Monday Night Raw
Date: November 2, 2015
Location: Pepsi Center, Denver, Colorado
Commentators: Michael Cole, John Bradshaw Layfield, Byron Saxton

We’re still in the build towards Survivor Series and tonight we might find out who is likely to join Undertaker and Kane in what seems to be a Survivor Series elimination tag against the Wyatt Family. Other than that it’s time to build towards Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins for the World Title. Let’s get to it.

Here’s Roman Reigns to say he’s glad to be here as the #1 contender and the next World Champion. Rollins on the other hand is a brown nosing kiss up and his luck runs out at Survivor Series. This brings out Rollins who knows that Reigns is good. If he wasn’t good then Seth wouldn’t have recruited him into the Shield. Rollins hits the verbal recap button (can we please get him to cut that out) as he brings up Wrestlemania but Reigns wants to fight right now.

The champ starts towards the ring and it’s the Authority to make sure nothing happens without their approval. Stephanie teases doing the match tonight but says you’ll have to watch Survivor Series. So they’re heels this week. HHH thinks we should have a five on five elimination tag right here tonight (because building that up for NEXT week is such a bad idea) with Reigns and Rollins as captains.

Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler

Non-title. In an inset promo, Owens says he doesn’t care about people booing him because no one can beat him. Owens starts right in on Ziggler’s bad knee and mocks him as only the champ can do. Ziggler misses a charge in the corner and bangs up the knee again (Owens: “THIS CLOSE!”). Kevin misses the backsplash though and the running knee sends him to the floor. Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae come out as we take a break.

Back with Breeze and Summer in their roped off seats as Owens chinlocks Ziggler. Dolph finally jawbreaks his way to freedom and limps into a neckbreaker to put Owens down again. A couple of rollups get two each for Dolph but he stops selling the knee so Kevin sends him flying with a release German suplex. The Cannonball is blocked with a superkick but the camera cuts to Tyler and Summer taking pictures instead of watching the near fall. Well to be fair Summer is streaming on something and that’s what matters in WWE. Tyler’s distraction lets Owens grab the Pop Up Powerbomb for the pin at 11:02.

Rating: C-. Not great here and I could have done without hearing about Summer streaming video on whatever she was doing. Back in my day, you watched the video of the match during the match instead of trying to find some video on the internet. Owens is still on a roll though and Breeze gets to mess with Dolph even more so well done.

Post match Tyler goes to pose over Ziggler but gets punched in the face. That earns Ziggler a Beauty Shot as Summer continues to stream.

We look back at 1987 when the first Survivor Series took place on Thanksgiving night. That was a great show.

Rollins recruits Owens for his team tonight with promises of a title match at Wrestlemania.

We look at Paige going full heel last week.

Becky Lynch says the only B in PCB was Paige. Brie comes up and says she’s winning the four way for the #1 contendership instead of Charlotte’s wacky sidekick. Becky calls Brie her sister’s doormat and Renee finds this awesome.

Cesaro vs. The Miz

Byron: “I’ve got to get me a section like Cesaro.” Cole: “Byron no one likes you.” Cesaro nips up out of a wristlock to start but gets sent into the post and barricade to put Miz in control. Back in and we hit the chinlock as Stardust and the Ascension are still watching from the crowd. The Skull Crushing Finale is broken up and we hit the Cesaro Swing for a LONG time. The Sharpshooter makes Miz tap out at 4:49.

Rating: C. Not bad here and it’s nice to see Cesaro get a win, even if it’s not going anywhere anytime soon. It would be nice to see this Cesaro vs. Stardust thing go anywhere other than just watching for weeks on end but I’m sure that’s coming soon enough. I miss the days when you would have matches that didn’t have much of a meaning like this one. You can’t do that all the time but it’s nice once in a while.

Here are the Wyatts with something to say. Bray says every night is special but tonight he wants to give the people something even more important. Everyone here has recently seen Bray and his brothers taking care of Undertaker and Kane but it’s not about taking their bodies. The bodies are temporary but their souls live forever.

Unless the souls are consumed by a higher power (there would be a Vince joke here but all of the good ones are probably already covered) like Bray, who has already harvested the souls of Undertaker and Kane. Bray summons the thunder and lightning (thunder rolls and purple lightning comes out of the posts) because he now controls the powers of darkness. A bunch of fireworks go off and we see a highlight video of the Brothers of Destruction. Cool segment but go win something.

Lucha Dragons vs. King Barrett/Sheamus

We actually get a video on the Dragons before the match so they must be the next New Day challengers. Kalisto kicks at Sheamus’ leg to start but gets shoved away. It’s off to Barrett for a kick to the head before Cara monkey flips Kalisto into a 450 for two. The King finally gets going and sends Kalisto outside and into the barricade as we take a break.

Back with Sheamus hammering Kalisto in the corner but he rolls away and makes the tag off to Cara for some house cleaning. A suicide dive takes Barrett out and Sheamus misses a charge into the post. Barrett knocks Cara off the top and onto Sheamus’ knees before driving Cara back first into the barricade for two. We hit the chinlock for a bit before Barrett does his kick to the ribs in the corner.

Sheamus gets two off a suplex before it’s back to Barrett for the knees against the ropes. The King even does the Dragons pose with a EU-ROPE chant. Cara counters Sheamus’ suplex into a DDT and it’s back to Kalisto with the real hot tag. A quick rollup gets two but Barrett takes him down and loads up the Bullhammer, only to charge into the Salida Del Sol for the pin at 13:38.

Rating: C+. Who had three weeks in the “how long before Barrett gets pinned in an upset” pool? You knew it was coming, I knew it was coming, Barrett knew it was coming. I liked that they’re getting the Dragons ready, but you have the Ascension on the roster for this same match. Oh wait we can’t do that because having teams go across to a different story might get too complicated.

Jack Swagger comes in to see Zeb Colter and doesn’t like the idea of MexAmerica. Colter puts over the idea while also taking a jab at Canada. The camera pans over to Del Rio, who tells Swagger to stay away. Was he just standing there the whole time and no one acknowledged him? Well it makes sense on sitcoms and WWE is a step beneath those so this works.

Alberto Del Rio vs. R-Truth

Non-title and in case Del Rio squashing him on Smackdown wasn’t enough for you. Truth charges to start and Alberto goes to the floor. Back in and Del Rio grabs the armbreaker across the top rope. Truth comes back with some clotheslines (he wasn’t in the armbreaker that long) followed by the ax kick for two. Del Rio kicks him in the head and ties Truth in the Tree of Woe for some kicks to the chest, followed by the top rope double stomp (and yes Truth is still in the Tree of Woe for those of you who ask me if Del Rio is using Finn Balor’s move every time) for the pin at 3:23.

Rating: D. This could be subtitled “Even we don’t watch Smackdown” because it’s the same match (plus two minutes) that these two had last week. As usual it makes me wonder why I waste my time on that show when they’re not even going to mention it on Raw and just do the same match. Boring match both times too.

Clip of the Raw vs. Smackdown Survivor Series match in 2005.

Rollins lets Big E. and Kofi (still no Woods) join the team if they can find a fifth man. They hold up the unicorns and look like they have ice cream headaches until Xavier returns to complete the team. A TEAM RO-LLINS dance party starts but Seth walks off.

Sasha knows the fans want her because she’s the Boss. She also reminds JoJo that Halloween was Saturday.

Sasha Banks vs. Brie Bella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Paige

Winner gets the shot at Survivor Series. No Nikki, who is out with an injury. Brie and Sasha shove each other around to start until Becky dropkicks them down and nips up. Sasha and Becky trade some rollups for two each but Becky starts going after the knee to take over. Brie finally comes back in with a double middle rope dropkick. We get some running BRIE MODE (which now means no facial expressions instead of getting smashed) knees but Paige superkicks Brie down.

Becky and Paige get in a brawl with Lynch going into the steps. Sasha gets two off the double knees in the corner but gets sent throat first into the middle rope. Brie misses the middle rope dropkick and Paige gets a quick two as we take a break. Back with Brie doing the YES Kicks because she doesn’t know how to be a heel.

After taking their sweet time we get a Tower of Doom with Sasha taking the superplex and Becky powerbombing everyone down. The Disarm-Her has Brie in trouble but Sasha makes the save and gets two on Becky off a neckbreaker. The Bank Statement has Becky in trouble (she looked like she was tapping) but Paige breaks it up and hooks the Rampaige to pin Becky at 13:18.

Rating: B. Now that was more like it. This wasn’t about teams or ESTABLISHING CONTROL or who started a revolution because the stupid Stephanie part was erased from existence. This was four women fighting for a title and personal issues, which makes a match so much more interesting than what we’ve sat through for months.

Paige says anyone who cheered for any of the other three is a loser. Anyone who cheers for Charlotte will be a loser too because she’s going to lose at Survivor Series. Simple words here but it got the point across.

Clip from last year’s Survivor Series main event with no mention of Sting. So the show debuted, then nothing happened for 18 years, then it was last year.

Team Rollins vs. Team Reigns

Seth Rollins, Kevin Owens, New Day

Roman Reigns, Unknown, TBA, TBD, A mystery partner

Elimination rules and New Day comes out first. Woods: “You know we’re going to talk so SHHHH!” Big E. talks about surviving the Dudleyz and Kofi says the New Day’s favorite band is Survivor. Their favorite reality show? Survivor. Their favorite Destiny’s Child song? Survivor. Favorite book and movie? Lone Survivor. Woods: “Technically Last Unicorn but regardless.”

First up for the partners: the returning Usos. During their entrance, Cole sounds shocked, until he announces that they’ll be on ESPN tomorrow night. The other two are Ryback and Ambrose, neither of which are any sort of surprise. Not that there’s anything wrong with that. Woods charges into a superkick to start and Jey adds the Superfly Splash for the elimination at 37 seconds.

Back with Jey taking the rotating stomps in the corner which JBL names the Unicorn Stampede. I can’t stand JBL but that’s the best name I’ve heard in years. Owens hits the Cannonball but Jey escapes a chinlock and dives over for the tag to his brother. Big E. gets low bridged to the floor and the double dive takes New Day out. Back in and a frog splash eliminates Kofi at 7:45 to make it 5-3.

An enziguri and a superkick drops Big E. but he crotches Jey on top. The Big Ending makes it 4-3 and a Pop Up Powerbomb takes Jimmy out to tie things up at 9:02. Reigns comes in to clean house and everything breaks down until Owens superkicks Reigns and takes us to a break. Back with Rollins coming in to stomp on Reigns like a good heel should do. After a long chinlock it’s back to Owens for a backsplash and some hard right hands to the head.

Reigns slugs away at Rollins but Seth is smart enough to knock Ambrose off the apron to make the hot tag a bit more difficult. It’s a double tag to bring in Ryback and Big E. and everything breaks down again. Ambrose does his slide under the bottom rope into a clothesline on Owens but gets sent into the steps. Ryback slips out of the Big Ending and Shell Shock gets rid of Big E at 21:30. Rollins is right there to Pedigree Ryback at 21:50 and we’re down to Ambrose/Reigns vs. Ryback/Rollins.

Ambrose gets thrown in for a fight with Rollins and the top rope standing elbow gets two on the champ. Back to Owens for a fireman’s carry gutbuster and a lot of trash talk. I could go for Owens vs. Ambrose, even if it’s them playing Parcheesi. Seth’s top rope knee to the head gets two on Dean and the frustration sets in. Owens stops the comeback with a superkick but Seth knees his partner by mistake.

Dirty Deeds gets rid of Kevin at 27:30 and it’s Ambrose/Reigns vs. Rollins. Seth tries to run but keeps getting caught and the beating is on. Rollins is finally caught in the corner for the rapid fire clotheslines. He manages to escape the Doomsday Device but Ambrose keeps him out of the crowd. Rollins grabs a chair though and it’s a DQ at 30:03.

Rating: B-. First of all: the following people use superkicks.

Paige

Jimmy Uso

Jey Uso

Alberto Del Rio

Luke Harper

Seth Rollins

Dolph Ziggler

Rusev

Kevin Owens

Tyler Breeze

And I might be forgetting some. I know the company edict is that Shawn Michaels is the greatest of all time but LEARN SOMETHING NEW. Even the Young Bucks do something else every now and then.

The match itself was a good, long Survivor Series match and that…..doesn’t make a lot of sense. The ending is fine, but why in the world would you do a thirty minute main event style match here when you have a pay per view for them in twenty days? This is the annoying thinking that WWE has lately and it drives me crazier every single week. Put the eight guys into a match at the pay per view with title shots on the line or something but don’t do it this way. The action was good though and the Usos are clearly going for the titles sooner rather than later.

Rollins cleans house with the chair but Reigns gets in a Superman Punch to send him running to end the show.

Overall Rating: C+. This show had some major faults and it’s really not as good as last week. The main event was a fun idea but again: WHY IS IT HAPPENING THE NIGHT IT’S ANNOUNCED??? Give both guys a week or two to set up their teams and do it on the go home show or something but stop announcing the match and doing it in the same night.

The Wyatt promo was good but I’m always skeptical about believing in Bray’s latest push. Let him win something big and I’ll buy into him more but until then I’m waiting on the loss in the big match. The Divas match was good and logical, probably because Nikki wasn’t there to be treated as the star of the whole thing.

This show worked but the whole idea of having a Survivor Series match three weeks before Survivor Series makes my head hurt. It’s the same old WWE booking theory: let’s give them the same thing over and over again and then ask them to pay to see it again on a different night. The show is still WAY better than it was a few weeks ago though and that’s a good sign going forward.

Results

Kevin Owens b. Dolph Ziggler – Pop Up Powerbomb

Cesaro b. The Miz – Sharpshooter

Lucha Dragons b. Sheamus/King Barrett – Salida Del Sol to Barrett

Alberto Del Rio b. R-Truth – Top rope double stomp

Paige b. Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and Brie Bella – Rampaige to Lynch

Team Reigns b. Team Rollins last eliminating Seth Rollins

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B015IN12I2

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

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

I don’t know why I don’t do these for every Takeover since they’re NXT pay per views. This felt like a show that was thrown together for the sake of having another Takeover on the calendar, but this is NXT where you can actually have faith in your wrestling product for a change. Let’s get to it.

We’re going to do this one a little differently as there are four matches that matter so let’s get the filler out of the way first.

Asuka squashed Dana Brooke in her debut. This was exactly what it needed to be as Asuka destroyed Brooke like she was nothing and even got in a few shots on Emma for good measure. I’m not sure what Brooke and Emma do now but it’s pretty clear that Asuka needs to be pushed as something important. Save for Nia Jax, there’s really no one left to challenge Bayley so it almost has to be Asuka.

As bad as the reason is, I’m hoping that Eva injuring Carmella at that house show might show WWE that she’s just not ready to compete at this level. With Asuka right there and whatever Jax has (she’s an Anoa’i so you know she’s got a good Samoan drop), Eva really would stick out even worse than she did before. Anyway this was an awesome debut for Asuka as she showed a bunch of striking and submission abilities as well as some awesome presence. What more can you ask for in less than six minutes?

Apollo Crews beat Tyler Breeze in the featured non-main event level match. This was a match where I really didn’t know who was going to win going in, but it became pretty clear that Crews is a major deal in NXT. I’m not sure what they’re going to do with Breeze, but NXT is the kind of place where they can rebuild you after some losses. Breeze has earned the fans’ and my respect already by taking what should have been a nothing comedy gimmick and turned it into one of the most consistent characters on the roster.

Breeze could become one heck of a face who wins with last minute superkicks but right now he’s great as a gatekeeper heel who has good matches against anyone. Crews still needs a character but the same could be said of Finn Balor back in June and he turned out fine. I like that powerbomb better than the standing moonsault as you can only get so far on a move like that. It doesn’t seem like someone kicking out of it would mean that much, but the powerbomb is an upgrade.

That leaves us with just the tournament and main event to go so let’s look at the three tag matches in a row.

First up we had Finn Balor/Samoa Joe vs. the Mechanics. This was an old school work the body part, which makes perfect sense given that the Mechanics are basically Anderson tribute wrestlers. Balor tweaked his knee during the match which seemed to be the most logical idea going forward into the finals. That being said, Balor and Joe won anyway after a Muscle Buster into the Coup de Grace which hurt the knee even worse. This was old fashioned tag team work and amazingly enough it still worked just fine despite people saying that those old styles don’t work anymore.

In the surprise of the night (at least going on) Rhyno/Baron Corbin beat Jason Jordan/Chad Gable. I was really stunned when Corbin pinned Jordan, but the more I think about how huge of a reaction Gable received the more sense it makes. You really don’t want to divide the audience with something like Balor vs. Jordan and miss the reaction that you want with Finn. Gable is something really special and could be a big deal going forward in NXT.

As for the match, they changed up the formula here and went with a fast paced tag match with a ton of saves. This is another one of the many things that I love about NXT: they know how mix up a card and not be repetitive. That’s one of the things that drives me crazy about WWE. How many times do you see the same finish or the same kind of match either on the same card or in a row? Stop doing the same stuff and mix it up a little.

That takes us to the final which was the most disappointing match of the night. Balor/Joe won the tournament in a good enough match over Rhyno/Corbin, but Balor’s knee injury never went anywhere. Yeah the heels worked it over for a good chunk of the match but the injury never went anywhere. I kept waiting on the injury to cost Balor something and it just never came. I’m assuming it sets up Balor vs. Joe in the future and the match wasn’t bad but it didn’t do anything for me.

The Rhodes Family presented the winners with a trophy. Nothing came of this but it was a nice moment.

Oh and no Dusty Finish? Really? Not once in the whole thing?

And then there’s the main event. Sweet goodness how awesome are Bayley and Sasha together? This was one of the best put together matches I’ve seen in years as every single thing set up the next move. I’m having trouble picking the first thing to rave about in this. We’ll start with Sasha torturing Izzy.

This is one of the most inspired ideas I’ve seen in a long time as they took something so basic and simple as a major fan and turned it into a plot device. It’s thinking outside the box, which would probably get them protested on Raw because a bunch of stupid groups who claim they’re doing the best thing for children don’t understand the concept that kids can handle being sad if something good happens in the end.

Bayley wound up winning and Izzy was happy, but instead of experiencing joy, there are people out there who would rather kids never have any problems in their lives because that’s how things will work in the real world right? I’ll cut myself off there and stick with using Izzy was awesome and made the match.

Another awesome moment was Bayley stomping on Sasha’s head to make her tap in a callback to Sasha stomping on Bayley’s hand in Brooklyn in a failed attempt to make her give up. It makes Bayley look like the tougher of the two and the one who deserves to be champion for never quitting in the end.

I can’t praise this match enough and somehow it’s just a step behind their classic in Brooklyn. This is in the running for feud of the year and this is their second great match in six weeks. Those aren’t numbers you see very often and it more than lived up to the hype as the first time two women main evented a pay per view.

This show more than exceeded expectations and was carried by the wrestling instead of the storytelling, though the main event delivered on both. For a show that felt like it was there for the sake of having a show and to give a tournament a big stage, this worked incredibly well and I had a blast watching it. As usual, NXT doesn’t know how to fail at a major show. London should be outstanding, as almost everything they put on is.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B015IN12I2

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

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

NXT Takeover: Respect
Date: October 7, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Byron Saxton, Corey Graves, Rich Brennan

This is one of the weaker looking Takeovers on paper as it’s only been about six weeks since the last special. However, there are four major matches taking place tonight with a thirty minute women’s Iron Man match for the Women’s Title and the final three matches in the inaugural Dusty Classic Tag Team Tournament. Let’s get to it.

The opening video talks about Bayley having the title but now it’s about earning respect.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Semi-Finals: Finn Balor/Samoa Joe vs. Mechanics

There’s no stage this time but just the screen and a flat aisle. Balor gets knocked outside to start so Joe pounds on Wilder. Dawson pulls his partner out of the way of a corner charge though and the villains take over. Balor finally gets back on the apron as his partner is getting beaten down but an enziguri allows for the tag to the champ. A pair of kicks put the Mechanics on the floor and Balor unleashes the big flip dive to get the crowd even more fired up.

Wilder saves Dawson from the Coup de Grace and Dawson chop blocks Balor to put the champ in trouble. The Mechanics start taking turns working on the knee, including wrapping it around the post and a half crab from Dawson. Balor avoids an elbow drop but Wilder takes Joe off the apron to keep Balor in trouble. This is classic tag team formula stuff so far and it still works. Wilder doesn’t have as much luck though as Balor dives over and makes the tag to Joe for some house cleaning. There’s the Muscle Buster to Wilder and Balor adds the Coup de Grace for the pin at 9:08 but Balor wrenched his knee again.

Rating: B. This is what NXT does best: simple, basic storytelling that accomplishes everything they needed to take care of. Balor’s knee is messed up going into the finals and you had a good match to get to the point. They didn’t just do a three minute match to set up the long final but rather took their time and gave us something entertaining in the less important match. Well done, as usual.

Clips of NXT at the Louder than Life festival in Louisville.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic: Semi-Finals: Chad Gable/Jason Jordan vs. Baron Corbin/Rhyno

Corbin throws Jordan around with ease so for some reason Baron tags out to Rhyno. A quick suplex gets two on Rhyno and Gable gets the same off a slingshot sunset flip. The fans are entirely behind Gable here (complete with a Gable chant to the tune of Kurt Angle’s old music) as he starts on Rhyno’s arm. Jordan comes in to do the same and a double northern lights suplex gets two on Rhyno.

Rhyno tries to throw Gable over the top but Chad grabs the armbar over the ropes to put him in even more trouble. Corbin gets in a few shots on the floor so Rhyno can take over with a chinlock. It’s off to Corbin for a chinlock of his own (fans: “SAVE THE GABLES!”) before Rhyno misses a top rope splash.

Gable crawls over and makes the tag and it’s Jordan coming in to speed things up. Everything breaks down with Jordan cleaning house but he has to save Gable after the End of Days knocks him silly. Gable O’Connor rolls Corbin out of the corner into a German suplex (awesome) but Rhyno makes the save. There’s a Gore to Jordan and the second End of Days puts Gable away at 10:27.

Rating: B. I liked this one a lot with all the insanity at the end but the ending is a big surprise. I really would have bet on Gable/Jordan winning the whole thing and then they don’t even make it to the finals? It’s not the worst idea in the world but it was the last thing I was expecting. Maybe they don’t want to see Gable getting cheered on the same level as Balor but I’m still surprised at the ending.

Kevin Nash is here.

Video of Asuka.

Asuka vs. Dana Brooke

Brooke has Emma with her. Asuka comes to the ring with a long robe and a white mask for a cool visual. Dana has no interest in a handshake and they fight over a wristlock with Asuka moving at twice Dana’s speed. A slap to the face takes the taste out of Asuka’s mouth but she just smiles at Dana. Asuka comes back with a quick striking rush and Dana’s pose followed by a Fujiwara Armbar.

Emma finally helps her partner with a distraction and the handstand choke has Asuka in some trouble. Asuka comes right back with a snap German suplex and a cross armbreaker followed by a cross face chickenwing. There’s a spinning elbow to knock Emma off the apron. Fans: “ASUKA CITY!” Dana is almost done and gets caught in another cross face chickenwing with a bodyscissors (the Asuka Lock) for the tap at 5:30.

Rating: B-. Well that worked. Asuka picked Dana apart and destroyed her in very short order with every bit of offense you could want to see in five minutes. This was a great debut for Asuka who looks like a killer and blows away everyone else in the division at the moment. Now as long as they keep it going this way instead of going with Eva Marie, everything will be fine.

Asuka takes Dana down again and stares at Emma post match.

Breast cancer is bad.

We look at Balor injuring his knee again.

Nia Jax finally arrives next week.

Apollo Crews vs. Tyler Breeze

Crews powers him up against the ropes to start and knocks Tyler to the floor like he’s nothing. A delayed vertical suplex gets two for Crews but Breeze leverages him out to the floor to take over again. Back in and Breeze starts in on the back with some knees and a chinlock with a knee in the spine. A sideways Backstabber gets two and sets up a Sharpshooter of all things from Breeze.

Apollo makes the ropes and nails a jumping clothesline, followed by a BIG kick to the face to knock Tyler silly. The back gives out though and Breeze Supermodel Kicks him for two. Tyler dives into a powerslam for two and there’s the gorilla press but Breeze gets the knees up to block the standing moonsault. Breeze gets all fired up with forearms but Apollo kicks him square in the jaw. Crews loads up a belly to back suplex but spins him around into a powerbomb for the pin at 9:47.

Rating: C+. I like the idea of having Crews do something other than the standing moonsault for a finisher as that’s only going to take him so far. It’s also really nice to see him face some adversity and overcome it for a change because it makes him easier to get behind instead of just someone to marvel over.

Hideo Itami is here.

We look back at tonight’s first two tournament matches.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Finals: Finn Balor/Samoa Joe vs. Baron Corbin/Rhyno

Balor is limping to the ring. Finn and Rhyno get things going and Corey immediately declares this as a dumb idea. Rhyno shoves the champ around with ease and it’s off to Corbin for some feeling out. The knee starts to go out though so it’s off to Joe for the rapid fire strikes in the corner. Off to Rhyno who has some more luck with a knee to the ribs before Corbin comes in again to a chorus of booing.

A big boot gets two on Joe but he comes back with the enziguri in the corner. Joe tags off to Balor who uses Corbin as a launching pad into a dropkick to Rhyno. The knee seems fine at first but it gives out again when he charges into the corner. That’s fine with Balor though as he nails an enziguri, only to have Rhyno drill him in the knee again to take over. Balor’s comeback is stopped with a Boss Man Slam for two but he comes back again with a Sling Blade out of nowhere.

The second hot tag brings in Joe to take over on Rhyno with the Rock Bottom out of the corner and an STO to Corbin. A Gore gets two on Rhyno with Balor making the save, only to damage the knee again in the process. Another Gore is countered by a kick to the face and it’s the Muscle Buster into the Coup de Grace for the pin and the tournament at 11:09.

Rating: B-. No Dusty Finish? Other than that disappointment, I can’t find much to complain about here. The first two matches were better and the knee didn’t really play into the finish, but I’m sure this leads to Joe vs. Balor in some way. Rhyno and Corbin weren’t an option for winning the whole thing save for Balor and Joe imploding but at least they were an impressive looking opponent in the final. Also well done to have Rhyno take the fall instead of Corbin.

The Rhodes Family (with Stardust out of character) present Balor and Joe with the trophy. Cody talks about his dad being the oak of NXT and how his dad was beamed into homes around the world for over forty years. Tonight, we are all part of the Rhodes family. Dusty’s theme music plays with nothing from Joe or Balor.

Stephanie (of course), Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Lita are in the front row.

We recap Bayley taking the title in Brooklyn and Sasha wanting a rematch. The result is tonight’s 30 minute Iron Man match for the title. We also see some more of Bayley training in an awesome montage.

Women’s Title: Bayley vs. Sasha Banks

Bayley is defending and this is an Iron Man match, meaning the most falls (pin, submission, countout or disqualification) in thirty minutes wins. We get the entrances following the girls to the ring, thankfully with no talking from the announcers. Bayley has a cape and Iron Man colors, meaning my life is complete. Fans: “WOMEN’S WRESTLING!”

They stare each other down and there’s no contact until a little over a minute in. A lockup gets us to Sasha holding a headlock, followed by some rollups for two. Bayley gets some rollups of her own for two each and a pinfall reversal sequence gives us even more near falls. Sasha gets in the first big move with a dropkick to knock the champ into the corner but Bayley comes back with a Japanese armdrag to drop Sasha on her head for two. That looked bad but Sasha seems to be ok.

We’re five minutes in and Sasha sends her into the corner with a top rope wristdrag. Both finishers are blocked and Sasha chills in the corner. Sasha suckers her in and pulls the hair to get a quick two but it ticks Bayley off. Some hard elbows and a clothesline put Sasha on the floor. Bayley keeps the pressure on with a dropkick under the bottom rope (ala Sami Zayn) and a bulldog back inside for two. Both of them nearly crush the referee in the corner but Sasha uses this to her advantage and pokes Bayley in the eye for the first fall at 8:32.

Bayley rams her face first into the buckle over and over but gets sent into them herself. Both of them are banged up as we’re ten minutes in. The double knees in the corner are countered into something like Snake Eyes and the Bayley to Belly ties it up at 10:55. Sasha bails to the floor so Bayley tries the sliding kick again. Banks catches her coming in this time though (I love psychology) and slams Bayley into the steps, right in front of her family and Izzy in a nice touch. Sasha throws her into the steps two more times and makes sure to talk trash to the family. Bayley kicks out at two and the fans are chanting for Izzy.

The champ is thrown to the floor and bangs her knee on the landing. Sasha whips her into the video board and it’s a countout to give Sasha a 2-1 lead at 14:12. Banks steals Izzy’s headband and throws it at her, making Izzy cry to get the fans entirely on Bayley’s side. Bayley beats the count back in at fifteen minutes to go but Banks starts right in on her back. Sasha is brimming with confidence as she slaps on a Liontamer and stomps on the bad hand for old times’ sake. Bayley makes the rope and grabs a fluke rollup to tie us up at 2-2 with 12:38 to go.

The double knees in the corner miss again and Bayley makes the comeback with ax handles to the face followed by an awkward looking spinning facebuster for two. The middle rope back elbow gets the same and Bayley’s hair is almost down. Bayley puts her in the Tree of Woe for a running springboard elbow as we have ten minutes left.

Banks crotches her on top and now the double knees hit (great job of building that move up) for two. Bayley kicks her to the floor as the fans think it’s better than Raw (time for Vince and Dunn to crush this show then). Now Bayley starts working on Sasha’s hand and the fans want Izzy to slap Banks. The arm gets snapped across the middle rope and Sasha falls out to the floor again.

Bayley starts setting up the steps and Izzy looks like she’s about to cry again. Sasha’s hand is slammed into the steps again and a clothesline off the steps puts her on the floor. She’s still able to kick Bayley into the steps though and the champ is in trouble again. Sasha’s suicide dive is caught and a Bayley to Belly on the floor knocks her silly. Somehow that only gets two back inside and we’ve got five minutes to go.

Bayley puts her on the middle rope and a running super Bayley to Belly gets….two as the cover sent Sasha’s feet into the ropes. Three minutes left and they’re both spent. Bayley loads up the reverse hurricanrana but Sasha lands on her feet and hits a Bayley to Belly of her own. There’s the Bank Statement and Sasha spins her away from the ropes. She can’t get the full hold on though due to the hand injury from earlier.

Sasha kicks away from the ropes and gets a better version on with a minute left. Bayley reaches up and bends the hand back for the break before slamming the bad hand into the mat to get out. Sasha hooks the backbreaker to set up another Bank Statement but Bayley rolls through into an armbar while cranking on the hand with ten seconds left. Bayley KICKS HER IN THE HEAD until Sasha taps with three seconds left to retain Bayley’s title at 30:00 by a score of 3-2.

Rating: A. It’s not as good as the Brooklyn match (I underrated that one horribly. If that wasn’t an A+, nothing is.) but my goodness they were feeling the drama and storytelling here. The back work from Banks worked perfectly but it made sense that Bayley didn’t give up because of Sasha’s hand injury. Bayley got WAY more aggressive than she ever has before here and it felt like a battle instead of just a match. Really good stuff here and I had a blast with it.

Bayley looks drained as the roster comes out to the entrance to help Sasha up. HHH presents Bayley with a bouquet and she soaks in the cheers. Bayley and Sasha smile at each other to end the show.

Overall Rating: A. I’m still trying to catch my breath about five minutes after the show ended. This was AWESOME with the main event stealing the show all over again. Those two are something special and they know they are. The rest of the show was all really good stuff too with the worst match probably being Asuka putting on a show against Brooke. I had a blast tonight and it blew away my expectations, as these things almost always do.

Results

Finn Balor/Samoa Joe b. Mechanics – Coup de Grace to Wilder

Rhyno/Baron Corbin b. Chad Gable/Jason Jorda – End of Days to Gable

Asuka b. Dana Brooke – Asuka Lock

Apollo Crews b. Tyler Breeze – Spinning powerbomb

Finn Balor/Samoa Joe b. Baron Corbin/Rhyno – Coup de Grace to Rhyno

Bayley b. Sasha Banks 3-2

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For some reason I don’t think I’ve ever done one of these for a Takeover. These things are the NXT pay per views though so it’s definitely worth looking at a little bit closer. This one does feel like it’s slapped together and really not necessary, but at least you have a series of big matches that should eat up a lot of time. Let’s get to it.

Let’s get the smaller matches out of the way first.

I’ll take Asuka over Dana Brooke. Brooke has been built up as a threat but Asuka feels like something special. I’m not saying Asuka is going to be the next top challenger, but I’ll take her over Eva Marie’s comedy show any day.

Apollo Crews over Tyler Breeze, though Breeze really needs a big win at some point.

As for the main event, of course Bayley wins though Sasha is likely getting a fall here or there. I’m sure the ending will have a bunch of drama, likely with Bayley locked in the Bank Statement with time running out and wondering if she’ll give up or not. There’s no way they’re taking the belt off of her yet though. There has never been a repeat champion in NXT and I can’t picture it happening now with Sasha looking like she’s going after the Divas Title.

Now for the tournament, which could go more than one way. We’ll start with the only easy match in the field: Jordan/Gable beat Rhyno/Corbin. They’ve got something special with Gable and I think they know it. There’s no way they’re going to put Rhyno and Corbin over them and into a final they have no chance of winning.

That brings us to the more complicated match as Finn Balor/Samoa Joe face the Mechanics. It’s no secret that Balor and Joe are going to be feuding at some point in the future. However, the question becomes do they lose and argue over whose fault it was or do they win the whole thing and then fight over who was the more important member of the team? Or do they win the whole thing and then Joe gets a shot as a sign of respect? I’m not sure if they win the whole thing or not, but I do think they advance to the finals.

So that leaves Joe/Balor vs. Gable/Jordan for the title. I think I’m going with Gable/Jordan here as they’re a good choice for the next challengers to the titles and you can have Balor vs. Joe at the next Takeover. Or, they go with Gable/Jordan but a DUSTY FINISH gives it back to Joe/Balor. Seriously if they don’t go with a Dusty Finish at some point, I’m going to be disappointed.

Overall this show feels…..unnecessary. This feels like they’re giving Full Sail a Takeover to make up for Brooklyn because they’re afraid Full Sail will be offended. I have confidence in NXT to pull something off though and they’re guaranteed to have some entertaining matches along the way, but I’m hoping we don’t have another one of these for a good while. Like until London in late December.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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NXT
Date: September 30, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton

This is the go home show for next week’s Takeover: Respect show and the main story tonight is finding out the final four in the Dusty Classic. The semifinals and finals are next week, meaning most of the card is already set. I’m sure we’ll also get the hard sell for Bayley vs. Sasha II. Let’s get to it.

We open with an update on the tournament. Here are the updated brackets:

Rhyno/Baron Corbin

Chad Gable/Jason Jordan

Scott Dawson/Dash Wilder

Finn Balor/Samoa Joe or Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady

Opening sequence.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Quarter-Finals: Enzo Amore/Colin Cassady vs. Finn Balor/Samoa Joe

Enzo and Cass are classic guys and if you’re not a fan of Dusty Rhodes, you must be S-A-W-F-T! Balor now has a slightly altered entrance, a leather jacket and the BALOR CLUB sign for his tron video. Joe and Cass get things going and they slug it out onto the floor, only to have Enzo nail a suicide dive. Balor adds in a flip dive and we take a very early break. Back with Enzo hitting a middle rope DDT on the champ.

The hot (?) tag brings in Cass for some splashes to Joe and big boots to both guys. A big running elbow gets two on Joe and Cass plants him with a Boss Man Slam. The Rocket Launcher connects but Joe rolls over and lifts Enzo to the top for the Muscle Buster. Finn adds the Coup de Grace to advance at 7:12.

Rating: C-. Well that was short. Balor and Joe winning is the better choice as it’s going to make for a bigger impact when they either win the whole thing and fight over who earned the win or screw up and split as a result. Either way it’s a good idea for a story and a good way to set up what should be a really fun title match down the line.

Tomasso Ciampa and Johnny Gargano are disappointed by their loss but tonight it’s about moving forward against Apollo Crews. Tyler Breeze comes in and says he’d love to fight Ciampa later tonight.

Video on Asuka.

Johnny Gargano vs. Apollo Crews

Gargano flips out of a fireman’s carry to start and puts on something like an Anaconda Vice/Tarantula combo for a few moments. Four moments of course because he has until five. Crews dropkicks him out to the floor but Gargano comes back in with a slingshot spear through the ropes for two. Cool move. Some kicks get two more for Johnny but Crews shrugs them off and hits the gorilla press and standing moonsault for the pin at 4:05.

Rating: C. Crews is gathering up wins and it’s nice to see him beating people other than just jobbers. His match with Breeze should be a really good test for him as Breeze is known for putting on good matches in the big moments and both guys need a win on a big stage like this. Good enough match here and a good launching pad for Crews going into Takeover.

Regal brings Dana Brooke and Emma into his office to announce Dana vs. Asuka next week. Brooke is thrilled until Regal shows them an Asuka highlight reel. Emma: “Good luck with that.”

Nia Jax video.

Dana Brooke/Emma vs. Peyton Royce/Billie Kay

Peyton grabs some quick rollups for two each on Dana as the fans chant for the jobbers. It’s off to Billie vs. Emma with Kay getting two off a delayed suplex. Dana calls Kay a billy goat and the villains take over in the corner. Both of them put on a bodyscissors to keep Kay in trouble but she finally gets over for the tag to Peyton. Things go a bit better for Royce with a dropkick getting two on Dana but Emma grabs her leg, setting up the sitout Death Valley Driver for the pin on Peyton at 6:48. That move needs a name.

Rating: D+. This was pretty dull stuff but at least Brooke gets to look dominant before she gets destroyed by Asuka next week. Dana plays a good heel and the alliance with Emma works well enough. The bodyscissors dragged a lot of the life out of this one though and it could have been a good big shorter.

Chad Gable/Jason Jordan say they’re the favorites going into their match next week. Then it’s on to the finals where they probably won’t be facing Dawson/Wilder. That brings in Dawson/Wilder for some serious bickering.

Tommaso Ciampa vs. Tyler Breeze

Ciampa’s video mostly says Johnny Gargano. Feeling out process to start as they trade rollups for no counts. Breeze winds up riding Ciampa like a short horse until Ciampa hits a running knee in the corner. Tyler comes right back with a neckbreaker and a front facelock as things slow down again. Ciampa fights up again and lifts Breeze up for a hanging downward spiral, only to block a rollup attempt that Breeze wasn’t trying.. These two are really not clicking so far. Tyler dropkicks him out of the air for two and hooks a Killswitch for the pin at 7:49.

Rating: D+. I wasn’t liking this one for the most part as they seemed like they were on different pages. Breeze has worked well with almost anyone he’s been out there with and I’m not the biggest Ciampa fan in the world. It was no secret that Breeze was going to win here but unlike Crews, he didn’t make it into a very entertaining match.

Baron Corbin and Rhyno say they’ll win the tournament.

We run down the Takeover card.

A long recap of Bayley winning the Women’s Title and the build to the Iron Woman rematch ends the show. Good stuff here with Bayley studying Iron Man matches and training to go half an hour.

Overall Rating: C+. The wrestling wasn’t great here but they did a really good job of setting up next week’s show. This was quite the go home show, which is something you often get around here. Next week’s Takeover definitely feels like one of the lower level specials they’ve had but I could see the wrestling really making up for a lot of the lack of stories. Good enough this week as they made me want to see next week’s big show.

Results

Samoa Joe/Finn Balor b. Colin Cassady/Enzo Amore – Coup de Grace to Amore

Apollo Crews b. Johnny Gargano – Standing moonsault

Dana Brooke/Emma b. Peyton Royce/Billie Kay – Sitout Death Valley Driver to Royce

Tyler Breeze b. Tommaso Ciampa – Killswitch

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of Complete 1997 Monday Night Raw Reviews at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

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Smackdown
Date: September 17, 2015
Location: Verizon Arena, Little Rock, Arkansas
Commentators: Booker T., Jerry Lawler, Rich Brennan

It’s the final show before Night of Champions 2015 and that likely means we’ll be focusing on the midcard matches. If the past few Smackdowns before pay per views are any indications, that means it’s likely going to be about Ambrose/Reigns vs. the Wyatts while they tease who the third man might be. Let’s get to it.

We open with a recap of Sting’s two matches on Monday, neither of which were important enough to announce more two and a half hours early.

Here’s Seth for his opening statement. When he defends the US Title this Sunday, he’s going to remind John Cena of what happened to him at Summerslam. Sting is going to get what’s coming to him on Sunday. As for Sheamus, tonight he and Rollins will team up to face Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose and Rollins will show Sheamus what happens to him if he tries to cash in.

This brings out Sheamus to ask if Seth sees him as a friend or an enemy. Rollins agrees with the fans’ chants of YOU LOOK STUPID but Sheamus demands that they respect the hawk. Sheamus says the exact same things he’s said for three weeks now and Rollins smirks it off. Nothing new here and I don’t buy the threat of a cash-in on Sunday. They do this every fall and it hasn’t happened in years.

Sasha Banks/Naomi vs. Paige/Becky Lynch

Becky hammers Naomi in the face to start and knocks her into the corner for the tag off to Banks. Sasha quickly fights back and slams Becky on the back of her head as we take an early break. Back with Becky in trouble in the corner as Banks jumps down onto her ribs. Naomi does the same before it’s back to Sasha for an abdominal stretch. Basic psychology here so far. Becky gets away and makes the tag off to Paige for her assortment of superkicks and knees to the face. Becky pulls Sasha off the apron but distracts her partner by mistake, allowing Naomi to small package Paige for the pin at 9:02.

Rating: C. The story continues to build to Paige turning on her teammates and blaming them for all of her troubles. This was a better match than most from the Divas because they were working on a body part instead of just doing all their spots. It’s the difference between having a match instead of having a collection of moves.

Stardust and the Ascension are ready for Neville and the Lucha Dragons on Sunday’s pre-show. Simple promo to build up a match.

Kofi Kingston vs. D-Von Dudley

The SAVE THE TABLES signs are back! Before the match, Xavier wants to talk about a special woman: Mother Nature. Big E.: “She’s a bad mother!” Woods: “SHUT YOUR MOUTH!” They have a petition on a clipboard (Woods: “That’s like a mini table!”) to save the tables and want the Dudleyz to sign right now. Kofi wants us to know that only we can prevent table poaching. D-Von isn’t interested in signing and beats Kofi down in the corner. Big E. pulls out a table but D-Von throws Woods inside. The distraction lets Kofi grab a rollup with tights for the pin at 1:17.

New Day runs off with the table.

We recap Dolph Ziggler giving Summer a present on Raw. Brennan says it was a pair of earrings, which wasn’t clear on Raw.

Recap of Nikki retaining the title via DQ on Monday, thereby breaking the record.

Team Bella is preparing for the Bellabration. They have 298 bottles of champagne ready for them. Nikki is proud that Kim and Kanye are coming but there needs to be some non-alcoholic drinks for Kim. Brie and Alicia don’t seem pleased with her demands.

We recap the showdown between Reigns/Ambrose and the Wyatts on Monday.

Big Show is on his way to the ring for a match when Miz hands him a notebook with something inside. Show looks at whatever is in there, gets annoyed, and throws the book away.

Cesaro vs. Big Show

Cesaro hits a pair of quick dropkicks to knock Show into the corner but Show chops him back down. Another chop is countered into an armbreaker over the ropes in a unique idea. Cesaro starts cranking the arm across his shoulder but Show throws him down to take over again. Show stands on the knee against the ropes as Booker talks about his Top Five. I’ve missed that thing, though I have no idea why. We hit a leg lock on Cesaro (think an ankle lock but with Show’s arms around the shin and knee instead of the ankle and foot) but he quickly rolls out.

The uppercuts in the corner stagger Show and a high cross body gets two. Another running uppercut to a kneeling Show gets the same and Cesaro tries the Crossface while Show is on his knees. Booker thinks it’s an abdominal stretch because he’s not very smart on commentary. The Neutralizer is countered as Cesaro flips out of a backdrop but he tweaks his knee on the landing. Show KO’s Cesaro for the pin at 5:54.

Rating: C+. I liked this more than I was expecting to but the ending hurts it a bit. I guess it’s time to make Big Show look good before he gets squashed by Brock Lesnar in Madison Square Garden because we’re supposed to forget Brock mauling him at the Royal Rumble last year. Oh and well done on making sure Cesaro’s push is stopped cold, because there was no one else that could do this job.

Renee Young, in a leather jacket, asks Ambrose and Reigns who their partner is on Sunday. Reigns says they have a partner but they can’t say because they know Bray will be on him. Whoever it is, it was Dean’s idea. They’re ready to get momentum tonight before going to war on Sunday.

Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler

Ziggler attacks with right hands to start but eats a big forearm to the face. Kevin avoids a dropkick and hits his backsplash for two. It’s already time for the trash talking, followed by countering Dolph’s running DDT into a regular one. We take a break and come back with Ziggler sidestepping a charge to send Owens into the post. A bunch of clotheslines set up the big elbow for two on Owens as they’re not exactly doing anything beyond basics here.

Now the running DDT gets two more and Owens stumbles out to the floor. Ziggler tries to slide to the floor after him but gets caught in a fall away slam into the barricade. Owens throws him into the timekeeper’s area for a nine count with Ziggler diving in before ten. Kevin superkicks him back to the floor and loads up the apron bomb but here’s Ryback for the DQ at 11:07.

Rating: D+. I was bored for the most part here and the ending didn’t help things. They were just doing the basics here and that’s not really enough to get me interested in a match. I’m glad to see Owens win again though while Ziggler doesn’t get pinned, proving that you can protect both guys and not have them limping into their pay per view matches. Good booking to a lame match.

No one has shown up to the Bellabration.

Connor’s Cure video.

Nikki tries to have the Bellabration but no one has shown up. Brie and Fox go off to fix it when Team PCB comes in. Charlotte talks some smack but the three leave without doing anything. Adam Rose, now in glasses, comes in and rips on the party. Nikki throws her cake and hits Brie and Fox. This was even less entertaining than it sounds.

Summer comes up to a tired Dolph and asks about the earrings. He tells her that sometimes a rose is just a rose, but sometimes it means more. Summer is confused.

Roman Reigns/Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus/Seth Rollins

Rollins and Ambrose get things going but do nothing before Sheamus gets the tag. We have to wait some more though as Sheamus rolls outside to yell at the fans for calling him stupid. He’s very sensitive you see. Dean finally gets to punch Sheamus a few times before it’s off to Roman for more of the same. Reigns sends Rollins to the floor and the Shield guys stand tall as we take a break.

Back with Seth holding Ambrose in a chinlock, followed by a belly to back suplex backbreaker for two. Sheamus comes in for a suplex into a slam and a lot of trash talking. It’s back to Seth for a lot of stomping as Seth and Sheamus don’t seem thrilled with tagging in and out. Off to an Irish chinlock until Dean fights up and takes Sheamus to the floor with a hurricanrana. The hot tag brings in Reigns to clean house and it’s time for all those clotheslines. Seth escapes a powerslam but his low superkick is countered into a rollup.

That’s not enough for Reigns as he lifts Seth up into a powerbomb The threat of a Superman Punch sends Seth to the apron but he comes back in with a chop block and the low superkick. Sheamus reaches out for a tag but drops down to the floor instead. Seth grabs the briefcase but tags Sheamus in anyway. Sheamus takes the case right back, only to eat the suicide dive from Ambrose. Back in and the Superman punch and Dirty Deeds give Ambrose the pin at 16:51.

Rating: C. This was your standard main event tag as they continue to try to build up towards the six man on Sunday. It should be interesting to see who the partner is, but I have a bad feeling it’s going to be Kane, because we need more Kane in our lives you see. Not a bad match though and Sheamus vs. Rollins is an interesting tease, though I don’t think it’s going anywhere.

Post match a Wyatt video pops up showing the destruction of Orton and Jimmy Uso. Bray and company come on screen to ask who would be foolish enough to join the fight on Sunday. Not that it matters as they will all fall down.

Overall Rating: C. Well let’s see. The promos were mediocre. The wrestling was mediocre. The build to Sunday was mediocre. What else can I do here other than call it an average show? It’s the standard Smackdown: it’s a decent enough way to kill two hours but you wouldn’t miss a thing if you didn’t see it. I’ve never been one to say that Smackdown should be canceled, but if this is all they can do with it, there’s no need to have Smackdown around.

Results

Sasha Banks/Naomi b. Paige/Becky Lynch – Small package to Paige

Kofi Kingston b. D-Von Dudley – Rollup with a handful of tights

Big Show b. Cesaro – KO Punch

Kevin Owens b. Dolph Ziggler via DQ when Ryback interfered

Roman Reigns/Dean Ambrose b. Sheamus/Seth Rollins – Dirty Deeds to Sheamus

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NXT
Date: September 16, 2015
Location: Full Sail University, Winter Park, Florida
Commentators: Corey Graves, Rich Brennan, Byron Saxton

The Dusty Classic continues tonight as we have three weeks to go before Takeover: Respect. So far there isn’t much officially announced for the show but that is likely to change tonight with the main event being set up on this show. I’m sure we’ll also get some more tournament matches, including a few that might have taken place outside of Full Sail. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Tyler Breeze vs. Adam Rose

This is the debut of Adam’s new party pooper character where he wears glasses and shorts. Before the match can start, Bull Dempsey comes out with the fans getting behind the Bull Fit movement. Dempsey lays on the top rope ala Breeze and says this is no accident. Breeze thinks last week’s loss was an accident, just like the day that Bull was born. Tyler would be glad to beat up Bull right now but he has a match first. Dempsey asks Rose to step aside but beats him up instead. Breeze’s blind side attack doesn’t work and Bull clears the ring. No match.

After a break, Breeze accepts Bull’s challenge for a match next week.

Tye Dillinger vs. Danny Burch

Burch had been going by the name Martin Stone but the announcers are going with Burch here. Dillinger gives his early wristlock and cartwheel a ten so Danny grabs a top wristlock. Tye easily escapes and takes his pads down for a one knee Codebreaker and the pin at 3:15.

Rating: D+. Dillinger has a great idea with the perfect ten thing but he needs to be able to talk about it instead of just holing up a ten over and over. It’s cool to see him win a match like this though and the fans are way into the new character. Burch is a good example of what you can have when jobbers are allowed to be kept around. He’s been built up just enough that it’s not a total squash but he has no chance. That’s important to have.

Rhyno and Baron Corbin are ready for Ciampa and Gargano tonight.

Asuka (Kanna) is here next week.

Apollo Crews vs. Solomon Crowe

They shake hands to start and Crews takes him down with a headlock. Back up and Apollo offers another handshake but Crowe kicks the hand away. Crews takes him down with a big suplex and Solomon takes a breather on the floor. He catches Crews’ baseball slide and ties him up in the ring skirt to take over.

Back in and Crowe drives his forearm into the side of Crews’ head, followed by a clothesline for two. Crowe is finally starting to get something going for himself with this style but it’s too late for him. A jawbreaker stuns Solomon and Apollo starts speeding things up. An enziguri sets up the gorilla press and standing moonsault to give Crews the pin at 4:52.

Rating: C. Not bad here but Crowe needs to either have something changed or get rid of him because this character has been a wreck. He has something with the in ring style but it’s not working elsewhere. I wanted to see where he could take the hacker thing but that’s gone nowhere.

Ciampa and Gargano are ready for Corbin and Rhyno tonight.

Dana Brooke and Emma are tired of being disrespected and think it’s time to shake things up for a change. Play time is over.

Sasha Banks arrives.

We get some highlights of the first round of the Dusty Classic and a few second round matches announced, including the Hype Bros vs. Chad Gable/Jason Jordan and Scott Dawson/Dash Wilder vs. the Vaudevillains.

Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic Second Round: Rhyno/Baron Corbin vs. Tommaso Ciampa/Johnny Gargano

Gargano and Rhyno get things going but it’s off to Ciampa before there’s any contact. Ciampa runs the ropes and scores with a quick clothesline but the fans are busy arguing over whether or not they want Corbin. Baron comes in but gets low bridged to the floor, allowing Johnny to suicide dive both opponents. Ciampa’s top rope cross body puts both guys down again as this is completely one sided.

Back in and Rhyno clotheslines Ciampa down to take over and Baron comes in with a big swinging Boss Man Slam. We take a break and come back with Baron choking with a boot. Rhyno and Corbin take turns on Ciampa until Rhyno charges into a boot in the corner. Ciampa scores with a missile dropkick and it’s a double tag to Gargano and Corbin. Johnny starts cleaning house and everything breaks down until End of Days puts Gargano away at 11:06.

Rating: C+. This was fun stuff and more proof that Baron can hang in a longer match instead of just doing a quick squash. Rhyno and Corbin are a good choice for a power team and Rhyno is the kind of guy who can teach Baron a lot in the ring. Good match here though and that’s a good sign as we’re getting closer to the finals.

The Vaudevillains are looking forward to Wilder and Dawson next week in the Dusty Classic but Blake/Murphy/Bliss come in and invoke their rematch clause for next week.

Bayley vs. Sarah Dobson

Non-title and Bayley runs through the crowd before the match, including bringing her biggest fan Izzy into the ring to pose with her. There is no way this can’t be considered cool. Dobson hammers away to start and cartwheels into a kick to the back of the head for an early two. A guillotine choke has Bayley in trouble but she drives Dobson into the corner to break it up. The ax handles to the chest set up the Bayley to Belly for the pin at 2:29. I’m getting a Ricky Steamboat vibe off Bayley: as pure of a face as there can and she takes a beating before making a comeback to win with a basic move. That’s a very good path to follow.

Bayley gets the mic but Sasha Banks cuts her off. Sasha has been hearing about how their title match was the match of the year and the fans seem to agree. However, that’s not good enough for Sasha. She’s not here to please the fans because Bayley was only better than her for three seconds.

Bayley wants to start her own legacy and has no problem giving Sasha her rematch whenever she wants one. That’s not what Sasha wants though because she wants to beat Bayley over and over. Fans: “IRON WOMAN!” Cue Regal to give the fans exactly what they want in the main event of Takeover on October 7 in a thirty minute Iron Man match. Bayley and Sasha look a bit nervous but shake hands to end the show.

Overall Rating: B. Now that’s how you use an hour of TV time. We have a main event for Takeover, a title match set for next week and advancement in the tournament. The fans ate up that announcement at the end and it’s another step forward for the women. Good show here and I had a lot of fun with it.

Results

Tye Dillinger b. Danny Burch – One knee Codebreaker

Apollo Crews b. Solomon Crowe – Standing moonsault

Baron Corbin/Rhyno b. Tommaso Ciampa/Johnny Gargano – End of Days to Gargano

Bayley b. Sarah Dobson – Bayley to Belly

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of NXT Reviews: The Full Sail Years Volume I at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011T13PV4

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

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

Smackdown
Date: September 10, 2015
Location: Mohegan Sun Arena, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania
Commentators: Rich Brennan, Booker T., Jerry Lawler

We finally got to the point and had Sting destroy the statue on Raw to end the teasing for the last few weeks. Other than that we also have John Cena vs. Seth Rollins II coming up, which should be a better match and might even get us the US Open Challenges back on Raw. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Here’s the Wyatt Family to get things going. Harper says Bray’s words will show you the way. Bray talks about how smart Roman Reigns really is but he doesn’t care about any single fan or about what any of the fans think about him. If Reigns is ever to fulfill his destiny and become WWE World Heavyweight Champion, the people must get on their hands and knees to bow down to Reigns. Anyone but you Roman.

Dean Ambrose on the other hand is cursed with loyalty to someone he believes to be his brother. Ambrose is missing a few pieces upstairs and deserves a warning. The two groups have become a modern day Hatfields and McCoys and will fight each other forever. It doesn’t matter who is joining Reigns and Ambrose at Night of Champions and everyone will fall to the Wyatts. Run.

Cesaro vs. The Miz

Rematch from Monday when Big Show interfered. Miz takes a few moments to take the glasses off so Cesaro, with his ribs taped again, hiptosses him down. The big dropkick knocks Miz off the top and out to the floor, leading to a chase scene. Back in and Miz starts kicking at the ribs before dropping Cesaro across the top rope. Off to a waistlock with Miz’s legs but Cesaro turns around and muscles Miz up into a suplex. As usual, that’s scary strength. Some more shots to the ribs have Cesaro in trouble but he grabs the leg and rolls over into the Sharpshooter for the submission at 4:38.

Rating: C-. Basic match here but that’s all it needed to be. The rib work was fine and I’m glad they didn’t have Cesaro win with a power move while barely selling the ribs. I can live with lifting Miz up into the suplex as it’s a single spot instead of doing the same thing over and over again. Also, how nice is it to see Cesaro get a clean fall for a change?

Jimmy Uso is very excited to be Reigns and Ambrose’s partner tonight.

Paige vs. Sasha Banks

Again. Both teams get in a brawl before the match and the other four are ejected. Paige grabs a quick rollup and backslide for two each and a sunset flip gets another near fall. With the quick wins not working, Paige knees Sasha in the face to send her outside. Sasha gets in a shot to the ribs to leave Paige laying as we take a break. Back with Sasha choking on the ropes and getting two off the double knees in the corner.

We hit a quickly broken chinlock before a shot to the ribs sets up chinlock’s sequel. Paige fights up with a running knee in the corner and some kicks to the face but Sasha pokes her in the eye. Paige bails into the corner before spearing Sasha down, triggering a brawl for the double DQ at around 9:00.

Rating: D+. I really wasn’t feeling this one and it came off like a bit way to fill in time instead of having a good match. You would think Charlotte would have played a bigger role here as she has a title shot in four days, though you can almost guarantee that she doesn’t, likely due to a Paige heel turn.

Both groups come out to brawl until referees break it up.

We see most of the end of Monday’s six man tag and Sting destroying his statue. This eats up ten minutes.

Rollins calls Monday the low point of his career because Sting destroyed the proof of his talent. He’s requested a lumberjack match with Ryback tonight so all of the lumberjacks can see that he’s still the best in the world. Sheamus comes up and says Rollins might have three matches at Night of Champions. Or maybe two matches tonight.

New Day vs. Jimmy Uso/Dean Ambrose/Roman Reigns

No trombone this week. Woods goes behind Reigns to start but eventually gets his jaw jacked by an uppercut. Off to Ambrose who stalks Woods around the ring until Big E. comes in and takes Dean’s head off with a clothesline. That goes nowhere until Jimmy comes in to clean house as Ambrose takes Woods out with a suicide dive. Uso dives on Woods and Kingston but Big E. pulls Jimmy over the top and out to the floor as we take a break. There’s really no reason for this match to continue, other than this match needs to fill in time on this meaningless show.

Back with Jimmy in trouble and Woods busting out the trombone. Kofi slams Jimmy head first onto the mat but Woods charges into a superkick. Roman gets the hot tag and cleans house with a nice tilt-a-whirl slam to Xavier, followed by a string of clotheslines in the corner. The apron kick knocks Woods even sillier and the Samoan drop puts Big E. down. Dirty Deeds does the same to Woods and there’s a Superman Punch for good measure. Jimmy goes up top for the splash but the lights go out. When they come back, Jimmy is out cold on the stage. Wyatt’s voice says “they all fall down” and the match is a no contest at 13:08.

Rating: C-. So in other words, this was Jimmy Uso substituting for Randy Orton after a long match that didn’t change anything. Not a good match for the most part but it got a lot better once Reigns came in and cleaned house. It’s a good story but I’m scared of who they might bring in as a partner, especially if it winds up being Erick Rowan or Kane.

Lucha Dragons vs. Ascension

Stardust is with the Ascension and we’re just supposed to forget that they got squashed on Monday. Or maybe we’re supposed to forget everything they do here because only Raw counts. I lose track sometimes. Cara hits his springboard cross body to Viktor before it’s off to Kalisto for some kicks to the face. Everything breaks down for a few moments until Viktor takes Kalisto down with the STO. The Fall of Man puts Kalisto away at 1:40.

The Dragons get beaten down until Neville makes the save.

Nikki Bella accuses Charlotte of being jealous of her. Charlotte comes in and says Nikki’s record attempt ends Monday. Nikki can call her whatever she likes tonight because on Monday, she’ll be calling Charlotte champion.

Seth Rollins vs. Ryback

Lumberjack match and non-title in a rematch of Ryback pinning Rollins on Monday. A shoulder puts Rollins down to start but the champ flips out of a suplex. That’s fine with Ryback as he throws Seth to the floor, only to have Rollins run back inside and send Ryback into the post. All of the lumberjacks are about to fight and we take a break. Back with Rollins getting two off a Sling Blade but charging into a fall away slam. Ryback starts cranking it up with clotheslines and a sitout powerslam for two.

Big Show starts beating people up at ringside and knocks Mark Henry out. All the other lumberjacks tell him to get out, leaving about half of them left at ringside. A spinebuster puts Rollins down again and Ryback backdrops him onto the remaining people. The heel lumberjacks come in and beat Ryback down until the good lumberjacks make the save. Neville dropkicks Stardust to the floor and moonsaults onto everyone……this match is continuing. Apparently lumberjack matches are No DQ, meaning Kevin Owens is allowed to trip Ryback, allowing Rollins to hit the Pedigree for the pin at 11:55.

Rating: D+. I’m so glad they threw in the fact that this was No DQ with a minute and a half to go so they could have all of the insanity. It felt like the gimmick was there because it helped them get to the finish, which was their beloved 50/50 booking. I’m so glad that Ryback got to beat Rollins on Monday, only to have Rollins come out on top here to make sure it’s all even. You wouldn’t want Ryback to get away with a meaningless win. People might start caring about him and that would just be a disaster.

Overall Rating: D-. What a waste of my time. You had four matches and three of them were rematches from Raw. The one original match was a way to hammer in the exact same point that we covered on Raw with Orton. In case that’s not enough Raw for you, how about showing the last ten minutes of the show to fill in even more time? This was a huge waste of two hours and basically a commercial for Raw, which is going to be a commercial for Night of Champions. In other words, this was the least important episode of Smackdown in a long time and that covers a lot of ground.

Results

Cesaro b. The Miz – Sharpshooter

Paige vs. Sasha Banks went to a double DQ when both women brawled

Jimmy Uso/Roman Reigns/Dean Ambrose vs. New Day went to a no contest when the Wyatt Family interfered

Ascension b. Lucha Dragons – Fall of Man to Kalisto

Seth Rollins b. Ryback – Pedigree

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of NXT Reviews: The Full Sail Years Volume I at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011T13PV4

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 7, 2015
Location: Royal Farms Arena, Baltimore, Maryland
Commentators: John Bradshaw Layfield, Byron Saxton, Michael Cole

It’s a holiday show, which means we might not be in for the most action packed episode this week. Coming out of this weekend, the question is what does John Cena’s potential injury mean for Seth Rollins and his double title defenses? WWE has said Cena isn’t injured, but there’s always a chance it’s going to be addressed. Let’s get to it.

Opening sequence.

Seth Rollins gets things going this week and tells us about how special he is. Until he cashed in Money in the Bank at Wrestlemania, everyone believed Brock Lesnar was invincible. Then he knocked John Cena off the pedestal and became the first man to hold both the US and World Titles at the same time. Yes Seth we know. Much like everyone else in WWE, you feel the need to repeat the same lines over and over because it gets them talking on Facebook or something.

Anyway, he had a statue, Sting stole it, and now Rollins wants to crush Sting’s legacy as a result. Seth can do that by beating Sting at Night of Champions, but then he has to deal with Cena, who has politicked his way into the title scene again. That presented a problem but then Rollins remembered who he was. This has been his year so he’ll solve this problem just like any other.

Rollins wants his statue back so here’s Sting on screen, standing next to the statue. Come and get it he says, so Rollins says he’s not afraid. Cue Sheamus instead who asks if Seth is worried about Sunday. Seth is worried about his statue instead but he makes sure to call Sheamus Ronald McDonald with a bad haircut. Sheamus: “Leave my family out of this.” Sheamus teases cashing in at Night of Champions.

Post break Seth goes to see Stephanie to ask if HHH has a plan. After Stephanie gets annoyed at Seth for not thinking she can handle this (you have to get that Stephanie praise in there you see), HHH comes in and Rollins is relieved. HHH makes things even worse though as he makes Rollins vs. Ryback and Rollins/New Day vs. Prime Time Players/John Cena. Stephanie says she thought Rollins should go after Sting but Rollins wanted to hear HHH’s idea.

Paige vs. Sasha Banks

Rematch from last week where Paige only had about a minute and a half to beat Sasha, meaning she came up short. Paige throws Sasha around to start and elbows her in the corner, only to have her kick caught, setting up Sasha’s double knees in the corner for two. Back from a break with Sasha getting another near fall and throwing on a chinlock.

Paige quickly fights out but gets pulled off the middle rope to give Sasha another near fall. Sasha’s cross body is nearly countered into the Rampaige but Banks gets to the floor. Back in and a quick wheelbarrow suplex gives Paige two but Naomi comes in for a distraction, allowing Paige to grab a small package for the pin at 9:56.

Rating: C+. It’s a nice match but the commentary suggests that the Divas Title match will indeed be at Night of Champions rather than next week as was hinted at on Smackdown. Therefore, this was another match that is meant to fill in time until we can get the big Nikki Bella moment that we’ve all been waiting for, meaning this has been another ten minutes of your time wasted.

Ascension vs. Roman Reigns/Dean Ambrose

Now, on Smackdown, Ascension was made to look tough again when they beat up Neville. I’m sure WWE wouldn’t totally waste that by having them get squashed here and act like Smackdown meant nothing. Dean beats Viktor up to start before it’s off to Roman for more of the same. That’s fine with Reigns who punches out both Ascension members with ease before Dean comes in with a suicide dive. The apron boot to Viktor sets up the Superman Punch and a Doomsday Device of all things, which sets up the spear. Dirty Deeds puts Viktor away at 2:53.

Post match the Wyatts come on screen to say the apocalypse is at Night of Champions.

That being said, SCREW YOU WWE! You set something up on Smackdown and you can’t send out Los freaking Matadores do job here? No of course not, because why do that when Ascension is there? Geez they make Smackdown worthless by their own actions.

Ryback says Rollins whines a lot and is an architect but tonight, Ryback’s plans are a Meathook and Shell Shock. Kevin Owens comes up to wish Ryback good luck and warns him not to bite off more than he can chew.

We recap Lana/Dolph Ziggler/Rusev/Summer Rae. There’s even a narrator for this.

Ryback vs. Seth Rollins

Non-title and in a VERY cool thing, Ryback lets a kid hold the Intercontinental Title. The announcers are too busy getting in their talking points to notice of course. Rollins bails outside and hits the stall button to start. A shoulder sends Rollins right back to the floor but Ryback is patient enough to stay inside. Rollins gets rammed into the corner as the announcers argue over whether or not Sting stole the statue. As in the thing he doesn’t own that he took.

Ryback stays on the arm before chopping Seth down with ease. The delayed vertical suplex, with Ryback walking around the ring, gets two on Seth. Rollins gets Ryback out to the floor and tries a suicide dive, only to have Ryback catch him in midair. Ryback is whipped into various metal objects and it’s time for another break. Back with Seth getting two off a neckbreaker and putting on a chinlock.

Ryback punches him in the face and sends Seth flying with a backdrop. A powerbomb and the low superkick are both countered but the second attempt at the powerbomb connects for two. For some reason Ryback goes to the top but has to break up Seth’s superplex attempt. The top rope splash misses and Rollins baseball slides Ryback outside.

There’s the suicide dive but Ryback is still able to beat the count. Back in and Seth charges into a spinebuster but he escapes Shell Shock and nails an enziguri. This brings up Sting to say the statue is waiting for Rollins, allowing Ryback to grab a small package for the pin at 18:45, good for the second distraction into a small package finish of the night.

Rating: B-. This a better finish, this is a much higher grade. It’s a bad sign when they’re already reusing a finish less than an hour and twenty minutes into the show but you can’t expect them to think of that much on their own. Ryback getting the pin is a nice surprise though as he’s one of the best Intercontinental Champions in years.

Sting pops up again and puts a Sting mask on the statue.

Rollins (yes again with Rollins) is looking for his statue but here’s New Day to interrupt with a trombone recital. Seth yells at them but runs into Edge and Christian who are here for the Steve Austin Show. Edge brings up Rollins threatening to kill him to get the Authority back and wants a fight right now. Rollins bails so Woods wants a musical battle. This means the return of the KAZOO!

Edge thinks New Day sucks but Big E. eats the kazoo. Well he stuck it in his mouth and threw it out but we’ll say he ate it. The Dudleyz come up and tell New Day that the Prime Time Players get a title shot next week. The winners of that face the Dudleyz at Night of Champions. New Day freaks out but Bubba says now they can leave. Oh and the Dudleyz have a new song: GET! THE TABLES! GET! THE TABLES! With rhythmic clapping of course. Well that was awesome.

Here’s Summer Rae, who is sad over everything that happened last week. We get the recap again, with Cole saying it “gripped the world.” No Cole, it didn’t. Also, Ziggler and Lana are WWE’s power couple. Yes, he said power couple. Summer wants to apologize to the person who has been hurt so much in all this: Rusev.

This brings Rusev out so Summer can thank him for all of his inspiration. Last week when Ziggler invited her into his locker room, everything was just too much for her and she temporarily betrayed him. Rusev forgives her so Lana says “thank you Ru Ru.” Rusev rips on Ziggler a bit, so here’s Dolph with a message from Lana (who is out with a broken wrist) in the form of a superkick. I hate myself for starting to love this story.

Randy Orton vs. Sheamus

Yes, AGAIN. Orton quickly takes him down in an armbar, likely because he’s so bored by this pairing that he needs a rest. Back up and they’re still in the feeling out process until a shoulder puts Sheamus on the floor. Sheamus gets back in and heads outside almost immediately (same idea as Rollins earlier). He yells at the fans on the mic but catches Orton coming out with the Irish Curse as we take a break.

Back with Sheamus holding a chinlock, followed by the Regal Roll. He demands that everyone respect the hawk and snaps Orton’s throat across the top. The battering ram from the top gets two and the fans are really not interested here. The Cloverleaf doesn’t work so Sheamus resurrects the Edgeucator (a Sharpshooter but with Sheamus pushing on the legs instead of pulling). Orton makes the ropes and comes back with the hanging DDT, only to charge into White Noise for two. The Brogue Kick misses though and the RKO ends Sheamus at 15:49.

Rating: C-. Not only was it boring but it wasn’t even that good. These two just do not have chemistry and they’ve bored the crowd so many times now that I’m sick of both of them. I’m a fan of both guys but it’s not an interesting match. Never let these two fight again and the show will be a lot more entertaining.

Post match the Wyatts surround Orton, who was seen talking to Reigns and Orton earlier. Orton gets destroyed by all three monsters and Reigns/Ambrose aren’t even nice enough to come out for a save.

Cole calls next week the season premiere, which of course is taking place on the show before a pay per view because THEY CAN’T EVEN GET A SCHEDULE RIGHT WHEN THEY MAKE UP THESE ARBITRARY DATES IN THE FIRST PLACE!!!

Los Matadores vs. Dudley Boyz

Diego takes Bubba down to start and the masked men get in some quick fast paced offense. That’s the extent of the good for them though as D-Von comes in to clean house and 3D ends Fernando at 1:38.

Post match Los Matadores blame El Torito so the Dudleyz make the save. Fernando goes through a table.

Cesaro vs. The Miz

This is fallout from earlier tonight when Cesaro turned down Miz’s offer to help publicize the Cesaro Section. Cesaro takes him down to start and easily throws Miz to the floor for some more of the beating. The fans are behind Cesaro as you might expect but Miz kicks Cesaro in the still banged up ribs to take over. Cesaro flips over the top rope because he’s athletic like that, only to get dropped ribs first onto the top rope. Miz kicks him to the floor and sends Cesaro into the barricade a few times but here’s Big Show to chase Miz around, causing a double countout at 4:17.

Rating: D-. So now we’re doing Miz vs. Big Show vs. Cesaro? As in they’re doing the same story they just did but with Cesaro instead of Ryback? This show has been a mess so far and it’s not getting any better as it goes on. Can we please get something interesting instead of this lame stuff all over again?

Back from a break and it’s Bella time. Nikki shows off the Bellatron and invites us all to the Bellabration next week when she breaks the record. This brings out PCB, with Charlotte making the announcement that she’ll be challenging Nikki for the title next week instead of at Night of Champions. A brawl ensues and Nikki taps to the Figure Eight.

John Cena/Prime Time Players vs. New Day/Seth Rollins

A fan tries to follow Rollins to the ring but he’s quickly stopped by security. Cena and Rollins get things going but it’s off to Big E. before anything can happen. The NEW DAY SUCKS headlock goes on as Woods plays the trombone. Woods: “Cena’s gonna learn today what some tricep meat feels like!” E. shoves Cena around as JBL does his best JR impression by making some football analogy that doesn’t go anywhere. The belly to belly gets two on Cena and it’s off to Rollins for some stompings. Big E. tags himself back in for the rotating stomps and Seth doesn’t get the idea.

Back from a break with Kofi getting two on Cena off a high cross body. The SOS gets two more and Rollins breaks up a hot tag attempt. It’s back to Big E. as Woods sits on the steps for some tromboning. E. misses the Warrior Splash and Titus finally gets the tag to clean house. Everything breaks down and Darren gives Woods the Gut Check, only to have Big E. suplexes Titus down. Cena and Rollins get tags and the Pedigree is countered into the STF, only to have Rollins get to the corner for the tag to Kofi. The second high cross body is rolled through into the AA to put Kofi down at 13:08.

Rating: C. Yeah fine. It’s one of the better things on the show and that’s a nice improvement after everything else we’ve had to go through tonight. Cena pinning Kofi is fine as New Day is firmly in a spot where they can get their heat back with one set of antics and a loss means little.

Cena does the Millions of Dollars dance before leaving Rollins alone in the ring. Sting appears on screen in front of the statue. The lights come up and the statue is in front of a garbage truck. I think you can guess what happens. Rollins grabs his titles to end the show.

Overall Rating: D. This was one of those shows where you were punished for being a fan. They didn’t put in any effort on this one because no one The worst part about this show is that it could have been good but they were clearly not trying. It was one of those shows where they were just here to fill in time before the real stuff starts up again next week on the season premiere, which can’t be after Night of Champions because of reasons.

This show felt like it went on for about eight hours, but that’s what you have to expect on a holiday. Of course they can’t do something special here because they don’t want to waste it, even though they never actually use these special ideas that they’re allegedly saving. Not the worst show ever this week, but it was a LONG sit that would have been far better at two hours. I didn’t say good, but at least better.

Results

Sasha Banks b. Paige – Small package

Dean Ambrose/Roman Reigns b. Ascension – Dirty Deeds to Viktor

Ryback b. Seth Rollins – Small package

Randy Orton b. Sheamus – RKO

Dudley Boyz b. Los Matadores – 3D to Fernando

Cesaro vs. The Miz went to a double countout

John Cena/Prime Time Players b. New Day/Seth Rollins – Attitude Adjustment to Kingston

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of NXT Reviews: The Full Sail Years Volume I at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011T13PV4

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

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

So in addition to Summerslam, there was NXT’s biggest show of all time as they had roughly the same crowd as Summerslam in the same building for Takeover: Brooklyn. As usual I was way more excited for this than for whatever WWE was putting on as NXT actually knows how to build a full card. Let’s get to it.

We opened with HHH introducing us to the show and showing off the huge crowd. It never ceases to amaze me how much cooler HHH is on his own than when he’s on Raw. This feels like the closer thing to a real version of the guy and he’s a lot more enjoyable like this. Also his speech was like two minutes long, not twenty. Do that more on Raw.

The opening was a surprise as Jushin Thunder Liger pinned Tyler Breeze. I’ve been waiting for Breeze to be pushed towards the top of the promotion but Liger getting the win is far from the worst thing in the world. Above all here: I have full confidence in NXT’s ability to build Breeze back up. In WWE, or almost any other promotion for that matter, he would be finished for all intents and purposes. The match was good and Liger is a charisma machine so the fans ate this up.

The Vaudevillains brought in Blue Pants to help deal with Alexa Bliss and finally won the Tag Team Titles. As usual, Blue Pants was the perfect choice (save for maybe Lita) and the place was going insane for this. Bliss has a spot as the insanely petty and stuck up girl who can also be an evil mastermind so once you get her away from a dead end act like Blake and Murphy (they’re fine but this is almost guaranteed to be the peaks of their careers), she could do some awesome stuff.

My biggest takeaway from this match was how hot the crowd was. The match was just good instead of great but the people were all over the near falls. It’s what happens when they’re given a reason to care about something instead of being beaten over the head by the company saying how awesome it is. The Vaudevillains have earned the fans’ respect and they were rewarded for it with a great reaction here. It’s such a simple formula but almost no one gets it.

Apollo Crews debuted and beat Tye Dillinger. There isn’t much to say here but Crews looks like a shorter Ahmed Johnson but with more athletic ability. As long as he doesn’t get caught in bed with his goat lover while doing cocaine off an underage prostitute corpse, he’s going to be fine.

We’re going to have the Dusty Classic Tag Team Tournament. No idea what that is but I fully trust NXT to pull off something http://onhealthy.net/product-category/antivirals/ cool with it.

In what we’ll call the pleasant surprise of the night, Samoa Joe beat Baron Corbin with the Koquina Clutch. Joe is a likely candidate for the next title shot and this was a very good performance to get him there. This was two power guys beating each other up for ten minutes and it was all entertaining stuff.

I’m going to keep this separate from the next match: Stephanie came out to introduce the next match. Stephanie is officially the annoying mom who doesn’t get that her kids don’t want her around all the time because she’s going to make it all about herself instead of letting the kids have fun. Unfortunately there’s no way around her so we’re stuck with her ego and obsession with being there for every cool moment.

Next up was Bayley challenging Sasha Banks for the Women’s Title. This was good. Go watch it. Seriously what else do you want from me here? I’ll give them this: that sequence of the Bank Statement and the hand stomp is as good of a back and forth as I’ve seen since Benoit vs. Angle in 2003. The post match scene with the Four Horsewomen posing one last time was perfect too.

The main event saw Finn Balor defending the NXT Title against Kevin Owens in a ladder match that shouldn’t have gone on last. It’s a really fun match and all, but there was no way these guys were going to match what we saw beforehand. I’ve heard a lot of people say it wasn’t very good, but I think those opinions might change with this match in a vacuum instead of right after the classic beforehand.

These two ran into the problem that so many have with ladder matches: what else can you do in them? There have been so many ladder matches over the years and it’s almost impossible to come up with something fresh. Still though, they did what they were supposed to do and the match was a success. It just shouldn’t have gone on last, though I understand the mentality behind it.

So yeah, Takeover rocked, because that’s all NXT knows how to do. It’s such a well build promotion with good to great wrestling, well done stories and an assembly line of fresh talent coming in to restock the shelves when these people are taking up to the main show and wasted because Kevin Dunn and company have to teach them how to be wrestlers because of some grudge with HHH or whatever. Awesome show, watch it again, it’s better than Summerslam.

Remember to follow me on Twitter @kbreviews and pick up my new book of NXT Reviews: The Full Sail Years Volume I at Amazon for just $3.99 at:

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011T13PV4

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

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