Method to Madness Has a New Home!

Method to Madness Has a New Home!
We have moved! Click on the banner above to join us for new content from 2021 to present!
Showing posts with label The Undisputed Era. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The Undisputed Era. Show all posts

NXT TakeOver: WarGames (Dec. 6, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts




NXT TakeOver: WarGames was a professional wrestling pay-per-view and WWE Network event, produced by WWE for their NXT brand division. It took place on December 6, 2020 at the WWE Performance Center in Orlando, Florida and featured NXT's virtual fan viewing experience called the Capitol Wrestling Center. It was the 32nd NXT TakeOver event and the fourth event under the WarGames chronology.

Five matches were contested at the event. In the main event, The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Bobby Fish) defeated Team McAfee (Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Danny Burch, and Oney Lorcan) in a WarGames match while in the opening bout, Team Candice (Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Raquel González, and Toni Storm) defeated Team Shotzi (Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, Rhea Ripley, and Io Shirai) in the women's WarGames match.




Match Results:



Dark Match: Six-Man Tag Team Match
Legado del Fantasma (Santos Escobar, Raul Mendoza and Joaquin Wilde) def. Curt Stallion, Ashante "Thee" Adonis and August Grey


I personally didn't see this match, but I wouldn't be surprised if this doesn't show up on NXT's TV tapings or 205 Live over the next few weeks, if it didn't air already. 



Women's WarGames Match
Team Candice (Candice LeRae, Dakota Kai, Raquel González, and Toni Storm) def. Team Shotzi (Shotzi Blackheart, Ember Moon, Rhea Ripley, and Io Shirai)



Team Candice...

Team Shotzi... riding her shiny new tank!

This match was rather odd to get started - which was complicated more by the asinine logic (or lack of thereof) of having the babyfaces bullying the heels for majority of this match. That was complicated even more by the babyfaces winning the advantage to start the match when the heels traditionally cheat to win that right. It was puzzling to me that the babyfaces were the ones bringing the weapons into the match as if they were fighting in some sort of disadvantage here. It (kinda, but not really) came together when it came time for the final member of Team Shotzi to enter the match, NXT Women's Champion Io Shirai, who was blocked at every turn to enter the ring by members of Team Candice, including an injured Indi Hartwell. She couldn't compete in the match, so it cool that she was able to contribute here in some limited capacity. Io ends up entering the match via non-conventional means as I'm sure you have seen the gif/screenshot of Io's Grouch impersonation as she dove from the top of the cage while inside a trash can.



As cool as that looked, I'm glad no one was hurt as that could have gone horribly wrong. Io would be involved with another trash can-related spot as Dakota Kai would perform a Diving Double Foot Stomp to her while she was still trapped within. Dakota Kai almost couldn't get her out of the crushed trash can afterwards since it warped around Io's petite frame so much. I thought they were going to take that thing off of her and she would have been a bloody mess. Unfortunately, she wasn't hurt but this match wasn't shy in brutal spots and bumps.

The spot where Candice LeRae broke her arm/wrist.


Candice LeRae would suffer a possible broken arm/wrist from the awkward landing during the impact of Shotzi Blackheart coming down off of the ladder onto LeRae's arm that was covered by a steel chair. It was already bad enough that Candice took a flat back bump off the ladder onto the two chairs, but to add the Diving Senton from Shotzi was pretty darn nuts. As of this posting (12/10/20), Dakota Kai had missed last night's NXT TV taping as she was still suffering from the abuse she took in this match. I wouldn't be surprised if that absolutely BRUTAL Eclipse that she took from Ember Moon over two chairs had anything to do with that. That was pure insanity to see executed. How in the hell did she not end up with a broken neck or broken collarbone is beyond me. 


I don't even know how to even explain how the hell Dakota Kai doesn't have a broken neck from that.



Much like Rhea Ripley's performance last year, this was a standout performance for Raquel González with her picking up the win for Team Candice with a vicious Avalanche Powerbomb to the NXT Women's Champion onto a ladder bridged between the two rings above that metal strip connecting them. I seriously thought that Io was possibly paralyzed after taking a bump like that. If she had kicked out I would have insanely pissed off - much like I was when Dakota Kai barely sold the two strikes from a goddamn sledgehammer from Rhea Ripley upon her arrival into this match. Fortunately, this was the finish of the match and I was fine with this as the opener. The ladies worked hard and came off as bad asses from all of the punishment that they put each other through here. It's just a darn shame that this match was riddled with piss poor booking for majority of this match to start it off. I saw people say that this match was a complete burial to the babyfaces on Team Shotzi. I honestly can't disagree, but the babyfaces were booked like shit from the start of this feud anyway, but the heels on Team Candice needed the win here even more. It was bigger slap to the face that the heels won clean over all else here though. That's the main issue I had with this match as a whole. 

I do have to knock NXT for allowing Io Shirai to be still walking around like nothing happened on NXT (12/9/20) last night. C'mon it would not have killed you guys to have her take the week off to sell that finish.








Singles Match
Tommaso Ciampa def. Timothy Thatcher



This was a hard-hitting affair, but it was a tough match to call going in to predict who would walk away as the winner. Where the women of NXT started things off with a train wreck of sorts in terms of hardcore-oriented violence, Ciampa and Thatcher took things to a technical level with mat wrestling here. This was a great match in its own way, even though Thatcher's ear was rendered to a bloody mess by the time it was all said and done. In retrospect, that ended up adding to this match, showing Thatcher's toughness and endurance.



I was a little bummed out that Thatcher couldn't pick up the win here after his string of losses on NXT programming as of late - such as his first submission loss to Kushida a few weeks ago, but Ciampa hasn't had a TakeOver victory in roughly two years, so he was LONG overdue at this point. I guess they could do a rematch in the Fight Pit down the road if they want to continue this program.








Strap Match
Dexter Lumis def. Cameron Grimes by submission



I honestly didn't fucking care about this feud nor this match at all. I went on a fast food run with the WWE Network app still playing the match on my phone as I waited in the drive-thru. There were some interesting spots in this match, but I couldn't get the irony of the fact that NXT has the two ex-IMPACT/TNA Wrestling guys tied together in a nonsensical feud as this when BOTH of them could be in much better spots on this card.

I don't want to knock either of these guys as I like them as wrestlers but I just don't care about this feud at all. From what I glanced at the match was fine, but I can't say that I have EVER been a fan of Strap Matches in WWE in any shape nor form. Thank God that this wasn't the type of strap match that required you to slap each of the four turnbuckles to win.








Triple Threat Match for the NXT North American Championship
Johnny Gargano def. Damian Priest and Leon Ruff (c)



It didn't hit me until I started writing this review, but I can easily see what NXT is trying to do with Leon Ruff. He's literally NXT's equivalent of Ring of Honor's Cheeseburger when he started getting "serious". Jot that down as another example of stuff that NXT is "borrowing" from ROH's booking over the last decade or so. As for this match, it was fine until the closing minutes as I didn't think that all of the run-ins were necessary. Only ONE of the Ghostface(s) were Austin Theory, so who were the rest?




Oh, thanks for the clarification there, T-Bar. Now we know what the extra goons of RETRIBUTION do on their days off. 


Priest powerbombing Ruff through that barricade like Kevin Nash did to Rey Mysterio backstage on Nitro how Hernandez sent Gail Kim coast to coast with a Border Toss.








Priest should have been able to wipe his ass with these two guys in dominating fashion, but no, he keeps allowing himself to get outwitted by the antics of Gargano. I like Johnny Gargano as an in-ring worker, even though I think some of his TakeOver performances have been EXTREMELY overrated and over-bloated in terms of content, but I'm sick and tired of this heel run for him and his wife. They aren't good heels at all. Just because they are annoying and people don't like them doesn't mean that they are great at being heels. That's the wrong type of heel heat and the Garganos are accumulating a lot of "go away" heat. I fear that's going to infect Indi Hartwell too. To be honest, I don't feel sorry for Austin Theory at all, especially when it seems like Triple H and the rest of the top brass in WWE are inclined to simply ignore the laundry list of sexual allegations against not just Theory, but with a lot of their male talent(s) that they are pushing. Taking guys off TV for a few months, expecting people to forget about those ongoing investigations, are not going to make fans simply forget about what's going on with these people. 








Men's WarGames Match
The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Roderick Strong, and Bobby Fish) def. Team McAfee (Pat McAfee, Pete Dunne, Danny Burch, and Oney Lorcan)

(Laughs) I'm glad someone took the time to tell Pete Dunne to lay off that horrible looking orange spray tanner that he's been using on the TV tapings lately for this event. He didn't come in looking that Hogan orange hot dog frank color that his skin tone looks like these days and actually was back to looking human again.

In comparison to the women's WarGames match, this was a massive improvement in terms of match psychology and how they booked this from start to finish. Just go out of your way to watch this match over anything else on this card - outside of Thatcher/Ciampa. You won't be disappointed. 

Both teams went out there and beat the holy hell out of each other. If I had any major complaint, I felt that Pat McAfee should have ate the pin for his team instead of the anti-climatic finish that they went with. He's the biggest chicken shit heel out of that bunch, so you knew he would have been able to talk it up about how he was "screwed" in the end and bounce back from the loss just fine. I do have to question the amount of weapons and foreign objects used in these NXT WarGames matches. It's turning more into IMPACT/TNA Wrestling's Lethal Lockdown more than the traditional WarGames match and that's not necessarily a good thing, despite the fact I actually liked both flavors of those matches over the years. 


For anyone who is keeping count, Undisputed Era's WarGames record is 2-2 now. 






Afterthoughts:

With another win in the books, it seems like The Undisputed Era is moving on from this feud with Pat McAfee's faction. Bobby Fish is injured anyway, requiring surgery, so he's going to be out for a while even if they wanted to continue this program. I know the higher ups in WWE has to think he's injury prone at this point as he hasn't had any luck in that department at all since joining this company. If The Undisputed Era were getting called up to the main roster, I wouldn't do it until all four men were healthy and ready anyway.

Raquel Gonzales is being positioned to challenge Io Shirai next for the NXT Women's Championship, but it seems like she still has a roadblock in the form of Rhea Ripley still standing in her way. If Rhea is getting called up for WrestleMania season, then giving Raquel "the rub" as she does the honors on the way out is the way to go. 

Thatcher and Ciampa seem to be continuing their feud, which I hope that means that they will have a rematch in the Fight Pit down the road.

Gargano's new faction, dubbed "The Way", consisting of himself, Candice LeRae, Austin Theory, and Indi Hartwell, seems to be the unit that will be Johnny's insurance policy of sorts to assist him in hanging onto the North American Championship. I hope they just don't throw Leon Ruff to the wayside as it seems like Kushida is going after him next. I would love to see Kushida challenge Finn Balor for any match in some capacity before he leaves NXT. 

As of this posting (12/11/20), Karrion Kross has made his return, putting his name into the conversation with Damien Priest, Pete Dunne, and Kyle O'Reilly concerning who will challenge Finn Balor for the NXT Championship at the next TV special for January 6, 2021 dubbed New Year's Evil that was teased during this show. I'm game for Kross to win back the title he never lost while Finn gets to head over to NXT UK and give us the match that we were denied this year between him and WALTER for the NXT UK Championship. 

This was a good show from start to finish in terms of action, but in terms of compelling storylines and/or angles to make me excited to see the weekly TV tapings, they are extremely lacking in that regard. This event did nothing to change how bland those shows are to watch on a week to week basis. 

by - No comments:
Tags , , , , , , ,

NXT TakeOver: Portland (Feb. 16, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts



NXT TakeOver: Portland was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT brand. It took place on February 16, 2020 at the Moda Center in Portland, Oregon.

Six matches were contested at the event. In the main event, Adam Cole defeated Tommaso Ciampa to retain the NXT Championship. On the undercard, Rhea Ripley retained the NXT Women's Championship against Bianca Belair, Keith Lee defeated Dominik Dijakovic to retain the NXT North American Championship, and The BroserWeights (Matt Riddle and Pete Dunne) defeated The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) to win the NXT Tag Team Championship.


NXT North American Championship Match
Kevin Lee (c) def. Donovan Dijakovic


I was shocked and delighted to see this match open the card. At the same time, this proved to be a tough act to follow for the rest of the show. I liked everything about this match, save for the anticlimatic ending where it just seemed like Dijakovic's back gave out (twice for that matter) and Lee just put him out of his misery to end it. It's insane what these two big guys can do in that ring together. Glad that they finally had a chance to do this on one of these TakeOver specials in front of a sizable crowd too.



Street Fight Match
Dakota Kai def. Tegan Nox


I was surprised that Tegan didn't break her tail bone from that nasty landing from the running senton in the corner to Kai. It looked like she was gun shy about using her legs for the Shiniest Wizard at the last second and just didn't commit to it.


What rock was Reina (now Raquel) Gonzales hiding underneath all of this time since the Mae Young Classic?


I'd be shocked if Tegan doesn't have a concussion from that table bump though. #NXTTakeOverPortland pic.twitter.com/owQC3LmMt5— Let's Talk Wrestling (@LetsTalkWrestle) February 17, 2020


If anyone to get as your heavy/bodyguard, I would've gotten that tall ass chick from The Great Khali's school. She wasn't bad at all during her appearance(s) in the Mae Young Classic, but I guess Gonzales is a decent consolation prize in that regard. I wonder who Tegan is going to get into her corner to back her up in the next match in this feud.

(Snaps fingers) Oh wait, it's going to be Candice LeRae... Ugh.

On a side note, I hope Tegan's alright after that table bump. That thing didn't give at all and smacked her on the head after her awkward landing behind it. Even Kai almost broke character for a second with a look of concern during that spot, despite the fact that those two were going all in on the spots here, knowing each of the others' history of injuries as of late.



Singles Match
Finn Balor def. Johnny Gargano


This started off slow and took it's time to build to a crescendo. This was easily two masters of their craft working together here. Lots of back and forth action and near-falls from what we've come to expect from these TakeOver performances from Gargano. At the end of the day, the right man won with Balor going over here. I don't know if this is the last time we're going to see them one-on-one (especially after how the main event ended), but I wouldn't mind seeing them do this again.



NXT Women's Championship Match
Rhea Ripley (c) def. Bianca Belair


From the way that the commentary team were talking up how Bianca's parents were in attendance to watch the match and how WWE loves their token title wins of color for Black History Month, I was convinced at one point that Rhea could potentially lose the title here. I'm glad to say that I was wrong in that prediction. NXT already shot themselves in the foot by getting ahead of themselves with already having Charlotte Flair starting to appear on the show, along with Rhea Ripley throwing down the gauntlet weeks in advance to this match. I felt that was a disservice to Bianca though, as it was essentially what Charlotte said - Rhea was overlooking her to look at the bigger threat to her title in the Queen. What's going to be interesting is where do they go from here. They could do a 1v1 match between Rhea and Charlotte at WrestleMania when they have clearly set the stage for a triple threat now. I'd be surprised if they go that route as it would be two back-to-back WrestleManias where Charlotte would be in one of those in some capacity.

In either case, it's going to make for some interesting television on NXT for the next couple of weeks.

As for this match as a whole, I can't say that this was the best outing for either of these women. As athletically talented that Bianca is, she's got some pretty sloppy looking Military Presses and Tosses going on in her arsenal. I wouldn't say that they are Ultimate Warrior level bad, but it's definitely noticeable.



NXT Tag Team Championship Match
Broserweights (Pete Dunne & Matt Riddle) def. The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish & Kyle O'Reilly) (c)


In my predictions on Facebook earlier that day, I mentioned that the Broserweights would more likely get the tag titles since their act has been pretty entertaining for the last few weeks. I'm sure people would like to see them stick together for a bit longer. I wouldn't run this in the ground though as reDRagon (Fish & O'Reilly) could easily win the titles back to put over the next big team that climbs up the ranks. As it currently stands, they don't have many teams to work with in that regard unless you lump in the NXT UK folks into that conversation too.

This match wasn't bad at all. It just suffers from the same issue as a lot of modern tag team matches have - too much shit going on with little to no tags to build-up to the drama of the back and forth. It's like everyone has to be in the ring at all times to hit all of their best shit 24/7 in terms of double teams. To be fair, AEW has thrown most of the tag team book out of the window in comparison to NXT who keeps it up for the most part. I just have to point it out here too when I see it.



NXT Championship Match
Adam Cole (c) def. Tomasso Ciampa


This match was roughly 33 minutes total in length. My only complaint is that they could have had just of a great match with half of that time, especially with the run-ins before the finish. Ciampa has to be next level stupid to be taking bumps onto his neck/shoulder area like that, even if it's protected. The guy just came back from God knows how many neck surgeries total in his career. He's on borrowed time as is and he wants to continue playing his luck on that? That being said, Cole's relentless assault on that area added to the drama of the match to their benefit, so in that regard, I give them two thumbs up for psychology here. I just firmly think that they shouldn't make a habit out of it.

As for the finish, that took me completely by surprise that Gargano would screw Ciampa out of reuniting with "Goldy". Okay, they are even now, but we all know this isn't going to be the end of it. We're looking at another set of months of Gargano and Ciampa matches, whereas I was fed up with them doing everything underneath the sun and then some in every match. I personally saw Undisputed Era losing everything by the end of the night, but NXT definitely proved me wrong and that was a good thing. At the end of the day, this was an excellent show. I wouldn't go as far as saying Show Of The Year like Meltzer and so many others are already pegging it as, but it's definitely one worth checking out. At this point though, these TakeOver shows being good is a given, especially with the talents involved. They haven't shit the bed royally like the main roster since starting these events and I doubt they will anytime soon from the wealth of talent they have to showcase on this brand.

by - No comments:
Tags , , , , , , , , , , ,

WWE Worlds Collide (Jan. 25, 2020) -- Results & Afterthoughts



Worlds Collide (2020) was a professional wrestling show and WWE Network event produced by WWE for their NXT and NXT UK brands. It took place on January 25, 2020 at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas and was streamed live on the WWE Network. It was the second event promoted under the Worlds Collide chronology.

Worlds Collide is a series of professional wrestling shows that began on January 26, 2019, when WWE held an interbrand tournament featuring wrestlers from their NXT, NXT UK, and 205 Live brands. The "Worlds Collide" name was subsequently adopted for a WWE Network series that aired in April 2019. During their Royal Rumble weekend announcements, WWE revealed that a second Worlds Collide event would air live on the WWE Network on January 25, 2020.

Six matches were contested at the event, including one on the Kickoff pre-show. In the main event, Imperium (Walter, Fabian Aichner, Marcel Barthel, and Alexander Wolfe) defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Roderick Strong) in an eight-man tag team match.


Singles match
Kay Lee Ray def. Mia Yim


I had to go back and watch this match AFTER watching the rest of the show since I wasn't aware that they were airing matches on this kick-off show that weren't going to be on NXT the following week. That being said, I thought this was the better of the two women's matches on this card. Can't say that I'm a big fan of either of these women but they definitely put on one hell of a showing here. I wouldn't mind seeing them go at it again though.

On a side note, KLR is going to kill herself off how she takes some of these bumps and dives. (Laughs) Is she trying to be the UK version of Sasha Banks? She already died for our sins at Survivor Series.



Singles match
Finn Bálor def. Ilja Dragunov


I understand that Dragunov is NXT UK's pet project of sorts, but allowing main roster guys to beat the stuffing out of him isn't doing him any favors outside of showing his threshold for punishment. Sure, these matches are excellent athletic showcases, but if Dragunov is a rising star then he needs to be garnering some big wins underneath his belt. This just seems like on the job training with seasoned/much more experienced talent to educate Dragunov for higher profile matches down the road.

https://tearsofasaiyan.tumblr.com/post/190481029815

Nevertheless, this was an excellent match to kick off the show with and set the tone for the night. The right man went over with Bálor picking up the win.



Fatal 4-Way match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
Jordan Devlin defeated Angel Garza (c), Isaiah "Swerve" Scott, and Travis Banks


Devlin is another guy that I've heard that NXT UK is really high on as one of Bálor's former students, but I REALLY don't agree with taking the belt off Garza so soon. The guy just won it a few weeks ago and haven't had much time to do anything with his run outside of talking shit on commentary for a few weeks. On the positive side, I suppose this opens the door for more NXT UK talent to bounce back and forth on both shows to defend/challenge for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship.







This match was great, but there were far too many spots and instances where I literally shouted, "C'mon, that should have been the FUCKING finish!" only for guys to pop back up and do more shit for another few minutes. I know, we've been through this a million times now as that's the trend in modern wrestling, but goddamn that shit gets annoying sometimes. Every match doesn't have to go on like it's the main event at WrestleMania/Wrestle Kingdom.



Tag Team Match
DIY (Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa) defeated Moustache Mountain (Trent Seven and Tyler Bate)


The first thing that went through my head watching this was that Trent Seven must have given up working out altogether like Jericho has over on AEW. This was a nice little dream match, even though I thought this went on a little too long at points. Either team could have won this match and people would have been happy. This was just fan service at this point. Nothing to complain about on my watch in regard to this match as a whole.

I can't speak for anyone else but I get nervous every time I see Ciampa take a head/neck bump and he immediately starts holding his neck, especially after the guy just came back from neck surgery. It'll pass like it did for me with Daniel Bryan coming back from retirement, but geez, there looked like there were a few close calls here.

Tegan Nox attacks Dakota Kai



Nothing to really write home about this since it was settling up their underwhelming match from this week's NXT TV episode. I don't understand why they couldn't hold that match off until the next TakeOver event in another month instead of blowing it off on free TV but that's a topic for another day.


Singles match for the NXT Women's Championship
Rhea Ripley (c) defeated Toni Storm


Out of the two showing for the women on this show, I have to say that this match was a little underwhelming. If I'm perfectly honest, I wasn't too impressed from their previous encounters on NXT UK either. This was a match with a lot of buzz behind it, but just didn't deliver to my expectations. That was added by the fact that Toni Storm failed to recapture the NXT UK Women's Championship from KLR at their Blackpool event a few weeks ago too, so both titles weren't on the line.

I love these two ladies and it hurts me to say it, but this match was easily the weakest thing on this entire card for the night.


Eight-Man Tag Team Match
Imperium (Walter, Fabian Aichner, Marcel Barthel, and Alexander Wolfe) defeated The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Kyle O'Reilly, Bobby Fish, and Roderick Strong)


Alexander Wolfe was taken out of the match early after he didn't lift his chin to safely take the incoming strikes from Fish and O'Reilly, only to be legitimately knocked out and carried to the back. It worked to the benefit of this match as Imperium was down to 3 vs. 4 disadvantage, even though I could have seen Walter easily take on all four members of Undisputed Era on his own if push came to shove. 

Even I felt that chop. That shit sounded like a fucking gun shot. No way in hell I'd be agreeing to take any chops from Walter nor Strong.
Jesus. 

Holy shit, Strong is incredible to hit an Olympic Slam on that big Austrian bastard.
At the end of the day, this match definitely lived up to the hype and delivered to the tee. If you don't watch anything else during this show, go out of your way to watch this match for the excitement from bell to bell. My only complaint in the closing moments was that both NXT and NXT UK were tied at three wins apiece without any tie-breaker. Who knows they could do this dance again during WrestleMania weekend too and I wouldn't complain if I'm perfectly honest. 
by - No comments:
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

WWE Survivor Series 2019 (Nov. 24, 2019) -- Results & Afterthoughts



Survivor Series (2019) was a professional wrestling pay-per-view (PPV) and WWE Network event, produced by WWE for their Raw, SmackDown, and NXT brands. It took place on November 24, 2019 at the Allstate Arena in the Chicago suburb of Rosemont, Illinois. It was the 33rd event under the Survivor Series chronology, the first to feature the NXT brand (including NXT's sister brand NXT UK, which was grouped under the NXT umbrella), the first to feature Survivor Series matches with wrestlers from three brands since 2009, and the first to feature triple threat Survivor Series elimination matches. Like previous years, the theme of the event was brand supremacy and featured matches involving wrestlers from the brands against each other.



Kick-Off Pre-Show Quick Results: 


10-team Interbrand Tag Team Battle Royal
Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode (SmackDown) won by last eliminating The Street Profits (Angelo Dawkins and Montez Ford) (Raw)

Interbrand Triple Threat match for the NXT Cruiserweight Championship
Lio Rush (c) (NXT) defeated Akira Tozawa (Raw) and Kalisto (SmackDown)

Champions Triple Threat Tag team match
The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar) (Raw Tag Team Champions) defeated The New Day (Big E and Kofi Kingston) (SmackDown Tag Team Champions) and The Undisputed Era (Bobby Fish and Kyle O'Reilly) (NXT Tag Team Champions)


Main Card Results:

5-on-5-on-5 Women's Survivor Series Triple Threat elimination match
Team NXT (Rhea Ripley, Bianca Belair, Candice LeRae, Io Shirai, and Toni Storm) defeated Team Raw (Charlotte Flair, Natalya, Asuka, Kairi Sane, and Sarah Logan) and Team SmackDown (Sasha Banks, Carmella, Dana Brooke, Lacey Evans, and Nikki Cross)


EliminatedWrestlerEliminated byMethodTime
1Nikki CrossBianca BelairPinfall
2Sarah LoganBianca BelairPinfall
3CarmellaCharlotte FlairPinfall
4Kairi SaneSasha BanksPinfall
5Dana BrookeAsukaPinfall
6Charlotte FlairLacey EvansPinfall
7AsukaN/AForfeit
8Lacey EvansNatalyaPinfall
9Toni StormNatalya and Sasha BanksSubmission
10Bianca BelairSasha BanksPinfall
11NatalyaSasha BanksPinfall
12Sasha BanksRhea RipleyPinfall28:00
Survivor(s):Candice LeRae, Io Shirai, and Rhea Ripley (Team NXT)

Just looking at the teams for this match, one would assume that RAW has this in the bag - especially with the fact that Rhea Ripley went to war with half of her teammates in this match the night prior. You knew Team SmackDown didn't have a snowball's chance in hell of winning this when they announced that Carmella and Dana Brooke of all people were on the team. I get they have to balance our heels and faces, but Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville would've been better choices than those two.




I was a little annoyed that we get one of the first post-Mae Young Classic and Evolution appearances of Toni Storm on the main roster and the commentary team doesn't treat it like a big deal at all. I did mark the hell out for the brief exchange between Io Shirai and Kairi Sane. Kairi's heel turn is such a wonderful new direction for her in this company. I can't praise that enough. She doesn't come off as a preteen in there with grown women like how Riho does on AEW. The change in demeanor helps convey that she's just as much of a lethal force as Asuka. If Vince isn't going to do anything full-time with the Kabuki Warriors on the main roster, then I vote for Triple H to take them back to NXT and get a heel faction going of Asuka, Kairi, and Io. (Shrugs) I dunno, maybe they could do their own version of Lucha Underground's Black Lotus Triad faction. Those three clearly have history together and it would be smart to make bank on it before they lose all three back to Stardom when their contracts are up.

A nice tease worth revisiting down the road in a few more years. 


I was shocked as all hell that they let Lacey Evans pin Charlotte - mist or no mist. That's one hell of a badge of honor to give her for that elimination. I did like that Natalya was Team RAW's MVP, even though it's not going to amount to nothing from how Natalya's been mismanaged and poorly booked over the years.

I honestly thought the injury spot with Io Shirai and Candice LeRae was legit, especially from what those women went through during WarGames, but they came back to assist Rhea Ripley in the closing moments of the match. It just irks me in these "brand supremacy" angles that the heels and babyfaces have to act like best friends when in reality, most people would be stabbing each other in the back across the board instead of on one team here and there. We would see more of that in the men's elimination match later in the night though.


Champions Triple Threat Match
Roderick Strong (NXT's North American Champion) defeated AJ Styles (Raw's United States Champion) and Shinsuke Nakamura (SmackDown's Intercontinental Champion) (with Sami Zayn)

I honestly can't remember if all three of these men have faced off in a triple threat when they shared together in Ring of Honor before migrating over to WWE, but this was the match was most invested in seeing over anything else when this card was announced. They didn't go "all out" as expected by WWE standards, but this was a good match nonetheless. I was guessing they were saving something on the table if they were to pick this up down the road whenever the Undisputed Era was called up the main roster proper - or whenever Styles and Nakamura are brought back into NXT full-time.




NXT Championship Match
Adam Cole (c) def. Pete Dunne

I don't see how Adam Cole was able to come out here and kill it with another stellar performance after nearly dying in WarGames the night prior. This was easily the best match of the evening without a shadow of a doubt. If you don't watch anything else on this show, do yourself a favor and watch this match.



WWE Universal Championship Match
"The Fiend" Bray Wyatt (c) def. Daniel Bryan


Between the red lights and Bryan throwing everything at this guy when we've seen Rollins attempt murder on the Fiend multiple times and he still kicks out, I don't see how WWE expects people to stay interested. Besides, WWE would have to be crazy to take the belt off Bray one month after winning it, so I didn't see this match going anywhere. It wasn't bad - it was just there.


5-on-5-on-5 Men's Survivor Series Triple Threat elimination match
Team SmackDown (Roman Reigns, Braun Strowman, King Corbin, Mustafa Ali, and Shorty G) defeated Team Raw (Seth Rollins, Drew McIntyre, Kevin Owens, Randy Orton, and Ricochet) and Team NXT (Tommaso Ciampa, Damian Priest, Matt Riddle, Keith Lee, and Walter)


EliminatedWrestlerEliminated byMethodTime
1WalterDrew McIntyrePinfall
2Shorty GKevin OwensPinfall
3Kevin OwensTommaso CiampaPinfall
4Damian PriestRandy OrtonPinfall
5Randy OrtonMatt RiddlePinfall
6Matt RiddleKing CorbinPinfall
7Braun StrowmanN/ACountout
8RicochetKing CorbinPinfall
9Mustafa AliSeth RollinsPinfall
10Drew McIntyreRoman ReignsPinfall
11King CorbinTommaso CiampaPinfall
12Tommaso CiampaSeth RollinsPinfall
13Seth RollinsKeith LeePinfall
14Keith LeeRoman ReignsPinfall29:25
Survivor(s):Roman Reigns (Team SmackDown)

Without even doing a damn thing, WALTER was the most over person in this match before the bell even rung. Then they eliminated him right off the bat without even getting a goddamn move in. That's up there with that time William Regal got eliminated so fast in one of these Survivor Series matches that Layla (who was managing him at the time) stood up on the ring apron and threw her shoe at CM Punk in protest.

Why book him in the match when they were going to do that to him? Seems like a massive waste to fly him all the way in from the UK just to do that. Shorty G got the same treatment as he was getting over, only to be promptly eliminated by Kevin Owens. After Randy Orton quickly eliminated Damian Priest, only to be taken out by Matt Riddle - who was taken out by Baron Corbin, it became crystal clear that a lot of these eliminations were done to generate heat and not any good heel heat either. It's not like WWE needs anymore "OMG this is stupid, I'm changing the channel" or "Fuck this, I'm not watching anymore..." heat on their programming. It turned out that Baron Corbin was sabotaging the match to attempt to take credit for every elimination for his own merit until he was laid out by Roman Reigns and allowed to be eliminated by Tommaso Ciampa.

I didn't understand why Team RAW were so welcoming for Kevin Owens when he helped NXT out the night prior. He should've thrown his own team under the bus and defected over to the black and gold brand.

While Rhea Ripley had a star making performance during WarGames and during the opener in the Women's 5 v 5 v 5 match, Keith Lee was the breakout star from NXT for the men. He looked right at home hanging with Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns. My jaw was hanging open when he actually eliminated Seth Rollins clean here. You know Vince has to foaming at the mouth with anticipation to use that big guy on the main roster. He's big, can move around like a cruiserweight, AND has charisma and a presence like The Rock? Even though they had me fooled a few times that Keith Lee was actually going to get a pinfall over Roman Reigns too, but that ended on a fun note. To say that this match started off with some groan-inducing spots with the first half of the eliminations, the match finally came together by the end though.

I don't know about anyone else, but I wouldn't mind seeing this match-up again down the road in a few years.



No Holds Barred Match for the WWE Championship 
Brock Lesnar (c) w/ Paul Heyman def. Rey Mysterio


After all of these matches and repeated Low Blows, you would think that Brock Lesnar would learn - or at least get some council from Paul Heyman - to start wearing a goddamn athletic cup to protect himself from the nut shots. When resorting to weapons went out of the window, this match pretty much turned into exactly what I expected - Brock tossing Rey around like a ragdoll. I have to admit that I was in tears from laughing so hard that both Dominick and Rey got their asses kicked in the end, despite a VERY close near-fall that had me fooled for a moment there that they were putting the belt on Rey. Seriously though, how fucked up is that where your dad is out there to defend your honor and you come out there to help your dad, only to BOTH get laid out to pasture?

Rey and Dominick should've learned from Friday with Red and his dad dealing with Deebo.


As of this posting, Rey Mysterio has managed to capture the United States Championship the following night on Monday Night RAW, so I guess it wasn't all for nothing, even though he still hasn't gotten even with Brock Lesnar.


Triple Threat Match
NXT Women's Champion Shayna Baszler def. SmackDown! Women's Champion Bayley and RAW Women's Champion Becky Lynch


On paper, this should have been easily the best thing going on this show, but sadly, it wasn't. One would think that this would have the makes to be an instant classic, but it seemed like these women didn't have any sort of synergy/in-ring chemistry at all. That was coupled with the fact that this show was dragging on at this point. No offense to the ladies, but this shouldn't have been the main event for the evening. Brock Lesnar defending the Universal Championship against Rey Mysterio would have been the more appropriate note to end on, but WWE insists on shoehorning the women in the main event slot here. I didn't have a problem with it at WrestleMania this year, but just giving Shayna Baszler her first WWE main event because they can seemed pretty lame. When it came to the build to WrestleMania, the feud between Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Charlotte Flair was the best thing going in the company at the time. This feud between Becky, Bayley, and Shayna was treated mostly as an afterthought for majority of this battle between the brands.



Closing Thoughts

Without a shadow of a doubt, NXT confirmed what most people who regularly watched NXT on Wednesday nights knew already - NXT is the A++ show. SmackDown is the B show while RAW is down there in D and F territory.
To my pleasant surprise, WWE made the smart move - for once - and put over NXT strong as the definitive brand for WWE. They had to, really, especially if they want to convince the casuals and skeptics who weren't watching NXT regularly on the WWE Network before it started airing on USA Network to compete with AEW Dynamite on Wednesdays. NXT hasn't been winning this ratings war at the start but they are definitely closing the gap as the weeks roll by. NXT is the show to watch for sure. AEW has its own share of problems (that I'll discuss before the year's out in another article), but WWE's booking and writing for RAW and SmackDown are both shadows of their former glory. NXT is the must-see wrestling show week-in, week-out from top to bottom. If WWE doesn't recognize the wealth of talent they have on that brand now, then what are they going to do in a few years or even a few months if some of that talent are called up to RAW and/or SmackDown to lead the charge during WrestleMania season? You could call up any of the featured stars from NXT onto any the brands right now and they would instantly get over after this show. (Applauds) Well done, WWE you didn't shit the bed on making a bunch of new stars in one night.

by - No comments:
Tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)