– The place was packed and very loud for last night’s show. To note, the Raw roster came last year and it was just as full last night. The card changed a few times and it wasn’t known if AJ Styles would still be wrestling here, so it was fun not to know the matches for sure until they happened.
– The New Day (Big E & Xavier Woods) & AJ Styles defeated The Usos & Rusev
The New Day came out first and then Styles did, with the crowd exploding when Styles entered. Rusev was wearing an Usos shirt. The crowd was chanting for him and he acknowledged it.
The match was short but good. The Usos worked on Woods in the corner, there were a couple of hot tags, the crowd chanted for Lana when Rusev was in, and Styles hit Rusev with the Phenomenal Forearm for the win while New Day fought with The Usos on the outside.
– Tye Dillinger defeated Aiden English
English came down while singing, with the crowd booing the hell out of him. Dillinger got an okay reaction for his entrance. English played the coward heel all the way and there were “NXT” chants. Dillinger got the pin on English, but it seemed like English kicked out at two. After the match, English took a mic and challenged anyone in the back to fight him.
– Sin Cara defeated Aiden English
Sin Cara got an okay pop and beat English in a few seconds.
– Naomi & Becky Lynch defeated Tamina & Carmella
Naomi got a good pop, but Lynch got an even bigger one. Carmella was cheered a bit, which I thought was kind of weird. There were Ellsworth chants, and she acknowledged them by screaming that he wasn’t there.
Naomi was worked on for most of the match, then Lynch got the hot tag and made Carmella tap out to the Dis-arm-her. Someone from the crowd gave Lynch a Chilean flag with her name on it.
– Bobby Roode defeated Sami Zayn
Everyone in the arena was singing Roode’s theme song. He looked surprised and pleased, with everyone singing it even after the music ended. They sang Zayn’s theme as well.
The match was slow at first. It’s weird to see Zayn playing the heel. There were dueling chants for them and the match had lots of false finishes, with it being the match of the night for me. Even though it was long, there wasn’t a low moment and there were “this is awesome” and “fight forever” chants.
Zayn hit a Blue Thunder Bomb for a really close near fall and tried a Helluva Kick, but Roode evaded him. Roode then used the Glorious DDT for the win. Everyone again sang his theme after.
– During intermission, it was announced that Triple H is on his way to be here on Sunday. The whole arena booed when they announced that it would be on Sunday.
– SmackDown Women’s Champion Natalya defeated Charlotte Flair to retain her title
Charlotte got a huge pop, but it wasn’t as loud as the one Lynch got. Natalya received way more boos than she gets on TV. The match was alright and not as long. Charlotte did a moonsault from the top rope into the ring and connected. The finish was botched with Natalya trying to put her feet on the bottom ropes for the pin, but she wasn’t able to and got the pin anyway.
– United States Champion Baron Corbin defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain his title
Nakamura entered to a huge pop and everyone sang his theme music. Corbin received lots of boos. He got out of the ring to taunt some fans with his US title since they had a Nakamura sign.
Nakamura wasn’t quite as over as I thought he would be after that. He hit a Kinshasa at one point, with Corbin getting out of the ring after it and eventually retaining with the End of Days. After Corbin left, they played Nakamura’s music and someone gave him a flag.
– WWE Champion Jinder Mahal (w/ The Singh Brothers) defeated Randy Orton in a last man standing match to retain his title
The Singh Brothers came down first and were booed heavily. Mahal received mostly boos but got some cheers. Orton got a crazy pop and the biggest reaction of the night.
They had a pretty standard match until kendo sticks, chairs, and a table got involved. The weapons being used got a huge reaction. The match was a bit better than the ones they had on PPV, though that may be because the crowd was more into it.
Orton threw Mahal from the top rope to break a table, then one of the Singhs did a low blow on Orton while the referee wasn’t looking. The other Singh helped Mahal get up before the 10 count as he retained his title. Orton made a comeback after, taking out both Singhs and hitting Mahal with an RKO for a huge pop to close the show.
Bayley got the pin after hitting the Bayley-to-Belly suplex.
– Matt Hardy defeated Dash Wilder
Hardy won with the Twist of Fate.
– Goldust & Titus O’Neil defeated Darren Young & Curt Hawkins
Elias came out with Young and Hawkins and sang a song before being interrupted by Goldust and O’Neil. Both got a good reaction and the crowd was really into O’Neil. They ended up getting the win.
– Braun Strowman defeated Finn Balor
They had an okay match. Balor got his usual offense in but was eventually overpowered with the size difference.
– Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defeated Mickie James to retain her title
This was the best match of the night up until this point. The crowd was into it and Bliss retained her title.
– WWE Cruiserweight Champion Kalisto defeated Enzo Amore to retain his title
Kalisto got a good reaction, but Amore was really over. Amore then cut a heel promo on St. Louis, taking shots at us for cheering Mark McGwire, claiming that he sent Neville packing, and calling us St. Losers. He teased spelling out “S-A-W-F-T” but dropped the mic instead. That turned the crowd against him pretty effectively.
The match was better than I expected, though Amore did get a “You can’t wrestle” chant at one point. Kalisto hit the Salida Del Sol to retain.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose defeated Cesaro & Sheamus in a street fight to retain their titles
Rollins and Ambrose got great reactions. They used tables, kendo sticks, and did a spot where a chair was wedged in the corner. This was the best match of the night for the crowd reactions and the overall fun factor.
No Way Jose is basically the epitome of an opening match in the best way possible. He got the crowd going by dancing through the floor seats and interacting directly with as many people as he could. Aichner had little impression on the fans and the match was very basic. Half of it was Aichner using a rest hold, then Jose got the win with his pop-up punch.
– Sarah Logan & Lacey Evans defeated Sonya Deville & Mandy Rose
Deville and Rose have both clearly improved, but this was still very basic with the traditional formula of the heel team beating up the faces and then the faces getting a hot tag to pick up the win. Deville and Rose didn’t use very many heel antics and the crowd didn’t have much to react to.
The hot tag ended up getting a good response after the heels worked on Logan. Evans pretty much won the match herself from there, pinning Rose with her reverse piledriver finisher.
– Johnny Gargano defeated Dan Matha
The crowd reacted to Gargano like a star, but they didn’t know who Matha was. They had a David vs. Goliath match that worked very well, with Matha doing power moves and getting heat from the fans. Matha blocked the Gargano Escape by being too powerful for Gargano to take him down, but Gargano hit three superkicks in quick succession (the last one was the kneeling down variant) for the victory.
– Christy St. Cloud was the hostess for the show and would interact with the crowd between matches, but she was interrupted by Zelina Vega here in a continuation from this week’s episode of NXT. Vega reminded us that Drew McIntyre had agreed to defend his title against Andrade “Cien” Almas at any time or place.
Vega mentioned Adam Cole getting a title shot at a house show in San Antonio the night before TakeOver: War Games, saying Almas is not going to wait in line and setting up a McIntyre vs. Almas match for this show’s main event.
– Roderick Strong defeated Hideo Itami
This was surprisingly short, though they packed a lot of action into the match. Itami was still demanding that everyone show him respect and being a heel, with the crowd very clearly wanting to cheer for him. That made for a strange dynamic at times. Strong ended up winning clean with the End of Heartache.
– The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Bobby Fish & Kyle O’Reilly) defeated SAnitY (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe & Killian Dain)
A good portion of the crowd weren’t invested in The Undisputed Era at the start and didn’t seem to know much about them. SAnitY were more over and the crowd was chanting for Young early and often.
The match was pretty good. Fish rolled up Alexander Wolfe while pulling his tights after a chaotic sequence of events. The crowd loved it, and the fans who didn’t know the Undisputed Era had a good idea of who they were after this.
– Velveteen Dream defeated Kassius Ohno
Ohno got a good reaction, but Velveteen Dream got a great one. Dream is fantastic with his character work. Ohno did some clever arm work, and Dream did some quality selling by remembering that his arm was hampering him the entire match. Dream hit the flying elbow (using the other arm) to win.
– Nikki Cross defeated Sage Beckett
It felt like the crowd would rather boo Cross than cheer her here, which was strange considering how they reacted to the rest of SAnitY. Beckett got close to no reaction. Cross won by hitting her fisherman neckbreaker.
– NXT Champion Drew McIntyre defeated Andrade “Cien” Almas to retain his title
A tweet from William Regal sanctioning the match was shown. Along with the presence of a camera, that made it easy to believe that there could have possibly been a surprise title change. Cole also interrupted the introductions to cut a promo, saying the result of the match wasn’t going to matter. Cole hyped his title match in San Antonio.
McIntyre and Almas wrestled a worthy main event, with Almas actually climbing the lighting rig at one point to launch an attack on McIntyre. The fans were into it after about the five minute mark and the match built to some dramatic moments, making an upset seem possible. However, McIntyre retained with the Claymore Kick.
McIntyre’s music played very briefly until Cole stepped back out to the ramp and cut a promo about facing him in San Antonio. McIntyre then challenged Cole to a title match right then and there,
despite barely being able to stand after the main event. Cole came to the ring, a referee entered to make it official, and Cole walked off despite the favorable circumstances.
After McIntyre launched some insults and got the crowd chanting, Cole was angry enough to come back and fight. The referee rang the bell to start a title match, but Fish and O’Reilly immediately ran in to put an end to things.
They beat down McIntyre until No Way Jose’s music hit and he flew down for the save, but they beat down Jose instead. Gargano followed and the faces made a brief comeback until The Undisputed Era regained the upper hand. Nikki Cross emerged on the ramp and headed down to make the save, which was a diversion for the rest of SAnitY to sneak in.
A wild brawl with SAnitY ensued, with them running off Fish and O’Reilly. Everyone then hit their finisher on Cole and the faces stood tall to close the show.
Approximately 150 people were in attendance as NXT came to Daytona Beach last night.
– Lio Rush defeated Chad Lail
Lail overpowered Rush for most of the match, but Rush rolled and stacked him up for the flash pin.
– Marcel Barthel defeated Donovan Dijak
Dijak used an impressive cyclone kick for a near fall at one point. Barthel shined as well, using a leg-trap backdrop suplex for the win.
– Lars Sullivan defeated Eric Bugenhagen
Bugenhagen was making his debut and informed us of that on the mic, saying he’s now officially on the same level as The Rock and Steve Austin because they all had their first match. Sullivan destroyed him fast and came back to destroy him two more times at the crowd’s encouragement.
This had action all over the place. Sane and Baszler mixed it up often and continued to work great together. A parade of finishers left Moon alone and she put Ripley away with a kick.
– Danny Burch defeated Sawyer Fulton
Burch got the submission win with a crossface.
– Liv Morgan defeated Vanessa Borne
Morgan won with a leaping codebreaker.
– Heavy Machinery defeated Wesley Blake & Steve Cutler
Heavy Machinery used their double team strongest slam to win it and send everyone home happy.
Previously: Moose and Stephan Bonnar invaded the American Top Team facility and destroyed it with metal pipes.
Tonight: Bobby Lashley and ATT address Impact Wrestling. Plus, Taya Valkyrie faces off with Rosemary.
Show Recap —
Johnny Impact defeated Chris Adonis
Impact had a flurry of offense early on, but Adonis took over with a bear hug and a spinebuster. Adonis locked on the Adonis Lock before Impact leaped over the top rope while still in the hold to break it. Impact made a comeback and hit the Countdown to Impact for the win.
Eli Drake ran out and tried to attack Impact, but Impact got the better of him. He ripped off Drake’s clothes and stripped him down to his boxers. Adonis then jumped Impact from behind and they beat him down until Garza Jr. ran out for the save with a chair and the heels ran off.
Texano defeated El Hijo Del Fantasma, Eddie Edwards, Ethan Carter III, and James Storm at the Hard Rock in Cancun
This was supposed to be every man for himself, but the Impact guys worked together against AAA at the start. The Impact wrestlers isolated Fantasma before he made a comeback and scored a close near fall.
Storm had the match won until EC3 pulled him off and they ended up fighting. Texano tried to convince Storm to attack Fantasma’s father (who was on commentary). Fantasma went after Storm and Texano snuck in and scored the pin on EC3.
– OVE returned to Tijuana and The Crash in search of LAX. Konnan will only talk to them if they defend the tag titles tonight.
– James Storm and EC3 blamed each other for the loss earlier. Edwards was angry that they couldn’t work together. Edwards is going to Japan, but he ordered Storm and EC3 to work together next week.
– In the back, Jim Cornette and Dan Lambert had a heated argument.
Dezmond Xavier defeated Andrew Everett (w/ Trevor Lee and Caleb Konley)
Lee interfered early to give the advantage to Everett. Xavier was able to make a comeback and hit a dive to the floor. Lee distracted Xavier and Everett hit him from behind. Xavier then made another comeback, hitting a backflip into a kick for the win.
– During the last match, Josh Mathews announced that Taryn Terrell is out of the Knockouts Championship match at Bound for Glory. He noted that doctors wouldn’t clear her after the slap from Gail Kim last week. It will now be a triple threat between Sienna, Kim, and Allie.
– Grado came down to the ring and called out Joseph Park, accusing Park of cheating him out of money. Park reminded Grado that he owns his visa. He challenged Grado to a match at Bound for Glory. If Grado wins, he stays. If he loses, he’s gone forever.
Grado signed the contract and went to leave but Park stopped him. Park revealed the match will be a Monster’s Ball and it will be against his “brother” Abyss. Grado jumped in his car and tried to leave but the car wouldn’t start. Abyss’ music played and Father James Mitchell appeared in the back seat. Grado ran off terrified.
Impact Tag Team Champions OVE defeated Black Diamond and Black Danger at The Crash in Tijuana to retain their titles
Black Diamond caught OVE with a dive to start the match. Jake Crist charged Danger, but he caught Jake and threw him up. Diamond then came of the top rope with a spear on Jake. OVE made a comeback and used a variation of the Meltzer Driver for the win.
– Jeremy Borash was in the ring when Dan Lambert and American Top Team came through the crowd. Lambert has watched Lashley waste his MMA career for pro wrestling. Lambert said he’s the biggest pro wrestling fan and knows more about wrestling than anyone. He then showed off some of his wrestling memorabilia, including Bruno Sammartino’s original championship belt from the 1960s.
Lambert was upset that Moose and Stephan Bonnar invaded the ATT gym. He challenged Moose & Bonnar to fight Bobby Lashley & King Mo at Bound for Glory.
Moose and Bonnar came out with the belts and trophies they stole last week. As they made their way to the ring, Lashley jumped them from behind. ATT beat them down with Lashley giving both a spear. Mahabali Shera, Caleb Konley, and Andrew Everett tried to help but they got beat down as well.
– In Tijuana, OVE confronted Konnan and demanded their pay. A bunch of Crash guys surrounded the ring and attacked OVE.
– On Global Forged episode six, the search for new talent continued as the competition heats up.
Taya Valkyrie defeated Rosemary
Rosemary had the early advantage until Valkyrie took over by ramming her into the ring post. Valkyrie caught Rosemary with a crossbody press to the floor. She missed a knee in the corner and Rosemary countered into a German suplex. Rosemary set up for the Red Wedding, but Valkyrie countered into a Northern Lights suplex and hit a double stomp for the win.
Valkyrie tried to give Rosemary the Road to Valhalla after the match, but Rosemary spit the red mist in Valkyrie’s eyes. Rosemary challenged Valkyrie to a match at Bound for Glory and said it’ll involve blood. She then shouted “Bloody Mary.”
Next Week: X Division Champion Trevor Lee defends at The Crash in Tijuana.
Date: October 17, 2017 Location: KeyArena in Seattle, WA
The Big Takeaway —
Jinder Mahal did, in fact, challenge Brock Lesnar to a match at Survivor Series. Lesnar will be on Raw to respond. Mahal’s segment was interrupted by AJ Styles who challenged Mahal to a title match. Mahal declined and Styles attacked him. Styles will face Sunil Singh next week.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn beat Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura in a tag match. Zayn picked up the pinfall over Orton after a low-blow and Helluva Kick. Their celebration was halted momentarily by Daniel Bryan who informed them that Shane McMahon would return next week. Zayn played a great heel and received good heat from the crowd for being a prick to Bryan in his hometown.
Show Recap —
Michael Cole was on commentary with Corey Graves and Byron Saxton. Cole said Tom Phillips is out for a couple of weeks “on assignment.”
Daniel Bryan came out to huge Yes chants here in Seattle. The crowd loudly chanted for Bryan and, as usual, he seemed amused. He said it was great to be back and the crowd chanted “welcome home.”
Bryan announced a 6-woman tag match between Natalya, Tamina and Lana against Naomi, Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair. The crowd loudly booed the heels and cheered the faces. Bryan said Jinder Mahal would have an announcement and Dolph Ziggler would face Bobby Roode.
Bryan called out Sami Zayn, who disappointed him at Hell in a Cell. Bryan said he wanted Zayn on SmackDown from the beginning, but before he could continue his story, Zayn interrupted and gleefully waltzed to the ring.
Bryan asked how Zayn could smile and dance and wondered if this was the same guy he’s known for 13 years. Zayn said he was still the same guy and still a great guy. He took ownership back of his career and asked if that made him a bad guy, so the crowd chanted “Yes.”
Zayn said they were both gifted performers, then corrected himself to say that he “still” was. He acknowledged that the company didn’t really believe in either of them, but Bryan had the fans’ support. The fans put Bryan in the main event of WrestleMania, but they didn’t uphold their end of the agreement for Zayn.
No matter how hard Zayn worked, they didn’t cheer for him like they did for Bryan. Zayn said he doesn’t care anymore and informed the crowd he didn’t care what they think. Zayn told Bryan if he worked smarter instead of working harder, he could still be wrestling. The crowd chanted “Sami sucks.”
Zayn called Bryan a once-in-a-lifetime performer, the best of their generation, and he spent his whole career trying to catch up. Now, Bryan was the last person he wanted to be like because after all that, Bryan ended up a housewife.
Bryan was pissed and balled up his fist (which was subtle) but Kevin Owens interrupted. Owens agreed with Zayn that Bryan was a pathetic martyr and a housewife, calling him Mr. Bella, and also a hypocrite.
Bryan said Owens only cares about himself, and never cared about Zayn. Bryan always did what was best for the fans, which wasn’t always best for Owens. Owens said Bryan is doing what’s “best for business” and called him “the authority.”
Zayn realized Owens was right and called Bryan a sellout. Zayn thanked Owens and they hugged. Bryan shook his head and left the ring. Owens mocked him again, so Bryan told them he was finding two guys to punch them in the face. This was good. Zayn was awesome.
6-Woman Tag Match: Charlotte Flair, Becky Lynch & Naomi defeated Women’s champion Natalya, Tamina & Lana (8:42)
Naomi made a hot tag to Charlotte who hit “chops,” a knee drop and big boot to Lana. She went for the Figure Eight but Natalya tossed her into the turnbuckle. Lynch gave Natalya an Exploder, Tamina superkicked Lynch, and Naomi hit Tamina with a crossbody. With the ring clear, Charlotte put Lana in the Figure Eight for the submission victory.
After the match, Natalya yanked Charlotte out of the ring and was about to attack her with a steel chair, but Charlotte booted her down and chased her with the chair until Natalya ran away through the crowd.
Backstage, Bryan told Owens and Zayn that literally everyone in the locker room wants to punch them in the face, but their opponents would be Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura. Bryan did one of Nakamura’s poses and Owens was not amused.
Pulp Fashion featuring Fandango, Tyler Breeze and The Ascension
The Ascension were sitting at a table, presumably being interrogated, but Viktor noted how awkward it was given that Fandango hasn’t said anything in a couple of hours. Fandango told them to be cool like the Fonz. Konnor mentioned that they jumped the shark, which made himself and Viktor cackle.
Breeze came in and took a bite of a cheeseburger, or as they call it in Paris, a Royale-Rumble with cheese. The Ascension wondered how they couldn’t have figured the 2B case out by now and were about to say it’s obviously the Bludgeon Brothers, but before they could quite get it out, Breeze collapsed to the floor.
Fandango said Breeze was allergic to pickles, so the Ascension gave Fandango a giant syringe to pump adrenaline into Breeze like Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction. Fandango was about to do it but Breeze popped up and said he wasn’t allergic to anything, the bun was terrible. Viktor told him it was gluten-free. Breeze realized their briefcase was stolen. The Ascension were happy because this meant this could continue but Breezango just walked away.
Non-title match: Sin Cara defeated U.S. Champion Baron Corbin via count-out (1:20)
Sin Cara hit a big dive off the top of the ring post to Corbin outside the ring. Corbin couldn’t make it back in the ring so Sin Cara won by count-out. This was a really dumb follow-up to Corbin beating AJ Styles clean last week.
Backstage, The Uso told Renee Young that they feel like it’s their birthday, like it’s Christmas morning. Chad Gable and Shelton Benjamin jumped in to inform the Usos’ they’d be tag champions real soon. They acted like they wanted to fight right now, but they were just toying with the Usos and offered a handshake.
Usos laughed it off and were about to shake their hands, but Gable and Benjamin pulled their hands back and left. The Usos had every reason to beat these two up right here, but they didn’t.
Luke Harper and Erick Rowan did another promo, this time from the woods. They said some stuff and smashed the ground with their toy Thor hammers. They made it clear the team name really is the Bludgeon Brothers.
Jinder Mahal’s announcement
They showed some clips of Mahal doing a promotional tour in Mumbai and New Delhi. Mahal said he was the first Indian world champion and was greeted like a hero when he returned home. Mahal told a story from India about a boy who said he didn’t receive the same admiration in America as he did in India, despite beating all worthy contenders multiple times.
The crowd chanted “you can’t wrestle,” so Mahal paused his promo, held up his title and reminded them who the champion was. Mahal said he must beat the man who the fans see as unbeatable and challenged Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series. Cold asked, “Are you kidding me?” Indeed. Mahal said everyone will have to kiss his feet and called himself the greatest WWE Champion of all time.
AJ Styles interrupted. Styles appeared nonplussed and wondered if he heard Mahal correctly. The crowd loudly chanted for Styles. Mahal repeated that he was challenging Lesnar but Styles didn’t care about that. Styles told Mahal he hasn’t beaten everyone on SmackDown because he hasn’t beaten him. Mahal said he’s beaten every worthy contender and called Styles a loser.
Styles said Mahal must not have a problem defending his title against him. Mahal told Styles he belonged at the back of the line and called him delusional. Mahal undid a button on his shirt and got in Styles’ face, so Styles attacked him and chased away the Singhs. Mahal bailed.
After a break, Mahal and the Singhs approached Bryan in his office and demanded to know what he was going to do about Styles. Bryan asked Mahal what he was going to do about Styles. Mahal said Styles would have to face Sunil Singh next week. Sunil was briefly caught off guard but agreed to the match. Bryan thought this sounded phenomenal.
Dolph Ziggler defeated Bobby Roode (3:54)
Ziggler won with a schoolboy holding the tights.
During the match, Ziggler took a slingshot bump into the ring post and Cole recalled what happened to Cesaro “on Monday Night Raw a couple of months ago.” Except, it was less than a month ago, and it was at No Mercy.
Brock Lesnar was announced for Raw on Monday in Green Bay and he will respond to Mahal’s challenge.
Aiden English sang as he walked around backstage but stopped when he noticed two guys on their phone who paid him no attention. English asked if they would be on their phones for opening night of Don Giovanni. He asked what their music taste was when New Day busted in. Xavier Woods was playing the trombone and they all danced, minus English.
New Day called English the Gershwin of grumpy, the Mendelssohn of moody and the Cardi B of cantankerous. (I sure hope I got that right.) Rusev interrupted and said there was no more New Day, only Rusev Day. Kofi Kingston wondered why it was Rusev Day again, but they celebrated anyway by playing the trombone as they backed away. English was about to sing “Rusev Day” but Rusev stopped him. This was really great.
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn defeated Randy Orton & Shinsuke Nakamura (13:03)
Nakamura was about to hit a running knee to Owens but Zayn pulled him out of the way, allowing Owens to take control. Orton eventually made the hot tag and hit Zayn with clotheslines and an Exploder. Orton also gave Owens a backdrop on the barricade. Zayn went for a dive but Orton cut him off with a forearm and gave him a backdrop on the announce table, which broke. The table probably wasn’t supposed to break and Orton couldn’t help but smile.
Orton went for a cover in the ring but Owens broke it up and gave him a superkick. Nakamura took out Owens and Orton hit Zayn with a powerslam for a nearfall. Owens tossed Nakamura into the steps and jumped on the apron. This distracted the referee allowing Zayn to give Orton a low-blow. Zayn followed with a Helluva kick for the pinfall win over Orton.
Good match and the ending was perfect.
Afterwards, they cut backstage to Gorilla where Owens and Zayn rubbed their win in Bryan’s face. They asked Bryan what he had for them next. Bryan let them know that would be up to Shane McMahon who is returning next week. Owens and Zayn were concerned.
After some replays, they cut back to Nakamura and Orton who watched as Owens and Zayn ran back out on the stage and celebrated their win. Zayn did the Yes chants as Owens yelled, “Kevin and Sami are the best!” Owens ended the show by announcing that Sami was his best friend.
Roode was over and Ziggler got decent heat here. Ziggler’s theme song stopped with a record scratch, with him entering with no music or lights. Roode kicked out of a Zig-Zag and reversed another Zig-Zag attempt into the Glorious DDT for the win.
– Sami Zayn defeated Mike Kanellis
Zayn cut a heel promo before the match. He said that he was disappointed the fans were cheering for Kanellis over him (even though they weren’t) and said that he did the right thing at Hell in a Cell.
A really short match followed. Kanellis got some offense in, but Zayn won with the Helluva Kick. Zayn was still using his ska theme.
– Aiden English defeated Sin Cara
English came out mocking the Canadian national anthem for cheap heat. They had a pretty boring match that English won.
– Breezango defeated The Hype Bros and The Colons
Breezango received a decent pop and Zack Ryder was very over. The Colons didn’t come out to any reaction, and it didn’t seem like people remembered who they were.
These teams had a comedy match that went long, with it not getting much of a reaction. Fandango eventually pinned Primo with a Falcon Arrow.
– SmackDown Women’s Champion Natalya defeated Carmella (w/ James Ellsworth) and Charlotte Flair to retain her title
This was a pretty good match. Natalya got a good reaction, which she always gets in Canada. She and Carmella teamed up to beat down Charlotte, but they eventually turned on each other. Charlotte took over from there and put Carmella in the Figure Eight until Natalya broke it up and pinned Carmella.
– United States Champion Baron Corbin defeated Tye Dillinger, AJ Styles, and Rusev to retain his title
They had the best match of the night. Styles was super over and all four guys worked really hard. Dillinger was focused on for much of the match, then the finish came when Corbin cleared the ring of Styles and caught Dillinger with the End of Days.
– WWE Champion Jinder Mahal defeated Shinsuke Nakamura to retain his title
Surprisingly, a lot of people seemed to leave after the US title match. Mahal was over here and wasn’t with The Singh Brothers. He did a promo in Punjabi before the match, then Nakamura got a good reaction for his entrance. The crowd was doing dueling chants for Mahal as the match went on.
Mahal smashed Nakamura’s head on the turnbuckle and then hit the Khallas to retain. Mahal attacked Nakamura after the bell, but Nakamura got his heat back by hitting him with the Kinshasa.
The Big Takeaway: Kane returned to attack Roman Reigns, causing him to lose the steel cage match with Braun Strowman. Kurt Angle allowed Miz to have a 5th member in the main event of TLC if Strowman won the match. After Strowman won, Miz announced Kane would be the 5th man. Mickie James pinned Alexa Bliss in a tag team match to build to their title match on Sunday.
Show Recap:
Kurt Angle came out to start the show. He announced that the Shield would face Strowman, Sheamus, Cesaro and the Miz on Sunday at TLC. The Shield came out with Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins were in their old Sheild gear and walked down through the crowd. The Shield teased going after Angle as they surrounded the ring. Reigns said when the hounds of justice come calling, you either move or get out of the ring. Reigns called out Strowman, Miz and the Bar.
Strowman came out when the other heels, but Angle stopped them. Angle said there wouldn’t have the main event of TLC tonight, which got the crowd mad. He announced Reigns would face Strowman in a steel cage tonight.
Elias was in the ring with Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows. Anderson asked Elias if he could warm up his voice and repeated “nerds” over and over. Anderson asked Elias if he could warm up his voice and started singing the Honky Tonk Man’s old theme song.
Apollo Crews, Jason Jordan and Titus O’Neil defeated Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows and Elias (6:52)
Apollo Crews pinned Anderson with the spinning power bomb. Jason Jordan made the hot tag and threw quicks all over the place, including an enzuigiri to Gallows and a shoulder to Anderson leading to the finish.
Another vignette for Asuka. This led to Emma doing an interview with Renee Young. Emma did her usual promo about how she started the Women’s Revolution. Young corrected Emma and said she started the Women’s Evolution. Bliss walked up and said that Emma was right. Bliss accused James of body shaming her last week when James called her a “biscut.” Bliss said she and Emma should team tonight against James and a partner of James’ choice. Bliss joked maybe it would be Betty White. Emma agreed.
There was a video package reviewing how Jack Gallagher turned heel and joined forces with Brian Kendrick against Cedric Alexander.
Cedric Alexander defeated Jack Gallagher (3:20)
Alexander won with the Lumbar Check. Kendrick came down to be in Gallagher’s corner, so Rich Swann showed up to be in Alexander’s corner. Gallagher did mostly rest holds after Kendrick jumped on the apron to stop Alexander from doing a tope.
Alicia Fox did an inset promo about how she didn’t tap out to Sasha Banks’ Bank Statement last week, she was scratching her nose. She also complained about getting only one t-shirt in ten years.
Sasha Banks defeated Alicia Fox (2:43)
Banks escaped a spinning backbreaker and won with the bank statement. Fox hit the spinning backbreaker earlier in the match. Afterwards, Fox started screaming about wanting a rematch.
Charly Caruso started to do an interview with Banks when Fox jumped her. Banks breifly made his own comeback before Fox threw her around a few more times. A referee jumped in to yell at her, but Fox shoved him down. So they’re going back to a Banks-Fox program which happened during the spring.
Enzo Amore came out. He said he heard a few people booing him. He replayed Kalisto beating him last week. Amore said he got nuked, duped and robbed of his cruiserweight championship. He was forced into the match by Angle. He said Mustafa Ali was responsible to costing him the championship. Kalisto came out and said enough was enough, Enzo’s mouth was like a 7-11, it never closes. Kalisto said Enzo could blame Angle, blame the WWE Universe, but there would be no excuses at TLC when he walks out as the new cruiserweight champion. Enzo said he’s got money stacked higher than Kalisto. Enzo said he earned that money being a star and wondered why Kalisto was standing on the train looking at the light at the end of the tunnel, because the Soul Train was coming through. Then Noam Dar, Tony Nese, Drew Gulak and Ariya Daivari jumped Kalisto. Ali ran out for the save, laying out Daivari, Gulak and Dar until Enzo jumped Ali from behind. Enzo was playing up getting booed as Daivari delivered a short-armed clothesline. Nese held Kalisto as Amore hit the Jordanzo. This got some heat. Enzo asked Kalisto and Ali “How you doin’?” and threw down the microphone.
Raw Tag Team Champions Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins defeated Sheamus and Cesaro to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships (12:02)
Very good match where Ambrose pinned Sheamus to retain the belts. Early, Ambrose and Rollins did stereo topes. Later, Sheamus hoisted Rollins into a Cesaro uppercut for a good near fall. Towards the finish, it appeared Sheamus and Cesaro were supposed to give Ambrose a spiked white noise. But Ambrose was out of position so they had to improvise the old Hart Foundation Hart Attack, forcing Rollins to make the save. Rollins gave Sheamus the rainmaker knee leading to the finish. Crowd was hot and easily the best thing on the show so far.
Backstage, Axel delivered a pep talk to Cesaro and Sheamus saying they had to stay up and active despite the loss. Axel said he would be the 5th member of Strowman beats Reigns. Axel told Strowman he needed this match more than anything. In fact, he wanted to fight Reigns right now. Strowman told Axel to go find him. Axel backed off that statement. Sheamus said the 5th member of their team wouldn’t be afraid to take on Reigns. Axel reluctantly agreed. Michael Cole treated Axel like a joke on commentary.
Balor came out and said when Wyatt introduced the world to Sister Abigail, he didn’t know what to think. Maybe Wyatt had lost his mind, or maybe he outsmarted everyone. Balor said when he was young, he read about the Celtic Festival of Samhain, where at night the dead would rise and monsters would walk the Earth. He used to think these were just stories, but after seeing Sister Abigail, he realized these weren’t just stories, they were real. Balor said Wyatt may have his trick, but he has his own trick. Just like the legend of Samhain, he will slay a monster with a demon of his own. Balor said his demon has no fear. Then Balor’s face changed into the Demon King persona. He said his demon has no nightmares and his demon is dying to meet Sister Abigail. Te Demon King said “run.”
Mickie James and Bayley defeated Alexa Bliss and Emma (11:21)
James pinned Bliss after the Mick Kick. Bliss delivered a hard right to Bayley before the finish. Bayley worked most of the match and got the heat. Bliss slapped Bayley several times. Crowd stayed into it and Bayley once again got a solid response.
Backstage, Axel saw the Shield hudding together in a corner. He was no more than 5 feet away from walking up to them when they abruptly cut to a commercial.
Miz walked into his locker room and said it was an honor to have Strowman on Team Miz against the Shield. Miz asked where was Axel. Strowman said Axel wanted to beat up Reigns so he told Axelt to do it. Sheamus and Cesaro was chuckling under their breath. Miz winced and left to find Axel.
Caruso did an interview with James about facing Blizz. James admitted that the age jokes by Bliss cut her deep. However, she said she is proud of what she has done thoughout her career. Now, she has a three-year old boy at home who is the light of her life. She said seeing him whenever she comes home is the light of her life. However, one of the greatest feeling of her career would be to win the Raw Women’s Championship for a 7th time. James delivered this promo with conviction and emotion.
Miz looked for Axel. He was strung upside down on the end of a forklift with his ribs bruised. Officials and Miz all tended to him. We never saw the Shield beat up Axel, but they made it seem like Axel was beaten within an inch of his life.
Axel was being let down from the hanglift. Miz told Caruso that Axel was never going to be the 5th member of his team.
Braun Strowman defeated Roman Reigns in a steel cage match, which allows Miz’s team at No Mercy to have a 5th member. (17:20)
Strowman won when Kane burst through the ring and gave Reigns a choke slam, then a tombstone. Strowman delivered two running powerslams before pinning Reigns. Afterwards, Miz announced that Kane would be the 5th member of his team.
The Miz was on commentary. It was a really good match with Strowman getting a near fall with a spinebuster. Earlier, they replayed Strowman giving the Big Show a slam through the cage last month. They teased that same spot in this bout. Strowman sandwiched Reigns with a running splash into the cage. Reigns hit a Superman punch and appeared to be headed over the cage when Sheamus and Cesaro, despite being banned from ringside, ran out to stop him. Ambrose and Rollins ran down to brawl with Sheamus and Cesaro. They fought backstage, past what appeared to be a Toys ‘R Us toy display and into the parking garage. Miz ran backstage and closed the garage door to make sure Ambrose and Rollins couldn’t get back into the building. Strowman pulled Reigns back into the cage with his vest and gave him a suplex into the ring off the top rope. Reigns went on to hit two Supermen punches for a two count. Then Kane’s music played. Just as it did, Reigns hit a spear on Strowman, but Kane came through the ring. Corey Graves wondered why Kane was there, not bringing up his endless program with Rollins or the fact that Reigns retired his brother.
– WWE Cruiserweight Champion Kalisto defeated Enzo Amore to retain his title
Amore spent several minutes taunting the crowd. He teased doing a top rope move at one point but then decided not to, which got some decent boos. Amore taunted at every opportunity, yelling into the crowd at times. Kalisto stole his headband and did some taunting of his own, then ended up winning with the Salida Del Sol.
– Goldust & Darren Young defeated Curtis Axel & Curt Hawkins
Axel came to the ring and said Bo Dallas wasn’t here, but he knows another Curt that’s on a losing streak who could use some help. Neither Axel nor Hawkins got a huge reaction, but Goldust entered to a decent one. Young took the heat for most of the match, then Goldust got the tag and won the match for his team.
– Finn Balor defeated Elias
Elias sang a cover of “Wonderwall” that insulted Balor and Yakima. People didn’t start booing him until he insulted the town. Balor came out and punched Elias after mentioning how Elias previously hit him with his guitar. For the finish, Balor made a comeback and hit the Coup de Grace for the victory.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose defeated Cesaro & Sheamus and Heath Slater & Rhyno to retain their titles
Slater and Rhyno came out first to a polite applause, Cesaro and Sheamus got a good reaction, and the crowd went crazy for Rollins and Ambrose. Cesaro and Sheamus focused on Slater before Rhyno got a hot tag and cleaned house.
Rollins tagged himself in and The Shield team remained in control until it broke down into a brawl at the end, with Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds on Cesaro to retain after Rollins hit a knee strike.
– Sasha Banks & Dana Brooke defeated Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss & Alicia Fox
Emma was the special guest referee here. Banks got a big pop, but Bliss’ was bigger. Emma played heel during the match, though she eventually called for the bell after Fox had tapped out to the Banks Statement for several seconds.
– Intercontinental Champion The Miz (w/ Curtis Axel) defeated Jason Jordan to retain his title
Miz and Axel came out to a ton of boos, with Jordan getting a polite applause. Miz spent a few minutes doing a heel promo before the match, saying that he’s from Hollywood. He finally took off his glasses and teased taking his robe off for a couple of minutes. Jordan went for a roll-up when he did.
Miz playing the coward got the crowd fired up. Axel interfered multiple times in the match, but Jordan made a comeback and took out Axel. That distracted Jordan, giving Miz enough time to hit the Skull Crushing Finale to retain. Miz got crazy heat like no one else on the show, and Jordan seemed pretty over. Jordan even got a chant after the match.
– Roman Reigns defeated Braun Strowman in a last man standing match
Strowman got a huge pop. Reigns got a mixed reaction at first, but everyone cheered for him when he held up a Shield shirt. Reigns got cheered when he pulled a table out from under the ring, with Strowman being booed as he put it back. Strowman used the steps as a weapon a couple of times.
Back in the ring, Reigns set up a table and put Strowman through it with a Samoan drop. Strowman was able to get up from that and gained the upper hand. He teased a running powerslam through a second table in the corner, but Reigns got out of it and hit a spear through the table to win the match. People were into the entire match and Reigns got tons of chants.
Kenny Omega makes his first stateside defense of the IWGP United States Heavyweight Championship as Ring of Honor’s Global Wars tour reaches its final stop tonight.
YOSHI-HASHI will be challenging for Omega’s title in Chicago, which was set up when YOSHI-HASHI challenged Omega after NJPW’s Destruction in Kobe event last month. Omega’s only other title defense was against Juice Robinson at that show.
Members of the Bullet Club will also be involved in another key match tonight. Cody Rhodes, The Young Bucks & Hangman Page will team against the Search and Destroy team of Motor City Machine Guns, Jonathan Gresham & Jay White in an eight-man tag match.
Elsewhere on the show, Marty Scurll faces Hiromu Takahashi, Will Ospreay takes on Flip Gordon, Suzuki-gun will be in action in a six-man tag match, KUSHIDA teams with Cheeseburger against The Addiction, Colt Cabana faces off with Toru Yano in what’s sure to be a comedy match, and Trent Barreta & Chuck Taylor team up against Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser.
We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Our live coverage starts at 8 p.m. Eastern time.
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Cody did an interview. He said this has been the most financially lucrative tour in ROH history. Cody cut a promo about Roman Reigns saying he wears a vest to hide hit gut and to hide his failed drug tests. He said it’s really hiding envy. He said ROH isn’t an indie, it’s a club. He asked Cary Silkin to kiss the ring. Silkin didn’t want to kiss the ring. He then said he was going to bring a fan into the ring to kiss the ring. He bought in a planted fan in a mask with a Cody T-shirt. The fan acted like he couldn’t get into the ring. Cody wanted to film it for “Being the Elite.” They were filming it for video. The fan unmasked and it was Dalton Castle. Castle suplexed Cody. Castle took him down and started ground and pounding him. Cody ran off. The crowd was loving Cody but the way the segment was done it worked really well. I don’t think the fans knew it was Castle until he unmasked.
CHUCKIE T & BARETTA VS. SILAS YOUNG & BEER CITY BRUISER
Good match. Bruiser hit Chuckie with a beer keg and then Young gave him misery for the pin. A lot of big moves on both sides. Bruiser did a bodyblock off the apron on Baretta after backdropping out of a piledriver on the apron. T & Baretta did a double dive spot.
MARTY SCURLL VS. HIROMU TAKAHASHI
Scurll won by reversing the time bomb into a chicken wing. Out of the 107 ROH vs. NJPW matches, it’s now 53-53 with one draw. Very good match with lots of near falls and a lot of comedy mixed in. It was worked more like an entertaining prelim match as opposed to a major main event. They did several spots with Darryl. Darryl’s wedding to Carol was brought up. Takahashi did the sunset flip out of the ring and power bomb on the floor spot. Both were really over so they took advantage of that.
KUSHIDA & CHEESEBURGER VS. CHRISTOPHER DANIELS & FRANKIE KAZARIAN
Daniels & Kazarian won by pinning Cheeseburger with the Best Meltzer ever. Some rough spots early. Unfortunately, the stream went out right before the finish. Fairly short match. Kushida looked good based on what we could see. Kazarian was about to put Cheeseburger through a table after the match, but Bully Ray showed up and put Kazarian through the table. This led to an ECW chant. Kazarian was checking his fingers. .
Bully Ray is cutting a promo about wrestling in this building in 1999 and lighting a table on fire in ECW. Bully Ray did the teasing retirement interview he’s been doing all week. He said it was time and the fans were chanting “No.” He said for the first time he has to worry about himself and his own health. The crowd gave him a standing ovation. Thank were chanting “Thank You Bubba.” He said “Thank you.” Said Chicago was one of his favorite places to wrestle. He grabbed a piece of a broken table. They brought a fan in a Cody shirt into the ring. Bully said tonight you represent every single fan I’ve been in front of. He said he can’t thank every single person so he’ll represent everyone in the world and said “Thank you.” Bully claimed this was the last table he’ll ever break and told Chase (the kid) to hold the piece of the table high in the air. Fans were chanting “Chase.” He then apologized if he was taking too much time. He said ROH was always a place he wanted to go and if this is his last day, he wants to Thank God he got to set foot in an ROH ring. The announcers played it up like this was his last match.
CHRIS SABIN & ALEX SHELLEY & JONATHAN GRESHAM & JAY WHITE VS. YOUNG BUCKS & ADAM PAGE & CODY
This was a crazy match. Page used the last rites to pin Gresham. The Young Bucks worked as the babyfaces here, as they got heat on Nick and then heat on Page and then they went crazy with move in the last three-and-a-half minutes. There was a Bullet Club crazy dive sequence which led to a flip stage dive by Matt on everyone. A lot of shtick early including a teased four-way sharpshooter spot by the Bullet Club except White got Cody in it so they broke it up and all superkicked White and Cody put White in the sharpshooter. Crowd was super hot for just about everything. Page & Matt did a shooting star Meltzer driver on the floor.
THE DAWGS WILL FERRARA & RHETT TITUS VS. BRIAN JOHNSON & JUSTIN PUSSER
The crowd wasn’t into this. The Dawgs won with a combination front suplex and crossbody on Johnson.
After the match Jay Briscoe came out and destroyed Johnson & Pusser including a J Driller on Johnson. Jay talked about Mark Briscoe. He said we’ve got to get back to being the baddest tag team on the planet. He said Mark has been worried about singles matches, TV title, six man titles and told him to ice the elbow, heal up quick and it’s time for the Briscoes to take this stuff over.
Shane Taylor did an interview. He said he gets paid to take people out and put people down. He’s replacing Mark Briscoe in the six-man tag match. He said ROH officials have made him the tag team partner.
MINORU SUZUKI & LANCE ARCHER & DAVEY BOY SMITH JR. VS. JAY LETHAL & KENNY KING & SHANE TAYLOR
Long match. The crowd was really into Suzuki, especially in with Lethal. King’s stuff was off but he did a lot of flying moves. The last few minutes was built around Suzuki trying to do the Gotch piledriver on Taylor, who is way over 300 pounds. Suzuki would choke him, but not choke him out because he wanted to beat him with the Gotch piledriver. Time after time it failed until he finally hit it for the pin. Suzuki kicked ref Paul Turner in the gut and threw him out of the ring after. Suzuki just said “We are Suzuki-gun, Ichiban.”
COLT CABANA VS. TORU YANO
They had a comedy match. It was entertaining but the feed went down before the finish. Yano did all his shtick. The crowd liked this a lot.
WILL OSPREAY VS. FLIP GORDON
So this was the match of the show. Ospreay won with the Robinson kick and Oscutter. This was meant for a showcase to get Gordon over. Gordon has unbelievable flying moves with the highlight being a double springboard flip plancha. The beginning was Ospreay doing his cat shtick, but it got going with Ospreay doing a space flying tiger drop and springboard forearm and a shooting star to Gordon’s back as Gordon was draped over the top rope. The crowd was doing the “Fight Forever” at the end.
KENNY OMEGA VS. YOSHI-HASHI FOR U.S TITLE
This was very different from any Omega matches this year. The match featured a ton of interference including all of The Bullet Club, as well as Chaos, which included Flip Gordon and Chuckie T, all after ref Todd Sinclair got bumped. Omega did some of his usual big match stuff like the moonsault off the guard rail and Terminator dive, and the snap dragon suplex. Yoshi-Hashi worked hard but never connected and nobody saw him as having a chance to win. What really made the match was the interference, and it was everyone doing their big moves ending with Ospreay doing a springboard shooting star press to the floor and Nick doing a 450 off the top rope to the floor onto Gordon since Gordon had used a sueprkick earlier in the sequence. Omega did the One Winged Angel at one point but Yano pulled Sinclair out of the ring. The ending saw Omega get his knees up after a swanton, and Omega hit the V trigger and One Winged Angel.
Cody asked the people to raise their hands if they’re life long wrestling fans. Almost everyone did. He said you remember 95-96 when wrestling got cool again, it wasn’t 1995 for sure, more like 96. He said remember that, because wrestling has never been cooler. Cody said he wanted to thank New Japan Pro Wresting. He said we should thank Atlas, the man who carries New Japan on his back and introduced Omega. Omega thanked everyone for the lucrative merchandise sales. Omega said he doesn’t sell merchandise to impolite people and everyone was such a joy. He said that he’s not a full-time member of ROH, that “I represent New Japan by contract only, really I represent Bullet Club and Being the Elite.” He said Being the Elite is everyone who subscribes and even those who leave disparaging remarks on our page. He said Yoshi-Hashi tried hard, but he’s nothing more than try-harder. Omega said he’s suffering form jetlag and it’s after my bed time. Matt took the mic and said we have to take a Bullet Club selfie. But nobody in the ring had a phone. He asked the fans if they have a phone. Everyone did. So he went into the crowd and there was Jimmy Jacobs. Jacobs shot the photo with Bullet Club while people chanted his name. Nick said sorry we got your ass fired. Omega got the mic and asked no profanity, Matt said I’m a Christian boy but we need one more F bomb and we had yet another :F*** The Revival” chant, at least the third one of the night. Kenny bid adieu.
The Big Takeaway: Curt Hawkins took the pinfall as he and Dash Wilder lost again this week to continue both of their respective losing streaks. Akira Tozawa also got a win over Tony Nese in a fairly ordinary main event.
I mentioned a few weeks back that Curt Hawkins has been without a win since the night he returned to WWE. Well, he is now playing this up in his ring entrance on Main Event. Over his music, Hawkins’ recorded voice says, “his 118 match losing streak is going to come to an end right before your eyes.” And, of course, it didn’t.
Wilder is also without a win since his Revival teammate Scott Dawson was struck down with an injury in June, and it didn’t get any better for him here. However, his tag partner took the loss — when Rhyno nailed Hawkins with a spinebuster — to take the streak to 119.
Slater and Rhyno fared well with the pre-Raw crowd. They have been performing without each other for a number of weeks now, but, reunited, they went over well here. Rhyno did the power moves, Slater played babyface in peril, and Hawkins brought out the inner trash-talker in Wilder. Overall, this match was fun while it lasted.
The finish started when Rhyno got the hot tag. Hawkins blind tagged in while Wilder was wheeling from the onslaught, but Slater saw it and dumped Wilder outside so that Rhyno could focus on Hawkins, who he nailed with a spinebuster for the win.
Akira Tozawa defeated Tony Nese (4:56)
Tozawa hasn’t been on Main Event since April, but he’s such a pleasure to watch. Here, he was all action and took the match 100 miles per hour. Nese is a good foil for Tozawa’s pace and made it look like he was going to take the spoils until he got caught trying something on the top rope and Tozawa was able to hit the Drop Zone.
There was a spot here where they teased an early finish with Nese lying prone and Tozawa in position for the Drop Zone, but Nese rolled out of the ring. Tozawa’s response was amazing: he leaped off the top rope and — as he landed — began sprinting into the ropes and then dove through them headfirst at Nese. It was both breathtaking and really quite dangerous at the same time.
Otherwise, it was Nese using his physique and strength to try to dominate Tozawa and the match was punctuated by Tozawa’s efforts to get the crowd riled up. When the finish came, it felt a little early, but Tozawa seized the opportunity and got plenty of hang time on his impressive finisher, the Drop Zone.
Reports submitted by readers Brandon Cain and Mike Doucette
– WWE Cruiserweight Champion Kalisto defeated Enzo Amore to retain his title
Amore worked hard to get heat by trashing the city, but it didn’t really work. He also said that he took out Big Cass and made Neville quit. Kalisto ended up retaining with the Salida Del Sol.
– Goldust & Darren Young defeated Curtis Axel & Curt Hawkins
Young sold for most of the match until Goldust got the hot tag and picked up the win.
– Elias defeated R-Truth
Before the match, Elias covered “Wonderwall” by Oasis while insulting the city and R-Truth. The crowd was really into R-Truth, but Elias won with the Drift Away.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose defeated Cesaro & Sheamus and Heath Slater & Rhyno to retain their titles
Rollins and Ambrose were ridiculously over and retained with a flurry of finishers on Cesaro.
– Sasha Banks & Dana Brooke defeated Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss & Alicia Fox
Emma was the special guest referee for this match and her favoring the heels was pretty funny. The crowd was most invested when Banks and Bliss were in the ring together, but the finish came when Banks submitted Fox with the Banks Statement.
– Intercontinental Champion The Miz defeated Jason Jordan to retain his title
Half of this match was a debate over two signs: one that said Miz sucks and one that said he’s awesome. Miz and Jordan ripped up each sign. Miz was really over here and retained with the Skull Crushing Finale after some shenanigans.
– Roman Reigns defeated Braun Strowman in a last man standing match
The crowd ended up being super pro-Reigns. He won with a spear through a table.
– The Addiction (Christopher Daniels & Frankie Kazarian) defeated Search and Destroy (Jonathan Gresham & Jay White)
Daniels cut a promo before the match, claiming that he and Kazarian are responsible for ROH’s success. He said Motor City Machine Guns are dodging them — so they’ll beat up the other half of Search and Destroy as punishment.
The Addiction ended up winning with Celebrity Rehab, though the match was a good showcase for Gresham as he shined here.
– Kenny King came out to say that his tag team partner Mark Briscoe is injured with a dislocated elbow. King put over Ohio State since they were in Columbus, then called Marty Scurll and Hangman Page the Bullet Club “B Club.” King challenged both since he didn’t have a partner.
Scurll fired back by saying King couldn’t get a date on a TV reality show (King was on The Bachelorette) and couldn’t get a partner because no one likes him. Scurll said King could even choose a fan, referee, or commentator as his partner, which led to Colt Cabana being brought out as King’s partner.
– Jay Lethal defeated Hiromu Takahashi (w/ Daryl)
Everyone involved in this match was really over, including Daryl.They ended up having the best match on the show, which ended when Lethal hit the Lethal Injection. These two had great chemistry.
– ROH World Tag Team Champions Motor City Machine Guns defeated Silas Young & Beer City Bruiser to retain their titles
Will Ferrara and Rhett Titus joined Ian Riccaboni on commentary for this. Alex Shelley and Chris Sabin were posing on the turnbuckles before the match, then they were jumped by Young and Bruiser.
These teams worked well together and had a great match, with Motor City Machine Guns retaining after a combo top rope crossbody/neckbreaker on Bruiser.
– Chaos (Will Ospreay, Toru Yano & YOSHI-HASHI) defeated Suzuki-gun (Minoru Suzuki, Lance Archer & Davey Boy Smith Jr.)
BJ Whitmer came out to do color commentary for the rest of the show in place of Cabana. Suzuki-gun offered the Code of Honor to start, but that didn’t end well for Chaos.
The story of the match was that Suzuki-gun had Chaos completely outmatched except for Ospreay’s high-risk moves, YOSHI-HASHI refusing to quit, and Yano’s self-survival skills. Archer and Smith were setting up for the win, but Ospreay hit Archer with a springboard forearm into a roll-up by YOSHI-HASHI for the pin. Chaos then got the heck out of there while Suzuki-gun tried to figure out what happened.
– Sumie Sakai defeated Holidead in a Women of Honor match
Holidead was making her Women of Honor debut here. She dominated with power moves and hit a Samoan drop that looked to finish it, but Sakai caught her with a small package for the pin.
– Shane Taylor defeated Josh Woods
This had plenty of power and strikes. Woods gave his much larger opponent a German suplex but got caught trying a running forearm. Taylor made him pay by hitting a sit-out tombstone for the win.
– ROH World Television Champion Kenny King & Colt Cabana defeated Marty Scurll & Hangman Page
The story of the match early was that Scurll and Page weren’t expecting Cabana, who got in their heads. Scurll and Page played to the crowd a lot. At one point, Scurll went for the finger-break spot, but Cabana had an oven mitt stashed in his tights to keep Scurll from snapping his fingers. Cabana then slapped Page around and out of the ring with the mitt.
King got the pin on Page with the Royal Flush. He celebrated after by holding up the TV title with the oven mitt. There was an interesting dynamic where King played it mostly straight in the match while the others did comedy.
– ROH World Champion Cody defeated KUSHIDA to retain his title
Cody did a lot of stalling early, using the kiss-the-ring gimmick and arguing with fans. He appeared to be walking out of the match at one point. KUSHIDA had the advantage early and kept wanting Cody to engage, but Cody would bail out of the ring whenever he was in trouble.
KUSHIDA had Cody set up for the small package driver, but Cody reversed it into the Cross Rhodes to retain. The match was getting hot towards the end.
– The Elite (Kenny Omega & The Young Bucks) defeated Trent Barreta, Chuck Taylor & Flip Gordon to retain the ROH World Six-Man Tag Team Championship
The Bullet Club again said they were using “Bullet Club rules,” meaning any members of the stable can defend The Young Bucks & Hangman Page’s six-man tag titles.
This match could have been its own episode of “Being the Elite” as Barreta and Taylor kept having to keep Gordon from getting suckered into a handshake rib, which is a storyline on the YouTube show. They kept the gag going as one of the Bucks would pretend to be his partner in the corner and grab his hand.
The match was a great showcase for Gordon, who was impressive the entire time. There was a lot of comedy and a lot of playing to the crowd, but it picked up towards the end. Cody, Scurll, and Page all came out at one point to interfere, but they were kicked out of the ringside area.
Barreta and Taylor set up a table to double chokeslam one of the Bucks off the stage, but the rest of The Elite came in for the save — with triple superkicks putting Barreta and Taylor through the table.
Gordon was left alone and took a Meltzer Driver on the floor as one of the Bucks jumped from the stage. They brought him into the ring for the One Winged Angel Meltzer Driver to get the pin. The rest of the Bullet Club came out to celebrate after. They cut a promo saying nothing will stop them from being more creative than the competition and they’ll carry on as long as the fans are with them.
