For the second straight night in WWE, in-ring action took center stage for most of the show on SmackDown. It was a jam-packed two hours with four great matches, starting with Finn Balor and Andrade squaring off in a non-title rematch, with Balor gaining a measure of revenge by evening the series 1-1. Charlotte Flair defeated Bayley in a No. 1 contender's match, while Kofi Kingston won by disqualification against Shinsuke Nakamura in the night's main event when Rusev interfered. Kairi Sane picked up her first singles victory on SmackDown by beating half of the women's tag team champions, Peyton Royce Everything lived up to the hype and then some, but a few short non-match segments in particular will go a long way in shaping the next few weeks of SmackDown and beyond.

Tim Fiorvanti, ESPN.com1d ago

Anybody who's watched more than a few minutes of Kevin Owens' WWE career had to assume that his friendship with Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods wouldn't last long, but his post-main event attack on The New Day was abrupt and jarring after two weeks of feel-good moments inside the ring. With a superkick to Kingston and an apron powerbomb to Woods, Owens comfortably returned to his role as villain and set himself up as the logical challenger for Kingston's WWE championship. Expect that match to be added to Money in the Bank soon, alongside two other matches announced Tuesday night. Becky Lynch will pull double duty, facing Lacey Evans for the Raw women's title and Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown women's belt. Roman Reigns will take on Elias, after the latter helped Shane McMahon gain a measure of revenge on Reigns following the former's attack on Vince McMahon last week.

Tim Fiorvanti, ESPN.com1d ago

From an in-ring perspective, Raw was a breath of fresh air on Monday night with seven matches, all-told -- none more creative or exciting than the triple threat between AJ Styles, Samoa Joe and Rey Mysterio that got the ball rolling. But almost every other match overachieved compared to expectations, including the other triple threat between Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre and The Miz, as well as eye-opening one-on-one matches featuring Cesaro vs. Cedric Alexander and Robert (don't call him Bobby) Roode vs. Ricochet. Naomi continued her success against the women's tag team champions by rolling up Billie Kay, and Alicia Fox returned to action in an inconsistent match against Raw and SmackDown women's champion Becky Lynch. Styles and Corbin rounded out the night with a solid one-on-one match, as Styles emerged victorious and became No. 1 contender.

Tim Fiorvanti, ESPN.com2d ago

From a storyline perspective, however, WWE still seems to be getting their legs underneath them moving forward. With the exception of establishing AJ Styles as the first challenger for Seth Rollins' Universal championship, the Becky Lynch/Lacey Evans story is dragging. Evans has a lot of potential that she's shown in brief glimpses on the mic and in the ring, but she seems as though she's still finding her way on the main roster and may not be ready for the bright spotlight opposite Lynch, considering how brightly it's shining on the double champ after WrestleMania 35. Time will tell. It was a good night for Sami Zayn, who continued to draw tremendous heat during a lengthy promo, as well as the tag team division. The Viking Raiders (f.k.a War Raiders and The Viking Experience) laid waste to the Lucha House Party and there was a solid tease between The Usos and The Revival.

Tim Fiorvanti, ESPN.com2d ago

Rounding out the night was perhaps one of the nuttiest moments of WWE TV in 2019 so far. Bray Wyatt, whose last televised match was in August 2018, returned to Monday Night Raw as the answer to the source of all those creepy puppets and dolls. In his newest iteration, Wyatt is the host of a warped children's program called the Firefly Fun House, which features the buzzard hand puppet and ventriloquist dummy we've seen in recent weeks as characters. To further hammer home the change, the new Bray Wyatt took a mini chainsaw to a cardboard cutout of his old persona. The promo certainly piqued a lot of interest, but with the abrupt creative changes around Raw and SmackDown of late, there's no telling where we'll go from here.

Tim Fiorvanti, ESPN.com2d ago

While WWE champion Kofi Kingston didn’t have a blockbuster matchup lined up Tuesday, he and his New Day teammates took care of The Bar and Drew McIntyre in relatively swift fashion. That was one of a handful of tag-team matches on a chaotic night in which no one’s back was safe. Ali (who along with Ricochet and Aleister Black had just beaten Shinsuke Nakamura, Rusev and Andrade) was RKO’d by Randy Orton. Moments later, Kevin Owens delivered a stunner to Rusev. United States champion Samoa Joe, who dominated Rey Mysterio in under a minute two nights earlier at WrestleMania, caught R-Truth in an Coquina Clutch, before Joe himself came to blows with Braun Strowman. And for the second night in a row, Lacey Evans sucker-punched Raw and SmackDown champion Becky Lynch, setting up what will surely be a fun showdown in the coming weeks.

Matt Wilansky, ESPN.com15d ago

Three matches, which were taped before last week’s TakeOver: New York event, aired on NXT TV this week. The Street Profits defeated the duo of Marcel Barthel and Fabian Aichner, Jaxson Ryker of the Forgotten Sons beat Danny Burch and Candice LeRae picked up a win against Aliyah. Following a backstage confrontation between Velveteen Dream and former Cruiserweight champion Buddy Murphy at WrestleMania on Sunday, Dream will battle Murphy on next week's show with the North American championship on the line. Another title will be on the line next week when Shayna Baszler defends the NXT women's championship against Kairi Sane. If Sane loses, she will not receive another opportunity at the title.

Sean Coyle, ESPN15d ago

WrestleMania week culminated with a 205 Live main event that saw Tony Nese retain his title over Buddy Murphy in a match that one-upped what they did at WrestleMania. With the crowd hot, it was a great way to end the festivities. It also makes you wonder what's next for Murphy, who could be starting a feud with NXT's Velveteen Dream. Also on 205 Live, Humberto Carrillo picked up a DQ victory over Gentleman Jack Gallagher when Drew Gulak pushed Carrillo off the top rope. Gulak continued the assault of Carrillo until Gallagher intervened with a headbutt, seemingly ending the relationship between those two as well.

Matt Willis, ESPN Staff Writer15d ago

One night after giving fans everything they wanted at WrestleMania 35, WWE made a wild miscalculation and ended up with a main event match on Raw that was soundly booed despite containing new WWE champion Kofi Kingston and new Universal champion Seth Rollins. The night started with Rollins’ and Kingston’s celebration turning into a one-on-one, winner take all, title vs. title challenge. Despite Becky Lynch winning just such a match one night prior, it seemed likely that the match wouldn’t end with a pin or submission, but it seemed to be an opportunity to make a strong villain in the meantime. The match was ultimately interrupted just as it was starting to pick up, but not at the end of the show; instead, Sheamus and Cesaro were the perpetrators and thus became the catalyst for a hard to swallow tag team main event. The crowd went thermonuclear, chanting everything from “AEW” to “CM Punk” in the show’s final moments. Though the bait and switch was telegraphed, instead using it to give the rub to a debuting person or team, or a returning superstar, could have made a world of difference; instead, WWE started out the post-WrestleMania season on the wrong foot.

Tim Fiorvanti, ESPN.com16d ago

On the plus side, there were plenty of moments to be happy about over the rest of Raw. The Undertaker made a surprise appearance and decimated Elias, garnering the loudest reaction of the night after not showing up to WrestleMania. Sami Zayn returned to action after nine months off as well, and after an unsuccessful Intercontinental championship challenge laid into fans and made it clear which side of the aisle his character resides in. Lars Sullivan made his long-awaited debut by destroying Kurt Angle as he was saying goodbye to the WWE audience. Lacey Evans finally did something more than walk up and down a ramp, although some might chafe at the punch she threw at Becky Lynch which sparked a brawl and a likely first rivalry for the new double champion. Alexa Bliss had her first televised match since January, and defeated Bayley in short order.

Tim Fiorvanti, ESPN.com16d ago

Rounding out the rest of the night’s news: the Superstar Shakeup will rebalance the Raw and SmackDown rosters over two nights next week. Aleister Black and Ricochet defeated Bobby Roode and Chad Gable, while Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder successfully defended their new tag team titles against The Revival, pushing Hawkins’ win streak to two. With his last match scheduled, Dean Ambrose instead had it out with Bobby Lashley, after Lashley and Lio Rush mentioned Ambrose’s wife -- but Lashley ultimately got the best of it in the end. Finally, there were a pair of backstage promos -- one for Mojo Rawley, who stood in front of a cracked mirror, and a mysterious puppet popping out of a cardboard box that may indicate the impending return of Bray Wyatt.

Tim Fiorvanti, ESPN.com16d ago

Johnny Gargano defeated Adam Cole to win the NXT championship in thrilling main event featuring many near finishes.

Andrew Feldman, ESPN.com19d ago

The War Raiders successfully defended the NXT tag team titles in the opening match of TakeOver. After the match, the four men shared a moment before the War Raiders left the ring and let the Brooklyn crowd cheer for Ricochet and Aleister Black who most likely had their final NXT match tonight.

Andrew Feldman, ESPN.com20d ago