By Graham "GSM" Matthews

John Cena Returned and Announced His WWE Championship Intentions

The general consensus among fans coming out of this promo was that Cena sounded more heelish than usual, but then again, how many times have we said that in the past five years or so and it's nothing more than a tease? Either way, this was strong mic work from Cena, who is always much better in serious mode than he is when he's making unfunny jokes. He hyped up the night's three big bouts in addition to announcing himself as the new No. 1 Contender to the WWE Championship, even though he did absolutely nothing to deserve it. But hey, he's John Cena, right? Sigh.


American Alpha def. The Wyatt Family, The Usos and Heath Slater & Rhyno in a Fatal 4-Way Elimination Match to Win the SmackDown Tag Team Championship

The elimination stipulation definitely helped this match and added to my excitement of it, especially down the stretch. All four tandems played their roles well and Slater and Rhyno were the right team to go first. Expect Slater getting pinned to play a factor in his eventual break-up from Rhyno. I thought The Usos attacking American Alpha after they got eliminated would give them an out for losing, so I was surprised Alpha ended up taking the titles. I have no complaints, however, because it was high time WWE pulled the trigger on these guys and it was huge for them to pin Randy Orton and not Luke Harper for the win. They definitely deserved that awesome moment. Meanwhile, it's too soon to split Orton from The Wyatt Family because this is the most intriguing he has felt in years. This match on the whole was a ton of fun and those final few minutes were fantastic.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

​Titus O'Neil def. Curtis Axel

I'm glad Austin Aries acknowledged how Axel was a heel last week against Goldust yet was back to embracing the audience this week against O'Neil. He said Axel seemed to be "lost," and he could not have been any more accurate with that observation. The match was fine for what it was but ultimatley nothing out of the ordinary. Axel is inconsistent as a babyface and just doesn't connect with crowds, so it wasn't surprising they didn't get behind him here. It's such a shame to think he won the Intercontinental Championship in this same city (Chicago) three years ago and he's still spinning his wheels.


Lince Dorado def. Tony Nese

Although these two faced off last week, I actually liked this match more for a few reasons. Firstly, the commentators told the story that Dorado was trying to avenge the loss from last week. Secondly, the Chicago crowd was more engaged in the action this time around, especially down the stretch. Nese remains rather bland to me, but this was the most Dorado has impressed me since debuting on the main roster. This was a really nice match and I would not at all mind a rubber match on next week's show or on 205 Live.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews

SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Wyatt Family def. American Alpha, The Usos, Breezango, Heath Slater & Rhyno and The Ascension in a Tag Team Turmoil Match

Once one team was eliminated, the next would come out. You know, how a standard Tag Team Turmoil match would work. Slater and Rhyno kicked things off with The Ascension, which was pretty dull, but there was a point where Rhyno was getting louder cheers than Slater. Maybe Slater should be the one to go heel coming out of their tag team? I was surprised they were eliminated by The Usos, who then made short work of Breezango (talk about an easy night of work). The Usos were beaten by The Wyatt Family, and although they had a fine outing, The Usos acted as the babyfaces, yet the crowd didn't have a team to cheer for. American Alpha were the last team out and were largely dominated by Randy Orton (who received a loud reaction) and Bray Wyatt. They had a quick comeback before being beaten by The Wyatt Family.


SmackDown Women's Champion Alexa Bliss def. Becky Lynch

Bliss and Lynch worked a pretty decent matchup albeit nothing out of the ordinary. It was on the same level as most of their other encounters. Bliss rolling up Lynch and holding the tights seem to come out of nowhere, and I was disappointed by the lack of crowd reaction for the match. Lynch gave Bliss her comeuppance afterward by attacking Bliss and attempting to walk away with the title.

By Graham "GSM" Matthews
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Seth Rollins and United States Champion Roman Reigns Interrupted Raw Commissioner Stephanie McMahon

I feared the worst when Stephanie returned and I thought we were in for another 20 minute tirade until the babyfaces came out to interrupt her. Thankfully, she only got one savage dig in at CM Punk fans by mocking his UFC debut. Was it necessary? No, but it shut Chicago up pretty quick. This was a pretty paint-by-numbers otherwise and set up the night's two biggest matches just fine. The crowd was hot for Rollins as expected and booed the hell out of Reigns, also as expected. The teases for a Shield reunion have been much more frequent as of late. Could we see them get back together again during the Royal Rumble match (on the off-chance Reigns competes)?


Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro and Sheamus def. The New Day

I was surprised they blew off the tag title rematch so soon because this seems to be the only feud Raw's tag division has to offer at the moment. Granted, they're both babyface tandems and we've seen the match a million times before, but there's no denying they work well together. Similar to Roadblock, they contested a highly entertaining match and Cesaro continues to impress. It will be interesting to see if New Day remain in chase mode going forward or if they are totally done with the tag team scene for now.