–Eva Marie Wants A Finisher: Remember Eva Marie? She’s still training. It’s been months, and she’s bugging her husband and Brian Kendrick about getting a sweet finisher. Her husband, voice of reason, advises to chill and keep training and get great at the basics. Instead, she goes to NXT, gets booed at by the crowd, and is inspired to learn Brian Kendrick’s finisher, “The Kendrick†(or, Sliced Bread #2 to wrestling fans). I have a bad feeling about this.
–The Bellas Fight About Business: Nikki and Brie get the idea to start a bar studio, since it’s super-trendy (or was at the time of the taping of this show). They try to recruit their brother, JJ, and he helpfully sets up meetings with realtors to check out potential studios. The girls get territorial and turn on J.J., then get mad at each other; Brie gets mad at Nikki for being unfocused with the idea, while Nikki gets mad at Brie for being mean to her. Anyway, their brother, voice of reason, advises them to chill and be nice to each other because they’re sisters. Everyone hugs it out.
–Naomi Learns About Parenting: Finally, Naomi and Jon are moved into their new place and get to host Jon’s kids (from his previous relationship). Naomi’s stoked, and really wants to make sure the kids have fun – including bringing in a petting zoo and a bouncy house without telling him. He’s super-chill about it, even when he gets chewed out on the phone by the mother, and she basically admits she wanted to spoil their kids (when they have some). Jon says they are their kids and it’s super-cute. She probably won’t keep feeding the kids candy all the time or anything, but they do seem like they have their act together.
No John Cena or Bryan Danielson on this episode, and barely any Nattie. The teaser for the remainder of the season teases Dolph Ziggler hitting on Nikki, Bryan vacating his Intercontinental Title and Nattie freaking out backstage when T.J. breaks his neck during a match.
– Air date: May 16, 1985 – Run time: 46:16 – Stars of the show: Wendy Richter & Peggy Lee.
After watching nearly three dozen episodes of TNT, I am still struck at how successful this offbeat show was at making me care or hate WWF wrestlers. It’s amazing what a little time on the microphone can do for even the most boring wrestlers.
A few weeks ago big “Rusty” Brooks demonstrated some red-necked Stone Cold Steve Austin-like charisma, just because he sat in the main TNT chair and believed he was the best jobber on the roster. It’s a whole new television landscape, so I don’t expect TNT to show up again on the USA network, but there’s no reason why we can’t have a modern version of this show on the WWE network.
What a great place for us to see Vince McMahon? If McMahon believes he is too old for Monday Night Raw (which he isn’t), then he needs to move his face to the network and rehost this show. Lord Alfred Hayes has passed, but why not replace him with Jamison? Go find that guy and breathe new life into a one-time great concept. We WWE fans miss the good old days, when everything was a little less scripted. How do we know that we don’t have another Roddy Piper lurking in the shadows.
McMahon gets this episode going introducing us to Rocky Johnson, the father of Dwayne Johnson. It’s funny that McMahon refers to him as “The Rock.” Rocky Johnson had a better body than Dwayne, but lacked the promo skills.
McMahon gets the googly eyes when Johnson comes out and asks him how much weighs, while telling Hayes that this is the best he’s ever looked.
“My goodness, pumping that iron,” McMahon salivates.
Johnson says he weighs 260 pounds.
It’s too bad Hulk Hogan refused to wrestle any other good guys, because there’s an endless string of popular wrestlers that would have made great challengers for Hogan. Johnson, Superfly Snuka, Jake “The Snake” Roberts, Tito Santana, Ricky Steamboat, etc.
We go to the ring and it’s Johnson vs. Steve Lombardi, who is rapidly approaching SD Jones as the man who has most appeared on TNT.
Bruno Sammartino, arguably the worst commentator in WWF history (I am not counting Mike Adamle) says about Johnson, “here’s a guy who is always in great shape. He’s always great to watch in the ring.”
Sammartino was always talking about how “tough” a guy was, clearly selling the old school mentality. I am sure if Bruno were calling an episode of Monday NIght Raw, he would say “This Brock Lesnar guy is quite the impressive individual. He’s a strong guy that is going to give a lot of wrestlers trouble inside that ring.”
Bruno even puts Lombardi over: “Lombardi has come a long way in the last year or so. He’s quite aggressive and quite tough.”
This match consisted of Johnson, wearing Cowboy Bob Orton green trunks, mostly on the offensive, with Lombardi doing his best to sell for the big man. Johnson was certainly a better wrestler than The People’s Champion, although he had much skinnier legs. He performed some
impressive dropkicks and arm drags. He also threw in some good boxing. Johnson pins Lombardi with a sunset flip that certainly Rusty Brooks would have kicked out of.
Back in the studio McMahon draws attention to Johnson gold on his hands.
Johnson shows off his luxurious purchases and explains that he wears the watch because his later father gave it to him. Johnson, talking more like Ricky Steamboat than Dwayne Johnson, says that when he goes to the ring he has one thing in mind.
“All of the matches I am in, whether it is Steve Lombardi or Roddy Piper or whoever I go in there with I have the same mental attitude — to win,” Johnson says.
McMahon says he wishes him all the luck in the world and tells him one more time “you look great.”
Up next are the segments that remind us that yes, this is professional wrestling. It’s “Thatsa My Kitchen” with Salvatore Bellomo and family. TNT has enjoyed a laugh or two at the expense of practical every culture. McMahon is an equal opportunity offender when it comes to stereotypes.
Bellomo, a perennial enhancement talent, has appeared on a few episodes of TNT, building boats out of the WWF magazine.
McMahon calls it “Mama Bellomo’s kitchen.” Bellomo, of course, doesn’t speak English, only saying “Gratsi” when McMahon talks in her direction. We do know that the Bellomos are proud parents. There’s bell peppers and bread on the table and they are prepping for a big meal.
Bellomo puts over his mom: “Everyone always asks me why I am that fat. It’s because of his Mama’s cooking.”
We go to the ring for some action with Bellomo, against, wait, another jobber, in Frankie Williams, of Piper’s Pit fame. Who’s going to win this one? Well considering that Bellomo gets a lot of air time on TNT and Williams has been portrayed as an all around sap, it looks like Bellomo is going to get his big television win here.
Both guys are wrestling in singlets. Bellomo has some technical skills, but he is just so slow. Still, he’s a better wrestler than The Miz and he never got to headline WrestleMania. One thing strikes me about this match. Neither guy has shaved his armpits.
No matter how macho you are, in the WWF, you shave your arm pits, whether you Andre the Giant or Zach Ryder. Even Brock Lesnar shaves his pits. Not sure how Williams and Bellomo got past the aesthetic sensors.
Williams is on the offensive in much of the match and has good facials, although he looks like he is 62 years old.
Bellomo would rally and win the match with a high cross body block. Back in the kitchen, McMahon is poking around the table like he’s never seen food before.
“What is this?” he asks. Bellomo responds. “It’s an artichoke.” Bellomo is stuffing the artichoke with cheese and olive oil, prepping it for cooking. McMahon ends the segment, but says later on, “we will have some delicacies.”
The next guests on the show are Brutus Beefcake and “Luscious” Johnny Valiant, perhaps two of my least favorite characters ever.
Beefcake was cast perfectly as a male stripper. He looked great, but was kind of dull and stupid. Valiant, to this day, I have no idea what his gimmick was supposed to be. He was neither funny nor clever. He just rambled, wearing the most bizarre mismatched clothing ever.
Valiant is wearing what appears to be red sweatpants that would make George Costanza jealous. He’s wearing a New York Yankees jacket and a bandana. In this segment he keeps calling Beefcake his “main squeeze.”
Valiant comes out complaining about the smell, taking a shot at Bellomo and is Italian food.
“It smells like a used car wash,” Valiant says. Yeah, OK, Mr. Highbrow, you are the guy wearing sweatpants.
Valiant asks McMahon what’s on his mind. “We are busy people,” he says. Valiant pats the hand of Beefcake and calls him his “main squeeze.”
“We have people to see,” Valiant says. McMahon brings up WrestleMania and the problems Beefcake and Valiant had with Bruno Sammartino. Valiant is rambling like a drunk man, saying that Sammartino would have a heart attack if he ever stepped into the ring with him.
Beefcake is wearing oversized glasses and a Lightning Bolt across his chest that would make Sean Waltman nostalgic. Valiant dares Sammartino to get “get that punk kid of his out reform school and meet my main squeeze here.” They were doing everything to get David Sammartino over here.
McMahon says that “in a few minutes we are going to take you to some action via videotape.” McMahon loved to explain in 1985 that videotape was the form of technology they used to distribute their content. Valiant explains that due to his busy schedule he cannot accommodate Beefcake every night of the week so that Greg “The Hammer” Valentine fills in.
This is a strange pairing considering that Valentine was the intercontinental champion at the time. McMahon even calls it “a most unusual tag team.”
They are taking on Paul Roma and SD Jones. Hart is managing Valentine. I never knew Beefcake was also from Phoenix, Arizona. He too was billed as being from “Parts Unknown.”
Jack Reynolds is the announcer. I wonder what the story was behind Reynolds. He was pretty much the voice of the WWF in 1984 and still here in 1985, but he’s totally forgotten now. I wonder when and where McMahon fired him.
“I get the feeling that Roma and SD Jones are going to get more than they can handle this week,” says Reynolds, who apparently is letting Bruno Sammartino write his scripts.
I am mixed on these old jobbers matches. It’s pretty clear that Roma and Jones aren’t winning this match. Valentine carries the match and pins Roma with a figure-four-leglock. I would love to see someone win with that hold in MMA. Maybe CM Punk can tap out Cathal Pendred with that move one day.
The next guest is Wendi Richter, the WWF women’s champion. I have no idea who dressed this woman, but she looked like she belonged on the set of Mama’s Family.
This is probably Richter’s fourth appearance on TNT. McMahon points out that she did not kiss Lord Alfred Hayes this time, unlike a previous appearance. Hayes says he wouldn’t mind if she tried again and Richter says nothing, but looks at him and chuckles a bit.
McMahon asked the same question he did before Wrestlemania: “What do you think of Cyndi Lauper.” This feels like an odd question since Lauper is long gone by now and McMahon has never been big about putting anyone over who’s not on the roster. Richter says hse respects Lauper and that she’s done a lot for her and women’s wrestling.
We go to a match with Richter and Peggy Lee. One thing is clear right away. Both Richter and Peggy Lee look like Flair and Steamboat compared to today’s WWE divas. Lee is a natural-looking woman. She’s not tan or thin. Richter is tan and thin, but her attractiveness is secondary to her athleticness.
These two put on a women’s match that rivaled Trish Stratus and Lita in the Attitude Era. Tons of near falls. Bruno Sammartino on color commentary, by the way, says “Richter is in great shape.” Is he getting paid for this?
With the exception of Charlotte, Richter and Lee are better than any WWE Diva currently on the roster. Their match wasn’t a sideshow or joke. They worked hard and no one was trying to get a look at anyone’ puppies. This is an episode to watch just for this match.
Lee takes Richter to Snap Mare City, yanking Richter by the hair three times, in a marvelous spot. Bruno says, “I hate to say it, but Wendy looks in bad shape right now.”
Lee at one point stands on Richter’s face, in another great spot. I love this spot. I don’t know how well you can fake that hold. Obviously Lee needs to put all her weight on the top rope, but must still hurt to have wrestling boots on your face.
Richter finally wins when Lee jumps on her and she lifts her knees, then pins her with a sunset flip. Great women’s match.
Back in the studio, Richter puts over Lee.
“She was a tough competitor herself,” Richter says. “She ripped about half my hair out when she jerked my head onto the mat. But I like that, keeps you on your toes and makes you a better athlete when you have competition like that.”
The segment should have ended here, but instead we get pervert and sexist McMahon. McMahon asks about “the private life of Wendi Richter.”
McMahon: “You are such a pretty lady and an extraordinary athlete. Many are wondering if you would seize the opportunity to settle down one day and have a family.”
Come on, McMahon. I would love to have heard him ask Ricky Steamboat that question.
Richter has that confused look on his face, but since she’s southern and tactful, she answers the question with class. “I am looking forward to that, but right now I am looking forward to keeping in shape, staying focused and being a true professional.”
She says whenever she loses the belt fair and square and she’s not up to par, then she will think about different routes and alternatives. McMahon would do the thinking for her when he would fire her later in the year.
The show wraps up with a return to Mama Bellomo’s kitchen. They are tasting the foods that they prepared earlier in the episode. Valiant comes out to wreak havoc and insult Bellomo.
Valiant: “No way I would ever touch any of this garbage. It’s all fattening.” Valiant that makes an lame Italian joke: “You know how you break up an italian wedding? Just yell the cement’s here.”
McMahon tells Bellomo just to ignore him. Bellomo is rattled over Valiant’s interruption, but offers Hayes one of the cooked artichokes. Hayes, a food snob, hates it. He wonders if the artichokes have been washed properly.
Hayes then complains that there are no napkins. “Not a napkin anywhere,” he says. “Typical Italian. Eat with your fingers.”
Another TNT episode full of everything we love and hate about professional wrestling. Will the WWE ever experience another big ratings period? Who knows, but back in 1985, when the WWF was running wild across the nation and on television, we had plenty of unscripted television, where the wrestlers were allowed to talk and take some risks with their personalities. I don’t think we need a segment with John Cena cooking in the kitchen with his mother, but a little more microphone time for guys like Cesaro, Kevin Owens and Damian Sandow could mean money for the WWE.
Next week on TNT? Ken Patera and the man who might one day own Gawker.
SmackDown had some good things and some bad things.
Show Recap:
Non-Title: IC Champion Ryback DCO Big Show
Big Show took control almost immediately after a clothesline and got some light “Please retire” chants. Ryback came back with shoulder blocks and a spinebuster, but got caught with an ugly spear for a near fall.
The match spilled to the outside where Ryback used a running clothesline on Show, sending both men through the barricade. Instead of this being a ref stoppage, they both got counted out. Not a good match.
This is where having a good commentary team is important, because this team of Jimmy Uso, Tom Phillips and Jerry Lawler basically treated crashing through the barricade like a normal thing that happens. This didn’t get over at all.
Backstage, New Day walked toward Gorilla and saw a random stagehand. Big E got him to do the clap, but the guy dropped his papers, so Xavier Woods held a toy basketball net over his head and Kofi dunked on him. Woods and Big E carried Kofi away and they all sang the New Day song. Amazing.
6-Man Tag Match: The New Day beat El Torito & Los Matadores via pinfall
They kept calling this a “six-being” tag match, which was annoying as hell. Torito hit a 619 on Big E outside the ring. Fortunately, he didn’t sell it. Eventually, Torito got the hot tag and almost got the pin on Woods with a rollup but Kingston made the save.
This led to one of the great moments in (recent) SmackDown history. Big E tagged in and gave Torito a backbreaker. Then, Big E absolutely crushed Torito with a giant splash, which was just incredible.
Woods jumped up and down asking for a tag, so Big E tagged him and Woods immediately applied the cover for the win. Kofi gave Woods a bouquet of flowers and they hoisted him up in celebration. Great segment.
Dolph Ziggler and Lana came out for a promo. Ziggler said Rusev crushed his throat and it hurt just to breathe. Ziggler wasn’t sure if he could come back, until he saw Summer Rae put Lana in the Accolade.
Ziggler knew he had to come back and Lana told him they need to crush those bastards. (So I guess Ziggler just willed himself back?) Lana said Ziggler makes her laugh and he fights for what he believes in. Lana said she’s also the best, because she slapped Rusev and shoved the fish in Summer’s face.
Ziggler said he loves that Lana has a sense of humour and called her a badass (they were holding hands). They went for a kiss but the Rusev flag dropped and Rusev came out with Summer. Rusev said Ziggler will find out what pain really is at SummerSlam when he puts Ziggler in the Accolade, forcing him to watch as Summer puts Lana in the Accolade as well.
Ziggler said he would shove Rusev’s teeth down his throat and steal his girlfriend—his real girlfriend (Lana). This was every bit as bad as the Ziggler and Lana “go public” segment on Raw a couple of months ago.
They showed John Cena’s promo on Seth Rollins from Raw.
Neville beat Bo Dallas via pinfall
This was every Neville singles match. Bo got the heat immediately, Neville came back with a high flying move and hit Red Arrow for the quick win. Meh.
After the match, Stardust and King Barrett did a promo saying they were sick of Red and Green. Barrett said he was going to turn Stephen Amell and Neville black and blue and Stardust said “because he’s going to punch you!” This was a perfectly fine wacky promo.
Team Bella came out for a promo. It was bad. Alicia Fox put over Nikki’s title reign, mentioning she was 26 days away from setting the record. Nikki said she had her toughest battle to date when she fought Sasha Banks.
She said Banks would be a great Diva’s champion one day, but not now. She called Banks’ win a fluke, and Fox said they were proud to be witnessing history. Team B.A.D. came out and Naomi said nobody was buying Nikki’s insincere speech.
Banks said she made Nikki tap-out, and Team Bella would finally crash and burn at SummerSlam. Brie said Sasha might call herself “The Boss,” but she should call herself another word that starts with the letter B. (Like… Banks?)
Banks said Brie was just riding off Daniel Bryan’s coattails, while reminding us that he’s injured. Brie told her instead of banking it, she should shove it. Oh boy. Becky Lynch came out with Charlotte (no Paige) and said they’re all in for a lass kicking. This was really bad. All of it.
Triple Threat: Brie Bella beat Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks via pinfall
After a break, Brie used Yes kicks, which got the biggest reaction of anything in this match. Banks took control after hitting double knees in the corner to both women. She mocked the Yes chants and collided with Brie on a double clothesline.
Lynch jumped in and made her comeback with kicks and exploder suplexes. Brie knocked Lynch into Banks, who fell out of the ring, and rolled up Lynch for the win. I think Brie was holding the tights but they didn’t mention it. Basic match and, obviously, Brie winning is really dumb.
They did a video package recapping the Paul Heyman, Brock Lesnar and Undertaker segment from Raw.
8-Man Tag Match: Dean Ambrose, Randy Orton, Roman Reigns & Cesaro beat Luke Harper, Bray Wyatt, Sheamus and Kevin Owens via pinfall
9:24pm. Randy Orton made his entrance for the main event. Cesaro came out during commercial. Everyone else got a full entrance. 9:35 pm. The match is now starting. Orton went for an RKO but Sheamus escaped the ring. 9:36 pm. Commercial break. 9:40 pm. We’re back.
Cesaro picked up Owens for a delayed vertical. Owens tried to punch his way out but Cesaro hit it anyway. Ambrose tagged in and ran wild on Harper. Reigns tagged in and got his hands on Wyatt, but tagged out for some reason to Cesaro.
Cesaro tried to give Harper the big swing but Owens knocked him down. Harper caught him with a big boot and the heels took over from there.
After a break, they did a good little spot where all four heels tagged in and hit different senton variations. Lawler assured Tom Phillips that the “You look stupid” chants were not for him.
Cesaro cut off Sheamus with a dropkick and brought Reigns in with the hot tag (not that hot). Reigns clobbered Sheamus with clotheslines, followed by an apron dropkick and Samoan drop. He also gave Samoan drops to Harper and Owens.
Reigns went after Bray allowing Sheamus to roll him up with the tights, but Reigns kicked out. Sheamus hit a powerslam for two. Sheamus then knocked Orton off the apron so Reigns came back with a superman punch.
Ambrose made an actual hot tag and hit Harper with a bulldog and rebound clothesline. Ambrose knocked down Bray with a springboard plancha and Harper with a suicide dive. Ambrose followed with a diving elbow but Owens broke up the cover with a senton.
Cesaro uppercut Owens, Sheamus Brogue kicked Cesaro, Orton RKO’d Sheamus, Harper superkicked Orton, Reigns speared Bray, Harper superkicked Reigns, and Ambrose used Dirty Deeds on Harper for the win. Ambrose’s music played as the good guys posed.
Final Thoughts:
Definitely a mixed bag. The main event was really fun (once it actually started) and The New Day was great as always. On the other hand, the segment with Ziggler and Lana was painful, and the women’s talking segment was just bad.
Also, I didn’t mention crowd reactions during the report because this particular crowd didn’t care about anything outside of the main event.
New York, NY – August 20, 2015 – 2K today announced the action-packed entertainment of WWE® SuperCard, the Company’s renowned collectible card-battling game, will raise the stakes with extensive content in WWE SuperCard – Season 2. Featuring an expanded roster of WWE Superstars, Divas, Legends, the debut of NXT Superstars and Divas, enhanced King of the Ring tournament play, an updated Exhibition Mode with a new WWE Divas card slot, increased customization options and more, WWE SuperCard – Season 2 is available now as an update for download free of charge on the App Store for iOS devices, including the iPhone®, iPad® and iPod touch®, as well as the Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore for Android™ devices.
WWE SuperCard has exceeded 7.5 million global downloads since its release in August 2014 and carries an average rating of 4.5/5 stars on the App Store, as well as a 4/5 rating on Google Play. Offering more than 700 cards in active play, with more to come in Season 2, WWE SuperCard challenges players to build teams of WWE Superstars, Divas and Legends, train them to full potential, battle in various match types and test their luck in fast-paced tournament action. In addition, players can enhance their free-to-play experience through purchase of individual card packs.
“WWE SuperCard sets the standard for bringing together the right brand and fan base in WWE with the competitive and engaging nature of collectible card games,” said Harley Howe, Co-Studio Head at Cat Daddy Games. “Season 2 elevates the authentic, hard-hitting WWE action more than 7.5 million fans have grown to love through new content certain to enhance the WWE experience in a mobile format.”
WWE SuperCard – Season 2 features include:
CUSTOMIZABLE CARDS – Customize and train Season 2 cards while earning tokens to permanently increase stats;
LARGER ROSTER – Access hundreds of cards featuring a variety of WWE and NXT Superstars and Divas, including Season 2 additions Brock Lesnar®, Undertaker®, Stone Cold Steve Austin®, Kevin Owens™, Samoa Joe™, Adrian Neville™, Charlotte™ and many more;
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ENHANCED KING OF THE RING – The 16-man, multi-day tournament is now more strategic than ever with a new enhancement system.
Developed by Cat Daddy Games in conjunction with Visual Concepts, both 2K studios, WWE SuperCard is available now download free of charge on the App Store for iOS devices, including the iPhone, iPad and Pod touch, as well as the Google Play Store and Amazon Appstore for Android devices.
It is the final stop on the road to Takeover! What will happen? Join me at 8pm for a live recap of a taped show!
-NXT General Manager Mr. William Regal is out to start the show this week to oversee a contract signing between NXT Woman’s Champion Sasha Banks and her #1 Contender Bayley.
Bayley thanked Mr. Regal for the opportunity while Sasha said that while Bayley’s good, Sasha is better and plans on showing why she is the best NXT Woman’s Champion in company history.
Sasha turned around to leave and Bayley stopped her, noting that every contract signing in history ends in a fight and Bayley wanted to fight. Sasha called Bayley a loser and pathetic, which is why Sasha is on Raw and Bayley isn’t. Sasha called herself a real role model and plans on showing the audience that fairy tails don’t have happy endings.
Sasha finished by saying Bayley is not worth fighting tonight before leaving. As Sasha left Bayley finally snapped, ran after her and attacked!
-Apollo Crews is debuting Saturday
1.) Tyler Breeze defeated A Local Competitor
Prince Pretty kicks off the wrestling action this week, as he goes one on one with a nameless opponent. Breeze carried a replica of Jushin Liger’s mask at the end of his selfie stick, because this Saturday at Takeover it is Tyler one on one with Jushin Thunder Liger.
This match lasted a whopping 30 seconds, Breeze won with a Super Model Kick. After the match Breeze put the Liger mask on his foe and cut a promo on his opponent for Saturday.
Breeze picked up his opponent and gave him the Beauty Shot as a preview of what’s going to happen at Takeover.
-Speaking of shows happening this weekend, SummerSlam is Sunday night! 10 matches! 4 hours!
2.) The Hype Bros, Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady defeated 4 Opponents
It’s time for an 8-man tag featuring two of the top babyface teams on NXT. I had to go back to watch this match after the show because of some horrible buffering when I tried watching it live. Turns out they never did name the opponents, which was a running joke tonight. Jesse Sorensen was one of them, but it’s not like he was named. The Unnamed Foursome got a little offense on Enzo, but it was nothing to write home about.
The finish was Colin throwing Enzo off the top rope onto one of the opponents for the win. They did announce their 8-man tag for next week’s NXT against Jason Jordan, Chad Gable, Dash & Dawson.
-Speaking of Jordan, Gable, Dash and Dawson, they cut a promo backstage. Long story short, they are ready, willing and Gable.
3.) Samoa Joe submitted Steve Cutler
This is at least the second time Joe has faced Cutler and the second time Joe won. Joe won in 30 seconds with the Coquina Clutch.
-As Joe was leaving he got kicked in the face by Baron Corbin and Corbin beat him all over the arena. They wound up in the ring and Corbin laid Joe out with End of Days.
-The New and Improved Bull Dempsey is wrestling next week.
4.) NXT Tag Team Champions Blake & Murphy defeated Angelo Dawkins & Sawyer Fulton
This may literally be the most skipable episode of NXT ever.
This was the most competitive match on the show, which really is not saying anything. Dawkins and Fulton got just enough offense for it to not be a total squash and the champs won again, with their running suplex/frog splash combo.
-The Vaudevillians came out to cut a promo, but every time they tried to talk, Alexa walked up and slapped them in the face. This Saturday they will have someone in their corner to deal with her. Just please don’t let it be Eva Marie.
-Speaking of Eva Marie, she is going to face Carmella next Wednesday night. Oh yay.
-The final segment of the show was billed as Kevin Owens’ Final Declaration. Kevin carried a ladder to the ring and set it up before cutting his promo.
Owens cut a promo on the fans, calling them the “John Cena” of fans because nothing real comes out of their mouths. They chant for him one minute and boo him the next depending on who he says he hates this week. They want NXT to grow and become bigger, but they whine and complain because NXT sold out a 13,000 seat arena and they won’t be able to see the show live.
Owens turned his attention to Balor, saying Japan was a fluke. He shouldn’t have beaten him that night and will not beat him on Saturday. If he thinks what he did to Sami was bad, what he does to Finn will be even worse. He needs the title to shove it in these fan’s faces and needs it to prove that he is better than Finn.
This Saturday will not be Walk Kevin Walk or Lose Kevin Lose, it will be Destroy Kevin Destroy, Climb Kevin Climb. It will not be an epic battle where they fight atop the ladder. When Owens is on top of the ladder, Balor will be laying on the ground beaten and destroyed. As he cut this promo Owens climbed to the top of the ladder.
This brought out The Champ. Finn Balor is out to offer a rebuttal. Balor stood on the middle rope, Owens climbed down the ladder and we got a fight. Balor got the better of their scuffle and was about to heave the ladder at him when Owens ducked and ran.
The show ended with Balor standing atop the ladder vowing to shut Owens’ mouth this Saturday. This was an excellent final segment and made up for a very dull for 45 minutes of the show.
Tune in this Saturday for the live Takeover recap and join me back here next week for our normal show. Until then, make sure to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
In a video designed to hype both the September 2016 opening of the new U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, MN, and major events that are set to come there, among those events mentioned was WWE WrestleMania.
They did not specifically say it would be the 2017 WrestleMania, although Minneapolis and Orlando, FL, are considered the two likely candidates. The stadium will be hosting the 2018 Super Bowl, and like this year, the WWE does like to go into a market the year before the Super Bowl.
WWE personnel said that, “Minneapolis is one of the many cities that has expressed an interest in hosting a future WrestleMania. Beyond WrestleMania in Dallas, TX, on April 3, 2016, locations for future WrestleManias have not been announced.”
Ryback DCOR Big Show. Ryback knocked show through the barricade and nether could get back i the ring on time.
Big E & Xavier Woods & Kofi Kingston b Los Matadores & Torito when Woods pinned Torito
Dolph Ziggler came out with Lana and Rusev came out with Summer Rae doing an interview segment to build SummerSlam.
Neville b Bo Dallas with the red arrow.
Stardust & King Barrett did an interview building up the tag match at SummerSlam.
Team Bella did a promo. Team BAD came out. Becky Lynch and Charlotte came out as well. No Paige because of Tough Enough.
Brie Bella won a three-way over Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch when she pinned Lynch.
Randy Orton & Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose & Cesaro b Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper & Sheamus & Kevin Owens. Hot main evnt ending when Ambrose pinned Harper with Dirty Deeds.
Tonight’s episode of Tough Enough will be the penultimate episode of season six. There are two female competitors left, so tonight will see one of three male competitors eliminated. ZZ always has the fan vote, so it seems like he’s going to the finals by default. Between Josh and Tanner I’d lean toward Josh joining ZZ in the finals, but it really depends on which guy comes off more likeable tonight. Daniel Bryan still hasn’t used his save, and tonight would be his last opportunity to save someone.
We start with a look back at last week after Gigi’s elimination. Amanda attempts to plant doubt in Sara Lee’s head by asking if she feels guilty for being saved by her fans. She forgot to mention Miz saving her because he thought she was hot. The first challenge starts with the male competitors helping NXT Superstar’s assemble the ring before a show. Once they have the ring built, all the competitors will come up with a finishing move for their character.
Tanner decides to go with a top rope finisher, but has trouble emoting. He ends up going with a shout before hitting a cross body dive. Josh wants to use a Power bomb, but the judges turn him down because of safety concerns, and suggest a power slam instead. Amanda does a variation of Bo Dallas’ Bo dog. ZZ chooses a variation of a Crossface, comparing it to how he holds an alligator when taping its mouth shut. Sara Lee chooses an armbar after Lita’s suggestion.
Back at the barracks the contestants discuss their challenge. ZZ and Amanda have a heart to heart about Amanda’s ability to compete against Sara Lee. Tanner and Josh discuss their frustration with ZZ getting votes even though he’s not putting in the work. The judges ask the competitors rapid-fire questions. They really lay into ZZ. Josh gets a sympathetic softball with the judges asking him about his daughter. His other question was if his strategy was to blend into the background early, and then emerge as a superstar.
The male contestants get 30 seconds to plead their case. Josh promises to “Bring the sauce out.” With Josh’s promo being the most charismatic of the three, it really feels like Tanner is gone. They ask Sara Lee and Amanda who they think should go home, and both say Tanner. Daniel Bryan declines to use his save. Josh gets 46% of the vote, ZZ gets 34% of the vote, and with 20% of the vote, Tanner is eliminated.
Next week will be the final episode. It’s announced that next week the remaining contestants will have their first live wrestling match in front of the judges and studio audience. They will have a week to assemble their ring gear, entrances, and to put together the match with their partner.
Tonight’s poll showed that ZZ could easily lose next week to Josh. ZZ is the opposite of what the WWE normally looks for, but Josh feels like last season’s winner Andy with slightly more charisma; Andy only appeared on television one time after he won for a reason.
