As we open the evening with Cody Rhodes, Drew McIntyre came in to speak what he believes to be the only truth about who Rhodes truly is. McIntyre is certain that the audience are brainwashed by Cody’s cooperate propaganda that they don’t see right from wrong anymore. They boo just to boo, and say yay for reasons that don’t make sense. Ha! It’s kind of irritating to be honest.
Nevertheless, all the anger was put on hold since Jimmy heard his name being dropped and pounced on Drew. We still don’t know who attacked Jacob Fatu last week, and I hope they’re not going to pull that jealousy act of their asses like they did with Naomi despite it being entertaining as hell. Jimmy was sure in his actions that McIntyre was responsible for Fatu’s injuries, so he body slammed him. Drew actually looked crucified when his back collided with the commentary table.
Even after every available body managed to separate these two, Jimmy went searching for Drew backstage to find him whining to Nick Aldis about his reluctancy to handle Uso. Like clockwork, Jimmy came charging.
Shinsuke Nakamura & Rey Fenix vs. Tama Tonga & JC Mateo – Tag Team match
Mateo whipped Nakamura into the corner, but he failed to squash him since Shin moved out of the way in time to deliver the knee to the abdomen of JC. Just when Nakamura thought he had the upper hand on his opponent, Mateo made him second guess himself with a twisting belly-to-back suplex that stopped the King of Strong Style in his tracks.
Once Tama got tagged in, he went primal, as commentary described him. Seeing Tama behave like he lost all sense of his humanity shows in his movements how much of a disregard he has for the hit he just endured like it was nothing. That’s why Shin and Rey were able to surprise him with some teamwork.
Fenix may have been caught in mid-air, yet he was able to get out of there. Unfortunately, not without that elbow to the face. Luckily, he was successful with Goodbye, Amigo on Tama. On two occasions did Tama nearly get pinned. Since returning, I’m not going to lie, but he’s lost some edge. Mateo had to swoop in to break up the count.
Tonga Loa tried to get involved and got a boot to his face. That distracted Shin from an incoming forearm from Tama. As a counter, Rey flew above and landed on the Tonga brothers. And if things couldn’t get any worse, Solo Sikoa forced the referee to lose focus of the match, which allowed Talla Tonga to choke slam Rey on the apron in the background, and Tama took advantage of it with the Cutthroat ending maneuver.
Winners: JC Mateo & Tama Tonga
Ilja Dragunov (c) vs. ? – US Championship Open Challenge match
Aleister Black replied to the open invitation set on the table to challenge Ilja for the US Championship. Just as Dragunov was going for the H-Bomb, Zelina Vega tripped him from behind. The official wasn’t sure if he really saw what happened regardless of how close it was to him.
It was later confirmed that he did see the behavior of a twat and sent Vega to the back of the arena. While she was throwing a tantrum and Aleister was complaining to the referee, that’s when Damien Priest made his entrance after that fireball in the face from last week. He actually came out wearing a shirt that said: “It’s wepa time.” Ha! Oh, why do you do this to me?
Black’s attention was split, so he didn’t see Ilja’s Torpedo Moscow launching itself directly at him. It knock his ass out cold for a three count retention. Following the match, Priest assaulted Black near the announcement desk. He was about to do God knows what when Zelina jumped on his back and proceeded to scratch his injured eye to allow her husband to flee with her.
The match was clearly unimportant, even after Ilja raised his hands up in victory, I was let down by what could have been a great fight.
Winner: Ilja Dragunov
It came as no shock to me, anyway, that Kiana James and Giulia would go after the Women’s Champion Tiffany Stratton at some point since arriving on the blue brand. What came as even less startling was Jade Cargill’s involvement in saving the Champion only to unleash her own version of hell. All I paid attention to was how much of a female terminator Cargill’s outfit emoted. Loved it. Oh, right, Jade stomped on Stratton’s knee, cracking it in an unfavorable way, in case you didn’t know.
Backstage during an interview, Carmelo Hayes explained that he attacked The Miz because he put his hands on him. He had to get even. Knowing this as well, Hayes also decided to let it slide and not take matters any further since he does have respect for Miz regardless of what happened. What he won’t let go is the fact that Kit Wilson interrupted his chat by thrusting his perspective that Carmelo’s way of thinking is “hyper-masculine, hierarchical and a crime on emotional intelligence.” As a conclusive result, they’ll meet in the ring next Friday.
Jimmy Uso vs. Drew McIntyre – No Disqualification match
Prior to the bell ringing, Jimmy took advantage of the No DQ establishment to attack Drew as early as he can see possible. They’ve both been throwing strikes at each other, which had them rolling around in pain. Later on, McIntyre was the one on top of things. Jimmy did his best to counter his opponent’s moves as they wander to the outside and the crowd area. Uso delivered a suplex to Drew on the hard floor.
While this is happening, commentary are speculating what Jimmy might be going through with Jey eliminating him from the Battle Royale to earn a title shot and the mystery surrounding Fatu’s absence. They go off to say that Jey might be throwing his loyalty of family away, so he could return to holding singles gold, like Roman Reigns did numerous times. Jey Jey would never do that, he’s not Roman, who made it his mission to use anyone within the Bloodline as his brick wall of defense to get battered and bruised first, so he could come in and seemingly save the day. Pfft!
Absolute bull.
Jey would never degrade himself like that, and neither would Jimmy. The reason why Jey Jey left first was because he knew he couldn’t follow Roman anymore and had to do what’s right for him. He wasn’t in Reigns’ shadow, but his abilities were selfishly exploited.
Back to the match, Jimmy brought out a table, but he didn’t get the chance to use it since McIntyre bulldozed him real quick. A knock to the head of the Scottish Warrior sent him collapsing on the main floor. A couple of shuffling mangled body movements later, McIntyre had Jimmy sitting on a chair before executing his punishment. Fortunately, Uso dug deep to dodge and trip Drew over as he came crashing down on the chair.
Drew slipped through the back door when Jimmy had him on his shoulders, yet he wasn’t able to escape that swirling leap from the top Uso was triumphant in doing. It wasn’t sufficient for a three count, though.
After finally being able to set up the table he brought into the ring, Jimmy turned around to be kicked in the abdomen and suffered a future shock DDT. The Scottish Warrior was now stalking his prey, waiting for him to get up, and when Jimmy did, he caught Drew by surprise with a Samoan Drop through the table. That would have been his moment right there if McIntyre hadn’t gotten up and thrown a chair to Jimmy’s face just as he was coming down from the Uso Splash.
All that was left to finish him off was a jaw-breaking Claymore. Despite the loss, Drew did suffer plenty as you witness the cuts and blood on his body. The brutalities didn’t end there… McIntyre took that very same chair to choke Jimmy with as a message in his case of being innocent. Cody Rhodes saw enough as he rushed to the ring to help Jimmy. That was all good and dandy until McIntyre swiftly got back to his feet to drop Rhodes on his ass.
Winner: Drew McIntyre
TOP PHOTO: Dragunov and Black. Courtesy of WWE
