Steve Austin will be making an appearance when Raw returns to Madison Square Garden.
WWE announced today that Austin will be appearing on the September 9 episode of Raw at MSG. Austin was part of Raw Reunion last month, and he also made an appearance via Skype on the August 12 edition of the show.
During his Skype appearance, Austin reacted to Seth Rollins defeating Brock Lesnar to win the Universal Championship at SummerSlam. Austin also promoted the premiere of “Straight Up Steve Austin,” which airs on the USA Network after Raw.
There will be seven episodes in this season of “Straight Up Steve Austin.”
Austin tweeted about appearing at MSG: “I cannot believe it has been so long. Time flies by. The Garden is home to many of my favorite moments in my career. @BretHart in #survivorseries @undertaker in #summerslam #highwaytohell and stunning @VinceMcMahon for the very first time. Along with many others. Hell Yeah!”
SmackDown is also taking place at MSG on September 10. The Undertaker has been announced for that SmackDown episode.
The semifinals of King of the Ring will be held on Raw and SmackDown at MSG, with the finals then taking place at Clash of Champions on September 15.
This is the first time MSG has hosted WWE TV episodes since 2009. WWE’s last televised event at the arena was their Live from MSG WWE Network special in October 2015.
The Undertaker will be making an appearance when SmackDown comes to Madison Square Garden next month.
WWE has announced Undertaker for the September 10 episode of SmackDown at MSG. Raw is also taking place at MSG on September 9.
Undertaker was most recently on WWE television during the build to Extreme Rules. Undertaker & Roman Reigns defeated Shane McMahon & Drew McIntyre in a no holds barred match at the pay-per-view.
The last time Undertaker appeared at MSG, he teamed with Reigns & Braun Strowman and defeated Baron Corbin, Elias & Kevin Owens in a six-man tag match at a house show in July 2018.
MSG announced last week that the semifinals of King of the Ring will be held on Raw on September 9 and SmackDown on September 10. The finals of the tournament are taking place at Clash of Champions on September 15.
These are the first WWE TV episodes at MSG since 2009. WWE’s last televised event at the arena was their Live from MSG Network special in October 2015.
WWE held their annual post-Christmas house show at Madison Square Garden last night.
– Finn Balor defeated Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre in a triple threat match
Balor hit a dropkick and the Coup de Grace before pinning Ziggler.
McIntyre started to lay out both after the match and cut a promo about how he’s not excited to be in Madison Square Garden like everyone else. He said Ziggler and Balor were in the way of hin getting a shot at the Universal Championship. Ziggler attacked McIntyre and Balor hit McIntyre with the Coup de Grace.
– Apollo Crews won a 10-man battle royal for a future Intercontinental title shot
Crews last eliminated Jinder Mahal to win.
– Elias defeated Bobby Lashley in a guitar-on-a-pole match
There was an Elias performance before the match. He hit an elbow drop off the top rope on Lashley and then got the guitar to win.
After the match, Lashley accidentally took out Lio Rush with a spear and Elias gave Lashley a guitar shot.
– Natalya & Ember Moon defeated Ruby Riott & Liv Morgan
Natalya submitted Morgan with the Sharpshooter.
– Aleister Black, Ricochet, Pete Dunne, Velveteen Dream & Matt Riddle defeated Tommaso Ciampa, Johnny Gargano, Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly & Roderick Strong
Gargano was originally on the face side when this match was announced, but he turned heel and was replaced by Riddle. Going into the show, it had been advertised as the faces vs. Ciampa & The Undisputed Era.
Ricochet pinned Cole after hitting the 630.
– Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose defeated Seth Rollins in a steel cage match to retain his title
At one point, Rollins gave Ambrose a superplex off the top of the cage and then hit a Falcon Arrow for a near fall. Rollins tried to escape through the door, but Baron Corbin got involved and slammed the door on his head. Ambrose then won by leaving through the door.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Bobby Roode & Chad Gable defeated The Revival and AOP in a triple threat match to retain their titles
Drake Maverick interfered a few times during the match. Roode and Gable retained with their double-team moonsault/neckbreaker finisher.
– Sasha Banks & Bayley defeated Mickie James & Alicia Fox
Banks hit a backstabber on Fox, with Bayley then hitting the Bayley-to-Belly for the win.
– John Cena defeated Baron Corbin
Corbin said he had a match with Braun Strowman. Strowman never came out and they did a 10 count and announced Corbin as the winner, but Vince McMahon then made an appearance at the show. He said this was Madison Square Garden and Corbin would have to wrestle — then revealed Cena as Corbin’s opponent.
Vince said Cena is someone who has had more Madison Square Garden moments than Hulk Hogan, Bruno Sammartino, and Steve Austin combined.
Cena won with the Attitude Adjustment and his new lightning fist finisher. He cut a promo after the match and thanked the fans for allowing him to be part of the show.
– Raw Women’s Champion Ronda Rousey defeated Nia Jax to retain her title
Jax started by hitting power moves, but Rousey came back and used an armbar to retain.
There was a brawl after the match where the faces in the women’s division stood tall over the heels, with Rousey hitting a crossbody off the top to the floor.
Ten wrestlers from NXT will be featured on WWE’s house show at Madison Square Garden this December.
WWE posted a video today where William Regal announced a 10-man tag match for WWE’s holiday tour event at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday, December 26. Johnny Gargano, Pete Dunne, Ricochet, Aleister Black & Velveteen Dream will be teaming against all four members of The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O’Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Bobby Fish) & Tommaso Ciampa.
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman in a steel cage match for the Universal Championship, Ronda Rousey vs. Mickie James for the Raw Women’s Championship, and Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre vs. Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose for the Raw Tag Team titles are the other matches currently being advertised for the December 26 house show at Madison Square Garden. It was recently changed to a Raw-brand event after being originally announced as a SmackDown show.
– Bobby Lashley defeated Jinder Mahal (w/ Sunil Singh)
This was a fairly basic, nothing happening match. Singh was cheered initially before getting booed as he started introducing Mahal. At one point, Singh attacked Lashley at the ropes when the referee wasn’t looking. The crowd was fairly loudly behind Lashley, though they got quieter as the match went on.
Lashley won with the delayed suplex.
– WWE Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander defeated Buddy Murphy to retain his title
A very good match. It had a good amount of heat for a cruiserweight match, especially after the halfway point. The crowd chanted heavily for Alexander. By the time the finish came, they were more into it than the opener.
They did lots of great near falls. Alexander won with a Lumbar Check and got a big pop.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Matt Hardy & Bray Wyatt defeated Titus Worldwide (Titus O’Neil & Apollo Crews) and The B-Team (Curtis Axel & Bo Dallas) in a triple threat match to retain their titles
The B-Team got a big pop coming out. It seemed to be a bit louder than the reaction for Hardy and Wyatt, but I wasn’t certain. All three teams got pops, though.
Even if The B-Team had the bigger reaction, Hardy and Wyatt were the clear crowd favorites once the match got going. Each team did their usual spots. Axel had the heat on O’Neil at the end, but Hardy tagged him, then hit the Twist of Fate on O’Neil for the win. Average match overall, but each team made it fun.
– Bayley, Ember Moon & Natalya defeated Alicia Fox, Liv Morgan & Sarah Logan
Bayley was clearly playing babyface, and Fox got a decent pop despite being a heel. This match had the least heat so far. After Natalya started, most of it was built around Moon trying to get the hot tag to Bayley. Bayley pinned Morgan with the Bayley-to-Belly.
– Baron Corbin cut a promo in between matches, introducing himself as the Constable of Raw, talking about being in the main event, and declaring that he would deliver the End of Days.
– Mojo Rawley defeated Bobby Roode
Rawley got little reaction, but Roode got a big pop. A lot of people sang along with his song. As the second chorus began, Rawley attacked Roode from behind, getting a lot of heat.
Rawley actually got lots of heat throughout the match — the most I noticed up to this point (the only other person to get any real heat was Mahal). Rawley surprisingly won after Roode’s knees buckled coming off the top rope. His win didn’t get much reaction. Roode sold the knee after Rawley left and got cheered on his way out.
– Intercontinental Champion Dolph Ziggler (w/ Drew McIntyre) defeated Seth Rollins and Finn Balor in a triple threat match to retain his title
Rollins got the biggest reaction coming out, with a big “Burn it Down” chant at his entrance. McIntyre is super imposing in person, especially when next to Ziggler. Rollins and Balor got big pops for their introductions, while Ziggler got decently loud boos.
After a lot of roll-up attempts by all three, Rollins got Ziggler out of the ring and faced off with Balor, but Ziggler and McIntyre continually interrupted them. McIntyre got ejected, but he threw Rollins into the barricade on the way out, leaving Balor and Ziggler alone in the ring for a while. As Rollins tried to get back in, Ziggler threw Balor at him, keeping him out a bit longer. Rollins then dodged the same spot, though Ziggler soon got a sleeper hold on him.
Rollins got out of that before Balor ran wild on both, chopping each in opposite corners and eventually throwing Ziggler out before getting thrown out by Rollins, who then hit separate suicide dives on each. With all three in the ring, Rollins hit the falcon arrow on Ziggler for a huge near fall. Balor and Rollins traded strikes after a Curb Stomp attempt, but Ziggler came in and hit the Zig-Zag on Rollins for an even bigger near fall. “This is awesome” chants started after that.
Ziggler stopped Balor attempting the Coup de Grace. He tried a superplex before getting buckle bombed by Rollins, who tried to superplex Balor but got kicked down. Rollins rolled out to avoid the Coup de Grace attempt, after which Balor got hit with a Zig-Zag for another gigantic near fall.
A bit later, Rollins hit a superkick on each and was signaling for the Curb Stomp before a distraction from McIntyre allowed Ziggler to get the pin. After celebrating, McIntyre and Ziggler beat down Rollins. They seemed to be about to hit their tag team finisher before Balor made the save, hitting the Coup de Grace on McIntyre and allowing Rollins to Curb Stomp Ziggler. Rollins and Balor shook hands afterwards. Awesome match with a ton of heat.
– The Lucha House Party (Kalisto, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado) defeated Drew Gulak, Brian Kendrick & Jack Gallagher
They had a good match, but it was nothing you wouldn’t see as a 205 Live opener. The crowd was in and out of this, but they were still louder than most cruiserweight matches.
– Ronda Rousey defeated Nia Jax
Alexa Bliss was introduced as the special guest referee. She cut a promo, admitting that there was mutual disrespect between her and the two wrestlers in the match, and thus she was adding a second guest referee, Mickie James. Jax got little reaction, but Rousey got a huge pop. Like in Philadelphia on Friday, she was again announced as the first woman to enter the UFC Hall of Fame.
Rousey started off on fire, but she got cut off by James, who pulled her away from Jax after she beat on her too long in the corner. Bliss also attacked Rousey while James attended to Jax. After that, Jax got the heat for much of the match. Rousey countered the bear hug into a sleeper hold, but Jax was able to again counter into a vertical suplex.
After recovering, Rousey got a big kick on Jax and got her into a sleeper hold, eventually putting her in an armbar over the ropes before James forced the break. Rousey fired up into a striking combination and followed with a big knee, but James counted slow for a two count. Jax then bumped into Bliss, giving Rousey another chance to take Jax down, but James pretended her arm couldn’t make the three count. Rousey put her into an armbar, which she tapped out to before Jax broke it up with a leg drop.
Jax went for the pin, and Bliss counted to one before stomping on Jax. Both referees were eventually taken out, with Rousey then hitting a crossbody on Jax. She got about a 12 count on her as a referee ran down, finally getting to the ring for a two count.
Rousey finally got the armbar and submitted Jax clean, getting a big pop and having probably the most genuine celebration with the crowd of anyone on the show. The match was a lot of fun despite everything with the referees, and it was helped a lot by the heat it had.
– AJ Styles vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Championship and Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz were announced for SmackDown’s house show at MSG on December 26, with the pre-sale password “HOLIDAY.”
– The Undertaker, Roman Reigns & Braun Strowman defeated Kevin Owens, Baron Corbin & Elias
Elias started this with a performance, saying he thought about not doing a concert but had to since he was in the main event at MSG. He was super over until he got mega heat for burying New York, though the first few comments got laughs. He complained about the crowd not appreciating him, then brought out Owens and Corbin by saying that he had two partners who do.
Strowman was the first babyface out and got a big pop. Reigns got a 50/50 reaction when he first entered, but after that initial pop it was overwhelmingly negative. Undertaker’s pop was absolutely ear shattering when he first came out and when Jojo announced his name. From the beginning of Elias’ concert to the ring of the bell was about 22 minutes.
The noise from Undertaker’s entrance never left, and the entire match was extremely hot. None of the heels wanted to start, with Owens finally going against Strowman. The heels kept tagging out until Strowman tagged in Reigns to huge boos. As expected, the tag to Undertaker was constantly teased throughout the match, with a huge pop coming when he entered the ring without being tagged when Owens knocked into him.
Undertaker finally tagged in after Reigns hit a Superman Punch. He set up Owens and Elias for a double chokeslam but got interrupted by Corbin. After Strowman and Reigns took out Corbin and Elias, Undertaker hit the tombstone on Owens for the pin and got another ear-shattering pop.
Undertaker shook hands with Strowman, then had a staredown with Reigns before shaking his hand to another huge reaction.
This was my favorite of the three Undertaker matches this year. It was a lot of fun, though that was probably helped by having the experience of being in the crowd. The Cruiserweight and Intercontinental title matches provided great in-ring action, and the two main events had unbelievable atmospheres.
Coming off his matches at WrestleMania 34 and the Greatest Royal Rumble, The Undertaker’s next appearance for WWE is set.
Madison Square Garden revealed this morning that Undertaker will be in action at WWE’s Raw-brand house show at the venue on July 7th. This will be Undertaker’s first time wrestling at MSG since 2010.
After indicating that he was retiring at the end of WrestleMania 33, Undertaker returned for a match against John Cena in New Orleans this year. It lasted for under three minutes and had a storyline where it wasn’t officially announced as part of the WrestleMania card in advance. Undertaker also defeated Rusev in a casket match at the Greatest Royal Rumble in April.
As was previously announced, Ronda Rousey will be making her Madison Square Garden debut at the July 7th show. Advertising now lists her as facing Nia Jax in a Raw Women’s Championship match. Whoever is champion heading into that will be decided when Rousey challenges for Jax’s title at Money in the Bank on June 17th.
Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. Elias for the Intercontinental Championship is also listed on the card for Madison Square Garden, and Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, Bobby Lashley, Kevin Owens, Sami Zayn, Bobby Roode, Jinder Mahal, Sasha Banks, Alexa Bliss, Bayley, Dolph Ziggler, Matt Hardy, and Bray Wyatt are the other wrestlers advertised.
NJPW’s G1 Special at the Cow Palace will be taking place on July 7th as well, along with Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier headlining UFC 226 in Las Vegas.
Image: MSG. Report submitted by reader Denis Gorman.
For their usual post-Christmas date, WWE was at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night for one of their biggest house shows of the year.
Roman Reigns defending his Intercontinental Championship against John Cena headlined the event, and it was announced that Brock Lesnar would be on the show when WWE returns to MSG on March 16th.
– Matt Hardy defeated Bray Wyatt
Both got good pops when they were introduced, including Hardy getting “Delete” chants when he came out. Wyatt cut a promo before the match and told Hardy to run, but Hardy responded with the “Delete” gesture. Hardy came out to piano music instead of his regular theme.
Hardy won a fun, back-and-forth match with the Twist of Fate.
– Absolution (Paige, Mandy Rose & Sonya Deville) defeated Sasha Banks, Bayley & Mickie James
After a six-way brawl broke out, Paige won with the RamPaige on James.
– Heath Slater, Rhyno, Titus O’Neil, Apollo Crews & Goldust defeated Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, Curt Hawkins & The Revival
Elias, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson were with the heels and sang “Freebird” to the crowd. The song ended with a verse where Elias sang about how much he hates Madison Square Garden and stupid New Yorkers, which was funny.
Rhyno pinned Hawkins with a spinebuster to win after they had a comedy match.
– WWE Cruiserweight Champion Enzo Amore defeated Kalisto to retain his title
Despite being a heel, Amore was still able to get the MSG crowd to sing along with him. They had a pretty good match despite some Amore wig-based comedy and a botched DDT through the ropes. The finish was Amore retaining with Eat Defeat.
– Samoa Joe defeated Finn Balor
Balor, who wore white boots and trunks, cut a babyface promo until Joe’s music hit. Both got good reactions, along with a slight “Too Sweet, Woop Woop” chant for Balor.
They had a good match, with Joe winning with the choke.
– Asuka & Dana Brooke defeated Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss & Nia Jax
Asuka tapped out Bliss with an armbar to get the win. Most of this was Brooke working as the babyface in peril.
– Braun Strowman defeated Kane by DQ
The crowd popped huge for Strowman. Kane was disqualified for using a chair, but Strowman powerslammed him through a table after. Strowman spent a lot of time posing for pictures and signing autographs for fans at ringside.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Seth Rollins & Jason Jordan defeated Cesaro & Sheamus in a steel cage match to retain their titles
Jordan was booed when he entered, but the crowd was into Rollins. They chanted “Let’s go Rollins, Jordan sucks.”
Both members of a team had to have their feet touch the floor in order to win. Rollins saved Jordan from a double-team with a crossbody off the top of the cage at one point. For the finish, Jordan escaped and then held off Sheamus so Rollins could climb out.
– Intercontinental Champion Roman Reigns defeated John Cena to retain his title
As expected, both got loud reactions. The video screens were off for the match and the only lights that were on were those above the ring.
Both guys had good performances in a terrific back-and-forth match that had the crowd popping. They began brawling after a slow start, then brought the action back to the ring. Reigns eventually hit a spear to retain. Following the match, Cena raised Reigns’ arm up.
Image: @TheGarden. Report submitted by reader Mike Omansky.
– Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Dolph Ziggler
Ziggler got some near falls, but Nakamura followed with a Kinshasa to the chest and pinned him. This was a very good match and Nakamura was over with the crowd.
– R-Truth defeated Goldust
R-Truth won with his finisher.
– WWE Cruiserweight Champion Neville defeated Cedric Alexander to retain his title
The crowd got into this after a while and both wrestlers worked hard. Neville pinned Alexander with his feet on the ropes to retain.
– Seth Rollins & Dean Ambrose defeated Intercontinental Champion The Miz (w/ Maryse) & Samoa Joe
The Miz cut a promo before the match saying that he refused to defend the IC title at MSG because this is where the New York Knicks play.
They had an excellent tag match, with Ambrose pinning Miz with Dirty Deeds while Rollins held Joe’s leg to keep him from interfering. The match had non-stop action and both teams used double-teams well.
– AJ Styles defeated Kevin Owens to win the United States Championship
Styles hit the Phenomenal Forearm to get the pin and win the US title. They had a very solid match, with it being the match of the night. Styles got a big ovation for winning the title.
– Sasha Banks, Bayley & Mickie James defeated Raw Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss, Emma & Nia Jax
This didn’t last very long but had good action. Banks submitted Emma with the Banks Statement.
– Finn Balor defeated Karl Anderson (w/ Luke Gallows)
Balor hit the Coup de Grace to get the win in about a minute. There was good action from Balor in the match despite it being brief.
– Raw Tag Team Champions Cesaro & Sheamus defeated The Hardys to retain their titles
The Hardys didn’t see the champions make a tag and double teamed Sheamus (who wasn’t the legal man). Cesaro then ran in and pinned Jeff.
– Roman Reigns defeated Bray Wyatt
Reigns won with a spear. Wyatt dominated the match and was often cheered. Reigns got heavily booed.
After it was over, Braun Strowman ran in to attack Reigns. Cedric Alexander and R-Truth came in and got tossed out. Seth Rollins then came down and was fighting off Strowman until Wyatt popped up and stopped him. Reigns recovered, knocked Wyatt down, and then speared Strowman to end the show.
