Tag: Charlotte

Date: October 3, 2016 
Location: Staples Center in Los Angeles, CA

The Big Takeaway —

Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte to win the Women’s Championship in a heated main event.

Also, Roman Reigns will defend his U.S. Champion in Hell in a Cell against Rusev, Brian Kendrick is likely getting another Cruiserweight title match against TJ Perkins, and the New Day defeated Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho with help from Seth Rollins.

Show Recap — 

They announced the Women’s Championship match as the main event, pushed TJ Perkins vs. Brian Kendrick (non-title), and an interview with Seth Rollins tonight.

Roman Reigns came out and Byron Saxton used the exact line we hear JBL say about the mixed crowd reaction he gets every week. Reigns said he was the first in his bloodline to win the United States championship. He called himself “the guy” as people booed and was interrupted by Lana, which led to a “Thank you Lana” chant.

Reigns made a crack about Lana being the only woman to ever give Rusev attention, to which she responded, “Very funny, very funny. I’m laughing.” Lana challenged Reigns to a title rematch on Rusev’s behalf. Reigns said Rusev was hiding behind her skirt. Lana said Reigns ruined their wedding. Reigns was smiling so she called him a “stupid boy.”

Reigns told Lana to deliver Rusev his Bulgarian balls and tell him to come out here. Lana told him to go to hell and Rusev stormed out. They immediately got into a brawl that seemingly concluded with Rusev kicking Reigns over the barricade into the front row. Rusev grabbed the U.S. title and left with Lana.

As he posed on the stage, Reigns jumped in from out of nowhere and nailed a superman punch. Reigns said if he was going to hell, he was taking them with him. He accepted the rematch in a Hell in a Cell match.

They aired a Kendrick-Perkins video package, which included Kendrick ripping on Perkins’ story about being homeless. The match is up next.

Non-Title: Brian Kendrick defeated Cruiserweight Champion T.J. Perkins

Kendrick offered a handshake. Perkins hesitated but shook his hand, then dropkicked him as soon as the bell rang. Perkins was all over Kendrick to start, but Kendrick cut him off with a big boot. Kendrick removed the turnbuckle cover, squeezed Perkins’ fingers through the turnbuckle shaft and stomped on his hand.

After a break, Perkins was back in it and hit Kendrick with a double knee gutbuster for two. He followed with the leglock but Kendrick got to the rope. Kendrick then hit Sliced Bread#2 for a two count, followed by the Captain’s Hook. Perkins was able to fight out of it, but Kendrick raked him in the face, applied the Captain’s Hook again, and Perkins tapped out after about a 9 minute match. The crowd was into this more than the previous Raw cruiserweight matches.

Michael Cole plugged his interview with Seth Rollins by letting us know Rollins called Kevin Owens a teacher’s pet.

Seth Rollins Interview w/ Michael Cole

This was a pre-taped interview. Rollins said doctors advised him not to be there, but he doesn’t like to rest. He said Owens was handed the Universal title by Triple H and was the guy at the office who does half the work but gets the promotions. Rollins wasn’t handed the title when he cashed in his MITB contract at WrestleMania.

Rollins said Owens can’t replace him–Owens is just a cog in the machine, and he’s going to tear that machine apart. Rollins mentioned Stephanie McMahon bringing out a referee at Clash of Champions at just the right time and Owens took advantage. Rollins concluded by saying he will prove that he’s the man as soon as he gets a title match. This was pretty forgettable.

Braun Strowman defeated Chase Silver

Silver told Saxton he had a dream he would defeat Braun Strowman. He didn’t. Strowman won in just over a minute with a powerslam. A small portion of the crowd chanted “delete, delete, delete” at the jobber. Afterwards, Strowman demanded Mick Foley find him some real competition by next week or else.

Bayley caught up to Sasha Banks backstage and put over tonight’s match, saying it was in Trish and Lita territory. Banks said she was excited and this was all about getting back the women’s title.

They announced a face-to-face-to-face on SmackDown with AJ Styles, Dean Ambrose and John Cena. They also announced the 2017 Royal Rumble at the Alamodome in San Antonio.

Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho Interview

Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho came out. They’re both wearing all black and Owens is in a suit. Owens said Cole was terrible in his interview with Rollins. He said Rollins should listen to his doctors and stay home and called him a stupid idiot. At the end of the day, Rollins lost and he can thank Owens for that.

Owens claimed Rollins was also blaming the referee for losing as the crowd chanted “stupid idiot.” Owens called the crowd stupid idiots for thinking they’re cool. Owens suggested Jericho be the referee if Rollins does weasel his way into a rematch.

Jericho thought that was a pretty good idea, and he even has his own referee jersey, but he called “Team Chris and Kevin” the best tag team in the world and they should challenge New Day for the titles. The crowd chanted “Yes” and Jericho told them to shut up. Owens mentioned Cesaro and Sheamus already have a shot. Jericho said they could beat New Day in a non-title match and again in a title match. Owens thought that sounded like a lot of work.

Jericho said at least he wasn’t challenging Owens for his title, leading to a “Y2J” chant. Owens suddenly loved the idea and agreed that Chris and Kevin should be tag champs. They were interrupted by New Day.

Kofi Kingston questioned their friendship so Jericho put him on the list. New Day wanted a championship huddle to consider the challenge, but Jericho wasn’t allowed to be apart of it. Jericho put Big E and Woods on the list. Owens told New Day to leave and let the real most entertaining team take over. He mocked their title reign, said they endangered kids with their cereal, and jumped the shark seven months ago.

Woods said they don’t even swim, and wondered when Owens last jumped over anything. Big crowd pop for that line. Owens demanded Jericho put Woods on the list again. Woods said they might go watch Magnificent Seven or Luke Cage, and Owens responded, “Enough stupid references! What are you saying?” Woods accepted their challenge. This was good.

They showed Sheamus and Cesaro arriving to the arena in a SUV. Sheamus was driving. They were pissed at each other.

Sami Zayn defeated Titus O’Neil

In an inset promo, O’Neil announced the “Titus Brand,” which will likely lead to many entertaining segments. O’Neil worked over Zayn for a couple of minutes until Zayn caught him with an Exploder into the corner followed by a Helluva kick for the quick win. Crowd popped for Zayn hitting an Exploder on the bigger man.

Backstage, Cesaro and Sheamus continued to argue about getting lost and being late. Foley showed up and mentioned being humbled by Stephanie last week. He made them ride together so they could bond. Cesaro accused Sheamus of picking his nose. Foley said he pitched them to Stephanie because they weren’t just good, they were dominant.

They ran a quick promo for Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson with Corey Graves letting us know they’ve dominated the tag team division. What? After a break, they showed an interview they did with Tom Phillips. Anderson said New Day have ruined the tag team division, and now the division looks like a clown car filled with freaks. Gallows said they would push the car off a ledge and Anderson said they’d win the tag titles.

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defeated Golden Truth

Golden Truth got an entrance. Gallows & Anderson didn’t. They won in a couple of minutes with the Magic Killer, and laid out Truth and Goldust after the match.

Jericho and Owens ran into Ashton Kutcher and Danny Masterson backstage. Jericho said he would put them on the List of Jericho. “Ink it in, maaan.” Masterson grabbed the list and made jokes about Jericho looking like Bon Jovi and losing to Fandango at WrestleMania. Owens told Jericho they should get ready for their match, but let Kutcher and Masterson know ‘That ‘70s Show’ would’ve been better with him and Chris. Kutcher told Jericho they’d be at ringside for the tag match tonight. They bickered until Jericho left, not before saying they would get… it. The crowd loves Jericho.

Enzo and Cass did a segment in the ring with three women who were cancer survivors. Enzo excitedly presented them each with replica Women’s title belts. The crowd cheered and the three women were all smiles. 

Non-Title: WWE Tag Team Champions Xavier Woods & Big E (w/Kofi Kingston) defeated WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens & Chris Jericho

Kutcher and Masterson were on commentary. Chris and Kevin worked over Woods for a long while. Owens cut off a hot tag attempt and hit a DDT when Rollins came out to the stage to his music. The distraction allowed Woods to hit an enziguri and he made the hot tag to Big E.

Big E hit Jericho with suplexes but was cut off with a superkick by Owens. Woods then took out Owens with a flip dive and Big E hit a splash on Jericho. Big E tagged in Wood but Jericho caught him in the Walls. Rollins ran down to distract Jericho, allowing Big E and Woods to hit Midnight Hour for the win after about 16 minutes. Afterwards, Owens left Jericho alone in the ring, so Rollins hit him with an ugly Pedigree.

Backstage, Phillips said people call Charlotte and Banks evenly matched, and asked Charlotte if she has any butterflies. Charlotte said she has proven time and time again that she lives for these moments and would expose Banks tonight. Charlotte claimed to have no equal and would make Banks tap out.

They aired a video package for Rich Swann.

They showed three members of the Los Angeles Rams at ringside, as well as Dodger Josh Reddick.

Backstage, Stephanie accosted Seth Rollins. She said that Rollins was all alone for the first time in his career, and he would find out that he is replaceable like everyone else. Rollins said Triple H made the second-worst decision of his life when he cost him the title. She asked what the worst decision was, and he said “marrying you.” Crowd liked that. Rollins said he would burn Raw to the crowd going after Owens and Jericho. After he left, they kept the camera on Stephanie who smirked knowingly.

Tony Nese defeated Rich Swann

They plugged Total Bellas as Swann made his entrance. Nese did an inset promo saying he was sick of hearing about Swann and his dance moves. Nese called himself the greatest hybrid of strength, speed and grappling skills, but maybe people would like him more if he twerked. Nese won in about 7 minutes with a pumphandle slam into a Michinoku driver. Kind of surprising that Nese got the win. Or maybe it isn’t.

They aired a Hispanic Heritage video for Mil Mascaras.

They showed some pictures of Emma from her Instagram (or so I assume) and announced “The Makeover of Emma into Emmalina” premiering soon.

Sheamus & Cesaro defeated two jobbers

Sheamus and Cesaro argued the entire match but won in a minute anyway after Sheamus nailed a Brogue kick.

Oscar De La Hoya was shown at ringside.

They aired a video package for Banks vs. Charlotte. It covered their friendship in NXT, Charlotte winning the title, Banks winning the title on Raw, and Charlotte winning it back at SummerSlam.

Charlotte and Dana Brooke ran into Bayley backstage on the way to the ring. Charlotte called her Dora the Explorer and mocked her for being childish. Bayley was about to speak, but Charlotte cut her off because it was time for the main event and left. Brooke advised Bayley not to cry when Charlotte breaks Banks again and patted her on the head. Brooke then held Bayley up against the wall, so Bayley launched her into some boxes. After a break, they announced that Brooke won’t be at ringside because of this.

WWE Women’s Championship: Sasha Banks defeated Charlotte

The match announcement got a good reaction and the bell rang to start the match at 10:52 pm. Unfortunately, they went to break almost immediately after Banks hit a suicide dive. They did this on SmackDown last week as well. Why would you start a championship match knowing you have to go to commercial less than a minute later?

During the break, Charlotte took control after dropping Banks back-first on the top turnbuckle and launching her into the barricade. After the break, Charlotte worked over Banks’ back as the crowd chanted “Let’s go Sasha.”

Banks came back with slaps to the chest, running forearms, dropkicks and a double knee drop for a two count. Charlotte tried a backdrop or something onto the apron, but just kind of pushed Banks back into the ring. Banks used a double knee strike and went to the top, but Charlotte knocked her off, hit a boot to the back and boot to the face for a near fall.

Charlotte tried a superplex but Banks countered into a double knee drop off the top for a nearfall. Banks went for a backstabber but Charlotte dumped her outside the ring. Charlotte then went to the top and did a corkscrew moonsault, just barely catching Banks. “Holy shit” chant. Charlotte followed with Natural Selection for another nearfall.

Banks seemed out of it, but came off the ropes and applied the Bank statement. Charlotte countered into a pin attempt, but Banks rolled through to reapply the Bank statement and Charlotte tapped. This was good. They got about 14 minutes, the crowd was super into it and popped big for Banks getting the win.