Tag: Heath Slater

WWE Main Event results: Slater & Rhyno vs. Gallows & Anderson

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: R-Truth made his first appearance on Main Event in a year while beating Curt Hawkins in the opener, then Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson stole one against Heath Slater & Rhyno in a strong main event.

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R-Truth defeated Curt Hawkins (4:38)

R-Truth comes out rapping to this expectant crowd in Nashville. He is in incredible physical shape at 45, a fact that many casual WWE fans just won’t realize. He and Hawkins do a lot of comedy early here, with Truth now adding dabs to his dubious dance repertoire.

Truth legdrops Hawkins, who rolls under the ropes to take a breather. Hawkins spikes Truth on the top rope and then takes over with strikes and a big vertical suplex. Truth kicks out at one and Hawkins slows things down with a rear chinlock.

When Truth works his way out, Hawkins takes him down by sweeping out his legs from under him and goes back on offense. Truth kicks out of a side suplex as Hawkins postures to the crowd. Truth nails him with a leg lariat and then gets the heat with clotheslines and a sit-out reverse suplex slam.

Truth misses the axe kick but is able to hit him with a finisher that he used to use in TNA, the reverse STO. This was pretty much by the numbers and exactly what you would expect.

Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defeated Heath Slater & Rhyno (6:09)

Rhyno and Anderson start off together, with Rhyno taking the early going. He runs through Anderson and tags in Slater for some tag team tandem offense. Slater works over the left arm until he goes to tag in Rhyno. Anderson decides he’s had enough and retreats to his corner. He tags in Gallows to square off against Rhyno.

Gallows looks to waste no time, but he gets caught by Rhyno, who then goes to the second rope and floors Gallows with a diving shoulder block. Gallows kicks out of the cover, then Rhyno tags in Slater.

As Slater mounts him in the corner for punches, Anderson distracts Slater and he turns around to eat a superkick from Gallows. Anderson and Gallows celebrate with the too sweet as we head to a break.

Gallows and Anderson have the ring cut in half as we return, with Slater playing babyface in peril. Slater works his way out of a rear chinlock and is nailed back to the mat, then Gallows goes over and nails Rhyno. He turns around and gets dropkicked by Slater as both men crawl to make tags.

Rhyno comes in and is all over Anderson with a running spear to the corner and a huge belly-to-belly suplex. Gallows has to come in to make the save and Slater takes him out and they both spill outside. Rhyno hits Anderson with a superplex, but he kicks out at two.

Rhyno then looks for the tag, but Gallows sneaks around and takes out Slater’s feet so that he smashes his head into the apron. With the referee’s back turned, Gallows enzuigiris Rhyno to the back of the head and they hit the Magic Killer for the win. This was a decent match but had a really good finish.

WWE Main Event results: Drew Gulak vs. Lince Dorado

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Lince Dorado may have injured his knee in the opener against Drew Gulak, while Rhyno & Heath Slater continued their winning streak with a win against Bo Dallas & Curt Hawkins.

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Drew Gulak defeated Lince Dorado (4:38)

On the bell, Gulak charges at Dorado and they explode into action. Dorado takes most of the early going with quick springboard moves until Gulak takes him down and starts to work him over with chinlocks and armbars.

The most newsworthy part of the match, though, was about four minutes in just as they were about to go to the finish. Dorado twirled Gulak into a backbreaker, but as he did so, he landed awkwardly on his right foot and Gulak smashed into his knee.

Dorado was slightly off balance and his ankle looked to have turned over slightly. He rolled out of the move clutching his knee. He nodded to the ringside officials and the referee immediately called for the bell.

Dorado since posted on his Instagram account with a picture of his foot in a sports trainer with a comic on his lap. The caption underneath just read “Recover.” Its unclear at this stage whether the injury was an angle or if it just seemed more serious at the time.

Rhyno & Heath Slater defeated Bo Dallas & Curt Hawkins (7:01)

Hawkins’ partner this week is Bo Dallas. Dallas seems to be slowly changing his look; his beard is thicker and longer than ever and he is wearing his hair down and loose.

Rhyno and Slater take control in the early stages as Rhyno beats up Hawkins and flies off the ropes with a headbutt. Only after Slater loses out in an Irish whip does Hawkins get the chance to tag in Dallas. Dallas is able to dodge out of the way of Slater, who tumbles through the ropes to the outside as we head to a break.

Hawkins and Dallas have cut the ring in half as we return. They use a mixture of rest holds, double teams, and quick pin attempts to try to finish Slater off. Once again, even in these short tag team bouts, Hawkins’ quality as a wrestler really stands out. He hits neat suplexes and elbow drops and just makes it all look extremely easy.

Finally, Rhyno gets in and clears house. He Samoan drops Dallas, but Hawkins dives in to make the save. Slater dumps Hawkins over the top rope, but the momentum takes him with him. Rhyno turns back around and uses his spinning spinebuster for the win.

WWE Main Event results: TJP and Gran Metalik face off again

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: With Vic Joseph from NXT leading the announce team, TJP beat Gran Metalik in the opening bout, while Rhyno and Heath Slater picked up a win against the begrudging combination of Curtis Axel and Curt Hawkins.

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TJP defeated Gran Metalik (5:25)

TJ Perkins, now “TJP,” doesn’t seem to be a perfect fit as a heel. His gimmick is perhaps more annoying than it is heelish. He comes out here against Gran Metalik and other than a curl of his upper lip, his entrance is just as it was when he first came to the main roster last year.

After a slow start, they put on some good wrestling. They previously faced off in the finals of the Cruiserweight Classic last year, where Perkins became Cruiserweight Champion.

Rest holds and TJP’s attempts to thwart any high flying from Metalik soon give way to these two reverting to type and doing what they do best.

After TJP’s suicide dive to the outside, Metalik does a beautiful ropewalking dropkick and then hits a top rope splash for a near fall. TJP rolls out of the way of a moonsault and hoists Metalik onto his shoulders and hits his Detonation Kick for the win.

Rhyno & Heath Slater defeated Curtis Axel & Curt Hawkins (7:36)

These are the kind of undercard performers it’s fun to watch before an episode of Raw. Curt Hawkins has had a string of appearances on Main Event over the last few weeks. His entrance complete with his “heaping helping of Hawkins” is the kind of stuff The Miz was attempting to get over before he was given a push. And Hawkins has the in-ring ability to match his promos.

The story of the match is that Hawkins and Axel don’t really get along but are still very effective. Slater works most of the match, with Rhyno waiting for the hot tag.

Axel and Hawkins keep blind tagging in as they tease dissension early on. But they cut the ring in half and keep Slater as the babyface in peril. The match isn’t too much to write home about as Axel and Hawkins transition from one chinlock to the next, but Hawkins is very neat and tidy and doesn’t waste too much movement.

The finish sees Slater give the hot tag to Rhyno. He nails Axel and covers him for a near fall before Hawkins makes the save.

Slater superkicks Hawkins and springboards over the top rope onto him on the outside. Inside the ring, the distraction allows Rhyno to spinebuster Axel for the win.

Tag team turmoil match set for Raw in London

Posted on by Joseph Currier

The next challengers for The Hardys’ tag titles will be decided as Raw makes its way to London on Monday night.

Kurt Angle announced a number one contender’s tag team turmoil match for the show during a backstage segment with the Golden Truth last week, though no other participants were revealed at the time.

WWE.com has since posted that Cesaro & Sheamus, Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson, Enzo Amore & Big Cass, and Heath Slater & Rhyno will join Goldust & R-Truth in vying for a shot at the Raw Tag Team Championship.

The program between The Hardys and Cesaro & Sheamus continued after their match at Payback, with the champions being laid out in an attack after the match. Cesaro & Sheamus also fled the ring as The Hardys looked to get revenge last week.

WWE hasn’t yet revealed when the winning team will get their shot at the titles, though Raw’s next pay-per-view is Extreme Rules on June 4th in Baltimore, Maryland.

Both Raw and SmackDown will be taped at the O2 Arena in London shortly before they air this week as WWE continues its European tour.

Bray Wyatt switches brands in WWE Superstar Shakeup

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Four more wrestlers have moved from SmackDown to Raw as WWE continues to make roster changes.

After Finn Balor defeated Jinder Mahal, Bray Wyatt appeared on the video screen to announce that he was coming to Raw. He also revealed that he’ll be challenging for Randy Orton’s WWE Championship in a House of Horrors match at Raw’s Payback pay-per-view on April 30th, though Orton remains on the SmackDown roster.

Wyatt previously won the WWE title at Elimination Chamber before dropping it to Orton at WrestleMania 33.

Kalisto, Heath Slater, and Rhyno were also added to Raw as part of the “Superstar Shakeup.” WWE had teased that Slater and Rhyno would be joining the show earlier in the day, saying that former Tag Team Champions would be switching brands.

They join Apollo Crews, The Miz, Maryse, Dean Ambrose, and Curt Hawkins as the newest additions to the Raw roster. No one has been announced as joining SmackDown yet, which figures to happen tomorrow as the two-night shakeup continues in Boston, Massachusetts.

Two more title matches set for the final SmackDown of 2016

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Two more title matches have been set for next week’s year-end edition of SmackDown.

As was announced on tonight’s episode of the show, The Wyatt Family will defend their titles against American Alpha, The Usos, and Heath Slater & Rhyno in a four corners elimination match next week.

The Hype Bros won a battle royal last week to become new number one contenders for the titles, but Zack Ryder was forced to undergo knee surgery due to an injury suffered during the match.

Becky Lynch will also get another shot at Alexa Bliss as she challenges for the SmackDown Women’s Championship next week. Lynch, while disguised under a mask, defeated Bliss in a non-title match tonight.

The final SmackDown of 2016 will also feature a triple threat match for the WWE Championship with AJ Styles defending against Dolph Ziggler and Baron Corbin. Ziggler was originally scheduled to face Styles in a singles match on the show, but he put his title shot on the line against Corbin in the main event of tonight’s SmackDown. That match ended in a double countout, and Daniel Bryan made the triple threat for next week.

SmackDown seemingly plans to close out the year with a bang in Chicago, Illinois next week. The return of John Cena to WWE TV is also scheduled for the show.

Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt set for WWE TLC

Posted on by Joseph Currier

It will be Randy Orton and Bray Wyatt challenging for the SmackDown Tag Team Championship at TLC.

Orton and Wyatt defeated American Alpha in the main event of tonight’s SmackDown to earn a shot at the titles. With some help from Luke Harper, Wyatt got the win for his team after hitting Sister Abigail on Jason Jordan.

After their ongoing storyline had paired him with the Wyatt Family, Orton stood alongside Wyatt as the sole survivors in the Raw vs. SmackDown men’s division elimination tag match at Survivor Series. American Alpha had appeared to earn a shot at the titles on last week’s SmackDown, but they were interrupted by Orton and the Wyatts after their tag team turmoil match.

Also on tonight’s show, it was announced that the SmackDown Women’s Championship match between Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss at TLC will be a tables match.

TLC is scheduled for December 4th in Dallas, TX. The updated card for the PPV is:

  • WWE World Champion AJ Styles defending against Dean Ambrose in a TLC match
  • SmackDown Women’s Champion Becky Lynch defending against Alexa Bliss in a tables match
  • Intercontinental Champion The Miz defending against Dolph Ziggler in a ladder match
  • SmackDown Tag Team Champions Heath Slater & Rhyno defending against Randy Orton & Bray Wyatt
  • Nikki Bella vs. Carmella in a no disqualification match
  • Baron Corbin vs. Kalisto in a chairs match

WWE Main Event results: Rich Swann vs. Lince Dorado

Posted on by Kevin Timothy

Rich Swann defeated Lince Dorado

As was done in the Cruiserweight Classic, the match begins with a handshake. Tom Philips makes a point to note this is how things will be done from now on in all cruiserweight matches. The ropes will also be purple.

They lock up. Dorado takes control. They run around the ring and flip and tumble. They trade pinning attempts and headscissors. They each shake their fingers at each other. The crowd is into the match.

Swann dances and Dorado kicks him in the stomach. Swann throws Dorado out of the ring and dances some more. Swann goes for a dive but Dorado kicks his head. Swann is loopy and falls to the outside. Dorado dives and kicks Swann through the ropes, jumps to the apron, and lands a springboard moonsault.

Back from commercial, Dorado sends Swann hard into the corner and hits a spinning heel kick. He covers for two, then gets Swann in a headlock. The crowd cheers Swann to his feet.

Momentum shifts, and Swann hits a bunch of running forearms, followed by a kick to the neck. He covers Dorado for two. Swann has a crazy look in his eyes. He attempts a rolling frog splash, but Dorado counters and rolls into a cover for two.

Phillips mentions that you can only see this action on Monday Night Raw. If that’s true, Phillips, then how am I seeing it on Main Event?

Dorado goes for a German suplex, but Swann flips out and attempts a jumping DDT. Dorado pancakes him. He dropkicks Swann, then covers for two. The crowd cheers Swann to his feet. He’s definitely an early star of this division.

Swann charges at Dorado in the corner. Dorado kicks him in the face and climbs the second turnbuckle. Swann attempts to kick him but Dorado deflects, rolls down, and roundhouse kicks Swann in the head.

Dorado climbs the top rope and misses a shooting star press. Swann hits a spinning kick before launching into a rolling bridge pin for the victory. They shake hands after the match.

SmackDown Tag Team Champions Heath Slater & Rhyno defeated Breezango

Tom Phillips is offended by Breezango’s puffy shirts. Otunga does a good thing for once, telling him to stop judging everyone. Breezango wrestle in the shirts. This is really distracting for Phillips. He can’t stop talking about them.

Fandango dances for Slater. Phillips finally admits that he wants a puffy shirt. That solves that. Slater dances for Fandango. They trade shots and Fandango tags in Breeze. Slater’s fighting like a man in the midst of a renaissance.

Breeze kicks Slater in the gut. Breeze celebrates, lifting Slater to his feet. Slater reverses into a roll-up for two. Slater tags in Rhyno. Rhyno hits a tackle in the corner, then strike after strike. Otunga mentions that Kevlar isn’t in fashion right now.

Rhyno whips Breeze into the corner and runs at him, but Breeze kicks him in the face and tags Fandango. Rhyno hits a double clothesline. Slater jumps in and scares Breezango outside.

Back from commercial, Fandango covers for two. He tags Breeze. Breeze punches Rhyno. Rhyno attempts to get in the ring, distracting the ref, allowing Breezango to double team Slater.

Slater fights back, but Breeze rushes him into his corner and tags Fandango. Fandango sends Slater to the mat, then hits a spinning uppercut to the back of his neck. He covers for two.

Fandango grabs a headlock. The crowd cheers Slater to his feet. Slater sends Fandango out of the ring. Slater attempts a tag but Fandango pulls Rhyno to the floor. Rhyno slides back in the ring, distracting the ref, allowing another double team. Breeze lands the Supermodel Kick.

Fandango hits a falcon arrow and covers, but Rhyno breaks it. Fandango tags Breeze, who climbs the second rope and jumps right into Slater’s boot. He tags Fandango, who climbs the top rope but misses a flying knee.

Slater crawls to his corner and makes the tag just as Fandango tags Breeze. Rhyno hits a shoulder tackle and a belly-to-belly. He covers. Fandango breaks it but Slater takes him out. Slater blocks a Supermodel Kick from Breeze and spins him right into a Gore. Rhyno covers for the win.

The Usos vs. Heath Slater & Rhyno booked for WWE No Mercy

Posted on by Joseph Currier

American Alpha returned to television on Tuesday night’s edition of SmackDown, but it will be The Usos challenging for Heath Slater and Rhyno’s tag titles at No Mercy.

The Usos defeated Jason Jordan and Chad Gable in a number one contender’s match to earn a shot at the titles. After they injured Gable’s knee in storyline to keep American Alpha out of the tag team tournament finals at Backlash, The Usos once again targeted Gable’s injured body part on SmackDown.

Gable was able to dive in and break up a pin at one point, but his knee gave out when Jordan looked to make a tag. Jordan instead refused to tag Gable in and tried to take the rest of the match alone, but was pinned after a splash from the top rope.

No Mercy will take place on October 9th from Sacramento, CA. The current card for the show is:

  • AJ Styles defending his WWE World Championship against John Cena and Dean Ambrose in a triple threat match
  • Becky Lynch defending her SmackDown Women’s Championship against Alexa Bliss
  • Heath Slater & Rhyno defending their SmackDown Tag Team Championship against The Usos

WWE SmackDown video highlights: Meet the Slater kids

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Miss Tuesday night’s SmackDown or want to watch something again? Check out last night’s video highlights.

More coverage from Tuesday night’s show —

WWE SmackDown Video Highlights —

Heath Slater introduces his kids

Daniel Bryan hosts a Women’s Championship forum

Apollo Crews vs. The Miz

American Alpha vs. The Usos

Nikki Bella, Becky Lynch, & Naomi vs. Natalya, Alexa Bliss, & Carmella

Curt Hawkins returns next week

Bray Wyatt says he’s the predator in his feud against Randy Orton

Randy Orton responds to Bray Wyatt

Kane destroys Fandango

The Usos explain why they attacked American Alpha

Rhyno & Heath Slater vs. The Hype Bros

Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles continue the build to Backlash

SmackDown fallout: Heath Slater celebrates making the tournament finals

Heath Slater’s journey to the SmackDown roster to continue at WWE Backlash

Posted on by Joseph Currier

Heath Slater is one win away from joining the SmackDown roster.

In the semifinals of a tournament to crown the inaugural SmackDown Tag Team Champions, Slater and Rhyno defeated The Hype Bros to earn their way into the tournament finals on Sunday at Backlash. Rhyno picked up the win for the makeshift team after hitting the Gore on Zack Ryder.

Despite being a free agent in storyline, Slater was allowed to enter the tournament if he could find a partner. But he would only officially join the SmackDown roster if he won the entire tournament.

Slater and Rhyno are scheduled to face American Alpha for the titles at Backlash. American Alpha quickly defeated The Usos on SmackDown to earn their way to the finals, but The Usos turned heel and attacked Chad Gable and Jason Jordan after the match. And after Gable suffered a storyline leg injury during the attack, his status for the match is in doubt.

Renee Young later gave an injury update on Gable, saying he was questionable to compete in the title match on Sunday. Young teased that Shane McMahon would possibly provide further update on Gable’s condition when he joins her and Daniel Bryan on Talking Smack later.

UPDATE: It was revealed on Talking Smack that American Alpha will not compete in the match on Sunday, and Gable will be out 2-4 weeks after suffering a kayfabe MCL injury. McMahon and Bryan announced that The Usos will face The Hype Bros at Backlash, with the winning team going on to face Slater and Rhyno for the titles later in the night.

The current card for Backlash is:

  • WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose defends against AJ Styles
  • Randy Orton vs. Bray Wyatt
  • Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Nikki Bella vs. Carmella vs. Naomi vs. Alexa Bliss in a six-pack challenge for the SmackDown Women’s Championship
  • Heath Slater & Rhyno vs. The Usos or The Hype Bros in the finals of a tournament to crown SmackDown Tag Team Champions
  • Intercontinental Champion The Miz defends against Dolph Ziggler
  • The Usos vs. The Hype Bros for a spot in the finals of the SmackDown tag tournament

WWE Superstars results (11/7): Neville relegated to singles action; Bo Dallas gets a rare win.

Posted on by James Cox

The Big Takeaway: Neville beats Slater with his move and Bo Dallas gets a rare win over Zack Ryder in a good main event.

Neville beat Heath Slater (4:02)

Watching last week’s Table for 3, it was interesting to see Neville up close. He’s a very low-key guy who loves wrestling and takes great care of himself, but he was clearly pretty sad about not being apart of NXT anymore. And when you see him used like this on Superstars, you can sympathise with him.

They lock up and Neville takes a shoulder barge to the mat and Slater poses and gyrates his hips. Neville regroups and they start again and this time Neville takes down Slater for a quick cover and then catches him and face plants him into the mat. Neville then flips between the ropes and catches Slater with a diving cross body off the second turn buckle and covers him for two.

Slater charges Neville into the corner and beats him down. Slater locks in a chin lock and Neville works out into a neckbreaker but he then runs right into Slater’s boot. Slater tries the cover but can only get two and so goes back to the chin lock. This time it is more effective and Neville has to work out with punches. Slater runs into Nevilles boot, who now gets the heat with kicks and an enzugiri which allows him to set up and hit the Red Arrow for the win.

Bo Dallas beat Zack Ryder (7:54)

Ryder tries to get the crowd going early but the reaction is tepid. Dallas immediately goes for a roll up at the bell and Ryder kicks out, but that is enough for Dallas to take a victory lap. He goes back into the ring and eats and drop kick and then Ryder uses a headlock takedown for a quick two count. He then flips him with a fireman’s carry into a wrist lock and rings the arm until Dallas uses the ropes to break the hold.

Dallas goes outside and Ryder hits him through the ropes with a missile drop kick. They go back in the ring but Dallas rolls back outside and plays possum and sweeps Ryder’s legs on the apron. He then side Russian leg sweeps Ryder into the dasher boards. We go to a break as Dallas is in the ring waiting for Ryder to get back up.

As we return, Ryder is trying to shake off the beating but takes a forearm to the mat. Dallas goes outside and uses a series of forearms to the back of Ryder’s neck. He covers Ryder for two and then puts on a rear chin lock. Ryder fights out but takes a high knee to the jaw and is then able to face plant Dallas to get some space.

Ryder gets the heat with a flying forearm, gets his knees up as Dallas charges at him and then goes for a missile drop kick off the second rope. Dallas dodges it and Ryder takes a flat back bump and Dallas gets a two count. Dallas uses a neckbreaker but again Ryder kicks out. Dallas is frustrated and yells “come on!” Ryder hits an enzugiri and then sets up and hits the Broski Boot. Dallas rolls outside and Ryder hits him with a drop kick which sends him into the barricade. Ryder goes up top but is crotched and Dallas hits his new finisher, the rope-hung whiplash neckbreaker, for the win. This was very good.