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Tag: Roman Reigns

  • WWE Smackdown results: Roman Reigns and AJ Styles confrontation, League of Nations dissension

    – Air Date: April 28, 2016 (Apr 27 in Canada) 
    – Location: Verizon Wireless Arena in Manchester, NH 

    – The Big News: 

    There was another interesting confrontation between AJ Styles and Roman Reigns. Also, the League of Nations appear to be done. 

    – Show Recap: 

    Roman Reigns came out to heavy booing (and some cheers). Jerry Lawler even mentioned it, saying it’s fun to boo Reigns and he doesn’t mind it. Reigns said he superman-punched Styles in the mouth, and would do it again at Payback. He did it because he doesn’t believe Styles’ claim that he isn’t behind the attacks of Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson.  

    Reigns wanted the truth directly from Styles, but he got The Miz and Maryse instead. Miz introduced Reigns to Maryse and people clapped for her. They kissed. Miz said he warned us about Styles, Gallows and Anderson. He made a convoluted analogy to Shawshank Redemption, called Reigns the warden, and concluded that Styles would walk out as WWE Champion. 

    Miz said he deserved some recognition for this and he kissed Maryse again. Reigns punched him in the face. Miz fell to the outside and Maryse checked on him. Reigns handed the Intercontinental title to Maryse, said “nice to meet you,” and held up his WWE title belt. 

    This was fine for what it was. I must point out that Reigns did not use his new catchphrase here or at any point during the show, thankfully. They announced Reigns vs. Miz, and that Miz is the one who requested the match. They didn’t mention who he asked, because nobody is in charge of Smackdown. 

    Backstage, Renee Young interviewed the League of Nations. Sheamus said no three men could beat them, and they proved it at WrestleMania when they beat New Day. Alberto Del Rio said they got rid of the weak link in Wade Barrett, and Rusev said you might as well call them the united nations. Goofy. 

    Kalisto, Sami Zayn & Cesaro beat League of Nations via countout 

    They announced earlier that this was basically an open challenge issued by the League. LON weren’t getting along right off the bat, as they kept blind-tagging themselves in. They got the heat on Zayn, but as Del Rio sized up a superkick, Rusev made a blind tag. 

    They argued in the ring, so Sheamus jumped in to break it up. They shoved each other for a bit until Del Rio walked out, which got a mixed reaction. Rusev held Zayn and tagged in Sheamus, who came off the top with a double axe handle, but Zayn moved and Sheamus nailed Rusev. Sheamus and Rusev then shoved for a bit until Rusev walked out, leaving Sheamus alone.  

    Zayn made a hot tag to Kalisto who hit a hurricanrana and springboard crossbody. Cesaro then tagged in and hit an uppercut and diving crossbody. Sheamus actually kicked out, so Cesaro hit a million uppercuts and dropkick. Cesaro went for the swing but Sheamus bailed and walked out. 

    Instead of going after Sheamus, they all just stood there and watched as the referee counted him out. They played Zayn’s music as the good guys posed. I have no idea why they couldn’t just pin Sheamus. 

    After a break, the League argued backstage. Rusev pushed Del Rio, then Sheamus shoved them both into a door. He yelled that the League was done and walked off. Rusev yelled, “Forget your league!” That’s one way to do a breakup, I guess. 

    They aired the Owens-Zayn video package from Raw. 

    Baron Corbin beat Damien Sandow via pinfall 

    After Dolph Ziggler attacked him on Raw, Corbin watched his back as he walked down the aisle tonight. Sandow didn’t get an entrance, if you were wondering. Some people chanted “Let’s go Sandow” as Corbin beat the crap out of him outside the ring. Corbin won in 2 minutes with End of Days. 

    Backstage, Renee caught up to AJ Styles. Styles said he doesn’t care what Reigns thinks. He’s going to take the title away and Reigns won’t be calling him a liar, he’ll be calling him champion. Styles doesn’t answer to Reigns and will step on his cape when he wants to. Styles added that he’ll be at ringside for Reigns’ match tonight. 

    Ambrose Asylum with Natalya and Women’s Champion Charlotte 

    This was the top of the hour segment. They showed a replay of Chris Jericho getting the best of Dean Ambrose on Raw. Ambrose remained outside the ring by the announce table and said he would get to his part-time position in a moment, but he wanted to talk about his full-time position first. 

    He said Jericho made a mistake by letting him go (from the Walls), because Ambrose doesn’t let go, and he was going to plant Jericho in the middle of the ring and beat him at Payback. Ambrose said he would turn Bon Jovi (Jericho) into Meatloaf. 

    It was time for Ambrose’s part-time position, so he jumped in the ring, called himself a multifaceted entertainer, popped a Tic Tac, and introduced us to the Ambrose Asylum. He brought out Natalya, who said his set reminded her of the dentist’s office. 

    Ambrose showed a clip of Charlotte tapping to Natalya but being saved by Ric Flair, and asked how things were going to be different on Sunday. Natalya said she would have Bret Hart in her corner. That brought out Charlotte and her dad (Ric Flair). 

    Charlotte called it disturbing that Natalya was parading Bret around after everything he’s been through. Natalya said Charlotte should look in the mirror and see who was standing behind her. 

    Charlotte said the difference was that Flair is legendary, but also her coach. Natalya called Flair a creepy old man who knows Charlotte isn’t good enough to win on her own. Bret would be there on Sunday to stop Flair from interfering and Charlotte will tap again. 

    “Stop me?!” said Flair, who claimed he owned Bret Hart in WWE and WCW. Flair said he would’ve beaten Bret on the moon if Vince flew them there. (This is where they cut out Flair telling Natalya to kill herself from the live taping.) Natalya told him to settle down and told Charlotte it’s time the fans get a champion they deserve. People cheered. They faced off and that was pretty much it. 

    Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady beat Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel (w/Heath Slater) via pinfall 

    New Day came out, kicked out all three announcers and took over on commentary. Enzo and Cass won quickly with the rocket launcher. The highlight of New Day on commentary was Byron Saxton being forced to sit on the floor. The Vaudevillains had come out on the stage to watch the match, and Big Cass called them soft afterwards. Again, the fans really liked Enzo and Cass. 

    Backstage, Goldust told R-Truth it felt good when they danced last week. Before he could finish, Truth said Goldust looked happy in a team with Fandango, so he got himself a different partner in Tyler Breeze, who showed up. Truth deemed them “Gorgeous Truth,” and they left. Fandango showed up to console Goldust. Breeze didn’t say or do anything. Truth used a small tree branch as a selfie stick. 

    They aired a promo for Primo and Epico who discussed Puerto Rico’s crippling economy. (Not really.) 

    Apollo Crews beat Stardust via pinfall 

    Crews won quickly with the spin-out powerbomb. 

    They aired a replay of the Shane and Stephanie stuff from Raw. Ranallo said everyone has been raving about the job Shane has done, and Lawler scoffed. 

    Non-title Champion vs. Champion Match: WWE Champion Roman Reigns beat IC Champion The Miz (w/Maryse) via pinfall  

    Styles came out before the match to sit at ringside. Reigns hit Miz with the drive-by and faced off with Styles, who tossed his chair aside. As they mouthed off, Miz attacked Reigns from behind, tossing him head first into the announce table and steel post to gain control. 

    There were some brief dueling chants for Reigns, and Styles couldn’t help but look around at the crowd. Reigns came back with a Samoan drop, fists, clotheslines and more clotheslines. Reigns sized up the superman punch but Maryse pulled Miz out of the ring. 

    Reigns went after him, but Miz dropkicked the steps into Reigns. Miz followed with a DDT in the ring for a two count. Miz went for the skull crushing finale, but Reigns fought out with elbows and followed with a spear for the win. Average match at best, about 12 minutes. 

    Styles jumped in the ring afterwards to face off with Reigns. Gallows and Anderson made their way down and Reigns went after them, as an annoyed Styles looked on. Gallows and Anderson got the better of Reigns and Styles wasn’t stopping them. 

    The Usos ran out to make the save. After Jimmy Uso superkicked Anderson, Styles got in his face, perhaps to settle things down. However, Jimmy dropped Styles with a punch and superkicked Gallows. Styles came right back with a jumping kick on Jimmy, and Gallows knocked Jimmy out of the ring. 

    Styles got in Gallows’ face, but Gallows nudged him aside and ate a spear from Reigns. Styles tried a Styles Clash but Reigns back body dropped him out of the ring. Reigns posed with his title as Styles yelled at him from ringside. This was really good. 

    – Final Thoughts: 

    This was a very bland show until the very end. The angle with Styles and Reigns wasn’t historically good or anything, but it’s so refreshing seeing two top guys feud over the title in an intriguing storyline that doesn’t involve company management in any way. 

    Also, unless I missed it (and I don’t think I did), they did not air the Chyna tribute video. 

  • WWE Sheffield, England, live results: Roman Reigns vs. Sheamus

    Submitted by Mykey Winstanley & Joe Atherton

    Cesaro beat Stardust

    Cesaro won via giant swing into a sharpshooter. Fun opener. Cesaro even hit two 619s, and was very over with the crowd.

    Darren Young & Zack Ryder beat Social Outcasts (Heath slater & Bo Dallas)

    This was a 5 minute squash. Rough rider on Heath for the pin and win.

    Rusev beat Jack Swagger

    End came after Rusev locked on The Accolade on the 2nd attempt after Swagger powered out of the 1st effort. Rusev came out to heat with his Bulgarian flag. Swagger playing to the crowd with a British flag that got a big pop. Back & forth match, ton of heat on Rusev who kept goading the crowd. Solid match that the crowd was into.

    WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day defeated The Usos & Dudleyz in a three-way

    New Day crazy over with the fans. Dudleyz got a big pop with the adults in the audience. Usos with a superkick party, laying out both teams. Dudleyz teased the tables them put them back under the ring to the crowd’s displeasure. Finish was an assisted big ending into a flying bulldog by Xavier Woods on Devon Dudley

    Sin Cara beat Tyler Breeze

    SC won with a top rope senton, and was over with the kids. Athletic, smooth match, but was nothing special from either guy.

    WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte (w/Ric Flair) defeated Sasha Banks and Becky Lynch in a three-way

    Charlotte won with a little help from her dad. Great match which the crowd was into from bell to bell. All three women work so well together. Duelling “Let’s Go Becky/Let’s Go Sasha” chants. Charlotte rolled up Becky with her feet on the ropes after Ric distracted her.

    WWE Champion Roman Reigns defeated Sheamus

    Mixed reaction for Sheamus while Reigns booed massively with some cheers from kids and dads. Sheamus cut a promo on being the saviour of Sheffield now the two football teams have gone to crap. In the match, Sheamus went for a chair, Reigns slapped him in the face and Sheamus threw Reigns into the steps. Sheamus hit a brogue kick after being on top for quite a while and got the 2.9 Cena kick out from Reigns. The end came when Reigns hit 2 Superman punches and hit the spear for the pin.

  • WWE Dublin, Ireland, live results (Thursday): Sheamus vs. Roman Reigns

    Submitted by Manus Cronin

    – Sin Cara beat Stardust with a top rope senton

    Kids were into chanting ‘Lucha’ and not much else. Decent match with no heat whatsoever beyond ‘Lucha’ chants.

    – Darren Young & Zack Ryder beat the Social Outcasts (Slater & Dallas)

    Ryder pinned Bo with the rough Ryder. Comedy tag match. Basic and short.

    – Cesaro beat Rusev

    This was a long match Cesaro won after a 10 rep swing and a sharpshooter. Lot of power moves as one would expect. Cesaro worked over Rusev’s leg Bret Hart style to set up for the sharpshooter. Probably the best match on the show.

    – WWE Tag Team Champions New Day beat Dudleys & Usos in a triple threat tag match to retain

    End came when the Dudleys hit a 3D and Xavier stole the pin. New Day and Dudleys were super over initially. Dudleys did the whole tease the table and don’t deliver gimmick to get heat. Usos were booed surprisingly.  

    > During the interval, Jo Jo and generic announcer were hyping the rest of the card. Massive boos at the mere mention of Roman Reigns which was contrary to what I expected but it might simply have been a reaction to the fact that he was facing Sheamus later and he is the home town guy.

    – Jack Swagger beat Tyler Breeze with the ankle lock in a short match

    Neither guy was particularly over save for when Tyler did ‘the worm’. That got a babyface pop. A dad who had brought his kids that was sitting behind me asked ‘Is that Scotty 2 Hotty?’ which may be an indictment on the degree to which older fans are keeping up to date with the product today.

    – WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte (w/ Ric Flair) def. Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks to retain

    Charlotte pinned Lynch with a rollup after a long match. Becky was over like crazy as the hometown girl. I was amazed that there was barely any pop for Flair but they didn’t announce him so that was probably a factor. Decent match but I had hoped for better. Lots of athletic spots from Charlotte (she really is a step above as far as being an athlete goes). Finish was Becky had Sasha in the disarmer, Ric grabbed Sasha, pulled her out of the ring and Charlotte rolled up Becky.  

    – WWE Champion Roman Reigns def. Sheamus

    Sheamus came out first to huge cheers. Roman came out to THUNDEROUS boos. I have no idea why they booked Roman against Sheamus in Dublin. It was guaranteed that he would not be cheered against the local boy (there was an audible ‘You’re from Cabra’ chant at one point during the match). Sheamus did a LONG promo trying to make himself the heel. He insulted the crowd over a myriad of things, including the fact that we haven’t had a government for 7 weeks (this actually got a few cheers).

    Eventually after a solid 5-7 minutes of Sheamus trying to make himself the heel, the crowd cottoned on and started to boo him but their heart wasn’t really in it. All it served to do was make the match a complete damp squib. A steady stream of people started to leave at about the 2 minute mark (which I’ve never seen at a WWE live event in Dublin before). The remaining crowd wasn’t really into either guy. I have no idea why they couldn’t just let Sheamus work babyface in Dublin. The crowd wanted to cheer him anyway and at least if they’d booked it that way, the match might have had some heat rather than a mass exodus of bored parents and children.

  • WWE Smackdown results: Roman Reigns and AJ Styles face-off, Vaudevillains debut

    – Air Date: April 7, 2016 (Apr 6 in Canada) 
    – Location: Toyota Center in Houston, TX 

    – The Big News: 

    AJ Styles confronted Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose returned, The Vaudevillains debuted, and The Miz defended his Intercontinental Title against Zack Ryder. 

    – Show Recap: 

    The show opened with the same WrestleMania recap video from Raw. Roman Reigns came out to a strong mixed reaction, and Mauro Ranallo reminded us that he’s a 3-time WWE champion. Reigns said he fought the Authority and won and took back his WWE championship. He repeated the same line from Raw about being “the guy,” except he delivered it a lot better this time, and said he’s going to beat AJ Styles. 

    Styles interrupted and got a big reaction. He congratulated Reigns on having “a heck of a WrestleMania” and becoming champion. They shook hands. Styles said he himself had a heck of a Monday Night Raw and was coming after the title. He’s beaten the best all over the world, has held a title of his own, and if he has to beat “the guy” to be WWE champion then so be it. 

    Reigns said Styles hasn’t been here long, and insinuated that WWE title is the only one that counts, not whatever title Styles held before. Reigns said Styles would have to beat “the guy” to get the belt. Yes, Styles just said that. Reigns said Styles would never beat him, patted him on the shoulder, and left. Styles smirked. This was fine. Crowd was into it, and the two guys did their best with the dialogue. 

    The Vaudevillains beat Lucha Dragons via pinfall 

    The Vaudevillains got their usual NXT entrance. Jerry Lawler thought they were in a silent movie and wondered if they could speak. Byron Saxton let us know that these two teams were familiar with each other from NXT. Sin Cara went for a suicide dive but Simon Gotch cut him off with a knee and the Vaudevillains took control. 

    Kalisto made a hot tag and ran wild on Gotch, while Sin Cara hit Aiden English with a suicide dive. English somehow recovered before Sin Cara and made a blind tag to set up the Vaudevillians hitting the Whirling Dervish for the win. Basic match, about 4-5 minutes long. Kalisto taking the pinfall is confusing to say the least. 

    They recapped Miz winning the Intercontinental title from Zack Ryder on Raw and plugged the rematch for tonight. 

    Natalya beat Summer Rae via submission 

    Charlotte joined commentary and her dad (Ric Flair) was there too. Natalya won in about 3 minutes with a sharpshooter as she stared at Charlotte. Natalya went out to confront Charlotte afterwards but the referee stopped her. 

    Intercontinental Title: The Miz beat Zack Ryder via pinfall 

    Maryse came out on the stage to introduce The Miz. She said she was proof that behind every great man, there’s a great woman, “and there is no greater man than my husband.” That’s funny. 

    During his comeback, Ryder went for a diving dropkick but Miz countered into a sitout powerbomb for two. They traded moves leading to Ryder hitting a broski boot outside the ring, followed by a diving elbow drop for a near fall. Maryse started pulling off the turnbuckle cover and Saxton asked, “What is Maryse doing?” to which Lawler responded, “I’m paying attention to the match over here.”

    This distracted the referee and Ryder, which allowed Miz to punch Ryder in the face and hit the skull crushing finale for the win. Perfectly fine match, which went about 13 minutes. Oddly, they didn’t show any replays afterwards, and they moved on from this pretty quickly considering it was a title match. 

    Apollo Crews beat Curtis Axel (w/Social Outcasts) via pinfall 

    Axel got this match over his fellow Outcasts because he “won” rock-paper-scissors by claiming the axe beats all. Crews fended off the other Outcasts and won after hitting a dropkick, jumping clothesline, standing moonsault, enzuigiri and spin-out powerbomb. Lawler admitted that Crews might have a future here. 

    They recapped Baron Corbin’s win at Mania and his match with Ziggler on Raw. Backstage, Rich Brennan tried to interview Corbin, but Corbin told Brennan to save his questions.  Corbin said he won a trophy at WrestleMania and dented the floor with Dolph Ziggler. He said the end of days weren’t coming, they’re here. 

    Elsewhere, Renee Young interviewed Becky Lynch. Lynch said that nobody else seems to think she’s funny, and made a pun about her busted eye, saying “I have myself in stitches.” She then got serious, saying that Mania was the most brutal match of her life. Lynch said the new Women’s title was about heart and passion, and she walked out on Charlotte on Raw because she was making it about herself. 

    Lynch said she would get back to the title picture and pay back Charlotte for what she did to her eye. Emma interrupted and said she liked what Charlotte did to Lynch’s eye. She’s pissed that she got pushed to the back of the line in favour of Lynch. Lynch told her to back off or she’d mess up Emma’s eye. 

    Dean Ambrose beat Tyler Breeze via pinfall 

    Ambrose won in one minute after a rebound clothesline and Dirty Deeds. Ranallo said Breeze went down faster than Batman v. Superman at the box office. 

    As Ambrose’s music played, Chris Jericho’s entrance interrupted, and Ambrose looked annoyed. Ambrose stared at Jericho on his way up the ramp, but Jericho just ignored him. 

    Before the main event, there was another segment with Goldust and R-Truth. Basically, Truth promised Goldust an audition with a Hollywood producer next week in LA. 

    AJ Styles & Cesaro beat Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho via pinfall 

    Jericho and Owens had an intense conversation in the ring as the entrances were happening, perhaps over who is the biggest Twitter troll. 

    Cesaro and Styles used a double-team move early on, and Owens yelled, “You’re a cheater!” Jericho was frustrated by getting double teamed again, so he left the ring and started tossing stuff around. Owens, unsure of how to react, decided to join in by gently lifting the steel steps out of position. These two are already my favourite tag team. 

    After a break, the good guys were still all over Jericho as the crowd chanted for Styles. Jericho finally managed to tag out, but Cesaro got them both with the uppercut train. However, Jericho shoved Cesaro out of the ring and Owens tossed him into the announce table for the heat. 

    Cesaro avoided a cannonball and made the hot tag to Styles, who hit forearms to Owens and a sitout facebuster for a near fall. Owens avoided a springboard move and hit a superkick for two. Styles came back with a Pele kick. He went for the springboard forearm but Jericho pushed him off the ropes. Owens rolled him up but Styles kicked out and Cesaro uppercut Jericho over the barricade. 

    Owens was about to go for the pop-up powerbomb, but he stopped after seeing Sami Zayn making his way down the ramp as officials tried to stop him. The distraction allowed Styles to school boy Owens for the win. Good match. 

    Immediately after the match, Owens and Zayn went after each other. The brawl ended when Owens tossed Zayn’s injured shoulder into the steel steps. The referees dragged Owens away as he yelled, “I hate you!” and the show ended. There were no replays again, but it made sense here with Zayn coming out unannounced. 

    – Final Thoughts: 

    Pretty good show top-to-bottom. Simple booking with all the featured acts winning their matches. Fresh faces definitely help. 

  • WWE RAW live results: Post WrestleMania, Roman Reigns champ once again

    Tonight is the most anticipated Raw of the year, the famed Night After WrestleMania show where the fans who traveled in often take over the program, leading to a wild evening of live television. Now the question is, after building up to WrestleMania for three months, where does the company go from here and who do they trust? It’s a given that Roman Reigns will get a profoundly negative reception after his victory over HHH to win the WWE World Heavyweight Championship for the third time. In regards to the Authority, the usual pattern is the night after they lose in a blowoff match, they get their heat back immediately. Perhaps Stephanie McMahon will return with her WrestleMania haircut as Aunty Entity from Mad Max Beyond Thuderdome as an added bonus. 

    Our coverage starts tonight at 8 ET. 

    The Big News: More than just a night after WrestleMania show, this felt like a milestone program where new stars debuted. And playing in front of a crowd that instantly got acts over, it made for as good a 3-hour Raw as possible. There were negatives, namely in the first hour. Shane McMahon was given “control” of the show by Vince McMahon, which is exactly what Vince was fighting against for weeks. There was no trace of the Authority. After winning the Intercontinental Championship last night, Zack Ryder dropped the title to the Miz after Maryse returned to distract Ryder. Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Enzo and Big Cass all debuted from NXT. Of that group, Enzo and Cass made a huge sensation and felt like guys who could be top faces. A.J. Styles will be the next challenger for Roman Reigns after winning an excellent four-way match against Chris Jericho, Kevin Owens and the returning Cesaro, who also came off like a potential star if the company will only let him. 

    Michael Cole said right at the top that the fans would be different from the standard Raw crowds, with JBL and Byron Saxton saying they were having fun. 

    Roman Reigns came out for his victory speech. No…..Vince McMahon came out. The fans even sang his theme song. Vince gloated over the Undertaker’s victory over Shane McMahon, but admitted when Shane climbed to the top of the Hell in a Cell, Vince thought to himself “Don’t do it.” He had no idea Shane would risk he life to achieve his goals, but it also reminded him of how foolish Shane was. Vince said this Raw would be one the fans never forgot. 

    Before Vince could leae, Shane came out. He was carried out on a stretcher last night and he gradually walked out. Vince thought Shane would be in a hospital bed. Crowd chanted “Thank you, Shane.” Shane, who had a scare on his left eye, said he was the only man in the family, he came out to shake his hand like a man and admit his father won. Shane thanked the fans and started to tear up. Fans chanted “You still got it.” Vince chastized the fans, saying it was because of them that Shane got the hell beat out of him. Shane then said goodbye. 

    Vince got mad and accused Shane of upstaging him. Vince said he thought of how crazy it would be for Shane to run Monday Night Raw. Fans chanted “Let him run it.” Vince said, to prove his point, he told Shane to run the show tonight. And with that, the point of last night’s match, in addition to five weeks worth of buildup, was largely rendered pointless. 

    The New Day came out next and the fans chanted along with Big E’s introduction routine. Big E. admitted that not everything went according to plan last night for them, but Kofi Kingston acknowledged getting to twerk with Shawn Michaels. Kingston also admitted Xavier Woods got stunned by Steve Austin. They held up the last flake of the giant box of “Booty-O’s,” and Woods held it up and sang in tongues last he was Indiana Jones holding the prized grail from “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” Fans knew the catchphrases before Big E. could even say them, and everyone looked elated at the response they got. Came off like they were the modern day New Age Outlaws or Edge and Christian. 

    The New Day (C) defeated King Barrett and Sheamus to retain the WWE Tag Team Titles (8:45)

    Kingston pinned King Barrett after the Midnight Hour. Barrett collided with Sheamus before the finish. As will be the case all night long, the match was a backdrop for the crowd, who started doing the wave and chanted “We are Awesome” only a half hour into the show. Woods had to get on the PA mic and say the wave meant the fans liked Sheamus. That stopped the wave dead in its tracks. 

    Postmatch, Sheamus said the League of Nations are a group of elite athletes that should be champions, but aren’t. He said it was time to identify the weak link. Rusev and Alberto Del Rio held up Barrett, and Sheamus gave Barrett the Brogue Kick, then kicked him out of the ring. Fans chanted goodbye at Barrett. 

    Then, for whatever reason, Bray Wyatt, Braun Strowman and Erick Rowman showed up and started brawling with the remaining League of Nations members, ending with Wyatt giving Sheamus Sister Abigail. 

    Vince left in a limo. He told Renee Young that he didn’t want to stay around a witness a disaster. Why the hell did he stay around last summer? He said Shane being in charge of Raw was only temporary. 

    Summer Rae did a prematch promo saying if she had been in charge of the Bad n’ Blond team, they would have won. She started running down Sasha Banks, who came out. Banks said she was still the boss and slapped Rae. 

    Sasha Banks defeated Summer Rae via submission (1:40)

    Banks beat Rae with the Bank Statement. Even at 1:40, Rae was exposed.  

    Apollo Crews will make his debut tonight, and he and Shane shook hands bacstage. So how did Shane know his father would put him in charge before the show, allowing Crews to be booked? I know these shows are frequently booked with very little time in advance, but still.

    They showed the mainstream media articles from various outlets that WrestleMania received. Every time Roman Reigns was shown, loud boos could be heard.  

    Apollo Crews defeated Tyler Breeze (1:54)

    A standard debut squash where Crews pinned Tyler Breeze with a Spinout Power Bomb. Crews got a good response, but he’s not going to fly with the standard interview procedure. 

    Reigns and Charlotte were shown on the Today show. 

    Reigns came out to get booed out of the building. I mean, when Hulk Hogan got booed on Nitro in 1995, at least there was a vocal minority cheering him. This was an unanimous negative reception. There were “Reigns is Booty” signs. Reigns, who knew it was coming, said “I’m not a bad guy, I’m not a good guy. I’m THE guy.” That only made things worse. He challenged anyone from the back to fight him for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Chris Jericho came out and tried to turn the crowd against him. He might as well have been the Philadelphia 76ers facing  the 1997 Chicago Bulls with this crew.  

    Jericho shouted down the fans, saying they weren’t going to hijack the show on his watch. He bragged about beating the “Internet favorite” A.J. Styles at WrestleMania and challenged Reigns. Then Styles came out, followed immediately by Kevin Owens (selling injuries from last night’s ladder match). Sami Zayn (not selling injuries from last night’s match). Fans sang Zayn’s theme song, which Reigns got a kick out of. Zayn got in the ring, and he and Owens immediately started brawling. Styles and Jericho also fought while Reigns hanged out by himself. Zayn did a flip tope on Owens. Jericho threw Styles out of the ring. Reigns gave Jericho a spear and got booed some more. 

    Backstage, Shane told Reigns that tonight’s main event would be a Fatal Fourway between Owens, Jericho, Styles and Zayn, with the winner becoming number one contender. 

    Baron Corbin debuted after winning the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal. Corbin stood in front of the Andre trophy and said he’s carved a path of devastation and destroyed dreams to get to Raw, and devastation awaits anyone who gets in his way. 

    Baron Corbin and Dolph Ziggler battled to a double countout (8:32)

    Strange way to book Corbin in his debut. They have a whole crew of Social Outcasts back there waiting, but they put a solid midcarder in Dolph Ziggler in there with him. And Corbin doesn’t even get the win. Instead, he sells for half the match, which he doesn’t do well. Ziggler kicked out of his backup finisher, the Deep Six. Then they brawl into the crowd for a countout. Corbin looked like he had never heard of a countout and screamed “You’re the cause of this” to the referee. He gave Ziggler the End of Days on the floor, which is basically Sister Abigail with a deeper dip. Crews had a simple and standard debut. Corbin had a debut where the fans chanted for a beach ball, then got mad when it was taken away. 

    Titus O’Neal, in a commercial taped before he was suspended, invited fans to register for a contest where the prize is a trip to Disneyland where they would spend the day with his family. 

    Zack Ryder came out to a nice reception. Crowd chanted “You deserve it, Wo Wo Wo.” Ryder showed a photo of him as a child where he was with Razor Ramon holding his Intercontinental Championship. Last night, he had a chance to take a picture with Ramon, this time with Ryder’s Intercontinental Championship. He thanked his father, who looks like he could make bicep curls with Vince. Seriously, if he becomes a regular character like John Cena’s father in 2009, USADA may pay a visit while he’s in the garage changing oil. The Miz came out and said Ryder was lucky to win the match last night, and said if Ryder wanted to put his name alongside Shawn Michaels, Ramon and Miz, he would put the title right now. Ryder declined, but Miz said Ryder was just all hype. That got the match started. 

    The Miz defeated Zack Ryder (C) to win the Intercontintal Championship (10:26)

    Miz won is a sequence where Maryse made her return. Miz started arguing with Ryder’s father, who shoved him down. This led to Maryse walking out of the crowd and confronting Ryder’s dad, and then slapping him. Ryder was distracted by all this, and Miz gave him the Skull Crushing Finale for the pin. Sad to see Ryder drop the title so soon, and it further devalutes the championship when it winds up back around Miz’s waist. 

    Owens did an interview blaming Zayn for him losing the Intercontinental Championship at WrestleMania, but Zayn wouldn’t cost him a chance for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. He said the road to KOMania 2 begins tonight. 

    The Vaudevillains will debut on this week’s edition of SmackDown. This team getting called up to the roster so soon smeels like a total Ascension job. 

    Lita was in the ring with all of the women’s wrestlers in the company. She put over the effort they put in their matches at WrestleMania, then formally introduced the first WWE Women’s Championship belt. Charlotte and Ric Flair (who, no doubt, had to be pulled away from the National Championship game, where his beloved UNC Tar Heels were playing) came down. Fans chanted for Bayley, which Cole acknowledged as saying “She isn’t here.” Fans sang soccer songs over her interview, as she was trying to put over her fellow wrestlers. She held up the title and said this was the future. Fans chanted “Women’s wrestling,” which made everyone in the ring smile. Charlotte said she wouldn’t have gone down in the history books as the new women’s champion without her father. She thanked everyone in the audience, whose energy fueled her to victory. 

    Charlotte said some of the wrestlers had been there 7 or 8 years, but she hasn’t even been here 1 year and she’s still champion. Charlotte turned her attention to Becky Lynch and Banks, saying they did it, but she did it. Lynch walked out, as did Paige, Tamina, Brooklyn, Eva Marie (not acknowledged), and everyone else. Then Nataliya told Charlotte she needs to learn something about humility. Natalya said she had given Charlotte some of her most difficult matches. Charlotte talked down to her and spoke badly of the entire Hart family. Natalya shot a double leg and briefly put her in the sharpshooter until Flair pulled Charlotte out. 

    Styles was interviewed by Young. He said this is a day of new beginnings. Shane is running Raw, Regins wants to face all challengers as WWE World Heavyweight Champion, and he came to the company not to lose one match at WrestleMania. He came to be WWE World Heavyweight Champion. 

    Another debut, this time a vignette with the artists formerly known as Los Matadores. This time, they had sans masks, outfitted in dress shirts and shorts putting over how great it was to live in Puerto Rico “unlike where you live.” No name was given for the act. 

    The Dudley Boyz defeated the Usos in a tables match (8:53)

    There was a mix-up at the finish. Jimmy and Jey Uso were ready to perform simultaneous splashes to the Dudleys on each table, but Bubba Ray Dudley and Devon Dudley moved and the Usos crashed through the wood. The bell sounded, but it wasn’t supposed to. Bubba Ray then threw Jey threw a table stationed in the corner for the official finish, and Bubba yelled at the timekeeper for the screwup. Standard spots you see in every tables match, including where the Dudleys give Jimmy a double suplex, but Jey moved the table. 

    Zayn did a promo where Young actually asked him if he had ever been in a four-way match before. I could hear Gabe Sapolsky groaning from here. Zayn said tonight was bigger for him than WrestleMania. He said he was known as the Underdog from the Underground. Owens jumped Zayn from behind and power bombed him through a table backstage. 

    The Dudleys were still out there when Enzo Amore and Big Cass made their debut to a huge ovation. Enzo Amore did his whole routine and he was over instantly. Enzo called the Dudleys a couple of haters, then said Hate was nothing but love disguised as jealousy. Enzo cut down Devon saying he would put his lazy eye back to work. He said Bubba better think twice, it would be two more thoughts than he had all day. Fans started chanting “Enzo Amore” to the tune of “Seven Nation Army.” Cass challenged them to come down to the ring. Dudleys went to the ring, then retreated.  Cass did his “Sawft” catchphrase and the fans knew it by heart. This debut couldn’t have gone any better for Enzo and Cass. 

    They’re back to doing guest stars. Next week, Dr. Phil will be featured. 

    It was announced by Cole that Zayn was out of the main event after getting attacked by Owens. Instead, Lillian Garcia announced Shane had appointed a replacement: Cesaro, who came out dressed like Bautista, then stripped down to his trunks. 

    A.J. Styles pinned Chris Jericho to win a four way for the number one contendership for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship in a Fatal Fourway that also included Cesaro and Kevin Owens (16:44) 

    This was a Raw match on the caliber of some of those John Cena U.S. Championship Series bouts last year. An excellent match where Styles won after hitting the Styles Clash on Jericho. Cesaro had his moments to shine, as well, and did the crowd ever love him. He threw forearm uppercupts to opposite corners with the fans eating up every one. There was a Tower of Doom spot where Styles took a bump off the top rope, which had to feel like hell after his back injury from earlier this year. Styles did a 450 Springboard Splash on Jericho. Later, Jericho attempted the Walls on Cesaro, who made the ropes. Excellent stuff. 

    SUMMARY: It felt like a new company. New faces abound with guys that are fresh acts who are already over. There was a great main event. No Authority, which seemed to make a difference in the fact that the show wasn’t built around who controls the company. It’s simply about who can get the championship from Reigns. This is a fresh start that a lot of fans have wanted for quite sometime. Can they sustain this? Or will the laziness of prior years take over, as it has done so often? We’ll see. 

  • WWE Buffalo, NY, live results: Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs. Sheamus & Wade Barrett

    Submitted by Brandon Thurston (also a past JNPO guest)

    – AJ Styles beat Tyler Breeze

    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.

  • Wrestling Weekly: Shane Returns, Dean should’ve left, Roman gets graded

    There are a few things dominating most wresting conversations this week, and we’re all over them. Les and Vic start with Shane McMahon’s return to WWE, the myriad of directions this storyline can go, whether or not that’s a good thing and more. Vic gets on his soapbox about the match at Wrestlemania he has absolutely no interest in (18:58), and it involves someone who most people are big fans of. We then turn our attention to Roman Reigns (28:52); the show closing segment Monday night, whether or not Les believes a run as top babyface can be salvaged, could anyone have possibly believed Roman was going to get babyface sympathy when that segment was laid out, and what grade would you give Roman since he’s been a solo act for the last 20 months. Yes, this thing with him has been going on for 20 long months now. Thanks for listening and have a great weekend~!

    Right click save

  • WWE announces Roman Reigns underwent surgery

    WWE announced that Roman Reigns underwent surgery today in Tampa for a broken nose that was suffered during the brawl with HHH at the end of Raw last night.

    Not many details were listed in the story at WWE.com.

    No time frame was listed for a recovery and the story was far more vague than most stories regarding top talent undergoing surgery are.  Given the timing and nature of the attack, this could be storyline related but we will update shortly.

    HHH destroyed Reigns at the end of Raw, smashing his head repeatedly into the announce table until Reigns came up covered in blood.  There are videos online that appear to show Reigns being handed a blood packet by Byron Saxton during the HHH beating, which if accurate would suggest the injury is storyline.

    Reigns vs. HHH for the WWE World Heavyweight Title is expected to headline this year’s WrestleMania, following Reigns winning a three-way over Brock Lesnar and Dean Ambrose at the WWE Fast Lane pay-per-view on Sunday night.

  • WWE Fastlane 2016 live results: Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose

    Welcome to the F4WOnline.com’s live coverage of WWE FastLane! Tonight’s show takes place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland Ohio, which traditionally means bad news for The Miz.  The last stop before WWE Wrestlemania is here with the winner of tonight’s triple threat main event going to the big show to face WWE World Champion Triple H.   

    We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show as well as Friday’s Bellator show, so you can leave a thumbs up thumbs down or thumbs in the middle plus a best and worst match to Dave Meltzer.

    Your main card:

    • Brock Lesnar vs. Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose
    • WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler
    • WWE Divas Champion Charlotte vs. Brie Bella
    • Sasha Banks/Becky Lynch vs Tamina Snuka/Naomi
    • Chris Jericho vs. AJ Styles
    • Big Show/Ryback/Kane vs. The Wyatts (Braun Strowman/Erick Rowan/Luke Harper)
    • WWE U.S. Champion Kalisto vs. Alberto del Rio (2/3 falls, kickoff show)

    Also, Edge and Christian will interview WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day to help promo the debut of their new show after Fastlane.

    This is just the second ever Fastlane after last year’s debut show at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN. On that show, Reigns took on the recently retired Daniel Bryan in a no. 1 contender’s match. Also on that show. then-U.S. Champion Rusev downed John Cena by DQ, and Sting had a confrontation with HHH.

    KALISTO VS. ALBERTO DEL RIO FOR THE U.S. TITLE 2/3 FALLS

    Del Rio was disqualified in the first fall for hitting Kalisto with a chair as Kalisto went for a springboard move.  Del Rio won the second fall with a double foot stomp.  The third fall saw Del Rio miss the double foot stomp after doing it outside the ring.  Kalisto flipped Del Rio into the corner and schoolboyed him to take the third fall and retain.  This was a good match.

    SASHA BANKS & BECKY LYNCH VS. NAOMI & TAMINA

    Banks & Lynch won with a double submission with Banks with the bank statement on Tamina while Lynch used the disarmer on Naomi.  The first part of the match was pretty sloppy with Lynch getting beaten on but it got good when Banks was in.  Banks kicked out of the rear view and was also saved by Lynch when Tamina used a superkick.  The impression with the double win to me would be a three-way at Mania, but we’ll see.

    KEVIN OWENS VS. DOLPH ZIGGLER FOR THE IC TITLE

    Good match.  The crowd was pretty hot with it being in Cleveland which is Ziggler’s home town.  Owens retained and they said they were on the road to KO Mania.  There was some commentary talking about how Owens never beat Ambrose to win the title.  The finish was clean with Ziggler missing  a superkick and Owens using the pop up power bomb.

    BIG SHOW & KANE & RYBACK VS.  BRAUN STROWMAN & ERICK ROWAN & LUKE HARPER

    Show & Kane & Ryback won when Ryback pinned Harper clean with the shellshock.  The match was better than it sounds as it was solid even when Strowman and Rowan were in.  Show pressed Harper overhead and three him out of the ring on Rowan & Strowman.  It wasn’t a complete press.  Show then gave Strowman a great looking spear on the floor.

    Roman Reigns did a promo with JoJo.  The fans booed him a lot.  He vowed to win and said a lot of things will change with he and Ambrose.  Ambrose showed up and was cheered heavily.  Ambrose said one of them will be on the road to WrestleMania and the other will have to hitchhike.  Amborse said he’s already booked his travel on Priceline.  Amborse said that Lesnar won’t win but one of us will.  

    CHARLOTTE VS. BRIE BELLA FOR THE DIVAS TITLE

    The crowd was super behind Brie because of the Daniel Bryan sympathy.  In fact, they were super into this late, more than anything on the show so far when she got a near fall with the X-factor, as well as near submissions with the Yes lock and a half crab.  The story is that Brie hurt her left leg doing a missile dropkick, and she couldn’t continue the half crab and Charlotte powered out and Brie caught her neck on the roipes.  Charlotte then won with the figure eight.   Again, better than you’d think.  Rough early but the last few minutes were quite good.

    Chris Jericho did an interview and said Styles’ future rides in his hands because if he loses review to him it’ll be his second straight loss and it could derail him.   He made the wins and losses aspect of this match feel important.  

    A.J. STYLES VS. CHRIS JERICHO

    As far as the layout and intensith at the finish, this was great.  The crowd was super into it with dueling chants early as well as into it big the last few minutes.  Some spots were scary, some in a good way and just being off on a couple of spots inlcuding a Jericho power bomb spot where he dropped Styles in a scary way.  Some good innovative spots including a Styles plancha into a dropkick by Jericho on the floor.  The finish saw Jericho kick out of the Styles clash, which was weird doing it this early, and then Styles put him in the calf crusher and Jericho.  Jericho did a tremendous job selling the submission before he tapped.

    After the match Jericho stared him down and teased attacking him.  Jericho pulled back his fist and AJ respohnded but then Jericho offered his hand. 

    Edge & Christian were out with The New Day.  Edge & Christian plugged their TV show and Edge said he wanted to get serious for a minute and referenced Lance Storm.  The crowd chanted “JNew Day Rocks.”  Edge said when you showed up at first I’ve never seem so much chocolate sound so vanilla.  Said they copied every Edge & Christian segment, replacing awesomeness with booty, sunglasses with unicorn horns.  Said we don’t rip on sports teams and then said LeBooty James will never win a title in this city.  They made fun of Kingston dropping his Jamaican accent.  Who is better than the New Day.  Made fun of Ascension, Usos, Dudleys and the League of Booty.  Seemed to push League of Nations vs. New Day.  Woods said say they’re trying to stir the pot but we already cooked the meal  Woods called the League of Nations are hot garbage.  Woods said we’ll say it to their face if they were here.  Then all four of them came out and we’ve got a new program.  The New Day left.  King Barrett then threatened Edge & Christian.  Sheamus called them hip replacement candidates and Justin Beiber candidates.  Del Rio said I kicked your ass an forced you to retire.  Edge joked he did more  in the last five years than Del Rio.  Edge & Christian left the ring and called them the International House of Dumbassees.  They plugged their show right after Fast Lane.  Edge & Christian had some great lines in this, but it went way too long.

    R-TRUTH VS. CURTIS AXEL

    The other three Outcasts were running around the ring.  Goldust came out.  Goldust threw Slater into the barricade and threw Adam Rose into the ring.  Rose being in the ring distracted R-Truth and Axel pinned him with a schoolboy with tights.  R-Truth was mad at Goldust when it was over.  It was over in 2:00.

    The Vince face on the award makes it seem like it’s an angle to show up Vince.

    BROCK LESNAR VS. ROMAN REIGNS VS. DEAN AMBROSE

    Crazy great match.  Lesnar destroyed both of them with German suplexes early until he made a mistake and then The Shield power bombed Lesnar through a table.  When Lesnar started to recover they put him through a second table.   The crowd was super into Ambrose vs. Reigns and they were great working together.  The crowd was completely behind Ambrose of course.  Reigns was booed heavily here and Lesnar was cheered the most of the three.  Reigns kicked out of Dirty Deeds.  Reigns had Ambrose up for the Samoan drop when Lesnar German suplexed both.  Ambrose landed right on Reigns’ head.  The finish saw Reigns hit the spear on Lesnar, but Lesnar, who was booked as a Super monster, grabbed a Kimura.  Reigns was about to tap but powered Lesnar up. Ambrose came in and nailed both guys with about five chair shots each.  Lesnar rolled out of the ring.  Reigns then hit the spear on Ambrose for the pin.

    The show ended with Reigns and HHH in the ring doing a staredown with the Mania sign in the background.

  • One Year Later: WWE Fastlane 2015 – Daniel Bryan vs. Roman Reigns

    With the second-ever WWE Fastlane Sunday night, what better time to look at the state of WWE one year ago than by watching last year’s show? This is a read-a-long to be enjoyed while watching said WWE PPV on the WWE Network…or the DVD if you’re still buying those. 

    It’s interesting to look and see the positioning of guys on the card one year ago. As you may recall, the main event was a match between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns. It’s sad to think that the recently retired Bryan was at the top of his game just a year ago — positioned as the guy to get Reigns over for his main event at Wrestlemania 31. 

    Let’s go back to February 22nd at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN, and look at the main talking points from each match.

    The Authority (Seth Rollins/Kane/Big Show) w/Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury vs. Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, and Ryback

    • What a team of babyfaces. The reaction to Rowan was non-existent.
    • This was a fine match, but nothing special because nobody cares about anyone in this mix. Dolph got the mild tag from Ryback, and went wild until Big Show KO’d Ziggler and Kane pinned him.
    • Show’s punch was replayed in slow motion which showed how obviously Ziggler jumped into it. Hilarious.
    • Seth hit the curb stomp on Zig post match to get their heat back, until Randy Orton ran in and cleaned house. RKOs out of everywhere!

    Stardust vs. Goldust

    • Finally the match between the Rhodes brothers nobody asked for!
    • Dusty was shown giving Goldust a pep talk before the match which was pretty cool.
    • Remember Cody’s new body from five years ago? He wrestled this match shirtless. My guess is that it was shortly after this match where big brother grabbed little brother’s ear and revealed to him the secret of longevity in wrestling: the full body suit. “It’s great, Cody. You never have to work out or tan or eat good. Sure you have to scrape paint flakes out of your eyes every morning, but look at me! I got Terri Runnels with this physique!”
    • This had a weird ending. Gold rolled up Star and the referee counted one, two, and then didn’t hit the mat for the three, but Star’s shoulders were definitely down for three and so the ref hopped up and said it was a three count and the match was over. I think the storyline was that the ref got paid off by Dusty to end the match early so that his sons would not get hurt. That, or they blew the finish.
    • Cody beat down Dustin after the match in front of the Dream.

    WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey and James) w/ Naomi vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro w/ Natalya

    • Facts. Cats. Those are the words on Kidd’s kick pads, because he likes cats AND drops facts. What a gimmick.
    • Cesaro and Kidd were so great. What awful luck for both of these guys lately. Get well soon!
    • Cesaro did a one-legged swing with an Uso. That is freaky impressive.
    • Kidd hooked in the Sharpshooter and got superkicked. Jimmy got the visual fall on Kidd as the action spilled outside. This match is getting good.
    • Then, just like that, it’s over. Kidd hits an Uso with a spinning fisherman buster and gets the pin, and the belts. Your new champions Tyson Kidd and Cesaro!
    • Kidd’s tan was Olympic level.

    HHH and Sting Face-to-Face

    • Remember this? Me neither. Boy, Sting dropped off the radar fast.
    • HHH cut a mighty promo, especially blowhardy today.
    • Sting came out and got face-to-face with The Game
    • HHH went for the cheap shot and it broke down into a brawl, leading to a sledgehammer vs. baseball bat standoff. The baseball bat won, for now.

    WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella w/ Brie vs. Paige

    • Paige’s outfit is completely black here. Reebok probably designed it. I like the addition of the blue these days though.
    • Is the Divas Revolution done? Is everyone good and revolted? I haven’t heard that used in a while. Good thing too. WWE nomenclature is infuriating.
    • The crowd was absolutely dead for this match, and remember, this is mid Nikki’s record-breaking title reign.
    • Nikki won with a roll up and a handful of tights.

    WWE I-C Champion Bad News Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose

    • Barrett’s music is pretty cool. The League of Nations’ music suuuuuuuuuucks.
    • Dean Ambrose has the best gimmick. He gets to just show up and simply take off his shirt and he’s ready to wrestle. You know he wears those jeans everywhere, and he’s definitely a guy who really wears wife beater t-shirts. I’m wearing one now. It’s quite comfy. It’s pink too. #PinkLivesMatter #TeamViggity
    • Barrett is a good wrestler. He’s another guy who is really good but has had just terrible luck with injuries right when he was about to get pushed, along with Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, Sin Cara, etc.
    • Ambrose got DQ’d for using the belt. He laid Barrett out, got caught, got DQ’d, then walked off with the belt anyway. Ha!

    Unannounced, the Druids enter the arena. Then the gong hits. I think Glacier is making his debut! No. It’s a casket. Maybe Glacier is in the casket. Nope. It’s Bray Wyatt. Boooooooh.

    WWE US Champion Rusev w/ Lana vs. John Cena

    • Rusev just whipped up on old Johnny boy for a while.
    • Rusev should have shoes on, specifically the Iron Shiek’s shoes. That would be awesome. (I know they are different countries but who cares?)
    • People didn’t make a big enough deal about Cena getting away from jorts. That topic needed its own Observer issue. Why did he do it? I predict that within the next five years, jean shorts will come back in style.
    • They did the yay/boo spot. Rusev needs to start doing the ten punches in the corner spot and count in Russian. It would be amazing if he could get the fans to actually learn to count to ten in Russian.
    • Rusev and Cena exchange some submissions. Good action.
    • This was when Rusev was undefeated with like six losses on his record.
    • Rusev won by technical submission as Cena was passed out in the Accolade so lil Naitch rang the bell.
    • Cena did this hokey selling post match that got booed. Ha!

    Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan to determine the number one contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship

    • They had a dang good match.
    • I’m still not sure why Reigns is allowed to wear body armor. That seems like cheating.
    • I love JBL: “Don’t forget, I know stuff about old boxing.”
    • It’s a shame Bryan never did the “I’ve got til FIVE!” spot in WWE. I’ll bet Vince nixed that.
    • Huge belly to back off the top by Bryan into the Yes lock!
    • Both guys took idiotic bumps outside the ring for a long double down.
    • I can’t help but believe the crowd is going to be unhappy with this finish.
    • Bryan with the running knee!
    • I missed some of the match researching gambling odds on the Oscars.
    • Does anyone get a redder face than Mike Chioda?
    • Bryan did the Brie Mode kicks (wink).
    • Reigns hit a monster spear for the clean pin.
    • Bryan does the rude put over, getting in Reigns’ face and telling him he’d better kick his (Brock’s) buns.

    Summary:

    I really don’t like the Fastlane name. It was much better when Elimination Chamber was the February show. I know the argument against doing a gimmick show for the sake of the gimmick, but the Elimination Chamber was always a draw, and Fastlane sounds like some group think garbage that’s been polished over to make it appealing to everyone. That’s a mistake. The more polished something feels, the less real it feels, and thus we find it phony. I hope WWE takes notice of the Daniel Bryan retirement speech and realizes that fans connect to realness, but they probably won’t.