As the Money in the Bank Qualifying matches are still underway, Alexa Bliss warned Tiffany Stratton that she better pray she doesn’t win that briefcase because the current Women’s Champion’s potential downfall will send her ten feet under. Not a moment too soon, Charlotte Flair made her appearance to voice her opinion as well.
She reckoned that Stratton’s reign won’t last long. That the only thing she hasn’t done during her time at WWE is win a Money in the Bank briefcase and if that’s what Flair has to do to recapture gold, she’ll do it. As a counter to those… perspectives, Tiffy called Flair a hypocrite for saying that cashing in is the easy way in while she’s here doing the very thing she swatted off. Charlotte and Alexa were written off as “vintage”, and that Stratton is the upgrade.
Giulia vs. Charlotte Flair vs. Zelina Vega – Women’s Triple Treat Money in the Bank Qualifying match
Vega went flying and crashed onto her opponents, but it was Flair’s kick to the side of Giulia’s temple that knocked her ass off the apron. Charlotte had Zelina on her shoulders for something big, I presume, yet Giulia came back and drop kicked Flair in the chest that resulted in Vega plummeting as well.
Charlotte may have wiped everyone out with that crossbody, Zelina nearly submitted Flair by bending her backwards, however, Giulia stopped all that from going any further without her input. At some point, Charlotte regained some momentum by literally stepping on her challengers, then delivered a double Moonsault that went nowhere.
Just as Flair had Giulia locked in the Figure 4, Zelina came swooping in with a Meteora, then a Code Red to Giulia that got disrupted by the Queen. While Giulia was momentarily disposed off, Zelina managed to dodge Charlotte’s shoulder tackle in the corner, but she ate a nasty boot instead. Vega was close to tapping out to the Figure 8 when Giulia flew in and stomped on Charlotte’s surgically repaired knee, then finished Zelina with a Northern Lights Bomb.
Winner: Giulia
Tommaso Ciampa vs. Chris Sabin
I’m sorry, but the majority of the match I kept paying attention to the fact that Ciampa’s long beard is gone. It’s so small now… he looked naked to me as he stomped on Sabin’s right hand after being unable to get the win earlier. Just as Chris was gaining some stride, Ciampa used Gargano’s jacket to distract his opponent, then performed the Willow’s Bell to an unsuspecting Sabin.
Later on, Johnny attempted to confuse Sabin, so his Motor City Machine Guns partner, Alex Shelley, loomed over, which convinced Gargano to back down. Ciampa was aiming for Sabin, yet he ended up kicking Shelley instead and nearly got pinned in a roll up. Sabin took out DIY with a crossbody on the outside. Things were moving in favor of Sabin until Ciampa seemingly buckled his ankle and Candice LeRae blindsided Chris, so Tommaso could deliver a harsh knee without the knee pad to the face for a cheap victory.
Winner: Tommaso Ciampa
Damian Priest was supposed to come out and give us some vile words ahead of his Steel Cage match against Drew McIntyre, however, another brawl broke out tonight, now with these two at the helm. Drew and Damian simply couldn’t help themselves. Officials did they’re best separating them, but the fans wanted them to fight regardless.
I laughed when R-Truth literally compared John Cena to Gollum from the Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit franchise. Ha! “Staring at your Championship, calling it your precious.” He did make sense. Truth intends to beat the hustle, loyalty and respect back into Cena during their title match at Saturday Night’s Main Event tomorrow.
Michin & B-Fab vs. Alba Fyre & Piper Niven – Tag Team match
B-Fab tried, but couldn’t fully outmatch Piper and nearly got pinned for it. At some point, a well placed knee to the gut of Niven gave B-Fab the space she needed to reach Michin, who battled it out with Alba. She had to deal with Niven, too. Just as she was getting the wind on her side, Chelsea got involved, so Zelina came out to assist.
During the kerfuffle outside, Piper got squashed by a flying B-Fab. Michin almost got pinned, so she nailed Fyre with Eat the Feet, then brought B-Fab in to finish the job with a modified neck breaker.
Winners: Michin & B-Fab
Jimmy Uso & Rey Fenix vs. JC Mateo & Jacob Fatu – Tag Team match
Uso and Fenix were working well together against the tremendous forces that are Mateo and Fatu. Jimmy even stunned JC with a flying maneuver off the turnbuckles. Fenix’s quickness and agility was difficult for Fatu to follow and counter since he seemed to always be on the receiving end, even when he had the upper hand. That Poison Rana almost, very closely took out Fatu. It left Fenix flabbergasted.
And just like that with a Pop Up Samoan Drop on Rey that the Bloodline regained control. While Jimmy was covering JC coming down from that frog splash, Jacob intervened with a Senton out of nowhere. Due to Solo Sikoa’s need to insert himself while Jimmy was just about to win this, that gave JC the time to recuperate and conclude the match with Tour of the Islands.
Winners: The Bloodline
LA Knight vs. Aleister Black vs. Shinsuke Nakamura – Men’s Triple Threat Money in the Bank Qualifying match
God knows where LA Knight went, but his disappearance awarded the audience with a one-on-one fight between Nakamura and Black, two amazing strikers. They were great to look at since counter for counter, neither allowed the other to have the upper hand. However, they forgot about Knight. Luckily, Aleister did well with that knee strike to the face.
The Megastar was on a roll when he put Aleister to bed with that DDT, followed by a big elbow to the gut. But here comes Nakamura with a drive-by knee to the jaw. I’m sure that hit knocked his ass cold, that’s why Knight had to grab the bottom rope to stop the three count. He rolled out of the ring. Black and Nakamura were left alone once again, yet it was Aleister’s Black Mass kick that stunned Shinsuke and Knight capitalized on it by tossing Aleister out of the way. He joins Solo Sikoa as two of the six heading to Money in the Bank on June 7.
Winner: LA Knight
The Street Profits (c) vs. Fraxiom – WWE Tag Team Championship
Fraxiom were the ones who started the match on a good note, but it was Dawkins’ shoulder tackle to Frazer that halted their momentum. After that, the Street Profits were making a mockery out of their challengers by twisting and extending Nathan to putty. You could hear Frazer groaning and crying as a result of the attacks he endured at the hands of the Champions, specifically Angelo. Fraxiom’s speed finally came into play and disrupted the Profits’ A-game.
At a given moment, the Profits were making a comeback. Montez’s aggressive nature made Axiom see stars and flying beignets as he laid on the mat following that knee to his jaw. The frog splash wasn’t enough either, so he tagged Angelo in as he flattened Axiom on numerous occasions. Dawkins kept Axiom grounded by applying pressure around his neck and away from Nathan.
Due to how long it took for Frazer to get back inside the ring, once he did, he went full-out. However, it didn’t end the match in his favor. Ford kicked out at one. The Champions retaliated with a double team on Frazer. Montez was on a rampage as he really hammered down his offense on Axiom, taking his time but delivering three times the pain. Ford looked unaffected by Axiom’s attempt at warding him off. That was until that submission hold that slowed Ford down, while Nathan dealt with Angelo.
Dawkins decided to toss Frazer into Axiom and Montez to break both submission holds simultaneously. Fraxiom came close to winning gold at some point during the match, but it breathlessly left us gasping because it wasn’t conclusive. He did well when he saved the match for his team by coming in after being tossed into the steel stairs by Angelo.
Fraxiom amazed all of us with their Spanish Fly Phoenix Splash combination that could have very well awarded them the victory if Montez wasn’t quick on his feet. He got laid out, though. Ha! And speaking of funny things, DIY ventured out here to mess things up, luckily, Motor City Machine Guns came swooping in. Ford didn’t have to, but he took them all out. Back inside the ring, Dawkins ploughed through Frazer, then shouted at his partner to come back.
From the top, Montez was going to finish this… shockingly so, the Wyatt Sicks unleashed hell on Earth by returning to their scene of the crime. They wiped out the entire playing field. Uncle Howdy and his band of God knows what are back.
Well… see you tomorrow.
Winners: No one
TOP PHOTO: The Wyatt Sicks return. Courtesy of WWE