Date: October 1, 2018
Location: KeyArena in Seattle, WA
The Big Takeaway —
Undertaker and Kane both appeared and chokeslammed Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Undertaker also gave Triple H a tombstone. The crowd was hot for the segment. Also, Michaels specifically mentioned that Undertaker and Triple H were wrestling one last time “one-on-one.”
Speaking of hot crowds, the Seattle crowd was furious over Elias reminding them that they don’t have an NBA team. The crowd booed he and Kevin Owens the rest of the segment and was the loudest heel heat for a segment in a long time.
Also, the tease of Dean Ambrose breaking up with the Shield continued. He was offered title matches against either Seth Rollins or Roman Reigns but turned it down. He made sure to let them know how lucky they were that he did. Ambrose did run out to help them later in the show, but the Shield were left laid out by Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre.
Show Recap —
Ambrose kicks off the show for an interview with Charly Caruso, who ran down last week’s angle. The crowd booed the idea of Ambrose joining Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler, and Drew McIntyre.
Ambrose admitted there was truth to what they said last week. Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins were champions, while he had nothing. Rollins replaced him quickly with Jason Jordan when he got injured. Caruso asked if he ever thought about leaving the Shield and the crowd cheered.
Ambrose said yeah, sure, he thinks about a lot of things. Maybe he already handed back his black uniform. Maybe he also ran Roman’s car off the road. Caruso wondered if he was being sarcastic.
Ambrose knew people were wondering why he stayed so long in the Shield, that people were expecting him to explode and slip the knife in their backs. Caruso played the replay of Ambrose hesitating before getting back in the ring with the Shield last week.
Ambrose said people can stop trying to analyze him and just judge his actions–he stepped up and stood by his brothers. He said the Shield wasn’t a brand or a business, they were a brotherhood, and they would always ride into battle together. He bowed to Caruso and was about to leave, but Baron Corbin came out.
Corbin mocked him, so Ambrose said he was salty for failing to put down the Shield. Corbin had three options for Ambrose tonight: face Rollins for the IC title, face Reigns for the Universal title, or face Braun Strowman one-on-one. Ambrose said he wasn’t going to play this game and challenged Corbin. Corbin put him in a match against Strowman instead.
Dean Ambrose defeated Braun Strowman via DQ (13:48)
Corey Graves asked Renee Young what Ambrose’s mindset was like after last week. Young said that Ambrose was a hard person to read, even for her, and she had to leave him on his own to think about things, but he did let his actions speak.
After a break, Ambrose slipped out of a powerslam, appearing to rake Strowman’s eyes, then avoided a charge and hit a forearm and dropkick. Strowman cut him off by clubbing him in the chest. Ambrose managed to hit Dirty Deeds somewhat out of nowhere but only got a nearfall.
Strowman rolled outside, so Ambrose nailed him with a suicide dive. Ambrose avoided another charge and Strowman went into the steel steps. Ambrose broke the ten count, but Strowman caught him with a powerslam in the ring. Strowman couldn’t make a cover, so Ambrose rolled outside. Strowman tackled him on the outside and tossed him into the barricade.
Strowman tossed him back in the ring and hit a powerslam. He was about to hit another but Reigns came out (to his music). Reigns gave him a superman punch so the referee called for the bell. Rollins joined and caught Strowman with a knee off the top, then Strowman bailed.
McIntyre and Ziggler came out on the stage, then Corbin stopped them from going any further. He put Rollins in a match against McIntyre, and Reigns in a match against Ziggler.
This was fine. The crowd liked Ambrose. They mostly cheered Reigns and Rollins coming out, but some people were booing too.
Ambrose was in the trainer’s room with ice on his shoulder and Rollins checked on him. Ambrose was livid and tossed the ice against the wall. Rollins said Reigns came out when he had to. Ambrose wasn’t impressed, and told Rollins he could be IC champion right now. Ambrose left.
Universal Champion Roman Reigns defeated Dolph Ziggler in a non-title match (12:36)
Before the match, it seemed like this would randomly be a title match because the referee held up the title belt. This even caught Graves by surprise. Corbin rushed out and told Reigns he can’t put the title on the line anytime he wanted, and he won’t be defending the belt until Saudi Arabia. He also said Rollins’ match was non-title.
After a break, Ziggler applied a sleeper but Reigns fought out and hit clotheslines, a jumping clothesline, ten clotheslines in the corner and a big boot. Ziggler avoided a superman punch and used a schoolboy holding the tights for two, then raked Reigns in the eyes and hit a Zig-Zag for a nearfall.
Reigns avoided a superkick and hit a superman punch for a nearfall. Ziggler flipped over a spear and used a rollup for two, then Reigns caught him with a spear for the pinfall win. The last few minutes were good and the crowd was into it.
The Bellas and Natalya were shown hanging out backstage next to Ronda Rousey, who was warming up for her match.
Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey (w/Nikki & Brie Bella) defeated Ruby Riott (w/Sarah Logan & Liv Morgan) in a non-title match (6:49)
The Riott Squad did a selfie promo earlier where they said most people find beauty in roses or sunsets, but they find beauty in broken glass, hearing their opponents scream, and giving Rousey her first loss tonight.
Riott took control after yanking Rousey into the post and pushing her into the barricade. After a while, Ruby went for the Riott Kick but Rousey caught her and tossed her across the ring. She ripped off her t-shirt and slammed Ruby, then knocked down Logan. Ruby used the distraction to get a nearfall on a roll-up, then Rousey used a Samoan drop and applied an armbar for the submission win. Rousey posed with the Bellas afterwards.
The crowd liked Rousey, but this was another case of her selling for the entire match until the end and the crowd got quiet in the middle. They popped for the armbar and the win.
There was no acknowledgement of Liv Morgan’s injury or what happened last week. Logan took a bump during the match, but Morgan didn’t.
Konnor (w/Viktor) defeated Bobby Roode (w/Chad Gable) (4:15)
Roode seemed to have the match won as he set up for the Glorious DDT, but Gable was on the ring steps doing the glorious pose when Viktor ran over and clobbered him. This distracted Roode allowing Konnor to hit a weak-looking Dominator for the win.
The crowd was dead for this, as they were for the Gable/Konnor match last week. Of course, this was the fifth straight week with some combination of these four men having a match.
There was “A Moment of Bliss” segment where Alexa Bliss talked about meeting her hero. She said people had heroes like Wonder Woman, Nelson Mandela, and herself. Her hero growing up was Trish Stratus.
Bliss met Stratus when she was 7 years old while shivering in the cold outside of the arena. She remembered staring into Stratus’ “wrinkly eyes” and asking for an autograph. Bliss said Stratus burped in her face and asked for 50 bucks, then ripped up her autograph book. Bliss said Stratusfaction was not guaranteed when it came to meeting your heroes.
B-Team defeated The Revival
They followed up on Revival’s impressive performance last week by having them lose to B-Team in a nothing match. Revival tried a rocket launcher, but Bo Dallas got his knees up and rolled up Dash Wilder for the win.
As B-Team celebrated up the ramp, they were wiped out by AOP. They dragged B-Team to the ring and hit them with a Super Collider. Drake Maverick wore black jeans and leather jacket over a black tank top.
Reigns approached Ambrose backstage, who was still selling. Reigns said last week was funny, but this week they’re actually wondering about him. Ambrose said he was fine. Reigns wanted to make sure he was ready for Australia. Ambrose said if he wasn’t such a nice guy, he would be Universal champion right now. Ambrose left.
Backstage, Corbin told AOP and Maverick that he was impressed and to keep it up.
They did a relatively quick breast cancer awareness segment.
Backstage, Ziggler told Strowman and McIntyre that he could feel Ambrose on the verge of leaving the Shield. Strowman welcomed the idea, because even though he beat Ambrose tonight, Ambrose was a “tough bastard.” Strowman added, “when he’s not facing me, he’s a winner.” He told McIntyre to beat Rollins tonight and said they don’t need any weak links. He stared right at Ziggler when he said that. Strowman left and Ziggler appeared concerned.
Drew McIntyre defeated IC Title Seth Rollins in a non-title match (11:10)
Rollins used a suicide dive 65 seconds into the match. McIntyre took control, then after a break, Rollins came back with a slingblade, blockbuster, enzuigiri and springboard clothesline for two. McIntyre set up for a reverse Alabama Slam but Rollins rolled through into a roll-up for a two count, then followed with a Falcon Arrow for two.
Rollins hit a buckle bomb and superkick, then Ziggler ran out to his music. Ziggler quickly slid in and out of the ring, avoiding a curb stomp attempt by Rollins. The distraction allowed McIntyre to hit the Claymore kick for the win.
Ziggler and McIntyre attacked Rollins afterwards. Reigns ran down, but they cut him off. Strowman marched out, then Ambrose followed and attacked with an axe handle. Strowman cut him off anyway, then Ziggler superkicked Rollins. They gave Ambrose the Claymore/Zig-Zag combo, then Strowman power-slammed Reigns.
Strowman, Ziggler and McIntyre did the Shield pose as they stood over Reigns, Rollins and Ambrose.
The Raw announcers plugged the Smackdown title match for Super Show-Down. They plugged the Smackdown Women’s title match earlier.
Kevin Owens approached Elias backstage, who had his personal spread of bottled water, mints and spinach. There was also a bowl of cashews, but Owens noted that Elias doesn’t like cashews. Elias said he doesn’t and told the stagehand he asked for almonds. He chucked the bowl of cashews in his face. Owens was amused and continued snacking on the spinach.
They plugged Smackdown 1000 in two weeks.
Elias/Kevin Owens segment
Elias was introduced to a big reaction. He played his guitar as the crowd held up their cell phone lights. He introduced Owens who received a mixed reaction. Owens looked forward to teaming with Elias and called them both great guys. He didn’t understand John Cena teaming with Bobby Lashley.
Elias said it didn’t make any sense, just like a basketball team playing in Seattle. That got a huge reaction. The crowd booing didn’t stop. Owens tried to continue but the crowd kept booing loudly. Owens didn’t seem to understand the reaction and admitted he wasn’t a sports fan. He tried again to continue and had to yell into the microphone so Elias could hear him.
Owens talked about Cena as the crowd booing continued. Owens said Cena ruins everything, just like Seattle, which is why their basketball team left. The production team turned on a few lights and now we can see people booing. Elias told them to turn the lights back down.
Owens talked about Cena barely being around, and Elias said he was coming back to face them to stay relevant. Owens said Cena wanted to face the best, and they were the best. Owens was yelling as he said he would powerbomb Cena on the apron one more time.
Lio Rush interrupted. Rush called Cena legend but told Owens not to overlook his match tonight. The crowd is chanting “SuperSonics.” Rush eventually introduced Lashley.
This was an incredible segment.
Kevin Owens (w/Elias) defeated Bobby Lashley (w/Lio Rush) (10:56)
Owens won with a schoolboy. Lashley seemed to have it won after a spinebuster but before he could finish it, Elias chased Rush around and eventually caught him. Lashley was distracted by this, allowing Owens to apply the schoolboy. Third distraction finish on tonight’s show.
Owens and Elias beat up Lashley afterwards. Rush came off the top rope but Elias just swatted him out of the air. The crowd booed as Elias assisted Owens in hitting a pop-up powerbomb. Elias went for a handshake but Owens hugged him instead.
Michael Cole explained to us how to open Facebook on our phones and find Mixed Match Challenge as they displayed example graphics on the screen.
Bayley (w/Finn Balor) defeated Alicia Fox (w/Jinder Mahal & Sunil Singh) (3:33)
Mahal tried to trip Bayley from the outside, so she kicked him, then Balor gave him a slingblade. Fox failed to use the distraction and Bayley gave her Bayley-to-belly for the pinfall win.
They aired a commercial for WWE Evolution.
Shawn Michaels came out for the main event segment.
Main Event segment
Shawn Michaels came out to a good reaction. He talked about the intense feelings around the upcoming match and has felt every emotion the fans have the last few weeks. Michaels said it was Undertaker vs. Triple for the last time ever (he specifically said “one-on-one”).
Michaels bought a ticket to Australia, despite being notoriously cheap, because he wanted to watch as a fan. He was only going to watch it as a fan, until Taker made it personal a few weeks ago. There were some brief “one more match” chants. Michaels said he would’ve picked Triple H to win over anyone on the planet.
He confirmed he would be in Triple H’s corner and told Kane he better not try to interfere or he would hit him with Sweet Chin Music. Kane’s music hit and Michaels faced the stage. Kane showed up behind him, and when Michaels turned around, Kane knocked him down with a punch.
The lights went out and Taker appeared on the ring. Michaels looked up and saw Taker staring down at him. Taker was about to give him a tombstone but Triple H’s music hit and ran down. Triple H punched away at Taker but Kane stopped him. Michaels tried to help, but Kane cut him off. Kane chokeslammed Michaels and Undertaker chokeslammed Triple H.
The crowd chanted for Taker, who was about to leave, but returned to the ring to tombstone Triple H. Taker and Kane left as the crowd cheered. They posed on the ramp as the show ended.
This was a simple angle, but all they needed to do given the star power involved.
