Your Divas champion becomes the latest idiot babyface to fall victim to the deadly distraction/schoolboy combo.
Titus O’Neil w/Darren Young defeated Stardust by countout (3:40)
The first of two matches on this show that were set up on RAW the previous night. Titus of course took a wrong-turn into Cody’s backstage planetarium (not a euphemism) on Monday night, before pinning Cosmic Wasteland member, Konnor, in the subsequent six-man tag.
Very short back-and-forth TV match, with no real discernible structure to it. Usual shine stuff for Titus in the beginning where he channels the Big Show by delivering forehand chops to his foe’s chest in the corners. Stardust gets caught off a top rope cross body attempt, allowing Titus to hit his rib-breakers before tossing him with gay abandon. Speaking of which, Darren was on commentary for this one. He mentioned the “paywinda” twice. No-one laughed.
Titus does the Gator Bark to signal the splash in the corner, but Stardust bails and walks to the back for the lame countout finish. Gotta keep Stardust looking strong, ya know?
Ryback defeated Heath Slater by pinfall (2:58)
We get a clip of The Ryback ruining The One Man Band’s performance in Nashville the prior evening. Hey, I know this will be a squash match, but I appreciate that they’re at least creating the illusion that this show matters in the grand scheme of things.
Heath’s out for revenge. He dresses down Ryback before the bell, comparing himself angrily and favorably to one Garth Brooks. More like Chris Gaines, right?! Right?
Short enhancement match. Ryback gets the win by countering Heath’s patented top-rope flying nothing into a spinebuster, followed by a Meathook and a Shellshock.
Rusev defeated Zach Ryder by submission (4:17)
Mild “Let’s Go Ryder! WOO, WOO, WOO!” and “USA!” chants after the bell from this Indianapolis crowd. They must be an optimistic bunch.
A longer than expected enhancement match here, in which Rusev gave Ryder quite a lot, including two consecutive Broski Boots for a close two-count.
Unsurprisingly however, Rusev eventually locked on the Accolade and Zach tapped like Fred Astaire.
– No backstage segments on this week’s show, but we do get a recap of the main event segment on RAW, where Roman Reigns ran off Sheamus and his Euro buddies with a steel chair.
Brie Bella w/Alicia Fox defeated Charlotte by pinfall (9:34)
Yep, you read that right.
Opening bell rings amid the now obligatory “We Want Sasha” chants. Decent match – certainly better than last week’s psychology-free Naomi/Alicia effort – in which Brie worked Charlotte’s left arm consistently throughout the contest. Although quite what submission she was setting herself up for is very much up for debate. As is persisting to use your husband’s babyface kick sequence when you’re supposed to be a heel.
Back-and-forth finishing sequence, in which both women hit their signature moves, climaxing in a big boot and a spear from Ms. Flair.
And then, Paige’s music hit. And Charlotte walked to the ropes to gawp at her like an idiot. Before falling victim to the most electrifying move in sports entertainment – the schoolboy – for the one, two, three. Lame.
Final Thoughts
A much-less focused show than last week’s offering, which was all about bigging up Titus O’Neil. And from a wrestling perspective, two awful finishes and two squashes do not a happy Main Event viewer make. Recommendation to avoid.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today with our Black Friday show! Tons to talk about including NXT from Wednesday with a masterful troll job in the Eva Marie vs. Bayley match, plus Dave Meltzer appears to talk TLC and Dr. Lucha joins us to talk all the news in Lucha Libre! A fun show as always so check it out~!
– Air Date: November 26, 2015 – Location: Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, IN
The Big News:
Dean Ambrose became number one contender for Kevin Owens’ Intercontinental Title after defeating Tyler Breeze and Dolph Ziggler. They also set up the Dudleys vs. Wyatts for a tables match and Alberto Del Rio vs. Jack Swagger for a chairs match.
Show Recap:
Former WWE Champion Roman Reigns came out to start the show as they recapped the story from Survivor Series and Raw. Reigns entered the ring which had tables and ladders and chairs set up inside already, so I guess he cleared this talking segment with the Authority.
Reigns said he and the Usos used to wrestle all over the house until they were banned from doing so after one Uso broke a coffee table with the other Uso. Reigns said they wrestled all over the yard and dreamt about becoming WWE Champion, but it always felt like just a dream – until Survivor Series when he won the title. The dream got shattered when Sheamus crushed his face (that’s the phrase he used) with a Brogue kick.
Sheamus came out. (They did another bad edit here, like a few weeks ago, where you could hear Sheamus’ entrance start, but on camera the lights didn’t change, and there was no reaction from the crowd or Reigns.) Sheamus told Reigns to get over it because he’s a walking, talking Adele song. He said Reigns has been talking about being champion longer than he actually was champion.
Sheamus made bad jokes about how short Roman’s title reign was and said the title looks better on him anyway. He put over Reigns’ effort in the tournament but Reigns’ moment became Sheamus’ moment, and yelled about how great it felt to become champion. Reigns challenged Sheamus to come to the ring so he could show him what he can really do in under five minutes.
Sheamus acted like he would go to the ring, but he didn’t. He’s the champion and all Reigns has is broken dreams. Reigns said he would break Sheamus’ jaw with a superman punch, break his back with a chair, powerbomb him through a table, climb the ladder and become champion. This wasn’t good. Sheamus in particular came off like a clown.
The Dudley Boyz beat Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan (w/Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper) via DQ
In an inset promo, Bubba said the Wyatts would “taste some Dudley wood.” Tons of piped in booing during the Wyatts’ entrance. An early highlight in the match was Rowan screaming in D-Von’s face and D-Von just smacked him. Wyatts got the heat on Bubba with help from Harper who superkicked his arm with the referee distracted.
D-Von made the hot tag and took out Rowan. It seemed like the Dudleys had the match won but they dumbly went for tables instead. They set one up in the ring but Harper superkicked Bubba for the DQ. Strowman took out D-Von was his standing choke and they put Bubba through the table. Strowman was noticeably bad in this match.
Paige beat Becky Lynch via pinfall
They showed Charlotte watching the match on TV backstage. Her entire body was facing the camera with her face turned to the TV. They always do this but it looked even dumber than usual here. Becky made her comeback which included an Exploder suplex. She went for the Disarmer but Paige bounced her off the ropes and rolled her up for the pinfall win.
Paige tried to get her feet on the rope for leverage but she was too far away. I’m not sure if that was a screw up or not, but Becky basically lost clean. Lawler made sure to mention that Paige tried to use the rope. Match was fine but the crowd didn’t care.
Backstage, Big E, Kofi Kingston, Naomi, Sasha Banks and Tamina were at the “1st Annual New Day Potluck Dinner.” Better trademark that one. Big E said he was thankful for tricep meat. Kofi was thankful for the tag-team titles and Big E chanted “Thanks to us” to the tune of “New Day rocks.” Naomi and Sasha danced along.
Heath Slater joined and brought some Slater Slaw. Big E noticed a bandaid in his dish. They freaked out and pushed Slater aside. Adam Rose gave them rabbit stew and left. Big E freaked again, thinking it was made of The Bunny, and Kofi yelled “We don’t want this!” (That was the highlight of the segment.)
Ascension showed up but they didn’t have any food so they got kicked out. Big E and Kofi said Xavier Woods would be bringing the turkey. The Gobbledy Gooker showed up. It was Woods. They chanted “turkey tail” as Woods shook his tail back and forth.
Non-Title: Jack Swagger beat US Champion Alberto Del Rio (w/Zeb Colter) via DQ
Colter called Swagger ungrateful and said he has blind American loyalty. Del Rio said Swagger would be thankful that he let him walk out of the ring after their match. Lame promo.
With the match barely under way, Swagger clotheslined Del Rio over the barricade into the timekeeper’s area. He began walking toward Zeb, allowing Del Rio to hit him from behind with a chair for the DQ. Del Rio hit him one more time with the chair and tossed him in the ring.
Swagger came back and attacked Del Rio with the chair, getting him about four times in the back. Del Rio ran away, selling his back. This was obviously just an angle to set up a chairs match at TLC. I didn’t really like how little of an effect the chair shots had on both guys. Swagger was fine after getting hit twice and Del Rio walked away on his own and posed with the title on the stage.
Backstage, the Usos said they didn’t want to know what “Slater slaw” was. Woods in his Gobbledy Gooker outfit ran by them. The Usos had an idea.
Non-Title: Lucha Dragons beat WWE Tag-Team Champions Kofi Kingston & Big E (w/Gobbledy Gooker) via pinfall
They showed the debut of Gobbledy Gooker in 1990. Lawler made sure to remind everyone that this sucked. Kingston seemed to have the match won on a pinfall attempt with his feet on the rope, but the Gobbledy Gooker pushed him off. Kingston yelled at him and the distraction allowed Kalisto to hit Salida Del Sol for the win.
After the match, Kingston and Big E continued to yell at Gobbledy Gooker, who remained outside the ring. An Uso came out on stage blowing an airhorn to the tune of “New Day sucks” and Xavier Woods was with him – in his boxers, hands and legs tied up, and mouth taped shut. Woods tried to say something, so Uso ripped off the duct tape and blew the air horn in his face. This caused Woods to fall and roll down the ramp.
They cut to the Gobbledy Gooker outside the ring and the commentators tried to act like they didn’t know who it could be. It was the other Uso. The four babyfaces took out the New Day, concluding with an Uso superkicking a helpless Woods and the other Uso finishing him off with a splash. Lawler was happy to see the Gobbledy Gooker finally get over.
They aired a video package for the Undertaker.
Backstage, Renee Young asked Dean Ambrose about his luck potentially changing tonight. Ambrose said he pinned Kevin Owens at Survivor Series and that wasn’t luck. Reigns pinned him and that wasn’t luck either – Reigns was the better man on that night. He said Sheamus cashing in wasn’t luck, it was right place, right time. Luck was winning the lottery, and Ambrose said he never won a buck off a scratch card. Ambrose intimated that if he were a betting man, he would bet on himself over Ziggler and Fuzzy Boots McGee.
I.C. Title #1 Contender’s Triple Threat Match: Dean Ambrose beat Tyler Breeze (w/Summer Rae) & Dolph Ziggler via pinfall
Kevin Owens came out for commentary and faked out a young fan who wanted a high five. Lawler told Owens that Breeze was suing People magazine for naming David Beckham as sexiest man alive. Owens said he almost fell asleep as Lawler said that because he couldn’t care less. As they plugged Raw in Pittsburgh, Ambrose tossed his hoodie at Owens and Owens responded, “I guess he thought he was insulting me, but I’m keeping it, so joke’s on him.”
Booker asked Owens who he matches up with best. Owens said he and Ambrose are both brawlers, he and Breeze are both gorgeous, but he has nothing in common with Ziggler and is proud of that.
Ambrose hit a rebound clothesline on Ziggler and Breeze tried to steal the pin, but Ziggler kicked out. Ambrose followed with a flying elbow on Breeze for a two count. Ziggler and Ambrose did the double running crossbody spot but they sandwiched Breeze who was caught in the middle. That was cool.
Breeze superkicked Ambrose and Ziggler superkicked Breeze for a near fall. Ziggler caught Ambrose with a Zig Zag but Breeze broke up the cover. Breeze hit Ziggler with the Beauty Shot and went for the Unprettier but Ambrose nailed him with Dirty Deeds for the win. Owens seemed displeased. Good match, and Owens was great on commentary.
After the match, Ambrose went out to face off with Owens. Ambrose pushed Owens back into his chair. Owens popped up like he was ready to fight but just walked away.
The Bryan & Vinny Show is back today with a special THANKSGIVING episode of the show, and we’ve got tons to talk about! First, it’s the epic NXT show with BAILEY VS. EVA MARIE, the Samoa Joe vs. Finn Balor NXT Title angle and more! Then, Granny joins us to take your comments on what you’re thankful for on this Thanksgiving night. And finally, the Raw report from this past Monday night! A fun show as always so check it out~!
Tommy Gilbert, a mainstay in Tennessee wrestling during the 60s, 70s and 80s, passed away earlier today at the age of 75.
Gilbert and Eddie Marlin were a regular babyface tag team in the 60s, battling the top heel teams of the era like The Interns and the Von Brauners. He also formed championship tag teams with Bearcat Brown, Ricky Gibson, Sputnik Monroe, Tojo Yamamoto, Ron Wright and did a father-and-son tag team with son Eddie Gilbert.
Gilbert’s father, Arlie was a pro wrestler and his sons, Thomas Jr. (Eddie), who passed away in 1993, and Doug, who still wrestles, were wellknown wrestlers.
He worked most of his career for promoters Nick Gulas and Jerry Jarrett in Tennessee and Alabama, as well as Puerto Rico. He also used the name Johnny Starr while wrestling in Texas in the 70s. His son Doug wrote, “Earlier this morning, my dad Tommh Gilbert left us and is now home in heaven with Eddie. Prayers during this difficult time are appreciated.”
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns today with our Wednesday night news update! Tons to talk about including the epic low Raw ratings from Monday night, discussion of all the injuries in WWE this year and what could be a factor, Smackdown tapings, Randy Orton injury update, the TNA tour of India canceled, Jon Jones and GSP news notes, tons of mailbag questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
TLC 4: December 16, 2012, Brooklyn, New York, Barclays Center
This was the first WWE show ever at the Barclays Center. Cole, Lawler and JBL on the sticks.
– Dark Match: JTG defeated David Otunga in a singles match
– Pre-show Match: Naomi won the Santa’s Little Helper battle royal to determine the number one contender to the WWE Divas Championship, by eliminating Kaitlyn last
Main:
– Sin Cara and Rey Mysterio vs. Rhodes Scholars (Cody Rhodes and Damian Sandow) in a tables match to become the number one contenders to the tag team championship
How did they drop the ball on this team? I love the Rhodes Scholars!
Only one member of the team has to go through the table.
King made a joke about manila envelopes that legit got Cole to crack.
Sandow has to be on that post Wrestlemania clearinghouse list with Alex Riley.
Fun match with some nice flying spots and a pretty sick bump for the finish.
Cody shoved Sin Cara off the top rope and it launched him through the table outside the ring.
Then Sandow did a cartwheel. Why did they break up? Why are we being punished with Stardust?
– Antonio Cesaro (c) vs. R Truth for the WWE U.S. Championship
Cesaro’s old music was terrible.
I’ve heard that R Truth is Vince’s favorite wrestler. How?
I’m glad Cesaro stopped wearing the weird leg wraps.
Cole with some accusations that JBL hides money in Swiss banks. Then JBL corrected him and said his money was actually hidden in the Cayman Islands. IRS, are you listening?
Cesaro apparently has a real broken hand during this match.
Is Little Jimmy still around?
Cesaro wins with the Neutralizer.
Stryker then got in the ring and asked Cesaro what he thought about the crowd booing him? Cesaro said he was the greatest U.S. Champion, which he may have been, until this last John Cena U.S. Championship Open run.
Ugh, then we got a bunch of “Touts.” Remember those awful things? WWE kills everything it touches.
Josh Matthews interviews Dolph Ziggler about illegality, then Dolph says he will be the biggest star in 2013, and he will end John Cena’s career.
Then the Miz is introduced and comes to the ring for a Miz TV segment. I love all WWE in ring TV shows. It’s hilarious to me that they put seats and couches in the ring on a red carpet. I now hate this show, as he brought out Three Man Band. I change my mind. I love it again. 3MB claims they are better than Jay Z. I’d agree. Miz’s zingers must have been written by 6th graders. Then 3MB does a rather racist angle by calling out the Spanish announce team and running them down for not speaking English. Ricardo comes to the rescue but starts to get bullied, until Del Rio makes the save. Finally, Miz and Del Rio clean house to save the Mexicans. So it’s going to be Miz and Del Rio and a partner of their choice to take on 3MB later.
Now we see Kane and Daniel Bryan backstage as Team Hell No. Short hair and medium beard Bryan seems so odd now. They get hyped to take on The Shield later.
Now Stryker interviews Wade Barrett. I guess we’d seen too much wrestling in a row and needed five talking segments.
Wade Barrett vs. Kofi Kingston (c) for the Intercontinental Championship, a.k.a. The Kiss of Death Championship
Wade is on a winning streak coming into this match. Must have been nice.
Remember when the IC title made you the number one contender to the World title? Which makes Kevin Owens next in line. I’m fine with that.
Kofi beat Wade after an average match and a Trouble in Paradise kick.
We now see CM Punk in a skybox with Paul Heyman. Punk is on crutches. He’s giving us a status update on his knee. He’s wearing his Knees 2 Faces shirt, as he runs down Brooklyn and calls them dumb. Hey now, words hurt too. He then runs down Ryback, and reminds us that he is a fan of The Shield but not involved with them and that he’s the longest reigning WWE champion of the modern era. Day 392.
Ryback and Team Hell No (Kane and Daniel Bryan) vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins) in the first ever six-man TLC tag match
Since no belts are hanging, this is basically just a weapons match.
Poor Reigns is still having to do that dumb crowd entrance.
It starts in a big brawl.
A lot of mainly ladder smashing spots. Why would you ever climb in this match? But… I’ll bet that happens anyway.
Ryback was going for a double shell shock. I hope he gets it later. Now it’s isolation on Ryback.
Reigns screams at the Spanish announce team. Poor fellas. Their table is about to get broken. Triple power bomb by The Shield on Ryback through the table.
The Shield is laying waste to all three guys with some interesting table stuff.
Ambrose took a choke slam through a chair, which looked like it sucked.
Reigns speared Kane through the barricade. The timekeeper looked terrified.
WWE rule number 2: Don’t go for a belly to back suplex on Daniel Bryan. He will back flip out of it.
“This is Awesome,” chants for a match with Ryback, after, of course, the “Goldberg” chants.
I think Tim Kennedy could beat Ryback.
This match is still going on. The Shield is beating Ryback with chairs out on the ramp.
Yep, Seth is climbing a ladder! Ryback is climbing after him. Ryback tossed him off the ladder through the double table stack.
Daniel Bryan was pinned by Reigns after a power bomb off the top turnbuckle through a table.
Fun match!
Eve Torres vs. Naomi in a singles match for the WWE Divas Championship
Eve won with the neck breaker. Then her husband told Ronda Rousey she was doing great after round one. Great career advice.
Big Show (c) vs. Sheamus for the World Championship in a chairs match
I really hope they cancel the chairs match this year.
Chair shots are legal, but we’re supposed to believe that neither man has the desire to hit his hated rival in the head with one.
Big Show Choke Slammed Seamus, but Seamus kicked out so Big Show went out and threw in 10 more chairs, because that will help.
Seamus hit White Noise on to some chairs, but Show kicked out.
Knock Out Punch by Show, and Seamus kicked out. Big Show’s finish is a punch. A punch! Why doesn’t he win every match?
Big Show pulls out a monster-sized folding chair! What? Hilarious! He hit Sheamus with the really large folding chair for the pin. Why would that be under the ring? Why would it exist?
John Cena is backstage throwing air punches and AJ Lee walks up in a Cena shirt, which she cut to look girly. Cena told her he was going to beat Dolph.
Three Man Band vs. Miz, Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez), and the Brooklyn Brawler
The air guitar playing by 3MB pales in comparison to the air guitar played by the New Day.
Del Rio rolls out in his Lamborghini. The person in the room watching with me just proclaimed, “This is really stupid.”
Then the Brooklyn Brawler came out. He was wearing a number 8, Deron Williams, Brooklyn Nets NBA Jersey.
Heat on Brawler as the announcers just name old wrestlers with dumb gimmicks.
Miz hits the Skull Crushing Finale on Jinder Mahal then Brawler put him in the Brooklyn crab for the submission win.
John Cena vs. Dolph Ziggler in a ladder match for the Money in the Bank contract
Dolph was putting a sleeper on Cena and Cena still climbed the ladder until Cena fell and put both of them through a table.
WWE rule 3: Tables are allowed in ladder matches. But not chairs. We mean it.
Cena lifted a ladder with Ziggler on it, onto his shoulders. Really cool spot.
JBL is vehemently opposed to this match, as it’s unfair to Dolph, somehow.
Zig Zag on Cena.
Cena was busted hard way.
Dolph must have gotten my memo on ladder climbing speed. Cena did not.
JBL spouts out some stats about Ziggler’s amateur wrestling credentials, and Cole said that those don’t matter. Noted.
Wait, chairs are legal after all. So WWE Rule 4 is now: All ladder matches are TLC matches.
Vicki runs down and gets a chair to hit Cena, but AJ runs in and makes the save. She bumps Vicki then does the “You Can’t See Me,” then Cena starts to climb the ladder and AJ turns on Cena and shoves over the ladder. Dolph super kicks him and climbs the ladder and wins back his brief case.
Great finish. Great match actually.
The crowd went nuts on the AJ turn and on the Dolph win.
Great show. Well worth watching. It’s now number one on the list, which is now 4,3,1,2.
There is no way to spin the Monday, 11/23 WWE Raw ratings other than that they were a disaster.
The show did 2.95 million viewers, more than 200,000 viewers lower than what had previously been the non-holiday low dating back to 1997 when Raw was losing badly to WCW Monday Nitro.
Part of the reason was the NFL’s Monday night game featuring the New England Patriots vs. Buffalo Bills that did 14.26 million viewers, which is about two million more than football has been doing in recent weeks but nowhere near a record.
It is the first time Raw averaged less than three million viewers since 1997.
To make matters worse, this was the day after the Survivor Series event where the WWE heavyweight title changed hands, which usually would lead to at least a strong first hour. In case you needed to be reminded, Sheamus now holds the gold after cashing in his MITB briefcase against five minute champion Roman Reigns.
Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of phone calls on WWE, Sheamus, Raw and more! Then, Gabe Sapolsky joins us to talk the EVOLVE year-end sale, what’s going on with EVOLVE and WWE, the departure of Solomon Crowe and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
