NXT Champion Kevin Owens joined CBS Radio’s The Chad Dukes Wrestling Show on Thursday to promote his Champion versus Champion rematch with John Cena at the Money in the Bank show Sunday on PPV and the WWE Network. During the interview Owens talked about his success in WWE so far, his son’s reactions to wrestling John Cena, the importance of the NXT title, blocking kids on Twitter, and more.
On his success so far in WWE;
“I went into NXT with no expectations. That’s what I was told when I was hired, have no expectations, just do the best I could, and that’s always what I’ve done for the last fifteen years. That’s what I did and you know it’s obviously working out pretty good.”
On wrestling his son’s hero and its influence on his signing with WWE:
“My son’s a big John Cena fan and obviously a big fan of mine who is very proud of everything I’m accomplishing. A big reason why I signed with WWE in the first place was because my son wanted to see me wrestle in WWE and he wanted to see me wrestle John Cena. So now he gets to see it. I don’t know if he realized what it would entail, it would entail me beating up John Cena and John Cena trying to beat me up. I’m sure it is a bit of conflicting feelings here and there for him but he’s proud of everything that’s happening and he’s really loving you know seeing me on WWE TV every week.”
On stepping on the United States Title:
“I think every single title in WWE means a lot. Me stepping on the United States Championship wasn’t meant to disrespect the title itself but I think that the title I have is the most important in WWE because I have it. Whether it’s the NXT title or the United States title or the Intercontinental title or the World title, if I have that title then that’s the most important one. That’s all I was trying to illustrate by stepping on the United States title. For me the NXT title is what it’s all about because that’s the one I have, that’s just the way I think. Who knows what’ll happen in the future, who knows what title I’ll be competing for a few months from now but whatever title I’m going for is obviously going to be the most important to me because that’s the one I’m trying to get.”
On John Cena:
“Anybody who says that he’s not a very good professional wrestler and a very good performer all around is kidding themselves. I know he gets a lot of years a lot of hate from a lot of people for various reasons, but anybody who denies the talent, John Cena’s talent in the ring is really in denial. He’s a fantastic competitor and you know if it wasn’t made evident by the match and we had at Elimination Chamber it’s going to be made evident again by the match we have at Money in the Bank. I feel like we brought out the best in each other at Elimination Chamber and we’re going to do it again this Sunday but there’s no way I’m leaving Columbus as anything but a winner.”
First out is William Regal, who is met with a roar of cheers and chants. He’s for the 10 Bell salute for Dusty Rhodes, he says something along the lines of losing ‘not just a hero, but a good friend.’ Everyone is on their feet, and as soon as the salute is done, a “Thank you Dusty” chant is happening, just like before the show started. Regal bows and goes back stage…
-Note that I don’t plan on writing as much as this first match’s description for the rest of them…except maybe the main event.-
Enzo and Big Cass are out next to what I’d consider the second biggest pop of the night. People are going crazy, and saying the entire opening line with Enzo. Carmella talks, then Cass gets the mic and talks about how him and Big Cass came from hard times, and people in Pitt know about that… He turns it into a thank you to Dusty Rhodes before Alexa Bliss and the “Sweet Boys” come out. Carmella and Bliss go back and forth arguing, then Enzo starts off the match with… one of the two guys that look just like the Major Brothers. Blake and Murphy keep going back and forth, tagging in and out and beating down on Enzo… Enzo gets a good bit of a come back going, then points to Carmella, who is going crazy on the apron. A tag is made, and the same sequence from last week’s NXT is going on, the three LouThez presses and then finally they go at it. She tags Enzo back in, who gets beat down again and gets a hot tag to Cass… He wipes them out, hitting a nasty big boot on one of them. Enzo and Cass both do the “Dusty Rhodes” Bionic Elbow after a little shuffling-punches. Another Dusty chant… Match ends with their finisher; Cass throwing Enzo ontop of future Jobber B. “How you doin’” chant to wrap it up!
Baron Corbin is out next to a chorus of boo’s. Seriously… No one in this crowd likes him. Barcon has a real skinny-fat appearance in real life, he’s not nearly as big as the camera tends to make him seem like… Disappointing. Usual, long ass, slow entrance followed by another big pop for Rhyno! They go back and forth in the ring for a good while. Pretty boring match over all, I really hope Baron gets better. Rhyno hits the usual corner shoulder blocks after getting a reversal in. He bounces off the ropes and is met with what looked like a variation of a blackhole slam? Rhyno ends up on the ground, trying to get up and getting hit by Baron’s “running punch” while he’s on his knees, it connects twice and then Rhyno gets up and predictibly hits a spine buster. He goes for the spear, is tossed into the ring post, and then gets hit by the End of Days for the ending. At least it wasn’t twenty seconds… Either way, Baron gets up and goes after Rhyno, only to get shoved back and gored for a huge reaction from the fans! I will note that at one point, Baron did a strong irish whip to Rhyno that quite literally moved the entire ring closer to the stage… Rhyno hit that turnbuckle freakishly hard.
Next out is Jason Jordan… Everyone is chanting “Who are you?!” or “Shelton Benjamin” at him the entire entrance, he’s visibly annoyed. Bull comes out next and the crowd loves him, despite chanting Doritos… Didn’t see last night’s episode, but read a little about it… His logo on the back of his pants look like a dorito’s logo though. They lock up in the middle, and Bull knocks him down. Jordan rolls out of the ring and starts running, very heel-esque… Bull tries to run after him and while Jordan is doing what one would call a “Brisk jog,” Bull can’t keep up and after almost a full lap around, he’s out of breath. Referee checks on him. They end up back in the ring and fight back and forth, eventually Bull throws Jordan off the ropes and then bounces off the opposite side and they keep barely missing each other about three times before Bull runs out of gas again… Jordan keeps running, then finally stops and points at Bull before running at him and being tossed out of the ring. Jordan’s mat based wrestling wears Bull down for a good most of the match. Bull looks like he’s going to get the win at one point, climbing to the top rope only to get knocked down and finished with what looked like a… Pump-handle over head suplex? Not sure what to call it, but it’s extremely similiar to the Angle Slam, but with the pump-handle hold. Either way, everyone boo’s him out of the arena.
Charlotte is out next to a decent pop, she looks much better in real life than she does on TV. Next come out…both Dana Brooke and Emma. Emma is out second and everyone is doing her old “dance”, to which Dana leans over the ropes and screams at us “She doesn’t do that anymore!” They both get in the ring to talk smack and get in Charlotte’s face, saying that her tag team partner is a no show. A “walmart” chant starts up, directed at Emma… Eventually, Ba(e)yley comes out and everyone goes crazy for her. Hugs all around ring side before she gets in the ring and everyone goes at it at the same time. Not an extremely long match, but it was good for what it was worth. Bayley with the Bionic elbows half way through this match. Dana Brookes tries to tag out each time Charlotte gets in the ring and Bayley and Emma keep getting at it, adding fuel to both of these feuds pretty well. Eventually, the ending spot showed Charlotte and Bayley both locking in the figure four on either enemy and Charlotte putting a little bit of ‘Flair’ on her’s to cause the tap out. Hugs all around, followed by Bayley talking to some kid that was sitting on one side of the entrance stage… she walked around and up the stage to hug her and give her her tassels and headbang. Cute.
Break time. ‘Bout ten-twenty minutes of sitting there. I took the time to buy merch…
After the break, Zack Ryder came out followed by Mojo. The Vaudevillians followed to come out to pretty much the exact match we saw last night on NXT… Best and most noted spots were a double atomic drop to Aiden, one Manhattan and one Atomic… then one to his partner, who bounced off of the manhattan drop and into his partner. The top rope Rough-Ryder and Spine buster combination was pretty snazzy in real life though. But Zack proved why he’ll never be much by making a huge mistake… Mojo, who was acting silly the entire match, went for the pin… and then Zack Ryder threw him off and tried to take the pin before realizing that Mojo WAS the legal man. So he pulled him back over them… It was confusing, and not very entertaining.
Next was the NXT Women’s championship match with Becky Lynch vs. Sasha Banks. Everyone eats up both of their entrances, but Sasha definitely is the fan favorite here, despite her persona. Good, back and forth match with several repeated spots from their previous match, but all approved upon. Sasha hits the double knees in the corner early in the match, and it was even more gnarly in real life than it looks on television. “Sasha’s rachet” chants feud back and forth like usual, followed by people humming Becky’s theme song… Becky does the Dusty Elbows at one point, and is then reversed and put in the corner for a second attempt at the double knees… She reverses, tosses Sasha down and climbs up to hit a huge dropkick off the top rope. Two count. Plenty more back and forth, technical wrestling everywhere. Sasha is tossed across the ring by that huge pump-handle over head suplex that Becky always does. Reversals out of pins lead into Becky rolling into a armbar and Sasha barely reaching the ropes with her foot. Eventually, Sasha gets a reversal and hits the straight-jacket backstabber into the bankroll for the win.
The main event is announced and we’re greeted by Prince Pretty himself, who’s entrance, despite being down a multi-ramp trail doesn’t fail to impress. Followed up by the typical laying int he corner until the next person hits the ring… Samoa Joe comes out and the crowd loses it, everyone is on their feet and yelling “Joe, Joe, Joe!” Tyler Breeze backs away from him every time he comes out… Everyone thought that was it until the next song hits, the lights go out and Finn Balor hits the stage. I was awe-struck, as was the dude beside me who was losing his mind. (And in the same Balor t shirt…) He comes down the ring and leans against the ropes by Joe before crawling back as Joe gets closer. Everyone in the crowd is doing his taunt with the music, and it’s… magnificent. He does the “Wolfpac” taunt to everyone in the crowd that does it to him. “Finn” chants everywhere, and the music dies down as Finn gets in the ring and everyone is clapping away. Mark out moment of the night, I’m cheering for Finn and holding up the wolfpac and he points at me. Finally… the NXT World Champion is announced, and this match is declared for his title, Kevin Owens comes out and everyone is losing their mind. Including me… I never thought I’d get to see three wrestler, especially not in the same building. And Tyler Breeze is very good himself, credit where credit is due! They all face off in the ring until the bell rings and Owens climbs out of the ring and runs over to Tyler’s corner, pounds on the apron and tells him “You got this, buddy!” Owens stays outside while the two team up on Tyler, Finn follows Tyler out and fights him on the opposite side of the ring from me. Owens cheap shots Joe, then runs outside and is followed out of the ring and into the barricade corner infront of me. They trade punches back and forth for what seemed like minutes, and everyone is chanting for someone else. Joe finally gets him into the corner and does the repeated punches out there to him until they work back into the ring. Joe and Balor get knocked down and Breeze and Kevin look at each other and then turn and beat them down some more. Owens is instructing Breeze what to do, and they toss Joe off the ropes and drop him. They move on to Balor and Kevin yells out “Double clothesline! It always works” and they lay him out. He keeps instructing him and they’re helping each other out, until Breeze and Owens turn around and Breeze goes for a high-five… They drag the two to the middle of the ring and Owens yells “Suplex him!” And he grabs Finn and lifts him up, Tyler is just staring at him shaking his head… Then he tries and fails, he can’t get Joe up. Kevin suplexes Balor then realizes what’s going on and runs over to kick Joe and they double suplex, they get back up and Kevin is trying to figure out why Tyler couldn’t lift Joe up… Owen pretends he’s going to and then turns and walks away to stomp on Joe some more. Eventually they turn on each other and the match breaks down again with Joe and Owens fighting each other in one corner and Balor and Breeze in the opposite. Joe reverses Owens and hits that back enziguri out of the corner he likes to do. Joe ends up catching Tyler in the Coquina clutch and choking him, Finn Balor climbs to the top rope and double stomps them both. Breeze gets up and hits the super model kick on both of them, and goes for the pin on both of them back and forth while Owens is recovering and circling outside. Finn Balor gets up and reversed Breeze to throw him into the corner and knock him down. Owens comes in and gets beat back in front of a seated Breeze in the corner… Balor does the running drop kick to Owens into Breeze and then climbs to the top rope to try for the Double Stomp. Joe catches him, knocks him down and lifts him up to run across the ring for a Muscle Buster. Joe gets up and is instantly met by a Beauty Mark. As soon as Breeze turns around, Owens is waiting and he runs right into a pop-up power-bomb for the end of the match. It was an amazing sequence. I was a little awe-struck. “Fight Owens Fight” chants run through the arena as Owens leaves up the ramp, and yelling a “Thank you” back to the crowd… Joe and Balor get up and roll back into the ring to go face to face, pushing each other… before they both throw up the “Wolfpac” and hug it out to end the show. Joe leaves first, then Balor’s music hits and everyone cheers Finn his entire way up the ramp, ending with a bow to the crowd!
All and all, I loved this show. It might’ve been the best thing I’ve spent money on to date. I wish I was front seat instead of row 2, but… I had a blast and I couldn’t be happier with my night. The only things I was disappointed in were; Jason Jordan being in the arena… And Hideo and Sami both being injured, as I’m a huge fan of both of them. The announcers came back on the microphone after the show ended and announced that they WILL be back soon. I -will- be there. 🙂 by Matt Carlina
Hi Dave,
Show was at Stage AE, a concert venue that sits between Heinz Fiekd and PNC Park on Pittsburgh’s North Shore. Sold-out obviously. Seating capacity is approx. 2,000. Crowd was great, got stronger as the night went on. Final 2 matches were far and away the best, I’d call it a tie for match of the night.
Regal started the show. Crowd tried to chant “Regal” but he shushed us. He made some VERY brief remarks. Maybe a sentence or 2, and he seemed to choke up as he asked for 10-bell salute to Dusty. Crowd was SILENT for this.
Enzo/Cass/Carmella v Blake/Murphy/Bliss
Enzo promo played off Dusty’s “Hard Times” promo before the match. Enzo/Cass/Carmella got the win.
Bull Dempsey v Jason Jordan
Bull’s “out of shape” gimmick in full effect. They actually did a criss-cross with Bull getting winded from it. Jordan won.
Rhyno v Baron Corbin
No love from fans for Corbin, and he was going along with it. Corbin won.
Emma/Dana Brooke v Charlotte/Bayley
Charlotte entered, then Dana and Emma, who got on mic and implied they’d taken out Bayley backstage. Bayley came out, and the match was on. Bayley’s right hand was heavily wrapped, perhaps a cast. She was very careful with it. Charlotte/Bayley got win with stereo figure 4s.
Intermission
Mojo Rawley/Zack Ryder v Vaudevillains
Crowd loved Ryder, HATED Mojo. Unlike Corbin, Mojo wasn’t really looking for it. Crowd really heated up here. There were cocaine and drug-related chants directed at Mojo. I saw Greg Hamilton and the lone WWE cameraman cracking up at ringside. Mojo was entertaining, but crowd just loved to boo him.
Sasha Banks v Becky Lynch for women’s championship
Started slow and built up great. Crowd was wild by the end. Becky got her arm submission on Sasha, and crowd was buying it. Sasha got to ropes and got her own submission shortly after. They shook hands after the match, and both girls got nice ovations.
Kevin Owens v Tyler Breeze v Finn Balor v Samoa Joe
Big ovations for each entrance, but Owens’ was HUGE. I think a lot of people weren’t expecting him. KO and Breeze teamed up in very entertaining fashion early. Crowd was CRAZY for this match, on its feet for almost all of it. I was second row, and could barely make out some chants because they were coming from everywhere. At one point crowd sang “Fight Owens Fight” to Cena’s entrance music. That was fun. Everyone hit their finisher at the end, with KO hitting the Pop-up powerbomb on Breeze to win it. Afterward, Balor and Joe teased dissension but did the “2 sweet” instead.
One more note, there had to be at least half a dozen Bionic Elbows during the night. Crowd responded with “Dusty” chants. KO had polka dots drawn on his shirt. Enzo had “hard times” written on his wrist tape. Reminders of Dusty were frequent, but didn’t overwhelm the show. Felt like a nice balance to me.
Submitted By James Peklicz
Sold out crowd tonight in Pittsburgh. Crowd was extremely vocal all night, especially over the final 2 matches. Night started with William Regal coming out to massive “Regal” chants, which he quickly tried to downplay, as he announced the passing of Dusty Rhodes, with a graphic on video board and a 10-bell salute. “Thank you Dusty” chant. There were probably 5 or 6 different talents who used bionic elbows tonight as well.
– Big Cass, Enzo Amore & Carmella defeated Tag Team Champions Blake, Murphy & Alexa Bliss via pinfall
– Jason Jordan defeated Bull Dempsey via pinfall
– Charlotte and Bayley defeated Emma and Dana Breeze via submission after dual Figure-Four Leglocks
– Baron Corbin defeated Rhyno via pinfall
– Zack Ryder and Mojo Rawley defeated The Vaudevillains via pinfall
– Women’s Champion Sasha Banks defeated Becky Lynch via Submission to retain the title. Absolutely stellar match.
– NXT Champion Kevin Owens defeated Tyler Breeze, Samoa Joe and Finn Balor in a Fatal Four-Way Match to retain the title after Owens pinned Breeze. Another fantastic match.
– Airdate: June 11, 2015 (June 10 in Canada) – Location: Canjundome in Lafayette, LA
News: Neville was the lone man standing tall at the end of the show.
Show Recap:
Dean Ambrose, still wearing beads, entered through the crowd to start the show. He said it’s been a crazy week in New Orleans and tried to repeat the famous Louisiana saying, “Laissez les bons temps rouler,” but couldn’t remember it, so he just yelled it in English. (“Let the good times roll!”)
Ambrose had a blast partying with the fans on Monday, including with the guy who “unfortunately” looked like Bray Wyatt. He mentioned buying what might have been a fake ticket and his boy Roman Reigns saved him a seat. (Why did Ambrose need a ticket anyway?)
Ambrose then fired up and said he hopes Seth Rollins remembers the feeling of being beaten and left alone. Rollins came out and demanded Ambrose give the title back, or else he would take it. Ambrose told Rollins to calm down, it’s just a gag. He left the title in the ring but after Rollins grabbed it, Ambrose admitted it’s just a replica. Isn’t it sad nobody would have known the difference?
Ambrose doesn’t know where he left the belt after Monday, and it still felt like Tuesday to him. Ambrose said he would find it between now and Sunday and he left. Rollins was furious, and Kane came out and put him in a match with Dolph Ziggler. This was fine. Ambrose is at his best when he’s talking about beating up Seth Rollins.
IC Champion Ryback beat The Miz via pinfall (Non-Title)
Ryback did a delayed vertical suplex that lasted about 25 seconds. Miz gained control after pushing Ryback into the table. Miz got a lot of offense, including a Skull Crushing Finale for a near fall, but Ryback won with a clothesline and Shell Shocked.
After the match, Big Show came out and said he has 20 years of experience and a lifetime of being a giant. He gets what he wants and said the big guy is no match for the Big Show. Ryback challenged Show to get in the ring now, saying “Don’t sing it, bring it, little man!” Show pulled a Kevin Owens, backing off because he doesn’t give fights away for free. Meh.
King Barrett beat Jack Swagger via pinfall
R-Truth did commentary and thought Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton were JBL and Ron Simmons, respectively. Truth claimed he was accurate on Raw when he said he was in Money in the Bank because he does, in fact, have a match at Money in the Bank.
Truth put on Barrett’s cape and crown. This distracted Barrett who ate a clothesline from Swagger. Swagger got a near fall but Barrett won abruptly with a Bullhammer. This was bad, unless you like R-Truth. This was Swagger’s first match on Raw or SmackDown since WrestleMania. Welcome back.
Backstage, Alicia Fox told Paige that Paige doesn’t speak for her. Fox speaks for herself and what she wanted was Paige out of the division.
They showed Lana’s sit-down interview with Michael Cole. Lana said her intentions might have changed since she first came in because she has an open mind. She thinks Ziggler is nice. They read books together and talk about them.
Rusev barged in. He told her that Ziggler is washed up and has been with so many women, but Rusev has only been with Lana. Lana told him it’s over and she left. Rusev flipped out on Cole, who ran away, and yelled and broke stuff.
WWE Champion Seth Rollins beat Dolph Ziggler via pinfall (Non-Title)
Good match with a pedestrian finish. Rollins won after reversing a high cross into a small package while holding the tights. I guess the story is that Rollins won on his own, but cheated.
Paige beat Alicia Fox via submission
Paige did a somersault senton to the outside, and won after a side kick and PTO. Basic match.
They aired a good video package for Kevin Owens vs. John Cena.
Backstage, Titus O’Neil told Renee Young that the Prime Time Players have had a coming out party the past few weeks. Darren Young reminded him that their coming out party was last summer. O’Neil said that was Darren’s coming out party, and he should be proud, just like they will be proud after they win the tag titles. Titus, Darren and Renee did the New Day clap while chanting “Prime-Time Players.”
Roman Reigns, Neville & Randy Orton beat Kane, Kofi Kingston & Sheamus via DQ
The New Day and Kane came out during commercial and after the break, New Day did their clap standing right next to Kane, which was a great visual. Phillips wondered if Orton would use RKOs from his arsenal tonight, or if he would save them for MITB. I guess RKOs are like bullets and he might run out.
As Orton beat up Sheamus, Xavier Woods yelled at Sheamus to “do better” and Big E said he better start clapping. They worked over Neville who made a hot tag to Reigns. Reigns killed Kingston with a clothesline and knocked down Woods and Big E.
Kane chokeslammed Reigns, Orton RKO’d Kane, Sheamus gave Orton a Brogue kick, Neville hit a missile dropkick on Sheamus, Kingston hit Trouble in Paradise to Neville, and Reigns came back with a superman punch on Kingston.
After all those moves by guys who never tagged in, New Day broke up the cover and that was a DQ. Stupid. They couldn’t do a finish in a meaningless six-man match on SmackDown?
New Day hit Reigns with Midnight Hour. They set up a ladder for Kingston to climb, but Ziggler ran down to take them out.
Everyone brawled on the outside while Neville set up the ladder in the ring. Neville then knocked everyone down with a dive off the top of the ladder to the outside. Great spot. Neville jumped back in the ring, climbed the ladder and grabbed the briefcase, posing to end the show.
Final Thoughts:
Basically a nothing show until the last 5 minutes.
The Big News: Bull Dempsey is being buried. Oh that’s not enough for you? Okay, Samoa Joe made his in-ring debut. What’s that? That news isn’t enough? Fine, Joe is wrestling Kevin Owens next week on NXT
Show recap:
Mojo Rawley & Zack Ryder defeated Mike Rollis and Elias Sampson
Useless trivia of the night: Zack Ryder was the pro for Titus O’Neil in Season 2 of NXT and actually came back to beat Titus during NXT: Redemption. I remember both of those things off the top of my head, but couldn’t tell you half of what happened on Raw this week.
Corey Graves noted that Riddick Bowe follows him on Twitter. Well, note to Corey, Riddick also follows me. Go figure. Mojo is officially back from injury. Obviously. Speaking of obvious, the most absurd team in WWE history got the win over the faceless, almost nameless, jobbers. Rollis and Sampson got just enough heat on Ryder so it wasn’t a total squash.
Mojo used the Pounce and they won with a double team spine buster/Rough Ryder combo. After the match, the winners went into the audience and celebrated with a bunch of people in Stay Hyped shirts.
– A really awesome Finn Balor promo video aired, hyping up his NXT Championship match July 4, live from Tokyo on the Network.
– A Dana Brooke video aired. I still hate watching her wrestle, but I swear, she really is a nice person. She returns next week.
Emma submitted Blue Pants
Ed Laredo is jumping up and down, Ol Blue Pants is back. The former joke NXT Diva vs the current NXT joke Diva. The fans chanted Happy Birthday at Blue Pants.
Emma destroyed Pants from the start. Pants tried to get Emma to dance again, so Emma stole the spotlight from her and attacked her at the bell. The fans were so into Emma’s offense that they chanted “New Day Sucks”. Pants made a comeback and hit literally many kicks to the head, but Emma won with the Emma Lock.
– Enzo, Colin and Carmella were talking all over each other backstage when Devin told them that next week it’s a 6-person tag against Blake, Murphy & Alexa. They vowed to win.
Tyler Breeze pinned Bull Dempsey
Bull Dempsey is back. Breeze is doing a lot of these heel vs heel matches lately, which is kinda weird, but his new cape is anything but weird. A couple fans tried to get a “Baby Rhyno” chant started, but no one picked up. They had slightly more luck with the “Bull is gorgeous/No he’s not” chant. No, that is not a typo.
Bull beat on Breeze and was ready to finish it off with the diving headbutt, but Breeze rolled outside and they started the chase. Bull made it almost an entire lap before running out of breath. No, seriously. He was winded. They tried a second time and Bull made it almost entirely around the ring, but Breeze dashed around, rolled him in and immediately won with the Beauty Shot.
What the hell was that?
Becky Lynch submitted Jesse Kay
Becky is now officially a baby face. I am happy to see her wrestling after weeks of seeing the same video over and over. Her opponent is Jesse Kay. I have no idea who she is, but I am you do! So tweet it to me. Jesse looked good and got a lot of offense in. Becky made her comeback, putting on an arm lock and dropping her with a suplex. She then hit a bunch of legdrops, used a wacky slam and won with the armbar.
– William Regal announced that Kevin Owens is allowed to do commentary during the main event. Bull Dempsey walked in eating Dorito’s (PRODUCT PLACEMENT!) and said he was tired because he was up all night training and it will never happen again.
Mr. Regal took his chips, so Bull started eating a candy bar. So William’s big announcement is he is allowing Owens to do commentary? That’s not exactly Earth shattering. Also, who’s Cheerio’s did Bull piss in?
– Greg Hamilton is with Jason Jordan. Jordan said his last partner didn’t work out, but his next one will. Chad Gable walked up and said that when Jordan finally comes to his senses, Chad will be ready, willing and Gable. Chad also wrote his name on Jordan’s locker space.
Baron Corbin pinned Angelo Dawkins
The fans turned on Baron when they realized he dropped the 30 second victory gimmick. There was seriously nothing wrong with this match, just that it went longer than a minute and this didn’t sit well with the guys on the hard camera. Dawkins’ offense consisted of two punches to the face and Baron won with the End of Days.
Samoa Joe pinned Scott Dawson
We returned from commercial with the hilarious site of Kevin Owens with his arm around Byron Saxton at the announce table, while the entire announce team looked uncomfortable. Joe’s first televised WWE match in 14 years comes against Scott Dawson, who was once the partner of Rusev.
Owens mockingly marked out when the announcers got so excited for Joe’s moves. While Dawson got slightly more offense than you would expect, this match was Samoa Joe’s greatest hits, complete with winning with a Muscle Buster.
– After the match Owens went to leave when Joe took the mic and reminded Kevin of his threat to drop Joe. Joe challenged him to get into the ring and give everyone the fight they want to see.
Owens said he is a good man by not dropping Joe after his very first match. Since Joe is an NXT rookie, as Owens is a veteran he pointed out that you can’t just get an NXT Title shot after one match. Of course the humour was Owens did the same exact thing.
Mr. Regal came out and announced that next week it will be Kevin Owens vs Samoa Joe in a non title match. With that, the show comes to an end. What will happen next week when Samoa Joe and Kevin Owens do battle in an NXT ring? Until then, make sure to say your vitamins and take your prayers.
– Dean Ambrose came out holding the belt, and talked about yesterday’s Raw show. Seth Rollins came out and said that if Ambrose doesn’t give him back the belt, he’ll take it. Ambrose then put the belt down and left the ring. Rollins came in, only to find it was a toy belt. Ambrose then said how he thinks he may have left the belt in New Orleans because the last few days have been a blur. But he promised he’d find it by Sunday and bring it to Columbus.
– Kane came out and announced Dolph Ziggler vs. Rollins. Earlier they had already announced Roman Reigns & Randy Orton & Neville vs. Kane & Sheamus & Kofi Kingston.
– I-C Champion Ryback b The Miz with shellshock. Big Show came out after the match and said he would be taking the title on Sunday.
– Orton, Reigns and Neville did an interview all saying they were going to win Money in the Bank.
– King Barrett b Jack Swagger. They were building up Barrett vs. R-Truth as R-Truth put on the crown and cape and danced on the announcers table.
– Michael Cole interviewed Lana. She talked about how she has such a good time with Dolph Ziggler. Rusev came out and again and wanted her back. She told him that it’s over between the two of them. Rusev started screaming and throwing a tantrum.
– WWE Champion Seth Rollins b Dolph Ziggler using the tights.
– Paige b Alicia Fox
– Roman Reigns, Randy Orton & Neville b Kane & Sheamus & Kofi Kingston via DQ. Everyone was fighting after and Neville climbed a ladder and grabbed the briefcase.
– Airdate: Feb. 28, 1985 – Runtime: 46:58 – Stars of the Show: Schultz & Sheik
Unscripted promos almost always work better than the stuff you get from the script writers. Dr. D David Schultz and The Iron Sheik proved that in 1985 on Tuesday Night Titans.
Both Schultz and Sheik were way ahead of their time. Had Schultz been around in the 1990s, he would have been a big star, probably feuding with the likes of The Rock, Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. Wait, he did, only he was called Stone Cold Steve Austin. Now, Austin was a way better worker than Schultz but Schultz’ natural charisma was amazing. He was born for the Attitude Era.
The Iron Sheik also cut great promos that in retrospect were underrated at the time. But Sheik also had great in-ring skills. If this guy were around in the 1990s, he would have been one of those wrestlers with a ton of street credibility, like a Dean Malenko, Kurt Angle and Eddie Guerrero. Sheik’s suplexes would have been enough to get him over in an ECW ring.
TNT this week kicks off with the Sheik, Nikolai Volkoff and their manager “Classy” Freddy Blassie. You wonder why Blassie was still having around the WWF at this time. He’s the oldest performer on the roster, and if McMahon thinks Jim Ross is too old for TV, not sure what his explanation for Blassie would have been.
Blassie demands that the interview take place on a carpet that he brought to the ring. “If you are going to talk to us you are going to do it our way, on this carpet here,” Blassie says. “This carpet costs more than this entire studio.” They all take a seat on the Carpet, and The Iron Sheik, in his blue ring trunks and robe, looks quite comfortable.
Blassie starts screaming about how Sheik and Volkoff are going to derail Windham and Rotundo, the U.S. Express. Sheik then gets real: “We had a marine man, no more marine man. We had a howdy doody, and no more howdy doody. Now they bring young American and they call them All-American, whatever.”
That’s not a promo that a wrestler would cut today. Sheik buried Sgt. Slaughter, who was hot a few months ago, then mysteriously disappeared from WWF programming. Slaughter back then was apparently a proponent of unionizing professional wrestlers. Backlund was the longtime champion who dropped the belt to the Iron Sheik, so Sheik would lose it to Hogan. Backlund refused to lose to Hogan, well, because it wouldn’t believable that a showman like Hogan could beat a real athlete like Backlund.
Backlund too was long gone by now, so Sheik had a point about the Marine and Howdy Doody disappearing. Sheik then tells all of the “uneducated Americans” to go to the library and learn about Russia and Persia “and find out about the oldest country in the world.”
In the ring, the Sheik is putting on a suplex clinic against Quick Draw Rick McGraw, who died later that year of heart attack that was likely drug related. Sheik wasn’t a great seller, but he had a great allure in the ring. And he was a great athlete. During the match, the Sheik runs over and starts yelling at ring announcer Angelo Mosca, in what was probably a short side-angle at the time. Mosca eventually left the announcer’s table and attacked the Sheik.
Mosca was a former CFL player who jumped to professional wrestling, but who was way past him prime at the time. They sent him to the broadcast booth to call matches with Jack Reynolds.
Back on the carpet, and Volkoff is blabbering on about how the referee was prejudiced against Sheik and him, so he wonders if the same would be true when they get their title shot against Windham and Rotundo. Volkoff, wearing a thick coat that he called a Russian summer jacket, says the U.S. Express refuses to sign a contract for match.
Blassie out of the blue asks for something to drink, “like some Russian Vodka or Iranian Tea.” Sadly, TNT only has water. Blassie drinks the water, then sets the glass on the table where he notices a basket of apples. Blassie takes a bite out of one and then says, “these are the worst apples I have ever tasted.”
Blassie’s character is that nothing is ever good enough for him. He’s classy, after all, and a heel, so he needs to look down on everybody. Blassie hands an apple to Volkoff who crushes it with his bare hands into a glass. So that’s kind of impressive, but also not really. Try it. Volkoff also didn’t really “crush it,” as much as he poked his fingers into it and just smashed it.
A little bit of juice came out as he screamed, “he’s making Russian apple juice.” McMahon uses his favorite world “extraordinary” to describe Volkoff’s strength. The Sheik then decides to get real again: “See Americans drink Coca-Cola and Pepsi. The Russian and Iranian athlete is different, he drink apple juice, orange juice, pear juice, no Coca-Cola or McDonalds.”
Volkoff then says “there’s more crime in one U.S. city than all of Russia,” prompting McMahon to zing him back with, “yes, but how many people have a pass to go out at night?” Before the segment ends, Sheik tells the cameraman to zoom in on his medals.
Lord Alfred Hayes, by the way, is practically invisible in most segments of the show by now. Up next is Rita Marie, the WWF’s first “lady referee.”
McMahon is looking at her like she’s either a pot of gold, an ice cream sundae, or the first female he has seen in awhile. Whatever the reason, he’s LOOKING at her. “Whatever possessed you to step into the ring with giants,” he asks. Marie bears a bit of resemblance to Ronda Rousey, including that “I don’t really trust you, snarl,” that she has.
Marie explains that her brother always wanted to be a professional wrestler, but he died in a car accident, so Marie was going to do her best to carry out his dreams. “For you to step into the ring with these giants, you realize what could happen to you, do you not,” McMahon says.
He apparently has no interest in her refereeing ability; essentially he wants to know what she’s dumb enough to want to be a referee in the WWF. Marie would later claim during an interview with reputed journalist Geraldo Rivera that McMahon made sexual advances toward her and when she didn’t play along, she didn’t work much longer for the WWF. McMahon denied the allegations. Marie wasn’t very charismatic, and like many of the non-wrestlers to appear on TNT, seemed to take the show way too seriously.
McMahon took us to a match in Madison Square Garden where Marie was announced as the first woman ever to referee a wrestling or any other event in the Garden. The match features Moondog Spot vs. BlackJack Mulligan. Marie was pretty inconspicuous in the match, which is probably want you want from a referee. She counted to five every time Moondog Spot attempted to cheat.
Monsoon and Mean Gene Okerlund mostly called the match and paid little attention to Marie. Up next is the highlight of the show, Dr. D David Schultz. Like a good heal, Schultz refused to shake McMahon or Hayes’ hands. McMahon doesn’t pull any punches, starting off by saying, “you are the most arrogant person I have ever met in the World Wrestling Federation.”
Schultz laughs: “I don’t care what you think about me. I am good. I am a winner.”
McMahon shows two clips to illustrate Schultz’ “judgment.” A couple months prior, Schultz shoved a piece of wedding cake in the face of Paul Vachon’s bride at a televised wedding. Then surprisingly, McMahon brought up one of the defining moments of 1980s WWF television. The night Schultz slapped John Stossel during an ABC 20/20 segment, where Stossel called wrestling “fake.”
This incident happened in December of 1984. Schultz slapped Stossel twice and left him with hearing problems. McMahon seemed to be playing up the incident on the show, probably to make fun of Stossel.
“What you did to a 150-pound announcer by the name of John Stossel, my goodness, you almost slapped the skin right off his face, do you have any remorse for that?”
The 20/20 segment brought the WWF a lot of negative attention, so it’s interesting that McMahon played it up on his television almost like it was an angle. It wasn’t. Stossel later sued the WWF and won a $400,000 settlement. Schultz responds: “He must have been a boy. I slapped him with an open hand, baby. I slapped him to teach him a lesson.”
Schultz then threatened to slap McMahon too because he doesn’t care who he is. In the ring, Schultz put a whipping on Steve Lombardi, pinning him with an elbow drop from the top rope. Back in the studio, Schultz is wrapping up the interview with McMahon when he suddenly reaches into his jacket and pulls out a handgun.
McMahon gets the big eyes and Hayes slides down the couch. “This is a gun. You probably don’t know anything about that because you probably don’t have enough money to afford one,” Schultz tells Hayes. McMahon asks if the gun is loaded, and Schultz says, “This gun could be loaded or unloaded. You don’t know anything about guns so I won’t let you touch it.” Schultz doesn’t point that gun right at McMahon, but in his direction.
When they come back from commercial, we go to Schultz’ “gun room”. Schultz explains each gun and what he uses it for. One of them he uses for “coon hunting” and another is for shooting doves. McMahon ducks and swerves every time Schultz pulls a gun out and Schultz asks McMahon if he’s afraid of guns. McMahon says “I respect guns.”
Schultz then turns to Hayes and starts cutting him off in cadence like he were Stone Cold Steve Austin. “You don’t want to touch it? You don’t ilk my guns. You don’t like my guns.” Schultz was impressive here. Schultz tells McMahon that he is a gun expert and that he “didn’t go to Vietnam for nothing.”
Then it takes a turn. Schultz pulls out a gun and points it in McMahon’s direction and insists that it is not loaded. He fires it to prove it. Bad move. The gun fires in the air and McMahon screams, “You stupid idiot! What’s the matter with you.”
Schultz is embarrassed and grabs another gun, while claiming someone must have loaded that one without telling him, as McMahon and Hayes run off. Schultz didn’t last much longer after this and in some ways it feels like McMahon set up the segment to further portray Schultz as a loose cannon, perhaps to justify firing him.
Schultz looked irresponsible here, even as his microphone work was off the chart. McMahon perhaps shows his hand a bit with Schultz by saying “we are back with an individual with much more common sense than Dr. D David Schultz”.
The next guest is Salvatore Bellomo, who has more common sense in his brain and carbs in his body. Bellomo appeared on some early episodes of TNT and is now back to demonstrate a toy boat he made out of the WWF Magazine.
We go to a match with Bellomo and Johnny Rodz. Bellomo white singlet with Italian colors must have been some kind of rib on him. He did not look good in all that white. Bellomo wins with a high cross body block on Rodz and for some reason Bellomo’s parents are in the audience cheering. Maybe they were saying, “My jobber son won a match!”
Bellomo killed an otherwise thrilling show.
We are about a month before the first WrestleMania and McMahon has yet to mention it or talk about any of the matches on TNT. TNT once again served as a forum for the wrestlers to showcase their abilities, building their characters and treating them like superstars. Whether it’s a jobber like Bellomo, a new referee like Marie, or legends like Volkoff Sheik and Shultz, the wrestlers are the stars here, and McMahon does a great job of putting them over.
Wrestling is about to get really, really big, and TNT certainly played a role in introducing these stars to the public.
Raw ratings fell significantly from last week, doing 3.64 million viewers, even with no more competition from the NBA playoffs.
There was strong sports competition from the NHL playoff finals (3.90 million viewers) and the U.S. women’s World Cup soccer team against Australia (3.31 million viewers). But that shouldn’t have impacted the ratings to where there was a 320,000 viewer drop from last week.
The three hours were the most balanced in a long time, with the usually highest second hour benig the low point.
– To the surprise of nobody, Divas champion Nikki Bella vs. Paige (a rematch from last week’s RAW) was added to Sunday’s WWE Money in the Bank show in Columbus, OH.
– WWE also announced the final match at Money in the Bank: a pre-show match with R-Truth vs. King Barrett. At least it’s not R-Truth vs. Stardust for the 1,000th time.
The 40 competitors were announced tonight for the WWE’s Tough Enough, that will be whittled down to around ten or so for the season. They mostly fall into the category of male bodybuilders and fitness models, with some models and athletes sprinkled in.
They are currently shooting a special in Orlando that will air this coming Tuesday on the WWE Network, which is there to build the USA Network open of the show the following Tuesday.
