Often dealing with the aftermath and fallout of war can be as hard as the battle itself. Well, that much could certainly be said for WWE, now that they have lost control of SmackDown to AEW. Find out what happens on WWE raw and AEW smackdown… NOW!
Raw the night after Survivor Series sees everyone at a bit of a loss really. Nobody is really sure what WWE will look like now that they have lost control of one of their shows to the opposition. but there is still some business to take care of… Finn Balor & Damian Priest become number one contenders for the World tag team titles, The Sicks have a video package talking about their win over Bray Wyatt and House of Black at Survivor Series, which is followed by The Creeds calling out The Sicks for a tag match next week! We also have a ‘winner takes all’ match that sees Wardlow put his United States title up against Adam Copeland and the TNT Championship, with Wardlow taking the win and unifying the titles into one.
The first edition of ‘AEW SmackDown’ opens with the victorious Elite parading in the ring. Kenny talks about how he and The Young Bucks and Adam Page have fought and win for AEW, just like they always have and always will. That is when the NEW AEW & World Heavyweight Champion Will Ospreay comes out. Ospreay takes the mic and says “Are you done speaking all that rubbish bruv? You lot have NEVER cared about AEW, its always been all about Kenny, The Bucks, Adam Page and whichever other lapdogs you’ve got with you hanging around at the time…”. Omega takes exception to this, and states that Ospreay should put his money where his mouth is, and put it all on the line… eventually we have it set for the show’s main event, Kenny Omega vs Will Ospreay for the AEW and World Heavyweight Championships… IN A LADDER MATCH!
And when its all said and done, THE ELITE come out on top again…
But the show isn’t quite done there, as with The Elite all celebrating Omega‘s victory in the ring, a certain someone comes out and stands on the ramp, making his feelings known…
Raw the next week opens with The Sicks defeating The Creeds, which is followed up later in the show with DIY successfully defending their World Tag Team titles against Finn Balor & Damian Priest. It isn’t all bad for The Judgment Day though, as Rhea Ripley successfully defends her Women’s world title against Nia Jax, who Ripley then demands leaves Raw and goes to AEW SmackDown ‘with the rest of that second rate trash’… Cody Rhodes later has an in-ring promo segment, where he talks about AEW and whilst he wishes them all well, he has his own story on Raw to finish off, with him then calling out WWE Champion Roman Reigns… but IC Champion Seth Rollins comes out instead. Rollins tells Cody that if he wished AEW so well, maybe he should go and challenge Kenny Omega for ‘their’ title, and let someone ‘like ME’ who ‘actually CAN’ win a world title, fight Roman Reigns instead, and bring pride back to WWE and our Championship, just like I have with this (as he holds up his IC title belt). They then set up a match between the two next week, with Rollins’ Intercontinental Championship on the line!
AEW SmackDown opens with Mercedes Mone. She talks about ‘our great champion’ Kenny Omega once being ‘the belt collector’, and how she fancies herself as a belt collector too. Mone references her WWE Women’s Championship, which she calls ‘trash’ and she throws it out of the ring, she then references her TBS Championship, which she says is good, but she wants more. She then says she has one more champion to expose, and calls out AEW Women’s Champion Jade Cargill. Jade then marches out and goes nose to nose with Mone, before she says “when i held that belt of yours, I told everybody that TBS really stood for ‘That Bitch Show’, before Cargill slaps Mone and they brawl, until officials run out and separate the two. We later see Kenny Omega come out for an official ‘ELITE’ Championship celebration, where he effectively ‘bins’ the World Heavyweight title and says ‘THIS (the AEW title)’ is the ONLY title that matters to me. Later in the show we see CM PUNK arrive at the arena, and he runs right out to the ring. He calls out Kenny Omega… but HANGMAN ADAM PAGE comes out instead.
And we get an intense back and forth, with Page saying he hates to repeat himself, but if he has to expose him (Punk) in yet another company, then he will, and that Punk doesn’t need to bitch and complain to people to get what he wants anymore, ‘you can fight me right here, right now’… Punk laughs and says ‘it was never personal with us two, until you made it so. Your blind loyalty to your childish friends has made you betray everything you ever were, and hey, I’ve said and done a lot of things I regret, but calling you an EMPTY HEADED DUMB…’… but before he can finish, Hangman punches Punk in the mouth, and just as quickly, The Young Bucks run out and say punk can’t do a thing to Page or anybody, outside of a match, else he will be fired… Punk laughs and says ‘you might have been able to pull something like that in your company, but not this one’… by now Hangman has made his escape, and the 3 members of The Elite are stood on the apron mocking Punk… until… KONOSUKE TAKESHITA attacks Punk from behind. The Bucks then tell Punk that if he wants the Hangman, he’s gotta get past Takeshita NEXT WEEK!
Raw the following Monday sees Charlotte Flair open the show, as she states her claim to be next up to face Rhea Ripley for the Women’s world title, but she is soon interrupted by Becky Lynch, and then Thea Hail, and the three set up a number one contenders match for the following week. We then get an Uncle Howdy video package, where he states that ‘soon, WE will have it ALL’… We later see DIY attacked backstage by The Sicks! Paul Heyman also appears, and states that The Bloodline will be on Raw next week. Before finally, our main event sees Cody Rhodes challenge Seth Rollins for the Intercontinental title… and…
SmackDown opens with The Young Bucks backstage. They tell us all that the career of CM Punk will end tonight at the hand’s of Konosuke Takeshita, and that they can officially announce the retirement of the WWE Tag Team titles, which they then put in a nearby trash bin. They then say that they will be ‘fighting’ champions (holding up their AEW tag belts), beginning next week… From that we open the show with Wardlow having an open challenge for his TNT Championship, which is answered by BRONSON REED… who Wardlow then beats, just… We then see Adam Page jump CM Punk backstage, hampering him ahead of his match later tonight… Mercedes Mone and Jade Cargill then have an in-ring contract signing to make their title vs title match for next week’s show official. And finally, in the main event, Konosuke Takeshita vs a wounded CM Punk… and your winner is…
Raw in week 4 of December opens with The Bloodline coming out to the ring. WWE Champion Roman Reigns says that the time for redemption against The Elite will come for his family, but for now Raw is his yard, this is The Bloodline’s kingdom, and before he can tell everyone to acknowledge him, Seth Rollins comes out to the ring. IC Champion Rollins tells Roman how he and his Bloodline let the WWE down when they needed them the most, and that WWE should be led by someone who can stand up when it matters most. Eventually they set up a WWE title match for the Royal Rumble! We get a video package from The Sicks, and then a backstage interview from DIY ahead of their tag title match… We also have a number one contender’s match between Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch and Thea Hail. Lynch picks up the win, and goes face to face with Rhea Ripley after ahead of their future Women’s World title match…
Finally, in the main event, Dexter Lumis and Joe Gacy of The Sicks defeat DIY to become the new World Tag Team Champions!
AEW SmackDown opens with the title unification match between Mercedes Mone and Jade Cargill… and your NEW AEW Women’s Champion is…
We later see The Elite backstage with Hangman, giving him a pep talk ahead of his AMBULANCE MATCH with CM Punk TONIGHT! Not that Page needs any more motivation… The Young Bucks confidently walk out to the ring for their Tag title defence… but their tone soon changes when STING & Darby Allin walk out to face off with them. The Bucks somehow retain, intentionally getting counted out to cling on to their titles… In the main event though, we get that ambulance match…
After an absolutely battle, CM Punk takes out another member of The Elite. One step closer to the title…
So now feels like a good time to let you know what the rosters look like now, for both WWE Raw AND AEW SmackDown!
(I’d like to firstly announce that I would have Britt Baker & Jamie Hayter ‘retire’ the WWE Women’s Tag Team titles. I will bring them back eventually, but only when I can book them as is appropriate and not as an afterthought).
So with a couple of matches already set up, we next time will continue to build to the Royal Rumble, as the road to WRESTLEMANIA begins!
Josh.