Tag: rusev

Date: May 8, 2018
Location: Royal Farms Arena in Baltimore, MD

The Big Takeaway —

Rusev beat Daniel Bryan pretty much clean to qualify for Money in the Bank. The story seems to be that Bryan has taken too much punishment the past few weeks, in part thanks to Big Cass, leading to tonight’s loss. (See more below.) Cass was not on the show.

The Miz beat Jeff Hardy to qualify as well, and Charlotte Flair beat Peyton Royce to qualify for the women’s ladder match.

There was no announcement made regarding the WWE Championship situation. Both AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura did interviews, but we’ll have to wait to find out what’s next.

Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega will debut in London next week.

Show Recap —

No intro or Backlash recap video. Paige came out to start the show as the announcers plugged tonight’s Money in the Bank qualifying matches. Paige said Backlash was the first co-branded pay per view (it wasn’t) and called it a smashing success (nope). She said we saw the first singles win for Daniel Bryan since his return and a surprise win by Carmella over Charlotte Flair.

Paige moved onto the WWE Championship situation. She said she didn’t foresee both men taking each other out with low-blows and added that we’d hear from both guys later tonight. Paige plugged MITB and said the winner of their ladder match will take the contract back to their brand, so she wanted the best from her superstars. The first qualify match is up next.

It didn’t take much time, but that was basically pointless. 

The Miz defeated U.S. Champion Jeff Hardy in a non-title match to qualify for MITB (20:13)

Before the match, they aired clips of Miz winning MITB in 2010 and cashing in on Randy Orton. Tom Phillips called Miz and Jeff Hardy two of the all-time greats. They went to commercial two minutes into the match.

Miz crotched Hardy on the barricade, which was not a DQ, but Hardy came back with a diving clothesline off the barricade. They traded backslide attempts until Hardy managed to hit a Twist of Fate. He went to the top but Miz rolled to the apron. Miz then gave Hardy a neckbreaker on the apron, which looked painful. They went to commercial for the second time.

Hardy came back with fists and a Russian leg sweep. Miz tried a sleeper but Hardy hit him with Whisper in the Wind for a nearfall. Hardy then used a baseball slide to dump Miz to the outside then followed with a flip dive. Hardy went to the top but Miz crotched him again.

Miz tried a superplex but Hardy countered with a sunset flip powerbomb for a nearfall. Hardy countered a Skull Crushing Finale, hit a dropkick in the corner and another Twist of Fate. Hardy hit a Swanton Bomb, which looked like the finish, but at the two count, Miz quickly countered into a crucifix pin for the three count. Miz qualifies for MITB.

A perfectly fine match that didn’t need to be 20 minutes. The ending was clever but kind of made Hardy’s finishes look weak.

Backstage, Cesaro caught Sheamus eating Lucky Charms. Sheamus said eating them made him feel better after losing to Xavier Woods, which was a full week ago. Cesaro lightly mocked him for the loss and Sheamus dared him to do better tonight. They bumped fists. They began opening their gear only to discover their bags were filled with pancakes. They were pissed and tossed the pancakes everywhere.

A promo aired for Sanity.

Renee Young caught up with Nakamura outside his locker room. Young said Nakamura wasn’t cleared to compete tonight and asked if things were done with him and Styles. Nakamura responded, “No… speak English.”

Young said we know he can speak English, and Nakamura claimed to have forgotten it. Young wanted an answer, so Nakamura said Styles was “nuts,” (which some people laughed at) and they weren’t finished yet.

Carmella cut a selfie promo where she bragged and laughed about beating Charlotte. She wanted to party, but not in Baltimore. The party would be in the UK next week. She said it would be a royal celebration but the royal family wasn’t invited.

Tye Dillinger and Naomi cut separate selfie promos suggesting they would win MITB. Dillinger said it would be a perfect ten and Naomi said the champion would feel the glow. Dillinger’s hair was styled differently and it’s… not good. 

Charlotte Flair defeated Peyton Royce (w/Billie Kay) to qualify for MITB (12:53) 

Kay and Royce cut an annoying promo before the match, mocking Charlotte for her loss at Backlash. They went to commercial less than 90 seconds into the match.

As Charlotte took over, Royce went to the outside and Charlotte hit Kay with a dive. That allowed Royce to hit a neckbreaker on the floor for a two count back in the ring. Royce distracted the referee and Kay attacked Charlotte. Royce then used a roundhouse kick but Charlotte kicked out.

Charlotte came back with a big boot and went for a moonsault but Royce got her knees up (sort of). Charlotte was smart enough not to oversell it. Royce used a roll-up for a nearfall. Charlotte followed with a spear for a two count, then Royce used another roll-up for two. After a few more counters, Charlotte applied Figure Eight for the submission win. Charlotte qualifies for MITB.

Dasha Fuentes interviewed Daniel Bryan, who was warming up backstage by a stairwell. Bryan said Big Cass attacked him from behind again, this time because he made him tap out. Bryan said he won MITB before and cashed in on a bigger man in the Big Show, right here in Baltimore. He said he would prove again that the bigger they are, the faster they tap. He thanked Fuentes and went back to warming up. 

Another selfie promo, this time by Shelton Benjamin. He claimed he made the MITB match famous and said his best highlight was yet to come. Asuka also did a promo, though it wasn’t on a cell phone. She said she wanted to climb the ladder, grab the contract, and cash in on Carmella. 

Cesaro (w/Sheamus) defeated Xavier Woods (w/Big E & Kofi Kingston) (7:06)  

The crowd chanted “we want pancakes” and Big E chucked some into the stands. They went to commercial two minutes into the match.

Sheamus got on the apron to complain to the referee so Big E whipped pancakes at him until he came down, and Kingston took him out with a dive. As this was happening, Woods tried a springboard move but Cesaro nailed him mid-air with an uppercut for the pinfall win. Some fun action and cool finish.

Young interviewed Styles backstage, who also wasn’t cleared to wrestle. Styles has a large bruise on his cheek where the chair hit him on Sunday. Styles talked about the low-blow and admitted he didn’t want to fight that way. He said he would finish Nakamura if he had the guts to step in the ring with him again.

There was a promo for the Bludgeon Brothers where the camera panned across some dismantled toys of wrestlers from the tag division. The camera landed on Harper and Rowan who held up their mallets and proclaimed they have their own toys to play with. They challenged someone to play with them. “We’re waiting.” 

Mandy Rose defeated Becky Lynch (2:21)

Before the match, Paige told Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville that Deville was barred from ringside.

Rose won quickly with a schoolgirl. Lynch was in control until Rose bounced her off the top rope and applied the schoolgirl for the win. Rose has a new entrance and the announcers talked about her as the future. They also talked about Lynch being in a slump even before the finish.

Next week in London, The New Day will face The Bar and one member of the winning team will get to enter MITB. They also plugged Carmella’s celebration. Oh… and Andrade “Cien” Almas and Zelina Vega debut.

Rusev (w/Aiden English) defeated Daniel Bryan to qualify for MITB (11:17)

They aired clips of Bryan winning MITB and cashing in back in 2011. English sang a song before the match, burying Baltimore and their sports teams. He added, “ol’ D.B. will wish he was still G.M.”

There were dueling chants to start the match. Bryan worked over Rusev and went for a suicide dive, but Rusev caught him and tossed him onto the announce table. I’m pretty sure that’s the time Bryan has attempted a suicide dive since returning, at least on television.  

After a break, Bryan made a comeback with a running clothesline, running corner dropkicks, and a hurricanrana off the top. He followed with Yes Kicks but Rusev ducked the last one. Rusev tried a swinging slam but Bryan countered into a schoolboy for a nearfall. Rusev followed that with a high kick for a two count.

The crowd chanted for Bryan (and a few others chanted for Rusev). Rusev went for an Accolade but the work Bryan did on his arm earlier made it difficult to apply. He took too long, so Bryan countered into a Yes Lock attempt but Rusev got a rope break.

Bryan kicked him in the head and set up for his finisher but English pulled Rusev out of the ring. Bryan kicked them both down and used a running knee to the outside on Rusev. Bryan followed with a missile dropkick back in the ring.

Rusev countered the running knee with a knee to the gut, then followed with a Machka kick for the pinfall win. Rusev qualifies for MITB. 

The crowd was stunned by the finish, as was I. The announcers tried to tell the story that the weeks of punishment taken by Bryan was too much, though I’m not sure it came off that way.

The match itself was good and Bryan took more of the match you’d normally see from a babyface. After Rusev’s music stopped, they showed Bryan slowly sitting back up with a look of disappointment. The crowd chanted for Bryan as they went off the air.