IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: December 6, 2019
Location: Crown Coliseum, Fayetteville, North Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

The very slow build on the fast road to TLC continues with one of the last two shows before the pay per view. The big story coming out of last week is the return of the YES Movement as Daniel Bryan gears up to fight the Fiend one more time. It didn’t go so well in round one but this company loves itself some rematches, perhaps this time with less hair. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Here’s the Miz to get things going. He has been looking for Daniel Bryan since Bray Wyatt attacked him last week and will find him no matter what. Miz knows what Bryan has meant for Smackdown since he arrived and that can’t go away because of the Fiend. Bray pops up on screen to say that something bad happened to Bryan last week. Bryan was supposed to come play at TLC and now that might not be happening. Maybe Miz can come play instead!

Miz isn’t sure, but that makes Bray unhappy. Ramblin Rabbit pops up to tell Miz to run while he can but Bray scares him off. The Word of the Day is family, because Bray used to have one. Now Bray has a chance to join a new family, so he holds up a picture of Miz, his wife Maryse and his two daughters. Does Miz want to come play with him now? Miz storms to the back.

Post break, Miz calls Maryse and tells her to lock the doors. He wants to do something about this but she wants him to come home.

Alexa Bliss vs. Mandy Rose

Of note: Jessika Carr makes her main roster debut at the first full time female referee. Mandy gets sent outside early on to start but avoids a baseball slide, allowing Mandy to hit a jumping knee to the face. Back in and Mandy takes her down to PULL OUT HER EYELASHES. Mandy yells that Bliss will never look like her so Bliss hits her in the face. Some stomping keeps Mandy down as Nikki Cross takes out Sonya Deville on the floor. Twisted Bliss finishes Mandy at 4:18.

Rating: D+. Just a match here as Bliss is back after her injury. They finally seem to have pulled the trigger on her full face turn, which is something that they have wanted to do for a very long time. I can get how they are shooting to make her the new Trish Stratus and it isn’t that much of a stretch. If she can improve her in-ring abilities, it wouldn’t be that impossible to have her get in the same universe.

Dana Brooke is at catering when Drake Maverick comes in. He heard that Dana is going on a date with Batista and wants to know what Batista has that he doesn’t. Elias comes in to sing a song about what Batista has over Drake. Various jokes about Drake’s sex life are included so Drake slaps him, seemingly setting up a match tonight.

Post break, Drake is in the ring to say everyone thinks this is funny. He wants Elias out here right now for a fight instead of a match so here is Elias, rather promptly at that. Dana is with him as well and Drake can’t get in a single shot. Elias even bends him over his knee for a spank and Dana has to throw Drake back inside. Drift Away connects to leave Drake laying so Dana can get a three count.

Miz is marching through the back and hears a noise. He goes into a room and finds the same photo of his family, but with Bray’s picture over his face. Bray jumps him from behind and hits Sister Abigail before singing a little There’s No Place Like Home.

Video on Tribute To The Troops, which was taped earlier today.

Ali/Shorty G. vs. Lucha House Party vs. Revival vs. Heavy Machinery

Elimination match and the winners get New Day, on commentary, for the titles at TLC. Gable front facelocks Gran Metalik to little avail to start so it’s off to an armbar to work a little better. Ali comes in to flip out of a wristlock and it’s time for a big flip off, drawing New Day to their feet in applause. Lince Dorado and Tucker come in for an exchange of dropkicks as everything breaks down.

The House Party hit stereo dives to take out just about everyone and New Day is rather pleased by the competition. Back in and the Compactor finishes Metalik for the first elimination at 3:29. We come back from a break with Tucker kicking Wilder away and bringing in Otis to clean house. The shirt comes in for some dancing and the power of jiggling absorbs Dawson’s chops. The Caterpillar hits Dawson but the legal Wilder rolls Otis up (with trunks) for the pin at 9:43.

So it’s the Revival vs. Ali/Gable and they’re on the floor in a hurry with Revival being sent onto the New Day. Cole: “THERE ARE PANCAKES EVERYWHERE!” We take a break and come back with Ali German suplexing Wilder for two with Dawson making the save. Ali’s tornado DDT is countered into a powerslam for two but Ali kicks Wilder right back down. The 450 misses though and Ali is tossed over the barricade into the timekeeper’s area. Gable dives onto both of them and ankle locks Wilder but Dawson comes back in for the Shatter Machine and the pin at 18:42.

Rating: C+. The action got better at the end but it was a little deflating to see Revival get yet another title shot. Revival is becoming the second set of Usos as they feel like they have fought the New Day a hundred times now. I’m sure the match is going to be good, but it’s something I’ve seen so many times that it just doesn’t mean much anymore.

Post match the Revival says they won’t let New Day disrespect the titles anymore. The new day is over because they’re taking it back to the old days.

Roman Reigns isn’t worried about Baron Corbin promising to humiliate him tonight. The only humiliating thing is that Corbin and company can’t beat him. At TLC, Reigns is humiliating him.

Sheamus is still coming to destroy Smackdown.

Lacey Evans vs. Haley Jones

Lacey powers her into the corner and the Woman’s Right is good for the pin at 1:13.

Post match here’s Sasha Banks to yell at Lacey for knocking her out last week. Sasha calls herself the blueprint for the division but Lacey is just a Mary Poppins wannabe. Just because Lacey is a bad role model to her six year old daughter….and Lacey cuts that off to say never do that again. Lacey talks about how being in the Marine Corps put leadership in her so she’s ready to fight right now. The threat of the Woman’s Right has Sasha cowering so Lacey leaves, only to get jumped by Bayley. The beatdown is on and Lacey is left laying.

More from WWE at Tribute to the Troops earlier today.

Roman Reigns vs. Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler can’t wrestle him down to start but he can go to the knee for some more success. The chinlock and a hair pull put Reigns down again and Ziggler sends him into the steps to make it worse. Back with Reigns still in trouble, including being sent hard into the corner. We hit the chinlock again with Ziggler cranking away until Reigns powers up to his feet. Reigns’ running clothesline misses and they fight to the floor where Ziggler dropkicks him out of the air.

Cue King Corbin, complete with the throne being carried to the ring of course. We take another break and come back with both guys down. Reigns gets back up and hits the Superman Punch for two but Ziggler is right back with the Zig Zag for the same. That doesn’t work for Corbin, who gets on the apron and is punched right back to the floor. The spear finishes Ziggler at 17:48.

Rating: C-. The chinlocks hurt this one a bit but the longer run time didn’t hurt things all that badly. Reigns wasn’t about to lose to Ziggler here because he’s Roman Reigns in a match against Dolph Ziggler. The match was littler more than a way to advance Reigns vs. Corbin, and if that has to happen, there are worse ways to get there.

Post match Corbin’s handlers jump Reigns and Corbin gets involved too with Reigns fighting them off. Someone underneath the ring grabs Reigns’ leg but he beats Corbin up some more. Ziggler superkicks Reigns and grabs some handcuffs from underneath the ring. Reigns fights them off again but the guy from underneath the ring grabs his foot again and the numbers get the better of him.

They handcuff him around the post and unload on Reigns before pulling out….dog food. It’s poured over Reigns’ head and rubbed in his face to end the show, with Reigns screaming as the other two leave. Really effective angle here as it’s the first time Corbin and Ziggler have actually done something to get to Reigns rather than just making stupid dog jokes.

Overall Rating: C+. I can’t believe I’m saying it but that big Corbin angle at the end was the best part of the show. It made me want to see Reigns take him apart and that is the first time I’ve felt something like that about Corbin. The rest of the show came and went, but at least we have a few matches set up for TLC now. Bryan being out of the match makes sense as there is no reason to do Bryan vs. Wyatt twice in a row. Let him come back and win later, as Miz gets to fight for his family but come up short. Good enough show here, and it actually didn’t have anything terrible.

Results

Alexa Bliss b. Mandy Rose – Twisted Bliss

Revival b. Ali/Shorty G., Heavy Machinery and Lucha House Party last eliminating Ali/Shorty G.

Lacey Evans b. Haley Jones – Woman’s Right

Roman Reigns b. Dolph Ziggler – Spear

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: November 22, 2019
Location: Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the go home show for both Survivor Series and Takeover: WarGames. Normally the second show wouldn’t matter around here but the NXT roster is going to be around to make things a little more interesting. That could play out in several ways and I’m curious to see how it goes. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

I was in the arena live for this show, sitting in the upper deck and looking straight at the Titantron. That being said, I couldn’t see a lot of the screen due to lighting equipment so there are parts of this that I didn’t see/hear live.

The Smackdown locker room is in the back in front of what looks like the door to the loading dock. King Corbin, Roman Reigns and others get up and say they know NXT and Monday Night Raw are here tonight. They literally open the door for them and say come on in. Sasha Banks gets up as well and, in that completely natural manner of speaking in WWE, says the women’s division is ready so let’s just do this right now.

Opening sequence.

Here are the Smackdown women to get things going, meaning we have to get the Snoop Dogg version of Sasha’s theme again. I get why they’re going with it but the other one is just much better to get a crowd going. Sasha says this is their ring and no one is going to jump them from behind. They jumped NXT last week so Team Raw can get out here for a fight right now.

Cue Team Raw so a single referee comes out to try and keep the peace. Charlotte thanks them for opening the door but Raw would have kicked it down anyway. If Sasha is interested, they can fight one on one for old times’ sake. Cue Team NXT through the crowd, with the lineup being revealed as Captain Rhea Ripley, Mia Yim, Tegan Nox, Candice LeRae and Toni Storm, who has barely ever been in regular NXT.

Rhea wants to make it captain vs. captain vs. captain so NXT gets in the ring as well. As you might have guessed, the big brawl is on and we take a fast break. Back with things having settled down (after the brawl went all the way through the break and started again after being stopped once) and the bell ringing.

Charlotte vs. Rhea Ripley vs. Sasha Banks

Sasha slugs away at both giants but walks into a double big boot for her efforts. That means it’s time to talk some trash until Rhea rolls out of a waistlock. A superkick rocks Charlotte but she’s right back with a big boot of her own. The shoulders in the corner keep Ripley in trouble but the last one misses, allowing Banks to come in and hammer away at Ripley. That doesn’t last long either as she sends Banks outside, only to have Charlotte get back up and start the fight on the floor. With everyone else getting involved, Charlotte busts out the huge moonsault and takes out Banks and Ripley as we take a break.

Back with Charlotte on the floor and Ripley dropping Banks face first onto the top turnbuckle. Banks is right back with the Meteora but Charlotte runs in with Natural Selection to Banks for her own near fall. Natural Selection hits Ripley as well, sending her straight to the ropes before the cover. That leaves Banks to get caught in the Figure Eight but Ripley comes in and crucifixes the bridging Charlotte for the pin at 9:41.

Rating: C+. The commercial took something out of this as the chaotic nature was great and made it feel like these women wanted to destroy each other. I really liked the ending too with Ripley showing intelligence and catching Charlotte when she wasn’t paying attention. All three were fighting hard here and it was a very entertaining performance from everyone involved, including the people on the floor.

Post match Charlotte and Banks keep up the fight with everyone else getting involved as NXT watches from the stage.

King Corbin tells Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler that they are going to bail when NXT interrupts their six man tag tonight while Roman Reigns, Ali and Shorty G. get beaten up. Then the three of them can beat up Roman and company again! Sami Zayn comes in and seems to want to fight, while holding a bag. If they’re interested, come see him in the ring RIGHT NOW.

Bayley isn’t worried about Sunday and invites Shayna Baszler to come after her face to face tonight.

Here are Sami Zayn and Shinsuke Nakamura for a chat. Sami knows that Corbin isn’t coming out here because Corbin is scared of him. People have called Sami annoying, but he would go with something more like….stud. The only person studlier than him is Nakamura, which is why Sami has gotten him a present. That would be a new Intercontinental Title, which is rounder with a black strap and a round center plate. It’s going to take some time for me to get used to that but it’s not bad.

Sami takes the old title, saying this is the only way to get it off of Nakamura. They’re ready for Sunday against AJ Styles and….whoever the North whatever champion is from NXT. Nakamura: “I’m drawing a blank.” Cue the Undisputed Era with Sami instantly getting behind Nakamura, as you would expect him to do.

The two of them leave with Adam Cole introducing the team and promising to win on Saturday and Sunday. That is undisputed, but here is New Day to dispute something. Kofi accuses the Undisputed Era of running off last week without a proper goodbye. They’re all here right now, so how about an eight man tag with these guys joining in?

Undisputed Era vs. New Day/Heavy Machinery

Strong takes Big E. into the corner to start but that doesn’t last long due to some straight power. Suplexes abound to send Fish and Strong down, with the former winding up on the apron for Big E.’s splash. A suplex drops O’Reilly on the floor and it’s Kofi slugging it out with Cole inside. Strong sneaks in on off a blind tag for a half nelson backbreaker though and it’s Kofi in trouble with Fish getting two off a double suplex.

Something like a Gory Stretch has Kofi in more trouble but he slips out and grabs a rollup for two. That’s not enough for a tag though as Strong is right back with a front facelock to keep Kofi down. Kofi fights out and goes up but Strong dropkicks him to the floor, where he lands on Tucker. Otis goes over to check on things but Big E. isn’t happy with that, with a near brawl taking us to a break.

Back with Kofi hitting a dropkick on Fish and diving over for the hot tag to Otis. House is cleaned (Graves: “Like the Kool-Aid Man with a bad attitude.”) and O’Reilly’s kicks are shrugged off by the power of….jiggling? Some corner splashes look to set up the Caterpillar but a save is made.

Tucker and Strong come in with a splash crushing Strong in the corner. A side slam gets two and Tucker’s moonsault is good for the same as everything breaks down. Big E. throws Fish to the floor (Cole: “Now it’s New Day’s turn to have some fun!”) but the Era cuts Kofi off. Fun haters. The very spinning slam plants O’Reilly and there’s the Caterpillar but Strong is back in with the jumping knee to finish Tucker at 15:04.

Rating: C+. Nice one here as it was more of a fun match than anything else. Putting two teams together to face the Four Horsemen style team worked very well and the Era gets to show that they can hang with and defeat main roster talent. I don’t think anyone seriously questioned that, but it’s nice to see it take place.

Post match Strong and Nakamura have a staredown on the stage. Cue AJ Styles to jump both of them but Sami makes the save before the Era gets up to the stage as well.

Survivor Series rundown.

Post break Styles and the Good Brothers are still yelling about how much they don’t like Chicago. Styles says he could clean house with anyone from this city. Cue the CM Punk chants, with AJ saying he would do it to him too. He’ll win at Survivor Series.

Here’s Daniel Bryan to summon (Summon?) Bray Wyatt. Bryan shows us a clip from last week with Bryan challenging Bray for Survivor Series and getting a big (and kind of maniacal) YES from Bray. Back in the arena, Bryan says he isn’t here to say YES or play with puppets because he wants Bray out here right now.

They can talk about the past or just fight right now….and there go the lights. They come back up with no one in the ring but here’s Miz instead. Daniel: “If there is one thing worse than Bray coming out here, it you.” Miz rants about how Bryan is being insane and how he has always tried to slap some sense into him. Instead he just slaps Bryan and I think you know where this is going.

The Miz vs. Daniel Bryan

Joined in progress with Miz hitting some YES Kicks but getting thrown outside for the running knee from the apron. Back in and Miz kicks him in the face for a pair of twos and the headlock goes on. Bryan starts with the strikes but gets caught with the corner clothesline. Bryan’s own running clothesline slows Miz down and he headbutts Miz off the top. The missile dropkick into the nip up sets up the real YES Kicks (Graves: “Night night Miz.”) and it’s time for the corner dropkick but we’ve got a Fiend as the match is thrown out at we’ll say 5:40.

Rating: C-. These two are always worth a look but there is only so much that you can get out of a match that only had about five minutes before Wyatt interfered. That being said, was there any reason to not have Bryan get the win here before the Fiend showed up? Bryan isn’t exactly on a roll here so let him get a quick pin and then do the Fiend stuff. It’s not like Miz has anything going on at the moment.

Here’s Shayna Baszler for a chat. She wastes no time in calling out Bayley so the jacket comes off, but it’s Bayley running in from behind with a chop block. The fight is on and they head to the floor with Baszler getting in the Kirifuda Clutch. Bayley drives her into various things to escape….and that’s it. No Becky appearance and no extra fighting. That’s quite the odd ending.

Quick look at last week’s tag match which set up this week’s six man.

Roman Reigns/Ali/Shorty G. vs. King Corbin vs. Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler

Ali gets the huge hometown welcome, Corbin is brought out on the throne, and THANK GOODNESS Gable has lost the basketball jersey. It’s a small improvement but I’ll take everything I can get here. Reigns slugs away at Roode to start and the fight is outside in a hurry. Ziggler and Corbin get in a few cheap shots to take over on Reigns, who fights back inside without too much effort.

Gable comes in for some kicks and throws but Roode and Corbin slam him off the apron and onto the announcers’ table. We take a break and come back with Ziggler DDTing Reigns for two but walking into a Superman punch. The hot tag brings in Ali to throw some right hands and the rolling X Factor plants Corbin. The dive sends Ziggler into the announcers’ table and there’s the springboard tornado DDT to drop Corbin again. Roode’s spinebuster on the floor plants Gable but Reigns is right back with the Superman punch off the steps. Back in and it’s the Deep Six to finish Ali at 8:53.

Rating: C. This wasn’t a long match in the first place and a lot of it took place during the break. What we got was good enough though, even if they need to let the fans have something to cheer for without putting the heat on Corbin every single week. It’s good to do that a lot of the time, but it’s ok to not snatch everything away from the fans.

Post match Corbin grabs his scepter and goes after Ali but Reigns makes the save. Cue Raw through the crowd with Rollins getting in the ring for the big staredown. The fight is on, with the CM Punk chants being drowned out in a hurry. Braun Strowman leads the Smackdown charge to start the huge brawl…..and it’s Road Dogg/Shawn Michaels/HHH driving a tank into the back with NXT coming inside to make it an even bigger fight.

This is one of the wildest brawls I’ve ever seen and it’s Keith Lee staring Strowman down inside as the show ends with the fighting continuing. This ended WAY earlier than it should have, as Ali hit a huge super Spanish Fly onto the pile to knock everyone down, which at least gave Ali something back after getting pinned, which was completely necessary.

After the show was over, everyone headed to the back and D-Generation X offered to put Corbin on the team. HHH said “for the millions watching at home….even though we’re off the air because this will be on like in about five minutes” and a huge beatdown of Corbin ended the night as DX celebrated.

Overall Rating: B-. This is a case where you need to look at the bigger picture rather than the individual things. The point of this show was making me want to see Survivor Series and that worked out quite well. The wrestling was forgettable at best most of the time but every major story was addressed and the huge brawl at the end was excellent. I want to see where things go on Sunday and that is entirely the point of something like this. Get better wrestling and this is great, but as it is we’ll call it job done well enough.

Results

Rhea Ripley b. Charlotte and Sasha Banks – Crucifix to Charlotte

Undisputed Era b. Heavy Machinery/New Day – Jumping knee to Tucker

Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz went to a no contest when the Fiend interfered

King Corbin/Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler b. Roman Reigns/Shorty G./Ali – Deep Six to Ali

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: October 25, 2019
Location: Spring Center, Kansas City, Missouri
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s another show with a purpose as we have the go home show for Crown Jewel. Therefore Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez are here, because that’s the biggest match on the show no one other than WWE wants to watch. I’m not sure what to expect around here but hopefully it picks up a little bit. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Opening sequence.

We start fast with MizTV with Ric Flair, Hulk Hogan and most of their teams, with no entrance for anyone. You have Hulk Hogan’s theme available and you don’t think that’s a good way to start the show? Miz introduces everyone (including Shorty G, who is now in neon basketball gear with a big G on the front), including members of the teams who aren’t here. Hogan talks about forming a team so Flair rants about how awesome his team is. That sends Flair into a speech about how he’s never lost to Flair and how great his own team is.

Sami laughs at Hogan bragging about Shorty G, who can’t wait to shut Sami up. Ali, who is about the same height as G, makes fun of Sami for not wrestling anymore but Corbin cuts them off to say Crown Jewel was named in his honor. Corbin promises that Reigns will let everyone down as he always does. Reigns: “Corbin, shut up man.” Reigns insults Corbin’s king gear and a six man tag is set up, with Hogan calling Nakamura a young boy. Sami isn’t available though, due to a neck issue so he has a replacement ready: Cesaro, who starts the fight with Reigns right now. Team Hogan clears the ring and we get some Real American.

New Day vs. Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode

No Woods here as he had surgery for his torn Achilles today so you won’t be seeing him in the ring for a very long time. Ziggler starts fast by knocking Kofi to the floor and we take a break about a minute in. Back with Big E. cleaning house and bringing Kofi in off the hot tag for a launch onto Ziggler. Everything breaks down and it’s a spinebuster to Big E. Kofi springboards in with a double ax handle to Roode but gets rolled up with tights for the pin at 5:12. New Day was announced as getting a Tag Team Title shot on next week’s show and they lose here to set up the Tag Team Turmoil. This is an example of WWE being REALLY STUPID!

Post match Revival comes out to brawl with New Day but Heavy Machinery makes the save. I’m still trying to get over how completely stupid that match result was. It’s a match designed to set up next week’s big gauntlet so there are literally NINE other teams you could put out there other than the #1 contenders. How exactly did the decision making process go?

Video on Tyson Fury vs. Braun Strowman.

Lacey Evans vs. Camron Connors

Actually hold on as Lacey says she isn’t lowering herself to beat someone like Connors. She’s going to walk out instead of embarrassing her so Lacey says ring the bell so she can be counted out. Lacey dives back in at nine and hits the Woman’s Right for the pin at 47 seconds. Well that happened.

A far too excited Nikki Cross doesn’t like the insults that Bayley has thrown at her lately. Tonight, Nikki has to face Mandy Rose, who is certainly gorgeous, but wrestling isn’t a beauty pageant.

So we’re forty minutes in and we’ve had the following:

• Hulk Hogan and Ric Flair, who have two of the most iconic entrances of all time, standing in the ring to start the show.

• Shorty G. in neon basketball gear.

• The #1 contenders losing in a five minute match when you could throw in multiple other teams (like one of the teams who made the post match save) to make the same point.

• Lacey Evans teasing walking out before coming back in to win in less than a minute.

I’m starting to get the mindset of the people who can’t stand this show lately. It’s like a bunch of people put in individual stuff but no one talked to each other as the show was being put together.

We look at the Firefly Fun House being burned down.

Drew Gulak vs. Kalisto

Well of course that’s what this show needs. Before the match, Lucha House Party talks about wanting to bring lucha libre to Smackdown. They do know that REY MYSTERIO is already on the show right? The bell rings and Gulak grabs a mic to introduce himself. He has a PowerPoint presentation on how Tyson Fury can defeat Braun Strowman. The slides won’t change so Kalisto kicks him down, only to get caught with a spinebuster. The referee stops to check on him but says it’s ok. Gulak loads up the Cyclone Crash….and here’s Braun Strowman for a distraction. The Salida Del Sol finishes Gulak at 2:15.

Post match it’s a running powerslam to plant Gulak. He does it again at the audience’s request and promises the same to Fury.

Here’s Daniel Bryan for a chat with Michael Cole. Last week he pinned the Intercontinental Champion and the arena erupted in YES chants. Bryan didn’t want to get involved though, so is the YES Movement back? Before that can be answered, here are Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn to interrupt. Sami shows us a clip of Bryan declaring the YES Movement dead back in November. The fans don’t like the new Daniel Bryan though because Sami wants to talk about the REAL Daniel Bryan.

Sami knows that Bryan is a real and honorable man but the people don’t care. It’s interesting that Bryan has a lot more in common with Sami and Nakamura, who care about the same things he cares about. They are all artists in the ring though, and now Bryan is at a crossroads. He can either go back to the people with the nitwits who chant YES or he can move forward with the two of them. The handshake is offered but Bryan walks away instead. This was the only good thing on the show so far.

Nikki Cross vs. Mandy Rose

Sasha Banks and Bayley (all in black) are on commentary. Mandy knocks her down to start and cuts off a comeback attempt with a forearm to the face. The chinlock doesn’t last long and Rose gets two off a fall away slam. Sonya Deville gets in a hard right hand to Nikki but she’s right back with a high crossbody for two. Another Sonya distraction backfires and it’s the Purge to finish Mandy at 4:37.

Rating: D+. Another match that just happened as this show is spiraling down. Bayley as the emotionless champion could go somewhere but Nikki as a title contender isn’t so likely. They’re trying to make someone new though and I can certainly give them points for that, but this wasn’t the best place to try and have something positive, at least not after the first hour of this show being such a mess.

Clip of the Undertaker on the WWE float in Riyadh.

Here are Rey Mysterio and Cain Velasquez for a chat. Rey is proud of his son Dominick for trying to fight back and now Rey knows he’s really a Mysterio. As for Brock Lesnar, Rey knows Cain is going to give Lesnar another scar. Lesnar and Paul Heyman need to get out here right now so we can do this face to face.

They pop up on screen instead, saying that Lesnar has more important things to do than go face to face with Velasquez. Brock has been doing something but Heyman won’t say where he has been doing it. Rey still wants them out here right now so Heyman says Rey should guess to whom Brock has been doing something. We pan down to the unconscious Dominick and Lesnar laughs.

Post break, Rey and Cain are checking on Dominick in the trainer’s room. Lesnar comes in with a trashcan to clean house, including an F5 to send Mysterio into the wall and another F5 to drop Cain onto Dominick.

Post break Velasquez shouts about Brock in Spanish and seems to swear vengeance.

Cesaro/King Corbin/Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roman Reigns/Ali/Shorty G.

Hogan and Flair are here too. Team Flair jumps them at the bell and the fight is on outside, with Jimmy Hart having to hold Hogan back. Reigns and Corbin take turns hammering away at each other in the corner and Roman nails the Samoan drop for two. Nakamura comes in and gets hit in the face so it’s off to Gable (Cole said his old name so it’s good enough for me) to work on the arm.

Of course Gable can wrestle Nakamura down without much trouble as Cole brings up Gable’s Olympic career, with Graves pointing out that he looks like he belongs on the Tune Squad. Ignoring the fact that almost no fans under the age of twenty five are going to get that reference, that’s quite the mixed look at Gable. Ali comes in for a running hurricanrana to Cesaro, who muscles him over with a gutwrench suplex. Team Flair takes turns sending Ali to the floor and we take a break.

Back with Ali trying to fight back but having his tornado DDT blocked. Instead Cesaro picks him up by the throat, only to have Ali plant him with a DDT. Nakamura and Corbin break up the hot tag attempt though, only to have Ali enziguri Corbin. That’s enough for the tag to Gable, who suplexes Nakamura and neckbreakers Corbin. The moonsault gets two on Corbin (with Hogan in one of his elements as a cheerleader on the floor) and there’s a suplex to Cesaro.

Nakamura breaks up the ankle lock with a running knee so he and Corbin put Gable on top. That earns them a double missile dropkick and the hot tag brings in Reigns for the house cleaning. Cesaro takes Reigns down though and the Sharpshooter goes on until Ali breaks it up with a superkick. Everything breaks down and it’s the parade of secondary finishers. Reigns Superman punches Cesaro out of the air and hits the spear, setting up Ali’s 450 for the pin at 15:03.

Rating: B-. They took their time to get started here but once it was clicking, everything started to roll. The post break stuff was rather entertaining and Ali getting the pin was a nice touch. I’m not exactly thrilled in the ten man tag as it’s likely to go a long time and not be very interesting, but at least the six man version was pretty good.

Overall Rating: D. Oh I did not like this show. While it did pick WAY up starting with the Bryan segment, the rest of the show was a complete mess with the build to Crown Jewel taking over everything, even if it wrecked whatever else might be going on. In other words, if you’re not on Crown Jewel, your appearance here didn’t matter in the slightest. It’s another example of WWE trying to cram in so much stuff and the shows suffering as a result.

We’re less than a month away from Survivor Series and the show has not been mentioned once on WWE TV. By the time it is, which if we’re lucky will be next Friday (when the Smackdown roster is completely gassed from flying around the world in a day), when we’re about three weeks away. Then three weeks after that it’s TLC, with the Starrcade special in the middle. WWE has gotten a lot worse about this overdoing it lately and it’s really, really getting to be a problem. Just let things breathe for once so your fans aren’t so burned out. Why is that so much to ask?

Results

Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode b. New Day – Rollup with tights to Kingston

Lacey Evans b. Camron Connors – Woman’s Right

Kalisto b. Drew Gulak – Salida Del Sol

Nikki Cross b. Mandy Rose – Purge

Ali/Shorty G./Roman Reigns b. Cesaro/King Corbin/Shinsuke Nakamura – 450 to Cesaro

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Monday Night Raw
Date: October 14, 2019
Location: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Dio Maddin, Vic Joseph

It’s time for another big episode here, because we just can’t have a regular show these days. This time around it’s the second night of the Draft and that means maybe we can find out how WWE can manage to screw it up again. They’ve gotten really good at that in recent weeks and there is no reason to believe they won’t do it again. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of the Fiend vs. Seth Rollins, including everything that happened at Hell In A Cell. Normally I would say “they’re really just moving on like that wasn’t a big deal” but of course they are, because WWE knows that they can get away with it, which they of course will, even running another Cell show next year and talking it up as the ultimate evil which it hasn’t been in the better part of twenty years. Nothing ever changes, which is the biggest problem around here.

Opening sequence.

Here is Becky Lynch for a chat. She’s proud to be the #1 overall draft pick but it turns out that Sasha Banks isn’t here because of the beating Becky gave her in the Cell. We have a replacement on hand though and it’s a woman Becky just can’t get away from. She’s ready to rip an arm off though so let’s do this.

Charlotte comes out and says maybe she can be drafted to Raw so they can fight forever. She doesn’t want the people to think she’s selfish though because she doesn’t even want to fight Becky. Instead, she would rather the two of them be friends again. Then she hits Becky in the face again and the fight is on in the corner. Referees break it up and we take a break before the opening bell.

Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte

Non-title, the winner’s show gets the first pick. They slug it out to start with Becky’s forearms beating Charlotte’s chops, only to have Charlotte pull her down by the hair. We hit the figure four necklock, complete with some faceplants to send Becky into the mat. Back up and Charlotte forearms her in the back of the head, only to get dropkicked down. Becky sends her to the apron and then kicks her to the floor but gets posted as we take a break.

We come back with Becky hitting some clotheslines, plus a missile dropkick for two. Charlotte shrugs it off and grabs a Boston crab before switching to a failed Figure Four attempt. Becky’s middle rope forearm misses though and Charlotte hits Natural Selection for two more. A big boot gets another two so it’s time to go for the leg. Becky kicks her into the buckle for two off a rollup and the middle rope legdrop gets the same. Charlotte gets in a spear but Becky crucifixes her ala Wrestlemania, meaning Charlotte’s shoulder is up as the referee counts the pin at 14:43.

Rating: B-. I’m thinking Becky needs to drop the crucifix as she can’t keep shoulders down no matter what she does. The match itself was the usual good back and forth stuff between these two, though Charlotte is absolutely right about these two fighting each other so many times that it stops having any impact.

We explain the Draft rules.

Seth Rollins is happy that it’s Draft night and he’s ready to keep things going with Bray Wyatt. He isn’t happy with what he did in the Cell but he isn’t ashamed of it either. Tonight, he’ll find Wyatt and end this by burning it down. That would imply there is something positive that can be burned and that is not the case here.

Jim Cramer of Mad Money (a stock show) goes over draft picks.

We see the War Rooms again and…..yeah the overacting is still strong.

Here’s Stephanie McMahon for the first round picks:

Raw – Seth Rollins

Smackdown – Brock Lesnar

Raw – Charlotte

Smackdown – New Day

Raw – Andrade/Zelina Vega

The expert panel (Samoa Joe, Renee Young, Booker T., Beth Phoenix) talks about the picks.

Andrade vs. Ali

On the way to the ring, Zelina Vega talks about how everyone on Raw will learn to suffer a loss to Andrade. Joined in progress with Ali hitting a dropkick but getting crushed in the corner. Andrade shoves him off the top and out to the floor in a heap so the posing can begin. Ali gets sent shoulder first into the post and then the arm gets bent around the rope for a bonus.

As the armbar goes on, we get breaking news: THERE WILL BE A NEW FIREFLY FUN HOUSE TONIGHT. That’s uh, quite the huge story there commentators. The arm gets bent over the top rope this time but Andrade misses a charge and falls out to the floor. Vega offers a distraction so Ali jumps over her for the big flip dive. The referee distraction lets Zelina hurricanrana Ali from the apron, setting up the hammerlock DDT to finish Ali at 5:48.

Rating: C. This was an extended squash as Ali continues to go nowhere in WWE after a big debut. I get that it happens to a lot of people but it can be a little saddening when someone shows that much heart in their matches. On the other hand, Andrade is someone who has seemed ready to move up to the next level for a long time now and maybe this is his chance after a long time waiting around.

More picks:

Raw – Kabuki Warriors

Smackdown – Daniel Bryan

Raw – Rusev

Smackdown – Bayley

Raw – Aleister Black

It is made clear that the Women’s Tag Team Titles will still be defended on both shows. So they’re already having loopholes in the thing.

The Saturday Night Live guys from the Wrestlemania battle royal talk about how awesome this is. I refuse to believe that these things have any kind of a significant impact on the show’s audience as I would hope that people aren’t that dense.

Raw Tag Team Titles: Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode vs. Viking Raiders

The Raiders are challenging and start fast with a running dropkick into the corner. Roode gets sent to the floor for a dive and a top rope splash gets two on Ziggler with Roode making a save. Ziggler gets back up with a chop block to Erik and a posting makes it even worse. Something that was supposed to be a Zig Zag sends Erik into the timekeeper’s area and we take a break.

Back with Erik fighting out of a chinlock but a pull of his beard breaks up the hot tag attempt. Roode dropkicks the knee out and Ziggler adds the elbow drop. A few shoves are enough to annoy Erik, who forearms the heck out of Ziggler for the double knockdown. It’s off to Ivar for the house cleaning as everything breaks down.

The Zig Zag/spinebuster combination gets two on Erik and a Fameasser gets the same. Ziggler avoids a charge to send Erik into the post and it’s a superkick into the Glorious DDT for two with Ivar making a save. Ivar hits a double handspring elbow to both champs and it’s the Viking Experience to Ziggler for the pin and the titles at 12:06.

Rating: C-. Well that was about….forever overdue. The Raiders have been one of the most dominant teams in years and it made little sense to leave them on the sidelines or toiling against nothing teams while a makeshift team like Roode and Ziggler held the titles. The match was a little boring at times, but the right team won and that’s what matters most.

NHL analysts talk about wrestlers making good hockey players.

The War Raiders are ready to defend their titles. They list off the titles they have won before, including the IWGP and Ring of Honor titles. The raid is here.

More picks:

Raw – Cedric Alexander

Smackdown – Shinsuke Nakamura with Sami Zayn

Raw – Humberto Carrillo

Smackdown – Ali

Raw – Erick Rowan

Aleister Black vs. Eric Young

Young goes straight at him to start but has to bail to the floor to avoid Black Mass. Back in and some kicks to the chest set up the dragon sleeper (the Dark Ritual) to finish Young at 1:36.

More picks:

Raw – Buddy Murphy

Smackdown – Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode

Raw – Jinder Mahal

Smackdown – Carmella

Raw – R-Truth

The Street Profits are glad to be on Raw when the OC comes up. They could be better hosts of Raw and the beatdown is on with the Profits being left laying.

Ricochet vs. Shelton Benjamin

Ricochet hits the dropkick to start so Shelton snaps off the belly to back suplex to send him outside. Back in and a big boot takes Ricochet down and we hit the chinlock with a bodyscissors. Ricochet fights back up with a kick to the face and a springboard clothesline. The 450 is broken up but Ricochet flips over him from the top and this the Recoil for the pin at 4:45.

Rating: D+. Ricochet has as much potential as anyone in WWE at the moment and it would be nice to see him get a big push on Raw. That being said, I’m not sure how you put him on Raw when he belongs on a bigger stage like Smackdown. Maybe he’ll have a better chance to shine on Raw though and that’s what matters in the end.

Video on Tyson Fury.

Lana is getting a massage at a spa. She likes the deeper rubs, so here’s Lashley to handle the rest. Rusev was never as good as he is so the towel is removed and she flips over so Lashley can get the other side.

It’s time for the contract signing between Braun Strowman and Tyson Fury. Jerry Lawler recaps everything and brings the two of them out for the big staredown. Strowman talks about how big of an ego that Fury has and that’s why he was at the premiere of Smackdown. He isn’t letting Fury use him to advance his career so he’ll beat him at Crown Jewel.

Fury says he isn’t out of his element in any ring and Strowman will be looking up at him after Fury knocks him out. They stand up and Fury snaps the pen before leaving. Fury is a good promo but Strowman is still one of those forced promos where the writers have to get in their lines that they think sound good because they don’t know how humans communicate with each other.

Al Roker talks about changes in the company like it’s a weather report.

More picks:

Raw – Samoa Joe

Smackdown – The Miz (the FOX war room lets off confetti)

Raw – Akira Tozawa

Smackdown – King Corbin

Raw – Shelton Benjamin

So to clarify, the pecking order in WWE goes Humberto Carrillo, Samoa Joe, the Miz, Akira Tozawa, King Corbin.

Buddy Murphy vs. Cedric Alexander

Well it worked on 205 Live. Cedric spins out of a wristlock to start so Murphy does the same as neither can get anywhere. Murphy is smart enough to pull him down by the hair so they take turns sweeping the legs until we get a staredown. An elbow to Cedric’s head sets up a whip into the middle buckle, followed by a drop onto the top turnbuckle for a fall to the floor.

Back from a break with Murphy kneeing him in the face to block the springboard Downward Spiral. Murphy hits the big flip dive and the top rope Meteora gets two. Cedric is right back with a shot to the face and the suicide dive to the floor. Back in and the springboard Downward Spiral connects this time around but Murphy catches him with a kick in the corner. The Powerbomb out of the corner sets up Murphy’s Law for the pin at 9:06.

Rating: C+. Yeah this was entertaining like their previous matches were, though it still isn’t enough to make me believe that WWE is going to push either of them with anything that sticks. Cedric came close but then was put in his place by AJ and the OC while Murphy just vanished after a few weeks of what looked like a huge push. Hopefully it’s different this time around, but I can’t bring myself to believe it.

Crown Jewel rundown, including Seth Rollins defending against the Fiend in a Falls Count Anywhere match.

The Street Profits are ready for the OC and want the smoke.

Hosts of the NBC Premiere League show compare chants from both sets of fans.

The final picks:

Raw – Rey Mysterio

Smackdown – Shorty Gable

Raw – Titus O’Neil

Smackdown – Elias

Raw – Liv Morgan

The expert panel talks again.

Kabuki Warriors vs. Natalya/???

Non-title. Natalya has been asked to pick a partner so she has picked someone who has taken her to the limit. Say it with me: Lacey Evans. I actually laughed because this match might miss the point more than anything since….well since the end of Rollins vs. Wyatt really, though that doesn’t make this any better.

Joined in progress with Lacey in trouble and being knocked outside for a spinning backfist from Kairi. Back in and Kairi hits her in the face again, allowing Asuka to come in for some Kawada kicks. Lacey fights up and makes the ice cold tag to Natalya, who snaps off a release German suplex to Asuka. A kneebar has Natalya in trouble but she rolls through, only to get rolled up by Asuka for two each.

The Sharpshooter has Asuka in trouble until Sane makes the save with a bulldog. Asuka’s hip attack sends Natalya to the floor and we take a break. Back with Natalya fighting out of Asuka’s Octopus Hold and scoring with a basement dropkick. Asuka breaks up the hot tag attempt and ties up the leg while pulling the arm back (kind of the first half of a surfboard crossed with half of a camel clutch).

That’s broken up so Asuka grabs a regular armbar as the fans are eerily silent. Sane comes back in for a double suplex for two and we hit the chinlock. These women were sent out there to die and they are achieving it to near perfection. Natalya muscles her up for a suplex and makes the hot tag to Lacey to clean house.

The slingshot Bronco Buster into the slingshot dropkick rocks Sane for two but Lacey gets caught in the corner. Sane hits an Alberto top rope double stomp for no count as Natalya makes the fast save. The sliding forearm hits Lacey in the corner and Asuka tags herself in. The Woman’s Right knocks Sane out on her feet but Asuka rolls Lacey up for the pin at 15:26.

Rating: D-. What in the world was THAT? They set up Lacey as some big partner for Natalya and then they have a match that went on far too long (I was very surprised when they went to a break) where Lacey just gets pinned? No angle, no title hunt, nothing of the sort. It’s like they were experimenting with something and didn’t realize that it was taking place on Raw. On top of that, the match was incredibly boring with one hold after another as we waited on Lacey Evans, who we’re now supposed to cheer for, to get the hot tag. This feels like they tried something and forgot the ending, leaving it as a total mess.

It’s time for the Firefly Fun House to end the show. Bray thinks Rollins is smart but the Fiend never forgets. Ramblin Rabbit says Rollins is on his way but Wyatt doesn’t think much of it. Rollins comes in and jumps Wyatt from behind so the beatdown is on (with the friends freaking out in a nice little touch). Seth breaks the pictures but Bray gets up and asks why Seth is doing this.

They go through a wall off camera and Rollins gets an evil look on his face. He says burn it down….and then lights Bray’s table on fire. The wall catches fire and the pictures burn as the Fiend starts to laugh to end the show. I mean, the character was in trouble anyway so they might as well get rid of the thing. Then again, odds are he’ll find a way back before losing to Rollins (again) in Saudi Arabia.

Overall Rating: D. Maybe it was the extra hour but this had most of the same problems that Smackdown had yet felt even longer. The picks make next to no sense in places (Carrillo over Mysterio, Corbin, Samoa Joe and Miz?), the War Room stuff was still stupid and the wrestling was just something they threw out there to stretch out the shows.

In a way this felt like a go home show, as it isn’t this week that matters, but what you’re seeing set up this week. The fans were completely done with this show after about an hour and can you blame them? It was a bunch of nothing matches, a token title change to make the show seem important, and Stephanie trying to make Akira Tozawa and Liv Morgan sound like important picks. WWE has been doing things like this a lot recently and they need to get back to normal so we can have something enjoyable for a change. This was really bad and I don’t see single branded shows being their big way out.

Results

Becky Lynch b. Charlotte – Crucifix

Andrade b. Ali – Hammerlock DDT

Viking Raiders b. Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler – Viking Experience to Ziggler

Aleister Black b. Eric Young – Dark Ritual

Ricochet b. Shelton Benjamin – Recoil

Buddy Murphy b. Cedric Alexander – Murphy’s Law

Kabuki Warriors b. Lacey Evans/Natalya – Rollup to Evans

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: September 3, 2019
Location: Norfolk Scope Arena, Norfolk, Virginia
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

The King of the Ring rolls on with another two quarterfinal matches. Unlike Raw last night, hopefully that means we can get all the way down to two semifinalists instead of three because Smackdown might be smarter than that. Otherwise, it’s time for another level of pushing towards Clash of Champions, which is sneaking up on us. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of Sasha Banks returning and Bayley turning on Becky Lynch to join her last night.

Here’s Bayley to open things up with her usual entrance, including the tube men. The fans are rather happy to see her after what she did. Bayley doesn’t understand what people expected because she gives her whole heart out there very time. She wants the fans to feel the way she did when she was a kid and she’s trying to show the younger fans what it means to be loyal. That’s why she had Sasha’s back last night when it got rough.

She’ll prove that when she beats the selfish Charlotte at Clash of Champions, so here’s Charlotte to interrupt. Charlotte admits to being selfish but what you see is what you get. There is no hugging so Bayley should hug the title goodbye. Cue Sasha so Charlotte decks Bayley before fighting Banks. Bayley comes in with the chair though and they both beat Charlotte down.

King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Elias vs. Ali

Elias says being the biggest acquisition in Smackdown history isn’t enough so he wants to be King. Ali starts fast with some early near falls and a spinwheel kick sends Elias outside. The suicide dive is blocked though and Elias tosses him with a release suplex on the floor. Ali gets sent face first into the barricade and then over the barricade as we take a break. Back with Ali sending Elias outside and the second suicide dive attempt connects. The landing bangs up Elias’ arm so Ali hits a 450 onto the arm in a smart move.

A headscissors into a Crossface continues the intelligence but Elias gets out in a hurry. Elias manages a sitout powerbomb for two before grabbing a Stretch Muffler on the leg, complete with some stomps to the head. Ali heads outside and has to superkick a diving Elias out of the air. Back in and Ali misses the 450 (slowed down because of the leg) and a knee to the leg makes it even worse. Drift Away finishes Ali at 11:27.

Rating: C+. This was a side of WWE that you don’t get often enough with Ali and Elias both showing some intelligence. Both guys switched up their offense to go with what made sense here instead of going with their usual stuff that didn’t make sense in the situation. You don’t get that very often and it was nice to see here. Well done indeed.

Elias plays some guitar while sitting on the throne.

Samoa Joe promises to become king and make everyone bend a knee.

Aleister Black takes off his tie and says if the mountain isn’t coming to him, he’s coming to the mountain. He’s going to the ring to see if anyone is man enough to pick a fight with him.

Non-title and the result of an argument over who can take better photos. Cross gets caught in the wrong corner to start but manages to knock Deville out to the floor. A dropkick puts Mandy out there with her and a big dive from Cross sends us to a break. Back with Mandy shouting about how Cross will never look like her. That’s enough for Cross to fight over for the tag to Alexa and everything breaks down. Cross slips out of a double underhook from Mandy, leaving Bliss to DDT Deville. Twisted Bliss hits knees though and it’s back to Mandy for a High/Low and the pin at 6:56.

Rating: D+. Remember last night when I was praising WWE for not having their champions lose? It’s time for the comeback here as Bliss and Cross, who haven’t even been champions that long, get to lose here, likely to set up the rematch for Clash. You knew they were going to do something like that to set up a title match somewhere, because they just can’t help it.

Samoa Joe comes up to Chad Gable and makes short jokes about him, which he knows hurts Gable. That’s because Gable is weak mentally and there is no room for that in the kingdom.

Video on Erick Rowan being shown as helping in the attack on Roman Reigns. Rowan vs. Reigns is set for Clash of Champions.

King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Chad Gable vs. Andrade

Before the match, Zelina Vega says that she has nothing but respect for another vertically challenged superstar. She could see Gable winning the tournament if Andrade wasn’t in it, but he is so Gable has no chance. Gable wastes no time in wrestling Andrade down and a sunset flip out of the corner gets two. A monkey flip sends Andrade down but a second attempt is dumped to the floor as we take a break. Back with Gable getting two off a wrist clutch chickenwing suplex but Andrade’s Alberto double stomp gets the same.

Three Amigos, with an Eddie dance, are broken up and it’s Gable rolling some German suplexes. Andrade is right back with the third suplex but the double moonsault hits knees. Gable hits a great looking moonsault of his own for two and Rolling Chaos Theory connects….with Vega distracting the referee to break up a cover. That’s enough for Andrade to hit a rolling elbow to the face but the hammerlock DDT is countered into a rollup for the pin at 7:56 and a BIG reaction.

Rating: B. The crowd reactions were awesome here as the fans got into the story and wanted to see Chad, the underdog (you know, the former champion and Olympic wrestler), win here. That’s what they pulled off though and it was a really cool moment in the end. As a bonus, I’m not sure who wins next week as I can’t imagine either Elias or Gable actually going to the finals. There’s a good chance it’s still Baron Corbin winning but at least we have a possible surprise now.

Aleister Black vs. Shelton Benjamin

Open challenge from Black, who sits down to start and misses an early Black Mass attempt. A knee to the face sends Shelton outside instead but he gets in his own knee to rock Black. Back in and Black Mass finishes Benjamin at 1:53. Well that worked.

Drake Maverick and his wife hide in the boiler room and a bunch of people happen to be waiting for him. Bo Dallas manages to pin him for the title and the chase continues.

Here are Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn for a chat but Sami cuts the music so the fans can’t sing along. For now though, we’ll settle for this.

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. ???

Non-title with Sami on a live mic at ringside. The kicks to the face have the unnamed jobber in trouble but he punches Nakamura in the corner. That earns him a bunch of knees to the ribs and kicks to the face, plus the running knee to the ribs. Kinshasa finishes at 1:14.

Post match the B Team runs into the ring with the title but here are the Singh Brothers and Kalisto. Drake Mavericks rolls Dallas up for the title…..but R-Truth is disguised as a guard next to the throne and wins the title for the fourteenth time.

Here’s Daniel Bryan to demand an apology from Roman Reigns. The fans rather approve of Bryan, who thinks it means they finally understand him. People think that Bryan is guilty by association but now we know he had nothing to do with it. Bryan has never lied to anyone and he hates liars of all kinds. Therefore he wants and gets Reigns out here but Erick Rowan jumps Reigns from behind. A powerbomb sends Reigns into the post and the claw slam makes it even worse.

Rowan grabs the mic and says Daniel had nothing to do with this. He yells at Bryan for thinking he can control Rowan and offers to fight Bryan right now. Come slap him again like he did last week. Bryan isn’t sure what to do so Rowan talks about being proud of what he did to attack Reigns, which included attacking him with the car. What makes him most proud though is the pain that Reigns is going to feel at Clash of Champions. Rowan throws him outside and hits him with the steps, drawing Bryan over to slap Rowan again. The claw slam puts Bryan through the table to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. I’m not sure what to think about this show. There wasn’t anything bad on it but with the show over, I can barely remember anything special about the whole thing. It just kind of came and went without much happening as the show is in a steady as it goes stretch. You can almost bet on that being the case for the next month, which makes the rest of September feel rather long. It was a pretty good show, but nothing that there was just nothing that stood out. I’ll take it over a bad and boring show though and that’s better than what we had over the summer.

Results

Elias b. Ali – Drift Away

Chad Gable b. Andrade – Sunset flip

Aleister Black b. Shelton Benjamin – Black Mass

Shinsuke Nakamura b. ??? – Kinshasa

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: August 27, 2019
Location: Raising Cane’s River Center, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Commentators: Corey Graves, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton

The first round of the King of the Ring wraps up tonight and it’s getting pretty clear that Raw is the favored side. The talent pool just feels deeper over there as this show is going to include Shelton Benjamin getting a first round match. Maybe that would have been interesting fifteen years ago but it doesn’t quite work right now. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with the same video on Roman Reigns’ attacks that we saw last night.

Reigns promises a response to Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan in the ring tonight.

Here’s Kofi Kingston for a chat, but first we see a video on Randy Orton’s attacks since Summerslam. Kofi has heard Orton calling him stupid but who got knocked out last week? Now Orton is trying to turn this personal and he’s bringing in the Revival to help him out. That means Orton is seeing the look when you mess with Kofi’s family so Kofi is ready for Clash Of Champions. Kofi starts the hip thrusts but Orton appears on screen to say STUPID over and over.

Earlier today, Orton was in his hotel room when someone knocked on his door and slid a letter underneath. Normally he doesn’t reply to fan mail but this one was different. It says that Orton is hurting Kofi and he needs to stop hurting him every night. Kofi isn’t just his hero because Kofi is his daddy. It’s from Kofi’s son Kai, and Orton realized that he is staying in the same hotel as Kofi’s family. Maybe he should pay them a visit. Kofi charges to the back and the fight is on in the gorilla position, with Kofi getting hit with the hanging DDT onto the concrete. Kofi is out cold and medics are requested. That was certainly a great THUD.

Post break, Big E. assures us that Kofi will be ready for Clash of Champions but after his match with Orton tonight, Randy might not be.

Recap of the first round of the King of the Ring.

King of the Ring First Round: Ali vs. Buddy Murphy

The winner gets Elias next week. Ali starts fast with a running hurricanrana to put Murphy on the floor. The running flip dive doesn’t work as Murphy catches him with a running knee to the face and we take an early break. Back with Ali catapulting him chest first into the corner and hitting a pop up dropkick to put Murphy on the floor again.

Murphy is right back with a shot of his own and that means the big running flip dive, which is quite the landing given Murphy’s size. Back in and Ali ducks the top rope Meteora, setting up the reverse hurricanrana for a close two. Murphy comes back with another knee to the face and a brainbuster for two of his own. The fans deem this awesome as the slugout is on, including Ali’s spinwheel kick. A tornado DDT from the apron back inside plants Murphy and Ali’s 450 is good for the pin at 9:09.

Rating: B. I can see why these two are the choice for the dark match so often. They beat the heck out of each other and it’s easy to cheer for either of them. That being said, it’s probably not a good sign for Murphy’s future if he’s losing clean in the first round of the tournament. Being able to have that kind of a match will keep him around for a long time though and he should be fine, albeit maybe not as fine as he looked last week.

They do the big respectful handshake.

Ember Moon comes up to Bayley, who seems to be worried about Charlotte. Moon doesn’t want to talk about Summerslam but also doesn’t want to hear about Charlotte being the face of the division. It’s all about bringing everyone up, so here’s Lacey Evans to say Bayley is bringing the title down. Egads it’s like the return of the summer. Bayley against Evans tonight.

Here’s the Miz to address Shinsuke Nakamura and Sami Zayn attacking him last week. Nakamura is a champion and Sami is a hanger on who couldn’t make it in the ring himself. Nakamura may be the King of Strong Styles but Miz is the man who made the Intercontinental Title relevant and he can do it again. The challenge is made for Clash of Champions but here’s a laughing Sami to interrupt. Sami says Miz still doesn’t get it because he has liberated Nakamura.

Instead of the King of Strong Style, Miz is the King of Soft Style. Miz throws out the challenge to face Sami right now but that’s a no. Miz goes after Sami but Nakamura jumps him from behind as Sami talks about how awesome the artistry is. Kinshasa against the LED board leaves Miz laying. Sami: “AHAHAHAHA!” They get inside with Sami talking about Miz’s lack of respect for artistry, setting up another Kinshasa.

Kevin Owens comes in to see Shane McMahon but finds Elias playing the guitar instead. There is no Shane tonight (yet his roving office was set up) so Owens leaves.

Bayley vs. Lacey Evans

Non-title. Lacey takes her time removing the glove but her cheap shot is blocked. An armbar doesn’t work very well for Bayley as Lacey slams her way out of it and kicks away in the corner. They head outside with Bayley hitting a running clothesline but here’s Charlotte for a distraction.

Back from a break with Bayley hitting a middle rope crossbody but getting caught in….a layout DDT I think? Lacey slams the arm onto the apron and the slingshot Bronco Buster gets two. A dropkick to the back gives Bayley a breather and some clotheslines have Lacey rocked. An Indian Deathlock of all things has Lacey….in the rope about two seconds later.

Lacey knocks her down again and hits a good looking spinning moonsault for two. Charlotte is NOT impressed as Bayley goes outside and manages a suplex off the barricade. Back in and Bayley gets more aggressive, including a knee to the head. The Bayley to Belly gets two so Bayley hits it again and drops the top rope elbow for the pin at 14:28.

Rating: C+. They had some time here and the match was entertaining enough but they still can’t get out of Charlotte’s shadow. Even if Bayley retains the title at Clash of Champions, how long before Charlotte gets a rematch and wins the title again anyway? They don’t have anything else for her to do though and this is about as good as they’re going to do.

Daniel Bryan and Erick Rowan aren’t leaving until they get an apology from Reigns.

Randy Orton vs. Big E.

Big E. isn’t playing and knocks Orton outside early on. Orton is thrown into various things, including over the barricade. Back in and Big E. does the spanking abdominal stretch, which isn’t exactly playing into the angry theme. Some hard running clotheslines keep Orton down as it’s completely one sided so far. Big E. misses the apron splash though, with his face bouncing off the apron in a nasty landing.

Orton drops him onto the announcers’ table and we take a break. Back with Big E. dropping him onto the table to even things up and it’s time for the belly to belly suplexes. Cue the Revival for a distraction and cheap shot from the floor, setting up the RKO to give Orton the pin at 8:43.

Rating: C. One of these days, WWE is going to open their eyes and see what they have in Big E. and strap a rocket to his back. Or at least they should, because there is almost nothing that he can’t do. The idea here was to have Orton continue to take out the New Day and while the idea of “Kofi can’t do it by himself” is played out, at least they’re actually doing something about it to set things up. If nothing else, the Revival should get the titles out of it.

Post match Orton and the Revival hit the super RKO.

Chad Gable is ready for his King of the Ring match when Shelton Benjamin comes up. Shelton can’t see him because he’s short.

We look at the weekend’s 24/7 Title shenanigans.

Elias is sitting on the throne and says none of the previous winners will be able to wear the crown like he can. But what would a bunch of Louisiana people understand about that? Cue Owens to jump Elias and hit the Stunner in the ring. Cue R-Truth to steal the title but Drake Maverick breaks it up and gets the title for himself.

King of the Ring First Round: Shelton Benjamin vs. Chad Gable

The winner gets Andrade next week. Shelton hits a spinebuster for a very early two and whips him hard into the corner for the same. One too many short jokes wakes Gable up though and he hits a running flip neckbreaker. A scary looking German suplex drops Shelton on his head but he’s right back up with a hard clothesline. Gable knocks him off the top but misses the moonsault, allowing Shelton to knee him in the face. Shelton’s powerbomb is countered into a very fast sunset flip for the pin at 3:43.

Rating: B-. That was a heck of a sub four minute match as they were hitting each other rather hard and packed a bunch into so little time. I was surprised that it was such a short match as it felt like something that would have needed twice as long. If nothing else, maybe we don’t have to listen to the short jokes anymore because that’s about as bad as you can get.

Here’s Roman Reigns for the apology to Bryan and Rowan. The two of them appear on screen with Bryan demanding his apology. We see a video of the forklift attack and Rowan is shown pushing some of the crates onto Roman. Bryan slaps him in the face, shouting about how he hates liars. With Rowan gone, Bryan comes to the ring and says he trusted Rowan for almost the last year and now he has been betrayed. Bryan comes to the ring and says he didn’t know what happened but it’s a spear to put him down to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. This was a heck of a show with storyline developments and nothing bad throughout the show. What mattered here was getting things ready for Clash of Champions while also moving things forward in various places, including the main event and King of the Ring. I had a really good time with this show and it flew by for a nice plus. Very good show and easily the best of the Bischoff Era so far.

Results

Ali b. Buddy Murphy – 450

Bayley b. Lacey Evans – Top rope elbow

Randy Orton b. Big E. – RKO

Chad Gable b. Shelton Benjamin – Sunset flip

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2004 Monday Night Raw Reviews (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: August 6, 2019
Location: Little Caesar’s Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

It’s the final show before Summerslam though it feels like we could have another month’s worth before the show. A lot of the feuds have felt like they’ve been rushed on the way there so hopefully they can take care of something tonight. The big story is Shane McMahon on the Kevin Owens Show because of course it’s Shane. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Here’s Charlotte to open things up. She talks about how great she is, making her the real greatest of all time. Charlotte is here every week because she wants to be great but Trish is just here for one more match. Someone truly great would not have ran away as the Women’s Revolution came. The athletes of today are far superior to those of Trish’s era and on Sunday, Charlotte can prove it.

For tonight though, here’s a video of Charlotte’s greatest moments. Hang on though as the video is about Trish, who comes out with a smile. Trish talks about how she wants to come back to prove it to herself and her family. We get a quote from Harley Race, who says there is no better place in the world than underneath those bright lights.

We look back at last night’s Ziggler/Miz/Shawn/Goldberg segment.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Rey Mysterio

Ziggler does a full Goldberg entrance (minus pyro of course) and jumps Rey before the bell. A superkick leaves Rey laying and there’s no match.

Ziggler rants about how he just took out another legend (he’s not a good Randy Orton either) and promises to make Sunday Goldberg’s last match. Cue Ali and we have a replacement.

Ali vs. Dolph Ziggler

Ali nails a spinwheel kick and a suicide dive and we take a break before the bell. Back with Ali making a comeback and striking away, including a high kick to the head. The rolling X Factor gets two but Ziggler flips him over with a clothesline. Sweet Chin Music misses and Ali gets two off a rollup. The superkick finishes Ali at 1:46 shown. Having Ziggler be an Orton/Mysterio/Michaels hybrid isn’t going to make me care about him.

We look back at the attacks on Roman Reigns.

We look back at Brock Lesnar attacking Seth Rollins last night and Rollins promising to beat Lesnar.

We get a sitdown interview with Reigns, who isn’t sure how to handle someone he can’t see attacking him. WWE has been offering him personal security but he’s a man who isn’t doing that. The big question is who is behind this. Reigns doesn’t know, but he apologizes to Samoa Joe for accusing him. The attacker is still out there and he’s getting answers tonight.

Here’s the Harley Race tribute video. If there is a more universally revered name, I can’t think of it off the top of my head.

Ember Moon vs. Natalya

Moon kicks her in the face to start and hits the running Downward Spiral. Natalya bails to the apron to avoid the Eclipse but pulls Moon down into the Sharpshooter on the floor. That’s a double countout at 1:23.

Bayley runs out for the save.

It’s time for the Kevin Owens Show with Owens wasting no time in calling out Shane McMahon. Shane comes out and has Greg Hamilton do the intro, which Owens cancels in a hurry. Owens has been asked a lot of things over the last few weeks, as the fans are wondering why Shane’s career isn’t on the line as well. The answer is simple: he’s a McMahon and can do whatever he wants. Owens has an appeal to Shane though: put up his career against Owens and give the fans what they want.

That’s not happening as Shane has Owens where he wants him. Shane talks about how he could beat Owens in a variety of ways but Owens calls him out for a lack of testicular fortitude. They’re ready to fight right now but here’s Elias for a distraction. They head outside with another Elias distraction earning him a Stunner on the announcers’ table. That’s enough for Shane to get in some shots from behind and turn the announcers’ table on him. Shane dropkicks a chair into his face to leave Owens laying. Shane got to talk here and it was like a terrifying flashback.

Here’s Sami Zayn to talk about Aleister Black. Sami offered Black a gift by picking a fight to him but Black has locked himself in a dark room where he can be safe. Mr. PICK A FIGHT WITH ME doesn’t want to fight Sami at Summerslam because he’s terrified of what is coming. Cue Black, who talks from his rising platform, saying the match is happening now instead of at Summerslam.

Sami Zayn vs. Aleister Black

Black kicks him down to the floor and we take an early break. Back with Sami hammering away and getting some near falls off a clothesline. Black’s strikes are cut off with a backbreaker and a chinlock, which lasts all of a few seconds. Black is right back up with the running strikes to the head and a standing Lionsault drops Sami again. Black Mass finishes Sami at 5:49. Not enough shown to rate but this was a definitive win for Black.

Shelton Benjamin is asked about competing for the 24/7 Title. Shelton: “Well.” This has been the WWE writers amusing themselves.

It’s time for the Firefly Fun House. As Huskus the Pig eats a bunch of chocolate, Bray pops in to say Finn Balor isn’t scared of anything. That sounds like ignorance in disguise because Finn invited the Fiend to his doorstep willingly. Bray gets serious and seems to be having trouble controlling himself. The Fiend is coming so let him in.

Elias makes fun of Chad Gable for being short and even quotes Randy Newman’s Short People song.

Kofi Kingston talks about getting here in spite of Randy Orton. He was starting to stand out in his feud with Orton but then Orton might have used his influence to hold him back. Now Kofi has succeeded no matter what and he has proven that he is worthy to be here. We see Kofi going back to Ghana to show how far he has come but he wants vindication by beating Orton at Summerslam.

New Day vs. Daniel Bryan/Rowan

Non-title. Bryan goes right after Woods to start but gets sent to the floor for the big flip dive. Back from an early break with Bryan working on Big E.’s arm but getting taken into the corner for the tag off to Woods. That means a wristlock but you don’t do that to Bryan, who easily drags Woods into the corner for the tag off to Rowan. Woods has to chop and punch away in the corner but Rowan hits a running crossbody to knock him down again.

It’s back to Bryan for a cravate on the mat but Woods hits an elbow to the face. That’s not enough for the tag so Woods hits a rolling elbow. Rowan still won’t let the tag go through though and knocks Big E. off the apron. Woods gets tossed over the timekeeper’s area and we take a break. Back with Woods knocking Rowan down so Big E. can come in with the suplexes.

Big E. busts out a Brock Lock but Bryan pulls him down into the LeBell Lock. That’s easily broken up with simple power so Bryan switches it into a triangle choke. That’s broken up with a powerbomb so Bryan brings in Rowan for the spinning kick to the face. Woods tags himself back in as Big E. runs Rowan over. The rope walk elbow connects so Bryan dives over for a save. Big E. spears Bryan through the ropes but Rowan hits Woods with the steps for the DQ at 17:17.

Rating: B-. The ending was the right call here as Bryan and Rowan need to save some face instead of losing another match. I was worried about seeing the champs losing again here but thankfully WWE thought it through instead of having them lose twice in a row. The match was a good back and forth fight too with a good build until the ending.

Post match New Day gets destroyed even worse.

Roman Reigns goes into the locker room and tells everyone to get out….except Buddy Murphy. Reigns saw Murphy there last week near the fork lift and wants to know if he did it. Murphy doesn’t know what Reigns is talking about so Reigns threatens violence. If Murphy knew who did it, he wouldn’t tell Reigns a thing. Reigns punches him in the face and throws him hard onto a table, still asking who did it. Murphy says Rowan did it and he didn’t see Bryan involved. We cut back to the ring where Bryan and Rowan don’t say anything to end the show. That was a little lacking, but points for going with something a bit different.

Overall Rating: C+. This wasn’t a show about wrestling as the whole thing was about setting up things for Sunday. That’s what they’ve been needing more of around here, though the ending wasn’t the strongest. It feels like the story needs one more week but since we don’t have time for that, it’s the rushed finish to set up Sunday. The rest of the show did what it needed to do and that’s better than having a bunch of matches that aren’t all that interesting.

Results

Dolph Ziggler b. Ali – Superkick

Natalya vs. Ember Moon went to a double countout

Aleister Black b. Sami Zayn – Black Mass

New Day b. Daniel Bryan/Rowan via DQ when Rowan used the steps

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackville
Date: July 27, 2019
Location: Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Tom Phillips, David Otunga

This is another special event with WWE presenting a show for the sake of having some competition. The schedule says that this is going to be an hour long show but an overrun would not surprise me. There are three matches on the card and an Elias performance for a bonus, meaning they’re going to be fairly packed. Let’s get to it.

The announcers tell us that Finn Balor is injured and therefore out of the Intercontinental Title match. This brings out Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura to say that he wins by forfeit, but the referee has to count Balor out first. We have a challenger though.

Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Ali

Ali is challenging after saying that he isn’t missing another opportunity. Feeling out process to start until Ali kicks him in the face and out to the floor. That means a big dive to the floor and a high crossbody for two back inside. Nakamura knees him in the face and Good Vibrations have Ali in even more trouble. The hard knees to the face get two and it’s off to a front facelock.

Nakamura switches into a front facelock but Ali fights out again and hits the rolling X Factor. Ali gets thrown off the top but still manages to dropkick Nakamura out of the air for two more. Back up and Nakamura hits the sliding German suplex but Kinshasa is cut off by a superkick. The big tornado DDT gives Ali two more but the 450 misses. Kinshasa retains the title at 8:02.

Rating: C. So you know how it seems that we’re watching a house show here? Well this felt like a house show match from beginning to end. It’s cool to see Ali getting a shot like this but they’re not changing the title at a random house show just because it’s getting some time on the Network. Just a match with Ali getting in some hope spots before going down, which is fine.

Samoa Joe likes the idea of a triple threat match because he has multiple targets.

Here’s Elias for his performance and he has several guitars with him. After complaining about the volume of his microphone, Elias plays for a long time, maybe the longest he ever has before. Elias likes that people want to walk with him but he hears no standing ovation. He talks about meeting Johnny Cash here in Nashville, when Cash told him that the Tennessee Titans will never win the Super Bowl.

His first song is dedicated to Shane McMahon….or it would be if the people would be quiet and let him play. Elias going to and from the stool gets the BOO/YAY chants before he says he’ll sing anyway. The song is about how Shane deserves more TV time and to be champion because he’s the best in the world. Vince McMahon calls him to say he’s watching and Elias says Nashville is horrible. Apparently Elias can have as much time as he wants so he sings about Kevin Owens being ugly.

Cue Owens from behind to steal a guitar and send Elias outside with one right hand. Owens has a request: SHUT YOUR FACE. He wants a match right now, so if a referee can please run down the aisle and slide in here please. A referee does so (Owens: “WHAT A SLIDE!”) and we’re ready to go.

Elias vs. Kevin Owens

Owens shrugs off an early beating and hits the backsplash to take over. Elias gets in a jumping knee to the face to rock Owens and it’s an Old School Meteora for two. A headbutt gets Owens out of a superplex attempt and the Swanton connects for two. The Stunner is blocked and Elias hits another knee. Elias’ top rope elbow misses and the Stunner gives Owens the pin at 4:44.

Rating: D+. Well at least it was short. Owens is starting to gain a lot of momentum and if he keeps up the talking and work, he could be a big star in a very short amount of time. Elias continues to be passable enough in the ring but there’s nothing to his matches that make me want to see him wrestle. Talking and insulting sure, but that’s about it.

We recap the main event. Kofi Kingston won the Smackdown World Title at Wrestlemania and has survived ever since. Dolph Ziggler thinks it should have been him and Samoa Joe likes to hurt people. Kofi has beaten them both before and now he has to beat them both at once.

So the Women’s Title triple threat match isn’t happening, though it might not have been official.

Kofi Kingston puts pancakes behind the title and says he wants the challenge to put him closer to being an all time great champion. Kofi: “Right here on Smackville. At Smackville? In Smackville?”

Smackdown World Title: Kofi Kingston vs. Samoa Joe vs. Dolph Ziggler

Kofi is defending and dropkicks Ziggler to the floor at the bell. Ziggler pulls Kofi out with him and it’s the champ going into the barricade. The double teaming begins as the fans are behind Kofi. A double back elbow drops Kofi again but he fights out of Joe’s clutches. The crossbody hits Ziggler with Joe stealing the two count.

That’s enough to break up the alliance and Kofi takes down the arguing villains with a top rope shot to their heads. There’s the Boom Drop to Ziggler but Joe powerslams Kofi to break up Trouble in Paradise. A superplex is broken up and Kofi hits the high crossbody for two on Joe. The SOS gets the same on Ziggler as an angry Joe makes the save. They all head outside and Kofi is whipped into the steps to keep him down. Ziggler gets thrown over the announcers’ table and Joe elbows Kofi in the face back inside.

Kofi jawbreaks his way to freedom from the Koquina Clutch but Joe slaps on an ankle lock of all things. That’s broken up by a Ziggler superkick for two with Kofi making his own save. The Zig Zag gets two on Kofi but Joe suplexes Dolph to the floor. Joe blasts Kofi with a clothesline for two and tries the Clutch, which is reversed into Trouble in Paradise to retain the title at 12:09.

Rating: B-. Pretty good match with the obvious finish of Joe taking the fall instead of Ziggler because if there’s one person more valuable than Samoa Joe, it’s Dolph Ziggler. They had a few nice near falls in there and the action wasn’t bad. For a house show main event this worked fine, though Kofi has got to get away from these two for good now.

Overall Rating: C. This show certainly does exist and that’s about all I can come up with to say. It’s not worth the time to watch even though it’s just over an hour long, but you would be much better off watching something that had some actual stakes involved. If you want to watch the last hour of a house show for some reason then have fun, but it’s not something you’ll ever miss.

Results

Shinsuke Nakamura b. Ali – Kinshasa

Kevin Owens b. Elias – Stunner

Kofi Kingston b. Samoa Joe and Dolph Ziggler – Trouble in Paradise to Joe

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: April 30, 2019
Location: Schottenstein Center, Columbus, Ohio
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

Things are starting to come back together around here as we have the first challenger to Kofi Kingston’s Smackdown World Title. Last week Kevin Owens turned on Kingston in a not very surprising yet still well done moment. The match will likely be announced tonight, as will the Money in the Bank participants. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

Michael Cole brings Kofi Kingston to the ring to start things off. We look at Kofi’s performance in the Elimination Chamber and the second gauntlet match. Kofi talks about how none of this happens without Big E. and Xavier Woods because they proved that the impossible is possible. Cole calls the win over Daniel Bryan maybe the greatest Wrestlemania moment ever (uh, hang on a second now) and we see a clip of the title win.

Kofi calls it the greatest moment of his life, next to the birth of his children and his wedding day. With that comes people gunning for him though, which leads us to a clip of Kevin Owens attacking him last week. Kofi agrees that he probably should have seen this coming but the New Day believes in letting people change if they want to. At the end of the day though, Kevin Owens is going to be Kevin Owens.

If Owens wanted a title shot, all he had to do is ask. Last week, Kevin said he was coming for the title so let him come, say at Money in the Bank. This brings out Owens, who says challenge accepted. Owens talks about how the moment from Wrestlemania is fleeting and everyone knows Kofi isn’t championship material. Cue Woods to jump Owens from behind but Owens superkicks him down, leaving Kofi to chase him off.

Post break, Kofi talks to Woods, saying that Woods has a family to think about and can’t get hurt like this. Kofi appreciates everything but he has this.

Becky Lynch vs. Bayley

Non-title, though Bayley is now in Money in the Bank. Feeling out process to start and an exchange of knockdowns takes us to a break. Back with Bayley blocking the jumping kick to the head and hitting a running knee to the head for two. That’s shrugged off though as Bayley runs into an elbow and walks into a missile dropkick to give Becky two of her own. A double clothesline knocks them both down again but it’s Bayley up with a belly to back suplex. The top rope elbow hits knees though and Becky Disarms-Her for the tap at 8:30.

Rating: C-. Why yes, it is dumb to put Bayley into a prominent role at Money in the Bank and then have her lose clean to the champion that she is looking to challenge later on here. This could have been any woman on the roster or just some jobber, but instead we get Bayley losing because WWE wants to talk about building momentum in matches between Money in the Bank participants but here it means nothing.

Post match Charlotte runs in to kick Becky in the face and send her into the post. Phillips: “At Money in the Bank, Becky Lynch must do the impossible.” What’s impossible about it? Winning twice in one night? AJ Styles did it last week. Choose your words better there people.

Aleister Black talks about people trying to conquer their fear against him, until the referee counts 1-2-3 in his favor. Looking into the abyss behind his eyes unveils a truth about themselves, which allows them to fade to Black.

Here are the Hardys, including the injured Jeff, to address the future of the Tag Team Titles. Jeff is asked what happened and says it’s easier to show us. We see a clip of Lars Sullivan attacking him, which is going to put him on the shelf for a long time. Therefore, the titles are officially vacated. Cue Lars Sullivan to take out both Hardys so here’s R-Truth to hit Lars in the back with a chair. That has no effect and Lars punches the chair out of Truth’s hands, setting up a Freak Accident and running powerbomb.

Side note: THANK YOU WWE for putting the heat for the injury on Sullivan instead of saying it was some mistake that was no one’s fault. For whatever reason they almost never want to put the injury on someone else and let them get something out of it when it’s handed to them on a silver platter. Thank you for finally taking the story that is presented to you with no effort.

Here are the four Smackdown men’s Money in the Bank participants. That would be Ali, Finn Balor, Andrade and Randy Orton. No in-ring segment, no matches made as a result and no wastes of time. They just put each one up on a graphic and it took about a minute.

Ok so there’s a tag match later tonight but at least they didn’t badly transition into it.

Kairi Sane/Asuka vs. ???/???

The IIconics are on commentary and Paige is here with Sane and Asuka. Sane dragon screw legwhips the taller jobber down and it’s time for some alternating kicks. The other jobber comes in and gets German suplexed, setting up the big kick to the head. Everything breaks down and it’s a Codebreaker into a running Blockbuster onto the tall one. A reverse DDT sets up the Insane elbow to give Sane the pin at 2:09.

Mandy Rose tells Sonya Deville that one of them can be in the Money in the Bank match. They both agree that the other should be in and hug.

Here’s Roman Reigns for a chat. He talks about how you only get one shot at a first impression so he knocked out Mr. McMahon on his first night here. It could have been anyone though because he wanted to show that he is still the Big Dog. This brings out Shane McMahon, because he needs to be in TWO big stories at once. Roman may be the Big Dog, but the McMahon Family owns the land. Roman: “No. Your daddy owns the land.”

The last time Vince was in the ring, he was on his back and Reigns was on his feet. Shane says last week it was Reigns laying on his back after Elias knocked him out. Reigns invites him to come try to make that happen again but Shane needs to go to the University of Michigan and work with a real team to get in shape for his match at Money in the Bank. There are a bunch of people who want to face Reigns though and here are two of them. This brings out the B Team for a handicap match, which Reigns dubs “how original”. We’ll even throw in a guest referee in the form of Elias.

Roman Reigns vs. B Team

Elias is on the floor. Reigns powers out of Dallas’ headlock but gets punched into the corner by Axel. Reigns fights out of the corner without much effort though and gets two off the Samoan drop. A quick Elias distraction lets Axel get in a clothesline though and we take a quick break.

Back with Reigns fighting out of a chinlock and hitting a clothesline on Dallas. Everything breaks down and a Samoan drop/DDT combination plants the B Team. The Superman Punch hits Axel for two with Elias pulling the regular referee out at two. Elias takes over as referee and the PerfectPlex gives Axel two of his own. The guitar is brought in but it’s a Superman Punch to Elias and a spear finishes Axel at 10:47.

Rating: D+. The match wasn’t exactly the most surprising result and that’s not the best way in the world to go when Elias isn’t going to be bought as a serious threat to Reigns at Money in the Bank anyway. Reigns overcoming the odds is fine, but if the odds don’t make him an underdog in the first place, what is he overcoming?

We get last night’s Firefly Fun House, which was even more disturbing than the first one.

Andrade/Randy Orton vs. Finn Balor/Ali

On their way to the ring, Andrade and Zelina Vega promise to make everyone respect Andrade at Money in the Bank. It’s a brawl to start with the villains being sent outside as we take a break less than thirty seconds in. Back with Ali hitting a dropkick on Orton and a double tag bringing in Balor and Andrade.

A kick to the head knocks Andrade off the top and out to the floor, setting up dives from Balor and Ali for a good visual. Back in and Ali pulls Balor off the top, setting up the running knees in the corner for two. The hammerlock DDT is countered and Ali tags himself in. The Sling Blade sets up Ali’s 450 for the pin on Andrade at 7:06.

Rating: C-. This had some entertaining moments but did they need to have Andrade lose the fall here? You have one of the biggest stars of the era who can lose every match for the rest of his career and still be a legend, but for some reason they have Andrade lose here instead. I’m sure it doesn’t matter though, or at least what WWE tells us.

Post match Orton hits an RKO on Balor but Ali makes the save.

The final two women in the Money in the Bank match are Ember Moon and Carmella. Ember is happy to have her chance but Carmella comes in to say it’s her briefcase.

The graphic confirms that Mandy gets the nod instead of Sonya.

It’s time for the Kevin Owens Show, but there is now no set with just a pair of chairs. Owens points out the lack of a set but it’s ok because he is the show. At Money in the Bank, he will take away the burden of being WWE Champion from Kofi Kingston because it belongs to him. That brings us to his guest, but there is no Xavier Woods.

Owens expected this to be the case, so he brings out a Xavier action figure. It was part of a pack though so there is also a Big E. figure, complete with a cast around his leg. Owens puts them in the chair and then kicks it over. He knows what is in their mind and heart….but here’s Kofi for the brawl. Kingston throws him over the announcers’ table but gets raked in the eyes, allowing Owens to bail to end the show. Good final segment with Kofi bringing out the fire again.

Overall Rating: C-. I know the rating isn’t that far from that of last night’s show but my goodness this show is so much easier to watch. The lack of an extra hour really is the big difference as it didn’t feel like anything was stretching out to fill in the time. The wrestling wasn’t great but the Kofi vs. Owens story is better than it was before, meaning I want to see the title match more than I did before. Throw in the MITB participants being announced in about five minutes combined with a single seven minute match instead of two sitdown segments and a pair of matches and it’s easy to see why this was so much easier.

Results

Becky Lynch b. Bayley – Disarm-Her

Asuka/Kairi Sane b. ???/??? – Insane elbow

Roman Reigns b. B Team – Spear to Axel

Ali/Finn Balor b. Randy Orton/Andrade – 450 to Andrade

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2000 Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Part 1 (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/02/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-thunder-reviews-volume-vii-january-june-2000/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6

IMG Credit: WWE

Smackdown
Date: April 16, 2019
Location: Bell Centre, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Commentators: Corey Graves, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton

It’s the second night of the Superstar Shakeup and that means it’s time to find out who is coming over to the blue brand, either from Raw, 205 Live or NXT. One of the more interesting things is how people who were on the show last night could pop up here, meaning things might not be as one sided as they seem. Let’s get to it.

Here are last week’s results if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of most of the moves to Raw from last night.

Here’s Kevin Owens to open things up with the Kevin Owens Show. He speaks French and says something about Wrestlemania, which has the fans rather pleased. Now to English, tonight is the second night of the Superstar Shakeup so let’s bring out his guests: the New Day. Kevin talks about how cool it was for Kofi to win the title and gives him a standing ovation with the crowd following suit.

Kofi thanks Kevin and then switches to the fans in French. Kevin sits back down and brings up Big E.’s meniscus tear, sending Xavier over the edge because Raw took like half of the UpUpDownDown roster. Xavier: “IF I DON’T SEE TYLER BREEZE ON SMACKDOWN TONIGHT I’M GOING TO LOSE IT!!!” Things calm down and Kevin brings up their tag match against Shinsuke Nakamura and Rusev.

They’re used to being a trio and with Big E. down, Big O. should step in. Kofi: “Are you willing to wear a crop top?” Kevin: “We can talk about it!” Owens is willing to talk about cereal and pancakes, but he’s already ready to thrust his groin and swivel his hips. Kofi and Xavier are impressed and the fans agree, so Kevin puts on Kofi’s rather small shirt. Owens kneels and is given his own unicorn horn.

As the dancing ensues, Cesaro comes up to offer his services to Nakamura and Rusev.

Finn Balor vs. Ali

Balor is fresh on the show and the Intercontinental Title isn’t on the line. Ali wastes no time with a dropkick and a quickly broken headlock. An elbow to the chest has Ali in trouble and we hit the armbar. Back up and Ali sends him to the floor for a suicide dive and we take a quick break.

We come back with Balor chopping away in the corner and nailing the Sling Blade. Ali cuts him off with a superkick for two but the spinning DDT is countered. The Coup de Grace is broken up with a dropkick and a super hurricanrana gives Ali two more. The 450 misses though and Balor shotgun dropkicks him into the corner. Now the Coup de Grace can finish Ali at 10:16.

Rating: C. Watchable enough match with Balor getting a win to establish himself on Smackdown, which only makes last night’s loss to Andrade all the more meaningless. That puts the Intercontinental Champion at 1-1 this week, which in WWE’s mind is perfectly acceptable. Ali takes another loss, but at least he was competitive again.

New Day initiates Owens onto the team by having him break Big E’s pancake eating time.

Buzzard puppet vignette.

Owens beats Big E.’s record.

Carmella vs. Charlotte

Charlotte shoves her down to start and shouts about hating Canada. A kick to the ribs sends Charlotte outside and it’s time for some gyrating. Back in and Carmella hits a quick Bronco Buster but gets sent to the apron for a big boot. We take a break and come back with Carmella in more trouble, including a dragon screw legwhip across the middle rope. Charlotte follows her out and shrugs off a superkick, setting up the chop block back inside. The Figure Eight makes Carmella tap at 7:30.

Rating: D+. This was pretty much a squash for Charlotte and there’s nothing wrong with that to get her back on track. I’m not sure what she’s going to do at the moment though as Charlotte vs. Becky has been done time after time and other than Asuka, no one on Smackdown is on Charlotte’s level. Charlotte vs. Asuka is fine, but would it just be a #1 contenders feud?

Post match R-Truth checks on Carmella, but here’s Lars Sullivan to lay him out. The Lie Detector barely staggers Sullivan and it’s a Freak Accident to plant Truth. A running Liger Bomb makes it even worse. So Sullivan is on Smackdown this week. Got it.

Here’s Becky Lynch for a chat, though first we see a clip of the Wrestlemania main event. Becky talks about how she saw everyone coming to Raw last night but here she can face anyone on any brand….and here’s Ember Moon. Ember wants a shot at the best but here’s Bayley to interrupt. She and Sasha Banks lost the Women’s Tag Team Titles but she wants the Smackdown Women’s Title.

This brings out the IIconics to say their titles are iconic, but here’s Paige to interrupt. She’s here to represent a new team, which brings out Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville to interrupt. Paige cuts them off to say not so fast. That would actually be Asuka and Kairi Sane, who are sent to the ring for a big brawl with Becky just stepping back and letting them fight. I’d have bet on the Sky Pirates but Shirai hasn’t been in NXT very long yet.

Ember Moon/Bayley/Asuka/Kairi Sane vs. IIconics/Sonya Deville/Mandy Rose

Joined in progress with Ember cleaning house before handing it off to Bayley for the elbow drops. The middle rope elbow to the face gets two on Sonya and it’s Asuka coming in for a kick to Sonya’s face. Mandy comes in and gets a hip attack before it’s off to Kairi for the first time on the main roster. Kairi and Asuka hit some rapid fire kicks to the face, setting up a suicide dive from Bayley onto Mandy and Sonya. Ember dives off the top onto all four villains and we take a break.

Back with Bayley being driven into the corner for a boot choke from Royce. Bayley shoves her over the top but Ember gets knocked off the apron before the tag. Of course the tag goes through to Asuka a few seconds later, meaning it’s time for a hip attack. Mandy knees Asuka in the head and we hit the parade of secondary finishers. Peyton slaps Kairi but walks into a reverse DDT from Asuka. The Insane Elbow finishes Peyton at 8:15.

Rating: C. Perfectly watchable showcase for all of the new women on the show, with Sane wisely getting the pin. It’s not as wise to have ANOTHER CHAMPION LOSE but this should set up Asuka/Sane as the new #1 contenders. Or it’s going to be ignored as tends to be the case with so many champions losing.

We recap stars moving to the show. Sullivan is official.

We look back at Sullivan attacking various people over the last few weeks.

Buddy Murphy is coming to Smackdown. Well done.

Kofi Kingston/Xavier Woods/Kevin Owens vs. Rusev/Shinsuke Nakamura/Cesaro

Woods takes over on Rusev to start and it’s off to Kofi for a quick two. Nakamura comes in for Good Vibrations but gets pulled into the corner for the Unicorn Stampede with Owens getting in on the fun. The Cannonball gets two on Nakamura but he’s right back with a kick to Woods’ face. That’s enough for the tag off to Cesaro and Woods is brought outside for a drop onto the barricade.

We take a break and come back with Woods still in trouble, including a sliding German suplex for two. Even Lana gets in a slap and Nakamura kicks Woods in the head to keep him on top. Woods knocks him down though and it’s a missile dropkick to set up the hot tag to Kofi.

The Boom Drop hits Cesaro, who catches a high crossbody. That’s fine with Kofi, who gets two off the SOS but gets caught in the Swing. The Sharpshooter goes on with Kevin making the save off a superkick. Nakamura kicks him down but gets tornado DDT’d for his efforts. Kofi slides over for the tag to Owens, who launches Kofi over the top for a crash. That leaves Rusev to take Trouble in Paradise into the Stunner for the pin at 15:22.

Rating: C+. Nice tag match here with Owens thankfully not turning on New Day so soon. There’s no reason to have him end the angle so fast, though you can almost guarantee him getting a title shot at some point. This is as good as anything else they can do, at least until there’s a new big bad on Smackdown.

Here’s Vince McMahon to introduce the biggest acquisition in Smackdown history. He rarely endorses someone but this guy has so much charisma that he’s going to be the biggest star on Smackdown. That would be….Elias (Graves: “I QUIT!”), who likes Smackdown but doesn’t like Montreal. He starts up the guitar and here’s Roman Reigns for the real big move to take Elias out. Vince yells so it’s a Superman Punch for him as well. Reigns declares Smackdown his yard now and hits a spear on Elias to end the show. That’s a good move as Reigns could use a change of scenery. It’s also going to help Seth Rollins a lot.

Overall Rating: C+. I’m not sure what to think of this one as it certainly didn’t have the same impact as last night’s show. The problem here is that outside of Reigns, this didn’t feel like any major names came over. We did get a lot of people moving and that’s a good thing, but I’m not sure how many of them are going to have that big of an impact at the moment. Kingston should have some challengers soon (you know Reigns is getting the title before the year is out) and I like some of the moves. While Raw had a quick impact, this is more of a wait and see version and that’s ok. Nice show, but not a blow away Shakeup.

Results

Finn Balor b. Ali – Coup de Grace

Charlotte b. Carmella – Figure Eight

Ember Moon/Bayley/Asuka/Kairi Sane b. IIconics/Sonya Deville/Mandy Rose – Insane Elbow to Royce

Xavier Woods/Kofi Kingston/Kevin Owens b. Cesaro/Shinsuke Nakamura/Rusev – Stunner to Rusev

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2000 Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Part 1 (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/02/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-thunder-reviews-volume-vii-january-june-2000/

And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:

http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6