NXT Arrival
Date: February 27, 2014
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, William Regal

It’s the biggest night in the history of NXT as we are LIVE, I believe for the first time in modern NXT. This is the first live wrestling airing on the WWE Network so it should be a good test of the technology. The main events are Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro in a rematch of the match of the year and Bo Dallas defending his NXT Championship against Adrian Neville in a ladder match. Also of note: this will be partially going head to head with Impact Wrestling tonight and going forward. Let’s get to it.

HHH opens us up to what sounds like the Natural Disasters’ old music.

We get a new intro with shots of a lot of the wrestlers, including helpful name graphics for new fans.

Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro

One fall to a finish in a rematch from the NXT match of the year in 2013. Sami has been fighting a knee injury lately. The video is holding up perfectly well so far and they’ve fancied the arena up a bit for the special show. Cesaro shoves Sami down a few times to start as the fans aren’t sure who they like better. Sami takes him down in a front facelock but Cesaro counters his hurricanrana attempt into the Swing, only to have Sami kick him away. Cesaro bails to the floor and gets caught by a nice flip dive. The fans think this is awesome.

Back in and Sami tries a high cross body but dives into a tilt-a-whirl slam for a close two count. They head outside again with Cesaro in full control and choking across the barricade. Cesaro takes him back inside so he can throw Sami outside again and ram him into the barricade. Into the ring again for a two count but Cesaro throws him outside one more time. Cesaro goes after the leg but gets pulled face first into the post for his troubles.

Sami goes outside and tries to dive through the ropes around the post (as in he starts on the floor, dives over two ropes in the corner and lands on the floor) like he did in the first match but dives into an uppercut instead. Now the leg is wrapped around the post and Cesaro stomps away in the corner before cranking on the knee even more. A knee drop to Sami’s bad knee gets two and Cesaro stalks Zayn to mess with his head.

Cesaro takes him down with a dragon screw leg whip and it’s off to another leg lock. We get a WE THE PEOPLE from Cesaro but the fans counter with an OLE chant. Another leg whip puts Sami down and he misses an enziguri, setting up a half crab from Cesaro. Sami finally gets the ropes and sends Cesaro outside, only to have his slingshot dive caught in another tilt-a-whirl slam on the ramp. Sami BARELY beats the count in at nine and grabs an exploder suplex to send Cesaro into the corner.

Sami grabs a Blue Thunder Bomb out of nowhere for two followed followed by a Koji Clutch of all things. Cesaro powers out of it and rolls around into an old Brock Lock (Cesaro bends the knee around his neck) but Zayn dives for the bottom rope. The Swing is countered into a rollup for two but Cesaro gets it on the second try. Only ten revolutions this time though and a running uppercut gets two but Sami reverses into a crucifix for two of his own.

A HARD double stomp gets two on Sami but he’s still able to block the suplex from the apron. He kicks Cesaro in the head with the good leg and sits him on the top rope, but Cesaro tries to counter the hurricanrana into a Riccola Bomb, only to have Sami counter THAT into the hurricanrana. The running kick in the corner gets a VERY close two on Cesaro and both guys are spent.

It’s Cesaro up first and he drops Sami with a stiff uppercut. A second one has Cesaro telling Sami to stay down as even Regal is calling this uncomfortable. There’s a THIRD uppercut and Sami looks dead. Sami somehow gets up and it turns into a slugout until Zayn grabs a suplex out of nowhere. He tries to get a running start but Cesaro stops him with a boot to the face.

The Neutralizer is countered into a hurricanrana for two and a sunset bomb gets the same. Swiss Death only gets one with Sami shooting up to scare Cesaro half to death. Cesaro goes BEAST MODE and takes Sami’s head off with a discus uppercut before a jumping Neutralizer is good for the pin at 23:38.

Rating: A. Good grief I’m exhausted already. This was a heck of a wrestling match with two guys beating the tar out of each other for the better part of half an hour. Cesaro winning makes the most sense due to how hard he’s been pushed on WWE recently, but it’s clear that Zayn is ready for the WWE. Granted he has been for about six months now. Great match and worth checking out if you want to see a fight that makes the people care.

Cesaro celebrates as Zayn remembers what planet he’s on. Sami looks up at him and Cesaro pulls him up for a hug and a big cheer from the crowd.

Video on Mojo Rawley. He doesn’t get hyped. He STAYS hyped.

CJ Parker vs. Mojo Rawley

Parker has recently turned heel, blaming everyone for not cheering him when he’s just trying to make the world a better place to live. Parker tries to use his speed against the much stronger Rawley but gets caught in a big backdrop for two. Mojo gets caught with some shots to the ribs and Parker puts on his mean face to stomp away in the corner. It’s amazing how the place just dies when Parker is out there. Rawley shrugs off a bunch of left hands in the corner and hits a splash, followed by a seated senton (Hyperdrive) for the pin at 3:27.

Rating: D+. This was a glorified squash and they couldn’t have picked a better person to take the loss. This was treated as a huge win for Rawley who has a lot of potential bu spends too much of his matches on defense. Parker just isn’t working but the heel turn is far beter for him. He’ll be better when he gets to cut some eco-friendly promos.

Video on Emma, who is very bubbly.

Video on Ascension, who have dominated the tag division for months now. They’re kind of like a goth Demolition.

NXT Tag Titles: Ascension vs. ???

There’s an open challenge from Ascension tonight and their opponents are…….TOO COOL??? That’s a rather bizarre choice to put it mildly. Viktor slaps Sexay down to start and doesn’t approve of the dancing. Off to Konor for a hard legdrop and even harder shoulder blocks. Viktor slams Sexay down and puts on a chinlock before driving in elbows. I think the fans say they want water and then gum. Sexay finally fights up and makes the hot tag to Scotty whose offense has very little effect. He gets the bulldog and loads up the Worm, only to have Viktor pop up and run him over. Fall of Man ends Scotty at 6:40.

Rating: D. This was WAY too long and Too Cool was the totally wrong choice for the challengers here. They’re a fun team who had a month long title reign FOURTEEN YEARS AGO. This is the problem with nostalgia: it’s fun to push every now and then, but when it’s pushed over teams that deserve the shots more, you’ve got a problem.

Video on Paige, who won the first NXT Womens Title last year but hasn’t been around in a long time. The idea is she’s the anti-Diva, meaning she dresses in black and is more about attitude than looks, even though she’s rather pretty.

Womens Title: Emma vs. Paige

Before the match though, here’s Stephanie McMahon because what would we do without her? The fans tell her that she’s still got it but she says she never lost it. I can’t argue that actually. She says this is the future and adds nothing at all for the most part. Emma has been #1 contender for SIX MONTHS but is just now getting her shot. That’s even worse when you consider Paige has been champion for about seven and a half months. Both girls are popular but they don’t like each other.

Paige gets right in her face but Emma takes her down and its a fight early. Emma gets kicked in the ribs but she reverses the Paige Turner into a backslide for two. They fight over a backslide but Paige counters a slingshot into a cradle for two. Paige slams her down and puts on a hard chinlock. Back up and Emma tries a rollup but gets taken into the corner for some hard elbows to the face.

Emma counters a kick and hooks the slingshot but Paige breaks up the Emma Lock. Paige heads to the apron and fires off knees to the chest, only to miss a charge in the corner. The Dilemma sets up the Emma Sandwich (running crossbody to a seated Paige in the corner) for two. Emma cranks on Paige’s arms with her feet in the champ’s back and Paige is in big trouble. Paige gets flipped down onto her face but avoids a charge in the corner.

Emma sends her face first into the buckle but has to fight out of a superplex. A sunset flip into a sitout bomb (fans: “BETTER THAN BATISTA!”) gets two on the champion and both girls are spent. Emma tells her to give up but gets slapped in the face, setting up the Paige Turner for a VERY close two. Paige is stunned but puts on something like an Edgecator (Scorpion Deathlock without stepping over) before grabbing a double chickenwing AT THE SAME TIME and lifting Emma up. There’s no way Emma is getting out of that so she taps at 12:55. SICK looking hold.

Rating: B-. I can’t get over that hold at the end. I also can’t get over Paige actually keeping the title here as she’s been the only champion and you would think they would give the belt to the new sweetheart on Raw. That being said, Paige looked AWESOME out there and will likely in WWE very soon.

They hug it out as well, even though Emma looks mad.

Video on Adrian Neville, talking about his love of adrenaline rushes.

Video on NXT.

Xavier Woods vs. Tyler Breeze

No match as Alexander Rusev runs in to massacre both guys. The video crashed but through refreshing I see Rusev holding Woods in the Accolade while Lana talks trash for him.

Video on Bo Dallas.

We recap Neville vs. Dallas. Bo has been champion for about seven months and only held the title from Neville through interference. Tonight it’s a ladder match for the big blowoff.

NXT Title: Bo Dallas vs. Adrian Neville

Remember it’s a ladder match so here’s Shawn Michaels to introduce the festivities. The fans chant ONE MORE MATCH and he says he hears that a lot. He’s happy being fat and out of shape though so it’s not likely. The fans chant H-B-Shizzle and Shawn wants that on a shirt. Fans: “YES! YES! YES!” Shawn says they’re throwing him off because he doesn’t have to do this that often. He has insight on ladder matches, and if you’d like to know it, you can go out and buy his Mr. Wrestlemania DVD because he’s got two kids to put through college. He says this is about stepping into greatness and we’re ready to go.

Bo immediately goes for the ladder but Neville makes a save and kicks him into the corner. A quick missile dropkick looks to set up the Red Arrow (corkscrew shooting star) but Bo rolls away before Adrian can jump. Bo grabs the arm and the girls scream before he ties Neville’s leg into the ropes. The champion goes for a ladder but Adrian hits a baseball slide to send the ladder into him. A nice plancha puts Dallas down and the ladder goes into the ring.

Bo keeps Adrian from getting inside and sends him spine first into the steps to take over. He loads up a ladder but Adrian ducks the shot and backdrops Dallas onto the ramp. Neville goes up the ladder but Bo throws another ladder at him to take Adrian down. Bo sets up the ladder over Neville but Adrian is able to push it up and kick Dallas down in a nice power display. Now it’s Bo shoving a ladder down to send Adrian crashing and both guys are in trouble.

They both try to pick up the same ladder but Bo drives it into Adrian’s ribs in the corner. Bo tries to catapult Neville into the ladder but Adrian escapes and takes him down with a tornado DDT. They ram heads and go down, but a ladder falls and hits Adrian square in the head in a SICK looking collision. Dallas hammers away in the corner but can’t bulldog Adrian down onto a ladder.

The champ gets sent into a ladder wedged in the corner and Neville kicks him in the face. He goes up for the Red Arrow but Dallas pops up and shoves Adrian down to the floor. Bo goes for the belt but Neville springboards over him in a Shelton Benjamin style move. The ladder goes down but they land on their feet with Bo buckle bombing him into a ladder. Adrian kicks a ladder back into Bo and slams him onto the same ladder, setting up the Red Arrow to crush Bo against the steel. Dallas rolls to the floor and Neville goes up to grab the title at 15:46.

Rating: B. It wasn’t a classic and there have been better ladder matches but my goodness this rocked. There was almost no doubt that the title was changing and Dallas’ way too long reign was ending at this show but it was hardly a bad way to get there. Neville doesn’t come off like a long term solution on top but he’s a good choice to win the belt on this huge show.

A long celebration ends the show with John Cena applauding from the crowd.

Overall Rating: A-. This is exaclty what this show needed to be with every big match delivering more than well enough. Apparently there were some stream issues for the main event but mine was working perfectly fine so maybe I was just lucky. The opener is an instant classic and the title win made it something historic so this worked all around. The crowd was having a blast and it was the fun kind of show that NXT can pull off like no other. Hopefully they don’t have WWE invading it every week and we can get back to normal. Great show either way and well worth checking out.

Results

Cesaro b. Sami Zayn – Neutralizer

Mojo Rawley b. CJ Parker – Hyperdrive

Ascension b. Too Cool – Fall of Man to Hotty

Paige b. Emma – Scorpion Cross Lock

Adrian Neville b. Bo Dallas – Neville pulled down the title

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This is a bit late but it’s been a busy few days.

The pre-show match was nothing special but it was nice to see Cody and Goldust get a win. They’re too talented to be wasted jobbing to guys like Ryback and Axel. Their run at the top of the division is long over but at least they can still do stuff like this.

Swagger vs. Langston was WAY better than I was expecting. Jack needs to change something up though as his character is just so damaged. It’s almost impossible to shake that stigma when you’re the same character with the same moves and look every single night. It also doesn’t help that he’s in there with Cesaro who is getting a huge push at the moment and looking like a star. There’s talent in Swagger but he needs to be repackaged like two years ago.

Langston looked good and there’s always going to be a spot for someone who can just run people over and throw them across the ring.

I’ll look at all the Bad News Barrett bits at once. The idea is good but the execution hasn’t worked for me. Just telling people that they’re fat and that Europeans are better isn’t going to get him anywhere. Have him do actual bad news like “chant all you want, Bryan isn’t getting the match” or “the fans don’t care about you” and the character serves a purpose other than just randomly appearing for ten seconds.

The Outlaws retaining the titles is fine if they actually drop the things at Wrestlemania. At the end of the day though, it doesn’t help that they keep winning the matches clean, thereby looking better than the challengers. The Outlaws got over by using every possible method of cheating known to man and then inventing some of their own back in the 90s. Since then the power of nostalgia has made them into great workers and people are acting like that actually happened. It would work for the Hardy Boys or a team like that, but this is getting more and more bizarre every week.

Titus vs. Darren was exactly what I thought it would be. The crowd didn’t care for most of the match so thankfully the guys went home in a hurry. Titus will be good when he gets a better opponent. I feel sorry for Young as he’s not terrible but there’s just nothing special to him and it’s showing.

I don’t know what I can say about Shield vs. the Wyatts. The match was amazing and everyone looked like a star. The booking was great too with Reigns getting caught 3-1, thereby protecting him from taking a big loss. Yeah he got pinned, but no one is going to look down on him for not being able to fight off all three Wyatts at once.

AJ vs. Cameron was what it was. Cameron looks good in the shorts and tight top but there’s just nothing there in the ring. Thankfully it looks like we’re moving towards AJ vs. Tamina who can go in the ring.

That brings us to one of the more interesting match of the night. Batista had his first singles match since his comeback and looked pretty horrible. The match was basically a squash until the very end, but the more interesting part though was the crowd. They flat out do not care about Batista at all and do not want to see him in the ring. A heel turn will help, but he needs to do something more than that at this point.

Del Rio wasn’t bad out there but he might as well have been anyone on the roster. He looked fine in the ring like he always did, but he was little more than Del Rio being sacrificed to Batista to set up a match that almost no one wants to see. The wrestling was fine but the crowd was the story here and it’s a story that needs to be fixed sooner rather than later.

The Chamber was about what everyone was expecting but it was still very entertaining. Sheamus and Cesaro having a brawl throughout the entire match worked very well and I could see the two of them having a match at Wrestlemania as a result. Sheamus never had a chance to win but that Brogue Kick through the pod was as good looking of a spot as you were going to get. Cesaro didn’t really get to show off that much but the win over Orton and showcase match against Cena were more important than looking good in a match he wasn’t going to win anyway.

The rest of the match was fine as well with Orton taking a beating but surviving long enough to keep the title. Kane and the Wyatts interfering was predictable but it still worked quite well. Bryan getting screwed over sets up HHH vs. Bryan at Wrestlemania (in theory) and Cena vs. Bray is ready to go as well. Good match to end a very good show.

The main story coming out of Elimination Chamber was that WWE being on the road to Wrestlemania. Things have cranked up again this year and the next six weeks are going to be a very fun time. I could even live with the Network stuff as it’s certainly a huge moment that deserves the hypt it received. Great show here with Shield vs. Wyatts being must see stuff.

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Elimination Chamber 2014
Date: February 23, 2014
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole

Tonight is the final big stop on the Road to Wrestlemania with six men possibly leaving with the WWE Championship. It’s actually a wide open field tonight with at least three people having a realistic shot at walking out with the belt. However there might be an even more interesting match on the card with the Wyatt Family vs. the Shield in a very well built story. Let’s get to it.

Pre-Show: Cody Rhodes/Goldust vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel

Axel comes out with his grandfather Larry the Ax Hennig. Goldust and Curtis get things going with the painted one taking over with some armdrags. Off to Cody vs. Ryback with the big guy throwing him around like it’s nothing. Axel comes in again and but gets sent to the floor. Ryback is tossed out as well and the brothers dive on both guys as we take a break.

Back with Ryback stomping away on Goldust and there’s a tag off to Curtis as his grandfather looks very pleased. A delayed vertical suplex gets two for Ryback and Goldust rolls Axel up for the same. Goldust and Axel clothesline each other but Ryback breaks up a tag.

Ryback charges at Goldust but gets backdropped to the floor, finally allowing for the hot tag to Cody. Rhodes takes Axel down with a knee to the face and the moonsault press gets two. Cody’s springboard dropkick is countered into a powerbomb for two as Goldust and Ryback fight to the floor. Curtis tries his neckbreaker but gets countered into Cross Rhodes for the pin at 8:58.

Rating: C-. This could have been any match on any given Smackdown. As has been the issue for the division since it was resurrected: it doesn’t matter how many teams you have if they’re all just trading wins back and forth with no one getting anywhere as a result. It’s nice to see Goldust and Cody get a win though.

The opening video talks about being willing to fight anyone in order to achieve your dream.

Intercontinental Title: Big E. vs. Jack Swagger

Swagger is challenging and Colter does his usual schtick before the match. Big E. shoves him into the corner to start and runs him over with a hard shoulder block, sending Swagger to the outside. Back in and some overhead belly to belly suplexes put Jack down but he bails to the floor again to avoid a charging champion. This time Big E. follows him outside and sends him into the steps but the champion goes after Colter.

The distraction doesn’t work though as he spears Jack into the steps in a painful looking spot. Back inside and Jack low bridges Big E. out to the floor and takes over with some running knees in the corner. After a WE THE PEOPLE it’s off to a front facelock for a few moments. Big E. fights up and a double clothesline puts both guys down again. Swagger avoids a charge and Big E. goes shoulder first into the post, drawing a WE THE PEOPLE chant from the crowd.

Back up and Big E. runs Swagger over with clotheslines and a belly to belly suplex but the champion charges into a powerslam for two. The running Vader Bomb is caught in the Big Ending but Jack makes it to the apron. That’s fine with Big E. as he spears him through the ropes in a big crash. Back in and the Warrior Splash gets two so Big E…..goes up top? Jack catches him with a right hand and runs the ropes for a belly to belly superplex and a VERY close two.

Swagger takes out the leg and puts on the Patriot Lock but Big E. kicks his way out. The gutwrench is countered but Big E. runs him over and takes down the straps. Jack grabs another Patriot Lock but Big E. fights up and hits an enziguri of all things, setting up the Big Ending to retain the title at 11:50.

Rating: B. I liked this far better than I was expecting with Swagger putting up a great fight and making it much closer than he had any right to. It’s nice to see Big E. get a win on PPV and a successful title defense over a former World Champion never hurt anyone. It should be interesting to see where the Real Americans go from here.

Bad News Barrett pops up and talks about Russia winning more medals at the Olympics, further proving European dominance. Is this character ever going anywhere?

We look back at Daniel Bryan’s shoulder injury from Raw at the hands of Kane.

Daniel Bryan asks some questions about the Chamber, such as will his opponents go after his shoulder and will he give this everything he has to become WWE Champion. Take a guess as to what the answer is.

Tag Titles: New Age Outlaws vs. Usos

The Usos are challenging. Jimmy shoves Billy around to start and some armdrags and hiptosses send Gunn outside. The Usos load up their double dive but the Outlaws move before the jump. Back in for Dogg vs. Jey with the champion’s headbutt hurting him instead of Jey. A hiptoss sends Jey into the corner and he looked to injure his knee or leg. The shaky kneedrop gets two and it’s back to Gunn for a two count.

The CM Punk chants start up as Dogg shrugs off some right hands and knees Jey down again. We hit the chinlock for a bit until Jey fights up and superkicks Jey back down. Hot tag brings in Jimmy to speed things up leaving Jimmy vs. Gunn in the ring. Road Dogg pulls his partner away from the running Umaga attack but Jimmy dives onto Roadie. Back in and a superkick gets two on Gunn but Jimmy has to go after Road Dogg, allowing Billy to grab a rollup for the pin at 8:34.

Rating: D+. This is more about frustrating booking than a bad match but the wrestling was nothing great either. I’m not sure if the Outlaws are holding the belts because they’re friends of HHH or because this company thinks there’s more to nostalgia than anyone else, but I don’t get the appeal of the Outlaws getting clean pins on top tag teams.

Bad News Barrett pops up again without the raised podium to say Daniel Bryan’s shoulder will keep him from winning the title.

Time to hype the Network. Apparently there will be over 50 documentaries in addition to the PPVs. Nice addition.

Darren Young vs. Titus O’Neil

Basic story here of a team losing and splitting due to a heel turn by Titus. Darren gets in Titus’ face to start but is knocked down by a hard forearm. The fans want Lesnar as Titus works on a headlock. Titus bails to the floor and Darren is right on his heels as the fans chant Fruity Pebbles. Darren charges into the corner but gets backdropped out to the floor followed by having his back rammed into the post.

Back in and it’s time for a bearhug, backbreakers and an abdominal stretch. Titus slaps Darren in the ribs before charging into a boot as the announcers talk about JBL being cheap. Darren comes back with some basic offense for two as the fans boo the kickout. Thankfully they get the hint and a quick Clash of the Titus ends Darren at 6:17.

Rating: D. This was about what I was expecting and it showed the problem with Young. He’s basically the modern day Scotty Riggs, meaning a guy who was in a tag team with a much more charismatic guy and then had nothing interesting once he was on his own. Titus looked good here though and won clean in the right ending. Thankfully they went home quickly like they did.

MORE Bad News Barrett who talks about being more talented than Hulk Hogan.

We look at the pre-show match and the rest of the show with the expert panel.

Recap of Shield vs. Wyatt Family. The Family cost Shield a spot in the Elimination Chamber and the feud has spiraled into a battle over who is the greatest faction in WWE today. Ambrose and Reigns have been having issues lately as well.

Wyatt Family vs. Shield

The Wyatts take their sweet time as is their custom and we get a long staredown as the fans think this is awesome before busting out the dueling chants. This is what you get when you actually build up a feud to the point where you can’t imagine either team going down clean. Ambrose jumps the Family and the Shield clears out the ring before the opening bell.

Rowan vs. Rollins gets things going with Erick being drokicked into the Shield corner before it’s off to Reigns for a pop. He’s out just as quickly as it’s back to Rollins who gets his head taken off with a clothesline. Harper comes in for some hard right hands before it’s off to the boss for some knees in the corner. Rollins is thrown into the corner and the tag brings in Reigns. You can feel the fans get excited for this showdown.

They trade right hands with Bray getting the worst of it so a tag brings in Harper. Luke can’t suplex Reigns so Roman counters into one of his own and brings in Dean. Ambrose pounds away in the corner before it’s back to Reigns for two off a HARD right hand. Dean gets two off the dropkick against the ropes and it’s back to Seth for a headbutt to Luke’s back. The Shield starts their fast tagging with Dean coming in to rake his forearm over Luke’s face. A middle rope elbow to the jaw puts Luke down but Rowan offers a distraction, allowing Harper to hit a dropkick of all things.

Bray gets the tag to pound away on Dean as the Family takes over again. A running splash in the corner crushes Dean and it’s back to Rowan for the head vice with two fists. Rowan gets two off a side slam and brings Harper back in, only to have Dean grab a swinging neckbreaker to get a breather.

Rollins comes back in with a nice running dropkick but he gets caught on the top rope. Luke loads up a reverse superplex but Seth lands on his feet and sends Harper to the floor for a suicide dive. Back inside and the top rope knee to the side of the head puts Harper down again and Seth has a fired up look in his eyes. Harper kicks his head off for a very close two and it’s back to Bray after the best sequence Rollins has ever had in WWE.

Bray sends Rollins outside and hits the running backsplash on the floor before it’s back to Rowan. The dueling chants begin again before the fans say they want tables. Back to Harper who hammers away in the corner and scores with a running clothesline. Wyatt demands to be tagged in but runs into a boot in the corner. Rollins goes to the middle rope, only to dive into a chokeslam of all things for two. Ambrose tries to make the save but Harper kicks his head off, sending him to the floor.

Rollins finally gets in a shot to Harper’s head and the hot tag brings in Reigns to clean house. A Samoan drop puts Rowan down but Harper saves his partner. There’s the dropkick from the floor for two on Erick as everything breaks down. Dean takes Bray down and hammers away before dropkicking him out to the floor. Harper dives through the floor to take out Ambrose but Rollins hits a swanton dive over the top to take Luke out. Reigns rolls up Erick for a VERY close two but they clothesline each other down.

Seth loads up the Spanish announce table but Bray decks him from behind. Ambrose saves Rollins from being sent through the table and takes Bray into the crowd with another charge. AWESOME stuff here. Rowan and Reigns slug it out and Roman goes shoulder first into the post, only to come back with a running clothesline for two. Rollins hits Harper with a monitor to the ribs but Bray comes back and loads up the other announce table. Rowan takes Reigns down in the ring and sends him to the floor with a fallaway slam.

The Family has Rollins surrounded and the monsters double chokeslam him through the announce table. Ambrose is still gone so it’s pretty much Reigns vs. all three Family members. They slowly get back in the ring and Roman sees what he’s up against. He goes right for Bray but the numbers are too much for him.

Harper kicks Reigns’ head off and drops to his knees for the tag off to Wyatt. Bray does his upside down thing in the corner but Reigns powers out of Sister Abigail and Bray is terrified. Reigns goes into Beast Mode and Samoan drops Bray before hitting Rowan and Bray with Superman Punches. The spear puts Harper down but Wyatt runs Reigns over, setting up Sister Abigail for the pin at 22:45.

Rating: A+. When you expect a match to be one of the best match you’ve seen in a long time and get blown away, you’ve seen something special. This was outstanding stuff and had me glued to the screen which doesn’t happen every day. Outstanding match where neither team looked bad at all. Find this match if you didn’t catch it tonight.

Network ad with Hogan and Cena schilling its awesomeness. No they’re not on camera together.

Christian says his losses make him dangerous and dares us to underestimate him.

Divas Title: AJ Lee vs. Cameron

This is a bonus match due to fill in some time and let the crowd catch their breath. AJ is defending of course and says this was supposed to be Naomi’s match but she broke her face. Cameron gets in a quick shot to the face but gets taken down by a neckbreaker for two.

AJ puts on a modified dragon sleeper but spends too much time skipping around and gets rolled up for two. Cameron is quickly sent outside and AJ steals her pompoms for a little dance. Tamina screws up by kicking AJ in the face but still breaks up the pin attempt at two. That’s not enough for Tamina as she pulls Cameron outside and takes her head off for the DQ at 4:00.

Rating: D. This was a necessary step down after the masterpiece we saw a few minutes ago. Cameron was the logical choice for the replacement here but at the end of the day, no one cares about her at all. She’s a whiny little pest on Total Divas and there’s no reason to care about her.

Bad News Barrett says everyone is going to lose their jobs, children will be expelled from schools, rats will move into homes and the government will condemn the houses. Why? BECAUSE EVERYONE WILL BE MESMERIZED BY THE WWE NETWORK!

Santino, Emma, Khali and Los Matadores play with the new toys.

Batista vs. Alberto Del Rio

Batista is back to black trunks instead of the shorts from the Rumble. He gets a decent reaction here and nowhere near what it was last month. It seems more like indifference than anything else. Del Rio comes to the ring in workout clothes, wearing a neck brace and using a crutch. Sign in the crowd: “Batista = ZZZ”. Del Rio says he can’t compete and of course jumps Batista with the crutch. Fans: “SI! SI! SI!”

Del Rio of course has his trunks underneath and goes after Batista’s knee. He says ring the bell and Batista comes back with right hands as the booing begins. We might as well be in Mexico City right now. Fans: “Boo-Tista! Boo-Tista!” Even Lawler has to acknowledge the chants. Batista is sent shoulder first into the post and Del Rio puts on the armbreaker in the ropes. We hit the hammerlock as the fans chant for Bryan and Punk.

The Codebreaker to the arm puts Batista down again and it’s a Y2J chant. Del Rio misses a charge into the post and the BORING chants begin. Del Rio gets in another shot to the arm to take over and the corner enziguri gets two. Batista is knocked to the floor as the chants go from RVD to Lesnar. The announcers are acknowledging most of them at this point.

Del Rio throws him back inside and gets speared down for two (face pop). A powerslam is countered into the Backstabber for two but Alberto misses a top rope backsplash. Del Rio escapes the powerbomb and takes out the knee before the low superkick gets two. The armbreaker is countered and Del Rio is sent into an exposed buckle (when did that happen?) and the Batista Bomb is good the pin at 7:13.

Rating: D. I’m at a loss for words here as the fans are clearly not accepting Batista, but it’s not just because he’s a face. He literally had less than ten offensive moves here and was getting squashed until the very end. They expect him to be able to work a 20+ minute match in just six weeks? I can’t imagine that at all.

Network ad.

Expert panel predictions. Miz can’t make up his mind, Henry picks Sheamus and Mysterio picks Cesaro.

The Chamber is lowered.

Video on the Chamber.

WWE Title: John Cena vs. Randy Orton vs. Christian vs. Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan vs. Sheamus

Orton is defending and of course it’s two people for five minutes to start and a new one is added out of a pod every five minutes. Last man surviving wins. Sheamus and Cesaro will be starting which is quite a way to get things going. Cesaro quickly dropkicks Sheamus out to the steel but can’t ram him into the wall. Back inside but it’s a quick backdrop to send Sheamus onto the steel again. Cesaro loads up a charge but Sheamus slingshots in with a shoulder for two.

Now it’s Cesaro being sent onto the steel and they fight over a suplex but Sheamus lands on his feet. Cesaro quickly puts him down and a middle rope double stomp crushes Sheamus’ ribs as Orton casually watches from the pod. They brawl into the corner and Sheamus tells him to bring it on. That’s fine with Cesaro as he uppercuts Sheamus down, but Sheamus pulls himself to the top rope. Another uppercut staggers the Irishman but he comes back with the flying shoulder.

Daniel Bryan is in third and the fans are fired up. Bryan has a bad shoulder coming in but starts fast with his usual stuff, including the running clothesline and YES kicks to Sheamus. Cesaro gets some kicks as well and the roundhouse kick sends him to the steel. Daniel puts Sheamus in an Indian deathlock and manages to suplex Cesaro for two without breaking the hold. Cesaro catches a diving Bryan in a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two and things slow down a bit.

Sheamus is sent over the ropes again and Cesaro just rakes Sheamus’ head against the steel with a knee. Bryan is sent shoulder first through the pod and looks to be more in shock than pin. Cesaro and Sheamus slug it out until Sheamus hits the rolling fireman’s carry on the steel. Bryan is back in the ring as the dueling Cena chants begin. The clock speeds up a bit so Christian can come in fourth.

Christian goes right after Bryan’s shoulder by sending it into the cage wall over and over. He rips the tape off and slams the pod door on the shoulder for two. Sheamus is back up now and slams Christian’s back into the post a few times, only to be countered into the reverse DDT on the steel. Cesaro loads up Swiss Death on the outside but Christian grabs the cage to avoid massive amounts of pain. Instead Cesaro pulls him down and powerbombs him against the pod glass for two.

Cesaro sends Sheamus into the broken pod and it’s Cena in fifth. He immediately cleans house but gets taken down by a top rope hurricanrana from Bryan. There are the YES Kicks but Christian breaks up the big one with the Killswitch for a very close two. Cesaro loads up the Swing on Christian but Cena breaks it up with a cross body, sending Christian into the buckle off a slingshot. White Noise gets two on John and it’s back to Cesaro vs. Sheamus. Christian catches Sheamus with a kick to the face but Sheamus backdrops out of the Neutralizer.

A tornado DDT gets two on Cesaro but Cena sends Christian into the steel. Cena goes after Cesaro but gets caught in Swiss Death for two. Bryan, Cena and Cesaro have a three way fight until Cena loads Cesaro up in the AA. Daniel kicks John down before kicking Cesaro in the corner which the announcers call a mistake. Sheamus sends Bryan into the cage wall but Cesaro does his awesome superplex from the cage floor. Orton comes in to give us all six at once, which might be a first.

The fans chant BORING so Orton stops to pose and point at the sign like a good heel should. Bryan avoids the Punt and Orton is suddenly cornered by all five guys. Orton wisely hides in the pod, drawing a certain feline insult from the crowd. Sheamus yells through the glass before Brogue Kicking through the pod and sending Orton into the cage wall over and over. Cesaro sends Sheamus in as well and Cena initiates his finishing sequence on the champion. Cesaro breaks it up and Swings Orton THIRTY TIMES. Bryan grabs a Rolling Chaos Theory suplex on Cesaro but there’s no cover.

Sheamus powerslams Christian down and loads up the Brogue Kick on Christian but hits Cena square in the jaw. Christian rolls up both guys for two and Sheamus is TICKED. He loads up the High Cross (running Razor’s Edge) into the pod but Christian escapes to the top of a pod. Orton catches Sheamus in a superplex and Chrisitan adds a top rope splash to eliminate the Irishman. Orton tries the Elevated DDT on Christian but the Canadian escapes, only to get caught by the running knee for the pin and the elimination.

We get a fourway standoff until Orton and Cesaro are knocked down. Cena and Bryan have their long awaited rematch with Bryan trying a quick YES Lock but Cena easily powers out. The AA is loaded up but Cesaro Germans Cena as he’s STILL HOLDING BRYAN but can only get two. Cena can’t get the STF on Cesaro but he counters the gutwrench into what was supposed to be a hurricanrana. An AA onto the steel sets up the STF and Cesaro taps in an awkward looking moment. There might have been an injury there.

Cena catches Orton in the STF and we’ve got Wyatts. The lights go out and Orton is out of the hold somehow as the Wyatts are in the Chamber. Harper kicks Bryan in the face but all three go after Cena. John is laid out (Fans: “THANK YOU WYATTS!”) and the Wyatts leave, giving Orton an easy pin. We’re down to Orton vs. Bryan and Randy wisely crawls out of the ring.

Kane comes out to eject the Wyatts but the Chamber door is still open. He comes in to check on Cena but Bryan comes off the top with a knee to Kane’s head. Orton sends Bryan into the broken pod but Daniel escapes a superplex and ties Orton in the Tree of Woe for some kicks to the chest. A baseball slide to the face has Orton in trouble a belly to back superplex gets two.

Randy grabs him by the beard (why has that not been done more often) and hits the Elevated DDT out of the corner. The RKO is countered and there’s the running knee but Kane grabs the referee. Kane gets kicked in the head but the RKO is enough….for TWO on Bryan. I totally bought that as the finish. Bryan gets another close two on a small package and a big kick to the head puts Orton down. Kane gets in another shot from behind though and the RKO retains the title at 36:50.

Rating: A. Another awesome match to wrap up the show here with all six guys looking good. Orton winning was kind of expected after he lost almost every match in the last few weeks because that’s how WWE booking works. I’m really hoping we don’t get Kane vs. Bryan at Wrestlemania as it would come off as a huge letdown for him, but it would work as a big Raw match.

Cole goes on a rant about how unfair this is to Bryan. This was the focal point of the end of the show.

Overall Rating: A-. This was a two match show and both matches hit it out of the park. WWE is on a roll right now with their PPVs but none of them matter with Wrestlemania just a few weeks away. The ending wasn’t a huge surprise but there are still a lot shows to go before we get to the big one. Hopefully a few things change but if Wrestlemania is this good, it’s going to be a success.

Results

Big E. b. Jack Swagger – Big Ending

New Age Outlaws b. Usos – Rollup to Jimmy

Titus O’Neil b. Darren Young – Clash of the Titus

Wyatt Family b. Shield – Sister Abigail to Reigns

Cameron b. AJ Lee via DQ when Tamina interfered

Batista b. Alberto Del Rio – Batista Bomb

Randy Orton b. Christian, Sheamus, Daniel Bryan, John Cena and Cesaro – RKO to Bryan

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Wrestlemania is six weeks away and tomorrow will determine a lot of what we’ll be seeing at the biggest show of them all.The kickoff match is a meaningless tag between Cody Rhodes/Goldust vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel.  It’s kind of amazing that the Brothers have fallen as far as they have in just a month.  They were the hottest act the tag division has seen in months and then it’s been thrown away for the sake of the New Age Outlaws.  In 2014.  Anyway there is zero reason for Ryback and Axel to win, which is why I think they will so we can get closer to Goldust vs. Cody which is allegedly a match everyone needs to see.

We’ll start the main card with the most obvious win ever: Batista beats Del Rio and you really shouldn’t need an explanation why.  One thing though: We’re supposed to cheer a guy who put Del Rio in a neck brace and then attacked him while he was still injured after Del Rio was angry that Batista hadn’t earned any of his recent success.  Why is WWE surprised people aren’t interested in Batista?

I’m going with the Outlaws to keep the titles.  I have a bad feeling they’ll keep them on the old guys until Wrestlemania where they’ll be in some multi team match where the Usos will get them, because a team like the Outlaws just couldn’t lose a clean one on one match.  Perish the thought.  Sidebar on the Outlaws: I have no idea where the team is supposed to be going.  The idea was supposed to be HHH pushing his friends, but the Outlaws won the match and rematch clean and have acted like faces the entire time.  How does this benefit anyone but Gunn and Road Dogg?

Langston should beat Swagger, but I have a feeling he won’t.  The Real Americans should be splitting, but there has to be a way to get Colter on Swagger’s side and away from Cesaro.  Having Jack win a title while Cesaro comes up short would be a decent enough way, but I don’t want Cesaro being wasted on Swagger at Wrestlemania.  We’ll go with Langston retaining to keep things from getting too messy.

Titus over Darren.  Young is a decent enough wrestler, but there’s just nothing interesting about him.  It’s refreshing to get a basic heel turn and blowoff match as a result though.

The big match of the evening is inside the CHamber and the most anticipated could be as well if there was ever a rematch.  The Wyatts vs. Shield has the potential to steal the first half of the year and the build has been excellent.  Bray vs. Reigns could be an outstanding collision which goes to show you what happens when you take two guys and build them up to the point where neither could conceivably lose.  I’ll go with the Wyatts here in what should be more obvious that it is.  One more note that I’ve been saying for the previous week: Bray vs. Reigns at Wrestlemania.  Any takers?

That brings us to the big one.  I think we can safely write off Sheamus, Cesaro and Christian (more on this later).  Cena isn’t a likely winner due to the Wyatts as Bray vs. Cena seems to be set in stone.  That leaves us with Orton vs. Bryan and Daniel is coming in with a bad shoulder courtesy of the Authority.  Couple that with Orton losing most of his matches leading up to it and Orton is almost a layup to win.

However there’s one thing to remember: the Network launching on Monday.  That leaves the door open for the very rare one night title reign or a surprise title change on Raw.  I don’t think it’s going to happen, but if it does I’ll go with Cesaro on a very long shot.

Overall Elimination Chamber has the chance to be a solid show with the six man tag looking to be as easy of a great match as you’ll find.  That being said, the show also has me worried about where things are going.  For the life of me I cannot imagine Batista getting a one on one title shot against Orton at Wrestlemania.  There’s a chance we might see that match on Monday instead, but something has to stop that match from happening.  Bryan doesn’t have to be in the title match and facing HHH would be fine, but man alive Orton vs. Batista is just not going to do it for the main event of Wrestlemania.  We’ll find out a lot tomorrow, but we’ll find out even more on Monday.

Thoughts/predictions?

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Smackdown
Date: February 21, 2014
Location: World Arena, Colorado Springs, Colorado
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s the go home show for Elimination Chamber and everything is set for Sunday. Monday ended with a huge brawl between the twelve people in the two biggest matches on Sunday which is a good way to end a show. The main event for tonight is Sheamus vs. Christian after Christian turned heel on Monday. Let’s get to it.

No In Memory graphic for Nelson Frazier Jr. Even TNA had one of those. Maybe on Sunday.

Opening sequence.

Daniel Bryan vs. Jack Swagger

Bryan is nursing a bad shoulder after Christian and Kane attacked him on Raw. Jack goes after the shoulder to start but Bryan takes him to the mat and grabs a headlock. Two running dropkicks in the corner send Swagger to the floor but he catches Bryan charging off the apron and drops him onto the barricade. The bad shoulder goes into the barricade and post as Jack is being much more aggressive tonight.

Swagger stays on the arm by wrapping it around the ropes and driving in knees before slamming him down on the shoulder. Another slam gets two and Jack takes him to the top for what looks to be a northern lights superplex onto the arm. It’s nice to see someone mixing up their offense on a limb like that. Bryan slips down before Swagger can through him though and the running knee connects out of nowhere for the pin at 4:48. It’s as abrupt as it sounds.

Rating: C. It was nice while it lasted, but this is the kind of booking that makes me shake my head. We’re supposed to buy Swagger, known as losing more often than he wins, as a challenger for a title on Sunday so why would you have him lose clean in less than five minutes? Obviously you can’t put him over Bryan, so WHY PUT THE TWO OF THEM TOGETHER IN THE FIRST PLACE??? Have Jack beat up Sin Cara or Ziggler or Miz or have Cesaro come in for the DQ before Bryan can cover. Just don’t have Swagger get pinned this soon before a title shot.

Post match Vickie Guerrero comes out and makes Bryan vs. Cesaro because she’s a heel now after acting like a face with Colter last week.

Daniel Bryan vs. Cesaro

Cesaro goes right after the arm to start by taking Bryan into the corner and driving knees into the shoulder. Daniel comes back with some kicks but a single shot to the shoulder puts him right back down. Cesaro takes him into the middle of the ring and cranks on the arm even more before slamming it down onto the mat. Again, it’s much better to mix up the offense than to use the same move over and over again. Keep it fresh.

Bryan fights up and goes to the middle rope but dives into a shoulder breaker for two. We hit the armbar as Cole thinks Bryan should just give up now and save himself for Sunday. Daniel is able to knock Cesaro to the floor and hit the FLYING GOAT but a Colter distraction lets Cesaro kick the bad shoulder. Jack gets caught with a chair and gets ejected for his efforts. Colter gets the same and we take a break.

Back with Cesaro pummeling Bryan in the corner with Kane at ringside. Cesaro loads up a superplex, making sure to bend Bryan’s arm as slowly as possible, but Daniel headbutts him down and scores with a missile dropkick. The YES Kicks give Daniel a breather but the big one is countered into the Swing. Back in and Cesaro throws Bryan into the air for Swiss Death which might have hit the shoulder. Another running uppercut in the corner has Bryan reeling but he comes out with a running knee to knock Cesaro silly, only to draw in Kane for the DQ at 10:20 shown of 13:20.

Rating: C+. This ending works much better as Bryan was in trouble but Cesaro still could have kicked out due to Bryan not being able to cover immediately. The arm work here was good and they still have an out to keep the title off Bryan on Sunday, or a way to have him overcome the odds and shock the world. I’m still hoping we get Kane vs. Bryan on a big Raw before Wrestlemania and HHH vs. Bryan at the PPV if he doesn’t get in the title match.

Kane announces the result like he did on Monday. Cesaro hits the Neutralizer on Bryan to blow off some steam.

Christian talks about being more aggressive because he knows his window to be champion again is closing. The last few weeks haven’t been going the way he’d hoped and he had to figure it out before the Chamber. These people at home stuffing their faces aren’t going to help him so he had to do it himself.

Bella Twins video on how to use the Network.

We look at The Shield and Wyatts nearly colliding on Monday before brawling to end the show. I’d take Bray vs. Reigns at Wrestlemania right now.

The Wyatts come out for their match. Bray says there isn’t much left to say now. The Shield are just three dominoes in a line and then the rest shall fall. They want people to believe in them but how can that happen when they’re crawling on their hands and knees, looking up at the eater of worlds? Follow the buzzards.

Wyatt Family vs. Cody Rhodes/Goldust/Rey Mysterio

Harper and Rey get things going with the big man tossing Rey around, only to have Rhodes come in off a blind tag. A running clothesline gets two on Luke and it’s off to Rowan vs. Goldust with the painted one taking over. Goldust ducks a right hand in the corner and fires off some punches of his own, only to get caught in a fallaway slam. Bray himself comes in for a hard clothesline as we take a break.

Back with Harper Gator Rolling Goldust before putting on a headlock. Goldust fights up and hits a quick sunset bomb but Luke rolls through before a count. The hot tag brings in Cody with a springboard missile dropkick and the moonsault press for two. The fans aren’t getting all that fires up by this match. Rey comes in off another blind tag as Harper is sent to the floor. Back in and Harper counters the 619 with a big boot to give Bray a two count.

Rowan comes back in for a bearhug and a big side slam for two. Luke gets another tag and hammers on Rey for a few seconds before it’s back to Bray for the running splash in the corner. Rey counters a second one with a drop toehold and it’s off to Goldust to speed things up a bit.

A spinebuster puts Rowan down and the spinning cross body does the same. Rey comes in with a 619 to set up a Goldust powerslam for two. Harper catches Rey diving over the ropes and slams him into the barricade as Bray makes a blind tag. Goldust loads up Shattered Dreams to Erick but Wyatt runs him over, setting up Sister Abigail for the pin at 12:52.

Rating: B-. This was the usual six man tag between the Wyatts and any group of three midcard guys, meaning it was entertaining but nothing we haven’t seen before. The Family is getting better in the ring and there’s something awesome about Bray just throwing his body into people like a battering ram.

We recap Sheamus accidentally kicking Christian last week.

Sheamus says he’s partially responsible for Christian’s new side. Christian is aggressive now and that’s what Sheamus wants. Tonight’s Brogue Kick won’t be an accident. Another simple but to the point promo from Sheamus which is better than his Irish folk tale nonsense.

Time for a dance off between Summer Rae and Emma. Quick summary of the next five minutes: Emma wins, the fans still don’t care, Summer calls Fandango her baby boopsie, Santino and Fandango brawl and no one cares.

Ron Simmons Black History Month video.

Alexander Rusev will achieve greatness.

Dolph Ziggler vs. Titus O’Neil

Darren Young is on commentary. Dolph scores with an early dropkick but gets thrown down to the mat with ease. Titus cranks on the arm but gets caught by a cross body and right hands. Some more punches in the corner have Titus in trouble but he comes back with a big boot. Darren gets on the announcers’ table and blows the whistle for a distraction so Dolph can get a rollup pin at 2:40.

Road Dogg vs. Jimmy Uso

Dog gets taken into the corner to start but comes back with some kicks to the rib and one to the side of the head. We hit a quick chinlock on Jimmy but he comes back with a Samoan drop. A right hand misses and Dogg fires off his shaky punches but Jimmy escapes the pumphandle and superkicks Roadie for the pin at 3:03.

Rating: D+. Just a quick match here to set up the Tag Title shot on Sunday. There’s still no reason to keep the titles on the Outlaws, which is why I’d almost bet they hold onto them until at least Extreme Rules, probably getting a win at Wrestlemania in a multi team tag match. Nothing to see here though the Usos can wrestle singles matches decently enough.

Video on the Chamber.

Sheamus vs. Christian

Sheamus shoves him around to start and an elbow sends Christian out to the apron. Back in and Christian punches Sheamus in the face which brings a smile to the Irishman’s face. Christian low bridges a charging Sheamus to the floor but misses a baseball slide and walks into the rolling fireman’s carry on the floor as we take a break.

Back with Sheamus holding a chinlock but getting sent into 619 position. Christian tries his jump over the top rope into a right hand but Sheamus blocks the punch and shoves him into the barricade. Sheamus charges at him but gets backdropped to the timekeeper’s area to change control. A middle rope missile dropkick gets two for Christian and he goes after the surgically repaired shoulder.

The arm is wrapped around the ropes and Sheamus bites the ropes to get through the pain. More cranking on the arm ensues but Christian escapes the Killswitch. Some right hands have Sheamus in trouble but he’s still able to slam Christian off the top. The running ax handles and a powerslam get two on Christian but he comes back with a tornado DDT on the arm for two.

Christian tries to snap Sheamus’ neck against the ropes but gets countered into the ten forearms, only to send Sheamus shoulder first into the post for two. Sheamus comes back with a pair of Irish Curses but Christian bails to the floor to avoid the Brogue. Back in and Christian slams Sheamus off the top to take over. The middle rope back elbow looks to set up the Killswitch but Sheamus counters into White Noise for the pin at 12:48 shown of 15:48.

Rating: B-. This was Sheamus 101: a nice match where he beats an upper midcarder to set up a match against main eventers that he has no chance of winning. He’s the main event jobber and there’s nothing wrong with that role. The fans are into his act too, even if there’s nothing deep to him. Nice main event but it showed the problem with Christian as a heel. He barely ever won a big match as a face and his finisher isn’t optimal given how long it takes to set up

Sheamus poses but Christian shoves him off the top and to the floor to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. Good way to go into the Chamber here as Sheamus gets some spotlight of his own instead of sharing it like he’s done since he returned. The Chamber card looks pretty good but I’m worried about the end results and how they’re going to shape up Wrestlemania. I could have gone for a Shield promo but it’s still a good way to set up Sunday.

Results

Daniel Bryan b. Jack Swagger – Running knee

Daniel Bryan b. Cesaro via DQ when Kane interfered

Wyatt Family b. Goldust/Cody Rhodes/Rey Mysterio – Sister Abigail to Goldust

Dolph Ziggler b. Titus O’Neil – Rollup

Jimmy Uso b. Road Dogg – Superkick

Sheamus b. Christian – White Noise

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NXT
Date: February 19, 2014
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Tensai

It’s the go home show for Arrival, meaning I wouldn’t expect much of interest tonight. The main stories are Neville vs. Dallas for the NXT Title in a ladder match and Cesaro vs. Zayn in a 2/3 falls match because HHH wanted it to happen. Hopefully the boss isn’t around to impose his will on a promotion that doesn’t need him at all. Let’s get to it.

Welcome Home.

Paul Heyman, Bret Hart and Diesel will be doing an NXT Kickoff show on the Network next week.

Ascension vs. Mike Lebosca/Casey Marion

Non-title. Viktor runs over Mike to start and gets two off a hard clothesline. Off to Konnor for a double powerbomb and the Fall of Man is good for the pin on Marion at 1:21.

Tyler Breeze is officially in the building.

Summer Rae vs. Emma

Bayley plays Lodi with Emma’s signs as the bubbles fill the entrance. Tensai: “BUBBLES AND HUGS! BUBBLES AND HUGS!” Summer can’t rip up the sign and Emma gets a quick two count off a rollup. Off to an armbar on Summer but she has to kick out of a dancing sunset flip. Emma gets knocked off the apron to the floor before it’s off to Rae for an armbar of her own. We get some choking with those long legs, drawing an ultra rare boring chant. Emma gets caught in a bodyscissors and we take a break.

Back with Summer getting two off something we didn’t see before she does her stretching choke on the apron. Rae gets frustrated and hammers away for two before we hit the chinlock. Emma fights up and hooks the Dilemma for a few seconds followed by the cross body in the corner. Sasha Banks gets in a quick slap to give Summer a two count but it’s the Emma Lock for the submission at 7:14 shown of 10:44.

Rating: D. The match was really boring as they were clearly just filling time for the most part. Instead of going over this boring mess, let’s look at why Emma is bombing on Raw. It’s really simple: they’re not playing to her strengths at all. Instead of being the goofy dancer that we can laugh with at stuff like fighting to be able to skin the cat before the matches and the bubbles, she’s second banana to one of the most annoying characters in the company. Santino has his fans, but he’s one of those guys that people either love or hate and it’s alienating a big chunk of the audience. Let Emma be herself and she’ll get over.

On top of that look at how she dresses on both shows. On Raw she wears a white t-shirt and black pants. She looks good enough in the outfit, but here she’s in shorts and looks like she got caught in a confetti explosion. Emma may not be the hottest Diva on the roster, but wearing more clothes hardly ever gets a female wrestler over. Let her look fun and people will have fun with her.

Tyler Breeze is NOT cool with Adrian Neville being the face of NXT.

Before the break we got an Elimination Chamber ad. When we come back, we get a video on Elimination Chamber. You can see the yellow and black turning red before your eyes.

We get a sitdown interview with Zayn and Cesaro. Sami congratulates Cesaro on getting into the Elimination Chamber but Cesaro cuts him off and says he’ll win. Renee stops them both and explains the rules of the interview (seriously): if Sami touches Cesaro, he loses any future chances at the NXT Title. If Cesaro touches Sami, he’s out of the Chamber.

Sami is asked about being medically cleared but Cesaro cuts him off again, saying it’s his Achilles. Cesaro cuts him off again so Sami gets to his feet and says he knows what’s going on. This is already behind personal and it’s on to being professional. Sami takes his profession personally and after February 27, Cesaro won’t have anything left to say.

Emma is asked about the BFFs but would rather talk about her sign and title shot next week. She’ll say something to Paige’s face next week.

Adrian Neville vs. Tyler Breeze

Feeling out process to start until Breeze stomps him down in the corner and scores with a running dropkick. Before he follows up though, time for a quick picture. Neville comes back with kicks to the ribs and a ram into the buckle as Tensai talks about ladder matches, name dropping Jeff Hardy and the Dudley Boys. A running uppercut in the corner puts Breeze down but Neville walks around instead of covering. Breeze misses a dropkick and gets kicked to the floor, setting up a big dive as we take a break.

Back with another Elimination Chamber ad because that’s why this show exists. Adrian gets two off a top rope dropkick and picks Breeze up for a nice sitout powerbomb for two. In one of the few nice sequences of the night, Neville loads up a springboard dive but stops on the top as Breeze tries to dropkick him out of the air but Neville hasn’t even jumped yet. Breeze pops up and scores with a superkick to put both guys down. The Beauty Shot misses and a kick in the corner sets up the Red Arrow for the pin by Neville at 8:25 shown of 11:25.

Rating: C. The match was fine and that fake out spot by Neville was a nice touch. There’s nothing wrong with giving Neville a win to set up the ladder match, but unfortunately it comes at the end of a very boring show. Breeze needs to add something new to his act because the appeal is starting to wear off.

Post match Neville grabs the mic but Bo Dallas’ music cuts him off. Bo congratulates Neville on his climb up the ladder of success. “Look what I did there. Ladder?” Adrian has gone as far as he can though because the title reign isn’t ending next week. Neville has finally figured Bo out: he’s scared of Adrian but doesn’t hate him. Adrian is going to win the title next week but right now he’ll let Bo have a free shot. Bo takes off his jacket and walks away to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. I always knew this day would come but I’ve been dreading it the entire time. NXT is officially a Raw clone which takes away all of its appeal. It used to be this fun underground show that offered a retreat from WWE and gave you some old school wrestling fun. Now it’s sitdown interviews and the Face of NXT and Deus Ex Helmsley coming out and taking five minutes to make a match instead of it just being made before the show. This show is becoming less and less fun every week and I get more and more worried about what we’ll be seeing after Arrival. The show is definitely not a lost cause, but I’m scared.

Results

Ascension b. Mike Lebosca/Casey Marion – Fall of Man to Marion

Emma b. Summer Rae – Emma Lock

Adrian Neville b. Tyler Breeze – Red Arrow

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Last night’s show was a major step up for a variety of reasons.

The six way opening argument was the same segment we always get before the Chamber and it still works well. Christian turning heel for Sunday is fine as well since you want it to be balanced and Christian can easily turn from face to heel. However the heel turn was kind of wasted by having him get pinned so quickly. Have him walk out to save his body for Sunday.

Bryan’s shoulder injury gives them an out to have him lose while also setting up something for Wrestlemania. The question is what are they setting up. All of the signs seem to point to Bryan vs. Kane, which is a match that should happen……at any other PPV. After the year that Bryan has had and all the torture that HHH has put him through, the only other match that would work besides fighting for the title or facing Undertaker (and that’s a stretch at this point) is Bryan vs. HHH.

Everything is set up for it and the story writes itself (“You said I’m not good enough to beat the best, so how about I beat you at Wrestlemania?”). Bryan kicking out of the Pedigree, kicking the tar out of HHH and making him tap to the YES Lock in the middle of the ring would be more than an acceptable match for Bryan at the biggest show of the year. However, it doesn’t seem like that’s where we’re headed and I don’t get why. My guess is they might be saving that for Extreme Rules, which would be decent but totally miss what could be a much bigger reaction.

What is with all the dancing wrestlers? Brodus, R-Truth, Xavier Woods, Fandango, Summer Rae, Emma, the Funkadactyls and I’m probably missing some. When did dancing become this big of a gimmick?

Henry vs. Reigns was exactly what everyone knew it would be, though there was one major highlight. During Shield’s entrance, there was a fan holding up a Batista sign that read “Boo This Man.” I’m not sure why but I cracked up.

That brings us to Shield vs. Wyatts and I have nothing but praise for it. This is what you get when you build up two anythings as monsters that can’t conceivably lose a match. It helps that they’ve kept these guys apart most of the time and made the fans actually want to see a match. I’m more excited for this than anything in the last several months and there’s no way the match isn’t awesome.

That being said, it’s also one of the most frustrating stories in recent memory. Look at Reigns and Wyatt. Those two are proof that WWE can EASILY make someone into a star that can sell tickets and get the fans excited but they just don’t do it most of the time. Bray Wyatt has been around about eight months (let that one sink into your head for a minute) and is rumored to be facing John Cena at Wrestlemania. Reigns broke Kane’s Royal Rumble record. These pushes started in the last few months and they have the fans drooling. So why do we have to sit through so many horrible start and stop pushes the rest of the year?

One last note: how many of you would fork over your money right now for Reigns vs. Wyatt at Wrestlemania?

The Swagger/Big E. stuff was done quite well. I don’t think Swagger is anything more than a challenger of the month unless they’re setting up Swagger vs. Cesaro at Wrestlemania, though I don’t think that’s where they’re going. Big E. needs the Langston back though. “Here is your winner, Big E!” just doesn’t sound right.

Now we get to the highlight of last night’s show. I’ve been wanting to see a big time Cena vs. Cesaro match for a long time and last night showed why. That was a textbook definition of how to give someone a rub and Cena is rapidly becoming a master of the art. Cena was stopped at every turn until he finally gave up on finesse or technique and just knocked Cesaro down with raw power and hit a quick AA before Cesaro had time to counter. That’s telling a story and making someone look like a killer at the same time.

The other thing to notice about that match was the crowd. They were INTO that match, just like they were with the Sandow cash-in a few months ago. One of the hardest things to do in wrestling is make you question something you know is true and that’s what Cena is getting better and better at doing. I think deep down everyone knew Cesaro wasn’t pinning Cena clean, just like people knew Sandow wasn’t winning the title. However, Cena was able to make us believe that it COULD happen, even for just a few minutes. That’s some powerful ability and something that only a handful of people ever could do.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it again: people aren’t going to truly appreciate Cena and his abilities until he’s gone. Lawler summed it up very well last night: Cena ALWAYS gets a reaction. Yeah it’s a mixed reaction, but that’s far better than fans being silent during an entrance. It means there’s something that people care about and that’s the most important thing.

HHH and Orton have had the exact same conversation for about four straight months now and they’re not adding anything to it.

That brings us to the tanned elephant in the ring. Batista hasn’t even been allowed to cut a regular promo since winning one of the biggest matches of the year and now he’s heading into Elimination Chamber for the least interesting match on the card. For the life of me I can’t imagine that he gets a one on one match with Orton for the title at Wrestlemania, Disney movie or no Disney movie. At this point his return is a disaster, but I still feel sorry for Batista in the whole thing.

At the end of the day, Batista just came back at the wrong time. People want to see Daniel Bryan and Daniel Bryan alone getting the title shot at Wrestlemania and would boo ANYBODY other than goat face. If Batista was getting this shot at say Money in the Bank, people wouldn’t mind for the most part and the reactions would be fine. The problem for Batista is that he has to step into the arena at some point and talk about going to Wrestlemania and the reaction isn’t going to work. A heel turn (even though he pretty much is one by default at this point) isn’t going to be enough. The problem is I’m not sure what IS enough.

Onto a more pleasant note, Titus O’Neil is NAILING this character. Word on the street is that he blew Vince and HHH away with his promo last night and I can’t say I disagree. The guy is perfect for the “I’m just better than you” character and has the charisma and mic skills to pull it off. No he’s not the best worker, but he’s good enough to hide it and that’s all you need to be at this level.

The Tag Title stuff was fine, just like the Intercontinental stuff.

I feel so sorry for Orton and Sheamus. They had to have their previous match at the post Wrestlemania Raw and last night they get to follow Cena vs. Cesaro. It’s even worse because their matches haven’t been bad at all but they’re overshadowed by circumstances beyond their control.

The brawl at the end was exactly what it needed to be.

That’s how I would sum up last night’s show: exactly what it needed to be. Every match on Sunday got some focus and I want to see the show way more than I did coming into last night. The fact that we got a classic match made things even better.

The most interesting thing though is that Wrestlemania is totally up in the air now. Look at the following people:

Sheamus

Shield

Bray Wyatt

John Cena

Daniel Bryan

Undertaker

Brock Lesnar

All of those names are in play for Wrestlemania and there are a lot of matches that could tear the house down. I’m getting excited and the Network launching in six days makes it even better.

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Monday Night Raw
Date: February 17, 2014
Location: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler

It’s the go home show for Elimination Chamber and it’s not a good time to be Randy Orton. He’s 1-3 in his gauntlet so far and tonight he gets to face Sheamus before getting to face all five challengers at once on Sunday. Other than that we can look forward to more from the Shield vs. the Wyatt Family after the Wyatts backed out of a physical confrontation last week. Let’s get to it.

Cena opens us up for the first time in a good while. He talks about how this Sunday is the Elimination Chamber and winning inside the Chamber is a guaranteed main event at Wrestlemania against Batista. Cena has been on the road to Wrestlemania several times and the only person on that road that doesn’t have any momentum is Randy Orton. A few weeks ago Randy Orton was beaten by Daniel Bryan and then last week he was beaten by Cena.

The odds say that we’ll be having a new WWE World Heavyweight Champion and here are Colter and Cesaro to cut him off. Cesaro says he’ll be the new face of America and he gets in the ring to face Cena. John says that Cesaro won on Friday but all that means is that Orton is on a losing streak. Cesaro is in for a fight he’s never experienced on Sunday so don’t write checks that your body can’t cash.

This brings out Sheamus who says that he’ll be kicking both of their teeth in on Sunday and there’s a Brogue Kick waiting on Orton tonight. Cue Christian who says Sheamus should have saved the Brogue Kick for Dean Ambrose instead of kicking Christian like he did. Christian knows it was an accident, but on Sunday the Killswitch won’t be an accident.

Orton gets us up to five people with microphones and thanks the Authority for the chance to beat them all on Sunday. He knows Cena beat him last week but Cena can’t beat him when it counts. Orton and Christian have had some great matches but Orton has won every one of them. Sheamus’ Brogue Kick isn’t getting anywhere near him tonight….and here’s Bryan for another interruption. There are going to be five other people in the Chamber, but the entire arena is going to be chanting YES.

Cue Kane to a big YOU SOLD OUT chant. Apparently the Authority has left him in charge tonight and since Sheamus is facing Randy Orton, perhaps the other four of them should be in action as well. Therefore it’s Cesaro vs. Cena and Christian vs. Daniel Bryan and Kane will be staying at ringside for the latter of those, because it’s right now.

Kane looks at Bryan and Daniel gets distracted but Christian jumps him from behind in a very heelish move. He sends Bryan to the floor and throws him into the barricade as the fans aren’t pleased. Bryan goes shoulder first into the steps and we take a break before the match actually starts.

Christian vs. Daniel Bryan

The bell rings after a break with Bryan nursing a sore shoulder. Bryan starts with a quick knee to the ribs and some European uppercuts to knockt he Canadian to the floor. The FLYING GOAT is blocked with a shot to the jaw as Kane watches from ringside. Back in and Christian does the smart thing by going after the bad arm with a wristlock and a shoulder block for two.

Bryan elbows out of a hammerlock but Christian nails him in the jaw for two. Christian channels his inner Rocky Marciano and punches the shoulder but has to escape a half crab attempt. He drops knees on the arm and shouts that he should be the champion Bryan knocks him out to the floor and hits the FLYING GOAT, only to injure his shoulder as we go to a break.

Back with Bryan hitting a knee to Christian’s ribs and the crowd YESes him on. The YES Kicks set up the big one to the head for two but the swan dive hits knees, injuring the shoulder again. The running dropkick connects in the corner but Christian blocks a second with his feet. Christian scores with the middle rope back elbow but the Killswitch is countered into the YES Lock but Christian fights out. Another Killswitch attempt is countered into a rollup for the pin at 11:12.

Rating: C+. Well so much for buying Christian as a contender on Sunday. The match was fine and Bryan sold the arm quite well as you would expect him to do. Christian turning heel for the Chamber is fine as you don’t want to have four faces and two heels and Christian can turn as fast as anyone else. Nice opener.

Post match Kane congratulates him on the win but says Bryan isn’t done yet. He has one more match tonight, against Kane. The monster gets in the ring and easily knocks Bryan to the floor before their match after the break.

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane

Joined in progress with Kane in an undershirt and sending Bryan shoulder first into the buckle. A suplex gets two on Daniel and it’s back to right hands on the arm. The arm is wrapped around the rope and the fans think this is boring. Daniel comes back with a quick missile dropkick and starts having his usual seizure of a comeback. Some very weak looking YES Kicks are countered with a choke shove over the top. Daniel is sent shoulder first into the barricade before being bent around the post for a five count and the DQ at 4:00 shown.

Rating: D+. This was angle advancement instead of a match and there’s nothing wrong with that. They’re stacking the deck even more against Bryan on Sunday which is likely setting up HHH vs. Bryan at Wrestlemania. Again though, I can’t imagine they’re crazy enough to not put him in the title match at the biggest show of the year.

Kane stays on the arm post match and crushes it against the steps.

After a clip of Henry vs. Ambrose last week, Ambrose brags about the beating he gave Henry last week. Reigns calls him out on this and says that he’ll show Dean how it’s done tonight. Seth says that the Shield is on the same page and they’re bred for war on Sunday. Dean calls the Wyatts an illusion and they don’t experience fear. Believe in the Shield.

Santino Marella vs. Fandango

Emma is with Santino and we get some clips of her time in NXT. Fandango takes over with a quick elbow to the jaw and a headbutt. Santino avoids a middle rope knee drop and hits his facebuster before loading up the Cobra. Emma intercepts Summer Rae and puts her in an airplane spin of all things. Santino and Emma have their romantic moment but Fandango breaks up the kiss and ends Santino with a falcon’s arrow at 2:42.

Renee Young asks Henry how he’ll do against Roman Reigns.  Henry says tonight is about inducting Reigns into the Hall of Pain because that’s what he does.

Mark Henry vs. Roman Reigns

The fans are behind Reigns as he hammers away on Mark to get us going. Henry blocks an Irish whip so Reigns casually picks him up in a Samoan drop for two. Reigns kicks him out of the corner and hits the Superman Punch followed by the spear for the pin at 2:45. Basically a squash.

Post match Rollins congratulates Reigns on his win but Ambrose stomps on Henry for last week. Reigns asks Dean what he’s doing but we’ve got Wyatts. Bray is singing a children’s Christian song about having the joy down in his heart as we get closer to Elimination Chamber. The Shield’s shattered bones will pave the streets of his kingdom but he wants to know if this was all worth it for the Shield.

Harper asks if they’re willing to die for this and Bray says if not, then they’ve already lost. Reigns grabs a mic and says come out here and say that. Bray says it’s funny he should say that because the Wyatts were thinking the same thing. Rowan speaks for the first time and says run. The Wyatts come to the aisle and get on the apron but only Bray gets inside. Reigns smiles and steps forward as Harper and Rowan join their leader. Ambrose and Rollins are ready to go but Bray calls off the monsters and the Wyatts leave.

The kickoff match for Sunday is Goldust/Cody Rhodes vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel.

Cody and Goldust play with new WWE toys and have a bizarre family moment talking about trying to make hamsters fly. Bad News Barrett comes in and kicks the toys away.

Kofi Kingston vs. Jack Swagger

Jack pounds Kofi down in the corner to start and gets two off a suplex. The fans almost immediately start chanting for JBL and then CM Punk as Swagger hits the Vader Bomb for two. Kofi gets a boot up in the corner to stop a charging Swagger and hits a few forearms and dropkicks. Jack counters a sunset flip but Kofi comes back with Delirious’ Shadows Over Heck of all things for two. An SOS out of nowhere gets two but Swagger had his foot on the ropes. A high cross body gets two but Swagger rolls through into the Patriot Lock for the submission at 4:40.

Rating: D+. This was just a way to give Swagger some momentum going into Sunday and that’s the right idea. Jack is just another challenger of the month for Big E. and that’s something that can be set up in just a few matches like it has been here. Kofi is a good hand to have in this roll as he’s not going to lose anything by getting beat here.

Big E. comes down for his match and stares at Swagger.

Big E. vs. Drew McIntyre/Jinder Mahal

3MB is easily pounded down as Zeb gets on the mic and talks trash during the match. Colter insults the Broncos and calls Big E a moron as 3MB double teams him for a few moments. The champ easily fights back and sends McIntyre to the floor before belly to bellying both guys. The Warrior Splash crushes both of them and the Big Ending to both guys is enough to pin McIntyre at 4:15.

Rating: C-. Just like the previous match, this was exactly what it needed to be. Big E. (he needs the Langston back already) hasn’t been doing his best lately and this is the kind of win that he’s been looking for to get back to form. Beating a former world champion on PPV isn’t going to hurt him at all either.

Alexander Rusev is still coming.

Ron Simmons Black History Month video.

Video on the Elimination Chamber match.

Cena says we’ll see what Cesaro is made of.

John Cena vs. Cesaro

Cesaro grabs a headlock to start but Cena comes back with a hiptoss to send Cesaro outside. Back in and they do the same sequence but Cesaro counters Cena’s leapfrog into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two. An abdominal stretch goes nowhere but Cesaro knocks Cena to the floor with ease. John is sent into the barricade as this has been one sided so far. A middle rope elbow gets two for Cesaro but Cena comes back with his lift into a neckbreaker for two. Cesaro comes back with a hard whip into the corner and baseball slides Cena out to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Cesaro putting on a sleeper but Cena rams him into the corner to escape. A running clothesline gets two on John and we hit the chinlock. Cena’s comeback is thwarted again but he counters the Swing into an STF attempt, only to have Cesaro counter into the gutwrench for two. Cena has had barely any offense here. Another comeback bid is stopped with Swiss Death for two.

The Swing is loaded up again but Cena does a HUGE situp into a DDT for another close two. Cena goes up for the Fameasser but Cesaro hits a running uppercut to knock him all the way to the floor. Cesaro hits the awesome superplex from the apron for two as the fans are WAY into this.

Cena grabs a quick STF but pulls Cesaro away from the ropes, allowing Cesaro to hook the Swing for about fifteen revolutions and a two count. The Neutralizer is countered into an AA attempt but Cesaro lands on his feet in an amazing counter. Cena takes his head off with a clothesline and immediately rolls forward and picks up Cesaro for the AA and a fast pin at 19:05. Colter: “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!”

Rating: A. This is the match I’ve been wanting to see for years now and it worked as well as I was hoping it to. Cena had almost no offense the entire match and made Cesaro look like one of the fastest rising stars you’ll see in years. Outstanding match here and more evidence that people who say Cena can’t wrestle have no idea what they’re talking about.

HHH and Orton are in the back and Orton implies that HHH will help him on SUnday.  Orton runs his mouth about HHH carrying Batista through Evolution and of course Big Dave is behind him.  Orton leaves and here’s Alberto Del Rio in a neckbrace to threaten Batista on Sunday.  Batista shoves him into some carts and walks away, leaving HHH looking dismayed.

Darren Young vs. Titus O’Neil has been added to the PPV. Titus cuts off Renee Young and asks her if she can spell champion. “C-h-a-….” but Titus cuts her off again and says it’s “T-I-T-U-S!”. On Sunday he’ll run Young over and the entire locker room will have to witness the rise of Titus O’Neil.

Wyatt Family vs. Los Matadores/Sin Cara

This should be quick. Diego tries his luck on Rowan to start but his shoulder block winds up hurting him more than Erick. Off to Luke for a hard forearm before Bray comes in for some creepy shouting and a suplex. Back to Harper for the Gator Roll but Diego finally scores with an enziguri.

The hot tag brings in Sin Cara who leaves a springboard clothesline a bit short but still hits a headscissors to knock Bray off the apron. The handspring elbow gets two as everything breaks down. Torito tries to go after Rowan but Los Matadores make the save. Sin Cara misses the Swanton on Harper and the discus lariat sets the table for Sister Abigail and the pin at 5:34.

Rating: D+. Just an extended squash here and thankfully Torito wasn’t a big factor in this. The good thing for the Family is how awesome Harper and Rowan look, meaning they’ll have a future when the group breaks up. The showdown on Sunday is going to be insane and it’s easily the match I’m looking forward to the most.

Billy Gunn vs. Jey Uso

Roadie and Jimmy are on commentary and the Tag Title match is made official for Sunday. Billy is quickly sent to the floor and Dogg gets up to check on him. Back in and a running clothesline gets two on Jey as Roadie shrugs off jokes about his age. The camera stays on the commentary table as Billy pounds away in the corner. Road Dogg brings up singing With My Baby Tonight to bring us back to the mid 90s. The Fameasser is countered into a quick rollup for the pin at 3:13. Too much of the match was spent on the commentary table to rate but this was angle advancement more than wrestling.

The Usos lay out the champions post match.

Sheamus is looking forward to the Chamber because he can be as aggressive as he wants.

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus

Non-title of course. The fans immediately start chanting for Punk as Sheamus takes Orton into the corner and shoulders him to the floor. Sheamus follows him out and is sent into the post but Orton is sent into the announce table to even things up. Back in and a knee drop gets two for Sheamus but he misses an early Brogue Kick attempt and is sent into the post again as we take a break.

Back with Sheamus fighting out of a chinlock and taking it to the floor for a whip into the barricade. Orton comes right back with a whip into the steps but Sheamus counters the superplex into a top rope battering ram to put both guys down. Randy bails again and goes after a monitor, only to catch Sheamus in the belly to back onto the announce table in a big crash.

Sheamus dives in at nine and avoids a knee drop, allowing the pale one to come back with forearms, only to walk into the powerslam for two. Orton is sent to the apron and there are the ten forearms. White Noise is countered into the backbreaker and the Elevated DDT looks to set up the RKO. Sheamus casually shrugs it off and hits three straight Irish Curses before loading up the Brogue Kick, only to have Shield run in for the DQ at 14:50.

Rating: C+. I feel sorry for these guys. They were in the match at the post Raw Wrestlemania with the New Jersey crowd and now they have to go on after Cena and Cesaro have their classic. The ending has me thinking something changes on Sunday and Reigns gets inside the Chamber but it’s a long way off.

The rest of the Chamber guys run in and we’ve got Wyatts. They stare down the Shield and the brawl is on to end the show. The fans went NUTS for the two teams fighting.

Overall Rating: A. Now THAT is how you do a go home show. Every match for Sunday got some time, the wrestling was good, the showdown between the Wyatts and Shield had me ready to hand over my money to see the payoff and we got a huge rub for Cesaro. This is the show that WWE has been needing for a few weeks, and I’m sure the fact that HHH was limited to a cameo had nothing at all to do with the quality going up. Awesome show this week that has me ready for Sunday.

Results

Daniel Bryan b. Christian – Rollup

Daniel Bryan b. Kane via DQ when Kane wouldn’t stop bending Bryan’s arm around the post

Fandango b. Santino Marella – Falcon’s arrow

Roman Reigns b. Mark Henry – Spear

Jack Swagger b. Kofi Kingston – Patriot Lock

Big E. b. Jinder Mahal/Drew McIntyre – Big Ending to McIntyre

John Cena b. Cesaro – Attitude Adjustment

Wyatt Family b. Sin Cara/Los Matadores – Sister Abigail to Sin Cara

Jey Uso b. Billy Gunn – Rollup

Sheamus b. Randy Orton via DQ when Shield interfered

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Smackdown
Date: February 14, 2014
Location: Citizens Bank Business Arena, Ontario, California
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s Valentines Day and we’re getting a nice gift in the form of Cesaro (now minus the Antonio) vs. Randy Orton in the fourth part of Orton’s Elimination Chamber gauntlet. Cesaro is rapidly gaining popularity and it would seem a face turn is imminent. Other than that we might get more on the Daniel Bryan vs. Kane feud. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Shield vs. Daniel Bryan/Christian/Sheamus

Christian and Rollins get things going but Seth quickly takes him into the corner for the tag off to Reigns. Roman catches a cross body attempt but gets popped in the face with a right hand. Sheamus comes in for the big power showdown and they slug it out for a bit before Sheamus hits the rolling fireman’s carry for two. Reigns comes back with a knee to the ribs and brings in Ambrose who gets taken down by a running ax handle.

The fans demand Bryan and get their wish, followed by some rapid fire kicks in the corner. A top rope hurricanrana gets two and there’s the YES Lock but Shield comes in for the save and we have a standoff. Back from a break with Bryan fighting out of a chinlock and sending Rollins into the top turnbuckle, allowing him to tag off to Sheamus.

The pale one slides to the apron and comes back with the ten forearms to the chest but the other Shield members get involved to take over. Reigns does that awesome dropkick from the floor to the apron before LAUNCHING Sheamus into the barricade. That’s not something you see too often. Ambrose comes back in to stomp away in the corner before it’s off to Reigns again for hard shots to the head and ribs.

We hit the front facelock for a bit but Reigns lets it go to knock Bryan off the apron but walks into the Irish Curse. Rollins comes in and takes a swing at Christian but only hits air before missing a backsplash to Sheamus. Hot tag brings in Christian to face Ambrose and a tornado DDT gets two on the US Champion.

Everything breaks down and Bryan takes out Reigns with the FLYING GOAT. Rollins takes him down with a suicide dive of his own though and it’s Christian hooking the reverse DDT for two on Dean but the Brogue Kick misses Ambrose and takes out Christian. Reigns spears Sheamus down and Ambrose pins Christian at 12:45.

Rating: C+. This was more about the good guys building drama amongst themselves before they head into the Chamber in a little over a week. There weren’t any problems for Shield this time which is a good thing before their big six man tag. This was the usual Shield six man so it was fine all around.

Zeb Colter asks Vickie Guerrero to be his valentine but she’s not falling for it. Colter wants an Intercontinental Title shot for Jack Swagger but Vickie says he has to beat Rey Mysterio. That’s fine with Zeb but Vickie makes it a fourway with Kofi Kingston and Mark Henry filling the other spots. Vickie shoves the chocolates into Zeb’s chest, meaning she’s a face now?

Cesaro (officially without the Antonio) says he’ll win tonight and then take the title at Elimination Chamber.

Lita Hall of Fame video.

Jack Swagger vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Mark Henry vs. Kofi Kingston

One fall to a finish and the winner gets Big E. (on commentary) for the Intercontinental Title at Elimination Chamber. Henry quickly throws Swagger to the floor but gets taken down by Kofi and Rey. The two speed guys get to have a showdown with Rey dropkicking Kofi for two but they have to eliminate Swagger again. Kofi dives over the top to put Jack down again and Rey hits a running seated senton from the apron. Henry is back in and loads up a dive of his own, only to have Swagger take out his leg.

Two straight Vader Bombs have Henry in trouble but Jack has to clothesline Rey down for two. Mysterio comes back with a top rope seated senton for two followed by the sitout bulldog for two more with Kofi making the save. Rey is sent into the post before Kofi bounce up the ropes and dropkicks Swagger down before hitting the Boom Drop. Rey gets knocked off the apron again and Swagger loads up Kingston in a superplex. Henry tries to make it a Tower of Doom but Kofi holds on, meaning it’s only a powerbomb to Swagger.

Henry cleans house but Swagger takes out the leg again and puts on the Patriot Lock, only to have Mark kick him off. Rey hits a 619 to Mark’s ribs and Kofi adds Trouble in Paradise but Jack is on his feet again. Kofi grabs a German suplex on Rey but Jack suplexes both of them at once in a nice power display. Kingston is sent to the floor but slides back in to break up a 619 attempt. Henry makes the save but gets kicked to the floor by Kofi. The distraction lets Swagger catch Kofi in the Patriot Lock for the submission at 8:35.

Rating: C+. Nice match here with everyone doing their job perfectly. I didn’t see the Mysterio knee injury but I’d guess it was on the seated senton from the apron as he went off camera for a few minutes as a result. Swagger getting the shot is a good enough choice as he was the only heel here and Henry vs. Big E. does nothing for me.

Raw ReBound covers Betty White and the Outlaws.

Bad News Barrett says American women are going to gain several pounds by tomorrow morning and be ashamed of what they see in the morning. Is there a point to this character coming anytime soon?

Goldust/Cody Rhodes/Usos vs. Ryback/Curtis Axel/New Age Outlaws

Billy and Goldust get things going with Gunn taking an atomic drop and the uppercut for a quick two. Off to Road Dogg vs. Cody with the sunset flip out of the corner getting two on Roadie. A clothesline gets the same and it’s off to an armbar from Rhodes. Jimmy comes in off the tag to stay on the arm and a double elbow gets two for the twins. Road Dogg takes Jey into the corner and it’s off to Axel for a dropkick. Ryback comes in for some driving shoulders in the corner and a hard slam as we take a break.

Back with Ryback elbowing Jey in the face and handing it off to Billy again. The Stinger Splash hits buckle and a double tag brings in Road Dogg and Jimmy. Everything breaks down with Jimmy cleaning house and hitting the running Umaga attack in the corner. Cody dives over the top to take out Axel but Ryback throws him into the barricade, only to walk into a Golden cannonball off the apron. A double superkick drops Road Dogg, Jey dives on the other heels and Jimmy hits the Superfly Splash for the pin at 11:00.

Rating: C-. This did its job but wasn’t the most interesting match in the world. Most importantly of all though it gets us closer to the Usos getting their Tag Titles which they earned about two years ago. Ryback and Axel have nowhere to go at this point and I have no idea what’s next for Goldust and Cody. The tag division has a lot of names in it right now but it’s not a very deep talent pool.

Randy Orton says this gauntlet is just to make him better and all that matters is him being champion. Tonight, Cesaro gets the Viper.

Lana says Alexander Rusev isn’t coming to make friends.

Darren Young vs. Damien Sandow

Titus O’Neil is on commentary. Young catches Sandow in a quick atomic drop and clotheslines him out to the floor. Back in and Damien gets a knee to Darren’s ribs but You’re Welcome is countered into a rollup for the pin by Young at 1:07. So much for rebuilding Sandow.

Titus goes after Darren post match but Young rips his pants off. I’ll let you make your own jokes.

The Bellas show us how to use the WWE Network.

Fandango vs. The Miz

Miz dropkicks the knee out to start and rains down left hands in the corner but Fandango comes back with an atomic drop. A nice dropkick gets two and we hit the chinlock on Miz. It’s quickly broken and Miz fights back with some basic stuff and the Reality Check but gets kicked shoulder first into the post. This brings out Santino and Emma for a distraction and a cat fight between Emma and Summer. Distraction, Skull Crushing Finale, pin on Fandango at 3:47.

Rating: D. At least it was the better finisher. I’m not sure how I’d react if we got through a week of shows without the distraction finish. Santino and Emma are a decent enough cute pair but Emma is going to have to get away from him if she wants to get over. Santino is going to overshadow whoever he’s with due to how over the top he is and there’s not much of a way around that.

Bobo Brazil video.

Cesaro vs. Randy Orton

In the sitdown interview of the week, HHH said he thinks Cesaro might be the wildcard in the Chamber. Cesaro chases Orton to the floor to start but doesn’t go after him. They do the same thing again before Cesaro takes him to the mat and hits the gutwrench for two. A running European uppercut in the corner gets two more and they both head outside. Orton reverses a whip into the barricade and clotheslines Cesar as we take a break.

Back with Orton ramming Cesaro into the announce table and taking him inside for a chinlock. The fans chant WE THE PEOPLE and Cesaro fights out, only to lose a fist fight and get elbowed to the mat. Cesaro rolls outside and catches Orton with a big clothesline of his own and counters the Elevated DDT into the Swing. Randy can barely get to his feet but is able to backdrop out of the Neutralizer. Cesaro lands on his feet but runs into the powerslam for two.

Now the Elevated DDT connects and Orton points to the sign to make this serious. He spends too much time walking around though and it’s Swiss Death for two. They head to the corner where Orton tries a superplex but Cesaro counters into a sunset bomb. A discus uppercut sets up the Neutralizer for the completely clean pin at 12:44.

Rating: B-. Well you can’t give much more of a rub than that. However I’d be much happier with this if Kofi Kingston hadn’t gotten the same kind of a win just a month ago. Cesaro is a guy that could be world championship material with a good push (meaning getting away from Swagger) but I have a feeling this is just for the Chamber and then it’s back to nothing for not-Antonio.

Cesaro waves to Orton to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Another good Smackdown tonight with some nice action and angle advancement which is all you can ask for anymore. Unfortunately I don’t think tonight is going to mean much. Cesaro isn’t winning the title and while Sheamus and Christian had some problems, I can’t imagine it’s anyone but Orton, Bryan or maybe Cena walking out of the Chamber with the title. Randy has to be the favorite even though he’s lost three out of his last five matches and might even lose to Sheamus on Monday, making him look like a lame duck champion heading into Wrestlemania.

The rest of the show was good stuff with a nice six man, a good four way, a watchable eight man and a short Miz match that involved good looking women fighting. That’s not bad at all when you consider what Smackdown means in the grand scheme of things anymore. Cesaro winning made me smile, but I can’t imagine it’s anymore more than false hope.

One more note: the spoilers I read said there was an Eva Marie vs. Alicia Fox match taped with Eva winning via rollup but there was no sign of it at all here.

Results

Shield b. Christian/Sheamus/Daniel Bryan – Ambrose pinned Christian after a Brogue Kick from Sheamus

The Miz b. Fandango – Skull Crushing Finale

Jack Swagger b. Kofi Kingston, Rey Mysterio and Mark Henry – Patriot Lock to Kingston

Usos/Cody Rhodes/Goldust b. New Age Outlaws/Ryback/Curtis Axel – Superfly Splash to Road Dogg

Darren Young b. Damien Sandow – Rollup

Cesaro b. Randy Orton – Neutralizer

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Monday Night Raw
Date: July 22, 2013
Location: Frank Erwin Center, Austin, Texas
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler

We’re coming off an awesome Raw last week so there are good hopes for another solid show tonight. The main stories tonight will be Punk vs. Heyman/Lesnar and Cena vs. Bryan as we head towards Summerslam. The key different with these stories is the people have been clamoring for them for months now and we’re FINALLY getting to see them. It’s not some idea that is being shoved down our throats but rather something logical and story driven which is the right idea. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

We open with the contract signing between Cena and Bryan with Maddox as the moderator. Brad wants to know why Cena picked Bryan and Cena says it was because of Maddox. Maddox wanted to listen to the fans and they were all chanting YES. Brad suggests that Cena picked Maddox because it’s an easy win, but here’s Bryan to defend himself. Cena goes into a rant about how it isn’t size that makes a competitor and he picked Bryan as the challenger because he deserved it. If size is what makes a champion, Maddox can hand the title to Great Khali, but Cena has names like HBK, Eddie Guerrero and Rey Mysterio.

Cena says Bryan is giving him a chance to compete, because Cena is going to fight back. Bryan might be the best right now, but at Summerslam the best isn’t going to be good enough and Cena signs. Bryan signs and starts to talk but Maddox cuts him off. Bryan cuts Maddox off and says Brad doesn’t get to talk when Bryan wants to. Maddox asks Bryan if he deserves this because not everyone thinks he does. Tonight Bryan gets to prove himself in a few matches against opponents to be named.

Alberto Del Rio vs. Sheamus

Non-title again and Sheamus has a BIG bruise on his thigh from MITB. Del Rio kicks him in the bruised leg but Sheamus sends him into the corner for a quick shoulder into the ribs. A neckbreaker gets two on Del Rio but he superkicks Sheamus out of the corner to take over. Sheamus comes back with forearms out of the corner and a snap suplex for two more. Del Rio kicks the leg out again and stomps away as this is still a basic match so far.

The armbreaker across the top rope cranks on Sheamus’ arm but he punches Del Rio to the floor as we take a break. Back with Del Rio getting two off a German suplex and Sheamus winning a slugout. He hits a series of ax handles to the head and a knee lift for two. Del Rio hits the Backstabber for two and a hard kick to the back keeps Sheamus down.

Alberto misses a charge and gets caught in the ten forearms to the chest followed by the Irish Curse for two. The champion comes back with a running enziguri to knock Sheamus off the top and a superkick to the bad leg. The armbreaker is easily countered but Sheamus’ leg buckles as he goes for White Noise, giving Del Rio the pin at 13:23.

Rating: C+. I liked this more than I thought I would due to the psychology. Del Rio working over the arm here would have been idiotic but thankfully he went after the bad leg up until the end and that leg work played into the finish. That’s what I mean when I talk about building on a story and it worked fine here. Also Del Rio actually won a match against a big opponent!

Booker T and Teddy Long bicker over who was more surprised by Vickie being named permanent GM of Smackdown. Teddy suggests that Booker left him holding the bag but Booker says he was out with an injury. Long also suggests that Booker should have been fired if Teddy was getting the job full time.

Christian vs. Titus O’Neal

Christian pops him in the jaw with a right hand but gets caught by a shoulder block. The Canadian’s middle rope cross body is caught in a backbreaker to send him to the floor. Titus picks him up on his shoulder and walks Christian back in the ring for two in an impressive power display. Off to an abdominal stretch for a few moments but Christian fights back with some hard right hands. A jumping back elbow off the middle rope looks to set up the Killswitch but Christian has to dropkick Young to the floor. Titus gets two off a big boot but Christian escapes a slam into the Killswitch for the pin at 4:38.

Rating: C. Titus looked much better here than he has before but unfortunately he appears to be stuck int his jobber role because of being part of a team. It doesn’t help that he’s in his late 30s and got into the sport pretty late in life. Still though, nice performance here and there’s definitely some potential in the guy.

After a clip of him destroying Jericho, Ryback says he enjoys attacking people because he hates average. It seems that we’re dropping the whiner gimmick.

Here’s Mark Henry with something to say. He’s proud of the effort he put into his match with Cena, but he’s not proud of the beating Shield gave him last week. If they want to fight him, he’s right here. Cue Shield to easily destroy Henry until the Usos come out for the save and to send Shield running.

Cena comes up to see Bryan in the back and offer his support in the three matches tonight. Bryan appreciates it but politely declines. Tonight is Bryan’s chance to prove himself and he’s going to win on his own. If Cena comes out there at all, it proves that Cena didn’t mean a thing he said earlier tonight.

Darren Young vs. Dolph Ziggler

The fans chant for Ziggler who gets a quick rollup for no cover. A dropkick gets two on Young but he drops Ziggler with a hot shot to take over. Off to a chinlock on Dolph as this appears to be one of those short matches that needs a rest hold for some reason. Ziggler escapes with a jawbreaker and hits a splash in the corner followed by a hard clothesline for two. Dolph gets caught on Young’s shoulders and driven face first into the mat for a close two, but Young spends too much time talking trash and gets caught in the Zig Zag for the pin at 4:30.

Rating: D. Did we really need a chinlock in a match that didn’t even make it five minutes? Young continues to be as generic as any guy you could pick up off the street, which makes me wonder why that team is still together. Either way this wasn’t interesting at all and it never felt like Ziggler was in jeopardy. With Titus’ match, there was a chance of Christian losing which made it more interesting.

Post match Langston runs out to beat down Dolph but Ziggler beats him to the punch and sends him to the floor.

Here’s a walk through of how to download the WWE App for the idiots in the audience.

It’s time for MizTV with the cast of the Total Divas as the guests. We get a clip of the show with one of the Divas DOING HER HAIR! Miz introduces the cast and then turns it over to Lawler to emcee this nonsense. Eve Marie, one of the new chicks, doesn’t like how Lawler is looking at her and slaps him to make a name for herself. And that’s it.

HHH tells Maddox that he doesn’t care what Vince thinks because Bryan might be the future of the WWE. He didn’t stop Maddox’s decisions earlier because Bryan can overcome anything thrown at him. Maddox needs to pick which train he’s on because one is the future and the other is a dead end. HHH leaves and Stephanie pops in with an idea which we’ll hear about later.

Video on the Wyatt Family so far.

Fandango vs. Cody Rhodes

Sandow is on commentary. Feeling out process to start with Fandango hitting a shoulder block and dancing a lot. He dances a bit too much and gets caught by a dropkick to send him into the corner. Cody charges into a boot in the corner for one and it’s off to a cravate. Fandango pulls at Cody’s mouth and it’s right back to the cravate. Cody comes back with a right hand and a kick to the low abdomen before loading up a moonsault press which barely connected at all. Sandow tries to interfere but Cody sidesteps a charging Fandango to send him into Damien. The Disaster Kick sets up Cross Rhodes for the pin at 3:17.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t much to see but it was nice to see Cody getting a win again. The guy had so much potential a few years ago and it stopped dead for well over a year. Sandow vs. Rhodes is a good way to get Cody back on track and the fans are going to be into it when it happens if it’s done right.

Here’s a limping Punk to talk about Lesnar’s attack last week. Punk says last week he felt Lesnar’s power and took Lesnar’s best shot. He felt the power of Lesnar and has an injured ankle and staples in his head, but he’s still standing here today. Lesnar is a beast who has dominated people like HHH and John Cena because of one thing: fear. It’s not his power or his speed but the fear that Lesnar puts into people that make him so dominant. Punk isn’t afraid of Lesnar’s power, he’s not afraid of Lesnar’s size and he’s not afraid of Brock Lesnar at all.

This brings Punk to Paul Heyman. Punk talks about being a relentless man who is going to keep fighting until Lesnar is left laying like Punk was last week. This is Punk’s ring and he has proven it against John Cena, the Rock and Undertaker. There will not be another beatdown from Lesnar and Punk is going to get his hands on Heyman to make him pay. Brock Lesnar is a monster who was put on this earth to be slayed at CM Punk’s hands and Punk wants to do it at Summerslam in the Best vs. the Beast.

Heyman pops up on screen and talks about the tagline of Best vs. Beast. Punk cuts him off and asks if Heyman is really on satellite, because if he’s really back there then Punk is going to go backstage, drag him out here and destroy Heyman in front of the people of Austin. Heyman talks to Brock off screen and makes fun of Texas before asking Punk if he’s a coward or a fool. Punk says he’ll answer that at Summerslam and wants to know where Heyman is right now so he can take him out tonight. Heyman accepts the challenge for Summerslam and says the Best is the Beast, and Punk will learn that at Summerslam.

Wade Barrett vs. Rob Van Dam

Barrett takes over to start with a knee lift and a big boot to the face to send Van Dam into the ropes for two. The announcers make stupid jokes about Barrett’s nose as Barrett gets two more off a chinlock. Wade charges into a foot in the corner followed by a top rope kick to set up Rolling Thunder. A top rope front flip gets two for RVD and the Five Star is good for the pin at 4:15.

Rating: C-. This was just a step above a squash with Barrett getting in some decent offense before taking the loss. I don’t remember anyone falling as far as Barrett has while holding a title as long as he did. He hasn’t won anything close to a big match in months and is nothing but a jobber to the stars at this point.

Daniel Bryan vs. Jack Swagger

This is the first of an undetermined amount of matches for Bryan. Colter says that Stephen F. Austin isn’t the father of this country as he didn’t fight for the right to allow people to chant YES. Bryan isn’t a Real American because he took a handout last week from John Cena and tonight he gets to face a Real American in Swagger. Bryan gets a quick rollup for one but Swagger takes out his leg to put him down.

Swagger pounds on him in the corner but walks into a dropkick to send him to the floor. The FLYING GOAT is countered with a forearm to the face and Swagger drops the Vader Bomb for two. He loads up the Patriot Lock but gets caught in the YES Lock for the first submission at 2:57.

Antonio Cesaro vs. Daniel Bryan

This is joined in progress after a break with Cesaro holding Bryan in an armbar. Lawler tells us we need to download the App so we can see action like he’s showing us right now. Cesaro whips Bryan into the corner for two and puts on the standing chinlock. Bryan takes him down and hits the double leg stomp out of the surfboard. Cesaro comes back with a pure power suplex and another hard chinlock but Bryan easily fights up and hits the running clothesline followed by the kicks to the chest. A running dropkick in the corner gets two on Cesaro but Swagger shoves Bryan off the top into the uppercut for two.

Back from a break with Cesaro getting two off the gutwrench suplex. A kind of Death Valley Driver gets two but Bryan comes back with a hard kick to the head for two of his own. Cesaro takes him to the corner for a superplex but gets forearmed and kneed down, only to have Cesaro come back with a top rope superplex attempt. Bryan slips through his legs and gets Cesaro in the Tree of Woe for a bunch of kicks, capped off by the delayed running dropkick to the face.

A belly to back superplex is countered into a crossbody to give Antonio two as this is getting really good. Back up and Cesaro DESTROYS Bryan with about 25 uppercuts in a row followed by a huge clothesline for two. Bryan backdrops out of the Neutralizer and starts firing off forearms before putting on a leg lock and pounding away with driving forearms to the face. Cesaro is sent to the floor and the FLYING GOAT takes out the Real Americans. Back in and Cesaro tries to throw Bryan in the air for the uppercut but Bryan comes down into a small package for the pin at approximately 15:00 shown.

Rating: A-. Someone explain to me why Cesaro isn’t one of the three top heels in this company right now. He could EASILY being in Del Rio’s spot and blowing away everything he does. Both guys looked great here and this is probably a match of the year candidate. Great stuff and I want more Cesaro right now.

Maddox is in the back with Alex Riley next to him of all people. Bryan has a third opponent after the break.

Daniel Bryan vs. Ryback

Bryan goes right for Ryback’s bad leg but Ryback easily knocks him down. Ryback shouts that Bryan is a little man in a big man’s world and chokes him him with a boot. The stupid fans chant that Ryback can’t wrestle so Ryback suplexes Bryan down for two. We hit a quick chinlock with Ryback shouting that this is too easy. Ryback’s Thesz press is countered into a wicked looking half crab but he’s right in front of the ropes. A splash gets two for Ryback but the Meathook is blocked by a knee to the chest.

Bryan hits some corner dropkicks but Ryback clotheslines him down for two. Ryback heads to the floor to set up a table but Bryan comes flying through the ropes to send Ryback into the announce table with a thud. Ryback sends him into the steps and gets back in, only to have Bryan fire off the kicks. The YES Lock is countered by a throw but Bryan drop toeholds him into the buckle. A missile dropkick gets two and there’s the YES Lock but Ryback finally makes the ropes. Ryback heads to the floor but catches Bryan coming off the apron in a powerbomb. Another powerbomb through the table is good for a DQ at 9:10.

Rating: B-. This was a great David vs. Goliath match and I like that they didn’t make Ryback lose clan here. Bryan beating the Real Americans is fine but having him win against a fresh monster after nearly half an hour in the ring is too much of a stretch. This worked very well though as Ryback can still be a monster when he isn’t a whiny jerk.

Post match Ryback loads up another powerbomb but Cena comes out to make the save. He chases Ryback off and challenges him to a tables match next week.

In the back Maddox makes the tables match official but Vince comes in to make Bryan vs. Kane next week.

Overall Rating: B+. This show took awhile to get going but the final forty minutes is a Daniel Bryan showcase with some AWESOME wrestling that made him look like a monster against Cena. You couple that with an excellent Heyman/Punk segment and some short matches that didn’t overstay their welcome and this was a very solid show. I can’t wait for Summerslam and the show is going to rock.

Results

Alberto Del Rio b. Sheamus – Cradle

Christian b. Titus O’Neal – Killswitch

Dolph Ziggler b. Darren Young – Zig Zag

Cody Rhodes b. Fandango – Cross Rhodes

Daniel Bryan b. Jack Swagger – YES Lock

Daniel Bryan b. Antonio Cesaro – Small Package

Daniel Bryan b. Ryback via DQ when Ryback powerbombed Bryan through a table

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my book on the History of Starrcade from Amazon for just $4 at: