Welcome to this morning’s coverage of the New Japan Pro Wrestling show, taking place at Korakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. We kick off the Road to Destruction tour as a eight man tag featuring the Bullet Club headlines, as well as the debut of former NXT star CJ Parker, now going under the name Juice Robinson.
David Finlay vs. Jay White
Very good, technical match. Crowd was quiet for a lot of it but were into the big spots. Both guys had a back and forth match with a lot of mat wrestling and counters. Very different that what you would normally see, which is nice. Finlay hit the rolling senton. White tried to reverse but Finlay caught White with the stretch muffler and he had to tap out.
Good match. Komatsu and Tanaka continue to look like they’re far beyond ready to move beyond the young lion stage and Nagata did his part well. There was one point in the match where Tanaka teased a deadlift on the immobile Nakanishi but he blocked it. Nagata and Komatsu had a nice exchange at the end with Nagata drilling him with a great belly to belly overhead suplex then pinned him with the backdrop hold.
Tomohiro Ishii, Yoshi Hashi and Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Jushin Thunder Liger, Captain New Japan and Tomoaki Honma
Another good tag team match. They didn’t work it entirely like a standard New Japan six man as they have a formula, and that’s what I liked about the match. Everyone looked good and had their moments. Liger and Ishii had a cool exchange, as well as Ishii and Honma. They did a spot where Liger laid out Ishii and Honma hit the kokeshi, then CNJ splashed him on the top rope but he kicked out. Sakuraba came in and put him in a sleeper, then Yoshi Hashi helped Ishii set up the sliding D but CNJ kicked out of that. Ishii followed with a brainbuster and pinned him.
Kota Ibushi, Tetsuya Naito and Juice Robinson vs. Tiger Mask, Togi Makabe and Katsyuori Shibata
Looks like Tiger Mask is back after being out for most of the G1 with a neck injury. This was good but it’s clear that some people didn’t fit here. People were into it whenever Shibata and Naito interacted, and were also into Ibushi and Makabe, but crowd was dead whenever Robinson and Tiger Mask were in. Of course it’s not a main event so putting in junior heavyweights was a given, but still. Shibata cleared the ring with a big boot to Naito that sent him to the floor as Tiger Mask pinned Robinson with a roll up variation. Both Ibushi/Makabe and Shibata/Naito got into it after the match and had to be repeatedly seperated.
Kazuchika Okada and Toru Yano vs. Tama Tonga and Cody Hall
Just a match. Not bad, but nothing memorable at all. Most of the highlights involved Toru Yano being afraid of Tama Tonga whenever he got creepy and doing his trademark spots. Okada pinned Hall with the rainmaker.
Roppangi Vice and Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Hirooki Goto, Ryusuke Taguchi and Mascara Dorada
Good match. Nakamura and Goto worked together and so did RPG Vice, Taguchi and Dorada. Taguchi is doing this gimmick where he imitates Nakamura and it gets on Nakamuras nerves as he laid him out with a kick before the bell rang. At one point in the match Goto helped Taguchi land a sliding hip toss onto Nakamura and scored a near fall there. Good back and forth match from here as everyone has good chemistry with one another. Dorada and Beretta were the ones in the ring as Dorada tried to hop over Beretta but he grabbed him and hit the dudebuster as Romero hit the dropkick for the win.
Kenny Omega, Karl Anderson, Doc Gallows and Bad Luck Fale vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kushida, Hiroyoshi Tenzan and Satoshi Kojima
This was a good main event. Lots of action and everyone worked well against one another, and the crowd was very much into it which helped as well. They did every New Japan multi man tag trope in the world with barricade spots, brawling out into the crowd, everyone pairing off with their rivals, etc. But the action was good enough that it turned out to be fine. The finish came after Gallows landed the Gallows Poll but Kojima kicked out. Gallows went to the corner to hit something but Kojima blocked and blasted him with a lariat for the win, setting up a future title program with them. It’s not the most interesting feud of all time, but considering the division is stale and uninteresting, and New Japan doesn’t have any plans to fix that, this is what we’ll get.
Last week, Matt Hardy demanded a World title shot this week and got it – but there’s a catch. If he loses, Jeff becomes EC3’s assistant. Also, Eric Young won a quick match and now holds legal possession of Chris Melendez’s leg. Tigre Uno retained the X Title in a 3-way, while the Wolves beat Abyss and Manik to retain the tag titles. Brooke retained against Velvet, and Roode won a 4-way to get a shot at PJ Black’s King of the Mountain Title.
In the main event, Drew Galloway used his crimonolgy degree to deduce that Jeff Jarrett was behind the attacks on himself and Bully. Karen came out and said that wasn’t true – she was behind them, and then the TNA roster got their asses handed to them by a lot of the GFW roster, who stood tall. The invasion that isn’t an invasion has now become an invasion – or something.
Matt and Jeff Hardy enter the building “earlier today” and we get a recap of the Jeff-Dixie-Drew stuff from last week. A very green video filter is placed over the show-closing beatdown, making it even harder to tell who’s who in this. Dixie looks like the wicked witch of the west here. The Jarrett and the GFW roster come down while Pope says he’s glad he’s here on Impact to hear his explanation. Jeff says that the GFW-TNA supershow was off the charts successful, and Josh wants him out of the TNA hall of fame.
Speaking of witches, La Bruja Karen says she had Bully taken out to get what Jeff deserved. Mordetsky took out Bully and Drew. Jeff says that he’s here to have a corporate hostile takeover and that he’s out to make another global empire. Mordetsky makes an Adonis open challenge for tonight, leading to Lashley coming out. An ad for One Night Only – Gut Check 2015 airs, with MVP, Samuel Shaw, and a slew of other released guys on it.
Lashley vs. Chris Mordetsky
A “this is war” chant breaks out while a collar and elbow tie-up starts things off. Josh talks about the show trending and Mordetsky gets a side headlock. Josh buries the GFW roster, while Pope puts Kong over all of them. Nice exchange of wrestling moves and holds here in this promotional war. Lashley avoids the full nelson, and gets a full nelson slam. Chris takes him down with a Polish hammer before attacking the spine by jumping onto his back. Adonis chinlock leads to him being backdropped over the top onto the apron and being forearmed into the barricade awkwardly.
Josh says that TNA put GFW on the map. Adonis gets a butterfly suplex alongside a camera angle that makes it look like the whole building just has two rows of people full due to the dimmed house lighting. Josh talks about Mordetsky being the most outspoken member of the GFW roster…in catering. German to Chris leads a corner lariat and corner spear. Delayed suplex sends Mordetsky down, but Chris avoids the spear and gets a spinebuster. Mordetsky stomps around for the Lock, but Lashley avoids it with a rollthrough. Shouldermount powerslam sends Chris down, and he gets the big spear for…a DQ win due to PJ Black and other GFW guys coming in and attacking. The Wolves come down and get beaten up too. Myers hits Lashley with a flatliner while Jeff calls down to Karen to bring down the surprise. Josh throws to a break.
Karen comes down with Feast or Fired case number 3, from whenever the last one of these matches was. Karen says that Magnus gave her the case and it’s time for a TNA Tag Title match with Lee and Myers against the Wolves. Earl Hebner stands up for TNA and PUNCHES JEFF JARRETT, who punches him back and knocks him down very slowly. Scott D’Amore, Lei’D Tapa and her husband come down and bully Brian Stiffler into the ring while burying D’Amore for always eating Twinkies.
Trevor Lee and Bryan Myers vs. The Wolves – TNA Tag Team Titles
Eddie kicks out at 1. Josh is outraged that this is being allowed – well, he’s not wrong. Josh is upset over a ruling from February being held up here and Pope explains that Magnus has left TNA – which has never been said on TNA TV, and gave it to Jeff. Josh puts over Myers being a tag team champion “all over the world”, which I think is just he and Ryder holding them as Edgeheads briefly. Eddie gets the half-crab and Davey gets the cloverleaf, but Sonjay gets involved. Lee hits Eddie with a case and wins. Well, everything about that sucked. However, it’s a chance for Lee and to a lesser extent Myers to be given a chance to shine.
This was too much of a cluster to really care about, and there were several big parts of the story – like Magnus leaving, that needed to be explained for this to mean much of anything. Roode says he doesn’t care about what’s going on – he’s tired of being disrespected by TNA and GFW, and he wants to get gold again tonight. He gets his title shot next.
Josh recaps tonight’s “corporate hostile takeover”, the tag title change, and the Lashley-Mordetsky match. Josh and Pope explain that Magnus, Nick Aldis gave them the case while they talk about the KOTM Title match. Josh says that a Roode win of this meaningless title gives TNA some of its power back. Josh plugs the main event stip and says that if Matt loses, we could see Jeff as EC3’s assistant on the house shows.
JB interviews EC3, who enjoyed the Hardy Boys Mysteries, despite hating the title. He was a bigger fan of Choose Your Own Adventure, and wants to go to page 131 – where Matt Hardy lays broken and defeated. EC3 tells Jeff to get ready to do the work. Dixie Carter comes into the building 42 minutes into the show – did someone just tweet her about the hostile takeover? PJ Black comes down to his Jeff Hardy-sung theme while Roode has his usual one. Roode tells PJ to look around – it’s TNA, he’s a TNA guy, and he’s a TNA Original. He helped build TNA and some hate him, some love him, but he steps foot into this building and this ring, he’s earned their respect. It’s his house, it’s their house, and boy does TNA’s rapid descent just makes every promo about this feud that much funnier.
Bobby Roode vs. PJ Black – Legends/Global/World TV/King of the Mountain Title Match
Roode runs wild with forearms in the corner before hitting a high backdrop. Roode chops and punches away. Josh plugs TNA’s Youtube shows, but PJ eats a superkick. PJ gets a pair of suicide dives and tears up a sign in his honor. Springboard Savage snap lariat hits for an ad break. Roode gets a second rope blockbuster while Josh talks about wanting Roode to be KOTM Champion at BFG. They exchange punches to the face, so I guess that blockbuster didn’t really do much damage.
Roode gets more chops. Roode avoids a springboard and gets a spinebuster for 2. Josh tells Mordetsky to study Roode to learn how to do a spinebuster – well, he’s not wrong. Pope says now it’s getting real, so I guess everything else was fake. PJ gets an inverted DDT for 2. Springboard moonssault gets 2 while they talk about the “hostile corporate takeover” a few more times. Roode gets the crossface, but Sonjay distracts him. Roode gets cradled horribly for 2 and gets the crossface while Drew attacks Sonjay. PJ escapes the crossface, but eats the Roode Bomb for the win. One small child yells “yes” over and over.
Jeff’s theme hits before the tag champs come down and Roode escapes. Jeff says he wants to take back what was stolen from him, leading to Dixie coming down. Jeff buries Dixie for making mistakes, while Dixie says that at least she owns up to hers. Dixie and Jeff Jarrett are having a debate over who has done the most damage to TNA. Amazing. Dixie says that Jeff taught her a lot about wrestling, and he taught her more about ego – and how leading with ego leads to disaster. Then she and Jeff shout over each other.
Jeff talks about having ownership stake and Dixie proposes something to get rid of one of them – a winner takes all match. Jeff says he walks on Earth to serve, not to be served. He stands by his guys because they believe in him and they believe in GFW. He’ll get in the trenches and fight with them – he has a crew behind him, and she has no one. Drew comes down to stand up for Dixie. This feels like yet another part of the story we’ve missed several chapters of. The Wolves come down, then Lashley, while Drew tells them to start making a white flag. Josh resurrects the TNA Front Line name for this group – sure, doom it even further.
The GFW roster celebrates backstage to make a team while Josh rants at them for getting ahead of themselves. Pope and Josh’s room appears to be lit by a single 40 watt bulb, as it’s nearly impossible to see them easily. Josh buries Pope for not getting him a wedding gift, so he gives Pope the knockouts calendar. Kenny King is mid-ring for the first time on TNA in months. He says he has no banner, no mask, or no crew – it’s just him on his two. He wants to be a king that fights fair and is a leader. Kenny King issues an open challenge to mess the rep up. Out comes Bram. So they can edit Hernandez off TV, but Bram VS. Kenny King is essential viewing?
Bram vs. Kenny King
Kenny kicks Bram off the apron and dives onto him on the floor. Pope says that if he was going to get back in the ring, he would team with King – so I guess Pope is officially retired. Bram lands a European uppercut in the corner. Pope says that Bram is the reincarnation of Bram…could they not edit this off, really? Kenny launches himself into the corner with a dropkick for 2 while Josh talks about the “dudes from GFW” and Pope talks about the future of TNA being bleak. Josh buries GFW for not having commentators and Bram wins with the DDT and Josh says “he’s done, he’s outta here”. Okay then, so maybe that’s it for Bram in TNA. Jeff talks about accepting a match with a “super-crazy consequence” while Matt says the thought of Jeff having to work for EC3 fuels him, while the thought of being TNA World Champion fuels him too. Then he says “ha!”. Velvet Sky speaks out next.
Velvet comes out while we get a recap of Rebel joining the Dollhouse. She says the knockouts division has evolved and so has she. She talks to Taryn and wants her out here now. Taryn says that she’s never crossed paths with Velvet and would destroy Velvet. She’s been in TV shows, movies, and magazines – while Velvet looks like she stumbled out of Hot Topic. The Dolls saunter down while Velvet is apparently trapped by three women in a six-sided ring. They beat her down and Pope brings up how stupid this was. Angelina Love and Madison Rayne come down – so it’s the Dollhouse against the Beautiful People. Angelina and Madison Rayne christen this team the new, badass BPs. In theory, this could be good – except the promo delivery was bad, and Angelina can’t work due to being pregnant. They hug and we get an ECE-Matt Hardy recap video.
Knockouts calendar ad leads to a recap of the Jeff vs. Dixie promo earlier. Drew asks Dixie if she’s sure and she says she has no choice – they need complete control of TNA back. She says this is an investment in the people who have stayed and knows this team won’t let her down. We finally get a graphic explaining that the “one match” will be a Lethal Lockdown match in two weeks for control of TNA. The Hardys come down followed by EC3 and Tyrus. Josh talks about EC3 being unbeaten in nearly two years in TNA.
Matt Hardy vs. EC3 – World Title Match
JB gives this a big match intro and we’re told that Matt is the top contender – but we see no rankings, so the top five is apparently a thing of the past. EC3 kisses the title and clutches it in his hands. Matt gets a collar and elbow tie-up and pushes EC3 into the ropes. Matt takes him down and elbows his back and lands something resembling Muay Thai knees to the face. EC3 is sent to the floor for an ad break.
After the break, EC3 is dominating, but misses a Hardy-pose flying elbow. Matt gets some punches, but is locked in a sleeper. Matt lands some punches and some lariats, including a clotheslines>bulldog combo in the corner. Hardy-pose elbow leads to a side effect for 2. Ref bump and Matt gets the Twist, but there’s no ref. Josh is now a babyface and very much against EC3 now. Tyrus hits a cheapshot, then EC3 gets a belt shot for a 2.9. Hardys cheat and only get 2. Then EC3 gets 2 and Pope brags about how no company delivers like TNA. Tyrus eats a baseball slide and a chair by Jeff. EC3 gets a TKO for 2. EC3 misses a stinger splash and eats a tornado DDT for 2. EC3 avoids a Twist with a lariat. EC3 low blows Matt and wins with a sunset flip – well, that finish was unexpected.
Josh talks about how reality is setting in for Jeff as he now has to be EC3’s assistant. Pope calls this a disappointment. Well, Pope is right in many ways. EC3 asks Jeff to raise his hand, which really does seem like a fairly light punishment. Next week, the Wolves get a title shot while Mordetsky faces Drew to get the man advantage in Lethal Lockdown.
To see every screenshot for the show, just click here.
On a personal note, this is my 248th NXT review here on F4WOnline.com, dating back to October 19, 2010. For trivia sake the very first match I reviewed was Kaitlyn vs Maxine, which was voted the 2010 Worst Worked Match Of The Year in the Observer Awards. Two weeks until 250!
-Before the show they aired a commercial saying that Monday night after the Stone Cold Podcast will be a brand new interview with Eric Bischoff to promote the new Monday Night War DVD. So it will air at like 12:15am or so.
The Big News: The Dusty Rhodes Classic began with Baron Corbin & Rhyno, along with Jason Jordan & Chad Gable, advanced.
Show Recap:
1.) Baron Corbin & Rhyno defeated The Ascension in a first round match in the Dusty Rhodes Classic.
Ascension won the tag team titles on September 12, 2013 against Corey Graves & Adrian Neville and did not lose them until September 11, 2014 against the Lucha Dragons. They are not only the longest reigning NXT Tag Team Champions, but the longest title reign of any NXT title. Meanwhile Rhyno and Baron wrestled in May at Takeover in what was Baron’s best match until the Joe match.
In the “Wacky Timing Department”, Konnor’s original partner in Ascension was Kenneth Cameron or, as he’s better known these days, Bram. Fans were really into Ascension and the former champions looked good here, until Baron got the heat on Viktor by throwing him shoulder-first into the ring post. Corbin looked very good while in there with the criminally underrated Viktor.
Konnor got the hot tag and did the flip, flop and fly on Rhyno. The finish saw Rhyno miss a Gore on Konnor, Corbin breaking up an attempt at the Fall of Man and Rhyno hit the Gore on the second attempt for the win.
-Devin Taylor was with Neville & Soloman Crowe. Neville was excited to take part in this tournament to pay tribute to Dusty Rhodes, who helped him so much. Crowe, whose birthday was yesterday, was equally excited to tag with Neville as he is to be in the tournament.
-Nia Jax is debuting soon.
2.) Alexa Bliss pinned Blue Pants
This was taped 10 days before Takeover, which explains why I was the only person in the world blissfully unaware that Blue Pants would be in the Vaudevillians corner. Alexa has pink streaks in her hair, to match her gear, so Pants has blue streaks in her hair. Does that make this the darkest timeline? If so does that make Corey Graves the Jeff Winger? If it does, he may lose his arm. #Andamovie
Alexa took most of the match and Pants looked good on her comeback, leading to a Blue Pants City chant. Unfortunately for the crowd and Ed Loredo, Bliss won with the Sparkle Splash.
-William Regal was backstage with Johnny Gargano and Tomasso Ciampa, of all people. Suddenly Tyler Breeze stormed in and demanded to be in the Dusty Rhodes Classic. Breeze is demanding that Mr. Regal find him an important partner and enter him. So next week it will be Gargano and Ciampa vs Breeze and Bull Dempsey, of all people.
-They re-aired the botched finish of the 4-way match from last week. Emma cut a promo stating that the Diva’s Revolution began when she faced Paige at NXT Arrival and she is going to remind everyone who she is.
3.) Apollo Crews pinned Martin Stone
They edited out the audio of Jo Jo introducing Crews opponent. You could see her in the background talking, but they removed it.
Like the Dillinger match, Crews took more of a beating than you would expect in this situation. Crews made his comeback with a series of Polish Hammers, a Stinger Splash and a diving clothesline. Apollo improved his record to 2-0 when he hit his Gorilla Press Slam and Standing Moonsault.
-Jason Jordan and Chad Gable are ready for their tournament match with Crowe and Neville. Gable said they are writing their own ticket to the finals. They will make Neville crash to the ground and make people forget Crowe ever existed.
Jordan finally said they are Ready, Willing and Gable.
-Samoa Joe and Finn Balor are teammates for the Dusty Rhodes Classic.
4.) Eva Marie pinned Billie Kay
Billie Kay had the total look of dread on her face because she had to have a match with Eva. Literally her gear is the only good thing about her. Kay became the biggest babyface in the company when she kicked Eva in the face.
Eva looked better in this match than she did last week. Corey Graves wouldn’t shut up that she’ll be champion one day, all but confirming my fears of Bayley’s next foe.
Kay had the match won with a suplex, but Eva forgot to kick out so the referee had to hold up his count. If the same referee from last week was here, we know what would have happened. Anyway Eva won with The Kendrick.
-Enzo, Big Cass, Mojo and Ryder were all happy after winning their 8-man tag last week.They couldn’t agree with where to go after the show, so they left separately.
-Next week: Samoa Joe & Finn Balor vs Lucha Dragons
5.) Jason Jordan & Chad Gable defeated Neville & Solomon Crowe in the Dusty Rhodes Classic
I am trying to ignore Corey Graves, but he really is the most obnoxious announcer in WWE. It’s literally getting to the point where I want to mute the tv.
Gable and Crowe did some really good wrestling and then Neville & Jordan tagged in and looked even better. So long story short, these four had a terrific match together. The heels used a waist lock to take down Crowe and gave Solomon the business.
Crowe fought and fought to get the tag and the fans exploded for the hot tag to Neville. The former NXT Champion took apart his foes. He went for the Red Arrow, but Gable pulled Jordan out of the ring. So Neville turned and did an Asai Moonsault to the floor, followed by a Crowe Suicide Dive to Gable.
Neville went for a Springboard WhatAManeuver, but Jordan caught him and threw him across the ring. Crowe tagged himself in and that was the end. Jordan & Gable picked up the surprising win with their finish.
-After the match they showed the brackets and it is a 16-team tournament. But the brackets were up for less than 5 seconds and the show ended right away.
After the show ended I used the pause button but the type was so small I had to walk up to my tv with a notebook to get the brackets, which are…
Finn Balor & Samoa Joe vs Lucha Dragons Enzo Amore & Colin Cassady vs Angelo Dawkins & Sawyer Fulton
Dash & Dawson vs Tucker Knight & Elias Sampson Blake & Murphy vs The Vaudevillains
Hype Bros vs Marcus Louis & Alexander Wolfe Jason Jordan & Chad Gable defeating Neville & Solomon Crowe
Rhyno & Baron Corbin defeating The Ascension Tyler Breeze & Bull Dempsey vs Tomasso Ciampa & Johnny Gargano
But that is it for this week. Until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers.
– Location: Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, RI
The Big News:
The Dudley Boyz returned to the ring and the new Wyatt guy laid out Roman Reigns again.
Show Recap:
Smackdown opened with a replay of the Dudley Boyz return on Raw and a plug for their return match later tonight. Then the Wyatts came out.
They showed a replay Braun Stowman destroying Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose on Raw. Luke Harper said the fans were already dead but don’t know it yet, and Bray Wyatt’s truth will give them new life.
Bray said he doesn’t throw the word “brother” around like Roman Reigns. Bray said Sister Abigail has given him everything, and just when he thought he was down and out, she gave him Stowman.
Bray said Abigail’s eyes light up when she talks about her black sheep. Bray called himself the new face of fear, Luke Harper the new face of desolation, and Braun Stowman the new face of destruction.
Reigns and Ambrose interrupted. They came out together through the crowd to Reigns’ music, which might be the first time they’ve done that since The Shield broke up.
Reigns said Stowman whipped their asses on Monday, but if they’re going down, they’re going down swinging. Ambrose said he would take the ugly one and they jumped in the ring. The two teams had a brief staredown, but Bray backed off his group and they left. Not sure why Reigns and Ambrose didn’t just attack them.
Jerry Lawler introduced us to Rich Brennen, who was on commentary in place of Tom Phillips.
The Dudley Boyz beat The Ascension via pinfall
Bubba and D-Von were billed from Dudleyville. Jimmy Uso was very excited for this and the crowd immediately chanted “We want tables.” The Dudleys were in total control, using frequent tags and double team moves.
After D-Von hit a diving headbutt to the groin, Bubba called for tables. D-Von went looking but was knocked down by Konnor. Ascension briefly had the heat, but D-Von got the hot tag and hit a flapjack and neckbreaker. Bubba tagged himself in and they hit 3D on Konnor for the win.
They set up a table in the ring but The New Day came out. Each guy held up a sign in protest, reading “Save a table, break a Dudley”, “Booty!” and “#GiveTablesAChance”. Bubba put Viktor through a table with an assisted powerbomb off the ropes.
This was a fine return, though D-Von definitely looked slow during his comeback.
Kevin Owens beat Neville via pinfall
Neville tried a baseball slide but Owens dodged and hit a clothesline, followed by a swinging neckbreaker for two. After a break, Owens hit a clothesline and senton. Neville fought out of a chin lock, hitting kicks and a springboard dropkick.
Neville hit a German suplex and superkick. Owens got up before Neville could go for Red Arrow and hit Neville with a superkick of his own, followed by a pop-up powerbomb for the win. This was alright.
Backstage, Charlotte and Becky Lynch were confronted by Nikki and Brie Bella. The Bellas tried to drive a wedge between Team PCB by pointing out that their leader, Paige, was not there tonight because she had more important responsibilities. They also referenced Paige calling it “her” team.
Charlotte basically didn’t care about anything they said and asked if they were still in high school. Brie responded by saying she graduated 13 years ago. Ok? Charlotte said they’re all leaders in their team, and reminded the Bellas that Nikki turned on Brie last year and wished her dead.
Lynch said they have integrity and loyalty, unlike the Bellas, and pointed out that Alicia Fox wasn’t there tonight either. The women tried their best I guess but the writing was dumb again. Not nearly as bad as Raw, though.
Charlotte & Becky Lynch beat Brie & Nikki Bella via pinfall
Team B.A.D. were on commentary. Because of Naomi’s inclusion, Jimmy Uso actually recused himself from the table, which is funny. Naomi said she isn’t sure what the Bellas are good at, because they certainly aren’t good in the ring. Brennan reminded her that Nikki is the champion. Banks wanted to know where her title shot was after she made Nikki tapout.
The Bellas double teamed Lynch who came back with leg drops on Brie. Charlotte tagged in but missed a knee drop, so Brie kicked her leg out of her leg and applied an ugly… Haas of Pain, I guess.
Charlotte knocked Brie out of the ring and very, very, very slowly crawled towards Lynch, but Nikki knocked Lynch off the apron. Brie jumped back in the ring but Charlotte used a rollup for the win. Less than average match to put it nicely, and Team B.A.D. provided nothing on commentary.
Seth Rollins, wearing all black, came out for the top of the hour segment. They recapped what happened with Jon Stewart at SummerSlam and announced Seth Rollins vs. Sting at Night of Champions.
Rollins said Monday was supposed to be the greatest moment of his life with the unveiling of his statue, which would have immortalized him. Rollins said he was the first man to cash in his MITB briefcase during the WrestleMania main event and is the first man to be U.S. and WWE champion in WWE history.
He said Hollywood should make a movie about his life and August 23rd, the night he beat John Cena, should be a national holiday. Monday was supposed to be the greatest day of his life, but Sting ruined it.
Rollins said he has already accomplished more than Sting and added that Sting was toiling away in the minor leagues. Rollins said he was not afraid of Sting, Sting should be afraid of him. Rollins said Triple H told him that his biggest regret was not putting Sting away at WrestleMania. Rollins called Sting an artifact and would crush his old bones to dust.
Backstage, Sheamus did a nothing interview with Jo-Jo about Dean Ambrose and reminded us what it means to be Mr. Money in the Bank.
Ryback & Dolph Ziggler (w/Lana) beat Big Show & Rusev (w/Summer Rae) via pinfall
Ryback knocked down Show with a running shoulder block and got ready for the meat hook clothesline, but Rusev distracted him and Show knocked him down. Rusev tagged himself in and Show looked displeased.
After a break, Rusev hit a dropkick and elbow drops, all while telling Show he wasn’t tagging out. Ryback hit a spinebuster and tagged in Dolph who ran wild on Show (who got the tag from Rusev finally), hitting a DDT and superkick. Ziggler went for a Fameasser but Show picked him up and hit a giant electric chair drop.
Show hit the knockout punch on Ziggler but Rusev tagged himself in. Rusev applied the Accolade, so Show knocked out Rusev and walked out. Ziggler woke up and covered Rusev for the win. Nothing match and stupid finish.
They recapped the end of the Brock Lesnar vs. Undertaker match from SummerSlam, showed Paul Heyman’s promo from Raw, as well as Lesnar killing Bo Dallas. They also did a video package for the Jon Stewart/John Cena angle from Raw.
Backstage, Ambrose told Reigns he doesn’t know what “Respect the ‘hawk” means, but tonight Sheamus would respect his fist and elbow and knee and boot. Ambrose began ranting about the Wyatts but Reigns told him to stay focused on Sheamus. Reigns said he would make a couple of rounds (around the building) to make sure the Wyatts were gone.
Jerry Lawler showed us how to order pizza in his tablet.
Sheamus beat Dean Ambrose via pinfall
Ambrose took the fight to the outside, ramming Sheamus into the announce table and jumping off the table to hit a flying forearm. Sheamus tossed Ambrose into the barricade however, and scoop slammed him on the table (which didn’t break). None of this was a DQ.
After a break, Sheamus used a stretch muffler. Ambrose tried to counter but Sheamus hit a sit-out powerbomb. Sheamus tried his clubbing forearms spot but Ambrose countered and did the spot himself. Sheamus brushed him off, but Ambrose did his comeback, using a bulldog and Oklahoma roll for two.
Amrbose hit a suicide dive and diving elbow drop for two. Ambrose countered a Brogue kick into a school boy for two, followed by a rebound clothesline. Ambrose ripped off his shirt, the lights went out and the Wyatts appeared, surrounding the ring.
This distracted Ambrose and Sheamus hit a Brogue kick for the win. The Wyatts jumped in the ring but Reigns’ music hit and he ran out from the stage, immediately taking out Harper with a superman punch.
Reigns had a staredown with Stowman as Wyatt looked on. Reigns threw a punch but Stowman no-sold it. Reigns hit a few more punches but Stowman choked him out easily and left him laying. Wyatts stood tall to end the show.
Final Thoughts:
Besides the return of the Dudleys this show wasn’t particularly interesting or noteworthy and just felt like an extension of Raw. Even more than usual.
Last week, TNA delivered a pretty good show overall.Ken Anderson beat Bram in one of each man’s best matches in the company. Anderson has been so hot and cold in his career that it felt good to see him not only put forth a lot of effort, but have that effort result in something that felt like it gave him some momentum. The Sheera vs. Storm issues continued with Sheera trying to get the goons to do “the Sheera” by moving their shoulders around, and this pissing off Storm. Gail Kim beat the Dolls inside a cage, while Drew Galloway and Eli Drake had a pretty good no DQ match and hopefully ended their feud so each guy can move on to something else.
Eli needs to lose all of the ED markings on his gear and ditch the silly vest – none of that helps him. Matt Hardy squashed Tyrus, and PJ Black had a very impressive TNA singles debut against EC3. He lost to the champion, but shined brighter than any of the GFW guys so far. The show closed with Jeff asking Dixie to make him the man in charge permanently, and we’ll find out the end result of that tonight. There will also be a four-way match to determine a challenger for PJ Black’s King of the Mountain Title.
The show begins with a recap of Bully being attacked, PJ Black winning the KOTM Title, Eli Drake’s issues with him, and this week’s card is run down. We get a three way for the X Title, Brooke vs. Velvet for the Knockouts Title, and The Revolution facing The Wolves. The Hardys come down in their street clothes. Matt’s blue jean and pink shirt combo are about on par with some of Jeff Jarrett’s worst outfits. Jeff cuts a promo about how they came from the bottom and got to the top – which is pretty amazing. Jeff says that Matt needs one more shot and Matt thanks TNA for giving him another shot, and gives shoutouts to his wife and son. Matt then says that the man to carry TNA here in 2015 is Matt Hardy, and he proved this by saying YES. In an amusing bit, a fan in the front row shakes his head “no” at that one.
EC3 comes down and says that he was a fan in ’99 when he saw the Hardys in a ladder match and can’t wait to face a legend once again. EC3 says the stood over Matt like he was Zeus at Mt. Olympus and was immortal – YEAH! EC3 was great here. EC3 and Tyrus, with a new Planet Tyrus singlet leave, but get insulted by Jeff. EC3 insults Jeff, who responds by threatening him with a chair. EC3 says that if the fans chant for Matt, he’ll get another match – which happens, and EC3 says it comes with a catch. If EC3 wins, Jeff is his assistant. Hopefully he makes him do more than Nikki make her sister do when she was her assistant for a month. I think her only punishment was having to fake watching TV backstage.
Josh and Pope give us their thoughts on the KOTM Title number one contender’s match, and we get a hilarious graphic with Anderson making a very pained face. EY vs. Melendez recap focuses on Eric Young being the most dangerous man in TNA. As expected, it’s hilarious and it ends with EY wanting to beat a one legged man in an ass-kicking contest and then winning his leg by winning the match. Eric Young yells at the camera and with the dark green vest and beard, he actually looks older here than Bushwacker Luke did at the HOF.
Backstage before the show, the Jarretts arrive and answer questions from a cameraman that had to be subtitled. Jeff calls it a big night while Josh corrects him and says that it’s a pivotal night. EY comes down while Josh ponders that soon, they could have to start plugging the social media accounts of the Jarrett like they do for Dixie. Yup – that’s the extent of his concern for the big invasion. Not the future of the company – plugging Twitter.
Eric Young vs. Chris Melenndez – Winner Gets Melendez’s Leg
EY sends him down and Melendez gets a USA chant while Pope talks about Chris having a son at home watching. EY goes for the leg, but the referee scolds him because he can’t legally take this man’s leg unless he wins this wrestling match. Melendez gets a jaw jacker and a neckbreaker. Bubba/Bully bomb hits, but EY rakes the eyes. Melendez avoids a corner charge and does a hop-up schoolboy for 2. Melendez doing that on only one leg is impressive, and EY beats him with a cradle while holding the ropes. The video package might’ve lasted longer than the match itself.
Well, it’s hard to believe they could make a battle for a man’s leg worse, but they did. Then EY, the former World Heavyweight Champion, ranted about wanting his leg. Melendez takes the leg off, hops around and gives it to EY, who moves way so he has to hop more and then Chris just tosses it at him while EY brags about it. Pope sums this up nicely – “at times like this, there’s nothing to say”.
After a break, Josh comes up with half a dozen words to describe Eric Young’s actions and we get the X division video – so it’s time for the title match. Those little vignettes don’t mean much, but they do let you know about something in advance, so it is nice if you’re a fan of whichever division they’re used for. Ion is out first while Dutt, who worked for years here, has a generic Indian theme and no entrance video. Tigre comes out and Josh puts him over while he gets streamers and is called captivating. Well, he isn’t quite living up to the hype – but at least he’s getting hyped instead of buried on commentary.
Tigre Uno vs. Sonjay Dutt vs. DJZ
Uno eats a double hiptoss after a double leapfrog. Go-behind by Dutt is countered by Z with an armdrag, and Dutt gets a big rana on Z. Sonjay sends Z out and dives onto both men on the floor with an apron somersault senton. Uno chops Z and takes forever to pose for the people, and then sort of hits a springboard moonsault on DJZ for 2. Pope talks about DJZ and Uno having a history in Mexico. I have no idea if that’s true, but I like a little thread like that being added to the story – it makes the random three-way seem a bit less random and more like each guy secretly going to someone in power to want the match. Tornado DDT to Uno by Dutt gets 2. Uno gets a shining black, but eats a Dutt superkick. DJZ climbs up Uno for a dropkick, but it’s all for naught as a springboard frog splash takes him out and Uno retains.
Storm tells the Revolution that Sheera is OFFICIALLY out of the Revolution. Well, you beat his ass weeks ago and it seems pretty clear that you’re not allies. He scolds Manik for dancing and tells them to win some gold for the Revolution. After a break, we get a recap of the EC3-Matt stipulation being made. Christy introduces the Revolution’s team of Abyss and Manik for the match. Their beating of Sheera last week is recapped, which is I guess what gets them a title match beyond the company having no teams left. The Wolves come down while Josh says that The Wolves prove that TNA has the best tag team division in the world. They don’t even have the best tag team division on Destination America.
Manik and Abyss vs. The Wolves – TNA World Tag Team Title Match
Eddie and Abyss wrestle for a bit while Josh says that Bully Ray is officially gone. Double Japanese armdrag by the Wolves to Manik while Josh Pope for being a follower and only having a job in TNA by sucking up to Dixie. Josh then buries Pope for only doing his job when he’s flustered before Pope makes a valid point about Jeff only being in TNA to make GFW better. Abyss punches Davey in the corner, and Manik tags in for a suplex into a back suplex while Pope says that it’s shades of Elijah Burke while Josh says he has no idea who that guy is.
Manik dropkicks Davey and Abyss tags in, but misses a corner charge. Davey gets a tag to Eddie, who runs wild with elbows and chops. Kobashi machine gun chops in the corner to Manik. Eddie gets a backpack stunner while Eddie covers and Abyss saunters over to break it up. Abyss is down in one corner and eats a Double Van Terminator. Manik is about to eat the powerbomb/backcracker, but Storm comes down before Sheera attacks him with awful punches. Double team alarm clock to Manik leads to the powerbomb/backcracker for the win. Manik was so great here – it’s a shame TNA isn’t in a better state because he really deserves better.
Brooke vs. Velvet is apparently next, then Jeff Hardy walks backstage while an “Up Next” graphic appears. I’m reasonably sure that one of those two things will be next. Or maybe it will be some mystery third thing – like a skit with EY and his new leg.
Shockingly, neither thing was next. Instead, we got a cheesecake video of the knockouts calendar shoot. The knockouts roster posed in bikinis and talked about being strong, sexy, and powerful. Jeff confirms that Matt faces EC3 next week for the title, and he’ll work for EC3 if Matt loses. Then, Pope and Josh chime in for several seconds of surface-level analysis before throwing to a video of Jeff Jarrett’s return to TNA and the GFW-TNA relationship. We see Jeff’s return to the ring, his title win, his HOF induction, and the GFW-TNA interpromotional show. Backstage, Dixie is standing around on her phone staring at her watch. Hopefully she isn’t wondering why she’s just now starting work on this issue at 10:03 PM on the night of the show. The knockouts hype video airs and then Velvet comes down. We get a recap of Velvet assisting Gail in breaking Taryn’s finger before Brooke comes out and we hear Josh read a statement from Taryn.
Velvet Sky vs. Brooke’s (got a booty and a belt) – Knockouts Title
Velvet andBrooke abide by the code of honor before Velvet tackles her down. Velvet tosses Brooke into the corner, who treats it like a rope and just bounces off into a lariat for 2. They go back and forth with forearm shots while Josh plugs the Knockouts Workout and the other TNA programming on Youtube. Josh plugs Bound For Glory and we see that it will be on Flipps as well as on PPV. Double-down on one of those goofy double mid-air hair mare facebuster spots. Velvet lands some forearms, but gets sent back-first into the steps.
The Dolls come down to attack Brooke and Velvet. Jade is in her usual gear while Marti is in some bizarre swimsuit getup. Rebel returns and turns on Velvet, while Taryn says that it’s time for her to pay and that Rebel is a new member of the Dollhouse. Jade and Marti hit Total Elimination while Rebel hits Christy’s finisher, the FFG. Josh says that with Rebel, the Dollhouse is stronger than ever. How? She’s had maybe five matches on TNA TV and hasn’t worked regularly in a year. Just why is she an asset to this group beyond her looks? Roode cuts a promo and it appears the KOTM Title No. 1 Contender’s match is next.
Ken talks about winning this match and backstage, someone is on the phone. It’s Drew, and he’s pissed off for some reason. Mr. Anderson comes down and does his usual deal. Storm comes down before Roode does and Josh says Roode’s pissed while Lashley is smart to avoid politics.
Lashley vs. Roode vs. Anderson vs. James Storm
Storm and Anderson brawl on the floor. Lashley suplexes Roode on the ramp. Roode gets ping ponged between Anderson and Lashley while Pope talks about “teamships” being formed here. Josh, who always buries Pope, didn’t say a word for this and we go to a break with Anderson and Lashley teasing issues. Storm and Roode attack other guys while a handful of fans go “Beer/Money” and do the wave/ Storm and Roode exchange blows, but Roode gets 2 off a blockbuster.
Roode, Lashley, and Roode do a tower of doom spot while Pope says that has to hurt. Shouldn’t everything in wrestling hurt? Why would this be the exception? Swanton from Anderson misses. Lashley clotheslines Roode and tackles him in the corner. Roode knees out of a delayed suplex and they tease redoing the Roode Bomb over the top from their NYC match last year, but Storm hits a lung blower. Shouldermount powerslam leads to a neckbreaker and Ken gets 2 off a mic check. Anderson gets the Finlay Roll, but eats a Lashley spear. Storm saves Roode from a spear by superkicking Lashley for 2.
The same fans do the Beer/Money chant and we get a double team suplex and one more Beer/Money bit from Roode and Storm before Roode hits the Roode Bomb on Storm to win. This would’ve been a nice finale for the team in some form or fashion – hopefully they wind up teaming again down the line, because that wouldn’t be the worst act for either GFW or TNA now. Josh and Pope chat for a bit while Josh shuffles his script around and they announce that the cover girl is…all three people teased for it. Riveting. Backstage, Dixie walks around while Jeff and Karen stand around looking concerned.
An ad for the Knockouts calendar airs and we get a recap of the Hardy promo earlier that is basically the whole promo since it was so short. Backstage, EC3 does a “moments ago” promo while the crowd is heard in the background and he talks about Jeff joining Team EC3. Dixie Carter comes out to a new theme song, which seems pretty low on the list of priorities for TNA.
Main Event Talking Segment – Jeff Jarrett and Dixie Carter
Dixie talks about what it takes to lead a successful company and sums up this information in about a minute. Dixie praises Jeff for coming back and asks him to come down. Jeff comes down and thanks Dixie for bringing him back. Kudos to Jeff for being able to have Destination America pay Dixie, who then pays him and his roster, to put over his roster of talent and his company. Jeff says that he founded TNA, and that hard work made it special – not what makes it special mind you, what made it special.
Jeff says that the GFW-TNA situation is a win-win-win – a win for each company and the fans. It’s also a big win for PJ Black, who went from being an underused WWE guy to a perfectly-pushed guy on TNA TV where he’s given several chances to shine. Dixie says that the Jeff-Dixie team is unstoppable, and TNA Impact needs a leader. Drew tells Dixie to stop and he says he has something she needs to know right now…so they go to a break.
Drew is presumably still talking during this – hopefully ranting about how he can’t properly watch Nitro on the WWE Network due to buffering. Drew says he wouldn’t interrupt if it wasn’t absolutely needed, and the GFW-TNA partnership has been awesome. The roster is excited and competition is healthy, and Jeff Jarrett is back. Jeff is a legend and the father of TNA. But there has been a dark cloud in TNA – Bully was attacked and he was a bully, so there could be a lot of attackers. With Drew, he had no clues – but he found something out 20 minutes ago. Drew says that someone must’ve seen something and he used his criminology degree to good use and he saw a getaway car. Two attacks, two weeks, two rental cars – registered to one Mr. Jeff Jarrett!
Drew says that Bully being taken out gives him the chance to get power, while Drew being out gave him the chance to have a GFW guy win a TNA title. Jeff swears on his own life, the life of his wife, and the life of his kids that it wasn’t him. Drew threatens him and Jeff tells him that there’s nothing but air between them. Karen says that it was her – Jeff had no idea. Karen tells Jeff that he deserves to run TNA again since he started it, and that a little spark can cause an inferno. Jeff kicks Drew from behind right in the balls and then the GFW roster beats up Drew.
Well, given that the idea here is that Jeff Jarrett was screwed over by TNA despite him starting the company, doesn’t that make the GFW side the babyfaces? The gaggle of mid-carders in TNA and GFW have another wacky brawl with random guys hitting random guys. Trevor Lee hits a standing double stomp move to one of the Wolves while Karen and Jeff beat up Drew Galloway. The GFW roster stands tall while Josh says they invited the snakes into their home. Well, this wasn’t as good as last week, but the GFW-TNA stuff got more interesting. It’s quite odd that they started doing the invasion angle after doing the invasion angle’s matches, but hey, that’s TNA tradition. The only thing that could’ve made the “invasion” funnier was a pro-GFW commentator saying “THIS INVASION JUST GOT CORDIALLY INVITED TO JOIN THE FORCE.”
To see every screen taken for the show, just click here.
Here’s the full set of Global Force Wrestling Amped TV tapings results and spoilers, taped Friday night at Las Vegas, Nevada’s Orleans Arena. There is still no word on when these will actually come to a TV or screen near you.
In no particular order:
– GFW Tag Team titles tourney match: Kenny King and Joey Ryan def. Cielo Misteriosio
– GFW Tag Team titles tourney match: Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows defeated Lance Hoyt and Davey Boy Smith Jr.
– P.J. Black & The Akbars def. Los Luchas and Sonjay Dutt
– GFW Global Championship tourney match: Shelton Benjamin def. JR Kratos
– GFW Global Championship tourney match: Eric Young defeated Bobby Roode
– GFW NEX-GEN title tourney match: TJ Perkins def. Andrew Everett
– GFW NEX-GEN title tourney match: Virgil Flynn def. Trevor Lee
– GFW Women’s title tourney match: Amber Gallows def. Katarina Waters & Laura James. Anderson and Gallows were at ringside and did a pro Gallows promo.
– Kevin Kross def. Joey Ryan
Promos and other notes:
– Pre-show, they paid tribute to Roddy Piper.
– Chael Sonnen did an in-ring promo, demanding a match.
– Amber Gallows interrupted a Karen Jarrett promo
– Eric Young interrupted a Bobby Roode promo, but Roode ended up beating him up.
– Sonnen and Chris Masters did a promo which brought Nick (Magnus) Aldis out. Masters beat him down. Former MMA fighter Phil Baroni started jawing at Sonnen from the crowd and jumped the rail, but security held him back.
– Jeff Jarrett came out and cut a promo thanking the fans.
Jay Lethal learned that he’ll have to defend both the ROH World and TV title. Also, I’m doing an ROH TV recap this week (Destination America version) as Paul Fontaine is en route to Las Vegas for the WrestlingObserver.com convention. THAT is big news. Also, the main event tag team match was excellent!
Show Recap:
Our show opens with black and white stills from the Best In The World main event between Jay Briscoe and Jay Lethal just like WWE used to do back in the day. I miss that aspect of “You should have bought the show, man.”
This week’s show comes to us from Terminal 5 in New York City.
Watanabe vs. Dalton Castle
My God, Castle is something else with the two helpers, the outfit, the entrance…amazing! As the two exchange shoulderblock knockdowns, we get a fun moment when Watanabe summons the boys to fan him as they earlier did with Castle. We later get the two attempting to small package each other and rolling around the ring in another comedy spot.
Castle hits a deadlift German suplex that is pretty impressive, but Watanabe matches with a move that looks like a Texas Clover Leaf setup that turns into a knee jam when he dropped back to the mat. The end comes when Castle reverses Watanabe into a spinning front face splash for the pin and win.
Post-match, Castle grabs the mic and says there’s a lot of boys out here tonight, snaps his fingers and the the boys conform themselves into a human chair. That brings out Silas Young who yells at Castle until we go to break. Castle beat Young at Best In The World so their feud must continue.
Jay Lethal speaks
Nigel McGuinness introduces the ROH TV Champion and NEW ROH World Champion. Lethal is flanked by Truth Martini, Jay Diesel, and Donovan Dijak. Nigel shakes his hand and congratulates him, but as he hands the mic to Lethal, Martini intervenes. He puts over Lethal as the man and then lets Lethal talk. Lethal says he’s the best in the world and doesn’t say much else of consequence.
McGuinness wants to know which belt he’s going to vacate, and Lethal is furious. He’s not going to give up either title as he earned both of them. McGuinness says that means he’s going to have to defend both titles separately and that while he’s got Roderick Strong in a few weeks for the World title, he’s got Mark Briscoe next week for the TV title. Lethal isn’t happy with all of this, but intensely says that he will do it.
This brings out Strong who wants Lethal to square up to him and shoves his shoulder. He says a few things that aren’t that interesting and we move on. Good segment overall, but unfortunately, Strong didn’t add anything to it with his quick promo.
The Kingdom (Adam Cole and IWGP Tag Champions Matt Taven/Michael Bennett) w/Maria vs. Michael Elgin & reDRagon (Kyle O’Reilly/Bobby Fish)
Before the match starts, Maria grabs the mic and tells Cole that while he’s upset about Best In The World, it’s not his fault. She says that as the leader of the Kingdom, she takes full responsibility. There was no replay of what happened, so I have no idea what happened to Cole.
Elgin gets a tepid reaction coming out, but the NY faithful love them some reDRagon. After Elgin held Bennett up for a long vertical suplex, including two attempts by Cole and Taven to break it up without Elgin dropping him, they changed their tune. I’m late to the ROH party, but Elgin is a strong dude, eh?
The heels worked over Elgin for a long time and prevented him from getting a tag to reDRagon after the break by attacking Fish and O’Reilly on the apron. Elgin regained the advantage with an Okada roll/big stomp on Bennett and following that with a Codebreaker on Cole while senton bombing a grounded Bennett. I’m an Elgin fan now!
Hot tag to reDRagon who are not just one but two houses of fire. Then we get some gyrating into a DDT/wheelbarrow suplex combo on Taven for a near fall. As the Kingdom regains control, our hero Elgin lifts Taven and Bennett for a double Samoan drop, fends off Cole, and still pulls it off.
What followed was five minutes of tag team action that was too much to recap here. What you need to know was that is was amazingly awesome. Near falls, huge spots, Canadian Destroyers, dives over the top, finishers, kickouts, more finishers, “This is wrestling” chants….what a fun match. Go watch it already!
The end came when O’Reilly somewhat sold a superkick into the Dean Ambrose rope spot into a lariat clothesline which led to a Chasing The Dragon finish for the win. Post match, Cole raised O’Reilly’s hand and walked out without the Kingdom as Maria angrily looked on.
Final Thoughts:
The whole show was really entertaining, especially the main event tag team match which I implore you to watch ASAP. There may have not been a lot of selling, but if you enjoy spotfests, this was for you.
Finn Balor defeated Kevin Owens to win the NXT Title. Plus the Gentlemanly Grapplers, The Vaudevillians, were victorious in their voyage to the #1 Contendership to the Tag Team Titless.
Show Recap:
They started the show by airing a video package on Beast in the East and announced that they will air the NXT Title match, in its entirety, later tonight.
The BFF’s defeated Dana Brooke & Emma
Sasha is now a baby face for some reason. Sasha has no friends, so she was ready to go 2-on-1 with her opponents when Charlotte came down and made herself Sasha’s partner so she could get at Dana. See they could have combined the WWE and NXT story lines and had Paige come out, but WWE doesn’t think that far ahead.
I fully expected this to turn into a 3-on-1 beat down on Charlotte, but I was wrong. Oh well. Sasha and Charlotte did some of their team moves, but the heels took down Charlotte and got the heat on the former champion. Emma and Dana did that really annoying thing The Ascension used to do where they rapidly tag in and out for like 30 seconds. That is just ridiculous.
The fans can’t figure out if they want Sasha or not. Anyway Sasha got the hot tag and went wild on her fighting female foes and eventually won with the Bank Statement on Dana Brooke while Charlotte had the Figure Eight on Emma.
After the match, Charlotte challenged Sasha to a title match next week, since Sasha promised it in exchange for being her partner tonight. Sasha accepted it and we have a rematch from December next week.
– Bayley was at an NXT Live Event this past weekend and commented that Emma broke her hand. She stated that she is going to come back from injury and win the Women’s Title. This is the second injury Bayley has had in 6 months and the second time she has promised to come back and win the belt.
Finn Balor pinned NXT Champion Kevin Owens to win the belt
This was, obviously, the match from Saturday in Tokyo. This was an excellent match from beginning to end. The only funny thing is they literally just aired Beast in the East as the lead in to this episode of NXT. Anyway, the King is dead, long live the new King of NXT.
Owens was asked afterwards how he feels about losing and Owens shoved the camera away.
– Chad Gable said Jason Jordan doesn’t want to win and doesn’t want to dominate and that’s why he hadn’t agreed to be his partner. Jordan walked in and finally agreed to be his partner next week.
– Solomon Crowe is back. He is meaner, badder and nastier than ever before.
Solomon Crowe submitted Marcus Louis
Marcus Louis is back too. He got his head shaved at NXT Takeover: Fatal 4-Way on September 11, 2014. Neither the hair on top of his head nor his eyebrows have grown back yet.
Crowe almost won by pinfall and then by submission in the first 30 seconds of the match. Crowe went for a Springboard Something, but Louis hit the ropes and Crowe fell stomach first on the top rope. Louis locked on a kneeling Abdominal Stretch and did the claw hold on Crowe’s ribs, but Crowe fought out of it.
Crowe used a Twist of Fate, which was called a Unique Maneuver, the CM Punk running knee and won with the Crowe Bar.
– The Vaudevillians vowed to be victorious over the villainous vagabonds Enzo and Cass.
– Balor celebrated winning the title last week by standing against a wall with Cesaro and Neville until John Cena congratulated him. He looked like such a geek with a look like “OMG! He talked to me!” on his face.
– Next week: An update on Sami Zayn.
In a #1 Contender’s Match, The Vaudevillians defeated Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy (w/Carmella)
Trivia Time! The Vaudevillians were the first team to ever lose to Wesley Blake and Buddy Murphy. Blake and Murphy beat them so bad that they got the confidence to win the tag titles the very next week. Also when Enzo Amore had a broken leg, Colin Cassidy’s only feud was losing over and over again to Aiden English. Now that we have had Trivia Time, it is now MAIN EVENT TIME!
Fast paced grappling early on with Enzo and Cass in control through the commercial break. Aiden got the heat on Enzo when Amore goofed around and ran into the feet of NXT’s resident opera singer. The Gentlemanly Grapplers had their way with Enzo until Enzo almost literally fell into a hot tag. Cass gave Aiden the big boot and Simon the Black Hole Slam.
Finally they went for the Rocket Launcher, but Simon tackled Colin out of the ring and Aiden rolled through a flying cross body from Enzo and scored the shocking win!
The Vaudevillians now get their shot at redemption! They now get their show at Blake and Murphy and the Tag Team Titles. That does it for this week, until next week, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
Last week, TNA followed up Slammiversary with a “bell to bell” show featuring EC3 winning the World title from Kurt Angle. The BDC beat The Rising, forcing Drew Galloway’s group to disband, while Eli Drake suffered an iffy “knee injury” that kept him from losing. Mickie James swore vengeance on James Storm and any woman he can get to join his Revolution. The Wolves beat the Dirty Heels in an iron man match to win the tag titles, and we got about 30 seconds of a Jarrett and Tenay interview that mentioned GFW and TNA, but little else. Gail Kim returned and is back to get her title from Taryn Terrell and the Dollhouse.
The Takeaway
EC3 defended the title three times in largely nothing matches. We also got a couple of handicap matches, a Bram vs. Anderson match, and a Robbie E-Jessie street fight. Dixie Carter also returned and turned face, while Josh turned face and heel several times throughout the show. You can safely skip this show.
We get a long recap of the EC3-Angle match from last week, with new camera angles. EC3 is shown holding the belt up last week, and comes out with it now. Josh hypes up a new day for TNA, but sadly didn’t use clap therapy for it. EC3 says he’s unbeaten and the new TNA World Heavyweight Champion. Tyrus holds the belt up for him and EC3 says that Dixie’s returning and has put him in charge tonight. He’s booked a heck of a card and will defend his title EC3-times tonight!
Matt Hardy comes down and wants a title match. He asks for a Twitter campaign here on this taped show. EC3 asks Tyrus if he likes the idea of #mattforchamp, and Tyrus disagrees while a giant “yes” chant breaks out. EC3 declines and Matt guarantees an ass-kicking anyway. EC3 points out that he’s running the show and mocks Matt for being a new dad and sings “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”. The Dirty Heels come down and we get a brief recap of the Wolves beating them.
Matt Hardy vs. The Dirty Heels
EC3 comes down for commentary and hypes up a slobberknocker. Pope asks why the dinosaur is here and EC3 buries Pope for not following him on Twitter. Josh buries Pope for preventing him from talking to EC3. Aries runs wild with kicks and face rakes while Pope buries EC3 for making this unfair match. Matt gets the Ice Pick, which you’d never know because Josh is too busy talking about EC3’s mic not working. Hardy gets the Ice Pick once again, now on Aries. Pope gives EC3 his headset and Matt gets some clotheslines and a bulldog/dropkick to both guys. Matt does his goofy stuff before the Twist and it gets countered, so he doesn’t do that crap and hits it. Aries runs wild, but eats a kick in the corner. Aries counters a suplex and Roode holds Matt’s foot down for the win. EC3 says he lives for this – I sure hope not.
Josh hypes up the return of Dixie Carter and the second part of Jeff Jarrett’s interview, which will hopefully go longer than a minute. The Rising is backstage with Eli on a crutch to deliver one final message. If they were forced to disband last week, why weren’t they allowed to deliver this message then? Why are they being given a one week stay of execution? Did the BDC sign off on that or does every broken up faction get an extra to talk from now on?
An ad airs for Knockouts Knockdown 2015 and The Rising is mid-ring. Drew is sad about the end of The Rising. Why? Josh said last week that you can just change your name and get around the stipulation. Eli says they all deserve better than this and he thanks him for bringing him into TNA, and soon, he’ll show him how much that means. I don’t like Drew’s odds. Drew says that wrestling will be around forever and the roster is the future and the future is bright. A very mild TNA chant breaks out. Drew says that #standup will continue and EC3 feigns crying at ringside.
Tyrus comforts his boss in his time of need, and EC3 laments that he’s already booked Drew in a three on three tag because he now has no partners and “this ship has sunk”. Yup, the ship sure has. EC3 says that it’s time for Drew to have a new one on three match against a totally different faction than the one he was feuding with. Josh points out that this is the second handicap match of the evening, which doesn’t make this any more interesting.
Drew Galloway vs. The Revolution
Pope calls the action, or at least the Twitter action as #standup is apparently a global phenomenon. Abyss chokes Drew on the ropes. Drew clotheslines and neckbreakers the heels down, but Khoya gets a Sky High for two because Abyss wants the win. Drew dropkicks Khoya into Abyss, which sends the 350 pounder to the floor and crotches Manik up top. Drew counts to three and gets a Sick Kick for the win.
Backstage, Anderson congratulates EC3 on winning. Even though he doesn’t like the guy, he appreciates him being able to accomplish his dream and do so on his own. Anderson respects him putting the title up three times and wants one of the shots. EC3 declines and says he already has a match – against Bram. According to Twitter, he’s re-signed a deal with TNA – and that match is next. Anderson comes to face “The Chesterfield Plague, The Human Hate Machine” Bram who seemingly gets a new nickname with every contract.
Mr. Anderson vs. Bram
Maybe TNA has signed each nickname of Bram’s to a contract and that’s why he’s signed up through the end of time. Bram gets an armbar on the ground. Anderson gets a neckbreaker and a two count off a Kenton bomb. Bram hits him with a chair to the head on the floor for a DQ and Josh ponders that he doesn’t care. Well, I sure hope Bram wouldn’t care about a DQ against Mr. Anderson. Bram yells at someone to drop Anderson’s mic, and Bram uses it to do Anderson’s intro and bash his head in with. Josh says “ouch” to every shot and we close to Bram rapping the mic against his own head. Okay then.
Jessie “The Man” Godderz is mid-ring and we see clips of a street fight from last week. Did that air on Xplosion? I have no recollection of it on Impact, but it’s leading to a street fight match this week. Pope says he wouldn’t wear his tights or boots to a street fight like these men are.
Jessie Godderz vs. Robbie E – Street Fight
Robbie dives to the floor and gets a running trash can lid shot to the head. Robbie gets a kendo stick from under the ring and gets a Cesaroplex onto a lid. Robbie puts the can over the genital region of Jessie and thwacks the lid with the stick. Jessie sidesteps a plancha and drives Robbie’s back into the post with a backbreaker. Josh theorizes that Jessie is trying to hurt him, which Pope buries him for since it’s a street fight. Jessie gets a slow buckle bomb and rakes the forearm across the face.
Jessie gets the cane and hits the gut and back, but tosses it to the crowd. Jessie tosses a garbage can in and puts it in the corner. Robbie is down and Jessie gets another cane, but Robbie legsweeps him. Robbie’s nose is busted up and he eats a big dropkick after a few punches. Jessie brings a few chairs in, but gets rammed into the trash can.
This is a by the numbers garbage match from nearly any video game of the past decade. Jessie lands a Last Ride through two chairs and it only gets two. Why not have that as a finish? It’s an over move, it looked vile, and it’s a mid-card match. Ah, now it makes sense – the Adonis Crab is locked on with Jessie sitting in the chair and trapping Robbie, who passes out from the pain. Why would you re-use the legendary Austin vs. Bret finish for Robbie E vs. Jessie Godderz of all things?
EC3 talks about having three five star matches tonight, thus creating a 15-star evening. Lashley bumps into EC3 and wants to be one of the opponents. EC3 declines, but does make Lashley vs. Tyrus. God, I hope that’s short. Angle is reading and the camera guy asks what he’s reading, and Kurt just says that things are going to get interesting. Okay then – maybe he was reading the new Dusty bio in the Observer.
Jarrett interview is up and Jeff says the deal between GFW and TNA is a work in progress. In August of 2014, he made GFW and has made alliances with companies across the world. He never thought TNA would be one of the alliances, thus framing GFW as bigger than TNA on TNA’s TV show. We get some GFW Youtube footage of the events of the past couple of weeks. Jeff says the KOTM title will now be the centerpiece of GFW and possibly other companies. Mid-ring, EC3 is here instantly – it’s title match time. EC3 says he has to go back to where he started – against Norv Ferman. Or Norv Fernum as he was known before and as the graphic states.
EC3 vs. Norv Fernum
Maybe TNA has re-signed Norv Fernum and/or Norv Ferman to contracts. Headlocker driver hits and Norv takes a great bump for it. EC3 doing his own intros and outros is quite great – he’s good at the job. Pope says that this is just a way for EC3 to stroke his ego while Josh strokes him. EC3 says that it’s Shark Week on Discover, so it’s time for Shark Boy!
EC3 vs. Shark Boy
Shark Boy was last seen being fat and thus getting a months-long series of storylines out of what was going to just be a one-shot – so kudos to him for that. He’s also lost his excess weight and is back in shape. EC3 tells him he’ll need a bigger boat and asks if he has a chance – Sharky responds with a shell yeah! Shark Boy pounds away with corner mount punches, but he eats a big lariat. Headlock Driver hits for the win. Josh wants a “shelfie” with Shark Boy. I normally don’t like Josh, but that was a great line.
EC3 asks Tyrus to cut him and Kurt comes down with his envelope. Kurt says he has a contract and can get his rematch whenever he wants. He wants the title back and wants the rematch tonight. Pope wants this while Josh clearly doesn’t. Lashley’s out now too – so maybe he’s the third man. According to Josh, it’s Kurt. I have no idea what’s happening here.
Lashley vs. Tyrus
So the series is over, and now it’s time for Lashley vs. Tyrus. Lashley manages to outwrestle Tyrus, but eats a facebuster. Lashley hops up for a sleeper, but eats a crossbody for 2. EC3 says that Norv is like his son and we’re seeing his guy dominate an MMA expert. Exploder by Tyrus to Lashley and we’ll be getting EC3 vs. Angle in the main event. Tyrus goes up for a Vader bomb, but he’s hit in the thigh and hit with an electric chair drop. This was pretty scary as he kept moving backwards a bit and Lashley couldn’t keep him very steady – he hits it and gets the spear for the win. Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne is up next.
But first, it’s part two of…part two of the Jarrett-Tenay interview. Jeff is asked what his legacy is in TNA ans he says the facts speak for themselves. In the ring, he was proud of his series with Kurt at that point in his career. He loved his early matches with AJ Styles and he’s proud to see him become what he is and he’s so proud of AJ Styles, Samoa Joe, and the other TNA Originals. He loved Don West and he takes great pride in that team. Velvet comes out first while Josh talks about her just wanting her spot back. Madison gets a jobber intro, but a mic. She says Velvet’s dressed like a fan, so Velvet beats her up.
Velvet Sky vs. Madison Rayne
Pope says that Velvet’s got not just any stunner – but the Number One Stunner. Velvet beats her up on the floor, but breaks the count at 7. Madison tackles her down for 2. Northern lights suplex gets 2 and Madison follows that up with a cravate and knee strikes. Madison does the wave and shakes her hips before the headscissor driver. Velvet gets up and hits a series of kicks while Pople rattles off the Konami code. Velvet gets the Number One Stunner for the win.
We see the TNA crew doing some charity work, and get Kurt Angle’s ring introduction right after. EC3’s intro is greeted with a pretty healthy amount of cheers. EC3 comes out and the belt looks great on him, but it’s hurt by him being scared and not arrogant – so he doesn’t look nearly as cool here as he usually does.
EC3 vs. Kurt Angle – TNA World Title
EC3 rolls to the floor out by “the man dinosaur” as Pope calls him. EC3 breaks the count a few times, but Kurt traps him in the corner and works on the leg. Kurt snap suplexes him over for 1. Rolling Germans hit for Kurt, but Tyrus goes up on the apron to take out Tyrus. Ankle lock is on EC3 mid-ring and EC3 pulls himself up via Brian Hebner and punches him out and taps out. Another ref came in and calls for the bell – and we’re told it’s via DQ. Josh says we’re not quite sure what happened and he recaps the events. Okay then. The main event will be Dixie Carter’s return and she comes into the building for the first time since being put through a table by Bully Ray nearly one year ago.
EC3 is mid-ring twirling the mic around and says he’s done it again. Tonight, his aunt returns and we get her theme again. Dixie gets no reaction coming out, but a quick “Dixie” chant. Ethan hopes his aunt is proud and she stumbles over her lines as he talks. She shuts him up and says that she hasn’t been in the ring since she broke her back due to the “reign of Carter”. She says she was the monster who lied and manipulated everyone while hurting the company and its fans. Now he’s making the same mistakes she made. Dixie says she can’t change the past and wishes she could, but she can make sure her mistakes aren’t repeated.
He’s earned the title, but he has to defend it without his last name. She’s embarrassed by the show tonight, but he’s right about one thing – the show needs someone in charge to make the tough decisions. She wants this to be the best wrestling company in the world and knows who can make it that – it’s not her, and it’s not EC3. Next week, we’ll get an X Title three way and Brooke vs. Taryn for the Knockouts title. Well, that was an abrupt ending to a largely bad show.
To see every screenshot for the show, just click here.
The Ascension faced the Mega Powers for the umpteenth time, but beat them for once, with the crowd still enjoying the novelty of Axel and Mandow. Adam Rose and Fandango are still kind of feuding under the radar with Rose winning here, tweaking his character to try to get more heat.
The Ascension beat The Mega Powers (4:28)
Viktor and Mandow start in the ring together. Viktor runs into an elbow and Mandow quickly tags in Axel. Jimmy Uso on commentary is asked about how his brother is doing and noted that he is ahead of schedule but wouldn’t be back in action until the fall. Axel goes up top for ten punches on Viktor. This crowd love counting along. Mandow comes back in and the pair hit double back elbows on Viktor and then clothesline Konnor outside.
Viktor comes back into the ring and Konnor tries to distract Mandow and Viktor takes advantage with a quick pin attempt. When it doesn’t pay off, Viktor uses stomps. The Ascension then start to use a series of quick tags, cutting of the ring. They use that half Boston crab/leg drop to the back of the head combination and Konnor goes for a cover and then puts on a rear chin lock.
A double clothesline sees both men go down. Both make tags, with Axel getting the heat. He lands the big boot, tears his shirt and then takes out Viktor with an atomic drop and clothesline to send him packing. Mandow goes outside, but is rammed into the apron by Viktor and this distracts Axel. Konnor hits Mandow with a big boot and then they use the Fall of Man for the win.
Adam Rose (w/ Rosa Mendes) beat Fandango (5:44)
Adam Rose and Rosa come out to cut a pre-match promo. They finish each other’s sentences and have a pretty boring dynamic of being a ‘power couple’. They remind me of Laycool. Rose finishes by saying, “its all about Adam.”
This is pretty short and quick for a Superstars main event at just under 6 minutes. Rose uses hip toss on the bell to try to fluster Fandango and postures to the crowd. Then they chain and run the ropes and a shoulder barge followed by a drop kick give Fandango the early going. He clotheslines Rose over the top rope and then hits a fairly graceful slingshot cross body on to Rose on the outside.
Back in the ring a side suplex by Rose sends both men down. Fandango gets up first and uses an atomic drop and quick clotheslines to get him in control until Rose grabs him and lands a swinging neckbreaker to break up the charge. A DDT by Rose gets him a two count. Fandango retorts with a power slam and gets two.
Fandango continues with Flair chops and then tries a backslide cover but can only get two. Fandango uses a sitout suplex slam and then Rosa distracts. Rose launches Fandango off the apron into the dasher boards. Rose brings him back in, and ends it rather suddenly with the Party Foul or, as he is now calling it, the Disaster Piece.
The Big Takeaway: Another week, another show where John Cena has the best match on the show. This week, he main evented against Cesaro and retained the U.S. Championship in 30:06, most likely longest Raw match since Cena-Shawn Michaels from London in 2007. Brock Lesnar had two segments on the show, where he destroyed J&J Security’s new car they received from Seth Rollins last week.
Show Recap:
Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman start the show. Heyman said Lesnar was the God of violent retribution. Heyman brought up Lesnar ending The Undertaker’s streak and got some boos. Then he mentioned Lesnar taking John Cena to Suplex City and got cheered. Unlike Cena, Undertaker and Roman Reigns, Heyman said Lesnar not only doesn’t respect Seth Rollins, he disrespects him. Lesnar wasn’t selling his knee after the attack from two weeks ago.
Heyman said the title match with Rollins and Lesnar will take two weeks in St. Louis, but the beatings and the suplexes will start tonight. He said since Rolliins is going to be in the building tonight, Lesnar wasn’t going anywhere.
Michael Cole announced that Kane is in Hawaii on the vacation that Rollins sent him on last week. They showed various photoshopped pictures of Kane wearing a Hula skirt, drinking Mai Tais and touring volcanos. Also, Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble reportedly took their $55,000 Cadallac across the country with highlights of their trip promised later.
Ryback (C) and Big Show went to a no contest in a nontitle match (9:24)
The Miz was at ringside doing running commentary over the PA during the match. Since the Miz, Big Show and Ryback are in a three-way at Battleground, Miz wanted the two to destroy each other so it would be easier for him to win. It sounded like Cole talked over Mix’s best lines. After Big Show hit a elbow drop from the second rope, Miz ran in to attack both men while they were down. It ended with both big men surrounding Miz, with Ryback delivering a Shell Shock and the Big Show giving him a choke slam. Ryback gave Big Show a meat hook clothesline to become the last man standing.
A commercial for the new season of Total Divas featured someone reading the riot act to Paige over an alleged sex tape.
Kane was shown paddleboarding in Hawaii. Meanwhile, Noble and Mercury took their Cadallac to Wrigley Field, calling it a dump.
Brie Bella defeated Paige (3:10)
Brie Bella won with the Brie Buster after Alicia Fox and Nikki Bella jumped up on the apron. The storyline continues that Paige has to fight the Bellas and Fox by herself. Afterwards, Fox gave Paige an Ax Kick and Nikki gave her a Rack Attack. The count for Nikki Bella’s Divas Championship reign is up to 225 days.
Sheamus defeated Roman Reigns by countout (11:15)
To complete an hour of bad finishes, Reigns hit a Superman punch when Sheamus jumped off the second rope. Reigns went for another Superman punch when Bray Wyatt’s music hit. Someone dressed like Wyatt came out and Reigns tagged him with a Superman’s punch. Then Reigns found that the man he punched was an imposter. Then Wyatt appeared on the TitonTron and told Reigns “Anyone but You.” Reigns disappeared and Sheamus was announced as the winner.
Randy Orton came out to go after Sheamus. Get this. Sheamus threw Orton into the post. Orton barely even sell it and gave Sheamus an RKO. What the hell was that? Mind you, this came after a stiff Sheamus-Reigns match that was pretty good because of its physicality. Then Orton doesn’t even sell a post shot.
HHH was on the phone when Rollins and J&J Security walked in. HHH asked Seth about what he was going to do about Lesnar tonight. HHH said his advice was to do something uncoventional. HHH brought up Heyman’s promo from earlier saying that the 11th Commandment is “Never provoke the beast.” Rollins said the unthinkable would be to call out Lesnar later on tonight.
Rusev and Summer Rae were in the ring for a promo. He referred to Summer Rae as “always submissive.” Rusev said he apologized for wasting a year of his life on Lana. He ran down the fans, America and Dolph Ziggler. Summer tried to get the crowd to stop chanting “USA.” Dolph and Lana came out. Ziggler said the best thing that ever happened to Rusev was Lana. Dolph and Lana starting kissing. Summer scolded Ziggler. Lana and Summer were about to squre off when the two men stepped in. Then Rusev attacked Ziggler with a crutch, then kicked him with the cast on his bad foot. Rusev took off the walking boot and starting walking around. Summer then kicked Lana and threw her out of the ring. Rusev put the fists to Ziggler, who sure looked like an idiot. Ziggler tried to make a comeback, but Rusev jabbed him with the crutch across the throat. Rusev laid in even more crutch shots even after the referees came down and ordered him away. Ziggler did a stretcher job, so who knows if we see him again?
Dean Ambrose defeated Bo Dallas (2:59)
There was the strangest dual chant ever heard to man with most of the fans saying “Let’s Go Ambrose.” And the other half said “We Bolieve.” Dean Ambrose won with Dirty Deeds.
J&J Security was shown driving around Chicago. They were shown getting caught in traffic. And then driving along a vacant street. It was about as humorous as watching someone drive in traffic and then along a vacant street.
King Barrett defeated R-Truth (8:43)
King Barrett won after R-Truth dove off the second rope, only to get caught with the Royal Bullhammer. This got 8:43. Maybe I was a little hard on that J&J Security driving segment. Cole talked like this was the end of R-Truth’s “King What’s Up” gimmick.
Rollins came out while J&J Security drove up in their car. No one was available to give the car Last Rites. They were all carrying axehandles for the anticipated brawl with Lesnar. Rollins did an interview saying he was champion and going to remain that way, then asked if Lesnar was a real man or just Heyman’s bitch.
Lesnar came out, saw three men in the ring with axehandles waiting for him, then backed off. Lesnar then called for Heyman, who carried a trunk containing a fire kit, which included two axes. Instead of getting into the ring, Brock started destroying the car. Cole dropped in a line of how Lesnar was his own Minnesota Recking Crew. Lesnar destroyed one of the axes after he drove it into the driver’s door. Then Lesnar tore the door off the hinges. Mercury and Noble made a rush at Lesnar, but Brock dropped them effortlessly. Lesnar gave Noble a Kimura and Cole screamed how he had broken Noble’s arm. Lesnar gave Mercury two suplexes onto the car, the last of which broke a windshield. Lesnar got in the ring with Rollins, who ran out of the building with Lesnar chasing him. Lesnar got back in the ring and posed with the WWE Heavyweight Championship strap.
The New Day defeated Lucha Dragons (10:16)
The Prime Time Players were at ringside. JBL and Titus O’Neal exchanged barbs at ringside on commentary. Darren Young didn’t say anything, and O’Neal started doing play-by-play after Sin Cara got the hot tag. He was ten times more engaging than Cole. Kalisto and Sin Cara went for stereo topes, but Sin Cara totally missed when Xavier Woods moved Kofi Kingston out of the way. Big E. gave Kalisto a belly-to-belly suplex on the floor. Big E. pinned Sin Cara after the Midnight Hour.
Steve Austin was revealed as the man on the cover for WWE2K16. Cole made it clear he’s back in the WWE solely as a character for the video game.
As Cena came out, they showed highlights of Finn Balor beating Kevin Owens for the NXT Championship from Saturday’s show in Japan.
Cena called out his challenger, but Owens came out and said every week the worst part of Raw is Cena spewing out the same garbage over and over. Owens got a lot of cheers. He said now that he’s lost the NXT Championship, he’ll face Cena tonight. Cesaro came out and said he wanted to face Cena since Owens cost him the title last week. Cesaro ordered Owens to get out of the ring. Owens left and went down the aisle, looking back like he was picking his spots.
John Cena (C) defeated Cesaro to retain the U.S. Championship (30:01)
A tremendous match, though perhaps ten minutes longer than it should have been. Both men kicked out of each other’s finisher. Cesaro had several attempts at a crossface trying to get a submission, but Cena got to the ropes each time. Finish came when both men were battling on the top rope. Cesaro teased a netualizer off the second rope, but Cena escaped and hit the AA off the second rope for the pin. Cesaro didn’t get a nod from Cena or any type of raise of the arm for his performance. Instead, Owens ran in, took an AA and left. It was like Cesaro was in another great match, but they wanted you to forget it as soon as it was over.
SUMMARY: The main event finish left me torn. Cena deserves a lot of credit for having great matches week after week. But the elephant in the room says it is time for some major changes and to start taking chances on talent. Cesaro is lacking on the mic. But they could have made him a star tonight with a win, then have him face Owens at Battleground. Then the rubber match between Cena and Owens can wait for SummerSlam at the earliest. Instead, it seems Vince McMahon thinks the answer to declining ratings is to have Cena go over, like that’s any different from everything we’ve seen for the past 11 years. The biggest question is where does Cesaro go from here? If it’s the same place as where Ryback, Wyatt, R-Truth and many others have gone after a Cena program, then what does he gain from the past two weeks?
Welcome to our live coverage of New Japan Dominion from the Osaka Jo Hall in the company’s biggest event in seven months.
We’re looking for your thoughts on his show, as well as the WWE’s Beast from the East show yesterday so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match for each show to [email protected]
Hot opener. Crowd was hotter for the opener than usual, even for Osaka Everyone looked good except Nakanishi who is setting records for being slow and his stuff with Tenzan looked out of place with everyone else. Everyone worked basic good stuff that got over, but no spectacular stuff. Best action was Liger vs. Tanaka, Kojima vs Nagata and Dorada vs. Komatsu at the end. Dorada pinned Komatsu with the Dorada screwdriver after a moonsault.
They are showing the pre-show video showing build for all the matches. Crowd reacted well to most matches but were quiet for the Gallows & Anderson vs. Taven & Bennett. The top three matches got the biggest reactons. The reaction was pretty much even to all three.
I hope people could see how cool a building this is from the outside.
YOUNG BUCKS DEFEND IWGP JR. TAG TITLES AGAINST ROCKY ROMERO & BARETTA AND BOBBY FISH & KYLE O’REILLY
Bucks retained with More Bang For Your Buck on Romero. A lot more heel comedy than usual by the Bucks. A million moves but more toned down than these guys have been in the past. There was a spot where Fish had a heel hook on Romero and O’Reilly had the guillotine on Baretta but the Bucks broke it up with 450’s on Fish & O’Reilly.
BAD LUCK FALE & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI VS. TETSUYA NAITO & TOMOAKI HONMA
Interesting match because Naito is clearly turning heel and most of the way didn’t help Honma. He just watched at the beginning when they doubled on Honma. He wouldn’t tag in the first few times Honma tried and the crowd turned on him. But then he helped out Honma with a missile dropkick on Yujiro. Honma then went wild and actually hit the diving head-butt on Yujiro to score the upset win. Then afer the match, Naito just walked off. Honma was really over and he’s a good guy for Naito to turn on, people expected it, it was teased but didn’t fully happen. People were surprised at the finish.
KAZUSHI SAKURABA VS. KATSUYORI SHIBATA
Great match. Very different even for these guys with lots of simple legit looking stuff and people bought into it and liked it a lot Shibata killed him with the stiff offense but Sakuraba used a lot of submissions and both used hard kicks. Once when Sakuraba had a double armbar Shibata had to make the ropes with his mouth. At another point, Sakuraba did his ankle choke which was really over. They traded chokes at the end. Shibata had him just about out, let it go, and used the penalty kick for the pin.
KENNY OMEGA VS. KUSHIDA FOR IWGP JR. TITLE
This was the best match so far on this card and also beat anything on the WWE show. Just super. Kushida is one of the best wrestlers in the world today. Omega worked his knee for a long time. The match built well. Kushida did his usual flip dive. Omega did sick jumping knees. Omega did a new form of superplex and a one arm power bomb. Kushida did both a moonsault and midnight express for near falls. The finish saw Omega go for his one winged angel but Kushida from that position grabbed the hoverboard lock (Kimura), and got the submission to win the title. So we’ve got Kushida vs. Ricochet coming soon. Ricochet wasn’t here.
TOGI MAKABE VS. TOMOHIRO ISHII FOR THE NEVER OPEN WEIGHT TITLE
This was super physical. Ishii’s selling was out of this world but it was not like a pro wrestling match selling. He went for a flip plancha in the first minute, Makabe didn’t catch him well, just barely breaking his fall but Ishii landed right on the shoulder he separated in the Davey Boy Smith Jr. match last year. Ishii was selling like his shoudler was out. The doctor came out and threatened to stop it a few times. A lot of stuff was mistimed. But they beat the hell out of each other Ishii kept doing this out of this world sell job that may have been partially real. They did all the stiff stuff, German and dragon suplexes and toned nothing down. There were miscommunication spots that gave the sense that Ishii was hurting and shouldn’t continue but he kept going. Makabe finally won with a German superplex and kneedrop to the back of the head.
No intermission as this show is looking to be going well over four hours
MICHAEL BENNETT & MATT TAVEN VS. KARL ANDERSON & DOC GALLOWS FOR IWGP TAG TITLES
Anderson & Gallows regained the title. This was more Americanized heat with the women, Maria Kanellis and Amber Gallows being a focal point. Gallows went to deck aria who ducked and Maria gave him a low blow. The finish saw Gallows superkick Maria and then Anderson gave Bennett a gunstun on the apron. This left Taven alone and he got a 3-D and a magic killer for the pin. Bennett had to carry Maria out. After Gallows superkicked Maria, Bennett go all fired up and was just killing Gallows until Anderson laid him out. This was better than their last match and it’s different from everthing else on the show but I’m not sure it clicks that big with the crowd.
HIROSHI TANAHASHI VS. TORU YANO
Tanahashi won clean with the sling blade and high fly flow after Yano did all of his stuff on him, several times sending him head first into the exposed metal, chair shots, a low blow and cradle. Tanahashi tried the high fly flow earlier but Yano protected himself with a chair. This wasn’t your typical Tanahashi good wrestling match and more a longer version of a Yano match. Crowd was very into it and Tanahashi did look good and the match told a story coming off finishes from this entire feud. Most matches on this show have been better.
HIROOKI GOTO VS. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA FOR THE IC TITLE
Nakamura is wearing a super cool red ninja outfit. Even though Nakamura is the star, Goto came out second because he’s the champion. Super match ending with Goto retaining the title with the shoten kai. It started slow. The crowd was really into it and it had the fight feel more than anything on the show, because Ishii vs. Makabe was more Ishii selling. Nakamura power bombed him out of the corner and did a bom a ye off the middle rope for a near fall and a sliding bom a ye for another near fall. The big move was Nakamura going for a bom a ye and Goto at the last second grabbed his knee to block it and picked him up for neckbreaker over the knee. Nakamura punched him in the face, and the Japanese punch to the face so rare it’s a big deal But Goto came back with two head-butts to set up the shoten kai. These two have a real sense of drama that nobody else has reached so far.
A.J. STYLES VS. KAZUCHIKA OKADA FOR THE IWGP TITLE
There have been a lot of great matches in the last 30 hours or so, but this was in a completely different league. This was two of the three best wrestlers in the world beyond the top of their game. Okada won the title with a second rainmaker, a German suplex and a third rainmaker at about 26:00 and it was excellent from start to finish. He hit the first rainmaker seconds earlier but Styles ducked the second and hit the Pele kick and went for the Styles clash but Okada got out of both that and the Bloody Sunday DDT. It’s really amazing how good these two are, plus there is an art to a world title match and they hit it perfect. They did everything they could including Okada using a Death Valley Bomb off the top rope onto the apron near the finish. Lots of Bullet Club interference early but Red Shoes not only booted them out but crotch chopped then and told then to suck it which was poetic justice on the Young Bucks. Okada and Gedo did mic work but with G-1 coming up there’s no challenges after. Looks like Okada against either AJ, Nakamura or Tanahashi at the Dome.
Really a fantastic show, about 4 1/2 hours in total with no intermission and I can’t say it went too long and I’m wide awake at 4:15 a.m.
Finn Balor defeated Kevin Owens for the NXT title, Brock Lesnar successfully made his house show return, and Chris Jericho and Neville had a great show opener.
Show Recap:
– A short video package starts us out highlighting that this is Brock Lesnar’s first match since Wrestlemania and the Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor NXT title match later on.
– Michael Cole and Byron Saxton are the announce team. Show is airing live from Sumo Hall in Tokyo with a typical house show set with no ramp.
Chris Jericho def. Neville by submission
Cole and Saxton talk a little about the history of the building with combat sports and Jericho’s past in Japan where he got the name ‘Lionheart’. Saxton even talks about Neville’s history with Dragon Gate which helped bring him to this point. The match was fairly even early until Jericho got the advantage off a back and forth exchange with both guys teasing and preventing jumps to the inside. Jericho eventually hit the second rope dropkick to Neville on the apron. He had a few heel mannerisms, but both guys were loved by the crowd.
Jericho went for a top rope superplex which Neville blocked for a flapjack. Neville stayed on the top and went for the Red Arrow, but Jericho moved so Neville landed on his feet. He went for a hunacarana which was blocked for the Walls of Jericho. Neville fought and fought and made it to the ropes for the clean break.
Neville with a jumping, twisting dive over the top to Jericho on the outside. Neville tossed him back in and hit a top rope clothesline and a standing shooting star press for a near fall. Jericho nailed Neville with a uppercut and hit the Lionsault for two. Neville got the advantage back and launched himself into a Codebreaker.
Neville hit two superkicks and went for the Red Arrow, but Jericho put his knees up. He applied the Liontamer for the tap. The match went nearly twenty minutes and was fantastic. I really enjoyed it.
– Brock “Tucked In T-Shirt” Lesnar is shown walking into the building, making his first appearance in Japan for WWE in more than 12 years. We st
– I gotta say that this whole house show on TV feel is very refreshing outside the constant reminders that #BeastInTheEast is trending no. 1 in the world on Twitter. I watch to get away from the real world, but I get it.
– After RAW this Monday, we get a live ‘The Legendary Stories Of Dusty Rhodes’. Sounds good to me.
WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella defeated Paige & Tamina in a triple threat for the title.
Cole references a past women’s title change in Japan by Bull “Nakona” before Saxton corrects him. Tamina and Page went at it for a bit until Bella got back in the fray and the two teamed up to get Tamina out of there. They were certainly trying to up the aggression level with lots of women’s tennis-esque grunting.
The big spot of the match was a Tamnia powerbomb of Bella as she was superplexing Paige off the top rope. As Paige and Bella were setting it up, you could hear them talking. Ugh. Paige applied the PTO but Tamina superkicked her and hit a Samoan drop on Bella to break it up. She missed a Superfly splash attempt and Bella hit a running forearm for the pin and win.
I don’t watch a ton of, ahem, Divas matches but this wasn’t that bad. Not much of a story, but it was fun for what it was.
Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston
It took them 36 minutes to mention Lesnar’s opponent for tonight. As Lesnar was walking out, they showed Seth Rollins and The Authority’s attack on him from several weeks ago, but his knee isn’t wrapped. Kingston was trying to avoid Lesnar, but once “The Beast” got his hands on him, it was bad news. Kingston got a lot of offense on Lesnar, but none of it worked. He avoided one belly-to-back suplex (flipped out of it), but was unsuccessful in avoiding three others. Lots of stalking around led to an F5 and the pin and win.
As Lesnar was leaving the ring, he looked at Kingston and came back in the ring for another belly-to-back and F5. This brought out Xavier Woods and Big E from the back and they both got F-5’ed for their trouble.
As a youngster, I used to faithfully watch WWF Superstars of Wrestling Saturdays at noon on WPXT Fox 51 and saw a lot of squashes just like this. I was more than happy to watch another one today.
Kevin Owens was seen in the back prepping for his match with Finn Balor. That match is next, preceded by a good video package highlighting the backstory.
Finn Balor pinned NXT Champion Kevin Owens to win the title
As expected, Balor is in full warpaint, complete with Japanese writing on the back. Hideo Itami is shown sitting in the crowd as Owens enters in full heel mode. Tons of treamers come into the ring as we get the announcements of both guys as do two ladies who hand giant bouquets to both guys. Owens tosses the flowers in the aisle. Streamers (and tradition!) on WWE TV? This is something else. Cole even talked about how Balor lives in a dojo, that Balor used to go by the name Prince Devitt, and the IWGP titles he won.
Balor started out the match quick, teasing the Coup De Grace in the first 10 seconds. Action spilled to the outside where Balor hit a running dropkick to Owens who was sitting in a chair by the barricade. As Owens reclaimed the advantage later on, he played to the crowd big-time and they gave him what he was looking for: boos. The champion dominated most of the action midway through the match, teasing a running knee into a bracing Balor and locking on a rear chinlock instead. He said, “I hate this country and everyone in it.” Heel!
As Balor was rallying, Owens stopped him and hit the Five Moves Of Doom, but fell short of hitting the Attitude Adjustment. Both guys hit all of their signature moves late in the match including Owens’ cannonball flip in the corner and package powerbomb. Balor hit the Sling Blade adn went to the top to finish Owens, but the champ made it to his feet to prevent it. Owens got kicked and laid out which led to the Coup De Grace….but we only got two. This match must continue!
Balor attempted a top rope superplex which Owens blocked, eventually hitting a second rope rolling senton which got two. Owens went for the senton bomb, but Balor got the knees up and got Owens in a Dragon suplex for two. Owens with a straight jacket suplex for two. Balor hit a big clothesline and dropkick into the corner to Owens, setting up again for the Coup De Grace. He hit it and this time, Owens didn’t kick out. Balor with the pin and win and is your new NXT Champion.
Cole put over Balor’s history in Japan huge post-match. This was a really fun match with great sequences that you would expect from these two, especially the near falls. Tatsumi Fujinami walked out from the back and attacked Balor post-match, demanding a title match at SummerSlam. Alright, that didn’t happen but Fujinami did come out and raise Balor’s hand. Owens was still in the ring looking pissed and refused to shake Balor’s hand.
My apologies if I erred in correctly naming the moves above, by the way. Just go watch the match already!
And with 37 minutes to go, I fear we are now in the sports entertainment portion of the show.
– We get footage of Friday’s Fujinami ceremony on Tokyo with Itami.
U.S. Champion John Cena & Dolph Ziggler def. King Barrett & Kane
Despite my apathy, the fans were into everything. You know, I got into it too. This was typical house show fare with all the guys playing to the crowd and not having to rush through things. When Cena was in there with Kane, it was power vs. power and Cena was actually psyching himself up to go in there and face him.
Cena was in there most of the match, getting abused by Kane and Barrett. Cena hit an A.A. on Barrett after powering out of a side chinlock, but Barrett tagged Kane. However, Cena got blocked by Kane on hitting an A.A. on him, building to what would eventully happen later in the match. Kane hit his top rope clothesline which led to another rear chinlock on Cena. Lots of rest holds in this one.
Ziggler finally got the hot tag and ran wild on Barrett, but a big boot from Barrett stopped that cold. Barrett and Kane worked over Ziggler for a bit until Ziggler eventually got the hot tag. Until we got to that point, there was a lot of good stuff including a big Kane powerbomb. I guess it was the jaded, worn out WWE fan in me, but I was amazed at how much the fans were into this match. I also haven’t been to a house show event in nearly four years, so perhaps I shouldn’t be that surprised. I also liked the subtleties of Barrett holding Ziggler’s arm after tagging Kane so Ziggler couldn’t get away. Tag team wrestling!
Ziggler got out of a Kane chokeslam attempt and hit a jumping DDT to get the hot tag to Cena while Kane tagged Barrett. Five Moves of Doom on Kane, Ziggler superkick to A.A. on the legal man Barrett for the pin and win for Team Good Guys. Fun match!
**** As a fan of watching the old NESN Boston Garden and MSG Network house shows, I loved this show. Two hours on a Saturday morning full of fun matches and mostly devoid of bad promos and typical RAW b.s.? I’ll take it. Even Cole and Saxton were good and were supposedly trending on Twitter at one point. Cole had his ‘working shoes’, getting in references to WrestleFest during the show’s final tag match.
Final recommendation: watch the entire show. I guarantee you’ll have fun in doing so. And in the end, isn’t that what this is all supposed to be about?
