Good reaction for Cesaro. Good heat for Rusev after taking a young child’s ‘Cesaro section’ sign. “Let’s go Rusev/Rusev sucks” chant breaks out. Rusev works over Cesaro’s shoulder for most of the match. Cesaro makes his comeback with the multiple uppercuts. Rusev goes for the Accolade, but Cesaro reverses it into the sharpshooter. Cesaro does the giant swing to a loud pop and then immediately puts Rusev in the sharpshooter again. Rusev taps immediately.
Sin Cara def. Tyler Breeze
Match opens with breeze taking down Cara and doing his turnbuckle pose. Cara then takes down Breeze, and does the same. Suicide dive to the outside by Cara. Comedy spot in the middle of the match where Breeze went up to the top rope and Cara would keep rolling to the opposite corner. Breeze did this 5 or 6 times. Cara then quickly hits the Swanton bomb for the win.
Jack Swagger def. Tyler Breeze
Breeze then gets the mic and says he came here to stand in the middle of the ring and take a victory selfie. He demands another match and out comes Swagger waving the Union Jack flag. Really quick match with Breeze tapping out to the Patriot Lock.
Kane def. Stardust
No reaction for Stardust but quite a good pop for Kane. Another comedy match of sorts. Kane & Stardust playing to the crowd. Stardust drinks a bottle of water from ringside and tries giving it to Kane as peace offering then spits water at Kane. Basic match otherwise nothing special. Kane wins with a chokeslam. Stardust sells the chokeslam post match and makes two referees help him up.
WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) def. The Dudley Boyz
Lots of New Day antics pre match as always. Bubba gets the mic and says he and D-von are fed up hearing people chant “New Day rocks”. “New Day Rocks” & “Get The Tables” chant breaks out and Bubba again gets the mic asking if the fans want tables. D-Von pulls a table out, but bubba says the fans don’t deserve it. Nothing special in the match itself. Dudleys messed up the reverse 3D when D-Von went quicker than Bubba. New Day hit the Midnight Hour on D-Von for the win.
WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) def. Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks in a three-way match
Good pop for Sasha and a lot of Whoooos for Charlotte and Ric. Really good back and forth match. Sasha hits the corner knee drop to Charlotte and Becky. Charlotte with a double DDT and double Natural Selection. Sasha gets the Bank Statement on Charlotte, and then Becky breaks it up and puts Sasha in the Disarmer. Charlotte hits the Natural Selection on Becky to break the submission and pins Becky for a 2 count. After interference from Ric, Charlotte rolls up Becky and uses her feet on the rope for the 3 count.
The Usos def. Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman
No reaction for The Wyatts. Good initial reaction for the Usos, and then some boos mixed in. Basic match with the usual spots. Usos take out Strowman on the outside with a dive, and then hit Rowan with a superkick and uso splash for the win.
WWE Champion Roman Reigns def. Sheamus
Sheamus cuts a pre match promo bashing England and saying how the League Of Nations is stronger than ever and the weak link was an Englishmen. Reigns comes out to a mostly positive reaction but loud boos a couple of times. Good back and forth match with Sheamus beating down on Reigns. Mixed booss and cheers for Reigns when he makes his comeback. The ending saw Sheamus kick out of the Superman punch, and then Reigns kicks out of the Brogue kick. Sheamus argues with the referee, and then Reigns hits him with another Superman punch and the spear for 3. Loud pop when Reigns won. Post match, Reigns goes round ringside having photos taken with fans and signing posters.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of thoughts on the WWE Wellness Policy failures this week, Undertaker and the UK tour, a potential TNA sale, your calls, texts and emails and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Kansas City, Kansas: – Lee Wyckoff defeated Orville Brown in 2 out of 3 falls to win the Midwest Wrestling Association World Heavyweight Title – Jay Steele beat Al Lafoon – Mysterious Mr. S beat Dobie Osborne – Abe Coleman and Rudy Strongberg drew (30:00)
1952
Chattanooga, Tennessee: – Golden Hawk and Johnny Kostas defeated Henry Harrell and Rex Mobley for the Mid-America NWA Southern Tag Team Titles
1959
Toronto, Ontario, Canada: – Gene Kiniski defeated Whipper Billy Watson for the Toronto NWA British Empire Heavyweight Title
Atlanta, Georgia: – Dick Gunkel (Dick Steinborn) defeated Fred Blassie to win the Georgia NWA Southern Heavyweight Title
1965
San Francisco, California: – Pat Patterson and Ray Stevens defeated The Destroyer and Billy Red Lyons to win the American Wrestling Alliance World Tag Team Titles
1969
Jacksonville, Florida: – Boris Malenko defeated The Gladiator (Rick Hunter) for the NWA Florida Brass Knuckles Title
Hattiesburg, Mississippi: – Mitsu Sito defeated Bob Kelly to win the NWA Mississippi Heavyweight Title
1970
Atlanta, Georgia: – Nick Bockwinkel defeated Assassin #1 (Tom Renesto) for the NWA Georgia Heavyweight Title
1972
Memphis, Tennessee: – Jackie Fargo and Jerry Jarrett defeated The Interns in a hair vs. title match to win the Mid-America NWA Southern Tag Team Title
Portland, Oregon: – Tony Borne and Moondog Mayne won the NWA Pacific Northwest Tag Team Title from The Royal Kangaroos (Jonathan Boyd and Norman Frederick Charles)
1974
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada: – Gene Kiniski and Mr. X (Guy Mitchell) defeated Flash Gordon (George Gordienko) and Leo Madril to win the Vancouver NWA Canadian Tag Team Titles
Nashville, Tennessee: – Mr. Kamikaze and Tojo Yamamoto defeated Nick DeCarlo and Frank Monte for the NWA Southeastern Tag Team Titles
1976
Caguas, Puerto Rico: – Carlos Colón defeated Bob Ellis to win the WWC North American Heavyweight Title
St. Petersburg, Florida: – Jack Brisco defeated Pak Song for the NWA Florida Heavyweight Title
Wichita, Kansas: – Mike George defeated Bob Brown for the NWA Central States Heavyweight Title
1978
Augusta, Georgia: – Dusty Rhodes ddq Abdullah the Butcher – AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel beat Mr. Wrestling II – Stan Hansen beat Tommy Rich – Helmut Schmidt & Wolfgang Schmidt beat Raymond Rougeau & Pez Whatley – Paul Ellering beat Ken Dillinger
1979
Raleigh, North Carolina: – US Champion Ric Flair beat Dino Bravo – Non Title Match: Ricky Steamboat beat AWA Champion Nick Bockwinkel – Pedro Morales & Jay Youngblood beat Moose Morowski & Kim Duk dq – John Studd beat Skip Young – Leo Burke beat Mr X I
– Chris Colt, Dennis Condrey and Tojo Yamamoto defeated Bobby Eaton, George Gulas and Mexican Angel for the NWA World Six-Man Tag Team Titles.
1980
Kansas City, Kansas: – Takachiho (Great Kabuki) & Pak Song defeated Bulldog Bob Brown & Dick Murdoch to win Central States Tag Team Titles
1983
Nagasaki, Japan: – Giant Baba and Jumbo Tsuruta won the NWA International Tag Team Title from Ron Bass and Stan Hansen
1984
Allentown, Pennsylvania: – The North-South Connection (Adrian Adonis and Dick Murdoch) defeated Tony Atlas and Rocky Johnson to win the WWF Tag Team Titles
Tokyo, Japan: – Gran Hamada defeated Perro Aguayo for the WWF World Light Heavyweight Title
1985
Barron, Wisconsin: – Savannah Jack and Ed Roberts defeated The Terminators (Rigs and Wolf) to win the Pro Wrestling America Tag Team Titles
1987
Calgary, Alberta, Canada: – Owen Hart defeated Mahkan Singh (Mike Shaw) to win the Stampede North American Heavyweight Title
Daytona Beach, Florida: – Mike Graham and Steve Keirn defeated The MOD Squad (Basher and Spike) to win the NWA Florida Tag Team Titles
Kansas City, Kansas: – Porkchops Cash & Ken Timbs beat AWA Tag Team Champions Midnight Rockers dq – Lights Out Match: Earthquake Ferris beat Bulldog Bob Brown COR – Rufus Jones beat Warlord dq – Rip Rogers beat Stoney Burke
1992
Yokohama, Japan: – The Natural Disasters (Earthquake and Typhoon) defeated George and Shunji Takano for the Super World of Sports Tag Team Titles
Tokyo, Japan: – Stan Hansen defeated Mitsuharu Misawa to win the annual AJPW’s Champion’s Carnival tournament
1994
WCW Spring Stampede: Chicago, Illinois: – Johnny B. Badd pinned Diamond Dallas Page (with The Diamond Doll) – WCW World Television Champion Lord Steven Regal (with Sir William) fought Brian Pillman to a 15-minute time-limit draw to retain the title – WCW World Tag Team Champions The Nasty Boys (Brian Knobbs and Jerry Sags) defeated Cactus Jack and Maxx Payne in a Chicago Street Fight to retain the title. – WCW United States Heavyweight Champion Steve Austin (with Col. Robert Parker) defeated The Great Muta by disqualification to retain the title – Sting pinned WCW International World Heavyweight Champion Rick Rude to win the title – Vader (with Harley Race) pinned The Boss – WCW World Heavyweight Champion Ric Flair and Ricky Steamboat fought to a no-contest due to a double-pin (title was vacated due to the finish)
1995
Memphis, Tennessee: – Brian Lee defeated Brian Christopher to win the USWA Heavyweight Title
1999
Buffalo, New York: – D-Von Dudley defeated ECW World Tag Team and Television Champion Rob Van Dam to win RVD and Sabu’s ECW World Tag Team Title for he and Bubba Ray Dudley
Guaynabo, Puerto Rico: – Ray González defeated Pierroth, Jr. for the WWC Universal Heavyweight Title
Memphis, Tennessee: – Jerry Lawler defeated Derrick King and Kid Wikkid in a handicap match to win the PPW Tag Team Title for he and Bill Dundee, who no-showed the event
Newport, Delaware: – Mark Schrader and Christian York won the ECWA Tag Team Title from Ace Darling and Devon Storm
2000
State College, Pennsylvania: – Chris Jericho pinned WWF Champion Triple H to win the title – Scotty 2 Hotty pinned WWF Light Heavyweight Champion Dean Malenko to win the title
Osan, South Korea: – Big Bubba Bain and L.A. Stephens defeat The Rock ‘n’ Roll Express (Robert Gibson and Ricky Morton) to win the NWA World Tag Team Titles
2001
Nashville, Tennessee: – Kane and The Undertaker defeated WWF Tag Team Champions Edge and Christian in a no-disqualification match to win the titles
2004
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: – Rockin’ Rebel and Jack Victory defeated The Blue Meanie and Roadkill – Mike Kruel defeated Monsta Mack – Ruckus defeated Damian Adams – Jerry Lynn defeated Sabu – Joey Matthews defeated 3PW Heavyweight Champion Raven to win the title
2005
Belleville, Michigan: – Petey Williams defeated champion Chris Sabin and Alex Shelley in a three-way match to win the Border City Wrestling Can-Am Television Title
2007
Milan, Italy: – Deuce and Domino defeated WWE Tag Team Champions Brian Kendrick and Paul London to win the titles
2009
ROH Caged Collision: Chicago, Illinois: – Claudio Castagnoli defeated Kevin Steen – Necro Butcher & Jerry Lynn defeated The Age of the Fall’s Delirious and Brodie Lee – Tyler Black defeated Bryan Danielson, Jimmy Jacobs, Austin Aries – ROH champ Nigel McGuinness defeated El Generico to win the title – Steel Cage Warfare: Brent Albright & Ace Steel & Erick Stevens & Roderick Strong & Jay Briscoe defeated Sweet N Sour Inc
2011
TNA Lockdown: Cincinnati, Ohio: – Brother Devon defeated Anarquia in a Steel Cage match – Max Buck defeated Amazing Red, Brian Kendrick, Chris Sabin, Jay Lethal, Jeremy Buck, Robbie E (with Cookie) and Suicide in an escape match – Ink Inc. (Jesse Neal and Shannon Moore) defeated The British Invasion (Douglas Williams and Magnus), Crimson and Scott Steiner and Eric Young and Orlando Jordan in a four-way tornado tag team steel cage match – Mickie James defeated Madison Rayne in win the TNA Women’s Knockout Championship – Samoa Joe defeated D’Angelo Dinero – Matt Morgan defeated Hernandez (with Anarquia, Sarita and Rosita) – Jeff Jarrett (with Karen Jarrett) defeated Kurt Angle “Ultra Male Rules” Two out of Three Falls Steel Cage match – Sting defeated Rob Van Dam and Mr. Anderson in a three-way Steel Cage match to retain the TNA World Heavyweight Championship – Fortune (Christopher Daniels, Kazarian, Robert Roode and James Storm) defeated Immortal (Ric Flair, Abyss, Bully Ray and Matt Hardy) in a Lethal Lockdown match
Last night’s UFC on FOX event did 2.13 million viewers based on the overnight ratings, but led FOX to winning a weak night overall in the 18-49 demo.
The number is about as good as you’d hope for considering it was an April show where two of the top three fights changed late in the game.
The 0.8 in the overnights beat ABC’s 0.6 with rerun programming, beat CBS’ 0.5 with rerun programming and NBC’s 0.3 with live Premier Boxing.
Because of viewership mostly with older viewers, when it came to overall viewers, ABC and CBS all beat FOX. NBC did not as the boxing only did 1.24 million viewers, which is a terrible prime time number, even for Saturday, for first-run programming.
It should be noted that the final number will be up somewhat for NBC and FOX because the number measures viewership for FOX stations from 8-10 p.m. on the West Coast, when they were airing other programming since UFC aired from 5-7 p.m.
The growth will be less than usual because the main event ended right around 10 p.m. due to Glover Teixeira knocking out Rashad Evans in just 1:48. Usually the final rating growth includes both the West Coast viewership and the post-10 p.m. viewership which is always the largest rated portion of the show. That’s why five round main events are so valuable when it comes to ratings and why they stalled to have the main event start past 9:50 p.m., hoping for it to go long.
The original card featured a top three fights of Tony Ferguson vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov, but Ferguson was injured and Nurmagomedov instead beat unknown Darrell Horcher; Teixiera vs. Evans and Dan Henderson vs. Lyoto Machida, the ladder canceled when Machida was provisionally suspended on a PED violation for admitting use of a supplement that contained banned DHEA.
Last year’s show in April headlined by Machida vs. Luke Rockhold, which was a much stronger match at the time, did 2.43 million on the overnights and ended up with the West Coast at 2,745,000 viewers.
For this show, a final number of 2.35 million or greater should be considered okay.
Part 3 of our look back Wrestling Dontaku 2015, which took place on July 5, 2015, features two big title matches.
IWGP Jr. Champion Kushida vs. Kenny Omega
I forgot just how great this match was. Omega’s work on Kushida’s leg was great. Kushida made such a great comeback. Both of these guys are just simply phenomenal and showed that here. It’s worth going back and watching these title matches again as NJPW title matches are ALWAYS a big deal and this match came off as something important. Crowd heat was awesome towards the end too. Omega went for the One Winged Angel but Kushida went for the hoverboard lock and eventually got it, securing the submission.
Omega says that Kushida has now made the title garbage. Omega says he’ll clean him up. Kushida says lots of things have changed in the last year. He used to think the title was too far away for him, but now he wants to make sure it never leaves his grasp.
Hirooki Goto is interviewed this week. He mentions that before, he only went to Osaka Jo Hall for concerts. He doesn’t want to comment on the match but he would have loved to be in the main event.
Intercontinental Champion Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Jim Ross made a good comparison at the start of this bout, comparing Nakamura and Goto to Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart. It doesn’t fit perfectly, but there are some aspects here that work. This was a really great match. Everything just seamlessly clicked and these two were on a roll. Nakamura did everything well and got some cool nearfalls, including one where he straight up hit the boma ye and Goto kicked out. Finishes are so protected here that when people actually kick out of them, it’s a surprise. Goto powered back, hit his neckbreaker and walloped Nakamura with the shouten kai to retain the Intercontinental title. Another one of those matches where if you rewatch again, you kind of forget just how awesome it actually was.
Nakamura in the post match interview said you should be interviewing the champion. He says there is magic to that belt. Goto cuts a rather short promo to the fans after winning, simply saying “cheers”. Backstage, he feels things have calmed down. He destroyed his path, and that’s something to take pride in. There’s only one thing left, and that’s the G1. He’ll take it with his own hands.
Reflective interview: Goto says in the end, he broke Nakamura’s pattern, but there was still G1. He wants to fight in that tournament like they are all title matches.
Great show this week. If you’ve been missing out and want to check out just one show, check this one out. It’s really strong in two great title matches.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer is back today with tons to discuss — UFC on FOX, fighter allegedly pistol whips someone at strip club, UFC 200 weekend, Fedor fighting again, Undertaker and the European tour, WWE Wellness Policy violations, Lucha Underground, questions and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Bellator MMA had it’s first overseas show Saturday from Torino Italy. The show took place at 3 pm eastern and aired on tape delay on SpikeTV with a late 10 pm start time. In terms of star power, it was one of the weaker shows that Bellator has put on since the MTV 2 days but in many ways, the promotion looked more “big league” than ever before.
The show took place in front of a hot crowd in a bigger building than they usually run. The fighters that they were hoping to showcase did what they were supposed to, particularly Alessio Sakara scoring an impressive TKO win in front of his home country. All of the walkouts aired in their entirety, which was a nice change from UFC.
Perhaps the best thing on the show was the opening video montage that was more of a promo for Spike Sports than Bellator MMA specifically but featured mainly Bellator fighters. The tag line of Fighters First was all over the video. Particularly memorable was a Josh Koscheck quote “I can say what I want and I can wear what I want”. This video is worth going out of your way to see although I’m sure it will air before all MMA, Kickboxing and Boxing events on Spike for the next while.
It wasn’t all good news. In the first three fights, the losers looked they belonged nowhere near a professional MMA cage, let alone on national TV. And the main event was a terrible fight with referee John McCarthy even stopping the fight midway through the second while both fighters were standing, warning them that they had to fight. Not sure what he would’ve done if they hadn’t picked it up a bit but they did….only slightly.
The show kicked off with two local fighters making their Bellator debuts. Daniele Scatizzi scored a first round TKO win over Daniele Miceli in a welterweight fight. Scatizzi looked okay but we’ll probably never see either of these guys in a Bellator cage again unless they come back to Italy.
In the second fight, Anastasia Yankova, who they’ve been promoting pretty heavily and could be the face of the new female flyweight division in Bellator dominated Anjela Pink, who was making her pro debut. It was her third submission win in her three fight career.
AJ McKee had a very impressive performance in dominating Italian fighter Danilo Belluardo on his way to a first round TKO win. It was his fourth straight first round finish with all four of his career fights going a combined 10 minutes. He had a great promo after the fight, basically putting the entire division on notice and saying he’s coming for the belt. McKee is the son of MMA vet Antonio McKee and Bellator has high hopes for his future and he did not disappoint on this night.
In what really should’ve been the main event of the show, especially with the benefit of hindsight, Alessio Sakara came out to the biggest pop of the night by far. He was fighting in his home country for the first time in over a decade and did not disappoint. After a first round which he may have lost, he came out strong in the second and stopped Bellator vet Brian Rogers with punches to score a TKO win. The win probably ensures him a few more Bellator fights and the promotion should really have him headline the next show if they ever return to Italy.
The main event was a terrible fight which Bellator mainstay Patricky “Pitbull” Freire won by unanimous decision over the debuting Kevin Souza, who was recently cut from UFC despite a 3-1 record there. Several times referee John McCarthy warned the fighters to pick up the action while on their feet and midway through the second round, he stopped the fight and warned the fighters they had to keep fighting. The fight was very close, despite Freire scoring 30-27 on all 3 judges scorecards, but neither guy impressed at all. Souza took the fight on short notice and Freire is a lifer in Bellator so they’ll probably both be back but after a long day of MMA after the UFC on FOX show, that was a hard fight to sit through.
Overall, I’d say the show was a minor success and something that Bellator should definitely do again. It came across much differently than the normal Friday night shows they run in casinos and more shows like this would make the promotion seem like a viable alternative to UFC in the world of MMA.
Bellator returns to Spike TV on Friday night with Bellator 153. Benson Henderson makes his promotional debut and challenges Andrey Koreshkov in the show’s main event.
The WWE announced today that The Undertaker would not be appearing on the U.K. tour after all.
The Undertaker’s status has changed constantly over the past week, but the announcements yesterday that HHH and Shane McMahon would be appearing on the tour is because both were going in place of Undertaker.
Undertaker was originally going to do the entire tour, then his schedule was cut to three dates, then to two, then to zero.
The show in Newcastle on Wednesday, which was going to be his only house show, was announced as having a HHH vs. Dean Ambrose main event, plus A.J. Styles vs. Chris Jericho and Kalisto vs. Ryback vs. Alberto Del Rio for the U.S. title.
The web site is also listing Kane, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman, Kevin Owens, King Barrett, Big Show, Paige, Natalya, Goldust, Eva Marie, Damien Sandow, The Miz, Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler, Naomi, Tamina, R-Truth, Curtis Axel, Adam Rose, and Fandango for the show.
Rose is obviously also off the show due to his being on a 60 day suspension for a Wellness policy violation.
Results from today’s show in Birmingham, England:
Cesaro beat Stardust Sin Cara beat Tyler Breeze Jack Swagger beat Tyler Breeze Kane beat Rusev New Day beat Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman to retain the tag titles Charlotte won over Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch to keep the women’s title Usos beat Dudleys Roman Reigns beat Sheamus to retain the WWE title
Kalisto def. Heath Slater w/ Social Outcasts by pinfall
The obligatory terrible pre-match promo centres around Bo calling Kalisto “sugar face”. Yeah, I have no earthly idea why that’s supposed to be funny either.
Rich Brennan mentions that Kalisto was “banged up” on RAW, but apparently it’s feasible to recover from “minor whiplash” in 24 hours. The match was about what you’d expect from these two; exciting when Kalisto was on offence and stultifyingly dull during the heat.
Kalisto hit his usual comeback sequence, before finishing a needlessly long 11 minute match with a Salida Del Sol. The US Champion used an interfering Curtis Axel for leverage in a repeat of the finish from his match against Bo Dallas on last week’s Superstars. Way to go, creative.
– We return from the second commercial break with the defeated Outcasts still in the ring, squabbling amongst themselves. Bo breaks it up by recommending that they take their frustration out on the next man that walks to the ring. That man is Apollo Crews.
Apollo Crews def. Bo Dallas by pinfall
Crews enters to one of CFO$’ better recent entrance theme efforts, a tune that seems to fit his buoyant personality perfectly. I was tempted to say it fits his character perfectly, but he doesn’t really have one; hence the nickname ‘Smiley Black Man’ that he enjoys in this household, which helpfully marks out his only three defining characteristics.
Crews, like Kalisto, is another athletic babyface that is doomed to cycle through the Social Outcasts at the minute. He adds to his recent victories over Axel and Adam Rose by putting away Bo Dallas in a three minute squash here, finishing him with the spinning sitout powerbomb deal.
Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler by pinfall
Well now, this was something to behold; unquestionably the best match that this show has produced since I started covering it last year. Owens put on a heel clinic here, with the majority of the bout focused on burnishing his new self-gifted “headlock master” moniker.
A string of Owens side headlocks kicked us off, with the former IC champion desperate to convince the referee that Dolph was conceding defeat: “He said yes, I heard him!”. Owens’ attention then turned to the old reliable reverse chinlock, with one application of the hold engaged after running the ropes to fool the fans into expecting action (Owens: “This is my new thing!”).
Ziggler eventually fought up from one of these with a back suplex (Owens: “He broke my headlock!”), before commencing a hot comeback that the crowd very much went with. Owens cut him off with a boot to the chin, before hitting a massive frog splash from the top rope for two. The former Mr. Steen roared at Jerry Lawler to tell the ref that was three, to which The King shouted back: “I agree!”.
Owens signaled for his finish, but Ziggler leaped over his shoulders instead and planted him with a superkick for an excellent nearfall that everybody (including me) bit on. This prompted the lesser-heard “This is awesome!” chant from the watching San Diego crowd.
That led us into the finish, with Owens kicking out of a schoolboy before catching a frantic Ziggler on the rebound with the Pop-Up Powerbomb for the win.
After the bell, the always insecure bully heel ran to the announce desk to shout the odds at Rich Brennan, before stealing his phone to teach him a lesson! Hilarious.
Final Thoughts
What an absolutely amazing heel performer this company possesses in Kevin Owens. The fact that they prefer to use their anointed top babyface as a tweener rather than feature the best natural bad guy at their disposal makes no sense to me. Every heel in the business should sit down and watch what this guy did with restholds for 16 minutes here. And the little nuances he adds to his character – like the need for praise from babyface announcers – are something that very few others can bring to the table either. Watch this match and skip the Social Outcasts tripe.
WrestleMania has come and gone. Japan has come and gone. But the world continues. The DKP continues. Three men stand tall, but for one of these men standing tall is not enough. For he must not just stand, he must SOAR!!! He must soar to new heights and take his place amongst the podcast Gods with a 2 hour tour de force that cannot possibly be matched. This week on the DKP, young Eamo was Just Eamonn for the stars with a mighty performance that left Alan and Justin standing and applauding……well, for a time, before Eamo’s outlandish egotistical showstealing needed to be taken care of. Yes it’s the official wrap up of the Just Eamonn For Mania series, it’s the story of Eamo’s travels, all he did, all he saw, all his uncensored hot takes (that’s a lie because most of those were off-air) and much more. A show for the ages! CHECK IT!!!
