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Tag: Raw

  • WWE RAW TV Report 9-28: Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt

    The Big Takeaway:

    The main focus of the show was to build up the Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar match at Madison Square Garden this Saturday. The main event was built up to be the final battle between Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt, but instead it ended with a couple of big spots that will carry the program over to Hell in a Cell. The biggest was Reigns spearing Wyatt through the announcer’s table, moments after Wyatt had speared Reigns through a barricade.

    Show Recap:

    John Cena started the show with the return of the open challenge for the U.S. Championship. When Cena asked for the challenger, Xavier Woods could be heard playing Cena’s theme song on his trombone as the New Day came out. Big E. mentioned the New Day’s tag team title defense against the Dudley Boyz at Madison Square Garden this Saturday on the Network. New Day had an idea for a new Cena slogan “Hustle, Loyalty, Bootee” and attempted to get over the catchphrase “at the same damn time.” A stoic Cena cut them off and said there was a time to be entertaining and a time to be funny. That’s coming from John “titles come and go” Cena. Woods stepped up to be the challenger.

    John Cena (C) defeated Xavier Woods by DQ, so Cena retained the U.S. Championship (9:22)

    Cena had Woods in the STF when Big E. and Kofi ran in for the DQ. The Dudleys ran down for the save. Woods used the Gail Kim Eat Defeat for a near fall. There appeared to be a botched spot where Woods was supposed to be caught on Cena’s shoulders, possibly for the AA, but it got twisted up. Cena was visibly upset about it. Big E. and Kofi Kingston threatened to interfere, so the referee sent them to the back in the opening two minutes.

    This set up a six-man with the Dudleys and Cena against the New Day. Michael Cole claimed the match was set up by Corporate Kane, though we never saw that because they were in a commercial. So Kane’s dual personas will continue.

    The New Day defeated The Dudley Boyz and John Cena (6:38)

    The Dudleys gave Kofi Wazzup and tried to set up the 3-D, but Woods tripped Bubba Ray. As Devon was distracted, Kofi hit Trouble in Paradise for the pin. Cena was taken out of the picture moments beforehand when Big E. gave him a shoulder block and they crashed to the floor.

    HHH and Stephanie talked with a woman named Ashley from Human Resources. Corporate Kane walked in. Stephanie said an anonymous complaint had been lobbied against Kane so Ashley would observe Kane tonight. Seth Rollins walked in and said he couldn’t believe someone would send an anonymous complaint about Kane. Rollins sold nothing from being dragged under the ring by Demonic Kane last week.

    Dean Ambrose was backstage with Roman Reigns and told him that he didn’t think facing Bray Wyatt tonight one-on-one was the best idea. Ambrose said he would have Reigns’ back tonight. Reigns said Randy Orton could help Ambrose, who didn’t sound too happy about that idea. Orton walked in. Ambrose said after what happened with Chris Jericho at Night of Champions, he wasn’t too keen on outsiders trying to help them. Orton wondered if Reigns and Ambrose could handle their business against the Wyatt family alone.

    The Big Show defeated Mark Henry (2:38)

    Simple booking as the Big Show won quickly look make him a formable challenger for Brock Lesnar on Saturday night. Show slammed Henry repeatedly and pinned him with the knockout punch.

    MizTV with Becky Lynch and Charlotte. The Miz asked them about the drama regarding Paige. Charlotte wanted Paige to come down. Lynch threw the Miz’s microphone on the ramp. Team Bella came out. Nikki Bella said Charlotte was going to be a hot mess by the time they wrestled again. Isn’t that the other company’s champion? Charlotte challenged her to come in the ring. Nikki said Paige didn’t start the Divas Revolution, it was her. Somehow, Charlotte said the fans were responsible for the Revolution. They started to square off when Paige came out to a noticeable pop. Paige took credit for putting NXT on the map for being the first NXT Women’s Champion. Nikki said with friends like Paige, who needs enemies? Paige shot back with if you have two boyfriends like yours, who needs ambition? In a segment that was overly scripted, that was a good line. That started a massive brawl with Team PCB fighting together again clearing the ring of the Bellas. This set up our second impromptu trios match in less than an hour.

    Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Alicia Fox defeated Charlotte, Paige and Becky Lynch (7:43)

    Charlotte attempted the Figure 8 on Nikki, who kicked Charlotte into Paige. That led to Paige walking out. Natalya confronted Paige and they argued. Natalya acted like she was going to replace Paige, but Paige came back down and tripped Natalya onto the apron. Charlotte was distracted and it led to Nikki pinning Charlotte with the Rack Attack.

    Very good video piece regarding the Lesnar-Show match. It contained footage of Show’s victory over Lesnar from Survivor Series 2002.

    Rollins talked with Human Resources Ashley when Corporate Kane showed up carrying a big gift package. Rollins looked scared to open it, but it turned out to be the severed head of Rollins’ statue. Kane explained that he went to a Baltimore landfill to dig it up. Ashley found that charming, but Rollins didn’t want any piece of it. While this may be a ripoff of a TNA idea, Corporate Kane is entertaining in his role.

    Braun Strowman and Luke Harper defeated the Prime Time Players via submission (4:17)

    Braun Strowman made Titus O’Neal pass out with the head and arm choke. It’s clear how limited Strowman is because he didn’t set foot in the ring until the finish. Still, he was the focal point of the match as Darren Young and O’Neal bounced off of him while he was on the apron.

    Neville defeated Stardust by DQ (2:32)

    King Barrett, looking like he’s lost about 10 pounds of muscle, walked in for the DQ and gave Neville a Bullhammer Elbow. Then he gave Stardust a Bullhammer Elbow, as well. Barrett said “All hail the return of the King.”

    Director of Operations Kane, coming out to Demonic Kane’s music, was in the ring with HR Ashley. As she was about to present her report, Rollins came out and said Kane wasn’t the man he pretends to be. Rollins showed a video of Demonic Kane choke slamming person after person over the past 18 years, including Rollins, who implored Ashley not to keep Kane around as Director of Operations. Otherwise, the carnage that Kane will inflict will be on her head. Rollins said Kane tried to drag him to hell last week. But Rollins said people like him don’t go to hell, he’s going to heaven. Rollins claimed to have a private session with Pope Francis last week, and the Pope informed him he was going to heaven.

    Then Kane showed Ashley yet another video of Rollins mistreating various people who worked with him this year. Finally, Ashley read her report and said Kane was sound of mind and capable of fulfilling his duties as Director of Operations. She said Kane was the perfect WWE employee. She said if anyone needed to be evaluated, it was Rollins, because he was crude, paranoid and the most unprofessional person she’s ever met in the WWE.

    Rollins went into the ring and came unglued, shoving Kane and screaming he was out of his ind. In the midst of his tantrum, Rollins dropped his belt. Kane started to pick it up, but Rollins gave him a pedigree. Then Rollins picked up a chair and hit Kane on his injured ankle, and threw several more shots across Kane’s back to leave him laying. Rollins put the chair around Kane’s bad ankle and stomped on it, though the announcers never called it the Curb Stomp. That was what we thought it was supposed to be. A doctor came into the ring and called for a stretcher. Rollins ran down Kane as he did a stretcher job and said he would never get close to him again.

    Kane was loaded into an ambulance and it drove off. Rollins talked some more, but then the ambulance reappeared on the TitonTron filled with smoke. Demon Kane emerged limping heavily towards the ramp, then he planted his bad leg and walked normally to the ring.

    Rollins met Demonic Kane with a chair shot to the leg again, something that Demonic Kane no sold. Demonic Kane let loose with punches, which was meant to be a babyface spot. Crowd had a mild reaction. Kane choke slammed Rollins. Some fans could be heard chanting “Russo.” Kane teased a tombstone, but Rollins escaped. Kane looked at the WWE World Championship belt.

    Wyatt did a promo talking about Harper and Strowman victory earlier. However, Wyatt told Reigns he would face him one-on-one. Wyatt said he and Reigns were the Alpha and Omega and only a fool would believe he could look into the dragon’s eyes and not be burned.

    Bo Dallas came out and mentioned that members of the Buffalo Bills were at ringside. They were almost an inspiration, except they didn’t have a Super Bowl. All they had to do to win one is Bo-Lieve.

    Randy Orton defeated Bo Dallas (1:56)

    Orton with the draping DDT and RKO in a squash.

    Kevin Owens and Rusev went to a no contest (:45)

    Kevin Owens threw Rusev into Ryback, who was at ringside doing commentary. This led to Ryback and Rusev brawling. Owens and Rusev joined forces to toss Ryback into the ring steps. Dolph Ziggler ran down for the save.

    In the WWE’s Campaign Against Pediatric Cancer, Ellen Degeneres was shown asking people to videotape themselves dancing. This led to Daniel Bryan challenging Brie Bella. It led to Paige, Becky Lynch, The New Day, Jon Stewart (who was sucker punched with a chair shot by his son) Naturally, Stewart challenged Stephanie McMahon, who challenged the WWE Universe.

    They aired a promo of Total Divas where Ziggler teased he had feelings for Nikki Bella. Like he

    Paul Heyman came out for a promo regarding Lesnar’s Road to Hell Tour. He said this Saturday night, hell would descend on Madison Square Garden when Lesnar fights the Big Show. He said he knows Show better than anybody else. He said Show has grown complacent because no one except Lesnar can push the Big Show to his limits. He said Lesnar would take Show to Suplex City.

    Show came out and took issue with being called complacent. Show did a Heyman impression talking about beating Lesnar. Heyman walked out. Show stopped him and said he wanted Heyman to think about a future without Lesnar. Heyman looked concerned. I can’t imagine they would turn Heyman against Lesnar to help Show because they made that same mistake a decade ago.

    Roman Reigns and Bray Wyatt went to a double countout (12:59)

    Another match where Reigns didn’t get the heat of a future main eventer. Crowd was mainly dead as it feels like this program is long in the tooth. It turned into a brawl into the crowd where Wyatt threw a planted stage hand onto Reigns. Then Wyatt charged at Reigns and they charged through a barricade. After selling it for a minute, Wyatt stood on top of the announcer’s table. Then Reigns got up and did a spear on Wyatt through the table. Crowd did pop big for that as both men were laid out, side-by-side as the show ended.

    SUMMARY: Not much of a show. Nothing great in terms of matches. The show closing angle may help light a spark to the Reigns-Wyatt program.

    Also, check out the Non-Raw Results 9-28 from tonight as well!

  • WWE Raw 9/28 Superstars matches, notes

    Submitted by Brandon Howard

    – Cesaro beat Heath Slater 

    – Lucha Dragons beat the Ascension

    Notes:

    – John Cena came across tonight as a star above the level of everyone else. I was very impressed by Cena during this weekend/Monday. Most others got good reactions too. The crowd was pretty hot through most of the show, even popping for Kane.

    – It was remarkable that Rollins and Ambrose got good pops when they appeared on the screen for the first time for their skits. Then Reigns was panned to after Ambrose and the reaction for Reigns was the strongest of the three.

    – Crowd died for the middle of Reigns vs Wyatt but liked the plunder after the count out a lot.

  • WWE RAW TV 9-28 results and recap: John Cena U.S. Open Challenge

    Tonight’s Raw features the return of the John Cena U.S. Open Challenge. During Cena’s U.S. Championship reign after defeating Rusev, these matches marked the weekly highlights of Raw, with bouts ranging from Kevin Owens and Cesaro to Zack Ryder. Also, Charlotte is expected along with the latest in the Seth Rollins-Demonic Kane program.

    Visit us after RAW ends for the full recap.

  • WWE Raw Ratings 9-21: Record Low results

    Raw set a new record low last night with 3.34 million viewers, down slightly from the 3.39 million last week and 3.37 million the week before.

    The shows represent the three lowest audiences for Raw aside from a July 4th or a Christmas or New Year’s Eve dating back to 1997.

    While expected that football would hurt numbers this fall and send them to some record lows, this has been worse than expected.

    The New York Jets vs. Indianapolis Colts game did 12.48 million viewers, down from the prior week, but it was the New York market and that’s a traditional strong WWE market where the home team will hurt Raw ratings worse than any other market.

    Another difference is the second hour was no longer the highest.  The first hour saw the initial 30 minutes before the game kicked off which gives it an edge now.

    The three hours were:

    8 p.m. 3.42 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.37 million viewers 10 p.m. 3.26 million viewers

    Bellator on Saturday night did 800,000 viewers, also a major disappointment, going against a plethora of college football games.

  • WWE Raw 9/21 Results: Kane returns….again in the fallout from Night of Champions

    courtesy of wwe.com

    by Jeff Hamlin, WrestlingObserver.com  

    The Big Takeaway: Kane made his return. Well, there are now two Kanes. There’s the Corporate Kane, who acts like Joseph Park. And then there’s the Demon Kane, who showed up at the end of the show. Add in the fact that the Big Show went over on this program, it seemed tonight was a salute to 1997. Which is fiiting, because this show could have the lowest ratings of any Raw show since that year. It was a boring show. 

    Show Recap: 

    The Wyatt Family started the show. Bray Wyatt said he tried to warn Roman Reigns, but he wouldn’t listen. Wyatt said he reached up to Mt. Olympus and grabbed the Golden Idol and brought him to his knees.

    Reigns interrupted him and said he wanted to finish things one-on-one with Wyatt tonight. Wyatt declined. Regins accused him of being scared and said he wanted to fight Wyatt. It led to Wyatt whipsering something to Luke Harper and Braun Strowman, they left the ring and Wyatt agreed to fight.  

    Regins and Wyatt fought for a bit before Harper and Strowman ran in. Strowman gave Regins soemthing resembling a chokeslam, except Regins landed face first. Dean Ambrose ran out and hit Strowman with a tope. Eventually, the heels overpowered Ambrose. Crowd chanted for Chris Jericho. Instead, Randy Orton came out and cleaned house, including dropping Harper with a back suplex on the announcer’s table. It ended with Orton and Ambrose hitting dropkicks on Strowman, who budged but didn’t go down. Finally Regins knocked Strowman out of the ring with a Superman’s Punch. 

    Seth Rollins walked into HHH and Stephanie McMahon’s office and found Director of Operations Kane waiting for him. Rollins didn’t know how to react and asked him why Kane tombstoned him last night. Kane acted like he had no idea what he was talking about.So Kane was doing the Joseph Park/Abyss gimmick from TNA in 2013, where Director of Operations Kane was a separate person from his wrestling alter ego. In fact, DIO Kane was downright chipper, saying he had healed from the broken angle that Rollins had laid onto him. Kane said he arranged for Rollins to face John Cena tonight in a rematch for the U.S. Championship. Rollins had no idea how to react and left quickly. 

    The announcers have already assigned different names to Kane’s various personas: Corporate Kane and Demonic Kane. I thought Alvarez’s Libertarian Kane was pretty good, myself. 

    Lucha Dragons and Neville defeated The Ascension and Stardust (10:31)

    Clumsy match in spots as Konnor and Kalisto has problems working together. Kalisto pinned Viktor with Salida del Sol. Sin Cara slipped attempting a springboard dropkick on Konnor.  Later, Cara did a top on Viktor and appeared to hit his head across the announcer’s table. 

    Rollins found the Authority backstage and couldn’t believe that HHH and Stephanie would reinstate Kane as Director of Operations. He said he was in no shape to wrestle Cena tonight after wrestling twice last night. HHH and Stephanie told him not to worry about Kane and just focus on Cena.  

    Ryback defeated Bo Dallas (3:36) 

    Ryback won with the Shellshock. Kevin Owens was on commentary and ran in after the match. Ryback gave him a Meat Hook clothesline and tried to give him the Shellshock, but Owens got away. Ryback was more aggressive in the match after losing the Intercontiental Championship last night. 

    Ric Flair came out to introduce Charlotte as the new Divas Champion. Fans started chanting “Thank you, Ric.” He said the proudest moment of his entire life wasn’t his first world championship or his retirement match with Shawn Michaels, it was watching his little girl win the Divas Championship. Charlotte, Paige and Becky Lynch came out. 

    Charlotte got emotional talking to her father saying she was as proud of him as he was of her. Charlotte thanked Lynch for always reminding her to never take life too seriously. Charlotte turned to Paige and said she followed in Paige’s footsteps and they started in NXT together. 

    Paige took the microphone away and turned heel. She said Charlotte was just a placeholder for the championship and nothing about the Divas division has changed. She said the whole celebration was patronizing and reminded Charlotte that she won the championship on her first day. Paige said Lynch was the least relevant of all of them. She said Lana and Summer Rae were too busy trying to climb over top of each other instead of wrestling. Paige said she didn’t even know where Nattie was because she was too busy taking care of her husband. Paige also said we all knew the real reason why the Bella Twins got to where they are, and said Charlotte wouldn’t be where she is without her old man. Paige said “Whooo” and walked off. This was supposed to be a heel turn for Paige, but she got mostly cheers. 

    Nikki Bella, Brie Bela and Alicia Fox followed that up by coming out. Nikki mainly no sold losing the title and said Brie was going to take the title from Charlotte tonight.  

    Charlotte (C) defeated Brie Bella via submission to retain the Divas Championship (6:22) 

    Charlotte won with the Figure Eight. Brie spent most of the match on offense, which led to a sloppy match. Brie mainly worked on Charlotte’s left leg, continuing the storyline from last night where Nikki did the same thing. 

    Sheamus defeated Mark Henry (2:23)

    Sheamus hit a Brogue Kick that missed so badly, even the announcers admitted it. So they redid the spot for the finish. It was Henry’s turn to job in his home state. Sheamus did a promo saying it was only a matter of time before he become world champion. 

    Stephanie and HHH met with Kane, who just took a sip out of his “World’s Greatest Director of Operations” mug. HHH was curious about Kane showing up last night. Kane again acted like he was oblivious to giving Rollins a tombstone. Stephanie spoke up and said there was no need for Kane to insult out intelligence and play mind games with them. Kane said he would never do that and he wanted to do what’s best for business. Stephanie asked for Kane to give it back and extended her hand. Kane gave her five. Stephanie said she wanted his mask back. Kane noticed that the mask was gone from its case, and said if Stephanie had stolen it, they would have a very big problem. Kane turned deadly serious for a minute, but then got his smiley face back and said he would make sure he would do his job for what’s best for business. 

    Paige found Nattie backstage. Nattie said what Paige said earlier to Charlotte was unprofessional. Nattie said there have been times where she has felt left behind in the Divas division, but she did something about it.  She told Paige that the only person who was standing in Paige’s way was Paige. Nattie said she was wrestling Naomi later.  

    The New Day came out. The crowd really didn’t respond to them and gave them more of a heel reaction. Xavier Woods sold being put through a table last night by the Dudley Boyz, held up a piece of table and claimed it had to be removed from his buttocks last night. Big E. did a promo saying they had to build a wall around Dudleyville to protect their citizens, their families and their furniture. It was an attempt to get Donald Trump heat, but it didn’t work.

    The New Day and Rusev defeated The Dudley Boyz and Dolph Ziggler (14:10)

    Rusev pinned Dolph Ziggler after a Thurst Kick after Ziggler gave Woods a Superkick once he got on the apron with the trombone. Pretty good match. Ziggler gave Rusev Wazzup with the Dudleys holding each of Rusev’s legs. Midway through the match, Woods began playing Rusev’s theme song on his trombone as Dolph Ziggler got the heat. When Kofi Kingston hit a dropkick, Woods started screaming about how Kingston had an 8-foot vertical leap. Crowd didn’t react to very much.

    Naomi defeated Natalya (3:45) 

    Naomi won with the Rear End after Tamina and Sasha Banks jumped up on the apron. Not much of a match and the crowd has been dead for the past hour. 

    Rollins walked into the Authority’s office wanting to know what the plan is tonight. Stephanie said Kane everything out of his system that he needed to last night. Rollins couldn’t believe it and said HHH knew what Kane was capable of. HHH lashed out and Rollins and told him to focus on Cena. Rollins reluctatnly agreed, again teasing the inevitable HHH-Rollins match somewhere down the line. 

    The Big Show defeate Cesaro (6:16)  

    After Cesaro hit a vertical suplex on The Big Show into the ring, Show got up first and hit the knockout punch for the clean pin. Great booking for the long-term future there.

    Postmatch, Show cut a promo on Brock Lesnar. They’ll be wrestling on a Network Special at Madison Square Garden on October 2nd. He reminded Lesnar that he pinned him at the 2002 Royal Rumble. It was a good promo.  

    The Wyatt Family did a promo running down Orton. Wyatt told Orton they all fall down, and Orton would, as well. Strowman said he once captured a snake with his bare hands and drank its blood, and claimed the snake is in a better place now. 

    John Cena (C) defeated Seth Rollins to retain the U.S. Championship (15:34)

    Not only the best match on the show, but the only match tonight that would exceed 3 stars. Rollins hit a Frog Splash, but Cena powered out of the cover attempt and hit an AA for the pin. Spots included Rollins using Cena’s STF, and Cena also grabbing the STF but Rollins got the ropes. Rollins didn’t do any knees to the face, to no surprise. 

    Postmatch, Corporate Kane appeared on the big screen and told Rollins part of his job was to make sure Rollins could be the best champion he could be. He said many people were coming after Rollins’ championship. Then the background turned fiery red, and Kane said in a deep, brooding voice “including some he could never imagine.” 

    Kane’s fire pyro went off. Then the demonic Kane burst through the mat and dragged Rollins under the ring. Rollins disappeared through the hole, and steam shot out from the bottom. 

    SUMMARY: So in an effort to make Kane interesting for the next PPV cycle, they ripoff a TNA storyline. That says it all. 

  • WWE Raw 9/14 live TV results: Sting in action, Nikki Bella vs. Charlotte

    Courtesy WWE.com

    By Jeff Hamlin, WrestlingObserver.com 

    The Big Takeaway: Sting wrestled his first Raw match ever tonight. He actually wrestled two. The first against the Big Show ended with a Seth Rollins run-in after all of 1:43. The subsequent tag team match saw him defeat Rollins with the Scorpion Death Lock. Much of the discussion on this show will center around the Dusty Finish in the Nikki Bella-Charlotte match, where Charlotte appeared to have won, only to have it reversed when Stephanie McMahon ruled Twin Magic couldn’t count as a title change. This show was billed as the “Season Debut” of Raw. If this was the first Raw you ever watched, you would have thought Stephanie McMahon was the most pushed personality in the company.

    Show Recap:

    The Authority came out to welcome fans to the new season of Raw. Stephanie McMahon put over the new stars they’ve created over the past year like the New Day, Neville, Rusev, and others. HHH promoted Seth Rollins vs. John Cena & Rollins vs. Sting at NOC.

    Stephanie talked about Nikki Bella defending the Divas title against Charlotte. HHH announced Sting would compete tonight for the first-time ever on Raw against The Big Show.

    Stephanie brought out the New Day, then started clapping them.  This led to HHH joining them, which was amusing.

    The New Day (C) defeated the Prime Time Players to retain the WWE World Tag Team Titles (12:10)

    Kofi Kingston pinned Titus O’Neal after the Midnight Hour. O’Neal got distracted by Xavier Woods playing the trombone on the apron. Among the newest Woods spots was playing the Pink Panther theme while Big E. struts and Woods playing notes in cadence while Langston and Woods stomp an opponent in the corner. Decent match.

    They showed portions of Sting’s past, including a tag team match with Dusty Rhodes against The Road Warriors at Starrcade 1988, which was Dusty’s final NWA bout before his departure for the WWE. He was wearing a striped shirt that was barely more flattering than the polka dots he would be wearing a year later.

    Rollins walked in to talk to the Authority. HHH arranged Sheamus vs. Cena for tonight just in case Sheamus thought about cashing in the briefcase tonight.

    Ric Flair showed up with Charlotte to do an interview with a now short-haired Renee Young. Charlotte talked about what a dream it would be to win the Divas title. Flair said he’s now living vicariously through his daughter and wants to see her win tonight.  

    Sasha Banks defeated Paige via submission (5:15)

    Sasha Banks won with a backstabber into a Bank Statement. Tamina moved Banks out of the way of a Paige charge into the corner. At one point, Paige delivered a facebuster that appeared to knock the hell out of Tamina. It appeared referee Charles Robinson was concerned momentarily.

    There was a very nice tribute to Connor Michalek to start a program the company has launched called “Connor’s Cure” during September, which is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month 

    The Wyatt Family came out for MizTV. They continue the gimmick that Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose can’t find a third partner for the trios match at Night of Champions. Miz was basically a babyface trying to get a word out of Bray Wyatt, who said he wanted everyone to understand regardless of who shows up at Night of Champions, they will all fall down.

    Ambrose and Reigns came out. Ambrose threw the Miz out of the ring while the five men had a stare down. Reigns acknowledged Jimmy Uso was his cousin and Wyatt took him out, which he would pay for. Reigns said they have found a third partner. Reigns vowed to win a war against the Wyatts on Sunday. Wyatt’s flash went off and the scene just ended.

    Sting’s next flashback moment was the Great American Bash 1990 where Sting defeated Flair to win his first NWA/WCW World Championship.

    John Cena defeated Sheamus (14:43)

    Good match with some good selling by Sheamus. Cena won after he no sold the Rolling Senton by Sheamus and immediately hit the AA for the pin. Earlier in the match, Sheamus attempted the Brogue Kick but Cena countered with a clothesline. Crowd was very negative towards Cena, but he delivered in another good match.

    Ryback did an interview where he had to sing lyrics to “All Shook Up” that was greeted by crickets. Kevin Owens came out as part of their fledgling program. Owens talked about how Ryback read the book “The Secret” to get him past a low point. Owens brought out his own copy of “The Secret,” said he read it and said he felt sorry for anyone who believes in that garbage. Owens called the book a crutch for weak people. Owens said Ryback was the strongest man in the locker room, but also the weakest mentally.

    They were arguing over a book. Then Ryback recited these scripted lines and started repeated “Feed Me More.” Ryback said he respected Owens’ path to the WWE. Ryback admitted that he fell on his face when he first arrived in the WWE, but brushed himself off and won a championship. Ryback said he went to the Authority earlier today, and said they arranged an Intercontinental Championship match between the two at NOC. Ryback wanted to how a showdown, but Owens did his usual walkaway. All I can say is don’t ever watch NWA or Memphis promos via youtube on days leading up to Raws, because you’ll be very depressed after segments like these.

    What was supposed to be Neville vs. Stardust turned into a six-way fight. The Ascension are now henchmen for Stardust. Lucha Dragons accompanied Neville and cleared the ring of the heels.

    There was a package putting over Nikki Bella as the Divas champion who carried the entire Divas division on her back for the last 295 days. Bella pompously asked viewers have they started their year because she spent the year started a Divas Revolution.

    Charlotte defeated Nikki Bella (C) by DQ in 9:55, so Bella retains the Divas Championship to become the longest reigning Divas Champion in history.

    It’s only fitting that they showed a clip of Dusty Rhodes from 1989 earlier because they booked a Dusty Finish that killed the crowd tonight as much as it did 26 years ago. They went with Twin Magic as Alicia Fox tried to interfere, which allowed Brie Bella to run-in. Charlotte immediately pinned her with an inside cradle. Flair ran down like his daughter had won the title. Then Stephanie came out and announced that the integrity of the championship must be retained, telling the referee what happened and Charlotte won by DQ, but Bella would still be champion. However, Stephanie ordered a rematch at Night of Champions where if Nikki lost by DQ, countout, pinfall or submission, she would lose the title.

    You might wonder why Stephanie didn’t make this ruling when they did this same finish at Money in the Bank. The answer is Stephanie wouldn’t get a chance to stand out as the company’s main star on a June PPV as much as the “season debut” of Raw. The sad part is they had a really good match going where Charlotte sold her arm great and the fans didn’t need to be coerced to emotionally invest in the match. It’s going to be tough trying to recreate that atmosphere on Sunday.

    Cesaro defeated Rusev (4:03)

    Dolph Ziggler came down and tried to offer Summer Rae a package. Rusev got distracted, allowing Cesaro to get the pin with an Inverted Chikara Special. Ziggler gave Rusev a superkick afterwards. Nothing match. Rusev was backstage furious about losing and slammed the door in Rae’s face. While Rusev was inside, Rae opened up the gift to find a gorgeous piece of jewelry. She started to smile when Rusev screamed at her to come inside.

    The Big Show met with the Authority, who gave him a pep talk trying to beat Sting. Before every Authority segment, do they flip a coin to determine if they’re heels or faces?

    Sting defeated The Big Show via DQ (1:43)

    Rollins ran in for a DQ and I was getting flashbacks to 1999 Nitro the way this last hour went. Thank God Cena came out and joined Sting in clearing the ring. HHH then did the same routine they’ve done at countless Raws after they went off the air where they ordered an immediate tag team match between the four.

    Sting and John Cena defeated Seth Rollins and The Big Show via submission (9:13)

    Sting got the hot tag and made Rollins tap out to the Scorpion Death Lock after Cena gave the Big Show the AA. Cena spent most of the match trying to lift Show for a slam or the AA, only to fall under the weight.  Sting did a good hot tag sequence, but the aura of Sting wrestling his first match on Raw seemed lost on the crowd.

    SUMMARY: The company lost a lot of fans to football tonight, if they didn’t beforehand. For starters, the Authority appeared on seven segments on this show, and was mentioned in eight. If they’re role is clearly defined, more power to them. However, it’s impossible to emotionally invest in them as characters when they’re constantly flopping between babyfaces and heels. The effort to promote the company’s efforts to fight pediatric cancer are great. However, HHH is the same person who was negative on Kurt Angle doing PSAs because Angle was a heel in the mid 00’s, so it reeks of hypocrisy. As long as Rollins is the world champion subservient to the Authority, he’s not going to get over strong.

  • WWE Raw ratings for 8/31

    The Monday, August 31 edition of WWE Raw did the best numbers for the show since June 15 of this year — likely due a boost coming from the buzz created by the show the previous Monday.

    The show did 3.89 million viewers, up 170,000 from the show the day after SummerSlam.  The audience stayed relatively steady throughout the show.

    The three hours were:

    – 8 p.m. 3.87 million viewers

    – 9 p.m. 3.99 million viewers

    – 10 p.m. 3.83 million viewers

  • WWE RAW Brooklyn: Superstars results, return date, more

    Submitted by Mike Omansky

    — WWE returns to Barclays on Monday, 12/28 for RAW with a presale code of WWERAW.

    — WWE Superstars:

    – Zack Ryder def. Heath Slater after hitting the RoughRyder.
    – Los Matadores (with El Torito) def. Ascension after hitting the Backstabber and pin thanks to a distraction by Torito.

    — Post RAW:

    – The advertised six man tag main event didn’t happen. Lillian Garcia thanked fans for coming and that was that. 

    – Crowd was hot most of the night, except for the divas tag match. Chants included “CM Punk”, “We are awesome” and “boring”.  There were also several waves done by the audience.

  • WWE RAW 8/24 Live Results: Brock, Undertaker, Seth Rollins & SummerSlam fallout

    courtesy wwe.com 

    by Jeff Hamlin, WrestlingObserver.com 

    The Big Takeaway: As expected, a newsworthy show to kick off the final quarter of the year. Sting made his return in the main event segment, jumping Seth Rollins to set up the main event for Night of Champions. The Dudley Boyz made a surprising return to set up a feud with the New Day over the tag team titles. Braun Stowman debuted as the newest member of the Wyatt Family. John Cena gave Jon Stewart an AA. And there was a MizTV segment so wretched it killed the Divas Revolution momentum dead. I mean, graveyard dead.

    Show Recap:

    The show opened with HHH talking with Seth Rollins in the lobby of WWE headquarters. HHH showed Rollins the statues of Bruno Sammartino, Andre the Giant and the Ultimate Warrior. Surprisingly, the Warrior statue did a more coherent promo than the real thing. HHH told Rollins that tonight, the statue of Rollins would be unveiled.

    Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman were out first. Heyman said he was the pissed-off advocate of the ripped-off Beast of the Barclays. Heyman showed the footage of the Undertaker tapping out to Lesnar’s Kimura, then compared the myth that the Undertaker is immortal with the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus.

    Heyman said Lesnar didn’t blame the referee (he couldn’t say the name Charles Robinson. More of those Vince McMahon mental gymnastics again) or the timekeeper. He brought up the Undertaker collapsing backstage. When he said he has enough material to fill up an entire 3-hour Raw, the crowd chanted “Yes.”

    Heyman said Lesnar wanted to fight the Undertaker one more time, and he didn’t want to wait until the Survivor Series or the Royal Rumble or WrestleMania. He wanted it tonight.

    Of course, that didn’t happen. Bo Dallas came out as the sacrificial lamb, complete with white tights. Dallas told Lesnar that last night, he passed out against the Undertaker. The good news was he woke up after having sweet dreams, like eventually bating the Undertaker. All he had to do was Bo-Lieve.

    Four laps around Suplex City for Dallas and Lesnar left. Then Heyman talked Lesnar into one more, which he delivered. Brock left again, then Heyman asked Lesnar for one more for him. Brock finally hit the F-5 as Heyman shouted that Brock Bo-Lieves.  

    The New Day’s ring entrance included Xavier Woods playing a trombone singing a song to the tune of “New York, New York” entitled “New Day, New Day.” They still have to be heels even though the fans are now chanting “New Day Rocks.” Michael Cole told Titus O’Neal and Darren Young to listen to the fans, who I guess were supposed to be chanting something derogatory to New Day. Instead, they chanted “That was awesome.”

    The New Day (C) defeated Lucha Dragons in a nontitle match (6:15)

    Big E. pinned Kalisto with the Midnight Hour. As Big E. got the pin, Woods started playing “Taps” on the trombone. 

    After the pin, the Dudley Boyz came out for a surprise appearance and cleaned house on each member of the New Day. Woods took the Wazzup. Cole tried to pretend it was the first time the Dudleys had done Wazzup in 10 years.  Then they did the 3-D on Woods through a table. Huge reaction for the Dudleys, who then started jawing with the Prime Time Players.  

    Jon Stewart is set to explain his actions in last night’s Rollins-Cena match tonight.  

    Cena was honored in a very nice piece granting his 500th Wish for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He was profiled on ESPN, CBS News, and the Today Show he co-hosted. The young man who was honored was shown at ringside.

    HHH and Stephanie McMahon caught a glimpse of the Rollins statue. It showed him adorned with both belts. He looked like a taller Daniel Bryan statue with a thinner beard. Rollins walked in before he could see the statue and talked about how much respect those around WWE headquarters have for the authority, feeling the company is better off with them in it. Stephanie said they feel the same about Rollins. He left as they got ready for the ceremony later tonight.  

    Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns defeated Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper by DQ (10:37)

    Roman Reigns had Bray Wyatt pinned after a Superman Punch when the Wyatt’s segue caused the lights to go on. When they came back on, a man under a black goat’s mask with a huge upper body was on the apron. The man took off the mask. He was never identified, but it was Braun Stowman, who was put over as the latest monster heel. Reigns and Ambrose kicked and punched him, but Stowman no-sold everything. He gave both Reigns and Ambrose Samuel Shaw’s old head-and-arm choke finisher. I hope his character goes a lot better than that one. Stowman posed with Bray and Luke as the Wyatt Family is a trio again.

    MizTV welcomed Paige, Charlotte and Becky as guests. Charlotte said the Four Horseman were the greatest faction in WWE history. Crowd sounded confused over that one. Miz and Charlotte traded barbs about Ric Flair.

    Paige, Charlotte and Becky Lynch had some lame attempts at comedy before Team Bella came out. This was just awful. Nikki said it didn’t matter who won or lost the SummerSlam match because she was 15 days away from becoming the longest reigning Divas champion of all time. Nikki has spent too much time copying the bad aspects of her boyfriend’s interviews. As Brie Bella and Alicia Fox spoke, crowd chanted for Lana.

    When Miz scolded the Divas that when his hand goes up, their mouths go shut, the fans actually popped. Miz scolded Team PCB for wrestling like a bunch of girls. That led to PCB ganging up on Miz. But Team Bella jumped Team PCB. JBL said they were about to have a trios match. Didn’t Nikki just say last night’s match didn’t matter? So wouldn’t I be crazy to care about this one? All I know is Vince Verhei is likely gearing up for a walk right now.

    Team Bella defeated Team PCB (14:06)

    An unmitigated disaster. Fox pinned Paige after an Ax kick following a cheap shot from Nikki. Crowd was totally dead, then started giving the match the Randy Orton-Sheamus treatment from 2 years ago. They did the wave. They chanted “We are awesome.” It went two long segments. Even worse, Charlotte appeared to be injured as she couldn’t stand up near the end. All the momentum from the NXT debut from five weeks ago is long gone.

    Just as strange, Stardust and King Barrett were supposed to team together. For some reason, Stardust turned on Barrett, giving him the Queen’s Crossbow. Neville came down and cleaned house on Stardust, teasing the Red Arrow. But Stardust escaped. No crowd heat at all as the Divas’ segment will be the death of this show until some main eventers show up.

    Stewart, complete with Stewart Section signs and “Thank you, Stewart” chants, came out. He’s growing a heel beard now, but he got a babyface reaction for turning on Cena. He said he helped Rollins because he didn’t want Cena to tie Flair’s record of 16 World Championships. This brought out Flair. Stewart did portions of the Jackie Fargo strut as Flair came down.  

    Flair told Stewart that he had messed up everything. Then Cena came out. Cena chastised Stewart for costing him the U.S. title. Stewart tried to talk him into fighting Rollins again for the U.S. title. Cena said that was for another night, but tonight he was going to have to do what he had to do. So he gave Stewart an AA. $5 will get you $10 that spot gets on Fox News tomorrow. Stewart never broke character here and was helped up to a round of applause.

    Renee Young talked with Cena, who said he felt what he did was right. Cena said he would talk to Rollins later tonight.

    Randy Orton, Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler and Ryback defeated Kevin Owens, Sheamus, The Big Show and Rusev (17:52)

    Randy Orton pinned Sheamus with the RKO after the Big Show accidentally hit Sheamus with the Knockout punch. Among the highlights were Kevin Owens and Ryback engaging in a punching exchange like they were Don Frye and Yoshihiro Takayama. Lana came out in a bleached jean skirt. I could have sworn she walked straight off the set of a Whitesnake video. In the same vein, the new, skinnier Dolph Ziggler is wearing long sequined pants with black gloves. If the territories were still around, he’d be billing himself as a cousin of Shawn Michaels.

    Postmatch, Owens and Rusev got mad at Big Show for costing their team the match, so they attacked him. Owens gave Show the Cannonball. The face team got back in the ring after Big Show got up. You would think this would lead to Show’s latest face turn. Instead, Ziggler gave him a superkick, while Cesaro and Ryback picked Show up so Orton could give him an RKO. Maybe Show really is retiring.

    Wyatt did an interview saying the latest member of the Wyatt Clan was indeed named Braun Stowman.

    Stephanie and HHH confronted Cena about slamming Stewart, a man he outweighed by 100 pounds. Cena said he was about to take a step up in weight class when he confronts Rollins tonight. Stephanie said he wouldn’t get the chance, and two security guards escorted Cena out of the building. Stephanie gave him the “You can’t see me” signal. So Stephanie was a heel tonight. Vegas should keep odds on this weekly.

    HHH and Stephanie came out. Stephanie wished her father a Happy 70th Birthday and they actually led the crowd in singing “Happy birthday to you.” Stephanie appeared a little choked up. Crowd wanted Vince to come out, and HHH joked that he’s really pissed off right now.   

    HHH did a long speech about how Rollins is a winner who can outwork and overachieve his way to success. Rollins came out as the first man to hold the WWE World Heavyweight Championship and U.S. Championship at the same time.

    Rollins said he was joining the Mt. Rushmore of the WWE. Still funny to think of the Warrior on the Rushmore. Rollins said he became a legend last night after defeating Cena, and with the unveiling of the statue, he become immortal. Rollins said Cena has reached the heights he’s reached by working every day of his life for the past ten years, but to be the man you have to be the man. Rollins proclaimed himself the man.

    When the time came to unveil the statue, underneath the curtain was Sting. HHH and Stephanie took off, while Sting sent Rollins packing after three punches. Sting closed the show by posing with the WWE Heavyweight belt. The crowd was probably tired, but the reaction to Sting was noticeably less than that of the Dudleys.

    SUMMARY: The return of Sting would have meant a lot more if he had defeated HHH at WrestleMania. Now, it’s hard to really care because we’ve seen repeated examples of the WWE creative team not knowing how to use a talent cultivated in another company. In fact, Sting fell victim to it earlier this year.

    This show had a great first hour. The announcers played the Dudleys return like it was a huge deal and Stowman like the next monster.

    However, the WWE has an ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, and they’ve certainly done that with the Divas Revolution. Tonight’s MizTV segment will go down as one of the year’s worst, one that threatens to push the entire division back into also-ran category. Contrast that to the Bailey-Sasha Banks match from just 48 hours ago–in the same building, from the same company–speaks volumes about WWE creative and its inability to create new stars, much less create revolutions.   

  • WWE News: Monday’s Raw rating

    While up from last week’s record modern era seasonal low, Raw’s numbers will still at low levels Monday night, doing 3.65 million viewers.

    The number was up about 190,000 from the prior week.  The audience remained steady based on the hourly breakdowns.

    The three hours were:

    8 p.m. 3.64 million viewers

    9 p.m. 3.69 million viewers

    10 p.m. 3.62 million viewers