Smackdown – September 12, 2002: Billy and Chuck and Eric and Stephanie
Smackdown Date: September 12, 2002
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz
TIME FOR A WEDDING! Er, a commitment ceremony! So this time around, WWE has decided to try and run a gay wedding for the sake of publicity, which is exactly what they got from it. Billy and Chuck are becoming “tag team partners for life” here and I’ll give you three guesses how legitimate this is. Let’s get to it.
We open with a wedding invitation because of course we do. Oh and this is the season premiere. So last week’s average show was a season finale? They need to work on this stuff.
Video on Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker’s confrontation last week.
Opening sequence.
Brock Lesnar vs. Hardcore Holly
Non-title. They slug it out to start with Holly hanging in there until it’s an overhead belly to belly suplex to make things right with the world. A front facelock only seems to annoy Holly and he takes Lesnar outside to turn it into another brawl. Raw power gets Lesnar out of trouble again though as he sends Holly back first into the post and grabs another suplex. The LESNAR chants start up with the announcers mentioning his connections to the state. That’s a simple little save but very helpful to keeping Lesnar looking like a heel.
A delayed vertical suplex sets up a bearhug but Brock charges into some boots in the corner. That earns him a completely botched powerbomb with Holly handing on his head, putting him out of action for over a year. Holly somehow gets in a dropkick and the kick to the ribs, only to eat the F5 for the pin.
Rating: D. Really dull stuff here and that’s not the most surprising thing in the world. What is surprising is seeing Holly popping up and finishing the match despite his neck being destroyed like that. I know he might not be the most popular guy in the world but he’s certainly one of the toughest, which means a lot on its own.
Undertaker and his wife arrive. Uh, didn’t that go badly for Undertaker last time?
Eddie Guerrero/Chavo Guerrero vs. John Cena/Edge
Cena is in Minnesota Vikings colors and it’s a brawl to start with the cousins jumping the makeshift team to start. That earns Eddie a pull of the mullet before Cena spins out of a double top wristlock. Eddie and Chavo beat him down on the floor though and Chavo gets in a very hard clothesline.
Back to back gorilla press slams have Eddie in trouble so he calmly dropkicks the knee out because Cena isn’t ready to take Eddie on yet. The tag brings in Edge to clean house until Chavo crotches him against the post. Eddie runs up the corner for a hurricanrana but the half nelson faceplant is enough for the hot tag to Cena (Fan’s sign: “HOT TAG!”. Eh better than “the guy behind me can’t see”.). Everything breaks down and Edge goes shoulder first into the post. Cena is left all alone to take the brainbuster and frog splash for the pin.
Rating: C+. This worked like you would expect it to but I continue to be confused by Cena. He came in white hot and hit the ground running but then he was losing to D-Von and getting pinned clean in tag matches. As is so often the case, you need more than just a wrestling match to get someone over and the lack of any development is really hurting Cena.
Post match Eddie loads up a Stinkface with Chavo playing Rikishi but Edge breaks it up and puts Eddie’s face in there instead.
As expected, Eddie goes nuts on Chavo post break.
Undertaker says Sara is here because she has family in Minneapolis. Matt Hardy comes in and says he’ll have a kid one day with all his Mattributes. That earns Matt a shove into a wall, earning Undertaker the promise of a Mattitude Adjustment.
Rico can’t get the right figures on top of a cake but needs to talk to Stephanie. She can’t go because she has bad luck at weddings (ok I chuckled at that) but Rico gets close to having a meltdown and talks her into it.
Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio
Kurt thinks it’s funny that we’re in “Mini” and he’s facing Mysterio again. Angle: “You know, mini? He’s short. Oh come on that’s funny.” Angle doesn’t want to hear Chris Benoit laughing at him anymore either but jumps back to Mysterio, who is a boy in a man’s world. Kurt: “And I’m a man who loves to play with boys. Wait! I meant to say you’re a boy and I’m a man and tonight I’m going to manhandle you!” If that’s not enough comedy for you, the announcers spend Mysterio’s entrance talking about how the wedding isn’t for ratings and Bischoff used HLA to catch up with Smackdown’s quality.
Some early suplexes have Rey in trouble so he speeds things up (makes sense) with a headscissors. Angle goes shoulder first into the post and a springboard moonsault gets two. A frustrated Kurt flips Rey upside down with a release German suplex and things get more into Kurt’s pace.
We hit the bodyscissors to keep Rey down, followed by some rolling German suplexes to make things even worse. Rey fights right back with a moonsault press and a crossbody to put Angle on the floor. The 619 looks to set up the West Coast Pop but Kurt has to settle for a regular hurricanrana for a close two. Rey takes a bit too long going up though and the corner running Angle Slam puts him away.
Rating: B+. For a TV match, this was absolutely great stuff. These two always have chemistry together, but to be fair that’s the case with almost anyone Angle faces. He’s the kind of guy who can have a good match against anyone and it made for an entertaining match here. Really strong match and that shouldn’t be a surprise in the slightest.
Someone from the wedding party arrives in a long black limousine.
Chris Benoit vs. Rikishi
Rikishi slugs away to start and grabs a sitout spinebuster for no cover. Instead Rikishi gets kicked low and chopped down but the Crossface can’t go on full. Rikishi fights up and tries the Rump Shaker, only to get caught in a rather impressive electric chair drop. The Swan Dive is loaded up but here’s Angle to shove Benoit off the top for the DQ.
Rating: D. So you remember how I said Angle can work well with anyone? Well that’s not the case with Rikishi, who just has no place at this level and everyone knows it. I really have no idea why he’s here, especially when there are a lot of people ready to be raised up to get a shot like this. Orton and Cena are reduced to jobbing roles but Rikishi can be pushed this hard?
Post match Angle holds Benoit in place for the Stinkface.
The wedding ceremony is being set up so Benoit spends the time getting a match with Angle at Unforgiven. Stephanie agrees as Matt comes in and gets a match with Undertaker tonight.
Here’s Rico to complain about how the ceremony isn’t what he ordered, including a very old Justice of the Peace. The singers belt out It’s Raining Men to bring Billy and Chuck to the ring (edited off the Network of course, making for a very awkward transition) and the old man dances. With the Justice’s hands shaking, Chuck talks about how he didn’t know much about Billy when they met.
Billy might have captured a lot of tag team gold but now he’s captured Chuck’s heart. Billy: “That was corny! Even for you!” Rings are exchanged and Rico is all aglow. Rico presents a video called Our Love Story with various comedic/romantic moments between the two of them which is so cheesy it almost works in a way.
We get the speak now line and here’s Godfather with the ladies. Godfather knows Billy has some pimp in him and Chuck was a great skirt chaser, especially with the heftier ladies. Rico will have none of this and dismisses the “Good Time Girls” so the ceremony can continue. Anyway, Billy says yes and Chuck does the same, albeit with some cold feet.
The Justice of the Peace almost pronounces them as married but Chuck says hang on because this was a publicity stunt that got WAY out of hand. Billy flat out says they’re not gay but they have no problem with gay people. Rico loses it but the Justice of the Peace says this is the kind of love that can go on for fifty years, sixteen months…..or three minutes.
The shaking stops and the voice changes with the old man ripping off the prosthetic makeup to reveal Eric Bischoff. I know you can tell it a lot better now with the voice but this COMPLETELY got me back in the day and was one of the best surprises I had ever seen. 3 Minute Warning comes in for the beatdown with Bischoff holding Stephanie back.
Stephanie takes a Samoan drop (BIG pop for that) and I’m sure that’s going to warrant another year of her glorious presence on TV. Edge, Cena and Mysterio come in for the save. The rest of the locker room comes out as well because WE ALL LOVE STEPHANIE and Smackdown is awesome and such.
This one deserves a few notes. First of all, we come back from a break with a listen to the Unforgiven theme song: Adrenaline by Gavin Rossdale, featuring the line “Nobody said this stuff makes any sense.” Well of course it doesn’t. It’s a wrestling angle mainly focusing on the bosses.
That’s the next important note: the recap focuses almost ENTIRELY on Bischoff and Stephanie with the whole wedding, Billy and Chuck, Rico and 3 Minute Warning and anything else being forgotten because we need a long look at how stunned Stephanie was. I know it was shocking, but there were more people there than just Stephanie.
Third, this whole “WE’RE ALL IN THIS TOGETHER” stuff didn’t work for WCW and it didn’t work in the Invasion so it’s not going to work here. We just watched Edge shove Eddie’s face into a rather unpleasant area of Chavo’s body but OH NO STEPHANIE IS IN TROUBLE so they’ll band together to help save her? Get out of here with that nonsense. It’s way too much to accept and it’s all for the sake of pushing Raw vs. Smackdown which wasn’t interesting in the first place and still isn’t here.
Finally, I have to mention GLAAD (a gay rights group) completely buying into the story and actually sending a wedding present (it was a gravy boat). After it was revealed to be a ruse, GLAAD ripped WWE apart, all while people were laughing at them for somehow trusting a PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING ANGLE to be on the up and up. That always gave me a good chuckle and I really don’t feel a bit sorry for them looking stupid. Think this stuff through.
Nidia vs. Torrie Wilson
It’s a brawl on the floor to start with Torrie getting in a few chops to take over. The announcers talk about the wedding shenanigans and for once it’s acceptable given how big (albeit stupid) that angle was. Nidia charge into the buckle and gets caught with a neckbreaker for the fast pin.
Undertaker tells Sara this won’t take long.
Matt recruits Brock to be at ringside with him.
Undertaker vs. Matt Hardy
Lesnar and Heyman are at ringside too. Heyman immediately starts running around the ring and throws a chair in with Tazz blaming Stacker 2 (sponsor) for all the energy. Undertaker will have none of this and grabs a powerslam to plant Hardy. Heyman gets ejected and the distraction lets Hardy get in a low blow.
A quick clothesline from Brock puts Undertaker down again and that’s a second ejection. As you probably guessed, Undertaker shrugs it off and beats the heck out of Matt but Heyman shows up in Sara’s locker room. Undertaker runs off for the save (thankfully without an awkward stare at the screen) and the no contest.
Rating: D. This was an excuse to get to the ending and there’s nothing wrong with that. They didn’t exactly hide what they were going for with Sara being shown right before the match and that’s how it should have gone. I’ll even give them points for Hardy not losing, which really is kind of a surprise.
Undertaker charges to the back and chokes Heyman but takes a chair to the head from Lesnar. Brock puts his hand on Sara’s pregnant stomach to end the show.
Overall Rating: C-. The wedding sent this one flying off a cliff and there wasn’t enough time to recover. That twenty minute segment sucked the life out of the place and that’s not good considering how big of a deal this was supposed to be. I really don’t know how much longer they can keep up this Stephanie vs. Eric stuff but knowing WWE, I’d put a low estimate at about six months minimum with the audience’s level of interest having no impact whatsoever.
The rest of the show was up and down as well but that Angle vs. Mysterio match is worth checking out. I had a good time with some of it but so much of the show was built around one really bad idea that it’s hard to give it the benefit of the doubt. Unforgiven is getting one of the worst builds to a pay per view I’ve seen in a long time and that’s not good, especially after a classic like Summerslam.
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Just…..wow. This has been floating around for a bit and if this is the case, I have no idea where we are on a lot of these things. Here it is with a thought or two per match.
WWE Universal Championship Goldberg (c) vs. Brock Lesnar
Someone explain to me why this is the main event and for a title. Please, someone tell me why that’s what we need. I can almost buy this as the main event (assuming Goldberg can go more than five minutes) but why in the world does this need to be for the title? Does the winner really need to take the title on hiatus for weeks at a time? That’s their best idea?
WWE Championship Bray Wyatt (c) vs. Randy Orton
If this happens, Wyatt better win. Orton doesn’t need this and Wyatt is considered a choker so let him defend the title here and eventually drop it to someone over the summer. This should be a layup so I don’t buy it happening, unfortunately.
RAW Women’s Championship Charlotte (c) vs. Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
Again, this should be a layup (as well as a singles match but WE MUST GO FOUR WAYS!) and by that I mean…..actually it should be Sasha turning heel and getting the big title win, setting up Bayley with the big singles win around Summerslam. I know people want to see Bayley win the title here but she’s not ready yet.
Roman Reigns vs. The Undertaker
This is one of two schools of thought. If they try to have Reigns go in as the mega face, it doesn’t matter who wins because Reigns will be blown into the Atlantic by the booing. If they have Reigns as the heel monster who spears old man Undertaker over and over until he can’t get up anymore, I’m sold like Hercules to DiBiase.
Seth Rollins vs. Triple H
If they just absolutely have to do this (and they clearly do because it’s HHH at Wrestlemania), please don’t screw it up by having it go half an hour. This is nowhere near as big a match as WWE seems to think it is but it seems to be what we’re getting, assuming Seth can walk again. I’ve heard rumors of Shane McMahon replacing Seth if he can’t go but either way, HHH needs to go down here.
Kevin Owens vs. Chris Jericho
I could go for this being for the US Title and all they have to do is have Jericho put Owens on the List for some reason. This is the match that should happen, has been planned for months and needs to take place by schedule. Stop messing with the good ideas you have and everything will be fine.
AJ Styles vs. Shane McMahon
Of all the matches on the card, I think this one makes me madder than all the rest. AJ had one of the best years in company history but for some reason he’s stuck babysitting the boss at Wrestlemania. The match will have some big spots and entertaining moments but how much praise do you think AJ is going to get for it? This is going to be the Shane McMahon Show and that’s a very sad moment for AJ.
John Cena & Nikki Bella vs. The Miz & Maryse
BRING BACK SHANE! Word on the street says this is Nikki’s last match with Cena possibly proposing after the match. You know, because WRESTLEMANIA needs to be a Nikki Bella night. Cena isn’t going to be around much longer and now we get to hear about how Nikki has just overcome so much and how she’s earned all this and should get her happiness or whatever, because somewhere along the line she because Trish Stratus and Lita combined. I can’t stand this for everyone involved as they all, save for Nikki that is, deserve so, so much better.
The Big Show vs. Shaquille O’Neal
You knew this one was going to happen and while that doesn’t make it much better, it’s still the case. This is going to eat up about fifteen minutes with all the introductions and pre-match shenanigans and that’s fine really. It’s going to come and go with no one remembering it so let’s get it over with and worry about the rest of the show. I just don’t care enough to get annoyed about it and that’s fine.
Andre The Giant Memorial Battle Royal
So….this is Ambrose’s spot I suppose. I mean, it’s not like you could do one last match against Styles or have him defend against Baron Corbin. While the latter is still a possibility, it seems more likely that they’ll put them both in the battle royal or on the pre-show because Nikki’s proposal needs more time. I’ll actually take Corbin winning again here, which would be a great idea for him.
This isn’t the strongest card in the world but there’s more to like about it than last year’s show. At least there’s no reason to believe New Day will lose to the League of Nations again. I still want to know what was up with that.
Smackdown – September 5, 2002: The Holly Show
Smackdown Date: September 5, 2002
Location: Resch Center Arena, Green Bay, Wisconsin
Commentators: Michael Cole, Tazz
It’s hard to say what to expect here but hopefully it’s another rocking tag match with some talented people getting to show what they can do instead of jobbing to Undertaker after a former World Champion’s finisher doesn’t have much of an effect. Oh and we get the debut of Crash Holly for reasons I don’t even want to think about. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of last week, which somehow gets to be narrated by Stephanie. Dang they’re getting right to the point this week. Anyway, Undertaker is challenging Brock Lesnar at Unforgiven.
Opening sequence.
Billy vs. Rey Mysterio
A very early Rico distraction (those sideburns are mesmerizing) lets Billy jump Rey and choke in the corner. The tilt-a-whirl powerslam plants Rey and Tazz makes gay jokes. Rey gets in his first offense with a dropkick to the knee so Billy clotheslines his head off, making sure that Mysterio has nothing of note so far. Rico cheats a bit more so the fans are all over him, making Rico the best thing about the match so far. More shots to the back keep Rey in trouble but a springboard dropkick sets up the 619 with Chuck making the save. That means Billy gets to work Rey over even more until Mysterio gets a fluke cradle for the pin.
Rating: D. So Mysterio can go move for move with Kurt Angle in a classic but can barely get in a dropkick on Billy Gunn of all people? This is almost entirely on Billy as he just wasn’t giving Rey anything to work with and it showed horribly. It’s ok to let Mysterio get in a little offense, get taken down, let the comeback go on for a bit and have the co-villains cheat so Rey can do the big comeback at the end. It’s called having a match with a story but this was all about Billy working Rey over without much effort.
Post match Rico tells Chuck it’s time….and he proposes to Billy because he wants to be tag team partners for life. Note that the word “marry”, “husband” or “I love you” are never mentioned. Billy says yes and hugging ensues.
Cruiserweight Title: Jamie Noble vs. Shannon Moore
Shannon is challenging after pinning Jamie in some recent tag matches. The battle of wristlockery start things off until Shannon armdrags him down. Nidia grabs a leg but Shannon dropkicks the champ to the floor anyway. Back in and a harder clothesline than you would expect from a cruiserweight match puts Shannon back down and a belly to back gets two.
Of course the fans would rather talk about Nidia’s puppies because Raw featured a match talking about Molly Holly’s hymen, meaning you can’t quite blame them at this point. That’s what WWE has deemed acceptable from its employees so don’t act surprised when no one cares about your matches as a result. Moore elbows him in the jaw and gets a near fall of his own off a neckbreaker. A Whisper in the Wind gets the same but Jamie counters a hurricanrana with a powerbomb. The Tiger Bomb retains the title.
Rating: C+. Good match here but the fans didn’t care because WWE has given us no reason to care about them. Just because there’s good wrestling out there, no one is going to notice because WWE has made us care more about the women at ringside. I’m not sure what it means that Nidia is possibly treated with more respect than the women on Raw but it seems to be the case.
Paul Heyman is hyping Brock Lesnar up for his match with Randy Orton when Randy comes up and says absolutely nothing of note.
Edge and Rikishi are ready for a six man tag later and Rikishi actually tries to explain how the Stinkface is a symbol or something. Piece of the Kish still isn’t a good catchphrase.
Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton
Non-title and one of those matches that would be totally different just a few years later. Also Lesnar is now WWE Champion instead of Undisputed Champion as continuity takes another hit for the sake of pulling a title out of a briefcase. Orton charges straight at him and actually gets two off a rollup. That just means an overhead belly to belly though and Brock is already smiling.
Brock throws him over the top and hits an STO back inside. He throws Orton onto his shoulders and drives Randy back first into the buckle over and over as this is a total squash. Heyman: “HE WANTS THIS!” A dropkick to the ribs staggers Lesnar and Orton gets in the backbreaker. For reasons of general stupidity, he heads up top for the high crossbody but gets rolled through into the F5 for the pin.
Rating: C-. Is there something in the water over on Monday Night Raw? You can have Brock roll through people like this on Smackdown but Raw’s big solution is to have him sell for people and need Heyman to save him all the time? Ever since he’s gone to Smackdown he’s been treated like the monster he’s supposed to be and it’s made him a hundred times more interesting.
Mark Henry congratulates Billy and Chuck.
Crash signs his contract and thanks Stephanie when D-Von comes in. The Reverend is upset about Billy and Chuck but again we never heard the word wedding or marriage. He talks about how immoral is it but OF COURSE Stephanie cuts him off for not showing her enough respect. The ceremony is next week, D-Von faces Batista later and just in case you forgot, Stephanie is the most amazing and intimidating person ever.
Tajiri vs. Mark Henry
Tajiri’s kicks and strikes have the effect you would expect them to have and it’s time for the slow beating. The handspring elbow is knocked out of the air and Tajiri’s sunset flip has no effect at all. A running dropkick to the head works a bit better but Henry shrugs it off and powerslams him for the pin.
Rating: D. Hey, did you know that Henry is really strong? Like, REALLY strong? To the point that he can bend frying pans and is barely hurt by someone kicking him really hard in the head? I’m still not sure who is supposed to be impressed by Henry squashing a member of the cruiserweight division, which is often treated as a bunch of second class citizens in the first place.
Stephanie moderates a sitdown interview (in the back without much light) between Undertaker and Lesnar. After making it clear that they’re both EXCLUSIVE to Smackdown, she throws it to Brock who lists off his career accomplishments. Undertaker laughs off the idea of a young pup like Brock beating him because no one has ever taken Brock where Undertaker is taking him. Undertaker promises to beat Brock up for the first time but Heyman makes it personal by bringing up Undertaker’s wife Sara being pregnant.
If anything happens to Undertaker, he’ll take care of Sara but not the unborn child. The table it turned over and nothing happens. This was WAY too long and it really didn’t make me want to see the match any more than I already did. Granted I checked out when Stephanie started talking about how this was a Smackdown exclusive because it might be the least important detail since….oh whatever the name of whatever award/honor Stephanie has most recently won.
Reverend D-Von vs. Batista
Batista has what would be his theme song for years and the red trunks instead of the gray one he had been wearing. D-Von jumps him to start and gets in a quick chair shot, only to take a Batista Bomb for the pin in a minute and a half. The man that pinned John Cena clean last week everyone!
Nidia talks about the wedding next week (using the word for the first time) and asks Jamie if they’ll get married one day. Jamie hugs her and panics.
Matt Hardy brags about going toe to toe with Brock but Shannon isn’t all that impressed. Hardcore Holly, Matt’s opponent tonight, wants to know where the footage of Matt losing has gotten to.
Eddie Guerrero and Kurt Angle are ready for their six man tag tonight. Angle is annoyed at Benoit for costing him the #1 contendership so Benoit comes in and we have a staredown.
Matt Hardy vs. Hardcore Holly
They trade rollups for two to start before opting to just punch each other in the face. Tazz would rather talk about cheese jokes (Wisconsin remember.) as Holly gets two off a belly to back suplex. A backbreaker sets up a belly to back superplex, only to have Matt knock him away and get two off a moonsault press. The Side Effect gets the same but Holly gets two of his own with a powerbomb. Neither finisher can hit so Hardy grabs a rollup, only to be reversed into another one with Holly grabbing the tights for the pin.
Rating: C+. Surprisingly good match here but I’m not sure I get the point of having Matt lose over and over when he’s getting a push with the Shannon Moore stuff. Holly isn’t great but at least he’s good for a watchable match. Matt can play the heck out of these over the top characters with huge egos and that’s what we’re getting with the Mattitude stuff.
Rico doesn’t have time to talk because he has wedding plans to set up. He’s going to be Billy’s best man.
Crash vs. Hurricane
They circle each other to start until Hurricane puts him in a Tree of Woe for a good crotching. The high crossbody gets two on Crash, followed by the Eye of the Hurricane for the same. Holly misses a charge into the post and takes a super swinging neckbreaker (that’s always looked cool) to put both guys down. The chokeslam is countered into a rollup so Crash can impress Stephanie or whatever.
Rating: D+. So now we’re to the point where we’re jobbing talented guys like the Hurricane to validate Stephanie’s investments? This is a situation where it would have been better to just have Crash show up on Smackdown one night and say he changed brands off camera. There was no need to make this a story other than for the sake of more Stephanie vs. Bischoff nonsense.
Edge/Undertaker/Rikishi vs. Kurt Angle/Chris Benoit/Eddie Guerrero
These are the six people from the series of matches last weeks if the reasoning isn’t clear. Rikishi and Angle gets things going and I’ll spare you the normal “why is Rikishi here” question. Thankfully it’s quickly off to Undertaker for a big boot but it’s way too early for a chokeslam. Instead Benoit comes in and kicks away in the corner, only to get tossed into the corner for his efforts.
Rikishi comes back in to far too strong of a pop and gives Benoit a sitout Rock Bottom before throwing him into Angle. Edge gets a slightly weaker pop as he goes after Eddie, who takes over off the strength of some double teaming. The heels keep Edge in trouble with the rapid tags and it’s Angle grabbing a chinlock.
An Edgecution gets Edge out of trouble and the hot tag brings in Undertaker to clean house. Rikishi gets in a belly to belly on Angle and superkicks Benoit, leaving Angle to take the Stinkface. Angle and Benoit have a quick collision so Chris puts him in the Crossface. Eddie is furious….and surrounded. The OH NO look on Eddie’s face when he realizes what’s going on is perfect and his trying to chill with Rikishi is even better. The spear sets up Eddie’s face being shoved into the thong, followed by a chokeslam for the pin.
Rating: C+. If you put Rikishi in some tights or even regular trunks, this doesn’t feel nearly as awkward. They did their thing here with the villains looking slightly more inept than they should. Benoit vs. Angle should be fun but that doesn’t make for the best tag match in the world. Edge has kind of fallen through the cracks in recent weeks and his feud with Eddie needs a boost as they barely interact directly.
Overall Rating: D+. This depends on what you find more important. The wrestling is a little better this week but the booking is atrocious, with things like Crash Holly getting a story, Billy and Chuck’s impending shenanigans, John Cena being sacrificed to D-Von of all people and Hardcore Holly beating Matt Hardy. There’s so much that can be great around here but as usual, WWE seems more interested in doing the least logical and interesting things as possible.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the History of the WWE’s Big Four Pay Per Views, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
Monday Night Raw – January 30, 2017: JOE IS GONNA DE-BUT! JOE IS GONNA DE-BUT!
Monday Night Raw Date: January 30, 2017
Location: Laredo Energy Arena, Laredo, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves
We’re past the Royal Rumble and that means we have about five weeks before Fastlane, which is getting close to the Wrestlemania season. The big story for Raw last night was Roman Reigns having the World Title won until Braun Strowman cost him the title, likely setting up something down the line. Other than that we have Stephanie McMahon confronting Seth Rollins for calling HHH out at Takeover: San Antonio. Let’s get to it.
Here’s a ticked off Kevin Owens and a less ticked off Chris Jericho to start things off. Owens is happy to have proven Mick Foley wrong when he beat Roman Reigns because he is the best, the guy and the one. Owens thanks Jericho for having the guts to get in the cage last night and brings up Jericho breaking the record for the most time spent in the Royal Rumble.
Jericho has spent nearly five hours in the match (Over nine Rumbles, which breaks HHH’s record of just over four hours in the same number of Rumbles. That’s VERY impressive.) and of course Chris gets in some bragging. The only reason he didn’t win was a terrible case of vertigo….and here’s Braun Strowman to cut them off.
Braun cuts Owens off and says he did what he did because he can’t stand Roman but now he wants the title shot that Owens promises. Kevin backs off so Braun shows us a video of Owens promising him the shot. Strowman wants his chance tonight but here’s Mick, in a full green plaid suit, to interrupt. Foley doesn’t seem to care about Owens being banged up and makes the match for later.
Sami Zayn vs. Chris Jericho
Non-title. They fight over a wristlock to start until Sami takes over with those armdrags. If it works for Ricky Steamboat, it can work for Sami. They head outside with Sami scoring with a dropkick and the moonsault off the barricade takes us to a break. Back with Jericho getting two off an enziguri and a top rope hurricanrana, only to dive into the Blue Thunder Bomb for two. Jericho bails to the floor for a chase scene, capped off by a tornado DDT back inside. The Helluva Kick is countered into the Walls but Sami is right next to the ropes. The exploder sets up the Helluva Kick to give Sami the clean pin at 11:49.
Rating: C+. Not bad here and I’m all for Sami getting a pay per view title match. You can also go with the fact that Jericho was in the Rumble for an hour last night to explain the loss away a bit. The rematch should be fun too and if it means Sami getting a title, there’s nothing bad to be seen.
Bayley wants Cesaro and Sheamus to hug before their six person tag later tonight. Charlotte, Anderson and Gallows come in to laugh a bit.
Long video on Seth Rollins vs. HHH. They cover pretty much everything here, save for WHY HHH DID THIS FIVE MONTHS AGO that is.
Owens tries to talk Stephanie out of the title match but she has to deal with Rollins first.
Tony Nese vs. Mustafa Ali
Nese runs him over to start and hits a hard crossface forearm to the face. They trade clotheslines and it’s Ali hitting a rolling neckbreaker for two. Nese breaks up the inverted 450 and Ali takes a NASTY looking crash. Thankfully he’s ok enough to take the running knee to the face to give Tony the pin at 3:52.
Rating: C. Nese is starting to grow on me and would be a solid choice for a midcard heel in the division. The posing makes him look like a huge heel and that’s exactly what the division needs right now. Not exactly a heel, but more characters with basic development. Ali is the same as he’s a solid hand in the ring and a few tweaks could make him quite valuable.
Post match Austin Aries asks Nese about his lack of charisma but Tony says he doesn’t have to answer his critics.
Here’s Rollins to call out Stephanie for a little change of pace. Rollins knows Stephanie is disappointed that he called her out but she disappoints her husband every night. Stephanie laughs off the insults (of course) and we hear about how she wants HHH to stay away because Rollins is bringing the dark side out of her husband.
Rollins hasn’t been a champion since Money in the Bank and missed Wrestlemania last year because of injury so the Authority, and Stephanie in particular, deserves an apology. Rollins apologizes for exposing HHH as a gutless snake that he is because HHH won’t face him like a man.
HHH is scared because he knows Rollins is the greatest threat to HHH’s legacy ever. Seth goes a step further and suggests that Stephanie knows it too but she says Seth disgusts him. That earns a threat of Rollins invading the next Board of Directors meetings or showing up at Stephanie’s front door. “What’s going to happen when one of your kids answers the front door Steph?” Stephanie says she lied: HHH is on his way tonight. Seth actually saved a lot of face here and that’s the best possible outcome for him.
Bayley/Cesaro/Sheamus vs. Charlotte/Anderson and Gallows
The guys start and they’re on the floor for a break less than a minute in. Back with Anderson dropping a knee until Cesaro dives over for the hot tag to Sheamus. House is quickly cleaned until Charlotte breaks up the ten forearms. That goes as well as you would expect so it’s an assisted White Noise for two on Gallows. It’s off to the women and a quick Bayley to Belly puts Charlotte away at 7:30.
Rating: C-. This was nothing for the most part but at least it sets up Bayley vs. Charlotte II, despite Charlotte winning clean last night. They couldn’t do a simple hook of the tights or something to give us a reason to have another match? Anyway, this match showed how badly we need a few more tag teams because this feud is nothing.
Stephanie yells at Foley for making the title match for tonight but Mick doesn’t buy her saying that HHH’s music playing last week was just a mistake. Foley hints that HHH won’t be showing up so Stephanie glares him out the door.
Here’s Neville to celebrate his Cruiserweight Title win. The title is his crown but the fans never cared about him no matter what he did. Cue former champion Rich Swann to say he can’t listen to this garbage any longer. Neville is great and Swann respects him for it but Neville demands that Swann kneel before the king. The fight is on and Neville is sent running.
Sasha Banks vents to Bayley about losing and agrees to fight Nia Jax again.
We look at Goldberg eliminating Brock Lesnar last night.
Owens vents about Foley but Jericho implies he won’t have his back tonight.
Universal Title: Kevin Owens vs. Braun Strowman
Owens is defending and I’ll put the over/under for Reigns interfering at four minutes. Jericho is on commentary and for some reason, Strowman goes over and chokeslams him through the table. Owens bails to the floor at the bell and some right hands have no effect. A dropkick puts Strowman on the floor but he runs Kevin over with ease back inside.
Kevin is knocked into the barricade and this is one sided so far. The way too long charge sends Strowman head first into the post though and Owens adds a Cannonball against the barricade. A backsplash and frog splash give Owens two but Strowman comes back with the powerslam. Cue Reigns though and it’s a DQ at 4:40.
Rating: D+. Yeah what else were you expecting here? This might as well have been a big countdown to Reigns coming out and going after Strowman, which is probably one of the top matches at Fastlane. It’s not the most interesting match in the world but if Strowman goes over, it could mean something.
Roman Superman Punches and spears Strowman but Braun pops up.
Brock Lesnar arrives.
Here are Lesnar and Paul Heyman for a chat. Heyman talks about how every legend has an asterisk next to his name because there’s always an exception. Andre the Giant was undefeated for fifteen years until Hulk Hogan beat him. Ronda Rousey was undefeated until she met Holly Holm. People like John Cena and Kurt Angle have amazing legacies but BROCK LESNAR. That leaves Goldberg as the argument against Brock and that must be eradicated. We get to the point: Lesnar wants one more fight with Goldberg at Wrestlemania.
Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
Banks is still banged up coming in and Nia goes right after the bad leg. The knee is sent into the apron and post before we hit a leglock. The referee stops the match at 2:08.
Nia won’t let go of the hold so Bayley comes in for the save.
Rusev/Jinder Mahal vs. Enzo Amore/Big Cass
Texas Tornado rules and we’re ready to go after Enzo and Cass’ big speech. It’s a big brawl to start and we hit the early break. Back with Cass getting double teamed because Enzo is, again, beaten down on the floor. Enzo’s high crossbody is broken up and it’s Amore getting beaten down for a change. Cass fights back and makes the save as Enzo pulls Mahal to the floor. A big boot drops Rusev and the Bada Boom Shaka Lacka is enough for the pin at 9:40.
Rating: D+. We’re somehow to the point where Enzo Amore just pinned Rusev. Let that one sink in for a minute. Anyway, these guys are firmly to the point where they’re fighting because they’ve been fighting and there isn’t much of a story to it anymore. Cass needs to beat Rusev in the singles match and move on, maybe towards the belts finally.
HHH arrives.
Sneak peak of WWE 24.
Goldberg will be here next week.
Here’s HHH to talk about Rollins. HHH goes over his history with Rollins and takes credit for most of his success. With HHH by his side, Rollins would become the man and the face of the WWE. All Rollins had to do was hold up his end of the bargain but then his knee gave out, which was like spitting in HHH’s face.
Rollins was a failure when he came back because he didn’t take any responsibility for everything falling apart. HHH is the one that deserves an apology because Rollins tried to blame him for everything being a big mess. The reason HHH doesn’t come out here anymore is because he doesn’t want to be the guy that ends careers anymore.
Every day he puts on this suit and ties this tie while trying to be a creator. Every day he tries to create the next Seth Friggin Rollins but now he’s done trying. The jacket and tie come off, drawing a HHH chant. HHH calls Rollins out so here we go….but SAMOA JOE makes his debut and lays Rollins out from behind. Joe annihilates Rollins as HHH leaves. The fans are very happy with Joe as he Koquina Clutches Rollins out to end the show. OUTSTANDING debut here as Joe looks like a killer.
Overall Rating: D+. Other than a few moments here and there (mainly the highlight packages), you wouldn’t know that the Royal Rumble was yesterday. This felt like a long, mostly uninteresting show but at least we’re starting to see Wrestlemania. I mean, Lesnar vs. Goldberg isn’t the most interesting thing in the world and I have a bad feeling it’s going to be for the title but at least it’s something. Joe was the big story tonight though and that’s a very good thing.
Results
Sami Zayn b. Chris Jericho – Helluva Kick
Tony Nese b. Mustafa Ali – Running knee
Bayley/Cesaro/Sheamus b. Charlotte/Anderson and Gallows – Bayley to Belly to Charlotte
Braun Strowman b. Kevin Owens via DQ when Roman Reigns interfered
Nia Jax b. Sasha Banks via referee stoppage
Enzo Amore/Big Cass b. Rusev/Jinder Mahal – Bada Boom Shaka Lacka to Rusev
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Royal Rumble 2017 Date: January 29, 2017
Location: Alamodome, San Antonio, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton Corey Graves, John Bradshaw Layfield, Mauro Ranallo, David Otunga, Tom Phillips
We’re finally here and I don’t know who wins the main event. The Royal Rumble really is that wide open this year and that hasn’t been the case in a few years now. It could be any of maybe ten people and that’s a very cool situation to be in for a change. The rest of the card looks solid too so let’s get to it.
Pre-Show: Nikki Bella/Becky Lynch/Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss/Mickie James/Natalya
Natalya does a You Can’t See Me in Nikki’s face to start and it’s quickly off to Bliss to really get us going. A facebuster staggers Alexa so it’s off to Naomi vs. Natalya, only to have the good ones come in for a triple suplex to send Natalya and company to the floor. Naomi hits a dive and we take a break.
Back with Natalya sending Becky into the barricade and taking her into the wrong corner to play some Ricky Morton. Natalya gets two off a clothesline and we hit the chinlock. Back up and Nikki gets over for the hot tag to Naomi for some exciting yet still stupid looking offense. Everything breaks down and Naomi hits a split legged moonsault for the pin on Alexa at 9:39.
Rating: C. This was fine and the most logical way to go as it sets Naomi up as the new #1 contender in the near future. The wrestling wasn’t bad and the women are always going to get a crowd fired up if they’re allowed to do things right. This did its job, though having it an hour later would have been a better idea.
Raw Tag Team Titles: Sheamus/Cesaro vs. Anderson and Gallows
Anderson and Gallows are challenging and there are two referees. Cesaro runs Anderson over to start and it’s off to Sheamus to do the same on Gallows. A kick to Cesaro’s head puts him down and we take a break. Back with Sheamus getting the hot tag and cleaning house, including an assisted Irish Curse for two on Gallows.
Karl comes back in and hits a running kick to the chest but has to backdrop his way out of the Neutralizer. Anderson gets in the spinebuster but Sheamus breaks up the Magic Killer. One referee takes the Brogue Kick by mistake so the second comes in to watch Anderson get Swung. Everything breaks down again and Anderson rolls Cesaro up with a handful of trunks for the pin at 10:28.
Rating: D+. Nothing special to see here but that’s the case with these teams. They’re just not that interesting together but at the moment they pretty much are the entire division on Raw. At least the match wasn’t that long and the title change means a little something but they seem to be setting up a rematch to continue this rather lame feud.
Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks
Banks has a somewhat bad knee coming in thanks to Nia attacking her multiple times. Sasha goes right after her to start but can’t get too far on the giant. A hard charge puts Banks down and Jax shouts that she’s the boss. Back from a break with Jax easily powering out of the Banks Statement and grabbing a Brock Lock to start in on the knee. Sasha gets out and hits the top rope double knees (not the brightest move), only to get caught in the Samoan drop for the pin at 5:13.
Rating: C-. This was just above a squash and that’s an interesting way to go about things. Nia winning is a good idea as Banks is able to pop back up to the top of the card with a single win or just a little talking while Nia is getting her first win. Banks will bounds back just fine and Nia moves way up towards the top of the division so everything is fine.
The opening video looks at some historic Rumble moments, which we remember you see. Of course it turns into the standard recap package, which runs over four minutes. It’s almost like we have four hours and five matches.
Raw Women’s Title: Bayley vs. Charlotte
Charlotte is defending and this is the natural vs. the one who loves wrestling. Bayley is sent outside early on so she does the same to Charlotte. A big dive off the top takes Charlotte down again but it takes a bit to throw her back in and the champ kicks out. Bayley gets sent into the steps for two and it’s off to the chinlock.
A stomp to the head sets up the figure four necklock with Bayley’s face bouncing off the mat. Bayley starts getting all fired up and chops away before grabbing an armdrag out of the corner. A middle rope crossbody sets up the ax handles to the champ’s chest, followed by a swinging Downward Spiral for a new move.
Bayley drops a top rope elbow for two (which seems to bust Charlotte’s lip) and the fans are starting to get into this. Charlotte comes right back with a quick Figure Eight but she makes sure to grab the ropes for the break. An awkward looking moonsault (Charlotte landed on her legs instead of flat) is countered with raised knees to put the champ in trouble again. Not that it matters as Natural Selection onto the apron retains the title at 13:03.
Rating: C+. The ending wasn’t exactly a surprise here with Bayley likely to win the title at Wrestlemania and not a second before. It’s still a good match though and that’s the right kind of match for a show like this. This is all about setting up a bigger match down the line and the fact that the match was good makes it even better.
We recap the Raw World Title match. Roman Reigns has beaten champion Kevin Owens multiple times now but Chris Jericho constantly interferes to help retain the title. Therefore, Jericho will be locked in a shark cage above the ring despite the match being not DQ, which negates the point of the original stipulation in the first place.
Raw World Title: Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens
Reigns is challenging and anything goes. Jericho and Owens try to jump Reigns to start but Roman knocks Chris into the cage and has it raised into the air. The fight is taken straight into the crowd with Owens taking the worst of it. Back to ringside with the champ taking over by hitting Reigns with the top of the table.
That’s followed by a Cannonball against the barricade and it’s time to set up a big pyramid of chairs at ringside. Reigns punches his way out of a powerbomb through the chairs and sends Owens shoulder first into the post. It’s table time but Owens grabs a Backstabber for two instead.
The superkick is countered into a sitout powerbomb for two on Owens and the champ is in trouble. They head outside again with Reigns being put on the table for a frog splash off the top. A chair is wedged into the corner and Owens becomes the first heel in a LONG time to send someone into a chair he set up.
Jericho throws Owens some brass knuckles but Kevin’s Superman Punch only gets two. Reigns comes back with a Samoan drop through a chair and it’s table time: the sequel. The table is set up in the corner and a Superman Punch connects for two (table not involved). Owens blocks the spear of all things with a jumping Stunner for two and frustration is setting in.
There’s another Cannonball and Owens loads up a superplex to the floor, only to get shoved through that big pile of chairs. Reigns powerbombs him through the announcers’ table but cue Braun Strowman to chokeslam Reigns onto (not through) the table. A powerslam through the table in the corner makes it even worse, allowing Owens to cover Reigns’ unconscious body for the pin at 23:30.
Rating: B. They did a good thing here by having this be a wild brawl instead of a boring wrestling match. Strowman interfering opens some doors but I really don’t need to see those two fight for anything of note. The other interesting thing here was the fact that Jericho did nothing at all of note, making his stipulation all the more pointless.
Enzo and Big Cass shill chicken.
Here are some Royal Rumble facts. They’re counting down from 30 to 1 but only twelve or so are presented here.
The Rumble debuted in 1988
Bret Hart was the first entrant
870 superstars have entered
3 females have entered and all of them have eliminated one person
23 different winners
98% of the entrants have lost
4 Rumbles in Texas
California and Florida have hosted 5 Rumbles each
507,102 fans have appeared
Rey Mysterio lasted 1:02:12
Edge only took 7:36 to win
Santino Marella lasted 1 second
Bob Backlund lasted 1:01:10 for the longest run without winning
HHH has spent 4:06:08 over 9 Rumbles
46 Hall of Famers
9 Hall of Famers won
Foley appeared 3 times in 1998
The four bosses are hanging around the tumbler when Sami Zayn comes in to draw his number. Dean Ambrose comes in and is off to take a nap until he’s scheduled to go in. To continue Sami’s nerd gimmick (whatever that’s for), he can’t open his ball so Dean does it for him, revealing #8.
We recap the Cruiserweight Title match. Rich Swann was Neville’s young boy in Japan but now Neville wants the title due to a lack of respect. This has been a very well put together feud and I’m looking forward to seeing the match.
Cruiserweight Title: Neville vs. Rich Swann
Swann is defending but Neville hammers him down into the corner to start with the champ in early trouble. Rich grabs a quick crucifix for two but Neville facelocks him to take over again. An elbow to the head sets up a chinlock as the match slows down again. Neville finally lets go and sends Swann into the barricade as this is completely one sided so far.
Back in and Rich finally scores with a superkick to give himself his first offense of the match. Neville bails to the floor and that means a big corkscrew dive off the middle rope to drop him all over again. Back in and Swann just unloads on him with rights and lefts to the head, followed by a good looking Chick Kick for two. A running frog splash (that’s a new one) gives the champ two more but Neville crotches him on the top.
Neville superkicks the heck out of him but the deadlift German suplex is countered into a victory roll for two. The big kick to Neville’s head only gets two as it knocks Neville right next to the ropes. Neville’s superplex only gets two so he goes straight to the Rings of Saturn and Swann taps at 13:29.
Rating: C+. This wasn’t quite as good as I was expecting but Neville winning was exactly the right call as Swann was outclassed for weeks on end during the build to the match. Swann was fine for a first champion in the 205 area but he needed to go down here, especially in a clean finish to the better man.
New Day shills Vudu.
We recap the Smackdown World Title match. AJ Styles and John Cena started feuding last May and Styles swept Cena in two matches. Cena was gone for a good while due to an injury but is back and healthy with his sights set on winning his 16th World Title to tie Ric Flair’s record.
Smackdown World Title: John Cena vs. AJ Styles
Cena is challenging and they stare each other down to start. AJ goes after the leg to start and takes Cena down for a kneedrop. Cena tries an early AA but Styles lands on his feet and grabs a hurricanrana. The sliding forearm gets two and a German suplex into a facebuster gets the same.
Cena just blasts him with a clothesline and the Shuffle gets two. It’s too early for a superplex though as AJ slips down into a torture rack into a powerbomb for two of his own. The first AA gets two and the Phenomenal Forearm gives AJ the same. Cena comes back with an electric chair facebuster for two and it’s time for the slugout.
AJ pulls him down into the Calf Crusher but Cena reverses into the STF. That breaks down as well and we hit the main event style as AJ grabs an STF (not a great one but it’s comparable to Cena’s) of his own. Cena reverses that into a Figure Four (Because RIC FLAIR IS STILL A THING BABY!) but gets caught in a cross armbreaker, only to power AJ up into a powerbomb to put both guys down again.
The top rope Fameasser is countered into a powerbomb which is transitioned into a Styles Clash for a very close two. Styles’ springboard 450 hits knees and a Code Red (standing sunset flip) gets two more. AJ gets catapulted into the buckle and something like a toss into a Big Ending gets yet another near fall. The super AA only gets two and Cena is…..well I’d assume stunned because WE LOOK AT THE CROWD REACTIONS INSTEAD OF THE WRESTLERS. Two straight AA’s give Cena the sixteenth title at 23:55.
Rating: A-. Now if only Cena can lose it and win it again later to give him the record once and for all so we can forget about Flair (yes I know Flair claims it’s 21 or 23 or whatever he’s claiming at the moment but 16 is the official number and the one that matters). This was another great match and Cena winning the belt back, even for a short run, is long overdue. He hasn’t been champion in over two years and really, that last reign was only because Bryan got hurt. I’m very happy with this and it was another very good match to boot.
We look at HHH responding to Seth Rollins last night after Takeover. HHH’s advice is to not wish for something you don’t want because tomorrow night, STEPHANIE is confronting Rollins face to face.
Jerry Lawler is doing commentary on the Rumble.
Rumble by the Numbers.
Only 16 of the 30 possible numbers have won
7 winners are from 1-10
4 have been from 11-20
19 have been from 21-40
27 is the lucky number
1 and 2 have produced 4 winners
2 people have won from #1
Only one person has won from the same number twice (Batista at #28)
Kane has entered the most Royal Rumbles and has the most eliminations
The title has been on the line twice
Four winners have been runners up
Six names have won twice
Steve Austin has won three times
Royal Rumble
Two minute intervals. Big Cass is in at #1 and Enzo fills in some more time by singing about how much he loves Texas. After a speech about this is the big Rumble and Cass is going to act like HBK in 1995, Chris Jericho is in at #2. Cass starts fast and throws Jericho around, only to have to block the Walls. A catapult sends Jericho to the apron and Kalisto is in at #3.
Kalisto is sent to the apron but springboards back in to speed things WAY up. One big boot drops drops the masked man but Jericho is back up to slug away at Cass in the corner. Mojo Rawley is in at #4 as the clock is already WAY off. With no one doing anything of note, Jericho sets the record for most combined time in the Rumble. Jack Gallagher is in at #5 and it’s time for the umbrella shots.
Jericho slams him down and Jack crotches him with the umbrella, which he twirls around between Jericho’s legs. Mark Henry is in at #6 as we don’t have any eliminations yet. Gallagher’s headbutt has no effect and he’s sent flying over the top (with umbrella in hand of course) for the first elimination. Braun Strowman is in at #7 as Jericho is sent outside but not over the top.
Rawley and Cass are put out in short order with Kalisto quickly following. That leaves Henry vs. Strowman for the obvious showdown with the obvious ending. We’re down to Strowman and Jericho (on the floor) as Sami Zayn is in at #8. Sami hammers away to a bit more avail than you would expect but he’s quickly pounded down.
Big Show is in at #9 and we get another big power showdown. Strowman gets chokeslammed but Show has to to after Jericho, who eats a KO Punch. TYE DILLINGER comes in at #10 and helps Sami hammer on Strowman. At the moment we’ve got Sami, Strowman, Dillinger, Jericho and James Ellsworth is in at #11. Dillinger and Sami try to get rid of Strowman to no avail so here’s Dean Ambrose in at #12.
Dean and Ellsworth agree to go after Strowman but James stays on the floor. James goes in and is quickly tossed, leaving Dean, Dillinger and Zayn to work on Strowman. Baron Corbin is in at #13 and makes it a quadruple team but Strowman gets rid of Dillinger for his seventh elimination. Corbin and company hammer on Strowman and Baron actually clotheslines Braun out on his own for a BIG surprise.
Kofi Kingston is in at #14 and nothing happens until Miz is in at #15, giving us Sami, Jericho, Ambrose, Corbin, Kofi and Miz. A Deep Six drops Miz and Kofi gets crotched on the top, allowing him to hang over the back of the post for his big save. Sheamus is in at #16 and stares Miz down to scare him off. Everyone lays around and it’s Big E. in at #17. New Day works together but doesn’t get rid of anyone so here’s Rusev (with a mask on to protect what looks to be a broken nose) at #18.
Again that goes nowhere as Cesaro is in at #19 with the ring getting too full. Cesaro Swings a bunch of people until Rusev superkicks him down. Xavier Woods is in at #20, giving us Sami, Jericho, Ambrose, Corbin, Kofi, Miz, Sheamus, Big E., Rusev, Cesaro and Woods. New Day hammers on Sheamus and Miz is sent into a double kick in the corner.
Bray Wyatt is in at #21 and we get Woods staring at Bray for a callback to their feud last year. Woods is sent to the apron but not eliminated as Apollo Crews is in at #22. Sheamus and Cesaro clothesline New Day out at the same time, only to have Jericho dump both of them out. Randy Orton is in at #23, giving us Orton, Sami, Jericho, Ambrose, Corbin, Miz, Rusev, Wyatt and Crews. RKO’s abound until Dolph Ziggler is in at #24. This time it’s superkicks abounding and it’s Luke Harper in at #25.
Harper elbows Crews out but turns into a staredown with Orton. Bray has to play peacekeeper again so Harper blasts him with a clothesline. Orton takes a boot but comes right back with an RKO on Harper to break up Sister Abigail on Bray (you read that right). Brock Lesnar is in at #26 and gets rid of Ambrose and Ziggler before starting in on the German suplexes. Some F5’s leave everyone down and heeeeere’s………Enzo at #27. Graves: “This may be the greatest moment of my life!”
Enzo gets all fired up and takes one heck of a clothesline before being tossed. Goldberg is in at #28 and this could be very interesting. The spear drops Lesnar in a hurry and a clothesline gets rid of Brock two seconds later. Sami takes a Jackhammer but Orton and Wyatt jump Goldberg.
That means a double spear and here’s Undertaker in at #29 but he surprises Goldberg from behind instead of coming down the aisle (smart move there). Undertaker grabs Goldberg by the throat but has to eliminate Corbin. Goldberg dumps Harper but Undertaker tosses Goldberg for a surprise. A bunch of chokeslams take everyone down and…….ROMAN REIGNS is the surprise entrant at #30.
The final group is Undertaker, Reigns, Zayn, Jericho, Miz, Wyatt and Orton (good lineup). Reigns and Undertaker slug it out as the fans are calling this BS. Miz gets clotheslined out and Sami is tossed to get us down to five. Roman dumps Undertaker and does the big stare, likely setting up Wrestlemania. A Superman Punch gets rid of Jericho and we’re down to Reigns, Wyatt and Orton. The double teaming begins but both Wyatts take Superman Punches. Wyatt is tossed but the spear is countered into an RKO and a clothesline sends Orton to Wrestlemania at 1:01:55.
Rating: C+. As is always the case, this one is going to need some time to process but I’m ok with Orton winning. There wasn’t a miles ahead winner this year so Orton is perfectly fine and it likely sets up Wyatt vs. Orton (likely for the title) at Wrestlemania. Reigns as #30 showed some massive balls from WWE, though I was very surprised at Samoa Joe not showing up.
Dillinger at #10 was the right move and Undertaker vs. Reigns could be…..uh…..I’ll get back to you on that when we know a bit more. Overall I’m happy but there was that WAY too long stretch in the middle with everyone lying around. The ending helped though and the Rumble was better than most recent years (save for last year of course).
Pyro wraps us up.
Overall Rating: B+. That’s one of the first times in a LONG time that WWE has beaten NXT. The card was solid enough to balance out a just ok Rumble, which is actually a pretty rare occurrence. We’re well on the Road to Wrestlemania now though and you can see a lot of the big matches from here. I’m glad it’s only two weeks until Elimination Chamber so a lot more of it can be set up but the Raw side scares me more and more every single day. Very strong show, but for some reason it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be all that memorable.
Results
Charlotte b. Bayley – Natural Selection onto the apron
Kevin Owens b. Roman Reigns – Pin after a powerslam from Braun Strowman
Neville b. Rich Swann – Rings of Saturn
John Cena b. AJ Styles – Attitude Adjustment
Randy Orton won the 2017 Royal Rumble last eliminating Roman Reigns
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the History of the WWE’s Big Four Pay Per Views, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
I really need to stop doing these when I’m half asleep, causing me to not post them on here on time. Here it is for the sake of completion though.
This might be my favorite show of the year. There’s something so simple about the idea of a bunch of people being in the ring at once and the last person standing wins a big prize. The main event is one of the most anticipated matches of the year and there’s a lot more to it than just who goes on to the World Title match at “Wrestlemania XXXIII”. There’s a full card on top of the main event so let’s get to it.
1. Pre-Show: Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
We’ll start with the three pre-show matches, beginning with Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks. This is your old big vs. little match with Banks coming in with a bad knee and Jax liking the idea of torturing what she sees as the former Boss. Banks is of course ready for a challenge, as she always is.
I think I’m going with Jax here, as it seems that they’re prepping her for a run near the Raw Women’s Title. It’s not the worst idea in the world and Banks is certainly one of those characters who can just talk for all of ten seconds and be back in the fans’ good graces. The match should be entertaining, though I’m not sure how well this is going to go with the size difference.
2. Pre-Show: Raw Tag Team Titles: Luke Gallows/Karl Anderson vs. Sheamus/Cesaro
Oh my goodness I’m already bored just thinking about this match. Anderson and Gallows couldn’t beat New Day for the titles so now we get to watch them chase the belts here even more. Neither team has done anything interesting since they started feuding and I have no real interest in either of them or anything they do.
That being said, I’ll take the champions to retain here because WWE REALLY likes them for reasons that aren’t clear to me in the slightest. Sheamus and Cesaro could be fine as singles wrestlers (as they’ve been for years) while Anderson and Gallows only seem to be better off together. That doesn’t make for a great match but it could make for a rather boring one, which would keep them on the same path they’ve had for months now.
3. Pre-Show: Becky Lynch/Nikki Bella/Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss/Mickie James/Natalya
This is a simple “take everyone and throw them into one match so entrances can take up a bunch of time” match and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s not like there’s really a big challenger for Bliss’ Smackdown Women’s Title at the moment so it wouldn’t make sense to throw out something like Bliss vs. Naomi here. You also don’t want to blow off Lynch vs. James yet so this makes the most sense.
I’ll take good side winning with Naomi pinning Bliss, likely setting up their title match. Naomi might not be the most interesting character in the world but she’s more than capable of being the #1 contender and maybe even a short term champion. The other four can just be there for the sake of being there and there’s nothing wrong with that.
4. Raw Women’s Title: Charlotte vs. Bayley
Somehow, “Monday Night Raw” has managed to botch the most over female since Lita. Bayley should be able to plugged into the title scene, fight against the odds and win the title in a big moment. Somehow though, she’s arguing with Stephanie McMahon about what it means to be a star and reading poetry in a segment that went on far too long. They’ve gotten closer with this “fan vs. star from birth” story but, as usual, it gets bogged down on the main shows.
Charlotte is likely retaining here because for some reason we NEED a four way title match at “Wrestlemania XXXIII” instead of just having Bayley fight against the odds like Daniel Bryan in a sports bra. It’s going to be a big moment when Bayley finally wins the title but it’s just not happening on Sunday.
5. Smackdown World Title: John Cena vs. AJ Styles
Now this is more like it as WWE has managed to turn this into one of the best feuds over the World Title in a long time. Both guys feel like major stars (because they are major stars) and Styles is just beating Cena at every turn. Styles has been Smackdown World Champion since September and has been one of the best performers all year long by miles and miles.
That being said, I think he survives the Cena challenge here, perhaps with someone interfering to set up Cena’s next feud, and allowing Styles to drop the belt inside the Elimination Chamber (Meaning we get STYLES VS. SHANE MCMAHON because we’re just that lucky). Either way, it’s going to be a 20-25 minute classic, as if you would expect it to be anything else.
6. Cruiserweight Title: Rich Swann vs. Neville
Aside from the Royal Rumble itself, this might be the match I’m looking forward to more than anything else. Neville has been on fire since turning heel and Swann has really upped his game in this feud. They’ve made me want to see this match and that’s not something I ever expected to see out of the Cruiserweight Title, either in this generation or in its previous incarnation.
I’ll go with the logical choice and say Neville wins the title here but it wouldn’t surprise me to see them keep the belt on Swann for some reason. Neville has been the better performer in this story and plays his character to perfection but other than Cedric Alexander and maybe the debuting Akira Tozawa, I’m not sure who he could feud again. Neville should win though, and that’s what matters most.
7. Raw World Title: Roman Reigns vs. Kevin Owens
Let’s get this over with. I don’t remember the last time I was this uninterested in a World Title match and a lot of that comes down to the two stipulations. This match has had a six week build and the big idea is Chris Jericho being locked in a shark cage above the ring. Like really, that’s it. Then, to really hammer the point home, they turned it into a No DQ match, meaning that Jericho would be allowed to interfere anyway. You know, because there’s so much effort and thought put into this thing.
Actually I think Reigns loses here so Owens can drop the belt from a better perspective. Then again, there’s always the chance that WWE will continue to ignore everyone’s feeling on Reigns and set him up for a big face match at “Wrestlemania XXXIII”. I mean, word on the street has him as a face and going over Undertaker there so what do I know? But yeah, Owens keeps the belt here.
8. Royal Rumble
I’m going to get straight to the point here: I have no idea who is winning this thing. It’s very rare that WWE is capable of putting together a match where it really is wide open but they’ve pulled it off here. Looking at the twenty two names currently announced, there are at least seven (Goldberg, Brock Lesnar, Baron Corbin, Undertaker, Miz, Bray Wyatt, Randy Orton) serious potential winners and you could squint your eyes and get up to more than ten.
There are so many stories going around about what might be happening in Orlando this year and that’s what I love about this year’s Royal Rumble: it feels wide open. How boring is it when you’re just waiting around on the one or two guys who could realistically win and the rest is just seeing spots? You have to go back to 2012 at the very most recent where the winner wasn’t mostly obvious and that’s far too long.
Let’s pull a name out of a hat here and go with….Wyatt winning the thing. I know it’s not likely to happen but it’s not like there’s a dominant option out there this year. Wyatt winning and going on to face Orton for the Smackdown World Title at “Wrestlemania XXXIII” has been rumored so it makes as much sense as anything else. I have no confidence in the pick but it’s the best I’ve got.
As is so often the case, the Royal Rumble is going to come down to its namesake match but it has the potential to be something fun. “Wrestlemania XXXIII” is wide open this year and we’ll know a lot more about it the next twenty four hours. The winner isn’t always even the most important thing and that makes for a very interesting battle royal. If the rest of the show is even better, that’s just a bonus.
Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the History of the WWE’s Big Four Pay Per Views, now in PAPERBACK. Check out the information here:
Royal Rumble 2015 Date: January 25, 2015
Location: Wells Fargo Center, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Attendance: 17,164
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler
Now this is one I’ve been looking forward to and dreading at the same time. I actually didn’t mind the main event the first time around but ever since then I haven’t been able to think of a single good thing that match did. It should be interesting (hopefully) to see how far this thing has fallen in just a year. Let’s get to it.
Pre-Show: Tyson Kidd/Cesaro vs. New Day
Talk about a year making a big difference. Cesaro and Kidd looked to be the hottest team in years and now they’re both out while New Day, who looked to be a horrible disaster, actually IS the hottest team in years. As usual, time can change so much in wrestling. As usual, Woods is the odd man out here. Adam Rose is here with Kidd/Cesaro for no adequately explained reason but the fans would rather cheer for Cesaro anyway.
Kidd and Big E. get things going as the announcers talk about the Rumble instead. Ok to be fair, it’s a pre-show tag match with nothing on the line so I can live with it here. Big E. grabs a few backbreakers to start before it’s off to Kofi for two off a dropkick. Cesaro comes in for a BIG reaction and you can tell who the star of this match is going to be.
It’s quickly back to Big E. who takes over with a shoulder in the corner, followed by a middle rope cross body from Kofi. Lawler: “I like New Day but I’m excited to see what they’re going to evolve into.” Cesaro and Kidd take Kofi into the corner and I still don’t get why Rose is on the floor. Like, I don’t remember that in the slightest and it’s bizarre to see a year later. The Cesaro Swing into the dropkick (still awesome) gets two and we take a break.
Back with Cesaro holding Kofi in a chinlock but Kingston comes back with a dropkick to Kidd. Big E. starts cleaning house with clotheslines and the fans are REALLY not pleased. Cesaro charges into a Rock Bottom (well close enough to one) out of the corner for two. Kidd is sent to the floor for a flip dive from Kofi, followed by Big E. spearing Cesaro through the ropes for a big crash.
It’s Cesaro on his own against both guys but Big E. is sent outside and Kofi gets kicked in the head, setting up a superplex into a springboard elbow from Kidd for a VERY close two. A sunset flip gets two on Kofi with Cesaro holding Kidd in place for a smart move. Trouble in Paradise is countered into the Sharpshooter but Big E. makes the save with a belly to belly. Rose gets on the apron and gets kicked in the head, only to have Kidd grab a fisherman’s neckbreaker for the pin on Kofi at 11:03.
Rating: B-. Well that worked. This is why having a hot tag division is so important: you can wake up the crowd in a match that really doesn’t matter either way because both teams looked great. New Day could clearly go in the ring but it would still be a few months before they really figured it out. Well that and until they were allowed to have some personality, which was the cure all along.
The opening video is about finding the moment that cements what you are. However, there can only be one. Tonight, someone’s moment becomes a reality. The triple threat gets a little attention as well.
New Age Outlaws vs. Ascension
This is fallout from the Outlaws, the NWO and Acolytes beating down the Ascension for not respecting the veterans enough or something. Yeah it ruined another act that was built up for over a year in NXT but HHH’s buddies got a pay per view appearance out of it. Gunn and Viktor get things going and all it takes is a hiptoss to draw the YOU STILL GOT IT chant. Fans get easier to impress every year. Dogg comes in for the shaky knee drop on Konnor but the young guys take over with a chinlock.
As the match slows down (likely so the Outlaws can breathe), JBL regales us with tales of Bullet Bob Armstrong vs. Buddy Colt. Konnor puts on a chinlock and Dogg taps, likely because tapping out wasn’t a thing when he started. The match keeps going anyway with Dogg avoiding an elbow drop, only to be chinlocked down by Viktor. That goes nowhere and the hot tag brings in Billy to clean house, only to miss the Fameasser and walk into the Fall of Man for the pin at 5:26.
Rating: D. And of course this launched the Ascension up the card and into the Tag Team Title scene forevermore. Yeah of course they never recovered after getting beaten down by a bunch of old retired guys and then winning a meaningless match against a long past retired team because…..yeah I think you know why this didn’t work, or at least you should.
We look at Sting saving Cena from Big Show/Kane/Seth Rollins on Raw. Sting isn’t on the show or anything but he had a cameo there of course. Cena winning however did get Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan their jobs back but Rowan didn’t qualify for the Rumble. At least the match meant something.
The Authority isn’t pleased with Sting doing that WCW nonsense around here. Cue Paul Heyman who says Brock can help with their problems, whatever those are.
Tag Team Titles: Usos vs. Damien Mizdow/Miz
The Usos are defending but Mizdow is the most over guy in the match. Speaking of things that have changed a lot in a year. The Usos took the titles from Miz/Mizdow to close out 2014 so this is the rematch. Jey and Miz get things going and the fans already want Mizdow. Something like a top rope Demolition Decapitator gets two on Miz as Cole recap Miz trying to get Naomi on their side with promises of Hollywood fame.
Miz gets crotched on top so Mizdow (gently) does the same, continuing the one idea act that somehow had fans cheering for him. Miz’s top rope ax handle is punched out of the air so Mizdow goes up and dives into a punch from no one. The fans think Mizdow is awesome, meaning it’s time for a chinlock from Miz himself. The Reality Check gets two but Miz won’t tag Mizdow in. Again, this doesn’t make a ton of sense as Miz is making himself wrestle the whole match by himself.
Anyway, Jimmy gets away and tags in Jey to take over with the running Umaga Attack in the corner but Miz grabs a DDT for two. Everything breaks down and both Usos hit a dive to take out both challengers, though Jey almost misses Miz, drawing a rather rude chant from the fans.
Back in and Jey misses the Superfly Splash, allowing Miz to get two off the Skull Crushing Finale. The second attempt at the Splash connects but Mizdow breaks it up, drawing the loudest pop you will EVER hear for a heel breaking up a cover. Mizdow’s Skull Crushing Finale gets two on Jimmy, who superkicks Miz into a powerbomb from Jey. Jimmy’s Superfly Splash retains the titles at 9:20.
Rating: C-. Nothing special here as Miz/Mizdow’s one joke is long past its point of interest and we’re just waiting on Mizdow to turn, which would of course take too long to mean anything as WWE would screw it up again. It really is amazing how far the tag division has fallen in just a year as all the injuries and screwiness have turned the division on its head. The Usos are still the Usos though and that’s all that matters.
The pre-show panel chats a bit and we look at the pre-show match.
J&J Security play the new WWE mobile game until Seth Rollins comes in to yell at them for not being serious enough. Rollins says he’s been called the future but he’s the right now.
Wrestlemania ad. I had forgotten how much I hated that theme song.
Bella Twins vs. Paige/Natalya
No idea what the story here is but I’m sure it’s Total Divas related. Nikki and Paige get things going with Paige not being able to Irish whip her. It’s off to Natalya who gets two off a kick to the back of the head. Brie comes in to work on the arm as the announcers joke about which twin is older. I’m not sure why this is supposed to be funny but they certainly think it is. A double suplex puts Brie down and Paige does her slow, crawling cover for two.
Natalya comes in and covers as well but for some reason she isn’t legal. Even Paige is confused as she grabs Brie again and now tags Natalya in all legal like. Brie gets two off a quick slam and it’s back to Nikki for a Hennig neck snap. Lawler: “Name two countries and then a state.” Cole: “It was a joke.” It’s as random as it sounds. Now it’s off to Lawler approving of the Bellas’ looks as they take turns on Natalya for some near falls.
Brie puts on a chinlock for a bit before both Bellas grab a leg and roll forward to flip Natalya onto the back of her head. Nikki puts on a headscissors and does push-ups to drive Natalya’s face mere inches away from the mat. Natalya powers up and drops Nikki on her back for the break and avoids a clothesline, only to have Brie pull Paige off the apron. Nikki’s big forearm puts Natalya away at 8:02.
Rating: D. We don’t even have time for a hot tag? This wasn’t much to see but again, it’s all about the Bellas because they’re the stars on Total Divas and know how to act like the Kardashians or whatever. Nikki would get a lot better after another six months on top of the division or so, but that would be a very long six months.
Roman Reigns says he’ll beat his performance from last year.
Stardust does his usual and Goldust says he’s right.
Rusev says he’ll win and promises to crush whoever wins.
Miz says this is his year and Mizdow repeats everything. Again: that’s not what a stunt double does.
Big Show says he’s not mortal because he’s a giant.
Fandango says no one understands the power of the tango.
YES, Daniel Bryan thinks he can get back to the main event of Wrestlemania.
We recap the triple threat for the World Title. Rollins tried to cash in Money in the Bank on Lesnar at Night of Champions while Cena was challenging, triggering a feud between Rollins and Cena. Tonight they both get their shot in what should be awesome.
WWE World Title: John Cena vs. Seth Rollins vs. Brock Lesnar
Lesnar is defending and this is one fall to a finish. The fans just explode on Cena with the JOHN CENA SUCKS song making its return. I was there when it debuted and that’s a pure thing of brilliance. Lesnar on the other hand is treated…..well about how you would expect Philadelphia to react to him. Rollins bails to start and there’s the first German suplex to Cena. Another one drops Cena again so J&J come in, only to get a German of their own.
Rollins kicks Cena in the head but gets pulled inside to face Brock all alone. It’s time for more German suplexes and the fans loudly applaud. There’s a regular suplex to Rollins and we get an ECW chant. Brock grabs a Kimura on Cena but John lifts him up, allowing Seth to springboard in with a knee to the champ. Cena and Rollins get smart and double team Lesnar, only to have Seth throw John to the floor for one off an AA.
Brock pops up like a daisy and sends both of them outside, only to have Rollins knock him into the steps. As J&J are in a heap next to the barricade, Cena starts his usual finishing sequence on Rollins but Lesnar breaks up the Shuffle with another German suplex. Seth breaks up the rolling Germans though as he needs Cena to help fight against Brock. Makes sense. A knee to the back puts Brock on the floor but the champ is right back in for the save as Seth covers Cena.
Back up and Cena throws Rollins to the floor and actually drops Brock with some clotheslines. Seth pulls Cena outside and tries a springboard, only to get caught in a big F5. That is some terrifying strength. Brock loads up a table for some reason so Cena gives him three straight AA’s for two with Rollins making a last second save. There’s a Curb Stomp from Seth and this time Cena has to dive in and break up the cover. The fans think this is awesome (indeed) as everyone heads outside, where Cena spears Lesnar through the barricade.
Brock keeps getting up so Cena throws him into the steps and blasts him in the face for good measure, knocking the champ onto the announcers’ table. Rollins feels left out so he drives Brock through with a HUGE top rope elbow and Cena is the only one standing. The non-Lesnars head back inside and Seth hits a quick low superkick for two. The AA doesn’t work so Cena Batista Bombs him for a VERY near fall.
Not to be outdone, Rollins reverses a superplex attempt into a running Buckle Bomb for two more. Both guys are spent so Rollins tries a Curb Stomp, only to get caught in the STF. Cue J&J from their comas for the save as a stretcher comes out for Brock. There’s a TripleBomb for two on Cena but he ducks a briefcase shot and AA’s both J’s at the same time. He should not be able to do that twenty minutes into a match this physical. Or any match for that matter.
Another AA gets two on Rollins and the Curb Stomp gets the same on Cena as the fans are freaking out on these kickouts. We’re told Brock has at least a broken rib as Rollins busts out the Phoenix Splash on Cena. Not that it matters as a TICKED OFF Brock gets back in for some German suplexes, only to have Seth hit him in the face with the briefcase. Rollins loads up a Curb Stomp onto the case but you don’t try that on Lesnar, as he counters with a HUGE F5 to retain at 22:42.
Rating: A. Good grief what a battle. This was the night where Rollins became a star and people knew that he was going to be champion soon. Cena put in his normal amazing performance here as well, but good night Brock looked like a monster. This is the beast that WWE wanted to build up for someone to take down and it worked perfectly here. Just outstanding action here with all three looking like they had been through a war. This was the instant match of the year leader and it would take something special to knock it off.
Brock walks off as the medics are stunned.
Rumble By The Numbers video.
Royal Rumble
Good luck following that. Miz is #1 and R-Truth is #2 with 90 second intervals. They start slowly (smart here) until Truth gets in a few pelvic thrusts. Truth is sent to the apron a few times and gets crotched on the top until Bubba Ray Dudley makes a big surprise return at #3. You think that might wake the Philadelphia fans up a bit? Bubba is fired up to start and gives Miz the Dusty punches before R-Truth plays D-Von (I’m not touching that one) on What’s Up.
Now it’s table time but Miz gets up, only to be put back down with a 3D. There go Miz and Truth as Luke Harper is in at #4 for a hoss fight. They slug it out boo/yay style but Harper elbows out of a Bubba Bomb. A big clothesline drops Harper but Bray Wyatt is in at #5. Bubba isn’t sure what to make of him and Bray does his big freaky smile. The fans want D-Von (fair enough idea) but Bray sends Bubba into a clothesline and dumps him a few seconds later.
Harper and Wyatt stare at each other and Curtis Axel is in at #6, only to have Erick Rowan jump him from behind and destroy him, kicking off Axelmania because Axel was never officially eliminated. Rowan (not part of the Family at this point) gets in and teases a reunion against Bray, only to be quickly double teamed. Erick almost gets Harper out but Bray dumps them both and points to the sign. In another surprise return, the Boogeyman is in at #7. Cole: “It’s the eater of worlds against the eater of worms!” His entrance takes forever and Bray dumps him like the jobber that he is.
Sin Cara is in at #8 and gets in a few shots, only to get punched out of the air. Sister Abigail sets up another elimination and Bray is on a roll. With no one to fight, Bray grabs a mic and issues an open challenge to everyone in the back because this is his year. It’s time to sing until Zack Ryder is in at #9 (apparently returning from shoulder surgery), only to be eliminated even faster than Cara.
NOW things get interesting as Daniel Bryan is in at #10 to one of the loudest reactions you’ll hear since…..well since the last time Bryan was in a big match probably. Daniel speeds things up a lot with some running dropkicks in the corner as JBL tells Bryan not to go so hard because he needs to pace himself. Preach it JBL. A middle rope hurricanrana puts Bray down and it’s Fandango in at #11. Well that’s quite the drop in star power. He goes after Bryan but stops to dance, allowing Bryan to flip out of a belly to back suplex.
We go old school (way old school actually) with an airplane spin until Tyson Kidd (with his sweet theme song) is in at #12. A springboard missile dropkick drops Bryan and Fandango is quickly dropped into the corner, leaving Kidd and Bryan to slug it out in what could rock with about fifteen minutes. Stardust is in at #13, with Cole saying it’s his Rumble debut. No Cole, no it’s not. I get what he’s going for and no Cole, no it’s not.
Fandango and Stardust take turns skinning the cat before Stardust takes out the knee to get Fandango in trouble. Bryan eliminates Kidd but Bray is back up, only to be knocked through the ropes and out to the floor. You know that means a suicide dive from Daniel, followed by Diamond Dallas Page in at #14 for another surprise. Stardust is right on him but there’s the first Diamond Cutter. JBL: “Do they teach that in yoga class?”
Fandango takes Page down but gets crotched on top, setting up a super Diamond Cutter for a very nice pop. Bray pounds on Page but takes a Diamond Cutter of his own, which is one step too far. The guy is a monster and shouldn’t get dropped by a retired legend. Rusev comes in at #15 and superkicks Page before eliminating him. Side note: put Page in the Hall of Fame already. He has the resume and he’s worthy of canonization after what he accomplished with Roberts and Hall.
Rusev dumps Fandango and puts Bryan on the apron, allowing Bray to knock Daniel out. That right there is pretty much it for this Rumble meaning anything as we now know it’s all about Reigns, even though the fans aren’t going to be interested no matter what. I know you can’t have Bryan win here, but you could at least give him a run near the end. This was a bad idea and the DANIEL BRYAN chants starting up a minute after he’s gone don’t bode well for the rest of the show.
Goldust is in at #16, giving us Goldust, Stardust, Rusev and Wyatt. The brothers go after each other for a bit until Kofi Kingston is in at #17. Kofi goes after Bray as the fans are booing everything presented to them no matter how watchable it is. All five wind up in one corner for some reason with no eliminations until Adam Rose is in at #18. The Rosebuds do the full entrance and catch Kofi as he’s launched over the top for his annual save. Rusev dumps Rose with ease and kicks Kofi out a few seconds later to get us back to four. Roman Reigns is in at #19 and oh man this is going to be good.
The fans go nuts on Reigns as he fires off the running corner clotheslines and gets rid of Goldust and Stardust in rapid succession. Big E. is in at #20 and only gets kind of booed. Rusev is right on him and that gets booed loudly out of pure spite. Rusev hits a quick Cannonball on Big E. and it’s Damien Mizdow in at #21 for a bit of relief from the fans. Miz cuts him off and wants the spot but Reigns shoves him down and Damien, egged on by the crowd, goes in as well.
Mizdow cleans some house but is thrown out by Rusev in less than twenty seconds. Dang they really don’t want the fans to cheer anything tonight do they? Well other than Reigns of course. Jack Swagger is in at #22 and gets in a few nice shots until Bray cuts him off. We’ve got Wyatt, Swagger, Reigns, Big E. and Rusev at the moment until Ryback is in at #23. That means more power brawling with Meat Hooks and suplexes all around. Bray and Rusev continue their loose alliance to to get Ryback in trouble and there’s a CM Punk chant for the latest false hope.
Kane is in at #24 and you know the people aren’t happy with that. The match slows down a bit with Kane putting Ryback on the apron and Big E. doing the same thing to Swagger. Those attempts go as far as you would expect and it’s Dean Ambrose in at #25 to give the fans something to actually cheer for. Dean goes for Rusev to start but has to stop a charging Kane. The fans are WAY into Ambrose as he’s the first guy they’ve wanted to cheer for in about fifteen minutes.
Titus O’Neil is in at #26 and put out in four seconds by Ambrose and Reigns. So much for that one. The ring is getting too full and Intercontinental Champion Bad News Barrett makes it even worse at lucky #27. Everyone brawls against the ropes until it’s Cesaro in at #28. Cesaro fires off a bunch of European uppercuts but he can only get Ambrose to the apron. Rusev dropkicks Big E. out to clear a little room but Big Show takes his place at #29.
Everyone goes after him but Show throws them away before starting a chokeslam contest with Kane. There goes Ryback thanks to both giants and Show dumps Swagger. A chokeslam sends Rusev rolling out under the ropes and it’s Dolph Ziggler in at #30 (Remember when “who is #30” was the big question every year? Now it’s just another entrant. It’s kind of sad really.), giving us a final grouping of Wyatt, Rusev, Reigns, Kane, Ambrose, Barrett, Cesaro, Big Show and Ziggler.
Here’s the thing: that’s actually a stacked final set of people. Wyatt, Rusev, Ambrose, Barrett, Cesaro and Ziggler are crowd favorites, Big Show and Kane are at least good monsters to conquer and Reigns is…..well that other group is really popular. The problem here is NO ONE but Reigns has a chance and the entire audience knows it, making this inevitable rather than anything interesting.
Ziggler superkicks the giants and takes them both down with the running DDT. Barrett is sent to the apron and superkicked out but Ziggler gets caught in the Cesaro Swing. Cesaro sends him to the apron but Dolph gets him to the apron for a superkick and an elimination, only to have Big Show and Kane put Ziggler out. That also gives Kane the all time record for Rumble eliminations.
The giants throw Bray out like he’s no one (thanks for the 47 minutes Bray) and the fans are getting even angrier than they already were. So it’s Ambrose/Reigns vs. Big Show/Kane with Rusev forgotten on the floor. Roman is bleeding from the mouth as he clotheslines Show down but he and Dean can’t get rid of the bigger giant. Kane boots Roman in the face and the KO Punch knocks Dean silly, giving the giants an easy elimination. Reigns is suddenly even less popular as the inevitability gets that much closer. Even Cole acknowledges that the fans hate this.
Reigns fights back and the booing gets even louder until Kane and Show start fighting, because the last SIXTEEN YEARS of these two fighting isn’t enough. They fight next to the ropes and Reigns gets up for a double elimination, actually sending the fans into silence for the win.
Kane and Big Show get back in and beat Roman down even more, complete with a double chokeslam. The fans remember that Rusev is still in but here’s the Rock to help save his cousin. He cleans house and drops both giants to a nice reaction until Reigns Superman Punches Show into a Rock Bottom. Rock leaves and Rusev gets back in, only to get speared and eliminated to really give Roman the win at 59:31.
Rating: D-. WOW. This is somehow so much worse than I remember it as WWE was clearly going out of its way to clear the path for Roman but the fans were having none of it. The problem here is a simple one: there was never any drama. Look back at 2012 for a second. The final two were Chris Jericho and Sheamus, neither of whom were interesting choices to win. However, the final three minutes of that match are AWESOME as you really didn’t know who was going to win and both guys had a real chance. That’s the easiest way to get fans to like the Rumble, or really most matches.
This Rumble is really more like 1993 than anything else. That was the year of Yokozuna and everyone knew it, though there was the slightest chance of the Undertaker winning it. However, Undertaker went out in the middle of the match and the rest was just a waiting game to see who was on Yokozuna’s victim list.
That’s exactly what happened here. Everyone knew Reigns was the heavy favorite no matter who they wanted to win and the ONLY person with a real chance of beating him was Bryan. This year Bryan was the twelfth man eliminated, leaving about thirty five minutes left in the match. That’s a long time for the fans to sit around with little to no hope as things get worse and worse. The best false hope they had for the rest of the match was Ambrose and that just wasn’t going to happen.
On top of that, you have Big Show and Kane as the big bads for Reigns to conquer. That’s fine on paper, until you look at all the papers labeled “Raw Results” where you see how many times he and everyone else has beaten both of them. Instead of some group of the popular guys at the end, it was Kane and Big Show for the first ending. Then there’s Rusev for the false hope spot but Reigns destroyed him too before winning.
So yeah, this was one big mess all designed for Reigns to look like a hero and it failed miserably. It boils down to a simple concept that actually takes me back to the Russo days to a degree: you have to earn it. The problem here is Reigns hasn’t really accomplished anything to earn this spot and the fans are rejecting him. Austin dominating the 1998 Rumble worked because the fans had seen Austin go through a lot of wars to earn the right to be the top dog. Reigns’ big moment was a win over Randy Orton at Summerslam 2014. That’s not exactly huge and the fans hadn’t forgotten.
Ignoring the Reigns part for a minute, this was a really dull match. Bubba was a cool surprise and Page was good for a Diamond Cutter, but Boogeyman? Other than that and Bray’s dominance (which went nowhere), this was really dull stuff. Kofi being caught by the Rosebuds was a good quick chuckle but really low on his list of saves. Just a horrible Rumble from start to finish with only a few bright spots throughout.
Rock poses with Reigns and the fans STILL boo. The Authority comes out to glare a lot as Reigns celebrates and points at the sign to end the show.
Overall Rating: D. Oh yeah this was bad. The triple threat is the only thing keeping this from being a disaster as the rest of the card is a bunch of nothing tags and then a disaster of a Rumble for the last third. The Rumble itself really is that bad and drags an already bad show down even lower. It’s balanced out a bit by the triple threat but twenty two minutes of awesome can’t make up for an hour of horrible. Terrible show here and thankfully WWE finally figured out that Reigns wasn’t ready yet, because he just wasn’t here.
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This is one of the last two because we’re getting close to the Royal Rumble and that’s FAR too late for the sake of doing a Best of series. Basically today we’re looking at the Surprise of the Year, which I’m going to keep a bit shorter for the sake of time. There are a LOT of options here and it’s going to take forever if I go into a bunch of details. These are in no particular order.
1. AJ Styles Debuts at the Royal Rumble.
Sweet goodness this worked, assuming you can ignore what WWE felt was the more important visual. This was AJ STYLES debut in WWE and for some reason we were looking at Roman Reigns. Styles actually appearing in WWE was almost unthinkable but here it was, in one of the most important matches of the year. That’s one of those moments you remember and it worked really well here.
2. Dean Ambrose Cashes in Money in the Bank.
I know it might not be the biggest in the world but the cash-ins are always cool to see. Ambrose cashed in and beat Seth Rollins for the World Title, which meant that all three members of the Shield were World Champion in the same night. Ambrose actually winning was a surprise as he was a few steps below the other Shield members and he finally won the big one. Well done, especially considering how many times that briefcase has been cashed in before.
3. Goldberg Returns.
For someone who hasn’t been around in over twelve years, Goldberg made one heck of an impact and the place went nuts when he showed up again. Sure it was just for the sake of a video game but the place came unglued when he was announced and it set up a big moment down the line. That’s hard to do with someone from a different generation but they pulled it off here.
4. AJ Styles Beats John Cena Clean.
You know how many people get to beat Cena clean? You can probably count them on your fingers (and toes if you’re a little slow) and Styles is another one to have done it. People were expecting the whole “Cena loses then Cena wins” but instead, Styles becomes one of the few to get away with a perfect record against Cena, which is quite the year for someone who hasn’t been around that long.
5. Zack Ryder Wins Intercontinental Title.
This was one of those things that you just couldn’t imagine happening and the fact that he did it at Wrestlemania is even better. Ryder could barely win a single match and now he’s the Intercontinental Champion. Sure he lost it the next night and sure I’m convinced that it was going to be Neville before his broke his ankle but Ryder won that title and there’s no one that can take it away from him. Well save for Miz of course.
6. Rhyno/Brian Kendrick Have Titles in 2016.
These two hadn’t even been thought of in WWE in years and they manage to win new titles. Rhyno is a bigger surprise given how good the tag division actually is over on Smackdown. I liked his run with Heath Slater even more than I was expecting to and the team worked very well. Kendrick wasn’t the most thrilling Cruiserweight Champion but at least he put on a few good heel performances.
7. Cruiserweight Division Returns.
Speaking of the cruiserweights, they’re back too! This is one of those things that has been talked about for years and they actually did it. I’m not sure we needed a Cruiserweight division but the tournament they used to bring it back was awesome too. 205 Live has become a lot of fun and that’s an even bigger bonus. Good stuff here, which I didn’t expect coming into the division.
8. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte Main Events a Pay Per View.
Let me repeat that: women main evented a WWE pay per view. I really don’t think this needs much more of an explanation.
9. Goldberg Squashes Brock Lesnar.
It’s very rare that I sit in awe of something I see on a wrestling show but that’s what happened here. I was genuinely shocked by what I saw and that doesn’t happen. Goldberg didn’t just beat Lesnar but rather DESTROYED him in less than ninety seconds. That’s getting up there with an old Midnight Express time in the main event of a pay per view. Just….dang man.
10. Daniel Bryan Retires.
I’m not sure if this qualifies as a surprise after all the time that Bryan missed from the ring. Still though, the speech itself was incredible and Bryan looked like a star who never had the chance to stay on top. It made him a legend but it was a pretty big shock when we knew he wasn’t coming back this time around.
11. Finn Balor Vacates Universal Title.
The fact that this happened so soon after he won the thing (another surprise in its own right) is what makes this one so big. Balor literally won the title in his third match on the main roster and then he goes down with a major shoulder injury. Above all else: just imagine what happens to his career if he lost that title match. He’d be lucky to get a Cruiserweight Title run at that point.
12. Shane McMahon Returns.
I don’t know how to put this one into words. The wife and I were looking away from the screen and our necks snapped into place as our jaws dropped. Shane hadn’t been around in nearly eight years and yet here he was on Monday Night Raw with his dad all over again. It was a genuine shock and that doesn’t happen in WWE.
13. Another Brand Split.
Again, this is one of those things that is talked about all the time but for once they actually pulled the trigger. I’m still not sure the rosters are deep enough to pull this off but it’s the wrestling world we live in now, McMahons and all. I like the idea well enough and it was certainly exciting, especially for the Draft when it actually happened.
Overall this was a two horse race. I had to think back to how shocked I was over Shane returning and the Lesnar squash and the more I thought about it, the more I couldn’t get my head around Goldberg vs. Lesnar. That to me is the sign of a surprise having lasting power and it’s enough to give the main event of Survivor Series the win here.
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Monday Night Raw – January 23, 2017: One Out Of Two Isn’t Bad
Monday Night Raw Date: January 23, 2017
Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Byron Saxton, Corey Graves
It’s the go home show for the Royal Rumble and that’s the best thing that could happen right now. The build has taken quite a long time and it would be a good idea to get us done with the show so we can move on to the build towards Wrestlemania. It would also help to know what we can expect from the biggest show of the year. Let’s get to it.
We open with a recap of Roman Reigns losing the US Title two weeks back.
Here’s Reigns to open things up with the shark cage in the ring with him. Reigns says in six days, 40,000 people are going to pack the Alamo Dome when he wins the Universal Title. This brings out Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho with the former talking about all the people Reigns has powerbombed through the announcers’ table. Owens is the only person to powerbomb him back and Jericho talks about being stuck in the cage like a sexy salami in a deli. This leads to Reigns wanting his rematch for the US Title tonight and Owens accepts on Jericho’s behalf. Owens throws in a psychic prediction: tonight it’s Reigns locked in that cage.
Cesaro vs. Luke Gallows
Join us as we continue the theory of “let’s have four guys fight over and over and over and then expect people to want to see the pay per view match”. Cesaro throws him down and puts a forearm in the face for two but Gallows hits a running charge in the corner. We take a break and come back with Anderson having been ejected for interference and Cesaro muscling Gallows up for a suplex.
The threat of the Swing sends Gallows to the ropes so Cesaro settles for the Sharpshooter. Cue Anderson to kick Sheamus in the head, which of course means the referee doesn’t see Gallows tap (that finish is WAY overused), allowing Gallows to come back with a big boot. The flapjack gives Gallows the pin at 8:45.
Rating: D+. I am so, so sick of that “distraction means the tap out doesn’t count” schtick. It’s been used WAY too many times, especially with Cesaro and Sheamus. Just come up with something fresh and maybe people will stop complaining about how boring your matches are. Nah, I’m sure we need to just get over it and enjoy right?
Mick Foley is on the phone with Stephanie McMahon when Sami Zayn comes in. Sami wants to enter the Royal Rumble but Stephanie says that’s not how it works. Oh here we go. Sami has to beat Seth Rollins to get in. This has been your weekly reminder that Stephanie is the real power in WWE. Stephanie also has something in mind for Rollins.
Earlier today, Bayley sat down to talk about Sunday’s match with Charlotte. She doesn’t understand why Charlotte is so down on her being a lifelong wrestling fan but Bayley is bringing the Bayley Buddies and all of her fans to San Antonio to take the title.
Mick comes in to see Rollins and tells him about the match with Sami. However, if Rollins loses, Sami gets Seth’s spot. This has been your weekly reminder that Stephanie is the puppet master and gets to smile and laugh while we just get to watch.
Sami Zayn vs. Seth Rollins
Only the winner goes to the Rumble. It’s a feeling out process to start as the announcers talk about how these two used to be friends and even roommates. Neither can get anywhere in the first few minutes so Seth turns it into a fist fight and scores with a suicide dive as we take a break. Back with Seth missing the springboard knee and getting caught in the Blue Thunder Bomb so CUE THE CROWD REACTION SHOTS!!!
A Michinoku Driver gets two more on Seth but Rollins runs the corner and throws Sami down for the Blockbuster. Seth grabs the Falcon’s Arrow for two more and a jumping knee to the face just sounds painful. There’s the Sling Blade but Sami reverses the Pedigree into a tornado DDT.
The Helluva Kick misses but Sami backdrops him to the floor for a big crash. Back in and a sunset powerbomb gets two more on Seth, followed by the exploder into the corner. Rollins bails to the apron and manages a Pedigree to knock Sami cold…..and here’s HHH. Or at least his music hits, allowing Sami to small package Rollins at 15:57.
Rating: B-. This match had some of WWE’s greatest hits for stupid ideas, including ALL THE CROWD REACTION SHOTS and that stupid music fake out. I’m looking forward to Wrestlemania but unfortunately it’s so we can get done with this HHH vs. Rollins feud. Why in the world we need to sit around and wait for so many months on this feud isn’t clear but odds are it’s “well, you can’t expect TRIPLE H to lower himself to any other show.”
Video on Shawn Michaels winning the 1995 Royal Rumble.
Rollins is livid and demands that Foley figure out what’s going on. Foley says it wasn’t him but Rollins is going to find out.
TJ Perkins/Jack Gallagher/Mustafa Ali vs. Tony Nese/Drew Gulak/Ariya Daivari
We get a quick video on Ali before the match. Perkins and Gulak get things going and we start in a hurry with TJ flipping around, only to get kicked in the ribs in the corner. Nese misses a moonsault though and it’s off to Ali for a rolling neckbreaker. Everything breaks down and Ali’s inverted 450 puts Gulak away at 3:51.
Rating: C-. This was way too short and I don’t think Gallagher was ever legally in the match. That inverted 450 looked great but it came at the end of a very short match which didn’t have enough time to showcase six people at the same time. This was kind of a step back for the division which was getting more and more entertaining once they got away from matches like this one.
Here’s New Day for a chat. They want to become Universal Champion at Wrestlemania but cue Enzo and Big Cass to cut them off. Cass is going to be in the Royal Rumble as well, which seems to greatly please the fans. Rusev, Jinder Mahal and Lana (who has hacked off a lot of her hair) interrupt with Rusev wondering why Big E. and Big Cass have to add Big to their names. You don’t hear Rusev call himself handsome do you?
Titus O’Neil cuts them off and New Day’s annoyed reactions are hilarious. Woods offers to meet Titus outside in a reference I don’t quite get. Anyway there’s an eight man tag…but there are only seven men in the ring. Woods points out that the fourth option is Lana (BIG pop for that suggestion) but he wants to know who the real fourth partner is.
New Day/Enzo Amore/Big Cass vs. Jinder Mahal/Rusev/Titus O’Neil/Braun Strowman
Joined in progress with Kofi in trouble until a jawbreaker frees him up. It’s not enough to get past Titus though who hits a sloppy Dominator. Mahal gives up the hot tag though and it’s off to Cass. The Bada Boom Shaka Lacka is broken up and everything breaks down with Big E.’s spear through the ropes being blocked. Kofi hits a big dive onto a pile of people on the floor….but it leaves Braun to face Enzo. Amore actually gets out of the powerslam but his middle rope DDT is countered into said powerslam for the pin at 4:35 shown.
Rating: D+. Nothing to see here but it let Strowman look dominant, which is the entire point. Strowman is going to be a big deal in the Rumble and is probably one of the favorites but it’s nice to see some other names added to the field. I know Cass and Rusev are the longest of long shots though getting to be announced is a bit of a plus.
Post match here’s Big Show for the showdown with Strowman.
We recap the opening sequence.
US Title: Roman Reigns vs. Chris Jericho
Jericho is defending but Reigns starts fast and knocks him to the floor for a running dropkick. Back from an early break with Owens on commentary and telling Byron to shut up. Naturally we LOOK AT THE ANNOUNCERS’ TABLE TO SEE PEOPLE TALKING while the match is going on. Jericho grabs a chinlock as the announcers pepper Owens about his upcoming title defense.
Ever the arrogant heel, Jericho slaps Reigns in the face a few times so Roman uppercuts him out of the air. The Samoan drop into a rollup is botched so Jericho hammers away, only to have the drop hit a few seconds later. The Superman Punch is countered with a dropkick but the Codebreaker is easily powered away. Now the Superman Punch connects but Owens comes in for the DQ at 9:45.
Rating: C-. This was fine while it lasted and thank goodness they didn’t change the title back already. Owens interfering is fine and thankfully they didn’t have another champ lose all over again. The match wasn’t terrible and Reigns wasn’t entirely booed out of the building so this is one of the better possible outcomes.
Post match Reigns is beaten down but manages to lock Owens in the cage and spear Jericho. Coolish moment I guess, though wouldn’t it make more sense to have Jericho locked in the cage and beat Owens down as a preview for Sunday?
Back from a break with Jericho letting Owens out of the cage. As a bonus, Sunday’s match will now be No DQ. Kevin is furious.
In another sitdown interview, Charlotte talks about being backstage for major shows while Bayley was watching on the couch. Charlotte had an amazing athletic background and yeah, she and Bayley used to be friends. Bayley was the heart and soul of NXT but now she has the audacity to think she’s on Charlotte’s level. Then Bayley is going to lose and will remember that she’s just a fan.
Nia Jax vs. Ray Lyn
Nia runs her over in the corner and hits something like a Banzai Drop for the pin at 28 seconds.
Post match Nia dedicates her win to Sasha Banks’ recently deceased career. Now that Nia has broken the Boss….and never mind because here’s Banks on a crutch. Sasha hits her in the ankle with the crutch and actually gets in a double knee shot to drop the monster.
We look at Rollins losing his Rumble spot again.
Emmalina video.
Rich Swann vs. Noam Dar
Non-title and Alicia Fox is with Dar. Swann flips over him to start and sends Dar outside, only to have Noam hide behind Fox. We come back from a break with Swann fighting out of a chinlock and ankle scissoring him off the top. The spinning kick to the head ends Dar at 5:54. Not enough shown to rate but this was just a workout for Swann.
Swann wants Neville out here and we get Neville all the way to the apron, only to have Rich dive through the ropes to start the fight. Referees break it up but this was a really well done segment and actually made me want to see the match. Well done.
Cedric Alexander vs. Neville is announced for 205 Live. Alexander is ready to talk about his match when Fox and Dar come in. Alicia knows Cedric is jealous of Dar, who will always be a winner as long as he has her in his corner. A lot of screeching ensues so Cedric walks away.
Here’s Goldberg for the closing segment. The chants cut him off and Goldberg seems to forget his lines a few times. He finally gets them right by talking about facing twenty nine other men in the Royal Rumble for the right to face Owens or Reigns. Cue Paul Heyman to talk about who Goldberg might be facing on Sunday. It could be Randy Orton, Braun Strowman or even this man: Brock Lesnar. Brock comes out while Heyman keeps talking but Goldberg says get in here. The fight is almost on when the gong strikes. Undertaker shows up and we get the big three way staredown to end the show.
Overall Rating: C. This was a show where your individual miles may vary as the show itself wasn’t great but I liked the show for the simple fact that it made me care more about the Rumble. I’m more interested in the Cruiserweight Title match and maybe even the Rumble itself, which is a big upgrade. Reigns vs. Owens now being No DQ could help a bit if they actually let them have a brawl instead of the boring match that they’ve done otherwise. It’s an upgrade though and that was really badly needed.
Results
Luke Gallows b. Cesaro – Flapjack
Sami Zayn b. Seth Rollins – Small package
Mustafa Ali/Jack Gallagher/TJ Perkins b. Ariya Daivari/Tony Nese/Drew Gulak – Inverted 450 to Gulak
Jinder Mahal/Rusev/Titus O’Neil/Braun Strowman b. New Day/Enzo Amore/Big Cass – Powerslam to Amore
Roman Reigns b. Chris Jericho via DQ when Kevin Owens interfered
Nia Jax b. Ray Lyn – Banzai Drop
Rich Swann b. Noam Dar – Spinning kick to the head