NXT
Date: January 6, 2021
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Beth Phoenix, Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

It’s a huge night this week with the absolutely stacked New Year’s Evil card. The main event is Finn Balor defending the NXT Title against Kyle O’Reilly in a Takeover rematch, which should be a heck of a fight. Other than that, we have a hoss fight between Karrion Kross and Damian Priest, plus the Cruiserweight Title on the line. Let’s get to it.

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

Dexter Lumis, our host for the evening, is in the empty arena to start things off. He goes to the control and hits some buttons to mess with the lights before turning everything on. What a great way to draw in viewers! A guy pushing buttons in silence!

Damian Priest vs. Karrion Kross

Scarlett is here with Kross and this is a grudge match after Kross returned and Priest said he’s in if Kross wants a fight. They go with the hard lockup to start and fight out to the floor without breaking it up. Back in and Priest kicks him into the head and starts slugging away but Kross knocks him down as well. A running clothesline in the corner has Priest in trouble again and the t-bone suplex gets two.

We hit the double arm crank for a bit before they go out to the floor. Priest kicks the steps out of his hands and slugs away back inside, even managing to kick Kross down. A spinning suplex gets two on Kross and it’s time to crank on the arm, including a reverse cross armbreaker. They trade kicks to the head until Priest hits a springboard flip dive to take him down again.

That just earns him a running clothesline for two and Priest is put on the top. The super Doomsday Saito is broken up though and a Razor’s Edge out of the corner gets two. Kross breaks up the chokeslam onto the apron so Priest knocks him to the floor for the big dive. Back in and a kick to the face sets up South of Heaven for two on Kross.

That doesn’t really keep him down as it’s right back up for a powerbomb to Priest for two more. It’s back to the floor with Kross powerslamming him onto the steps to mess with the ribs even more. Back in and Priest tells him to bring it, earning himself the Doomsday Saito and a running forearm to the back of the head for the pin at 15:29.

Rating: B. They gave us what they advertised here by having two big, strong people beat each other up for fifteen minutes. Priest losing is fine as Kross seems destined for the title scene and it’s not like losing to a former NXT Champion is going to hurt him. Good opener here, with Priest looking good on his way down and Kross looking even better.

The Undisputed Era is ready for their first round Dusty Classic match against Breezango. They may be entertaining but the Undisputed Era is that much better.

Cruiserweight Title: Gran Metalik vs. Santos Escobar

Escobar, with Legado del Fantasma, is defending and Lince Dorado is here with Metalik. They start fast with Metalik snapping off a hurricanrana out to the floor. Back in and a double springboard hurricanrana takes Escobar down again, setting up the big dive to the floor. Escobar kicks him in the head but a rope walk hurricanrana is mostly botched and they fall to the floor.

Back from a break with Escobar dropping him ribs first onto the turnbuckle. The surfboard goes on for a bit, followed by a clothesline for two. Metalik gets in a superkick into a reverse Sling Blade to send Escobar outside again. That means another step up flip dive, followed by a top rope splash for two back inside.

Escobar knees him out of the air though and now it’s Metalik getting crushed by a dive for a change. Back in again and Escobar almost knocks the mask off but Dorado has to take out the rest of Legado. Metalik’s next hurricanrana gets two but the top rope elbow misses. The Phantom Driver retains the title at 12:26.

Rating: C. There wasn’t much drama here and that’s a good thing, as Escobar isn’t going to drop the title to someone coming down from Raw for a two match run. Metalik wasn’t great here either as some of his stuff wasn’t hitting and he used that hurricanrana quite a few times. Not bad, but it wasn’t quite memorable.

Mercedes Martinez doesn’t care that Io Shirai is the Competitor of the Year. She wants the Women’s Title and she’s waiting on the champ.

Xia Li vs. Katrina Cortez

This is Li’s, with a masked man, return after being trapped in a kung fu torture movie for a few weeks. Li kicks her down to start and hits some knees to the ribs. Cortez’s strikes are shrugged off and a big kick to the face finishes for Li at 1:27. Li, especially the finish, looked awesome here.

William Regal regrets to inform us that Timothy Thatcher is injured, meaning the Fight Pit against Tommaso Ciampa isn’t happening. The match will happen when Thatcher is healthy.

We get a special look at Bronson Reed, who promises a colossal 2021 and thinks Rhea Ripley wins tonight.

Rhea Ripley vs. Raquel Gonzalez

Last Woman Standing. Ripley dropkicks her into the corner to start and hammers away with right hands to the head. Back up and Gonzalez blasts her with a clothesline, followed by the fall away slam. Gonzalez cranks on the arm and kicks away but talks a bit too much trash about their matching tattoos. That means they go out to the floor with Ripley busting out the kendo sticks to put Gonzalez in some pain.

Gonzalez chairs her out of the air though and hits a hard whip into the barricade. The handcuffs are brought in but Ripley gets them away and attaches her to the barricade. That’s fine with Gonzalez, who rips them off and hits Ripley in the face. Ripley is sent face first into the bell and a backdrop onto the edge of the announcers’ table (geez) puts Ripley down again. Ripley makes it back in and we take a break.

Back with the Gonzalez hitting her in the face with the steps on the stage and then kicking Ripley down the steps. They fight to the back with Ripley spearing her through a glass door. Gonzalez is laid on a table and hits a Swanton off a box to drive her through it. Cue Dakota Kai with a kendo stick though and Ripley is in more trouble. That’s fine with Ripley, who kicks Kai into a locker and puts an anvil case in front of her for a nice trap.

Gonzalez and Ripley go back to the stage with Ripley grabbing the Prism Trap and choking with a chair. That’s broken up though with Gonzalez kicking her into the lighting structure. Ripley goes into the LED board (messing it up for a bit on the process) and it’s the one armed powerbomb to drive them both through the stage for the huge crash. Gonzalez is the only one to climb out for the win at 18:04.

Rating: B+. These two beat the fire out of each other and that’s all you could ask for here. The only thing that worries me is Ripley losing AGAIN because that seems to be the case almost all the time these days. The ending looked great though and Ripley locking Kai in a locker was funny so the whole thing was a success. Ripley almost has to be heading to the main roster now though right?

The Way, with a police escort, arrives for their latest celebration. They get in the ring, where something is under a sheet for them. Johnny Gargano talks about reversing the curse last week, just like the Cleveland Browns. Gargano: “YO CANDICE! I DID IT!” Candice is proud of him and has a plaque commemorating the curse being broken.

Austin Theory and Indi Hartwell offer their own praises and have a gift for him: a portrait of the Way as superheroes. Gargano is touched and announces that he and Theory are entering the Dusty Classic. Cue Shotzi Blackheart with the tank, which she fires at Theory’s crotch. As Theory is writhing in pain, here’s Kushida to go after Gargano. Lumis shows up to ring the bell.

Johnny Gargano/Candice LeRae vs. Kushida/Shotzi Blackheart

Gargano and Candice, in street clothes, rant on the floor before Shotzi kicks Candice in the head to start. We take an early break and come back with Shotzi getting kicked out of the corner as Lumis sits on commentary in silence. Blackheart snaps the arm down and it’s off to the men to pick up the pace.

Kushida goes for the cross armbreaker but Gargano gets his foot on the rope. Candice comes in for the save and offers to fight Kushida herself but Blackheart cuts her off in a hurry. Gargano and Candice are knocked outside so Shotzi can hit a big dive onto LeRae. A Theory cheap shot gets him pulled inside and kicked down, leaving Kushida to grab a rollup for the pin on Gargano at 9:05.

Rating: C. I’m still looking forward to both singles matches but this was just kind of there as a tag match. I love the Way’s wacky devotion to Gargano and Candice sells everything rather well, but the matches are only ok for the most part. Nothing too bad here, but not exactly must see stuff.

Takeover is back on Valentine’s Day.

The Dusty Classic is back next week, with the Undisputed Era vs. Breezango and the Grizzled Young Veterans vs. Ever-Rise.

William Regal announces the first ever women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic. That could actually work.

NXT Title: Kyle O’Reilly vs. Finn Balor

Balor is defending and they’re both on their own. After the Big Match Intros, O’Reilly shoulders him down to start and Balor touches the previously broken jaw. A headscissors doesn’t go anywhere and it’s the threat of a kick to the head to shake Balor again. The second headscissors keeps Balor down and O’Reilly starts in on the arm. Balor tries to get up and grabs an abdominal stretch, sending O’Reilly to the ropes, which he bites for the break.

The trainer checks on O’Reilly’s mouth but Balor pulls O’Reilly into a headlock to stay on the jaw. O’Reilly fights up and starts in on the arm, including twisting it around the ropes. Balor goes back to the jaw and then stomps away, setting up a Crossface. That sends O’Reilly feet first to the rope for a change so Balor elbows him in the face and drives the forearm into the jaw.

Back up and O’Reilly kicks him down and goes for the arm, earning another shot tot he jaw for a breather. Balor hits the kick to the head to send O’Reilly outside and he has to beat the count. O’Reilly gets back in and it’s time to go after the leg, earning O’Reilly another kick to the face. Balor goes right back to the Crossface and hits the Sling Blade into a jumping stomp to the chest.

The shotgun dropkick puts O’Reilly in the corner but Balor gets crotched on top. A superplex into a brainbuster gets two and it’s back to the arm. A foot on the leg gets Balor out of trouble, even though his eye is cut. O’Reilly charges into a kick to the side and collapses, allowing Balor to put on something like the Rings of Saturn with a Crossface to make O’Reilly tap at 17:27.

Rating: A-. These guys were fighting an uphill battle as they had to live up to some unbelievable hype. Somehow they managed to have a heck of a match with Balor going after the jaw to mirror what happened last time. There wasn’t a lot of drama about the winner, but watching these guys beat the fire out of each other for about eighteen minutes was all you needed, and Balor looks all the more ready for Kross.

Medics and the Undisputed Era check on O’Reilly as Balor poses to end the show.

Overall Rating: A-. This lived up to the hype and that’s a heck of a trick given how much this show was built up. You could have passed this off as a slightly weaker than usual Takeover and it would have worked just fine. There are some very good matches up and down the card and a limited use of Dexter Lumis makes everything better. Check this one out as it was a great show, with the main event and Last Woman Standing being some hard hitting fights.

Results

Karrion Kross b. Damian Priest – Running forearm to the back of the head

Santos Escobar b. Gran Metalik – Phantom Driver

Xia Li b. Katrina Cortez – Spinning kick to the face

Raquel Gonzalez b. Rhea Ripley – Ripley could not answer the ten count

Kushida/Shotzi Blackheart b. Johnny Gargano/Candice LeRae – Rollup to Gargano

Finn Balor b. Kyle O’Reilly – Rings of Saturn with a Crossface

 

 

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

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

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

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Takeover: WarGames 2020
Date: December 6, 2020
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Beth Phoenix, Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett

It’s time for what has become something close to NXT’s signature match and that year has one of the better looking matches in the show’s history. Just like last year, we have the men’s and women’s edition of the show’s namesake match, with a good enough looking undercard. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is a general look at WarGames, including the cage being lowered. With that out of the way, we switch into a look at the two WarGames matches.

Team Blackheart vs. Team LeRae

Shotzi Blackheart, Rhea Ripley, Ember Moon, Io Shirai

Candice LeRae, Raquel Gonzalez, Dakota Kai, Toni Storm

We start with the Women’s WarGames match, including a rundown of the rules. After the time is up, the team who won the advantage coming in (Blackheart in this case) sends someone in for a 2-1 advantage for three minutes. Once that time is up, Team LeRae will even things up for three minutes. They alternate until all four each are in and then it’s first pinfall or submission wins. And yes Shotzi has a new and bigger tank, which even shoots something at the side of the cage.

Dakota Kai and Moon start things off and go straight to the mat for the brawl. Moon flips off a sleeper attempt and hits a flipping clothesline in the corner. Dakota sends her into the ropes but Moon is right back with a crossbody against the cage. A charge is cut off by Kai’s raised boots and the Kairopractor connects. Kai chokes away and it’s Shotzi coming in for the advantage. Blackheart whips out a toolbox as she comes in to clean house on Kai. The reverse Cannonball connects against the ropes but Shotzi rams her into the cage.

Kai goes after Moon but Shotzi is back up with a doomsday missile dropkick to put Kai down. Gonzalez comes in to tie it up but Shotzi and Moon are right there to jump her at the door. It doesn’t seem to matter though as Gonzalez wrecks both of them, including powerbombing Shotzi against the cage. Kai is back in to clean house and a kick to the face rocks Shotzi in the corner. A springboard from one ring to another takes out Blackheart and Moon again but it’s Ripley coming in, giving Gonzalez a VERY interested face.

The showdown is on (they’ve got something with these two) until Ripley is cut off by Kai. Moon and Shotzi take care of Gonzalez, leaving Ripley to destroy Kai on her own. It’s time for the toolbox and Ripley busts out a hammer, only to drop it to send Kai into the cage. Gonzalez has dropped Moon and Shotzi though, meaning NOW we get the real showdown. They meet between the rings and slug it out with Ripley getting the better of things until Storm, with kendo sticks, comes in to take over.

Everyone else gets back in but Team LeRae takes over without much trouble. The stick beating is on but all six go to the corner, with Moon hitting a Steiner Bulldog on Kai and Blackheart/Ripley being slammed down as well, leaving all six down. Shirai is in for the final advantage and slides in a ladder, only to be kicked out by Gonzalez. Things get creative as Gonzalez keeps knocking Shirai off, either out of the door or off the side. The time expires and it’s LeRae coming in, only to have Shirai waiting on her outside.

Cue Indi Hartwell to jump Shirai and throw in some more weapons. The big beatdown is on, with the referee even telling LeRae and company to stop and give Shotzi a breather. Moon is back up but it’s Shirai on top of the cage, putting a trashcan over herself and diving onto EVERYBODY for the huge spot. Shirai gets the hammer and cleans house with it (meaning she hits people either with the bottom or flat across the back) and the recorded NXT chants start up again.

There’s the moonsault to Gonzalez but everyone makes the save. LeRae gets the Gargano Escape on Moon (with a wrench) at the same time Shotzi puts Storm in Cattle Mutilation. Shotzi uses a chair to knock a kendo stick out of Storm’s hands before picking up the stick (uh…) to clean house again. Shirai’s charge is sent into the corner and Kai hits the running boot to the face. Kai puts Shirai in the trashcan again for a top rope double stomp but Moon makes the save.

Two chairs are set up and Moon hits the Eclipse to drive Kai into said chairs. Storm makes the save and hits Storm Zero to drive Moon into the trashcan for two. Ripley is back up with the Prism Trap to Storm, with Shirai adding a running dropkick for a bonus. That gives Ripley two and the ladder is bridged between the rings. LeRae superkicks a trashcan lid into Ripley’s face as another ladder is set up in the corner. Shotzi and LeRae climb at the same time, with LeRae being knocked off and onto some chairs.

LeRae puts the chair onto herself, flips it over, and points at it before Shotzi drops a backsplash for the (very well choreographed) crushing. Shirai’s Over The Moonsault hits Ripley but Storm drives Ripley into the cover for the save. Shirai gets caught on top and Gonzalez superbombs her through the bridged ladder for the pin (and likely the next title shot) at 35:34.

Rating: B. This was a long and brutal fight, though it didn’t feel quite like your traditional WarGames. That’s because this isn’t your traditional WarGames, and for the NXT version, it worked out well. There were some great spots in here (that Eclipse onto the chairs looked awesome) but it did feel like they were stretching things out for the sake of stretching things out at times. What we got was a heck of a fight though and that’s what it needed to be, with the right team winning.

Finn Balor says after the team sports end, it’s time for all eyes to go back on the Prince.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher

Ciampa said he wanted to fight and Thatcher was game. Thatcher takes him to the mat and starts working on the arm before switching over to the leg for a change. Ciampa is right back by working on the leg, including stomping on the leg. Thatcher sends him outside though and catches him with an uppercut on the way back in. Hold on though as Ciampa gets knocked into the ropes, meaning the referee needs to check on him. Thatcher is fine enough to uppercut away and sends Ciampa outside for a second.

Back in and another uppercut means another check from the referee so Thatcher grabs a neck crank. Thatcher pulls on the arm as the slugout begins, only to have to send Ciampa into the corner. They bang heads for a double knockdown but it’s Ciampa coming up with the clothesline comeback. A superplex gets two on Thatcher, who is right back with the guillotine. Ciampa drives him through the ropes for the break and they’re both down on the floor.

Back in and Ciampa runs him over, setting up a bulldog choke. Thatcher’s ear is busted open as he makes the rope and manages a German suplex to drop Ciampa again. Ciampa can’t hit Willow’s Bell as he is pulled throat first into the top rope instead. That’s fine with Ciampa, who ties him in the ropes and chops away, setting up Willow’s Bell for the pin at 16:55.

Rating: B. They built this up as two people wanting to beat the heck out of each other and that’s what we got. There was no reason to try for anything more than Thatcher using his technical stuff against Ciampa’s brawling and the formula worked out rather well. Good, hard hitting match here and while I might have gone with Thatcher winning, Ciampa being rebuilt is a good thing for NXT.

They stare at each other after the match so this might not be over.

We recap Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Lumis. Grimes is cocky and loud so Lumis has been stalking him, including inside a haunted house at Halloween Havoc. As a result, Grimes has been running away over and over so let’s have a strap match.

Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Lumis

The referee is ready to put the strap on but Grimes wants to use his own. That’s not cool but Grimes jumps Lumis before the bell. They head outside with Grimes sending him into various things and choking with the strap. Back in and Lumis hits a Thesz press to hammer away and now the strap goes on, meaning the bell can ring (so we can get some bonus Lumis you see). Grimes heads outside and tries to escape over the barricade, only to get pulled back for an uppercut.

A hard whip sends Grimes into the barricade but Lumis gets sent over for a change. That lets Lumis do his big scary pull up (he’s no Keith Lee) but Grimes pulls him back to ringside in a crash. A shot to the face drops Lumis again and Grimes wraps the strap around his eyes. With that not being enough, Grimes puts a hood over Lumis’ head and takes him back inside for a whipping. Lumis whips out a spinebuster and, after taking off the hood, heads outside to wrap the strap around the structure around the post.

That goes nowhere as Grimes escapes and kicks Lumis in the chest, only to be pulled off the apron. Back in again and Lumis whips away, only to get German suplexed into the corner. Grimes unloads with a chair before having a seat in it for a change. Lumis catches a charge and hits a fall away slam, only to get pulled off the top. Grimes’ flipping powerslam gets two but both the Cave In and Silence are countered. Lumis ties the legs up with the strap and Grimes goes face first into the open chair. Silence goes on and Grimes taps at 12:55.

Rating: B-. They had a good match here and Grimes is still a natural treasure but….WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT LUMIS??? I’ve yet to miss an episode of NXT and for the life of me I do not understand what is so special about this guy. I don’t get what NXT sees in him and yet it just keeps going for months on end. Anyway, pretty good match with some creative spots, but in the end, it’s still Lumis and that cuts off a lot of my interest.

The lights flicker and a vulture flies around. Karrion Kross’ voice is heard saying Tick Tock. Since Kross’ theme is a clock and he said tick tock over and over, commentary has no idea who this is.

We recap the triple threat match for the North American Title. Johnny Gargano won the title from Damian Priest thanks to some outside interference at Halloween Havoc. That made him cocky so he rigged a wheel to choose Leon Ruff as his first challenger. Priest interfered to cost Gargano the title, making Ruff the fluke champion. Ruff did not like being called a joke and agreed to defend against both at once.

North American Title: Leon Ruff vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Damian Priest

Ruff is defending and gets sent into the corner early on, leaving Gargano to hit a superkick. Gargano takes Ruff into the corner but Priest is back in to throw Ruff out of the way for a second time. Back in and Ruff hits a double missile dropkick before stepping up to Priest. That isn’t the best idea as Priest grabs him by the throat until Gargano makes the save. Priest gets double teamed down but Gargano turns on Ruff with the slingshot spear. Priest is back up as they head outside, with Ruff insisting that he is not a joke.

That earns him a shot to the face and a Razor’s Edge through the barricade as the crowd noise doesn’t seem pleased with Priest. Referees check on Ruff as Priest apologizes for hurting him like that. Gargano is back up but One Final Beat is blocked so Gargano goes with a standing Sliced Bread for two instead. Priest blasts him with a clothesline and they’re both down. With Priest down on the ramp, Ruff comes back and uses him as a launchpad for a clothesline.

A rope walk flip dive off the top takes both challengers down on the floor. Back in and a twisting rope rope cutter (The heck was that?) drops Gargano again, but it only seems to get on his nerves. Ruff clotheslines Gargano for two but Priest is back in, saying Ruff is out of chances. Priest kicks him in the head and lifts them both up in a double Downward Spiral. The double teaming takes Priest down again though, this time with his arms getting tied in the ropes.

Ruff gets quite the two count off a crucifix but Gargano pulls him into the Gargano Escape, right in front of Priest. That’s as bad of an idea as it sounds as Priest gets out and makes the save. The spinwheel kick drops Gargano and Ruff is sent outside, leaving Gargano to take the South of Heaven chokeslam. Cue three Ghostfaces to jump Priest, who shrugs all of them off. Three more show up so Priest hits a big step up flip dive to the floor. Another dive takes out the original trio.

Priest is all fired up (great visual) and chokeslams Gargano onto the apron. Back in and Ruff hits the frog splash for two on Gargano with Priest making the save. The Reckoning is broken up and they trade kicks to the face, with Priest knocking Gargano silly. Cue another Ghostface with a lead pipe to Priest’s back though, allowing Gargano to hit One Final Beat on Ruff for the pin and the title at 17:31.

Rating: B. This was an interesting match as you had Gargano winning the title, but Priest and Ruff got to showcase themselves very well. Priest looks like the monster of monsters right now and that fired up look on his face after the dives was great. At the same time you have Ruff, who probably just moved past the peak of his career, getting a chance to show you what he can do. I can always go for someone making the most of their chances and that is exactly what he did here. Nice job all around with probably the right result.

Post match the main Ghostface is…..Austin Theory.

New Year’s Evil is a special episode of NXT on January 6.

We recap the men’s WarGames match. Pat McAfee and Company got together and ran over NXT, including taking out the Undisputed Era. They set their sights on Finn Balor, but the Era is back for a big fight. That means a William Regal WARGAMES announcement and here we are.

Undisputed Era vs. Team McAfee

Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Bobby Fish, Roderick Strong

Pat McAfee, Oney Lorcan, Danny Burch, Pete Dunne

O’Reilly and Dunne start things off and Team McAfee has the advantage. The take their time to start with neither being able to get very far early on. O’Reilly takes him down by the arm to start but can’t get the triangle. He can’t get the cross armbreaker either so Dunne pulls him into a triangle choke in the ropes for a change. With that not going very far, Dunne cranks on the fingers, only to have go after the fingers in the corner. A stomp to the fingers misses so O’Reilly goes with a choke.

O’Reilly knees him in the chest, only to get pulled into a cross armbreaker. That’s broken and it’s Oney Lorcan coming in to kick away at O’Reilly. The double teaming is on with O’Reilly going down but fighting back in a hurry. Lorcan gets caught in the ropes for a guillotine legdrop but Dunne dropkicks the leg out. It’s Bobby Fish coming in to start throwing the knees and there’s a spinebuster to Lorcan. Dunne is back up with a Kimura on O’Reilly but Fish makes the save with a choke.

They go into the cage until time runs out, with Danny Burch telling Pat McAfee that he has this. Burch grabs a bag to pull out a cricket bat to clean house. Like any villain though, Burch takes too long talking trash and gets pulled into a kneebar. Dunne breaks it up with a stomp to the arm and it’s Lorcan with his own cricket bat. The group stomping is on but here’s Roderick Strong running in….and getting stomped down immediately.

Strong fights up to clean house with a dropkick to Lorcan and a backbreaker to Dunne. He heads to the middle of the rings and hits the running forearms to all three at once in a nice little sequence. Lorcan manages to send Strong face first into the cage though and McAfee and Company take over again. With the Era in trouble, it’s McAfee coming in to complete the team, though he needs to grab a table. Make that four tables, each with a member of the Era’s name included.

With all four in, McAfee finally gets in as the team is dismantling the Era. Strong is driven through his table and it’s Cole coming in to finally complete the field. Since McAfee and Company are waiting on him, Cole whips out a fire extinguisher to clear the ring and it’s time to get going. All of the usual takes care of everyone but McAfee and the showdown is on. Dunne steps in Cole’s way though and we hit the slugout, with Dunne taking him down and stomping away at the head.

The Bitter End is countered with a quick DDT but McAfee grabs Cole’s arms so Dunne can kick him in the head. O’Reilly takes Dunne down with a chair and tells McAfee to come fight him if he wants to be a wrestler. Kyle goes on the best rant I’ve ever heard from him, telling McAfee that he’s nothing and to come get some. Everyone is back up and the big fight is on with Lorcan hitting a Blockbuster. O’Reilly and Strong knee Dunne down with Lorcan making the save.

Cole starts kicking people in the face until McAfee chop blocks him down. With the required WOO’s, McAfee puts on a pretty good Figure Four while the other six are brawling at the ropes. Cole turns it over with Dunne having to make his own save. The Era is in trouble with the Cole table being set up but Strong and Fish kick Lorcan and Burch down. Cole hits Dunne with the brainbuster onto the knee for two and sets up a table in the middle of the ring.

Dunne gets powerbombed onto Burch onto a table, which doesn’t break (Barrett: “Where are we getting these tables from?”). Strong splashes both of them through the table and Cole shoves McAfee off the top and through another table in a massive crash. And Company is caught up against the cage so the rest of the Era charges into them with a long series of strikes. Cole gets in on it as well and the Era stands tall. McAfee is all alone and despite claims of a bad back, he tries to scale the cage, which goes about as well as expected.

The group beatdown is on and McAfee is sent hard into the cage. With McAfee mostly done, the rest of the team gets back up and we’re right back at it. A Doomsday European uppercut drops Strong but Dunne is taken off the top with a super neckbreaker. There’s a superplex to McAfee and they’re all down again. Everyone gets together for the big staredown but it’s McAfee going to the top of the cage for the HUGE flip dive onto everyone else for the huge crash.

O’Reilly and Dunne slug it out in the other ring with O’Reilly kicking away, only to get his fingers snapped. A suplex drops Dunne between the rings for two. McAfee grabs a chair and Cole tells him to do his best. Cole knocks it down and takes it away, only to get kicked low. Fish drives Burch through another table and Cole superkicks McAfee out of the air.

The Panama Sunrise plants McAfee for two in a heck of a false finish. The Last Shot misses McAfee but hits Lorcan instead. Dunne is back up with the Bitter End onto an open chair (geez) but O’Reilly kicks him down. A top rope knee onto a chair onto Lorcan’s head gives the Era the pin at 45:06.

Rating: A-. It says a lot when a 45 minute match doesn’t feel long and makes you feel every bit of the pain. I’m surprised at the Era winning but if McAfee isn’t going to be around regularly (fair enough), there was little reason to have his team win. McAfee can come back when he wants and be the best heel in the company, which is probably going to keep him a lot more fresh. I’m not sure what is next for the Era now as there is nothing left for them to do, but dang they had a great one here. Awesome match and crazy brutal throughout, with the Era getting the win in the definitive NXT team battle.

A lot of posing takes us out.

Overall Rating: A-. Yeah it was great and I’m not sure what else there is to say about something like this. All five matches were good to great and I had an awesome time throughout. It’s a heck of a show and worth seeing, though it didn’t have that big show stealing match. Still though, this felt like a Takeover and that’s as strong of an endorsement as you’re going to get.

Results

Team LeRae b. Team Blackheart – Superbomb to Shirai through a ladder

Tommaso Ciampa b. Timothy Thatcher – Willow’s Bell

Dexter Lumis b. Cameron Grimes – Silence

Johnny Gargano b. Leon Ruff and Damian Priest – One Final beat to Ruff

Undisputed Era b. Team McAfee – Top rope knee to a chair to Lorcan

 

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

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

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

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

We’re already back to Takeover but this time around we have a special attraction which is all you need to sell the show. This time around it’s WarGames, with a pair of the show’s namesake matches. That should make for some awesome stuff in its own right, but there are some other things in there to help fill in the gap. I have a good feeling of where this one is going so let’s get to it.

Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes

Let’s get this one out of the way first. This is a strap match as Grimes keeps trying to run off so now they’re tying him to the monster. I would be scared of Lumis as well, as he is the kind of guy where I really don’t get what WWE sees in him but that hasn’t stopped them yet. Lumis continues to be just kind of there (literally in some cases as he just stands there a lot of the time) but Grimes is a national treasure, so it balances out a bit.

I’ll take Lumis to win here because that’s how NXT works with him, though Grimes is the kind of guy who can stay over without ever winning a single thing. All I can hope for here is to have Grimes steal the show and do whatever he can, because that’s the best thing that I can hope for here. Lumis is absolutely not the worst thing in the world, but he isn’t someone I want to see in a spot like this. Grimes loses, and I shake my head a bit more.

North American Title: Leon Ruff(c) vs. Damian Priest vs. Johnny Gargano

So we have the big culmination of Gargano messing around with Ruff and losing the title to him, though Ruff has decided to stand up for himself and fight both of them at once. This sounds like something where Ruff should get destroyed so one of them will win the title….and yeah that’s probably exactly what we are going to be seeing here, as we should be getting.

I’ll take Gargano to win here, even though him winning a third time seems to be a little bit much. Ruff does not need to hold onto the title to keep the gag going any longer and the point has already been made. Gargano barely got to hold the title and Priest already had a decent reign (though I could go for more of him holding the title in the future). Go with what was planned before we took the detour, meaning Gargano wins.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Timothy Thatcher

This is much more of a grudge match, as Ciampa went after Thatcher, who doesn’t take kindly to that. Therefore, let’s have a match. That’s about as easy of a plot as you can get and the rest is dressing everything else up to make the whole story work. They have good chemistry here too and I want to see where it goes. You don’t get that very often in a grudge match and it should work out.

As much as I want to go with Thatcher here, Ciampa needs to get back on the winning track and I can’t imagine Thatcher beating him. Unless Thatcher’s student interferes, it would make the most sense to have Ciampa go over here. If nothing else, you need a nice moment for one of the winners here as there might not be many other things for them to get behind here. Ciampa wins, because he kind of has to.

Women’s WarGames

This has been a little bit of a weird one as it seems to stem from Candice LeRae destroying Shotzi Blackheart’s tank. That is quite the forced reason to start up a WarGames match, but….well ok I haven’t heard many worse, but at least there is a reason to have this one. Granted the teams have been thrown together and I’m not sure how much of a reason they have to be here other than there need to be some people on the teams, but WarGames is better than nothing.

I’m sure Blackheart is going to have her new tank here but I think I’ll go with Team LeRae for the win here. They have a stacked lineup and seem to have a bit more chemistry, though I’m not sure who they have who is going to take out Rhea Ripley. I’m probably wrong on this one, but I really don’t know if I can see Blackheart and her merry band winning here, so we’ll go with LeRae.

Men’s WarGames

Now this is a much more traditional WarGames matches you have two teams ready to fight each other. Believe it or not, one of them is the Undisputed Era, who has been in one of them every year so far. That does not exactly bode well for their futures, but at least they are the established name in the match ala the Horsemen. It gives them some more possibilities, and I think we are going to get to the important one.

I’ll take Pat McAfee and Company (their official name as far as I’m concerned) for the win here, because they have nowhere to go with a loss and the Undisputed Era doesn’t need to win a thing at this point. If nothing else, the main event of the next Takeover almost has to be Pete Dunne taking the NXT Title from Finn Balor (unless Karrion Kross is ready again, though I’m not sure I can imagine going with him again as champion) and this is a good way to get him there. McAfee and Company win, as the Undisputed Era….oh of course they aren’t going up yet, because that’s just not what they do.

Overall Thoughts

This is the first time in a long while that I have felt interested in a Takeover just by looking at the card. The show is looking like it will hit on every point, which is where Takeover tends to shine. There is always the chance that things could go slightly beneath expectations, but just putting WarGames on the card should be more than enough to carry the whole thing. I think.

 

 

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

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

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

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

NXT
Date: December 2, 2020
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Beth Phoenix, Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

It’s the go home show for Takeover: WarGames and that means it’s time for another ladder match (yes I said another ladder match). There is also one last spot to be filled on Team Blackheart and there is a chance that could be revealed tonight. Other than that, it’s time for the final push towards Sunday and that is where NXT shines. Let’s get to it.

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

The roster, including the bosses, are on the stage for an In Memory Of Pat Patterson graphic.

We get the big video tribute, set to Patterson singing My Way, as only it could be. That’s a big one as Patterson really was one of the forces in WWE and an absolute genius at all things wrestling.

The roster gives us a THANK YOU PAT chant in a pretty emotional moment.

Opening sequence.

Damian Priest/Leon Ruff vs. Legado del Fantasma

Johnny Gargano is on commentary and Priest seems to be replacing Curt Stallion, who was jumped by Legado del Fantasma. Earlier today, Priest attacked Joaquin Wilde for sticking a finger in his face, meaning there is no Wilde here with Santos Escobar/Raul Mendoza. Ruff insists that he gets to start with Escobar as Gargano explains what a dad joke is supposed to be. Escobar gets taken down early but Ruff is pulled into the corner for a tag off to Mendoza.

That doesn’t go well for Ruff and it’s already back to Escobar for a jumping knee to the face. Priest comes in for a change and has some trouble with the faster Mendoza. They head outside with Mendoza getting sent into the barricade but Priest is distracted by the Ghost Face in the crowd. That’s enough for Escobar to hit a suicide dive and we take a break. Back with Priest grabbing Mendoza by the throat but getting dropkicked by Escobar.

A suplex gives Escobar two and it’s time to start working on Priest’s knee. Priest is fine enough to power up with a Downward Spiral to Escobar but he’s a little hesitant to bring in Ruff. He finally does though and it’s time to clean some house but a Mendoza cheap shot puts Ruff down. That’s only enough to knock Ruff over to the corner for the hot tag to Priest and now it’s time for the real house cleaning. Priest loads up the Reckoning but Ruff tags himself in. That’s fine with Priest, who Reckonings Mendoza, setting up Ruff’s frog splash for the pin at 12:23.

Rating: C. I don’t need Priest and Ruff as a big man/little man tag team (not without whistling music) but for a one off to build Ruff up a bit, it did well enough. They were also smart enough to not have Escobar take the pin, which shouldn’t be happening anytime soon. I’m curious about Stallion being gone and hopefully it isn’t a health issue, but maybe it’s better to not have him in a spot like this just yet.

Post match Priest shakes Ruff’s hand but turns around to see two Ghost Faces behind Gargano.

We look back at the end of last week’s show with a masked man costing the Undisputed Era the WarGames advantage.

Rhea Ripley and Ember Moon show Shotzi Blackheart an engine for their war machine. Blackheart thinks she’s in love and is ready to go to war.

We look at Undisputed Era’s history in WarGames. The team is together (in suits for a change) and getting ready for one more match, even after Pat McAfee and company have been taking them apart a few times. They’re ready to go to war but their backs are against the wall. This time though, they’re going to make McAfee and company their b******. This did a nice job of making the Era look good, though don’t we already kind of know that?

Team LeRae laughs off the idea of anything from Team Blackheart. The team is ready to fight and Raquel Gonzalez is going to gain the advantage. Tonight, Blackheart is going to feel like she has been run over by a tank.

August Grey vs. Cameron Grimes

Grimes has a bag with him and pulls out the strap. Some kicks to the chest have Grey in trouble to start and there’s a hard whip into the corner. Grey manages a dropkick and a jawbreaker, followed by a running neckbreaker to rock Grimes. Back up and Grimes sends him to the apron, with Grey going up top for a rope walk spinning high crossbody. Grey’s rollup gets two but he gets caught in a swinging Side Effect. The Cave In finishes Grey at 2:17.

Post match Grimes says Dexter Lumis is making a mistake with the strap match and ties Grey by the wrist. A clothesline drops Grey again and the whipping ensues. Grimes gets a little too cocky though and here’s Lumis to take Grey’s place. The beating is on with Grimes being sent running off. Lumis stares a lot because that’s what Lumis does.

Jake Atlas vs. Tony Nese

Atlas armdrags him into an armbar to start and Nese hides in the ropes for a bit. A dropkick sends Nese outside but he’s fine enough to crotch Atlas on the top back inside. We cut to the back where Pat McAfee and Company arrive and come back to full screen with Nese kneeing Atlas in the face. The torture rack keeps Atlas in trouble but he’s right back with a few right hands. Some forearms give Atlas two but Nese is back with a throat snap across the top rope into a low superkick. Nese misses a running knee in the corner though and the cartwheel DDT gives Atlas the pin at 5:24.

Rating: C. This was at least partially there as filler so we could see McAfee and Company arrive. Nese didn’t even get an entrance here so you can only expect so much out of him here. Atlas is still someone who seems like they want to push but he often fails as he gets close to the next level, though he is starting to seem a little more comfortable around here.

Post match Atlas says that bad things have happened around here but he’s not going to stop. One day, he is going to be Cruiserweight Champion.

Here are McAfee And Company for their weekly chat. McAfee says rest in peace to Pat Patterson, who he respects and appreciates. Then you go to the opposite end of the respect spectrum with every wrestling fan at home and here tonight, plus the Undisputed Era. Earlier tonight, we had to see a night out with the Undisputed Era, which was the lamest night out McAfee had ever seen in his entire life.

That was all about nostalgia BROTHER, so let’s do that themselves. McAfee talks about investing into greatness here because he has more money than anyone here has ever seen. He talks about how great they are and talks about Pete Dunne being the longest reigning United Kingdom Champion. Last week, Dunne won a ladder match, with the help of a masked man (who must be handsome and athletic under the mask, but it certainly wasn’t him) and on Sunday, they will have the advantage as a result.

Then you have thirty years of experience between the Tag Team Champions, who have finally gotten the chance that they deserve. McAfee wants everyone to watch on Sunday because he wants them to feel every single bit of pain. You can tune in to see him get hut, but the truth is that these guys broke the Undisputed Era’s spirit. Dunne says the Era is done this Sunday. McAfee wraps it up and continues to make me want to hear him talk more and more.

Quick video on the Grizzled Young Veterans.

The older man makes Boa and Xia Li dunk their heads under water. They then bow to him, only to be attacked from behind. I’m still not sure what to make of these things.

Ever Rise vs. Grizzled Young Veterans

Hang on though as here is Imperium to jump Ever Rise and say this is their tag division. They want the Veterans right now so let’s do this instead.

Imperium vs. Grizzled Young Veterans

Aichner works on Gibson’s arm to start and hands it off to Barthel for more of the same. Drake comes in to slug away at Barthel but gets taken into the corner as well, meaning Imperium can start taking turns on him. A suplex doesn’t work though and it’s back to Gibson to clean a bit of house. An armdrag into a headscissors doesn’t do much to Aichner so they hiptoss each other to the floor.

Back from a break with Aichner in trouble, including a spinwheel kick from Drake to give Gibson two. Drake gets dropped ribs first onto the top rope though and Gibson gets catapulted into the corner to put him in trouble. The stereo dropkicks in the corner set up White Noise to give Barthel two. Gibson gets in a shot to the throat to slow Barthel down but Aichner breaks up the tag attempt (even though Drake is still down on the floor).

A spinebuster into a kick to the face into a tilt-a-whirl faceplant gets two as frustration begins to set in. Aichner’s moonsault hits knees though and now the tag brings in Drake. Aichner catches Drake on top for a superplex though and Gibson has to make a save this time. With everyone else on the floor, Aichner hits a huge dive, only to have Ever Rise come in to send Barthel into the steps for the DQ at 14:04.

Rating: C+. This was getting going near the end and that’s kind of hard to do in a heel vs. heel match. Thank goodness there was no indication that either side was turning, as it would be quite the bad idea all around. The Veterans needed a win here though and I’m not sure why they didn’t get one, when you could have had Ever Rise cost Imperium the match instead. Also, as usual, Imperium without Walter isn’t worth much of your time.

During the break, Ever Rise ran off while still talking trash.

It’s time for Thatch As Thatch Can. Thatcher talks about how tired he is of all the interruptions….and Tommaso Ciampa is behind him. Ciampa says he’s here to teach and class is in session. Thatcher says he doesn’t want any trouble and then tackles Ciampa down, with Ciampa getting the better of things (Ciampa: “LESSON #1: DON’T BE AN A**!”). Thatcher’s student gets in a cheap shot from behind though and the beating is on, with Thatcher choking Ciampa out.

WarGames rundown.

Thatcher is proud of his student and says on Sunday, Ciampa is going to learn respect.

Raquel Gonzalez vs. Shotzi Blackheart

Ladder match for the WarGames advantage. Shotzi kicks away to start but misses a charge in the corner. Gonzalez gets her in an over the shoulder backbreaker before flipping her down and grabbing the hair (kind of an easy target). Blackheart gets knocked off the apron so it’s time to set up the first ladder. A dropkick through said ladder has Gonzalez down but she manages to drop Blackheart face first onto a ladder.

Gonzalez starts heading back in so Blackheart jumps on her back. That doesn’t work either as Gonzalez sends her into the barricade, only to have Blackbeard send her leg first into the steps. A dropkick sends Gonzalez into the steps as well and a Coffin Drop off the barricade puts them both down.

Back from a break with Shotzi hitting a DDT onto the apron for another double knockdown. Gonzalez is right back with a steps shot to the face and it’s time to set up the ladder in the ring. Shotzi makes another save and they take turns sending each other into the ladder. Said ladder is laid over the middle rope and Shotzi’s running inverted Cannonball sends Gonzalez into the ladder. With Gonzalez on the floor, Shotzi hits a big dive to take her down again.

The rest of the teams are looking on from their podiums but come to ringside to start the brawl at ringside. Indi Hartwell can’t get the briefcase down as Blackheart makes the save, only to have Gonzalez take Shotzi down. Gonzalez goes up but here’s Io Shirai to take her down. After sending Gonzalez outside, Shirai hits the huge moonsault onto everyone else. That’s enough for Blackheart to climb the ladder to win the briefcase at 14:39.

Rating: C+. Take two people, have them do a few big spots, then have the interference to set up the ending. This feels like your run of the mill ladder match these days and while it is still good enough, it isn’t exactly inspiring. Shotzi winning is a bit of a surprise, but they probably have a twist to put her team in trouble on Sunday. Fair enough, but this (and last week’s main event) didn’t need to be a ladder match.

Team Blackheart poses on the ladder to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This show was all about setting up Sunday but at the same time, the WarGames cage alone is going to be enough to sell the show. The rest of the stories are getting somewhere and while I don’t really need to see Lumis vs. Grimes, the card looks good enough to be a solid night. That’s what this show needed to establish and it did so well enough.

Results

Leon Ruff/Damian Priest b. Legado del Fantasma – Frog splash to Mendoza

Cameron Grimes b. August Grey – Cave In

Jake Atlas b. Tony Nese – Cartwheel DDT

Imperium b. Grizzled Young Veterans via DQ when Ever Rise interfered

Shotzi Blackheart b. Raquel Gonzalez – Blackheart pulled down the briefcase

 

 

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

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

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

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

NXT
Date: November 25, 2020
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Beth Phoenix, Kevin Owens, Vic Joseph

We’re rapidly approaching the next Takeover and that means it’s time to get ready for WarGames. The men’s match is already set up but the women’s match needs a little more tweaking. There are a few more other things to be set up this week as well and that means they better be moving fast. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a recap of the end of last week’s show, with the Undisputed Era returning to go after Pac McAfee and company. After the show went off the air, William Regal announced WARGAMES (he must practice that all year, like the Sorting Hat in Harry Potter).

Candice LeRae vs. Ember Moon

Indi Hartwell is here with Candice but Moon goes straight after her to start. Candice is knocked outside and dropped onto the announcers’ table (Owens: “HI CANDICE!”), followed by a trip back inside. That doesn’t last long as Moon beats her up by the entrance, only to get caught with a cheap shot on the way back in. A neck crank doesn’t last long for Candice but she does get one off a sunset flip.

That sets off a pinfall reversal sequence, followed by a Moon kicking her in the chest for two. Candice scores with a running clothesline though and a head slam onto the mat gets two more. Moon manages to knock her into the corner and then hits a kick to the face for two of her own. Cue Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai for a distraction though and we take a break.

Back with Moon fighting out of a chinlock and snapping off a hurricanrana. Candice manages a spinning faceplant and the Gargano Escape goes on. That’s switched into a sleeper but Moon drops backwards for the break. Moon strikes away and scores with a release gordbuster before loading up the Eclipse. Gonzalez and Kai offer a distraction though, meaning Hartwell takes the Eclipse instead. LeRae uses the distraction (and lack of being Eclipsed) to hit a superkick into the Wicked Stepsister for the pin at 12:58.

Rating: C. You really can see the tier system around here and that’s not the worst thing in the world. While you have matches like Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley last week, you also have people at this level. This was a perfectly watchable and acceptable match, but it was a step or two below what we were seeing at the higher level. Candice is good for almost anything and Moon is starting to get her time back, so hopefully everything keeps improving.

Post match the group beatdown appears to be on but Moon manages to get to the floor. Cue Toni Storm to even things up a bit….until she turns on Moon, who is destroyed by the trio (Hartwell is still down and Storm has fun watching on the floor).

Santos Escobar talks about how he started Legado del Fantasma to bring respect back to lucha libre. This has been their year and their careers are taking off. They have taken out everyone who have come against them and turned Isaiah Scott into a talk show host. Next up is Curt Stallion, who is going to be a HUGE challenge. The difference between them and everyone else is they get things done. Cheers. Or maybe salud in this case.

Here’s the Undisputed Era to talk about WarGames, though first we see a clip from Pat McAfee’s podcast where he talks about how Pete Dunne is going to win a match tonight to gain the WarGames advantage. Adam Cole says they don’t look dead and he can’t count how many times people have promised to take them out. McAfee and company gave them a dose of their own medicine and yeah the Undisputed Era had it coming.

The only thing Cole is going to enjoy more than kicking McAfee in the face is being locked inside WarGames with him. WarGames is in two weeks though, and tonight they have to have the advantage match first. Kyle O’Reilly volunteers to fight for the team and Cole loves the idea. In two weeks, McAfee and company are going to face a new Undisputed Era, and they are taking those four to h***. That is undisputed. Cole is one of the best talkers around here and he sold the confidence and anger well here.

Candice LeRae and company talk rather quietly but the gist is that Candice’s WarGames team will be Raquel Gonzalez, Dakota Kai and Toni Storm. They’re all cool with each other.

Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae (she’s been busy tonight) shill merchandise.

Timothy Thatcher vs. Kushida

Hold on as Tommaso Ciampa comes out with a chair to watch (Owens: “Oh he’s going to sit. That’s not so bad.”) as Thatcher takes him down by the arm to start. Kushida slips out of a front facelock and kicks at the leg, only to have to kick Thatcher in the face. A belly to belly plants Kushida and Thatcher grabs a leglock, which Kushida reverses into one of his own. Make that a Muta Lock, which doesn’t last long by definition.

Thatcher is sent to the apron where he manages to bend Kushida’s leg around the rope as Ciampa isn’t looking pleased. We take a break and come back with Kushida striking away until an uppercut cuts him off. Kushida gets taken down into another leg crank but he’s right back with some stomps to the chest. The Hoverboard Lock goes on but Thatcher blocks a lot of the pressure by grasping his hands. Thatcher reverses into a Hoverboard Lock of his own, with Kushida reversing that into a failed cross armbreaker attempt.

With that not working, Kushida goes to an ankle lock but switches into a bridging rollup for two instead. Thatcher is out of that too and grabs a sleeper, only to be sent outside in a big crash. Kushida drives him down by the arm on the floor as Thatcher is bleeding from the nose. Back in and Kushida kicks him in the arm, only to get caught in a butterfly suplex. Ciampa pops up and shoves the chair away, with the distraction setting up the Hoverboard Lock for the tap at 12:35.

Rating: B-. I think you can get the idea here and they worked rather well with all of the submission stuff here. The ending wasn’t quite the screwy finish that you usually get as Kushida wasn’t beaten when Ciampa stood up. Thatcher vs. Ciampa should be good, though I’m still waiting to see Kushida actually get to do something of note.

Post match Ciampa thinks Thatcher might have a problem with him now.

We look back at last week’s main event with Io Shirai defeating Rhea Ripley to retain the Women’s Title in a hard hitting fight. Even the ringside physician gets to talk about how banged up they are after that kind of a match. Rhea Ripley isn’t sure what she is going to do next.

Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch are a little more fired up for Pete Dunne’s match with Kyle O’Reilly than Dunne is. Dunne promises to break Undisputed Era’s spirit tonight.

It’s time for the Kevin Owens Show, with Owens saying last November he was in WarGames and this time he’s doing commentary so maybe he’ll be a referee next time. Either way, this week it’s time to talk to someone who just had the biggest win of his career: the North American Champion Leon Ruff. Leon is glad to be here and Owens wants to give him the chance to tell his story. The fans are happy to see him and Ruff can’t believe that he only signed his contract seven weeks ago.

We look at Ruff winning the title, even with the title not fitting. Owens: “Same thing happened to me when I won the NXT Title.” Owens talks about how great of a feeling this is and Ruff needs to appreciate what he is getting to do. Ruff talks about wanting to be an inspiration to others, but Owens doesn’t think that he’s selling it hard enough. You need to let them hear who you are so Ruff starts shouting about how he beat Johnny Gargano twice, even shoving his chair away.

Owens facepalms, with Ruff immediately apologizing for the chair. Owens says it isn’t the chair because he knows what’s about to happen. Cue Johnny Gargano (Owens: “I was a little off on the count but that’s what I meant. I knew it.”) to ask if this is a prank show. Owens gets Gargano his own chair, which is thrown over the top rope. That means Owens grabs another chair, which is for someone other than Gargano.

That’s shaken off so Gargano can get in Ruff’s face as he rants about Damian Priest. Owens: “Come on Johnny, I just told him what happened.” Owens counts it down again (and again….Owens: “Oh man maybe things in NXT are different!”) so here’s Priest to get in Gargano’s face. Owens: “Before this gets too far, do you need a chair?” Gargano yells at the smiling Ruff but Priest says hang on a second.

Priest remembers Ruff saying he could beat both of them at once. Owens: “Oh man. What a shame that Teddy Long isn’t in NXT!” He wishes the NXT version of Teddy Long could come out and make a triple threat match so here’s William Regal to make the triple threat title match at WarGames. Regal: “Playa.” I knew that last line was coming and I laughed anyway.

Finn Balor talks about preparing for war. Some advice for whomever wins the war: don’t put checkers on his chess board. He isn’t hard to find.

Shotzi Blackheart has some fun with a blowtorch and asks what is the best part of war. That would be crushing your enemies and she laughs a lot.

Cameron Grimes vs. Jake Atlas

Atlas goes right after Grimes to start but a German suplex drops him down for an early two. Grimes ducks his head for a backdrop and gets it kicked right back up, only to have Atlas do the exact same thing. Now it’s Atlas with his own German suplex and a shot to the face gets two. That’s enough for Grimes though as he hits Atlas in the face and finishes with the Cave In at 2:46. Nice to see Grimes being himself again.

Post match here’s Dexter Lumis to scare the hat off of Grimes. That’s enough to send Grimes running off but a video of Grimes running away from the haunted house match, complete with a singalong, starts playing on the screen. Lumis pulls out a strap and I think we know where Takeover is going.

Post break, Grimes is trying to leave but William Regal makes a strap match between Grimes and Lumis at Takeover. Grimes asks Regal why he hates him so much, with Regal thinking it’s his personality.

Here’s Rhea Ripley to address her future. She had a big fight with Io Shirai last week and then hugged her after the match. That was all about respect though, because Ripley isn’t going anywhere. All that matters is winning the NXT Women’s Title but here are Candice LeRae and Toni Storm to interrupt. LeRae makes fun of her for never being able to win and says she’s all talk. On the other hand, LeRae can walk the walk, so here are Raquel Gonzalez and Dakota Kai, with the former carrying the unconscious Io Shirai on her shoulder. Ripley tries to fight but the numbers game catches up with her. Sign her up.

A terrified looking Xia Li and Boa go up to what appears to be their master and beg her forgiveness for losing again. They plead for one more change but a mark is written on their hands and the master says it’s time.

Here’s Ever Rise for a tag match but the Grizzled Young Veterans are back to beat them down instead. The beatdown is on and Zack Gibson promises to dominate going forward.

The Garganos take Indi Hartwell, in a neck brace, to the car. Johnny Gargano and Candice LeRae promise to dominate at Takeover….and there’s another Ghost Face in the car next to Hartwell.

Kyle O’Reilly vs. Pete Dunne

It’s a ladder match for the WarGames advantage. They go straight to the brawling before the bell with Dunne being knocked outside as we take a break. Back with the match joined in progress and O’Reilly knocking him outside again for the running knee from the apron. Dunne gets in a shot to take over though and bridges a ladder between the apron and the barricade. O’Reilly gets back up though and catapults Dunne face first into the Plexiglas.

Back in and Dunne runs over the ladder to put O’Reilly down, with the ladder landing on his leg for a painful visual. O’Reilly’s arm is crushed in the ladder but he manages a dragon screw legwhip into a knee hold with Dunne on the ladder to make it worse. The knee is fine enough to pick O’Reilly up for a powerbomb onto a ladder in the corner but O’Reilly is back up to nearly knock Dunne into the bridged ladder. A charge hits a raised boot though and Dunne suplexes him through the ladder for the huge crash.

We take a break and come back with O’Reilly kicking a chair out of Dunne’s hand and suplexing him down onto a ladder. The top rope knee only hits ladder though (that looked and sounded great) and a limping Dunne goes up. O’Reilly pulls him down by the leg though, only to have Dunne’s enziguri only hit the ladder. They slug it out from underneath the ladder and then get up so Dunne can go for the fingers.

That means a double knockdown and the ladder goes down as well, landing on Dunne’s knee. It’s time for the big stereo climb until O’Reilly snaps the arm. Dunne snaps the fingers to knock O’Reilly down….but he can land on his feet just fine, meaning Dunne gets knocked down again.

A heck of a rebound lariat drops Dunne and they’re both down. O’Reilly goes up but gets chaired in the knee and then the back to make it worse. The Bitter End onto the barricade leaves O’Reilly laying but he’s up again to turn the ladder over, sending Dunne into the ladder in the corner. O’Reilly goes up again but here’s a man with a hood over his face to jump from the floor to the apron shove O’Reilly down in a crash. Dunne wins at 15:53.

Rating: B. This was your usual violent ladder match without much drama in the end. I think you can guess who the masked man was and that’s a fine way to go, as even WWE knows better than to have the heels go into WarGames at a disadvantage. They did their thing here and kept popping up over and over, which tends to be the case in a ladder match. I’m not sure why this needed to be a ladder match (and hey we’ll be seeing another one next week) but at least they did what they needed to do.

Post match, Dunne poses with Lorcan and Burch while the Undisputed Era yells at ringside.

Overall Rating: B-. The main event was the big spectacle to set up the REALLY big spectacle later on but that’s about the only thing worth your time. Candice LeRae was all over this show, appearing in about five segments. LeRae is good at this wrestling thing but that’s a lot for almost anyone. The rest of the show was designed to set things up for Takeover and the show needed that, but it wasn’t the big awesome show that they needed to get us ready for WarGames. That’s probably next week, and they need it at this point.

Result

Candice LeRae b. Ember Moon – Wicked Stepsister

Kushida b. Timothy Thatcher – Hoverboard Lock

Cameron Grimes b. Jake Atlas – Cave In

Pete Dunne b. Kyle O’Reilly – Dunne pulled down the briefcase

 

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kickoff Show: Tag Team Battle Royal

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

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

NXT: Forgotten Sons, Breezango, Imperium

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

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

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

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

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

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

Smackdown – 1

Raw – 0

NXT – 0

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

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

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

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

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

Smackdown – 1

NXT – 1

Raw – 0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

NXT – 1

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

Raw Women vs. Smackdown Women vs. NXT Women

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NXT – 2

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NXT – 3

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

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

NXT Title: Adam Cole vs. Pete Dunne

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

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

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

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

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

Team Smackdown argues over who should be the captain.

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

Smackdown World Title: The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan

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

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

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

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

Raw Men vs. Smackdown Men vs. NXT Men

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NXT – 3

Smackdown – 2

NXT – 1

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

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

Raw World Title: Brock Lesnar vs. Rey Mysterio

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Final Standings:

NXT – 4

Smackdown – 2

Raw – 1

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

Ratings Comparison

Tag Team Battle Royal:

Original: D

Redo: D+

Lio Rush vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Kalisto

Original: C+

Redo: C

New Day vs. Viking Raiders vs. Undisputed Era

Original: B

Redo: B

Raw Women vs. Smackdown Women vs. NXT Women

Original: B-

Redo: B-

Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Roderick Strong vs. AJ Styles

Original: B

Redo: B

Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole

Original: A-

Redo: B+

The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan

Original: B

Redo: C+

Raw Men vs. Smackdown Men vs. NXT Men

Original: B+

Redo: A-

Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar

Original: C+

Redo: C+

Bayley vs. Shayna Baszler vs. Becky Lynch

Original: D+

Redo: C

Overall Rating:

Original: B+

Redo: B+

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

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

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

 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Kickoff Show: Tag Team Battle Royal

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

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

NXT: Forgotten Sons, Breezango, Imperium

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

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

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

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

Smackdown – 1

Raw – 0

NXT – 0

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

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

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

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

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

Smackdown – 1

NXT – 1

Raw – 0

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

NXT – 1

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

Raw Women vs. Smackdown Women vs. NXT Women

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NXT – 3

Raw – 1

Smackdown – 1

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

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

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

NXT Title: Pete Dunne vs. Adam Cole

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

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

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

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

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

Some wrestlers visited an elementary school.

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

Smackdown World Title: The Fiend vs. Daniel Bryan

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

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

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

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

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

Raw Men vs. Smackdown Men vs. NXT Men

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NXT – 3

Smackdown – 2

Raw – 1

Post match Reigns and Lee show respect.

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

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

Raw World Title: Rey Mysterio vs. Brock Lesnar

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

NXT – 4

Smackdown – 2

Raw – 1

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

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

Results

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

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

Adam Cole b. Pete Dunne – Last Shot

The Fiend b. Daniel Bryan – Mandible Claw

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

Brock Lesnar b. Rey Mysterio – F5

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

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

NXT
Date: November 18, 2020
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Beth Phoenix, Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett

We’re coming off a huge upset last week as Leon Ruff won the North American Title from Johnny Gargano, albeit with a big assist from Damian Priest. Tonight it’s time for a rematch so Gargano can set the world right, but we also have Women’s Champion Io Shirai defending against Rhea Ripley in a showdown. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a look back at Ruff winning the North American Title, including Gargano trying to rig the whole thing. Priest laughing in shock at the win was a great touch.

North American Title: Leon Ruff vs. Johnny Gargano

Gargano is challenging but before the match he says he wants everyone to stop talking about last week. The fans chant JOHNNY FAILURE but he says that the real failure is holding his title. Gargano knocks Ruff down and we’re ready to go in a hurry. The shoulders in the corner have Ruff in early trouble and there’s a hard whip to make it worse. Gargano hammers away in the corner, even hurting his own hand in the process.

Ruff is back with a quick enziguri but the crucifix bomb is countered. Gargano hits a pair of Lawn Darts but as he loads up a superkick, here’s Damian Priest for a distraction. That lets Ruff grab a rollup for two but the Swanton misses. A superkick drops Ruff and there’s One Final Beat for two as Priest pulls Ruff to the floor. Priest apologizes in advance and hits Ruff in the face for the DQ to keep the title at 4:50.

Rating: C-. The wrestling wasn’t the point here and there’s nothing wrong with stretching this out for another week. It’s still not like Ruff is being presented as anything better than Gargano as this is little more than a prop in the Priest vs. Gargano feud. The match was a squash until the ending and Priest’s “I’m sorry” before knocking him out was a good idea. Fine little storyline advancing match here.

Post match Gargano grabs the title but Priest takes it away and hands it to the champ.

Cameron Grimes says that he showed that Dexter Lumis is just a man. Tonight, Grimes is going to prove that he’s a rocket ship.

Cameron Grimes vs. Dexter Lumis

Blindfold match. Grimes puts his hood on and misses an early dropkick before barely being able to stand up. The referee has to duck a wild swing from Grimes, as Lumis has been standing in the middle of the ring the entire time. Grimes knocks the referee down in the corner and stomps away, allowing him to take his mask off for some reason.

Lumis is still standing in the middle of the ring without moving, but he’s still able to avoid the Cave In. Now Lumis takes his own mask off and hammers away but Grimes elbows his way out of the Silence. They head outside with Grimes being sent into various things before he finally just jumps the barricade and runs off at about 4:15.

Rating: D. This was barely a match and the ending was just there to set up something else, likely at the next Takeover. As usual, Grimes came off like the star here as he’s a ball of energy and charisma, while Lumis literally just stood there for a few minutes. I’m not sure how that makes him worthy of this much screen time, but if it means more Grimes, I’m all for it.

William Regal asks Damian Priest what was up with that and Priest says Ruff is just a joke. Ruff comes up and sounds crushed, saying that if he’s a joke he shouldn’t be defending the title. He even tries to hand Priest the belt but Regal says no. Ruff says he’s sorry to Priest, just like Priest did to him, and then hits his own slap. He says he’s no one’s joke and Regal says it serves Priest right.

Takeover: WarGames is on December 6, with Shotzi Blackheart telling Candice LeRae to find an army because they’re going to war. So what is her new tank going to look like?

Candice LeRae/Indi Hartwell vs. Kayden Carder/Kacy Catanzaro

Carter goes for Hartwell’s leg to start and finally manages to take her down, even sitting on Hartwell’s back. It’s off to Catanzaro for a kick to the face and a slingshot hilo gets two. LeRae comes in and counters a backflip into a gutbuster to put Catanzaro down. Hartwell’s spinning side slam gets two but LeRae misses the step up backsplash. The hot tag brings in Carter to clean house as Catanzaro dives onto Hartwell. Back in and LeRae hits a neckbreaker into the Wicked Stepsister for the pin on Carter at 4:33.

Rating: C-. They didn’t have a ton of time here but is anyone going to want to see these four having a longer match? It’s the best thing that they can do for a tag match like this as we start getting ready for Takeover. Above all else, it’s nice to have the women’s division getting some matches to build things up like this, because some of them just need to be in the ring and establish themselves a bit more.

Video on Arturo Ruas.

Arturo Ruas vs. Kushida

Ruas takes him to the mat and goes for the neck before slipping out of Kushida’s attempt at the same. Back up and Kushida kicks out of an armbar attempt, only to have Ruas snap him down by the arm. The armbar has Kushida in trouble as we get a voice over saying that Finn Balor isn’t here yet but once he is, he’ll have all the time he needs. At least they didn’t put a camera on the announcement.

Ruas keeps cranking on the arm before taking him down into a Kimura. That doesn’t last long either as Kushida fights up for some kicks, including the basement dropkick for two. An elbow to the face gets Ruas out of a German suplex attempt. Ruas goes for the leg but Kushida ties him up in a leglock and bridges backwards for the pin at 4:24.

Rating: C. I liked this one rather well as it was cool to see Kushida having someone who either matched or even surpassed his submission skills so he had to switch things up a bit. I could see Kushida going towards the North American Title, or I could also see myself saying that for even longer than I have been, which is getting a little frustrating already.

Ember Moon and Toni Storm are ready to take out Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez tonight because they’re tired of being shoved around. Storm wants the Women’s Title though and there can only be one. Moon says we can worry about that later.

Various wrestlers make their picks for Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai.

Dakota Kai/Raquel Gonzalez vs. Ember Moon/Toni Storm

Gonzalez throws Storm around to start and sends her into the corner for a running boot from Kai. It’s off to another corner for a facewash but Storm is right back with a basement dropkick. A snap suplex gets two and it’ Moon coming in for a double clothesline to put Gonzalez on the floor.

Back from a break with Storm snapping off a headscissors to put Gonzalez in the corner and Moon coming back in to clean house again. The middle rope Codebreaker gives Moon two with Kai having to make a save. Moon is pulled outside for a boot to the face and a drop onto the apron gives Gonzalez two. It’s off to a Gory Stretch to put Moon in more trouble and something like a Pounce cuts off the tag attempt.

Moon is right back up with a headscissors to Kai though and now the hot tag brings in Storm for some release German suplexes to Kai. Everything breaks down and Moon hits a tornado DDT on Gonzalez, only to walk into a superkick from Kai. Storm and Kai forearm it out until a double clothesline puts both of them down as well. They get back up for another slugout until Gonzalez sends Storm into the post. Moon suicide dives onto Gonzalez but Storm small packages Kai for the pin at 12:07.

Rating: B-. They went with the formula here but the people involved had the skills to make the whole thing work out well. You can see some of the setup for Takeover coming from here and that makes these matches a little more interesting than usual. Good stuff, and it’s nice to see Storm getting a win.

Post match Candice LeRae and Indi Hartwell run in to attack Moon and Storm, allowing Gonzalez and Kai to leave them laying. Sounds like a WarGames team.

Pat McAfee and company are here. McAfee has heard Finn Balor is back and there are four guys interested in what he has to say.

Timothy Thatcher vs. August Grey

They go right to the slugout to start with Grey managing to pull him down for two off a backslide. That’s just dumb to do against Thatcher, who snaps off a belly to belly into a chinlock. A front facelock suplex drops Grey again and it’s time to crank on the arm for a bit. The comeback is cut off with a single uppercut and it’s time for another armbar on Grey. A leglock is broken up with some kicks to the leg and Grey hammers away before being sent to the apron. Grey hits a superkick from the apron but dives into an uppercut. Thatcher hits a butterfly suplex and guillotines him for the win at 4:26.

Rating: C-. Just a quick squash for Thatcher here and that’s the kind of match that he needed. Grey got destroyed in short order here and that makes him look like a monster all over again. Thatcher beat up someone he shouldn’t have had trouble with and now he’s ready for someone else, which is the right idea.

Post match Thatcher says there is one more lesson so he slaps on the guillotine again, drawing out Tommaso Ciampa for a pretty interesting staredown. Thatcher says he has no problem here and backs off.

Post break, Ciampa says he came out there because he wants to fight Thatcher. Well that’s to the point.

Damian Priest comes out for a match but Johnny Gargano jumps him during the entrance. The brawl is on with Priest hitting a big forearm to put Gargano outside. Priest follows him outside and throws Gargano onto the announcers’ table for the forearms to the head. Gargano kicks him away though and hits an elbow off of said table. It’s time for a chair but here’s Leon Ruff to go after both of them. Ruff avoids a big boot to put Priest into the ropes and then sends Gargano into him, sending both guys outside in a heap. The two of them get inside and scare Ruff off, leaving Priest to stare down at Gargano. Cool segment and fight.

Next week, Wade Barrett is going to be out for some reason but Kevin Owens is going to be replacing him.

We look at the older man giving Boa a message last week.

Earlier today, William Regal came to Boa’s home, saying he has missed a week of training. Boa says she is coming so he isn’t leaving. It’s not Xia (who Regal says hasn’t been at training in two weeks), because she’s in hiding too.

Regal caught Ruff leaving and asked what he was doing. Ruff said he’ll fight both of them at once. That takes Regal a bit off guard.

Women’s Title: Rhea Ripley vs. Io Shirai

Shirai is defending and gets shoved down with raw power to start. Back up and Shirai says bring it before snapping off a headscissors. That just earns her a shot to the face but Shirai is back with a dropkick to put Ripley on the floor. The big dive is cut off with a forearm though and Shirai is dropped face first onto the apron. We take a break and come back with Shirai missing some double knees in the corner and being dropped face first onto the mat.

Shirai’s small package is blocked with more muscle and a suplex gives Ripley two. The seated abdominal stretch is broken up so Ripley takes her up top, only to have Shirai slip out of a suplex. Ripley punches the buckle by mistake and gets German superplexed down in a big crash. A basement dropkick gives Shirai two as Ripley’s ear is bleeding. Shirai’s Crossface doesn’t last long so Ripley is back up with a big boot to kick her head off. Shirai grabs the arm for a flying armbar though and there’s a dropkick to the arm to make Ripley scream some more.

The arm is snapped across the top rope and Shirai slams the arm into the apron. Ripley gets sent into the steps and we take a break. Back with both of them down as the fans declare this awesome. Ripley knocks her down again and grabs the Prism Trap. It’s spun around and they go to the mat with Ripley cranking on the leg even more. The rope is grabbed so Shirai is right back with a Cross armbreaker, which Ripley can’t muscle her way out of.

She can however rope grab her way out of it and avoid a pair of 619s from the champ. Instead Shirai knocks her into the ropes and hits the third attempt, followed by the missile dropkick for two. Shirai nails the running knees in the corner and steps over Ripley to set up the moonsault. Well in theory at least as Ripley is up in time and nails a running clothesline for two.

Riptide is countered into a snappy DDT and there’s the NXT chant (haven’t heard that in a bit). Ripley goes to the apron so Shirai hits a running sunset bomb through the announcers’ table for the massive crash. Ripley staggers back in so Shirai immediately moonsaults her (legs) for the pin to retain at 22:04.

Rating: A-. The chants were right as these two destroyed each other and had an awesome match doing so. This had the big fight atmosphere and Shirai popping up for the moonsault because she knew it was the only chance she had was a brilliant finish. Beating Ripley clean is the crowning jewel of her reign, which has gone on for quite a long time now. The good thing is the division is deep enough for Shirai to have a bunch of challengers, but she needed the classic to really solidify an already good reign. Ripley was awesome too and she’s going to be awesome for a long time to come. Check this out if you get the chance.

Post match hugs abound and here’s Finn Balor (not through the entrance because he doesn’t steal the spotlight) to praise Shirai for the win. After talking about how he defended his title with a broken jaw in two places, here are Pat McAfee and company to interrupt. McAfee calls Balor the Princess of NXT and talks about how he must have seen what the four of them were doing while Balor has been gone.

They got rid of Killian Dain, took the Tag Team Titles, and then killed all four members of the Undisputed Era. Now they want to know what Balor is going to do and get on the apron to find out all the faster. Balor needs to hand over the title before it gets even worse for him. That’s not happening because it’s easy for the mice to play while the cat’s away….and look what the cat dragged in.

Cue the Undisputed Era and the big fight is on, with Cole kicking McAfee’s head off on the floor. Chaos reigns to end the show (notice that the brawling wasn’t finished, which you don’t see at the end of the night too often). This is the first time in a VERY long time that something felt hot around here and it was a heck of a way to finish the show.

Overall Rating: B. That last half hour was excellent stuff and felt like the NXT of old, which is a great feeling to have again. It felt like they were building stories up and now we are getting ready for the payoffs. That is the kind of thing that you get around here and it feels so nice. There were some outstanding parts to this show and while not everything is perfect, it’s the first time that I’ve been actually excited about what they’re doing in far too long. Do this more often and be NXT again.

Results

Leon Ruff b. Johnny Gargano via DQ when Damian Priest interfered

Dexter Lumis vs. Cameron Grimes went to a no contest

Candice LeRae/Indi Hartwell b. Kayden Carter/Kacy Catanzaro – Wicked Stepsister to Carter

Kushida b. Arturo Ruas – Bridging rollup

Toni Storm/Ember Moon b. Raquel Gonzalez/Dakota Kai – Small package to Kai

Io Shirai b. Rhea Ripley – Moonsault

 

 

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

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

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

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

NXT
Date: November 11, 2020
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Beth Phoenix, Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

Things are starting to get back to normal after Halloween Havoc and that means we need to start the build for the next Takeover, which has yet to be officially announced. I’m not sure what to expect from the show, but we still have a lot of building to do for whenever the show is taking place. Let’s get to it.

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

Veterans Day video, as usual.

Here’s North American Champion Johnny Gargano in the ring with his Wheel of Challengers. It’s exactly what it sounds like, with a bunch of legitimate challengers and Leon Ruff being written in as an option. Gargano talks about losing his titles in his first defense every time but tonight it’s going to be difference. After starting a SPIN THE WHEEL chant, the wheel is spin and believe it or not, it winds up on Ruff, albeit after spinning backwards to get there.

North American Title: Leon Ruff vs. Johnny Gargano

Gargano is defending and kicks him in the face to start, followed by stomping Ruff down in the corner. The beating is on in various corners and Gargano throws in a little dance. Gargano sends him outside as the cockiness is high, partially because Ruff is holding his knee. Hold on though as Damian Priest is in the crowd to distract Gargano, who mocks him with the arrow.

Priest comes out from around the fence to scare Gargano inside for two off a rollup. Gargano hits a heck of a clothesline into the Lawn Dart but stops to glare at Priest again, which isn’t that bright. Ruff uses the distraction to hit a crucifix bomb for the pin and the title in a huge upset at 3:36.

Rating: C-. I like it! Ruff isn’t going to be the next big thing or the long reigning champion but points for throwing a big surprise in there to keep Gargano vs. Priest going. It plays up the idea that anything can happen and gives the show a bit of a spark, which has been missing in a bad way as of late. They surprised me here and that’s a nice feeling to have again.

Priest cracks up and Ruff (Ruff: “I’M THE CHAMPION???”) is stunned as Gargano screams at the referee. Barrett: “THE CURSE IS BACK!!! IT’S REAL!!!” Ruff puts on the title, which falls down because he’s so skinny.

Post break Ruff can’t believe it but Priest says Gargano is going to come through the curtain and beat him up. Priest pulls out his keys and says go get in the black Challenger and get out. Gargano comes through the curtain and has to be held back from Priest. They argue a lot with Priest saying that was his idea and Gargano blaming him for the loss.

Earlier today, Jake Atlas attacked a member of Legado del Fantasma with his club and called out Santos Escobar for the title shot.

Cruiserweight Title: Santos Escobar vs. Jake Atlas

Escobar is defending and has the rest of Legado del Fantasma with him. Feeling out process to start until Atlas scores with a dropkick to put him on the floor. Back in and it’s time for Atlas to win a chop off, earning himself a knee to the ribs. Escobar takes him to the mat and wraps his leg around Atlas’ neck for some stretching. That’s broken up so Escobar slams him down to counter a headscissors attempt and some stomps keep Atlas in trouble.

We hit the chinlock with Escobar cranking on the arm for a bonus. As usual, the chinlock makes Atlas come back to his feet so Escobar sends him to the apron. The rest of Legado tries to get in some club shots but Atlas takes him down. Some club shots put Legado down and a springboard Blockbuster gives Atlas two. Escobar bails to the floor and we take a break. Back with the rest of Legado being ejected and Escobar choking in the corner. The frog splash gives Escobar two but Atlas starts the real comeback.

A suplex into a superkick gives Atlas two but Escobar shoves him off the top and into the announcers’ table. Escobar slides outside and sends Atlas into the steps as the confidence is growing. Atlas makes it back inside and sends Escobar outside this time, only to get caught in the ropes on a suicide dive attempt. It knocks Escobar down enough to set up a small package for two back inside but a jumping superkick gives Escobar the same. Atlas hits a Regal Roll though and goes up top, only to have the cartwheel DDT blocked. The double underhook facebreaker finishes Atlas at 15:01.

Rating: B-. That was the most fire that Atlas has ever shown and it helped a lot. Atlas is still a long way from being a big deal but he has come along rather well in recent weeks. That being said, it is a good idea to have Escobar get some wins like this as it makes him seem like someone who can get a big win without a ton of help from his goons. You need to have some wins like that here and there and that’s what Escobar got to do here.

Dexter Lumis draws a picture of Cameron Grimes running away from the zombie referee. It seems to get some good reviews.

Shotzi Blackheart talks about what her tank meant to her before Candice LeRae destroyed it. The tank represented freedom, family and members of the military, so no they aren’t even. Now it’s time for her to beat LeRae up. Fair enough, but that seems like a fairly flimsy reason to care about a toy tank.

Raquel Gonzalez vs. Xia Li

Hold on as here’s Boa to say Li isn’t here tonight so they can’t have a match. Gonzalez kicks him in the head and beats the heck out of him, including the powerbomb to leave him laying. She says everybody better get her name out of their mouth. Gonzalez leaves and a bunch of red lights come on. An older man comes out and Boa bows to him, with the old man handing him a letter. Ok then.

August Grey was being interviewed when Timothy Thatcher jumped him from behind. The brawl was on with Grey being sent through Lumis’ picture from earlier. Lumis showed up for a staredown with William Regal joining them. I think you know where this is going.

Toni Storm vs. Candice LeRae

During her entrance, Candice talks about loving the sound of hearing the tank crushed last week. They trade headlocks to start with Storm taking her down to the mat. Back up and Candice gets caught in a wristlock but manages to reverse into one of her own. Storm takes her down to the mat with an armbar but Candice is back up with a hair pull to take over.

Now it’s Candice with her own headlock as this isn’t exactly in high gear yet. There’s a suplex to get Storm out of trouble and she hits a basement dropkick to start the comeback (despite not exactly being in much trouble). They head outside with Candice avoiding a hip attack into the steps to send us to a break. Back with Candice hitting a Backstabber but missing a Lionsault. Storm scores with a headbutt to put them both for a bit, allowing the fans to start some rhythmic stomping.

A German suplex drops Candice and the running hip attack connects in the corner. There’s a sliding lariat against the ropes and another in the middle of the ring has Candice rocked again. A fisherman’s suplex gives Storm two so she goes up top, only to miss the guillotine legdrop. Candice kicks her in the face for two but Storm knocks her into the corner. Storm misses a charge though and Candice grabs a rollup with feet on the ropes for the pin at 10:14.

Rating: C+. They beat each other up rather well and I can go for more of Candice cheating to win, but at the same time it’s weird to see Storm taking a loss. She would seem to be one of the most can’t miss prospects in all of NXT, though at least it wasn’t a clean loss here so it isn’t some horrible tragedy.

Post match Storm goes after her again but the Ghostface attacker comes in. Shotzi Blackheart comes in for the save but gets double teamed down. The Ghostface is revealed as….Indi Hartwell, which shouldn’t be that big of a surprise, just like the tag match likely taking place next week.

Breezango says it took them five years to get the titles but they pulled it off. They don’t like Pat McAfee because he isn’t even a wrestler. Tonight, they’re taking the titles back because they can do it again. I doubt it, but it was the serious promo they should have been cutting here.

Dexter Lumis vs. Timothy Thatcher

Lumis goes with a Thesz press to start and knocks Thatcher outside early on. Back in and Thatcher goes for the leg but gets kicked away into another standoff. Lumis rides him on the mat for a bit until Thatcher goes for the ankle again with a little more success. There’s a suplex to drop Lumis again but he crawls over to Thatcher without much effort. A front facelock has Lumis in more trouble and it’s back to the ankle to make it worse.

Lumis’ choking doesn’t get him very far as Thatcher is right back with a bow and arrow (always nice to see). Back up and Lumis gets in a spinebuster into a dropkick as the ankle seems ok. Lumis is favoring his arm as he sends Thatcher outside but follows him anyway. They slug it out on the floor with the bad arm being sent into the post as we take a break. Back with Thatcher getting two off a butterfly suplex before slapping on another armbar.

That’s broken up as well so Thatcher tries another suplex, with Lumis reversing into a belly to back of his own. Lumis nips up into a spinning legdrop and grabs a bulldog out of the corner. Thatcher catches him on top but Lumis shoves him off and this a Swanton. Cue Cameron Grimes on the apron so Thatcher sends them together and pulls Lumis into a cradle for the pin at 13:34.

Rating: C-. The wrestling was fine but sweet goodness WHAT IS THE OBSESSION WITH LUMIS??? He’s here week after week and I don’t remember a match where I’ve been overly interested with or impressed by him. For some reason NXT seems to think he’s some kind of awesome star for I just do not get it no matter what he does. At least Thatcher got the win though.

Post match Grimes stays on Lumis and puts a burlap sack over Lumis’ face. Lumis gets beaten to the floor, where Grimes puts him in a chair for the Cave In. Yeah I’m still not interested in Lumis. Grimes yes, Lumis no.

Johnny Gargano goes to William Regal’s office and thinks the decision should be reversed. That isn’t happening so Gargano snaps and admits to rigging the wheel. Regal says the decision stands and shuts the door in Gargano’s face, meaning it’s time to yell some more.

Tommaso Ciampa talks about being around NXT for a long time. He trained with some legends like Killer Kowalski and Harley Race, who were really tough men. They never took liberties because they didn’t need to. Now he looks around the NXT locker room and everyone will tell you how tough they are. Maybe it’s the world we live in today, where you complain and get rewarded. There are actions without consequences so maybe he is the last of a dying breed. Two weeks ago he told us that this 2020 locker room culture is going to change and he is that change. Ciampa turns the chair over as he leaves. I’m intrigued.

We get a Prime Target on Io Shirai vs. Rhea Ripley. Rhea talks about walking into Raymond James Stadium at 23 years old and being ready for Wrestlemania….but then it didn’t happen, and the match took place in front of no fans with no energy and no emotion. Then she got beat as well and it wasn’t what she expected. Then two months later, Io Shirai won the Women’s Title in a triple threat match, also involving Ripley.

Shirai talks about not being able to have regrets and failed as champion, which every challenger has learned. She stops momentum and defeats the best and now that Rhea has taken months to recover from Wrestlemania, Shirai is ready to be her nightmare. Ripley talks about how she doesn’t quit and is ready when the lights go on. The title match is next week. It doesn’t have the biggest build, but Ripley getting a shot feels like an important deal no matter what.

Here are the Kings of NXT for a chat. McAfee talks about how great it was to take out Killian Dain last week and even though he is stuck in Orlando, it has been a great day. Not only has he traded tweets with Tom Brady and found out that his business is worth $150 million, but now he gets to watch Oney Lorcan and Danny Burch destroy Breezango while he dominates that commentary desk. McAfee goes over to sit next to Stupid Joseph and Bad News Barrett.

Cameron Grimes is VERY pleased with what he did and is off to celebrate.

Finn Balor is back next week.

Tag Team Titles: Breezango vs. Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch

Burch and Lorcan are defending with Pete Dunne at ringside and Pat McAfee on commentary. The champs jump Breezango to start as McAfee talks about losing in the Super Bowl to “Drew Brees and his dumb baby.” Breeze manages to catapult Burch into the barricade as we settle down to a regular match. It’s Breeze getting caught in the wrong corner but managing to block a suplex and drive Burch over for the tag to Fandango.

Lorcan comes in and blocks a suplex to take over on Fandango but everything breaks down. They head outside with the champs both getting superkicked as we take a break. Back with McAfee off commentary and double tags bringing in Fandango and Lorcan as the pace picks up. Fandango starts cleaning house and hits a hiptoss into a neckbreaker on Burch. The Falcon Arrow gets two on Lorcan as everything breaks down again.

Breeze tries a flip dive to the floor but Dunne pulls Burch out of the way. Fandango dives onto them instead but Lorcan crotches him back inside. McAfee offers a distraction but here’s Drake Maverick to kick Lorcan off the top. Maverick dives onto McAfee as well, leaving Fandango to hit the Last Dance for two on Lorcan. Dunne runs Maverick over and then knocks Breeze off the apron so Fandango can’t make a tag. Burch comes in off a blind tag and it’s a headbutt into the elevated DDT for the pin to retain the titles at 9:59.

Rating: C+. The action helped overcome the fact that there was no drama to the match, but it was good to get the rematch out of the way. McAfee and company are looking like they could be a big deal around here for a long time to come and it’s not like Breezango are serious threats to get the titles back. This was a good enough match to make the point and Maverick being willing to fight for his friend works out well, especially if this foursome’s failure sets up the Undisputed Era coming in for the war.

Post match Maverick dives onto Burch and goes after the other three, earning himself a big group beatdown. Dunne X Plexes him onto the announcers’ table and Fandango’s save attempt earns him a beating as well. Breeze is held up and McAfee adds the Punt to leave him laying. McAfee takes over the camera to say that they’re the greatest and these three suck to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. This is a fine example of a show where there was a lot more going on than just the wrestling. What mattered here were things like stories being moved forward (in a Takeover direction) and setting things up for the future. I liked what we got here rather well and they’re starting to get some of that momentum back. Balor returning next week should help and things are looking up on the way to Takeover, assuming they bother announcing it in the near future.

Results

Leon Ruff b. Johnny Gargano – Crucifix bomb

Santos Escobar b. Jake Atlas – Double underhook facebreaker

Candice LeRae b. Toni Storm – Rollup with feet on the ropes

Timothy Thatcher b. Dexter Lumis – Rollup

Oney Lorcan/Danny Burch b. Breezango – Elevated DDT to Fandango

 

 

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

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

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

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

NXT
Date: October 14, 2020
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Beth Phoenix, Wade Barrett

Things are in a weird place at the moment as Finn Balor is out recovering from his broken jaw and some of the returning and newer stars are doing what they can to get over again. I’m not sure how that is going to go but it is a transitional time at the moment. Maybe things can get better again in the near future though because it has been a rough time. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening recap.

Here’s the Undisputed Era for a chat before their match. Kyle O’Reilly says he’ll be cleared next week but Adam Cole still has broken ribs. They never got their hands on Ridge Holland but if they had, he would have been in the same hospital bed he is in right now. It’s time for the Golden Prophecy to return and tonight, they’re becoming #1 contenders to the Tag Team Titles.

Undisputed Era vs. Danny Burch/Oney Lorcan

The winner gets a title shot next week. Strong headlocks Lorcan to start but gets taken down into a headscissors on the mat. Burch comes in and works on O’Reilly’s arm but it’s off to Fish to pick up the pace. A slingshot hilo misses Burch though and he uppercuts Fish down. It’s time to work on Fish’s arm, followed by a double Russian legsweep. O’Reilly tries to come in but gets suplexed onto Fish for two.

We hit the armbar on the mat to keep Fish down and it’s a seated armbar for a change. Some chops get Fish out of trouble though and we see Breezango sitting near the top of the arena as we take a break. Back with Fish chopping out of the corner but getting pulled into a Boston crab. That’s broken up as well but Fish comes in off the top….with a missed headbutt.

The hot tag brings in Burch to clean house, including a pop up powerbomb for two on O’Reilly. A Samoan drop plants Burch but he fights out of a fireman’s carry. The double middle rope dropkick puts the Era down and Lorcan is back in to run O’Reilly over. The Era counters the double submission into a rollup for two but it’s the spike DDT for two on O’Reilly. Lorcan is rammed into Burch though and O’Reilly hits a jumping knee for the pin at 13:28.

Rating: C+. Good, action based match here with the Era getting the win to move on. That being said, I really don’t need to see the Era getting another title shot after they have long since established themselves as the top team in NXT history. They had a good match here though and it worked out well, though I’m almost scared to see how it is going to go against Breezango.

We look at Finn Balor undergoing surgery to repair his broken jaw. He’ll be out for a bit but should not have to vacate the NXT Title.

Video on Ember Moon, who has been out for a long time now but came back, wanting her Women’s Title again. She has to go through a who’s who to get there and if that is what she has to do to get to Io Shirai, so be it. They’re betting a lot on Ember’s star power and I’m really not sure it’s there.

Jake Atlas vs. Ashante Adonis

Adonis grabs a sunset flip for two to start and they trade a few grapples. With that not going anywhere, Adonis kicks him in the face to set up a strike off. Cue Legado del Sol though and it’s a rollup to give Atlas the pin at 1:45.

Post match Legado jumps Adonis but Atlas makes the save. Santos Escobar comes out to glare at them so the trio heads to the ring, with Isaiah Scott coming in with chairs to make Legado think twice about it.

Candice LeRae calls herself the uncrowned Women’s Champion and Johnny Gargano wants to know why Dexter Lumis is getting a North American Title shot. Gargano: “HE DRAWS PICTURES! AND KIDNAPPED A GUY!” Gargano isn’t worried about Austin Theory because it’s time to teach him a wrestling lesson.

Johnny Gargano vs. Austin Theory

Gargano takes him down into a front facelock to start but Theory pops up with a headlock. That earns Theory a dropkick and it’s Gargano chopping him into the corner. The armbar goes on and it’s Theory in more trouble early on. Gargano takes him to the match but the threat of the Gargano Escape sends Theory over to the ropes. Back up and Theory hits a hard clothesline into a standing moonsault for two.

Gargano takes him into the corner but Theory kicks away from the apron and hits a rolling dropkick to take over. The slingshot spear gets Gargano out of trouble though and we take a break. Back with Gargano working on an abdominal stretch but Theory slips out and hits a quick suplex. Theory hits a slingshot stomp to the chest and another suplex plants him.

A superkick into a brainbuster onto the knee gets two but Gargano gets up a boot in the corner. Gargano goes up to the middle rope but his crossbody is pulled out of the air. Theory stacks Gargano up for two and it’s time to slug it out. Gargano hits a heck of a superkick, which sets up the Lawn Dart into the corner. One Final Beat finishes Theory at 14:17.

Rating: B-. This got some time and Theory loses to someone who he has no business beating. They’re doing something nice with Theory by having him rubbing elbows with bigger names and getting the chance to show that he can hang with them for a bit. He’ll need some kind of a change in the future to make him into a star, but the base is starting out rather well.

Raquel Gonzalez is ready to face Rhea Ripley in two weeks so here’s Rhea for the near brawl, with agents holding them back.

Tommaso Ciampa is not happy with Velveteen Dream and is coming for him.

Shotzi Blackheart vs. Candice LeRae

The winner gets a Women’s Title shot at Halloween Havoc. They lock up to start with Shotzi pulling on the arm and sliding underneath a clothesline. The reverse Cannonball against the ropes misses so Shotzi settles for a kick to the head instead. A shoulder to the ribs puts Shotzi outside but they switch places, with Shotzi hitting a suicide dive (possibly getting caught in the ropes on the way) to take over again.

Back in and Candice grabs a jawbreaker but walks into a fireman’s carry facebuster onto the knee. Candice knocks her down and hits a Hennig necksnap for two. The seated armbar keeps Shotzi down and it’s off to the neck crank for a change of pace. Candice knocks her into the corner and they head to the apron, with Shotzi being sent into the post before she can knock Candice silly. A running faceplant sends Shotzi face first into the apron and we take a break.

Back with Shotzi hitting a dropkick into the corner and a reverse Sling Blade to drop Candice again. Now the running reverse Cannonball to the back connects but the top rope backsplash hits Candice’s raised knees. Candice catches her on the ropes with a release German suplex, followed by a low superkick for two. Shotzi is back up with a tiger suplex for two, only to get caught with a Backstabber.

The Lionsault gives Candice two but Candice is back with Cattle Mutilation, albeit with Candice sitting down instead of laying on her face. Candice makes it over to the rope but gets sent into the corner. Shotzi goes up for a top rope Thesz press but Candice rolls outside before the top rope backsplash. With Candice rolling outside, Indi Hartwell slips her an object and it’s a knockout shot to pin Blackheart at 15:38.

Rating: B. That’s the best match I’ve ever seen from the two of them and that’s a great sign for the future. Blackheart gets cheated out of the win and assuming Candice wins the title at Halloween Havoc, a Takeover rematch with Blackheart would make a lot of sense. As for this one, these two beat the heck out of each other and it was very good stuff, especially for two people who haven’t reached that level before, at least around here.

Earlier today, Drake Maverick had a marketing presentation for Killian Dain, completely with costumes (Drake: “Fishnets are in!”) and a team name of the Furry and the Fury. It’s all going to fit together tonight when they face Imperium. Dain: “WE HAVE A MATCH TONIGHT???”

Video on Toni Storm.

Robert Stone is here with Aliyah to talk about how great the Robert Stone Brand is. And then this.

Toni Storm vs. Aliyah

Storm gets the rockstar entrance and headbutts Aliyah down to start. A running basement dropkick gives Storm two but Aliyah gets in a running dropkick in the corner for two. Aliyah’s swinging neckbreaker gets two and we hit the double arm crank. Storm fights up and snaps off a German suplex into the corner, setting up the running hip attack. There’s the running clothesline into Storm Zero for the pin at 2:29. Storm feels like a star and that’s all that mattered here.

William Regal isn’t happy with how Candice LeRae became #1 contender but he’s thinking of upping the stakes in her title match with Io Shirai. In addition, in two weeks, it’s Raquel Gonzalez vs. Rhea Ripley. Xia Li, with Boa, comes up and says she needs to compete. Regal says he’ll take it into consideration.

Drake Maverick/Killian Dain vs. Imperium

Dain still doesn’t like the whistling entrance and throws Drake into the ring for trying to dance. Aichner gets thrown down to start and Dain pulls Maverick over the top (that’s a tag) and onto Aichner for two. A hard clothesline takes Maverick down though and the beating is on in the corner. Barthel comes in, hits him in the face a few times, and hands it back to Aichner.

A quick low bridge allows the hot tag to Dain, who can’t quite suplex them both at once. Aichner manages a spinebuster to allow Barthel to add a kick to the chest. Dain is right back up and gets over for the tag to Maverick. That’s about all of the good things for the team though as Maverick gets taken down in a hurry and it’s the Imperial Implosion (no longer the European Bomb) for the pin at 3:48.

Rating: C-. They’re keeping these matches short and that is the right idea for a team like Maverick and Dain. There is a nice enough idea for the team but you are only going to be able to keep them out there for so long, at least at this point. They can grow into that in the future, but for now it isn’t working. Then there’s Imperium, who shouldn’t be allowed around that long either, though for fear of having everyone around fall asleep.

Post match Dain leaves so it’s Ever Rise running in to go after Maverick. Dain comes back in for the save, saying that no one hits Maverick but him. And there’s your big turning point.

North American Title: Damian Priest vs. Dexter Lumis

Lumis is challenging. They fight over a lockup to start with Lumis being sent into the ropes and coming back with a glare to make Priest back off. An armdrag into an armbar has Lumis down before Priest hits a quick Old School into a crossbody. Back up and Lumis hits a Thesz press to hammer away so Priest kicks him in the face. The running jumping elbow in the corner sets up the Broken Arrow for two on Lumis.

We take a break and come back with Lumis hammering away and grabbing a bulldog out of the corner. A spinebuster gives Lumis two more but Priest is back up with a kick to the head. The Downward Spiral gets two and it’s an ankle lock (remember that Lumis missed time with an ankle injury) to have Lumis in big trouble. He finally kicks away though and grabs a belly to back suplex for a double knockdown.

Lumis nips up and jumps into a legdrop for two but the Swanton misses. A heck of a clothesline sets up a missed spinning kick to the head so Lumis hits the Side Effect into Silent. Priest gets his foot in the rope but here’s Cameron Grimes for a Cave In on Lumis (Priest didn’t see it). South of Heaven retains the title at 12:08.

Rating: C-. In case you didn’t have enough proof of it before, Dexter Lumis is not interesting. His whole deal seems to be that he stares at people and I have no idea why that is supposed to be enough to make me interested in him. Grimes can probably get something out of him, but he is one of the few who could. This didn’t work very well, but a lot of that is on trying to make Lumis seem important.

Post match Grimes goes after Lumis but Priest makes the save, telling Grimes to stay out of his business. Gargano pops up to chair Priest down, but here’s William Regal to say they will both get title shots at Halloween Havoc. There’s more though, so here’s Shotzi Blackheart to announce that the matches will be…..SPIN THE WHEEL MAKE THE DEAL. That was one of my favorite gimmicks back in the day so this is a great surprise.

The show had a four minute overrun, which isn’t the norm around here.

Overall Rating: B-. This is where NXT TV shines: they had goals they needed to accomplish and then did just that, which is one of the most important things that they can do. They had good (not great) matches tonight, but what matters the most is that Halloween Havoc is feeling fun. Takeover: 31 felt like something that we had to do just because it was there. This is coming off as something they have set up to make into a cool show, which is where NXT tends to be best. Good show here, and it felt like a return to what works for them.

Results

Undisputed Era b. Danny Burch/Oney Lorcan – Jumping knee to Lorcan

Jake Atlas b. Ashante Adonis – Rollup

Johnny Gargano b. Austin Theory – One Final Beat

Candice LeRae b. Shotzi Blackheart – Right hand with brass knuckles

Toni Storm b. Aliyah – Storm Zero

Imperium b. Drake Maverick/Killian Dain – Imperial Implosion to Maverick

Damian Priest b. Dexter Lumis – South Of Heaven

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

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

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

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