NXT
Date: April 26, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

Things got weird last week as Joe Gacy suddenly had a cult (minus his one regular follower) and sent them after Bron Breakker. That’s your NXT Title match for next week and….yeah I’m not sure what to expect there. Other than that, we need to start building up the rest of the card and that will probably be done tonight. Let’s get to it.

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

Nikkita Lyons vs. Lash Legend

They go right at the brawling with Lyons getting the better of things and taking her to the ground for some right hands. Legend sends her crashing out to the floor though and a ram into the steps makes it worse. Back in and Lyons gets a sunset flip for two but Legend is back with a spinning side slam for the same. The neck crank has Lyons in trouble but she is back up with the kicks to the leg. There’s a snap suplex to drop Legend and a German suplex does it again. The spinning kick to the chest finishes Legend at 5:02.

Rating: D. This was rough, didn’t flow well and was just a mess as these two, especially Legend, just is not ready for live TV. I completely get why they want to put both of them on television, but that doesn’t mean it’s a good idea. Lyons is ahead of Legend at the moment, but I wouldn’t leave her out there for a longer match either. At least it was relatively short, though that about the extent of the positives.

Post match Natalya runs in to jump Lyons but Cora Jade makes the save.

Tony D’Angelo isn’t worried about facing Xyon Quinn….because he isn’t cleared to compete for some reason. Instead, he gets to face Von Wagner, who is going to be sleeping with the fishes. Right Santos Escobar?

Roderick Strong gives the rest of Diamond Mine a pep talk and has even gotten the Creed Brothers a match next week…..with the Viking Raiders. Cool with the Brothers.

Von Wagner vs. Tony D’Angelo

They start a bit fast with neither being able to get very far. Wagner gets him into the ropes for some choking to take over as the fans are behind D’Angelo. A show to the face keeps D’Angelo down and we take a break. Back with D’Angelo fighting out of a chinlock and hammering away.

The fisherman’s neckbreaker is broken up with a toss to the floor but here are Legado del Fantasma to go after Wagner. Cue the Wise Guys (as commentary calls them) to cut them off so Santos Escobar comes in to take out D’Angelo’s knee. Back in and a big boot finishes D’Angelo at 10:02.

Rating: C-. I keep hoping that they will pull the plug on Wagner as he’s just another generic big man doing generic big man things. D’Angelo is at least someone they have put some effort into so maybe there might be something there, but at least they protected him in the loss. I’m still not into the D’Angelo vs. Escobar stuff whatsoever though.

Toxic Attraction mocks Roxanne Perez over her cheating win last week but she’s ready for Mandy Rose. Tonight. Rose is ready to teach her a lesson.

Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen give Fallon Henley a pep talk before she gets to fight Elektra Lopez. Sofia Cromwell comes in and distracts Jensen, but he gets snapped back into reality.

Nathan Frazer comes out for his debut match but Grayson Waller jumps Frazer’s unnamed opponent. Chase U distracts Waller so he says to get in here and fight him. Chase U comes to the ring and Frazer jumps Waller to clear the ring. Apparently Frazer’s opponent was Guru Raaj if you’re into the least interesting trivia available this week. You couldn’t have Frazer win in a minute or so and then do the Waller stuff?

The Women’s Breakout Tournament begins in two weeks, featuring Arianna Grace, better known as Santino Marella’s daughter Bianca.

Tiffany Stratton freaks out because Sarray pulled her hair three times last week. Grayson Waller comes in to rant about Nathan Frazer. Stratton rants about Frazer’s bad hair and accent, with Waller agreeing about how horrible accents are.

Kayden Carter/Katana Chance vs. Valentina Feroz/Yulisa Leon

Cater armdrags Leon to start but it’s off to Feroz for a hurricanrana and some dancing. Back in and Carter catches her with a kick before handing it off to Chance for a springboard crossbody. A seated abdominal stretch has Feroz in more trouble until she fights up and hits an elbow to the face. The tag brings in Leon to clean house and Chance is knocked to the floor. Carter gets caught in an Octopus but Leon misses a Lionsault. That lets Chance come back in for the 450/neckbreaker combination and the pin at 5:58.

Rating: C. This was fine enough, but egads cut it out with the name changes. All this did was make me have to erase Catanzaro over and over because that’s who I see out there. It isn’t like there was some reason for the change other than Vince McMahon has a new thing, making it all the more annoying of a move.

Post match the winners dance, because at least half of the women in this division must dance.

Brooks Jensen has been jumped and Josh Briggs knows it was Legado del Fantasma. Briggs and Fallon Henley leave to fight as Jensen tells the medics he can go.

Kay Lee Ray lights her baseball bat on fire and names herself Alba Fyre, because Vince McMahon has to change ALL THE NAMES, because if you skip a few weeks and are confused, THAT’S YOUR PROBLEM!

Legado del Fantasma vs. Josh Briggs/Fallon Henley

Handicap match as Brooks Jensen isn’t here. Briggs and Henley clear the ring to start and it’s the women officially getting things going. Lopez misses an elbow so it’s quickly off to Briggs to run over Del Toro and Wilde. Del Toro is suplexes into Wilde and Lopez gets kicked in the head.

We settle down to Briggs getting double teamed as Mr. Stone gets on commentary to suggest that Von Wagner took out Brooks Jensen. An electric chair splash gets two on Briggs, who manages to kick Wilde into the corner. The double tag brings the women back in so Henley can hit a running shoulder. A running kick doesn’t quite work but gets two on Lopez anyway. Everything breaks down and the women are chased off, leaving Briggs to get caught in the Russian legsweep/big boot combination for the pin at 4:48.

Rating: C. Briggs looked good here and Henley got to show some fire, which makes me think there is some hope for their trio. That being said, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Briggs and Jensen split up after Jensen sells his soul for Cromwell, because modern WWE could somehow screw up the country boy tag team trope. This needed a bit more time to get good but it worked while it lasted.

Natalya is ready to beat up Cora Jade and put the locker room ON NOTICE. Lash Legend says it isn’t over with Nikkita Lyons next week and then win the Breakout Tournament.

Kiana James is smart and bringing corporate strategy to the Breakout Tournament. I guess the modern day Alexandra York is a way to go.

Solo Sikoa vs. Trick Williams

Cameron Grimes is on commentary. Williams sends Sikoa shoulder first into the corner a few times to start but Sikoa reverses into an armbar of his own. Some kicks put Sikoa down and Williams adds a slam for a bonus. The running neckbreaker gets two as Grimes talks about the various things he has done around here over the years. Sikoa fights up though and the fired up Sikoa hits a belly to back suplex. The running splash in the corner sets up the Samoan drop and the Superfly Splash is good for the pin on Williams at 5:08.

Rating: C+. Williams continues to hold his own in the ring despite being little more than a mouthpiece for someone who doesn’t need one. Sikoa is someone who has the tools but needs ring time, so letting him slowly progress is a good thing. While he probably won’t win the North American Title next week, it’s nice to see him getting a chance and not feeling like he is in over his head.

Post match Grimes gets in the ring to argue with Carmelo Hayes but Sikoa superkicks him down before the three of them face off for the North American Title next week.

Malik Blade gives Edris Enofe a pep talk in the mirror in a scene straight out of Cool Runnings (nearly copying the dialogue).

Legeado del Fantasma are fired up over their win but they want to get rid of Tony D’Angelo and his associates.

Edris Enofe/Malik Blade vs. Viking Raiders

Erik knocks Blade around to start and the beating is on in a hurry. Enofe comes in to try his luck and gets blasted in the face with a knee for two. The fans are behind Erik as he works on the armbar. It’s back to Blade as commentary seems to quote Lose Yourself and Cool Runnings back to back. A double high crossbody gets two on Ivar and that’s enough of being beaten up for him. House is cleaned and it’s off to Erik for a full nelson slam backbreaker. The Viking Experience finishes at 4:45.

Rating: C. The ending wasn’t really in doubt but NXT might have something with Blade and Enofe. They’re young, they work well together and their matches aren’t too bad. Give them some time to develop and maybe they can be the next “it” team around here. NXT is supposed to be developmental and these two seem to be developing so well done.

Post match the Creed Brothers come out for a staredown.

Wes Lee is on the beach and talks about taking is months to get back to the Tag Team Titles. Losing was hard, but it was even worse to have them taken away. He could whine and complain or he could knuckle up and makes the waves that he is destined to make. I’ve heard far worse promos.

Tony D’Angelo introduces us to his associates: Troy “Two Dimes” Donovan and Channing Lorenzo, better known as Stacks. D’Angelo wants Santos Escobar at Spring Breakin.

Mandy Rose vs. Roxanne Perez

Non-title and the rest of Toxic Attraction is here. Rose takes her down with a wristlock to start but Perez nips up and grabs a victory roll for one. Back up and Perez starts biting the finger, as Barrett is panicking over the manicure. A ram into the steps has Rose in trouble as we take a break.

Back with Rose taking over again and putting on a backbreaker with Perez bent over the knee. That’s broken up and Perez starts the comeback with a Russian legsweep into a standing moonsault for two (which isn’t innovative offense). A crossbody gets the same but Rose hits the jumping knee for the pin at 9:55.

Rating: C-. I get why it had to happen this way but I wouldn’t have had Perez losing in her second match on NXT. She is someone who came in and had a little buzz so don’t have her lose so fast. Rose is the bigger star, but at least have Toxic Attraction interfere to cost Perez the match.

Post match Wendy Choo appears to chase off Toxic Attraction….and a net falls onto them. Choo and Perez spray them with silly string. This was worse than Perez losing.

Sloan Jacobs is 19 years old but she spent years fighting with her sisters so she’s ready to overcome the odds in the Breakout Tournament.

Spring Breakin rundown.

Here is Joe Gacy, with druids, to talk about the strides they have made to embrace change. Now he knows that Bron Breakker has been hurt and left on the sidelines so now Gacy can be crowned NXT Champion. Cue Rick Steiner to interrupt and say Breakker is cleared to compete, so the druids get in the ring. Cue Breakker to clean house, because I guess he was having a sandwich while Rick came to the ring. Gacy hits the handspring clothesline and drops Breakker before posing with the title to end the show. This wasn’t good, but it was miles ahead of last week’s nonsense. If this is as bad as it gets anymore, it should be ok.

Overall Rating: C-. This show could have been worse, but the bad parts were really bad and that brings things down a lot. They went with faster matches and got a lot of people on the show this week but it didn’t have anything you needed to see. Spring Breakin doesn’t feel like a show that needed to exist and that is becoming more obvious each week. Not their worst (especially after last week’s Gacy/Breakker stuff) but it really didn’t work very well.

Results
Nikkita Lyons b. Lash Legend – Spinning kick to the chest
Von Wagner b. Tony D’Angelo – Big boot
Katana Chance/Kayden Carter b. Yulisa Leon/Valentina Feroz – 450/neckbreaker combination to Feroz
Legado del Fantasma b. Josh Briggs/Fallon Henley – Russian legsweep/big boot combination to Briggs
Solo Sikoa b. Trick Williams – Superfly Splash
Viking Raiders b. Malik Blade/Edris Enofe – Viking Experience to Blade
Mandy Rose b. Roxanne Perez – Jumping knee

 

 

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NXT
Date: April 12, 2022
Location: Capitol Sports Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett

It’s another huge week around here as we have a series of title matches. This includes a guaranteed new champion as the vacant Tag Team Titles are on the line in a gauntlet match. Other than that, there are two title matches as the North American and Women’s Titles are on the line as well. Let’s get to it.

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

The opening recap looks at Bron Breakker retaining the NXT Title over Gunther to send him to Smackdown, only to have Joe Gacy and Harland kidnap Breakker’s father Rick Steiner. Because of course they did.

North American Title: Cameron Grimes vs. Solo Sikoa

Grimes is defending and misses a running kick to the face to start. Sikoa’s waistlock is countered into an armbar and Sikoa can’t do much to get out of it. The hold is finally broken up so they shake hands, though Grimes says Sikoa’s Bloodline can kiss his grits. An enziguri knocks Sikoa to the floor and the apron flip dive takes us to a break.

Back with Grimes hitting a bridging German suplex for two but the Cave In misses. Sikoa hits the running Umaga Attack in the corner for two and it’s time to slug it out. Grimes’ flipping powerslam gets two but Sikoa knocks him down again. The Superfly Splash is broken up by an invading Trick Williams, allowing Grimes (not sure if he saw Williams) to hit the Cave In to retain at 13:11.

Rating: C+. The ending should tell you where some stories are going, though Grimes retaining is a good sign. He finally won something and now setting up his title reign with a win gives me some hope. Grimes will have to beat Hayes in a regular match at some point so they might as well get there now.

Post match Williams and Carmelo Hayes beat Grimes down.

We go over the gauntlet match but Grayson Waller/Sanga interrupt so Waller can brag about how easy of a win it is going to be.

Video on Pretty Deadly attacking the Creed Brothers again last week. The Creeds demand revenge.

The Creeds draw their numbers and seem happy.

Here is Bron Breakker for a chat and he isn’t happy with what Joe Gacy and Harland did to Rick Steiner. Gacy pops up on screen and says they beat up Steiner but then let him go, which started teaching them about Breakker himself. They still have Rick’s Hall of Fame ring, which they throw in a fire, leaving Breakker stunned/silent. Throw the feud in with it if you can.

We look at Toxic Attraction winning the Women’s Tag Team Titles back last week.

Toxic Attraction brags about their win, with Mandy Rose promising to beat Dakota Kai tonight because the team is that good.

Von Wagner destroys Jacket Time in the back. That should take care of his match with Kushida

An angry Bron Breakker gets in his car and leaves.

Here are Robert Stone and Von Wagner to say Jacket Time is done. Hold on though as here is Ikemen Jiro to go after Wagner on his own.

Von Wagner vs. Ikemen Jiro

Jiro is banged up but slugs away on Wagner anyway. Wagner runs him over but Jiro is back up with the jacket punches. That’s too much for Wagner, who hits him in the face and hits the Death Valley Driver for the pin at 2:57.

Post match the attractive yet still unnamed woman tells Wagner to do more, which sees Jiro tossed from the ring and into the crowd.

Nikkita Lyons is ready to step up around here but Lash Legend kicks her in the face.

Video on Pretty Deadly, who dominated the United Kingdom and can do it here too. They started with the Creed Brothers and it’s time to win the Tag Team Titles.

Pretty Deadly draw their numbers and dance off.

Women’s Title: Dakota Kai vs. Mandy Rose

Rose is defending and has the rest of Toxic Attraction with her. Kai goes straight at her to start but gets taken down, allowing Rose to pose. A crucifix gives Kai two and she hits a dropkick. Kai kicks Rose to the floor and there’s a big dive to take out the team. We take a break and come back with Rose working on a bodyscissors before choking in the corner.

The chinlock goes on but Kai fights out and hits a Russian legsweep for two. Rose misses a pump kick but manages a spinebuster for two of her own. Kai keeps up the pace with a small package for a knee fall, setting up the Kairopractor. Toxic Attraction offers a needed distraction though, allowing Rose to hit the running knee to retain at 10:48.

Rating: C. NXT has somehow managed to turn Rose into a dragon that needs to be slayed, though I don’t need it to be anytime soon. Rose is starting to feel like a major player as champion and that could work for a pretty long while longer. Beating Kai might not be some huge game changer, but it is another win under Rose’s belt before someone takes the title from her.

Post match Wendy Choo pops up to spray Toxic Attraction with water guns. Barrett: “How old is Wendy Choo?” Better question is how old is whoever wrote this.

Joe Gacy doesn’t like social media and the court of public opinion. He is the only one who can carry NXT because Bron Breakker is too emotional. Now he is going to control Breakker’s life and tear it all down, but he’ll keep one thing. He pulls the Hall of Fame ring out of the fire and puts it on, because Gacy is a full on cult guy these days.

Tony D’Angelo comes up to Legado del Fantasma and offers an envelope to Santos Escobar as a peace offering. Escobar takes the envelope and puts it back in D’Angelo’s pocket.

Here is Cora Jade for a chat. Wrestlemania weekend was big to her but the best part was having her parents in the second row (Jade: “Working on front row guys.”). She held her own at Stand & Deliver but now she NEEDS to win the Women’s Title. When she was eight years old, she promised to be a champion and now she is going to work hard to be the best ever. Cue Natalya to interrupt and Jade is stunned.

Jade goes all fangirl as Natalya is happy to be back in the building. Jade talks about being ten years old and talking to Natalya on Twitter after a show in Indiana. Natalya remembers the night and knows she pointed to the right girl after that show. She dubs Jade as the future of the women’s division….but the future is bleak. Natalya slaps her in the face and puts on the Sharpshooter, making Jade tap. Having Jade act like she is a five year old meeting Santa Claus and then getting beaten up isn’t a good idea, though Natalya putting someone in NXT over is.

Josh Briggs and Brooks Jensen are fired up for the gauntlet match, with Fallon Henley yelling at them to go do it.

Nathan Frazer is coming.

Draco Anthony vs. Xyon Quinn

Anthony drives him into the corner to start but Quinn reverses for some shoulders to the ribs. Back up and Anthony blocks the Siva Tao, earning himself the running right hand to the face. Another punch knocks Anthony sillier and a third finishes at 2:56. Basically a squash.

Natalya comes in to see the women’s roster and, after accepting a challenge from Tatum Paxley, tells them that they’re all on notice. Noted.

Persia Pirotta and Indi Hartwell decide that Dexter Lumis and Duke Hudson should team up, though the guys aren’t into it. I knew it. I knew it. I KNEW IT! They have to take the stupidest story they have and turn it into something even worse because they can’t let ANYTHING ever go.

Tag Team Titles: Gauntlet Match

The titles are vacant coming in and there are five teams entered. The Creed Brothers are in at #1 and Legado del Fantasma are in at #2. They start fast with Wilde hitting a big dive to the floor to drop both Creeds and the fans are behind Legado. We settle down to Mendoza hitting some running clotheslines on Julius, setting up a springboard flip dive to give Wilde two. Julius gets up for the tag though and everything breaks down with Legado getting caught in stereo ankle locks.

Those are broken up and Julius is sent face first into the middle buckle. There’s a springboard missile dropkick to the back, setting up a 450 to give Wilde two. Brutus pulls Mendoza to the floor, leaving Julius to hit an Angle Slam. An assisted spinebuster sets up the basement lariat to give the Creeds the pin at 4:33.

Josh Briggs/Brooks Jensen (with Fallon Henley) are in at #3, though Henley and Elektra Lopez get in a shoving match during the entrances. The teams actually involved get in a brawl as we take a break. Back with Briggs and Jensen in control and taking apart the announcers’ table. The double powerbomb sends Brutus through the table, leaving Julius to get punched in the face.

Brutus is back up (because powerbombs through tables are shrugged off) but gets knocked down again, leaving Julius to get sitout powerbombed for two. A top rope knee/Dominator (or close enough) combination gets two more with Brutus making the save. Julius brings Brutus back in, though Briggs and Jensen bring him over the top. The high/low is broken up though and Julius’ sliding lariat is good for the pin at 13:23 (total).

Grayson Waller (still banged up) and Sanga are in at #4. Sanga gets an easy cover for two on Julius, who slips out of a chokeslam and starts swinging away. Waller comes in to dance a bit and we take a break. Back again with Brutus finally throwing Waller down and making the tag off to Julius for a breather. Brutus starts cleaning house, including a suplex on Sanga. It’s back to Julius for the basement lariat to finish Sanga at 19:49.

Pretty Deadly is in at #5 to complete the field and now I get to try to figure out their new names, because of course they have new names. Deadly starts dropping knees and Julius gets caught in the wrong corner. Some right hands set up a failed suplex attempt but it’s Wilson coming back in for a double suplex.

Julius fights out of the corner and brings Brutus back in, only to get caught in the corner with a running elbow. A gutbuster drops Brutus and Julius is sent hard into the steps. Everything breaks down and a double headbutt puts Brutus and Wilson down. Prince gets in a cheap shot on Brutus though and Spilt Milk (Hart Attack with a running neckbreaker instead of a clothesline) gives Deadly the titles at 27:55.

Rating: C+. This is one of those formulas that WWE loves in gauntlet matches, as the Creeds basically beat most of the existing tag division before the new team beats them in the end. It was a very long match, but the Creeds surviving so much was getting to be a lot by the end. You can only have them take so much before it’s hurting the teams they’re beating and that took place here. At the same time, Pretty Deadly are fine choices for champions and I’m glad to see them getting their shot on the main NXT rather than just the UK version. It worked over there and it can over here too.

The Creeds are spent to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. The main event helped this a lot and the three title matches felt like big deals, though the prospect of Bron Breakker vs. Joe Gacy for any length of time doesn’t do much for me. I do like some of the new stars coming in, as one of the best things about the old days of NXT was the rapid turnover of talent. You need to bring in new people and if that means taking away some of the longer running NXT UK stars, so be it. I liked this show for the most part and the ending makes me even more interesting going forward, so call it a success this week.

Results
Cameron Grimes b. Solo Sikoa – Cave In
Von Wagner b. Ikemen Jiro – Death Valley Driver
Xyon Quinn b. Draco Anthony – Running punch
Mandy Rose b. Dakota Kai – Running knee
Pretty Deadly won a gauntlet match last eliminating Creed Brothers

 

 

 

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NXT
Date: April 6, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Wade Barrett, Vic Joseph

We’re done with Stand & Deliver and while a lot of things happened at the show, the bigger story came on Raw, as Bron Breakker defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the NXT Title. That should open up a few new doors in the main event scene and I’m curious to see which one they take first. Let’s get to it.

Here is Stand & Deliver if you need a recap.

We open with a long recap of Stand & Deliver, plus Bron Breakker getting the title back last night on Raw.

Here is Breakker to get things going. After waiting out some WE WANT ZIGGLER/NO WE DON’T chants, Breakker talks about the things that he got to do over the weekend. He went to Wrestlemania for the first time and got to see some of the biggest stars. It made him realize that he was going to headline Wrestlemania one day, but also that he wasn’t going to let Dolph Ziggler leave Dallas with OUR NXT Title.

Now the title is home…and here is Imperium to interrupt. Gunther says that was a nice story but it doesn’t mean anything until Breakker faces Gunther one on one. That’s cool with Breakker so the match is set for tonight. Cue the Creed Brothers behind Imperium and we take a break.

Creed Brothers vs. Imperium

Joined in progress with Julius suplexing Barthel and sneering down at him. It’s off to Aichner for an armdrag into an armbar, plus some knees to the arm. Brutus punches his way out of a slam attempt but gets shouldered down hard. Barthel comes back in and gets gator rolled, allowing the tag off to Julius for an exchange of headlock takeovers. Aichner hits a Regal Roll and grabs a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker.

That doesn’t last long as it’s quickly back to Brutus, who gets kicked in the head. Some forearms get Brutus out of trouble and he sends Barthel outside. Aichner is back up with a slam to send Brutus’ legs into the ropes though and we take a break. Back with Aichner still working on Brutus’ leg until a belly to belly cuts him off. The tag brings Julius in to clean house but a cheap shot from behind saves Barthel.

The double running dropkick in the corner is loaded up but only Barthel (who is bleeding from the eye after an injury from Saturday has been opened up) hits, as Aichner walks away instead. That leaves the Creeds to hit a kind of torture rack slam into the sliding lariat for the pin on Barthel at 11:38.

Rating: C. You can see the Creeds getting more and more confident in the ring as they are starting to look more Steinerish every week. That is the kind of formula that is always going to work and they looked good here. I liked what we had here, but Imperium splitting isn’t exactly an appealing prospect for the individual members not named Gunther.

Post match the Creeds celebrate but two guys in hoods come down and nail them with chairs. They unmask as….Pretty Deadly, former NXT UK Tag Team Champions. I like them in the UK, but I’m not sure how well they’re going to do here. The fact that they name themselves Elton Prince (formerly known as Lewis Howley) and Kit Wilson (Sam Stoker) doesn’t bode well for them either.

Toxic Attraction is ready to get their Tag Team Titles back. They aren’t just Toxic Attraction, because they are THE attraction.

Here is Cameron Grimes for his first chat since winning the North American Title. Grimes says that they finally did it and he knows his father is looking down and smiling ear to ear because his boy did it. People talk about climbing the ladder to success in this business and he has worked hard to prove his dad right. That’s how he got here, as the new North American Champion. He isn’t going to become complacent though, because this title is going to go up and down on multiple trips TO THE MOON!

Cue Solo Sikoa to interrupt and congratulate Grimes on the promises he made to his father. Now we get to the hard part of keeping the title, because championships run through Sikoa’s blood. Man to man, Sikoa issues the challenge and Grimes says he respects that. Challenge accepted, with Sikoa pulling him in off the handshake but not getting violent.

Joe Gacy, with Harland, talks about the need to have someone you can trust. Family is inherent to success and not having it only leads to self destruction.

Draco Anthony is watching Gacy in the back when Xyon Quinn comes in to tell him to not watch that. Anthony says not to tell him what to do and a match is teased.

We recap Dexter Lumis/Indi Hartwell being named a hotter couple than Duke Hudson/Persia Pirotta at Stand & Deliver.

Tiffany Stratton is mad about Sarray costing her a match last week and promises to destroy her. And the necklace.

Dexter Lumis vs. Duke Hudson

Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta are here too. Barrett thinks the votes on Saturday were rigged (North Korea is mentioned) as Lumis hits the Thesz press and some running elbows to start. Joseph brings up Ezekiel debuting on Raw, with Barrett thinking he means Ezekiel Jackson (which did cross my mind when the Titantron video aired on Monday) as Hudson takes over and stomps away.

The chinlock goes on as Barrett is now on about Beth Phoenix not being a real minister so Lumis and Hartwell might not even be married. Lumis fights out and hits the spinning legdrop while getting what he would consider fired up. A running corner clothesline sets up the spinebuster as we shift to a long shot of Pirotta’s face. Hudson heads outside and Lumis follows him so the women can cause a double posting for the double countout at 4:55.

Rating: D+. This feud continues to be just a step above a bad infection on the level of enjoyment. The wrestling isn’t good, the story continues to be stupid, and Lumis/Hartwell stopped being interesting a LONG time ago. I’m not sure what NXT sees in this going forward but it is far from good and they need to come up with something better for everyone else involved.

Dakota Kai and Raquel Gonzalez aren’t worried about facing Toxic Attraction again tonight.

Gunther tells Marcel Barthel to not worry about Fabian Aichner because the NXT Title match is what matters tonight. Barthel doesn’t seem happy.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Toxic Attraction vs. Dakota Kai/Raquel Gonzalez

Toxic Attraction is challenging. Jayne tries to choke Gonzalez to start and Dolin makes a blind tag, only to have her crossbody pulled out of the air. Kai comes in for a double stomp and a dropkick gets two. Dolin gets in a cheap shot though and Jayne adds a clothesline so Kai can get caught in the wrong corner. A ducked right hand allows the hot tag to Gonzalez though and it’s time to clean house.

There’s a fall away slam to Jayne but she counters a Vader bomb into the Tree of Woe. Gonzalez’s bad knee is banged up again and we take a break. Back with Gonzalez sending Jayne to the floor so Kai can tag herself back in. The running kick to the face rocks Dolin and Kai does it again for two. Everything breaks down and some double teaming lets Dolin hit a running neckbreaker to drop Kai. Gonzalez gets kicked to the floor before Kai can kick out at two.

A Codebreaker into an STO gets the same and this time Gonzalez makes another save. The big boot drops Jayne but Gonzalez’s knee gives out and she can’t follow up. Gonzalez tries a powerslam but gets reversed into a flipping Stunner. Cue Wendy Choo but Mandy Rose follows her out and sends her into the steps. The Chingona Bomb is loaded up but Jayne breaks it up with a chop block. Kai gets kicked to the apron and it’s Toxic Shock to give us new champions at 10:29.

Rating: C+. This got going in the middle but I’m rather confused by the ending. Other than Gonzalez possibly going to the main roster, why bother giving them the titles if you are going to change them again three days later? What’s kind of amazing is that the three day reign is far longer than their original reign, which didn’t even last a day.

Joe Gacy and Harland talk about how chaos can control you while still mentioning family. This is going somewhere isn’t it?

AJ Galante is here to introduce Tony D’Angelo as the new Don of NXT. D’Angelo comes to the ring for some bragging and Galante has a special card with D’Angelo’s blood. If D’Angelo breaks the code, may he burn forever. Galante puts a ring on D’Angelo’s finger, some wine is consumed and that’s that. I think I get the BORING chants during the segment.

MSK is glad to get their titles back after five months and now it is time to defend them. Grayson Waller (with his arm in a sling) and Sanga come up for the challenge. Game on for next week.

Dakota Kai is mad and throws over a bunch of tables.

Nikkita Lyons vs. Lash Legend

This could be rough. They go with the power lockup to start until Lyons hits some elbows and a running clothesline. The kick misses in the corner though and Lyons bangs up her foot. A pump kick gives Legend two and we hit a chinlock with Legend’s knee in the back. Legend’s running flip splash gets two but she misses…I don’t think you can really call it a charge but she hits the corner and Lyons can power up. Lyons kicks away and powers her into the corner for a superplex and a near fall. Back up and Lyons hits another kick into the splits splash for the pin at 4:40.

Rating: D. Yeah what were you expecting here? Lyons is better than Legend but that’s not exactly an impressive feat. Legend just does not feel like she is ready to be out of the Performance Center but here she is on national TV. It’s hard to screw up a charge into the corner yet she managed to make it happen. Not a good match, and I don’t think that’s a surprise.

Tony D’Angelo and AJ Galante are leaving when they run into Legado del Fantasma. Santos Escobar says stay out of Legado’s business and they’ll be fine.

Kushida is ready for revenge on Von Wagner for Wagner attacking Ikemen Jiro and RIPPING UP HIS JACKET!

NXT Title: Bron Breakker vs. Gunther

Gunther is challenging. Feeling out process to start as Gunther thinks better of a test of strength. Gunther drives him up against the ropes for a shot, only to get headlock takeovered down. Back up and Breakker shrugs off a chop but can’t shrug off a big boot. Breakker gets to his feet and drives him into the corner for some shoulders to the ribs.

Some right hands and a spear drop Gunther but Breakker hurts his shoulder trying the gorilla press powerslam. Another chop puts the champ on the floor and the bad shoulder is sent into the steps. We take a break and come back with Gunther staying on the shoulder. Breakker escapes and grabs a German suplex, setting up the running clothesline for the double knockdown.

Gunther is right back on the arm though and puts on a keylock. Breakker slams his way to freedom and there’s an overhead belly to belly. Gunther cuts off a charge with a dropkick though and the powerbomb gets two. The top rope splash connects for the same and Gunther hits that hard clothesline for two more. With nothing else working, Gunther goes up top but gets speared out of the air. The gorilla press still doesn’t work so Gunther chops away, only to have Breakker punch right back. Gunther’s sleeper is escaped though and it’s a big clothesline into the gorilla press powerslam to retain the title at 13:07.

Rating: B. This came out of nowhere and yet they had a hard hitting power match with Breakker fighting through the injury and eventually overcoming Gunther. That being said, this is the kind of a match that should be built up a long time in advance. Maybe Gunther is main roster bound, but otherwise this is a very strange decision. One other note: the fact that Breakker has lost before makes another loss seems that much more possible. It helps with the drama and that is a great addition.

Post match Breakker celebrates but Rick Steiner pops up on screen to say he’s proud. It just so happens that he is tied up and in a cage, with Joe Gacy saying maybe they can teach the old dog some new tricks. If Gunther isn’t being called up now, this is a rather head scratch inducting choice.

Overall Rating: C. The main event helped a lot but egads there wasn’t much to get into on this show. They hit the ground running on this show, but it felt like they were trying to get a lot onto one card. The title change was a little weird and Legend doesn’t belong on TV. Throw in Lumis/Hartwell/Hudson/Pirotta continuing and there wasn’t much to like here outside of Breakker vs. Gunther. I’m curious to see how things go in the future, but it seems that there might be some roster changes coming sooner than later.

Results
Creed Brothers b. Imperium – Sliding lariat to Barthel
Dexter Lumis vs. Duke Hudson went to a double countout
Toxic Attraction b. Raquel Gonzalez/Dakota Kai – Toxic Shock to Gonzalez
Nikkita Lyons b. Lash Legend – Splits splash
Bron Breakker b. Gunther – Gorilla press powerslam

 

 

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Stand & Deliver 2022
Date: April 2, 2022
Location: American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett

Somehow this is NXT’s first time on the road in over two years. It might not be Takeover, but it is one of NXT’s rare big shows and the card could look worse. NXT hasn’t had the chance to do something like this very often and at some point you need to just let them go out there and do their thing in front of a lot of people. Let’s get to it.

I was in attendance for this show, sitting in the lower level and facing the Titantron.

Kickoff Show: Women’s Tag Team Titles: Dakota Kai/Raquel Gonzalez vs. Toxic Attraction

Toxic Attraction is defending and are in matching green/black gear. Jayne goes after Gonzalez’s injured knee to start but Gonzalez drops her throat first across the top. It’s off to Kai for a crucifix and a near fall on Dolin as the fast start continues. As Barrett tries to figure out how, Gonzalez adds a swinging neckbreaker so Kai can get two. Dolin gets in a cheap shot from behind to take over but Kai slides between her legs to make the tag.

House is cleaned and a big boot into the spinning Vader Bomb gets two. Kai and Jayne kick each other down and we get the loud NXT chant. Toxic Shock (high/low) gets two on Kai, which seems to be a big deal (though I’m not sure I remember the team using it before). Cue Wendy Choo to throw her drink in Dolin’s face, allowing Gonzalez to add a big boot. Back inside, Kai’s scorpion kick sets up the Chingona Bomb for the pin and the titles at 7:57.

Rating: C. The title change was what mattered here but the bad part was how scripted everything felt. It came off like everything here was timed and staged all the way through and that isn’t a good thing. The match wasn’t supposed to be a classic or anything, but they got the important part right.

The opening video features a lot of the people on the show talking about how they are standing to deliver on their promises. I’ve heard worse ideas.

North American Title: Santos Escobar vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Grayson Waller vs. Carmelo Hayes

Hayes is defending in a ladder match (because of course) and Sanga, the rest of Legado de Fantasma and Trick Williams are all here too. Only Hayes and Grimes get entrances in what I’m sure won’t mean a thing. Hayes talks trash to everyone else and gets beaten down until we settle to Grimes hitting a running kick to Escobar in the corner. Williams’ interference is cut off so we’re down to Escobar vs. Hayes for a change.

Grimes breaks that up though and takes turns beating on Hayes with Sikoa. It’s time for the first ladders to be brought in, with Escobar dropkicking one into Grimes. Waller sends Sanga to get the big ladder so Sikoa dives onto Sanga, earning a dive from Escobar. Grimes and Hayes hit dives of their own, leaving Waller to climb up to little avail. Back in and Sikoa crushes Waller with a ladder in the corner but Escobar crushes Hayes in front of Waller, making a bit of a sandwich.

Sikoa adds the running Umaga attack to crush everyone, which doesn’t seem that smart given the BIG LADDERS that he’s crashing into. Grimes cuts Sikoa off and avoids a superkick, leaving Sikoa’s leg tied in the ladder. Hayes is back up with a superkick to drive the ladder into Grimes but gets caught in Waller’s fireman’s carry. That’s fine with Hayes, who jumps onto the ladder and kicks Waller down. It’s Sikoa making a save but Escobar goes up top to slug it out on the ladder.

That means a sunset bomb to drive Sikoa into the ladder in the corner, because that’s the kind of crash you need to see. Grimes’ flipping powerslam plants Escobar…so Williams loads up a ladder of his own. Sanga comes in and chops the braces in half, leaving Wilde and Mendoza to grab a piece of the ladder each. Lopez hits a big dive off the top and it’s time to bridge some ladders between the ring and the barricade.

Sikoa tries a double Samoan drop on Wilde and Mendoza but just falls forward instead. Williams is back in and tries his own climb, which opens up a whole new bag of weird rules. That’s broken up as Grimes tilts the ladder over and out onto the pile on the floor for the big crash. Waller, Escobar and Grimes slug it out on top of the ladder until Waller is left alone, only to have Escobar make the save.

Another big knockdown leaves Sikoa to go up with Grimes making the save this time. In your “well that was dumb” moment of the match, Waller goes up on a ladder on the floor but elbows the bridged ladder only as Williams pulls Hayes out of the way. The crash leaves Waller laying, allowing Waller to go up and pull down the title for the win at 21:06.

Rating: B. This was the latest big match with everyone flying around and little more than one stunt after another. Some of the sports were good, but there is only so much you can get out of having five people (plus seconds) going nuts for twenty minutes. It was certainly fun and hopefully Waller is ok, but this was just another entry on a long list of ladder matches over the years.

Tommaso Ciampa talks about the long road he took to get here and everyone has helped him survive. Things like winning a title are great but having his wife suffer five miscarriages was a lot, though his daughter helps a lot. Together they made black and gold, so let’s do it one more time. He turns his chair around, showing the dates of the beginning and end of his NXT career.

Tony D’Angelo vs. Tommaso Ciampa

D’Angelo comes to the ring in a car with real like mobster AJ Galante (from a Netflix series). Ciampa one ups him though with a pretty cool highlight package of his career, which is one of the best in NXT history. In his own nice tribute, Ciampa fist bumps commentary, spits water like HHH and poses like Shawn Michaels because he knows who helped get him here.

Ciampa starts fast with a spinebuster but D’Angelo knocks him down and stomps away. That’s not going to work for Ciampa, who takes him outside and sends him into the barricade, setting up Ciampa’s apron applause. The floor mat is pulled back but D’Angelo is able to stomp away back inside as Ciampa takes too long. The chinlock goes on, prompting the fans to ask about the location of their pizza.

Ciampa fights up but misses the running knee, allowing D’Angelo to hit a Falcon Arrow. The Fairy Tale Ending is broken up so D’Angelo grabs a rollup (with trunks) for two more. Back up and Ciampa chops D’Angelo out of his singlet and then dropkicks him out of the air for a bonus. They slug it out with Ciampa getting the better of things so D’Angelo whips out the crowbar.

With that taken away, D’Angelo hits him low for two. Ciampa is back with Willow’s Bell into the Fairy Tale Ending for two so here’s the Gargano Escape (no name mentioned of course). D’Angelo makes the rope so they head outside, where D’Angelo hits a DDT onto the exposed concrete. Back in and D’Angelo kicks him in the head for the pin at 13:10.

Rating: C+. This was a weird one as while it made more sense to have D’Angelo go over, it was still hard to see Ciampa losing on his way out of NXT. It also doesn’t feel exactly right for D’Angelo to get the big win over Ciampa, but the farewell did feel like a special moment. It helps that the match was good, though I’m not sure how far D’Angelo is going without getting a bit more serious.

Post match Ciampa gets the big sendoff….and here’s HHH for the surprise appearance, his first on TV since his heart issue. HHH hugs Ciampa and says something to him, leaving Ciampa to get the moment. Granted it’s with HHH’s music and Titantron, but it is a moment.

Chase University is here.

Tag Team Titles: MSK vs. Creed Brothers vs. Imperium

Imperium is defending. Lee kicks Barthel into the corner to start and it’s Carter coming in to fire off his own kicks. Aichner comes in as well though and runs MSK over but Brutus comes in to run Aichner over as well. Carter gets Pounced against the ropes and the Creeds start throwing their suplexes.

MSK finally gets it together and kicks Brutus down before a combination stomp the chest gets two on Barthel. That doesn’t last long as Barthel is back up with a middle rope elbow, meaning Carter needs to be saved as well. Everyone but Lee gets sent outside so Lee hits the big dive, followed by a Spiral Tap for two back inside.

MSK gets creative by double superplexing Julius onto Imperium to send them outside. Brutus is fine enough to come off the top with a cannonball to Imperium but gets sent into the steps. Barthel tries to come back in but Lee hurricanranas him into a sitout powerbomb from Carter to give MSK the titles back at 11:32.

Rating: B-. It was a fun match and they had a bunch of big spots, but there is only so much that you can get out of another match with all those people running around. What we got here was good and MSK getting the titles back is a way to go, but the Creed Brothers are going to get the titles sooner rather than later.

Nikkita Lyons loves music and knocking people out. She’s a whole lotta woman ready to do a whole lotta whoopin.

Cameron Grimes is in tears over his win, which honors his father.

Joe Gacy and Harland are in Daley Plaza, where Gacy talks about how the Kennedy assassination brought people together. Gacy wants to bring people together and hopes they do so willingly rather than having to result to violence.

We look at the Women’s Tag Team Titles changing hands on the Kickoff Show.

We recap the Women’s Title match. Mandy Rose is the champion and the star, Cora Jade is the underdog who has always wanted to be champion and Kay Lee Ray/Io Shirai are two of the best in the world and want another title reign.

Women’s Title: Cora Jade vs. Io Shirai vs. Kay Lee Ray vs. Mandy Rose

Rose is defending (with a redesigned title) in our third multi-challenger match in less than two hours. Jade comes out with a fleet of skateboarders, but Rose tops her by descending down like an angel (or Shawn Michaels in 2009). Everyone goes after Rose to start (just like Carmelo Hayes in the opener) and the champ gets kicked out to the floor. Shirai and Ray go after Jade, who gets pulled outside, setting up the double suicide dives.

Back in and we get the Shirai vs. Ray showdown, with Shirai having to roll her way out of the KLR Bomb. Rose pulls Shirai to the floor and gets to pound on Jade, including a suplex for two. Jade low bridges Rose to the floor and it’s Ray hitting a big dive. Shirai adds a moonsault to the floor before taking Ray back inside for a stomp. A missile dropkick gets two on Ray with Rose making a save. Everyone gets back inside, with Ray grabbing a Koji Clutch on Rose and Shirai putting Jade in a Texas Cloverleaf at the same time (with Shirai falling backwards to crank Jade’s back very hard by mistake).

Both holds are broken up and Jade hits a running springboard stomp to Rose’s back. Shirai 619s Jade to the floor and adds a missile dropkick to Rose. A German suplex gives Shirai two and a super C4 to Rose gets the same, with Jade diving in off the top for the save. Sliced Bread gives Jade two on Rose but Shirai knocks Jade down. The Moon Over Moonsault hits Jade but Rose hits a running knee to pin Shirai and retain the title at 13:28.

Rating: C+. The more I think about this, the more I like Rose retaining the title. She isn’t a top of the world worker, but that isn’t what they’re going for with her. Instead, this is more about Rose driving everyone crazy and holding onto the title while still being a good enough worker. The other three put in most of the work, but Rose is the right choice to retain here and is turning into a nice long term evil champion.

We recap Dexter Lumis/Indi Hartwell vs. Persia Pirotta/Duke Hudson in a showdown over who can be the best dressed. After a montage of the guys getting clothes from a western store, Lumis/Hartwell win a fan vote 89% to 11%. This was as dumb as you would expect.

Gunther vs. LA Knight

Gunther doesn’t like Knight running his mouth so much so they’re going to fight about it. They fight over a lockup to start until Knight wins a slugout and takes him to the floor. That goes better for Gunther, who hits an apron powerbomb and poses inside. The chinlock keeps Knight in trouble but he avoids a corner clothesline and hits a jumping neckbreaker.

Gunther knocks him down again though and the Boston crab goes on. Make that an STF as Gunther is smothering him so far. Knight manages a suplex for a breather, setting up the slingshot shoulder. Some stomping away in the corner sets up a slam into the jumping elbow and the running superplex gets two on Gunther. Back up and the big chop is blocked, setting up Gunther’s sleeper. That’s reversed into a Burning Hammer for two but Gunther catches him on top. A clothesline knocks Knight off the top and it’s the big splash to crush him. The powerbomb gives Gunther the pin at 10:27.

Rating: C+. It wasn’t a classic and there wasn’t much drama to it, but Knight was good enough to make Gunther break a bit of a sweat. Gunther is on his way to something a lot bigger in NXT and beating Knight can get him closer to the title picture. I don’t think there was any real doubt about the winner, but it was a good way to get Gunther on the card.

We recap Bron Breakker vs. Dolph Ziggler for Ziggler’s NXT Title. Ziggler came down to NXT and took the title from Breakker while bragging about all of his star power. Now Breakker wants to take the title back for the REAL NXT.

NXT Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. Bron Breakker

Ziggler is defending and has Robert Roode in his corner. Breakker goes after Roode to start and then jumps Ziggler, only to get cheapshotted down. The spinebuster/belly to belly plants Ziggler though and there’s the overhead belly to belly. The spear is loaded up but Roode grabs Breakker’s leg, setting up the big ejection (allowing Ziggler to pull off a turnbuckle pad behind the referee’s back).

Breakker is fine enough to hit a belly to back suplex, only to get crotched on top. Ziggler puts on the chinlock and a jumping elbow sets up chinlock, the sequel. Back up and Breakker fights out but gets caught on top. That means a chinlock with a bodyscissors, including Ziggler flipping over in a spot he hasn’t used in a long time. Breakker fights up again and fires off the series of shoulders. The super hurricanrana gets two and a big spear gets the same with Breakker looking frustrated by the kickout.

Ziggler knees him down but the superkick is countered into a suplex. The gorilla press powerslam connects…but Roode is back to pull Ziggler out. Breakker hits a running flip dive to the floor (with his foot getting caught on the top, thankfully not leading to a big crash) but Breakker comes back in with the Fameasser and Zig Zag for two of his own. The top rope elbow gets two more on Breakker, who hits another spear. The gorilla press powerslam is loaded up, only to have Ziggler rake the eyes. Breakker gets sent into the buckle and a superkick retains the title at 16:12.

Rating: B-. Well ok. This seemed to be the biggest layup of the weekend but they went in another direction. Breakker didn’t lose clean, but it’s weird to see him losing in any way at this point. Ziggler retaining is certainly a way to go and he has done some good things as champion, but I’m not sure if this was the right move.

Overall Rating: B. This isn’t a Takeover and isn’t close to being one, but it was the kind of show that made me want to see more from NXT and that is a great thing to see. NXT has taken some long steps forward and I’m liking it a lot more than was just a few months ago. At some point you have to go out there and get in front of some people and that is what they did here. The fact that they delivered made it even better.

Results
Cameron Grimes b. Carmelo Hayes, Grayson Waller, Santos Escobar and Solo Sikoa – Grimes pulled down the title
Tony D’Angelo b. Tommaso Ciampa – Fisherman’s neckbreaker
MSK b. Creed Brothers and Imperium – Hurricanrana/powerbomb combination to Barthel
Mandy Rose b. Io Shirai, Kay Lee Ray and Cora Jade – Running knee to Shirai
Gunther b. LA Knight – Powerbomb
Dolph Ziggler b. Bron Breakker – Superkick

 

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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Wrestlemania XXXVI Night Two
Date: April 5, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton, Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

It’s the second half of one of the weirdest shows ever and I’m not sure what that is going to mean. Even a year later, this show is mostly forgotten outside of the main event and I’m curious to see how the rest of it holds up. I was actually surprised by some of what’s on the card as it has completely escaped me over the last year. Let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Natalya vs. Liv Morgan

You know, you don’t have to have a Kickoff Show match if this is as good as you can get. Natalya headlocks her down to start but lets it go for an early standoff. A rollup gives Morgan two and she gets some sarcastic applause for a bonus. Morgan ducks a clothesline with the Matrix and rolls her up for two more, allowing her to get in her own sarcastic applause.

Natalya is right back with her belly to back drop into the step over basement dropkick for two more. The surfboard goes on and Morgan screams a lot but she avoids a charge in the corner to grab another rollup. A Codebreaker gives Morgan two and Natalya’s sitout wheelbarrow faceplant gets the same. The Sharpshooter attempt is countered into a step up enziguri and Morgan grabs another rollup for the pin at 6:22.

Rating: C-. This was as interesting as it was going to get with Morgan trying one rollup after another to little avail until the ending. Morgan always seems like someone they want to push to the moon but can’t figure out how to get there. This win isn’t going to be some game changer, but at least they gave her something, even if this was nearly depressing as a way to start the night.

Stephanie McMahon gives us a quick welcome.

We get the same still pretty great pirate parody opening video.

Rob Gronkowski talks about knowing a thing or two about dropping the hammer on a championship Sunday.

NXT Women’s Title: Charlotte vs. Rhea Ripley

Ripley is defending and it’s a shame that she didn’t get the big moment after the pretty cool video of her walking into the empty Raymond James Stadium. We get the recap video after Charlotte’s entrance, as Charlotte won the Royal Rumble and Ripley threw her hat in the ring, meaning it was time for Charlotte to go after the NXT Women’s Title again. Ripley looks a bit weird in blue tights but Wrestlemania has had some strange choices over the year.

Charlotte takes her down to start and we hit the trash talk in a hurry. Ripley seems to be favoring her knee as they lock up and Charlotte drives her into the corner. The chops, with more trash talk, have Ripley in more trouble but she comes out with the Riptide for a quick two. That’s enough to send Charlotte outside for a breather so Ripley follows her out with an elbow to the face.

A flip dive off the steps takes Charlotte down again and Ripley sends her face first into the mat back inside. Ripley gets two more off a snap suplex and it’s time to kick Charlotte in the back. The bodyscissors stays on the ribs but Charlotte gets in a shot to the leg for a breather. Another kick to the knee has Ripley in trouble and Charlotte twists it around to make things even worse.

The leg is wrapped around the post but Ripley comes back with a belly to back faceplant. Ripley is back up with some good knees to the face, setting up a dropkick to a kneeling Charlotte. A lot of shouting at the knee drives Ripley on but Charlotte sends her to the apron for another kick to the knee. Ripley catches her on top for an electric chair faceplant but Charlotte hits her in the face. The knee to the knee in the corner misses though and Ripley scores with a missile dropkick, which bangs up the knee even more.

Charlotte is back up with a chop block but Ripley grabs the legs for the Prism Trap (such a cool name). That’s reversed into a Boston crab but Ripley powers out into a pinfall reversal sequence. Back up and Ripley scores with a big boot for two and frustration is setting in. Ripley takes her up top but gets shoved down, only to get the boots up to block the moonsault. Charlotte hits a spear for two so it’s time for the Figure Eight for the tap and the title at 20:27.

Rating: B+. This felt like a battle and a struggle, which is exactly how it should have felt. They made it feel important, but I really can’t get behind the idea of Charlotte winning here. It’s like she came in and showed NXT how little they mean compared to the main roster. Charlotte has won everything there is to win in WWE, so why did she need to win this too? Ripley needed this win a lot more than Charlotte, but that has never stopped WWE before.

Long video on night one.

Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley

Lana is here with Lashley and this might be the greatest example of “what a difference a year makes” in recent memory. Black has horns on his shoulders because of course he does. Lashley powers him around to start and then does it again to make his point clear. A leg dive doesn’t work for Black as Lashley supelxes him down and hammers away.

Lashley misses a charge and falls out to the floor but Black misses the middle rope moonsault, earning himself a suplex. There’s a running shoulder to the ribs in the corner, setting up a neckbreaker to drop Black again. Black knees his way out of the delayed vertical suplex but Lashley snaps off a powerslam for two more.

Now the suplex can connect for two but Black is back with kicks to the legs. Another kick puts Lashley on the floor and now the middle rope moonsault connects. Back in and Lashley hits a crossbody of all things for two but Lana gets on the steps for no logical reason. The Dominator is loaded up but Lana demands a spear….which charges into Black Mass to give Black the pin at 7:16.

Rating: C. Not a bad back and forth match here but the ending didn’t do it many favors. Lana and Lashley was an idea that went on too long and pretty much never worked but WWE didn’t seem to get the idea for a good while. Then there’s Black and egads what happened with him? He had a nice push in the spring and summer but then it just all fell apart later on, because WWE. I don’t get it either, because he just pinned a big star clean here and then WWE just gave up.

Bayley and Sasha Banks aren’t worried about the five way tonight. They are united to keep Bayley’s Smackdown Women’s Title because they are best friends. Bayley leaves but when asked if she wants to win the title, Banks says we’ll see.

We look at Mojo Rawley winning the 24/7 Title last night.

Rob Gronkowski wants the 24/7 Title.

We recap Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler. Otis and Mandy Rose seem to have a thing for each other but Ziggler doesn’t get it. Then he and Sonya Deville got together to split them up before they could get together, with Mandy getting together with Ziggler instead. The Smackdown hacker intervened and shows the plot, meaning Mandy and Otis can be on the same page once Otis deals with Ziggler. Yeah this was kind of nuts but it was funny and oddly charming.

Otis vs. Dolph Ziggler

Sonya Deville is here with Ziggler, who is chased outside before the bell. Otis splashes him in the corner to start but Ziggler is right back with a superkick to the floor. A posting gives Ziggler two back inside and we hit the choke. There’s a dropkick for two more and the choking moves to the ropes this time. The jumping elbow sets up something like a rear naked choke, which Otis breaks up in a hurry. Otis starts the jiggling and hammers away, including the running clotheslines.

A slam lets Otis step on Ziggler’s back and a whip into the corner puts Ziggler down again. Otis sends him outside for a whip into the barricade, followed by a posting for a bonus. Back in and a pop up World’s Strongest Slam has Ziggler in trouble and Sonya demanding that he get up. A Sonya distraction lets Ziggler get in a low blow and they’re both down for a bit. Cue Mandy Rose (you knew this was coming) to slap Sonya and hit Ziggler low, setting up the Caterpillar to give Otis the pin at 8:09.

Rating: C-. The match was nothing beyond a Smackdown level match but I was stunned by the result. I really would never have bet that Otis would have beaten Ziggler so well done on the surprise ending and going the right way. There was no logical reason for Ziggler to win here, which was exactly why I would have expected it. Otis and Mandy were never going to be a long term angle, but for a one off moment, this was very well done.

Post match Otis picks Mandy up and they have their first kiss, which would have been a great moment with a crowd.

We recap Edge vs. Randy Orton. Edge returned in the Royal Rumble for the huge surprise, where he eliminated Orton. This made Orton ask if Edge wanted to reunited Rated RKO one more time, only to surprise Edge with a big beatdown. With Edge gone, Orton gave his wife Beth Phoenix an RKO, which was treated like the worst thing ever, because Beth went from a Hall of Famer to a damsel in distress. Orton explained that he was doing this to save Edge from turning into what Orton had become, even if it meant ending his career all over again. Makes wrestling sense and it set up a Last Man Standing match, so who am I to complain?

Edge vs. Randy Orton

Last Man Standing and dang it must be awful for Edge to put in all that work and his Wrestlemania entrance is in front of an empty building. Orton runs in from behind (thanks to the classic cameraman disguise) with the RKO and the referee has to ask Edge if he wants to do this. That’s an of course so Orton hits another RKO for an early nine. They head outside with Orton hitting him in the face with the camera for seven so let’s go backstage.

It’s off to the gym first with Orton using a strap from a gym machine (in a moment whose accidental significance went completely over my head live) to choke him but Edge gets back up and hits him with a chain. Edge hammers him onto a table and then into a chair to pound away even more. We go aerial as Edge grabs a machine and uses it to pull himself up and land on Orton in the chair. Edge shouts about nine years but gets whipped into a wall to put him down.

Orton can’t quite crush him with a sled so Edge sends him into some equipment. They fight into a rather narrow hallway where Orton goes face first into a garage door. That’s only good for six though as Edge wants to beat him up some more. It’s back into the arena now with Orton throwing Edge into the barricade. Edge uses said barricade to pull himself up at nine so it’s time to go backstage again, this time to the office area. They take turns ramming each other into a board room table until Edge sends him face first into a wall.

Orton is thrown onto the table and Edge pulls himself up on the….whatever the chain link stuff is above the table to drop an elbow. We lose a cameraman so another has to run in to catch them in a storage room. Orton staggers away with his left arm pretty banged up, but he is able to knock Edge onto an anvil case. They go through more stuff with Edge finding some chairs, which Orton throws away in a hurry. A whip into a bunch of stuff gives Orton nine and they wind up in what loos like an interview area.

Edge gets in a few more shots of his own, including a kick to the ribs, and they’re both down for a breather. With Orton knocked onto a table, Edge climbs a ladder onto a scaffold and drops a huge elbow through Orton through said table for a double eight. It’s time to stagger around some more, this time with Orton’s shoulder bleeding. Orton sends him into more equipment for another eight and then takes him onto the back of a covered pick up truck.

The hanging DDT onto said cover gives us another double eight and they climb onto the top of a big production truck. Edge cuts off a Punt with the spear for nine but another spear charges into an RKO. With Edge getting up again, Orton drops down and grabs some chairs to take back to the top of the truck. Orton sounds like he mentions Edge’s daughters but the Conchairto is countered into a standing choke. That’s enough to knock Orton out but Edge says stop counting. The Conchairto crushes him for good and Edge wins at 36:40.

Rating: B-. I liked this one way more the first time around as this really did feel long here. They had some good violence and beat each other up but you easily could have cut out ten plus minutes and done the same thing. You also get into the same problem that so many Last Man Standing matches have, in that you spend so much time waiting on the counts that the match loses a lot of steam. I still like it, but cut this stuff down.

Back in the arena, Mojo Rawley runs from the menagerie of numskulls but Rob Gronkowski dives off a balcony onto the pile to win the title. Apparently this took HOURS to film as Gronkowski wouldn’t do it, even after Vince McMahon himself demonstrated the dive (the video released of Vince doing it is kind of awesome).

Raw Tag Team Titles: Austin Theory/Angel Garza vs. Street Profits

The Profits are defending and Theory is a last minute replacement for an injured Andrade, just to hammer home how messy this show is. Zelina Vega is here with the challengers too. Dawkins headlocks Theory to start and then runs him over with a shoulder. The champs start taking turns on the shoulder but Theory sends Dawkins outside. That means Garza can hit a superkick, allowing him to come inside and TAKE OFF HIS PANTS.

Some kicks to Dawkins’ ribs set up a seated abdominal stretch but Dawkins flips out without much trouble. Ford comes in to clean house and there’s the big flip dive onto Theory (and Dawkins by mistake). Back in and Garza kicks Ford down, setting up a Lionsault for two. The Wing Clipper is countered with an enziguri though and the hot tag brings in Dawkins. Theory catches him with a quick TKO but Ford comes in with the frog splash to give Dawkins the retaining pin at 6:23.

Rating: D+. There was a very firm limit to what they could do here with no real feud between one of the teams hadn’t even been together for a week and they didn’t even have seven minutes to do their thing. It felt like a Raw match and in this case, that is about as good as you could have expected. The Profits were brand new champions here and as usual, there weren’t exactly a ton of teams for them to challenge them. Take away one of the only ones around and how good could this have been?

Post match the beatdown is on but Bianca Belair runs in for her debut and takes out Vega.

Titus O’Neil has taken over hosting duties, meaning he says he’s hosting.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Lacey Evans vs. Tamina vs. Naomi

Bayley is defending under elimination rules and Naomi’s entrance is still cool even in an empty arena. Everyone goes after Tamina to start because it is Wrestlemania season and therefore she matters again. With Tamina knocked to the floor, the other four pair off until Bayley and Banks double team Evans for two. The mini tag match breaks out with Lacey and Naomi hitting stereo dropkicks for stereo near falls.

Tamina (sorry, the POWERFUL Tamina) gets back in to wreck everyone and gets a few near falls. Bayley and Lacey are kicked to the floor, leaving us with a Team BAD reunion, assuming more than about 4% of the audience actually remembers that weird trios period at the start of the Women’s Revolution. Tamina gets double teamed down and it’s a parade of finishers to get rid of her at 6:26 (because Tamina is Andre the Giant at Wrestlemania).

With the unstoppable monster stopped, Bayley starts beating on everyone else with the trash talk thrown in for a bonus. Naomi comes back in to beat up Bayley and Banks at the same time, including a Rear View to Banks and a middle rope kick to both. That’s about it for the Offense though as the Bank Statement makes Naomi tap at 10:15. Bayley: “DANCE TO THE BACK!”

Bayley and Banks double team Lacey, including something like a double powerbomb for two. A running knee (Bayley: “THIS IS FOR SUMMER”!, meaning Lacey’s daughter) hits Banks by mistake and the cracks seem ready to form. The distraction lets Lacey hit the Woman’s Right to finish Banks at 13:26 (with Cole’s call being heard on the replay, because the building is that quiet).

So it’s one on one with Evans hammering away and grabbing a neckbreaker for two. Bayley sends her shoulder first into the post though and the stomping ensues. More shouting and right hands in the corner have Lacey in trouble but she gets up a boot to cut Bayley off. The slingshot Bronco Buster connects and the double springboard moonsault gets two. Cue Sasha with a Backstabber to Lacey though, allowing Bayley to hit the bulldog driver to retain at 19:18.

Rating: C. It worked well, even after the awesome force that is Tamina was gone. At least these four have some backstories and characters so it is a little bit better than having five random people in there doing all of their spots as fast as they can. Bayley retaining is fine enough, as she has a tendency to do well at Wrestlemania, though Lacey winning the title would have been a nice feel good moment.

Wrestlemania 37 is in Los Angeles. I’m sure.

We recap John Cena vs. the Fiend in the Firefly Funhouse Match. Cena returned a few weeks ago and didn’t a Wrestlemania match but the Fiend showed up to point at the sign (because THE FIEND has to point at the sign) and the challenge was on. Bray Wyatt then explained that this is fallout from Cena beating him at Wrestlemania XXX, which is what send Wyatt completely over the edge and led to the creation of the Fiend. It makes enough sense and that’s all it needs to do for the most part.

John Cena vs. The Fiend

Cena does his full entrance and we cut to the Funhouse, where Wyatt says Cena will be fighting himself. Cena follows him through the door and I guess we’ll say the match starts there. With Cena standing in the dark, Puppet Vince pops up to ask if Cena has the ruthless aggression to be a star. If not, he’s fired. Bray appears in the ring and calls out someone for a fight and here’s Cena in his 2002 gear to say RUTHLESS AGGRESSION (ala his debut against Kurt Angle) but he can’t hit the slap on Bray. Wyatt: “You can look but you can’t touch!”

Bray disappears and we hit the Saturday Night’s Main Event intro (yeah don’t bother to try and make sense out of some of the pieces of this). Bray does a Hulk Hogan impression (behind a piece of the big blue cage of course) and talks about how his partner Johnny Largemeat is all about the muscles. Cena, lifting weights, comes in and does a Hogan/Randy Savage hybrid impression. He lifts so much his arms won’t come up anymore and now it’s off to the Dr. of Thuganomics Cena.

Wyatt and Cena are in the ring again with Cena realizing that he can only speak in rhyme. We get a Husky Harris joke and Cena talks about taking chances. That’s too much for Wyatt, who calls Cena a bully to takes others’ weaknesses and turns them into jokes. Cena throws the nuts at Wyatt, who knocks him out with a chain. Now it’s cult leader Wyatt and we go to the Wrestlemania XXX match, which Wyatt calls his grandest failure. Back in the ring now, with Wyatt saying it is time to rewrite his own story.

Bray hands Cena a chair (again ala Wrestlemania) and tells Cena to fix his mistake. This time Cena swings….and now we’re on Nitro, with Bray as Eric Bischoff to introduce the Hollywood Hogan version of Cena. Puppet Vince: “IT’S SUCH GOOD S***!” Cena freaks out and realizes he is beating up Huskus the Pig. The Fiend pops up behind him for the Mandible Claw and, after hearing Cena calls Bray overhyped and privileged, Sister Abigail finishes at about 13:30.

Rating: A+. This is one of those things that was amazing live and then it gets even better when you have a chance to think about the thing. This was a huge deconstruction of the entire John Cena legacy, down to what would have happened if he had finally turned heel like so many people wanted him to.

It turns into a What If/Road Not Taken idea and that is amazing to see, as Cena really does have a detailed and incredible rise to the top. Wyatt sees him as a fraud who has done everything he can to hold others, including Wyatt himself, down and he needed to avenge his Wrestlemania XXX loss. This was outstanding and one of the most well thought out and incredible ideas that I’ve seen WWE ever present, and I’m probably missing big parts of the whole thing.

Titus O’Neil isn’t sure what he just saw.

We recap Drew McIntyre vs. Brock Lesnar. McIntyre was the Chosen One but screwed up and got fired, so he reinvented himself and came back to WWE as a man. Then McIntyre won the Royal Rumble, eliminating Brock Lesnar in the process. Cue the title match, as McIntyre is finally ready to achieve his destiny.

Raw World Title: Drew McIntyre vs. Brock Lesnar

Lesnar is defending and for once, Paul Heyman doesn’t’ handle his introduction. Drew hits the first Claymore for the first two count at 17 seconds. Another Claymore is countered into the German suplex, followed by a second for a bonus. There’s the third and McIntyre is in trouble. The F5 gets one (that’s Drew’s thing) and another gets two. There’s a third F5 for another near fall (Heyman: “He’s really good. Hit him again! He can’t keep kicking out all night!”) but McIntyre escapes the fourth. Three straight Claymores make Drew champion at 4:32.

Rating: C+. It was fun and energetic but I’m completely over watching this style. It has been done to death and I could go for something fresh. Is it asking too much for a ten minute match instead of ten finishers in four minutes? McIntyre winning was the only way you could go here as Lesnar has been champion for so long recently that it no longer has any impact. This went as it should have, but egads find a better way to do them.

McIntyre celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. I liked this one better than the first night by a good stretch as the matches certainly felt bigger. The main event and some other things came off like they belonged on Wrestlemania, but there are still things that make this show feel like absolutely nothing. Again though, you can only put so much of that on WWE as they were up against the wall and had to do a lot of things at the last minute. It was good if you give them a lot of breaks and really, how can you not with a show like this?

Overall Overall Rating: C+. Of course this didn’t feel like Wrestlemania and that is because it barely was Wrestlemania. The problem is that with so much build and setup for the whole thing, WWE absolutely had to do something, especially if television was going to continue as usual. No it isn’t good by comparison to other Wrestlemanias but nothing was the same around this time. Things would get better going forward but this was still the dark ages of the pandemic. They did what they could here and in that regard, this show worked out as well as it could have.

Ratings Comparison

Liv Morgan vs. Natalya

Original: D+

2021 Redo: C-

Charlotte vs. Rhea Ripley

Original: C+

2021 Redo: B+

Aleister Black vs. Bobby Lashley

Original: D+

2021 Redo: C

Dolph Ziggler vs. Otis

Original: D+

2021 Redo: C-

Randy Orton vs. Edge

Original: B

2021 Redo: B-

Street Profits vs. Angel Garza/Austin Theory

Original: D+

2021 Redo: D+

Bayley vs. Sasha Banks vs. Naomi vs. Tamina vs. Lacey Evans

Original: D

2021 Redo: C

John Cena vs. The Fiend

Original: N/A

2021 Redo: A+

Brock Lesnar vs. Drew McIntyre

Original: D

2021 Redo: C+

Overall Rating

Original: C-

2021 Redo: B-

Overall Overall Rating

Original: C

2021 Redo: C+

That’s one of the biggest changes I can remember having as the matches almost all went up and then the overall rating barely goes up. This was hardly a normal show though so the drastic swing a year later isn’t surprising.

Here is the original review if you are interested:

https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2020/04/05/wrestlemania-xxxvi-night-two-the-wwe-psyche/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

 

Wrestlemania XXXVI Night 1
Date: April 4, 2020
Location: WWE Performance Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton
Host: Rob Gronkowski

A year has passed since this show and it still does not seem real. Aside from the main event, this show has almost been erased from history as it is barely ever discussed whatsoever. The Coronavirus wiped everything out and the show was moved to the Performance Center, making it feel like a show that they had just to say they had it. Let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Cesaro vs. Drew Gulak

Their respective friends (Shinsuke Nakamura/Sami Zayn and Daniel Bryan) are feuding so these two are having a match as well. Yeah it’s weak but what else are they supposed to do? Cole is calling this one on his own and it sounds so strange. Gulak goes for the arm to start but a short armscissors is countered into a powerbomb. They head outside with Cesaro getting in another shot but the arm is banged up.

An armdrag on the bad arm sets up a whip into the steps but Cesaro uppercuts him out of the air for two. A Fujiwara armbar is broken up so Gulak settles for two off a sunset flip. Cesaro boots him in the face and loads up a torture rack airplane spin (with no hands at one point for a crazy visual) before just dropping Gulak for the pin at 4:27.

Rating: C. The match was fine but EGADS this is bizarre. It’s like we’re watching a training session that was recorded and they slapped a Wrestlemania logo on the thing. It was watchable enough and would have been acceptable as a warmup but I can’t believe that this is Wrestlemania. Of course it isn’t on WWE given the circumstances but my goodness this is weird and that isn’t likely to change over the course of the show.

Stephanie McMahon welcomes us to the show and says that while this is going to be the most different Wrestlemania ever (due to the current circumstances, with no mention of the virus, which was a weird WWE thing for a LONG time).

Rather than someone singing America the Beautiful live, we get a montage of previous performances. Fair enough and actually a pretty cool idea.

The opening video continues the pirate theme but someone doing a pretty bad Jack Sparrow impression cuts it off, saying it sounds like they are starting at the end. He says the video isn’t trying and calls for the “classic movie trailer voice”. The trailer voice is cut off by the Sparrow impression (which is how he refers to it) but the video still doesn’t work, so he says go to the shots of our heroes looking all serious. These people are larger than life and are marred by the work of hundreds of days and nights.

This is their quest for gold, glory and immortality. Tonight, forget EVERYTHING you know because fate leads the way, and fate can surprise us. History waits for no one and tonight, their chance to shape history begins right now. The traditional montage takes over from here. I love pirate movies and while this was pretty much a parody of the idea, it makes me wonder how good the real thing would have been with the WWE budget behind a pirate themed show.

Host Rob Gronkowski (erg) welcomes us to the show and does some fine script reading as he talks about how this is a two night event. He talks about being able to start a party on a Saturday night, even if that might be a little difficult in a mostly empty building. Mojo Rawley joins him because you need the hype here. Gronk gives him some pretty lame chops and we’re off to the first match.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross vs. Kabuki Warriors

The Warriors (Asuka/Kairi Sane) are defending and commentary points out that they took the titles from Bliss/Cross back in October. This is their first title defense since DECEMBER, because the titles really don’t mean much in WWE. Asuka and Bliss get things going with a lot of laughing but it’s off to Sane without any contact. Sane shoves Bliss around a bit, drawing Bliss back up to knock Sane down. That sets up the double knees to the ribs and a tag off to Cross, who is taken into the champs’ corner.

Some forearms stagger Asuka though and Bliss tags herself in. That means a baseball slide can knock Sane outside, followed by a flip dive from the apron. Back in and Asuka punches Cross in the face, allowing the tag back to Sane. Everything breaks down again with the Warriors taking over on the floor. Back in again and a bulldog into a basement dropkick rocks Cross but Sane gets a bit cocky.

That means Cross can kick her away, allowing the tag back to Bliss. House doesn’t have time to be cleaned though as Asuka offers a distraction, allowing Sane to catch Bliss in the ropes. The Alberto double stomp gets two and Bliss is in trouble, despite Cross trying to get….well no one here to clap. The referee yells at Asuka, allowing Sane to snap Bliss’ neck across the ropes.

Bliss forearms Asuka in the face so Asuka kicks her head off. Another shot from Bliss allows the hot tag to Cross, meaning it’s a lot of screaming as she forearms and bulldogs Sane. A high crossbody gives Cross two but Sane gets in a cheap shot from the apron. The Reckoning gets two on Asuka with Sane breaking it up off a top rope elbow (and possibly with a camera edit because that count looked ready to go down before Sane appeared).

Asuka tries the Asuka Lock on Cross but Bliss breaks it up with Twisted Bliss. Back up and Asuka hits a Codebreaker on Cross but the Insane Elbow is broken up. Instead it’s a powerbomb/top rope forearm to knock Cross silly….for two. Nikki avoids a charge to send Asuka into the post. The Reckoning sets up another Twisted Bliss for the pin and the titles at 15:11.

Rating: C. That was a lot longer than I would have bet on but the title change was the right way to start. If nothing else, just so Bliss can do her pose with a title again. You can only have the Warriors hold the title so long before it stops meaning anything due to a lack of defenses. I can’t imagine this makes a huge difference, but it was the right move here.

Sami Zayn brags about taking the Intercontinental Title from Braun Strowman, even though people thought it was inevitable that Strowman would destroy him. Tonight, people think it is inevitable that Daniel Bryan will take the title from him, but we’ll see about that.

King Corbin vs. Elias

This is fallout from Corbin knocking Elias off a platform here in the arena. That should have, you know, broken most of his bones, but instead it put him out for eight days. Corbin insists that Elias isn’t here but the comeback is here before the referee can even start to count. Corbin goes outside to start the fight in the aisle so Elias blasts him in the back with the guitar.

Elias sends him into various things and they head inside for the opening bell. An elbow to the face gives Elias two and it’s time to choke near the ropes. Corbin tosses him over the top and wants the countout but settles for right hands to the ribs back inside. The slide underneath the rope in the corner clothesline gets two on Elias and it’s time to hammer on Elias’ bad shoulder (because he has a bad shoulder after crashing off the balcony last week).

Said bad shoulder goes into the post for two and Corbin yells at the referee, which you can hear a lot more of in the empty arena. Back up and Elias sends him shoulder first into the post to even things up a bit. A kick out of the corner sends Corbin into another corner and Elias hammers away. Elias has to roll through the top rope elbow and charges into Deep Six for two. Back up and Elias nails a jumping knee to the face but gets sent throat first into the ropes. A rollup with feet on the ropes gives Corbin two but the referee catches the cheating and yells a lot. Instead Elias grabs a rollup and tights for the pin at 8:52.

Rating: C-. That’s one of the least interesting matches I can remember in a long time, but what were you expecting given who was in there? It’s bad enough that Elias’ big revenge was a rollup pin after getting beaten down for a few minutes, but the fact that it came over Corbin made things even worse. Just not an interesting match and it would have felt a lot better as the nothing Kickoff Show match instead.

We recap Shayna Baszler vs. Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Title. Becky Lynch has been champion for about a year and is out of people to face. Baszler showed up from NXT and….bit Becky’s neck for some reason, drawing a bunch of blood. Then Baszler demolished the Elimination Chamber match to become #1 contender (in other words she beat up a bunch of losers and Asuka), setting up Lynch’s biggest challenge in a long time. Lynch reminding Baszler that she beat Ronda Rousey to get the title was a great response and this was a heck of a build.

Raw Women’s Title: Becky Lynch vs. Shayna Baszler

Lynch is defending and drives to the arena in a semi truck because…something about the Man I guess? They go straight to the slugout to start and the threat of the Kirifuda Clutch sends Becky bailing out to the floor. Baszler is sent into the steps to put her in trouble, followed by a missile dropkick back inside. Lynch comes up favoring her back but hammers away in the corner anyway.

A hard knee rocks Lynch but she slips out of the Kirifuda Clutch to grab a rollup instead. Baszler grabs a cutter for two but can’t hit a running knee. They fight to the apron with Lynch talking trash as they forearm it out. Lynch Rock Bottoms her onto the apron for two and the champ looks a bit surprised.

Baszler slams her off the top and grabs a quickly broken cross armbreaker. Instead Baszler puts on her own Disarm Her but Lynch is out in a hurry. This time Lynch grabs the Disarm Her on the ropes, only to have Baszler knock her off the rope for a big crash. Baszler picks her up for a hard swing into the announcers’ table (geez that always looks rough) before throwing it back inside. The Kirifuda Clutch goes on but Lynch backflips over for the pin to retain at 8:32.

Rating: C. Yeah I’m not sure I get this one, as Lynch was ready to lose the title and Baszler seemed primed to take the thing from her. Throw in the Lynch was about to go on maternity leave (fair enough that she didn’t know it at this point) and there was no reason to not switch the title here. It seemed that they were setting up a submission rematch, but at some point you need to just change the title and be done with it, which should have been the case here.

Intercontinental Title: Sami Zayn vs. Daniel Bryan

Bryan, with Drew Gulak, is challenging and Cesaro and Shinsuke Nakamura are here with Zayn. Rob Gronkowski and Mojo Rawley do the YES chant from the balcony, which just looks sad with two people in there. Sami bails straight to the floor and then does it again to get in Bryan’s head. Back in and the third exit ensues, which finally causes Bryan to go after him, only to have Cesaro and Nakamura get in the way.

Gulak dives onto the two of them and hammers away, meaning Gulak and Zayn get to have their own staredown. Bryan finally gets his hands on Zayn thanks to a suicide dive and it’s time to crank on the leg. Zayn is sent outside again for another suicide dive, followed by a missile dropkick back inside. Bryan slaps him in the face and shouts that Zayn is the loser because he hasn’t beaten anyone.

The running dropkick in the corner might have Zayn crying (JBL: “You shouldn’t be crying at Wrestlemania.”) but he cuts Bryan’s charge off with a shot of his own. Back up and Bryan hits the running clothesline, followed by the rapid fire strikes. Hold on though as Bryan needs to go after Cesaro and Nakamura, only to dive into the Helluva Kick to retain Zayn’s title at 9:18.

Rating: C. Another rather disappointing match here but again, it’s kind of hard to complain about much on this show. The biggest problem continues to be the lack of time, as you can only make a match feel so big in just over nine minutes. It’s also another situation where the title should have changed hands, as Zayn went home because of the virus (fair) and had to vacate the title without wrestling again in nearly six months.

Smackdown Tag Team Titles: John Morrison vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Jimmy Uso

Morrison is defending for Miz and John Morrison and this is a ladder match. Injuries and virus concerns took away enough of the partners that this is as good as we can get here. Everyone misses a kick to start and Morrison and Kingston both stick the landings on a monkey flip attempt, meaning it’s an early standoff.

Everyone goes out to grab a ladder (Morrison gets the only regular sized one) and they all climb up, with Jimmy being knocked down and coming up clutching his knee (always a good sign). He’s fine enough to get to his feet but Kofi dives off the ladder to take him down. Morrison is right there to go after Kofi but they both miss kicks and takedowns. Kofi knocks Jimmy off the ladder but Morrison takes him down as well, meaning Jimmy has to make a save of his own.

A springboard lets Kofi dropkick both of them through the ladder (cool), only to have Morrison clear the ring again. Morrison stabs Jimmy in the knee with the ladder but Jimmy sends him face first into the ladder in the corner. That’s fine with Morrison, who knocks him onto the ladder and hits a corkscrew flip to crush Jimmy again. Kofi is back up with a springboard hurricanrana to pull Morrison off of the ladder, because of course he can do that.

After knocking Jimmy outside, Kofi hits a big dive over the top to take Morrison down again. Jimmy tries to run the barricade so Kofi throws the ladder at him for another knockdown. It’s time to bridge the ladder between the ring and the apron, which never winds up going well. Jimmy is laid on said ladder but Morrison walks the rope to get from one corner to another and Spanish Fly Kofi off the top.

That leaves Morrison down so Jimmy can hit a Superfly Splash to crush him all over again. Kofi and Jimmy climb the same ladder (with Kofi climbing from inside because he’s a bit unique) and Jimmy gets knocked off in a heap. Morrison gets knocked down as well and Kofi comes off with the jumping double stomp to make it worse. Back up and Jimmy bridges the ladder between the rope and the standing ladder (uh oh) and then sends Kofi face first into the bridged one.

Morrison gets superkicked out of the air so Jimmy goes up another ladder, only to be shoved down. It must have been quite the fall as he went down with his feet facing the entrance and landed with his head facing the entrance. Or maybe WWE just needs better editors. Morrison throws a ladder out and goes up, only to have Kofi climb the same ladder. Jimmy is back in to climb another ladder and they all get a hand on the titles. A double headbutt knocks Morrison down….and he comes up with the titles for the win at 18:33.

Rating: B. This was the big spotfest match that you knew was coming here at one point or another on the show and there is nothing wrong with that. They did their thing all over the place here with one crazy spot after another. That’s how a match like this is supposed to be and it was as fun as you could have imagined a triple threat match for the Tag Team Titles would be. Granted there is one thing wrong with the match, which would be the horrible knee injury that Jimmy suffered, which would keep him out of action for over a year.

We recap Seth Rollins vs. Kevin Owens. Rollins is doing his evil messiah deal and Owens doesn’t want to hear it, nor does he want to deal with the beatdowns Rollins and company have given him. Grudge match time.

Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins

Dig that KO Mania IV shirt with the Andre the Giant/Hulk Hogan style as Owens continues an awesome tradition. After a quick bit of hiding in the ropes, Rollins starts the slugout and it goes about as badly as you would go. Owens hammers him down, shrugs off a kick to the face, and hits a hard clothesline. There’s a backsplash to crush Rollins but it’s too early for the Cannonball.

Some chops have Rollins in trouble on the floor but he manages a backdrop on the apron to avoid a rather painful powerbomb. A Falcon Arrow on the apron plants Owens again as Rollins is already focusing on the back. Rollins hits a hard suicide dive to knock him into the barricade and he does it again for a bonus. Back in and Rollins keeps the trash talk up but misses a pair of Stomps. Owens doesn’t miss a DDT though and a superkick lets him hit the Cannonball.

The Stunner is countered and Rollins nails an enziguri, only to have Owens nail a rebound lariat for another knockdown. A superplex is loaded up but Rollins blocks it, setting up the buckle bomb. Some superkicks rock Owens, who is still fine enough to hit a pop up sitout powerbomb for a close two. They go outside and Rollins blasts him in the head with the ring bell for the DQ at 10:09.

And no this isn’t what we’re doing because Owens says let’s keep it going with no countout or DQ. That’s fine with Rollins and the bell rings, allowing him to hit a jumping knee to the face. Rollins takes it outside again and sends him into various things, followed by a steps shot to the face.

A bunch of chair shots have Owens in big trouble but he comes up with a HARD bell shot to the head. With Rollins mostly done, Owens climbs onto the big WRESTLEMANIA sign and dives off, though he is nice enough to ask if Rollins thinks this is a Wrestlemania moment. Back in and Rollins tries to talk his way out of trouble, earning himself a Stunner for the pin at 17:15.

Rating: B-. I didn’t remember liking this one all that much but they beat each other up rather well and it was entertaining enough. The bell to the head sounded great and the violence was good, once you got part the pretty worthless pause in between the falls. Owens can brawl with the best of them, but unfortunately he got hurt here too and would miss time of his own, because this show is cursed.

R-Truth comes up to Mojo Rawley and Rob Gronkowski and complains about being 24/7. I think you know what happens here and Rawley celebrates with the title.

Paul Heyman scares the heck out of Charly Caruso and talks about how great how sure he is that Drew McIntyre is losing. Brock Lesnar is going to destroy McIntyre and leave him a broken man because Lesnar is the most awesome fighter ever. He gets the message across with a bit more emotion as you might guess.

We run down the night two card.

Smackdown World Title: Braun Strowman vs. Goldberg

Goldberg is defending and there is no recap because there is no story. Goldberg won the title in Saudi Arabia so he could lose to Roman Reigns here, but then Reigns pulled out due to the Coronavirus concerns (again, fair). After about twenty seconds of staring each other down, Goldberg kicks him in the ribs and hits an early spear.

Strowman is back up so Goldberg hits two more spears for a near fall. Make it four, but the Jackhammer is countered into a powerslam. We’ll make that two powerslams and the third sets up a fourth to make Strowman champion at 2:11. The entire match was three moves and one of them was a kick to the ribs.

Wrestlemania XXXVII is in Los Angeles. Just like it was in the Memorial Coliseum in 1991.

We recap AJ Styles vs. The Undertaker. Styles didn’t like Undertaker being a broken shell of himself so he insulted Undertaker the man, including Undertaker’s wife. This did not wind up going well and for the first time, it seems that this is Mark Calaway fighting instead of Styles, which should make things all the more interesting. Oh and they’re in boneyard to make things a little spicier/more cinematic.

Undertaker vs. AJ Styles

The hearse rides into the boneyard and the druids pull out the casket, which of course has Styles in it for a chuckle worthy moment. In a bit cooler moment, we get Biker Taker again, riding to the boneyard to Now That We’re Dead by Metallica. AJ wastes no time in talking trash, asking if Michelle McCool knows Undertaker is out this late. Undertaker knocks a brick out of his hands and the fight is on, with Undertaker dragging him around. He even calls AJ Alan to make it more freaky.

AJ is sent into the closed casket but Undertaker’s punch goes through the hearse window (cue the Goldberg flashbacks). He is fine enough to throw him through the windshield and they fight on top of the hearse, with Undertaker still getting the better of things. Undertaker hammers away while yelling at AJ to not talk about his wife and then quotes Clubber Lang by saying he has a lotta more. AJ gets smart by throwing dirt in the eyes and then trying to punch Undertaker into a grave.

It turns out that standing in front of someone who can’t see and talking a lot makes you easy to punch so Undertaker drills him in the jaw. That’s enough to knock Undertaker into the grave but the Good Brothers show up, complete with imitation western music. Undertaker goes after them….and we’ve got druids for some reason. They don’t really do much good though, as they stand there while Undertaker goes in a circle punching them. Now Undertaker can beat up Gallows and Anderson in peace, including beating on them with the handle of a shovel.

AJ is back with a tombstone (the stone, not the move) though and shatters it over Undertaker’s back. That means trash talk from AJ and weird sounds from Undertaker….and they are both knocked through the wall of a shed. Undertaker wheezes and backs away, allowing AJ to break a shove over his back to knock him into a grave. With Undertaker down, AJ jumps in the dump truck (or whatever you call it)….and Undertaker appears behind him in a big ball of light. Eh it’s not that insane really.

AJ runs off (as you should) and climbs onto the roof of the barn so Undertaker shoots fire out of the roof foo. Cue Gallows and Anderson so Undertaker beats them up again and throws Gallows into the abyss. A Tombstone onto the roof drops Anderson and Undertaker says it’s just him and AJ. For some reason AJ swings at him and gets chokeslammed off the roof and through a big piece of wood. Undertaker climbs down and asks AJ what his wife’s name is. Or maybe AJ can tell Undertaker how old he is.

AJ is out on his feet as Undertaker picks him up and talks about how AJ is tougher than he gave him credit for. It’s time to go to the grave and AJ says he’s sorry. Undertaker wants to know what for and then picks AJ up by the throat. AJ begs him not to bury him and Undertaker hugs him while saying AJ put up a great fight. Then Undertaker boots him into the grave and fills it in with the dirt. The gong sounds and we’ll say that’s the match at about 19:12 (your individual times may vary).

Rating: A. Yeah this is still great and is the pinnacle of the cinematic stuff. It doesn’t get too goofy (I mean, Undertaker stuff is weird by definition) and it felt like two guys having a fight. AJ being all cocky and sure of himself until he finally realized what he was up against is a classic Undertaker story and it worked well here. Above all else, this felt like Undertaker having one last brush with greatness before hanging it up and I can see why he was ok with this being the big ending. Go out doing something different and special, which is what he did here. I loved this when I watched it and still do here, so well done.

AJ’s gloves hand sticks out of the grave as Undertaker gets on his bike, throws up the fist to make the fire go off again. Undertaker’s symbol goes up on the barn wall and he rides away to end the show. And to end Undertaker’s career it seems, as he has not wrestled since and announced his retirement at Survivor Series about seven months later.

Overall Rating: B-. Like I said at the beginning, this show has kind of been forgotten and it is easy to see why. I’m not sure how you could expect anything else here, as the show was cobbled together from whomever was left and they did what they could to still have a Wrestlemania. It’s a Wrestlemania in name only for the most part, but it isn’t like they had any control over the thing. What we got was good enough, but don’t expect this to be anything more than an historical curiosity, because it doesn’t feel like Wrestlemania.

Ratings Comparison

Drew Gulak vs. Cesaro

Original: C

2021 Redo: C

Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross vs. Kabuki Warriors

Original: C

2021 Redo: C

Elias vs. King Corbin

Original: D

2021 Redo: C-

Shayna Baszler vs. Becky Lynch

Original: B-

2021 Redo: C

Daniel Bryan vs. Sami Zayn

Original: C+

2021 Redo: C

Jimmy Uso vs. John Morrison vs. Kofi Kingston

Original: B

2021 Redo: B

Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins

Original: C

2021 Redo: B-

Goldberg vs. Braun Strowman

Original: N/A

2021 Redo: N/A

Undertaker vs. AJ Styles

Original: A+

2021 Redo: A

Overall Rating

Original: C

2021 Redo: B-

Mostly in the ballpark, but it’s not like this is a show that is going to feel the same after a year.

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

https://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2020/04/04/wrestlemania-xxxvi-night-one-broken-undertaker/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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

AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

Welcome back to not quite Takeover and we have an especially big card. Rather than having the usual five match card, this one already has seven, plus some mixed tag thing that doesn’t seem to be an official match. NXT is starting to get somewhere in recent weeks and now they need to translate that to a big show. Granted that might be easier said than done but you never can tell around here. Let’s get to it.

Kickoff Show: Women’s Tag Team Titles: Toxic Attraction(c) vs. Dakota Kai/Raquel Gonzalez

This was added to the show on Tuesday as Kai and Gonzalez reunited in a moment that might not have been as emotional as WWE was hoping it to be. That being said, they are a team with some history and that is more than almost anyone else in the division (assuming there is one) at this point. It isn’t like there are any other challengers so maybe this will work out.

I’ll go with new champions here, as Toxic Attraction aren’t exactly awash in challengers and it would be weird to do the big reunion and then have the new faces just lose in their first match back together. The match probably won’t be much, but new champions is always a good way to get the crowd going. I wouldn’t be surprised to see the champs retain, but it makes more sense to do the switch given how they set it up.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Tony D’Angelo

I’m not sure what to make of Ciampa at this point but I don’t think that’s what they’re going for here. Either way, it seems like Ciampa is done with NXT after this match (barring a big surprise) and that could mean he’s going up to WWE or just heading elsewhere. I’d like to believe it’s to the main roster, but you never can tell around here. D’Angelo is an interesting choice for a final opponent and that could go either way.

As much as I don’t want to, I’ll go with D’Angelo winning here, as Ciampa seems like the kind of guy who would put someone over on his way out of the territory. Ciampa has done it all in NXT and has nothing left to prove, so they might as well let him make someone on his way out. The match should be good enough as Ciampa can carry the majority and D’Angelo is decent, but this is going to be the big NXT farewell for one of its legends.

LA Knight vs. Gunther

While it isn’t official, it would not surprise me at all to see this be Knight’s NXT farewell. He was ready for the main roster the day he arrived and there is no reason for him to not move up to the main roster. Granted that has been the case for a lot of NXT stars who have either not shown up yet or have been complete misfires up there (often not their fault), but it might be the case again here.

That being said, Gunther seems ready for the NXT Title picture almost immediately and there is almost no way Knight has a chance here. I could see Knight getting in some good shots and maybe even the BFT, but Gunther isn’t and shouldn’t be losing in NXT for a LONG time to come. Knight is a good meal for him at this point, because Gunther should be devouring him after breaking a bit of a sweat.

Tag Team Titles: Imperium(c) vs. MSK vs. Creed Brothers

The tag team division is trying to fight back after it went into a coma for so long but it isn’t quite there yet. Imperium are great heels but you need something to spice the division up a bit. I’m not sure if the Creeds winning is that spark, but it isn’t like MSK was lighting the world on fire as champions either. There are a few ways this can go and somehow that has made this match a lot more interesting than I would have expected.

I’ll go with the Creeds winning here, with the attackers showing up next week to be their first challengers. There is always the chance that the attackers show up here, but ultimately I think this is about the Creeds winning the titles, as there is no real reason not to have Imperium keep the belts. That leaves MSK to get the belts back and…yeah I think we’ve all been through enough of that for a long time. Creeds win, I think.

North American Title: Carmelo Hayes(c) vs. Cameron Grimes vs. Santos Escobar vs. Solo Sikoa vs. Grayson Waller

Naturally it’s a ladder match because that’s how things go in WWE/NXT/AEW/pretty much everyone these days. I’ve never been a fan of these big multiman ladder matches as a new champion didn’t pin the old champion and it’s so many of the same things that has been done time after time. There are multiple possible winners here though and it should be exciting, but it’s a little hard to get invested in this happening again.

Since he has found a pretty good story in recent weeks, I’ll go with Grimes to take the title here. Grimes has been a fan favorite for a long time now and needs a win that actually matters (the Million Dollar Title barely counted). I really don’t want them to take the title off of Hayes, who has been outstanding, but I don’t see how they can keep having Grimes lose, especially after some of his recent promos. I’d like Hayes to win and I’d be happy if he did, but Grimes REALLY needs this or he might never break through.

Women’s Title: Mandy Rose(c) vs. Cora Jade vs. Io Shirai vs. Kay Lee Ray

This is a tough one as you have Rose as the star NXT clearly wants to push as the big thing, but you also have Shirai and Ray who are two of the best around and Jade as the sentimental favorite. That makes things a bit complicated, not to mention that this is the THIRD multi-challenger title match on a seven match card. That’s not the best structured card, but I’m not sure if Rose can handle a big time singles title match.

As much as I’d like it to be Ray, I think they keep it on Rose here. Shirai and Ray cross each other off and Grimes/Jade both winning on the same show (plus a certain other likely title change) seems to be a bit too many good feelings. Rose retains here and drops the title to one of them in a few weeks, which isn’t the worst thing in the world as she is really starting to get a feeling for what she is doing.

NXT Title: Dolph Ziggler(c) vs. Bron Breakker

I think we can cut to the point with this one, as this is the biggest layup on the show by a few miles. Breakker is obviously the next big thing and close to a prodigy at this point and NXT wants to give him the win on the big stage, though it might have been more interesting to have this be his first win. They could have held the title on Ciampa for a little while longer and then done the same setup for this one and Breakker gets the really big moment.

That being said, there is no logical reason to not put the title back on Breakker here so of course we’ll go with him winning. The good thing is that Ziggler is the kind of a guy who can walk Breakker through a match and make him look better than anyone else ever could. That’s why Ziggler is in NXT and like him or not, this has been a great idea for both NXT and Ziggler himself.

Overall Thoughts

I’m not sure when it happened but NXT has become a rather entertaining show. This card actually looks pretty good, though it could use a match or two taken off. They’ll probably have to rush through a lot to get everything in on time. It’s no Takeover, but what we have here should be an entertaining show with the hope for some very cool/emotional moments if they pull the right strings.

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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NXT
Date: February 1, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett

It’s time for a big tag match as NXT Champion Bron Breakker and Tommaso Ciampa are teaming up against Legado del Fantasma. That is part of the way to build things up for Santos Escobar’s upcoming title shot, but for now we get what should be a good tag match. Let’s get to it.

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

Imperium vs. Diamond Mine

The fans chant WALTER during Imperium’s entrance. Gunther isn’t having any of the posing to start and kicks Roderick Strong in the head before the bell. Brutus Creed suplexes Aichner to start but Aichner manages a Regal Roll in quite the power display. It’s off to Barthel for an armbar and the WALTER chants start up again. Brutus fights up and hands it off to Julius for some knees to the ribs.

That’s broken up in a hurry as Barthel hits a middle rope elbow to the face and it’s off to Gunther to kick Julius in the head. We take a break and come back with Brutus coming back in to get suplexed onto Barthel for two. Barthel gets over for a tag to Gunther so it’s all hands on deck to slow him up. Everything breaks down though and it’s Brutus wrecking Imperium, leaving him for a showdown with Gunther. The sleeper puts Brutus in trouble and it’s a powerbomb to give Gunther the pin at 11:56.

Rating: B. The Creeds are getting better and better by the week and that was on full display here. What mattered was letting people hit each other rather hard as Imperium gets to show off what they can do, but at the end of the day, this was all about Gunther. He is the kind of force that you do not get to see very often and if they can get around the fans chanting WALTER, he should be a big deal.

LA Knight is ready for Grayson Waller but Joe Gacy and Harland interrupt, suggesting that Knight has a problem. Knight offers to get together with them in the ring and maybe he can get two new restraining orders.

Here is Toxic Attraction for a chat. They are ready to beat Indi Hartwell and Persia Pirotta in two weeks at Vengeance Day but here is Kay Lee Ray to interrupt. She isn’t getting her title match, so she brings in her baseball bat. Mandy tells her to put the bat down and the other two will leaves. Ray agrees, but Mandy would rather talk about her own modeling and fitness accomplishments.

That’s fine with Ray, who says she was holding the NXT UK Women’s Title for over 600 days while Rose was falling at Wrestlemania and sucking face with Otis. Mandy talks about how great she is and how she is what WWE wants and all the talent in the world will never replace her. Ray says that she’ll have her title match by the end of the night and slaps Mandy in the face. The bat is enough to chase off Toxic Attraction.

Cora Jade is ready to prove herself to Raquel Gonzalez, even if it means taking a beating. Gonzalez comes in and asks if she’s ready for the match, with Jade saying she’s in (I barely recognized Gonzalez with her hair down like that).

During the break, Toxic Attraction tried to leave but stopped for an interview. They went to get in their car with Mandy getting in last…but Ray is in the driver’s seat and kidnaps them. That parking lot man.

Cora Jade vs. Raquel Gonzalez

Jade is a bit tentative to start and gets tossed down without much trouble. That leaves Jade in shock at the pain so Gonzalez kicks away in the corner. A spinning Side Effect gives Gonzalez two more and she grabs an over the shoulder backbreaker. Jade is sat on top but manages to knock Gonzalez away this time.

Gonzalez tries another swinging Side Effect but gets reversed into….something we can’t see as the screen goes black, likely due to issues with Gonzalez’s top. Jade drives her into the corner for two and a rope walk hurricanrana rocks Gonzalez again. There’s an enziguri but Gonzalez finally just plants her with the Chigona Bomb for the pin at 11:04.

Rating: C+. Issues with Gonzalez’s gear aside, this was designed to make Jade look tough and it did well enough. I’m sure they’ll be in the Dusty Classic together because it isn’t like there are a bunch of teams to put into the tournament in the first place. Hopefully Gonzalez can move up to the main roster soon enough though, as she seems ready.

Post match Gonzalez says “let’s go and win this”, meaning the Dusty Classic.

Sarraylor Moon is back next.

Video on Pete Dunne vs. Tony D’Angelo.

Sarray vs. Kayla Inlay

Sarray walks through the back as the schoolgirl and then comes into the arena in her regular gear, sans anything schoolgirl. That’s a relief, even if WWE is still way too into this transformation stuff. Inlay won’t shake hands to start so Sarray knocks her into the corner. That’s broken up but we get breaking news about Kay Lee Ray returning, with no sign of Dolin and Jayne. Sarray fights up and hits the running dropkick against the ropes. A high collar suplex finishes Inlay at 3:20.

Rating: C. The match was almost a squash, but it was also quite the relief that Sarray isn’t going to be wrestling as a schoolgirl. That would be the latest bad WWE idea, so seeing her transform was kind of a relief. As weird as that is to say, I’ll take it over what we seemed to be getting, as this was a slightly more fired up Sarray.

Video on Duke Hudson, who gives himself a hair cut and says he makes his own luck anymore.

Bron Breakker is warming up when Tommaso Ciampa comes in. Ciampa hands him the NXT Title and suggests that Breakker doesn’t know what he is in for. As for tonight, they’ll take it to Legado del Fantasma.

Carmelo Hayes and Trick Williams are ready for Cameron Grimes because Hayes is always looking down on him. Cue Grimes, who notes the TO THE MOON chants. Grimes says Hayes looks like Spongebob, which makes Trick Squidward. Williams talks a lot but Grimes isn’t sure what he said. Grimes asks which one he’s fighting and Hayes says he’s waiting. As Hayes and Williams leave, Grimes says it’s going to be a one star match, and that one star is going to the moon.

Malik Blade and Edris Enofe debate a team name and Enofe thinks they should ask Mandy Rose. Then Rose literally falls through the door and it’s Blade’s arms (Blade: “Thank you!”). Kay Lee Ray comes in and rips off Rose’s jacket, which has Enofe rather happy. He wants to go after them….but Blade needs a minute.

Diamond Mine is ready to face Imperium again after they win the Dusty Classic. The Grizzled Young Veterans come in to laugh at the prospects.

LA Knight vs. Joe Gacy

Harland is here with Gacy, who gets taken down by an early running neckbreaker. A spinning Rock Bottom gets Gacy out of trouble and it’s off to a neck crank. There’s a suplex to take Knight down again and it’s time to work on Knight’s knee. Knight fights up and hits a jumping neckbreaker into his powerslam, only to collide for a crash to the floor. Cue Sanga (Grayson Waller’s bodyguard) so Waller can hit his rolling Stunner. That’s enough to give Gacy a nine count so it’s the handspring clothesline to finish Knight at 4:14.

Rating: C-. So we have yet another heel with a bodyguard, who happens to be interfering in a match with a heel with a kind of bodyguard? Are they that out of ideas? Waller costing Knight a match is fine, but this was another short match that didn’t have the chance to get anywhere because it’s all about getting as many things on the show as you can in two hours.

Post match Waller yells at Knight, who lunges at him. That means a chokeslam from Sanga, with Waller saying if Knight can beat Sanga next week, maybe the restraining order is gone.

Robert Stone is very happy to have signed Von Wagner.

Wendy Choo vs. Amari Miller

Tiffany Stratton has offered Miller a shopping spree if she takes out Choo. The bell rings and Choo goes to the mat for a nap, followed by taking Miller to the mat for a nap on her leg. An elbow drop gives Choo two and then it’s time to get serious, with a pair of hard suplexes. A sleeper is broken up though and Miller gets two off a jawbreaker. Cue Tiffany Stratton to throw Miller a credit card, allowing Choo to hit Miller in the face for the pin at 3:24.

Rating: D. It’s still the dumbest thing going in wrestling and now they are doing the goofy stuff during the matches rather than having her be serious. The credit card thing wasn’t exactly a good idea either, as we continue to need humor/goofiness in every match. At least they kept it short, but Choo is yet another bad NXT idea that is likely to continue for a long time.

Post match Stratton yells at Miller, but Choo has made off with the credit card.

Persia Pirotta and Indi Hartwell are ready to win the Tag Team Titles, with Dexter Lumis seeming to approve. Josh Briggs comes in to ask for advice on women, with Indi saying non-verbal communication is a good thing. Lumis looks at her and they’re off to the hot tub.

Video on Draco Anthony.

Nikkita Lyons talks about growing up around music as her dad was a musician and her mom was a groupie. Now she is a singer/rapper but also an NXT star. This is IN NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM LIKE HIT ROW! NOT AT ALL!

Sarray, once again a schoolgirl, is interrupted by Dakota Kai, who warns her about how relationships can go south.

Draco Anthony vs. Andre Chase

Bodhi Hayward is in Chase’s corner. Chase takes over with few shots to the face into a neckbreaker. Anthony is back with a powerslam and cranks on the arms, only to have Chase fight up again. A Russian legsweep drops Anthony and it’s time for the spelling stomps. Anthony is back up and steals Hayward’s flag but Hayward won’t let him stomp on it. Instead, Chase unloads in the corner and the Downward Spiral finishes Anthony at 4:26.

Rating: C-. Another not exactly great match as the latest new NXT character (just wait, as I’d bet on getting another one before the show is over) loses in his NXT debut. It’s a bit weird seeing the war veteran as a heel but NXT is quite the strange duck at times. Chase is somehow getting this dumb character over and that is quite the accomplishment.

Mandy Rose is still running from Kay Lee ray but stops for a water at the food area. Ray shows up and pours spaghetti on her, followed by a cake to the head area. Then Ray stalks her with the baseball bat.

Legado del Fantasma vs. Bron Breakker/Tommaso Ciampa

The rest of Legado is here too. Ciampa headlocks Mendoza to start but Wilde tags himself in and hits a dropkick. It’s back to Mendoza, who bails to the floor, allowing Breakker to come in and run the ropes. A Gator roll sets up a delayed suplex on Wilde, with Ciampa adding one of his own to Mendoza. We take a break and come back with Breakker getting caught with some running shots in the corner. The front facelock is countered with a suplex though and it’s back to Ciampa to fire off the running clotheslines.

Ciampa tags Brakker back in, despite Breakker favoring his arm. Something like a powerslam plants Wilde but Santos Escobar gets up for a distraction. Mendoza scores with a springboard missile dropkick and a Phoenix splash gets two. A spear cuts Mendoza down but Wilde makes the save. Wilde goes up but gets shoved HARD off the top and through the announcers’ table. The gorilla press powerslam finishes Mendoza at 11:24.

Rating: C+. Breakker is one of those guys that doesn’t need a ton of explanation. He’s a bit like Goldberg in that the idea seems to be flip a switch and watch him smash stuff. That’s a perfect case of “don’t think about this too hard” and it’s working. Escobar will be a good first victim and this was a fine way of setting that up, especially with Breakker possibly having a bad arm going in.

Post match Escobar stares down Breakker but here are Kay Lee Ray and Mandy Rose again. Ray threatens her and gets her title shot next week as a result. The KLR Bomb leaves Rose laying to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. I have almost no idea what to make of this show, but the biggest thing that comes out of it is how much is crammed in. The problem with that is the word crammed, as it feels so overstuffed. It is one character with a wacky gimmick after another and that gets tiring after a bit. So many things on here felt like it needed to be over the top or have some kind of a punchline and that gets old after a bit. Even the main event was immediately followed by Rose with cake on her clothes.

This was another way too busy show and I kept wondering what they were going to throw out there next to make me shake my head. It isn’t that these are all terrible ideas, but they keep coming one after another with little getting the time to sink in. There are stories in here that work, but then Mandy Rose is being stalked or Sarray is transforming or Blade and Enofe, who could be a good, young team, are stuck with sophomoric humor.

Overall, this show felt very, very much like a show designed by Vince McMahon or to appeal to Vince McMahon and that is rarely going to make for entertaining TV. It felt like yet another week where they were throwing anything out there and if it works, great, but if not, oh well. That’s not a great way to run a TV show and the wrestlers aren’t going to get much out of it other than a bunch of ideas that aren’t the best to put on their resumes.

Results
Imperium b. Diamond Mine – Powerbomb to Brutus
Raquel Gonzalez b. Cora Jade – Chigona Bomb
Sarray b. Kayla Inlay – High collar suplex
Joe Gacy b. LA Knight – Handspring elbow
Wendy Choo b. Amari Miller – Elbow to the face
Andre Chase b. Draco Anthony – Downward Spiral
Bron Breakker/Tommaso Ciampa b. Legado del Fantasma – Gorilla press powerslam to Mendoza

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.

 

NXT
Date: January 4, 2022
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett

It’s a big night as we have New Year’s Evil featuring the main event of NXT Champion Tommaso Ciampa defending against Bron Breakker. That’s big enough, but we also have a triple threat match for the Women’s Title and AJ Styles confronting Grayson Waller. Not wrestling mind you, but confronting him. Let’s get to it.

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

The opening video looks at the beginning of the new year with a focus on the card. Then we get to Breakker vs. Ciampa, when the video shifts into evil.

North American Title/Cruiserweight Title: Carmelo Hayes vs. Roderick Strong

Title for title, with Trick Williams and Diamond Mine here too. They fight over a lockup to start until Strong grabs an armbar to take over. Back up and Hayes scores with a dropkick to stagger Strong for a change. Strong tries to take him down but Hayes nips up and scores with an enziguri. With that not working, Strong chops him hard up against the ropes, so Hayes drops to the floor for a breather.

Back in and Strong gets caught in the ropes, setting up a springboard legdrop for a cool looking crash. They head to the apron with Hayes hitting a big jumping DDT to rock Strong. They go inside again and Hayes misses something off the top, setting up a heck of a Sick Kick for two. We take a break and come back with Strong fighting out of a wristlock and hitting a running clothesline.

Some backbreakers look to set up the Strong Hold but Hayes reverses into one of his own. That’s reverses as well and now the Strong Hold can go on. With that broken up as well, Strong hits a Rock Bottom backbreaker for two more. Hayes is ties in the ropes for the running forearms, setting up the Angle Slam for two.

Back up and Hayes grabs a suplex into a cutter for his own near fall and we have a shocked face. Hayes gets caught up top and Strong grabs a super X Plex…or at least I think he does as they both crash hard. Hayes is ok enough to cover for two, followed by the top rope Fameasser for the pin and the titles at 15:41.

Rating: B. I’m still not sure what the landing on that super X Plex was supposed to be, but the rest of the match was pretty awesome as they were trading one big spot after another. They weren’t going for anything more than trading bombs until one of them couldn’t get up, and that’s it for the Cruiserweight division. Good match, and one of the better things to air on NXT TV in a long time.

AJ Styles wishes Tommaso Ciampa luck. There doesn’t appear to be much tension here.

The Dusty Classics are coming back, with the men’s version in two weeks and the women’s version in February.

Here is AJ Styles for a chat. After soaking in some cheers, AJ says he never gets tired of that, and talks about how he always wanted to come here, even when he first got to WWE. The fans always have that passion but there is always someone who wants to take it away. That’s where Grayson Waller comes in….and cue Waller himself, to bring up Styles losing to Omos last night.

Waller doesn’t buy this idea that Styles would have started in NXT and is tired of everyone calling him green. Styles says he’s never had a one on one match in NXT, so let’s get a referee out here and change that. Waller says we’re on Grayson Waller time we can do this next week. It can be the biggest win of his life, but AJ thinks it will be the biggest embarrassment. The fight is on with AJ getting kicked down before clearing the ring. At least the match is set.

Pete Dunne is ready to take out Tony D’Angelo for hurting his hand last week.

Kayden Carter/Kacy Catanzaro tell Amari Miller they are ready to win the Tag Team Titles. Miller needs a partner for the Dusty Classic but Tiffany Stratton runs off at the thought. The sleeping girl wakes up, asks why people are staring at her, and introduces herself as Wendy Chu. More sleep ensues.

Riddle/MSK vs. Imperium

Nash Carter starts with Fabian Aichner and gets powered down early on. A shot to the face staggers Aichner though and it’s off to Wes Lee to kick Aichner in the ribs. Lee can’t whip him in though and Aichner BLASTS HIM with a clothesline. That’s enough from them so it’s off to Riddle vs. Walter (who looks to have dropped a good bit of weight) with Riddle striking away. That doesn’t last long as everything breaks down, with Walter pulling Lee out of the air and carrying him to the wrong corner. The running double dropkicks put Lee on the floor and it’s an Imperium pose to send us to a break.

Back with Carter in trouble and a tag attempt being cut off. Carter finally gets in a kick to Walter though and the hot tag brings in Riddle to clean house. More strikes and a t-bone suplex drop Walter, setting up the running Broton. Everything breaks down again and some stereo dives take out Aichner and Barthel.

Back in and Riddle manages a German suplex on Walter for two but Aichner and Barthel offer a distraction. That’s enough for Walter to kick Riddle down and hit the powerbomb for two. A brainbuster gets two on Riddle but he strikes his way to freedom. It’s back to Carter for the Blockbuster Hart Attack, setting up Riddle’s Floating Bro to Aichner. The RKO finishes Barthel at 13:51.

Rating: B+. This was the kind of match that has been missing around here, as it was straight action and everyone going nuts. It also helps that it had star power, with Riddle and Walter feeling like bigger stars than anyone else on the show (save for AJ). That’s what this show has been lacking and it was great to see it again.

Joe Gacy is proud of Harland for getting better and thinks the Dusty Cup would make him happy. But no, they don’t want any special treatment to get into the tournament.

Mandy Rose gets an entrance in a helicopter.

Elektra Lopez is attracted to success and next week, you will get your answers. Next week it’s Santos Escobar vs. Xyon Quin and she is leaving with the winner.

Women’s Title: Mandy Rose vs. Raquel Gonzales vs. Cora Jade

Rose is defending and gets sent outside in a hurry. That leaves Raquel to power Jade around but a headscissors puts her on the floor as well. Rose pulls Jade outside for a beating but it’s a double Samoan drop from Gonzales back inside. We take a break and come back with Jade trying a rollup but getting tossed hard to the floor instead.

That leaves Mandy alone with Gonzales so it’s time to run away, only to have Gonzales chase her down in a hurry. Mandy gets tossed to the floor but comes back with a kendo stick shot for two. Gonzales comes back with the Chingona Bomb but Jade dives off the top with a backsplash for the save. That leaves Gonzales very angry indeed so she goes after Jade, only to get shoved outside. Jade’s rollup doesn’t work though as Rose sits down on it and retains the title at 12:28.

Rating: C-. Well they tried, but this was a rather sloppy match and it was quite the train wreck. There are only so many things that you can expect from three women who are a mixture of inexperienced and not that good, which means putting them out there for twelve minutes on live TV wasn’t the greatest idea. They aren’t ready for this spot without someone to help guide them through a match and that was obvious more than once. They did try hard and that makes a difference, but it wasn’t working.

Boa runs water over his face, making the painted version of himself appear next to him in the mirror.

Riddle congratulates MSK on their win and says goodbye for now. The Creed Brothers pop up to say the tag division is more serious and they’re winning the Dusty Cup.

Here is Andre Chase, who is rather proud of his student for trying to help him last week. That has earned him a FULL SCHOLARSHIP but here is Von Wagner to interrupt. He’s the star around here and punches out Chase for daring to talk. Wagner beats up the student as well and then goes after the fans as well, with referees and security pulling him away.

Video on Bron Breakker vs. Tommaso Ciampa.

Von Wagner is being escorted out of the building, but stops to laugh at Roderick Strong.

Video on Cameron Grimes’ amazing 2021. He wants gold in 2022.

NXT Title: Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bron Breakker

Breakker is challenging and breaks some chains and a big X on the way to the ring. Ciampa starts with some running elbows but gets caught in a delayed suplex. Breakker nips up as Ciampa rolls to the floor for an early breather. Another suplex keeps Ciampa in trouble but he gets smart by going after the knee. Breakker gets taken down with a dropkick before a running knee puts him on the floor. Ciampa even busts out a running corkscrew dive (that’s a new one for him) and that’s good for some self applause.

Back in and the chinlock goes on but Breakker is on his feet in a hurry. The running shoulder to the ribs in the corner rocks Ciampa again but he ties Breakker in the Tree of Woe. Stomping and a running dropkick get Breakker out, where he is able to block the Fairy Tale Ending. A spinebuster and standing moonsault get two on Ciampa. Breakker goes to the middle rope but pauses (in a callback to his mistake in their first match), allowing Ciampa to knock him off the top.

Breakker seems to have tweaked his knee so Ciampa (now bleeding from the eye) hits some running knees to the face. A spear cuts Ciampa in half though and they’re both down. Back up and Breakker tries the gorilla press but Ciampa reverses into a tornado DDT….which almost goes very badly wrong as they land on the ropes. Ciampa is able to jump right into position for the Willow’s Bell though and we hit a half crab on Breakker. With that broken up, Ciampa heads outside and pulls back the floor mat.

That takes too long though and Breakker hits a HARD Alabama Slam through the announcers’ table. Back in and Ciampa uses the middle rope for a low blow, setting up another knee to the head. There’s another one for a bonus as Kenny Omega has entered the match. Ciampa hits a third running knee, setting up the Fairy Tale Ending for two, meaning it’s Ciampa’s turn to be shocked. Breakker knocks Ciampa off the top and hits a top rope bulldog, setting up a Recliner for the tap and the title at 15:29.

Rating: B. This was about passing the torch and that’s the feeling it presented, as Ciampa gave it everything he had and came up short. They had to change the title here as Breakker is a beast who has already lost once. He’s looking more and more like a prodigy every day and that’s not something you get to see very often. I’m not sure what he’s going to do as champion, but it wouldn’t shock me to see him on the main roster before the end of the year.

Ciampa nods to Breakker, who celebrates to end the show.

Overall Rating: B+. This was a heck of a show that felt like a mini Takeover. The thing that made this one work was how structured everything felt. It came off like the people putting this show together had a bunch of stuff planned and then went out and executed it rather well. That’s how a big show is supposed to feel and it is the exact opposite of how this show feels most of the time. Awesome show here, and the title changes felt important, so well done for this week.

Results
Carmelo Hayes b. Roderick Strong – Top rope Fameasser
Riddle/MSK b. Imperium – RKO to Barthel
Mandy Rose b. Cora Jade and Raquel Gonzales – Cradle to Jade
Bron Breakker b. Tommaso Ciampa – Steiner Recliner

 

 

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NXT
Date: December 28, 2021
Location: Capitol Wrestling Center, Orlando, Florida
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Wade Barrett

It’s time for one of those things that you don’t get to see very often in WWE, as we’re getting a contract signing between Carmelo Hayes and Roderick Strong. Other than that, odds are we’ll be hearing a lot more from Grayson Waller, because he is on this show as much as a Steve Austin Raw in 1998. Let’s get to it.

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

They aren’t wasting time this week because here is Grayson Waller to get things going. Waller flips around a lot and talks about having a great Christmas. This included flying himself to Detroit to Monday Night Raw, where he met AJ Styles. We see a clip of their showdown last night, before Waller talks about how he is supposed to face Dexter Lumis tonight. That isn’t going to happen, so he insults Indi Hartwell too. Cue the returning Odyssey Jones and we have a replacement match.

Odyssey Jones vs. Grayson Waller

Jones throws him around to start and then steps on Waller’s back. A big side slam gives Jones two and we take a break. Back with Waller hitting a low superkick and a middle rope elbow gets two. Jones fights up but misses a charge into the corner, allowing Waller to hammer away. Waller grabs the buckle to block a powerbomb….but the buckle pad comes off so the powerbomb gets two. That means Jones can miss a charge into the buckle, allowing Waller to hit his rolling Stunner for the pin at 7:36.

Rating: C. It’s nice to see Jones back as he is certainly one of the more unique people on the show. Sometimes you need someone out there throwing people around with raw power and size, which he does quite well. Then you have Waller, who is still the focal point of the show. It’s good to see him get in the ring, but it’s clear that he isn’t exactly a general out there. I still don’t quite get what WWE sees in him, but he’s pretty clearly here to stay.

Post match, AJ Styles pops up to say he’ll be here next week.

Raquel Gonzalez and Cora Jade both want to fight Mandy Rose, but here are Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray to say they want to fight her too. Rose just happens to pop up on screen behind them and says she’ll get a tag match made for tonight, with the winning team getting to challenge her in a triple threat at New Year’s Evil.

Grayson Waller isn’t happy with AJ Styles interrupting him and runs into MSK. They can shut up.

Xyon Quin says Elektra Lopez needs to pick sides.

Here is MSK for a chat. They haven’t been here since Halloween Havoc, which wasn’t a great night. No one gets higher than them, but here is Riddle on screen to say he is with them in spirit. That’s enough for them to call out Imperium, as they had planned to do. Cue Imperium to shout in their respective languages, which does not sit well with MSK, who want subtitles.

Imperium insults them in English, so MSK issues the challenge for right here and right now. That’s too far because Walter pops up on screen, saying that he is proud of Imperium as champions. That isn’t the case for MSK, so here is Riddle to pop up on screen and ask for a six man. Walter is game and the match is set.

We look back at Harland wrecking Brian Kendrick.

Joe Gacy reminds Harland that it wasn’t his fault because Kendrick started it.

Edris Enofe is happy with his win over Von Wagner, who comes in to say Enofe got lucky. Malik Blade comes in to have Enofe’s back and a match seems to be set.

Harland vs. Brian Kendrick

Hold on though as there is no Kendrick. Cue Andre Chase to say this is a teachable moment! Gacy likes education and mentions Harland being in a university….until he was expelled. As for Chase, thank you for being Kendrick’s replacement!

Harland vs. Andre Chase

Chase gets shoved outside in a hurry and the beating continues on the floor. Back in and Chase is sent face first into the mat over and over, which is good for the stoppage at 1:00.

Post match, one of Chase’s students hits the ring to check on him but gets attacked as well. Harland then kidnaps him.

Legado del Fantasma asks Elektra Lopez where her loyalties lie. She doesn’t say but here is Solo Sikoa to accidentally run into them. They want an apology but we get a match instead.

Tiffany Stratton vs. Fallon Henley

Both are making their NXT debuts though they have been on 205 Live. Stratton takes her down with an armbar to start and then slams Henley to cut off a comeback attempt. An awkward looking handspring elbow sets up a Downward Spiral to finish Henley off at 2:35.

Tony D’Angelo warned Pete Dunne not to mess with him and then smashed Dunne’s hand. Maybe Dunne will listen to him next time.

It’s time for the contract signing between Roderick Strong and Carmelo Hayes, who hasn’t been seen so far. Malcolm Bivens thinks it might be due to the higher gas prices, but here are Hayes and Trick Williams anyway. Williams talks trash that Strong doesn’t understand, so Bivens translates. Strong threatens Hayes, with Bivens translating again, while also pointing out that Williams and Hayes are outnumbered. Williams goes on a rant, but Bivens doesn’t get paid enough to translate all night.

Wade Barrett, running this whole thing, has no idea what anyone has said so let’s just sit down. Hayes says Strong shouldn’t play with him or he’ll get put on a t-shirt. Next week, he’s unifying the titles and becoming the true A Champion. Strong promises to walk out as a two time North American Champion after he unifies the titles.

Hayes is going to be carried out though, which does not sit well with him. Both of them sign and the match is official. They throw the contract at each other and Barrett bails. Hayes leaves but Bivens yells at Williams to draw him back in. That means the Creed Brothers can put him through a table as the Diamond Mine stands tall. Bivens’ translations and Barrett being lost were funny, but I don’t like Strong’s chances next week.

Video on the tag team division with a lot of teams wanting the Tag Team Titles.

Solo Sikoa vs. Santos Escobar

Escobar chops away to start and rolls him up for a fast two. Sikoa is getting a bit too frustrated early on and misses a stomp to make it worse. Escobar takes him back down into an armbar and then switches into an abdominal stretch. That’s reversed with a hiptoss and a running headbutt gives Sikoa two. Escobar is knocked outside, where the rest of Legado offers a distraction. That means Sikoa gets posted hard we take a break.

Back with Sikoa fighting up but getting taken right back down with a Russian legsweep. Escobar stands on his back to keep it in trouble, setting up a half crab with a knee in said back. A basement dropkick rocks Sikoa again but he’s fine enough to hit a toss gordbuster. There’s the Samoan drop but Sikoa has to deal with the rest of Legado. That means a chop block to Sikoa, setting up a super hurricanrana. Cue Xyon Quin, so Escobar takes him down with a dive and yells a lot. Escobar heads back in, where Sikoa superkicks his head off. The Superfly Splash gives Sikoa the upset pin at 13:32.

Rating: C+. This is what some of the NXT rookies need to be doing: having a match with the established names and getting some ring time. The 3-4 minute matches aren’t getting them very far but this is where they can grow and learn. Escobar isn’t going to be hurt by the loss and Sikoa gets a rather nice win under his belt. Good use of TV time here.

New Year’s Evil rundown.

Harland and Joe Gacy take Andre Chase to the roof and leave him there.

Solo Sikoa wants to know who is left but gets jumped by Boa, who gives him a Tongan Death Grip. The cameraman gets taken out too.

We look at Tommaso Ciampa vs. Bron Breakker.

Von Wagner vs. Malik Blade

Wagner powers him into the corner to start but Blade hits a kick to the ribs. That earns Blade a big toss into the air for a bigger crash as the beating is on. A lariat blasts Blade but he comes back with some dropkicks. Blade’s springboard crossbody drops Wagner again but he grabs a high Angle Slam. The double underhook spinning slam finishes Blade at 4:02.

Rating: C-. I’m still not sure I get it with Wagner, who is another pretty generic power guy. That’s about all he showed us here too, as he didn’t do anything that set him apart from anyone else. Blade is fitting in rather well as the jobber to the stars who can still give you a nice enough match. Now please try to find some way to make Wagner more interesting.

Post match Wagner goes after him again but Edris Enofe makes the save.

New Year’s Evil rundown.

Kay Lee Ray/Io Shirai vs. Cora Jade/Raquel Gonzalez

The winning team gets to challenge Mandy Rose for the Women’s Title next week. Shirai flapjacks Jade to start and tells her to bring it. Jade grabs a cradle for two of her own before snapping off a hurricanrana. The running knee smashes Shirai against the ropes and it’s off to Gonzalez for the power. Ray comes in to kick away at the ribs but Shirai has to come in and save her with a dropkick. Shirai’s Asai moonsault takes Gonzalez out again and we take a break.

Back with Ray stomping away on Jade but not being able to hit the KLR Bomb. The comeback bid doesn’t last long as Jade gets knocked down, but Gonzalez saves Jade from the Moon Over Moonsault. Instead Ray hits a big dive onto Gonzalez and Shirai 619s Jade. There’s a missile dropkick for two on Jade, who comes back with an enziguri to Ray.

The hot tag brings in Gonzalez to clean house, including the spinning Vader Bomb. There’s the Chingona Bomb but Jade tags herself in. The argument is on and Jade knocks Gonzalez outside, allowing Jade to roll her up. Gonzalez breaks that up…and knocks Jade onto Ray for the pin at 10:02.

Rating: C. That was a mixture of good action, some sloppiness in parts and a stupid ending designed to wedge in the “these two don’t get along” theme. That’s one of WWE’s favorite tropes though and it’s no surprise to see it here again. Either team could have won here, but Jade and Gonzalez are the more logical pick.

Post match, Mandy Rose pops up to say her plan is working and she’ll see them at New Year’s Evil.

Overall Rating: C. The show took a bit of a step back this week as it was a collection of things happening without much of a main story. The women’s tag didn’t feel bigger than anything else but rather just went on last, which doesn’t make it that much better. Nothing on here was particularly good and while there was less Grayson Waller, there wasn’t much else worth seeing. Granted that very well might be a Coronavirus thing, but it wasn’t exactly a fun watch this week.

Results
Grayson Waller b. Odyssey Jones – Rolling Stunner
Harland b. Andre Chase via referee stoppage
Tiffany Stratton b. Fallon Henley – Downward Spiral
Solo Sikoa b. Santos Escobar – Superfly Splash
Von Wagner b. Malik Blade – Double underhook spinning slam
Raquel Gonzalez/Cora Jade b. Kay Lee Ray/Io Shirai – Rollup to Ray

 

 

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and head over to my Amazon author page with 30 different cheap wrestling books at:

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AND

Remember to check out Wrestlingrumors.net for all of your wrestling headline needs.