Manny Andrade (La Sombra) beat Rich Swann: The Florida crowd still really doesn’t know who Manny is, but this match was good, kept it simple and mixed in some athletic spots, Swann connects immediately and was the crowd favorite here. Andrade won with a running double knees to Swann who was set in the corner.
2/10 TV show:
Baron Corbin beat Johnny Gargano: Loud boooes for Corbin instantly, his entrance looked great in this large venue with a row of spotlights down on him in the dark arena, felt like a star. Johnny did some good work out quicking Baron which seems to be how some of the better Corbin matches have gone lately. Baron won it with the End Of Days.
Zack Ryder & Mojo Rawley beat John Skyler & Corey Hollis: A less wild Hype Bros match than usual, they just worked the match and won.
Alexa Bliss (w/Black and Murphy) pinned Cameron: Having to decide which of the two heels to support, the NXT crowd of course chose Alexa Bliss here, Cameron has a different kind of negative reaction than Eva does, where the people just don’t seem in to her. Bliss is very animated and has great taunts, she won it with the Sparkle Splash off the top.
Elias Samson pinned Jessy Sorenson: Another basic win for Elias.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley pinned Carmella with a roll through pin after a series of counters and nearfalls. The story told was they were friends having a wrestling match, there was no cheating, nothing overly violent yet they both clearly needed this win. Carmella even did two dives through the middle rope to the floor to wipe Bayley out. This felt like a way to not lower Carmella even in defeat, she just got outwrestled. Post match, Bayley raised Carmella’s hand, they embraced, when Nia Jax & Eva Marie ran down and roughed them both up, destroying Carmella before Asuka ran down, stared the heels off, and in this time Bayley had recovered and was tending to Carmella when Asuka and Bayley looked at each other. The place began a YES chant as the two had a moment in time.
2/17 TV show:
Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady & Chad Gable & Jason Jordan beat NXT Tag Champions Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson & Blake & Murphy: Really good action here, long match, finish saw Jason Jordan take the best hot tag in wrestling, followed by an additional hot tag to Big Cass who then tagged Enzo for the splash off the top and the pin.
Asuka beat Deonna Purrazzo: The rematch saw Asuka win yet Deonna gets in just enough offense to appear tough. Asuka is a star.
Tye Dillinger beat Alex Riley: Good reaction for Tye, a lot of Ten chants and he actually picked up a win. Riley is working as a bitter heel lately on the live event loop, hasn’t really gone in to it on tv yet he’s still working that way. None of the fire that got him fan support during his main roster run.
Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn was a double pin draw. Zayn used the Helluva kick and then collapsed on top of Joe but his shoulders were on the mat and the ref counted both of them down. They ruled the match a draw and later in the show they announced there would be a 2/3 falls rematch at the Full Sail taping to finally determine our number one contender.
2/24 TV show:
Chad Gable & Jason Jordan beat Blake & Murphy: Good match as usual, American Alpha get the win with the alley oop german suplex pin.
Apollo Crews beat Chris Girard (Biff Busick): The crowd wasn’t familiar with Girard, his work is different than anyone here right now, he throws vicious uppercuts, his chinlocks are tight and his strikes look strong. Apollo got the win with the big slam that Triple H taught him.
Tommaso Ciampa beat Bull Dempsey: Good reaction for Ciampa, won the match via submission.
Eva Marie & Nia Jax beat NXT Women’s Champion Bayley & Carmella: Bayley took enough punishment that when the heels got Carmella alone they were able to destroy her, Nia dropped multiple leg drops on her before Eva tagged herself in to take the glory and the win. A lot of heat on Eva, of course.
3/2 TV show:
William Regal announced Joe vs. Zayn in a 2/3 fall match “next week” with the winner getting a title shot.
Vaudevillains beat Hugo Knox & Tucker Knight: Vaudevillains still entered to their cheerful music despite being on the heelish path lately. The newcomers making their tv debuts on the babyface side had some support but nothing like their house show reactions.
Elias Samson beat Steve Cutler: Another decisive win by Elias.
Emma beat Santana Garrett: Nice reaction for Santana, full music and tv entrance, back and forth match showing what both women can do in the ring, the end of Santana came when she was hoping to try a high risk move yet Emma knocked her off the top in to a tree of woe, after putting the boots to her she held the advantage until winning via Emma Lock submission. Good showing for both, hope to see more of Santana.
William Regal introduced Austin Aries. Before Aries could even make it in to the ring Baron rushed him and beat him down, then looking at Mr. Regal in the ring, the Baron vs. The Indies feud continues.
NXT Champion Finn Balor beat Neville with the Bloody Sunday DDT to retain: These two have always worked well together and this match was no exception, Neville took a few huge spills to the outside, even getting “Holy Shit” chants after the loud thuds. A lot of Neville offense that he doesn’t get the time on the main roster to showcase. They teased the Red Arrow a few times down the stretch before Finn fought back with a huge lariat knocking Neville inside out. The finish saw Finn hit the coup de grace, then hoisting Neville up in the Bloody SundayDDT for the win.
Earlier today, Paul “Triple H” Levesque said there was a major surprise planned for tonight’s NXT TV tapings in Orlando, FL. For wrestling fans, he wasn’t kidding as former TNA Champion Austin Aries (Daniel Solwold) debuted with the promotion tonight.
During the fourth hour of the show (scheduled to air on 3/2), NXT General Manager William Regal introduced the 37-year-old Aries and announced he had signed with NXT. Aries was then attacked by Baron Corbin and laid out, which, given the date the show airs, would seem to indicate Aries vs. Corbin has a good chance of being on the next Takeover special, scheduled for Friday, April 1st in Dallas during Wrestlemania weekend.
Aries had been with TNA until the promotion’s finances resulted in his contract expiring without being offered a new deal to his liking. Prior to signing with TNA, he had considered leaving wrestling after he was a late cut to get on the cast for a spot on the Tough Enough season in 2011 won by Andy Leavine. He won the TNA World title once, the X Division title six times, as well as the tag team titles, making him the fifth TNA Triple Crown champion.
It’s the Royal Rumble edition of the show! After Les and Vic get done discussing a different kind of rumble; people who just don’t know how to act on the road or in the supermarket when snow is coming, we’re pretty much all about WWE (12:00) the rest of the way! Should AJ Styles be in the Rumble, is the Rumble a good place to introduce new faces you have high hopes for, the less than inspired start to Wrestlemania season, what appears to be a lack of enticing matchups for Mania, Royal Rumble predictions and more~
Success can’t be determined by merely looking at a single number in the world of pro wrestling and it’s time to rethink how we gauge success. To help navigate our way through what we know and what we should look for, we brought in the talented Brandon Howard of Voices of Wrestling for the 29th episode of Josh Nason’s Punch-Out!
Brandon and Josh talked for an hour on a variety of wrestling topics like:
– Why he decided to become a pro wrestler and what he learned when he first started training
– And lots more. Geek out on some wrestling business with us, will ya? (Note this show was recorded before the Wrestling Observer Newsletter awards were released.)
Website subscribers can listen to the show below by clicking the link that says ‘Right click to save’.
– Air Date: January 21, 2016 (Jan 20 in Canada) – Location: Wright State University Nutter Center in Dayton, OH
The Big News:
The Wyatt Family laid out Roman Reigns and again stood tall to end the show.
Show Recap:
They opened Smackdown by plugging MizTV with Dean Ambrose and Kevin Owens, as well as Roman Reigns vs. League of Nations.
Chris Jericho came out and welcomed everyone to Thursday Night Jericho, his first Smackdown in 14 months. He wore a light-up jacket with jeans and no shirt. Jericho plugged the Rumble and had the monkeys in the back play a Raw video package. He didn’t explain why he disappeared during the Highlight Reel. He started calling himself the saviour again when he was interrupted by New Day.
Big E said “Christof” was no saviour, and they’re still mad about him destroying the trombone. Xavier Woods said there should be a documentary about Jericho called “Making a Brass Murderer,” but they wouldn’t need to plant evidence because it’s all on video. They asked the crowd for a moment of silence for the trombone and the crowd booed.
Jericho called them stupid for mourning the trombone and said they look like jackasses with horns on their heads. He called them Rooty, Tooty, Booty and the crowd chanted along. New Day jumped in the ring and Jericho backed off. He said he’d love to kick their asses but they already have a 6-man match scheduled.
6-Man Tag Match: The Usos & Dolph Ziggler beat The New Day via pinfall
Ziggler wore face paint to match the Usos, as he did on their tour of India. They showed that The Usos’ cousin, The Rock, posted a picture of Ziggler and The Usos with their face paint, calling it bad ass.
Jerry Lawler was basically a full-fledged heel this week. He said Ziggler looked silly in face paint, got mad at an Uso for pulling hair and said Jericho should be charged criminally for breaking the trombone.
New Day worked over Jimmy Uso until he hit a corkscrew dive and hot-tagged Ziggler. Ziggler ran wild until Woods tossed him out, but Jey Uso tagged himself in and dropkicked Woods into the corner (like Finn Balor) and followed with a Samoan drop.
An Uso took out out Big E and Kingston with a dive. All three babyfaces hit a triple-superkick on Woods and an Uso pinned him for the win. Nice match. Although, Woods can thank constant camera switches for not looking completely out of place.
Charlotte and Ric Flair joined commentary, and they replayed Lynch’s promo with Flair from Raw. The announcers said Lynch took a page out of Flair’s book, and Flair said Becky can’t even read his book. Charlotte said her look of surprise on Raw was because she couldn’t believe Lynch spoke the way she did to her father, not because he accepted the challenge.
Fox did a Northern Lights Suplex on the outside and held the bridge as if she could get a pinfall and Mauro Ranallo made sure to point this out. Lynch won shortly afterwards with the Disarmer.
The announcers congratulated The Rock on being the top box office draw of 2015.
The Miz hosted MizTV and explained the rules of a Last Man Standing match. As he talked about how dangerous the match is, Dean Ambrose interrupted. Ambrose talked over Miz, so Miz told him to shut his mouth. Ambrose threatened to shut Miz’s mouth by knocking him out. Miz asked the crowd if they thought Ambrose could do this better than him and they cheered. Miz gave up, welcomed everyone to DeanTV, sat silently in the corner, and the crowd chanted Yes.
Ambrose compared Last Man Standing to an amusement park and went on to explain the rides he’ll take Owens on, like snapping him in half over the ring apron. He said Owens looks like a bear, so he would use the steel steps as a bear trap and hit him with every object he can find, including a Kendo stick or the new Smackdown announcer. Ambrose would then put Owens through the table and will be the last man standing, as always.
Owens came out next but stayed on the stage and said he likes zoos more than amusement parks. He said the Intercontinental Title was his and his obsession with the title would prevail over Ambrose’s insanity. Owens continued, saying Ambrose’s insanity has taken him far but it would be his downfall because he won’t know when to stop, and Owens would stand over him as new champion.
Ambrose invited Owens down to the ring for DeanTV but Miz attacked him from behind. With Ambrose down, Owens sauntered to the ring. Owens actually attacked Miz and gave him the pop-up powerbomb. He then grabbed Ambrose and said Sunday would be the Kevin Owens Show. Owens went for the powerbomb but Ambrose countered and tried for Dirty Deeds, but Owens bailed. Ambrose gave Miz the Dirty Deeds instead and counted to ten as Owens looked on.
Ambrose comparing Last Man Standing to an amusement park was pretty dumb, but he did the best he could with it and overall I thought this was good.
Bray Wyatt (w/Wyatt Family) beat Ryback via pinfall
After hitting a powerbomb, Ryback did CM Punk’s running knee lift in the corner, followed by a superkick. That really happened. He tried a splash off the top, but Bray moved and hit a uranage and running senton for two. Ryback came back with a meat-hook clothesline but Luke Harper jumped on the apron, allowing Braun Strowman to toss Ryback into the steps. Bray pulled him back in the ring and hit Sister Abigail for the win. Afterwards, Bray ranted (not on a microphone) about slaying the beast on Raw and said the rest would be slaughtered at the Rumble. This was fine.
Titus O’Neil beat Stardust via pinfall
O’Neil lifted Stardust off the top rope into a Clash of the Titus for the win. Before the match, O’Neil compared being in the Rumble to being on the line of scrimmage with bodies flying everywhere, and this Sunday could be his national title. I wish they did more of these promos with different guys.
During the match, Lawler said Byron Saxton and O’Neil both attended University of Florida and asked if he could do the bark. Byron said, “I don’t have much bass in my voice” and Lawler responded, “Oh, we know that.” That was funny. The announcers also mentioned Stephen Amell during the match.
Backstage, they showed Kalisto getting ready for an interview as a stagehand showed him… the script, I think? She held up pieces of paper and he was reading it with her. Was it a script? Is wrestling fake? Not sure what this was.
After a break, Renee Young asked if Kalisto was ready for Sunday. Kalisto said, in Mexico, Alberto Del Rio’s name is up there with Mil Mascaras, Rey Mysterio and Eddie Guerrero. Kalisto said he has beaten Del Rio twice and will do it one more time. Del Rio interrupted and called his victories flukes. Rusev, Wade Barrett and Sheamus grabbed him from behind. Del Rio attacked him and Sheamus gave him a Brogue Kick. This was a setup for the main event.
WWE Champion Roman Reigns beat League of Nations via DQ
Before the match, Reigns sarcastically said he didn’t see it coming when Vince McMahon made him the number one entrant. Reigns would still walk in and out of the Rumble match as champion and was ready to take on the League of Nations tonight.
Heels got the heat pretty easily after the League distracted Reigns allowing Rusev to hit a fallaway slam. Reigns sold it like he’d been taking a long beating. Rusev kicked Reigns in his heavily padded stomach and back and Reigns sold some more. He came back with a clothesline on Sheamus, who tagged Rusev back in.
Reigns hit him with a clothesline too, followed by ten more clotheslines in the corner and a jumping clothesline. He got ready for the superman punch but Barrett and Del Rio held him down. Sheamus attacked him and the referee called for a DQ. Ugh.
Rusev hit a superkick and was about to apply the Accolade but the Usos ran down. They each hit superkicks but the numbers game caught up to them too. Rusev hit an Uso with a superkick and Sheamus hit the other with a Brogue kick. Reigns then took out Rusev with a superman punch and Sheamus with a spear. (Barrett disappeared and never took a bump, so he’s still injured.)
The Wyatts appeared suddenly and surrounded the ring. Reigns tossed Harper and Rowan over the top. Strowman got in his face and actually tossed Reigns over the top, where he was taken out by Harper and Rowan. Strowman gave Reigns his [finishing move] and Bray finished him off with Sister Abigail.
Final Thoughts:
I thought Smackdown was better than usual right until the main event. They announced tonight’s main event on Raw and plugged it throughout this show, just for it to end after 5 minutes on a DQ. I know the idea was to play up the numbers game against Reigns, but it was terribly deflating after all that build – and after we’ve seen Reigns beat these guys already. That being said, the post-match angle was fine. I’m not a fan of hot-shotting the Wyatts, but if that’s the direction, then this was the right way to follow-up the finish of Raw.
Due to a disastrous third hour, Raw did not have much of a bounce back after the end of football competition.
Monday night’s show did 3.48 million viewers, only up 160,000 viewers from last week’s show that went up against the national championship college football game.
On this night was clear what did the show in was the show itself, with major pattern of declines from start to finish, including a third hour that did 3.12 million viewers, a number that would have been considered poor even going against a huge NFL game.
The show was promoted around building to a Highlight Reel segment where Brock Lesnar and Roman Reigns would meet face-to face. No major matches were plugged for hour three.
The three hours were:
8 p.m. 3.78 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.59 million viewers 10 p.m. 3.12 million viewers
Last Monday’s average viewership of 3.23 million viewers was the lowest for RAW in the month of January since the Monday Night Wars era. Viewers were down 14.48% from a year ago this week (January 12, 2015), which also went up against the NCAA college football national title title game. That particular edition of RAW averaged 3.89 million viewers, which, in itself, was down 11.67% from the same week in 2014.
The rating for the 2016 show was a 2.36, down 12.92% from the same week in 2015, and also the lowest January rating since before the Monday Night Wars.
The 2015 rating was a 2.71, down 12.86% from the previous year. It’s important to note that 2015 was the first year that of the current format of the NCAA college football playoffs, meaning that the championship game was later than it had been in previous years and had never gone up against RAW prior to that.
The average for the month of January is now 3.451 million viewers, well down from January 2015’s 4.035 million.
If this trend continues, it would be the 14th straight month that RAW viewership has dropped year-over-year with most of those months seeing a decline of more than 10%. Similarily, the combined rating so far in January is 2.43, down 17.8% from last year’s 2.95 rating in January.
While pro and/or college football has a clear effect on RAW’s ratings, that doesn’t tell the full story.
Every year, without exception, RAW’s viewership numbers drop generally about 5-10% as soon as the NFL season starts. After the season ends, the numbers generally return to slightly above the level they were prior to the football season, partially due to the “Road To Wrestlemania” season of January-March. This year, the decline was much worse than usual and the numbers were nearing record lows to begin with. The numbers will almost certainly rise now with the end of football on Monday nights, but it would take a drastic turnaround to get even close to 2015 totals. After Mania, when the viewerships traditionally drops again, it’s very likely that RAW will return to doing non-holiday record lows every week.
What about this week?
With nothing major promoted for last week’s show (Brock Lesnar appearing on the show wasn’t announced until later in the week), there is no reason to expect any increase to the Monday, January 18th rating other than the typical non-football bump. One year ago today, RAW did an average of 4.09 million viewers. The last 10 weeks, RAW has been averaging about 11% less than the previous year’s number, so the estimated numbers are 3.65 million viewers and a 2.65 rating.
Anything higher than could be a sign that WWE is slowly turning things around and something’s clicking. If the number is lower than that, the slide is getting worse. If they score anything around 3.5 to 3.8 million viewers, that’s a good sign things may be stabilizing.
There was an old baseball saying with the Boston Red Sox in the 1940s when they had two decent pitchers in Warren Spahn and Johnny Sain. It went “Spah, Sain and pray for rain.” That’s the depth-challenged WWE right now. It’s Lesnar-Reigns and pray for Kane. The end of the go-home show for the Royal Rumble had Lesnar laying prone after being left for dead by the Wyatt Family, who have been stuck in the midcard since Thanksgiving. Reigns will be the #1 entrant in the Royal Rumble, which was determined in a segment that will live on through Botchamania. Vince McMahon, he of the bulging biceps at 70, failed to open two plastic balls on live television. Basically, the segment wanted you to believe the Authority rigged the drawing to make sure Reigns would draw the first spot. In other words, this was the WWE version of the 1985 NBA Draft lottery.
Show Recap:
Roman Reigns came out first to say he was going to be the first man ever to defend the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in the Royal Rumble, but he was only concerned with Brock Lesnar tonight. He wanted Lesnar to come out. Chris Jericho walked down and said Lesnar was already booked for the Highlight Reel tonight and asked Reigns to join him. Reigns agreed. Then the League of Nations came out, with Alberto Del Rio back with the U.S. Championship around his waist. Sheamus objected to everyone assuming the Royal Rumble will just come down to Reigns vs. Lesnar. Sheamus said the WWE Championship would come home to him. Sheamus wanted to be on the Highlight Reel, but Jericho shot him down. Del Rio objected to Jerichio’s smarky remarks and bragged about how he won the Royal Rumble, unlike Jericho. Jericho declined both of their invitations. Rusev then launched into a diatribe about how hard is was to grow up in Bulgaria. Jericho quizzed Reigns about how he won the Royal Rumble last year, and Reigns recalled he threw out Rusev to win. Jericho got off a line about how Lana can attest how Rusev always comes up short in the big moments. Reigns wanted to face Rusev, and Jericho announced he would be special referee.
Roman Reigns defeated Rusev (13:53)
Match built to a spot where Sheamus pulled Reigns out of the ring and threw him into the ringpost. Even though he was distracted by King Barrett, Jericho sensed what happened and forced Sheamus away from ringside. Then Barrett protested and Jericho ordered him to the back. Jericho turned cartwheels, danced and appeared to blow himself up in the process. Del Rio protested and he also was ejected. Rusev tried to hit Jericho from behind but Reigns intercepted that with a Superman’s punch and the pin.
In the back, Stephanie McMahon (wearing the highest heels possible so she can appear almost as tall as Jericho) confronted Jericho about making himslef special referee. She said because Reigns is now part of the Highlight Reel, she would have to renegotiate with Paul Heyman and give Lesnar more money. She said if Jericho ever did anything without her approval, she would make sure Jericho would never be the same again.
Natalya defeated Brie Bella via submission (1:28)
Natalya won with the sharpshooter. Natalya was accompanied by Paige. Wasn’t it Paige who jumped Natalya in December, causing her to miss months of action? Paige just walked out like they were best friends. Announcers just talked how this match was a preview for the season debut of Total Divas.
Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan defeated The Dudley Boyz and Ryback (6:32)
Braun Strowman distracted Ryabck, which allowed Bray Wyatt to clothesline him from behind on the floor. Bubba Ray Dudley called for the 3-D, and it was sad. Crowd was so dead it couldn’t get a pop. Luke Harper pinned Bubba Ray with a clothesline. Everybody involved in this feels like they’re going nowhere. JBL and Michael Cole mentioned the death of Iron Mike Sharpe during the match.
There will be a drawing later tonight to determine the number one slot in the Royal Rumble. I thought when the Big Show entered himself in the Rumble he made himself number one, but apparently that was a screwup on his point.
The Big Show defeated Heath Slater (:55)
Show pinned Heath Slater with the Knockout punch. They took an overhead shot of the arena as Slater got in the ring, and you could see people headed to the bathrooms or concession stands. Afterwards, fellow Social Outcasts members Curtis Axel and Adam Rose got knocked out. Bo Dallas ran in the ring and ducked a punch, then started to take a victory lap around the ring thinking he got away. As he finished his lap, Show decked him as well. Byron Saxton said Big Show was “A favorite to win the Rumble.” Services for Mr. Saxton’s credibility will be held Friday at 9 AM.
Stephanie met with the League of Nations backstage. She wanted to know why they let Jericho scare them into leaving ringside back when this show had momentum…I mean during the first match. Sheamus said they weren’t scared of Jericho. She told them to prove it.
Stephanie and Vince McMahon came out to draw the numbers for the number one position in the Royal Rumble. Since it was a lottery, a representative from the Philadelphia 76ers showed up. Stephanie mentioned how her father won the Royal Rumble was the 1999 Royal Rumble champion. Vince pulled out the first plastic ball…and couldn’t open it. So he threw it back and picked up another one out of the tub, revealing the name of Reigns. So Vince wanted to make sure the drawing was legit and drew another ball. He couldn’t open that one. Keep in mind, moments earlier Stephanie had talked about what a great physical specimen her father was. Stephanie dropped in a “McMahon’s Millions” reference, at this point. So Vince pulled out a ball, which again had “Reigns” in there. They drew a third number, basically to tell the audience that the Authority had rigged the drawing to make sure Reigns would get #1, and again Reigns’ name was in there. Vince mentioned that Reigns would be the number one man on Sunday, but not after the Royal Rumble.
Becky Lynch defeated Tamina via submission (4:06)
Becky Lynch won with the Disarm-her off the top rope. Afterwards, Lynch wanted to hear from Charlotte’s mouth that they would meet on Sunday at the Royal Rumble. Charlotte said she had already beaten Lynch twice and there wouldn’t be a third match. Lynch said she only won because of Flair and said Flair never backed down from a challenge in his career. She tought Charlotte would be the same way, but perhaps the apple fell too far from the tree. Flair took the mic, called Charlotte the best of all time and said this Sunday, the third time would be the charm when Charlotte beats Lynch again. She accepted. Charlotte didn’t look happy about that.
Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio defeated Dean Ambrose and Kalisto (13:14)
Final minutes were good. Kevin Owens was on commentary, trying to make himself babyface by constantly telling Saxton to shut up. Kalisto hit Salida del Sol on Sheamus, but Del Rio hit a Superkick for the save. Dean Ambrose brawled with Del Rio at ringside, but was distracted by Owens. Del Rio hit Ambrose with an enzuigiri. In the ring, Kalisto tried another Salida del Sol on Sheamus, who threw Kalisto off and hit the Brogue Kick. In the comeback, Kalisto attempted a Tornado DDT on Sheamus that got fouled up, and it appeared Sheamus landed on his face. It’s a Last Man Standing match with Ambrose vs. Owens for the I-C title on Sunday, which could steal the show.
They showed pictures of the weekend tour from India, the company’s first tour there since 2002. Isn’t it amazing they never toured there when the Great Khali was on the roster?
The New Day had a funeral service for Franchesca the trombone, which was destroyed by Jericho last week. Big E. presided over the service and started to quote Jay Z’s “99 Problems” when Xaiver Woods stopped him. Kofi Kingston said they would buy him a new trombone. Woods said he never got a chance to say goodbye. Woods said Franchesca would want Big E. to fight Big E. and they started clapping and chanting “Fran-Ches-Ca.” JBL was clapping, as well.
They had a By the Numbers segment about the Royal Rumbles. In the 28 lifetime Royal Rumbles, 811 competitors have been eliminated, a record 42 by Kane. 46 WWE Hall of Famers have entered the Royal Rumble, but only 8 have won it, including Steve Austin 3 times. Rey Mysterio’s 82:12 is the longest single stint ever in the Rumble.
Big E. defeated Jey Uso (9:32)
Big E. won with the Big Ending after Woods provided another distraction. Jimmy Uso dove on Kingston at ringside. Kingston pushed Woods out of the way, and Woods distracted Jey as he went for a splash. Cole said Uso tweaked his knee on the landing. Pretty good match where Uso hit a tope. Big E. bumped all over the place, including missing a big splash on the apron and falling to the floor after missing a charge. Woods
R-Truth, Titus O’Neal, and Mark Henry talked about one of them winning the Royal Rumble this Sunday. Neville joined in the handshake and they all yelled “Keep the Dream Alive.”
The League of Nations talked backstage. The announcers teased they would get involved in the Highlight Reel.
Titus O’Neal, Mark Henry, Neville and R-Truth defeated the Ascension, Tyler Breeze and Stardust (6:11)
Finishing sequence was supposed to be O’Neal tossing Tyler Breeze over his head to an awaiting Henry, who would deliver the World’s Strongest Slam. Apparently, Henry lost Breeze in the lights because he dropped him. Then Breeze had to take the bump again, and it ended with Neville hitting the Red Arrow. Match really dragged until Neville and Breeze got in. The second they got in, they fell into their old rhythm like they were Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson. It’s incredible how far Breeze’s stock has fallen since he defeated Dolph Ziggler at Survivor Series. Yes, that was only 7 weeks ago.
Jericho was out for the Highlight Reel when Heyman interrupted him. Jericho accused Heyman of failing his client, Lesnar, when he failed to get him out of the Royal Rumble last week. Jericho asked Heyman if he tried to get Lesnar out of the Rumble because he didn’t feel he could win. Heyman, in a very long-winded way, denied that and said Lesnar would turn the Rumble into his own Suplex City. Jericho asked what would happen if it came down to only Jericho and Lesnar at the end of the Rumble on Sunday, and what would happen if Jericho threw Lesnar out to become a 7-time World Champion. Really wasn’t much of a reaction to that line because it’s been so long since Jericho has been a champion and a regular.
This finally brought out Lesnar to a very tepid reaction. Reigns walked out after Lesnar got to ringside. Lesnar took a lap around the ring to buildup a showdown with Reigns. Once Lesnar got in the ring, Reigns immediately speared him. The League of Nations ran down to jump Reigns. Jericho vanished at this point. Lesnar gave Rusev a German Suplex. Del Rio and Sheamus ran after Lesnar. Boy did Del Rio and Lesnar have a confrontation that looked awkward. It appeared like Del Rio wanted to get a little offense in, and Lesnar wasn’t willing. Lesnar ultimately gave Del Rio another German Suplex and Sheamus the F-5. At that point, Reigns got up and hit another spear on Lesnar, which got a few boos.
Then the Wyatts came down to ringside, with Harper giving Reigns a clothesline. Wyatt gave Reigns Sister Abigail. At that point, Lesnar got up, and Harper gave him a big boot. Erick Rowan followed with a spin kick, Strowman hit Lesnar with a clothesline. Wyatt finished off Lesnar with another Sister Abigail. And that was it. No Lesnar comeback. No Reigns comeback.
SUMMARY:
The entire show was built around the main event. Certainly it was strange to see the Wyatt Family, who have been on the backburner ever since the Undertaker/Kane feud at the Survivor Series, finish off the go-home show to the Royal Rumble standing over the company’s top babyface. But beggers can’t be choosy at this point. Not when the WWE needs top heels. Since they’re unwilling to take chances on people like Breeze, they turn back to the Wyatts, though it seems like that well has run dry. It remains to be seen if the company can make Owens a money-drawing heel, or if they position him that way. It was another dead crowd tonight and a lackluster show overall.
Michael “Mike” Sharpe (born October 28, 1951 – January 17, 2016) better known as “Iron” Mike Sharpe, passed away over the weekend at his apartment in Hamilton, ONT, at the age of 64.
Billed as “Canada’s greatest athlete,” Sharpe was a perrenial job guy in the 80’s and 90’s for WWF. He had his last televised match on June 6, 1995 losing in a tag team match to The Smoking Guns. After retiring from the ring, Sharpe made his living as a professional wrestling trainer, at his own school, Mike Sharpe’s School of Pro-Wrestling.
PW Insider first reported the death of Sharpe, a second generation wrestler, whose father and uncle were one of the greatest tag teams in pro wrestling history in the 50s, and are best known for legendary matches in Japan with Rikidozan & Masahiko Kimura.
Sharpe was raised in a wrestling family. His father and uncle tagged together in the 1950’s. At age 25, Mike decided to follow his father’s footsteps and was trained by Dewey Robertson, and began working for Gene Kiniski’s NWA All-Star Wrestling in the 70’s.
Like his father, Sharpe Jr., took the ring name Iron Mike Sharpe. He started wrestling in 1976 in Canada, and worked smaller territories for several years, including runs in Stampede Wrestling. At close to 6-foot-4 and 275 pounds, Sharpe was a big powerhouse who was known as a tough guy because of his amateur boxing background. But he was missing the element that would make one a big star, when it came to the charisma.
He did decently well in territories like Mid South and Georgia in the early 80s, but was beat known for is run in the WWF from 1982 to 1989 as a lower card regular.
He started out getting a push, with Lou Albano as his manager, and having a loaded forearm brace, built for matches with champion Bob Backlund. But he never got a shot in Madison Square Garden (he did work with Backlund in some other cities) and his push ended, but he had a long tenure with the company as a reliable enhancement wrestler. He was treated as a job guy with some credibility, nicknamed “Canada’s Greatest Athlete,” which was the nickname that Gene Kiniski used in the 50s, 60s and 70s.
Within wrestling Sharpe was known for being obsessively clean, and for always perfectly folding his clothes. He would be constantly washing his hands while at shows and taking showers, and was known as Mr. Clean. He was also compulsive when it came to training, and was known as a very well conditioned big man.
But in a cruel fate, with all that training, his health started to want over the past decade. For years he was largely confined to a wheelchair and had lost one of his legs, and had been suffering from constant health problems.
