Corbin came out to an ok reaction while Ziggler came out to a big pop. Corbin hit the End Of Days mid-match, but Ziggler kicked out at two. The last part of the match, Corbin reversed the Zig Zag and tried to hit Ziggler, but he ducked and connected with the superkick for the win.
– Apollo Crews def. Stardust
This match was pretty short. The bell rings and Dust punches & kicks Crews, than Crews starts to fight back. He does his usual moves, and hits the Crews Control for the win. Dust gets on the mic says he isn’t leaving Columbia without a win under his belt. He says he will fight anybody from Columbia, SC. This leads to…
– Big Show def. Stardust
Big Show comes out to a big pop. Dust taunts the crowd and turned around to a KO Punch. Show wins in less than 10 seconds.
– Greg Hamilton lets a lady in the crowd say “This match is scheduled for one fall”
– Big Cass def. D-Von w/ Bubba Ray
Not much to say about this match. Big Cass came out to a big pop. Everyone loves him. In a nice match, Cass hit the East River Crossing for the win.
– Sami Zayn def. Kevin Owens
The crowd likes Zayn but they LOVE Owens. The match was good. Owens taunted the crowd and before the match told everyone to be quiet so he can concentrate. Zayn hit the Blue Thunder Bomb for the win.
– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte def. Nattie
Nice back and forth match. Nattie powerbombed Charlotte. Charlotte did the figure 4 and Nattie reversed. Charlotte won with a roll-up with feet on the ropes. Nattie left to a huge ovation from the crowd.
– I-C Champion Miz (w/Maryse) def. Cesaro and Sheamus in a three-way
Great match. Eeryone loves Cesaro, but even Sheamus got some love. Miz called the crowd “Carolina sweathogs”. Cesaro did the swing into the sharpshooter on Miz and later, he did the Gotch Neutralizer to Sheamus. After he did it, Miz clocks him and pins Sheamus for the win. Cesaro chased after Miz and Maryse chases Cesaro.
– WWE Champion Roman Reigns & The Usos def. Chris Jericho & Anderson/Gallows
The pop for Reigns was HUGE. Words can’t describe it. The match was great: crowd on their feet and especially when Roman got the hot tag. At the end of the match, Gallows & Anderson got tired of Jericho being a jerk so they let the Usos suicide dive on him. Roman hits the Superman Punch and spear for the win.
Stephanie McMahon revealed Monday that she was writing her autobiography, set for release on September 27 and a $26.95 list price through Regan Arts.
Regan is pushing the book around McMahon having 1.5 million Twitter followers and 1 million Instagram followers, implying that she has a mobilized fan base who have seen her for years. They also pushed WWE’s YouTube numbers and worldwide exposure, and are hoping for the success Regan had with Ronda Rousey, and in particular trying to attract a non-wrestling audience to purchasing the book thinking McMahon hasn’t had a lot of mainstream media coverage, and in particular they could market her heavily in women’s magazines.
The book is apparently also designed to attempt to break her out into a larger media figure with a contemporary approach to the media.
The book is particularly aimed at women, and S&S notes 40% of the television viewership of WWE are women, and pushing her as a mother of three girls who has to balance a home life with being Chief Brand Officer for the company.
“Stephanie McMahon is one of the great visionaries behind the continuing success of WWE, and has navigated the entertaining, treacherous and awe-inspiring world of Superstars, egos and drama with style, tremendous skill and dynamite feminine force,” said Judith Regal, the CEO of Regan Arts. “And that’s just with her family. The family encompasses everyone in the WWE family worldwide. Her story is Shakespearean in its drama and comedy, and she is in a unique position to share an inside view of one the world’s most successful organizations. Her story will also motivate you to get off your butt and make magic happen. I love her and you will too when you read her book.”
As noted in the Observer Newsletter a few weeks ago, Seth Rollins’ return is imminent after wrapping up filming the movie “Temple.”
Rollins has been training this past week in Orlando at the Performance Center for a return that could come at just about any time.
John Cena tweeted earlier today, “I have done my best to return to WWE as fast as I can, but I hope people understand how amazing @WWERollins recovery is #Respect #GG.”
PW Insider listed a possible 6/6 Raw as his return date, the week after Cena is to return. The date is not definite, but is the current target.
Rollins had major knee surgery for a torn ACL, torn MCL and torn medial meniscus. He was WWE world champion at the time of the injury in early November, which changed a lot of the timing plans for WrestleMania, where Rollins was originally going to face HHH.
– Kane and Big Show over Erik Rowan & Braun Strowman
Crowd was real hot for Big Show face to face to Strowman. Strowman screwed up slightly setting up hot tag with Kane. Match went about 15 minutes nothing special but crowd was hot. Show pinned Rowan for the win. Afterward Kane and Show double choke slammed Strowman.
– Sin Cara over Viktor of the Ascension
More than expected from these two. Crowd was real hot for Sin Cara.
– Titus O’ Neil and Jack Swagger over Social Outcasts (Bo Dallas/Curtis Axel) w/Heath Slater ringside.
Match went about 15 minutes.
– Becky Lynch, Paige & Sasha Banks over Dana Brooke, Lana & Eva Marie
Finish came with all 3 face women making the heel women tap out at the same time with their respective submission finishing holds. Crowd popped huge for finish.
Intermission
– Goldust over Fandango
Finish of the match came when Tyler Breeze came down to interfere, R Truth came to even odds. Goldust then got pin on Fandango.
– WWE Tag Team Champions New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) over Vaudevillians
Crowd had probably biggest pop so far for New Day entrance. Solid match. No Kofi Kingston.
– US Champion Kalisto vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Rusev
Ambrose got the biggest pop of the night by far when he came out. A lot spots outside the ring. Lana was ringside to start the match. At one point, Rusev got on microphone during match and got great heat from crowd. Match was spot fest from beginning to end. Ambrose hit dirty deeds, Lana distracted ref, Ambrose got slapped, Rusev super kicked Ambrose then Lana got tossed. Kalisto then pinned Rusev. Afterwards, Ambrose and Kalisto shook hands and celebrated together.
Overall, a fun show. Bray Wyatt and Kevin Owens were heavily promoted to be here but weren’t.
– Before the show, you could vote by Twitter on which Wrestlemania match you wanted to see on the video board: Reigns/HHH, Undertaker/Shane, or Lesnar/Ambrose. Undertaker/Shane won and they showed a clipped version of it. The lower bowl was only 2/3 full and the upper bowl was tarped off. Crowd was pretty hot all night. Mostly families, lots of kids. No matches were advertised for the show.
– Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin
Good match, Ziggler fought from underneath and got the win with a superkick.
– Apollo Crews vs. Stardust
Kind of a dull match, Stardust’s offense isn’t very interesting. Crews got the win with the Moonsault.
– Big Cass vs. D-Von Dudley
Cass did a pre-match promo. Usual shtick, crowd knew all his catch phrases. Cass got the win with the East River Crossing. Nothing special, but the crowd was into Cass.
– Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens
Owens ripped the crowd before the match, saying a boy with a terrible father had a vile sign. Couldn’t see what the sign was. Owens riled the crowd up by demanding silence during his match. Excellent match, Zayn got the win with the Helluva Kick.
– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte vs. Natalya
No Ric, unfortunately. Charlotte got the win with the classic Flair Pin. Good work from these two.
– I-C Champion The Miz (w/Maryse) vs. Sheamus vs. Cesaro
Really good stuff here. Miz cut a long pre-match promo bashing the crowd, doing an homage to Rick Rude calling us “Fat, out of shape sweat hogs.” Cesaro tapped Miz out with the Sharpshooter, but Maryse had the referee distracted. Cesaro hit the Neutralizer, but Miz threw him out of the ring and pinned Sheamus.
– WWE Champion Roman Reigns & The Usos vs. Chris Jericho, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows
Jericho subbing in for AJ, Unfortunately. Jericho did a pre-match promo talking about what an honor it must be for Anderson and Gallows to team with him. The Usos got a huge pop. Kids and women love them. Reigns got mostly cheers, but the men were booing him. Solid match. The heels got heat on one of the Usos until he tagged in Reigns. Reigns kicked Jericho’s ass, but Jericho cut him off and hit a Code Breaker. Jericho yelled at Gallows and Anderson, who walked out on him. Reigns hit Jericho with the Spear and pinned him to end the show.
Miz got on the mic before the match and cut a promo where he channeled Rick Rude calling us “Greenville sweathogs” and talking about “what he’s like to have right now”. The whole match was building to Cesaro gettting Miz in the big swing which he didn’t during the match. Miz rolled up Cesaro after Maryse distracted him. After the match, Cesaro got the big swing on Miz and held up the Intercontinental belt.
– Stardust vs. Apollo Crews
I don’t believe Stardust was advertised beforehand so this was a surprise. Stardust did heel stalling for most of the match. Crews wins after a spinning sit down powerbomb, looked kind of like a blue thunder bomb.
– Big Cass vs Devon Dudley w/Bubba Ray Dudley
I assume this was originally Enzo and Cass vs the Dudleys. Cass does a pretty good job with the entrance promo without Enzo and the whole thing is already really popular. Bubba gets on the mic and says he hates hearing the crowd chant “How You Doin”. Cass wins after hitting the big boot on Devon and Bubba.
– The Usos vs Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows
Anderson and Gallows work one of the Usos for most of the match to lead to the hot tag. Usos were super popular and won after a top rope splash.
– Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn
Crowd was mostly dead for this match but Owens got them back on board after a few minutes in he grabbed the mic and said he didn’t want to hear any chants that weren’t for him. Zayn won after hitting the blue thunder bomb. Best match on the show in my opinion.
Intermission
– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte vs. Natalya
I figured this is where we’d see Ric but Charlotte came out alone and wrestled in a t-shirt which was odd. Charlotte wins after a quick roll up . After the match Natalya gets the exit where she lost but still stands there and gets cheered by the crowd for her valiant effort. I didn’t think they did those things outside of tv.
– Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler wins after hitting the Zig Zag on Corbin. It was a pretty uneventful match.
– WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus
In the smaller town of Greenville, I figured Reigns would be 100% supported but it seemed he was getting booed just as much as cheered. Reigns wins after Sheamus misses a 2nd broque kick and Reigns hits the spear.
– Air Date: May 12, 2016 – Location: Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, IA
– The Big News:
Chris Jericho laid out Dean Ambrose, Rusev laid out the Lucha Dragons, Gallows and Anderson laid out The Usos, and Fandango and Tyler Breeze laid out Goldust and R-Truth. Also, the main event ended with some guys getting laid out.
– Show Recap:
They announced The Usos vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson for tonight, with Roman Reigns and AJ Styles banned from ringside.
Dean Ambrose came out to start the show.
Ambrose said he has owed a lot people money before, but Jericho wanted $15,000 for his jacket and he’s not getting it. They’re even as far as Ambrose is concerned after Jericho destroyed his plant.
More importantly, Ambrose was pissed about Jericho trying to take his career away. Ambrose’s wrestling career is all he has because he won’t be interviewing Carrot Top on some podcast. Ambrose wondered if he should destroy more of Jericho’s clothes or shave his hair, but instead would destroy his ego. When Ambrose is done with him, Jericho is going to wonder if wrestling is even for him anymore.
Jericho’s music hit and the lights went out for his entrance, but when they came back on, Ambrose was laid out as Jericho stood over him. Jericho pulled a straight jacket out of a bag and strapped on Ambrose. Ambrose tried struggling out of it as Jericho mocked him for being “crazy.”
Jericho then beat down a helpless Ambrose as the crowd booed. Ambrose tried fighting back, but Jericho resorted to an eye poke and hit a Codebreaker. Officials finally ran down to assist, but as Ambrose slowly got to his feet, Jericho gave him another Codebreaker.
Jericho stood on the announce table and gave the crowd the gift of Jericho. Really good angle. My only nitpick was that Ambrose suddenly being laid out when the lights turned on felt pretty fake.
Backstage, Rusev yelled and pushed stuff over, and Lana yelled too while following behind.
Rusev (w/Lana) beat Sin Cara via submission
Lana did Rusev’s introduction, and Kalisto was on commentary. As they showed a replay of Sin Cara defeating Rusev on Raw, Kalisto said Rusev is always relying on Lana and he’s tired of it. Oh really? Kalisto continued about Rusev’s anger and was just awful. It was beyond stupid putting him back on commentary.
As Sin Cara made his comeback, Lana chucked water in Kalisto’s face, so Kalisto got up to confront her. Rusev (the hero) left the ring, ran up behind Kalisto and kicked him, jumped back in the ring, hit a side kick on Sin Cara, and applied the Accolade for the win. Rusev single-handedly picked apart the Lucha Dragons. The match itself was over in about 2 minutes. Rusev stood over Kalisto with the US title.
Backstage, Renee Young asked Emma about Dana Brooke, who suddenly showed up. Brooke said Renee obviously doesn’t watch the Network and called herself a bodybuilding champion. Renee wanted to know why she attacked Becky Lynch. Brooke basically said the fans don’t appreciate Emma even though they adore Lynch. Brooke told Renee that after tonight, she wouldn’t be asking who Dana Brooke was, but would be asking “Whatever happened to Becky Lynch?” This was fine.
Dana Brooke (w/Emma) beat Becky Lynch via pinfall
Jerry Lawler was happy to hear that Brooke is from Cleveland. With Lynch draped over the bottom rope, Brooke distracted the referee, allowing Emma to poke Lynch right in the eye. Brooke followed with a jackknife cover for the win after about 3-4 minutes. This wasn’t good, and the finish was weak even with Lynch’s eye injury. Still, Emma deliberately poking Lynch in her bad eye was pretty damn funny.
Backstage, Styles told Gallows and Anderson that he’ll be out there if Reigns decided to show up at ringside. He told them to take care of club business.
New Day came out for a promo. Kofi Kingston said the Vaudevillains put their noses where they didn’t belong on Monday. Big E was about to say they put their noses up their asses, but Kingston and Woods stopped him from swearing. He tried to swear later and they stopped him again.
New Day tried to make jokes about Kanye West and the crowd was dead silent. They were interrupted by the Vaudevillains who said they would outsmart their loudmouth opponents, and Aiden English sang that they would be the new champions. This came off really poorly for New Day, and this has to be the least a crowd was into them in a long time.
Aiden English (w/Simon Gotch) beat Kofi Kingston (w/Big E & Xavier Woods) via pinfall
As Kingston made a comeback, there were some light “New Day rocks” chants. Big E and Woods stopped Gotch from interfering, so the referee tossed them all out. Moments later, Kingston tried a sunset flip, but English dropped down for the cover while grabbing the rope for the pinfall win. Lame.
Backstage, Roman Reigns told the Usos to represent the “bloodline” and said he would be there if Styles showed up.
The Usos beat Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson via DQ
As they worked over Jimmy Uso, Mauro Ranallo did a terrific job putting over Gallows and Anderson and their accolades. Jey made a hot tag and ran wild, but was cut off by a Gallows big boot outside the ring as Anderson distracted the referee.
After a break, the Club worked over Jey as some young fans chanted “Let’s go Usos,” which was met with an “Usos suck” chant by a different segment of the audience. Jey caught Gallows with a superkick and made the hot tag.
Jimmy ran wild on Anderson and hit a superkick and splash. He had the match won but Gallows pulled him out of the ring (just barely on time). Gallows tossed him over the announce table for the DQ, so the Jey hit him with a dive.
Anderson tossed Jey into the steps and followed with a rocket kick. Jimmy jumped him from behind, but Gallows nailed him with a chair. Anderson followed by hitting Jey with the chair. With both Usos down, the Club posed and Gallows yelled, “This is what the club is all about!”
There was no explanation for Reigns not coming out here to save his family. It didn’t matter that he was banned because the the match was over. Otherwise, this was good for Gallows and Anderson.
There was a new vignette with Darren Young and Bob Backlund.
Backlund asked Young what time it says on his watch. Young pulled out his smartphone to get the time, which Backlund couldn’t comprehend.
Young said he has everything on his phone (email, alerts, calendar) and nobody wears watches anymore. Oh, come on. Backlund said Young should put his mail in the mailbox and his calendar on the wall. Young reiterated he has it all on his phone, so Backlund made him do squats. This is still really bizarre, but Backlund yelling about the mail was amusing.
Tyler Breeze & R-Truth beat Goldust & Fandango via pinfall
A few sad fans still do the Fandango dance during his entrance. Truth tagged in immediately, so Fandango tagged in Goldust. Goldust reluctantly got in the ring as the crowd chanted “Golden Truth.” They faced off but didn’t touch, as Tyler Breeze yelled at Truth to hit Goldust.
Truth tagged in Breeze, who pushed Truth out of the ring. Breeze was about to go after Goldust, who had his back turned, but Fandango saved him. It was a swerve though, as Fandango blindsided Goldust with a clothesline. Breeze seemed surprised, but smiled and covered Goldust for the pinfall win.
Afterwards, Fandango and Breeze beat down Goldust. Truth tried to make a save, but they cut him off immediately and beat him down too. Goldust tried to cover Truth to take the brunt of the beating. Fandango and Breeze stood tall as the crowd booed. This was a perfectly acceptable low-card angle.
They announced “The Shining Stars,” Primo and Epico, would debut on Raw.
Backstage, Charlotte told Renee that what they did to her father (Ric Flair) on Raw was a travesty. Flair said he’s taught Charlotte everything she knows, that he would be there in spirit (at Extreme Rules), and she would go on to another Flair victory. Flair was perfect here, reminding us this match is to be taken seriously.
Kevin Owens & IC Champion The Miz (w/Maryse) beat Cesaro & Sami Zayn
The Miz came out last. Lawler really hates Zayn’s hat. Also, Lawler quipped that Owens hates to lose so much that he doesn’t even want to lose weight. As Miz made his entrance, Owens grabbed Byron Saxton’s headset and said he was giving Miz one last chance to be a good tag partner, but at Extreme Rules, he was taking his title back. He then demanded Saxton talk good about him.
Cesaro and Zayn both wanted to start the match. Cesaro got his wish and immediately used some impressive offense on Miz. Owens told Miz he could do better, so he tagged in, but Cesaro tagged in Zayn. Owens tried to tag out but Miz jumped down and told him to do better.
Zayn hit punches in the corner but Miz tagged himself in. Zayn got the better of him too so Miz escaped the ring. Owens and Miz argued, so Cesaro hit Owens with a cannonball off the apron and Zayn nailed Miz with a dive.
After a break, Zayn went after Miz on the outside but Maryse got in his way, allowing Owens to knock him down from behind. They worked over Zayn until he came back with a big clothesline and blue thunder bomb on Miz.
Cesaro made the hot tag and hit Owens with uppercuts, uppercuts, a dropkick and crossbody for two. Miz jumped in to attack Cesaro. Zayn tried to hit Miz with the Helluva kick, but Miz moved and Zayn caught Cesaro instead. Miz pulled Zayn out of the ring, and Owens hit Cesaro with a Frog Splash for the win. Good match and I liked the finish.
Afterwards, Owens gave Zayn the pop-up powerbomb and Miz gave Owens the skull crushing finale. Miz stood tall with the Intercontinental title to end the show.
– Final Thoughts:
Not a bad show. It reminded me a bit of Raw in that there was good action but the angles were repetitive, just in a different way.
On Thursday, WWE announced its two annual shows in Japan at Sumo Hall in Tokyo which have already sold out with Shinsuke Nakamura as the primary reason.
The most notable aspect of the announcement is that WWE did not at all cater the shows for the Japanese audience, but instead just did a regular show with Nakamura and fellow NXT star — women’s champion Asuka — working down on the card instead.
In particular, Asuka is not working at all with WWE women’s champ Charlotte on the tour even though Asuka would be the lead babyface to the audience in the women’s division. Instead, both women will be defending their respective belts.
July 1st lineup
WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. A.J. Styles vs. Kevin Owens
John Cena vs. Chris Jericho
WWE Tag Team Champions New Day vs. Usos vs. Vaudevillains vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
Cassandra Leppan, the wife of the indefinitely suspended Ray “Adam Rose” Leppan, was in Florida court Thursday morning asking a judge for leniency regarding her husband after his post-midnight arrest on Wednesday morning.
He faces battery and tampering with a witness charges.
The judge talked about invoking a restraining order against Ray, barring him from any contact with her. She begged the judge not to do so because she wants him back home, noting that they have a special needs child who needs both parents.
According to TMZ.com, Ray’s lawyer argued that his physical actions were more passionate than violent. However, the judge noted a previous domestic violence incident that didn’t get any media play in March, noting a pattern. In the end, the judge allowed Ray to return home. Bond was set for $1000, virtually ensuring Rose will be out by day’s end.
Ray was ordered to get counseling from his pastor once a week until the next court date.
