Paypress testing

Tag: John Cena

  • WWE RAW live results: John Cena vs. The Club continues; Teddy Long returns

    With 13 days until Money in the Bank, Raw originates tonight from Oklahoma City. The WWE is promoting the Club as its new top heel group, which is new considering its a pushed faction that has no connection to the Authority. At least, not yet. A.J. Styles, as the group’s mouthpiece, will likely be relied upon to give a promo explaining his attack on John Cena last week.

    It could also be another night of returns. Bray Wyatt has been rumored to return imminently. With only two weeks to go before the show, there’s only three matches announced for Money in the Bank, and even the Money in the Bank match itself is unclear. Originally, there were seven participants announced, but only six are currently listed. 

    **********

    The Big Takeaway:

    This was a show that was full of talking and not much action. John Cena and A.J. Styles had a verbal joust full of inside references. Cena said wrestling Styles at Money in the Bank was a dream match (and was promoted that way throughout the show), then called Styles a bust because he lost to Roman Reigns twice. Teddy Long made a surprise return, booked to look like a out of touch goof who had no idea what the current fans want to see. The only match officially made for Money in the Bank is a Fatal Four-Way for the WWE tag team titles with The New Day vs. Anderson & Gallows vs. Enzo & Big Cass vs. the Vaudevillains.

    Show Recap:

    The show started with the six men involved in the Money in the Bank match already in the ring hovering on top of their own ladders.

    Kevin Owens put down Sami Zayn as being less famous than the other five. Chris Jericho said he was more famous than any of them. Owens said he would be more famous than any of them because he will be the one who will take the Money in the Bank briefcase and the other five will be in his shadow. Dean Ambrose wanted to skip the talking and get to fighting. Owens talked him down and said he would get the briefcase some more and said he would take on all comers as champion. Owens said he wouldn’t defend the title against any of the men in the ring, but he would face anyone else, including the Nation of Domination, Waylon Mercy or the Four Horsemen.

    Alberto Del Rio ignored Ambrose’s pleas to start fighting and said Zayn was a dog covered in fleas compared to him. Crowd actually started chanting “Si, si, si.” Cesaro spoke up before Jericho shouted him down and reminded everyone he created the Money in the Bank match. Cesaro then asked “How come you’ve never won a Money in the Bank match?” Jericho said he had. Zayn asked which one? Jericho mumbled something about the first one. Then he said the sixth one in Appleton, Wisconsin. Cesaro acted like had no idea what Jericho was talking about and called him a stupid idiot.

    Jericho did his new “Gift of Jericho, Drink it in, man” catchphrase. Ambrose climbed up and punched Jericho. They all started brawling.

    Then, out of nowhere, Teddy Long made a surprise return to “Teddy” chants. Long heard that SmackDown was heading to Tuesdays live. Teddy was all over the place on the mic. He said SmackDown was the longest running network wrestling show. Michael Cole had to issue a correction afterwards saying SmackDown was the 2nd longest weekly episodic series in television history. Cole had to explain the entire purpose of the Long cameo afterwards. Ordinarily, Long said he would arrange a disqualification match (that’s what he said), a six-way match and various other stipulation matches. Everyone looked confused.

    Stephanie McMahon came out acting like she had no idea Long was going to be there. She asked what Long was doing. Long said he wanted to run SmackDown. Stephanie said a decision on who would run SmackDown hasn’t been decided yet. Teddy asked to see Shane McMahon. Stephanie said Shane was on vacation and asked him to get to stepping. Long wanted to dance off the stage, but Stephanie ordered that his music not be played.

    Stephanie said Zayn would face Del Rio; Ambrose would take on Owens, and Cesaro takes on Jericho immediately. Then Stephanie ordered Long’s music to be played and she danced to the back. This was a really weird segment that Stephanie actually had to save.

    Cesaro defeated Chris Jericho via submission (12:05)

    Cesaro used a 13-rep Giant Swing then used a Boston Crab to get the tapout. Earlier, Jericho blocked an attempt at the Giant Swing and turned it into a small cradle. Some spots were mistimed, including Cesaro going for a springboard uppercut but Jericho catching him with a Codebreaker. Overall, a solid match.

    – Anybody else notice the Money in the Bank music is also Donald Trump’s WWE music from WrestleMania 23?

    – They honored Muhammad Ali by showing tribute tweets from HHH, Bret Hart, Shane McMahon and Steve Austin. 

    An amazing but perplexing video package aired focusing on Seth Rollins.

    It was basically a five-minute version of the documentary that’s airing on the WWE Network. They showed the debut of the Shield at Survivor Series 2012, where they jumped Ryback. Rollins said, in or out of the Shield, he always wanted to be the best, not one of the best. Rollins said people misunderstand his relationship with Roman Reigns. He doesn’t dislike Reigns, it’s just that Reigns is in the wrong place at the wrong time. Rollins said when he won the WWE World Heavyweight Championship at WrestleMania, it was his moment, not Reigns. 

    They replayed his injury in Dublin, Ireland. There were even videos of Rollins as an infant playing with a Hulk Hogan stuffed action figure, pinning it to win the championship. When the video of Rollins’ surgery aired, he was shown cutting a promo from his bed, slurring his speech, saying he was coming back for his championship on day one. Cameras caught him watching Reigns beat HHH at WrestleMania from a luxury suite. Rollins said Reigns was a placeholder, not a real world champion.

    Reigns is just sitting on Rollins’ throne, keeping it warm for him. Rollins said Reigns has never beaten him. It was such a good piece…so how are fans supposed to treat Rollins as a heel now? This is something straight out of Florida Championship Wrestling in the 1970s if an injured babyface sidelined for six months was rehabbing for a run against Dory Funk Jr for the NWA strap.

    U.S. Champion Rusev defeated Jack Swagger via countout in a nontitle match (3:36)

    Rusev and Jack Swagger did a double clothesline spot on the floor that looked still as hell. Titus O’Neal was on commentary. As the referee got closer to a 10 count, Rusev kicked Swagger into O’Neal and got back in the ring for the win. Postmatch, Swagger and O’Neal sent Rusev packing. Odd to see two babyfaces send one heel out of the ring. Swagger was over in his home state.

    John Cena came out.

    He said you don’t know what you got until its gone. Last week, there was energy and excitement when A.J. Styles and Cena was in the ring together. He called it a once in a generation moment. He tried to get it over like it was the 2002 staredown between the Rock and Hulk Hogan, then started doing his own dueling chants to mimmick what the crowd was doing. Cena said he’s only had electricity like that with one other Superstar, the Rock. Cena said for 15 years, people had been curious to see Styles vs. Cena. But Cena wanted to know why Styles chose the easy way out.

    Cena wanted Styles to come out and explain himself. Styles, Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson came out. Crowd had more dueling chants. Styles said he took the easy way out because he had a plan to punch Cena right in the face. And it worked perfectly. Styles said Cena insults him. He said Cena was great on his morning shows and his movies. But Cena insults him when the bell rings. And Cena knows deep inside that “You can’t beat me.” Styles says his kids ask him all the time why doesn’t he wrestle Cena. He answers because if he did, he would run rings around Cena.

    Cena said Styles’ jokes are as outdating as his jorts. Cena said he looks at Styles as someone who worked two decades to get to the Royal Rumble, and failed. He failed twice against Reigns for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Cena said Styles was a bust. Styles said attacking him was desperate. Cena said Styles didn’t know who he was dealing with because he failed twice against Reigns, and now he was going after him?

    Styles shot back that he could go back to Japan tomorrow and sell it out tomorrow. He said he nothing else to prove because he has nothing left to lose, so that makes him dangerous. Styles said after someone wrestles Cena, they get out the shovels and bury Cena’s opponent. Styles said Cena didn’t know who he was dealing with.

    The Club went to the ring and surrounded Cena. The New Day ran down to join Cena and chase them away and it ended. A trios match between the three was announced for later tonight. A strange promo by Cena. On one hand, he compared Styles to the Rock. Then minutes later, he called him a bust. Styles did a promo straight from the heart of every Internet fan, or anyone else who has paid attention over the last 11 years. It was the time for Styles to give the best promo of his life, and it was very good.

    The Vaudevillains defeated Enzo Amore and Big Cass by DQ (2:22)

    Aidan English teased throwing out Enzo Amore over the top rope the same way he did at Payback. He threw Amore to the ropes, but Amore slid under the ropes and still sold it like he suffered a concussion. Big Cass went nuts, pounding English in the corner. The referee called for the bell when Cass refused to back off. Fans booed the DQ. Cass gave Simon Gotch the East River Crossing. Enzo got back in the ring. It’s clear they want Cass to break out of the singles pack because he’s tall, but he doesn’t have the charisma that Enzo has. Big Cass quoted Ali. Enzo Amore brought up the Vaudevillains knocking him out and said he could blow a bubble with a Now-A-Later.

    Zayn did an interview saying he would have to consider himself an underdog against Del Rio tonight because ADR has captured the World Heavyweight Championship. Del Rio showed up and said if Zayn won the Money in the Bank briefcase, it would prove all those people who Zayn could never win wrong. But Del Rio said Zayn’s dream is his reality and Zayn was destined to stay in the same spot he’s in now.

    – More tribute tweets to Ali from Cena, Stephanie, Jerry Lawler and Mick Foley.

    Long walked up to Stephanie dancing to his music, which was the ring tone on his phone. Long said if he was running SmackDown, he would take Enzo & Cass, the Vaudevillains, Anderson and Gallows and the New Day in a four-way for the tag team titles. Stephanie blew off that idea and asked Long how he got back security. Long pulled out a dollar bill and said “it makes you go holla holla.” Stephanie just glared at him. Teddy showed himself out. First thing Stephanie did was arrange the Fatal Four-Way tag team match that Long suggested for Money in the Bank.

    Alberto Del Rio pinned Sami Zayn (8:18)

    Surprisingly one-sided match where Del Rio won with the diving double foot stomp off the top rope. Zayn didn’t get much of a comeback after the heat. In fact, he didn’t even get a ring entrance. Del Rio’s first attempt at the double foot stop led to Zayn throwing him off the top rope. But Del Rio was back up in no time for the finish.

    Ambrose walked backstage with Owens laughing at him. Owens said he was concerned for Ambrose, not just because of the Money in the Bank match, but because Ambrose has been more off the deep end than usual. Ambrose asked if Owens thought he was off when he beat him for the Intercontinental Championship. Owens said Ambrose needed help. Ambrose said Owens is the one who needs help.

    Reigns got a video package just like Rollins from earlier.

    They showed Reigns pinning Daniel Bryan to win the tag team titles. Reigns said Rollins thinks he’s the smartest guy on Earth. Reigns said he felt betrayed when Rollins broke up the Shield. He said being in the main event of WrestleMania against Brock Lesnar was a roller coaster by itself. When Rollins cashed in the Money in the Bank contract, Rollins took away his WrestleMania moment. His wife, father and daughter were all there.

    He felt anger, but sometimes anger is the best motivator a man can have. Reigns said Rollins has always attacked him from behind because Rollins is scared of him. Reigns said there will be a big fight feel (Cole used those exact words earlier) at Money in the Bank since it will be in Las Vegas. Reigns said he’s expecting a better Seth Rollins, and he will beat a better Seth Rollins. 

    Dean Ambrose defeated Kevin Owens (6:33)

    Ambrose won with Dirty Deeds. Before the finish, Ambrose went for a tope, but Owens caught him and rammed his back into the apron. Owens followed with a Bullfrog splash. Crowd was quiet for much of the match until Ambrose did a superplex. After the match, Ambrose pulled out a ladder and climbed to the top. Why did he do that? To show he could climb a ladder? The answer, of course, was to give Owens a chance to recover and throw Ambrose off the ladder and scream how he would win Money in the Bank.

    – Life Lessons with Bob Backlund had Darren Young saying he’s been running. Backlund said Young should always be walking and that he hasn’t run since 1978. Young said that was long before he was born. Backlund said he had Young’s car keys and he wanted him to walk eight hours to Backlund’s house. Young just walked off unhappy about walking eight hours.

    Charlotte and Dana Brooke came out.

    Cole said the world was still reeling about what Charlotte said to Ric Flair two weeks ago. I’m still reeling from Stephanie stealing her heat last week. Charlotte acted like she was going to apologize for saying what she said to her father. Charlotte said when she said Flair was dead to her, she meant professionally. She still wants to spend the holidays with her father, work out with her father, etc. But she didn’t want Flair stealing her spotlight.

    Natalya and Dana Brooke came out laughing over Charlotte’s acting routine. Charlotte said Natalya had a trainwreck of a family and they should have their own reality show on E! Lynch said Brooke would eventually get stabbed in the back by Charlotte. Natalya warned Brooke that Charlotte was a master manipulator, something she and Lynch learned the hard way. Brooke looked at Charlotte like she was concerned and started to walk over towards Charlotte and Natalya. Then Brooke punched Natalya, who fell over Lynch. Brooke gave Lynch a Samoan Driver whie Charlotte held Natalya in a Dragon Sleeper and they posed over the babyfaces bodies. 

    Primo and Epico did a promo about how great drinks in Puerto Rico are.

    Tyler Breeze and R-Truth went to a no contest (:53)

    Goldust and Fandango brawled into the ring for a quick DQ. Long came out and ordered the rematch restarted. Everyone just glared at him like he was crazy. Security ordered Long out with no more action between these four, and not a moment too soon. Breeze and Fandango did an inset promo where Breeze shaved Fandango’s back. Fandango said something about how having the right lotion on your body makes your muscles aerogigantic.

    – Long walked out before we got our weekly “Stephanie chews someone out” moment. Stephanie scolded Long and said Raw was going to be in the hands of someone young, vivacious and strong, and it was going to be her, not her brother Shane. She said Raw wasn’t going to be in the hands of old, incompetent, out of touch geezer. The irony alert was instantly activated from the local Emergency Alert System. Then she ordered Long to get the hell out of her building.

    – Ali tribute tweets from Vince McMahon, Booker T and Flair were shown. Cole introduced a tribute package to Ali, showing his knockouts of Sonny Liston and George Foreman. They showed Ali talking about how much Gorgeous George and Freddie Blassie influenced him. There was rare footage of Vince interviewing him with Blassie managing him, I assume for the buildup that aired on ABC’s Wide World of Sports that built up his match with Antonio Inoki. Plus, there was the angle with Gorilla Monsoon. Of course, there was also his appearance at WrestleMania I. Crowd gave the video package a standing ovation.

    – They announced the Ambrose Asylum next week would return with Reigns and Rollins as the guest. So it’s a Shield reunion, even though Stephanie cancelled the Ambrose Asylum a month ago. We didn’t even get Shane texting in an order to revive the show, they just advertised it with no warning.

    – New Day came out and compared The Club with the Mickey Mouse Club. Kofi Kingston said they were the WWE World Tag Team Champions, and that was the only club that mattered. It all started as a three-on-three fight that ended with Styles giving Xavier Woods the Styles Clash on the floor. Woods was carried to the back and they carried on with the bout now a 2-on-3 handicap match.

    The Club defeated The New Day in a handicap match (5:12)

    Styles pinned Kingston after the Phenomenal Firearm. Kingston got a near fall earlier after the SOS. Afterwards, Anderson and Gallows threw Big E. into the dasheboards. Cena ran out for the save and he decked Anderson and Gallows. Styles retreated. Anderson and Gallows jumped back on the apron, and Styles wallopped Cena from behind. Kingston gave Styles a missile dropkick. Big E. gave Anderson the Big Ending, and Cena gave Gallows the AA.

    During the match, Styles gave Big E the Pele Kick on the floor, and Gallows followed with the Yakuza kick. The crowd actually chanted for Cena after that. Cole mentioned it’s been 288 days since the New Day recaptured the WWE World Tag Team Titles.

    SUMMARY:

    The highlight of the show was the video package for Rollins. It was almost as good as the documentary made about him on the network. The timing of the video is the lingering question. Why didn’t they show that in the month preceding his return, then have him come back as a babyface to feud with Reigns? Rest of the show was ordinary in front of the deadest Raw crowd since WrestleMania.

  • John Cena’s return helps Raw ratings hold steady against strong NBA competition

    John Cena wasn’t quite the miracle worker, but his return was enough to keep the Memorial Day Raw viewership numbers above the all-time seasonal low — even with the show going against the single most-watched NBA game in the history of cable television.

    Raw did 3.22 million viewers, the second lowest non-football total other than a major holiday* where people don’t watch television since 1997, beating only the 4/25 show that did 3.16 million viewers.

    The surprise is that the third hour stayed above 3 million viewers.

    Without the advertising of Cena, it was very unlikely the show would have beaten the 4/25 record low. His return was promoted for weeks and he did media like NBC’s Today show that morning.

    The seventh game of the Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder Western Conference semifinal did 15,996,000 viewers. The opening game of the Stanley Cup playoffs with the San Jose Sharks losing to the Pittsburgh Penguins did 4,081,000 viewers.

    Raw was third for the night on cable. 

    The three hours were:

    • 8 p.m. 3.28 million viewers
    • 9 p.m. 3.32 million viewers
    • 10 p.m 3.08 million viewers

    *A note on the definition of Memorial Day not being considered a “major holiday”: Holidays that kill ratings are July 4th, Thanksgiving night, New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve. Memorial Day and Labor Day ratings are usually similar to usual levels. This past Monday, far more people were watching TV than usual, actually.

  • WWE RAW Hits & Misses: Cena gets Clubbed, Rollins mimes, Golden Truth shines

    Monday night’s edition of RAW had its moments without exactly firing on all cylinders. Here’s where it went right…and where it went very, very wrong.

    — The Hits —

    Trios pow-wows

    Tag team main events are usually throwaway affairs in the WWE universe. As such, those backstage huddles featuring all six Money in the Bank ladder match entrants were very welcome. Recycling the “Sami is Canadian too” joke from last week worked well, as did Jericho’s continued brilliant use of the word “idiot”. That, of course, led to a wonderful “stupid idiot” chant during the main event, directed at the Fozzy frontman. The match itself was merely fine, but featured a hot finish and a much-needed attempt to rehab a cooled-off Dean Ambrose.

    Cena’s return and AJ’s turn

    While I’m not entirely sold on AJ’s full-fledged heel turn, it must be acknowledged that its execution was excellent here. Further, the company is quite light on the heel side at the moment. While I could have done without the cringeworthy, jingoistic intro, John Cena’s comeback promo was one of his strongest in some time. Delivered with fantastic fire, it underlined the veteran’s new role as the gatekeeper of the WWE: “The future must go through me”.

    The Golden Truth shine

    I’m as surprised as you are, believe me, but Monday night’s first hour segment involving the Golden Truth actually worked. Key to its success was allowing two of the most naturally amusing men on the roster to be themselves, free from the writers’ awful input. Truth and Goldust’s contributions on commentary during The Usos’ quick win over Breezango were often hilarious with Truth reprising his inability to distinguish Byron Saxton from Jonathan Coachman – despite the fact that “Coach has talent” as JBL helpfully pointed out.

    I must admit I’m also a big fan of Truth’s remixed rap, heard in its full form on Smackdown, but sadly cut off here by a commercial break. Credit also to Tyler Breeze for his inset promo (“The Ewww-sos”) for showing how his mastery over his character has been shamefully wasted on the main roster.

    Enzo & Cass

    They seem to be featured here every week but even though their promo ostensibly just listed cheeses at one point, everything this team touches turns to gold at the moment. Although, I could do without that double team Rocket Launcher finish as they never seem to execute it convincingly.

    –The Misses–

    Using The New Day to distract from the brand split fiasco

    Last week’s news that the debut of live Tuesday night Smackdown would usher in another brand split conjured up many appalling vistas. Chief among them was the prospect of having to watch nine hours of WWE programming in three days on PPV weeks, closely followed by the harebrained possible reintroduction of two world titles. Worries about the potential for tag teams to be forcibly separated weren’t exactly high on folks’ lists of concerns.

    But that’s the draft-related horror that New Day asked us to consider in RAW’s overlong opening segment in which their comedy was used to distract from the fact that company is figuring the detail of this guaranteed failure out as it goes. The idea that the Vaudevillains denying us the “pleasure” of Stephanie’s dancing is supposed to generate heel heat was where the real humour lay, however, as was that team’s failure to upbraid The Club for getting them disqualified from what was effectively a number one contendership opportunity.

    Rollins The Mute

    Following on from the abrupt ending to his in-ring promo on Smackdown, the returning Seth Rollins went one better on Monday night by saying absolutely nothing – for a very, very long time. I’d love to tell you what Rollins’ fakeouts were supposed to achieve, but sadly I’m not one of the 28 typewriter-armed monkeys that this company employs. On that note, every time I hear Roman’s “I’m not a good guy….” catchphrase or JBL parroting Vince’s “polarising figure” nonsense, I want to scream. Nails on a chalkboard, every time.

    Dolph and Baron play Roshambo

    Dolph Ziggler baiting Baron Corbin into a “technical wrestling match” (translation: a match) only to kick him in the cojones was extremely dumb. Not only did Dolph cost himself a third loss to Corbin, he also made himself look like a coward. Wouldn’t a real babyface pour everything he had into besting the balding one in a fair fight?

    Titus confronts the “Bulgarian Blowhard”

    Speaking of poor writing, is anyone getting tired of Zack Ryder cutting pre-match promos about overcoming the odds only to lose comprehensively? What is the point of that exactly? US Champion Rusev crushed Ryder in short order before being confronted by proud American Titus O’Neil. O’Neil nervously delivered his scripted verbiage, including the embarrassing insult transcribed above, to a relatively underwhelming response. Still, at least this means the Bulgarian won’t be dropping the strap to the returning Cena any time soon as many predicted. Finally, what was up with Lana’s accent in her pre-match introduction?

    The Charlotte follow-up

    Where do I start with this one? I could talk about how Stephanie felt it necessarily to once again verbally tear strips off one of her major champions. I could talk about the lameness of the talking heads’ contribution in the preceding video package. I could discuss how little sense it makes that Charlotte throwing off the yolk of her cheating father is being portrayed as a heelish progression for her character.

    Whichever way you look at it, Monday’s follow-up to what was a disastrous promo from the Women’s champion last week was just as crummy as the distraction finish she caused in Dana Brooke’s match against Natalya. Apparently it’s important that all these women are made to look dumb, face or heel. Dreadful.

  • WWE RAW live results: John Cena returns & makes some new enemies

    After sitting on the sidelines since January recovering from shoulder surgery, the Memorial Day edition of Raw from Green Bay, WI, will feature the return of former WWE Champion and top draw John Cena to action.

    Unlike the return of Seth Rollins last week, Cena’s reemergence has been hyped for weeks with vignettes and an appearance on the Today show this morning. (Also, remember that we just saw him do a run-it at Wrestlemania.) With the brand split coming up in July, it will be interesting to see if they will start the buildup to the July 11th draft show tonight, or give it time to build and wait after the Money in the Bank PPV.

    If this show does a poor rating, expect blame to be placed on Game 7 of the Golden State Warriors vs. Oklahoma City Thunder NBA playoff series. There is also Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals between San Jose and Pittsburgh that kicks off tonight — more of a regional ratings hit.

    Our coverage starts at 8 ET. Join us!

    **********

    The Big Takeaway: A.J. Styles reunited with Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson in what may be the angle of the year. It happened during John Cena’s return. Styles came out to put over Cena and welcome him back to Raw. Anderson and Gallows came out to accuse Styles of kissing Cena’s ass. Just when it seemed they were gearing up for a tag team match, Styles jumped Cena, and the Club joined together for a collective beatdown. Styles repeatedly left the ring, then ran back in to beat up Cena some more. Only other news of note was Shane McMahon and Stephanie McMahon acknowledging Smackdown’s move to Tuesdays starting in July and the upcoming brand extension. 

    Shane & Steph Open The Show

    They opened with a 10-bell salute in tribute to the soldiers for Memorial Day with all of the roster’s superstars lined up on the ramp. Vince, Stephanie and Shane McMahon were out there, but there was no HHH. They replayed a speech that Ronald Reagan gave on Memorial Day in 1982 with various personalities reciting the address. 

    Shane came out, but was cut off by Stephanie. They were more antagonistic towards each other this week. Stephanie was wearing shorts so brief, they wouldn’t have been able to wipe up a small amount of milk spilled on your kitchen floor. Shane announced that Smackdown would go live every Tuesday in July. Stephanie announced John Cena’s return, which got mostly cheers. 

    The New Day showed up. They all put over Smackdown going live. Then they mentioned the brand extension, showing mainstream news publications about the looming split. Kofi Kingston said he was new era,  which Big E. and Xavier Woods laughed at. Woods said Kingston was his favorite wrestler in middle school. Kingston asked where is the New Era going?

    Stephanie said they didn’t know yet. Kofi accused her of dodging the question. New Day asked to not be split up. Shane said nothing is off the table. Big E. was worried. Woods didn’t want Francesca the Trombone to be raised without her three fathers, and said trombones raised without a father don’t have as good a track record. 

    Kingston said Shane and Stephanie hadn’t decided who will run which brand, but Big E. sensed there was a sibling rivalry brewing. So Big E. called for a dance contest. Shane started dancing to the New Day’s music while Stephanie stood back in the corner and laughed at him. Stephanie acted like she was going to dance, which she did to the New Day’s music last year with HHH watching on. Before she could begin, the Vaudevillains came out for a match with the New Day. Michael Cole said going into the break that Smackdown live would return. JBL busted his chops over later. 

    WWE Tag Champs The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E.) defeated the Vaudevillains by DQ in a non-title match (8:50)

    Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows came through the crowd and jumped New Day for the DQ. Gallows threw Woods into the dasherboards, then Anderson gave Kingston a Yakuza Kick. While this was going on, Simon Gotch kicked Big E. from behind. Vaudevillains left Big E laying so Gallows and Anderson could deliver the Magic Killer on him. Crowd is already dead and we’re only 35 minutes in.

    Anderson and Gallows were backstage. Renee Young asked them what that was all about. Anderson said that was to show they could inflict as much damage without A.J. Styles than with him. He said they were just getting started. 

    Apollo Crews met with Big Show backstage. Show said he liked Crews and told him Sheamus was a bully. Show said he didn’t mind the New Era because he’s been knocking out guys since the Jurassic Era and it didn’t matter to him. Show said Sheamus is in desperation mode and he jumped Crews last week because he wanted to see if Crews would back down. Show told Crews the question is whether Crews will back down. 

    The Usos defeated Breezango (1:43) 

    Jey Uso pinned Fandango with a crucifix. Goldust and R-Truth were at ringside. Truth was all the place, calling Byron Saxton “Coach.” To which JBL shouted “Byron’s not Coach. Coach has talent!” Tyler Breeze and Fandango started jawing off to the Golden Truth and the two sides brawled. Truth threw Fandango into the barricade. Goldust gave Breeze a powerslam on the floor. The gimmick with the Golden Truth is they’ve lost both matches to Breezango so far, and JBL makes fun of them for being a babyface tag team that loses. 

    Roman Reigns came out before the Warriors-Thunder game could tip off.

    He got his usual reception. He talked about how Seth Rollins sold out two years ago when he broke up the Shield. Rolins said he was calling himself “The Man”, but how can he be The Man when he’s running from The Guy? He challenged Rollins to come out. 

    Rollins came out to noticeably more cheers, even after his heel promo last week. He teased getting into the ring, came down the ramp, then went back up the ramp. He acted like he was going to speak for about a minute, but stopped before he could utter a word. He threw the mic down like he was going to fight, but then held up. He kept starting and stopping. I was getting flashbacks to the Sheamus-Reigns angle from last December. Some fans chanted “boring.” Then he picked up the microphone again, threw it down and left. Reigns music played. Rollins ran down again, but stopped when Reigns turned his back and caught his eye. Not a great segment.

    The most newsworthy thing of the night happened during the commercial after this for 2K17. In an ad you can see here, Goldberg appeared walking with security to his WCW theme music, looking in great shape for a 49-year-old. The setting, scenery and placement after that abysmal Reigns-Rollins angle made him look like more of a star than anyone so far tonight. 

    U.S. Champion Rusev defeated Zack Ryder via submission in a non-title match (2:33) 

    Rusev won with the Accolade, which looks more like a rear naked choke now than a Camel Clutch. Ryder had just hit the Broski Boot and went for the Rough Ryder, but Rusev tossed him over and Ryder landed on his ass. Lana’s outfits get skimpier by the week. She’s now relegated to just introducing Rusev, but didn’t even get in the ring for his postmatch promo. 

    Rusev cut an anti-American interview afterwards where he called the Green Bay fans “Cheese gobbling cheese…whatever you call yourselves.” Titus O’Neal walked out and did a robotic promo about the nerve of Rusev running down America on Memorial Day. O’Neal said he comes from America, where they fight. O’Neal decked Rusev with one forearm to send him out of the ring. 

    Primo and Epico did another interview putting over Puerto Rico. 

    There was a piece reviewing the Charlotte-Ric Flair breakup from last week. Various wrestlers weighed in on Charlotte. Dean Ambrose said he felt Charlotte wanted to humiliate her father. Dolph Ziggler said he felt Charlotte kind of told the truth. What? Becky Lynch said Ric always wanted the best for him. Ambrose got another quip saying Flair may have taught Charlotte everything she knows, but not everything he knows. Cole, JBL and Saxton read off various tweets. Then they showed an angle from earlier today where Stephanie dressed down Charlotte, saying she was embarrassed to have her as champion and screamed how Charlotte was spoiled and privileged. Basically, the entire segment was to get Charlotte over as a heel. Then in the last minute of said angle, they made the entire thing moot by having Stephanie berate her and she came off as another wounded pup under the Authority’s rule.

    Enzo Amore and Big Cass came out to the biggest pop of the show. Enzo said since they were in Green Bay, they reeled off a list of cheeses. Cass scrolled them off one by one while making a double entendre about you know what. 

    Enzo and Cass defeated The Dudley Boyz (9:16) 

    Third tag team match in two hours. I thought the Jim Crockett Cup had broken out. Enzo pinned Devon Dudley after the Rocket Launcher. Just a month after suffering the concussion at Payback, Enzo got the heat after falling off the top rope. Bubba Ray got slammed off the top rope by Cass, but had to wait forever for him to get up. Match had the most heat of the night. 

    The main event will be a six-man tag involving the known participants in the Money in the Bank match, with Ambrose, Cesaro and Sami Zayn facing Alberto Del Rio, Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho. Ambrose, Cesaro and Zayn talked privately backstage. Ambrose said you couldn’t trust Owens because he was a Canadian. Zayn started to point out he was a Canadian, then Cesaro said Jericho was also dangerous. Ambrose derided Jericho as also being Canadian. Zayn spoke up and asked Ambrose if he knew he was Canadian. Ambrose looked like that was a revelation and said “That explains everything.” Zayn looked confused. 

    John Cena Returns

    John Cena returned to a nice pop. He got a short “welcome back” chant, but it was surprisingly very brief. Of course, he got his usual share of boos. He started very serious reciting the Ronald Reagan speech earlier, then said there were many brave heroes who had fallen. Memorial Day was a celebration of that sacrifice and he was very thankful to be back home. On this day, it was with the utmost respect that he honored the heroes who helped keep liberty intact. Cena said liberty was freedom, and freedom was our lifeblood. It enabled pople to dress how you want, listen to whatever music you wanted, stand on your chair and scream at the top of your lungs.

    Now, the question was whether he still belonged on Monday Night Raw? Cena said a new era arrived in his absence. That means new names and new faces. All of those people had the same thought: that Cena’s best days were over. Cena said he wouldn’t go quietly into the night. And if the future is upon us, then the future must go through him. 

    Styles came out. Cole put over seeing Styles and Cena in the same building was something many thought we would never see. At first, the crowd seemed quiet. Then it turned into a lengthy battle of dueling chants. Styles and Cena just let the fans take over the show for a few minutes. It built and built to where it was really loud and made this potential program feel like something special.

    Styles said he had been waiting for this moment for a long time. Cena said, judging by this crowd, so has everyone else. Styles said Cena has kind of a bad rep. Styles said he always heard Cena was the first guy to get to the building and the last to leave. Styles said they have been in two different worlds, but he respected Cena’s hard work. Styles said he wanted to be the first one to say “Welcome back.” They shook hands. 

    Gallows and Anderson then walked out. Gallows told Styles they agreed to go their separate ways, and he saw what they did with the New Day. He accused Styles of sucking up to Cena. Anderson said he thought that was beneath Styles, but apparently not. Anderson said, unlike Styles, they were not there to kiss ass, but to kick it. That included Styles. 

    Just as Anderson and Gallows were ready to square off and an impromptu tag match was about to take place, Styles jumped Cena. Anderson and Gallows then jumped in and they all put the boots to Cena. Styles, Gallows and Anderson stood over Cena and gave each other Clique signs to some real heat. A fantastic angle to turn Styles heel. Styles ran back in to pound on Cena some more while Anderson said that’s the A.J. they love. Styles left, then ran back in again to lay the punches in some more. Crowd was incensed. After the referees came in, Styles came back in to pummel Cena some more. Styles screamed he was doing the world a favor and “You’re welcome, world.” 

    Dana Brooke defeated Natalya (1:20)

    Brooke won after Charlotte distracted Natalya, which led to Brooke winning with a Samoan Driver. Cole called it a Michinoku Driver. Charlotte and Brooke put the boots to Natalya. Lynch ran down for the save. For someone who was supposed to be a heavy heel after last week, Charlotte got a disappointing response, probably because the star of the show stole her heat last hour. 

    Ziggler did a promo saying he was going to outwrestle Baron Corbin tonight. He brought up Jericho’s 1004 holds promo from 1998 Nitro. To show how badly it bombed, Ziggler bragged he had 1006 holds and starting naming them just like Jericho did 18 years ago. He listed armbar 3 times. He stopped after seven and said “He’s Dolph Ziggler and Corbin isn’t.” 

    Baron Corbin defeated Dolph Ziggler by DQ (:33)

    The announcers built up Ziggler’s amateur record, including a school record 121 wins at Kent State University. When the bell sounded, Ziggler put on amateur wrestling headgear. So the first thing he did was kick Corbin in the balls for an immediate DQ. Ziggler announced he had been disqualified, but the loser of the match was still Corbin. JBL mentioned the original man of “1,000 holds” was Earl Caddock, who wrestled Joe Stecher in 1920 in the oldest known pro wrestling match that has footage.

    Maryse introduced the Miz, who is on location shooting the Marine 5. He talked about how he’ll return soon to his adoring public to defend his Intercontinental Championship.

    Jericho, Del Rio and Owens argued in the back over who should start their match tonight. Jericho finally got them to agree they should make sure Zayn, Ambrose and Cesaro don’t make it to Money in the Bank. After they left, Jericho called his teammates “idiots.” 

    Cesaro, Dean Ambrose & Sami Zayn defeated Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens and Alberto Del Rio (17:51) 

    Good match with an excellent finishing sequence ending with Ambrose pinning Owens after Dirty Deeds. Jericho hit a codebreaker on Ambrose, but Owens made a blind tag trying to get the pin. That led to Owens and Jericho arguing, which they had done throughout the match. Zayn hit the Helluva Kick on Del Rio, moments after Del Rio caught Cesaro with the Back Stabber.

    Earlier, Ambrose hit a tope as the heels bickered with each other some more. Felt like a house show match just thrown out on live TV because the company knew they were going to get creamed by the NBA Finals, but the main event slot hasn’t felt like the true main event of the show lately. 

    SUMMARY:

    It says a lot for Cena’s presence that frequently has memorable swerve angles. Mark Henry’s career highlight was the angle in 2013 where he teased a retirement speech, but jumped Cena instead. Styles’ heel turn tonight could be every bit as memorable. It was extremely well done and the only thing worthwhile in an otherwise forgettable 3 hours. 

  • How WWE took the United States title from prominence to prelim status

    Let’s go back roughly one year ago where in the seventh week of John Cena’s U.S. Open Challenge, the United States champion threw down the gauntlet and received a response from Neville, who had by that point been up from NXT for as many weeks as Cena’s reign.

    Still early in his run on the main roster, Neville had been given decent opportunities to showcase some of the in-ring abilities that had made him an attraction during his run in NXT, even earning a visual pin on then-WWE Champion Seth Rollins in a losing effort the week after his debut. But the fact that he had worked the vast majority of his television matches to that point with names like Curtis Axel, Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, and Wade Barrett had already solidified him as a guy firmly in the middle of the go-nowhere midcard mix.

    On this particular night, in just under 15 minutes, Cena did more to elevate Neville’s stock than the previous six weeks of television combined. The former Pac kicked out of the Attitude Adjustment — though this was far from uncommon for Cena’s opponents during this period — and was given a significant amount of time to shine on offense. He took full advantage with an incredible twisting Asai moonsault to the floor, a Phoenix Splash from the second rope for a near fall, and a perfectly-executed Red Arrow that left the audience with the distinct impression that Neville had the champion cold just before the match was thrown out due to Rusev’s interference. If WWE had any interest in making Neville a top star, this moment would have been the ideal foundation for that project.

    Moreover, Cena’s gimmick of issuing an open challenge that would then be accepted by a wrestler who may not have otherwise been given a platform on Monday nights once again resulted in an exciting television match that put the United States title a level above where it had been for most of its post-WCW existence. While previous champion Rusev had done a surprisingly capable job of keeping the belt relevant with an undefeated streak and a back-to-basics foreign heel shtick, he never felt like much more than a midcard act, working with and bowling over guys like Jack Swagger and Mark Henry.

    When it became evident that he was being put up against Cena at Wrestlemania, it also became evident that Rusev’s lot was being built up to be toppled by the company’s resident uber-patriot. The clear line of logic behind putting a mid-card belt on Cena, who had spent nearly the entirety of the prior decade as the company’s singular top draw, was to use his star to help elevate a championship once held in high regard back to its former glory.

    And at this point, it was working exceedingly well, particularly when comparing the U.S. title’s standing at the time to that of WWE’s other singles titles. On the same show as Neville vs. Cena, Daniel Bryan — who, like Cena with the U.S. Title, had been chosen to reinvigorate the Intercontinental Championship after winning it in a ladder match at Wrestlemania –surrendered the gold as a result of what was ultimately a career-ending injury, sadly having never gotten the chance to do what he had intended with the title.

    The main event on this night saw Rollins defend his championship against Randy Orton in a match that also went about 15 minutes and ended unceremoniously in a disqualification. Between Cena’s and Rollins’ matches, however, only one of the two felt like it mattered for something both in context and in a vacuum.

    The seeming end-goal for Cena’s run with the U.S. Championship would be something perhaps comparable to having Brock Lesnar end Undertaker’s streak, only on a significantly smaller scale. Like how being the one to beat Lesnar carries a weight that could potentially launch a wrestler to the moon, Cena’s prestige would make the championship a valuable asset that could greatly benefit whoever ultimately won it from him. Defeating Cena and winning the United States Championship would ideally help create a new top star who could maintain the integrity of the title with similarly exciting matches before passing it on to the next burgeoning star and stepping up into the main event scene.

    Or, at least, that may have been the concept.

    Now consider the United States title in its current state.

    Kalisto is entering the fifth month of his reign as U.S. Champion, a fact that is surprising enough in and of itself. More astounding is the fact that heading into Extreme Rules, he is riding a three-show streak of not being featured on the main card of pay-per-views. The sum total of the work put into making the title an important piece of the larger picture appears to have been all for naught.

    Since winning the title back from Alberto Del Rio at Royal Rumble, Kalisto has defended against Del Rio in a pretty great 2/3 falls match at Fastlane, against Ryback at Wrestlemania in front of a mostly empty stadium, and once more against Ryback at Payback in a match that was probably most notable for his opponent’s weightlifting belt bearing the words “The Pre-Show Stopper.”

    That each title match was relegated to the pre-show is all the more confounding when one considers that there was room made on Payback for a match between Curtis Axel and R-Truth that was barely Raw on Hulu worthy, the main card of Wrestlemania lasted nearly 5 hours, and the segment from Payback with Vince, Shane, and Stephanie was given 30 minutes to basically reach a non-conclusion.

    Kalisto is by no means to blame for whatever luster the title has lost during his five months as champion.The impetus for his initial U.S. title win was doubtlessly the buzz generated by his spectacular Salida Del Sol from atop a ladder at last December’s TLC show, and it was buzzworthy enough to have catapulted Kalisto to the level of a Rey Mysterio in terms of popularity and merchandising. Putting the United States Championship on him, in most scenarios, would be an indication that he was destined for bigger things as a singles star, and that WWE had at last realized its dream of a merch-moving, bilingual, Hispanic superhero for whom children would clamor.

    As with the payoff of Cena’s U.S. Open Challenge, however, there is a considerable gulf between what could have been and what is.

    Del Rio, the man from whom Kalisto won the championship, cannot be blamed either. As the surprise choice to go over Cena in the Open Challenge, ADR returned from a year away from the company at October’s Hell in a Cell and won the title clean in a short, forgettable match. Despite having gotten himself over to an even greater degree in AAA and Lucha Underground as a babyface than he ever was during his run with WWE, and despite getting a strong babyface reaction from the crowd in Los Angeles upon his return, the call was made to pair Del Rio with a Rascal-bound Zeb Coulter and position him as a heel right out of the gate.

    Within three weeks of the title change, both Del Rio’s self-made momentum (and, seemingly, his renewed passion) and the sense of importance that Cena had brought to the U.S. title were buried six feet below the surface of a field somewhere in Mex-America. By the time Del Rio lost the title to Kalisto on an episode of Raw in January, he was just another guy and the United States Championship was once again just a mid-card belt.

    Given the presumed importance of both elevating the United States Championship andbuilding a top Hispanic superstar, the bungling of Del Rio and Kalisto as well as the championship they both have held in Cena’s stead, is staggering. Somehow, it is nonetheless unsurprising. It is a result indicative of a larger problem with WWE’s booking approach for the past several years: Cena was the lynchpin of the plan to elevate the United States Championship, and once he was pulled away, the interest in keeping the championship relevant went with him and the whole thing fell apart.

    WWE had a real opportunity to keep the belt relevant post-Cena with a refreshed Del Rio, and it failed by completely ignoring what made him such a hot commodity on the independent circuit, sticking him with a dead-on-arrival gimmick, and then shoving him into the background as part of a stable. It then had the opportunity to make Kalisto into its next money-drawing luchador, and it instead killed his buzz by putting the belt on him, putting it back on Del Rio a day later, putting it back on Kalisto less than two weeks later, and then minimizing his role on TV with do-nothing feuds and a five-month absence from major shows.

    With the way things are headed, Rusev may wind up reclaiming the United States title at Extreme Rules (at the very least, he has vowed to eat his opponent’s heart, which should make for a great show). Monday marked one year since Rusev last faced Cena for the same title, and in the 365 days since, he has not only proven his ability to survive through bad storylines, but his capability of thriving in them and remaining entertaining (see: throwing a fish at Lana, his all-too-short-lived gimmick of stealing television monitors). Having Rusev end Kalisto’s lame-duck championship run and go on a tear comparable to his undefeated streak could both allow him to cultivate his character and put him back on the map as a viable threat for the world title.

    But there is also the specter of Cena looming large over the United States title chase scene. Having already announced his return for Memorial Day, it is not outside the realm of possibility that he will challenge Rusev for the belt, win it back, and resume the Open Challenge seven months after it ended as if the intervening months had never happened. That would likely be preferable for WWE’s purposes, allowing them to smokescreen their failures with Del Rio and Kalisto by closing the loop and trying it again.

    Having Cena swoop back in and reclaim the title may not be the best approach for the championship or those orbiting it now, but it is easy to see from WWE’s perspective how John Cena would restore the belt’s tarnished credibility instantaneously. If they were able to comprehend why it lost so much of the credibility that Cena worked so hard to build in the first place, then perhaps putting so much effort into bolstering the importance of championship belts would not be necessary in the future.

  • Wrestling Weekly: WWE roster continues to deepen; Mr. Wrestling I & II updates

    With the WWE roster close to being as strong as it’s been in a while thanks to the imminent returns of John Cena, Seth Rollins and more, how will the main event scene shake out? That’s just one of the topics of discussion on Wrestling Weekly today for Vic and Les!

    – The show begins by talking about the late Mac York (Ricky Morton’s uncle) and a bit of a health update on Johnny Walker, better known as Mr. Wrestling II.

    – That leads us into some talk on the careers of Mr. Wrestling 1 (Tim Woods) and 2, as well as some of the deepest rosters in the territory days (15:45) and why that was not uncommon back in the day.

    – From there, we discuss what the main event scene in WWE could look like (30:01) with all those returning from injury to go alongside AJ Styles, Roman Reigns and the guys featured currently on TV. 

    – We close by opening the mailbag (45:49) to answer your questions about whether or not the art of wrestling has been lost, recruiting mainstream sports stars into wrestling (49:03)and how much longer are the McMahons going to dominate the main storylines in WWE (51:47)? 

    Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

    Right click save

  • John Cena to host 2016 ESPYs, first match back is official

    Former WWE Champion John Cena announced today that he would be the host of this year’s ESPY awards on July 13. Additionally, his first match back from injury is now being advertised.

    The ESPY spot is his biggest breakthrough when it comes to exposure within mainstream sports, and is a significant coup for WWE to get one of its performers so prominently placed before that audience.

    The ESPYs are ESPN’s fan voting awards for a number of different sports categories, aired on their main network and treated like other major award shows with a red carpet, celebrities from all walks of entertainment, pre-show, etc.

    On the in-ring front, Cena returns to WWE on the May 30 Raw in Green Bay, Wisconsin, teaming with WWE Champion Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose against A.J. Styles & Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows.

    That would indicate his first major show appearance would be June 19 at the Money in the Bank PPV from the new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, NV.

  • WWE announces sold-out shows in Tokyo; Nakamura & Asuka booked

    On Thursday, WWE announced its two annual shows in Japan at Sumo Hall in Tokyo which have already sold out with Shinsuke Nakamura as the primary reason. 

    The most notable aspect of the announcement is that WWE did not at all cater the shows for the Japanese audience, but instead just did a regular show with Nakamura and fellow NXT star — women’s champion Asuka — working down on the card instead.

    In particular, Asuka is not working at all with WWE women’s champ Charlotte on the tour even though Asuka would be the lead babyface to the audience in the women’s division. Instead, both women will be defending their respective belts.

    July 1st lineup

    • WWE Champion Roman Reigns vs. A.J. Styles vs. Kevin Owens
    • John Cena vs. Chris Jericho
    • WWE Tag Team Champions New Day vs. Usos vs. Vaudevillains vs. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson
    • Nakamura vs. Bray Wyatt
    • WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte vs. Natalya
    • Titus O’Neil vs. Baron Corbin
    • NXT Champion Asuka vs. Becky Lynch

    July 2nd lineup:

    • WWE Champ Reigns vs. Styles vs. Jericho
    • Cena vs. Owens
    • WWE Tag Team Champs New Day vs. Vaudevillains
    • Nakamura vs. Wyatt
    • Usos vs. Gallows & Anderson
    • WWE Women’s Champ Charlotte vs. Lynch
    • Ziggler vs. Corbin
    • NXT Women’s Champ Asuka vs. Natalya

  • Total Divastation: A look back at WWE Total Divas episode 5

    By Kevin LaRose for WrestlingObserver.com

    Fox, Rosa, and Paige are at a restaurant. Its lunch time. Rosa, pregnant, asks if the baby can still breathe if she holds her breath. 

    Nattie greets a fan outside of RAW. Inside, Nattie grabs Mandy’s breast. We’re 30 seconds in and this show already has a lot going on. Mandy starts groping Nattie. Eva Marie goes to get something to eat, and Mandy asks Nattie to train her. What is the make-up budget for this show? Nikki tells us that she’s about to become the longest reigning Diva’s Champion in history. It means a lot to her.

    Paige and Rosa are out to lunch again with Mandy, Fox, and Eva Marie. Paige and Rosa talk about how they are wearing the same underwear. 

    Nikki is stretching in Brie’s house. Their mom comes in and starts yelling at Nikki for not stretching more. She tells her that she has to go to a doctor and stop doing the Rack Attack. Brie tells her that Nikki should instead shove her opponent’s face into her boobs as her finishing move. 

    Fox, Rosa, and Paige pull up to a party store in a huge-ass 4×4 truck. Rosa is shopping for her baby shower. Paige and Fox decide they are going to make it a goth/Halloween theme. Mandy talks about how she wants to work super hard and train and focus on being the best WWE Diva she can be and, like, stuff. Eva Marie is talking about how she just got her own “social media” guy who is going to follow her around and take her picture. Mandy wants her own “social media” guy. 

    Nikki and John are going out to a fancy restaurant, and Nikki thinks John looks cute. John admits that he just bought 55 suits when he was in New York… Wait, he bought 55 suits? Nikki thinks it’s a little weird that he bought 55 suits on one trip to New York, too. But she thinks he looks incredible. Nikki looks distressed, but not about the suits. Her neck really hurts and John gives her a massage. Cena is worried so he gets her into the Ferrari and they leave dinner. John Cena bought 55 suits in one trip to New York. 55 suits. 

    Back in Florida, Eva Marie is teaching Mandy how to use social media. Eva Marie pushes Mandy in the pool. In the gym, Sheamus tells Nikki he is selling his house and he’ll probably never have a family. Nikki is having hard times lifting weights. Backstage at Smackdown, Nattie is talking about how cute cats are. The pyro in the arena scares Rosa. Brie yells at Fox for planning a gothic themed baby shower for Rosa. 

    In a car, Brie is yelling at Nikki for not yawning after she yawned. Nikki is stoked that she’s going to be in the history books as the longest reigning Divas Champion of all time. Nikki is going to the doctor to get OZONE shots in her back. Everyone is telling Nikki to take care of herself and take some time off. 

    *****

    Back in Florida, Nattie is working out at the performance center waiting for Mandy, who shows up really late in Converse. Nattie is pissed. She has one day off a week and Mandy asked her to drive two hours from Tampa to Orlando in order to help her train. Mandy wants to take a selfie before they start. Nattie finally has had enough and leaves. Mandy does not even understand why Nattie is pissed. Mandy apologizes and Nattie agrees to stay and help. 

    In Memphis, Rosa, Fox and Paige are in a car and Paige finds out she’s going to be on Conan. But it’s on the day of the baby shower. She tells them she actually wants the baby shower in California, not Florida. Nobody listened to her. Fox tells her she’s being selfish. 

    In another car, Nattie tells Nikki that all the NXT girls text TJ. Nattie tells Nikki she has to power through the pain. Again, Nattie with the worst advice (like when she offered her father alcohol, even though he’s sober). Backstage, Rosa starts to unload to Mandy about how mad she is about the baby shower. Mandy stares at her blankly. Nattie and Brie are talking about Nikki’s back, and now that she’s in front of Brie, Nattie tells Nikki to take it easy. The girls are eating in catering and Rosa comes in and confronts Fox. This baby shower is getting nasty. 

    *****

    Backstage at RAW, Fox apologizes to Rosa but she’s actually not sorry.

    Nikki is about to fight Charlotte, if she wins she’s the longest reigning Diva’s Champion in history. Her back is ruined though. This is crazy. It’s amazing to think what these athletes do to entertain. I know this show is fake but my respect for Nikki is real. Nikki becomes the longest reigning Diva’s Champion of all time.

    Brie says that Nikki will never have kids to share this moment with. To celebrate the Divas go out to dinner with Dolph Ziggler. Dolph talks about having sex with the belt on. Brie gives a speech about how great Nikki is. Fox stands up and gives her own speech where she apologizes to Rosa. Rosa forgives her but she refuses to apologize back. She shouldn’t. Paige says it’s time to haze Mandy and asks her who the hottest Superstar is, and she says Dolph Ziggler, who has a big smile. Ziggler asks her if she’d rather have a reality show or be champion. She lies and says she would rather be the champion. Nattie thinks she’s genuine. Mandy says she would be in a long term relationship with Nattie. Paige says they respect Mandy. Everyone learned a lot of lessons this week.

    They went to a lot of nice looking restaurants, but the big takeaway… John Cena bought 55 suits on one trip to New York.

  • January 11, 2015 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: Cena out with shoulder injury, New Japan stars to WWE

    undefined

    Current subscribers click here to continue reading.