A further update from yesterday’s report on the comeback of Sami Zayn is that his first match back will be a single match with Finn Balor for the NXT title tomorrow night in Newcastle, England.
Zayn returns from six months out due to shoulder surgery on the NXT U.K. tour which runs from 12/10 to 12/16 and will be in the main event of several shows on the tour including the opener.
He is not announced for a match on the live Takeover special on 12/16 in London, but is advertised as appearing on that show as well.
Here’s spoilers from the Tuesday, December 8th Jacksonville, FL, Smackdown tapings:
– The Lucha Dragons beat WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day in a non-title match
– Ryback beat The Ascension in a handicap match
– There was a contract signing for the Kevin Owens vs. Dean Ambrose Intercontinental title match. Owens attacked Ambrose, but Ambrose came back, Owens bailed, and then Ambrose signed the contract.
– Dolph Ziggler beat Tyler Breeze
– Becky Lynch beat Paige via submission due to distraction from WWE Divas Champion Charlotte
– Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose beat WWE Champion Sheamus & Kevin Owens
Raw last night did 3.04 million viewers, the second lowest modern number, beating only the 2.95 million of the 11/23 show.
The number was down from last week partially due to the show falling off the tracks late, but also the Dallas Cowboys vs. Washington Redskins game did 14.15 million viewers, a number very close to the game on 11/23, while last week’s game did 10.12 million viewers.
The three hours were:
8 p.m. 3.27 million viewers 9 p.m. 3.04 million viewers 10 p.m. 2.85 million viewers
Even though Tommy Dreamer is booked for a number of WWE house shows and has been appearing on WWE television, he is still keeping his own promotion going.
Dreamer’s House of Hardcore organization, which has been using TNA talent, ECW talent of the past, and some name independent talent, has announced an April 16 show at the 2300 Arena in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The show will be a combination of a wrestling show and an Icons Of Wrestling convention at the same building.
Tickets will be going on sale tomorrow for the event, but no names have been announced yet.
The 44-year-old Dreamer has been working on and off again with WWE since May when he faced Baron Corbin at an NXT event in Philadelphia. He returned to RAW just over a week ago, tagging up with The Dudley Boyz against the Wyatts. He lost to Braun Strowman on last night’s RAW.
Comedian Howie Mandel will be appearing at Tuesday’s WWE television tapings in Jacksonville, FL, as part of the Tribute to the Troops show.
Tonight’s show will be a combination taping of Smackdown (which airs Wednesday in Canada and Thursday in most of the rest of the world), and Tribute to the Troops which is scheduled to air on 12/23 in the U.S. on the USA Network.
Mandel, best known for hosting Deal Or No Deal and being a judge on America’s Got Talent, is the only celebrity thus far announced as appearing on the show. Military personnel and their families from the Jacksonville Naval Air Station, Naval Station Mayport, and Kings Bay Naval Submarine Base will be allowed in for free.
WWE started doing Tribute to the Troops in 2003 as the brainchild of John Layfield. At first, WWE performers would put on a show at an international military location, but in recent years, it was taped in conjunction with a regular television taping.
Fun match. Scary moment early when Slater tipped Neville over the top rope and he landed on his head on the apron. Neville hit the springboard moonsault to the outside and won with the Red Arrow, which the crowd loved.
Crowd was into Wyatt Family, doing firefly entrance. Wyatts came out to nothing but spooky low wind sounds, no music. Crowd cheered some for Sandow but not Axel. Strowman got his submission on Axel for an instant tapout.
– Dolph Ziggler def. Tyler Breeze w/ Summer Rae
Match of the night. One weird thing: Delphi’s hair was dry and therefore looked strange. Dolph & Summer did a very long, very funny version of her scream spot. Summer was ejected for hitting Dolph with her shoe. Lots of near falls; Dolph kicked out of a Beauty Shot and an Unprettier and Breeze kicked out of multiple superkick/fameasser combos.
– The Primetime Players def. Los Matadores
Basic tag match, centered early around Titus throwing big open hand slaps to the chest. One matador took 4-5 slaps and the other took a walk when he tried to make the tag. After some brawling, Darren & Titus both hit their moves and the ref counted two pins simultaneously.
Bayley had her air dancers, and as such was the only person on this show with a special entrance. Sasha, Becky, Bayley, & NXT all got chants during this match. A guy in the front row was dressed as Izzy, so Sasha snatched the the streamers from his arms and used them to mock Bayley’s entrance from the apron. She’s just so great at the little things. Match was fun, basic stuff; Becky beat Naomi with the DisarmHer after Tamina’s distraction went awry. After the match, Bayley took time to individually wave to everyone she could see with a Hugger shirt.
– Kane def. Bray Wyatt
Good reactions but nothing special to the match. Both guys did their spots and Kane won with a chokeslam.
– Ryback def. Rusev w/ Lana
Rusev had his personalized Bulgarian flag. Lana still in a dress/braid instead of the power suit/bun. She cut a promo before the match about her love for Rusev, then sang him “You Are My Sunshine,” which got loud boos. Crowd was really into Ryback, lots of spontaneous “Feed Me More” chants as he fired up. They had a good match; Ryback got out of the Accolade and hit Shellshocked for the win.
– Dean Ambrose def. WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens via DQ
Good reaction for both guys. Ambrose’s was all cheers and Owens’ was mixed, but both loud. Match was good but not spectacular; Owens was DQ’d for using a chair, which he hilariously argued was too minor an offense for a DQ. Owens then ate a Dirty Deeds on the chair after the match.
Crowd was energetic all night, much better than the previous show I saw in Greensboro. Granted, this was a better lineup with something for everyone.
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.
Former WWE NXT Champion Sami Zayn, who has been promoted for the U.K. tour of NXT that starts on Thursday in Newcastle, is scheduled to be wrestling on the tour.
Zayn, who is returning after shoulder surgery six months ago, is advertised for these dates:
– Thursday in Newcastle – Friday in Glasgow – Saturday in Sheffield – Sunday in Blackpool – Monday in Nottingham – Tuesday in Cardiff – Wednesday in London (live NXT Takeover special)
The only match he’s advertised in is for Sheffield — a three-way match for the NXT title with champion Finn Balor and Baron Corbin. Also advertised on that show is Bayley vs. Emma for the women’s title and Samoa Joe vs. Apollo Crews.
Zayn was last seen feuding with Kevin Owens, dropping a NXT title rematch to him by ref stoppage on May 20th at TakeOver: Unstoppable. Zayn suffered his shoulder injury during a match with then-U.S. Champion John Cena on the May 4th edition of WWE RAW in Montreal, Canada.
– Big Show def. The Ascension. Mainly a lot of test of strength spots. Show was way over as a babyface.
– Hype Bros def. Stardust and Adam Rose. Mojo Rawley got a really bad Cena like gusher from his nose, but “stayed hyped”.
– Miz def. Fandango. Miz then called out anyone else, so Jack Swagger came out and beat him with the ankle lock in about 30 seconds. Miz then called out anyone else, this time being Mark Henry. He then challenged him to dance off instead. He did a hilarious jig to “Dirty Water” and then as Henry started to dance to Michael Jackson (glove and all) Miz attacked him. Henry laid him out.
– Goldust def. Bo Dallas. Bo was extremely entertaining and engaging as usual, but lost.
– WWE Tag Team Champions The New Day def. Lucha Dragons & Dudleys in a really good match. The ref got distracted and Big E interfered with the Big Ending. Xavier got the pinfall but the Dudleys came back in and gave him a 3D.
– WWE Divas Champion Charlotted def. Paige. As you can imagine, Charlotte got the biggest pop of the night in her Cam Newton jersey. She and Paige had a great match with Charlotte winning with her Figure 8.
– Luke Harper def. R-Truth in a decent match.
– Roman Reigns def. WWE Champion Sheamus by DQ. Kind of entertaining at first, but it got boring really fast and turned into the worst match of the night. This is the same stuff you usually see out of both of them. Roman won by DQ after Sheamus got a chair.
Opening match was Big Show over Ascension in handicap match. Show tied for 3rd loudest Face response of night, although some of that was the First Match response. Ascension didn’t do much, and he pinned both of them at the same time.
Adam Rose & Bo Dallas vs the Hype Bros. – the crowd didn’t seem to care much about any of these guys or any thing that happened here. The group with me were vocal in responding to Bo Dallas, who seemed to be the only one trying to do more than sleepwalk through this, but we seemed to be about the only ones.
Miz beat Fandango next. Miz seemed to have some heat, but when he started to talk, people started filing out to the concessions/restrooms, so it may not be the kind of heat they’re going for. Several of the people with me popped for Fandango, mostly out of shock that he was still on the active roster. I liked the guy in NXT a lot…damn shame about the gimmick. Miz went over decisively and it wasn’t long.
Post match, Miz demanded real competition. Jack Swagger emerged to a loud pop, and promptly mopped the floor with Miz in a brief ultra squash. Swagger’s “We the people” mouth along may have gotten the single loudest mouth-along moment from the crowd of the night.
Miz recovered, got mic and said he would defeat anyone else. Mark Henry’s music hit to a shockingly loud and very sustained ovation. This was probably the 2nd loudest face pop of night…which , considering how poorly Henry has been booked in the last few years, I was very surprised by. Miz then said he wasn’t allowed to finish and said he would defeat anyone in a Dance contest. He put on Irish music and river danced. Mark Henry seemed stoic, as if he was about to pummel Miz, but instead gestured for the announcer to hand him some things. Lights went down, he put on a hat and glove and started dancing to Billie Jean . Crowd absolutely loved this. Miz laid into him after about 30 seconds, while his back was turned, mid dance. Then Mark Henry briefly dominated Miz, before landing a Word’s strongest slam, and leaving to another loud ovation.
Goldust vs Stardust was next. Goldust got a decent pop. Starudst didn’t get much. My hopes were high when I saw it would be these two. They didn’t deliver. Goldust seemed less active than in recent years. Maybe he’s still not totally recovered from the injury he just returned from, or maybe at his age he goes easier at non-televised events. Whatever teh case, this wasn’t exactly awful, but if this is what they’ve been working around the loop, then I can see why WWE was reluctant to let them have a prolonged feud on tv, let alone work a WM in a 1 on 1. It also felt much longer than it needed to be.
New Day vs Lucha Dragons vs Dudleys. New Day probably got the best Heel response of the night. Xavier was working the trombone and E had more energy than a sentient bag of cocaine. E did not stop moving the entire time , from squatting and strutting on the apron when not in, to patrolling it, facing outward and individually berating fans. Both Luchas also brought their A game, and probably got the loudest pops from their spots of anyone all night. the idiots in attendance chanted for tables the entire time that the dudleys were in, but there were no tables ringside and none anywhere near by to be broken. D-von looked to be having a real off night. a highlight was a fan ringside who had a New Day sign. Kofi went over to him, and like a great heel, promptly berated him for its poor quality, saying it looked like he forced a small child to make it. a nearby Xavier irritatingly chimed in “SMALL CHILD!”. New Day and Lucha’s put on the match of the night, by far, when they were in the ring together. Which was thankfully the majority of it. This match alone made it all worth while. New Day and Cesaro have been the only dependable highlights for awhile, with the other guys who I really enjoy usually getting booked in such a downright depressing manner (Neville, Ambrose, ADR, Barrett, Rusev, Titus, Ziggler), that it gets hard to sit through after awhile. and it’s been a long while.
On a related note, me and 2 other friends went to buy New Day shirts. Of the 2 Merch tables, only 1 had them, and we were told they were all out of anything bigger than a Large . We were going to pick up two 1 XL’s and one 2 XL, to save on the shipping, while we were there. But they seemed suspiciously low in supply. This was 35 minutes before start time. There was tons of Reigns, Charlotte and Rollins merch in supply though, and not much of it seemed to be moving.
Intermission
Charlotte vs Paige. Paige got loud response and it seemed to be 60/40 face. Charlotte’s response was almost as loud, but it seemed surprisingly closer to 70/30 heel. Which we found surprising, but hilarious. Paige also became the 2nd person of the night, following Stardust, to knock a sign out of the hands of the same guy in a red hat at ringside, who seemed like a plant. He ludicrously over-reacted to various things throughout the night, seemed to be constantly getting told things by some guy in a black wwe shirt, and he had a high dollar camera with him. Paige seemed to be more into the match than Charlotte. Not sure if her getting so much heat, threw off some of her plans, but Charlotte was clearly having an off night. I hope her and D-von Dudley had a high dollar wager going in the back about who got botch more spots, otherwise, the two of them were really having a bad time of it. Charlotte went over. and engaged in a prolonged lap around the rail slapping hands post-match. a 9-ish looking year old boy near aisle leaned up and screamed out “YOU SUCK CHARLOTTE!” at her with all the lung power he could muster, to which she replied “that’s not nice” before finally exiting.
R-Truth vs Harper. Truth rapped more of his song than usual. Then he got a pre-match promo about various things, such as Little Jimmy’s upcoming Christmas, and how greatfuly he was to be getting a WWE title shot here tonight. Announcer came over and leaned into his ear, “explaining” to him that he did not have a title match. which was the cue for Harper’s music. This match was very good, probably second best of the night. R-Truth got to show more of his offense than he usually gets to while getting treated like a jobber during his increasingly rare television appearances. Harper got to really get his Brody on too, and when he went on the offense, he was savage. Harper went over and while hooking the leg during the pin, he untied Truth’s shoe. It was subtle, but noticeable if you were looking. Not sure why that happened though.
Sheamus vs Reigns was next. Sheamus got loud heat, but not quite as much as New Day. He did try to up it though, by grabbing the mic and talking about how much this “no-account village full of hillbillies sucked and should be grateful for his presence”, which was a nice touch. Reigns, unfortunately, did get the loudest pop of the night, for which he repaid the crowd with the worst worked main event I have seen in over two decades of attending live wrestling shows. Shaemus, who I enjoyed tremendously as a cowardly bully hill in 2010-2011, and thought was a fairly good face up until 2014, seemed to be better here than he has lately. I thought Shaemus and Cesaro had a GREAT match about a month ago, but for most of 2015, Shaemus has kind of sucked. His best heel work seems to be as a bully/coward Heel, not as a Bad-Ass heel. Since Reigns has gotten the worst over-push since 98 Goldberg, Shaemus is almost forced to once again backpeddle, because god forbid someone not make Roman Reigns look like he could kick the entire planet’s ass in a handicap shoot. So, I give Shaemus a ton of credit for doing all he could here, but like Regal said of his match with Goldberg “I can only do so much out there myself, I cant start kicking myself in the head”. Reigns didn’t even break out the entire full 5 different offense spots he seems to know, and instead spent all night just clotheslining and punching. Clothesline, punch, clothesline, clothesline, punch. punch punch repeat. go on defense and sell. punch pun punch. spear. then Sheamus went for a chair to get DQed because god forbid Roman not get “protected” at a spot show in a nowhere town. post match, he hit the spear, which Shaemus sold like a he had been shelled by the Schwerer Gustav. Reigns then pranced about making goofy faces. the end.
The Big Takeaway: Zack Ryder beat Heath Slater in a short opener and Neville and Dallas showed glimpses of their old rivalry from NXT in a solid main event.
Show recap:
Zack Ryder beat Heath Slater (4:37)
Ryder looks in such great shape, you have to feel for the guy: he works pretty well, he’s over, if they let him be, and he has a good physique and genetics. They lock up and Slater shoves Ryder off only to turn round and eat a drop kick. Ryder shoulder barges Slater, but a hip toss is blocked and instead he is clotheslined. Slater then runs into Ryder’s boot and after a leapfrog, Ryder gets nailed by the big boot of Slater.
Slater takes over with knees and stomps and slows things down with a chin lock. When Ryder works his way out, he runs into a heel kick. Slater then chokes Ryder out in the corner with his foot and then returns to the chin lock. Ryder tries to work his way out but is thrown back to the mat. Slater’s suplex attempt is reversed and he runs into Ryder’s knees in the corner. Ryder hits him with a second rope missile drop kick, followed by a running forearm smash. He sets up and hits the Broski Boot but Slater kicks out at two. So, the Rough Ryder wins it for Zack Ryder.
Neville beat Bo Dallas (8:10)
Dallas and Neville are travel partners. Some would say that they’re odd bedfellows in many respects but after their NXT rivalry, they found each other to be very good company. They are both hoping that on the main roster that their rivalry can be reignited at some point. Clearly, that’s not the case here, but they really worked hard to show us a little bit of what made their program on NXT special.
On the bell, Dallas shoulder barges Neville to mat and exclaims, ‘Bo-lieve!’ to some good heat. Neville responds with a leg sweep and takes Dallas to all four corners in turn to deliver kicks to his midriff. Neville then snapmares him into a basement drop kick to the back of his head. When Neville springboard cross bodies Dallas, Bo calls for a time out. Dallas plays possum and grabs Neville and throws him outside as we head to a break.
When we return Dallas uses a cravat for some time on Neville. He wears him down for a two count and then off the ropes hits Neville with a huge forearm smash, but again can only get a two count. Neville gets in some kicks, but takes an almighty clothesline for a two count. Neville finally manages to get some breathing space when he dodges Dallas’ charge, sending him over the top rope to the outside. Neville uses a springboard moonsault on to Dallas on the outside and then rolls him back inside for the Red Arrow. Dallas has the move scouted, so Neville lands on his feet, turns round and hits him with an enzugiri. Neville then hits the Red Arrow for the win.
Elias Samson beat Josh Woods. Elias was the face tonight, as Woods interrupted his song about Citrus Springs. Hard hitting match. Woods has a lot of impressive wrestling ability.
Cameron beat Aliyah and Billie Kay in a triple threat match. Aliyah was the face in peril during this match against two heels. Cameron scored the pin on Aliyah after a few hope spots.
Bull Dempsey beat Angelo Dawkins. Comedy early on with Bull doing jumping jacks to annoy Dawkins. Seated splash off the top by Bull for the win.
In ring interview with Noah Kekoa, says he’s here for the people and this is his friend zone. Acting shy and naive.
Asuka and Carmella beat Alexa Bliss and Emma. Stat reaction for Asuka. Entertaining match as the faces were very over. Asuka caught Alexa with her submission for the win.
Tye Dillinger beat Tino Sabatelli. Tye was the face tonight, got worn down by Tino early on before hitting his exposed knee finish for the win.
Rich Swann and Levis Valenzuela beat Marcus Louise and Sawyer Fulton. Another great performance by Swann. After a lot of punishment by the heels, Swann made the hot tag to Levis who got the win with the windup punch.
Tucker Knight beat Axel Tischer with a butterfly suplex. Crowd was in to Knight here, a group of fans cheer for him at a lot of house shows, chanting for his silver boots and singing songs for him. Good match, a lot of hard hitting action.
The Vaudevillains beat Dash and Dawson by DQ in the main event. Back and forth match, well worked, finish came when English had hit the swanton and Dash pulled the ref out. Post match saw Enzo and Cass clear out Dash and Dawson, celebrating with the crowd to send them home happy.
Big Show defeated the Ascension in a handicap match. Played to the crowd a lot. Big Show won with a double choke slam.
Miz defeated Fandango, called out anyone else and Jack Swagger beat him within 30 seconds with an ankle lock. Miz then called out anyone else and Mark Henry came out and they had a dance contest. Mark Henry surprisingly had some good moves.
Hype Bros defeated Adam Rose and Bo Dallas. Hype Bros very over with the crowd.
Goldust defeated Stardust. An okay match. Crowd chanted Cody most of the match.
Tag Team Chamionship match
New Day defeated The Dudleyz and The Lucha Dragons. Fun match, Dudleyz hit Woods with a 3D after the match was over.
Charlotte defeated Paige to retain the title.
Luke Harper defeated R Truth in a surprisingly decent back and forth match.
WWE Chamionship Match
Roman Reigns defeated Sheamus by DQ when Sheamus threw a chair at Roman’s head. Reigns hit a spear to send the crowd home happy.
Tyler Breeze distracts Dolph Ziggler into the ignominy of losing a match to The Miz, thus setting up a presumed rubber match between the two at TLC. Hopefully they’ll remember to give Tyler an entrance this time.
The Miz defeated Dolph Ziggler by pinfall (7:13)
Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae are already at ringside as the show opens to take in this clash of the titans from the comfort of their “VIP Lounge”. Dolph was tasked with confronting the pair upon his entrance to the ring, which consisted of him standing in front of them forever and unconvincingly selling his apparent rage. At one point, he actually held both fists by his sides and shook them in anger. Maybe hit the guy, or something? I know Dolph is dumb, but those VIP ropes do not in fact create an impenetrable velvet forcefield. At least knock over their drinks again. Really lame.
“The Zig Man”, as The Ryback likes to call him, does however throw his hoodie at the gorgeous ones after referee Mike Chioda rings the bell. Summer is not impressed. What a badass.
Perfectly acceptable TV match here, albeit with a weak finish. Miz used a referee-enforced rope break to cut off Dolph’s early shine, before throwing him shoulder-first into the ringpost to start the heat. Miz continued to work the shoulder after a commercial break, prompting one loud and eager Dolph fan in the crowd to try and get a “Let’s Go Ziggler” chant going. I reckon about five people joined in.
Ziggler’s comeback begins with a dropkick to counter a Miz flying nothing. This leads us quickly into a pretty decent near-falls exchange, ending with Dolph hitting a Fame Asser for two, after a second failed Skull Crushing Finale attempt from Miz.
Miz rolls out of the ring after this near-miss to collect himself. Dolph goes to fetch his opponent, but gets distracted by Tyler upon re-entry, allowing Miz to kick him and finally hit the Skull Crushing Finale for the win. Looks like we’re getting the Dolph/Tyler rubber match at TLC.
Sasha Banks w/Naomi and Tamina defeated Alicia Fox w/Brie Bella by submission (2:55)
Continuing the enthrallingly one-sided gang warfare between these two factions. Fox lost to Naomi thanks to a distraction finish a fortnight ago on this very show, while Sasha triumphed over Brie in similar circumstances on RAW. The story, in other words, is that Team BAD is using the numbers game to their advantage, in the absence of the Bellas’ “fearless” leader, Nikki.
Fox, for the record, works babyface again here, as did Brie on Monday night. Naomi distracted Lil’ Naitch early, allowing Tamina to superkick Alicia in the head from the outside – Foxy’s incredible sixhead providing her with a, quite frankly, unmissable target.
Briefest of brief comebacks from the honorary Bella, culminating in a sloppy tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Naomi tries the distraction again, but Sasha’s attempt at the always devastating schoolboy fails.
Alicia then voluntarily distracts herself, booting Tamina off the apron, before attempting a bodyslam and getting backcracked and Bank Statement-ed for the submission. Super-short, awkwardly worked match, that only existed to further drive home the aforementioned storyline. Such as it is.
Ryback defeated Bo Dallas by pinfall (4:11)
Bo gets fatter every time I see him now. Which is mercifully rarely. Tom Phillips makes reference to this in the most awkward way possible, segueing from talking about how poor Bo is at making friends in the WWE with the line: “He’s the type of guy who goes to the Hershey’s Chocolate Factory by himself.” What!?
Byron then goes on to speculate that Bo may have thought there was “inspiration in chocolate”, to which Tom replies “It shows!” I always regret the fleeting moments when I don’t tune these two geeks out.
Ryback misses a big (guy) splash early, allowing Bo to hit a DDT. Although Ryback’s kickout sends Bo flying right out of the ring, he still treats us to a victory lap anyway. So much jiggle.
“Flyback” (thanks, Byron) hits a missile dropkick, followed by a delayed vertical. He signals for the Meathook, but Bo rolls to the ropes to escape. Ryback rushes him and becomes the second of three babyfaces on this show to pay for it with an ensuing heat segment. Top work, road agents.
Bo’s heat is dull and uninspiring as always, which he tries to mask by screaming at the crowd and at his fallen foe. He yells at Ryback: “ARE YOU HUNGRY!?” Ryback promptly responds with a Shellshock for the pinfall victory.
– We get a recap of the main event storyline from RAW, climaxing with the newly-formed League of Nations standing tall at the show’s close.
Titus O’Neil defeated Stardust by pinfall (5:46)
Fortunately, Darren Young is not on commentary for this highly-anticipated rematch of last week’s countout win for The Big Deal. Tom, by the way, refers to this as the night’s “featured contest” on more than one occasion. Okay. I guess calling it the main event would be a bit Russian doll-y.
Shine for Titus to start with, consisting of a slam and – you guessed it – forehand chops in the corner aplenty!
Stardust then becomes heel #3 to take advantage of a rope break to kick off the heat segment of the match. He intersperses some hissing – and a cartwheel, at one point – to interrupt the tedium.
Titus blocks an attempted punch to spur his comeback, which he performs with Stardust’s silver paint all over one side of his bald dome, before hitting the Clash of the Titus for the win.
Final Thoughts
A second “featured contest” in three weeks for Titus. Unfortunately for him, both took place on Main Event. And he’s not getting any better as a worker.
This was an unremarkable show really, capped by a decent Dolph/Miz opener that was unfortunately marred by yet another distraction finish. At least it served a purpose in storyline however, as we look set to get a third singles match between Ziggler and Breeze at the TLC PPV. The result of that match, if it goes down, will tell us a lot about Tyler’s future career trajectory.
– Samoa Joe and Bayley were advertised but didn’t appear. – Return date is January 29.
1. Levis Valenzula Jr. def. Angelo Dawkins with a knockout punch. Some comedy with Valenzula dancing while applying a headlock and Dawkins losing his headbands.
2. Chad Gable & Jason Jordan def. The Vaudevillans when they hit their finisher on English. Jordan has a towel that says “CALL ME JAY JAY” to go along with Gable’s. Vaudevillans were working as the heels. Great hot tag spot to Jordan where he cleaned house with a t-bone suplex and a belly to belly.
3. Nia Jax def. Daria the Jersey Devil (from Tough Enough). Daria was dressed as an MMA fighter. Nice hope spot where Daria got a triangle on but Nia power bombed her out of it. Total squash otherwise. Nia cut a promo on Bayley afterwards.
4. Hugo Knox def. Tino Sabatelli. Knox is huge but can move. He hit a jumping enziguri and a split leg moonsault off the top for the win.
5. Bull Dempsey def. Sawyer Fulton. Tons of comedy. Bull had a Santa hat and Fulton stomped on it for heat. The story was Bull couldn’t slam him all match, but after a hulk up, he slammed him and hit the Whoopie cushion.
6. Asuka and Carmella def. Emma and Alexa Bliss. Asuka got Bliss with the chicken wing on a roll-up reversal. Asuka got a star reaction.
7. Apollo Crews def. Noah (Kekoa). Quick match.
8. Cameron def. Peyton Royce with some sort of neckbreaker. Not a lot of heat on Cameron for someone who was on the main roster for so long.
9. Finn Balor, Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady def. Tye Dillenger, Dash Wilder and Scott Dawson. Long heat segment on Enzo. Dash and Dawson have become great tag workers. They should have a great match at Takeover. Balor won with the foot stomp on Dillenger. Match of the night by far.
