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  • UFC TUF 22: McGregor vs. Faber episode 9 recap: Watermelon drops of doom

    The Notorious Quote of the Week: “As a warm up for the Aldo fight, I’d kill him! But they wouldn’t do it. They wouldn’t sacrifice your old ass for a fight.”

    Last week, Team McGregor took a 5-3 lead. The final first round fight tonight is Abner Lloveras from Team McGregor and Jason Gonzalez from Team Faber. Here we go!

    McGregor praises his team for being mentally strong. He notes that nobody has crumbled, or had an emotional breakdown, or begged to go home. “It’s a good experience to be here doing this show. We’re having a good time.” Abner Lloveras says (and I quote) “My game plan is to work on my well rounded.” McGregor says that he’s so experienced he doesn’t need to give Lloveras much advice. Lloveras: “You really need to trust in yourself and work out a lot in the gym to be a better fighter.”

    The focus shifts to Team Faber. Urijah: “Jason is 90% standup so Abner’s game plan will be to take this fight down and get a submission.” TJ Dillashaw: “Gonzalez picks up on it really quick. He’s got a good style and he stays striking long.” Gonzalez: “I’m just coming in there well prepared for whatever comes at me.”

    It’s time for the annual COACHES CHALLENGE. They drive out to a tent in the middle of the desert, while Dana White gets to cruise in via helicopter. The helicopter is actually key though – they have to fly over the top of a giant bullseye and drop five watermelons. The coach with the most points at the end wins $10,000 and $1,500 for each member of their team. Confidence is high for “Mystic Mac” as we go to break.

    Faber gets 25. McGregor gets 25. Faber gets 10. McGregor gets 10. Faber gets 50. McGregor gets 10. Faber gets 0. McGregor gets 25. Faber hits a bullseye on his very last shot for 100 to take 185-70 lead. McGregor can’t win now even if he hits the bullseye – it’s all over. McGregor: “F–k the challenge. I feel sick as a dog over that. I don’t like losing. Congratulations to that little buffet twerp.”

    Gonzalez talks about his family being from Nicaragua and living through the civil war there. Lloveras talks about his wife and baby daughter. “I have them on my mind always and I will for sure fight harder to give them a good life – hopefully.”

    Lloveras is my Fighter to Watch for this episode, and not just because he’s in the fight. He’s an Olympic level boxer, a black belt in muay thai, and a brown belt in jiu-jitsu. He’s the oldest guy on the show but at 19-7-1 he’s also among the most experienced. Gonzalez is also a Fighter to Watch, because he’s young and strong and anybody praised by Dillashaw for his striking is doing something right.

    No weigh-ins today – we’re going straight to the fight. Lloveras: “P–ies don’t come here to fight. We’re big boys and we need to show that.”

    Lightweight: Abner Lloveras (Europe) vs. Jason Gonzalez (USA)

    Lloveras is in the gray trunks and Gonzalez the blue. Lloveras is as predicted looking for takedowns and Gonzalez does a good job of stuffing the attempts, just missing with a high kick on the break that could have ended the fight. He pours it on as Lloveras backs away and lands a big knee to the body. He hits another jumping knee and Lloveras clinches up for a leg trip – he gets it at 2:55 and is quickly in full mount. He loses it and gets it back at 3:45. Big elbows and big rights from on top. Lloveras did more in those last two minutes than Gonzalez did the first three so I’d give him the round.

    If this is going three then Gonzalez is going to win this round, but for the first minute he’s getting beaten to the punch and is in danger of being single legged again. Lloveras gets his takedown at 1:10 but Gonzalez gets right back up and avoids a back mount. Lloveras gets a takedown again at 1:40 and another full mount. It’s not going well for Gonzalez. Gonzalez manages to push off the fence and roll to escape but Lloveras gets the mount again at 2:30. Gonzalez tries again to push off and gets up at 3:15. Lloveras goes right for a single leg but has to reset before he can get it at 3:42. That’s pretty much a wrap as Gonzalez is exhausted from fighting to get up and breathing hard. He pushes off at 4:20 and stands but is taken down with ease five seconds later. The judges should make this unanimous.

    20-18 X3 for Abner Lloveras. Not shocking at all. Team McGregor finishes the first round of fights with a 6-3 lead.

    The gimmick moment of the show has arrived as one winner has to be cut. It would be more fair to cut one of McGregor’s guys since he has more men in the hunt, but it’s Dana White’s call in the end as to who didn’t “perform.” He sits down with Faber and McGregor. Mystic Mac immediately calls for Gruetzemacher to be cut, and defends Svensson by saying it may have been boring but at least Svensson got a submission.

    White agrees. He says Lloveras has terrible ground and pound skills, but he got the submission and the win; meanwhile Gruetzemacher had points where he could have gone for broke and didn’t so he blew it. Now McGregor has to match up his own guys against each other, but before he can do that he and Faber get into a pissing war about who makes more money and who would win if the two of them got in a fight – which is where this week’s Notorious Quote of the Week comes from.

    Time for the announcement of the quarterfinals. Dana White informs Gruetzemacher that he’s cut, but tells him to stay ready in case anybody on either team gets injured – if they do he’s back in. The first fight is Artem Lobov vs. Martin Svensson. There’s little doubt in my mind Svensson wins that. The second fight is Saul Rogers vs. Ryan Hall. That’s more of a coin flip. The third fight is Marcin Wrzosek vs. David Teymur. I’ve got “The Polish Zombie” in that one. Last but not least it’s Julian Erosa vs. Abner Lloveras, and I heavily favor the latter in that bout. Ryan Hall is now the best hope of Team Faber winning at the end and he’s no better than a coin flip.

    We move on from this week to see if “Mystic Mac” can run the table and have an all Team McGregor finals. Join us next week!

  • UFC 193 Fan Feedback

    Hi Dave,

    I was at Etihad Stadium for UFC 193 today and saw the whole show from the first fight.  A long day and the Struve fight took the wind out of the sails, but everyone left buzzed after the main event.

    Thumbs up, even without the historical main event.

    Best Fight: Ronda & Holly

    Worst Fight: Struve & Rosholt (although at times this looked more like training and sparring)

    Prior to the main event I wasn’t sure what I thought he best fight was, as there were several goods ones and several impressive performances, particularly from Nguyen, Matthews and Whittaker.  The co-main event was also very good, although there was a mexican wave during round 4 for some reason.

    Holly’s performance was stunning and near faultless.  To see it unfold, see Ronda start to succumb to damage and fatigue and culminate in the KO was amazing.  At the end of round 1 it looked like Ronda was in big trouble, but you still never bet against a champion with a reign like hers.  Holly winning felt like a feel good moment too and the place erupted.  This was a fight we won’t be forgetting.

    Crowd reactions were good all day, although there were a few flat spots, so will be interesting to see how that translated to TV.  Ronda got the biggest reaction for the day, but the biggest overall reaction was the finish to the main event and then the start of Holly’s interview.  We couldn’t hear what she was saying at first.

    Daniel Arnephy

    UFC 193

    Thumbs Up. This event didn’t have a classic back-and-fort fight but from a historical standpoint (first show on that part of the world, massive attendance, and the end of Ronda’s streak) this was a classic show. Saw the event at a local bar and like Ronda’s last few matches the place was packed with more women than ever. She, Floyd Mayweather and maybe Miguel Cotto, are the only ones who moves the needle that way, and the other two don’t draw as much young-single women. As for the future I think that UFC just hit the lottery; instead of just having Ronda vs. Cyborg as the next big fight, now they have all kinds of potential ones: Rousey vs. Holm 2 (UFC 200 with Ronda talking more than ever), Rousey vs. Cyborg (who now looks like the biggest idiot because of all the wasted opportunities to make the weight and face Ronda), and Cyborg vs. Holm, plus all the future combinations out of those matches. Fedor, Silva, Barao, and now Ronda; Aldo next?

    Best Fight: Holm vs Rousey. Just because of the result. The reaction to that result was like when Lesnar beat Undertaker at Mania, total disbelieve. As to why it happened is anyone’s guess. Holm played her plan perfectly; Ronda walked into Holm’s forte instead of insist on her clinch and ground game strength. Also, and this is just trying to find out something where there is nothing, on the weigh-in Ronda looked skinnier than ever and in the fight she looked bigger than ever; maybe that weight change has something to do with her less than stellar performance. Again, Holm fought the perfect fight, so she deserves all the credit. 

    Best KO: Holm. Her name is Holly and she’s “The Preacher’s Daughter”, so maybe it was a miracle; we’ll see at the rematch.

    Leonardo II Mendez

    San Sebastian, PR

    Dave,

    I’m not going to get into details about the fight itself but Rousey didn’t look like herself.

    However this was the first UFC PPV I have ever purchased and my wife was just as pumped as I was.

    Thanks

    Craig Staunton

    Thumbs sorta down. Kinda lackluster card, even with the upset. Usual shitty homie local yokel officiating (and production work on this one. Lotta indy mistakes.)

    Best fight: Matthews-Arreola, except the finish.

    Worst fight: Walsh-Kennedy & Rosholt-Struve

    Best performance: Holm

    Worst performance: Rousey

    KO:  Holly (HM to Moontasri)

    Sub: Nguyen by default

    Ben Nguyen remains impressive blowing away Ryan Benoit with a clean quick KD, mount, backtake and RNC. Late sub Anton Zafir gasses doing 1stR top control and James Moontasri coming up from 155 to 170 takes him out with a SBK/SBF combo that breaks some bones. Patrick Walsh and Steve Kennedy go three almost comically inept rounds that have the Ozzie crowd booing both homies. Kennedy loses. Dan Kelly dominates Steve Montgomery early and late and should take a 29-28 and does on all cards. 

    Danny Martinez just too strong for Richie Vaculik and takes a competitive but clear 30-27. Very easy night for Gian Villante, paint job on Anthony Perosh, who suffers his second consecutive quick KO and at 43 might wanna rethink things. Kyle Noke blows Peter Sobotta away, dropping him quickly with a front kick to the floating rib and finishing with G&P. In a smelly finish to the most dramatic and competitive fight of the night, veteran Akbarh Arreola drops local phenom Jake Matthews with a HK in the 1st and has him in trouble but Matthews survives and finishes the round on top. Matthews gets the early TD in the 2nd and busts Arreola up with elbows till the bell. The Ozzie cut guy doesn’t use the Enswell and the Ozzie doctor stops the fight in the corner with Arreola clearly still able to see out of the eye.

    Jared Rosholt plop and schmops Stefan Struve for 2R then Struve sort of wakes up and probably wins the 3rd. The joint with great force is stunk out. 29-28 UD. Dreadful.

    Uriah Hall steps in late again this time with nothing to gain and everything to lose, having just beaten a much higher profile guy in Mousasi and Robert Whittaker being no gimme. Whittaker keeps Hall off balance most of the fight. Uriah makes a few too many mistakes than you can with this guy. Hall gives his best shot to pulling it out in the 3rd but too little too late. 30-27 or 29-28 and it’s 2 column from A and 1 column B.

    Bigfoot Silva looking visibly aged and Mark Hunt looking comparatively lean, for him. WAY anticlimactic after their war a couple years back as not much action for 3+ minutes then Hunt scores a KD with a right to the temple and the Ozzie ref VERY quick to jump in and stop it. Feh.

    Valerie Latourneau more competitive than expected with Joanna J and stays in the fight all the way. Doesn’t come close to winning but shows JJ may not be as all that as she looked the last couple times out (against smaller fighters, Valerie is bigger.) I had 50-47 (3-0-2 in rounds), cards were 49-46 x 2, 50-45 (VL appeared to at least draw the 1st.)

    The main has already been beat to death so here’s the 20/20 hindsight.  Like I and many others said going in, Holly Holm was the right style to trouble Ronda Rousey. Like was obvious, Ronda wasn’t her usual self mentally or physically. And obviously Holly’s MMA cred was a big question mark. But here’s what the key turned out to be: the assumption going in was was the the question was, has Ronda’s striking improved to the point where she could neutralize Holly’s enough to impose the clinch or ground game where she would have an overwhelming advantage, or rather how long would it take. It turned out that the answer was Holly’s grappling was more than good enough to neutralize Ronda’s and that the overwhelming advantage was Holly’s on the feet, or it was last night anyway. Ronda’s gotten away with that stupid side headlock on everybody else (except McMann blocked it and it didn’t matter anyway). Holly was the first one to use the basic counter every wrestler knows, the Greco Roman Backdrop, successfully. Edmund was no help and Ronda needs better wrestling, better Muay Thai, and somebody in the corner who’ll tell her that she just got her ass kicked when she did, not that she ‘did great’, and that if you’re getting countered to STOP FUCKING LEADING. Bad part for business is obviously that Holly has the personality of Wonder Bread but oh well.

    Crimson Mask

    First…I LOVE HOLLY HOLM!

    Now, onto business… What do you do if you’re UFC? Putting on my Promoter/Fantasy Booker hat for a minute…

    The plans, as I understood them, was to do Rousey V Cyborg at UFC 200 in July. That’s now out the window. So now, it’s the Holly v Ronda rematch/ Scrap that too, and do THIS instead…

    HOLM v CYBORG -and- ROUSEY v CARANO

    –Gina “retired” with 1 loss. Rousey has 1 loss. 
    –Gina was the absolute darling of MMA. But left before the explosion. UFC, open your pocket book/do whatever it takes to compel Gina to come back.
    –Ronda: chance to rehabilitate your holier-than-thou attitude.
    –“Embedded” –and the media of course– could build THIS fight
    to be bigger than an immediate rematch of Rousey v Holm could ever be
    –On the same card, the “indestructible” bad guy (well, bad girl) Cyborg invades to attempt to destroy the now also-seemingly-indestructible-but-everyone’s new darling Holly Holm.
    –The winners face one another later in the year. And oh yeah, now that Rousey is no longer the call-all-the-shots-boss, if weight is an issue –for any of these ladies– go to catch at 140lbs., which is probably better for all 4 anyways.
    –Now, you have a division with real depth and fan and media appeal. And that’s BEFORE you get to Zingano and Meisha (which –all due respect Dana– feels lackluster at this point)

    You’re welcome Dana. If you wanna throw me 10 cents for each PPV buy, I won’t turn it down.

     Rick Bassman

    Good show overall. For what it’s worth the place I watched the fight at tonight had close to about 300 people packed in. Would say 3/4’s of the crowd stood and cheered the finish of the Holm fight. Very few left with their heads down. Hall/Whitaker was my favorite fight aside from the main event 

    Ken Phillibaum

  • WWE Superstars results: Fandango comes ‘home’, Dudleys team with Ryback

    The Big Takeaway:

    The Manchester crowd made this show infinitely better. Fandango was like a hometown hero in his win over Bo Dallas and The Dudley Boyz and Ryback were hugely entertaining in their win against The Ascension and Stardust.

    Show recap:

    Fandango beat Bo Dallas (3:48)

    Fandango comes out to a huge pop with literally everyone doing the Fandango; to the untrained eye, you’d think he was one of biggest stars in this company. It must have been a gigantic ego boost for him. They lock up and Dallas locks in a headlock. They chain until Dallas runs into a drop kick. They lock up again and this time Dallas slips round and uses an O’Connor roll for a two count and this means its victory lap time. Of course, it is scouted by Fandango who clotheslines Dallas out of his boots.

    Back in the ring, Dallas uses the top rope to choke Fandango, hits a big clothesline for two and then starts working him over with knees to the back. Dallas puts on a rear chin lock and Fandango is able to get out with a side suplex. Fandango then gets the heat with clotheslines and uses his newly acquired Randy Orton scoop slam. Fandango then goes up top and they tease the superplex but Dallas is fought off and Fandango hits The Last Dance for the win. The finish was kind of out of nowhere, but the match was never going to live up to that stellar reaction.

    The Dudley Boyz & Ryback beat The Ascension & Stardust Neville (7:43)

    This is all very whacky, but it sort of works and this is the ideal show for it. In the markets that this still gets TV airtime, this is very much aimed at the younger demos and so, no, we didn’t get tables. Konnor and D-Von lock up, “we want tables” chants immediately echo around the arena. Bubba Ray then tags in and runs right into a big boot. Konnor tags in Stardust, who ceremoniously strips off his glove and uses it to slap Bubba Ray round the face. This act of heinous disrespect makes Bubba Ray so mad that he hip tosses Stardust and then does the Dusty elbow on him, complete with Dusty moves and gyrations. This was great. Then the ring fills, and The Dudleys hit the 3D on Viktor and the babyfaces stand tall as we go to a break.

    When we get back, D-Von and Stardust are in and D-Von now plays babyface in peril for some time. Viktor blind tags in to take out D-Von and stomps away on him. Konnor comes in and they double team on D-Von. Konnor then works over D-Von in their corner until Stardust comes in to take over with kicks and stomps on him. Stardust leaps outside and teases going for a table, mockingly whipping the apron up and miming looking for one. He then comes off the top rope with a double axe handle. Then he knocks Bubba Ray off the apron but then runs into D-Von who uses a backbreaker and is finally able to give the hot tag to Ryback.

    Ryback takes out everyone, Viktor and stardust take press slams and Konnor takes a huge powerbomb. All three do the “feed me more” together while the numbskull heels get to their feet and stagger into triple meat hook clothes. Then they do the Whassup on Viktor followed by a crowd lead “D-Von, get the tables!” They hit the 3D on Viktor for the win. This was goofy, house show fun in front of a great crowd. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that.

  • WWE Leipzig, Germany house show results: Dean Ambrose vs. Kevin Owens rages on

    Submitted by Markus Spitzner

    From Arena Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany

    – (Non-Title) 3-on-2- Handicap Tables Match: The Dudley Boyz (Bubba Ray Dudley & D-Von Dudley) defeated The New Day (Big E, Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods). Kofi ate a 3D through a table.

    – Zack Ryder defeated Darren Young via roll-up.

    – Cesaro defeated The Miz. Longest match, Cesaro positively over with all of Germany.

    – WWE Divas Champion Charlotte (c) defeated Alicia Fox and Paige in a triple threat match. At first, Paige and Alicia worked together, but then they got into a fight. Charlotte pinned Alicia.

    – In a street fight, “Demon” Kane defeated The Big Show via chokeslam through a table.

    – Curtis Axel defeated Bo Dallas via roll-up. Dallas protests after the match, challenges anyone in the back to a match. R-Truth answers. Dallas quickly backtracked, and challenged Truth to a dance-off instead.

    – R-Truth defeated Bo Dallas.

    – Dolph Ziggler defeated Tyler Breeze (w/ Summer Rae) via Zig Zag. Summer was ringside at first, but got caught interfering.

    – Dean Ambrose defeated WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens via DQ after a chair shot. After the match, Ziggler, Breeze, Cesaro, the New Day, and the Dudleyz all came out. Owens took finishers from all the babyfaces to end the show.

  • WWE Belfast house show results (11/10): Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose

    Submitted by Barry Sheppard

    – From the SSE Arena in Belfast

    – Night begins with guest General Manager Ric Flair. Crowd predictably went nuts for Flair.

    – WWE Tag Team Titles Elimination Match: New Day def Dudleys, New Day, and Prime Time Players

    Prime Time eliminated first. New Day win with a pin on Devon. Very little actual wrestling. Poor match. Woods put through a table with a power bomb after the win. 

    – Zack Ryder def. The Miz 

    Ryder gets the pin in uneventful match.

    – Sheamus def. Cesaro

    Good reactions for both. Sheamus wins with brogue kick in an entertaining match.

    – WWE Divas Champion Charlotte vs. Paige vs. Alicia Fox

    Charlotte made Fox tap out to retain title. Paige was noteworthy for generating good heat with crowd. 

    – Kane def. Big Show in a no-DQ match

    Kane wins by chokeslam through a table after Show tried coming off the turnbuckle.

    – Curtis Axel def. Bo Dallas

    Axel pins Dallas in less than a minute.  Dallas protests he wasn’t ready, challenges anyone in the back to a match. R-Truth answers. After some stalling and a pointless dance-off, Truth pins Dallas in the less than a minute. Crowd less than impressed. 

    – Dolph Ziggler def. Tyler Breeze with Summer Rae

    Decent match with quite a few back and forth pin attempts. Summer Rae banished from ringside by referee. Ziggler gets pin with a superkick. 

    – WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose

    Decent enough match. Owens gets himself disqualified with a chair shot.  Attacks Ambrose with chair after the bell. Ziggler runs in and makes the save, Sheamus comes in attacks Ziggler. Cesaro runs in and gets Sheamus with Cesaro Swing, New Day run in to attack Cesaro, closely followed by Dudleys who join the melee. Dudleys, Ambrose and Cesaro corner Owens and Ambrose exacts revenge.

    All in all and average enough house show. 

  • Ric Flair surprise appearance at Raw and other off-air notes

    Submitted by Stephen Lyon

    I attended the WWE Raw TV taping in Manchester, England, Monday. Here’s some notes on some things you didn’t see on tv, and some overall thoughts. This was a completely different show in so many ways from the lacklustre WWE house show that I attended in Liverpool last night.

    – Crowd make up was completely different. There were still some kids there, but there were far more adults, and it seemed much more like a Wrestlemania weekend crowd, in that it was the hardcores, with people travelling from different parts of the country to attend the taping. The arena looked full, with no areas curtained off.

    – The crowd was very hot all night and made it seem like a hot product. They only went into ‘business for themselves’ during the opening RAW match featuring Reigns vs Big Show, doing the wave, and chanting ‘we are awesome’. Thankfully they got it out of their system and from that point forward, they were a really good traditional-style wrestling crowd. It was really clear who was over and who was not.

    – For Superstars, it opened with Fandango pinning Bo Dallas with a top rope legdrop. Fandango got a great crowd reaction, with virtually everyone doing the dance – a complete 180 from the previous day in Liverpool. Bo’s goofy gimmick was also cheered.

    – Dudleys & Ryback beat Stardust & the Ascension. This was so funny. The Dudleys got a huge reaction coming out. Then when it was announced to be a six man tag and their partner Ryback was introduced, everyone booed Ryback. People just wanted to see the Dudleys on their own and not team with a ‘new generation’ babyface. Fun match, Dudleys won with the 3D on one of the Ascension, I think Viktor.

    – They showed lots of WWE corporate promotional videos pre-RAW, including the Wrestlemania 31 recap video. Hilariously, every single shot of Hulk Hogan was edited out of the Triple H vs Sting recap. It was unbelievably skilfully done.

    – The opening RAW segment with Triple H and Roman Reigns, I thought, was really good. Triple H did a great promo, and they made the storyline clear going forward. Crowd desperately wanted Reigns to accept Triple H’s offer of becoming the Authority’s guy and booed heavily when he turned it down. The funny thing was, as much as Reigns was booed, I saw tons and tons of adult males buying and wearing the new Reigns t-shirt, which was by far the top seller at the merch stands. My perception is, at least amongst the crowd I was with tonight, he doesn’t have the same negative stigma that Cena has, but people don’t want to like him as a babyface, they want to like him as a heel (if that makes sense). It’s such a weird dichotomy that the best way to get him over as a babyface is to turn him heel (a throwback to that old Steve Austin/Rock ‘Rebel’ thing, I think).

    – Owens got a big babyface reaction, even though he ripped on the Royal Family in his pre-match promo.

    – Crowd chanted ‘We want Sasha’ loudly throughout Natalya vs Naomi, with Sasha at ringside. There were tons of ‘Sasha Section’ and ‘Cesaro Section’ signs.

    – Crowd loudly chanted NXT throughout the show.  

    – Wayne Rooney of Manchester United was introduced early on in the show. Ryan Giggs (Man Utd legend and current assistant manager) and Darren Fletcher (a former United player) were all sat together. Rooney was the only one name-checked on-screen. I’m sure Rooney is at least known in the U.S., but it cannot be underestimated how big a star this guy is in the U.K. at this time. He’s arguably one of the 3 most famous sportspersons in the UK right now (and has been for many years), and is an A-list mainstream celebrity in his own right. There was a 1 hour documentary on his life shown in prime time on BBC1 just a few weeks ago. I will be shocked if his angle with Wade Barrett doesn’t make U.K. sports and news headlines tomorrow. People were massively into Rooney being there, chanting ‘Let’s go Rooney/Rooney sucks’.

    – Barrett has had a good natured Twitter war with him for months, so as soon as Barrett and Sheamus came out, people knew something was going down with Rooney, as soon as Barrett had the mic. It was similar to the Ronda Rousey thing at WM31 when people sensed it. Barrett cut a scathing promo on him, mocking him, saying he’ll never be a champion again, that he’s finished and washed up, and that if he wants a piece of him, to get in the ring. Rooney did the ‘Bring It’ hand gesture to a big reaction. I think the Barrett promo on Rooney took place during a commercial, but they show a replay of it after the commercial break.

    – Cesaro vs Sheamus was excellent, by the way. Crowd chanted ‘This is awesome’, justified in this case. The conclusion saw Sheamus arguing with Rooney at ringside, and Barrett pulled Sheamus away. Barrett then argued with Rooney, and Rooney slapped him, sending Barrett down. Crowd went nuts. Cesaro then pinned Sheamus. Crowd were 100% behind Rooney after the slap, after the earlier mixed reaction.

    – Dean Ambrose vs. Tyler Breeze was pretty good. Crowd were heavily into both guys. It’s a shame Breeze had to lose his first tv match, although he wasn’t portrayed as a joke. I suspect he’ll cost Ziggler his tournament match with Ambrose.

    – New Day came out and were the second most over act on the entire show, besides Undertaker and Kane. Just ridiculously over as babyfaces. Everyone was singing and dancing, singing along to New Day’s theme and chanting along with Big E’s introduction. New Day vs Neville & the Usos was another really good match. Neville did a tremendous Red Arrow to the outside on all the guys in the match.

    – Ric Flair came out in a surprise cameo, for a quick promo. This won’t air on tv and was solely for the live crowd. He joked he was annoyed that Triple H had kept him in the back so long, and put over what a fantastic crowd we were. He plugged that Undertaker would be appearing at the following night’s Smackdown taping in the same building. Flair said the show was sold out, but I don’t think that’s the case. People booed when he mentioned Undertaker would be at the following night’s show, as they thought it meant he wouldn’t be at tonight’s show.

    – The Undertaker and Kane entrance during the closing Bray Wyatt segment got over HUGE. The place went NUTS when Taker and Kane came out. I was surprised to see them clean house on all 4 guys. Not sure how this sets up Survivor Series given they already beat up 4 guys in a 2 on 4, but the live crowd ate it up.

    – People were chanting ‘That was awesome’ after Taker and Kane had exited and the show had ended.

    – Overall, I think that was one of the better RAW tapings in the UK that I have ever attended. Some really good/very good matches, the Rooney angle and Taker/Kane stuff was very well done. The crowd atmosphere was fantastic.

  • UFC TUF 22: McGregor vs. Faber episode 7 results & recap

    (Editor’s Note: This should have ran earlier last week, but due to an error, it didn’t. Our apologies to Steve!)

    It’s a whole new season and Conor McGregor is the reason, as he and Urijah Faber go toe to toe as coaching foes on The Ultimate Fighter. They won’t duke it out after the season is done, but there’s still pride on the line, not to mention Conor’s reputation as the newest badass on the block. Join us each episode for “The Notorious Quote of the Week” as Conor puts his mouth where UFC’s money is! We’ll also spice things up with some predictions for week two about who could go all the way this season – two “Fighters to Watch” for each recap.

    The Notorious Quote of the Week: “That was a f—ing beautiful performance against a very solid guy.”

    Last week, Julian Erosa got a majority decision to hand control back to the U.S. team, and Urijah Faber chose Thanh Le (USA) vs. Martin Svensson (Europe) for this week’s fight. If Svensson wins he’ll tie the competition 3-all, and if Le wins then the U.S. team will have a commanding 4-2 lead.

    Svensson is talking trash on the U.S. fighters and says they all act like clowns and don’t try to go all out in the two rounds that they have. Artem Lobov is even pissed that they sprayed Erosa down with NOS energy drinks to celebrate his victory. “I want to at least be remembered as the guy who didn’t wear a stupid bandana with a penis drawn on it.”

    Svensson says Swedish people are only polite until they get in a cage. McGregor says he can exhaust Le and then finish him with a rear naked choke. After rolling with McGregor on the ground, Svensson says there’s little doubt he’s a world champion.

    Thanh Le says he’s been doing martial arts since he was five. He works as a personal trainer when he’s not fighting, and he works hard both in and outside the cage so he can afford to go see his son in Nebraska as often as possible. I’ll try not to let that have any positive bias in my view of him. He says he’ll remember to be strategic and not try to go toe-to-toe and punch-for-punch with Svensson. It’s that kind of thinking that makes Svensson a Fighter to Watch.

    There’s some serious drinking going on back at the TUF house for the U.S. team – the most we’ve seen for the entire season. At first they decide to go sit poolside and chill, but then Julian Erosa starts talking smack on Chris Gruetzemacher being boring. Gruetzemacher throws water on him, and Erosa keeps running his mouth, and more and more non-water liquids are thrown on him, and eventually they start shoving.

    The rest of team U.S. inside the house sees what’s going on by the pool and they run outside to intervene. It winds up with a couple of minutes of footage that are bleeped out. Team McGregor tries to have a good laugh at their expense – saying they’d rather fight each other than fight them.

    I’m putting Chris Gruetzemacher on my Fighter to Watch list. Even though he’s already won to advance in theory, Dana White instructed both teams that one winning fighter will be cut. The pressure is on “Gritz” because his team believes he had a boring fight and won’t make the cut – and how he handles himself in situations like this going forward will be key.

    Urijah Faber takes is team to the thrift store to buy them some loud over-the-top suits and make them look like Conor McGregor. Tom Gallichio: “The outfits we got are very Conor-esque. They’re very tight, very flashy.”

    Weigh-ins: Martin Svensson is 155 even. Thanh Le is 155 too.

    Lightweight: Martin Svensson (Europe) vs. Thanh Le (USA)

    Le is in the blue and Svensson the gray. Instead of giving you the blow by blow this week, let’s go for round by round analysis. Svensson used takedowns, ground control, and a back mount to dominate the first 3:45 of R1. Le sprawled effectively and got on top to throw some elbows in the last half minute, but it’s unclear if that final flurry was enough to steal the round. In my mind it’s not.

    Svensson goes right back to the ground game early in R2, and goes from trying to get the hooks in to winding up in full mount to getting a body lock and working his way toward a submission. Le keeps squirming his way out of danger and even tries to throw up a triangle but Svensson avoids it. Eventually Le just runs out of escapes and taps to the RNC at 3:39. Team McGregor evens it up!

    McGregor announces his picks for next week’s fight: Artem Lobov (Europe) vs. James Jenkins (USA). Come back to see what happens next week!

  • WWE Liverpool, England, house show results (11/8): Alberto Del Rio lets loose on a dead crowd

    Submitted by Stephen Lyon

    – Neville beat Stardust in the opener with the Red Arrow. Okay match. Neville got a pop for his finisher.

    -Damian Sandow beat Heath Slater in one minute with a roll up. Sandow was back in his old blue robe intellectual gimmick. This was a head scratcher. Either give these guys at least five minutes or don’t do the match at all. Why you would fly these guys to Europe to do a one minute match is baffling.

    – Luke Harper & Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan beat Ryback & the Usos. Decent match. Ryback did impressive standing suplex spots with both Harper and Rowan, but ‘couldn’t do it’ with Strowman, putting over how big Strowman was. Strowman made one of the Usos submit in his sleeper finisher.

    – King Barrett beat Fandango with the Bull Hammer. Crowd cheered Barrett and had no reaction for Fandango. Virtually nobody in the crowd did his dance.

    – Lucha Dragons beat Los Matadores and the Ascension in a triple threat match. Los Matadores came out, clearly as heels (they made fun of El Torito not accompanying them to the ring), yet virtually nobody in the youthful audience picked up on it. The finish saw the song ‘Bad to the Bone’ play out of nowhere (I was having Steve ‘Dr Death’ Williams NWA flashbacks, given it used to be his entrance theme for a period) and El Torito ran out, cleaning house on both Fernando and Diego. Kalisto pinned Viktor with the Salida del Sol. Crowd enjoyed doing the ‘Lucha Lucha’ arm wave.

    – NXT Women’s Champion Bayley & Natalya beat Sasha Banks & Naomi. It seemed like about 10% of the audience knew who Bayley was, and the rest didn’t. There was a very weak NXT chant that didn’t catch on and lasted just a few seconds. The work itself was fine, and amongst the better matches of the night. Banks was funny tying her hair back and mocking Bayley. Finish saw Natalya make Naomi tap in the sharpshooter.

    – U.S. Champion Alberto Del Rio beat Jack Swagger. This was the second best match on the show. Del Rio was great as a heel, begging off from Swagger and getting on his knees with his hand extended. Del Rio shook hands with both the referee and a fan in the front row to try convince Swagger to shake his hand, but it was all a heelish ploy. At one point Del Rio grabbed the mic and berated the crowd for being dead and asked why Liverpool Football Club suck so much.

    This got a mixed reaction, with some fans cheering because there are two Premier League soccer clubs in Liverpool, with there being Everton Football Club fans in the building, all happy at that comment. Swagger kicked out of a superkick and broke/reversed Del Rio’s armbar, before eventually submitting to the cross armbreaker.

    – Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt in a No Holds Barred match. Most heat and reaction on the show, and best match on the show. Crowd was 95% behind Reigns. They used a kendo stick, chairs and the ringside stairs as props. Reigns eventually brought a table in too. Reigns won after nailing Wyatt with a Superman punch, sending everyone home happy.

    Notes & Observations —

    – This felt like the least star power on a WWE house show on a U.K. tour for several years. The arena was packed. There were no sections curtained off, and I couldn’t see any empty seats in any sections, so I’d estimate the crowd to be at least 5-6000. It was mostly families with lots of kids, especially given the family-friendly 5pm start time.

    I’m aware of all of WWE’s current limitations at this time, and that this was at the start of a lengthy tour, and that some guys may have taken notice of Rollins injury and may be working even more safe than usual. But to me, this felt like a boring show. It was, essentially, a near-three hour version of WWE Main Event/WWE Superstars. Okay matches, featuring limited star power, involving people the main tv shows don’t feature. Even something as simple as the show’s tour programme told a story. The cover of the programme featured seven people, and only four of them (Paige, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, Kofi Kingston) are on the tour. And of those, only Reigns was on this show. The other three – John Cena, Brock Lesnar and Seth Rollins all aren’t even on the tour. I guess Rollins was, and his absence through injury was very unfortunate.

    There was a scary lack of crowd heat and crowd reaction for anyone or anything on this show, bar Del Rio vs Swagger (entirely due to Del Rio’s excellent work as a heel, predominately on the mic) and the Reigns vs Wyatt main event. People didn’t react to anything. Even kids didn’t seem that excited or were starting any chants.

  • WWE Birmingham, England, house show results (11/8): Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose

    Submitted by Tom Griffiths

    Brandi Runnels was our ring announcer. She started off by introducing our General Manager for the evening, Ric Flair. Flair started off his two minute promo by asking the crowd where he was, of course to encourage the crowd to shout the name of the place. He then attempted some “woooo interaction” with the crowd which didn’t get as over as I expected. He continued by talking about Rollins’ injury and said he’s had surgery (news to me), and announced the two main events. Ambrose-Owens got a big reaction, Show-Kane was met with laughter! To which Flair replied “oh come on!” The Dudleys then made their entrance and this was the last we saw of Flair.

    Dudleys vs. New Day: Non-Title 2 on 3 Tables Match

    New Day got a mixed reaction and not as big a one as I expected, not to say they weren’t over. Dudleys were well liked. Very slow pace, extremely careful with each other, lots of working of holds early and comedy from New Day, back and forth match, got the heat on Devon, Bubba made the comeback, what’s-up spot, got the tables, back and forth, 3-D on Woods for the win in ten minutes. Below average house show match. (Notes on this weren’t the best as I was late arriving to my seat and there were issues with congestion in the area.)

    Short Tyler Breeze promo on the screen, cheat heat and talking about that he was going to beat Ziggler.

    The Miz vs. Cesaro

    Arguably the most over match of the night. Miz’s old-school heel stuff worked wonderfully and Cesaro was over huge during the match. Also there were a number of Cesaro Section signs which he acknowledged. Started off with Miz getting some cheat heat on the mic, it then turned into a bit from a comedy show as he acknowledged a guy a couple of rows from the front who was on his phone during this. Miz asked who he was talking to, the guy said his mum and of course was made fun of. Miz then requested silence while he took off his glasses and every time he went to do so in a dramatic fashion the crowd would boo so he would lower his arms, and so on. This went on for about three minutes but was entertaining. 

    The match itself was wrestled at snail pace. I’m not kidding when I say I had the opportunity to watch a move, write down what a saw in casual fashion, and then look up in time for the start of the next move. In fact I did this several times during the match! Cesaro got the better of some chain-wrestling early, hit a couple of headscissors, Miz took a powder, was chased around the ring, got back into the ring and caught Cesaro with some stomps coming in to begin the heat, Cesaro made his comeback with some extremely light regular uppercuts, caught Miz with a light running uppercut on the outside up against the rail, put on the sunglasses and performed a flying body press whilst wearing them for a nearfall, swing tease, there were massive swing chants on few occasions during the match, another swing tease in here somewhere, Miz chop-block, figure four attempt reversed in a small package for a nearfall, Miz was caught with an uppercut with a little more mustard on it while jumping off the top for a nearfall, Miz scored a nearfall with his short DDT, there was a comical 20 second backslide battle, 30 rep swing, sharpshooter for the win in ten minutes. A good slow-motion match.

    NXT Champion Finn Balor vs. Sheamus 

    Really good reaction for Balor coming out and I saw plenty of Balor Club shirts, decent boos for Sheamus and he did have some supporters. Crowd was quietly captivated by the match so there wasn’t sustained strong heat, but they popped for all the big spots, and there were numerous strong lets go Balor & NXT chants. Balor looked a real star in person. He’s chiselled out of stone, a good looking guy, good in-ring charisma, great worker. If he can improve his promos I think Vince is going to love him. Just hopefully he doesn’t go crazy the demon gimmick. This match was night and day in comparison to others in one respect. It wasn’t New Japan, but these guys worked stiff! They didn’t take each others heads off, but there was solid contact on a number of occasions. Solid lock-up to start-off with, Balor slapped Sheamus’ ass for a bit of comedy, reasonably loud you look stupid chants, Sheamus got some cheat heat on the mic for a couple of minutes in response to this, they worked a few headlocks, Balor got his shine including a dropkick which caught Sheamus bang on the chin, Sheamus cut him off and got the heat during which Balor was cursing up a storm at times dropping F-Bombs while selling.

    DDT from Balor for the transition move, stiff forearms, chops and body punches throughout the match coming from both directions, careful Somersault Plancha to the outside from Balor right in front of me, top rope double foot stomp on the back for nearfall from Balor, Sheamus scored nearfalls with a Novocaine and an Albert Bomb, Balor scored one with a bicycle kick and his Curtain Call style move was teased, there were this is awesome chants in here somewhere, there was a top rope striking battle, Sheamus missed the Brogue Kick, posted his shoulder shortly after, Balor followed-up with the Coup De Grace for the win in seventeen minutes including Sheamus’ promo. They worked pretty slow, but as I said they were stiff and the work-rate was there. Both guys were sweating buckets by the end! Hats off to both guys, really good house show match.

    Bo Dallas vs. Curtis Axel

    Decent boos for Bo, polite response for Axel. Nothing to it, Dallas got the heat, whipped Axel into the corner, roll-up coming out of the corner for the win in about thirty seconds.

    Bo then got on the mic throwing a tantrum saying he wasn’t ready, and then challenged anybody to come out and face him. Truth took the challenge and was a super babyface with the fans at ringside showing special attention to everyone around the rails. Also his entrance got pretty over about halfway through. Dallas then revealed to Truth that he thought Hornswoggle or El Torito would take the challenge, said he didn’t want to fight, and instead wanted a dance-off. Truth took the challenge and Bo went first doing some wacky dancing to I’m Too Sexy by Right Said Fred which turned him semi-babyface. Then Truth’s turn came and he seemed awfully prepared for this impromptu dance-off as he pulled out a glove and began dancing to Billie Jean by Michael Jackson. Seconds into this Bo jumped him and the match was on.

    Bo Dallas vs. R-Truth

    Again nothing to it, bit of heat from Dallas and then the Lie Detector for the win in thirty seconds. Truth danced his way up the ramp and Axel came out and joined in, meanwhile after they’d disappeared, feeling humiliated Bo ran backstage. His performance was very good with what he was asked to do.

    Connor video package with a nice reaction.

    Big Show vs. Kane: Street Fight 

    Not much of a noticeable reaction for Show coming out and he’s still sporting that knee brace, nice nostalgia pop for Kane. They worked very slow, not Cesaro-Miz slow but pretty slow, Show did some warm-up exercises and took a powder or two in the early going which eventually gained some decent heat heel, some chumps tried to start a please retire chant that failed miserably and Show made fun of them for it, Kane attacked him on the outside after taking a powder, little brawling on the outside, Kane took a whip into the steps for the transition move going into the heat, while Kane was selling on the outside a while later, he sneakily got a kendo stick and went to work on Show’s leg with it, all the weapon involvement got pretty over with the crowd, Show gained the advantage and broke the kendo stick saying he didn’t need it, a while later Kane introduced a chair and hit Show in the stomach and back with it, the story was he needed weapons to overcome the giant, Show hit a spear to go back into the heat, there was a spot where both guys had each other goozled and Show hit the Chokeslam for a nearfall, Kane made his comeback, dropkicked Show’s knee sending him headfirst into a chair Kane had set-up there earlier in the match. 

    Kane went fishing for more weapons and accidently pulled out a broom for a comedy spot, he then got a table, Show hit his knockout punch while standing on the outside when Kane poked his head through the ropes which gained a nearfall, Show was apoplectic over this which garnered a few laughs, Show then set Kane up on the table, climbed to the top and was chokeslammed through the table for the Kane victory in ten minutes. Wasn’t a bad match, wasn’t worse than some other matches on the show. After the match and Kane had gone to the back, Show got to his feet and got some thank you Big Show chants and fell back down for some comedy, the ref then climbed on him and attempted to score a three count which he counted himself but Show kicked-out powerfully sending him flying for another comedy spot. Show got a nice babyface reaction heading backstage which was nice to see, I think the guy gets a raw deal. Not sure whether the announcement of the match caught the crowd off-guard or his performance won them over.     

    Interval

    Divas Champion Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs. Brie Bella & Alicia Fox: Paige as referee

    Decent reaction for Paige but I expected bigger, I think she did too judging from her body language, although maybe I’m wrong. Good reaction for Charlotte & Becky, Becky much like Truth was a super babyface with ringsiders, especially a guy in her Lass Kicker shirt and a few guys near-by in Balor Club shirts. Paige wasn’t kayfabing it up at all prior to the bell, seemingly sharing a joke with Charlotte, although only people close such as myself would’ve noticed. Was a nice little house show match, no blown spots, all the girls were solid and at times weren’t as careful as the men, Becky looked especially good, very smooth. Also to be a pig I had a fun time staring at her ass which was directly in front of me while she was waiting for a tag. 

    Some simple chain-wrestling early, the babyfaces worked over Brie, bit of back and forth, the heels got the heat on Becky, there were some Becky’s awesome chants during the match, needless to say they really liked her, some heel tactics behind Paige’s back whist she was arguing with Charlotte which happened frequently, Charlotte made her trademark comeback, Paige was pulled into an accidental spear and took a powder, Charlotte got distracted by this and Fox took advantage, second ref appeared, there was some double teaming on Charlotte during this period as Becky was still down selling, babyfaces made a short comeback and scored the win with the Figure Eight/Armbar double submission in ten minutes. Paige ambushed the babyfaces in the aftermath, she then took a T-Bone from Becky and a big boot from Charlotte and then took a powder as the babyfaces celebrated with both their music playing. There was no boos for them or anything, well not that I heard.

    Tyler Breeze w/Summer Rae vs. Dolph Ziggler

    Decent heat for Breeze, big pop for Ziggler, although not huge superstar reaction which nobody got. Very good heat for the match, touch-and-go between this and Cesaro-Miz for most heated match of the night, strong lets go Ziggler chants during the match. Simple character stuff early with some basic stuff and posing, Ziggler started the match in a t-shirt, Ziggler had his shine, chased Breeze round the ring who used Summer as a shield, Summer dramatically screamed for some comedy, Ziggler was pulled throat first into the middle rope for the transition move going into the heat, Summer interfered numerous times behind the refs back, Breeze leaped off the second ropes and was caught with a dropkick in mid-air for the transition move, Ziggler made his comeback, from this point on they worked at regular speed with regular intensity.

    Breeze got a nearfall with a version of the backstabber, Ziggler scored one with the fame-asser, Summer hit Ziggler in the head with one of her shoes, Breeze followed-up with an unprettier for a nearfall, Summer was caught with her shoe off by the ref and with encouragement from the crowd he kicked her out, Summer was great throughout this match, very animated, Ziggler Superkick tease, beautiful Lance Storm-Jerry Lynn pinning combination sequence, six or seven, superkick from Ziggler for a nearfall, strong this is awesome chants, feet on the ropes nearfall for Breeze, Cena punch-for-punch spot, Zig-Zag for the Ziggler victory in fourteen minutes. Really, really good house show match. Match of the night. Big-time respect for Ziggler after watching this, he worked harder than anybody else on the show and was the driving force in the match. Both guys are huge Shawn Michaels fans as seen in their work and they have really good chemistry. Really looking forward to the PPV match providing they’re allowed to have a great match.  

    WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose 

    Mixed reaction for Owens and a big one although probably not in the top three or four. Owens was tremendous getting into it with three or four kids before and during the match, one little boy was in a John Cena shirt and Owens asked him where he was and claimed to be the new John Cena, he was jawing with some older people as well. He’s so animated, charismatic and vocal, carried himself like a real star. Also he doesn’t look overly chubby in person. Big pop for Ambrose, biggest of the show, although nothing compared to his one in April. Owens did have the title with him as I heard he didn’t on one of the previous shows. Good heat for the match, a close third in that department. Owens immediately took a powder and Ambrose went after him with great urgency, for the most part they worked at regular speed with regular intensity, early brawling, Ambrose got his shine, Owens got some heat, Owens hit a gutbuster for a nearfall, Ambrose hit Tornado DDT for one, majority of the trademark moves were hit, Ambrose did his suicide dive right in front of me.

    Owens scored a nearfall with his second rope twisting fisherman’s buster, slapped Ambrose around which drew another comeback, superkick tease, McGuiness clothesline tease, Owens hit the superkick, Ambrose kicked out of the pop-up powerbomb, Owens grabbed a chair, ref took it off him, Ambrose followed this up with a roll-up for nearfall, Owens tried to leave, Ambrose threw him back in, was looking to finish him off when Owens hit him with chair in the stomach for the DQ in thirteen minutes. Not as good as Ziggler-Breeze or Sheamus-Balor, but it was a good match and they worked pretty hard. Big Smoz for the aftermath. Owens continued the beat-down on Ambrose, Ziggler hit the ring, Sheamus then hit the ring, then Cesaro, then New Day, then The Dudleys. One of the biggest reactions of the night for this. Babyfaces cleaned house and Ambrose threw Owens back in the ring who took a 3-D and Dirty Deeds to send the crowd home happy. They then applauded the crowd and acknowledged certain people in it as the show finished.

    Notes:

    Fun show. As normal pretty much everybody worked quite slow and very carefully with each other. Being at ringside it was interesting seeing the guys do something then wait two-three seconds for the reaction before doing something else. Was second row two seats from the aisle on the left hand side facing down. Crowd was nowhere near as hot as the show in the same building in April, not that they were dead or anything, but they were super-hot then and at about 40-50% of that volume today. Could’ve been due to the winter WWE blues, could’ve been lower enthusiasm with no Cena, Orton, Rollins or Rusev (back when he was a hot heel) this time, could’ve been due to it being an early evening Sunday show as opposed to a Saturday night show. Maybe a combination of all three. 

    For this reason entrance pops were tough to gauge, there was no real great wall of sound reactions like Cena’s, or Orton’s, or Rusev’s this time, and even Ambrose and Paige’s weren’t nearly as big. Crowd reactions were again unique in comparison to America. Pantomime is part of the culture over here so old-school heel shtick worked really well, also rest-holds got very over in-terms of immediately evoking heavy support for the babyfaces with stomping and clapping. So essentially very old-school. The simple fundamentals worked well. Although of course this is different with more hardcores.

  • WWE Superstars results (11/7): Neville relegated to singles action; Bo Dallas gets a rare win.

    The Big Takeaway: Neville beats Slater with his move and Bo Dallas gets a rare win over Zack Ryder in a good main event.

    Neville beat Heath Slater (4:02)

    Watching last week’s Table for 3, it was interesting to see Neville up close. He’s a very low-key guy who loves wrestling and takes great care of himself, but he was clearly pretty sad about not being apart of NXT anymore. And when you see him used like this on Superstars, you can sympathise with him.

    They lock up and Neville takes a shoulder barge to the mat and Slater poses and gyrates his hips. Neville regroups and they start again and this time Neville takes down Slater for a quick cover and then catches him and face plants him into the mat. Neville then flips between the ropes and catches Slater with a diving cross body off the second turn buckle and covers him for two.

    Slater charges Neville into the corner and beats him down. Slater locks in a chin lock and Neville works out into a neckbreaker but he then runs right into Slater’s boot. Slater tries the cover but can only get two and so goes back to the chin lock. This time it is more effective and Neville has to work out with punches. Slater runs into Nevilles boot, who now gets the heat with kicks and an enzugiri which allows him to set up and hit the Red Arrow for the win.

    Bo Dallas beat Zack Ryder (7:54)

    Ryder tries to get the crowd going early but the reaction is tepid. Dallas immediately goes for a roll up at the bell and Ryder kicks out, but that is enough for Dallas to take a victory lap. He goes back into the ring and eats and drop kick and then Ryder uses a headlock takedown for a quick two count. He then flips him with a fireman’s carry into a wrist lock and rings the arm until Dallas uses the ropes to break the hold.

    Dallas goes outside and Ryder hits him through the ropes with a missile drop kick. They go back in the ring but Dallas rolls back outside and plays possum and sweeps Ryder’s legs on the apron. He then side Russian leg sweeps Ryder into the dasher boards. We go to a break as Dallas is in the ring waiting for Ryder to get back up.

    As we return, Ryder is trying to shake off the beating but takes a forearm to the mat. Dallas goes outside and uses a series of forearms to the back of Ryder’s neck. He covers Ryder for two and then puts on a rear chin lock. Ryder fights out but takes a high knee to the jaw and is then able to face plant Dallas to get some space.

    Ryder gets the heat with a flying forearm, gets his knees up as Dallas charges at him and then goes for a missile drop kick off the second rope. Dallas dodges it and Ryder takes a flat back bump and Dallas gets a two count. Dallas uses a neckbreaker but again Ryder kicks out. Dallas is frustrated and yells “come on!” Ryder hits an enzugiri and then sets up and hits the Broski Boot. Dallas rolls outside and Ryder hits him with a drop kick which sends him into the barricade. Ryder goes up top but is crotched and Dallas hits his new finisher, the rope-hung whiplash neckbreaker, for the win. This was very good.