TLC 2011
December 18th, 2011 | 1st Mariner Arena in Baltimore, Maryland | Attendance: 9,000
During the summer of 2011, CM Punk was the hottest thing in the wrestling world. He won the WWE Championship but that was then ruined by a terrible angle with Kevin Nash and Triple H. The month before this event, they fixed that situation somewhat by putting the belt back on him. Of note here, this is the only Pay-Per-View I can think of that didn’t feature John Cena when he was completely healthy. This would be the third TLC event in history.
The opening video package focuses on the big matches on the show, set to a Christmas themed rhyme.
WWE United States Championship
Dolph Ziggler (c) w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. Zack Ryder
Here we are at the peak of the “Ryder Revolution.” A month earlier, there were “We Want Ryder” chants in MSG while the Rock of all people was talking. That’s being over. The crowd is into it as Ryder sends Dolph outside rather early and then somersaults onto him. Dolph comes back with a DDT on the apron that looks pretty lame. The heart stopper elbows follow for two. Dolph is so good at the Showoff role, but he doesn’t draw enough heat. He busts out an Angle slam for two. Ryder starts to rally with a second rope dropkick and the Broski Boot. It was one of those corny moves that was over like crazy. Vickie puts Dolph’s foot on the bottom rope and gets ejected. After trading rollups, Dolph hits the Fameasser for two. Ryder is pulling out all of the stops, using a top rope rana for a near fall. The Rough Ryder is countered into a rollup. Dolph goes for the Stinger Splash but Ryder blocks it with knees and hits the Rough Ryder. He gets the 1-2-3 and the place explodes.
Winner and New WWE United States Champion: Zack Ryder in 10:24
Here is an example of the perfect storm. Zack Ryder was incredibly over and it came at a time where Dolph Ziggler could afford the loss. This is kind of what you want from an opener. The crowd was FULLY invested and they had a good match, while not overdoing anything. The match gets elevated a bit by the molten hot crowd. ***¼
Zack Ryder celebrates with the fans, including his father, who is front row in full Ryder gear. Cutting backstage, Booker T is getting hyped up with Alicia Fox. Cody Rhodes appears to attack him before their match.
WWE Tag Team Championship
AirBoom (c) vs. Primo and Epico w/ Rosa Mendes
These are two really solid tag teams, so this should be good. Primo is an underrated favorite of mine. He tries to monkey flip Kofi Kingston, but he lands on his feet and does one to Primo. AirBoom does a double team which reminds me of how good they were. Primo and Epico star to work a heat on Evan Bourne, while Rosa Mendes shouts her terrible Spanish at ringside. Epico does a cool series of suplexes for two. Kofi gets the hot tag and does his thing, taking out both of his challengers. He hits the Boom Drop, but not Trouble in Paradise. Bourne runs in and leaps out onto Epico on the outside. Primo charges but Kofi dodges, sending him into the ropes and he rebounds into Trouble in Paradise. To end this.
Winners and Still WWE Tag Team Champions: AirBoom in 7:32
Disappointing. I feel like AirBoom had potential to be a staple of the tag team division if they would have stayed together. You would barely guess that here. It was technically fine, but the fact that Primo and Epico weren’t really over hurt the heat of the match. Add in that it didn’t get enough time to fully build to that heat, and you have a match that lacked. **
We get told that Booker vs. Cody may now be off. Cut to Teddy Long dressed as Santa and Hornswoggle dressed as an elf. It wasn’t really good.
Tables Match
Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett
It’s our first specialty match of the evening. I find it weird seeing Wade Barrett with relatively long hair. They trade shots until the first table comes into play. Orton kind of see-saws it into his face before they fight towards the entrance. Wade tries a pumphandle slam through a table but it’s too early so Orton counters. Wade instantly throws the table over, which is a little touch that I like. He wants to make sure he doesn’t lose this thing. Back towards the ring and Barrett is in control. He big boots Orton off the apron but Orton wisely grabs the ropes so he doesn’t fall through the table. They now battle on the apron, which builds tension but it just ends with Orton hitting his signature DDT. Wade connects on the Bossman slam to get back in the driver’s seat. Wade just slams a table onto Orton. They put like 100 of them around the ring but breaking one would end this. Wade lays Orton on a table and climbs to the second rope. He leaps off, only for Orton to catch him with an RKOOUTTANOWHERE through the table.
Winner: Randy Orton in 10:16
I honestly expected this to be pretty bad but I actually liked it. Most tables matches are dull and don’t really involve attempts to win. This managed to keep my interest and they did some smart little things to show that they didn’t want to go through a table and build some tension with it. ***
The Bella Twins are sitting on Teddy Long’s lap arguing. When Teddy tries to HOLLA, they get peeved and slap him. The acting is poor. Jack Swagger comes in to complain and then Sheamus shows up. They get in each other’s face and Teddy books an impromptu match as an early Christmas gift. That’s not what I wanted dude.
WWE Divas Championship
Beth Phoenix (c) vs. Kelly Kelly
The previous Monday, Kelly slapped Beth at the Slammy’s, so Beth dares her to do it again. Kelly does and then bulldogs her off the ring apron. Interesting start. Inside, she does the flying head scissors that all Divas are taught. Beth gets pissed and decides to quit playing around. Beth uses her power and Kelly escapes to score some flash pin near falls. Stop me if you’ve heard this match layout before. Beth actually tries to change things up a bit with a leg drop off the top and misses. Kelly botches her next move and Beth just catches her for the Glam Slam. Kelly counters it with a rollup, which she does so much but it isn’t enough. She tries a rana but Beth catches her with an alley-oop to retain.
Winner and Still WWE Divas Champion: Beth Phoenix in 5:14
2011 featured a fair amount of Kelly in Divas Title matches and most of them were bad. This may have been the worst. They faced off a bunch of times and each time, they ran the same story with the same moves for the most part. ¾*
Alberto Del Rio and Miz trade insults backstage since their partnership to take out CM Punk is over now that the match is tonight. It ends with Ricardo Rodriguez getting knocked down with food in his face.
Booker T comes out for his match, trying to be a trooper. Cody Rhodes attacks again and lays out Booker in the aisle until officials help the Booker man.
Sledgehammer Ladder Match
Kevin Nash vs. Triple H
Kevin Nash and Ladder Match don’t really go hand in hand. He pounds on Triple H to start and they spill outside. The brawl continues out there, with Nash using the ladder as a weapon. Nash is targeting Triple H’s neck, while Hunter goes after Nash’s legs. Every shot looks rough since I know that Nash’s legs are basically made of glass. He applies a figure four in the ladder, which is rather creative actually though I don’t think it really adds to the move. Shortly after, Nash hits a side slam onto the ladder. He looks for the Jackknife though the announce table but Triple H counters. He goes for the sledgehammer but is stopped and Nash busts out a Chokeslam. After a table is set up, both guys climb the ladder and slug it out. Trips hits him with the sledgehammer, sending him through the table. Nash actually took a middle of the ladder table bump! Triple H retrieves the sledgehammer, but that’s not all it takes to win. He goes after the leg again for some reason before trying the Pedigree. Nash botches it so Triple H has to try again. He hits it and wants another. Nash tries the Kliq signal, but Triple H just ends him with a sledgehammer shot.
Winner: Triple H in 18:14
First of all, I want to give Kevin Nash props for taking the table bump, but other than that, this wasn’t anything special. It was better than I expected it to be, but it was really just two guys that got way too much time and just seemed to be cashing a paycheck. *½
Backstage, CM Punk gets interviewed before getting into it with John Laurinaitis. Their rivalry would reach it’s peak over the next few months.
Jack Swagger w/ Vickie Guerrero vs. Sheamus
Michael Cole is sure to note how Sheamus won the WWE Title at TLC two years earlier. Now he’s in a throwaway match against Jack Swagger. Granted, Sheamus would win the Royal Rumble next month and Swagger would win the US Title but still. Sheamus beats on Swagger until a Vickie distraction allows the former World Champion to turn the tide. That doesn’t last long and Sheamus rallies. He goes into his offense and survives an Ankle Lock attempt before winning with the Brogue Kick.
Winner: Sheamus in 4:57
Did they not have enough matches to fill the card? This honestly served no purpose and belonged on Raw or Smackdown. Filler. *¾
World Heavyweight Championship Chairs Match
Mark Henry (c) vs. Big Show
I never would have thought it, but Mark Henry’s “Hall of Pain” run made him enjoyable. Easily the best work in his career. I still don’t get the concept of a Chairs match. Like, if you use a different weapon, would you get disqualified? Is it just a no DQ match with an emphasis on chairs? Anyway, Show instantly goes outside and starts tossing chairs in the ring. Henry tries to leave but Show just wails on him with a chair. Big Show is dealing with an injured hand, which Henry goes after. He does manage to hit the WMD as Henry tries a chair shot. Show sells the hurt hand and gets the three to end a nine year drought without the World Title.
Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: Big Show in 5:30
I’ve never seen a good Chairs match and that trend continues here. It was kept short, so it has that going for it. It wasn’t bad or terrible or anything like that, it was just very “blah”. *
Mark Henry is furious and beats up Big Show during his emotional celebration, planting him with a DDT on a chair. Some fans chant “Daniel Bryan” leading to him coming out to cash in Money in the Bank!
World Heavyweight Championship
Big Show (c) vs. Daniel Bryan
Daniel Bryan literally just pins Big Show and wins.
Winner and New World Heavyweight Champion: Daniel Bryan in 0:04
NO RATING
Daniel Bryan celebrates the win and talks a bunch of smack to Michael Cole. The fans are pumped for this, even if it was a heelish move that started a turn for him. It was good storytelling considering how supportive how had been of Bryan in recent months.
WWE Intercontinental Championship
Cody Rhodes (c) vs. Booker T
Booker T decides to compete because he doesn’t want to go out like a sucka. No theatrics from Booker during his entrance, which is good since he’s pissed off. He is aggressive to start, but Cody knocks him off the apron with a right hand. He demands the official counts. I love seeing a heel trying to retain by any means necessary. Cody takes control for a bit leading into the double clothesline spot. There’s an old school feel to this match. Booker goes into a short burst of offense, stamped by a spinebuster. SPRINAROONIE! He looks very dazed coming out of it, selling the earlier attacks. He misses the Scissors Kick and eats the Disaster Kick but kicks out. A second Disaster Kick ends it.
Winner and Still WWE Intercontinental Champion: Cody Rhodes in 7:16
I really like both guys in this match, but this didn’t deliver the way I wanted it to. They did a good job in selling Booker’s anger and injury, but I’ve seen better from both guys. **
WWE Championship TLC Match
CM Punk (c) vs. Alberto Del Rio w/ Ricardo Rodriguez vs. The Miz
The crowd is very much behind CM Punk. He walks under the ladders during his entrance and it proves to be some bad luck early as Del Rio and Miz double team him. When it becomes time to get a ladder, their alliance quickly ends. Del Rio grabs a small ladder but Punk suicide dives into it. Inside, Miz tries to use the chair to assist in the Awesome clotheslines, but Punk moves and tries a bulldog onto it. Miz counters and hits a back suplex into it. That was a fun series of reversals. Everyone ends up brawling outside, highlighted by Punk doing his knee strike and sending Miz into the crowd. Punk tries to climb but Ricardo Rodriguez runs in and handcuffs him to the ladder. Del Rio pounds on him, but when he climbs, Punk kicks the spreader part of the ladder, which is what he was cuffed to, breaking free. Creative stuff so far. As Miz and Punk fight atop the corner, Del Rio hits an enziguri that sends Punk through a table outside. The heels fight in the aisle, where Del Rio applies the Cross Armbreaker in a ladder. It’s better than Triple H’s figure four. We continue to see the vicious side of Del Rio as he wails on Punk with a chair and then does the Cross Armbreaker INSIDE THE CHAIR! However, his climb fails as both opponents crawl over to shove the ladder over. With everyone down, Ricardo now tries to climb but Miz and Punk tilt the ladder back and he takes a massive bump through a table. Kudos to him. Since Punk only broke free from the ladder and not the cuffs, Miz cuffs him to the corner. Miz taunting Punk is great and it costs him because Punk reaches him with a big kick to the head. After some time, both heels climb with Punk looking on helplessly. He manages to unscrew the second buckle and again get free. He knocks both guys off the top before trading near grabs with Miz. He ends that with a GTS before climbing again to retrieve the gold.
Winner and Still WWE Champion: CM Punk in 18:24
That was a great way to close the show. The match was brutal at times and very smart at others. The handcuffs idea was original, creative and masterfully done. Punk’s acts of desperation to free himself were so good. Alberto Del Rio looked especially vicious throughout, Ricardo took a major bump, Miz was a great cocky heel and everything worked the way they wanted. ****
Overall: 5/10; Mediocre. I’ve seen a lot of people hold this event in high esteem due to who left the show with the titles, but it is very middle of the pack. I liked the opener and the Tables match, but everything else before the main event is either bad or just painfully average. The Daniel Bryan cash in and Zack Ryder US Title win were both feel good moments and the main event is awesome.
Super J-Cup Finals
August 21st, 2016 | Ariake Colosseum in Tokyo, Japan
Last month, NJPW held the first round of the Super J-Cup, binging it back for the first time in years. Here, a lengthy card featured the next three rounds and talent from around Japan was on hand to compete. I wish we got more shine from other promotions (Dragon Gate, AJPW, etc.) but the rest of the tournament itself is NJPW and NOAH.
BUSHI, Gurukun Mask and Kaji Tomato def. David Finlay, Eita and Yuma Aoyagi in 7:59
Five of the six men involved here got eliminated from the tournament on night one. I want to be as happy as Kaji Tomato one day. He’s just so much fun. As expected, this was very fast paced. BUSHI didn’t seem too pleased with his teammates, even tripping Tomato to tag himself in at one point. Gurukun Mask returned the favor by throwing him outside after a tag. BUSHI and Tomato got into a shoving match, leading to Eita taking Tomato out with a tope con hilo. BUSHI took Finlay inside and beat him with the leaping Codebreaker. I dug the story of BUSHI not wanting anything to do with his partners. Eita and Finlay looked really good and Tomato is just a blast. ***¼
Post-match, BUSHI spit mist at Tomato and ripped Gurukun Mask’s mask off.
Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: Taichi def. Jushin Thunder Liger via countout in 3:01
Taichi got his absurdly long entrance. Look, if you’re gonna take forever in your entrance, at least have it be entertaining. Desperado came out and attacked Liger beforehand, giving Taichi the advantage. Even after the bell rings, Desperado gets involved and the referee kind of just watches. All three men ended up fighting in the crowd and Desperado literally held Liger down so Taichi could beat the count. Bad match, worse finish and shit booking. The referee looked like an incompetent fool. Also, this ruined any chance at Liger and KUSHIDA rematching their Wrestling Dontaku outing in the next round. Good going. DUD
Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: KUSHIDA def. Kenoh in 10:30
Maybe it was because of the previous match, but the crowd didn’t really seem to get into this one. Lots of empty seats too. I don’t think they ran the entire building since it holds about 12,000 and they drew just over 3,000. KUSHIDA didn’t work the arm too much, which seemed unlike him. Kenoh fired off some kicks and even countered a cross armbreaker attempt into an ankle lock. KUSHIDA kicked out of a dragon suplex and diving double stomp at one but the crowd barely registered it. He survived some kicks and won after turning the Hoverboard Lock into an armbar. Pretty good but I wanted a bit more. The crowd hurt this way more than it helped. ***
Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Ryusuke Taguchi in 9:27
I’m still questioning why Taguchi not only made the BOTSJ finals but why he advanced in this tournament too. Taguchi is rough on a normal basis and, while I haven’t seen a ton of Kanemaru, he did not look motivated at all here. He did a DDT on the exposed floor outside and got little to no reaction. That was honestly the high point of this match. The rest of the way saw Kanemaru hold serve in boring fashion, while Taguchi used ass based offense to try and rally. After a low and spinning Brainbuster, Kanemaru advanced. Boring match that didn’t interest me at all. *¼
Super J-Cup Quarterfinals: Matt Sydal def. Will Ospreay in 12:45
Look Gedo and Jado, we’re not stupid. You can say these guys represent ROH and Chaos, but they’re just NJPW guys. Lots of flips and counters in a fast paced start in this one. It was interesting to see Sydal try and ground Ospreay. It’s not usually a strong part of his game but he tried several submissions to keep him down. That didn’t stop Will from flying around and hitting a sweet dive to the outside. They both busted out some big, impressive kicks at different points. Sydal scored on a reverse rana and won with the Shooting Sydal Press in what has to be considered a bit of an upset. This was good and the best thing so far, but they’re capable of better. So far, the second half of Ospreay’s 2016 hasn’t been anywhere near as quality as the first. ***½
Caristico, Titan and Volador Jr. def. Euforia, Gran Guerrero and Ultimo Guerrero in 15:21
Titan went out in the first round, while Volador Jr. had a good showing in the BOTSJ earlier this year. The pace in this one was pretty fast for the most part. They were looking to get all of their shit in. Lots of triple team moves from the Guerrero team. They did one where they all picked up their opponents in one seemingly giant submission, which was interesting. The opposing team came back with dives outside that Volador capped with a big rana. They continued to have a spot heavy match, which was fine since it is what you expect from them. It went a little long for what they were doing to me though. Volador got the win for his guys with a super Spanish Fly. Good match. Volador felt like the star here. ***
Super J-Cup Semi-Finals: KUSHIDA def. Taichi in 9:56
Taichi chose to take a while for entrance again and then attack KUSHIDA during his. Even with that upper hand, Taichi spent a good chunk of the match bullshitting. He’d hide behind his lady friend, distract the referee and allow Desperado to get in a ton of work on KUSHIDA. He choked KUSHIDA with weapons and it was typical Suzuki-Gun stuff. KUSHIDA eventually turned the tide and somersaulted onto both Suzuki-Gun members. Taichi tapped to the Hoverboard Lock but Desperado was back up and distracting the referee. After all of that, it was a small package that got KUSHIDA the win, which is disappointing since he should have had a more definitive win. Too much bullshit for my taste. It’s just like when the Bullet Club interferes a ton and ruins stuff. I get that they’re heels but there’s a limit. The worst KUSHIDA match I’ve seen in quite some time. They beat him up after the bell too. *½
Super J-Cup Semi-Finals: Yoshinobu Kanemaru def. Matt Sydal in 9:52
Continuing a trend of the night, something about this didn’t fully click with me. Kanemaru again didn’t seem to care much and came off as unmotivated once again. I’m not a big Sydal fan but bless him, he tried here. He did his best to put some spirit into the match and rally against Kanemaru’s dull offense. Sydal’s spark was fun and he went up for the Shooting Sydal Press, but Kanemaru got his knees up. Shortly after, Kanemaru hit a DDT and spinning Brainbuster to make it to the finals. Not a bad match, but nothing to write home about. **½
GHC Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: Atsushi Kotoge and Daisuke Harada (c) def. ACH and Taiji Ishimori in 12:32
ACH and Taiji Ishimori recently won the Jr. Tag tournament in NOAH to earn this shot. More than anything else on the card, this was the match I was most excited about. Right off the bat, ACH and Ishimori were in control and hit dives outside. The fans seemed to appreciate the athleticism of ACH. The challengers busted out a sweet ace crusher tandem move but the pin was broken up. The teams traded stuff with neither gaining a clear advantage throughout. ACH may have been the star, wowing the fans several times. He was one of the few things they reacted to all night. I was surprised to see how well the challengers worked together since I don’t think they’ve teamed up often. They went for stereo 450 splashes but the champs got their knees up. There were several close calls until ACH ran into a brutal knee. With him out, the champions hit a flurry of offense on Ishimori, capped by tiger and German suplexes to retain. The best thing on the show. The NOAH juniors division is really good at times and this was one of them. ACH looked great, Ishimori was his usual impressive self and the champions are, hands down, the best Jr. tag not named reDRagon (or maybe even MCMG). A hotter crowd would have put this over the hump. ***¾
After the match, the Booking Disasters, Gedo and Jado, challenged Momo No Seishun to a GHC Jr. Tag Title match, which seemed to be accepted.
IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Tag Team Championship: The Young Bucks (c) def. The Motor City Machine Guns in 16:01
Stop me if you’ve seen this match before. I love the Machine Guns and I hate the Young Bucks. It was great to see Alex Shelley back in Japan. The Bucks wore tights that had tons of photos of Dave Meltzer’s face on them. Ever since they named a move after him, he’s had a non-stop wrestle boner for them. Expect this match to get at least 4.25 stars from him. Anyway, this was standard fare for these teams. They both went through the spots they’re known for. I’m not going to put too much effort into recapping this because it was exactly what you’d expect from them. It’s fine stuff but I’ve seen it too many times. They both had close calls, but an Indytaker on the outside and Meltzer Driver inside ended things. Others will rate this higher but I didn’t love it. It was good but not their best work together, which I don’t even that great. **¾
Post-match, the Young Bucks stated that they were coming for the IWGP Heavyweight Tag Titles. I’d normally be more upset, but the heavyweight titles mean as little as the junior ones at this point, so I don’t give a shit either way.
Super J-Cup Finals: KUSHIDA def. Yoshinobu Kanemaru in 19:55
The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion against the GHC Jr. Heavyweight Champion. NOAH vs. NJPW continues. Kanemaru had Suzuki-Gun with him, so KUSHIDA brought Taguchi and Liger. This got off to a good start, with Kanemaru actually looking interested in putting forth some effort. He worked over KUSHIDA and wore him down, playing off of the Suzuki-Gun beatdown earlier in the night. KUSHIDA began the comeback and nailed a somersault to the outside. He even busted out what I believe was a stardust press but TAKA pulled the referee out. It was time for Suzuki-Gun bullshit. The referee ejected everyone and as he was doing that, Taichi showed up through the crowd to attack KUSHIDA. KUSHIDA still rallied and eventually applied the Hoverboard Lock. Taichi tried to intervene again but Taguchi showed up to hit an ass attack. Seeing he had no more hope, Kanemaru tapped. Though I understood the idea behind all of the interference, I would have rather had a straight up finals in a tournament this prestigious. I didn’t watch the G1 Finals this year, but I’m pretty sure Omega didn’t win thanks to a ton of interference. Anyway, other than that, the match was good and the right guy went over. KUSHIDA is the ace of the juniors and this helps to solidify it, even though he didn’t have a great night of matches. ***¼
In a nice moment, Alex Shelley came out to congratulate his buddy and former partner as KUSHIDA celebrated.
Overall: 5/10. This show was long and it felt even longer. The tournament matches ranged from shitty to pretty good and nothing stood out. The multi-man tags were both pretty good, while the two Jr. Tag Title matches were split. The Bucks/MCMG was more of the same, but the NOAH one ruled and was the match of the night. The Super J-Cup was not only strangely booked but it was a severe disappointment and was extremely underwhelming.
WWE Cruiserweight Classic
August 24th, 2016 | Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida
The show began by showing the reveal of the CWC trophy that we saw during TakeOve this past weekend.
That was followed by recaps of Akira Tozawa, Noam Dar and The Brian Kendrick advancing to the second round.
Rich Swann def. Lince Dorado in 8:12
Super fast paced start with both guys showcasing their athleticism. Lince stopped Swann from dancing to bust his own move, doing a little Alex Wright. Things got more serious as the match progressed and they began throwing harder shots. The crowd was firmly behind Swann. He went for his very impressive standing 450 splash but Dorado got his knees up. Commentary hammered home these guys knowing each other well and having to pull out something new to win. Dorado missed a shooting star press and Swann won with a fantastic phoenix splash. Really fun, high impact opener. Considering Gulak/Sabre is on this card, something fast paced like this is a great idea. This was a ton of fun. ***1/2
Footage from Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa losing at TakeOver airs. Gargano is interviewed and knows that he's a favorite to win it all and doesn't want to let anyone down. He's going to pour his heart out tonight and do whatever it takes to come one step closer to winning. Ciampa was there with him.
Zack Sabre Jr. def. Drew Gulak in 8:26
No handshake from Gulak who chose to slap Zack's hand instead. These two guys just chose to torture each other with various vicious submissions that bent the arms and body in ways they shouldn't. Gulak started to target the leg with an ankle lock and body slam into the ropes that particularly hurt Sabre's ankle. Sabre went after the arm with his signature submissions.They graduated up to some very hard slaps and strikes. In the end, counter after counter led to Sabre applying a fancy pinning combination that got him the win. He meets Noam Dar in the quarter finals. A really good battle of two guys doing great mat work. ***3/4
TJ Perkins def. Johnny Gargano in 12:19
This is easily the match I'm most excited for in this tournament outside of Ibushi/Alexander. This ruled. The crowd was into both guys despite Gargano being more established. Commentary talked about Gargano's knee being banged up from TakeOver even though this was recorded way earlier. Cool points for that though. Gargano had the knee taped up and banged it in a spot here to make it not only play off of the Brooklyn match but make sense with this as a stand alone match. Gargano sold the hell out of the leg, failing on the lawn dart on his first try before connecting on his second, in brutal fashion. Perkins went for his knee bar a few times and finally got it latched in. Gargano nearly reached the ropes but Perkins fully locked it in to advance. I dug the surprise result and Gargano continues to play one of the best resilient babyfaces in all of wrestling. I might rate this higher than some but I'm a big fan of both guys and really enjoyed this, so screw it. ****
The quarterfinals are set. Akira Tozawa vs. Gran Metalik, Brian Kendrick vs. Kota Ibushi, Zack Sabre Jr. vs. Noam Dar and TJ Perkins vs. Rich Swann.
Overall: 9/10. Another standout episode. Three good to great matches and the hour of wrestling just completely flew by. You get a good, fun spot fest opener, a technical battle in the middle and then a great mixture of both to close things out. This tournament continues to be awesome.
1) AJ Styles: Sure there were championships won and history made but one thing stood out during the weekend and that was AJ Styles vs. John Cena. Their match at Money in the Bank was great but this one proved to be much better. It was a straight up one on one match that saw Styles pick up the biggest win of his young WWE career. He didn't just beat John Cena, he beat him cleanly. That's something only a handful of people (HBK, HHH, Owens, Khali, Batista and a few others) have been able to do. He became the second man to kick out of the super Attitude Adjustment. Cena looked at him as if to say "maybe you really are better than me". Styles then won and continued his great 2016. That need to put the WWE Title on him before the year is over. He truly is the best wrestler on the planet in my eyes.
2) The Revival/Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa: I just had to give both teams equal credit this week. Outside of the Styles/Cena match, the weekend was stolen by the Revival and Johnny Gargano and Tommaso Ciampa. The Revival had a tremendous series of matches with American Alpha earlier in the year and I enjoyed this match at TakeOver: Brooklyn more than any of those. Gargano and Ciampa had the crowd in the palm of their hands and it was their best performance in WWE. The Revival continued to make a case for best tag team in the world. They just get it. In a world where everyone is all "WRESTLING IS EVOLVING, WE WANT NEW", they work 80's style tag matches and it's fucking awesome. This was the best tag team match I've seen all year long.
3) Finn Balor: History was made at SummerSlam. Raw debuted their new, ugly title, the WWE Universal Championship and Finn Balor defeated Seth Rollins to win it. The match was really good, but just shy of being great. Balor's win was not only historic for winning the title, but for being the first man to win a top title in his first ever Pay-Per-View match. I don't think he's quite ready yet (still needs a fair amount of character work mainly), but kudos to the WWE for having the balls to actually pull the trigger on someone instead of drawing it out for too long. Balor is now the face of Raw just one month after his main roster debut.
4) Shinsuke Nakamura: On a lesser week, Shinsuke Nakamura's NXT Championship win would rank higher. It was the first title win for Nakamura since coming over to the WWE back in April. Within a few months, he found himself headlining their biggest show of the year in front of their biggest crowd ever. Nakamura got star treatment with a big time entrance featuring a live violin player. The match itself is what kept him from ranking higher. Don't get me wrong, he and Samoa Joe had a good one, but it was rather disappointing. The guys that competed in the other matches on this list all did better in my eyes. Either way, the foreseeable future of NXT is in Nakamura's hands.
5) KUSHIDA: The IWGP Jr. Heavyweight Champion won the Super J-Cup, winning three matches on the final night.
WWE SummerSlam
August 21st, 2016 | Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York
I'll breeze through the Kickoff Show here. First, there was the 12 man tag rematch from Smackdown. It was mostly a carbon copy except that the Usos stole the pin from American Alpha and teased a heel turn. Fun little match that went 14:29. **¾. Next up, Sami Zayn and Neville teamed up to defeat the Dudleys in 7:55. Zayn and Neville were fun as a team but it's a terrible place for Sami coming off of his incredible Battleground performance. **¼. To end the Kickoff Show, Sheamus bested Cesaro to start their Best of Seven Series with a Brogue Kick at 14:09. It was good old fashioned, hard hitting match that would have fit right in the G1 Climax earlier this month. ***½
JeriKO def. Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady in 12:08
Enzo and Cass starting the show was the right call. They were incredibly over in New York and had the crowd singing within minutes. The match itself was mostly formulaic but what made this work was the men involved. Chris Jericho and Kevin Owens just nailed every antic, while Enzo and Cass are always fun. Enzo took a beating until Big Cass got to get the tag and do his thing. It ended up leading to Enzo back as the legal man, where he took a popup Codebreaker combo from the heels that ended it. A lot of people weren’t happy with the result but I predicted that to possibly set a rematch or multi-team match at Clash of the Champions. Good match that got a boost from the personalities involved. ***
WWE Women’s Championship: Charlotte def. Sasha Banks (c) in 13:51
Their match on Raw last month got four stars from me, as did two of their NXT matches. Something about this one never quite got going. I think one thing that hurt it was Charlotte dropping Sasha on her head from the top rope in the first few minutes. After that, it seemed like Sasha was shaken up and things were a bit awkward. Charlotte wasn’t done botching there, however, the second half of this match picked things up. These two hit each other hard and went for broke on some big spots. I have to commend them for righting the ship following the horrible starting stretch. Sasha went for the Bank Statement in the end, but Charlotte rolled over and got the pin. At first glance, putting the title on Charlotte is horrible. Her 309 day reign was unbelievably boring. However, reports came in that Sasha has a bad lower back and is hurt. There are no babyfaces on Raw so I assume Bayley gets the call up to save us from Charlotte. Good match that had a slow start to keep it from great. ***¼
WWE Intercontinental Championship: The Miz (c) w/ Maryse def. Apollo Crews in 5:44
Right off the bat, it was clear that the crowd just didn’t care about this. Add in that two super popular babyfaces lost in the opening matches and they were killed early. It was a decent midcard match but lacked a ton. It didn’t help that the build to this was almost non-existent. Crews did fine in the ring but still needs more from a character standpoint outside of smiling bald guy. Miz hit the Skull Crushing Finale to win after Crews missed a stinger splash. This was there. Maryse’s outfit was easily the highlight. **
AJ Styles def. John Cena in 23:10
The match between these two at Money in the Bank was great and bordered on the next level until the Club got involved and it took away from it. There was none of that here. This was two of the best wrestlers of the past decade just having a match and it delivered. They built a match about pure determination to be the best and it just worked. It did follow the typical Cena formula of big near falls and finisher kick outs at points but not too much to the point where it distracted me. They countered each other and nailed tons of huge moves. When Cena hit the super AA, I legitimately thought it was over. Styles kicked out and Cena sold the disbelief perfectly. It was as if he knew, right there, that Styles was the better man. A Styles Clash and Phenomenal Forearm later and Styles joined a short list of men who pinned Cena cleanly. The right decision to end a tremendous match. The score may go up after a second watch but even without that, I loved almost everything about this. ****½
WWE Tag Team Championship: Karl Anderson and Luke Gallows def. The New Day (c) via disqualification in 9:09
Big E was out so it was Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston here. Jon Stewart did the intro for New Day and it was all pretty awkward. I was excited for this match originally, but they underwhelmed in a big way here. The match wasn’t too bad but there was nothing really to it. I also wasn’t a big fan of the comedy. The build-up has been funny but the Club bringing out the jars for the testicles was too much. It felt like they were more interested in that than actually winning the titles. The match dragged along until the challengers tried to crotch Stewart only for Big E to run and make the save, leading to the DQ. I love New Day and know they’re about to hit a year with the titles, but I think now was the time to make the switch. Disappointing match for sure. *¾
WWE Championship: Dean Ambrose (c) def. Dolph Ziggler in 15:18
Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan sat at ringside and kept these two apart before the bell. I question the placement of this match also. Ambrose, despite being way more popular, played the heel for the most part. He mocked Ziggler’s superkick and poses, while basically toying with him at times. It felt like Dean’s character believed Dolph was beneath him, which has been stated during the build, but Dolph never did anything throughout to step up to his level. The story seemed to call for Dolph to make a big rally and fall just short. Instead, it all felt flat. Add in the quiet crowd and it all just never clicked the way it needed to. I honestly think they may have reached a point where the fans just don’t buy Dolph as a threat anymore. This never felt like an important title match. **¾
Alexa Bliss, Natalya and Nikki Bella def. Becky Lynch, Carmella and Naomi in 11:04
With the recent Eva Marie suspension, the heel team was left without a partner. After teasing Eva, Nikki Bella made her return to a pretty great pop. I’m a man, so I will point out that nearly every woman in this match looked great. I appreciate that they were given a fair amount of time and did well with it. Having Nikki involved made the crowd more interested in this I think. My biggest issue was that not everyone got a chance to shine. I didn’t feel like Alexa specifically meant anything. It was built around Nikki and her return. I would have liked to see Alexa get the pin but the returning Nikki won with a TKO on Carmella. Fine match but odd placement on the card too. It wasn’t earth shattering but everyone did well and it made for entertaining stuff. **½
WWE Universal Championship: Finn Balor def. Seth Rollins in 19:24
Putting this on before the United States Title match gives the feel that Roman Reigns isn’t in the title picture, but he’s still more important. Finn’s demon look was one of my favorites ever with cool face paint and a green tongue drawn on. This came off as a bigger deal than the earlier title match. After Finn tried his finish early, things slowed down with Finn taking a bit of a beating, including a power bomb into the guardrail which seemed to hurt his elbow. The crowd hurt this because they spent a fair amount of time chanting among themselves and discussing or booing the ugly Universal Title. The final stretch was really good though, with Balor kicking out of God’s Last Gift and a Pedigree. He countered a second attempt, hit a double stomp and then a bigger Coup de Grace to become the champion. I prefer Seth but I’m glad they had the balls to pull the trigger on Balor. They overcame the bad crowd and got them back with a hot ending and clean win. ***¾
Instead of Roman Reigns vs. Rusev again, we got a big brawl and a match that never really started. They beat each up and Rusev kicked ass. But the BIG DOG can’t stay down, so he turns it around and attacks Rusev with a chair. Even after Rusev was down, Roman continued the assault and Rusev was deemed unfit to compete. At least it kept the show from running over since the WWE can’t manage a six hour show.
Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman def. Randy Orton via ref stoppage in 11:44
I really enjoy watching Brock Lesnar when he actually tries. The thing is, I don’t think he does anymore. He sabotaged the Dean Ambrose match to preserve himself for UFC and this was just the same thing he’s done for a while now. I had high hopes for his matches with Seth Rollins, Ambrose and Randy Orton, but none of them really delivered. Orton took a beating and went through a table before hitting Brock with an RKO on the table. He also hit his DDT and a second RKO but Brock kicked out. I THOUGHT IT ONLY TOOK ONE RKO RANDY! Brock wailed away n Orton and busted him open horribly with an elbow. Orton just laid in a pool of his own blood. Brock went back on the attack and the referee had to stop things. Typical Brock stuff but I do give credit for the finish being somewhat different. **¼
Brock continue to attack so Shane stepped in to stop this. Brock wouldn’t let him walk past and picked him up before planting him with the F5.
Overall: 6/10. These six hour shows are too much. I love pro wrestling but it is way too much. The show always drags at points and the WWE can’t seem to ever book these right. They also make odd decision and place matches in strange places. It happened at Mania and again here. There was some good (Finn/Seth, Sheamus/Cesaro, JeriKO/Enzo and Cass for example) and one phenomenal match (AJ/Cena) but the main event was underwhelming along with a few other matches.
