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  • WWE RAW live results: Extreme Rules go-home show with Styles-Reigns, Ambrose-Jericho

    The Big Takeaway:

    Another show built around Shane and Stephanie ruling the roost. They ordered two separate matches, presided over a contract signing that was the main event segment and ended with Stephanie decking Ric Flair in Greensboro. The show had two very good tag team matches but lagged during the final hour. 

    Show Recap: 

    The Usos will face Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows later tonight. A.J. Styles came out and said he was tired of Roman Reigns calling him a liar, and well as various places he’s gone to and social media. Styles showed off tweets from fans who thought Styles’ relationship with Anderson and Gallows was a ploy to make him WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Styles talked about headlining the Tokyo Dome in front of 60,000 fans, and he didn’t need any help getting to the top. 

    Reigns came out. “What an ovation!” screamed JBL as thunderous boos echoed in the background and Reigns walked past a “When it Reigns, it Bores” sign. Reigns said Styles has won championship after championship, but if you ask him, it doesn’t matter unless he’s wearing THE championship. Fans chanted for Seth Rollins, which seemed to iritate Reigns. Reigns said he would be in the Usos corner, and asked Styles if he was going to be in the Club’s corner? Styles said he would.

    Styles said Reigns was THE guy who he was going to beat this Sunday at Extreme Rules. Reigns said Styles couldn’t beat him one-on-one, and the Usos would be at ringside with him to prove that the bloodline could beat the clubline. Anderson & Gallows came out. The Usos ran out from the crowd to join Reigns and Reigns punched Styles out of the ring just as Styles was about to strike. It appeared security was confiscasting anti-Reigns signs during this segment because they cut to tight shots of Reigns face while guards worked around ringside.  

    Cesaro and Sami Zayn went to a no contest (1:40)

    Kevin Owens and the Miz were at ringside. After Sami Zayn sent Cesaro out of the ring, Owens got up from the commentary table and acted like he was going to leave, but attacked Miz instead. The two ended up in the ring, where Owens and Zayn brawled, as did Cesaro and Miz. 

    This led to Shane McMahon coming out to a big pop. He arranged for Zayn and Cesaro to team against Miz and Owens. Then Stephanie McMahon came out. She changed the match to Zayn and Owens vs. Miz and Cesaro, and if Owens walked out, he would lose his spot in the Fatal Four Way at Extreme Rules. 

    Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens defeated the Miz and Cesaro (10:47) 

    Zayn pinned the Miz after the Helluva Kick. Miz and Cesaro starting arguing, and it led to Cesaro giivng him the Skull Crushing Finale. After Zayn got the pin, Owens gave him a superkick, then proclaimed himself the winner of the match. Owens was the straw that stirred this drink and was very entertaining. He even got a run wild sequence that included a Cannonball on Cesaro, which the fans went nuts for. Byron Saxton said “I can’t believe we’re seeing Zayn and Owens teaming together.” Aside from the decade they spent teaming together in ROH and other indys, I totally agree. Reminded me of watching WWE Superstars back in the day and Gorilla Monsoon would call Lanny Poffo a youngster after he had wrestled for 15 years. 

    Renee Young asked Chris Jericho in his dressing room about Dean Ambrose requesting a meeting with him tonight. Jericho said he wanted Ambrose to apologize for destroying his $15,000 jacket last week, which was as much an institution in the WWE as Andre the Giant. He talked about how the jacket belonged in the Smithsonian. 

    The Shining Stars defeated Scott Jackson and Brian Kennedy (1:33) 

    Epico pinned Brian Kennedy with the Shining Star, which is the old Total Elimination. Since they were in Greensboro, this was your basic 1980s squash match that aired on Mid-Atlantic Championship Wrestling every Saturday night. Even the jobbers names sounded like something that Bob Caudle would say. A word has yet to be created to adequately describe the indifference the crowd had for the Shining Stars in their debut, whose gimmick is they beat up guys from the host cities hometown to prove Puerto Rico is the most beautiful place on Earth. Before we go comparing this to the Reverend D-Von, Kane’s twin brother and Outback Jack, let’s remember the New Day was the least over thing in this company 18 months ago. 

    OK, I’m done pretending. These guys couldn’t get heat in Texas wearing Jose Bautista jerseys. 

    Ambrose came out. There was an angle on SmackDown where Jericho put Ambrose in a straight jacket, and Ambrose said he felt something in his head that snapped a little. He called Jericho out. Jericho came out and ordered Ambrose to apologize for his jacket, which he called an important part of his legacy. Jericho actually was a heel trying to get heat. And he got it. Remarkable. 

    Ambrose said he wasn’t apologizing and challenged him to a match at Extreme Rules. Jericho said he would take $15,000 out of Ambrose’s ass. Ambrose asked if Jericho was sure. Jericho said people liked to call Ambrose a lunatic, but he was a lunatic because there was no one in the company crazier than him. He’s faced every fighter the company has thrown at him for 17 years and is a 6-time world champion. Jericho said he would punish Ambrose with no remorse, with a smile on his face and without a tear in his eye. Jericho did his new catchphrase of “The gift of Jericho. Drink it in.” 

    Ambrose said he had a gift for Jericho. A cage came down from the roof with this music that sounded like the “Psycho” theme. Ambrose said he talked to Shane and Ambrose got to have the first-ever Asylum match. It was a cage match with a straight jacket, a barbed wire 2×4, the ghost of Mitch the Plant, a fire extinguisher, a strap, a mop and bucket and various other objects. Ambrose said there would be no escaping the cage and Jericho would never, ever be the same again. 

    Dana Brooke defeated Becky Lynch (3:41) 

    Brooke won when Becky Lynch attempted a sunset flip, but Brooke sat down. Weird spot early in Lynch jumped off the apron for a double axehandle that appeared to connect, but wasn’t supposed to. Brooke then had to no-sell it and threw Lynch into the dasherboards. Brooke was shown earlier being snobby to a guy, saying if he worked out and dressed better, maybe she would take him seriously. Lynch has become the jobber Diva, it appears. 

    Bob Backlund appeared as Darren Young’s life coach. Backlund asked Young what time it was. Young pulled out his phone. Backlund thought he was going to call the operator and ask what time it was. Young talked about trying to organize the Desktop on his phone. Backlund thought he meant organizing his desk by putting a calendar over it. Backlund ordered him to do 200 squats. And that’s how the second “Make Darren Young Great Again” skit ended. Well, the newest Young push is still more alive than Ted Cruz’s campaign. 

    Shane watched this unfold. Stephanie wanted to know why Shane didn’t run the whole Asylum match by her. Shane wondered why didn’t Stephanie run by changing the tag team match by him. Bubba Ray and Devon Dudley came in. Bubba Ray said they’ve heard about the New Era, but they wanted to show what guys from the Attitude era. Devon Dudley wanted to face two little guys from North Carolina and rough them up. Shane spoke up and said one of the Dudleys could face Big Cass. The Dudleys could pick out which one would get the honors. Shane got to do Enzo Amore’s catchphrase. 

    Breezango defeated The Golden Truth (1:55) 

    Tyler Breeze pinned Goldust after R-Truth accidentally hit Goldust with a flying side kick. Breezango is Tyler Breeze and Fandango, who turned on their respective partners on SmackDown. The Golden Truth got a big introduction video that was twice as long as the match, showing how this debut was six months in the making. Naturally, they lost and teased dissension, which we saw earlier from two other teams. 

    Goldust was mad at Truth afterwards. Truth said they need to get their timing together. Fandango and Breeze dropped by to laugh at them. At first, Goldust was unsure if Truth would be a good partner, but after Breezango laughed at them, he agreed they should remain a team and get revenge. 

    The New Day came out. It looked like fans had Booty-O boxes left and right. Kofi Kingston said he didn’t understand why the Vaudevillains said a bygone era was a better era. They pulled off a huge box that Xavier Woods claimed was a Delorian time machine. Big E. tried to claim it was really a large refrigerator box with a keyboard that was really sticky, but Woods wouldn’t let him finish. T

    hey got inside the box and it was pretty funny. The machine went back in time and Kofi Kingston’s old Jamacian “S.O.S’ music started playing. Kingston started doing his old Jamacian accent. Woods said they didn’t go back far enough. They got back in the box and Kofi’s smartphone had turned into a old camera with a light bulb on top. Aiden English and Simon Gotch then ran up from behind and jumped the New Day, giving Woods and Kingstgon the Whirling Dervish. 

    The Usos defeated Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows (12:46) 

    Very good match, better than the first match of the night. After the Usos hit double superkicks on Anderson and Gallows, Jey Uso pinned Anderson after a splash. Anderson hit a spinebuster on Jey for a very good near fall. Styles and Reigns were at ringside in opposing corners. A group of fans were still chanting for Rollins. Jey Uso has so much charisma, his hot tag won the crowd over, even with Reigns at ringside. 

    Postmatch, Gallows hit Reigns from behind. This led to the Usos and Anderson/Gallows brawling again, where Anderson threw Jey Uso into the steps. Styles was left in the ring trying to use the chair against Reigns, but Reigns caught Styles with an uppercut before he could. Reigns hit Styles with the chair across the back. Gallows and Anderson ran in, only to each take Superman Punches. Styles recovered to deliver three chair shots across Reigns’ back. Then Styles delivered the Styles Clash onto the chair on Reigns to sizeable cheers. 

    Big Cass defeated Devon Dudley (:59) 

    Big Cass won with the East River Crossing, or the old Chris Harris Catatonic. Cass did a prematch promo where he compared Devon to Urkel from Family Matters and Bubba Ray to Fred Flintstone. 

    Alberto Del Rio defeated Kalisto (C) in a nontitle match (11:05)

    Sin Cara watched the match from the back when Rusev jumped him with a superkick, then dragged him to ringside. That got the crowd interested because they would get to see Lana, who got chants. Once Rusev showed up at ringside, Kalisto was distracted, giving Alberto Del Rio the opening to hit the backstabber for the pin. Earlier, Kalisto tried to hit a huracanrana off the apron, but Del Rio slung him into the barricade. 

    Postmatch, Rusev attacked Kalisto, giving him the Accolade when he bent as far as humanly possible. Rusev grabbed the U.S. Championship and threw on a prone Kalisto. 

    Stephanie and Shane were in the ring for the contract signing for Charlotte vs. Natalya for the WWE Women’s Championship match at Extreme Rules. Shane got “Shane O’Mac” chants. She was about to introduce Charlotte when Ric Flair interrupted her and introduced his daughter. Michael Cole gave a rundown of Flair’s career in Greensboro, mentioning his first match in the Greensboro Coliseum was against Chuck O’Connor, who would go on to be Big John Studd. Sadly, Cole also mentioned Flair’s last match in Greensboro, in 2008 against HHH. That will forever go down as the night HHH refused to job in Flair’s last match in Greensboro, opting for a lame DQ finish where William Regal ran in to punch HHH with brass knux. 

    Natalya came out and said Charlotte was once someone she respected and had integrity. Natalya said Charlotte even defeated her for Charlotte’s first NXT championship without the help of her creepy father. Natalya said that is the Charlotte she would like to beat at Extreme Rules, but that person doesn’t exist. Charlotte replied that Natalya was delusional, and the fans weren’t there to cheer for her, they were there for Charlotte.

    It was meant to be a heel interview, as Charlotte said she could punch all of their best friends in the face and they would still cheer for her because they worship the ground that she walks on. Charlotte proclaimed herself as a living, breathing goddess. Those lines got the crowd against her, but it wasn’t genuine heat. Charlotte gave Natalya a “Whoo.” Ric started to say “Whoo,” but Charlotte told him to start because it was her ring. Charlotte said this was a waste of her time to talk about how bad she would be Natalya and asked to sign the deal. Charlotte looked at the contract, then asked “What is this?” 

    Shane included an added stipulation that if Ric even walks down to the ring, then Charlotte would forfeit the WWE Women’s Championship. Why was this news? Stephanie made that stipulation two weeks ago. 

    At that point, Shane brought security down to escort Flair away. Stephanie said if Charlotte didn’t sign the contract, then she would forfeit the championship. So Charlotte was essentially forced into the match. Charlotte signed the deal. 

    Flair got pissed at Stephanie, saying she was the worst businesswoman of all time. Shane tried to calm him down. Flair then took off his watch and his coat, acting like he was going to square off against Shane, who tried to let cooler heads prevail. Stephanie stepped between Shane and said he may have respect for Flair, but she doesn’t. Stephanie did slapped Flair, who had to take a delayed bump. This led to audible “Stephanie” chants that sure did come and go quickly. 

    Security stepped in to keep Flair out of the ring. Meanwhile, Natalya put Charlotte in the sharpshooter and Charlotte tapped out. Basically another segment to get the McMahons over. 

    SUMMARY: 

    How can a show be bad when it has A.J. Styles, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, and some very good tag teams? When it turns into another episode of “The McMahons,” which this show became after the first hour. They just can’t help themselves. The Styles/Reigns buildup was very good. 

  • WWE RAW live results: The build toward Extreme Rules, Styles, Reigns, The McMahons

    The Big Takeaway: Vince McMahon took one look at a 7-footer the day after WrestleMania. Six weeks later, even without one singles match, he main evented Raw. That’s the position that Big Cass found himself in against Chris Jericho, though the match itself didn’t happen and Cass was only a bit player in the final segment. Show had a solid angle between Roman Reigns and A.J. Styles. Match of the night was Sami Zayn vs. The Miz. 

    Chris Jericho came out for the Highlight Reel.

    He claimed Dean Ambrose was supposed to be his guest tonight, but after Jericho attacked him with Mitch the Plant last week, Ambrose suffered whiplish, vertigo and a bulging disc.  Jericho said Ambrose may not be in the WWE for a long, long time. Jericho uncovered the remains of Mitch the Potted Plant, which got a “Mitch” chant. Let the record show a root from the dirt resting on a stool is more over than the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

    Jericho said Mitch and Ambrose had a lot in common. They both came to the WWE to entertain people, but both underestimated the tsunami known as Chris Jericho. Now, like Mitch, Ambrose is a shattered mess of dust and bones waiting for someone to put him back together again. Jericho showed tweets from fans exressing sorrow over Mitch’s death. Jericho took credit for putting Ambrose in a St. Louis hospital, and claimed Mitch had more charisma than Ambrose. Jericho could glue Mitch together, glue it back together, sell it to a flea market for $12  and it would still be worth more than Ambrose.  Jericho said he understands why fans relate to Ambrose, because Ambrose was a loser and a slob just like the fans.

    Jericho proclaimed himself the Hailey’s Comet of the WWE, because talent like him comes around once every 76 years. He invited fans to drink in the Gift of Jericho and posed. 

    Big Cass came out without Enzo Amore. Cass said if this was the Gift of Jericho, he better have a receipt because he wanted his money back. Cass said Jericho was one of the greatest of all time, but Jericho didn’t understand this was the new era. Cass said the phrase “We have arrived” wasn’t a cry for attention, it was a warning. Cass said “I have arrived” and  Jericho better get out of his way or he would run through Jericho. Jericho said Cass should run to the hospiital and check on his buddy “Enzo Annoying.” Jericho claimed he heard Enzo was staying at the same hospital as Ambrose. Too bad the New Day showed Amore checking out of the hospital last week. Cass challenged him to a fight. 

    Jericho reminded Cass he was the best in the world at what he does. Cass said he was 7 feet tall and the crowd added in “And you can’t teach that.” Jericho didn’t the usual heel routine of walking off. Cass gave him the “Sawft” catchphrase. Jericho jumped on the apron, but Cass gave him the big boot to the floor. Michael Cole and Byron Saxton couldn’t stop talking about how Cass was 7-feet tall. It looks like they’re putting the wheels in motion already for Cass to become a singles star, which is par for the Vince McMahon-owned course. 

    – Jericho walked up to Stephanie McMahon for our weekly emasculation of talent. Jericho said Shane McMahon was responsible for the new era of Raw, and he and Stephanie could help destroy it. Stephanie was a babyface this time, ordering Jericho to face Cass in the main event, then ordering him never to put a wedge between her and her brother. Like there wasn’t a wedge between them already. Are we supposed to forget Stephanie’s interviews she cut on Shane leading up to the WrestleMania match, as well as the match itself? 

    Baron Corbin did an inset promo saying he wasn’t part of the New Era, he was only out for himself. 

    Baron Corbin defeated Dolph Ziggler (8:32) 

    Corbin won with the End of Days. Earlier, Dolph Ziggler kicked out of the Deep 6. Ziggler got a near fall with a Famouser in a good match. 

    – Charlotte and Ric Flair walked up to Shane McMahon. Flair congratulated Shane for his match at WrestleMania and claimed Shane’s top of the cage elbow against Undertaker was the greatest move he had ever seen. Imagine if Shane had actually hit the move. Charlotte asked Shane to reverse Stephanie’s decision to ban Flair from ringside at Extreme Rules. Not only did Shane not reverse the decision, but said Flair was banned from ringside tonight. 

    – A.J. Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, now known as “The Club,” did an interview with Jojo. Styles brought up being power bombed by Roman Reigns onto the table last week. Styles said the Club is officially back together again tonight, but made it clear he would defeat Reigns on his own at Extreme Rules. 

    R-Truth defeated Fandango (2:11)

    R-Truth won with the Truth Detector. The deal is Goldust and Fandango have formed a tag team called “Goldango.” Tyler Breeze and Truth responded by forming a team called “The Gorgeous Truth” in an attempt for Goldust and Truth to make each other jealous. Just before the finish, Fandango pushed Truth into Breeze, who didn’t look happy with Truth despite his partner winning. Announcers were so bored with the match, JBL mentioned Ozzy Osbourne’s hair stylist. Michael Cole acted like he had no idea what he was talking about and asked how Sharon would react to that, apparently oblivious to reports that Ozzy and Sharon have split. 

    – Kevin Owens, the Miz and Cesaro were backstage with Stephanie and Shane. Stephanie spoke up and said they would face each other for Miz’s Intercontinental Championship at Extreme Rules. Miz objected because he could lose his championship without getting pinned. Stephanie said no one asked him what he thought. Sami Zayn walked in and objected, saying he deserves an opportunity. Zayn challenged Miz to a match tonight, and if Zayn wins, then the Extreme Rules match becomes a four-way.

    Shane and Stephanie were fine with it, despite Miz’s objections. Stephanie then dismissed everyone. Stephanie and Shane then had a moment of togetherness, complimenting each other over how they handled the situation. I hope the babyface outsmarts the Authority before the payoff of this Stephanie-Shane angle. Otherwise,  Shane is going to look some kind of bad when Stephanie inevitably turns on him. 

    Paige defeated Charlotte (C) in a nontitle match (7:42)

    Overloaded booking at the finish. Charlotte tried to cradle Paige with her feet on the rope. Natalya jumped on the apron. Flair, despite being barred from ringside, ran out. Paige was distracted. This brought out Shane, who had a team of officials bring Flair to the back. With all of this going on, Paige pinned Charlotte with a schoolgirl cradle. Charlotte looked distraught that she may not be able to beat Natalya at Extreme Rules without her father at ringside. 

    Sami Zayn defeated the Miz (C) in a nontitle match

    A great performance by Zayn, who won with the Helluva Kick. Miz worked over Zayn’s right knee, and the crowd was right behind up, particularly after Miz put on the Figure Four. Miz tried to get the pin on a rollup using the ropes, but the referee caught him. Zayn made his comeback with the Blue Thunder Bomb. A very good match. Zayn is now in the fatal four-way for the I-C title at Extreme Rules.

    – Becky Lynch was asked by Renee Young about Emma thumbing her in the eye last week. Emma claimed it was accidental. Lynch said it was on purpose. Emma walked up and said it was just like Lynch to blame her loss on other people. Then Dana Brooke, making her Raw debut, snuck up on Lynch and jumped her from behind. Emma and Brooke talked about being a team on NXT and talked about beating up Lynch just like it was the old days. Brooke teased giving Lynch another cheap shot, but held up. 

    – Darren Young did a vignette said life is what you make it, and said he needed a person in his life to guide him. Bob Backlund popped up on a split-screen. Young asked him to be his life coach. Backlund said he would be Young’s wrestling coach. Young said he didn’t need a wrestling coach, he needed a life coach. Backlund interrupted him and said he’s never been a life coach before, but the first thing Young needs to understand is “Wrestling is Life.” Then came a onscreen promo lifted directly from Donald Trump’s campaign, entitled “Making Darren Young great again.” 

    – Xavier Woods hosted an episode of “Up Up Down Down,” featuring Ziggler. It was a product placement for Pizza Hut. Big E. took two slices, leaving Ziggler empty handed, which is a metaphor for his year so far. 

    – Zack Ryder told Shane the ladder match at WrestleMania was proof he belonged in the WWE. Owens walked in and accused Shane of handing Zayn a chance at the Intercontinental Championship, and said Shane was getting in a habit of handing title shots to people who are undeserving. Ryder mentioned he beat Owens at WrestleMania. Owens correctly mentioned that Ryder didn’t beat him. Ryder brought up being in the Fatal Fourway match at Extreme Rules. Shane ordered Owens would face Ryder in a match tonight, and if Owens lost, he would lose his spot in the Fourway at Extreme Rules. 

    – Reigns and the Usos were hanging out backstage. Reigns said tonight was about beating the Club and representing the Family (the name for their team) to the fullest in an elimination match. Reigns said they would eliminate Anderson and Gallows as a team, but Reigns would take care of Styles by himself. 

    Sin Cara defeated Rusev (3:45) 

    Sin Cara won after another distraction finish. Rusev got out of the way of a senton and hit a thrust kick. He called for the Accolade, but Kalisto jumped on the apron. For some reason, Lana jumped on the apron, as well. Rusev got distracted by all this and Cara pinned him with a schoolboy cradle for the same finish we saw in Charlotte’s match. Kalisto did a Facebook interview. It was like he was reading from the Crash Davis school of interviews. He might as well have said “I just want to give it my best shot and good lord willing, it will work out.  I’m just happy to be here.” In fact, that wasn’t far from what he did say. 

    – The final Shining Stars of the Caribbean vignette arrive. They will arrive next week to remind us that, somehow, Primo and Epico have jobs and Damien Sandow doesn’t.  

    The Family defeated The Club in an elimination match (11:39) 

    Styles was disqualified after Anderson hit Reigns with a chair outside the ring. The Club got the man advantage when Anderson pinned Jey Uso with a schoolboy cradle at 2:38. Jimmy Uso evened things up at 4:42 by pinning Anderson with a small package. Styles pinned Jey Uso during a commercial break with the Phenomenal Firearm. Reigns made it a 1-on-1 match with Styles when he pinned Gallows at 9:17. 

    The Usos ran down after the DQ and jumped Anderson and Gallows, who threw the Usos out of the ring. Reigns recovered to give Anderson and Gallows spears. This led to a terrific staredown between Reigns and Styles that was so solid, it had portions of the crowd chanting for Reigns. Reigns had a chair as he gazed at Styles, who was standing on the apron ready to deliver the Phenomenal Forearm. Reigns said he didn’t need to chair to beat up Styles and tossed it aside. Styles threw the chair back at him.

    When Reigns picked it up, Styles did a springboard, but Reigns picked up the chair, so Styles rolled out of the ring. Styles reminded Reigns the chair would be fair game when they meet at Extreme Rules. This was very well laid out. Of all the times not to have Reigns in the main event segment, it came during his best angle of the year. 

    Kevin Owens defeated Zack Ryder (4:03)

    Owens won with the Pop-Up Power Bomb. Ryder’s biggest spot was hitting the Randy Savage Elbow for a near fall. Owens retains his spot for the I-C title fourway at Extreme Rules

    – Cass did an interview with Young. More scripted crap that this company just can’t drag themselves away from. Cass dedicated the match to Amore. 

    – Former WWE writer Freddie Prinze Jr. did a promo for the new show “First Impressions,” then started chanting for the New Day. This led to New Day coming out. The Vaudevillains did an insert promo saying they would take the tag team championships from New Day at Extreme Rules. New Day did a promo where they were confused about the Vaudevillains name, they held up a giant Booty-O, and got the crowd to chant “All hail to Booty-Ohhh.” Big E. said the Vaudevillains were from a by-gone era, an era that wasn’t very good for people like us: people who used smart phones. It led to them getting the crowd to chant “New Day Rocks.” 

    The Dudley Boyz defeated the New Day (C) in a nontitle match (5:08)

    Aiden English and Simon Gotch ran down to jump Woods, leading to Big E. getting involved. In the midst of all this, Devon Dudley pinned Kofi Kingston with a short-armed clothesline. Postmatch, the Vaudevillains gave Kingston the Whirling Dervish. 

    The main event match between Jericho-Cass, which was promoted for two hours, never got going.

    Cass made his ring entrance. Jericho was in the midst of his entrance when, just as his jacket started to lite up in the dark, someone could be seen jumping him. That person put on Jericho’s jacket, it lit up, then the mystery figure got in the ring. It was Ambrose, who started to tear up the jacket. Jericho ran down and put the fists to Ambrose. Jericho was incensed his jacket was destroyed and started to leave, but Cass blocked his path and threw him in the ring. Ambrose gave Jericho Dirty Deeds, then pulled out a pair of scissors and tore the jacket into shreds. Some of the bulbs and fuses that light the jacket starting blowing, which made for an interesting visual. Jericho was left screaming at Ambrose about how his $15,000 jacket was ruined. 

    Shane and Stephanie watched this scene from backstage. They each complimented the other about how good a job they had done throughout the night. Stephanie suggested their next step should be an episode of “Ride Along,” but Shane didn’t think they were ready for that. Shane said goodnight. As Shane walked away, Stephanie looked at the framed photo of Shane as a toddler with Vince McMahon before they went to his first wrestling show in Worcester, Mass. She had a blank look on her face, then she vaguely grinned. 

    SUMMARY: 

    The main programs of Reigns-Styles and Jericho-Ambrose were built very well tonight. This was an interesting show in terms of hour structure and how it relates to ratings. Putting Cass in the main event slot is just Vince’s theory of relying on the big guys when the chips are down. It’s too early to be breaking up the Enzo & Cass tag team, and clearly the company thought building Cass for the main event was a better idea than actually having him wrestle in it. Unfortunately, the words “New era” have now entered the dreaded WWE lexicon of staged terms that come off as lame, joining such hits as “Diva Revolution,” “WWE Universe” and “WWE Superstar.” And it’s only going to grow over time. 

  • WWE RAW live results: Reigns vs Styles Extreme Rules, Stephanie and Shane

    The Big Takeaway: 

    The first night of the Shane/Stephanie co-ownership of Monday Night Raw featured Shane getting about seven minutes of airtime. Stephanie got about 25. Of course, she did segements where she was a heel and a babyface, as well. The Roman Reigns/ A.J. Styles match at Extreme Rules will be a no-DQ match. Rusev is the new #1 contender for the U.S. Championship. As usual, Kevin Owens was the highlight of the show, once again having the best match of the show. Crowd was more lively than recent weeks, but Stephanie’s presence just dragged the show down. 

    Show Recap:

    Stephanie McMahon came out, introduced as one-half of “The Power of Monday Night Raw.”

    Shane McMahon came out to interrupt her. Stephanie said in the seven years that Shane was absent from the company, she learned how to accomplish a lot about business. So she offered Shane a gift to show of support in the new partnership. It was a framed picture of an infant Shane with Vince McMahon, the same picture that Vince destroyed in the buildup to WrestleMania.

    Stephanie then offered Shane the microphone to hear his ideas for tonight’s show. Shane said he was touched and offered to hear Stephanie’s ideas for the show. Stephanie polled the fans, who wanted to hear what Shane had to say. Before he could start, Kevin Owens walked down. Owens said it was a lovely sight to see Stephanie and Shane together, getting along. Owens said he had an idea of his own, to give him a rematch for the Intercontinental Championship. He talked as if his program with Sami Zayn was over.

    Owens kissed up to Stephanie saying she was a smart businesswoman, and claimed he was owed a title shot in his contract. Shane said that was a valid point. Then Cesaro came out with his 007 entrance. Cesaro said he had The Miz beat last night, but lost because of Owens interference. Owens thought he was talking about Zayn.

    Shane ordered an immediate Owens vs. Cesaro match with the winner getting a shot at the Miz.

    Cesaro defeated Kevin Owens by DQ (11:30)

    The Miz and Maryse were at ringside. Owens grabbed the Intercontinental belt to hit Cesaro, but Miz grabbed it. Miz and Owens had words. Cesaro jumped in to go after both men. This led to Miz doing a run-in for the DQ. Miz and Owens put the boots to Cesaro before Zayn ran out to give Owens the Helluva Kick. He tried to give Miz the Helluva Kick, but Maryse pulled him to safety. Zayn then grabbed the Intercontinental Championship and the crowd chanted “Yes” while Miz watched on.

    Ever notice how often Owens either opens or closes the show? I guess it says it all about how often the company wants a hot opener to start off the show because he’s the best heel they have. Cesaro did the Uppercut Train spot right away, then did a somersault bodyblock off the barricade. Later, Cesaro did a Gut Wrench Superplex that popped the crowd. Owens gave Cesaro a necksnap to the floor, then followed with the frog splash off the apron.

    Stephanie walked backstage where she came upon Dean Ambrose. Ambrose told her he didn’t believe that Stephanie had changed a bit and she was the same vindictive person she has always been. Stephanie wanted to prove she has changed and asked to be a guest on the Ambrose Asylum tonight. He agreed.

    R-Truth talked to Tyler Breeze. The idea was Truth was trying to make Goldust jealous by being friends with Breeze, but Breeze ignored Truth’s claims that Babe Ruth shot Abraham Lincoln. Or the fact that Truth had made his own selfie stick out of a tree branch. Sure, what’s next? Leicester City wins the Premier League? Goldust walked in and said he didn’t need Truth because he found a partner. Fandango. Goldust got mad at Truth and said he would never forget the name of—then Fandango said his name. This is like the Police Academy of wrestling programs. No one laughs at them, but they keep coming out with more.  

    A.J. Styles talked with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, who said he didn’t know what he was going to do with them. They told him he was phenomenal last night against Reigns, but Styles reminded them he lost. Gallows said at Extreme Rules, Styles would beat Reigns in a no-DQ match. Reigns walked in and said he respected Styles, but he didn’t respect Gallows and Anderson. Reigns said he didn’t think Styles could beat “The Guy” on his own. He then questioned whether Styles, Gallows, and Anderson could beat “the three of them” and the Usos walked in. A trios match between the three is set for tonight.

    Tyler Breeze defeated Goldust (1:47)

    JBL talked about what would Dick the Bruiser or Lou Thesz would think of Fandango. It wouldn’t be nearly as bad as what they would say if they ever saw who was in the WWE Hall of Fame ahead of them. Breeze won with a schoolboy cradle when Goldust got distracted by Fandango and Truth dancing. Breeze again ignored Truth after getting his first win of 2016, and that includes house show matches. He even lost to Titus O’Neal last week.

    The New Day came out.

    The Vaudevillains will face New Day for the tag team titles at Extreme Rules. Kofi Kingston mentioned the WWE #1 Contenders Tag Team Tournament came to an abrupt end after the injury to Enzo Amore. They replayed his severe concussion, with Michael Cole saying all over tests came back negative at a hospital. Big E. said they had a Tweet that would put a smile on the fans’ faces. Xavier Woods claimed Beyonce slid up in his DMs last night, then admitted it wasn’t true. That showed a tweet showing Enzo had been released from a hospital, which got “How U Doin’” chants. Woods claimed they sent him a box of Booty-Os cereal and a dash of unicorn magic to get better.

    The Vaudevillains came out. Aiden English said what happened last night was tragic, but it was a tough business and tough things happen. He said a real man would have gotten back up. Real men like Simon Gotch and himself, who represent the skills of a bygone era. Gotch said they made Enzo the realest guy in the emergency room, then asked him “How are you doing?”

    The Dudley Boyz came out. Bubba Ray Dudley said the Vaudevillains didn’t beat anyone last night. They just stood there and twirled their mustaches like the Monopoly man. Bubba, who did a babyface promo, said they should restart the tag team tournament right now.

    Then Enzo and Cass’s music played, but it was only Colin Cassady who came out. It’s pretty telling who has the charisma on that team because the crowd wanted to see Enzo so badly, when they got only Cassidy, the pop was a disappointment. He told “Simon and Garfunkel” to tell Mrs. Robinson they’ll be late for dinner. Cassady said the Vaudevillains messed with his family last night, and said they would finish what the Vaudevillains started last night. Cassady jumped in and everybody started brawling with each other. They just cut to a commercial. It led to Cassady and the New Day vs. The Vaudevillains and the Dudley Boyz.

    The New Day and Colin Cassady defeated The Dudley Boyz and The Vaudevillains (15:46)

    Good match with several hot tags. Cassady pinned Devon with East River Crossing. Bubba Ray had given Cassady a back suplex and called for the 3-D, but Kingston cut that off with a springboard crossbody on Bubba Ray. JBL mentioned being in a bar fight once with Devon because of a bar tab. Michael Cole asked if that was part of the show, but JBL indicated it wasn’t.

    They wished the Rock a Happy Birthday and mentioned he won his first WWE World Championship in St. Louis at the Survivor Series. Oddly enough, Rock won a tournament over Mankind in among the first of countless variations of the Montreal Screwjob, with the latest being last night. In fact, they showed a replay of Charlotte-Natalya moments later. They even showed Charles Robinson dressing up as Little Natch in 1999 WCW, the worst year for any company in wrestling history. Just seeing replays of Robinson wrestling Gorgeous George with Asya in the background made me dizzy.  

    They replayed the Reigns-Styles confrontation. Just like the WWE Website is editing negative Reigns signs off of various pictures, they cut down the nat sound where Reigns got booed again.

    Emma defeated Becky Lynch (5:42)

    Emma won after thumbing Becky Lynch in the eye, then gave her a Michinoku Driver. No idea what sense that finish made since Emma just jobbed in her Raw debut as a heel. Lynch showed some good babyface fire in her comeback.

    Primo and Epico were back with another Puerto Rico vignette. They put over the lunch they had as compared it to the lousy fast food in America. And you thought the 1-800-Sheamus vignettes were pointless.

    Ambrose came out and said his houseplant was named “Mitch.”

    Stephanie came out. Ambrose said after the main event of Payback last night, she had to be boiling mad deep inside. Stephanie was happy over the new era of the WWE. Ambrose brought up Reigns spearing Stephanie at WrestleMania, then showed a photo. He said she got speared out of her Tina Turner boots. Stephanie admitted she got too involved and Reigns taught her a vaulable lesson.

    Ambrose brought up Shane returning to Raw after seven years away to everyone’s delight. “Shane O’Mac” chants. Ambrose said Shane was running Raw better than the Authority ever did. Stephanie said the WWE Universe was loyal to Shane, and she appreciates the loyalty even after Shane abadoned them for seven years. Ambrose said Stephanie has proved her loyalty to the company, missing dance recitals, children’s birthday parties and countless other activites with her children just to attend company functions. He contrasted that to Shane, who attended all of his family’s activities, yet still maintained as much of a share of the company now as Stephanie does. That set her off, though not in a screaming fit.

    Stephanie took a moment to compose herself and said she understood why her father did what he did. After awhile, things need to change. Stephanie said she felt things need to change right now, and she announced that the Ambrose Asylum was cancelled. Stephanie asked Ambrose if that was a lesson that hurts. She told Ambrose to get to stepping and clean the set up. Ambrose said it hurts, he thought he was going to be the next Jimmy Fallon. He carried Mitch the Plant out. Crowd was begging for Ambrose to give Stephanie Dirty Deeds or something resembling a comeback, but that doesn’t exist in a company that can’t get stars over anymore. Stephanie then announced Chris Jericho was return with the Highlight Reel.

    Jericho walked down and he and Ambrose were brawling immediately. JBL said this is what Jay Leno and David Letterman always wanted to do. The fight spilled into the ring, where Jericho gave Ambrose a Codebreaker. He threw the Ambrose Asylum sign on the ground and kicked Ambrose out of the ring. Jericho took Mitch the Plant and smashed it over Ambrose’s head.

    Rusev won a battle royal to become the new #1 contender for the U.S. Championship (13:38)

    Kalisto was at ringside on commentary. Aside from mentioning Harley Race was in the back tonight, he was vanilla. The battle royal also included Konnor, Del Rio, Damien Sandow, Bo Dallas, Curtis Axel, Sheamus, Zack Ryder, Sin Cara, Stardust, Apollo Crews, Darren Young, Baron Corbin, and Dolph Ziggler. Before the match, they showed the League of Nations breaking up on SmackDown. After Del Rio eliminated Cara, it was down to Rusev, Del Rio, Sheamus and Ryder. The three heels worked together to beat up Ryder, but then turned on each other. Del Rio eliminated Sheamus at 12:12. Then Del Rio was eliminated by Ryder at 12:37. Man, if Del Rio was an NFL free agent, he’d be named Dwayne Bowe. Unreal how much potential has been squandered with him. Ryder got some hope spots against Rusev, including hitting the Broski Boot. He went for the Rough Ryder, but Rusev grabbed him and threw him over. Lana came down to celebrate with Rusev. Crews was thrown out by Sheamus in 1:55. Why embarass him so early? Also, Corbin was eliminated by Ziggler. Corbin responded by throwing Ziggler into the post, leading to Rusev eliminating him. 

    Charlotte and Ric Flair came out. They replayed the double cross again. Charlotte said Natalya and Bret Hart pushed her to the limit, but she managed to retain the Women’s Championship. Charlotte was surprised to read tweet after tweet after the match about the controversy over how the Flairs screwed over the Hart Family. So Charlotte brought out Robinson to answer all questions about last night’s match. 

    Charlotte asked Robinson to tell the truth. Crowd chanted “Cheater” at her. She shouted them down saying the queen is talking. She asked if Natalya tapped out. Robinson said she did, but she was screaming “I tap out. I tap out.” Flair called Robinson “Little Naitch.” Charlotte asked Robinson if his background with the Flair family had anything to do with his decision. Robinson said “Yes,” then corrected himself and said no. Charlotte asked Robinson if the decision was final. With a smile, Robinson said Yes. 

    Natalya came out and said this wasn’t about Robinson or Charlotte, it was about Flair. She accused him of paying Robinson to screw Natalya out of the women’s championship. She said everyone knows the truth, the Harts are the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be. 

    Charlotte tried to jump Natalya, who blocked her and punched her out of the ring. Natalya had a staredown with Flair, who took off his coat, Hall of Fame Ring and watch, then walked right into a Natalya slap. Natalya put Flair in the sharpshooter until Charlotte pulled him out of the ring. Segment got good heat. Natalya took Flair’s watch and ring. 

    Charlotte nursed Flair backstage where Stephanie walked up. Stephanie said Charlotte would face Natalya in a submission match, then asked Flair to be banned from ringside. Stephanie said some said that Flair was becoming a distraction to make sure that Charlotte was on her “A” game. I could make no sense out of that. Stephanie asked Flair to do a “Whoo.” Flair just glared at her. Another segment where they try to make Stephanie the biggest star in the company instead of just purely making her a heel. Why not have Shane ban Flair? 

    A.J. Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows defeated Roman Reigns and the Usos (11:29)

    Styles pinned Jimmy Uso after the Phenomenal Forearm. Uso had a good near fall on Styles after a crossbody. At various points, Gallows and Anderson would do heel spots on Jey Uso, but Styles would get mad at them. 

    Before Styles got the pin, Gallows and Anderson laid out Reigns with a flying kick while Reigns was on Gallows’ shoulders. This led to the postmatch, where Gallows and Anderson wanted Styles to hit Reigns with a chair. Styles picked up the chair, then threw it down. This led to Anderson and Gallows putting the boots to Reigns. Jey used the chair on Styles, then saved Reigns by knocking Anderson and Gallows out of the ring. Styles got the chair back and hit the Usos with it.  

    As the Usos went to the floor, Reigns recovered and hit Styles with a Superman punch. Reigns, upset over seeing his cousins injured by Styles, threw Styles to the floor and gave him a running power bomb onto the announcer’s table. 

    SUMMARY: 

    The problem with heel authority figures is they make the wrestling seem secondary. Stephanie McMahon can be an effective character when she doesn’t get herself over first. But that’s not how she’s utilized, and it hurts the show in the long run. As for Reigns, he got his usual reception tonight. Dueling chants in the main event, with women and children supporting him. He’s very much the new Cena, in that regard. Styles looks like someone who fans have accepted in the main event role. 

  • WWE RAW live results: Gallows & Anderson debut against The Usos

    Despite practically being in the company’s backyard, tonight’s Raw will be the first one to originate from Hartford in nearly two years. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows will debut against the Usos. Shane McMahon will likely make another appearance, though whether he “runs the show” tonight as acting GM remains to be seen.

    The WWE website is also promoting Dean Ambrose trying to get revenge on Chris Jericho after the main event of last week’s show, where Jericho gave Ambrose a Codebreaker after his win over Kevin Owens. Also, the finals of the tag team tournament to determine the new #1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team titles between Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady vs. The Vaudevillains, with the winners getting the New Day, most likely at Payback. 

    Our coverage beings at 8 ET. Please join us. 

    The Big Takeaway:

    For the first time since WrestleMania, Stephanie McMahon appeared to announce to Shane McMahon that this Sunday, her father would decide between Shane or the Authority who would get to control Raw again. It was the only segment of the show with Stephanie. No HHH tonight. Once again, the program benefitted without the Authority’s ubiquitous presence. Very good build to the main event of Roman Reigns vs. A.J. Styles with the underlying theme of whether Styles was in cahoots with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. In fact, Anderson and Gallows were put over strong in their Raw debut, winning cleanly over the Usos. Plus, there was a package building up Kevin Owens vs. Sami Zayn, which was one of the best pieces building up a WWE undercard program in ages.

    Show Recap:

    There was a graphic dedicating the show to Chyna. There was no ceremony where the entire roster came out for a 10-bell salute or anything of that nature.

    Shane McMahon started the show again, but before long Stephanie McMahon walked out for the first time since WrestleMania. She wanted a hug, but Shane wasn’t willing. Stephanie said the fans were from Hartford and sick of the same politicians smiling fake smiles and telling them what they want to hear. Stephanie mentioned being born in Hartford so she was one of them. She talked about being on the phone with politicians who wanted to honor her, “Harford’s favorite daughter,” potentially honoring her with a statue.

    Stephanie got down to business and said tonight was the last night where Shane would run Raw. This Sunday, at Payback, Vince McMahon would decide once and for all (or until the next ratings slide) who runs Raw. Shane asked the fans who they wanted to see run Raw, and naturally Shane got all the cheers. Stephanie said Vince was smart enough to never put the decison making in the fans’ hands. Wasn’t she just complimenting them earlier? Very nicely, Shane asked Stephanie to leave the ring. Stephanie grasped on to the ropes, so Shane said since she wouldn’t leave, he brought down security. Three guards came out to “Yes” chants and Shane told Stephanie to “leave our ring.” Shane motioned to the fans. Stephanie left, getting in Shane’s face before doing so.

    It was hilarious watching Stephanie leave. Guards acted like they were trying to escort Brock Lesnar out, right down to Stephanie telling one of the guards not to touch her. When one of them did, Stephanie slapped him and actually kicked him down. He had to sell it like he had been punched by Jon Jones. Two other guards hauled Stephanie off.

    Shane turned his attention to tonight’s show and introduced A.J. Styles, who got easily his softest Raw reaction since debuting.

    A.J. Styles defeated Sheamus (14:23)

    Physical match. One thing Styles does very well is wrestle to the strengths of his opponent to make them look good, as well as himself. Sheamus dodged a quebrada and threw Styles into the ring steps. Sheamus clamped on the Irish Cloverleaf, but Styles made the ropes. Sheamus missed a Brogue Kick against the ropes, and Styles hit the Phenomenal Forearm for the pin.

    Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows, wearing matching white robes, came out to applaud Styles postmatch. Styles looked confused. For some reason, with that look, Gallows and Anderson reminded me of WCW jobber tag team extraordinaires Disorderly Conduct.

    Roman Reigns watched this backstage and got his usual standing boo ovation from the fans. The Usos joined him, and they were all unanimous in thinking Styles, Anderson and Gallows were working together. The Usos told Reigns they had his back. Evidently, this wasn’t miced up very well in the building because the fans chanted “We can’t hear you.”

    The New Day came out and put over the tag team tournament, sponsored by Booty-Os. Xavier Woods said the tag team that wins the tournament would party like it’s “1999” in a Prince tribute.

    The Vaudevillains came out and said they would win the tournament. Aiden English sang “WWE World Tag Team Championships” like he was trying out for a barbershop quartet. English said they would party like it’s 1869. Simon Gotch said they would defeat Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady, who came out to a huge reaction. Amore said he wanted to run down a beach into his own arms, but that’s impossible. Cass looked at him weird after that, then did his “Sawft” catchphrase.

    Big E. got the fans to chant “New Day rocks” while Enzo and Cass and the Vaudevillains glared at each other.

    Anderson and Gallows were shown leaving Styles dressing room as more supposed evidence that he was working for A.J.

    John Cena’s tweets about returning to Raw on Memorial Day weekend were shown.

    Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows defeated the Usos (12:50)

    Anderson pinned Jimmy Uso after a Magic Killer. Match was designed to get Gallows and Anderson over as strong heels because they were on offense most of the way in a longer match. The Reigns backlash is starting to rub off on the Usos, who got an “Usos suck” chant from a minority of the crowd. Anderson used the Divorce Court on Jey Uso’s injured left shoulder. Later, Gallows pushed Jey off the top rope into the barricade shoulder first. Jimmy Uso got the hot tag shortly after a commercial and caught Gallows with a tope.

    Anderson and Gallows continued to beat on the Usos until Reigns came out. At least there were a few audible cheers which were quickly drowned out by the boobirds. Reigns cleaned house in short order to save his cousins, including an awesome clothesline on Anderson.

    Styles did an interview with Renee Young that was interrupted by Anderson and Gallows. Styles wanted to know why Anderson and Gallows couldn’t stay out of trouble. Anderson said they knew Styles could win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship by himself, but they always had his back. Gallows said their friendship would be forever. They shook hands.

    Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens program continues with a video package that was very good. Owens said they met at a wrestling show, they traveled together. There were photographs of them posing together as teenage friends at various landmarks. Zayn said they attended each other’s weddings and he was at the hospital when Owens’ son was born. They showed the angle from NXT when Zayn won the NXT Championship, but Owens laid him out. Owens said it hurt him to achieve his goal first. Zayn said Owens told them they were like brothers, but shouldn’t Owens be happy for him if they were like brothers? Owens talked about beating up Cena on his first night in the company, winning the Intercontinental Championship and winning at WrestleMania. Zayn said when he was out with an injured shoulder, he felt like Owens took his spot on Raw, which stung. Zayn said he enjoyed throwing Owens out at the Royal Rumble. Owens said Zayn was the one making the issue between them personal. This was a tremendous hype piece detailing the history of the two men. In particular, Owens did these Bret Hart-style subtle heel statements, such as proclaiming himself the victim.

    Sami Zayn defeated Rusev (11:56)

    Rusev hit Zayn with a nice superkick and teased the Accolade, but Zayn kicked Rusev to the ropes and pinned him after a schoolboy cradle. That’s the best they could do to put over Zayn? Lana, who was back accompanying Rusev, screamed at Zayn and threw her shoes at him. That was weird. Shouldn’t she have attacked him with the shoes? Whole match was odd considering Rusev is yesterday’s news as a single, Zayn is the one in a program, yet Rusev controlled most of the way.

    Owens ran out and hit Zayn from behind in the postmatch for the heel heat, which was the best reaction of the match. Crowd has been dead tonight.

    Apollo Crews did an interview with Young. Stardust walked in. Apollo talked about how great it was to work with Stardust’s father, Dusty Rhodes. Stardust did an impression of Dusty, who said not even Dusty could make Crews a star. Crews needs to watch Connor McGregor interviews as a lesson on how to draw money, because this current track is going to leave him on a one-way path to Superstars.

    Apollo Crews defeated Stardust (3:07)

    Crews won with the Screwdriver Power Bomb. He did a standing moonsault, but there’s something lacking with Crews.

    Ambrose came out to run down Jericho and said he didn’t want to host an edition of the Ambrose Asylum because he was not in the mood for fun and games. Ambrose cut a good promo about how he punches people in the face and gets punched beccause what he does for a living isn’t pretty. He called out Jericho, who came out with his magic scarf.

    Jericho called Ambrose a disrespectful, stupid idiot and did some old school heel stuff. He reiterated that he was the best in the world at what he does, he wins matches, he makes history, he commands respect from every man he steps in the ring with. Jericho ordered Ambrose to kiss his $1500 boots. Apparently, Jericho went to the same cobbler as Tully Blanchard in 1985. Then he demanded that Ambrose apologize to him for taking the Highlight Reel away from him or else he would be sorry.

    Ambrose said he was sorry that he paid so much money for those ugly ass shoes. He was sorry Jericho was walking around with a scarf with a Bon Jovi haircut and was sorry he would have to beat Jericho at Payback. But he wasn’t sorry for this and he jumped Jericho. Ambrose threw Jericho out of the ring and started clearing the announce table. Then Jericho tripped Ambrose on the table. Ambrose fell face first. Jericho then put Ambrose in the Walls of Jericho on the announcer’s table. This reminded me of Paige putting various women in the PTO on the table during her brief heel run last fall. Jericho is one talented man. These fans were ready to cheer him, but he got some heat from a lethargic crowd after a simple angle.

    Natalya defeated Emma via submission (2:12)

    Natalya won via sharpshooter. Charlotte and Ric Flair were at ringside. Emma does a 2:00 submission job as she’s in the starting blocks as a heel? Aren’t there a half dozen other women who could have been flown in for this match?

    There was a video package paying tribute to Chyna. It featured tweets from Trish Stratus, Lita, Shawn Michaels, HHH, Stephanie McMahon, Steve Austin, Charlotte, Natalya, Shane, and the Rock. Highlights included her victory over Jeff Jarrett to win the Intercontinental Championship in the six-figure payoff match, as well as her entering the 1999 Royal Rumble, where she actually threw out Mark Henry. And a month later, Henry was in bed with Mae Young. Sweet Christ, did this company try to get Henry to quit.  The Monday Night Wars led to the most unique careers in the history of this business. Goldberg is probably tops on that list. Debut in 1997, world champion nine months later, 15 months undefeated, out of the business by 2005. Chyna is the female equivalent. There are few who fell victim to the harsh reality that invades pro wrestling’s fantasy world harder than her, as well.

    Damien Sandow vs. Baron Corbin never got going as Dolph Ziggler attacked Corbin during his ring entrance. It looked like Ziggler wanted to give Corbin a famouseron the floor, but Corbin avoided it and simply ran off. Crowd seemed happy to see Sandow again, although he only got a cameo. He didn’t get a ring entrance, however.

    Another vignette from the Colons. This week they picked up women from a Puerto Rican nightclub and enjoyed fine drinks. Heat magnets.

    The Miz and Maryse came out. Miz ran down fans who thought he would lose to Cesaro this Sunday at Payback. He kissed Maryse and said the Intercontinental Championship was more than a title, it was legendary. The greatest competitors have held this championship and Cesaro never has. He called fans who held up “Cesaro Section” signs as mindless wonderers who tried to empower themselves by talking with other internet trolls. He pointed to Maryse and said this is what the Miz section looks like.

    Cesaro came out with his James Bond entrance again and said fans were too educated to start cheering for the Miz. This led to Miz to do his Travis Bickle impression from Taxi Driver. He said “You talkin to me?” Cesaro said the only movie the Miz belonged in was “Jackass.” Wonder if that was some shade thrown at Shane since he was the one who brought in Johnny Knoxville and Shane O. for an ill-fated Raw angle in 2007 which was supposed to lead up to SummerSlam. Knoxville and Steve laughed while getting pounded by Umaga, which led to the entire idea being scrapped. The two men exchanged Clint Eastwood catchphrases before Miz decided to leave instead of squaring off. Then Miz tried to jump Cesaro, who caught him with a hoisting uppercut. Michael Cole, clearly brushed up on his Eastwood knowledge, called that “Sudden Impact,” the movie which spawned the line “Go ahead, make my day.” Maryse covered up Miz from any further damage. Good segment.

    Reigns and Styles had a staredown backstage. Styles turned his cap backwards and said he was going to take his title. Reigns muttered something about Anderson and Gallows to Styles.

    Roman Reigns (C) defeated Alberto Del Rio in a nontitle match (12:58)

    The whole idea of the League of Nations appears to have been dropped as it was never mentioned when Alberto Del Rio, Sheamus or Rusev were in action tonight. Instead of an angle to split them up, they’ve just quietly disbanded. Until they get back together again out of nowhere. Sort of like the Filet o’ Fish. You think it’s gone for good from the McDonald’s menu, then it randomly pops up again. It’s the Sarah Palin of food.

    Anyway, Del Rio went for the armbar, triggering a Reigns comeback. Reigns actually got some “Let’s go Roman” chants. This may have been his best Raw reception of the year, and it still sounded like he was booed by 70% of the fans. He hit a Drive-By kick that sent Del Rio into the post. Del Rio came back with a superkick while Reigns’ was kneeling. Del Rio missed the Tree of Woe kick when Roman laid down, and Reigns hit the Superman’s Punch. Then Disorderly Conduct, er, Anderson and Gallows came out. A distracted Reigns almost got pinned with a schoolboy cradle by Del Rio, but Reigns kicked out, hit the spear and pinned Del Rio.

    Anderson and Gallows immediately jumped Reigns. Styles ran down and ordered them to back off. Anderson and Gallows left, but Reigns hit Styles with a Superman’s punch. Reigns hit Gallows with a Superman’s Punch, but Styles hit Reigns with a Phenomenal Forearm. Anderson and Gallows smiled like Styles were in collusion, but Styles and Regins sold the punches they laid on each other. Pretty good pop for Styles nailing Reigns.

    SUMMARY:

    Another in a line of shows that have been very good. The storyline with Styles, Reigns, Anderson and Gallows have made sense and have built very well. All the matches on this show were solid, aside from the squashes. Above all, most of the shows since WrestleMania have been fun, particularly this one. The build for Owens-Zayn was excellent tonight, and Jericho’s angle with Ambrose was very good, to boot.

  • WWE RAW breaks record low rating

    Going against the NBA playoffs and with a taped show, Raw last night broke a new record for the least watched episode on its regular night outside of football season with 3.32 million viewers.

    The show fell victim to a big third hour drop which led to it falling below the previous low mark set on 2/1 at 3.37 million viewers.

    Dancing with the Stars, featuring UFC’s Paige VanZant, also had a big drop to 10.95 million viewers.

    There were a number of shows during football season last year, as well as the 1/11 show against the college football championship game, that did lower numbers than Raw.

    Raw was still the second highest rated show on cable, beating the NBA game on TBS that went head-to-head and did 3.21 million viewers, but falling behind the Warriors-Rockets late game that did 4.42 million viewers.

    Keep in mind that the actual viewers of both games would be significantly higher if you included the local market broadcasts of each game.

    The seasonal pattern of people tuning in late that comes after Daylight Savings time was in effect, but the pattern that the third hour doesn’t drop as much during that season was not.  The first two hours were in the same range as last week, so the record low was entirely due to the big third hour drop.

    The three hours were:

    8 p.m. 3.49 million viewers
    9 p.m. 3.54 million viewers
    10 p.m. 2.98 million viewers

  • WWE RAW “live” results: Shane McMahon, Vaudevillians vs Usos

    Tonight’s Raw from London will once again have Shane McMahon in charge. At this rate, he will surpass Bud Selig’s record as longest interim authority figure in history. However, the string of good Raws will likely continue. Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn will continue their program, and so will Chris Jericho-Dean Ambrose. The semifinals of the #1 Contenders tag team tournament feature the Usos vs. the Vaudevillians and  Enzo Amore/Big Cass vs. the Dudley Boyz, which has been teased ever since WrestleMania. The WWE website is also teasing a potential Emma vs. Becky Lynch program.

    Our coverage starts at 8 ET. 

    The Big Takeaway: A show that dragged at points that was full of wrestling. The #1 contender tag team tournament will feature the Vaudevillains vs. Enzo Amore and Big Cass in an NXT final. Only storyline news was the acknowledgement of a relationship between A.J. Styles, Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows from New Japan Pro Wrestling (simply referred to as New Japan on the broadcast, because we can’t be having pro wrestling mentioned on our pro wrestling show). Anderson and Gallows jumped Roman Reigns after Styles confronted Reigns in an another interview segment where Reigns was heavily booed. Styles denied any knowledge that Anderson and Gallows were going to jump him, but Reigns didn’t believe it. 

    Show Recap: 

    Dean Ambrose came out for the first full-length edition of the Ambrose Asylum. He told a joke about a large monster being discovered in the Thames River and said he didn’t know Braun Strowman could swim. CBS late night talk show host James Corden’s parents were at ringside, who Ambrose introduce a nice response. Then he brought out Shane McMahon to a big reaction. He told Shane to have a seat, but since the set didn’t include chairs, they stood. 

    They replayed the clip of Shane jumping off the Hell in a Cell onto the table against the Undertaker. They showed an angle that showed how gimmicked the table really was. Ambrose still put over the stunt as something even he wondered “What was Shane thinking?” Ambrose asked Shane what his agenda was. Shane said the fans were on his mind because he was giving stars a chance who, ordinarily, would never get a chance. He mentioned Sami Zayn, A.J. Styles and Sasha Banks. 

    Kevin Owens interrupted him. Owens said he’s been watching the same old crap he’s seen for years: a McMahon filled with power with a vendetta against him. Shane denied that. Owens asked why did he remove him from the building last week? Shane said because he threatened to go after Zayn before his match with Styles. Owens said he was being honest and Zayn didn’t deserve to be the WWE World Heavyweight Champion. 

    Zayn came out with the crowd singing his theme song before he could start his promo. Zayn said Owens was riding his coattails because he was signed by the WWE before Owens. That’s why Owens attacked him in NXT. But they both knew Owens would have never ended up in the WWE without him. Crowd had a mixed reaction for that. 

    Then Chris Jericho showed up. So do the 20-minute opening segment. Jericho told Zayn there were bigger issues than his emotions. Jericho told Shane he was drunk with power, and he never liked Shane. Jericho told Shane to remember he was the best in the world at what he does, which included hosting the greatest WWE talk show of all time “The Highlight Reel.” Shane said the new generation was about new opportunities, which is why they had the Highlight Reel. Shane got in a plug for the WWE Network. They all started arguing, and Ambrose yelled at everyone to be careful around his plant. Shane ordered Jericho to face Ambrose at Payback, along with Owens vs. Zayn. Shane left the ring and Ambrose handed him the plant. It wound up as a four-way brawl where Zayn and Ambrose cleaned house quickly. 

    It was announced that Shane had ordered Ambrose vs. Owens as the main event. 

    Chris Jericho defeated Sami Zayn (12:47)

    Jericho won after thumbing Zayn in the eye while referee Charles Robinson tried to break them up in the corner, followed by a codebreaker. Good match. Jericho applied the Walls of Jericho, but Zayn made the ropes. Zayn later did his spot where he dove through two sets of ropes into a tornado DDT on the floor. Zayn hit his Blue Thunder bomb for a near fall. Consecutive jobs for Zayn isn’t helping him burst out of the gates early. 

    Mauro Ranallo made his Raw debut doing a backstage interview with Styles. Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows showed up and Styles greeted them like they were old pals. It was stange to see Anderson and Gallows treated like babyfaces when they basically made a heel debut last week attacking the Usos. Anderson said he had been trying to get in the WWE for years. They laughed together and left to catch up on old times. Michael Cole mentioned that Styles, Anderson and Gallows were old friends from New Japan. 

    Enzo Amore and Big Cass came out. Fans chanted Amore’s name to the tune of “Seven Nation Army” again. Amore had a riddle. There is “hell” in “hello.” There is “end” in “friend.” And there is “Dud” in “Dudley.” Amore said the Dudleyz were a couple of duds. Amore says he and Cass were A cups because they were real whether anyone liked them or not. 

    Enzo & Cass defeated the Dudley Boyz to advance to the finals of the WWE #1 Contenders Tag Team Tournament (8:33)

    Enzo pinned Bubba Ray Dudley after a Rocket Launcher. Bubba Ray accidentally hit Devon Dudley with a forearm before the finish after Cass got the hot tag. Cass hit the Empire Elbow and big boot after the hot tag. Match was fine and the announcers put over Enzo & Cass winning as a major one. 

    Roman Reigns came out. The crowd reactions just get worse. They weren’t chanting “Lou,” they were booing. And Reigns did the exact same opening line he’s given over the past two weeks about being “the guy.” Reigns put over Styles, who got a minor chant. Reigns said this was the era of the Roman Empire, which got jeers and boring chants. 

    Styles came out. Crowd liked him, but it wasn’t an overwhelming reaction or anything. They sure like him better than Reigns, without a doubt. Styles put over Reigns as being “one heck of a champion.” He had power, explosiveness and quickness. Styles admitted he would have to have the match of his life in order to beat Reigns, but having the match of his life is what he does. Having the match of his life is what’s made him a champion everywhere he’s been, and it’s what is going to make him champion at Payback. 

    Reigns said he had the match of his life at WrestleMania. He admits the whole world like Styles, but they won’t like it when he beats Styles at Payback. But they will respect him. Reigns said he would rather be respected as WWE champion and that liked without it. Styles said he wants to be liked and respected, because that’s what is going to make him a phenomenal WWE Champion. 

    Styles left, but Anderson and Gallows ran out of the crowd to jump Reigns. Placed popped big when Gallows kicked Reigns while he was on Anderson’s shoulders. Styles watched on and looked disappointed when his friends jumped Reigns.  

    First thing we saw after the break was Regins walking backstage, not selling a thng. Styles told Reigns he didn’t know that was going to happen. Reigns didn’t buy any of that, reminding Styles that Anderson and Gallows’ jumped his cousins, the Usos, next week. Reigns told Styles to bring all of his friends, because he would withstand them all. He muttered one vs. all. 

    Baron Corbin defeated Fandango (1:21) 

    Baron Corbin won with the End of Days in a squash. Dolph Ziggler was at ringside doing commentary. Corbin threw Fandango into Ziggler before the finish. Ziggler jumped Corbin afterwards, only to have Corbin give him the End of Days on the floor. 

    Maryse and the Miz walked backstage. Maryze found spilt coffee on their way and demanded a stage manager place his jacket over it so they could walk over the stain. 

    Another Greetings of Puerto Rico vignette from whatever the Primo and Epico will be called in this new gimmick. They put over Puerto Rico beaches.

    MizTV started with the photo of Prince Charles, saying you would never know it’s royalty. Miz said his baby was like royalty. They started making out when Cesaro came out. Lots of Cesaro Section signs to be seen as Cesaro said the only royalty Miz knew was how to be a royal pain in the ass. Miz said he was the one with a starring role but Cesaro was just as supporting actor. Crowd chanted “boring.” Miz claimed he prepared a monologue taken from the movie “Taken.” It was orginally delivered by Liam Nesson. Miz got on his cell phone and acted out a scene that was supposed to be in Cesaro’s words, and sounded like it was taken straight from every one of Neeson’s films over the past 10 years. 

    Cesaro put his hands over Miz’s mouth and said “When my hand goes up, your mouth goes shut.” Cesaro said he would becoming the Intercontinental Champion at Payback, and since Miz likes movie quotes, he quoted Roddy Piper from “They Live.” Cesaro mentioned it was Piper’s birthday last week. He gave the famous “I came here to kick ass and chew bubblegum” line. Miz teased a fight with Cesaro, but Miz said Cesaro had a match with Rusev. 

    Cesaro said he talked with Shane earlier in the day and said there wouldn’t be a singles match. Instead, it would be the League of Nations and Miz vs. Cesaro. Then Cesaro stripped off his suit to reveal a New Day t-shirt, and the New Day came out for the 8-man tag. 

    The New Day & Cesaro defeated the League of Nations & the Miz (13:27)

    If you looked at this match for 30 seconds, you might have thought the hot blonde at ringside was Lana. But it was Maryse. Anyway, Cesaro pinned Sheamus after the Gotch Neutralizer after the usual spots where guys did their finishers on each other. Cesaro teased the Cesaro Swing on Sheamus, but Alberto Del Rio stopped him. Xavier Woods got the heat. Crowd lost interest about midway through. 

    Charlotte did an interview with Ranallo. They showed a replay from last week where Ric Flair helped Charlotte retain the title against Natalya. This led to Natalya walking in and saying Shane had granted her a rematch against Charlotte for the WWE Women’s Championship, and she would have Bret Hart in her corner. Charlotte and Ric didn’t look happy at all over that. 

    They announced that E! would start airing a Total Divas spinoff called Total Bellas, featuring Nikki and Brie Bella, Daniel Bryan, John Cena and John Laurinaitis. 

    Natalya, Paige, Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch defeated Naomi, Summer Rae, Tamina and Charlotte via submission ( 10:25)

    Natalya made Charlotte tap out to the sharpshooter. Classic New Japan booking where the challenger wins over the champion in a tag match before the title match. Becky Lynch was kicked hard on the floor by Tamina to set up the hot tag. Crowd liked the match, which dragged at points. Well executed hot tag sequence by Natalya on Summer Rae, which included a slingshot atmoic drop, then stepping over Rae’s back into a seated drop kick. 

    Styles was shown talking to Anderson and Gallows. Since there was no audio, you couldn’t tell what he was saying. It was vague because he didn’t look 

    More from the Puerto Rico guys. They’re surrounded by history and they walked past Ponce De Leon’s house. Is walking past the Fountain of Youth supposed to get them heat? 

    The Vaudevillains defeated the Usos in the semifinals of the WWE #1 Contenders Tag Team Tournament (3:25) 

    Simon Gotch pinned Jey Uso after the Whirling Dervish. They were doing hot tags within two minutes, which was just as well because the crowd was dead. Jey had his right shoulder taped selling the beating by Anderson and Gallows from last week. He did a tope on Gotch, but starting selling his shoulder. Aiden English rammed Jey’s shoulder into the post. Fans weren’t into the Vaudevillains at all, so the decision on who goes over in the tournament final should be easy. 

    Apollo Crews defeated Heath Slater (4:29)

    There was actually a stipulation to this match. If Apollo Crews won, he had to join Social Outcasts. They did a skit on the Raw preshow where Heath Slater, Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas tried to get him to join their group. There was no Adam Rose, nor any mention of him. Slater actually got a near fall reversing a crossbody before Crews won with the Spin-Out Powerbomb. 

    On his way to the back, Crews crossed paths with Owens. They shared a brief glare before Crews went to gorilla. 

    Dean Ambrose defeated Kevin Owens (17:15)

    The highlight of the show. Ambrose won with Dirty Deeds after Owens got Ambrose’s knees to the gut going for the frog splash, then missed a cannonball. Early on, the match was a brawl. Each man threw the other into the announcer’s table. Highlights after the commercial break included Owens giving Ambrose a frog splash off the apron to the floor, followed by a successful cannonball. Ambrose attempted his elbow off the top rope, but Owens rolled out of the ring, so Ambrose hit Owens with a plancha. The two fought on the top rope before Owens caught the Super Fisherman’s Buster for a really good near fall, which got the crowd to chant “This is Awesome.” 

    Afterwards, Jericho ran in and gave Ambrose a codebreaker. 

    SUMMARY: Your usual taped Raw. Beginning and the end were very good. There was a lull in the middle. Only real takeaway as far as how Reigns is concerned is to compare with how Daniel Bryan was booked two years ago. Of course, Reigns is far from over in the fans’ eyes, but at least he’s booked as being smart. He’s suspicious of Styles after being jumped by two of Styles’ friends. In the months after winning the WWE World Heavyweight Championship, Bryan was constantly being outsmarted by Kane, looking every bit as dumb as any Friday the 13th victim that got beheaded by Jason Vorhees. It goes to show you when Vince McMahon has his heart behind someone, he’s going full throttle. If he isn’t, even the most promising of prospects job to HHH for no reason.  

  • Ongoing WWE RAW Spoilers, London, ENG: New feud rumors and results

    There is talk that the feud between HHH and Stephanie McMahon vs. Shane McMahon will kick off on tonight’s Raw show from London’s O2 Arena.

    Even though Shane McMahon lost the match, he is now official as in charge for the third straight week.  HHH and Stephanie were scheduled to return to Raw this week as well and a feud between the two sides was on the books.

    There has been talk the past few days that Finn Balor will debut, which given the location, makes sense for a debut.  This has not been officially confirmed.

    What is confirmed for today’s show are the semifinals of the tag team tournament for a title shot at the Payback show, with the Usos vs. Vaudevillains and Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs. Dudleys, as well as a singles match with Emma vs. Becky Lynch.

    As it turns out, a lot was changed beacuse the singles match ended up as an eight-person match.

    Thanks to Chris Fox:

    Superstars results

    Big Show beat Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas

    The live crowd booed Show even though he was the face.  Show won after choke slamming both at the same time.

    Kalisto beat Tyler Breeze.  Breeze got good heat.  Salida del Sol for the finish,

    Raw opened with Dean Ambrose out with them trying to put over the fans as the Ambrose Asylum.  He made a joke about Braun Strowman, points out James Corden’s parents in the front row and then introduced Shane McMahon.  Shane put over that the WWE fans deserve better than what they’ve been getting.  Kevin Owens came out and said this new Shane McMahon era is hte same old crap and how Shane has been punishing him for being an honest man in saying  Sami Zayn never deserved to be put in the world title picture.  Sami Zayn came out and said he was signed by WWE before Owens and if it wasn’t for him, Owens would have never made it to WWE.  Chris Jericho came out and said that Shane was drunk with power for taking the Highlight Reel segment away from him.

    Shane announced Jericho vs. Zayn for Raw.

    Chris Jericho beat Sami Zayn clean with the codebreaker.

    A.J. Styles hugged with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.  They acknowledged their past.

    Enzo & Cass beat The Dudleys to advance in the tournament clean with the rocket launcher.

    Roman Reigns came out and was heavily booed.  He put over A.J. Styles who came out.  Styles said he’ll need to have the match of his life to beat Reigns.  Gallows and Anderson came out to attack Reigns and left without Styles.

    Backstage, Styles told Reigns that he had no idea Gallows & Andeson were going to attack him.  Reigns told Styles that it won’t matter how many friends Styles brings, he’s not winning the title.

    Baron Corbin beat Fandango with the End of Days.

    Dolph Ziggler was on commentary.  Fandango was really over in London.  Corbin threw Fandago onto Ziggler which led to a brawl between the two.  Corbin then hit the End of Days on Ziggler outside the ring.

    Next was Miz TV with Maryse.  Miz made fun of Prince George, calling him plain and generic, and said his baby, referring to his IC title belt, is pristine.  Cesaro came out and called Miz a royal pain in the ass.  This segment drew “boring” chants and Miz said that the crowd was jealous because they could never get a woman who looked like Maryse, and he also couldn’t understand what they were chanting.  He tried to do a scene from “Taken” and Cesaro cut a line from “They Live.”  This led to an eight-man tag.’

    New Day & Cesaro beat Alberto Del Rio &  Rusev & Sheamus & Miz.  Cesaro pinned Sheamus using the Neutralizer.

    Charlotte and Natalya were talking.  It was annnounced that Bret Hart would be in Nataya’s corner in the match at Payback, to counter Ric Flair, so they are doing the same scenario as their NXT match.

    Paige & Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch & Natalya beat Naomi & Tamina & Summer Rae & Charlotte when Natalya made Charlotte tap to the sharpshooter.

    Vaudevillains beat Usos.  Vaudevillains didn’t get much of a reaction.  They won with the whirling dervish.

    The Social Outcasts, or at least the three left, tried to add Apollo Crews to their stable.  He said he would join if one of them could beat him.

    Apollo Crews beat Heath Slater with the spinning power bomb.

    Kevin Owens pushed that he’d be back tomorrow for Smackdown tapings to big cheers.

    Dean Ambrose pinned Kevin Owens with Dirty Deeds.  After the match, Jericho laid out Ambrose with the codebreaker.  Styles then made the save.

    They did a dark match where Styles & Ambrose beat Jericho & Owens.

    So no Authority and no  Finn Balor this week, no big feud, no big anything.

  • Ratings back to normal levels for WWE RAW

    WWE Raw last night fell back to the expected normal numbers the week after WrestleMania with 3.52 million viewers.

    Last week’s show did 4.08 million viewers, but the day after WrestleMania is usually very strong.  The drop would be expected.

    The number is along the lines of what the show has been doing since football season ended.  Of the 12 previous shows this year that didn’t go against football, last night’s show beat out five of them and was below seven of them.

    There was a different ratings pattern as the show started with a low first hour, but had a good second hour before dropping somewhat in the third hour.

    Raw was the highest rated show on cable last night, with The O’Reilly Factor on FOX News in second place at 3.04 million viewers.

    Dancing With The Stars, which featured UFC’s Paige VanZant, was the most-watched show on television last night with 12.51 million viewers.

    The three hours of Raw were:

    • 8 p.m. 3.47 million viewers
    • 9 p.m. 3.69 million viewers
    • 10 p.m. 3.43 million viewers

  • WWE RAW live results: WrestleMania 32 go-home show

    The go-home show for Raw is from Brooklyn and predictably will feature many appearances from most of the part-timers who currently are the most over performers in the company. A week after Vince McMahon declared that the Undertaker must defeat Shane McMahon or else it would be his final WrestleMania match, it’s believed that the Undertaker will appear, possibly in a segment with Vince and Shane.

    Roman Reigns got a strong push last week, jumping HHH in the parking garage on Raw, followed by laying out both Dudley Boyz on SmackDown. He proclaimed himself “The real authority,” something that HHH and Stephanie will likely have a rebuttal towards this evening. Chris Jericho will respond to A.J. Styles challenge for a WrestleMania match tonight. Dean Ambrose, Kevin Owens, Charlotte, Becky Lynch, Sasha Banks and the usual cast of characters are expected counting down to the biggest week of the year. 

    Our coverage starts at 8 ET. 

    The Big Takeaway: The go-home show for WrestleMania was a last ditch effort to get Roman Reigns over. And it failed. Possibly the biggest failure yet. In a stunning example of how out of touch the creative forces behind the company is, they had Eva Marie debut as a babyface mystery partner for a team in a ten-women tag at WrestleMania. Marie was greeted with a chorus of boos. The show was mainly promos with a scattered array of matches. Once again, the best match on the show featured Kevin Owens. There were some good segments trying to build various matches, but there’s no helping Reigns at this point. At least not as a babyface. 

    Show Recap:

    The Undertaker started the show. He said this WrestleMania will not be his last, which threw cold water on the idea he would intentionally lose to Shane McMahon on Sunday. He said he’s made it clear to Vince McMahon that Shane’s blood will be on Vince’s hands, but Vince’s blood may be on his. He realizes that Shane will fight until his last breath, but WrestleMania was his yard, Hell in a Cell was his house, and Shane will rest in peace. 

    Shane came out and cut a promo from the ramp to a very good response. Not to sound like Bobby Hennan trying to get over a repackaged star in the 1980s, but he looks in the best shape of his life. Shane said he was the instrument of change in the WWE, while Undertaker was his father’s instrument of destruction. Shane said next Monday night, whatever was left in his body would crawl down to the ring, leave Hell in a Cell in his rear view mirror because all of the WWE fans deserve better and he will be in control of Monday Night Raw. If Shane had to cement his legacy by destroying the Undertaker’s legacy, that’s what he’ll have to do. 

    Undertaker told him he needs to watch his mouth because Shane doesn’t get to talk about his legacy. Shane got in the rign in Undertaker’s face,  and this had a palpable buzz. Shane said Undertaker’s legacy died two years ago at WrestleMania. Crowd started chanting “Suplex City.” Undertaker said Shane was just like his old man, which figures, seeing how from the day he was born, he’s been his daddy’s bitch. Shane threw punches that backed Undertaker to the corner, but Undertaker threw Shane over the top rope. 

    Undertaker threw Shane into the barricade several times, then went to clear the table. Undertaker went to give him the Last Ride into the table, but Shane escaped and hit him across the head with a monitor, which Shane had to look hard to find, probably searching for the gimmicked monitor. Shane hit Undertaker with the monitor. As Undertaker was prone across the table, Shane lost his mind, climbed the top rope and jumped off the top with a diving elbow. Crowd went nuts as Shane his made to his feet. On relay, Shane may have only connected slightly on the elbow as Undertaker was laying too far away, but Shane’s vertical was amazing. Shane staggered his way to the back, but Undertaker rose up after selling for about a minute, then got up and gave Shane the throat slash as Shane watched on.  

    Zack Ryder defeated Chris Jericho (1:55)

    Before the match, they aired a promo from the Raw preshow where Chris Jericho said he wouldn’t wrestle A.J. Styles at WrestleMania and he would beat Zack Ryder tonight. Styles came out before the match, doing more micwork than ever before saying he would get his match with Jericho and wouldn’t leave ringside until he did. 

    Jericho had Ryder in the Walls of Jericho when Styles started a “Y2 Jackass” chant, which got a better response this week. It was another distraction finish as Ryder pinned Jericho after a small package. Jericho became unglued, hitting Ryder with a Codebreaker. Jericho destroyed another monitor from the remains of the Undertaker-Shane brawl, then granted Styles his match at WrestleMania. He said this would be his 12th WrestleMania, but it would be Styles worst, and it would be the worst night of his life. 

    Charlotte (C) defeated Becky Lynch (6:32) in a nontitle match 

    Charlotte won after Becky Lynch chased her into the ring, but Ric Flair held Lynch’s boot long enough for Charlotte to kick Lynch and pin her with Natural Selection. Sasha Banks was at ringside just watching. Either they have no faith in her interview abilities or they didn’t have a headset available in the wreck that was ringside, but she didn’t say anything. 

    Vince McMahon did an interview with Rene Young. Vince said he wasn’t surprised at the brutality of the battle between the Undertaker and Shane earlier, but an angry Undertaker is the type of Undertaker he wants representing him. Shane walked in and cut a good promo on his father saying on Sunday, he would take 40 years of beatings and turn it around on his father. He said the irony of Sunday would be Vince stole the WWE from his father, and this Sunday Shane would take the company from his father. 

    Social Outcasts were in the ring. Curtis Axel got enough time to chime in “Happy birthday, Dad” to Curt Henning before the Big Show and Kane came out. 

    Kane and The Big Show defeated Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, Adam Rose and Heath Slater by DQ (:28)

    Bo Dallas, and Adam Rose ran in to attack Kane and Show. It led to Goldust, R-Truth, Konnor, Viktor, Damien Sandow, and a host of others for a preview of the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. It led to Show and Kane choke slamming Axel, Dallas, Rose and Slater at the same time. Kane choke slammed Show last week, but there was no show of malice between the two this week. 

    Stephanie McMahon and HHH came out. Stephanie told the fans to get down on their knees and grovel to the king, HHH. Then HHH said none of the fans will ever have the ability to make their dreams a reality, but Roman Reigns did. He’s one in a million, someone who could turn his dreams into a reality. Crowd started to boo the mention of Reigns quite heavily. HHH said Reigns became WWE World Heavyweight Champion for 5:15. What about the reign that started after he beat Sheamus in December? HHH said Sunday would be his 20th WrestleMania, and he’s always obessesed with being the champion, and the fame, power and wealth that came with it. He became the greatest WWE Superstar of all time. After awhile, he was OK with putting on a suit and letting that fire die. 

    But when Reigns power bombed him on the table a few months ago, it relit his obession of being the champion. Reigns has already lost on Sunday when he re-lit the fire, which meant he would destroy Reigns’ dreams. HHH got minor cheers during his promo. 

    Stephanie took the microphone. Reigns came out to heavy boos. HHH stomped on him, but Reigns made a quick comeback and sent HHH packing. Reigns got booed big time as the last man standing and the crowd chanted “Roman sucks.” Reigns had a brief staredown with Stephanie before she took off. They teased Reigns spearing Stephanie, but even that couldn’t get the crowd on his side. It just gets worse for Reigns.

    HHH and Stephanie were shown walking out. It sounded like HHH wanted to leave the building, but the microphones weren’t on. Usually, that means HHH gets his heat back before tonight ends. 

    The New Day came out to their best crowd response yet. They came out with Xavier Woods mentioning the official cereral for WrestleMania is “Booty-O’s,” which had it’s own graphic on the TitanTron. Kofi Kingston said the League of Nations would never have their cereal because no one wants to taste “Rusev’s Bulgarian Booty Flakes.” Big E. managed to pay tribute to Phife Dawg, which got a good response, saying “Can I kick it?” 

    Kofi Kingston defeated Alberto Del Rio (7:35)

    Alberto Del Rio attempted the cross armbreaker, but Kingston turned it into an inside cradle for the pin. Highlights early included Del Rio being distracted by Woods playing the Mexican Hat Dance on the trombone. With New Day going over almost every week on League of Nations, I would anticipate a title switch on Sunday. 

    Postmatch, Jonathan Coachman came out to announce SportsCenter would be live in Dallas all week long. Then he pulled out a box of Booty-Os and started dancing, which Michael Cole deadpanned “Coach, no.” Coachman got mainly cheers, even though he was a heel for most of his run. Of course, he was among the people in the uneviable position of having to replace Jim Ross at one point. 

    They showed Joan Lunden as the recipient of the Warrior Award for this year’s WWE Hall of Fame. 

    Reigns started to do a promo with Young when Bubba Ray Dudley showed up challenging him to a fight backstage. Devon Dudley walked in. Reigns belted Bubba and Devon, but HHH predictably showed up to nail Reigns from behind and they all put the boots to him. Bubba threw him into a wall. The Dudleys left, and HHH told Reigns would never get the championship again. HHH placed the belt on a cart, then slammed Reigns’ head onto it to the sound of loud cheers in the background. 

    Kalisto (C) defeated Konnor (1:49) in a nontitle match

    Kalisto won with Salida del Sol. Afterwards, Viktor ran in and took a Tornado DDT. Ryback came out and had a staredown with Kalisto, barked “Feed Me More” and left. Kalisto still isn’t over in the slightest. 

    Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman cmae out. Heyman said he serves as the advocate for the baddest beast on the planet today. Heyman said his job was to hype fans up for the fact they’re six days away from seeing a once-ever fighter do his thing, perform at a level that not one individual could ever achieve. However, there’s one goof, geek, lunatic that always strays away from the rule, who thinks he has what it takes to perform at the level of Lesnar, Dean Ambrose. Heyman gives Ambrose credit because he’s a lot smarter than a lot of people thinks. Heyman said Ambrose think that if he takes a UFC Heavyweight Champion out of his element in a street fight and use a weapon against him, it will mean bad news for Lenar. But Ambrose has to step into the ring against Lesnar, who is fully prepared to give Ambrose the defining WrestleMania moment of a lifetime. Heyman said Dr. Brock Lesnar would perform a colonoscopy with every one of those weapons on Ambrose. Heyman said he said it 2 years ago, and he will say it again: he started to announce Lesnar as the winner of the match when Ambrose came out with a wagon with his logo painted on the side.

    Ambrose pulled a crowbar, a baseball bat, steel pipe, Mick Foley barbed wire baseball bat, a fire extinguisher, a chainsaw from Terry Funk, a kendo stick and a portion of the ring steps in the wagon, then simply hauled it to the bat without saying a word on the mic as Heyman watched on in concern. Lesnar watched with his standard stoic look. 

    It was announced that HHH would come out later for yet another interview segment with Stephanie. I guess 15 minutes earlier wasn’t enough. 

    Emma defeated Paige (2:52)

    A segment that totally backfired. The Divas division is now being handled like an afterthought again. Instead of teasing her return a few weeks out, Emma just showed up tonight as a heel on Raw for the first time. She’s now part of a heel team called “Bad and Blond,” also comprised of Lana, Summer Rae, Naomi and Tamina. They’re wrestling Paige, Brie Bella, Natalya, Alicia Fox and a mystery partner at WrestleMania. All the teams were at ringside. Emma won after Tamina distracted the referee, and Lana came in and hit Paige with a barefooted kick. 

    This led to a brawl between the two groups. Then the mystery partner for the face team came out—Eva Marie. I rubbed my eyes in amazement. Vince McMahon thought she would get treated as this conquering babyface. The fans booed her more than Reigns. She might as well have been Donald Trump in Brooklyn for all this did for her. She cleaned house, but none of the babyfaces wanted anything to do with her. Apparently, getting under on your debut is contagious and they didn’t want any to get on them. The announcers didn’t explain why Eva Marie was so unpopular with her teammates, like they’ve never seen NXT before. Just a total cluster of a segment from people too out of touch to make a coherent decision about the current product. And you wonder why Bailey stays in NXT? 

    Truth approached Goldust backstage saying that he wouldn’t have his back in the Andre the Giant Battle Royal. Truth seems to think they’re tag team partners who have a tough decision to make when they square off in the battle royal. Goldust doesn’t understand what he’s talking about because they aren’t partners. Truth started to cry and blew his nose in Goldust’s handkerchief. 

    Snoop Dogg was named as the new inductee into the celebrity wing of the WWE Hall of Fame. 

    Sami Zayn, Dolph Ziggler and Sin Cara defeated Kevin Owens, Stardust and The Miz (21:17) 

    Sami Zayn pinned Kevin Owens after the Helluva Kick. This was a match featuring the six participants in the ladder match on Sunday for the Intercontiental Championship, so Owens didn’t want to be involved. He was more willing to let the participants to slug it out, refusing to tag in. After everyone hit their finishers on each other, Owens tagged in and tried to give Zayn the pop-up power bomb, but Zayn hit a dropkick. Miz and Stardust walked out on Owens before the finish. Crowd was big on Zayn early, but then they got bored and used the match to get themselves over. There was a thunderous chant for CM Punk, along with Rob Van Dam. and “This is Booty.” Then they chanted for New Day. Who would have imagined the most over regular babyfaces in the company would be Woods, Big E. and Kingston a year ago? 

    HHH and Stephanie came out for yet another promo to end the show. Stephanie started putting down the fans again saying more of what they said earlier about how fans lived their lives just like Reigns, and they always fail. Stephanie said HHH’s championship isn’t going anywhere, and neither are they. HHH said millions of dollars are at stake on Sunday, and people could take their morality and shove it. 

    Reigns came out again to no reaction at all. He limped outand punched Reigns in the nose, with Reigns selling it heavy from the pedigree on the steps a month ago. Reigns threw HHH into the barricade. Stephanie ordered a group of heels to come out and help HHH. with Rusev, Sheamus, Del Rio and Stardust coming out. Then the New Day, the Usos and Dolph Ziggler came out for a pull-apart. Reigns threw Miz over the announcer’s table, for some reason. HHH started to back off once a crowd formed between him and Reigns, then ran back to go after Reigns. Reigns responded by doing a tope onto a group of heels, including HHH. Bubba Ray made a catch of Reigns that would have made Andrew McCutchen proud. Fans chanted “You still suck.” 

    FINAL THOUGHTS: 

    Tonight was the final straw for a year’s worth of work. The verdict is in: Reigns is not the guy. He could have been. If he had kept the championship at Royal Rumble and carried it through to WrestleMania, there was a chance for him. But they’ve booked him poorly, putting him in a group of no-win situations. First by taking the championship from him at Royal Rumble, where HHH didn’t come off as a cowardly champion who backdoored his way to the title, instead stepping over others to get the belt, typical of his reputation. Then came Fast Lane, where he was the least favorite of the three men in the main event. At some point, Vince McMahon has to ask himself what exactly are the fans revolting against? Is it John Cena and Reigns as personalities? Or the company’s narrow view of what a top star should be? I think it’s the ladder. Now that the audience has dwindled, there’s a greater percentage of hardcore fans than in the 90s. Their mindset of who to get emotionally invested in is based on years of watching Ring of Honor, New Japan and other promotions. Inside the McMahon bubble, there’s a mentality that’s very different, as best shown tonight by somehow thinking Eva Marie would be greeted as the new Divas superstar. Instead, she was a target of scorn, the polar opposite of how the segment was geared. As WrestleMania season winds to a close, there are more questions than ever about how in touch the powers that be are with the people who watch their product, and the answers may not be pleasant. 

  • RAW Ratings stagnant as the Road to WrestleMania marches on

    Less than two weeks before the “biggest WrestleMania of all time”, RAW’s ratings continue to  stagnate. The show started weak but the audience remained remarkably consistent throughout  the 3 hour broadcast, with a main event of Dean Ambrose facing Braun Strowman.

    The average viewership was 3.4 million viewers, down about 2% from last week. It was down 19% from the same week last year but that’s not a fair comparison as it was the go-home show to  Mania, which was held a week earlier in 2015. Comparing to the week prior to the go-home show last year, Monday’s show was down 13% as RAW continues to be  down about 10% year over year.

    After last week’s show saw the third hour as the highest rated  of the show, things returned to normal this week as Hour 3 was down slightly from the previous 2 hours, which were almost identical.

    RAW was just underneath The O’Reilly Factor as  the most watched show on cable for the night as the FOX News show did 3,423,000 viewers. In the 18-49 ratings, RAW’s 3 hours were #2,3 and 4 on the night behind VH1’s Love and Hip Hop.

    Here are viewership numbers for all 3 hours:

    Hour 1 – 3,466,000

    Hour 2 – 3,416,000

    Hour 3 – 3,317,000