The Revival vs. Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins for the WWE Raw tag team titles has been added to Sunday’s WrestleMania 35.
The 33-year-old Ryder and the 33-year-old Hawkins issued a challenge in a video posted to WWE.com after Raw ended on Monday. The Revival answered the challenge via Twitter Thursday, and the match was officially announced on WWE.com.
The challengers are both New York natives, and previously held the WWE tag team titles together in 2008. Since reuniting as a team in January, the duo are winless in tag matches.
Hawkins is currently involved in a losing streak storyline which stands at 269 consecutive matches according to WWE.
The Revival won the Raw tag titles on the February 11, 2019, edition of Raw by defeating Bobby Roode and Chad Gable.
That brings the WrestleMania match total to sixteeen with nine title matches. The SmackDown version of the titles will be defended in a four way featuring the Usos (champions) vs. Aleister Black/Ricochet, The Bar, and Nakamura/Rusev.
– While a Raw Tag Team title match has yet to be made official for WrestleMania 35, the build to one continued after last night’s Raw.
WWE uploaded a post-Raw video where Zack Ryder & Curt Hawkins challenged The Revival to a Tag Team title match at WrestleMania. Dash Wilder told them that The Revival would take it under consideration.
Hawkins’ storyline heading into WrestleMania is that he’s gone 269 straight matches without a win.
The Revival defended their titles against Ricochet & Aleister Black last night and won by countout. Scott Dawson was under the ring and stopped Ricochet from being able to make the count. Black laid out Wilder and Dawson with Black Mass after the match, then Ricochet hit the 630 on Dawson.
Hawkins and Ryder are both from New York, with WWE pushing that WrestleMania is taking place in their home area. MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey is hosting WrestleMania 35 on Sunday.
– On last night’s go-home episode of Raw, it was confirmed that Finn Balor will be using his “Demon” character for his Intercontinental title match against Bobby Lashley at WrestleMania.
Lashley and Lio Rush did an in-ring interview and were asked about rumors of the Demon showing up on Sunday. Balor appeared on the video screen and then became the Demon. Balor said his Demon will be Lashley’s nightmare.
Balor defeated Jinder Mahal & Lashley in a handicap match last week to set up him getting the Intercontinental title shot at WrestleMania.
A Tag Team title match has been added to the lineup for Monday’s go-home episode of Raw.
WWE announced tonight that Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival will defend their titles against Ricochet & Aleister Black on Monday’s show. Ricochet & Black defeated The Revival in non-title matches on this week’s Raw and the February 25 episode.
John Pollock of Post Wrestling reported today that the latest plans for WrestleMania 35 include a Raw Tag Team title match and a SmackDown Tag Team title match.
Ricochet & Black will challenge for War Raiders’ NXT Tag Team titles at TakeOver: New York on Friday, April 5, with them getting the title shot as a stipulation of winning this year’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic.
Monday’s Raw is taking place at the Capital One Arena in Washington D.C. Here’s what’s been announced for the show:
Ronda Rousey, Charlotte Flair & Becky Lynch vs. The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan) (if Rousey, Charlotte, or Lynch betray their team, they lose their spot in the WrestleMania main event)
Kurt Angle vs. Rey Mysterio
Brock Lesnar appears
Batista responds to Triple H
Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival defending against Ricochet & Aleister Black
Sasha Banks, Bayley, Beth Phoenix & Natalya vs. Nia Jax, Tamina, Peyton Royce & Billie Kay
The Big Takeaway: Curt Hawkins went 0-265 in losing to Rezar, who remains undefeated as a singles wrestler on the main roster. In the main event, Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival lost in an eight-man tag match that saw Viktor take the fall from Titus O’Neil.
Rezar is now 5-0 as a singles competitor on the main roster, while Hawkins’ perennial losing streak has now hit the dizzy heights of 0-265. But Hawkins has his tag team with Ryder and seems to be fairly content with his lot right now.
People forget that Hawkins is actually pretty perfect in this spot. He works really hard to make others look good and, up against big men like Rezar, will fly all over for them.
Unfortunately, when power moves should be his go-to, Rezar resorts to rest holds, but they had a perfectly fine match here that got better the more Hawkins got the hope.
Hawkins tried everything he could to get Rezar off his feet and eventually did so with a second rope shoulder barge. He then nailed Rezar with two DDTs and a top rope elbow drop, but could only get a two count. The crowd really thought Hawkins had him.
Rezar then popped up, unfazed, and caught Hawkins in his tracks in a choke hold and threw him up for a chokeslam in the middle of the ring for the win.
The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Lince Dorado & Gran Metalik) & Titus O’Neil defeated The Ascension & Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival (3:16)
As has been proven of late, WWE has no issue in beating their champions. And although they didn’t take the pinfall, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised to see The Revival lose. However, there will likely be a few eyebrows raised that the Raw Tag Team Champions were back on this show to begin with.
The Lucha House Party and Titus O’Neil made for fairly strange bedfellows, but O’Neil was the man to give their team the victory here in a match that ran at just over three minutes and yet still went through a commercial break.
There was literally no point in having all eight of these men out there. After the initial lock-up between Kalisto and Scott Dawson, we went to a break. When we came back, it was Kalisto and Konnor.
Konnor tried to cut the ring in half and sold as woodenly as The Warlord circa 1991. Kalisto squirmed out and gave the hot tag to O’Neil. Everyone sort of disappeared and O’Neil clumsily ran wild, then gave the Clash of the Titus to Viktor to pick up the win.
This felt like your typical WrestleMania season fodder: stick everyone out there so that they at least get on the card and so that they can get some airtime, but the entrances lasted longer than the match and no one really got over.
“When I made my announcement, I said that I was going to swing for the fences. We did better than that, y’all. We didn’t just swing for the fences, we hit a home run.”
The entire professional wrestling world breathed the sigh of relief they’ve been waiting four months for as Roman Reigns announced last Monday that his leukemia is in remission.
Reigns shared the positive update while appearing on WWE television for the first time since revealing his battle with leukemia, which had returned 11 years after he was first diagnosed with the disease.
Read the update on the situation with Roman Reigns as the lead story in the new issue of the Observer, talking about his leukemia diagnosis with more details as to the strain, his health situation and what he did in his four months away as well as other athletes with similar strains.
This issue has a major story on the career of Chris “King Kong Bundy” Pallies. Look at how he broke into wrestling, the irony of his very first match, his first role, his first push, where the King Kong Bundy name came from, where the five count came from, what pop culture characters he inspired, the story behind his famous WrestleMania matches including one that has rarely been talked about.
Also look at Jushin Liger’s retirement announcement. Read about his background, how he got started in pro wrestling, his New Japan Dojo legendary class, who he idolized and copied, his first match with the gimmick and what the plans are for his retirement.
This issue has an update on Tommaso Ciampa regarding the nature of his surgery, and what decisions NXT has to make.
Look at the career of Harley Race, how he broke into wrestling, the run that made him a national star and how he got the NWA world title, and how close he came to being champion a second time before it happened more than a year later.
Read full coverage of UFC 235, with all the highlights, business notes, and match-by-match coverage and poll results. Also look at contracted base pay for the show.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
by Bryan Rose and Joseph Currier
WWE
SmackDown tonight is at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. It will feature The Hardyz, Aleister Black and Ricochet vs. The Bar, Rusev and Shinsuke Nakamura. Kofi Kingston will also meet Vince McMahon, and Shane McMahon will explain his actions from Sunday where he turned on the Miz and attacked his father.
205 Live has the semi-finals of the #1 contenders tournament with Cedric Alexander facing Oney Lorcan and Drew Gulak taking on Tony Nese.
Fightful reported this afternoon that Eminem and WWE have reached a deal where he will contribute to the soundtrack of this year’s WWE 2K20 video game. The deal will also include him making an appearance on SmackDown this fall when it moves to FOX.
UPDATE: Eminem’s spokesperson told Pro Wrestling Sheet: “There was a very brief, exploratory conversation that involved a third party and 2K Sports, not Eminem’s team. It has not gone beyond preliminary discussions, and any reports to the contrary are false. Right now there are no plans to further pursue it.”
In an interview with The Mirror, Dash Wilder said that the report of him and Scott Dawson asking for their release back in January was “lost in translation”. “There were some things that got out there that I don’t think people knew the full story about,” he said. “I don’t think it aggravated us, it kind of gave us… again, we like to be angry. We like to be mad at things and have something to fight for. So that gave us more fuel for the fire and we were like… ‘we’ll have fun with the internet over that, as they don’t know what’s what, so we’re not going to tell them otherwise.”
EC3 lost to Tyler Breeze at last night’s Main Event tapings. This was the third straight week EC3 has been on Main Event, with him trading wins with Apollo Crews the past two weeks. The other match at last night’s tapings was The Lucha House Party defeating Jinder Mahal & The Singh Brothers.
Colin Jost wrote on Twitter: “Hey @BraunStrowman not to make a big fuss, but that was a rental and I didn’t pay for insurance. Maybe I can send you my Venmo info and you can reimburse me?”
TJ Perkins vs. Rich Swann vs. Ace Austin has been announced for Pro Wrestling Revolver’s 3 Year Anniversary show in Des Moines, Iowa on May 10.
Matt Jackson reiterated that The Young Bucks won’t be in New York for WrestleMania weekend: “In an attempt to be 100% transparent & to not lead anyone on, Nick & I will not even be in NY that weekend. But, we will make it up to you all very soon.”
A prototype NES game featuring WCW/NWA stars from the late eighties recently resurfaced called UWC. Universal Wrestling Corporation was the original name Turner Broadcasting went with when they bought Jim Crockett Promotions in 1988, but it was quickly changed to World Championship Wrestling. Based on the roster (which features the likes of Ric Flair, Sting, Barry Windham, The Road Warriors and The Midnight Express), this game seems to have been developed during that time frame.
Brian Pillman Jr. and Israel’s Ken Kerbis have been added to MLW’s Battle Riot match in Queens, New York on Friday, April 5. The match will air live on beIN Sports as part of a two-hour live special.
Jake Atlas has been announced for Joey Janela’s Spring Break 3, part one in Jersey City, New Jersey on April 5.
UFC/MMA
Conor McGregor wrote after being arrested for allegedly smashing and taking someone’s phone as they were trying to take a picture of him when he was leaving a club in Miami: “Patience in this world is a virtue I continue to work on. I love my fans dearly. Thank you all”. McGregor was released from jail after posting a $12,500 bond. He has an arraignment scheduled for April 10 but won’t have to appear if he enters a written plea of not guilty beforehand.
McGregor’s attorney issued a statement on the arrest: “Last evening Conor McGregor was involved in a minor altercation over a cell phone that resulted in a call to law enforcement. Mr McGregor appreciates the response of law enforcement and pledges his full cooperation.”
Paulo Costa’s team is denying that he failed a USADA test after Yoel Romero alluded to it on Ariel Helwani’s show this week. Romero later clarified that he heard Costa failed a test, but was not sure if that was accurate.
Luke Rockhold has undergone surgery on his right knee yesterday in South Dakota. It’s said to be a minor surgery on his meniscus. His next fight could possibly be against Corey Anderson at UFC 238.
Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Events (more to be added):
Saturday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
Luxury Bus to MetLife Stadium for Wrestlemania: We will depart from the Hilton Midtown (site of Wrestlecon) located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Departure time is 4:00 pm and will return from MetLife approximately 30 mins after the event. Times are subject to change, and cost $67.00 per person for the round trip. Purchase tickets here~!
Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival will defend their titles against Ricochet & Aleister Black and Bobby Roode & Chad Gable at Sunday’s pay-per-view. Ricochet & Black challenged for The Revival’s titles on Raw last night, with Roode & Gable attacking The Revival and causing the match to end in a disqualification.
Ricochet & Black and Roode & Gable went face-to-face and argued after the DQ, and Ricochet & Black stood tall after a brief brawl.
Ricochet & Black vs. Cesaro & Sheamus has also been announced for tonight’s SmackDown.
Fastlane is taking place at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Sunday. Here’s the updated card:
WWE Champion Daniel Bryan defending against Kevin Owens
Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair (if Lynch wins, she’ll be added to the Raw Women’s Championship match at WrestleMania)
The Shield (Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose) vs. Baron Corbin, Drew McIntyre & Bobby Lashley
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Usos defending against Shane McMahon & The Miz
WWE Women’s Tag Team Champions Sasha Banks & Bayley defending against Nia Jax & Tamina
SmackDown Women’s Champion Asuka defending against Mandy Rose
Raw Tag Team Champions The Revival defending against Ricochet & Aleister Black and Bobby Roode & Chad Gable in a triple threat match
While the first women’s WrestleMania main event is all but official at this point, WWE still has a huge decision to make about who will be in it.
In a sense, WWE is playing with house money. Both options that they have are good ones. Whether the main event is Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch for the Raw Women’s Championship or a triple threat between Rousey, Lynch, and Charlotte Flair for the title, it will be the most heated match on the card and fully deserving of its place in the spotlight on WWE’s most important day of the year.
I have no idea how this issue got done. I had surgery on my left little finger which was broken in three places on 1/30, and it seemingly went well.
NJPW – New Beginnings: The two nights together did 10,957 paid with one sellout up from 10,002 last year. Tanahashi & Okada as The Dream Team vs. Jay White & Bad Luck Fale did the same as Tanahashi vs. Suzuki did last year for the IC title but paid was much higher this year for Naito vs. Taichi in Taichi’s hometown than for Kenny Omega vs. Jay White for the U.S, title last year, although both were sellouts.
At Smackdown on Tuesday, several talents with contracts coming due were asked to sign new long-term deals after Dean Ambrose told the promotion he wasn’t going to sign a new contract.
Ian Riccaboni signed a new contract with ROH to continue as their play-by-play announcer.
UFC held a press conference today. The big heat seemed to be between Tyron Woodley and Kamaru Usman, building up their Welterweight Title fight at UFC 235 on March 2nd. Jon Jones is facing Anthony Smith on that show.
Conor McGregor will not be fighting Donald Cerrone in April. Khabib still claims he is not fighting for a year.
Jose Aldo defeated Renato Moicano, 44 seconds into the 2nd round. First round was very close. But it was the “old Aldo”, just destroyed him. Aldo is still talking about retiring at the end of this year.
Filthy Tom Lawlor is the new MLW champion defeating Low Ki at their super fight one hour Bein Sports TV special from the 2300 (ECW) Arena in Philadelphia.
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TUESDAY NEWS UPDATE
by Bryan Rose and Joseph Currier
WWE
SmackDown tonight will be held at the Huntington Center in Toledo, Ohio. It will be headlined by a gauntlet match between all six men competing in the Elimination Chamber to determine who will enter the match last. The Usos will also be on “McMiz TV.”
Tonight’s 205 Live has Noam Dar vs. Tony Nese in a no DQ match.
WWE put a number of videos on their YouTube page featuring Pedro Morales, who passed away today.
Sasha Banks & Bayley will be the first team to enter Sunday’s Women’s Tag Team Championship Elimination Chamber match after losing to Nia Jax & Tamina and Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan on last night’s Raw.
Ronda Rousey furthered her storyline with Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair via a post on Instagram about Vince McMahon claiming on Raw that Charlotte is replacing Becky at WrestleMania: “This isn’t what’s best for business. This isn’t what’s in demand. I have no idea what the hell this is. Vince McMahon doesn’t even believe in his own girl @charlottewwe – If he didn’t make us the main event of #SurvivorSeries he’s sure as hell not making us the main event of #WrestleMania. The #WomensEvolution was robbed tonight.”
Scott Dawson following the Revival’s tag team title win last night on Raw: “We’re changing it from the inside, out. Here’s to two best friends’ life long dream. Here’s to the people that wrote us off. Here’s to Tag Teams around the globe. Here’s to the sport of PROFESSIONAL WRESTLING”
Total Bellas on Sunday scored 396,000 viewers on the E! Network, a series low.
Booker T has filed a lawsuit against game publisher Activision, saying that the video game character Prophet from Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 bears a similar likeness to his GI Bro character.
Daniel Bryan mentioned on Total Divas this week that his new contract with the WWE runs through 2021.
Pro Wrestling
Chris Jericho posted a photo with Dave Bautista on Instagram today: “Killer hang with my bro @davebautista today! Had a great chat and some amazing @4riverssmokehouse! #AnimalAndGOAT #alphahouse #lionsden”
Brandi Rhodes on Twitter mentioned that there will be more news involving the women’s division of AEW on the next episode of Road to Double or Nothing, which will drop at 7 p.m. Eastern.
Cris Cyborg spoke to ESPN about the UFC removing the Featherweight division rankings off their website, saying that she wants to continue fighting. “This [elimination of the UFC’s female featherweight rankings] may try to erase my category, but it does not erase who I am,” she told them. People are with me wherever I go. Wherever I’m fighting, my star will shine like it has throughout my career.”
Unless anything changes before showtime, the Alex Caceres/Kron Gracie bout that will take place on this weekend’s UFC on ESPN card will be the 5,000th fight UFC has put on.
Johnny Walker will face Misha Cirkunov at UFC 235, replacing Ovince Saint Preux.
Tyrell Fortune will face Ryan Pokryfky at Bellator 216 this Saturday.
Ed in San Antonio presents the WRESTLEMANIAWeekend Events (more to be added):
Sunday, April 6th, at 12:00 pm: Lunch (all you can eat) at Churrascaria Plataforma ($90 per person), located at 316 W. 49th street in Manhattan. Purchase tickets here~!
Luxury Bus to MetLife Stadium for Wrestlemania: We will depart from the Hilton Midtown (site of Wrestlecon) located at 1335 Avenue of the Americas. Departure time is 4:00 pm and will return from MetLife approximately 30 mins after the event. Times are subject to change, and cost $67.00 per person for the round trip. Purchase tickets here~!
After several attempts, the Revival are now the new Raw tag team champions.
Securing another title shot last week, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder pinned champions Bobby Roode and Chad Gable to win the titles for the first time. The finish had Gable going for a crossbody off the middle rope, but the Revival countered and hit the Shatter Machine, allowing them to pick up the win.
Roode and Gable had held the titles for 64 days, defeating AOP back on the December 10 edition of Raw.
After the match, Charly Caruso interviewed the new champions, where they reiterated that they were top guys.
The win comes after a number of previous attempts to win the titles in the last couple of months, which the Revival lost. They won a fatal four way last week, defeating the Lucha House Party, B Team and Heavy Machinery to win the number one contendership once again.
– Natalya, Bayley & Dana Brooke defeated Mickie James, Alicia Fox & Nikki Cross
Bayley pinned Fox after her elbow from the top. Natalya was the first to come out and got a good pop, but Bayley’s was a close second. The heels took most of the match.
After the match, Nia Jax and Tamina came to the ring and attacked the babyfaces, especially Bayley. Jax hit a Samoan drop and they left her laying in the middle of the ring.
– EC3 defeated Dean Ambrose
They had a 10-minute match, with EC3 winning with a small package. The crowd was behind Ambrose.
Ambrose took the mic after losing. He said he got screwed and insulted Canada. He sat on a chair and said he wasn’t going to move until EC3 comes back. Zack Ryder and Curt Hawkins came out and tried to talk some sense into him. Ambrose listened to what they had to say but attacked them and hit Dirty Deeds on Hawkins.
– The Ascension defeated Curt Hawkins & Zack Ryder
The Ascension won with the Fall of Man on Hawkins. Not much of a match.
– Intercontinental Champion Bobby Lashley & Lio Rush defeated Finn Balor in a handicap match to retain the title
Rush took the mic and insulted the crowd. Balor cut him off to a good pop and asked for a title match, but Rush and Lashley didn’t want to hear it. Adam Pearce came to the ring as an authority figure and booked the match for the Intercontinental title. Balor then asked Pearce to make it a handicap match. Pearce agreed but added that if Rush loses, Balor would become champion.
Good match — the crowd was into it. Balor had Rush in the zone for a Coup de Grace, but Lashley pushed Balor off the top rope and then speared him for the win. After the match, Balor got his revenge with the Coup de Grace on Rush.
– Elias started the second half of the show and invited No Way Jose to the ring. But before he could get there, he was attacked by Drew McIntyre.
– Drew McIntyre defeated Elias
Good match, with McIntyre hitting the Claymore Kick to win. Elias was totally babyface here and the crowd reacted well to him.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Bobby Roode & Chad Gable defeated The Revival to retain their titles
Great match. Roode & Gable retained with their neckbreaker/moonsault combo. Gable got himself over big with his amateur wrestling moves and chain wrestling at the beginning.
Gable took the heat all match, made the hot tag to Roode, and there were a bunch of near falls — and I mean a lot of near falls. They got a “This is awesome” chant.
This was the best match on the card. They gave them time and it showed.
– Braun Strowman defeated Baron Corbin in an Ottawa street fight
Strowman won after putting Corbin through a table. The props got a pop, including Strowman hitting Corbin with a goalie hockey stick. The table got a huge pop as well. Strowman got a very good reaction from the crowd.
The match went 8-10 minutes and was what you’d expect from a street fight between them.
The Big Takeaway: Not much of a show to kick off 2019. Titus O’Neil picked up a win against perennial loser Curt Hawkins. The Revival headlined the episode for the first time since November to see off Tyler Breeze & Zack Ryder.
**********
Happy New Year, everyone.
The episode opened up with a graphic paying tribute to the late, great “Mean” Gene Okerlund.
Titus O’Neil defeated Curt Hawkins (4:52)
A new year, but the same old Curt Hawkins. Now at 0-252, the losing streak storyline appears to still be going nowhere, but a light “let’s go Hawkins” chant started up as these two locked up.
O’Neil got the crowd back on his side when he nailed Hawkins with a big open-handed chop that caused an audible “ooh,” followed by calls for “one more chop.” O’Neil smiled at the reaction, but Hawkins quickly took over the momentum.
There was really nothing much to this one in the end. The finish saw O’Neil connect with a big boot, followed by a hip toss and a running splash to Hawkins in the corner. O’Neil then hit the Clash of the Titus for the win.
The Revival defeated Tyler Breeze & Zack Ryder (7:44)
The Revival arguably spent far too much of 2018 on Main Event, despite calls from keen followers for them to be used more creatively on the main roster, and they find themselves back here again at the start of 2019. That said, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder were easily the best thing about this match, that by the end was 100 mph.
It might have been poor editing, but a lot of Breeze’s moves were quite obviously whiffing at thin air in the opening minutes and made Dawson and Wilder look a lot more legitimate in their move set. The rather expectant pre-Raw crowd seemed to get into it later on as they traded near falls.
The end of the match saw Ryder incapacitated outside. Breeze got a two count on Dawson and rolled to the apron and then drove his shoulder into Dawson’s midriff. When he then flipped into the ring over Dawson’s back, Wilder tagged in. As Breeze ran the ropes, Wilder and Dawson hit the Shatter Machine for the win.
The Big Takeaway: With Main Event being filmed in Manchester, UK last week, there was a significant improvement in the feel and the quality of the show.
Tyler Breeze snatched a win over Mojo Rawley and The Revival beat Bobby Roode & Chad Gable in a fabulous main event.
**********
Tyler Breeze defeated Mojo Rawley
I was in attendance in Manchester to watch these two matches live. It was interesting to see how Breeze received the kind of reaction that he did. British wrestling fans don’t have short memories and they remember his work in NXT and know what he’s capable of.
Breeze essentially played babyface in peril for most of this relatively short match. The fans were on Rawley’s back throughout and Rawley certainly gave it back, shouting abuse back to the cat calls in the front row.
Breeze eventually got some separation and went up to the second rope to hit the crossbody and then put on the Boston crab. Rawley got to the ropes and — after some brief back and forth — Breeze came off the ropes again and managed to roll through to pin Rawley with an inside cradle.
On the bell, the crowd erupted and Breeze made out of there like a bandit. A nothing match made all the more interesting by the hot crowd.
The Revival defeated Bobby Roode & Chad Gable
This was probably the best match of the entire night. Raw was tepid at best and this match bested anything that Raw had to offer in terms of work rate. Go out of your way to find this if you have the time.
It was interesting here to see how Roode was received by the casual fans. A guy next to me wasn’t aware of Roode particularly, and asked who he was because he felt he looked like an absolute star.
They went 100 miles per hour here with Gable being the star of the match. The Revival are such a smooth tag team and the British fans were hugely into them, especially after their cult status on the NXT roster.
The finish was pure chaos, but fantastic to watch. After Roode had looked to be cleaning house, Gable came in with a top rope moonsault. Dash Wilder then nailed Roode to the outside and Gable chased him around the outside. When he got back in the ring he ran into Scott Dawson and they teamed up to nail Gable with the Shatter Machine for the win.
Date: September 24, 2018 Location: Pepsi Center in Denver, CO
The Big Takeaway —
There was a show-long story where Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre tried to goad Dean Ambrose into leaving the Shield and join them. He didn’t. Ambrose, Rollins and Reigns defeated the team of Baron Corbin and AOP in the main event. The Shield posed to end the show with Ziggler, McIntyre and Strowman looking on.
Liv Morgan appeared to get knocked out legit by Brie Bella’s Yes Kicks. Morgan continued for a moment before being taken out of the match. The Riott Squad won the match anyway over Brie, Nikki, and Natalya.
Next week, Ruby Riott faces Ronda Rousey, and Shawn Michaels will appear.
Show Recap —
There’s a new signature video to start the program that reads “WWE Forever.”
Baron Corbin greeted Stephanie McMahon as she exited her limo backstage. He began singing “Happy Birthday” but stopped when he saw Triple H. Stephanie had something to say to Corbin, so Triple H left knowing how awkward it was about to get.
Stephanie wondered about Corbin putting himself in a title match. Corbin tried to blame the Shield, but she didn’t care and told him to find two partners to face the Shield tonight. She told him to take care of business or she may have to bring back Kurt Angle sooner than anticipated.
The Shield came out to a big reaction. Dean Ambrose called them the three workhorses of WWE, and while they have lost a few battles, they always win the war. Roman Reigns began talking and was booed. Seth Rollins laughed.
Reigns said all they need to do was show off their titles, then he and Rollins raised their belts (while Ambrose just stood there watching). Rollins called them the best, and Braun Strowman recruiting “a couple jackasses” against them wasn’t enough. Rollins called out Corbin and told him to bring his partners.
Corbin came out and said he would impress Stephanie tonight. He said nobody in the locker room liked the Shield. That brought out Strowman, Drew McIntyre and Dolph Ziggler. Strowman said he would take the title from Reigns and claimed he could already see cracks in the Shield.
Strowman said they would have a 4-on-2 handicap match against them at Super Show-Down. Rollins was confused. Ziggler put the focus on Ambrose and said the Shield needed him, but he didn’t need them. Ambrose was the champion on his own on Smackdown two years ago. McIntyre put him over for their match last week and said he deserved more.
Ziggler said Ambrose has sacrificed himself for his partners but has nothing to show for it. Ziggler also reminded us how quickly Rollins replaced Ambrose with Jason Jordan. Ziggler offered Ambrose a spot with them, and it would guarantee him the IC title.
Reigns told Ziggler to shut up. He wanted them to fight. They were about to oblige but Corbin stopped them. The crowd wanted to see it, but Corbin reminded Ziggler and McIntyre that they have a tag title defense later. Corbin said he and his partners would deal with the Shield later.
Bayley hugged Finn Balor backstage and the announcers plugged the Mixed Match Challenge.
Finn Balor (w/Bayley) defeated Jinder Mahal (w/Alicia Fox & Sunil Singh) (9:45)
Mahal applied a chinlock 30 seconds into the match. Balor came back with a dropkick and flip dive. After a break, Mahal was back in control. Balor came back with a dropkick, forearm, foot stomp, and enziguri. Balor followed that with a slingblade, but Singh grabbed his foot with the referee’s back turned. Mahal then came off the ropes but was tripped by Bayley.
Fox went after Bayley but Bayley knocked her down. Sunil got in Bayley’s face, so she gave him a Bayley-to-belly. Mahal was distracted, so Balor rolled him up for the pinfall win. The crowd was happy with this. Seems like a hot crowd in general.
Afterwards, Mahal shoved down Sunil as the crowd chanted “you suck” at him. Mahal and Fox sat down to do his “shanti” chant and Sunil reluctantly joined them.
The Riott Squad defeated Natalya, Nikki & Brie Bella (10:36)
There was a moment early on where it looked like Liv Morgan was knocked out legitimately. Brie hit her with Yes Kicks and she sorta just fell over. She was dragged back toward her corner and it sounded like somebody said “she’s out,” but she eventually made her way back on the apron. They did a couple more spots and went to a much needed commercial break.
(I went back to watch it again, and it looked like the second-last Yes Kick caught Morgan in the chin and Brie didn’t notice before hitting the last one.)
Back from break, Morgan was not on the apron. The announcers said she was taken to the back.
Natalya made a hot tag and hit Sarah Logan with a German suplex and discus clothesline, but Ruby Riott broke up the cover. Natalya put Logan in the Sharpshooter, but Riot had made a blind tag and gave Natalya a Riott Kick for the win.
Triple H and Stephanie McMahon were in the ring for a Connor’s Cure segment. The roster watched on the ramp, including the Shield, Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre. Ambrose at least made sure to move away from the heels. They aired a video and announced a new sponsor supporting the charity.
Stephanie introduced Carter and Elizabeth who made an entrance to the ring. Triple H called them survivors and champions and presented them with title belts. The crowd chanted “you deserve it” and Elizabeth began tearing up. An exec from the new sponsor spoke for a while, then presented them with a cheque for Connor’s Cure.
Ziggler approached Ambrose backstage. Ambrose grabbed him back the jacket, but Ziggler tried to reason with him and asked him where the Shield was when he almost died of a staph infection. Ziggler said he knows how hard it is to turn on your brothers, so they would be out there watching his match tonight and all he has to do was give them the signal and he won’t have to do a thing.
Konnor (w/Viktor) defeated Chad Gable (w/Bobby Roode) (2:34)
Konnor won clean with a Dominator. Gable gave him a German at one point, but this wasn’t much.
Charly Caruso caught up with Stephanie and Triple H as they were about to leave. She asked Triple H about the Undertaker. Triple H said Taker has already lost if he thinks he’s just a suit. “As far as him taking my soul — I sold that a long time ago.” That was a good line. He said anybody who is honest with themselves knows the end is near for the Undertaker.
Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre defeated The Revival to retain the Tag Team Championships (12:44)
The Revival did not get an entrance. Konnor got one earlier for his match. They also didn’t do the big in-ring introductions like they usually do for title matches.
The Revival shined early on, basically picking apart Ziggler for the first few minutes. On the outside, Ziggler avoided a charge by Dash Wilder who went crashing into the steel steps. McIntyre tagged in and his team took over during commercial, but Scott Dawson made a hot tag after break and gave Ziggler a double underhook powerbomb for a nearfall.
Dawson gave Ziggler a superplex and Wilder followed with a splash but McIntyre broke up the cover. Wilder gave McIntyre a tornado DDT off the barricade. Revival then gave Ziggler a Doomsday Device for a close nearfall.
McIntyre tagged in and was double-teamed, but he managed to fight them off. He tagged in Ziggler and they hit the Claymore Kick/Zig Zag combo for the win. Good match and the crowd got into the Revival, who were impressive.
The Kevin Owens Show
Elias was in the ring and told the crowd in Denver that they don’t deserve a performance. He introduced his partner for Super Show-Down, Kevin Owens. Owens said they had to fight the super team of Bobby Lashley and John Cena. Owens put over Cena’s accomplishments before reminding us he beat Cena on his first night.
Owens moved on to Lio Rush, who talked trash about him unprovoked. He introduced Rush as his guest. Rush stopped on the stage, so Owens invited him into the ring. Rush said he wasn’t naive. Elias said they took care of him by making special arrangements, then pulled out a booster seat for him. Rush wasn’t impressed and brought out Denver’s own Bobby Lashley.
Bobby Lashley (w/Lio Rush) defeated Elias (w/Kevin Owens) via DQ (13:03)
A long, dull match ended when Owens accidentally ran into Lashley on the outside of the ring, barely hitting him. Even Michael Cole compared this to Clay Matthews. Owens was chasing after Rush. They eventually caught him but Lashley saved him and that was it.
Backstage, Rollins told McIntyre that Ziggler was the weak link in their team and McIntyre is the one that should be getting shots at singles titles. Rollins told him to look in the mirror and think about who is really being used. After Rollins left, then Ziggler showed up and asked McIntyre what he said. McIntyre told him not to worry about it. Crowd was into this.
Fox was on offense briefly but Jax won quickly with the Samoan drop. The crowd liked Jax.
McIntyre approached Ambrose backstage. McIntyre wondered why Rollins approached him earlier. He told Ambrose that maybe Rollins wanted a four-man Shield, or maybe he wanted McIntyre to replace Ambrose because it’s not like Rollins ever stabbed him in the back before.
They aired a video package for Undertaker vs. Triple H. Shawn Michaels will be on Raw next week in Seattle. Also next week, Ronda Rousey faces Ruby Riott, and Bobby Lashley faces Kevin Owens.
The Shield defeated Baron Corbin & AOP (w/Drake Maverick) (19:20)
Corbin said half the roster wanted to be his partners but he picked the cream of the crop, AOP. Maverick standing next to Corbin was quite the visual. Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre watched the match from the stage, sitting on steel chairs.
Rezar knocked down both Ambrose and Rollins with a clothesline, then Reigns tagged in and had a big staredown with him. Reigns gave him a jumping clothesline, but Rezar basically no sold out which caught Reigns by surprise.
The two teams brawled and the Shield got the better of it. Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre picked up their chairs and started walking down the ramp, but it was just a distraction allowing Corbin and AOP to take control.
After a break, Reigns made a hot tag to Rollins who hit Akam with an enziguri and blockbuster for two as the crowd chanted “burn it down.” Maverick distracted the referee which allowed Corbin to pull down the top rope, causing Rollins to fall to the outside. They beat up on Rollins and the referee stopped Reigns from helping. Ambrose remained on the apron.
The crowd chanted for Dean as AOP continued working over Rollins. He almost made a tag but Akam pulled Ambrose off the apron. Rezar sent Reigns into the steps, then they gave him a Last Chapter. Corbin gave Rollins a Deep Six for a near fall. Rollins caught Akam with a superkick, then made the hot tag to Ambrose.
Ambrose hit Corbin with clotheslines, a knee to the gut, running forearm and small package for two. Ambrose went to the top but Akam knocked him down. Ambrose ducked a clothesline from Corbin and followed with a neckbreaker and diving elbow drop, but AOP broke up the cover.
Reigns gave Rezar a superman punch, Akam booted Reigns, Rollins took out Akam, gave Corbin a curb stomp, then gave Akam a suicide dive. Ambrose gave Corbin a Dirty Deeds, took out Rezar with a suicide dive, then Reigns finished off Corbin with a spear for the win.
Reigns and Rollins stood in the ring ready to celebrate, but waited on Ambrose who was on the outside. Ambrose took a glance at McIntyre, Ziggler and Strowman, but climbed back in the ring to pose with his pals.
Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre will be defending their Raw Tag Team titles against The Revival on the episode. Bobby Lashley vs. Elias and Brie Bella vs. Ruby Riott are also scheduled.
The Revival were set to challenge The B-Team for the Tag Team titles on the September 3 edition of Raw, but there was a storyline where Ziggler & McIntyre attacked Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder before the match. Ziggler & McIntyre instead faced Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas and won the titles.
Lashley faced Elias on this Monday’s Raw. Lio Rush and Kevin Owens both got involved, with the match ending in a disqualification when Rush kicked Elias.
The Bellas made the save for Ronda Rousey when The Riott Squad attacked her on Monday. Nikki Bella defeated Riott and Nikki & Brie defeated Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan in matches earlier this month. Rousey & The Bellas will be facing Riott, Morgan & Logan at Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia on October 6.
Monday’s Raw will be taking place at the Pepsi Center in Denver, Colorado. Chad Gable vs. Konnor is also being teased for the episode after Gable defeated Viktor last week. Konnor pushed Gable into Bobby Roode following the match.
A Tag Team title match and Nikki & Brie Bella’s return to televised in-ring action are set for next week’s Raw.
After Scott Dawson & Dash Wilder defeated them in a non-title match tonight, The B -Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) will defend their Raw Tag Team titles against The Revival next week. Nikki & Brie facing The Riott Squad in a tag match has also been announced for the episode.
The B-Team retained against The Revival on the SummerSlam pre-show when Dawson tried to pin Axel with a cradle and Dallas getting knocked backwards reversed it. The Revival got the better of them on Raw the past two weeks, with Dawson defeating Dallas and Wilder defeating Axel last Monday and The Revival winning tonight’s non-title match.
The Bellas were in action at Sunday night’s Raw-brand house show in Rochester, New York and made an appearance during a backstage segment where they celebrated with Ronda Rousey, Natalya, and Trish Stratus on tonight’s show. They teamed with Ember Moon to defeat The Riott Squad in Rochester. Brie is set to team with Daniel Bryan against Maryse & The Miz at Hell in a Cell next month, and Dave Meltzer reported last week that Rousey vs. Nikki is the working idea for October’s Evolution pay-per-view.
The Schottenstein Center in Columbus, Ohio is hosting next Monday’s Raw. Shawn Michaels is also set to appear on the episode to promote Triple H vs. The Undertaker at WWE Super Show-Down in Melbourne, Australia.
The Raw Tag Team titles will be on the line on the SummerSlam pre-show.
The B-Team defending their titles against The Revival was added to the SummerSlam card on tonight’s go-home edition of Raw. It was announced after Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas retained their titles against The Revival and Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt. Axel blind-tagged himself in near the finish, Scott Dawson and Dash Wilder hit the Shatter Machine on Wyatt, and Axel threw Dawson out of the ring before getting the pin.
There will also be two other matches on Sunday’s kickoff show. Rusev & Lana will face Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega, and it was officially confirmed tonight that Cedric Alexander’s Cruiserweight Championship defense against Drew Gulak will be on the pre-show.
There are now 13 matches announced for SummerSlam. The pre-show will begin at 5 p.m. Eastern time, with the main card starting at 7 p.m.
Here’s the updated card:
Universal Champion Brock Lesnar defending against Roman Reigns
Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss defending against Ronda Rousey
WWE Champion AJ Styles defending against Samoa Joe
Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz
SmackDown Women’s Champion Carmella defending against Becky Lynch and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match
Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler defending against Seth Rollins
United States Champion Shinsuke Nakamura defending against Jeff Hardy
Braun Strowman vs. Kevin Owens (If Owens wins, he gets Strowman’s Money in the Bank briefcase)
Finn Balor vs. Baron Corbin
SmackDown Tag Team Champions The Bludgeon Brothers defending against The New Day
WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander defending against Drew Gulak (pre-show)
Rusev & Lana vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas & Zelina Vega in a mixed tag match (pre-show)
Raw Tag Team Champions The B-Team defending against The Revival (pre-show)
