The Good, The Bad and The NXT: The week's winners and losers in WWE
Thursday 13 September 2018 13:18, UK
It's pay-per-view week, which means that both Raw and SmackDown stepped up their game as the final build-up to Hell in a Cell was screened live on Sky Sports.
This is the most important week in the build-up to any Box Office event and the week every star wants to end on top so they can capitalise on this momentum - but it rarely works out that way in WWE.
Good week
Roman Reigns (Raw)
Ever since Roman Reigns pinned Brock Lesnar for the Universal Championship back at SummerSlam he has been on the back foot because Braun Strowman has always been one step ahead.
The Shield reunion a few weeks ago has managed to keep The Monster Among Men at bay, but it was only this past week on Raw Reigns was able to open up some actual breathing space between himself and his challenger.
Strowman was searching for the champion for most of Raw and finally found him but Reigns was not there to take another beating, and this time it was Strowman who was put through the announce table as The Big Dog sent a clear message to his challenger inside Hell in a Cell on Sunday night.
Rusev Day (SmackDown)
Rusev and Aiden English took on The Bar in the finals of the tag team tournament on SmackDown Live this week and shockingly it was Rusev Day who came out on top when Aiden English sacrificed himself by pushing Rusev out of the way of a Brogue Kick.
The Bulgarian Brute then hit the Machka Kick to win the match and book his team's place in the SmackDown tag title match at Hell in a Cell.
Rusev and English have been pushing for opportunities over the past few months, and finally the company seems to be giving them a shot. They could now be seen as the favourites heading into their match with The New Day this Sunday night.
Nikki Cross (NXT)
Nikki Cross has been floating around NXT over the past few months without direction, but this week she came close to defeating the undefeated Bianca Belair in the main event on NXT. Cross and Belair fought to a double countout after Nikki locked in a sleeper on the outside and was then slammed into the ramp, but the action didn't end there.
After the match result was determined, the women continued to brawl on the outside, but it was The Sadistic Scot who got the final say when she unleashed a crossbody from the announce table which took out both Belair and three referees.
It's safe to say the issues between these two women are far from over.
Bad Week
Baron Corbin (Raw)
With great power comes great responsibility and now Baron Corbin is finally realizing the size of the task he has on Monday Night Raw. Corbin had The Shield arrested last week and seven days later Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose told the acting general manager that there was a sheriff there to arrest him for falsifying a police report.
Corbin was blackmailed into giving Rollins and Ambrose their tag title match at Hell in a Cell, but now the former NXT star has shown he has a weakness and it will definitely be exploited by a number of other stars in the locker room in the coming months.
Randy Orton (SmackDown)
Randy Orton takes on Jeff Hardy this weekend inside Hell in a Cell and it will be Hardy's first match inside Satan's Structure, something The Viper will definitely take advantage of.
This week on SmackDown, Hardy had a score to settle with United States champion Shinsuke Nakamura and Orton decided to interfere which led to the match becoming a no contest.
Orton had hoped he would send a message to Hardy ahead of their match when he appeared with a steel chair but the former champion turned it around in his favour.
The Charismatic Enigma got the upper hand when he countered the RKO attempt and returned the chair shots that he had suffered at the hands of the Apex Predator before hitting the Twist of Fate. It appears his fate is now in his own hands when he steps inside the Cell on Sunday night.
Violet Payne (NXT)
Violet Payne was the sacrificial lamb this week on NXT as Shayna Baszler looked to take out her frustrations on someone in the NXT women's locker room.
It was a short match that saw The Queen of Spades once again work the arm before forcing the newcomer to tap to the Kirafuda Clutch, which she kept locked in following the bell.
The assault did not end there as Baszler went on to lock in the clutch three more times before throwing Payne from the ring and walking away. The NXT crowd expected Kairi Sane to make the save, but the Pirate Princess was nowhere to be seen and Baszler successful sent a brutal statement to any woman who was thinking of swooping in following her NXT Women's Championship loss.
