At SmackDown’s final pay-per-view before WrestleMania, AJ Styles will once again be defending his WWE Championship against Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn.
This time, Styles will be doing so in a triple threat match. That was announced by Daniel Bryan at the end of SmackDown tonight. Owens and Zayn wrestled in the main event to decide Styles’ challenger for Fastlane, but the match didn’t have a finish as Styles, who was on commentary, fought with them after Zayn got in his face.
Bryan cited Owens and Zayn’s “superlative performance” and Styles’ interference as his reasons for making the triple threat match for Fastlane.
Styles retained against Owens & Zayn in a handicap match at the Royal Rumble last month, but Owens was pinned when he wasn’t the legal man. Bryan made Owens and Zayn face each other to determine the next challenger for the title, which resulted in his storyline with Shane McMahon continuing as Shane accused Bryan of living vicariously through them.
Fastlane will take place at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio on March 11th. It’s the biggest remaining stop for SmackDown before Shinsuke Nakamura challenges for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania.
John Cena will be appearing at WWE’s final pay-per-view before WrestleMania.
The Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio advertised today that Cena would be making a “special guest appearance” at Fastlane on March 11th. Fastlane is the only SmackDown-exclusive PPV between now and WrestleMania.
Cena, who is a “free agent” in storyline, returned to WWE television on the Christmas Day edition of Raw and defeated Elias on the show. His last appearance before that was in the Survivor Series main event as part of SmackDown’s men’s team.
WWE officially announced earlier this week that Cena would be one of the entrants in the 2018 Royal Rumble. He’ll also be on the 25th anniversary episode of Raw, which is the go-home show for the Rumble.
WWE’s main event plans for Fastlane were potentially revealed last month when the Nationwide Arena posted that there would be a fatal five-way match for the WWE Championship between AJ Styles, Randy Orton, Shinsuke Nakamura, Kevin Owens, and Sami Zayn. That advertisement is still up on their website.
The WWE finished its last major event, Fast Lane, prior to WrestleMania with a few minor surprises in the booking and a lackluster overall show.
In the last few weeks, there have been only minor changes to the original plans for WrestleMania. It is now, officially:
*Bill Goldberg vs. Brock Lesnar for the Universal title. Whether this is positioned last or not, this was told to us from the start as the main event on the show. Unless plans change, Lesnar will win the title. Goldberg’s contract expires with this show but they can always sign a new deal. But the reason Lesnar put Goldberg over so quickly at Survivor Series and the Rumble is that this would be the end result. Goldberg having two quick matches would indicate this also won’t be a long match.
*Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton for the WWE title.
*Undertaker vs. Roman Reigns. No matter what the long-term plan is as far as Reigns and a heel turn, he will be the biggest heel on the show.
WWE presents its final pay-per-view before WrestleMania tonight as Fastlane takes place at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The show should reveal much of the direction for Raw heading into WrestleMania. In the main event, Kevin Owens will defend his WWE Universal Championship against Goldberg. The match will be Goldberg’s second since returning to the company, following his squash of Brock Lesnar at Survivor Series last year.
We’re looking for your thoughts on Fast Lane, as well as last night’s UFC 209 and New Japan’s anniversary show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]
Most of Raw’s other titles will be on the line as well. Bayley will defend the Women’s Championship against Charlotte Flair, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson will defend their tag titles against Enzo Amore & Big Cass, and Neville will put his Cruiserweight Championship on the line against Jack Gallagher.
Samoa Joe will also wrestle in his first WWE main roster PPV match as he takes on Sami Zayn, Roman Reigns will collide with Braun Strowman, Sasha Banks will face Nia Jax, and there will be a cruiserweight tag team match on the pre-show.
Our live coverage begins with the kickoff match before the main card starts at 8 p.m. ET.
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During the preshow they announced that both Rusev and Jinder Mahal would be having singles matches tonight when they came in and said they didn’t want to team and both wanted matches tonight, but turned down facing each other.
AKIRA TOZAWA & RICH SWANN VS, BRIAN KENDRICK & NOAM DAR
Sold opener. Toned down for sure but nothing wrong with it. Swann & Tozawa did a double dive, with Swann doing a running tope con giro and Tozawa did his tope. Tozawa used a German suplex on Kendrick to take him out and Swann pinned Dar with the Phoenix splash.
SAMOA JOE VS. SAMI ZAYN
Instead of doing the great back-and-forth show it was less than ten minutes andmostly Joe dominating with Zayn not getting a ton of offense. Zayn went for the Helluva kick but Joe caught him in a uranage and planted him and then won clean with the choke. Zayn didn’t struggle for the ropes or anything, he just went out.
Bayley interview. Bayley said that Charlotte has the advantage tonight because she’s undefeated in PPV singles matches and she’ll probably bring Dana Brooke out. Bayley said that Charlotte if she wants to prove she’s the best she should leave Brooke in the locker room Nia Jax came out and said she’s going to rip Sasha Banks to shreds and if Bayley wins, she’s coming after her.
LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON VS. ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS FOR THE TAG TITLES
The crowd is hot for Enzo doing the sing-along with his interview.
Another short match. At one point Enzo had Anderson pinned with the rocket launcher but Gallows pulled Enzo off. Enzo dove off the apron onto Gallows but went to get in the ring and Anderson used a running kick and got the pin. Enzo’s foot was on the ropes but Gallows shoved the foot off the ropes and the ref didn’t see it.
Mick Foley was on the phone with Stephanie, who supposedly is stuck at the airport and won’t make it in time for the show. Stephanie said she was going to stay on the phone with Foley for the rest of the show but then the phone got disconnected.
NIA JAX VS. SASHA BANKS
Banks pinned her with an O’Connor roll after rolling off her back with a Samoan drop. Another short match but the crowd was into it. It wa a lot better than their first match as it was a good story. Jax destroyed her most of the way, so one-sided that you almost knew Banks would get the “fluke” finish. The crowd was into it when Banks made a comeback and and went for guillotine and choke submissions. The match worked for what it was supposed to be.
Rusev and Mahal stared fighting. Mahal threw Rusev into the post and landed a jumping knee.
Cesaro and Sheamus came out.
CESARO VS. JINDER MAHAL
The match was technically okay but nobody cared. Mahal got a lot of offense in as Cesaro sold his lower back most of the way and couldn’t do his power moves. Mahal even kicked out of a crossbody but Rusev got up and distracted Mahal and Cesaro pinned him after an uppercut forearm
Rusev attacked Mahal afer the match and beat on him in the corner and gave Mahal a jumping kick.
BIG SHOW VS. RUSEV
Show kicked him in the face. Rusev got some advantage working over the knee. The crowd was into this with “USA” chants but they reacted more like a TV match. Show got out of the accolade and destroyed Rusev with three choke slams, put him in the corner with Rusev sitting there and used the knockout punch for the pin.
Kevin Owens asked who Goldberg has beaten in the last ten years. Said he’s only beaten one guy and it doesn’t impress him since he’s beaten Cena, Reigns, Ambrose, Rollins. He said he’ll outmsart and outwrestle Goldberg tonight. He said he’ll beat anyone they put in front of him and mentioned Zayn and The Rock. Said tonight is the Kevin Owens show, as it will be tojmororw and as long as he wants it to be.
NEVILLE VS. JACK GALLAGHER FOR THE CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE
This was really good. Gallagher did some head-butts and Neville used a middle rope Phoenix splash for a near fall. Gallagher missed his dropkick into the corner and did a head-butt that popped the crowd big in the corner. He went for a superplex, but Neville reversed him and dropped him on the mat. Neville then scored the pin with the Red Arrow.
Paul Heyman did a promo, said if Goldberg wins, Lesnar will win the title at Mania, then Brock wins. If Owens wins, he’ll expose a weakness that Brock honestly hasn’t found yet but when he finds that weakeness he’ll beat Goldberg at Mania and then win the Universal title later. So no matter who wins, the ultimate winner is Brock Lesnar. He teased Lesnar being there without saying it.
The New Day is out and introduced the New Day pops.
ROMAN REIGNS VS. BRAUN STROWMAN
Great match. Strowman looked so impressive to the point that even though he lost clean, I don’t think it hurt him at all. He was a monster throughout the match, with the same spot of not going down from the Superman punch. He kicked out of a spear. Reigns tried a spear on the floor and Strowman caught him and powerslammed him through the Spanish announcers table. He also kicked out of a Samoan drop. Reigns did the big where he couldn’t believe Strowman wasn’t going down. The finish saw Strowman do a splash off the top rope, which was teased really well. He missed and Reigns hit a second spear for the pin.
BAYLEY VS. CHARLOTTE FOR THE WOMEN’S TITLE
Charlotte’s PPV record is done. Match was good but couldn’t follow the previous match. Dana Brooke wasn’t there. Bayley kicked out of natural selection. Charlotte was teasing a moonsault to the floor when Banks came out. Charlotte attacked her. Bayley used a belly to belly on the floor due to the distraction but the idea was Bayley didn’t know Banks distracted Charlotte. Charlotte went for an inside cradle and held the trunks but Banks told the referee. Bayley then hit the belly to belly as Charlotte turned around from yelling at Banks for the pin.
KEVIN OWENS VS. BILL GOLDBERG FOR UNIVERSAL TITLE
Owens stalled forever as far as getting into the ring. As soon as the bell rang, Jericho came out and Owens was distracted. Goldberg used a spear and jackhammer for the pin in 21 seconds. People didn’t boo this and it wasn’t a surprise but this wasn’t the reaction of the Lesnar win.
While building to Fastlane on Monday night’s go-home episode of Raw, WWE took the opportunity to round out the card for this coming Sunday’s pay-per-view.
Samoa Joe will take part in his first WWE main roster PPV match at Fastlane as he faces Sami Zayn. The match was made after the two continued their feud on Raw, with Zayn getting revenge on Joe by attacking him this week.
It was also announced on Raw that Sasha Banks would face Nia Jax at Fastlane. Jax previously defeated Banks on the Royal Rumble pre-show in what was essentially a squash match.
Rich Swann & Akira Tozawa vs. Brian Kendrick & Noam Dar will be Sunday’s kickoff match before Fastlane’s main card gets underway.
Fastlane is WWE’s last PPV before WrestleMania and takes place at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The updated card for the show is:
WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens defending against Goldberg
Raw Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Charlotte Flair
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
Samoa Joe vs. Sami Zayn
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville defending against Jack Gallagher
Raw Tag Team Champions Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defending against Enzo Amore & Big Cass
Sasha Banks vs. Nia Jax
Rich Swann & Akira Tozawa vs. Brian Kendrick & Noam Dar
Monday night brought the addition of two more title matches to Raw’s upcoming Fastlane pay-per-view card.
Following a storyline where it was teased that Bayley would relinquish the Raw Women’s Championship due to the outside interference in her win last week, Bayley refused to give up the title and it was announced that Charlotte Flair would get her rematch at Fastlane.
Enzo Amore & Big Cass also became the number one contenders for the brand’s tag titles on Raw with a win over Cesaro & Sheamus and will get their match with Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson at the PPV.
Fastlane is WWE’s last PPV before WrestleMania and takes place at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 5th. The updated card for the show is:
WWE Universal Champion Kevin Owens defending against Goldberg
Raw Women’s Champion Bayley defending against Charlotte Flair
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville defending against Jack Gallagher
Raw Tag Team Champions Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defending against Enzo Amore & Big Cass
WWE continued building to its next two brand-exclusive pay-per-views on Tuesday night by adding matches to both the Fastlane and Elimination Chamber cards.
Jack Gallagher capped off the night on 205 Live by becoming the number one contender for Neville’s WWE Cruiserweight Championship. Gallagher defeated TJ Perkins, Mustafa Ali, Cedric Alexander, and Noam Dar in a fatal five-way elimination match to get the title shot and will challenge Neville at Fastlane.
Earlier in the night on SmackDown, two more matches were added to the Elimination Chamber card as well. It was announced that Randy Orton would be facing Luke Harper at the PPV as part of the ongoing storyline with the Wyatt Family. Dolph Ziggler will also be involved in a handicap match at Elimination Chamber as he takes on both Apollo Crews & Kalisto.
Elimination Chamber and Fastlane are WWE’s final two PPVs before WrestleMania 33. Elimination Chamber will take place at the Talking Stick Resort Arena in Phoenix, Arizona this coming Sunday, while the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin will host Fastlane on March 5th.
Goldberg will be facing Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 33 in Orlando, Florida, but only after challenging Kevin Owens for the Universal Championship at Fastlane.
Both matches were officially set on tonight’s episode of Raw as Goldberg interrupted a segment with Owens and Chris Jericho in the ring. Goldberg quickly accepted Lesnar’s challenge for a rematch at WrestleMania before setting his sights on the Universal title.
Owens said that Goldberg vs. Lesnar would be perfect for the undercard of WrestleMania as he claimed that the Owens vs. Jericho match that the two had been setting up would be the main event. Goldberg then challenged Owens to a Universal title match at Fastlane, which Jericho accepted on behalf of Owens after Goldberg took Jericho’s list out of his hands.
Another match was also set for Fastlane on Monday night as it was announced that Roman Reigns would be taking on Braun Strowman at the upcoming pay-per-view. That match became apparent as their storyline continued at the Royal Rumble with Strowman costing Reigns his shot at the Universal title. Reigns then returned the favor as Strowman challenged Owens last week.
Fastlane will take place on March 5th at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It will be WWE’s last PPV before WrestleMania 33 on April 2nd.
With the second-ever WWE Fastlane Sunday night, what better time to look at the state of WWE one year ago than by watching last year’s show? This is a read-a-long to be enjoyed while watching said WWE PPV on the WWE Network…or the DVD if you’re still buying those.
It’s interesting to look and see the positioning of guys on the card one year ago. As you may recall, the main event was a match between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns. It’s sad to think that the recently retired Bryan was at the top of his game just a year ago — positioned as the guy to get Reigns over for his main event at Wrestlemania 31.
Let’s go back to February 22nd at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, TN, and look at the main talking points from each match.
The Authority (Seth Rollins/Kane/Big Show) w/Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury vs. Dolph Ziggler, Erick Rowan, and Ryback
What a team of babyfaces. The reaction to Rowan was non-existent.
This was a fine match, but nothing special because nobody cares about anyone in this mix. Dolph got the mild tag from Ryback, and went wild until Big Show KO’d Ziggler and Kane pinned him.
Show’s punch was replayed in slow motion which showed how obviously Ziggler jumped into it. Hilarious.
Seth hit the curb stomp on Zig post match to get their heat back, until Randy Orton ran in and cleaned house. RKOs out of everywhere!
Stardust vs. Goldust
Finally the match between the Rhodes brothers nobody asked for!
Dusty was shown giving Goldust a pep talk before the match which was pretty cool.
Remember Cody’s new body from five years ago? He wrestled this match shirtless. My guess is that it was shortly after this match where big brother grabbed little brother’s ear and revealed to him the secret of longevity in wrestling: the full body suit. “It’s great, Cody. You never have to work out or tan or eat good. Sure you have to scrape paint flakes out of your eyes every morning, but look at me! I got Terri Runnels with this physique!”
This had a weird ending. Gold rolled up Star and the referee counted one, two, and then didn’t hit the mat for the three, but Star’s shoulders were definitely down for three and so the ref hopped up and said it was a three count and the match was over. I think the storyline was that the ref got paid off by Dusty to end the match early so that his sons would not get hurt. That, or they blew the finish.
Cody beat down Dustin after the match in front of the Dream.
WWE Tag Team Champions The Usos (Jey and James) w/ Naomi vs. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro w/ Natalya
Facts. Cats. Those are the words on Kidd’s kick pads, because he likes cats AND drops facts. What a gimmick.
Cesaro and Kidd were so great. What awful luck for both of these guys lately. Get well soon!
Cesaro did a one-legged swing with an Uso. That is freaky impressive.
Kidd hooked in the Sharpshooter and got superkicked. Jimmy got the visual fall on Kidd as the action spilled outside. This match is getting good.
Then, just like that, it’s over. Kidd hits an Uso with a spinning fisherman buster and gets the pin, and the belts. Your new champions Tyson Kidd and Cesaro!
Kidd’s tan was Olympic level.
HHH and Sting Face-to-Face
Remember this? Me neither. Boy, Sting dropped off the radar fast.
HHH cut a mighty promo, especially blowhardy today.
Sting came out and got face-to-face with The Game
HHH went for the cheap shot and it broke down into a brawl, leading to a sledgehammer vs. baseball bat standoff. The baseball bat won, for now.
WWE Divas Champion Nikki Bella w/ Brie vs. Paige
Paige’s outfit is completely black here. Reebok probably designed it. I like the addition of the blue these days though.
Is the Divas Revolution done? Is everyone good and revolted? I haven’t heard that used in a while. Good thing too. WWE nomenclature is infuriating.
The crowd was absolutely dead for this match, and remember, this is mid Nikki’s record-breaking title reign.
Nikki won with a roll up and a handful of tights.
WWE I-C Champion Bad News Barrett vs. Dean Ambrose
Barrett’s music is pretty cool. The League of Nations’ music suuuuuuuuuucks.
Dean Ambrose has the best gimmick. He gets to just show up and simply take off his shirt and he’s ready to wrestle. You know he wears those jeans everywhere, and he’s definitely a guy who really wears wife beater t-shirts. I’m wearing one now. It’s quite comfy. It’s pink too. #PinkLivesMatter #TeamViggity
Barrett is a good wrestler. He’s another guy who is really good but has had just terrible luck with injuries right when he was about to get pushed, along with Cesaro, Tyson Kidd, Sin Cara, etc.
Ambrose got DQ’d for using the belt. He laid Barrett out, got caught, got DQ’d, then walked off with the belt anyway. Ha!
Unannounced, the Druids enter the arena. Then the gong hits. I think Glacier is making his debut! No. It’s a casket. Maybe Glacier is in the casket. Nope. It’s Bray Wyatt. Boooooooh.
WWE US Champion Rusev w/ Lana vs. John Cena
Rusev just whipped up on old Johnny boy for a while.
Rusev should have shoes on, specifically the Iron Shiek’s shoes. That would be awesome. (I know they are different countries but who cares?)
People didn’t make a big enough deal about Cena getting away from jorts. That topic needed its own Observer issue. Why did he do it? I predict that within the next five years, jean shorts will come back in style.
They did the yay/boo spot. Rusev needs to start doing the ten punches in the corner spot and count in Russian. It would be amazing if he could get the fans to actually learn to count to ten in Russian.
Rusev and Cena exchange some submissions. Good action.
This was when Rusev was undefeated with like six losses on his record.
Rusev won by technical submission as Cena was passed out in the Accolade so lil Naitch rang the bell.
Cena did this hokey selling post match that got booed. Ha!
Roman Reigns vs. Daniel Bryan to determine the number one contender to the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
They had a dang good match.
I’m still not sure why Reigns is allowed to wear body armor. That seems like cheating.
I love JBL: “Don’t forget, I know stuff about old boxing.”
It’s a shame Bryan never did the “I’ve got til FIVE!” spot in WWE. I’ll bet Vince nixed that.
Huge belly to back off the top by Bryan into the Yes lock!
Both guys took idiotic bumps outside the ring for a long double down.
I can’t help but believe the crowd is going to be unhappy with this finish.
Bryan with the running knee!
I missed some of the match researching gambling odds on the Oscars.
Does anyone get a redder face than Mike Chioda?
Bryan did the Brie Mode kicks (wink).
Reigns hit a monster spear for the clean pin.
Bryan does the rude put over, getting in Reigns’ face and telling him he’d better kick his (Brock’s) buns.
Summary:
I really don’t like the Fastlane name. It was much better when Elimination Chamber was the February show. I know the argument against doing a gimmick show for the sake of the gimmick, but the Elimination Chamber was always a draw, and Fastlane sounds like some group think garbage that’s been polished over to make it appealing to everyone. That’s a mistake. The more polished something feels, the less real it feels, and thus we find it phony. I hope WWE takes notice of the Daniel Bryan retirement speech and realizes that fans connect to realness, but they probably won’t.
The Big Takeaway: Daniel Bryan announced his retirement in one of the most emotional segments in the 23-year history of Raw. Bryan made a memorable speech where he came off as the most normal person ever to achieve stardom. The theme of the speech was all the things he had been grateful for over his 15-year career. It’s amazing to think that someone perfectly content with being the world’s biggest cult wrestler could become the biggest star in the biggest company in the world, but that’s what happened. In terms of storyline, the biggest news was the Dudley Boyz turned heel on the Usos, which was overdue.
Show Recap:
Right away, a Daniel Bryan package aired, starting with his early days as American Dragon competing in the Texas Wrestling Alliance. It continued until the culmination at WrestleMania. They showed his tweet from earlier today announcing his retirement.
Stephanie McMahon opened the show in the ring for a contract signing. Crowd chanted for Bryan. She appeared to have a tear in her eye while trying to maintain a straight face. She was out there for a contract signing for the Fast Lane main event with Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Brock Lesnar. Ambrose got the jump on her, and demanded to move things along. Stephanie started to say there would be no physical altercations between the three of them when Reigns walked down. Someone had a sign that said “Can we trade Roman for Cesaro?” Lesnar and Paul Heyman were introduced by Stephanie, who interrupted Heyman during his ring entrance. Everyone signed the deal and Stephanie left, leaving the three men alone in the ring.
Heyman referred to Ambrose as “little brother” as said he should ask his “Big brother Samoan” what the difference is between a beatdown by the authority and an authoritative beatdown by Brock Lesnar. Ambrose was set off by that and got in Lesnar’s face. Lesnar threw Ambrose across the table and into Reigns like a rag doll,threw the table onto Reigns, then gave Ambrose an F-5. Lesnar left the ring. HHH walked out for a staredown with Lesnar. Reigns looked upset at Ambrose, for some reason. Ambrose is being booked like a cruiserweight in this program and it’s done nothing but get him under.
There was a theme for the night entitled #thankyoudanielbryan, highlighting moments from his WWE career. It started with his first match at NXT, where he wrestled Chris Jericho in 2010. It’s so funny to think Bryan is getting a hero’s sendoff tonight when the company did everything they could to get him under during his first six months in NXT.
Ambrose told Reigns backstage he would get even with Lesnar tonight.
Dolph Ziggler defeated Kevin Owens (11:02)
Dolph Ziggler won when Kevin Owens missed a Cannonball, and Ziggler rolled him up in a cradle while his feet were on the ropes. How the ref missed that one was unreal. He looked right at Owens shoulders and Ziggler’s feet were in plain view unless he has no sight in his left eye. Michael Cole then acted like he didn’t notice anything unusual. Apparently, Cole is going for Mike Carey’s job on CBS next football season. A good match where they teased a double countout after Ziggler hit a Famouser on Owens from the apron onto the floor.
The next #thankyoudanielbryan moment was from 2011, when Bryan defeated the Miz to win the U.S. Championship.
The Usos talked with the Dudley Boyz tonight. The Usos wrestle the New Day tonight in a tables match. Devon Dudley said if anyone should get a tables match tonight, it should be them. Bubba Ray Dudley said the entire WWE Universe didn’t like the New Day. The crowd responded by booing. Bubba Ray told the Usos they should team tonight for a 4-on-4 match against the New Day, where they New Day would have to get themselves a partner. Usos agreed.
Charlotte defeated Alicia Fox via submission (5:14)
Charlotte won with the Figure Eight. Crowd elected to entertain themselves by chanting for Lana (which Charlotte didn’t look happy about) and the Seattle Seahawks. Alicia Fox’s only offense were one-legged drop kicks like Velvet McIntyre.
MizTV with Chris Jericho started with Miz replaying him getting pounded by A.J. Styles last week. Miz said he could have made Styles an A-lister. Jericho interrupted him and said the fans would rather see a Highlight Reel instead of MizTv. So they overhauled the set instantly with roadies bringing in the JeriTron 5000, a new rug and new lighting. Even a potted plant. So it became the Highlight Reel. Jericho started interviewing Miz and brought up Styles’ victory over Miz on SmackDown. Crowd chanted “You look stupid” at Miz, who claimed he had a meeting with Stephen Spielberg last week, putting himself over as an A-lister. Somehow, Jericho said that reminded him of the Chipmuncks song “All I Want for Christmas is my Two Front Teeth.” Some fans sang along.
Miz ran a clip of his own, which was Styles beating Jericho. Miz said losing to Styles was eating him alive. Jericho said he was right, it has been eating him alive. Crowd chanted for Styles. Jericho knew Styles was good, but he asked if he was great. Jericho said we would find out on SmackDown, but he highly doubted it because he was the best in the world at what he did. Styles came out, but Miz jumped Jericho from behind . Styles ran down to take care of Miz. Jericho gave Miz a clothesline out of the ring, then had a brief staredown with Styles. Miz ran back in, only to get discarded again, leading to another staredown that got physical and turned into fisticuffs. Miz dragged Jericho out of the ring, only to have Jericho throw him across the announcer’s table. And it ended with Styles and Jericho traded words going to the back. Styles vs. Jericho is such an effective program by itself, potentially feud of the year-caliber if handled right. Putting the Miz in the midst of it is like having Al Pacino and Robert Di Niro star in a Goodfellas sequel, but instead of Joe Peschi or Ray Liotta as the third-billed star, it’s Rob Schneider.
The next Bryan highlight was the 2011 Money in the Bank, where Bryan kicked Wade Barrett off the ladder to take the briefcase. 5 months later, he cashed in the briefcase to beat the Big Show and win the World Heavyweight Championship.
Bray Wyatt defeated Ryback (6:55)
Bray Wyatt won when Ryback attempted a spear. Wyatt stopped him dead in his tracks with Sister Abigail and the three count. You can always tell when Ryback is jobbing based on the inflection he uses when he says “Wake up, it’s feeding time” during his ring entrance. Lately, he’s had a downward inflection. To punctuate that, Wyatt, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper and Braun Strowman laid waste to him postmatch, ending with Wyatt giving him Sister Abigail on the floor. Wyatt cut a promo to no one in particular afterwards, saying people can ask for mercy, mercy they will not receive.
Daniel Bryan flashback to his days with Kane in Team Hell No.
Tweets to Bryan from various WWE personalities included Vince McMahon, Kalisto, Paige and the Ultimate Warrior’s widow were shown.
Big E. was polishing up tables in the back when Renee Young walked in wondering who their mystery partner for the tables match was going to be. Xavier Woods wouldn’t say, and Kofi Kingston said New Day were like the Denver Broncos, world champions that everybody loved.
Ambrose told Reigns he wanted to have a one-on-one confrontation with Lesnar tonight.
Adam Rose defeated Titus O’Neal (3:17)
Prematch, Adam Rose did micwork where he proclaimed himself “The Radical Mongoose.” Curtis Axel couldn’t believe how horrible that sounded. Bo Dallas said he had great friends that would turn into great trends. Rose won when Hath Slater distracted Titus O’Neal, leading to Rose getting the schoolboy cradle pin. O’Neal immediately clotheslined Rose over the top rope. So Rose didn’t go over, O’Neal lost and no one got over. So what was the point of this?
Next Bryan flashback was him winning the WWE Heavyweight Championship from John Cena at SummerSlam 2013.
Ambrose came out and said Lesnar must have hit him with a F-2 or an F-3 earlier, because he thought an F-5 was supposed to hurt. He called out Lesnar, who came out chuckling at the thought of Ambrose calling him out. Lesnar quickly laid Ambrose out beating him up around the ring, then laying him out with an F-5. At this point, Ambrose had the booking cred of Adam Rose on the show. That only slightly changed when Ambrose called Lesnar back to the ring with a wild look in his eye. Lesnar stepped back in the ring, but then Reigns stepped out on the ramp. As Lesnar was distracted by Reigns, Ambrose snuck up from behind and gave Lesnar a low blow. And then Ambrose left. Reigns smiled like Ambrose had won the battle over Lesnar. Crowd stayed totally silent, as if Ambrose was the heel in that scenario. At the very best, Ambrose looks like Reigns’ tag-along in this setup, which isn’t how you make a new star.
Alberto Del Rio and Rusev defeated Lucha Dragons (5:37)
Alberto Del Rio pinned Kalisto with the world’s most elaborate finisher where ADR jumps off the top rope onto the chest of Kalisto. Sin Cara returned and gave Rusev a tope to take him out. Lana was missing again after reemerging from oblivion last week.
In footage from earlier, R-Truth was on his way to the Jimi Hendrix Museum when he stumbled onto Goldust dressed as Hendrix, playing a guitar while singing an offshoot of “Purple Haze.” Goldust smashed the guitar on a sidewalk. Security led Goldust away. An attempt at comedy the same way recent Adam Sandler movies have been an attempt.
Next Bryan moment was from March 2014, the Occupy Yes movement which led to Bryan’s victory over HHH at WrestleMania. I loved the bitter, old wrestlers criticism of that angle, one of whom claimed it was “contrived.” As if all the angles from the 1970s were shoots. The irony was Bryan’s push to the top in 2014 was a series of spontaneous events spawned by the fans, which led to contrived angles that got over.
Tamina defeated Becky Lynch (3:38)
Sasha Banks was on commentary. Tamina started mouthing off to Banks in the ring. That led to Naomi hitting Banks with a forearm, and it looked like she stuffed Banks good. Lynch saw this, left the ring and gave Naomi an Exploder suplex. Lynch got back in the ring and ate a superkick by Tamina, who got the pin. Earlier, Naomi got some heat with outside interference. That was kind of different seeing a heel actually break the rules.
The New Day talked to its mystery partner and gave him a unicorn horn to place on his head. It was Mark Henry, who started playing Woods’ trombone. Henry and Big E. began dancing, with Henry bringing up his days as Sexual Chocolate in 1998.
Nikki Bella, Owens, Cena and Natalya tweeted salutes to Bryan.
The Dudley Boyz and the Usos defeated the New Day and Mark Henry in a tables match (7:31)
The match was rushed. Henry walked out when the New Day ordered him to splash Jimmy Uso. It ended with the Dudleys giving Big E a 3-D through the table. It appeared that Jey Uso had a hard time putting weight down on his left leg.
The Dudleys then turned heel, jumping the Usos. First, they put Jimmy Uso through a table, then Jey took a super bomb through a table. Crowd chanted “ECW.” Bubba reeled off some of his catchphrases from his Bully Ray days, asking Jimmy if he knew who they were. Overdue move turning the Dudleys because the company needs a strong heel tag team act, as opposed to the New Day as a comedy heel act.
The company profiled all of the major mainstream publications that broke the Bryan retirement news. It was even on ESPN’s bottom line all day, which is incredible if you watched how that network treated wrestling during the boom period.
Bryan came out with his trimmed beard and a haircut. He looked like he really didn’t want to give this speech. He stood in the ring with his eyes closed and head down as everyone chanted “Yes” around him, looking like he was going to break down. The expression only got more cheers and chants, which made him crack a smile. Bryan said he was able to close his eyes and feel the reaction the way he had never got to feel it before, and he’ll never forget it.
He said that he had to address the elephant in the room…he really wanted to shave his beard. He said he shaved his head called “Wigs for Kids,” which makes wigs for kids that have cancer. Bryan said he had been wrestling since he was 18 and within 5 months, he had 3 concussions. After that, he would get a concussion here and there, which adds up after 16 years. It gets to a point where doctors say you can’t wrestle anymore. He fought that for a long time, after receiving EKGs and various evaluations. He wanted to come back and wrestle in the WWE because he’s loved wrestling more than anything.
A week and a half ago, a test indicated perhaps his brain wasn’t as OK as he thought it was. He has a family to think about, he and Brie Bella want to start having kids soon (which got Yes chants). Bryan joked that’s what Brie says all the time. That got Holy Shit chants. Bryan announced his retirement with the heaviest of hearts and the utmost sadness.
For the last year, Bryan said he’s been sad, frustrated, and angry. But when he woke up today he felt gratitude. He got to do what he loved for 16 years. He loved the Seahawks, which got a huge pop. He loved hearing the fans react just as his music hits. He loved diving through the ropes, which makes him feel like Superman. He loved wrestling in the parking lot of gas stations and wrestling in front of 70,000 fans in New Orleans. He loved getting to know people like Kane, who looks like a monster but is among the smartest people he knows.
He got to know Steven Regal, who has been his mentor. He got to know children like Connor. He said he was very grateful because wrestling doesn’t owe him anything, nor does the WWE or the fans. The wrestlers do this because they love to do it. He neer dreamed the fans would get behind him the way he did, since he was 5’8, 180 pounds. He came close to breaking down here. He was grateful for two years ago when the fans in Seattle hijacked Raw. And the WWE was trying to arrange a program between Cena and Randy Orton, and the fans still chanted for Bryan.
Bryan said that wasn’t why he was grateful. He was grateful because his father was sitting in the crowd and got to see that. Bryan started crying as he remembered his father, who passed away shortly after WrestleMania. It was the last time his father got to see him wrestle.
Because of wrestling, he got to meet the most wonderful woman in the world. She’s beautiful, smart and completes him in a way that he didn’t think was possible. He was grateful to announce his retirement in front of his mother, his sister, his family and friends. He. Was. Grateful.
Tomorrow morning, he starts a new life, where he is no longer a wrestler. But that’s tomorrow, not tonight. He asked for one more Yes chant and he would really appreciate it. Brie came out as the fans chanted yes and his music played. They kissed in midring as Michael Cole said the company was thankful for having his talent under their employ.
