Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive is back today with a very weird show. From the lows of the death of Axel Rotten to the highs — I guess — of having to give away Sunny Side Up DVDs via a contest to determine who will win the Vince McMahon Sr. Award of Excellence on Monday. A fun show as always so check it out~!
By Kevin LaRose for WrestlingObserver.com
Fox, Rosa, and Paige are at a restaurant. Its lunch time. Rosa, pregnant, asks if the baby can still breathe if she holds her breath.
Nattie greets a fan outside of RAW. Inside, Nattie grabs Mandy’s breast. We’re 30 seconds in and this show already has a lot going on. Mandy starts groping Nattie. Eva Marie goes to get something to eat, and Mandy asks Nattie to train her. What is the make-up budget for this show? Nikki tells us that she’s about to become the longest reigning Diva’s Champion in history. It means a lot to her.
Paige and Rosa are out to lunch again with Mandy, Fox, and Eva Marie. Paige and Rosa talk about how they are wearing the same underwear.
Nikki is stretching in Brie’s house. Their mom comes in and starts yelling at Nikki for not stretching more. She tells her that she has to go to a doctor and stop doing the Rack Attack. Brie tells her that Nikki should instead shove her opponent’s face into her boobs as her finishing move.
Fox, Rosa, and Paige pull up to a party store in a huge-ass 4×4 truck. Rosa is shopping for her baby shower. Paige and Fox decide they are going to make it a goth/Halloween theme. Mandy talks about how she wants to work super hard and train and focus on being the best WWE Diva she can be and, like, stuff. Eva Marie is talking about how she just got her own “social media” guy who is going to follow her around and take her picture. Mandy wants her own “social media” guy.
Nikki and John are going out to a fancy restaurant, and Nikki thinks John looks cute. John admits that he just bought 55 suits when he was in New York… Wait, he bought 55 suits? Nikki thinks it’s a little weird that he bought 55 suits on one trip to New York, too. But she thinks he looks incredible. Nikki looks distressed, but not about the suits. Her neck really hurts and John gives her a massage. Cena is worried so he gets her into the Ferrari and they leave dinner. John Cena bought 55 suits in one trip to New York. 55 suits.
Back in Florida, Eva Marie is teaching Mandy how to use social media. Eva Marie pushes Mandy in the pool. In the gym, Sheamus tells Nikki he is selling his house and he’ll probably never have a family. Nikki is having hard times lifting weights. Backstage at Smackdown, Nattie is talking about how cute cats are. The pyro in the arena scares Rosa. Brie yells at Fox for planning a gothic themed baby shower for Rosa.
In a car, Brie is yelling at Nikki for not yawning after she yawned. Nikki is stoked that she’s going to be in the history books as the longest reigning Divas Champion of all time. Nikki is going to the doctor to get OZONE shots in her back. Everyone is telling Nikki to take care of herself and take some time off.
*****
Back in Florida, Nattie is working out at the performance center waiting for Mandy, who shows up really late in Converse. Nattie is pissed. She has one day off a week and Mandy asked her to drive two hours from Tampa to Orlando in order to help her train. Mandy wants to take a selfie before they start. Nattie finally has had enough and leaves. Mandy does not even understand why Nattie is pissed. Mandy apologizes and Nattie agrees to stay and help.
In Memphis, Rosa, Fox and Paige are in a car and Paige finds out she’s going to be on Conan. But it’s on the day of the baby shower. She tells them she actually wants the baby shower in California, not Florida. Nobody listened to her. Fox tells her she’s being selfish.
In another car, Nattie tells Nikki that all the NXT girls text TJ. Nattie tells Nikki she has to power through the pain. Again, Nattie with the worst advice (like when she offered her father alcohol, even though he’s sober). Backstage, Rosa starts to unload to Mandy about how mad she is about the baby shower. Mandy stares at her blankly. Nattie and Brie are talking about Nikki’s back, and now that she’s in front of Brie, Nattie tells Nikki to take it easy. The girls are eating in catering and Rosa comes in and confronts Fox. This baby shower is getting nasty.
*****
Backstage at RAW, Fox apologizes to Rosa but she’s actually not sorry.
Nikki is about to fight Charlotte, if she wins she’s the longest reigning Diva’s Champion in history. Her back is ruined though. This is crazy. It’s amazing to think what these athletes do to entertain. I know this show is fake but my respect for Nikki is real. Nikki becomes the longest reigning Diva’s Champion of all time.
Brie says that Nikki will never have kids to share this moment with. To celebrate the Divas go out to dinner with Dolph Ziggler. Dolph talks about having sex with the belt on. Brie gives a speech about how great Nikki is. Fox stands up and gives her own speech where she apologizes to Rosa. Rosa forgives her but she refuses to apologize back. She shouldn’t. Paige says it’s time to haze Mandy and asks her who the hottest Superstar is, and she says Dolph Ziggler, who has a big smile. Ziggler asks her if she’d rather have a reality show or be champion. She lies and says she would rather be the champion. Nattie thinks she’s genuine. Mandy says she would be in a long term relationship with Nattie. Paige says they respect Mandy. Everyone learned a lot of lessons this week.
They went to a lot of nice looking restaurants, but the big takeaway… John Cena bought 55 suits on one trip to New York.
1949
Kansas City, Kansas:
– NWA World Heavyweight Champion Orville Brown beat Bob Wagner 2 out of 3 falls
– The Red Phantom beat Tarzan Kowalski
1972
Kansas City, Kansas:
– Rufus R. Jones defeated Benny Ramirez
– Bob Geigel fought Black Angus to a draw (20:00)
– Bob Orton & Blackjack Black defeated Steve Bolus & The Viking
– North American Tag Team Champions Chati Yokuchi & Yasu Fuji defeated Terry Martin & Omar Atlas in three falls
– Harley Race fought Danny Little Bear to a draw
1974
Toronto, Ontario, Canada:
– Death Match: The Sheik defeated Andre the Giant (Sheik throws fireball)
– Johnny Valentine defeated Big Brutus
– The Beast/Dominic Denucci defeated Hans Schmidt/Johnny Fargo by dq
– Reginald Love and Hartford Love defeated Sweet Daddy Siki and Ron Dane
– Mighty Igor/Ivan Kalmikoff wrestled to a draw with Chris Tolos/Executioner1
Minneapolis, Minnesota:
– The Crusher & Mad Dog Vachon beat AWA Tag Team Champions Nick Bockwinkel & Ray Stevens (no title change, wrong man pinned)
– Billy Robinson beat Horst Hoffman dq
– Larry Heiniemi beat Wahoo McDaniel
– Chris Taylor beat Moose Morowski
– Baron Von Raschke beat Tony Rocco
– Greg Gagne beat Bob Remus (Sgt. Slaughter)
– Ric Flair beat Paul Perschmann (Buddy Rose)
1980
Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
– Greg Gagne & the Crusher beat Nick Bockwinkel & Super Destroyer Mark II
– Adrian Adonis beat Mad Dog Vachon
– Bobby Heenan beat Lord Alfred Hayes dq
– Jesse Ventura beat Steve Olsonoski
– Farmer Blackwell beat Super Destroyer Mark II (sub Dino Bravo)
– Dino Bravo beat Chris Markoff
Green Bay, Wisconsin:
– Non Title Cage Match: The Crusher beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel
– Adrian Adonis & Jesse Ventura no contest Greg Gagne & Dino Bravo
– Super Destroyer Mark III beat Super Destroyer Mark II
– Farmer Blackwell beat Steve Olsonoski
– Chris Markoff (sub for Ron Ritchie) beat Buck Zumhofe
1981
Mexico City, Mexico:
– El Canek defeated Tiger Jeet Singh to win the UWA World Heavyweight Title
1984
St. Louis, Missouri:
– NWA Champion Ric Flair beat Barry Windham
– Wahoo McDaniel beat Harley Race dq
– Dusty Rhodes beat Luke Graham
– AWA Tag Team Champions Ken Patera & Jerry Blackwell beat Buck Robley & Ron Ritchie
– Dick Slater beat King Cobra
– Blackjack Mulligan beat Bulldog Bob Brown
– Grapplers beat Mark Youngblood & Jay Youngblood
1986
Madison Square Garden: New York City:
– WWF World Champion Hulk Hogan defeated Intercontinental Champion Randy Savage in a Lumberjack match
– Lanny Poffo defeated Rene Goulet
– King Tonga defeated Les Thornton
– The Hart Foundation vs. The Killer Bees ended in a draw
– King Kong Bundy defeated George Wells
– Ricky Steamboat defeated The Magnificent Muraco in a Martial Arts match
– Tony Atlas defeated Barry O
– Adrian Adonis defeated George Steele by dq
– The Iron Sheik & Nikolai Volkoff defeated Corporal Kirschner & Dan Spivey
1989
Dallas, Texas:
– Robert Fuller & Jimmy Golden defeated Kevin & Kerry Von Erich to win the World Class Tag Team Titles
1996
Baltimore, Maryland:
– Lex Luger defeated Johnny B. Badd to win the WCW World Television Title
Memphis, Tennessee:
– PG-13 defeated Jesse James Armstrong & Tracey Smothers to win the USWA Tag Team Titles
ECW CyberSlam: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania:
– ECW Television Champion 2 Cold Scorpio vs. Sabu went to a 30-minute draw
– Shane Douglas defeated Cactus Jack
– ECW World Champion Raven defeated The Sandman
1997
Nashville, Tennessee:
– Psycho Sid (Vicious) defeated Bret Hart for the WWF World Heavyweight Title
Tampa, Florida:
– Prince Iaukea defeated Steven (William) Regal for the WCW World Television Title
1998
Waco, Texas:
– The Headbangers (Mosh & Thrasher) defeated The Rock N’ Roll Express to win the NWA World Tag Team Titles
2000
Louisville, Kentucky:
– Flash Flanagan defeated Rico Constantino for the Ohio Valley Wrestling Heavyweight Title
2002
WWF No Way Out: Milwaukee, Wisconsin:
– Rock defeated The Undertaker
– Kurt Angle defeated Triple H
– Chris Jericho defeated Steve Austin to retain the Undisputed World Title
Tokyo, Japan:
– Yuji Nagata and Jun Akiyama defeated Mitsuharu Misawa & Kenta Kobashi
2008
WWF No Way Out: Las Vegas, Nevada:
– The Undertaker won an Elimination Chamber match over Batista, Finlay, Big Daddy V, MVP and the Great Khali
– World Champion Edge defeated Rey Mysterio to retain the title
– Ric Flair defeated Ken Kennedy
– John Cena defeated WWE Champion Randy Orton by dq
– Triple H won an Elimination Chamber match over Jeff Hardy, Shawn Michaels, Triple H, Chris Jericho, JBL and Umaga
2013
WWE Elimination Chamber: New Orleans, Louisiana:
– WWE World champion Alberto Del Rio defeated Big Show
– WWE United States champion Antonio Cesaro defeated The Miz
– Elimination Chamber for World title shot at Wrestlemania: Jack Swagger defeated Mark Henry, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Kane and Daniel Bryan
– The Shield defeated John Cena, Ryback and Sheamus
– WWE champion The Rock defeated CM Punk
Additional details/reporting from Dave Meltzer
It hasn’t been two months and already, Mauro Ranallo has become a fan favorite for those tuning to WWE Smackdown every week. That’s why there was a lot of concern at Tuesday night’s Smackdown tapings in Ontario, California, when Michael Cole came out to announce with Jerry Lawler and Byron Saxton instead of everyone’s favorite Canadian wrestling personality (outside Lance Storm of course.)
Fear not: the actual story is that the 46-year-old Ranallo came to the building, but was sick with the flu and the company made the decision to send him home rather than work the show. He’s still with the company, still on Smackdown, and all is still right with the world.
Some of the concern was heightened because there were so many questions asked via Twitter that got no response from the social media-friendly and president of #RetweetCity.
Ranallo signed with WWE in mid-December and debuted on Smackdown when the show moved to USA Network in early-January.
Last Week on Impact:
On last week’s Impact, Ethan Carter III made his triumphant return and saved Rockstar Spud and Dixie Carter from Matt Hardy and Tyrus.
Tonight On Impact:
Ethan Carter III and Matt Hardy continue their feud over the TNA World Title. TNA World Tag champions, The Wolves defend against Decay in a Monster’s Ball Match. Tag action ensues when The Dollhouse faces off with Madison Rayne and TNA Knockouts Champion, Gail Kim. Plus, appearnces by “Miracle” Mike Bennett, Dixie Carter, Rockstar Spud, Reby Sky, and Tyrus.
Show Recap:
-Backstage, EC3 approaches his Aunt and TNA President, Dixie Carter. Dixie grants EC3 his return title match on next week’s Impact: Lockdown. EC3 will challenge Matt Hardy for the title in a Six Sides of Steel Cage match. EC3 is happy to finally get his title shot, but has some business to take care of right now.
-After the opening theme and video, Josh Matthews and The Pope welcome us to Impact and reminds us that we’re still in the U.K. this week. EC3 makes his way to the ring and talks about his title shot next week. EC3 wonders if Tyrus is babysitting Matt’s son Maxell or breastfeeding him. Tyrus comes out and makes a very subtle Scarface reference. EC3 and Tyrus brawl around ringside. EC3 gets the better of Tyrus until Matt Hardy runs out and attacks EC3 from behind. Tyrus and Matt double-team EC3. Matt gets a chair but EC3 uses it first and clears the ring. Matt grabs the mic and challenges EC3 to find a partner to face Matt and Tyrus in the main event or face them alone.
-Back from commercial, King of the Mountain champion, Eric Young and his partner Bram are in the ring. EY mentions that Jeff Hardy isn’t tough enough to beat him for the KOTM title. Of course, a few weeks ago EY piledrove Jeff threw a table off the apron. Beer Money comes out, but EY won’t give Bobby Roode a title shot. James Storm takes the mic and professed his need for the title shot. Storm hits the ring, leading to our next match.
Eric Young gets the advantage over Storm with help from Bram, but Strom makes a comeback and sets up for the super kick. Before he can make contact with Young’s face, Bram jumps in the ring. Swiftly, Roode cuts him off and all four guys brawl again outside the ring. Storm and EY are counted out. Basically, both teams brawled all over the place, even went into the crowd.
– Backstage, Drew Galloway approaches EC3 and offers to be his partner in the main event. EC3 declines and says he stands alone.
– Back from commercial, Beer Money, EY and Bram do some more brawling backstage. The fight is out of control and goes everywhere, wrecking the backstage.
– They show “Miracle” Mike Bennett interrupting Kurt Angle last week, which led to Angle knocking Bennett down.
– Do you believe in miracles? Maria Kanellis sure does as she introduces “Miracle” Mike Bennett into the ring. Maria’s words give Bennett his cue, and they walk to the ring together. Side note, Bennett cut a promo where he talked about Angle and Drew Galloway. Once in the ring, Bennett said that because Kurt Angle is avoiding him, Bennett will face a local favorite.
Mandrews strolls his way down to the ring on his skateboard. The Miracle dominated Mandrews making this basically a squash match. Bennett hit his finisher the M.I.P. (Miracle in Progress) to win the match. After the match, Bennett continued to beat down Mandrews until Drew Galloway ran down to help, making Miracle bail from the ring.
– Backstage, Decay cut a creepy promo from backstage in a cage about tonight’s match. Suddenly, a guy comes towards the cage and promise to save Rosemary. They didn’t explain anything or even elabote slightly.
– Back from commercial, Drew Galloway and Mandrews were being interviewed when “Miracle” Mike Bennett attacked them from behind and left them both beaten on the ground.
– Next, we get a teaser for the debut of Mysterious Odarg The Great.
– Still backstage, Matt Hardy and Tyrus warn Rockstar Spud to stay out of their business.
– Kurt Angle will wrestle his last match (with TNA) in three weeks. Kurt will take on Lashley. We get to see a video package of their first meeting.
Despite not being the champions, Decay comes to the ring with the belts. All kinds of trashcans with weapons and ladders surround the ring. A really good match between these two teams. Both teams brawl around ringside to start the match. The crowd is going crazy for all the violence and carnage in the ring. Crazy Steve pulls a table out from underneath the ring and Abyss pulls out a barbwire board.
Back from commercial, Both Wolves were climbing to the top rope when Rosemary spits mist into Davey’s eyes. Abyss throws the steal chair into Eddie’s face, which causes him to fall off the top and into a table at ringside. Davey hits a suicide dive onto Abyss, which sends Abyss into the barbwire board. Crazy Steve sets up a chair and places Eddie Edwards on it. Rosemary pours thumbtacks on Eddie’s head. Eddie fights Steve off. Rosemary goes to spit the mist in Eddie’s eye but Davey kisses Rosemary. In the process he sucks out the mist, which he then spits back into Rosemary’s eyes. That sounds dirtier than it actually was. The Wolves defeat The Decay and retain the titles.
– Backstage, Rockstar Spud and EC3 meet. EC3 tells Spud that he’s taking on Matt Hardy and Tyrus alone.
– Backstage, The Wolves discuss their victory over Decay. Next, The Wolves want to face Beer Money to prove that the Wolves are the best tag team of all time.
The Dollhouse jumps Madison and Gail to start the match. The Dollhouse works over Gail Kim until she makes the hot tag to Madison. Madison runs wild and clears the ring. Madison rolls up Marti to pick up the win. After the match, The Dollhouse jumps Madison and Gail again until Velvet Sky returns and makes the save. Velvet then announces that next week Velvet, Madison and Gail will take on The Dollhouse in a first ever Knockouts Lethal Lockdown Match.
– Backstage, Mahabali Shera introduces his mystery partner Odarg The Great. Odarg The Great is actually the recently fired, Grado in a mask.
– Back from commercial, Beer Money and EY & Bram continue to fight all over the back stage area. EY & Bram ran off and Beer Money challenges them to match next week on Impact: Lockdown.
Odarg The Great comes out and he got a really good reaction. It’s obviously Grado under the mask. Not a great match. Shera isn’t the best at selling. Eli and Jesse use double team and power moves to isolate Shera. Shera makes the tag to Odarg who runs wild. Eli tried to take off Odarg’s mask but Odarg took off his own mask, which distracted Eli. Odarg then rolled up Eli for the pin and the win.
EC3 comes out alone and starts his match with Tyrus. EC3 gets a great reaction from the crowd. Matt Hardy and Tyrus dominate EC3 for most of the match. Rockstar Spud comes out to be EC3’s partner. EC3 has the chance to tag, but chooses not to. Matt regains the advantage on EC3. EC3 finally makes the hot tag to Spud. Spud goes crazy on Matt Hardy. Matt and Tyrus turn things around on Spud and isolate him from EC3. They work over Spud until Spud makes the hot tag to EC3. EC3 goes crazy on both Hardy and Tyrus. EC3 clears the ring and then hits a cross body off the top to the outside on both Hardy and Tyrus. Tyrus went to hit EC3 with the spike but Spud hit Tyrus with a low blow. EC3 hits the One Precenter on Matt Hardy and scores the win.
Next Week:
In seven days, it’s a spectacular and can’t miss edition of TNA Impact: Lockdown. All matches will take place in the Six Sides of Steel Cage. In the huge main event, TNA World Champion Matt Hardy will defend against EC3. Beer Money will take on EY & Bram in a tag match. The Dollhouse faces off with Velvet Sky, Madison Rayne & Gail Kim in the first ever Knockouts Lethal Lockdown Match.
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back today with tons to talk about! It’s Retro Tuesday with a look back at Raw and Nitro from 19 years ago this week, including the famous deal where Roddy Piper spent a week in Alcatraz prior to his title match with Hulk Hogan at SuperBrawl. Meanwhile, on Raw, a new WWF World Heavyweight Champion! A fun show as always so check it out~!
No Mauro Ranallo announcing. Michael Cole was in his place.
Kevin Owens makes his way down the ring to do color commentary.
Lucha Dragons and Ziggler vs Del Rio & Sheamus and Rusev. Barrett watches from ringside. Sheamus kicked Ziggler with interference from Owens.
Tamina accompanied by Naomi vs Sasha Banks. Sasha over Tamina via cross face. Short match. After the match Team Bad attacks Sasha, Becky Lynch makes the save. Becky attempted to help Sasha when on the mat but Sasha pushed her away. Sasha and Becky shown backstage, talking about their WrestleMania moment.
Jericho comes out and says he will give AJ Styles his answer and asks him to come out so he can tell him face to face. Out comes Miz and says he’s tired of Jericho and AJ playing footsies. Miz says Jericho has a match with him. Miz goes for the offense but Jericho blocks and hits miz with the mic on the head. Jericho beats Miz via walls of Jericho. Jericho invites Styles come out again, out he comes. Jericho says the answer is No, AJ hits Jericho out of the ring. Jericho comes back to the apron and says that was a stupid move. Gives AJ his rematch at fast lane. By the way AJ’s left eyelid is swollen.
Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns are shown backstage. Says let’s do our thing in the ring. Ambrose continues to walk and runs into Paul Heyman and mentions Brock Lesnar is here and looking for Ambrose.
Jo Jo backstage interviewing New Day regarding Sunday on Edge and Christian’s peep show.
Out comes Natalya. Followed by Charlotte and Ric flair. Charlotte over Nattie Brie’s music plays and she rushes the ring to attack Charlotte. Charlotte attemps figure four, Brie blocks it and does the kicks. Got the whole arena chanting yes.
Truth and Goldust backstage segment
Wyatt’s come out next, Bray cuts short in ring promo regarding Sunday’s match.
Promo shown from Mondays main event
Wyatts vs Show, Ryback, and Kane at fast lane.
Ambrose and Reigns vs Dudleys up next. Crowd is ecstatic for Ambrose. During the match Lesnar appears and attacks both Reigns and Ambrose. Roman about to super man punch Lesnar but Lesnar pushes Reigns into Ambrose . Lesnar f5s reigns.
Triple H music plays and stands by the stage with the belt staring at Lesnar.
Reigns and Ambrose play to the crowd.
Challenge the dudleys to come back out, they do and baby faces clean them out quick.
Due to President’s Day, the Monday night ratings will be delayed until some time tomorrow.
Ratings are expected tomorrow in the early afternoon.
Raw is not expected to pull a good number, even though they are coming off a stronger than usual number for the Daniel Bryan retirement show the previous week. Between a main event of Big Show vs Braun Strowman and going head-to-head with the Grammy Awards, and several shows that have hit seasonal 17 year lows, it doesn’t look good. The only thing that could save it is if there was lingering interest from the show the week before.
The preliminary numbers for the Grammy Awards on CBS were just under 24 million viewers, making it among the most-watched non-football shows of the past year.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of thoughts on Raw, Ronda Rousey talking suicide after Holly Holm loss, Daniel Bryan and Brie Bella on Good Morning America, how YOU CAN WIN SUNNY SIDE UP ON DVD, plus Mike Bennett, TNA’s MIRACLE, appears to talk his career! A great show as always so check it out~!