The WWE pay-per-view train continued to roll into the end of May with this week’s Monday Night Raw and Smackdown Live. It was the last Raw before Extreme Rules on the WWE Network this Sunday; while Smackdown Live has Money In The Bank two weeks later.
Some of the highlights from this week’s Raw centred around the Fatal 5 Way main event for Extreme Rules. Those five men were in two great main event matches when Samoa Joe defeated Finn Balor and Bray Wyatt in a triple threat match, while Roman Reigns defeated Seth Rollins in a spectacular finish to Raw this week.
A major announcement highlighted Smackdown Live as Commissioner Shane McMahon announced the first ever women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match. Originally a Fatal 5 Way match between Becky Lynch, Charlotte, Natalya, Carmella, and Tamina was to take place to determine a #1 contender for Naomi’s title, but the match never got started as an all-out brawl ensued.
The superstars on this week’s best photos of Raw and Smackdown include Sasha Banks, Rich Swann, all five members of the Extreme Rules main event, Nakamura, and the Smackdown women.
#5 Sasha Banks can clearly handle it
Rich Swann is in the middle of a lengthy feud with Noam Dar in the Cruiserweight Division. When you feud with Dar, you feud with his lady Alicia Fox as well. The main crux of the feud is that Swann is getting revenge on Alicia Fox for treating his buddy Cedric Alexander badly.
Over the past few weeks, Sasha Banks has started to feud with Fox, leading to a series of matches. She decided to even the odds on Monday Night Raw and join Swann to the ring for his match against Dar.
After Swann earned the victory, he went into his trademark energetic dancing and even got the Boss involved, something you don’t see often from Banks.
#4 If you ever doubted how vicious Shinsuke Nakamura’s strikes are, just look at Kevin Owen’s face
Smackdown Live kicked off with Kevin Owens’ version of the Highlight Reel. His guest this week was Shinsuke Nakamura, but they were soon interrupted by Baron Corbin who would help Owens gang up on The Artist.
Sami Zayn made the save to lead into a tag match between four of the men who will compete in the Money In The Bank Ladder Match. For the second straight week, a dream tag team involving Nakamura forms, this time with Zayn.
The true power of Nakamura’s strikes were on display in the above photo. The dazed look on Owens’ face tells the entire story.
#3 A tangled web of manoeuvres within the triple threat match
At the end of Raw last week, Finn Balor told Kurt Angle not to leave him out of the main event this week. Angle countered by putting Balor in a triple threat match with Bray Wyatt and Samoa Joe.
This photo depicts a unique situation within the match: Wyatt was looking to hit Sister Abigail on Balor, but Joe got back in the ring and applied the Coquina Clutch on Wyatt.
The match ended with Balor hitting the Coup de Grace on Wyatt, but an opportunistic Joe threw Balor into the ring post and covered Wyatt for the victory.
#2 An incredible spot in an amazing main event
The second main event of Monday Night Raw closed the show in spectacular fashion. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins had a pay-per-view quality match this week that lasted nearly 20 minutes.
After hitting a suicide dive on Reigns outside of the ring, Rollins attempted a springboard manoeuvre inside of the ring. Unfortunately for Seth, Reigns landed a well-timed Superman Punch. It was one of the coolest moments of a great match.
Both men now set their sights on the main event of Extreme Rules as they look to become the next in line for Brock Lesnar’s WWE Universal Championship.
#1 Pure carnage leads to a historic announcement
With Money In The Bank a little over two weeks ago, the #1 contender for Naomi’s championship was on the line this week. Charlotte, Tamina, Natalya, Becky Lynch, and Carmella did battle in a Fatal 5 Way to see who would challenge Naomi.
Before the match could start, an all-out brawl ensued. The action went to the outside where the women of Smackdown Live went through announce tables and steel steps.
Since the match never officially started, Shane McMahon came out and delivered a historic announcement that these five women would compete in the first ever women’s Money In The Bank Ladder Match.
