orton throw down. In the other, Andrade, Damian Priest, Cody Rhodes and Shinsuke Nakamura have at in the other. 

Also during the night, we can expect to hear from Jacob Fatu so he can explain his turning on Solo Sikoa. Naomi will celebrate holding the MITB Contract and John Cena will berate our ungrateful selves some more before he’s out of here for good.

I’ll be holding the unofficial West Coast watch party as usual at 8pm PDT. Stop by if you find yourself at home and intrigued. Otherwise, go an enjoy your summer nights.

See You in a Bit

-Nicole Alexis (^_~)

Packing it all away...