House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[air_raid]

NOVEMBER 2012

SIERRA HOTEL INDIA ECHO LIMA DELTA

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

We’re on tour so 1st-4th in Nantes, Newcastle, Manchester and Nottingham then 6th-10th in Glasgow, Belfast, Dublin, Cardiff and Minehead it’s CM Punk vs Ryback for the title with a DQ finish. Post Survivor Series, domestic cards finally resume 30th in Asheville - Ryback is still beating Punk by DQ but now the reason for the disqualification is.... The Shield.

THE CARDS 

Not much to say! John Cena vs Dolph Ziggler is every night of the tour and in Asheville. Tag title is Daniel Bryan & Kane vs Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow - file “Team Rhodes Scholars” under “teams you think won the belts but never did” right next to The Awesome Truth. It's Antonio Cesaro vs Zack Ryder for the US title and Eve Torres vs Layla vs AJ Lee for the womens belt. Also, Michael McGillicutty vs Tensai in a perplexing upset and Brodus Clay & Santino vs Primo & Epico.

VARIATIONS 

In Dublin only there’s no Cesaro or Santino (they’re in Zurich) so Brodus pins Primo, Ryder beats Epico by DQ then Clay & Ryder beat the Colons. That’s a long time watching the same four guys. Asheville starts several new loops - Team Hell No are back with the Colons, Cesaro defends vs Jack Swagger vs R-Truth, Eve is now vs AJ vs Kaitlyn, Tensai upset by Santino, Clay back squashing McGillicutty, and Ryder beating NXTs Corey Graves.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

Predictably on the tour it’s Big Show vs Sheamus for the belt with a DQ finish 1st-4th in Lyon, Hamburg, Leipzig and at the O2 (9700), then 7th-10th in Brussels, Zurich, Malaga and Lisbon.

THE CARDS

Also not much to report. Randy Orton vs Alberto Del Rio is another big name support match on the tour. Kofi Kingston vs The Miz is on every night for the ICT. It's Wade Barrett vs William Regal before London then after it Wade's beating Justin Gabriel. We have Sin Cara beating El Local (Ricardo Rodriguez in a mask) plus The Usos vs The Prime Time Players up to TV then after, Rey Mysterio turns up to tag with Cara against the players and Local loses to R-Truth. It's Ted DiBiase vs Johnny Curtis (counting down to Fandango by now) before London followed by Ted losing to Jack Swagger after it, it's Kaitlyn vs Natalya every night.

VARIATIONS

In London, Barrett plays face and tags with Regal so they can do a homecoming win over Curtis and heel-for-the-night Ted. In Zurich, Antonio Cesaro rocks up to do a popular native hero defence against Swagger, Santino makes up numbers to beat DiBiase, again heel-for-the-night.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

Clearly there's a new heel flavour in town - 1st in Tampa its Bo Dallas & CJ Parker vs Dean Ambrose & Corey Graves, one week later Dallas & Parker actually team with Ambrose and - ho ho! - Seth Rollins to win an eliminator over Graves, Erick Rowan, Kassius Ohno and Leo Kruger. Next night in Plant City (WTF) Dallas pins Kruger in singles, month end some muscle turns up - 29th back in Tampa Mason Ryan loses to Dallas, next night in Largo he rebounds to win a three-way over Ohno and Kruger.

THE CARDS

For the first time on NXT non-televised cards, a match repeats - among a few singles and three ways there are two instances of Emma & Summer Rae vs Paige & Sasha Banks and yes, Mercedes is using that name. Other appearances of interest have Yoshi Tatsu, Percy Watson and (Kazma) Sakamoto drop down to get some ring action, Adrian Neville starts using his name including losses to hosses Roman Reigns and Colin Cassidy plus fellow former 1PW regular Corey Graves, and on 29th Emma defeats... Charlotte.

TVs

Bonfire Night at the NEC (nearly 13,000) Tyson Kidd pins McGillicutty before Superstars, and Punk gets pinned by Ryback when he and Ziggler lose to Ryback and Cena. Night after, still in the "LG Arena" (10,000) Swagger pins Emil Sitoci dark, and two big televised matches have Orton beat Del Rio falls anywhere for SmackDown and Sheamus vs Barrett gets more than 20 minutes for Main Event. 12th in Columbus heel Punk loses to babyface Cena due to the efforts of both ref Mick Foley and an interfering Ryback, next night in Cleveland Fandango (!) pins Pepper Parks (Braxton Sutter) before TVs, Team Hell No vs Team Rhodes Scholars goes 16 mins for Main Event, and after the show Sheamus beats Show by DQ. 15th at Full Sail Layla vs Alicia Fox is dark, then for TV Paige beats Sasha in Banks' debut on TV, Rowan debuts with Bray Wyatt behind him, Seth retains his belt against Jinder Mahal again and Show turns up to beat Dallas. At Survivors Slater & Jinder beat Ryder & Santino before the show, Ziggler actually knocks off Orton to win an eliminator notable for Miz' babyface turn in full force as he pins Barrett before being ousted by ADR - on the cusp of HIS ill-fated face turn, and of course, Punk beats Ryback and Cena when Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins interfere on Punk's behalf. Next night in Dayton we learn who The Shield are, 20th in Grand Rapids Ziggler beats both Miz in a 25 minute match for Main Event AND Orton for SmackDown, Show ludicrously beats the tag team champions by himself, Cena gives Heath Slater 8 minutes on a match for Saturday Morning Slam (what the hell is going on?) and dark, Sheamus beats Show by DQ. Finally 27th in Bossier City Santino beats Luke Hawx dark, Cena gives Sandow 17 minutes for Main Event and dark Sheamus beats Show by DQ yet again.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Punk (WWE CHAMPION) by Cena, Kofi (Intercontinental champ) by Sandow, again by Barrett.

DEPARTURE

Richie Steamboat, the last big success story of FCW, has his last televised match air on 21st November NXT and this month gets the back surgery that will be the end of his in ring career. Shame that we will never know how good he could have been.

[BomberPat]

4 hours ago, air_raid said:

Pepper Parks (Braxton Sutter)

Slightly burying the lede there, as Pepper Parks is The Blade of The Butcher and fame.

Interesting to see Emil Sitoci get a look. He's someone I always liked, and thought would amount to more.

[air_raid]

1 hour ago, BomberPat said:

Slightly burying the lede there, as Pepper Parks is The Blade of The Butcher and fame.

Guilty, I don't watch AEW. Or indeed any wrestling TV, and haven't for the best part of five years. Them days is gone. Not to be too Adam Goldberg about it, but the past however interests me more and more with each passing day,

[air_raid]

DECEMBER 2012

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st in Roanoke, 2nd in Florence it’s John Cena vs Dolph Ziggler still, 15th at the cross-brand show in Wilkes-Barre and Boxing Day in Detroit (10,500) it’s a streetfight, then 27th at MSG (14,500), 28th at Nassau Coliseum (10,500) and 30th in Raleigh it’s a cage match. Some good gates in those strongholds.

THE CARDS

There’s a gigantic six man starting night before TLC and continuing after Christmas with Ryback, Daniel Bryan & Kane vs The Shield ; you’d be surprised to hear “The Hounds Of Justice” only win in Detroit - and on the PPV, where it matters. OH, YOU DIDNT KNOW? After Christmas we have The New Age Outlaws vs Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow. I love it! No wonder the Garden did an improved gate. US title is a bit jumbled but it’s Antonio Cesaro vs The Miz in Detroit and Uniondale. Brodus Clay vs Jack Swagger comes back in Detroit and at MSG when Jack challenges Brodus after he’s already won one match - but he beats Jack anyway. At Nassau and in Raleigh Brodus & The Usos beat Swagger and The Prime Time Players in a six man. AJ Lee & Kaitlyn vs Eve Torres & Rosa Mendes early month gives way to a natural Eve vs Kaitlyn run for the belt after Christmas, which eventually will see Kaitlyn lift the gold. Consistent early month undercards still have Santino vs Tensai and Zack Ryder vs Corey Graves, then after Christmas Ryder beats Tensai in a match where the loser has to sing a song (in Long Island this is enforced by Mick Foley) and Santino beats David Otunga.

Fun - in Roanoke at least, Ryder is attacked after his match by The Shield. If you’re interested, Tensai sings Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer.

VARIATIONS 

So in Roanoke they take precautions - Swagger secedes from the US title match to lose to Ryback, it’s Cesaro vs R-Truth one on one then Team Hell No vs Primo & Epico as scheduled. In Florence as planned the UST is Cesaro vs Swagger vs Truth and they combine two matches into Ryback, Bryan & Kane vs CM Punk and the Colons to see how the injured champ gets on. Plus Clay pins Michael McGillicutty. In Wilkes-Barre Eve’s partner is Tamina for her regular tag loss. In Detroit only Usos vs PTP happens as a regular tag and Clays first match is with JTG. Next night at the Garden it’s all shuffled - Brodus beats Otunga, it’s Santino that beats Tensai in the “Carolling” match, because Ryder is back challenging Cesaro, because Miz subs into the Shield six man, because Ryback is doing “added value” of pinning Paul Heyman in a “New York City Streetfight.”

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

1st/2nd in Columbia and Anderson SC and 15th in Wilkes-Barre, still Big Show vs Sheamus with the same shit DQ finish that foiled Show against many a champion. On Boxing Day only nearly 10,000 at the AllState in Rosemont get the title match plus - this is crazy - having gone on first in Detroit, six men travel 300 miles to suburban Chicago so Ryback, Daniel Bryan & Kane vs The Shield can go on last. I bet they didn’t take an Uber. 27th in Ashwaubenon and 28th in Minneapolis Show vs Sheamus goes inside a cage.

THE CARDS

Still Randy Orton vs Alberto Del Rio early month plus Kofi Kingston vs Wade Barrett for the ICT (including in Wilkes-Barre) then with Randy on holiday after Christmas, Kofi vs Barrett vs Del Rio (who as the newest babyface wins a show-opening battle royal) is as high profile ICT match I can recall for years. How’s this for random? It’s Rey Mysterio & The Usos vs Drew McIntyre, Jinder Mahal & Heath Slater early month. 3MB has arrived. The Miz vs Damien Sandow (foreshadowing!) occurs early month too before both are yanked back to the Raw crew. Ted DiBiase Jr vs Fandango and Layla & Paige vs Natalya & Aksana complete early month undercards, after Christmas “International Airstrike” of Tyson Kidd & Justin Gabriel beat a rotating duo from 3MB, Fandango twice beats Jamie Noble (a brief unretiring I didn’t know about), it’s Alicia Fox & Layla beating Aksana & Tamina, comedy with Great Khali & Hornswoggle vs Primo & Epico, and - welcome wins here - Alex Riley vs Michael McGillicutty.

Maybe I’m crazy but after many bleak months things seem to look better - they have a fair few guys that seem established as players and a couple underneath who if required can step up or are just waiting to break out. It’s weird because I still remember it being rubbish TV for most of the next 18 months.

VARIATIONS 

The feud that never dies, Rey vs Bertie resumes in Wilkes-Barre plus a DQ in Kidd vs Young leads to Airstrike beating the Prime Time Players. For reasons unclear there are some “afters” in Rosemont - after Kofi vs Barrett vs Bertie, Wade clearly hasn’t had enough so loses to Kofi one on one, then still not content, does a job to Ted. No idea how long these matches are but it pads an already big card out to 10.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

Just two non televised gigs for the dev lot this month and neither main screams “the future is here” - 13th in Tampa it’s Big E Langston vs Conor O’Brian (yes, Ascension Konnor) then a week later in the same building Bo Dallas & Dante Dash vs Corey Graves & Leo Kruger. I read Dash’s name a lot but he’s a case in point that not everyone develops beyond developmental - after he stops getting booked by NXT in June, he doesn’t try wrestling anywhere else.

THE CARDS

There is no consistency to report but notable results are the tagging of the dreadfully named British Ambition (Adrian Neville & Oliver Grey), the first time I spot the name Mojo Rawley, and the first time I recall Luke Harper & Erick Rowan tagging up - to lose to Kassius Ohno and Aiden English.

TVs

3rd in Greensboro nothing dark, The Shield beat up the tag champs again. 4th in North Charleston  Ted Jr beats Graves before TVs, Orton gives Sandow 17 minutes for Saturday Morning Slam and Sheamus beats Show by DQ after SmackDown. 6th at Full Sail Conor beats Grey and Barrett beats A-Ri in bonus openers and of note for broadcast Big E wins the NXT belt from Rollins and International Airstrike beat Cesaro & Sandow. 10th in Newark the only note is Cody returns from brief injury with the moustache. Next night in Bridgeport Del Rio loses to Ryback for Main Event in 16 minutes then later does 13 minutes with Kofi for SmackDown and loses to him too - what a pro. At times. Dark, Sheamus… I’m going to stop saying it. TLC is of note for The Shield making their strong PPV debut and as far as I can tell a phantom turn for sudden babyface Del Rio and tagging with Miz and Brooklyn Brawler to beat 3MB, next night in Philadelphia Riley pins McGillicutty dark, Bryan/Kane vs Rhodes/Sandow for the belts goes 25 minutes for Main Event, Tommy Dreamer is dug up to tag with Miz and Del Rio and Big E makes his debut attacking Cena - as the show closes to AJ skipping around Cena with her music playing you’d think they were promoting her to top heel. Next night in Pittsburgh A-Ri beats Perfects kid again, they do a live SmackDown on USA and tape the Christmas Raw on which new babyface Del Rio is oddly booked to run Santa over then later lose to Cena after interference by Santa, revealed to be Mick Foley. Wednesday 19th in Rochester they tape the Boxing Day episode of SmackDown and Fox pins Aksana dark. 29th in DC they tape the New Years Eve episode of Raw - Sgt Slaughter is dusted off to lose to Cesaro, Kofi drops the Intercontinental belt to Barrett, and Ryback vs The Shield in a handicap match goes no contest then Sheamus makes a save, and Orton returns to TV to make a further save. Throwaway six man it may feel at Mania but at least they setup Orton and Sheamus with enmity for the Shield nice and early. Cool Coliseum Video Tag Team Match of the Month afterwards Cena & Sheamus vs Show & Ziggler. Next night in Richmond they tape SmackDown after which Show and Sheamus do their thousandth non finish.

I’m getting the impression that those of us who skipped early Main Event missed a lot of good matches although it should be noted the episode taped in Rochester had a weak battle royal for the main, won by Great Khali with only Barrett, Rhodes and Sandow as decent name stars.

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Kofi (Intercontinental champion) in a four corners vs Barrett, Truth and (winner) Cesaro*, AGAIN by Cesaro, Eve (Women’s champion) by Kaitlyn, Cesaro (US champ) by Ryback, Show (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Sheamus

* I’m counting this even though Cesaro was defending the US title so as such it wasn’t a “non title match” it was still a match Kofi lost (and even got pinned in) that would have lost the ICT for him had it been up. In the interest of fairness it should be pointed out that Kofi himself pins new champ Barrett as the fourth leg of a Wade vs 4 gauntlet match for Main Event before their later title rematch, which I’m not sure I should count, but hey, what another fabulous month for the Intercontinental jobber belt. Already, what I noticed reading Raw results last year, guys win more matches once liberated from the handcuffs of a title and the curse of the non title match, than when they were recognised as a “champion.” How fucking backwards is that?

DEPARTURES 

Merry Christmas, you all kept your jobs.

[air_raid]

JANUARY 2013
Finally…

MAIN EVENTS - RAW
Still John Cena vs Dolph Ziggler 4th-6th in Pensacola (streetfight), Columbus GA and Tallahassee, 11th-13th in Austin, Laredo and Corpus Christi Cena tags with Ryback to beat Ziggler and CM Punk. 18th at the Staples Center only (10,000 gate) it’s Punk vs Ryback for the belt and Cena vs Ziggler no DQ ; 19th/20th in Ontario and Fresno it’s the tag.
THE CARDS
Ryback, Daniel Bryan & Kane vs The Shield rolls on, without the TV narrative of the Shield being an invincible unit, the goodies win the lot. In Texas, Team Hell No win by DQ over a rotating Shield duo when the third one interferes. It’s Antonio Cesaro vs The Miz for the US title early month and picks up a no-DQ stip in Columbus and Tallahassee, and in Texas it's explicitly a "streetfight" but in Cali just “no DQ” which in terms of the rules is exactly the same. In California we get two rounds of Cody Rhodes vs Zack Ryder which Ryder wins (the guys booking for the road always acknowledged Zacks popularity more than the TV writers did) and Damien Sandow vs Alex Riley - no upset there. It's Eve Torres vs Kaitlyn for the Women’s belt in week one, in Texas Kaitlyn's winning against Tamina then by Cali that’s a title defence (ROFL). Early month Santino vs Tensai (repeating in Austin), Riley vs JTG and Brodus Clay and Zack vs Jack Swagger & Leo Kruger. In Texas it’s two singles of Clay vs Swagger (which resumes in California no DQ) and Ryder vs Kruger plus in Laredo and Corpus Christi the still-unretired Jamie Noble twice rolls up Tensai, then on the West Coast Sweet T loses to Bo Dallas.
VARIATIONS 
In LA, JTG loses to Clay, Swagger beats Riley and Zack pins Tensai - the extra body (JTG) makes up the numbers because when Dallas vs Sandow goes to a DQ it leaves to a save and impromptu tag of Bo and Rey Mysterio vs Rhodes Scholars. If that sounds random, it was probably meant to be Rey and Sin Cara but he’s injured again until the Rumble.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 
4th in Mayagüez and 5th in San Juan (a 7000 gate is way down from their usual in the market) its Big Show vs Sheamus vs Randy Orton and I can guess why 6th in Ponce is cancelled. 12th/13th in Alexandria and Tyler new champ Alberto Del Rio is giving Show the rematch, and again 17th-18th in Anchorage and Fairbanks and 19th in Stockton, all no DQ.
THE CARDS
We’ve got Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes no DQ and Sheamus vs Damien Sandow down South and it’s Wade Barrett vs Kofi Kingston for the ICT both in Puerto Rico and the week after. In Alaska and Stockton - fuck! - Randy teams with Daniel Bryan & Kane to beat The Shield while it’s back to Sheamus vs Barrett - non title, Sheamus isn’t losing to the Intercontinental JTTS - while Kofi has the comparatively disappointing assignment of Heath Slater. Also in Puerto Rico pandering to the locals has Primo & Epico beat Rhodes Scholars. There’s Alicia Fox vs Aksana in Alexandria and Tyler plus Great Khali vs David Otunga for three uninterrupted weeks. It’s also It’s Yoshi Tatsu vs Slater in Puerto Rico, The Usos vs The Prime Time Players and Layla vs Aksana in Puerto Rico and Alaska - which is where we add Justin Gabriel vs Curt Hawkins.
VARIATIONS 
In Alexandria Yoshi loses to Fandango plus Gabriel & Bo Dallas beat Slater & Jinder Mahal then in Tyler Drew McIntyre tags with the rest of 3MB to lose to Tatsu, Gabriel and Bo.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT
3rd in Tampa it’s Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs Dante Dash & Mike Dalton (Tyler Breeze). 9th in Kissimmee the Nemeth brothers explode! It’s Dolph Ziggler & Brad Maddox vs Briley Pierce & Trent Beretta. 12th in St Augustine the Wyatts lose to Dalton and Adrian Neville, and 17th back in Tampa to Dash and Bo Dallas (another family feud), 24th in the same building Bo goes on last with Mason Ryan.
THE CARDS
Again Sasha Banks & Paige vs Emma & Summer Rae jumps out as the only match that happens multiple times, in fact they swap wins in four shows, with only the last having a six-woman with only 24th having the fairly unheralded Audrey Marie (Mrs Tyler Breeze) teaming with Em and Summer to lose to Paige, Charlotte and Luchadora who here is the wrestler we’ll end up calling Bayley. 3rd we’ve actually got Alexander Rusev & Colin Cassidy vs Baron Corbin & Scott Dawson - first Rusev spot, and 17th he gets beat by Aiden English, as remarkable as that sounds with hindsight. I'm not covering the rest, it's far too jumbled. You don't care, surely, what developmental matches happened once?

ALSO
Saturday 26th in Phoenix the Rumble “fan fest” has a crazy 13 matches including the Rumble qualifier tournament won by Dallas and 6 other NXT or main roster matches including Natalya vs Alicia Fox, Kofi vs McIntyre and on last, Sheamus vs Slater.

TVs
7th in Tampa The Rock is around to hype his title shot, Ricky Steamboat supports Santino against Barrett, and half-injured Punk retains over Ryback in a “TLC match.” Next night in Miami Sheamus vs Ziggler goes 22 minutes for Main Event, Orton gets attacked by The Shield again and Del Rio relieves Show of Big Gold in a last man standing match. I can’t get over how often the company seemed reluctant to put a pinfall on the lummox, even to get the belt off him. 10th at Full Sail bonus matches have Cesaro pin Gabriel, Nattie beat Emma and Xavier Woods beat El Local, for TV Fox loses to Sasha and Aksana to Paige, plus the Wyatts and British Ambition make the final of the tag title tournament. 14th in Houston is a big 20th anniversary special - The Shield try to start on Mick Foley but get ran off by Ryback, Orton and Sheamus (Mania match that should have been?), Kaitlyn finally, emphatically puts Eve down to win the belt (to be fair, in era of crap in the Women’s division, the match was good and the finish as decisive as you could wish for), they start the poorly-judged association between Miz and Ric Flair, and Cena wins the Ziggler feud inside a cage. Next night in San Antonio A-Ri pins Leo Kruger before TVs, and Main Event has a 17 minute Orton/Cesaro match with a Shield finish with Miz trying to help Orton, then attacked by the US champ. 21st in San Jose (8000-10,000 depending on report) Raw is one of those Beat The Clock shows I hate. Next night in Sacramento Miz starts using the Figure-4 for a finish and dark Del Rio beats Show no DQ. The Rumble features, obviously, Rocky winning the WWE title, plus the latest return of Chris Jericho. Only notable event of the TVs is that Sin Cara returned in the Rumble and on the SmackDown taping in San Diego where he and hometown hero Rey beat Team Hell No non title - the plan is rolling for Rey & Cara to challenge for the belts at Mania, but inevitably Rey's going to do his knee in again, so they'll pivot to Cara vs Cesaro which I'm pretty sure worked out fine. EDIT - oh shit, and Brock Lesnar returns to Raw with Vince on the cusp of firing Heyman and gives the old bastard an F5.
NON TITLE WHINING 
Beaten on TV this month : Kane & Bryan (tag team champions) by Cody & Sandow, AGAIN by Rey & Sin Cara, Cesaro (US champ) TWICE by Orton, Barrett (Intercontinental champ) by Sheamus, AGAIN by Dallas (what. the. fuck.). We live in a backwards universe where that belt makes you the biggest loser in the company.

DEPARTURES
After dumping the belt to Kaitlyn, that's it for the delightful Eve Torres. She's got a wedding to plan. Triple H offered her a spot on Total Divas to stay, but she turned it down, if you can imagine. Trent Beretta is finally released, long after his last notable appearance on the main roster. He'll go on to achieve a level of success in the wider wrestling world, in MY world, best remembered as one half of Roppongi Vice in New Japan.

On 9/9/2023 at 9:20 PM, HarmonicGenerator said:

Not long before The Shield start to turn up together! Fascinated to see what they did away from televised shows.

So far, mostly losses to Ryback & Team Hell No or Orton & Team Hell No, apart from beating Ryback/Bryan/Kane in Detroit and Miz/Bryan/Kane at MSG. Now you know. The Shield - dominant on TV, beatable if you're there in person. The total opposite of Zack Ryder. WHISKEY WHISKEY WHISKEY, YANKEY KILO INDIA.

Here’s the last six minutes of the main event from Mayagüez ;

 

Edited September 14, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

FEBRUARY 2013

FINALLY, The Rock has come back... home. That's where he must be, because he sure as shit isn't defending the WWE title on the road.

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st-3rd in Chatanooga, Montgomery and Birmingham its still John Cena & Ryback vs CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler. 8th-10th in Poplar Bluff, Springfield and Cape Girardeau we've shuffled plus Cena's off - it's Ryback & The Miz beating Punk & Antonio Cesaro. After the PPV they're back after the blood money - 21st-22nd in Doha then 23rd they go to Istanbul, for first Ryback vs Punk (still a DQ even with no belt) with Cena beating Ziggler & Big E Langston in a handicap underneath, then two nights in a row finally back to John Cena vs CM Punk.

THE CARDS

Tag team title down South is Daniel Bryan & Kane vs The Shield in rotation i.e. once each vs the three possible combinations, the third interferes for the DQ - they defend against Seth and Dean again Night 1 in Doha. Night 2 and in Istanbul, Ryback and Team Hell No are beating all three, but only by DQ now. Two nights in Missouri it's Chris Jericho vs Dolph Ziggler no DQ in a big revenge match, also - OH, YOU DIDN'T KNOW? - The New Age Outlaws are again beating Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow. Antonio Cesaro vs The Miz in a no DQ match for the US title continues in week one, two legs of the tour Cesaro is back with R-Truth, and brilliantly Ziggler is back with Kofi Kingston. Womens title is still Kaitlyn vs Tamina - ugh - for two loops, fairly obviously there's no womens match in the (redacted) countries. The undercard has Jack Swagger vs Justin Gabriel, Zack Ryder vs Conor O'Brian first week, Ryder vs Corey Craves and Gabriel vs David Otunga second week and Tensai vs Alex Riley both, abroad it's Tensai vs Otunga, Riley vs Michael McGillicutty and Ryder losing to - look who's back! - Mark Henry.

VARIATIONS

Night one in Doha has these unique matches - Cesaro vs Kofi vs Ryder, Henry squashing Riley, Truth pinning Otunga and Tensai pinning Perfect Jr.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

2nd/3rd in Greenville and Augusta it's Alberto Del Rio vs Big Show no DQ for the belt, Show's finally doing some jobs. 9th/10th in Champaign and Louisville (7500) - this is different! - Bertie defends against Wade Barrett, which is also no DQ. Then we're back in Texas - 23rd/24th in Waco and College Station is ADR/Show again.

THE CARDS

Sandwich months for Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes and Sheamus vs Wade Barrett non title (College Station only) because we simply have to pin the Intercontinental champion as often as humanly possible. In week 2, we have Orton & Sheamus vs The Shield - fucked if I'm putting this in variations, in Champaign they beat Rollins & Deano by DQ when the big dog interferes, in the bigger market the night after, they beat all three but still by DQ. Kofi Kingston vs Damien Sandow sounds decent in week 1, week after Kofi's back slumming it with Heath Slater. There's a Jack Swagger vs Sin Cara match in Texas where my brain says should have meshed well but my gut says otherwise. Great Khali & Sin Cara vs Primo & Epico week one and Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal week two is random - Rey Rey is already fucked. In Texas Khali & Brodus Clay beat the Colons. Undercards early month have Clay vs Corey Graves and Layla vs Aksana, it's Aksana losing to Alicia Fox and Clay pinning Conor O'Brian in week two, and Fandango vs Yoshi Tatsu throughout, followed by 'Dango beating Ted DiBiase Jr and Kaitlyn & Layla vs Aksana & Tamina in Texas.

VARIATIONS

The Miz has a night off in Waco then beats future gopher Sandow in College Station - in Waco there'd otherwise be a spare body, because - and here's an oddity - Barrett & Sandow team up to lose to Sheamus and The Undertaker. In a tag team match, playa.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

7th in Tampa its the all Brit trio of Mason Ryan & British Ambition vs Erick Rowan, Luke Harper & Rick Victor (Ascension Viktor) as a prelude to the tag title finals. 13th in Orlando Bray Wyatt leads his troops again Neville, Grey and brother Bo Dallas, next night back in Tampa Harper & Rowan beat the Ambition. 24th in Melbourne (Florida, not Oz) its Bray vs Corey Graves vs Conor O'Brian, 28th back in Tampa Neville beats Harper one on one.

THE CARDS

Fuck, some repeats! 13th-14th both see Mason Ryan vs Percy Watson and Corey Graves vs Dante Dash. Also of note - this month has the first time Sasha Banks & Bayley seem to team up, though by month end the "BFFs" are a rotating tag team of any three of Sasha, Charlotte and Summer Rae. Also of note England's Martin Stone turns up as Danny Burch, and we continue to see guys like Kazma Sakamoto and Camacho keep their eye in. There's not much else interesting.

TVs

4th in Atlanta Raw is a great wrestling show with what I think is the first Bryan vs Rey Mysterio match after which Mark Henry attacks Rey to write him out for fucking ages with a bad knee, and a 15 minute match between Punk and Y2J, then dark its again Cena & Ryback vs Punk & Ziggler. Next night in Jacksonville Dallas beats Graves dark, the Funkadactyls wrestle a tag on Main Event preparing for a Mania match that doesn’t happen, and on SmackDown Cesaro beats Sin Cara in the first of their matches building a Mania match that doesn’t happen. 10th Raw in Nashville Chris Jericho and Daniel Bryan get a nice 10 minutes, Swagger dusts off Dutch Mantell, basically best remembered as Uncle Zebekiah to the core audience, as Zeb Colter, and dark Cena pins Ziggler. Next night in Little Rock Kofi pins Graves before TVs and Del Rio has his working boots on again ; he has a 21 minute match with Ziggler for Main Event and retains over Show in the Coliseum Video main event. You can tell how far Rhodes Scholars have fallen in the plans ; by Elimination Chamber they’re losing to Tons Of Funk on the pre show. You’ll be delighted to hear when Ziggler complains about not having an opponent on the PPV, they make him wrestle Kofi. It needs saying that while the result of the Chamber is the mystifying decision to try and force Swagger into magically just “being” a main event player in one night for a SECOND time, the MVP of the match is Mark Henry with an incredible “caged bear” performance inside his pod then a path of destruction once liberated. Next night in Raw in Lafayette the unstoppable Shield beat Ryback, Sheamus and Y2J. Next night in Biloxi Dallas beats Curt Hawkins dark, the Swagger push has him pin Orton (not for the first time of course) and dark Bertie beats Show in a streetfight. Of note 21st at Full Sail Cesaro vs Big E is a bonus match, Bo pins brother Wyatt and Orton pins Sandow. 25th Raw in Dallas (a massive 17,000+ sellout) Ryback continues good form pinning Ziggler and Cena beats Punk in one of the best remembered Raw main events in years - it’s the one where Punk does a piledriver (oooooh) and Cena does a charmingly crap rana in the home straight. Finally 26th in Oklahoma City Bo beats Hawkins again, Cesaro retains the US title over Miz 2/3 falls, and dark The Shield manage to get themselves beat by Orton, Kane and Sheamus.

I still don’t know what they were thinking with Colter. I think dirty Dutch just got Vince hammered during a chance meeting at a right wingers’ social club and snuck a contract under his nose.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Barrett, obviously (Intercontinental champion) by Orton, again by Bryan, Cesaro (US Champ) by Ryback, again by Miz, Team Hell No (tag team champions) by the Prime Time Players (WTF)

DEPARTURES 

I don’t think so.

For those of you that haven't seen enough Kingston vs Ziggler in your lives, here it is from Istanbul ;

 

@HarmonicGeneratorShield watch - it's obvious at this point that the model is to get them to refine their match and characters by working a small number of opponents so they don't have to adjust much, very old school - they've basically wrestled only Ryback/Bryan/Sheamus/Kane/Orton and once each against Cena, Miz and Jericho.

Just for you - here they are in Istanbul.

 

 

Edited September 15, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

MARCH 2013

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st-2nd in Toronto and Kingston its John Cena & Ryback vs The Shield in a handicap match, DQ finish, 3rd in Syracuse Sheamus is added to make it a six man. 8th in Colorado it's back to 2 v 3 but then 9th/10th in Broomfield and Loveland Sheamus is back around. They go on first in Loveland and I have no idea why (no planes to catch) - Y2J goes on last. 15th-17th its the same six man in Bridgeport, Providence and Binghamton and 22nd-24th in Charlottesville, Fairfax and Salisbury. Mania week we get cross-brand shows - 29th in Springfield MA its Cena, Sheamus and just-turned Big Show getting the DQ win, 30th-31st in Atlantic City and White Plains its super team Cena, Sheamus and Randy Orton.

THE CARDS

It's CM Punk vs Kofi Kingston in Ontario and Punk vs Zack Ryder in Colorado - Ryder's a big deal on the road, I keep telling you. Chris Jericho vs Dolph Ziggler is back on twice in Colorado, Providence and Binghamton - no DQ in Loveland and Providence - I wonder if this would have been better use of both at Mania?? In Fairfax & Salisbury, Y2J and former rival Kofi face Ziggler and Big E Langston. On the three cross-brand shows, seceded from main event, it's Ryback vs Mark Henry in "over the top rope challenges" which of course, The Big Guy wins. Antonio Cesaro vs The Miz for the US belt, no DQ continues in Ontario then in Colorado our Mike slums it with Michael McGillicutty before in the North East it's Cesaro vs Miz vs Kofi, third week of the month Cesaro's back stuck with Santino. Ridiculously Kaitlyn vs Tamina for the belt resumes from Colorado onwards, to month end. In Ontario it's Ryder vs McGillicutty, Layla vs Tamina and Bray Wyatt vs Alex Riley then in Colorado Wyatt vs JTG and Riley vs Titus O'Neil, in the North East Ryder vs Darren Young and R-Truth vs Titus, in the Mid West Ryder vs O'Neil, plus Tons Of Funk vs 3 Man Band (various) for four loops, with Ted DiBiase Jr beating Jinder supplementing the tag in Charlottesville and Salisbury.

On various shows, The Shield lamp Riley or Ryder after their match to make them look BIGGER bastards for the main event later.

I should also add... in the build to the three biggest matches on the card for Mania 29, only two of the six wrestlers involved are wrestling matches at live events. It's not a great look. Add to that, the results of the three matches were the most obvious results of any top end of any Mania in history.

VARIATIONS

Justin Gabriel vs JTG only happens in Syracuse. In Colorado Springs it's a one off of Miz vs Ziggler - the spare man, Perfect's kid, has the night off. No Tensai either - Clay pins Slater in singles. In Charlottesville Y2J isn't there so - can I shock you? - it's Kofi vs Ziggler again. In Salisbury only, Ted pins McIntyre instead of Jinder. In Springfield... do they belong under Raw? I can't remember - Team Hell No retain over the wildly out-of-their-depth Slater & Jinder. In Atlantic City, Cesaro retains over Truth, in White Plains, over Kofi.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

It's still Alberto Del Rio vs Big Show 2nd in Kalamazoo (Last Man Standing) and 3rd in Cleveland (just 6500 turn up), more Last Man Standing matches 9th/10th in LaCrosse and Milwaukee. 16th in Hammond IN its still Last Man, 17th in Toledo it's a streetfight though Orton goes on last on those two, 23rd-24th in Norfolk (8300) and Baltimore (7000) its no DQ matches. After Show turns, Bertie is on just before intermission on the supershows - in Springfield he beats Antonio Cesaro by DQ followed by and impromptu tag where he and Kofi Kingston beat Cesaro and Mania challenger Jack Swagger, in Atlantic City and White Plains it's battle royal winner Wade Barrett for the non-finish and a slightly more high-profile Del Rio, Chris Jericho and The Miz beating Swagger, Barrett and, umm.... Fandango.

THE CARDS

Randy Orton vs Cody Rhodes plus Daniel Bryan & Kane vs Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston for the tag belts in Michigan - dry run for Mania there. Orton's then beating Mark Henry by DQ while Team Hell No are back with Cody & Damien Sandow for two weeks. When we get to WCW country Henry's back with long-term enemy Kane, Rhodes Scholars value is utilised giving the rub to The Usos. Our Wade Barrett vs Bo Dallas runs for three loops - it's non-title in Michigan even though Wade's winning - huh. Finally getting a break from main event, in Atlantic City and White Plains Big Show is blessed with lighter duties - he beats all of 3 Man Band in a handicap. Jack Swagger vs Sin Cara continues in Michigan, Jack beats Justin Gabriel in the next three loops. In Michigan its Ted DiBiase Jr vs Sandow - and Ted wins them! False dawn. He loses to Fandango in Wisconsin. Michigan also gets Usos vs Primo & Epico and - foreshadowing! - Paige vs AJ Lee goes 50/50, as it always seemed to. The Colons lose to R-Truth & Great Khali in 2nd and 4th loops, inbetween Khali beats the Colons by himself, plus its Layla vs Alicia Fox for two loops and we add Yoshi Tatsu vs Michael McGillicutty in loops 3 and 4, plus Natalya vs Aksana in Norfolk and Baltimore.

Rey Mysterio has totally fucked his knee after zero time back from his hiatus, will miss Mania and indeed has very few matches left in him for this run. Sin Cara is off with concussion after his loss to Swagger on the 11th Raw, so his match with Cesaro for Mania is off.

VARIATIONS

In Springfield Barrett retains in a three way over Truth and Mania opponent The Miz.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

7th in Tampa its Xavier Woods vs Leo Kruger vs Conor O'Brian vs Axl Keegan, one week later Kruger teams with Kassius Ohno and - YES! - Sami Zayn to lose to Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper & Erick Rowan. Next night in Immokalee (??) that four-corners repeats, 27th in Orlando its Woods vs Conor vs Kruger vs Corey Graves, next night back in Tampa Wyatt beats that enigma, Dante Dash.

THE CARDS

SO CLOSE to a repeat - Kassius Ohno & Sami Zayn (using real name Rami Sebei) face Luke Harper & Erick Rowan once and Harper & Bray Wyatt once. Fuck all consistency again though I bet Mason Ryan vs Alexander Rusev in Orlando hit hard. Very special mention here - as mentioned before, 28th in Tampa Evan Bourne wrestles his first match in over a year due to injury, beating Zayn... and allegedly his last match for over a year until his release in June 14.*

TVs

4th in Buffalo its "Old School Raw" - hang on, didn't they just do an anniversary special? This company is trapped in the past worse than me. Hacksaw Jim Duggan beats Swagger by DQ and Sgt Slaughter and Dusty Rhodes also get beaten up by Jack, The New Age Outlaws finally get back on TV and beat the Colons, Honky Tonk Man breaks a guitar over Slater's head, they give Mae Young a 90th birthday cake, and Punk wins a four-way over Orton, Show and Sheamus to earn the chance to wrestle The Undertaker at Mania - who promptly appears. Off the air, Cena, Ryback and Sheamus beat The Shield. Night after in Albany, despite taping for 3 TV shows Usos vs Prime Time Players doesn't get used on any of them, Sin Cara beats Cesaro to continue building a Mania match that won’t happen, Orton vs Barrett goes 16 minutes for Main Event (still a big deal), and after tapings Ryback, Sheamus and Show go to a double-DQ with Rollins, Reigns and Ambrose. 11th in Indianapolis, I don't remember this - Brock Lesnar attacks the Outlaws, Swagger crushes Sin Cara who’s promptly on the shelf, and Sandow becomes an even bigger heel by re-introducing The Bella Twins. Next night in Fort Wayne Ted pins Wyatt dark and on SmackDown they’re really forcing it with Swagger - he pins Y2J. 18th in Pittsburgh Show saves Orton and Sheamus from The Shield and replaces Ryback in the six man at Mania. 19th in Cincinnati Gabriel pins Wyatt in the curtain jerker, Main Event has three short nothing matches (is this the decline?), Ziggler wrestles Kofi on SmackDown for the millionth time and after the show Show Sheamus and Orton beat The Shield by DQ. 21st at Full Sail Zayn beats Briley Pierce (Ryan Nemeth) before tapings commence, on the TV show The Shield show up to squash Keegan, Percy Watson and Scott Dawson, The Bellas beat The Funkadactyls, William Regal beats Ohno in a 17 minute belter, numerous other main roster people wrestle at times, including Rollins beating Graves in a lumberjack match, Cesaro retaining over Adrian Neville and Y2J beating Wyatt. 25th in a Philadelphia there’s 18,000+ - Taker attacks Punk. Finally night after in Hershey is the first taping I spot Mick Foley as the GM of Saturday Morning Slam - a job I didn’t know existed - Ted beats Wyatt again and after TVs Show Sheamus and Orton beat The Shield. 

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten this month on TV : Barrett OBVIOUSLY (Intercontinental Champion) by Del Rio, again by Orton, FUCKING AGAIN by Miz, FUCK OFF AGAIN by Y2J, Cesaro (US Champion) by Sin Cara, by Ryback, again by Del Rio, FUCKING AGAIN by Truth, YET BASTARD AGAIN by Miz, YOU FUCKING CUNTS AGAIN by Kane, Kaitlyn (Womens Champion) by Tamina (FUCKING HELL).

The Intercontinental champion loses four times on TV this month, the United States champ six. What’s the fucking point of giving the midcard “champions” if they’re not actually any better than anyone else? It does nothing for the men beating them as it becomes nothing special, wins and loses stop mattering, so the matches themselves stop having stakes. Like, all of the matches.

DEPARTURE 

David Otunga stops wrestling after his televised loss to Ryback and settles into commentator and other roles. He never really leaves but this is probably the last you’ll read his name here. 

* I say allegedly because here he is winning his match, reportedly at Miami Youth Fair on 30th, but buggered if I can find a full card anywhere.

 

 

[air_raid]

APRIL 2013

Normality is restored on Raw ; conversely over the road, welcome to the brief but eventful era of Ziggler. And I’m going to dive into “when plans change.”

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

As ever it’s the WrestleMania Revenge Tour in Europe - they’ve turned The Big Guy, it’s John Cena vs Ryback in tables matches for the WWE title 17th-20th in Rotterdam, Belfast, Dublin and Paris (9000 gate) and 23rd in Nottingham, then 24th-27th it’s Cena, Daniel Bryan & Kane vs Ryback, Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston born out of a DQ in Ziggler vs Bryan before intermission, in Liege, Brussels, Moscow (just 6000 in a building that holds double that for basketball) and Łódź (Poland).

THE CARDS

Before TVs it’s Daniel Bryan & Kane vs Dolph Ziggler & Big E Langston - of course by now Ziggler has already won SmackDowns World Heavyweight Championship so why he’s arsing about after the tag belts or even on Raws tour at all is beyond me. It’s a split between R-Truth vs Antonio Cesaro now Cesaro’s lost the US belt plus Zack Ryder vs Heath Slater or the other way round - the babyfaces always win. There’s a sentimental booking of William Regal vs Michael McGillicutty before TVs and Joe’s beating Brad Maddox after them ; Tons Of Funk vs Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow every night throughout. In Rotterdam and Paris it’s Kaitlyn & The Funkadactyls vs Tamina & The Bella Twins, with Kaitlyn vs Tamina for the belt in Ireland, Nottingham and Belgium, followed by Kaitlyn vs Tamina vs AJ Lee in Moscow and Łódź.

No idea why new US Champ Kofi Kingston or The Miz aren’t booked anywhere. Very weak undercards.

VARIATIONS

In Rotterdam only the usual 7 match card is pumped up to 9 ; Ziggler retains his belt over Bryan then later on the show Kane vs Big E has a DQ finish which leads into the tag.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN 

OH YOU DIDNT KNOW? What an oddity we have here - Sheamus & The New Age Outlaws vs The Shield 18th-22nd in Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Birmingham and Cardiff and again 27th in Mannheim (they have to go on first in Cardiff so The Shield can be rushed to London for Raw), it’s Randy Orton tagging with Dogg and Ass 24th-26th in Amneville, Bologna and Trieste and then 28th in Cologne.

THE CARDS

Depending on Shield match it’s Randy Orton vs Big Show or Sheamus vs Mark Henry plus every night a grudge match of Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger no DQ - likewise depending, otherwise Henry crushes Great Khali or Show beats The Usos in a handicap match. Wade Barrett vs Justin Gabriel is our Jobber belt match before TV and in Mannheim ; everywhere else it’s Barrett vs Santino. It’s Alex Riley, Santino, Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal vs Primo, Epico & The Prime Time Players plus Natalya vs Aksana up to London, Riley & Gabriel vs the Colons and Layla vs Aksana thereafter, and Fandango vs Ted DiBiase Jr throughout.

Daniel Bryan and Kane are on the poster/program for the German legs even though they aren’t booked. This company, man.

VARIATIONS 

In Mannheim only, Henry crushes the Usos and Santino & Riley beat Primo & Epico.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

11th in Tampa it’s Bo Dallas & Kassius Ohno vs Luke Harper & Erick Rowan, week after its a double shot - in Starke it’s Dallas vs Ohno vs Corey Graves vs Xavier Woods and in Tampa Bo, Ohno and Sami Zayn beat Bray Wyatt and his lads. Finally 24th again in Tampa Adrian Neville pins Graves.

THE CARDS

Alexander Rusev vs Malik Omari (yes, the one from BritWres), Aiden English vs Xavier Woods and Mojo Rawley vs Knuckles Madsen all happen twice. Highlights are Bayley vs Charlotte on the 11th, Charlotte and Emma beating Paige and Sasha Banks in Starke and Sasha beating Charlotte same day in Tampa, and 24th The Ascension (Konnor/Viktor version) tag for the first time, Omari upsets Baron Corbin, Mojo beats Rusev again and Charlotte & Emma beat future tag team champions Banks & Naomi.

AXXESS

Five cards of varying lengths (3-8 matches) give added value to Axxess on the Thursday, Friday and three shows on the Saturday before Mania, featuring a plethora of (mostly) NXT talent crossed with main roster midcard all the way up to Antonio Cesaro who beats Xavier Woods on Saturday morning and including some names not booked for a while - some repeats are Bo Dallas vs Corey Graves and Paige vs Summer Rae which main events Saturday morning, other interesting meetings see Ezekiel Jackson & Yoshi Tatsu vs Hunico & Camacho which closes Thursday, Kaitlyn vs Alicia Fox for the belt which is Fridays main, and Adrian Neville vs Luke Harper on the Saturday night.

TVs

1st in Washington they tape four TV shows for the go homes for Mania and some really annoying handicap booking has Ryback beat former tag champs Primo & Epico and The Miz beat future tag champs the Players. It’s terrifying how few guys get booked like they have value. About all I want to say about Mania 29 beyond what you all remember, is that at the time I was shocked that they felt compelled to have Show knock out the two babyfaces after the six man, but then I suppose he needed some heat for his next waste of time feud, with Orton. Hey, at least it wasn’t Taker or Cena. Raw after Mania OF COURSE sells out the IZOD (near 17,000) full of mostly utter bellends, who the commentators have to pretend to enjoy, but they do at least make noise for the major developments - Wade winning the Jobber championship back from Miz after just 24 hours without it, Ziggler cashing in on Del Rio to win Big Gold (which I loved, watching live) and Ryback turning heel on Cena. Even if the noise was exclusively in support of alleged heels. Next night in the Boston TD Garden Gabriel beats Curt Hawkins before tapings, The Shield beat Kofi Kingston & Tons Of Funk for Main Event, the first SmackDown with Ziggler as champ has him booked rather tweenerishly, having a war of words with Swagger then cheating to pin Chris Jericho, then after the show Cena and Team Hell No beat The Shield by DQ. 15th Raw in Greenville Kofi brings Cesaros lengthy run of non title jobs to an end by beating him with the title at stake. Next night in Knoxville Alicia pins Aksana before the tapings and after the end, The Shield come down to beat up Orton and Sheamus (who’ve just lost to Show and Henry) - Triple H makes a save. Presumably just to pop the live crowd? 22nd at the O2 near 17,000 sell it out for one bloke - The Undertaker tags with Kane and Bryan to lose to The Shield. Also Ryder beats Slater dark, Regal shows his face to lose to Fandango (Summer Rae debuts in the dancer role) and said dirty Dango causes Y2J to lose to Ziggler again. Next night Riley beats Primo before cameras, Barrett beats Regal non title, Swagger actually beats Del Rio no DQ and Taker beats Ambrose after which The Shield batter him. 29th in Columbus they start building for the Ziggler vs Del Rio vs Swagger ladder match that won’t happen at Extreme Rules, I’m going to shock you - Ziggler wrestles Kofi, and The Shield beat Cena and Team Hell No when - mark this one down - Reigns pins Cena. Finally 30th in Detroit Dallas vs Hawkins goes on before TVs, a Kofi vs Cesaro rematch gets 20 minutes for Main Event, and on SmackDown they beat Ziggler for the second time on TV since giving him the belt, having him submit to Del Rio in a tag. Hmm.

Let’s talk about the plans for Mania that either got changed or didn’t make sense. So… when Y2J came back, he was told he’d work Ryback at Mania, which he was happy about because Ryback had momentum at the time. Nearer the show he started realising something was up because whenever he asked when they were starting the build, he’d get bluffed or the subject would be changed. Humorously the company announced Ryback, Orton & Sheamus vs The Shield despite starting to tease a thing with Henry on TV - at the time, the match graphic on WWE.com had the filename visible in the page properties of “6man_1.jpg” and fans could actually see by just changing this to “6man_2” in their address bar, the graphic showing Show replacing The Big Guy was already good to go. LOL! When Jericho finally nails down Vince to talk what he will be doing at Mania, Vince replies “The same thing you do every year… looking at the lights, pal!” and tells him he’s going to lose to Fandango which CJ isn’t thrilled about. He pitches chasing Barrett for the ICT in a quest to become a (by WWEs counting*) 10-time champion, to which Vince says “Nobody cares about the fucking Intercontinental title” - I can feel your lack of surprise in my own heart, dear reader - to which Y2J replies “Nobody cares about Fandango either” and Vince curtly tells him, it’s his job to make them care. Somewhere along the line Jericho twigs that “Fandango” is a rib on his run on Dancing With The Stars and there’s no real plan for him, and flips his lid, almost walking out over doing the job, until Undertaker calls him and tells him that his own legacy was built on doing what he’s told and working guys he didn’t want to, and to trust Vince will look after him if he does business - financially, he’s right, and Chris later confirms his cheque was on par with what he got for Mania 28 in a heavily promoted title match with Punk. But will take another four years for Y2J to tire of broken promises and moving goalposts and realize he can’t actually trust Vinny Mac, and as we’ll cover, he’ll even break a promise himself on a gentleman’s agreement. Which probably made Vince feel real stupid, taking someone at their word more than 20 years after Nash made him vow never to do so until the inks dry on a contractual obligation. As for Ryback… Jericho pitches to Vince that he’s hot enough to face Taker at Mania and proposes he end “the streak” (ugh) if the plan has been to make him a made man. Obviously, they run instead with Ryback vs Henry theorising that Shell Shock on Henry will be a great “WrestleMania Moment” (double ugh). I’m with them there… so why in the name of Greek buggery, you may ask, is that Shell Shock came AFTER the match, and a finish that made The Big Guy look (pick one) weak, stupid and/or arrogant? Why, because Henry needs to win because they want to book him with Cena. SO… why then, you may wonder, does RYBACK turn heel and in fact become Cena’s next feud? Because, according to Ryan, Cena didn’t want to work with Mark at the time, and asked to wrestle him instead. Fuck, shouldn’t they have worked that out quicker? Could have saved killing Ryback off for the sake of a feud that’s going to be postponed and let him look a GENUINE threat to Cena, had he been allowed to run Henry down. That guy had the rug pulled so many times. They Lugered him good. Oh and yet ANOTHER tale of talent getting the plan changed - original plan is for Ziggler to cash in on Del Rio at Mania but Bertie complains that he isn’t getting HIS big Mania moment again after not being permitted to beat Edge two years prior, so they save it for the night after… which I think worked out great. And final note… when Tons Of Funk & The Funkadactyls vs Rhodes Scholars & The Bella Twins has to be scrapped on time constraints, this becomes the first Mania since 14 to have no women wrestling on it, unthinkable as that would be today. There had been discussion about adding Kaitlyn and AJ to the tag title match making a six person with all belts at stake but ultimately maybe that would have been too interesting. 

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Cesaro (US champ) by Y2J, Barrett OBVIOUSLY (Intercontinental champion) by Truth, AGAIN by Kofi, Ziggler (BRAND FUCKING NEW WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Swagger, Kaitlyn (Women’s champ) by Nikki Bella, Kofi (new US champ) by Ziggler

They pinned Cesaro on TV seven times in two months prior to losing the belt but consistently crowed about how long he’d held it. Timescale counts for fuck all if you lose every week!! Barrett’s running him close on six… maybe people would fucking care about the title if it was treated like it had value.

DEPARTURE

It’s Alex Riley's last appearances on the main roster telly until he secedes into commentary - he'll return to the ring in NXT before eventually being released in 2016. In 2023 he's wrestled for the NWA under his real name, Kevin Kiley. Which sounds like TNA's attempt at rebranding Alex Riley, doesn't it?

Here’s some tour goodies ; a lot of highlights of Cologne are up on the same channel.

 

 

 

Edited September 17, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

MAY 2013

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

3rd-5th back home from Europe it’s still John Cena, Daniel Bryan & Kane vs The Shield in Youngstown, Wheeling and Charleston WV. 10th in Shreveport and 11th in Beaumont it’s the old cross-feud tag as Cena and Sheamus face Ryback & Mark Henry. We’ve then got the usual cross-brand (LOL) weekender, 17th in Bowling Green KY Cena & Sheamus beat Ryback & Big Show, next night in Evansville Randy Orton is added to beat all three chonks. After the PPV Cena gets a break so it’s Chris Jericho vs Ryback no DQ 24th-26th in West Valley City (Utah) then Red Deer and Lethbridge (Alberta). Finally 31st we start a new loop in Glens Falls, it’s back to Cena vs Ryback in the tables match.

THE CARDS

It’s Ryback vs Sheamus with a count out finish (to add to a DQ on last) early month as well as Mark Henry vs Zack Ryder. When Shield main events cease (for now) we add Daniel Bryan & Kane vs Seth Rollins & Roman Reigns and start Dean Ambrose vs R-Truth (which recurs in Evansville and again in Utah for the US title). It’s Kofi Kingston vs Antonio Cesaro no DQ for the US title for two full loops plus Evansville and Utah, then by Canada Kofi challenges new champ Ambrose where the DQ leads to Kofi, Kane & Bryan vs The Shield… which also ends in DQ. Humph. OH YOU DIDNT KNOW?? The New Age Outlaws vs Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow is back on in suburban Salt Lake City and Canada - in Alberta there’s added value of Shawn Michaels being introduced by the Outlaws before the match and getting involved with a superkick on one or the other of Rhodes Scholars. (In Utah he’d dropped Cesaro for interrupting a spot with Shawn and JR). Some missing bodies in Bowling Green land Cesaro back with Truth which will continue after in Alberta and Glens Falls too. The Miz returns mid month, he’s losing to Fandango - fuck, they’re giving that a go, aren’t they?? Kaitlyn & Paige vs Emma & Tamina starts the month then it’s back to Kaitlyn vs Tamina for the belt for the rest of the month. Bray Wyatt vs Alex Riley (oops), Truth vs Fandango and Adrian Neville vs Heath Slater go for two nights, then Neville, Bo Dallas & Sin Cara vs Michael McGillicutty & The Prime Time Players for two and Wyatt vs Ryder for the next six.

VARIATIONS 

In Youngstown Henry is absent so it’s Kofi vs Cesaro vs Ryder, plus the women’s tag is a slightly more logical Kaitlyn & Emma vs Paige & Tamina. Chris Jericho vs Fandango only happens in Beaumont. In West Valley City before Kofi starts working Deano, it’s actually Sheamus & Team Hell No vs The Shield before the Celtic Warrior joins the SmackDown crew in Canada. New runs starting in New York State are Wade Barrett vs Sheamus vs Fandango, Ryder pinning Brad Maddox straight after his loss to Wyatt, Tons of Funk vs the PTP, Ted DiBiase Jr vs Hunico and Naomi vs Brie Bella.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

4th/5th in Reading and Upper Marlboro it’s Dolph Ziggler vs Alberto Del Rio for the belt with a DQ finish before intermission, Randy Orton vs Big Show on last. By 11th/12th in Odessa and Amarillo, Zigglers concussed. 25th/26th in Regina and Medicine Hat there’s very few stars present - Wade Barrett vs Sheamus (DQ finish) goes on last.

THE CARDS

Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger in a streetfight in Texas is a natural replacement for the title match - umm, why wasn’t Jack booked at all in week 1?? In Canada Swaggers again absent, Bertie beats Big E Langston. Undercards are woefully short of star power, double main aside. Wade Barrett vs Great Khali early month for the Jobber title - I don’t believe my eyes. In Texas Wade’s back with Justin Gabriel. In Canada we import The Miz vs Fandango from Raws side ; Mike’s still losing those. First 4 shows Tons Of Funk vs Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow still has the wrong winners and it’s The Usos vs The Prime Time Players early month and on the supershows, in Canada Brodus & Tensai beat Titus & Darren. It’s Big E vs Gabriel and Natalya vs Alicia Fox first loop, Khali & the Usos vs 3 Man Band and The Funkadactyls vs The Bella Twins in Texas and Ted DiBiase Jr vs Corey Graves for all four shows, then Gabriel vs Curt Hawkins, Nattie vs Aksana and Sin Cara vs Slater in Canada.

VARIATION

In Regina only, Clay pins Young in a singles match which is followed by the Tons/Players tag ; by next night in Medicine Hat they’ve figured out it’s overkill.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

9th in Tampa it’s Bo Dallas, Adrian Neville & Dante Dash vs Mason Ryan, Leo Kruger & Corey Graves. One week later Graves is teaming with Dallas and Neville to beat Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper & Erick Rowan by DQ. 24th in DeLand (?) and next night back in Tampa Dallas defends the belt against battle royal winner Alexander Rusev, 30th still in Tampa he beats brother Wyatt in a lumberjack match.

THE CARDS

A couple of identical cards 24th/25th!! A pair of 1-1 with Emma, Charlotte & Bayley vs Sasha Banks, Paige & Kendall Skye (umm… BFF?) and Corey Graves vs Luke Harper plus Leo Kruger vs Mason Ryan, the battle royal and Scott Dawson & Garrett Dylan vs Aiden English & Mickey Keegan. Also on 15th and 30th Colin Cassidy vs Baron Corbin goes 50/50. Otherwise… Rusev tags with English on 9th (to lose to The Ascension) then wrestles him on 15th, 9th also has an instalment of Bayley vs Sasha, and on 30th Bayley & Emma beat Charlotte & Sasha (…. BFF), infancy of a rivalry - Dawson beats Jason Jordan, and CJ Parker upsets Rusev. I still can’t believe they gave him that name without anyone clocking it was Pams characters name in Baywatch.

TVs

2nd in Full Sail Corbin makes his telly debut and loses to Sandow, Harper & Rowan beat Neville & Dallas to win the tag belts, Cesaro squashes Yoshi Tatsu then immediately gets challenged and beaten by a debuting Sami Zayn, Big E squashes Derrick Bateman and Dallas wins a battle royal for a future title shot… 6th Raw in Roanoke Ziggler loses to Del Rio by DQ and dark Cena & Team Hell No beat The Shield by DQ. Next night in Raleigh Neville pins Hawkins before tapings, Orton vs Cesaro goes 20 minutes for Main Event, and dark Orton & Sheamus beat Show & Henry. 13th Raw in Tulsa Cena, Bryan and Kane actually beat The Shield in an elimination match but protected to the end both Ambrose and Reigns are only ousted by DQ. Next night in Wichita Dallas & Neville beat Primo & Epico in the curtain jerker and Kane vs Rollins gets 18 minutes for Main Event. Extreme Rules is a fairly eventful PPV - The Shield pick up the US and tag titles and Brock Lesnar pins Triple H inside a cage to win their feud. Next night on a Raw a terribly ill-conceived segment has Heyman re-introduce “Curtis Axel” and Hunter immediately make him look worthless with the line “the adults are talking” then bitch slaps him. Also Jobber champ Barrett taps to Miz in a tag and The Shield meet Kofi & Team Hell No in their specialty, the six-man, which goes 22 minutes and they win. Good stuff. Next night in Omaha Cody jobs for Gabriel dark, and The Shield beat Kofi, Orton and Sheamus in 16 minutes. The lads. 23rd in Full Sail Mojo Rawley beats Knuckles Madsen dark, and tapings have quarter finals in the Women’s title tournament, Cesaro beats Zayn in their rematch, and Dallas beats Big E for the NXT title continuing his slow burn heel turn in the process. 27th Raw in Calgary The Shield retain in their rematches with Kofi and Team Hell No… other champions aren’t booked quite as strongly. Finally next night in Edmonton the Usos beat the Players dark, Barrett vs Sheamus goes 21 minutes for Main Event, and after the show Orton and Team Hell No beat The Shield by DQ.

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Barrett, obviously (Intercontinental champion) by Sheamus TWICE, again by Sin Cara, fucking AGAIN by Fandango. Every fucking week.

The Intercontinental champ has lost televised singles matches 11 times in three months.

DEPARTURES 

Percy Watson, we hardly knew ye. Derrick Bateman wrestles his last matches under company banner this month - he’ll end up making something of a star of himself in TNA as EC3 and eventually WWE will come back knocking, but they prove not a fit for each other second time round too.

It’s not a match but it’s still fun to see :

 

 

[air_raid]

JUNE 2013

The brand split is disappearing even further and further, the touring crews just seem to be two separate rosters without rhyme or reason as to who is with who, and I'm only separating them now by which champion (or nearest equivalent/main event star) is on top. And there are some similarities to "back in the day" where B show main eventers suddenly become support to the top guy's main event and something else takes their place elsewhere and vice versa. But there's some fascinating stuff going on.

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st-2nd in Manchester NH and Augusta ME then 7th/8th in Sunrise and Lakeland, 14th/15th in Terre Haute and Bloomington IL on the joint-roster shows then 21st-23rd in Mobile, Tallahasee and Savannah it's still John Cena vs Ryback in a tables match for the WWE title. 28th-30th Cena's having some deserved nights off so Sheamus beats "The Big Guy" in the tables match in Bismarck, Fargo and Sioux Falls.

THE CARDS

It's Wade Barrett vs Sheamus for the Jobber title (DQ win for challenger, naturally) transferred over from SmackDown for two shows, before Sheamus has to head back, and it's likewise Chris Jericho vs Fandango as a revenge match. In Florida our semi main (this seems unfair on the other crew) is Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan & The Miz vs The Shield with a DQ finish... Bryan teaming with Miz always makes me laugh. After Payback we've got Team Hell No chasing Rollins & Reigns (DQ wins) for the tag belts and Ambrose defending the US title against R-Truth. Deano then starts a run up with Zack Ryder in Savannah (streetfight - which would be a VERY different match today, if held outside WWE), North Dakota (both "no DQ") and then - LOL! - 2/3 falls in Sioux Falls. Sioux out of three Falls. Also month end, Rollins & Reigns defend against Bryan and - look who's back - Christian. Also, Antonio Cesaro vs Truth continues for three out of the first four shows, then Cesaro's back with Miz in Terre Haute (no DQ) and Bloomington (2/3 falls). Miz challenging new Jobber champ Curtis Axel then transplants over from the other crew in the run through the Dakotas. Bray Wyatt vs Zack carries on, making it to 8 consecutive road gigs together before Sunrise breaks it up, reunited in Lakeland. Tons Of Funk vs Prime Time Players sandwiches the month in the first and final loops and it's Ted DiBiase Jr vs Hunico for two nights, then in Florida Ted beats Curt Hawkins, in NXT country it's Bo Dallas vs Leo Kruger for the belt, the Tons are back beating Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow (fuck sake) in all of the first Florida loop, on the cross-brand shows and week 4. Also in week 4 we've got Justin Gabriel vs Jinder Mahal, Luke Harper vs Alex Riley and Ryder back in the winners' circle against Drew McIntyre, and a return to Naomi vs Brie Bella that lasts to month end. Also last week of the month, A-Ri's back losing to Wyatt and Drew to Yoshi Tatsu.

VARIATIONS

Let's start with the biggest - The Shield. In Terre Haute they're losing to Team Hell No & R-Truth, next night in Bloomington to Bryan/Kane/Y2J - both by DQ. In Augusta Brad Maddox challenges Ted after Jr beats Hunico - and he beats Maddox too. In Sunrise only a shuffle sees Wyatt beat Truth, and house show hero Ryder knock off Cesaro then Maddox - an extra match of Maddox losing to Mason Ryan is added in Lakeland. Bloomington is padded out by one offs of Axel vs Truth and - lulz - Hornswoggle vs Maddox. No Truth in Savannah so there's a bit of a shuffle - Gabriel pins McIntyre prior to his regular win over Jinder.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

1st-2nd in Bethlehem and Poughkeepsie there's no title match but we can't say they haven't got a main - it's Randy Orton, Daniel Bryan & Kane vs The Shield (DQ finish) with support of Alberto Del Rio vs Big E Langston no DQ - which graduates to main event 8th/9th in Johnson City and Fayetteville. Big return Payback weekend - Big E and boss Dolph Ziggler lose to Bertie & Ricardo Rodriguez on Cena's undercard. 22nd/23rd in Daytona Beach and Albany GA it's Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett on last, but what's most interesting is what's going on underneath. Finally 29th in Cedar Rapids we finally get back to what we've been robbed of previously - Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler for the belt, no DQ, Orton vs Barrett underneath.

THE CARDS

Week 3 we get Dolph Ziggler vs Antonio Cesaro - always a decent match but this is no DQ AND.... Dolph has turned babyface. Down South on the second pair of shows, Sheamus vs Curtis Axel ends in meek count-out wins for Perfect's kid, then before Payback Sheamus is losing in equally not-really-losing manner to Jobber champ Wade Barrett. Week after, Sheamus vs Big E Langston isn't marquee in 2013 but I bet was fun clubbering nonetheless, and underneath Orton/Barrett and Ziggler/Cesaro we suddenly seem to have fun-sounding shows again. More count-out joy for Axel in week 4, now defending the Jobber title against The Miz. More shite! Sin Cara vs Cody Rhodes and Great Khali vs Damien Sandow sandwiching the first two shows and Cedar Rapids also both have results that make me upset. Kaitlyn vs AJ Lee for the belt in the North East and the supershows then Cedar Rapids sandwiches AJ & Aksana losing to Layla & Alicia Fox, then after Payback it's KaiLay (heh) beating AJ & Aksana. It's Justin Gabriel vs Heath Slater (Nexus explodes!) and Alex Riley vs Curt Hawkins for two nights then Khali vs Jinder Mahal and The Usos vs The Prime Time Players in the second and fourth loops, after Payback we add Ted DiBiase Jr vs Slater and Khali beating the otherwise invisible Primo & Epico.

VARIATIONS

A-Ri misses Johnson City so its Gabriel vs Slater vs Hunico ; next night Riley beats Slater and Gabriel beats Hunico as planned. Cedar Rapids adds Cesaro vs Gabriel and the Players vs Slater & Jinder.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

Both 6th and 13th, both in Tampa, it’s Bo Dallas vs Leo Kruger. 27th, still in Tampa, it’s Dallas, Mason Ryan & Xavier Woods vs Kruger. Alexander Rusev & Luke Harper “impromptu” after a DQ in the title match, next night in Lakeland it’s Dallas vs (double battle royal winners) Kruger vs Antonio Cesaro for the belt.

THE CARDS

27th-28th it’s twice Paige vs Bayley for the belt, it’s The Ascension vs Aiden English & Mickey Keegan both 13th and 27th, otherwise more booking of the women that confuses me sees Bayley & Emma vs Charlotte & Kendall Skye on 6th, but Charlotte & Emma vs Bayley & Summer Rae on 13th… who exactly are BFF and who are babyfaces here?? Amusingly Tyler Breeze loses by count out to all of Mason Ryan, Jason Jordan and Mojo Rawley. There’s the first teaming of Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy on 6th, losing to Baron Corbin & Dante Dash, Angelo Dawkins doing a job to Cass on 13th, Sami Zayn vs Scott Dawson on 27th and Camacho jobbing for Ryan;Mason in Lakeland.

TVs

3rd Raw at "home base" in Hartford, Steph and Vince show their faces. Remember how Vince was a babyface standing up to Punk, and when we needed to feel sympathy for him getting lamped by Lesnar in the build to Mania? Well, I'd say it's another phantom heel turn (a McMahon family favourite) but Vince is a confusing mess here, simultaneously dumping on (heel) Axel AND the live crowd. After the show Cena drops Ryback in another tables match. Next night's SmackDown taping at Nassau Coliseum, Sheamus vs Cesaro is another sterling match for Main Event, that selfless bastard Jericho does a pinfall job for Axel, and dark Orton, Bryan and Kane beat The Shield by DQ. 10th Raw in Richmond tensions continue between Hunter and Vince, which are all leading to a long game swerve and the formation of "The Authority" which is just Corporation X under a new name, Ziggler returns and still acts like a heel in his interactions with Y2J. Next night in Greensboro the Players knock off Ted Jr & Gabriel before the taping, Ziggler's back in the ring tagging with Big E to lose to ADR & Y2J, and - the moment's finally come - Randy Orton & Team Hell No BEAT THE SHIELD on TV with a real finish when Bryan elicits a tap from Rollins. At Payback (14,500+ sellout), it must be said... befitting its current status, Barrett FINALLY loses when the Jobber title is at stake, losing it in a three way to even bigger loser, Curtis Axel. Plus AJ starts her epic reign by winning the belt from Kaitlyn after which the Rosemont mutants chant "You tapped out" at Kaitlyn, CM Punk returns in front of his hometown crowd to beat Y2J in (let's be fair) a great match, and Cena retains over Ryback in a triple threat theatre which confuses me - Cena loses the fall where it's decided by pin then wins two where it's tables or ambulances, marking the second consecutive PPV where he's failed to pin "The Big Guy." Strikes me as odd. But the story of the show is a SUPERB match between Ziggler and Del Rio, a forgotten masterclass in the art of the double turn where Bertie looks a vicious twat in aggressively looking to exploit Dolph's recent (and real) concussion, and Ziggler looks an absolute warrior in defeat - the twats in the crowd did their part well here, pausing from irrelevant chants for RVD or Colt Cabana in other matches to give Ziggler a rousing round of support after he goes down in flames. This was a TREMENDOUS piece of business and should have been a turning point for Dolph and for SmackDown's main event scene at the future of that belt, which did not need to be any-fucking-where near John Cena in the slightest. Ho hum. Next nights Raw in Grand Rapids in STUNNING in terms of developments ; Punk tells Paul Heyman he doesn't want him ringside anymore, Del Rio cuts a vicious heel promo saying the fans never cared about him, Zeb Colter aligns with Cesaro, Christian returns from injury, Mark Henry does his UNBELIEVABLE fake retirement to sucker in Cena, Orton beats Bryan by stoppage when Bryan is legit injured (he was supposed to win), and after Punk beats Del Rio by baddie-had-enough count out, Brock Lesnar comes out and wastes Punk with the F5. Failing, no doubt, to top that is the dark main where (this is getting boring) Cena beats The Big Guy in another tables match. Next night in suburban Dayton, the Players beat the Tons before tapings, Bryan beats Orton by count-out, then in the Coliseum main, Orton/Bryan/Sheamus beat Ambrose/Rollins/Reigns by DQ. 20th at Full Sail, Mojo beats Danny Burch dark, Cass debuts on TV as Amore's muscle, they tape the semis and final for the NXT Womens belt which ends in Paige pinning Emma in what was probably a better match than you imagine, Ric Flair shows up to be in Charlotte's corner for her telly debut (beating Bayley, fittingly), there's TV debuts for The Ascension and the re-christened Tyler Breeze, and Sheamus shows up to beat Luke Harper. 24th Raw tapings in Charleston SC, Miz vs Barrett and Cesaro vs Ryder seems like a pretty decent episode of Superstars for once, and Bryan powerfully beats Orton in a streetfight by submission using the No Lock with a kendo stick. Next night in Columbia SC Khali beats Jinder dark.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Barrett, obviously (Intercontinental champion) by The Miz, AJ (Womens champion) by Natalya

So the final number of times Barrett got beat on TV during his reign (barely more than 3 months) finished at 12. Fucking heartless bastards.

DEPARTURES 

I don’t think so.

[air_raid]

I’m on holiday tomorrow until 1st so updates will be slower.

JULY 2013

MAIN EVENTS - RAW

4th-6th we have two nights at Sumo Hall (5000 then >8500<9000) and one in Taipei for two more of John Cena vs Ryback for the belt in the tiresome tables match either side of Cena, Daniel Bryan & Kane vs The Shield then still the tables match 13th in Trenton at the supershow - reportedly approx half full arena which holds 7000 or so for ice hockey. Then we head to Australia - 26th in Melbourne its Cena and Ryback going to a DQ half way through the show, then a Bryan/Ambrose streetfight that goes to a none finish immediately followed by the star-studded Shield six man on last (FUCK!), then more tables matches 27th-30th in Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth.

THE CARDS

Two nights on the Far East tour it's Sheamus, Daniel Bryan & Kane vs The Shield after a DQ in Ambrose vs Sheamus. In Australia we move to Bryan & Kane beating Reigns & Rollins (tag champs, remember) by DQ, and Ambrose vs The Miz in a streetfight for the US title. It's Chris Jericho vs Antonio Cesaro no DQ on tour plus Curtis Axel vs Miz in Asia and Trenton, then in Oz Axel's defending the Jobber title in a perplexing heel vs heel match against Cesaro. In two legs of Asia it's Wade Barrett vs Zack Ryder and Great Khali & Yoshi Tatsu vs Primo & Epico, in Australia there's Ryder vs Heath Slater and Khali vs Jinder Mahal, plus Natalya vs Aksana on both.

VARIATIONS 

Second night in Sumo Hall we have Tatsu vs Barrett, Ryder & Khali vs Colons, Ryback vs Miz, Sheamus vs Cesaro, and Axel vs Y2J for the belt (DQ finish). In Trenton - wow! - Y2J & CM Punk beat Rhodes Scholars. We've entered the end game for Punk. And - wow! - Orton, Bryan and Christian beat The Shield by DQ. In Melbourne only Miz vs Cesaro is back on, and the Jobber title is Axel vs Ryder vs Slater... for me only one of them belongs wrestling for that belt (as it should be presented) and it's not the champ.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

5th-7th in Wildwood, Ocean City and Wilkes-Barre it’s Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler for the belt in last man standing matches (FUCK have we not done enough of those??). They’re booked for a standard match in Trenton but it goes to a no contest when a fight breaks out before the opening bell - which never comes. Bullshit. 26th in Atlanta - here’s a revival - CM Punk beats Del Rio by DQ, next night in Macon its Del Rio vs Ziggler streetfight. 30th/31st we’ve got two nights in Cape Town for first another streetfight then a four way with Sheamus and forgotten man Jack Swagger. But then, WWE has forgotten quite a few men who are meant to be stars by now.

THE CARDS

Randy Orton vs Big E Langston is a curious assignment for the Viper early month ; he’s back with Wade Barrett in Georgia, beating both those men once each in Cape Town too. Symmetry. AJ Lee vs Kaitlyn for the belt recurs every night except Trenton and 31st in South Africa. Naomi & Tons Of Funk vs Brie Bella, Cody Rhodes & Damien Sandow is at least something different early month and night 1 in Cape Town. But the Rhodes Scholars split is on! In Macon, Cody is permitted to pin Sandow in front of a hometown crowd - well, it isn't Marietta, but remember in the States 90 odd miles away still virtually makes it your home. They must assume news of the tiff hasn't made it to South Africa because as well as the mixed six-person its Scholars vs Tons in a straight tag on the second night (probably should be a variation) - followed by Cody beating Damien again. WE’RE HERE. It’s Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper & Erick Rowan vs R-Truth & The Usos in Georgia. Early month it’s Truth vs Drew McIntyre, Justin Gabriel vs Heath Slater and the everlasting Usos vs Prime Time Players, and it's Truth vs Fandango in Trenton and night 1 in Cape Town.

VARIATIONS 

So… Rob Van Dam is back and he’s working everyone! He pins Jack Swagger in Atlanta, tags with CM Punk and Sheamus in Macon to beat Big E and the PTP (umm… eclectic), pins Barrett 30th and Langston 31st. Babyface Ziggler beats former goon Big E by count-out in Atlanta. Further exceptions for Sheamus see him beat Barrett in Trenton, Sandow in Atlanta and Swagger night 2 in Cape Town. In Trenton the Funkadactyls beat AJ & Brie, in Atlanta its Tons vs Players, Dango vs Alex Riley, in Macon Riley loses to Swagger, Night 1 in Cape Town Gabriel pins Titus, second night he pins Fandango and Truth pins Titus plus Kaitlyn & Naomi beat AJ & Brie.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

Just three shows to report - it’s Adrian Neville & Corey Graves vs Sami Zayn & Leo Kruger for the tag belts 18th in Tampa then against Zayn & Kassius Ohno next night in Jacksonville. 25th back in Tampa it’s Bo Dallas vs Scott Dawson for the big belt.

THE CARDS

Near identical cards 18th/19th have Paige, Sasha Banks & Kendall Skye vs Charlotte, Emma & Bayley, Mojo Rawley vs Tyler Breeze with Breeze continuing to get counted out, Xavier Woods vs Scott Dawson and Alexander Rusev vs Knuckles Madsen. Of note on 25th Paige beats Charlotte and Woods, Adrian Neville and CJ Parker beat Sami Zayn, Kassius Ohno & Leo Kruger.

TVs

2nd in Topeka Tons beat the Players before the show. 8th in Baltimore Wyatt Family vignettes start, there’s no dark action but Bryan vs Sheamus and Punk vs Orton both get decent time and proper finishes. Next night in Hampton Tatsu pins Darren Young before the shows and Ziggler vs Cesaro gets 20 minutes on Main Event. Of note 11th at Full Sail taped for TV - Charlotte beats Sasha, Paige retains over Summer Rae, Cesaro beats Zayn 2/3 falls and a raft of main roster talent appears including AJ defending against Bayley, The Shield beating Neville, Graves & Woods and - foreshadowing! - Ziggler pinning Rusev. Money In The Bank is loaded with incident including fallings out between Rhodes/Sandow, Punk/Heyman and Ziggler/AJ, the return of RVD and Sandow and Orton winning briefcases. Next night at the Barclays (near 16,000) Brooklyn Brawler takes a bow to job for Ryback on Superstars, The Shield attacks Mark Henry turning him babyface, Punk brawls with Brock Lesnar and RVD is straight back at it, beating Y2J in 21 minutes. Next night in Providence Sin Cara beats Ted DiBiase Jr dark, Ryback beats the shit out of Jericho after Y2J somehow fails to dethrone Axel, and the Coliseum Video Tag Team Match of the Month has Bryan, Orton and RVD vs The Shield. 22nd Raw in Austin, Bryan wrestles over 30 minutes in a gauntlet match beating Swagger, Cesaro (excellent) then Ryback by DQ, and if that’s not enough after the show he teams with Cena and Henry to beat The Shield. 23rd in Corpus Christ Luke Harper & Erick Rowan debut on SmackDown beating Clay & Tensai and dark both Punk pins Fandango (ok, random) and Ziggler pins Big E. 24th in Houston (4th taping in 3 nights) the Wyatts beat the Tons again dark and after the show ADR beats Ziggler in a streetfight.

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Del Rio (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Cena, again by Orton, AGAIN by Christian, Axel, obviously (Intercontinental champion) by Y2J, AJ (Women’s champ) by Kaitlyn

DEPARTURE 

The battering from Ryback (who he was originally meant to wrestle at Mania) explains Chris Jericho being absent - in reality, of course, he's off to fuck about with Fozzy again.

Here’s that six man :

 

[air_raid]

AUGUST 2013

2nd on the way back from Oz they go to Shanghai - its still John Cena vs Ryback for the belt. 11th in Oakland is cross-brand, Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton no DQ goes on last. 16th in Portland OR is also a supershow and the biggest match with a Raw presence sees Big Show, Mark Henry & Christian vs The Shield. Post SummerSlam, two title changes and a heel turn, its Orton vs Bryan for the belt 24th-25th in San Diego and Ontario and 31st in Boston.

THE CARDS

CM Punk vs Curtis Axel I do not get as a semi main in Portland and Boston. Axel vs The Miz for the Jobber title repeats in Shanghai and Oakland, Miz wraps his month beating Fandango, it's also Kane vs Luke Harper in Oakland and Portland. Dean Ambrose vs Rob Van Dam for the UST runs the last three shows of the month, as does Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins vs Big Show & Mark Henry with a DQ finish for the tag belts. Month end its Zack Ryder vs Jack Swagger (more wins for unstoppable Zack) and we add Alicia Fox vs Tamina plus Bray Wyatt, Harper and Erick Rowan beating Justin Gabriel & The Usos.

In San Diego Justin Roberts introduces favourite son (seemingly terminally injured) Rey Mysterio and he’s immediately confronted by The Shield but Show and Henry make the save… even though Henry was credited with hurting him on TV. Leading to the tag title match. After the DQ RVD makes the save. They’re keeping The Shield busy!

VARIATIONS

Shanghai it's still Rollins/Reigns vs Daniel Bryan & Kane, Ryder vs Antonio Cesaro vs Heath Slater as a contenders match then Ambrose vs Ryder for the belt, Great Khali vs Jinder Mahal and Natalya vs Aksana. In Oakland there’s RVD vs Ryback plus Henry & The Usos BEAT The Shield - CHRIST. In Portland Ryback loses to R-Truth (well, that was a hard comedown). By Boston I dont know if the brand split still exists. Kaitlyn, Natalya & Naomi vs AJ Lee, Brie Bella & Layla is very SmackDown-heavy and we inherit Dolph Ziggler vs Big E Langston and Kofi Kingston vs Ryback from the other crew, who don't have a show of their own that night. Plus Truth & The Usos lose to the Wyatt Family.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

They're still in South Africa - 1st in Durban its again Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus vs Jack Swagger and 2nd in Johannesburg its another Del Rio vs Ziggler no DQ. In Oakland Bertie drops a DQ to (battle royal winner) Big Show then in Portland, another DQ loss to (battle royal winner) Daniel Bryan on last. 24th-25th in Las Cruces and Rio Rancho Bertie is defending against Christian.

THE CARDS

CM Punk vs Curtis Axel (again) actually goes on last in New Mexico, above the Big Gold Belt. I'm gobsmacked. Dolph Ziggler vs Big E Langston kicks off in Portland (no DQ) and continues month end. AJ Lee vs Kaitlyn for the title continues abroad and domestically as about the only consistent match before New Mexico, then Kait and Natalya beat AJ and Layla. We get the Cody Rhodes vs Damien Sandow feud, Ryback vs Kofi Kingston, Great Khali vs Hunico and Prime Time Players vs Drew McIntyre & Jinder Mahal also in Las Cruces and Rancho Relaxo.

VARIATIONS

In Durban it's Randy Orton vs Wade Barrett as a streetfight, Rob Van Dam vs Big E, R-Truth vs Titus O'Neil, Justin Gabriel vs Fandango and Tons Of Funk & Naomi vs Rhodes Scholars & Brie Bella. In Johanneburg there's Sheamus vs Jack Swagger, Orton vs Langston, RVD vs Barrett, Truth vs Fandango, Gabriel vs Titus and Tons vs Scholars as a straight tag.

At SummerSlam Axxess at the Nokia Plaza there's one match and - what the heck? - it's Nattie & celeb superfan Maria Menounos vs Brie & Eva Marie in, apparently, Eva's first professional wrestling match. I've no idea how to process that match in that setting except I think it’s to do with Total Divas.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

Just three trips to Tampa to tell you about - 1st it’s again Bo Dallas vs Scott Dawson, one week later Dallas is back defending against Leo Kruger in the 4th match with Corey Graves & Adrian Neville vs The Ascension for the tag belts on last. 29th the champs defend against Kruger and “Rick Victor”/Viktor… which I don’t get.

THE CARDS

More confusion in the women’s booking. 1st it’s Charlotte, Emma & Kendall Skye vs Sasha Banks, Paige & Bayley on 1st even though Skye was teaming with Paige & Banks in July, Paige loses to Emma non title on the 8th, then 29th Bayley & Paige beat Sasha & Emma - they’ve just turned Sasha on TV. But isn’t Emma a babyface…???  Also of note Camacho loses to Xavier Woods on 1st, Curt Hawkins shows up to job for Alexander Rusev on 8th, and only 29th there’s a “big lads” meeting of Mason Ryan vs Colin Cassidy plus Woods beats Solomon Crowe (Sami Callihan).

TVs

5th in Green Bay Brock Lesnar shows up and beats up Punk again. Next night in Rockford Cesaro & Swagger beat the Tons dark, Bertie beats up Ricardo Rodriguez for screwing up, and for Main Event The Shield take 17 minutes to beat Mark Henry & The Usos - I’m not sure I like that. 12th in Sacramento Kaitlyn beats Tamina as a curtain jerker, RVD wins a battle royal to get a crack at Deano, Punk outsmarts Heyman and Lesnar and attacks Brock with a TV camera, and Bryan, Show & Henry beat The Shield in a Coliseum Exclusive. Next night in San Jose Khali beats Jinder dark, increasingly popular Cody gets 14 minutes with Del Rio for Main Event, and RVD/Show/Henry upset The Shield on SmackDown when Rob pins Ambrose (cheeky!). SummerSlam, it must be said, is a belting PPV. The crowd in the Staples Center are NOT shy about what they do and don’t rate, chanting “this is awesome” during Ambrose vs RVD (on the pre show) and Del Rio vs Christian, and during the pointless match between pointless Natalya and pointless Brie, chanting for anything BUT the match, including for each of the commentators, for tables, and inevitably, for Zack Ryder. Bray Wyatt makes his in ring debut in powerful fashion (storyline wise). Finally the two matches that sold me the DVD - Lesnar pinning Punk in everything I wanted in a match between the two of them, and Bryan cleanly pinning Cena to win the belt in a great match and huge shock, to then be cashed in on by Randy who’s instantly restored to top heel where he belongs after Daniel is betrayed by Hunter. All round triumph. Although after beating and then brutalising Y2J last month, they should have found a spot for Ryback really. Next night in Anaheim (10,000+) there’s an infamous match where Sin Cara dislocates a finger mere moments into his match with Del Rio and gives up and gives an X sign to the ref, and a legit furious Del Rio beats him up for a few minutes after the bell anyway. Afterwards Ricardo aligns with RVD which isn’t a fit, although if they’d been recasting ECW he could have passed for Joel Gertner after a month or two on the Blow Away Diet. Plus, of course, “The Authority” forms in all but name with The Shield as their goons, after Steph uses the infamous “B+” line to Bryan. Next night in Bakersfield Cara is good to go, even beating briefcase wanker Sandow dark, The Shield are at it again beating Kofi and the Usos on Main Event - Reigns is already regularly beating his fam up. Dark after tapings Bryan/Show/Henry beat The Shield - this is after Danny Bry ended the broadcast beating Barrett in a cage to win their mini-feud. At first they seem like they’re going all the way with him. 22nd at Full Sail Mojo Rawley beats Danny Burch dark and on the tapings Paige beats Sasha who then goes full blown heel, and Swagger gets booked to his strengths in a 16 minute wrestling match vs Sami Zayn. 26th Raw in Phoenix - why is Ziggler merely losing to Cesaro on Superstars? Oh yeah - they’ve given up on him and he’s a distant fourth tier face now behind Cena, Punk and Bryan. Which wouldn’t be a problem if the brand split was still done properly but it isn’t, and can you remember at this point when the Big Gold was part of a story in focus to the point it went on last at a PPV? Also AJ drops her equivalent (or so touted) of Punks “pipebomb” promo by basically telling Nattie, the Funkadactyls, Eva Marie and the Bellas that Total Divas is a joke and they’re all crap. She has a point. Plus Bryan beats The Shield in a gauntlet but - deja vu - Ambrose and Reigns he beats only by DQ. Finally next night in Vegas, the Usos beat Slater & Jinder dark, Ziggler is forced into a handicap against The Shield which he obviously loses, and dark and he Coliseum Video tag team Mega Match of the Month has Bryan/RVD/Show/Henry beat Orton/The Shield.

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten this month on TV : Del Rio (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) TWICE by RVD, again by Christian, Axel, obviously (Intercontinental champion) by Punk. You will notice the US and tag belts have been booked far better since The Shield picked them up. They’re booking the champions to not lose because they’re featured acts getting a push who are over. Anyone would think that being over and not losing much should be a pre-requisite of holding a title!!

DEPARTURE 

Suffering from anxiety and depression, Ted DiBiase Jr decides not to renew his deal in September. He will only wrestle a handful matches more scattered over the course of four years. Unfortunately he’s currently in a spot of legal bother.

[air_raid]

SEPTEMBER 2013

It’s time to get rid of divided sections for cards “by show.” Honestly only the main events distinguish the crews, whole matches bounce back and forth and many “variations” on one crew happen multiple times for the other.

THE MAIN EVENTS - RAW

1st in Washington (just 5500 in the former MCI which holds 18,500+ for ice hockey) it’s still Randy Orton vs Daniel Bryan for the WWE title and the same 6th-8th in Montreal (5500), the Meadowlands (7700) and the Barclays, Brooklyn. 13th/14th in East Lansing and Saginaw Randys off so Bryan challenges Dean Ambrose instead - still a DQ. After the PPV the belt is vacant - 20th in Lexington only has Bryan vs Orton tops a joint-brand (kind of) show where the rest of the same crew branch off and they get a new undercard next two nights, both in Hidalgo - the second of which is a streetfight. 27th-29th the run continues in Denver, Dallas and (supershow) New Orleans. Of course now there’s no title, Bryan’s winning every night.

MAIN EVENTS - SMACKDOWN

7th/8th in Windsor and Hamilton to a combined 7000 approx and again 14th in London it’s Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler (winning battle royals), DQ finish. 20th-22nd in Lexington, Fort Wayne and Springfield (IL) and 28th in Huntsville it’s Rob Van Dam getting the Ws plus 29th in Nawlins where he wins a battle royal first - real hard on this month for non finishes.

THE CARDS

CM Punk vs Curtis Axel non title (LOL) continues to semi main or go on last on some of the Del Rio vs RVD shows, and later in the month is often no DQ and/or a handicap with Paul Heyman taking his beating. Washington and month end we bookend with Dolph Ziggler vs Big E Langston, sometimes in a streetfight. US title Dean Ambrose vs Rob Van Dam early month, when Deano main events its RVD vs Heath Slater. Month end Deano is back with Zack Ryder. Tag title defences have Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins vs The Usos, then in Michigan the Prime Time Players, and month end a thrown together three way with Tons Of Funk and Kofi Kingston & The Miz - who thought up that team?? Early month there’s Big E vs Damien Sandow on all three Ontario shows - has Big E turned already?? - plus Ryback vs Xavier Woods. We add Ryback vs Santino, Miz vs Fandango and Ryder vs Curt Hawkins in Michigan. Also early on there’s Prime Time Players vs 3 Man Band in various forms (repeating in Huntsville), R-Truth vs Fandango (they’re already bored of pushing him) and Funk vs Luke Harper & Erick Rowan. Two matches started in London which continue in week 3 have Bray Wyatt and his boys vs Kofi, Jimmy & Jey and The Funkadactyls vs AJ Lee & Layla. It’s also Santino vs Sandow and Ryder vs Ryback. Starting the month we have Sami Zayn & Bo Dallas vs The Real Americans (Cesaro & Swagger) and Tyson Kidd vs Drew McIntyre, then it’s Kidd vs Cesaro concurring with Natalya vs Brie Bella for two weeks straight then into week 3 Zayn beats Swagger and Brie swaps two wins in Hildalgo with Alicia Fox. Month end Brie is back losing to Natalya and the Real Americans are losing to Big Show in consecutive separate singles matches. Finally also month end, suddenly occupying the bottom rung, Fandango is losing to Santino.

John Cena went off with triceps surgery straight after SummerSlam. Sheamus is out after shoulder surgery. Mark Henry tweaked a hamstring last month and is having a rest to trim down. Cody Rhodes is also off, primarily on honeymoon.

VARIATIONS 

Washington has one offs of Rollins/Reigns vs RVD/Show, Ambrose vs Truth, Kofi vs Ryback, Harper & Rowan vs The Usos and Kaitlyn, Naomi & Natalya vs AJ, Brie & Layla. In Montreal only, Kidd loses to Dallas but Zayn is permitted to beat Cesaro at home. London hosts Dallas vs Hunico vs Justin Gabriel for the NXT belt and Great Khali vs JTG. In Lexington only Ryder pins Sandow. In Hildalgo it’s Ambrose vs Dallas vs Fandango on night 1 (umm, OK) and Deans back with Miz on night 2. Rollins & Reigns lose by DQ to a reunited Awesome Truth on night 1 then - what?? - actually lose a 1vs2 handicap to Big Show on night 2. Otherwise night 1 the Tons beat Hunico & Camacho, Khali beats Jinder & McIntyre in a handicap and Gabriel upsets Cesaro, night 2 the Tons beat 3MB, Truth & Khali beat Hunico & Camacho, Gabriel pins Fandango and Cesaros poor run continues as he fails to wrest the NXT belt from Dallas. In Huntsville Khali beats Jinder, Gabriel upsets Sandow, AJ defends against Fox and the Wyatts beat Truth and the Usos. Finally in New Orleans AJ is back defending against Kaitlyn, Kofi & Truth beat Slater & Jinder, and Nattie & the Funkadactyls beat Fox, Brie & Tamina… which is an odd way to pad the card on an 8 match supershow when Show, Miz, Cesaro, Swagger, Sandow, the Usos and all of both the Wyatt Family and The Shield are all in the building but only appear in the opening battle royal.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

5th in Tampa it’s Adrian Neville & Corey Graves vs The Ascension for the tag belts. 19th it’s again Bo Dallas vs Scott Dawson for the big belt then next night in Orlando new champs Ascension defend against Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy. 26th back in Tampa it’s a four way against Cass & Enzo, the former champs and Dawson & Alexander Rusev.

THE CARDS

The Ascension vs Enzo Amore & Colin Cassidy happens two nights in a row. We have two instances each of Kalisto vs Baron Corbin and Kassius Ohno vs Sawyer Fulton - not sure why Fulton wins those to be honest. Paige vs Emma happens two consecutive Tampa shows, the second is lumberjill - in Orlando Paige, Bayley and Kendall Skye beat Emma, Sasha Banks and - hello - Alexa Bliss. Rivalry with Paige notwithstanding it’s weird teaming Emma with heel Sasha. 26th it’s a more logical Paige & Emma losing to Sasha & Charlotte. 5th is the first show I see Simon Gotch mentioned and I bet Sami Zayn vs Alexander Rusev on 19th was worth seeing.

TVs

2nd Raw in Des Moines Triple H likens Bryan to Doink and coins another phrase that either being champion would be “bad for business,” and Orton pins Cody after which he’s “fired.” Dark, Punk beats Axel & Heyman. Next night in Minneapolis Bryan beats Orton by DQ after tapings. 9th in Toronto Randy pins Goldust with Cody’s reinstatement at stake and dark Punk beats Axel & Heyman yet again. Next night in Ottawa Kidd beats Dallas before tapings to appease the locals. 12th at Full Sail Tensai beats Jake Carter (baby Vader) before tapings and highlights are the Ascension winning the tag belts, Graves turning on Neville after a rematch, Dallas retaining the big belt against Zayn and RVD showing up to beat Aiden English. Night of Champions I’d call memorable for mostly bad reasons; Punk loses to Axel & Heyman via Ryback interference which is going to lead to the awful RybAxel team, Del Rio does a lame DQ with RVD and receives a Van Terminator afterwards, and Bryan wins the belt from Orton on a fast count which painfully obviously sets up a screwjob. Next night in Cleveland Dusty Rhodes tries to get Cody rehired and is beaten down and Orton beats Miz up in front of his parents in the finest WWE tradition. Next night in Cincinnati Vickie makes a ludicrous 11 on 3 gauntlet match for The Shield, Triple H cancels it mid match then later in the show the hounds lose to Bryan and the Usos - fuck knows who this convoluted mess was supposed to get over. 23rd at the AllState the Shield lose an eliminator to those 11 guys and Punk doesn’t wrestle in Rosemont. I despair. 24th in Milwaukee the Tons beat Dallas & Zayn dark, Tamina starts acting as AJs heavy which is the closest she’ll ever be to effective in any role, and Orton crushes Miz again. Finally 30th in Biloxi the Colon lads are repackaged as Los Matadores (with Mascarita Sagrada as El Torito) to beat Slater & Jinder - that’s a match that will happen a few million times.

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Axel, obviously (Intercontinental champion) by Kofi, and again by Truth, Ambrose (FUCKKKK) (US Champion) by Bryan, again (FUCKKKKKK OFF!!!!!) by Ziggler.

DEPARTURES 

I don’t think so.

[air_raid]

OCTOBER 2013

THE MAIN EVENTS

4th/5th in Syracuse and Rochester it’s still Daniel Bryan vs Randy Orton. Then they’re off drawing more dirty money - 10th-12th back in Abu Dhabi for one more round of the same then Bry teams with The Miz (lol) and Dolph Ziggler against Randy, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, then back to Bryan vs Orton this time in a streetfight (Bryan still wins) - those last two mains are refereed by Booker T. 19th/20th in Louisville and Carbondale IL it’s a regular match. Pathetically the belt is vacant throughout, so Bryan wins them all.

5th in Albany it’s still Alberto Del Rio vs Rob Van Dam for the big gold belt half way up the card with Punk on last. 12th in Providence (4500) and 13th in Philadelphia (6000) you can understand the crap attendances - as well as the handicap main bereft of drama Del Rio is know defending against Great Khali and losing to HIM by DQ - what a joke they’ve booked Bertie as. 16th-19th is a story down in Mexico - in Queretaro, Guadalajara, Mexico City (a good 12,000+ at Mexico City Arena/CDMX - not to be confused with Arena Mexico) and Monterrey it’s ADR vs Sin Cara (well out of his depth) but on the middle two there’s DQ finishes leading to Del Rio and Wade Barrett losing to Cara and - nice of you to come - Rey Mysterio. 20th in Tupelo Bertie finally wins a defence, but it’s only R-Truth. Though Punks still on last.

THE CARDS

CM Punk vs Curtis Axel & Paul Heyman continues and really shouldn’t be closing the show even when it is no DQ or “extreme rules.” We have Roman Reigns & Seth Rollins vs Dolph Ziggler & The Miz for the tag belts in New York state and first night in the UAE, in Louisville and Carbondale Dean Ambrose teams with his mates to lose by to Miz, Ziggler and Big Show by DQ. Kofi Kingston vs Big E Langston runs New York then mid month in the North East it’s Zack Ryder vs Big E which is another successful program for… WWWYKI! In Mexico Zack goes 1-3 vs Wade Barrett (pulling double duty after two of his wins) but his win is that last night in Monterrey then he beats him again in Tupelo. Ryback pins Kofi night 1 in Abu Dhabi and week 3. Santino vs Fandango runs the same nights. It’s Prime Time Players vs Real Americans in New York. The Usos vs Swagger & Cesaro repeats first and third nights in the Emirates. In Philadelphia, every night in Mexico and in Tupelo the Players lose to Luke Harper & Erick Rowan. In week 3 Tons of Funk swap wins with the Real Americans. Los Matadores vs 3 Man Band occurs in Albany and recurs south of the border and in Tupelo. In the North East it’s Damien Sandow vs Tyson Kidd then Sandow goes 1-3 with R-Truth in Mexico and Kidd beats Hunico three of those nights and again in Tupelo. Naomi vs Brie Bella is a sandwich in New York and the third week either side of Natalya & Naomi vs Brie & Eva Marie mid month in Rhode Island and Philly then in Mexico a title run - AJ Lee defends against Nattie, in Tupelo it’s non title (grr). In New York it’s Clay vs Fandango and Bo Dallas vs Curt Hawkins for the NXT belt. Week 3 - who dis? - it’s Justin Gabriel vs Tyler Breeze.

VARIATIONS 

In Albany there’s Usos vs Harper & Rowan, Ryback vs Ryder, Kaitlyn & Natalya vs AJ & Tamina, Gabriel upsets Sandow and Great Khali vs Jinder Mahal knows no end. Abu Dhabi night 1 has Ambrose vs Sami Zayn vs Dallas for the UST and Gabriel vs Brad Maddox. Night 2, Ryback pins Gabriel, Kofi beats Fandango, Santino beats Dallas and Zayn pins Maddox. Night 3 it’s Ambrose vs Kofi vs Miz, Show again beats Reigns & Rollins by himself (ugh), Ryback pins Ziggler, there’s Gabriel vs Fandango, Zayn pins Dallas plus Santino vs Maddox. In Providence Bray Wyatt & his lads beat Truth and the Players plus Clay & Tensai beat Slater & Jinder ; next night in Philly Bray doesn’t wrestle so Truth tags with the Tons Of Funk to beat all three 3MB. In Queretaro only Punk vs Axel is a singles match. Non title. Won by Punk.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

Both 3rd and 17th in Tampa then 18th in Daytona Beach it’s Bo Dallas vs Sami Zayn for the belt around a bit of a B show 11th in Largo where the Adrian Neville vs Corey Graves grudge match is the biggest match but Brodus Clay vs Aiden English goes on last.

THE CARDS

Adrian Neville vs Corey Graves repeats as does Mason Ryan, Jason Jordan & Wesley Blake vs Baron Corbin, Sawyer Fulton & Danny Burch. They still can’t decide who Kendall Skye is - teaming on 3rd with Sasha Banks and Charlotte to lose to Paige, Emma & Bayley but beating Sasha in Largo, then 17th the six woman repeats except the third heel is Veronica Lane. Tag title has The Ascension beat Jordan and CJ Parker on 3rd and Kassius Ohno & Colin Cassidy in Largo, Slate Randall loses to Mojo Rawley in Largo then Angelo Dawkins on 17th… Slate is going to end up as… LA Knight. Shut the front door! Finally Alexander Rusev has another successful few weeks winning an eliminator on 3rd over Ryan, Burch and future gopher Aiden English, then beating Camacho on 17th.

TVs

1st in Baton Rouge little happens. The Battleground PPV has the bizarre sight of both ex-champ Ziggler and briefcase wanker Sandow only important enough for the pre-show, a non title loss in the best possible execution sees The Shield beaten by Cody Rhodes & Goldust with the brothers getting jobs back as a consequence, plus a dire finish to Bryan vs Orton for the vacant belt where Show decks both, no winners declared, and the belt stays vacant - right out of the Russo playbook. It may be hard to understand if you don’t remember but at the time there were many complaints. Fans being upset with the booking and story direction is nothing new, but the anger at the company here was something different, for actively promoting a match that will clear up the title vacancy and then choose not to deliver. People who paid for it felt ripped off, although not many did ; this was the lowest buyrate since December To Dismember. 7th Raw in Pittsburgh Del Rio learns he’ll be defending at the next PPV against Cena then seconds later is rolled up by former buddy Ricardo Rodriguez… so, Big Match John should have no problems then, right? Plus The Shield beat Bryan and the Rhodes boys. Next night in Columbus OH Alicia Fox vs Rosa Mendes (remember her?) is before the show then dark afterwards bizarrely Bray wins a battle royal to earn an immediate crack at Del Rio which he wins by count-out. 10th in Full Sail dark before tapings Yoshi Tatsu loses a dark opener to Randall. Taping highlights have Tye Dillinger lose to Mojo and Neville lose the first match with former partner Graves but win the decisive 2/3 falls match. 14th Raw in St Louis the Wyatt’s start something up opposing Miz, and Cody and Goldie win the tag belts in a no DQ match because of Show. Next night in Kansas City, curtain jerking the Players beat “Los Locales” who lately have been Ricardo and Kidd under masks, Ambrose vs Ziggler gets 13 minutes for Main Event, then Bryan Cody and Goldust win a rematch over The Shield. 21st in Memphis Big E starts a face turn opposing Heyman & Axel and tagging with Punk and after they’re off the air Bryan beats Orton again. 22nd in Birmingham Kofi pins Breeze before the tapings, there’s finally a noteworthy singles match for Nikki Bella - losing in a short match to AJ - and Bryan, Cody, Goldust & Big E beat Orton and The Shield when Bryan pins Orton on telly again. 24th at Full Sail Dillinger does a job dark to Jordan and taping highlights have Paige defend against Natalya in a far better match than I ever remember Nattie having on the main roster, Cesaro pins Tatsu and Hunico & Camacho go on a win streak including over the champs but come up short in their title shot. The Hell In A Cell PPV has Kane return during a segment between Miz and the Wyatts and some highly frustrating booking ; John Cena returns from injury to easily win the Big Gold Belt off Del Rio at the first attempt - ADR is right back where he was 2 years ago - and Orton regains the WWE title by pinning Bryan after a superkick from seemingly conflicted guest ref Shawn Michaels, which leads to huge speculation that a HBK/Bryan match is imminent. I understand they’re about to unify the belts and they think they need Cena vs Orton to underline how big a deal it is (they don’t), that it’s on par with the previous unification involving Steve Austin and The Rock (it isn’t) - but I still didn’t like it. Even more short-sighted, they’ve got half an eye on Bryan vs Michaels for Mania XXX but not for the first time they’ve started planting seeds for a match before getting the full buy in from one of the participants. Whoops. Next night in Orlando Bryan gets heat back by putting HBK in the Yes Lock until refs prise him off - amazingly, Shawn had to suggest this, the office hadn’t planned to use him on Raw. Bryan is then pointed towards the Wyatts, Kane volunteers his services to the Authority and unmasks after squashing Miz, and Sandow brutalises Cena before cashing in - and failing to win the belt. Lame. Finally 29th in NXT stronghold Tampa, Neville vs Zayn goes on dark before TVs, and two results aren’t quite non title whining but almost as bad ; the Usos beat Ambrose and Rollins, and Natalya and the Bellas beat AJ, Tamina and Fox when the champ submits to the irredeemably pointless Nattie. Dark, Bryan beats Orton by DQ.

NON TITLE WHINING : Beaten on TV this month : Reigns & Rollins (tag team champions) by Cody & Goldust, Del Rio (WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Ricardo, Axel, obviously (Intercontinental Champion) by Punk, Ambrose (US Champion) by Bryan,  Cody & Goldie (new tag team champions) to the Real Americans, The Ascension (NXT tag team champions) by Hunico & Camacho

DEPARTURE

His match with Del Rio in Monterrey is the last match with the company for original Sin Cara, TAFKA Mistico. He reveals in January he's heading back to Mexico, which I don't think WWE appreciates, and that he owns the rights to the name Sin Cara, which is bollocks. He's officially released in March and turns up in AAA as Myzteziz. Not Sin Cara, then.

Edited September 29, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

NOVEMBER 2013

MAIN EVENTS 

We have another tour! It’s Randy Orton vs Big Show for the WWE title (fucking YAWN) 6th-10th in Belfast, Dublin, Brussels, Birmingham and Cardiff then 12th in Newcastle and 14th-16th in Rouen, Marseille and Vienna.

John Cena vs Alberto Del Rio is actually a double main event on several of the shows listed above plus a sole main 9th/10th in Munich and Glasgow  and 13th-15th in Nottingham, Leeds and at the O2 (12,000+).

6th in Columbia SC before half the crew fly, 8th in Glasgow (yes, they were there 8th AND 10th) and 16th in Minehead there’s a bit of a B show feel - CM Punk & Daniel Bryan vs Luke Harper & Erick Rowan goes on last.

THE CARDS

CM Punk & Daniel Bryan vs Luke Harper & Erick Rowan is regular support to Cena. Two distinct cards on Ortons cards have The Shield vs Big E Langston, Cody Rhodes & Goldust plus Dolph Ziggler vs Damien Sandow (occasionally no DQ) and Zack Ryder vs Wade Barrett or a couple of nights Wade’s off so there’s a tag title rematch which continues after TVs, and US title with Ambrose vs Big E vs Ziggler in a three way, Sandow works Ryder - Zack beats him every night after TVs too. Kofi Kingston vs The Miz goes every night until Manchester, thereafter after the regular Santino vs Fandango match dirty Dango demands another match then loses to Miz too ; the US title match changes to Deano playing third wheel to the eternal marriage of Ziggler and Kingston, leaving Big E pinning Barrett. Ryback vs Justin Gabriel and Curtis Axel vs R-Truth for the jobber title go virtually every night. It’s Los Matadores vs Real Americans all month except 7th/8th sees Swagger lose to Fernando (Epico) on Cesaro’s nights off. Swagger & Cesaro finally win one in Vienna. Plus there’s The Usos vs 3 Man Band (usually Slater/McIntyre) and an occasional Great Khali vs Jinder Mahal plus Prime Time Players vs Hunico & Camacho before Manchester then after TVs Usos vs ‘co & ‘cho and the Players vs a rotating combo from 3MB. It’s Natalya vs Aksana all month, Brie Bella vs AJ Lee (non title) early month gives way to Brie & Nikki Bella vs AJ & Tamina mid month.

VARIATIONS

9th in Brum Swagger loses to Diego while same night in Munich Cesaro pins Khali. Glasgow (10th) is shuffled from two nights prior - as well as a proper main there’s uniquely Ryback vs Truth, Axel vs Gabriel and McIntyre vs Khali for local interest - Drew wins, naturally. Newcastle only it’s Alicia Fox vs Aksana, Nottingham only, Khali is with Slater.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

1st in Tampa Sami Zayn vs CJ Parker is a very random main, 7th we’re back to Zayn challenging Bo Dallas for the belt then one week later Sami and Adrian Neville beat Dallas and - what?? - Billy Gunn. 16th in Sebring the tag title closes - The Ascension vs Tye Dillinger & Jason Jordan ; 23rd in Starke it’s Jordan & Mason Ryan challenging.

THE CARDS

The Ascension vs Mason Ryan & Jason Jordan happens three times and they also beat Ryan and Colin Cassidy on 1st ; Alexander Rusev vs Sami Zayn also repeats as does CJ Parker vs Tyler Breeze and Aiden English vs Kalisto. No repeat women’s match but in turn there’s one each of Bayley vs Sasha Banks, Bayley & Paige vs Veronica Lane and (hello you) Becky Lynch, Sasha beating Alexa Bliss, Paige & Emma vs Eva Marie & JoJo, and Paige vs Bayley. Adrian Neville does a strange job to Leo Kruger on 1st - speaking of, he works as “Adam Rose” for the first time in Starke and beats Baron Corbin. Rusev vs Cass as a big lads bout happens again 7th, and our mate Slate Randall loses to Parker on the 14th and to Ryan in Sebring. Also on 1st, Kassius Ohno wins his last road match for a while over Knuckles Madsen.

TVs

4th in Greenville nothing happens. 5th in Charlotte Xavier Woods pins El Local before tapings and Cena pins Del Rio after them. 11th they’re taping Raw at the MEN (13,500+) and just for the locals Barrett pins Sandow to warm them up. Next night apparently only 4500 come back for the SmackDown taping?!? Before the show Brad Maddox pins El Local and after it Cena beats Del Rio, refereed by William Regal. 18th in Memphis Big E saves the Intercontinental belt from Axel, Miz starts to turn heel by walking out on Kofi, Woods debuts, thrown together with Truth, and Rey Mysterio makes a save after Punk, Bryan, the Rhodes and the Usos beat Bray Wyatt, his goons and The Shield, completely blowing the “mystery partner” deal they just announced for Usos/Rhodes vs Shield/Real Americans at Survivors. Next night in Atlanta Rey/Jimmy/Jey beat The Shield and dark Cena beats Del Rio again. 21st at Full Sail, Slate loses dark to Angelo Dawkins, taping highlights have - here’s one I forgot - the American Wolves complete a one week tryout between leaving ROH and signing with TNA, doing a job for the Ascension under generic individual names and called the American “Pitbulls” - it’s going nowhere but the match airs anyway. Also Dallas retains over Neville in a lumberjack match, Hunico & Camacho come up short in another shot at the Ascension, Kofi turns up to go over Rusev and Cesaro beats Regal in a blinder. At Survivors itself, Reigns & Rollins recover from 5 on 2 down to win, Reigns pinning four himself and getting a good reaction as last man standing. Mark Henry returns from time off to answer Rybacks open challenge and beat him, and WWE stupidly book a 14 woman eliminator to rush through 12 falls in <11 minutes. Raw night after at Nassau (10,000) a rematch is even shorter and The Shield beat Rey & The Usos. Finally night after in Uncasville they start a slow split between the Tons of Funk, and in a stretching things thin worthy of a “transportation issues” house show, Cody & Goldust vs Rollins & Reigns goes to a DQ leading to Punk & the brothers going to a non-finish with The Shield leading finally to Punk, Rey, the Rhodes and the Usos beating the Wyatts and The Shield, total bell time 48 minutes.

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Axel, obviously (Intercontinental champion) by Punk.

DEPARTURE

On the 8th Kassius Ohno - known around the world as Chris Hero prior to the ridiculous NXT name - is released. It’s said to be on good terms with the door open to a return and essentially it boils down to him being a great wrestler but looking like a fat wreck. He has some great matches all around the world and despite still being a chunky monkey, they eventually have him back.