The WWE returned to the United States after a lengthy European tour as Monday Night Raw and Smackdown Live set their sights on their next pay per views. For Smackdown, Backlash will take place from Chicago, Illinois this Sunday; while Extreme Rules is next up for Raw on June 4th.
Some of the highlights on Monday Night Raw this week included Raw General Manager Kurt Angle announcing the main event at Extreme Rules. There will be a Fatal 5 Way to determine the #1 contender for Brock Lesnar’s WWE Universal Championship. Those competitors include Samoa Joe, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Seth Rollins, and Finn Balor.
Smackdown Live had their go-home show for WWE Backlash and some of those highlights included a contract signing for the six women tag match, Kevin Owens stealing the Highlight Reel from Chris Jericho, and Jinder Mahal getting the upper hand on Randy Orton once more ahead of their title match.
This week’s best photos from Raw and Smackdown are not only dominated by Raw but by the Finn Balor and Roman Reigns match. Three of the five photos are from that great promo and match. Continue on to see Balor with a familiar pose...
#5 An unintentional Bullet Club gesture?
Monday Night Raw opened up with Kurt Angle’s special announcement of a Fatal 5 Way match at Extreme Rules involving Finn Balor, Roman Reigns, Bray Wyatt, Samoa Joe, and Seth Rollins. This match came about due to the elbow injury suffered by Braun Strowman that will put him on the shelf for several weeks.
All five competitors would make their way out to the ring to claim that they will be the one to face “The Beast” Brock Lesnar at Great Balls of Fire. This photo was most interesting as Balor may not have known it, but he was flashing the famous gesture used by the Bullet Club for years.
Continue on to see a measure of revenge by the enigmatic Jeff Hardy...
#4 A tooth for a tooth
A couple of weeks back, Sheamus nailed Jeff Hardy with a stiff kick right in the mouth. It resulted in Jeff losing a tooth in the process, but he escaped any further injury.
Since then, Sheamus and Cesaro have turned heel and set their sights on the Hardy’s once again. With their victory in the Tag Team Turmoil match, the European duo is once again the #1 contender for the Raw Tag Team Championship.
On this week’s Raw, Sheamus took on Jeff Hardy in one-on-one action, and an opportunity for Hardy to get revenge for losing a tooth. There are no reports that Sheamus lost a tooth on this basement dropkick from Hardy.
Continue on to see a painful vintage manoeuvre from Roman Reigns...
#3 A painful drive-by
On this week’s Raw, Roman Reigns took on Finn Balor for the second time ever. The first matchup was a match to determine who faces Seth Rollins for the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam last year.
Reigns would execute his famous “Drive-By” move on Finn Balor, but this one had a twist. As you can see to Finn’s right, the ring post was right there. The move would connect, and then Balor’s head would connect with the post.
Continue on to check out the impact of one of AJ Styles’ signature moves...
#2 How about a shoulder adjustment by the Phenomenal One?
After the Highlight Reel segment that opened Smackdown Live, AJ Styles would take on Jinder Mahal in a match of #1 contenders. Thanks to the Singh Brothers, Mahal would pull off a monumental upset of the Phenomenal One.
A move that Styles likes to use in most of his matches is the ushigoroshi (thanks to Mauro Ranallo for introducing us to the name of that move). This photo shows the true impact the move can have on AJ’s opponent.
Continue on to see The Demon pull out all the stops against the Superman of the WWE...
#1 Not quite a “coup” but a vicious double stomp by Finn Balor
The best photo from Raw and Smackdown this week is the third one featuring Finn Balor and Roman Reigns. Still hurting from the injuries suffered by Braun Strowman, Reigns attempted to lift Balor up but failed. Balor countered with the double foot stomp shown above.
Unfortunately for Balor, he would be knocked off the turnbuckle as he attempted the Coup de Grace. Reigns capitalised with the spear and got the victory.
It is a minor setback for Balor as he attempts to win the opportunity to face Brock Lesnar at Extreme Rules. The good thing for Balor is that he has time to right the ship and try to get back the title he never lost.
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