Tag: PPV

WWE TLC 5 – Cena vs. Orton: World and WWE Heavyweight Unification Match

Posted on by Dan Velten

Tables, Ladders, and Chairs… Oh My!  Part 5

By: PeachMachine (@hendosfoodblog)

This week…

TLC 5: December 15, 2013; Houston, Texas, Toyota Center

WWE Champion, Randy Orton, competes against the World Heavyweight Champion, John Cena, in a TLC match to crown a Champion of Champions.

The show starts with a cold open where HHH and Steph come out to make an announcement and they tell us how important this unification match is to history.  Right.  Hunter gives us a Lou Thesz vs. Buddy Rogers history lesson.  This leads to a nice video package.  WWE should just make video packages.  Even when the product is terrible (read: now) they can produce the heck out of a package that will get you interested.

Cole, JBL, and King are on the pipes tonight as usual.

Pre Show Match:  Fandango (with Summer Rae) defeated Dolph Ziggler in a singles match. 

  • Remember last year when Dolph was in the main event? 

CM Punk vs. The Shield (Dean Ambrose, Seth Rollins, and Roman Reigns in a 3-on-1 handicap match

  • I have no memory of how or why this was booked.  It seems preposterous.
  • Punk is sporting the mutton chop look.
  • For a group that touted justice, The Shield sure seems willing to cheat.
  • Seth is wearing a vest he must have gotten from John Popper from Blues Traveler, as it appears to be able to hold a dozen harmonicas.
  • Reigns dove at Punk and tumbled over the announce desk.  He apparently hurt his eye, which is how Punk was able to take advantage.  The doctor checked on this, but it’s definitely an angle because every doctor knows that if it’s a matter of life, limb, or eyesight, you go to the ER right away. 
  • Reigns, suffering from impaired vision, speared Ambrose, and Punk hits the GTS on Ambrose for the pin.  The doctor must feel like a real jerk.
  • What if Punk wins his first UFC match via head and arm choke, i.e. the Anaconda Vice?  That would be sweet.  Luckily, I know the counter.
  • Ridiculous match concept, but it was good.

AJ Lee (with Tamina) is interviewed and AJ calls the Divas division, Natalya, the Slammy Awards, and the whole WWE a joke.  Duh. 

AJ Lee (c) (with Tamina) vs. Natalya for the WWE Divas Championship

  • This is mid AJ Lee super long title run, so I’m assuming she goes over.  Spoiler alert.
  • So is the Tamina character out of the closet?  I’m predicting that happens eventually.
  • Natalya hooks on the Sharpshooter, but AJ counters out.
  • AJ hooks up the Black Widow, but Natalya counters out.
  • AJ rolls up Natalya from another Sharpshooter attempt, and apparently grabbed the hair for the pin.
  • Good match, but nothing special. 

We get another excellent video package showing some awesome champions.  The problem is that both Cena and Orton have been champions, many times.  Nobody is buying the validity of the unification. 

Damien Sandow vs. Big E. Langston (c) for the Intercontinental Championship

  • Big E is doing the chalk hands gimmick.  I’d like to see more stuff with him being really strong.  It would be great if he were bench-pressing Xavier in a skit. 
  • Sandow takes a nice Electric Chair drop by Big E.  He should do that on Big Show.
  • Big E takes down the straps and hits the Big Ending for the pin.
  • A funny spot would be for a heel to take down his straps and then his trunks fall down.

Vince McMahon Jr. walks up to Orton backstage.  The sound didn’t work.  The only thing of note is that Orton was wearing basketball shorts.  So it’s true; he does own leg coverings other than trunks. 

Next we hear from the panel of Josh Matthews, Mick Foley, and Booker T, and they discuss what happened earlier in the night with Miz talking trash on Kofi. 

Fatal Four Way for the Tag Team Championship:  The Real Americans (Cesaro and Swagger with Zeb Colter) vs. Rey Mysterio and Big Show vs. Rybaxel (Ryback and Curtis Axel) vs. Goldust and Cody Rhodes (c); elimination rules

  • Last team left wins the Jabroni cup.
  • Rey was gone for a year prior to this, and I guess “creative” didn’t have enough time to come up with something better for him.
  • Gold Dust rolls up Ryback for the first elimination. 
  • Cesaro hit the Gant Swing.
  • Gold Dust hit the Code Red.  What?
  • Cody hurt his knee, which put him out temporarily.
  • Big Show gives Cesaro the KO punch as Cesaro came off the second rope, then pinned him.
  • The action really picked up into quite a fun match.  Then came a nice finishing sequence where Cody hit the Cross Rhodes on Rey for the pin. 
  • Then Big Show and Rey display good sportsmanship.  Boooooo!

The Jabroni posse gets some airtime as Titus O’Neal and Darren Young break out the Brawling Buddies for an embarrassing segment that ended with Kane walking in and scaring Vicki and Brad Maddox.  It was even dumber than it sounds.

Brodus Clay (with the Funkadactyls and Tensai) vs. R Truth (with Xavier Woods) in a Time Fillers match

  • This was a nothing match. 
  • Why don’t they trust Xavier to wrestle?
  • Tensai and Clay get into it for some reason.  Then Tensai walks out.  Then the Dactyls peace out too for no reason.  I guess because they were about to be famous and didn’t want to be associated with such a bad idea. 
  • R Truth hits the standard WWE school-boy distraction finish.

Miz vs. Kofi Kingston

  • Kofi kicked the steal post.  What about your kick pads bro? 
  • Have I ever mentioned I hate kickpads?  Why would you want to make your kicks less effective?  You only wear those when you’re practicing! 
  • We are really seeing the lack of start power tonight.  Nobody is over.  The crowd long since gave up. 
  • The Miz has a sweet butt-cut.  This match is worth sitting through just for that.  His head looks like a 1-up mushroom.
  • Boring chant.
  • Kofi wins with the Trouble in Paradise.

Then they showed an AWESOME video package for the Raw 20th anniversary DVD, and in doing so completely exposed how awful the current product is with tons of awesome clips.

Daniel Bryan vs. The Wyatts (Bray Wyatt, Erick Rowan, and Luke Harper) in ANOTHER 3-on-1 handicapped match.

  • Only one of them is named Wyatt.  Rowan and Harper should stand up for themselves.
  • Someone should tell Bray that he’s wearing a fedora.  What a gimmick.  I bet he thought of it too.  “Hey creative team, I should do a gimmick wear I sit in a rocking chair instead of wrestling.”
  • JBL suggests that Bryan just join them.  Would that just end the match?  Just pull a total schoolyard job, “Nuh-uh I was on base!”  “Don’t beat me up I’m on your team.”
  • Bray finally tags in to work on a worn out Bryan. 
  • Harper’s log roll, or gator roll, move is so dumb.  The purpose of that move is solely to pin the man, not make him dizzy.  He’s faking a real wrestling hold.  I know, but it bothers me.
  • Bray offers a handshake and says it will all go away, so I guess that answers my question.
  • D Bry had a great comeback, but Bray caught him with the Sister Abigail for the pin, to end a really entertaining match. 

Supposedly this is the first time these two titles have been competed for in the same match, but I’m pretty sure I remember that occurring as recently as 2002 and probably more recent than that.  Oh well.  At least we didn’t have a Chairs match tonight.  Then they show another excellent video package, begging you to care about the same guys who have been on top for nearly a decade.

John Cena (c) vs. Randy Orton (c) for the Unified WWE World Heavyweight Championship (but still two belts)

  • This is the 15th TLC match and Randy Orton’s first.
  • “CUCK FENA” sign.  Ha!  I popped.
  • Early garbage leads to both guys on the floor.
  • Orton lays out Cena and goes to set up a ladder. 
  • Orton body watch:  Much improved from last time we saw him which was 2011.
  • RKO out of nowhere! 
  • Cena goes nuts with the steal steps and Orton is busted open. 
  • A missed punt was countered with an AA through the Spanish announce team.  Now Cena climbs and then Orton dumps him but Cena hangs on to the belts!
  • Randy handcuffed Cena to the bottom rope, but Cena uncoupled the turnbuckle and made a valiant effort to win, but it was too late.  Orton wins after yanking Cena off the ladder.
  • Pretty good match!

Then HHH, Steph, and Vince all come down to celebrate. 

Thumbs in the Middle.  So now my TLC PPV rankings go from best to worst: 4,5,3,1,2.  

WWE TLC 3 – A look at the new December classic

Posted on by Dan Velten

Tables, Ladders, and Chairs… Oh My! Part 3

By: PeachMachine (@hendosfoodblog and @parkingcone)

This week…

TLC 3 – December 18, 2011 – Baltimore, Maryland – 1st Mariner Arena

I’m actually looking forward to watching this show this week, as I know it can’t be three stinkers in a row.  The hype video to open the show was a really well written WWE version of The Night Before Christmas poem.  It’s only a two man announce crew tonight with The King and Cole having to fill the void of Matt Stryker. 

Dark Match – Drew McIntyre defeated Alex Riley

Zach Ryder defeated Dolph Ziggler (c) (with Vickie Guerrero) in a singles match for the US Championship

  • I’m predicting Zach gets axed in the post Mania clearinghouse this year.
  • We are in the middle of the “WWE must talk about twitter all the time” horrible period. 
  • Michael Cole just made as many social media references as he could. 
  • Vicki got booted for putting Dolph’s foot on the rope.  Why do refs allow anyone at ringside at anytime, ever?  What percentage of time does the person at ringside NOT get involved? 
  • This match is pretty good.  A lot of heat actually.  Too bad Zach accidentally got popular.
  • Ryder wins with the Rough Ryder.
  • I feel bad for Cole.  No way could he actually be that big of a dork.  He must hate himself.
  • Zach celebrated with his dad in the crowd. 

Backstage, Alicia Fox chatted up Booker T until Cody Rhodes jumped him.  

Air Boom (c) (Kofi Kingston and Evan Bourne) defeated Primo and Epico (with Rosa Mendes) for the Tag Team Championship

  • Primo and Epico wore some sweet serapes to the ring.
  • The tag belts are awful.  They’re bronze.  “I’m the best at tag team wrestling.  If you don’t believe me, check out my bronze belt.”
  • King claims that Air Boom breaks the laws of Physics.  So, either Evan Bourne and Kofi Kingston are wizards, or King doesn’t understand Physics.
  • Heat on Bourne is just an excuse to focus on Rosa’s, ahem, assets. 
  • Cole, “Air Boom is trending.  People are actually talking about the tag champs.” He really said that.
  • Why don’t tag matches ever end during the time of the match where two men are kicking the crap out of one? 
  • Air Boom wins with Trouble in Paradise

Then there was a skit with Teddy Long as Santa and Hornswaggle as an elf.  They do some awful race relation’s humor, and then Swaggy gets a gift from Teddy, which is Rosetta Stone in Ebonics. I wonder if they’ll follow up with this angle and bring Hornswaggle back as a jive talking elf.

Randy Orton defeated Wade Barrett in a tables match

  • Orton body watch:  He’s tanned out of this world, and jacked.  Definitely the best shape of his career to this point.
  • Your pretty standard table fare with a lot of brawling.  A better than average match.
  • The finish was Orton catching a diving Barrett in an RKO through a table. 

Then we got another Santa skit with the Bella’s arguing over who was the good one.  Santa Teddy said they both were bad so Teddy gave them his card with his number.  Then Jack Swagger showed up and griped about Mark Henry.  Then Sheamus showed up and told us a story about someone getting their head in an arse. 

Beth Phoenix (c) defeats Kelly Kelly

  • They replay the angle from the Slammy’s with Kelly Kelly winning Diva of the year.  Very prestigious.
  • Remember when these two quit WWE for no real reason?  Do you think they regret not being around for this amazing diva’s revolution? 
  • Women wrestlers can just go ahead and not make sound when selling.  It’s unsettling to hear Kelly Kelly screaming “no” and making horrible death noises while getting beaten up. 
  • Beth Phoenix wins clean after the Glam Slam.

Alberto Del Rio is seen yelling at Ricardo when the Miz walks up to talk about their alliance.  Del Rio admits he was playing the Miz, so Miz has to take a dig at the Baltimore Ravens.  That ought to shut up world famous Baltimore Ravens fan Alberto Del Rio.  Then Ricardo come back with a pie or something and gets it shoved in his face.  They need to teach a WWE rules class at the performance center.  I’ll start a tally.  WWE Rule 1) Don’t carry a pastry anywhere.

Booker T. vs. Cody Rhodes

  • Cody jumps Book before Book even gets to the ring and the doctors determine he is unfit to perform.  No match.

HHH defeats Kevin Nash in a sledgehammer ladder match

  • Home Depot must have sponsored this match.   Actually, Home Depot should sponsor the whole PPV.
  • This was the ridiculous feud where Nash murdered HHH, as he laid unconscious strapped to a gurney. 
  • “The sledgehammer can be used legally to beat your opponent.” Announcer, real quote.
  • Nash comes out to the nWo music.
  • HHH spends the opening part destroying Nash’s legs, including a figure four around the ladder.  I think a higher percentage knee-destroying move on Kevin Nash would be to run an infinite crisscross.  It would be funny just to see these two in a race.  Quads vs. Knees.
  • Nash comes back and does his side slam on a ladder. 
  • Nobody has gone after the sledgehammer, because in a ladder match, you’ve already been supplied with plenty of alternate types of sledgehammers. 
  • HHH back drops Nash over the announcers’ table.
  • Here comes the table from under the ring.  So I guess tables are allowed in a sledgehammer ladder match.
  • HHH hits Nash in the head with the hanging sledge, and Nash takes a bump through the table.  That’s a decent bump for Nash. 
  • HHH starts the sledgehammer beating.  HHH connects with the pedigree and goes back to the sledge.  Nash, in desperation, throws up the click hand sign, and HHH responds with a crotch chop and a final sledge shot.  HHH wins.

Strkyer interviewed CM Punk about the beating he took on Raw.  Punk’s promo was great.  He ran down everyone in the match, and Cole, and John Laurinitis.  Then Big Johnny showed up and they talk about the Slammy Punk was supposed to get.  Punk get’s in a “future endeavors” line, and then Johnny has to point out that he’s taller than Punk.  This company is so petty.

Sheamus defeats Jack Swagger (with Vicki Guerrero)

  • Good thing these guys didn’t get along backstage earlier or we would not have this buffer match.
  • I guess they’re giving Vicki a second chance to behave herself.
  • Boring match.  Sheamus wins after the Brogue kick.

Big Show defeats Mark Henry (c) in a Chairs match for the World Heavyweight Championship.

  • This was the feud where they did the ring implosion spot.
  • Show starts the match by making it rain chairs.
  • Henry had his ankle heavily taped. 
  • Show wins the title after delivering the Knock Out Punch through a chair.
  • Then Henry comes back and lays out Big Show with a DDT on the chairs.
  • I honestly wrote, “Mark Henry defeats Big Show” before watching the match because I couldn’t remember Show having a title run.  Then I remembered why…. Daniel Bryan runs in after the match and cashes in his Money in the Bank contract and pins the Big Show.
  • We just saw two title changes.

Josh Matthews interviews Booker T and T says he’s going to fight Cody tonight!  Oh thank heavens we get that match tonight!  

Cody Rhodes (c) defeats Booker T for the Intercontinental Championship

  • This is the storyline where Booker T had been retired for two years.  Was anyone dying for Booker T to come out of retirement?
  • I’ve never liked Booker T in any of his roles.  Ok, King Book was pretty good, but nothing else.  Well, I really liked when he and Goldust reviewed movies.  But that’s it. 
  • Cody wins after the Disaster kick, which Cole identified as, “another kick to the head.”

CM Punk defeats Alberto Del Rio (with Ricardo Rodriguez), and Miz, in a three way TLC match for the WWE Championship

  • Champions usually fare pretty well in three ways.  WWE loves declaring the 33% chance of winning, which is absolutely incorrect, unless of course Roxy Roxborough actually says it.
  • Punk starts climbing and as he does, Ricardo Rodriguez manages to handcuff Punk to a ladder. 
  • Punk broke free by breaking the ladder strut, to which he was attached.  In hindsight, the handcuffing was ridiculously unnecessary.
  • Del Rio delivers an enziguri on Punk and then Punk takes a bump through a table to the floor.
  • Why does Ricardo cut his hair so he looks like a vampire?
  • Del Rio gets up alone, with enough energy to dilly dally on the floor before easily setting up a ladder.  I guess he accidentally swallowed a Qualude somewhere in there, because as he steps on to the ladder, he lost the ability to move his muscles, and could not climb.
  • Rodriguez takes a bump off the ladder through a table on the floor.
  • Oh wait, now Miz handcuffs Punk to the turnbuckle which is ridiculous, but then Punk actually tries to reach for the belt, as if, maaaaaybe he can win the match from his knees attached to the ring post. 
  • Super Punk breaks free from the handcuffs a second time, climbs the ladder and dumps Del Rio, catches Miz in the GTS and climbs again to grab the belt, in really good TLC match.

Analysis:  This show has been the best TLC to date.  The main event was very good.  The HHH match was pretty good.  The Air Boom match was short but fun, and everything else felt appropriately placed.  Even Big Show and Henry had a decent chairs match.  We saw Z Ry and D Bry win belts, and we may have seen Booker T’s last match.  I’d call that a thumbs up show. 

NJPW Power Struggle live results 2015: Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Karl Anderson for IC title

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

We’re looking for your thoughts on tonight’s show, so you can leave a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs in the middle along with a best and worst match to [email protected]

Power Struggle from November 7 in Osaka:

JUSHIN LIGER & TIGER MASK & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & MASCARA DORADA VS. YOHEI KOMATSU & SHO TANAKA & JAY WHITE & DAVID FINLAY

The match was pretty much what you’d expect it to be  Great timing.  Everyone looked good.  Too short.  Nobody had time to stand out or show their best.  Finlay got to do the most among the Young Lions since he was losing.  Several dives and Tiger pinned Finlay after a double arm suplex off the top rope.

Liger challenged Tiger Mask for the NWA jr. title after.  He agreed to it.  First of what are likely to be several square-offs and challenges tonight

TOGI MAKABE & CAPTAIN NEW JAPAN & JUICE ROBINSON VS. DOC GALLOWS & TAMA TONGA & CODY HALL

Crowd was into this one more than you’d think.  Robinson hurt his right knee doing a dive.  He was hurting pretty bad when he went to the back.  Tonga pinned Captain after a Superman punch and a double arm DDT.   Glad to see Tonga get a win.

HIROOKI GOTO VS. EVIL TAKAAKI WATANABE

Match wasn’t much but the post-match angle got over really good.  Goto had him in a shoudlerlock when Tetsuya Naito walked slowly to the ring.  The crowd picked up big for him.  He kicked Goto low right in front of the ref for the DQ and was beating on him and beat down Jay White, Yohei Komatsu and Sho Tanaka until Katsuyori Shibata made the save.  The crowd popped big for Shibata’s save.  Shibata sat in the ring and dared Watanabe & Naito to come in.  As Naito was leaving, he knoked down the camera man shooting him visually it was like he was about to attack you through the computer screen.

KENNY OMEGA & CHASE OWENS & YOUNG BUCKS VS. ALEX SHELLEY & KUSHIDA & BOBBY FISH & KYLE O’REILLY

Real good. Lots of cool moves, fast paced and well timed.  Kushida got the submission on Owens with the hoverboard lock while O’Reilly had Omega in an armbar over the ropes.  Kushida should have beaten Omega since Kushida squared off with Omega after with the belt there.  Felt too short as it was just getting going when they went to the finish.

RICOCHET & MATT SYDAL VS. ROCKY ROMERO & BARETTA FOR THE SUPER JUNIOR TOURNAMENT CHAMPIONSHIP

Super match.  Romero is one of the most unheralded guys in the business.  Ricochet & Sydal were great here.  The finsh was a double shooting star press, Sydal pinning Baretta while Ricochet hit a benadrylller and a shooting star press at the same time to Romero.  Ricochet did a springboard shooting star press to the floor on Baretta as a highlight but the match was filled with highlight moves.  Crowd was really into it, particularly down the stretch.

Ricochet & Sydal challenged Fish & O’Reilly for the titles.  Romero grabbed the mic.  Romero said they just beat the champions at Korakuen Hall so deserve the shot.  The Bucks came out and Nick said they were the former champions they wanted a rematch.  Fish showed the belt and said we’ve beaten all of you except New Kids on the Block.  Fish said we can do it tonight  Nick Jackson started quoting Billy Gunn if you’re not down with that.  They are setting up a four-way at the Tokyo Dome. 

A.J. STYLES & BAD LUCK FALE VS. TORU YANO & YOSHI-HASHI

Predictable finish with Styles pinning Yoshi-Hashi with the Styles clash after a Pele kick and bloody sunday DDT.  Good match.  Styles looked great but was holding his back when it was over.  But he was flying all over the place.  Yano did his usual undoing the turnbuckle stuff and kept his program with Fale going.  Good match.

TOMOHIRO ISHII VS. TOMOAKI HONMA FOR NEVER OPEN WEIGHT TITLE

A match of the year candidate.  These two just killed it, almost as good as their Feburary match.  Honma was just incredible with all these spear head-butts and even doing a diving head-butt off the top rope to the floor which is really the worst idea for a guy his age to be doing.  Ishii was at his best here.  Crowd heat was super.  They so badly wanted Honma to take the title.  I wish he had but they obviously have long-term plans.  The finish saw  Honma go for a spear head-butt but Ishii elbowed him in the face as he was coming in, then lariated him and Honma took a spin bump, before hitting the brainbuster for the pin.  Some of the match was sick, like the ram head-butts.

HIROSHI TANAHASHI & KATSUYORI SHIBATA VS. KAZUSHI SAKURABA & KAZUCHIKA OKADA

Super match.  Tanahashi and Okada worked it to get you to want to see the Tokyo Dome match.  Shibata’s selling was out of this world and he worked great with Sakruaba, although it was mostly Okada in for his team.   The finish saw Shibata & Tanahashi hit a double dropkick on Okada, Shibata did a low dropkick to Sakuraba, Tanahashi hit Sakruaba with the high fly flow, Tanahashi used a plancha on Okada and Shibata hit the GTS on Sakuraba for the pin.

Big angle after the match

Tanahashi did a promo after the match on Okada.  Okada was leaving but came back.  They went face-to-face.  Okada taunted him and Tanahashi went nuts and had to be held back.  He broke free  and they had a pull-apart brawl.  Juice Robinson was out so his knee wasn’t that bad.  The brawled outside the ring.  Okada got the briefcase and hit Tanahashi in the head and shoulder.  Now Okada is all over him.  Tanahashi broke free and went after Okada.  Tanahashi ran after him and dropkicked him on the floor.  Tanahashi broke free again.  Okada tried to tombstone him on the floor but everyone broke hat up  About a minute after it was over, Tanahashi suddenly broke free and ran to the back after Okada.

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA VS. KARL ANDERSON FOR THE IC TITLE

Good luck to these two trying to follow the past two matches.

Long well worked match.  Nakamura’s selling was tremendous and Anderson domianted hitting everything under the sun including a gunstun off the middle rope and a Bernard driver.  The finish saw them exchange moves until Nakamura nailed a high kick for the pin.  Great counters in the last few minutes.  

The surprise guy is A.J. Styles.  So that’s the Tokyo Dome No. 2 match.  They went head to head.  Styles grabbed the belt and handed it to him.  Styles told him he was taking the belt from him.   The announcers were screaming about the Tokyo Dome.  It’ll be a great match but it’s time for some outsiders to be fitted in.  Nakamura then talked about facing Styles at the Tokyo Dome. 

TNA vs. Global Force Wrestling match announced for Bound for Glory pay-per-view

Posted on by Dave Meltzer

Barely one week after the “blow-off” of the TNA vs. Global Force Wrestling feud on television, TNA has announced a new match for the Bound for Glory PPV on October 4th in Concord, NC, as Eddie Edwards & Davey Richards will defend the TNA Tag Team Championship against Trevor Lee & Brian Myers, who are billed as GFW wrestlers.

The teams wrestled twice on television at the last set of tapings, with Lee & Myers scoring a fluke title win, but then dropping them back before the blow-off Lethal Lockdown match that aired on 9/16.

The two organizations seem to be maintaining an alliance, which behind-the-scenes is described as cordial but uneasy, because they both have reason right now to benefit from working with the other.

Bound for Glory also features:

– Gail Kim vs. Awesome Kong for the TNA Knockouts Title

– Tigre Uno defending the X-Division Title in an Ultimate X match

– Ethan Carter III vs. Drew Galloway for the TNA World Heavyweight Title

– Bobby Roode vs. Lashley vs. the TNA King of the Mountain Championship