I recently asked if Jey Uso would choose gold over family. He’s teeter-tottered between being a good brother and a man solely out for himself. Every time it looked like he might firmly succumb to the championship’s temptation, he chose his brother. But always begrudgingly and always with harsh words for Big Jimmy Uso.
All that came to a head this week in a battle royal with a championship match at the upcoming Saturday Night’s Main Event on the line. And yeah, I got my answer.
How’d we get here? Glad you asked. Adam Pearce vacated the World Heavyweight Championship but not before reprimanding The Vision for putting him, and Seth Rollins, in that position. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed looked menacingly cool with shades on while GM Pearce turned red from screaming about them putting Seth out of commission for who knows how long. While I still think it’s early for him to actually be champion, the title looked good on Bron’s shoulder. That’s a good look for the future we all know is inevitable. After reluctantly giving the championship back to the GM, the Bron Boys were dismayed about getting left off the battle royal invite list. This only invites more violence from them and I wonder what plot device comes into play to stop them from interfering in the championship match. Paul E. Heyman tried convincing Adam to give his boys a spot but no dice. That led to this awesome exchange with The Man:
Praise whomever you pray to that they didn’t drag this out. Becky was never going to work with the man who betrayed her husband. I appreciate the territory not thinking we’re that dumb to believe that was even possible. It also sets up Seth’s revenge tour and what I’m sure will be a massive face pop when he returns. Get well, Seth!
That gets us back to the battle royal. During the match, Jimmy saved Jey from elimination at least twice, most notably when LA Knight had Jey dead to rights. Both men said before the match that they’re going after everyone, including each other.
But Jimmy’s bark proved worse than the other thing because he couldn’t watch his little brother go down. When the tables were turned and shoes were placed on opposite feet though? Jey had no issue not only watching Jimmy go down, but giving him a little push to speed up the process:
Jey got there a tad late but still with enough time to indicate what happened. He had no qualms about eliminating his brother because it meant a dance with CM Punk for a championship he clearly values more than anything else.
Jey is split between being the man his brother and cousin want him to be. Eventually he needs to decide who he wants to be for himself, not his family. Maybe winning the championship will do that but I doubt it. It turned Roman Reigns into a mob boss and I’ve seen The Godfather enough times to know what happens when the reluctant family member finds himself dead in the middle of family business.
Spoiler for The Godfather and The Godfather Part II but nothing good.
Every once in a while, Raw produces a match that I want to highlight even though I have no words to go with it. Usually my lack of words is a good thing because I can’t describe what I saw adequately enough. Judgment Day vs. AJ Styles & Dragon Lee was that match this week.
The big news is we have new Tag Team Champions. Dragon Lee & AJ are an awesome tandem and I endorse this move. JD McDonagh & Finn Balor didn’t need those championships nor were they doing much with them . And considering how frosty things are in Judgment Day between Finn & Dirty Dom. losing the championships in a match that the latter tacitly made happen makes the move even more correct. This adds fuel to the fire and now Dom is the only one in the crew with gold. This thing between Finn & Dom is hopefully about to explode, thankfully.
It was well-paced. It started slow and just kept getting faster. They got a lot of time and made every second count. Watch this match as soon as possible. Hopefully you enjoy it as much as I did. It’s one of my favorite tag matches of recent memory and hopefully a sign of things to come from the future champs.
- Penta didn’t quite get the revenge he wanted this week. But he got a little. Dirty Dom battled Rusev for the former’s Intercontinental Championship in a match that kept me thoroughly entertained and never relented. Dom tried taking his belts and going home in the third act only for Penta to block his exit. It looked like Dom might finally get his comeuppance! Penta was there, Rusev had the advantage, and Dom looked out of sorts. But while the ref counted Rusev out, Dom hid the bell hammer in his boots again, and teed up last week’s finish. Thankfully we didn’t get that but instead got a remix. The 619-hammer didn’t land because Rusev stopped it. But while going back and forth with the ref about getting rid of the hammer he found, Rusev took his eye off the game’s dirtiest player. Dom nailed him from behind with the low blow (very weird sentence) and then finished him off with a Frog Splash for the W. Remember when I said Penta got a little vengeance? He knocked out Rusev after the match, continuing the path to a triple threat, possibly at Survivor Series. This whole thing continues to make me smile.
- Maxxine is getting this Intercontinental Championship isn’t she? I really feel like that’s where we’re going after her recent match with Becky ended with a DQ win. Becky just couldn’t accept that Maxxine hung with her. And as an aside, the challenger was just as impressive this week as she was the last time these two got together. They wrestled a different match this time around since Maxxine already proved she can hang with The Man; it was more about the upstart fighting the angry veteran who will do anything to keep the gold. My favorite moment of the match and from Maxxine came when she reversed an Arm Bar seamlessly into an Ankle Lock. It was a pretty move that didn’t take long but said a whole lot about her progress between the ropes. But back to my earlier point. This is now her second win over the champ. She go this one because Becky’s frustration overtook her and she hit Maxxine with the title. This story just points to Maxxine getting the pinfall and all the spoils that come with it. I’m totally down for that at this point.
- Is Nikki Bella setting up La Primera? Nikki saved Stephanie Vaquer from a post match beatdown courtesy of Roxanne Perez & Raquel Rodriguez. This came after a solid battle between Roxanne and the champ, but their NXT battles felt more effective. Their chemistry isn’t in doubt though, as those matches illustrate, and even this one did. Just not my favorite match of theirs. Anyway, this relationship between Steph and Nikki is a thing but it’s also gotten relatively little development. But that’s not why I posed that question. Nikki laid it on thicker than fresh maple syrup when talking about her pride for Stephanie’s accomplishments and how she’ll always have her back. Stephanie acknowledged she owes Nikki and, to be fair, Nikki agreed. But the whole thing, especially the hug, just felt like a prelude. Or maybe pro wrestling’s just jaded me and made me think everyone is out for themselves.
Another awesome Raw. The opening with GM Adam and The Vision Quest boys was intriguing, Maxxine and Becky have a nice feud brewing, and of course we’re now set for Jey Uso vs. CM Punk for the thing that they both want more than anything else. Solid happenings following up last week’s big episode.
What say you, Cage siders? Does Jimmy get brother back and ensure he doesn’t defeat Punk?
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