For Superstars:
– Alicia fox d. Summer Rae
– Damien Sandow/Curtis Axel def. Heath Slater/Adam Rose
– After RAW went off the air, U.S. Champion John Cena and Roman Reigns def. WWE Champion Seth Rollins & Rusev when Reigns pinned Rollins with a spear in 6 minutes. Rollins worked in dress pants. Reigns was cheered heavily.
Thanks to Michael Yoen
by Jeff Hamlin, WrestlingObserver.com
The Big Takeaway: With another Special Event coming up and little time to build up for it, they rushed Seth Rollins vs. Dean Amrbose onto the main event spot for the Elimination Chamber show. Kevin Owens made his Raw debut where he jumped John Cena after tons of talk building up Wednesday’s NXT Takeover show. Cena and Owens will tangle at Elimination Chamber, as well. Owens was treated like a big deal and the fans were familiar with him.
HHH and Stephanie McMahon came out together for the first time since the night after WrestleMania. Stephanie put over Seth Rollins after his win at Payback as the future of the company and announced his three opponents from last night would go to the back of the line for title contendership.
Then they turned their attention to the Intercontiental championship, with Stephanie saying Daniel Bryan was watching at home on television, then corrected herself and said he was probably picking berries. HHH announced they would crown a new I-C champion inside the Elimination Chamber.
Sheamus came out and said they didn’t need an Elimination Chamber match to crown a new I-C champion because he was the one who took Bryan out of action, so he should be rewarded. Rewarded for giving someone a legit concussion?
Ryback came out and put over Bryan, even talking back to Steph at one point. He challenged Sheamus to a match saying Sheamus would get to fight someone his own size. HHH agreed to let them fight. I hated how Bryan is portrayed as this underdog, Spike Dudley-like character. Still it was good to see the top heel in the company in the ring….with her husband.
Sheamus defeated Ryback in 10:03
Match ended when Sheamus sold his eye for some reason. Referee forced Ryback to back off, giving Sheamus enough time to recover and deliver a Brogue kick for the pin. Ryback pressed slammed Sheamus onto the announcers table which had to be a rib on CM Punk.
Stephanie and HHH were sipping champagne backstage when Kane walked in. Stephanie talked how HHH should host the “Architect of a Champion” tribute segment for Rollins tonight. Kane mentioned how he felt Rollins was finally starting to grow up. Rollins then walked in laughing offering everyone toasts of champagne and mentioned how no one deserved a toast more than Kane. He then threw in the jab that Kane would have lost his job if he hadn’t won last night.
Dean Ambrose suddenly popped in and challenged Rollins for a rematch at Elimination Chamber since he needed four guys to help him win last night, while Ambrose beat Rollins in their last 1-on-1 match. HHH and Stephanie left while Rollins laughed off Ambrose’s challenge, saying he doesn’t know what going to the back of the line meant. Rollins left.
Ambrose told Kane he was nothing more than a glorified butler now and wondered what Paul Bearer and the Undertaker would say if they could see him now. Kane got mad and told Ambrose he would be facing Bray Wyatt later tonight. Ambrose stole a sip of Kane’s champagne and told him he shouldn’t be drinking on the clock.
Neville came out for an interview with Renee Young, who brought up how he was the longest reigning NXT Champion ever. Bo Dallas came out and said he was once the longest reigning NXT champion. That sure put over the belt. Neville said he won the championship from Dallas. This led to Dallas attacking Neville’s bad left knee from his match last night with Bad News Barrett.
Bad News Barrett defeated Neville in 7:04
Dallas was on commentary. Almost a squash match where Neville sold his knee the whole way. Barrett won with the Bullhammer Elbow. Nothing like Neville elevating himself last week only to get pinned clean tonight. Even worse, Dallas attacked Neville’s bad leg afterwards. So Dallas finally has a program again. At least Neville can go over a few times, but the nature of Neville’s interview with Renee made it clear he’s viewed as another undersized high-flyer who will join the company’s legion of midcarders.
Rusev came out. The announcers got into an argument over whether Rusev said he quit against Cena last night. Rusev said there would be no Lana tonight, said he knows how to speak English and denied ever saying “I quit.” Rusev had his Russian star.
He said he made John Cena pass out last night, but then Lana quit because she’s weak. He challenged Cena to come out to restart the match. Lana came out instead to explain herself. She called him the Bulgarian Brute. Wasn’t that gimmick 14 months ago? She said she had walked with Rusev every step of the way and said she was trying to protect him last night because she cared for him. Rusev called her pathetic and disgusting. She said she did the right thing for him and for them. She said she heard Rusev scream in Bulgarian “I quit” over and over. Rusev called her a liar, saying he didn’t need her or anyone and ordered her to go back to wherever she came from. Lana took a long walk to the back while Rusev posed. So Rusev is Bulgarian again, I guess. But he was still out there with the Russian flag.
Bray Wyatt defeated Dean Ambrose in 13:26
J&J Security interfered at the end when Ambrose went for a move to the top rope, but Joey Mercury distracted the referee and Jamie Noble pushed Ambrose off the top into Wyatt’s Sister Abigail. They’re trying to get over Wyatt using a senton off the second rope as a new setup move. Good match, though at one point Ambrose did a tope that Wyatt largely blocked, sending Ambrose into the barricade, though Ambrose didn’t sell it. Rollins came out with champagne and toasted J&J Security over Ambrose’s loss.
Another batch of Tough Enough tryout vidoes. One person had a truck run over their foot while two contestants had the same gimmick of doing promos inside their parent’s house. Remember when superstars were supposed to be larger than life?
The New Day went to a no contest with Tyson Kidd and Cesaro in a match for the WWE Tag Team Titles in 5:51.
Big E. and Kofi Kingston did prematch micwork upset over defending their tag belts against five over tag teams in the Elimination Chamber. Michael Cole kept saying superstars would be released from their Elimination Chamber pods at “regularly scheduled interviews.” Or intervals. Hey, I’m a play-by-play guy so who am I to talk about speaking mistakes? Terrible finish. Kidd had the sharpshooter on Kingston when Big E. broke it up. Big E and Kofi started putting the boots to Kidd…and the bell just sounded.
Xavier Woods ran down to help the New Day. It led to the Lucha Dragons coming down and flying onto Kingston and Woods. Los Matadores came in and did a tope onto Big E.. Then the Ascenion ran in and gave Kidd the Fall of Man. Next in was the Prime Time Players, with Titus O’Neal giving Kingston a backbreaker and slung him down. Lucha Dragons did stereo somersault topes onto the entire crew at ringside. Darren Young hit the Gut Check on Woods. All of these teams will be in the tag match at Elimination Chamber.
John Cena meets Kevin Owens
Cena came out with JBL comparing him to Lionel Messi winning another La Liga championship. That’s the most current sports reference he’s made in years. Largely cheers for Cena. Of all people, Kevin Owens came out with the NXT Championship. Cole built up the NXT Takeover show where Owens defends against Sami Zayn. Crowd was familiar with Owens. Cena had to tell the crowd who Owens was. Owens took credit for injuring Zayn before Zayn wrestled Cena in Montreal, and Owens vowed to finish what he started against Zayn on Wednesday. They engaged in micwork that was focused on building up NXT Takeover on Wednesday but teased a match between the two down the line. Owens kicked Cena and delivered the pop-up power bomb on Cena. There were “Fight, Owens, Fight” chants after that. Owens stomped on the U.S. title on Cena and gave him the “You can’t see me” sign. Excellent segment to make Owens seem like someone. Now can they sustain it?
Three other men werre announced for the I-C Elimination Chamber match: Barrett, Rusev and R-Truth.
Dolph Ziggler defeated Stardust in 1:26
Dolph Ziggler’s stitches were shown after his head butt on Sheamus last night. Ziggler won quickly with the Zig Zag. Cole did an in-ring interview with Ziggler, where it was announced that Ziggler will be the final man in the I-C Chamber match.
Lana came down in the middle of the interview staring at Ziggler and then kissed him. Crowd chanted “Yes.” They had this awkward hesitation and then kissed again. Ziggler looked around for Rusev, who finally ran down and beat up Ziggler easily. Rusev acted upset with Lana, who slapped Rusev to a big pop. Rusev started screaming, but Ziggler gave Rusev the Zig Zag. Some fans at ringside started doing the Florida State Seminoles warchant, clearly familar with Lana’s background. Lana left with Ziggler.
The soap opera didn’t end there as Kane walked backstage past Adam Rose and Rosa Mendes kissing.
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan defeated Zack Ryder and Fandango in 3:26
Crowd still chanted for Zack Ryder after all this time. Erick Rowan pinned Ryder with a full nelson slam after a kick from Luke Harper.
Stephanie met Nikki and Brie Bella backstage. She half heartedly told Brie she was sorry about the injury to Bryan. In fact, Steph was so worried about Brie that she scheduled therapy sessions for her. Some bad segments on the herizon. Stephanie also told Brie that she didn’t want Brie accompanying Nikki to the ring tonight.
Nikki Bella defeated Naomi by DQ to retain the Divas Title in 6:29
Naomi did an inset promo and you have to hear her try to do an evil cackle. Great unintentional comedy. Nikki did a tope on Naomi and Tamina Snuka early. Finish was Nikki going for the rack attack but Tamina ran in and superkicked Nikki for the DQ. Paige made her return to make the save and clear the ring. Paige gave Nikki the Rampage and posed with the title.
They replayed Owens’ attack on Cena from earlier. They cut backstage to Owens shaking hands with HHH. Renee talked with Owens, who announced he would face Cena at Elimination Chamber.
The cast of Entourage will be on Raw next Monday.
HHH, Stephanie and Kane came out for the main event segment for the Architecht of a Dream tribute for Rollins. HHH said Rollins reminded him of the Cerebral Assassan when he won with the pedrigree last night. HHH asked kane to say some words in tribute.
Kane said there were so many things he would like to say to him right now, but finally said Rollins was best for business. Rollins asked Kane if there was something else he would like to say. Through clinched teeth, Kane thanked Rollins for saving his job, then showed a video package that Kane supposedly had put together for him.
The package showed Rollins with the Shield, breaking up with the Shield, winning the Money in the Bank and the WWE Heavyweight title. Noble spoke up and said it was an honor to be back in the ring to protect Rollins. Mercury looked at Rollins like Norm MacDonald looked at David Letterman on Friday night, tearing up.
Then Ambrose came out, got in the ring with the entire Authority still in there. Ambrose said he was looking for the perfect Justin Beiber album for Rollins. He asked for another opportunity against Rollins for the WWE Heavyweight title at Elimination Chamber. Rollins said he was at the back of the line again. Rollins said he was a line jumper or else. Stephanie spoke up and told Rollins to get Ambrose.
It led to Ambrose putting the punches to Rollins, laying out J&J Security and sending Rollins over the barricade. Ambrose backdropped Rollins over the announcer’s table, then unveiled a stack of cinderblocks. He threatened to hit Ambrose over the head with a chair. Stephanie said if Ambrose let him go, he wold get the WWE Championship match. Ambrose didn’t listen, but Mercury grabbed the chair. Kane got involved, but Rollins threw Noble into him. Kane came in and tried to choke slam Ambrose, but Ambrose broke free and clotheslined Kane. Rollins attacked Ambrose from behind and gave him the Pedigree. The match with Ambrose and Rollins is on for Elimination Chamber.
SUMMARY: I can’t come up with one reason why Ambrose had to be laid out at the end of the show. In fact, why should the fans care about him getting the title shot when he jobbed to Wyatt tonight? They’ve already gone to the Ambrose-Rollins well too often. Suddenly the WWE feels like UFC in 2014 where they don’t have enough big stars to headline an excess amount of shows. The Owens segment was the highlight of the night, hands down. First hour was forgettable.
Besides the return of Stephanie McMahon, tonight’s WWE RAW is being advertised by WWE to have three title matches: a U.S. title defense by John Cena, a Divas title defense by Nikki Bella and a tag team title defense by The New Day. Dean Ambrose will also face Bray Wyatt.
With two weeks until the next major show, they likely have to jumpstart all the angles for the 5/31 show and announce most of the participants in the Elimination Chamber matches as well as the title matches scheduled for that event.
While it was at first scheduled for last week, WWE has released that Stephanie McMahon returns to Raw tonight.
by Jeff Hamlin, WrestlingObserver.com
On the night after Payback and 13 days away from Elimination Chamber, Raw originates from Richmond, VA tonight. The New Day once again defends the WWE tag team titles against Cesaro & Tyson Kidd. Also, John Cena defends the U.S. title in another open challenge match. And the latest, and possibly final, chapter in the Rusev-Lana saga.
Join us tonight starting at 8 for live coverage.
Thumbs in the Middle: Some good matches but nothing particular great or important. If all these matches were the undercard of a real draw like Hogan, Austin or Rock; or a compelling face that people wanted to see him win like Bret, Punk or Bryan; or a major feud like Hogan vs Savage, Austin vs McMahon or Austin vs Rock; we will be living in a perfect world. Sadly, that’s not the case. It’s a “B level PPV” that feels and delivers just like that. Nothing special. Nothing that would make people pay to see it, even if it is for just $10.
Best Match: 4-Way Main Event
Worst Match: Cena vs Rusev. This match had no psychology at all. No transitions, just spot after spot, most of which weren’t that impressive to make people believe that it was the finish. No submission attempts, until two random spot at the end. No focusing on a body part to tell a story. Not even a good old fashioned brawl of kicks and punches, although in this case that was probably a blessing in disguise as Cena’s punches are beyond hideous these days. Then they went almost half an hour but ended up doing a 2-minutes RAW match finish. To makes matters worst, just a few moments earlier Cena didn’t lose the match because he “couldn’t say I Quit by himself” then Lana say it for Rusev. My God what a load of crap. Really, that’s the best they could do to blow-up a Cena feud? The best they could do to split of Rusev and Lana? Which by the way it’s a stupid idea to begin with. They are a winning combination, but WWE wants to spit them just because. She is about tho join the Ricardo Rodriguez and Zeb Coulter club. Not to mention every other face manager in the history of the business. Somebody’s IQ needs to be checked.
Didn’t watch the Pre-Show:
1. Sheamus vs Ziggler. Good opener. Result was a given once Ziggler got his “kiss my ass” revenge. Ziggler got busted imitating Daniel Bryan’s headbuts; and Bryan got busted imitating Tomohiro Ishii. Please do not try this at home! ***1/4
2. New Day vs Cesaro & Kidd. Very good match. Lots of action and cool spots. It’s a shame that they have to rush things up, otherwise this could have been the best match on the show. ***1/2
3. Wyatt vs Ryback. Just okay match. This feud is good for both. They need to trade wins but at the end Wyatt should come on up strong for a mayor at SummerSlam with someone like Sting, Kane or Big Show that ends up with a face turn. **1/2
4. Cena vs Rusev. This was bad for so many reasons. They still tried hard though. *1/2
5. Naomi & Tamina vs Bellas. Filler match. Nobody cares. 1/2*
6. Neville vs Barrett. Like the match before, totally out of place. This was a Superstars match on a PPV. Neville is an incredible talent but they have him doing the same spots over and over and almost never wins. Geek alert! *3/4
7. Rollins vs Ambrose vs Reigns vs Orton. Overall great. Slow start, hot middle, flat finish. What’s the deal with Rollins using the Pedigree? Are they planning on a match with Triple H? To me there is only one logical conclusion to this story: a Shield 3-way at Mania. Rollins as champion with either Reigns or Ambrose (most likely) using the MITB contract to make it a triple threat. Anything else is a wasted opportunity. ****
Leonardo Mendez Toledo
Hi Dave,
Just thought I would give some feedback on the Payback PPV. I give the show a thumbs down, it felt like an episode of Raw with some enhanced time for matches, but not much more then that. The best match would probably have to be the main event fatal 4 way for the world title, and the worst match probably the “I Quit” match between Cena-Rusev, probably because it was just too predictable with these two, feels like they have the same match each time they wrestle just with a different stipulation. It was good to watch visually on the network however, since I was watching the network stream on a Sony Blu-Ray player with Wi-Fi for the first time and the network is one of the Apps on the Blu-Ray. But other then that, most of the matches just seemed like they were not really building to anything. I think WWE should remember that sometimes less is more with their PPV’s or Network specials since they just did Extreme Rules and King of The Ring, this show, and
now the Elimination Chamber at the end of the month. They really should stick with about 6 PPV’s a year in my opinion so that they have more of a special event feel, rather then a monthly card. And they really need to improve on the commentary as well. Jerry Lawler was excellent with Jim Ross, but he seems to be having a hard time following the lead of Michael Cole, and JBL seems to be doing his own separate commentary show and must be watching something else on his monitor. Maybe he is watching PPV’s on the network from the 90’s, since almost every comment he makes is a 90’s reference. Not sure what he is doing. I know that WWE is capable of producing good shows and good commentary, but with so many shows lately I think the quality value is dropping with too many shows taking place, but just my opinion of course. I was more entertained with a 1 hour long version of Ring of Honor over the weekend with a main event of the Brisco’s fighting War Machine
in a great tag match then tonight’s 3 hr show. It’s a good thing I watched on the Network, as the only “Payback” I would have wanted is if I had purchased this show on traditional PPV for 50 bucks, lol!
Thanks,
Jon Southerland
Clovis, Ca.
WWE Payback Feedback
Thumbs up
Best Match: Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose vs Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton
Worst Match: I fast-forwarded through the Bellas match and enjoyed everything else so I won’t vote for this
This was a fun show to watch that is probably ok to miss as well. The New Day are really great in their role. Ryback and Wyatt over-delivered and I was impressed by some of the spots. This wasn’t the best of Rusev and Cena but was fine, I llok forwad to what is coming for both. Neville continues to much improved since coming to the main roster. The main event was fun, esepcialy the stuff with The Shield.
Dave Musgrave
Oshawa, Ontario
ROH Global Wars Night 1
Thumbs Way up
Best Match: AJ Styles, Young Bucks, Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows vs Roderick Strong, The Briscoes and War Machine
Worst match: None
I liked every match on this show but have to say that the ten-man main event might be my match of the year
Dave Musgrave
Oshawa, Ontario
Thumbs up PPV – Payback was really well paced. I watched it all. Corey Graves is unbearable as is the pre and post show. JBL shitting on everyone is not cool.
Best match: 4 way – Coulda been better if no outside bullshit was involved.
Worst match: Stardust vs Truth
Surprisingly, I enjoyed the Ascension. I was hoping the mega powers would start to play different groups throughout the weeks but I guess that push is over. Ascension looked good. These guys can go, they just need to be put with Cesaro and Kidd.
Tag match was good. I enjoyed the super racist finish where the ref thinks all black people look alike. Irony being in Baltimore.
Good show, but was hoping to see Luke Harper and The Vintner rejoin with Bray.
Girls was a match. It was fine.
Great pacing, great matches across the board. THUMBS UP
Dan Veltan
Thumbs in the middle.
Best match: Rollins vs Reigns vs Ambrose vs Orton
Worst match: Wyatt vs Ryback
So-so show. Surpassed expectations but not good enough. Nothing overly
offensively bad. Controversial finish to the New Day vs Cesaro/Tyson
Kidd match.
Network stream on PS3 & Android skipped back 10 seconds about a dozen
times but was fine overall.
Regards,
Mark Ageyev
from Ireland
How you doin’ Dave,
Thumbs In The Middle
Decent show. Thought Cena-Rusev was really good and had close to as good an I Quit match as you can have under PG conditions. I put it in the same category as Hell In A Cell in-terms of being incredibly hampered by the restrictions in place after all we’ve seen in the past. Thought Rusev’s selling was fantastic during the match and it was a typically nicely paced, well-worked Cena match with an intelligent finish.
I’d be interested to know what happened at the end of the Ziggler-Sheamus match, whether they were told to go directly to the finish after Ziggler got busted open pretty bad. It seemed a little peculiar to go straight from Ziggler having a close nearfall with superkick, to Ziggler selling and Sheamus making somewhat of a miraculous recovery and hitting the Brogue Kick. As this is the second time this has occurred in the last couple of months I’m expecting a headbutt ban. Preferred their last match to be honest.
I thought Cesaro & Tyson-New Day was technically fantastic and I’m loving Cesaro as a face, but it was incredibly rushed which irritated me a great deal, although that wasn’t entirely their fault. Wasn’t expecting what we got from Ryback-Wyatt, it featured a lot of nice big spots, but was largely an exhibition of moves. Didn’t think they sold when they needed to, didn’t build to things, didn’t take the extra couple of seconds necessary before doing certain things to increase the reaction for particular spots, and as a consequence the match didn’t garner the response from the crowd it could’ve etc. Which I felt was a shame given the work-rate.
Brie appeared to have a close-call during the Divas match. I think she just managed to get her hands down and tuck-and roll, match was ok but had a bit of clunk. Barrett-Neville finish was bad, but I’m understanding providing they have plans to do the blow-off on one of the next two PPVs. Main event was a bit of a cluster, overbooked and rushed. It got going from The Shield spot onwards, but largely there was just too much going on at too great a speed.
Best Match: Cena vs. Rusev ***3/4
Worst Match: Bella Twins vs. Tamina & Naomi **
R-Truth vs. Stardust **
Axel & Mandow vs. The Ascension **
Ziggler vs. Sheamus ***1/2
New Day vs. Cesaro & Tyson ***1/2
Ryback vs. Wyatt ***1/4
Barrett vs. Neville **1/4
Rollins vs. Ambrose vs. Reigns vs. Orton ***1/2
Thanks Dave
Tom (griffo120)
.
“STONE COLD®” LIVE ON WWE® NETWORK
STAMFORD, Conn., May 18, 2015 – “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will host Stone Cold Podcast, Live!, a no-holds-barred, in-your-face monthly interview series beginning Monday, June 1 at 11 p.m. ET on the award-winning WWE Network, with special guest Paul Heyman.
Each month immediately following Monday Night Raw, which airs on USA Network, the WWE Hall of Famer will sit down with the biggest names in WWE including Hulk Hogan, The Undertaker, Sting and other celebrities from the world of sports and entertainment for an exclusive interview on WWE Network.
“If you’re ready for the Stone Cold Podcast, give me a ‘Hell Yeah!’,” said “Stone Cold” Steve Austin.
Click here to see a clip from Austin’s interview with WWE Chairman & CEO Vince McMahon from December, 2014, and click here to see a clip from his interview with WWE Executive Vice President, Talent, Live Events & Creative Paul “Triple H®” Levesque from February, 2015.
The hour-long series joins the slate of brand new original programming recently announced by WWE Network including, Too Hot For TV Presented by Jerry Springer, Swerved and WWE The List.
– Samoa Joe has lengthened the time he will take independent bookings through August. We had gotten word earlier in the week Joe was looking at getting dates in both July and August after first not taking them. He has just been announced for a major show on 8/1 for Northeast Wrestling at Dutchess Stadium in Wappingers Falls, NY, as well as a date the next night.
– The WWE announced that Adrien Grenier, Kevin Connolly, Kevin Dillon and Jerry Ferrara from the movie “Entourage” will be the guest stars on the 5/25 RAW from the Nassau Coliseum in Uniondale, NY.
– Dolph Ziggler needed ten stitches to close the cut over his right eye from headbutting Sheamus just prior to the finish of their match at WWE Payback Sunday night.
By Dave Meltzer, WrestlingObserver.com
Welcome to our live coverage of WWE Payback from Baltimore’s Royal Farms Arena. We’re looking for your thoughts on this show as well as Friday night’s ROH show so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
They’ve added the Bella Twins vs. Naomi & Tamina Snuka to the PPV.
STARDUST VS. R-TRUTH
This came across like a warmup match, which it was. Nothing much to it. R-Truth won clean with the lie detector in a short match.
MACHO MANDOW & AXELMANIA VS. THE ASCENSION
Nothing to this either. Axel was wearing a Hogan outfit with bleached blond and fu manchu. But The Ascension pinned Mandow after the Fall of Man quickly. The way Michael Cole called the finish, you got the impression it was the blow-off for the Mega Powers.
They outright said that Kane will be fired if Seth Rollins doesn’t retain the title tonight.
DOLPH ZIGGLER VS. SHEAMUS
Sheamus won with a Brogue kick after Ziggler busted himself up with a head-butt. Ziggler was covered in hardway blood and it looked like they went right to the finish as Ziggler wasn’t even on his feet for the kick. Earlier in the match Ziggler hiked up his trunks and rubbed his ass in Sheamus’ face so heTgot revenge for the kiss my ass stipulation. The cameras were staying away from showing Ziggler bloody.
Seth Rollins and Kane are backstage running down their gripes with each other. Kane said if you lose the title, I get what I want. Losing may teach you how to be a real champion and a real man. Kane said I love this job and I don’t need this job so I may stand idly by while the title slips from your fingers. So they’re telling everyone the whole story of the main event if if Kane helps Rollins or not. Rollins said if you do anything to keep me from retaining the title, losing your job will be the least of your problems. Noble & Mercury tried to get tough and Kane laughed in their face.
NEW DAY VS. TYSON KIDD & CESARO 2/3 FALLS FOR TAG TITLE
The New Day retained when Xavier Woods, who was the non-particpant snuck into the ring and schoolboyed Cesaro for the pin. The match was cool and the crowd was into it, but it was way too short for three falls. They rushed through the falls and there were several missed spots, but lots of cool stuff as well. First fall was the giant swing dropkick spot on Kingston. The New Day won the second fall with their regular on finish on Kidd, which was mistimed. Kidd, Cesaro and E did some very impressive stuff here. Not quite as good as their match last month.
RYBACK VS. BRAY WYATT
Wyatt won with a tackle sending Ryback into the exposed metal after removing the padding off the turnbuckle and hit Sister Abigail for the pin. Not as good as the previous matches but decent enough. Highlights were Wyatt doing a senton off the apron on him and Ryback doing a splash off the top rope.
JOHN CENA VS. RUSEV I QUIT MATCH FOR U.S. TITLE
A nearly 30 minute match with the obvious finish, as Cena had Rusev in the STF while also using the top rope to put added pressure on and Lana said “I Quit.” This was more a stunt show than a match, with both beating on each other and each refusing to quit. They didn’t do much in the way of submissions only a Rusev Accolade that Cena got out of. Cena gave Rusev an Attitude Adjustment into the pyro which they teased as being the finish Lana came out but she didn’t say I Quit for several more minutes. It was good but the moves to set up he ref asking if each guy would quit were really not convncing most of the way.
The New Day were just told they were defending the titles in a Chamber match in two weeks. They were freaking out. I guess they don’t pay attention to their business. I’ve seen sillier things done like this.
BELLA TWINS VS. NAOMI & TAMINA SNUKA
Naomi pinned Nikki after slamming her off the top rope. They had a hard time following he previous match. Match also bordered on falling apart toward the end. At one time Snuka was supposed to trip Nikki to set up the rear view, she was out of position and Nikki had to wait for her.
Rusev is furious about losing. Lana is sitting there. He’s talking a foreign language and told her to “Get out.” I guess tomorrow on Raw may be the split.
NEVILLE VS. KING BARRETT
They were in a tough spot to get heat. Match was going along fine when Barrett rolled out of the ring as Neville went to the top rope Barrett refused to get back in the ring and was counted out. So after the match, Barrett hit the Bull hammer and beat him down, but Neville made a comeback and used a German suplex and hit the red arrow. If he was going to hit the red arrow, why didn’t he just win. Talk about overthinking something simple.
SETH ROLLINS VS. RANDY ORTON VS. ROMAN REIGNS VS. DEAN AMBROSE FOR WWE TITLE
Very good match but a flat finish. Orton used the RKO on Noble, Mercury, hit the draping DDT on Rollins, then hit the RKO on Kane but Rollins then hit Orton with the pedigree for the pin. A lot of very good spots including a period where The Shield triple power bombed Orton through a table. Then they turned on Rollins and laid him out. Then they put Kane through a table on top of Rollins. That took two tries because the table didn’t break the first time. Ambrose and Reigns were the last two standing and worked spots with each other but Rollins saved after Reigns hit the spear.
Even after Chris Jericho started doing live podcasts on the WWE Network recently, “Stone Cold” Steve Austin will back doing his ‘Steve Austin Show’ podcast Network, announced during WWE Payback Sunday night.
His return is set for after the June 1st RAW with Paul Heyman as his guest.