Tag: headline

Last night’s episode of Tough Enough did 1.22 million viewers, the best of the three episodes so far and up from 1.05 million the week before.

Total Divas last night opened its season to 975,000 viewers.

By James Cox, WrestlingObserver.com

The Big Takeaway:

The Ascension faced the Mega Powers for the umpteenth time, but beat them for once, with the crowd still enjoying the novelty of Axel and Mandow. Adam Rose and Fandango are still kind of feuding under the radar with Rose winning here, tweaking his character to try to get more heat.

The Ascension beat The Mega Powers (4:28)

Viktor and Mandow start in the ring together. Viktor runs into an elbow and Mandow quickly tags in Axel. Jimmy Uso on commentary is asked about how his brother is doing and noted that he is ahead of schedule but wouldn’t be back in action until the fall. Axel goes up top for ten punches on Viktor. This crowd love counting along. Mandow comes back in and the pair hit double back elbows on Viktor and then clothesline Konnor outside.

Viktor comes back into the ring and Konnor tries to distract Mandow and Viktor takes advantage with a quick pin attempt. When it doesn’t pay off, Viktor uses stomps. The Ascension then start to use a series of quick tags, cutting of the ring. They use that half Boston crab/leg drop to the back of the head combination and Konnor goes for a cover and then puts on a rear chin lock.

A double clothesline sees both men go down. Both make tags, with Axel getting the heat. He lands the big boot, tears his shirt and then takes out Viktor with an atomic drop and clothesline to send him packing. Mandow goes outside, but is rammed into the apron by Viktor and this distracts Axel. Konnor hits Mandow with a big boot and then they use the Fall of Man for the win.

Adam Rose (w/ Rosa Mendes) beat Fandango (5:44)

Adam Rose and Rosa come out to cut a pre-match promo. They finish each other’s sentences and have a pretty boring dynamic of being a ‘power couple’. They remind me of Laycool. Rose finishes by saying, “its all about Adam.”

This is pretty short and quick for a Superstars main event at just under 6 minutes. Rose uses hip toss on the bell to try to fluster Fandango and postures to the crowd. Then they chain and run the ropes and a shoulder barge followed by a drop kick give Fandango the early going. He clotheslines Rose over the top rope and then hits a fairly graceful slingshot cross body on to Rose on the outside.

Back in the ring a side suplex by Rose sends both men down. Fandango gets up first and uses an atomic drop and quick clotheslines to get him in control until Rose grabs him and lands a swinging neckbreaker to break up the charge. A DDT by Rose gets him a two count. Fandango retorts with a power slam and gets two.

Fandango continues with Flair chops and then tries a backslide cover but can only get two. Fandango uses a sitout suplex slam and then Rosa distracts. Rose launches Fandango off the apron into the dasher boards. Rose brings him back in, and ends it rather suddenly with the Party Foul or, as he is now calling it, the Disaster Piece.

By Kenneth Nida, WrestlingObserver.com

Last week’s episode saw the competitors swim with alligators, take bumps off the top rope, and argue for entirely too much time. ZZ continued his trend of being the most entertaining thing on the show, but actually avoided the bottom three. Alex was eliminated after arrogantly declaring “Knowledge means nothing.”

This week’s guest WWE Superstar is Seth Rollins. Hopefully he contributes more than Roman Reigns’ 45 seconds of speaking from last week’s episode. The show opens up with an introduction for the judges, each judge speaking briefly about the show so far. We then cut to the reactions of the contestants after last week’s elimination. Dianna then decides to leave the show and is picked up by her fiancé at 2:00 a.m.

Billy Gunn wakes the contestants up at dawn for some exercise. He’s very upset with the fact that Dianna quit, asking if anyone else wants to go home. Seth Rollins makes his appearance for the first challenge, which will involve character building. Each contestants pick a card with a character theme such as “American Hero” and “Farmer’s Daughter”. Each contestant gathers props, which Seth Rollins offers advice on before he leaves. His appearance lasted longer than Roman Reigns, but it was equally pointless.

We go back to the live show, where the judges offer their thoughts on Dianna quitting the show. Paige is quite upset that their time was wasted on a quitter. Back at the barracks, Sara Lee is the first contestant to show off her character through a ring entrance. She takes the stage as Jayde the “Queen of Mean” (with a surprising lack of latex or a whip). The judges don’t really understand her character, saying her music is doing more for them than her performance. Patrick as the “Evil Intellectual”, carrying Lita’s dog as his minion impresses the judges. ZZ upsets the judges with an overly comedic entrance. Billy Gunn even says it’s insulting – I’m curious about what he thought of Santino.

Patrick wins the challenge on the men’s side, while Giorgia wins among the women. Lita notes this is the second week in a row both have won. They announce that there will still be an elimination even though Dianna went home. ZZ is frustrated because he feels misunderstood. Gabi recruits Sara Lee to be her ally. The two trash talk the other women. Patrick and Tanner get into an argument which escalates into a fight which is quickly broken up.

We go back to the live show for the elimination. The judges grill the contestants. Somehow Daniel Bryan’s question to Sara Lee about not appearing to be mean, turns to Paige and Hulk Hogan asking about ZZ’s bulge that he showed off in his entrance. This week the bottom three are, Daria as chosen by Daniel Bryan, Sara Lee as chosen by Paige, and ZZ as chosen by Hulk Hogan. It’s announced the contestants will get a second chance to do their ring entrance before the vote. Sara Lee comes across as a bit meaner, ZZ plays to the crowd, and Daria improves drastically in the eyes of the judges.

Each contestant then gets 30 seconds to plead their case. This time, they actually started the voting after the contestants plead their case, as opposed to before like in week’s past. They also take time to ask the other contestants who they think should go home before the votes come in. The judges decline to use their one save. ZZ got 52% of the vote, Sara Lee got 34% of the vote, and with 14% of the vote Daria is eliminated. Daria speaks briefly on the outpour of support she got from the LGBT community after she came out on the show.

By Jeff Hamlin, Wrestlingobserver.com

The Big Takeaway: Another week, another show where John Cena has the best match on the show. This week, he main evented against Cesaro and retained the U.S. Championship in 30:06, most likely longest Raw match since Cena-Shawn Michaels from London in 2007. Brock Lesnar had two segments on the show, where he destroyed J&J Security’s new car they received from Seth Rollins last week. 

Show Recap: 

Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman start the show. Heyman said Lesnar was the God of violent retribution. Heyman brought up Lesnar ending The Undertaker’s streak and got some boos. Then he mentioned Lesnar taking John Cena to Suplex City and got cheered. Unlike Cena, Undertaker and Roman Reigns, Heyman said Lesnar not only doesn’t respect Seth Rollins, he disrespects him. Lesnar wasn’t selling his knee after the attack from two weeks ago. 

Heyman said the title match with Rollins and Lesnar will take two weeks in St. Louis, but the beatings and the suplexes will start tonight. He said since Rolliins is going to be in the building tonight, Lesnar wasn’t going anywhere.

Michael Cole announced that Kane is in Hawaii on the vacation that Rollins sent him on last week. They showed various photoshopped pictures of Kane wearing a Hula skirt, drinking Mai Tais and touring volcanos.
Also, Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble reportedly took their $55,000 Cadallac across the country with highlights of their trip promised later.  

Ryback (C) and Big Show went to a no contest in a nontitle match (9:24) 

The Miz was at ringside doing running commentary over the PA during the match. Since the Miz, Big Show and Ryback are in a three-way at Battleground, Miz wanted the two to destroy each other so it would be easier for him to win. It sounded like Cole talked over Mix’s best lines. After Big Show hit a elbow drop from the second rope, Miz ran in to attack both men while they were down. It ended with both big men surrounding Miz, with Ryback delivering a Shell Shock and the Big Show giving him a choke slam. Ryback gave Big Show a meat hook clothesline to become the last man standing.  

A commercial for the new season of Total Divas featured someone reading the riot act to Paige over an alleged sex tape. 

Kane was shown paddleboarding in Hawaii. Meanwhile, Noble and Mercury took their Cadallac to Wrigley Field, calling it a dump.  

Brie Bella defeated Paige (3:10)

Brie Bella won with the Brie Buster after Alicia Fox and Nikki Bella jumped up on the apron. The storyline continues that Paige has to fight the Bellas and Fox by herself. Afterwards, Fox gave Paige an Ax Kick and Nikki gave her a Rack Attack. The count for Nikki Bella’s Divas Championship reign is up to 225 days. 

Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns by countout (11:15)

To complete an hour of bad finishes, Reigns hit a Superman punch when Sheamus jumped off the second rope. Reigns went for another Superman punch when Bray Wyatt’s music hit. Someone dressed like Wyatt came out and Reigns tagged him with a Superman’s punch. Then Reigns found that the man he punched was an imposter. Then Wyatt appeared on the TitonTron and told Reigns “Anyone but You.” Reigns disappeared and Sheamus was announced as the winner. 

Randy Orton came out to go after Sheamus. Get this. Sheamus threw Orton into the post. Orton barely even sell it and gave Sheamus an RKO. What the hell was that? Mind you, this came after a stiff Sheamus-Reigns match that was pretty good because of its physicality. Then Orton doesn’t even sell a post shot. 

HHH was on the phone when Rollins and J&J Security walked in. HHH asked Seth about what he was going to do about Lesnar tonight. HHH said his advice was to do something uncoventional. HHH brought up Heyman’s promo from earlier saying that the 11th Commandment is “Never provoke the beast.” Rollins said the unthinkable would be to call out Lesnar later on tonight.  

Rusev and Summer Rae were in the ring for a promo. He referred to Summer Rae as “always submissive.” Rusev said he apologized for wasting a year of his life on Lana. He ran down the fans, America and Dolph Ziggler. Summer tried to get the crowd to stop chanting “USA.” Dolph and Lana came out. Ziggler said the best thing that ever happened to Rusev was Lana. Dolph and Lana starting kissing. Summer scolded Ziggler. Lana and Summer were about to squre off when the two men stepped in. Then Rusev attacked Ziggler with a crutch, then kicked him with the cast on his bad foot. Rusev took off the walking boot and starting walking around. Summer then kicked Lana and threw her out of the ring. Rusev put the fists to Ziggler, who sure looked like an idiot. Ziggler tried to make a comeback, but Rusev jabbed him with the crutch across the throat. Rusev laid in even more crutch shots even after the referees came down and ordered him away. Ziggler did a stretcher job, so who knows if we see him again?  

Dean Ambrose defeated Bo Dallas (2:59)

There was the strangest dual chant ever heard to man with most of the fans saying “Let’s Go Ambrose.” And the other half said “We Bolieve.” Dean Ambrose won with Dirty Deeds. 

J&J Security was shown driving around Chicago. They were shown getting caught in traffic. And then driving along a vacant street. It was about as humorous as watching someone drive in traffic and then along a vacant street. 

King Barrett defeated R-Truth (8:43)

King Barrett won after R-Truth dove off the second rope, only to get caught with the Royal Bullhammer. This got 8:43. Maybe I was a little hard on that J&J Security driving segment. Cole talked like this was the end of R-Truth’s “King What’s Up” gimmick.  

Rollins came out while J&J Security drove up in their car. No one was available to give the car Last Rites. They were all carrying axehandles for the anticipated brawl with Lesnar. Rollins did an interview saying he was champion and going to remain that way, then asked if Lesnar was a real man or just Heyman’s bitch. 

Lesnar came out, saw three men in the ring with axehandles waiting for him, then backed off. Lesnar then called for Heyman, who carried a trunk containing a fire kit, which included two axes. Instead of getting into the ring, Brock started destroying the car. Cole dropped in a line of how Lesnar was his own Minnesota Recking Crew. Lesnar destroyed one of the axes after he drove it into the driver’s door. Then Lesnar tore the door off the hinges. Mercury and Noble made a rush at Lesnar, but Brock dropped them effortlessly. Lesnar gave Noble a Kimura and Cole screamed how he had broken Noble’s arm. Lesnar gave Mercury two suplexes onto the car, the last of which broke a windshield. Lesnar got in the ring with Rollins, who ran out of the building with Lesnar chasing him. Lesnar got back in the ring and posed with the WWE Heavyweight Championship strap.  

The New Day defeated Lucha Dragons (10:16) 

The Prime Time Players were at ringside. JBL and Titus O’Neal exchanged barbs at ringside on commentary. Darren Young didn’t say anything, and O’Neal started doing play-by-play after Sin Cara got the hot tag. He was ten times more engaging than Cole. Kalisto and Sin Cara went for stereo topes, but Sin Cara totally missed when Xavier Woods moved Kofi Kingston out of the way. Big E. gave Kalisto a belly-to-belly suplex on the floor. Big E. pinned Sin Cara after the Midnight Hour.  

Steve Austin was revealed as the man on the cover for WWE2K16. Cole made it clear he’s back in the WWE solely as a character for the video game.

As Cena came out, they showed highlights of Finn Balor beating Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship from Saturday’s show in Japan. 

Cena called out his challenger, but Owens came out and said every week the worst part of Raw is Cena spewing out the same garbage over and over. Owens got a lot of cheers. He said now that he’s lost the NXT Championship, he’ll face Cena tonight. Cesaro came out and said he wanted to face Cena since Owens cost him the title last week. Cesaro ordered Owens to get out of the ring. Owens left and went down the aisle, looking back like he was picking his spots. 

John Cena (C) defeated Cesaro to retain the U.S. Championship (30:01)

A tremendous match, though perhaps ten minutes longer than it should have been. Both men kicked out of each other’s finisher. Cesaro had several attempts at a crossface trying to get a submission, but Cena got to the ropes each time. Finish came when both men were battling on the top rope. Cesaro teased a netualizer off the second rope, but Cena escaped and hit the AA off the second rope for the pin. Cesaro didn’t get a nod from Cena or any type of raise of the arm for his performance. Instead, Owens ran in, took an AA and left. It was like Cesaro was in another great match, but they wanted you to forget it as soon as it was over. 

SUMMARY: The main event finish left me torn. Cena deserves a lot of credit for having great matches week after week. But the elephant in the room says it is time for some major changes and to start taking chances on talent. Cesaro is lacking on the mic. But they could have made him a star tonight with a win, then have him face Owens at Battleground. Then the rubber match between Cena and Owens can wait for SummerSlam at the earliest. Instead, it seems Vince McMahon thinks the answer to declining ratings is to have Cena go over, like that’s any different from everything we’ve seen for the past 11 years. The biggest question is where does Cesaro go from here? If it’s the same place as where Ryback, Wyatt, R-Truth and many others have gone after a Cena program, then what does he gain from the past two weeks? 

WWE announced Friday that there will be an NXT show on 8/22 at the Barclays Center, the night before SummerSlam in the same building. The show will air live on WWE Network

That will mean WWE has booked the building for three straight nights as the following Monday Night Raw is also at the Barclays Center. Tickets go on sale on 7/18 for the NXT event.

The NXT event will go head-to-head with ROH’s Field of Honor event in Brooklyn that features their stars in addition to NJPW’s Shinsuke Nakamura and Kazuchika Okada.