ISC Wrestling Recap

Pro wrestling has done a solid job of keeping fans entertained during this time. Despite having to perform in front of no fans, the wrestlers are continuing to go out and give 100% and beyond. We will take a brief look at what the world of professional wrestling has given us.

AEW has resumed live tapings from Jacksonville and have kept the wrestlers in the audience. The heel side and the baby face side continue to add positivity to the atmosphere inside an arena, without fans. The show started off with Jake Roberts and Lance Archer in the ring but were interrupted by Cody who came down and got him a piece of Archer, who he will face off against at this months AEW Double or Nothing pay-per-view event. Another thing AEW has focused on the Inner Circle taking on The Elite at Double or Nothing. Last week saw a street fight with The Inner Circle standing tall. This week, it was Kenny Omega and Matt Hardy who were able to knock off Santana and Ortiz in a tag team match. Another major focus is Brodie Lee taking on Jon Moxley for the AEW World Championship. After Lee defeated Christopher Daniels, Moxley came out and told Lee he was going to pay dearly for making a foolish decision.

In the Wednesday night battles, NXT has seemingly been the behind AEW, not just in numbers but in regards to the product in the ring. The show started off this week with one of the two previously advertised matches, Fabian Aichner and Marcel Barthel of Imperium taking on Matt Riddle and Timothy Thatcher for the NXT Tag Team championships. Riddle accidentally knocked Thatcher off the apron when he was looking for a tag. Thatcher got ticked and bailed on Riddle, leaving him to defend the titles by himself. You can imagine how that played out, Aichner and Barthel captured the titles. Riddle then confronted Thatcher backstage before they brawled. The two ended up facing each other in a match to end the show.

The WWE is coming off a solid Money in the Bank PPV which saw no title changes and two Money in the Bank ladder matches take place at the WWE Corporate Headquarters. Monday Night Raw had the chance to follow that event from the previous night and it kicked off with a major announcement from WWE Women’s Champion, Becky Lynch. Lynch announced she was pregnant and would be taking some time off, meaning that Asuka, who won the women’s MITB match, would be the new champion. That move was effective immediately. On the mens side, the champion Drew McIntyre continues to stay strong, but is sadly hurt by the empty arenas. McIntyre is set to face Baron Corbin next week on Raw. Like the champ, Bobby Lashley has been getting a strong push and could be the next one to step up and face McIntyre. Seth Rollins seemed to be in some trance after his match and beat the holy hell out of Rey Mysterio. That will be something to watch in the weeks moving forward. The show closed with an amazing face to face with Randy Orton and Edge. Orton challenged Edge to a good old fashioned wrestling match at Backlash.

On the Smackdown brand, not much really went on. Aside from everyone crapping on the men’s Money in the Bank winner, it was a low key show. It started off with Otis appearing on Miz TV, where they crapped on him the whole time and ended up challenging him and a partner of his choice to a match. They did start off the tournament for the Intercontinental Championship with Elias and Daniel Bryan picking up wins over King Corbin and Drew Gulak respectively. Charlotte Flair did come out to the ring but was interrupted by Bayley and Sasha Banks. Bayley ended up challenging Charlotte to a match, which will take place next week. Otis and his partner Braun Strowman knocked off Miz and Morrison in their match. Otis did tease a cash in before Braun turned around and caught Otis in the act.