Just finished watching the replay, so here’s my wrap-up;
Goldust & Stardust d. the Usos for the tag titles. This was a hell of a match; lots of great back-and-forth, definitely kept me in suspense until the very end. I remain steadfast in my belief that the Ascension will be claiming the tag belts for themselves by the end of the year, but at this moment I’m really not sure whether that’ll happen via the Rhodeses turning face again, or by them playing transition champions to some face tag team.
Sheamus d. Cesaro to retain the US championship. There was a lot more technical wrestling in this match than I thought Sheamus was capable of. The logical next step for Sheamus, IMO, is to put him in a feud with Rusev, where Rusev wins the US title and puts Vladimir Putin’s face on the front of the belt.
Miz d. Ziggler for the IC title. I called this one wrong. Miz wins in classic heel fashion, with interference from his valet and grabbing Ziggler’s trunks for the win. The inclusion of Florida Georgia Line as guest commentators was downright bizarre, especially since the bump they gave to Sandow ended up not affecting the ending at all. This feud isn’t over, IMO.
The Rollins/Ambrose segment. Ambrose is the closest thing this generation of WWE wrestlers has to a hardcore badass a la Mick Foley or Terry Funk or Raven, which is a plus, and it was definitely cathartic to see him beat the shit out of Rollins. However, I have to downvote this segment because, in the end, it was the exact same sketch, note-for-note, that these two did at Battleground, right down to Triple H’s interfering as if to say “I WILL NOT HAVE YOU TWO FIGHTING ON MY WRESTLING SHOW!” Between CM Punk quitting and both Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns being out of action for the indefinite future, WWE needs more faces in the main event scene, and I hope to God that they strap a rocket to Dean Ambrose’s butt.
Rusev d. Mark Henry by submission. This went pretty much as I expected. Lillian’s rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner at the beginning was perfect. IMO, we’re definitely going to see Rusev vs. Cena at some point between now and WrestleMania. The only thing that disappointed me with this match is how quickly Henry tapped once he was put in the camel clutch the second time - after the pre-match pep talk Big Show gave him, I was expecting this fight to end in another TKO much like the Rusev/Swagger flag match.
Randy Orton d. Chris Jericho. This was the low point of the show, IMO. Orton needs a skilled ring veteran to carry him through a good match, and while Jericho definitely is one, this match was lackluster at best. At least I called this one right - Jericho is off to tour with Fozzy again, and who knows when he’ll show up for another match.
AJ d. Paige and Nikki for the Divas title. This was definitely not the ending I expected. For a multi-woman title match, this was very well-booked - no outside inferference or anything. AJ is now tied with Eve Torres with three reigns as Divas champion - it’ll be interesting to see where they go with the Bellas feud from here.
Cena d. Lesnar by DQ, Rollins attempts to cash in but fails, Lesnar retains the WWEWHC: I apologize for predicting that the Divas match would be a trainwreck. This was the trainwreck of the evening. Nobody left this match looking good. I wonder; when a heel tries to cash in MITB, why does their face rival never wait until after the bell rings to attack them? If Cena had waited until after the bell rang to attack Rollins, the cash-in match would have ended with a DQ and Rollins would have wasted the briefcase; instead, by attacking before the bell rang, Rollins gets to challenge for a title shot another night.
Overall: It was a decent show. Not as good as Summerslam. but better than last year’s NoC by far (at which no titles changed hands but one, and that win was reserved the next day, and at which WWE completely squandered their opportunity to make good use of Darren Young’s newly-found popularity.)
On a note not related to the show itself; it has come to my attention that Michael Moody, the son of the late William “Paul Bearer” Moody, passed away last night. He was in attendance at his father’s Hall of Fame induction and at WrestleMania earlier this year. Rest in peace, Mike.
Good on Stephanie for finally realizing that tossing someone out of a building is ineffective in keeping them out.
Bad on Stephanie for forgetting that, in WWE canon, the old Looney Tunes technique of putting a black archway onto a wall to turn it into a tunnel out actually works.
I wonder if somebody will take all the footage of Cena and Ambrose chasing Rollins around, speed it up, and have Yakkety Sax playing in the background.
There was a Mix TV segment where he interviewed Dean Ambrose and Miz said “just between you me, cuz we’re friends right? How did you escape the room?!? Did you bribe a guard? Did you fight your way out?”
Ambrose’s response: I went out the back door
(audience cheers and laughs)
Ambrose: I mean, The Authority locked me in a room with two doors, so I just went out the back…I’m not houdini"
I am liking the current storyline with Seth Rollins. The Authority wound up getting more than they bargained for when they convinced him to betray The Shield, and they’re having to clean up after his messes. He’s definitely a weasel, and I can see them turning on him in the future when they’ve finally had enough of his shit. That should be interesting if Creative has him crawling back to Ambrose and Reigns, begging forgiveness, but they usually don’t think that far ahead.
Well, poor Rollins is stuck between a rock and a hardplace with his storyline right now.
The original(ish) plan of having him try and cash in the briefcase, and having Ambrose thwart him, was great and working for a while and it fueled their rivalry.
Now with the title not even in the building 99% of the time, what’s he supposed to do with it? He carries it around all proud and stuff, but he never has an opportunity anymoer to cash it in, and his Ambrose rivalry doesn’t have a reason to keep going anymore. He’s kinda screwed unless they can either get the breifcase off of him and get him to craft his own story, or he’ll be in no man’s land
Justin Gabriel kinda hinted the other day that he may not be long for WWE. Personally, I wouldn’t blame him. He can probably make near the same amount of money in ROH or doing indy shows and get to actually work instead of this underused nonsense he’s been stuck with in WWE.
I read where SR said he’s responsible for transporting the MITB briefcase to venues, so he has to carry it around at airports and put up with all the onlookers. He says it’s the “greatest prank ever.” It’s like the teacher decided you were her best student and made you wear a shirt with TEACHER’S PET on it.
Renee Young had a good Jerry Lawler-type quip on NXT last night. She said Marcus Lois cries on the back of his head, because he’s so ugly, his tears get too scared of his face.
Even though Amore and Cass’s vignettes are promos for would-be Diva Carmella, they’re still funny. She’s obviously using her sex appeal to get them to train her, and they’re too cocky to think they’re being used.
They’re making Baron Carbin some kind of outsider, like he’s not really human. Please don’t make him a vampire. Vampires suck.
No Sheen and Devitt yet, and Bayley continues to be simply adorable. I could see her going to the main roster and coping with the catty Divas who snarl and hiss at the new kid.
WWE has purged any mention of CM Punk and removed his merchandise.
And yet, strangely, the last 3-4 minutes of NXT last night was a bit on CM Punk, when he was champion, going to a Cubs game, throwing out the first pitch and hanging out in the announcer’s booth. I was so utterly confused that I actually closed out of the network, went to a different website, came back, clicked on NXT and there it was again. Just making sure I didn’t accidentally hit something other than NXT there.
Anyone else see that? Or just too many drugs on my end?
That’s why I asked. It was so bizarre. One minute I’m watching Lucha Dragons and The Ascension, the next there’s CM Punk on my screen.
Like I said, I deliberately went to another website in my browser, came back to the network and clicked on NXT again, and got the same thing. Slid the track back a bit, saw end of NXT and back into Punk. Very very odd.
I love that show. It’s fun, not TOO terribly kayfabe-y, and is pretty self depricating/referencing at times. Plus I get to learn a lot of things about wrestling’s past that I didn’t know.
I just watched the Royal Rumble one and, while interesting, made me mad. As the driver of the Kofi Kingston bandwagon it’s bullshit that he was number seven. Seven! With all the shit he’s done he’s only seven!
Maybe it’s cuz he’s black, but he’s just as much of a high flyer as Rey is and is willing to do TLC matches. Boy needs a bigger push.
Kofi’s probably not getting a huge push because of his lack of mic skills. He doesn’t present a character the audience can get emotionally invested in. Dean Malenko had the same problem. Knew every wrestling hold in existence, but had a personality like cardboard.
WWE made an attempt to give Kofi some kind of presence with the NoD-lite angle, but that died a quick quiet death. Until Kofi connects with the audience as a person and not just a warrior-gymnast, he’s going to remain stuck in the midcard.
