The Post’s Joseph Staszewski brings you around the world of professional wrestling in his weekly column, the Post Match Angle.
SummerSlam can become a defining moment for the WWE women’s division.
The Four Horsewomen have carried the division over the past nine years, seemingly a part of every big moment while having historic matches that helped elevate the talent around them.
This SummerSlam feels very different with Charlotte Flair rehabbing, Becky Lynch taking an extended break from WWE and Mercedes Mone — formerly Sasha Banks — now working for AEW. There’s no Ronda Rousey (retired), Asuka (injured) or Alexa Bliss (maternity leave), either.
Yes, Bayley is on the card at Cleveland Browns Stadium on Saturday (7 p.m., Peacock) defending her WWE women’s championship against Nia Jax and is having as good a year as anyone, but it feels like she won’t be leaving with the belt one way or the other.
I am not saying the remaining three Horsewomen are past their prime and usefulness. They are still WWE’s biggest stars, but this is a credit to the work they have all done elevating women’s wrestling and the talent that was on the way up and has now come into its own.
Liv Morgan beat Becky Lynch to win the women’s world championship and beat Jax. Rhea Ripley has WrestleMania wins over Lynch and Flair. Jax has had two of the best matches of her career since returning against Ripley and Lynch. Tiffany Stratton delivered a career-solidifying match against Lynch last September at NXT No Mercy and had a star-making performance in a triple-threat match against Bayley and Naomi at Backlash.
It leaves the women entering SummerSlam with arguably the two most interesting and unpredictable stories on the card, the chance to solidify two true new main event players in Liv Morgan and Jax and the future face of the division in Stratton thanks to her Money in the Bank contract.
It also feels like this era’s talent is more comfortable putting more sexuality on screen and having meaningful interactions with their male counterparts as WWE moves into the Netflix era and away from a true PG product under Triple H. The previous generation was rightfully trying so hard to be taken seriously for their incredible athletic ability and not their bodies and made that the norm in the industry by doing so.
The reins appear to be loosening a bit in a way that’s thankfully miles and miles away from what we saw in the Attitude Era but similar to what people see in other forms of entertainment today.
Ripley and Morgan are involved in a love triangle with Dominik Mysterio and both wore pretty revealing outfits over the past two weeks in a storyline ripe with flirtation. Stratton has often appeared in a bikini during vignettes, including her latest one. So far it has only enhanced the audience’s investment in them and their SummerSlam stories that have so many ways they can go.
Ripley could easily beat Morgan clean to win back her championship or lose when Mysterio’s attempt to help backfires. Mysterio could easily turn on Ripley and garner major heat by siding with Morgan. Finn Balor and Morgan could reveal they have been working together all along and send The Judgment Day toward a split.
In the other match, Jax has been presented so dominantly that a clean win over Bayley is possible, or Stratton’s attempting to cash in could distract her enough for the champion to retain. Stratton could also successfully cash in on either woman or her ally Jax could cut off a cash-in attempt on Bayley.
If Flair, who posted her first video working out in-ring on Monday, does return, she enters a very different WWE than when she was hurt in December.
No matter which way it goes, SummerSlam could be a landscaping-changing event for the WWE women’s division where the Four Horsewomen have even more company on top.
Picture in Picture
If you watched Blood & Guts awaiting a big-picture jumping-off point for The Elite story, AEW didn’t quietly deliver that. But what it did provide — outside of an entertaining match that included a sweet Darby Allin Coffin Drop from under the cage roof, plenty of tables, staples and thumbtacks — was significant advancement of the individual stories going into All In. It almost felt the opposite of what Blood & Guts should be, but it worked on that level.
“Hangman” Adam Page proved he was only there to beat up rival Swerve Strickland, something he will have to answer to the Young Bucks for and likely face Kazuchika Okada — who he accidentally hit with a Buckshot Lariat — for the Continental championship. The Acclaimed want a shot at The Bucks’ AEW tag team championships, too.
Allin talked his way into a match for Jack Perry’s TNT championship at All In by threatening to light the champ on fire, forcing Matthew Jackson to quit for his team. Perry, who took an unnecessary unprotected chair shot to the head from Mark Briscoe (whether the chair was gimmicked or not), came out looking great because he was willing to be lit on fire if it meant not losing the match.
It doesn’t make up for the lack of clear stakes over the level of control of AEW Tony Khan and the Elite have on TV or the fact it will be hard for the Elite to feel like a serious threat again. AEW didn’t capitalize on the momentum it had from the Elite attacking Khan in the overall angle, but at least Blood & Guts heated up important individual stories heading into their biggest show of the year.
Holding Pattern
NXT treaded water during Week 1 of the Great American Bash, with no titles changing hands and some story advancement. Pieces of the episode were pulled right from TNA with the Rascalz’s throwback segment and Joe Hendry’s above-average concert.
Hendry saying in a promo he wanted to prove he could hang with the best in the world in NXT, felt like it could have been phrased better to highlight his own company. I did think Thea Hail had a strong showing in her NXT women’s championship match against Roxanne Perez, but it feels like rooting for anyone in Chase U rarely gets fans anywhere.
The 10 Count
It was easy to see a WrestleMania outside the U.S. was going to happen sooner rather than later the way WWE is doing business now. But man, was it curious to have London’s mayor and WWE flaunt these talks so publicly without an announced deal with AEW coming to the city in a month. WWE more than likely wants to break AEW’s tickets distributed record.
Next Monday will be the first real test of the Wyatt Sicks, after we finally saw Dexter Lumis, Joe Gacy and Erick Rowan reveal their faces on Raw, as this thing will finally get in the ring in a six-man tag match against Chad Gable and the Creed Brothers.
Mercedes Mone’s presentation felt like it was missing something, and Kamille’s well-played debut may be exactly what it needs. Now we get to see Mone, the CEO, like we never have before with a badass, powerhouse enforcer.
So when is MJF’s Lex Express‐like bus tour? If there is anyone who can make you root against the “American Hero” of a story it’s MJF, and his face on the flag instead of stars and changing the International championship to the American title, as Will Ospreay once did in reverse with the IWGP United States championship, was a great touch to add heat.
As the Bloodline became the No. 1 contenders for the WWE tag team championships we saw how damn good Jacob Fatu is. It also creates needed allies for Cody Rhodes in either DIY or the Street Profits.
I’m all for storytelling in the WWE women’s division outside of championships and that’s exactly what a returning Damage CTRL vs. Shayna Baszler, Sonya DeVille and Zoey Stark can be. But outside of Damage CTRL doing an about-face and truly caring about Zelina Vega, these are two very heel factions. So who does the audience cheer for?
Hoping Nic Nemeth vs. Mustafa Ali isn’t just a one-off for the TNA world championship this week as I think these two could tell a compelling long-term story.
Love Toni Storm bringing a different look and level of crazy after Mariah May’s attacks. She’s gone from disconnected and delusional heel to fierce and laser-focused as a babyface.
Dustin Rhodes winning the Ring of Honor Six-Man championships with Marshall and Ross Von Erich in Texas is up there for the coolest wrestling moments of the year — though Battle of the Belts needs to end with the next AEW television deal.
Now that Billie Starkz has lost the Ring of Honor Women’s World Television championship, it’s time for her to finish the story and end Athena’s Women’s World championship reign after 600-plus days.
Extra: Women Of Wrestling (WOW) continues to grow its reach as it will launch in Syndication the weekend of Sept. 14 on a brand new channel dedicated to it on Pluto TV.
Extra, Extra: Can we keep the Rascalz together as long as possible? It’s been a treat to watch them work together again. Same can be said for Leyla Hirsch and Diamante after their ROH show-stealing Texas Death Match.
Wrestler of the Week
Darby Allin, AEW
It was a big week for Allin as he moves into the post-Sting era of this career. He was a big focus of Blood & Guts, with a wild Coffin Drop and threatening to light Perry on fire to earn a TNT championship match at All In. He also won the Royal Rampage to secure an AEW world championship match at Grand Slam.
Social Media Post of the Week
Match to Watch
Cody Rhodes (c.) vs. Solo Sikoa for the Undisputed WWE Championship at SummerSlam (Saturday, 7 p.m., Peacock)
The next nine months of WWE’s biggest story could hinge on what happens here. Someone will likely return to help Rhodes defend his title against Sikoa and his vicious Bloodline faction. Will it be Roman Reigns as expected, Jimmy Uso or both? WWE can set the table from here to WrestleMania 41. This is a huge deal for Sikoa, who will be getting his first world title shot and PLE main event.
