[WWE 2023] Ragnarok And Revolutionize

Following an opening video package that highlighted the two main title matches, we got an interesting shot of the parking lot. A limousine pulls up and idles there for a moment before WWE CEO Triple H walks into the shot, opens the back door and leans in and speaks to someone inside before shutting the door. Triple H motions for the limo driver to pull into the arena and he does so. After this cryptic segment we get the first live shot of the inside of PPG Paints Arena. Pyro shoots off and the fans are going crazy as Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Wade Barrett welcome everyone to the show. | 77

Ciampa enters first and the announcers remind us that Austin Theory's bodyguard Dabba-Kato is banned from ringside tonight. We get a quick video package to remind us why these two are meeting one another tonight (Rating: 66) and then Theory enters with a new entrance jacket and some updated music so he must be going over. The match itself is pretty standard with Ciampa shining early only to get cut off by Theory who cheats to gain an advantage. Theory works over Ciampa for a bit before missing a running boot. Ciampa capitalizes with a neckbreaker and a near fall. Theory rolls outside to regain his composure and Ciampa dives on him. They brawl on the floor and then Ciampa rolls Theory into the ring. Ciampa goes up top and leaps off for a double axe handle smash but Theory sees it coming and hits a sick looking dropkick to Ciampa's face. Theory picks Ciampa up for an Irish whip but Ciampa reverses. Theory hits the corner, Ciampa charges for a spear but Theory moves. Ciampa hits his shoulder on the ring post and immediately begins screaming and collapses to the mat. The referee immediately calls the match off and the announcers say that Ciampa must be injured.

A really fun opener that had good heat and a unique, obviously worked finish. | 81

Immediately after the referee stopped the match Theory began kicking and stomping on Ciampa's injured shoulder. He even applied an armbar for a bit and the announcers put Theory over as being totally despicable. Ciampa had to be helped to the back but this was clearly a work. | 74

After another quick video package (Rating: 62) Sonya Deville enters to a surprisingly big reaction. The crowd is hot for this and pops big for Sasha's entrance. Sasha gets to the ring but before she can finish her entrance she's jumped by Sonya. Sonya works over Sasha's back to start. Sonya hits a backbreaker and then locks Sasha in a Camel Clutch but Sasha fights out of it. The champion is in peril early and Sonya gets a couple near falls. Sasha goes up to the top rope at one point and Sonya follows her. Sasha is seated but Sonya is standing on the second ropes as they exchanged punches. Eventually Sonya set up for a superplex but Sasha blocked it and headbutted Sonya to the mat. Sasha leapt off the top and hit a big elbow but the impact knocked the wind out of Sasha and she couldn't capitalize with a pin attempt. Sonya got to her feet first and went to grab Sasha but Sasha rolled her up in a small package for a two count. Sonya went for a running knee to Sasha, who was on her knees, but Sasha ducked. Sasha hit the backstabber and then floated over into the Bank Statement and Sonya taps out.

After the match we get a Bray Wyatt promo. He cuts a promo on Judgment Day, and apparently their scheduled six-man tag match was moved to tomorrow night on Raw instead of tonight. No word on why. Wyatt says that tomorrow night HE will be the judge and they will have their day of judgment and then he'll take them to hell. | 79

These two had a good match and worked really hard. They must have some big plans for LA Knight to give him the clean win in this one. The match opened up with jawing back and forth and then some shoving. Eventually they began wrestling and McIntyre shined early but Knight went outside to stall. Once he got back in the ring the action heated up. Both guys got some offense in but McIntyre hit a Claymore Kick and went for the pin but Knight kicked out. They have an inspired brawl all around the ring until eventually McIntyre whips Knight into the corner and then goes for a Claymore Kick but this time Knight ducks it. McIntyre's leg ends up draped over the ropes in the corner and Knight grabs him for an inverted Death Valley Driver and covers him for the win.

While LA Knight is celebrating the action cuts backstage to Daniel Cormier who says he is awaiting the arrival of Intercontinental Champion Gunther when suddenly Cormier is tackled and taken down. The announcers are unsure what's happening but when the camera pans toward the action we can see that it's BROCK LESNAR who just attacked Cormier. Security and road agents rush over to pull Lesnar off and Cormier gets to his feet and charges. He tackles Lesnar and takes out numerous security guards in the process. Cormier mounts Lesnar and starts throwing punches and forearms as Lesnar tries to cover up. Cormier is pulled off of Lesnar and extra security rushes over and keeps the two men apart. | 83

As security is taking both men away a really good Cody Rhodes/AJ Styles hype video is shown. It delves into their pasts, taking advantage of WWE's extensive footage library. It basically shows the two men's histories up to this point and how both men have had their share of triumphs and failures both in WWE and outside. The video ends with their hand shake and then brawling from recent weeks. A really good way to lead in to their match. | 75

This was a fantastic title match. These two worked hard and built the action up slowly. They started with AJ talking trash in the middle of the ring and Cody responding in kind. AJ shoved Cody and Cody shoved back. They started swinging and exchanging punches but AJ won the exchange with an unexpected kick to the midsection. AJ controlled the match to start. He worked over Cody's back and was wrestling with an edge. AJ whipped Cody into the corner at one point and Cody hit the turnbuckles and collapsed to his knees. AJ got a couple near falls while working over Cody's back. Cody got a desperation clothesline when AJ went for a running knee. Cody crawled to the ropes to pull himself up. AJ charged again and Cody back dropped him to the floor. Cody dove onto AJ and they brawled outside and eventually AJ reversed an Irish whip and threw Cody into the steps. AJ rolled Cody back into the ring. AJ went for a Phenomenal Forearm but Cody saw it coming and threw himself onto the mat to avoid it. A big double clothesline and double down spot followed. Cody was first to his feet. AJ got up and they started trading punches in the center of the ring. Cody kicked AJ and set up for the Cross Rhodes but AJ got out of it and hit a Northern Lights Suplex for a two count. They brawled around the ring and the action kept ramping up until eventually Cody put AJ on the top turnbuckle and climbed up to the second rope. He went for a superplex but AJ blocked it and shoved Cody off of the ropes. Cody landed on his feet and AJ leapt off the second turnbuckle for a flying forearm but Cody dropkicks AJ. AJ flies into the corner and Cody stands up and charges him in the corner. AJ bounds out of the corner and hits a lariat that sends Cody spinning through the air. AJ collapses to his knees from the impact and suddenly the lights go out. "Feed The Machine" by Zeal & Ardor starts to play and when the lights come back up, Bray Wyatt is standing in the ring. He grabs AJ and hits him with Sister Abigail and then turns his attention to Cody. The referee calls for the bell. Bray grabs Cody and hits the same move. He stands over them and makes a double finger gun gesture and mimes shooting them both but the camera cuts away to a close up of Bray's face.

After the match Bray Wyatt grabs the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and leaves with it. | 82

The limousine from the beginning of the show is still there. The announcers pitch to Kayla Braxton who is standing backstage near the limo. She says that she has been asking around about who is in this limo backstage. She says that she has been told that sitting inside the limo is a big name free agent that Triple H has signed to a contract earlier today. Kayla says she's Triple H intends to introduce this free agent to the WWE Universe later tonight but she's asked Triple H and others who would know and they've refused to comment on this so she hasn't been able to confirm if this is true or not. | 68

Miz introduces the Street Profits, who come out to a big pop. They cut a quick promo on Rollins and Paul. Ford says he's still not yet medically cleared but he will be in time for SummerSlam. The champs come out and mock the Street Profits. Rollins says Montez is delusional if he thinks they can beat Rollins and Paul. Things break down and the teams are about to come to blows when Miz says that they just need to sign the contracts to make the match official. The Profits quickly sign with one keeping an eye on the heels as the other signs. Then the champs sign and as soon as they finish signing they're attacked by the Street Profits. The teams brawl around the ring until the Profits send Rollins and Paul packing and the champs flee to the back. The crowd cheers for the Street Profits who dump Miz to the outside for good measure. | 88

A hype video for Reigns & Leaga vs The Usos airs. It's pretty good and recaps the mostly the entire Bloodline storyline up to this point. | 75

A good match that's telling a story to continue the feud between these two. Leaga wrestles most of the match and holds his own but eventually, when Jey Uso is down on the mat and Leaga is standing over him and Reigns tags himself in. Reigns comes in and slaps Jey around a bit. He taunts Jimmy. Reigns hits a Superman Punch and Jey staggers into the corner. Jimmy tags in and he and Roman brawl but Roman kicks Jimmy in the balls and then spears him. Reigns taunts Trinity Fatu at ringside. She climbs up on the apron and yells at Roman. He laughs and the distraction allows Jimmy to set up for a superkick. Roman turns around and Jimmy superkicks him. Jimmy tags in Jey and they go for a double team move but Ona Leaga climbs back in and hits a double spear on the Usos. We get a ref bump as a result of the spear. Paul Heyman hands Reigns a steel chair. Reigns levels Jey with it. He hits Jimmy with it. Solo Sikoa runs out but Kava Tonga and Tua Tava cut him off and brawl in the aisle. Trinity gets in the ring to try and stop Roman from hitting her husband with the chair again. Trinity kicks Roman in the balls and he drops the chair. She picks it up and Paul Heyman gets in the ring and grabs it from her. Trinity slaps Paul and throws him out of the ring to a big pop. She turns around and Ona Leaga grabs her and hits a Samoan Drop. Trinity is hurt and rolls outside. Jimmy sees it and goes off on Leaga. They brawl to the outside. Jey stands up and surveys the action. Roman stands up behind him. Jey turns into another spear and Roman covers him as the referee slowly gets to his feet and counts the pinfall.

Karrion Kross and Scarlett are backstage somewhere. Kross cuts a promo on Orton, who was legitimately injured Monday night. Kross says that he accidentally injured Orton before he had a chance to humiliate him in the ring. He tells Orton to get well soon and then reminds him that it's just a matter of time before Orton's time runs out. It should have been tonight but Orton got a pass due to injury. So Kross will see him soon. | 65

The mystery entrant was Bianca Belair, making her triumphant return. Mia Yim is eliminated first when Chelsea Green pins her while Chelsea has her feet on the ropes (3:12). Natalya is eliminated next when Bianca pins her after the KOD (5:02). Shayna Baszler locks Liv Morgan into a choke on the ring apron and Bianca and Chelsea are wrestling in the ring. Chelsea whips Bianca into the ropes and knocks both women off the apron and they fall outside and hit the announce table. Liv is eliminated because she is injured and unable to compete (8:49). Shayna rolls into the ring and she and Chelsea team up to take on Bianca. Bianca fights them off over and over. She hits the KOD on Chelsea but can't cover her as Shayna locks her in a katahajime choke but Bianca kicks off the corner and lands on top of Shayna and Shayna doesn't let go so she's eliminated by pinfall (11:19). Shayna lets go of Bianca and Bianca is seemingly out. Chelsea Green stands up and taunts the crowd. She rolls Bianca onto her back and covers her but Bianca gets her foot on the bottom rope. Chelsea yells at the referee. Bianca slowly pulls herself up using the ropes. Chelsea charges her and Bianca tosses her up into the air and hits a European uppercut. Chelsea staggers back into the ropes and Bianca hits the KOD and covers her for the pinfall.

Rhea Ripley comes out onto the stage and holds up her belt and stares down Bianca who celebrates in the ring. | 67

Gunther is out first and he gets a ton of heat. Pat McAfee gets a main eventer entrance in his hometown. McAfee gets an enormous reaction from the crowd. But as he's standing on the turnbuckles saluting the crowd Gunther jumps him from behind. Gunther dominates the early portion of the match. Slaps to McAfee's chest, stiff strikes, throws have Gunther in control early on. Gunther throws McAfee into the corner and goes a charging corner clothesline but McAfee manages to dive out of the way. Gunther hits the corner hard. McAfee lights Gunther up with some punches to the body and then some kicks to the midsection. Gunther charges out of the corner but McAfee moves. Gunther goes for a lariat but again McAfee moves and Pat dropkicks Gunther into the corner. McAfee climbs up onto the second turnbuckle and begins throwing right hands to Gunther's head. The crowd counts along but as McAfee gets to 8, Gunther shoves him to the side and McAfee falls to the arena floor. Gunther goes out after him and whips him hard into the barricade. Gunther hits a running knee to McAfee's midsection and then picks him up and slams him into the steel ring post. McAfee's radio co-hosts are in the front row and Gunther walks over to them and starts talking shit. One of them stands up to say something and Gunther pie faces him back down. The referee comes outside to separate the parties and McAfee is able to crawl over to Gunther and hit a low blow. McAfee gets up and gets a running start and slams into Gunther, knocking him into the steel ring post. Gunther hits his head and is busted open. Gunther is staggered but when he notices that he's bleeding he is enraged. McAfee stands near his co-hosts and they give him a pep talk and fire him up as the medical staff check out Gunther's wound. Gunther is approved to continue the match and McAfee charges Gunther and goes for a Stinger Splash into the steel ring post but Gunther slaps him out of mid-air. He picks McAfee up and positions him near the ring post for a chop. McAfee moves and Gunther's hand slams hard into the steel post. Gunther really sells that his hand is injured. McAfee rolls into the ring to break the referee's count. McAfee takes control, working over Gunther's injured hand. They fight over to the announce table and McAfee slams Gunther's hand off the table. Gunther doubles over in pain. McAfee quickly climbs up onto the ring apron and is about to do something but then looks around the arena and motions for the top turnbuckle. The crowd cheers and McAfee goes up to the top turnbuckle. He leaps off for a legdrop to Gunther but Gunther moves and McAfee goes crashing through the announce table. Gunther rolls into the ring, still selling his hand and the referee counts McAfee out.

After the match Gunther is angry. He yells at the referee that he could have pinned McAfee but the referee shrugs. Outside the ring McAfee pulls himself up and gets a standing ovation from the crowd. The ovation is ruined when an angry Gunther rolls outside and grabs McAfee and tosses him into the ring apron. McAfee hits his back off the side of the ring and Gunther rolls him in. Inside the ring Gunther powerbombs McAfee and yells at the referee to count. The referee counts to three and Gunther stands up, satisfied that he pinned McAfee. But as McAfee tries to get back up, Gunther grabs him for another powerbomb. Gunther holds the IC title up over his head and stands over McAfee. But Pat won't stay down and starts to get up, angering Gunther. Gunther grabs him and hits ANOTHER powerbomb. And then another. And then another. And then he grabs McAfee's now lifeless body and goes for another powerbomb. He stops and points to McAfee's co-hosts who are being held back from jumping the rail by security. Suddenly the crowd pops and we see a figure enter the ring behind Gunther. He grabs Gunther and locks him in a choke and the man turns toward the hard cam and we see that it's SAMOA JOE! Samoa Joe chokes Gunther out and then drops him. Gunther hits the mat as Imperium rush out to get Gunther out of the ring. Samoa Joe picks McAfee up and helps him out of the ring and the segment ends with the crowd cheering on McAfee and Joe in the ring while Imperium help a staggered Gunther to the back. | 88

Kayla Braxton interviews Kevin Owens backstage. She asks him if he can remain impartial tonight with his best friend being one of the competitors. Owens says that what happened last night on SmackDown was an accident. Owens says he tried to apologize to Sami last night and today but Sami wouldn't return his texts. Owens says that he hasn't seen Sami yet today and that's fine because Owens has a job to do. KO says that he considers himself an honorable man and that he always tells his kids to do the right thing. Tonight, KO will do the right thing. He says it doesn't matter where the events of the match take him, he will follow the rules and he will do what's right. | 81

There's been a lot of talk coming into this one that the build for tonight's two title matches were both pretty lackluster. Cody/AJ delivered so I had high hopes for this one and they more than delivered. I even loved the SummerSlam 97 finish they employed in this one. The match opened with each man not only feeling each other out but also being visibly distrustful of Kevin Owens. But eventually they stop stalling and get into the action and it's fast-paced, hard-hitting, and full of exciting spots and cool exchanges. These guys have clearly been working on this match for a while. Things are pretty even and back-and-forth until Zayn misses a dropkick and White kicks him in the face. Jay White begins using some vicious offense on Zayn. White digs his fingers into Sami's mouth and fish hooks him. Owens threatens to disqualify White and White lets go and then boots Zayn right in the face. White hits a brainbuster and covers Zayn for a two count. White accuses Owens of not counting fast enough. Zayn gets his comeback going and is on a roll. During the action, Jay White's elbow clips the side of Owens' head and Owens is staggered. Zayn whips White into the corner and goes for the Helluva Kick but KO gets in Zayn's way. Sami thinks it's on purpose and he yells at Owens and shoves him. Owens shoves him back. Zayn is sent backwards into White, who hits a Northern Lights Suplex for a two count. Zayn and White pop up and White hits a Sling Blade on Zayn. He covers Zayn and gets another two count. This time White confronts Owens and shoves KO. Kevin shoves him back. Sami rolls to the outside of the ring. White and Owens come close to brawling but Owens stops himself and threatens to DQ White again. Sami is up on the apron. He uses the ropes to catapult himself into the ring where he dropkicks White in the back. White and Owens run into each other and Owens is knocked through the ropes and to the floor. Sami grabs White and hits a t-bone suplex. White rolls to the outside. He goes under the ring and pulls out a steel chair. White takes the chair and rolls back into the ring. Sami grabs the chair and goes to use it on White but KO is back in the ring and he steps between them and tells Sami to put the chair down. Sami and KO argue and White hits a running boot to Sami's face. He knocks Sami into the ropes. White grabs Sami's arm and goes for a short-arm clothesline but Sami ducks it and hits a neckbreaker. Sami stands up and whips White into the corner. Sami hits the Helluva Kick and then throws White down onto the mat. Zayn quickly covers him, 1----2----WHITE KICKS OUT! Sami picks White up and goes for the Blue Thunder Bomb but White manages to get out of it and get behind Zayn. He grabs him and quickly hits the Blade Runner! White covers Zayn, 1---2---Sami kicks out! White gets up and yells at Owens again. Sami gets to his feet but he's staggered. A concerned Kevin Owens checks on him. The announcers mention that Sami seems to be out on his feet. White grabs the steel chair. Sami promises that he's good to continue so Owens lets the match continue. White props the chair in the corner and goes to whip Sami into it but Owens steps in front and blocks Sami from hitting the chair. Owens shoves Sami down and he and White butt heads in the middle of the ring, yelling at one another. Zayn gets up and shoves Owens, not realizing why he KO shoved him. Owens and Zayn argue and eventually Sami shoves Owens. Owens turns his back and tries to calm himself down. White kicks Zayn in the midsection and goes to hit him with the chair but Owens turns around just in time to see it and grabs the chair and pulls it away from White. Jay White turns around and spits in Owens' face. Enraged, Owens takes the chair and goes to hit Jay White with it but White moves and Owens nails Zayn in the head with the chair. Zayn crumples to the mat. Owens can't believe what he just did. White laughs as makes the finger gun motion as he picks Zayn up and hits the Blade Runner and covers him. KO reluctantly counts, 1-----2------3!

Jay White immediately grabs the belt and kisses it and then hugs it. He holds it high above his head and then makes KO raise his arm in victory. Then he makes Owens put the belt on him and tussles Owens' hair and laughs as he heads to the back. | 74

Owens is still in the ring, disgusted at what happened. He's absolutely beside himself in anger and grief. Sami Zayn gets to his feet and KO helps him up. Zayn pushes him away. Owens says he's sorry and puts his head down in defeat. Zayn walks up to him and hugs him. The crowd cheers but as KO goes to walk away, Zayn grabs the chair and levels Owens in the back with it. Zayn hits Owens repeatedly with the chair until Owens is down on the mat, unable to defend himself. Zayn hits Owens one more time for good measure and then storms off to the back as the show goes off the air. | 78