Smackdown
Date: December 26, 2014
Location: Tyson Events Center, Sioux City, Iowa
Attendance: 4,000
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Tom Phillips, Michael Cole

It’s the show after Christmas which means that Hulk Hogan is still in charge tonight. All that means is he’ll make a match and say BROTHER a lot, but that’s at least better than some of the previous bosses this company has had. Other than that we’re still in the dull period before they start caring about the Rumble so let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Here’s Hogan walking through the same Christmas set from Raw to open things up. I really wish they would mix those things up a bit more often. Anymore it’s just the same set from Raw but with blue as the main color. Switch things up a bit and make Smackdown feel more unique. Maybe they’ll do that when the show moves back to Thursdays.

Anyway, Hogan has something to tell us brother (1), he’s in charge tonight brother (2). We hear some of his fondest memories from being on Smackdown, including winning the Tag Team Titles with Edge, who will be hosting Raw with Christian on Monday. That’s another thing I wouldn’t mind seeing more of: plug those announcements. It’s simple and quick yet gets the word out there.

Hogan is about to go on but Rollins and the Stooges cut him off. Seth calls him a champion, a Hall of Famer and the embodiment of Wrestlemania. He asks for and receives a handshake before saying if Hogan keeps it up, they might start calling him the Seth Rollins of the 80s. Hogan may have been great, but he doesn’t belong in Rollins’ ring anymore. That’s a bit too far for our American hero, who says he’s running Smackdown tonight. Hogan: “So if you don’t mind brother (3)…” Rollins: “Well I do mind brother. AND DON’T YOU BROTHER ME!”

Seth talks about how great the Authority was for business but now they’ve been replaced by a sideshow act like Hogan. As the future of WWE, this is Seth’s business and he’d like Hulk to officially endorse him. After that, Hogan can get out of this ring because it’s almost 2015. Hulk isn’t sure Rollins is getting out of this ring alive if he keeps talking like that. He can think of several people who could lead this company into the future, like Dolph Ziggler for instance.

Cue Dolph, who calls Rollins the future. If you don’t believe that, just ask Seth because that’s all he talks about. Rollins says Ziggler just doesn’t get it. The future isn’t just a popularity contest and Rollins should just Curb Stomp him right in front of Hogan. How does that sound brother? Ziggler has been curb stomped before and keeps getting up, so what does Seth want to do about it brother?

Here’s Big Show to say that sometime you have to just use force, so now he’s going to come out here and knock out Hogan and Ziggler. This brings out Reigns who tells Show not to come through those ropes unless he wants to get hit in the mouth again, right in front of his wife and kids. Hogan makes the tag match main event and actually doesn’t drop a ninth brother (yes I counted) of the segment.

Kane vs. Ryback

Jobber entrance for Kane. We see Ryback sending Rusev running on Monday before things get going. Ryback fires off to start but runs into a boot to the…..shoulder I think to put him down. So Kane can’t even sell for ten seconds now? Cole crushes several dreams by confirming that Rose and the Bunny have split, partially due to the tombstones from Kane. Ryback grabs a spinebuster and loads up the Meat Hook but we’ve got Russians. He’s still able to escape the chokeslam though and hits the Meat Hook and Shell Shock for the pin at 2:10. Now THAT is what Kane should be used for more often than not.

Rusev gets in the ring for a staredown but Kane comes back in to chokeslam Ryback, setting up the Accolade. I’m still not sure who wins this feud, even though it should be obvious. That’s always a good sign.

After a break, Hogan runs into the Russians to tell Rusev that the US Title is on the line tonight. Giving champions almost no notice to defend their titles is the American way you see, BROTHER. And SISTER!

Alicia Fox vs. Naomi

They start fast with Naomi nipping up, only to eat a kick to the face for two. More speedy kicks get two for Naomi as Miz is watching from the back. A tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two for Alicia and we hit the chinlock. That goes nowhere so Naomi heads to the apron for a kind of Twist of Fate onto the top rope. Naomi gets tired of carrying Fox and kicks her in the head, setting up the split legged moonsault for the pin at 3:18. She even throws in counting the pin along with the referee because she’s kind of awesome.

Rating: C. I’m so glad that Naomi is getting an actual story instead of the usual stuff we’ve been seeing with the Divas for years. She’s an athletic freak and, in a description I wish I had thought of, the female Shelton Benjamin. No one in the division can keep up with her and unfortunately it means that WWE doesn’t know what to do with her. It’s good to see that they’ve given her some kind of a story though, because far too often the Divas’ stories revolve around just wanting the title or some catty story that makes them all look ridiculous.

We recap the matches Hogan set up on Raw.

Jimmy and Naomi have a badly scripted conversation about Jimmy beating Miz later tonight.

R-Truth vs. Adam Rose

Rematch from Monday where the Bunny was beaten up by Rose after he lost to Truth. Therefore, Rose comes out sans Bunny and doesn’t even do the fall, waving the Rosebuds off instead. Rose is much more aggressive here and takes Truth into the corner for some mule kick stomping. A nice snap suplex gets two on Truth and we hit the chinlock.

Phillips tries to bring up the incident on Halloween where Truth said the Bunny was the star of the team to set up this mini feud. Since that’s doing his job and keeping up continuity, JBL just buries him in response, saying how stupid the whole thing is. Back up and Truth makes his comeback, only to be sent into the post to set up the Party Foul for the pin at 2:07. Rose actually plays a decent heel, but his in ring work is still average at best.

Here are Rusev and Lana for a chat before the title defense. It’s a short one this time, basically saying Rusev will crush anyone before he faces. Cue his opponent.

US Title: Dean Ambrose vs. Rusev

It’s kind of amazing how Ambrose keeps getting these major matches despite barely ever winning anything. They take turns stomping each other down in the corner to start until Dean ties him in the ropes for chops and the running dropkick. A suicide dive drops Rusev again and Dean grabs a jackknife cover of all things for two.

The fans chant USA as Rusev runs Dean over and drops rapid fire elbows ala Hulk Hogan back in the day. You would think that the Russian imitating an AMERICAN would satiate the fans chanting USA but it doesn’t quite work that way. A chinlock stays on even shorter than usual but Rusev ties him in the ropes and hits a running Vader clothesline to the back knocking him out to the floor as we take a break.

Back with the champ holding a nerve hold before the fall away slam gets two. Ambrose actually escapes the Accolade attempt and avoids a charge, sending Rusev head first into the post. The Rebound Clothesline sets up the standing elbow (love that move) for two and Ambrose’s tongue is hanging out. They head outside with the champion going into the barricade, only to have Wyatt interfere for the DQ at 13:00.

Rating: C+. These matches are like a vacation: they’re fun while they last but you know you’re going to be disappointed by the ending. There was no doubt that it was going to end by countout or DQ because that’s how these things end in WWE. It’s a problem with how the company books its shows anymore but unfortunately it’s something you have to live with. As usual Dean looks good, but when was the last time he had a fall on a show that actually mattered? And no, Tribute to the Troops doesn’t matter.

Rusev leaves and Bray throws Dean over the timekeeper’s area, only to have Dean come up throwing chairs. About five are thrown into the ring and Bray bails as well. I have no idea where they’re going with this, but it’s modern WWE and a major gimmick match doesn’t end anything anymore.

Miz vs. Jimmy Uso

Cole plugs a new app where you’re a backstage assistant in WWE and solve problems which have nothing to do with anything happening in the ring. Levels include identifying a spot as fatty tissue, yelling at someone for not memorizing a script, trying to figure out what the heck the commentators are talking about and finding stronger ear plugs so HHH doesn’t hear the BORING chants.

Miz kicks him down to start but we get a quick chase scene around the ring. JBL, of course, is talking about fast food mascots. Jimmy can’t hit the running Umaga attack but eats a right hand from Jey. Naturally, that’s not a DQ. Back in and Miz begs off to offer more mainstream connections. The fans aren’t really happy with the match stopping for nearly a minute of Miz standing there with his hand out saying “come on let’s be Usos”, so Jimmy hits two superkicks and the Superfly Splash for the pin at 3:08.

Rating: D. I’m liking the idea of the Usos having some singles matches. Of course it shouldn’t lead anywhere because splitting them up for singles runs would be a terrible idea, but I like that they’re not just doing the same tag match every week. Imagine that: trying something else to keep things fresh for the bigger shows. There’s so much in WWE that is going right but at the same time the big problems are just so wrong.

Ascension is coming next week.

Goldust looks at an electric orb and sees that the new year will be……something we don’t get to hear as the ball shocks him. Stardust comes in to say it’s going to be his year.

Seth Rollins/Big Show vs. Roman Reigns/Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler and Rollins get things going as Cole recaps Survivor Series gets an achievement for recapping Survivor Series for the 200^th time. A quick hiptoss has Rollins down so it’s off to the power guys. Reigns can’t get things moving too fast thanks to a shoulder from Big Show. Like the masterful heel that he is, Rollins comes in when Roman is down to stomp away. Reigns is able to get back up though due to the power of wetter hair, allowing for the hot tag off to Ziggler.

The Stooges get involved, and somehow don’t get caught, by tripping up Ziggler as we take a break. Back with Dolph fighting out of a chinlock, only to be catapulted into the corner. The fans display their ventriloquism skills by chanting BIG SLOW without moving their mouths….or anything else for that matter. Reigns smiles at Show as the chant is getting annoying in a hurry. A few fans chant for Reigns but they’re quickly drowned out by BIG SLOW.

Show misses a charge and eats a Fameasser, setting up the hot tag to Reigns. Mercury breaks up the Superman Punch and Seth nails the low superkick for two. The fans chant for Reigns (again with the ventriloquism) and he backdrops out of a buckle bomb attempt. The chokeslam doesn’t work either and Dolph levels Big Show with a superkick, setting up the spear for the pin.

Nah I’m kidding. You know Big Show isn’t going to get pinned when there’s some hotshot with a future to take the fall for him. Rollins sends both opponents to the floor and suicide dives Reigns. Back in and Ziggler breaks up the springboard knee, setting up the spear to Rollins for the pin at 13:13.

Rating: C. The match was your standard main event tag (with another bad ending but I guess that huge fall over Show is supposed to make Reigns) but the chants were the most interesting part. Of course they were piped in, but I find it interesting that they seem more interested in playing down Big Show than playing up Reigns.

They were similar to the LET’S GO CENA/CENA SUCKS chants: yeah they’re against Cena, but they’re not for his opponent. The chants made this sound like it was all about Big Show with the few Reigns chants only lasting a few seconds compared to the near minute of Show chants. I’m not sure what to make of that.

Overall Rating: C-. Yet another worthless episode of Smackdown with whichever main eventers we have on hand being thrown into a tag team main event. The Ryback vs. Rusev showdown still looks good, though I’m not sure they can stretch it out for another four weeks. Other than that, there really isn’t much to talk about here. It’s another basic episode of the same show they’ve done every Friday for weeks now and I get less and less enthusiastic about it every time. Oh wait Kane actually took a fall. He’s been getting a bit better about that.

Results

Ryback b. Kane – Shell Shock

Naomi b. Alicia Fox – Split legged moonsault

Adam Rose b. R-Truth – Party Foul

Dean Ambrose b. Rusev via DQ when Bray Wyatt interfered

Jimmy Uso b. The Miz – Superfly Splash

Roman Reigns/Dolph Ziggler b. Big Show/Seth Rollins – Spear to Rollins

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 22, 2014
Location: Target Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler

It’s the Christmas special tonight with special guest host Hulk Hogan. That’s about as good of a name as you’re going to get and maybe we can finally see that Santa With Muscles sequel. I can’t imagine much of note happens tonight and odds are we wrap things up with a big fun tag match. Let’s get to it.

There’s a big Christmas set with trees and gifts.

Piper’s Pit returns tonight with Lana and Rusev, plus Big Show vs. Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt in a Miracle on 34^th Street Fight.

Here’s Hulk Hogan as Santa Claus to get things going. The fans chant Hogan but he says it’s Ho Ho Hogan. Tonight he’s giving presents to all of the Superstars and the WWE Universe, including the two matches already mentioned. Before he can hit the catchphrase though, here’s John Cena in red and yellow. Cena says that if there’s one man as iconic as Santa Claus, it’s Hulk Hogan.

For some reason, Cena starts singing Let It Go before throwing it to a clip of the end of last week’s show. The fans want Lesnar, and that’s exactly what Cena wants too. Cena says most people would say the decision should be reversed, but those are the people that get coal in their stockings. Last week he lost to Rollins fair and square, but now he wants a match with Rollins tonight. This brings out Seth Rollins to say the Curb Stomp from last week is why Cena can’t see what’s going on. No one wants to hear Cena’s voice anymore.

Rollins isn’t here to run down their careers because they’re both legends, but it’s Seth’s time. Hogan shouldn’t be in charge tonight because this should still be the Authority’s show. He goes on and on about how this is his time and how Cena was lucky to escape. If Hogan doesn’t grant Rollins his wish of bringing back the Authority, things will go bad for Santa. Cena tells him to shut up and turns down the Authority offer. Hogan instead just makes Cena vs. Rollins for next, thereby rendering the last few minutes basically worthless.

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins

Cena knocks him to the floor to start, drawing the Stooges up onto the apron to give Rollins his first opening. A Blockbuster gets two for Seth and Cena is in early trouble. Rollins knocks him into the corner and hits a running forearm before it’s off to a front facelock. John shoves him off so Rollins grabs the briefcase as a ruse so Mercury can get in a right hand as we go to a break.

We take a break and come back with Cena fighting out of a chinlock and firing off the shoulders, only to have Rollins duck to send Cena outside. There’s the suicide dive to drive Cena into the barricade but he avoids the springboard knee. A low superkick gets two instead but Cena tries a quick AA. Rollins lands on his feet but takes the ProtoBomb. Rollins blocks the STF and nails an enziguri to put both guys down.

Cena comes back by catching Rollins in a Batista Bomb of all things for two and it’s another stalemate. They slug it out with Cena hitting another ProtoBomb and the Shuffle, only to have the Stooges offer a distraction. He backdrops Rollins onto both of them before throwing him back inside for the top rope Fameasser. Cena loads up the top rope AA but gets countered into the running Buckle Bomb for a VERY close two.

The Curb Stomp is countered into the STF but Rollins is quickly in the ropes, only to have Cena drag him back into the middle. Cue the Stooges for the save but Cena beats them up and hits a double AA. The briefcase shot misses and Cena plants Rollins with the AA for the pin at 15:48.

Rating: B. I was hoping for a few more minutes here to make this great but it has to settle for just really good. These two definitely have chemistry and Rollins’ day is going to come soon. He already has the win over Cena last week in the big gimmick match and that’s the one people are going to remember. Very good match here.

Kane stands in front of a wreath and says bah humbug. Literally that’s it.

Jack Swagger vs. Fandango

Neither guy gets an entrance. Jack easily takes Fandango down to start but can’t get the Patriot Lock. A big boot puts Fandango down and a clothesline does the same with the fans not all that interested in what Swagger is doing. The Vader Bomb is almost blocked so the second attempt connects for two. Fandango goes to the apron for some kicks to the head to knock Swagger down and the guillotine legdrop gets the pin at 2:02.

Dolph Ziggler says the ladder match at TLC was one of the hardest matches he’s ever had. Tonight he’s defending against Harper again and knows that Luke is a nightmare come to life. He’s going to give the fans what they want tonight.

Adam Rose vs. R-Truth

The Bunny is still in a neck brace. Feeling out process to start until Rose wants to dance, allowing Truth to roll him up for the pin at 58 seconds.

The Bunny checks on Rose post match and Adam beats him up for I think the third time. He shouts at the Rosebuds and knees the Bunny’s head into the steps. Rose rips off the neck brace and storms past the Rosebuds as he leavs.

Edge and Christian host next week.

Hulk Hogan will be running Smackdown this Friday.

Big Show vs. Roman Reigns

Reigns easily takes him into the corner to start but Big Show easily picks him up and drops Reigns on the top rope. A shoulder gets two and Show sends him into the corner to keep dominating. We hit the chinlock as the fans are already chanting boring. Roman fights back up with a Samoan drop but the Superman Punch is blocked. Instead a dropkick to the leg takes Show down and the Apron Kick staggers him to the floor. Now the Superman Punch knocks Show onto the announcers’ table as Reigns is all fired up. He’s so fired up that he rolls in for the countout win at 4:22.

Rating: D. The match was dull for the most part but at least Big Show didn’t win. I’m assuming this keeps going because a win over Big Show is supposed to mean something, even though EVERYONE has beaten him over the years. I’d assume we get the blowoff at the first Raw of the year or the Rumble and it needs to end with total Reigns domination.

Dean Ambrose says he’s been a good boy all year. He went to the Mall of America to see Santa Claus today but had to settle for a security guard with a white beard. All he wants is Bray Wyatt, because every time a bell rings, Bray Wyatt gets a beating.

Brie Bella vs. Natalya

Fallout from last week where Natalya made Brie tap in a tag match. Natalya quickly takes her down to start but stops to say something to Kidd, allowing Brie to take her down off the ropes. Two Brie Mode running knees to a seated Natalya are good for two and we hit a chinlock as this just keeps going. Back up and Natalya tries a Sharpshooter but gets small packaged only to roll through into one of her own for the pin at 3:19.

Rating: D. I don’t freaking care. Seriously, I just do not care. I like Total Divas but dear goodness they’ve killed whatever interest I have in the Divas division with this Bellas vs. the World stuff. Again, basic wrestling logic says when you have someone vs. the World, THE SOMEONE SHOULD BE THE FREAKING GOOD GUY!

Natalya knocks Nikki off the apron and holds up the title.

Ascension is coming.

Goldust/Stardust vs. Los Matadores/El Torito

Before the match, we hear the Dusts talking about giving their opponents red noses. Los Matadores come out to Christmas music and Torito is now a reindeer. Stardust wants Torito to start and I guess that’s going to be legal. The bull sends him outside to start and dives into an armdrag. Back in and it’s off to Goldust vs. Diego, with the masked man grabbing a sunset flip for two.

Goldust hammers him down and slaps on a chinlock before Stardust snaps the neck across the top rope. Stardust comes in off the top but dives into a dropkick, allowing for the hot tag to Diego. Everything breaks down and the bull tags himself in. Goldust spins Torito around and accidentally hits his brother, allowing Fernando to hit a Backstabber, followed by a Lionsault from Torito for the pin at 3:40.

Rating: D. So let me get this straight. We make the heels underdogs by putting them in a handicap match, only to have them lose to the kids’ comedy character, likely signaling the split of the team who has had a career resurgence over the last year. I’m fine with the eventual split, but could you please THINK on your way there?

Luke Harper says he likes to take this time of year, so he’s going to give Ziggler a beating and take the Intercontinental Title.

Intercontinental Title: Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler

Harper kicks him in the face before the bell to knock the champion out to the floor. A BIG suicide dive takes Ziggler down and Harper loads up a powerbomb, only to settle for the spinning Boss Man Slam. Back in and Ziggler says ring the bell so Harper superkicks him down and hits the Batista Bomb for two. Ziggler tries to fight up but gets catapulted throat first into the bottom rope as we take a break.

Back with Harper knocking Dolph to the floor again. Harper blocks a superkick and slams the champ face first onto the announcers’ table for two. Ziggler misses a Stinger Splash to give Luke two more and a pumphandle throw gets the same. A Michinoku Driver gets the third straight near fall but Ziggler grabs a sunset flip for two of his own.

Back up and the discus lariat is blocked by a superkick but Harper keeps going and lariats Ziggler for two. Harper’s powerbomb is countered into a facebuster and Dolph gets two more off the Fameasser. Another Fameasser is countered and Dolph hits two more superkicks, followed by the Zig Zag to retain at 11:26.

Rating: B. And they’re DONE. Seriously, there is no need for these two to have that same match again for at least six months. I feel like I’ve seen them fight about 50 times in the last month and a half and that’s not a good thing. Yeah the matches have been fun, but it’s the same exact formula every single time. I mean, it’s not exactly Sting vs. Vader out there so move Ziggler on to someone else.

Ziggler dedicates his win to the fans and says no one is taking the title from him.

It’s time for Piper’s Pit with special guests, Lana and Rusev. Lana starts fast, talking about how stupid America is for thinking Santa Claus brings them presents. Piper freaks out (of course) and says you can believe anything you want in America. Lana says then believe in this, and shows us a clip of Rusev taking out Ryback on Smackdown. Rusev says that’s proof he can crush Ryback so the fans chant FEED ME MORE. Maybe Piper would like to be crushed too? Piper say she’s Hot Rod and brings out Ryback with a bow around his chest. The fight is on in the aisle with Ryback dominating but Rusev bails before the Meat Hook.

The announcers list off some very specific areas in which USA is topping the ratings.

We recap the opening segment and Cena vs. Rollins.

Alicia Fox/Emma/Naomi vs. Paige/Cameron/Summer Rae

This is a Santa’s Little Helpers match but Paige doesn’t seem interested in the Christmas theme. To give you an idea of what I’m sitting through here, Emma starts by hitting Summer with her hair. Paige gets a LOUD chant to start before it’s off to Cameron for a Codebreaker for two. Off to Page for a headbutt and a big reaction from the crowd. Lawler brings up Xanta Claus which JBL declares the worst thing ever. Oh come on now it wasn’t THAT bad.

Paige stays on Emma with a chinlock until Emma fights up for a double clothesline. The hot tag brings in Naomi to FINALLY do something interesting as she flips over the top and Stuns Cameron onto the ropes. Everything breaks down with Paige cleaning house until Alicia hits a kind of reverse Fameasser to pin Cameron at 4:22.

Rating: D-. Please…..make it stop.

Ascension comes next week.

Miz vs. Jey Uso

We get a pre tape before the match with Miz offering Mizdow a chance to sing, only to have time run out. Thankfully Cole is there to explain to us that the fans are booing Miz and cheering Mizdow. Miz does the pointing back and forth thing to start the BOO/YAY chant, basically making Cole’s explanation even more worthless.

Miz grabs a headlock to start but gets thrown to the floor, setting up a dive from Jey to take Miz down. Back in and Miz drives a knee into Jey’s ribs before slapping on a chinlock. Jey fights back up with a Samoan drop but has to roll out of the Finale. The Figure Four is countered but Miz rolls him up with a handful of tights for the pin at 3:31.

Rating: D+. Like most of the bad matches tonight, this didn’t have time to go anywhere. The story is still there and it’s still interesting, but they need more than three minutes to set something up. I do like that Miz actually got a win though as it at least keeps the story moving forward.

Preview clip of the Mick Foley episode of Monday Night War. Original air date: September 9.

Here’s Bray to sing It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year. He notices how people surround themselves with everyone they love during the holidays. Maybe they do that because it makes them feel safe. Do the people here tonight feel safe? Safety is an illusion that guards you from the other world outside your window. In that world, there is no Santa Claus or sugar plums dancing in your head. There is only evil, pain and sorry. That is Bray Wyatt’s world and he is the king. You can help him create this world by looking to the sky and following the buzzards.

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

Street fight. Dean hammers away in the corner to start and we have a pile of presents at ringside. JBL incorrectly says we haven’t seen a Boot Camp match in thirty years, ignoring the one we saw at Tribute to the Troops between Shawn and HHH in 2005. Yeah that’s a few years back, but JBL was on the show and apparently helped organize it. Anyway Dean takes him to the floor and throws him into a Christmas tree.

Ambrose slams the tree into him but stops to open a present, finding a TV monitor. Thankfully it isn’t plugged in but Dean puts it back in the box anyway. Instead he finds a table with a bow on it but opts to hit a suicide dive (third one of the night) to drive Wyatt through some boxes. He loads up the table and wraps a wreath around his neck but Bray runs up the aisle. That’s fine with Dean who puts the wreath around Bray and nails him, before just chucking a box at Bray’s head.

Another package is opened to reveal a chair but Bray sends him off the stage and through a table as we take the last break of the night. We come back with a long tracking shot from the stage to the ring for a unique visual. Dean fights out of a chinlock but gets slammed down for two and put back in the hold. They head outside again wth the fans asking for ONE MORE TREE. Bray listens to them and sends Ambrose into a tree for a good reaction.

It’s candy cane kendo stick time with Bray nailing Ambrose in the chest over and over. Bray puts the stick in the corner like he did at TLC but Ambrose saves himself. Not that it matters as Wyatt NAILS him with a clothesline for two. Wyatt wedges a chair in the corner and of course goes head first into it. Dean erupts with chops and punches, followed by a bulldog to put Bray down.

The Rebounding Clothesline drops Wyatt again and a White Russian legsweep sets up the middle rope chair elbow for two. Now it’s ladder time but Bray Spiders up and Rock Bottoms Ambrose onto the ladder for a close two. Dean counters Sister Abigail and sends Bray into the ladder to take over again. The standing elbow from the ladder gets two more but Bray fights out of the pile of chairs. He sends Dean face first into the kendo stick in the corner for the pin at 21:24.

Rating: B-. Another good match between these two but just like Ziggler vs. Harper, I’m sick of seeing it. Mix the feuds up for a bit or even just swap the people out with Wyatt vs. Ziggler and Ambrose vs. Harper. I like Bray leaving with the win, but I’m over seeing these two fight anymore.

Naturally Dean sprays him with a fire extinguisher and elbows Bray through the table to end the show, meaning the feud will continue.

Overall Rating: C-. When this show phones it in, they can produce some of the least interesting stuff I’ve seen in a long time. The matches aren’t all terrible for the most part, but there’s just nothing to make me want to keep watching. Cena vs. Rollins, the Intercontinental Title match and the main event were entertaining enough, but the stuff between them dragged this through the floor. As I’ve said many times, the good was good but the bad was awful. Also, as almost always, cut 45 minutes of filler out of this and it’s WAY better. Short version: they’re closing out the year with the same issues they’ve had all year.

Results

John Cena b. Seth Rollins – Attitude Adjustment

Fandango b. Jack Swagger – Guillotine legdrop

R-Truth b. Adam Rose – Rollup

Roman Reigns b. Big Show via countout

Dolph Ziggler b. Luke Harper – Zig Zag

Alicia Fox/Naomi/Emma b. Cameron/Paige/Summer Rae – Reverse Fameasser to Cameron

Miz b. Jey Uso – Rollup with a handful of tights

Bray Wyatt b. Dean Ambrose – Wyatt threw Ambrose into a kendo stick

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

This one doesn’t have as many options. For the sake of making this a bit more interesting, I’ll be including anyone who has debuted on a roster this year or very late last year.

We’ll start with Ethan Carter III, who has gone from a comedy guy to perhaps the most entertaining thing in TNA. He just gets how to be a heel and that’s exactly what he’s supposed to be. I could easily see him being World Champion soon and it would be a great fit.

However, this really is a two person race.

First up is Paige, who went from the best NXT Diva on the roster to debuting after Wrestlemania and taking the title from AJ (which I called perfectly for a change) kicking off a pretty awesome feud between the two of them.

But then there’s Rusev and is there really any other answer for this? The guy debuted eight months ago (in singles matches at least) and he’s already main eventing pay per views and the US Champion. When your first Wrestlemania match might be against John Cena, it’s fairly obvious that you’re flying up the card in a hurry. The fact that he’s starting to get over instead of just Lana is a great sign for him as well. There really isn’t anyone else that can challenge Rusev this year.

NOW we’ve got some competition.

We’ll start with the most recent, on December 4’s NXT. This was the final push before R-Evolution with Neville saying Sami has had a great career and has a lot to be proud of. Zayn wasn’t going to accept that though and cut the promo of a lifetime, talking about how no one, including Neville, could tell him what he could be proud of because nothing he did mattered without that NXT Championship. I was drooling to see these two go at it for the title the next week and they blew the roof off the place.

I would put Rock, Lana and Rusev in this, but that promo just killed Rusev’s heat and there was no way he’d ever win another match again and would wind up selling meat out of a truck in Moscow right?

In the height of the “Where’s Punk” spring, Paul Heyman came out to Punk’s music in Chicago and sat down in the middle of the ring. The fans were begging to see Punk, but within a few minutes, Heyman had them thinking about the Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania. It took a master to get them off that topic but he was able to do it in a matter of minutes. That’s pure talent and only Heyman could have pulled it off.

Speaking of Heyman, he might have topped himself a month later in New Orleans. The previous night he had led Brock Lesnar to victory over the Undertaker, doing the unthinkable of breaking the Streak. This was evil winning and getting to give the mother of all victory speeches. Heyman talking about how Lesnar was here to put tears in children’s eyes was glorious and bragging about Undertaker collapsing and going to the hospital in a “shoot” is about as evil as you’ll ever find. He capped it off by talking about how Lesnar is the one to do everything he says he’s done and now he’s the 1 in 21-1. “So many people have come up and says “I could have broken the Streak.” “WELL WHY DIDN’T YOU???”

The night wasn’t done yet because the Ultimate Warrior came out and gave literally the final promo of his life, talking about how his spirit will live forever and how one day every man breathes his last breath. And then he DIED. There is no way you can ever top that drama, no matter what you do.

We have to get Daniel Bryan in here and we’ll go to Memphis to do it. Bryan wanted a shot at the title at Wrestlemania and was willing to do whatever he had to do to get it. His idea was to hijack the show by having about 100 fans in Bryan shirts take over the ring until HHH agreed to a match with Bryan at Wrestlemania, as well as a spot in the WWE Title match if he won. He kept pushing and pushing until HHH finally snapped and gave Bryan everything he wanted. This set the stage for Wrestlemania and gave the fans everything they wanted all in one great package.

But this one topped them all.

On April 6, 2014 in the New Orleans SUPERdome, Hulk Hogan was in the ring to open Wrestlemania XXX as the official host. He talked about how there are Wrestlemania moments and you never know when one is going to happen. And then the glass shattered.

I’ve been to a lot wrestling shows over the years. I’ve seen a LOT of wrestling over the years. I’ve seen almost everything there is to see in wrestling and am a very jaded fan as a result. When that glass shattered though, my heart skipped a beat and my jaw actually fell open. The pop was incredible and they somehow topped it when the Rock came out a few minutes later. The three biggest stars in the history of wrestling standing in the ring together for the first and only time ever.

There’s a famous photo of Elvis Pressley, Jerry Lee Lewis and Johnny Cash (plus Carl Perkins) at Sun Studios in Memphis called the Million Dollar Quartet. That shot of Austin, Hogan and Rock together could be called the Billion Dollar Trio and there will never be a better collection of talent in one place.

Smackdown
Date: December 16, 2014
Location: Van Andel Arena, Grand Rapids, Michigan
Commenators: Tom Phillips, Michae Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

Welcome to one of the only times all year that WWE remembers this show matters. This is a special live edition of the show airing on a Tuesday instead of the usual taped Friday timeslot. We’re coming off a fairly dull show last night and the only thing of note is that Bray and Dean are both in the building tonight. Not in a match or anythign mind you, but in the building. Let’s get to it.

Cole says this is the 800^th episode. Apparently that’s correct, even though this is the first mention of the milestone.

Roman Reigns vs. Fandango

We get a quick recap of last night and the question now is how long does this last. Feeling out process to start until Reigns easily throws him down. Fandango actually takes him down into a chinlock as the crowd dies a bit. Reigns fights up and responds to the canned chants with a big running clothesline. There’s the Superman Punch and the spear is good for the pin at 4:47.

Result: D+. This was exactly what it was supposed to be as Reigns just ended Fandango with that spear. Speaking of ending Fandango, it’s about that time. His gimmick stopped being entertaining months ago and this idea of the new and improved version sounds more like a joke than anything else.

Quick package on the TLC match.

Here’s Ambrose for a chat. He talks about all the horrible things he and Bray did to each other but then an act of God made him lose. However, he saw a look in Bray’s eyes that showed him how crazy Dean was. For once Wyatt was in the ring with someone just as insane as he is. They face each other tomorrow night at Tribute to the Troops in a Boot Camp Match.

Bray comes up on screen to say that Ambrose is still breathing because Bray is enjoying this game. If anyone could see the creature behind his eyes, they would know that he is disdain and the slayer of his calling. He won’t stop until he sees all the heroes fall and the cities crumble. Bray is the battlefield and it will all burn.

Usos/Erick Rowan vs. Luke Harper/Miz/Damien Mizdow

This is Rowan’s second match tonight as he lost to Kane on Main Event thanks to Titus O’Neil. The fans are of course behind Mizdow more than the real version but Harper doesn’t seem to like either of them. Luke knocks Jey down into the corner to start but Jey comes back with an uppercut to the jaw. Off to Miz as everyone heads to the floor, leading to a big standoff and a break.

Back with Jimmy fighting out of a Harper chinlock but walking into a big superkick. Miz comes back in and chokes on the ropes a lot, only to get caught in a rollup for two. Mizdow holds out his hand but it’s off to Harper instead. Harper puts on the Gator Roll and Mizdow mimics him, ticking off Miz.

The heels start arguing and nearly allow a hot tag off to Jey. Mizdow finally tags himself in to the pop of the night, but Miz tags himself back in when Mizdow tries the corner clothesline. The distraction lets Jimmy make the tag off to Rowan to clean house. Everything breaks down and the Usos knock Harper onto the announcers’ table. Rowan busts out a top rope splash and actually gets a pin on Miz at 11:50.

Rating: C-. Not much to see here as it’s a standard six man tag on this show. At least Rowan finally got a pin, even though it’s an hour removed from jobbing to Kane. I don’t have much hope for him due to how they’ve treated him so far, but at least he got a win here. On a show that means almost nothing.

Naomi, who has a Divas Title shot tonight thanks to Miz, is fired up for her match. Jimmy is excited as well and can’t wait to be at ringside. Actually Naomi would rather do this one on her own, which Jimmy reluctantly agrees to.

We recap Chris Jericho and the cage match from Raw last night.

Ryback vs. Seth Rollins

No match actually as Rusev jumps Ryback during his entrance and knocks him off the stage.

Rollins says this is what happens when there’s no Authority to keep things in line. He brags about winning his war with Cena last night and says it’s time for a night off. Cue Dolph Ziggler in street clothes for an interruption. He shares credit with Sting for getting rid of the Authority and reminds Rollins that it was the night he beat him. Ziggler throws out a challenge but Rollins doesn’t think so. Dolph suggests that Seth is scared so Rollins says it’s just Dolph Ziggler and accepts.

Ascension is coming.

Divas Title: Naomi vs. Nikki Bella

Naomi is challenging, somehow due to Miz’s Hollywood connections. This actually gets big match intros. Naomi knocks her out of the corner to start and hits a kind of running double knee to the face for two. An Alabama Slam and slingshot suplex get two each for the champ and we hit the chinlock. That goes nowhere as Naomi fights up, only to collide with Nikki to put both girls down. Miz comes out to cheer for Naomi, who snaps Nikki’s throat across the top for two. Nikki sends her outside and Miz is there for a pep talk. This brings out Jimmy to chase him off but the distraction lets Nikki small package Naomi to retain at 4:15.

Rating: D+. The match was nothing special but this was perfect for the story. You can tell they’ve actually put something together here and have some thought to it. They’re using real life and fictitious characters to make something interesting and I’m interested in seeing where it’s going. Why don’t they do this more often?

As soon as the match ends and Naomi looks at Jimmy, Cole tells us about a poll on the WWE App that thinks Miz is up to no good. That line sums up one of WWE’s biggest problems right now. We have an interesting story going on with another new development but COle has to stop to plug a totally meaningless poll that hasn’t been mentioned until just now and tells us something that anyone with a brain could figure out. Stop telling us about everything else you can think of to plug and talk about what’s going on right in front of you.

Adam Rose vs. Kane

The Bunny is now in a neck brace. Kane knocks Rose down to start but walks into a clothesline and a high cross body, but Adam stops to dance. The big boot and chokeslam end this in 1:18.

Kane tombstones the Bunny again.

Rollins talks about how he’s going to go after John Cena and ruin everything he does until the Authority comes back. If that means he has to work with Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar, so be it.

Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler

Non-title. Rollins, sporting bruised ribs, bails to the floor to start before heading back inside, only to have Dolph throw him right back outside. Back in and Seth kicks him in the ribs to take over before dropping Dolph with some clotheslines. Ziggler tries a quick Zig Zag but gets sent to the floor, allowing Noble to get in a cheap shot as we take a break.

Back with Rollins in full control and taking his sweet time hammering on Ziggler. A hard running clothesline puts Dolph down again and Rollins sends him out to the floor. With Noble shouting encouragement in that country accent, Rollins goes up but gets knocked down onto the ribs. Dolph scores with a dropkick for two, ducks the enziguri and nails the running DDT for two more.

Now Seth’s enziguri connects but he takes too much time going up, allowing Dolph to run the corner for a top rope faceplant. The Stooges offer a distraction so Dolph backdrops Rollins over the top and down onto both of them. Fameasser gets two back inside but Noble nails Dolph with a cheap shot. That earns the Stooges an ejection, setting up the Zig Zag for the pin at 15:13.

Rating: B-. I’m torn here. For one thing, I’m glad that they give Ziggler a big win like this, but at the same time they give Rollins a huge win last night and then have him job here. The one time they should have had a run-in finish and they actually have a fall. It does help that the Stooges’ distraction led to the finish, but I’d have preferred if he wasn’t pinned in the middle of the ring.

Ziggler escapes a beating to end the show.

Overall Rating: C-. This was your standard Smackdown: some decent wrestling, some one off matches, and nothing of note happening. There was nothing special about this one and this week is already feeling more like a headache than something to look forward to. Tomorrow’s special is likely to feel like a glorified house show and Raw was nothing special either. Is it any wonder why there’s no interest in the product at the moment? Not only is the show dull, but there’s a ton of it at the moment. It’s not the worst show, but there’s no reason to watch it, as usual.

Results

Roman Reigns b. Fandango – Spear

Usos/Erick Rowan b. Miz/Damien Mizdow/Luke Harper – Top rope splash to Miz

Nikki Bella b. Naomi – Small package

Kane b. Adam Rose – Chokeslam

Dolph Ziggler b. Seth Rollins – Zig Zag

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Monday Night Raw
Date: December 15, 2014
Location: Joe Louis Arena, Detroit, Michigan
Commentators: Jerry Lawler, Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield

TLC was last night and it didn’t quite live up to the standard set by R-Evolution. By “didn’t quite” I of course mean not in the slightest as it was mainly a bunch of matches with different weapons swapped in without much changing. Hopefully Lesnar is back tonight to finally get the main stories moving forward. Jericho is the guest host as well so let’s get to it.

We immediately open with Jericho’s countdown and the guest GM is here. He’s happy to be in Detroit rock city because he’s in charge tonight. Tonight is all about the fans because last week they gave him a Slammy for diving off the top of a cage. Jericho stops for another Y2J chant but says he’ll get in trouble if he doesn’t move this along. Last week Fandango accepted his award for him and that’s not cool with the boss. Therefore, he demands that Fandumbo get out here right now and bring the trophy with him.

Instead he gets Paul Heyman with a mic in hand. He’s used to being the power in the arena, but tonight is Raw Is Jericho. If you’re going to have a guest GM, why not have someone known for running the most exciting promotion of all time? However, that’s not why Heyman is here tonight. He isn’t cool with the idea of Jericho winning the Extreme Moment of the Year because he’s kind of the extreme guy around here.

Jericho calls him a walrus and says that Heyman owes him $200 from selling a Best of Jericho tape in ECW. He gets in Heyman’s face but Paul says he’s an advocate. Therefore, he’s here to talk about Seth Rollins, who had a chance to knock Cena out of the Royal Rumble spot last night. Cue Rollins as Jericho looks interested in where this is going.

Seth gets right in Heyman’s face but Paul literally backs down as Rollins talks about putting Cena through a table and having his hand raised. That victory was taken away though, just like at Survivor Series. The Authority would still be in power if not for the vigilante Sting. Last night it was Roman Reigns costing him the match, which everyone knows he won. Everyone knows Cena can’t beat him on his own (Stooges applaud) because Cena is a coward. Rollins issues a challenge for a rematch when he’s healthy enough, but here’s John to cut him off.

Cena tells Rollins to shut up and let the adults talk. Just because Seth has a mic in his hands it doesn’t mean he has anything in his pants. Last night they had a match and Rollins lost, but now he’s out here running his mouth. That means Rollins hasn’t learned to be a man, because he hasn’t learned to dust himself off and continue to fight. Cena turns to Heyman and starts talking about fighting the Beast at the Royal Rumble in a great fight.

Back to Rollins, Cena says he’s wanting a fight tonight. Rollins mentioned a rematch and Cena had the same thing in mind. Tonight Cena needs help because he can’t make matches. Therefore, he needs someone with the power to make that match happen. The look on Jericho’s face is hilarious here as you can see the lightbulb go off over his head. Jericho of course makes the match and puts it in a steel cage, which just happens to be hanging above the ring.

Cena leaves and Rollins calls Jericho the worst GM of all time. “You’re worse than that stupid computer!” He says Jericho is jealous because he’s not as important as Rollins. Jericho is out of shape and couldn’t even beat the popcorn guy. “Well of course I couldn’t because the popcorn guy is a ninja.” Jericho thinks he can beat Heyman though and Paul readily agrees. Chris isn’t convinced though and makes himself vs. Heyman for tonight. We’re STILL not done yet though because Jericho tells us to vote on the App for the stipulations in his match with Heyman.

Your choices for Jericho vs. Heyman: Extreme Rules, No Holds Barred or Street Fight.

Erick Rowan/Dolph Ziggler vs. Big Show/Luke Harper

Ziggler has to run away from Big Show to start but eventually gets thrown into the corner. Some right hands and a dropkick stagger Show but he just tosses Ziggler down with ease. A hard shoulder sends Ziggler out to the floor and he barely beats the ten count back in as we take our second break in seven minutes.

Back with Harper nailing Dolph in the jaw for two. Off to Big Show for his slow motion offense as we get a split screen still package of the ladder match last night. Harper catapults him throat first into the bottom rope for two but misses a charge into the post. The hot tag brings in Rowan to clean house as everything breaks down. Harper and Ziggler go over the announcers’ table and Big Show KO’s Rowan for the pin at 10:02.

Rating: C-. They’re trolling us right? I mean, they can’t seriously think this is the best possible option. I’m assuming this is to set up Big Show vs. someone later on and I’m sure that BIG SHOW of all people needs some wins like this to set up his push. You know, because all those titles over the years are just forgotten right? I can’t get over this and it’s making me lose my sanity more every week.

I mean, why bother even setting Rowan up as a monster with a new character in the first place? They made a target and destroyed it in the span of like a month and for what? To make Big Show stronger? You would thinking knocking JOHN CENA and Mark Henry cold would have proven it, but no that’s not enough. Instead they need to tease the fans with Rowan and then have him get beaten down twice in two days. You know, for Big Show!

Jericho tells Fandango to shut up in the back and go to the ring.

Video on TLC last night.

New Day isn’t afraid of the Dusts’ darkness. Soon, you’ll feel their power. Big E. freaks out so much that he sweats on everyone.

Bella Twins vs. Alicia Fox/Natalya

Total Divas match. Fox hammers on Nikki to start but eats a spinebuster. We’re already in the chinlock for a bit before Brie comes in for one of her own. A jawbreaker sets up the cold tag to Natalya and Brie slaps her in the face, earning her a Sharpshooter for the submission at 2:13.

Tyson checks on Nikki for some reason until Natalya sees him.

Roman Reigns will be in action tomorrow night on Super Smackdown Live.

It’s the Highlight Reel with guests Lana and Rusev. Lana immediately brags about Rusev still being undefeated by crushing Swagger again before allowing Chris to ask any intelligent questions he has. Jericho mocks Lana for wearing the same outfit on TV twice in a row before asking if it’s the tight bun hairstyle that makes her so angry all the time. Maybe Rusev needs to release some of his stress by showing Lana his Sputnik.

Jericho thinks there’s something going on between the two of them and starts singing about them in a tree together. “It’s the US Champ and the communist tramp!” Lana freaks out until Rusev takes the mic. Maybe he should just crush Jericho right now. Jericho tries to figure out why someone always wants to beat him up. Speaking of which, there’s someone that wants to fight Rusev right now. Cue Ryback for an actually fresh feud but Rusev backs down, as is his custom.

We look at Big Show interfering in the tables match last night but getting taken out by the returning Roman Reigns.

Ascension is coming.

Goldust/Stardust vs. New Day

Big E./Woods here as Kofi jumps in on commentary. Xavier drops Goldust with a dropkick and legsweep before it’s off to Big E. for a Vader Clothesline. Goldie bails to the floor for a breather and it’s Stardust in. The commentators talk about E.’s sweating as he hits a pair of backbreakers on Stardust. Back to Woods for a quick arm wringer before Big E. comes in with a slam. Big E. drops Woods onto Stardust for two before Woods sends both Dusts to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Goldust tagging himself in to snap Big E.’s throat across the top rope. Stardust does the same and we hit a chinlock from Goldust. E. charges into a spinebuster for two and the CM Punk chant begins. The match keeps dragging on so the fans chant for NXT. The Dusts take turns with various kinds of locks before Stardust kicks Big E. in the face. E., presumably out of boredom, takes Stardust’s head off with a clothesline.

The hot tag brings in Woods for his rolling clothesline but he walks into a Goldust powerslam for two. An enziguri knocks Stardust to the floor and E. offers himself as a launch pad for a flip dive onto both Dusts. The Midnight Hour FINALLY ends Goldust at 13:33. Kofi’s wild celebration for the pin helped.

Rating: D+. It’s not even that the match was bad but it felt like it went on for about four hours. This is what I mean when I talk about them stretching something out to fill in time, because they don’t have enough material to fill in three hours. You would think a twenty three minute opening segment would eat up enough time that this isn’t necessary, but somehow it’s still happening almost every week.

Miz (with Mizdow) isn’t worried about facing Jimmy Uso on his own tonight. The only way Jimmy will ever be on a red carpet is if he’s with his wife. Jimmy’s story ends tonight.

Adam Rose is in the back and promises the Rosebuds the biggest after party ever tonight. Kane pops up, says he doesn’t like Rose, and says he’s Adam’s opponent tonight.

Adam Rose vs. Kane

Kane quickly throws Rose to the floor where the Bunny plays cheerleader. Back in and Rose runs away from Kane until he nails a clothesline in the corner. Rose stops to dance though and eats a big boot, but the Bunny comes in off the top, only to dive into a double chokeslam for the pin at 1:32. Side note: Jimmy Jacobs was part of the Rosebuds.

The Bunny gets tombstoned.

We look back at the opening segment.

Chris Jericho vs. Paul Heyman

Heyman comes out wearing workout gear and carrying a mic. He knows Jericho is expecting a bunch of tricks up his sleeve but Heyman doesn’t have anything. Heyman doesn’t even have a witty comeback like “I’m the Jew in ju-jitsu.” Instead he wants to keep this PG because he gave Jericho his first break. Now Jericho is a world famous star who wants to fight Heyman over $200 from nearly twenty years ago. Paul offers him the $200 in lieu of a horrible beating and busts out the checkbook. Jericho slaps it out of his hand and shows us the results:

Extreme Rules – 39%

No Holds Barred – 18%

Street Fight – 43%

Heyman doesn’t understand why Jericho thinks it’s fair to get into a fight with…..BROCK LESNAR. Cue the champ (no belt) as reality sets in on Jericho. He gets in the ring and stares Jericho down but Jericho tries a Codebreaker. Brock just stands there and lets Jericho fall before planting him with the F5. The fans chant for Cena but Lesnar just leaves without a match ever taking place.

Here are Fandango and Rosa with Jericho’s Slammy. Before he can say much though, here’s Roman Reigns to interrupt. A big right hand and the spear drop the dancer and Reigns smirks a bit. Now it’s Big Show’s turn to cut Reigns off but Roman says if Big Show gets in the ring, he’ll get hit in the mouth. Reigns is a step ahead of him as the Superman Punch knocks Show off the apron but not out. He throws some stairs around and that’s that.

Miz vs. Jimmy Uso

The fans want Mizdow but get Miz running out to the floor. Back in and a slam drops Miz as Naomi is watching backstage. Some chops have Miz in even more trouble and Jimmy just pounds away with right hands. Miz finally snaps Jimmy’s throat across the top rope and goes up, only to dive into an uppercut. They head outside with Mizdow ramming Jimmy’s back into the apron before putting on what looks to be the Last Chancery of all things back inside.

The Reality Check gets two but Jimmy fights up and knocks Miz to the floor for a big dive. Mizdow of course falls down as well because he’s dedicated to his craft. Back in again and a high cross body gets two for Jimmy. He easily breaks up the Figure Four and hits a Samoan drop, only to have Mizdow come in and dive into the corner as well. Jimmy throws him to the floor, gets a quick assist from Jey, and hits the superkick and Superfly Splash for the pin at 6:15.

Rating: C-. You know, Miz can actually have a decent match when he gets away from the Figure Four stuff. Jimmy winning here makes the most sense given the story, even though Naomi has wound up meaning nothing in this entire story other than setting it up, making her one of the first Maguffins in WWE history.

Post break Naomi is walking in the back when Miz comes up to offer her a spot on MizTV tomorrow night. As usual, Naomi looks unsure.

Rollins says his issues with Cena are getting ridiculous. He has to step inside a cage with Cena again tonight because the Authority is gone and everything is crazy. Jericho wouldn’t be here tonight running his mouth and then winding up in a hospital if the Authority was around and Rollins is going to teach Cena a lesson tonight.

The cage is lowered.

Seth Rollins vs. John Cena

In a cage of course with pins, submissions or escape. Rollins charges up the cage wall to start but John pulls him back down. The LOUD dueling Cena chants begin as Rollins drives him face first into the cage for two. Cena comes right back by catapulting him into the cage but Seth catches himself and climbs, only to be pulled back down onto the top rope.

A big bulldog drives Seth down for two and John climbs, only to have Mercury run interference. Rollins stops him from getting out the door and almost gets out himself but Cena powers him back in. Back up and they go up the corner, only to have Rollins sunset flip into a running buckle bomb for two as we take a break.

Back with Cena fighting back and knocking Mercury off the cage. The AA gets a very close two and Cena is stunned. He knocks Noble off the door and goes up top, only to have to fight out of a superplex attempt. Rollins gets knocked off the top and the Fameasser gets two. Another AA attempt is countered and the top rope knee to the face gets two for Rollins. Seth shouts that this is what Cena wanted and rams him face first into the cage. John does the same to him and both guys are down.

It’s Cena up first but Mercury slams the door on his head for two more. The Curb Stomp misses and the STF goes on but he crawls over to the door. Cena has to pull him back in but the Stooges pulls the other way. John wins but Noble throws in the briefcase. Rollins doesn’t need it though as he enziguris Cena down but Seth comes up limping. A briefcase shot is countered with a hard clothesline and both guys are down again.

Another AA is countered and the briefcase shot gets two. Seth climbs up and gets over the top but Cena catches him by the hair. A top rope AA is enough for….not a cover actually. Instead here’s Lesnar with both guys down as Cole actually points out that Lesnar has business with Rollins after what happened at Night of Champions. Brock rolls Germans on Cena and plants him with an F5 as Rollins gets up. Heyman gets in and hands Brock the belt before offering Rollins his hand. Seth shakes it and we might have a new Paul Heyman guy. Rollins nails the Curb Stomp, collects his briefcase, and walks out for the win at 23:33.

Rating: B. This was far more about storytelling than anything else but that’s exactly the right ending. See, this was a way to make Cena look good but protect Rollins at the same time. I was worried they would have Cena win and then do the Lesnar stuff, but out of all this, Cena doesn’t lose face because of the interference and Rollins beats Cena in an entertaining match. What more can you ask for?

The announcers aren’t sure if Heyman and Rollins were working together all along or if they just have common enemies.

Overall Rating: D+. The show showed some signs of getting better, but there’s still so much stuff dragging this show down. I can dig Reigns having his first major win over Big Show, but there is zero reason to build Rowan up just to have him get knocked out twice in a row to prove whatever point they’re going for. Send Swagger out there if you have to, as Rusev has already destroyed him to the point where it’s going to take time to salvage him. Or, just a thought here, IT’S FREAKING BIG SHOW AND HE DOESN’T NEED TO BE BUILT UP BY KNOCKING PEOPLE OUT!

The good thing here though is the future looks better. Cena looks like he has a good chance of beating Lesnar to set up the FAR more interesting Cena vs. Reigns title match at Wrestlemania. Ryback vs. Rusev has a lot more potential than Rusev squashing people that have no chance of beating him. I’m digging a lot of what’s going on in WWE right now, but there are just so many stupid decisions dragging them down.

Results

Big Show/Luke Harper b. Dolph Ziggler/Erick Rowan – KO Punch to Rowan

Natalya/Alicia Fox b. Bella Twins – Sharpshooter to Brie

New Day b. Goldust/Stardust – Midnight Hour to Goldust

Kane b. Adam Rose – Chokeslam

Jimmy Uso b. Miz – Superfly Splash

Seth Rollins b. John Cena – Rollins escaped the cage

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Tables Ladders and Chairs 2014
Date: December 14, 2014
Location: Quicken Loans Arena, Cleveland, Ohio
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Jerry Lawler

We’re wrapping up the PPV schedule this year with Survivor Series Part II here, as most of the matches are just singles versions of matches from last month’s main event. The main event will either be Cena vs. Rollins in a tables match with Cena’s #1 contendership on the line or Wyatt vs. Ambrose in a TLC match with nothing on the line. Let’s get to it.

Pre-Show: New Day vs. Goldust/Stardust

Woods is on the floor as Goldust shoulders Kofi down to start. Kingston comes back with an armdrag into an armbar as the announcers are talking about Great Gazoo from the Flintstones. The discussion breaks down into a talk about jumping the shark. JBL: “That’s when you put something stupid to get people to stay with your show.” Cole: “Like MizTV.” Off to Big E. and Stardust as JBL lists off E.’s powerlifting records.

E. throws Stardust into the air for a dropkick from Kofi for two off a big crash. The Dusts head outside with Big E. launching Kofi onto both guys as New Day is in full control. Back in and the Dusts take over on Big E. in the corner as Lawler is back to the Great Gazoo thing as they debate which show he was on.

As the wrestling match in the background goes on, Kofi gets the hot tag and cleans house with dropkicks. The New Day Drop has Stardust in trouble but he sends Kofi’s shoulder into the post, followed by Goldust whipping him into the barricade. A double stomp in the corner has Kofi in even more trouble and Stardust busts out Colt Cabana’s Billy Goat’s Curse (reverse Boston crab).

Kingston flips out of a double belly to back suplex and dives over for the hot tag to Big E. Everything breaks down and Stardust nails Big E. for two and we get a plug for the Flinstones/WWE movie. The Midnight Hour (Big Ending/Top rope DDT) ends Stardust as 11:08.

Rating: C-. Nothing you wouldn’t see on Raw or Smackdown here as the announcers got on my nerves and the match was just ok. Big E and Kofi are a good team and that’s a solid finisher, but I’m not entirely sure where they go from here. It’s not too early for them to go after the tag belts is it?

The opening video is all about the violence and talks about how the weapons will be the most important things all night.

Intercontinental Title: Luke Harper vs. Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler comes out in his Kent State jacket and is the huge hometown favorite as well as the challenger. An early superkick attempt sends Harper bailing to the floor but he quickly throws Ziggler into a ladder and then into the timekeeper’s area. Ziggler tries to make a fast save but eats a big boot for his efforts. Luke bridges the big ladder between the announcers’ table and ring but Ziggler escapes, only to charge into a spinning Boss Man Slam on the floor.

Back in and Ziggler is sent face first into the ladder, which falls down onto him in a big crash. Luke puts Ziggler behind a ladder in the corner but Ziggler slams it into his face. He heads up top and looks to drive the ladder down onto Harper but Luke dropkicks the ladder, sending Ziggler down to the floor. The champ throws the ladder at Ziggler and nails him in the face for another painful landing.

Ziggler slowly gets back up and picks up a ladder, so Harper tries a suicide dive and hits said ladder before crashing onto the ladder in a horrible looking crash. He’s still able to stop a climbing Ziggler though and sends him down onto the ropes. Ziggler escapes a powerbomb and dropkicks the champ onto the ladder to get a breather. The Fameasser is countered into a powerbomb onto a ladder bridged in the corner to make me cringe again. The cuts and bruises on Ziggler’s side are disturbing.

Harper puts a ladder onto Ziggler’s body and catapults both of them into the bottom rope. Ziggler is busted open and thankfully Harper starts climbing, only to have Dolph shove the doctor away and charge up to make a save with right hands. Both guys come crashing down but it’s Harper up first. His powerbomb is countered into a wicked faceplant into the ladder and Ziggler shouts DDT. He climbs up, Harper tries for a save, and Ziggler dives down with a DDT.

Luke does the ladder around the neck spot but eats a superkick to knock him down again. Another shot with the ladder sends Harper (bleeding from the arm) onto the bridged ladder outside. Harper somehow gets back in for a save though, sending Ziggler into the ropes. Back up and Dolph rides a ladder into Harper to crush him against the standing ladder but Harper makes another save. A kick to the face knocks Harper off the second ladder and Ziggler FINALLY wins the title at 16:39.

Rating: B. In probably the only time you’ll hear this comparison brought up with Ziggler and/or Harper, this was like Lelani Kai taking the Women’s Title from Wendi Richter in 1985. The idea was to give the heel a quick run so the hero(ine) could get a big win on the major stage. Ziggler wins in a feel good moment here, which just happened to come after a very hard hitting match. Good stuff here and a really solid match.

The announcers treat this like a career making win. I wouldn’t go that far.

We see Miz offering Naomi a deal on the pre-show: if he leaves as champion, she gets to be a star. Naomi says that her only goal is to be Divas Champion but she doesn’t seem sure.

Tag Team Titles: Miz/Damien Mizdow vs. Usos

Usos are challenging with Jimmy and Miz (also from Cleveland) trading near falls a few seconds in. Jimmy chases Miz around the ring as the fans want Mizdow. Back in and Jimmy tackles Miz down and hammers away as Miz was the one that made things personal. The brothers load Miz up for a double suplex so Mizdow does a handstand in the corner. A clothesline puts Miz on the floor and the Usos hit their big dive, only to have Miz take over back inside.

We hit the chinlock on Jey for a bit before he easily escapes and makes the hot tag off to Jimmy. Miz gets knocked down in the corner so Mizdow does exactly the same thing without being touched. Only Miz takes the running Umaga attack as Mizdow is smart enough to roll outside.

The distraction lets Miz get in a cheap shot to take over and everything breaks down. The Finale puts Jey down but Jimmy busts out Konnan’s Tequila Sunrise of all things but Miz makes the rope. That’s fine with Jimmy who loads up the Superfly Slash, sending the champs to the floor in retreat. Jimmy dives on Mizdow but eats a Slammy to the face for the DQ at 7:10.

Rating: C-. So after all those weeks and the only interesting thing in the feud, Naomi meant nothing whatsoever. That’s quite the boring way to end the match, which wasn’t all that great in the first place. At least the Usos didn’t win the belts back, which is an odd thing to say as I like the team. Just not as champions again this fast.

Rollins dedicates his win tonight to the Authority and promises to destroy Cena until John agrees to bring the Authority back.

We get a tale of the tape…..of the stairs. Seriously.

Big Show vs. Erick Rowan

This is a stairs match, which I guess means the stairs can be used. Rowan hammers away to start but they quickly head to the floor where Show easily slams him. So there’s no DQ and you can use the stairs. If there’s no DQ, why can’t you use everything else? Rowan is whipped into the stairs but comes back to ram them into Show’s face. That’s fine with Show as he bounces Rowan off the post and throws him back inside.

Show changes his mind and puts the steps on the announcers’ table. A big whip has Rowan in even more trouble so the fans tell Big Show that he sucks. Back in and Show crushes Rowan in the back with the stairs again before wedging them in the corner. A whip sends Rowan into said steps but he pops up and slams Show down onto another set.

Erick can’t crush him with another set and Rowan falls to the floor off the impact. Show spears Rowan into a pile of stairs as this just keeps going. Back in and Show chokeslams him onto the steps and hits the KO but doesn’t cover. Instead he pins Rowan with the stairs for the three count at 11:15.

Rating: D. Big Show won. Again. Because we can’t have Big Show lose like ever right? This was a waste of Rowan’s push and basically said that he’s in the second tier of giants. Show is 42 years old and winning matches on pay per view over a new and creative character because….I have no idea why. The match sucked too as it was just a bunch of spots that happened to have stairs involved.

We recap Cena vs. Rollins. This started at Night of Champions when Rollins saved Lesnar from Cena, setting up the events of Survivor Series, where Rollins got a pin after Big Show KO’d Cena. Tonight it’s a tables match and if Cena loses, he is no longer #1 contender and Rollins gains nothing.

John Cena vs. Seth Rollins

I’m kind of shocked this is happening so early. Heyman is watching at ringside as Lesnar’s next title defense is announced for Royal Rumble. Cena starts fast and takes Rollins’ head off with a clothesline. The Stooges take the table away though, allowing Rollins to get in a cheap shot to take over. He lays the table over the top rope in the corner but the Stooges knock it away when Cena loads up a powerbomb. A quick triple teaming puts Cena down and Seth takes over again.

Cena is in trouble in the corner but Seth stops to pose a bit, soaking in a few LET’S GO ROLLINS chants in the process. The distraction lets Cena get in some of his usual to take over, drawing in the Stooges for another beatdown. They load up a TripleBomb through a table but Cena fights out and bails to the floor. He heads to the entrance and finds a piece of the barricade. Noble chases after him and takes a suplex on the barricade (JBL: “CALL NIDIA AND TELL HER HE’S HURT!”).

Cena swings a table but hits the post so he throws Mercury into the timekeeper’s area to make it one on one. Rollins whips Cena into the barricade and sets up a pair of tables on the floor. He can’t quite suplex Cena through them though and gets suplexed back into the ring. Both guys are down but it’s Rollins up first, only to be backdropped out to the floor. A Money in the Bank shot to the face drops Cena and Rollins loads up another table. He spends too much time mocking Cena though and gets caught in the AA, only to have the ref get bumped.

Rollins escapes anyway and kicks Cena onto the table. He heads up top, only to get AA’d through the table. No referee though so the Stooges come in to clean up the evidence. Cena fights out of another TripleBomb and AA’s both Stooges through a table at the same time. That’s always cool to see. Rollins comes back in but fights out of another AA attempt as both guys wind up on the apron. Both guys fall through the double tables at the same time at 18:30.

Multiple referees come out to say either guy won but no one can figure it out. We restart the match with Rollins sneding him to the floor for a big dive. Cena pops up and hits an AA onto the announcers’ table but it doesn’t break. Instead of just doing it again, Cena puts another table up in the corner as Big Show comes out. He clears some of the broken table out of the ring and beats up Cena with ease. The chokeslam is loaded up but Roman Reigns returns through the crowd and Superman Punches Show down. A spear drives him through a table and Rollins eats one as well, setting up the AA through the table for the win at 23:30 total.

Rating: B-. Well it wasn’t clean. Actually it was closer to filthy but I don’t think anyone expected any other ending. Reigns returning to set up his big showdown with Rollins is a good thing, but I’m not all that jazzed about Cena vs. Lesnar again, especially if it ends with Big Show interfering again. Seriously why can’t he just go away? Match was fun but a bit tiring.

Pre-show recap and expert panel preview.

The Bellas are ready for Nikki’s title defense. Brie shrugs off everything Nikki has done to her by saying blood is thicker than water.

Divas Title: AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella

Nikki is defending after her sister helped her take the title last month. The champ bails to the floor to start before AJ knocks her back outside. A cheap shot from Brie is enough to let Nikki take over back inside and the slow motion offense begins. She bends AJ’s back around the post in a painful looking move before cranking on both arms at once.

Off to a chinlock as the announcers debate if Brie is lurking or not. AJ reverses into a guillotine choke but Nikki drives her into the corner to break it up. A neckbreaker gets two for AJ and Nikki gets the same off a shot to the face. AJ pops back up with a Shining Wizard but Brie puts her sister’s foot on the ropes, earning her an ejection. The distraction lets Nikki spray something in AJ’s face, setting up the Rack Attack to retain at 7:28.

Rating: D+. The match wasn’t horrible but Brie telling her sister to GET STRONG sounded so stupid. Like I’ve said for months, the Bellas just aren’t interesting characters. They’re portrayed as these girls that have worked so hard to get where they are but they come off like these stuck up girls that have no fire in them and who would be squashed like a bug by anyone other high level Diva ever.

Reigns says it feels great to be back and enters himself in the Rumble. Last year (this year actually) was nothing compared to what he’ll do this year (meaning next).

Kane vs. Ryback

Chairs match over who is the real monster. They duel with chairs to start until Kane gets in the first significant shot to take over. Ryback comes back with a hard clothesline and three middle rope splashes to put Kane down. Kane nails him with a few chair shots to the back and loads the chair up in the corner before ramming Ryback face first for two. A running DDT on the chair gets the same and Kane just unloads on Ryback with the chair.

That’s not enough for Kane though so he throws in a bunch of chairs so he can have his pick. He sets two of them next to each other in the middle of the ring but Ryback slams Kane through both of them. Now it’s Ryback destroying Kane with the chair but the Meathook is countered with a pelted chair to the face. The chokeslam gets two but the Tombstone is countered, setting up the Meathook and Shell Shock for the pin at 9:50.

Rating: D+. This was better than the stairs match but it still didn’t do anything for me. At the end of the day it’s nice to see Kane finally take a fall so it’s not infuriating like the Rowan match, but it just kept going and only does a little bit for Ryback. He does seem to be a bigger player now than he was a few weeks ago though so there’s potential there.

US Title: Rusev vs. Jack Swagger

Rusev is defending and broke Swagger’s mentor’s leg to set this up. Jack cuts off Lana’s speech and goes right for Rusev, nailing him with a big clothesline. He takes out Rusev’s ankle and the champion can barely stand. The Vader Bomb misses but Swagger counters the superkick into the Patriot Lock but Rusev rolls through into an Accolade attempt. Jack is too close to the ropes though and the hold doesn’t go on. And never mind as Rusev puts it on a few seconds later but Jack hangs on for almost a minute. He gets to his knees and rolls over into the Patriot Lock but Rusev gets to the ropes. A second superkick puts Swagger on the floor and a third sets up the Accolade to make Swagger tap at 4:52.

Rating: D. Have they killed Swagger enough yet? They’ve certainly killed my interest in the guy for a good while as they’ve done the same match over and over again with nothing really changing. We get the idea already: someone has to stand up for America and it’s not going to be Swagger. Find someone else already.

We recap Ambrose vs. Wyatt. Bray cost Dean his match inside the Cell against Rollins and Ambrose has gone after him ever since. They had a fight last month and then Dean destroyed the rocking chair that used to belong to Bray’s Sister Abigail. This is a TLC match for the big war.

Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt

Since there’s nothing to put over the ring, you win by pinfall or submission. Dean nails him from the apron and the fight is on in the aisle. A suicide dive takes Bray down again and Ambrose sends him into the barricade for good measure. Ambrose clotheslines Bray into the crowd as they fight near the expert panel area. Bray is down so Dean dives off the panel’s table to take him down again.

Back to ringside now with Dean nailing him with a chair as Bray might be bleeding from the arm. They slug it out again with Dean in full control and setting up a table on the floor. Now it’s kendo sticks time but Bray locks eyes with Ambrose. He tells Dean to hit him but tries to grab a chair, earning him a hard stick shot to the head. A White Russian legsweep drops Bray again as this is one sided in the first five minutes. Dean goes after him with the stick again but Wyatt kicks him off the apron and through the table at ringside.

Bray puts the kendo stick in the corner sticking out and whips Ambrose face first into the end for a unique move. Now the ladder is brought in and set up in the corner but Dean sends Bray into the steel to take over. A bulldog gets two and Dean puts the ladder over the corner. He drapes Bray over the middle rope for a top rope Fameasser onto a chair. The finishers are countered but Bray just ENDS him with a clothesline for two.

Ambrose comes back with a ladder shot and takes Bray into the aisle. There just happens to be a table there so Bray is placed on top, setting up an Ambrose elbow from a ladder. Dean has that crazy look on his face and puts Bray on another table for a second elbow from an even higher ladder. Both guys are down now but stagger back to the ring where Bray hits a quick Sister Abigail for two. He tries another with the kiss but Dean reverses into a rollup for two. Dean sends him face first into the ladder and nails Dirty Deeds for a delayed two.

Ambrose goes under the ring and finds a live monitor (Cole: “That’s for our technicians. JBL: “And they live under the ring?”) which shows him a bunch of ladders near the entrance. He goes and finds the biggest ladder in the building and sets it up next to the ring but Bray is back up.

Dean blocks another attempt to crush his throat on the post with the chair like Bray did to him, only to do it right back to Bray like the crazy man he is. A third elbow off the huge ladder crushes Wyatt through the announcers’ table and both guys are down. They slowly get back in and Dean gets the monitor, only to have it blow up in his face. Dean is blinded, allowing another Sister Abigail to knock him out for the pin at 27:26.

Rating: A-. It was a wild brawl and a good way to end the show, but I’m only lukewarm on the ending. That’s far more logical of an ending than whatever they did in the Cell, but it’s still not the best. Wyatt getting a big win in the main event of a PPV certainly isn’t a bad thing though and Dean isn’t beaten clean so everyone wins, but it’s still not great and needed a bigger spot to end things.

Overall Rating: C+. The show was good enough for the carnage but the bad stuff REALLY dragged it down. I’m really worried about the Big Show’s continued push but that’s something you have to live with in WWE. This is a show where the good was really good but the bad was really boring, which cancels out a lot of the hard work. The main event scene still needs a huge makeover, but it could have been a lot worse. The fact that this came three days after Takeover didn’t do it any favors though.

Results

Dolph Ziggler b. Luke Harper – Ziggler pulled down the title

Usos b. Miz/Damien Mizdow via DQ when Miz hit Jimmy with a Slammy

Big Show b. Erick Rowan – KO Punch

John Cena b. Seth Rollina – Attitude Adjustment through a table

Nikki Bella b. AJ Lee – Rack Attack

Ryback b. Kane – Shell Shock

Rusev b. Jack Swagger – Accolade

Bray Wyatt b. Dean Ambrose – Sister Abigail

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

Sting! The Stinger! The Man Called Sting! These are just a few of the nicknames of someone you won’t be seeing on Raw this week. He debuted at Survivor Series to help end the Authority as he pulled Ziggler’s body onto Rollins, who hadn’t moved in about eight minutes and clearly needed to be resuscitated. Other than that….yeah there isn’t much as Survivor Series was a one note show. Let’s get to it.

We opened with the Authority because WWE likes to troll us. They were all sad about being thrown out of course but said we’d miss them later on. HHH babbled about business and how WWE will need them back in the future. For some reason he went into a nearly word for word speech from the end of A Few Good Men about how WWE needed them. If nothing else that’s an awesome movie so I can’t complain much there.

Daniel Bryan of all people cut them off to do the YES post in front of them. After a break, Bryan announced that he was in charge for the night. First up he brought out all five members of Team Authority from the night before to give them their assignments for the night. These segments took nearly half an hour in total, but Bryan’s energy made them easier to sit through. I’ll cover each member as their antics come up, starting with Henry getting beaten by Ryback in about a minute.

The Authority left with Vince while Stephanie begged Vince’s forgiveness. The boss didn’t seem to care and said the only thing he’s sorry for is having to sit through Thanksgiving with these losers.

Next up was Luke Harper beating Ambrose via DQ when Harper shoved Dean into the referee. This wasn’t a great match as you knew the ending was going to be screwy, but at least they didn’t go with the obvious Bray interference. That would come after, as Bray jumped Dean on the floor and buried him under a bunch of chairs next to the announcers’ table.

Santino Marella and Larry the Cable Guy showed up and weren’t funny.

Miz/Mizdow beat Goldust/Stardust to retain the titles. The idea here was Miz stayed on the floor with an alleged injury for most of the match before coming in to hit a quick Skull Crushing Finale and steal the glory.

Kane is in charge of concessions tonight. This led to some unfunny bits of pouring mustard on Santino and getting in a fight with Ryback, likely setting up a match at TLC.

Lane and Rusev had to either say the Pledge of Allegiance to the American flag or have Rusev defend the title in a battle royal. Lana started to but Rusev stopped her, drawing out Sgt. Slaughter for a showdown. Naturally this went nowhere and Jack Swagger came out for the save. I really hope they’re not going back to this feud because it’s been done to death already.

Fandango beat Justin Gabriel in a copy of the Survivor Series pre-show match. Nothing to see here.

Big Show came out for his big speech and admits that it might have been a mistake, but thinks he’s earned the benefit of the doubt after all his years in the company. We got the usual “I have bills to pay” speech, which I’d have more sympathy for if he hadn’t used his one wish on a title shot last year. Eventually Rowan came down and called Show a bully before knocking him out of the ring with ease.

Brie Bella beat AJ via rollup when Nikki interfered. No sign of the Bellas splitting when the servant period was over.

Adam Rose and the Bunny lost to Kidd and Natalya in the same match they’ve been having for weeks.

Ziggler and Cena beat Rollins and the Stooges in the exact match you would expect them to have. The big deals here were that the Stooges could be selected by the fans via the App and the Anonymous Raw GM returned to end the show. In theory this is going to be a weekly deal.

Overall this show was about setting up the new world of Monday Night Raw after the Authority is gone. The show really wasn’t all that good, but at least they set up something for the future. They only have a few weeks until TLC, but they already have the fallout from Survivor Series as a foundation for the matches there. It’s not a good show but they had to take a breather after all the stuff they did last night.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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

Finally, I’m holding a Holiday Special for my e-books: any two of them for just $5.  Check out the details here.

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2014/11/28/holiday-sale/

This was a show where I’ve needed some time to digest everything that I saw. Now everyone knew that this was a one match show coming in, but I don’t think people were expecting to see something like this. Obviously the big moment is coming at the end but there was some other interesting stuff before then. Let’s get to it.

I’m going to gloss over the pre-show matches as there’s just nothing to talk about. Fandango is somehow even less interesting than he was before and Swagger vs. Cesaro has been done to death. Neither match was any good, but they REALLY don’t need to have an hour long pre-show. That makes a show four hours, meaning the three hour Raw is now the short show. Let that sink in for a minute.

The show itself opened with the first of our filler segments. Vince, Cena and the Authority came out to reiterate the stipulations of the main event, with the added caveat that only Cena could bring the Authority back in the future. Not only did this not segment need to happen to start a pay per view, but it didn’t need to happen at all. This could have been announced later and another match could have been added in to fill some of the time. But instead we needed a fifteen minute speech because we hadn’t heard HHH and Stephanie talk enough.

The opening match was the four way tag for the titles, with the Dusts dropping the belts down to Miz/Mizdow. This whole thing was a way to get somewhere with Mizdow’s popularity, which is the only way they can go. It was a watchable match but at the same time there was too much going on to have it be anything good.

Los Matadores and the Usos were just kind of there to fill in spots and make sure we didn’t have heel vs. heel. Again the match felt like they were filling time at points, because there are only five matches on the card and what else are they supposed to do? Miz celebrating with both belts was a nice touch as you would expect.

Adam Rose and the Bunny played with toys when Slater Gator came in to set up a match later. This would be more filler.

One group of bad Divas plus Natalya beat another group of bad Divas plus Paige. This match was an absolute disaster with the moves being botches, almost no flow to the match, and everyone being all over the place. The idea was supposed to be Paige vs. the World, but she would have been better off without her partners anyway.

Ambrose and Wyatt had a good but not great brawl to set up the next match at TLC. Thankfully they announced that in advance as it would have felt like a waste of time given how obvious they were with where it’s going. The match itself wasn’t great but it was a nice shot in the arm after an hour of uninteresting stuff. The worst part of this whole thing though: Ambrose doing the Wyatt spider pose and Cole shouting “THAT’S WHAT BRAY WYATT DOES!”

I can’t stand this talking down to the audience and acting like they can’t remember anything longer than eight seconds ago. Yeah some of the fans are watching for the first time, but just let them think that Dean is being insane instead of treating the fans who have watched for more than a day like imbeciles. In other words, makes Michael Cole SHUT UP FOR ONCE!

The comedy tag match was nothing you wouldn’t see on Smackdown. The Bunny continues to get on Rose’s nerves but they need to get somewhere with it already as this isn’t getting anyone anywhere.

Roman Reigns did a nice satellite interview, saying everything he’s said in the previous ones. Apparently he’s been taking acting lessons recently and they actually seem to be paying off. He felt a lot more natural here instead of reading off a script (which he likely was).

Nikki Bella won the Divas Title from AJ in a match designed off Sheamus vs. Bryan at Wrestlemania XXVIII, complete with the kiss to AJ. In theory the Bellas are back together, making the last few months of driving me crazy TOTALLY POINTLESS. Nikki did look good though.

The main event was a nice long match which lived up to expectations, complete with a bunch of surprises. Big Show knocked Henry out in about fifteen seconds and we had the best part of the match: HHH’s emotional roller coaster. Yeah I get annoyed when he takes the better part of forever to get anywhere with his promos, but when he calms down and lets his body language do the talking, he’s incredible effective.

The match slowed down for a bit until everything broke down and a Curb Stomp into a spinwheel kick from Rusev was enough to pin Ryback. Yeah after the last few weeks of it being all about Ryback, he was out via pin in about eight minutes. That more or less ends the return push that he had going on as Ryback continues to lose the big matches. It crippled Lex Luger’s career and it’s gotten Ryback as well. Granted not being very good in the ring has hurt him too.

It slowed again with Big Show taking a long beating from everyone. Then for a change of pace, Ziggler took a long beating from everyone. It all broke down again with Rusev throwing Ziggler around on the floor, only to miss a splash through the table, resulting in a countout. They had to get rid of him somehow so it was this or a DQ. Twelve minutes passed between Ryback and Rusev’s eliminations to give you an idea of how much things slowed down. The next one was a bit faster as Rollins Curb Stomped Rowan, setting up the discus lariat from Harper for a pin just a few minutes later.

Then things got interesting as Big Show knocked Cena out, turning heel for probably the fifteenth time in his WWE career. Rollins got an easy pin and Big Show walked out, making it 3-1 with Ziggler facing Kane, Harper and Rollins. This was VERY interesting as it put the focus on Dolph instead of Cena, which is exactly what this match should have been about: making someone else into a star. Cena doesn’t need a win like this, so let someone else get a big rub.

Ziggler was basically dead at this point but kept fighting, which was exactly the story they had been setting up for the last several weeks. He took out Kane with a superkick and Zig Zag before taking one heck of a beating from Harper. Luke got frustrated when he couldn’t pin him though and Ziggler grabbed a rollup and some jeans for the pin.

This sequence was right out of the Shawn Michaels playbook and that’s as good as you can get. The key thing to Ziggler’s offense is that it can come from out of nowhere and it’s not a huge stretch for him to do this. The superkick, Zig Zag and rollup are things that you can do out of nowhere and again it played to the Ziggler Will Not Quit idea. That was just a warmup for the good stuff though.

Rollins and Ziggler had an awesome six or seven minute sequence of near falls and missed finishers, including Rollins nearly hitting a top rope Curb Stomp. Ziggler finally took over and hit a Zig Zag but the Stooges came in for the save. HHH made another save after another Zig Zag and laid out Dolph with a Pedigree. All hope was lost (including Cena, who you would think might have come out for the save, despite him seemingly being the worst teammate EVER in the buildup to this match) but instead STING debuted, laid out HHH and put Ziggler on top of Rollins (who hadn’t moved for about eight minutes) for the final pin.

So yeah, STING debuted. That was up there with Cena turning heel and the Streak being broken on the list of things that I won’t believe until I see for myself. He laid out HHH with a Death Drop (incredible selling by the Game) and gave Ziggler the pin because Sting fights against corrupt authority. This was the big moment that people are going to remember and likely sets up the big match at Wrestlemania.

The match itself was all about the drama and it knocked that out of the park. I could feel my heart beating out of my chest on those near falls and the and I had to see who was going to win in the end. They did a great job of making me guess and that’s all you’re supposed to do in something like this. Sting coming out was a great shock and the whole thing worked like a charm.

Overall, no one is going to remember anything but the main event and Sting debuting. It’s not a great or even really good show, but the main event was all it was supposed to be and a lot more. Sting debuting is one of the moments that you’re going to remember for years to come, even if it doesn’t go anywhere long term. The main event rocked the house and made you forget how horrible the rest of the show, save for Ambrose vs. Wyatt, really was. Good stuff for the most part but just fast forward past most of it.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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Monday Night Raw
Date: November 24, 2014
Location: Bankers Life Fieldhouse, Indianapolis, Indiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler, John Bradshaw Layfield

We’re coming off one of the most eventful main events in a very long time as Sting actually debuted last night after roughly thirteen years of waiting. Team Cena prevailed over Team Authority with Dolph Ziggler actually hanging on until the end after Cena was eliminated when Big Show turned heel. Again. Other than that we’ve got less than three weeks before TLC and what might be the main event is already set with Dean Ambrose set to face Bray Wyatt in a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match. Let’s get to it.

We open with the required recap of last night’s show.

Here’s the Authority to open things up because where would we be without them? Stephanie talks about how unfair last night was and blames the loss on Sting. They stand before you tonight as winners instead of losers because they still have corporate responsibilities. Stephanie starts crying and the fans chant YES. HHH knows there is no one here that could handle the Authority’s power.

We live in a universe governed by the laws of finance and commerce. They have to make decisions based on supply and demand, not what’s popular. Is Cena going to do that? Ziggler? Sting maybe? HHH doesn’t know why Sting did that last night but maybe he was trying to make his career relevant by standing in the ring with HHH for thirty seconds.

He goes into a speech from the end of A Few Good Men (almost word for word) before asking who makes the decisions now. There is no Cena, Ziggler or Ryback without the Authority and there is no WWE Universe. What are the fans going to do without Raw now? They can sit on a couch and live in their pathetic failures, because the Authority is going to leave now, but you all will beg for them to come back.

Cue Daniel Bryan of all people for one of the biggest YES chants this side of Wrestlemania. He doesn’t say anything but does the YES pose all the way up the aisle, right in the Authority’s face. That certainly woke the fans up and that’s exactly what you bring a guy like Bryan back for. Bryan stays in the ring as we go to a break.

Back from commercial with Bryan talking about how great it feels to be back in this ring tonight. It felt great to kick the Authority to the curb, but that brings him to Team Authority. As for tonight, Bryan is in charge of Raw and asks all of the losing members of Team Authority to come out here right now. Cole calls each member a loser because Cole doesn’t understand the meaning of the words “subtle” or “neutral”.

Bryan says he won’t be vindictive like the Authority so no titles are in danger and no one is being put in unfair matches. We’ll start with Rollins, who tonight gets to team with two superstars to face Cena and Ziggler. Rollins grabs a mic but it doesn’t work at first so we get some quick banter between him and Bryan.

Seth holds up the briefcase and says he’s still the future of this company. He thinks his partners will be something like Hornswoggle and El Torito or JBL and Cole. Bryan won’t be making the selections though. Instead, it’s in the WWE Universe’s hands. Daniel however, does get to pick the options. It will either be Mark Henry/Luke Harper, Mark Henry/Kane or the Stooges.

Bryan starts the voting as Rollins runs down the Stooges as being pretty bad at their job before storming off. Next up is Kane, who really shouldn’t be Director of Operations anymore. Bryan puts it up to the people and they give him a resounding NO. He won’t fire Kane but he will reassign him. Starting tonight, Kane is Director of Food and Drink, meaning he’ll be known as Concessions Kane. A guy brings out popcorn and hot dogs for Kane to carry throughout the night as we’re in comedy mode.

That brings us to Rusev and Lana. Bryan thinks the US Champion should be a bit more patriotic so he has some options. Rusev can either defend the title in a battle royal against the rest of the roster, or he can pledge allegiance to a big US flag in the middle of the ring. Lana freaks out as the crowd chants USA.

After they storm off, it’s Harper’s chance. He won the title last week with the help of the Stooges (“who you can vote for as Option C on the WWE App!”), but tonight he’s having to go it alone. Bryan needs an opponent for him though, so how about the Lunatic Fringe Dean Ambrose?

That leaves just Henry, who tries to leave before Bryan can do anything for him. Bryan was backstage when a big guy came up to him and asked for a favor. Naturally Bryan said yes because that’s his thing, so tonight a guy is going to get his chance to avenge his loss to Mark Henry a few years back at Wrestlemania, so tonight it’s Henry vs. Ryback. Bryan gave him the match because he’s running Raw tonight, and “THAT’S WHAT I DO!”

Mark Henry vs. Ryback

Ryback jumps him from the aisle and sends Henry head first into the post. He drives Henry into the barricade a few times but referees pull him off as we go to a break without a bell. Back with the opening bell and Henry already staggered. He’s still able to knock Ryback down a few times but Ryback comes back with a spinebuster. The Meat Hook connects for the pin at 55 seconds.

HHH and Stephanie are walking through the back when they run into Vince. Stephanie apologizes for letting them down but Vince says he isn’t an angry man. He is however disappointed by the two of them coming up against insurmountable odds. Somehow, someway the two of them have to fix this though. Vince yells at Stephanie for being sorry because he’s never been sorry for a thing in his life. That might change when he has to spend Thanksgiving with them though. All three leave in a limo with Vince still ranting about sorry.

Intercontinental Title: Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper

Luke hammers away to start and drives in some shots to the throat in the corner. Dean takes him right back down and drives in crossface shots to the nose. It’s off to the arm of all things with Harper in early trouble. Luke is sent to the floor for a big dive as we take a break. Back with Harper holding a chinlock but Dean fights up, only to be sent chest first into the buckle.

Ambrose fights back with right hands but his boot to the ribs is caught and Harper shoves it back, sending Dean face first onto the mat. After a quick chinlock, Harper sends him out to the floor yet again. Another whip sends Dean into the barricade but Ambrose comes back with a hard clothesline. They head back inside with Dean grabbing a rollup for two and a crossbody for the same.

Harper gets tied up in the ropes for the running dropkick, followed by the Fameasser to drive Harper face first into the mat for two. Dean hammers away until Harper grabs the sitout Boss Man Slam for two of his own. Ambrose breaks up a superplex attempt and hits his standing elbow drop, only to eat a superkick. That’s fine with Dean who hits the Rebound Clothesline for two more. The champ goes and gets his title but Dean hits the suicide dive to prevent him from walking out. Back in and Harper fights off Dirty Deeds until he shoves Dean into the referee…..for the DQ at 14:39.

Rating: C. This took awhile to get going but I liked that they didn’t just have Bray run in for the DQ like I was expecting. The ending was stupid but at least they kept both guys looking strong. Dean facing the former Wyatt Family is a good idea, though I’m glad they didn’t put the title on him. The feud doesn’t need to be for a belt.

Post match Dean gets a chair and hits Dirty Deeds before bringing in a table and ladder. Bray sneaks in through the crowd and lays him out though, including Sister Abigail on the floor.

Big E. New Day video.

Here are Santino Marella and Larry the Cable Guy with the latter in a mask, shorts and no shirt. Larry says he’s ready to go King Kong Bundy on someone but Santino says we’re not here to wrestle. He takes off the mask and apologizes for all the eye candy. Larry says he beat up Savage one night in Florida. Santino: “Randy Savage???” Larry: “No, Fred.” The Cable Guy says he’s a fan of Steve Austin and says he’d be Stone Cold Creamery (Cold Stone Creamery is an ice cream store chain). Cue Goldust and Stardust to get in Larry’s face and that’s it.

Tag Team Titles: Miz/Damien Mizdow vs. Goldust/Stardust

Miz/Mizdow are defending and Mizdow has toy titles again. Stardust slams Miz to start but misses an elbow. Miz tries to tag out but Stardust takes him into the corner for a chest rake. It’s off to Goldust for an atomic drop, meaning Mizdow comes in to mock an atomic drop of his own. Miz dives into a punch to the ribs and Stardust breaks up another tag attempt by knocking Miz to the floor as we take a break.

Back with Stardust in control of Miz until a jawbreaker puts both guys down. The hot tag brings in Mizdow to clean house to a big reaction. He nails a quick Reality Check on Stardust and actually nips up. Stardust snaps his throat across the top though and things slow down again with Goldust holding a chinlock as a trainer checks on Miz.

A powerslam gets two on Mizdow and Stardust’s release gordbuster gets the same. Miz is telling the trainer to stay off the face as Mizdow makes his comeback and puts Starudst in the Figure Four, only to have Goldust make the save. Mizdow sends him outside but Miz makes a blind tag and hits the Skull Crushing Finale on Stardust to retain at 10:16.

Rating: D+. This wasn’t much but it continues the story as we get closer to Mizdow’s face turn. It would be nice if he started backing up the character in the ring and we got a glimpse of that tonight. Nothing great here but I’m glad they didn’t change the titles back just a night later.

The concessions manager yells at Kane and puts him in charge of chips.

Lana says this isn’t fair, just like America. Daniel Bryan pops up on screen and gives him them the same options, but gives us a supervisor to make sure it works well. Cue Sgt. Slaughter as the big flag comes down. Sarge leads them in the Pledge but Rusev won’t bring himself to do it. Rusev stands there for awhile and finally throws the mic down. It’s time to fight and Slaughter takes off the hat but Jack Swagger comes in for the save. This story again?

Kane gives fans food when Santino and Larry show up in line. Santino winds up wearing mustard and Larry gets a hot dog because Kane is a fan.

Fandango vs. Justin Gabriel

Rematch of the pre-show match last night. Fandango hits a hard elbow to the jaw to start but Justin knocks him off the top rope. A big clothesline flips Justin inside out though as Rosa looks on from ringside. The top rope legdrop ends Gabriel at 1:57.

Here’s a smiling Big Show in a suit for his explanation about last night. He wants to make sure everything is cool because he saw a lot of things online that didn’t sit well with him. Last night he did some things and now people see him as a bad guy. In reality he’s a human being who made a mistake.

Surely everyone has done that before though, so the people should be able to forgive him. He has a medical condition that makes him this big, but on the inside he’s a person just like us. Last night he saw John Cena vulnerable and did what he thought he had to do. Big Show is sure that everyone can forgive him because he wouldn’t have done that if he knew Team Cena was going to win anyway. He’s been putting his body on the line for the last twenty years and maybe the fans owe him this one.

The fans say he sold out and Big Show gets angry in a hurry. He’s heard all those people in the back that are calling him a coward and wants one of them to come out right now. Cue Erick Rowan, who Show calls an upside down Sheamus. Show could understand if this was John Cena or someone, but Erick Rowan? He mocks Rowan a bit before Rowan takes off the mask. That earns Erick a warning to leave before he gets hurt but Rowan says he doesn’t like bullies and the fight is on. Show is quickly knocked to the floor and he breaks the steps before leaving.

The Stooges come up to Rollins in the back and are both about a foot shorter. Ziggler comes in and says he’s asked his 1.4 million Twitter followers to vote for the Stooges.

Brie Bella vs. AJ Lee

AJ comes out with the mic and says Nikki has turned the title into a new accessory. As for Brie, “lesbihonest”, she’s an even bigger skank than her sister. Nikki offers a quick distraction so Brie can nail a hard clothesline for two. We hit a hammerlock for a bit before AJ fights up for a quick Shining Wizard for two. Nikki shouts about Brie Mode and another distraction lets Brie grab a rollup for the pin at 3:22.

Rating: D. The Bellas continue to drag down whatever segment they’re in. I know WWE thinks we care about them because they’re on a reality show but for the love of all things good and holy they’re just another pair of lame Divas. Yeah they’ve had their moments, but they’re treated like the second coming of Trish and Lita and it just doesn’t work.

AJ yells at the Bellas post match and says talent is not sexually transmitted.

Adam Rose/The Bunny vs. Tyson Kidd/Natalya

Larry the Cable Guy and Santino are on commentary to dance with the Bunny. Rose grabs him by the ears and throws him into the ring for some yelling. Rose tags out to the Bunny tos tart and it’s time for comedy. The Bunny hits a quick middle rope dropkick and stomps on Tyson in the corner. Tyson finally smacks the Bunny in the face before it’s off to Natalya….who immediately tags back to Tyson. Jerry explains the idea of the match (both teams are having relationship problems) as Ada gets two off a spinebuster. The Bunny trips Rose by mistake and Kidd hooks a rollup for the pin at 3:58.

Rating: D. We’re to the point now where there’s only so much more they can do before they unmask the Bunny. That being said, there needs to be a good reveal and I’m really not sure who is going to be a big enough deal. Larry and Santino were just kind of there and have to do stuff like this for promoting a DVD and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Ryback wants to find the concession stand.

New Day video with all three together. They’re debuting next week.

Ryback shows up to the concession stand and asks for two cans of tuna, a protein shake and a can of beef jerkey. Kane throws a hot dog at him instead so Ryback shoves the table into him. The Big Red Machine throws popcorn and ketchup at him and leaves. Ryback throws a bag of nuts at Kane and that’s it. Funny right?

Cena is in the back with Ziggler and praises Dolph for his win last night. Ziggler says he promised to find a way to survive and that’s exactly what he did. However, it took a miracle in the form of the man called Sting. Cena thanks Sting and Ziggler for changing history and giving the fans all the power. They’re going to steal the show tonight.

John Cena/Dolph Ziggler vs. Seth Rollins/???/???

Bryan comes out before the match to introduce Rollins and the partners. In a vote closer than I was expecting, the Stooges win with 93% of the vote. They come out in their suits and it’s time to fight. Noble starts with Cena but Rollins makes him take his tie off. The look on Rollins’ face is hysterical as Cena lets Noble grab a headlock. Mercury comes in and runs the ropes, only to accidentally knock his partner down. Seth has to break up an AA attempt and they go outside for a breather as we take a break.

Back with Cena in a bit of trouble until Noble misses a charge into the post. The hot tag brings in Ziggler for some clotheslines and the running DDT to Noble, but a Mercury distraction lets Rollins nail him to take over. Back to Noble for a slam and a legdrop for two. We hit the chinlock for a bit until Ziggler pops up with a dropkick. Mercury comes in and allows the hot tag to Cena as house is cleaned. Everything breaks down and the Stooges try to save Rollins. This earns them a whip into each other and an AA and Zig Zag for the pin at 10:05.

Rating: D. Yeah it was bad but what else are you expecting here? Rollins not getting pinned is fine but the match really wasn’t anything to see. Cena and Ziggler beating up the Stooges is fine, even if a bit boring. This was a dull way to end a dull show though and I really didn’t care.

Bryan throws Rollins into the ring for a superkick and AA of his own. Posing looks to end the show…..but we have an e-mail from the general manager. The fans groan as Cole says the line. The party is officially over because next week is Cyber Monday when order and discipline return to Raw. The e-mail sound goes off over and over to close the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Tonight wasn’t very good but it really wasn’t supposed to be anything big. This was the show taking a night off after such a big show last night and while it’s annoying, its kind of necessary as we’re setting up the mostly meaningless TLC show before the Rumble season begins. The show wasn’t much to see but nothing on it was all that terrible. That’s more than I can say about Raw a lot of the time so we’ll call this one a dull effort.

Results

Ryback b. Mark Henry – Meat Hook

Luke Harper b. Dean Ambrose via DQ when Ambrose hit the referee

Miz/Damien Mizdow b. Goldust/Stardust – Skull Crushing Finale to Stardust

Fandango b. Justin Gabriel – Top rope legdrop

Brie Bella b. AJ Lee – Rollup

Tyson Kidd/Natalya b. Adam Rose/The Bunny – Rollup to Rose

Dolph Ziggler/John Cena b. Seth Rollins/Jamie Noble/Joey Mercury – Zig Zag to Mercury

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book on the History of the Royal Rumble at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00PZ1GR7E

And check out my Amazon author page with wrestling books for under $4 at:

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