This week’s show was our final look at Dominon, held last July at Osaka Jo Hall.
Okada is this week’s interview subject. The interviewer mentions how this is the first wrestling card in over 20 years. Okada says he should be thanked for that, but it also felt good to see the arena packed. As far as AJ goes, he wanted his title back. He’s a great wrestler. It was tough, no doubt about it.
I loved the early parts of this match with the interference. Now, Bullet Club freely interferes on many occasions; this is hardly news. But this felt like the culmination of every other time they ever interfered because this time, Red Shoes had enough of their shenanigans. He told the Bullet Club to suck it, then told AJ to suck it. It’s a little detail in this match, but I thought it was a nice touch.
As for the match itself, it was awesome. It was just two guys who know how to have a great match going out there and giving it everything. Once the Bullet Club was ejected the workrate was high, and they totally delivered. The last few minutes were excellent with Styles and Okada trading some high profile offense until Okada hit his second or third Rainmaker for the win. Another nice touch was that even though Okada laid out Styles with multiple rainmakers, he didn’t pin Styles until he knew he had him beat. In an era where finishers are spammed to death, it’s nice to know New Japan protects them for when it’s most important.
It kinda hit me while watching this match that as good as AJ Styles was in New Japan, he’s never going to be that good in WWE. Not that he won’t have good matches, he’s already proven that in spades. But even if WWE gives someone like AJ enough time to have a PPV quality match, he’s bound to a bunch of road agents who are commanded to tell people how to work a certain way. AJ came to his own in New Japan as a ring general and flourished. In WWE, that ain’t happening. It’s a shame, but this match proved just how much AJ upped his profile within a years’ time in New Japan.
Gedo cuts his usual promo after the match, saying Okada’s at a whole other level and that the future of pro wrestling is in his hands. Okada has three things to say. His first two points is as champion, he’ll definitely compete and win in the G1. The third point…well, he doesn’t have a third point. He promises that it’ll rain money all over New Japan as a big confetti celebration starts
AJ didn’t have anything to say backstage. Okada said it was a great fight, and seeing so many people live was awesome. He was happy to get the result he wanted, and hopes NJPW can do it every year. They have a toast with some beer, with Okada jokingly noting that Gedo is really washing it down.
He was nervous going into the match, but was happy with the result. AJ was a tough person to beat, and was also happy to do it in front of so many people. A lot of wrestlers watch his matches, so he is grateful he faced such a great wrestler as it brought up his caliber. Great show this week. Check it out if you haven’t seen this match before.
– Air Date: April 21, 2016 (Apr 20 in Canada) – Location: The O2 Arena in London, England
– The Big News:
Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson will face The Usos on Monday Night Raw.
– Show Recap:
They aired a Raw video package recapping the angle between Roman Reigns, AJ Styles and his two friends. They made sure to squeeze in Reigns’ catchphrase again.
Maryse and The Miz were in the ring for MizTV. Maryse introduced Miz as the biggest American movie star in the world. Miz wanted answers and introduced AJ Styles. Miz talked about Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson running roughshod in Japan in 2014.
Styles said yeah, they had five titles between the three of them. Styles also reminded Miz he knocked his teeth out the last time they were in the ring together. Miz flatout asked if he had Gallows and Anderson do his dirty work, but Styles reiterated that he had nothing to do with it.
Miz said Styles never *not* told them to attack Reigns, and his inaction spoke louder than words. Styles said he’s not in charge of them. He wished they hadn’t done it and doesn’t need anyone’s help to beat Reigns.
Miz said Styles can claim to be the better “‘rassler,” but Reigns was bigger and stronger. Miz called Reigns “the guy” (crowd booed) and Styles would need the help. Styles stood up but Miz kept talking and started doing movie lines again, this time Will Smith from Concussion saying “Tell the truth! Tell the truth!”
Maryse was turned on and they made out. Miz was about to start talking again but Styles attacked him and left him laying. After a break, they announced Miz vs. Styles. This wasn’t great, but it did set up what was to come later. Miz is pretty good in this role, but he was overwhelming Styles.
Non-title: Ryback beat US Champion Kalisto via pinfall
Ryback missed his cue during his entrance where he always says “more” in “feed me more” on the stage. The announcers explained that Ryback wanted a WrestleMania rematch to prove Kalisto’s win was a fluke. They also made sure to never mention whether or not this was a title match.
Ryback dominated from the beginning and they went to commercial less than 2 minutes into the match even though nothing else had happened since the last break. After the break, Ryback did a nice delayed vertical suplex off the middle rope. Kalisto came back with a leg drop, front dropkick and corkscrew elbow. He did the spike-rana, but it looked terrible and they didn’t bother editing it.
Ryback followed with a meat-hook clothesline, but Kalisto countered a Shellshock into a DDT for a near fall. Ryback then countered a Salida Del Sol into a Shellshock for the win. Ryback posed with the US Title afterwards. Basic match that went about 9 minutes. The finishing sequence was good.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin
The match never happened. As Ziggler made his entrance, Corbin attacked him from behind and tossed him around ringside. Somebody yelled “You suck!” at him, but it was just a kid so Corbin did not yell back like he did on Raw. Corbin finished off Ziggler with End of Days. Rich Brennan appeared on the stage to ask Corbin why he did that and he responded, “Because I can.”
Non-title: AJ Styles beat IC Champion The Miz via pinfall
As Styles appeared to be gaining control, Miz ran away and used Maryse as a shield. Styles tried to go around but Miz punched him and launched him a couple of times into the barricade.
Miz had the heat for a while until Styles came back with a fireman’s carry neckbreaker. Miz caught Styles with an atomic drop and applied the Figure Four. Styles turned it over to escape and followed by applying the Calf Crusher, but Miz got to the rope.
Styles hit the Pele kick and got ready for the springboard forearm, but Miz left the ring. As Miz went up the aisle to escape, he stopped upon seeing Gallows and Anderson making their way down. Miz turned back toward the ring and Styles nailed him with a springboard flying forearm. He followed that immediately with the Phenomenal Forearm in the ring for the win.
Gallows and Anderson remained outside the ring as Styles looked on. Good match that went about 17 minutes. The finish fit perfectly with the story.
Rich Brennan interviewed Dean Ambrose and Sami Zayn backstage about their upcoming tag match against Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens. Ambrose said they would leave their opponents looking like “leftover spotted dick” and Zayn said it was time to put an end to this.
Zayn wanted a cool tag team name but Ambrose wouldn’t listen to him. Zayn suggested “Sambrose,” among others. They also mentioned “Beefeaters” but Zayn doesn’t like gin. Ambrose wanted “Roughriders” but Zayn thought that was too sexual and suggestive. After comedy time expired, Ambrose told Zayn to take off his hat so they could go beat up Jericho and Owens.
Later, Rich Brennan caught up to Gallows and Anderson. Gallows said Styles doesn’t need their help, they were just looking to make an impact. Anderson announced they would make an impact on Raw when they make their in-ring debut against the Usos. Gallows concluded, “We have arrived.”
Natalya & Paige beat Naomi & Tamina via submission
Unlike on Raw, Paige got to come out last here in England, and they didn’t play an ad through her entrance. Mauro Ranallo talked about Bret Hart and British Bulldog at SummerSlam 1992. Jerry Lawler said he knows from experience that Bret Hart is a cheater, that he cheated to become WWE Champion and, “he even cheated when Bret screwed Bret.”
Paige made the hot tag and hit Ram-Paige on Naomi (and her Harley Quinn hair), but Tamina broke up the cover. Natalya put Tamina in the sharpshooter and Paige put Naomi in the PTO and they both tapped. One women’s match on a split-crew show and they got 5 minutes.
R-Truth beat Fandango via pinfall (special referee: Goldust)
Fandango didn’t get an entrance in the only place in the world that cares about his entrance. I don’t blame them. Goldust wore his full gear along with a gold and black referee shirt. This was all “comedy.” As Fandango and Truth were having a dance-off or whatever, Truth caught him with a flatliner for the win. Goldust and Truth danced briefly afterwards even though Goldust is always a dick to Truth.
Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady came out to a huge reaction from an otherwise dead crowd. In fact, this might’ve been the biggest reaction on the show. Enzo did his usual promo, but they were interrupted by the Vaudevillains.
Aiden English said everyone was tired of Enzo and Cass, and said Enzo looks like a rodent with mange. Enzo didn’t know what he meant but said the Vaudevillains can keep reading books while he and Cass will be writing them, and the Vaudevillains couldn’t hit him if they were standing in the phone booth.
Simon Gotch said they were going to learn a harsh lesson. English called this a man’s world and they were real men. Gotch said when they win at Payback they’ll be the ones to ask, politely, “How are you doing?” Cass said they’d win at Payback and called the Vaudevillains soft. They really need to give Cass better material. Also, are the Vaudevillains time travellers?
As they were about to cut to commercial, Jericho and Owens walked backstage toward Gorilla. There were two random guys holding cups with popcorn. Jericho knocked the cup out of one guy’s hands. Owens grabbed the other guy’s cup and started eating. He offered some to Jericho, who declined.
Promo for Primo and Epico. They also plugged Raw in Hartford. Byron Saxton wondered aloud if Shane McMahon would be in charge again.
Chris Jericho & Kevin Owens beat Sami Zayn & Dean Ambrose via pinfall
Owens and Zayn were in the ring to start, but Owens immediately tagged out. The crowd chanted “Ole” and Jericho told them to shut up. They went to commercial two minutes into the match. Ranallo referred to Owens as “truculent” and Lawler didn’t know what that meant.
As Zayn made a comeback on Jericho, Owens made a blind tag, pulled Zayn out of the ring, and tossed him into the barricade to regain control. Jericho slapped Zayn a couple times, so Zayn responded with a blue thunder bomb. Ambrose made the hot tag and ran wild on Owens, nailing a suicide dive.
Ambrose also clotheslined Jericho, but caught a superkick from Owens in the ring. Ambrose got Owens with Dirty Deeds but Jericho broke up the cover. Zayn booted Jericho out of the ring, but as Ambrose went to the top rope, Jericho crotched him and Owens covered him for a three count.
Terribly weak finish. Zayn had just kicked Jericho out of the ring, but then disappeared when Jericho quickly covered to interfere. The finish made Ambrose look like a complete loser, and it negated his win over Owens on Raw. I’m really not sure what the point of this was.
After the match, Owens jumped on Jericho for a hug (which somehow didn’t kill Jericho). Owens yelled toward the ring, “I beat you! Chris helped, but I beat you!” Jericho assured Owens that he did it on his own, so Owens bragged some more. These two belong together.
– Final Thoughts:
This wasn’t a terrible show, but it was the least noteworthy Smackdown show in a long while. They often do a good job of masking the fact that it’s a split-crew, but that wasn’t the case tonight. You can safely skip this show if you have literally anything else you’d rather be doing.
Les and Vic are online a day early because Les is headed to New Orleans to conduct a weekend wrestling training camp, so we start the show discussing what goes on at one of these camps over the course of a weekend. After that, Les will share some memories of working with the late Balls Mahoney (17:30) from his days as Boo Bradley in Smoky Mountain Wrestling. We’ll open the mailbag (29:29) and answer your questions on how often a wrestler can be repackaged before his/her career is beyond repair, is AJ Styles (44:42) in a roundabout way teaching guys to take less chances? In honor of Shane losing and Mania and running Raw anyway, another memorable killing of a stipulation Les was witness to (54:34), how can anyone take WWE seriously after seeing the Wrestlemania stipulation killed (56:31), and is Bray Wyatt too cool a heel to be effective at this point (70:37)? We’ll give our takes on those, as well as discuss a few likes and dislikes about this week’s edition of Raw along the way. Thanks for listening and we hope you have a great weekend~!
It was a skeleton crew because much of the crew flew out last night to Italy.
– Maryse opened the show and introduced Miz for a Miz TV segment. Miz said that his guest was his wife, Maryse. He asked her, “What is it like being married to The Miz?” Zack Ryder came out and said he wanted his title rematch tonight. Miz first said yes, but then said, he forgot, because Ryder already had a match booked tonight against Baron Corbin.
– Baron Corbin beat Zack Ryder
– Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady beat The Ascension in the #1 contenders tag team tournament
– A.J. Styles did an interview. Alberto Del Rio came out. This led to a match which Styles won with a roll-up.
– There was a backstage segment with Goldust, R-Truth and Fandango.
– The Vaudevillains beat Goldust & Fandango in the #1 contenders tag team tournament. The crowd in San Diego didn’t know The Vaudevillans or how to take them. It was a quick match.
– Chris Jericho did an interview and got heat by insulting San Diego.
– Sami Zayn beat Chris Jericho via DQ. Kevin Owens and Dean Ambrose both came out. Jericho was yelling at Ambrose, and Zayn threw Jericho into Owens. Owens attacked Zayn for the DQ. Owens & Jericho were beating on Zayn until Ambrose jumped in for the save and Zayn & Ambrose cleaned house to end the show.
Les and Vic return this week with a ton of great stories about the late, great Blackjack Mulligan. Les went back with Blackjack to his first run in the Carolinas and shares a lot about what made Mulligan great. Les goes in depth on Blackjack’s promos, his ability to sell, an conversation that took place when Blackjack, Ric Flair and Jim Crockett bought into the Knoxville territory about something the opposition promotion nearly did that would’ve ended badly and some personal stories about socializing with Blackjack back in the day. Near the end of the Blackjack talk, the conversation begins to shift towards WWE and why most guys today aren’t nearly as over as Blackjack but fully turns into a modern wrestling conversation when Les talks about the legends (28:35) who some felt stole the spotlight at Wrestlemania. From there, we’ll discuss some of the things some casual fans were saying at the Mania viewing party Les attended, feeling bad for Charlotte during her promo Monday night and fans hijacking shows. Vic jumps in (38:09) with his take on Roman/HHH, float a theory as to why the headscratching booking of AJ Styles and Chris Jericho took place this week, is AJ as over as he should be at this point and make a case that as good as Charlotte is, the wrong woman won the triple threat this past Sunday. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!
– Air Date: April 7, 2016 (Apr 6 in Canada) – Location: Toyota Center in Houston, TX
– The Big News:
AJ Styles confronted Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose returned, The Vaudevillains debuted, and The Miz defended his Intercontinental Title against Zack Ryder.
– Show Recap:
The show opened with the same WrestleMania recap video from Raw. Roman Reigns came out to a strong mixed reaction, and Mauro Ranallo reminded us that he’s a 3-time WWE champion. Reigns said he fought the Authority and won and took back his WWE championship. He repeated the same line from Raw about being “the guy,” except he delivered it a lot better this time, and said he’s going to beat AJ Styles.
Styles interrupted and got a big reaction. He congratulated Reigns on having “a heck of a WrestleMania” and becoming champion. They shook hands. Styles said he himself had a heck of a Monday Night Raw and was coming after the title. He’s beaten the best all over the world, has held a title of his own, and if he has to beat “the guy” to be WWE champion then so be it.
Reigns said Styles hasn’t been here long, and insinuated that WWE title is the only one that counts, not whatever title Styles held before. Reigns said Styles would have to beat “the guy” to get the belt. Yes, Styles just said that. Reigns said Styles would never beat him, patted him on the shoulder, and left. Styles smirked. This was fine. Crowd was into it, and the two guys did their best with the dialogue.
The Vaudevillains beat Lucha Dragons via pinfall
The Vaudevillains got their usual NXT entrance. Jerry Lawler thought they were in a silent movie and wondered if they could speak. Byron Saxton let us know that these two teams were familiar with each other from NXT. Sin Cara went for a suicide dive but Simon Gotch cut him off with a knee and the Vaudevillains took control.
Kalisto made a hot tag and ran wild on Gotch, while Sin Cara hit Aiden English with a suicide dive. English somehow recovered before Sin Cara and made a blind tag to set up the Vaudevillians hitting the Whirling Dervish for the win. Basic match, about 4-5 minutes long. Kalisto taking the pinfall is confusing to say the least.
They recapped Miz winning the Intercontinental title from Zack Ryder on Raw and plugged the rematch for tonight.
Natalya beat Summer Rae via submission
Charlotte joined commentary and her dad (Ric Flair) was there too. Natalya won in about 3 minutes with a sharpshooter as she stared at Charlotte. Natalya went out to confront Charlotte afterwards but the referee stopped her.
Intercontinental Title: The Miz beat Zack Ryder via pinfall
Maryse came out on the stage to introduce The Miz. She said she was proof that behind every great man, there’s a great woman, “and there is no greater man than my husband.” That’s funny.
During his comeback, Ryder went for a diving dropkick but Miz countered into a sitout powerbomb for two. They traded moves leading to Ryder hitting a broski boot outside the ring, followed by a diving elbow drop for a near fall. Maryse started pulling off the turnbuckle cover and Saxton asked, “What is Maryse doing?” to which Lawler responded, “I’m paying attention to the match over here.”
This distracted the referee and Ryder, which allowed Miz to punch Ryder in the face and hit the skull crushing finale for the win. Perfectly fine match, which went about 13 minutes. Oddly, they didn’t show any replays afterwards, and they moved on from this pretty quickly considering it was a title match.
Apollo Crews beat Curtis Axel (w/Social Outcasts) via pinfall
Axel got this match over his fellow Outcasts because he “won” rock-paper-scissors by claiming the axe beats all. Crews fended off the other Outcasts and won after hitting a dropkick, jumping clothesline, standing moonsault, enzuigiri and spin-out powerbomb. Lawler admitted that Crews might have a future here.
They recapped Baron Corbin’s win at Mania and his match with Ziggler on Raw. Backstage, Rich Brennan tried to interview Corbin, but Corbin told Brennan to save his questions. Corbin said he won a trophy at WrestleMania and dented the floor with Dolph Ziggler. He said the end of days weren’t coming, they’re here.
Elsewhere, Renee Young interviewed Becky Lynch. Lynch said that nobody else seems to think she’s funny, and made a pun about her busted eye, saying “I have myself in stitches.” She then got serious, saying that Mania was the most brutal match of her life. Lynch said the new Women’s title was about heart and passion, and she walked out on Charlotte on Raw because she was making it about herself.
Lynch said she would get back to the title picture and pay back Charlotte for what she did to her eye. Emma interrupted and said she liked what Charlotte did to Lynch’s eye. She’s pissed that she got pushed to the back of the line in favour of Lynch. Lynch told her to back off or she’d mess up Emma’s eye.
Dean Ambrose beat Tyler Breeze via pinfall
Ambrose won in one minute after a rebound clothesline and Dirty Deeds. Ranallo said Breeze went down faster than Batman v. Superman at the box office.
As Ambrose’s music played, Chris Jericho’s entrance interrupted, and Ambrose looked annoyed. Ambrose stared at Jericho on his way up the ramp, but Jericho just ignored him.
Before the main event, there was another segment with Goldust and R-Truth. Basically, Truth promised Goldust an audition with a Hollywood producer next week in LA.
AJ Styles & Cesaro beat Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho via pinfall
Jericho and Owens had an intense conversation in the ring as the entrances were happening, perhaps over who is the biggest Twitter troll.
Cesaro and Styles used a double-team move early on, and Owens yelled, “You’re a cheater!” Jericho was frustrated by getting double teamed again, so he left the ring and started tossing stuff around. Owens, unsure of how to react, decided to join in by gently lifting the steel steps out of position. These two are already my favourite tag team.
After a break, the good guys were still all over Jericho as the crowd chanted for Styles. Jericho finally managed to tag out, but Cesaro got them both with the uppercut train. However, Jericho shoved Cesaro out of the ring and Owens tossed him into the announce table for the heat.
Cesaro avoided a cannonball and made the hot tag to Styles, who hit forearms to Owens and a sitout facebuster for a near fall. Owens avoided a springboard move and hit a superkick for two. Styles came back with a Pele kick. He went for the springboard forearm but Jericho pushed him off the ropes. Owens rolled him up but Styles kicked out and Cesaro uppercut Jericho over the barricade.
Owens was about to go for the pop-up powerbomb, but he stopped after seeing Sami Zayn making his way down the ramp as officials tried to stop him. The distraction allowed Styles to school boy Owens for the win. Good match.
Immediately after the match, Owens and Zayn went after each other. The brawl ended when Owens tossed Zayn’s injured shoulder into the steel steps. The referees dragged Owens away as he yelled, “I hate you!” and the show ended. There were no replays again, but it made sense here with Zayn coming out unannounced.
– Final Thoughts:
Pretty good show top-to-bottom. Simple booking with all the featured acts winning their matches. Fresh faces definitely help.
Styles won with the springboard forearm. Fine match. Styles was over.
– Mark Henry beat The Ascension in a handicap match
Henry pinned Konnor after the World’s Strongest Slam. Henry seemed to take his time soaking in the cheers afterward, almost as if he was nearing the end of his run.
– Fandango, Damien Sandow & Darren Young beat Stardust, Heath Slater & Adam Rose
Decent comedy match that was given some time. Stardust had Eden tell the crowd that he would beat them all up one-by-one if they didn’t stop chanting “Cody”. This got a lot of heat. Stardust teased not getting along with Slater and Rose before ultimately hugging but eating a comeback from the babyfaces. Fandango pinned Stardust with a Falcon Arrow.
– Luke Harper beat Zack Ryder
Harper got the win with the spinning lariat.
– WWE Tag Team Champions New Day (Xavier Woods & Big E) beat Dudleyz and Usos in a three-way match
Woods pinned one of the Usos after Dudleys hit a 3D and Woods got rid of Bubba with a roaring elbow. New Day worked as tweeners, playing face against the Dudleys but heel against the Usos.
– WWE Divas Champion Charlotte beat Natalya
Charlotte got the pin with a schoolboy with her feet on the ropes. Good reaction for Natalya as she rose to her feet after the match.
– Chris Jericho beat Jack Swagger
Jericho won with the Codebreaker. He did a long promo beforehand, mostly cheap heat, burying the town, much like he did in Toronto, but it got over strongly. After the match, he put Swagger in the Walls of Jericho. Styles ran out to make the save. Styles had Jericho setup for the springboard forearm, but Jericho bailed out.
– Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose beat Sheamus & Barrett
Reigns pinned Sheamus after the Spear. Reigns again did not enter through the crowd, just a normal entrance through the curtain. I heard this was the case in Syracuse the night before too. I wonder if he’ll be done with that entrance on TV too. Reigns was very over (here’s his entrance) and the most over wrestler on the show. Only very few boos which obviously was much different from anything on TV. Here’s the finish.
They showed clips of Undertaker vs Shawn Michaels at WM25 before the show started. No dark matches. As for the house, it was pretty good. Just the top tier of the Boardwalk Hall and a bit near the Titantron was unoccupied.
– Dolph Ziggler and The Usos vs Miz and the Dudley Boys
The faces win via pin with a triple superkick on the miz. 15 mins, fun spirited little opener.
– Kevin Owens promo to remind the fans about the 30 min Ironman match for the title. He calls AJ a rookie, and vows to make AJ disappear without him ever getting to pin KO.
– Sin Cara vs Rusev w/ Lana
Lana cuts a pre-match promo on AC, calling it a knockoff of Vegas. USA chants for Bulgarian Rusev and Mexican Sin Cara. Rusev dominates most of the match and wins with the Accolade in 7 mins.
– Social Outcasts (Slate & Axel) vs Damien Sandow and Neville
Social Outcasts cut a promo before match. Bo is ringside but there’s no Adam Rose tonight. Comedy match for the most part. Neville pins Axel with Red Arrow in about 10 mins.
– Tyler Breeze vs Ryback
Ryback was a babyface in this match, which solidifies Breeze as an unloved jobber. Ryback pins Breeze with a Shellshock in a 7 minute squash match.
– Alberto Del Rio vs. U.S. Champion Kalisto
Kalisto retains with a Salida Del Sol after rana’ing ADR into an exposed turnbuckle that ADR undid himself in 10 mins.
– A short video package for WM 32 aired featuring the Rock. Chimel announced an intermission.
– Naomi and Tamina Snuka vs Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks
Paige was special guest referee. Tamina tapped to the Banks Statement in 9 mins.
– Braun Strowman and Erick Rowan vs. Big Show and Kane
No pyro. Big Show with probably the biggest face reactions of the night up to this point when he tagged in 2 mins into the march. House shows are weird. Slow big man match. Big Show was so seriously over that it weirded me out. Hot tag to Big Show and Show runs wild. Double chokeslam to Rowan by Kane and Show for the pin in 10 minutes.
– Short video thanking the fans before the final match of the evening.
– AJ Styles vs WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens in a 30 minute Ironman match
Nearly three minutes were spent on Owens stalling outside until AJ plancha’d KO. The next five or so minutes were spent on chinlocks and chinlock-counters. Lots of these throughout the match.
First fall: KO via countout when AJ got superkicked ringside with 13:20 left.
Second fall: KO via pinfall with the Pop-up Powerbomb with 12:50 left.
Third fall: AJ applies an Oklahoma roll pin with 11:20 left.
Fourth fall: KO counters the rolling pin attempt by AJ with a straddling pin of his own (like Bulldog over Bret at Summerslam 92) but while grabbing the ropes for another pinfall with 9:24 left.
Fifth fall: AJ counters pop-up Powerbomb with a rana pin with 7:30 left.
AJ applies the calf crusher with a minute left but KO does not tap. KO wins 3-2.
Overall, a good house show, but it was a house show so although there was a lot of good action, there also was a lot of stalling and showboating in every match. After the show ended, KO puts over AJ on the mic post-match and then put himself over as the greatest IC champ of all time until AJ returns and hits the springboard forearm on KO to close the show and send the people home happy. I did not consider the B-show to be that much inferior to Roadblock, and the talent that appeared and the matches themselves were quite good.
Tonight’s show features a match from May 3, 2015 in the Fukuoka Kokusai Center, our first look at the NJPW Dominon event.
This is Jim Ross’ first show and he obviously has a different style than Mauro Ranallo in that he focuses on the match and does that very well. It also changes Josh Barnett’s role as he goes into more into the history and storylines since he is more well versed in the product, calling these shows from the beginning. It adds a new dynamic to the show and makes it feel fresh, while at the same time they both compliment each other very well in what they do and they excel at it.
Yoshi-Hashi and Kazuchika Okada vs. IWGP Champion AJ Styles & Yujiro Takahashi
The match itself was fine. It’s goal is to set up a future match between AJ and Okada for the IWGP title at Dominon on July 5. They have terrific chemistry with one another, and Yoshi-Hashi is still pretty underrated by New Japan standards. Yujiro’s going to be Yujiro no matter what. He’s okay, but a step below a lot of what New Japan has to offer. Okada got the win with the rainmaker over Yujiro.
Styles calls himself the man in a post match interview and says if you want to beat him, try. He’s better than the rest of the world. You want some, come get some. Okada promises he’ll take his title and become a fantastic champion. Gedo says he has two months to live.
Goto interview time. He says it’s not really about the belt, but rather the provocation from Nakamura that has him clamoring for a chance to face Nakamura (throughout their feud Nakamura imitated looking through binoculars looking for Goto as he pretended not to see hi). They mentioned that Nakamura had beaten Goto for the title back in 2012. Goto says that he completely redesigned the title and has made it as his own.
Hirooki Goto vs. Intercontinental Champion Shinsuke Nakamura
This is one of those feuds from last year that really dragged on to the point of overkill. I believe they faced off at least four times in 2015, and I’m not sure which one we’re on. Actually this is probably their first or second match, as this is the one where Goto regains the Intercontinental title. Again, this is not to say they had a bad match. They didn’t. They struck hard, had a great back and forth contest, and the last few minutes were pretty exciting.
Goto was due for a big win for a while and they paid it off here, which is good as Goto is booked as someone who is always near the top, but doesn’t score the big win. He did here, and the crowd was into him regaining the title. Again, both Ross and Barnett were great here in calling the match and you can tell they gel well pretty much instantly.
Both Nakamura and Goto made comments after the match. Goto drank beers, Nakamura obviously didn’t like the fact that he lost. Goto, in his reflective interview, says that he was always behind Nakamura, but is now glad he has not only caught up to him, but now with the win, surpassed him.
Crowd was pretty dead for this match who didn’t know who Corbin was. Corbin won with End of Days.
– Sin Cara vs. Stardust
Good pop for both, good match. Crowd really into chanting “Cody”. Sin Cara went over.
– R-Truth vs. Adam Rose
R-Truth wins with help from Goldust.
– Alberto Del Rio vs. U.S. Champion Kalisto
Good match. Kalisto wins. Crowd really into the match.
– Team B.A.D. vs. Summer Rae and Sasha Banks
Summer and Sasha win. Crowd into Sasha. “We want Sasha ” chants throughout match.
– Sheamus vs. Mark Henry
Sheamus wins.
– Dean Ambrose vs. I-C Champion Kevin Owens
Ambrose wins via DQ I think for refusing to stop kicking Ambrose in the corner? Owens gets on mic, downtalks Evansville and a kid with a sign that said “sux” instead of “sucks”. Ambrose hits the dirty deeds. Crowd goes home happy.
Overall, it was a good, solid house show. Ambrose and Owens by far the most over people all night.
