RAW Deal: Evolution is no longer a mystery

 

CINCINNATI, OHIO, United States – WWE chief branding officer and RAW commissioner Stephanie McMahon dropped a bomb last Monday, July 23, on RAW, and they made sure it was a real bomb: WWE is finally hosting an all-women pay-per-view event, WWE Evolution, on Sunday, October 28.

The show will feature all women’s championships in the WWE being defended, including the NXT Women’s Championship, as well as the finals of this year’s Mae Young Classic. In addition, legendary female wrestlers will be appearing at the event, including WWE Hall of Famers Trish Stratus and Lita, as well as every woman on the WWE roster. This follows many women’s firsts in the company, such as the first women’s Hell in a Cell, Extreme Rules matches, and this year’s women’s Royal Rumble match.

 

While WWE is certainly not the first wrestling company in the business to hold an all-women’s show, it’s still a big deal because for many fans, the megalith is still synonymous with pro wrestling. Whether it’s because they don’t know any other companies or choose not to follow any others, the fact that they’re finally pushing through with this is the ultimate signifier that women’s wrestling can be taken as seriously as the men.

The women have worked pretty hard to show that they could be just as badass as their male peers, and I personally like this move because it’s such a breath of fresh air from our usual packed WWE PPVs. Let the women have their own show, and have the writing for the rest of the roster work around not having a PPV in October. Unless, of course, they’re going to fit in two PPVs in one month again, when this setup already works. Universe forbid.

This should be a lot of inspiration for all the girls and women in the crowd, especially those who want to become a wrestler someday. Many current stars’ stories started from the stands, watching the larger-than-life performers make magic in the ring. Onward, I say, and better late than never.

 

Championship matches set for SummerSlam and NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV

In other news, the SummerSlam main events for both brands and NXT have already been set this week, giving enough time for the shows to build up to the second-biggest event of the WWE year.

On RAW, it’s as we all predicted: Roman Reigns won the right to face Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship by beating Bobby Lashley on this week’s episode. If the rumors are true, Reigns will finally take the title off Lesnar at SummerSlam as the latter pursues another UFC run. Not to worry, though, Reigns haters—Braun Strowman is still your Monster in the Bank, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he shows up to spoil another Reigns triumph. It would be sad for the Big Dog, but it’s the only way the red show comes out of it smelling like roses.

On SmackDown, it’s looking a lot better, because Samoa Joe is challenging AJ Styles for the WWE Championship in a callback to their days on the company once known as TNA. There’s much less nonsense here, only promises of a great match given enough time. Everyone’s excited for this as it’s a great move for SmackDown Live to give us the best possible matchup alongside Brock Lesnar, short of having Daniel Bryan compete. Not to worry, though, as Daniel Bryan vs. the Miz is also on the docket for them, with personal and historic implications between the two men. The blue side is looking just as good, if not better, for them.

Lastly, NXT’s stage is set as well. A surprise title change happened on this week’s episode, with the devil Tommaso Ciampa stealing the NXT Championship from Aleister Black after his nemesis Johnny Gargano inadvertently cost the champion his title.

While it isn’t obvious right now, spoilers (and the eventual direction of this story) show that the yellow brand is building toward a triple threat match for the title at NXT TakeOver: Brooklyn IV. As always, expect this to be much bigger and better than anything the main shows can give us, despite star power. NXT always gets a lot of time to steal the show, and it looks like this year and this event won’t be any different.

There’s a lot to be excited in SummerSlam season right now, because there’s a lot going on. What are you excited about? Let’s talk about it.

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Do you listen to podcasts? Would you want to listen to a local podcast about pro wrestling? If the answers to those questions – especially that last one – are yes, then you should check out the cleverly-named Smark Gilas-Pilipinas Podcast, featuring PWR general manager Stan Sy, wrestling writer and Wrestling God Romeo Moran, and all-around multimedia person and former voice of PWR Raf Camus! On this week’s episode, Chino Liao joins Ro and Stan to review PWR Live: Way of the Champion! Listen to it here or on Spotify!  – Rappler.com