Smackdown
Date: December 25, 2020
Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the biggest holiday of the year and WWE is doing a show because I’m assuming network requirements. It’s a stacked (and thankfully taped) card with three title matches, including Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns in a cage, Big E. challenging Sami Zayn and Charlotte/Asuka defending against opponents to be named. Let’s get to it.

Here is Tables, Ladders And Chairs if you need a recap.

Universal Title: Kevin Owens vs. Roman Reigns

Reigns, with Paul Heyman at ringside, is defending inside a cage. Owens slugs away to start but gets sent into the cage a few times. The Samoan drop gets two but Owens is back up to stomp Reigns in the corner. That means the Cannonball can connect for two and Reigns is in trouble. Back up and Owens tries the Pop Up Powerbomb, only to have Reigns reverse into a Rough Ryder of all things. Owens punches him down again and the Bullfrog splash connects for two.

We take a break and come back with Reigns hitting a sitout powerbomb for two of his own. Owens is able to hit the Pop Up Powerbomb for two more but Reigns catches him in the corner. The superplex is loaded up but Owens reverses into the spinning superplex for two more. Reigns hits the Superman Punch for another two and it’s time to choke on the ropes. Owens is back with his own choking to break free though and Reigns is down in the middle. The Stunner gives Owens two more and we take a second break.

Back again with Reigns having to pull Owens off the top but getting superkicked away. Owens’ Swanton hits knees though, allowing Reigns to hit the spear for a rather near fall. Reigns is aghast and talks trash, only to have Owens slam the door on his head. Owens sends him into the cage over and over to knock Reigns silly so here’s Jey Uso to slam the door on Owens’ head.

That earns Jey a door to the head but the delay lets Reigns pull Owens back in. A superkick connects but so does Reigns’ Superman Punch. The spear only hits cage though and there’s another Stunner to drop Reigns. Owens goes to the door….and here’s Jey again to handcuff him to the cage. Reigns is up and steps over Owens, who shouts that Reigns’ kids should be ashamed of him to retain at 25:36.

Rating: B. This felt like a big time TV match and that’s all you can ask for out of a big time TV match. It was a nice followup to the TLC match and that’s a hard trick to pull off given how great that was. The ending feels like a way to set up a Last Man Standing match, which should be a heck of a violent blowoff to the whole thing. This had good drama and action and the ending gave them a way to keep going. Not bad for a long, entertaining match.

Here are Charlotte and Asuka to defend the Tag Team Titles against opponents to be named, so here is Bayley to interrupt. Before she can get very far though, here is Sasha Banks to interrupt. Before she can get very far though, here is Bianca Belair to interrupt. Before she can get very far though, here’s Carmella to interrupt and the trash talk sets up a match that was already announced by commentary. So why did we need all of the interruptions and mini promos?

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Asuka/Charlotte vs. Carmella/Bayley vs. Bianca Belair/Sasha Banks

Asuka and Charlotte are defending with elimination rules. Charlotte kicks Asuka in the ribs to start and Asuka comes in to kick her down for two. Carmella comes in (with Graves swooning) so Banks joins her to send Carmella into the corner. Running knees set up a tag to Belair, who drives in the shoulders to the ribs. Charlotte takes Carmella place and they take turns mocking each other before trying dropkicks at the same time. That means stereo nip ups so it’s Bayley and Asuka coming in.

The Bayley to Belly gets two on Asuka and we take a break. Back with Asuka hitting a middle rope dropkick for two on Bayley but getting taken into the corner. Carmella comes in to send Asuka head first into the mat, allowing Bayley to come back in and knock Charlotte off the apron. Asuka fights up and brings in Charlotte to clean house as everything breaks down. Bayley gets knocked down and Banks hits the frog splash for the first elimination at 13:04.

The Bank Statement has Charlotte in trouble but she’s back up to take the leg. The Figure Four attempt is broken up though and Banks kicks her in the face. Charlotte’s big boot connects though and now the Figure Eight goes on. Belair can’t reach Banks for the tag so she throws her hair out, allowing Banks to pull herself over (Couldn’t you say that touching the hair counted as a tag?) for the tag.

Belair goes up but Charlotte kicks her down, injuring the knee in the process. The Figure Eight is broken up with a Meteora so Asuka takes Banks down, knocking her into Reginald, who is still at ringside for some reason. Bayley is still here too as Asuka kicks away at Belair. One of the kicks is countered into a sitout powerbomb for two on Asuka but there is no one for Belair to tag (which Bayley enjoys pointing out). A Codebreaker into Natural Selection finishes Belair to retain the titles at 16:56.

Rating: C+. The action was good enough, but there wasn’t exactly any drama when you have the dream team new champs facing two makeshift teams. What else was there going to be here? I have no idea who is going to take the titles from Asuka and Charlotte, because aside from the Riott Squad, I’m not even sure if there are any teams. Good enough match though, and made the champs look good.

The Street Profits preview the rest of the show but overhead Sami Zayn yelling at a member of the production team about the main event being a lumberjack match. She walks away, so the Profits bring Sami his present: a shirt saying “I WAS INTERCONTINENTAL CHAMPION.” Storming off ensues.

Daniel Bryan vs. Jey Uso

Jey jumps Bryan during the entrance and beats the heck out of him, including a slam on the ramp. We take a break and come back with Bryan saying he’s good to go, meaning Jey sends him outside in a heap. The suicide dive connects and Bryan is in a lot of trouble early on. Bryan gets whipped into the steps and it’s time to head back inside for the chops in the corner. Another slam bangs up Bryan again but he avoids a running elbow. Jey avoids the running corner dropkick though and the running hip attack rocks Bryan again.

Bryan hits a backdrop to send Jey outside though and he bangs up his ankle on the landing. Bryan’s suicide dive mostly misses though and he crashes shoulder first into the announcers’ table. There’s the belly to back superplex to drop Jey and we take a break. Back with Bryan going after the leg and getting two off a super hurricanrana. The running knee is blocked with a superkick though and the Superfly Splash hits Bryan.

Jey’s bad knee delayed the cover though and Bryan kicks out. Another Superfly Splash hits raised knees though and Bryan slaps on a half crab. With that broken up, they slug it out on the match with Bryan getting the better of things. The running knee finishes Jey at 13:46.

Rating: B. They did a nice job of setting up the drama here as Uso has been on enough of a roll to make you think that he could be a threat to Bryan. At the same time though, Bryan seems to be the most likely challenger to Reigns at Wrestlemania (at least for now) so giving him a win is a good idea. Also, is anyone going to think that Uso is downgraded by losing to Bryan?

Post break Bryan says there is one thing he has not accomplished in his career so he is setting his sights on it. As of tonight, Bryan is officially entering the Royal Rumble. Sami Zayn comes in to say Bryan was the one who said the Intercontinental Title needed to be defended more often and accuses Bryan of setting up the lumberjack match. If that’s the case, Sami will deal with him. Bryan: “Did Santa not bring him a Playstation 5? Is that what the kids are into?”

Video on Sami Zayn vs. Big E.

Intercontinental Title: Sami Zayn vs. Big E.

Big E. is challenging in a lumberjack match (with a few Raw wrestlers at ringside). Sami gets powered around to start but manages to get in a running shot to the face in the corner. E. is sent outside where the lumberjacks get in some cheap shots before throwing him in again. Back in and Big E. runs Sami over with the straight power that you would expect, only to miss the running apron splash.

Back with Sami charging into the Rock Bottom out of the corner for two. Sami tries to run away but gets thrown back in by the lumberjacks. Big E. pulls him back in with Sami grabbing the ring skirt in the process. The referee fixes it up so Sami uses the chance to get in a poke to the eyes. That gives Sami two so he goes up top, where a sunset bomb gets two more. The spear through the ropes connects so the lumberjacks slug it out, even as Sami tries to bail. That doesn’t work, as Sami is throw back in for the belly to belly, the Warrior Splash and the Big Ending to give Big E. the pin and the title at 13:15.

Rating: C+. The wrestling wasn’t the point here and there is nothing wrong with that. Above all else, they got in, did their thing, and got out with a match that felt important. They needed to do something special for Big E. and winning the Intercontinental Title on Christmas night, even in a match without much drama, feels like something important. Nice main event here, but the moment mattered more.

Post match the lumberjacks pick Big E. up and confetti falls to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. The wrestling ranged from rather good to good all night long, but above all else this show felt like it belonged on a special show. It felt like a show that belonged on a holiday and the Big Ending gave us a big ending. I can’t imagine many people actually watch the thing, but it certainly gave them something to talk about on the way to the new year. Very strong show here and Big E.’s singles push seems to have begun.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good Smackdown.

Results

Roman Reigns b. Kevin Owens – Reigns escaped the cage

Charlotte/Asuka b. Sasha Banks/Bianca Belair and Carmella/Bayley – Natural Selection to Belair

Daniel Bryan b. Jey Uso – Running knee

Big E. b. Sami Zayn – Big Ending

 

 

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

Smackdown
Date: December 18, 2020
Location: Tropicana Field, St. Petersburg, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the go home show for Tables, Ladders And Chairs and that means it is time to have a title match rather than waiting for Sunday. This time around it’s about the Tag Team Titles, with the Street Profits defending against Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler. Other than that, we’re likely to have more Roman Reigns greatness. Let’s get to it.

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

The opening recap looks at Kevin Owens going after Roman Reigns last week, but Reigns fought back and beat the fire out of him. Reigns also spoke directly to Owens’ children, telling them to get it through their dad’s head before Reigns finishes him.

Here’s a ticked off Owens to get things going. He demands Reigns get out here right now so they can do this but Reigns doesn’t come out. With that not working, Owens says he talked to his family and they won’t be watching TLC under any circumstance. He doesn’t want his family seeing what he does to Reigns on Sunday. Reigns still doesn’t come out so Owens says Reigns is just using his family as pawns and that is just pathetic. Reigns has to know that he’s a coward, but here’s Paul Heyman on the screen.

Heyman says he’s heard this before but now he’s here to confess his sins. Last week on Talking Smack, Heyman said Owens needs to marinate in the mindset of being mutilated. Owens is martyr who is willing to pay any sacrifice to be Universal Champion at any point. That means mutilation won’t stop him, so he has to be eradicated. Owens cuts him off, saying that won’t happen. As for tonight, he’s coming to find Reigns himself.

Post break, Owens is trying to storm Reigns’ dressing room but Reigns and Heyman are slowly coming to the ring. Reigns says that Owens needs to stay in his lane because he doesn’t know what he’s doing. He doesn’t want to hurt Owens, so Owens can have the same chance as Jey Uso: acknowledge him as the head of the table and everything is forgiven. Here’s Owens in the arena but Jey Uso jumps him from behind with Reigns getting in on the act. The beatdown is on with Owens being sent into the barricade, though he gets up as Reigns leaves.

Post break again, Reigns says Owens still doesn’t understand and orders Jey to take him out.

Tag Team Titles: Street Profits vs. Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler

Roode and Ziggler are challenging. During the entrance, we hear a prediction on the Slammy Award for Tag Team of the Year from the actor presenting the award. Dawkins and Ziggler start things off but the Profits hit a double dropkick to put the challengers on the floor. Ford goes up top but shoved down into the barricade for a crash as we take a break.

Back with Roode hitting a Russian legsweep for two on Ford. It’s back to Ziggler with a waistlock to stay on the banged up ribs and hands it off to Roode for a release gordbuster. Ziggler’s waistlock goes on again and a kick to the ribs makes it even worse. Ford finally kicks Ziggler away though and the hot tag brings in Dawkins to clean house. A faceplant plants Ziggler on his face and an exploder suplex sends Roode flying.

Dawkins gets two off a neckbreaker to Roode but Ziggler is back in, with Roode tossing him into the air for a Fameasser. That’s good for two on Dawkins, who is right back up with the Anointing on Ziggler, setting up the Cash Out but Roode elbow Ford in the back for the save. Roode rolls Ford up with tights for two, only to have Ford grab a rollup with trunks to retain at 12:13.

Rating: C+. The Profits are as made of a team as there is at the moment so having them go out there for about twelve minutes to put on a good performance against another fine team is a great way to go. The match worked out well, even if it seems designed to set up a rematch on Sunday. I wasn’t sure which way this one was going though, and that’s one of the best feelings you can have in a title match.

Post match Roode and Ziggler protest, likely setting up the PPV rematch. The referee threatens them with suspension and they back off.

Owens is limping through the back when Uso chairs him from behind. Uso leaves and Owens pulls himself up again.

Bianca Belair says Bayley is her measuring stick and always has Bianca’s name in her mouth. Tonight, Belair is going to s-h-i-n-e.

The Riott Squad speculated on who Billie Kay has to face them next. Maybe Beyonce? Sarah Jessica Parker? Or Wonder Woman!

Riott Squad vs. Billie Kay/???

Billie handles her own introduction (she is a seasoned ring announcer, according to her resume) and it’s…..Tamina. Morgan gets tossed into the corner for some early stomping as Graves talks about how awesome of a team we could be seeing. Riott gets in a kick to the face, only to get blasted with a clothesline. A Samoan drop gives Billie two with Morgan having to make a save. The Squad knocks Tamina off the apron and it’s a missile dropkick/Downward Spiral combination to finish Billie at 2:35. I could go for various partners until we get to the glorious reunion with Peyton Royce, which better be coming.

We look back at Carmella beating Sasha Banks via DQ last week and then breaking a champagne bottle over her back last week.

Here’s Carmella for a champagne toast to Sasha Banks. Carmella brags about how expensive the champagne is and says it’s time to drink some bubbly. Banks has every physical gift it takes to be a champion but nothing mentally. That aggression last week is why Carmella knows she already has Banks beat. That’s why Banks is going to have to control herself, but there is no way she can pull it off. After Sunday, Banks is going to fall into a turmoil, because she’s nothing if she isn’t the Boss or the best.

That’s really depressing when you think about it, so Carmella needs a pick me up. She takes a sip but says it tastes cheap and frantic, kind of like Sasha Banks. Cue Banks, so Carmella sends the sommellier to deal with her, and of course Banks comes through the stands instead. Banks throws the champagne in her face and the fight is on, including a failed Bank Statement. The sommellier tries to make the save but it’s another bottle over Banks’ back. Carmella sounded good and confident here, though I don’t buy her having a chance on Sunday.

Owens is in the trainer’s room but here’s Uso to put him through a table.

Otis vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Otis slams him down to start and drops a headbutt for an early two. Nakamura is back with a running knee to the face and some kicks but Otis shrugs them off. A running clothesline crushes Nakamura, but Gable says don’t do the Caterpillar. Instead he wants a suplex, but Nakamura small packages Otis for two. Now the suplex connects and the Vader Bomb connects for the pin at 2:28. Cole: “That was a little drawn out.”

Sami Zayn, in a rather hideous tuxedo, is ready for the Sami Awards. He goes off to get things ready, but Big E. pops up to mess with the cards.

We get a rather nice video of the year 2020 (represented by a green monster) interrupting a Drew McIntyre promo, earning a huge beatdown from several wrestlers. The year 2021 comes in to destroy it once and for all.

Chad Gable asks Otis why he didn’t use the Caterpillar when he had the chance. No worries, as they’re back to training tomorrow. For now, re-hydrate. I’m kind of curious about this, putting it even more miles above a year long short joke.

It’s time for the Sami Awards, with Sami saying that the Slammy Awards have gone downhill since the days when Jack Tunney was running things. After a look at the Year In Review, which of course mainly focuses on Sami, the Comeback of the Year goes to….Sami Zayn! Sami is shocked but we need to keep this going. Next up is Match of the Year, which goes to…..Sami Zayn winning the Intercontinental Title at Clash of Champions!

With that out of way, it’s time for the big one, with Superstar of the Year. That would be…..Big E., who comes out to accept. After asking Notre Dame to cover the spread tomorrow, Big E. decks Sami for daring to say this isn’t how things were supposed to go. Sami gets thrown down the ramp and Big E. breaks the trophy.

Bayley talks about being on the basketball and track teams in high school but you don’t hear her bragging about everything. Bianca Belair would rather brag than pick her brain, so tonight, Bayley is putting her on the map.

Bayley vs. Bianca Belair

Belair starts fast by leapfrogging Bayley, who goes out to the apron. A neck snap staggers Belair but she flips forward and lands on the middle rope. Belair moonsaults over Bayley and kicks her down, only to have Bayley send her arm first into the apron. Back with Bayley talking a lot of trash but Belair slugs away and there’s the delayed vertical suplex with the squats.

The handspring moonsault gives Belair two and a backbreaker is good for the same. A charge sends Belair hard into the corner but she hot shots Bayley into the corner. Belair gets two more off a spinebuster and a sunset flip is good for the same. A rollup gives Belair two more so she lifts Bayley up in a powerbomb, only to have Bayley rake the eyes. The Rose Plant finishes Belair at 10:04.

Rating: C+. You could see the athleticism in Belair (as she’s one of the most athletic people WWE has ever had) but she still doesn’t seem comfortable in the ring. That sequence of rollups and counters near the end felt like they were trying to remember how the choreography went instead of doing what made sense and that’s not a good look to have. The good thing is that was a minor part of the match, which was pretty nice otherwise.

Here are Roman Reigns, Paul Heyman and Jey Uso to wrap things up. Reigns has been racking his brain and can’t figure this out. If you had a chance to be in the main event with him, why would you pass it up? It’s a chance that your kids’ kids’ kids’ kids would be talking about….and here’s Kevin Owens to interrupt.

Owens takes out Jey but gets speared down as the destruction is on. Reigns unloads with chairs, puts him through a table, buries him with the pieces of the tables, and even adds some ladders once Jey throws them in. Reigns and company go to the back for an interview but Owens is back up and says he’s going to win the title or die trying to end the show.

Man they have a heck of a story here with Owens but it needs to be a long term one rather than something thrown together in a few weeks for a one/two pay per view feud with no chance for Owens to win. Owens is selling the heck out of everything and I want to see him win but this isn’t his time and it’s obvious. What we’re getting is good, but Sunday is the inevitable.

Overall Rating: B-. This was a weird show, but it’s clear that they know Reigns is the meal ticket right now and are treating him as such. The match with Owens should be a heck of a fight and it wouldn’t surprise me to see them do it again at the Rumble in an I Quit or Last Man Standing match or something else with more violence. Other than that, the rest of the show was just people doing a few things here and there, but there was nothing bad and we had a good show overall. It was the Reigns Show though, and that’s a nice thing to see.

Results

Street Profits b. Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode – Rollup to Roode with trunks

Riott Squad b. Tamina/Billie Kay – Missile dropkick/Downward Spiral combination to Kay

Otis b. Shinsuke Nakamura – Vader Bomb

Bayley b. Bianca Belair – Rose Plant

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

Tribute To The Troops 2020
Date: December 6, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Byron Saxton

It’s time for the annual military salute show and this time it’s all digital, with the Thunderdome hosting everything for a change. That doesn’t exactly give me hope as these shows can fall into a trap of seeming like a show which just happens to have the Tribute To The Troops label slapped on. Hopefully that doesn’t happen here because it’s just kind of lame when that’s the case. Let’s get to it.

We open with a look back at the history of the show, which has had quite the batch of successful moments over the years.

Street profits/Rey Mysterio/Daniel Bryan/Jeff Hardy vs. Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode/Sami Zayn/King Corbin/Elias

That’s quite the mixture of talent. Ziggler takes Rey down to start and yells a lot, allowing Roode to come in for a change. Mysterio sends him face first into the corner and brings in Jeff, who uses Rey for Poetry in Motion. It’s time to start in on the arm, which suits Bryan just fine as he comes in with the running dropkick in the corner. Elias comes in so Bryan starts hitting the YES Kicks, meaning everything breaks down on the save attempt.

Bryan and Ford hit their big dives (or very big in Ford’s case) to wipe out the villains as we take a break. Back with Roode chopping away at Bryan in the corner but a little mocking of the YES chant, allows Bryan to knock him off the top. There’s a missile dropkick to give Bryan a breather and the double tag brings in Mysterio and Corbin. The pace picks up with Rey kicking him out of the corner and nailing the wheelbarrow bulldog for two.

Sami comes in and gets caught with an enziguri, allowing Cole to get in a nice Pat Patterson mention. Rey catches Sami with an enziguri and it’s off to Dawkins to clean house. Everything breaks down and the parade of finishers begins. Dawkins hits a double underhook swinging neckbreaker, setting up Ford’s frog splash (with a salute) to pin Sami at 11:14.

Rating: C. This is a show where the wrestling means absolutely nothing as the entire point is to have some fun stuff in a laid back atmosphere. That’s what we had here, with everyone involved getting a chance to showcase themselves a little bit. Ford getting to clean house is always a treat and the fact that he is a veteran makes it that much more appropriate. This is the kind of match that the show needs and getting some unique combinations helps too.

The NFL on FOX thanks the troops.

Lacey Evans and NFL analyst Jay Glazer are at Marine Corps Air Station Miramar (in San Diego). Evans wins a push up contest against some Marines over three Marines but the second place finisher gets cheered as well.

A singer named Hardy performs.

We look at WWE wrestlers meeting the troops over the years. They had to do it digitally this year and it’s better than nothing.

More NFL on FOX people thank the troops.

Sasha Banks/Bianca Belair vs. Bayley/Natalya

Banks takes Bayley to the mat to start but Bayley forearms both of them away. Belair isn’t about to have anything of a drop toehold but she gets driven into the corner instead. Natalya comes in and gets dropped with a running should, allowing Belair to tell her to bring it on. The big jumping splash connects and everything breaks down, with Belair launching Banks into both of them as we take a break.

Back with Belair being sent hard into the corner but fighting out without much trouble. The hot tag brings in Banks to clean house, including a slingshot double knees to crush Natalya in the corner. The top rope Meteora gets two and Belair hits a handspring moonsault. Bayley and Bianca fight to the floor, leaving Banks to slap on the Bank Statement and, after being flipped back into the middle of the ring, Natalya taps at 7:24.

Rating: C. It’s another showcase match and that’s all it needed to be. Belair is an insane athlete and Banks getting to beat up Natalya isn’t going to hurt anyone. They didn’t try to do anything out of the ordinary here and that’s all it was supposed to be, with some nice action along the way.

We look back to 2007 when Vince McMahon canceled Santa Claus’ appearance, only to have an injured Santa Cena beat him up.

Rob Gronkowski thanks the troops.

Drew McIntyre vs. The Miz

Non-title (Really?) and John Morrison is here with Miz. McIntyre sends him outside without much effort to start and follows with a chop. Morrison (in his Santa hat) goes for a cheap shot and is launched over the barricade for his efforts. The distraction lets Miz get in a cheap shot though and drives McIntyre into the barricade.

Back in and Miz crotches him into the Tree of Woe, allowing McIntyre to do his sitout toss off the top (always impressive). McIntyre hits a neckbreaker and pulls Morrison inside for attempting a save. Miz gets in a thumb to the eye and puts his feet on the ropes for two. McIntyre kicks Morrison off the apron and blocks the Skull Crushing Finale. The Future Shock drops Miz and the Claymore finishes at 4:32.

Rating: C-. That was even more nothing than usual on these shows, which is covering a lot of ground. McIntyre shredded Miz here without breaking a sweat, which makes me wonder why they couldn’t just make it a title match to make things feel a little bigger. It wasn’t a good match, but it wasn’t really supposed to be, so well done….I guess?

McIntyre poses in front of the virtual fans to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. Unless the show is completely wretched, I can’t bring myself to criticize these things. They aren’t supposed to be anything serious and this one certainly wasn’t, with a bunch of matches thrown out there with some stars doing cool stuff. That’s exactly what they are supposed to be and given the circumstances they had to face, you really can’t get annoyed at them here. Not a good show or anything, but that’s not the point in something like this.

 

 

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

Smackdown
Date: November 27, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the fallout show from Smackdown and there isn’t much to brag about around here. As usual, Roman Reigns was the high point for the blue show as he defeated Drew McIntyre in the champion vs. champion main event. Other than that, it’s time to start getting ready for the TLC pay per view next month so let’s get to it.

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

Here’s Jey Uso to open things up. After Survivor Series, everyone is talking about the Undertaker but they should be talking about his cousin. Drew McIntyre has beaten Randy Orton and Brock Lesnar but he couldn’t beat Roman Reigns….and here are Reigns and Paul Heyman to cut him off.

Reigns says play it and we see a clip of Reigns ordering Uso to make up for losing in the Survivor Series match. Uso would go on to help Reigns defeat McIntyre in the main event, seemingly regaining Reigns’ confidence. Back in the arena, Reigns says he told Jey to leave on Sunday and never needed any help against McIntyre. Why does Jey think Reigns’ Team Smackdown lost? They don’t listen because they don’t fear him and they don’t fear him because they don’t respect him.

Like Reigns said on Sunday, if they don’t respect Jey, they don’t respect the family. If they don’t respect the family, then who are they? Jey must think that Reigns is some b**** in the locker room begging for Thanksgiving leftovers. If that’s how Jey sees him, how do people see him? How do Jey’s kids look at him? That’s how Reigns feels because of Jey’s failures and he doesn’t like that. Reigns and Heyman leave Uso standing in the ring without saying anything. Sweet goodness Reigns is incredible at this stuff.

Otis vs. King Corbin

Otis comes to the ring as Jey is leaving….so Jey jumps him with a chair and completely destroys him. No match for now.

Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler vs. Street Profits

Non-title. On the way the ring, Ziggler and Roode talk about how rough that is for Otis, who has a lot on his plate. Ziggler: “Like at catering.” The Profits on the other hand think that Ziggler is Shawn Michaels, but apparently he’s just a big fan. They start fast with Ziggler trying to pick up the pace but Dawkins punches his dive out of the way. It’s far too early for the frog splash though as Ford crashes to send us to a break.

Back with Ziggler hitting a Stinger Splash on Ford in the corner, setting up Roode’s backbreaker for two. The abdominal stretch is broken up but Ziggler is right there to prevent the tag. Ford fights up a few seconds later and the hot tag brings in Dawkins to clean house. The Anointment into the Cash Out crushes Roode but Ford’s banged up ribs means it’s a delayed two. Ziggler tries to superkick Ford but gets enziguried down, only for Roode to grab a rollup for the pin at 7:55.

Rating: C-. That’s the kind of match you’ve seen a few hundred times now and odds are it sets up a title shot at TLC. I’m not sure I can imagine the Profits dropping the titles to them, but that’s how they lure you into a false sense of security with Ziggler and Roode. You don’t think they would actually go with something that dull and then that’s what we get. Keep an eye out for that, always.

We look at the recent history between Sami Zayn and Daniel Bryan.

Bryan is asked about his strategy against Zayn tonight. What he has learned is that like Jey Uso, Zayn has a devil on his shoulder. Zayn will exploit anything available because he wants to retain the title. Bryan just wants the Intercontinental Title.

The Mysterios and Murphy are very thankful for everything, including Murphy finally seeing what Seth Rollins really is. Cue King Corbin to say Murphy is riding what little is left of Rey Mysterio’s coattails. Murphy has to be held back a bit.

We get the Undertaker tribute video from Sunday, along with the abbreviated version of his Final Farewell at Survivor Series.

Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan

Non-title. Before the match, Sami talks about how unfair it is that he is expected to wrestle a day after a horrible holiday that celebrates what happened to the Native Americans of this country. The only person who should be thankful is Bryan, who is FINALLY being rewarded with the match that he wants. Bryan’s music cuts Sami off and we’re ready to go with Bryan taking Zayn down by the arm.

There’s a stomp to the arm, which has Zayn claiming a stomp to the hair instead. Bryan stays on the arm by cranking away on the mat but Zayn knocks him outside for a breather. Back in and Zayn gets crotched on top, meaning Bryan can knock him outside for a change. The top rope dive hits the barricade though and we take a break. Back with Zayn getting some near falls, only to have Bryan fight back with the running clothesline. It’s time to crank on the arm some more but Zayn gets out to the apron to post Bryan.

A brainbuster onto the apron mostly destroys Bryan (that looked awful) but it’s only good for a nine count. Back in and the Blue Thunder Bomb gets two on Bryan and Zayn is stunned. Bryan pulls him down into a cross armbreaker but that’s blocked as well. Instead Bryan floats over into the YES Lock but Zayn manages to get to the ropes. Zayn goes to the floor, where Bryan hits back to back suicide dives. The chase up the ramp is on and they head to the back, with only Zayn running back to beat the count at 13:08.

Rating: C+. Good stuff here, as Sami can turn on the in-ring stuff when he needs to. That ending seems to be setting up something else in the future and a rematch later on wouldn’t surprise me. Zayn is someone who could hold the title for a long time and it will feel like a big deal when he finally loses, which is what they are going for with someone like him.

Post match we cut to the back where Jey Uso is attacking Bryan. Kevin Owens tries to break it up but Jey shoves him away too. Referees get Jey off and Owens follows, with violence being implied. Post break, Owens yells at Jey while Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman watch. Owens says this isn’t their personal playground and for someone who is all about family, Reigns doesn’t great his family very well. Owens leaves and Reigns asks if Jey is going to put up with that disrespect.

Natalya vs. Bianca Belair

Bayley is on commentary as Natalya grabs a victory roll for one. Belair misses a heck of a charge into the post so Natalya forearms away to little avail. Natalya runs her over again and puts on a surfboard, even bridging back for two. Belair is back up and avoids the discus forearm, setting up a double chickenwing toss out to the floor. They fight outside with Belair decking Bayley, allowing Natalya to get in a shot to the face back inside. The Sharpshooter is broken up though and Natalya crashes into Bayley, setting up a rollup to give Belair the pin at 3:05.

Rating: C-. Belair vs. Bayley would certainly be a fresh match and a nice way to elevate Belair up the card. Eventually you need to win a few matches against bigger names and that is the chance they seem to be giving Belair here. Natalya losing means nothing anymore so Belair gets a win without hurting anyone and is moved into a better feud at the same time.

Murphy vs. King Corbin

The Mysterios here with Murphy and offer an early distraction so Murphy can slug away. Corbin runs him over though and takes it outside, where Aalyah offers a distraction. Corbin: “What is going on here???” The distraction lets Murphy get in a dive off the apron but Corbin hits Deep Six back inside. Corbin pounds him down in the corner and then tosses him into another corner to make it worse. Murphy manages to hit the jumping knee to the face and, after Dominick shoves Corbin’s leg off the ropes, gets the pin at 3:56.

Rating: C-. Another match that didn’t have the most time to go anywhere but it seems that Mysterio and company have their next big feud. I’m almost scared to wonder why Corbin is going to recruit to help him, but this is more Corbin’s speed. If he’s going to have something that can work for him, this is going to be it.

Post match Corbin yells about it being 4-1 and wants a rematch with Murphy. Corbin will be ready.

Sami Zayn brags to Apollo Crews and Big E. about beating Bryan in ten seconds, just like he did to Crews. That’s it for Crews, so Big E. says Zayn has no foundation after all the cheap ways he has won. Zayn says that sounds like sour grapes because he is in the middle of his title reign and Big E. hasn’t been champion in years. Sami brings up the ten seconds thing again so Big E. shakes and squeezes his hand for a ten count.

Billie Kay joins commentary to show off her resume.

Carmella talks about how embarrassing Sasha Banks is as Women’s Champion, which is why Carmella has been attacking her. Cue Banks to jump her from behind and tell Carmella to not mess with things.

The Street Profits and Bianca Belair shill WWE Shop merch.

Kevin Owens vs. Jey Uso

Owens hammers away to start and the brawl is on early. They head outside with Uso sending him hard into the steps and hammering away with right hands. Back in and Uso works on the arm by bending it around the rope. Owens fights back with a backsplash but gets sent into the post. The suicide dive is cut off though and Owens catapults him into the post. A superkick over the announcers’ table has Jey in more trouble and we take a break.

Back with Owens hitting a Swanton off the apron, only to have Jey take the arm apart again. The armbar goes on for a bit until Owens fights up with the good arm. The Pop Up Powerbomb doesn’t work due to said arm so Uso hits a superkick for two. Owens gets the knees up to block the Superfly Splash but Jey sends the shoulder into the post again. That’s enough for Uso, who grabs a chair and unloads for the DQ at 11:56.

Rating: C+. Again, the fact that Uso has gotten this much out of Reigns’ heel run shows you how good things have been for Reigns as of late. It’s another good enough match but this one was about setting things up for later rather than having anything be overly competitive. They did their thing and the ending was the right choice so there isn’t much to complain about.

Post match Jey is held back so Owens gets the chair and massacres Uso. Owens says if Reigns has a problem, come say it to his face. He gets on the announcers’ table and says he’s the head of it, There’s a Stunner to Uso and Owens has a seat, asking where Reigns is. Owens says he’ll be waiting as we see Reigns seething to end the show. Sounds like TLC to me.

Overall Rating: C. This show was up and down for most of the night as the Uso/Reigns stuff was almost the only part that really worked. It seems like Owens is getting the TLC title match and that works out for everyone involved. Smackdown is REALLY light on main event challengers at the moment and Owens as a one/two off challenger should work rather well. Go with what makes sense and let the talented wrestlers make it work. The rest of the show was hit and miss, but they set up the big story they needed to cover.

Results

Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler b. Street Profits – Rollup to Ford

Sami Zayn b. Daniel Bryan via countout

Bianca Belair b. Natalya – Rollup

Murphy b. King Corbin – Jumping knee

Kevin Owens b. Jey Uso via DQ when Uso used a chair

 

 

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

Survivor Series 2019
Date: November 24, 2019
Location: Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Attendance: 13,271
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Vic Joseph, Jerry Lawler, Nigel McGuinness, Beth Phoenix

This year’s show is all about the Battle For Brand Supremacy, but NXT is involved as well and the invasions have been red hot for a change. They have set up a pretty awesome looking show, even with the amount of triple threat matches, including triple threat elimination matches. Let’s get to it.

I was in the arena for this show, sitting in the end zone straight across from the Titantron in the upper deck.

Kickoff Show: Tag Team Battle Royal

Raw: OC, Street Profits, Curt Hawkins/Zack Ryder

Smackdown: Revival, Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler, Lucha House Party, Heavy Machinery

NXT: Forgotten Sons, Breezango, Imperium

When one member is out, the team is out. Where to begin? First of all, there are no graphics to tell you which brand the teams are on. I get expecting people to know that at the time, but WWE knows that they have the Draft every year and that the Network is a thing here. Throw up a show graphic.

Second, a year later and five of these teams are gone, with four of them out of the company. Third, Hawkins and Ryder are “glad to still be here.” These people were the Tag Team Champions at Wrestlemania seven months and a half months earlier. That’s a heck of a fall. Oh and I had forgotten about that Tag Team World Cup deal the OC had from Crown Jewel. I’ve heard worse ideas.

It’s a brawl to start (shocking I know) with Jaxson Ryker saving Gran Metalik for no reason. General stupidity maybe? The Sons are out in a hurry as I try to get over Dolph Ziggler wearing a Smackdown hat in the match. Yeah they need graphics on their name but it’s Ziggler so by definition it’s a stupid thing to do. Angelo Dawkins throws out Gran Metalik to get rid of the Lucha House Party as Ziggler (now minus the hat) is thrown to the apron for his traditional save fest.

Hawkins is sent through the middle rope but Ryder is thrown over the top and onto him for the elimination. Barthel catapults Ziggler over the top for the skinning of the cat and Roode gets rid of Aichner to eliminate Imperium and save Ziggler (again). Otis falls trying the Caterpillar and gets dumped by OC/Revival. Breezango is out thanks to Revival and that’s it for NXT.

We’re down to Revival, OC, Roode/Ziggler and the Profits, with the Profits dropkicking Revival out in a hurry. Ziggler saves Roode from the Magic Killer and superkicks Gallows out to get us down to two. The brawl is on with Roode busting Dawkins’ spine but Ziggler superkicks Roode through the ropes by mistake. The Sky High looks to set up the frog splash but Roode saves Ziggler (that man needs a lot of saving). Ford hits the frog splash on Ziggler instead, only to be thrown out by Roode for the win at 8:19.

Rating: D+. It’s a battle royal and a tag team one at that, with the teams barely being identifiable outside of commentary throwing out a brand here and there. It will get better later on and since this was a bonus match, it’s hard to get that upset. What impresses me the most is how much the tag team division changes so quickly, as this feels like it could have been four or five years ago. That probably shouldn’t be happening and yet it doesn’t seem out of place.

Smackdown – 1

Raw – 0

NXT – 0

Kickoff Show: Cruiserweight Title: Akira Tozawa (Raw) vs. Kalisto (Smackdown) vs. Lio Rush (NXT)

Rush is defending and gets double teamed to start but Tozawa and Kalisto waste no time in turning on each other. That means it’s time for Rush to start his bobbing and weaving, which always looked awesome. Kalisto pulls Rush to the floor and cuts off Tozawa’s dive before walking the rope to kick Rush in the face.

A spinning wristdrag takes Tozawa down but Tozawa shoves Kalisto into Rush’s raised boot. Rush hits a double handspring elbow to take both of them down but Tozawa punches him in the face. Kalisto gets kicked to the floor and Tozawa’s sliding boot gets two on Rush. Tozawa and Kalisto take Rush to the top but he double armdrags both of them down for a huge crash.

A circle chop off is capped off by Tozawa German suplexing Rush but Kalisto dives in to roll Rush up for two. Tozawa is back up with a Shining Wizard to send Kalisto outside and the top rope backsplash hits Rush. Kalisto dives in for the save and the slugout is on, with Kalisto hitting the Salida del Sol on Tozawa. That’s fine with Rush, who comes in with the Final Hour to pin Tozawa and retain at 8:20.

Rating: C. It’s a match that has been done before but what we got worked out just fine with the three of them flying around and doing their high flying stuff. That’s something that is always going to work because it is a style that never gets old and Rush retaining is a fine way to get NXT on the board. I know he might have some issues, but dang Rush can do the flying thing.

Smackdown – 1

NXT – 1

Raw – 0

Kickoff Show: New Day (Smackdown) vs. Undisputed Era (NXT) vs. Viking Raiders (Raw)

Non-title (with all three as respective champions) and it’s Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly, fresh off WarGames the previous night, for the Era. Big E., Ivar and O’Reilly start things off, which may be a little harder to keep track of but it makes a lot more sense than having two people in there at once instead. O’Reilly is taken down in a hurry so it’s Fish coming in, earning himself a beating of his own from Ivar. Both parts of the Era come in and get dropped by Ivar and Big E. before they turn on each over.

They take turns flipping away from each other until Big E. runs Ivar over in the power display. O’Reilly comes back in for the rapid fire knees to Big E. but the Raiders knee O’Reilly down without much effort. It’s back to Fish, who gets Ivar slammed onto him to make it even worse. Kingston comes in to slug away on Erik and it’s New Day double teaming O’Reilly down for two.

The Era is sent outside and it’s the New Day/Raiders showdown. The slugout goes on until Kofi is left alone, meaning it’s time for the Era to come back in and take over on Kingston’s leg in the corner. Ivar dives in with a splash to break up a kneebar so O’Reilly and Kingston slug it out on the apron instead. Big E. misses his spear through the ropes so Kofi and the Era join him, meaning Erik can slam Ivar onto the other four.

Back in and Fish starts taking over on Erik’s knee before handing it off to O’Reilly for the same. Erik manages to suplex O’Reilly into the corner to take Fish down, allowing the hot tag to Ivar. House is cleaned and O’Reilly kicks Fish in the corner by mistake. Big E. gets kicked in the face as well and Erik hits the shotgun dropkick on Fish. Ivar’s Bronco Buster misses though, meaning Kofi can come in with a standing double stomp to Erik.

Big E. suplexes the Era and it’s a powerbomb/top rope double stomp to crush Erik. Kofi’s big dive over the top takes out Ivar and the Era, with Big E. hitting the spear to take Erik down as well. Everyone gets back up and Erik knees Big E. in the face, setting up the springboard clothesline/German suplex combination (always cool), sending Big E. outside again.

Kofi takes the High/Low on the floor meaning it’s the Era vs. the Vikings for a change. Erik is knocked outside so the Era kicks Ivar…who doesn’t seem to mind. The handspring double elbow (second in two matches) connects for Ivar and it’s the Viking Experience to drive O’Reilly into Fish to give Ivar the pin at 14:42.

Rating: B. This was the kind of all action match that they should have been having and it got enough time to make it work really well. New Day is a team who can be put in there at any time to make other teams look good and the Era can work with anyone. The Raiders needed the win most and it worked out well all around. Good stuff here and a nice way to wrap up the Kickoff Show.

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

NXT – 1

The opening video looks at how this is usually Raw vs. Smackdown but then NXT jumped in to make it a lot more interesting in a hurry. There are some other matches thrown in but this is ALL about the three way brand fight, which did have a heck of a build.

Raw Women vs. Smackdown Women vs. NXT Women

Raw – Charlotte, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Natalya, Sarah Logan

Smackdown – Sasha Banks, Dana Brooke, Carmella, Nikki Cross, Lacey Evans

NXT – Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Candice LeRae, Io Shirai, Toni Storm

The NXT team was announced after last night’s Takeover and some of them are coming off of WarGames so they’re a little banged up. Storm, Evans and Logan start things off with Lacey taking over early on. That earns her a double flip out to the floor and it’s Cross tagging herself in to take her place. Logan hits a cartwheel knee to Storm’s back for….well nothing actually as she talks trash until Cross jumps on her back for the choking.

They’re both a bit odd so that fits well. Back up and Storm German suplexes both of them at once so it’s off to Sane, Carmella and Shirai. The fans get rather excited about two of these people and I’ll let you guess who they are. Carmella hands it off to Brooke, who is fine with just standing in the corner while the other two trade headscissors and clotheslines. Shirai hits a running basement dropkick to Sane’s face but Brooke sends them both into the corner for a double handspring elbow.

The Swanton hits both of them for two on Shirai so Evans comes in for a double hiptoss instead. Candice gets the tag and strikes away at Evans as Asuka comes in as well. A quick snapmare drops Asuka so Candice can hit a step up backsplash and there’s a middle rope faceplant for two on Evans. It’s off to Ripley, who gets caught in Asuka’s armbreaker so Belair makes the save, triggering the parade of secondary finishers. Banks is left alone in the ring with everyone else down…including Shirai and LeRae need medical attention.

Everything pauses as Raw and Smackdown wave goodbye to them instead of, I don’t know, trying to eliminate each other. We settle down to Banks vs. Ripley vs. Charlotte, which does sound like a heck of a match. Ripley doesn’t seem to be very impressed and since this feels big, it’s off to Belair, Logan and Cross instead. Cross hits a neckbreaker on Logan but gets sent to the apron for her efforts. A dive to the floor takes Ripley down and Cross hammers away on Storm against the apron.

Ripley picks Cross up though and puts her on the apron, allowing Belair to grab a rollup (with Ripley holding the feet) for the elimination at 9:39. Carmella comes in with a big headscissors to Belair and a superkick to Logan, only to walk into Belair’s KOD. That sends her into the ropes but Logan sends both of them out to the floor. Running knees takes Carmella and Belair down again with Natalya having to make a save back inside. Belair punches Logan down though and hits the 450 to get rid of her at 12:10.

That puts us at Raw and Smackdown with four each and NXT with three as Charlotte comes in to face Belair and doesn’t seem impressed. Belair gets clotheslined but Carmella comes back in to kick Charlotte down. The big boot drops Belair again but Carmella breaks up the moonsault that will never hit no matter what anyway. Charlotte pulls Carmella up for a powerbomb, which is countered into a hurricanrana onto Belair to give Carmella a pair of two’s each on both.

Carmella grabs Belair by the ponytail but takes too long, allowing Charlotte to hit Natural Selection on Carmella for the elimination at 15:38. Sane, Storm and Banks come in with Storm kicking Banks in the face. Storm Zero to Shirai is broken up though and the Insane Elbow connects, with Sasha breaking up the pin and….then pinning Sane herself at 16:48. Asuka gets so frustrated that she comes in and wrecks the place, including kicking the now legal Brooke in the face to get rid of her at 17:25.

We’re down to Ripley/Belair/LeRae/Shirai (with the latter two backstage) for NXT vs. Evans/Banks for Smackdown vs. Charlotte/Asuka/Natalya for Raw. Charlotte tags herself in and gets into a shoving match with Asuka as a result, eventually slamming Asuka down by the hair. Lacey tries to jump Charlotte but Asuka is back with the green mist (BIG pop for that) to blind Charlotte before walking out. The Woman’s Right gets rid of Charlotte at 19:09 and Raw is down to just Natalya. I’ll take that over Asuka taking another loss and Charlotte is going to be the focal point of everything she does so a tainted loss doesn’t mean a thing.

Since Natalya is the only one left for Raw, she comes in with the discus lariat to Storm and then rolls Evans up for a fast elimination at 19:51. That leaves us with Storm/Belair/Ripley for NXT, Banks for Smackdown and Natalya for Raw and Ripley is rather pleased. Banks and Natalya get smart and take Storm down for a Sharpshooter/Banks Statement combination for the tap at 20:47.

Belair comes in and Natalya tries to talk trash before going with the smarter move of playing Jim to Banks’ Bret on the Hart Attack for the pin at 21:16. So it’s down to Banks vs. Natalya vs. Ripley….or at least it is until Banks decks Natalya for the pin at 21:57, eliminating Raw completely.

The fans REALLY like the idea of Banks vs. Ripley though and it’s Ripley hammering away and getting two off a dropkick. Back up and Banks can’t hit a tornado DDT so it’s a sleeper to limited avail instead. Banks hits the running knees in the corner and the middle rope Meteora gets two. More knees to the back of the head send Ripley into the corner again but this time she superkicks the Meteora out of the air.

The Prism Trap (dang that looks awesome) is on but Banks rolls into the Bank Statement instead. Ripley is in trouble so here are LeRae and Shirai, who were never officially eliminated, to pull Ripley to safety. That earns them a dropkick through the ropes each and they head back in, where Banks has to slip out of Riptide. Shirai hits her with a springboard missile dropkick though and now Riptide can give Ripley the final pin at 27:53.

Rating: B-. They got some time here and the important thing is NXT wins a major match. That’s an awesome thing to see and it’s really cool that it actually happened on a big stage. You want to set things up well for the rest of the night and having an NXT all star team lose to teams involving Logan, Brooke and Carmella wasn’t going to work. Above all else, Ripley looked like a total star here, eclipsing almost everyone else in the match and the fans treated her like one. I wouldn’t have had Shirai and LeRae save her at the end, but Ripley pinning Banks for the win is all that matters.

NXT – 2

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

We look at the closing moments of WarGames last night when Kevin Owens became the final member of Team Ciampa and helped them win.

Seth Rollins, Raw Team Captain, comes up to Owens to ask where his loyalties lie. Owens says last night was just to get back at the Undisputed Era so tonight, he’s Team Raw. He also finds it funny that SETH ROLLINS is questioning loyalty. A mock Shield pose takes us out.

Shinsuke Nakamura (Smackdown) vs. Roderick Strong (NXT) vs. AJ Styles (Raw)

Battle of the midcard champions and Sami Zayn is in Nakamura’s corner. Nakamura strikes away at both of them to start but AJ gets them into the corners for some running elbows. Strong’s backbreaker gets him out of trouble but AJ knocks him to the floor and hits a shot to the face. Back in and Nakamura breaks up AJ’s springboard and kicks Strong to the floor for a bonus. A knee gets two on Styles and there’s the running knee in the corner.

The gutbuster fireman’s carry gives Strong two on Nakamura but AJ comes back in with a sleeper to give Nakamura a breather. Strong fights back up and runs them both over a few times, including the alternating running forearms to AJ in the ropes. AJ fights up and gets in a few shots, only to be monkey flipped into a shot to the face from Nakamura. A slugout puts Strong down in a hurry and Nakamura hits the sliding knee for two.

The Styles Clash to Nakamura is broken up and Sami pulls Nakamura outside for a break. Strong unloads on Styles in the corner but gets caught in an Electric Chair, with Nakamura coming in off the top with a kick to the chest. AJ breaks that up as well but Sami pulls him outside, leaving Strong to hit a jumping knee for two on Nakamura. Back in and AJ cuts off Kinshasa, setting up the circle of strikes to the face.

Nakamura drops AJ and hits a reverse exploder on Strong (whose knee got very close to AJ’s face), setting up Kinshasa….for two as AJ makes another save. AJ and Nakamura slug it out so Nigel can talk about their Japanese rivalry. The Landslide gets two on AJ but Kinshasa is countered with a shot to the face. AJ hits the Phenomenal Forearm but Strong comes in to get rid of AJ and steal the pin at 16:43.

Rating: B. This was the action packed match that you would have expected and the cool thing is that it made Strong look like he was on their level. Strong isn’t someone who has been proven on the big stage before and seeing him win here, especially by outsmarting the other two, is great to see. Again: it’s not like Nakamura or Styles are going to be hurt by the loss, especially to another champion. Throw in the fast paced action and having commentary boosting it that much more than this was a great time.

NXT – 3

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

Miz comes up to Daniel Bryan in the back and says they’re both family men. That’s why Miz wants Bryan to stop the Fiend once and for all, because he is an evil that must be stopped. Bryan doesn’t want to hear it from Miz.

NXT Title: Adam Cole vs. Pete Dunne

Cole is defending, but the interesting thing here is the lack of Mauro Ranallo, who apparently blew his voice out last night at Takeover. This would be code for “did not like Corey Graves calling him out for making too many Chicago rap music references and not letting Phoenix and McGuinness talk enough. He would be gone for a little while before returning, but it was clear that something wasn’t quite right. Cole has bad ribs and Dunne has a bad knee coming in.

The wristlocking doesn’t work well on Cole as Dunne flips out before going straight after the bad ribs. Dunne starts in on the hand before taking it outside to stomp the elbow in the steps. Back in and Cole kicks him down to stomp away before a dropkick cuts off Dunne’s knee. Dunne grabs the X Plex for a breather and Cole lands hard on the ribs again. There’s an enziguri into the corner to set up a release German suplex.

A sitout powerbomb gets two on Cole and he heads outside, with Dunne hitting a middle rope moonsault to the floor. Back in and Dunne’s moonsault hits knees, setting up the Last Shot to give Cole two. The Panama Sunrise misses so they take turns hitting each other in the face. The brainbuster onto the knee gives Cole two but another Last Shot misses and Dunne grabs the Bitter End for a close two. They slug it out again and Dunne unloads with chops but Cole superkicks his moonsault out of the air.

That’s good for two as well, as is Dunne’s sitout X Plex. They fight to the apron (because of course they do) and Cole busts out the Panama Sunrise to put them both down on the floor. Back in and Cole kicks him in the head and the kickout has Cole panicking. Dunne talks trash as they get up and snaps the finger but the Bitter End is countered into a Panama Sunrise (that looked great). The Last Shot retains the title at 14:09.

Rating: B+. Now that’s what you were hoping to see from these two and it was an awesome match throughout. Dunne is an absolute star and Cole looks like someone who should be the future whenever he is in the ring. This is one of those matches that makes you drool when you hear it announced and then they delivered on top of it. Great stuff here and worth seeing for that NXT style that works so well.

Team Smackdown argues over who should be the captain.

We recap the Fiend taking the Smackdown World Title from Seth Rollins at Crown Jewel. Then Miz questioned if Daniel Bryan was the same person he used to be, which got the Fiend involved as well. Bryan finally said YES again and that’s just what Fiend wanted as Bryan brought back the YES Movement.

Smackdown World Title: The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan

Fiend is defending and there is something so creepy about watching him in person. The red lights are on and Bryan hits the running dropkick into the corner. A running clothesline cuts him off though and they head outside with Bryan being sent into the post. Back in and Fiend hits the release Rock Bottom and there’s the toss suplex to drop Bryan again. We hit the neck crank as Fiend laughs a lot.

They head outside again with Bryan hitting a running knee from the apron. A top rope dive takes Fiend down again and there’s a missile dropkick back inside. Bryan nips up and the YES chants set up the YES Kicks. The big kick to the head just makes Fiend laugh but another one keeps him down for a change. The running knee connects for two but Fiend grabs the Mandible Claw. Bryan manages to reverse into an armbar but another Mandible Claw finishes Bryan at 10:01.

Rating: C+. The point here was to have Fiend get over as a monster in his first title defense and that’s what he did. They made Fiend feel like a movie monster and that’s the kind of thing you want to do in this situation. Bryan not being able to win, even with the most successful stuff he has, is a good way to go and it told they story they wanted. Fiend is an unstoppable monster and that’s how it should be.

Rey Mysterio says it has been fifteen years since he first faced Brock Lesnar. A few months ago, he was ready to hang up his mask but his son Dominik made him keep going. Tonight, Rey is swinging his lead pipe for Lesnar’s knees and hopes his son is watching when he becomes WWE Champion.

Raw Men vs. Smackdown Men vs. NXT Men

Raw: Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Ricochet, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton

Smackdown: Roman Reigns, King Corbin, Mustafa Ali, Shorty G., Braun Strowman

NXT: Tommaso Ciampa, Walter, Keith Lee, Damian Priest, Matt Riddle

The NXT team was announced on the Kickoff Show again. The fans are way into Walter, more or less sealing his fate. Strowman, Ciampa and Rollins start things off and Strowman dropkicks both of them down. Walter and McIntyre come in and Walter is all over a three way battle of the big men. The double teaming works on Strowman this time before slugging it out themselves. A big boot into the running seated senton hits McIntyre and there’s a German suplex to drop him again.

Walter chops Strowman to make him mad, tells him to bring it, and hits a dropkick into the corner. McIntyre hits the Claymore to finish Walter at 2:59 and the fans are MAD, as they should be in that spot. Priest comes in to strike away at McIntyre and Strowman. Shorty comes in to moonsault Priest and it’s Ricochet coming in as well. That earns him a Chaos Theory from Shorty and it’s off to Riddle for the grapple off. Both ankle locks miss and neither can hit a spinning kick so we’ll go with the standoff. Ciampa comes in so Ricochet kicks both he and Shorty down at once. Owens frog splashes Shorty for the pin at 6:27.

Reigns and Corbin both come in with Corbin hitting him in the face like the horrible teammate that he is. Owens heads outside to superkick Corbin and hit the Cannonball on Reigns against the barricade. Back in and….Ciampa grabs Willow’s Bell to get rid of Owens at 7:42. Orton slides in behind Ciampa and the fans really like this one. The RKO is blocked and Ciampa clotheslines him outside but Willow’s Bell is blocked as well. Orton drops him onto the apron and it’s time for the circle stomp back inside. Priest gets a blind tag as Orton RKOs Ciampa, so it’s an RKO to get rid of Priest at 10:16.

Riddle comes in and rolls Orton up for the fast pin at 10:30. Riddle is SHOCKED at the win….until Orton hits him with an RKO so Corbin can steal the pin at 10:56. We’re down to Rollins/McIntyre/Ricochet for Raw, Reigns/Corbin/Ali/Strowman for Smackdown and Ciampa/Lee for NXT. Lee comes in to face Corbin but Strowman tags himself in as the fans are recommending that we BASK IN HIS GLORY.

Strowman runs Lee over and starts cleaning house, including the freight train around the ring. He does it again but this time Lee Pounces him, followed by a Claymore from McIntyre for the countout at 13:14. Ricochet comes in to kick Corbin down and the big flip dive drops Reigns on the floor. That just earns him the End of Days from Corbin for the pin at 14:30. Ali, the hometown boy, comes in to clean house and soak in some cheers. The wicked tornado DDT plants Rollins and Ali hits a suicide dive…but Corbin yells at him, allowing Rollins to hit the Stomp on Ali for the elimination at 16:10.

Reigns and Corbin get into it on the floor as a quick CM PUNK chant starts and stops just as fast. Back in and McIntyre hits the reverse Alabama Slam on Ciampa. Reigns spears McIntyre down for the pin at 17:39 though, leaving us with Rollins vs. Reigns/Corbin vs. Ciampa/Lee. Rollins rolls Reigns up for two but gets kicked in the face. Willow’s Bell drops Reigns but the Fairy Tale Ending is blocked. Corbin cuts off Lee and drags Reigns over for the tag, only to have Reigns spear Corbin. Ciampa will take that pin at 19:54 and Smackdown is down to Reigns.

Rollins and Reigns go after Ciampa, who is fine with these odds. Rollins throws Ciampa outside though…and it’s time to load up the announcers’ table. Lee breaks up the DoubleBomb though and Ciampa hits Project Ciampa for a close two on Rollins back inside. The Fairy Tale Ending is countered so Ciampa hits a running knee, only to eat the Superman Punch from Reigns. The Stomp gets rid of Ciampa at 24:01 and we’re down to one man each.

Lee comes back in to throw Rollins around and he crossbodies both of them at the same time. Rollins is back with an enziguri into a low superkick and the frog splash gets two, with Lee LAUNCHING him off the kickout. Rollins is all fired up but walks into the Big Bang Catastrophe to give Lee the pin and get rid of Raw at 26:36. Lee smiles down at Reigns, who hits back to back Superman Punches for a VERY close two. The spear is countered into the Spirit Bomb for a nearer fall but the moonsault misses. Reigns hits the spear for the final pin at 29:18.

Rating: A-. I came to Survivor Series wanting to see one of the classic elimination matches and that’s what I got here, with one elimination after another and some crazy drama near the end. Lee looked like a STAR here and pinning Rollins clean is as big of a moment as he was going to get. There is no shame in being pinned by Reigns and what we got here was great stuff. I loved this match, save for the way Walter was put out, and it’s all I could have asked for.

NXT – 3

Smackdown – 2

NXT – 1

Becky Lynch is ready for Shayna Baszler and there is no one who can keep her down tonight. She has been traveling the world and every day out means one day out of the gym. Becky sees something of herself in Bayley, so tonight she is going to show both of them what she is.

We recap Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio for Brock’s Raw World Title. Brock came after Rey and his family so Rey brought in Cain Velasquez. That didn’t go so well as Brock destroyed him, leaving no one to protect Rey. That’s why Rey grabbed a lead pipe and started swinging, setting up this No Holds Barred title match.

Raw World Title: Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio

Lesnar, with Paul Heyman, is defending and it’s No Holds Barred. Rey is the Joker here for no apparent reason. Heyman says Lesnar weighs about two and a half Rey Mysterios. Rey grabs a pipe to start so Lesnar drops to the floor. He comes right back in though and blasts Rey with a clothesline. Rey is thrown over the announcers’ table and an overhead belly to belly sends him into the announcers’ table covering.

Brock posts him but Rey does the same to him, meaning it’s pipe time. Back in and Brock suplexes him onto the pipe and then adds another suplex. Cue Dominik to try to throw in the towel but Rey uses the distraction to hit a low blow. Some pipe shots from Rey and a chair shot from Dominik set up stereo 619s. Back to back frog splashes into a double cover gets two on Lesnar, who is back up with a suplex on Dominik. The F5 retains the title at 6:53.

Rating: C+. The whole point here was that one moment of drama and it worked a lot better than I was expecting. I don’t think anyone was realistically expecting Rey to win here but they managed to get in that little bit of drama and that was a great surprise. Lesnar was running out of opponents so having him wreck Mysterio was as good of a move as they had here, with Rey knowing how to sell this perfectly.

We recap the Women’s Champions triple threat. Becky Lynch said being the champ was all that mattered but Shayna Baszler just wanted to snap a limb. Bayley wanted to know why she was an afterthought and now it’s match time.

Bayley (Smackdown) vs. Becky Lynch (Raw) vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT)

Non-title again. They stare each other down to start and Bayley shoves Baszler into Becky. The brawling continues to the floor so Becky dives onto both of them. Back in and Bayley avoids the running spinning legdrop but Becky kicks her in the head. Baszler is back in as well and starts cleaning house until Bayley knocks her outside. Bayley stomps on Becky but charges into an elbow in the corner. With Baszler being dropped to the floor again, Bayley drops onto Becky’s back for two.

All three are back in with Becky kicking Baszler down and starting the Bexploders. A DDT gets two on Bayley and the top rope legdrop is good for the same with Baszler making the save. Becky gets sent outside so Bayley can hit a running knee for two on Baszler. Back up and Baszler sends Bayley outside, meaning it’s time for the big showdown with Becky. Bayley crossbodies both of them at once though and Becky is back outside. Bayley has to elbow her way out of a gutwrench superkicks but Becky breaks up the Kirifuda Clutch.

A powerbomb out of the corner gives Becky two on Baszler, who knocks Bayley off the apron. That means the Disarm-Her on Baszler but Bayley makes a save. They all head outside again with Becky tweaking her knee, allowing Baszler to drop her onto the announcers’ table. Becky gets dropped onto the table again but Bayley runs Baszler over. Back in and Bayley hits the top rope elbow, only to get pulled into the Kirifuda Clutch for the tap at 18:05.

Rating: C. Another viewing helped this a lot but it was longer than it needed to be and the action was only so good. Bayley was obviously there to take the fall and there is nothing wrong with that. If nothing else this should set up Becky vs. Baszler in a mega showdown later as Becky is unstoppable and Becky looks that way. Not overly great, but it did its job, albeit in the very long form.

Final Standings:

NXT – 4

Smackdown – 2

Raw – 1

Overall Rating: B+. The two last matches drag this down a bit but otherwise it’s a heck of a show with nothing bad and some good drama/shock as NXT runs away with things. What matters most here is they took some chances (some good some bad) and gave us a special moment with NXT. The wrestling was good throughout and it felt like the Survivor Series I had wanted to see for such a long time. Awesome show here and proof of what NXT can offer when they get the chance (and win the trophy).

Ratings Comparison

Tag Team Battle Royal:

Original: D

Redo: D+

Lio Rush vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Kalisto

Original: C+

Redo: C

New Day vs. Viking Raiders vs. Undisputed Era

Original: B

Redo: B

Raw Women vs. Smackdown Women vs. NXT Women

Original: B-

Redo: B-

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong vs. AJ Styles

Original: B

Redo: B

Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole

Original: A-

Redo: B+

The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan

Original: B

Redo: C+

Raw Men vs. Smackdown Men vs. NXT Men

Original: B+

Redo: A-

Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar

Original: C+

Redo: C+

Bayley vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Becky Lynch

Original: D+

Redo: C

Overall Rating:

Original: B+

Redo: B+

Other than the main event, the memories seem strong with this one.

Here’s the original Review if you’re interested:

https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/12/01/survivor-series-2019-they-really-did-that/

 

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

Survivor Series 2019
Date: November 24, 2019
Location: Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Vic Joseph, Jerry Lawler, Nigel McGuinness, Beth Phoenix

We have finally arrived. After several weeks of Raw, Smackdown and NXT invading each others’ shows, it is time to see which show is best and that could be interesting. Raw has won the competition three years in a row, though this is NXT’s first time being included. The card looks good, albeit huge. Let’s get to it.

I was in the arena for this show, sitting in the upper deck end zone, looking straight at the Titantron.

Kickoff Show: Tag Team Battle Royal

Raw: OC, Street Profits, Zack Ryder/Curt Hawkins

Smackdown: Revival, Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode, Lucha House Party, Heavy Machinery

NXT: Forgotten Sons, Breezango, Imperium

When one member is out, both of them are out and that’s quite the advantage for Smackdown. Vic on Hawkins and Ryder: “Here are two guys who are just happy they’re still here.” Lince Dorado/Gran Metalik for the House Party and Fabian Aichner/Marcel Barthel for Imperium, with Walter on the outside. It’s a big brawl to start with Ziggler wearing a Smackdown hat (he finds new ways to look stupid every day) and it’s the Sons being out in a hurry.

The House Party quickly follow them with Hawkins and Ryder going as well to really start clearing the ring out. We get the standard Ziggler save because he does these things in every battle royal but never wins the things. Aichner and Ziggler slug it out on the apron with Roode knocking Aichner out for the elimination. Otis gives Ziggler the spinning slam and takes off the shirt to set up the Caterpillar, only to get tossed by the OC and the Revival.

Fandango gets sent through the ropes so he’s able to catch Breeze as he’s thrown out, only to have the Revival get rid of them anyway. That’s it for NXT and the Profits dropkick Revival out to get us down to the OC, the Profits and Ziggler/Roode. Ziggler breaks up the Magic Killer to Roode and superkicks Gallows out and we’re down to two. Roode gets knocked through the ropes and it’s the spinebuster to Ziggler but Roode knocks Ford off the top. Ford is right back up with a frog splash to Ziggler, only to have Roode throw him out for the win at 8:21.

Rating: D. What a great way to start the show: eliminate all of the popular teams and go with the least interesting team from Smackdown instead of the popular Heavy Machinery. It’s not like it matters one way or another in the grand scheme of things, but that’s what we get anyway because WWE loves itself some Roode and Ziggler. The match was your usual battle royal and that’s not exactly interesting.

Smackdown – 1

Raw – 0

NXT – 0

Kickoff Show: Cruiserweight Title: Kalisto (Smackdown) vs. Akira Tozawa (Raw) vs. Lio Rush (NXT)

Rush is defending and we’ve got armbands for the brands. It really is amazing how much effort they put into trying to get this Brand Supremacy thing over but it’s better than the stupid shirts. Tozawa and Kalisto knock him to the floor to start so Tozawa can roll Kalisto up for two, setting off the issues in a hurry. Rush comes back in and starts the dodging but gets pulled to the floor. Kalisto’s kick to the head cuts off Tozawa’s dive and everyone gets back in.

It’s Rush dodging Kalisto’s shots to the head and hitting a double handspring elbow to put both of them down. A left hand to the face puts Rush down and Tozawa plants him with a fireman’s carry faceplant. Everyone heads to the same corner and it’s Rush with a super double armdrag so all three can be down at once again. The three way slugout goes to Rush until Tozawa snaps off a German suplex for two.

Kalisto dives in to roll Rush up for two more and they’re down for the fourth time. There’s the Salida Del Sol to Rush with Tozawa breaking it up with a Shining Wizard. The top rope backsplash gets the same as Kalisto gets to make a save this time. Kalisto and Tozawa slug it out for a bit until it’s another Salida Del Sol to plant Tozawa. Rush dives in with the Final Hour to Kalisto to retain at 8:28.

Rating: C+. This was exactly what it needed to be: three talented guys going out there and doing a bunch of fast paced offense for a few minutes. The crowd was into it too, which makes me feel a little bit better for these guys. The cruiserweights have been treated terribly on 205 Live and it’s nice to see them getting a chance to actually shine on the big stage for once.

Smackdown – 1

NXT – 1

Raw – 0

Kickoff Show: Viking Raiders (Raw) vs. New Day (Smackdown) vs. Undisputed Era (NXT)

Non-title Battle of the Tag Team Champions. Big E., Ivar and O’Reilly start things off and the early beating sends O’Reilly over for the tag to Fish. The fans are behind the Era to start so Big E. and Ivar run both of them over, leaving us with the big power showdown. Big E. can’t slam him but he can shoulder the heck out of him instead, only to have O’Reilly come back in for some knees to Big E.’s ribs.

Everything breaks down for a bit and it’s Ivar slamming Erik onto Fish. Kofi comes in to hammer on Erik before jumping over Big E. for a backsplash to O’Reilly. The Era is sent to the floor so it’s New Day slugging it out with the Vikings. That doesn’t last long as Erik and Big E. head to the floor, allowing the Era to come back in and double team Kofi. The knee gets taken out with O’Reilly hitting the top rope knee to said knee, setting up a kneebar.

Ivar comes back in to break that up with a splash as everything breaks down again. The knee is fine enough to kick away at O’Reilly on the apron as Big E. misses the spear to the floor. With everyone else on the floor, Erik slams Ivar from the apron onto the pile for the big crash. Back in and Fish kicks Erik in the face before O’Reilly starts in on the knee at the slower pace.

That’s broken up and it’s back to Ivar to clean house. O’Reilly kicks Fish in the face by mistake and it’s Jeff Cobb’s Tour of the Islands to Kyle. It’s back Erik, who gets caught by Kofi’s double stomp out of the corner. That’s not it though as it’s a powerbomb/top rope double stomp for two with Ivar making the save. Big E. hits the spear on Erik this time and everyone is down on the floor at once.

Back in and the knee to Big E.’s face sets up the springboard clothesline/German suplex combination. Kofi misses Trouble in Paradise on the floor and takes the High/Low, leaving the Era vs. the Vikings. Ivar shrugs off the kicks and cartwheels away from High/Low to take both of them down. The Viking Experience sends O’Reilly into Fish for the pin at 14:42.

Rating: B. This took some time to get going but once they hit their stride, this was a pretty crazy set of spots with a bunch of different styles on display. It was a lot of fun and Raw gets on the board, which wasn’t exactly a surprise. However, they did enough of a job of making you believe that any team could win to get around thing. None of the teams looked bad here either so they even protected the champions. Really fun match that had just the right amount of time too.

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

NXT – 1

The opening video is your big recap of the NXT Invasion, which goes exactly as you would have guessed. They’re doing a good job of making NXT look like an equal here and that is what matters most out of the whole thing. All of the individual matches get some attention as well.

Raw Women vs. Smackdown Women vs. NXT Women

Raw: Charlotte, Natalya, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Sarah Logan

Smackdown: Sasha Banks, Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross

NXT: Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm, Candice LeRae, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair

For the sake of sanity, they do team entrances instead of having fifteen individual entrances. Everyone but Toni on Team NXT was in WarGames last night so they’re a bit banged up. There will be three in at once but you can only tag your own partners so it won’t be completely insane. Lacey, Logan and Toni start things off with Logan getting knocked down early on.

Cross comes in to clean house until Toni takes her down as well, leaving Logan to hit some cartwheel knees to the back. Logan drops Cross onto Toni for two on each but Storm is up with a double German suplex. It’s off to Shirai vs. Sane vs. Carmella with Carmella just kind of being annoying as they have their staredown. Brooke comes in and lets them fight in the smarter move. Sane rolls her up for two so Brooke steals her own rollup to Sane for two more.

Brooke’s Swanton gets two on Sane and it’s off to Lacey for a kick to the face and her own two. Lacey talks trash to Candice and gets beaten up in the corner with Asuka getting dropped as well. A middle rope Downward Spiral gets two on Lacey and it’s Rhea coming in to dropkick Lacey to the floor. Everyone starts coming in for the parade of secondary finishers until Sasha is left alone in the ring. Hold on though as Candice and Shirai are both down on the floor and the match just kind of stops. They’re taken out and we’ll call that a double elimination at about 7:30.

We settle down to Ripley vs. Banks vs. Charlotte in the battle of the captains….but it’s Belair, Logan and Cross coming in before anything happens. Cross dives onto Ripley and then hammers on Storm for a bonus but Belair rolls Cross up for the pin at 9:39. Belair hits the KOD on Carmella, who rolls straight over to the ropes to save herself. Logan jumps Belair to the floor and dives onto Ripley and Storm on the floor. Back in and Belair punches Logan down, setting up a gorgeous 450 for the pin at 12:12.

Charlotte comes in and clotheslines Belair down but Carmella comes back in to kick Charlotte in the ribs. Carmella’s super hurricanrana sends Charlotte into Belair for a pair of twos each, plus a lot of Carmella’s screaming. Some low superkicks give Carmella two more on Belair but it’s Charlotte hitting Natural Selection on Carmella for the elimination at 15:38.

That leaves us with Charlotte/Asuka/Sane/Natalya vs. Ripley/Storm/Belair vs. Banks/Brooke/Lacey. Storm comes in and beats up Shirai and Banks until Shirai’s spinning backfist takes her down. The Insane Elbow gets two on Storm but Banks breaks it up with a Meteora to Sane for the elimination at 16:48. It’s three apiece now with Asuka coming in and kicking away to take over, including a big spinning kick to the head to get rid of Brooke at 17:22.

Charlotte and Asuka get in a fight though with Charlotte pulling her down by the hair. Lacey comes in and gets suplexed into the corner, only to take Asuka’s mist to the face. That’s it for Asuka, who walks out at about 19:00. The Woman’s Right finishes Charlotte at 19:08 and Natalya is the only one left for Raw. Natalya’s discus lariat drops Storm and a rollup gets rid of Lacey at 19:52.

NXT has a pretty commanding leave now so Natalya puts Toni in the Sharpshooter. Banks adds the Bank Statement and Storm is done at 20:42. Banks and Natalya get together for a Hart Attack and the pin on Belair at 21:17, leaving us with Ripley vs. Banks vs. Natalya. Banks and Natalya smirk at Ripley but Banks punches Natalya out for the win at 22:01.

Ripley slams Banks down for an early two and blocks a tornado DDT attempt. Banks sends her into the corner for a crash and there are the running knees in the corner. The Meteora gets two on Ripley but she’s back up in time to kick Banks out of the air for trying it again. The standing Cloverleaf comes on but Banks reverses into the Bank Statement. Cue LeRae and Shirai (never officially eliminated) to pulls Ripley to the floor so Banks takes both of them down. LeRae offers a distraction though and it’s Shirai hitting a springboard missile dropkick. Riptide finishes Banks at 27:53.

Rating: B-. Well there’s your star making performance. It might have been a little bit of a dirty finish but Ripley looked like a star of the highest order out there, which is exactly what they were going for here. The match worked rather well, but there were a few too many people in there and it got messy at times. Still though, seeing NXT pull off the huge upset and actually getting somewhere in this whole thing more than made up for it.

We look at Kevin Owens joining Team Ciampa to help defeat the Undisputed Era at WarGames.

Seth Rollins comes in to see Owens and accuses him of wanting to turn on Raw tonight. Owens says last night was about getting even with the Undisputed Era and yes he loves NXT, but he’s Raw. Rollins doesn’t seem convinced.

Shinsuke Nakamura (Smackdown) vs. AJ Styles (Raw) vs. Roderick Strong (NXT)

Non-title Battle of the midcard champions and Sami Zayn (an awesome hype man) is here with Nakamura. They go straight into the exchange of strikes to start and it’s Strong getting the better of it off the backbreakers. Nakamura gets dropped on the apron but AJ knees Strong in the face. Back in and Nakamura starts striking away, including the running knee to the ribs to knock Styles right back to the floor.

Strong’s fireman’s carry into the double knees to the chest get two on Nakamura and Strong bends him over his back. AJ is back in with a sleeper on Strong before throwing him into Nakamura for the break. He can’t follow up though and Strong hits AJ with a clothesline, followed by the running forearms to make it even worse. The belly to back faceplant gets two and Strong monkey flips AJ into a running knee from Nakamura.

Strong gets knocked down and Nakamura’s sliding knee to the head gets two more. AJ’s reverse DDT is good for another two and some frustration is setting in. The fireman’s carry backbreaker gives AJ two more with Strong not being able to make the save. Strong can break up the Styles Clash, but the crash means Nakamura lands on his face anyway. The Angle Slam gives Strong two on AJ as Sami is helping Nakamura with his breathing on the floor.

The coaching works though as Nakamura goes up and hits a doomsday kick to the chest for two on Strong, who grabs his knee and screams. Cole: “You’ve got to wonder if Strong is hurt.” Does Vince go out of his way to make Cole say these stupid things? Sami posts AJ as Strong hits a jumping knee for two on Nakamura. Just to egg the crowd on a bit, Nakamura hits a Go To Sleep on Strong but AJ breaks up Kinshasa. A spinning backfist staggers Strong and Nakamura suplexes him onto AJ.

There’s Kinshasa to Strong and AJ dives in for a save. That puts Strong on the floor so Nakamura tells AJ to COME ON. The striking exchange is on with Nakamura hitting a middle rope knee to the face. Nakamura’s Landslide gets two but AJ hits a forearm out of the corner. The Phenomenal Forearm connects but Strong comes in and steals the pin at 16:44.

Rating: B. Much like the previous one, this was all about action with all three guys looking like they could pull it off. Strong stealing the pin is fine enough and again, the bigger name taking the fall is protected. They were beating the fire out of each other here and we have our second good match in a row, though a little better than the first due to less chaos.

NXT – 3

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

Therefore, NXT can only be tied and can’t lose.

The Miz tries to give Daniel Bryan a pep talk but get glared away.

Cole explains the Mauro Ranallo is missing due to blowing his voice out. Right.

NXT Title: Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole

Dunne is challenging after winning a triple threat match last night. They’re both very banged up after Takeover but Cole should be in far worse shape of the two. Dunne spins out of a wristlock to start and Cole’s headlock works just as badly. A shot to the ribs puts the injured Cole down but Dunne’s knee is bothering him as well. Cole’s arm gets twisted around and Dunne takes him to the floor to stomp on it again.

Back in and Cole gets smart by going after the bad knee with some cranking and a dropkick to the leg to make it worse. Dunne’s leg is good enough for the X Plex and you can see the shock of pain going through Cole as his ribs hit the mat. An enziguri in the corner lets Dunne stomp on Cole’s fingers and a sitout powerbomb gets two. Cole tries to bail to the floor so Dunne takes him out with a moonsault.

Back in and Dunne kicks him in the head but a moonsault hits raised knees. The Shining Wizard gets two as Cole was too banged up to hit it at full strength. Dunne shrugs off a pump kick to the face but can’t shrug off the brainbuster onto the knee. Back up and Dunne grabs a quick Bitter End before going for a moonsault out of the corner. Cole is right there with a superkick to the upside down Dunne (still awesome and incredible timing) for two more.

A big forearm puts Cole on the floor but he gets in a kick to the knee. They fight on the apron and Dunne’s knee gives out, allowing Dunne to hit a crazy looking Panama Sunrise onto the apron. They barely beat the count back in and Cole superkicks his head off for two more. Dunne tells him to come on and snaps the fingers but the Bitter End is countered into another Panama Sunrise. The Last Shot retains the title at 14:04.

Rating: A-. This is a case where the televised version worked a lot better than the live version as commentary and the better camera angles focused on Dunne’s knee injury that much better. You couldn’t get much out of that in the arena (or at least from the upper deck) and commentary sold the story very well. This was a heck of a back and forth match with both guys working very hard and selling their damage from the previous night.

Some wrestlers visited an elementary school.

We recap Daniel Bryan vs. the Fiend. Bray Wyatt won the title earlier in the month at Crown Jewel and started taunting Bryan to make him his first victim. Bryan has teased bringing back the YES Movement to fight Wyatt but won’t go all the way with it. Therefore, he might not be ready to face the Fiend.

Smackdown World Title: The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan

Bryan is challenging and we get the full Fiend entrance, complete with severed head lantern. The crowd goes almost silent as the red lights come on and that’s an impressive reaction. Bryan hits a running dropkick into the corner to start but tries another and gets blasted by a clothesline. An uppercut puts Bryan on the floor and Bray plants him in the ring for a bonus.

There’s the toss suplex and Bray starts writhing around before grabbing the neck crank. With that broken up, they head outside where Bray misses a charge into the steps. He’s right back up though and Bryan has to break up Sister Abigail, meaning it’s a posting to stagger Bray again. A big dive off the top drops Fiend and he’s taking a little more time to get up.

Back in and Daniel hits the missile dropkick, followed by the YES Kicks to….just bring Bray back up. Fiend laughs at him and seems to say bring it on so Bryan hits the big kick to the head. More stomps have Fiend in trouble and the running knee (with YES chants from Bryan) gets two. Bray charges into a boot in the corner but grabs the Mandible Claw anyway. That’s reversed into an armbar over the top rope but dives into a right hand. Bryan tries the running knee again and charges straight into the Mandible Claw for the pin at 10:01.

Rating: B. They were getting somewhere with this one but it never hit that next level. It’s like Bryan needs one more gear, like the YES Movement, to get all the way over the hump. The Fiend comes off like a movie monster and it is going to take someone special to beat him. Having Bray beat a star like Bryan is a good move for him, but it’s hard not to imagine Roman Reigns getting the nod at this point. Anyway, this was a good match but it needed one more level to make it great.

Rey Mysterio says he first faced Brock Lesnar almost fifteen years ago. He’s a new man now and pulls out the pipe to prove it. Normally Rey would want his son Dominick to turn away but tonight he wants his son to watch and see what happens when Rey takes out Brock’s legs.

Raw Men vs. Smackdown Men vs. NXT Men

Raw: Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens

Smackdown: Roman Reigns, Shorty G., Mustafa Ali, King Corbin, Braun Strowman

NXT: Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Walter, Matt Riddle, Damian Priest

Same rules as the women’s match: triple threat and you can only tag your team members. Ali is rather happy to be in his hometown, as he should be. The fans are behind Walter, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Rollins and Ciampa slug away at Strowman to start so he dropkicks both of them down at the same time. McIntyre and Walter come in for the big three way hoss showdown and it’s Strowman being hammered down in the corner. Walter and McIntyre chop it out with Walter kicking him down but getting run over by Strowman.

The chop to Strowman doesn’t work so Walter dropkicks him into the corner…but walks into the Claymore to get rid of Walter at 2:58. The fans are MAD over that and I can’t say I blame them a bit as you don’t bring in a champion for a show like this and have him get pinned clean in less than three minutes. Priest comes in to kick away at McIntyre and Strowman, who misses a charge into the post. Gable comes in with a moonsault to Priest but Ricochet comes in to pick the pace way up.

A heck of a Rolling Chaos Theory hits Ricochet and it’s Riddle coming in to a big reaction. Gable gets the ankle lock on Riddle but it’s broken up in a hurry for the staredown. Another Chaos Theory doesn’t work on Riddle as Ciampa tags himself in, only to get kicked in the head by Gable. Ricochet kicks both of them down and it’s Owens going up top. He thinks about splashing Gable or Ciampa before going with the frog splash to get rid of Gable at 6:29.

Corbin comes in and bails from the threat of a Stunner so Owens follows him with the Cannonball. The Stunner connects on the floor but Ciampa catches Owens with Willow’s Bell for the pin at 7:41. Orton is behind Ciampa but Ciampa is smart enough to turn around without walking into the RKO. Ciampa hammers away and tries another Willow’s Bell but gets dropped onto the apron instead. Back in and it’s the Garvin Stomp but Ciampa gets over for the tag to Priest, only to walk into the RKO. Another RKO gets rid of Priest at 10:16 but Riddle rolls Orton up for the pin at 10:26.

Orton RKOs Riddle as well and it’s stealing the pin at 10:54 to some great heel heat. That’s how you use Corbin and it worked great here. Lee and Strowman come in so the fans are already singing. McIntyre breaks up the staredown with a forearm to Lee but gets run over by Strowman. That means the big running train around the ring, which works so well that Strowman does it again. This time though, Lee runs him over for a change and McIntyre adds a Claymore to count Strowman out at 13:17.

We’re down to Lee/Ciampa vs. Ricochet/McIntyre/Rollins vs. Ali/Corbin/Reigns. Ricochet springboards in with a clothesline to Corbin and there’s the big running flip dive to Reigns. The 450 misses Lee though and Corbin hits the End of Days to finish Ricochet at 14:31. Ali tags himself in and starts cleaning house with some kicks to the face.

Rollins counters the rolling X Factor by launching Ali over his head, only to have Ali X Factor Ciampa instead. The tornado DDT hits Rollins and it’s Ali hitting a suicide dive onto a bunch of people. Corbin won’t let Ali get a cover though and the distraction lets Rollins hit the Stomp to get rid of Ali at 16:10.

Reigns and Corbin get into it on the floor until McIntyre and Rollins break it up. Back in and McIntyre’s reverse Alabama slam gets two on Ciampa but the spear cuts McIntyre down for the pin at 17:39. Rollins, the only member left of Team Raw, kicks Reigns to the floor but the suicide dive is blocked with a right hand. Willow’s Bell cuts Reigns off but he reverses the Fairy Tale Ending into the Superman Punch.

Corbin pulls Reigns over to the corner for the tag, only to yell at Reigns instead of going after Ciampa. Eventually Ciampa escapes the chokeslam, leaving Reigns to spear and Superman Punch Corbin to give Ciampa the pin at 19:57. It’s Reigns for Smackdown, Rollins for Raw and Ciampa/Lee for NXT. Reigns, Rollins and Ciampa slug it out with Lee coming in for a failed save attempt.

That leaves Reigns vs. Rollins because we need to get the Shield stuff in. They decide to work together again but can’t hit a DoubleBomb. Instead Ciampa catches Rollins with Project Ciampa for a VERY close two but it’s a Superman Punch to Ciampa. The Stomp gets rid of Ciampa at 24:02 and we’re down to one apiece.

Lee is ready to go and slingshots in with a double crossbody to put them both down. The Limit Breaker is countered by Rollins and a superkick sets up the frog splash for two as the fans are behind Lee. Rollins goes after Lee again but walks into the Limit Breaker for the completely clean pin at 26:32 to get rid of Raw. The roof goes off the place as Lee is instantly a legit contender to pull off the major upset.

Reigns starts fast with a Superman Punch for a very quick two and Graves is DEMANDING a replay. The spear is loaded up but Lee cuts it off with a Spirit Bomb for a very, very close two. Lee misses the moonsault though and gets speared down for the pin at 29:18 as the air doesn’t go all the way out of the place.

Rating: B+. The ending sequence was the reason I’ve always wanted to see one of these shows in person: they hit the drama out of the park and had you believing that Lee could pull off the impossible. Lee got the big pin on Rollins so he’s a made man as a result, along with Ciampa for pinning Owens and Corbin. Just like in the women’s match, the NXT men felt like they belonged here and that was the point of the whole thing. Very fun match here with a lot of people (including Gable) getting to show off for a long time. Lee got the big rub here though, and they nailed every bit of what they wanted to do with him.

NXT – 3

Smackdown – 2

Raw – 1

Post match Reigns and Lee show respect.

Becky Lynch talks about being the man seven days a week while Shayna Baszler has been training every day. Shayna is going to have to destroy her completely and no one can do that to her. Then there’s Bayley, who thinks Becky has been ducking her. Becky even broke her own rule and came looking for Bayley. Tonight, Becky is taking them out and showing that she is the Man.

We recap Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar. Brock attacked Rey and his son so Rey brought in Cain Velasquez to help him fight. Once Lesnar got rid of Cain in less than three minutes, Rey fought for himself and took out Lesnar’s knee with a steel pipe. Tonight it’s No DQ so Rey can have a chance.

Raw World Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar

Lesnar is defending and anything goes. Rey is dressed as the Joker (again) and that might not be the best visual for a match that is supposed to be rather serious. Paul Heyman introduces Brock as weighing about two and a half Rey Mysterios for his funny line of the night. Rey goes straight to the floor and pulls out the pipe so Lesnar bails to the floor in a smart move.

Brock gets Rey to chase him and the big clothesline makes him drop the pipe. The beating begins as Rey is sent outside and over the announcers’ table in a crash. The announcers’ table is loaded up and Brock throws him into the cover. Rey is beaten down so badly that Brock can even stop to tie his boot. It takes so long that Rey can get in a posting but Brock won’t let him grab the pipe. A release German suplex drops Rey onto the pipe (geez) and another (no pipe) makes it even worse.

There’s a third suplex so here’s Dominick with a towel. Brock takes that away and throws it out (maybe in a shot at the ending to Cody vs. Chris Jericho at Full Gear). Brock grabs Dominick so Rey hits him low and even Dominick gets in his own shot. Some pipe shots set up a double 619 (sweet) and Dominick adds a frog splash (in a nice tribute to his dad). Rey adds his own frog splash for two and the fans know it isn’t happening. Dominick gets suplexed down and the F5 retains the title at 6:54.

Rating: C+. This was all about that one short stretch and man alive did they make it work for about a minute. There’s more to it than that though and the rest of it was Brock’s standard operating procedure. Brock can do good things when he’s motivated and that…wasn’t exactly happening here but the comeback and near fall were great so it’s more good than bad.

We recap the women’s triple threat match. Becky Lynch knows she is the best but Shayna Baszler came in and said she’d beat Becky just like the rest. Bayley has been fighting to make people think she matters in this whole thing other than to take the fall.

Bayley (Smackdown) vs. Becky Lynch (Raw) vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT)

Non-title Battle of the Women’s Champions. Ignore how Bayley’s shirt with BAY over LEY with the belt around her waist spells AEW of course. The announcers mention Ronda Rousey quite a few times during the entrances and I can’t imagine that’s a coincidence. Bayley knocks Baszler into Becky to start and the fans aren’t exactly interested early on. Baszler and Bayley hammer away at each other on the mat and fight to the floor.

Becky takes both of them down before throwing Bayley back inside. The spinning legdrop misses but Becky is right back up with a slingshot dropkick through the ropes to keep Baszler down. Bayley hits (or close to it) a sunset bomb into the corner as the silence is notable here. With Becky down, Baszler starts working on the arm but Becky cuts off a charge into the corner. Bayley stomps Becky down and slams her face into the mat a few times as the fans try to get a weak Becky chant going.

Baszler is back in to break it up but Bayley knocks her down as well. Becky gets back up this time with a DDT to Baszler and a reverse DDT to Bayley at the same time, though it isn’t enough to get the crowd going. The guillotine legdrop gets two on Bayley and Baszler has to break up the Disarm-Her. The Bayley to Belly gets two on Baszler but she’s back up with a suplex of her own. Becky comes back in with a missile dropkick to make Baszler drop Bayley.

We get the CM PUNK chants as Baszler and Becky slug it out until Bayley sends Becky outside. The charge on the apron is cut off with a Kirifuda Clutch but Becky comes back in with a sitout powerbomb for two on Baszler. Now it’s Becky getting Clutched inside until Bayley makes the save, only to get sent outside again. They all wind up on the floor with Becky being sent into various steel objects. Bayley takes Baszler back inside and has to suplex her way out of a quick Clutch attempt. The top rope elbow is countered into the Clutch though and Bayley taps at 18:05.

Rating: D+. They were trying here but the match didn’t have much of a flow and wasn’t the most thrilling. You can also see the amount of influence that the crowd can have as they weren’t interested here. However, there were some rather negative chants in the arena and they didn’t get picked up by audio here, which is a rather good thing. The match wasn’t good but it also wasn’t a nightmare and the heavily negative chants weren’t deserved. It didn’t help when the best Bayley could have done was tie the score and Becky had no chance to win anything for Raw, but there were other issues going on.

NXT – 4

Smackdown – 2

Raw – 1

Post match Shayna celebrates on the announcers’ table but Becky jumps her from behind. A legdrop off the apron lets Becky pose to end the show. That doesn’t get the best reaction either.

Overall Rating: B+. Aside from a not great main event, this was a heck of a show with one good to great match after another. They would have been better off having a tie coming into the main event but WWE hasn’t seemed interested in drama around here for the last few shows. NXT got the rub it was looking for though and that is the best thing that could happen. I’m sure it’ll be enough to fight off AEW, which is one of the major points of this whole thing so well done? In theory? Anyway what we got was borderline great though and I got what I was wanting out of the show so I’ll call it a major positive.

Results

Team NXT b. Team Raw and Team Smackdown last eliminating Sasha Banks

Roderick Strong b. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura – Phenomenal Forearm to Nakamura

Adam Cole b. Pete Dunne – Last Shot

The Fiend b. Daniel Bryan – Mandible Claw

Team Smackdown b. Team Raw and Team NXT – Spear to Lee

Brock Lesnar b. Rey Mysterio – F5

Shayna Baszler b. Bayley and Becky Lynch – Kirifuda Clutch to Bayley

<img class=”size-medium wp-image-40776″ src=”https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/Survivor-Series-2019-400×204.jpg” alt=”” width=”400″ height=”204″ /> IMG Credit: WWE
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u><b>Survivor Series 2019
</b></u></span></span></span><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Date: November 24, 2019
</span></span></span><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Location: Allstate Arena, Chicago, Illinois
</span></span></span><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Vic Joseph, Jerry Lawler, Nigel McGuinness, Beth Phoenix</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>We have finally arrived. After several weeks of Raw, Smackdown and NXT invading each others’ shows, it is time to see which show is best and that could be interesting. Raw has won the competition three years in a row, though this is NXT’s first time being included. The card looks good, albeit huge. Let’s get to it.</span></span></span><!–more–></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>I was in the arena for this show, sitting in the upper deck end zone, looking straight at the Titantron.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Kickoff Show: Tag Team Battle Royal</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Raw: OC, Street Profits, Zack Ryder/Curt Hawkins</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Smackdown: Revival, Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode, Lucha House Party, Heavy Machinery</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT: Forgotten Sons, Breezango, Imperium</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>When one member is out, both of them are out and that’s quite the advantage for Smackdown. Vic on Hawkins and Ryder: “Here are two guys who are just happy they’re still here.” Lince Dorado/Gran Metalik for the House Party and Fabian Aichner/Marcel Barthel for Imperium, with Walter on the outside. It’s a big brawl to start with Ziggler wearing a Smackdown hat (he finds new ways to look stupid every day) and it’s the Sons being out in a hurry.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>The House Party quickly follow them with Hawkins and Ryder going as well to really start clearing the ring out. We get the standard Ziggler save because he does these things in every battle royal but never wins the things. Aichner and Ziggler slug it out on the apron with Roode knocking Aichner out for the elimination. Otis gives Ziggler the spinning slam and takes off the shirt to set up the Caterpillar, only to get tossed by the OC and the Revival.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Fandango gets sent through the ropes so he’s able to catch Breeze as he’s thrown out, only to have the Revival get rid of them anyway. That’s it for NXT and the Profits dropkick Revival out to get us down to the OC, the Profits and Ziggler/Roode. Ziggler breaks up the Magic Killer to Roode and superkicks Gallows out and we’re down to two. Roode gets knocked through the ropes and it’s the spinebuster to Ziggler but Roode knocks Ford off the top. Ford is right back up with a frog splash to Ziggler, only to have Roode throw him out for the win at 8:21.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>D. What a great way to start the show: eliminate all of the popular teams and go with the least interesting team from Smackdown instead of the popular Heavy Machinery. It’s not like it matters one way or another in the grand scheme of things, but that’s what we get anyway because WWE loves itself some Roode and Ziggler. The match was your usual battle royal and that’s not exactly interesting.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Smackdown – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Raw – 0</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT – 0</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Kickoff Show: Cruiserweight Title: Kalisto (Smackdown) vs. Akira Tozawa (Raw) vs. Lio Rush (NXT)</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Rush is defending and we’ve got armbands for the brands. It really is amazing how much effort they put into trying to get this Brand Supremacy thing over but it’s better than the stupid shirts. Tozawa and Kalisto knock him to the floor to start so Tozawa can roll Kalisto up for two, setting off the issues in a hurry. Rush comes back in and starts the dodging but gets pulled to the floor. Kalisto’s kick to the head cuts off Tozawa’s dive and everyone gets back in.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>It’s Rush dodging Kalisto’s shots to the head and hitting a double handspring elbow to put both of them down. A left hand to the face puts Rush down and Tozawa plants him with a fireman’s carry faceplant. Everyone heads to the same corner and it’s Rush with a super double armdrag so all three can be down at once again. The three way slugout goes to Rush until Tozawa snaps off a German suplex for two.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Kalisto dives in to roll Rush up for two more and they’re down for the fourth time. There’s the Salida Del Sol to Rush with Tozawa breaking it up with a Shining Wizard. The top rope backsplash gets the same as Kalisto gets to make a save this time. Kalisto and Tozawa slug it out for a bit until it’s another Salida Del Sol to plant Tozawa. Rush dives in with the Final Hour to Kalisto to retain at 8:28.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>C+. This was exactly what it needed to be: three talented guys going out there and doing a bunch of fast paced offense for a few minutes. The crowd was into it too, which makes me feel a little bit better for these guys. The cruiserweights have been treated terribly on 205 Live and it’s nice to see them getting a chance to actually shine on the big stage for once.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Smackdown – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Raw – 0</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Kickoff Show: Viking Raiders (Raw) vs. New Day (Smackdown) vs. Undisputed Era (NXT)</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Non-title Battle of the Tag Team Champions. Big E., Ivar and O’Reilly start things off and the early beating sends O’Reilly over for the tag to Fish. The fans are behind the Era to start so Big E. and Ivar run both of them over, leaving us with the big power showdown. Big E. can’t slam him but he can shoulder the heck out of him instead, only to have O’Reilly come back in for some knees to Big E.’s ribs.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Everything breaks down for a bit and it’s Ivar slamming Erik onto Fish. Kofi comes in to hammer on Erik before jumping over Big E. for a backsplash to O’Reilly. The Era is sent to the floor so it’s New Day slugging it out with the Vikings. That doesn’t last long as Erik and Big E. head to the floor, allowing the Era to come back in and double team Kofi. The knee gets taken out with O’Reilly hitting the top rope knee to said knee, setting up a kneebar.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Ivar comes back in to break that up with a splash as everything breaks down again. The knee is fine enough to kick away at O’Reilly on the apron as Big E. misses the spear to the floor. With everyone else on the floor, Erik slams Ivar from the apron onto the pile for the big crash. Back in and Fish kicks Erik in the face before O’Reilly starts in on the knee at the slower pace.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>That’s broken up and it’s back to Ivar to clean house. O’Reilly kicks Fish in the face by mistake and it’s Jeff Cobb’s Tour of the Islands to Kyle. It’s back Erik, who gets caught by Kofi’s double stomp out of the corner. That’s not it though as it’s a powerbomb/top rope double stomp for two with Ivar making the save. Big E. hits the spear on Erik this time and everyone is down on the floor at once.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Back in and the knee to Big E.’s face sets up the springboard clothesline/German suplex combination. Kofi misses Trouble in Paradise on the floor and takes the High/Low, leaving the Era vs. the Vikings. Ivar shrugs off the kicks and cartwheels away from High/Low to take both of them down. The Viking Experience sends O’Reilly into Fish for the pin at 14:42.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>B. This took some time to get going but once they hit their stride, this was a pretty crazy set of spots with a bunch of different styles on display. It was a lot of fun and Raw gets on the board, which wasn’t exactly a surprise. However, they did enough of a job of making you believe that any team could win to get around thing. None of the teams looked bad here either so they even protected the champions. Really fun match that had just the right amount of time too.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Raw – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Smackdown – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>The opening video is your big recap of the NXT Invasion, which goes exactly as you would have guessed. They’re doing a good job of making NXT look like an equal here and that is what matters most out of the whole thing. All of the individual matches get some attention as well.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Raw Women vs. Smackdown Women vs. NXT Women</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Raw: Charlotte, Natalya, Asuka, Kairi Sane, Sarah Logan</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Smackdown: Sasha Banks, Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, Nikki Cross</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT: Rhea Ripley, Toni Storm, Candice LeRae, Io Shirai, Bianca Belair</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>For the sake of sanity, they do team entrances instead of having fifteen individual entrances. Everyone but Toni on Team NXT was in WarGames last night so they’re a bit banged up. There will be three in at once but you can only tag your own partners so it won’t be completely insane. Lacey, Logan and Toni start things off with Logan getting knocked down early on.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Cross comes in to clean house until Toni takes her down as well, leaving Logan to hit some cartwheel knees to the back. Logan drops Cross onto Toni for two on each but Storm is up with a double German suplex. It’s off to Shirai vs. Sane vs. Carmella with Carmella just kind of being annoying as they have their staredown. Brooke comes in and lets them fight in the smarter move. Sane rolls her up for two so Brooke steals her own rollup to Sane for two more.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Brooke’s Swanton gets two on Sane and it’s off to Lacey for a kick to the face and her own two. Lacey talks trash to Candice and gets beaten up in the corner with Asuka getting dropped as well. A middle rope Downward Spiral gets two on Lacey and it’s Rhea coming in to dropkick Lacey to the floor. Everyone starts coming in for the parade of secondary finishers until Sasha is left alone in the ring. Hold on though as Candice and Shirai are both down on the floor and the match just kind of stops. They’re taken out and we’ll call that a double elimination at about 7:30.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>We settle down to Ripley vs. Banks vs. Charlotte in the battle of the captains….but it’s Belair, Logan and Cross coming in before anything happens. Cross dives onto Ripley and then hammers on Storm for a bonus but Belair rolls Cross up for the pin at 9:39. Belair hits the KOD on Carmella, who rolls straight over to the ropes to save herself. Logan jumps Belair to the floor and dives onto Ripley and Storm on the floor. Back in and Belair punches Logan down, setting up a gorgeous 450 for the pin at 12:12.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Charlotte comes in and clotheslines Belair down but Carmella comes back in to kick Charlotte in the ribs. Carmella’s super hurricanrana sends Charlotte into Belair for a pair of twos each, plus a lot of Carmella’s screaming. Some low superkicks give Carmella two more on Belair but it’s Charlotte hitting Natural Selection on Carmella for the elimination at 15:38.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>That leaves us with Charlotte/Asuka/Sane/Natalya vs. Ripley/Storm/Belair vs. Banks/Brooke/Lacey. Storm comes in and beats up Shirai and Banks until Shirai’s spinning backfist takes her down. The Insane Elbow gets two on Storm but Banks breaks it up with a Meteora to Sane for the elimination at 16:48. It’s three apiece now with Asuka coming in and kicking away to take over, including a big spinning kick to the head to get rid of Brooke at 17:22.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Charlotte and Asuka get in a fight though with Charlotte pulling her down by the hair. Lacey comes in and gets suplexed into the corner, only to take Asuka’s mist to the face. That’s it for Asuka, who walks out at about 19:00. The Woman’s Right finishes Charlotte at 19:08 and Natalya is the only one left for Raw. Natalya’s discus lariat drops Storm and a rollup gets rid of Lacey at 19:52.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT has a pretty commanding leave now so Natalya puts Toni in the Sharpshooter. Banks adds the Bank Statement and Storm is done at 20:42. Banks and Natalya get together for a Hart Attack and the pin on Belair at 21:17, leaving us with Ripley vs. Banks vs. Natalya. Banks and Natalya smirk at Ripley but Banks punches Natalya out for the win at 22:01.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Ripley slams Banks down for an early two and blocks a tornado DDT attempt. Banks sends her into the corner for a crash and there are the running knees in the corner. The Meteora gets two on Ripley but she’s back up in time to kick Banks out of the air for trying it again. The standing Cloverleaf comes on but Banks reverses into the Bank Statement. Cue LeRae and Shirai (never officially eliminated) to pulls Ripley to the floor so Banks takes both of them down. LeRae offers a distraction though and it’s Shirai hitting a springboard missile dropkick. Riptide finishes Banks at 27:53.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>B-. Well there’s your star making performance. It might have been a little bit of a dirty finish but Ripley looked like a star of the highest order out there, which is exactly what they were going for here. The match worked rather well, but there were a few too many people in there and it got messy at times. Still though, seeing NXT pull off the huge upset and actually getting somewhere in this whole thing more than made up for it.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>We look at Kevin Owens joining Team Ciampa to help defeat the Undisputed Era at WarGames.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Seth Rollins comes in to see Owens and accuses him of wanting to turn on Raw tonight. Owens says last night was about getting even with the Undisputed Era and yes he loves NXT, but he’s Raw. Rollins doesn’t seem convinced.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Shinsuke Nakamura (Smackdown) vs. AJ Styles (Raw) vs. Roderick Strong (NXT)</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Non-title Battle of the midcard champions and Sami Zayn (an awesome hype man) is here with Nakamura. They go straight into the exchange of strikes to start and it’s Strong getting the better of it off the backbreakers. Nakamura gets dropped on the apron but AJ knees Strong in the face. Back in and Nakamura starts striking away, including the running knee to the ribs to knock Styles right back to the floor.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Strong’s fireman’s carry into the double knees to the chest get two on Nakamura and Strong bends him over his back. AJ is back in with a sleeper on Strong before throwing him into Nakamura for the break. He can’t follow up though and Strong hits AJ with a clothesline, followed by the running forearms to make it even worse. The belly to back faceplant gets two and Strong monkey flips AJ into a running knee from Nakamura.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Strong gets knocked down and Nakamura’s sliding knee to the head gets two more. AJ’s reverse DDT is good for another two and some frustration is setting in. The fireman’s carry backbreaker gives AJ two more with Strong not being able to make the save. Strong can break up the Styles Clash, but the crash means Nakamura lands on his face anyway. The Angle Slam gives Strong two on AJ as Sami is helping Nakamura with his breathing on the floor.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>The coaching works though as Nakamura goes up and hits a doomsday kick to the chest for two on Strong, who grabs his knee and screams. Cole: “You’ve got to wonder if Strong is hurt.” Does Vince go out of his way to make Cole say these stupid things? Sami posts AJ as Strong hits a jumping knee for two on Nakamura. Just to egg the crowd on a bit, Nakamura hits a Go To Sleep on Strong but AJ breaks up Kinshasa. A spinning backfist staggers Strong and Nakamura suplexes him onto AJ.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>There’s Kinshasa to Strong and AJ dives in for a save. That puts Strong on the floor so Nakamura tells AJ to COME ON. The striking exchange is on with Nakamura hitting a middle rope knee to the face. Nakamura’s Landslide gets two but AJ hits a forearm out of the corner. The Phenomenal Forearm connects but Strong comes in and steals the pin at 16:44.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>B. Much like the previous one, this was all about action with all three guys looking like they could pull it off. Strong stealing the pin is fine enough and again, the bigger name taking the fall is protected. They were beating the fire out of each other here and we have our second good match in a row, though a little better than the first due to less chaos.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT – 3</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Raw – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Smackdown – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Therefore, NXT can only be tied and can’t lose.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>The Miz tries to give Daniel Bryan a pep talk but get glared away.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Cole explains the Mauro Ranallo is missing due to blowing his voice out. Right.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>NXT Title: Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Dunne is challenging after winning a triple threat match last night. They’re both very banged up after Takeover but Cole should be in far worse shape of the two. Dunne spins out of a wristlock to start and Cole’s headlock works just as badly. A shot to the ribs puts the injured Cole down but Dunne’s knee is bothering him as well. Cole’s arm gets twisted around and Dunne takes him to the floor to stomp on it again.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Back in and Cole gets smart by going after the bad knee with some cranking and a dropkick to the leg to make it worse. Dunne’s leg is good enough for the X Plex and you can see the shock of pain going through Cole as his ribs hit the mat. An enziguri in the corner lets Dunne stomp on Cole’s fingers and a sitout powerbomb gets two. Cole tries to bail to the floor so Dunne takes him out with a moonsault.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Back in and Dunne kicks him in the head but a moonsault hits raised knees. The Shining Wizard gets two as Cole was too banged up to hit it at full strength. Dunne shrugs off a pump kick to the face but can’t shrug off the brainbuster onto the knee. Back up and Dunne grabs a quick Bitter End before going for a moonsault out of the corner. Cole is right there with a superkick to the upside down Dunne (still awesome and incredible timing) for two more.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>A big forearm puts Cole on the floor but he gets in a kick to the knee. They fight on the apron and Dunne’s knee gives out, allowing Dunne to hit a crazy looking Panama Sunrise onto the apron. They barely beat the count back in and Cole superkicks his head off for two more. Dunne tells him to come on and snaps the fingers but the Bitter End is countered into another Panama Sunrise. The Last Shot retains the title at 14:04.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>A-. This is a case where the televised version worked a lot better than the live version as commentary and the better camera angles focused on Dunne’s knee injury that much better. You couldn’t get much out of that in the arena (or at least from the upper deck) and commentary sold the story very well. This was a heck of a back and forth match with both guys working very hard and selling their damage from the previous night.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Some wrestlers visited an elementary school.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>We recap Daniel Bryan vs. the Fiend. Bray Wyatt won the title earlier in the month at Crown Jewel and started taunting Bryan to make him his first victim. Bryan has teased bringing back the YES Movement to fight Wyatt but won’t go all the way with it. Therefore, he might not be ready to face the Fiend.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Smackdown World Title: The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Bryan is challenging and we get the full Fiend entrance, complete with severed head lantern. The crowd goes almost silent as the red lights come on and that’s an impressive reaction. Bryan hits a running dropkick into the corner to start but tries another and gets blasted by a clothesline. An uppercut puts Bryan on the floor and Bray plants him in the ring for a bonus.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>There’s the toss suplex and Bray starts writhing around before grabbing the neck crank. With that broken up, they head outside where Bray misses a charge into the steps. He’s right back up though and Bryan has to break up Sister Abigail, meaning it’s a posting to stagger Bray again. A big dive off the top drops Fiend and he’s taking a little more time to get up.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Back in and Daniel hits the missile dropkick, followed by the YES Kicks to….just bring Bray back up. Fiend laughs at him and seems to say bring it on so Bryan hits the big kick to the head. More stomps have Fiend in trouble and the running knee (with YES chants from Bryan) gets two. Bray charges into a boot in the corner but grabs the Mandible Claw anyway. That’s reversed into an armbar over the top rope but dives into a right hand. Bryan tries the running knee again and charges straight into the Mandible Claw for the pin at 10:01.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>B. They were getting somewhere with this one but it never hit that next level. It’s like Bryan needs one more gear, like the YES Movement, to get all the way over the hump. The Fiend comes off like a movie monster and it is going to take someone special to beat him. Having Bray beat a star like Bryan is a good move for him, but it’s hard not to imagine Roman Reigns getting the nod at this point. Anyway, this was a good match but it needed one more level to make it great.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Rey Mysterio says he first faced Brock Lesnar almost fifteen years ago. He’s a new man now and pulls out the pipe to prove it. Normally Rey would want his son Dominick to turn away but tonight he wants his son to watch and see what happens when Rey takes out Brock’s legs.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Raw Men vs. Smackdown Men vs. NXT Men</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Raw: Seth Rollins, Randy Orton, Ricochet, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Smackdown: Roman Reigns, Shorty G., Mustafa Ali, King Corbin, Braun Strowman</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT: Tommaso Ciampa, Keith Lee, Walter, Matt Riddle, Damian Priest</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Same rules as the women’s match: triple threat and you can only tag your team members. Ali is rather happy to be in his hometown, as he should be. The fans are behind Walter, which shouldn’t be much of a surprise. Rollins and Ciampa slug away at Strowman to start so he dropkicks both of them down at the same time. McIntyre and Walter come in for the big three way hoss showdown and it’s Strowman being hammered down in the corner. Walter and McIntyre chop it out with Walter kicking him down but getting run over by Strowman.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>The chop to Strowman doesn’t work so Walter dropkicks him into the corner…but walks into the Claymore to get rid of Walter at 2:58. The fans are MAD over that and I can’t say I blame them a bit as you don’t bring in a champion for a show like this and have him get pinned clean in less than three minutes. Priest comes in to kick away at McIntyre and Strowman, who misses a charge into the post. Gable comes in with a moonsault to Priest but Ricochet comes in to pick the pace way up.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>A heck of a Rolling Chaos Theory hits Ricochet and it’s Riddle coming in to a big reaction. Gable gets the ankle lock on Riddle but it’s broken up in a hurry for the staredown. Another Chaos Theory doesn’t work on Riddle as Ciampa tags himself in, only to get kicked in the head by Gable. Ricochet kicks both of them down and it’s Owens going up top. He thinks about splashing Gable or Ciampa before going with the frog splash to get rid of Gable at 6:29.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Corbin comes in and bails from the threat of a Stunner so Owens follows him with the Cannonball. The Stunner connects on the floor but Ciampa catches Owens with Willow’s Bell for the pin at 7:41. Orton is behind Ciampa but Ciampa is smart enough to turn around without walking into the RKO. Ciampa hammers away and tries another Willow’s Bell but gets dropped onto the apron instead. Back in and it’s the Garvin Stomp but Ciampa gets over for the tag to Priest, only to walk into the RKO. Another RKO gets rid of Priest at 10:16 but Riddle rolls Orton up for the pin at 10:26.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Orton RKOs Riddle as well and it’s stealing the pin at 10:54 to some great heel heat. That’s how you use Corbin and it worked great here. Lee and Strowman come in so the fans are already singing. McIntyre breaks up the staredown with a forearm to Lee but gets run over by Strowman. That means the big running train around the ring, which works so well that Strowman does it again. This time though, Lee runs him over for a change and McIntyre adds a Claymore to count Strowman out at 13:17.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>We’re down to Lee/Ciampa vs. Ricochet/McIntyre/Rollins vs. Ali/Corbin/Reigns. Ricochet springboards in with a clothesline to Corbin and there’s the big running flip dive to Reigns. The 450 misses Lee though and Corbin hits the End of Days to finish Ricochet at 14:31. Ali tags himself in and starts cleaning house with some kicks to the face.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Rollins counters the rolling X Factor by launching Ali over his head, only to have Ali X Factor Ciampa instead. The tornado DDT hits Rollins and it’s Ali hitting a suicide dive onto a bunch of people. Corbin won’t let Ali get a cover though and the distraction lets Rollins hit the Stomp to get rid of Ali at 16:10.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Reigns and Corbin get into it on the floor until McIntyre and Rollins break it up. Back in and McIntyre’s reverse Alabama slam gets two on Ciampa but the spear cuts McIntyre down for the pin at 17:39. Rollins, the only member left of Team Raw, kicks Reigns to the floor but the suicide dive is blocked with a right hand. Willow’s Bell cuts Reigns off but he reverses the Fairy Tale Ending into the Superman Punch.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Corbin pulls Reigns over to the corner for the tag, only to yell at Reigns instead of going after Ciampa. Eventually Ciampa escapes the chokeslam, leaving Reigns to spear and Superman Punch Corbin to give Ciampa the pin at 19:57. It’s Reigns for Smackdown, Rollins for Raw and Ciampa/Lee for NXT. Reigns, Rollins and Ciampa slug it out with Lee coming in for a failed save attempt.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>That leaves Reigns vs. Rollins because we need to get the Shield stuff in. They decide to work together again but can’t hit a DoubleBomb. Instead Ciampa catches Rollins with Project Ciampa for a VERY close two but it’s a Superman Punch to Ciampa. The Stomp gets rid of Ciampa at 24:02 and we’re down to one apiece.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Lee is ready to go and slingshots in with a double crossbody to put them both down. The Limit Breaker is countered by Rollins and a superkick sets up the frog splash for two as the fans are behind Lee. Rollins goes after Lee again but walks into the Limit Breaker for the completely clean pin at 26:32 to get rid of Raw. The roof goes off the place as Lee is instantly a legit contender to pull off the major upset.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Reigns starts fast with a Superman Punch for a very quick two and Graves is DEMANDING a replay. The spear is loaded up but Lee cuts it off with a Spirit Bomb for a very, very close two. Lee misses the moonsault though and gets speared down for the pin at 29:18 as the air doesn’t go all the way out of the place.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>B+. The ending sequence was the reason I’ve always wanted to see one of these shows in person: they hit the drama out of the park and had you believing that Lee could pull off the impossible. Lee got the big pin on Rollins so he’s a made man as a result, along with Ciampa for pinning Owens and Corbin. Just like in the women’s match, the NXT men felt like they belonged here and that was the point of the whole thing. Very fun match here with a lot of people (including Gable) getting to show off for a long time. Lee got the big rub here though, and they nailed every bit of what they wanted to do with him.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT – 3</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Smackdown – 2</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Raw – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Post match Reigns and Lee show respect.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Becky Lynch talks about being the man seven days a week while Shayna Baszler has been training every day. Shayna is going to have to destroy her completely and no one can do that to her. Then there’s Bayley, who thinks Becky has been ducking her. Becky even broke her own rule and came looking for Bayley. Tonight, Becky is taking them out and showing that she is the Man.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>We recap Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar. Brock attacked Rey and his son so Rey brought in Cain Velasquez to help him fight. Once Lesnar got rid of Cain in less than three minutes, Rey fought for himself and took out Lesnar’s knee with a steel pipe. Tonight it’s No DQ so Rey can have a chance.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Raw World Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Lesnar is defending and anything goes. Rey is dressed as the Joker (again) and that might not be the best visual for a match that is supposed to be rather serious. Paul Heyman introduces Brock as weighing about two and a half Rey Mysterios for his funny line of the night. Rey goes straight to the floor and pulls out the pipe so Lesnar bails to the floor in a smart move.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Brock gets Rey to chase him and the big clothesline makes him drop the pipe. The beating begins as Rey is sent outside and over the announcers’ table in a crash. The announcers’ table is loaded up and Brock throws him into the cover. Rey is beaten down so badly that Brock can even stop to tie his boot. It takes so long that Rey can get in a posting but Brock won’t let him grab the pipe. A release German suplex drops Rey onto the pipe (geez) and another (no pipe) makes it even worse.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>There’s a third suplex so here’s Dominick with a towel. Brock takes that away and throws it out (maybe in a shot at the ending to Cody vs. Chris Jericho at Full Gear). Brock grabs Dominick so Rey hits him low and even Dominick gets in his own shot. Some pipe shots set up a double 619 (sweet) and Dominick adds a frog splash (in a nice tribute to his dad). Rey adds his own frog splash for two and the fans know it isn’t happening. Dominick gets suplexed down and the F5 retains the title at 6:54.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>C+. This was all about that one short stretch and man alive did they make it work for about a minute. There’s more to it than that though and the rest of it was Brock’s standard operating procedure. Brock can do good things when he’s motivated and that…wasn’t exactly happening here but the comeback and near fall were great so it’s more good than bad.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>We recap the women’s triple threat match. Becky Lynch knows she is the best but Shayna Baszler came in and said she’d beat Becky just like the rest. Bayley has been fighting to make people think she matters in this whole thing other than to take the fall.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Bayley (Smackdown) vs. Becky Lynch (Raw) vs. Shayna Baszler (NXT)</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Non-title Battle of the Women’s Champions. Ignore how Bayley’s shirt with BAY over LEY with the belt around her waist spells AEW of course. The announcers mention Ronda Rousey quite a few times during the entrances and I can’t imagine that’s a coincidence. Bayley knocks Baszler into Becky to start and the fans aren’t exactly interested early on. Baszler and Bayley hammer away at each other on the mat and fight to the floor.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Becky takes both of them down before throwing Bayley back inside. The spinning legdrop misses but Becky is right back up with a slingshot dropkick through the ropes to keep Baszler down. Bayley hits (or close to it) a sunset bomb into the corner as the silence is notable here. With Becky down, Baszler starts working on the arm but Becky cuts off a charge into the corner. Bayley stomps Becky down and slams her face into the mat a few times as the fans try to get a weak Becky chant going.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Baszler is back in to break it up but Bayley knocks her down as well. Becky gets back up this time with a DDT to Baszler and a reverse DDT to Bayley at the same time, though it isn’t enough to get the crowd going. The guillotine legdrop gets two on Bayley and Baszler has to break up the Disarm-Her. The Bayley to Belly gets two on Baszler but she’s back up with a suplex of her own. Becky comes back in with a missile dropkick to make Baszler drop Bayley.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>We get the CM PUNK chants as Baszler and Becky slug it out until Bayley sends Becky outside. The charge on the apron is cut off with a Kirifuda Clutch but Becky comes back in with a sitout powerbomb for two on Baszler. Now it’s Becky getting Clutched inside until Bayley makes the save, only to get sent outside again. They all wind up on the floor with Becky being sent into various steel objects. Bayley takes Baszler back inside and has to suplex her way out of a quick Clutch attempt. The top rope elbow is countered into the Clutch though and Bayley taps at 18:05.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Rating: </b>D+. They were trying here but the match didn’t have much of a flow and wasn’t the most thrilling. You can also see the amount of influence that the crowd can have as they weren’t interested here. However, there were some rather negative chants in the arena and they didn’t get picked up by audio here, which is a rather good thing. The match wasn’t good but it also wasn’t a nightmare and the heavily negative chants weren’t deserved. It didn’t help when the best Bayley could have done was tie the score and Becky had no chance to win anything for Raw, but there were other issues going on.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>NXT – 4</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Smackdown – 2</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Raw – 1</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Post match Shayna celebrates on the announcers’ table but Becky jumps her from behind. A legdrop off the apron lets Becky pose to end the show. That doesn’t get the best reaction either.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><b>Overall Rating: </b>B+. Aside from a not great main event, this was a heck of a show with one good to great match after another. They would have been better off having a tie coming into the main event but WWE hasn’t seemed interested in drama around here for the last few shows. NXT got the rub it was looking for though and that is the best thing that could happen. I’m sure it’ll be enough to fight off AEW, which is one of the major points of this whole thing so well done? In theory? Anyway what we got was borderline great though and I got what I was wanting out of the show so I’ll call it a major positive.</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”><u>Results</u></span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Team NXT b. Team Raw and Team Smackdown last eliminating Sasha Banks</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Roderick Strong b. AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura – Phenomenal Forearm to Nakamura</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Adam Cole b. Pete Dunne – Last Shot</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>The Fiend b. Daniel Bryan – Mandible Claw</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Team Smackdown b. Team Raw and Team NXT – Spear to Lee</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Brock Lesnar b. Rey Mysterio – F5</span></span></span></p>
<p align=”left”><span style=”color: #000000;”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: small;”>Shayna Baszler b. Bayley and Becky Lynch – Kirifuda Clutch to Bayley</span></span></span></p>
<p class=”western” align=”left”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: medium;”>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:</span></span></p>
<p class=”western” align=”left”><span style=”color: #000080;”><span lang=”zxx”><u><span style=””><span style=”font-size: medium;”><span lang=”en-US”>http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/08/26/new-book-and-e-book-kbs-complete-2004-monday-night-raw-reviews/</span></span></span></u></span></span></p>
<p class=”western” align=”left”><span style=””><span style=”font-size: medium;”>And check out my Amazon author page with cheap wrestling books at:</span></span></p>
<p class=”western” align=”left”><span style=”color: #000080;”><span lang=”zxx”><u><a href=”http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6″><span style=””><span style=”font-size: medium;”><span lang=”en-US”>http://www.amazon.com/Thomas-Hall/e/B00E6282W6</span></span></span></a></u></span></span></p>

Smackdown
Date: October 30, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s time to start the build towards Survivor Series, but also the start of the Usos being Roman Reigns’ lackeys. That could go a long way in the short and long terms so I’m curious to see where it goes. Other than that, there isn’t a lot going on around here so maybe they can start something new. Let’s get to it.

Here is Hell In A Cell if you need a recap.

Here are Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman to open things up with Jey Uso waiting in the ring. After a look back at Reigns beating Uso in the Cell match, Jey takes the mic from Heyman to say that he didn’t quit. Reigns says he told him so and that he made Jey quit like he promised. Jey can’t believe what Reigns did and says Reigns isn’t tougher than him. Reigns calls this the kind of thing that this is what you have to do to become champion.

The entire family, from the oldest to the youngest, is behind him and if Jey doesn’t do as he promises, he’s out of the family. He knows Jey wants to bash his skull in right now but what can he do. Jey looks near tears and shouts that he hates Reigns. Why does Reigns have to do this? Reigns knows Jey hates him right now but by the end of the night, Jey will fall in line. Reigns was outstanding here, with his voice really low and threatening while knowing he was completely in control.

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler

Robert Roode is here with Ziggler, who gets Owens to chase him to start and stomps away back inside. Owens hits an elbow to the face so Ziggler kicks him in the knee. A missed charge puts Owens on the floor and Roode gets in a cheap shot from behind. The referee ejects Roode on suspicion of cheating (speculating isn’t fair) and we take a break. Back with Owens fighting out of an armbar but getting knocked down for two more.

Owens gets up again and catches a crossbody, which he spins around into something like a White Noise/Death Valley Driver hybrid. The Swanton hits knees but Owens blocks the Fameasser. The Pop Up Powerbomb is countered into a Fameasser (cool) for two so they go into a pinfall reversal sequence for two each. Ziggler’s superkick is countered into the Stunner for the pin at 10:29.

Rating: C. My levels of apathy towards Ziggler matches continue to grow, which I didn’t know was possible. There’s just such a firm limit on what you are going to get with him, though what you get is often completely watchable. What matters here is Owens won the match though as he is a lot more interesting than most of the people who could be in the spot. Completely watchable match, but Ziggler sucks the life out of almost anything he does.

Video on Daniel Bryan, including the rise of the YES Movement.

Natalya asks Adam Pearce how the Survivor Series team is going to be made and suggests that she is the captain and picks the team. Billie Kay comes up with a combination head shot/resume but here’s Bianca Belair who is here to be captain. Natalya says no one cares and calls herself the boat. Belair: “That isn’t as cute as you think it is.” Amen. Anyway, Pearce makes a triple threat qualifying match to end this parade of people talking like NO OTHER HUMAN WOULD EVER TALK.

We get a sitdown interview with Lars Sullivan, who asks why he isn’t being called the Freak. Lars: “Would you like to be called the Freak?” Sullivan goes into a mini rant about being labeled a freak, but Corey Graves says all he meant was he isn’t capable of doing the physically freakish things that Lars is capable of doing. Lars: “I’ll accept that.”

Sullivan talks about being called a freak for the first time when he was nine or ten years old, because the Tracy Brothers were singing about him being a freak show. He didn’t know what to do so he cried. Everyone there laughed at him, even the teachers. The laughter stopped but the screaming never did. As for what he wants to do in WWE, his goal is to unleash all of his pain and humiliation on WWE and make this place his personal playground. I can go with channeling the original Mankind story, and Sullivan is just off enough to make it work fairly well.

Bianca Belair comes out for her match…so let’s look at Seth Rollins vs. Murphy from last week with Murphy trying to make amends with the Mysterio Family to no avail.

Aalyah and Murphy are in the back. Her mom seems to approve of whatever makes her happy but Rey and Dominick don’t want her having anything to do with Murphy. He’s going to apologize to them tonight though so she takes his hand.

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Bianca Belair vs. Peyton Royce vs. Natalya

Billie goes to the floor to start so Natalya shoves Bianca and quickly finds out that was a bad idea. Belair backflips away from her and knocks Billie off the apron. Natalya’s discus lariat drops Belair so Billie can get two, followed by a hurricanrana to Belair. A basement dropkick cuts off Natalya and a handspring moonsault gives Belair two. Natalya’s springboard belly to back drop sets up a somewhat mistimed basement dropkick and the Sharpshooter goes on.

Billie adds a reverse chinlock at the same time and thank goodness Bianca didn’t tap. Billie kicks Bianca in the face to make her DDT Natalya and it’s time for back to back near falls each. The Sharpshooter has Billie in trouble for a good while until Belair makes the save. Natalya is sent into the post and Belair hits the KOD to finish Billie at 4:11.

Rating: C-. Just a match here and while Natalya isn’t quite as soul crushing as Ziggler, she is still just there for the most part. This match didn’t do the Sharpshooter many favors as both of them survived a long time in the hold, but it’s not like Natalya is going to be taken seriously anyway. They had me worried that Belair was going to take the fall here but well done on going with the only logical move.

Carmella snaps her fingers to get a bucket of champagne. She is that woman who calls her shots and makes her own rules. She is willing to do whatever it takes to get ahead because no matter what, she will always win. Next week, the entire world will know why she is untouchable. This feels like a gimmick that has been done in about a dozen similar forms over the years.

A breast cancer survivor is in the virtual audience. Always cool.

Here are Murphy and Aalyah, arm in arm, for a chat. Murphy says that as a man, he needs to apologize to Rey and Dominick face to face. Neither of them come out but here’s Seth Rollins instead. He knows that the Mysterios will never accept him but Rollins will always forgive him. Rollins can always accept Murphy, and he’ll accept Aalyah as well, no matter what her last name is. Cue Dominick to jump Rollins but Murphy pulls him off and goes after Rollins.

Dominick goes after Murphy as Rollins bails up the ramp. Rey comes in to help, but Aalyah gets in the way of the 619. She says she loves Murphy and Rey is distraught. He’s so upset that he speaks Spanish but Aalyah won’t go with them. Rey asks one more time for her to come with them but Aalyah kisses Murphy, which makes Rollins smile from the stage.

Daniel Bryan feels bad for what Jey Uso is going through but he’s ready for the best Uso tonight.

Here are the Street Profits for a match to thank the New Day for the imitation on Monday. New Day is a great tag team but at Survivor Series, they’re being served an L. They want the smoke.

Street Profits vs. Cesaro/Shinsuke Nakamura

Non-title. Dawkins blocks Cesaro’s hiptoss to start and shoulders Cesaro down. Ford comes in with the great dropkick and Dawkins belly to backflips Ford onto Cesaro for two. A running Blockbuster sends Cesaro the floor and Ford hits a big running flip dive onto Nakamura. Cesaro LAUNCHES Ford over the barricade though (that’s going to be on a highlight reel) and we take a break.

Back with Nakamura kicking Ford in the ribs to set up a slingshot suplex. Ford gets in a shot for a breather so we can take another look at that toss over the barricade (as we should). The hot tag brings in Dawkins to clean house, including the spinning splashes in the corner. Another splash misses though and Nakamura hits a running knee to the ribs in the corner. Cesaro adds a gutwrench powerbomb for two with Ford making the save. The Anointment hits Cesaro and it’s a superplex into the Cash Out to finish Nakamura at 9:14.

Rating: C+. The match was the usual high energy work from the Profits but that launch over the barricade should get the attention. Ford pushed off of that perfectly and it made for one of the coolest visuals in a little while. Ford is such an athletic freak and it is always fun to watch him do things that no human being should be able to accomplish.

Sami Zayn is looking forward to facing Bobby Lashley at Survivor Series because Sami is a man of all of the continents. He is the people’s champion and the champion of the people because people love him from Bolivia to Lebanon to New Zealand to Botswana. They know he will never lie to them but Lashley only represents ONE country. At Survivor Series, Sami is going to show Lashley that the Intercontinental Champion is greater than the United States Champion. I can always go for someone who can talk looking into a camera and making me want to see a match.

Here is Sasha Banks, with the chair from Sunday, for a chat. She says you shouldn’t talk the talk if you can’t walk the walk and on Sunday, she walked the walk. That’s why she beat Bayley to become the new Smackdown Women’s Champion. Now that Bayley is in her past, she is ready for Survivor Series and Asuka because she is the best of the best. Cue Bayley to say Sasha knows she can’t beat Asuka without Bayley in her corner. That’s why next week, Bayley wants her rematch next week. Bayley: “Trick or treat. Ding dong, the title reign is dead.” Sasha says it’s on.

We get a preview of the 30 Days Of The Deadman special.

Survivor Series Qualifying Match: Jey Uso vs. Daniel Bryan

Jey doesn’t look happy, even as he shoulders Bryan down to start. Bryan is back with a wristlock but Jey knocks him into the corner. That just earns him the moonsault over Jey into Bryan’s running clothesline, followed by the YES Kicks. Jey gets knocked outside and here are Reigns and Heyman, sending Jey into quite a bit of anger as we take a break.

Back with Bryan hitting a running dropkick into the Tree of Woe. Jey slips out and starts kicking away but the Superfly Splash hits knees. The LeBell Lock goes on until Jey gets to the rope to save himself before too long. The running dropkick connects in the corner but Jey is right back with a superkick. Now the Superfly Splash can connect for the clean pin at 9:42.

Rating: C+. I was surprised when Jey pinned AJ Styles a few weeks back but this was almost shocking, as Bryan is one of the top stars on Smackdown and Jey pinned him completely clean in a pretty decent match. That’s a good way to make a star, though it makes Reigns look even bigger after he destroyed Jey in back to back matches. I’m curious to see what this means for Jimmy, as it’s hard to imagine this all being forgotten as soon as Jimmy is back.

Post match Reigns comes to the ring, where Jey says he’s with him. Jey acknowledges Reigns a the head of the table and superkicks Bryan, setting up another Superfly Splash. Jey shouts about understanding now and says he loves Reigns too. Reigns points to Bryan and says make him understand. Jey takes Bryan outside and puts him onto the announcers’ table for another Superfly Splash. Reigns looks happy as Jey hammers away to end the show. Points for doing this after a win. It’s so annoying to have someone lose clean and THEN make them look awesome. This worked well and that had something to do with it.

Overall Rating: C+. Above all else, this show felt like it had a plan and then executed it. I know I say this a lot but it means so much to have this show only running two hours. It means they don’t feel like they’re scrambling to fill things in, which was more evident tonight. They built up Survivor Series and Reigns/Uso, which made for a good use of two hours. It’s not a great show but it’s an efficient show, which is a good sign for Friday night for a change.

Results

Kevin Owens b. Dolph Ziggler – Stunner

Bianca Belair b. Natalya and Billie Kay – KOD to Kay

Street Profits b. Cesaro/Shinsuke Nakamura – Cash Out to Nakamura

Jey Uso b. Daniel Bryan – Superfly Splash

 

 

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

Smackdown
Date: October 23, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the go home show for Hell in a Cell and maybe that means WWE can remember to build the show a bit. Granted I wouldn’t bet on it as last year’s show only had three matches announced going into the weekend and this year’s already has four. I don’t know what the deal is with that, but at least they’re mostly consistent. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with the Kevin Owens Show, with Owens being rather happy to be in his new home. To make it even better, we are starting the new show with a special guest, who is one of the most technically sound wrestlers of all time: Daniel Bryan. After praising the set, Bryan talks about being really excited to be on Smackdown with all of these great, young wrestlers. He thinks it would be even better if the Intercontinental Title was defended every single week.

Owens likes the idea of titles, but wants to talk about the Tag Team Titles. Bryan is confused, but Owens says it is the one thing he hasn’t won around here. Bryan: “You’ve betrayed a lot of people.” Owens thinks they would be a great team and even has a great name for them: Team Hell KO.

Bryan points out that would be Owens and Kane, which seems to surprise Owens. Anyway, here are Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode (Owens: “Why?”) with Ziggler speaking in Van Halen song titles. They’re a great team, so here are the Street Profits to say they want the smoke. Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura come out as well and the big brawl is on.

Kevin Owens/Daniel Bryan/Street Profits vs. Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler/Shinsuke Nakamura/Cesaro

Joined in progress with Owens dropping a backsplash on Nakamura and handing it off to Dawkins. Roode comes in to drop Dawkins but misses the elbow drop, meaning it’s Dawkins belly to back suplexing Ford into a moonsault on Roode for the early two. Ziggler comes in to dropkick Ford and the villains start taking turns with the beating. Ford finally hits a dropkick for a breather, allowing the hot tag to Bryan. That means the pace picks up and Cesaro is low bridged to the floor for the suicide dive.

Back in and Bryan hits a running corner dropkick on Cesaro but may have injured his knee. Cesaro uppercuts him back out to the floor and we take a break. Back with Ziggler wrapping Bryan’s knee around the bottom rope and grabbing a half crab. Cesaro comes in for half a second before it’s back to Ziggler, who gets catapulted into the corner.

Roode cuts off the crawl to the corner and puts Bryan on the top, only to get shoved back down. A missile dropkick allows the hot tag off to Dawkins so house can be cleaned. Everything breaks down and Cesaro rolls Dawkins up with feet on the ropes…but gets caught. The referee breaks that up so it’s the Cash Out into the frog splash to give Ford the pin on Cesaro at 13:53.

Rating: C. This was very similar to the four way women’s tag match on Raw, though the action was better and it didn’t have the annoying team winning so I can go with it a bit more. You would think we would be coming up on someone beating the Street Profits here to set up a title shot at the pay per view, but that’s not the Cell’s way.

And now, egads, it’s Law And Otis as Miz and John Morrison take Otis to court over the Money in the Bank briefcase. Ron Simmons is the bailiff and JBL is the judge as Miz talks about how horrible Otis has been for the briefcase. He is here to end this nightmare and put the briefcase in his own better hands (it worked the first time around). Otis says it should be his because he won the match. Miz’s attorney: “That’s a good argument.” Miz fires her in the only funny part of the segment.

Video on Bianca Belair.

Daniel Bryan is all fired up with the Street Profits and Kevin Owens but here’s Sami Zayn to say he doesn’t share Bryan’s vision for the Intercontinental Title. The title is Sami’s and he is going to defend it his way.

Bianca Belair vs. Zelina Vega

Belair puts her on top to start but Vega slaps her in the face. That earns Vega a toss off the top and Belair slams her again. Vega’s headscissors is countered with a front flip and there’s a standing moonsault into a nip up from Belair. Vega kicks her away and gets in a kick to the head, followed by a middle rope hurricanrana. Belair isn’t having that and punches her out of the air before dead lifting Vega into a gorilla press drop onto the turnbuckle. The KOD finishes Vega at 2:38. So much for Vega’s push but that worked well for Belair.

Video on Lars Sullivan.

Shorty G. is fed up with not being drafted anywhere and it’s time to right the ship. That’s why he’s calling out Lars Sullivan to prove that he belongs.

Shorty G. vs. Lars Sullivan

Sullivan wastes no time in hitting a fall away slam and faceplants Gable for a bonus. Gable rakes the eyes to escape a powerslam though and hits a rolling kick in the corner. A missed charge annoys Sullivan though and he sends Gable flying, followed by a hard clothesline. The Freak Accident finishes Gable at 1:57.

Post match, Gable quits. Good. Get out while you still can. Go work in a corrugated box factory or test discount parachutes or something else with a better future.

Seth Rollins talks about how he requested his match with Murphy tonight. In the Greater Good, everyone has a role, with Rollins being a leader. Tonight, Murphy’s role will be defined and that sounds like fun to Rollins.

Post break, Shorty G. says he’s done being a character who accepts who he is because he doesn’t accept it. He’s done being a punching bag who shows up in a public service announcement. There’s only one man who can achieve anything he wants: an Olympian, a state and national champion, and his name is Chad Gable. Well it freaking took long enough, though I have no reason to believe that this is going to go anywhere whatsoever.

Here’s Bayley with her chair for a chat. She did four interviews this morning and every time it was the same question: why is she hesitant to face Sasha Banks in the Cell? Not about her title reign or anything that she has done, but all about Sasha. Not that it matters, because she hasn’t and won’t sign the contract for Sunday.

Cue Sasha with the contract but Bayley swings the chair at her. That lets Sasha grab the title to set up a tug of war. A knee to the face drops Bayley and Sasha wraps the chair around her neck. Bayley kicks her in the head but Banks chokes her with the chair, demanding that Bayley sign. A lot of choking makes Bayley sign, because WWE still doesn’t know how contracts work.

It’s back to the court room where Morrison is the current witness. Otis has assaulted a lot of people and the biggest scars are in his heart.

Rey Mysterio says Otis should get the contract because he won the match.

Asuka rants in Japanese, prompting JBL to ask the court reporter if he got any of that. Teddy Long: “Every single word.”

Tucker says Miz went too far by having Mandy Rose sent to Raw so he deserves everything that happens to him. Miz asks for permission to treat the witness as hostile, with JBL saying it’s about time. Miz asks if Otis neglected the contract so Tucker is ready to fight. Violence is teased but JBL says we’ll take a recess and be back with the verdict. Long has to go to the bathroom anyway.

Back from a break with JBL saying you have to be violent around here but Otis not cashing in yet isn’t negligent. Therefore, JBL is ready to rule in favor of….and Miz cuts him off because he has a key piece of evidence. Miz provides a briefcase, which makes JBL hear a cash register sound. Therefore, JBL rules in Miz’s favor, meaning it’s Miz vs. Otis for the briefcase on Sunday. Simmons ends it with the catchphrase. So we needed THREE segments to set up a match that they have teased for two months. And we got maybe two funny lines? How WWE of them.

Video on Seth Rollins vs. Murphy.

Seth Rollins vs. Murphy

Aalyah is watching in the back. Murphy drives him into the corner to start so Rollins makes it clear that he’s the messiah. That earns him an armbar with Murphy taking it to the mat until Rollins cranks the arm back. A headlock lets Rollins talk about how Murphy is against him but Murphy hits a hard slap to the face. Murphy’s hurricanrana puts Rollins on the floor and a backdrop onto the announcers’ table takes us to a break.

We come back with Rollins knocking him off the top and out to the floor as we see Rey Mysterio and Dominick telling Aalyah to stop watching this. She can do what she wants though, which includes watching Rollins hit a gutbuster for two. Rollins’ waistlock is broken up so he puts Murphy on top, earning himself a missile dropkick.

Rollins is sent outside for a big flip dive (with Murphy almost clearing him), setting up a top rope Meteora for two. Murphy is favoring his arm after the landing though and has to go outside instead of following up. The injury sends Murphy outside to try and pop his shoulder back in, meaning Rollins can hit a suicide dive. Back in and the springboard knee to the head gives Rollins two. Rollins drives the bad shoulder into the apron and we take a break.

We come back with Rollins hitting the buckle bomb but Murphy is back with a knee to the face for two more. Murphy can’t follow up so Rollins yells some more and they slug it out until Rollins hits a step up enziguri. The Falcon Arrow gets two but the Stomp misses. Rollins goes up top but gets kicked in the face, only to slip out of a fireman’s carry. Another twist of the arm sets up the Stomp to finish Murphy at 17:31.

Rating: B. This got some time and that was a good thing as it felt like a much bigger match than it would have otherwise. I really don’t need more of the Mysterio story but at least it was something that didn’t involve the same people over and over. Murphy hung with Rollins and while a win would have meant more, he looks like he has gotten a lot out of this story.

Post match Rollins grabs the kendo stick so Aalyah asks her dad and brother to help him. They aren’t doing it so she goes down herself as Rollins beats on Murphy with the stick. Aalyah gets in the ring and tries to cover Murphy so here’s Dominick to keep things safe. Rollins teases running but comes back in to jump Dominick, drawing in Rey for the save with a chair. That’s enough to send Rollins off for good, as the Mysterios tell Aalyah to forget this. She helps Murphy up instead as the drama WILL continue.

Here are Roman Reigns and Paul Heyman to discuss the consequences for Sunday. Jey pops up on screen in Reigns’ dressing room where he eats some of his fruit. The whole family is disappointed in Roman but it’s nice to be part of the family with food and water like this. Hold on though as that’s Jimmy, who says Jey is right behind him. Jey jumps Reigns in the ring and the fight is on, with Jey grabbing a chair.

Reigns hits a big boot and takes the chair but Jey hits a superkick into the Superfly Splash to leave Reigns laying. The Usos celebrate on the ramp but Reigns grabs the mic to talk about what happens if he loses on Sunday. If Reigns loses, he stops being the Tribal Chief and the provider for the family.

Reigns can live with that, but if Jey quits, and he will, he will take orders from Reigns and respect him for what he is in the WWE and for what he does for the family. If Jey can’t, the brothers, their wives and their children are out of the family. They will all turn their backs on them, and those are the consequences. The Cell is lowered so Jey climbs up the wall to stare down at Reigns to end the show. This feud continues to deserve the greatest praise for making me want to see Jey Uso in a major singles match on pay per view. That’s a heck of a trick and they’ve made it work.

Overall Rating: C. Well, they did add something, though we had to sit through another HILARIOUS pop culture parody of a show that peaked….I don’t know, fifteen to twenty years ago? The wrestling was fine enough and the go home segment was good, but they are really not doing themselves any favors by making this show feel like the most slapped together pay per view of the year. The Cell matches are looking good, but it would be nice to have something underneath those to support things a bit.

Results

Street Profits/Kevin Owens/Daniel Bryan b. Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler/Cesaro/Shinsuke Nakamura – Frog splash to Cesaro

Bianca Belair b. Zelina Vega – KOD

Lars Sullivan b. Shorty G. – Freak Accident

Seth Rollins b. Murphy – Stomp

 

 

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

Main Event
Date: September 24, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton

It’s the go home show for Clash Of Champions and that means we might be getting to see a lot of hype for the pay per view. Other than that we might be in for a heck of a match between Ricochet and Mustafa Ali. The two of them have been hyping the match up, because that’s a thing you can do around here. Let’s get to it.

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

Main Event &#8211; September 17, 2020: Main Event Can Save Us

Opening sequence.

Bianca Belair vs. Liv Morgan

Ruby Riott comes to the stage with Liv but then heads to the back. Belair powers her down without much effort, as you probably expected. A shoulder runs Liv over again but Belair misses a dropkick. Liv’s running hurricanrana takes Belair down but Belair sends her face first into the buckle to cut her off.

The chinlock doesn’t last long so Belair goes with a delayed suplex, complete with squats. There’s a standing moonsault to keep Morgan in trouble and Belair starts dropping down onto her back. Belair blocks a rollup attempt out of the corner and hits another dropkick for two more. The cravate goes on but Liv fights up, only to get sent hard into the corner. Belair hits the KOD for the pin at 5:28.

Rating: D+. I know the team didn’t have much of a chance going into Sunday, but it really isn’t a good idea to have one half of the #1 contenders losing in a nothing match three days before the pay per view. It’s one of those things that only WWE can control and yet they just do it anyway, regardless of what it means. Stop doing so much of that as it’s just kind of dumb.

We get the awesome video from Smackdown, as narrated by Paul Heyman, talking about how dominant the Anoa’i family has been. Sika and Rikishi both talk about how great their sons are, with Roman Reigns wanting to be head of the table for the family. This is outstanding stuff and one of the places where WWE truly shines.

From Smackdown.

Roman Reigns/Jey Uso vs. Sheamus/King Corbin

Samoan Street Fight and Paul Heyman is here with Reigns (actually present to start the match) and Uso. Before the match, Reigns says he didn’t want any confusing this week. This is his yard, island, ring and WWE. If you want to change it, come take it. Sheamus is a little banged up but still here. It’s a brawl to start and thankfully there are no tags here because thankfully they understand the idea of a street fight.

The villains are sent to the floor early on, where Corbin pelts a chair at Reigns’ head for a scary crash. Jey dives onto Corbin but a second dive is countered into Deep Six on the floor. Back in and Corbin grabs a chair but gets kicked in the head for his efforts. Reigns chairs Corbin down but Sheamus runs Reigns over on the floor. The beatdown is on and Reigns is thrown over the announcers’ table. A regular table is brought inside and Uso gets planted through it for a near fall.

Reigns is back up and throws an announcers’ chair at Corbin’s head for a pretty impressive power display. Sheamus knocks him down again and loads up the announcers’ table but White Noise is broken up. Reigns kick Sheamus low and Samoan drops him onto (not through) the table. Corbin is posted and Sheamus is speared through the barricade. Back up and Corbin jumps Reigns before throwing Jey over a bunch of stuff. Uso is back with a title shot to the face though and Reigns adds a spear. The Superfly Splash gives Jey the pin at 6:10.

Rating: B. This was a lot of fun and most of that is because of Roman Reigns. THIS is the Reigns that people had been wanting to see for a long time. He was like a bulldozer here and running through everyone in his path, which made for some really awesome moments throughout. That’s the kind of Reigns that looked like the star of the company and someone who could be the champ for a long time with a huge moment being needed to take it from him. I liked this a lot and Reigns came off as the monster they have been wanting for a long time now.

Post match Reigns doesn’t look happy with Uso. Jey grabs the title and teases posing with it but throws the title to Reigns for a smile. Reigns and Uso hug so Jey can leave, with Reigns glaring at him from the ring to end the show.

Video on Drew McIntyre.

From Raw.

Keith Lee vs. Drew McIntyre

Non-title and Lee has new gear again, with the low cut singlet top that Big Show wore for years over his shorts. McIntyre misses a Claymore attempt at the bell and they trade aggressive headlocks. A running crossbody sends McIntyre over the top in a heap and it’s time to forearm it out in front of the announcers’ table. Back from a break with McIntyre not being able to get him up in a fireman’s carry and being forearmed down instead. The Spirit Bomb is broken up though and McIntyre comes back with a spinebuster for two.

A neckbreaker gives McIntyre two more but the Future Shock is powered into the corner. Lee Hulks Up and hits something like a spinebuster of his own for his own near fall. Some shots to McIntyre’s face (after commentary brought up the bad jaw) and a clothesline give Lee two more. The Spirit Bomb is escaped again and McIntyre hits the Claymore but here’s Randy Orton with a chair to McIntyre for the DQ at 12:22.

Rating: C+. It was nice while it lasted but this was a matter of time until Orton came in. They don’t want to pin Lee and McIntyre shouldn’t be taking any kind of a pin right now so this was the only way to go. That doesn’t make it better, but it makes it logical. Lee is still impressive in the ring, but

Post match Orton drives the chair into McIntyre’s face and hits a Punt on Lee.

Post break Orton says shame on all of the fans for doubting him for even a second. Of course he is going to make it to Clash Of Champions. He’s been here for twenty years and he has been the only constant. Orton has never walked away from a World Title match and he won’t be doing it anytime soon.

The match on Sunday isn’t your usual World Title match though, is it? Orton walks over to an ambulance parked in the arena and opens the doors, saying he took a ride in this ambulance just a few weeks ago. That came after three Claymores and as he heard the sirens, he was fading in and out of consciousness.

Then he knew what it felt like to be taken out by the Legend Killer. He knew what Edge, Christian, Shawn Michaels, Big Show and Ric Flair all felt like. As he came to in the back of the ambulance, he started to smile. It wasn’t because of the pain, but it was because he remembered what he was capable of doing. He knows what it takes to become WWE Champion and that is where he will go again.

For some people this ambulance represents hope, pain or death. For Orton though, it means his 14^th World Title, so listen up Drew. At Clash Of Champions, Orton is giving Drew one more ride in the ambulance to make his title reign flat line. Orton slams the door to wrap up a good promo.

Mustafa Ali vs. Ricochet

Ali takes him down for some early near falls and they have a quick standoff. A headlock slows Ricochet down for a good two seconds before Ricochet sends him hard into the corner. That earns him a kick to the chest on the way out but Ricochet clotheslines him to the floor. Ali is ready for the moonsault and takes him out with a dive as we take a break.

Back with Ali getting two off a clothesline and hitting an elbow to the back of the head as the aggression is starting to roll. The chops in the corner keep Ricochet in trouble, with Ali ordering him to fight. We hit the chinlock but Ricochet fights up and hits a kick to the face for the breather. The running forearm puts Ali down and a kick to the chest gets two. A hard dragon suplex gives Ricochet two but he gets caught with a high crossbody.

That’s rolled through though and Ricochet’s running shooting star press gets two. Ali doesn’t even let him get up before grabbing a reverse Koji Clutch. A slap to the back of the head doesn’t make Ricochet very happy so it’s off to the pinfall reversal sequence with Ricochet cradling him for the pin at 8:19.

Rating: C+. Again, like these two are going to have a bad match when they are feeling it. I’m still not sure why we need to see them fight the Hurt Business week in and week out but at least the team is starting to pick up some wins. This wasn’t a classic by any means, but given what we usually get around here, it’s quite the upgrade.

Post match Ali is frustrated again and walks away this time.

From Smackdown.

We get a sitdown interview with Sasha Banks, beginning with a look at Bayley attacking her two weeks ago. Banks is nearly in tears and says she’s still here as we hear a lot of cheering noises. Cole talks about how Bayley used her and Banks knows that Bayley finds her useless now. She and Bayley used to walk these halls and talk about everything they have done together.

They had planned to take over the whole company together but now she sees these halls and, through tears, she sees all of the things she and Bayley did together. Banks gets a lot more serious and calls Bayley an idiot who is nothing without her. Now Banks is coming for the title. Bayley runs in and blasts her with a chair before wrapping the chair around Banks’ neck again. Some rather short people run in to break it up before Bayley can stomp on the chair. The idea made sense, but Banks isn’t much of an actress and the delivery hurt it a lot.

From Raw.

Retribution hacks the opening feed and here they are to get things going. They have officially signed contracts (because that’s a good company move) and unmask (mostly), revealing Mia Yim, Mercedes Martinez (I believe), Dominik Dijakovic, Dio Madden and a fifth member (Shane Thorne maybe?).

They talk about wanting to drain the lifeblood of this company because this place has betrayed them for the love of money. Cue the Hurt Business to chase them off and issue a challenge for tonight. Cue more masked members of the team to surround the ring and the beatdown is on. The goons are kicked out but the original members get in and the Hurt Business is overwhelmed.

And from Raw again.

Retribution vs. Hurt Business

Retribution is introduced as Slapjack, T-Bar and Mace (all in their half masks). MVP is the odd man out here and we start after a break. Lashley pulls Mace (Dio Madden) in and hammers away in the corner but it’s off to T-Bar (Dominik Dijakovic) to clothesline him to the floor. Cedric comes in to hammer away but gets taken into the corner for the tag off to Slapjack (possibly Shane Thorne).

Some shots to the back allow the tag to T-Bar, who sends Cedric flying. The Neuralizer staggers T-Bar so it’s off to Shelton to clean house. Mace gets in a distraction though and T-Bar scores with a kick to the face. It’s back to Mace for a double suplex but Shelton belly to back suplexes Mace for a breather. Slapjack gets backdropped as well and the hot tag brings in Lashley to clean house. The high angle spinebuster sets up the Hurt Lock but T-Bar hits Lashley in the eye from the apron for the DQ at 6:15.

Rating: D+. I’ll get to the issues with Retribution later but this was a pretty lame six man tag. The ending was horrible too as you have this chaotic and violent group and the best way to have them get disqualified is a poke to the eye from the apron? They couldn’t, I don’t know, triple team Lashley for a bit or do SOMETHING a little more violent? Granted that’s about the third biggest problem with the team so we’ll leave it for now.

Post match all of Retribution hits the ring for the beatdown. Cue Drew McIntyre with the rest of the locker room for the big brawl. Most of the ring is cleared and it’s Randy Orton with an RKO to McIntyre to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. As it has been for weeks now, the Reigns vs. Uso feud is the best thing going in WWE. Granted when the other big story is Retribution, that isn’t the highest bar to clear. On the other hand you have Bayley vs. Banks, which has been going for a very long time now but at least they seem to be rounding the turn and heading for the big showdown, possibly in the Cell. Ricochet vs. Ali is very good for Main Event standards, but the rest of the show is your usual offering.

 

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

Main Event
Date: September 17, 2020
Location: Amway Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton

We’re back with another recap special, likely featuring the wrestlers who are either way too good for this show or not good enough to make the rather large Raw every week. In other words, this show tends to be all over the place, even though it should be the easiest thing in the world to book. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Michael Cole on Main Event? Never say never I guess.

Bianca Belair vs. Billie Kay

Belair grabs a headlock to start and isn’t having any of this countering. A sunset flip is blocked as well but Billie sloppily spins around into an Octopus. That’s broken up and Belair rolls away, setting up a running shoulder to take her down. A running dropkick sets up the running splash for two on Kay and they head out to the apron.

Kay kicks her in the face for two and some shots to the ribs keep Belair down. The chinlock goes on for a bit, followed by a hard whip into the corner to drop Belair again. That’s enough of being on defense as Belair fights up and sends her face first into the corner. The handspring splash gets two and the KOD gives Belair the pin at 5:42.

Rating: C. Perfectly fine match here as Billie didn’t get destroyed and Belair looked awesome as usual. What helped here a lot though was Cole on commentary. I know a lot of people don’t care for him all that much and fair enough, but he is the biggest name commentator today and that is the kind of addition who can add a lot, as he did here.

We look back at Jey Uso becoming #1 contender.

From Smackdown.

Jey Uso/Roman Reigns vs. King Corbin/Sheamus

There is no Reigns to start so Corbin punches Uso down, allowing Sheamus to hit the ten forearms to the chest. Jey manages a Samoan drop to Corbin to set up the running Umaga Attack but Corbin rolls away. Sheamus comes in for White Noise (with commentary arguing over what the move is called). The Brogue Kick is loaded up but here’s Reigns, with the distraction letting Uso hit a superkick to Sheamus. There’s a suicide dive to Corbin and a superkick to Sheamus sets up the Superfly Splash. Reigns tags himself in and spears Sheamus for the pin at 4:02.

Rating: C-. There’s something awesome about this Reigns showing up and doing almost nothing to get a win. It’s such an obnoxious thing to do and suits him so well, including the subtle things like Reigns telling Uso to get out of the way so he can hit the spear. This has worked crazy well and Reigns has barely done anything since joining Heyman.

Post match Jey holds up Reigns’ hand, with the Universal Title, as Reigns stares at him to end the show.

We look back at the Mysterio Family attacking Murphy.

From Raw.

Seth Rollins vs. Dominik Mysterio

In a cage. Rollins strikes away to start and for the first time, I can’t fathom how many camera cuts are made. They were changing in time with Rollins’ shots to the back. Dominik grabs a tornado DDT and goes for the escape but here’s Murphy to slide in a kendo stick. Rollins sends him into the cage and we take a break with Cole in mid-sentence. Back with Rollins raking Dominik’s face across the cage but Dominik reverses into a ram of his own.

There’s a headscissors to send Rollins into the cage and now Rey hands Dominik a stick of his own. Some rams into the cage set up a sitout spinebuster for two on Rollins. The go up top and both crotch themselves on the rope, with MVP giving Dominik credit for shaking the ropes and being crafty. Dominik goes for the door but Murphy jumps Rey and beats him onto the barricade.

Murphy climbs up to cut off Dominik but gets knocked down, giving us what sounded like a sound effect on the crash landing. Dominik hits a frog splash for two so he goes up again, only to get superplexed down into the Falcon Arrow to give Rollins two. Rollins hits the Stomp but stops to glare at the Mysterios instead of covering. That means a second Stomp to finish Dominik at 11:59.

Rating: B-. I very rarely notice this kind of thing but the camera cuts here were completely insane and some of the most annoying things I can remember seeing in years. It was every few other second and it became the thing I kept focusing on rather than the match itself. As for the match, it was more of the same as Dominik looked good but came up short in a match where he shouldn’t have won. It was good enough, but I don’t need to see any combination of the Mysterios and Rollins/Murphy for a long time.

Post match Murphy seems to humble himself before Rollins, who sends him into the cage anyway. Rollins asks how it feels and says Murphy sucks. With Rey in the ring, Rollins tells Rey’s wife that he hopes the daughter turns out better. Rey’s daughter Aaliyah checks on Murphy for a bit before getting inside to check on Dominik as well, as Dominik is holding his shoulder.

Humberto Carrillo vs. Mustafa Ali

Carrillo spins out of a wristlock to start and he takes Ali down for a quick standoff. The high angle springboard armdrag sends a frustrated Ali to the floor but he’s back in with a kick to the face. Carrillo is sent outside for a hard ram into the barricade and we take a break. Back with Ali grabbing a neckbreaker and blasting him with a forearm to the face. They slug it out until Ali Russian legsweeps him hard into the corner.

Carrillo is right back up with a springboard kick to the face and a running hurricanrana drops Ali again. Ali gets sent into the corner but Carrillo misses a charge. The rolling X Factor is countered into a sitout powerbomb for two. Ali is right back up with the middle rope tornado DDT for two of his own and it’s time to stomp away. The 450 misses though and Carrillo is back up with a Spanish Fly for two more. Ali doesn’t even have to get back to his feet before grabbing the Koji Clutch to make Carrillo tap at 9:02.

Rating: C+. Now this was interesting as they focused on Ali showing some heel tendencies, which isn’t something you see too often on Main Event. Ali as a more aggressive and frustrated guy who turns heel as a result could be interesting, though I don’t know if I can give WWE the credit to pull it off. For now, we have to rely on Main Event to work for us…which is probably the first time that has ever been said.

From Smackdown.

Here’s Bayley, with the chair she used to destroy Banks, for a chat. We look at the beatdown and Bayley says of course she loved every second of it. Bayley knows everyone wants answers but she is full of questions. Banks is watching so did she really think Bayley wasn’t going to be her next target?

Sasha wanted to be Two Belts Banks again and was just using Bayley the whole time. She knows it because Bayley was using her the whole time. Bayley used her to become Bayley Dos Straps and is now the longest reigning Smackdown Women’s Champion in history. After last night though, Banks is nothing to her. Good promo here, and the explanation is a nice twist on the usual formula.

Video on Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton.

From Raw.

Keith Lee vs. Drew McIntyre

Non-title. Lee hammers away to start and gets in a shot to the bad jaw, setting up a charge over the top. Back from a break with McIntyre slugging away so Lee goes right back to the chops. The top rope chop gets two and McIntyre drops him with a clothesline. A suplex doesn’t work for McIntyre so Lee runs him over with a crossbody for two of his own. Lee puts him on top for the superplex back down and a delayed two. The Claymore and Spirit Bomb are both blocked so it’s stereo crossbodies for a double knockdown. They pull themselves up…and here’s Retribution for the no contest at we’ll say 9:45.

Rating: C+. They went with the two big men hitting each other really hard formula here and it worked well. Lee still doesn’t lose for a good detail, but you can also tell that he has lost a lot of sizzle in the last few weeks. Maybe helping to deal with Retribution can be a nice boost though, which he somehow already needs. Also, well done on not having Orton interfere here, which felt like the obvious ending.

Post match the beatdown stays on but here’s the Hurt Business to take off the jackets and go for the fight as well. McIntyre and Lee get up to hit the big stereo flip dives onto everyone to end the show, as somehow no one was unmasked in that whole thing.

Overall Rating: C+. This worked out rather well as things are starting to pick up a bit on the way to Clash Of Champions. We still have a little way to go before we get there though and some of this stuff was a nice way to fill in some time. I’m not sure what else they can do to build up the show, but they have a few more title matches to set. That’s for next week though, so for now we have to settle for this one being pretty good.

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