Submitted by James Girouard from the Denny Sanford Premier Center
– Dolph Ziggler b. Baron Corbin with a superkick and zig zag
Surprisingly good match. From a mechanical perspective, Corbin is much improved from where he was even a year ago.
– Titus O’Neil b. Fandango with a powerbomb
Fandango attacked Titus before the bell. Match itself probably went about a minute. Not much to it.
– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte b. Natayla with a rollup after putting her feet on the ropes
Other than one or two mistimed spots early, the work was very good. However, the ring announcer (Eden Stiles) did ask the crowd before the match if they “wanted to see some beautiful women in the ring” so apparently old stereotypes die hard.
– Sami Zayn b. Stardust with the Blue Thunder bomb
Stardust stalled for most of the match and got quite a bit of heat. Zayn had a loyal, vocal minority really into him but Stardust was more over as a heel than Zayn was as a face. Match was fine, nothing special.
– AJ Styles b. Kevin Owens with the Phenomenal Forearm
Very good match, best of the night. Owens got a lot of heel heat early but was so great that as the match wore on he was getting as many cheers as boos. AJ’s in-ring timing is even more amazing live than it is on TV.
– Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows b. Darren Young & Mark Henry with the Magic Killer
Not much to the match, although it was weird to see Mark Henry as the babyface in peril. For not having been on TV very long Anderson & Gallows did get a decent reaction.
– Big Cass b. Primo with his East River Crossing sidewalk slam
Primo jumped Cass as he was cutting a promo before the match, but Cass ended up wiping him out quickly. Crowd was really into the singalong.
– IC Champion Miz (w/Maryse) b. Cesaro after throwing him into an exposed turnbuckle
Miz got tremendous heel heat from the second he walked out from the curtain until the match was over. Match was all sorts of overbooked with run-ins and interference from Maryse.
– WWE Champion Roman Reigns b. Sheamus with the spear
Hard hitting but the two have had much better matches. Both men were heavily booed at the start, but as the match wore on the reactions to Roman were probably 50-50. It is interesting because the last time Reigns was in Sioux Falls against Bray Wyatt he was pretty much universally cheered.
All in all, one of the better house shows I’ve seen from WWE since they started coming back to Sioux Falls regularly about 15 years ago. None of the matches were bad and the stuff that wasn’t as good was kept short. A lively crowd that was into the talent helped.
Ziggler wins by pinfall after a DDT and a kick to the face. Before the event begins, Baron Corbin cuts a promo on the screen saying he’s going to “give Ziggler a beating like he’s never had before.”
– Mark Henry & Darren Young vs. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson
Anderson pinned Darren Young after the Magic Killer.
– Kevin Owens cuts a promo on the videoboard, saying AJ Styles sports the worst hair cut, he doesn’t deserve to be in the same ring as him, and if anyone is phenomenal, it’s him. He says he’s going to beat him like you’ve never seen another man beat someone before.
– Titus O’Neil vs. Fandango
O’Neil wins by pinfall after a power bomb.
– Sami Zayn vs. Stardust
After the bell rings, the crowd bursts out into Sami and Cody chants. Stardust goes a bit ballistic and exits the ring to raise his hands to the crowd asking “What the heck?” Stardust then grabs a chair from under the ring but drops it as he tries to enter from the ref telling him not to bring it in. Zayn and Stardust then jump on the turnbuckles for a cheering contest in which Zayn wins after large amounts of boos for Stardust. As the match goes on, Stardust tries to pin Zayn multiple times. Each time he fails, the crowd puts up two fingers and Stardust shows three to each section. Zayn wins after a jump splash from the turnbuckle by pinfall.
– Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles
Right as the bell rings, Owens leaves the ring and walks around and rips up a fans sign. Styles wins by pinfall after the Phenomenal Forearm.
– WWE Women’s Champion Charlotte vs. Natalya
As Natalya goes after Charlotte in the turnbuckle, Charlotte counters and throws Natalya down and then rolled her up with her feet on the ropes to retain the title.
– Big Cass vs. Primo
Cass comes out with a mic and states that his partner is out with a head injury, but as long as he’s here, he’ll be doing it for the both of them. He goes on to say that he has one word for anyone who gets in his way. Before he can spell out “Sawft,” Primo attacks him from behind. Cass wins by pinfall and picks up the mic again and continues his speech, including spelling out “Sawft.”
– IC Champion The Miz (with Maryse) vs. Cesaro
While Miz is tapping from Cesaro’s submission, the ref is busy arguing with Maryse. Cesaro lets go of the submission to celebrate though no bell is rung. The ref explains and Cesaro starts to complain at Maryse. Then Miz throws Cesaro into the turnbuckle from behind and Cesaro falls. Miz then wins by pinfall.
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.
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.
We’ve confirmed that the injury is legitimate, but we don’t have much in the way of details other than he has tendonitis in the arm. He isn’t expected to be out of the ring for too long, but the timing of when he’ll be able to wrestle again has not been determined.
As of today, the feeling is that he will likely remain on television in storylines but won’t be working matches, similar to the role Wade Barrett has been doing in the League of Nations in recent weeks. Sheamus last worked on Raw Monday night in a tag team match with Rusev as his partner against Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose. He missed considerable time in late-2014/early 2015 due to injuries, returning on the March 30th, 2015, edition of RAW.
We are also awaiting confirmation on another upper level WWE wrestler that might be hurt.
Match 1: Ziggler vs Breeze Good opener. Despite Breeze and Summer Rae splitting on SmackDown, they came out together and called it a “One Night Only Farewell Tour”. Match was back and forth. Summer got ejected by the ref to a huge reaction from the crowd. As Breeze was distracted, Ziggler went for the Zig Zag, Breeze countered and went for the Uprettier. Ziggler countered and hit a Superkick for the win.
Match 2: Stardust vs Titus O’Neil Stardust cut a pre-match promo talking trash about Hidalgo and the crowd. Crowd booed. Okay match, nothing too special. Titus hit the Clash of the Titus for the win.
Match 3: Damien Sandow & Curtis Axel vs Heath Slater & Adam Rose. Adam Rose cut a pre-match promo in his typical ‘party pooper’ form. This was mainly a comedy type match. It didn’t do too well with the crowd because nobody was really reacting to the match.
Match 4: Jack Swagger vs Alberto Del Rio (US Champion) Swagger came out to a good reaction but it was Del Rio that really lit the crowd up. He came out and patted fans hands. Crowd was cheering for Del Rio throughout the match. This was back and forth. The Patriot Lock and Cross Armbreaker kept getting countered. Del Rio picked up the win after he hit the double foot stomp off the turnbuckle while Swagger was in the Tree of Woe position.
Match 5: Kalisto vs Viktor (W/Konnor)
Kalisto got a huge ovation from the crowd. Lots of people doing the Lucha chant. This match wasn’t anything special. Viktor dominated for the most part then Kalisto made the comeback and hit the Salida Del Sol for the win.
Match 6: Becky Lynch vs Charlotte (Divas Championship) Both divas got loud cheers from the crowd. This was originally advertised as a Triple Threat match with Paige. Paige didn’t show up and there wasn’t any explanation. This was in my opinion the best match on the show. Good chain wrestling sequences that surprisingly got loud cheers. Charlotte got the win by roll up and a handful of tights.
Match 7: Sheamus vs Roman Reigns (WWE WHC Street Fight) This was a solid match. Reigns got the loudest ovation of the night. Sheamus got loud boos. This match was pretty much similar to the ones we’ve already seen. Sheamus put Reigns through a table with the Irish Curse. Later, Reigns speared Sheamus through a table for the win.
Brock Lesnar’s next opponent in WWE will be Sheamus as things are advertised.
A Lesnar vs. Sheamus match has been announced for a 1/8 house show at the Toyota Center in Houston. It is one of two Lesnar house show appearances thus far announced for this year, with the second one being on 2/16.
Lesnar is advertised for a Raw return on 1/11 in New Orleans, which will likely be the night that his role in the Royal Rumble show will also be announced.
Lesnar’s contract signed in April called for more dates, including an occasional house show, than his prior two contracts. Lesnar did two house shows, one in Tokyo and one at Madison Square Garden, that ended up as live network specials. But his third, held on 12/19 at the Forum in Inglewood, CA, was strictly a house show match with Alberto Del Rio.
Tables, Ladders, and Chairs… Oh My! Part 7, The Finale
By: PeachMachine (@hendosfoodblog and @parkingcone)
This week…
TLC 7: December 13, 2015; Boston, Massachusetts, TD Garden
I figured I’d better review the most recent offering from the WWE TLC PPV series in the same manner in which I did the first six (read-along style) but I wanted to give it a little bit of time to digest before doing it to see the follow up on Raw. It was their best TLC, and the ending actually got decent heat, and played great into the story the next night with Vince McMachon returning and Roman winning the championship.
King, Cole, and JBL on the pipes. King sucks a bag of aardvark turds. He’s so out of place. Why does Vince keep him around? He’s not funny and his schtick is tired. I’m not saying they had someone better, but NOW they have someone better. I’m looking forward to Mauro Ranallo big time.
Pre Show Match: Sasha Banks (with Naomi and Tamina) defeated Becky Lynch by submission… but we’ll never see it.
The New Day (Big E. Langston and Kofi Kingston with Xavier Woods) (c) vs. The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara) vs. The Usos (Jimmy Uso and Jey Uso) for the Tag Team Championship in a triple threat tag team ladder match for the WWE Tag Team Championship
New Day needs to keep their intro to the same verbiage each time so they can get the crowd chanting along.
I’m surprised nobody has pointed out the wings on Kofi’s shoes. Awesome!
Lilian introduced the Lucha Dragons in Spanish, which, as a fluent Spanish speaker was muy bien. That’s Spanish. I’ll translate it for you someday.
She should have done the Uso’s intro in pigeon. I’m fluent in that as well. Pigeon is like half English, half Island slang, mixed with some Polynesian.
They should do a ladder match where no ladders are ringside. They could spend 25 minutes running around backstage looking for a scissor lift.
Two minutes in, the Usos are alone in the ring WITH A LADDER and decide to just throw it. They could have easily won. That’s why multi-team ladder matches are lame.
I really want to know the story behind Xavier and the trombone. Did he play it in 7th grade band class? Did he find one backstage and practice one day? Is he just wingin’ it?
King said, “He got chopped like a veg-o-matic.” Why is he still employed? Does anyone under 35 know what an “anything-o-matic” is?
Big E. pressed the ladder with both Dragons on it. That was cool.
There was a lot of innovation here with unique ladder spots.
Salida del sol from the top of the ladder! Luckily it was onto the gimmick ladder that broke at the wooden joint.
Woods tosses his trombone at Kalisto and Kofi unhooks the clip and grabs the belts for the win.
I’m still waiting for the tag team ladder match where one guy from each team grabs a belt and they are forced to be the new champions together.
Rusev (with Lana) vs. Ryback
In the pre match video, they recapped Ryback referencing “Teen Wolf” the TV show. What? There are a bazillion other shows that would have made more sense. First, Ryback is hairless.
Do you think Ryback sells a ton of beanies and necklaces at house shows? No? Me neither.
Just fire both these clowns. They HAD potential. Screw it. We want JOE!
If I was on WWE creative, and a wrestler came up to me and said, “I just got this sweet air brushed singlet that combines the skull of a wolf and a tiger.” I’d immediately bury that geek. Go get in line at Disney world with the other weirdos who wear wolf shirts.
When Ryback says, “Finish it!” it’s weird. It doesn’t make sense to tell your self audibly to “finish it.” You’d more realistically just think that.
Technical submission is the official result. That happened two weeks ago in the UFC too. It means when a guy doesn’t submit and the ref stops it anyway.
Ambrose and Reigns are back stage talking about being double champions.
Then they cut to the announcers and do a video recap of Del Rio vs. Swagger. Cole says that Del Rio hit Swagger with a chair because they have a chairs match coming up. My guess is that he got that backwards. Also, Swagger has a bowl cut. Why in the world are we allowing this, not just here, but in all of America? People, we need you to point out the dorks attempting to bring back the bowl cut. It sucked in 1993 and it sucks now. I guess it’s fine on a heel, but don’t let your friends go back to this.
Alberto Del Rio (c) vs. Jack Swagger in a chairs match for the WWE United States Championship
Remember a month ago when this title was great?
Swagger did the “Patriot Lock” through a chair, which is the same as me doing a bear hug to someone through a hula-hoop. Lame.
This match would have been awesome if not for the dorks involved.
Has anyone outside of Swagger’s immediate family bought his awful shirt? Probably the same people who bought a Ryback necklace.
I’ve said it before, but chairs matches suck. Del Rio won after doing the double stomp on Swagger on a pile of chairs. Lame.
Albert of the River does look amazingly tan.
The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, Erick Rowan, Braun Strowman) vs. the ECW Originals (Bubba Ray Dudley, D-Von Dudley, Tommy Dreamer, and Rhyno) in an eight-man tag team elimination tables match
Rhyno joined ECW in 1999, so I guess that’s when ECW started since he’s an “original.”
I like to think that since they’re the “Wyatt family” that each of the other guys not named Wyatt married one of Bray’s sisters so they’re all brothers-in-law. Backstage they probably gripe about their wives being ball busters. “Bray, can you tell Sheila to relax about the baby’s crib? I’ll have it put together in time. SHE needs to pick a damn room color.”
Bray was wearing a double horned headpiece, so WWE must think there is money in facial accouterments.
This is the tenth tables match in WWE pay per view history, which were Cole’s words, so I guess “pay per view” isn’t on the banned term list.
Tommy Dreamer looks gross. He’s orange, and round, and has a stupid beard.
Strowman kicked his leg through a table, and that didn’t count as an elimination. Why not?
I’d rather watch Public Enemy vs. The Nasty Boys on the WWE Network. At least those guys didn’t try to do spots. They just beat the heck out of each other for real and didn’t sell.
So this happened: Rowan set D-Von on a table and climbed to the top, then Rhyno pushed him off so he didn’t land on D-Von, but as D-Von was rolling out of the way, the table broke. That makes two table breaks that just didn’t count.
Rowan got eliminated first by the 3D.
Luke Harper booted Rhyno through the table making it 3 on 3.
What actual purpose would red white and black camouflage serve? Would you wear it while hunting in a forest fire?
Wyatt slammed D-Von through a table with a urinage.
Harper dives on to dreamer who goes through a table. Now it’s 3 on 1.
Bubba Ray covers a table in lighter fluid, then just gets put through it by a choke slam from Strowman. Big tease, no pay off.
That match was a chaotic mess in a very mediocre way.
What a treat! Renee tells us that we get to hear from the kick off panel of Corey Graves, Byron Saxton, and Booker T. These bozos have nothing to say.
Then we got a pretty weak Royal Rumble promo. I’m sure those will get better.
Kevin Owens (c) vs. Dean Ambrose for the Intercontinental Championship
Owens did some nice crowd work making fun of Boston sports fans. To be fair, they ARE the most arrogant sports fans.
This was a pretty dang good match.
Ambrose counters the pop up power bomb and rolls through for the pin.
Ambrose wins!
Then Ambrose ran around like a maniac celebrating.
Good match.
Charlotte (c) (with Richard Morgan Fliehr) vs. Paige for the WWE Divas Championship
This is a confusing storyline. Paige brought up Charlotte’s dead brother, and then she turned baby face. What?
Flair is at ringside. This match is basically nothing.
Paige locks on a long sleeper.
Paige locks on the Figure Four.
The end was Paige hitting the Ram-Paige but Flair took Charlotte’s foot and put it on the rope. This lead to Charlotte taking off the turn buckle pad, and dropping Paige’s face onto the exposed steal, which led to the pin.
Sheamus (c) vs. Roman Reigns in a tables, ladders, and chairs match for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
The “heat” in this feud is from Sheamus cashing in the MITB contract after Reigns won the title last month at Survivor Series. Oh, and then Reigns retaliated by saying that Sheamus’ testicles were the size of tater tots, in some sort of odd Burger King cross promotion. Zing.
When Sheamus was introduced, they hit him with a spotlight that completely whited him out. Ha!
How many refs does it take to hang up a championship belt? Two apparently.
I wonder if the height of the raised item in ladder matches is a standard?
Roman tossed Sheamus into a stacked up double table and chairs set up on the side of the ramp.
Sheamus got cut on his left triceps.
I can’t believe they allow Reigns’ running jump kick on the apron to be called the Drive By, which implies gang related murder.
Sheamus hit White Noise off the apron through a table. That should have been the finish.
The two took a double bump off the apron through the gimmicked ladder which was propped up by the announce table.
And now we get the agonizing slow ladder climbing which makes ladder matches unbearable.
Reigns hit the Super Man Punch on Sheamus at the top of the ladder and Sheamus took a table bump.
Reigns got royally screwed by the League of Nations running in.
Sheamus won after the League destroyed Reigns. Barrett was conspicuous by his absence. He’s apparently injured.
Reigns then decimated the League, and HHH came out.
Reigns destroyed HHH as well to get his heat back, or more correctly, just get SOME heat. It worked, as the crowd really got behind Roman.
Overall Thoughts: This was a dang good TLC PPV and possibly the best one yet. The ladder match to start, and the TLC match at the end were very good. Thumbs up for sure. Final rankings of the TLC PPV’s order: 7,4,6,5,3,1,2 – And a we put TLC to rest, I’d like to remind you, “Don’t go chasing waterfalls…”
At Survivor Series, WWE decided to shuffle up the deck and pull a swerve by having Sheamus cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase, snatching the WWE title away from five minute champion Roman Reigns in a move that disappointed many.
We’re doing our post-match poll on both this show and the UFC show last night, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to dave@wrestlingobserver.com
BECKY LYNCH VS. SASHA BANKS IN THE PRE SHOW MATCH
Nice match, particularly the last 30 seconds or so as Lynch kept going from armbar to Fujiwara armbar. Tamina Snuka distracted the ref and Naomi kicked Lynch and then Banks did the back stabber into the bank statement. The crowd popped pretty good for the Banks win since she’s local. Crowd wasn’t super into it but they reacted decently enough.
They are teasing that Zeb Colter may be back with Jack Swagger, which may also mean that the Del Rio/Swagger thing from Raw also could be a swerve.
It appears smart money is in because the odds are long now. So here are the favorites:
Sheamus 45-to-1 favorite
Dean Ambrose 12-to-1 favorite
New Day 20-to-1 favorite
Charlotte 5-to-1 favorite
Wyatt Family 6-to-1 favorite
Alberto Del Rio 45-to-1 favorite
Rusev 45-to-1 favorite
NEW DAY VS. USOS VS. LUCHA DRAGONS IN A LADDER MATCH FOR TAG TITLES
The New day retained when Kalisto was climbing and Xavier Woods, who was on commentary, threw the trombone at Kalisto and Kingston threw him off the ladder. Kingston slowly climbed and pulled down the belts. Absolutely awesome spot fest like a modern version of the Edge & Christian vs. Hardys vs. Dudleys match but with all new spots. Kalisto did the Salida del on Jimmy off the top of a ladder crashinG through another ladder. There were dives, like the Dragons doing a double moonsault off the middle rope to the floor on E & Kingston. Kalisto did a dragon rana off a ladder which flipped Kingston back into the ladder face first. There was about 18 minutes of this. Like a crazy Lucha match in many ways. It’s going to hard for anyone to come close to this. Creative and well executed.
RYBACK VS. RUSEV
Good match. Rusev threw Ryback into Lana and she started selling which distracted Ryback. Rusev superkicked him and went for the pin but Ryback kicked out. Ryback got out of the accoalde but Rusev got out of shell shock and Rusev used a high kick and won with the accolade with Ryback passing out. Rusev and Lana had teased a walk out and Ryback pulled him back which was the spot where Rusev shoved Ryback into Lana. Lana never actually got hit and was pretending again.
Dean Ambrose promo. Roman Reigns is with him. Ambrose said he was feeling good. They were doing the best friends stuff. You always wonder if something will happen.
ALBERTO DEL RIO VS. JACK SWAGGER FOR U.S. TITLE IN CHAIRS MATCH
No Zeb at all. Chair matches are hard because you do a million chair matches and they don’t really mean anything. They did a good job building up to Swagger finally hitting the Swagger bomb and getting the Patriot lock, but Del Rio, whose leg was wrapped up in a chair, made the ropes. Del Rio had the armbar in the ropes. Del Rio did four hard chair shots to the back and then a double foot stomp off the top rope onto chairs.
Kevin Iole reported that Mauro Ranallo will be the new voice of Smackdown, but he’ll be keeping his boxing, MMA and kickboxing duties on weekends. Story is true.
Dudleys did a promo.
DUDLEYS & RHINO & TOMMY DREAMER VS. WYATT FAMILY IN AN ELIMINATION TABLES MATCH
The Wyatts won 4-1. There were two tables broken that didn’t count, including Braun Strowman kicking through a table. A table also broke when it wasn’t supposed to when Devon rolled off. First Rowan took a 3-D through a table from the Dudleys. Harper kicked Rhyno through a table for the second elimination. Wyatt put Devon through a table with a uranage. Harper did a tope knocking Dreamer through a table leaving Bubba by himself. Bubba poured lighter fluid on a table and the place went nuts, but before he coudl light it, Harper superkicked him and Strowman choke slammed Bubba through a table. There were two funny spots where Strowman was off but crowd really liked this a lot with ECW and ECW style chants.
Kevin Owens heel promo. Said you as individuals have nothing to do with it when your team wins like Dean Ambrose. Ambrose acts like he’s accomplished something. Owens said, in reference to Ambrose throwing soda and popcorn on him that “I eat popcorn and drink soda every day of my life.”
KEVIN OWENS VS. DEAN AMBROSE FOR IC TITLE
Ambrose won the title by reversing the pop up power bomb into a huracanrana. Match was shorter than you’d think but very good. They did a good tease count out early on Ambrose. Ambrose escaped the pop up power bomb and hit Dirty Deeds but Owens got two fingers on the ropes for the break. People were really into the title change, I don’t think they were expecting it. The title change felt like a real big deal here. They pushed that Ambrose held up his part of it and now Reigns has to.
CHARLOTTE VS. PAIGE FOR THE DIVAS TITLE
Charlotte was a total heel working the match like Ric Flair with the begging off kneedrops, working the leg. Charlotte did seem more confident. The crowd really got into it when Paige used the figure four on Charlotte like every babyface would do to Flair. Paige used the Rampage but Ric put Charlotte’s leg on the ropes. Right after, Charlotte took off the padding of a turnbuckkle and pulled Paige’s head into the exposed metal for the pin. I’d rather she was something different from Ric but she had more presence in this role than she’s had up to this point in WWE, but not more than in NXT.
Ric and Charlotte were celebrating. Becky Lynch confronted her. Lynch said she didn’t like the way she won. Charlotte said would you rather your best friend won or Paige won. Lynch looked confused and unhappy about Charlotte’s tactics.
WWE CHAMPION SHEAMUS VS. ROMAN REIGNS IN A TLC MATCH
Sheamus retained due to inteference from Rusev and Alberto Del Rio, but no King Barrett. Also, there was no Ambrose or anyone to make the save for Reigns.
This was a really good match. At first, the crowd wasn’t that hot or were doing non-match related chants for Cena and ECW. Both guys worked really hard and physical with lots of teases of wins, chair shots, and more.
Sheamus backdropped Reigns through a table on the floor. Sheamus suplexed Reigns through a table. Sheamus used White Noise off the steps through a table. Reigns got out of an armbar and reversed into a one arm powerbomb onto a ladder. Reigns with a Samoan drop through a ladder that broke in half. At this point, the crowd was booing when they thought Reigns would win.
Reigns’ Superman punch knocked Sheamus off a ladder. Reigns had the title won when Rusev & Del Rio came in. They beat him down, but Reigns came back and gave them both Superman punches. Sheamus was on top. Reigns pulled him off and Sheamus hit a Brogue kick, knocking Reigns out of the ring. Sheamus climbing again. This time they were booing thinking Reigns would lose. Sheamus pulled down the belt to win before Reigns could recover.
The highlight was post-match as Reigns totally snapped. He speared all three at the same time. He destroyed everyone with chair shots. HHH & Steph came out out. Reign nailed Sheamus with a chair after HHH and Stephanie told him to put it down. HHH was on the apron and told Reigns to calm down. After a long tease, Reigns hit a Superman punch on HHH. He grabbed a chair and hit HHH over and over with chair shots. It was funny as at one point, HHH told him to do it again (which you could hear) so then he did another chair shot.
Stephanie was screaming as Reigns gave him a real beating. Reigns gave him a power bomb onto a table that didn’t break. Fans were chanting “One more time!” Reigns elbowdropped him through the table, so they are doing an injury angle with HHH. This finish was great, complete with a “Thank you Roman” chant.
They are pushing like Reigns is going to be fired. HHH finally got up, and Reigns turned around, sprinted down the aisle and speared him again. This was the best thing they’ve done with Reigns. HHH selling it huge. The crowd didn’t like Reigns at all at first and were cheering heavily for him by the time this was done.
The go-home show for the TLC PPV was strange, but still an improvement from last week. The most relevant long-term takeaway from the show was the instant breakup of the Alberto Del Rio-Zeb Coulter faction. There was a hot opening match and a good singles match between Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler. Then came some strange stuff involving Charlotte and Paige. Followed by even more strange stuff with Titus O’Neal and Stardust.
Show Recap:
The League of Nations were in the ring with its own new music. Sheamus mentioned Rusev from Bulgaria, Alberto Del Rio from Mexico (I thought it was MexAmerica?), King Barrett from England and himself from Ireland. Sheamus said they couldn’t find anyone from America to lace their boots. He talked about how they were the best of the best. Suddenly, the Wyatt Family appeared in the ring. This was the start of their long-awaited face turn, and it took the fans awhile to catch on, but they started chanting “yes.” Bray Wyatt said he didn’t care about nations, this was his world and he was allowing them to breathe in it. They came out to create chaos.
They teased a showdown when the Dudley Boyz and Tommy Dreamer came out. Bubba Ray Dudley and Wyatt jabbered back and forth. Devon Dudley said when you’re extreme, you don’t die, you multiply. Rhyno came out. Considering they used a Robin Harris quote and the word “Extreme,” maybe their gimmick is “That 90s team.”
Just as they were about to get in the ring, Reigns, Dean Ambrose and the Usos came out through the crowd. They’re running 16 guys out there in one match when they have no depth. Fandango vs. Brooklyn Brawler anyone?
Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and the Usos defeated The League of Nations in a Fatal Four-Way Elimination Match that also included The Wyatt Family and the Dudley Boyz, Rhyno and Tommy Dreamer (21:26)
Fans got into Rhyno for the nostalgia pop Dreamer wore polka-dot pants, I guess as a tribute to Dusty Rhodes. That week on the road must have done a number on Dreamer because he looked like he aged 5 years in one week.
Dreamer pinned Eric Rowan with a DDT to eliminate the Wyatt Family in 4:45. Michael Cole called the DDT a “Dreamer Driver.” Do what?
Sheamus pinned Bubba Ray at 11:06 with a Brogue Kick There was a 12-way brawl midway through this cycle that led to Rhyno and Reigns having a staredown. Man it was scary that someone from the dying days of ECW got a better reaction than the man groomed to be the next John Cena. Del Rio jumped Rhyno before they touched.
Reigns pinned Sheamus with a spear to win the match at 21:26. Really good final sequence where Del Rio tried to pin Reigns after Sheamus hit him with a Brogue Kick outside the ring, but Reigns kicked out. Del Rio then applied the cross armbreaker, but Jimmy Uso broke it up with a splash off the top. Amrbose and Jey Uso did topes on the heels at various points. Strong match overall.
Sheamus sold his ribs backstage when Renee Young walked up to ask him about the match he just lost. A deadly serious Sheamus said Reigns’ victory over him was as close to the world championship as he will ever get. Young asked if there was anything he could learn about tonight’s opening match. Sheamus vowed to make Reigns pay in front of the whole world tonight.
Stardust ranted to himself in his private liar about making the entire WWE Universe see the whole world is a dark place. Titus O’Neal made his weekly appearance and suggested Stardust should leave his dingy room and get some. He didn’t mean that. O’Neal told Stardust to get a life, read a book. Stardust refused to listen. Stardust looked back to respond to O’Neal, who disappeared.
Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae watched from their VIP section.
Kevin Owens (C) defeated Dolph Ziggler in a nontitle match (19:12)
Another good match where Kevin Owens won with a Pop-Up Power Bomb. They worked spots around a side headlock. Dolph Ziggler ran his right shoulder into the post and sold his right shoulder extremely well the rest of the match. High spot included Owens doing a senton into the corner. Ziggler rolled out to the floor several times, but hit Owens with a jumping DDT. Breeze never got involved.
Right after the pin, Ambrose came out eating popcorn and drinking a soft drink. Owens was furious his music didn’t play. Ambrose got in the ring, threw popcorn and drink in Owens’ face and left. Sure made Ambrose look like a jerk.
Wyatt cut a promo on the Dudleys, Dreamer and Rhyno. Braun Strowman said he had a dream where he would become Tommy Dreamer’s worst nightmare.
Miz met with Neville backstage. Miz wanted to teach Neville how to be a true superstar so he could be the next Daniel Bryan. If that happens, I guess we’ll never see any crowd signs for Neville again. This led to Miz bringing in Donny Deutsch, who stars in a new USA Network show called “Donny.” Deutsch used to have a CNBC talk show that had WWE personalities appear all the time. Miz and Deutsch chatted. Neville and Deutsch shook hands. Really was more of a promotional piece than anything.
Naomi and Sasha Banks defeated Brie Bella and Alicia Fox (6:12)
Clumsy match. Naomi pinned Brie Bella with the Rear View after Sasha Banks grabbed her foot from the outside. Not much to it. Team BAD’s new gimmick is saying “Unity” in unison at the highest pitch possible.
Right afterwards, the New Day came out wearing unicorn horns. They gave the members of Team BAD the horns and did a group handshake.
The New Day claimed to submit thousands of baby names to Kanye West and Kim Kardshian. But they don’t believe WWE Tag Team title shots should be handed out generously, saying they had to defend against Lucha Dragons and the Usos in a ladder match. They did a skit to prove they didn’t need ladders, proving they could get a kitten out of a tree without a ladder. To prove it, Big E. played the role of a tree, Kofi Kingston played a kitten. Kingston jumped on top of Big E, while Xavier Woods told Kofi to climb down. Kofi mee-owed. Crowd didn’t really follow it.
Lucha Dragons defeated Kofi Kingston and Big E. (C) in a nontitle match (7:10)
The Usos were at ringside on commentary. Woods blew the trombone into the Usos face, which led to Jey trashing the trombone and going after Woods. Kingston watched this unfold from the ring, which led to Sin Cara getting the pin with an O’Connor Roll.
Reigns did an interview. Note to self: never watch Mid-South episodes on Raw days. Watching Bill Watts, Jim Cornette and even Terry Taylor cut these promos that were short on polish and high on emotion and drawing money makes the current product look so colorless. Reigns said he would face Sheamus later tonight to see who would teach who a lesson.
On that note, it was time for MizTv. Charlotte and Ric Flair came out. Charlotte told Miz that he didn’t introduce her father correctly, clearly teasing a heel turn. Charlotte and her father had matching Rolex watches. Flair said he would be in Charlotte’s corner for her title match against Paige at TLC. Miz brought up Charlotte’s win over Becky Lynch. Charlotte interrupted Miz saying she was going to do what it took to win.
Miz did a babyface speech saying that Charlotte has changed and wanted to know what she had to say to Paige. Charlotte said if she had anything to say, she would say it on Sunday. Miz said Piage interferred with her friendship with Lynch and wanted to know why Charlotte wouldn’t answer the question. Flair got up and talked Miz down. Miz said Charlotte was hiding behind her father. Miz pressed on until Charlotte spoke up and called Paige a “two-faced gothic piece of trash.” Charlotte said she would destroy Paige for everything she ever said about Charlotte.
Miz brought out Paige, who got a babyface pop. Did a miss Paige’s babyface turn? Flair took Charlotte out of the ring instead of confronting Paige. Charlotte left, but Paige slapped Flair. That led Flair to tell Charlotte to get her. Then came a weird sequence. Charlotte jumped on Paige, who didn’t get a comeback and rolled out of the ring. Isn’t it usually the newly turned babyface who has to be pulled off the newly turned heel? And wasn’t Miz the Flair in waiting two years ago?
Ryback and Rusev went to a double countout (10:13)
Ryback chased Rusev around the ring until Ryback appeared to run into Lana, who feigned an ankle injury. As Ryback checked on her, Rusev jumped him from behind and put him in the Accolade. Lana showed the ankle injury was a gimmick, then laughed as she and Rusev kissed. Lana did an inset promo saying she knew Ryback didn’t mean to hurt her last week when he rammed the steps into her last week. Cole billed this as a weird interview and he was right. Ryback did a rolling tope to the floor, which wasn’t flawless but damn impressive for someone his size.
They showed a teaser for Shawn Michaels podcast interview with Steve Austin. Of course, they broached the subjet of Montreal. Austin asked Michaels if the scenario where Bret Hart would be placed in the Sharpshooter was Michaels’ idea, and they cut to the end before Michaels could answer. I’m going to create a bingo card for all the answers that Michaels has given about Montreal over the past 18 years. He went from saying it wasn’t his idea, to telling RF Video that Bret had proof that Michaels wasn’t involved in the screw job in the “Wrestling with Shadows” documentary footage but didn’t show it, to admitting he did know about it, and then claiming it was his idea. Wonder which answer Shawn’s God likes?
Jack Swagger defeated Stardust (3:36)
The match was in progress when Del Rio and Zeb Coulter came out. O’Neal was on commentary. He’s basically doing Dave Meltzer’s gimmick where he wants Cody Rhodes to drop the Stardust character. Swagger won with the Patriot Lock. Immediately afterwards, Del Rio popped Swagger with a hard chair shot. Stardust came up from behind Del Rio. O’Neal screamed “Del Rio, look out!” Wasn’t he trying to help Stardust? Why did he need to warn Del Rio since he had a chair? Del Rio hit Stardust.
Then Swagger popped up from the chair shot after barely selling it. He and Del Rio each had a chair at this point. Swagger swung and knocked the chair out of Del Rio’s hands. Del Rio stumbled over Coulter’s motorized cart. Swagger then yelled at Coulter about how he had turned his back on the people and his country. Coutler rode off on his cart.
The Rose Bush atrocity saw a 2nd week. Adam Rose said the Miz was trying to use Neville for a remake of Dumbo, which Neville was a shoo-in for. They implied Neville had a big nose. Ungodly bad stuff.
In the back, Del Rio was mad at Coulter because he tripped over Coulter’s cart. ADR told Coulter he didn’t want him around anymore. Coulter tried to but in and remind ADR that he was the reason ADR held the U.S. Championship, but ADR wasn’t hearing any of it. Coulter rode away. So this pairing is history, and not a moment too soon. This was an ill-advised act from the beginning and it was best to cut bait while they could.
Braun Strowman defeated Tommy Dreamer by submission (2:43)
It was what you would think. Strowman won with the head-and-arm choke. JBL compared Strowman to Bill Kazmaier, which could be prescient, but not in the way he meant.
Reigns showed up to the ring, which had tables, ladders and chairs in it. Reigns remembered that’s how the Shield started, in a TLC match. He started climbing the ladder as a metaphor for his career. Crowd chanted “what” at him. Reigns said it was Sheamus who knocked him down this ladder. He said he wasn’t leaving until Sheamus showed up.
Sheamus came out. He said Roman was out of touch. Fancy that line coming from this company. Sheamus vowed to beat Reigns again. They bickered back and forth until Reigns got off this line saying that he thought Sheamus had potatoes, but it turns out he has Tater Tots. That succeeded in getting the crowd to chant “Tater Tots.” Sheamus started to run in the ring, but he stopped. Sheamus said he was going to build a castle of mangled ladders, broken chairs and tables on top of Reigns. Again, Roman challenged him.
Sheamus said if he got in the ring, Sheamus would hit him with a chair. So Reigns threw the chair away. Reigns said he didn’t want Reigns to power bomb him through a table. So Reigns put the table away. Then Sheamus wanted the ladder put away, Reigns did that. This was going on forever. Crowd did respond with more Tater Tot chants.
Sheamus finally got in the ring put Reigns decked him quickly. Reigns started to clear the announcer’s table when Sheamus made a comeback. They fought into the crowd, where Reigns dumped a trash can on him. They spilled out into the fans with more brawling and worked their way to the ramp. Reigns teased power bombing Sheamus off the ramp, but Sheamus stopped him and rammed Reigns into the tables and chairs on the set. Sheamus gave him a chair shot. Reigns popped up like Swagger earlier. At least they were consistent. Reigns hit Sheamus with a chair.
They fought back to where they started, where Sheamus tried to power bomb Reigns through the table, but Regins escaped. Reigns tried to spear Sheamus through the announcer’s table, but Sheamus dodged him. Sheamus rose his arms, but Reigns got up and speared Sheamus through a set of tables set up at ringside. There were some “Roman” chants, but the crowd was pretty quiet for most of this segment and much of the hour overall.
SUMMARY: This was a show booked in reverse. We got a solid first hour and it just lost steam from there. Reigns and Sheamus feels like a cold program, which anyone who watched Sheamus win the title would have predicted. I might regret writing this, but Reigns doesn’t have that special quality as a main eventer. He can’t carry a 10-minute talking segment and the fans don’t see him as a top of the card talent. Maybe an upper midcarder, but he isn’t getting the reaction of a star. On the bright side, moving Del Rio away from Coulter was for the best. No one needs to steal Del Rio’s spotlight because he can be a top heel if booked properly.
