Survivor Series 2023
Date: November 25, 2023
Location: Allstate Arena, Rosemont, Illinois
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

So believe it or not, the focus is going to be on WarGames and in this case it means the good guys need one more star to help fight off Judgment Day. In theory that is going to be Randy Orton, who has been gone for about a year and a half and isn’t quite back yet. Other than that, Damage CTRL is facing another ragtag group of women so let’s get to it.

It’s almost weird to see the old Then Now Together Forever intro after the change at Wrestlemania XL.

The opening video focuses on WarGames, because what else was it going to be?

The cage is lowered.

WarGames recap:

• Two wrestlers start and fight for five minutes.

• After five minutes, the team with the advantage (as determined before the match) gets a three minute advantage.

• The teams alternate until all ten are in and then it’s first pin/submission to win.

Women’s WarGames

Charlotte, Bianca Belair, Becky Lynch, Shotzi
Bayley, Iyo Sky, Asuka, Kairi Sane

Lynch and Bayley start things off with Lynch sending her into the cage, only to get sent into the buckle. Bayley catches Lynch going up top but Lynch rolls over her and they slug it out. Lynch’s exploder sends her flying but Bayley gets in a ram into the cage. They go between the rings so Bayley can get in a suplex as they’re certainly going with the violence to start. The fight goes into the other ring and Lynch sends her into the cage a few times.

The Disarm-Her goes on but here is Dakota Kai with a kendo stick through the cage to break it up. That’s enough for Bayley to take over and it’s Shotzi coming in, with a ram of the door onto Bayley’s head, to take over. Naturally that means a bunch of chairs and weapons are thrown in, because THE BIG DOUBLE CAGE isn’t enough. Shotzi sets up the chair and Bayley has to climb the cage to get away from some rather painful swings.

They all go up the cage and ram each other into the steel until Bayley crashes down. Stereo forearms from the to take her down again but it’s Iyo Sky coming in to tie it up, complete with a chain. For some reason Lynch and Shotzi don’t see her coming and get beaten down, as WarGames seems to make people a bit slow. A springboard double missile dropkick puts Lynch and Shotzi down again and Bayley is back up. Lynch gets double superplexed down for a crash but Shotzi fights out of the corner, allowing Belair to come in.

Belair whips with the hair and the fans rather approve. A spinebuster puts Bayley down but she and grab the braids, only to get suplexed down. Lynch and Shotzi are back in with a guillotine legdrop and top rope splash before Kairi Sane is in to even things up. Well eventually that is, as she takes her sweet time getting a trashcan lid and then headscissoring Belair anyway.

The sliding forearm against the cage sends Belair into the cage before it’s time to bury Shotzi under some chairs. The pop up elbow drop crushes Shotzi but Belair is back to throw Sane onto Bayley and Sky. Charlotte comes in to complete her team and Sky is sent crashing into the cage. Naturally the fans want tables but have to settle for a top rope double Natural Selection (which Graves has to point out to Cole, who realizes his mistake in a funny bit) to Bayley and Sane.

Charlotte starts climbing the cage but Sky, with a chain, gets o her shoulders and gets all the way to the top. Sky drops the chain to Kai, who ties it around a trashcan so Sky can pull it up (that was clever). Sky puts the trashcan over her head and dives onto the pile (she LOVES that spot), who were nice enough to stand there while Sky took forever to get ready (fair enough). Asuka is in to complete the field and she has some colored kendo sticks. And a table. And a fire extinguisher.

Therefore, a good minute after her clock ended, Asuka gets in and WarGames officially begins. Damage CTRL all grab weapons to hammer on the others, with Lynch and Belair being tied together with the chain like they’re in an old western. Shotzi is back up but gets misted by Asuka to cut her right back down. Lynch is put inside the trashcan and dropkicked down for two and it’s time to set up a table. Belair and Lynch come back with powerbombs out of the corner though and Charlotte goes all the way up top for the huge moonsault to wipe out everyone.

We get the big staredown between Lynch and Charlotte, who hug for the rather positive reaction. The Figure Eight and cross armbreaker go on but Sane is up for the save. Shotzi is back up to drop Asuka for two with Bayley making a save of her own. Bayley Rose Plants Lynch but gets caught with a Sliced Bread from Shotzi. Belair is up with the fire extinguisher and Charlotte spears Bayley. The KOD hits Bayley as well and the super Manhandle Slam through a table finishes her off at 33:37.

Rating: B. It had the carnage and violence with the weapons, but there is always a lack of intensity to these matches that hold them back. Part of it stems from the people coming to the ring but then pausing to get their weapons. Other than that, it was the usual WWE WarGames: a lot of brawling and hitting other people with weapons, with the cage mainly being there to jump off of rather than for violence, which is more than a bit odd.

The winners pose on top of the cage.

Chelsea Green, Piper Niven and the Alpha Academy are enjoying some Ruffles when Pretty Deadly come in to argue over whether they’re chips or crisps. R-Truth comes in to say they’re Ruffles.

Sami Zayn tells Jey Uso that Randy Orton, the last member of their team, isn’t here yet. Jey isn’t surprised and takes the blame because the Bloodline injured him two years ago. Sami says it’s not his fault and things seem to be ok.

We recap Miz challenging Gunther for the Intercontinental Title. Gunther is the longest reigning champion and doesn’t think much of Miz, who wants the title back. To say Miz has no chance here would be an understatement.

Intercontinental Title: Miz vs. Gunther

Gunther is defending and commentary spends his entrance talking about how he is almost unbeatable, even giving Miz’s long shot betting odds. Miz kicks at the leg to start and a chop just annoys Gunther. A much better chop puts Miz down but he’s back up with more chops and some left hands in the corner to actually take over. Gunther gives chase but gets his leg wrapped around the post to slow him down.

The Figure Four around the post stays on the leg, though it’s good enough to boot Miz out of the air back inside. Gunther slows things down a bit and chops away to drop Miz again. A release German suplex sends Miz flying and a big boot lets Gunther pose as the dominance is on. Back up and Miz strikes away at the knee again, with a shinbreaker slowing Gunther down. Some kicks to the chest stagger Gunther into the corner and a tornado DDT gets two.

The Skull Crushing Finale is blocked though and Gunther grabs his powerbomb for his own near fall. The sleeper goes on so Miz goes to the corner, pulling the turnbuckle off in the process. A low blow into the Skull Crushing Finale gets two (with Cole letting us know that “MIZ IS GONNA DO IT!” to ruin the moment) and Miz is shocked. The fans want to see it again but Miz gets caught in the sleeper. That’s reversed into a ram into the buckle so Miz can roll him up for two (with a Bret Hart vs. Roddy Piper reference), only to get blasted with a clothesline. The top rope splash into the Boston crab retains the title at 12:19.

Rating: B-. This was about as good as it was going to be as there was just no reason to believe that Miz was going to win. Even his big near fall was only so good, as pretty much no one was on Gunther’s level at this time. Miz going after the leg to slow Gunther down was a good story, as Miz can still wrestle a fine match given the chance. It was a good match, but there was just not much drama and that held it back.

Judgment Day is ready for WarGames and is rather pleased that Randy Orton doesn’t seem to be here. Even if he shows up, he might poison the other team and Judgment Day wins anyway.

We recap Dragon Lee vs. Santos Escobar. This stems from Escobar turning on Rey Mysterio and the LWO, so Lee is standing up for the team (replacing Carlito, who was also injured by Escobar). Pretty simple story here and that’s not a bad thing.

Santos Escobar vs. Dragon Lee

Escobar forearms away to start and stomps him down, setting up a quick backbreaker for two. Some running knees in the corner send Lee outside, where he has to escape having his leg crushed in the steps. A running hurricanrana off the apron sends Escobar outside and there’s the big running flip dive.

Back in and Escobar kicks him in the head, setting up a super hurricanrana for two. Like any good rudo, Escobar goes after the mask but Lee is fine enough to tie him in the tree of woe for thee double stomp. Back up and Escobar hits a heck of a superkick but Lee muscles him up into a sitout powerbomb for two. Escobar shrugs that off and his a Canadian Destroyer, followed by the Phantom Driver for the pin at 8:20.

Rating: C+. WWE was doing what they could to make Lee into a bigger deal around this time but it was only going to get so far when he kept losing. Escobar was running through the LWO on his way to a showdown with Rey Mysterio whenever Mysterio got back and he had to beat Lee on the way there. This wasn’t a great match, but it kept Escobar looking strong and it’s nice to have something other than a title or WarGames mach on the show.

New Day is here with a Slim Jim car.

We recap Zoey Stark challenging Rhea Ripley for the Raw Women’s Title. Stark is the new tough star and Ripley needs a fresh victim so the match is on.

Raw Women’s Title: Rhea Ripley vs. Zoey Stark

Ripley is defending and Stark actually double legs her down to hammer away to start. A dropkick sends Ripley outside and there’s the dive off the top to take her down again. Back in and a missile dropkick continues Stark’s hot start but Ripley headbutts her into the next county to cut that off in a hurry. Stark is right back with a DDT onto the apron and a springboard corkscrew senton gets two. They go outside again with Ripley dropping her onto the apron and then sending her into the post to really take over.

Ripley cranks on both arms back inside and then stomps her down before taking Stark up top. What looks to be a super chokeslam is countered into…I have no idea what Stark was doing there but she gets two and screams a lot. Ripley elbows and kicks her in the face, setting up a belly to back faceplant. Riptide is countered though and Stark hits a running knee for two. The Z360 is blocked as well and now Riptide can connect to retain the title at 9:16.

Rating: C. This got a bit sloppy after that whole thing off the top, as even commentary didn’t seem sure about what was going on. Other than that, it was Ripley against someone who only felt like so much of a threat. That’s part of the problem with someone becoming as big of a star as Ripley: you can only have so many realistic challengers to her and that is becoming an issue here.

Randy Orton still isn’t here and Jey Uso still blames himself.

We recap the men’s WarGames match. Judgment Day is the big monster heel stable on Raw and a bunch of people are sick of them, so violence ensued and the match is on. Drew McIntyre is in with Judgment Day for the sake of getting his hands on Jey Uso in a cage. It still isn’t clear if Randy Orton will be here, as he hasn’t been around in about a year and a half at this point.

Men’s WarGames

Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Jey Uso, Sami Zayn, Randy Orton
Damian Priest, Finn Balor, Dominik Mysterio, JD McDonagh, Drew McIntyre

McIntyre and Priest stare each other down on the stage as Balor goes to start with Rollins (who doesn’t have a Randy Orton here yet). They start fast with Rollins diving over the ropes to jump Balor and hammer away. The fight is quickly on and Rollins sends him into the cage a few times and they change rings, where Balor escapes a buckle bomb. Balor sends him into the cage to take over and there’s a Sling Blade to drop Rollins again as a CM PUNK chant starts up.

A superkick gives Rollins a breather but Balor backdrops him onto the plate between the rings. The Coup de Grace misses though and Rollins grabs a quick Sling Blade. Rollins drops him again and it’s JD McDonagh to uneven things, albeit a good bit less than five minutes into the match. Rollins kicks him on the way in but gets hit with a kendo stick for his efforts.

Balor and McDonagh take turns choking with the kendo sticks but Rollins sends McDonagh into the other ring. That’s broken up in a hurry and a middle rope kendo stick to the back puts Rollins down again. Jey Uso is in next (McIntyre gives him a death stare) and chairs McDonagh down before firing off the YEET punches. The dancing spit punch puts Balor down but McDonagh is back up with a running Spanish Fly.

Rollins makes the save and hammers on Balor in the corner as the clock runs down. McIntyre is ready to get in and go after Uso but Priest cuts him off, saying they stick to the plan. Rollins and Uso jump him as he comes in but the other two make the save, allowing Priest to whip out a baton and take over. Priest hits some running shoulders in the corner, followed by a lifting Downward Spiral to Rollins.

A top rope flip dive takes out Rollins and Uso and Balor chairs Uso in the back. Sami Zayn comes in to even the sides, and takes his sweet time doing so. McDonagh, ever the nitwit, swings a kendo stick at Zayn, who takes it away and blasts him with it instead. The table is thrown in, which the fans find UCEY. Zayn is fired up as he stomps away, setting up a Blue Thunder Bomb to Balor. With the villains down, Zayn goes up and grabs a pipe, which is used on various opponents in rather painful ways.

A kendo stick to the back rocks Balor and Zayn throws the stick out of the cage, possibly by accident. McIntyre is in and throws Rollins and Zayn around without much effort. That leaves McIntyre to finally go into the other ring with Uso, who slugs away but gets dropped by a neckbreaker. The rest of Judgment Day is back up to hammer away, but McIntyre’s Claymore runs into a superkick from Uso.

A 1D puts McIntyre down and Cody Rhodes is in, with Cole immediately going into the Dusty Rhodes tribute. Cole: “Cody also invented a big event in this city as well!” And we move on. Rhodes cleans house and suplexes Balor onto McDonagh for a crash. It’s bullrope time (of course) and Rollins joins Rhodes in taking out Balor and McDonagh. Dominik Mysterio is in to complete the Judgment Day and gives Rhodes Two Amigos…and then realizes he’s surrounded.

The big group beatdown has the fans rather pleased and a table being set up in the corner makes them even happier. The rest of the villains save Mysterio and the fans chant for Orton. That’s switched to Punk, followed by silence as McIntyre and Priest hit a triple chokeslam (and a good one at that). McDonagh adds a moonsault, Balor hits the Coup de Grace and Mysterio drops the frog splash.

Priest Razor’s Edges Rollins through a table and the clock ends….but there’s no Orton. Instead here is Rhea Ripley with Priest’s Money In The Bank briefcase, which for some reason is enough to bring Orton out (no cash-in) and egads the fans are happy to see him. Orton gets in the cage (no weapons) and slams the door, which bounces back open in a funny bit. House is quickly cleaned, mainly because Judgment Day comes at him one at a time.

McIntyre gets in a shot on Orton and the big beatdown is on. Everyone else is back up for the save and Orton and company hit quintuple hanging DDTs. Orton teases an RKO to Uso but Uso superkicks Priest to save Orton instead. The RKO drops Mysterio and it’s a parade of finishers to the villains. Everyone goes after McDonagh, who tries to escape but Zayn and Rollins follow him up top. With Orton on the mat, Zayn and Rollins throw McDonagh into an RKO, leaving Rhodes to Cross Rhodes Priest for the pin at 34:22.

Rating: B+. I liked this one a bit more than the women’s version, mainly because it felt more like a fight rather than a big series of weapons spots. The pop when Orton came out was insane and it made things feel special. You don’t see that kind of thing very often and the whole thing was about as violent as this is going to get. Seeing Mysterio and Mysterio get beaten down was a good way to go and this felt like an all-star team coming together to take out a mostly unified opposition. Solid main event here, and while it wasn’t a classic WarGames match, it was good by WWE standards.

The good guys celebrate, the copyright notice comes up….and the impossible happens as CM Punk is back for the first time in almost ten years. The fans take over the IT’S CLOBBERIN TIME and Punk hugs a bunch of fans. This was an absolutely insane moment that I never thought I would see. Even after Punk left AEW, it was hard to fathom and yet here it was. Great way to end the show and dang it worked.

A long recap ends the show.

Overall Rating: B. This show was centered around two matches and those matches both delivered. The other three were just filler to get us from one big match to the next and that’s a fine way to go. The big stories here were the double returns at the end and those worked rather well. It helps that the show was less than three hours from start to finish so they didn’t waste any time. Good show here, with the special moment at the end being worth a look.

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.

Survivor Series 2012
Date: November 18, 2012
Location: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Attendance: 8,500
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield

So this is another redo as for some reason I thought doing most of the shows that ended in a 2 was a good idea. This show had quite a few problems up and down the card but there is quite the special moment at the end that might be worth another look. Other than that, we have Team Punk vs. Team Foley, the latter of which has no Foley. Let’s get to it.

Pre-Show: 3MB vs. Team Co-Bro

That would be Heath Slater/Jinder Mahal (with the very skinny Drew McIntyre) vs. Santino Marella/Zack Ryder and this is quite the time capsule match. Ryder and Mahal start things off with Ryder snapping off an armdrag to take over. Marella comes in for an armdrag into an armbar to Slater and it’s right back to Ryder. McIntyre grabs Slater from the floor so he can avoid a dropkick but Ryder gets over to Santino for the hot tag.

Slater cuts that out rather quickly and the villains take over in the corner. A neckbreaker gives Mahal two and Slater grabs the chinlock. With that broken up, Santino backdrops his way out of trouble and hands it back to Ryder to clean house. The Broski Boot hits Mahal but Slater makes the save as everything breaks down. McIntyre gets in a cheap shot from the steps though and it’s a full nelson to give Mahal the pin at 6:12.

Rating: C. Not much to this one and that’s about how it should have been. These matches are designed to get the fans into the show and they kept it short and to the point. It’s not like Co-Bro was likely going anywhere and 3MB….well they were bigger than Co-Bro at least. Not exactly a good match, but it did its job well enough.

The opening video looks at the history of Survivor Series before shifting into a look at this year’s big stories.

Team Clay vs. Team Tensai

Brodus Clay, Justin Gabriel, Rey Mysterio, Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd
Tensai, Primo, Epico, Prime Time Players

This is a bonus match and there is nothing wrong with that. Kidd and Epico get things going with Epico fighting out of a headlock. Kidd’s jackknife rollup gets two as commentary ignores the match to talk about Jerry Lawler facing the Rock in his first match. Epico’s armdrag doesn’t get very far so Gabriel comes in for two off a moonsault. Rey comes in for a basement dropkick for two of his own but it’s off to Young as commentary remembers to talk about the match.

It’s off to Cara to take Primo down before running up the corner for a spinning high crossbody. A sunset bomb gets two on Primo but he’s back with a shot to the face, allowing the tag off to Tensai. It’s off to Titus, who awkwardly picks Cara up and holds him for a shot from Primo. An enziguri to Tensai finally gets Cara out of trouble and it’s Clay coming in to clean house. Primo and Epico are sent outside and we hit a parade of dives until we’re left with Clay vs. Tensai. Clay tries an exploder suplex but drops Tensai on his face instead. Back up and Tensai runs him over, setting up a running backsplash for the elimination at 8:25.

Gabriel comes back in and gets dropped, allowing Titus to come in for a weird looking abdominal stretch. Tensai comes back in and misses a backsplash, allowing Gabriel to roll him up for the pin at 10:20. Gabriel can’t follow up though and gets choked by Titus as the beating continues. Commentary talks about various famous debuts at Survivor Series and Epico grabs a chinlock. Gabriel gets up and hands it off to Kidd, who gets sent into the barricade as the crowd is almost eerily silent. Titus misses a running big boot though and Kidd rolls him up for the pin at 13:49.

Despite still winning, the good guys keep getting beaten up as Young jumps Kidd this time around. Kidd slips out of a belly to back suplex though and grabs the Sharpshooter to get rid of Epico at 14:58. Cole: “One of Bret Hart’s relatives using his move to eliminate someone at the Survivor Series!” JBL: “I’m sure Bret will be mad about that too.”

Primo goes up but gets dropkicked out of the air, allowing the tag back to Mysterio. A kick to the head gets two on Primo and Rey knocks him off the top, setting up the missed 619. Primo’s Backstabber is blocked and Rey cradles him for the pin at 17:29. That leaves Young alone, meaning it’s a 619 to set up a parade of finishers, capped off by Rey’s top rope splash for the pin at 18:25.

Rating: C-. I like the idea of throwing a bunch of people on the show to get them some extra time, but could you make it a little more interesting? Things picked up a bit once Rey got in there and showed some fire, but the fifteen minutes leading up to that were mostly dull. While it’s not a bad match, it’s a good bit longer than it needed to be and mostly boring, which isn’t a good way to start a show.

Survivors: Rey Mysterio, Justin Gabriel, Sin Cara, Tyson Kidd

Kaitlyn is on her way to the ring for her Divas Title match when (I believe) Aksana, in a blonde wig, jumps her. Champion Eve Torres comes in to say she hopes Kaitlyn is ok, so Kaitlyn shoves her down and says the same thing.

Divas Title: Kaitlyn vs. Eve Torres

Eve is defending and commentary actually DOES ITS JOB by explaining that Kaitlyn was attacked in the same way at Night Of Champions, resulting in Eve taking her place and winning the title. And now that a rather odd moment is cleared up, Kaitlyn throws the wig at Eve and we start fast. Kaitlyn pounds away on the mat and kicks her to the floor as commentary goes into the Raw vs. Smackdown (non) issues, with Cole having no idea what JBL is talking about.

Eve isn’t allowed to run through the crowd so she kicks away back inside. Choking in the corner has Kaitlyn in more trouble and Eve manages to add a regal style wave. A figure four necklock goes on as commentary compares Eve to Kate Middleton. Kaitlyn makes the rope and knocks her outside again, followed by a hard shoulder back inside. A gutbuster gives Kaitlyn two but Eve grabs the ring skirt and they crash out to the floor. Back in and Eve’s suplex neckbreaker retains at 6:59.

Rating: C. This was a weird period for the women’s division as they weren’t exactly good yet but they were so much better than they were at their worst that things are at least decent. Eve was one of the better stars of her era and Kaitlyn had enough fire to get people to want her to win the title. Not an awful match, and at least better than the previous one.

We look at the pre-show, where Alberto Del Rio called Dolph Ziggler his team captain, even though Ziggler will be eliminated fast. A team wide argument ensued.

Team Foley is arguing as well but believe it or not, Foley gives them a pep talk to calm them down. Eventually everyone but Randy Orton gets together for a BANG BANG. Orton to Foley: “I hate you.” Foley: “That means he’s ready.”

US Title: R-Truth vs. Antonio Cesaro

Cesaro is defending and before the match, mocks America for having anything to be thankful for this year. Well except for having him as the US Champion of course. We hear about various foreign US Champions, which has JBL annoyed that he wasn’t included. Cole: “Do you even listen to me?” Truth rolls him up for two to start and then punches at the wrist Cesaro holds up to avoid some right hands.

Cesaro knocks him into the corner and hits a kick to the head, followed by the armbar. With that broken up, Cesaro stomps him in the chest for two and we hit the waistlock. Commentary gets in a big argument about rugby as Truth fights up, gets waistlocked again, fights up and gets waistlocked again. Truth gets out (again) and hits a side kick, only to miss the ax kick. Cesaro uppercuts him and hits the Neutralizer to retain at 6:57.

Rating: C-. This didn’t exactly lift the show up off the ground as a good chunk of it was Cesaro holding him in a waistlock. Cesaro felt like a monster around this point and you could see what a lot of fans saw in him. At the same time, there was no reason to believe that Truth was going to take the title here and it showed pretty badly.

We recap Vickie Guerrero playing voicemails from AJ Lee where she was conflicted about her relationship with John Cena. Lee says they were edited together and Dolph Ziggler and Cena got involved as well. This Lee soap opera/melodrama felt like it went on forever.

Here is Lee, who has promised to reveal something about Vickie for a change. She has seen Vickie accusing her of having an inappropriate relationship with John Cena but thinks AJ is hiding something. Cue Vickie to yell about Lee, who produces a photo of Vickie and Ricardo Rodriguez sharing burritos. Then it’s Vickie and JR sharing barbecue sauce.

Vickie is livid and Lee thinks it’s because of her guilt. Next up: Vickie (in a leopard print swimsuit) dancing with Brodus Clay. They threaten each other but understand that they can’t hurt each other. Cue Tamina (looking almost unrecognizable compared to most of her career) to lay Lee out.

Paul Heyman isn’t worried about tonight’s main event and doesn’t like accusations that CM Punk has to cheat to win. While John Cena is chasing AJ Lee, Punk is the first man to beat Ryback. Punk is the best of the three and the best in the world.

We recap Sheamus challenging Big Show for the Smackdown World Title. Show beat him for the title last month and now Sheamus is back, with the battle over the Brogue Kick vs. the KO Punch. Show has also attacked Sheamus’ friend William Regal to make this even more personal.

SmackDown World Title: Big Show vs. Sheamus

Show is defending. Sheamus slugs away to start and tries to get Show to chase him in a smart move. That only works for so long though as Show hits a clothesline and chops away in the corner. A shot to the leg puts Show down though and Sheamus hammers away in the ropes. There are the forearms to the chest but Show bails outside before the Brogue Kick can connect.

Back in and Sheamus goes up, only to be speared out of the air in a nasty looking crash. Show slowly hammers away as commentary AGAIN talks about great moments in Survivor Series’ history. Sheamus gets sent hard into the buckle but manages to snap Show’s throat across the top. A single big boot cuts that off though and a big elbow gives Show two. We hit the quickly broken nerve hold before Show knocks him down for two more.

Sheamus comes back with a sleeper for a bit before slugging away, only to miss a charge into the post. Show loads up the Vader Bomb but Sheamus is up with an electric chair for two as the fans are WAY into this stuff. The KO Punch misses and Sheamus drops him with a running ax handle. White Noise gives Sheamus two but Show pulls the referee in the way of the Brogue Kick. Sheamus checks on the referee but Show is up with the KO Punch for the pin from another referee at 14:45.

Rating: B. This a was a fight and that is what it needed to be. It was in the Sting vs. Vader formula, with Sheamus slugging away at the giant and getting knocked back down again and again. The fans got behind Sheamus and wanted to see him take out the dragon and that is exactly the point of the match. Heck of a match here and by far the best thing on the show.

Post match the referee switches the result to a DQ. Sheamus is back up with a chair and UNLOADS on Show with about twenty shots. As Show begs off, Sheamus hits him with the Brogue Kick to leave him laying.

Team Ziggler vs. Team Foley

Ziggler: Dolph Ziggler, Alberto Del Rio, David Otunga, Wade Barrett, Damien Sandow
Foley: Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan, Kane, Kofi Kingston, Miz

This match had so many lineup changes (injuries, other matches being changed) that it barely resembles what they were going for in the first place (Team Punk vs. Team Foley). Kingston rolls Otunga up for two at the bell and sends him outside as commentary keeps making legal jokes. Back in and Kofi starts in on the arm before handing it off to Danielson for more of the same. Otunga slams his way out of trouble and brings in Sandow (hopefully allowing Otunga to fix his trunks, which are out of place), who hits the Elbow of Disdain.

Danielson fights out of a chinlock and hits a running dropkick in the corner. The YES Kicks rock Sandow again as commentary talks about Mike Tyson (they are all over the place tonight and even Lawler calls JBL out on it here). Sandow tries to walk out but gets pulled back in by Kane, who hits a chokeslam to get rid of Sandow at 3:06. We pause for Kane and Bryan to argue though, allowing Ziggler to hit the Zig Zag on Kane for the elimination at 3:45.

Orton wins an argument with Miz over who gets to punch Ziggler, followed by a slingshot suplex for two. Kofi comes in for a heck of a monkey flip for two and it’s off to Barrett to miss a charge at Bryan in the corner. Del Rio gets in a cheap shot so Barrett can kick Bryan to the floor. Back in and Otunga gets to work on the arm but he stops to pose. That’s enough for the YES Lock to make Otunga tap at 7:09.

Del Rio comes in to kick away before Bryan sends him crashing out to the floor. Back in and Kofi strikes away at Del Rio, setting up the Boom Drop. Del Rio fights his way out of trouble though and hands it off to Barrett for a tilt-a-whirl slam. The Bull Hammer gets rid of Kofi at 9:41 and it’s 3-3.

Orton comes in to send Barrett into the corner but charges into a boot to the face. A suplex puts Barrett down and Bryan comes back in to kick away in the corner. The YES Kicks don’t work so well this time as Barrett clotheslines him out to the floor. Del Rio comes back in and fights out of the YES Lock, setting up the cross armbreaker for the tap at 12:36.

Miz comes in for the first time and actually takes over, allowing Orton to stomp on Del Rio for a change. That’s broken up as well and it’s back to Ziggler for the chinlock. Of course Orton knows just how to fight out of one of those and knocks Ziggler down for a breather. The hot(ish) tag brings Miz back in to unload on Barrett in the corner, setting up the running clothesline. The top rope ax handle staggers Barrett and, after escaping a pumphandle slam, Miz hits the Skull Crushing finale for the elimination at 16:03.

So that leaves us with Miz/Orton vs. Ziggler/Del Rio and Miz’s DDT gets two on Del Rio. Del Rio’s German suplex gets the same but Miz pulls him off the middle rope for a crash. Del Rio sends him right back into the corner though and hits a running enziguri to get rid of Miz at 17:13.

Orton comes in and gets distracted by Ziggler, allowing Del Rio to kick him down for two. That doesn’t last long as Orton is back up for the clothesline comeback, plus the powerslam. A Ricardo Rodriguez distraction lets Del Rio drop Orton for two more, leaving Foley to beat up Rodriguez. Ziggler has to break up an RKO attempt but dropkicks Del Rio by mistake, leaving Orton to send Ziggler into the post. The RKO drops Del Rio for the pin at 20:57 and we’re down to Orton vs. Ziggler.

Another RKO is blocked and Ziggler hits the Zig Zag for two. The Fameasser misses and Orton plants him with the hanging DDT. There’s no cover though, as instead Orton loads up the Punt. As usual though it takes WAY too long, allowing Ziggler to hit a superkick for the final pin at 23:40.

Rating: B-. I don’t remember liking this one very much at first but that might have been due to all of the twists and turns to get to the match. Watching it back years later and….yeah it’s just kind of good. There is a bunch of star power and the wrestling is more than acceptable, but other than beating up Rodriguez, Foley added nothing here.

This is a match that feels like it could have been a lot better if they went with the original plan, but things got so twisted around and messed up that everything was lost in the switch. Not a bad match at all, but I felt like I needed a ten minute recap and a flow chart to figure out how we got here.

Fans want to see Rock vs. various people at the Royal Rumble. My goodness the nightmare days of Tout.

We recap CM Punk defending the Raw World Title against John Cena and Ryback. Cena was supposed to get the title shot inside the Cell last month but was injured and gave Ryback the shot instead. Ryback got cheated by rogue referee Brad Maddox (who wanted to make a name for himself in a story that bombed rather badly) so tonight, Punk defends against both of them at once.

Raw World Title: John Cena vs. Ryback vs. CM Punk

Punk, with Paul Heyman, is defending and oddly enough, comes out second. Cena chases Punk around on the floor to start until Ryback takes Cena’s place. Back in and Cena and Ryback get in an argument over who gets to beat up Punk in the corner. Ryback gets the better of things by driving Punk’s head into the mat over and over until Cena gives Punk a running bulldog. With Punk down on the floor, Cena and Ryback are left to escape finishers.

Punk is back in with a suplex on Ryback but Cena clears him out and suplexes Ryback as well for two. We hit the chinlock on Ryback until Punk is back in for the save to send Cena outside. Ryback goes back to the power and drives Punk into the corner for the shoulders to the ribs. Cena is back in and gets DDTed to give Punk two so we can get a breather. Ryback hits a running powerslam on Punk but gets ProtoBombed….and pops right up.

Cena drops Ryback again, only to have Punk pull him outside for a hard whip into the steps. Back in and Ryback beats on Punk for a change until Cena breaks up Shell Shock. The STF has Ryback in trouble but Punk makes the save with a top rope elbow. It’s Ryback up first and he tosses both of them to the floor for some big crashes. The not-Rybacks fight out of a double suplex and instead double suplex Ryback through the announcers’ table.

Back in and Cena initiates the finishing sequence but Punk breaks it up with the GTS for a rather close two. The AA gives Cena the same so Punk kicks away as we can hear the Spanish commentary in the background. Cena pulls him back into the STF but Ryback is back in for another save. There’s the Meat Hook to Punk, with Cole declaring that there is nothing stopping Ryback now.

Shell Shock connects but Cena breaks up the pin. That earns Cena his own Shell Shock…but three guys in black run in to jump Ryback. Cole recognizes them as Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins from NXT (ignore that Ambrose never wrestled on NXT TV) as theyput Ryback through a table. Punk pins the still out Cena to retain at 17:58.

Rating: B. This was the usual main event style triple threat match and that means it worked rather well. What matters here is having a way to keep the title on Punk and it certainly was a surprise way to do so. The interference came out of nowhere and that is the kind of finish that leaves a lot more going on for the future. Ryback losing again isn’t going to do much for his future, but Punk retaining is the bigger story as he gets a step closer to the showdown with Rock in January. Good main event here though, with all three working hard.

Replays take us out.

Overall Rating: B-. This starts out rather slow but the last three matches are more than enough to carry things over the line. The ending here is what matters more than anything else though as WWE gets a brand new main event crop of talent, which is not something you see every day. Punk seems like he is going to be losing when he faces Rock at the Rumble, but at least we are getting something fresh to keep things going. Good show here, though it could have used something better in the first hour or so.

Ratings Comparison

3MB vs. Team Co-Bro

Original: C-
2013 Redo: D+
2023 Redo: C

Team Clay vs. Team Tensai

Original: B-
2013 Redo: C
Redo: C-

Kaitlyn vs. Eve Torres

Original: D-
2013 Redo: D
Redo: C

R-Truth vs. Antonio Cesaro

Original: D
2013 Redo: D
Redo: C-

Sheamus vs. Big Show

Original: C-
2013 Redo: C
Redo: B

Team Ziggler vs. Team Foley

Original: C-
2013 Redo: C-
Redo: B-

Ryback vs. John Cena vs. CM Punk

Original: B-
2013 Redo: C+
Redo: B

Overall Rating

Original: D+
2013 Redo: D
Redo: B-

I’m not usually stunned by my old ratings but WOW. This show might not have been great but it wasn’t that bad. Dang how miserable was I back then?

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.

Survivor Series 2011
Date: November 20, 2011
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Attendance: 16,749
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Booker T

This show is all about the Rock. Seriously, that’s it. The main event is Rock/Cena vs. Awesome Truth in Rock’s first match in seven years. They totally gave away the announcement of the match before the announcement on Raw but they were trying at leat. This show didn’t sell that well for reasons we’ll get to later. Let’s get to it.

The whole history thing starts us off again, as always. Take a guess as to what the opening video is about.

John Laurinitis welcomes us to the show. That’s all he says so this was a minute wasted, brought to you by one of the Dynamic Dudes.

US Title: Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison

Morrison lost FOREVER, then won a match on Raw after Mason Ryan helped, and gets a title match as a result. This was during a bad period where Ziggler had a rock cover of his song which didn’t work at all. Feeling out process to start and the fans want RYDER. This was when Ryder was white hot but WWE decided that crushing him for the sake of Kane and Jack Swagger. Ziggler gets taken down by the arm as the announcers talk about Ryder.

The fans now think this is boring so Dolph jumps over John in the corner and hits a dropkick to take over. Off to a headlock by the champion as the fans still want Ryder. Dolph gets thrown to the floor and Morrison hits a big corkscrew dive to take the champ out. Vickie offers an annoying distraction and Ziggler takes over back inside. Ziggler takes Morrison down and nips up in a good athletic display before hooking a near Crossface.

As the fans chant the same thing I’d expect to hear for the entire show, Ziggler stands around a lot. Morrison misses a charge in the corner and Dolph hits a reverse powerslam for two. The sleeper doesn’t go on and Morrison starts speeding things up with clotheslines and a leg lariat. That gets two and so does a rollup with tights for Ziggler. Morrison kicks Dolph in the head for two and a half and they trade sleepers.

The fans seem to be more behind Ziggler but it’s New York so that’s not shocking. John hits a spinning DDT for two as Vickie puts Dolph’s foot on the rope, which earns her an ejection. Morrison misses a running knee and they rapidly trade near falls. The Flying Chuck misses for Morrison and it’s a Fameasser…..for two. Wow I thought that was it. The running knee hits Ziggler in the face but Starship Pain hits Ziggler’s knees. Zig Zag retains the title.

Rating: B-. I dug this match a lot, annoying crowd aside. Sometimes there’s nothing better you can do than throw two talented guys out there for ten minutes and let them have fun. Ziggler is more or less in the same spot he’s in a year later which is annoying but it’s the way of life in the WWE. Morrison would be gone in eight days which almost knew was coming.

Post match Vickie gets our attention as only she can and hands the mic to Ziggler who says he’d hate to have to follow what you just saw. He says it’s not showing off it you can back it up every night. As Ziggler celebrates, here’s Ryder…who is immediately beaten down. Ryder comes back and hits the Rough Ryder to send Ziggler running. They probably should have changed the title here, but I’m not sure they were sure they wanted to go with Ryder yet or not.

Divas Title: Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix

Beth is defending and this is a lumberjill match. Beth catches a cross body and just drops Eve like she doesn’t care. Eve kicks her down and does her STUPID dancing moonsault but Beth rolls to the floor and calls it stupid. Good for her! Back in and the moonsault hits anyway for two. Eve gets sent to the apron and has to kick away Natalya, allowing the champion to take over.

Off to a reverse chinlock for a bit before Eve counters a wheelbarrow suplex to send Beth into the middle turnbuckle. Eve hits a kick to the face but a rolling flip hits knees. The Glam Slam is countered and Eve hooks a freaky kind of Octopus Hold before shifting to a modified triangle choke. Eve has to chase off some evil chicks but manages to kick Beth in the head. The moonsault gets broken up though and the Glam Slam off the middle rope retains Beth’s title.

Rating: C. Not terrible here and the ending looked awesome. I loved Beth and Natalya’s heel run together as they HATED the stupid Barbie stuff that chicks like Kelly and Eve were doing because it’s almost embarrassing at times. This particular match started slow but once it picked up it got a lot better.

Otunga comes in to annoy Punk and says Cole deserves an apology from some attack by Punk. Punk says let me go become world champion first.

Rock is in the back and he’s got a mic. He talks about MSG (no FINALLY for some reason) and being here in the 70s, watching his grandfather fighting for the world title. Then in the 80s he hung out with Andre the Giant in the locker room. Then in 1996 he debuted in the WWF, and despite having a hideous outfit and the worst haircut known to man (his words), the fans chanted his name. That’s correct actually and they didn’t even tell him to die. Rock runs us through his history of catchphrases and title wins, with the most important being him becoming the People’s Champion.

There’s FINALLY and he has to stop for a chant. He does his stupid boots catchphrase before moving on to his partner: John Cena. The fans think Cena sucks but Rock talks about the things that have happened in MSG like Ali vs. Frazier. Then he sings some Frank Sinatra and asks the fans to sing with him. It’s on tonight and that’s about it. This is what the fans wanted and he could have had them say anything he wanted here. That’s what Rock is great at and it worked.

Team Barrett vs. Team Orton

Wade Barrett, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger, Hunico, Dolph Ziggler

Randy Orton, Kofi Kingston, Sheamus, Mason Ryan, Sin Cara

Ziggler is subbing for an injured Christian. There’s no real reason for most of these guys other than needing four midcard faces and heels to fill out the teams. Cody is IC Champion. Kofi and Bourne are tag champions here but Bourne is on a Wellness violation. Kofi and Ziggler start things off with Ziggler hitting a quick elbow to take Kofi down. The reverse powerslam is countered and Dolph gets one off a dropkick.

Kofi’s SOS is countered so it’s a forearm to take Dolph down instead. There’s the tag to Orton and an RKO eliminates Ziggler quickly. To be fair he had a match earlier so this isn’t a bad thing for him. Barrett has a huddle on the floor with his team but Orton wants to fight some more. Back in and it’s most of Team Orton to clear the ring before Kofi and Cara try stereo flip dives. Cara, being the klutz that he is at this point, trips on the top rope and rips his knee apart, putting him in the shelf for the next seven months.

The match stops for a few moments as we’re told Cara is eliminated. We get back to normal and it’s Cody vs. Randy now. Orton grabs the arm and it’s off to Ryan. Prepare for a trainwreck. Ryan hits some very basic stuff including a knee to the chest before Cody bails to the floor. Hunico gets the tag but Ryan has to literally pull him in. Off to Kofi whose tights look like they have the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man on them if you don’t look too long.

Kofi misses a charge in the corner and it’s off to Barrett for a chinlock. Back up and it’s a double clothesline to put them both right back down. Double tag brings in Hunico vs. Ryan with the latter hitting a series of backbreakers and a fallaway slam. Hunico gets gorilla press dropped into the corner for a tag to Cody. There’s the Disaster Kick and the Cross Rhodes (POP) for the pin and elimination.

Off to Sheamus vs. Cody now with the Pale One quickly getting annoyed. He pounds Rhodes down in the corner and hits the ten forearms in the ropes, which they tried to name some Irish word. It lasted about two weeks before they realized it speaks for itself pretty well. Cody tries to low bridge Sheamus but Sheamus lands on the apron. Barrett decks the Irishman and Hunico comes in with a springboard dropkick to the knee.

Cole starts talking about Shawn Michaels for no apparent reason as Sheamus takes out Hunico’s knee as well. Off to Kofi who chops Barrett down a lot but gets kicked in the face after having to deal with Swagger. Upon further review, that IS the Stay Puft Man on Kofi’s trunks. With Barrett mostly dead from the kick, the Wasteland eliminates Kofi. It’s Orton and Sheamus vs. Swagger, Barrett, Hunico and Rhodes.

Orton comes in and tries the Elevated DDT, but Wade drops him to the floor where Hunico hits a suicide dive to take Orton out. Swagger comes in to pound on Orton a bit before Cody comes in for a release gordbuster. That gets two and it’s off to a chinlock for a bit. A bulldog by Cody is easily countered and it’s hot tag to Sheamus. The Pale One pounds on Swagger and hits the top rope shoulder and the Irish Curse. Swagger escapes the High Cross so Sheamus drops knees on his head, drawing a DQ when the referee gets to five. They were really trying to keep Sheamus strong here and that mostly worked.

Before Sheamus leaves, he takes Swagger’s head off with a Brogue Kick. Orton gets the easy pin and it’s 3-1. Rhodes comes in and stomps a spent Orton down in the corner but Orton comes back with some clotheslines. There’s the powerslam to Rhodes followed by the Elevated DDT. Randy has to chase off Barrett so Hunico gets a blind tag. He springboards right into the RKO for the elimination to make it 2-1, but Rhodes distracts Orton into the Wasteland to give Barrett the final pin.

Rating: B. This is your usual good formula based Survivor Series match with Orton and Barrett getting to advance their feud and not having Orton lose any face at all. The rest of the teams didn’t mean much but Kofi is perfect for matches like this: he’s got the resume to make him look like a threat but he never steals anyone’s thunder. Good match.

The Bellas hit on Alberto when Ace comes up. Del Rio isn’t worried about Punk tonight. Ace texts someone.

Don’t be a bully!

The ring is reenforced for the next match after Big Show and Henry broke the ring at Vengeance. That’s why the rematch is happening here tonight.

Smackdown World Title: Mark Henry vs. Big Show

Henry is defending. They trade the big dramatic shoves to start and Henry gets shoved to the floor. Back in and Show takes it to the mat which goes a lot better than you would expect it to. If that’s not shocking enough, Show armdrags Henry to the floor. Henry stalls in the corner before going after Show’s knee. Mark lays on the leg a bit and drops some elbows. I think the fans are chanting boring, likely due to New York fans being ridiculous.

A clothesline puts Show down but Show comes back with a DDT for two. Now the fans want Daniel Bryan, who has an MITB case at this point. Show shoulders Henry down and calls for the chokeslam, but Henry kicks him in the knee and hits the World’s Strongest Slam for two. A splash gets the same and Henry is getting frustrated. Booker sums up what Henry should do: give him another World’s Strongest Slam. I’ve never gotten why wrestlers don’t do that. Just because a finisher doesn’t work, it doesn’t mean a second or third won’t work.

The fans want Undertaker as the guys go to the floor. Show gets posted and then tackled through part of the barricade. That finally gets the fans’ attention on the match instead of on guys who aren’t here. Show barely makes it back into the ring in time but he manages to break up another superplex attempt. He busts out a superkick of all things to knock down Henry and draw an HBK chant.

Big Show goes up top (uh oh) and even though he takes forever, he hits a top rope elbow on Henry…..for two. Why do a huge spot like that if it doesn’t end the match? Now it’s a Randy Savage chant. Show loads up the WMD, but Henry kicks him low for the FREAKING LAME DQ to retain the title.

Rating: C+. There’s something awesome about two huge guys beating the tar out of each other and that’s what we got here. Henry was AWESOME in 2011 and made for a great world champion, which is the last thing most people expected. That elbow was great, but to have the match end the way it did sucked. Show would beat Henry the next month, only to have Bryan cash in and win the title 45 seconds later.

Post match Henry tries to Pillmanize Show’s ankle again but Show gets out of the way and knocks Henry out cold. The fans chant for Bryan but no such Goatface appears. Show wraps the chair around Henry’s ankle instead and drops a leg on the chair to break Henry’s ankle.

Barrett says that the world title is next for him but Awesome Truth comes in and demands respect. Truth talks about an argument he had with some pigeons. The pigeons said nothing though, because pigeons don’t talk. Crazy Truth was great.

The New York National Guard is here.

We recap Punk vs. Del Rio. Del Rio cashed in MITB at Summerslam after Punk won, Cena beat Del Rio at Vengeance, Del Rio won a threeway with Punk and Cena in the Cell, tonight is the rematch from Summerslam, if you call that a match.

Raw World Title: CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio

Alberto is defending. Del Rio has Ricardo Rodriguez introduce him, so CM Punk brings out his own ring announcer: HOWARD FREAKING FINKEL! Round one goes to Punk. Howard waddles out and seems genuinely choked up by the reaction he gets. The fans want ice cream which is a thing he said he wanted in his own image. Feeling out process to start as Punk does his headlock so he can call spots to Del Rio.

Now the fans chant for Colt Cabana. Man these guys just won’t stop. Punk cranks on the arm a bit and Alberto hides on the floor. Back in and Punk knees him down in the corner and hits a dropkick to send the champ back to the floor. There’s the suicide dive from Punk and it’s back in to work on the arm. Alberto sends him into the ropes where Ricardo gets in a shot, allowing Del Rio to take over.

Alberto comes in off the top with an elbow to the head for two and it’s off to the arm for the champion. Both guys have arm finishers which isn’t something you often see. Punk fights out of the hold but can’t hook the GTS as Del Rio hooks a DDT on the arm. The champ drops knees on the arm and we hit about the 8^th armbar of the match. Punk breaks that one as well but charges into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker for two.

CM ducks a charge to send Alberto to the floor and things slow down again. Back in and Punk makes a comeback with a lot of strikes to the head and a neckbreaker for two. The knee in the corner and bulldog get the same but Alberto counters the GTS into a Backstabber for two. A running enziguri in the corner gets a VERY close two on Punk and now it’s Alberto that’s frustrated.

Del Rio loads up a superplex in the corner but Punk knocks him off and loads up the Macho Elbow but gets crotched. Alberto gets in a hard kick to the arm but misses a charge into the post while Punk is still on top. Now the Macho Elbow hits to a big pop but it only gets two. The crowd is really getting into these kickouts now. Punk shouts for the GTS but Alberto counters it for the third time. The armbreaker is escaped but Punk’s high kick misses as well and there’s the armbreaker on full.

After getting as close to tapping as a face is going to, Punk gets his feet in the ropes. Del Rio escapes the GTS for the fourth time because the arm isn’t there. Punk kicks Ricardo in the face and gets rolled up with trunks for two. The high kick gets two for CM so he immediately puts on the Vice and wins Del Rio is in big trouble. He grabs at Punk’s face (realistic, nice) but has to tap and Punk wins the title.

Rating: A. I don’t remember liking this as well the first time but this was a really good match. Del Rio seemed like a real threat to keep the title here as Punk’s arm just wasn’t going to be able to do hit the GTS. The Vice is a little more realistic and I can live with him being able to do that so even the ending is ok. This was a very solid match, but the problem with the story overall is the title changes happening so rapidly.

In short, Del Rio getting two title reigns and Cena getting one out of all this didn’t need to happen. Punk could have won at Summerslam, beaten Del Rio cashing in here, and things would have been much stronger. But hey, that would mean MITB would be interesting instead of there for a shock value and we can’t have that.

Finkel does the “and NEEEEEEEEEEEEEW” WWE Champion call. Punk is the new WWE Champion having won it in the middle of Madison Square Garden and The Fink got to tell the people about it. Is there a cooler moment in wrestling? No, there isn’t.

Punk celebrates for a long time post match. As I’m writing this (November 7, 2012), he’s STILL champion.

Austin has yet another DVD.

We recap Awesome Truth vs. Rock/Cena. Cena had beaten up both guys before a tag match was made for this show. He was told he could pick ANYONE he wanted as a partner so he picked The Great One. Pay no attention to the PPV ad that played at the end of HIAC and advertised the match before Cena officially picked his partner. Basically the only way Awesome Truth (Miz/R-Truth) can win is to have Rock and Cena implode. Other than that we’re looking at a squash.

Awesome Truth vs. The Rock/John Cena

Rock is going to start as Cena is off to kiss the widow of Arnold Skaaland. Miz gets to face Rock to start and the Great One grabs a quick headlock. Rock snaps off some GREAT armdrags and gets two off La Magistral (it’s an armtrap cradle) on Miz. Awesome Truth huddles on the floor and Cena looks impressed. Truth wants to fight Rock now and Rock says Just Bring It. The fans do the Cena dueling chants before Rock hits a fisherman’s suplex on Truth, but Cena is going after Miz, meaning no count.

Now Miz wants to get back in and he wants it to be with Cena. Given how Rock looked, that’s a wise choice. Cena quickly takes over with snapmares, a monkey flip (!!) and a dropkick. The fans boo him out of the building and tell him he still sucks. Off to Truth who walks into Cena’s finishing sequence but Cena tells Rock that he can’t see Cena. They stare each other down, allowing Truth to nail Cena (Rock saw it coming and didn’t do anything) to give the guys with no chance the advantage.

Truth and Miz take a few turns on Cena before Truth hooks a chinlock. Cena gets thrown to the floor by Truth which gets two back in the ring. Back to a leg choke by Truth as the fans want Rocky. Off to Miz who counters an AA into a short DDT for two. The fans seem to be into Miz as he hits his running clothesline in the corner. Truth hooks a front facelock to kill a few moments and it’s back to Miz who gets two off a clothesline.

The spinning legdrop gets two for Truth as the crowd is waiting to explode for Rock’s hot tag. Truth goes up for a cross body but Cena rolls through. His AA attempt is countered into a sitout gordbuster for two and it’s back to Miz. Miz hits a pair of boots to the face of Cena but the third is countered into the STF. Truth makes a quick save and Rock is content to stand on the apron. Cena grabs a quick AA on Truth but Miz knocks Rock off the apron to tease the crowd even further.

Truth drops Rock on the barricade to keep him down as Cena gets put in another chinlock. A double flapjack gets two on Cena and it’s back to the front facelock by Truth. Truth’s second legdrop misses There’s the real hot tag to Rock and house is cleaned in a hurry. Miz gets put in the Survivor Series Sharpshooter but Truth saves as everything breaks down. With Cena and Truth on the floor, Miz goes off on Rock but charges into a spinebuster. The People’s Elbow returns and Rock gets the pin on Miz.

Rating: B. What else were you expecting here? This is one that has indeed changed over time as we knew Rock would have a great match with Cena at Wrestlemania. The match itself was formula stuff which is perfectly fine and all that it should have been. Rock making the save was the right call and there’s almost no complaints at all here. Good match but it didn’t need to happen, which we’ll get to in a bit.

Cena leaves so Rock can have him moment, but Rock calls him back in. Cena’s posing gets booed, Rock’s gets cheered. Rock lays out Cena with a Rock Bottom to end the show.

Overall Rating: A. This is an AWESOME show with a great world title match and a solid main event. The problem was it didn’t sell that well and it’s really clear why: the main event was a bad idea. The whole idea of Rock vs. Cena at Mania was that it was Rock’s first match in 8 years. Well now it’s Rock’s first match in about five months and for what? Rock and Cena had beaten up both guys one on two leading up to the match. There was no doubt as to who was going to win and nothing was on the line, so why watch the match? There was no reason and not a lot of people did. Still though, great show and worth seeing.

That’s the end of the Survivor Series Redo Count-Up and it really was fun to do this. A lot of the shows were about the same the second time around, but one thing is very clear: I was freaking WORDY back in the day. All of these reviews were shorter this time around and that’s probably better. Anyway, I’ll be back for the Rumble, Wrestlemania and Summerslam versions of these. Thanks for reading and supporting me all these years to the point where I can do another set of these. I really appreciate you all.

Ratings Comparison

Dolph Ziggler vs. John Morrison

Original: B-

Redo: B-

Beth Phoenix vs. Eve Torres

Original: C

Redo: C

Team Barrett vs. Team Orton

Original: B-

Redo: B

Big Show vs. Mark Henry

Original: B-

Redo: C+

CM Punk vs. Alberto Del Rio

Original: C+

Redo: A

The Rock/John Cena vs. Awesome Truth

Original: B

Redo: B

Overall Rating

Original: B

Redo: A

The World Title really changed things for me here. Still a great show though.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2011/11/20/survivor-series-2011-rock-still-has-it/

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.

Survivor Series 2010
Date: November 21, 2010
Location: American Airlines Arena, Miami, Florida
Attendance: 8,000
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, Matt Striker

So what we have here is a show with Survivor Series matches a few months after a huge Survivor Series style match headlined Summerslam. Therefore, the solution is to have a big focus on John Cena, who is guest refereeing the main event. If Cena helps his Nexus teammate Wade Barrett (yes it was a thing) win, he’s free but if he doesn’t, he’s fired. Let’s get to it.

The opening video is of course about Cena, who talks about how he is being asked if he will compromise his integrity one time…but at what cost? No other match is even mentioned.

United States Title: Ted DiBiase vs. Daniel Bryan

DiBiase, with a bored looking Maryse, is challenging. They fight over wrist control to start until Bryan hits a dropkick…and the lights dim a bit. A boot to the chest cuts off DiBiase’s leapfrog attempt but he’s fine enough to suplex Bryan out to the floor. Back in and Bryan’s kicks to the ribs are cut off and DiBiase hammers away as Maryse looks….well she exists. A nice standing dropkick gives DiBiase two and we hit the chinlock.

That’s broken up and Bryan hits a running dropkick into the corner, allowing him to moonsault over DiBiase. The running dropkick connects and Bryan sends him to the floor for the suicide dive. As usual, Bryan bangs up his shoulder, but he’s able to hit a missile dropkick to cut DiBiase down again.

The LeBell Lock is blocked though and DiBiase hits a running clothesline for two more. Dream Street (cobra clutch slam) is broken up as well though and Bryan knocks him down. DiBiase takes him up top but gets crotched, setting up a top rope belly to back superplex for two. The LeBell Lock retains the title at 9:56.

Rating: B-. Bryan was starting to become a much bigger deal around this time and he managed to do some nice stuff with a pretty generic heel. DiBiase had the look and some ability on the microphone, but he just never got to a higher level. If Bryan can only get you to pretty good, it’s not a great sign, which was about everything in DiBiase’s career after his debut.

Post match Bryan goes to leave but Miz jumps him with his Money In The Bank briefcase (and Alex Riley). Miz mocks Miami and says that LeBron James will never win a title here. As for the wrestling side though, he’s tired of carrying the briefcase and is cashing in soon. Tomorrow in fact. The lights going out two more times here didn’t help but Miz rolled with the whole thing.

We recap Sheamus vs. John Morrison. Sheamus has been bullying Santino Marella so Morrison came out for the save (as he has done a few times) so the match is set.

Sheamus is ready to beat Morrison up and show him what a bully is like.

Sheamus vs. John Morrison

Morrison starts fast with a headscissors to the floor, followed by a slingshot dive. Back in and Sheamus hammers away, which works a bit better for him. The chinlock is on early before Sheamus slowly forearms away at the back. A backbreaker gives Sheamus two and we hit another quickly broken chinlock. Sheamus hits some seated forearms to the chest (it was a work in progress) and they go up top with Morrison knocking him back down. Morrison’s high crossbody is rolled through though and Sheamus plants him for two more.

The Brogue Kick is loaded up but Morrison scores with an enziguri instead. Sheamus’ High Cross attempt is countered with a catapult into the corner and a Russian legsweep gives Morrison two. Morrison is sent into the corner and gets his leg knocked out for two, leaving Sheamus SCREAMING about it being three. Sheamus gets sent into the corner again but Starship Pain is broken up. The Brogue Kick misses though and a running knee gives Morrison the quick pin at 11:24.

Rating: B-. I’ve always liked these two together and it seemed like Morrison was on the way to a higher level. If he could have been more of this serious version, it certainly could have worked out. Sheamus was his usual solid self as well, knowing how to do a power match rather well throughout.

R-Truth comes up to John Cena and brings up the fact that Nexus is banned from ringside for the main event. The thing is, R-Truth isn’t banned and since you can only win by pinfall or submission, what if R-Truth came out and something happened to Randy Orton? An accident happened and Cena gets to keep his job! Cena gets really serious and says he can’t do it because he’d be seen as a joke. He’s calling this down the middle, but R-Truth says he’ll believe it when he sees it. They’re trying with this, but it’s really hard to buy that Cena is actually leaving no matter what. You know, because it’s Cena.

Intercontinental Title: Kaval vs. Dolph Ziggler

Kaval is challenging after beating Ziggler (with Vickie Guerrero) on Smackdown and this is his guaranteed title shot for winning the second season of NXT. A running shoulder drops Ziggler to start so he knocks Kaval into the corner. The Hennig necksnap gives Ziggler two but Kaval fights back, only to get distracted by Guerrero. Ziggler drops him onto the turnbuckle and we hit the chinlock to slow Kaval down.

That stays on for a good while until Kaval gets up and kicks him in the back of the head. Kaval’s handspring kick to the face (OUCH) gets two but he misses a phoenix splash, only to land on his feet. A quick Fameasser gives Ziggler two and he launches Kaval up to the top, where he bounces back with a spinning kick to the head. They trade some rollups for two each until Ziggler rolls him up and grabs the tights to retain at 9:33.

Rating: B-. Kaval did some good stuff here and those kicks were looking great, but if you can’t win the midcard title after winning NXT, there is only so much of a future. That’s probably why Kaval was gone from the company in about a month and a half with this as his big moment. Ziggler felt like he was doing the same thing for years and this was right in the middle of that run.

Jack Swagger is not happy with being on Team Alberto Del Rio because he’s the only former World Champion on the team. Cody Rhodes comes up to mock Swagger for not being able to get into a club last night. Del Rio, Drew McIntyre and Tyler Reks (the rest of the team) come in with Del Rio giving them a pep talk. He wants to see little kids crying tonight and if they win, he’ll buy the beers! Rhodes hates to admit it, but Del Rio is good.

Team Del Rio vs. Team Mysterio

Alberto Del Rio, Tyler Reks, Drew McIntyre, Cody Rhodes, Jack Swagger
Rey Mysterio, Big Show, Chris Masters, Kofi Kingston, MVP

Mysterio (in blue, like the rest of his team in a nice touch) start things off with Del Rio, who hands it off to Rhodes before doing anything. This lets Striker and Cole debate if Rickey Henderson is the greatest baseball player ever, with Lawler having to get them back on track. They run the ropes a bit and Rhodes gets an early two. It’s off to MVP vs. Del Rio with MVP kicking him into the corner.

Kingston comes in for a front facelock but Del Rio kicks away at Masters’ leg to take over. The villains take turns stomping on Masters in the corner and McIntyre goes up, only to dive into a raised boot (thankfully looking like he was trying a splash rather than just jumping for the sake of jumping). It’s back to MVP to take over but Del Rio trios him up on a suplex, allowing McIntyre to fall on top of him for the pin at 5:35. Masters comes in and hammers away on Del Rio, who cross armbreakers him for the elimination at 6:41.

Show comes in and tells Del Rio to try it on him. It’s off to Swagger, who is quickly beaten up, so Del Rio comes in, only to chop McIntyre for a tag. The WMD hits Del Rio (despite McIntyre being legal) and Show has to fight out of the Futureshock attempt. Show slams Kingston onto McIntyre as Del Rio is helped out. Rhodes gets hit in the face and insists that his mirror jacket is held up to reaffirm his dashingness. Back in and Kingston hits him in the face again, followed by the WMD for the pin at 10:58.

Apparently Del Rio is out so we’re down to three on three. Reks clotheslines Show down for two and Swagger comes in to start on the leg. The chokeslam attempt is countered into Swagger’s ankle lock, which is broken up so Mysterio can come in. The springboard spinning crossbody hits Swagger, who is able to block the 619.

That means the ankle lock goes on, with Mysterio escaping rather quickly. Another 619 is cut off by Reks and it’s off to Kingston, who dropkicks Reks down. Various kicks and a high crossbody give Kingston two but he gets hung in the Tree Of Woe. That’s reversed with an upside down dropkick to pin Reks at 15:11.

Swagger is back in with an ankle lock, which is broken up, followed by another ankle lock to make Kingston tap at 15:56. Swagger comes in to break up Mysterio’s assisted splash, only to get caught with the 619. Now the assisted splash gives Mysterio the pin at 17:36, leaving us with McIntyre vs. Show/Mysterio. McIntyre is cut off with 619 and the chokeslam for the final pin at 18:21.

Rating: C+. Not bad here, and they did a nice job of keeping things moving so it wasn’t clear who was going to survive. That’s one of the perks of a match like this, as you can mix and match so much stuff and get something interesting as a result. Mysterio and Show worked well together in the end, though Del Rio leaving so early didn’t exactly help much. Also of note: DANG 2010 had some awesome theme songs, like Smoke And Mirrors and Broken Dreams, plus Del Rio’s rather snazzy music.

Randy Orton doesn’t care about John Cena, the Miz or Wade Barrett. All that matters is his title so tonight, it’s an RKO for Barrett.

Divas Title: Laycool vs. Natalya

Laycool is defending in a handicap match. Natalya headlocks McCool to start and then wrestles her down without much trouble. Back up and McCool takes her into the corner, where Layla gets to send Natalya outside. That’s shrugged off and Natalya throws both of them over the barricade, with Layla being in trouble. Back in and Natalya plants McCool and grabs the Sharpshooter for the title at 3:39.

Rating: D+. This was nothing but a cool down match and they didn’t hide that fact. Natalya ran through the team like they were nothing and took the title, which didn’t make for the most thrilling stuff. You can only get so much out of this kind of a match and it’s a fine example of how little chance the women had in this period. What are you supposed to do with three and a half minutes in this structure?

Post matcy Laycool jumps Natalya but Beth Phoenix runs in for the save.

We recap Kane vs. Edge for the Smackdown World Title. Kane is full on evil with Paul Bearer behind him but Edge was back from his latest injury and became #1 contender. Edge then kidnapped Bearer, which had Kane freaking out, partially because Edge kept attacking Bearer…with food.

Smackdown World Title: Edge vs. Kane

Kane is defending and gets his throat snapped across the top to start. Edge fights out of a chokeslam attempt and hits a spinwheel kick. The big boot misses for Kane and Edge goes after the leg to put him down. Back up and Kane puts him on the apron so the big boot can connect. We slow down a bit and the neck crank goes on, with Kane asking where Bearer is.

A basement dropkick gives Kane two and the cravate goes on. That’s broken up and Edge hits a high crossbody before dropkicking Kane out of the air. The uppercut connects for Kane and the side slam plants Edge for two. The chokeslam is countered into the Impaler but the spear is cut off with a big boot. Now the chokeslam can connect for two but Edge scores with the spear for the pin at 12:50….and all four shoulders are down so it’s a draw.

Rating: D+. Bleh, with the ending taking away what little good the match had in the first place. This didn’t feel like an important story and was a great example of how having two World Titles wasn’t always a good thing. It came off like little more than a glorified midcard title, with Bearer’s kidnapping apparently being a “well get to this later” major plot point.

Post match the fight is still on, with Edge sending him into the steps. Edge puts him into a wheelchair for a crash through the barricade.

Wade Barrett comes in to see John Cena and talks about how this is the same building where the Nexus attacked everyone on June 7. Now Cena is here as part of the team, but all he has to do is do the right thing and he’s free. Cena does remember June 7, just like he remembers every single thing Nexus has done to him. Tonight, when the time is right, he knows exactly what he’s doing.

Tag Team Titles: Nexus vs. Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov

Rating: Nexus, with the Nexus, is defending. Marella throws Slater down to start and it’s off to Gabriel, who misses some spinning kicks. Kozlov comes in to kick Gabriel in the chest but he takes out Kozlov’s leg. A neckbreaker puts Kozlov down and Slater drops a knee for two as the double stomping is on.

Gabriel comes in for a cravate so Kozlov drives him into the corner. That earns a cheap shot from Slater, allowing Nexus to bring Kozlov back into the corner again. Back up and Kozlov clotheslines his way to freedom, allowing Marella to come in for the house cleaning. The flying headbutt hits Gabriel but a quick distraction slows Marella down. Slater’s running Zig Zag (or something close to it) retains at 5:10.

Rating: C-. This was yet another period where the Tag Team Titles were about as important as the Women’s Title and it showed again here. This match could not have felt less important and it’s not like either team was particularly good in the first place. Marella and Kozlov were a nice oddball pairing, but that’s not enough to carry interest here.

Post match we get an email from the Anonymous Raw GM, who reminds us that Nexus is banned from ringside in the main event.

We recap Randy Orton defending against Wade Barrett. John Cena has been forced to join Nexus and hates everything about it. Barrett has a title shot with Cena as guest referee. If Cena helps Barrett win, Cena is free, but if Barrett doesn’t win, Cena is fired. Cena is of course conflicted, because he’s Cena and therefore can never do anything wrong.

Raw World Title: Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

Barrett is challenging and John Cena is guest referee. They start rather slowly until Cena accidentally distracts Orton, allowing Barrett to knock him down. Barrett slowly stomps away and they go outside, with Orton being sent into the steps. Back in and Barrett gets two before punching Orton down for the same (with the count possibly being a bit slow). The chinlock goes on for a bit until Orton fights up and starts the comeback.

The backbreaker gives Orton two (pretty much the same cadence as Cena gave for Barrett) but Barrett knocks down and hits a middle rope elbow for two of his own. A pumphandle slam and the Winds Of Change get two and Barrett is getting frustrated at the (so far fair) count. Wasteland gets two, with Orton having to grab the rope to escape.

Barrett is so frustrated that he shoves Cena, who knocks him into the RKO for the pin (with the three being a bit slow) at 15:15. Striker: “CENA’S FREE!” Cole: “Cena’s fired.” Striker: “Oh. Sorry.” So yes, Striker managed to screw up the point of the ONLY MATCH ON THE SHOW that WWE hyped up at all.

Rating: C. It was a slow, plodding match where you kept waiting for Cena to do his big thing and when he finally did, it was about as tiny as imaginable. As was the case though, Nexus comes up short in the big moment again, which was one of the main reasons the stable was doomed. Without winning something important (and no, the Tag Team Titles were not important), they were little more than a nuisance than a threat and that was on display again here.

Post match Nexus comes in to go after Cena but he and Orton clear the ring. Cena hands Orton the title and hugs him, with Orton seemingly appreciative that Cena called the match fairly (and helped him win). Orton leaves and Cena is all upset in the ring. Cena takes his armband off and goes to say goodbye to commentary before going to the stage and looking out at the crowd. The copyright logo comes up and Cena goes into the crowd to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. While there is some ok action to start, it becomes VERY clear that this is a show built around one match and one match only. That was all they hyped up at the beginning and pretty much throughout the show, which didn’t leave much else on the card. Throw in that Cena, who had been immediately fired as a result of the main event, was on Raw the next night and beat Barrett at TLC and the whole show felt even less important. The action was ok, but it was a show that bet everything on one match and that match didn’t deliver very well, basically dooming the whole night.

Results
Daniel Bryan b. Ted DiBiase – LeBell Lock
John Morrison b. Sheamus – Running knee
Dolph Ziggler b. Kaval – Rollup with tights
Team Mysterio b. Team Del Rio last eliminating McIntyre
Natalya b. Laycool – Sharpshooter to McCool
Edge vs. Kane went to a draw
Nexus b. Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov – Running jumping Russian legsweep to Marella
Randy Orton b. Wade Barrett – RKO

Ratings Comparison

Daniel Bryan vs. Ted DiBiase

Original: B
2012 Redo: C+
2025 Redo: B-

John Morrison vs. Sheamus

Original: B
2012 Redo: B-
2025 Redo: B-

Dolph Ziggler vs. Kaval

Original: B-
2012 Redo: C-
2025 Redo: B-

Team Mysterio vs. Team Del Rio

Original: B-
2012 Redo: B-
2025 Redo: C+

Natalya vs. Laycool

Original: D+
2012 Redo: D
2025 Redo: D+

Kane vs. Edge

Original: D
2012 Redo: F+
2025 Redo: D+

Nexus vs. Santino Marella/Vladimir Kozlov

Original: D
2012 Redo: D+
2025 Redo: C-

Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett

Original: D+
2012 Redo: D
2025 Redo: C

Overall Rating

Original: B
2012 Redo: D+
2025 Redo: C

It always interests me when I’m expecting to be way to harsh on a show and it turns out it’s WAY nicer than I was the previous time. This show still isn’t very good though.

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

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

Smackdown
Date: November 14, 2025
Location: MVP Arena, Albany, New York
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

We’re into the Last Time Is Now Tournament, with two more first round matches this week. In addition, Cody Rhodes might have some issues with Aleister Black, with Drew McIntyre and Damian Priest being involved as well. That could cause some problems for the champ and that isn’t good with WarGames in just a few weeks. Let’s get to it.

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

The opening recap looks at the setup of Women’s WarGames.

Here are Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky for a chat. Ripley doesn’t think much of the Kabuki Warriors thinking they have a numbers advantage. Now, the Warriors have nowhere to hide in WarGames. Ripley brings out teammates Charlotte and Alexa Bliss, with the latter saying they’re in to end their opponents. And then Charlotte says she’s out because she doesn’t like Ripley, who she thinks is a snake. Ripley probably thinks the same about her, and with that, Charlotte walks away.

Last Time Is Now Tournament First Round: Jey Uso vs. The Miz

Miz’s entrance cuts off Jey running his own entrance back so he’s booed even more heavily than usual. Miz knees him down to start fast but the running clothesline in the corner is countered into a backslide. The Skull Crushing Finale is blocked as well and Miz is sent outside for a suicide dive.

We take a break and come back with Miz hitting a hard DDT for two. That’s enough for Miz to initiate John Cena’s finishing sequence (Just like R-Truth. No wonder they were a good team!), setting up the Skull Crushing Finale for two. They go up top, where Uso reverses a super Skull Crushing Finale into a face first drop onto the turnbuckle. The spear into the Superfly Splash finishes for Uso at 9:55.

Rating: C+. Miz is one of the more useful people on the WWE roster, as he can be beaten over and over without losing much of his status. At the same time, he has all kinds of credibility after winning pretty much everything imaginable over the years. Uso beating him is the right move, but Miz’s history with Cena gave you just enough of a reason to believe he could pull off the upset. Nice effort here.

DIY comes up to Ilja Dragunov, with Tommaso Ciampa complaining about not getting the title shot. Nick Aldis is fine with how Dragunov is doing things, with Dragunov saying tonight’s shot is going to someone who fights with honor and respect. Aldis leaves and runs into Paul Heyman and Bronson Reed.

Post break, Heyman talks to Aldis about the WarGames agreement, which says Heyman can pick any wrestler from any show to be on his team. Aldis already knew this but here is Cody Rhodes to interrupt. Rhodes wants to fight and a match with Reed is set for tonight. Heyman says that’s not good enough because it should be a title match. Rhodes: “Nick, book it.” Aldis does as he’s told, with Heyman giving a great evil smile.

United States Title: Ilja Dragunov vs. Axiom

Axiom is challenging and takes him down by the arm to start fast. A headlock grinds Dragunov down a bit, only for Dragunov to come back with a takedown. The H Bomb is blocked though and Axiom tries to catch him on top. That’s broken up as well and Dragunov knocks him down, setting up the top rope backsplash for two.

We take a break and come back with Dragunov rolling some German suplexes. Axiom slips out and hits a missile dropkick but Dragunov kicks him in the face again. Dragunov’s H Bomb misses and Axiom is back up with a springboard moonsault DDT (GEEZ) for two. The super Spanish Fly connects but the Golden Ratio is countered with the Torpedo Moscow. Now the H Bomb is enough to retain the title at 11:13.

Rating: B. That DDT alone kept me interested in this as Axiom is a rather solid hand in the ring. Dragunov gets to add another name to the pile of victims as he’s gearing up for what could be an interesting showdown with Ciampa. I’m not sure how that’s going to go, but it’s nice to see it built up over some time.

R-Truth is still trying to get Nick Aldis to let him into the Last Time Is Now tournament. Chelsea Green comes in to demand pyro for her Women’s US Title win, with Aldis saying yes to shut her up.

During the break, Tommaso Ciampa attacked Axiom with Nathan Frazer making the save.

Here is Sami Zayn for a chat. He talks about how he beat Solo Sikoa for the US Title and got to do a bunch of things as champion. Now he wants to keep up the war with Sikoa and the MFT’s but he hasn’t been medically cleared. That has left him on the sidelines for weeks but that ends tonight. Zayn wants Sikoa out here right now so here he comes, complete with the MFT’s.

Sikoa says he knows the real Zayn will do desperate things and knows that Zayn is still hurt. This could go very badly for Zayn, as Sikoa could have them drop him where he stands. Zayn says it won’t be long as he is officially medically cleared, but he didn’t come alone. Cue Shinsuke Nakamura and the Motor City Machine Guns for the brawl, with Rey Fenix joining in for a big corkscrew dive off the top. This could make for a good Survivor Series match.

Jey Uso and Cody Rhodes run into each other and have a nice reunion. Jimmy Uso comes up to say he has their backs tonight and at WarGames.

Solo Sikoa wants Sami Zayn so Nick Aldis makes the Survivor Series match for…the Smackdown before Survivor Series. Well they’re in the right area at least.

Last Time Is Now Tournament First Round: LA Knight vs. ???

And the opponent is….ZACK RYDER, unfortunately what sounds like a remix of Oh Radio but it’s a better than nothing. They’re a bit slow to start until a Rough Ryder attempt misses. Instead Knight is sent outside and we take an early break. We come back with Knight hitting a backdrop and firing off the left jabs.

A jumping neckbreaker gets two but Ryder sends him into the corner for the running Reboot. Back up and Knight rams him into the buckle for the reverse DDT. Ryder is able to hit a Rough Ryder out of nowhere for two more and the BFT is countered into a rollup for the same. Ryder’s middle rope dropkick is countered into a sitout powerbomb though and the BFT finishes for Knight at 8:37.

Rating: C+. They didn’t have much time, especially with the break in the middle, but it was cool to see Ryder back, even if it’s a one off. Ryder is someone who has turned his time away from WWE into something and I’m sure he’ll turn this into something else that makes him money. Knight winning is fine, but this was about the cameo and it was rather fun.

Iyo Sky, Rhea Ripley and Alexa Bliss look for a replacement for Charlotte but get jumped by their opponents, with Lash Legend and Nia Jax laying them out.

Jade Cargill vs. B-Fab

Non-title. B-Fab dropkicks her into the corner to start fast and fires off some elbows. Cargill isn’t having this and drops her with a hard forearm. The fall away slam sends B-Fab flying and a chokeslam drops her again. There’s a powerbomb to drop her again and Cargill gives her a second one. Jaded finishes for Cargill at 2:14.

Post match Michin comes in to check on B-Fab and Cargill isn’t impressed.

Next week’s first round Last Time Is Now tournament matches:

Carmelo Hayes vs. Bronson Reed
Penta vs. Finn Balor

Carmelo Hayes says he’ll see Miz when he sees him but first, he wants to get a shot against John Cena because he won’t miss. Bronson Reed comes in to say he’ll end Cena after ending Hayes next week.

Aleister Black talks about how he and Zelina have corrupted Damian Priest, just as they said they would. Now though, they’re coming for the rest of the locker room.

Smackdown World Title: Cody Rhodes vs. Bronson Reed

Reed, with Paul Heyman, is challenging and misses a charge into the corner to start. Rhodes hits him in the face but gets elbowed down for two. They head outside where Reed runs him over and we take a break. We come back with Rhodes scoring with a Disaster Kick but the snap jabs are countered into the Jagged Edge. The Tsunami misses though and Rhodes hits a Cody Cutter for two. Reed rolls outside, where he cuts off a suicide dive with a shot to the face. Rhodes fights back….and Bron Breakker runs in for the DQ at 5:23.

Rating: B-. They knew they didn’t have much time here so this was about getting as much in as they could manage. What they did was good enough, though it was smart to not have Reed take a pin. You can pretty much guarantee that this was a way to set up the post match stuff and that’s ok for a match like this.

Post match Breakker and Logan Paul beat Rhodes down. Cue the Usos for the save and a table is brought inside. Drew McIntyre (suspended last week) runs in to wreck the Usos, with Paul Heyman saying “ANYBODY” to a screaming Nick Aldis. The good guys are wrecked, including a Claymore and Tsunami to Rhodes, to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. There was more of a theme to this show, as WarGames is coming so the teams have to be set up. At the same time, there wasn’t as much in the ring, with only the Dragunov vs. Axiom match standing out. It’s the kind of show that is more about setting things up for later than anything else, and while this kind of a show is necessary, it’s not the most thrilling thing to watch. Decent, but pretty skippable show this week.

Results
Jey Uso b. The Miz – Superfly Splash
Ilja Dragunov b. Axiom – H Bomb
LA Knight b. Zack Ryder – BFT
Jade Cargill b. B-Fab – Jaded
Cody Rhodes b. Bronson Reed via DQ when Bron Breakker interfered

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

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

Smackdown
Date: November 7, 2025
Location: Bon Secours Wellness Center, Greenville, South Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

We’re done with Saturday Night’s Main Event and Cody Rhodes seems to be done with Drew McIntyre. After defending the title again, Rhodes is going to need a new challenger and with Survivor Series in about three weeks, there is a good chance we find out something about that tonight. Let’s get to it.

Here is Saturday Night’s Main Event if you need a recap.

We open with a recap of Rhodes retaining the title at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Here is Rhodes, who talks about ending things against McIntyre once and for all. He wants someone new to come after the title and is willing to sit in the crowd and find out who it is. Cue Aleister Black and Zelina to interrupt, with Black saying there is a WWE Championship sized chip on his shoulder. Vega gets in Rhodes’ face but Nick Aldis comes out to make the match for tonight.

Ilja Dragunov runs into Tama Tonga in the back.

US Title: Ilja Dragunov vs. ???

Dragunov is defending in another open challenge, with DIY answering. Tommaso Ciampa calls out Dragunov for calling him a jackass last week, earning a JACKASS chant. Dragunov is willing to defend…against Johnny Gargano. Ciampa isn’t happy but goes with it and we’re ready to go. Gargano knocks him into the corner to start but gets taken down in some rolling German suplexes. Another suplex drops Gargano again and we take a break.

We come back with Gargano enziguring him down so they can trade forearms. The Constantine Special drops Gargano again and Dragunov hits a running boot in the corner. Gargano is right back with a superkick into a poisonrana, with Dragunov coming up with a busted nose.

They go to the corner with Dragunov knocking him off, setting up a middle rope backsplash. A belly to back slam plants Gargano but Candice LeRae pulls Dragunov outside. One Final Beat gives Gargano two but Dragunov catches him with an apron superplex. The H Bomb retains the title at 10:51.

Rating: B-. This was what you would expect from these two as they were doing their big time moves until Gargano lost. Dragunov vs. Ciampa is the big teased match and that could be quite the showdown. They have to do stuff like this to get there though and at least the match was good enough.

Sami Zayn comes in to see Nick Aldis and asks him to be ringside for Rey Fenix’s match tonight. Aldis has to turn him down again and that’s not a request. Zayn agrees, but he won’t do this much longer. R-Truth comes in and wants to be in the Last Time Is Now tournament. He puts his balls in Aldis’ hands (literally) but Aldis says he’s already in the field. This makes R-Truth mad and he leaves. Aldis: “I don’t know what just happened here.”

We look at Jade Cargill winning the Women’s Title at Saturday Night’s Main Event.

Johnny Gargano apologized to Tommaso Ciampa for losing but Fraxiom comes in to mock them both.

Here is Jade Cargill for a chat. Cargill says that will happen to anyone who comes after her and she is that b****. And that’s it, though she runs into Charlotte and Alexa Bliss on the way to the ring as she leaves. Staring ensues.

Chelsea Green is ready to win the Women’s US Title back but Michin and B-Fab come in to mock her. Green says she’ll be the best champion on Smackdown but Jade Cargill comes in to scare her. B-Fab isn’t pleased and a match is made for next week.

Charlotte vs. Nia Jax

Alexa Bliss is here with Charlotte. They trade slaps to start until Charlotte hits a Thesz press to hammer away. After not quite sticking the landing on a nip up (she laughed about it), Charlotte is sent hard into the corner as we take a break. We come back with Charlotte booting her in the face and hitting a high crossbody.

A flipping clothesline drops Jax (and we go black screen due to some wardrobe issues), followed by a moonsault to give Charlotte two. Jax grabs a sitout powerbomb for two more but the Annihilator misses. Charlotte knees her for two and a tornado DDT gets the same. Cue NXT’s Lash Legend to jump Bliss and choke her on the floor, allowing Jax to splash Charlotte in the corner. The Annihilator finishes for Jax at 10:25.

Rating: C+. Charlotte is one of the few women who can hang with Jax size wise and it made for a better match. You don’t see Jax have something of a hoss fight very often and I was digging it here. Charlotte’s evolution is rather shocking as I never imagined it going this well and now we have a tag match set.

Legend and Jax leave together. I can absolutely go for Legend being on Smackdown full time.

We recap the Last Time Is Now tournament.

Nick Aldis draws two first round matches:

Miz vs. Jey Uso
LA Knight vs. ???

Aldis won’t say Knight’s opponent. That makes me think a returning Gunther or someone who will appear when you say his name.

Nia Jax says she and Lash Legend are indeed friends. Legend introduces herself and says they’re going to the top.

Women’s United States Title: Giulia vs. Chelsea Green

Green, with Alba Fyre, is challenging and Kiana James is here with Giulia. A headbutt rocks Green to start and the knee gets two. Giulia chokes on the ropes and James gets in a cheap shot, earning a superkick from Fyre. Giulia goes after Fyre…and gets rolled up with feet on the ropes to give Green the title back at 1:35. It’s not like Giulia was doing anything with the title anyway so go with the one on a roll at the moment.

Solo Sikoa wants more from the MFT’s, starting with Talla Tonga needing to teach a lesson. The team leaves and the Wyatt Sicks pop up behind them.

Charlotte checks on Alexa Bliss in the trainer’s room…but Asuka pops in to mist Charlotte in the eyes. Well that’s mean.

Talla Tonga vs. Rey Fenix

The MFT’s are here with Tonga. Actually never mind as the Motor City Machine Guns and Shinsuke Nakamura come out to brawl with them to the back. That leaves Fenix to hit a dive and the bell rings with Tonga easily shoving him down. A running big boot sends Fenix into the barricade and we take a break.

We come back with Fenix’s springboard being knocked out of the air and some elbows in the corner keeping him in trouble. Tonga misses a charge though and gets kicked in the face, only to come back with a heck of an uppercut. Fenix kicks him in the head a few times, including a rope walk kick to the face. A springboard high crossbody gives Fenix two but a hurricanrana is countered into a powerbomb. The chokeslam finishes Fenix off at 9:11.

Rating: B-. There was a good story here with the giant vs. the smaller guy and it worked well. The problem is that Tonga is only so good in the ring and Fenix has lost time after time to the point where it doesn’t mean as much. The MFT’s seem like they’re ready to do a bunch of stuff but none of it has really happened yet. That’s going to need to change, which has been the case for a long time.

Post match Tonga goes after Fenix again but Sami Zayn runs in with a chair for the save.

Here’s what’s coming next week.

The Miz says last week’s attack on Carmelo Hayes wasn’t payback before moving on to the Last Time Is Now tournament. He’s ready to win the tournament and beat John Cena again, just like he did in the main event of Wrestlemania.

Cody Rhodes vs. Aleister Black

Non-title and Zelina is here with Black. They trade armdrags to start fast until Rhodes jumps over him in the corner. The drop down uppercut is countered into a quickly broken cross armbreaker but Black kicks him out to the floor. We take a break and come back with Rhodes getting two off the snap powerslam before Black’s kick to the head gets the same. Rhodes comes back with a running forearm and another powerslam, followed by the Disaster Kick for two.

Cross Rhodes is countered and another kick drops Rhodes, who is back with a Cody Cutter for two more. Another Cross Rhodes attempt is countered and they kick each other down…and here is Drew McIntyre to Claymore the referee. Rhodes goes after McIntyre so Black jumps Rhodes, with Damian Priest coming in to go after the villains. Zelina’s interference doesn’t really work but Black gets in a shot to Priest’s eye. The match is a no contest at around 10:00.

Rating: B-. They got in some good stuff while they had the chance, which granted was only so long. The ending is a bit interesting as it opens up some doors, though Rhodes needs a new top challenger. While McIntyre is a big deal, he was only so much of a threat to take the title. I’m not sure Black is going to be anything more than a challenger of the month, but at least it’s something different.

Post match Nick Aldis suspends McIntyre to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. The action here was fine, but this was another show that didn’t feel very exciting. The matches were ok enough and nothing was terrible, but there is nothing on here that makes me want to keep watching. Rather than rushing towards something, it comes off more like a leisurely jog with little in the way of drama. Nothing much to this one, which is a shame as the wrestling was pretty decent.

Results
Ilja Dragunov b. Johnny Gargano – H Bomb
Nia Jax b. Charlotte – Annihilator
Chelsea Green b. Giulia – Rollup with feet on the ropes
Cody Rhodes vs. Aleister Black went to a no contest

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

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

Smackdown
Date: October 31, 2025
Location: Delta Center, Salt Lake City, Utah
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the night before Saturday Night’s Main Event and that means it’s time for the big push before the show. That could make for some interesting builds to tomorrow, including the final setup of Drew McIntyre challenging Cody Rhodes for the Smackdown World Title. That should be enough to carry this week, plus all of the holiday shenanigans. Let’s get to it.

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

We have a theme of the University of Utah vs. the University of Cincinnati football game tomorrow.

We look at Jade Cargill turning heel last week and attacking Tiffany Stratton.

Cue Stratton to say she wants Cargill out here right now but Nick Aldis says it can’t get physical. This brings out Cargill, with Aldis calling for security. Cargill says she wants the title so Stratton goes into the aisle for the brawl, with Cargill getting away before it gets started.

Video on Ilja Dragunov.

R-Truth, dressed as Santa Claus, gives the Motor City Machine Guns some candy. He doesn’t believe that it’s Halloween and leaves but Solo Sikoa comes in to mock the Guns. A tag match seems set for later.

US Title: Ilja Dragunov vs. ???

Dragunov is defending against….Nathan Frazer. Wait hang on though as Tommaso Ciampa comes to the ring, saying Dragunov can’t possibly give him the shot. Dragunov says it’s for everyone but Frazer was here first. Also Ciampa is a jackass. Frazer knees him down to start fast and a spinning enziguri sends Dragunov outside. The suicide dive connects but Dragunov is fine enough to hit a spinning chop back inside.

Frazer manages a necksnap across the top but a springboard is cut off with a jumping knee. Dragunov tells him that it’s nothing personal before giving him a German suplex on the floor. We take a break and come back with Dragunov rolling more German suplexes but missing the Constantine Special. Frazer’s running shooting star press gets two and they trade strikes to the head. Dragunov misses a charge out to the floor but is back in with a shot to the face.

The top rope backsplash misses though and Frazer’s frog splash gets two as we take another break. We come back again with Frazer fighting out of a powerbomb and kicking Dragunov in the head. A superbomb is countered into a super hurricanrana to send Dragunov outside, meaning it’s another dive. The phoenix splash gets two back inside as Frazer can’t believe the kickout. Frazer elbows him off the top but Dragunov is right back up with a nasty middle rope German superplex for two of his own. A powerbomb into the H Bomb retains the title at 18:51.

Rating: B. These guys beat each other up and it’s nice to see Frazer getting to show off a bit. Dragunov is the story again here though, as he continues to look like he leaves everything he has in the ring and that makes for some awesome moments. Do more of this, which seems to be the idea at the moment.

Post match respect is shown but Tommaso Ciampa runs in to jump Frazer again. During the break, Axiom and Johnny Gargano ran in to join the brawl, with Dragunov trying to break it up.

Post break, the brawl continues until Tama Tonga comes in to grab the title and stare at Dragunov.

Kit Wilson vs. Carmelo Hayes

And Hayes is now a good guy. Ok then. Wilson tries to jump him from behind to start and manages a running elbow. A cross arm choke lets Wilson call Hayes toxic before stomping him down. Something like a spinning DDT gets two on Hayes, who fights up and hits a springboard clothesline. Wilson bails out to the floor and gets taken out with a dive…and here is Miz to post Hayes. A top rope elbow gives Wilson two but the First 48 gives Hayes the pin at 3:11.

Rating: C. Not much to the match other than to establish that Hayes is now a good guy. That worked out well enough as he did fine in the role in NXT and it’s not like he’s set the world on fire so far. A feud with Miz has worked for others before and at least he has a nice starting point.

Post match Miz drops Hayes with the Skull Crushing Finale.

Charlotte and Alexa Bliss aren’t worried about the Kabuki Warriors. As for tonight, Charlotte says Nia Jax is still in fear because she’s displaying classic Gemini behavior. Bliss isn’t sure what to make of that.

Nick Aldis won’t let Sami Zayn be ringside for the Motor City Machine Guns vs. MFTs as he isn’t cleared. Cody Rhodes comes in and pleasantries are exchanged. Aldis flat out asks Rhodes if he attacked Jacob Fatu and Rhodes gives a definitive no. He’s fine with the contract for the title match against Drew McIntyre.

Nia Jax vs. Alexa Bliss

Charlotte is here with Bliss. Jax jumps her from behind to start so Bliss gets in a slap to the face. That earns a big shout from Jax, who runs Bliss over. A hurricanrana is cut off but Jax misses a charge into the post. Instead she sends Bliss into the barricade and takes a bow as we take a break.

We come back with a splash in the corner setting up the running hip attack. Jax misses a second attempt and Charlotte offers a distraction, allowing Bliss to get in a neck snap over the ropes. Bliss strikes away and gets two off a basement crossbody. Jax is right back with a Samoan drop for two of her own, with the referee losing his shoe. Back up and Charlotte offers another distraction to break up the Annihilator, allowing Bliss to kick the leg out and get the pin at 9:35.

Rating: C+. This worked about as well as these two are ever going to do, as the size difference hurts it a good bit. What matters here though was that Charlotte and Bliss are still working together and turning into a rather nice team. They’re the team that the division has been needing and hopefully it can last for a long while.

The MFTs run into Rey Fenix, with Solo Sikoa asking if he’s looking for a fight. Fenix says no, because he wants to fight Talla Tonga. Sure.

Damian Priest says it’s now personal with Aleister Black and punishment is coming.

Saturday Night’s Main Event rundown.

Tiffany Stratton runs into Kiana James and Giulia. James says Stratton should have accepted their offer and Nick Aldis has to keep Stratton from jumping her. Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre come in, with Green not being happy about Giulia coming up on the record for longest Women’s US Title reign. Green wants a match and Giulia is in for next week. Nikki Cross pops in to scare them off.

Earlier today, the Utah Utes mascot beat the Cincinnati Bearcats’ mascot. Eh if they air like 30 seconds of it, fine enough for some crossover appeal.

MFTs vs. Motor City Machine Guns

Shelley and Mateo start things off with Shelley striking away and a missile dropkick/Downward Spiral combination putting Mateo down. The MFT’s are sent outside for the dives and it’s the Dream Sequence for two on Tonga. We take a break and come back with Shelley fighting out of a chinlock and hitting the Downward Spiral into the buckle.

That’s enough for the tag off to Sabin so house can be cleaned, including a tornado DDT to Tonga. It’s already back to Shelley, who knocks Tonga outside for a big dive from Sabin. Back in and Solo Sikoa offers a distraction, allowing Tonga to break up the Skull & Bones. The Cutthroat gives Tonga the pin at 8:42.

Rating: B-. As usual, the Guns are able to work well with anyone and that’s always fun to see. At the same time, I could go for seeing them have some more success, but they got their title win so now it seems to be time to have them job quite a bit. We’re also looking towards the MFTs coming after the Wyatt Sicks and the Tag Team Titles, so it makes sense for them to win here.

Post match the beatdown stays on so Rey Fenix runs in for the save, with Shinsuke Nakamura having to save him. This goes rather badly for Nakamura.

Drew McIntyre has no issues with the contract for Saturday Night’s Main Event and tells Nick Aldis to relax.

Here’s what’s coming next week.

Nick Aldis is in the ring for the main event contract signing. Cody Rhodes and Drew McIntyre join him but McIntyre says he can’t sign this. Rhodes certainly can and does, but McIntyre says it’s a one sided contract. If either of them get disqualified or counted out, Rhodes keeps the title and that’s not fair. Aldis is done with McIntyre’s games and threatens to replace him in the title match. McIntyre says ok and goes to leave but Rhodes tells him to sit down.

Rhodes knows what McIntyre wants: a clause that says if he gets counted out or disqualified, the title changes hands. That’s exactly what McIntyre wants and Rhodes is cool with it, so Aldis makes the change. McIntyre signs and talks about how he made the blueprint that Rhodes followed to end the story. He works to get everywhere he goes because he’s the real American Dream.

Rhodes says McIntyre did indeed write the blueprint but the difference is Rhodes walked away instead of getting fired. Rhodes: “Nice guys used to finish last. Then I showed up.” McIntyre cuts him off from leaving and says that the people will eventually turn on Rhodes too. He brings up Rhodes not being there to take his daughters trick or treating and that touches a nerve.

McIntyre asks what Rhodes’ daughters are named and the fight is on, with Rhodes missing a belt shot. A Claymore drops Rhodes and McIntyre puts him through the table. Some promises of taking the title end the show. They’ve got me thinking that a title change is possible and that’s a nice feeling to have.

Overall Rating: B+. I liked this show quite a bit with the good opener and solid main event segment. The World Title match needed the build to get ready for Saturday and they accomplished that rather well. This felt like a show where they were setting up things and then getting it done, which is what they needed to do. Solid show here and I want to see what happens tomorrow.

Results
Ilja Dragunov b. Nathan Frazer – H Bomb
Carmelo Hayes b. Kit Wilson – First 48
Alexa Bliss b. Nia Jax – Rollup
MFTs b. Motor City Machine Guns – Cutthroat to Sabin

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

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

Smackdown
Date: September 19, 2025
Location: Huntington Center, Toledo, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves

It’s the last show before this weekend’s Wrestlepalooza and that means we’re going to be seeing Brock Lesnar before he faces John Cena. That likely means some serious violence, as tends to be Lesnar’s tradition. We’ve also got Sami Zayn defending the US Title against Carmelo Hayes. Let’s get to it.

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

Michael Cole starts welcoming us to the show but is told that he needs to head to the back for a sitdown interview with Brock Lesnar. As Cole goes to the back, Lesnar comes out to interrupt though and carries Cole around the ring. Then he puts Cole inside said ring, which draws Graves in for some attempted peacekeeping. Lesnar lays him out with an F5 and then grabs the camera to shout that he’s coming for John Cena’s blood. That’s not enough though as Lesnar hits another F5 on Graves.

Post break, Graves is still pretty much destroyed and we look at the segment again.

Lesnar is walking through the back and runs into the Vision. He says he and Paul Heyman should talk, with Heyman smiling and nodding. With Lesnar gone, Nick Aldis comes in to say this isn’t the time for the Vision. He has too much going on but Heyman says he’s here to broker a peace with the Usos. Aldis says Heyman likely knows that the Usos are already in Indianapolis, so Heyman says they’ll just enjoy the show.

Michael Cole is back on commentary and is rather disturbed by the whole thing.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Charlotte/Alexa Bliss vs. Chelsea Green/Alba Fyre

Charlotte and Bliss are defending. Charlotte drops Green to start fast and everything breaks down, with Green taking Bliss into the corner. We take a break and come back with Miz having joined commentary and Bliss diving for a tag. Fyre pulls Charlotte off the apron though, only for Green to miss a charge into the post. That’s enough for the tag to Charlotte, who tries to fight back but has her moonsault broken up. Charlotte saves Bliss from a double suplex and Natural Selection finishes Green at 7:54.

Rating: C+. They didn’t have much time here when you factor out the commercial but Charlotte and Bliss are turning into some rather dominant champions. Unfortunately that becomes a problem when they don’t have many high level teams to face, but I’m liking their matches more and more. It’s something that is working well and if they can keep that up, they might be able to break the curse that these belts seem to have.

B-Fab tries to get the Street Profits on the same page but Michin needs to talk to her. The Profits talk about wanting to get the Tag Team Titles back and things seem to be good. Ford leaves so Bo Dallas comes in to talk to Dawkins. That brings Ford back to cut Dallas off, with the Wyatt Sicks coming in to take out the Profits.

R-Truth, in a neck brace, explains how to order the ESPN App to Los Garza.

Fraxiom comes to the ring for a match but the Vision jumps them from behind, with Heyman saying Fraxiom reminds him of the Usos. Fraxiom is back in with some dropkicks to the floor and some dives so Nick Aldis comes out to make the match.

Vision vs. Fraxiom

We’re joined in progress with Breakker taking Axiom to the top but getting knocked down. Breakker hits a heck of a running clothesline and it’s off to Reed for a backsplash. It’s back to Breakker to load up the Super Spear, which is cut off by Axiom’s dropkick. Frazer comes in to kick Reed down and hit a frog splash for two. A Phoenix splash misses though and Reed hits the Jagged Edge. Axiom goes up after Reed but gets shoved off, right into a Super Spear. The Tsunami finishes Frazer at 3:57.

Rating: C+. This was a good enough match for a quick destruction as Fraxiom was only able to do so much here. That’s the right idea too as the Vision has their biggest match to date tomorrow and it’s nice to give them a bit of momentum on the way there. At the same time, it’s kind of a shame to see Fraxiom falling down the ranks, as they’ve gone from being a fun team close to the titles to this in just a few months.

Post match Heyman handles the announcement but the Usos pop up from Indianapolis, saying that it’ll be a different kind of match tomorrow.

We look at WWE stars appearing on ESPN programming.

Here is Nia Jax for a chat. She insults Toledo and talks about how this division is getting on her nerves. The reality is she is the alpha of this division and mocks Tiffany Stratton’s catchphrase in a funny bit. Then you have Jade Cargill, who looks incredible until the bell rings. Jax is the alpha but here is Stratton to interrupt. Stratton is sick of Jax running her mouth and doesn’t think Cargill is a superhero, but here is Cargill to shove her way to the ring. Nick Aldis comes in to calm it down, saying it’s a triple threat for the title next week.

R-Truth explains ESPN to the Motor City Machine Guns and Rey Fenix. Then he puts his phone in a toaster.

We look at the Lesnar beatdown again.

United States Title: Carmelo Hayes vs. Sami Zayn

Zayn is defending and Miz is VERY enthusiastic about Hayes. They fight over wrist control to start until Hayes is back with a dropkick. Back up and Zayn punches him into the corner for some right hands but Hayes is right back with the Fadeaway. We take a break and come back with Hayes dropping a knee for two. Some chops against the ropes wake Zayn up and a middle rope ax handle puts Hayes down.

A tornado DDT gives Zayn two, followed by a Michinoku Driver for the same. Hayes is back up with a knee but his frog splash only hits raised knees. We take another break and come back with Hayes blocking an exploder. Instead he knocks Zayn down and hits the frog splash for two. Hayes’ First 48 gets two and the suplex cutter drops Zayn again. Zayn is right back up with a kick to the face and the Blue Thunder Bomb retains at 15:07.

Rating: B. This is exactly the point of the US Open Challenges, as you have Zayn out there giving Hayes a chance to showcase himself for a change. It helps that the match got some time rather than being rushed, making it feel like a struggle. I could go for a few months of this, and there is a good chance that’s what we’ll be getting.

Damian Priest storms into Nick Aldis’ office and wants Aleister Black next week. Kit Wilson, who was in Aldis’ office, accuses Priest of toxic masculinity. He is then thrown through a wall.

Cody Rhodes explains how to watch Wrestlepalooza.

We get the second half of the John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar history, starting with Cena becoming the biggest star in the world during Lesnar’s absence. Meanwhile, Lesnar became the UFC Heavyweight Champion and turned into an even scarier human being. Then Lesnar returned to WWE in 2012 and wrecked a bunch of people, including Cena in a long form squash at Summerslam 2014 (the first F5 had me screaming at my TV). We’ll get the last part on the Kickoff Show tomorrow.

Wrestlepalooza rundown.

We recap Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre.

Solo Sikoa talks about how Tonga Loa has been part of the team since the beginning and Sikoa let him down by not making him a champion. Loa confirms his love for Sikoa. That’s not a great sign for Sikoa’s future, as he and Loa were all alone here.

It’s time for the contract signing, with Drew McIntyre and Cody Rhodes joining Nick Aldis in the ring. Before they sign, Rhodes actually brings up their time as Tag Team Champions. The thing is though, not everyone cares about that and just want to see people fight. Lately, the only kind of warrior McIntyre has been is a keyboard warrior (the fans gasp at that) and McIntyre busts out his phone to post THANK YOU CODY. McIntyre talks about how Rhodes is a company man but he’s been in Rhodes’ spot before.

What happens when Rhodes loses? He’ll be in McIntyre’s spot, talking about how things used to be. They both sign in a hurry and the brawl is on again, with McIntyre getting the better of things. He teases the Claymore through the announcers’ table but stops, because it would cost him the match tomorrow. Rhodes gets back up and they brawl even more, with McIntyre hitting a Claymore to end the show. This was a simple segment, but it did boost the match up in a rather needed way.

Overall Rating: B-. The wrestling wasn’t exactly great this week, with only Zayn vs. Hayes going that well. At the same time though, they did a nice job of getting things ready for the pay per view. Wrestlepalooza is feeling like a major show and the contract signing helped it out a bit. There is going to be some pressure on them tomorrow, but this wound up being a good enough show to get them to the big event.

Results
Charlotte/Alexa Bliss b. Chelsea Green/Alba Fyre – Natural Selection to Green
Vision b. Fraxiom – Tsunami to Frazer
Sami Zayn b. Carmelo Hayes – Blue Thunder Bomb

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

Smackdown
Date: September 12, 2025
Location: Scope Arena, Norfolk, Virginia
Commentators: Vic Joseph, Booker T.

We’re just over a week away from Wrestlepalooza and that makes it’s time to have Brock Lesnar around. With John Cena not here, it’s time to see who else Lesnar can smash, with Sami Zayn being a possibility. Other than that, Randy Orton is facing Drew McIntyre in what should be a good one. Let’s get to it.

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

We open with a long recap of John Cena vs. Sami Zayn last week, with Brock Lesnar interrupting to take them both out.

Here is Lesnar to get things going and the fans aren’t wild on seeing him. Lesnar gets a mic but here is R-Truth of all people to interrupt. Lesnar tells him to shut up but R-Truth wants to be the first star to welcome him back. That makes Lesnar smile, but R-Truth makes the mistake of saying he used to be scared of him. Lesnar isn’t sure who R-Truth is so R-Truth says that John Cena is his older brother.

Lesnar: “How old are you and what is your name?” The reality is Lesnar is here to find Cena, but if R-Truth doesn’t know where Cena is, why is he here? R-Truth is here to defend his older brother, because his name is Ron Cena. He’s here to stop the disrespect from Lesnar, because Cena went nuts this year.

Super Cena is coming for Lesnar and he is filled with hustle, loyalty, respect, and tears from the kid he made cry a few months ago. Lesnar confirms R-Truth’s identity (with R-Truth getting confused for a bit) but points out that he’s missing a tooth. The F5 lays R-Truth out and Lesnar splits his pants in the process. Lesnar finds it funny and points out that he’s wearing blue underwear.

Sami Zayn is happy to restart the US Open challenge and he’s glad that someone is his first challenger. And it’s Rey Fenix. Ok then.

Solo Sikoa talks about the sacrifices he made to win the US Title, including attacking his own flesh and blood. Just to prove what? Sikoa snaps as he talks about losing the title but calms down to say he’s lost everything. Change is going to happen sooner than later and he’s going to get everything back.

US Title: Sami Zayn vs. Rey Fenix

Zayn is defending. An armdrag takes Fenix down to start but he’s back up with the rather bouncy armdrag. Zayn is sent outside and a tease of something like a 619 has him backing up as we take a break. We come back with Zayn hitting a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker but Fenix sends him outside. The big running corkscrew dive takes Zayn down and a high crossbody drops him for two back inside.

Back up and the Blue Thunder Bomb is countered into a hurricanrana, followed by a superkick to give Fenix two. Fenix misses a great looking moonsault but Zayn misses the Helluva Kick. A rolling DDT gives Fenix a VERY close two and we take another break. We come back again with Fenix slipping out of a fireman’s carry on the top.

Fenix kicks him down and hits the moonsault for two but backflips into a Blue Thunder Bomb to give Zayn his own near fall. The exploder sends Fenix into the corner but he’s back with a hurricanrana for (a slow) two. Fenix misses a springboard kick in the corner and gets explodered. Now the Helluva Kick can retain the title at 15:49.

Rating: B+. This was definitely in the vein of the John Cena US Open Challenge, as Fenix is someone talented with nothing to do but he gets a chance to let it all hang out here. Fenix was trying everything he could here and it was pretty easily his best match in WWE. If this is what we’ll be seeing from Zayn every week, we’ll be in for a great time.

B-Fab was interrupted by Giulia and Kiana James and cattiness ensued.

The Wyatt Sicks talk about the cracks in the Street Profits, who can either split up or be destroyed. So where do the Profits go from here? Follow the buzzards.

Giulia vs. B-Fab

Non-title. Giulia jumps her before the bell to start and sends B-Fab into the barricade. Back in and Kiana James stomps on B-Fab, allowing Giulia to hit the big knee. Michin runs in for the save. No match.

Aleister Black says Damien Priest can either keep fighting or give up.

Women’s Title: Jade Cargill vs. Tiffany Stratton

Stratton is defending and hits a dropkick to cut off a charging Cargill. Back up and Cargill snaps off a powerslam. Back up and Stratton sends her to the floor for a dive and we take a break. We come back with Stratton hitting a clothesline but having to hurricanrana her way out of a powerbomb. Stratton’s handspring elbow connects in the corner and a basement dropkick drops Cargill again.

A Swanton hits Cargill for two and she is sent outside, where Stratton’s baseball slide is cut off. Back in and Stratton hits a Regal Roll but the Prettiest Moonsault Ever is cut off. A Blue Thunder Bomb out of the corner gets two so Cargill seems to kiss her on the cheek. The ensuing rollup is countered into a rollup to give Stratton two and she hits an Alabama Slam.

Stratton’s Prettiest Moonsault Ever misses again and Cargill blasts her with a pump kick. They slug it out on the steps and Cargill misses a charge into the post, allowing Stratton to hit another basement dropkick. The moonsault to the floor misses though and Cargill tackles her through the barricade for the double countout at 11:10.

Rating: C+. It was better than their Summerslam match, but you could see that they were missing some stuff here and there. The double countout is designed to set up a rematch and I’ve heard worse ideas, as these two do have some chemistry together. The problem is they’re still both relatively inexperienced at this level (especially Cargill) and that’s creating some issues in their matches. Still though, not a bad idea for an ending, as the pay per view rematch should be better.

Post match Nia Jax runs in and takes them both out. That probably sets up a triple threat title match, because that’s what we do around here.

Nick Aldis is cut off by Chelsea Green and Alba Fyre, who want their title shot. Green thinks Charlotte is being protected and threats are made, with Aldis giving them the next Women’s Tag Team Title shot after NXT Homecoming next week. Aldis goes to leave but Miz comes in, only to be told that Carmelo Hayes has already talked to him about an opportunity. No specifics are given, but Miz is pleased.

We get a long and rather detailed look at John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar, including training footage of their early days in OVW. They worked their way up through the ranks and had their own style but it was clear that they were going to be big deals. Lesnar would become the star first, while Cena took more time but wound up being a much longer term star as Lesnar was only around for about two years. They finally got together on the main roster and had a few matches but then Lesnar left due to the schedule. The night Lesnar left, Cena won his first title. Part two next week. As usual, WWE does these things incredibly well.

Rey Mysterio hypes up Worlds Collide but Dominik Mysterio interrupts, promising to win the Mega Title. Rey isn’t convinced but Dominik says how about Rey puts the title around his waist when he wins. Rey: “IF you win.” Finn Balor comes in and tells Dominik to prove himself by winning alone. Dominik isn’t sure.

Sami Zayn praises Rey Fenix but Carmelo Hayes comes in to say he’s got next. Works for Zayn, who tells him to not miss. Hayes is happy but Miz comes in and asks what that was. Apparently Hayes talked to Aldis about a title opportunity, meaning for the US Title. Miz freaks out and says he’s trying to guide him to the Tag Team Titles, but Hayes wants some trust.

Drew McIntyre vs. Randy Orton

Orton takes him into the corner for some right hands to start but seems to tweak his ankle coming back down. A clothesline puts McIntyre on the floor and we take a break. We come back with Orton favoring his knee but being able to hit a suplex anyway. Orton drops a knee but hurts himself in the process, allowing McIntyre to hit a chop block. The Figure Four stays on the leg but Orton turns it over and they head outside.

McIntyre goes to the eyes to cut Orton off though and drops him onto the announcers’ table. Another chop block cuts Orton down again and we take another break. We come back with McIntyre staying on the leg and taking him up the aisle to keep up the beating. Back in and Orton pokes him in the eye (the ensuing shrug is funny) but gets dropped without much trouble. The Figure Four is loaded up again but this time Orton kicks him into the post for the block.

Orton’s powerslam gets two and the fans are wanting an RKO. They head outside with Orton getting in the drop onto the announcers’ table but McIntyre manages a Claymore. Ont he way back in, Orton hits the RKO but McIntyre rolls outside. Back in and the hanging DDT connects and Orton loads up the Punt, with the referee cutting him off. Orton tries it anyway but hurts the knee, allowing McIntyre to shove him towards (but not into) the referee. The Claymore finishes Orton at 17:40.

Rating: B. This was a pay per view level match and it’s great to see McIntyre get a win in a pretty high profile match. McIntyre is pretty clearly next in line for Cody Rhodes and this was a good warmup match to get him there. Orton losing to anyone is a big deal so it’s nice to see this work out so well.

Post match McIntyre loads up the Claymore against the announcers’ table but Cody Rhodes is back. Rhodes beats McIntyre down and says he’ll see him at Wrestlepalooza. Dang that show is stacked.

Overall Rating: B+. I can go for a show that is built around the wrestling side of things and that is exactly what we got here. The focus was on the in-ring side of things, with the opener being rather awesome and the main event being pay per view worthy. The women’s match was good enough and the backstage segments in the middle made for some nice filler segments. Rather good show here, as you don’t get a pair of TV matches that good very often.

Results
Sami Zayn b. Rey Fenix – Helluva Kick
Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill went to a double countout
Drew McIntyre b. Randy Orton – Claymore

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

Smackdown
Date: September 19, 2008
Location: Sommet Center, Nashville, Tennessee
Commentators: Tazz, Jim Ross

The big story coming out of last week is Jeff Hardy becoming the new #1 contender and getting a shot at HHH and the World Title at No Mercy. Other than that, Big Show is now in league with Vickie Guerrero and going after Undertaker, which sounds like it could lead to minutes of entertainment. Hopefully the rest of the show can pick up the pace a bit, though you never know what you’ll see around here. Let’s get to it.

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

The opening recap looks at Jeff Hardy becoming the #1 contender but getting laid out by Vladimir Kozlov.

Opening sequence.

Divas Title: Michelle McCool vs. Maryse

McCool is defending. Maryse grabs a headlock to start and then runs McCool over with a shoulder. Back up and McCool trips her down for a basement dropkick and then mocks the Maryse pose. Maryse manages to snap the throat across the top but a sunset flip dives McCool two. A hair takedown lets Maryse grab a camel clutch but JR isn’t happy with how much posing Maryse does in the process. McCool is back up with a dropkick into a running flipping neckbreaker. The Wings Of Love retains the title.

Rating: C. This was another good example of the issues the women were having at the time. They were clearly trying to get better in the ring (and it was starting to work) but they had the same issues as before, with the focus often being on their looks and the revealing gear. It’s still a work in progress, but you can tell they’re making serious progress.

Big Show is in Vickie Guerrero’s office when Eve comes in. Eve asks Vickie about Undertaker possibly being here tonight but Vickie doesn’t want to hear it. Eve goes on to mention that she’s been training, with the other two laughing at her. Show has her sit down and shows her why the first question is totally irrelevant. This leads to a video on Show beating Undertaker down at Unforgiven, which I guess he had cued up for anyone who was coming in.

Ryan Braddock vs. Festus

Jesse and Festus are doing the movers deal. Festus misses a charge into the corner to start and Braddock hammers away before grabbing an early chinlock. That’s broken up and Festus unloads on him, including the fireman’s carry flapjack. That’s enough for Jesse to throw in the packing supplies, which draws the DQ.

Post break, Festus is packed up and moved out. The fans either don’t get it or don’t care. Or both.

Vickie Guerrero wants Undertaker to show up so she can make him apologize. And we see the same video of the Unforgiven beatdown. Reminding us that it’s still Big Show vs. Undertaker really isn’t helping.

Shelton Benjamin praises himself and doesn’t think much of R-Truth being in prison.

Shelton Benjamin vs. R-Truth

Non-title. Benjamin backs him into the corner to start but R-Truth is back out with the spinning forearm. The referee doesn’t like R-Truth stomping away in the corner and Benjamin is able to snap off a suplex, which Tazz certainly appreciates. The crossface shots to the face set up a backbreaker and we hit the reverse chinlock. That’s broken up so Benjamin forearms away even more, setting up the reverse chinlock again. R-Truth fights up so Benjamin tries a German suplex, which is reversed into a cradle to give R-Truth the pin.

Rating: C+. R-Truth is still new so having him get right into the US Title picture is certainly a big deal. I’m not sold on the idea of him winning the title just yet and having him pin the champion isn’t great to see, but at least it’s someone getting a push. Now just follow through with what they’re doing in one way or another.

Post match Hurricane Helms (out of action for a year and a half) pops up in a bubble to say the price of gold just went down. Ok then.

Here is Jeff Hardy for a chat before his match. He’s been here for about ten years (thankfully throwing in “on and off”) and it hasn’t been perfect. Last week, HHH said that Hardy had never won the big one and now he realizes that HHH was trying to motivate him. Congratulations Game because it absolutely worked, and now he’s reaching for the title instead of the brass ring. As for Vladimir Kozlov…and never mind because cue Brian Kendrick and Ezekiel Jackson, with the former mentioning that last week’s four way wasn’t the best way to show off his abilities. Kendrick references Hardy’s drug use and we’re ready to go.

Jeff Hardy vs. The Brian Kendrick

Ezekiel Jackson is here with Kendrick, who gets hammered down in the corner to start. Kendrick comes back with a clothesline to the floor and we take a break. We come back with Kendrick working on a half crab, which is broken up rather quickly. Hardy fights back and hits the slingshot dropkick in the corner. Kendrick kicks him in the face and Jackson offers a distraction to break up the Whisper In The Wind. Kendrick loads up the Kendrick but Hardy reverses into a backslide for the fast pin.

Rating: B-. Kendrick continues to be such an oddball (in a good way) and he’s rather fun to see when he gets in the ring. It’s also good to see someone getting a fresh chance and his team with Jackson works well. At the same time, Hardy is on the way to getting a World Title match so he’s going to be racking up some wins in the next few weeks.

Post match Hardy goes to leave and gets kicked down by Vladimir Kozlov.

Big Show comes into Vickie Guerrero’s office and says Undertaker is here. We get a POV shot of someone we can’t see coming into the office but Vickie orders them onto their knees for an apology. A voice that sounds like Undertaker’s apologizes but she wants him to kiss her feet. And yeah it’s Chavo Guerrero in a bad Undertaker costume. And we see the video AGAIN.

It’s time for the return of Carlito’s Cabana, with Primo as the guest. After a quick microphone issue, Primo says it was easy to get a win last week. They’re ready to win the Tag Team Titles but get into an argument over whose show it happens to be. Cue Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins (Hurricane Helms pops in to mock Hawkins and Ryder) to mock the two of them, but Primo and Carlito issue the challenge for the title match tonight.

After confirming that Hawkins and Ryder aren’t Canadian, they confirm the title match for next week. Carlito needs someone to come clear the set off, so here are Jesse and Festus to clean house (and beat up the champs). The moving stuff is annoying, but Helms getting to be snarky has me intrigued.

Maria is sketching something when Brie Bella comes in. They talk about Maria making her gear, with Brie asking for an exact matching version, just in case it gets broken. Victoria and Natalya come in and say they’ve figured Brie out: she’s having an affair with Hornswoggle underneath the ring! A tag match is set for next week.

Great Khali vs. Scotty Goldman

Goldman mocks Khali’s speech pattern and even has a Runjin Singh puppet. Chops, a clothesline, and the tree slam finish Goldman fast.

Raw Rebound.

Chavo Guerrero throws La Familia out so he can watch the Big Show/Undertaker video by himself. So why do we have to see it for a fourth time? This time though the video breaks up and Undertaker appears on the screen. Then he appears behind Chavo and chokes him. Well his arm does at least.

HHH vs. MVP

Non-title. Feeling out process to start with MVP posing a bit too much, earning himself a crotch chop. MVP charges into a right hand into the corner and then charges into a drop toehold. HHH headlocks him down and grinds away to keep MVP rather frustrated we take a break.

We come back with MVP working on the arm by cranking on an armbar. A hammerlock with some knees to the arm keep HHH down, followed by a DDT on the arm for two. HHH fights up and hits a neckbreaker but MVP goes right back to the arm. That’s enough for MVP to go up, where he dives right into the Pedigree to give HHH the pin.

Rating: C+. Perfectly fine match here with HHH getting a win over someone with some credibility. It was a lot of work on the arm before they cranked it up a bit and it worked well enough. Much like Hardy earlier, there was no reason to believe HHH was losing but again in this case, that’s not a bad thing.

Post match Vladimir Kozlov comes out to wreck HHH to end the show.

Overall Rating: C. This show lost me with the Undertaker/Big Show video airing over and over with the only important thing being Undertaker choking Chavo Guerrero. The rest of the show was the usual stuff as we’re well on the way to No Mercy and Hardy vs. HHH should be good. The Big Show vs. Undertaker stuff being driven into the ground was a bad idea though and it took away from a lot of the rest of the show.

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