The Big Takeaway: Akira Tozawa beat Brian Kendrick in a cruiserweight opener, then Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson saw off Heath Slater & Rhyno in the main event.
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Akira Tozawa defeated Brian Kendrick (6:30)
Brian Kendrick was still without a singles win since August as Akira Tozawa shot off the top rope to finish him with the Drop Zone here. But the following night at the 205 Live taping, Kendrick would submit Gran Metalik to break the streak.
This was a little longer than the usual cruiserweight outings that we are normally treated to on Main Event. The back and forth was more tangible as both men were given time to build offense so that it really looked like either could win.
The final moments were where this was at its strongest as Kendrick looked every bit the man to take the match. He scooped up Tozawa from a near fall and ran to the ropes to hit Sliced Bread #2 when Tozawa shot over the top of him and just grazed Kendrick with an enzuigiri. As he lay prone, Tozawa sold his tiredness to build the tension and made the slow climb to the top rope to hit his finisher.
Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson defeated Heath Slater & Rhyno (3:27)
By contrast, this was far too short and was really all about Gallows and Anderson getting an opportunity to neutralize Rhyno so that they could get the smaller, lighter man in the ring for the Magic Killer.
These two teams faced off last month on Main Event with the same result, but that match was nearly twice the length of this one. Here, Slater and Rhyno took most of the going, with Slater taking Anderson to his corner and cutting the ring in half with quick tags to Rhyno. After Gallows and Anderson were sent packing, we came back from the break for the finishing segment.
Gallows clotheslined Rhyno over the top rope and followed him outside, smashing him into the dasher boards. While Slater tried to take it to Anderson, Gallows came back to help out with Rhyno nowhere to be seen. The tag was made and a furious Gallows gestured to Anderson to hoist up Slater and get this over with. They hit a slightly clumsy looking Magic Killer for the win and went to the back staring Slater and Rhyno down.
The stage is set for Monday’s World Tag League finals, and to no one’s surprise, the deciding bout will feature teams from the two most dominant factions in New Japan Pro Wrestling today.
Representing Los Ingobernables de Japon will be the A Block winners, SANADA & EVIL, while Bullet Club’s Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa emerged from the B Block to secure their place in the final. If the tournament had been booked with match quality top of mind, the results might have been different. Instead, the two most over stables in New Japan will fight for tag team supremacy.
Fukuoka will host the tournament final, which will also feature a tag match with Tokyo Dome implications, as Kazuchika Okada & Will Ospreay face off against Tetsuya Naito & Hiromu Takahashi.
Okada has primarily gotten the best of the tag team encounters with his upcoming Wrestle Kingdom opponent on the Tag League shows, and even laid Naito out with a choke after their night 17 encounter. But after Naito’s team scored a win on Saturday, Okada paced around the ring, teasing a confrontation.
With Monday’s show serving as the biggest remaining stop before the Dome, more angles will take place there to set up the Wrestle Kingdom card.
They did a lot of comedy involving hugging at the outset. The Besties worked over Yano for several minutes, knocking Ishii off the apron at every turn. Ishii finally got a tag and things picked up considerably.
Taylor missed a moonsault and nearly killed himself in this comedy match. Yano pinned Taylor with a schoolboy after more comedy spots involving the ref and an undone turnbuckle pad. The crowd loved Yano’s stuff, and he plays his role perfectly.
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb defeated Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) (B Block)
Elgin is over to a disturbing degree. His power stuff has consistently received the biggest reactions of the tournament, and that continued here. After some standard Tonga wackiness to start, this became a pretty nice match.
There were some great near falls, including Cobb hitting a standing Shooting Star Press. Cobb pinned Tonga after hitting the Tour of the Islands.
Night 15 results —
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka by DQ (A Block)
This was your standard Suzuki and Iizuka tournament brawl. They brawled all over the arena. Both teams used chairs and guardrails as weapons with impunity. Suzuki threw down the referee, but that was not a DQ. Iizuka used his iron fist on Page, and that was a DQ. The very little bit of actual wrestling that Page and Suzuki did was good.
Nagata and Goto kicked things off, and it was quite good. Nakanishi and YOSHI-HASHI tagged in, and it was not quite good. Nakanishi is a tired old warhorse, but his power spots still get over because of who he is. Nagata is great for his age, but asking him to do most of the work nearly every night for two weeks is a lot. Goto pinned Nakanishi after a GTR.
Night 16 results —
War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) defeated David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura (B Block)
After shaking hands and making nice with War Machine, Finlay attempted a sneak attack at the opening bell. This did not go well for young David.
This was just short of a squash match, showcasing War Machine’s move arsenal. Finlay got a little bit of offense late, but Kitamura almost exclusively sold. Ray Rowe pinned Kitamura after Fallout.
Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) defeated Togi Makabe & Henare (B Block)
Makabe and Henare came out firing, clearing the ring of Smith and going to work on Archer. KES took over as Makabe stepped out of the ring, and they worked over Henare. Smith hit a Shake, Rattle & Roll on Henare, in tribute to the greatest Intercontinental Champion of all time.
Makabe got a tag and scored some blows for his team, including a top rope German suplex on Archer. While Smith and Makabe brawled outside, Henare got a two count on Archer. Makabe broke up a near fall, but ate a Hart Attack and rolled outside, leaving Henare to take the fall. Archer picked up the victory after a Killer Bomb.
Night 17 results —
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata defeated Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (A Block)
Owens and Fale worked over Nagata in as dull a manner as possible until Fale missed a charge into the corner. Nakanishi got the tag and lumbered through a comeback, then Owens cut him off.
Nagata made the save, and Nakanishi racked Owens, scoring the tapout with an Argentine backbreaker. This was one of my least favorite bouts of the tournament.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka by DQ (A Block)
The typical Iizuka and Suzuki brawling started things off. Suzuki settled into more actual wrestling than at any point in the tournament, though, working over Kojima’s right arm.
Things broke down and got sloppy towards the finish. Iizuka used a chain on Kojima while Suzuki took the ref, but Suzuki only got a near fall. Suzuki ate TenKoji’s double-team finish, and appeared to tweak his left knee in doing so. Ultimately, Iizuka used the iron fist on Kojima for the DQ. What a waste of time.
Death Juice (Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan) defeated Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi (A Block)
The Bullet Club jumped Death Juice before the bell, but Robinson made a quick comeback. Callihan hit a dive on Takahashi, Page hit a standing Shooting Star off the apron onto Callihan, and Robinson came off the top to the floor on to all three of them.
Page and Takahashi scored the first near fall after another standing Shooting Star in the ring. After Callihan was worked over for the bulk of the match, Robinson tagged in and made a comeback, nailing Takahashi with Pulp Friction for the win.
This was good, but not great. Page has been very good in this tournament, but I would like to see more variety in his arsenal.
SANADA & EVIL defeated Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (A Block) — SANADA & EVIL win the A Block and advance to the finals
With both teams needing the victory to take the block, this had an intensity that has been lacking from many of the tournament matches so far. The moves themselves were fairly average, but the facial expressions and urgency with which all four guys went for pinfalls were quite superb.
Goto escaped a Magic Killer, and EVIL accidentally nailed SANADA, which led to a near fall that the crowd bought as the finish. Goto hit the GTR, which the crowd also bought as the finish, but that was ultimately a near fall as well.
SANADA and EVIL hit a Magic Killer on YOSHI-HASHI, then went for another on Goto, who was the legal man, but he escaped. EVIL hit Darkness Falls for a near fall, which the place went crazy for. EVIL and SANADA followed up immediately with a Magic Killer for the pin, securing the Block A victory for Los Ingobernables de Japon. This was not the most spectacular match of the tournament in terms of moves, but the psychology and drama of the bout made it excellent.
Makabe scored the win with a knee drop off the top, in a battle of the only winless teams in the tournament. It seems to me that both Finlay and Kitamura are better than Henare and have something that he lacks, but making Henare look strong in defeat was a theme throughout the tournament.
Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) defeated Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor)
KES worked over Beretta for several minutes at the outset. Beretta tagged Taylor after nailing Archer with a DDT. Taylor hit a tope, but KES quickly regained the advantage, using a chokeslam on the apron and a Hart Attack.
Beretta fought back, escaping a Killer Bomb and nailing Smith with a Dudebuster. Taylor got a near fall on Archer but missed a moonsault, allowing Archer to regain control. Archer hit a Blackout, but Taylor turned it into a backslide for a great near fall.
The finish saw Smith take Beretta outside, then jump back into the ring to help Archer hit Taylor with the Killer Bomb for the win. The Best Friends didn’t get as much offense as I expected.
War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) defeated Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb (B Block)
Four big hosses slamming into each other was the entire psychology in this one. They did a cool bodyslam spot at the outset, and Hanson and Elgin teased suplexing each other for a long time before neither succeeded.
Elgin hit a superplex and Cobb followed up with a standing moonsault for a near fall. Hanson hit a big dive to the outside onto Elgin, leaving Cobb to eat Fallout for the pin. This was not as good as expected, but it wasn’t bad by any means. Cobb started strong, but did not blow away the Japanese audiences with his performances.
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defeated Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano (B Block) — Guerrillas of Destiny win the B Block and advance to the finals
The Guerrillas took the first five minutes, first taking out Ishii, then working over Yano. Ishii made a comeback and ran wild with some cool corner clothesline spots that got a good reaction and a series of suplexes. Loa cut him off, and they both tagged out.
Yano untied a turnbuckle pad, with Tonga crashing into the exposed buckles and giving Yano some time to ham it up for the crowd. Yano hit an inverted atomic drop and a slingshot into the exposed buckles on Tonga. Loa ran in to cut Yano off, but Yano escaped and nailed a low blow on Tonga for a two count.
The Guerillas used teamwork to evade another Yano low blow, then hit Guerrilla Warfare on Ishii, taking him out of the picture, and another Guerrilla Warfare on Yano to secure the victory. By virtue of their head-to-head wins over the teams they tied with, the Guerrillas advanced to the finals.
Final standings —
A Block
SANADA & EVIL — 10
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI — 8
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi — 8
Death Juice (Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan) — 8
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens — 6
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima — 6
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka — 6
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata — 4
B Block
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) — 10
War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) — 10
Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) — 10
Ishimori had the advantage before Konley took over. Ishimori attempted a hurricanrana, but Konley caught him, threw him back on his feet, tripped him, and hit a senton for a two count. Ishimori made a comeback and won with the 450 splash.
After the match, Lee jumped Ishimori and beat him down until Dezmond Xavier made the save.
Rosemary defeated Allie and Sienna to advance to the Knockouts Championship finals
Rosemary and Allie worked together and locked on dual submissions on Sienna, then Rosemary and Allie traded stiff shots in the middle of the ring. They gave Sienna a codebreaker/German suplex combo to take her out of the match. Allie attempted the codebreaker on Rosemary, but she countered into the Red Wedding for the win.
– OVE came to the ring to air their grievances. They were total heels in this segment, and Sami Callihan ripped on Canada and Mexico for heat. He said that LAX will get their rematch for the titles, but it’ll be under their rules.
This brought out local wrestlers TDT. They didn’t like what OVE said about Canada. A brawl broke out with TDT in control before Callihan brought in a kendo stick to take over. They set up for the All Seeing Eye on three chairs until LAX ran out for the save.
– A disappointed Allie was leaving the building when Gail Kim stopped her and gave her words of encouragement.
– KM went to a local gym and beat up a bunch of guys to prove himself to American Top Team.
– At the LAX Clubhouse, Konnan informed the others that he’ll be meeting with Sami Callihan next week.
Matt Sydal vs. Impact Grand Champion Ethan Carter III ended in a draw
Fallah Bahh was one of the judges for the match. EC3 dominated early and easily won the first round, then Sydal mounted a comeback and won the second round. They went back and forth in the final round and traded pin attempts. They bumped heads and the time limit expired.
The match ended in a draw after the judges couldn’t pick a winner.
– They showed James Storm defeating Bobby Roode in a street fight from Bound for Glory 2012.
– Another commercial aired for Park, Park, and Park Attorneys at Law.
Bobby Lashley & Dan Lambert (w/ American Top Team) defeated Moose & James Storm
Lambert distracted Moose, with Lashley jumping Moose from behind to gain the advantage. Lambert tagged in for the pin, but Moose kicked out and Lambert tagged back out right away. Lashley regained the advantage and Lambert tagged back in for a two count. Storm chased Lambert and he ran for his life.
Storm tagged in and ran wild on Lashley. One of the ATT guys then came in, with Moose kicking his head off before the heels took back over. Lashley speared Storm, but Lambert tagged himself in for the pin. Lashley seemed irritated that Lambert stole the pin.
Johnny Impact & Petey Williams defeated Eli Drake & Chris Adonis
Williams ran wild on the heels, though they soon gained the advantage. They cut Williams off from Impact and worked him over. Impact finally got the tag and took out both Adonis and Drake. Drake made a comeback and knocked out Impact, then Adonis applied the Adonis Lock on Williams until Impact made the save. Impact won the match with the Starship Pain.
Alberto El Patron jumped Drake from behind after the match and gave him a DDT on the belt.
Next Week: Rosemary faces Laurel Van Ness for the vacant Knockouts Championship.
The Big News: Johnny Gargano ended his losing streak and submitted Kassius Ohno in the main event in an excellent bout you should go watch.
The Medium News: Gargano is now part of a fatal four-way match that will determine the number one contender to the NXT Championship, held by El Idolo himself, Andrade “Cien” Almas.
The Little Beaver-sized News: Killian Dain isn’t doing the One Winged Angel anymore, but he still beat Trent Seven.
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The show began with Mr. William Regal announcing the method in which we will determine the number one contender for Andrade “Cien” Almas at NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia. We will have four singles matches and the winners will have a fatal four-way match. The winner of that match will challenge Almas for the title in Philadelphia.
Tonight’s matches are Killian Dain vs. Trent Seven and Kassius Ohno vs. a mystery opponent. It was supposed to be Velveteen Dream, but Regal said he was injured back at TakeOver: War Games.
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We started the show with the championship celebration of the 14th and current NXT Champion — Andrade “Cien” Almas — and Zelina Vega. Vega said this will be an historic championship reign. She ordered us to respect the man, embrace the legend, and rise for your NXT Champion. Almas yelled that he told us he would be NXT Champion. He stated that “We are NXT” but he is the new NXT Champion and he has no respect for the former champion, the now injured Drew McIntyre.
That’s it. No one came out and no angle came of this. This actually happens after most new NXT Champions. They usually kick off the first show of the next set of tapings with some sort of statement.
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Earlier today, Lars Sullivan was harassed by reporters. He said Roderick Strong is handsome and he is not. Strong talks about his family, but he has no family. He said he’ll beat Strong in two weeks and then go to Philadelphia to become NXT Champion. He stated that winning the title will show the world that he is the superstar he was always meant to be.
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Killian Dain defeated Trent Seven to qualify for the number one contender’s fatal four-way match
Seven qualified for this by winning a battle royal at a house show in Lakeland, Florida (which happened after the TV tapings). Dain qualified by being big and scary and never beaten in a match.
Seven put up a good effort, but no one thought he had a chance of winning here and they were right. Dain won with the Vader Bomb, which he is now using instead of the One Winged Angel.
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The Undisputed Era were hanging out backstage and Adam Cole was talking to the camera. He made a WWE boo boo by looking right at the camera. Cole said he will be wrestling Aleister Black next week. He said Black is not on his level and he will prove it.
Bobby Fish and Kyle O’Reilly said that in two weeks they will win the tag team titles from SAnitY. They finished up by saying they rule the system.
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Sonya Deville defeated Ruby Riott in a no holds barred match
It was a battle between Raw and SmackDown. Absolution and The Riott Squad. Just like last time when it was purely coincidental, both wrestlers were wearing the wrong brand’s colors as Riott rocked the red while Deville was in blue. Deville used an ankle lock for the first big spot of the match. Due to it being a no holds barred match, Riott making the ropes did not cause a break. That was alright because she somehow flung Deville’s face into the middle rope to get out of it.
This was not the no holds barred match that most people think of, as this was more about both using submission holds with the other needing to fight out of them since there were no rope breaks.
Riott had her leg worked on the entire match and ignored it long enough so she could run across the ring and dive through the ropes with a suicide dive. However, Deville ignored that and as Riott rolled in Deville locked in a leg triangle and choked her out.
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Ember Moon was meeting with the press backstage and told them she will be the greatest NXT Women’s Champion. In walked Billie Kay and Peyton Royce, who pointed out that Moon pinned Nikki Cross to win the title and thus Royce deserves the chance to beat her up. Royce and Kay both said that they’ll face her next week.
Moon told them to make up their minds over who will face her in a match and bring it on. They agreed to let Royce do it after Moon left.
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Pete Dunne will defend the United Kingdom Championship against Tyler Bate in two weeks in the third battle of these two men. To prepare for this match, you should go watch their match from TakeOver: Chicago.
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In case there is confusion with all these matches announced for the next two weeks.
Next week:
Adam Cole vs. Aleister Black (winner qualifies for the number one contender’s fatal four-way match)
Ember Moon vs. Peyton Royce
In two weeks:
SAnitY vs. Kyle O’Reilly & Bobby Fish for the NXT Tag Team Championship
Pete Dunne vs. Tyler Bate for the WWE United Kingdom Championship
Lars Sullivan vs. Roderick Strong (winner qualifies for the number one contender’s fatal four-way match)
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Johnny Gargano defeated Kassius Ohno to qualify for the number one contender’s fatal four-way match
Ohno’s mystery opponent turned out to be Johnny Gargano. Not sure why they bothered with the whole mystery opponent thing. I imagine they could have just said Gargano and not bothered saying Velveteen Dream was injured and no one would have thought twice about it.
I should point out that including Dream, five out of the nine participants in this tournament lost their last televised match.
The fans were really into this, as they did the loud dueling chants before it started. Ohno took over with a hard elbow to the mouth that caused Johnny Wrestling to fall outside the ring as we went to commercial. Ohno followed the elbow with a big boot right to the jaw and nose that gave us a teeny tiny spot of blood coming from Gargano’s nose.
Gargano came back with one punch that missed Ohno by three feet and several forearms that landed solid. Ohno got in a hard punch that sent Gargano to the apron, but Gargano hit his slingshot spear for a near fall. Ohno came back and went for a tope over the top rope, but Gargano moved, so Ohno landed on his feet. Gargano charged across the ring and dove through with a suicide dive that he turned into a tornado DDT!
Ohno did everything he could to put Gargano away. He hit every running kick and knee and boot and Gargano kept getting his shoulder up to the continued frustration of Ohno. Finally, Ohno went for the rolling elbow, but Gargano superkicked him in the elbow. Gargano kicked him down to his knees and locked on the Gargano Escape for the win in an excellent match.
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Before finishing up, I wanted to remind everyone that NXT will also be on the USA Network next week. You can still watch it on WWE Network, but you could avoid any potential buffering by watching on USA. You are going to get to see Peyton Royce on the USA Network!
Until next week, watch Gargano vs. Ohno and then join us on the USA Network and remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!
Date: December 5, 2017 Location: Valley View Casino Center in San Diego, CA
The Big Takeaway —
The jobs of Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn will be on the line at Clash of Champions. They will be facing the team of Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura with Shane McMahon as the referee, and if they lose, they will be fired from WWE.
Shane made the announcement even after Owens and Zayn were laid out by Orton and Nakamura at the end of the show. The announcement seemed to surprise Daniel Bryan, who thought Shane might be done with this after tonight.
Show Recap —
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn came out to start the show. The director included a shot of the side of the arena that has very few people sitting in it. Owens welcomed us to the Sami & Kevin Show, and Zayn welcomed us to the Kevin & Sami Show. They received pretty good heat and “You suck” chants.
Owens and Zayn talked about what it’s like being on the wrong side of a McMahon family vendetta–just ask Daniel Bryan, Bret Hart or Steve Austin. Owens and Zayn said they were better than those guys and now they’re the latest targets of a McMahon.
Owens said Shane McMahon sent Randy Orton after him, the same way Stephanie McMahon deployed Orton onto others. Owens said Orton has been handed everything, whereas he and Zayn have had to work for everything. Owens knew he had to take out Orton and said they outsmarted Shane.
Zayn then gave everyone a presentation, showing them the difference between being in the ring and at ringside. He pointed out the terrible announce team and the ring announcer whose name he doesn’t know. Then he skipped onto the ramp and let everyone know that was not ringside, and that’s where he attacked Orton.
Zayn said they won last week by playing within the system. As Zayn and Owens bragged, the crowd buzzed as Orton showed up suddenly and gave Owens an RKO.
Shane McMahon entered to make a match for Clash of Champions. Zayn and Owens will face Orton and a partner of his choosing. Shane also put Zayn in a match with Orton tonight and Owens would be handcuffed to the ring rope.
Backstage, Owens complained that he couldn’t turn his neck and said he didn’t hear anything after the RKO. Zayn told him he had a match with Orton. Owens was fine with this until Zayn informed him that he would be handcuffed to the ring. Owens marched off to find Daniel Bryan.
Rusev & Aiden English defeated Big E & Kofi Kingston (w/Xavier Woods) (9:24)
Before the match, English proclaimed that every day was Rusev Day and the crowd chanted “Rusev Day.” Rusev and English were delighted. English began signing the Twelve Days of Rusev but they were interrupted by New Day.
Rusev tripped Kingston off the top rope as he attempted a springboard move and hit a superkick to the back of the head for the win. A perfectly fine match. The crowd chanted “Rusev Day” after the match, although it was mostly drowned out by the music.
Mojo Rawley told Renee Young that everyone has been asking about what he did to Zack Ryder, including his pal Rob Gronkowski. But Rawley brought up what Ryder has done to him. After Ryder got hurt, Rawley went out on his own and won the Andre the Giant battle royal, but just as things were going well for him, Ryder returned to drag him down. Rawley called Ryder deadweight and said he was nobody’s tag partner. He told everyone to shove it.
The tag title match at Clash of Champions will now be a fourway with the Usos defending against Gable & Benjamin, New Day and Rusev & English. The announcers said four guys would be in the ring at once.
Backstage, Carmella, Lana and Tamina were in Bryan’s office. Carmella said she rid the world of James Ellsworth and deserved a title match for that. Lana wondered why Natalya was getting a title shot after she bailed on her match last week. Bryan said Carmella could be added to the match if she used her briefcase, but she didn’t want to cash in using “Franky” just yet.
The Riott Squad showed up and Ruby wanted to know why she’s not in the title match after she pinned Charlotte. She wondered if it’s because of her tattoos and doesn’t fit in with his Bella army. Liv Morgan accused him of discriminating against blondes and Sarah Logan accused him of being prejudice against the south.
The two sides started yelling at each other until Bryan yelled, “stop it” at the top of his lungs. He then huffed and puffed and made them lumberjacks for the title match at Clash of Champions.
Elsewhere, Baron Corbin approached Bobby Roode and wondered what he thought of Dolph Ziggler being added to their title match considering he doesn’t deserve a shot. Roode said he could beat Corbin one-on-one, and didn’t really like Ziggler being added to the match either.
Ziggler happened to be nearby and showed up behind them. Ziggler ran down his accolades, including cashing in his Money in the Bank contract successfully (unlike Corbin). He said they needed him in that match (because the performance is more important than the title) and their odds of winning just dropped to zero.
Ziggler looked like retired Shawn Michaels here. It was mostly his camo baseball cap. And his hair. And beard and tan. To be fair to Ziggler, he came off better here than the other two.
Bludgeon Brothers defeated Adam James & Josh Carr (1:01)
Harper and Rowan beat two jobbers in a minute with a double chokeslam.
Owens let Zayn know he spoke to Bryan and all Bryan said was that he would think about it. They weren’t sure if this was a good thing or not.
Non-title match: Bobby Roode defeated U.S. Champion Baron Corbin via DQ (3:26)
Three minutes into the match, Ziggler (who was on commentary) decided to jump in the ring after Roode and Corbin collided with clotheslines. Ziggler gave Roode a Zig-Zag and the referee called for the bell. Ziggler than gave one to Corbin.
Backstage, Natalya was excited that Carmella, Lana and Tamina would be at ringside for her title match. Carmella reminded her that they were lumberjacks. Natalya said she would have Tamina’s back tonight against Charlotte and basically wondered if they would do the same for her at Clash of Champions. They weren’t biting. She took a shot at the Riott Squad when, what do you know, they showed up behind her. She sucked up to them before scrambling off.
They aired a video package for AJ Styles vs. Jinder Mahal. Tom Phillips wondered if the Singh brothers would be at ringside.
Nobody got an entrance. Charlotte won with the Figure Eight. Tamina tapped before Charlotte fully transitioned from the Figure Four to Figure Eight.
Natalya warned Charlotte of what’s to come when they were interrupted by the Riott Squad. Ruby agreed with Natalya that Charlotte should get a preview of Clash of Champions, but they wanted to do it themselves. Tamina attacked Logan and they brawled briefly before being separated by their respective teams. Charlotte posed with her title on the ramp. This was weak.
Owens and Zayn approached Bryan backstage. Bryan considered their complaint but he agreed with Shane and three security guys showed up with handcuffs for Owens. After a break, Owens and Zayn continued to plead with Bryan, this time at ringside. Bryan told Owens he would be suspended if he didn’t do this, so Owens caved.
Randy Orton defeated Sami Zayn (11:37)
Last week was just the second ever singles match between Orton and Owens, and that appears to be the case again this week with Orton and Zayn.
As Zayn had the heat on Orton, he grabbed bolt cutters from under the ring and tried to free Owens, but Orton stopped him. Orton also slammed Owens into the ringpost for fun. The referee kicked away the bolt cutters, but it was hard not to notice that he just kicked it towards the corner of the ring right where Owens was.
Orton hit a great superplex on Zayn as Owens used the bolt cutters to free himself from the cuffs. He was immediately clotheslined by Orton, then Orton gave Zayn a draping DDT. Owens distracted Orton allowing Zayn to use a schoolboy for a nearfall. Orton then dodged a Helluva kick and used a schoolboy of his own for the win.
Owens and Zayn jumped Orton afterwards. Shinsuke Nakamura ran out to make the save, hitting kicks to both Owens and Zayn. He leveled Owens with a Kinshasa, then Orton gave Zayn an RKO. Orton and Nakamura nodded at each other and shook hands.
After a few replays, Nakamura picked up Owens and Orton gave him an RKO. Then Orton picked up Zayn and Nakamura gave him a Kinshasa. The crowd sang along to Nakamura’s music.
They cut backstage and Shane called this a satisfying ending. Bryan wondered if this meant he was done punishing them. Shane said no. He was making himself the referee in the tag match at Clash of Champions, and if Owens and Zayn lost, they’d be fired from all of WWE, not just Smackdown. Shane left and Bryan just stared at him.
The Big Takeaway: A strong in-ring program with very good matches top to bottom. In the main event, Sheamus and Cesaro retained the Raw Tag Team Championships against Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins. At first, Sheamus and Cesaro were disqualified, but Kurt Angle came out to restart the match. Then Samoa Joe interfered, leading to Cesaro pinning Ambrose after Sheamus delievered a Brogue Kick. Reigns defeated Jason Jordan, whose gradual heel turn continues. Matt Hardy is officially doing his Broken character, or in this case, his “woken” character in a program with Bray Wyatt. He’s got the Broken accent and everything.
Show Recap:
Kurt Angle came out. Angle announced Reigns would defend the Intercontinental Championship, but before he could announce his opponent, Jason Jordan walked out. Fans booed the living hell out of Jordan. He said he wanted Reigns. Angle said Jordan couldn’t be serious because his knee was still injured. Jordan said he’s been in the ring with Reigns, John Cena, Strowman, Kane and he knows he can beat Reigns. This brought Reigns out, who got a slightly better reaction than Jordan. Reigns said he was a fighting champion, so he would tell Angle who he was going to fight and it wasn’t going to be Jordan, it was going to be Joe. Crowd liked that idea much better. Reigns told Jordan if Jordan wanted an opportunity, he shouldn’t run to his daddy. Jordan said Reigns was one to talk about earning opportunity because Reigns was the posterboy for getting opportunity after opportunity. Reigns said that Jordan was right about one thing, he’s on a lot of posters. Joe said his patience has worn thin and he accept Reigns challenge. Joe gave Reigns five second to withdraw his challenge because Reigns knows he can’t beat him. Jordan spoke up and said he didn’t have to come out talk tough, unlike Joe he is tough. Jordan said he doesn’t have to come out and attack people from behind, he comes out and issues challenges just like he’s doing right now.
Reigns told Jordan to back off and told Joe his five seconds were up. Then Jordan gave Reigns an overhead belly-to-belly suplex. Reigns sold it for a second, then got up and told Joe he would have to wait until later tonight. Jordan was going to get his right now and ordered Angle to make the match at once.
Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns defeated Jason Jordan to retain the Intercontinental Championship (20:35)
Reigns hit a DDT for a near fall, then immediately but Jordan in a half crab. After a long struggle where Jordan failed to make the ropes, Jordan countered with a small package for a near fall. Reigns quickly hit a Superman punch, but Jordan kicked out at two. Crowd always pops whenever Reigns’ opponent kicks out of the first Superman punch, even though he never gets the pin after the first punch. Reigns’ attempted the spear, but Jordan kicked him, hit a Northern Lights Suplex, then followed with a rolling Northern Lights suplex. Referee got confused and botched the count, getting two. Jordan attempted the hoist neckbreaker, but Reigns landed on his feet to hit the Superman punch, followed by the spear for the pin. Very good match. Reigns’ first attempt at the Superman punch was blocked when Jordan hit a dropkick. Jordan attempted his hoist neckbreaker, but Joe landed an uppercut that knocked him out of the ring. Reigns left the ring, jumped off the steps and attempted the Superman punch, but Jordan caught Reigns and rammed him into the post. Reigns worked over Jordan outside the ring early, sending him into the ring steps and giving him the Drive-By. Jordan made his comeback picking up Reigns and sending him into corner before Reigns missed a shoulder charge and crashed into the post, a regular Angle spot Reigns sold his left shoulder very well. Jordan has added some heel facials so he’s all but turned. Joe watched the match from the top of the ramp in a chair.
After the match, Joe said maybe the kid wore Reigns out and he was going to go down to the ring to put Reigns to sleep. Joe put Reigns in the Coquina Clutch, but Jordan came up from behind and gave Joe a back suplex to send him away from Joe. Joe and Jordan traded words after Joe was knocked from the ring. Reigns showed his appreciation to Jordan by giving him a Superman Punch from behind.
Angle was on the phone with Stephanie McMahon when Jordan walked up demanding a rematch with Reigns. Then Jordan wanted a match with Joe. Angle asked Jordan who he thought his was and he couldn’t be playing favorites. Angle told Jordan he would take it under advisement and to go somewhere a cool off. Joe roared in and crushed Jordan against the wall, leaving him motionless. Angle got Joe away from his son.
Paige defeated Sasha Banks (16:04)
Alexa Bliss was on commentary. Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose were out with Paige. Bayley and Mickie James accompanied Banks. After satellite head scissors, Banks got a two count after a crossbody off the top rope. After a lengthy straight jacket hold, Banks tackled Piaige into the ropes and they both took a bump out of the ring. During the commercial, Banks went to the second rope, but Paige tripped her. Banks whiplashed the back of her head against the top rope. Then Paige hit a Sunset Power Bomb and Banks landed horribly again on her neck. Banks hit the mat with such velocity, her knees nearly hit her face. Referee checked on Banks for a moment. Paige went for the Rampage, but Banks got out and put on the Bank Statement. Paige got to the ropes. Then Bayley and James started brawling with Rose and Deville. DeVille laid out Bayley quickly. As Rose fought with James, DeVille chop blocked James. Banks got distracted by the fight outside the ring, leading to Paige hitting the Rampage for the pin.
Postmatch, Deville and Rose jumped Banks. Rose gave Banks a front suplex onto Deville’s outstretched knee.
Elias approached Angle backstage and wanted another Intercontinental Championship opportunity, but Angle gave that chance to his son. So Elias wanted a musical performance instead. Elias said the bias against his bastard son will be the end of Angle. Angle told Elias to go to the ring and perform while he finds an opponent for him.
MGK was shown at ringside. No mention of the time Kevin Owens power bombed him off the ramp two years ago, which may have been for the best since MGK barely sold it.
Amore was backstage with his “Zo Train,” Gulak, Nese, Ariya Daivari and Noam Dar. Amore barked at Gulak and Nese for one of them to win their four-way tonight after Swann won last week. Nia Jax showed up acting like she was smitten with Enzo and asked him “How you doing?” Enzo looked horrified.
Drew Gulak pinned Mustafa Ali to win a Fatal Four-Way which also included Cedric Alexander and Tony Nese. Gulak faces Rich Swann next week to determine the #1 contender for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship (14:53)
This was one of the best cruiserweight matches on Raw this year. Ali did a handspring spot and sold his left knee. Gulak and Nese dragged Ali out of the ring, leading to Alexander doing a somersault tope onto the heels. Nese did a spot where he was doing crunches for his abs while kicking Alexander, who was tied to the tree of woe. Nese wanted to jump off the top rope, but Gulak stopped him since Gulak’s gimmick is no cruiserweight should fly. Ali soared in for a crossbody on both men. Lots of great spots during a sequence that won the crowd over, including Gulak hitting a stiff clothesline on Alexander, followed swiftly by a springboard clothesline by Ali on Gulak. For the second week in a row, the cruiserweight match had a tower of doom spot that had Nese taking a double superplex. Alexander hit a great springboard enzuigiri on Gulak, which Ali broke up. Alexander wasn’t happy with Ali, and they did a hockey fight spot. Alexander did a standing spanish fly, which was broken up by Nese. Later, Nese crotched Ali on the top rope. Alexander went after Nese, who put Alexander on the top rope, as well. It led to Ali doing the Spanish Fly off the top rope on Alexander, but Gulak made the save. Gulak missed a charge to the corner and Ali attempted the inverted 450, but Nese dragged Gulak out of the ring. Alexander hit the Lumbar Check on Nese, who bounced out of the ring. Alexander, in desperation, gave Ali the Lumbar Check. But Gulak ran in and gave Alexander a knee to the back, knocking Alexander out of the ring. Gulak pinned an unconscious Ali.
Charly Caruso did an interview with Gulak in the ring. She asked Gulak if he conflicted about possibly facing Enzo. Gulak said that was a good question which could only be answered with a powerpoint presentation. Corey Graves announced they didn’t have time for the powerpoint presenation. They did have time for a Total Divas trailer where Lana told Rusev in front of Jax and Sheamus that she didn’t want to have children, which looked more staged that Gulak’s interview.
Elias started his performance. He got a pretty big babyface pop. Elias said Los Angeles worships vapid and soulless celebrities, his is the air you breathe and he is everything. He sang about everybody in Los Angeles wanted to be a celebrity but the children are pathetic and the city was full of nobodies. Strowman’s music hit and the place erupted. Elias started to leave. Strowman posed, but Elias jumped him from behind. Strowman didn’t sell it, gave Elias a beal and a boot out of the ring. Strowman ran after Elias, who gave Strowman a boot and pushed Strowman into the corner. Elias smashed his guitar to Strowman’s back, but Strowman didn’t sell it. Elias tried to run away, but Strowman ran him down and delivered the running powerslam on Elias. They’ve done such a good job getting that finisher over the crowd chanted “one more time.” Strowman threw the ring steps into the ring, but Kane’s music played.
Kane just appeared on the TitanTron and said Strowman has been a monster among men for so long, maybe he’s forgotten what it’s like to be a monster among monster. Next week, Kane said they would step into the ring again and they would descend into the abyss and only one monster would emerge.
Reigns told Ambrose and Rollins backstage that he’s done his part, now it’s time for them to do theirs. Rollins said they would get their job done. Ambrose acted like he didn’t know their rematch was tonight, then admitted he was kidding. Ambrose said he’s been thinking about beating up Sheamus all day and it smells like gold.
Alicia Fox did an inset promo about how she saw what Asuka did to Brooke last week. Fox claimed she led the Raw women’s team to victory at Survivor Series, she now has a t-shirt and she’s going to end Asuka’s undefeated streak. Fox is still wearing her captain’s hat from the Survivor Series.
Asuka defeated Alicia Fox via tapout (2:20)
Asuka sold the most since her strange two-match run with Emma, taking a big boot from Fox. Asuka tried various kicks where Fox was totally out of position and ultimately won with the flying cross armbreaker.
Postmatch, Absolution came out and once again surrounded the ring. Fox stayed in the ring. Asuka just stepped out of the ring as Paige, Rose and DeVille didn’t make a move on her. Paige told Fox to relax, she wasn’t there to hurt her. Paige said Fox was her friend because Fox was the only one who liked her when she was here a year ago. Paige said she loved Fox, but she didn’t think Rose and DeVille felt the same way. Rose and DeVille stepped in the ring and jumped Fox. Rose gave Fox a V-Trigger knee, and Deville laid her out with another knee strike.
They showed Charlotte playing a role on the USA Network series “Psych: The Movie” named “Heather Rocklear.” It included a soundbite from veteran character actor Kurt Fuller, who was not identified as the main heel from “No Holds Barred.”
Finn Balor defeated Bo Dallas (5:38)
Curtis Axel accompanined Bo Dallas, who distracted Finn Balor when he went to the top rope for the Coup de Grace. After a lengthy armbar spot, Balor hit a forearm and a series of clotheslines. Balor caught the sling blade, the woo dropkick and a Coup de Grace.
They replayed Matt hardy reacting to his loss last week to Bray Wyatt. After showing Hardy’s Tweets proclaiming himself “Woken,” Wyatt popped up on the screen. He said Hardy was a fool. Then Hardy popped up on the screen, speaking in his broken accent, saying he’s traveled through several milleniums, has danced with Cleopatra. Wyatt showed up again and said that Hardy’s rhetoric was the dialogue of a madman. Hardy then popped up and said he was now woken. Wyatt showed up and said he feels alive again. Hardy said Wyatt has left him no choice and he will sentence Wyatt to deletion! Then Wyatt and Hardy each took turns laughing laugh madmen.
Next week, Strowman and Kane will meet in Cleveland. Plus, Swann vs. Gulak for the #1 contendership for the Cruiserweight championship.
Raw Tag Team Champions Sheamus and Cesaro defeated Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose in what became a No-DQ match to retain the Raw Tag Team Championships (18:39)
Great spot early where Rollins attempted a pescado on Cesaro. Sheamus pulled Cesaro out of the way, then came up from behind to ram Rollins into the post. Cesaro gave Ambrose a big boot off the apron. Rollins backdropped Cesaro, but Ambrose was on the floor selling his arm, so no hot tag. Rollins gave Sheamus a superkick, which sent him out of the ring. Ambrose got the hot tag. Ambrose ran wild and tried a tope on Cesaro, who caught Ambrose with an uppercut. Ambrose rolled through Cesaro’s crossbody for a two count, then reversed Cesaro’s giant swing with a small pacakage for two. Ambrose’s head rested against the second rope, and Sheamus nailed him stiff with a knee to the head. Sheamus went to the top rope while Cesaro hoisted Ambrose up, but Ambrose punched Sheamus and crotched him on the top rope. Rollins gave Sheamus a superplex, followed by the Falcoln Arrow, but Cesaro came in for the save. Cesaro went for the Neutralizer, but Rollins hit the Rainmaker Knee, but Sheamus made the save. Sheamus then started kicking Rollins repeatedly even though he was the illegal man. The referee disqualified Sheamus at 17:09 and the crowd booed.
Sheamus and Cesaro took the belts and started to leave. Then Angle came out and restarted the bout as a no disqualification match. Ambrose hit a rebound clothesline on Cesaro, followed by a frog splash on Rollins, but Cesaro kicked out. Joe ran out through the crowd and gave Ambrose a urange and Rollins a forearm. Reigns ran down to send Joe packing. Reigns gave Cesaro a Superman Punch as he came through the ring. In the midst of the confusion, Sheamus hit Ambrose with a Brogue Kick, placed Cesaro on top for the pin. Sheamus, Cesaro and Joe left together through the crowd and Reigns watched on in disbelief. Really strong match and a terrific show.
With one week to go, the 2017 World Tag League remains up for grabs.
SANADA & EVIL stand alone atop Block A, while Best Friends and Guerrillas of Destiny share Block B’s lead, setting the stage for the tournament’s final week of events.
While the booking of the tournament seemed designed to have a dominant team emerge from Block B, while Block A would be more competitive, the results from the last three nights have further upended that line of thinking.
After a strong second week, the match quality was middling at best over the last several nights, with the competitors likely both feeling the effects of a grueling schedule, as well as saving their A game for the tournament’s final bouts.
Night 11 results —
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (A Block)
They brawled outside at the outset, and Tenzan and Kojima briefly got the upper hand, before being overtaken.
The Bullet Club worked over Kojima, who eventually made a hot tag to Tenzan. The heels regained the advantage and Kojima was nailed with the Pimp Juice DDT for the victory.
SANADA & EVIL defeated Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata (A Block)
SANADA offered Nagata a handshake, but he refused. Nakanishi tagged in and did some powerhouse stuff while Nagata and EVIL brawled outside. SANADA got the upper hand for several minutes, then Nakanishi made a hot tag to Nagata.
Nagata scored a near fall on EVIL, and got the best of a striking battle with SANADA. It broke down, and while SANADA took the referee, EVIL came in and nailed Nakanishi with a chair, allowing SANADA to score the pin.
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka defeated Death Juice (Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan) (A Block)
Stop me if you’ve heard this before: Suzuki and Iizuka jumped Death Juice during the introductions as they brawled. While Suzuki and Robinson worked outside, Iizuka got the business from Callihan. Suzuki grabbed Robinson in an armbar from the outside, and they brawled all over the building. Iizuka and Suzuki used chairs while El Desperado took the ref.
Back inside, Iizuka worked over Callihan, who made the tag to Robinson. The place was really into Robinson’s comeback, but Iizuka cut him off with bites to the foot and an inverted atomic drop. Desperado took the ref, and Iizuka used his iron fist on Robinson, with Suzuki nailing him with the Gotch piledriver to pick up the pinfall. Suzuki and Iizuka continued to beat up Death Juice with chairs after the match.
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (A Block)
Goto and Fale kicked things off with some shoulder blocks and power stuff. They brawled to the outside, with the Bullet Club gaining the advantage.
Back inside, Owens and Goto worked, and Owens scored a good near fall. YOSHI-HASHI interfered as the illegal man. He and Goto double-teamed Owens, eventually nailing him with the GTR for the victory.
Night 12 results —
Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) defeated David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura (B Block)
Finlay and Taylor both landed planchas early on. Best Friends double-teamed Finlay, and repeatedly knocked Kitamura off the apron to maintain their advantage. Kitamura finally got the tag and ran wild on Beretta with forearms and shoulder blocks, then fell victim to Best Friends and their teamwork.
Taylor missed a moonsault on Kitamura, but it never really appeared as though he and Finlay might score their first win of the tournament. Best Friends nailed Kitamura with Strong Zero for the victory.
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb defeated Togi Makabe & Henare (B Block)
Henare and Elgin started off, and did some basic power stuff. Henare showed good fire. Cobb tagged in and threw Henare all over the place, and he tagged Elgin in for their suplex exchange spot.
Makabe tagged in and worked with Cobb, but it was quickly back to Henare and Elgin exchanging strikes. Henare got a near fall, but the crowd didn’t buy it. While Cobb took Makabe outside, Elgin hit a lariat and a sit-out powerbomb for the win.
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) defeated Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) (B Block)
The Guerillas double-teamed Smith at the outset, but Archer and Smith quickly regained the early advantage. Archer worked over Tonga’s left arm before he was able to tag in Loa. Loa ate a boot, but he took Archer down with a flying headscissors. Smith tagged in and the Squad remained in control.
Loa made the tag to Tonga, who ran wild with a headscissors of his own and hit a Stinger Splash. A good closing sequence saw Tonga survive a powerbomb attempt with Loa’s help. Archer nailed Loa with a lariat, but Tonga turned a chokeslam attempt from Archer into a Gun Stun. While Archer and Loa rolled outside, Tonga hit Smith with a Gun Stun for the win.
Hanson and Yano did some comedy early. Hanson trapped Yano in the ropes, then hit him with his beard. Business picked up as Ishii and Rowe tagged in, while Yano and Hanson brawled outside. Ishii undid the turnbuckle pad and rammed Rowe into the exposed buckle.
Rowe recovered and whipped Yano into the buckle. He made the tag to Hanson, who ran wild with a series of clotheslines in opposite corners on Yano and Ishii. Rowe and Ishii worked together, exchanging strikes before Ishii landed a suplex. They continued to pound on each other, exchanging headbutts, forearms and lariats, before Ishii scored a near fall.
Yano tagged in and whipped Rowe into the exposed buckle, but Hanson made the save. Hanson did a suicide dive to Ishii, while Rowe scored a near fall on Yano. While Ishii took the ref, Yano hit low blows on Hanson and Rowe, and rolled up Rowe for the surprise victory.
Night 13 results —
This show took place in Kochi on Sunday and was recently uploaded to NJPW World. Here are quick results from the two tournament matches:
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens defeated Death Juice (Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan) (A Block)
Owens defeated Sami Callihan by pinfall with a schoolboy.
SANADA & EVIL defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (A Block)
SANADA pinned Tenzan after a Magic Killer to give Los Ingobernables de Japon the lead in the A Block.
Standings after night 13 —
A Block
SANADA & EVIL — 8
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka — 6
Death Juice (Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan) — 6
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens — 6
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi — 6
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI — 6
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima — 4
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata – 2
B Block
Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) — 8
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) — 8
Tomohiro Ishii & Toru Yano — 6
Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) — 6
Just when I thought I had the answers, New Japan changed the questions.
After eight nights, the 2017 World Tag League featured a competitive A Block, and a B Block that had one dominant team. All of that has changed after the last two shows.
Entering night eleven, four teams sit tied atop the B Block, while the A Block features a six-way tie for second place. Who will emerge from the A Block? Who will conquer the B Block? Your guess is as good as mine.
Elsewhere in New Japan, Tetsuya Naito and Kazuchika Okada remain in each others’ orbit as their January 4th IWGP Heavyweight Championship match looms.
Okada once again got the upper hand on Naito in a tag match on November 30th at Korakuen Hall. Although Naito did get the pinfall, Okada got the best of their exchanges in the bout. It seems clear that Naito will be the one to end Okada’s reign, and the people are ready for that if the crowd response in Korakuen is any indicator. Before being leveled by Okada, Naito fired up, and the sense that the audience wanted to see Naito get the advantage on Okada was palpable.
The Tokyo Dome will be electric, come January 4th, 2018.
Night nine results –
Death Juice (Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan) defeated Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi (A Block)
Nagata and Robinson started and figured to work most of the way, but Nakanishi and Callihan quickly tagged in for a chop battle. This was the best that Nakanishi has looked so far in the tournament, largely due to Robinson and Callihan bumping all over the building for him.
Nagata and Callihan worked well together, with Juice interfering at will. Nagata hit an exploder suplex on Callihan, throwing him onto Robinson, who was seated in the corner. Robinson and Callihan tried to suplex Nakanishi, but he suplexed both of them at once instead. That was scary, as Callihan almost got dropped on his head. Robinson and Callihan hit Nakanishi with their double team move for the victory.
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI defeated Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima (A Block)
Kojima ran wild on Goto in the early going and flexed his pecs. Tenzan and Kojima worked over YOSHI-HASHI, who continues to look dreadful in this tournament. He just sticks out like a sore thumb when you’re exposed to all these guys who are so fundamentally sound, if nothing else. I don’t mean to totally bury the guy, so I’ll also mention that he throws a nice superkick.
The place went crazy when Kojima started doing his trademark spots on YOSHI-HASHI. They traded strikes in the middle of the ring until Goto tagged in and worked over Kojima. They did a great near fall on Kojima, but Goto scored the pin on him seconds later anyway. Kojima is still pretty great.
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka defeated Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (A Block)
Suzuki and Iizuka jumped Fale and Owens as they made their entrance, and the teams brawled through the crowd. Ultimately, Suzuki and Owens made their way to the ring and the match started.
Very quickly, though, Suzuki took things back to the outside and chased Owens through the audience, hammering him with guardrails and chairs. Iizuka and Fale brawled at the opposite end of the arena, but the camera largely focused on Suzuki and Owens, thank goodness.
As they worked back to the ring, Suzuki worked on Owens with a kimura, before he and Iizuka traded off taking the ref while the other choked Owens. Fale and Iizuka tagged in, and, given their limitations, it went about as well as it could have.
Suzuki sold a lot for Owens and Fale, and Owens in particular looked excellent as a result. The finish saw El Desperado take the referee, allowing Iizuka to use the iron hand on Owens. Suzuki then hit the Gotch piledriver to pick up the win.
SANADA & EVIL defeated Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi (A Block)
Takahashi and EVIL started off and did very basic stuff, which to their credit, the crowd loved. Things picked up after Page posted SANADA’s knee and hit it with a chair. The crowd really got in to SANADA’s selling.
EVIL tagged in and ran wild on the Bullet Club before yielding to SANADA, who continued to have his leg worked over. He recovered long enough to hit the Magic Killer on Takahashi, with some assistance from his partner, scoring the fall for their team. This was pretty average, but the crowd seemed to like it a lot.
Night 10 results –
Guerrillas of Destiny defeated David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura (B Block)
Tama Tonga and Kitamura had a hilarious chop battle early on, which the crowd loved. Finlay got more offense than you might expect, looking excellent in doing so. Kitamura continues to keep it very basic, as he should.
Finlay broke up a near fall, then Kitamura kicked out of a Blue Thunder Bomb before succumbing to Tanga Loa’s finisher.
The story of this match was Henare displaying an ability to take a beating and keep fighting. He got destroyed early on but kept firing up after. When working with someone like Ishii, this was bound to get over, and it did.
They did a great near fall with Henare hitting Ishii with a spear, which the crowd totally bought as the finish. Henare kicked out of one pinning predicament but succumbed to Ishii’s brainbuster.
Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) defeated Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb (B Block)
Taylor was absolutely more over on this night than he has been at any point yet in the tournament, even eliciting a “Chuckie T” chant at the opening bell.
All four guys had their working boots on, and they had a really good match. The place went nuts for Elgin and Cobb’s power stuff, as usual, and they came up with some innovative spots that I’ve never seen, including a vertical suplex where they passed Beretta back and forth to each other while maintaining the suplex.
Taylor and Beretta were on point with their aerial tactics as well. Taylor hit a crazy dive from the top rope in to the crowd. Beretta’s selling isn’t my cup of tea, but he did the bulk of it for his team, and did a fine job.
The place went crazy for the near falls, and the match felt like it reached its climax at the perfect time. Taylor and Beretta hit Strong Zero on Cobb to pick up the win.
War Machine defeated Killer Elite Squad (B Block)
These guys tried their best to follow the previous match, which was quite the tall order, but they were successful.
Lance Archer and Davey Boy Smith Jr. have been positioned as the dominant star team of the tournament so far, and the crowd reacted to them as such, responding in a big way when they lost.
This was four mean guys having a fight, but in an artful way. They looked like they were beating each other up, but with worked or safe forearms and strikes, rather than wailing on each other for real. There’s a time and place for chops, but they can be a crutch.
They did a great spot late in the match where all four guys missed moves from the top rope, and ended up down and selling, which set up the last few minutes nicely. Hanson broke up a near fall after a Hart Attack. Archer broke up a near fall after Fallout, but Smith eventually fell victim to the same move.
Standings after night 10 —
A Block
Death Juice (Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan) — 6
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens — 4
Hangman Page & Yujiro Takahashi — 4
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima — 4
Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI — 4
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka — 4
SANADA & EVIL — 4
Manabu Nakanishi & Yuji Nagata – 2
B Block
Killer Elite Squad (Davey Boy Smith Jr. & Lance Archer) — 6
War Machine (Ray Rowe & Hanson) — 6
Best Friends (Beretta & Chuck Taylor) — 6
Guerrillas of Destiny (Tama Tonga & Tanga Loa) — 6
Tonight: Johnny Impact faces Alberto El Patron in a grudge match.
Show Recap —
Laurel Van Ness defeated Madison Rayne and KC Spinelli to advance to the Knockouts Championship tournament finals
This was the first of two triple threat matches where the winners of each will advance to compete for the vacant Knockouts Championship.
Van Ness snapped and took over after Spinelli put on her fur coat. Spinelli got Van Ness up in the electric chair and dropped her on Rayne, but Van Ness hit the Unprettier on Spinelli for the win.
Taiji Ishimori defeated Hakim Zane
Zane was in control early before Ishimori quickly took over. Zane regained the advantage until Ishimori made a comeback and won with the 450 splash.
Caleb Konley and Trevor Lee jumped Ishimori after the match and beat him down.
– In the back, James Storm promised to defeat Texano tonight. He then said he was coming after Dan Lambert and American Top Team next.
– At the LAX clubhouse, Konnan said he wants the Tag Team titles back and promised to take the fight to the streets.
Sami Callihan defeated Randy Myers from Defy Wrestling in Seattle, Washington
Callihan buried Myers under a pile of chairs. They traded vicious shots at the center of the ring, then Callihan won the match with a lariat.
– Backstage, KM attacked a bunch of guys to prove his worth to American Top Team.
James Storm defeated Texano
Before the match, Lambert, Bobby Lashley, and ATT arrived backstage. KM asked if they saw what he did, but Lambert didn’t care and said they have a cowboy to take care of.
Storm was in control early until Texano spit Storm’s own beer in his face. Texano nailed Storm with a superkick and put on Storm’s hat. Texano turned around and Storm hit the Last Call superkick for the win.
After the match, ATT ran out and jumped Storm. They beat him down until Moose ran out for the save with a chair. Lambert challenged Storm and Moose to face Lashley and himself next week. ATT were shocked that Lambert named himself Lashley’s partner.
– A commercial aired for Park, Park, and Park Attorneys at Law. Joseph Park introduced his cousin Chandler Park (Ethan Page).
Kurt Angle defeated Samoa Joe from Genesis 2006 in the GWN Flashback Moment of the Week
Joe was in control after sending Angle into the steps. Angle was busted open and bled all over the ring. Joe scored a very close near fall with a Muscle Buster before Angle made a comeback and hit the Angle Slam for a two count.
Angle locked on the ankle lock, but Joe countered into the Coquina Clutch. Angle locked the ankle lock back on for the win.
– Backstage, Eli Drake promised he’d be watching the main event tonight. He had a brief interaction with Jimmy Jacobs.
Matt Sydal defeated Tyson Dux
Ethan Carter III joined Jeremy Borash and Josh Mathews on commentary. Sydal was in control early, then Dux took over. Dux scored a close near fall with a DDT. Sydal ended up winning the match with the double knees and Shooting Star Press.
Johnny Impact defeated Alberto El Patron
They brawled at the center of the ring to start the match, leading to El Patron taking over after a kick to the head. During the commercial break, El Patron gave Impact a double foot stomp when he was under the steps.
El Patron scored a very close near fall with a superkick. He scored another one with a reverse superplex and used a low blow but only got a two count.
Eli Drake came out and yelled at El Patron. El Patron attacked Drake and hit him with the belt. This gave Impact the chance to take over and hit Starship Pain for the win.
Post-match, Drake hit El Patron with the belt. Drake and Chris Adonis then beat down Impact. Petey Williams ran out for the save and gave Drake the Canadian Destroyer.
Next Week: Dan Lambert & Bobby Lashley take on Moose & James Storm. Plus, Impact Grand Champion Ethan Carter III defends against Matt Sydal.
The Big News: Tyler Bate moved one step closer to another shot at the UK title by pinning champion Pete Dunne in the tag team main event.
The Medium News: Kairi Sane continued her streak of not being pinned or submitted as she beat Peyton Royce.
The Little Beaver-sized News: The Street Profits moved to 2-0 against Sabbatelli & Moss. (Maybe if they wrestle 1000 times, the former NFL players can get a win?)
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Remember last week when I said that this week we’d be back in the swing of things with a normal episode of NXT? I was lying. Instead, we have highlights of the NXT San Antonio house show from the night before NXT TakeOver: War Games.
Nigel McGuinness isn’t here this week, which means we got more Percy Watson. At no point did I say that was a good thing. Christy St. Cloud is handling the ring announcing and was really enthusiastic which is the nicest thing I can say about her effort.
The Street Profits defeated Tino Sabbatelli & Riddick Moss
These two teams first wrestled two weeks ago, won by the Profits. They celebrated by partying on top of a car which angered Sabbatelli & Moss. That, of course, led to “renewed hostilities” and this rematch.
There looked to be about 300 people in the crowd, but they were into the Profits and made enough noise for a couple thousand. The heels got the heat on Montez Ford when Sabbatelli knocked him off the ring apron and sent him crashing into the guardrails. The crowd exploded for Angelo Dawkins’ hot tag which led to him running wild with his twisting splashes in the corner to both of his foes.
Sabbatelli had Dawkins pinned with a forearm to the face, but the referee stopped counting when he saw Moss holding down Dawkins’ feet for leverage. Ford came back and pinned Sabbatelli with a frog splash after a Lo Down.
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Tickets for NXT TakeOver: Philadelphia go on sale this Saturday!
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After defeating Johnny Gargano last week, UK Champion Pete Dunne was approached by Moustache Mountain (Tyler Bate/Trent Seven) who congratulated him on his victory. Bate brought up Dunne allowing Wolfgang to be beaten down by The Undisputed Era and challenged him to find a partner for a tag team match. We fast forward back to today and Seven enunciated the same thoughts. Bate said they are a real tag team, unlike Dunne and Mark Andrews.
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The aforementioned Andrews cut a promo about why he agreed to be Dunne’s partner. He said that there is an agreement in place that if their team wins, Andrews will become #1 contender to the UK Championship.
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Kairi Sane defeated Peyton Royce
After the opening salvo, Royce ran the ropes and Sane did a drop down….and then did it again….and then did it again. Just as I was getting curious as to how long Royce would keep running and jumping over Sane, she suddenly stopped and got frustrated. Said frustration didn’t last long as Royce knocked down Sane to get the heat.
Sane made her comeback and seemed content with caving in Royce’s chest with forearms. Sane went up top for a big WhatAManeuver, but Royce sidestepped it and hit a running knee for a near fall. Sane made another comeback and even knocked an interfering Billie Kay off the apron before pinning Royce with the Insane Elbow.
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Last week, Ruby Riott defeated Sonya Deville in a Winner Gets An Extra Letter Added To Her Last Name Match, but they are coming back! Next week, the war between Raw and SmackDown explodes again as Sonya and Ruby square off in a no holds barred match.
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A video aired about Drew McIntyre’s injury and an acknowledgment that he will be out for an undisclosed amount of time. However, we get the championship celebration next week for the new NXT Champion, Andrade “Cien” Almas.
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Moustache Mountain defeated WWE United Kingdom Champion Pete Dunne & Mark Andrews
Back in January, all four men took part in the UK Championship tournament, which was won by Bate. Dunne won the title in the best WWE match all year at TakeOver: Chicago (again, go watch that match) and has since defended it multiple times.
The match started with Bate and Dunne. Bate appeared to get the best of him as it led to a standoff. Dunne reached out to tag Andrews, but before he did, he punched Bate right in the mouth. Andrews tagged in and we got superb scientific wrestling between the three noble babyfaces.
Dunne continued to show why he is a budding star. He does so many little things and creative misdirection spots that along with his skill, his sheer presence and personality make him a standout not just in the UK division, but in all of NXT. This match told a great story and made sense from beginning to end. Andrews wouldn’t normally bother himself by teaming with such a rogue, but the lure of championship glory was enough to set aside his personal feelings for one night.
The dissention and destruction of the team slowly built from the opening bell with Dunne not happy with Andrews’ clean cut ways and Andrews not happy with Dunne’s lack of sportsmanship.
Toward the end, Andrews hit a hurricarana on Bate and Dunne caught his foe and dropped him with a sit-out power bomb in one fluid motion. Bate came back and almost had the champ pinned with a double team power bomb, but Andrews broke that up. There were a slew of near falls and kickouts, but the finish was nice and simple. Bate, the former champion, pinned Dunne, the current champion, with the Tyler Driver 97.
Andrews was frustrated after the match, but decided to fight another day and began walking away. However, Dunne laid him out with a blow to the back of the head and then hit a Bitter End.
This week was a throwaway show that did have an excellent main event that sets the stage for more excellent matches in the future. Next week, we’re back in Full Sail (I’m serious this time), so until then, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers.
Date: November 28, 2017 Location: Rupp Arena in Lexington, KY
The Big Takeaway —
Kevin Owens pinned Randy Orton in a no disqualification match thanks to some help from Sami Zayn, even though Zayn was banned from ringside.
Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan are now the “Riott Squad” and they defeated Charlotte, Naomi and Natalya in a 6-woman tag match. It was more of an angle, as Natalya bailed on her team early on, and the heels took out Naomi at ringside before Riott pinned Charlotte.
Jinder Mahal laid out the Singh Brothers after they lost to AJ Styles, and Mojo Rawley laid out Zack Ryder after the Hype Bros lost to the Bludgeon Brothers.
Show Recap —
After a lengthy video package, Shane McMahon came out to start the show. He explained why he intended on firing Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn and also recapped what Daniel Bryan did instead. Shane introduced Bryan so he could explain his actions himself.
Bryan understands why Shane and others think Owens and Zayn should be fired, which the crowd booed, but Bryan knows what it’s like to be fired and believes in second chances. He wasn’t forgiving their actions, but also mentioned that Shane’s temperament gets the best of him sometimes.
Shane agreed, but reminded Bryan that Owens beat up his father, Sami Zayn interfered in his Hell in a Cell match, and both men turned their backs on the roster. Bryan said they were just trying to grab the brass ring, and if they were fired, they would just end up on Raw. Shane didn’t care, because they would end up being Stephanie’s problem.
Bryan said if Shane just wanted someone to do what he said, he wasn’t the guy for Shane. But Bryan wanted to bring out the best in their talent. Shane did like Bryan’s announcement of Owens vs. Randy Orton but wanted to add to it. He banned Zayn from ringside and made the match no disqualifications. Shane and Bryan shook hands. They couldn’t have done this backstage or on the phone?
This was the fifth straight week that Smackdown opened with Shane McMahon. One of those weeks was the backstage segment where he rallied the roster against Raw. The last time he didn’t open the show was in Seattle, where Bryan opened the show instead.
Backstage, Owens and Zayn tried to reason with Bryan. Zayn said Bryan needed to sort this out. Bryan told Zayn he was in no position to make demands, and they weren’t only ones trying to keep their jobs. He refused to help them.
Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods (w/Big E) defeated Chad Gable & Shelton Benjamin (8:39)
The Usos were on commentary and Big E brought them pancakes and maple syrup–which he kept in his singlet. The Usos were excited by the offer but weren’t sure they should eat it, so Byron Saxton offered to eat it instead. The Usos also danced to New Day’s music.
New Day won clean. Woods hit a diving footstomp with Benjamin draped over Kingston’s knee for the pinfall win. Not the result I expected but I guess they’re building to a threeway with the Usos.
Backstage, Naomi and Charlotte spoke about taking out Ruby Riot, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan. Natalya jumped in and let them know she was ready to help. Charlotte resisted at first, but the segment ended with them all on the same page. This was your typical, phony backstage segment that was impossible to take seriously.
Bludgeon Brothers defeated The Hype Bros (0:43)
The announcers said the Hype Bros demanded this rematch. Harper and Rowan won quickly with a double chokeslam, this time on Zack Ryder.
Dasha Fuentes asked the Hype Bros about their struggles. Ryder said they were top contenders a year ago but that felt like a lifetime ago. He said the landscape has changed and they need to change too. Before Ryder could finish, Mojo Rawley decked him from behind. Rawley hesitated for a moment before attacking Ryder again, yelling “the Hype Bros are dead,” until officials pulled him off.
After a break, Kayla Braxton caught up to Rawley backstage and asked why he attacked Ryder. Rawley responded, “Like Zack said, the landscape has changed.”
Elsewhere, Fuentes asked Bobby Roode about Baron Corbin accidentally attacking him last week. Roode wasn’t sure that was an accident, but knew for sure that Corbin calling him absent-minded was not an accident. Roode said Corbin felt threatened and that he would take away his US Title. Roode was about to yell “Glorious” but Corbin interrupted to call him delirious. Roode challenged him to a title match tonight, but Corbin said no. They made sure to frame this so Corbin would appear 10-feet tall.
2-on-1 handicap match: WWE Champion AJ Styles defeated The Singh Brothers (w/Jinder Mahal) (3:57)
Mahal attacked Styles before the match and they laid him out. After a break, the referee started the match after checking with Styles. The Singhs got the heat on Styles as the fans chanted “USA” at the heel Canadians.
Styles managed to fight them all off, including kicking Mahal off the apron, and gave Samir a Styles Clash off the ropes onto Sunil for the pinfall win.
Mahal attacked the Singhs after the match, giving them both the Khallas as the crowd chanted “You still suck.” Mahal messed up his own finish on Sunil. Corey Graves predicted that Mahal would become champion again.
Backstage, Fuentes interviewed Riot, Morgan and Logan. Riot introduced themselves again and called them the “Riot Squad.” Riot said they were here to turn the division upside down and called Morgan and Logan two of the most dangerous women in the world.
Riot called Morgan her “little firecracker” and Morgan said she was about to “pop off like it’s the fourth of July.” The crowd laughed. Logan said she came from a family of hunters and they were bagging three trophies tonight. Riot’s delivery was good but the verbiage here was terrible.
The New Day did an ad for WWE Shop. Front and centre was a Chris Jericho Funko Pop.
They showed some pictures from Starrcade on the weekend, including Charlotte and Ric Flair, Shinsuke Nakamura getting endorsed by Ricky Steamboat, and Arn Anderson giving Dolph Ziggler a spinebuster.
6-Woman Tag Match: Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan defeated Women’s champion Charlotte Flair, Naomi & Natalya
They are spelling Ruby’s last name “Riott” now. Natalya bailed on the match after 50 seconds.
Logan and Morgan took out Naomi during the match, tossing her into the steel steps (twice). The referee did not call for a DQ for some reason, but did call for help so Naomi could be escorted to the back, leaving Charlotte on her own. Charlotte made a brief comeback but Riot pinned her after a Riot Kick. It’s good the new women won, but the match layout was stupid.
Braxton was waiting outside of Randy Orton’s locker room for an interview, but he just blew past her and marched away.
They did a Fashion Files segment, which was a Saw parody. There wasn’t much to this. Breezango and Ascension were trapped in a room and could only escape if they destroyed the thing they love most. Ascension figured out they must beat the dead horse, Tully. They ripped the horse’s head apart until they discovered a key, which Fandango and Breeze used to escape. Ascension told them to save themselves, even though they had enough time to do both. Breezango just left them there to die as poisonous gas filled the room.
No Disqualification Match: Kevin Owens defeated Randy Orton (16:40)
After about 13 minutes, Orton got ready for an RKO but Owens scampered off. Orton followed after and attacked him on the stage. Zayn ran out and attacked Orton with a chair, hitting him in the left leg. Zayn hit him two more times in the leg with the lightest chair shots ever. (Zayn was banned from ringside, but Graves explained that they were technically on the stage, not at ringside.)
Zayn ran off as Owens tossed Orton in the ring, but Orton came back with a draping DDT. Owens avoided an RKO, chop-blocked him in the injured left leg, then followed with a Frog Splash for the win.
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The Big Takeaway: In the one place he never should have returned, Braun Strowman returned to get revenge on Kane after being laid out last week. Once again, Finn Balor was the setup man for Strowman. The fact that Kane is running for mayor in nearby Knox County wasn’t lost on a few fans at ringside, who could be heard chanting “Let’s Go Mayor” during an impromptu match with Balor. Before the match with Balor, Kane faced Jason Jordan, who looks to be turning heel, and it’s certainly time. The tandem of Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville have been named “Absolution.” After laying out Bayley (off camera) and Mickie James (off camera), Absolution beat up Sasha Banks in the ring. Later, in a weird angle, Absolution surrounded Asuka. The two sides glared at each other, then Asuka smiled, Paige waved and Asuka cautiously walked to the back. After losing to Bray Wyatt, Matt Hardy teased the long-awaited “Broken” angle by repeatedly chanting “delete.”
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Reigns came out to noticeably more jeers than at any point since the Shield reunion. Reigns said last week was a big week for him: the Shield reunited, they defeated the New Day; and he won the Intercontinental Championship. There was a small “You deserve it.” Reigns said The Miz ran his mouth. They showed video after Miz dropped the strap last week when the Shield gave Miz the Triple Bomb through the annoncers’ table. Reigns said we won’t see the Miz for awhile, but you will see a lot of the championship. Reigns said as long as he has the Intercontinental Championship, the title will remain presitgious. Reigns said if anyone wants the championship, anyone has to step up and take it.
Miz’s music played, but Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel (still in a neck brace) walked out. Dallas chided Reigns for disrespecting the most must-see Intercontinental Champion of all time. Axel said they were in no condition to avenge an injustice, but they knew someone who can. Elias came out playing a guitar. Elias said the Miz was a good guy and when he saw Axel and Dallas lost after their leader feel in defeat, he knew he could lead them and ignite the fire that burned in their hearts. Elias said he was going to take Reigns’ Intercontinental Championship. Reigns agreed to a match, but he told Elias to take a look at Axel. He told Elias he hopes he can sing in a neck brace because before the end of the night he could be wearing one.
Seth Rollins came out as Reigns was leaving and the two bumped fists. The “Burn it Down” wail was missing from Rollins’ music, but he came out in a “Burn It Down” t-shirt. Michael Cole announced that Sheamus was taking an annual sabbatical to Ireland and Dean Ambrose was on his honeymoon.
Seth Rollins defeated Cesaro (18:17)
Rollins attempted a crossbody off the top, but Cesaro caught him in mid-air and delivered a spinning backbreaker. Rollins came back with a Blockbuster and a tope. Great near fall with an inside cradle by Cesaro, which led to Cesaro putting Rollins in the sharpshooter, but Rollins forced the rope break. Cesaro attempted the Gotch Neutralizer, but Rollins backdropped him over and hit a superkick for a two count. Cesaro attempted a springboard uppercut, but Rollins hit another superkick and got the win following the Rainmaker Kneestrike (which STILL doesn’t have a name seven months after Rollins started using it.)
Charly Caruso did an in-ring interview with Rollins. She asked since Reigns won the Intercontinental Championship and Ambrose is on his honeymoon, does that mean that the Shield is going in different directions. Rollins said he hadn’t heard from Ambrose in a week, then actually said that Ambrose “put the hotel room in Renee’s name.” He asked Charly, since she was Rene’s friend, if she knew anything about it. He said that the Shield would only get stronger, Ambrose would return next week and they would invoke their rematch clause for the Raw Tag Team titles against Sheamus and Cesaro next week.
They showed footage from 205 Live showing the Zo Train laying out Rich Swann, Akira Tozawa and Cedric Alexander last week. Swann, Tozawa, Mustafa Ali and Alexander met with Kurt Angle backstage. Alexander said they wanted an opportunity against the Zo Train. Angle said it’s time to determine the next challenger for Enzo Amore’s championship. Angle ordered a Fatal Four-Way match tonight. Then next week, there would be another Fatal Four-Way. The winners of the two matches would meet in two weeks to determine the new #1 contender.
Samoa Joe defeated Titus O’Neil via tapout (2:31)
Samoa Joe won with the Coquina Clutch. There was a lengthy, awkward period where the two were locked in a clinch and one waited on the other to do something. Joe got the Coquina Clutch after Titus O’Neil got some stiff punches in, but the referee tried to back them out of the corner. Postmatch, Apollo Crews tried to give Joe an enzuigiri, but missed. Joe put Crews in the Coquina Clutch, as well, leaving him laying.
Alexa Bliss was out on commentary for what was supposed to be a six-woman tag between Sasha Banks, Mickie James and Bayley vs. Paige, Rose and Deville. Banks made her entrance. When James was supposed to come out, she never showed up. Then they started Bayley’s music, but she was also a no-show. Then Paige, Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville walked out. James was shown on the TitanTron selling her left leg backstage. Then Bayley was also left laying after selling her neck.
Paige said she’s been hounded on social media, at the airports and at the supermarket by people to explain her actions. She said one year ago, she was THE woman who stuck the flag into the ground and to erase the word “Diva’ from the WWE encyclopedia. Last week, she was just making a statement about who she is. And she’s back. Rose, Paige and Deville surrounded the ring. Paige said her group is called “Absolution.” Rose said others may have forgotten, but before there was a Boss, or the Four Horsewomen, or a Goddess, there was a Paige. But they haven’t forgotten. Devills said every woman has pushed the competition and every woman has raised the game, but the fact is nothing would have been raised if it wasn’t for Paige. That’s why she and Rose pledged their allegiance to Paige. That’s why Absolution is going to push the women’s revolution. Paige wanted Banks to pledge their allegiance to them. Paige said Banks was either with them or against them.
Banks punched Paige off the apron, but Deville and Rose swept right in and jumped Banks. Banks started to make her own comeback, but Rose tackled her from behind and Paige stomped her down. Devills delivered a roundhouse kick to Banks, while Rose hit the Angel’s Wings where she dropped Banks on her head. Paige gave Banks the Rampage.
Bray Wyatt returned in his lair and simply said “I’m here.”
Wyatt came out after a commercial break. Wyatt said he never had a childhood, he never celebrated holidays, he never carved a turkey and he never cared. Wyatt said the fans do. He said the fans’ entire world exists in a cardboard box. They tell you what to buy, tell you who to love. He called the fans pathetic. He tried and he tried and the fans never listened when he tried to show them the way. Wyatt said their suffering brings him joy because his eyes are wide open. He can truly see them for who they are. He said none of you are alive, you are all dead. You’re all dead and he laughed and laughed. He repeated while laughing “You’re all dead.” Speaking of which, Matt Hardy came out.
Bray Wyatt defeated Matt Hardy (2:43)
Hardy missed a moonsault, Wyatt did his upside down corner thing and pinned Hardy with Sister Abigail.
Wyatt left. Hardy was in the corner by himself while the fans chanted “Hardy.” Hardy began screaming “delete” while laughing. Then he made the motion and screamed “delete, delete, delete” over and over. Reaction was a little disappointing, but it could mean the Broken character could finally emerge. This was followed by Reby Hardy tweeting as many references to his TNA gimmick as humanly possible for the rest of the hour.
Jason Jordan talked with Angle backstage about how Kane attacked Braun Strowman. Jordan said it was too bad Strowman was injured because he wanted to get even with him. Angle couldn’t believe that and asked his son if he really meant that. Jordan sort of hemmed and hawed about how people on social media claimed he was exaggerating how bad his knee injury was. Angle claimed he didn’t mean it that way. Angle brought up how Jordan could face Kane and beat the man who took out Strowman last week. Jordan agreed, so Angle announced Jordan would face Kane tonight. Jordan had a smile on his face but it was clear he was a little apprehensive about facing Kane.
Rich Swann pinned Noam Dar in a Fatal Four-Way match that also included Akira Tozawa and Ariya Daivari to advance to the #1 contender cruiserweight match. (12:33)
Swann pinned Noam Dar with the Phoenix Splash. Early hightlight was Swann doing a somersault tope on Dar and Ariya Daivari. Dar and Daivari gave Swann a double suplex on the floor. Tozawa being in Titus Worldwide has been dropped. Enzo watched backstage and made fun of Swann doing a tope saying it would only hurt himself. He must of studied Larry Zbyzsko’s old commentary during WCW cruiserweight matches. After a Tower of Doom spot where Swann gave Dar a superplex, Daivari hit a frog splash for a two count. Tozawa hit a tope on Dar and a Shining Wizard on Daivari. Tozawa went to the top rope for the senton bomb, but Dar threw Tozawa into the post and pinned Daivari, but Swann broke it up. Dar tried to pin Tozawa with a schoolboy cradle holding the trunks, then hit a running dropkick. Swann pulled Tozawa out of the ring to avoid getting pinned.
Elias came out for a concert about how the Miztourage had not been the same since the Miz left.
Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns defeated Elias to retain the Intercontinental Championship (14:43)
Dallas and Axel were at ringside and interfered, each jumping on the apron in opposite directions. Elias used that distractonto hit a jumping knee for a two count. Reigns hit the drive-by on Elias, then decked Dallas with a Superman punch. Reigns nailed Axel with a spear, but Elias jumped Reigns from behind, threw him into the post and hit the Randy Savage Elbow for a two count. Elias can do a top-rope elbow, then hit a turning Liger Bomb for another near fall. Regins got an inside cradle, then hit a Superman Punch for two. Reigns called for the Spear, but he ran into a knee lift, only to recover, bounce off the ropes and hit the spear for the pin.
After Reigns walked up the ramp, Joe ran out from behind and put Reigns in the Coquina Clutch. Referees, Jamie Noble and Fit Finley ran out to pull Joe off. Joe started to go back, but Joe ran back to put the choke back on. Finley had to grab Joe by the waist to get him to the back.
Dana Brooke did an inset promo saying she watched the tape of her match with Asuka over and over. Brooke claimed she found the hole in her game—she’s a slow starter. Brooke told her to watch out.
Asuka defeated Dana Brooke via tapout (:04)
Brooke ran at Asuka, who immediately put her in an armbar for the tapout.
Absolution came down to surround the ring. They stood there glaring at each other for a minute. Then Asuka smiled and backed out of the ring. Paige waved at her. Asuka backed off and smiled as she made her way up the ramp after not one of the three women entered the ring, despite having a numbers advantage.
Jordan came out and grabbed the mic and said on social media over the past week, there’s been speculation about his knee. There have been doubters saying he used the knee injury to try and get out of his match with Strowman. He said that couldn’t be any further from the truth. Last week, when he slipped out of Strowman’s powerslam, he felt his knee go. But after a week of rehab and the care of the WWE medical staff, he feels 100% and is ready to shut down the Big Red Machine. The crowd only cared because they wanted Jordan to pause long enough so they could chant “what.” Then Kane came out to a total babyface reaction.
Kane defeated Jason Jordan by countout (1:43)
Jordan powered Kane into the corner and gave him a shoulder block into the midsection. Kane threw Jordan over the top rope and Jordan immediately started selling his injured knee. The referee counted Jordan out, but Jordan rolled back in the ring. Kane gave him a big boot and therw him over the top rope again.
They kept working with Kane chop blocked Jordan’s left leg, stomped on it and slammed it in the mat. Then Finn Balor came out to a big reaction. They went to a commercial. Cole announced that Angle ordered a match between the two during the break, which bascially meant Angle didn’t have a main event for this show before now.
Finn Balor defeated Kane by DQ (2:44)
Fans chanted “Let’s go Balor” and pronounced his named like Baylor University. Kane jammed a chair into Balor’s midsection outside the ring for the DQ. Kane took the chair over his head and slammed it over Baylor’s back three times. Kane then put the chair around Balor’s head and climbed to the second rope, but Strowman’s music played. Strowman walked out and Kane looked stunned. Balor vanished. Kane slammed the chair on Strowman’s back, but Strowman no sold it.
Strowman gave Kane a head butt and a running splash to no real reaction, then knocked him out of the ring with a running bodyblock. Strowman took the ring steps, picked up a portion of it and rammed them across Kane’s head. You could hear small “Let’s Go Kane” chants because, well, he’s running for Mayor not far away. Strowman slammed the chair over Kane’s back, then picked him up for the running powerslam onto the ring steps in the ring. Strowman protected Kane on the bump to the point it looked bad. Crowd chanted “one more time.” Then Strowman took the chair around Kane’s neck and rammed it into the steps, just like Kane did to Strowman last week. Kane gasped for air. Then Strowman did it again. Crowd just watched on restlessly and Kane struggled for air around ringside. This went on way too long as Kane left through the crowd.
As the 2017 World Tag League continues, each block tells a different story.
After eight nights, and three matches for each team, Block A is one of parity. Each team has scored at least one victory, and also tasted defeat once. Block B stands in contrast, with one dominant, undefeated team, Killer Elite Squad, and two winless teams.
As a rule, I prefer the booking of the B Block, as I believe in a firm pecking order. In practice, I can nitpick the choice of team, as I can point out three other teams in the block that have looked as good or better than Killer Elite Squad. I also understand that the A Block is stacked with a couple of more veteran teams, and to honor and respect the legacy of more veteran performers, and perhaps to placate fading stars, a more parity-based approach is understandable.
Another story that continues to bear watching is the fate of the newcomers, Chuck Taylor, Jeff Cobb, and Sami Callihan.
Of the three, Callihan has continued to receive the best reactions. His confidence seems renewed, and his loose cannon shtick, and the way that veterans like Satoshi Kojima have sold for that act, have helped in that regard. Cobb’s reactions were notably less vibrant than in his first two outings, but his pairing with Elgin, who reminds me of a modern Vader in Japan right now, will continue to serve him well. Elgin is really over and his power stuff has received some of the bigger reactions of the tournament.
Chuck Taylor, as predicted in my previous tournament piece, seems to be having the toughest time getting over. The Best Friends comedy has been subtle at best, and non-existent at times. Without the comedy act, I would expect that Taylor would need a winning streak or a blow-away match to solidify him with the new crowd.
None of those things have happened yet, but I am still confident that the overall quality of Taylor’s work will shine through, and the New Japan audience will take note.
Night five results —
Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens defeated Yujiro Takahashi & Hangman Page (A Block)
Both Bullet Club teams here, so the match began with a group hug. Fale and Yujiro did some comedy, then Page and Owens tagged in for a nice mat work sequence. Owens and Fale proved to be the badder of the bad guys, and put the boots to Page and Takahashi.
Page did a nice top rope moonsault from the post to the outside. The finish saw Fale hoist Page for the Bad Luck Fall, but Takahashi begged him not to do it. While Takahashi dealt with Fale, Owens hit him with a schoolboy for the win. The teams hugged after the match, so no Bullet Club dissension here.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Yuji Nagata & Manabu Nakanishi (A Block)
This had great heat. The crowd was very forgiving of the physical limitations of these four veterans. The match was good when Nagata, Tenzan, and Kojima were in, but Nakanishi is clearly hurting.
Nagata and Nakanishi worked over Kojima for a long time. Nakanishi hit a crossbody off the top rope onto Kojima, which the place went nuts for. Kojima hit a stunner, a suplex, and a massive lariat on Nakanishi for the pinfall victory.
Minoru Suzuki & Takashi Iizuka defeated EVIL & SANADA (A Block)
The fans loved Iizuka’s entrance through the crowd. Suzuki attacked EVIL and SANADA while the introductions were still taking place. They brawled all over the arena and Suzuki repeatedly used a chair on EVIL. Back in the ring, they worked over EVIL’s right arm, which was heavily taped up.
SANADA tagged in and looked great, even in working with Iizuka. SANADA did the Ric Flair turnbuckle spot out onto the apron and followed up with an awesome dropkick to Suzuki. The finish saw El Desperado take the ref, allowing Iizuka to hit EVIL with a loaded glove, and Suzuki nailed him with the Gotch piledriver for the win.
Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan defeated Hirooki Goto & YOSHI-HASHI (A Block)
I would be hard pressed to explain the psychology of this match to you. YOSHI-HASHI and Robinson worked the bulk of it, most of which was YOSHI-HASHI working over Robinson, getting the better of every striking exchange, and Juice’s only hope spots coming when YOSHI-HASHI missed a move.
Callihan continued to get over well with his intensity and the loose cannon stuff, including kissing YOSHI-HASHI, which ultimately led to the finish.
Finlay and Kitamura jumped Ishii and Yano before the bell to claim the early advantage. That was short-lived. As they brawled into the crowd, Yano took over on Kitamura, nailing him with a chair. Ishii was great selling Kitamura’s chops, but refusing to bump for them.
Ishii and Yano continued to work over Kitamura in the ring. Finlay got a tag and ran wild on Yano, who undid a turnbuckle pad. Finlay and Yano did some crotch comedy. Kitamura and Ishii traded gutwrench suplexes and chops while Yano and Finlay went outside. Ishii hit a brainbuster on Kitamura for the victory.
Guerrillas of Destiny defeated Henare & Togi Makabe (B Block)
Henare hit a couple of beautiful arm drags in the opening minute. Tama Tonga’s standing frog splash looked awesome. Everything Makabe did was technically sound, but he looked to be moving in slow motion compared to the other three guys in the match.
Makabe broke up a near fall and brawled with Tonga on the outside. Tanga Loa hit a lariat and a Blue Thunder Bomb for a near fall, before eventually hitting Henare with a reverse piledriver for the win. Nothing special.
War Machine defeated Best Friends (B Block)
The teams shook hands before the match. To call this a clash of styles would be an understatement. They did some stuff early to establish both that War Machine can do comedy, and that Beretta and Taylor can be serious competitors.
Ray Rowe worked the bulk of the match for his team and did a ton of impressive throws and power moves. War Machine hit a modified Hart Attack for a cool near fall. Beretta hit a top rope release German suplex on Hanson and followed with a piledriver for a near fall. They really had the crowd by this point.
War Machine hit a double team powerslam and Hanson connected with a tope on Taylor. Taylor was the legal man, so Hanson threw him inside. Rowe escaped a schoolboy, and War Machine hit Fallout on Taylor for the victory. Good match.
Killer Elite Squad defeated Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb (B Block)
Davey Boy Smith Jr. and Cobb did a lot of grappling and mat work early on, which Smith largely got the best of. If Smith is going to work jiu-jitsu into his matches, shouldn’t he wear a gi? If you’re a shooter, dress like a shooter, not like a street brawler from 1999 in jeans and work boots.
Elgin did some good power spots with Smith, and the crowd was into everything he did. On the other hand, Cobb was not as over as he was in his last outing. Elgin hit a superplex to Lance Archer, with Cobb following up with double standing shooting star presses for a near fall. Archer and Smith recovered and hit Cobb with their double team powerbomb move for the finish.
Night seven results —
EVIL & SANADA defeated Bad Luck Fale & Chase Owens (A Block)
Owens and Fale worked over EVIL for several minutes, and both teams brawled into the crowd. Owens used a guardrail on EVIL. Maybe the crowd brawling gets over live, but I have always hated it on television. SANADA tagged in and did his Flair corner bump into a dropkick spot, which still looks amazing.
Owens hit a Codebreaker on EVIL for a great near fall. EVIL, SANADA, and Owens did a great finishing sequence which saw Owens eat a pin from EVIL. This really picked up towards the end and turned into a good match.
Hiroyoshi Tenzan & Satoshi Kojima defeated Juice Robinson & Sami Callihan (A Block)
Tenzan and Kojima got some chants. Tenzan worked with Callihan and Kojima with Robinson, early on. Robinson worked over Kojima, who then hit a DDT to shift the momentum. Tenzan tagged in and worked on Juice, but Callihan ran in and interfered at will. Kojima tagged in and did some of his trademark spots with Robinson, with Callihan again breaking up TenKoji’s momentum.
Kojima kicked out of a powerbomb. Callihan spit on Kojima and kissed him, but Kojima turned him inside out with a lariat and scored the pinfall. The crowd was into this perhaps more than any match in the tournament to this point.
It was wild to see Suzuki selling for Nakanishi’s offense, but I suppose there’s a respect factor there. After an initial flurry from Nakanishi and Nagata, everyone brawled outside. Shocking, I know. Back inside, Suzuki worked over Nakanishi for what felt like days. Nagata got a tag and briefly got the upper hand, then Suzuki reclaimed control.
Iizuka got in and did some brawling and biting comedy with Nagata. The finish was something of a cluster. Suzuki took the ref, Iizuka went for the loaded glove, Suzuki gave up the ref, the ref took the glove away, Suzuki and Nakanishi brawled outside, and Nagata hit Iizuka with a backdrop hold for the pin. This is not worth going out of your way to see.
Goto and YOSHI-HASHI ran wild in the opening minute until Page and Takahashi took over. They worked over YOSHI-HASHI, with Page doing most of the heavy lifting. They did a nice tandem clothesline into a leg drop and senton double team.
Goto tagged in and cleared Page out of the ring, and went to work on Takahashi. Page recovered and did an awesome dropkick/standing shooting star combo on Goto and YOSHI-HASHI. YOSHI-HASHI and Page did some more spots. YOSHI-HASHI sure gets a lot of offense for someone of his skill level, doesn’t he? Takahashi broke up a pin on Page, who rolled outside. Page flew back in and nailed YOSHI-HASHI with the Rite of Passage for the pinfall win. A decent match to close night seven.
Night eight results —
This show took place in Nagoya on Sunday, and was just recently uploaded to NJPW World. Here are quick results from the four tournament matches:
Michael Elgin & Jeff Cobb defeated David Finlay & Katsuya Kitamura (B Block)
Best Friends defeated Henare & Togi Makabe (B Block)
The Big Takeaway: Gran Metalik defeated Brian Kendrick in a fun opener that was well told. Apollo Crews beat Curt Hawkins as Hawkins and Titus O’Neil nearly came to blows. Hawkins is now at 132 straight matches without a win.
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Gran Metalik defeated Brian Kendrick (5:42)
Kendrick is without a singles win since August and lost here in a good match that was told in three parts. Metalik took the early going, using his pace and aerial ability to stun Kendrick and get the crowd involved and engaged in the match. A huge suicide dive from Metalik launched Kendrick into the air and on to his back.
But after baiting Metalik outside, Kendrick took over in the second third and slowed things down with rest holds. It was here that Metalik was a little too cartoonish in his selling and it took away from the main thrust of the match.
The final part saw both men kick out of each other’s finishers, with Metalik using his rope-walk elbow drop and Kendrick trying for the Sliced Bread #2. After Metalik looked beaten when his top rope dive was turned into a powerbomb, he kicked out and managed to reverse Kendrick into a Metalik Driver for the win.
Apollo Crews (w/ Titus O’Neil) defeated Curt Hawkins (4:22)
Crews beat Hawkins with relative ease here to bring Hawkins’ losing streak count to 132. Assuming that this keeps going at the rate of one per week, we would hit 150 by WrestleMania weekend. If they make fans aware of it, they could at least give him a match on the card to see if he could curb it. Not to make the most of a streak as long running as this would seem misguided.
The match was just as most of these Hawkins’ squashes have been. The difference here was O’Neil in the role of Crews’ manager. Hawkins is always good, despite the losses every week, and this week he continually trash talked O’Neil. Before the break, the mind games got to O’Neil and he got up on the apron to square up to Hawkins but eventually thought better of it.
Crews was impressive, flipping around and showing off his agility and selling well for Hawkins. He took an enzuigiri and a flapjack from Hawkins for a near fall but turned the tide quickly and finished things off with a spin-out powerbomb for the win.
Previously: Impact Global Champion Eli Drake successfully defended his title against Petey Williams.
Tonight: It’s a special Thanksgiving edition of Impact, featuring the return of the Turkey Suit. The main event will be a five-on-five tag team match in Eli Drake’s Gravy Train Turkey Trot (aka The Turkey Bowl).
Show Recap —
– In anticipation of tonight’s main event, Jeremy Borash said they’ll be looking back at past Turkey Bowl matches.
Rhyno defeated Alex Shelley and Sheik Adbul Bashir from Turkey Bowl 2008
Shelley and Bashir worked together to beat down Rhyno. But each time one of them went for the pin, the other would pull him off. They argued and ended up fighting each other. Rhyno took the chance to hit the Gore on Shelley for the win.
After the match, Mick Foley came down to the ring when Shelley refused to put on the Turkey Suit. Foley threatened to fire Shelley unless he put it on.
– In the back, Borash conducted the random draw for the participants in the main event. Chef Robert Irvine cooked up a feast for JB and the others.
– Throughout the night, members of the roster revealed their best Thanksgiving memory and said what they’re thankful for.
– Borash, Eli Drake, and Chris Adonis drew the names for the Turkey Bowl match. This went on for several segments. Adonis was upset after being drawn as the team captain, and Drake changed the name of the match to Eli Drake’s Gravy Train Turkey Trot.
Team one: Eddie Edwards, Allie, Richard Justice, Fallah Baah & Garza Jr. Team two: Chris Adonis, El Hijo Del Fantasma, Caleb Konley, KM & Laurel Van Ness
Eric Young defeated Robbie E (w/ Robbie T) from Turkey Bowl 2011
Young had the advantage and started to do the chicken dance. Referee Rudy Charles joined in on the dancing and missed Robbie using a foreign object to score the pin. Charles found the object and restarted the match, then Young won with a piledriver.
Robbie E was unconscious following the match, so Young chose Robbie T to wear the suit instead.
Robbie E defeated Grado from Turkey Bowl 2016
Grado attempted a sunset flip, but Robbie dropped down to score the pin. Grado put on the suit after and started dancing.
Eddie Edwards, Allie, Richard Justice, Fallah Baah & Garza Jr. defeated Chris Adonis (w/ Eli Drake), El Hijo Del Fantasma, Caleb Konley, Laurel Van Ness & KM
The member of the losing team that gets pinned will be forced to wear the Turkey Suit. Before the match, each team sat at a table and ate a turkey dinner. They also had to take an oath and swore to put on the suit if they are the one that gets pinned.
Baah missed a charge in the corner and the heels took over. He recovered and tagged in Garza, but the heels gained the advantage again and isolated him. Edwards got the hot tag and ran wild.
The match broke down and a brawl broke out. Justice attempted a dive before the other guys all caught him. Allie then dove off the top turnbuckle onto all of them.
The finish came when Adonis attempted the Adonis Lock and Edwards rolled through to score the win.
Adonis refused to put on the suit, with Drake wanting to do a random draw to pick someone else. Adonis tried to leave, but security wouldn’t let him.
Borash announced that if Adonis doesn’t put the suit on Drake has to instead. Eventually, Adonis put the suit on and got in Allie’s face because she was laughing.
This resulted in everyone getting into a huge food fight at ringside. Adonis tried to pie Edwards, but he moved and Drake got a face full of pie instead.
Next Week: Johnny Impact battles Alberto El Patron in a grudge match. Plus, the tournament to crown a new Knockouts Champion begins.
