Not just John Cena, but Vince McMahon will also be on Raw Monday night from the Barclays Center.
The WWE announced today that McMahon would return to Raw to confront Roman Reigns for giving him the Superman punch two weeks ago.
McMahon’s return led Raw to a 2.66 rating, up nearly a full-half point from the 2.20 the previous week. It was the biggest rating of the year against football. But the number fell to 2.33 last week, roughly what it had been averaging during football season.
With a strong Cincinnati Bengals vs. Denver Broncos game, a normal Raw would threaten the recent record low marks.
Big Takeaway: Tino Sabatelli takes a step backwards, Sami Zayn works on his shoulder rehab, and Dana Brooke gets injured by Asuka’s ass on another chaotic episode of Breaking Ground.
Show Recap: As with last week, an unfocused journey through NXT.
Building off last episode’s cliffhanger, Triple H commends Bayley and Sasha Banks for their performance at TakeOver Brooklyn, notes that he thinks they left some “story on the table,” and asks them to main event the next TakeOver event in an Iron Man match. They (obviously) accept.
Scott Hall visits the Performance Center for a week and is asked by Matt Bloom to work a bit with Baron Corbin. He gives him a few pointers as far as working heel goes, but aside from that and giving Apollo Crews some pointers on doing interviews – don’t make it seem like you’re cutting a promo, just speak like you usually do – he doesn’t really do much of anything.
Sami Zayn is back at the Performance Center working on his shoulder rehabilitation and hopefully to get closer to a return. He’s not cleared yet and he does some resistance exercises that are designed to test his shoulder. Regal still thinks Zayn has a ways to go yet as a performer and wants him to focus on the basic notion of pro wrestling: at its core, it’s two people competing. Since he’s not cleared yet, he focuses on helping Tyler Breeze tutor Eva Marie. He offers her this advice on using pin-fall attempts to pace a match: “If we’re selling a story, these [sequences] are sentences, [pinfalls] are the punctuation.”
Tino Sabbatelli is given a match, his second match ever, on a house show against Apollo Crews. He develops his character by looking at sweet suits. Tino does not look great in his match with Apollo. His striking looks terrible and he turns away from contact on a drop-kick in a way that almost endangers Apollo. Bloom gives him a rundown of what he did wrong, emphasizing paying attention to details and his striking (Vince’s motto is apparently “Men throw punches.”). Corbin pulls him aside and gives him some advice, too (noting that he’s had two matches and to put in the work). After the show, Bloom tells Tino that he’s being put back in Robbie Brookside’s beginners class (presumably so he can work on some fundamentals).
Dana Brooke works out with the new Australian girls – Billie Kay is specifically identified – and talks about not being intimidated working with Asuka, who’s finally identified on this show. Anyway, immediately after talking about not being intimidated, she’s knocked loopy by an Asuka hip attack in a work-out and that’s the big cliffhanger: did Asuka’s ass kill Dana Brooke? (Spoiler: no.)
In less important news: Josh from Tough Enough’s wife and daughter move to Florida finally, Nia Jax designs her ring gear for her TV debut, and Mojo Rawley has a party.
Final Thoughts: Sadly, it was another fairly unfocused episode, as it included way too many NXT personalities for any of them to really register as important.
WWE Tribute to the Troops from Jacksonville featured patriotic messages and feel-good moments in a stand-alone show with a premise of honoring United States military personnel. A notable aspect of the show was the sponsorship of Coca-Cola, which is a first for WWE. Coca-Cola was the main sponsor along with USAA, a financial services group serving the US military.
The show opened with a video package encouraging support for the troops. Besides WWE talent, also wishing their best via taped messages to the troops were mainstream A-list celebrities. The celebrity messages were also sprinkled throughout the program as well as during the opening.
JoJo sang “The Star-Spangled Banner” in a ring adorned with red, white and blue ropes in a throwback look to days of yore when the named ended with “Federation”. On commentary, Michael Cole mentioned his broadcast partner, JBL, was responsible for the idea that eventually evolved into Tribute to the Troops.
Emerging from the crowd, Roman Reigns led Dean Ambrose and the Usos to the ring. This special being taped before he actually won the title, Reigns was without the WWE championship. In fact, no one appeared with any championship belts on the show. Cole on commentary talked about those in the ring that won a Slammy on Raw, meaning they taped an additional commentary track since Monday.
Reigns was about to say the night was for thanking the troops when he was interrupted by the League of Nations. The crowd chanted “USA” and Sheamus mocked them. Sheamus said he admired the United States before insulting the country. Bad News Barrett was next to insult the US. He focused on the country’s food, calling it “complete rubbish.” Barrett also lamented on not being able to find a piece of roasted pork. Barrett said what he really wanted was a portion of spotted dick.
Reigns scolded him and said this was a family show. Barrett said he was talking about pudding. Alberto Del Rio suddenly interjected himself into the debate by trashing American television programming. He brought up futbol. Del Rio basically claimed American football was invented so Americans could be the best at it since nobody else plays the sport. He said not to get him started on country music.
Sheamus said not to get him started on Ireland before he endlessly put his country over. Sheamus listed a number of attributes like Ireland has the most beautiful women and such. Reigns interrupted him.
“You’re forgetting something,” Reigns said. “You also have the smallest tater tots.” The crowd chanted “tater tots” as Sheamus fumed. The tater tot insult strikes again.
Reigns challenged what he called the “League of Idiots” to a fight. The League of Nations marched into the ring to confront Reigns and company. The arena suddenly went dark as the Wyatt Family entered the scene. Everyone seemingly waited patiently as they did their full entrance.
To even the odds, the Dudleys followed by Ryback and Kane came to the ring. Everyone began brawling both in the ring and around it in what Gordon Solie might have described as a “pier six brawl.” This set up a sixteen-man tag team main event for the main event.
Jack Swagger beat Rusev (with Lana) via submission in a boot camp match
Beforehand, Lana and Rusev cut a promo in a foreign language. The entrance of Swagger interrupted them. Military equipment and gear sat around ringside for use in the match. Given the setting, Swagger was over as the crowd chanted “USA” before he applied an ankle lock. Lana handed Rusev an ammunition box and Swagger broke the hold. Rusev hit Swagger repeatedly with the ammo box and proceeded to get heat on him. JBL called it “an old fashioned Cold War beat down.”
Swagger sent Rusev over the ropes and out to the floor where he clotheslined then suplexed Rusev on to a cot before a commercial. After the break, Rusev hit Swagger with a footlocker case and a helmet. Rusev got more heat on Swagger. Rusev waived the Bulgarian flag. He wedged a case between the top and middle ropes in a corner, which would come into play later on.
At ringside, Swagger grabbed Old Glory and waived the flag. The display of patriotism allowed him to hulk up into a comeback as he ran wild on Rusev. He used the Swagger bomb for a nearfall. Rusev avoided the ankle lock and hit a superkick for a two count. Moments later, Swagger applied the ankle lock.
Rusev tried to counter the hold and send Swagger into the case wedged in the ropes. Swagger avoided colliding into the case. Rusev charged in, Swagger sidestepped him and Rusev hit the case. Swagger then applied the ankle lock and Rusev tapped out for the submission.
A video package highlighted Batista and Titus O’Neil’s involvement in supporting the troops. In a clip from a speech addressing the military, Titus said, “If you look around you’ll see people from all different backgrounds. This is what life is about to me. When I help the homeless or when I go visit hospitals people don’t look at me just as [a] WWE superstar, they look at me as a human being. That is what I look at each and every one of you as.” He went on to say more inspiration words about being a winner. This is the Titus O’Neil that could be a babyface superstar, not the one dimensional character usually portrayed on WWE programming.
Mark Henry beat Bo Dallas via pinfall
Dressed as Uncle Sam, Bo acted wacky and wrestled with a hat on his head. Henry pummeled him and used the world’s strongest slam for the pin. Henry snatched the hat away from Bo and put it on his own head to celebrate.
Train performed their song “Merry Christmas Everybody”.
Kevin Owens sauntered to the ring while cutting a promo. He said since the night was about paying tribute he wanted to pay tribute to Canada. More specifically, he put over Quebec in saying everything there was better than in the US. He spoke briefly in French. The “Feed Me More” theme and entrance of Ryback interrupted him.
Ryback beat Kevin Owens via countout
Ryback tried to maul Owens at the outset and gave him a delayed vertical suplex. Owens cut him off by snapping his neck on the top rope. With Ryback in a headlock, Owens shouted “O’ Canada” and yelled he was ready to get out this place. Ryback started a comeback and delivered the meathook clothesline. Ryback picked Owens up for the shellshock, but Owens maneuvered to the apron where they simultaneously punched each other. Ryback fell back in the ring and Owens fell to the floor. Owens teased breaking the count before waving his hands to signal he was leaving. Owens was subsequently counted out.
A video package told the story of a US serviceman spending his third wedding anniversary with his wife backstage at the Tribute to the Troops taping. It showed the couple hanging with WWE talent and it also included product placement with Coca-Cola. A live shot showed the couple at ringside drinking bottled Cokes.
Howie Mandel made an appearance before the live crowd. He put over the military and thanked them for their service. He then did a stand-up routine about bathroom attendants. Mandel said he was a fan of WWE and mentioned he wrestled in high school. He showed a yearbook photo of himself in his wrestling gear for comedic effect.
He brought up the presidential election. Mandel asked the crowd what they thought of Donald Trump. The WWE Hall of Famer got a mixed reaction. Mandel made a joke about Trump. He talked about doing kids programming. He concluded by jokingly mocking a fan in the crowd before saying his goodbyes.
Sasha Banks & Naomi & Tamina & Paige beat Charlotte & Becky Lynch & Brie Bella & Alicia Fox
The heels got heat on Brie after she took a wicked-looking clothesline from Tamina. For the hot tag, Becky came in running wild. She was cut off as several women came in to do various spots. For the finish, Sasha executed a backstabber on Alicia and floated over into the bank statement. Alicia tapped out to give Sasha’s team the win via submission.
Another video package highlighted WWE talent supporting the troops set to a song by Tim McGraw.
Train performed their 2001 pop hit “Drops of Jupiter”.
Following a commercial break, the sixteen-man tag team main event was joined in progress.
Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose & Jimmy Uso & Jey Uso & Ryback & Kane & Bubba Ray Dudley & Devon Dudley beat Sheamus & Alberto Del Rio & Bad New Barrett & Rusev & Bray Wyatt & Erick Rown & Luke Harper & Braun Strowman
The match included lots of tags and lots of action. They built to, and the crowd popped for, two monsters colliding when Kane squared off with Strowman. The heels got heat on Kane but he singlehandedly cleaned house before a commercial.
After the break, the heels got heat on an Uso until a hot tag to Ambrose. Dean ran wild in the ring and knocked all the heels off the apron. Ambrose jumped off the top with a flying elbow drop on Harper. When Ambrose went to cover Harper, Rowan broke up the pin and a melee ensued. The Dudley did the wassup spot to Rowan. When they went to get the tables, everyone started brawling.
As everyone brawled, Ambrose did a tope and the Usos also did dives to the outside. They teased a bunch of finishers and the babyfaces all helped in knocking Strowman out of the ring. Ambrose used dirty deeds on Harper to score the deciding pinfall.
Afterwards, the babyfaces celebrated and a gigantic American flag unfurled above the ring for a patriotic closing.
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs… Oh My! Part 7, The Finale
By: PeachMachine (@hendosfoodblog and @parkingcone)
This week…
TLC 7: December 13, 2015; Boston, Massachusetts, TD Garden
I figured I’d better review the most recent offering from the WWE TLC PPV series in the same manner in which I did the first six (read-along style) but I wanted to give it a little bit of time to digest before doing it to see the follow up on Raw. It was their best TLC, and the ending actually got decent heat, and played great into the story the next night with Vince McMachon returning and Roman winning the championship.
King, Cole, and JBL on the pipes. King sucks a bag of aardvark turds. He’s so out of place. Why does Vince keep him around? He’s not funny and his schtick is tired. I’m not saying they had someone better, but NOW they have someone better. I’m looking forward to Mauro Ranallo big time.
Pre Show Match: Sasha Banks (with Naomi and Tamina) defeated Becky Lynch by submission… but we’ll never see it.
The New Day (Big E. Langston and Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods) (c) vs. The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) vs. The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) for the Tag Team Championship in a triple threat tag team ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
New Day needs to keep their intro to the same verbiage each time so they can get the crowd chanting along.
I’m surprised nobody has pointed out the wings on Kofi’s shoes. Awesome!
Lilian introduced the Lucha Dragons in Spanish, which, as a fluent Spanish speaker was muy bien. That’s Spanish. I’ll translate it for you someday.
She should have done the Uso’s intro in pigeon. I’m fluent in that as well. Pigeon is like half English, half Island slang, mixed with some Polynesian.
They should do a ladder match where no ladders are ringside. They could spend 25 minutes running around backstage looking for a scissor lift.
Two minutes in, the Usos are alone in the ring WITH A LADDER and decide to just throw it. They could have easily won. That’s why multi-team ladder matches are lame.
I really want to know the story behind Xavier and the trombone. Did he play it in 7th grade band class? Did he find one backstage and practice one day? Is he just wingin’ it?
King said, “He got chopped like a veg-o-matic.” Why is he still employed? Does anyone under 35 know what an “anything-o-matic” is?
Big E. pressed the ladder with both Dragons on it. That was cool.
There was a lot of innovation here with unique ladder spots.
Salida del sol from the top of the ladder! Luckily it was onto the gimmick ladder that broke at the wooden joint.
Woods tosses his trombone at Kalisto and Kofi unhooks the clip and grabs the belts for the win.
I’m still waiting for the tag team ladder match where one guy from each team grabs a belt and they are forced to be the new champions together.
Rusev (with Lana) vs. Ryback
In the pre match video, they recapped Ryback referencing “Teen Wolf” the TV show. What? There are a bazillion other shows that would have made more sense. First, Ryback is hairless.
Do you think Ryback sells a ton of beanies and necklaces at house shows? No? Me neither.
Just fire both these clowns. They HAD potential. Screw it. We want JOE!
If I was on WWE creative, and a wrestler came up to me and said, “I just got this sweet air brushed singlet that combines the skull of a wolf and a tiger.” I’d immediately bury that geek. Go get in line at Disney world with the other weirdos who wear wolf shirts.
When Ryback says, “Finish it!” it’s weird. It doesn’t make sense to tell your self audibly to “finish it.” You’d more realistically just think that.
Technical submission is the official result. That happened two weeks ago in the UFC too. It means when a guy doesn’t submit and the ref stops it anyway.
Ambrose and Reigns are back stage talking about being double champions.
Then they cut to the announcers and do a video recap of Del Rio vs. Swagger. Cole says that Del Rio hit Swagger with a chair because they have a chairs match coming up. My guess is that he got that backwards. Also, Swagger has a bowl cut. Why in the world are we allowing this, not just here, but in all of America? People, we need you to point out the dorks attempting to bring back the bowl cut. It sucked in 1993 and it sucks now. I guess it’s fine on a heel, but don’t let your friends go back to this.
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger in a chairs match for the WWE United States Championship
Remember a month ago when this title was great?
Swagger did the “Patriot Lock” through a chair, which is the same as me doing a bear hug to someone through a hula-hoop. Lame.
This match would have been awesome if not for the dorks involved.
Has anyone outside of Swagger’s immediate family bought his awful shirt? Probably the same people who bought a Ryback necklace.
I’ve said it before, but chairs matches suck. Del Rio won after doing the double stomp on Swagger on a pile of chairs. Lame.
Albert of the River does look amazingly tan.
The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman) vs. the ECW Originals (Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Tommy Dreamer, and Rhyno) in an eight-man tag team elimination tables match
Rhyno joined ECW in 1999, so I guess that’s when ECW started since he’s an “original.”
I like to think that since they’re the “Wyatt family” that each of the other guys not named Wyatt married one of Bray’s sisters so they’re all brothers-in-law. Backstage they probably gripe about their wives being ball busters. “Bray, can you tell Sheila to relax about the baby’s crib? I’ll have it put together in time. SHE needs to pick a damn room color.”
Bray was wearing a double horned headpiece, so WWE must think there is money in facial accouterments.
This is the tenth tables match in WWE pay per view history, which were Cole’s words, so I guess “pay per view” isn’t on the banned term list.
Tommy Dreamer looks gross. He’s orange, and round, and has a stupid beard.
Strowman kicked his leg through a table, and that didn’t count as an elimination. Why not?
I’d rather watch Public Enemy vs. The Nasty Boys on the WWE Network. At least those guys didn’t try to do spots. They just beat the heck out of each other for real and didn’t sell.
So this happened: Rowan set D-Von on a table and climbed to the top, then Rhyno pushed him off so he didn’t land on D-Von, but as D-Von was rolling out of the way, the table broke. That makes two table breaks that just didn’t count.
Rowan got eliminated first by the 3D.
Luke Harper booted Rhyno through the table making it 3 on 3.
What actual purpose would red white and black camouflage serve? Would you wear it while hunting in a forest fire?
Wyatt slammed D-Von through a table with a urinage.
Harper dives on to dreamer who goes through a table. Now it’s 3 on 1.
Bubba Ray covers a table in lighter fluid, then just gets put through it by a choke slam from Strowman. Big tease, no pay off.
That match was a chaotic mess in a very mediocre way.
What a treat! Renee tells us that we get to hear from the kick off panel of Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, and Booker T. These bozos have nothing to say.
Then we got a pretty weak Royal Rumble promo. I’m sure those will get better.
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship
Owens did some nice crowd work making fun of Boston sports fans. To be fair, they ARE the most arrogant sports fans.
This was a pretty dang good match.
Ambrose counters the pop up power bomb and rolls through for the pin.
Ambrose wins!
Then Ambrose ran around like a maniac celebrating.
Good match.
Charlotte (c) (with Richard Morgan Fliehr) vs. Paige for the WWE Divas Championship
This is a confusing storyline. Paige brought up Charlotte’s dead brother, and then she turned baby face. What?
Flair is at ringside. This match is basically nothing.
Paige locks on a long sleeper.
Paige locks on the Figure Four.
The end was Paige hitting the Ram-Paige but Flair took Charlotte’s foot and put it on the rope. This lead to Charlotte taking off the turn buckle pad, and dropping Paige’s face onto the exposed steal, which led to the pin.
Sheamus (c) vs. Roman Reigns in a tables, ladders, and chairs match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
The “heat” in this feud is from Sheamus cashing in the MITB contract after Reigns won the title last month at Survivor Series. Oh, and then Reigns retaliated by saying that Sheamus’ testicles were the size of tater tots, in some sort of odd Burger King cross promotion. Zing.
When Sheamus was introduced, they hit him with a spotlight that completely whited him out. Ha!
How many refs does it take to hang up a championship belt? Two apparently.
I wonder if the height of the raised item in ladder matches is a standard?
Roman tossed Sheamus into a stacked up double table and chairs set up on the side of the ramp.
Sheamus got cut on his left triceps.
I can’t believe they allow Reigns’ running jump kick on the apron to be called the Drive By, which implies gang related murder.
Sheamus hit White Noise off the apron through a table. That should have been the finish.
The two took a double bump off the apron through the gimmicked ladder which was propped up by the announce table.
And now we get the agonizing slow ladder climbing which makes ladder matches unbearable.
Reigns hit the Super Man Punch on Sheamus at the top of the ladder and Sheamus took a table bump.
Reigns got royally screwed by the League of Nations running in.
Sheamus won after the League destroyed Reigns. Barrett was conspicuous by his absence. He’s apparently injured.
Reigns then decimated the League, and HHH came out.
Reigns destroyed HHH as well to get his heat back, or more correctly, just get SOME heat. It worked, as the crowd really got behind Roman.
Overall Thoughts: This was a dang good TLC PPV and possibly the best one yet. The ladder match to start, and the TLC match at the end were very good. Thumbs up for sure. Final rankings of the TLC PPV’s order: 7,4,6,5,3,1,2 – And a we put TLC to rest, I’d like to remind you, “Don’t go chasing waterfalls…”
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including a full recap of the 2015 WWE Slammy Awards! All the winners, Raw results, notes from the show and tons more! Plus, death of a UFC fighter from the early days, current star gets arrested for brawl, questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Paul Heyman is backstage at Raw right now in Minneapolis.
We don’t have it confirmed that Brock Lesnar is there, but it would makesense with it being the Slammy Awards show and this being in Minneapolis, where he lived for years.
Tonight’s show should also get the ball rolling for this year’s Royal Rumble.
Lesnar would be one of the leading candidates for the Superstar of the Year award. Lesnar was not advertised as appearing on Raw until 1/11 in New Orleans, at which point he and Heyman would be appearing fairly regularly through WrestleMania.
Filthy Four Daily with Bryan Alvarez and Filthy Tom Lawlor returns today with tons of thoughts on the Slammy Awards categories, Tom’s own Filthy Awards which will open up voting next week, UFC from this past weekend, weight-cutting, the Filthy Tom Mailbag, and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Slammies were given out. Only major news item on the show was John Cena is returning next week. The show was focused on getting the League of Nations over as a heel group.
Show Recap:
Stephanie McMahon started the show smiling. She said McMahons don’t wallow in their self-pity, so she won’t let Roman Reigns get her down tonight. Reigns showed up smiling because he was the new champion. He suspected that McMahon had something up her sleeve, but he doesn’t sweat any of the McMahons or HHH. Roman said he hasn’t seen HHH since he laid him out at TLC, but he told her to tell HHH he wasn’t hard to find, he was the one wearing the gold.
Stephanie ordered him to get out of her ring. Reigns just laughed at her. Stephanie shrieked as Reigns kept laughing and the fans chanted “no.’ Reigns said the fans didn’t want him to leave. Roman asked the fans if they wanted to see her get really mad, and he turned his back to her. Stephanie screamed at him to get back in the ring, saying “How dare you turn your back to me!” They love taking lines from “Gladiator.”
Reigns kept smiling and walked back up through the crowd. Fans were cheering as he made his way up the crowd as Stephanie ordered him to get back in the ring. Roman ignored repeated threats. Stephanie got so mad that she ordered Reigns’ cousins, the Usos, to wrestle the New Day. Reigns no sold that. Then she ordered Dean Ambrose to wrestle Sheamus in a steel cage.
Dolph Ziggler came out for the first Slammy Award for the “Breakout Star of the Year.” The nominees were Kevin Owens, Neville, Charlotte, Tyler Breeze and Braun Strowman.
The winner was Neville. His acceptance speech was interrupted by Owens, who said he should have won. Owens got cheered. He ordered Neville to take a walk. Neville complied. What the hell kind of booking was that? They should have handed Neville a shovel so he can bury himself. Owens turned his ire to Ziggler, claiming that the only way Ziggler could win a Slammy was if they awarded “Has-Been of the Year.” That led to a pull-apart brawl with Ziggler fighting in his tuxedo.
Kane defeated Bray Wyatt by DQ (:53)
They spilled over to the floor where Luke Harper, Erick Rowan and Strowman jumped Kane for the DQ. The Dudley Boyz and Tommy Dreamer ran out for the save, starting up yet another eight man between these teams.
The Wyatt Family defeated Kane, Tommy Dreamer and the Dudley Boyz (2:47)
Harper pinned Devon Dudley with a lariat. The Dudley Boyz gave Harper Wazzup, but Strowman clothesline do both Dudleys. Kane clotheslined Strowman over the top rope before the finish.
Santino Marella came out for the “LOL Moment of the Year.” Crowd was happy to see Marella. Nominees were the New Day and it’s showdown with Edge and Christian; the Bushwackers being inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame; the Miz world premiere of his erectile dysfunction commercial where he turned out the Miz was the one who got over; R-Trtuh cutting a promo for the Money in the Bank match he wasn’t even competing in; and the New Day dancing with Stephanie, while HHH reluctantly joined in.
R-Truth was the winner. Santino accepted the award for R-Truth because he’s never won a Slammy before, which the audience kind of groaned at. R-Truth came out and demanded the award. Santino took off running with the Slammy and R-Truth chased him.
Santa Claus cut a promo wishing everyone a Merry Chirstmas. Of course, it was Mick Foley. His daughter Noelle and son Dewey were dressed as elves.
Paul Heyman came out to present a Slammy. He said aside from LOL and Diva of the Year, every Slammy should go to Brock Lesnar. The award was the “OMG Shocking Moment of the Year.” Nominees were Seth Rollins cashing in the briefcase at WrestleMania; Lesnar giving Michael Cole and a random cameraman F-5s the night after WrestleMania; Kalisto delivering Solina del Sol on Jimmy Uso at TLC off the top of a ladder onto another ladder; Sheamus cashing in the briefcase and pinning Reigns at Survivor Series, ending Reigns 1st world title reign after 5:15; and the Wyatt Family jumping the Undertaker at the end of their Hell in a Cell match.
Kalisto was the winner. He came out wearing a mask in a three-piece suit, which reminded me of Mil Mascaras in the dying days of World Class Wrestling. Crowd didn’t really react to him. Weird to see Kalisto and Heyman out there together. There was a photo tweeted of Owens waiting in the ring taking a nap against a turnbuckle as Kalisto did the promo.
Kevin Owens defeated Dolph Ziggler (12:05)
More good stuff from Ziggler. Owens won with the Pop-Up Power Bomb after Ziggler tried to give him a Zig Zag. Ziggler had just hit a Famouser for a two count. Ziggler has really upped his game over the last six months. Nothing new regarding an Ambrose-Owens program tonight, so it remains to be seen if that’s a program that fell through the cracks or if it’s on a one week sabbatical.
Stephanie came out to present the Superstar of the Year Slammy. Everyone on the roster was nominated. Reigns, Sheamus, John Cena, Owens, Ambrose, Wyatt, The New Day, Lesnar, the Undertaker, Kane, Rollins, and Sting were highlighted in an excellent video package.
Stephanie announced Rollins as the winner. Rollins came out on crutches to a good babyface reaction, and the announcers put him over like he was a face. There was even a “Thank you, Seth” chant. Rollins wasn’t shilling a bit, going full arrogant saying there was no other option for Superstar of the Year. He brought up his performance at the Royal Rumble in the three-way against Cena and Lesnar, winning the championship at WrestleMania, etc. As quickly as the success came, one wrong landing made it all disappear.
Rollins turned serious and said in 2016, he would redesign Seth Rollins, he would rebuild himself and he will reclaim a championship he never lost.
Alberto Del Rio (C) defeated Jack Swagger in a nontitle match (7:07)
Alberto Del Rio won with the Double Stomp on the Tree of Woe. Afterwards, Sheamus gave Jack Swagger the Brogue Kick.
Mark Hery came out to present the “Hero in All of Us” Award. This was an award presented to various wrestlers who help out with charity. Nominees were: Natalya for her work with the Special Olympics and the USO; Reigns for the Susan G. Komen Foundation, and the Dosomething.org campaign; the Big Show for the U.S. Armed Forces and the Special Olympics; Titus O’Neal for his commitment to help the homeless; Cena for the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Cena was the winner to wide cheers. Fans weren’t as happy when it was announced he wasn’t there. Henry accepted the award for Cena and appeared a little choked up, perhaps knowing this was the last time he would be at a Slammy presentation as an active wrestler.
They announced non televised Slammy Winners, including Lesnar vs. Undertaker as Rivalry of the Year; the Stone Cold Podcast as Best WWE Network Show; Damien Mizdow winning Double Cross of the Year (knocking off Del Rio in an upset); and Reigns leveling HHH as Extreme Moment of the Year.
Supposedly, Santa Claus came out to present the award for Surprise Return of the Year. It was Bo Dallas under the outfit. Nominees were the Dudleys, Chris Jericho, Del Rio (with Zeb Coulter not mentioned or even shown), Kane (?), and Sting.
The winner was Sting, who was also absent. Crowd wasn’t happy about that one either.
New Day were out and unhappy that they didn’t get the Slammy for Tag Team of the Year. As revenge, Big E. Was going to ruin the ending to the latest Star Wars movie, but Kofi Kingston didn’t want that because his son hadn’t seen the film yet. The Usos came out with new music.
The Usos defeated the New Day in a 2-on-3 handicap match (10:57)
Jey Uso pinned Xaiver Woods after reversing an Rolling Reverse Cradle. Pretty good match but the fans were getting worn out by this point. Fans chanted for Bayley. How about we keep that one quiet before she’s called up to the main roster and buried faster than you can say “Miss Universe is Miss Colombia?”
R-Truth, who retrieved his Slammy from Santino, came out to present the Diva of the Year. Nominees were: Nikki Bella, Naomi, Paige, Sasha Banks, and Charlotte.
Paige was announced as the winner. Paige and R-Truth embraced. It appeared R-Truth tried to put his handprint on her ass because she had to push him off. Paige acted like a heel. Did she tun again since TLC? Of course, this was the Steve Harvey spot that you knew was coming. R-Truth said he had made a mistake and Paige was the runner-up. The winner was announced as Nikki Bella. Nikki came out and asked Paige to stick around. Nikki did a total babyface speech, dedicated the award to everyone. She and Paige embraced.
Rusev defeated Neville via submission (8:02)
Rusev got almost all the offense and got the submission win with the Accoldate. Neville attempted the Red Arrow but Rusev moved, Neville jumped off right into a thrust kick by Rusev. Post match, Sheamus gave Neville another Brogue Kick.
Miz, who was on commentary for the Neville match, presented the Slammy for the This is Awesome Moment of the Year: Nominees were Lesnar destroying J&J Security’s car; Randy Orton’s RKO of Rollins at WrestleMania; Stephanie McMahon starting the Divas Revolution; Ronda Rousey showing up at WrestleMania and the Shield reforming to power bomb Orton through an announcers table.
The Rock and Rousey at WrestleMania. No one reacted because they knew Rock nor Rousey wasn’t within 1,000 miles of the place.
Becky Lynch defeated Brie Bella via submission (5:11)
Becky Lynch won with Disarm-her after blocking Brie Bella’s La Magistral cradle. Charlotte was at ringside but didn’t interfere. Crowd has faded out.
Ric Flair came out to award the Slammy for Match of the Year. Nominees were Lesnar vs. Cena vs. Rollins at Royal Rumble: HHH vs. Sting at WrestleMania; Owens vs. Cena at the Elimination Chamber; Reings vs. Ziggler vs. Owens vs. Delp Rio in a Fatal Four Way #1 Contenders Match on Raw from November and Lesnar vs. Undertaker at Hell in a Cell. Why Cesaro vs. Cena in July wasn’t nominated is beyond me.
The winner was Undetaker vs. Lesnar. Lesnar’s music played, but of course he didn’t come out. Heyman did and got booed. Quite funny to see Flair and Heyman shake hands since Flair fired Heyman from WCW in 1990 over a promo Heyman gave where he went against Flair’s orders and basically put himself over. Fans chanted for Lesnar. Heyman said Lesnar has no desire to accept awards, he wants to show up for a fight. He said while the fans want Lesnar, no one in the locker room is man enough to want Lesnar. Heyman said the Undertaker stood toe-to-toe with Lesnar in a Hell in a Cell, and he paid tribute to Undertaker. Heyman tried to rally the fans with a babyface interview, but they wanted stars at this point.
The League of Nations jumped the Usos in the back. Rusev put Jimmy in the Accolade while Del Rio but Jey in the cross armbreaker. Sheamus gave them both Brogue kicks and said “2 down, one to go.”
Dean Ambrose (C) defeated Sheamus in a cage match (10:45)
Ambrose won by climbing over the cage when he and Sheamus had climbed over and slugged it out. After Sheamus hit a head butt, Ambrose fell to the floor. Once Sheamus hit the floor, Reigns hit him with a spear. Both men made several attempts to climb over the cage. Sheamus gave Ambrose White Noise off the top rope for a two count. Not even that spot could get the crowd buzzing. They fought again on the top rope where Sheamus crouched himself. Ambrose tried to climb over, but Rusev and Del Rio stopped him. So Ambrose jumped off the top of the cage with a hooking clothesline for a good near fall. Ambrose tried to get out of the cage, but Del Rio slammed the cage door into his face. Amazing to see something that drew millions in Dallas in the 80s used as a transition spot here. Reigns ran out of the crowd and gave Del Rio a spear, and hit Rusev with a Superman Punch. Sheamus tried to climb out, but Reigns met him at the top, had a staredown with him and threw a chair into the ring. Ambrose used the chair for several shots across the back, then hit Dirty Deeds. There was a very audible “Sheamus is boring” chant. Stephanie watched from the back. As Ambrose climbed in the ring, Sheamus gave him a Brogue Kick. Rusev and Del Rio put the boots to Ambrose before the match even started.
SUMMARY:
Show ran out of steam about 90 minutes in. The good news was Reigns got a good reaction the week after winning the strap.
Post-Show Notes from Eric Thibault:
WWE returns on Friday March 4th for a Road To Wrestlemania house show. The presale password is WWEPRE.
Kids loved chanting New Day Rocks before the show. Definitely not as full as last Raw in August featuring Undertaker and Lesnar. 3/4 of upper level curtained off.
Pre-Show dark match: Lucha Dragons vs. The Acension. They went straight to big moves, Acension double teamed Kalisto for the heat one minute in. Hot tag to Sin Cara two minutes in. Kalisto and Sin Cara hit topes, then the Salida del sol and the Swanton for the victory in 3:30.
Roman Reigns was cheered loudly during the opening video package.
Nikki and Paige were really over. The League of Nations received little to no reaction during entrances, its matches or post match angles.
Becky Lynch had a really cool, smoke filled entrance during the commercial break.
This was the second time on RAW in Minneapolis in the last couple years that they teased Lesnar but didn’t deliver.
Fans chanted “This is boring” during the cage match but flipped after Ambrose dove off the cage. Ambrose and Roman celebrated on the ramp after the match. No post match angle or match.
Today is Slammy Award day at WWE, which means a series of awards (some tongue in cheek, some serious) will be released throughout the day with what the company believes are the major awards being released throughout the three-hour Raw tonight from Minneapolis.
Usually this builds to the fan voted Superstar of the Year award at the end of Raw. Given the timing of Roman Reigns winning the title this past week and all voting being done this week, plus the other leading candidates, Seth Rollins, John Cena and Brock Lesnar all being off television the past two months, he would look to be the favorite.
These awards will be announced throughout the day on WWE.com and will get updated here as they do:
Tag Team of the Year – The New Day would seem like the favorite here.
Hashtag of the Year
Celebrity Moment of the Year – Stephen Amell, Jon Stewart and Wayne Rooney would be the favorites here.
Tell Me You Just Didn’t Say That Moment of the Year
Best John Cena Open Challenge match of the year – Choices are Cesaro, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Dean Ambrose and Neville.
The following awards will be announced on the Raw pregame show on the WWE Network starting at 6 PM EST:
Rivalry of the Year – Undertaker vs. Lesnar would be a favorite but you can’t predict fan voting on something like this
Double Cross of the Year
Surprise Return of the Year
Best WWE Network Original Series
These awards will air live on Raw:
Superstar of the Year
Match of the Year – Candidates are John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar vs. Seth Rollins at Royal Rumble, Sting vs. HHH at WrestleMania, Cena vs. Kevin Owens at Elimination Chamber, Reigns vs. Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler vs. Owens on Raw, Lesnar vs. Undertaker Hell in a Cell
Diva of the Year – Choices are Nikki Bella, Noami, Charlotte, Paige and Sasha Banks
Breakout Star of the Year – Owens, Neville, Charlotte, Tyler Breeze and Braun Strowman.
