Submitted by Tim Taylor. Thanks also to Brittany Sanders.
– About 90% full in a venue that holds 5000 or so.
– WWE Champion Roman Reigns was announced as not being there and refunds were offered for 20 minutes. Of course, Kevin Owens came out to cut a promo, which brought out Dean Ambrose, who brawled with Owens in hopes no one asked for refunds.
– Strowman, Rowan, and Harper over Tommy Dreamer and the Dudley Boyz in a tables match. Rowan and Harper put Dreamer through the table for the win.
– Neville over the Miz. Miz didn’t cut a promo but had JoJo read his promo heeling on the Cleveland sports teams. Miz’s dad was in attendance.
– Becky Lynch over Tamina w/Naomi. The BAD girls worked over Lynch after the match but Natayla made the save, putting Tamina in the sharpshooter. Good pop for Lynch, but crowd wasn’t as into the match.
– R-Truth over Stardust. Crowd loved Truth.
– US Champion Alberto Del Rio over Kalisto to retain. Del Rio got a standing ovation from the production crew with the exception of agent Fit Finlay. This had to be a rib as Del Rio nearly cracked up seeing that. Guys worked hard and it was a good match.
– Social Outcasts over The Ascension and Los Matadores. Crowd didn’t know who to cheer at first, the Outcasts were the faces, and fans never got too into the match until the end. Los Matadores didn’t seem overly interested in being there. In the pre-match promo, Axel referred to them as the Social Outlaws.
– Sheamus over Jack Swagger. Sheamus with a pre-match promo. Solid match.
– WWE IC Champion Dean Ambrose beat Kevin Owens to retain. Started off with the heat and a good majority of the match was Ambrose being beat down and making small comebacks. Ambrose kicked out of the pop up power bomb and won soon after with Dirty Deeds. Ambrose was clearly the biggest star of the show in the eyes of the crowd getting the biggest pop and having the biggest chunk of merchandise sold.
Not an especially great opener. Both guys are still inexperienced & hadn’t previously wrestled on one of the big York Hall shows. Was by no means bad, but wasn’t the best opener.
Big Damo vs. Speedball Mike Bailey
I’ve see Bailey a few times & had really enjoyed what I’d seen. Was curious here as to how he’d gel with Damo & they really delivered. Damo sold Bailey’s kicks well throughout & helped in Bailey getting over in front of a crowd who weren’t overly familiar with him. Damo won with an inverted Bloody Sunday DDT. Bailey took a lot of punishment throughout. Post match both guys shook hands in a show of respect.
Colt Cabana vs. Doug Williams
Really fun match here working mostly British style. Both guys seemed to really enjoy the fact that they had the crowd when using British style. A fun back & forth match with flashes of comedy thrown in at points. Both guys exchanged various pin fall attempts & Cabana got the three. Post match Cabana cut a promo about his history in the company & claimed he wanted the British Heavyweight belt again. I’m assuming he & Zack will work a title match using British style down the road at some point. At this point Cabana was attacked by Lord Gideon Grey who was wearing the Mat Classic mask. Grey cut an awesome, angry promo on Cabana to set up a match between them next month.
Marty Scurll vs. Will Ospreay
This is where the show went into absolute overdrive. The stipulation was that the match was for the number 1 contendership for the British Heavyweight belt. All I can say is that these guys made the belt come across as one of the most valuable in the world with the way they worked this match. It was wrestled & put over as a big match & they used several tropes seen in major WWE/New Japan matches. We had the back & forth punches with the ‘yay’ & ‘boo’ chants, we had lots of fighting spirit, headsets, guys kicking out of & reversing signature moves & we even had Ospreay putting Scurll in his very own Chicken Wing. The match was crazy & ran for almost half hour. It ended when Marty used the Bryan Danielson elbows that he always used as ROH champ & then put Ospreay into the Chicken Wing which he passed out in.
I’ve attended every major Rev Pro show for over two years now & this was by some distance the most invested I’ve ever seen the crowd in a match. What made this even better was the fact it was two Brits that managed to put the crowd at fever pitch. I’ve been to a lot of live shows & I can honestly say this is the best match I’ve seen in the UK since Bryan Danielson vs Nigel McGuinnes at the first ROH Liverpool show in 2006.
Jay Lethal vs. Mark Haskins
Lethal wasn’t that over & he didn’t come across as a major star in the way outsiders often do. It was announced that it was for the ROH Title but that made no difference & the fans hardly reacted as if this was a big deal. The match absolutely fine, but I feel they suffered going on after Marty & Ospreay. The crowd was still very much calming down making the match hard to follow at points. I really think this would have benefited from opening the show. Lethal won with the Lethal Injection.
Sha Samuels, James Castle & Josh Bodom vs. Jimmy Havoc, Tyson T-Bone & Bram
This was exactly what it needed to be. An all around the venue brawl with lots of weapons & big spots. Havoc is super over based on his Progress work which helps his Rev Pro match’s. He’s done little in Rev Pro but most fans who attend the shows follow both promotions. Bram turned up as a surprise. He got a much bigger reaction than expected on his entrance, but once the match started this died down. Some solid comedy spots with the heels almost doing slapstick comedy at points. Havoc got the pinball on Bodom.
AJ Styles vs. Zack Sabre Jr
This was a very good match. It was very different to Marty vs Osprey in terms of pacing & style using a less is more approach. AJ very much wrestled Zack’s style of match here & really hung in there with him. Very technical throughout. Zack worked over AJ’s arm which he sold to great effect throughout. AJ looked very tired. I’m assuming the gruelling week he’s had wrestling was taking effect on him. The finishing sequence wasn’t quite as epic as I thought it was going to be. Zack did kick out of a one armed Styles Clash as well as a Bloody Sunday DDT. The match ended with Zack making AJ submit after trapping his arm.
*****
I’m sure you’ve seen AJ’s post match speech but it was a great way for him to leave the UK after a year of performing in Rev Pro. The AJ goodbye needed to close the show, but ideally the entire show would have benefited from Marty vs Ospreay going on last. Post show all anyone was talking about was just how great that match was. Again, I encourage you to check out Marty vs Ospreay!
A great show with variety throughout & booked at a pace that used that variety to mostly positive effect. Scurll vs Osprey was on another level. Quite simply myself & 1200 other fans where blown away by their efforts.
Castle is such a great performer with his gimmick. Crowd totally into him and his charisma.
ACH d. Moose and Silas Young in a 3-way
ACH got the pin on Young before Moose could get back in and break it up. Young is one of the few true heels in the promotion and pulls it off well.
Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish d. Frankie Kazarian & Chris Sabin
Really great action in this one. Both teams tried stereo submissions at different points. Lots of high spots. After Sabin was pinned, Kaz teased being angry with him but then they hugged it out.
Michael Elgin d. Tim Hughes
Can’t recall who Elgin beat. It was an extended squash really. Elgin did his vertical suplex for about a 35-40 count from the crowd.
> BJ Whitmer came out on commentary for the next 2 matches.
Kelly Klein d. Solo Darling
Klein picked up the submission win with a modified dragon sleeper. She has a lot of potential with her look and the way she carries herself as a heel. Solo did some comedy stuff wearing a squirrel tail.
Adam Page d. The Outlaw
Not much of note in this match. Afterward, BJ grabbed a mic and got in the ring because he wanted to talk to Page. Crowd kept massively booing every time he tried to speak. Finally he talked and said he’s willing to look past things if Page shakes his hand. Page said if BJ taught him one thing it’s that the Decade doesn’t shake hands and slapped BJ. Turns into a brawl with officials coming out to break it up. Corino then came out to help and took off his coat urging BJ to fight him. BJ powdered to the back. When the ring cleared, Corino out his hand out to Page and they shook hands.
ROH TV Champion Roderick Strong d. Curry Man
Strong was in full heel mode. Crowd kept doing a beat the clock countdown. Strong eventually won with the running knee.
Adam Cole d. Alex Shelley
Crowd was really into both guys. Awesome match with Cole working Shelley’s knee for much of it. Kazarian eventually came out to distract Shelley and let Cole get the win with the brainbuster to the knee.
ROH Tag Team Champions War Machine & Briscoes d. All Night Express & Young Bucks
This was a wild match as you’d expect with 8 guys. They teased tension with the Briscoes and War Machine throughout with hard and blind tags to each other. Lots of superkicks and wild moves. Really amazing to see some of the moves War Machine pulls off for their size. Briscoes eventually got the pin with the Doomsday Device on Titus.
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs… Oh My! Part 7, The Finale
By: PeachMachine (@hendosfoodblog and @parkingcone)
This week…
TLC 7: December 13, 2015; Boston, Massachusetts, TD Garden
I figured I’d better review the most recent offering from the WWE TLC PPV series in the same manner in which I did the first six (read-along style) but I wanted to give it a little bit of time to digest before doing it to see the follow up on Raw. It was their best TLC, and the ending actually got decent heat, and played great into the story the next night with Vince McMachon returning and Roman winning the championship.
King, Cole, and JBL on the pipes. King sucks a bag of aardvark turds. He’s so out of place. Why does Vince keep him around? He’s not funny and his schtick is tired. I’m not saying they had someone better, but NOW they have someone better. I’m looking forward to Mauro Ranallo big time.
Pre Show Match: Sasha Banks (with Naomi and Tamina) defeated Becky Lynch by submission… but we’ll never see it.
The New Day (Big E. Langston and Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods) (c) vs. The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) vs. The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) for the Tag Team Championship in a triple threat tag team ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
New Day needs to keep their intro to the same verbiage each time so they can get the crowd chanting along.
I’m surprised nobody has pointed out the wings on Kofi’s shoes. Awesome!
Lilian introduced the Lucha Dragons in Spanish, which, as a fluent Spanish speaker was muy bien. That’s Spanish. I’ll translate it for you someday.
She should have done the Uso’s intro in pigeon. I’m fluent in that as well. Pigeon is like half English, half Island slang, mixed with some Polynesian.
They should do a ladder match where no ladders are ringside. They could spend 25 minutes running around backstage looking for a scissor lift.
Two minutes in, the Usos are alone in the ring WITH A LADDER and decide to just throw it. They could have easily won. That’s why multi-team ladder matches are lame.
I really want to know the story behind Xavier and the trombone. Did he play it in 7th grade band class? Did he find one backstage and practice one day? Is he just wingin’ it?
King said, “He got chopped like a veg-o-matic.” Why is he still employed? Does anyone under 35 know what an “anything-o-matic” is?
Big E. pressed the ladder with both Dragons on it. That was cool.
There was a lot of innovation here with unique ladder spots.
Salida del sol from the top of the ladder! Luckily it was onto the gimmick ladder that broke at the wooden joint.
Woods tosses his trombone at Kalisto and Kofi unhooks the clip and grabs the belts for the win.
I’m still waiting for the tag team ladder match where one guy from each team grabs a belt and they are forced to be the new champions together.
Rusev (with Lana) vs. Ryback
In the pre match video, they recapped Ryback referencing “Teen Wolf” the TV show. What? There are a bazillion other shows that would have made more sense. First, Ryback is hairless.
Do you think Ryback sells a ton of beanies and necklaces at house shows? No? Me neither.
Just fire both these clowns. They HAD potential. Screw it. We want JOE!
If I was on WWE creative, and a wrestler came up to me and said, “I just got this sweet air brushed singlet that combines the skull of a wolf and a tiger.” I’d immediately bury that geek. Go get in line at Disney world with the other weirdos who wear wolf shirts.
When Ryback says, “Finish it!” it’s weird. It doesn’t make sense to tell your self audibly to “finish it.” You’d more realistically just think that.
Technical submission is the official result. That happened two weeks ago in the UFC too. It means when a guy doesn’t submit and the ref stops it anyway.
Ambrose and Reigns are back stage talking about being double champions.
Then they cut to the announcers and do a video recap of Del Rio vs. Swagger. Cole says that Del Rio hit Swagger with a chair because they have a chairs match coming up. My guess is that he got that backwards. Also, Swagger has a bowl cut. Why in the world are we allowing this, not just here, but in all of America? People, we need you to point out the dorks attempting to bring back the bowl cut. It sucked in 1993 and it sucks now. I guess it’s fine on a heel, but don’t let your friends go back to this.
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger in a chairs match for the WWE United States Championship
Remember a month ago when this title was great?
Swagger did the “Patriot Lock” through a chair, which is the same as me doing a bear hug to someone through a hula-hoop. Lame.
This match would have been awesome if not for the dorks involved.
Has anyone outside of Swagger’s immediate family bought his awful shirt? Probably the same people who bought a Ryback necklace.
I’ve said it before, but chairs matches suck. Del Rio won after doing the double stomp on Swagger on a pile of chairs. Lame.
Albert of the River does look amazingly tan.
The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman) vs. the ECW Originals (Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Tommy Dreamer, and Rhyno) in an eight-man tag team elimination tables match
Rhyno joined ECW in 1999, so I guess that’s when ECW started since he’s an “original.”
I like to think that since they’re the “Wyatt family” that each of the other guys not named Wyatt married one of Bray’s sisters so they’re all brothers-in-law. Backstage they probably gripe about their wives being ball busters. “Bray, can you tell Sheila to relax about the baby’s crib? I’ll have it put together in time. SHE needs to pick a damn room color.”
Bray was wearing a double horned headpiece, so WWE must think there is money in facial accouterments.
This is the tenth tables match in WWE pay per view history, which were Cole’s words, so I guess “pay per view” isn’t on the banned term list.
Tommy Dreamer looks gross. He’s orange, and round, and has a stupid beard.
Strowman kicked his leg through a table, and that didn’t count as an elimination. Why not?
I’d rather watch Public Enemy vs. The Nasty Boys on the WWE Network. At least those guys didn’t try to do spots. They just beat the heck out of each other for real and didn’t sell.
So this happened: Rowan set D-Von on a table and climbed to the top, then Rhyno pushed him off so he didn’t land on D-Von, but as D-Von was rolling out of the way, the table broke. That makes two table breaks that just didn’t count.
Rowan got eliminated first by the 3D.
Luke Harper booted Rhyno through the table making it 3 on 3.
What actual purpose would red white and black camouflage serve? Would you wear it while hunting in a forest fire?
Wyatt slammed D-Von through a table with a urinage.
Harper dives on to dreamer who goes through a table. Now it’s 3 on 1.
Bubba Ray covers a table in lighter fluid, then just gets put through it by a choke slam from Strowman. Big tease, no pay off.
That match was a chaotic mess in a very mediocre way.
What a treat! Renee tells us that we get to hear from the kick off panel of Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, and Booker T. These bozos have nothing to say.
Then we got a pretty weak Royal Rumble promo. I’m sure those will get better.
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship
Owens did some nice crowd work making fun of Boston sports fans. To be fair, they ARE the most arrogant sports fans.
This was a pretty dang good match.
Ambrose counters the pop up power bomb and rolls through for the pin.
Ambrose wins!
Then Ambrose ran around like a maniac celebrating.
Good match.
Charlotte (c) (with Richard Morgan Fliehr) vs. Paige for the WWE Divas Championship
This is a confusing storyline. Paige brought up Charlotte’s dead brother, and then she turned baby face. What?
Flair is at ringside. This match is basically nothing.
Paige locks on a long sleeper.
Paige locks on the Figure Four.
The end was Paige hitting the Ram-Paige but Flair took Charlotte’s foot and put it on the rope. This lead to Charlotte taking off the turn buckle pad, and dropping Paige’s face onto the exposed steal, which led to the pin.
Sheamus (c) vs. Roman Reigns in a tables, ladders, and chairs match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
The “heat” in this feud is from Sheamus cashing in the MITB contract after Reigns won the title last month at Survivor Series. Oh, and then Reigns retaliated by saying that Sheamus’ testicles were the size of tater tots, in some sort of odd Burger King cross promotion. Zing.
When Sheamus was introduced, they hit him with a spotlight that completely whited him out. Ha!
How many refs does it take to hang up a championship belt? Two apparently.
I wonder if the height of the raised item in ladder matches is a standard?
Roman tossed Sheamus into a stacked up double table and chairs set up on the side of the ramp.
Sheamus got cut on his left triceps.
I can’t believe they allow Reigns’ running jump kick on the apron to be called the Drive By, which implies gang related murder.
Sheamus hit White Noise off the apron through a table. That should have been the finish.
The two took a double bump off the apron through the gimmicked ladder which was propped up by the announce table.
And now we get the agonizing slow ladder climbing which makes ladder matches unbearable.
Reigns hit the Super Man Punch on Sheamus at the top of the ladder and Sheamus took a table bump.
Reigns got royally screwed by the League of Nations running in.
Sheamus won after the League destroyed Reigns. Barrett was conspicuous by his absence. He’s apparently injured.
Reigns then decimated the League, and HHH came out.
Reigns destroyed HHH as well to get his heat back, or more correctly, just get SOME heat. It worked, as the crowd really got behind Roman.
Overall Thoughts: This was a dang good TLC PPV and possibly the best one yet. The ladder match to start, and the TLC match at the end were very good. Thumbs up for sure. Final rankings of the TLC PPV’s order: 7,4,6,5,3,1,2 – And a we put TLC to rest, I’d like to remind you, “Don’t go chasing waterfalls…”
A few promos for the Slammy’s tomorrow night with Lillian and Byron mentioning it in the ring.
The Miz vs Ryback (W)
Great opener with Ryback getting the crowd hot
Young crowd so Ryback was very over.
Miz was pretty outstanding in this match and really played up the heel card.
Skull Crushing Finale for a 2 count which led to the go home for Ryback to hit Shell Shock.
Wyatt Family vs Dudley Boys, Tommy Dreamer & Kane (W)
Wyatt’s and Bray in particular were very over with the older parts of the crowd. Bray seemed extra vocal on the apron during the entire match.
Kane was a surprise guest and received a huge pop when coming out.
Did the big Kane vs Strowman spot which led to a spot fest, everything landing finishers.
Ended with Kane getting the pin and the 4 raised hands in the middle of the ring.
Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose (W) (IC Title Match)
Owens was definitely over being in Canada.
Attacked Dean as he was getting into the ring and cut a promo while Ambrose recovered.
Brawl on the outside which led to Owens grabbing an Ambrose fan sign and ripping it up, and eventually eating it in the ring. Super heel crowd reaction to this.
Ambrose lands the DDT and gets the win. Celebrated taking photos with the barrier etc.
Team B.A.D vs Charlotte, Becky, and Brie Bella (W) (Elimination Style Match)
Sasha was over getting chants right from the walk. Quick promo in the ring about how it will be 3 vs 2 because Paige isn’t around anymore.
Becky comes out to a HUGE reaction, was definitely the most over of all the girls tonight. Charlotte follows after with Brie being the surprise 3rd.
Order of elimination was… Tamina, Becky, Naomi , Brie. We Want Becky chants started after she was eliminated.
Great final match with Charlotte and Sasha, definitely felt like NXT calibre. Felt like this is the next feud coming.
BAD rushes the ring followed by Becky and Brie for the brawl, Charlotte hits the spear into the figure 8 and gets the tap.
Match of the night for sure.
Jack Swagger vs Alberto Del Rio (W)(US Title Match)
Crowd definitely seemed a little quite for this.
Highlight was Swagger throwing Del Rio’s shirt into the crowd, followed by Del Rio hopping the barricade and snatching it back from the fan. Swagger grabbed ADR and brawl ensued at the barricade.
ADR hit the top rope stomp for the win.
Sheamus vs Roman Reigns (W)(WWE WHC Match)
Sheamus rolled out of the ring to start, Reigns grabbed him and brawled on the outside for a while
Crowd was super into Roman. Almost no boo’s. Older guys in the audience tried to get a little Roman Sucks chant going.
5:15 chant from small part of the audience seemed to get some attention.
CIMA has been removed from the card due to a minor illness. The rookie Yamamura has been moved into his spot, and now facing Mochizuki in his place will be the always vivacious Yosuke <3 Santa Maria.
T-Hawk vs. Gamma
A match randomly picked by children at the last show. Gamma gained control early and managed a trademark wipe-of-his-saliva all over T-Hawk, but was given a receipt in the form of a brainbuster. He regained the advantage but ate a splash mountain from T-Hawk. T-Hawk going for the Niteride early. An attempted spit in the face of T-Hawk was blocked, as Gamma was hit with a reverse powerslam, but managed to get a couple two counts off a roll up. Despite their efforts, the match reached it’s 5 minute time limit. They shook hands. A draw, then Gamma spit in his face and ran out of the ring. Gross.
Genki & Ryu started out trading headlocks. Genki got a dropkick and a kip up. They tagged out, where Kong quickly won a test of strength. Genki back in, but was dropped and nailed with a DiBiase-like falling fist. Jimmyz did manage to regain some momentum with some double teaming on Ryu until Kong interfered. Other members of VerserK smiled in approval from the outside. Ryu mounted Genki in the corner and rubbed his crotch in Genki’s face. Some double teaming from VerserK, but Genki out at two. He attempted a rana, which Kong blocked, but was successful hitting a DDT. Tag into Saito, both Ryu & Saito attempted Saito’s cycling yahoo with Saito finally getting it on a 3rd attempt. More VerserK double teaming left the Jimmyz down, but Saito broke up a two count off a big Kong Frog Splash. Combinations from the Jimmyz now, also ending in a two count being broken up off a Frog Splash. Finally, some VerserK miscommunication led to Saito getting the pin. There appeared to be dissension between the two VerserK members following the match.
Over Generation came out for an in-ring promo after the match. They called a kid into the ring who was wearing their t-shirt.
Big R Shimizu vs. Kaito Ishida
The kid was supposed to ring the bell to start the match, but accidentally jumped the gun prematurely, in a funny bit. Shimizu displayed his power to start, tossing Ishida around the ring. There was a point this year where Big R Shimizu was having a better year than Big E Langston, though it is clear the latter has regained the lead. Ishida attempted chops but was no match for the big man. Ishida is mighty small at this point to come across as a threat. He did slap him in the face twice and nail a missile dropkick for a two however. He connected with kicks, extremely technically sound in doing so. Shimizu regained control and hit the big spinning slam, and a tree slam for two. Ishida managed a nice roll up for a fun two count, but was quickly put down with the Shot-put Chokeslam for a three.
Yosuke <3 Santa Maria vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
No idea why she wasn’t on the card in the first place, as entertaining as anyone on the roster. Yosuke cut a promo before the match, wishing everybody a Merry Christmas and welcomed her opponent to the ring. Mochizuki won in less time than Conor McGregor, and made a beeline for the locker room. Yosuke cut another promo, asking for an immediate rematch, this being a staple of Dragon Gate.
Yosuke <3 Santa Maria vs. Masaaki Mochizuki
Big chops from Yosuke, ducking Mochi’s offense and hitting a dropkick. Then no selling his stuff and showing some athleticism, and hit a gigantic dive to floor, placing her foot on his head in triumph. Awesome. Dragon screw from Yosuke as she is controlling the entire match. Mochi regained control and stiffed her with a gigantic boot in the corner. Two count, but Yosuke fighting back. Huge right hand from Mochi. Yosuke with a sweet spring board dropkick and leg lariat for two. Rather than rub her face in his crotch in a trademark spot, she hit the bonzai drop instead. She ate two boots in return, but showed fight and returned fire with a chop, but was nailed with two more kicks, however kicking out at two. Crowd behind her now, and she hits a suplex.
To the top, but Mochi follows her up there. Superplex but she pops right up! Big kiss and crucifix for an absolutely great two count. A couple kicks from Mochi and she gets another one. Another couple nearfalls and the crowd is way into this. Mochi finally gets the three with the Sankakugeri. Mochi led the crowd in applause for Maria Chan after the match. She planted a kiss on him and he reciprocated. This was absolutely everything you want out of pro wrestling, mixing a great match with fun entertainment.
Jimmyz (Jimmy Susumu & Jimmy K-Ness) vs. Dia.HEARTS (Dragon Kid & Kzy)
Susumu was a reindeer here. Kzy & K-Ness started with a few minutes of comedy, well received by the crowd, not so much by their partners. A little bit of action, but the match morphed back into comedy shortly after. Finally something of a match broke out. Double teaming from the Jimmyz, as they maintained control of Kid. Susumu & Kid traded strikes, with Susumu coming out on top. Kid came back with a rana and made the tag to Kzy. Dia.HEARTS now taking it to the Jimmyz, as Kid hits an Ibushi-like moonsault from the second turnbuckle to the floor. Exploder from Susumu for two, on Kzy. Jimmyz lock in duel submissions, firmly in control now.
Double gutbuster into a delayed double suplex combo. Huge Susumu lariat stops a Kzy comeback, for two. Kid to his partner’s aid, and he hits K-Ness with an assisted rana from the top rope. Big Kzy frog splash gets broken up at two by Susumu. Susumu and Kzy to the top now. Exploder from the top on Kzy. K-Ness with his series of spinning rollups on Kid, but broken up by Kzy. Finally, Kid gets the Bible (crucifix) for the win. Funny how your typical average DG midcard tag match is still worlds better than any other company’s standard average midcard tag match. While this was standard fare in DG terms, a forgettable match in reality, it would be the most athletic thing on the entire show of most other companies.
VerserK (Shingo Takagi, Yamato & Kotoka) vs. Over Generation (Eita, Punch Tominaga & Takehiro Yamamura)
Again, no Cima, instead the rookie Yamamura. They brawled into the crowd, while back in the ring Shingo took it to the rook, who was in attire similar to Cima. He tagged out to Punch, who locked up with Yamato. Hands in his pockets for power, Punchy hulked up and was impervious to pain. Kotoka in, and Over Generation put the boots to him. Eita went to work on his right leg, which was taped. We’ll see if that plays into their championship match at the big year-end PPV in a week and a half. Punch in. Big kick to the nuts from Kotoka, with the bad leg which he sold heavily. Yamato returned with a big dropkick, and a stroking of his bangs, as VerserK put a whopping on Punch in their corner. Literally beating on Punch for minutes at a time, double teaming and punking him out in general.
VerserK miscommunication led to a tag Eita came in, a house of fire. Huge dive to the outside wiping out VerserK. Yamamura in, but Shingo manhandled the rookie. Yamamura was evasive however and eventually hit a fisherman suplex for a two. This was more competitive than when Punch was in there. Punch back in there with Yamato who he will be wrestling for the tag titles in a week and a half. Yamato remained in control, but finally Punch got an STO for a two count. Triple dropkick put Shingo on the floor and the faces turned their attention to Kotoka.
Some pretty fantastic triple teaming ending with a PT BME. VerserK regained control shortly after though. Alabama Slam on Eita from the champ got two. The rook in there now, gets nailed from the outside with the suitcase, but it’s only a two. Ref distraction and the whole VerserK squad enters the ring to beat the shit out of Yamamura, but Kaito Ishida (dressed as Yamamura) pulls some twin magic behind the ref’s back, replacing his spent stablemate and Over Generation gets a clever upset. Good match, nice finish.
Monster Express (Masato Yoshino, Akira Tozawa, Shachihoko BOY), Naoki Tanizaki & Kenichiro Arai vs. “El Lindaman” Yuga Hayashi, Naruki Doi, Metal Warrior, Super Shisa & Jimmy Kanda
This was a match, once again, randomly picked by young children on the last show, essentially drawing names out of a hat. The irony being Yoshino, Tozawa & Shach all ended up on the same team. Metal Warrior was beaten down by Gamma before the match and dragged to the locker room and replace by Karaoke Machine #1 (Don Fujii in a mask). The match is supposed to lead to odd pairings but the oddest thing here is VerserK members on opposite sides. We start with Yoshino & Doi, which the crowd pops big for. A very nice exchange of moves and countermoves leaves both at a stalemate, and they go at it again. More technical mastery between the two and the crowd pops again. They tag out. Shach & Machine in there now. But he comidically hurts his knee getting in there and tags out. Tozawa and Shisa going at it now, culminating with Tozawa faking a dive to the floor. Too Easy. Fujii in there now, and he takes on the entire opposition 5-on-1 in a chopfest. Now his own team is in there and it’s 9-on-1. Match settles back down into Tozawa & Lindaman, and Tozawa gets his chops in the corner, and proceeds to punch out all five opposing members, and teammate Tanizaki. Yoshino & Lindaman now trading chops. Yoshino killing him with those.
We then get your standard 180 mile an hour rope running exhibition from Yoshino. Tag into Arai, who shushed the crowd, and hits a headbutt with a sickening thud that resonates throughout the building. So unnecessary, poor friggin’ Hayashi. Everybody going at it now with multiple highflying moves to the floor. Everybody gets in on the act. Tozawa, Shach, Yoshino. Finally Machine, but he throws up an airball. Yoshino & Arai with a nice exchange back in the ring leading to a two count off an Arai dicing headbutt, as this thing is all nonstop action. Tozawa senton on Kanda off the top gets two. He goes for the German but it;s reversed. Doi nails him with a cannonball in the corner. Machine with a chokeslam, broken up. Shisa with the code red but Tozawa escapes. Double teaming from Shach & Tanizaki gets two on Shisa. Lindaman wuith a judo throw. Shisa gets the code red but not a theree. Doi attempts a series of double teams with his squad but misses all four. He leaves. Hilarious. Five-on-four now. Tozawa up top. Brainbuster off the top and Lindaman is down.
Quintuple team in the corner on Lindaman, who gets Germaned by Tozawa and tombstoned by Tanizaki. Machine in though, he breaks it up and now all nine men hit consecutive moves on each other in a frenzy you’ll only see in Dragion Gate. Lindaman with the Locomotion suplex series on Shach gets the win. Second year in a row he gets the big pinfall in the final Korakuen match of the year. Super fun match. After the main event, kids are once again brought in to throw darts at a board, selecting teams for a 10-man tag at the next Korakuen show.
Very fun, well paced show. The three hours just flew by. It’s after 4:30 am and I’m late to work, but it was worth it, the mark of a good show.
– Big Show def. The Ascension. Mainly a lot of test of strength spots. Show was way over as a babyface.
– Hype Bros def. Stardust and Adam Rose. Mojo Rawley got a really bad Cena like gusher from his nose, but “stayed hyped”.
– Miz def. Fandango. Miz then called out anyone else, so Jack Swagger came out and beat him with the ankle lock in about 30 seconds. Miz then called out anyone else, this time being Mark Henry. He then challenged him to dance off instead. He did a hilarious jig to “Dirty Water” and then as Henry started to dance to Michael Jackson (glove and all) Miz attacked him. Henry laid him out.
– Goldust def. Bo Dallas. Bo was extremely entertaining and engaging as usual, but lost.
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day def. Lucha Dragons & Dudleys in a really good match. The ref got distracted and Big E interfered with the Big Ending. Xavier got the pinfall but the Dudleys came back in and gave him a 3D.
– WWE Divas Champion Charlotted def. Paige. As you can imagine, Charlotte got the biggest pop of the night in her Cam Newton jersey. She and Paige had a great match with Charlotte winning with her Figure 8.
– Luke Harper def. R-Truth in a decent match.
– Roman Reigns def. WWE Champion Sheamus by DQ. Kind of entertaining at first, but it got boring really fast and turned into the worst match of the night. This is the same stuff you usually see out of both of them. Roman won by DQ after Sheamus got a chair.
TLC 5: December 15, 2013; Houston, Texas, Toyota Center
WWE Champion, Randy Orton, competes against the World Heavyweight Champion, John Cena, in a TLC match to crown a Champion of Champions.
The show starts with a cold open where HHH and Steph come out to make an announcement and they tell us how important this unification match is to history. Right. Hunter gives us a Lou Thesz vs. Buddy Rogers history lesson. This leads to a nice video package. WWE should just make video packages. Even when the product is terrible (read: now) they can produce the heck out of a package that will get you interested.
Cole, JBL, and King are on the pipes tonight as usual.
Pre Show Match: Fandango (with Summer Rae) defeated Dolph Ziggler in a singles match.
Remember last year when Dolph was in the main event?
CM Punk vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns in a 3-on-1 handicap match
I have no memory of how or why this was booked. It seems preposterous.
Punk is sporting the mutton chop look.
For a group that touted justice, The Shield sure seems willing to cheat.
Seth is wearing a vest he must have gotten from John Popper from Blues Traveler, as it appears to be able to hold a dozen harmonicas.
Reigns dove at Punk and tumbled over the announce desk. He apparently hurt his eye, which is how Punk was able to take advantage. The doctor checked on this, but it’s definitely an angle because every doctor knows that if it’s a matter of life, limb, or eyesight, you go to the ER right away.
Reigns, suffering from impaired vision, speared Ambrose, and Punk hits the GTS on Ambrose for the pin. The doctor must feel like a real jerk.
What if Punk wins his first UFC match via head and arm choke, i.e. the Anaconda Vice? That would be sweet. Luckily, I know the counter.
Ridiculous match concept, but it was good.
AJ Lee (with Tamina) is interviewed and AJ calls the Divas division, Natalya, the Slammy Awards, and the whole WWE a joke. Duh.
AJ Lee (c) (with Tamina) vs. Natalya for the WWE Divas Championship
This is mid AJ Lee super long title run, so I’m assuming she goes over. Spoiler alert.
So is the Tamina character out of the closet? I’m predicting that happens eventually.
Natalya hooks on the Sharpshooter, but AJ counters out.
AJ hooks up the Black Widow, but Natalya counters out.
AJ rolls up Natalya from another Sharpshooter attempt, and apparently grabbed the hair for the pin.
Good match, but nothing special.
We get another excellent video package showing some awesome champions. The problem is that both Cena and Orton have been champions, many times. Nobody is buying the validity of the unification.
Damien Sandow vs. Big E. Langston (c) for the Intercontinental Championship
Big E is doing the chalk hands gimmick. I’d like to see more stuff with him being really strong. It would be great if he were bench-pressing Xavier in a skit.
Sandow takes a nice Electric Chair drop by Big E. He should do that on Big Show.
Big E takes down the straps and hits the Big Ending for the pin.
A funny spot would be for a heel to take down his straps and then his trunks fall down.
Vince McMahon Jr. walks up to Orton backstage. The sound didn’t work. The only thing of note is that Orton was wearing basketball shorts. So it’s true; he does own leg coverings other than trunks.
Next we hear from the panel of Josh Matthews, Mick Foley, and Booker T, and they discuss what happened earlier in the night with Miz talking trash on Kofi.
Fatal Four Way for the Tag Team Championship: The Real Americans (Cesaro and Swagger with Zeb Colter) vs. Rey Mysterio and Big Show vs. Rybaxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel) vs. Goldust and Cody Rhodes (c); elimination rules
Last team left wins the Jabroni cup.
Rey was gone for a year prior to this, and I guess “creative” didn’t have enough time to come up with something better for him.
Gold Dust rolls up Ryback for the first elimination.
Cesaro hit the Gant Swing.
Gold Dust hit the Code Red. What?
Cody hurt his knee, which put him out temporarily.
Big Show gives Cesaro the KO punch as Cesaro came off the second rope, then pinned him.
The action really picked up into quite a fun match. Then came a nice finishing sequence where Cody hit the Cross Rhodes on Rey for the pin.
Then Big Show and Rey display good sportsmanship. Boooooo!
The Jabroni posse gets some airtime as Titus O’Neal and Darren Young break out the Brawling Buddies for an embarrassing segment that ended with Kane walking in and scaring Vicki and Brad Maddox. It was even dumber than it sounds.
Brodus Clay (with the Funkadactyls and Tensai) vs. R Truth (with Xavier Woods) in a Time Fillers match
This was a nothing match.
Why don’t they trust Xavier to wrestle?
Tensai and Clay get into it for some reason. Then Tensai walks out. Then the Dactyls peace out too for no reason. I guess because they were about to be famous and didn’t want to be associated with such a bad idea.
R Truth hits the standard WWE school-boy distraction finish.
Miz vs. Kofi Kingston
Kofi kicked the steal post. What about your kick pads bro?
Have I ever mentioned I hate kickpads? Why would you want to make your kicks less effective? You only wear those when you’re practicing!
We are really seeing the lack of start power tonight. Nobody is over. The crowd long since gave up.
The Miz has a sweet butt-cut. This match is worth sitting through just for that. His head looks like a 1-up mushroom.
Boring chant.
Kofi wins with the Trouble in Paradise.
Then they showed an AWESOME video package for the Raw 20th anniversary DVD, and in doing so completely exposed how awful the current product is with tons of awesome clips.
Daniel Bryan vs. The Wyatts (Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, and Luke Harper) in ANOTHER 3-on-1 handicapped match.
Only one of them is named Wyatt. Rowan and Harper should stand up for themselves.
Someone should tell Bray that he’s wearing a fedora. What a gimmick. I bet he thought of it too. “Hey creative team, I should do a gimmick wear I sit in a rocking chair instead of wrestling.”
JBL suggests that Bryan just join them. Would that just end the match? Just pull a total schoolyard job, “Nuh-uh I was on base!” “Don’t beat me up I’m on your team.”
Bray finally tags in to work on a worn out Bryan.
Harper’s log roll, or gator roll, move is so dumb. The purpose of that move is solely to pin the man, not make him dizzy. He’s faking a real wrestling hold. I know, but it bothers me.
Bray offers a handshake and says it will all go away, so I guess that answers my question.
D Bry had a great comeback, but Bray caught him with the Sister Abigail for the pin, to end a really entertaining match.
Supposedly this is the first time these two titles have been competed for in the same match, but I’m pretty sure I remember that occurring as recently as 2002 and probably more recent than that. Oh well. At least we didn’t have a Chairs match tonight. Then they show another excellent video package, begging you to care about the same guys who have been on top for nearly a decade.
John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton (c) for the Unified WWE World Heavyweight Championship (but still two belts)
This is the 15th TLC match and Randy Orton’s first.
“CUCK FENA” sign. Ha! I popped.
Early garbage leads to both guys on the floor.
Orton lays out Cena and goes to set up a ladder.
Orton body watch: Much improved from last time we saw him which was 2011.
RKO out of nowhere!
Cena goes nuts with the steal steps and Orton is busted open.
A missed punt was countered with an AA through the Spanish announce team. Now Cena climbs and then Orton dumps him but Cena hangs on to the belts!
Randy handcuffed Cena to the bottom rope, but Cena uncoupled the turnbuckle and made a valiant effort to win, but it was too late. Orton wins after yanking Cena off the ladder.
Pretty good match!
Then HHH, Steph, and Vince all come down to celebrate.
Thumbs in the Middle. So now my TLC PPV rankings go from best to worst: 4,5,3,1,2.
Mascara Dorada and David Finlay defeat Yohei Komatsu and Sho Tanaka. The usual solid match these four have against one another. Not much to write home about but well worked. Dorada wins with the Dorada Screwdriver, pinning Komatsu.
The Addiction (Frankie Kazarian and Christopher Daniels) defeated Juice Robinson and Tiger Mask IV. Robinson is steadily improving, adapting well to the New Japan style and has shown great strides since starting out. Daniels and Kazarian were in control until Robinson started a comeback. Daniels cut off Robinson with a boot and was pinned after Rehab (belly to back suplex into a facebuster). Was fine for what it was.
The Kingdom and Gedo defeated Captain New Japan, Ryusuke Taguchi and Kushida. Captain New Japan was fixated on Maria throughout the entire match. Well, actually, most of the opposition was. Fine six man tag, the usual fare. Captain New Japan was gaining momentum when, of course, Maria went to the top rope and acted interested in CNJ. He went over and took off his belt because…uhh….I don’t know, which led to the Kingdom cutting him off and pinning him with a spike tombstone.
AJ Styles, Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga, Cody Hall and Yujiro Takahashi defeated Jay White, Yuji Nagata, Manabu Nakanishi, Satoshi Kojima and Hiroyoshi Tenzan. I would say Yujiro Takahashi is unrecognizable without his blond hair, but I can recognize that sloppy work anywhere. Pretty good match as everyone worked hard and the crowd got into it. Nagata worked a big part of the match and did great. Manabu Nakanishi and Fale traded big guy moves, culminating with a big suplex by Nakanishi. White was tagged in and made a hot comeback, including taking out Tama Tonga but Yujiro came back and planted him with the Miami Shine, pinning him.
Block A: Toru Yano and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Tomoaki Honma and Togi Makabe
Good for what it was, but pretty short. Honma went for a kokeshi but Sakuraba grabbed him and put him in a submission in a good spot. He and Sakuraba have pretty good chemistry. Yano shoved Honma into the ref, nearly missed, but Yano low blowed him. Sakuraba followed with a kick and Yano rolled him up for the win.
There was an angle before the next match. Tetsuya Naito’s music played as who we thought was Naito came out, complete in the suit and mask we’ve seen him in before. But when the person took off his mask, it wasn’t Naito but none other than the returning Bushi, who was removed from this card a few days ago due to another injury…or so we thought. He stood on the outside, stoic as the next match began.
Block B: Evil and Tetsuya Natio vs. Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows
They brawled around the ring and into the stands. Anderson teased a powerbomb in the stands but Naito escaped, only to be thrown through the arena exit. Evil grabbed a chair, put it through Anderson’s head and posted his throat into the turnbuckle. That used to put people out for months back in the day. Turned into a long match. Wasn’t bad, just solid work, nothing more. Evil distracted the referee which allowed Bushi to go to the apron. Doc went after him and Bushi sprayed him with what looked like purple mist. Naito followed that with Destino for the win.
Block B: Katsuyori Shibata and Hirooki Goto vs. Shinsuke Nakamura and Tomohiro Ishii
Very good match, the best up to this point thanks to the hot crowd. Both Shibata and Goto battled it out against Ishii, doing their usual super stiff back and forth, the crowd eating it all up as Ishii stood tall over his opponents. Goto and Shibata had both of their opponents in double abdominal stretches at one point. Both teams acted like they were, well, regular teams and did some cool tandem offense in places. Crowd ate it up like you wouldn’t believe near the end when Ishii and Shibata were trading offense. Goto came in and took down Ishii, allowing Shibata to hit the penalty kick, scoring the win for his team.
A Block: Hiroshi Tanahashi and Michael Elgin vs. Yoshi Hashi and Kazuchika Okada
Okada and Tanahashi shoved each other before the match. The buildup towards their Tokyo Dome match is that this is more personal than their previous battles, so this is a nice touch. #BigMike is just as over as he was during the G1 as the crowd was very much into his offense, doing all of the stuff that got him over on the last tour, including the falcon arrow from the top rope and the double fallaway slam.If he does that delayed suplex spot on every show he’s going to be over no matter what. Okada and Tanahashi had some good back and forth towards the end. Yoshi Hashi avoided the buckle bomb and at one point laid out Elgin with a reverse DDT. Elgin dodged the swanton bomb. He took Tanahashi and gorilla press slammed him to the floor, wiping out Okada in the process. He grabbed Yoshi-Hashi and gave him the buckle bomb, then pinned him after a spiral bomb. Very good back and forth main event. Overall a strong show, highlighted by two pretty great matches towards the end. Nothing here’s going to resonate as far as year end awards go but it was a fun few hours.
