With NXT TakeOver: Respect scheduled for Wednesday afternoon, that means it’s also time for Paul “Triple H” Levesque’s routine of doing a media conference call the day before the event.
Apologies for the delay in audio (found below) and for some of the background noise as the wrong mic was muted. (At least you heard the debut of my dog.)
– They reiterated WWE Wrestlemania tickets are now on sale.
– HHH apologized for being late and said he had to stop and call Bruno Sammartino and wish him well on his 80th birthday.
– He mentioned the UK tour, put over the WWE 24/7-esque show on the Network, and the Nashville and Louder Than Live music festival events this past weekend.
– He said the ‘Respect’ name has a lot to do with Dusty Rhodes and his meaning to the business. He put over the Dusty Rhodes Classic tag tourney finals and everyone on the show wanted to do Dusty proud. He talked about the Bayley/Sasha match at length.
– He talked about Breaking Ground, a show that is being shot right now with all kinds of behind the scenes information that will be coming on the Network soon.
– He was asked about the makeup of the crowd being younger and the ‘unique demographics’ NXT has brought him. He said there’s some crossover with WWE for young adults, but NXT is “more edgier, underground, niche.” “We’re feeding that niche, but that niche is huge.” He said that if NXT is more punk and hip-hop, WWE is more pop music. “I know who my fanbase is with NXT, and that’s who I’m trying to serve.”
– He hopes to have a fully functioning third brand that is touring as much as WWE is now. They have interest in doing more things like the L.O.L. music festival. They are getting to the point now where they are running out of bandwidth and have to say ‘maybe next year’ to more things than they did before.
– He was asked about who took over for Dusty in teaching promos. He said it’s a split right now. They are using a similar format to what Dusty had, but they are using people more geared toward what they are trying to accomplish. William Regal, some guests, and some staffers are filling in until they figure that out.
– He was asked about Jushin Liger and whether we’d see more like that. He said he’s open to everything but there are “limitations due to business reasons” with WWE. He said he looks at NXT with an open slate and an open mind.
– He was asked about the rise of female wrestlers and Bayley vs. Sasha Wednesday. He said their Brooklyn match was one of the best he’s ever seen and not just for women. He referenced Ronda Rousey and the U.S. women’s soccer team. He put over their athleticism, passion, etc.
– He was asked about Bayley’s desire to learn more about the backstage/TV process with recently doing some timekeeping and whether other talents were interested in learning more. He said some talents do, and others don’t. At RAW, there isn’t that much of an opportunity to do that while at NXT, there is more of a chance to do that. He says he encourages talent to learn as much as they can, and how much he was interested in that side of things. He especially mentioned Sami Zayn as wanting to do that as he recovered from injury.
– He talked about the recent Finn Balor tweets about TNA and with TNA talent, and whether he was concerned at all of that. He taked about how talents take a bus in certain areas and that when they passed the TNA offices, he wanted to stop and take a picture. HHH said Balor hit him up immediately about it, but HHH thought they were funny and didn’t see it as a big deal at all. He thought they were fun.
– He talked about the difference in ‘IronMan’ match vs. ‘IronWoman’ match, and debating over the name. He referenced how people win the Ironman competition, and that people like Lita mentioned she liked IronMan more, saying she thought it was derogatory to call it otherwise.
– He was asked about whether it was hard to sell the idea of an IronMan match in NXT to Vince, but HHH said he doesn’t make that final call in NXT. He said Vince “loved it” and takes a bad rap for some of the decisions he makes. He said Vince is all about the fans and that it may take him a while to come around. He said there might be a way that Vince likes to present things that are different. He talked about how Vince hesitated about coming to NXT Brooklyn because he would be just sitting and watching the show. HHH said he was able to sit at gorilla and just enjoy the show. He loved Sasha/Bayley and told HHH he can’t wait for the IronMan match.
– He was asked about Asuka’s debut against Dana Brooke, and what adjustments she’ll have to make in order to make it in NXT. He brought up how everyone has to adjust including talents like Hideo Itami.
– He was asked about what the thought process was in having the Divas “Curtain Call” moment at NXT Brooklyn. He joked he wanted to see who would get fired out of the deal. He talked about Vince telling him that if you put yourselves in the seat of a fan, you’ll never go wrong. He talked about the emotion involved in all of that.
– Final question was on Gabe Sapolsky and the relationship there between Dragon Gate USA & Evolve, specifically Johnny Gargano’s recent appearance, and whether they are a feeder system for NXT. HHH says he sees all of it as a feeder system, he really like what they do, and wants to support their shows. He said if he didn’t have room at the P.C. for talent and wanted them to get additional work, he’d send them to Gabe. He said the indie undercurrents are healthy for the business, and would do anything he could for them.
– He said he’s a big fan of Apollo Crews and laughs when he hears references to him being potentially the first black WWE Champion. “Guys like Rock, Booker T…I guess they don’t count?”
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns tonight to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of thoughts from Monday’s Raw, all the matches and angles, Dixie Carter’s big TNA announcement, CM Punk injured, Rampage Jackson, Fedor Emelianenko, questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
The Big Takeaway: Seth Rollins will officially face Kane at Hell in a Cell. Summer Rae asked Rusev to marry him. Rusev said he would, but only until he captures a championship. John Cena was accidentally superkicked by Dolph Ziggler following the main event, which teased a program between the two. Stephanie McMahon shouted down The New Day. Stephanie McMahon shouted down Kane. Stephanie McMahon shouted down Rollins. Twice. To keep the storyline cohesive, HHH later offered support to Rollins.
Show Recap:
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman starts the show. Heyman put over Lesnar’s victory over the Big Show to start the Go to Hell Tour, and now it’s time to focus on the Undertaker. Heyman said the Undertaker considers Hell in a Cell to be the Devil’s Playground, but Lesnar considers it the Lair of the Beast. They replaced highlights from Wrestlemania 31, which got a mixed reaction. Heyman said Undertaker realized at SummerSlam that he wasn’t Dead Man enough to get revenge on Lesnar, then replayed the controversial finish from SummerSlam.
Heyman promoted Lesnar being on Steve Austin’s podcast later this month, and vowed this would be Lesnar’s last match against the Undertaker. The winner would be the winner of history between Lesnar-Undertaker, and the loser wouldn’t walk out at all.
Big Show came out and said he was very close to beating Lesnar. Show extended his hand to Lesnar to shake it, but Lesnar snubbed him and walked out of the ring. Show said it must be nice being as arrogant as he is, but he hopes he loses to the Undertaker again.
Lesnar took exception to that and got back in the ring, and gave Show a belly-to-belly suplex. Then he got Show up for the F-5 and smiled like it was the 2004 version of Lesnar, acting like the world’s biggest Bob Backland knockoff.
Seth Rollins and Stephanie McMahon watched this scene. Rollins was mad because Show was supposed to tag with him later in the show against the Dudley Boyz. Now that Show was laid out by Lesnar, Rollins figured he wouldn’t be available for the match tonight. Rollins asked for Stephanie to cancel the match. Stephanie told him she wouldn’t do any such thing and to figure out the problem for himself. He looked like he was ready to deck her and walked off.
Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Dean Ambrose defeated Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Braun Strowman (15:53)
Roman Reigns got the hot tag and gave Luke Harper a power bomb. Randy Orton hit Harper with the RKO, and Regins followed with the spear for the pin. Real good match with Orton being the most over performer. Bruan Strowman got the monster heel treatment again. As Dean Ambrose tried a pescado, Strowman caught him and slammed him on the floor. This led to JBL comparing him to Jeep Swenson and Bill Kazmaier. I can’t wait to see Strowman joining eight other guys to face John Cena and Orton in a triple deck cage match in 10 years.
Sheamus defeated Neville (:32)
King Barett was on commentary. Sheamus ran down the Boston Celtics mascot, saying if they wanted a real leprechaun mascot, they should have used him. Did they have a character who was a leprechaun for years? Sheamus ran down Neville saying he would always be a loser. Neville attacked him with punches. Barrett got up and argued with Neville, allowing Sheamus to hit the Brogue Kick with the pin. Neville didn’t even get a ring entrance and jobbed in 32 seconds.
Director of Operations Kane limped into the building. He was in the ring after a commercial and said Rollins got slightly out of control last week. Kane announced himself as Rollins tag team partner tonight against the Dudley Boyz. This brought out Rollins, who said Kane was no Tom Brady, even though they both have deflated balls.
Rollins said Kane couldn’t lie, cheat and swindle his way to whatever he wants, implying Brady and the Patriots did that, as well. Kane said his goal was to bring out the best in Rollins, who said the championship brings out the best in him. Kane said Rollins had to face his demons and walk through hell in order to bring out the best in himself.
Stephanie came out for the monthy evisceration of talent. She was a complete babyface running down Rollins for making fun of Brady, saying he would lead the New England Patriots to the Super Bowl again this year. That got a huge pop and it was a striaght babyface move. Then she announced the Demon Kane would face Rollins at Hell in a Cell, and added that Corporate Kane could team with Rollins tonight. She also announced that if Demon Kane doesn’t beat Rollins at Hell in a Cell, then Corporate Kane would be relieved of his duties.
Rollins pleaded his case with HHH about teaming with Kane tonight. HHH reminded him of the saying “Do unto other before they can do unto you.” So HHH was the heel here. I feel like Johny Hendricks trying to cut weight trying to make sense of the Authority.
Natalya defeated Paige via submission (6:03)
Natalya got the tapout victory with the Sharpshooter, the second time she used that hold. Paige was a rogue heel, which didn’t have much of a reaction.
Ryback did a taped promo that was heavily scripted on Kevin Owens. At least it didn’t look he was reading a teleprompter.
Kevin Owens defeated Sin Cara (2:35)
Owens won with the Pop Up Power Bomb. Talk about a random match. Owens jumped Kalisto, but Ryback ran out after Owens, who left through the crowd.
Stephanie was checking her iPhone when the New Day walked up chanting “Steph-un-Nee.” Xavier Woods started to play his trombone, but without even looking, Stephanie told Woods that if he played one note on that trombone, she would send the New Day to a place worse than Suplex City. Would that be WWE headquarters on Tuesday afternoons? She forced New Day into another tag title match with the Dudleys at HIAC. Stephanie has scolded the World Champion, the Director of Operations and the Tag Team Champions and we weren’t even 90 minutes into the show.
The entire WWE roster came out on the ramp. Cena and Reigns were in the ring with breast cancer survivors for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. They got a standing ovation as the nine women rose their arms together. Reigns did prepared remarks promoting a t-shirt called “Rise About Cancer” The fact Reigns was out there shows he’s still slated as the number two babyface in the company. CM Punk, Paul Lazenby, Lance Storm and others have been vocal on Twitter about breast cancer funds going to other foundations aside from the Koman Foundation, to the point where it’s too complicated to get into here. I would check their Twitter feeds for more information.
The Dudleys defeated Seth Rollins and Corportate Kane by DQ (13:23)
The storyline was Kane has an injured right ankle so he wasn’t 100%, which forced Rollins to practically wrestle the match himself. The doctor told Kane he would have to go to the back. Just as he did on Smackdown last week, Rollins handcuffed Kane to the ringpost so he wouldn’t leave and turned into Demonic Kane. Then Rollins was thrown into Kane by Devon Dudley, and Kane broke free from the handcuffs. Kane left with the doctor. As he went to the back, Kane smiled at Rollins like it was all a ruse. That left Rollins alone against the Dudleys. When the Dudleys left to get the tables, Rollins dropkicked the table into both Dudleys. That led to the DQ, a finish the crowd booed.
Rollins went to leave, but Demonic Kane came out. Kane gave Rollins a big boot, but the Dudleys went back in the ring and gave Kane a 3-D.
The Dudleys left. Rollins set up a table in the ring while Kane appeared to be laid out. But as Rollins talked trash, Kane grabbed him by the throat. Rollins kicked him away and came off the top rope, but Kane caught him and gave him a choke slam through the table. Not much of a reaction for Demonic Kane until the table spot.
In footage from earlier today, Nikki Bella, Brie Bella and Alicia Fox were shown leaving a limosuine. At the same time, Naomi, Tamina and Sasha Banks got out of another limosuine. Naomi threw Nikki’s Yankees baseball cap away and laughed. This set up a trios match.
Banks did a prematch in-ring interview since they were back in her hometown, saying she put the Boss in Boston. Team Bella interrupted her, with Nikki running down the Boston Red Sox. Nikki and Brie traded barbs.
Team BAD defeated Team Bella via submission (11:46)
Banks got Fox to tap out with the Bank Statement in a match that dragged. Good final two minutes leading to the finish. Crowd was lively for Banks. They’re still tossing around the Divas Revolution hashtag like it’s still a thing. At this point, the Miami Dolphins would have better luck launching #TannerhillRevolution.
Charlotte did a promo saying the Divas Championship would remain around her waist after her match with Nikki Bella at Hell in a Cell. She and Becky Lynch slapped hands.
Summer Rae saying she heard rumors Summer was over. If she paid any attention to the crowd, she would understand that isn’t true. She introduced Rusev. Summer wanted to dedicate the segment to Rusev, who she claimed has done more than any other superstar on the roster. There was a montage of Summer calling Rusev gentle and friendly as replays of him slamming Dolph Ziggler and Fandango were shown.
Rusev said when they first started their relationship, he didn’t like her at all. But now that she’s been under his arm, he can’t imagine anyone caring more than her. Summer said there’s been something she’s been meaning to ask him. She dropped to a knee and pulled out a ring under her blouse. She asked him to marry her. Ruseve looked speechless. Summer, who called Rusev “Ru-Ru,” said they could go straight to the top together. Rusev finally said yes and they hugged. Summer looked overjoyed. However, after that embraced, Rusev said “Yes, but not yet.” Rusev said they must prove to each other that they’re worthy. He wanted WWE gold around his waist before she could have gold around her finger. Summer looked confused and angry as Rusev held the ropes for her to leave.
Cena came out and wanted the challenger for the U.S. Open Challenge. Ziggler’s music played. However, the New Day showed up with a beaten up Ziggler in their arms. Woods reminded Cena of his warning to New Day last week that they better get serious and asked if this was serious enough for him? Big E. took the challenge. Loved the idea of New Day becoming more serious heels.
John Cena (C) defeated Big E. to retain the U.S. Championship (9:54)
Cena won with the AA after Big E. tried to hit Cena with Woods’ trombone. Moments earlier, Cena lifted Big E. for the AA, but Kofi Kingston and Woods helped Big E. escape, leading to referee Charles Robinson ordering them to the back. During a commercial, Big E. delivered an overhead belly-to-belly suplex where Cena landed on the back of his head.
Postmatch, the New Day attacked Cena until Ziggler came out for the save. Ziggler tried to give Woods a superkick, but instead he accidentally kicked Cena. The Dudleys ran out, but the New Day outnumbered them. Kingston gave Devon the Trouble in Paradise. Then they gave Devon the Midnight Hour. This was done to make New Day more aggressive heels.
SUMMARY: Another cold show, even with Lesnar in the opening segment. With Cena taking a leave of absence in a month, it’s a major period of rebuilding ahead. The question is can they stop booking for ego and start booking for drawing money? The top two heel acts were berated by the boss’ daughter tonight. Reigns doesn’t feel like he’s hot enough to carry this show. However long Cena’s departure will be, it may be similar to when Bret Hart departed for WCW after the Montreal Screwjob in 1997. It’s hard to believe now, but Bret left behind a company with very little depth and only Shawn Michaels and Steve Austin as true stars. With the company at its breaking point, the WWE responded by making more stars than at any point in its history. Really, Cena is leaving behind a roster that’s even more thin than it was 18 years ago, but the paradigm has changed. However, the company’s mission shouldn’t be any different now than it was back then.
Pre-Show notes:
Only the very top of TD Garden is taped off
Cesaro comes out to a big cheer. Adam Rose is out to boos. Adam Rose says this must be the lowest point of his career. And by lowest point I mean he literally says “Wrestling Adam Rose on Superstars”. Way to out yourself over Adam.
Cesaro swings Adam Rose 36 times, and submits him with the Sharpshooter.
PTP vs Ascension
PTP get on offense early, but Darren eventually gets isolated gets the face in peril heat. Tides makes the hot tag and wins after a powerbomb
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer returns tonight to talk all the news in wrestling tonight including Dave’s thoughts on Madison Square Garden, tons of notes on TNA’s Bound for Glory PPV, your questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) def. The Dudley Boyz in a title match. Xavier got 3D’d through a table after the match.
– WWE I-C Champion Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler and Rusev in a title match
– Randy Orton def. Sheamus
– Mark Henry def. Bo Dallas. Big Show KO punched Bo after the match
– Team PCB def. Team Bella. Paige walked out on her partners near the end of the match.
– WWE U.S. Champion John Cena def. WWE World Champion Seth Rollins in a U.S. title match/street fight. Corporate Kane made the match a Worcester Street Fight. The Demon Kane appeared at the end of the match to prevent Rollins from fleeing.
Most people would agree that the WWE “Divas Revolution” has not been the success that the WWE was hoping for. Not only are the matches nowhere near the quality that many of the same women have been having in NXT but the characters simply haven’t been getting over to the audience. The failure to properly introduce performers that really could be money-drawing acts on the main roster demonstrates many of the things that are wrong with the WWE.
Mistake #1: Telling Rather Than Showing
Fuelled by the success of the women on NXT and the wider prominence given to female athletes in the wake of the rise of Ronda Rousey and success of the American women’s soccer team, WWE seemed to assume that fans were thirsting for women to be given greater prominence on the main roster. This was an odd assumption to make considering that not only have WWE fans long been conditioned to ignore women’s wrestling, and that even in MMA much of the hardcore fanbase were reluctant to embrace female fighting. The WWE should have realised that for the new division to work they needed to gradually win over fans rather than presenting them with a fati acompli.
Mistake #2: Being Stuck In The Past
The WWE used to understand that whenever you’re introducing something new you need to jettison something old. To bring in Hulk Hogan, they got rid of Bob Backlund. To bring in the New Generation they got rid of the Hulkamania veterans. To bring in the ‘Attitude Era’, they removed the cartoonish and childish tropes they had previously relied upon. Having decided that their old approach to women’s wrestling was no longer working, they needed to clearly show that this to the audience, many of whom never liked the pre-existing product. This should have involved ditching old terminology, phasing out existing wrestlers and revamping how feuds and matches were presented.
Instead the WWE have tried to blend the old and the new, and as a consequence the new breed of women’s wrestlers look increasingly interchangeable from the old divas they’re meant to be replacing. Which of course, was exactly what happened when the then NXT Women’s Champion Paige joined the main roster back in 2013.
Mistake #3: Having the Wrong Priorities
Throughout its history, WCW was hamstrung by its membership of a larger conglomerate. The need to be sensitive to be the whims of its corporate overlords meant it could never move as nimbly as a WWF that was purely focused on making as much money from pro-wrestling as possible. Alas, today’s WWE resembles WCW more than it does WWF in this regard. Due to the need to please its broadcast partners and sponsors, the WWE only occassionally focuses on what is required to please its fans.
The women’s division has fallen foul of these split priorities. The obvious move when introducing the NXT Women would be to remove the Bella Twins from the division due to how synonymous they are with their old approach towards women’s wrestling. Alas the WWE doesn’t want to do this because Total Divas is a rare example of a ‘successful’ spin-off and the Bellas have long been its star characters.
Mistake #4: Not Understanding that Less is More
Even during the peak of Trish Stratus’ career, fans often saw women’s matches as so unimportant that they used them as an excuse for a bathroom break. Any attempt to re-launch the division needed to break this habit. NXT achieved this by quickly promoting the women to be the co-main event, and on occasion, the main event.
Regrettably WWE has not followed this model as rather than invest time in building up to a few key women’s matches every month, the WWE has decided to throw out two meaningless but lengthy matches on every edition of RAW. In many ways, nothing has changed except that the bathroom breaks have gotten longer.
Mistake #5: Exposing Their Performers Limitations
The glut of women’s matches is an even bigger mistake when you consider the performers involved. All of the NXT women have relatively little experience inside the pro-wrestling ring. However, they have put on great matches due to their innate athleticism and willingness to obsessively plan and practice their matches. That of course is a good thing, pro-wrestling is about creating illusions, and if thorough preparation hides their weaknesses then that’s something to celebrate.
However maintaining the illusion does impose limitations on the product. If the performers need to rehearse their matches, then they must be given adequate time beforehand to do so. This is something those booking NXT understood very well but WWE is so wedded to booking RAW the night before that they are incapable of learning from themselves.
Mistake #6: Putting a McMahon’s Ego First
Ever since she started celebrating her friendship with Ronda Rousey, it’s become clear that Stephanie McMahon has alighted on advancing the position of women within the WWE as a cause that can burnish her real-world feminist credentials. That would be fine if she was content with focusing on making the women’s division a success and then taking credit away from television. Alas she’s demanded that it be focused around her on television. She was the person to get to engage with Rousey at Wrestlemania 31, she was the one to finally stand-up to the Bella Twins, she was the one to introduce the NXT women to RAW and she was the one to who made the telling intervention that finally allowed Charlotte to win the title. The result has been that on television the ‘Divas Revolution’ has come across as a top-down imposition from a heel authority figure that deep-down most fans realise has had a negative impact on the product in real life.
Mistake #7: Pushing the Brand Rather Than a Superstar
When UFC introduced a women’s division, they built the entire project around one person. They understood that if they could get Ronda Rousey over as a credible champion then fans would naturally start caring about her prospective challengers. To that end, for the first eighteen months of women’s UFC, every fight was broadcast in the context of developing new challengers for Rousey.
WWE have shown no such focus. Rather than alighting on one of the NXT women and building the division around her, they’ve thrown three of them out onto the main roster at the same time. They’ve done this because they think that pushing a brand such as ‘Divas Revolution’ is more important than making fans care about individual wrestlers. This is an obvious misreading of their history. ‘Hulkamania’ was built around Hulk Hogan, ‘WWF Attitude’ was built around Stone Cold Steve Austin and today’s PG-Era is clearly built around John Cena. Fans gravitate to stars, not corporate buzz words.
Mistake #8 Lack of Prior Planning
All these mistakes all add up to that most common WWE problem of all; not having a clear plan. The lack of a clear plan means that the WWE has not properly anticipated let alone address the very really challenges they would face in revamping their women’s division.
That of course raises the question as to what such a plan should have looked like, something that I answer Monday in the final part of this look at the Divas Revolution.
Submitted by Jon Alba, Sports Anchor for ABC7/Fox22
Cesaro vs. Miz
Cesaro and Miz kicked us off with Miz doing a schtick about not wanting to take his sunglasses off until the crowd shut up, delaying the match about 3-4 minutes. Cesaro even went and sat in the crowd waiting for Miz to take the sunglasses off. Eventually did, and they put on a decent starting match with them teasing the swing a few times. Cesaro got his hands on Miz’s glasses and wrestled with them on for a little bit, and ended up hitting the swing into the Neutralizer for the win. 8-10 minutes or so.
Heath Slater vs. Fandango
Heath Slater came out and Fandango followed him. Fandango wins with a quick roll-up about two minutes into the match, if that. Slater left in shock not believing he lost that quickly. Crowd didn’t care much for this.
Jack Swagger vs. Braun Strowman
Swagger was out next, and the lights went dark and Braun Strowman appeared in the ring. This one went about 3.5-4 minutes, with Strowman passing Swagger out. He did not hit his slam, instead going right to the sleeper.
Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores vs. The Ascension in a triple-threat tag match
The Ascension actually got a decent response from the locals, but Lucha Dragons were most over. OK match, with almost all the action centered around Lucha Dragons, and more specifically, Kalisto. The Matadores kept teasing El Torito wasn’t there and were egging on the crowd about it, because they apparently don’t like him anymore. Eventually, “Bad to the Bone” hit over the loudspeakers, and Torito came out to a big pop. He distracted the Matadores, and Kalisto picked up the pinfall win after his finisher over one of them. Crowd was into the finish, but match was really long (probably 11 minutes or longer). People are talking about reports of a Matadores getting in a scuffle with a fan, but I did not see such.
Natalya vs. Sasha Banks
Sasha getting a nice response. Natalya may have gotten the biggest pop of the night, and was SUPER over. She even posted about it on her Instagram after the show, seeming to be surprised by how big of a pop she received. They put on a good match, with Sasha playing the chicken-shit heel well. Nattie picked up the win with The Sharpshooter about 7-8 minutes in.
Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper
Good match between the two as expected, went probably about 10 minutes or so. Very physical, lots of false finishes. The two did a flexing showdown in the middle of the match, where they tried to see who had bigger muscles. A little strange for these two. Finish saw Ambrose pick up momentum after turning a superkick into a clothesline off the ropes, and then going off the ropes again and locking Harper in Dirty Deeds. Ambrose was very over as well.
Adam Rose vs. R-Truth
R-Truth came out next doing his thing, but Adam Rose interrupted with the Party Pooper gimmick. He had the most heat of anyone, though it seemed like a lot of the casual fans in the audience didn’t even know who he was until he announced himself as Adam Rose. He and the crowd shouted “You suck” at one another, and he did so in the tune of R-Truth’s theme song. They did a quick little sequence, before Rose rolled out and told Truth he could dance better than him. He started to dance, then R-Truth went to follow, but Rose attacked him as he started. This match went another minute or so, before Truth hit his finisher for the win.
King Barrett vs. Ryback
Ryback and Barrett were out next, with Ryback getting a very big response from the audience as well (kid-friendly). This one went about 6-7 minutes, with Ryback picking up the win after Barrett missed The Bull-hammer. He did hit Wasteland, which Ryback kicked out of. Ryback hits the Meathook and Shell-Shocked for the win.
Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt street fight
Main event was a very physical one between Reigns and Wyatt (No DQ). A few minutes in, they broke out the singapore cane, which at some point in the far corner it seemed (out of my view), Wyatt’s hand got sliced open pretty hard. A lot of dirtsheets used tweets of mine that noted his head got busted open too, but I’m not sure if it was all that bad or if it was just his hand from my angle. His hand was gushing blood, definitely a very deep cut.
They continued the match for a couple minutes, before Reigns went down and they stopped it so doctors could tend to Wyatt. The crowd began booing, and once he got taped up, Wyatt grabbed the microphone and belittled them for booing him while he was getting taped up. Strowman would eventually come out to assist Wyatt, before Ambrose hit the ring making the save. The two of them took out Strowman, before Reigns set up Wyatt for the spear for the win.
All in all, decent show given most of the “A” crew was in NYC. Fans went home happy.
We are awaiting more details on this, but Bray Wyatt suffered a bad hand cut and a head cut in his WWE house show match Saturday night with Roman Reigns in Bangor, ME.
The injuries took place during the match which was stopped while the trainer taped up his hand after it was nailed with a Kendo stick. The hand injury, which was said to be bleeding more than his head, seemed worse than the head injury. The match resumed and Reigns won the match as he does at all the house shows. Doctors came out to inspect both cuts.
Cesaro lifted this show to a whole other (better) level with inventive and fun moves, beating Heath Slater. The Lucha Dragons went 100mph to steal one against The Ascension. Again.
Show Recap:
Cesaro beat Heath Slater (5:00)
Cesaro sections are out in droves and yet he’s here on this show. Well, all the better for me. And Heath Slater, actually, who he made look good here. They start out with wrist lock exchanges and Cesaro gets out of Slater’s by using a series of forward rolls round the ring. The crowd cheers on command. Cesaro just has to raise an eyebrow and people respond. So, Cesaro puts Slater in his own wrist lock and of course Slater tries the same, but gets cut off and thrown down to the mat. Then Cesaro puts him in a body scissors and then turns him over and over making Slater dizzy. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone does this.
He waits behind the woozy Slater and then pounces on him with a European uppercut and covers him for two. Slater then rolls on the apron and shoulder barges Cesaro through the ropes to the gut and then chokes him with ropes. He comes back in and hits Cesaro with a super kick and covers him for two. Slater is annoyed and so starts to use forearm clubs to Cesaro’s neck and then puts him in a rear chin lock.
Cesaro gets out and starts to just dominate Slater with European uppercuts: running uppercuts, standing ones, drving ones, until he raises his finger to go for one more and Slater blocks it. Cesaro recovers and puts Slater into the Giant Swing for 30 reps and then locks in the Sharpshooter to make Slater tap.
The Ascension beat The Lucha Dragons (6:46)
I’m a little bit sick of this match now, there was a period where this was literally the main on this show every single week. We’ve had a reprieve but now its back. The Lucha Dragons are fine and can be really fun to watch but The Ascension slow everything down and make it fairly dull.
Konnor and Kalisto square off. Kalisto chases around the big guy and Konnor gets tired off this and so tags in Viktor. He gets hurricanrana’d, and then Sin Cara comes in and hits Viktor with a seated senton followed by a missile drop kick from Kalisto. Viktor kicks out of the cover and tags in Konnor who works over Sin Cara. Sin Cara hits two springboard cross bodies but on the second Viktor blind tags himself in and cuts off Sin Cara’s heat as we head to a break.
When we return, Viktor dumps Sin Cara outside and then goes out to slap and pummel him. Konnor tags in and puts on a rear chin lock. Kalisto meanwhile is cheerleading, desperate for the hot tag. Viktor comes in and they double-team Sin Cara with a Stinger Splash from Konnor into a drop kick from Viktor. Sin Cara finally dodges a charge and Viktor gets posted. Sin Cara goes for the tag but Konnor has snuck round and pulls Kalisto off the apron.
Finally, Kalisto gets the heat and comes in and hits Viktor with the Salida del Sol. Then he hits a cross body on Konnor, followed by an enzugiri. Konnor rolls outside and they set up for Sin Cara to dive through the ropes on to him. Konnor doesn’t catch him and I mean is barely near to him. It looks like it sucks for poor Sin Cara. In the ring, Viktor gets sunset flip powerbombed by Kalisto who hooks the leg to snatch a three count for the win. Good little match in the end.
Wrestling Observer Radio with Bryan Alvarez and Dave Meltzer and Filthy Tom Lawlor returns today to talk UFC 192 Cormier vs. Gustaffson, all the fights up and down the card, WWE in Madison Square Garden on the WWE Network (56:00), plus all the news in pro-wrestling including a preview of TNA Bound for Glory on Sunday night. A fun show as always so check it out~!
