Monday Night Raw
Date: September 16, 2019
Location: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

It’s the night after Clash of Champions and thankfully that show is out of the way. Last night offered a grand total of nothing important as it was just a show that had to be done before we could get on to the Cell next month. The Fiend is already haunting Seth Rollins and the Universal Championship so expect the big push to begin tonight. Let’s get to it.

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

I was in the arena for this show, sitting in the middle section of seats and looking directly at the Titantron. The lower area of the hard camera side and all of the upper deck on the hard camera side were tarped off but the rest of the arena was mostly full.

Here’s Seth Rollins to get things going. There is a lot to unpack last night because he and Braun Strowman lost the Raw Tag Team Titles. It doesn’t matter whose fault it was though because the two of them faced off for the Universal Title later that night. Strowman is large and strong and last night he gave Rollins a heck of a fight. Four Stomps and a Pedigree later though, Rollins is still Universal Champion.

Then things got even worse because the Fiend knocked him out but ran away before Seth could do anything about it. Don’t worry though because Seth is getting his shot at the Fiend inside the Cell. Seth: “Yowie wowie indeed.” That sounds like summoning Bray though and it’s time for the Firefly Fun House. Bray says Seth is his future best friend but he has to cut off the pesky Ramblin Rabbit from telling us the truth. Anyway, Seth has done some bad things and the Fiend never forgets. Maybe he’ll even have something else to say to Seth tonight. Bray goes silent for a bit before laughing and saying he’ll see him in h***.

The graphics for what is coming later tonight are now upside down. Cole and Graves start talking but Renee asks if they have been upside down the entire time, bringing the whole thing to a grinding halt. I’d assume that was a Bray thing as the song is still playing, but either way it was quite the noticeable deal.

Braun Strowman says whoever is in the ring is going to get these hands.

Here are Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode, followed by the Revival, for a Tag Team Champion Summit. Roode brags about how awesome they are but here is Strowman to run them over to a pretty big reaction, though he misses Dawson and Roode runs before Strowman can hit him. So we have four new champions who are being run over by a well known choker so the choker can be rebuilt again to set up future choking. There was no one else who could have gotten beaten up here? Or this couldn’t have happened later?

Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross brag about their win last night and are ready for Sasha Banks and Bayley tonight. It was interesting how Banks talked about how the titles didn’t matter after she lost them and Bayley is just pathetic. Words to toast to.

OC vs. Cedric Alexander/Viking Raiders

Cedric slugs away at AJ to start and kicks him in the face but the Michinoku Driver is escaped. Styles falls into the wrong corner though and it’s Erik coming in to scream in AJ’s face. Anderson comes in as well, so Erik slams Ivar onto him for two as it’s one sided so far. It’s off to Gallows instead so Erik hits him in the face, only to miss the running knees in the corner.

Erik gets sent to the floor and into the barricade, setting up a big boot to send us to a break. Back with Erik fighting out of a chinlock and handing it right back to Ivar to clean house. Everything breaks down and it’s a Neuralizer to Anderson but AJ tags himself in and hits the Phenomenal Forearm to finish Cedric at 8:25.

Rating: C-. That has to be it for Cedric going after Styles right? He’s lost twice in a row with one of them being a clean pin in a title match. I was thinking they might go somewhere with him but it seems that the legs have already been cut off. That’s quite the shame as Cedric has been great lately, but it’s not surprising to see a push cut off so soon.

Post match the beatdown is still on but Ivar hits a big flip dive to the floor to take a bunch of people down. Back in and Cedric crotches AJ on top and hammers away, only to have his super hurricanrana countered into a super Styles Clash to really hammer in the point.

R-Truth and Carmella were at the Women’s College Basketball Hall of Fame in Knoxville earlier today with R-Truth being confused by the big basketball on the roof. Cue Mayor Glenn Jacobs (named as such here) with Truth trying to figure out how tall the University of Tennessee women’s basketball players are. Truth thinks the Mayor is Magic Johnson or Larry Bird, but gets an offer of a tour of historic Knoxville. Now Truth thinks he’s talking to the President as Carmella just looks confused. I could go for more of this.

King of the Ring Finals: Baron Corbin vs. Chad Gable

We get the Big Match Intros and a quick mention of Don Muraco being the first king, which isn’t something referenced very often. Gable goes for the ankle to start but gets elbowed in the head for his efforts. A dropkick works a bit better for Gable as Corbin is knocked outside but he’s fine enough to backdrop a charging Gable into the timekeeper’s area.

Back from a break with Gable diving back in to beat the count (which he did two more times during the break). Corbin elbows him in the face a few times and we hit the required chinlock. That’s broken up so Corbin slides under the ropes for the big clothesline instead. A big boot drops Gable again as he can’t do much with the size and power. We hit the chinlock again as the announcers make every reference they can to various kings and royal courts to really hammer the point home.

Gable fights out and gets the ankle so Corbin hits him in the head to escape. Corbin’s charge hits the post (becoming WAY too popular of a spot) and the fans are getting into Gable here. The missile dropkick sets up some rolling Liger kicks in the corner but Corbin is right back with a pop up World’s Strongest Slam to put them both down. They head outside with Corbin sending him into the barricade over and over but a charge hits steps.

Gable wraps the leg around the post a few times and hammers away back inside. The leg is fine enough to hit a heck of a Deep Six for two, only to have Gable grab the rolling Chaos Theory for the same. End of Days is escaped and Gable gets the ankle lock again. The grapevine goes on but Corbin makes it over to the ropes and you can hear the energy getting sucked out of the arena. Gable goes back to the ankle but Corbin makes the rope and spins him into End of Days for the win at 19:42.

Rating: B. It’s amazing how much easier it is to put up with Corbin when he’s not appearing in ten segments a show. Corbin winning is far from shocking and maybe the King thing can go somewhere for him, though he is still walking a thin line. Just don’t overpush him like WWE always wants to do and he could be downright tolerable.

Corbin poses in front of the throne and limps off.

And now, a gender reveal party for Maria Kanellis’ unborn child, with various wrestlers holding up Team Boy and Team Girl signs. So it’s a boy, and the father happens to be Ricochet. Mike freaks out as Ricochet says it’s a lie and that he wouldn’t….ok not that he wouldn’t…..and Mike slaps him in the face. He’ll wait for Ricochet in the ring. Titus O’Neil tells Ricochet to go handle this and the Street Profits suggest a baby on a pole match. Dawkins: “How about a Maria on a pole match?” Ford: “Maria on the pole is how they got in this mess in the first place.”

Mike Kanellis vs. Ricochet

Kanellis is in street clothes and Ricochet doesn’t want to do this. Ricochet begs off and says this isn’t happening so Mike hits him in the face. Some weak stomping has Ricochet in trouble but he comes back with a shot of his own. A kick to the head in the corner sets up a springboard clothesline and the Recoil finishes Kanellis at 1:06.

We get another Firefly Fun House, with Bray adding names to his Wall Of Friendship, which includes painted over faces of Kurt Angle, Finn Balor, Mick Foley and others. He’s off to find a new friend.

Post break Mike is sitting on the apron as Maria comes out to yell at him some more. Obviously Ricochet isn’t the father but she’ll introduce him to the real father right now.

Mike Kanellis vs. Rusev

Nice to see Rusev again, mainly because of the chiseled physique and incredible mustache. Mike begs off and says he’s had a bad day and he’s just ok with all of this. Congratulations to the two of them, but Rusev isn’t letting him leave and beats the heck out of him before the bell. As Graves calls Mike a beta cuck, a jumping superkick and the Accolade end Mike at 34 seconds. Lana being salty over Rusev apparently cheating on her should be interesting.

R-Truth and Kane go to Neyland Stadium, home of the Tennessee Volunteers football team (BIG pop for that). Truth thinks the team is made up of volunteer Santas but we get a nice speech about all the people who make the city work. Actually a new officer has been sworn in is here, though Truth thinks he’s Robocop. Actually hang on though, as he wasn’t quite sworn in as a police officer. Instead, he’s a referee, so Truth tries to run and crashes into the goal post, meaning we have a new champion. Remember when Kane took the WWF Title from Steve Austin in 1998? Now he’s doing this.

Rey Mysterio vs. Cesaro

Before the match, Cesaro says that if Rey’s son Dominick doesn’t leave WWE, he’ll beat Dominick up like he’s about to beat up Rey. The fight is on in the aisle before the bell, followed by a bell and the uppercut from Cesaro. There’s an elbow for two as Cesaro is in red street shoes and what appears to be a lack of socks. A powerbomb out of the corner is broken up with a hurricanrana into the post but the suicide dive is countered with Cesaro’s uppercut. Rey is fine enough to hit a 619 to the back and we take a break.

Back with Cesaro grabbing a chinlock, followed by a slingshot hilo for two. The chinlock goes on again but Rey fights up with a crucifix bomb for the breather. A tornado DDT gives Rey two so Cesaro pulls him down into the Crossface. With that not working, the Radicalz treatment continues with Three Amigos. That’s fine with Rey, who hits a 619 and the Code Red for the pin at 11:48.

Rating: B-. This is where Cesaro shines, though unfortunately it is so often in defeat. At some point he needs to win something to keep his stock up a bit, though WWE doesn’t seem to agree. Mysterio’s retirement tour is worth seeing of course, as he is a true legend and can do whatever he wants on the way out. I’m not sure what they’re going to do with Dominick, but Mysterio has earned the right to do something special like that.

We get a short form Firefly Fun House with Bray adding Seth’s picture to the wall and not saying anything.

The Draft is coming on October 11/14.

Video on the AOP, who talk about how they came to WWE so they could fight. Instead they’ve been sat on the sidelines because no one is willing to fight them. Now, you might be wondering how this is significantly different than Aleister Black sitting in a room, asking for someone to fight him. The answer: there are two of them here.

Sasha Banks/Bayley vs. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross

Non-title and Cole is so disgusted with Sasha that he doesn’t even do the catchphrase anymore. Bayley and Bliss start things off with Bayley taking over to start, only to get hit in the face instead. Bliss gets up a boot in the corner and a sunset flip gets two. A flip dive off the apron takes both villains down but Bliss may have hurt her knee. Cross comes in and gets double Banks’ double knees in the corner.

More knees are blocked with a shot to the face but Bayley pulls Bliss off the apron. The knee is banged up again and here are some trainers to check on her. To be fair, it has been at least a month since Bliss had a knee injury. We take a break and come back with Bliss gone and Cross fighting out of a chinlock. Nikki shrugs off some double teaming in the corner and hammers away, including tying Banks in the ring skirt. Back in and Cross hits a tornado DDT on Bayley, setting up the hanging Purge for two as Banks makes the save. The Bank Statement makes Nikki tap at 12:14.

Rating: C+. This worked well in a way to make Cross look good, which is something that needed to happen. Bayley and Banks not losing is the right call as well, as both of them are still getting themselves established in their new roles. Good effort from everyone here and some smart booking to get them out of a sticky situation.

Post match the beatdown is still on until Becky Lynch comes out with a chair for the save. Banks and Bayley get their own chairs so it’s Charlotte making the save to take care of Bayley. The beatdown on Banks sends the villains leaving.

Post break, Banks wants a rematch with Becky at Hell in a Cell.

The limo arrives at the arena with R-Truth on top. That means a rollup to give him the title back, because that joke is still going. They come to a truce because they both work hard 24/7 to do their jobs.

Becky doesn’t just want to face Banks at Hell in a Cell, because it should be IN the Cell.

Lacey Evans vs. Dana Brooke

Well at least it isn’t Natalya again. Lacey isn’t wasting time and kicks her into the corner but gets driven into the corner. Dana hammers away and gets one off a suplex so Lacey sweeps the leg to take her down. A nasty slingshot dropkick to the face rocks Dana and it’s time for the armbar. Dana fights up for the comeback but walks into the Woman’s Right. She’s out cold but Lacey slaps on the Sharpshooter for the win at 3:12.

Rating: D. Dana was trying and looked good at times, but GOOD GRIEF why is Lacey vs. Natalya continuing? They’ve already split some matches and now we need to have them play mind games? The ending made me roll my eyes because I never need to see the two of them fight again and now we’re likely heading to some big showdown that no one but the two of them care about.

Seth Rollins vs. Robert Roode

Non-title and Dolph Ziggler is here with Roode. Feeling out process to start with Roode armdragging him into an armbar. That lasts as long as any average armbar and Roode hits him in the ribs to take over. Roode knocks him off the barricade so Ziggler can get in a cheap shot and we take a break.

Back with Roode still on the ribs before sending Seth outside. This time Ziggler’s interference is cut off with a superkick and the comeback is on. The springboard knee misses but so does Roode’s spinebuster. That means Rollins can hit a Falcon Arrow for two, followed by the Buckle Bomb. The Stomp looks to finish but Ziggler comes in for the DQ at 10:25.

Rating: C-. Not much to see here as Ziggler just won’t go away and kept popping in here, despite not being the most intriguing presence in the world. I can appreciate not having a new champion lose though, even if it’s to the World Champion. Just don’t let Ziggler and Roode (or at least Ziggler) around Rollins much longer and things should be fine.

Post break the OC comes in for the 5-1 beatdown but Kane (in full gear and mask) of all people makes the save to a huge pop. Chokeslams abound as I try to imagine masked Kane without hair. There is something amusing about the costume coming complete with a huge wig….and there go the lights. The Fiend is here and it’s a Mandible Claw to Kane. Fiend crawls over to Rollins and a minute long Firefly Fun House logo, with the colors changing, the graphic going upside down and the voice sounding rather evil, ends the show. Good ending, with the mind games and evil continuing.

Overall Rating: C-. I wasn’t sure about this one as it had a lot of things going on, though very few of them felt all that important. Rollins vs. Fiend should be interesting, but you can tell the attention is shifting more towards Smackdown as Raw is starting to feel a lot smaller. That should be the way things go once they get to FOX, but I would hope for some extra attention on Raw in the way of storylines, as a lot of the things on this show felt like they were just thrown out there to fill in the three hours. Not a terrible show, but it wasn’t exactly a show to get invested in.

Results

OC b. Cedric Alexander/Viking Raiders – Phenomenal Forearm to Alexander

Baron Corbin b. Chad Gable – End of Days

Ricochet b. Mike Kanellis – Recoil

Rusev b. Mike Kanellis – Accolade

Rey Mysterio b. Cesaro – Code Red

Sasha Banks/Bayley b. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross – Bank Statement to Cross

Lacey Evans b. Dana Brooke – Sharpshooter

Seth Rollins b. Robert Roode via DQ when Dolph Ziggler interfered

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

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

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

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

Clash Of Champions 2019
Date: September 15, 2019
Location: Spectrum Center, Charlotte, North Carolina
Commentators: Michael Cole, Renee Young, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, Tom Phillips

Even though titles are an everyday part of wrestling, we have here a full show all about them, because most shows need to have a theme these days. There are a lot of matches crammed onto this show, though thankfully they have moved King of the Ring to Raw tomorrow to save some space. Let’s get to it.

I was in the arena for this show, sitting in the upper deck opposite the hard cameras.

Kickoff Show: Cruiserweight Title: Drew Gulak vs. Lince Dorado vs. Humberto Carrillo

Gulak is defending. Every match is getting Big Match Intros and they’re lowering the lights during the introductions, which is a really cool visual that I hope becomes the norm. Also, cool shot from Gulak just sitting on the ropes and holding up the title because it’s all that matters. Gulak wastes no time in dropkicking Carrillo into the corner at the bell but both challengers go after him at the same time.

Carrillo’s half of a double dropkick misses but he makes up for it with a springboard armdrag to take Gulak down (that always looks great). Dorado sends both of them to the floor for a springboard crossbody, followed by a hurricanrana off the barricade to the champ. Gulak takes Dorado down though and goes back inside, where Carrillo’s flips offer some frustration. The armbar goes on, which just does not seem like a good idea in a triple threat.

Dorado comes back in with a crossbody on Carrillo for two with Gulak not being able to get there in time anyway. A gutbuster cuts Dorado down though and it’s something like a full nelson/abdominal stretch hybrid to stay on the ribs. Carrillo is back in with a dropkick and a COME ON, which is rarely a good sign for someone trying to fire up the crowd. Another dropkick puts Gulak on the floor again, where he catches Dorado in an electric chair. That’s fine with Carrillo, who dives onto both of them for a nasty crash.

Back in and the missile dropkick gives Carrillo two more with Gulak making a proper save this time around. Carrillo goes up for a moonsault but Gulak raises boots, which Carrillo catches and reverses into a modified Sharpshooter. That’s broken up as well so it’s the exchange of rollups gets a bunch of two counts.

Everyone is down again until Carrillo heads up top, with Gulak launching Dorado for a dropkick. Gulak is knocked outside, leaving Dorado to miss a shooting star press. Carrillo hits a Disaster kick into the Aztec Press, only to have Gulak come in and suplex Dorado for the pin (only after the referee tells Dorado that his shoulders are up, causing Dorado to drop down) to retain at 10:06.

Rating: C+. Exactly what you should be going for with this match in this spot as the fans are more fired up than they were before. Gulak retaining wasn’t exactly shocking but he is going to be the best choice if 205 Live moves to NXT as it is rumored to be (and should be doing). Carrillo could be something big in the future, but he isn’t ready yet. Dorado could have been almost any third person out there, which isn’t a terrible thing.

Kickoff Show: United States Title: Cedric Alexander vs. AJ Styles

Alexander is the hometown boy (and wearing the colors of the Charlotte Hornets) and challenging, meaning he gets quite the strong reaction, even though AJ was born in North Carolina as well. You can see what this means to Cedric and that’s not the kind of thing you can fake. AJ sends the Good Brothers to the back and is willing to go it alone. The bell rings and AJ charges straight at him, earning himself a Michinoku Driver for an early two.

The big running flip dive takes AJ down again and a Neuralizer gets two more. AJ breaks up a springboard though and takes him to the apron for a suplex. The Styles Clash on the floor knocks Cedric cold but AJ pulls him up at two for some reason. The Calf Crusher doesn’t stay on long so Cedric goes to the apron again, this time for a spinning elbow to AJ’s face. Cedric gets in the springboard Downward Spiral but AJ grabs a reverse DDT. With Cedric rocked, it’s the Phenomenal Forearm into the Styles Clash to retain the title at 4:55.

Rating: B-. They packed in a lot here and while I’m not sure I get the idea of having Cedric lose in his hometown in what should have been a layup, I can understand not letting him pin AJ for a title. Cedric had the crowd going here and that likely would have been the case in any city. Good match though, and a pairing I could go for more of in a longer form.

Post match AJ beats on Cedric some more, with Gallows and Anderson coming in to help. No one makes the save. I was expecting the Viking Raiders here but it was just a long beatdown instead.

The opening video looks at all of the titles and the people who hold them, which is exactly what it should be. Then it switches to Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan, which isn’t quite what I think of when I think of a show about champions. We switch into the usual opening hype video, as tends to be the case.

Raw Tag Team Titles: Braun Strowman/Seth Rollins vs. Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler and Roode are challenging after winning the largest Tag Team Turmoil match in Raw history. So it’s on top of a list of…..probably five matches? That’s the second biggest/first time in history deal during the entrances as we heard about Rollins being the first person to defend the Tag Team and Universal Title in history. The title isn’t even forty months old yet and six people have been champion. Can we cool it with historic firsts for it for….I don’t know, until it has a history that matters?

Strowman stares at a scared Roode to start and a big shove sends Roode down. Ziggler comes in for the tried and false jump on the monster’s back sleeper with Strowman breaking it up and kicking him in the face. Now it’s off to Rollins, who has to fight off both villains at once. The running DDT plants Rollins on the floor though and the challengers take over back inside. Ziggler goes with the sleeper again, albeit from a standing position this time due to a lack of monster from Rollins.

The Fameasser gives Ziggler two more but Roode charges into a boot in the corner. Rollins grabs the Blockbuster but Ziggler is back in to prevent any hot tagging. Just to make sure he gets it in, Ziggler jumps on Rollins for another sleeper (he REALLY likes that move). That’s broken up again so Ziggler tries another running DDT, which is reversed into the Falcon Arrow. The hot tag brings in Strowman to clean house, including the running shoulders on the floor.

One big one knocks Roode into the barricade, with Cole saying he almost went into the FANS. That’ll be a fine, which Cole can count as Ziggler slips out of the powerslam. A rake to the eyes causes Strowman to go shoulder first into the post but he’s fine enough to break up the Glorious DDT. Rollins springboards back in with the springboard knee and a Sling Blade to Roode.

Ziggler gets knocked over the barricade and Roode uses the breather to come back with a spinebuster for two of his own. Strowman comes back in but knocks Roode into Rollins, allowing Ziggler to low bridge the monster to the floor. The Glorious DDT plants Rollins to give Roode the pin and the titles at 9:36.

Rating: C. The match was your standard Raw main event and that’s acceptable enough to open a pay per view. Strowman and Rollins were never going to be long for the titles so it’s not like this is some big shock. That being said, the fact that the World Champion has to get pinned in an opening match is another problem entirely, but that’s where they had to go to get out of this story, which absolutely needed an historic first double title defense.

Post match Strowman looks annoyed and Rollins looks up at the screen to see the replay of the loss.

In the back, Strowman says he didn’t get pinned and tonight he’s winning the Universal Title. Rollins might just get his hands.

Becky Lynch says she and Rollins will still be champions at the end of the night. In regards to meeting her match in Sasha Banks, it is Sasha who has questions to answer. Tonight we need to find out if Banks has what it takes to be great. Becky has accomplished more in WWE than any woman ever and she lists off a bunch of her accomplishments. Now Banks is complaining about Becky getting her spot, but Becky earned everything she has. Tonight, Banks finds out what happens when the Man comes around. Becky was bringing the fire here.

We recap the Smackdown Women’s Title match. Bayley had been scheduled to defend against Charlotte but Sasha Banks turning heel prompted a double turn, meaning we get heel Bayley for the first time. I’m not sure what this is going to mean, but it could go a lot of ways.

Smackdown Women’s Title: Bayley vs. Charlotte

Charlotte, of course the hometown girl, is challenging. The announcers talk about how awesome it is that Charlotte is going for her tenth title in just over four years because losing titles means nothing in this company. Charlotte boots her down at the bell for two in basically the same opening as Cedric vs. AJ. Some chops connect and it’s already time to go after Bayley’s knee.

Bayley rolls outside again and gets sent into various barricades as this is one sided so far. The fans are behind Charlotte as she drives Bayley into the corner for some shoulders to the ribs. A knee to Bayley’s knee has her in more trouble but the Figure Four is countered into a small package. Charlotte boots her into the corner and stomps away until the referee pulls her off. That’s enough of a distraction for Bayley to unhook the buckle pad and send Charlotte head first into the steel to retain at 3:45.

Rating: D-. Well that’s a thing that happened. I’m glad Charlotte didn’t get the title again but having the champion getting squashed might not be the best idea in the world. That being said, I do like the idea of Bayley cheating to retain the title like this and it does offer something new for her, which is what she has been needing for a long time now. Felt like a TV angle more than anything else, but at least Charlotte isn’t champion so soon.

Bayley grabs her title and SPRINTS out of the arena as Charlotte has to smile a bit.

We look back at Shane McMahon firing Kevin Owens for Owens doing his job which wasn’t his job.

Smackdown Tag Team Titles: New Day vs. Revival

New Day is defending but they’re banged up after some recent Revival attacks. Woods, with his injured knee, starts with Dash, who is smart enough to go after the bad leg. The good knee hits Dash in the head and Big E. runs Dawson over on the floor for a bonus. Big E. comes in legally to Rock Bottom Wilder out of the corner for two as it’s almost all champs so far. The Warrior Splash is broken up though and Wilder hits a clothesline to knock Big E. off the apron for a big crash.

Back in and the double teaming begins, which is where the Revival tends to shine. The belly to back legdrop gives Dawson two as Graves is all over Saxton again, which is making me long for the FOX move so these two can be away from each other for good. Dawson’s chinlock with a bodyscissors keeps Big E. down but you can’t fight thighs like his forever. The belly to belly plants Wilder and the hot tag brings in Woods to pick up the pace. Woods hits the bottom rope springboard DDT for two as the knee gives out again.

Big E.’s spear through the ropes misses so Wilder tries his own suicide dive, which is pulled out of the air. That’s fine with Dawson, who heads outside for the Shatter Machine. Woods is left to get double teamed, which includes a wise chop block. Another Shatter Machine hits Woods and it’s a reverse Figure Four to make Woods scream. With that out of the way, Woods finally taps away the titles at 10:03.

Rating: C+. Pretty formula based match here but it was a good example of Revival being a better team than most. They knew what they needed to do here and used their better teamwork to get rid of the big monster and then take out the injured man. This made a lot of sense and was well executed, which is what the Revival tends to do. Not a great match, but one that made perfect sense.

Post match Revival grabs the mic and says the titles have been revived. Later tonight, Randy Orton is taking the WWE Championship from Kofi Kingston. What a weird place for a promo.

Alexa Bliss (back to the Harley Quinn look) and Nikki Cross are ready to retain the Women’s Tag Team Titles. The boom mic comes down….because R-Truth and Carmella are running the production. R-Truth: “I’m sorry other Carmella!” Truth praises Bliss’ voice, which she uses to speak into the microphone that R-TRUTH IS ON THE SET SO COME GET THE 24/7 TITLE! The chase is on.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross vs. Fire & Desire

Fire & Desire is challenging and Graves is having his usual Bliss vs. Mandy issues. Mandy slams Cross to start and cartwheels over her, only to be clotheslined right back down. Cross does a weird dance, which Renee declares as the sexiest thing she has seen on WWE TV in years. I’d say Cross is good looking but egads with the hyperbole already.

It’s off to Sonya as Cole is trying to compliment Nikki like she just achieved her lifelong dream and the dream of everyone else who has been told she can’t do it. She’s a pretty, professional athlete who danced (or something close to it), in a wrestling ring for five seconds. Stop acting like she’s Marilyn Monroe winning a Nobel Prize for physics. Graves and Renee make Twitter jokes as Bliss suplexes Sonya for two.

Mandy comes in and Graves is quickly silent, which is just disturbing on a variety of levels. A slap to the face puts Mandy down so she shouts about being gorgeous, which at least cuts off Renee vs. Graves. Hang on though as here are R-Truth and the Mob, with Bliss rolling Truth up for two, which sends them running off again. We settle down to Sonya kicking Bliss in the ribs for two more and hitting the short form chinlock. Bliss gets double stomped in the corner and it’s off to a bodyscissors to keep her down.

That means a LEXI chant (or at least something close to it) so Mandy talks more trash, setting up a double knockdown. That’s enough for the hot tag to Cross, who suplexes and crossbodies Sonya for her own two. Everything breaks down and Sonya pulls Bliss off the top by the hair. A High/Low gets two with Cross having to dive in for the save, earning herself some nice applause. The hanging Purge to Bliss retains the titles at 8:06.

Rating: D. This was like some weird combination of a pretty lame match with comic relief thrown in for a bonus. The commentary made it even worse with everyone running their mouths the whole time and barely paying attention on the match because it wasn’t as important as their petty squabbling. That happens way too often these days and it gets really annoying, even in a low level match like this.

Kickoff Show recap.

Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. The Miz

Miz is challenging after calling out Nakamura for a title shot a few weeks ago. Hold on though as Nakamura’s injured mouthpiece Sami Zayn has something to say. Zayn rants about the level of disrespect around here, including from the Undertaker, who chokeslammed him on Smackdown. We even see a clip of it during Nakamura’s entrance. Just in case that isn’t enough, Zayn has a live mic during the match, which can be either awesome or a nightmare.

They trade arm control to start (with Sami describing Miz’s armdrag as “a decent armdrag at best.”) until Nakamura misses the big kick to the face. Sami’s mic is cut and Phillips is elated. An exchange of COME ON’S lets Nakamura get in the strikes, including the knee to the face as Miz hangs over the apron. Back in and Nakamura kicks away, only to have his leg kicked out from underneath him in a smart move. I mean, it’s not a move that tends to work but it’s smart.

Miz’s own kicks in the corner set up some running clotheslines and the ax handle gets two. The Figure Four is countered into a cross armbreaker but Miz stacks him up to escape. Miz’s big kick is countered into a rollup for two and the spinning kick to the head rocks Miz again. The sliding German suplex makes it even worse but we’re nowhere near enough teased finishers for Kinshasa to connect.

Instead Miz sidesteps it and slaps on the Figure Four until a rope is grabbed. Sami offers a grab of the leg though and it’s a running knee to the back of Miz’s head for two. Kinshasa is countered into the Skull Crushing Finale for a close two but Sami distracts the referee. This time the distraction lets Nakamura hit a kick to the head, followed by Kinshasa to retain at 9:34.

Rating: C-. I bought Miz has having a chance coming in but once the match started, it was rather clear that it wasn’t going to be happening here. Sami is making for a good help to Nakamura and I could go for having them together for a good while. Not a terrible match but it wasn’t exactly must see stuff.

Smackdown is coming to FOX and the Draft is coming on October 11/14.

We recap Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch. Banks came back for the first time in four months since Wrestlemania and she isn’t happy with all of the BECKY cheers. She beat up Natalya and Becky made the save, earning herself a beating. Becky called out Sasha for never being the star she thought she should be, but more importantly she wanted a fight, which got us here.

Raw Women’s Title: Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks

Becky is defending and slaps the trash talk out of Sasha’s mouth. It’s too early for either submission so Banks rolls to the floor in a wise move. For no logical reason whatsoever, Banks poses with her back to the ring, earning herself a baseball slide to the back. Becky’s middle rope legdrop is broken up though and Banks gets in the heelish kicks, setting up more gloating. The Meteora gets two on the champ as Cole suggests that the Four Horsewomen moniker might be an homage to the Four Horsemen.

What looked to be a middle rope Meteora is dropkicked out of the air and they’re both down. Becky is up first with the Bexploder and the fans are getting back into things, which has been lacking for a lot of this show. Another one sets up the middle rope legdrop but Becky’s superplex is broken up and the middle rope Meteora gets a quick two. The kickout draws screams but the Bank Statement is blocked.

The Disarm-Her isn’t though and Banks has to go to the ropes for the break. A running dropkick against the ropes has Banks in more trouble and a missile dropkick gives Becky two. Banks is right back with a pair of Backstabbers into the Bank Statement so Becky rolls into the ropes for the break. Both of them have bad shoulders now though so Banks grabs a chair to make things a little easier. She gets smart though by sliding the chair in for a distraction, meaning she can hit Becky in the ribs with another chair for the near fall (makes sense as Banks is a known Eddie Guerrero fan).

Sasha grabs the chair again but the referee takes it away, allowing Becky to pick it up. A pretty weak chair shot hits the referee and the fight heads into the crowd. Becky hammers away and grabs the Disarm-Her in a handrail, which would make no difference on the hold but looked cool.

They fight through the concourse (where Becky pours mustard on her) and down into another part of the arena with both of them getting knocked down the steps. Back at ringside, Banks drives her back first into the barricade as we’re told that Becky was disqualified for hitting the referee. This isn’t announced in the arena, but we’ll say the match is over at about 15:00.

Rating: B-. Out of everything on the show so far (and likely throughout the rest of the show), this was WAY better in person than it came across here, as there was good action but not the most fire. Banks winning the title was a strong possibility and she probably gets it in the end, but the ending brawl was the annual “here’s a feud that suddenly belongs in the Cell” because it’s September/October and that’s what we need to do.

Post match Becky beats her up even worse, including the Disarm-Her in a chair. The DQ is announced and Becky doesn’t seem to mind as she leaves.

We recap Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton. Kofi snapped at Summerslam and beat Orton up with a kendo stick for glaring at his family, so Orton has declared Kingston stupid. Orton is inside his head and wants to prove that he can beat Kofi one on one. If he had to beat Kofi up to get here, so be it. New Day has been beaten down and Kofi isn’t happy with his family and close friends being attacked. They had a pretty awesome segment on Smackdown where Kofi recreated his famous Boom Drop in Madison Square Garden, which would suggest that he is in trouble tonight.

Smackdown World Title: Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton

Orton is challenging. Feeling out process to start with Orton taking him down by the arm and stopping to smile. A headlock takes Kofi down again so he’s back up with the double leapfrog into a jumping back elbow. Kofi hits a forearm in the corner and Orton bails to the ramp, only to have Kofi strike Orton’s pose to bring him back in. I can always go for some mind games.

Back in and Kofi chops away in the corner but a poke to the eye cuts that off in a hurry. A throat snap across the top sets up a shoulder to send Kofi into the barricade, with Orton following instead of standing around. You can’t let Orton get that close to a table so he drops Kofi back first onto the announcers’ table twice in a row for a pair of twos back inside.

With frustration setting in, Orton sends him shoulder first into the post and strikes the real version of his pose. They head outside again with Kofi going face first into the steps, which just seems to trigger the comeback. Kofi hits a dropkick and the jumping clothesline, followed by the Boom Drop to put Orton in trouble for a change.

Trouble in Paradise is countered into the backbreaker though and Kofi is cut off again. The hanging DDT is countered with a backdrop to the floor and Kofi’s no hands dive puts Orton down. Back in and Orton hits his perfect dropkick for two but Kofi’s SOS is good for the same. Kofi gets crotched on top and the snap powerslam gives us the next near fall.

The hanging DDT knocks another item off of Orton’s to do list and the RKO connects, with Kofi right next to the ropes. Since RKOing a groggy Kofi is out of the question, Orton loads up the Punt. We’re not seeing that one though and Kofi hits Trouble in Paradise to retain at 20:48.

Rating: B-. This was more long than good, though it did have some moments. They could have gone either way here so the match wasn’t the most predictable. Kingston has pretty much plateaued as champion though and that means he needs a new challenger. Since Orton has been defeated, an Orton destroyer might be possible and I think you know where that is going.

The Street Profits preview the King of the Ring finals, including Ford singing the Circle of Life from Lion King. This includes Ford confusing Rafiki with Rikishi, but here’s King Booker to interrupt. Booker talks about the King of the Ring and Dawkins wants to be knighted. See, it sounds good in the club to call yourself the Dark Knight. Booker tells them to get their minds right but comes back for a catchphrase.

We recap Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan, which thankfully is not main eventing the show as was rumored. Reigns was attacked several times by a mystery assailant, eventually revealed to be Rowan. Daniel Bryan was involved for a time as well but now it seems to just be about these two, at least at the moment.

Erick Rowan vs. Roman Reigns

No DQ. They go straight to the fight here, as they should, with the brawl going to the floor, including Reigns being sent face first into the announcers’ table. Rowan drives himself into the steps, so he picks the steps up and hits Reigns instead. They hit each other with various things before making it back to ringside, with Reigns nailing the apron dropkick. Reigns stops to load up the announcers’ table though and gets run over again in a big crash.

They go back inside with Rowan running him over and kicking him in the face as this has been rather physical so far. Reigns clotheslines him to the floor but Rowan lands on his feet and beats Reigns up some more. The steps are brought in but it takes a little extra time so Reigns muscles him up for a Samoan drop. A shot with the steps and the Superman Punch give Reigns two in his best shot yet.

They head outside again with Rowan waking up in a hurry to powerbomb him through the table for two back inside. It’s back into the crowd as they seem to be repeating stuff for the sake of filling in time, which is never a good idea. They mix it up a bit by going to the tech area for a claw slam through a table to knock Reigns out again, allowing Rowan to put him on the stage.

Rowan grabs the camera again but Reigns pulls out….what looked like a spiked club to hit him in the ribs. The camera hits Rowan and so does a Superman Punch but the spear is cut off by the returning Luke Harper, who gets quite the reaction as soon as people realize who he is. The discus lariat sets up Rowan’s Iron Claw for the pin at 17:24.

Rating: C+. There were good and bad parts to this one and the good just outweighs the bad. First of all, they were very smart to make this a fight instead of a match because not only does it make more sense, but it made for a better showing. Harper was a great surprise too and a pretty welcome return. The problem though is the length, as this could have been cut in half to make things better. Rowan looked like an unstoppable monster though so well done for making something new.

Seth Rollins says the loss earlier wasn’t on him. He slayed a beast at Summerslam so tonight, let’s add a monster to the collection.

Raw World Title: Seth Rollins vs. Braun Strowman

Strowman is challenging and runs Rollins over at the bell because that’s the theme of the night. An early running powerslam attempt is escaped and Rollins starts in on the knee. Three straight superkicks into the frog splash don’t even get one and Rollins is stunned (fair enough). Strowman throws him down again and says Seth is tougher than this.

Rollins avoids a charge and hits back to back springboard knees to the head. A third is countered with a shot to the chest though and the champ is down on the floor. Strowman runs him over once but a second attempt is countered with a drop toehold to send Strowman over the announcers’ table. A suicide dive connects and Rollins puts him on the announcers’ table, but Strowman runs the steps to shove him off the top.

Rollins can’t superplex him so Strowman shoves the champ off the top, setting up a heck of a top rope splash for two. Strowman banged up his knee on the crash though so Rollins grabs a sleeper. With Strowman down, the Stomp connects for two. Then the Stomp connects for two and then the Stomp connects for two, then a Pedigree sets up a fourth Stomp to retain the title at 10:54.

Rating: B-. I know it’s not the biggest surprise as Strowman manages to come up short again, but they didn’t exactly hide that this was just a pit stop on the way to the real match with the Fiend next month. Strowman’s big man offense worked well as usual, but there wasn’t exactly much doubt about the ending. What we got was entertaining though, with that splash looking great. It’s good, but it’s nothing memorable, much like the show as a whole.

Post match Rollins poses on the stage but the lights go out and we’ve got a Fiend. Sister Abigail onto the stage sets up the Mandible Claw and various gyrations to leave Rollins laying and end the show with an evil laugh.

Overall Rating: C. This was a tricky one to grade as it’s certainly not a terrible show, but it’s one of the least interesting or memorable ones that I can remember. Above all else, watching it a second time made it feel really long. It felt like I watched this thing for the better part of a month and it wasn’t that great in the first place.

Nothing on here is going to stick with me beyond maybe a day or two more, which isn’t a good sign when I’ve watched it twice in less than five days. It felt like nothing happened here, with only the Tag Team Titles changing hands. That hasn’t meant anything in years so I need more than that to make for a good show. It’s watchable once at best, but don’t expect to see anything that hasn’t been done better before.

Results

Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode b. Seth Rollins/Braun Strowman – Glorious DDT to Rollins

Bayley b. Charlotte – Ram into an exposed turnbuckle

Revival b. New Day – Reverse Figure Four to Woods

Nikki Cross/Alexa Bliss b. Fire & Desire – Hanging Purge to Rose

Shinsuke Nakamura b. The Miz – Kinshasa

Sasha Banks b. Becky Lynch via DQ when Lynch hit the referee with a chair

Kofi Kingston b. Randy Orton – Rollup

Erick Rowan b. Roman Reigns – Iron Claw

Seth Rollins b. Braun Strowman – Stomp

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

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

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

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

Smackdown
Date: September 17, 2019
Location: State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia
Commentators: Tom Phillips, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

Things could get interesting around here again as we have the fallout from Clash of Champions, as well as what happened last night. That means a lot of Baron Corbin as he is officially crowned as King of the Ring, though I’m not sure where that could be going. Other than that, we’re less than three weeks away from the next pay per view and need a new challenger. Let’s get to it.

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

The announcers preview the show.

New Day vs. Revival/Randy Orton

Big E. immediately throws Dash with a belly to belly and follows it up with the apron splash for two. Dawson comes in and gets elbowed in the face by Woods to stagger him rather well. It’s off to Orton, who gets knocked down by everyone in a row, including the Warrior Splash from Big E.

The threat of Trouble in Paradise sends Orton outside and we take a break. Back with Dawson working on Woods’ knee and Orton coming in to stay on it. Woods chops away at Orton until a poke to the eye cuts him off. Dawson puts on a leglock before throwing Woods outside, where Orton drops him onto the announcers’ table.

We take another break and come back with Kofi hitting SOS on Orton but Dawson makes the save. Wilder hits a tornado DDT to plant Woods on the floor, leaving Orton to hit the hanging DDT on Kofi. The super RKO is broken up though and Kofi DDTs both Dawson and Wilder. Woods’ rope walk elbow hits Dawson to send him outside, followed by Trouble in Paradise to finish Dawson at 17:30.

Rating: C. Not too bad here and hopefully we’re done with Orton as a challenger at the moment. Kingston beat him clean on Sunday and there is no point in continuing with their feud. Now though the question becomes where we go from here and I have a bad feeling I know where it is going.

Post match here are Paul Heyman and Brock Lesnar with Heyman doing his intro and Lesnar making him get in the ring to say it. Lesnar is here to stand in the way of Kofi’s title reign because it’s a bad day for the New Day, yes it is. The challenge is made for October 4 on the first Smackdown on FOX. Kofi accepts because he’s not that bright at times. The ensuing F5 seems to back that up. Yeah Lesnar is winning the title and as annoying as it is, I get why they’re going that way.

Sasha Banks accepts Becky Lynch’s challenge for a match inside the Cell because she has been inside one before. Tonight, she’s beating Charlotte.

We look back at Luke Harper returning at Clash of Champions to help Erick Rowan beat Roman Reigns.

Michael Cole sits down with Rowan, who doesn’t want to talk about Harper. Cole calls what Rowan tried with Reigns attempted manslaughter, so Rowan tells him to tone down his voice. Rowan is tired of being overlooked and doesn’t like Daniel Bryan saying they were intellectual equals. He is far superior to Bryan and everyone will learn to never disrespect him again. Pretty standard heel reasoning, but the camera work helped a lot here with Rowan’s size difference on full display for a really good visual.

Ali vs. Shinsuke Nakamura

Non-title and Sami Zayn handles Nakamura’s introduction. Before the match, Zayn talks about Ali beating Nakamura a few weeks back, but that was before Nakamura and Zayn joined forces. Ali will never be a champion, so the fight is nearly on. Zayn’s distraction lets Nakamura knee Ali in the head, setting up Kinshasa. No match.

Kevin Owens arrives and sits in the crowd. Shane McMahon is on his way to the ring to deal with this but gets served with papers. Shane isn’t happy with them and goes to the ring without saying anything.

Post break here’s Shane, with the papers, in the arena. He calls out some security but tells Owens to come into the ring. Security is ready but Shane tells Owens to come in and has security leave (Then why have them in the first place?). The papers are the largest wrongful termination lawsuit in history, saying that if he is fired, he will receive $25 million.

They argue over the merits of the case, with Owens saying that Shawn fined him for attacking Elias when Elias was serving as a referee. Then Shane did the same thing to him last week, after Owens swallowed his pride and tried to get rid of the initial fine. Owens knows that he needs to hit Shane in the wallet, which is what he is going to do. With this case, he’ll be able to tell Shane that he is fired for a change. You know what might make Smackdown better? Not arguing over money and lawsuits all the time.

We get the same AOP vignette from last night.

Charlotte is in the back and Ric Flair is with her.

Charlotte vs. Sasha Banks

Multi-platinum recording artist Offset, wearing a Ric robe, introduces Charlotte. Bayley is here with Banks, who is sent into the buckle a few times to start. An early attempt to pull the turnbuckle pad off earns Bayley a glare so Banks posts Charlotte to take over as we go to a break.

Back with Charlotte hitting a fall away slam before grabbing a Boston crab. Banks makes it over to the ropes before her back is snapped, only to have Charlotte boot her to the floor. The moonsault takes out both Banks and Bayley and it’s time for the Figure Eight. Banks is screaming a lot but Bayley comes in for the DQ at 7:50.

Rating: C+. These two always work well together though having Charlotte as a face (or at least the one in this match) is always a bit weird. The size difference is so jarring between the two of them that it makes Charlotte look more like a bully to be going after Banks. There aren’t many women of Charlotte’s size though and it’s going to be the case a lot of the time.

Post match the double beatdown is on but Carmella runs in for the save with superkicks. Bayley looks confused before getting kicked in the face as well.

Here’s Baron Corbin for his coronation as King of the Ring. He knows most people wanted ANYONE but him, but he thinks he can be a fair and firm king. If he has to, he will rule with an iron fist, but first he wants to honor Chad Gable. Cue Gable, with Corbin making short jokes during his entrance. People have been overlooking Gable for his entire career and last night, Gable came up short. Gable isn’t wasting time and tackles him through the throne, which is destroyed on impact. A shot with the scepter breaks that up and the destruction is on as Corbin bails. The robe is ripped up and the crown is stomped on for a bonus.

The announcers talk about NXT’s USA debut.

Heavy Machinery vs. B-Team

Otis now has regular trunks to show off the physique a bit more. Tucker gets taken into the wrong corner to start and it’s Dallas celebrating early. An easier than it should be roll over gets Tucker out of trouble and the hot tag brings Otis in. Some kicks to the stomach make Otis start dancing and it’s a corner splash to set up the Caterpillar. The Compactor finishes Dallas at 3:25.

Rating: D+. What were you expecting here? These teams have probably done almost the exact some match a few dozen times to open TV tapings or house shows and they could probably do it in their sleep. Heavy Machinery knows how to entertain the fans and they did that very well here.

We recap the Lesnar vs. Kofi segment.

Here’s Daniel Bryan for a chat. He hears the DANIEL BRYAN chants but points out that a lot of those same people were accusing him of being behind the attacks on Reigns. Bryan may be a lot of things, but he is not a liar. Rowan is still his friend, and here he is in person. Rowan doesn’t like what Daniel is saying, because it was always about Bryan. It makes Rowan feel disrespected so Bryan tells him to do something about it.

Cue Luke Harper to jump Bryan from behind and the beatdown is on. Roman Reigns comes out for the save but gets beaten down as well, including a powerbomb against the post. Security gets taken out and the announcers’ table is loaded up. A double spinebuster through the table destroys Bryan to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This was a show that felt like the first step towards the debut on FOX. There is a big star return and what should be a setup for a major tag match. The rest of the show was good enough, even as a mainly talking/story advancing shows. I liked what we got here, but next week isn’t the most important show in the world. I’ll take watchable over nothing though and we got the former this week.

Results

New Day b. Revival/Randy Orton – Trouble in Paradise to Dawson

Charlotte b. Sasha Banks via DQ when Bayley interfered

Heavy Machinery b. B-Team – Compactor to Dallas

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

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

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

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

It’s time for one of those shows that shouldn’t be all that novel of a concept yet it apparently only matters one night a year. Titles are usually what matter most in wrestling and they are defended on every single show, but in this case we have a show dedicated to them. That doesn’t mean the show will be bad (as it shouldn’t be) but the show isn’t exactly a novel concept. Let’s get to it.

Women’s Tag Team Titles: Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross(c) vs. Fire & Desire

I know this hasn’t been announced for the Kickoff Show yet but it’s tailor made for the show. Bliss and Cross are suddenly real friends and faces, which means they aren’t likely to hold the titles for very long. What interests me more than anything else here is how the titles have gone from complete afterthoughts to something that actually matter in the span of a few weeks, all because they’ve been treated like something people want. Funny how that works no?

I’ll go with new champions here as Bliss and Cross are fresh faces and therefore must be crushed immediately. WWE has been wanting to push the heck out of Rose forever now and Deville shouldn’t be that far behind her. Giving them the titles lets some more teams chase them, possibly while even getting some more people back on the show (like Asuka, as her rehabilitation needs to begin). New champs here, though it’s far from a guarantee.

Cruiserweight Title: Drew Gulak(c) vs. Gran Metalik vs. Humberto Carrillo

This is another match that hasn’t been announced for the Kickoff Show but you can all but guarantee it’s going to be there. Just for the sake of tradition if nothing else. Metalik was added to this match a few weeks ago when people realized that the idea of Carrillo vs. Gulak on their own wasn’t the most thrilling thing in the world. Then again, does it really matter at this point?

We’ll say Gulak retains here as it seems like the perfect kind of match to have the challengers get in the way and then likely blow it in the end with Gulak stealing the pin. Odds are the title is moving to NXT in the near future (where it should have been in the first place) and they might as well put Gulak in there so Kushida or Isaiah Scott can take the title from him.

SmackDown Tag Team Titles: New Day(c) vs. Revival

This is the forgotten match on the card as New Day has been laid out by Revival and Randy Orton so many times now. In theory that should mean new champions as New Day is not only banged up, but they also don’t have any reason to keep the titles. The team has done everything they can do now so they might as well just change the titles and get it over with.

So yeah Revival wins here, as there is just no reason for the New Day to hold onto the titles any longer. There’s a case to be made for giving them their revenge but Revival has been held back so many times that they need a win where they can keep the titles for a long, healthy reign. New Day is far past the point where they need the belts so just give them to the Revival already.

US Title: AJ Styles(c) vs. Cedric Alexander

Now this one interests me as there are a lot of factors to consider. First of all, it is clear that Alexander is one of Paul Heyman’s pet projects. They want to push the heck out of him, which seems to be a very similar story to what they did with Ricochet. Now Ricochet got the title, but I’m not sure if that is what they are going to do here with Alexander. Couple that with Alexander being the hometown boy and it isn’t clear how this is going to go.

I’ll go with Alexander winning the title in a fluke for a feel good moment. At some point you have to pull the trigger on someone and see what you have with them. It seems that they did that with Ricochet and then he lost the title just a few weeks later. Maybe Alexander does the same thing, but he needs a reign to establish himself more than Ricochet did. Either way, Styles doesn’t need the title at the moment so he can drop it without a problem.

Roman Reigns vs. Erick Rowan

This is the only non-title match on the card but it’s also one of the most personal. Rowan was recently revealed as the attacker who had been going after Reigns, which makes him a lot more interesting than he has been in years. Rowan seems to be the only villain at the moment, but Daniel Bryan being added to the story would make a lot of sense in the near or far future.

That being said, I think you have the match end with something other than a clean finish. If Reigns wins, the story is over in a hurry as he beats Rowan the first time out. Therefore, I’ll go with Rowan, as there is little benefit to having him lose, unless they want to blow the thing up already. There is no reason to go there, so Rowan wins with the biggest singles moment of his career.

SmackDown Women’s Title: Bayley(c) vs. Charlotte

Oh I’m worried about this one. Bayley is getting better as champion and has held the thing for a nice reign now, but you can never count out WWE’s ability to give Charlotte the title, again in her hometown. What better way to make everyone happy than to give her the title again because she hasn’t held one in over five months now (which might be a record for her).

I’ll go with Bayley retaining here, though I have no reason to believe she holds onto the title much longer. WWE is annoyingly obsessed with having Charlotte as the dominant champion and it would be quite like them to cut the newly heel Bayley off at the knees less than two weeks after her turn. Let Bayley keep it a little while longer and maybe build up someone fresh for a change instead of going with the same women and matches over and over again.

Intercontinental Title: Shinsuke Nakamura(c) vs. The Miz

This is one of those matches that looks one sided on paper but at the same time, you could also look at the bigger picture and see something complete different. There is no reason to have Nakamura lose here as he and Sami Zayn are starting to get somewhere and Nakamura needs to reestablish himself as a player with something like a long Intercontinental Title reign.

At the same time though, I’ll take Miz for the sake of tying Chris Jericho, then have them trade the title again so Miz can make it to ten and then go the other three weeks he needs to set the record for most combined days as champion. I know it sounds ridiculous, but would you put it beyond WWE to do something this petty? It’s not what I would do, but WWE has done something like this before for the sake of something that silly.

Raw Tag Team Titles: Seth Rollins/Braun Strowman(c) vs. Robert Roode/Dolph Ziggler

Now this one might be the easiest pick all night long. Rollins and Strowman are meeting later in the night for Rollins’ Universal Title, so why in the world would they be trying to work hard to defend these titles? I know the idea of any title means something but it doesn’t make much sense for Strowman to break his neck to retain these titles. It wouldn’t surprise me to see him turn on Rollins, as he should in one sense.

So yeah this one is the obvious title change as the titles should go to Roode and Ziggler. Why in the world would you go with anything else here? I know they’re just another pair of heels thrown together with nothing else to do but in this case, they’re going after some champions who are the face version of the same thing. New champs, hopefully with the Viking Raiders crushing them for the titles like, the next night.

Raw Women’s Title: Becky Lynch(c) vs. Sasha Banks

Again, this one depends on what you’re looking at for the future. Lynch is the biggest star the women’s division has at the moment and is one of the marquee stars of the company. Banks on the other hand can be a heck of a heel champion if she FINALLY gets to retain the thing for more than a few weeks. She’s been awesome in her return, but I’d be skeptical about handing her a title just a few weeks after she took so much time off.

I think WWE goes with a new champ though, as Lynch going to SmackDown Live wouldn’t shock me, meaning she needs to lose the title sooner rather than later. Let Banks get her title win here (possibly with Bayley helping) and go from there. Lynch is going to be a star no matter what and she doesn’t have anyone else to feud with on Monday Night Raw anyway.

SmackDown World Title: Kofi Kingston(c) vs. Randy Orton

Egads man I don’t know. What you can all but guarantee is that Kingston isn’t champion when the first SmackDown Live on FOX ends, but the question is who does he lose it to? Is it here vs. Orton or LESNAR SMASH on SmackDown Live? Kingston has already had a FAR longer reign than I would have expected so the title change does make sense.

And I think that’s what we’ll be getting. Orton hasn’t been World Champion in a very long time now and having him win it here wouldn’t be the biggest stretch. Go with what makes sense here and put the title on Orton. If WWE absolutely has to, and something tells me that they much, they can go with Lesnar soon enough, because it’s been….well just over a month since he was champion at this point, which is more than long enough.

Raw World Title: Seth Rollins(c) vs. Braun Strowman

I’m rarely a fan of a lame duck title match but that is what we have here. Bray Wyatt is going to be getting the title match next month inside the Cell and that is the big money match at the moment. That leaves the question of who should get to face him, which is kind of a debatable point here with two viable options.

While they’ve both viable, WWE just isn’t going to put the title on Strowman. If they were going to do it, they would have done it by now and since they should have pulled the trigger over a year ago, it would seem to be the time to do it again. That’s why I’m going with Rollins: it makes sense to put the title on Strowman, so WWE won’t do it here.

Overall Thoughts

This show is uh, heavy. There is a lot to digest on a single card and that could become a big problem in a hurry. The show offers no room to breathe and I’m worried about what that is going to mean for the show. I’m sure there are going to be several title changes, but how many of them are going to matter with SmackDown Live on FOX looming as much as it is? It looks good enough on paper, but it seems like a show that could be rather exhausting in execution.

 

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

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

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

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

Main Event
Date: September 12, 2019
Location: Madison Square Garden, New York City, New York
Commentators: Renee Young, Byron Saxton, Dio Maddin

We’re in a special place this week and I’m not sure what that is going to mean for this show. Raw was rather great and Smackdown was terrible so I’m not sure what to expect. You know it’s going to include Dana Brooke and Sarah Logan though, because they have become the soul of Main Event. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Dana Brooke/Sarah Logan vs. IIconics

I….sure why not. The IIconics say it makes sense to have them here in the world’s most iconic arena. Billie rolls over Logan to start and strikes the pose as we take a very early break. Back with Peyton coming in for the bulldog onto Billie’s knee but Sarah kicks her away. A missed elbow allows for the diving tag to Dana as everything breaks down. The handspring elbow hits Logan though and it’s the knee to Dana’s head for the pin at 5:58. Not enough shown to rate but they’re trying to make a story out of Logan and Brooke so….yeah I don’t believe it either.

Video on Bayley turning heel last week and joining Sasha Banks.

From Raw.

Bayley/Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte/Becky Lynch

Charlotte and Becky are ticked about having to team with each other so they charge to the floor to start the fight in a hurry. Charlotte gets sent into the barricade and it’s Becky getting double teamed before the bell. Charlotte clears the ring with a chair and we take a break before the match starts. Back with the bell ringing (thank you) with Banks bailing instead of having to face Becky. That’s fine with Becky, who sends Bayley into the barricade and hands it off to Charlotte to keep up the beating.

Charlotte fights out of the corner in a hurry and hands it back to Becky for a jumping kick to the face. Banks comes back in and grabs a suplex for two on Becky. They don’t waste time on the hot tag though as Charlotte comes in and kicks Bayley off the apron. The neckbreaker gets two on Banks and the Figure Eight goes on. Becky tries the Disarm-Her on Bayley, who sends Becky into Charlotte for the save. The Meteora off the apron hits Charlotte and we take a break.

Back with Charlotte getting knocked into the corner but getting up a knee to stop a charging Bayley. The hot tag (the sequel) brings in Becky to clean house with the Bexploder to Sasha. Bayley can’t get the Bayley to Belly so Sasha hits the Backstabber instead. Charlotte big boots Sasha and Becky adds a double missile dropkick. The moonsault actually hits Bayley (though Charlotte almost landed in a pushup) but Banks breaks up the cover at two.

Becky gets the Disarm-Her on Banks on the floor with Bayley making the save. That means a baseball slide from Charlotte….but there is no one there so it was just an over enthusiastic dive to the floor. Bayley suplexes Becky into the barricade and German suplexes Charlotte on the floor before taking it back inside. The top rope elbow hits raised knees and Natural Selection pins Bayley at 17:27.

Rating: B. This was an energetic match and the crowd was hot for it throughout. You could tell they were fired up to have the Horsewomen in the same match and we had a good one here. It’s a tag match so the champ getting pinned isn’t the worst thing, though I’m hoping it means Bayley retains on Sunday as there is no need to put the title on Charlotte again just yet.

From Raw again.

We’re not wasting time this week as here’s Austin to open the show for some beer consuming. Before Austin gets to the point, we take a trip down memory lane and hear about some of his great moments in MSG, including Survivor Series vs. Bret Hart, the first Stunner to Vince and Summerslam vs. Undertaker, complete with Austin being knocked silly. With that out of the way, it’s time to get down to the contract signing between Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins.

Strowman comes out first and stares Austin down, drawing a heck of an AUSTIN chant. Strowman offers a handshake but Austin introduces Rollins instead, with some extra bass in his voice. Rollins wants to sign but first has to talk about how awesome it is to be in the Garden with Austin. See, Strowman thinks there is something going on here and Austin might have it in for him. Rollins isn’t sure if that’s the case or not but gets in on the WHATs for a bonus.

Austin says we need to sign the contract so Rollins says he’ll win on Sunday and then signs. Strowman says he respects Austin but a rattlesnake is still a rattlesnake. He won’t turn his back on Rollins because he loves being Tag Team Champions. He’ll love being Universal Champion more though and promises to give Rollins these hands. Strowman signs….and here’s the OC to interrupt.

Styles mocks a bunch of Austin catchphrases and threatens Steve a bit, with Styles not exactly buying it. AJ rips on New York a bit so Austin tells him to put some bass in his voice. The OC gets in the ring with AJ asking how Strowman got a title match so easily and calls Austin old. Austin moves the table and it’s Strowman and Rollins fighting the OC as Austin looks on. AJ dodges the Stomp and sends Rollins outside, only to turn into the Stunner to blow the roof off the place.

From Smackdown.

Here’s Rowan for a chat. What the people don’t understand is that no one controls him, but here’s Reigns to interrupt. The fight is on in a hurry with Reigns knocking him into the crowd. Rowan fights back though and grabs a fan, who he powerbombs over the barricade onto waiting security. They fight over the barricade and back to ringside, where Rowan swings a camera at Reigns to knock him down again before leaving. Good brawl, though I’m not exactly buying Rowan as a major threat to Reigns.

And now….an exclusive Main Event SEGMENT. Charly Caruso brings out former New York Knick Enes Kanter, who is NOT popular around here. Before he can say anything though, here’s R-Truth and I think you know where this is going. They hug and Truth puts Kanter over….so Kanter clotheslines him to win the 24/7 Title. Kanter opens his jacket to reveal a Boston Celtics jersey but gets rolled up to give Truth the title back. The mob chases Truth off.

From Smackdown.

Here’s Kofi Kingston, who is very happy to be in the Garden. It was ten years ago in this very building where he crushed Randy Orton through a table and was ready to become one of the biggest stars in WWE. We see a clip of the Boom Drop through the table in 2009 but here’s Orton in the crowd to call Kofi stupid. We hear about Orton’s accomplishments in the last ten years but none of that matters. All that matters is Orton winning the title on Sunday when he proves that Kofi is something he isn’t.

That’s what Kofi has done for years now, from the Jamaican accent to the dreadlocks to that Power of Positivity bull****. Kofi goes into the crowd after him but Orton is waiting on him with a chair. Kofi gets it away though and fights back, meaning it’s time to set up a table. Orton knocks him down though and puts Kofi onto the table. The chair is grabbed but Kofi kicks away from the table, which breaks anyway. Another table is loaded up and Kofi hits another Boom Drop before posing on the barricade. Cool moment, though I’m not sure what happens Sunday.

And from Raw.

Cedric Alexander/Braun Strowman/Seth Rollins/Viking Raiders vs. OC/Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode

Rollins and Ziggler start things off because we can never see these two fight enough. A hiptoss into an armbar has Ziggler in trouble and Erik slams Ivar onto him. Everything breaks down for a wild fight and Strowman chokeslams the heck out of Ziggler. We take an early break and come back with Cedric in trouble in the corner. Cedric gets in a faceplant but AJ takes him down by the bad arm and brings Gallows in. The New York fans, getting AJ, the OC and more in the main event, respond with the Wave.

Roode comes back in to work on an armbar and slams the arm into the mat for two. Cedric fights up and knocks Roode down, allowing the hot tag off to Rollins. House is cleaned, including the springboard knee to Anderson for two. The parade of strikes to the face begins with Rollins superkicking Styles to the floor to clear the ring. It’s off to Strowman for the running shoulders around the ring. The running powerslam gets two on Anderson with Roode and Ziggler shoving Seth into the cover for the save.

Strowman isn’t happy with Rollins and we take a break. Back with Anderson spinebustering Rollins for two but Rollins grabs a Blockbuster for a breather. The buckle bomb to Ziggler allows the tag to Strowman and house is cleaned again. Strowman goes shoulder first into the post (it’s a tradition) and Erik comes in to beat people up and shout a lot. Ivar goes up top and hits the big flip dive onto the pile. That leaves Cedric to Lumbar Check Styles for the pin at 19:35.

Rating: C+. The ending makes sense and is a lot more acceptable than having the champ get pinned in a singles match. It was the big spectacle match to end the show with everyone in there at once so it’s hard to complain about what they went with for a main event. Sometimes it’s better to go with the big match instead of some singles match that we’ve seen before and that’s what they did here.

Post match here’s Austin again and a lot of beer is consumed to end the show.

Overall Rating: B-. Now that’s more like it. This show flew by, with a short and meaningless match and an actually unique segment for a change. I don’t get why they have to have two matches instead of doing something like this instead. Why not throw a segment with some brawling or comedy out there? You have so many feuds going on so why not have someone do a short segment and mix it up a bit? They can clearly do it so why not more often? Anyway, good show this week, at least somewhat because it was fresh for a change, complete lack of King of the Ring aside.

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

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

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

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

Main Event
Date: August 29, 2019
Location: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: Renee Young, Byron Saxton

For once, this is kind of nice for a change as we’re fresh off the wrestling marathon weekend with three major shows from three different companies so I can barely remember what happened on Raw and Smackdown other than some King of the Ring stuff. That’s what a recap show is for so I wonder if it’s going to actually work. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Lacey Evans vs. Dana Brooke

Well it’s not Sarah Logan again. We go old school with a test of strength to start but Lacey’s cheap shot completely fails. Lacey gets thrown down and needs a time out on the floor, which goes as well as you would expect. Back in and Lacey hits a pair of knees to the back, meaning it’s already time for the chinlock.

With that broken up, Lacey chokes in the ring skirt and drives some more knees into the back. The tissue gets on Brooke’s nerves and she rolls into a clothesline to drop Lacey. The cartwheel splash gets two and a powerbomb out of the corner is good for the same, only to have Lacey go to the eyes. That’s enough to set up the Woman’s Right for the pin at 6:00.

Rating: D+. I know she isn’t going anywhere anytime soon but Dana has grown a lot on me in the last few months. She’s looking more confident in the ring and is trying some new stuff, though she needs more time like this. It’s almost like she needed more time in developmental, though she got to do developmental here in Main Event. Hopefully she gets a chance one day, but only once she is ready because otherwise it is just going to cause a bigger problem.

Video on Sasha Banks attacking Natalya two weeks in a row.

From Raw.

Here’s Sasha Banks for a chat, but first we see a recap of Banks attacking Natalya (twice) and Becky Lynch. To be fair Natalya kind of earned it. So why did Banks do it? She worked so hard to get where she is over the years and then took her Wrestlemania paycheck to take a much needed vacation. That was the same Wrestlemania where Becky main evented the show for so much more money without putting in the work. Sasha is back because she runs the division because she is the talk of the division. Now she’s back to deserve all the glory but here’s Natalya for the brawl. Officials and agents need some time to break it up.

From later on Raw.

Sasha Banks vs. Natalya

Natalya, with a bad arm, comes straight at her to start and they brawl to the floor early on. Back in and Natalya keeps hammering away, setting up a heck of a release German suplex (Sasha landed hard) for two. Banks tries to get to the floor and manages to wrap the bad arm around the post. A whip into the timekeeper’s area and then the post has Natalya in trouble. The arm gets pulled around the middle rope but Banks misses the running knees in the corner. The Sharpshooter doesn’t work and Banks gets in the Bank Statement, complete with pulling the bad arm around Natalya’s throat for the tap at 4:00.

Rating: C+. This was short but they packed a lot into the time they had with Sasha looking like a killer. She comes off like a threat to Becky Lynch at Clash of Champions and that’s what’s been lacking over the last few months. Banks brings the star power, but how long is it going to be before she brings another headache if she doesn’t get the title?

Post match Banks comes back and hooks the Bank Statement again.

Clash of Champions rundown.

From Raw again.

US Title: AJ Styles vs. Braun Strowman

Styles is defending and the OC is barred from ringside. Strowman throws him over the top almost immediately and it’s time for the running shoulders around the ring. Back in and the Phenomenal Forearm is countered into a chokeslam for two with AJ having to put his foot on the rope. A big boot puts AJ on the floor and we take a break. Back with AJ grabbing a sleeper to take Strowman down to a knee. That’s broken up with a ram into the corner but AJ chop blocks the leg in a smart move. A Lionsault gives AJ two and it’s off to the Calf Crusher in a logical move.

Strowman powers out of it and knocks AJ down again but a missed charge sends Strowman shoulder first into the post. AJ hits Strowman in the back to send the referee outside, allowing a low blow to take Strowman down. A chair is brought in but Strowman hits the powerslam, only to have the OC come in for the beatdown. Strowman fights back with the chair but AJ does the old Eddie Guerrero drop down. The referee says he HEARD the chair shots (that opens up a good number of historical gaps) and that’s a DQ at 9:56.

Rating: C. They did what they could to protect Strowman here and while “I HEARD CHAIR SHOTS” is quite the stretch given how deaf referees have seemed over the years, it’s about as good as you can get outside of the OC running in for the DQ. The match was fine enough and I’m glad they didn’t change the title here as it would be a bit too much for one pay per view.

Strowman cleans house and holds up the US Title to end the show.

Heath Slater/Titus O’Neil vs. Eric Young/Mojo Rawley

What a random heel team. Titus throws Young into the corner to start and it’s Slater coming in to work on the arm. The villains are sent outside with Heath getting in some dancing on the apron as we take a break. Back with Slater in trouble in the corner and getting caught in a chinlock. That’s broken up and Slater gets in a shot of his own for the hot tag off to Titus. Everything breaks down and the Clash of the Titus finishes Young at 6:48.

Rating: D. This didn’t have the time to go anywhere and was running against the fact that it was Slater Gator vs. Eric Young/Mojo Rawley. I would say that Slater Gator could be an interesting team to have around Main Event but it’s not like any of this is going to matter from week to week as odds are we’re going to be seeing Sarah Logan vs. Dana Brooke again next week.

Video on Kofi Kingston vs. Randy Orton.

From Smackdown for a change.

Here’s Kofi Kingston for a chat, but first we see a video on Randy Orton’s attacks since Summerslam. Kofi has heard Orton calling him stupid but who got knocked out last week? Now Orton is trying to turn this personal and he’s bringing in the Revival to help him out. That means Orton is seeing the look when you mess with Kofi’s family so Kofi is ready for Clash Of Champions. Kofi starts the hip thrusts but Orton appears on screen to say STUPID over and over.

Earlier today, Orton was in his hotel room when someone knocked on his door and slid a letter underneath. Normally he doesn’t reply to fan mail but this one was different. It says that Orton is hurting Kofi and he needs to stop hurting him every night. Kofi isn’t just his hero because Kofi is his daddy. It’s from Kofi’s son Kai, and Orton realized that he is staying in the same hotel as Kofi’s family. Maybe he should pay them a visit. Kofi charges to the back and the fight is on in the gorilla position, with Kofi getting hit with the hanging DDT onto the concrete. Kofi is out cold and medics are requested. That was certainly a great THUD.

Long video on Roman Reigns being attacked.

From Smackdown.

Here’s Roman Reigns for the apology to Bryan and Rowan. The two of them appear on screen with Bryan demanding his apology. We see a video of the forklift attack and Rowan is shown pushing some of the crates onto Roman. Bryan slaps him in the face, shouting about how he hates liars. With Rowan gone, Bryan comes to the ring and says he trusted Rowan for almost the last year and now he has been betrayed. Bryan comes to the ring and says he didn’t know what happened but it’s a spear to put him down to end the show.

Overall Rating: D+. Well it certainly exists. The problem here is the same as always: nothing that matters wrestling wise and a recap that shows you just how little some stuff means on TV. They couldn’t even mention the King of the Ring other than in passing but Sasha Banks attacking Natalya warranted a segment and a match? It was nice to get a recap but that’s the best they can do?

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

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

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

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

Monday Night Raw
Date: September 2, 2019
Location: Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

The King of the Ring continues as we find out the final names on the Raw side. This time around it’s Ricochet vs. Samoa Joe and Baron Corbin vs. Cedric Alexander, meaning you should be able to guess where both matches are going. Other than that we’ll likely get some more build to Clash of Champions. Let’s get to it.

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

Here are Braun Strowman and Seth Rollins to open things up with a contract signing. Rollins knows they can work together to beat Robert Roode and Dolph Ziggler but his intentions are to walk out of Clash as a double champ. Strowman says he’ll win but Rollins brings up slaying the beast to win the Universal Title, which is something Strowman doesn’t know about. At Clash, he’ll slay the monster.

Seth signs but here’s the OC to interrupt before Strowman can do the same. AJ explains the double title concept and asks who he’s going to face. He’ll just walk around showing off his title because that’s how you get a title shot around here. AJ wants to know why the Good Brothers aren’t getting their title shot and threatens to slap Cole’s teeth down his throat. Once inside, he rips up the contract that Strowman hadn’t signed, so the table is turned over and the fight is on.

Braun Strowman/Seth Rollins vs. OC

Non-title and joined in progress with Rollins kicking at Anderson before it’s off to Gallows for the power. Strowman comes in and kicks Gallows down without much trouble so it’s back to Anderson for an armbar on Rollins. Seth gets sent outside and into the barricade for a knockdown as we take a break.

Back with Rollins hitting an enziguri on Gallows and bringing Strowman in for the house cleaning. The running powerslam is broken up and everything breaks down, with AJ getting on the apron for a distraction. That’s broken up and Rolling grabs a rollup to finish Anderson at 11:43.

Rating: C-. Just a match here with the break in the middle breaking up the momentum. That being said, I’m much happier with the champs winning instead of having them lose so soon into their title reign. I know they’re not going to be long term champions or anything, but there is no need to have them lose here. For once WWE gets that and doesn’t have the champs lose, which is nice for a change.

Post match Strowman does the run around the ring shoulders but hits Rollins by mistake. Cue Roode and Ziggler to help with the beatdown as all five lay out Strowman and Rollins.

Post break the OC lays out Cedric Alexander before he can give an interview. Cedric seems to have a bad arm injury.

Dolph Ziggler/Bobby Roode vs. Curt Hawkins/Zack Ryder

Ziggler starts fast on Hawkins with Ryder getting knocked off the apron. Roode drops Hawkins ribs first across the top rope but an elbow to the face lets Ryder come in off the hot tag. Everything breaks down and it’s a superkick into the Glorious DDT to finish Hawkins at 4:01.

Rating: D. Just a squash for Roode and Ziggler, which is a fine way to do things. It’s nice to give them a chance to establish themselves a bit more as they have only teamed together once so far. It’s not like beating Hawkins and Ryder means much either way but it’s better than having a team go from debuting to the title match with nothing in between.

Natalya vs. Lacey Evans

Natalya jumps Lacey from behind during the entrances and takes her down to start. They head outside early on and a whip into the barricade has Natalya in trouble for a change. Back in and Lacey calls her a nasty before throwing on the chinlock. The double jump moonsault misses so Natalya hits a discus lariat for two. Lacey grabs a tissue and throws it at Natalya though, setting up the Woman’s Right for the pin at 5:11.

Rating: D. I get that Natalya was angry and emotional, but the cat ears took something away from the emotion they were going for. This felt like a way to get Evans back on track, which she certainly needs, though a win over Natalya isn’t meaning as much as it has before. Evans is a good heel, though she needs someone to feud against.

Here’s Becky Lynch to respond to Sasha Banks. Becky wants to know where Sasha is after she heard a bunch of reasons Sasha left after Wrestlemania last week. She remembers Sasha being a star in NXT while Becky was off to the side. Then Sasha and Charlotte came up to the main roster while Becky was trying to get TV time. Sasha even got bouquets of flowers after her matches. Then Sasha left after Wrestlemania and Bayley has done just fine without Sasha, which has to sting her a bit.

Sasha should be the center of attention, just like Becky is now. If Sasha wants to do this right now, come out here right now you little blue haired freak. Cue Sasha, who laughs off the idea of wanting to be Becky. Sasha: “Haha I wish Nia Jax broke my face so people cared about me!” Becky offers to fight right now but Banks laughs it off because she isn’t fighting for the people. She’ll do it for the paycheck at Clash of Champions. Becky accepts and Sasha promises to make the man the Boss’ b****. Banks is much better as a heel and already the best challenger Becky has had since she won the title.

The Street Profits aren’t sure what to think about that so they send it to commercial.

King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Cedric Alexander vs. Baron Corbin

Cedric’s arm is injured coming in and Corbin promises to win. Corbin starts fast with the slide under the ropes for the heavy clothesline but Cedric scores with a dropkick. The Neuralizer sends Corbin outside and a springboard clothesline gets two back inside. Corbin has had it with this and sends him arm first into the post twice in a row as we take a break. Back with driving elbows into the shoulder and cranking on the chinlock. Alexander fights up and hits a corner dropkick but the springboard Downward Spiral is countered into Deep Six for two.

Cedric gets back up and sends him shoulder first into the post four times in a row, followed by some hard kicks in the corner. The running flip dive to the floor hits Corbin again and a missile dropkick gets two (not bad as it barely connected). The Michinoku Driver is good for the same but another springboard is broken up. Corbin gets serious and finishes with End of Days at 14:30.

Rating: B-. Easily one of the better Corbin matches to date, though I have little faith in him to keep this up. At the same time though, it’s the problem of everything that he’s done over the last few months being a bit harder than that to shake off. Having him come back and win three or four matches doesn’t make up for the horrible last nine months, but I have a feeling WWE will see it differently.

Corbin sits on the throne again.

Long video on the attacks on Roman Reigns.

We look back at the opening segment.

Bayley has no comments on Sasha Banks. Yeah they’ve talked about what is happening lately and their conversations are personal. Banks left but Bayley stayed and took the opportunities. Tonight she is teaming with Becky so ask her a question about that. She isn’t worried about Becky overshadowing her tonight because she’s the Smackdown Women’s Champion.

Viking Raiders vs. ???/???

Before the match, the jobbers say they came all the way from Pittsburgh and are going to make the Raiders look like some Balti-morons. German suplex/springboard clothesline, crossbody against the barricade to another, Razor’s Edge toss sends one into the other and the Viking Experience is good for the pin at 1:24.

King of the Ring Quarterfinals: Samoa Joe vs. Ricochet

The winner faces Corbin next week. Before the match, Joe promises to make this his kingdom. Ricochet on the other hand talks about always redefining what is possible. Ricochet goes for the arm to start so Joe kicks away at the knee to take him down. The comeback out of the corner lets Ricochet get in some shots of his own but a sunset flip doesn’t work.

A low bridge to the floor does though and Ricochet’s moonsault off the barricade drops Joe again. Back in and Joe goes after the knee again by slamming it off the mat and putting on the half crab. Ricochet grabs a rope and is fine enough for two off a Lionsault (that’s a fast healing knee). Joe doesn’t like the lack of selling so he takes it outside for a suplex into the barricade.

We hit the neck crank before a toss across the ring has Ricochet in trouble. Back from the break with Ricochet fighting out of another chinlock and hitting the springboard clothesline. The running shooting star press gets two and Joe is sent outside for the Space Flying Tiger Drop. Back in and Ricochet goes up, meaning it’s the Koquina Clutch from Joe. Ricochet drops back for the big crash though….and it’s a double pin at 16:00.

Rating: C. The knee being fine after the break was a bit much but I’m more worried about where this is going. This sounds like a way to get Corbin to the finals while not having Ricochet lose and other than him, I don’t see anyone stopping Corbin in the whole thing. It’s going to be a long Clash if that’s where we’re going and I have a feeling it is.

The referee goes outside to get a headset and seems to call another referee for a ruling. That ruling….will come later so Ricochet beats up Joe a bit more.

Strowman isn’t happy that Steve Austin is back to moderate the next contract signing next week. Rollins laughs off the idea that he and Austin are in this against Strowman, so Strowman threatens to give Austin these hands.

It’s time for the Firefly Fun House with Bray saying that what the Fiend did to Finn Balor was super duper rude. He apologizes to Balor on behalf of everyone here but it’s Demon Vince popping in to say Bray shouldn’t have challenged the Universal Champion at Hell in a Cell. It’s almost time to be fired but Bray pulls out the money he has been making and feeds it to Vince.

That’s enough for Vince, leaving Bray to say Seth and Braun aren’t a great team but they stole something from him before. We see Bray’s team, which is all of his puppet friends. They help him cope with pain but the Fiend helps him inflict it. Bray: “See you in h***. Let me in. BYE!”

The official decision: a triple threat match next week with Corbin involved.

Rey Mysterio talks about Dominick convincing him not to retire. They had a father and son talk about what it means for Dominick to grow up in the WWE family. It’s a parent’s responsibility to push their children to pursue their dreams but Dominick is pushing him to pursue him. Rey isn’t done because he has more to accomplish.

The Miz vs. Cesaro

The running uppercut gives Cesaro two at the bell and another uppercut gets the same. Miz comes back with some YES Kicks, only to get uppercutted down again. To mix things up a bit, Cesaro uppercuts him off the top and busts out the apron superplex. We hit the armbar for a bit until Miz fights up with kicks in the corner. Swiss Death cuts Miz off for two more but his grab of the rope gets him caught. Miz slugs away but gets uppercutted again, only to come back with the Skull Crushing Finale for the pin at 5:05.

Rating: D. As much as Cesaro showed over in the UK, it was nothing but uppercuts here and that got a bit annoying. Can you blame him though? He has a rather good match over at NXT and comes here to put over Miz before another run at the Intercontinental Title in five minutes. I know someone had to take the loss, but can we find ANYONE other than Cesaro? The fans have long since caught on that he isn’t going to get a big win so the returns are going to diminish in a hurry.

Bayley/Becky Lynch vs. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross

Non-title. It’s a brawl to start with Bliss and Cross being knocked down on the floor…and here’s Sasha early on. Back with Bayley in trouble as Cross and Bliss take turns throwing clotheslines and splashes in the corner. Cross cuts off a diving tag attempt, drawing in Becky for the double stomping in the corner.

The Stunner over the ropes but Bliss cuts off the tag this time around. That’s not enough to cut the tag off three times though as it’s Becky comes in to clean house with MMA style strikes. A middle rope legdrop gives Becky two and she unloads on Bliss in the corner, only to have Banks come in for the DQ at 10:53.

Rating: D+. This was tag team formula stuff until the ending and I can give them a few extra points for not having a champion get pinned (they’ve been doing a bit better about that as of late). Banks vs. Lynch could be an interesting match and certainly feels bigger so the ending works well in that area.

Post match Banks grabs a chair but Bayley takes it away….and turns on Becky with chair shots of her own. The beating continues to end the show. Now that’s interesting as Bayley is more likely to retain over Charlotte while also throwing in a curve ball to Becky vs. Banks. Smart booking choice there, and it’s not like face Bayley was working anyway.

Overall Rating: C-. What an odd show with mostly bad wrestling, good creative and….Baron Corbin with the match of the night? Huh? Anyway, it’s nice to see the champions getting a focus for a change, though it’s kind of annoying that it takes the calendar to make them feel extra special. It’s quite the mixture of good and bad overall but there were a few too many instances of wondering when something was going to end to tilt it down just a bit. That being said, I’ll take them getting rid of the especially annoying stuff and replacing it with slightly uninteresting stuff so they’re moving in the right direction to an extent.

Results

Seth Rollins/Braun Strowman b. OC – Rollup to Anderson

Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode b. Curt Hawkins/Zack Ryder – Glorious DDT to Hawkins

Lacey Evans b. Natalya – Woman’s Right

Baron Corbin b. Cedric Alexander – End of Days

Viking Experience b. ???/??? – Viking Experience

Samoa Joe vs. Ricochet went to a double pin

The Miz b. Cesaro – Skull Crushing Finale

Bayley/Becky Lynch b. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross via DQ when Sasha Banks interfered

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

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

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

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

Monday Night Raw
Date: August 26, 2019
Location: Smoothie King Center, New Orleans, Louisiana
Commentators: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, Renee Young

The King of the Ring continues tonight but we also need to start the build towards Clash of Champions. The show is in less than three weeks and there is barely anything set up so far. That needs to start changing tonight and odds are it will, including a likely Universal Title match between Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman. Let’s get to it.

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

Here’s Sasha Banks for a chat, but first we see a recap of Banks attacking Natalya (twice) and Becky Lynch. To be fair Natalya kind of earned it. So why did Banks do it? She worked so hard to get where she is over the years and then took her Wrestlemania paycheck to take a much needed vacation. That was the same Wrestlemania where Becky main evented the show for so much more money without putting in the work. Sasha is back because she runs the division because she is the talk of the division. Now she’s back to deserve all the glory but here’s Natalya for the brawl. Officials and agents need some time to break it up.

The Street Profits hype up the show, including listing off everyone in the Tag Team Turmoil #1 contenders match. Dawkins: “What is a Tag Team Turmoil match????” Ford: “Graphic please.” The winning team gets a title shot and ALL OF THE SMOKE.

King of the Ring Tournament First Round: Ricochet vs. Drew McIntyre

The winner gets Samoa Joe in the quarterfinals next week. Ricochet wants to wear the crown like his heroes and Drew has a seat on the throne. Drew doesn’t care about former winners because they were all disappointments. He’ll change that though. Ricochet gets thrown around to start but Drew gets tossed to the floor for the middle rope moonsault.

Drew is out of the way so it’s a standoff, only to have Drew side slam him onto the barricade. Without putting Ricochet down, it’s a side slam onto the steps as we take a break. Back with Drew working on the back some more but a missed charge in the corner sets up a kick to Drew’s head. A springboard missile dropkick puts Drew on the floor and it’s the big twisting dive over the top to wipe him out.

Back in and the reverse hurricanrana is countered into the reverse Alabama Slam to give Drew two, with the fans reacting to the kickout. Ricochet gets in a rare power display by catching a corner splash, only to have Drew hit the suplex toss (I guess he wasn’t impressed). Ricochet’s springboard clothesline sets up the running shooting star for two but Drew punches him in the face. Well that’s what you get for trying this flying stuff.

They head outside with Ricochet diving off the steps and getting headbutted out of the air for his efforts. Back in and the Claymore is countered with a superkick but Drew clotheslines the heck out of him. A sitout powerbomb gets two so Drew tries to take him up top, only to get shoved down. The Recoil off the middle rope knocks Drew silly though and the 630 sends Ricochet to the next round at 12:51.

Rating: B. This was a great example of power vs. heart with Ricochet winning clean in the end. They’re getting dangerously close to making him into a star, though I have a bad feeling that we’re going to see him lose to Baron Corbin in the Raw final. We’ll worry about that later though and just enjoy a heck of a match here with Ricochet continuing to be pushed as a big deal.

We look back at Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman winning the Raw Tag Team Titles.

Rollins says he’s ready to defend two titles at Clash of Champions but Strowman is looking at the Universal Title. Strowman wants to know who is getting the title shot and Seth gets the idea in a hurry. Rollins accepts the challenge for Clash of Champions. Note: the graphic says this took place last week but Strowman says they won the titles last week.

King of the Ring Tournament First Round: The Miz vs. Baron Corbin

The winner gets Cedric Alexander next week. During the entrances, Miz talks about all the things he’s won in the ring and says this is the first step to becoming King AWESOME. Corbin slugs away at him but gets knocked to the floor, only to have him drive Miz into the barricade. Back in and we get the slide under the bottom rope into the clothesline as Graves and Renee argue over Corbin’s merits.

We come back from a break with Miz knocking Corbin down and hitting running knees in the corner. The chokeslam is countered into a DDT for two so Corbin tries the slide underneath the ropes. That lands Corbin in the Skull Crushing Finale for two (dang it he’s winning, mainly because his head didn’t seem to hit the mat), followed by the End of Days to give Corbin the pin at 10:00.

Rating: C. The match was pretty good but they’re going to give Corbin his mega push whether we like it or not and there’s no way around it. This is a lot better than what we had to put up with from Corbin over the summer but that doesn’t make it good. Corbin switching to a tank top doesn’t make him interesting but that doesn’t matter to WWE because they see him as a star because…..I would say I’d love to know why but the reasoning could scare me.

Post match Corbin puts on the crown and sits on the throne, saying that there was a poll of WWE fans, saying ANYONE but Corbin for the winner. Corbin laughs it off by saying that he’s accomplished everything on his own and soon we will be hearing ALL HAIL KING CORBIN. Thank goodness we got that riveting promo.

The OC isn’t happy with having to be in an eight team Tag Team Turmoil match tonight. They run this turf.

NXT to USA announcement, a mere six days after it was first announced because they waited until Tuesday morning for whatever reason.

We look back at Rey Mysterio teasing retirement but being stopped by Dominick. Mysterio is back with an update next week.

Bayley vs. Nikki Cross

Non-title. For some reason Bayley had her entrance before the NXT and Mysterio videos. Why bring her out like that if it’s just going to be a bunch of standing around that cools the crowd off? Renee and Graves start fast here as Bayley sends Nikki to the floor, only to get sent into the apron a few times. The bodyscissors has Bayley in trouble so Cross can yell at her about being mean to Bliss. Bayley gets tied in the Tree of Woe for some kicks to the ribs but she is right back with a suplex. The ribs get banged up again but Bayley is fine enough to hit a running knee to the face. The top rope elbow finishes Cross at 4:01.

Rating: D+. Well that happened, and none of it matters as it feels like a bunch of waiting around to get to the Charlotte title win. That’s the problem with having someone as dominant as Charlotte and it’s crippling there rest of the division. This match made it seem like they were building to Bliss vs. Bayley though and that’s not a place anyone needs to go again. In addition to that, we never need to have Graves vs. Young taking over a match like they did here because that was getting a lot more focus than the match.

Strowman is ready to win the US Title to go with his Raw Tag Team Title and then the Universal Title.

Tag Team Turmoil

Winners get a title shot at Clash of Champions. War Raiders are in first and B Team is in second (out of eight total teams) with Erik getting beaten down in the corner early on. That doesn’t last long though as he powers Dallas into the corner for the tag to Ivar. House is cleaned and the Viking Experience gets rid of the B Team at 1:20.

The OC is in third and some double teaming puts Ivar down early. They head outside with Ivar hitting a suicide dive, only to take out Erik and Anderson at the same time. The brawling continues and the referee disqualifies both of them 3:25. That’s as good of a way as you can have to get rid of the Raiders. They stay in the ring to stare at each other as Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode are in fourth and Lucha House Party in fifth.

We’re back from a break with Dorado enziguring Ziggler and making the hot tag to Metalik. The handspring elbow connects with Ziggler and it’s the rope walk dropkick for two. A sunset flip gets the same on Ziggler but he superkicks a handspring out of the air to get rid of the House Party at 10:05. Revival is in sixth with Ziggler headscissoring Dawson down in a hurry. That should be a near fall but the referee is COMPLETELY out of position, with Graves and Young yelling at him over it.

Dawson fights up and a top rope knee/backbreaker combination gets two on Ziggler. A waistlock keeps Ziggler down and Dawson ties him in the ropes for some kicks to the face. Dawson’s slingshot suplex gets two as I can’t help but smile at the old school feels here. An elbow to the face gets Ziggler out of trouble and everything breaks down with what looked to be a tornado DDT not quite working. They keep going though with Dawson hitting a brainbuster on Ziggler but Dolph isn’t legal. That lets Dawson hit the Glorious DDT to eliminate Revival at 15:58.

Back from another break with Zack Ryder/Curt Hawkins in seventh…and Ryder gets superkicked for the elimination at 20:10. We saw less than a minute of Hawkins and Ryder and here are Heavy Machinery in eighth to complete the field. Ziggler and Roode want a breather on the floor so Tucker waits a few seconds before picking Ziggler up for a suplex. Before dropping back he hands it off to Otis, who does the actual suplexing. Roode low bridges Tucker to the floor though and a whip into the steps gets two.

Ziggler’s neckbreaker is good for the same and it’s off to the chinlock. Tucker fights up and gets the tag to Otis so house can be cleaned. The Caterpillar is broken up so Otis splashes both of them in the corner, meaning NOW the Caterpillar can connect (Renee: “MAKE MAMA’S DREAMS COME TRUE!”) for two with Roode making the save. Ziggler breaks up the Compactor with a superkick though and the Zig Zag sends Otis and Roode onto Tucker. The Glorious DDT sends Roode and Ziggler to Clash of Champions at 26:56.

Rating: D+. YES! YES IT IS ZIGGLER GETTING ANOTHER PAY PER VIEW TITLE SHOT! ON THE SAME SHOW WHERE CORBIN IS LIKELY TO WIN KING OF THE RING! AND YES! THE FALLOUT IS GOING TO BE GOING AGAINST MONDAY NIGHT FOOTBALL AND WE ARE SUPPOSED TO WANT TO WATCH IT!!! WHY CAN THESE PEOPLE NEVER LEARN THEIR LESSONS?????

Long video on Roman Reigns’ attacks, which seems to be the same video with new footage added at the end.

Total Divas is back in October, featuring Ronda Rousey.

Sasha Banks vs. Natalya

Natalya, with a bad arm, comes straight at her to start and they brawl to the floor early on. Back in and Natalya keeps hammering away, setting up a heck of a release German suplex (Sasha landed hard) for two. Banks tries to get to the floor and manages to wrap the bad arm around the post. A whip into the timekeeper’s area and then the post has Natalya in trouble. The arm gets pulled around the middle rope but Banks misses the running knees in the corner. The Sharpshooter doesn’t work and Banks gets in the Bank Statement, complete with pulling the bad arm around Natalya’s throat for the tap at 4:00.

Rating: C+. This was short but they packed a lot into the time they had with Sasha looking like a killer. She comes off like a threat to Becky Lynch at Clash of Champions and that’s what’s been lacking over the last few months. Banks brings the star power, but how long is it going to be before she brings another headache if she doesn’t get the title?

Post match Banks comes back and hooks the Bank Statement again.

AJ Styles isn’t worried about facing Strowman tonight, even if the OC is barred from ringside. Tonight, he’s giving Strowman what he deserves: nothing.

Cedric Alexander vs. Cesaro

Cesaro wastes no time in knocking Alexander into the corner so Cedric starts the flips into the anklescissors. The suicide dive is blocked with an uppercut though and a gutwrench suplex gets two. Cedric gets in a big boot and the springboard Downward Spiral puts Cesaro on the floor, setting up the big flip dive. Back from a break with Cesaro working on the knee but Alexander is fine enough to hit a Michinoku Driver for two.

The knee is too banged up for a springboard though and Cesaro kicks the knee out again. The apron superplex sets up a half crab on Alexander, who gets over to the rope without much trouble. Cedric’s standing Spanish Fly gives him two more but it’s back to the half crab to stay on the leg. With that broken up, Cesaro tries an ankle lock but gets rolled out, setting up the Lumbar Check to finish Cesaro at 10:55. That should damage the knee even more but not quite in WWE.

Rating: B-. They told a nice story here, with some of Cedric’s selling issues aside. What mattered here was giving Cedric momentum going into next week though, as he needs to look good before Corbin finishes him in the tournament. I’m not sure how well that’s going to go, but at least they’re doing something to make it seem like a bigger deal, much like Cedric.

Video on the 24/7 Title changes over the weekend.

Ziggler and Roode say they’re drawn to each other because of shared greatness. They belong together and they’ll become Raw Tag Team Champions, which will be glorious.

The Street Profits talk about the Rollins/Strowman situation but Dawkins is too worried about the after party on Bourbon Street. He has a Mardi Gras mask and beads ready too. Strowman appears and scares them before they can make their pick for the main event.

Video on the Firefly Fun House and the debut of the Fiend.

US Title: AJ Styles vs. Braun Strowman

Styles is defending and the OC is barred from ringside. Strowman throws him over the top almost immediately and it’s time for the running shoulders around the ring. Back in and the Phenomenal Forearm is countered into a chokeslam for two with AJ having to put his foot on the rope. A big boot puts AJ on the floor and we take a break. Back with AJ grabbing a sleeper to take Strowman down to a knee. That’s broken up with a ram into the corner but AJ chop blocks the leg in a smart move. A Lionsault gives AJ two and it’s off to the Calf Crusher in a logical move.

Strowman powers out of it and knocks AJ down again but a missed charge sends Strowman shoulder first into the post. AJ hits Strowman in the back to send the referee outside, allowing a low blow to take Strowman down. A chair is brought in but Strowman hits the powerslam, only to have the OC come in for the beatdown. Strowman fights back with the chair but AJ does the old Eddie Guerrero drop down. The referee says he HEARD the chair shots (that opens up a good number of historical gaps) and that’s a DQ at 9:56.

Rating: C. They did what they could to protect Strowman here and while “I HEARD CHAIR SHOTS” is quite the stretch given how deaf referees have seemed over the years, it’s about as good as you can get outside of the OC running in for the DQ. The match was fine enough and I’m glad they didn’t change the title here as it would be a bit much for one show.

Strowman cleans house and holds up the US Title to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. The wrestling wasn’t too bad with Ricochet vs. McIntyre being quite the match, but seeing more Ziggler/Corbin pushes didn’t do much for me. Clash of Champions is going to be an interesting night if they do things one way but it has the potential to be a show where the fans aren’t happy and don’t get much of what they want coming out of the night. This show didn’t make me all that confident, though they have a few weeks to straighten things out.

Results

Ricochet b. Drew McIntyre – 630

Baron Corbin b. The Miz – End of Days

Bayley b. Nikki Cross – Top rope elbow

Dolph Ziggler/Robert Roode won Tag Team Turmoil last eliminating Heavy Machinery

Sasha Banks b. Natalya – Bank Statement

Cedric Alexander b. Cesaro – Lumbar Check

AJ Styles b. Braun Strowman via DQ when the referee heard chair shots

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

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

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

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

Main Event
Date: August 22, 2019
Location: XCEL Energy Center, St. Paul, Minnesota
Commentators: Renee Young, Byron Saxton

Things are starting to get interesting in WWE again as the King of the Ring Tournament kicked off this week, plus we move closer to finding out who attacked Roman Reigns. The World Title pictures are both getting into some interesting territory as well. Now let’s see how Main Event messes it up. Let’s get to it.

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

Opening sequence.

Dana Brooke vs. Sarah Logan

Counting this show, these two have fought on six of the last ten Main Events (and they were in a tag match two weeks before that). Feeling out process to start, because these two don’t know each other well enough yet. Brooke sends her into the corner for the handspring elbow and the cartwheel splash gets two.

Logan is right back with some rolling suplexes for two and goes nuts with right hands near the corner. That’s not cool with Brooke, who is right back with her own forearms in the corner and on the mat. She shouts about hating Logan, which you almost have to after facing her so many times in a row. The Swanton hits knees but Brooke small packages her for the pin at 4:25.

Rating: D+. Normally I would say something like NOW NEVER FIGHT AGAIN but maybe if I don’t, we can get something new. It amazes me how we can’t possibly have anything other than these two fighting more often than not as there are so many people on the roster. It’s not even like the matches are any good, though they did throw something in here with the aggression.

From Smackdown.

King of the Ring First Round: Elias vs. Kevin Owens

Non-title. Elias’ music now has his catchphrase at the start and sounds like him singing. Owens doesn’t waste time in clotheslining him out to the floor but Elias walks away before the big flip dive. A whip sends Owens into the barricade but he’s right back with the Cannonball for two. Cue Shane to watch from ringside as we take a break. Back with Elias holding a chinlock and throwing in a rake to the eyes for a bonus. Owens fights up and gets caught with a jumping knee to the face for two.

The chinlock goes on again but Owens gets out even faster this time, setting up a DDT. A middle rope dropkick sets up the backsplash for a quick two. The pop up powerbomb is broken up and Elias hits an electric chair into a sitout powerbomb. Elias can’t hit a superplex as Owens knocks him down but the Swanton hits knees. Owens is right back to knock Elias outside for a flip dive off the apron…and it’s Shane pulling off his shirt to reveal a referee shirt. Shane slides in as Owens’ Stunner is blocked, allowing Elias to grab a rollup with Shane counting a very fast pin at 13:12.

Rating: C. This story just won’t end. I’m not sure why it needs to keep going, but WWE certainly sees value in having Shane do the same stuff he’s done for months now. I’m sure we’ll see a rematch, possibly all the way at Hell in a Cell for a rematch from two years ago. The match was just waiting around for Shane to reveal the shirt, because that’s the only way it could have ended.

Long recap of Roman Reigns being attacked, along with the involvement of Buddy Murphy, Rowan and Daniel Bryan.

From Smackdown again.

Reigns comes in to see Bryan and Rowan to find out who is under the hood. The hood comes off and it’s….someone who looks like Rowan plus twenty years. Nothing is said to end the show. So I guess Murphy was confused and thought it was the Rowan lookalike, who we’ll have explained to us later? That’s certainly a different way to go with things.

Video on Sasha Banks returning last week.

From Raw.

Natalya has just seen the WWE doctor again but needs to rant about Sasha for interrupting her last week. Cue Banks to jump Natalya again and send her into an anvil case. Banks: “Go to h*** Nattie. And tell your daddy I say hi.” That was a good line. There’s something hilarious about Natalya trying so hard to be serious and just getting destroyed every week because people don’t care about her.

Lucha House Party vs. Eric Young/Robert Roode

Mexico vs. Team Canada with Kalisto as the odd man out. Commentary mentions the history between Roode and Young as Dorado’s flying mare takes Young into the corner. A headscissors sends the Canadians into each other and we take a break. Back with Young punching Dorado in the face for two and Roode breaks up the tag to keep Dorado in the corner.

The chinlock doesn’t last long as Young lets go to knock Metalik off the apron. The hot tag goes through a few seconds later and Metalik comes in with a middle rope dropkick for two on Roode. Metalik’s rope walk elbow is nearly botched as he almost loses his balance but Roode is there to shake the ropes and bring him down. The Glorious DDT finishes Metalik at 8:38.

Rating: C-. This was looking like a nice little tag match so I wonder how good the full version was. Main Event has those weird commercials that come in the middle of nowhere and they never feel like they’re supposed to be in there at the moment. Roode and Young would be fine enough to reform as a lower card tag team, but it’s not like that’s likely to happen.

We look at Randy Orton and the Revival injuring Xavier Woods’ leg on Raw.

From Smackdown.

Here’s Randy Orton to open things up. After a clip from last night’s attack on the New Day, Orton talks about Kofi cheating to get out of a fight with him at Summerslam. But Kofi isn’t done yet because Kofi is stupid. Last night was fun but here’s New Day’s music, with Kofi sneaking in from behind with Trouble in Paradise to drop Orton. Kofi grabs a chair and wraps it around Orton’s ankle but here’s the Revival for the save. That’s fine with Kofi, who cleans house with the chair as the villains run.

From Raw.

Tag Team Titles: Seth Rollins/Braun Strowman vs. OC

The OC is defending and has AJ with them. Strowman runs Gallows over to start and it’s off to the taped up Rollins to work on Gallows’ arm. Anderson comes in but a quick tag brings Gallows back in, meaning Rollins has to knee him to the floor. A running kick to the head puts Anderson outside as well but the numbers catch up with him.

That means Gallows gets to drop Rollins ribs first into the barricade a few times and we take an early break. Back with Anderson hitting a spinebuster on Rollins, but Anderson gets knocked off the top. That means the Blockbuster, but Rollins bangs up the ribs again. With the hot tag near, Gallows is smart enough to post Strowman and cut him off. Gallows comes back in as everything breaks down, with Rollins getting to clean house again.

A low bridge puts Gallows on the floor, leaving Anderson to take the Falcon Arrow for two. The numbers catch up with Rollins again as AJ crotches him on top but it’s Strowman back up to run over AJ and Gallows. Back in and Rollins rolls over for the hot tag to Strowman and it’s time to wreck things. Rollins cuts Styles off with the Stomp and Strowman hits the running powerslam on Anderson for the pin and the titles at 12:04.

Rating: B-. Good match here with a surprise ending and that’s not a bad thing. This seems to be the way to set up the Strowman vs. Rollins match next month so odds are we’ll be seeing the OC get the titles back pretty soon. It’s a booking trope that has been done for years and it’s going to work fine enough here.

Overall Rating: D+. Main Event is kind of amazing in a way. Some times it can be a nice recap show with a passable match in there, but at times it goes absolutely nowhere with the same warmed up match that we’ve seen time and time again. Then you have this show, which is somehow a mixture of both. I know the wrestling means nothing but would it really hurt to do a minor story in here? With the 485 writers they have, no one can be asked to do the three minutes of storylines that this show would have? Or just let the wrestlers do what they want? Impossible it seems, and I’m not sure why.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s History Of In Your House (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/05/31/new-paperback-kbs-history-of-in-your-house/

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

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

Wrestlemania XXXII
Date: April 3, 2016
Location: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Attendance: 101,763
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Byron Saxton

We had to get here again at some point. I sat in the stadium last year for the better part of seven hours watching this show and was pretty entertained for the most part. However, since then I’ve thought back on it a few times and it seems to go all downhill from there. I’m not sure what to expect from this one other than it’s going to take a few days to get through. Let’s get to it.

As we get ready for the pre-show matches, the place might be 10% full at this point as there was some confusion in opening the gates. There were no lines and it was just a sea of humanity trying to get inside.

Pre-Show: Ryback vs. Kalisto

Kalisto, in some ceremonial bird headpiece, is defending and this is your standard bully vs. smaller guy feud. It’s such a weird visual to see people coming to the ring with so few fans in the seats. I’m not sure if it’s going to make a difference but I expect a three part podcast from Ryback about how unfair it was to his career. We get the big staredown to show the match’s story and to show off Ryback’s new trunks.

Ryback plants him off a headlock and easily throws the champ outside. Kalisto gets in a quick bulldog for two but the kickout sends him outside. Some double knees to the chest get the same result and Ryback gets to show off by gorilla pressing Kalisto up the steps and back inside. We take a break and come back with Kalisto taking a hard elbow to the jaw for two.

A running sitout powerslam (kind of like a Michinoku Driver) gets the same and it’s time to slap at the mask. I know Ryback had some issues but he did seem to be trying to mix things up on offense. He deserves credit for trying at least and it’s true that he had some unfair breaks. I just can’t imagine it was as bad as he made it seem.

A delayed superplex is countered into a crossbody for two and the Shell Shock is countered into a quick DDT. The corkscrew crossbody gets two but Ryback plants him again. Kalisto goes to the corner and pulls a turnbuckle pad off. I’m sure you can piece the next step together but in case you’re a bit slow, Ryback goes head first into the buckle and the Salida Del Sol retains the title at 8:57.

Rating: C. Despite the surprise when the title didn’t change hands, this was a snappy little match with the power vs. speed working quite well. Kalisto is the kind of guy who can perform well against anyone and Ryback’s power was a perfect foil. Ryback is still one of the more interesting what if’s in recent years but it’s pretty clear that the guy isn’t all there sometimes, which can make for some messy negotiations.

Team Total Divas vs. Team B.A.D. and Blonde

Total Divas: Natalya, Brie Bella, Paige, Alicia Fox, Eva Marie

B.A.D. and Blonde: Naomi, Lana, Summer Rae, Tamina, Emma

Yes this story is still happening for reasons I’m sure you can figure out for yourself. If nothing else, Wrestlemania is an excuse to see Brie’s legs, which you don’t get for the rest of the year. This is Lana’s only main roster match to date and uh…..yeah this works. Fox elbows the heck out of Summer to start and a sloppy tilt-a-whirl backbreaker gets two. We get the big ten Diva staredown and it’s off to a break because the pre-show is basically Raw.

Back from a break with Eva getting booed out of the stadium and suplexing Emma. A hard tag brings in Natalya and it’s off to Naomi for the dancing kicks. Paige comes in to play Bret to Natalya’s Neidhart (that must have made her smile) on a Hart Attack. It’s back to Emma for a wheelbarrow suplex on Paige before Lana is brought in to the pop of the match so far. Some good looking kicks drop Paige and we hear some trash talk with nothing resembling an accent.

Brie tries to come in so Lana mocks the YES chant in a nice touch. Tamina grabs a chinlock as the rapid tags continue (that’s all you can expect in something like this). A Tower of Doom is teased but instead Paige dives onto a bunch of the women at ringside. Back in and Emma stomps on Paige in the corner but a rollup sends Emma’s head into the buckle.

The hot tag brings in Brie to clean house and it’s time for the parade of secondary finishers. Naomi: “FEEL MY GLOW!!!” By that she means barely get grazed by a split legged moonsault and have Lana shoves Brie off the top. Not that it matters as Brie gets a good looking roll into the YES Lock to make Naomi tap at 11:26.

Rating: D+. Yeah the match was a mess but there’s only so much you can put on the wrestling here. With so many people and so many of them being there as eye candy, there’s only so much they can do. This is the last night for the old Divas style with people being able to use the most basic moves but mainly being there for the sake of their looks. There are FAR worse versions of this match though and this was actually fine for the circumstances.

Post match Nikki Bella comes out in her neck brace in what is supposed to be some big moment.

Usos vs. Dudley Boyz

The Dudleys are heels and refusing to use tables. It’s a brawl to start with the non-brothers cleaning house as the crowd is really filling in now. D-Von cranks on Jimmy’s neck and it’s off to Bubba for some trash talk about Rikishi. The snap punches take too long though and Jimmy gets in a superkick, setting up the hot tag to Jey. Everything breaks down and Jey takes What’s Up. Bubba calls for the tables but again takes too long, earning a double superkick. 3D is broken up as well and Jey superkicks D-Von for the pin at 5:20.

Rating: D+. Another nothing match here as we’re just getting ready for the big show and getting this stuff out of the way. You easily could have cut this match off and no one was going to notice it, especially with so little time. The Dudleys were fine at putting people over but did the Usos really need a win like this? Nothing to see here and it really could have been cut as a way to take some of the time off the main show.

Post match the Dudleyz load up some tables but get splashed through them instead. Cool visual if nothing else.

Fifth Harmony sings a very nice rendition of America the Beautiful.

The opening video focuses on the history of Wrestlemania and how it’s never been bigger than this. Various legends and legendary moments are shown, as they certainly should be. This transitions into a preview of tonight’s show, including the matches and of course a focus on the Rock’s unspecified role. Nothing out of the ordinary here but as is usually the case with these things, WWE really knows how to make these things look great. Also of note: Kelsey Grammer of all people narrates this.

I’m not a fan of his but Flo Rida’s My House is one of the catchiest theme songs they’ve had in years.

Inter-continental Title: Kevin Owens vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Zack Ryder vs. Stardust vs. Sin Cara vs. Sami Zayn

Owens is defending and this is a ladder match. Originally there were just four people involved but the match fell through with Stephanie making a triple threat for the title shot. That match went to a no contest so LET’S JUST THROW EVERYONE INTO THE MESS OF A MATCH. And people wonder why this title isn’t treated as anything important anymore. Sami gets a very nice pop here but Owens’ blows it away, making him the big crowd favorite.

On the other hand, Stardust (in Dusty polka dots) and Sin Cara come out to near silence, which isn’t exactly the biggest surprise. Finally, Ryder gets to hear his music played at Wrestlemania for the first time ever, which really is a cool moment. Ryder: “I’VE BEEN WAITING MY WHOLE LIFE FOR THIS!!!”

Everyone drops to the floor to start and it’s Owens left alone in the ring. As you might expect, Sami comes in with a ladder and it’s time for the Wrestlemania slugout that you know means the world to them. Kevin gets the better of it and cleans house with the ladder until Cara gets in a ladder shot of his own to take over. Ryder neckbreakers Stardust onto the ladder and Miz throws a different ladder over the top and onto Cara.

Sami and Ziggler knock Miz’s ladder over and there’s the Blue Thunder Bomb, which thankfully doesn’t have to go through the motions of a near fall. Back in and Owens backdrops Sami onto a ladder. Kevin: “THIS IS KO MANIA! GO BACK TO NXT!” Ziggler and Ryder go up but Stardust makes a save to put both guys down again. Cara does the same to Stardust and it’s Sami vs. Miz in the ring.

That doesn’t last long either as Sami dives through a ladder to take out four people at once, followed by the diving tornado DDT on Owens. Cara gets shoved off the ladder but lands on the top rope into a springboard onto another pile of people. Ziggler starts the superkick party so JBL can talk about Shawn Michaels.

Owens comes back in and it’s a double superkick to put everyone down. Stardust pulls out the polka dotted ladder (The Exo Atmospheric Starbird Mark II. I’d call it Larry.) and spins it around his head, only to get caught in a Skull Crushing Finale onto said ladder. Now it’s Sami back in but charging into Kevin’s boot in the corner. A frog splash onto Sami onto a ladder bridged onto the bottom rope crushes everyone (JBL: “That’s the biggest frog I’ve ever seen.”).

Ryder doesn’t quite one up him with the Elbro off another ladder to crush Miz but it still looked cool. I’m not sure why there weren’t more flashbulbs going off either as it was quite the highspot. Ziggler faceplants Ryder off the ladder and comes up favoring his knee. The delay lets Owens powerbomb Ziggler off the ladder and Cara kicks Stardust onto a ladder bridged between the apron and the barricade.

Cara hits the big dive to put Stardust through the ladder, leaving Owens and Zayn to slug it out above the ring. Sami gets the better of it and hits the half and half suplex to drop Owens head first into a ladder (sick looking landing). That lets Sami go up until Miz shoves him over but this time Miz takes too long going up, earning himself a big shove off from Ryder, who climbs the ladder for the huge upset at 15:24.

Rating: B. It’s a fun match and the spots were great but…..RYDER??? I mean…..HE’S ZACK RYDER! As is so often the case, there were too many people in here with guys like Cara and Stardust just being there to add more bodies to the thing. Cut this down to four people (five max) and it’s WAY better but that might mean the title is treated a bit more seriously and we can’t have that. I still think this was supposed to be Neville’s spot until he broke his ankle but it doesn’t really matter.

Ryder’s dad comes in to celebrate with him for a really cool moment.

We recap AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho. They traded some wins and then formed a short lived team (Y2AJ) but Jericho turned on him when they lost. Jericho was jealous over the AJ STYLES chants and wanted the respect for himself. It’s actually a solid feud and one of the matches people wanted to see, though I could have gone with not having the same match three times before.

AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho

Jericho drives him into the corner to start and the AJ STYLES chants are already going nice and strong. Styles gets in a hurricanrana and a snappy armdrag before sending Jericho outside. That should mean a slingshot dive but Jericho dropkicks him out of the air to take over. Back in and a neckbreaker sets up a dragon sleeper for a change of pace.

AJ tries to fight back but gets pulled down into the Walls for some good old fashioned ASK HIM/AHHHH exchanges. A rope is grabbed so AJ can hit the moonsault into a reverse DDT for two. Both guys head to the corner for a super sitout gordbuster and one heck of a crash. The Pele is countered into a Walls attempt but AJ reverses that into the Calf Crusher.

The Styles Clash is broken up and a Codebreaker gets a delayed two (with Cole making sure to say the near fall was due to the delay in a nice touch). For a change of pace, Jericho loads up AJ for the Styles Clash but gets planted face first for two instead. A rollup exchange sets up the real Styles Clash for two and the springboard 450 gets the same. With nothing else left, AJ heads to the apron and loads up the Phenomenal Forearm, only to have Jericho shove the referee away and catch Styles with the Codebreaker for the pin at 17:08.

Rating: B. Another long match here with an interesting choice for the ending. I know Jericho went on to have one of the best years of his career but at this point he’s just Jericho and Styles hasn’t even been in the company for three months yet. This continues to feel like booking for the sake of the surprise, which is almost never a good thing. Still though, would you expect anything other than very good from these two for seventeen minutes?

Maria Menunos interviews Zack Ryder and talks about getting to take a picture with Razor Ramon and his Intercontinental Title when he was a kid. Tonight though, he and Ramon are taking a picture with RYDER’S Intercontinental Title. I’m not sure if that’s a better line than waiting your whole life for this but Ryder is nailing it tonight.

New Day vs. League of Nations

New Day comes out in a huge box of BootyO’s which tips over….to reveal them in Dragon Ball Z costumes, complete with a tail on Woods. This was originally a Tag Team Title match but was changed to a handicap match before switching to a six man (Sheamus/Alberto Del Rio/Rusev for the League with King Barrett in the corner) for no apparent reason. I mean, other than having New Day lose or something crazy like that. Also, make no mistake about it: New Day was by FAR the most popular merchandise choice of the weekend. You would see that blue shirt all over Dallas and nothing was anywhere near as common.

Kofi and Sheamus start things off as we hear about New Day holding the titles for over 200 days. Somehow they’re not even at the halfway point. Sheamus gets taken down into the corner for the Unicorn Stampede and Woods starts in with some tromboning. Xavier comes in and gets beaten down as JBL has the nerve to compare these two to the Freebirds and the Horsemen.

Sheamus gets in the forearms to the beat of NEW DAY SUCKS and it’s off to Rusev for a running flip senton. Woods sends Del Rio to the floor in a big crash but Sheamus is over there to takes New Day off the apron in a smart move. Not that it matters as Kofi gets the hot tag a few seconds later and house is cleaned again. Trouble in Paradise is broken up and Rusev adds a kick to the head of his own for two.

The fans try to get an UP UP DOWN DOWN chant going and Big E. tags himself in for some suplexes. The spear through the ropes takes out Sheamus, Rusev and Barrett but it does the same to Big E., who thankfully didn’t break his neck. Back in and Woods drops a top rope double stomp for two on Sheamus. Del Rio makes a save and hits a scary double stomp off the apron to crush Kofi. That leaves Woods alone to take the Bull Hammer from Barrett to give Sheamus the pin at 10:02.

Rating: D+. Ok they’re trolling us now right? The League of Nations is one of the most worthless stables in a LONG time and they’re beating one of the most over groups in recent memory? I know it’s designed to set up the post match shenanigans but there are multiple ways to do the same thing without beating New Day. It’s even worse when you consider the group was split less than a month later.

Post match Barrett says there are no three men who can beat them. Cue Shawn Michaels (nearly causing the wife to jump out of the upper deck), Mick Foley and Steve Austin (he’s a bit too big of a star for this group) for the beatdown. The moment is cool but Cole talking about how great of a moment this is feels so stupidly forced. Anyway, house is quickly cleaned (and apparently Austin further injures his already destroyed shoulder in the process). New Day gets back in and dancing ensues with Shawn and Steve getting into it…..until it’s a Stunner for Woods. Beer is quickly consumed.

We recap Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose. Lesnar is the Beast and needs someone to fight him so Dean was like “eh I’ll do it.” This led to one heck of a beatdown so Ambrose was given some weapons by various hardcore legends (barbed wire bat from Foley and a chainsaw from Terry Funk) because this is a no holds barred street fight.

Dean Ambrose vs. Brock Lesnar

Anything goes and Heyman gives Brock a big, over the top intro. JBL gives us a good example of trying to be too smart by calling Lesnar a former NWA Champion (assuming he means NCAA), which of course he never won. Brock hits the first suplex inside of ten seconds and the huge video screen above the ring kept count (It had been all over the place all night with unicorns for the New Day and various three camera shot replays. In other words, it was annoying in a hurry.).

We hit the third German suplex forty five seconds in and Ambrose is on the floor. A few kendo stick shots annoy Lesnar so he rolls two more suplexes. Brock breaks the stick over his knee and there’s number six. Ambrose can barely move so he gives the referee a thumbs up and there are numbers seven and eight before we’re even five minutes into the match. Dean slaps him in the face….and gets suplexed again.

With nothing else to do, Lesnar offers Dean a free shot with the stick, which Brock then stands on. That earns him a low blow (Ambrose: “THAT’S HILARIOUS!”) and now the stick shots work a bit better. Dean goes outside and finds a chainsaw (Heyman’s eyes bug out) but that means a tenth suplex. A laptop off Lesnar’s face allows Dean to chair him a few times, only to have Brock run the ropes for a belly to belly superplex. Dean’s next trick is a fire extinguisher blast to the face followed by some lame chair shots to the ribs.

A dropkick to send the chair into Lesnar’s face works a bit better and the top rope chair drop gets two. For some reason Dean throws in about ten chairs, which he then goes sailing over off another German suplex. The F5 is countered into a DDT onto (or close to) a chair for two. Now it’s time for the barbed wire baseball bat but it’s another German suplex onto the chairs. An F5 onto them is enough to put Dean away at 12:50.

Rating: C+. This wasn’t as bad as I remember it but they made it very clear that Ambrose wasn’t on Lesnar’s level or really close to it for that matter. There’s only so much you can do when Lesnar is out there doing nothing but suplexes (other than those and an F5, I actually can’t think of anything else he did in the match) and Dean ran into that problem here. This could have been a lot worse but a little more offense from Ambrose would have been appreciated.

Ric Flair teaches Ryder how to Woo but it turns out to be a Snickers commercial. Ryder takes a bite….and turns into Charlotte. Yeah I don’t get it either but I think Charlotte is the new Intercontinental Champion.

Hall of Fame time with a pretty good class:

Godfather (So completely out of place here.)

Stan Hansen (How was he not in already?)

Big Boss Man (That’s perfectly fine.)
Jacqueline (Fine, just don’t let her talk.)

Joan Lunden (Warrior Award, which seems to have been forgotten this year.)

Fabulous Freebirds (You could argue they were the headliners.)

Snoop Dogg (Harmless. Not exactly PG but harmless.)

Sting (Only entrance and the loudest reaction.)

We go back to the Kickoff Show with Lita unveiling the new WOMEN’S Title (meaning the Divas era is finally over). Oh and remember that this is completely different than the original Women’s Title, meaning it actually has its own lineage.

We recap the Women’s Title match with a really cool WWE Network themed video. It’s a search for Women’s Champions which shows some famous names before a Women’s Revolution search brings up the three of them (with Stephanie’s screeching narration of course). This gets the music video treatment, which it actually deserves.

Women’s Title: Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte

The title is officially vacant coming in though Charlotte never lost the Divas Title. Banks has Snoop Dogg (her real life cousin) rap her to the ring, which should guarantee her winning the title here. She also has Eddie Guerrero inspired gear and actually looks better in the tights than the trunks. Charlotte (still wearing the Divas Title) has Ric Flair in her corner and debuts the blue gear, with the robe being made from the robe Flair wore in his final match. That’s a very good thing as she rocks the heck out of that outfit. Lita is holding the new title and after the Big Match Intros we’re ready to go.

Everyone trades rollups to start in a fast and pretty athletic sequence until Charlotte kicks Becky in the face. That earns a nice round of applause and you can tell the women are ready tonight. A hurricanrana sends Charlotte across the ring and Sasha throws in an Eddie dance. They botch (not bad) a sunset flip/German suplex spot before Charlotte it sent outside, leaving Sasha to elbow Becky in the face.

Charlotte pulls Sasha outside though and gives her something like a wheelbarrow suplex onto the apron. Back in and Becky (with a lot of eye makeup) grabs an arm trap reverse DDT for two on Charlotte and we hit the cross armbreaker. Flair gets on the apron like a good pop though and it’s time for the Figure Four. That also means that it’s time for Sasha to come in with a frog splash for the save.

Becky grabs something like a Rock Bottom for two on Charlotte and rolls Sasha up for the same. In the first big spot of the match, Sasha dives through the ropes to flip onto Charlotte (possibly catching her foot on the ropes but it didn’t seem to change much). Becky TAKES OUT FLAIR, drawing one of the biggest pops of the night. With Becky and Sasha staggered, Charlotte goes up top and moonsaults onto both of them (looked sweet) for maybe the biggest spot in the history of women’s wrestling.

Back in and double Natural Selection gets a double near fall, much to Charlotte and Ric’s collective frustration. Charlotte loads Sasha up into an electric chair but Becky comes in with a missile dropkick for two on Sasha. The Disarm-Her has Charlotte in trouble until Sasha makes the save with the Bank Statement.

That brings Charlotte back in with the Figure Four on Banks, which is upgraded into the Figure Eight until Becky pulls them to the ropes. Charlotte spears Banks down but gets taken to the top for one heck of a superplex. Banks gets up and goes for the Bank Statement, only to be sent outside so Charlotte can grab the Figure Eight (with Flair holding Banks’ foot) to make Becky tap at 16:08.

Rating: A-. Match of the night so far by a good stretch and pretty easily the best women’s match ever on the main roster to date. There were a few botches here and there but the idea that three women could have a match on par with if not exceeding a lot of the better men would have been unthinkable just a few years ago. Great stuff here and FAR better than I think anyone could have hoped for (save for the logical Banks title win of course).

Charlotte poses and gets some pyro to really make this special.

You know, we’re about two hours and twenty minutes into this show and it’s on pace to be one of the best shows ever. I know there are some booking issues but other than a nothing six man (with a really fun post match segment), nothing has been bad and even that match was fine. However, there are four matches left and nearly TWO AND A HALF HOURS left in the show. I think I know where things are going to start going downhill.

The Cell is lowered for the 33^rd time in WWE history. That stat kind of pulls things back a bit no?

We recap Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker and it’s time for this show to start to unravel. So Shane came back in January and talked about how Vince and Stephanie had ruined everything. There was something about a lockbox with evidence of Vince doing something bad (never specified) and Shane threatened to open it if he didn’t get to run Raw (which he said basically meant WWE). Vince decided to put it up in a match with Shane facing Undertaker in the Cell. Undertaker’s Wrestlemania career was put on the line and that’s about it for anyone buying this as anything serious.

At the end of the day, it’s really, REALLY hard to believe that Undertaker was in any real danger against Shane, who hadn’t wrestled a single match in seven years. It’s kind of hard to buy this as a competitive match, but there’s a very good chance that this was supposed to be John Cena instead of Shane but injuries derailed the plans (a major problem all night). To their credit, this match led to something like tens of thousands of tickets being sold in a hurry so it was definitely a draw and worthy of this kind of a push.

Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker

Inside Hell in a Cell. Shane does the high energy entrance and brings his kids out to dance to the ring with him as Shane Bucks fall from the ceiling in a cool moment. Apparently Shane wants to take Undertaker’s cardio, which you know Shane has in droves due to, you know, everything that works against him. Some right hands have no effect on Undertaker so he punches Shane down with one shot. Remember: best pure striker ever in WWE, which you can add to the list of reasons this should be a squash.

Snake Eyes into the big boot have Shane reeling but he gets Undertaker to chase him and stomps away. That earns him a throw into the cage wall and the apron legdrop as this is total dominance in the first five minutes. The Last Ride gets two and the match is instantly a complete mess at 5:32. I’m sorry but there’s no way I can buy this no matter what WWE wants to tell me. That move has beaten World Champions but SHANE MCMAHON, in his mid 40s and seven years removed from his last match, kicks out of it after getting beaten up? Just….no, period.

Undertaker grabs the steps but gets pulled into a weak triangle choke. That’s countered into a chokeslam onto the steps for another two as Shane is suddenly the offspring of Super Cena and Hulk Hogan. Undertaker misses an elbow onto the steps so Shane sits on them and teases Undertaker into a drop toehold onto said steps. I don’t buy Undertaker as being that stupid, nor do I buy the cover that follows.

Shane punches him in the face off the situp so Undertaker gets him in the Hell’s Gate, which Shane reverses into a Sharpshooter. You know, because anyone can survive THREE UNDERTAKER FINISHERS IN TWELVE MINUTES. Undertaker easily powers out so Shane punches him into the corner, which is totally enough to have Undertaker in trouble. Coast to Coast into a trashcan gets two and Shane grabs….boltcutters.

He cuts the Cell open but Undertaker tackles him through the wall and onto the announcers’ table. A monitor to the head looks to set up a Tombstone onto the table but Shane reverses into a sleeper. That’s reversed with a backwards crash through the table as this is getting even more ridiculous. A toolbox to the head puts Undertaker on a table…..and Shane climbs the Cell.

The big elbow completely misses (because it would have killed Undertaker) and you can see the crash pad deflate as Shane lands. Cole: “FOR THE LOVE OF MANKIND!” It was a terrifying spot live but now it’s much more silly than anything else, which isn’t the point in a match like this. Then again this stopped being anything serious or really interesting as soon as the Last Ride only got two so it’s a moot point. Shane says bring it again so Undertaker carries him inside for the Tombstone and the pin at 30:06.

Rating: D-. WAY too long here with a match that should have been a glorified squash (which this was) that ran only about half this long. The idea that Shane could hang in there with Undertaker under these or any circumstances (including a bunch of run-ins, which never happened), is a combination of insulting and stupid.

It’s a ridiculous story (both the buildup and the match itself) and a terribly dull match with one big spot not being able to make up for anything. This was more fun live but GOOD NIGHT it does not hold up. Cut it down to twenty minutes at most and this is much better but as it is, this is horrible. On top of that, allegedly Shane was supposed to win until Undertaker shot it down, which he certainly should have done. The show has hit a major wall now and it’s going to need something special to bring them out.

Shane is taken out on a stretcher as the announcers brag about how awesome he is, which is why a lot of people don’t like seeing Shane wrestle. Yeah he’ll do a bunch of stuff but he gets WAY more credit and praise than he deserves. Shane gives a thumbs up on the way out.

Reason #1 this show crashed so hard: from the time the Cell was lowered to the time we cut away from Shane: 50:43. That’s a lot of time to spend on something that…..bleh.

The pre-show panel chats for a bit.

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Fandango, Damien Sandow, Shaquille O’Neal, Big Show, Viktor, Diamond Dallas Page, Konnor, Tatanka, Jack Swagger, R-Truth, Goldust, Curtis Axel, Baron Corbin, Adam Rose, Heath Slater, Tyler Breeze, Mark Henry, Bo Dallas, Darren Young, Kane

O’Neal is a surprise, or as much of one as you can be when his face popped up on the big screen during the other entrances. We get the big staredown between Shaq and Show but they have to stop and double chokeslam Kane. Everyone else is sent outside (none eliminated) until Fandango comes in and gets eliminated. Sandow (POP) does the same and is eliminated as well, allowing everyone else to come in and eliminate Shaq and Show. Somehow, that means we NEED to see them at Wrestlemania the next year, despite almost no one asking to see it. Everyone stands around until Page hits the Diamond Cutter on Viktor and tosses him with ease.

Konnor gets rid of Page a few seconds later as this is already pretty dull stuff. The yet to be official Golden Truth eliminates Konnor and Tatanka goes on a warpath that no one was asking for. Corbin tosses Tatanka to no reaction and Kane backdrops Swagger out. The Social Outcasts of all people clean house and get rid of Goldust and Truth. We get a victory lap until Kane and Corbin get rid of Rose and Axel.

We’re down to Corbin, Kane, Young, Breeze, Henry and Dallas with Kane chokeslamming Baron. Henry comes back in after being on the floor for six minutes to eliminate Slater and Breeze to get us down to five. Kane and Young (the oddest couple until….Young and Bob Backlund I guess) get rid of Henry before Kane dumps Dallas and Young. Corbin sneaks in from behind though and eliminates Kane to win at 9:43 and set off the NXT chants.

Rating: D. This was your annual “hey we still have jobs” battle royal but for once they let someone have the win to elevate them up the card. Corbin hits the ground running and odds are he’s going to be challenging for the Intercontinental Title at next year’s show. That’s how you introduce a star and it worked very well. The battle royal itself didn’t though with too many dead spots, but at least they kept the pace up after the first year’s was over thirteen minutes and last year’s was over eighteen.

Wrestlemania XXXIII is in Orlando.

Here are the Dallas Cowboy cheerleaders to perform, which is never a bad thing. They’re followed by something that’s a bit more hit or miss: Rock’s annual Wrestlemania appearance. This time it’s a bit different though because he has a FLAMETHROWER. He lights a ROCK sign on fire and this eats up even more time on a show already over three and a half hours long with the main event to go.

After the long entrance and some standing around, Rock FINALLY says his first words nearly eight minutes after the cheerleaders started. We get some crowd praising and talk of Rock babies as there’s a loud echo on everything Rock says (kind of cool because of just how big the place is) and the new attendance record of 101,763 is announced. Yeah I know it’s probably not quite that high and much like in 1987, I really don’t care that much.

Rock says it’s about to get good…and we’ve got Wyatts. Thankfully this means we get the Fireflies in the stadium, which was one of the coolest visuals I’ve ever seen. It actually lit up the ring, which is pretty impressive for a bunch of phones. Bray introduces himself and says he chose Rock because Rock represents a lie. Rock is supposed to be the People’s Champion but this is Bray’s moment. He’s going to eviscerate Rock on the grandest stage of them all and the people have to watch.

Rock mocks the eviscerating line and thinks Bray has been hitting the bong. We get some jokes about Rowan and Strowman (Is this where Rock buried Bray? I never can tell with these things.) before Rock praises Bray for having it all (BURIAL! HE’S BURYING HIM! SOMEONE GET A SHOVEL TO HELP BRAY!) and getting 100,000 people on their feet. Rock accuses Bray of eating Hot Pockets but Bray says he’s here to kick the door down. However, Rock has an idea: let’s have a match! We get a referee and Rock says pick any Family member as he takes off the workout gear to reveal trunks.

The Rock vs. Erick Rowan

Rock Bottom, six seconds. Again, I saw this called Rock burying the Wyatts. You know, because people are worried about ERICK ROWAN needing protection.

The Family surrounds Rock and heeeere’s Cena for the save. House is cleaned, signature moves are hit and Rock welcomes Cena back (he would be back in about a month) to FINALLY end this, 28:15 after the cheerleaders came out (I’m keeping time for a reason in case you couldn’t tell).

It’s 11:03pm so let’s recap the main event. Roman Reigns was World Champion but HHH couldn’t get him to go corporate so it’s Austin vs. Vince again. HHH made Reigns defend the title in the Royal Rumble, which he of course entered and won to set up this match. People really weren’t all that interested but you knew this was going to happen several months back. You know, because THIS TIME FOR SURE it’s going to get Reigns over.

WWE World Title: Roman Reigns vs. HHH

HHH is defending and here’s Stephanie in what I think is a Mad Max look. It’s a closeup of her face in front of a barren wasteland as she talks about how this is their world and we’re all just living in it. Basically all hope is lost and we need to give up on this ridiculous belief that anyone can save us from the Authority.

Then an army of people in skull masks (NXT wrestlers with Enzo Amore at the front) carrying WWE Titles comes to the ring to set up HHH’s entrance where Stephanie gets to show off her legs. Again, just like the last two years, the big face gets to follow this rather cool (and over the top) HHH entrance. But hey, at least we get the annual HHH is Cool moment right?

As ridiculous (and as much as they’re begging the fans to boo them instead of Reigns) as this is, it’s NOTHING compared to the outright hatred that Reigns receives. The man is booed out of Texas and allegedly the audio had to be turned down in response. If that’s true…..I really wouldn’t be surprised.

Since these two can’t stand each other, they go to a headlock and armbar to start. The fans unload on Reigns when he shoulders HHH, only to get hiptossed to the floor. Back in and HHH works on the arm some more until Reigns shoves him into the corner for more incredible booing. A lockup goes nowhere as this is already starting to look like one of HHH’s disastrous main events.

Some hard forearms to the back of Reigns’ head put him down. The comeback is so soundly booed that it’s almost comical. A Stunner over the top rope sets up the apron dropkick for one on the champ. Stephanie offers a quick distraction so HHH can get in a low blow (FACE POP) and Reigns goes down again. HHH goes with some hard right hands to the face and the spinebuster gets two.

They head outside with HHH sending him face first into the announcers’ table (which he did a few weeks back to break Reigns’ nose). Another comeback is cut off and Reigns is thrown into the German announcers. Back in and Reigns uppercuts him out of the air and hammers away, only to have HHH bail from the Superman Punch. They trade whips into the steps until Reigns spears him through the barricade for almost no reaction. This is basically the same problem as HHH vs. Jericho in 2002: there’s no reason to believe the champ has a chance so there’s no reason to care until Reigns hits a spear in the ring.

Back in again and Reigns is holding his arm but HE’LL CONTINUE! And without a thirty minute nap like at the Rumble! Oh he’s got his working boots on tonight. HHH puts on a Fujiwara armbar of all things because the main event of Wrestlemania with a match that’s supposed to be based on hatred is built around a bad arm. See, when Daniel Bryan did that, it was entertaining. When Reigns is doing it, the fans are cheering the evil villain.

Reigns powers out of something like the Rings of Saturn but can’t knock the confetti off of HHH’s head. It’s back to the armbar until Reigns FINALLY gets the break with a powerbomb. That goes nowhere so WE HIT ANOTHER ARMBAR BECAUSE THIS MATCH NEEDS TO BE ALL LONG AND EPIC AND STUFF! Another powerbomb breaks the hold again but the spear is countered into a Pedigree which is countered into a backdrop to the floor.

The fans start singing to placate their boredom until the spear gets….no count because Stephanie pulls the referee out. Now Stephanie gets in to yell at the referee, earning herself a spear and turning Reigns into the biggest star in the world (for about thirty seconds). If my memory serves me right, she hasn’t taken a bump in nearly a year since then, or really had anything bad happen to her that lasted more than a day or two.

The Pedigree gives us the first hot near fall of the match and it’s the Superman Punch to drop HHH. The second spear is broken up with a knee and Stephanie hands HHH the sledgehammer (She took a spear less than four minutes ago so OF COURSE she’s capable of doing that. This woman is scary.). Not that it matters as another Superman Punch and the spear give Reigns the title back at 27:04.

Rating: D. And a lot of that is just for having the guts to go out there and do a match this boring in this spot on this show. This match was twelve minutes of HHH working on the arm and then getting into the main event style that went exactly where we knew it was going. The lack of drama or really anything interesting (save for that Stephanie spear) killed this and there was no recovering given how long the thing ran.

This needed to be about fifteen minutes shorter and we would have had the same result: Reigns winning and getting booed out of the building because people just don’t want to see him in this spot. There was a total lack of hatred and violence here and it really dragged things down, which is far too often the case for any given HHH match. It’s one of the worst Wrestlemania main events ever and there’s really no way around that.

A quick celebration sets up the traditional long music video to wrap things up.

Overall Rating: D. I can’t think of a single show that is so completely different from the first half to the second. The worst thing about the first few matches is the booking with the worst match being a somewhat dull six man tag. If you cut this off after the Women’s Title, this is one of the better pay per views I’ve seen in several years.

Then the Cell was lowered, kicking off the last “four” matches (counting Rock vs. Rowan) and the long segment. When you add up the Cell, the Rock segment and the main event, they all combined for over two hours. That’s two REALLY bad matches and a segment that went on far too long (but was entertaining at times) adding up to an episode of Smackdown. Clip off fifteen minutes from Shane vs. Undertaker (and another five from the intro/post match stuff), ten from Rock’s stuff (say, him playing with a flamethrower) and AT LEAST ten off the main event and this is instantly a less horrible show.

Unlike most pay per views, Wrestlemania is almost exclusively remembered for two to three matches more often than not. Therefore, it’s a major problem when your two main matches are long and rather horrible. It was hard to keep interest in this show even sitting in the stadium and that should not happen. There’s a lot of good stuff in the first half though and switching the order up would have helped out a lot. Unfortunately that’s completely the opposite of what they did as it was all stupid booking overshadowing the good and then REALLY bad stuff covering the rest of the show.

It’s easy to see why this show is remembered so poorly when the second half is just such a wreck. It felt like a huge way to have the fans get annoyed while WWE laughs and says “we’ve got all your money”. You shouldn’t leave Wrestlemania talking about how bad the show was when there was so much good going on. The bad completely outweighs the good here and there was no way anything else was going to be remembered. Awful show that lives down to its reputation.

Ratings Comparison

Zack Ryder vs. Stardust vs. Sin Cara vs. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens vs. The Miz vs. Dolph Ziggler

Original: B

Redo: B

AJ Styles vs. Chris Jericho

Original: B

Redo: B

New Day vs. League of Nations

Original: C-

Redo: D+

Brock Lesnar vs. Dean Ambrose

Original: D+

Redo: C+

Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks

Original: B+

Redo: A-

Shane McMahon vs. Undertaker

Original: D

Redo: D-

Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Original: D

Redo: D

The Rock vs. Erick Rowan

Original: N/A

Redo: N/A

HHH vs. Roman Reigns

Original: D

Redo: D

Overall Rating

Original: C-

Redo: D

Oh yeah I was still feeling the in-person vibe when I watched this back the first time. A C- is WAY too generous.

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

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2016/04/08/wrestlemania-xxxii-strap-yourselves-in-this-is-a-long-one/

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up the paperback edition of KB’s Complete 2000 Monday Nitro and Thunder Reviews Part 1 (also available as an e-book) from Amazon. Check out the information here:

http://kbwrestlingreviews.com/2019/02/22/new-book-kbs-monday-nitro-thunder-reviews-volume-vii-january-june-2000/

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

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