 United States Champion Austin Theory def. SheamusI'm surprised this wasn't saved for Night of Champions on Saturday considering the gimmick of the event used to be that every active title needed to be defended, but it made for a nice attraction on this show. This was a fresh match and I thought they worked well together. The feud just got started, so hopefully there's more to come between these two and the outside interference Pretty Deadly costing Sheamus the win indicates that it will. I will say, though, Theory continuing to come off as the afterthought in these title defenses has done him no favors. Raquel Rodriguez and Shotzi def. Damage CTRL (Bayley and IYO SKY)Shotzi was revealed to be Rodriguez's new partner on Monday's Raw. They have history from late last year and have decent chemistry together, but I assume Ronda Rousey and Shayna Baszler are winning the WWE Women's Tag Team Championship on Raw this coming week. This was solid but nothing special. The key was that Bayley and SKY teased tension toward the end, so the split is certainly coming on the sooner side. Cameron Grimes def. Ashante "Thee" AdonisGrimes beat Baron Corbin in record time two weeks ago, so while this wasn't quite as short, it wasn't much longer (nor should it have been). I legitimately forgot Hit Row were still on the roster considering we haven't seen them on the show in many months. I wouldn't be picking up my phone if I were any of them in the next month with fear that releases could be coming. The match was what it needed to be and served as a successful showcase for Grimes. Corbin attacked Grimes afterward, so that feud will continue. SmackDown Women's Champion Bianca Belair and Asuka BrawledThe renewal of this rivalry has been marginally better than it was on the road to WrestleMania 39, but that's not saying much. The effort from WWE has felt uninspired and Asuka's heel turn hasn't been overly exciting. Belair was in more need of a character change if we're being honest. This was kept short and sweet, but I can't say it was extremely effective in getting me excited for the Raw Women's Championship match at Night of Champions. LA Knight def. Rick BoogsThe tag team of Knight and Boogs was thankfully short-lived. Knight needs to be pushed in a meaningful manner in singles competition and hopefully this was intended to kick that off. The match was fine and Knight winning clean was necessary. I liked that he got some mic time afterward, setting up Knight vs. Montez Ford in a Money in the Bank qualifier for next week. I want both men in the matchup, but Knight should quality because he has a better chance of winning the whole thing. AJ Styles def. Karrion KrossI was looking forward to this match when it was teased last week until I realized it was happening on this episode, where it became apparent that it was simply a warm-up for Styles before his World Heavyweight Championship match at Night of Champions. It was well wrestled, but I think it could have been better with more time and a less predictable outcome. Kross feels totally dead in the water at this point with the way he's been booked since returning to the company. The Bloodline Attacked Undisputed WWE Tag Team Champions Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens on The KO ShowThis was the only thing worth watching on the entire episode. The Bloodline stuff has been in a holding pattern as of late, but this was easily the strongest segment with them since WrestleMania. Everyone played their roles well, the mic work was excellent, and the underlying tension between Roman Reigns and Jimmy Uso in particular was intriguing. Fingers crossed Reigns and Solo Sikoa don't win the tag titles on Saturday so we can hopefully get Reigns vs. Jimmy at Money in the Bank for the Undisputed WWE Universal Championship. Overall ShowThe piped-in crowd noise on this show was worse than it's been in a while and it was incredibly obnoxious. I realize this show was taped immediately after last week's, but a dead crowd would have been more bearable than what we got. That aside, this was a fairly forgettable show. There was quality wrestling, but it didn't move the needle much at all ahead of Night of Champions. The night-long angle with The Bloodline saved the show from being completely pointless.
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