Say his name and he appears!
His storyline with Thea, Ethan Page, and Chelsea Green has been fun.
Former NWA World’s Heavyweight Champion Zack Ryder made his return to WWE tonight as LA Knight’s mystery opponent in the Cena retirement tournament.
In classic Zack Ryder form, he did the job.
Here’s the match.
In other shocking news, this year’s Survivor Series will feature, of all things, A SURVIVOR SERIES MATCH! The team of Sami Zayn, Shinsuke Nakamura, Fenix, and the Motor City Machine Guns will be taking on Solo Sikoa, Tama Tonga, Tanga Loa, Hikuleo, and Jeff Cobb.
And just when I was starting to think there was no reason to keep the name if it was just gonna be Wargames matches every year.
TNA’s Dolph Ziggler made his WWE return on Raw, jobbing to Solo Sikoa in the Last Time Is Now Tournament. GUNTHER (who has his original theme music back) also advanced by defeating Je’Von Evans, and Maxxine Dupri defeated Becky Lynch (with an assist from AJ Lee) to become Women’s Intercontinental Champion.
Sheamus has suffered a shoulder injury and will not be able to continue in The Last Time is Now Tournament.
More information will be forthcoming tonight on SmackDown.
The Carmelo Hayes/Bronson Reed tournament match ended in a bit of a schmozz when Bron Breakker’s attempt to spear Hayes through the barrier was intercepted by the Usos, and Cody Rhodes (who’d been attacked earlier that night by Drew McIntyre on his bus) came out to hit a Cross Rhodes on Reed on the floor and roll Hayes into the ring for the countout win.
The match will actually take place on SmackDown the night before Survivor Series.
Samoa Joe has defeated Hangman Page in the main event of Full Gear to win his second AEW World Championship.
Solo Sikoa defeated Penta in the tournament quarterfinals when Penta landed badly on a high-risk move during the break and was deemed unable to continue.
They did not show a replay of the move.
It was a huracanrana off the stairs. Penta landed on his shoulder.
One of my favorite moments of RAW on Monday was when Brock Lesnar came out, did his motion to set off his pyro, and fell backwards, landing on his ass.
He’s such a fucking goofball.
Dominik Mysterio has recaptured the Intercontinental title from John Cena at Survivor Series.
And Liv Morgan returned, slapped Dom, jumped into Cena’s arms, and then turned on him by kicking him in the nuts.
After a belt shot and 619, Dom took the title.
All six members of Judgment Day got involved in the match.
The final of the Last Time Is Now tournament will be LA Knight vs. GUNTHER.
Not who I would’ve picked, but if GUNTHER beats Cena clean as a whistle I could live with that.
I think LA Knight needs the rub more than GUNTHER.
WWE library content, including WCW and ECW, will be leaving Peacock in the US at the end of the month. For the time being, there is no announcement on where it will go, if anywhere. Possibly WWE’s Vault channel on YouTube. Possibly ESPN or Netflix.
https://411mania.com/wrestling/wwe-library-programming-leaving-peacock/
Le sigh.
The current corporate ownership of WWE are convinced that making the product more expensive and less accessible is going to make it as prestigious and profitable as UFC, while forgetting that you can’t raise up the next generation of wrestling fans if parents can’t afford to take their kids to a house show and that asking them to pay $60 a month across three streaming services to watch a glorified soap opera that’s about 50% ads and filler is more than a lot of families can afford.
But that’s the mentality of MBA bros these days - the whales are the only customers worth your time, cannibalize long-term sustainability for the illusion of short-term prosperity, nothing manners except Line Go Up Next Quarter.
Here’s my Crazy Idea of the Day:
The final is a double countout
Whoever is the “authority figure” nowadays comes out and announces that, on Friday’s Smackdown, there will be a 16-man battle royal between the tournament entrants to see who gets to face Cena.
15 wrestlers come out; cut to backstage, where #16 is laid out on the floor, courtesy of person or persons unknown. “We do have an alternate”; I have heard two names - Brock Lesnar, and Edge.
One of two things happens:
1 - the last two are Gunther and the alternate, and…Swerve the Smarks - Gunther wins;
2 - the last two throw each other out at the same time. The officials talk it over:
”Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner is,” and play Gunther’s music
The officials talk again
”Ladies and Gentlemen, the winner is,” and play Brock’s/Edge’s music
Please, please, please, pleasepleaseplease, please, did I mention “please,” please have Cena’s last match be anything other than Triple Threat with both Gunther and LA Knight.