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  • WWE RAW live results: USA vs. The World; Dean Ambrose vs. The Miz

    The Big Takeaway: Two more matches announced for Battleground. They aren’t rushing the John Cena-A.J. Styles singles rematch. Instead, it will be a trios match with Enzo Amore, Big Cass and Cena vs. The Club. Also announced for the show was Natalya vs. Becky Lynch.

    It was a holiday-themed Raw where the company knew beforehand it would get a low rating, perhaps the lowest in show history. So they handled it like a throwaway show. No Shane or Stephanie McMahon. Names like Mark Henry, Jack Swagger and Zack Ryder were in the main event. And the zany opening would have fit right in during a 1985 Saturday Night’s Main Event episode. 

    Show Recap: 

    They signed on with a scene straight from Tuesday Night Titans. Almost the entire roster was sitting around eating a Fourth of July meal together. R-Truth led the group in singing Naughty by Nature’s “Hip Hop Hooray.” Then the Vaudevillains asked them to leave the stage and Aiden English started singing the Declaration of Independence. Bubba Ray Dudley threw guacamole on him, but before a food fight could start, The Miz and Maryse got up to plug the July 19th draft live on SmackDown. 

    Miz said that tonight was not about food fights, which led to Dolph Ziggler spraying chocolate syrup on him. Someone threw macaroni onto Maryse, and the food started flying everywhere while the “War of 1812” played. While everyone was pelting each other with anything you can think of, Apollo Crews and Cesaro were oblivious to it all, focusing solely on their arm wrestling match. Bo Dallas was about to dump the punch bowl over Enzo Amore, but Big Cass stopped him and Dallas got the punch dumped on his head instead. Kevin Owens hid under a table in an attempt to escape the madness.

    The Big Show was enjoying chicken wings when Kalisto doused him with cake. Show threw a chicken wing at Kalisto, but he ducked and it hit Kane instead. Kane and Show teased choke slamming each other when they saw Heath Slater laughing at them. So Kane and Show gave Slater a double chokeslam through a table. Everyone laughed as Slater was down and out, and then the room cleared. Owens got up from under the table unscathed and said, “This would never happen on Canada Day.” Then a cake wound up in his face. Owens screamed, stopped to lick the icing, then screamed some more. 

    Lillian Garcia performed the National Anthem. 

    United States Champion Rusev defeated Titus O’Neal via submission to retain the U.S. Championship (5:42) 

    Rusev got the clean submission with the Accolade after two roundhouse kicks. Titus O’Neal stayed in it for about 35 seconds before he tapped. O’Neal hit Clash of the Titus but Rusev kicked out. It appeared Rusev was supposed to get his hands on the ropes to force a break, but he was too far away. After he won, Rusev denounced America as Lana smiled. Lana was an afterthought here, she didn’t come out with Rusev during his ring entrance and only stood in front of the hard camera when the match went to the floor. 

    The Bella Twins were pictured on the cover of the new Latina Magazine. 

    Dallas, Curtis Axel and Slater came out dressed as minutemen. Slater had the complete Spirit of ’76 gear on, and was selling the chokeslam from earlier with his arm in a sling and his head bandaged. Enzo and Cass interrupted Dallas for their routine. Amore said it was the Fourth of July so it was only right to give the fans some Star Spangled Banter. Amore actually reeled off all the presidents of the United States in order, which had to take his entire Independence Day to memorize, and said they would all be insulted if they saw the Social Outcasts dressed like they were. 

    Enzo & Cass defeated Bo Dallas & Curtis Axel (2:04) 

    Enzo pinned Dallas after the Bada Boom Shaka Laka. Axel and Dallas wrestled with blue robes and British court dress wigs on. Enzo posed in the wig after the win. 

    Charlotte and Dana Brooke came out. Charlotte said Sasha Banks gets a lot of people to chant “We Want Sasha,” but chants don’t pay the bills. Charlotte said Banks was all hype. Banks came out to interrupt the two and said Charlotte would never be her. Charlotte said she didn’t want to be Banks, but Banks said that Charlotte has done almost everything she can do over the past year except beat her. Banks said Charlotte would have never won at WrestleMania if it wasn’t for her father and said she would dominate Charlotte when they meet. 

    Charlotte said next week would be the one year anniversary of their debut on the Raw roster and she’s held the WWE Women’s Championship almost that entire time, so that makes her the boss. Banks started saying all the things that make her a true boss. Brooke tried to give Banks a forearm, but Banks easily ducked that and sent Brooke out of the ring. Charlotte kicked Banks in the head and said her reign had only begun. Charlotte tried to lift Banks up, but Banks escaped and hit the Back Stabber, followed by the Bank Statement. Brooke pulled Charlotte out of the ring for the save. 

    WWE Champion Dean Ambrose defeated I-C Champion The Miz in a nontitle match (9:35)

    Ambrose won with Dirty Deeds after a series of near falls following a small package, a victory roll and a schoolboy cradle. Miz clamped on the Figure Four, which they’re still trying to get over as a submission finisher. Ambrose sold the leg effectively for the rest of the match as Miz attempted the Skull Crushing Finale but failed, leading to the finish. Miz was down for a long time after the match and the referee checked on him outside the ring. 

    Post-match, Seth Rollins came out for his match with Ziggler. Rollins and Ambrose had a face off as Rollins passed by him on the ramp. Ambrose ran back to the ring like he was going to attack Rollins, but instead went to the commentator’s table, where he started doing analysis at the Spanish table. 

    Brock Lesnar’s opponent for SummerSlam will be announced on this week’s SmackDown. If you’re wondering how much Saturday’s UFC fight was mentioned, the answer is zero.

    Seth Rollins defeated Dolph Ziggler (11:15)  

    Rollins won with the Pedigree. Ziggler hit his jumping DDT, but Rollins was up within five seconds of taking it. Immediately, Ziggler tried for the Zig Zag, but Rollins blocked it and hit the finish. Solid match. 

    Post-match, Rollins stood on the announcer’s table and cut a promo on Roman Reigns, saying that Reigns needs to take shortcuts in order to achieve anything in life, just like all of the fans. Rollins said Reigns should be ineligible for the main event of Battleground, which got cheered.

    Rollins walked past Ambrose at the commentator’s table dismissively, then started talking about how he was going to take his championship back from Ambrose at Battleground. Ambrose stood on the Spanish announce table and said that Rollins could have it, he threw the belt at Rollins, then jumped him. It ended with Ambrose giving Rollins Dirty Deeds onto the Spanish announce table. 

    The Wyatt Family have a new vignette look. Bray Wyatt said New Day comes from a world that doesn’t exist because the power of positivity doesn’t actually exist. In the world he comes from, the pains of the real world are apparent. Wyatt invited them into their world where he would deliver them the truth, because the power of positivity is nothing but a fairy tale. 

    They aired another Baron Corbin video where JBL called him a future world champion. 

    Vickie Guerrero came out for the first time in two years as the latest authority figure. She was a total heel, still using her “Excuse Me” catchphrase. She reminded the fans she was the former general manager of SmackDown and Raw. She said that while Shane and Stephanie McMahon are handling Raw, SmackDown can’t be left in the hands of Teddy Long or Kane, but it should be left for her to run. She submitted her name for the job of SmackDown COO and dropped in her famous cackle. Security had to force her out. 

    Big Show lined up members of his American team for the 16-man elimination tag like he was General Patton addressing his troops. His team consists of the Dudley Boyz, Kane, Zack Ryder, Jack Swagger, Crews and Mark Henry. He gave them a rah-rah speech about how this would not be a walk in the park, but they wouldn’t be afraid, they would never back down, this was the Fourth of July and they were Americans. They were going to show the same fight against the International Alliance that soldiers showed 240 years ago to win America’s freedom. 

    Vickie was being hauled out when she ran into Ziggler. She claimed that she was invited by Shane and Stephanie. Ziggler said he had never seen that woman before in his life, then hopped back on the phone with someone to say, “Yeah, I lost but I tried really hard.” 

    The Golden Truth defeated The Vaudevillains (1:25)

    R-Truth pinned English with Solid Gold, which is a Powerbomb/Final Cut combination. R-Truth now has the lyrics to his rap song on the screen so fans can try to follow along. Fandango and Tyler Breeze watched from ringside. 

    Life Lessons with Bob Backlund is next. Backlund wanted to know what Darren Young’s finisher was. He said the Gut Check. Backlund wanted to know what his submission finisher was, but Young said he didn’t have one. Backlund gave him permission to use the crossface chicken wing, which was the last move Randy Savage sold before he left the WWE. Young was thrilled that Backlund would give him his finisher.

    John Cena came out and actually chided the fans for lack of crowd heat. Fans started the usual dueling chants, and Cena started in on A.J. Styles. Cena said he knew Styles would bring out the best in him. But he was disappointed when Styles couldn’t stand on his own two feet and leaned on the shoulders of Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows to defeat Cena at Money in the Bank. Now he has to worry about The Club every time he steps into the ring. Cena said he was sick of looking over his shoulder and challenged them to come out. 

    Styles, Anderson and Gallows came out. Styles said Cena was pathetic for crying about a personal setback. If he wanted to talk about something being unfair, Styles said they arrived in Japan this past weekend for a heroic return. Instead, all they saw was Cena’s face all over posters and walls. But The Club proved they ran Tokyo this weekend and soon they would run the WWE.

    Styles said the reason why The Club always stays by his side is because Cena could bury him at any point, just as he’s done many times before. Styles also mentioned how no WWE superstar is coming out to help Cena because Cena has put himself on an island. No other WWE superstar can relate to Cena, but they can relate to The Club. He said most superstars would love to beat up Cena, but they were the only ones who had the balls to get it done.

    Styles said they would continue to beat up Cena because there was nothing more fun to do. They vowed to do it week after week after week for the rest of the year. When Labor Day rolls around, Styles asked Anderson what he was going to do? He said beat up Cena. Styles asked Gallows what he was going to do for Halloween. Gallows said he was going to dress up as Bushwhacker Luke and beat up John Cena. Styles said he was thinking about dressing up as Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, do some strutting and cutting, and beat up John Cena. Anderson said for Christmas, he would hang out with his hot Asian wife and beat up John Cena. Then they said for the Fourth of July, they were going to beat up John Cena. 

    The Club surrounded the ring and immediately put the boots to Cena. Styles laid in the punches, as did Gallows. Enzo and Cass came out for the save. Cass gave Gallows a big boot while Cena threw Styles out of the ring and Enzo disposed of Anderson. 

    The Shining Stars said Puerto Rico wasn’t over-commercialized like the United States. 

    Becky Lynch defeated Summer Rae via submission (2:58) 

    Becky Lynch won with Dis-arm-her. They botched a vertical suplex spot where Lynch fell right on top of her head. She looked shaken up but finished the match. Natalya watched the match from backstage. 

    The multinational team of Chris Jericho, Sin Cara, Sami Zayn, Kalisto, Cesaro, Owens, Alberto Del Rio and Sheamus were backstage. Jericho was the captain. Del Rio wanted to know who made him the captain of the team. Jericho started speaking Spanish to Del Rio. Everyone started talking until Owens, deadly serious, said he was ready to beat some American ass after what happened to him earlier tonight in the food fight. Jericho told the rest of the team to “watch out for it.” Zayn asked, “What is it?” Jericho said “It” and walked off. Zayn, Cara, Cesaro and Kalisto vowed to stay together in unison because the rest of the team made them look bad. 

    Enzo and Cass did a product placement for Sonic restaurants. There’s now a “How You Doin?” lunchbox. They’re naturals as product guys. 

    New Day came out. Kofi Kingston said a lot of people think the Wyatt Family are weird looking hillbillies. Big E said rumor has it the Wyatt’s don’t stray far from the family tree, they keep it Archie Bunker, as in “All in the Family.” Kingston said they like the Wyatts and the Wyatts like them because why else would they invite them to their world. 

    Erick Rowan popped up on the TitanTron. He said the sound of laughter is a precious thing. Braun Strowman said the sound of a scream is music to his ears. Wyatt said the New Day should come to his world and seek the truth like men. Wyatt said it’s a challenge to see if they’re men or cowards. He wanted to know how far they would go to fight for what they believe in. Wyatt said the New Day started this, and he must end it. 

    Kingston said they accept and they would spray positivity all over the place. Big E started to quote Lil’ John and said they would spray positivity “to the windows to the wall,” but Xavier Woods screamed at his cohorts and said Wyatt is a true threat. He couldn’t understand why Kingston would fight them on their grounds. Woods said everything up to now has been fun and games, but if they don’t see the threat that Wyatt poses to them, he doesn’t think the New Day will survive. Woods walked off while Big E and Kofi watched on.  

    Team USA (The Big Show, Zack Ryder, The Dudley Boyz, Jack Swagger, Mark Henry, Kane and Apollo Crews) defeated the International Alliance (Chris Jericho, Lucha Dragons, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, Cesaro, Sheamus and Alberto Del Rio) in a 16-man elimination tag team match in 22:14. 

    Bubba Ray eliminated Cara after a 3-D in 1:05. In an instant, Sheamus gave Bubba Ray a Brogue Kick, and Kalisto pinned Bubba at 1:16. Cesaro eliminated Devon Dudley via submission with a Sharpshooter after a 10-rep Giant Swing at 5:34. Jericho (who was born in New York while his father played for the Rangers) pinned Jack Swagger with a Codebreaker after he broke up a Swagger Bomb at 7:44, which made it 7-on-5 in favor of the Internationals.

    The 12 remaining men filled the ring for a brawl to go into a commercial. Mark Henry eliminated Kalisto after the World’s Strongest Slam at 13:18. There was another instant elimination when Owens got Henry up for the Pop-Up Power Bomb at 13:34. Owens threw Ryder into Zayn, and then Zayn ran in to start brawling with Owens. Kane was about to give Zayn a choke slam, but Owens ran in with a chair and popped Zayn in the back. That got Owens disqualified at 14:46, even though he did it to his own partner. Then Kane grabbed the chair and hit Owens with it. That got Kane disqualified at 15:13. Kane choke slammed Zayn anyway. Crews ran in and gave Zayn a splash for the pin at 15:45. Then Sheamus gave Owens a Brogue kick and pinned him at 15:56.

    At this point, the Internationals began arguing with each other and Cesaro started throwing forearms against his heel partners. Cesaro went for the Neutralizer on Ryder, but Ryder turned it into a jackknife cradle for the surprise pin at 18:31. So it was 3-on-2 for the Internationals, with Jericho, Del Rio and Sheamus vs. Show and Ryder. Show eliminated Jericho with the Knockout punch at 20:05. Show pinned Del Rio with a choke slam at 20:26. Suddenly it was 2-on-1 for the Americans. Sheamus gave Ryder a powerslam, but Ryder kicked out. Show grabbed Sheamus by the throat and threw him into the Rough Ryder, and Ryder got the pin on Sheamus for the American victory. Show and Ryder did the woo-woo-woo chant as a giant American flag came down above the ring. 

  • WWE Main Event results: Rusev vs. Zack Ryder; Baron Corbin vs. Sin Cara

    By Kevin LaRose for F4WOnline.com

    Welcome to the longest running episodic Internet Wrestling Show recap report in the history of all time and space: The main Eeent of weekly WWE recaps, the weekly recap of WWE Main Event.

    The Ascension vs. Big Cass and Enzo Amore

    The commentary team is very concerned about the WWE right now. Tom Phillips thinks that the WWE is in the midst of a time of change. David Otunga, I’m not too sure about him. Between showing up regularly at the Steve Harvey Show, painting the town red with his Hollywood wife, being a high powered attorney, and making sure his arms are ripped to the point of absurdity, I can understand how he doesn’t have time to reflect on how I find his fashion offensive. He is wearing a sleeveless hoodie over a shirt that has to be a Youth XL, because it looks like it is about to tear itself in half from being so tight.

    And Phillips is right, things are changing because the other Ascension is back from his suspension.

    Enzo and Cass make their way out to a huge ovation from the crowd, and Otunga has the nerve to make fun of Enzo’s outfit. Enzo says his piece, and they get a few laughs over on the Ascension. Big Cass talks a lot about football for a really long time. Otunga continues to make fun of Enzo’s outfits. Enzo starts off the fight against Viktor, and then Konnor gets tagged. There’s a cool spot where Enzo lands a springboard plancha and Viktor hits him with a corkscrew uppercut. Otunga loves that move. Konner beats up Enzo, and the Ascension cut him off and everyone wants the HOT TAG.

    Enzo makes tag to Big Cass and they hit the Badda Boom Shaka Laka for the win.

    We learn that John Cena speaks Mandarin.

    Sin Cara vs Baron Corbin

    Otunga reminisces for a moment on his in-ring career. Out comes Corbin. He’s closed the book on his rivalry with Dolph Ziggler, according to Phillips. So with that out of the way, now is the opportunity to establish who Corbin is with the audience. I know what he is. He’s a sweaty biker dude with a skullet, who also drives an old white van, carries a pocket knife and will do unspeakably horrific things to you if he doesn’t like you, and man oh man, he doesn’t like you because Corbin doesn’t like anyone. Otunga thinks Corbin is a future world champion, and everyone knows Otunga is famous for his eye for talent.

    Sin Cara kicks Corbin, and then Corbin throws Cara across the ring. Cara fights back for a bit and attempts the pin to no avail. Corbin hits the End of Days, and as my girlfriend always says, “No one ever kicks out of the End of Days”.

    Otunga is so excited about the upcoming brand split.

    US Champion Rusev vs Zack Ryder

    If there is any justice in the world, Rusev will be a multi-time World Champion by the time his run is over. His talent and charisma is off the charts. Plus he gets to hang out with Willie Nelson, Woody Harrelson, and Kris Kristofferson in Hawaii, he tries to play the acoustic guitar in his spare time, he seems like he is in a happy relationship, and he loves Space Jam.

    Dolph Ziggler is on commentary wearing a Degeneration X shirt and a blazer. I have to apologize to Ziggler because I lied to him once. He was doing a comedy thing and I went to laugh, but I didn’t laugh at all because I didn’t think anything was funny. I saw him leaving the venue and I shouted “Good job” to him, and I feel bad because that is not how I felt at the time. Dolph, I hope you can forgive me, and I promise to be honest from now on.

    Otunga, such a brave and bold broadcast journalist, asks Dolph about Rusev and Lana’s engagement. Dolph rambles off about Twitter. Sometimes I think all he has in this world is his Twitter account, @heelziggler. Rusev kicks Ryder in the damn face because Rusev is a damn beast and he can and will rip your damn heart out in front of your damn face. But, he can also steal it from you.

    Rusev has everything it takes to be America’s sweetheart and American Psycho. Otunga is so mad that Rusev is US Champion. No one on commentary thinks that there’s any truth to Rusev’s claim that he is an American hero. What a bunch of ignorant meatheads. Rusev continues to beat the living puke out of Ryder. Ryder shows his heart for a bit, and puts up some offensive. But Rusev machka.

    Ryder taps out to the Accolade. Ziggler calls Phillips “TP”…and we’re done.

  • Wedding bells are in the air for WWE couple

    First reported in this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:  Rusev and Lana have set a date! The couple known in their real lives as Catherine Jo Perry and Miroslav Barnyashev have announced that they will be married on September 2nd. With Perry joining the cast of Total Divas for the next season, it would have to be assumed that the wedding will be a big part of that show, as weddings generally are good for ratings to that audience.

    Lana will be known as CJ on that show and will not use the accent that she floats in and out of on RAW and Smackdown. The couple announced their engagement earlier this year at the time that Rusev was injured and Lana was linked in storyline to Dolph Ziggler. The announcement forced plans to change and it was acknowledged on RAW that the two were engaged. The push of Lana seemed to stall after that point and it’s only been recently when she’s appeared with Rusev onscreen.

    From this week’s Wrestling Observer Newsletter:

    “The Rusev and Lana wedding, actually Miroslav and Catherine, will be on 9/2. It would be almost a lock that their wedding would air on Total Divas since that show, aimed at the women’s audience, is all about engagements and marriages.”

    Sign up now and read this week’s full issue:  June 6, 2016 Wrestling Observer Newsletter: More details on WWE brand split, Jimmy Snuka found incompetent

  • WWE Reading, PA, live results: AJ Styles vs. Kevin Owens; Dean Ambrose vs. Rusev

    Submitted by Danny West (Thanks to Joe Collins as well)

    – WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day over Vaudevillians

    New Day warmed up the crowd well. Also, the sky is blue. This was the epitome of face/heel work. People loved New Day, hated Vaudevillians. Was a fun start to the show.

    – Apollo Crews over Curtis Axel

    Crews got a lot more love here than he’s been getting on TV, but still a little lukewarm for someone of his ability. Axel worked the crowd very well as a cowardly heel. Amazing how much better he is when he isn’t surrounded by the rest of the Outcasts.

    – Jack Swagger over Viktor

    Reading is a working class bunch, so they get onboard with an American even if he’s pretty irrelevant in the big picture these days. Short, predictable, but functional

    – Goldust over Tyler Breeze

    Fandango interfered at one point, but Goldust still prevailed. Decent contest. After the match, Fandango and Breeze beat on Golddust. R-Truth (of course) came to the rescue. Crowd chanted “Golden Truth.”

    – Big Show/Kane over Rowan/Strowman

    Big Show got the 2nd biggest pop of the night. Kane got the 3rd biggest. This was a very playful affair with lots of Big Show goofiness. Crowd was obviously appreciative of his tenure in the business. The older guys were super super over. It was a nice change of pace from the “Please retire” chants they sometimes get.

    AJ Styles over Kevin Owens

    KO was messing with kids, ruining signs, etc. Styles did his usual amazing stuff, You would never know his ankle isn’t 100%. Phenomenal Forearm won it after a long and strong bout. AJ brought a previously heckled KO kid from the aisle into the ring to introduce him. Kid had a Roman Reigns shirt, but AJ Styles gloves. He told AJ on the mic that he liked both of them. AJ said, “That’s alright with me.” Great moment.

    Intermission

    – Becky Lynch over Summer Rae

    Yay for Becky winning something. Armbar tap out. She got a great crowd reaction.

    – US Champion Kalisto over Alberto Del Rio and Cesaro

    Crowd was into all three of these guys. Lots of antics out of Cesaro. Lots of Kalisto’s usual “whoa” moments. Finish was especially good. Kalisto’s finish happened after he used his feet to rebound Cesaro out of the ring and over Del Rio’s head. Great match.

    – Dean Ambrose over Rusev (w/Lana)

    Lana introduced Rusev and did some promo for Extreme Rules. Dean’s pop was huge — by far the biggest of the night. Rusev didn’t get a ton of heat until he berated America. “USA” chants were straight out of 1991. Rebound lariat, Dirty Deeds, pin. Lana was ejected from ringside for being a nuisance.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

    Now consider the United States title in its current state.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

  • WWE Roanoke, VA, live results: Kalisto vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Rusev title match

    Submitted by Chris Cawley

    – Kane and Big Show over Erik Rowan & Braun Strowman

    Crowd was real hot for Big Show face to face to Strowman. Strowman screwed up slightly setting up hot tag with Kane. Match went about 15 minutes nothing special but crowd was hot. Show pinned Rowan for the win. Afterward Kane and Show double choke slammed Strowman.

    – Sin Cara over Viktor of the Ascension

    More than expected from these two. Crowd was real hot for Sin Cara.

    – Titus O’ Neil and Jack Swagger over Social Outcasts (Bo Dallas/Curtis Axel) w/Heath Slater ringside.

    Match went about 15 minutes.

    – Becky Lynch, Paige & Sasha Banks over Dana Brooke, Lana & Eva Marie

    Finish came with all 3 face women making the heel women tap out at the same time with their respective submission finishing holds. Crowd popped huge for finish.

    Intermission

    – Goldust over Fandango

    Finish of the match came when Tyler Breeze came down to interfere, R Truth came to even odds. Goldust then got pin on Fandango.

    – WWE Tag Team Champions New Day (Big E and Xavier Woods) over Vaudevillians 

    Crowd had probably biggest pop so far for New Day entrance. Solid match. No Kofi Kingston.

    – US Champion Kalisto vs. Dean Ambrose vs. Rusev

    Ambrose got the biggest pop of the night by far when he came out. A lot spots outside the ring. Lana was ringside to start the match. At one point, Rusev got on microphone during match and got great heat from crowd. Match was spot fest from beginning to end. Ambrose hit dirty deeds, Lana distracted ref, Ambrose got slapped, Rusev super kicked Ambrose then Lana got tossed. Kalisto then pinned Rusev. Afterwards, Ambrose and Kalisto shook hands and celebrated together.

    Overall, a fun show. Bray Wyatt and Kevin Owens were heavily promoted to be here but weren’t. 

  • WWE Las Cruces, NM, live results: Dean Ambrose vs. Rusev

    JoJo is the ring announcer.

    – Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks defeat Emma and Lana

    Fun match. Sasha is over. Lana is the last one announced and gets a big pop. Ends when the babyfaces do their submissions at the same time. Emma taps to Sasha.

    – Sin Cara def. Fernando

    Fernando is doing great heel work throughout the match. Sin Cara wins via pinfall.

    – Goldust vs. Viktor

    R Truth is special guest ref for Goldust vs. Viktor. Goldust wins via pinfall. He and R-Truth are friendly afterwards. Comedy match.

    – WWE Tag Team Champions New Day (Big E and Xavier w/trombone) vs. Wyatts (Strowman and Rowan) vs. Big Show / Kane

    Big Show gets the biggest pop of the night. New Day gets a big reaction as well. Only two guys in the ring at once, and anyone can tag anyone. Kane pins Rowan and then Big E rolls up Kane. New Day is exiting when the Wyatts start beating up Kane/Show. New Day comes to the rescue. The New Day and Big Show / Kane all chokeslam the Wyatts at the same time. Then , New Day teach Big Show and Kane how to dance. Really fun match. Every time Kane or Big Show teased a chokeslam it got a huge reaction. Xavier was taking a beating for most of it.

    – Hype Bros. defeat Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas

    Along with the Goldust thing, this definitely got the least reaction. Still, surprisingly hot crowd.

    – U.S. Champion Kalisto defeats Alberto Del Rio via pinfall

    This was easily the hottest match of the night. Both guys are super over here. Crowd was reacting to everything. Del Rio got a huge babyface pop during his entrance, so the rest of the match, he worked devilish heel (tears up a kid’s sign, etc). Outstanding work from Del Rio. I had no idea how good this guy is. Del Rio removes turnbuckle when ref’s back is turned. Then Kalisto runs Del Rio into turnbuckle and hits the Salida del Sol for the pin.

    – Dean Ambrose def. Rusev (w/Lana)

    Lana gets heat by talking about how Las Cruces isn’t a real city, but just a small village in the middle of nowhere. Really funny. Ambrose gets huge pop. Lana gets ejected by ref. after continuing to distract him. Ambrose gets the crap beaten out of him for most of it, then wins with a dirty deeds. Fun match.

  • WWE Main Event Results: Rusev rages at flag malfunction, The Usos vs. The Ascension

    Rusev w/Lana def. Neville by submission (15:00)

    Fortunately, The Miz was shown backstage watching this on TV (at a preposterous angle of course) with megaphone in hand, rather than shouting through it at ringside. An admission here that that particular piece of this promising nascent Neville storyline did not work on Monday night.

    Lots of Neville using his speed to avoid Rusev and employ some trusty arm-wringers to start here – before the Bulgarian caught him off a cross-body attempt and fallaway slammed him leading into the break. Back with Rusev continuing to get the heat, working a slow methodical pace that fails to hold the interest. Neville manages an enziguri to start his comeback and follows up with a missile dropkick and a superkick to set up the Red Arrow.

    Rusev rolls to the floor to avoid however, so Neville hits him with a moonsault to the outside instead, before rolling Rusev back into the ring for a second bite at the Red Arrow apple. This is Lana’s cue to climb the ringsteps and point at Neville, which is apparently enough of a distraction to cause him to hesitate and allow Rusev to recover. Rusev slams Neville off the top, before hitting the kick to the head and locking on the Accolade for the submission finish.

    Pretty boring heel offence from Rusev here. The match was briefly enlivened by the moonsault highspot, only for it to eventually fall victim to the dumbest of dumb distraction finishes.

    Post-match, Rusev shows exactly why he’s so awesome by ad-libbing a fantastically furious reaction to his flag failing to unfurl properly from the ceiling. He grabs his own handheld version and waves it furiously, before handing it off to Lana and cussing out the WWE staff at ringside in Bulgarian instead. Fantastic stuff.

    Jack Swagger def. Bo Dallas by submission (12:08)

    Alas, Vince McMahon did not appear to call a premature end to this clash of the titans. Bo shows off his jiggle with an early victory lap, before Swagger takes control leading into the break with a vicious running clothesline on the outside.

    Swagger is still dominant when we return, only for Bo to kick off his heat with a double sledge off the ropes. Dallas then continues his gimmick of shouting “BOLIEVE!” while applying restholds. One too many Bolieves allows Swagger to recover and shoot for an anklelock, which Bo escapes, only to eat yet another running clothesline.

    Bo gets the knees up off a Swagger Bomb attempt, but gets thrown to the outside, where he trips Swagger on the apron and throws him into the steps for a close nine-count. Bo signals for the Bodog, but Swagger reverses it into the Patriot Lock for the submission, to put a merciful end to this disjointed and dull affair.

    – We get our obligatory RAW recap, focusing on Roman Reigns’ one-night ascension to the top of the company. Worth noting that they did not show the Brogue Kick kick-out here, but did show the post-match celebrations with the Usos and Dean Ambrose. Still no explanation as to where those guys were on Sunday night, though.

    The Usos def. The Ascension by pinfall (5:55)

    Jimmy gets the shine on Konnor to start us off, before tagging in Jey – your babyface-in-peril for the evening – who immediately gets caught with a flapjack to start the heat. Viktor tags in and hits an excellent looking STO to Jey on the outside. He applies a headlock inside the ring, before neatly swatting away an attempted dropkick from the Uso. A damn crisp worker is our Viktor.

    Konnor comes in and ruins everything by eating a Jey elbow off an attempted corner charge. Enziguri from Jey leads to the hot tag to brother Jimmy, who runs wild on Viktor – hitting him with the usual Samoan Drop and corner hip attack combo.

    Double superkicks to both Konnor and Viktor follow, before Jimmy hits the Superfly Splash on the latter for the pinfall victory. Short, by-the-numbers and perfectly acceptable tag match, highlighted by Viktor’s contribution.

    Final Thoughts

    A pretty bleh show this week, highlighted by Rusev’s ability to think on his feet and react to the overhead flag malfunction. As for the actual wrestling, there’s not much to recommend here. An eminently skippable outing for Main Event, I’m afraid.

  • Wrestling Observer Radio 10/14: Observer Hall of Fame talk, tons of news on Lana and Rusev, ratings, New Japan, more!

    A PACKED edition of Wrestling Observer Radio today! Over 30 minutes on the Wrestling Observer Hall of Fame, plus news on Lana and Rusev, WWE record low ratings, Seth on ESPN and why Dave thought it was pretty awful, Smackdown tapings, New Japan upcoming line-up, Ronda’s mom saying crazy things, a bunch of questions and more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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  • Wrestling Observer Live 10/14: Record low Raw ratings, tons of listener questions, more!

    Wrestling Observer Live with Bryan Alvarez and Mike Sempervive returns today to talk all the news in wrestling and MMA including tons of questions from listeners on WWE Raw ratings, the length of the show, why the stock is still rising, the Rusev angle and tons more! A fun show as always so check it out~!

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