StatementGames Presents: This Week In Wrestling – June 20

This Week In Wrestling

For the first time in MONTHS, each wrestling show this week was fun to watch. While normally Wednesdays and Fridays are good-to-great nights for professional wrestling, Mondays normally feel like a chore while watching. But with some recent changes behind the scenes, Raw felt fresh on Monday night. Some of that had to do with it feeding off the great main event match from the previous night at Backlash. AEW Dynamite featured some great tag team wrestling action this week to continue their hot streak. And Smackdown finished off the week with a newsworthy show that featured big debuts and returns. All in all, it was good week for professional wrestling INSIDE the ring.

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WWE Backlash: The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever – Sunday June 14, 2020

This year’s Backlash event had many matches but the entire show was built around one match. In what was supposed to be “The Greatest Wrestling Match Ever,” Randy Orton defeated Edge after a brutal punt kick to Edge’s skull. While it wasn’t the greatest match ever, the match was one of the best in recent years. In a nearly 45 minute match, Orton and Edge put on a wrestling clinic. This match had it all but was hurt by WWE’s “brilliant” marketing for it. The match had unbelievable expectations put on it and still somehow almost delivered. Regardless, it was an amazing match by two the greatest wrestlers of all time. Edge suffered a significant injury during the match so will be out of action for some time. Do yourself a favor and watch this match if you haven’t already.

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WWE Raw – Monday June 15, 2020

For the first time in a while, Raw did not feel like a chore while watching it. With new leadership behind the scenes, Raw delivered its best show in months and revolved around Randy Orton. Randy Orton and Christian started off the night with strong promos. This led to a non-sanctioned wrestling match between the two in the main event of Raw. Christian was trying to stick up for Edge, who one night earlier, lost to Randy Orton in the one the best matches in recent memory. The match between Orton and Christian never got started due to Ric Flair low blowing Christian. Orton then finished the job by punt kicking a defenseless Christian. Since the beginning of his feud with Edge, Orton has become arguably the biggest star on Raw and has a new “edge” to him. No pun intended.

The other storylines on Raw were building blocks for its next episode. The upcoming episode of Raw will be a “championship edition.” Many titles will be on the line as Raw tries to build off the momentum it gained with this week’s show.

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All Elite Wrestling Dynamite – Wednesday June 17, 2020

Dynamite was all about tag team wrestling on this week’s show. The show had 3 tag team matches that each had implications on the thriving division. In the opening match of the night, AEW Tag Team Champions, Kenny Omega & Hangman Page, successfully defended the titles against the Natural Nightmares. Later in the show, The Young Bucks beat the Superbad Squad in fast-paced, fun match. In the main event, Best Friends retained their number one contendership status by defeating Le Sex Gods.  The AEW tag division looks better than ever. It’s for that reason, the AEW Tag Team Championship will main event one of the two nights of Fyter Fest.

Also on this show, Cody retained his TNT Championship against the debuting Ricky Starks. This was a good wrestling match that earned Starks an AEW contract. Another debut came when newcomer, Abadon, demolished the over-hyped Anna Jay. Lastly, MJF stayed undefeated in singles competition by beating Billy. Next week’s Dynamite will be the go-home show for Fyter Fest.

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WWE Smackdown – Friday June 19, 2020

AJ Styles’ first week as Intercontinental Champion did not end the way he wanted it to due to the debut of Matt Riddle. Riddle interrupted Styles’ championship coronation ceremony and went on to defeat Styles in his first match on Smackdown. Styles addition to the blue brand is already paying off big time as he has now had great wrestling matches against Daniel Bryan and Matt Riddle and fans are more intrigued in the Intercontinental Championship than they have been in a long time. 

The Intercontinental Championship was on the verge of becoming the “main” title on Smackdown and then Bray Wyatt returned to close Smackdown. Wyatt made it known he wants Braun Strowman’s Universal Championship and that he will do anything to get it. Wyatt’s brought back his “cult” persona that made him so popular in the wrestling world when he first debuted in 2013. With the developments in the Universal and Intercontinental Championship scenes, Smackdown is in a good spot heading into the summer months.