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Category: WWE News

  • WWE Main Event results: Xavier Woods channels the power of the singlet

    Xavier “Mini E” Woods

    Big E and Kofi Kingston emerge from the back for an in-ring promo, sheepishly trailed by a rather embarrassed looking, singlet wearing, Xavier Woods. The New Day explain that Woods’ travel bag was stolen, thus prompting their largest member to come to his rescue with clothing from his limited wardrobe. Kofi, in his stupidly dated Dr. Evil voice, proclaims Xavier the New Day’s “Mini E”, which doesn’t help the trombonist’s fears that he may not be in possession of a “singlet body”.

    The Social Outcasts then interrupt, mimicking the New Day’s entrance with the Bo Dallas line: “Prepare to have a blast and give it up for the Social Outcasts!”. To the surprise of no-one, the Outcasts have Woods’ bag in tow. They raid its contents, which include some red underwear and a ‘My Little Pony’, the latter of which leads Curtis Axel to dub Xavier a “j-brony”.

    The Outcasts promise to return the bag if the New Day can defeat them in a match, a challenge that the tag champs eventually accept after a super-serious huddle. They are aware that they squashed these geeks in, like, two minutes on RAW the previous night, right?

    The New Day def. Social Outcasts by pinfall

    This was much longer than the RAW match, with eight minutes aired and a commercial break in the middle. There was a lot of stalling at the beginning, with both teams wiggling their butts at each other and exchanging Bo/New Day Trains for what seemed like a very long time. Even Lawler was forced to exclaim “we already saw that” after the New Day saw fit to engage in a second train.

    The highlight of the match was Woods trying to channel the “power of the singlet” by borrowing moves from Big E’s arsenal, including attempting an early bearhug on Axel that looked completely ridiculous. Later, Woods got the hot tag after the Outcasts got the heat on Kofi for a while, hitting Big E’s running splash on Heath Slater, before playing the big man’s part in the Midnight Hour for the win.

    Paige def. Summer Rae by pinfall

    A nothing match here, that was enlivened by Jerry Lawler successfully cracking Tom Phillips up with jokes about how much his parents hate him: “Your mother says you’re not her favourite, but you’re an only child!”. After an awkwardly worked, five minute encounter, Paige blocked a spin kick, hit a fallaway slam and the Rampaige to pick up the victory.

    Baron Corbin def. Jack Swagger by pinfall w/ Dolph Ziggler on commentary

    As much as I usually find Dolph’s misplaced confidence to be highly irritating, his over-exuberant commentary was admittedly very enjoyable here; think the verbal equivalent of Shawn Michaels selling for Hulk Hogan.  Although, suggesting that Lawler’s shirt sported “Flava Flav’s chain” is an equally antiquated reference to the one Kofi made earlier.

    Corbin’s pre-match inset promo tells us that Swagger is apparently another “technical wrestler” trying to achieve his dreams, while the quickly balding Baron is only here to “hurt people and make money”.

    Catty commentary keeps me entertained as Corbin’s resthold-heavy heat runs the risk of boring me to tears. Dolph: “I’ve been kicked by the boot of Swagger and it’s had way more effect on me!”. Lawler responds by mentioning the ten elbows/heart attack debacle. Get over it, folks!

    The finish sees Corbin make the ropes to counter the Patriot Lock, before kicking Swagger in the throat while the referee is trying to “create separation”. Corbin then pulls his opponent onto the ropes neck first, before following up with the End of Days and staring at Ziggler after the three count.

    Ziggler hypothesises that Corbin might be staring at Lawler, meaning that the final line we hear before the show goes off the air is: “Don’t let him drop an elbow!”. Meow.

    Final Thoughts

    Considering that the “comedy” on this show is usually the dirt worst, Xavier Woods’ Big E tribute was a pleasant surprise. Save for the announcing however, the second half of the show was a hard slog. Although I like Corbin’s vanilla midget antagonist character, he is far from ready to work long singles matches yet, despite his significant in-ring improvements over the last year.

  • WWE Peoria, IL, live results: Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles

    By Alex Yohkna

    – Enzo and Cass vs. The Dudley Boys

    Dudleys got a lot of heat ripping up signs and yelling at kids. Cass wrestled most of the match, but Enzo did quite a bit as well. Right away, Enzo took a double team back body drop/neckbreaker which definitely shows that he’s fully cleared, I would assume. He took a bunch of head hits and hard clotheslines, so I’d assume he’s fully ready to go. E&C won when Cass takes the hot tag and cleans house, tagging Enzo back in to hit their double finisher pinning Bubba. Decent match. Crowd was INSANELY LOUD for Enzo and Cass. I’d say biggest pop of the night, honestly.

    – Viktor vs Titus

    Crowd really got behind Titus. Nothing big here. Just a bunch of hard chest slaps to Viktor to get the crowd cheering. Titus wins with his spinebuster and poses with the little fans on his way back.

    – Tyler Breeze vs Goldust

    Not really much reaction for either person. Match was pretty slow up until Fandango ran out to help Breeze which quickly brought R-Truth’s music and him running out for the save. Goldust picked up the win and R-Truth and Goldust danced in the ring for what seemed like 20 minutes.

    – Gallows and Anderson vs The Hype Bros

    Mojo spent about 75% of the match in the ring. Ryder hits the Broski Boot on Anderson, but was quickly attacked by Gallows drawing the double team finish. Gallows and Anderson pick up the win here. Side note–Anderson’s trunks looked very similar to all of the Balor Club logos.

    – Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens

    Owens got a huge crowd reaction. Zayn did as well, but not as big as Kevin’s. Really good match. Zayn went over completely clean. Hits Owens with the Helluva kick after countering the pop-up powerbomb. Pinned him 1-2-3. No false finishes in this match. Was really good.

    – Sheamus vs Apollo Crews

    Sheamus cuts a promo apologizing for his actions on Raw then immediately attacks Crews once Crews gets into the ring. Really fun match between the two of them. Looking forward to seeing them work a program together. Sheamus hit a beautiful chokeslam/powerbomb, but Crews gets the win with a classic school boy roll up.

    – Natty vs. WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte

    Natty, by far, had the second loudest crowd reaction of the night. Not surprising as every time she’s in Peoria, the crowd loves her. This match was 10x better than the Extreme Rules match. Charlotte retains with a roll up while putting her legs on the second rope for leverage. It got the heat she needed and still puts Natty over as she can’t beat her clean. Very good match. Natty also hit a wonderful Batista Bomb on Charlotte.

    – WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles

    Almost identical to the match at Extreme Rules, and that was just fine! Great match! Roman looked extremely strong and AJ looked like a threat to pull away a victory the whole match. Roman went for the Superman Punch and AJ countered with the shoulderblock into Roman’s leg like at ER. Roman sold the leg injury for most of the match. AJ rolled him up into the calf crusher and had it broken up once Roman grabbed the ropes. The crowd was really into the match the whole time. 

    AJ never hits a finisher, but Roman wins after dodging the Phenomenal Forearm and turning it into a spear — the same ending as the Payback match — for the clean win. Both looked absolutely amazing. Those two work so well together. Crowd loved AJ and was very indifferent to Roman. The last two years Roman has loudest cheers, this visit was equal in boos and cheers.

    Overall wonderful show, they never disappoint in Peoria.

  • WWE Winnipeg, MB, live results: Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose street fight

    Submitted by Rohan Unrau

    Byron Saxton was our host/ ring announcer.

    – Big Show def. Erick Rowan

    The Vintner came to the ring accompanied by Braun Strowman. Roughly 5 minutes of clumsy power spots with interference from Stroman backfiring, leading to the knockout punch on Rowan for the pin.  Show chokeslammed Stroman after.  Basically a squash with some quick heat spots.

    – Epico def. Sin Cara

    Both Colons came out and did some old-school local city trash talking, saying how great Puerto Rico is. Another quick match, Sin Cara botched a rana within the first 20 seconds, but no one seemed to care. Epico won with a distraction roll-up. A bit more entertaining than the opener.

    – Cesaro def. Baron Corbin 

    Uppercuts, swing, sharpshooter.  Not much else to this.

    – WWE Tag Champions The New Day def. The Vaudevillians

    New Day was the 2nd most over act of the night after Jericho. This match was almost an exact duplicate of the Extreme Rules match.

    – During intermission, Saxton plugs Money In The Bank on the Network, and didn’t mention $9.99 since in Canada, it’s $11.99.

    – Paige, Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks vs. Dana Brooke, Lana and Summer Rae 

    Babyfaces win when Sasha tapped out Summer with the Bank Statement.

    – U.S. Champion Rusev vs. Kalisto vs. Alberto Del Rio

    ADR was quite over and got the “Ci” chant going a few times. ADR hits the Tree Of Woe stomp on Kalisto, Rusev throws ADR out of the ring and instantly slaps on the Accolade and torques back for the immediate tap.  My favorite match of the night. Both Lucha Dragons lost, leading to a “Loser Dragons” chant.  Get that t-shirt ready.

    – Street Fight: Chris Jericho vs. Dean Ambrose

    Jericho comes out first to a huge pop, and was a total babyface the whole match. He got on the mike immediately and put over Winnipeg, talked about growing up here, gave a backhanded compliment to Winnipeg’s old crappy arena that was torn down years ago.  He told the story of the origins of “I’m from Winnipeg You idiot.”  In the middle of his catchphrase, Ambrose’s music hit.  He has a great heel run in him as he embraced the heel role. 

    They did a few kendo stick and chair spots. That’s about as hardcore as it got. They had about 15 minutes, and Jericho won with a chair-assisted codebreaker.  After, he got back on the mike and finished his ‘neeeever eeeeeever’ catchphrase.

    Pretty entertaining, albeit predictable show. I estimate the house was probably around 6000 people, about 60-65% were children, so of course, all the babyfaces were super over.

  • WWE Springfield, IL, live results: AJ Styles vs. Roman Reigns plus Simpsons & Abe Lincoln references

    Submitted by William Buss

    – Enzo and Cass defeated The Dudley Boyz

    The first match saw Enzo and Cass taking on the Dudley Boyz. Everyone was into Enzo and Cass’ mic work and shouted along to their catchphrases. Bubba Ray got hear before the match by taking a sign from a fan but Enzo saved the day before he could rip it. Enzo and Cass went over in the end with the rocket launcher.

    – Titus O’Neil defeated Viktor of the Ascension with the Clash of the Titus

    – Goldust defeated Tyler Breeze

    Fandango ran down to distract Goldust. R Truth ran down to even the odds and Goldust put Breeze away with the Final Cut. Afterwards Golden Truth danced to R Truth’s theme song and did some comedy work.

    – Gallows and Anderson defeated the Hype Bros

    Anderson and Gallows won with the Magic Killer on Mojo. Lots of Bullet Club chants and Wolfpack/Too Sweet handsigns. Okay for what it was.

    – Sami Zayn defeated Kevin Owens

    Owens got some heat especially after doing some mic work after bailing to ringside at the beginning. He even threw in a Simpsons reference by saying Shelbyville was better than Springfield. These guys click. It was more tame than previous matches the two of had because it was a house show, but these guys have such good chemistry together, that it makes even simple matches really good. Owens played such a good heel. The match was built like most of their matches with Owens beating Zayn up, Zayn getting in a few hope spots only to be cutoff by Owens again. In the end, Owens went for a pop up powerbomb, Sami turned it into a drop kick in mid air and then hit the Helluva Good Kick in the corner for the win.

    – Apollo Crews defeated Sheamus

    Sheamus got on the mic before the match and said he was going to defeat the New Era because it was garbage. He tried to get some heat by saying that even if Abraham Lincoln was alive today, he would be ashamed of calling Springfield his hometown. This match was just there. Lots of rest holds. In the end, Sheamus went for White Noise and Crews slipped out and rolled him up for the three.

    – WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte defeated Natalya to retain

    Charlotte got heat early on by ripping up a fan’s sign in the ring that Natalya had brought in. They worked the match around both of them trying to lock in their submission moves with Charlotte getting the figure four on once and Natalya reversing it, and Nattie sinking in the sharpshooter once and Charlotte making the ropes. In the end, Natalya was thrown into the turnbuckles and Charlotte schoolboyed her from behind, placing her feet on the ropes for the win. Afterwards, the crowd gave Natalya a good ovation and chanted her name.

    – WWE Champion Roman Reigns defeated AJ Styles to retain

    This match was pretty decent for a house show match. The crowd was actually pretty split in who they were rooting for. Reigns played a somewhat cocky heel, not fully committing to it but doing some heelish mannerisms. The match was built around both guys going for their big moves and each time falling short. At one point, Reigns went for the Superman punch only to be met with a Pele kick from AJ.

    AJ went for the Phenomenal Forearm three times, each time getting countered. He even teased a Styles Clash at one point. In the end, AJ went for the forearm, Reigns countered it with a Superman Punch and then hit the spear to retain the championship.

    First time taking my youngest kid to see wrestling and he really enjoyed it. The building was maybe half to three fourths full. The crowd seemed to be into mostly everything. Overall, it was an entertaining show that the people around me were entertained by including my son. I went in expecting a house show and that’s what I got which isn’t bad. The Owens-Zayn match and the main event were actually good matches and there really wasn’t any terrible matches as they all had fun elements in them.

  • NXT Cocoa, FL, live results: Finn Balor & Nakamura vs. The Revival; Nia Jax & Lana team up

    I’m here at Cocoa Beach, FL, with approximately 250.

    – Patrick Clark beat Dan Matha

    The big guy Matha used his strength early, even putting Patrick in a camel clutch. We had a double down where Patrick kipped up and made his way to the top for an impressive missile dropkick for the win.

    – The Authors Of Pain best Chris Atkins and Noah

    The larger heels destroyed the happy faces before the bell even rang. Once order was restored, the match officially started only for the Authors to continue their onslaught and take the dominant win.

    – Adrienne Reese beat Mandy Rose

    This was a very good match as they both hit some impressive moves. Mandy hit a great looking running knee and a kick behind Adrienne’s head. Adrienne caught Mandy with a snap rana from her back, a beautiful middle rope springboard crossbody, and finally hit the off the top rope spinning stunner for the win.

    – Angelo Dawkins beat Tucker Knight

    Mean Guy Match as they used power and holds to work each other over. Dawkins got his feet on the ropes to steal the pin.

    – Tye Dillinger beat Buddy Murphy

    Pre-match, Dillinger took the mic and said Murphy has been through a lot lately. The crowd taunted him with a “He got dumped” chant so Dillinger went with it and then the “She’s A Ten” chants when Alexa was brought up. Dillinger even asked if Murphy could give her his number. Funny stuff.

    Very good match with Murphy working over Tye’s arm, there was an inside out crossbody by Tye to Murphy on the floor. The finish was a great superkick followed by the exposed knee to the back of the head. Post match, Murphy stayed down until the doc could check on him, but he was able to make his way to the back on his own. He simply got his bell rung.

    – Nia Jax and Lana beat Daria and NXT Women’s Champion Asuka

    Nia did most of the work as expected. Lana would tag in when she had the advantage, and kept it very simple, yet fun. Asuka and Nia traded action and holds, and the bearhug by Nia was the hold of choice to keep Asuka grounded. Daria and Lana mixed it up at one point and traded kicks. Lana plays to her flexibility and attempts high kicks for most of her offense. Nia scored the win over Daria with a tree slam. Post match, Lana played it up as she was proud of her victory, pointing at kids and mocking them with thumbs down and sad faces.

    – Elias Samson beat Chris Girard

    Hard-hitting match with Drifter using some new offense other than the headlock like a crossface, spinebuster, and a running knee. Girard went for a running uppercut but was caught with the spinning neckbreaker for the win.

    – Finn Balor and Shinsuke Nakamura beat The Revival

    Amazingly entertaining match with The Revival taunting everything and playing the foil to these amazing superstar wrestlers. Balor at live events is much more confrontational and sassy towards his opponents: instigating conflicts between Dash and Dawson, throwing each over the top rope, laughing at them and leading crowd chants. Shinsuke laid in some hard knees and strikes to some great reactions.

    Finn ran Dash corner to corner then struck him with vicious chops. Dawson got one for his trouble as well. The finish was a double pin with Finn hitting the 1916 when Shinsuke hit the Kinshasa on each of the Revival. Post match, Finn did Nakamura’s Yeaoh! pose on the ropes. They also Too Sweeted and Finn put up the guns.

  • WWE Smackdown results: Rusev & Miz defend their titles; MITB qualifer

    The show opened with a recap of the Money in the Bank qualifying matches from RAW on Monday which saw Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Sami Zayn, Chris Jericho and Dean Ambrose earn their spots in that match.

    After the opening credits, Michael Cole was in the ring with the Money in the Bank briefcase and called out Dean Ambrose for an interview. Cole congratulated him for winning the first ever Asylum match at Extreme Rules and asked what he would do in order to earn the MITB contract. Before he could answer, Kevin Owens’ music hit and he interrupted from the ramp.

    He insulted Cole and warned him to leave the ring before he got there, which he did. He vowed to climb the ladder and become Mr Money in the Bank just like he should’ve done at WrestleM…. and Sami Zayn’s music hit. He finished the sentence. “Like you would’ve done at WrestleMania if it weren’t for me, who is the bane of your existence”. Ambrose made a joke about it and Zayn said “Hey Dean, this isn’t a joke”, which was a nice touch. He said that neither Owens nor Zayn would stop him. They were interrupted by Alberto Del Rio.

    He reminded them that he was a former winner and he is going to win again. Zayn announced that Del Rio has to beat Zack Ryder in order to qualify and before he could finish, he was jumped from behind by Owens. Ambrose almost DDT’s him as well but Zayn slipped out. 

    ALBERTO DEL RIO vs. ZACK RYDER (Money in the Bank qualifying match)

    Zack cut an inset promo harkening fans back to his WrestleMania win under similar circumstances. “I’m not supposed to be here but I deserve to be here”. Eden Stiles did the ring announcing in what I’m assuming was her final show for the company. Ryder took the offence early but Del Rio gained control pretty quickly. They went through a commercial break where Del Rio landed the double foot stomp outside the ring from the barriers at ringside onto Ryder. Ryder recovered and got more offence than you’d think, including landing the Broski boot, which Del Rio kicked out of. Del Rio missed the double foot stomp and Ryder hit the Rough Ryder but Del Rio rolled out before Ryder could pin him. Ryder rolled him back in and went for the cover but Del Rio applied the cross arm-breaker to get the win.

    WINNER: ALBERTO DEL RIO by submission. Del Rio makes it 6 in the Money in the Bank match with one more to come.

    Next up was a recap of Seth Rollins returning at Extreme Rules and the announcement from RAW of Rollins getting the next title shot vs Roman Reigns at Money in the Bank. Rollins will make his return to Smackdown later tonight.

    Enzo and Cass are out next.

    Enzo does his sing along speech on the ramp before the guys get in the ring. Before he could get any more words out, The Dudley Boyz interrupted things. Enzo had some smack talk for them and then Cass called them out. D-Von accepted the challenge and they made their way down the ramp. Bubba stopped before they got into the ring and said “Not tonight, we’re going to do this at Monday Night RAW”. Bubba then teased the “Get the Tables” spot but instead asked if they could “leave this stinkin’ town”. Cass called them S-A-W-F-T and that was that.

    Renee Young was backstage with Lana and Rusev. Lana instructed her that she needs to refer to Rusev as the “Greatest United States Heavyweight Champion of all time”. Rusev called Kalisto a baby and a mosquito and after he plucks the wings off the mosquito, he will never be able to fly again. Good promo. A recap of the 4 way IC title match at the PPV and the Miz-Cesaro qualifying match from RAW aired next.

    US CHAMPION RUSEV w/Lana vs. KALISTO

    Lana was in the ring with a mic and took over the ring announcing, asking the fans to put one hand over their heart and welcome the Greatest United States Champion of all time. Much better match than the PPV.  After a brief period of offence from Kalisto, Rusev took over and dominated him. Announcers told the story that Kalisto was coming into this at less than 100% and didn’t stand a chance and that’s pretty much how it played out. At one point Kalisto tried to bodyslam Rusev and of course his back gave out.

    A minute later, he actually hit the bodyslam but then sold his back even more. He did get a two count off a roll-up after Rusey missed a splash in the corner. He then hit the corkscrew off the ropes and a spike rana for a two. Kalisto hit a springboard moonsault on the outside and rolled Rusev back in but only got a two count. Rusev missed a diving headbutt and then Kalisto took forever to climb to the top rope. Kalisto hit a 450 off the top but Rusev got his knees up to block it. Rusev stomped him on the back and then put on the Accolade for the win.

    WINNER: RUSEV by submission

    Rusev was going for a beatdown on Kalisto after the match but Titus O’Neill came down to challenge him to a US title match RIGHT NOW. Fans were into this, chanting USA but Rusev backed off, which got some good heat. Nice little angle to set up the next US title program. Another recap from RAW aired next, this time of Charlotte ditching the Nature Boy. Mauro called it “an emotional night for the dirtiest family in the game”.

    DANA BROOKE VS NATALYA

    Charlotte joined the commentary team for this match. Lawler actually criticized Charlotte for what she did with Flair and Charlotte said that it was something coming from him who spent so much time away from home. Natalya put on the sharpshooter 30 seconds in and Charlotte broke it up for the DQ. 

    WINNER: NATALYA by DQ

    Natalya recovered and put Charlotte in the sharpshooter but Brooke broke it up and then they beat her down for a couple minutes. No one saved and Charlotte and Dana posed with the belt while Charlotte’s music played. We got a recap of AJ’s tough week where he lost to Reigns at the PPV, broke up with the Club and lost to Owens in his qualifying match. Renee Young interviewed him backstage and asked what’s next. AJ said he was “this close” to winning the title but he’s not sure what’s next, he’ll have to think of something. It was better than it reads.

    Golden Truth was out next with Goldust introducing them and then Truth doing an updated version of his song with new lyrics about the tag team. It will take some getting used to. 

    GOLDEN TRUTH (GOLDUST/R-TRUTH) VS BREEZANGO (TYLER BREEZE/FANDANGO)

    Short match with some miscommunication between Goldust and R-Truth leading to the Supermodel kick from Breeze on R-Truth and Fandango getting the pin off of it. Fans were more into this than they had any right to be but were killed off by the finish.

    WINNERS: BREEZANGO by pinfall

    Goldust and R-Truth were talking backstage. Goldust says that just because they lost two out of the chute doesn’t make them two-time losers. He claimed that no one will be able to stop them. Breezango stopped by to mock them. Tyler Breeze said “Looks like Goldylocks fell off the beanstalk and cracked his own eggs” and then “nailed it!” as he and Fandango walked away laughing. Goldust went back to his pep talk, egging on the crowd to cheer from them and they actually did. R-Truth said he’s with him and vowed to give it another shot. 

    Seth Rollins came to the ring for a promo.

    Mauro put over that Rollins and Charlotte cracked SI’s Fittest 50 list. I’m surprised that hasn’t gotten more play, to be honest. Despite his heeling on the crowd at RAW, Rollins got a good reception coming out and was smiling. When the music stopped, you could hear booing but what you could see were fans clapping and chanting WELCOME BACK. He played up to the crowd at first and then heeled on them again without really saying anything. Fans were still chanting THANK YOU SETH when he left.

    IC CHAMPION THE MIZ w/Maryse vs. CESARO

    Cesaro took control early heading into the break but Miz took control during the commercial. Miz worked over Cesaro’s left shoulder for most of the match. Miz got a two count off a backslide and then Cesaro started nailing uppercuts with his good arm. Miz kicked the left shoulder but Cesaro tossed Miz in the air and hit the uppercut for a two. Pretty vocal CE-SAR-O chant from the crowd. Miz hit a short-arm DDT for a two and then tried to undo the top turnbuckle pad. Ref stopped him but Maryse finished the job.

    They teased a spot into it which never paid off and then the ref spent about a minute hooking it back up. Cesaro got what would’ve been a three but the ref took too long to make the count. Miz hit an O’Connor roll for two. Cesaro turned that into a sharpshooter but Miz made the ropes to break it up. Miz tossed him out of the ring but Cesaro hit an uppercut from the outside and then went back in and tried to hit his swing but Miz escaped and bailed from the ring. He teased a walkout but Cesaro followed him out, hit the “Very European Uppercut” (called as such by Mauro) and then rolled him back into the ring. Cross body from the top by Cesaro got a two count.

    Somewhere amidst all of this, Maryse had removed the turnbuckle again and Miz tossed Cesaro into it shoulder first and then hit the Skull Crushing Finale. Really good match, one of the better TV matches of the year.

    WINNER: THE MIZ by pinfall 

  • WWE NXT recap: Asuka gets a challenger; TM61 debuts; Aries, Nakamura

    • The Big News: Austin Aries will face Shinsuke Nakamura at NXT TakeOver: The End
    • The Medium News: Nia Jax won a Triple Threat match and will now face Asuka for the Women’s Championship, also at Takeover.
    • The Little Beaver Sized News: TMDK debuted, changed their name to TM61 and, shockingly, lost their debut.

    Welcome to the only article you’ll read today that has absolutely nothing to do with the Brand Extension! However if you read this, you will probably become familiar with some of the future guys and girls of Raw and Smackdown.

    *******

    The show kicks off with NXT General Manager announcing that Bayley is not cleared to compete, so she will not be facing Asuka at NXT TakeOver: The End. Tonight, there will be a triple threat match with Carmella, Alexa Bliss and Nia Jax and the winner will get the title shot at TakeOver.

    There is a new intro video, which culminates in showing all three champions, as opposed to just the NXT Champion.

    *******

    Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa defeated TM61

    Gargano and Ciampa are announced as two of the competitors in the Cruiserweight Classic, and are facing the debuting TM61: Shane Thorne and Nick Miller tonight. They are the former TMDK, so are they now The Mighty 61? Despite their new name, they cut an inset promo saying The Mighty Don’t Kneel.

    This was a really good debut match. Honestly, this is probably the best debut match for someone since Sami Zayn debuted three years ago against Cesaro. Ciampa got the hot tag and he didn’t fare very well either at first. The new duo hit a really nice combination where one used a moonsault and the other used a fist drop on Ciampa.

    This match went through a commercial break and Gargano & Ciampa got a good amount of offense on Thorne after the break. Thorne hit a beautiful dropkick before tagging out to Miller. Ciampa went for a slingshot sunset flip, but Miller caught him and TM61 hit a double team neck breaker, but only got a 2 count. Ciampa and Gargano got a surprising win over the debuting duo with their combo superkick/knee strike.

    *******

    We got a video package building to the Samoa Joe-Finn Balor cage match at NXT Takeover: The End, which concentrated more on Samoa Joe.

    *******

    Bayley cut a promo and flat out said it sucks that she can’t compete at NXT TakeOver: The End against Asuka. Before she could continue, Nia Jax walked up and mocked her for losing, adding she should give Nia credit for putting her out. Nia shoved Bayley away, so Carmella and Alexa both walked up, causing Nia to walk off. Carmella and Alexa exchanged words and then Bayley wished Carmella luck.

    *******

    A video aired for the impending debut of Andrade “Cien” Almas, the former Manny Andrede. He was shown taking off his mask, but had his back to the camera.

    *******

    Austin Aries came out to the arena for a promo. He said the phrase “The Best” is the most overused term in sports. Everyone is the best…until the next person comes along, which is why Austin always called himself The Greatest. Austin says that timing is everything and when he walked into NXT there were other people grabbing attention, so the fans picked up on it and began chanting for Nakamura. He announced that after Joe and Balor finish their business, he is challenging the winner for the title.

    This brought out Shinsuke Nakamura. Nakamura did his full entrance while Aries stood there bemused.  Nakamura spoke Japanese, stopped and asked Austin if he understood Japanese and Aries said he didn’t understand Nakamura in a funny line. Nakamura then said the NXT Championship wasn’t coming to greatness, it was coming to the King of Strong Style.

    Out comes Mr. William Regal who made Aries vs Nakamura at Takeover in 2 weeks. They shook hands afterwards and the match is on!

    *******

    American Alpha cut a promo on The Revival, who they will face at NXT Takeover: The End, but they know what to expect. Dash & Dawson will go out and punch them in the face, but this is not a boxing match, it’s a wrestling match and they are the best tag team around.

    *******

    No Way Jose defeated Jonathan Oregon

    No Way Jose is back. Apparently on May 14, he did a No Way Jose Day on Twitter and posted pictures of himself all day, which people apparently loved. Go figure. Byron Saxton reported on WWE.com that No Way Jose is his nickname and Corey Graves pointed out exactly what everyone is thinking regarding that stellar reporting.

    Jose is nonstop movement, so it makes sense that he uses an Airplane Spin. Oregon, who had Vandal written on his butt, got 3 seconds of offense. Jose did his windup into a punch to the face before winning with the Cobra Clutch Slam.

    After the match, Jose went over and danced with Tom Phillips and Corey Graves. Phillips made an ass out of himself and Graves refused to, however he was drawn into dancing. Remember when Mahabali Sheera did his dance at Bound for Glory and it somehow made like 6 guys to do it with him? This was similar, but not nearly as asinine.

    *******

    To combat the Samoa Joe video earlier, we got a NXT Takeover: The End main event video that focused more on Finn Balor.

    *******

    Asuka said it doesn’t matter who wins in the main event because she will defeat them at NXT Takeover: The End.

    *******

    In a #1 Contender’s Triple Threat Match, Nia Jax defeated Carmella and Alexa Bliss

    Carmella was trying to give a cue to Alexa that they should take Jax out at the bell, but Bliss decided to roll outside instead and watch the other two ladies compete. Nia slammed Carmella down, so Alexa tried to sneak up with some sort of top rope move. However, Nia turned around and stared Alexa down before she tried anything.

    Jax got posted and fell outside, so the two perky blondes squared off momentarily while the monster recovered. Alexa grabbed Carmella by the throat and did a leg trip, followed by a moonsault for a 2 count when Nia came in to drop an elbow, however Alexa moved and Nia landed on Carmella. Something funny to note is Nia was on her knees and was almost taller than Alexa, who was standing up. Alexa actually got a near fall with a Sparkle Splash on Nia at one point.

    Nia got sent outside again. Carmella tried a suicide dive, but got caught. Alexa, the annoying little pixie she is, stopped Carmella from being killed. Carmella slapped her Triangle Choke on Alexa, but Nia broke it up. Carmella got a rear choke on Nia, but Nia got out of it and eventually hit the legdrop on Carmella, picking up the win.

    Nia Jax will now go to NXT Takeover: The End and challenge Asuka for the NXT Women’s Championship! Before that, Asuka came out to stare down her future challenger as the show went off the air.

    *******

    Next week is already the go home show for Takeover, what will happen then? Until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!

  • WWE Smackdown going live on Tuesdays; brand split appears imminent

    Additional notes from Ryan Frederick & Dave Meltzer

    In the DVR era, how to get people to watch shows live (and hence, watch commercials) has almost become more important than what they are actually watching. Pro sports and other live entertainment has flourished with higher rights fees deals, especially in the latter. Many believe there’s a bubble that will eventually burst, but no one is seeing a needle just yet.

    In the latest effort to take advantage of that, WWE announced Wednesday morning that Smackdown will not only air live starting on July 19th, but it will officially move to Tuesday nights at 8 PM. The announcement was made in Variety, but WWE later released a statement and a video indicating that Shane and Stephanie McMahon will each run a show:

    A twist that was buried in the story also indicates a brand split may be coming as well:

    “A draft will be held before the “Smackdown” launch date to determine which wrestlers on the company’s talent roster will be assigned to which program. Each show is expected to feature separate cast, plots and writing teams.”

    The initial brand split happened in 2002 and ran through 2011, long after fans realized that it was pointless considering talents from both show were regularly appearing on the other show on a weekly basis. There was a yearly draft that started in 2004 that always shook up the deck a bit, but over time, the main stars were on both shows anyway.

    The key aspects of the move are that WWE would have five hours of live programming every week, and on PPV weeks, it would be closer to nine hours on three consecutive days.  WWE will also need to expand its main roster talent base, but also leave at least enough talent in NXT to be able to draw on their own.

    In addition, a key aspect of this story is the declines at USA have led to wrestling becoming its strongest ratings programming.

    The move to Tuesdays will also move Smackdown away from the ratings juggernaut that is NFL Thursday Night Football, which returns in September with extra added emphasis over past seasons. Smackdown has seen its ratings drop during the season, and the move to a live Tuesday format should avoid that strong night on television. Moving to Tuesday will also put it head-to-head against TNA, which likely won’t hurt Smackdown ratings, but could have a big impact on the TNA ratings.

    Variety noted that Smackdown has captured an average of nearly 1.06 million viewers between the ages of 18 and 49 on a live-plus-seven-day basis while Raw has a 1.85 million viewership number with the same demo, “season to date”.

    A breaking news audio is up now, in addition to an in-depth feature in this week’s Observer.  Also, check out today’s WOL also on the subject!

  • Smackdown spoilers 5/24: Miz vs. Cesaro I-C title match; more MITB qualifiers

    The show opened with Michael Cole in the ring with a Money in the Bank briefcase. He brought out Dean Ambrose. Then, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn and Alberto Del Rio all came out. Chris Jericho didn’t come out as he wasn’t booked for Smackdown, and Cesaro didn’t come out since he was on the show later. Del Rio said he would become a two-time Money in the Bank winner.

    – Del Rio then qualified by beating Zack Ryder with the armbar.

    – Big Cass and Enzo came out. They were talking when the Dudleys came out. They challenged each other to a fight, but the Dudleys did the heel back off deal.

    – US Champion Rusev beat Kalisto with the accolade to retain

    – Natalya beat Dana Brooke via DQ when Women’s Champion Charlotte interfered.  They both beat down Natalya.

    – A.J. Styles did an interview.  He was asked what is next for him, but he didn’t know.

    – Fandango & Tyler Breeze beat Goldust & R-Truth.

    – Seth Rollins came out.  Everyone cheered him huge until he turned on the fans once again during his promo.

    – Intercontinental Champion The Miz beat Cesaro to retain due to help from Maryse.

  • Eden Stiles/Brandi Runnels asks for, gets WWE release

    Brandi Runnels announced Tuesday that she was leaving WWE, following her husband Cody’s departure last week.

    Runnels, who used the name Eden Stiles in the promotion, wrote on Twitter, “What I’ve been teasing for weeks: I’ve been offered a new opportunity outside of WWE.
    So I’ve decided to part with WWE after tonight.”  She also plugged her website, BeingBrandiRunnels.com.

    The WWE then announced via Twitter and their website that Runnels had been released as of today.

    Runnels worked in local news in Michigan before moving to Florida to try modeling. She signed a deal with WWE in 2011 and quit the next year. She returned in November 2013 as a ring announcer shortly after marrying Cody two months earlier. She worked as a ring announcer and occassional interviewer on Smackdown starting in October 2014.

    Earlier tonight, Cody tweeted “Lot of folks say “ride or die” these days…well @RealEdenWWE is just that in the next 24hrs, most people will realize what I’m saying”, following that up with a tweet referencing Game of Thrones.