Welcome to my wonderful, stupendous, one of a kind coverage of NXT! A forgotten reality show that eventually became the hottest brand in WWE.
Here are the second round brackets in the Dusty Rhodes Classic:
– Samoa Joe & Finn Balor vs Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady – Dash & Dawson vs The Vaudevillains – Hype Bros vs Jason Jordan & Chad Gable – Rhyno & Baron Corbin vs Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano
The Big News: William Regal announced that the main event of Takeover on October 7 will be Bayley vs Sasha Banks in a 30-minute Iron Man Match.
The Medium Sized News: Baron Corbin and Rhyno advance to the final four of the Dusty Rhodes Classic, which will take place at Takeover as well.
The Little Beaver Sized News: Next week Blake & Murphy get their rematch for the NXT Tag Team Championship against The Vaudevillians.
The match between Tyler Breeze and Adam Rose never got started
Tyler’s seasonal residence has taken him to Cairo, Egypt this fall. Rose walked out wearing short trunks and eyeglasses. He vowed to take a big, hot, steaming poop on NXT like the WWE Universe took one on him.
Before the match began, Bull Dempsey came out and announced he is going to beat Breeze so bad. Before Bull could attack him, Tyler cut a promo about how them being partner’s was the real accident. The other accident was the day Bull was born. Bull laughed it off. Breeze went on to say he would love to beat Bull, but he’s in the middle of a match.
Bull asked Adam Rose to leave so he could wrestle Tyler. Adam told him no, called him tubby and slapped Bull. Bull responded by attacking Rose. Adam got sent packing with a Full Body Attack. He tried to do the same to Breeze, but Tyler stopped his momentum and left the ring.
-Next week it is Tyler Breeze vs Bull Dempsey
Tye Dillinger pinned Danny Birch
Dillinger is the Perfect 10 if you haven’t heard. He also lives on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. Tye is supposed to be a heel, but the fans really enjoy chanting 10.
Corey Graves and Byron Saxton argued over what it meant to be a Perfect 10 while Birch had him locked in a wristlock. Dillinger made his comeback and won with a move where he rolled Birch’s body around to smash his head off of Tye’s knee.
-Backstage Rhyno and Baron Corbin stated they are not worried about another upset from Gargano and Ciampa.
-Asuka is coming next week. She’ll get here before Nia Jax.
Apollo Crews pinned Solomon Crowe
My brother’s favorite wrestler is back, this time to lose to Apollo Crews. They started the match with a handshake and Crowe was offended when Crews offered another handshake after being schooled on the mat.
At one point Crowe was sitting on the mat and Crews lifted him up from that position into a suplex. Crowe was outside and Crews went for a baseball slide, but Crowe lifted up the ring apron, catching Crowe in it. Corey Graves could not shut up this entire match about Solomon Crowe being on Google.
Crews made his comeback and hit a whole bunch of impressive, athletic moves, before winning with the standing moonsault.
-Ciampa and Gargano cut their promo backstage saying they belong in NXT and will show why later tonight.
-Dana Brooke and Emma cut a promo with Devin. They noticed that the champion is back and a bunch of new people are debuting and it’s pushing them into the background. They plan on introducing themselves to the newbies.
-Sasha Banks arrived at the arena.
-Kyle Edwards updated us on the Dusty Rhodes Classic. He announced that the Final Four teams will face off at NXT Takeover on October 7.
In a 2nd round match in the Dusty Rhodes Classic, Rhyno & Baron Corbin defeated Tommaso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano
I swear I am going to start kicking my wall if Corey Graves keeps ranting about the internet.
Ciampa and Rhyno worked wonderfully together. I know they were both in ROH at the same time, but don’t know if they wrestled each other. If they did I guarantee it was good, just based on their interaction here.
Gargano gave both men a Suicide Dive and Ciampa dove off the top rope onto both of his massive foes. The heels finally cut off Ciampa to get the heat. Speaking of heat the fans generally like Rhyno, but they hate Corbin due to him not being at the same level in the ring as the others on NXT. With that in mind Corbin wasn’t in the ring as much as his partner.
Gargano got the hot tag and looked really good working with Corbin. Go figure. The heels went for a double team Gore, but Gargano leaped over Rhyno. After a little more, Corbin caught Gargano and dropped him with End of Days for the win.
-The Vaudevillains cut a promo building up their tournament match this weekend in Texas. In walked Blake, Murphy & Alexa who announced that they are invoking their rematch clause for a tag team title match next week.
-Nia Jax is still coming soon. It’s only been what? 4 weeks now? She does have like 2 more months to reach Glacier levels.
-The new NXT Women’s Champion is here to end the show. Bayley got a standing ovation and people chanting her name. She stepped inside the barricade and did a lap around the NXT Arena, climbing up the bleachers to get slapped on the back by everyone. She brought Izzy (the little girl who dresses like her) into the ring to do the Bayley entrance.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley pinned Sara Dobson
Dobson took most of the match and got Bayley in a front face lock. Bayley lifted Dobson up and rammed her into the turnbuckles. Bayley picked up the win with the Bayley to Belly.
-After the match Bayley grabbed the mic to cut a promo when she was interrupted by The Boss. Sasha had a smirk on her face as she sauntered to the ring. I got a laugh that she just arrived at the building 20 minutes earlier and then put her gear on before coming out.
Sasha was here to congratulate Bayley and said that all she has heard in weeks is how they stole the show at Takeover with the best women’s match this company has ever seen. The fans chanted “Match of the Year”, which Sasha said that was great for everyone but her. She is here to be the best. Bayley is good and at Takeover she was great, but Bayley is still not her.
Bayley’s entire comeback was accepting a challenge for a rematch that Sasha never made. Sasha didn’t want a match tonight or next week. She is here to prove a point and send a message. Sasha turned down the challenge for 2 out of 3 falls and the fans caught on, chanting “Iron Woman”.
This brought out William Regal who announced the match that was announced on Twitter last week. Bayley vs Sasha at Takeover in a 30-minute Ironman Match.
-The girls shook hands and the show ended with Bayley standing in the ring holding the strap. Until next week say your vitamins and take your prayers.
2015’s Q4 may be a long one for WWE as the Monday, September 14th edition of Monday Night Raw did 3.39 million viewers, almost identical to the record non-major holiday low of the past 18 years of 3.37 million the prior week.
The rating should have been up because last week’s rating was caused by a show that caused massive audience tuning out late, and was also hurt by Labor Day.
This week’s show went against the regular season doubleheader debut of ESPN’s Monday Night Football which did big numbers. The early game (Falcons vs. Eagles) that ended at 10:17 p.m. did 13.56 million viewers while the late game (49ers vs. Vikings) that started at 10:17 p.m. did 14.33 million viewers.
The Big Takeaway: Sting wrestled his first Raw match ever tonight. He actually wrestled two. The first against the Big Show ended with a Seth Rollins run-in after all of 1:43. The subsequent tag team match saw him defeat Rollins with the Scorpion Death Lock. Much of the discussion on this show will center around the Dusty Finish in the Nikki Bella-Charlotte match, where Charlotte appeared to have won, only to have it reversed when Stephanie McMahon ruled Twin Magic couldn’t count as a title change. This show was billed as the “Season Debut” of Raw. If this was the first Raw you ever watched, you would have thought Stephanie McMahon was the most pushed personality in the company.
Show Recap:
The Authority came out to welcome fans to the new season of Raw. Stephanie McMahon put over the new stars they’ve created over the past year like the New Day, Neville, Rusev, and others. HHH promoted Seth Rollins vs. John Cena & Rollins vs. Sting at NOC.
Stephanie talked about Nikki Bella defending the Divas title against Charlotte. HHH announced Sting would compete tonight for the first-time ever on Raw against The Big Show.
Stephanie brought out the New Day, then started clapping them. This led to HHH joining them, which was amusing.
The New Day (C) defeated the Prime Time Players to retain the WWE World Tag Team Titles (12:10)
Kofi Kingston pinned Titus O’Neal after the Midnight Hour. O’Neal got distracted by Xavier Woods playing the trombone on the apron. Among the newest Woods spots was playing the Pink Panther theme while Big E. struts and Woods playing notes in cadence while Langston and Woods stomp an opponent in the corner. Decent match.
They showed portions of Sting’s past, including a tag team match with Dusty Rhodes against The Road Warriors at Starrcade 1988, which was Dusty’s final NWA bout before his departure for the WWE. He was wearing a striped shirt that was barely more flattering than the polka dots he would be wearing a year later.
Rollins walked in to talk to the Authority. HHH arranged Sheamus vs. Cena for tonight just in case Sheamus thought about cashing in the briefcase tonight.
Ric Flair showed up with Charlotte to do an interview with a now short-haired Renee Young. Charlotte talked about what a dream it would be to win the Divas title. Flair said he’s now living vicariously through his daughter and wants to see her win tonight.
Sasha Banks defeated Paige via submission (5:15)
Sasha Banks won with a backstabber into a Bank Statement. Tamina moved Banks out of the way of a Paige charge into the corner. At one point, Paige delivered a facebuster that appeared to knock the hell out of Tamina. It appeared referee Charles Robinson was concerned momentarily.
There was a very nice tribute to Connor Michalek to start a program the company has launched called “Connor’s Cure” during September, which is Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month
The Wyatt Family came out for MizTV. They continue the gimmick that Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose can’t find a third partner for the trios match at Night of Champions. Miz was basically a babyface trying to get a word out of Bray Wyatt, who said he wanted everyone to understand regardless of who shows up at Night of Champions, they will all fall down.
Ambrose and Reigns came out. Ambrose threw the Miz out of the ring while the five men had a stare down. Reigns acknowledged Jimmy Uso was his cousin and Wyatt took him out, which he would pay for. Reigns said they have found a third partner. Reigns vowed to win a war against the Wyatts on Sunday. Wyatt’s flash went off and the scene just ended.
Sting’s next flashback moment was the Great American Bash 1990 where Sting defeated Flair to win his first NWA/WCW World Championship.
John Cena defeated Sheamus (14:43)
Good match with some good selling by Sheamus. Cena won after he no sold the Rolling Senton by Sheamus and immediately hit the AA for the pin. Earlier in the match, Sheamus attempted the Brogue Kick but Cena countered with a clothesline. Crowd was very negative towards Cena, but he delivered in another good match.
Ryback did an interview where he had to sing lyrics to “All Shook Up” that was greeted by crickets. Kevin Owens came out as part of their fledgling program. Owens talked about how Ryback read the book “The Secret” to get him past a low point. Owens brought out his own copy of “The Secret,” said he read it and said he felt sorry for anyone who believes in that garbage. Owens called the book a crutch for weak people. Owens said Ryback was the strongest man in the locker room, but also the weakest mentally.
They were arguing over a book. Then Ryback recited these scripted lines and started repeated “Feed Me More.” Ryback said he respected Owens’ path to the WWE. Ryback admitted that he fell on his face when he first arrived in the WWE, but brushed himself off and won a championship. Ryback said he went to the Authority earlier today, and said they arranged an Intercontinental Championship match between the two at NOC. Ryback wanted to how a showdown, but Owens did his usual walkaway. All I can say is don’t ever watch NWA or Memphis promos via youtube on days leading up to Raws, because you’ll be very depressed after segments like these.
What was supposed to be Neville vs. Stardust turned into a six-way fight. The Ascension are now henchmen for Stardust. Lucha Dragons accompanied Neville and cleared the ring of the heels.
There was a package putting over Nikki Bella as the Divas champion who carried the entire Divas division on her back for the last 295 days. Bella pompously asked viewers have they started their year because she spent the year started a Divas Revolution.
Charlotte defeated Nikki Bella (C) by DQ in 9:55, so Bella retains the Divas Championship to become the longest reigning Divas Champion in history.
It’s only fitting that they showed a clip of Dusty Rhodes from 1989 earlier because they booked a Dusty Finish that killed the crowd tonight as much as it did 26 years ago. They went with Twin Magic as Alicia Fox tried to interfere, which allowed Brie Bella to run-in. Charlotte immediately pinned her with an inside cradle. Flair ran down like his daughter had won the title. Then Stephanie came out and announced that the integrity of the championship must be retained, telling the referee what happened and Charlotte won by DQ, but Bella would still be champion. However, Stephanie ordered a rematch at Night of Champions where if Nikki lost by DQ, countout, pinfall or submission, she would lose the title.
You might wonder why Stephanie didn’t make this ruling when they did this same finish at Money in the Bank. The answer is Stephanie wouldn’t get a chance to stand out as the company’s main star on a June PPV as much as the “season debut” of Raw. The sad part is they had a really good match going where Charlotte sold her arm great and the fans didn’t need to be coerced to emotionally invest in the match. It’s going to be tough trying to recreate that atmosphere on Sunday.
Cesaro defeated Rusev (4:03)
Dolph Ziggler came down and tried to offer Summer Rae a package. Rusev got distracted, allowing Cesaro to get the pin with an Inverted Chikara Special. Ziggler gave Rusev a superkick afterwards. Nothing match. Rusev was backstage furious about losing and slammed the door in Rae’s face. While Rusev was inside, Rae opened up the gift to find a gorgeous piece of jewelry. She started to smile when Rusev screamed at her to come inside.
The Big Show met with the Authority, who gave him a pep talk trying to beat Sting. Before every Authority segment, do they flip a coin to determine if they’re heels or faces?
Sting defeated The Big Show via DQ (1:43)
Rollins ran in for a DQ and I was getting flashbacks to 1999 Nitro the way this last hour went. Thank God Cena came out and joined Sting in clearing the ring. HHH then did the same routine they’ve done at countless Raws after they went off the air where they ordered an immediate tag team match between the four.
Sting and John Cena defeated Seth Rollins and The Big Show via submission (9:13)
Sting got the hot tag and made Rollins tap out to the Scorpion Death Lock after Cena gave the Big Show the AA. Cena spent most of the match trying to lift Show for a slam or the AA, only to fall under the weight. Sting did a good hot tag sequence, but the aura of Sting wrestling his first match on Raw seemed lost on the crowd.
SUMMARY: The company lost a lot of fans to football tonight, if they didn’t beforehand. For starters, the Authority appeared on seven segments on this show, and was mentioned in eight. If they’re role is clearly defined, more power to them. However, it’s impossible to emotionally invest in them as characters when they’re constantly flopping between babyfaces and heels. The effort to promote the company’s efforts to fight pediatric cancer are great. However, HHH is the same person who was negative on Kurt Angle doing PSAs because Angle was a heel in the mid 00’s, so it reeks of hypocrisy. As long as Rollins is the world champion subservient to the Authority, he’s not going to get over strong.
– Cesaro over Luke Harper in the opener after the Neutralizer. Good match, lots of playing to the crowd.
– R-Truth over Bo Dallas in a short match with a roll-up.
– Natalya over Alicia Fox in a short match with the Sharpshooter.
– WWE Tag Champions Big E and Xavier Woods over The Prime Time Players via roll-up to retain
– WWE Champion/U.S. Champion Seth Rollins over Dean Ambrose after the Pedigree to retain. Really good, long match. Rollins took the cover off a turnbuckle, then sent Ambrose into the exposed turnbuckle after a ref bump.
Intermission
– Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow beat The Ascension with a roll-up.
– Chris Jericho over Kevin Owens in a good, long match. Crowd loved both guys, lots of pretty entertaining mic work before the match.
– Roman Reigns beat Bray Wyatt in a street fight in the main event. Both Braun Strowman and Dean Ambrose got involved.
Good crowd. Lots of kids and families. Some fans tossed for shouting profanity at wrestlers, but otherwise nothing too crazy. Rollins, Ambrose, Reigns, Jericho and Owens got the biggest crowd reactions.
Dallas opened the show trashing the city, Truth came out to a decent response and won a back and forth match with lots of stalling from Bo.
– Damian Sandow / Curtis Axel def Ascension
Sandow was over big. Nobody cared about the Ascension. Axel got the pin.
– Natalya def Alicia Fox
Divas match was good. Natalya is top notch, Albertan crowd was obviously into the Sharpshooter.
– Chris Jericho def Kevin Owens
Owens came out, said it was his first time in Edmonton and he was disappointed. Almost left when Jericho came out and demanded a match. The two went back and forth on the mics for a while before starting to fight. MOTN and Jericho was by far the most over all night. Good match with the regular spots, Chris got the pin after a Codebreaker.
Intermission
– Cesaro def Luke Harper
Cesaro (with taped ribs) beat Harper after the intermission but got laid out afterwards. Really solid match, fairly stiff work. Also, at one point Cesaro put Harper in a crossface. Lots of the crowd popped big, even heard a ‘Chris Benoit’ chant from some guys nearby. That was weird. Probably the wrong city to do that move in, even if it’s one he’s using regulatory now.
– WWE Tag Team Champion New Day def Prime Time Players to retain their titles
New Day successfully defended against the PTP. More “sucks” than “rocks” chants, but crowd seemed into them regardless. No sign of Kofi – Woods and Big E worked the match. Darren Young was impressive, really hustling, and crowd was into Titus when he came in with the hot tag. They got cheered up the ramp after losing.
– WWE Champion/U.S. Champion Seth Rollins def Roman Reigns in a street fight
Main event was okay. Rollins got on the mic a lot during the match to build heat. Crowd really wanted a table spot, mostly unsatisfied with the chair and kendo stick. Eventually Roman speared him through a table, Bray Wyatt attacked and Rollins got called the winner even though there was no pin and it was a street fight. Whatever. Braun Strowman or whatever his name is came out and beat up Reigns too. Sandoval and Axel tried to make the save but got destroyed, then Cesaro came and he and Reigns took the big man out. Reigns then speared Wyatt to close the show.
Notes:
– The arena seemed empty. Nobody in the second bowl, where as a Smackdown taping two years ago was a near sell-out.
– Lots of kids in Cena merch probably bummed he wasn’t there. Crowd liked Reigns but wanted Ambrose too, Jericho was the only guy cheered like a big star. Lots of solid matches, but the tame, small crowd and lacking star power hurt the show. No Cena, Orton, Sheamus, Ziggler, Rusev, Ryback, Ambrose or Big Show, and none of the Diva’s Revolution.
– Friday, October 7th was officially announced as the date for the next TakeOver show at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL. Three shows were taped Thursday night to lead up to the live Network special.
Presumed dark match:
– Hype Bros def. Elias Samson and Riddick Moss. Zack Ryder pinned Samson after a Rough Ryder while Mojo held him up.
Wednesday, Sept. 16 show:
– Tyler Breeze vs Adam Rose never happened. Bull Dempsey came out, and he and Breeze went at it on the mic over their loss last week. Bull tried to get the match from Rose, which turned into a mini brawl with Bull getting the best of it.
– Tye Dillinger def. ? with a shinbuster type move that resembled a one legged Codebreaker.
– Apollo Crews def. Solomon Crowe in a good but short match.
– Dusty Rhodes Classic quarterfinal: Rhyno & Baron Corbin def. Johnny Gargano & Tommaso Ciampa. Tons of heat in this match. Corbin pinned Gargano with the End of Days after a lot of back and forth action.
– NXT Women’s Champion Bayley def. ? in a quick match with the Belly-to-Bayley. Bayley celebrated before the match in the crowd and brought fan Izzy into the ring to pose with the belt. After the match, Sasha Banks came out. They both put over the Brooklyn match, but Banks said she wanted to prove she was the best women’s wrestler. William Regal came out and announced the main event of the next TakeOver show is Bayley vs. Banks in a 30 minute IronWoman Match. The crowd is filled with glee over this news.
Wednesday, Sept. 23 show:
– Jason Jordan and Chad Gable def. Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson.
– Eva Marie def. Carmella by countout. Match was fine, but very lame finish. Crowd was all over Eva with “that’s a kickout” and “botch queen” chants.
– Tyler Breeze beat Bull Dempsey using a roll-up and the ropes as leverage.
– Regal came out to announce the signing of Kana, who is now Asuka (pronounced Ask-uh). She was interrupted by Dana Brooks and Emma, who said they were the welcoming committee and it was time for Asuka to leave the ring. She reluctantly did. Odd.
– NXT Tag Team Champions The Vaudevillains retained over Blake and Murphy with the Whirling Dervish. Blue Pants came out early on and chased Alexa Bliss away. Good near fall late when Blake got the knees up on a swanton attempt and Murphy hit a top rope knee drop.
Wednesday, Sept. 30 show:
– Apollo Crews def. Johnny Gargano. Similar in length and quality to the Crowe match. Crowd lost a little steam by the end since it was their 2nd time out.
– Dana Brooke and Emma def. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay. Dana pinned Peyton after Emma grabbed Peyton’s foot when they were both in the ropes.
– Tyler Breeze beat Tomasso Ciampa with the Killswitch. Good match.
– Dusty Rhodes Classic match: NXT Champion Finn Balor and Samoa Joe def. Enzo and Cass when both guys hit their finishers. Balor came out to a new BALOR CLUB logo on the big screen and white lights instead of his usual red fog.
– Nothing else was announced for TakeOver besides Banks vs. Bayley and the Dusty Rhodes Classic final.
Recent signee Kana was at the WWE NXT TV tapings Thursday for her debut, and was given the new ring name “Asuka”.
Lioness Asuka was probably the second most popular woman pro wrestler ever in Japan, part of the 80s tag team The Crush Gals during the era when women’s pro wrestling did television ratings equivalent to what the NFL was doing at the same time in the United States.
– Air Date: September 10, 2015 (Sept 9 in Canada) – Location: Mohegan Sun Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, PA
The Big News:
The Wyatts took out another friend of Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns, and Seth Rollins got his win back over Ryback.
Show Recap:
They announced the two main events for tonight, including a Seth Rollins vs. Ryback lumberjack match. They pushed this with a graphic reading “Champion vs. Champion” in big, gold lettering as if the titles are at stake, but they’re not.
Bray Wyatt and his friends came out for a promo. Bray said Roman Reigns is sick—infected with the desire to become “the one.” Bray claimed that Roman didn’t care about the fans because he’s a smart man.
Bray said Dean Ambrose is cursed, cursed by his loyalty to Reigns who doesn’t care about him. Bray warned anyone who wanted to join their team that they are the modern day Hatfields and McCoys, destined to fight forever.
He reminded us what they did to Randy Orton and showed a clip. Bray warned Jimmy Uso not to make the wrong decision, “and you can believe that.” Braun Strowman finished off by saying, “They all fall down.” This was nothing special and the crowd didn’t care.
The new commentary team is Rich Brennan, Booker T and Jerry Lawler.
Cesaro beat The Miz via submission
The Miz got an entrance. Cesaro did not. Cesaro’s ribs were taped so Miz took control working them over. Miz applied a weak leg scissor and Cesaro impressively countered into a vertical suplex. Miz regained control briefly, but after trying a running kick, Cesaro caught his leg and again did an impressive counter, this time into a Sharpshooter for the tap-out win. Short match.
Backstage, Renee Young asked Ambrose and Reigns about Jimmy Uso. Reigns said it was Ambrose’s idea to bring in Jimmy Uso, but Reigns was hesitant to involve more of his family. Ambrose thought he was the perfect fit and said Jimmy got him so excited he almost painted his face. Jimmy showed up, excited to return to action. He and Ambrose did the “Uce-O” routine and Reigns looked at them like they were nuts.
Paige NC Sasha Banks
They showed a replay of the finish from Raw and said the shoulders of both women might have been down. In an in-set promo, Paige told Sasha it was time to tap. Sasha responded, saying she was the boss of this house. The teams almost got into a brawl before the match so the referee kicked out the peripherals.
Booker and Brennan reminded us that Stephanie McMahon started this revolution and that women have taken the centre stage all over the sports world. Banks had control for a while and Paige started selling an eye injury. As the referee checked on her and backed off Banks, Paige shot out of the corner with a spear and attacked her wildly. The two of them brawled to the outside, ramming each other into the barricade.
Eventually, Team BAD and Team PCB ran out to pull them apart. As with every wrestling brawl, Paige and Banks each broke through a couple of time until this was finally settled when referees ran out and Team BAD left. The crowd was into the brawl and we even got a “P-C-B” chant. I did like the angle, especially if Paige is turning heel.
Backstage, Seth Rollins told Byron Saxton that Sting caused him to have, perhaps, the worst night of his career. Rollins screamed about the statue before calming down to explain that Sting is burying himself into a bigger hole. Rollins said he would crush Sting the way his statue was crushed.
Rollins wanted the locker room to watch him beat Ryback to prove he only lost because of a distraction. He said he would beat Cena and Sting at Night of Champions when Sheamus showed up. Sheamus said something uninteresting and then wished Rollins luck. Same old.
The New Day NC Jimmy Uso, Dean Ambrose & Roman Reigns
The crowd was pretty quiet to this point but there were loud “New Day sucks” chants here. Ambrose had control until he was cut off by a Big E clothesline. Kingston knocked Reigns off the apron so Ambrose tagged in Uso who hit Kingston with a superkick and Samoan drop.
Ambrose took out Woods with a suicide dive and Uso took out Kingston and Woods with an Uso dive. With the referee distracted, Big E hip tossed Uso to the outside to regain control.
After a break, New Day stomped a mudhole in Jimmy and Woods stopped in the middle of it to grab his trombone to play a few notes. Crowd popped for that. Xavier ran at Uso but ate a superkick and Reigns made the hot tag.
Reigns hit Woods with ten clotheslines and an apron dropkick, clotheslining Kingston along the way. Big E tried to interfere so Reigns gave him a Samoan drop. Woods hit a spinning DDT on Reigns and presumably had him beat but Ambrose broke it up.
Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds on Kingston, and a rebound clothesline to Big E on the outside. Reigns hit Woods with a superman punch and tagged in Jimmy Uso who went up for the big splash but the lights went out.
When the lights came on, Strowman had Uso in his hugging maneuver on the stage (with Bray and Harper looking on). Ambrose and Reigns went after them but the lights went out and the Wyatts disappeared. Ambrose and Reigns checked on Jimmy as the phrase “They all fall down” played over the speakers.
The Ascension (w/Stardust) beat The Lucha Dragons via pinfall
Ascension came out with Stardust to their own music. Viktor gave Kalisto an STO and they used Fall of Man for the win. Ascension and Stardust attacked Lucha Dragons after the match so Neville ran out to make the save. He tossed out Konnor and Viktor and chased away Stardust. If they’re going to do a six-man they shouldn’t have killed the Dragons so easily.
Backstage, Nikki Bella told Renee that Charlotte is jealous and afraid of her. Charlotte showed up and said none of those things are true. Charlotte asked if Nikki was excited because Nikki was about to become the woman who was almost the longest reigning champion ever. Charlotte said Nikki would be calling her champion after Monday. This is all they did to build the title match on Raw and it wasn’t good.
Non-Title Lumberjack Match: WWE & US Champion Seth Rollins beat IC Champion Ryback via pinfall
After Stardust and Ascension just ran away from Neville and the Lucha Dragons, they were all out here together as lumberjacks. Ziggler, Show, Henry, Dudleys and Owens were among the bigger names out there.
Ryback was tossed to the outside and the heel lumberjacks jumped him for no reason. The good guys backed them off and they went to commercial.
In the middle of his comeback, Show blatantly pulled Ryback out of the ring and tossed him into the barricade. This was not a DQ. Show knocked out Mark Henry for good measure. The good guys backed off Show and he left.
Ryback knocked away some lumberjacks and nailed Rollins with a forearm to counter a suicide dive. Ryback gave him a spinebuster and sent him flying onto the babyface lumberjacks on the outside.
The heel lumberjacks jumped Ryback again, this time in the ring, until the faces made the save. The Dragons hit suicide dives and Neville took out a bunch of them with a moonsault off the top.
With everything presumably clear, Rollins and Ryback traded counters. Ryback had Rollins up for the shell shocked but Kevin Owens hooked Ryback’s leg (ref happened to be distracted) and Seth countered into a pedigree for the win.
This match was nonsense. Booker called this a clean win.
Final Thoughts:
I was almost going to call this show a positive. I like that Paige is slowly losing it and the six-man tag was really good. But two non-finishes and a crappy, overbooked main event sure made the show feel like a waste.
NXT Women’s Champion Bayley will face former champion Sasha Banks in a 30 minute IronWoman match as the main event for the next NXT TakeOver special on October 7th at Full Sail University in Winter Park, FL.
The two faced off at WWE TakeOver: Brooklyn in a match that was hailed as one of the best, if not THE best, of WWE’s SummerSlam weekend in NYC.
Steve starts the show off in a great way, welcoming them and telling Christian the big mic is a dummy mic. Christian says that they were on the guest list after Mantaur. Steve says he got stopped at the border first due to the head, but then due to a kilo. They banter on about what names to call each other, and say that they all last saw each other at WM 28, and Steve got drunk with Edge after WM XXX. Steve talks about how they came into the company with long hair, looking like rock stars, but now they’re looking like responsible human beings.
Edge says they’re both fathers now, that he laughs at the guyliner, and how they wind up being born six weeks apart and didn’t quite know it. Edge called him and let him know Beth was having a kid, and Christian told him “well, WE ARE TOO!” and their kids refer to the other as uncles now. Edge says he’s now in Asheville, NC and he says that a benefit of the job was seeing everything. He didn’t like the heat of Florida, but enjoying NC because he can go to the mountains.
Edge says he’s a proud father of a daughter, who can already move furniture around. Christian says he’s in Tampa and has been since 2001. He got tired of the cold and loves the warmth, and his wife is getting her PHD in art history. She wants to be an art appraiser, and Steve says she can tell him how much his artwork isn’t worth. Steve asks how hard the transition has been for each of them.
Christian says there’s a bit of culture shock, but he didn’t know what to do, but he’s lucky enough to have a friend with a TV show that he got on. Christian says he enjoys fantasy hockey, and maybe they’ll get a Network show for Edge and Christian. Edge says he was ready for life off the road and he retired at 37, and while WWE was his only goal, he was ready to go by the time he retired. He planned to do keep going until the end of his deal, he wanted to lay the groundwork for SmackDown and get guys stronger, but it didn’t pan out.
Steve says he had to drive around a ton to relax, but Edge lucked out by the Haven producers seeing his retirement speech and realized they needed him on the show. Haven started as a one-shot right after Christian won the World title – he flew up to Halifax right after the PPV and their emotion was genuine. Steve says it’s time to grab a headlock and get things back on track, and asks for his theme to be played on kazoos. He loved watching all of their classic stuff, not on the Network, but on Youtube.
Christian agrees to it, but asks Steve to play a song on a ukelele. They do a reasonable job of Steve’s theme on the kazoo. This was hilarious, and Christian says he wishes he hadn’t spent thousands on gear because all he needed to get over was a plastic kazoo. Edge says it was just about having fun, which “made” them as acts. So shockingly, this amusing idea that has stood up as at least amusing for 15 years wasn’t come up with by 25 writers. Christian says the kazoo was just random – someone had one, so they used it. Edge says that he invented words with Brian Gewirtz.
Steve sings “Kumbaya” for a few seconds before tossing that crap off and asking Twitter questions. They’re asked about the tag division now and Steve says he loves to watch tag team wrestling. He prefers two on two matches and not trios matches. Steve says he loved seeing the Dudleys back and Edge welled up seeing again. Steve says they “went where they went” and predicts a Hall of Fame induction for them. Christian loves the New Day, while Steve says the tag division dried up and it pissed him off.
Steve says he hates seeing random guys thrown together and Edge says that Steve and Pillman came together out of just being a random team to getting matching gear, coming up with moves, and truly becoming a team. Edge says it’s a shame that tag teams go through peaks and valleys. Steve talks about loving Ole and Arn Anderson cutting off the ring and explaining the psychology of tag team matches with that and just using the tag rope. Edge talks about little things like making sure you don’t throw an opponent towards that team’s corner.
Edge says the art can be back since you can have real teams again. Christian feels that Harper and the Usos helped a lot and Steve puts over Harper huge. Edge says that Wilder and Dawson are cutting the ring off and compares them to classic teams like Stevens and Bockwinkel that they aren’t quite on par with, but the specific comparison is apt. Steve puts the referee over as a key part to a tag match and Edge compares it to a piece of a puzzle. Edge really enjoys seeing tag matches work fine. I’m surprised that Kidd and Cesaro didn’t get a mention here.
Steve asks who the leader was for their team and Edge says there wasn’t one. Edge says that Bubba and Matt were the leaders of their matches, while they came up with some crazy ideas. Edge says they’ve known each other since they were kids and have known each other for 35 years. We see a hilariously awful photo of them as kids while Steve asks about when they first met.
Christian tells Steve to not look at him for six seconds, and Steve explains it’s a rib between them to kill time on the road. Steve says that he and Bubba played the “don’t look at me” game and Christian says it was probably Steve. Christian talks about being a druid with Steve tying him to Taker’s cross and saying “don’t look at me” and Steve was worried enough about the chains holding the cross up and then had this little bastard playing a rib on him on TV in a main event angle.
Edge says they met thanks to Christian having a ninja star and ninjas being a big deal then, even with Steamboat having the shoes. Christian was playing with the ninja star at recess and that being his big ice breaker in a new school. He started a bidding war for it and wound up with ten new friends by the end of the day. Throughout that, they found out they loved wrestling and were instant friends.
Both Edge and Christian had Hogan as their favorite wrestler. Edge says his favorite arena to wrestle in was…”you can’t look at me” and Christian says he loves the All-State Arena in Chicago, and it’s Edge’s too. Steve says that’s his favorite one too because of the wooden ceiling, and they all say they loved the acoustics of it. Steve says that you have to pay attention to wrestling and asks if they’re pro wrestlers or sports entertainers – they’re all wrestlers. Steve says you have to pay attention to the crowd to really get going.
Steve asks Edge what Christian’s favorite match was. Edge guesses it’s Summerslam against Orton and he’s wrong. Christian’s favorite one is the ladder match against Alberto when he won the World title. Christian guesses that Edge’s favorite match was the one against Taker at WM, and Edge says that’s his too. He felt validated by Taker, the audience, the spot, and felt like he belonged in that spot. Edge says he wishes he could bottle the feeling because he’d be rich.
Austin asks about their most embarrassing moments and Steve says his was in the Summerslam ’99 triple threat and he pushes Shane and winds up hanging upside-down in the ropes. He yells for Mick, who can’t hear him due to the bad ear, then he yells at Jesse, who pays no attention to get his stuff in, but he yells at HHH to help him because it made no logical sense.
Edge says his almost bacon stripped his white tights after a bulldog off the top. Christian says his was during the invasion PPV where he tries the poetry in motion bodypress over the top, but Edge’s back is too sweaty and he fell short. Lance was one of the opponents was just totally stern throughout it. Christian says he has no idea how they followed up on it and Steve throws to highlights of TLC stuff.
Edge says that Jeff was knocked out for a few minutes after being powerbombed by Bubba through a table with Edge on it. We also see Christian take a bump off the ladder over the top rope to the floor in the SmackDown TLC match and Jeff’s crazy bump with the spear off the belt rung. Steve says his research showed ladder matches in England in the ’70s, and Edge says that the WM 16 ladder match was really the first TLC match. In a hilarious bit, Steve says that if you’re watching this WWE Network show and have the WWE Network, watch it there or anywhere you can find it. Steve asks how they could follow it and Christian says they “put the girls on”. Oh how little things have really changed since then.
Steve talks about their WrestleMania records and Steve says that there’s no chance to really rehearse the TLC stuff. Christian says that they risked it just being a car crash and figured out how to put psychology in them after the first couple – which you can really see in the TNA series that the Dudleys had with the Wolves and Hardys last year. It’s one of the more underrated “best of whatever” series out there, but it did tell a story match to match and served as what seemed like at the time, a great swan song for the Dudleys as a team. Edge compares TLC matches to a tornado in a trailer park.
Edge says they butted heads before the WM 17 match and they felt like they had to top the prior matches. Edge says that Bubba told him there was only one part in the series where something went awry – and it’s when Jeff tried to walk along something and fell off at 17. Christian says the whole goal of the matches was to elevate everyone and it did. While they weren’t all instant main eventers, they were at least all acts that everyone wanted to see and might wind up being remembered more than the main events.
Steve puts over the Hardys and Dudleys and how they all had excellent chemistry. Steve says that trust is key here and Edge says that Jeff alone put his life in Edge’s hands and Edge makes boxing comparisons between the three teams. Christian says he tried to do a workout after the first one and wound up putting a weight down instantly because he wound up with a hole in his arm.
Steve talks about Adam being Sexton Hardcastle while Steve wanted to be Samson St. Claire. Christian says he was known as the Male Nurse in a mask for a bit. Sexton was a pure joke name with as much depth as a name with “sex” and “hard” in it would seem. Adam has no idea what “Edge” was, but he just rooted the look in what he wore anyway and roared in frustration because he didn’t understand the character, so it worked out there.
Christian puts the Brood intro as getting them over. Edge says that Gangrel really gave them instant credibility as a veteran, and still loves Gangrel’s theme. Edge says he doesn’t yearn for the business, but enjoys seeing folks every now and then. Christian says that he loves seeing the young guys now because he was in that role before. It’s amazing to see Christian fully embrace retirement since his retirement came seemingly against his will, but I guess that holds true for Edge too.
Christian says that Edge had one of the greatest careers ever, and while his pales in comparison, he still had a damn fine career on his own. Christian is also aided by achieving in-ring success outside of WWE. Edge says they’re the only tag team that also went on to be World champions and Edge feels that it was so special for them because they were friends since kids, so they knew their whole journey.
Edge felt he was inducted into the Hall of Fame early, but Bret and HBK told him he deserved it, so he was okay with it. Steve says that he was a cheap guy, as was Mick, and Christian says that Edge deserved it and he’d like to go in, but he doesn’t quite think it will happen. Edge says that on paper alone, he deserves it and he’ll start a petition if he has to. Steve says he deserves it, and says it’s more of a waiting process than anything else.
Steve wants Michael Hayes in and it’s pretty ridiculous that he isn’t. Edge says Hayes saw a bit of the Freebirds in Edge and Christian, and Steve talks about he and his drunk friends going to the Sportatorium throwing stuff at the wrestlers. Steve says Hayes had tons of heat then, and Christian says he has just as much now. Steve goes over the brilliance of the Freebirds where you had the worker, the talker, and the guy that everyone in the building knew that if they got him, they could kick his ass in Roberts. Edge says the key to a top heel was having a kernal of belief that you can be the best and believe what you say and do. Christian says that Hayes respected them and knew they’d at least try their best at it.
Steve puts over Edge’s Rated R Superstar promos and that run playing to his acting skills. Steve talks about wrestlers court and them being brown-nosers who ate dinner at a head writer’s house – but they never went there and just pitched ideas in the war room. They explain wrestler’s court and Taker being the judge and JBL being the prosecutor.
This session was due to them having book deals and they doctored up a book cover and they brought in some doctored book covers and said they’d sign the book for them. They made the title “Edge and Christian: Ass-kissing to the Top” and popped them. They bribed Taker with a giant Harley-Davidson book and a set of boxing DVDs, and Taker said there wouldn’t be a blemish on their records. Wrestler’s Court needs to be a Network show.
Steve says that Vince was like a brother, father, and a shrink. He learned more with Vince than he did in college, and Vince told Adam he was done over the phone. Edge knew something was off because his hands were trembling regularly, and didn’t quite know what was going on with his body at the time. Vince called him and told him his career was done. Steve says Vince usually breaks the ice, but didn’t here and Edge says he was sad, but called Christian right away. Steve says that he felt a great weight lifted off of him when the three count tolled at WM XIX. Edge felt that way too and Vince told Edge to call the doctor himself, and he wanted to tell Edge himself that he was done.
Steve asks what his biggest takeaway was from dealing with Vince, and he is amazed at his world view. Steve calls him the most competitive son of a bitch ever and Edge agrees, but it’s not for Edge. Edge enjoys just sitting in the mountains and knows Vince can’t – he feels bad for him. Steve says Vince loves motorcycles, but the business is his baby. Christian says he admires his dedication and it being 24/7 to him. Vince doesn’t sleep much and has an unreal work ethic. Christian says he was in a bad place years ago and was in quicksand as a single and asked Vince what he needed and Vince gave him pointers and said he just wanted to be the best. Christian says that he doesn’t look like “the guy”, but he did eventually become World Champion.
Steve talks about having an exit strategy and not having one lined up. He found the bottom of a lot of bottles before finding acting, reality TV, and podcasting. Edge lucked into acting, but did acting before in Highlander and Bending the Rules. Edge says he saved money, lived frugal, and has a great life now. Steve asks why guys have trouble finding a post-wrestling life and Edge says it’s because guys treat the business as their life, and he just goes by Adam now to everyone. Christian got the Haven role and then the show got cancelled, which has Steve worried for his future now. Christian says he was brought in to bump the ratings.
Steve goes on about the origins of What and that damn thing still existing. Christian is asked if he still has Steve’s voicemail and he says no, it was 12 years ago. Christian was in a gym and there was no reception and Steve was the first guy to get to the building and just couldn’t hear a thing due to Christian being in the gym and going “what” over and over, but the whole thing being due to Steve just screwing around to kill time since he just wanted to amuse himself.
Edge talks about an ice road truck story. Edge and Christian were doing a death tour and were driving down roads that were just snow plowed away from the trees and they realize that they’ve driven onto some ice. The promoter gets a post and says the top layer is ice, but they just decide to gun it, then inch it across. The ring van goes into another route and they wind up dropping into the ice, but they’re all still stuck because they don’t have much room in the one van they’re in. They try to rock the van back in place and Christian drops down and his pants froze to his legs.
Rhino was in the van crying and didn’t want to die, but they had him get the van out since he was so strong and he actually did. He’d have been a blast on this thing, and Steve says his biggest regret is not jobbing to Brock. Edge says he has no regrets and he has no complaints. Steve ribs him about a farm animal and Edge says he still has no regrets. Christian regrets this show, but no, he has no regrets. Edge just wants kids to have fond memories of him, while Christian just wants to be remembered as being better than Edge. Ha! He just wants to be known as a guy who gave fans their money’s worth, and Steve asks about the five second pose.
Edge doesn’t remember, but Christian says it was during a meeting with Gewirtz and they brainstormed. They were heels and didn’t want the fans to touch them, so they’d just be gracious enough to give the fans five seconds to take a photo with them. Christian says they’d use current stuff with that town and do ribs there. Steve does a five second pose, but declines to wear the hat and they go out with a five second pose and a “don’t look at me”. This was an hour well-spent and these three have marvelous chemistry together. On-paper, this wasn’t an amazing show going in, but it was always entertaining.
To see every screenshot taken for the show, just click here.
