It was a bad show. They opened by announcing a World Title match and ended it with a lame run-in finish. Nothing was accomplished. They blew some heat off the new heel stable too.
That was not the worst part of the show, however. I am not sure what Becky Lynch is going for on the mic, but this is awful. The screeching into the mic, the terrible facial expressions, and reacting to crowd chants that are not actually happening. All of it was awful. Lyra was not good either, but then again, she has nothing to work with. This should be a big moment in Lyra’s career, but it has go away heat.
Must-see moments:
Roxanne Perez vs. Iyo Sky
This was not a blow-away match, but it was particularly good and stood out on a bad show.
Quick Results:
- Penta defeated JD McDonagh
- Sheamus defeated Austin Theory
- Iyo Sky defeated Roxanne Perez
- Rusev defeated Otis
- Seth Rollins defeated Jey Uso by DQ
Chronological recap:
A long recap aired of Seth Rollins and Bron Breakker beating down Sami Zayn last week. They then showed wrestlers walking into the building as they previewed the matches and interviews for tonight. Roxanne is facing Iyo Sky tonight. A big spot for Roxanne, I wonder when WWE is going to do something the TV folks call character development for Roxanne? I know she was on NXT, but even if you watched that show what is the hook for this show? And if you do not know her, you are not going to find out easily. I guess.
Jey Uso came through the crowd and Pat McAfee was about to have a stroke. He is such a mark.
Uso called out Logan Paul but got Paul Heyman. Business has picked up. Jey said Paul had a lot of guts coming out after what he did to his family. Heyman retorted that Jey is one to talk considering how many times he has betrayed his family. He has a point.
Paul had a terrible spray tan. He looked like a fat Oompah-Loompah. Heyman explained that Punk and Reigns both betrayed him. He took credit for making Roman Reigns into a champion. Jey did some bad acting in his reactions to Paul.
Heyman mentioned that Reigns did not stand up for him when Solo put him through a table. He started screaming at Uso that he was right for what he did. This is the second guy I thought might have a stroke. The delivery was on another level.
Then Paul switched to what he really came to say to Jey. He said the title represents power and control, but Uso does not know how to use it. Seth Rollins, on the other hand, needs that power and control. The challenge is on, Jey picks the time and place, and Rollins will fight him.
Before Paul could leave the ring, Jey stops him and says he challenges Seth tonight. The crowd exploded.
Penta vs. JD McDonagh
Cole said Shawn Michaels said JD was the future of this industry. Someone check that. That cannot be true.
The Judgment Day repeatedly interfered until the ref through them out. As they were being escorted out, Gable interfered but was foiled. Penta hit the Mexican Destroyer for the win.
Winner: Penta
Grayson Waller was trying to get out of his match for tonight. He told Austin Theory he could have the match. No one mentioned an opponent, so yes. Austin is a moron.
The most boring man in wrestling was with Cathy Kelley in the audience. Karrion was doing his best Road Warrior Hawk voice. He asked the crowd if they thought Sami Zayn made a mistake last week, which was met with total indifference. I have no idea what he was talking about or why.
Sheamus vs. Austin Theory
All that builds up to who Theory’s opponent would be and it is Sheamus. Not some monster. Not Fatu or Breakker. Or Bronson Reed, even though he is hurt. But Sheamus? Whatever.
They did a back-and-forth match with Sheamus, unsurprisingly, winning. They need to do something with Theory and Waller or cut them. These once-a-month appearances where they lose, and bicker is old.
Winner: Sheamus
Becky made her way to the ring. That screeching last week better not be her new thing. Cole said Becky has been complaining all week that her social media will not let her tag things. He seriously said that.
She screeched into the mic again. Then acted like the crowd was saying she sucks. They barely reacted to her. She called Lyra garbage and recycling. She went on and on and on and no one really cared.
Lyra came out to massive indifference. The crowd gave her some polite applause, but mostly just sat there.
I was waiting for Becky to beg the crowd to boo her. She overacted and reacted like it was working. Lyra was terrible too, but she had nothing to work with here.
They finally started brawling and I immediately wanted them to go back to talking. Terrible punches. Rolling around. No crowd reaction. It was embarrassing.
Roxanne cut a promo trying to rile up the crowd after that nightmare of a segment. She got some cheap heat which was welcomed after watching Becky Lynch.
Roxanne Perez vs. Iyo Sky
In a nice spot, Roxanne hit a dive over the bottom rope, celebrated, and Iyo snuck into the ring and hit her own dive through the middle rope.
Roxanne regained control and started working over Iyo’s leg. This continued until Iyo hit an armdrag off the top rope.
The crowd got more into the match as it went along. The women were stiff and executed well. They went to a series of counters until Iyo won with a roll up.
Winner: Iyo Sky
Roxanne offered her hand to Iyo who shook it. But it was a trick. As Roxanne left the ring, Giulia jumped Iyo from behind and they both beat down Iyo. Good match, good segment.
All the tag teams were in the back discussing who should face the New Day. The result was The War Raiders having their 10th of a 12-match series with the Creeds. Someone take the pain away.
Otis vs. Rusev
Rusev’s gimmick is that he is going to destroy people and restore them. Okay. Is he still mad at God? I was hoping he would come out in the Mickey Mouse shirt, but sadly he just had one of his shirts. Booo!
Rusev threw some good-looking punches, which stood out since no one throws a good punch anymore.
The longer it went on, the quieter the crowd. You could even hear Otis calling spots.
This was stiff. Otis got in a lot of offense. A lot more than I expected to be honest. The crowd got into the match when Otis was on offense, but as soon as Rusev took over, he put Otis in the Camel Clutch and won. Okay.
Winner: Rusev
Tozawa then challenged Rusev immediately after the match. Way to sell for Rusev, guys. Predictably, Rusev went back to destroy them both. Otis took some incredible bumps into the ring posts. He put Otis back into the Camel Clutch and the officials finally came out to stop. That ended up working. Bizarrely, Nattie Neidhart showed up to comfort Maxinne. Okay. Where was she? Did she jump the rail?
Adam Pearce came out for a face to face between Pat McAfee and Gunther. Gunther’s suspension for beating up the announcers lasted one week. And now this GM is allowing his announcer to face Gunther in a match. What started as a great angle has really gone off the rails.
Gunther said he would not do anything to Pat tonight. The crowd taunted him with “You tapped out” chants. Pat referred to Cole as a “walking, talking goat.” I do not know about that, Pat. He does not even have any facial hair. A rooster? Nah, no feathers.
Pat no sold Gunther. He shouted out Nebraska’s head coach and some players. The coach looked like he was drunk. Then he moved on to the College World Series. He said he is a dreamer just like Gunther.
McAfee said that Gunther has been doing this so long that he sees it as a job. Pat sees it as a dream still. This went too long. He said Gunther has gotten too comfortable and called him soft. Good. Very good. One of these guys can draw money for you and the other is an overgrown child playing an announcer. But let us belittle the guy who can draw money.
Gunther mentioned Pat’s daughter’s birthday and then Saturday will be a good day for him. He promised Pat that he would have Gunther’s undivided attention and that he would choke Pat out until he dropped like a “wet towel.” Gunther was great here.
Jey Uso vs. Seth Rollins – World Heavyweight Title Match
This was bowling shoe ugly at times. Jey was short on a dive and Seth decided to fly up in the air and busted his head open crashing into the announce table.
Late in the match, Seth turned a spear attempt from Jey into a Pedigree. Nice spot. There were several near falls, which brought the crowd to life.
Breakker interfered which allowed Seth to take control. He hit a bad looking stomp, which Jey, rightfully, kicked out of. Then Sami Zayn came out. Yay.
Zayn beat down Breakker at ringside. Jey used the distraction at ringside to get a nearfall. Bron hit a flying spear that took Sami out. Jey went to check on Sami and Bron speared Jey with the worst spear he has ever hit.
Then CM Punk came out. He beat up Bron too. At least he had a chair. Then he beat down Seth with the chair. It was a DQ. Great. What was the point of all that?
Winner: Seth by DQ, I guess
