The final Raw before WrestleMania did 3.77 million viewers, an 11 percent increase from near historical lows for non-football season posted for the show on 3/21 from Philadelphia.
A show that advertised every major character from WrestleMania appearing, including Vince McMahon, Undertaker, Brock Lesnar and Shane McMahon, from the Barclays Center, was down 10 percent from the WrestleMania go-home show last year which did a 3.03 rating and 4.19 million viewers. The 2014 go-home show did a 3.18 rating and 4.38 million viewers.
The ratings pattern was in line with the daylight savings time season, where the peak was in the second hour. There was a third hour drop, but it wasn’t as pronounced as many weeks, even though the only thing pushed for the end of the show was a segment involving HHH and Roman Reigns, who had already done two segments earlier in the show.
The three hours were:
8 p.m. 3.82 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.85 million viewers 10 p.m. 3.64 million viewers
Next week’s show is likely to be the highest rated Raw of the year, as that is the usual pattern for the day after WrestleMania. It is usually about two weeks after WrestleMania where the ratings settle into what ends up being the usual spring levels.
Notes from Leon Peters and Peter Troiano from the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY
Superstars:
– Jack Swagger defeated Tyler Breeze. This was a fun 10-12 minute match. Swagger won clean pin via Swagger Bomb
Main Event:
– Ryback defeated Fandango after the Shellshock.
Smackdown (airing Wednesday in Canada and Thursday in the U.S.):
– AJ Styles defeated Heath Slater (with Axel, Dallas & Rose in his corner). Even with the building still not full, there was a big reaction and chants for AJ. Clean pin for Styles with the springboard forearm.
– D-Von Dudley (with Bubba Ray) defeated Jey Uso (with Jimmy Uso) after hitting a spinebuster.
– Dean Ambrose defeated Erick Rowan (with Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman) after hitting Dirty Deeds. Bray and Strowman went backstage after their entrance.
There was no post-show dark match. It was a long night of wrestling and people were drained by the end.
Just a few hours after Hulk Hogan was awarded another $25.1 million in punitive damages by a Pinellas County, Florida jury, the concussion-themed lawsuits against WWE took a major hit last week after a 71 page ruling by Connecticut Federal District Court Judge Vanessa L. Bryant. The wrestlers/plaintiffs did have a minor win in there: Vito Lograsso and Evan Singleton didn’t have their cases thrown out, in part thanks to Bryant buying the argument that WWE’s outreach to former talent tolls (extends) the statute of repose (more strict than a statute of limitations). But by and large, this was a victory for WWE. Right before the judge agreed with WWE’s argument that they should be protected “under the contact sports exception they could only be held liable for reckless and intentional conduct, and not ordinary negligence,” she wrote this:
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.
The WWE’s final two honorees for the Hall of Fame ceremony will be Snoop Dogg and Joan Lunden.
Snoop Dogg, who is related to Sasha Banks and has been on WWE television a few times over the years, will be the celebrity inductee. It had been rumored within wrestling for weeks and reported in past Wrestling Observer Newsletters that they were talking, and in wrestling circles, the belief was that it was a done deal.
Also reported at the time was Lunden, who will receive the Warrior award.
While the Snoop Dogg announcement was made via email, John Cena made the announcement on Lunden Monday morning on The Today Show. Lunden will be presented with the award on Saturday night by Dana, the widow of the Ultimate Warrior. Lunden, best known for her hosting Good Morning America was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014, and very publicly battled through chemotherapy and radiation treatment.
“It is truly humbling to be honored by WWE and receive this year’s Warrior Award at the 2016 Hall of Fame induction ceremony,” said Lunden to WWE.com. “After being diagnosed with cancer, my first thought was to survive, but soon after, I changed my focus from my cancer to the fight against cancer, and my life took on a whole new purpose. WWE has welcomed me into their family, offering me warmth and support, as have so many of the WWE fans from around the world. It is a privilege to receive this honor.”
The ceremony will air live on the WWE Network with an edited verson airing on post-Mania Thursday after Smackdown on USA.
Following on the heels of the announcement that Progress Wrestling in the U.K. would host qualifying matches for the WWE’s summer Global cruiserweight tournament, it was confirmed the same deal is in place with Revolution Pro Wrestling.
Revolution Pro, based out of Portsmouth, England and headed by Andy Quildan, announced the deal today on its web site and said that the dates and matches would be announced shortly.
“What we can say right now is that it’s an honour to have been selected as one of the global partners for this tournament and we are very excited for the opportunity to share our product with fans across the globe.”
It is believed Revolution Pro will host one qualifying match.
Progress and Revolution Pro join Evolve in promotions that WWE is working with when it comes to a tournament that will start on the WWE Network on 7/13 and last for ten weeks, airing on Wednesday nights, and taped in Orlando at Full Sail University.
The promotion in the past had provided footage to WWE for a video feature on the network on the career of Finn Balor.
At a conference call several months ago, Paul Levesque specifically brought up Evolve, Revolution Pro and Progress as companies that they could be working with.
Progress founder Jim Smallman made the announcement of the partnership on Sunday afternoon at the company’s show at the Electric Ballroom in north London. His announcement confirmed a report on the Gorilla Position podcast and talkSPORT that Progress was the leading contender to have matches in the tournament.
While no names were mentioned as participating, a story on the show listed Kent-born regular Zack Sabre Jr., Will Ospreay and Marty Scurll who are three of the top stars with the group, although noted Ospreay, who debuts in two weeks for New Japan Pro Wrestling, may not be politically able to participate while keeping his New Japan commitments.
– AJ Styles defeated Tyler Breeze with the Phenomenal Forearm
Good match, crowd was into AJ.
– Hype Bros defeated The Ascension with the Hype Ryder.
Mojo Rawley is from Virginia so he had lots of support, including what appeared to be a pretty large friends and family section. Nice that he was able to work this show.
– The Miz defeated Jack Swagger after an eyepoke and the Skull Crushing Finale
Fun match, much better received as a house show match than it likely would have been at a TV taping. Miz called us all sweathogs and then did the Rick Rude gyrations to disrobe. Swagger responded with JYD mannerisms. Fun stuff. Saw rumors of a Miz injury but he didn’t appear hurt.
– Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks defeated Team B.A.D. with a stereo Banks Statement/Dis-Armer tapout
All four women were pretty well over, I’d say Becky probably the most so. Becky and Sasha spent a good amount of time with the fans at ringside afterward.
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kington & Xavier Woods) defeated the Dudley Boyz and The Usos in a Triple Threat Match to retain
Usos were the most over of the group, but New Day was pretty popular as well. New Day pretty much played heel here, with a running gag of Xavier getting slapped in the back repeatedly for the first part of the match. Finish came when Kofi stole the pin after an Uso hit the top rope splash on a Dudley (I believe D-Von).
– WWE Divas Champion Charlotte defeated Natalya in a non-title match via rollup
Finish was a little sloppy, Natalya slapped Ric Flair on the apron and Charlotte rolled her up for the win. The crowd really liked Natalya and gave her a really nice response after the match.
– Sami Zayn defeated I-C Champion Kevin Owens by DQ
Best match of the night (surprise), even if it started a bit slow. Owens had Sami in the Tree of Woe and was DQed for not breaking on the five count while attacking him. Post-match Owens got on the mic and reminded everyone that he made his main roster debut in Richmond, and wanted to ruin Sami’s first Richmond appearance. He went for the pop-up powerbomb but Sami hit a dropkick and the Helluva Kick.
– Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose defeated Sheamus & King Barrett when Reigns speared Barrett
Reigns was VERY over here, I’d say the crowd was 90-10 in favor of him, if that bad. Standard house show main event tag, but everyone got to hit their spots, and the crowd was happy to see Reigns & Ambrose win. Both men spent plenty of time with fans and ringside on the way out, with Reigns being the last guy through the curtain.
Very fun house show overall, good atmosphere. I feel like our show got a significantly better deal on star power than the show in Trenton.
The crowd was into this match more than you would think, considering how poorly these two are treated on TV week in and week out. Maybe the crowd was just excited for the show to finally get going? Either way, the crowd chanted “Cody” and “Lucha Lucha” a couple times throughout. Sin Cara pinned Stardust after a pretty basic back and forth match.
Mark Henry vs. Braun Strowman
Strowman was originally advertised for a tag team match with Luke Harper against Kane and Ryback. The match was just two big guys shoving into each other, headlock, bearhug, and shoving into each other some more. Strowman eventually won when Henry passed out to Strowman’s standing triangle choke. That move never looked all that great to begin with, but it’s even worse when Strowman does it on someone as big as Henry who he can’t lift high into the air.
Bo Dallas vs. Goldust
All four Social Outcasts came out and did their basic spiel about how they’re not rejects or losers, but Trenton and the people in the audience were. Ouch. Goldust came out and the match was mostly Bo running from Goldust, and Bo and the other Outcasts would distract the referee and attack Goldust then. Goldust eventually pinned Bo, but the other Outcasts ganged up on Goldust and attacked him immediately.
R-Truth came out to make the save and he and Goldust cleaned house. Then R-Truth got the mic and asked the audience if the audience thought the two of them should be a tag team, which got a surprisingly loud and positive response considering how dead this angle seems on TV. R-Truth even asked what the team should be called, and again, a majority of the people yelled “Golden Truth.” R-Truth did his rap and he and Goldust danced for what seemed like forever. Maybe they had to kill some time.
U.S. Champion Kalisto vs Rusev
Alberto Del Rio was originally advertised to face Kalisto. Instead, Rusev and Lana came out waving the Bulgarian Flag with Rusev’s face on it. Lana told the audience to “shu-tup” as she always does and said Rusev was going to be the United States Champion once again. She also said she wanted to sing a song for her fiancee. It was “You are my Sunshine” except she replaced the word “sunshine” with the word “monster.” That’s not exactly complimentary, but Lana looked great as usual, so I doubt Rusev cared.
Kalisto came out to what might have been the biggest pop of the night. (Either him or Big Show) Rusev started off by stealing the title, but Kalisto stole it back. The match itself was basically Kalisto getting in a few of his spots, and then Rusev overpowering Kalisto because of the size difference. Kalisto tried to body slam Rusev once, but Rusev stopped him. Kalisto eventually did slam Rusev later in the match, and it got a great pop. The match ended when Rusev ran at Kalisto in the corner but Kalisto jumped and Rusev hit an exposed turnbuckle, which Kalisto then turned into the Solida del Sol.
There were many “Lucha Lucha” and “USA USA” (even though they’re both foreigners) chants throughout the match. This was probably the match the crowd was hottest for from start to finish during the whole night.
Summer Rae vs. Alicia Fox
Once Summer and Alica were both out, Summer starts getting in Alicia’s face, then yelling at the audience a bit, getting in Alica’s face again, and then yelling at the audience some more. During that time Alica gets the win with a surprise roll up. I’m being completely honesty when I say I think it took longer for their entrances than it did for this “match.” It was a comedy segment, the crowd laughed, and I didn’t have to watch these two attempt an actual match, so I think we were all winners here.
Ryback vs. Fandango
Like I said above, Ryback was originally advertised for a tag team match with Kane against Luke Harper and Braun Strowman, so this was another change due to Luke Harper’s knee. Ryback came out and cut a promo, but the mic and sound system weren’t that great, and he doesn’t have the best enunciation to begin with, so I have no idea what he said.
I do know that the crowd didn’t really cheer for it, so either I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t understand him, or what he said was close to what he’s been saying on TV lately – which means it was some confusing promo that wasn’t really face or heel. Once the match got going it seemed like Ryback couldn’t decide whether he wanted to work as a face or heel. He worked over Fandango, dominating and tossing him around a bunch, and the crowd would cheer if Fandango managed to pull off a flip or kick.
However, Ryback kept doing all his babyface taunts to get his “Feed me More” chants, which the crowd chanted loudly. Then Ryback won with the Shellshock (minus the stomping around before hitting the move) and the crowd cheered the win, so I don’t know what was going on. After the win Ryback walked to the back, and then as Fandango walked to the back there was a CM Punk chant starting, and Fandango’s music came back on briefly which stopped the chant. He was the only person all night to lose their match but have their music play again as they walked to the back.
Big Show and Kane vs. Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan
Bray came out with Rowan and Strowman, Big Show and Kane came out separately. Like I said before, Big Show got what might have been the biggest pop of the night. The match itself was average. Bray and Rowan got the heat on Kane, and Bray would pretty much only tag in when Kane was already hurt or on the ground. What a heel. The crowd was silent during most of the match, except they would really come alive the few times when Big Show would clap or stomp the steps to give Kane encouragement.
The match ended when Big Show choke-slammed Rowan and got the pin. Crowd popped. Strowman then got in the ring to attack Kane and Big Show, but Kane and Big Show worked together to give Strowman a double chokeslam. Crowd popped again. (It was a bit jarring to see Strowman flat on his back, as they’ve been very careful for the most part to keep him on his feet on TV.)
After that the action was done the crowd was quick to scurry out of the building. The crowd seemed happy afterward, and all in all I enjoyed it more than I thought I would considering what the card was.
Editor’s note: This was the show that was scheduled to be Daniel Bryan Appreciation Night, but was changed last minuted because of Bryan “asking for time off”.
Submitted by Mike Omansky
– Dolph Ziggler def. The Miz
Superkick and pin, in a fast paced back and forth opener.
– U.S. Champion Kalisto def. Rusev (w/Lana)
The finish was Rusev taking padding off the turnbuckle, throwing Kalisto into it, who then jumped up to use the Salido Del Sol finisher for the win.
After the match, Ryback came out and attacked Kalisto. Sin Cara ran in to make the save. Ryback returned to grab the microphone, and said that Kalisto and Sin Cara need to understand that a big man beats a little man every time and wanted a match with Sin Cara right now.
– Ryback def. Sin Cara
ShellShock and pin in under 3 minutes. No offense by Sin Cara.
– Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks def. Naomi and Tamina
Banks beat Naomi with a back stabber followed by the Banks Statement submission. Standard divas fare.
– Big Show & Kane def. Erick Rowan & Bray Wyatt (w/Braun Strowman)
Show uses knockout punch on Rowan. Kane, the legal man, used a chokeslam to get the pin. Fans were into the match. Wyatt looked good, and had strong offense on Show. Strowman interfered a few times along the way.
– Divas Champion Charlotte (with Ric Flair) def. Natalya in a non-title match
Charlotte rolled her up after a distraction on the apron from Ric.
– After this match, a special ring announcer for the next match was introduced: former WWE broadcaster and current ESPN on-air talent Jonathan Coachman.
Coachman said that he was asked to come back to WWE, and wanted to do it at MSG. He then wanted to introduce his friends, the Dudleyz. Dudleyz came to the ring, and Coachman said a number of fans had a question for them: “Where are the tables?” Bubba Ray became incensed, threatened Coachman; and out came the Usos.
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Xavier Woods & Big E) w/Kofi def. The Dudley Boyz and The Usos in a triple threat to retain the titles.
After all six were involved at the end, Xavier came off the top rope onto Devon for the pin. Long match, but pretty good. Fans were into New Day who got a face pop coming in and leaving. After the match, Coachman jumped back into the ring with New Day, took off his shirt to reveal a New Day shirt underneath, and danced with them.
– I-C Champion Kevin Owens def. AJ Styles to retain.
Finish was a pop-up power bomb and pin after an excellent wrestling clinic. Styles was well received, as was Owens. Match was full of good moves and counter moves. Crowd was getting tired, but still clearly into the match. Loads of classic Styles moves. Best match of the night. After the match, Owens wanted to attack Styles again, who of course tossed him around, Styles then took the mic to thank the fans and say that the Madison Square Garden atmosphere is everything that he has always heard about it.
– Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose def. WWE Champion HHH & Sheamus
Reigns pinned Sheamus with a sphere for the win. He got a mixed reaction coming in, although a little more cheers than boos. During the match, he was cheered once at a hot tag, but booed heavily hitting Sheamus, and another sequence against HHH. Ambrose got a huge reaction coming in. HHH also got a face reaction coming in. HHH at first didn’t want to face Reigns, but did come in when tagged to attack him. Good match overall.
Notes:
– The show lasted 3:30 including intermission. The crowd began tiring out by last two matches. However, they were still into them both.
– Return date: Saturday, July 16th – Tickets on sale after show at box office, and via Ticketmaster. Ticketmaster presale code: WWE GARDEN
