There was a skeleton crew because much of the crew left after Raw for shows this week in Germany which start tomorrow with a show in Bremen.
Chris Jericho opened the show doing a semi-heel promo on A.J. Styles. He said Styles can’t match his career in WWE. Styles confronted him. The Social Outcasts came out and this led to a tag team match.
Jericho & Styles beat Adam Rose & Curtis Axel. Styles got the pin but Jericho attacked him after the match.
The Dudleys cut a promo saying they were sick of Daniel Bryan and were not a nostalgia act but were here to add to their legacy. They also said they are refusing to use anymore tables.
Goldust was choking on food and R-Truth saved him. Goldust again wanted to be his partner and again got turned down.
Sasha Banks beat Naomi with the Bank statement. Tamina attacked Becky Lynch, who was on commentary.
The Wyatt Family did a promo, saying they were going to rid the WWE of Titans and Gods, specifically mentioning Kane, Big Show & Ryback.
Sin Cara & Kalisto & Neville beat The Ascension & Stardust.
Chris Jericho beat A.J. Styles clean with the codebreaker Fans chanted for both men. Better match than the last time. Really quite good.
The Wyatt Family attacked Jericho after, although this was probably off the air. Styles, Neville and the Lucha Dragons all made the save.
It was very clear that Raw was not going to do well last night until the interest generated when mainstream media picked up on the Daniel Bryan retirement story.
The show’s audience increased greatly, but ironically, likely due to the show not ending until 11:26 p.m., the third hour with the Bryan farewell speech fell greatly.
Raw did 3.68 million viewers, up nine percent from the nearly 18-year-low set the previous week.
The three hours were:
8 p.m. 3.91 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.91 million viewers 10 p.m. 3.37 million viewers
The show was second for the night on cable, trailing the O’Reilly Factor by 2,000 viewers.
The Big Takeaway: Daniel Bryan announced his retirement in one of the most emotional segments in the 23-year history of Raw. Bryan made a memorable speech where he came off as the most normal person ever to achieve stardom. The theme of the speech was all the things he had been grateful for over his 15-year career. It’s amazing to think that someone perfectly content with being the world’s biggest cult wrestler could become the biggest star in the biggest company in the world, but that’s what happened. In terms of storyline, the biggest news was the Dudley Boyz turned heel on the Usos, which was overdue.
Show Recap:
Right away, a Daniel Bryan package aired, starting with his early days as American Dragon competing in the Texas Wrestling Alliance. It continued until the culmination at WrestleMania. They showed his tweet from earlier today announcing his retirement.
Stephanie McMahon opened the show in the ring for a contract signing. Crowd chanted for Bryan. She appeared to have a tear in her eye while trying to maintain a straight face. She was out there for a contract signing for the Fast Lane main event with Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Ambrose got the jump on her, and demanded to move things along. Stephanie started to say there would be no physical altercations between the three of them when Reigns walked down. Someone had a sign that said “Can we trade Roman for Cesaro?” Lesnar and Paul Heyman were introduced by Stephanie, who interrupted Heyman during his ring entrance. Everyone signed the deal and Stephanie left, leaving the three men alone in the ring.
Heyman referred to Ambrose as “little brother” as said he should ask his “Big brother Samoan” what the difference is between a beatdown by the authority and an authoritative beatdown by Brock Lesnar. Ambrose was set off by that and got in Lesnar’s face. Lesnar threw Ambrose across the table and into Reigns like a rag doll,threw the table onto Reigns, then gave Ambrose an F-5. Lesnar left the ring. HHH walked out for a staredown with Lesnar. Reigns looked upset at Ambrose, for some reason. Ambrose is being booked like a cruiserweight in this program and it’s done nothing but get him under.
There was a theme for the night entitled #thankyoudanielbryan, highlighting moments from his WWE career. It started with his first match at NXT, where he wrestled Chris Jericho in 2010. It’s so funny to think Bryan is getting a hero’s sendoff tonight when the company did everything they could to get him under during his first six months in NXT.
Ambrose told Reigns backstage he would get even with Lesnar tonight.
Dolph Ziggler defeated Kevin Owens (11:02)
Dolph Ziggler won when Kevin Owens missed a Cannonball, and Ziggler rolled him up in a cradle while his feet were on the ropes. How the ref missed that one was unreal. He looked right at Owens shoulders and Ziggler’s feet were in plain view unless he has no sight in his left eye. Michael Cole then acted like he didn’t notice anything unusual. Apparently, Cole is going for Mike Carey’s job on CBS next football season. A good match where they teased a double countout after Ziggler hit a Famouser on Owens from the apron onto the floor.
The next #thankyoudanielbryan moment was from 2011, when Bryan defeated the Miz to win the U.S. Championship.
The Usos talked with the Dudley Boyz tonight. The Usos wrestle the New Day tonight in a tables match. Devon Dudley said if anyone should get a tables match tonight, it should be them. Bubba Ray Dudley said the entire WWE Universe didn’t like the New Day. The crowd responded by booing. Bubba Ray told the Usos they should team tonight for a 4-on-4 match against the New Day, where they New Day would have to get themselves a partner. Usos agreed.
Charlotte defeated Alicia Fox via submission (5:14)
Charlotte won with the Figure Eight. Crowd elected to entertain themselves by chanting for Lana (which Charlotte didn’t look happy about) and the Seattle Seahawks. Alicia Fox’s only offense were one-legged drop kicks like Velvet McIntyre.
MizTV with Chris Jericho started with Miz replaying him getting pounded by A.J. Styles last week. Miz said he could have made Styles an A-lister. Jericho interrupted him and said the fans would rather see a Highlight Reel instead of MizTv. So they overhauled the set instantly with roadies bringing in the JeriTron 5000, a new rug and new lighting. Even a potted plant. So it became the Highlight Reel. Jericho started interviewing Miz and brought up Styles’ victory over Miz on SmackDown. Crowd chanted “You look stupid” at Miz, who claimed he had a meeting with Stephen Spielberg last week, putting himself over as an A-lister. Somehow, Jericho said that reminded him of the Chipmuncks song “All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth.” Some fans sang along.
Miz ran a clip of his own, which was Styles beating Jericho. Miz said losing to Styles was eating him alive. Jericho said he was right, it has been eating him alive. Crowd chanted for Styles. Jericho knew Styles was good, but he asked if he was great. Jericho said we would find out on SmackDown, but he highly doubted it because he was the best in the world at what he did. Styles came out, but Miz jumped Jericho from behind . Styles ran down to take care of Miz. Jericho gave Miz a clothesline out of the ring, then had a brief staredown with Styles. Miz ran back in, only to get discarded again, leading to another staredown that got physical and turned into fisticuffs. Miz dragged Jericho out of the ring, only to have Jericho throw him across the announcer’s table. And it ended with Styles and Jericho traded words going to the back. Styles vs. Jericho is such an effective program by itself, potentially feud of the year-caliber if handled right. Putting the Miz in the midst of it is like having Al Pacino and Robert Di Niro star in a Goodfellas sequel, but instead of Joe Peschi or Ray Liotta as the third-billed star, it’s Rob Schneider.
The next Bryan highlight was the 2011 Money in the Bank, where Bryan kicked Wade Barrett off the ladder to take the briefcase. 5 months later, he cashed in the briefcase to beat the Big Show and win the World Heavyweight Championship.
Bray Wyatt defeated Ryback (6:55)
Bray Wyatt won when Ryback attempted a spear. Wyatt stopped him dead in his tracks with Sister Abigail and the three count. You can always tell when Ryback is jobbing based on the inflection he uses when he says “Wake up, it’s feeding time” during his ring entrance. Lately, he’s had a downward inflection. To punctuate that, Wyatt, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and Braun Strowman laid waste to him postmatch, ending with Wyatt giving him Sister Abigail on the floor. Wyatt cut a promo to no one in particular afterwards, saying people can ask for mercy, mercy they will not receive.
Daniel Bryan flashback to his days with Kane in Team Hell No.
Tweets to Bryan from various WWE personalities included Vince McMahon, Kalisto, Paige and the Ultimate Warrior’s widow were shown.
Big E. was polishing up tables in the back when Renee Young walked in wondering who their mystery partner for the tables match was going to be. Xavier Woods wouldn’t say, and Kofi Kingston said New Day were like the Denver Broncos, world champions that everybody loved.
Ambrose told Reigns he wanted to have a one-on-one confrontation with Lesnar tonight.
Adam Rose defeated Titus O’Neal (3:17)
Prematch, Adam Rose did micwork where he proclaimed himself “The Radical Mongoose.” Curtis Axel couldn’t believe how horrible that sounded. Bo Dallas said he had great friends that would turn into great trends. Rose won when Hath Slater distracted Titus O’Neal, leading to Rose getting the schoolboy cradle pin. O’Neal immediately clotheslined Rose over the top rope. So Rose didn’t go over, O’Neal lost and no one got over. So what was the point of this?
Next Bryan flashback was him winning the WWE Heavyweight Championship from John Cena at SummerSlam 2013.
Ambrose came out and said Lesnar must have hit him with a F-2 or an F-3 earlier, because he thought an F-5 was supposed to hurt. He called out Lesnar, who came out chuckling at the thought of Ambrose calling him out. Lesnar quickly laid Ambrose out beating him up around the ring, then laying him out with an F-5. At this point, Ambrose had the booking cred of Adam Rose on the show. That only slightly changed when Ambrose called Lesnar back to the ring with a wild look in his eye. Lesnar stepped back in the ring, but then Reigns stepped out on the ramp. As Lesnar was distracted by Reigns, Ambrose snuck up from behind and gave Lesnar a low blow. And then Ambrose left. Reigns smiled like Ambrose had won the battle over Lesnar. Crowd stayed totally silent, as if Ambrose was the heel in that scenario. At the very best, Ambrose looks like Reigns’ tag-along in this setup, which isn’t how you make a new star.
Alberto Del Rio and Rusev defeated Lucha Dragons (5:37)
Alberto Del Rio pinned Kalisto with the world’s most elaborate finisher where ADR jumps off the top rope onto the chest of Kalisto. Sin Cara returned and gave Rusev a tope to take him out. Lana was missing again after reemerging from oblivion last week.
In footage from earlier, R-Truth was on his way to the Jimi Hendrix Museum when he stumbled onto Goldust dressed as Hendrix, playing a guitar while singing an offshoot of “Purple Haze.” Goldust smashed the guitar on a sidewalk. Security led Goldust away. An attempt at comedy the same way recent Adam Sandler movies have been an attempt.
Next Bryan moment was from March 2014, the Occupy Yes movement which led to Bryan’s victory over HHH at WrestleMania. I loved the bitter, old wrestlers criticism of that angle, one of whom claimed it was “contrived.” As if all the angles from the 1970s were shoots. The irony was Bryan’s push to the top in 2014 was a series of spontaneous events spawned by the fans, which led to contrived angles that got over.
Tamina defeated Becky Lynch (3:38)
Sasha Banks was on commentary. Tamina started mouthing off to Banks in the ring. That led to Naomi hitting Banks with a forearm, and it looked like she stuffed Banks good. Lynch saw this, left the ring and gave Naomi an Exploder suplex. Lynch got back in the ring and ate a superkick by Tamina, who got the pin. Earlier, Naomi got some heat with outside interference. That was kind of different seeing a heel actually break the rules.
The New Day talked to its mystery partner and gave him a unicorn horn to place on his head. It was Mark Henry, who started playing Woods’ trombone. Henry and Big E. began dancing, with Henry bringing up his days as Sexual Chocolate in 1998.
Nikki Bella, Owens, Cena and Natalya tweeted salutes to Bryan.
The Dudley Boyz and the Usos defeated the New Day and Mark Henry in a tables match (7:31)
The match was rushed. Henry walked out when the New Day ordered him to splash Jimmy Uso. It ended with the Dudleys giving Big E a 3-D through the table. It appeared that Jey Uso had a hard time putting weight down on his left leg.
The Dudleys then turned heel, jumping the Usos. First, they put Jimmy Uso through a table, then Jey took a super bomb through a table. Crowd chanted “ECW.” Bubba reeled off some of his catchphrases from his Bully Ray days, asking Jimmy if he knew who they were. Overdue move turning the Dudleys because the company needs a strong heel tag team act, as opposed to the New Day as a comedy heel act.
The company profiled all of the major mainstream publications that broke the Bryan retirement news. It was even on ESPN’s bottom line all day, which is incredible if you watched how that network treated wrestling during the boom period.
Bryan came out with his trimmed beard and a haircut. He looked like he really didn’t want to give this speech. He stood in the ring with his eyes closed and head down as everyone chanted “Yes” around him, looking like he was going to break down. The expression only got more cheers and chants, which made him crack a smile. Bryan said he was able to close his eyes and feel the reaction the way he had never got to feel it before, and he’ll never forget it.
He said that he had to address the elephant in the room…he really wanted to shave his beard. He said he shaved his head called “Wigs for Kids,” which makes wigs for kids that have cancer. Bryan said he had been wrestling since he was 18 and within 5 months, he had 3 concussions. After that, he would get a concussion here and there, which adds up after 16 years. It gets to a point where doctors say you can’t wrestle anymore. He fought that for a long time, after receiving EKGs and various evaluations. He wanted to come back and wrestle in the WWE because he’s loved wrestling more than anything.
A week and a half ago, a test indicated perhaps his brain wasn’t as OK as he thought it was. He has a family to think about, he and Brie Bella want to start having kids soon (which got Yes chants). Bryan joked that’s what Brie says all the time. That got Holy Shit chants. Bryan announced his retirement with the heaviest of hearts and the utmost sadness.
For the last year, Bryan said he’s been sad, frustrated, and angry. But when he woke up today he felt gratitude. He got to do what he loved for 16 years. He loved the Seahawks, which got a huge pop. He loved hearing the fans react just as his music hits. He loved diving through the ropes, which makes him feel like Superman. He loved wrestling in the parking lot of gas stations and wrestling in front of 70,000 fans in New Orleans. He loved getting to know people like Kane, who looks like a monster but is among the smartest people he knows.
He got to know Steven Regal, who has been his mentor. He got to know children like Connor. He said he was very grateful because wrestling doesn’t owe him anything, nor does the WWE or the fans. The wrestlers do this because they love to do it. He neer dreamed the fans would get behind him the way he did, since he was 5’8, 180 pounds. He came close to breaking down here. He was grateful for two years ago when the fans in Seattle hijacked Raw. And the WWE was trying to arrange a program between Cena and Randy Orton, and the fans still chanted for Bryan.
Bryan said that wasn’t why he was grateful. He was grateful because his father was sitting in the crowd and got to see that. Bryan started crying as he remembered his father, who passed away shortly after WrestleMania. It was the last time his father got to see him wrestle.
Because of wrestling, he got to meet the most wonderful woman in the world. She’s beautiful, smart and completes him in a way that he didn’t think was possible. He was grateful to announce his retirement in front of his mother, his sister, his family and friends. He. Was. Grateful.
Tomorrow morning, he starts a new life, where he is no longer a wrestler. But that’s tomorrow, not tonight. He asked for one more Yes chant and he would really appreciate it. Brie came out as the fans chanted yes and his music played. They kissed in midring as Michael Cole said the company was thankful for having his talent under their employ.
For wrestling fans, the saga of Daniel Bryan’s health in recent years with WWE has been, in a word, tragic. A month after he finally won the WWE title at Wrestlemania 30 to culminate an incredible fan-fueled and improbable run, he had to undergo neck surgery that saw him stripped of the title and on the shelf for nearly a year.
After winning the Intercontinental title at Wrestlemania 31, he had to relinquish the belt weeks later due to concussion-related issues. Since that time, it’s been a constant drumbeat of “Will he come back? When will he come back? He’s coming back…right?” questions.
With NXT on fire, AJ Styles now becoming a force in WWE, and Nakamura on the way, the thought of Bryan getting in that mix was oh-so-tantalizing for those of us wanting to see one of the very best in the ring ply his trade with his peers once again.
But on Monday, the wrestling world got confirmation of the bad news we had all felt might be coming as Bryan Lloyd Danielson tweeted that on the February 8th edition of RAW, he will officially retire, leaving behind the life of an active wrestler that he’s lived for 17 years.
Due to medical reasons, effective immediately, I am announcing my retirement. Tonight on Raw, I’ll have a chance to elaborate. #gratitude
The 34-year-old Danielson accomplished nearly everything you could ever want to in the world of pro wrestling, competing in Japan, being part of the founding class of Ring of Honor, working with nearly every major independent talent out there, and eventually signing with WWE in August 2009. A memorable run on NXT with the Miz eventually led to bigger and better things, save a ridiculous firing due to him choking out ring announcer Justin Roberts with a tie in a June 2010 RAW-closing angle.
He eventually returned and made an impact, regardless of how WWE tried to position him. He is the company’s 26th Triple Crown champion, and the company’s 15th Grand Slam champion. He did lose his World title to Sheamus in just 18 seconds at Wrestlemania 28 in a head scratcher, but he started the “Yes Movement”, had a memorable partnership and feud with Kane, had plenty of incredible matches, and found a place in the hearts of those who had never heard of him before he came to WWE while cementing himself with those that knew how special he was all along.
Tonight on RAW, Danielson bids farewell to the dream of returning to the squared circle and we’ll all be along for the gut-wrenching explanation as to why.
Raw takes place at the Key Arena in Seattle, WA, considered Bryan’s hometown even though he was actually born and raised in Aberdeen.
Bryan has not appeared on WWE TV in months. While he has been given a clean bill of health by several doctors, WWE’s main doctor, Joseph Maroon, has refused to clear him due to concussion-related issues.
While it may be much ado about nothing, Bryan has cut off all of his hair and trimmed up his beard, which could be an indication he believes he won’t be returning to wrestling in WWE anytime soon.
Enzo Amore and Big Cass (with Carmella) against The Ascension
Fans did not really know Enzo’s pre-match spiel, pretty silent during their intro aside from the SAWFT line by Cass
Pretty decent match between the four but I dont think many people knew who Amore and Cass were. The heels get the heat on Enzo and he eventually makes the hot tag to Cass.
Finish sees Amore hit a splash onto Viktor for the win
Miz vs. AJ Styles
Major heat for Miz, who got on the mic and complained about Styles breaking his tooth earlier this week
Styles comes out to a massive pop and before they lock up there are huge “AJ Styles” chants and a light “this is awesome” chant
Pretty good stuff here, with Miz hitting the skull crushing finale and Styles kicking out. Styles teased the Clash but Miz broke out. Finish saw Styles lock in the calf slicer for the win
Rusev vs. Axel
Lana works the crowd by bashing Abbotsford and saying how everyone should be so grateful to see herself and Rusev. This brings out Axel (by himself) to not much reaction
Axel says he will kick Rusev’s ass and then have Lana to himself and shakes his hips like Rick Rude
Short match follows, with Lana distracting Axel and it leading to a superkick and accolade.
Rusev then gets on the mic again and asks for competition. This brings out Jack Swagger and another short match that sees Swagger roll up Rusev in a few minutes
New Day vs. Usos/Ryback
Huge reaction for New Day, who came out first and then had to return to the back because their smoke pyro didnt go off. Light boos for the Usos but Ryback was over. He’s wearing new tights that say “Big Guy” and now wrestles wearing a weight belt.
Fun match follows, with Ryback eventually catching Woods and hitting the shell shock on him
Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores
Dragons come out to a decent reaction, while the Matadores come out to crickets. They then establish themselves as heels by taking a Lucha Dragons shirt and wiping their nose/underarm and ass with it.
Pretty pedestrian match, with the finish seeing Sin Cara hit one of the Matadores with a swanton
Charlotte vs. Becky Lynch
Both girls got decent reactions, and the match had some decent spots, including Lynch apply an armbar to Charlotte, who turned it into a powerbomb.
Lynch reversed the figure eight but moments later Charlotte rolled her up with the tights to win
Main Event: Roman Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio
Del Rio was over, and was interacting a lot with the crowd. He was behaving like a face to the males over 13. Good reaction for Reigns, with kids and women behind him
Solid match, but a little long. Reigns eventually goes over after fighting out of the armbar twice. Reigns hits a spear to win.
Biggest Pops:
1) AJ Styles
2) Roman Reigns
3) New Day
Biggest Heat
1) Miz
2) Rusev
3) Charlotte
T-shirts for sale: New Day, Cena, Reigns, Ziggler, Styles, Ambrose and Lucha Dragons. Interesting they had no Kevin Owens items for sale.
The Prime Time Players and The Usos def. Stardust, The Ascension and Tyler Breeze via pinfall
Every participant in this 8-man tag gets a full entrance, which helpfully burns off five minutes of airtime – even Tyler, who is now sporting a rather dashing five o’clock shadow.
Boring 15-minute match here, that meandered along at a glacial pace until the hot tag to Darren Young. Up to that point, Jey Uso had the honour of being beaten up by the heels forever, a portion of the match enlivened only by Jerry Lawler’s excellent commentary. Highlights included berating Titus O’Neil for not splashing out on ringside tickets for the kids he invited to last week’s Smackdown and instructing Rich Brennan on how to tell the Usos apart.
Young ran wild with a belly-to-belly on Stardust, followed by delivering his back suplex on the apron to Viktor. Of course, Titus had to blind tag himself in and steal his thunder, Pay Check-ing Tyler Breeze into Stardust, before hitting the Stinger Splash on both men. Clash of the Titus on Cody wraps it up for Titus and his team. I can’t believe it wasn’t Breeze taking the pinfall there.
– A recap of the Sasha/Becky/Team BAD segment from RAW leads us into a backstage interview segment featuring Naomi and Tamina. Jojo, wearing an unnecessarily large amount of slap on her face, asks the ladies for justification for their actions on Monday night.
Naomi maintains that Sasha betrayed them first, before Tamina goes all Confucius/Cantona by talking about the dangers of baby birds flying too high from the nest, or some such bilge. Naomi finishes by saying that “Naomina” (ugh) never needed Sasha, to which Tamina adds “you can take that to the bank”. Poor Naomi.
Jack Swagger def. Fandango via submission
Pretty funny/sad moment during Fandango’s entrance when they attempt to cut to shots of the crowd dancing to his music; only to find one little kid Fandango-ing in the midst of a sea of bored faces.
Fandango also arrived to the ring wearing a “Let’s Get Weird” jacket, which seems to nod at his old Johnny Curtis gimmick. Or has he always worn it? Answers on a postcard, please.
Nothing match, which wrapped in under three minutes with a Patriot Lock out of nowhere. Crowd did not care one jot. Unfortunate for Swagger, who has impressed on this show when given time in recent weeks.
Naomina def. Paige and Natalya via submission
That Team BAD entrance theme that lasted all of two weeks appears to be dead along with the faction that spawned it; the heels emerge to Naomi’s “amay-yay-yay-yay-zing” tune instead.
Another long tag match that failed to hold the interest here, I’m afraid. Paige’s shine seemed to go on forever, but featured a cute spot where she tried a headbutt on Tamina, only to beg off when she realised the old adage about trying that on a Samoan.
Paige has to resort to screaming about her house on more than one occasion to draw heat, to which Lawler responds “we get the message”. She is also guilty of loud spot calling (of sorts) later on, when she is picked up shouting “Trin! Trin!” on the mic, reminding Naomi to lay the boots to her on the outside as Tamina distracts the ref.
The heat is dull, especially when Tamina is in the ring, although “Nah-eeee” (as Paige calls her) is amusing with her energetic cheerleading on the apron.
Nattie eventually gets the hot tag, only to quickly fall victim to the numbers game to cut her off. Paige trips Tamina from the outside to help her out, but can’t stop Naomi hitting the Rear View on her partner. She does break up the ensuing pinfall attempt, however.
The ref then sends Paige back out of the ring, as Nattie lines up the sharpshooter, only to see Naomi counter it (awkwardly) into her headscissors choke (the Slay-o-mission, apparently) for the win. The finish makes sense, given that the heels are likely going to be featured in a tag feud with Sasha and Becky going forward.
Final Thoughts:
Two disappointing tag matches, bookending a nothing squash, makes this a pretty underwhelming edition of Main Event. Recommendation to skip.
– AJ Styles b The Miz by submission with the calf crusher. AJ was super over.
– Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady (w/ Carmella) b The Ascension. Seemed like most of the crowd knew Enzo and Cass.
– Jack Swagger b Curtis Axel by submission with the Patriot Lock.
– The Lucha Dragons b Los Matadores. I guess Sin Cara is healthy again.
– Brock Lesnar (w/ Paul Heyman) b Rusev (w/ Lana) in a short match.
– Divas Champion Charlotte b Becky Lynch to retain in the only title match on the card. Solid work from these two. With the referee distracted, Charlotte poked Becky in the eye and pinned her with a handful of tights. Daddy would be proud.
– Ryback & The Usos b WWE Tag Champions The New Day (w/ Francesca II) in a six-man.
– Roman Reigns b Alberto del Rio. Pretty good, easily the longest match of the night. Del Rio pulled out a table during the match but they never used it.
The Dudleys and Titus O’Neil vs. The Social Outcasts (Rose and Slater) and Fandango
Bubba worked the crowd hard and had a fine 10 minute 6 man tag to get the crowd going. Dudleys and Titus went over with a 3D.
Goldust vs. Darren Young
This match was very quick with Young working heel. There wasn’t very much offense going on. Goldust won with a quick rollup.
Team B.A.D. (Tamina and Naomi) vs. Paige and Natalya with Alica Fox as the special guest ref
Natalya, notably, got a huge pop. B.A.D. was on the offense the entirety of the match, until Nattie got the hot tag and threw on a sharpshooter onto Naomi. Fox then kicked Nattie in the back of the head to end the match in a no contest. B.A.D. and Fox gave a beatdown on both Natalya and Paige before Sasha Banks came in with the save. She helped even the odds, and put on the Banks Statement on one of them while Paige and Natalya put on sharpshooters in stereo.
Tyler Breeze vs. Dolph Ziggler
This was the match of the night. Breeze came out first with the biggest pop of the night. People went ballistic because hometown boy. Ziggler also got a huge pop, but had a lot more boos. Five minutes into the match, Ziggler realized that the fans were cheering hard for Breeze and started playing heel. He started to show mannerisms of his Show Off character, including more hip shaking and mocking Breeze resting on the turnbuckle. It was a very fast pace finish with Ziggler going for a Sweet Chin Music, blocked by an Unprettier, then countered by a backslide pin, which was then followed by a back and forth of pinning combinations.
People were freaking out at every nearfall, which chants of “This is Awesome” filling the SOEC. Ziggler finally won with a Zig Zag, to a huge applause. At the end of the match, Ziggler helped Breeze’s up and was trying to shake his hand. After hesitation, he finally did but then immediately super kicked Ziggler. Breeze got a huge cheer and knocked Ziggler out. The ref came and did the arm raise thing, then on the third arm raise it stayed up. Ziggler spaghetti legged to his feet and walked to the back.
Intermission
R-Truth vs. Stardust
It started with a flurry of ‘CODY’ chants. R-Truth would play to this. He got a microphone and was doing a “remix” where half the crowd was saying Wassup, the other one screaming Cody. It was a fine back and forth, Stardust took of a glove and was whipping Truth with it. Truth took it and started whipping back. Truth won after his flatliner maneuver that I cannot remember the name of. For some reason, a fellow hated Stardust. Like, truly despised him. He would come from his seat in the middle of the floor, run up to the rail and throw up double birds. I did not see what happened or what caused it to happen, but he was tackled and forcefully escorted away.
The Wyatts (Harper and Rowan) vs. Kane and Big Show
I will be honest, I haven’t been paying complete attention to WWE programming, but Harper was flexing on everyone and everything.After hitting a move, he would flex on Kane or Big Show. Kane was in the ring and getting beatdown most of the match, Show hot tagged in and threw the Wyatts around. it ended with Kane chokeslamming Rowan, and Show chokeslamming Harper.
WWE Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose vs. Bray Wyatt
People went nuts for Ambrose. It was a fine back and forth match, but I and a quarter of the audience was checked out. There was a little bit of frustration before them because Owens, who was advertised before, was not there. The rumour was that he was bumped for Breeze. Anyway, after an Sister Abigal attempt, Ambrose spun around and hit a double underhook DDT for the win and retained the belt.
Submitted by Thomas Green from Indianapolis, IN – Old National Centre Egyptian Room
Asuka def. Emma via submission with the Asukalock (crossface chicken wing)
This wasn’t as good as the Takeover: London match, but it was a pretty good opening match. They did a lot without having to do a lot, if that makes sense. No big bumps, no nearfalls, but lots of action. Asuka is so much fun to watch when it comes to finding unique ways to transition from spot to spot, and Emma’s no slouch. Can’t complain.
Blake & Murphy def. Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa via pinfall with their running suplex/frog splash combo
Blake & Murphy often get overshadowed due to the immense talent in NXT, but seeing them live on shows like this, you can tell how good they are. It’s like going to a WWE main roster live event and noticing how much more polished someone like a Kofi Kingston is than all but the top level indie guys. Blake & Murphy are always in the right place, everything they do looks good, and they’re good at interacting with the front row fans. Ciampa & Gargano showed so much poise and as technically good as they are on indie shows, they felt like WWE-level workers in the stuff between the moves. They worked the match in a way where, even with Blake & Murphy winning, it was designed to build to Gargano & Ciampa getting a big reaction doing their bow post-match. This wouldn’t blow anyone’s mind on a TV show, but you couldn’t ask for a more fun undercard house show match.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley def. Alexa Bliss with the Bayley-to-Belly Suplex
You can’t really put into words how special Bayley feels in front of the NXT crowd. After years and years of awful dudes catcalling even the best of female wrestlers on WWE shows, it’s refreshing to see an entire audience so emotionally invested in a female character. There were no rude comments that I could hear, nothing remotely sexual from any of the drunkards in the audience. Other than a couple of guys shouting that Bayley was “adorable”, this was a crowd that wanted to boo the bad guy and cheer their favorite on. Bayley’s work is something to behold live.
You don’t really notice it on TV, but she works in this way where she kind of moves like an ungraceful, awkward child at times (in a way that fits the character where you can tell it’s something she’s trying; not trying to bash her), but can kick it up to where she’s a credible champion wrestler. That probably reads really dumb to most people, but that is about the best way I can express that thought. Alexa Bliss isn’t technically on the level of most of the NXT roster of either gender, but she has absolutely stellar heel facials and is great at getting boos without having to do a thing.
After the match, Bayley called out Finn Balor to come in front of the audience, which led to Bayley doing Finn’s entrance (the video of which is all over the place online right now). It was interesting in that it kind of felt like a parody of those lame ECW angles where the valet would offer her “services” and the male wrestler would have to act like he was going to get some right in the middle of the ring, but it ended in a funny moment and a hug – and the audience LOVED it. I thought this was the evolution of wrestling on this level in a nutshell – an audience who, fifteen years ago, would’ve been chanting for the woman to do lewd things to the man, now going crazy because they’re doing goofy stuff and displaying genuine friendship. It was a really cool moment.
NXT Tag Team Champions Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson defeated American Alpha in a 2/3 falls match
Holy cow – I absolutely LOVED this match. I’m not a stranger to good live wrestling, but this might have been the single best tag team match I’ve ever seen live (and up extremely high on the best matches I’ve ever seen live). This felt like top-level 80’s teams with 2016-level athleticism, where they weren’t afraid to break from the formula and tell a different type of tag team story, but they didn’t have to do a million false finishes or do anything intelligence-insulting.
As graceful as Chad Gable looks on TV, he really is incredible to watch live. He’s at a different level from even the big name indie/Japanese stars when it comes to quickness and movement. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen a pro wrestler be able to work as fast as he does with the quality of his wrestling. Saying all of that, Scott Dawson was the best overall wrestler in the match. He was able to keep up with Gable so all of his acrobatic and fast wrestling looked perfect, but also was a lot of fun to watch stooging from the babyfaces and filling the time between the stuff. This might be hyperbole, but watching these two at the beginning of the match felt like Satoru Sayama hooking up with Dynamite Kid in one of their earlier matches. As good as Gable is, Dawson is the heel he’s needed. There’s no one that Gable has worked that has been able to be on the receiving end of his stuff and make it look that good, while also providing the dimensions to the match that Gable is still learning how to perform. Gable & Dawson are absolutely perfect opponents and I hope eventually get a long singles run against each other.
Dawson gets the Arn Anderson comparison often, but I see a lot of Dennis Condrey in him too. It was like watching one of those old vets on nostalgia shows who still blows away most guys in wrestling with his basics, but with the athleticism of a young wrestler who almost never is at that level at the little stuff. Dawson also has the best-looking punches I’ve seen on a WWE show in a long time. He punches like Bobby Eaton; it’s crazy.
This was likely the only town NXT will run where Jordan is the more popular American Alpha member, as he wrestled for Indiana University and this is a crowd that is knowledgeable about stuff like that. He got “Hoo-Hoo-Hoosiers” and “IU” chants the entire match. Jordan reminds me of 1989 Rick Steiner, but with the charisma of a way more “with it” Sonny Siaki – in that he has a lot of Rock-like tendencies, but without that over-the-top next-level presence. I mean all of this as a compliment, but I can’t think of anyone other than Siaki to bring up.
I didn’t time it, but it felt like they went 30 minutes, with each fall timed out well (not the usual “two quick falls and a regular one-fall match” style that WWE does often). I don’t know how else to put it, but it really felt like a top-level 80’s top heel tag team wrestling a more athletic and more charismatic Steiner Brothers-type team, but with a few 2016 moves sprinkled in. Jordan & Gable are maybe the most natural and advanced WWE developmental homegrown guys out of developmental (meaning that most homegrown guys out of developmental don’t get this good until they hit the main roster and work with the top guys).
Even on Raw/Smackdown/PPV, most matches feel like someone put them together and they’re often going “step A, step B, step C…”. This didn’t at all, but they also did a lot of dynamic offense and innovative stuff. This was a house show in front of “smart” fans that knew this wasn’t even being taped for a video package for TV, and most of the crowd seemed to be biting on the American Alpha nearfalls. They did such a great job of building the drama. It was the absolute best of every single world with something to make most wrestling fans happy and a really hot crowd.
The short version: Gable pinned Dawson with a small package in the first fall, Dash/Dawson cheat to win the second fall, and then Dawson pinned Gable clean after a series of reversed cradles to win the third fall.
Nia Jax def. Billie Kay
The crowd needed a breather and they got it. This was the only thing on the entire show that felt like a “developmental” match. I feel bad saying this since I know how inexperienced Nia Jax is, but while the in-ring inexperience is obvious to anyone, she doesn’t even have the presence that you’d expect her to have with her look and the WWE presentation machine behind her. This might raise the ire of fans of women’s wrestling who have seen her for years, but Billie Kay looked just as green as Jax, with awful stutter-step kicks and awkward bumping. Even as an obvious breather match, this got way too much time. The crowd didn’t turn on it in unison like an Eva Marie match, but you could hear scattered “TAKE IT HOME” and “STOP THE MATCH” chants among the silence. This would’ve been the worst thing on an OVW or FCW show, let alone a card with all of these top workers and super-indie names.
Sami Zayn def. Baron Corbin and Samoa Joe in a three-way dance
A step above their TV match a few weeks ago, but mostly because they got to do a lot more with the finish here. As much as Bayley and American Alpha felt like huge stars on the NXT level, it felt like the audience saw Sami Zayn as a superstar on the level above everyone else (like when The Rock comes back on Raw and interacts with current roster members). All night, you could hear people all over the building only talking about how excited they were to see him in between the frequent “OLE!” chants, and the only person who could come close to the pre-match audience buzz before their music was Bayley. As great as he was on the indies (and even in NXT during the first chunk of his run), he really carries himself like a top superstar now coming out of the curtain. He has SO much confidence and poise. There were a lot of great wrestlers on this show, but he was the best at being a “star”.
Baron Corbin was a pleasant surprise watching work in-person. He’s not the best wrestler in the world, but the Corbin of a year ago (or even six months ago) wouldn’t have been able to hang on this level. His work was air-tight and he carried himself like a top guy. You can see why the WWE brass has high hopes for him. This is such a small thing, but even the way Corbin grabbed and worked a wristlock early in the match felt like you were watching an experienced good worker and not the bland factory-made developmental guy that everyone dumped on when he debuted. I’m not saying he’s anywhere near him on any level, but he kind of reminds me of a young Undertaker in how he moves and carries himself.
Samoa Joe was the weird one here. It was almost like the TNA house shows of yesteryear, where the audience would react to guys based on past glory and had no clue about the TV show. Despite the crowd knowing every other performer and their characters, Joe felt like they were reacting to the Joe of 10 years ago and not an “NXT Superstar”. It wasn’t good or bad, in that he did get a nice reaction coming to the ring. But it wasn’t overwhelming like you would expect it to be. Joe was moving a lot quicker and seemed more agile than he has in years, so clearly the fire has been lit underneath him.
They did a really creative finish, where everyone hit each other with rapid fire big boots before Joe dodged one from Corbin into the Kokina Clutch. Corbin backed Joe up into a corner for a rope break and Zayn hit them both with the Helluva Kick before covering Corbin for the win. Zayn gave a really nice “rah rah” speech after the match about NXT and definitely used language that felt like he was doing a farewell speech without giving away the big farewell (assumedly for Dallas). It was reminiscent of when they would do the goodbye speeches at the end of early Dragon Gate USA shows.
Notes:
The general admission situation was a complete nightmare. GA was standing room only across the back of the room, behind the back row of seats across from the entrance. GA was full enough that there were issues with people trying to get to their seats having to shove through the GA audience because the aisle gap to get to the seating was non-existent, as well as stationed security being in bad spots that blocked off some fans’ views. It didn’t ruin the night, but if NXT ever runs the Egyptian Room again, I hope something is figured out (whether it be bleachers, extra seating, etc.).
In terms of an overall show, it was at least an 8.5/10. Other than the bad seating situation, the NXT live experience is highly recommended. Again, great pacing and timing with a roster full of stars that the audience is invested in, and solid-to-excellent work up-and-down the card. I kind of feel like the show would have benefited from American Alpha/Dash & Dawson going on last, but the crowd probably would have felt ripped off if the biggest star (Zayn) went on in the middle and wouldn’t have reacted as well to the tag match. I just can’t emphasize enough how stellar Dash & Dawson vs. Gable & Jordan was. On a show of top-level wrestlers, they stole the show and ran away with it. I really hope they eventually get to do the 2/3 falls format on TV in some way. Even if they don’t, I’d have no problem seeing them work with each other a hundred times.
Also, this was probably the most well-timed wrestling show I have ever been to. I’ve been to plenty of Raw & Smackdown tapings with the mandatory commercial breaks and running times that didn’t run as smoothly as this. They started at 7:30 on the dot, and crossfaded the show intro music right into Asuka’s song so the high energy stayed up from the start. The main event ended at 10:00 PM on the dot. They gave a lot in two and a half hours, but it wasn’t like an indie show where everyone felt the need to do the biggest match possible and you’re tired after a marathon session.
