– Pre-show poll asked which match from WM32 to show before the event
Reigns def. HHH (11%)
The Undertaker def. Shane McMahon (40%)
Brock Lesnar def. Dean Ambrose (49%)
– Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks def. Emma & Lana – 18 min.
Crowd loved both the faces (Sasha might have had a bigger reaction due to the Eddie Guerrero connection). Sasha does The Banks Statement for the win while Lynch did her submission at the same time.
– Sin Cara def Epico – 9 min.
Guess worth noting that Los Matadores somewhat exist since that was his Titantron and attire for him. Some of the crowd seemed to boo that since at least some knew that’s a dead gimmick.
– Goldust def. Viktor with R-Truth as ref – 12 min match
R-Truth came out 1st with a decent pop. No reaction to Viktor, and fine reaction to Goldust. R-Truth played favor to Goldust and would often ignore Viktor’s attempted pinfalls or submissions. Finally, Goldust got an upper hand then won on a quick 3 count against him. Crowd enjoyed such mannerisms from R-Truth during the match (he ate some cotton candy from a fan from ringside) and after the match, both Goldust and R-Truth played along Truth’s theme song with the crowd.
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) def. Kane & Big Show vs Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman in an elimination match – 17 min match
New Day came out first to a good reaction, then Rowan and Strowman came out to boos, biggest pops were to Kane then Big Show. Match was fun, Kane eliminated Wyatts, and then Xavier pinned Kane almost immediately. After Wyatts started to attack them, they then did a triple chokeslam by Kane and Show (with Xavier in between them). New Day then got the Big Show to dance, then Kane after 2 or so minutes.
INTERMISSION
– Hype Bros def. Social Outcasts – 10 min match
Decent pop for Ryder, and Mojo looks like he just enjoys it all. Outcasts were just there to do what they were to do, no fanfare.
– US Champion Kalisto def. Alberto Del Rio – 12 min match
Crowd was into both (“Si chants ” for Del Rio, “Lucha” for Kalisto) Match was pretty good. In the beginning, Del Rio attempted to not fight go back through the Titantron.
– Dean Ambrose def. Rusev – 17 min match
Dean probably got the biggest pop between him, women’s babyfaces, and Kane with Big Show. Crowd was into both him and Rusev until Lana came out to distract and got heat on Rusev then she was kicked out by the ref. Ambrose after a struggle wins after Dirty Deeds.
The crowd was into this match more than you would think, considering how poorly these two are treated on TV week in and week out. Maybe the crowd was just excited for the show to finally get going? Either way, the crowd chanted “Cody” and “Lucha Lucha” a couple times throughout. Sin Cara pinned Stardust after a pretty basic back and forth match.
Mark Henry vs. Braun Strowman
Strowman was originally advertised for a tag team match with Luke Harper against Kane and Ryback. The match was just two big guys shoving into each other, headlock, bearhug, and shoving into each other some more. Strowman eventually won when Henry passed out to Strowman’s standing triangle choke. That move never looked all that great to begin with, but it’s even worse when Strowman does it on someone as big as Henry who he can’t lift high into the air.
Bo Dallas vs. Goldust
All four Social Outcasts came out and did their basic spiel about how they’re not rejects or losers, but Trenton and the people in the audience were. Ouch. Goldust came out and the match was mostly Bo running from Goldust, and Bo and the other Outcasts would distract the referee and attack Goldust then. Goldust eventually pinned Bo, but the other Outcasts ganged up on Goldust and attacked him immediately.
R-Truth came out to make the save and he and Goldust cleaned house. Then R-Truth got the mic and asked the audience if the audience thought the two of them should be a tag team, which got a surprisingly loud and positive response considering how dead this angle seems on TV. R-Truth even asked what the team should be called, and again, a majority of the people yelled “Golden Truth.” R-Truth did his rap and he and Goldust danced for what seemed like forever. Maybe they had to kill some time.
U.S. Champion Kalisto vs Rusev
Alberto Del Rio was originally advertised to face Kalisto. Instead, Rusev and Lana came out waving the Bulgarian Flag with Rusev’s face on it. Lana told the audience to “shu-tup” as she always does and said Rusev was going to be the United States Champion once again. She also said she wanted to sing a song for her fiancee. It was “You are my Sunshine” except she replaced the word “sunshine” with the word “monster.” That’s not exactly complimentary, but Lana looked great as usual, so I doubt Rusev cared.
Kalisto came out to what might have been the biggest pop of the night. (Either him or Big Show) Rusev started off by stealing the title, but Kalisto stole it back. The match itself was basically Kalisto getting in a few of his spots, and then Rusev overpowering Kalisto because of the size difference. Kalisto tried to body slam Rusev once, but Rusev stopped him. Kalisto eventually did slam Rusev later in the match, and it got a great pop. The match ended when Rusev ran at Kalisto in the corner but Kalisto jumped and Rusev hit an exposed turnbuckle, which Kalisto then turned into the Solida del Sol.
There were many “Lucha Lucha” and “USA USA” (even though they’re both foreigners) chants throughout the match. This was probably the match the crowd was hottest for from start to finish during the whole night.
Summer Rae vs. Alicia Fox
Once Summer and Alica were both out, Summer starts getting in Alicia’s face, then yelling at the audience a bit, getting in Alica’s face again, and then yelling at the audience some more. During that time Alica gets the win with a surprise roll up. I’m being completely honesty when I say I think it took longer for their entrances than it did for this “match.” It was a comedy segment, the crowd laughed, and I didn’t have to watch these two attempt an actual match, so I think we were all winners here.
Ryback vs. Fandango
Like I said above, Ryback was originally advertised for a tag team match with Kane against Luke Harper and Braun Strowman, so this was another change due to Luke Harper’s knee. Ryback came out and cut a promo, but the mic and sound system weren’t that great, and he doesn’t have the best enunciation to begin with, so I have no idea what he said.
I do know that the crowd didn’t really cheer for it, so either I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t understand him, or what he said was close to what he’s been saying on TV lately – which means it was some confusing promo that wasn’t really face or heel. Once the match got going it seemed like Ryback couldn’t decide whether he wanted to work as a face or heel. He worked over Fandango, dominating and tossing him around a bunch, and the crowd would cheer if Fandango managed to pull off a flip or kick.
However, Ryback kept doing all his babyface taunts to get his “Feed me More” chants, which the crowd chanted loudly. Then Ryback won with the Shellshock (minus the stomping around before hitting the move) and the crowd cheered the win, so I don’t know what was going on. After the win Ryback walked to the back, and then as Fandango walked to the back there was a CM Punk chant starting, and Fandango’s music came back on briefly which stopped the chant. He was the only person all night to lose their match but have their music play again as they walked to the back.
Big Show and Kane vs. Bray Wyatt and Erick Rowan
Bray came out with Rowan and Strowman, Big Show and Kane came out separately. Like I said before, Big Show got what might have been the biggest pop of the night. The match itself was average. Bray and Rowan got the heat on Kane, and Bray would pretty much only tag in when Kane was already hurt or on the ground. What a heel. The crowd was silent during most of the match, except they would really come alive the few times when Big Show would clap or stomp the steps to give Kane encouragement.
The match ended when Big Show choke-slammed Rowan and got the pin. Crowd popped. Strowman then got in the ring to attack Kane and Big Show, but Kane and Big Show worked together to give Strowman a double chokeslam. Crowd popped again. (It was a bit jarring to see Strowman flat on his back, as they’ve been very careful for the most part to keep him on his feet on TV.)
After that the action was done the crowd was quick to scurry out of the building. The crowd seemed happy afterward, and all in all I enjoyed it more than I thought I would considering what the card was.
Crowd into AJ. AJ won with the Phenomenal Elbow around 12 minutes.
– Mark Henry vs. The Ascension
Henry wins a short 5 minute match. Mostly Mark and Viktor. Henry hit the World’s Strongest Slam on Conor.
– Stardust & Heath Slater & Adam Rose vs. Damien Sandow & Darren Young & Fandango
Heath and Darren start chain wrestling and Sandow is up on the second rope on the apron literally telling the people when to cheer and boo. Fun “everyone hits a finisher/big move” to end it in about nine minutes with Fandango winning with a sitout suplex slam.
– Promo shown on the big screen with Sheamus and Wade Barrett.
– Zack Ryder vs. Luke Harper
Harper is over with a group in the front row, since he wrestled for 2CW a lot. Basic match, crowd wasn’t really into Zack like they were 2 or 3 years ago when he was here last. Harper won with his discus clothesline in about 10 minutes, crowd actually cheered the pin. Before the finish, Ryder came off the top rope but missed, and kinda fell weird, he pulled down his knee pad, and got up into the clothesline and was helped to the back by the ref, not quite sure if he was really hurt or not.
– WWE Tag Champions The New Day (Kofi & Xavier) w/Big E. vs. Usos vs. Dudleyz
Bubba Ray got the biggest heat so far by saying him and D’Von were from Brooklyn and were real New Yorkers. Big E on the outside was insanely entertaining at one point, humping the floor for a good five minutes. They did a comedy spot with Xavier getting slapped hard on the back by everyone in the match, including Kofi. Complete comedy match and highly entertaining. Xavier pinned D’Von after he tagged a Uso on the top rope, who proceeded to splash D’Von, Xavier then came in the ring and threw Uso to the outside and pinned D’Von. Went about 17 minutes.
– Intermission
– Divas Champion Charlotte vs. Natalya
Pretty basic match, lots of “Whoo”s and Charlotte sucks chants. Charlotte working the knee led to a nice spot where Charlotte went for the figure four, but stopped and put the Sharpshooter on. Built up to Natalya getting the sharpshooter to a pretty good pop. Charlotte eventually won with a roll up out of the corner with her feet on the ropes. Decent match.
– Chris Jericho vs. Jack Swagger
Jericho cut a promo on Binghamton saying the place sucks. Jericho got the heat when Charles Robinson was pulling Swagger out of the corner and Jericho punched him. Jericho got caught in the ankle lock and pulls the ring apron into the ring for a rope break. While the ref is fixing the apron, Jericho poked Swagger in the eye and hit the Codebreaker for the pin. After the match, Jericho put Swagger in the Walls Of Jericho which brought out AJ. He went for the Phenomenal Elbow, but Jericho bailed.
– Sheamus and Wade Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns
Sheamus didn’t even bother putting his Mohawk up. Place went nuts when Dean came out and a Roman got a decent pop as well. Heat on Dean as he went for the Nigel rope spot and Barrett just kicked him while standing on the apron. Reigns won with the spear in about 14 minutes in a basic match:
The match was pretty good and even, lots of false finishes where Rowan was almost going to win, but Ryback came back with the shellshock to get the victory. The “Feed me more” chant must have broken out at least 10 times, and by the end people were going nuts for the Big Guy, save for one “Goldberg” chant that broke out before the finish by a bunch of drunk guys.
Goldust defeated Curtis Axel (w/ Bo Dallas)
Axel and Dallas came out to a meh reaction, and once they got into the ring Bo cut a promo on how the Outcasts were starting their new winning streak tonight. Goldust came out to a big pop. The match was pretty alright with Goldust winning via a roll up, which led to the Outcasts attacking him. Chants for R-truth started and low and behold he came out. Truth did his “Whats up?!” routine with the crowd and he and Goldust started dancing and hugged each other to the crowd chanting “Golden Truth”, it was pretty alright.
U.S. Champion Kalisto defeated Dolph Ziggler and Rusev to retain
No doubt the match of the night. Originally it was supposed to be Kalisto vs. Del Rio but Del Rio was nowhere to be found. Ziggler was the most over and people absolutely hated Rusev. Several USA chants broke out while Lana was trying to make the crowd stand in attention so she could sing Ru-Ru a heel version of “You are my Sunshine”.
The match started with Kalisto teaming with Ziggler to take out Rusev who then grabbed a mic and told the ref that the other two weren’t being fair. Some big triple threat spots and Kalisto’s flippy shit made the crowd go nuts, especially when all three men superkicked each other. Kalisto hit the Salida Del Sol on Rusev for the win. After the match Ziggler put his hand out to shake Kalisto’s, and he kicked it away before hugging him and the two left.
Sin Cara defeated Fernando (or Diego? I don’t remember)
This was right after intermission and absolutely no one cared. I felt kinda bad for both guys, but nothing really engaged the crowd except for when one of the Matadores got up on the turnbuckle and did some heely shit towards the crowd, which proved to be very effective.
Becky Lynch defeated Naomi (w/ Tamina) with Alica Fox as the special guest referee
Becky is super over, everyone went nuts when she came out, Naomi did a decent job in getting the crowd worked up for the match. It was rather quick, with Becky winning via DQ and Team B.A.D. proceeded to beat her down while a “We Want Sasha” chant broke out. Then the Boss’s music hit and down she came to clear house. After kicking B.A.D. out of the ring she challenged them to a tag team match, which they initially refused but Lynch and Sasha threw them back into the ring. A pretty fantastic tag team match followed where it made everyone look strong. Sasha hit the Bank Statement on Tamina for the win.
Kane and Big Show defeated Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman
The Wyatts came out to a decent mix of cheers and boos. The place exploded when Big Show and Kane came out. What shocked me the most in this match was Bray, he was taking some pretty hard bumps throughout the whole match. There was a few instances where he sold his back as if something bad happened, and he had Strowman lift him up onto the apron several times but after a while he was wrestling as he normally would. I did notice he didn’t do his spider walk completely as Kane sat up and attacked him before he could do it.
Strowman was a beast in this match, up close he looks like a legitimate monster and beat up Show and Kane quite a bit. Several “Strowman” chants broke out throughout the match. It ended with the Eater of Pins being knocked out by the Big Show, to the biggest pop of the night.
Rich Swann defeated “The Drifter” Elias Samson with a rollup
Before the match, Samson sang a heelish song about “Wachulula,” to ring announcer Dasha Fuentes, only to be interrupted by Swann’s music. Average opener, with Samson milking the crowd for cheap heat by insulting the young children in the crowd and Swann playing a strong babyface with his comebacks.
Nia Jax defeated Carmella with her legdrop finisher
Carmella got a great reaction from the kids in attendance, but needed the 20 or so hardcore NXT fans in the crowd to help with her catchphrases. The attendance was under 200 for a venue set up with 230 seats, so chants were difficult to sustain all night. Carmella’s in-ring presence has gotten stronger with time, but Nia Jax appears to have peaked after the Takeover match with Bayley in London.
Tye Dillinger defeated Riddick Moss with his single-knee facebreaker finisher
Dillinger is a talented live performer, engaging an audience that was not as familiar with him as the bigger stars on the card. The “10” chant works as a hook in telling a story, and Moss was a good foil as they built to the finish. If there was an award for “Biggest Overachiever” tonight, Dillinger would earn my vote.
– Aliyah came out for a promo. Unlike the other mid-card promos that recent Tough Enough contestants and new signees have been making, this ran under 30 seconds in length. She sounded like she was suffering from a head cold. After she mentioned the Bayley/Asuka NXT women’s title match at TakeOver: Dallas, Aliyah said that she would be lined up for a title shot.
– NXT Women’s Champion Bayley defeated Emma with the Bayley-to-Belly
As my favorite performer in NXT, I continue to marvel at the phenomenon that Bayley has become at live events. Her merchandise sells strongly, the number of fans who bring signs for her (especially young kids) are plentiful, and the connection she makes with an audience is special. Well-worked match by both women, building to a dramatic closing sequence.
– Sami Zayn defeated Manny Andrade with the Helluva Kick
Excellent mat work and counter wrestling from these two, as none of the performers were taking any unnecessary risks. Both teased dives to the outside, but stuck to the basics. Andrade is adapting well to the WWE style, after seeing him a number of times since his arrival. After the match, Zayn put his opponent front and center with a handshake, retreating backstage for Andrade to get a warm reception from the crowd.
– American Alpha (Jordan/Gable) defeated The Revival (Dash/Dawson) by DQ in an NXT Tag Team Championship match
These two teams have crafted a solid story for their match at Takeover: Dallas, and I presume we saw the basic beats of that match, minus a few highspots to protect the participants. Well-worked match, leading to the champions being disqualified for pulling the referee out of the ring after Gable/Jordan hit their finisher.
– NXT Champion Finn Balor defeated Samoa Joe & Baron Corbin in a triple threat match with a double foot stomp onto both men, pinning Corbin
Big reactions for Joe & Balor as they entered, followed by a by-the-numbers Triple Threat match. Baron Corbin is getting more comfortable in the main event slot, playing off of the crowd without losing his place in the match. Creative finish, as Balor gave the foot stomp to Corbin while Joe had him in the Kokina Clutch.
Following the main event, Finn Balor paid tribute to Sami Zayn, disclosing that this was his last appearance in front of an NXT crowd in Florida. Zayn returned to the ring to a rousing ovation and gave a very sincere speech about how much NXT has meant to him, his feelings about performing at Wrestlemania, and how lucky the crowd was to see so many future stars on one night. A classy sendoff to a world-class wrestler.
Crowd hot most of night, except for a Diego vs. Sin Cara match.
– Ryback def. Erick Rowan with the Shellshock. Fast-paced opener with a number of near falls
– Golddust def. Bo Dallas (w/Curtis Axel) after a roll-up.
– U.S. Champion Kalisto def. Rusev (w/Lana) and Dolph Ziggler to retain. Lots of near falls. Rusev hit a lot of power moves while Lana kept distracting the ref and Kalisto/Ziggler.
– Sin Cara def. Diego after a flip off the top rope. Diego tried to play heel, but the crowd wasn’t into it.
– Becky Lynch def. Naomi (w/Tamina) by DQ when Tamina interfered. Beatdown after the match which prompted Sasha Banks to run in and that led to…
– Sasha Banks & Becky Lynch def. Tamina & Naomi with a double submission.
– Big Show & Kane def. Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman. Wyatt worked most of the match. The faces threw Strowman out of the ring, doubled team Bray, leading to the KO punch from Show.
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.
This morning’s New Japan show puts current champion and potential new ace of the promotion Kazuchika Okada against perennial challenger Hirooki Goto. While Goto has had many opportunities at grabbing the top title in New Japan, he always seems to be just one win away from the coveted prize. He’s been on a more rebellious streak as of late, taking out Okada at every opportunity, including press confrences. Is this the edge he needs to win the gold?
Also tonight is Katsyuori Shibata taking on Tomohiro Ishii for the NEVER title, Toru Yano and the Briscoes defending their six man NEVER titles against Bullet Club members Bad Luck Fale, Tama Tonga and Yujiro Takahashi, as well as several matches aimed at building towards the next New Beginnings show, set to be held on Valentines Day.
Coverage provided by Dave Meltzer starts at 12AM PST tonight.
JAY WHITE VS. DAVID FINLAY
I loved this match Just a perfect prelim opener, technically awesome. Like usual with New Japan openers, it was too short. White caught Finlay doing a cannonball, turned it into a half crab, then a full crab and finally a lion tamer for the submission.
Lots of buffering issues during this match. Liger & Tiger & Taguchi won. I think Gedo lost the fall, which would make sense. During intermission they’ll probably show a replay. It looked fine, just like a usual match in that spot on the card.
YUJI NAGATA & MANABU NAKANISHI VS. SATOSHI KOJIMA & HIROYOSHI TENZAN
The match was good when Nakanishi wasn’t in. Unfortunately, he was in a lot. About what you’d figure from these guys in this spot. The crowd liked it. Kojima & Tenzan used the 3-D on Nakanishi and Kojima pinned Nakanishi after two lariats. They all shook hands after. Nagata then issued a challenge and Kojima seemed to accept. They all shook hands again. The crowd popped for the mic work and all four stood on he ropes in four corners as the crowd cheered.
MICHAEL ELGIN & KUSHIDA & JUICE ROBINSON VS. TETSUYA NAITO & EVIL & BUSHI
The heels won when Bushi blew mist and nailed Kushida with a toipe and Evil used an STO on Robinson for the pin. Before the match, Naito started bullying TV announcer Shimpei Nogami and tore his Blue Justice shirt. Elgin’s power moves when he tagged in for the first time got over bigger than anything. He pressed Bushi and then held him up for one arm before dropping him.
MARK & JAY BRISCOE & TORU YANO VS. BAD LUCK FALE & TAMA TONGA & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI FOR HE NEVER SIX MAN TITLES
Fale & Tonga & Yujiro won the titles. They started off doing comedy and kind of lost the crowd and never got them back. I think they feel the need to elevate the other Bullet Club members right now. The finish saw Fale hit the grenade on Jay. Yano gave Fale & Yujiro both low blows, but Tonga then gave Yano a low blow and a double arm DDT for the pin.
MATT & NICK JACKSON DEFEND IWGP JR. TAG TITLES AGAINST RICOCHET & MATT SYDAL AND BOBBY FISH & KYLE O’REILLY
Lots of streaming issues here. Best match so far but how good I couldn’t really tell. Ricochet & Sydal won the titles with Ricochet doing a shooting star press on Nick and Sydal doing the same move at the same time on Matt. Cody Hall interfered a few times and carried Kyle O’Reilly to the back before the finish. Ricochet seemed the most popular. A lot of good moves and dives, a tower of doom spot.
KATSUYORI SHIBATA VS. TOMOHIRO ISHII FOR NEVER OPEN WEIGHT TITLE
This was fantastic. The usual hard chops, elbows and clotheslines, cool submissions, no sell spots that you’d expect. They were slapping the hell out of each other, Shbiata used a choke and then the penalty kick for the pin to retain. Ishii was bleeding from the mouth from about halfway into the match. Ishii doing his super sell job as he was carried to the back. They did spots early where each guy allowed the other to suplex and then the guy would get up after being suplexed. They did this about seven times and some great exchanges. The crowd was more into Shibata. Shibata also did a great flying armbar and triangles and armbars on the ground. You got the sense Shibata is going to get the position Nakamura had.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI & TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA VS. DOC GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON & KENNY OMEGA
This sets up the IC and tag title match on Valentine’s Day in Niigata. The Bullet Club had to win this one. They pretty much destroyed them Omega worked over Tanahashi’s bad shoulder. After the match they destroyed Tanahashi. They used chair shots to the shoudler, Matt Jackson came off the top with a chair to the shoudler. Omega came off the top rope with a high fly flowwhile Tanahashi’s arm was held over a garbage can with the splash on the arm. It was a total post-match destruction They did what they had to do to get Omega over in the spot he’s in For the match itself, Anderson used the gunstun on Honma, then they laid out Makabe with the Magic killer and Omega used a reverse Frankensteiner on Tanahashi before Omega finally used the one winged angel on Honma for the pin. Pretty good, not off the charts.
KAZCHIKA OKADA VS. HIROOKI GOTO FOR IWGP HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE
Goto is all painted up like Hakushi. Very good match but this never got to the level of most IWGP title matches. It’s really clear watching this show how much losing Nakamura hurts. Okada kept going for the rainmaker and Goto kept head-butting him. But finally Okada hit it, then followed with two more rainmakers and got the pin Goto had nearly won with the shouten kai, but Okada barely got his hand on the rope. I don’t think people believed Goto could win. Gedo is now doing a promo for Okada. Now Okada is doing the promo One thing about this match is that the crowd was completely behind Okada but didn’t seem to care much about Goto.
NXT TakeOver: Respect takes place tonight at Full Sail University at 8:00 pm EST. The main event will feature NXT Women’s champion Bayley defending her title against previous champion Sasha Banks in a 30 minute iron man match. Meanwhile, we’ll also see the conclusion of the Dustry Rhodes Tag Team Classic, with semifinals on the show being Finn Balor and Samoa Joe taking on Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder, Jason Jordan and Chad Gable against Baron Corbin and Rhyno, and the finals featuring the winners of both semifinals. Asuka will make her in-ring NXT debut taking on Dana Brooke, and Apollo Crews will face off against Tyler Breeze.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show so send a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com.
*****
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS: NXT CHAMPION FINN BALOR & SAMOA JOE VS. DASH WILDER & SCOTT DAWSON
Joe & Balor won and advanced in a well-worked match. Joe got the hot tag and set up Wilder for the Muscle Buster. Balor told Joe he wanted to tag in and Joe hit the Muscle Buster, and then Balor used the Coup De Grace on Wilder for the pin. Most of the match saw The Mechanics work over Balor’s knee which he sold after hitting his finisher. Joe & Balor go to the finals with a hint of issues between them and Balor “injured”.
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT SEMIFINALS: JASON JORDAN & CHAD GABLE VS. BARON CORBIN & RHYNO
Rhyno & Corbin advanced when Rhyno hit the gore on Jordan, and Corbin pinned Gable after the End of Days The crowd just loves Gable. He’s got something really special. Jordan & Gable are such a great babyface team that they really made the match, which had super heat, and overcame the fact that Corbin is, at best, passable at this point. There were all kinds of funny chants like “Save the Gable” and the crowd singing Kurt Angle’s music and chanting “Gable” where people used to sing “You Suck”. Jordan has all the ability in the world and has finally started to come out of his shell in this team.
They showed Kevin Nash in the crowd.
ASUKA VS. DANA BROOKE
As a wrestler, Asuka is a level above every woman wrestler in WWE. She looked super here with all her submissions, ring confidence, and total superstar presence. Brooke held her own and didn’t look out of place given this level of competition. The crowd was actually a lot hotter for this than the two tag matches. Asuka did an absolutely sweet flying armbar near the finish. She ended up winning with the Asuka Lock — a chicken wing crossface with a body scissors. After the match, Asuka laid out Brooke with a high kick and then stared down Emma who turned her head like she was backing down. Excellent debut.
We got the same Nia Jax promo we’ve been seeing recently. She’s debuting next week.
APOLLO CREWS VS. TYLER BREEZE
This was another good match that was built around Breeze working over Crews’ back. Breeze really looked good here. He got a great near fall as Crews did the press slam, went for the standing moonsault, but Breeze hooked the leg. Crews then broke free and went for the standing moonsault again, but Breeze got his knees up. Crews came back after absorbing two running elbows from Breeze, charging out at the third attempt and hitting a running kick. He then hit an atomic drop into a power bomb for the pin. They tried to tell the story that Crews is showing how much guts he has as he sold most of the way.
They showed HIdeo Itami and Funaki in the stands.
They are doing a show-long story as to whether Balor will be able to come out for the finals due to his knee.
DUSTY RHODES TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT FINALS: SAMOA JOE & FINN BALOR VS. BARON CORBIN & RHYNO
No angle, but a solid match and the crowd was pretty hot. At one point, Rhyno hit the Gore on Joe, but Balor saved. He went for a second one but Joe kicked him in the face, gave him a Muscle Buster, and Balor used a double foot stomp on Rhyno for the pin.
Cody, Dustin, Michelle (Dusty’s wife) and his two daughters were all in the ring as well as Eden Stiles. Cody did a promo and talked about how Dusty died on the same day as John Wayne but 36 years later. Cody talked about how Dusty was referred to as “the oak of NXT” but to him, he was known as Dad. “Tonight, we are all Rhodes,” he said. They played Rhodes’ music and fans chanted “Thank you Dusty.”
They showed Stephanie McMahon, Charlotte, Becky Lynch, and Lita at ringside. Stephanie even chanted “women’s wrestling” along with the crowd.
30-MINUTE IRONMAN MATCH: NXT WOMEN’S CHAMPION BAYLEY VS. SASHA BANKS
Baley retained the title with a 3-2 margin by using a Fujiwara armbar at 29:57 to break the tie.
Banks won the first fall with an eye poke and schoolgirl using the trunks, Bayley won the second fall with the Belly To Bayley, while the third fall saw Banks win by ramming Bayley into the LED board, causing Bayley to be counted out. The fourth fall saw Bayley use a roll-up out of nowhere. The last few minutes were really dramatic as Banks used the Bank Statement, but because Bayley had worked over her hand during the match, she didn’t have full power. Bayley tried to reverse out once, failed, but then reversed into the armbar and was stomping on Banks’ head. The tap came right before time ran out.
It was pretty much what it should have been as far as a really good, well built match. Banks was great here, and Bayley was super over with the crowd so you had a great face/heel dynamic. Izzy at ringside was the other star of this match. They couldn’t create someone that good as her at ringside.
After the match, they sent everyone on the roster out on the stage to give a round of applause. HHH and Wlliam Regal gave Banks flowers as the fans chanted “Thank you Sasha” as Stephanie and Sara Amato congratulated her with Bayley cheering for her from the ring. HHH then went into the ring and gave Bayley flowers. They did a good job of making this feel special with the post-match.
This really felt very close to, from an post-match atmosphere and setting, like a G-1 final or Arena Mexico Anniversary match.
