The Kickoff Show featured the United States Championship bout between Apollo Crews and challenger Andrade. Strange to see this shifted to the Kickoff show given how much time had been given to Zelina Vega's stable and Crews in recent weeks under the Paul Heyman regime. They didn't have any graphics pushing the match as "live" so my guess is it was pre-taped.
Kevin Owens joined the commentary team.
They looked good early going back and forth. Andrade showed some nice intensity, taking Crews to the floor but was backdropped onto the entrance ramp. He regained control. It's solid in-ring work thus far. Crews avoided a double stomp off the ropes and nailed a great looking suplex into the corner. That looked awesome. They showcased some really nice athleticism from both men. Andrade and Crews battled over a suplex into the ring and exchanged chops on the apron. Andrade scored the advantage but Crews kept kicking up, playing the babyface who can take a beating but keeps on fighting. Angel Garza got on the apron but Owens nailed a stunner. Crews used the distraction to score the pin. This felt like a prologue for another match, whether it be Garza vs. Owens or a tag bout. The in-ring work was all good and Zelina Vega was great as always at ringside, although the camera didn't focus on her as much this time around. I hope they don't get screwed in the creative transition because that would be a true shame.
They aired a commercial for the WWE Battlegrounds game. I can't believe it's taken this long for a game where we get to feed someone to alligators.
The PPV itself has the "live" graphic in the corner so the Kickoff show bout was 100% taped.
We kick off with the Women's Tag Team Championship. Some really frenzied action early with Sasha, Alexa and Peyton. It ends up with all six in a standoff and they began brawling. It settled down to Bayley working over Cross. Billie Kaye got involved and her verbal squawking in the ring was entertaining as always. Some really solid stuff here but with three talents in the ring and about 7-9 minutes of bell time, there's only so much they could do. The story seemed to be that the third person in the ring broke up the pinfalls, over and over. In the end, Banks pinned Royce after Bliss nailed her with Twisted Bliss and toss Bliss out of the ring. So, Bayley and Sasha are heading to NXT this Wednesday. OK overall.
Braun showed up in a big car with a little suitcase.
They plugged Extreme Rules for 7/19.
Jeff Hardy vs. Sheamus was next. They played up a big video package on how Hardy was framed by Sheamus. Despite all that, I never felt that Hardy was trying to go for vengeance early on. The action was good but it was missing that higher level of physicality and intensity you'd expect. Ricky Steamboat wanted to kick Randy Savage's ass. I never felt that way here, although Hardy was putting his body on the line with dives off the stairs. Sheamus overwhelmed him in the corner and dropped him across the ropes, with the idea that Hardy twisted his knee. So, the story turned into whether Hardy could still fight back as he played babyface in peril. Hardy was drilled with the Irish Curse but Jeff kept fighting back and kicking out. Hardy battled back but was unable to score the pin. Solid stuff. Sheamus went right back after the knee, including use of the Texas Cloverleaf. Michael Cole said that Hardy wanted to have a good performance here to show his family he was back. Uh, shouldn't be want to win and kick the sh** out of the guy who framed him as a drunk driver????? Hardy tried to come off the barricade but was nailed with a Brogue Kick. Sheamus followed up with a second and scored the pin. Hardy not getting the win here means he gets to do something "extreme" at the next PPV to vanquish Sheamus. This was OK, which seems to be the theme so far. Nothing amazing but nothing boring either.
Otis and Mandy teased he could cash in his MITB briefcase if Miz or Morrison win the Universal title. It was also made clear only one of them could be the champ, so they are absolutely flipping on each other later.
Nia Jax challenging Asuka for the Raw Women's title is next. Strength vs. finesse is the story here. The early portion was all Jax using her power and strength to wear Jax down. Asuka fought back from underneath nailing several hip attacks. Jax wiped her out with a sit-down powerbomb but Asuka got a shoulder up at the last second. It's pretty much the story of Asuka trying to survive somehow. She psyched herself up but was caught on the top. Asuka grabbed her in an armbar and hung over the ropes, using the momentum to pull Jax to the floor and then snap her over with another one. They battled and neither returned to the ring in time so a double countout. This feels like an old Madison Square Garden house show designed to do all rematches to pop a big house. Jax was wiped out with a hip attack off the apron. This was again, OK, but felt unfulfilling in the end.
Backstage, Lana told MVP she was responsible for Lashley's big match tonight. He told her to go have the conversation with her husband, because he's the one who told her to stay backstage. He said she wasn't going to have that talk because she's afraid of what he was going to tell her.
The first hour was OK but well below what a lot of these bouts could have been on paper. We'll see if they crank it up in hour two.
Time for the Universal Championship bout! Miz and Morrison debuted a new music video about how Braun Strowman needs to go. Can't wait to see it win a Grammy. The Strowman Express graphics for his entrance are pretty damn cool. Reminded me of a 21st century version of the old Diesel entrance with the truck meshed with Snowpiercer.
One challenger in the ring at a time. Morrison got wiped out early on. Miz tagged in and realized the folly of his ways. He tried to tag out but Morrison was nowhere to be found. THAT was funny. It was all Strowman, with the exception of Miz controlling him for a short moment, until Strowman missed a charge and crashed into the ring post shoulder-first. That allowed them to control the Monster. It didn't last long as Morrison ate the powerslam for the pin. This was just there.
Will Otis come out? He does not!
They show highlights of AJ Styles winning that horrible looking Intercontinental Championship belt. Kayla Braxton interviewed Styles. He wants to make announcement. He wants to invite everyone to his Championship presentation this Friday. He knocked Bryan, saying Bryan fights for his dreams but Styles makes his dreams happen.
WWE Champion Drew McIntyre vs. Bobby Lashley is next, so Edge vs. Orton, which was already taped, will be closing the show.
Lashley attacked Drew and locked on the full nelson before the bell and wouldn't relinquish the hold. It took an army of referees swarming like Jawas to pull him off. The idea was that Drew was hurt before they even started the match but going to fight anyway. They rang the bell before Drew even got his ring gear off and he was beaten and nearly pinned a few times. How did we go from Drew being the badass who kicked Brock Lesnar's ass to Drew being laid out like a goof rookie before the bell rang????? McIntyre is worked over and trapped in the dreaded chinlock. Drew fought his way out and nailed a clothesline to the floor. They shoved each other into the barricade. This should have been two bulls fighting it out and thus far, that's not the story. Drew was again on the defensive after 15 seconds of offense on the floor. The story turned into Drew surviving all of Lashley's big moves and kicking out while having his own offense cut off again and again.
Drew was sent into the ring post shoulder-first (second match in a row to see that happen) but still kicked out of a Flatliner. MVP called for the full nelson. Is this where Lana comes out and ruins it all for her husband? Nope. Drew survives and nailed an Alabama Slam. Somewhere, Bob Holly's ears perked up. Drew went to the top for a clothesline but was caught in the air for a crossface. Drew fought out but was caught in anklelock, then turned it into a Kimura. This sequence was easily the best thing on the show so far. Really fun, physical submission game from Lashley that forced Drew to fight.
Big superplex from Drew, who was too spent. MVP was really good as the mouthpiece over the course of the bout, by the way. Lana comes out after a Lashley spear and gets on the apron. She gives Lashley crap for cheating. SERIOUSLY???? Lashley was distracted and ate a Claymore kick and was pinned. Holy sh** this was so terrible. Drew McIntyre, the guy who killed everyone with a Claymore Kick for months got his ass beat before and during the entire match and needed Lashley's wife to save him so he can hit a miracle Claymore on a distracted challenger who beat him over and over? If this is what is planned for McIntyre going forward, what a letdown. I am hoping this is just the new creative team trying to close out the Lashley/Lana/MVP storyline but even if that was the case, CAN WE NOT DO IT DURING A WWE TITLE MATCH? This had the best in-ring action of the show but it was like watching a great play without any thought put into the ending. Everyone involved here deserved better. Can't state enough how lame a finish I thought this was. How about WWE doing something to build their Raw brand around Drew McIntyre?
They still listed Super Showdown and Crown Jewel as upcoming WWE PPVs on the Network.
The Street Profits and The Viking Raiders got into a fight in the parking lot and smashed Braun Strowman's windshield. When they realized it, they all stopped and ran away and resumed their fight inside the WWE Performance Center. They played music under the brawl and had a lot of throwbacks to the old competitions with golf clubs, axes and a bowling ball. They faced off and agreed to fight like men, slowly putting their weapons down. Ivar was speared through the front door of the PC, which looked awesome. They kept going back to flashbacks of all the competitions, so this was a mix of a hardcore brawl and old Saturday Night Main Event sketches. People will either love this for completely hate it. They all agreed it escalated too much. Ivar wanted to take it outside. The Profits noted they were already outside. They faced off and some motorcycles pulled up. There were seven cyclists. One was Tozawa. The rest were ninjas. Seriously. He declared, in Japanese, that anything they could do, they could do better. The two teams united as, I sh** you not, the Viking Profits. They beat the ninjas up. Unless this is all leading to the debut of JR Bookwalter's Robot Ninja (and kudos if you got that reference), I got nothing.
It came down to Tozawa, who called a giant ninja over. He pulled out a sword. Ivar called to his giant turkey leg like he was using the force. Erik wanted to fight the giant ninja but everyone else said no and they ran away to the top of the WWE production trucks and ran away. Ivar was too tired to keep up. After they escaped to safety, they all started fighting...AGAIN?
Erik and Dawkins were knocked off the top of the trunk into a trash dumpster. Montez Ford was concerned but was shoved in. Ivar dove in on everyone. They laid there isn the garbage arguing over who started all this, leading to a flashback over Ivar being the cute one. Referee Jessika Carr went looking for them and said their match is next then told Ivar he was cute. Something was in the dumpster. It turned out to be an alligator and they all fled.
This was a universe away from the Stadium Stampede, let me tell you, but if you want silly, you will get it. I didn't care for this one at all personally.
They announced there would be no Raw Tag Team title bout. I think we are all better for it
Time for the main event, the bestest match of ALL TIME!
They brought in Charles Robinson to referee. They have him dressed like a referee from the 80s.
They noted before this aired that they would have all sorts of production techniques added because a match of this caliber deserved them. Let's see what they pull out. The word making the rounds is this took 6-7 hours to film, so we'll see how this all looks now that it's been cobbled together.
They utilized old audio of the late Howard Finkel's voice introducing them while hanging the old MSG mic from the ring. OK, I LOVED THAT.
They have GoPro cameras on the ring posts.
They are super sweetening the crowd noise.
Early on, they worked a very 80s style bout with them muscling back and forth with a collar and elbow tie-up, Edge doing deep Ricky Steamboat-style armdrags and Edge being controlled on the mat to tell the tale that Edge has some doubts as to whether he can beat Orton at this level. Edge was very cautious but used that to trick Orton into being kicked in the face on the floor.
The action was methodical but good. Orton teased suplexing Edge off the top to the floor but a pair of headbutts thwarted that plan. Edge nailed a flying clothesline off the ropes that sent Orton to the floor. When he came back up, Orton was bleeding. Edge gained control and worked him into a crossface but Orton made it to the ropes. The sweetened noise has made this different from everything on the show, obviously. I don't hate it but it's different. It sounds like an episode of Wrestling Challenge from 1988.
They battled to the floor. Orton slammed Edge's neck in to the ring steps, then slammed him on the announcers' desk. He brought Edge back in and used the Garvin Stomp. The match has been very good thus far. They battled back and forth with Three Amigos to pay tribute to Eddie Guerrero. They finally had enough and began to fire back and forth with chops, letting their emotions get the better of them.
They built to a superplex. The camera was in the ring when they hit the apron and shook. It looked like something out of Sharknado. They fought to their feet and hit stereo high cross bodyblocks. Orton went for the hanging DDT but Edge turned it into a Flatliner for a near fall. They battled back and forth with some nice near falls. The commentary was actually great here, especially Samoa Joe calling all the submission attempts. Orton caught Edge with an Olympic Slam for a close two count.
Randy nailed the Hanging DDT and we had a closeup of Edge's face shot from underneath, like a movie. They went back and forth with some nice sequences before Edge nearly scored a three count. Edge nearly got the win with the Unprettier. Orton used a Pedigree for a two count. We saw an FU, then a Rock Bottom. So, it's turning into an indy match where they do everyone's finish as a near fall. They went into a series of near-falls. RKO. 2 count.
Edge drilled him hard with two big spears but Orton kicked up. Edge was sent into the ropes and tried to come off but ate an RKO. He still kicked up. They were each shocked the other survived their doomsday moves. Edge went for his head and arm choke but Orton kicked him, possibly low and nailed the punt kick. He scored the pin.
Your winner, Randy Orton!
Orton got in his face and told Edge he lost and to go home. He told him to go home and tell his family who the better man was.
They teased taking Edge out on a stretcher but he refused and pulled himself up as Orton watched from the apron. They teased Orton may have ended Edge's redemption story.
Well, it was long and it was solid.