Submitted by James Girouard from the Denny Sanford Premier Center
– Dolph Ziggler b. Baron Corbin with a superkick and zig zag
Surprisingly good match. From a mechanical perspective, Corbin is much improved from where he was even a year ago.
– Titus O’Neil b. Fandango with a powerbomb
Fandango attacked Titus before the bell. Match itself probably went about a minute. Not much to it.
– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte b. Natayla with a rollup after putting her feet on the ropes
Other than one or two mistimed spots early, the work was very good. However, the ring announcer (Eden Stiles) did ask the crowd before the match if they “wanted to see some beautiful women in the ring” so apparently old stereotypes die hard.
– Sami Zayn b. Stardust with the Blue Thunder bomb
Stardust stalled for most of the match and got quite a bit of heat. Zayn had a loyal, vocal minority really into him but Stardust was more over as a heel than Zayn was as a face. Match was fine, nothing special.
– AJ Styles b. Kevin Owens with the Phenomenal Forearm
Very good match, best of the night. Owens got a lot of heel heat early but was so great that as the match wore on he was getting as many cheers as boos. AJ’s in-ring timing is even more amazing live than it is on TV.
– Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows b. Darren Young & Mark Henry with the Magic Killer
Not much to the match, although it was weird to see Mark Henry as the babyface in peril. For not having been on TV very long Anderson & Gallows did get a decent reaction.
– Big Cass b. Primo with his East River Crossing sidewalk slam
Primo jumped Cass as he was cutting a promo before the match, but Cass ended up wiping him out quickly. Crowd was really into the singalong.
– IC Champion Miz (w/Maryse) b. Cesaro after throwing him into an exposed turnbuckle
Miz got tremendous heel heat from the second he walked out from the curtain until the match was over. Match was all sorts of overbooked with run-ins and interference from Maryse.
– WWE Champion Roman Reigns b. Sheamus with the spear
Hard hitting but the two have had much better matches. Both men were heavily booed at the start, but as the match wore on the reactions to Roman were probably 50-50. It is interesting because the last time Reigns was in Sioux Falls against Bray Wyatt he was pretty much universally cheered.
All in all, one of the better house shows I’ve seen from WWE since they started coming back to Sioux Falls regularly about 15 years ago. None of the matches were bad and the stuff that wasn’t as good was kept short. A lively crowd that was into the talent helped.
In what will likely prove to be the biggest revenue grossing pro wrestling event in history, Steve Austin regained the WWF title at Wrestlemania XV, a show far more notable for production and booking than for any of the wrestling.
The basic consensus seemed to be a mild thumbs up for the show, although the reaction to this one was all across the board as there were people who thought it was the best show in years and many who thought it was terrible. If a wrestling show is constituted by the quality of the matches from start-to-finish than this was a thumbs down show with only two good matches tops out of ten. If it’s based on surprises, booking and angles, it’s a thumbs up. If it’s based on crowd reaction to either and both, it wouldn’t be a thumbs up since only the main event had good heat and that’s with a super hype job going in. If it’s based on presenting well produced television, it would be the best wrestling PPV of the year.
– Pre-show poll asked which match from WM32 to show before the event
Reigns def. HHH (11%)
The Undertaker def. Shane McMahon (40%)
Brock Lesnar def. Dean Ambrose (49%)
– Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks def. Emma & Lana – 18 min.
Crowd loved both the faces (Sasha might have had a bigger reaction due to the Eddie Guerrero connection). Sasha does The Banks Statement for the win while Lynch did her submission at the same time.
– Sin Cara def Epico – 9 min.
Guess worth noting that Los Matadores somewhat exist since that was his Titantron and attire for him. Some of the crowd seemed to boo that since at least some knew that’s a dead gimmick.
– Goldust def. Viktor with R-Truth as ref – 12 min match
R-Truth came out 1st with a decent pop. No reaction to Viktor, and fine reaction to Goldust. R-Truth played favor to Goldust and would often ignore Viktor’s attempted pinfalls or submissions. Finally, Goldust got an upper hand then won on a quick 3 count against him. Crowd enjoyed such mannerisms from R-Truth during the match (he ate some cotton candy from a fan from ringside) and after the match, both Goldust and R-Truth played along Truth’s theme song with the crowd.
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) def. Kane & Big Show vs Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman in an elimination match – 17 min match
New Day came out first to a good reaction, then Rowan and Strowman came out to boos, biggest pops were to Kane then Big Show. Match was fun, Kane eliminated Wyatts, and then Xavier pinned Kane almost immediately. After Wyatts started to attack them, they then did a triple chokeslam by Kane and Show (with Xavier in between them). New Day then got the Big Show to dance, then Kane after 2 or so minutes.
INTERMISSION
– Hype Bros def. Social Outcasts – 10 min match
Decent pop for Ryder, and Mojo looks like he just enjoys it all. Outcasts were just there to do what they were to do, no fanfare.
– US Champion Kalisto def. Alberto Del Rio – 12 min match
Crowd was into both (“Si chants ” for Del Rio, “Lucha” for Kalisto) Match was pretty good. In the beginning, Del Rio attempted to not fight go back through the Titantron.
– Dean Ambrose def. Rusev – 17 min match
Dean probably got the biggest pop between him, women’s babyfaces, and Kane with Big Show. Crowd was into both him and Rusev until Lana came out to distract and got heat on Rusev then she was kicked out by the ref. Ambrose after a struggle wins after Dirty Deeds.
It’s Titus O’Neil’s first televised (non-battle royal) match since the February RAW on which he lost to Adam Rose and roughhoused the boss! This, of course, is also Sandow’s final televised match with the company, after receiving his release last Friday.
Tom Phillips is also back at the announce desk on this truly landmark edition of Main Event, capitalising on the shitcanning of one Rich Brennan. After accepting Jerry Lawler’s welcome, Phillips proclaims this a “new era with new opportunities”. And no Rich Brennans.
Sandow worked heel here, because who cares. He was on offence for the majority of the sub-four minute duration of this match, before Titus made a quick comeback and creamed him with the Clash of the Titus. O’Neil did the bark after the bell and looked awkward as the Kansas crowd failed to care.
– O’Neil’s attempts to dance with a fan are to-the-backed, as we abruptly cut to the Star Room, where Cody Rhodes is STILL Stardust. Cody blathers on about one of the writers’ favourite topics – Dolph’s cruddy comedy “career” – before making a Star Trek reference (something about being cloaked like a Romulan warbird). He also made a joke about Dublin being the largest city in the world because it’s “always doubling”. Hey, at least it’s not a Social Outcasts promo!
Apollo Crews def. Viktor by pinfall
Good ol’ Smiley Black Man continues to exclusively work squash matches, polishing off the sole remaining Ascension member with the toss powerbomb in just over four minutes. Viktor, whose work I usually enjoy, disappointed me here by applying a reverse chinlock for a very long time.
Baron Corbin def. Sin Cara by pinfall
Third squash in a row here, as hometown hero Corbin puts away Sin Cara in under four minutes. It was a little more interesting than the previous two matches however, with Corbin cutting off an early tope suicida attempt with a vicious forearm, before eventually eating one during the comeback. Said comeback also featured a botched quebrada attempt that Corbin had to quickly adjust his position to receive.
After taking Cara’s suicide dive, Corbin recovered and flung Cara head first into the ringpost from the powerbomb position, as he did to Dolph Ziggler at Payback. Back in the ring, the reigning ARMBAR champion finished the Lucha Dragon off with the End of Days.
Dolph Ziggler def. Stardust by pinfall
Playing off Stardust’s earlier promo, these two worked a comedy match in the early going; featuring a Vintner-esque double noogie from Dolph and a spot where Ziggler ran Stardust around the ring while hammerlocked!
Ziggler eventually flew into the ringpost shoulder-first to start the heat. Unfortunately for Stardust, who then went on to work Dolph’s left shoulder for the next five minutes, Dolph struck the post with his right – as more than one replay clearly demonstrated.
Phillips failed to call a Disaster Kick, which got two for Cody after he cut off Ziggler’s comeback. Dolph then hit a superkick out of nowhere to wrap this ten minute match up.
Final Thoughts
Not a great show this week. Credit to Cody and Dolph for trying something different with the comedy stuff, but once the heat started the match died and the finish was weak. The rest of the show was just squash city. Not one to seek out, by any means.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back tonight with tons to discuss: ROH Global Wars, WWE cuts, Kato Kung Lee and Billy Wicks pass away, EVOLVE angle with EC3 and Johnny Gargano among others, Bobby Roode and Eric Young, New Japan line-ups, UFC from Sunday morning plus upcoming fights, as well as the mailbag! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back today with tons to discuss including full reviews of both the ROH New Japan Global Wars PPV and NWA World Championship Wrestling from 30 years ago this week which was, quite frankly, pretty amazing. A fun show as always so check it out~!
On Sunday night in Chicago Ridge, IL, the stars of Ring of Honor will battle the stars of New Japan Pro Wrestling at Global Wars, part of a unique series of early-spring events between the promotions that have been running for the past few years here in the U.S. and Canada.
Tonight’s PPV lineup is a strong one, headlined by a title match with the longtime champion Jay Lethal defending against a returning and popular challenger in Colt Cabana. You can email feedback to the show (positive/negative/neutral) to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
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RODERICK STRONG VS. ADAM PAGE VS. ACH VS. DALTON CASTLE – WINNER GETS A TV TITLE SHOT
Crowd was weak early, but picked up when ACH did a flip dive. The match kept moving with a lot of good moves. The finish saw Strong use a superplex, gutbuster and sick kick on Page, but then Castle used the bang a rang, dropping Strong onto Page and Castle pinned Page.
After the match, Strong got mad saying that he’s the best wrestler in the company and had the TV title shot.
JUSHIN LIGER & CHEESEBURGER VS. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & FRANKIE KAZARIAN
They did the big upset finish as Daniels was being cocky and doing finishers on Cheeseburger when Cheeseburger pinned Daniels with a front rolling cradle. Right before the finish, Daniel & Kazairan laid out Liger with Celebrity Rehab and Liger landed on his head. He was selling the neck but it was clearly a sell spot but he was out for the rest of the match.
Daniels and Kazarian laid out Cheesebuger as Daniels gave him a low blow. They used the Best Meltzer Ever after the match, which is a combination tombstone piledriver and Daniels coming off the top rope onto him.
ROH TAG TEAM CHAMPIONS WAR MACHINE VS. MARK & JAY BRISCOE
War Machine retained when Hanson gave Jay a spin kick and then they used the Fallout on Mark — a move where Hanson came off the top rope while Rowe held Mark up. Hanson pinned Mark. This was a wild match. The crowd miking on this show is weak or the crowd is real quiet. The match wasn’t smooth at all, but there were a lot of big moves and the crowd did give them a “This is awesome” chant. Jay put Hanson through a table with a double foot stomp. There were several dives and they did a lot of big stuff. Hanson also kicked out of both Froggy Bow (elbow off the top) by Mark and the Jay driller by Jay. Fans chanted “Thank you” when it was over.
IWGP CHAMPION TETSUYA NAITO VS. KYLE O’REILLY (NON-TITLE)
This was the best actual wrestling so far on the show, very good and Naito came across like a superstar but the crowd miking issue took this match down. O’Reilly did all of his stuff with the various submissions and Naito did his usual spots and mannerisms. The crowd at points lightly booed O’Reilly, but mostly were into the match. O’Reilly got a near fall with a bridging back suplex but Naito used a spinebuster and Destino for the pin. After the match, Naito used a low blow on O’Reilly and then threw the belt in the air. Before the match, Naito also dropped the belt down and showed no respect for it.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI & MICHAEL ELGIN VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA & MOOSE
This was a significant result because Tanahashi & Elgin are a regualr New Japan tag team and they lost this match. Moose speared Elgin and Okada then hit Elgin with the Rainmaker to win. The fans were really into Tanahashi vs. Okada when they were in together. A lot of good stuff here including Okada and Moose both doing the dropkick with Tanahashi and Elgin sitting on the middle rope. Moose did a dive off the top rope to the floor on both Tanahashi and Elgin. Elgin did a delayed vertical suplex on Moose. The crowd knew most of the spots, even chanting “Ace” when Tanahashi did the Moose arm deal. People were on their feet a lot and did another “This is awesome” chant but it still felt quiet a lot. Good match.
TV CHAMPION TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. BOBBY FISH
They put over that Fish is 39 years old and this may be his last big chance. This was weird because Ishii worked the same kind of match he’d work if it was a Japanese big show and Fish was right with him but the crowd was so quiet. Fish won the title clean in the middle by choking Ishii all the way out. Ishii never tapped but went out. The crowd was shocked tHat was the ending. You can tell the place is porly miked beause everyone is standing, you can see people chanting but can barely hear it. This was the best match so far. Really hard hitting from start to finish, hard chops & hard kicks by Fish, Ishii did his headbutt spots and a delayed superplex spot.
YOUNG BUCKS & TAMA TONGA & TANGA LOA VS. KUSHIDA & MATT SYDAL & CHRIS SABIN & ALEX SHELLEY
This was a fast paced match with all kinds of big moves. The match was built around the Bucks setting a record for the world’s largest superkick party for a superkick record. Mr. Wrestling III had a superkick counter, but it totaled zero superkicks. This had the most reaction of anything on the show. Kushida and Sydal are two of the best wrestlers in the world, and Shelley did a lot of unique moves. The Bucks mostly were selling stuff while Tonga & Loa played monsters no selling stuff. After Kushida did a flip dive over the post onto Tonga & Loa, the Bucks used the Meltzer Driver on Shelley for the pin.
They had a confrontation at the desk with Mr. Wrestling III and B.J. Whitmer, who came out wearing a Masked Superstar mask since Superstar was a big rival of Wrestling II. Whitmer handed him a flash drive and told him to go to his hotel room and watch what’s on it after the show — clearly the next stage in the Corino vs. Whitmer feud.
They noted that they didn’t introduce the new Bullet Club member. That is still to come.
ROH CHAMPION JAY LETHAL VS. COLT CABANA
They were out there having a good match. Cabana was really over with the crowd, being it was in Chicago. Taeler Hendrix interfered and Nigel McGuinness and ref Todd Sinclair ejected her, McGuiness dragging her to the back. Cabana had Lethal in the Billy Goat’s Curse when Hendrix came back out and dragged Sinclair out of the ring. The Bucks came out, seemingly to superkick Hendrix for interfering, but she moved and they nailed Sinclair. But then they nailed Hendrix anyway.
The Bucks had two Bullet Club shirts and gave them to Lethal and Cabana. Then the lights went out. Adam Cole was in the ring with a Bullet Club shirt when they came on and they all superkicked Lethal and Cabana and a million security guards. Everyone was superkicking everyone, including Kevin Kelly, Mr. Wrestling III, a camera man and even Mr. Massie (the Bucks’ father). He jumped in the ring and they stopped Cole from superkicking him, but then they superkicked him.
Tonga & Loa spray painted BC on a table and Loa powerbombed a security guard through the table. This was all very reminiscent of an NWO-era Nitro show. The crowd kind of booed them as it was designed as a heel turn. They put zip ties on Lethal, and Cole kept superkicking him. Cole grabbed the belt, clearly teasing the idea that Cole was going after the title next.
At another point, after they took out the announcers, Matt got on the headset and pretended to be Jim Ross doing “This man has a family” and “stomping a mudhole” and called Nick “King.” So, the show ended with a ring and floor with more than a dozen people laid out and the Bucks, Cole, Tonga, and Loa left standing.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns with our weekend edition talking all the news in wrestling and MMA, from UFC and ROH big weekend shows to EC3 invading an EVOLVE show to attack an NXT star and cut a promo on HHH. A fun show as always so check it out~!
On Saturday, EVOLVE held one of the most talked about shows in Queens with two WWE Cruiserweight Classic qualifiers with TJP (aka TJ Perkins) and Drew Gulak winning their respective matches. The ramifications of this, and the relationship between WWE and WWNLive, will be interesting to keep up with in the future. In another shocking turn of events, EC3 (yes, the former TNA Champion) attacked Johnny Gargano in the main event and seemingly has joined another former TNA Champion Drew Galloway against the EVOLVE locker room, Triple H, NXT and more.
– Matt Riddle def Lio Rush with the cross armbreaker
Riddle tells Thatcher to come get the title. He tosses it over his shoulder, and Stokely Hathaway comes out and grabs it.
– The Bravado Brothers def Ethan Page and Chris Dickinson
Bravados pinned Dickinson after a double team Gory Special. They are made that Team Tremendous got the first Evolve tag title shot since they were the longest Open the United Gate champions. Dan Barry comes out and does some comedy to mock the Bravados. Match is made for the next Queens show, and the Bravados then beat Barry down for fun.
– WWE Cruiserweight Classic Qualifier #1: TJP def Fred Yehi after a 450 splash
– WWE Cruiserweight Classic Qualifier #2: Drew Gulak def Tracy Williams with the Gu-lock
– Marty Scurll def Zack Sabre Jr via tap out to the chicken wing
Scrull gets an Evolve title shot on July 16 in Queens. Stokely comes out and calls TJP the uncrowned champion.
– Johnny Gargano def Drew Galloway via DQ after EC3 runs into the ring and attacks Gargano. Long promo by EC3 as he buries NXT, Triple H, and even Bill DeMott. They lay waste to the Evolve locker room. Ethan Page makes the save.
***Next show is on June 10 with Gargano and TJP versus EC3 and Galloway, plus Ethan Page challenges Drew Gulak.
Hamburg, Pennsylvania: – Jimmy & Johnny Valiant defeated Dean Ho & Tony Garea for the WWWF Tag Team Titles
Tokyo, Japan: – Antonio Inoki defeated Killer Karl Krupp and Seiji Sakaguchi to win the 1st Annual New Japan Pro Wrestling World League (Inoki, Krupp and Sakaguchi had all tied each other in the round robin portion of the tournament)
1982
Milwaukee, Wisconsin: – AWA Tag Team Champions Greg Gagne & Jim Brunzell beat Jerry Blackwell & Sheik Adnan dq – Handicap Match: Hulk Hogan & Buck Zumhofe beat Nick Bockwinkel & Ken Patera & Bobby Heenan – Baron Von Raschke beat Bobby Duncum – Jacques Goulet drew Brad Rheingans
1984
Raleigh, North Carolina: – Ivan Koloff & Don Kernolde defeated NWA World Tag Team Champions Wahoo McDaniel & Mark Youngblood to win the titles
1985
San Francisco, California: – Sgt. Slaughter & Larry Hennig & Curt Hennig beat Road Warriors & Paul Ellering in a Steel Cage match – In a Steel Cage Match, Jerry Blackwell beat Sheik Adnan El Kassey – Baron Von Raschke beat Jim Garvin – Steve Regal beat Buck Zumhofe – Brad Rheingans beat Butch Reed dq – Samula beat Drew Tossell
1988
Irving, Texas: – Kerry Von Erich defeated Iceman King Parsons to win the World Class Championship Wrestling World Heavyweight Title
Tokyo, Japan: – Tatsumi Fujinami defeated Big Van Vader for the IWGP Heavyweight Title
1992
St. Joseph, Missouri: – Big Josh pinned Richard Morton – Van Hammer pinned JT Southern – The Junkyard Dog pinned Mr. Hughes – Ron Simmons pinned Cactus Jack – Nikita Koloff (subsituting for WCW World Champion Sting) & the Great Muta defeated Big Van Vader & WCW U.S. Champion Rick Rude via disqualification – WCW US Tag Team Champions Greg Valentine & Terry Taylor defeated Tom Zenk & Marcus Alexander Bagwell – Ricky Steamboat pinned Steve Austin – WCW World Tag Team Champions Rick & Scott Steiner defeated Arn Anderson & Bobby Eaton
1993
Memphis, Tennessee: – Wolfie D defeated Danny Davis to win the USWA Middleweight Title
2000
Uniondale, New York: – Chris Benoit defeated Chris Jericho for the WWF Intercontinental Title
2002
Santa Ana, California: – Tom Howard defeated Christopher Daniels to win the Ultimate Pro Wrestling Heavyweight Title
2007
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: – Undertaker defeated Batista in a steel cage match – Edge cashed in the Money in the Bank title shot and defeated the Undertaker to win the World Title
2010
ROH Supercard of Honor: New York City: – Tyler Black defeated Roderick Strong to retain the ROH World Title – in a NYC Last Man Standing Death Match; Kevin Steen defeated Colt Cabana
