Tag: wwe australia

WWE returns to Australia this morning for WWE Super Show-Down, a giant stadium show where Triple H and Undertaker will meet for what is being billed as their final singles match.

They have feuded off and on over the course of the last two decades, with their most infamous bouts happening in 2011 and 2012 at WrestleMania. Both men have been talking about the match for the last several weeks, culminating in an attack last Monday night where Undertaker and Kane laid out Triple H and Shawn Michaels. Both Kane and Michaels will be in the corner seconding their former tag team partners respectively.

Titles on the line this morning include AJ Styles defending the WWE title against Samoa Joe in a match where there must be a winner, Cedric Alexander vs. Buddy Murphy for the Cruiserweight title, The New Day vs. The Bar for the SmackDown tag team titles and Becky Lynch vs. Charlotte Flair for the SmackDown women’s title.

Other key matches include Asuka and Naomi taking on the IIconics, The Shield taking on Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in a six-man tag, the return of John Cena as he teams up with Bobby Lashley against Elias and Kevin Owens, Ronda Rousey teaming with the Bella Twins to take on The Riott Squad and Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz with the winner getting a WWE title shot.

Join us for live coverage starting at 5 a.m. EDT.

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The New Day defeated The Bar to retain the SmackDown tag team titles

This was a pretty solid opener. A standard WWE tag team match. People were kind of cold for this at first, but got into it by the end.

New Day (Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods) started off hot, culminating with a big tope con giro by Kofi. The Bar catch Kofi and drives him into the post. Heels get the heat on Kofi. At one point, Sheamus went for the chest slaps on the ropes, but stopped at five to get heat.

Kofi finally makes the hot tag to woods as he ran wild on Sheamus. Sheamus, however, cuts him off and hits the Irish curse backbreaker. Woods blocked a brogue kick and went for a roll up. Cesaro is tagged in and hits the giant swing, followed by the sharpshooter. Kofi breaks things up but is taken to the floor by Sheamus.

Kofi connects with the trouble in paradise on Sheamus, then hits a double foot stomp on Cesaro as Woods held him up with his feet. Kingston then pinned Cesaro to retain the titles. 

Charlotte Flair defeated SmackDown women’s champion Becky Lynch by DQ

I liked this match until the finish. WWE goes to the well far too often with these finishes, but it’s what they do when they want to extend a program for another two months. Solid work as a whole.

Lynch was aggressive early, targeting one of Flair’s legs. She dragged Flair to the outside and shoved her into the post. Flair tried to fight back with chops, but Lynch took her down with an armbar. Flair lifts her up with a sidewalk slam, then followed with a back suplex.

Lynch withstood Flair chops and tried an exploder, but Flair took her to the ground. Lynch tackled her off the top rope. Both Flair and Lynch exchange nearfalls. They exchange strikes until Flair connects with a spear. She tries to follow with a moonsault, but Lynch gets the knees up and goes to the top rope herself, but Flair dodges a guillotine leg drop.

Flair went for a Boston crab, but Lynch escaped to the floor and grabbed the title. Flair speared Lynch into the guardrail, then speared her again back in the ring. She applied the figure eight but Lynch, who was within grasp of the Women’s title, grabbed it and smacked Charlotte with it right in front of the referee for the DQ. Cool! 

Flair went to grab Lynch after the match but Lynch cut her off and slammed her into the guardrail. She followed with a running knee strike, laying out Charlotte.

John Cena and Bobby Lashley defeated Kevin Owens and Elias

Simple match, nothing really special. Lashley had the heat on him forever until Cena made his comeback and got the win, that’s literally it.

Lashley and Elias started things off. Lashley worked over both he and Owens. He was about to tag in Cena, but Elias shoved him off the apron as Owens superkicked him for the heat. Lashley fought back with some right hands, but an attempted spear sends Lashley crashing to the floor.

Owens hit the bullfrog splash, but Lashley finally manages to cut off Elias and makes his comeback on Owens. He then hit the AA and his new finisher (a punch) for the win. 

Cena thanked the fans after the match. He said WWE was his home and will always be his home. His life is changing, but will never forget where he came from. He said that he was no idea what his future is, but he is standing here with people making some noise. He thanked the fans one final time before leaving.

The IIconics came out. They got a big pop, but not much of a reaction after the pop. They said that there is no better place to be at and no better group of people to be here in front of.. They said that while their opponents aren’t bad, they will show their country that they are iconic.

The IIconics defeated Asuka and Naomi

There really wasn’t anything to this. Very short, extremely basic match. No real heat for this until the finish.

The IIconics came out. They got a big pop, but not much of a reaction after the pop. They said that there is no better place to be at and no better group of people to be here in front of.. They said that while their opponents aren’t bad, they will show their country that they are iconic.

IIconics got the heat on Naomi early but she quickly took things over, tagging in Asuka. The two work over Royce and Kaye, sending them to the floor with a double hip attack. Kaye blasted Asuka with a knee as the referee sent Naomi back to the apron.

Both IIconics worked over Asuka until she landed a German suplex on Kaye and tagged in Naomi. She hit a springboard moonsault on Royce. Kaye took Naomi to the floor as Royce shoved Asuka into the barricade. The IIconics then double teamed Naomi, with Royce blasting her with a knee for the win. People were into the IIconics winning as they celebrated after the match.

AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe by submission to retain the WWE title

The work in this match was actually excellent, and overall this was a great match. The crowd hurt it a bit, though — the only time they were really alive was when a table was brought out. Still, this told a good story and was executed well.

The two brawled in the aisle as they made their way into the ring for the bell. AJ was in control early, landing kicks to Joe’s chest. Joe fired back with a chop. Joe hit a running knee that sent Styles to the floor, then followed with a big suicide dive. 

Joe followed with a snap suplex to the floor, then applied a trapezius hold. He continues working over Styles, slingshotting him into the turnbuckle. Styles tries to back a brief comeback, but Joe slams him down and exits the ring, grabbing a chair. Styles dropkicked the chair into Joe’s face, derailing him.

Styles beat Joe with the chair, then opened it in front of Joe. He went for a splash in the corner, but Joe grabbed him and slammed him through the chair. Joe took out a table, which the crowd popped for, and places it as he takes Styles to the top rope. Styles slipped through, however, and powerbombed Joe through the table. 

Joe grabbed his knee on impact, telling the referee “it popped”. Styles went after the knee. Styles went for the calf crusher but Joe countered with the coquina clutch. Styles escaped to the floor to escape the hold. Styles hit the 450 on Joe’s bad knee. They brawl on the outside, with Styles hitting the phenomenal forearm on the guardrail. 

Styles went for the phenomenal forearm again, but Joe countered with the coquina clutch. He then followed with a sleeper suplex. Joe trapped Styles again in the coquina clutch, but bridged over him a la last month’s finish. Joe kicked out, but got trapped in the calf crusher. Joe tried to make it to the ropes, but submitted instead.

Ronda Rousey and The Bella Twins defeated The Riott Squad

This was another basic match. Like other matches on this card, it all built to a hot tag, comeback and pin. It was fine.

After Nikki and Ronda argued about who would start, Nikki started but was jumped by Riott. Brie and Morgan were in the ring for a bit, then Logan and Nikki. Heels got the heat on Nikki as there were frequent tags while working her over. 

Nikki finally took out Logan with a springboard enziguri and tagged in Rousey who took down the Riott Squad with judo throws. The Riott squad take the Bella to the outside as Ronda took Logan and went for the armbar, but Morgan broke it up. The two tried to double team her, but Ronda took them both down and applied a double armbar on both women. They immediately tapped out. 

70,309 was the announced number for this morning’s show.

Buddy Murphy defeated Cedric Alexander for the WWE Cruiserweight title

This was good and up to this point, had the most heat of anything on the show. People wanted Murphy to win badly and it got over huge when he won. Match itself was really good, full of hot action and cool moves.

Murphy was the total babyface here as the crowd were into him way more than the IIconics, probably because he’s from Melbourne. He hit a huge tope con grio. Murphy continued on offense until Alexander gave him a falcon arrow off the top rope, then followed with a tope con grio of his own.

Alexander went for the lumbar check but Murphy blocked it. Alexander hit a step up enziguri and went for Murphy’s law but Alexander instead hit the standing spanish fly and lumbar check…but Murphy kicked out. 

Alexander went for a springboard, but Murphy connected with a big knee strike instead then planted Alexander with Murphy’s law for the win. This got over huge with the crowd.

The Shield defeated Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre

This was a great brawl. Good action good drama, there was a lot to like in this match, very well booked with a hot finish. Everyone looked good here. 

All six men brawled once they were all in the ring. Ziggler got the better of Rollins as the bell rang. All of the heels ganged up on Rollins, not letting him tag out. He hit a slingblade on McIntyre and tried for a tag, but Strowman ended that quickly. 

Rollins buckle bombs Ziggler, but Reigns and Ambrose aren’t on the apron, as they were laid out by Ziggler and McIntyre. Strowman goes to the top rope for a splash, but Rollins moves out of the way as he crashes. Rollins finally tags in Ambrose, who runs wild and even plants Ziggler with the dodon. They go at it until a double crossbody attempt sends them both to the floor.

Reigns is tagged in as he goes after McIntyre. He inadvertently hits Ambrose on the apron while fending off McIntyre. Everyone gets in. Strowman posts himself to the floor as Reigns laid out McIntyre. Eventually, all three appear on the apron. Ambrose follows, not happy about being struck. 

Ambrose acts, attacking Strowman as they target McIntyre. They went for the triple powerbomb, but Strowman speared everyone. He throws Rollins and Reigns to the floor and takes him both out with shoulder tackles as Ziggler hit the zig zag, but Ambrose kicked out.

Strowman went to attack Ambrose, but Reigns countered with a spear that drove Strowman through the guardrail. Rollins took out McIntyre with a superkick as Ziggler took out Rollins. But Ziggler ended up walking right into Ambrose who hit the dirty deeds DDT for the win.

Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz

Miz immediately kicked Bryan in the ribs and focused on them early. Bryan fights back and connects with yes kicks but Miz fired back with Bryan’s running knee strike. Miz went for the skull crushing finale, but Bryan went for a cradle…and got the win. Well, okay. That was such a weird finish, though people were into it once they realized what happened.

It was announced that AJ Styles will defend the WWE title against Daniel Bryan at Crown Jewel. A rematch for the SmackDown women’s title will also take place this Tuesday.

Triple H defeated The Undertaker

This was a modern day Triple H main event where it went on for a really long time, felt plodding in a lot of places and had lots of smoke and mirrors. It wasn’t a bad match, and overall it was pretty alright, but there were periods where this wasn’t particularly interesting and felt more plodding than anything.

Before the match, it was announced that this would be a no DQ match. Early on, Triple H actually teased doing the old school spot, but Undertaker took him down with punches. Undertaker then connected with old school and hit the snake eyes in the corner but Triple H responded with a high knee. Undertaker and Shawn end up having a scuffle on the outside as Kane keeps him at bay.

Triple H threw Undertaker into the steel steps as he and Shawn set up a table. Triple H went for a pedigree on the Undertaker but Undertaker responded with a back body drop. They go at it with some back and forth in the ring before Undertaker takes him outside and sends him into the ring announcer’s area.

Undertaker sets up the table, but Triple H fights back until Undertaker throws Triple H over the barricade and into the crowd. They brawl around the arena, with Undertaker choking Triple H with cords at one point. He eventually takes Triple H back into the ring, laying out HBK with a punch and introducing a chair.

Putting Triple H on the table, Undertaker went to the apron and fought off HBK. Triple H went back to the ring, but Kane pulled him out. HBK superkicked Kane on the table as Triple H drove him into the table with an elbow. Back in the ring, Undertaker actually connected with the tombstone piledriver, but Triple H kicked out.  The Undertaker punches out the referee as he continues to beat Triple H with steel chair shots.

Undertaker wraps the hair around Triple H’s head. HBK tried to reason with him. He entered the ring, but Undertaker punched him out. Triple H made a comeback and hit the pedigree, but Undertaker kicked out. So Triple H wrapped Undertaker’s head around the chair like Undertaker did to him earlier. From the second rope, he stomped on the chair and went for a cover, but Kane dragged the second referee out of the ring.

Shawn Michaels introduces the sledgehammer as he gives him the sledgehammer. Kane gives Undertaker another steel chair. Triple H wins, smashing the sledgehammer into the chair, striking Undertaker. There’s no referee, so Triple H went to use the sledgehammer again when Undertaker caught him in the hell’s gate. With no referee, both collapsed to the floor.

HBK went to use the sledgehammer on Undertaker, but Kane evened things out as Undertaker dumped HBK to the floor. Undertaker decided not to use the sledgehamemr and avoided the pedigree. He went for a tombstone on HBK, but Triple H blasted Undertaker with the sledgehammer. HBK then superkicked Undertaker and walked into a Triple H pedigree for the win. 

HBK and Triple H were emotional after the match. Undertaker was slumped in the corner. He took the sledgehammer and handed it to Triple H. He responded by dumping it on the floor and extending his hand. Triple H helps Undertaker to his feet as all four men posed, pyro going off in a big celebration…

But it didn’t end there. Undertaker and Kane turned on Triple H and Shawn Michaels, with Undertaker laying out Triple H with the tombstone. Kane took HBK to the outside and chokeslammed him through the announce table. The announcers called this a betrayal as the Brothers of Destruction walked up the ramp to end the show.

There’s your build to Crown Jewel, where after facing off each other here tonight for the last time ever…Undertaker and Triple H will probably face off in a tag match next month.