WWE Smackdown (5/7/15)

WWE Smackdown

Canadian Tire Centre

Ottawa, CA

May 7, 2015

Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton & Jerry "The King" Lawler

Ring Announcer: JoJo Offerman

We're just 10 days away from Payback and Monday's Raw gave us Dean Ambrose in the main event to set up a Fatal-Four-Way for the main event. Rusev vs John Cena "I Quit" is also featured in ten days but let's see if we get any more matches for the show. New Day vs Tyson Kidd & Cesaro could be on the table and Ryback vs Bray Wyatt as well, but nothing's concrete. Let's get started...with a dark match.

Dark Match

Charlotte Flair vs Natalya

Yes, the NXT Women's Champion Charlotte Flair was getting a trial run before making her way to the main roster. She faced Natalya in this special dark match. Natalya got the duke, but Flair was definitely on her way.

Winner: Natalya

We begin with a recap vignette of Dean Ambrose being added to the main event. Then we see Roman Reigns vs Randy Orton end with an Authority beat down until Dean Ambrose to make the save...only for Randy Orton to rKo Reigns. Ambrose hit Randy Orton with Dirty Deeds to leave him standing tall to end it. Tom and Byron welcome us to the show and hypes up the contract signing tonight between the four participants in the main event. Then we're sent to Jerry "The King" Lawler in the ring who recaps the King of The Ring last week and brings out King Barrett to address his subjects. Barrett comes out wearing the crown, holding the scepter and has the cape draped over one arm. Lawler says "From one king to another..." and Barrett cuts him off. Barrett says there's only one king in WWE and its not Lawler. Wade says Jerry just calls himself the King, Barrett earned it by beating three guys in 24 hours. Barrett refuses to be treated as an equal and demands Jerry say "All hail King Barrett". Lawler can't even get a response in before Barrett says there's no castles in the Memphis trailer parks or the phony king Elvis Pressley. Barrett says the only throne Lawler should be on is the toilet and demands him to say All Hail King Barrett. Lawler refuses and Barrett gets in his face to say "Bloody do it." Lawler says "no" and Barrett says the interview is over. Barrett goes to load up a bull hammer but Dolph Ziggler walks out. Dolph gets in the ring and says Barrett is acting like a Renaissance Fair reject. Referee Mike Chioda gets in the ring and Dolph says its a good thing Mike is here because he's going to drop Barrett. Guess we got an impromptu match.

Match 1

Dolph Ziggler vs King Barrett

Bell rings and they circle to start. Lawler says Barrett's only been king for a week as Wade drops Ziggler with a shoulderblock. Barrett "All hail the king" as he kicks away at Dolph in the corner. Barrett hits a floatover suplex for 1...2..no. Barrett drops a knee and covers for another deuce but gets dropkicked by Ziggler. Barrett bails to the outside as Ziggler shouts to get back in as we go to break. Back from commercial Ziggler punches away at Barrett but misses the splash in the corner. Barrett covers for two as Lawler asks if Saxton will grovel at Wade's feet. Byron says no as we go to Barrett hitting the big boot to Ziggler during commercial. Barrett's chinlock is fought out of it by Ziggler and he knees Ziggler in the head anyway. He covers for two as Lawler says 20 years ago he called the fans peons and told them to kiss his royal feet and it didn't work out, he ended up having to kiss his own foot. Ha! At least we finally get a reason why he just stopped being a heel by 1999. Barrett drops a knee to the back and locks in a surfboard. Lawler says he's going rub the locker-room the wrong way as Ziggler runs into Winds of Change. He covers for 1...2...no. Lawler says Barrett can go bowling with his boogers as Ziggler hits a fameasser out of nowhere. Ziggler covers but here's Sheamus out of nowhere to wreck everything. Lawler "Are you kidding me?" That was going well until the run in.

Time of match: 6:48

Winner: Ziggler by DQ

Post-match Sheamus and Barrett double team Ziggler. They tie Dolph in the ropes but here's Adrian Neville for the save. Neville dropkicks Sheamus, ducks the line and dropkicks Barrett to the outside. The faces stand tall in the ring as we go to break. Back from break.....we got another match!

Match 2

Dolph Ziggler & Adrian Neville vs King Barrett and Sheamus

During commercial, apparently we got an impromptu tag match. Barrett has Neville down and immediately makes the tag to Sheamus. Sheamus taunts Neville and kick him in the chest. Lawler says he's co-existed peacefully with all the previous kings of the ring except Bret Hart. Ha, Lawler is on fire tonight with logic. He did support Owen Hart, Mabel and HHH for sure. Neville kicks Sheamus in the ribs but can't make the tag. Sheamus knocks Dolph off the apron and hits the Irish Curse, covering for 1...2...no. Sheamus has a healing black eye because Dolph kicked him in the face in the KoTR match for real by accident the week before. Barrett tags in and hits a backbreaker of his own before covering 1...2...no. Neville kicks Barrett in the head but Wade hits a big boot. Sheamus tags in and locks in a chinlock before Neville crawls toward Ziggler. Neville walks into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker and shouts "Are you not entertained??" Neville crawls to the apron and Sheamus goes for 10 beats of the Bodhran. Sheamus clubs him three times but Neville snaps him off the top rope. Back inside Sheamus misses a charge in the corner and Ziggler gets the hot tag. Barrett tags in too to get rocked by Ziggler. Ziggler hits the Stinger Splash in the corner and a dropkick. Dolph hits a DDT and covers for 1...2..no. Ziggler hits the superkick and covers for 1..2...no. Ziggler clotheslines Sheamus over the top and out and Neville hits a suicide dive on Sheamus but Barrett rolls up Ziggler with his feet on the ropes 1...2....no, Neville throws the feet off at the last second. Ziggler hits Zig Zag and covers for 1...2...3 to win the match. Lawler whoops it up as King Barrett begins his reign with two losses in one night. Barrett always took losses when he shouldn't.

Time of match: 6:02

Winners: Dolph and Neville by pinfall

We're getting a Six-Man-Tag later with the New Day facing Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and a mystery partner. Who could it be? Find out later. We cut to Renee Young with Dean Ambrose and asks about his chances. Ambrose says he's not a math guy or an Authority guy. He says he's the chaos theory of the Authority as he's the last guy they expected to be in, and he's walking out the last man standing. Ambrose has a feeling that nobody will be happy to see him. We go to commercial and back from break, we get a blurb that WWE is the Number 1 sports channel on Youtube. Poor UrinatingTree....on to the next match.

Match 3

Luke Harper vs Fandango

Harper hasn't done a damn thing since losing to Ambrose at Extreme Rules and he gets the glorified jobber Fandango here. Bell rings and Harper does his own parody of the Fandango dance before booting him in the head. Hahahaha! Harper chokes Fandango in the corner as Phillips said he once belonged to the Wyatt Family. Harper gets chopped in the chest and dropkicked by Fandango. Fandango hits a heel kick and hits a tornado DDT from the second rope. Fandango goes upstairs but Harper throws him off before hitting a superkick. Harper hits the big lariat and covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. If you want to re-establish Harper as something, that helps. Short and sweet squash.

Time of match: 2:08

Winner: Harper by pinfall

All of a sudden Erick Rowan's music hits. He hasn't been since since Wrestlemania really but he heads to the ring. Rowan and Harper fighting again? NO! Rowan puts the boots to Fandango and drops a knee. Rowan hits the pump handle slam and just leaves. What, he just hates Fandango? Even Harper looks confused inside the ring. That was stupid, should have just had them shake hands or leave together. 

We get a graphic for our ppv main event before we go to break. Back from break, Lana is in the ring who gets a babyface pop. Lana says not to cheer for her because it angers Rusev causing a chorus of boos. Speaking of which, here he comes to the ring. Rusev yells at Lana for no reason and tells her to leave. They're really hammering the Marc Mero/Sable storyline here. Lawler "She's the only thing to ever make Rusev bearable to watch." That one hits home big time....too close. Rusev cuts the same promo as always, promising to break John Cena and his victories are a fluke. Rusev says Cena showed mercy to Sami Zayn and mercy is a sign of weakness. Rusev will make Cena say I Quit....yeah yeah. Does anyone in the world think Rusev has half a chance to win that match?

The announcers at ringside plug the WWE Network shows before sending us back to Renee with Roman Reigns. Reigns has no emotions since he's been rivals with Randy Orton since day one. He hates everything about Seth Rollins but Dean Ambrose is like a brother to him. He trusts Dean (that's a mistake) and he's bringing the fight at Payback. The quicker he signs the contract, the quicker he gets to punch someone in the mouth for championship gold. Up next is our six man tag match as we go to break. On to the next match back from break and New Day comes out first. Tyson Kidd and Cesaro along with Natalya come out next. The mystery partner is....Ryback. Someone who can counter Big E for sure.

Match 4

The New Day (Kofi Kingston, Xavier Woods and Big E Langston) vs Tyson Kidd, Cesaro and Ryback (with Natalya)

Now THAT'S a mystery partner and New Day isn't happy about it. Woods says "he can't take E" as the crowd chants feed me more. Ryback starts with Kofi as the crowd chants New...Day sucks. Kofi kicks Ryback in the side of the leg then in the ribs. Kofi locks in a hammerlock but Ryback reverses it. Ryback shoulderblocks Kofi down and catches Kingston in mid air. He tags in Kidd who hits a dropkick. He covers for 1 but Kofi gets a knee to the ribs. Woods tags in but runs into a drop-toe-hold. Woods doesn't see the bling tag to Cesaro and runs right into a clothesline. Cesaro gets Ryback's attention and executes a delayed suplex. Ryback then picks up Big E and Kidd gets Woods for a triple delayed suplex. The crowd loved that one. Cesaro throws Woods in his corner then tags in Tyson. They double stomp Woods in the corner to the rhythm of "New...day sucks" and Ryback does it as well. Woods sunset flips Kidd, but Tyson counters with a sharpshooter attempt. Woods bails to the outside and Kidd somersault planchas Xavier on the floor. Cesaro takes out Kofi and Ryback bowls over Big E as well. Kidd throws Woods back in the ring but Woods dropkicks him off the apron. Big E gets the tag and he rams Tyson into both the barricade, then the side of the ring, back to the barricade, back to the side of the ring. We cut to commercial and back from break, New Day has Tyson isolated in the corner. Woods hits a tornado DDT and covers for 1..2....no. Kidd is rammed into the corner and Langston tags in. Big E hits an overhead belly to belly suplex and claps at Kidd. E hits a second one and covers for 1..2....no. Xavier tags in and kicks Tyson in the ribs but misses a charge in the corner. Kofi knocks Cesaro off the apron but forgets about Ryback who gets the hot tag. Ryback cleans house and hits a spinebuster on Kofi. Ryback calls for the meat hook but Kofi distracts him. Ryback hits an overhead suplex on Kofi and tags in Cesaro. Cesario does the running uppercuts in the corner and a spinebuster. Cesarp throws Big E outside and Kidd takes Woods out with a kick. Cesaro tags Kidd who does the old Tower of Doom on Kofi. Kidd covers for 1..2....nooooo. Ryback drops Woods an clotheslines E over the top rope. Ryback tosses Woods over the top to the floor but the lights go out...uh oh. The lights go on as Ryback is clotheslined down on outside. Kofi rolls up Kidd inside for 1..2....3 to win the match. The Bray Wyatt distraction worked long enough for New Day to steal one. That was a great match, too bad the crappy ending ruined it.

Time of match: 12:11

Winners: New Day by pinfall

Renee Young is in Randy Orton and says Orton couldn't win at Extreme Rules and asks what his new strategy is. Orton says he's going to hit whoever closest to him is and will do anything to win. He's facing the entire Shield but he says that one of them ain't gonna make it to Payback. Who could he be referring to? Back from break, its on to our next match.

Match 5

Emma vs Naomi (with Tamina Snuka)

Naomi has a PiP interview with Naomi and everybody's "gonna know" about them. I see....Bell's gone and Naomi immediately attacks. She kicks away at Emma in the corner but Emma reverses it and throws Naomi into the center of the ring. Emma hits a dropkick and covers for 1..2...no. Emma gets kicked in the head and taken down by the hair by Naomi. Naomi hits a rude awakening and nips up before taunting the irate crowd. Naomi kicks Emma in the ribs and chokes her on the first rope. Naomi then chokes her on the top rope and throws her down. Naomi hits a dropkick and covers for 1...2...nope. Naomi throws Emma in the corner but misses a charge. Emma tries a sunset flip for 1...2...no. A schoolgirl gets 1...2..no. Another pinfall gets two but Naomi reverses it into a backslide for a deuce. Emma runs right into the Rear View and Naomi covers for 1..2....3 to win the match. Total squash by Naomi to establish her as top heel with Tamina by her side.

Time of match: 3:11

Winner: Naomi by pinfall

Post-match Naomi and Tamina beat down Emma and Tamina lays her out with a superkick. Emma is completely lost on the main roster without Santino Marella but fear not, help is on the way in NXT. If she can't do it, others can. We go to the announcers who hype up the upcoming season of Tough Enough....oh god, no. Next! Back from commercial Renee Young is with Seth Rollins with J & J Security in tow. Rollins says its HIS championship on the line and he makes the impossible, possible. He shocked the world at Wrestlemania but Renee counters that Kane takes credit for helping him win. Rollins says that sounds desperate and he's jealous of him. Rollins says Kane is trying to keep his job and jealous of him. Rollins has something Kane will never have, brains. He always has a plan for Payback and tonight. Seth says the future is now. On to the next match.

Match 6

Los Matadores (Diego and Fernando) with El Torrito vs The Lucha Dragons (Kalisto and Sin Cara)

Kind of a pointless match near the end of the show but at least we get to see Lucha Libre....yay? Kalisto and Fernando start and shake hands to begin. They chain wrestle to start then go to the chinlock 10 seconds into it. Kalisto hits a head scissors and a headlock takeover as Phillips says the Dragons were NXT tag champs. Sin Cara tags in with a hilo and a head scissors of his own. Sin Cara gets a headlock takeover as Lawler asks how New Day would handle these teams. Diego tags in and hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker before covering for a deuce. Fernando tags in and they catch Cara mid air, but Diego is armdragged out of the ring. Cara does a headstand on the top turnbuckle but Fernando kicks him out of the ring. Torrito does a bronco buster outside as we go to break. Back from commercial the Matadores hit a double suplex on Cara. Fernando covers for 1...2..no. Cara hits a modified Angle Slam and Kalisto gets the hot tag. Kalisto hits a springboard sky twister press and hits the Listo Kick. He hits a head scissors for 1..2...no, Diego breaks it up. Kalisto hits a springboard Pele kick on Fernando but Sin Cara botches a suicide dive, hitting face first on the ground in front of Fernando outside. He caught his foot on the ropes that Kalisto was standing on. Diego sunset flips Kalisto for 1...2...no. Sin Cara gets a blind tag but misses the swanton bomb. He still hits a cradle for 1...2...3 to win the match. Kalisto moves like a young Rey Mysterio and is similar size as well. Good lucha libre match even if Cara botched that one spot.

Time of match: 9:13

Winners: Lucha Dragons by pinfall

Post-match the Dragons celebrate but Diego shoves down Torito. Oh no! Fernando calms him down though. We get one last graphic for the final segment before we go to commercial. Back from break, Kane is in the ring for the contract signing. He brings out Randy Orton first, then Roman Reigns, then Dean Ambrose who gets a bigger pop then both Orton & Reigns. Finally Rollins comes out last with J & J security holding his own mic. Rollins doesn't get in the ring, he just stands on the stage. Kane goes to emcee then Ambrose calls Rollins "Justin Bieber" and tells him to bring "Frodo" and "Bilbo" to come down there. Rollins says Ambrose humor was just as bad as Roman trying to form sentences. Rollins says he'll stay up there and let the other 3 sort their business out. Roman has a sentence, he's going to sign the contract and kick hiss ass. Roman signs as Orton says they all want that world championship around Seth's waist. Randy signs it and Dean says he's gonna drag Rollins down there himself. Rollins says Kane will sign for him and Kane says he COULD do that in theory but Kane remembers Seth calling him obsolete and irrelevant. Kane says he could sign as a proxy if he was injured but Kane insists to come sign himself since he's healthy. Seth says fine and heads to the ring steps as the crowd chants "Justin Bieber". Seth sends Joey Mercury in to get the contract so Seth can review it. Instead he calls Ambrose "low rent Roddy Piper" which apparently is what Roman called him. Seth says Roman signs autographs better than he wrestles which is what Ambrose used to say about him. Seth says its no secret Dean and Roman called him spoiled, entitled and never worked a day. Rollins "What's wrong with a little honesty." Seth gets in the ring with J & J as the crowd chants rKo. Seth signs it and hands it to "Mr. Obsolete" and Kane says he's the only reason Seth is champion. Dean rearranges the chairs and sets up the table in the corner. Dean says we all know this was how it was going to end anyway so he's got dibs on the table. He throws Mercury up the table since its a real one and not the easily breakable ones. A brawl envelops with J & J and Ambrose outside with Roman slugging it out with Kane. Randy kicks away at Rollins until clotheslining him over the top rope. Ambrose heaves chairs onto Jamie Noble and suicide dives Kane into the announce table. Roman superman punches Kane and Ambrose catches Rollins inside the ring. Rollins dropkicks Reigns into Ambrose and avoids the rKo. Ambrose and Reigns shove each other and Orton rKo's Ambrose. Reigns hits the Superman punch to Orton and Rollins comes off the top with a dropkick to Reigns. Rollins superkicks Reigns, grabs the belt and poses with it as we sign off.

Rollins standing tall in the end had to be done because he was getting beat up every show at this point by the other three. By dividing and conquering, his game plan is real clear. The rest of the show was a big bag of meh although the lucha match was good. Erik Rowan returned to turn heel but not join Luke Harper was bizarre although they may elaborate on that one. New Day being as obnoxious as they can be is working perfectly. We still got two big shows left before Payback so the card will be set for sure. The next show after this is the upcoming Raw. I'll see you there.

WWE Raw (5/4/15)

We're just under two weeks away from WWE Payback and most of the card is set even if its not official. What IS official is John Cena vs Rusev in an I Quit Match and Seth Rollins defends the WWE Championship against Roman Reigns and Randy Orton in a triple threat match. What's not official but most likely is Ryback vs Bray Wyatt, Nikki Bella vs Naomi and New Day against Tyson Kidd & Cesaro. The status of Daniel Bryan is still up in the air so we'll have to see how that turns out. Definitely this week is important to add some last minute stips to the established matches and cement the others I mentioned. Let's get to this week's show.

WWE Raw

Bell Centre

Montreal, Quebec

May 4. 2015

Commentators: Michael Cole, Booker T and JBL

Ring Announcer: Eden Stiles

We begin the show with Randy Orton coming out for a conference. Randy says Payback is fitting for a ppv because he's looking for Payback on Seth Rollins. He says Roman Reigns is also in the match but he's going to be disappointed because Randy is walking out of Payback the champion. Orton says there's not a damn thing Rollins or Reigns can do about it and right on cue, Reigns walks out to join him. Reigns says its not going down like that, if anyone's going to get payback, its him. The crowd chants RKO and Roman says the fans don't fight for him. Randy says "You want payback at Payback and on Rollins but what do you think I'm gonna do, just let you march down to the ring, beat the hell out of Rollins and just stand in a corner?" Reigns "I don't care what you do, but if you come near me you won't be standing." Orton says he's a 12 time champion, been in 12 consecutive Wrestlemanias and says Roman's only been in 3 Wrestlemania's and has 0 heavyweight titles. Roman says he beat Orton at Summerslam and doesn't mind breaking Randy in half. They go nose to nose when....The New Day shows up. What? Xavier Woods says this negativity has to stop. Xavier says they're the only champions out there and they're there to spread positivity. Xavier says nobody cares about their Montreal Boo-hoo job......what? Kofi says both of them squandered their opportunities away as the crowd chants "New...Day sucks". Kofi says what's in the past is in the past and today is a new day. Kofi says "New Day rocks" and Big E says Roman can't win the big one and Rollins not only has Orton's number, he's got it on speed dial. Big E then gets to the point and says they got a handicap match courtesy of Kane, all three of them against Roman and Randy. Let's get to it after commercial.

Match 1

The New Day (Xavier Woods, Kofi Kingston and Big E Langston) vs Randy Orton and Roman Reigns in a handicap match

Least we're getting some wrestling in the first 10 minutes of the show, even if this was a main event caliber match shown right away. Kofi starts with Orton and kicks away at him in the corner. Orton comes out of the corner with a clothesline and suplexes Kofi on the top rope. Roman tags in and suplexes Kofi back in the ring. Roman stares down Big E and locks in an arm-ringer. Kofi punches out of it and Woods tags in. Woods gets a headlock in and shouts "I'm gonna beat Roman Reigns." Booker "I don't think this is gonna work out good for Woods." Roman drops Xavier with a shoulderblock and a samoan drop before Orton tags in. Orton suplexes Xavier and covers for a deuce before he stomps on the back of Woods. Orton drops a knee and covers for another two count. Roman tags in and kicks Woods in the ribs. Roman kicks Woods in the head then stomps the mid-section. Orton tags in and stomps Woods as Booker says both Randy and Roman were born into the business. Orton stomps Woods enough to make Ronnie Garvin proud but Kofi distracts Randy long enough for Woods to tag in Big E. E hits a belly to belly suplex on Orton as Cole says that's the numbers game. New Day isolates Randy in the corner with all three members getting shots in on Randy. Woods hits a dropkick on Randy and covers for a deuce before we go to break. Back from break Kofi has Roman Reigns in a nerve hold. During the break Reigns got a hot tag and cleaned house only to be knocked into the barricade. Back to live action Big E hits an overhead belly to belly suplex on Reigns and claps to rile up the crowd. Big E does it again and covers for 1....2....nope. Woods tags in with a slingshot elbow drop and covers for 1...2...nope. Roman punches away at Woods but Xavier counters with a swinging neckbreaker. Woods covers for a deuce and Kofi tags in with a big fist off the second rope. Kofi locks in a front headlock as JBL makes fun of Kofi's pigtails. Woods tags in and applies a chinlock but Roman fights out of it and gets the hot tag to Orton. Orton catches Kofi mid-air and powerslams him but Big E breaks up the count. Roman hits the Superman punch on Big E but Woods dropkicks Roman. Randy heaves Woods out of the ring and does the second rope DDT to Woods. Orton coils and looks for the rKo, hitting Woods with it. Roman then goes to spear Kofi but Kingston moves and Roman spears Orton by accident. Kofi covers Orton for 1...2....3 to win the match. Uh oh.....Randy's not gonna like that. New Day hightails it out of there laughing as Roman is distraught. Good tag match for what it was and its obvious the New Day can draw heat.

Time of match: 13:13

Winners: New Day by pinfall

After the match Kane comes out with a microphone and says there's no shame in losing to the tag team champions. Kane says their evening isn't over yet and he can tell they're developing a dislike for each other. He wants to exploit that so he orders Reigns vs Orton in the main event of the show later. Kane says that's best for business. Guess Roman and Orton are pulling double duty tonight and Cole at ringside says this will benefit Rollins.

Backstage Kane walks by the celebratory New Day and rolls his eyes before Seth himself walks up with J and J Security. Rollins says what Kane just did is similar to a kid who's been bad all year trying to suck up to Santa the night before Christmas. Kane counters by saying he would wait in the chimney with a blowtorch to fry Santa's chestnuts (hahahahaha!). Kane says he made the matches because that's what is best for business. Kane says Rollins isn't getting off easy tonight and Rollins is going to face Dean Ambrose and J & J are banned from ringside. Rollins says Kane was the outside interference and Ambrose is going to hurt him before Payback. Kane says he could simply tie him to the ringpost and Rollins storms off unhappy. Again. this would be cool if Kane was actually turning face, but he's not.

Back to Renee Young in the ring to bring out Ryback for a chat. Highlights of Bray Wyatt attacking Ryback are shown and Ryback says "MONTREAL, YOU SOUND HUNGRY!" for almost no pop at all. Renee asks why Wyatt has been targeting Ryback and Ryback has no idea but it was a stupid decision. The crowd chants Goldberg as Ryback says he's been facing fear is whole life then stops to acknowledge the crowd. That causes them to chant "Feed Me More" (hahahaha). Ryback brings up his real life injuries including his horrible ankle break (that took him out of the Nexus in 2010) and he's grateful that he could come back and continue doing what he loved. Ryback gets another chant going and says Bray wanted his attention, and he's got it. Ryback says Bray can't scare him and he woke him up, now he's starving. Cue Bray Wyatt on the titantron to say human minds create human monsters. Wyatt says deep down inside Ryback is a scared little boy and fear molds them all. Bray "Everything you love, everything you're afraid to lose is all going to fade away, and in time...so will you. Run!" Still no explanation of why Bray wants Ryback but that's been his character for a year now, he attacked Dean Ambrose for no reason and now its Ryback. Onto the next match.

Match 2

The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) vs Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (with Natalya)

Kidd and Cesaro are reeling after losing the belts to the New Day and they get the Ascension to feast on here. Pre-recorded comments have Konnor and Viktor saying Kidd is a fake Hart and they're going to rip out their hearts. They claim they're the tag team of the future and JBL on commentary asks when does the future start. They bum rush Kidd and Cesaro at the bell with Viktor starting with Tyson. Viktor sends Kidd into a Konnor clothesline and Viktor covers for 1...2...no. JBL says Stu Hart would have turned 100 years old yesterday as Konnor tags in to stomp away on Tyson in the corner. Konnor covers for 1..2..no. Konnor chokes Kidd in the corner and tags in Viktor. Viktor applies a chinlock then tags in Konnor for a snap suplex. Konnor tags in Viktor who comes off the top with a dropkick then covers for a deuce when Cesaro breaks up the count. Konnor tags in who slams Kidd, but misses the elbow drop. Viktor tags in to prevent the tag but Kidd gets the tag to Cesaro. Cesaro cleans house of both guys before hitting a serries of 10 running uppercuts to Viktor in the corner. Viktor is out of gas as Cesaro hits a clothesline and covers for two. Cesaro gutwrenches Viktor from the mat as the crowd pops. Konnor is clotheslined out of the ring but Viktor drops Cesaro. Kidd suicide dives onto Konnor on the floor as Cesaro hits a spinebuster on Viktor. Cesaro does a giant swing as Kidd tags in to drop a leg on Viktor. Kidd covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Cesaro got the crowd excited as the burial of Ascension continues. Kidd, Cesaro and Natalya pose for the crowd as we cut to the back.

Time of match: 4:07

Winners: Kidd & Cesaro by pinfall

Seth Rollins walks in the back but is intercepted by Renee Young. She asks what he thinks about tonight's match with Dean Ambrose. He says this match shouldn't be happening and Kane is a moron. Back from commercial we get a highlight from Smackdown where Ambrose faced Rollins and Kane interfered to help Rollins win. Dean Ambrose makes his way to the ring for the match followed by Seth Rollins. All of a sudden Kane's music hits and he walks out. Kane says he's taken Seth's words to heart about there being no point to the match. Kane says if Dean wins this one then the match at Payback will be a Fatal Four Way with Ambrose added to it. Seth grabs a mic and goes nuclear and says 78% says for triple threat and keep it that way. Dean grabs the mic and says its a great idea and asks the crowd what they think. Naturally they cheer as Rollins says Kane or Ambrose don't matter, he's the WWE champion. Kane says he's overruling him and to ring the bell.

Match 3

Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins

If Dean wins, he's added to the main event of Payback. No J & J Security means Rollins is by himself as well. Ambrose rolls him up as soon as the bell rings for 1...2....no. Dean punches away at Rollins and chops away. Ambrose misses a big punch as Rollins bails to the outside. Dean chases him and drops Seth with a forearm. Rollins kicks him in the stomach and punches away before throws Ambrose in the ring. Dean immediately slides back out and hits a clothesline. Dean grabs Seth by the nose and kicks him in the neck. Booker T and JBL bicker about Kane's decision as Ambrose gets in a leglock. Ambrose hits a snap suplex and covers for a one count before Rollins kicks Ambrose in the ribs. Seth throws Dean in the corner and fires away then does a snap mare. Rollins kicks Dean in the back as the crowd chants for Ambrose. Seth punches away at Dean in the corner but Dean reverses it with punches in the corner. Rollins walks right into a big chop and Dean covers for a deuce. Rollins hits a running knee to the ribs, a scoop slam and a running knee drop. He covers for two and locks in a chinlock. The crowd chants Rollins sold out as Ambrose fights back with a kick to the head. Dean backdrops Rollins to the floor as we go to commercial. Back from break, Rollins gets in a nerve hold but Dean powers out of it. Dean is sent head first into the second turnbuckle as Rollins misses a slingshot clothesline. Ambrose hits a tornado DDT and lays on the mat for a few seconds. Ambrose punches away at Rollins followed by a slap and a forearm smash. Ambrose goes to the top rope but misses a clothesline. Rollins bails to the outside but Ambrose hits a suicide dive onto Seth to spark a "Holy shit" chant. Ambrose turns a back suplex into a front slam and covers for 1...2....no. Ambrose counters the buckle bomb with a backdrop as Rollins misses the stinger splash. Ambrose goes up top and hits an elbow drop before covering for 1...2...no. Rollins snaps Ambrose off the top rope and hits the slingshot dropkick. Seth covers for 1.....2.....noooooo. Seth taunts Ambrose who slaps him in the face. Rollins hits a superkick and covers for 1...2....no. Rollins goes for the buckle bomb but Dean rolls out of it, punching Seth in the face. Ambrose clotheslines Seth over the top to the floor, spilling outside with him. Rollins outside hits a powerbomb against the barricade and rolls inside. The ref counts to nine but Ambrose barely beats the count. Seth stomps away at Dean in the corner and hits a running forearm. Dean answers with one of his own but Rollins kicks Ambrose in the head. Dean hits the rebound clothesline as Seth does a 360. Dean covers for 1...2....no. Here comes J & J Security who were supposedly banned from ringside. Jamie Noble distracts the ref while Joey Mercury is immediately thrown over the top rope to the floor by Dean. Rollins goes for the roll up but Dean counters it and rolls through for his own 1......2.....3 to win the match. The crowd explodes as Dean is now in the main event of Payback. Ambrose beats a hasty retreat as J & J go nuts inside the ring. Damn good match between the ex-Shield members. JBL bitches about it but the decision is final.

Time of match: 16:31

Winner: Ambrose by pinfall

Cole explains the Fatal Four Way rules before we get a highlight of the New Day beating Roman Reigns and Randy Orton from earlier. We get a graphic for Reigns vs Orton later tonight and back from break, we get the highlight of Ambrose defeating Rollins from a few minutes ago. Back in Kane's office, Rollins comes in completely irate. Rollins wants to fight Kane and bitches that its a Fatal Four Way. "What are you trying to do, kill me?" Kane says the WWE Universe picked the triple threat and Rollins caused it to be a Fatal Four Way by losing to Ambrose. Kane says keep it up and he'll keep adding people. Kane then says this is all to make Rollins better and a great champion. Kane says he's got a plan and walks off. We cut to Byron Saxton with Lana who gets a babyface pop for absolutely no reason. Saxton actually asks her what she thinks of the cheers and she has no idea what he's talking about. Fandango shows up and tells her to "feel it" and flow into the ecstasy of the WWE Universe. Here comes Vladimir Rusev to yell in Bulgarian and tell her to move it. Apparently its Rusev vs Fandango next.

Match 4

Fandango vs Vladimir Rusev (with Lana)

They're rehashing the old Marc Mero/Sable thing with Lana waiving to the crowd and Rusev mistreating her. Bell's gone and Rusev gets on him right away with punches & kicks. The crowd loudly chants for Kana and Rusev kicks Fandango in the head. Rusev charges in the corner and misses, Fandango rallying with right hands. Rusev gets a knee to the ribs and sends him over the top rope. Fandango goes over to Lana and starts dancing then she gets into it to a loud pop. Rusev clubs Fandango from behind and throws Lana out of the arena. Dude, she just distracted your opponent, the hell are you mad at? Fandango attacks from behind and sends Rusev into the ringpost twice. Back inside Fandango ducks the line and hits a series of dropkicks. Fandango eats a superkick and Rusev stomps on his back. Rusev locks in the Accolade and this one's over. Again, they're doing the Marc Mero/Sable, Mike Knox/Kelly Kelly angle so you know a Lana turn is coming. Total squash but it establishes Lana having some humanity and Rusev going insane because he suddenly can't beat John Cena.

Time of match: 2:12

Winner: Rusev by submission

Cole shows us Tough Enough videos as we go to break. Back from commercial we get a vignette for the upcoming ESPN special about the Performance Center and NXT. Cole shills the return of the god awful Tough Enough of June 23rd. I'm not even going to dignify it with a response. Anyway, here's R-Truth in the ring. On to our next match.

Match 5

R-Truth vs Stardust

Stardust cuts an insane promo before the match blaming R-Truth for costing him the King of The Ring. Michael Cole keeps calling him Cody and JBL keeps correcting him. Truth rolls up Stardust to start for a two count but Rhodes fights back. Truth drops him with a shoulderblock but Stardust hits a front suplex. Cody has a black back of something, unfortunately it doesn't look like a snake. Stardust hits a Russian leg sweep and does a cartwheel. Cody stomps on Truth and punches away at him before Truth starts to rally back. The crowd does NOT give a damn about this match as they collide in the center of the ring. Cody crawls to the bag as JBL says Dusty Rhodes is in the bag. Truth hits a Falcon Arrow and covers for 1...2....no. Truth goes for the bag and finds a bunch of fake spiders in it. What? Cody rolls him up for 1...2...3 to win the match. JBL thinks they're real and tells everyone to run. Truth runs away as Cole scoffs saying they're plastic. JBL "You don't know that, they could be rubber!" Waste of time really.

Time of match: 2:55

Winner: Stardust by pinfall

This Thursday on Smackdown will be the contract signing between Randy Orton, Roman Reigns, Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose. Ironically THIS is how they should have broken up the Shield a year ago. Here comes John Cena for his open challenge. The Montreal crowd loves to hate him and boos as he holds up the US title belt. Cena lets the "John Cena sucksssss" chant go on for a bit before he says "I quit". He says those words have meaning now as the crowd starts an "Ole" chant. He should have worn a Tampa Bay Lightning shirt but oh well. Cena says he's been fighting adversity for years and no matter the hostility he will never give up.  If he says he quits, he doesn't deserve to win and tells the crowd just like telling them to stop singing, it'll never happen. Cena says he loves how the rowdy crowd is passionate love him or hate him because Rusev doesn't care about the fans. Cena asks the crowd will they quit and they all scream "no". He starts calling out ppl in the crowd including a guy in a Quebec Nordiques jersey. He says they left town in 1996 but the guy still wears it because he won't quit and just like the Habs, the crowd won't give up either. Hahahaha, say what you will, Cena knows how to spin a crowd better than anyone. Cena says in two weeks he'll be saying "The champ is here" and he's here right now. After one more cheap pop he says he's the man to beat so bring on the challenger. After a few tense moments.....Bret Hart's music hits. WHAT?? Sure enough, the legendary Hitman walks out to a loud part. Bret grabs a mic and says he's here for one reason, to introduce a great wrestler. Before he can finish, Heath Slater walks out to interrupt Bret. Heath says this is his moment and it won't be taken away in Montreal. He says he's been RKO'd out of nowhere and then Rusev attacked him from behind out of nowhere. He's sick and tired of getting attacked out of nowhere but before he can say anything, Bret just pops him in the mouth. Heath drops like a dead deer and Bret goes on to introduce Cena's real opponent.....SAMI ZAYN!

Match 6

Sami Zayn vs John Cena for the WWE United States Championship

The crowd goes insane for the Montreal native and former NXT Champion. Naturally we go to commercial before the match starts and when we come back, we're underway. Zayn hits a dropkick to send Cena through the ropes to the outside. Cena moves and Zayn back flips back in the ring. JBL says Zayn looks good but there's a reason he calls Cena "Big match John". Cena hits a back suplex and covers for a deuce before applying a chinlock. JBL says Zayn was the one who ended Adrian Neville's historic NXT title reign. Zayn is favoring his shoulder which was legitimately injured and the doctors check the shoulder. Zayn says to let him continue and the ref says wrestle on. Cena lets him get ready and Cena unloads with right hands in the corner. Zayn rallies with a clothesline and right hands while favoring his left shoulder. Cena hits a series of shoulderblocks and the back suplex. Cena says you can't see me but Zayn counters with a victory roll for 1...2...no. Cena goes for the FU but Sami blocks it by hitting a top rope crossbody for 1...2...no. Cena bails to the outside and Zayn hits a rolling plancha before rolling John back inside. Cena catches him with the STFU in the center of the ring but Zayn makes it to the rope. The ref asks if Zayn wants to give it up but he catches Cena in the Koji Clutch. Cena rolls through it and goes for the FU. Sami rolls out of it and bridges a german suplex for 1...2...no. We see Rusev and Lana watching the match in the back before cutting back to the ring. Cena catches Zayn with a clothesline and shakes his head at him. Cena goes for the FU but Sami lands on his ass, pops back up, then both men double clothesline each other. Cena bails to the outside and Sami literally dives through the ringpost to hit a tornado DDT....holy schmidt. Zayn rolls Cena back in but Cena catches Zayn with the FU. Cena covers for 1...2.....NOOOOOOOO. The crowd pops as Zayn kicks out at the last second. Cena can't believe it and goes for another one. Sami catches him with the Blue Thunder Bomb for 1...2...nooooooo. The crowd chants "This is awesome" as they trade strikes in the middle of the ring. Cena from out of nowhere hits the springboard stunner (!!) before delivering another FU. Cena covers for 1...2....3.....and that's it. That was AWESOME and really brought out the best of both them. Cena shakes his hand and raises Sami's arm in the middle of the ring to a huge ovation. Cena leaves so Sami can get a standing ovation. Say what you will about Cena, he made Sami look great on his main roster debut. Unfortunately Sami really did hurt his shoulder and would be out a while, delaying his main roster push for a bit. Still, he went out on top.

Time of match: 10:43

Winner: Cena by pinfall

Cole says Sami Zayn will face NXT Champion Kevin Owens in two weeks at NXT Takeover. Cole literally reads off his script to hype up what's coming up on WWE Network including Payback in two weeks. We cut to a highlight of Orton and Reigns losing to New Day earlier before The Bella Twins walking in the back. They walk by New Day excessively celebrating by putting Big E on their shoulders as we go to commercial. Back from break Renee Young is looking for Sami Zayn but here comes New Day instead. Kofi says they are OHHHH SO GLORIOUSSSSSS and Big E says "I SAID VICTORIOUSSSSSS". Xavier Woods says their future bright and his E60 episode is on tomorrow night. They start a "New...Day rocks" chant when the former champions Cesaro, Tyson Kidd and Natalya appear. Cesaro says the crowd is chanting "New....Day sucks" and Natalya says the only reason New Day won earlier was Randy and Roman hate each other. Kidd says everyone on planet earth hates them as Woods calls him a catastrophe of Canada. Big E says their negativity won't deter them. Kidd says that's okay because New...Day sucks. Kind of pointless since New Day beat them and then Randy & Roman earlier but oh well. 

The Bellas make their way to the ring for a non-title match between Nikki and Naomi when all of a sudden Tamina Snuka of all people run out and decks them both. Tamina tore her ACL last June and she's back. Naomi joins the beatdown and Tamina superkicks Nikki down. Tamina pulls Brie to her feet and Naomi slaps her before hitting an enziguiri. Naomi celebrates but the crowd is apathetic rather than angry. WWE really screwed up trying to turn the Bellas face out of nowhere because the crowd isn't buying it. Naomi says the Bellas run of dominance is over and THIS is what family is about. Huh? Naomi and Tamina aren't related. Cole tries to say Naomi is married to Jimmy Uso.....uh, the Samoans and Jimmy Snuka aren't related. We get a highlight of Wade Barrett winning King of The Ring and sure enough, here he comes.

Wade Barrett comes out with a crown that looks like it was bought at a Halloween store and screams "Hear ye!" in a mic. He calls them all filthy commoners and he is now King Barrett. He says he'll rule his kingdom with an iron fist and will bull hammer any insubordinates. He says get used to hearing "All hail King Barrett". We got a tag match coming up next.

Match 7

King Barrett and Sheamus vs Adrian Neville and Dolph Ziggler

Its been Ziggler vs Sheamus for the past month and Neville has been in matches with Barrett, made sense to put them together for this match. Ziggler calls Sheamus a court jester in a pre-recorded interview as Ziggler starts with Barrett. Ziggler swipes at Sheamus but Barrett clobbers Dolph from behind. Barrett pounds on the back of Dolph in the corner and kicks him full force in the ribs. Barrett covers for 1...2...no. Barrett taunts Neville and knees Ziggler in the chest. Dolph counters with a tornado DDT. Ziggler covers for 1..2...no. JBL goes over the Kings of the Ring of years past as we go to break. Back from commercial Sheamus has Ziggler in a chinlock. Ziggler powers out of it but runs right into the Irish Curse. Sheamus "Are you not entertaineddddd". He grabs Ziggler and taunts him, but Dolph counters with a superkick. Ziggler crawls toward Neville as Sheamus tags to Barrett. Neville gets the hot tag and hits a head scissors on Barrett then hits a standing hilo on him on the outside. Neville springboard dropkicks Barrett in the ring. Neville hits a standing moonsault for 1...2...no. Neville gets caught in an up and over and Barrett kicks him full force in the ribs. Barrett calls for the bull hammer but misses it. Adrian hits an enziguri and German Suplex for 1...2...no. Sheamus is tackled out of the ring by Ziggler but Sheamus throws Dolph into the timekeeper's station. Neville goes for another slingshot dropkick but Barrett cracks him with the bull hammer. Barrett covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Barrett holds up his crown and scepter as Sheamus poses in the other corner. Decent match as the heels countered the speed of the faces with pure power.

Time of match: 8:38

Winners: Sheamus and Barrett by pinfall

Cole shills Roman Reigns Never Alone as we go straight to the main event. Roman Reigns and Randy Orton make their entrance as we go to commercial. Back from break, referee Mike Chioda goes to ring the bell when Kane walks out in ring gear (or his Corporate Kane attire anyway) along with Seth Rollins and J & J Security. Jamie Noble grabs the mic while standing on the announce table, he says he's the special guest ring announcer. Joey Mercury is the special guest timekeeper, special "enforcer" is Kane and Seth Rollins is special guest commentator. This was Kane's plan.

Match 8

Randy Orton vs Roman Reigns

Cole calls Noble the mayor of Munchkin City (hahahaha!) as the bell rings. Reigns and Orton jawjack each other with Rollins joining in on commentary. Seth "I trust Kane, he's got a plan." Cole "You TRUST him now?" Orton goes for the rKo early but Roman blocks it. Roman punches away at Orton and they trade blows. Orton drops Roman with a shoulderblock but Reigns sends Orton into the corner. Orton clotheslines Reigns but Roman counters with a samoan drop. JBL kisses Seth's ass as Reigns heaves Orton through the ropes to the outside. Outside, Orton backdrops Reigns on the barricade but Reigns fights back. Reigns drops Jamie Noble as Seth says that was uncalled for. Orton rams Reigns head into the barricade then throws Reigns into the ring. Seth runs down Rollins by saying he backstabbed the Shield and got Orton kicked out of The Authority. Reigns clotheslines Orton inside the ring as Booker asks if Rollins can beat the others by himself. Orton clotheslines Reigns down and goes for the powerslam but Reigns waves his finger saying no. Orton rolls out of a samoan drop and hits a backbreaker as Cole makes fun of Seth for pissing everyone off. Roman hits a running knee on the ring apron and calls for the Superman punch. Reigns misses it and runs right into the powerslam. Orton hits the second rope DDT and calls for the rko. Reigns blocks it and hits the Superman punch. Kane then trips Roman up and hits an uppercut with the referee watching. He calls for the bell but nobody is there to ring it as suddenly Kane, Rollins, Noble and Mercury stomp away at Orton before Reigns jumps over the top rope to take them out. Rollins gets up and sends Reigns into the ring post. The bell still hasn't rung yet so they're letting this go. Orton is rolled into the ring and he tries to fight back, but the numbers game catches up to Randy. Roman gets in but he gets beat down as well. Finally here comes Dean Ambrose to even the odds and they clear out J & J along with Kane. Reigns hits the spear on Rollins to get rid of him but Orton hits the rko on Reigns. Randy turns around into Dirty Deeds and Ambrose stands tall to end the night. Not enough time to tell a match plus the outside shenanigans ruined it.

Time of match: 8:35

Winner: Reigns by DQ

That was one of the better Raws of the year with Cena vs Zayn being the centerpiece. Kidd & Cesaro turning face was pretty much academic with the crowd booing the New Day and cheering Cesaro organically. The Uso's being out also drove the double turn. Ryback vs Wyatt is an important match for both guys because neither one of them seems to win the big one when it matters. Now that the main event of Payback is a Fatal Four Way, Rollins now has to rely on outside help to overcome his ex-stablemates and Orton. Then you have the Zigger/Neville and Barrett/Sheamus thing going on and at least they're trying something new for a change. It'll be interesting to see if they start to push Ambrose as a main eventer moving forward or if this is a one off. The next show after this is Wednesday night's NXT. I'll see you there.

WWE Smackdown (4/30/15)

Welcome to another edition of Smackdown. On the last Raw, it was revealed that Seth Rollins would be defending the WWE Championship against both Roman Reigns and Randy Orton in a triple threat match. Also, the King of The Ring Finals was on Tuesday night and Wade "Bad News" Barrett was victorious. Adam Rose is now with Rosa Mendes after Fandango kicked her to the curb and now Bray Wyatt wants a piece of Ryback. The New Day are the new top heel tag team and are causing chaos to the former champs Tyson Kidd and Cesaro. Naomi took out Brie Bella to show she still is number 1 contender to Nikki Bella....at least until Paige comes back. Sheamus cost Dolph Ziggler his shot at the KoTR so you know Dolph is going to be gunning for Sheamus. Rusev gets one last crack at John Cena at Payback and interrupted John Cena's open challenge on Monday, will he do it again tonight? What's the status of Big Show? Now we have to go search for clues. Let's start the show.

IWireless Center

Moline, Illinois

April 30, 2015

Commentators: Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton & Jerry Lawler

Ring Announcer: JoJo Offerman

We start the show with an In Memoriam graphic of the legendary Verne Gagne who passed away days earlier. One of the best promoters and wrestlers to ever live, he will be missed. Seth Rollins and J & J Security walk into the back and Seth sees someone off-screen and says they have the nerve to show up after the stunt they pulled on Monday. The camera shows its Kane and Rollins says its Kane's fault that its a triple threat match and for beating him up on Monday. Rollins says Kane is his problem, not the others. Kane says what's best for business is to give the audience what they want and Rollins says the truth is Kane is jealous of him because he never was as big as he was. Kane says he'll make a man out of Rollins if its the last thing he'll ever do. Kane says Rollins will face Dean Ambrose tonight like he was supposed to last week and that's best for business. Seth says he misses Kane from 20 years ago, not this current incarnation. Rollins dares him to do something in that match tonight and we get our opening graphic.

Tom Phillips, Byron Saxton and Jerry "The King" Lawler welcome us to ringside. Roman Reigns hits the ring for a chat. We're shown highlights of the tag match on Raw where Reigns and Randy Orton beat Rollins and Kane. Reigns gives a shoutout to Dean Ambrose in his match with "their little brother" Seth Rollins. Roman says Rollins destroyed The Shield and cost him the WWE title at Wrestlemania 31. Reigns says he's going to bring the fight to Orton and Rollins when all of a sudden Kane hits ringside who starts shedding his shirt and tie. Kane brings referee Charles Robinson to the ring with him and puts his elbow pads on. Guess Rollins got to Kane because we got an impromptu match.

Match 1

Kane vs Roman Reigns

Kane doesn't even give a reason or cut a promo on what he's doing, he just has Charles Robinson ring the bell. They slug it out to start with Roman sent into the corner. They continue to slug it out but Kane just throws Reigns to the ground. Kane sends Reigns into the corner to work the back then delivers a back suplex. Phillips says Kane is sick of being called irrelevant but Roman ducks a charge, sending Kane flying over the top rope. Kane gets sent to the ringpost and Reigns dropkicks him but continues tos ell the back. Kane sidewalk slams Reigns on top of the announce table but it doesn't break. We go to commercial and when we come back, Kane has a bearhug on Reigns in the ring. Kane rams Reigns into the corner and clotheslines him in the other corner. Kane covers for a deuce then stomps away on Reigns. Roman fights back with right hands and they trade strikes in the middle of the ring. Roman rallies with strikes and a snap suplex before clotheslining Kane down. Kane charges to the corner and eats boot before Roman hits a second rope clothesline. Roman clubs away at Kane in the corner and delivers a samoan drop. Roman charges up for the Superman punch but runs into a chokeslam. Kane covers for 1....2....NOOOOO. Kane gives the sign for the tombstone but Roman counters it with a DDT. Roman hits the Superman punch and calls for the spear. Roman dives and misses as Kane rolls out of the ring. Kane leaves and Charles Robinson counts to ten to end the match. A quick camera view of the back shows Rollins and J & J are totally confused. Roman wins by count out as announcers speculate why Kane bailed like that. Roman in the ring says "I came to fight and he ran. He picks a fight then he leaves?" Kane has some explaining to do for this one to The Authority. Kane and Reigns worked together so many times that this was standard for Roman to be the underdog against the monster.

Time of match: 6:28

Winner: Reigns by count-out

Renee Young asks Seth Rollins what's going on and Rollins answers that Kane was in over his head. He says Kane carries a senior citizens card (he just turned 48 on Sunday) and he carries the WWE Championship. Rollins says he never runs away from a fight and finds a way to win the fight. He says he doesn't need anyone's help of anyone including J & J Security (and they visibly did NOT like that). Rollins is definitely breaking out as a character and its going to lead to a hell of a blowup with The Authority when the time comes. A graphic shows later tonight The New Day defending the tag straps against the former champs Tyson Kidd and Cesaro.

Back from commercial we're shown Damien Sandow making fun of Curtis Axel like a 12 year old from Raw and apparently they're up next. Yippie.....

Match 2

Damien Sandow vs Curtis Axel

Sandow joins JoJo Offerman in announcing himself and Axel before the match starts. He calls Axel a pigeon-toed disappointment. Axel sticks a finger in Sandow's face and calls him a joke. Curtis tears his t-shirt off and throws it at Sandow and Damien goes to do the same when Curtis attacks. Damien gets him in a headlock and shoulderblocks Curtis down. Sandow tears his shirt off and throws Axel over the top rope to the floor. Sandow then sits next to Curtis and elbows him down. Axel retreats into the ring and puts the boots to Sandow on the way back in. Axel splashes Sandow in the corner and chokes him with his boot. Curtis screams "AXELLLMANIAAAAAA" and Sandow nips up. Sandow does the YOUUUU taunt before Hulkapunching Axel into the ropes. Sandow hits the big boot and then the Skull Crushing Finale. Sandow covers for 1...2.....3 to end the match. Sandow wins and Phillips calls him the NEW Damien Sandow. Losing to The Miz and doing comedy pretty much just made him a joke. Vince's reliance on comedy acts like Fandango and Sandow really makes you appreciate modern day guys that don't have silly gimmicks.

Time of match: 2:29

Winner: Sandow by pinfall

Renee Young is with Ryback and she asks why Bray would target him. Ryback says the Eater of Worlds has bitten off more than he can chew. Ryback says he's going to devour Luke Harper as a message to Wyatt later. Ryback says Feed Me More and leaves. Just like with Bray Wyatt attacking Dean Ambrose the year earlier, Wyatt attacking Ryback is just weird. But, at least they got something to do now.

Match 3

Ryback vs Luke Harper

Ryback wants to take out Harper to send a message to Luke's former partner Wyatt. The commentators say Harper's had a bad week as Ryback locks in a headlock before dropping Harper with a shoulderblock. Harper bullrushes Ryback int he corner and punches him around before locking in his own headlock. Ryback powers out of it and turns it into a wristlock. Harper punches out of it and uppercuts Ryback. Ryback rallies with right hands and hits a Thesz press. Ryback shoulderblocks Harper in the corner but Harper rallies with right hands and a suplex. Harper flexes his own muscles and goes for a suplex but Ryback hits his own delayed suplex. Ryback punches Harper in the corner and Luke counters with a sit down powerbomb for 1...2....nope. We got to commercial and when we come back, Harper clotheslines Ryback down. Harper covers for a deuce and Harper gator rolls Ryback. Ryback counters with an overhead suplex. Ryback elbows Harper and gets sent into the corner. Ryback kicks him away and hits a scoop slam. Ryback hits a big splash and covers for 1.....2....nope. Harper flips over for a two count but Ryback counters with a spinebuster. Ryback calls for the Meat Hook clothesline but Harper kicks Ryback in the head and covers for 1...2...nope. Harper calls for the lariat but Ryback counters with the Meat Hook. Ryback hits Shell Shock and covers for 1..2...3 to win the match. Ryback said he was going to beat up Harper to make an example out of him and he does. After the match, Wyatt attacks and beats down Ryback. Wyatt looks menacing as the message is sent, Ryback has no idea when Wyatt is going to strike.

Time of match: 6:03

Winner: Ryback by pinfall

Later tonight Dean Ambrose takes on Seth Rollins but the tag team title rematch is next. New Day takes on Kidd and Cesaro.

Match 4

Tyson Kidd and Cesaro (with Natalya) vs The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E Langston) with Xavier Woods for the WWE Tag Team Championships

This is a rematch from Extreme Rules and New Day tries to start a New Day Rocks chant and naturally the crowd chants New Day Sucks. Lawler on commentary says he didn't think Kidd & Cesaro could be beaten but they were. As Big E holds up the belts, Woods says "New Dayyyy" and Cesaro says "Sucks". Woods "Hey!" Crowd chants New Day Sucks and Woods says "No we don't!" Kidd starts with Kofi at the bell and Kidd rolls into a roll up for a two count. Kofi does a go-behind and locks in an arm-bar. Kidd reverses it and crucifixes for a two count. Kofi throws Kidd over the top but he skins the cat over the back of Cesaro back in. He makes the tag to Cesaro and Kidd flips Kofi right into the uppercut. Cesaro covers for 1...2...nope. Cesaro picks Kofi up like a feather and hits a gut wrench suplex. He covers for a deuce and does a backslide for another near fall. Cesaro locks in an armbar. Kofi goes for a small package and Cesaro just simply picks him up and hits the Janetty Plex with Kidd. Kidd locks in a half nelson and Cesaro tags in to hit a full nelson suplex. Kofi nails to the outside and Woods distracted Cesaro long enough for Big E to make the tag. Cesaro still german suplexes Big E and stomps away at him in rhythm to "New...Day sucks". Kidd tags in and boots Big E before dropping Kofi with an elbow. He kicks at Woods but Big E drops Kidd off the apron. Woods laughs in Kidd's face before Big E sends Kidd spine first into the barricade. Big E throws Kidd inside and Kofi tags in to put the boots to him. Kofi dropkicks Kidd in the corner and covers for 1..2...nope. Kofi goes for an arm-bar but Kidd powers out of it. Kofi trips Kidd and heads to the second rope but Tyson dropkicks him in mid-air. Big E tags in and he knocks Cesaro off the apron before hitting an overhead belly to belly suplex. Kidd rolls to the floor and we cut to commercial. Back inside Big E does a regular belly to belly suplex and covers for 1...2...nope. Woods yells at the announce team as Kofi tags in and hits the Boom Drop before knocking Cesaro off the apron. Kofi misses Trouble In Paradise and Cesaro gets the hot tag. Cesaro cleans out Kofi and Big E and uppercuts Kofi in the corner. He covers for a deuce and cradles Kofi for another two count. Cesaro overhead press slams Kofi but Big E breaks up the pinfall attempt. Cesaro throws Big E over the top rope and Kofi rolls up Cesaro for a two count. Big E tags in and freight trains Cesaro but Kidd breaks up the count. Kidd somersault planchas over the top to take Kofi out on the floor leaving Big E with Cesaro. A charge eats knee and Cesaro uppercuts from the second rope. Cesaro hits a spinebuster and tags in Kidd as he giant swings Big E. Kidd dropkicks Big E in mid-air and covers but Kofi and Xavier break up the count to earn a DQ. New Day brawls with Kidd & Cesaro and the numbers game adds up as the three mauls the two. New Day walks off with the belts as Kidd & Cesaro are named the winners. Clearly this rivalry isn't over yet, another ppv match may be in order. Damn good match for what it was. Woods and Kofi struggle to hold Big E up on their shoulders as we cut.

Time of match: 13:35

Winners: Kidd & Cesaro by Disqualification

Backstage we go to Cameron and Summer Rae. They gossip and make fun of Brie and Daniel Bryan. Cameron claims she taught Naomi everything she knows when Nikki Bella walks up, chasing Summer away. Nikki tells her to shut up and Cameron says "Girl bye" as Nikki ignores her and says they have beef now. Nikki wants Cameron one on one for her sister's honor later tonight. Again, great idea but the problem is the Bellas did absolutely nothing to turn face. Literally they were feuding with AJ and Paige, AJ retires out of nowhere and Naomi took out Paige. The Bellas were switched just for the lack of babyface numbers and now we're all expected to go with it. Oh well, point is we got Nikki vs Cameron later. Just like Ryback making an example out of Harper, Nikki is going to make and example out of Cameron to send a message to Naomi. At least THAT makes sense. Nikki says Cameron isn't even remotely as good as Naomi and to stop comparing herself. Cameron counters with "Girl bye" We get a graphic for Ambrose/Rollins before we cut to commercial. Back from commercial we get a graphic for John Cena vs Rusev in an I Quit Match for Payback. Then we go to more god awful Tough Enough videos although they did have legitimate athletes featured. Onto the next match.

Match 5

Cameron vs Nikki Bella 

Apparently this is a non-title match and Brie Bella isn't even there. In a pre-recorded video, Naomi says she's going to take the title from Nikki and life isn't a fairy tale. Bell's gone and Nikki arm drags Cameron before doing jumping jacks. Nikki flips Cameron over again but Cameron takes over with an eye rake, sending Nikki to the corner. Cameron twerks facing the camera for absolutely no reason then charges, ducking under a Nikki dropkick. Cameron covers for 1..2...nope. Cameron pounds away on Nikki and kicks her out of the ring. Cam taunts Nikki and sends her into the barricade before saying she's going to make a statement. Phillips on commentary says Cameron is tired of playing second fiddle to Naomi which now makes it even worse because Naomi was a better babyface and now a better heel. Cameron goes for a split and lands then covers for 1..2....no. Cameron shouts at the ref as the crowd doesn't care. Cameron does her best to shout at them for heat and takes Nikki down by the hair. Cameron kicks Nikki in the back then locks in a chinlock. Nikki stands up with Cameron on her back and rams her into the corner. Nikki ducks a charge and drops Cameron with a series of clotheslines. A dropkick by Nikki gets a pop but misses the corner clothesline. A charge eats elbow and Nikki hits the second rope clothesline before covering for a deuce. Cameron hits a cradle for a two count but Nikki clotheslines her down. Nikki hits Rack Attack and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Bless Cameron, she tried....but the crowd was not feeling it. Again, the horrible booking of the divas the previous year pretty much led to this. The Bellas did nothing to signify a face turn and the crowd doesn't give a rats ass about "Girl Bye." That's not Cameron's fault either, the whole "Mean Girls" style of booking had been going on for 10 years now and people were sick of it. The women from NXT were going to usher in a new generation pretty soon. As for now, Nikki gets the duke to send a message to Naomi.

Time of match: 3:50

Winner: Nikki Bella by pinfall

Backstage to the Prime Time Players Darren Young and Titus O'Neil who make fun of New Day. Once again, WWE was way too comedic for too long. They get a New Day Sucks chant with a "be-gone box" and a "Prime...Time Players" chant. Are they ever going to wrestle? Back from commercial break Rollins and his stooges visit Dean Ambrose in the back. Rollins wants Ambrose to back out of the match and Ambrose ask why. Seth says he's got a title match at Payback and Kane made the match tonight out of spite and to humiliate him, and HHH isn't going to be happy when he gets back. Ambrose says "Sounds good" and Rollins thinks the match is off but Ambrose clarifies that he meant the idea of Rollins being humiliated sounds good, he'll see him out there. Rollins says Ambrose is making a huge mistake and Ambrose says he's made a lot of mistakes but at least he'll bust Rollins' face instead. Back at ringside the announcers finally bring up the King of The Ring Finals which was won by Wade "Bad News" Barrett. We're shown highlights of Sheamus losing to Adrian Neville, Barrett beating R-Truth and Barrett beating Neville in the finals. Barrett cuts a promo saying he'll be ruling his kingdom with an iron fist and a Bullhammer. Let's get to our final match.

Match 6

Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins (with J & J Security)

Looks like this is a non-title match but that's okay. This was the first feud out of the gate last year when Rollins turned on the Shield so this might be Ambrose pseudo putting himself in the title picture once Randy Orton's push fades. Bell's gone and Ambrose gets in an arm-bar. Ambrose wrenches the other arm and Rollins bails to the outside to regroup with his stooges. Back inside Rollins buries shoulders into the stomach in the corner before locking in an arm-bar of his own. Ambrose trips up Rollins with a drop-toe hold and locks in an STF holding Seth's nose. Rollins gets the upperhand and chokes Dean on the middle rope but Dean gets a crossbody and punches in. Dean clotheslines Seth over the top rope to the floor and Noble & Mercury lead Rollins away. Dean gets distracted by the stooges and Rollins hits a baseball slide on Ambrose. Seth distracts the ref and the stooges put the boots to Ambrose. All of a sudden Kane walks down to ringside as we go to commercial. Back from break Kane stands next to Noble & Mercury as Rollins stomps away at Ambrose. Seth fist bumps both Noble & Mercury and tells Kane to buzz off before he drops Ambrose with a clothesline. Ambrose ducks the line and lands one of his own before punching away at Seth. Ambrose rallies with clotheslines before landing a forearm in the corner. Ambrose goes upstairs but jumps into a kick to the stomach. Ambrose blocks a buckle bomb and dropkicks Seth to the outside. Ambrose hits a suicide dive to the outside then heaves Seth inside. Seth kicks Dean in the head, they both miss kicks and Ambrose hits a sit-down facebuster. He covers for 1..2....nope. Rollins blocks a superplex off the top rope and counters with a buckle bomb. Rollins covers for 1...2....nope. Ambrose counters a superkick with a roll up for a deuce. Rollins counters Dirty Deeds (done dirt cheap) with a superkick. Rollins covers for 1...2....nope. Kane hops up on the apron and Ambrose bull rushes Rollins into Kane. Ambrose heaves Rollins over the top rope onto Kane. The stooges and Kane get cleared out by Ambrose with a top rope splash, but Rollins heaves Dean into the barricade. Kane grabs Seth by the throat and yells at him but then catches Ambrose with the other hand. Kane lets them both go and goes to choke the ref but Ambrose throws Kane into the ringpost. Ambrose wipes out both Noble and Mercury with a double clothesline but Rollins sends Ambrose into the steel steps. Dean staggers back inside and Rollins hits a variant of Dirty Deeds only with Ambrose landing face first. Seth covers for 1...2......3? Seth wins it with whatever that move was. The numbers game catches up with Ambrose as it was essentially 4 against 1 despite Dean's best effort.

After the match Kane gets in the ring and puts the boots to Ambrose with Rollins, Noble and Mercury joining in for a 4 on 1 assault. Roman Reigns hits the ring and Superman punches Kane. Roman heaves the stooges to the side and punches Rollins to the outside. Reigns spears Noble and Mercury together but Kane goes to chokeslam Ambrose and Roman. Both punch their way out of it and Reigns hits the spear on Kane. Seth hightails it out of there as Reigns and Ambrose stand tall to end the show.

Time of match: 10:18

Winner: Rollins by pinfall

Not a bad show even if it was a victim of bad booking from the past. They're trying to build tension between Rollins and Kane but the problem is Kane is not turning on him and everyone knows it. He already helped him win the cage match and it looks like he's going to cause shenanigans in the triple threat match at Payback. New Day continue to roll as the top heel tag team and with the Usos on the shelf (Jey anyway), it comes at a good time. Nikki Bella's inexplicable face turn is going over like a fart in church especially since she was the one who less than a year earlier wished Brie died in the womb on national television. Damien Sandow repeating what Curtis Axel and low level heels like Adam Rose say is going to get old real quick. The only feud that's actually interesting is Wyatt vs Ryback. Pretty much both guys need a victory or else they'll fade down the card. Ryback already failed to win the WWE title and losing to Wyatt kills any and all momentum with Roman Reigns still locked in to the top face spot. Wyatt lost to The Undertaker despite acting like he won, a loss to Ryback makes him look even worse. Not a bad show with good wrestling even if some of the story arcs are completely pointless. We'll see what happens moving forward. Raw comes at you from the Bell Center in Montreal this Monday night. I'll see you there.

WWE King of The Ring 2015 (4/28/15)

Free of the constraints of network television, WWE decided to have the 2015 King of The Ring finals as a 1 hour WWE Network special. Rather than hold the semi-finals on Smackdown and the Finals on a PPV, we got the semi-finals and finals on this special. For those that didn't bother to read the Raw recap, Bad News Barrett defeated Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth defeated Stardust, Sheamus defeated Dean Ambrose and Adrian Neville defeated Luke Harper. Barrett takes on Truth and Sheamus fights Neville tonight. Let's get to it.

IWireless Center

Moline, Illinois

April 28, 2015

Commentators: Michael Cole, JBL and Jerry "The King" Lawler

Ring Announcer: Eden Stiles

We open the show with a graphic honoring the late Verne Gagne who had passed away the day before before the opening vignette. Jerry Lawler opens the show thanking the fans and giving us a montage of what's to come tonight and how we got here. Then we cut to Byron Saxton who interviews Sheamus about his semi-final match. He says he's going to be the two time (TWO TIME) king of the ring but has to get past the "English elf" Neville. He may defy gravity, but not while he's unconscious. He says it don't matter who's in the Finals against him because he's going to become king. Then he'll make every little fella including Dolph Ziggler in WWE kiss his arse. We cut to Renee Young who's with Adrian Neville and he talks about how he was one of NXT's greatest champions and now he's in the KOTR semi-finals. He said even he can't believe it and no one gave him a chance to win. He's going to defy the odds and gravity. He's going to show Sheamus what a "little fella" like him can do.

Match 1

Sheamus vs Adrian Neville in a King of The Ring Semifinal match

Size vs speed here as we kick things off with Sheamus and Adrian Neville. Sheamus makes fun of Neville's height and calls him an elf. Sheamus backs him in the corner and tells him to come on. Sheamus and Neville trade punches then Neville goes up and over. He goes for a boot, ducks the line, kicks Sheamus in the ribs and runs into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Neville looks legit hurt but Sheamus knees him in the ribs anyway. Sheamus hits another backbreaker and a running knee to the head. Sheamus "Are you not entertained????" Sheamus kicks Neville in the corner and locks in a bear hug. Cole names some Kings of the past and JBL says don't forget King Booker. Sheamus misses a clothesline and Neville hits two running forearms. Neville kicks at Sheamus but Sheamus sends him to the apron. Sheamus goes for 10 Beats of the Bodhran, but Neville blocks it. Sheamus shoves Adrian off the apron straight into the announce table. Neville takes the nine count outside but slides back in. Sheamus slugs away in the corner and throws him across the ring. Sheamus says he doesn't belong in his ring and goes for White Noise. Sheamus hits it but then Dolph Ziggler comes out with a microphone. Ziggler points to the titantron and a highlight of Ziggler beating Sheamus distracts him. He turns around and misses the Brogue Kick, getting kicked in the back of the head but Adrian. Neville goes up to the top rope and hits the Red Arrow. He covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Kind of cheap to have Dolph distract Sheamus but Neville gets a big win regardless. Good match for what it was.

Time of match: 5:47

Winner: Neville by pinfall

After the match Dolph grabs a microphone and raises Neville's arm. Dolph then says he has unfinished business with Sheamus. He was supposed to kiss Dolph's ass at Extreme Rules and now he's come to collect. He charges the ring and drives Sheamus back with punches, but Sheamus bails. Only when the referees come out does he try to charge the ring. Don't tell me this is going to be a running gag of Dolph chasing Sheamus around to kiss his ass. Sheamus has a nasty cut over his eye and he's bleeding quite a bit. Apparently Dolph hit him with a live round. 

Then we cut to Renee Young who's with Wade Barrett. She says that Neville beating Sheamus is one of the biggest upsets in KOTR history and and asks Wade what his confidence level is. Wade gets offended and says Truth shouldn't have arachnophobia, he should have Bullhammerphobia. Wade says when he's finished with has-been (Truth) he's going to beat the "Neville-will-be.". Neville will be the "man that nobody remembers because Bad News Barrett will be King of the Ring. We go to Byron Saxton with R-Truth who says everyone knows he's afraid of spiders, but he has a plan. He's going to win King of The Ring, declare that spiders are banned from wrestling. Including the "nephew spiders" He'll build a castle, a drawbridge and a moat then he stops. He asks if there are water spiders and Byron looks at him funny. Byron asks about Barrett and Truth says Barrett won't be invited into the castle unless he can kill spiders. Truth says he's going to take care of the water spiders right now. Yeah Truth's pretty out there....anyway, on to the next match.

Match 2

R-Truth vs Wade "Bad News" Barrett in a King of The Ring Semifinal match

Winner faces Adrian Neville in the Finals so logic dictates Barrett will win. Bret Hart and Booker T apparently chimed in on Twitter and Lawler says "I remember when Bret was crowned king of the ring, I crowned him." Hahahaha! Bell rings and they circle to start and Truth gets a quick roll up to a deuce. Barrett punches Truth in the solar plexus and backs him to the ropes. Truth dances and elbows Barrett in the face. Truth hits the O'Connor roll for a deuce but Barrett hits a big boot, covering for another two. Barrett chokes Truth on the second rope then knees him in the head. Wade boots Truth out of the ring and rams his head against the apron. Barrett throws Truth inside and covers for 1..2...no. JBL talks about Roman Emperor Nero as Barrett locks in a chinlock. Barrett gets knees to the ribs but a charge in the corner eats boot.Truth rallies with clotheslines and a kick to the ribs. Truth hits a faceplant and covers for 1...2...no. Truth misses a scissors kick but Barrett runs into an axe kick. Truth covers for 1..2....no. Truth looks at the ref in disbelief as Lawler says Truth needs to fill his moat with bug spray. Truth ducks the line and hits a sky twister elbow. He covers for 1...2..no. Lawler and Cole asks if Barrett looked past R-Truth as Barrett shoves him down. Truth runs right into Winds of Change and covers for 1.....2....nooo. Wade rams Truth's head into the buckle and stomps a mud-hole in him. Barrett misses a charge and Truth hits Lie Detector. He covers for 1..2....no, Barrett got the foot on the rope. Truth can't believe it as JBL says Truth is our last hope to have an American king....ha, he's right. Barrett bails to the outside but Truth grabs him, only to get a thumb to the eye. Barrett turns his armpad around, rolls inside and buries Truth with a Bullhammer. Barrett covers for 1....2....3 to win the match. Its gonna be the two Brits, Neville and Barrett in the finals. Fitting for the two Brits to battle over who's king. Match was okay as JBL says we're one win away from having King Bad News.

Time of match: 4:38

Winner: Barrett by pinfall

Over to the announce table who Michael Cole solemly announces Verne Gagne passed away the day before. We go directly to a video tribute of Verne Gagne of his life. Fun fact, Gagne started the AWA in 1960 because he wanted to be the NWA Champion but the NWA turned him down. Gagne started his own promotion and made himself champion. Three years later, Verne's friend Vince McMahon Sr wanted Buddy Rogers to be the NWA Champion but he too got turned down. Vince, just like Verne, broke off Capitol Wrestling from the NWA and formed the World Wide Wrestling Federation, which we know today as WWE. After the video package, Lawler says everyone who met Gagne has fond memories of him. Michael gives his condolences to the Gagne family.

Then we cut to Renee Young with Dolph Ziggler of all people. Renee asks why he helped Sheamus advance last night only to cause him to lose tonight. Dolph couldn't take it anymore because Sheamus bullied people who can't defend themselves. Dolph called Dean Ambrose to apologize about costing him the match. He promises to inflict more pain on Sheamus and its not about kissing his ass, its about kicking Sheamus'. 

Now we get tonight's WWE Network schedule then to a highlight of Adrian Neville defeating Barrett at Extreme Rules before sending it to Byron Saxton with Wade himself. Saxton says he's got good news, Barrett is up next in the Finals. But he's got bad news, he hasn't beaten Neville yet. Way to telegraph the ending Byron. Barrett says he hates fighting twice in one night but Neville is in trouble because he plowed through Truth. Barrett says he has all the momentum and from here Barrett will be king. On to the Finals.

Match 3

Adrian Neville vs Wade "Bad News" Barrett in a King of The Ring Finals match

This is the Finals and its definitely going to be interesting how they book this. Is the push going to the high flying Neville to cement his rising star status or is Barrett going to get the duke after being booked horribly as the Intercontinental Champion going into Wrestlemania? Bell's gone and immediately Barrett bails outside. JBL says he just wrestled minutes earlier as Lawler says Neville did as well. Barrett starts with right hands and boots to the ribs. Barrett whips Neville in the corner who ups and overs then sends Barrett flying with a headscissors. Neville hits a dropkick and kicks away at Barrett but Wade clotheslines him over the top rope to the floor. Barrett scoop slams Neville on the floor and sends him ribs first onto the apron. Barrett sends Neville back inside and covers for a 1 count. Cole brings up Barrett's loss to Neville at Extreme Rules and kicks Neville in the ribs again before covering for a deuce. Barrett hits a slingshot backbreaker on Neville and covers for a deuce. Barrett locks in an arm-bar and turns it into a surfboard. Neville kicks out of it but Barrett goes for another suplex but Neville rolls out of it and hits a series of kicks on Barrett. Neville clotheslines Barrett over the top to the floor then hits a top rope asai moonsault on Wade. Barrett rolls inside and Neville hits a missile dropkick back in the ring. Neville goes to town with kicks and a dropkick again. Neville hits a german suplex for 1...2.....noooo. Nevvile splashes Barrett in the corner but runs into Winds of Change. Wade covers for 1...2...noooo. Bad News goes for Wasteland but Neville rolls out of it. Barrett counters a kick with a successful Wasteland. He covers for 1....2...nope. JBL wants the Bullhammer and right on cue Barrett load sit up. Neville ducks under it and hits the O'Connor roll for 1.....2...noooo. Neville hit a standing enziguiri to drop Barrett and goes up top. Neville goes for Red Arrow and misses but lands on his feet. Neville turns around and runs right into the Bullhammer. Barrett covers for 1...2.....3 to win the match. JBL says "All hail King Bad News" and Wade gets some heat back by winning the King of The Ring. Good match and arguably better than their Extreme Rules match but this time Barrett gets the duke.

Time of match: 7:06

Winner: Barrett by pinfall

Now its time for the coronation. Jerry Lawler is at the entrance ramp where the throne, cape, crown and scepter are. Wade has the referee put the cape on but he puts the crown on his head himself. He picks up the scepter as Lawler says congratulations are in order for the new King of The Ring. Wade says he's got class and elegance to call himself king. He will be ruling his kingdom with an iron fist and a bullhammer....boom! Michael Cole signs off and says goodnight everyone as Barrett sits on the throne.

Well the show served its purpose to get Barrett over and still give a shout out to Neville for getting this far. As I said earlier, Barrett needed the rub after being a horribly booked IC champion and a stooge for Sheamus the last month. It was doubtful he was beating Daniel Bryan at Extreme Rules before Bryan was ruled out with a concussion so this was the next best thing. Just like with Sheamus five years earlier, they're going to call him King Barrett moving forward. The next show after this is the upcoming Smackdown, I'll see you there.

WWE Raw (4/27/15)

Extreme Rules has come and gone and we got a little bit of controversy, but I'll get to that in a minute. First, we have new WWE Tag Team Champions as Tyson Kidd and Cesaro were knocked off by New Day. Adrian Neville made his PPV debut by beating Wade "Bad News" Barrett and Nikki Bella is still the WWE Divas champion after beating Naomi. John Cena is still the US Champion after beating Rusev in the Russian Chain Match although Lana got Rusev another match at Payback coming up. Roman Reigns beat Big Show in a Last Man Standing match and Ryback laid out Bo Dallas. Dolph Ziggler defeated Sheamus in a Kiss Me Arse match but Sheamus made Ziggler kiss his anyway. Now for the controversy. Seth Rollins won the cage match with Randy Orton but both men used the RKO in the match that was supposed to be banned. Randy used it on Kane while Seth used it on Randy. They're gonna have to explain this one tonight. Also tonight is a very special night as we're bringing back the King of The Ring tournament. Let's get to the show:

Resch Center

Green Bay, Wisconsin

April 27, 2015

Commentators: Booker T, John Bradshaw Layfield & Michael Cole

Ring Announcer: Eden Stiles

We open with a montage for the King of The Ring featuring past winners and such. The birth of Austin 3:16, King Booker, King Sheamus and Bret Hart's amazing 1993 performance. Michael Cole welcomes us and we check out the brackets. Dolph Ziggler takes on Bad News Barrett, R-Truth faces Stardust, Dean Ambrose goes one on one with Sheamus and Adrian Neville opposes the demented Luke Harper. Then ring announcer Eden Stiles says WWE Champion Seth Rollins is on his way. Rollins comes in with Kane, Joey Mercury and Jamie Noble in tow. Cole sends us to still images of last night's main event with Kane and J & J Security interfering. Cole brings up both Orton and Rollins using the RKO. Rollins takes the mic and says Randy Orton can't outsmart Seth Rollins. Rollins says he himself created and destroyed The Shield, cashed in at Wrestlemania and proved he was the fighting champion he is at Extreme Rules. The crowd chants "You suck" as Rollins says he beat Orton all by himself with Kane & Noble looking confused. Rollins says he used the S-ko out of the nowhere and yuks it up with Noble & Mercury. Rollins says even a general like him needs soldiers and he says thank Kane for being a good soldier. Seth calls him the Crypt Keeper and subtlety says Kane is washed up from the 90's. Kane cuts him off and says if it wasn't for him and the illegal use of the RKO, Orton would be champion and Seth would be out here crying like the entitled, spoiled brat he is. Kane says he'd rather be the WWE version of the Crypt Keeper than the WWE version of Justin Bieber.....hahahaha. Seth screams that Kane is jealous of him and Kane says Rollins is scared because without The Authority, Seth wouldn't be champion. Rollins says he's not scared of Kane and would wrestle circles around him when Randy Orton's music hits. Randy comes out and says he's not the kind of guy to come out and complain but since Kane admitted Rollins cheated, that's grounds for a rematch. Seth denies it and says he runs the show, not Randy. Randy says "Shut up Catwoman, I'm not talking to you. I'm talking to Kane." Kane says Randy has a point when Roman Reigns music hits. Roman makes his way to ringside as JBL asks "Now what does that hothead want?" Roman stands on the announce table as a symbol of his win last night. Seth cuts him off before he says anything "Oh get over yourself, what are you out here for?" Roman tells him to shut the hell up and says Rollins is missing his giant because of him. Reigns says he wants a title shot at Justin Bieber and the crowd chants to annoy Seth. Rollins mocks Reigns and says he and Orton both lost to him. Rollins refuses title shots to either of them but Kane cuts him off. Kane says Roman and Randy make compelling arguments and he's got an idea. He makes a tag match later that night with Kane and Rollins against Orton and Reigns and the WWE universe will decide who gets the next shot. Cole has no idea what that means as even Orton looks perplexed. Seth sticks a finger in Kane's face as we cut to the KOTR bracket to show Ziggler vs Barrett up next.

Match 1

Dolph Zigger vs Wade "Bad News" Barrett in a King of The Ring Quarterfinal Match

Ziggler says its tough to concentrate after what Sheamus did to him and is going to take it out on Barrett. Barrett guarantees he's going to be King Barrett when this is over. Dolph starts with right hands but Barrett counters with a right hand of his own. You don't want to get into a fistfight with Barrett. Barrett drops Ziggler with a shoulderblock and a cover gets two. Barrett drops an elbow as JBL says Dolph's new name is Chapstick. Booker says Dolph needs to fight back and right on cue Ziggler dropkicks Barrett outside. Back from commercial Barrett has Dolph in a chinlock as we see how Barrett got the upperhand with a kick to the face to knock Dolph off the apron. Back to live action Dolph sends Barrett into the ring post. Ziggler fights back with right hands and a big clothesline. Ziggler hits the Stinger Splash in the corner, ducks under a big boot and crucifixes Barrett for two. Ziggler counters Wasteland with a ddt and covers for 1....2....no. Barrett slingshots Ziggler into the ring post and hits Wasteland. Barrett covers for 1...2....noooooo. Barrett loads up the Bullhammer but Ziggler ducks it and hits a superkick. He covers for 1..2....noooo. All of a sudden Sheamus hits ringside with a mic and shows still images of Ziggler's face in his ass from the night before. Ziggler runs into a Bullhammer and Barrett covers for 1....2.....3 to win the match. It took a huge distraction from Sheamus but Barrett advances. Sheamus laughs as Barrett nods at him as a thank you. Before the distraction that was a damn good crash style match.

Time of match: 4:48

Winner: Barrett by pinfall

After the match, JBL announces the tag match is official between Orton/Reigns against Kane/Rollins. The number 1 contender will be revealed later. New Day harasses some guy backstage as apparently they're next.

Match 2

Big E Langston (with Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston) vs Tyson Kidd (With Natalya and Cesaro)

New Day gets in the ring and Xavier thanks the clappers out there. He wants a New Day ROCKS chants and naturally the crowd chants New Day Sucks. Good on Vince to notice the two teams swapped heat and swapped the roles. Kidd comes out to a minor pop and I honestly prefer Kidd as a babyface because his high spots and technical work is better as a face. Bell's gone and Kidd bumrushes Big E. E counters with a knee to the mid-section and throws Kidd over the top rope. Kidd catches himself and springboards but E catches him. Kidd ducks a line on the apron and kicks Langston in the head. Kidd hits a missile dropkick and stomps away at E in the corner before catering to the crowd. E regroups outside but Kidd kicks E right in the head. Kidd throws Big E inside but Big E counters with a lariat. E covers but Woods from outside holds the foot for 1...2....3 to win the match. Woods and Kofi run off with Big E with Cesaro chasing them away. Cole and Booker apparently missed Woods holding the ankle but JBL saw it. JBL is supposed to be the heel to boot which makes it even funnier. Short and sweet to put over the fact the New Day are the new top heel tag team. Beats the boring Ascension and Los Matadores for sure.

Time of match: 1:19

Winner: Big E Langston by pinfall

Back to Cole who shows still images of Cena's win over Rusev the night before. Its implied Lana distracted Rusev to allow Cena to win. Cole says Lana got an I Quit Match for Rusev against Cena in three weeks at Payback. Finally this feud is coming to an end although Cena has an Open Challenge later tonight. Let's get back to ring action.

Match 3

Ryback vs Bo Dallas

This match stems from the night before when Bo Dallas walked out and insulted the crowd in Chicago in the middle of the show and Ryback ran out to destroy him. Dallas walks out and cuts a promo giving Ryback a chance to back out while he still can. Dallas says all Ryback has to do is Bo-Lieve but Ryback bumrushes him at the bell. Ryback drops Dallas with an elbow and Bo retreats in the corner. Bo clotheslines Ryback from behind and chokes him with the apron before clubbing away on his back. Dallas covers for just one then kicks Ryback in the face. Again a cover gets 1 and Bo gets in a chinlock. Booker says Bo needs to put on weight as Ryback picks Bo off his back and slams him. A charge eats elbow but Bo jumps into a spinebuster by Ryback. Ryback calls forn the Meat Hook clothesline and lands it. Ryback hits the Shell Shock and covers for 1...2....3 to win the match. Total squash by Ryback but wait! Of all people, Bray Wyatt appears in the ring behind Ryback. Ryback turns around right into Sister Abigail. Apparently this is the next feud, Wyatt vs Ryback which is going to be very important for both men. Neither one of them came out of Wrestlemania looking good so someone is going to be devalued. Ironically Wyatt laid out the man who laid out his brother but just like Lanny Poffo and Randy Savage, they never acknowledged Bray was Bo's brother. Again, total squash but it served its purpose to set up Wyatt/Ryback.

Time of match: 2:06

Winner: Ryback by pinfall

Back from commercial John Cena's open challenge is hyped up. Cena comes out before the match and cuts a promo says he's on a high after beating Rusev. Cena says he respects Rusev because he never quits...until Payback. Cena says he'll never quit and if he loses, he won't ask for a rematch because he'll be a disgrace and won't deserve a rematch. He says if Rusev wins they'll never see Cena again but references the statue of Vince Lombardi outside and says the harder you work, the harder it is to surrender. Cena says he's working hard as he can to be US Champion and says Green Bay is the place to be. He says to whoever's in the back to come get some. Its Heath Slater.....great. Slater comes out with a microphone and says he's going to take advantage of a "crushed" John Cena (?) and become the champion of the WORLLDDDDDD. He says he's better looking than Aaron Rodgers but Rusev from behind attacks Slater and kicks him in the face. Booker says "thank god" but Cena isn't amused at Rusev's antics. Lana walks out to a babyface pop and Rusev grabs the mic from her hand, sending her to the back. Yeah they're going 1998 Marc Mero on this one, the writing is on the wall. Rusev goes on an anti-American rant saying everyone in the arena is a quitter and so will Cena. The Russian flag drops and Rusev's music plays. So much for Heath Slater...and at least it makes sense for Rusev to clean his clock. He wants Cena one on one, wouldn't make much sense for someone else to take the title off Cena first.

Back to Kane in the back when Rollins walks in with his stooges asking what's going on. Kane says fans on the WWE app can choose Seth's next opponent. Rollins asks if Kane's out of his mind and Kane says "maybe." Seth says he's going to tell Stephanie and Triple H and Kane is stupid. Kane says he figured Seth could handle just one opponent but since he's crying about it and insulting Kane's intelligence, there's only one thing to do. Kane says he's going to add another option, on the app they can vote for Orton, Reigns or Randy AND Roman Reigns in a triple threat match. Rollins freaks out and Kane laughs saying they have a match later, focus on that. Kane leaves and Rollins continues to piss and moan. Well, this is getting interesting. Onto the next match.

Match 4

R-Truth vs Stardust in a King of The Ring Quarterfinal Match

These two were in the ladder match at Wrestlemania and have done absolutely nothing since. Truth in the picture-in-picture says if he wins, he's going to get rid of all spiders. JBL says he's better off with snakes. Stardust makes his entrance and Cole says he's even more out there than Truth. Stardust says he's going to be the Intergalactic Czar. I think Cole may be right. Bell rings and Stardust gets rolled up almost immediately. Stardust lands a bulldog and covers for a deuce as the crowd chants "Cody". Stardust hisses at the fans and if you're wondering where his brother is, Goldust was out with a shoulder injury. Stardust locks in a chinlock but Truth powers out of it. Stardust backdrops Truth and covers for a 1 count. Stardust does the Cody punch and covers for a 1 count. Stardust stomps Truth and does another chinlock before stomping him again. A third chinlock is countered by Truth only for Stardust to throw him down. Stardust inexplicably does a cartwheel: Booker "What was that?" Cole "That's a cartwheel." Booker "I know that, but why?" Stardust shouts at Booker "I'M the king, Booker." Stardust sends Truth in the corner but a charge eats elbow. Truth rallies with clotheslines but misses the axe kick. Stardust rolls him up for a deuce then does a russian leg sweep. They trade near falls and Stardust goes for the Cody Cutter but jumps into the Lie Detector. Truth covers for 1...2....3...to win the match and advance to the semi-finals. Bad match but there was no way Stardust was winning since Barrett had won previously.

Time of match: 3:52

Winner: R-Truth by pinfall

Hype for the tag match is followed by the App announcement to vote for Orton vs Rollins, Rollins vs Reigns or a triple threat. On to the next match.

Match 5

Fandango vs Adam Rose (with the Rosebuds)

After Fandango turned face and kicked Rosa Mendes, Rose pretty much wanted her to go with him instead. They lock up to start before Rose gets a headlock in. Fandango gets dropped with a shoulderblock but he counters with a dropkick. Rose chokes Fandango on the second rope and hits him with forearms. Rose mocks the Fandango dance but Fandango chops him into the ropes. Fandango clotheslines Rose over the top to the floor. Fandango summersaults over the top rope and takes out the hot dog guy. Rosa Mendes reveals herself to be one of the Rosebuds and she dances to distracts Fandango. Rose sneaks up and hits the Party Foul before covering for 1...2....3 to win the match. Another short match and it looks like Rose has successfully convinced her to go with him. Rosa gets on the mic and says she can't believe she got dumped and she found someone to treat her like a sweet foul. Rosa makes out with Rose in the ring as Fandango walks away disgusted. Cole "Maybe we should get out of here guys." Hey, at least they're not naked. Another bad match but the purpose was served, Rosa is with Adam Rose now.

Time of match: 1:50

Winner: Rose by pinfall

Back to Cole who laughs with Booker and JBL before talking about the status of Daniel Bryan. Bryan suffered a concussion and isn't medically cleared to compete. We cut to Renee Young who's with Bryan's husband Brie Bella. Renee asks if Brie is concerned for his health and Brie says its a heartwrenching time for him. Brie says it kills her because he badly wants to be there but only time will tell. She's greatful for the WWE universe and Daniel feels the same. All of a sudden from out of nowhere Naomi kicks Brie down and says no one cares about her or Bryan. So they're gonna turn the Bellas face for no reason now? That solves the lack of babyface Divas problem by switching the Bellas. Although good luck explaining how they're going to side with Paige went she comes back. Speaking of the Bellas, Brie is up next.

Match 6

Brie Bella (with Nikki Bella) vs Naomi

Naomi comes out with a new theme and look that she showed off the night before at Extreme Rules. Too bad Bryan is out, Jimmy Uso and Naomi vs Bryan and Brie would be interesting. Bell's gone and Brie rushes her at the bell, punching her down. Brie spears Naomi and they cat fight into the corner. Brie ducks a line and Naomi gets a cheapshot forearm in. Naomi pushes Brie around then rams her head first into the buckle. Naomi delivers a backbreaker and covers for 1....2...nope. Naomi locks in a chinlock but Brie powers out of it. Naomi does a dropkick and covers for 1...2..nope. Naomi does another chinlock but Brie flips Naomi over and they both take each other down by the hair. Brie rallies with a clothesline, a dropkick and a knee to the ribs. Brie lands a running knee to the jaw and a second rope missile dropkick. She covers for 1...2....noooooo. Naomi catches Brie in a terrible small package for 1...2....3....to win the match. Sad part was Brie's shoulder was untouched and easily could have kicked out. Naomi celebrates up the ramp as we go to the replay of Naomi's clean win. Naomi gets revenge on Brie for kicking her in the head the night before although for some reason Brie's the babyface now? The writers don't have a clue what's going on although Naomi is still after Nikki's title.

Time of match: 3:40

Winner: Naomi by pinfall

More hype for the tag match tonight and the potential Payback match. Onto the next match.

Match 7

Sheamus vs Dean Ambrose in a King of The Ring Quarterfinal Match

JBL says "hide your wallet" as Ambrose makes his entrance. Ambrose says when he's king he'll remove tariffs on ale, ban pop-country music and have all disputes settled in street fights. JBL asks why he'd ban pop country. Sheamus says he's been king before and he'll be king again. They lock up and roll into the ropes before Ambrose trash talks him. Sheamus and Ambrose chain wrestle on the ground as Cole says the bully Sheamus can't bully Ambrose. Dean continues to Olympic style wrestle Sheamus but eats a shoulderblock. Cole says JBL made a career out of bullying which gets awkward silence from the others. Sheamus grabs the nose during an STF and kicks Sheamus kicks the back of the head. They exchange right hands and Sheamus lands a European uppercut. Sheamus gets rough in the corner but Ambrose chops his way out. Sheamus gets whipped in the corner and Ambrose tries the forearm/bulldog combo but Sheamus denies the bulldog. Ambrose knocks Sheamus through the ropes to the outside and Sheamus moves before Dean could suicide dive. We cut to commercial and when we come back, Sheamus has a chinlock that Dean powers out of. In the PIP Sheamus knocks Ambrose off the apron. Back inside Sheamus does a suplex slam and Ambrose looks insane on the ground. Sheamus "ARE YOU NOT ENTERTAINED?", he's not Russell Crowe. Ambrose drops Sheamus with a bi clothesline as the announce team goes over past kings of the ring with Booker putting himself over. Ambrose chops Sheamus put runs into a tilt-a-whirl slam. Sheamus gives the sign for the Brogue Kick but Ambrose side steps it and rolls up Sheamus for a deuce. Ambrose sends Sheamus into the ring post and he falls out of the ring. Ambrose hits the suicide dive to the outside then rolls Sheamus back inside. Ambrose comes off the top but Sheamus hits a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. He covers for 1.......2....nope. Ambrose counters white noise with a sunset flip for 1.......2...nope. Sheamus counters Dirty Deeds (done dirt cheap) with a Texas Cloverleaf. Ambrose makes it to the ropes and out to the apron. Sheamus then goes for ten beats of the bodhran. Ambrose hits the elbow from off the top and covers for 1...2....noooo. Sheamus rolls outside and Ambrose chases him to the announce table. They slug it out until Ambrose clotheslines him down. Ambrose sends Sheamus into the ring post but he counters with a Brogue Kick. Suddenly Dolph Ziggler hits ringside and unloads on Sheamus for the DQ. Ziggler chases Sheamus out of the arena and leaves with Ambrose still down outside. You can make the argument that Ambrose wouldn't have made it back inside and Sheamus would have won by countout. Ambrose inside the ring is mad.....look out Ziggler. Anyway that was a good, physical match and it served its purpose of Dean not taking the L with Sheamus still advancing.

Time of match: 12:41

Winner: Sheamus by DQ

We get more hype for the tag match and potential main event for Payback before we go to commercial. The WWE Rewind showcases Miz defeating Damien Sandow for the rights to the Miz brand after Summer Rae turned heel on Sandow. A huge swing and a miss by Vince to have Miz win in the end. Damien is in the ring and says his name is Damien Sandow and runs down his former gimmick. Then he says he was told to his face he wasn't entertaining enough and then goes through his parody gimmick phase. Then he gets to the point of the Mizdow gimmick that he lost respect of his peers but gained the respect of the WWE universe. Sandow thanks the fans and says without them he wouldn't be in WWE now. The crowd chants "Thank you Mizdow!" Sandow says where does he go from here but then is cut off by Curtis Axel of all people. Axel hypocritically says he despises people who imitate others. Axel then starts quoting Hulk Hogan and Sandow mocks him every time like an 8 year old. Axel gets mad and the crowd chants "Yes!". Axel says to get out of his ring and Sandow repeats what he says again. Axel attacks but Sandown blocks the punches and hits a big boot before hitting the Wind Up Elbow to chase Axel away. Somewhat of a pointless segment other than to cement Sandow's face turn and to make fun of Axel again. Cole then brings up something with a point, on Smackdown the New Day will face Tyson Kidd & Cesaro in a rematch.

We cut to Bray Wyatt who cuts a promo on Ryback. Wyatt says he learned how to play with fire but doubts that Ryback ever learned anything. Wyatt says he knows what Ryback is afraid of and to run. After hyping up the upcoming shows on the Network, we look at more god awful Tough Enough videos. Let's get to the next match.

Match 8

Adrian Neville vs Luke Harper in a King of The Ring Quarterfinal Match

The final KoTR of the match has Neville says he intends to defy gravity so he can become king. Harper says he will sit upon a throne of barbed wire and twisted steel, his reign of terror is coming to WWE, long live the king. That sounds painful. Bell rings as Cole says the semi-finals will be tomorrow night on the WWE Network. Neville plays cat and mouse with Harper but drops him with a head scissors. Neville kicks him outside but Harper blocks a baseball slide by throwing him onto the steps. Neville hits a hurracarana off the steps for a pop. Neville throws Harper inside but Luke blocks a springboard clothesline with a jawbreaker. Harper uppercuts Neville as we cut to commercial. Back from break Harper has Neville in a chinlock as Cole says the winner faces Sheamus tomorrow night. Neville heaves Harper outside but Luke gets back in. Harper goes for a big boot but Neville moves, causing Harper to fly over the top to the floor. Neville does a HUGE asai moonsault off the top rope that had JBL impressed. JBL says Owen Hart was a high flying king but not like this. Back inside Neville executes a standing shooting star press but runs right into a big boot and a full nelson suplex. The cover gets 1....2....nope. Harper goes for the powerbomb but Neville slips out of it and german suplexes Luke. Neville hits a standing enziguiri but runs right into a sitout powerbomb for 1....2....NOOOOO. The crowd "this is awesome" as Harper calls for another powerbomb. The crowd chants "NXT" as they slug it out in the center of the ring. Harper throws Neville in the corner and uppercuts him. Harper sets up Neville on the top rope but Adrian gets headbutted off. Neville counters with a kick to the head and slips into a powerbomb. Neville goes upstairs and hits Red Arrow. He covers for 1..2...3...to win the match. The crowd loved it as Neville is quickly becoming a fan favorite. That was easily the best match of the night and the semifinals are set. Wade Barrett takes on R-Truth with Adrian Neville takes on Sheamus tomorrow night. 

Time of match: 10:17

Winner: Neville by pinfall

Cole says voting is closing on the PPV main event as we cut right to the main of event of tonight's show. Getting right to the point. Reigns makes his entrance as Booker says Neville will win tomorrow night while JBL picks Barrett. Let's get to it.

Match 9

Roman Reigns and Randy Orton vs Kane and Seth Rollins (with Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury)

Tensions are mounting between Kane and Rollins while Reigns is free of Big Show and looks to get back in the title picture. Rollins and Kane shake hands on their way to the ring and JBL hilariously calls it bogus. The crowd chants "Justin Bieber" at Rollins as JBL says its uncalled for. Rollins starts with go-behinds on Reigns before putting in an arm-ringer. Reigns counters with one of his own and Rollins rolls out of the ring. Kane gives him lip service outside and Rollins gets back inside. Cole brings up Reigns' win the night before as Roman hits a tilt-a-whirl slam on Seth. Roman rams Seth's head into the buckle then tags in Orton who kicks Rollins in the ribs. Orton front suplexes Rollins off the top rope then stomps the chest of Seth. Randy uppercuts Seth then tags Reigns back in. Reigns pounds away on Seth but Rollins gets out of a scoop slam attempt then bails to the outside. Seth tags Kane in back inside as JBL hilariously says he'd put Heath Slater in the main event at Payback because he didn't get the chance to face Cena causing Cole to laugh. Booker "Why?" Orton tags in and stomps on Kane's toes like Moe Howard. Orton rams Kane's head into the buckle but Kane counters with a big boot. Cole says we got a commercial break to shut JBL up and JBL says he'll keep talking anyway. When we get back from break Rollins has Orton in a chinlock. Orton fights his way out of it but gets taken down by Rollins anyway. Seth covers for a deuce and drops Randy with a series of short arm clotheslines. Orton counters with a t-bone suplex as Kane gets the tag. Reigns gets the hot tag and he unloads on Kane with clotheslines and forearm blasts. Roman jumps off the second rope and clotheslines Kane before hitting Rollins with a samoan drop. Roman clotheslines Rollins over the top rope and sends Kane outside as well. Roman runs off the ropes but Joey Mercury grabs his foot. Reigns chases Mercury but runs into a Kane thrust to the throat. Kane sends Roman into the ring post twice before throwing him inside. Kane stomps on Reigns and sends him back first into the buckle. Rollins tags in and drops a knee on Roman's head. JBL says Roman has to be fatigued after his match last night and Booker adds the "London cab service".  Roman tries to fight back but Seth hits a standing enziguiri. Seth covers for a deuce before Kane tags back in. Seth throws Roman into a Kane side backbreaker and Kane covers for 1....2...nope.  Kane locks in a bearhug but Roman powers out of it. Roman kicks Kane in the head but Kane counters with a clothesline. Kane covers for 1...2....nope. Rollins tags in who works the back of Reigns with boots. Rollins taunts Roman that no one is getting a shot at him and tags Kane back in. Kane and Roman slug it out in the middle of the ring but Kane gets the upper hand with knees to the midsection. Reigns counters a suplex with one of his own and reaches for Orton. Rollins tags in and denies Roman just in time. Rollins misses a charge in the corner and rolls him up for 1...2...no. Roman actually lifts Rollins up and slams him and makes the hot tag to Orton. Randy clotheslines Rollins down but runs into an elbow. Seth tries a springboard crossbody but Orton powerslams him and covers for 1...2...nope, Kane breaks it up. Noble gets knocked off the apron and Kane goes for the chokeslam but Roman blocks the hand. Rollins dropkicks Kane by accident and runs into an uppercut. Roman calls for the Superman punch and nails....Mercury with it. Seth knees Roman through the ropes to the outside but Randy hits the second rope DDT on Seth. Rollins blocks the RKO with a roll up but Randy kicks out at two. Rollins superkicks Randy outside the ring as the other three guys are around the announce table. Rollins dives through the ropes but Roman and Randy move causing Seth to barely touch Kane. Kane sells it anyway and Seth rolls Orton inside. Kane goes berserk and heaves both Noble and Mercury over the announce table to clear out Booker and JBL. Seth tries to get Kane to stop and Kane uppercuts him out of instinct. Kane rolls Rollins inside who eats a Superman punch and an RKO. Orton covers for 1...2......3 to win the match. Cole says The Authority is imploding and Kane's lost it. Orton and Reigns get the victory as Cole goes to the replay. Good match and not as formulaic as others have been. It was supposed to show the dissention between Kane and Rollins and the babyfaces exploited it.

After the match, Orton splits to the entrance way while Reigns remains inside the ring. Kane grabs the mic and says here are the results of the poll. Naturally the triple threat wins with 78% of the vote. Reigns is happy while Rollins is irate. Roman hits a spear on Rollins for good measure. Cole says the Universe has spoken as Randy and Reigns eyeball each other. We got to the replay of Rollins getting upset then being speared. What a way to end the show.

Time of match: 18:18

Winners: Reigns and Orton by pinfall

Lot to unpack tonight. Tomorrow night's King of The Ring's semifinals are set with R-Truth vs Bad News Barrett and Adrian Neville vs Sheamus. Bray Wyatt and Ryback are going to duke it out with one of them destined to fade further into oblivion. New Day still has Kidd & Cesaro's number as the new top heel tag team, Naomi is still number 1 contender for the Divas title with the Bella Twins apparently turning face for absolutely no reason. Rosa Mendes is with Adam Rose now, Cena vs Rusev in an I Quit match will settle the feud once and for all and Kane STILL can't get along with Rollins. The problem is they're milking the Kane/Rollins dissension but already cashed in when Kane essentially caused Randy to lose at Extreme Rules. At least now they're putting Reigns back in the title picture, so the question is simply when will they pull the trigger on Roman. Ironically the next PPV after Payback is Money In The Bank so they may have yet another surprise cash in sooner rather than later. Either way the deck looks to be evening out with Kane teetering on a turn although The Authority is still in Rollins' corner. Going to be interesting to see what happens between now and Payback. For some reason the King of The Ring Semi-finals and Finals would be held the following night in Moline. I'll see you there.