After the biggest gap in the history of the Monday night ratings on 2/15, WCW went into its own version of a panic attack with morale hitting rock bottom.
Everyone was pointing fingers everywhere, as when the ratings came in, nobody could any longer pretend the new concept of pro wrestling television started one week featuring bad mini-movies that the announcers live don’t see was a success.
Tonight is the most anticipated Raw of the year, the famed Night After WrestleMania show where the fans who traveled in often take over the program, leading to a wild evening of live television. Now the question is, after building up to WrestleMania for three months, where does the company go from here and who do they trust? It’s a given that Roman Reigns will get a profoundly negative reception after his victory over HHH to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the third time. In regards to the Authority, the usual pattern is the night after they lose in a blowoff match, they get their heat back immediately. Perhaps Stephanie McMahon will return with her WrestleMania haircut as Aunty Entity from Mad Max Beyond Thuderdome as an added bonus.
Our coverage starts tonight at 8 ET.
The Big News: More than just a night after WrestleMania show, this felt like a milestone program where new stars debuted. And playing in front of a crowd that instantly got acts over, it made for as good a 3-hour Raw as possible. There were negatives, namely in the first hour. Shane McMahon was given “control” of the show by Vince McMahon, which is exactly what Vince was fighting against for weeks. There was no trace of the Authority. After winning the Intercontinental Championship last night, Zack Ryder dropped the title to the Miz after Maryse returned to distract Ryder. Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Enzo and Big Cass all debuted from NXT. Of that group, Enzo and Cass made a huge sensation and felt like guys who could be top faces. A.J. Styles will be the next challenger for Roman Reigns after winning an excellent four-way match against Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens and the returning Cesaro, who also came off like a potential star if the company will only let him.
Michael Cole said right at the top that the fans would be different from the standard Raw crowds, with JBL and Byron Saxton saying they were having fun.
Roman Reigns came out for his victory speech. No…..Vince McMahon came out. The fans even sang his theme song. Vince gloated over the Undertaker’s victory over Shane McMahon, but admitted when Shane climbed to the top of the Hell in a Cell, Vince thought to himself “Don’t do it.” He had no idea Shane would risk he life to achieve his goals, but it also reminded him of how foolish Shane was. Vince said this Raw would be one the fans never forgot.
Before Vince could leae, Shane came out. He was carried out on a stretcher last night and he gradually walked out. Vince thought Shane would be in a hospital bed. Crowd chanted “Thank you, Shane.” Shane, who had a scare on his left eye, said he was the only man in the family, he came out to shake his hand like a man and admit his father won. Shane thanked the fans and started to tear up. Fans chanted “You still got it.” Vince chastized the fans, saying it was because of them that Shane got the hell beat out of him. Shane then said goodbye.
Vince got mad and accused Shane of upstaging him. Vince said he thought of how crazy it would be for Shane to run Monday Night Raw. Fans chanted “Let him run it.” Vince said, to prove his point, he told Shane to run the show tonight. And with that, the point of last night’s match, in addition to five weeks worth of buildup, was largely rendered pointless.
The New Day came out next and the fans chanted along with Big E’s introduction routine. Big E. admitted that not everything went according to plan last night for them, but Kofi Kingston acknowledged getting to twerk with Shawn Michaels. Kingston also admitted Xavier Woods got stunned by Steve Austin. They held up the last flake of the giant box of “Booty-O’s,” and Woods held it up and sang in tongues last he was Indiana Jones holding the prized grail from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Fans knew the catchphrases before Big E. could even say them, and everyone looked elated at the response they got. Came off like they were the modern day New Age Outlaws or Edge and Christian.
The New Day (C) defeated King Barrett and Sheamus to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles (8:45)
Kingston pinned King Barrett after the Midnight Hour. Barrett collided with Sheamus before the finish. As will be the case all night long, the match was a backdrop for the crowd, who started doing the wave and chanted “We are Awesome” only a half hour into the show. Woods had to get on the PA mic and say the wave meant the fans liked Sheamus. That stopped the wave dead in its tracks.
Postmatch, Sheamus said the League of Nations are a group of elite athletes that should be champions, but aren’t. He said it was time to identify the weak link. Rusev and Alberto Del Rio held up Barrett, and Sheamus gave Barrett the Brogue Kick, then kicked him out of the ring. Fans chanted goodbye at Barrett.
Then, for whatever reason, Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman and Erick Rowman showed up and started brawling with the remaining League of Nations members, ending with Wyatt giving Sheamus Sister Abigail.
Vince left in a limo. He told Renee Young that he didn’t want to stay around a witness a disaster. Why the hell did he stay around last summer? He said Shane being in charge of Raw was only temporary.
Summer Rae did a prematch promo saying if she had been in charge of the Bad n’ Blond team, they would have won. She started running down Sasha Banks, who came out. Banks said she was still the boss and slapped Rae.
Sasha Banks defeated Summer Rae via submission (1:40)
Banks beat Rae with the Bank Statement. Even at 1:40, Rae was exposed.
Apollo Crews will make his debut tonight, and he and Shane shook hands bacstage. So how did Shane know his father would put him in charge before the show, allowing Crews to be booked? I know these shows are frequently booked with very little time in advance, but still.
They showed the mainstream media articles from various outlets that WrestleMania received. Every time Roman Reigns was shown, loud boos could be heard.
Apollo Crews defeated Tyler Breeze (1:54)
A standard debut squash where Crews pinned Tyler Breeze with a Spinout Power Bomb. Crews got a good response, but he’s not going to fly with the standard interview procedure.
Reigns and Charlotte were shown on the Today show.
Reigns came out to get booed out of the building. I mean, when Hulk Hogan got booed on Nitro in 1995, at least there was a vocal minority cheering him. This was an unanimous negative reception. There were “Reigns is Booty” signs. Reigns, who knew it was coming, said “I’m not a bad guy, I’m not a good guy. I’m THE guy.” That only made things worse. He challenged anyone from the back to fight him for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Chris Jericho came out and tried to turn the crowd against him. He might as well have been the Philadelphia 76ers facing the 1997 Chicago Bulls with this crew.
Jericho shouted down the fans, saying they weren’t going to hijack the show on his watch. He bragged about beating the “Internet favorite” A.J. Styles at WrestleMania and challenged Reigns. Then Styles came out, followed immediately by Kevin Owens (selling injuries from last night’s ladder match). Sami Zayn (not selling injuries from last night’s match). Fans sang Zayn’s theme song, which Reigns got a kick out of. Zayn got in the ring, and he and Owens immediately started brawling. Styles and Jericho also fought while Reigns hanged out by himself. Zayn did a flip tope on Owens. Jericho threw Styles out of the ring. Reigns gave Jericho a spear and got booed some more.
Backstage, Shane told Reigns that tonight’s main event would be a Fatal Fourway between Owens, Jericho, Styles and Zayn, with the winner becoming number one contender.
Baron Corbin debuted after winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Corbin stood in front of the Andre trophy and said he’s carved a path of devastation and destroyed dreams to get to Raw, and devastation awaits anyone who gets in his way.
Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler battled to a double countout (8:32)
Strange way to book Corbin in his debut. They have a whole crew of Social Outcasts back there waiting, but they put a solid midcarder in Dolph Ziggler in there with him. And Corbin doesn’t even get the win. Instead, he sells for half the match, which he doesn’t do well. Ziggler kicked out of his backup finisher, the Deep Six. Then they brawl into the crowd for a countout. Corbin looked like he had never heard of a countout and screamed “You’re the cause of this” to the referee. He gave Ziggler the End of Days on the floor, which is basically Sister Abigail with a deeper dip. Crews had a simple and standard debut. Corbin had a debut where the fans chanted for a beach ball, then got mad when it was taken away.
Titus O’Neal, in a commercial taped before he was suspended, invited fans to register for a contest where the prize is a trip to Disneyland where they would spend the day with his family.
Zack Ryder came out to a nice reception. Crowd chanted “You deserve it, Wo Wo Wo.” Ryder showed a photo of him as a child where he was with Razor Ramon holding his Intercontinental Championship. Last night, he had a chance to take a picture with Ramon, this time with Ryder’s Intercontinental Championship. He thanked his father, who looks like he could make bicep curls with Vince. Seriously, if he becomes a regular character like John Cena’s father in 2009, USADA may pay a visit while he’s in the garage changing oil. The Miz came out and said Ryder was lucky to win the match last night, and said if Ryder wanted to put his name alongside Shawn Michaels, Ramon and Miz, he would put the title right now. Ryder declined, but Miz said Ryder was just all hype. That got the match started.
The Miz defeated Zack Ryder (C) to win the Intercontintal Championship (10:26)
Miz won is a sequence where Maryse made her return. Miz started arguing with Ryder’s father, who shoved him down. This led to Maryse walking out of the crowd and confronting Ryder’s dad, and then slapping him. Ryder was distracted by all this, and Miz gave him the Skull Crushing Finale for the pin. Sad to see Ryder drop the title so soon, and it further devalutes the championship when it winds up back around Miz’s waist.
Owens did an interview blaming Zayn for him losing the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania, but Zayn wouldn’t cost him a chance for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. He said the road to KOMania 2 begins tonight.
The Vaudevillains will debut on this week’s edition of SmackDown. This team getting called up to the roster so soon smeels like a total Ascension job.
Lita was in the ring with all of the women’s wrestlers in the company. She put over the effort they put in their matches at WrestleMania, then formally introduced the first WWE Women’s Championship belt. Charlotte and Ric Flair (who, no doubt, had to be pulled away from the National Championship game, where his beloved UNC Tar Heels were playing) came down. Fans chanted for Bayley, which Cole acknowledged as saying “She isn’t here.” Fans sang soccer songs over her interview, as she was trying to put over her fellow wrestlers. She held up the title and said this was the future. Fans chanted “Women’s wrestling,” which made everyone in the ring smile. Charlotte said she wouldn’t have gone down in the history books as the new women’s champion without her father. She thanked everyone in the audience, whose energy fueled her to victory.
Charlotte said some of the wrestlers had been there 7 or 8 years, but she hasn’t even been here 1 year and she’s still champion. Charlotte turned her attention to Becky Lynch and Banks, saying they did it, but she did it. Lynch walked out, as did Paige, Tamina, Brooklyn, Eva Marie (not acknowledged), and everyone else. Then Nataliya told Charlotte she needs to learn something about humility. Natalya said she had given Charlotte some of her most difficult matches. Charlotte talked down to her and spoke badly of the entire Hart family. Natalya shot a double leg and briefly put her in the sharpshooter until Flair pulled Charlotte out.
Styles was interviewed by Young. He said this is a day of new beginnings. Shane is running Raw, Regins wants to face all challengers as WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and he came to the company not to lose one match at WrestleMania. He came to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion.
Another debut, this time a vignette with the artists formerly known as Los Matadores. This time, they had sans masks, outfitted in dress shirts and shorts putting over how great it was to live in Puerto Rico “unlike where you live.” No name was given for the act.
The Dudley Boyz defeated the Usos in a tables match (8:53)
There was a mix-up at the finish. Jimmy and Jey Uso were ready to perform simultaneous splashes to the Dudleys on each table, but Bubba Ray Dudley and Devon Dudley moved and the Usos crashed through the wood. The bell sounded, but it wasn’t supposed to. Bubba Ray then threw Jey threw a table stationed in the corner for the official finish, and Bubba yelled at the timekeeper for the screwup. Standard spots you see in every tables match, including where the Dudleys give Jimmy a double suplex, but Jey moved the table.
Zayn did a promo where Young actually asked him if he had ever been in a four-way match before. I could hear Gabe Sapolsky groaning from here. Zayn said tonight was bigger for him than WrestleMania. He said he was known as the Underdog from the Underground. Owens jumped Zayn from behind and power bombed him through a table backstage.
The Dudleys were still out there when Enzo Amore and Big Cass made their debut to a huge ovation. Enzo Amore did his whole routine and he was over instantly. Enzo called the Dudleys a couple of haters, then said Hate was nothing but love disguised as jealousy. Enzo cut down Devon saying he would put his lazy eye back to work. He said Bubba better think twice, it would be two more thoughts than he had all day. Fans started chanting “Enzo Amore” to the tune of “Seven Nation Army.” Cass challenged them to come down to the ring. Dudleys went to the ring, then retreated. Cass did his “Sawft” catchphrase and the fans knew it by heart. This debut couldn’t have gone any better for Enzo and Cass.
They’re back to doing guest stars. Next week, Dr. Phil will be featured.
It was announced by Cole that Zayn was out of the main event after getting attacked by Owens. Instead, Lillian Garcia announced Shane had appointed a replacement: Cesaro, who came out dressed like Bautista, then stripped down to his trunks.
A.J. Styles pinned Chris Jericho to win a four way for the number one contendership for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal Fourway that also included Cesaro and Kevin Owens (16:44)
This was a Raw match on the caliber of some of those John Cena U.S. Championship Series bouts last year. An excellent match where Styles won after hitting the Styles Clash on Jericho. Cesaro had his moments to shine, as well, and did the crowd ever love him. He threw forearm uppercupts to opposite corners with the fans eating up every one. There was a Tower of Doom spot where Styles took a bump off the top rope, which had to feel like hell after his back injury from earlier this year. Styles did a 450 Springboard Splash on Jericho. Later, Jericho attempted the Walls on Cesaro, who made the ropes. Excellent stuff.
SUMMARY: It felt like a new company. New faces abound with guys that are fresh acts who are already over. There was a great main event. No Authority, which seemed to make a difference in the fact that the show wasn’t built around who controls the company. It’s simply about who can get the championship from Reigns. This is a fresh start that a lot of fans have wanted for quite sometime. Can they sustain this? Or will the laziness of prior years take over, as it has done so often? We’ll see.
WWE just announced that there were 1,824,000 subscribers to the network as of today, the day after WrestleMania.
That number sounds fantastic on the surface, and isn’t necessarily negative, but of that, 370,000 ordered the month for free and all growth from last year was from adding new international markets, as the number of paid domestic subscribers was actually slightly down from the day after WrestleMania last year.
The real key will be the retention rate from those 370,000 free subscribers and comparison with last year.
They expect that with the free subscribers expiring and turning into paid subscribers at the same rate as usual, that the free month will lead to an average of 1,480,000 to 1,550,000 subscribers during the second quarter, an increase of from 1,233,000 last year.
George Barrios in the conference call noted that because of the free offer, that comparisons of paid vs. unpaid would be misleading and the difference after how many of this group transforms into paid after the one month trial.
They also said that overall, they are expecting first quarter OIBDA of $19 million this year and talked about a $70 million to $75 million range for this year. That figure would get profitability back in the range of where it was before the network was launched.
Paid subscribers as of today are 1,109,000 listed in the U.S., down from 1,123,000 listed in the U.S. last year. Keep in mind that the difference is a lot of outside the U.S. subscribers in foreign countries were listed as U.S. last year, so true U.S. numbers are likely up.
International paid went from 192,000 to 345,000.
Of the free subscribers, 281,000 are listed as U.S and 89,000 are listed as outside the U.S.
The WWE averaged 1.29 million paid subscribers in the first quarter of 2016, up from 927,000 last year, so there is significant year-over-year growth, but because of the ease of getting Mania free, the paid growth for day after Mania isn’t as significant.
Had they not offered WrestleMania free, no doubt paid would be significantly higher, but the question is where paid is one month from now before you can evaluate whether this was a success or not.
Dwayne Johnson arrived late last night in Dallas to start preparation for WrestleMania.
Johnson’s role on the show has not been announced and on Twitter he noted that last night at 2 a.m. he was in the stadium still working on what he was doing on the show.
Johnson wrote on twitter: “2 a.m. and still working on the show. Tomorrow night this stadium will be filled with 100,000 strong. what a night we have planned.”
Johnson has been working on the “Baywatch” movie but committed to the show publicly months ago. For insurance reasons, he wasn’t able to wrestle a match on the show as he and HHH one year ago was scheduled to be one of the main events.
At one point it looked like it was going to be difficult to even be a part of the show due to the filming of “Baywatch,” but he was able to make that happen.
It was noted to us a few weeks ago when most of the plans for the show were being formulated that Johnson was going to do what he wanted to do, and at the time he hadn’t told the company yet exactly what his plans were.
WWE’s annual hall of fame ceremony is upon us, with a mix of all-time greats, memorable acts, celebrities, and the debut of the Legacy Award. This year sees Sting and the Fabulous Freebird act as headliners, while Stan Hansen adds credibility, The Big Bossman finally joins the hall of fame, while The Godfather adds levity, Jacqueline provides the female entrant, and Snoop Dogg enters the celebrity wing. Something called the Legacy Award will also make its debut here, while Joan Lunden will be honored with the Warrior Award for her fight with breast cancer. The pre-show features a slew of interviews, and concluded with a touching tribute to Dusty Rhodes before the end of it. Byron also wore a ridiculous suit. Booker T is a smart man and says that his wife makes him wish that every night was a hall of fame night.
The hall of fame broadcast begins with a video package recapping how all-time greats are in the hall of fame…and also Jacqueline and Godfather. Jerry Lawler is the emcee, and says that this is favorite night of the year – and he truly means it. Like he does when that’s used for WrestleMania, or Tribute to the Troops. Godfather is the opening act, and he was now “a conductor of a train”. We see Godfather’s IC Title win and Ice T intro to show the heights that the character reached. The APA induct The Godfather and put him over as one of the toughest guys in history. JBL says that Godfather had to dumb his character down for TV and they say they still have the munchies from riding with him. They do an amusing bit where they can’t tell their whole stories on a family show, and then tell their wives that they actually don’t know him and are making this up on the fly. Godfather comes out looking trim and brings out one more ho train. Godfather gives a shout-out to his kids and has his grandson get a round of applause. Godfather says he’s not really a pimp…but he ran Cheetah’s, so he’ll leave that alone. Godfather tells the young guys to have fun, enjoy the time you have now, and go visit him and “chop it up”. I’m sure he’s just a really big salad fan.
Stan Hansen follows up Godfather, and we finally get to see his full hall of fame video recapping his career. Seeing Stan with bleach blonde hair in the ’70s is bizarre. Paul Heyman tells us that as a kid, he didn’t fear Godzilla or the boogeyman – he feared Stan Hansen for breaking Bruno’s neck. Stan’s highlight reel is amazing – even focusing just on his mannerisms and promos. Vader comes out and says he met Stan in a “small regional company called the AWA” – well, it was certainly down from its peak, but it wasn’t small in ’86. Vader admires Stan Hansen almost as much as Mr. T loves his mama. Vader talks about Stan breaking his nose before the match with Stan where his eye came out. After what might have been several decades, Stan comes out after Vader puts on googly eye glasses.
Stan looks pretty much the same as he ever did, but with grey hair instead of brunette. Stan thanks God for giving him a strong set of legs, and forgives him for getting shortchanged when it came to looks. He thanks JBL for keeping his name alive in the modern era and talks about Brody telling him if you have two ugly guys like them, if you find pretty ladies that love you, you’ve got it made. He’s proud of his kids for paving their own way in life, and thanks Terry Funk for breaking him into wrestling. Hansen puts over Bob Backlund as the best athlete in wreslting history, and talks about how they each had to sleep in their cars at times. Stan puts over Red Bastien and Frtz Von Erich for helping him out a lot in Texas. He enjoyed working against Rick Martel a lot as well and shares a memory of Rick Martel beating him in 9 seconds – and then gets in a little jab at himself for that being proof he’s done a few jobs. Stan talks about how much he admires Bruno for that rivalry and gets a big grin on his face.
Stan says he got caught in the middle of a wrestling war and left New Japan for All Japan – but worked for 26 years for Baba in All Japan on a handshake deal. He loved hooking up with Brody, and says that no one could keep up with them. He assures us he isn’t bragging, but hey, maybe he is with a bit of a wink. He loved working Jumbo and Tenryu, as well as the younger guys like Kobashi and Misawa. Stan thanks “the carpenters” in pro wrestling who built a foundation for him to stand on a main eventer. He thanks Texas and lets out one big “YOU!” with the horns. Stan’s speech was outstanding, even if Vader’s did drag on. Taker-Shane video package serves as an ad break.
Jacqueline is up next, and we get a career retrospective of her winning in the USWA, and then being a “trailblazer” in WCW by having a match with Disco. She joined WWE in ’98 and became the first African-American women’s champion. She is put over more in the video as being a pioneer and someone who opened doors for future generations. Bubba and Devon come out to induct her and Bubba says that they were excited to induct her because it was her choice and she chose them immediately. Bubba and Devon have one of the best parts of the show so far, with Devon starting to talk and Bubba saying “nah, just say testify” and Devon telling him to get his own damn tables. Devon talks about how Jackie would feign falling asleep to avoid a toll, and then “forgetting her wallet” when it came to pay her share of the rental car. Devon told a great story about Jackie “dabbing”, failing, but accepting a bet to do that tonight. She does it while coming out just to get it over with. The thanks Skandar Akbar for training her, talks briefly about going in the USWA, skips over WCW, and runs down her WWE career in Wikipedia-like fashion. She thanks Lita, Trish, Sable, and Terri – we see Nidia for a second here when Lita was shown.
The legacy award members of the hall of fame are introduced. Pat O’Connor, Frank Gotch, George Hackenschmidt, Mildred Burke, “Sailor” Art Thomas, Ed “The Strangler” Lewis, and Lou Thesz each get a video package showcasing some beautiful photos of each person’s career. It’s a shame that at least Gotch, Thesz, and O’Connor couldn’t go into the hall of fame formally – but at least they’re in somewhat, and it adds a small amount of on-paper credibility to things. The Fabulous Freebirds Hall of Fame video airs, and shows a slew of Von Erich stuff alongside “Freebird” playing. WWE did right by actually paying for the song, and the clips they showed allowed you to see how big a deal they were. New Day comes out in some amazing suits.
They get in some amazing lines about the Freebirds being a well-oiled machine working as a unit, while Big E talks about his unit being oiled while Woods loves blowing on his girl Franchesca II. Big E talks about the Freebirds paint showing that they were big…fans of the USA! In a perfect move once again, we get “Freebird” once again playing the Birds out to a sold-out arena in Texas. Hayes and Garvin come out looking ridiculous in a glorious way. Garvin is out looking like a high school chemistry teacher dancing to “Freebird” while Michael is out in a glittery pimp suit , a white and red “Badstreet USA” shirt, and a fanny pack while also sporting his Freebirds-era beard. Hayes is slightly blown up, while Garvin joked about needing oxygen and may in fact need it because he cannot say three words without breathing hard.
Garvin thanks Chief Jay Strongbow for training him, and then talks about drinking moonshine with Hayes and Tommy Rich at a barbecue. Garvin says that the attendance records will be smashed tomorrow, and Hayes says that “speaking of smashed, Buddy, Terry, Jimmy and I got an apartment…”. They can’t find the key, so Terry just kicks it down and they all just prop the door up and party. Terry tosses a table up through the ceiling, and then they got pissed at Buddy because they always did – so he took a big bump through it and said “well, we never drank coffee anyway”. Michael brings out Ray Gordy and Buddy Roberts Jr. Ray says he always joked that as a kid, his favorite wrestler was always Kevin Von Erich. He thanks WWE for this honor. Buddy Jr. thanks WWE for this and Ray says he’d sure love to hear more Freebirds stories. Garvin says it’s a family show, so they’re a bit restricted – but they’ll push the limit because the worst that can happen is Hayes getting fired. Jimmy Garvin says he was taking a shower and was given a golden shower by Buddy Jack. Hayes talks about getting some good advice on a strip club, but he knows that him going to a strip club wouldn’t be a good idea to avoid getting in trouble. David, Kerry, and Terry force him to go into the club. It’s not your average strip club – it’s a place where you’ll hear “Here’s Aunt Rosie after her third kid!”.
Michael Hayes was just minding his business playing Pac-Man before a biker talks smack to Michael, so Terry smacks him and they beat him up. Terry tells him “Michael…he’s got a wodden leg”, and Michael says he doesn’t care about that, he’s more concerned with leaving without getting stabbed. They try to make a deal with the bikers, but as one gets up, they see him reaching into his vest and they haul ass – but get to a back door that is locked. They go to the front door and the guy shoots, but luckily they got a head start since the guy’s got a wodden leg. He missed them and Terry laughs. Michael asks what the hell he was laughing at and he says “CUZ HE MISSED!” This got a huge roar of approval from the crowd and was eaily the best part of the show so far.
Garvin talks about renting an apartment to the rest of them and Percy, and Percy almost burning it down by throwing a fire-lit chair into the pool. Garvin talks about loving being valet for the day for Kevin, then facing Chris Adams and loving Patty – his wife of 47 years. Garvin thanks her, their kids, and grandkids. He says he was honored to be a Freebird before officially being in it, and without them, he wouldn’t have had the ability to be what he was in wrestling. Or be able to party with Michael, Buddy, and Terry – and he’ll cherish those memories forever. Hayes makes sure that the WCCW roster gets some love, with Garvin being shown in his WCW getup during this portion. Hayes thanks his mom, even though when he was a kid, he was trying to mack on a girl and she killed it by asking for dungarees in the husky department. “Hollywood” John Tatum gets a pop, and a caemo while Hayes thanks the writers of WWE – who get huge boos. Hayes says he was disgusted when he first heard “smiles on faces”, but he went to a house show, and realized just how true it was. Hayes says to prove how crazy he is, he thanks his ex-wives. Claire believed in him, while Lory gave him some of the craziest times he could’ve ever had. Michael thanks the McMahons for helping him out in dark times, and says that Linda is the only one who isn’t crazy – but she did only let him sing one song at Hunter and Steph’s wedding, and almost accidentally peed on her on a plane. Hayes says that if you don’t believe in yourself, you should because he never thought he’d be standing on-stage as a WWE hall of famer. Michael gives a tribute to his dog Jojo, who he lost two years ago. Hayes talks about being told years ago that you should cherish the time you have, and not worry about the time you’ve wasted.
He brings Kevin Von Erich out and says that the Freebirds were brothers because they loved each other, but calls New Day the “New Gay Guys” in an amusing little bit. He talks about loving and missing his brothers. He now has his sons Marshall and Ross, and after they got a chance to steal the show at Slammiversary, they get a nice cameo at the Hall of Fame too. He said they had a lot of fun beating each other up, it made for great TV, and God bless Texas. Hayes gives a shoutout to Badstreet USA and we hear that classic theme one more time on WWE TV before Hayes dances and then sings the song. Oh my God, this is glorious. Hayes is out to steal the show and keep his job at the same time. WWE gave Hayes 15 more minutes of fame tonight, and he took 90 – God bless him.
The Big Bossman hall of fame video features some great clips of him in the WWF while Miz talks about how fans in the Attitude era paid to see his hardcore matches. And I guess that Austin fella helped a bit too. Slick rattled off a slew of cliches about Bossman and said that his pockets are full of green thanks to him. He says that while his family lost a father and husband, heaven gained a Guardian Angel. Bossman’s theme hits and his family comes out to accept the award in his honor. One of his daughters says that it was a bit tough watching him wrestle when he was getting beaten up by Rikishi and having his face shoved into his backside. Al Snow gets a brief shoutout as “some dude” – which seems like the punchline to a Mick Foley standup joke. Angela, Ray’s wife shows the night stick and says that Ray loved his family before tearing up. She gets in a great line with “When you have Rick Steiner as your roommate for a few years, you learn a lot!”
Snoop Dogg highlight video sets up him going into the hall of fame. John Cena comes out to induct Snoop and gets a chorus of boos. He says that saying hi to Snoop doesn’t always mean hello. Cena says that Snoop’s WWE career began two years than his did, and he made more WM appearances than 10 of the wrestlers tomorrow. Cena says that WWE is Snoop’s home, which means that there could be some interesting results for tomorrow’s drug tests. He talks about calling himself the Doctor of Thuganomics years ago, and Snoop invited him into his studio and he got to make music with him. Snoop come sout looking amazing and saying he’s got to keep it hood and get a selfie with the crowd. Snoop says that “WWE is the number one sport in the world – not just America, but the world!” and puts over Cena for letting him live the WWE life when he visits. Snoop gives his cousin Sasha Banks a nice shoutout. He took her to WrestleMania in 2008 and she lit up. I bet he did too. Snoop was overjoyed to see her face on the side of AT&T Stadium. Her journey is something else, and he grew up seeing Gorilla and Andre live, and tells the crowd to give themselves a round of applause for being fans. Tony Atlas was an inspiration for Snoop, as were Rocky Johnson, JYD, Dusty Rhodes, and Ric Flair. Snoops raps about the hall of fame while reading lyrics off of his iPhone.
D
We get a rundown of Joan Lunden’s broadcasting career and battle with cancer, alongside her current role as a breast cancer advocate. Dana Warrior talks about how much she’s learned about life since losing Warrior two years ago. She cuts a great promo in this speech on how Real Housewives just copied WWE with table-flipping. Joan is put over as a mother, grandmother, and ultimate badass fighter for beating cancer and going into “Warrior Mode” to beat cancer. Joan says that due to cancer, she learned about how to become a warrior and overcome odds. She says that “there are no fans like the WWE fans”, which I’m sure was meant as a compliment, but could be misconstrued. Ditto “there is no other company like WWE!” She says that WWE has its Rock, but she has hers – it isn’t Don Muraco, but her husband.
Sting’s TV hall of fame video is shown again for the show – kind of a shame it wasn’t expanded upon for the full show since he is the main eventer on it. Ric pays tribute to Roddy Piper and Dusty Rhodes before tearing up, then composing himself to get Dusty’s wife to stand up. Ric puts over Charlotte as carrying the family tradition, and chats about Sting for a bit too before cutting a promo on Stan Hansen for losing to Rick Martel in 9 seconds, but he wouldn’t even sell for him – and Brody wouldn’t either! Flair told Sting to go to WWE years ago and rattles off his Sting-Flair formula. When he was asked to change it up, he said why – it works, and it sure did. It was a great formula for Flair and Bobby Roode replicated it perfectly in TNA. He puts over HHH as being one of the best ever, and loves HBK for carrying him at WrestleMania XXIV – and gets in a little dig at HBK for saying “just shut up and listen to me” for his WWE retirement match. Ric talks about Steamboat and says they’re each 0-4 for marriages, while DDP is only 0-2. He’s glad Sting finally got a chance to come to WWE because it’s the place to be. Ric says that he was sure Sting would get blown up at WrestleMania last year, but he didn’t – but HHH beat him then too.
Sting says he made his WWE debut on Raw in this very building, and how he didn’t know anything about wrestling until he saw Big John Studd, Andre the Giant, the British Bulldogs, and it was pandemonium when he saw them. Sting talks about not knowing what Waffle House was when he was just getting in, and Warrior having a crazy breakfast with tons of stuff just on top of other things. They pretty much lived in his ’83 T-bird and he promised God that he’d give back if he was able to make it in pro wrestling. Sting says that at one time, over 400 companies were making products with his likeness on there. He wonders if anyone still has a Sting air freshener. I bet a Snoop air freshener would sell quickly. He talks about the Seth match and Seth apologizing to him, but Sting telling them to let him talk – and he told him that he dressed as Sting for Halloween and “he had a shootin’ look on his face too!”. He rattles off some great lines. “One of the highlights of my career was teaming with Robocop and Leon, remember the White Castle of Fear – boy this WWE Network has a lot of good stuff on me…” He shares a tale of an NWO beating resulting in Kevin Nash spooning with him. He talks about Surfer Sting, Crow Sting, and asks if he should mention Joker Sting and does. Sting says that he was a chameleon, and it hurt him because he didn’t stand for anything and would fall for anything.
He made bad choices, and while people saw the Sting persona at its peak, in his real life, everything slipped through his fingers. In August of 1998, he was pinned by God. Since that point, his life has been back in order and he’s now with the fans, his wife, kids, mother, and daughter. He says he got bragging rights by appearing at WrestleMania and facing a great like HHH. He is proud to be a WWE Hall of Famer and thanks Jim Hellwig. A “one more match” chant breaks out and then an even louder “Undertaker” one happens. He thanks 2K for some advice, and thanks his trainers for getting him in shape for both WrestleMania and Night of Champions. He thanks Jim Ross for his advice over the year, and Michael Hayes.
Sting shows us his family, including his parents, who look fantastic for their age. He thanks his children and stepson for becoming the young men and women they’ve become. Sting says that without the fans, there wouldn’t be a Sting, Stone Cold, or Bruno. He enjoyed entertaining the fans for all the years he has. He announces his official retirement from wrestling tonight – and while it was something that was expected since September, it was still sad. He at least went out in the ring giving everything he had, and main eventing a WWE pay-per-view that wound up doing very well. He puts on some shades, grabs his bat and says “it’s not goodbye – just see you later”. Sting’s speech was excellent, and one of the better ones on the show. It’s a shame he didn’t mention Lex Luger in his speech – and a little surprising. Whle Michael Hayes stole the show, Sting’s speech felt genuine and was something to be remembered. Ditto for Stan Hansen’s. Snoop’s speech could be edited for a Sasha Banks video and make her a star in one night on Raw – it was that good.
To see all the screens for the show, just click here.
For those F4W Empire members riding the bus, as of now, the plan is for the buses to pick up the group behind the Hyatt Regency hotel, located at Hyatt Regency Dallas – 300 Reunion Boulevard – Dallas, Texas 75207, in the parking lot.
It’s NOT the side parking lot, it’s behind the hotel. Look for someone holding a sign directing you to the bus.
The first bus is scheduled to depart at 2:00 pm central time, the second bus will leave between 2:30 and 3:00, but do NOT be late. Ed will be outside the bus checking people in, and seating is first come first serve. The first bus needs 56 people on it.
After the show, the bus is leaving promptly at 11:00 pm central time. Please do not be late as you may be left behind.
Daniel Cormier has pulled out of his April 23rd rematch with Jon Jones due to an apparent knee injury. There have been reports of people seeing Cormier limping around earlier in the week.
Cormier lost the first bout against Jones by decision in January of 2015 at UFC 182. Cormier then won the UFC Light Heavyweight title over Anthony Johnson by submission in his next fight after Jon Jones was stripped of the title following a felony hit and run incident that ended in a plea agreement. Rumors are that Anthony Johnson has been training and is willing replace Cormier but there is no guarantee that Jones will accept the fight. Anthony Johnson since losing the title fight against Cormier has dispatched both Jimi Manuwa and Ryan Bader by knock-out.
The title fight was already in doubt when Jon Jones was arrested last week for violating his probation after being cited in Albuquerque, New Mexico for drag racing. Though that was resolved when Jones agreed to anger managment and driver improvement courses along with 60 more hours of community service.
There is already a title fight on the card between Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson and Henry Cejudo.
Friday’s NXT TakeOver: Dallas show on the WWE Network is one of the biggest the brand has produced up to this point with three big main events that sound great on paper, and should be great in execution.
If given time, the top three matches have a chance of being some of the best matches this weekend will provide:
– Reigning champion Finn Balor will defend the NXT title against Samoa Joe, a rematch from TakeOver: London event.
– Women’s champion Bayley defends against Asuka, who has a ton of momentum since debuting.
– Sami Zayn, who is making what will most likely be his last appearance on the NXT brand, will square off against a debuting Shinsuke Nakamura, who stunned the world by signing a WWE contract a few months ago after having a great run in New Japan Pro Wrestling.
– Austin Aries will take on the man who attacked him in his debut, Baron Corbin
– Apollo Crews faces off against “The Drifter” Elias Sampson
– NXT Tag Team Champions The Revival (Dash and Dawson) defend against American Alpha (Chad Gable and Jason Jordan).
Join us at 10 PM EST for our coverage!
Apparently, the Apollo Crews/Drifer match was bumped to dark match status. Apollo won in what was said to not be a very good match.
In case you were wondering, no, we didn’t have Triple H open this broadcast.
NXT Tag Team Championship: The Revival (Dash and Dawson) (c) vs. American Alpha (Jason Jordan and Chad Gable)
Crowd was really hot for this. Gable worked a lot of the match, and was the one being worked on as Jordan was waiting for a tag. They worked on him forever, though there were a few clever spots like Dash going through the ring and taking out Jordan just as Gable was going for a tag. They completely messed up a spot where the Revival were going for a powerbomb/clothesline off the top rope combo but didn’t get Gable up all the way and it looked really bad, and on top of that Dash went for a cover when he wasn’t the legal man and they just stood there for a few seconds, lost. “Botchamania” chants after that one. It picked right back up after that as Jordan was tagged and they went for a bunch of fun near falls that the crowd ate up. Gable had a bunch of clever nearfalls, he’s such a terrific athlete. They did a phantom tag as Gable had Dawson in the corner. Jordan surprised him with a spear, Gable tagged back in and hit their drop/suplex bridge finisher to win the titles. Good match despite the botch with some great heat.
Jim Ross, Michelle Beadle, Funaki and, most interestingly, Kota Ibushi were shown in the crowd. Announcers specifically mentioned the cruiserweight tournament when talking about Ibushi.
Baron Corbin vs. Austin Aries
Corbin has a cool new jacket. I know Aries is on the small side anyway but Corbin absolutely dwarfed him in comparison. Aries started off hot but Corbin cut him off and got the heat on him. He’s really found himself in terms of agressiveness which I think he didn’t have even going back a few months ago, he continue to improve well. Aries made a comeback but Corbin laid him out with the deep six (spinning side slam) on the outside. He went for the End of Days but Aries countered with a roll up into a bridge and got the win. Right finish as it protected Corbin and Aries got the needed win in his debut. Pretty good match.
Sami Zayn vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Crowd went ballistic the minute Nakamura came out. Song, entrance, everything fit him and was instantly over. Crowd is SUPER into this, far beyond anything else on this card so far. Good back and forth between both throughout. Nakamura was extremely comfortable doing his own thing and did all of his trademark spots. He’s one of the best in the world in terms of charisma and presence and it was completely represented here Zayn did the big running senton to the floor. Great back and forth sequence. Nakamura’s nose was busted open. “We want strong style” chant. More back and forth until Nakamura hit the spinning clothesline, like from the G1 final from a few years ago. He transisitoned into a triangle. Zayn tried to counter but Nakamura escaped. Zayn got in the koji clutch but Nakamura countered out of it. Zayn went for the helluva kick but Nakamura escaped and hit the reverse exploder and went for the boma ye but Zayn countered. Just great back and forth and the heat was incredible. Nakamura hit the knee strike to the back of the head then pinned Zayn with a high knee strike to the face for the win. Absolutely incredible match that is a surefire match of the year candidate. I think Nakamura’s going to be just fine in WWE.
Nakamura and Zayn shook hands after the match. Zayn stood in the ring as people were chanting “Ole” and “Thank You Sami”. He left to his own music to a big reaction.
NXT Women’s Championship: Bayley (c) vs. Asuka
Both women worked really well with one another and everything looked right on the money. A lot of back and forth. Asuka went for a kick but Bayley immediately latched on a kneebar in a cool submission. She worked on both Asuka’s knees. Asuka came back with the flying armbar and went into the seated position but Bayley countered with a roll up. Asuka latched on the Asuka lock, taking her to the floor. Bayley fought and fought, but eventually passed out and Asuka got the win, becoming the new Women’s champion. Crowd was stunned by this but ultimately cheered Asuka. Tough to follow the previous match but this was really good.
Bayley looked dejected after the match. Asuka left the ring, stared at Bayley, then headed up the ramp, posing with the title.
They showed Bobby Roode in the audience, so at the very least he’s on the radar.
NXT Championship: Finn Balor (c) vs. Samoa Joe
Balor came out with a chainsaw, I guess since it’s in Texas. Maybe he borrowed it from Dean Ambrose and will give it back after the match. Balor did a flying senton to the floor and Joe’s eye was immediately busted open big time, blood everywhere. It was actually from a headbutt sequence at the start of the match. Joe did a sick suicide dive to the outside. They had to stop the match several times as Joe’s eye was still bleeding, which the crowd didn’t like, chanting “Bulls***” and “F*** PG”. I don’t think it’s a PG issue but rather a a medical/commission issue. Some good back and forth once that was all cleared up. Balor went for the coupe de grace but Joe cut him off and hit the muscle buster for a nearfall. Balor got back up and hit the coupe de grace then tried to follow with the Bloody Sunday DDT but Joe came back with the kokina clutch. They did the Piper/Bret finish from Wrestlemania 8 where Balor used the turnbuckle as leverage and bridged himself over Joe on the floor, pinning him. Heat and intensity was there, and it wasn’t bad but the constant stoppages hurt it from being really great.
Joe looked both stunned and angry after the match, and simply left with Balor celebrating in the ring as the show ended. Another great NXT Takeover event, watch the Zayn/Nakamura match above everything else but each match was good to great in it’s own right.
John Cena said he was already medically cleared in an interview done at the beginning of the week with Complex Sports.
In the interview, Cena said he felt he could have come back two weeks ago. He said he can do anything they ask of him to do and when they call, he’ll be there.
“If you ask me today, I should’ve been back two weeks ago. I’ve logged almost 400 hours of physical therapy. I got 111 visits in 12 weeks time. I go every single second I can. People say I have a Wolverine-like style of recovery. I was given a nine month quota to come back and after three months I can tell you that I am ready to do asked of me possible. It’s a matter of when they call me.”
What is notable about that is if Cena’s return was looked at to be a major surprise, he would have never answered the question that way since he’s basically saying he’ll be back imminently.
*As the story goes, there were practices for aspects of a big stunt on Sunday.
*On last night’s Steve Austin podcast with Mick Foley, where daughter Noelle did a cameo, they confirmed earlier reports of Foley doing a family reality show of the network, which will include Noelle training to be a WWE performer. She’s already on the network doing some segments.
*NXT will start live at 8:30 p.m. with a few dark matches. The TV broadcast starts at 9 p.m. The’s local time, add an hour later for Eastern time. Ticketholders, or at least some, were sent an e-mail this morning telling them about the new start time for the show at the Bailey Hutchison Convention Center.
*Unlike last year where things were spread out all over town, NXT, Evolve and ROH are all within walking distance of each other. Going to be weird as a lot of people with ROH tickets are also going to NXT, so I’m guessing there will be an exodus about 50 minutes into the ROH show.
*It’s hilarious, because based on the vibe here, if Roman Reigns turns, it may get one of the biggest babyface pops. That’s all I hear of people saying how much they want him to turn.
*Mauro Ranallo will be announcing the first three matches of WrestleMania, and hosting the WWE Network first hour as well as the USA Network simulcast second hour.
*WaleMania was last night. First, I want to say think you to everyone I got to meet from the site last night. It was really cool meeting people from all over the country and all over the world. Tons of wrestlers were there and I’m probably leaving out a ton of names but among them were Jim Ross, Konnan, Kevin Sullivan, Big E, Alberto Del Rio, Chris Jericho, Zack Sabre Jr., Eddie Edwards, Will Ospreay, Mojo Rawley, Enzo Amoe, Liv Morgan, Amanda (Mandy Rose) from Tough Enough, MVP, Carlito, Primo, Mark Henry, Taya, Pentagon Jr., Drago, Melissa Anderson (Mariposa), Kobra Moon, Justin Roberts, Virgil, Teddy Haft, Chelsea Green (recovering from a broken collarbone while wrestling in India), Noelle Foley, several ex-WWE writers like Alex Greenfield and Ed Ferrara (who now is a teacher at Full Sail University and has never attended an NXT show). Wale is a huge fan and student of wrestling. This looks to be an annual part of the WrestleMania weekend on the Thursdayprior to the show.
*About the only actual news that came out of the event was MVP saying that he’s starting with Lucha Underground.
*There is a real buzz among this audience regarding Lucha Underground. I think it’s the combination of something entirely different and the hot live audience that gives the show a cool feel. They made a huge mistake not running a live event this weekend.
*Bryan and I will start our nightly audio shows tonight after the NXT show.