Awards Moderator HarmonicGenerator Posted October 20, 2023 Awards Moderator Share Posted October 20, 2023 That NXT Takeover is where I jumped on board with them. Be interesting to see how their house shows develop as they get into my Peak NXT years, which for reference is from here until … maybe that Adam Cole-Kyle O’Reilly two out of three falls that lasted two or three years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 21, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 21, 2023 JANUARY 2015 Daniel Bryan is back!! I can’t wait to watch his pursuit of the belt he never lost. THE MAIN EVENTS 4th in Hildalgo it's John Cena vs Bad News Barretts in a streetfight before we head on to the real run, Cena back with Seth Rollins 9th-10th in Chatanooga and Montgomery, 16th-18th in St Louis (just 5300), Abilene (3500) and San Antonio, 23rd-24th in Trenton and inside a cage in East Rutherford (7000 only at the IZOD), 30th-31st in Las Cruces and Albuquerque. Roman Reigns vs Rusev is our other run 4th in Beaumont, 10th in Sacramento, 11th in Shreveport, 17th in Vegas, 18th in Houston (5000 only) - starting the last three, sharing billing with Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt in a streetfight. New Jersey are combined supercards before Roman's split out again, 31st in Edmonton we start a new run - Reigns vs Big Show, also in a streetfight. THE CARDS Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt is still a feature underneath both main events, sometimes 2/3 falls before moving to streetfights. Daniel Bryan vs Kane happens in Texas, in New Jersey and a few other places Kane's losing to Ryback, in between he also beats Jack Swagger. Bryan vs Wyatt happens 2/3 falls in New Mexico. We have Rusev vs Erick Rowan on two nights where Reigns is otherwise deployed. Chris Jericho vs Luke Harper happens a couple of times early but usually Y2J is with Cesaro which I imagine gelled a little better and Ambrose periodically ends up with Harper. Dolph Ziggler vs Bad News Barrett happens a few times for the ICT, R-Truth also wrestles Wade a couple of times, so does Kofi Kingston. Tag action often has New Day vs Goldust & Stardust and The Usos vs Miz & Damien Mizdow non title, Los Matadores vs David Otunga & Titus O'Neil, or six mans where the matadors tag with mini mascot El Torito to wrestle those two plus Fandango, and in New Mexico the Matadores & Sin Cara vs Curtis Axel, Fandandgo & Titus. R-Truth vs Fandando also repeats. There's also occasionally get Darren Young vs Tyson Kidd, Justin Gabriel vs Adam Rose, Sin Cara vs Alex Riley or vs Kidd, Harper vs Riley, Young vs Tyler Breeze which are recorded as no contest (I'm guessing Kane attacks both as his match with Swagger always follows). Womens action has Nikki Bella vs Natalya for the belt, Paige vs Nattie, Nattie vs Alicia Fox, Nattie & Paige vs Fox & Cameron, two instances of Emma, Naomi & Summer Rae vs Fox, Cameron and Sasha Banks, two of Emma, Naomi & Paige vs Fox, Cameron and Summer Rae... yes, I know, there seems to be no consistency as to who's fighting and who's friends. And these aren't the only permutations!! I have no memory who's heel or face other than Paige and the Bella twats. If you’re seeing Y2J mentioned and wondering why he wasn’t in the Rumble, on TV at the time and didn’t work Mania, it’s because he signed a deal to just work 16 house shows in the year. VARIATIONS Starting with top guys or in order of my interest, in St Louis main event hopefuls Reigns & Bryan tag against (ew) Kane & Show, at the former Meadowlands Reigns & Ambrose beat Show & Wyatt. In Hildalgo Ziggler defends the ICT against Harper, by the IZOD Bad News has won the belt and defends against Ziggler and Harper in a three way. In Trenton the Harper vs Rowan emnity is rekindled, after New Jersey Show hangs around long enough to beat Rowan in Beaumont, where its also former Real Americans partners Cesaro vs Swagger. Rusev vs Swagger for the US title reprises in St Louis. Women wise, its Nikki vs Natalya vs Paige for the belt in Hidalgo, Brie Bella vs Nattie in San Antonio, in Beaumont Fox, Emma & Naomi vs Cameron, Sasha & Summer Rae (yes, the same six women as earlier mentioned but in different teams..) and in Edmonton it's shuffled again - Charlotte (LOL), Emma & Naomi vs Cameron, Sasha & Summer. In Hidaldo we have all three of New Day vs Axel and the 'Dusts, plus Matadores vs O'Neil & Breeze. In Chatanooga it's Harper vs Axel, Big E & Xavier Woods version of New Day vs the Rhodes lads. In Montgomery, Fandango vs Axel, Big E & Woods vs Cesaro & Kidd vs Goldie & Cody as a three way. In St Louis we have Cesaro vs Gabriel, in Houston Swagger vs Axel, in Edmonton Truth vs Kidd and Young vs Rose. MAIN EVENTS - NXT Bit of a sandwich month for Sami Zayn vs Adrian Neville for the belt 9th in Citrus Springs and 10th in Fort Pierce, followed by defences against Tyler Breeze that end in DQ or no contest 16th in Tampa, 17th in Jacksonville and 23rd in Cocoa, 24th in Starke and 31st in Orlando Zayn's with Neville again, 30th Sami's off so Neville loses to Kevin Owens in Daytona Beach. Hey.... The Model Rick Martel was announced as from Cocoa Beach, Florida! Why haven’t I mentioned that before? (Honestly because I wrote this months ago and only just caught up) THE CARDS Finn Balor vs CJ Parker happens a few times then when there's Balor vs Adrian Neville vs Hideo Itami when Neville's not main event, which sounds absolutely banging. We start the month with Dash & Dawson vs Blake & Murphy and The Vaudevillains vs Enzo Amore & Big Cass is on and off, then we switch to eventual tag title feud Blake & Murphy vs Vaudevillains plus Shoot Nation (Angelo Dawkins & Sawyer Fulton) vs Parker and Tye Dillinger, then "the Mechanics" end up with Shoot Nation. More nights than not, it's Charlotte vs Sasha Banks vs Bayley vs Becky Lynch... here we go. There's Baron Corbin vs Jason Jordan early month and Bull Dempsey vs Kalisto and Jordan vs Solomon Crowe late month with Bull pinning Jordan and Kalisto swapping wins with Crowe inbetween. There are a few of Elias Samson vs Tony Briggs which Elias sometimes wins but there are several DQ or no contest finishes. VARIATIONS Kevin Owens shows his face in Fort Pierce, pinning Elias. Hideo beats Tyler Breeze in Citrus Springs and Crowe in Fort Pierce, last three shows of the month Hideo beats Parker or Breeze once and inbetween wins a three way. In Citrus Springs Banks & Becky beat Charlotte and Bayley in a tag, in Fort Pierce there's a Carmella sighting as she's in the tag in place of Sasha, in Orlando its Becky vs Bayley one on one. Otherwise in Citrus Springs Crowe beats Elias, in Starke its Dillinger vs Tucker Knight going no contest and Elias & Briggs actually tagging to lose to Shoot Nation, in Orlando Cass pins Dillinger in singles. TVs 5th in Corpus Christi Barrett beats Ziggler 2/3 falls to win the ICT on Raw and after it Cena pins Rollins, next night in Laredo after tapings Ambrose pins Wyatt in a streetfight. 13th in Baton Rouge both Paige vs Sasha and Harper vs Axel go down between Main Event and SmackDown tapings. 15th at Full Sail Jordan vs Crowe opens and Neville & Zayn vs Owens & Kidd bookend the TV matches. 20th in Austin Sin Cara pins Fandango and on last, Bryan Reigns and Ambrose beat Rollins, Kane and Wyatt. The Rumble is notable for both good and bad, after looking dead certs in runs with several other champion teams, the Usos finally regain the tag belts from Miz & mate, really kicking off the million years where it will be either them or New Day at the summit. Brock Lesnar vs Cena vs Rollins is an absolute triumph, probably the peak being Seth bust out what I believe to be the first Phoenix Splash in televised company history. Unfortunately the night is soured by another tone deaf Rumble booked to ignore the fans’ desires. Daniel Bryan returns but is eliminated by former rival Wyatt. Near the end, the moans of “Christ, not Kane & Big Show” can be heard around the world as the two plodding dinosaurs eliminate popular acts Ambrose, Wyatt and Ziggler and the partially-rehabilitated Ryback before forming an unconvincing obstacle for obvious winner Reigns - a winner as painfully obvious as Shawn in 96, Austin in 98 or Rock in 2000 but with none of the support. Speaking of The Rock he even turns up to help his pretend cousin, which nearly turns him heel. Surprises are also a mixed bag with Boogey Man (eh) and Diamond Dallas Page (yay!) showing up, plus hotly rumoured Bubba Ray Dudley who after perfecting his serious heel “Bully Ray” character in TNA, it was disappointing for him to come out as “one of the Dudley Boys circa 2000”. But then what would I expect on a show with the New Age Outlaws on the undercard and Rock interfering in the main? 29th in Hartford Swagger vs Fandango curtain jerks and Cena & Ambrose beat Rollins & Wyatt in a Coliseum Video Exclusive. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month ; Barrett, obviously (Intercontinental champ) by Sin Cara AND Ambrose AND Ziggler. FUCK. They’re never great at protecting the Intercontinental champ but especially when it’s on Barrett, it’s an emblem for “You’re losing every week.” DEPARTURE Justin Gabriel asks for his release. A good hand that they never really found a spot for, and who was missing something to stand out when “good hands” are ten a penny. 16 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said: That NXT Takeover is where I jumped on board with them. Be interesting to see how their house shows develop as they get into my Peak NXT years, which for reference is from here until … maybe that Adam Cole-Kyle O’Reilly two out of three falls that lasted two or three years. Spoilers : inconsistencies abound, and the logical approach of “hone your act wrestling the same match 2/3 nights in a row at a time” goes out the window in favour of “book anyone who’s here against anyone else and see what happens.” Which leads to some interesting matches but some of them only happen once in some nowhere Florida town in front of 200 people. I got onboard when my mate got the Network around the same time we heard how good Arrival had been, and I spent an evening watching as much NXT as I could. I think I gave up watching religiously around one of the Ciampa vs Gargano title matches which had something stupid kicked out of, and it dawned on me the show had drifted away from the old fashioned vibe I enjoyed and become akin to ROH with better production values - ROH having produced some of the worst overblown, exhausting “try hard” over the top nonsense I ever saw. The worst being the Strong vs Edwards match of a thousand falls where it tires me even explaining the rules. Which reminds me, I missed an NXT related departure in Julys post…  Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 22, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 22, 2023 (edited) FEBRUARY 2015 THE MAIN EVENTS John Cena vs Seth Rollins continues 1st in Loveland, then it’s Daniel Bryan vs Rollins 7th in West Valley City UT and 8th in Huntington, before three nights in Abu Dhabi - 12th it’s again Cena vs Rollins, 13th John tags with Dean Ambrose to drop Rusev and Luke Harper, 14th Cena goes for the one belt that eluded him, challenging Bad News Barrett for the ICT and winning by DQ. 27th at MSG (just 12,000) Cena challenges Rusev before intermission and wins by DQ again, Roman Reigns & Daniel Bryan beat Rollins and Kane on last. Next night in Bridgeport Cena & Ryback beat Rollins & Rusev while underneath, Reigns continue his run vs Big Show in no DQ matches. On the other crew it’s still Rusev vs Roman Reigns 1st in Calgary then Reigns vs Big Show as alluded to, 6th-8th in North Charleston, Jacksonville and Canton then 14th-15th in Tampa and Estero. There are split rosters again on 28th, and while Reigns now supports Cena in Bridgeport, Daniel Bryan vs Kane no DQ goes on last in Toronto. THE CARDS Randy Orton vs Kane happens on the two Bryan v Rollins undercards then in Florida it’s Orton & Daniel Bryan vs Kane & Bray Wyatt, then Orton vs Wyatt at MSG and in Toronto. Dean Ambrose vs Wyatt hasn’t wrapped, Deano also wrestles Luke Harper often, it’s frequently Bad News Barrett vs Dolph Ziggler for the ICT and also Barrett vs Ziggler vs Ambrose at MSG and in Toronto. Chris Jericho works Cesaro in Calgary and Florida, and Harper in Jacksonville, Canton, at MSG and in Toronto. It’s The Usos vs The Miz & Damien Mizdow every night, both for the tag belts and in Toronto after Jimmy and Jey have lost them at Fastlane. Usually Goldust & Stardust vs New Day (all three combinations) alternates with the Dusts against Cesaro & Tyson Kidd. Rusev vs Erick Rowan is frequently the US title match when Rusev is between Reigns and Cena. Adrian Neville & Sami Zayn vs The Ascension is our “NXT offer match” in Utah and Virginia then Kevin Owens vs Neville for the NXT title happens in Tampa and Estero. Nikki Bella vs Paige finally provides some Women’s title action at MSG and in Bridgeport. Prior to that early month repeats had Paige & Natalya vs Sasha Banks & Alicia Fox and Emma & Naomi vs Cameron & Summer Rae, then into Florida it’s Paige, Nattie & Emma vs Summer, Fox and “The Boss.” R-Truth vs Fandango runs often. Ryback vs Curtis Axel happens more than once which is a step down for the current attempt at rehabilitating “The Big Guy.” There’s multiple of Sin Cara vs Bo Dallas, Jack Swagger vs Titus O’Neil and Darren Young vs Adam Rose, and also of Young vs O’Neil even though they’ll imminently be reunited. On that note, Los Matadores have a couple of matches with the shortly-defunct Slater Gator (Titus & Heath Slater) and also teaming with El Torito to beat Slater, Axel and Hornswoggle or Slater, Swoggle and Fandango. It’s depressing, writing as I am these months concurrent with doing 09-10, to see how we’ve gone from two crews headlined by World title matches to zero, and how on the road to Mania half the guys that will feature in three of the most featured matches - Lesnar, Taker, Hunter, Sting - aren’t guys that work the road. VARIATIONS Loveland is the only town that gets Bryan vs Wyatt. Rollins does likely popular jobs for Ziggler then former pal Ambrose on the second and third nights in Abu Dhabi. Show vs Rowan is unique to Calgary as is Ryback pinning Kane. Barrett defends vs Kofi vs Swagger second night in Abu Dhabi. On the third night Rusev vs Swagger is revived for the US title and Ziggler tags with Ryback to beat Harper & Kidd. In Huntington Ryback pins Rose straight after his usual defeat to Young. They do similar night one in Abu Dhabi to Axel after he loses to Bo (which is our exception). New tag champs Cesaro & Kidd defend against Woods and Kingston at MSG, then a four way against Big E & Woods, the Ascension and the Prime Time Players in Bridgeport. Goldust vs Stardust kicks off in Bridgeport. Charlotte, Emma & Naomi vs Sasha, Cameron & Summer Rae only happens in Calgary. It’s still Nattie vs Fox in singles in Loveland. They twist again in Toronto - Naomi, Nattie and Sasha beat Summer, Emma and Cameron. Otherwise in Calgary it’s Truth vs Kidd, Loveland Matadores vs Axel & Fandango, Abu Dhabi night 1 it’s Swagger vs Kidd. Night 2 has Rowan vs Dallas and Zayn vs Kidd and night 3 Rowan vs Axel and Zayn vs Dallas. In Bridgeport Zack Ryder beats Dallas then Bo hasn’t had enough so he loses to Swagger too plus Rowan vs Rose and in Toronto Matadores vs Axel & Slater, and Sin Cara vs Tyler Breeze. NXT MAIN EVENTS 6th in Citrus Springs Blake & Murphy vs The Vaudevillains for the tag belts is the main, then it’s Kevin Owens vs Adrian Neville 13th in Fort Pierce, 20th-21st in Starke and Cocoa and 27th-28th in Jacksonville and Tampa. THE CARDS There are four rounds of Finn Balor vs Hideo Itami which is a hell of a match for me. Blake & Murphy vs The Vaudevillains is nearly every show for the tag belts while it’s Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson for three shows (still going by The Mechanics unofficially) and month end FTR are back with Shoot Nation. It’s three nights of Bayley vs Becky Lynch then two of Becky vs Charlotte - all losses for “The Man.” Baron Corbin basically wrestles someone different near every night but does manage two wins over CJ Parker month end. Early month and Cocoa Chad Gable gets wins against Mike Rallis - better known today as Madcap Moss. VARIATIONS Sami Zayn isn’t around much but does check in to beat Tyler Breeze in Starke. In Citrus Springs Becky gets to win - a three way with Bayley and Charlotte - and Hideo is still with Breeze. In Fort Pierce Blake & Murphy beat Cass & Enzo and the Vaudevillains lose to Wilder and Dawson. In Starke only, Cass & Enzo beat Shoot Nation. Month end there’s no Enzo so Cass pins Bull Dempsey in Jacksonville and Elias Samson in Tampa. Undercards are a mess - Corbin beats Tony Briggs in Citrus Springs, Elias in Fort Pierce, Jason Jordan in Starke and Breeze by count-out in Cocoa. Solomon Crowe beats Tye Dillinger in Citrus, Parker in Fort Pierce, Gable in Starke, Jordan in Cocoa, Briggs in Jacksonville and Dempsey in Tampa. Finally in Fort Pierce it’s Breeze vs Bull. Phew! TVs 3rd in Colorado Springs Harper pins Slater before Main Event and Charlotte beats Sasha in the middle. 10th in Fairborn Emma looks at the lights for the champ, Nikki Bella. 11th is TakeOver : Rival, another triumph for the third brand on which Sasha relieves Charlotte of the women’s belt, Owens wins the men’s and dark, Cass & Enzo beat frequent opponents English & Gotch. 12th taping at Full Sail Gable beats Rallis dark and I should mention notable appearances on the tapings have Rhino crush Elias, Blue Pants do a job to Sasha, Brian Kendrick lose to Balor and there’s a win for your favourite and mine, Alexa Bliss, over Carmella. 16th in Orlando Cena pins Wyatt after Raw, next night in Sunrise Nattie beats Summer and Fandango beats Dempsey either side of Main Event. 18th at Full Sail dark the Vaudevillains actually beat the Revival, the taping has Blue Pants job for Dana Brooke and Rhino lose to Zayn in a contenders. Fastlane is a tough PPV to grade - Elimination Chamber having been moved because logically with only one title shot for Mania to compete for and only one champion (who isn’t wrestling at the PPV) there’s no stakes for a chamber here but logical or not, one feels robbed of a traditionally dramatic “last stop” before Mania. Also with no title fight and only an angle to build towards another big match (between Triple H and Sting) and felt like a show that really felt damaged by the focus on part timers that’s crept in. It’s also disappointing that Goldust vs Stardust happens here and won’t get a spot on a lengthy Mania card, and really deflating that Nikki retains over Paige - or maybe that was just me. That said, Cesaro & Kidd win the tag belts and the Sting stuff is well received, and it’s hard not to appreciate the graft in Rusev vs Cena and Reigns vs Bryan - exactly the kind of match Roman needs before Mania and I’m surprised it doesn’t go further to win back some fan support. Next night in Nashville dark there’s a Coliseum Video Tag Team Mega Match of the Month - Cena, Bryan, Reigns and Ambrose go over Rollins, Kane, Show and Wyatt. 24th in Atlanta the Ascension job for Big E and Woods and after SmackDown Reigns pins Wyatt. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : The Usos (tag team champs) by Cesaro & Kidd. Even though they're winning the belts at the PPV anyway. DEPARTURE I know I mentioned Rey Mysterio when he stopped wrestling for them but this is the month he’s finally free. Edited October 22, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 23, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 23, 2023 MARCH 2015 THE MAIN EVENTS 1st at Nassau Coliseum (just 6000) it's John Cena & Ryback vs Seth Rollins & Rusev, 6th-8th in Rochester, at the Barclays and in Allentown (Nastyville baby) it's the Cena vs Rollins streetfight. 14th in Milwaukee (7000 only) and 15th in Minneapolis it's Cena & Randy Orton vs Rollins & Bray Wyatt, 20th in Tucson it's back to Cena vs Rollins, 21st/22nd in Phoenix and San Diego its Cena & Orton vs Rollins & Big Show. Daniel Bryan vs Kane continues as our other main 3rd in Buffalo, 7th-8th in Erie and Youngstown (though Roman Reigns vs Big Show closes), 14th-15th in Seattle (6000 is weak in DB's neck of the woods) and Portland OR, and 21st-22nd in Anaheim and Ontario. 13th in Abbotsford (British Columbia) there's no Show so Reigns vs Kane goes on last. THE CARDS Roman Reigns vs Big Show frequently supports a main event, as does Randy Orton vs Bray Wyatt along with Ryback vs Rusev for the US title - it moves to Rusev vs Ryback vs Jack Swagger and Reigns vs Wyatt. Bad News Barrett vs Dean Ambrose vs Dolph Ziggler repeats a few times, sometimes we also get Barrett vs Ambrose vs R-Truth, often its Ambrose beating Barrett by DQ as a singles, Ziggler otherwise renews hostilities with Luke Harper, who also sometimes swaps wins with Truth. Finn Balor vs Tyler Breeze is a cool NXT offer match in California. It's often Nikki Bella vs Paige for the Womens title and on the way to Mania Brie Bella and her sister lose plenty of tags to Paige & Naomi or AJ Lee & Natalya. On the other side early month there are a fair few of Nattie & Emma vs Sasha Banks & Summer Rae, then Naomi/Nattie/Emma vs Sasha/Summer/Cameron, among the usual mixing. The tag team division frequently has The Usos vs The Miz & Damien Mizdow (switching to Jimmy pinning Miz when someone's out, probably injury prone Jey), New Day vs The Ascension, Los Matadores vs Curtis Axel & Heath Slater and The Lucha Dragons vs Breeze & Bo Dallas, though tag team champions Cesaro & Tyson Kidd do check in with a couple of defences against New Day, while the Prime Time Players beat Slater & Adam Rose, then month end we get a four way with the Ascension and the Prime Time Players. Earlier in the month, PTB vs Matadores vs Ascension vs Axel & Rose was a card-filler. Goldust vs Stardust is a brotherly swap of wins. Erick Rowan vs Fandango, Rowan vs Dallas, Truth vs Fandango and Swagger pinning Rose happen a few times, likewise Zack Ryder beating Dallas, Fandango or Brad Maddox. Frequently Rose, Dango or Dallas talk themselves into losing two singles matches in a row on undercards. Sin Cara vs Slater and Adrian Neville vs Axel also crop up when neither heel is in a tag. VARIATIONS Tucson is the only city where Reigns is back with Rusev. Without Kane in Abbotsford, DBry beats Harper. Buffalo has the last show for now for Chris Jericho, beating Harper. In Tucson only Goldie tags with Truth to beat Cody & Fandango instead of the usual singles match. Rochester has the only instance of a three way with Axel & Rose beating (remarkably) Miz & Mizdow and the Players. Usual ladies merry go round has Emma & Naomi vs Summer & Cameron in Erie, then Cameron & Emma vs Naomi & Summer in Youngstown - like they don't know who are faces and who are heels? During the "two matches" merry go round, Rowan pinning Rose only happens at Nassau. Buffalo is the only town with Sin Cara vs Breeze. MAIN EVENTS - NXT 6th in Cleveland its Kevin Owens vs Adrian Neville for the belt, 7th-8th they do two nights in Columbus but 7th is either matinee then and evening show or a really odd, long show where several but not every wrestler works twice - regardless, Owens retains against Finn Balor on the 6th match of the day then Neville on the 12th, next night Kev pins Hideo Itami. 12th in Largo its Neville vs Baron Corbin on last, 13th in Bartow its Itami vs CJ Parker, 14th in Citrus Springs its Corbin vs Parker. Four nights in San Jose for weekend Mania go down a little weird as 26th the semis and final of the tournament to get in the Andrew battle royal are filmed, though the quarters don't happen (for live crowd only) until 28th - let's hope they didn't read the spoilers. Regardless, it's Balor vs Neville on 27th, on 28th Balor vs Corbin is without doubt the biggest quarter, 29th Neville & Corbin beat Parker & Mike Rallis (Madcap Moss). THE CARDS - MESSY Hideo Itami vs Tyler Breeze happens three times and there's multiple of Baron Corbin vs Breeze which isnt as one-sided as you'd expect and Corbin vs CJ Parker which is. Adrian Neville vs Kalisto happens twice and I bet it was smooth. Big Cass swaps wins with Simon Gotch and beats Bull Dempsey twice. Sasha Banks vs Charlotte is the only Womens title match happening twice. Bayley vs Carmella and Bayley vs Dana Brooke also happen twice, as does Becky Lynch vs Alexa Bliss and Bliss & Devin Taylor vs Lynch & Brooke. Blake & Murphy vs Shoot Nation (Sawyer Fulton & Tucker Knight) happens a couple of times as does Solomon Crowe vs Chad Gable. VARIATIONS - FUCKING HELL Balor vs Cesaro is huge in Cleveland, Balor curtain jerks and actually loses to Breeze 8th in Columbus, where just 3 matches later Neville & Balor beat Owens and Breeze (with Owens defending in the main event). 27th we have a tag title three way with Blake & Murphy vs The Vaudevillains vs Enzo Amore & Cass, 28th Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson finally show up to work and job to Cass & Enzo. Itami beats Tyson Kidd in Cleveland, Tye Dillinger in Citrus Springs, 28th in San Jose he beats Crowe (I bet they hit each other hard) before the tourney quarters where Hideo beats Jason Jordan. Corbin vs Rhino is a big grudge match 27th in San Jose, prior Rhino beat Kalisto in Cleveland. Baron beats Blake on the 7th, Kalisto on the 8th and Steve Cutler in Bartow. Our womens title matches are Sasha vs Charlotte vs Becky vs Bliss in Cleveland, Banks vs Bliss on the first half of Columbus on 7th, Banks vs Bayley on the 8th, and future Mania meeting Sasha vs Charlotte vs Becky 29th in San Jose. Other ladies action has Charlotte vs Carmella kicking off second half of 7th in Columbus to earn Charlotte her title shot later, 8th has Carmella losing to Dana then later in the night beating Bliss, 27th Bliss & Bayley beat Becky & Brooke, plus mixed tags see Cass & Carmella (SAWFT!) beating Marcus Louis & Devin in Bartow then losing to Bayley & Rallis 29th in San Jose. The rest of the mess - in Cleveland Gotch vs Murphy, Columbus 7th first half its Cass vs Murphy then 8th Cass vs Blake, in Largo Crowe vs Parker and Gable vs Rallis, in Bartow Bull vs Rallis and Hugo Knox vs Dillinger, in Citrus Springs Cutler vs Rallis, then in San Jose 27th it's Crowe vs Kalisto and Jordan vs Dempsey, 28th Breeze vs Dempsey in the quarters which somehow goes on last, and Crowe gets his heat back from losing to Hideo by beating Fulton, finally 29th Gotch beats Fulton then later loses to Angelo Dawkins, and Louis does jobs to both Bull and to Dylan Miley (Lars Sullivan). TVs 2nd in Newark our Coliseum Video dark main has Cena, Reigns, Ambrose & Ziggler beat Rollins, Kane, Show and Wyatt. Next night in Washington Nattie beats Sasha in the curtain jerker then the Lucha Dragons beat Dallas & Breeze between Main Event and SmackDown - plus AJ is back on TV, beating Brie. 5th in Columbus several NXT matches taped aren't used for broadcast including Balor & Itami vs the Vaudevillains, Corbin vs Kidd, Charlotte vs Bayley, mid show bonus Ryback pinning Show (!) and dark main Cesaro vs Neville. 9th in Pittsburgh AJ beats Summer Rae on Raw and Cena pins Wyatt dark, next night in Detroit Paige & AJ knock off Summer & Cameron then dark Orton & Reigns beat Kane & Show. 16th in Des Moines AJ loses to Nikki then dark Cena & Reigns beat Rollins & Rusev, 23rd at the Staples Center (17,500+ is some good news at last) there's a fairly random Jimmy Uso vs Big E vs Cesaro vs Fernando four way that doesn't make air, Nikki retains over Paige and dark, Cena, Bryan, Reigns and Mark Henry beat Rollins, Show, Kane and Wyatt. The Raw after Mania in San Jose (11,000) has the Prime Time Players vs Rose & Slater taped but not used for Superstars, Neville debuts on Raw, and the last match of AJs career has her team with Paige and Naomi to beat Nattie and the Bella bots. Finally 31st in Fresno (11,000) Ryder pins Rose in the curtain jerker and dark main has Cena & Reigns beat new WWE Champ Rollins & Wyatt. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Barrett, obviously (Intercontinental champ) by Ambrose, AGAIN by Bryan, Cesaro & Kidd (tag team champions) by New Day, Nikki Bella (Womens Champ) by Naomi. No wonder Lesnar never came to TV as champ, who wants to get pinned like a chump? DEPARTURES The relationship between AJ Lee and WWE had been fractious since husband Punk's departure the previous January and BEING TERMINATED ON THEIR WEDDING DAY, and she's carried on as long as she could, but eventually damage to her spine has convinced her it was time to retire after being out from TLC to this month. Seeming to bow out on good terms, there's somewhat of an elephant in the room in that she's never been invited back in any capacity for any Rumble or for Evolution despite for some reason being lauded as some kind of pioneer - maybe all it took was having a recognisable character in a sea of interchangeable beige, bland and blonde - and being remembered as one of the better wrestlers of the era. Which in honesty isn't saying much. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 24, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 24, 2023 APRIL 2015 You'd think a European tour with two crews would provide straight forward reports - and by and large, it does. There's a new champ, and he's on the road!!  MAIN EVENTS Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton continues as a feud and now it's for the belt, 8th-12th in Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield, Birmingham (NEC) and Cardiff, then 14th-18th in Bournemouth, Hamburg, Toulouse, Antwerp and Zurich. The other crew is usually headlined by Roman Reigns vs Big Show 9th-12th in Dublin, Belfast, Nottingham then a double header of Leeds then Manchester (fuck), 15th in Warsaw, 17th/18th in Dortmund and Nuremburg, 16th in Budapest only its Reigns & Dolph Ziggler beating Show & Sheamus with John Cena vs Rusev going on last. They don't bother going back out after the tour and just do TVs and the PPV for the rest of the month. THE CARDS John Cena vs Rusev is every night on the tour but they don't stay on one crew or the other and are flown back and forth. Our biggest matches taking place every night are Ryback vs Kane and Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper. There's a pretty huge six-man of Daniel Bryan, Dolph Ziggler & Erick Rowan vs Sheamus, Bray Wyatt & Bad News Barrett (ridiculous amount of talent to spend on one match) until Manchester then Bryan has a break ; it's then usually Ziggler vs Sheamus, Wyatt vs Rowan and for some reason Barrett losing to Jimmy Uso. The feuds of Goldust vs Stardust and Damien Mizdow vs The Miz roll on, though its a Mizdow/Zack Ryder vs Miz/Fandango tag later. Tag title is Cesaro & Tyson Kidd vs New Day, then later Los Matadores get added. Finn Balor vs Adrian Neville switches to Balor vs Adam Rose half way through. For the first half of their loop it's Paige & Naomi vs The Bella Twins, then it's Nikki vs Naomi for the belt. On the other side its usually Emma, Summer Rae & Natalya vs Alicia Fox, Cameron & Rosa Mendes, then later Em, Nattie & Layla beat Rosa, Cameron & Tamina. It's R-Truth vs Xavier Woods, Jimmy vs Fandango and Ryder vs Bo Dallas first half of the tour, Prime Time Players vs Heath Slater & Curtis Axel second half and Lucha Dragons vs The Ascension throughout, in Antwerp & Zurich its an 8-man where the Players and Dragons beat the Ascension and the Social Outcasts. VARIATIONS In Dublin only the six-man is messed up to Emma, Nattie & Rosa vs Summer, Fox and Cameron. At the MEN Nattie vs Fox represents the only women that work both Leeds earlier and Manchester. In Nuremburg only Wyatt pins Jimmy Uso and Barrett gets to win at last, over Rowan. MAIN EVENTS - NXT 2nd in Tampa its Finn Balor vs Tyler Breeze, 3rd in Palatka Breeze loses to Baron Corbin, next night in Orlando - I don't get this one - Sami Zayn wins a top contenders match against Scott Dawson of Revival who won a battle royal on first to wrestle Zayn on last. 10th in Largo Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs The Vaudevillains goes on last, next night in Fort Pierce a mixed tag of Zayn & Bayley vs Breeze & Sasha Banks, 18th in Jacksonville its Hideo Itami against Tyler, only TVs then until 30th in Lakeland where it's Balor vs Itami vs Breeze. THE CARDS Tyler Breeze vs Baron Corbin happens multiple times and when not on last, Breeze is winning - Corbin also loses to Sami Zayn more than once. Blake & Murphy vs The Revival happens in Tampa (for the title) and Largo (non title), and they defend against eventual successors The Vaudevillains in both Palatka and Fort Pierce. It's champ Sasha Banks vs Charlotte or Sasha vs Charlotte vs Becky Lynch though the title isn't always contested. There's Bayley & Carmella vs Lynch & Dana Brooke in both Tampa and Jacksonville. Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs Vaudevillains, Solomon Crowe vs Chad Gable, Bull Dempsey vs Marcus Louis and Elias Samson vs Steve Cutler repeat. VARIATIONS - GETTING DAFT There's Finn Balor vs Tye Dillinger in Orlando. Big name tags see Blake & Murphy vs Cass & Enzo in Palatka. It's Revival vs Cass & Enzo in Fort Pierce, and Revival vs Dempsey & Tucker Knight plus Cass & Enzo vs Shoot Nation in Lakeland. Cass & Enzo win a non-title three way with Blake & Murphy & The Vaudevillains in Orlando and there's Revival & Mike Rallis vs Shoot Nation & Gable in Palatka. Tye Dillinger vs Rallis in Tampa, vs Bull Dempsey in Palatka, vs Jason Jordan in Largo, vs Elias in Fort Pierce, vs Mojo Rawley in Jacksonville and vs Corbin in Lakeland. Sasha beats Bayley in Largo and Becky in Lakeland. Bayley vs Carmella in Palatka, Charlotte vs Alexa Bliss vs Brooke in Fort Pierce, and womens tags of Bliss & Bayley vs Carmella & Brooke in Orlando, Bliss, Carmella & Devin Taylor vs Lynch, Brooke & Dasha Kuret in Largo, finally Bliss & Bayley vs Carmella & Taylor in Lakeland. Otherwise there's Crowe vs Louis in Palatka, Crowe vs Jordan and Cutler vs Gable in Fort Pierce, Jordan vs Dempsey in Jacksonville and Crowe vs Rallis in Lakeland. TVs 6th in Austin (6000 only) on Raw the Cena invitational for the US title has him over Stardust. 7th in Dallas (7500 only) before tapings Los Matadores beat (now AEW) Sammy Guevara & "Tony Guevara" (Laredo Kid) and between shows Balor pins Woods. 13th at the O2 (13,800 is disappointing) Cena beats Barrett, ridiculously Orton beats the tag team fucking champions in a handicap and the Coliseum Video Exclusive has Bryan, Ambrose & Ziggler beat Show, Sheamus & Harper. Next night (10,000 is even worse) Cena & Bryan beat Cesaro & Kidd then Reigns beats Show after the taping. 20th in Albany Cena retains against Kane, next night in Providence Brad Maddox vs Ryder and PTB vs Matadores happen around the shows that are taped. 23rd NXT taping at Full Sail unused matches see Dash & Dawson beat Elias & Tucker, Kalisto beat Dillinger and Bayley beat Jessie McKay (Billie Kay), and notable enhancement matches have Becky beat Sarah Dobson (a/k/a Crazy Mary Dobson a/k/a Sarah Logan) and Sasha beat Cassie Lee who will be Peyton Royce. Extreme Rules sees Big E and Kofi get the belts back from Cesaro & Kidd and my prevailing memory of the show, a relatively pointless Reigns vs Show match was far better than I expected. Little of note happens on the post PPV TVs except these squeeze in an entire King of the Ring tournament ; ALL HAIL KING BARRETT! NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month : Cesaro & Kidd (tag team champions) by Cena & Bryan DEPARTURE Here’s a big one ; straight after SmackDown in London Daniel Bryan is pulled from the tour as a precaution and defence at Extreme Rules cancelled - he’s had seizures and symptoms of post concussion syndrome. He’s off the road indefinitely and eventually will be forced to retire in February 2016. He’s kept on by the company in non wrestling roles including GM (which he’ll later liken to divorcing your wife but her asking if can stay best friends) before eventually getting cleared and returning to the ring two years later. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 25, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 25, 2023 (edited) MAY 2015 THE MAIN EVENTS Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns for the belt continues 2nd-3rd in Halifax and St John, 9th/10th in Charleston and Wheeling and 16th in Atlantic City Seth's back with Randy Orton and atop the other crew with the John Cena vs Rusev cage match before intermission. They continue with the crew they've inherited while Cena's moved off again, 23rd/24th in Utica and Binghamton (mostly DQ finishes), 30th in Laredo Rollins defends against old mate Dean Ambrose. Speaking of... 2nd/3rd in Hamilton and Oshawa is a bit B show - Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper no DQ goes on last, likewise 8th in Broomfield CO, 9th-10th in Louisville and Lexington THE CHAMP IS BACK and John Cena vs Rusev for the US title is on last, 15th at State College they put a cage on it, 22nd-24th the cage match continues in Manchester NH, Worcester and White Plains. 29th/30th in Raleigh and Greensboro it switches to Cena vs Kane in the cage. Ugh. 16th in Newark with both Cena AND Orton on the other card, Roman Reigns vs Kane as a streetfight is the top match on the roster that had been Orton's and will shortly be Cena's. THE CARDS Roman Reigns vs Kane and Ryback vs Rusev go on when one party involved isn't main event - Ryback's still winning those - and up to the third week of the month it’s always Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper no DQ. Then it switches to Ambrose beating Kane thrice, Ryback beating Bray Wyatt and after he finishes with Kane, Reigns is with Big Show in a cage - early month in Canada, Kane had beaten Jack Swagger. It's Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus nearly the whole month, nearly always won by Ziggler. Neville vs King Barrett literally goes every night. The tag title is usually a straight New Day vs Cesaro & Tyson Kidd on and off, in Broomfield and Louisville it’s a three way with The Ascension, and in North Carolina it’s a three way with the reunited Harper & Erick Rowan. R-Truth vs Stardust goes 50/50 all month. There’s Emma & Natalya vs Cameron & Summer Rae and Charlotte vs Naomi in Canada moving to a six woman in the South with Charlotte for the faces (LOL) and Alicia Fox for the heels, while it’s Nikki Bella vs Naomi for the belt in Kentucky moving to Brie Bella and her twin swapping wins with Naomi & Tamina mid month then it’s Charlotte & Emma vs Fox & Layla in New York and Nikki vs Tamina for the belt on the other crew (which sounds like the worst title match ever) - Paige vs Naomi is added in North Carolina. It’s Fandango & The Lucha Dragons vs Adam Rose & Los Matadores in Canada, then Kalisto, Cara & Jimmy Uso vs Diego, Fernando & Tyler Breeze down South, before settling into Dragons vs Matadores for the rest of the month. Call me crazy but I think any of those would have been very smooth, if a little inconsequential. Mid month, naturally, Fandango vs Rose continues in singles. Free of Miz, Damien Sandow goes on runs of beating first Bo Dallas then Heath Slater, concurrent to a decent run of Zack Ryder vs Curtis Axel, then as “Macho Mandow” Damien tags with Axel to beat the pair of them for a few nights before beating Breeze by DQ in North Carolina when Slater interferes leading to a tag - Dallas is left losing to Ryder. The Prime Time Players get bounced around a lot but at least get three matches in a row with Slater and Dallas in the North East - after which Heath & Bo are also losing to the “MegaPowers” as above. Rowan vs Dallas is every night in week 2. Harper lands on Ryder in Manchester and White Plains. Month end in New York Jimmy beats Brad Maddox. VARIATIONS Sheamus pinning Swagger is unique to Laredo, as is Stardust asking for another match after losing to regular opponent Truth, at which point he loses to - you’ll like this - Jimmy Uso. Sami Zayn goes over Rowan in Hamilton and Slater in Oshawa. In Lexington only the PTP are added to the tag title vs Kofi & Woods vs Cesaro & Kidd vs Ascension (10th). Otherwise the Players tag with Jimmy to beat Slater & Ascension in Hamilton then Rowan & Ascension in Oshawa, they team with Ryder to beat Konnor, Viktor and Dallas in State College then actually beat the Ascension in a no frills tag in Atlantic City. In Atlantic City only Sandow teams with Ryder to beat Slater & Dallas. It’s Axel vs Slater one on one in Manchester. Rowan beats Ryder in Worcester. Naomi vs Emma is unique to Broomfield as is Emma vs Fox in Newark, in Laredo we move to Emma & Nattie vs Fox & Cameron. MAIN EVENTS - NXT 1st in Tampa I’m shook - it’s Finn Balor & Billy Gunn vs Tyler Breeze & Kevin Owens, then next night in Cocoa Balor pins Breeze one on one. 7th in Jacksonville Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch goes on last, next night in Largo they support Owens vs Tye Dillinger. 9th in Orlando it’s Owens vs Solomon Crowe (ouch), 14th/15th in Upper Darby PA it’s Owens vs Balor vs Breeze then Sasha vs Charlotte for the Women’s belt first night then second night Owens vs Balor for the men’s, 16th in Albany it’s Owens vs Balor vs Breeze. 23rd in Starke, Balor & Crowe beat Breeze & Dillinger, 29th in Citrus Springs it’s Balor vs Baron Corbin and next night in Venice it’s Finn, Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs Corbin and Dash & Dawson. THE CARDS Matches that happen twice or more include Finn Balor vs Baron Corbin and - this is mental - Corbin pins Tommy Dreamer second night in Upper Darby and in Albany a couple of hours from Dreamer's hood. Blake & Murphy vs Enzo Amore & Big Cass is pretty regular either for the title or non title which determines the winners, as well as The Vaudevillains vs Dash & Dawson though Cass & Enzo work Revival more than once too. There's Solomon Crowe vs Corbin, Tye Dillinger vs Mike Rallis, Crowe vs Dillinger and Crowe vs Rallis are all repeated. There's Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch or Sasha vs Charlotte for the belt or sometimes not, and Bayley & Alexa Bliss vs Lynch & Dana Brooke. Late month we get Charlotte, Carmella & Devin Taylor vs Banks, Jessie McKay & Cassie Lee (what a bitch faction that would be!) concurrent to Becky vs Lina Fanene (Nia Jax). Shoot Nation vs Bull Dempsey & Tucker Knight, Elias Samson vs Steve Cutler, Mojo Rawley vs Chad Gable and Gable vs Rallis all happen twice or more. VARIATIONS - HIGHLIGHTS Second night in Upper Darby, Blake & Murphy defend against a rather random Crowe & Jason Jordan. Corbin vs Rhino stands out the first night in Upper Darby, Corbin beats Dillinger in Tampa, Cass in Cocoa and Jordan in Starke. In Jacksonville its Balor, Cass & Enzo vs Breeze & Revival, and a certain Braun Strowman pins Cutler. The Vaudevillains beat Shoot Nation in Venice only. There's the familiar mixed tag of Cass, Enzo & Carmella (SAWFT!) vs Blake/Murphy/Alexa in Starke, and the big 4-way of Banks vs Lynch vs Bayley vs Charlotte second night in Upper Darby, supported by Bliss vs Brooke. Bayley vs Bliss is the only other ladies singles variation, in Cocoa. Otherwise Bayley & Mella vs Bliss & Brooke in Tampa, Lynch & Mella vs Banks & Taylor in Cocoa, Bayley & Mella vs Taylor & Zada (a/k/a Nia) in Jacksonville, Bayley & Mella vs the Iiconics in Largo, Bliss, Bayley & Mella vs Brooke, Taylor & Lina in Orlando, and Bayley & Taylor vs the Iiconics in Starke. It's a bit fast and loose with the heel/face dynamic here. TVs 4th in Montreal Cena defends against Zayn on Raw to delight the locals. Next night in Ottawa the PTP beat Maddox & Slater before Main Event then Nattie beats Charlotte before SmackDown. 11th in Cincinnati Cena loses to Neville by DQ thanks to Rusev, next night in Evansville Fandango beats Breeze and Charlotte beats Emma dark. Fuck all interesting happens at Payback except it's worth pointing out that while Ryback's been beating Wyatt all over the world on house shows, Wyatt wins on PPV where it matters. 18th in Richmond Kev debuts and attacks Cena then there's a proper Coliseum Video dark main - Cena & Reigns beat Rollins & Rusev. Next night in Norfolk Reigns beats Rollins by DQ after the taping, 20th at Full Sail the Vaudevillains beat Revival dark before TakeOver, next night there's a TV taping where Strowman pins Wilder before they tape for TV, and the only other match not used has Jordan's quest for a tag partner see him lose to the Vaudevillains tagging with Kid Mikaze who you may remember from 2006 ROH if you watched 2006 ROH, in what turns out to be Mikaze's last match, and - every day's a school day - I learn for the first time today he married Sasha/Mercedes. 25th at Nassau (9500, uh oh) Cena beats Rusev again and dark, Orton pins Wyatt. Next night in Wilkes-Barre Owens pins Truth to curtain jerk and Charlotte beats Alicia between shows. Finally Elimination Chamber is really eventful - New Day retain in one Chamber when they're (for some reason) allowed to have all 3 inside against the other teams, the Ryback rehab continues with him winning the vacant Intercontinental title, and most memorably, Kev makes his big match main roster debut by cleanly pinning Big Match John - although, maddeningly, even though this is a Network exclusive non-PPV PPV-style big event, it's not for the US belt. NON TITLE WHINING Beaton TV this month : Rollins (WWE CHAMPION) by Ambrose, Cena (US Champ) by Owens DEPARTURES None, I don’t think. Edited November 7, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 27, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 27, 2023 JUNE 2015 THE MAIN EVENTS Randy Orton vs Seth Rollins seems to be a non-title match won by Orton 5th-7th in Jackson, Baton Rouge and Lake Charles (Cena underneath) - those are all cage matches - and 13th in Fairborn (Reigns and Show in a cage), 20th-21st in Vegas and Fort Wayne its Rollins vs Roman Reigns in Last Man Standing matches for the belt, 27th-28th its Rollins vs Dean Ambrose in a cage match in Boston then a streetfight in Roanoke (Reigns underneath). Roman Reigns vs Big Show in a streetfight is our other main event 6th/7th in Salt Lake City (just 2500, Christ) and Pensacola, then 12th/13th in Springfield IL and Terre Haute then 19th-21st in Saginaw, Grand Rapids and Kalamazoo it's John Cena vs Kane for the US title, in a cage everywhere except Kalamazoo (Ziggler and Barrett get the cage and go on last). 28th in Reading we've got a bit of a B show - with no main eventers on hand, with the Shield boys all in Roanoke and Cena and Orton both off - Chris Jericho vs King Barrett in a streetfight goes on last. THE CARDS John Cena vs King Barrett in the "open challenge" for the US title is an obvious big one. It's Roman Reigns vs Big Show in streetfights or cage matches plus a run of Ryback vs Bray Wyatt continuing for the ICT with The Big Guy getting good defences, month end it's back to Reigns vs Wyatt and Ryback starts defending against Mark Henry - I bet Shell Shocked on Mark was a sight. It starts the month as Dean Ambrose vs Kane and continuation of Dolph Ziggler vs Sheamus, then Ziggler's with Barrett in Michigan (including that cage match on last in Kalamazoo) while on the other crew it's Ambrose vs Sheamus - which are losses I didn't expect Deano to weather at this stage. Chris Jericho vs Luke Harper is back on as Y2J carries on working house shows only. Jack Swagger vs The Miz starts the month with unexpected wins for Jack, then after the match Miz issues an open challenge and then he's beaten in really short order by former stunt double Damien Sandow still doing "Macho Mandow." In Michigan, even more unexpected, Miz tags with Heath Slater to lose to Mandow and "MegaPowers" partner Curtis Axel. What's going on, Miz??? Tag team title starts off with New Day vs The Prime Time Players vs The Ascension, mid month it's a four-way against Konnor & Viktor, the MegaPowers and Miz and newest partner, Adam Rose. By Michigan Titus & Young have won the belts and are giving Big E & Woods the rematch. Nikki Bella vs Paige vs Naomi for the belt starts the month then there's a few rounds of Brie Bella and the champ vs Naomi & Tamina, a couple of instances of our Paige pinning Naomi in week three then a resumption of the three way in Boston and Reading - there's a joke about three ways, but I'm not going to make it. Cesaro vs Erick Rowan goes a couple of times mid month then in Michigan there's a few of Cesaro vs Kofi Kingston which sounds like a good pairing. In Fairborn and Boston Kofi's with Adrian Neville which I want to believe was good but they might have been too similar wrestlers to mesh. Early month we have an eliminator with Lucha Dragons vs Los Matadores vs Harper & Rowan, Neville vs Slater, R-Truth vs Stardust, Jimmy Uso vs Bo Dallas and Fandango vs Rose - which repeats in Vegas. Mid month Dallas losing to Jimmy prompts him to issue an open challenge, answered by Swagger, who he also loses to. In week 3 we have Swagger vs Brad Maddox and Neville vs Dallas, late month Slater loses to Fandango in Fairborn and Reading. There's an early month match that starts as Emma vs Summer Rae then there's some varying nonsense regarding open challenges (see below) - mid-month it becomes Em & Alicia Fox vs Summer & Cameron (some of which are referred by Layla) which continues to the end of the month. VARIATIONS Boston has the biggest exception - it's John Cena vs Kevin Owens (DQ finish). Staying in Boston there's a fun tag of Y2J & Ziggler vs Barrett & Sheamus - night after Ziggler's back with Harper in Reading on CJ's undercard, Sheamus beats Swagger in Roanoke. Also in Reading those Neville/Kofi matches give way to Neville & Cesaro vs Kingston & Big E which sounds brilliant. Kalisto & Sin Cara work the Matadores as a straight tag in Fairborn and the Ascension in Vegas, in Fort Wayne that match is conflated with Fandango v Rose to make a six-man, in Roanoke its Dragons vs Matadores vs Ascension. In Salt Lake after losing to Emma, Summer Rae throws a fit and asks for another match - her challenge is answered by Alicia - who also beats her. Next night in Pensacola, the roles are reversed and it's Emma that's unstuck, however if the report is accurate, she actually ends up wrestling each opponent twice thus - yes - losing four matches in a row. Layla and Natalya get to wrestle in Fairborn, beating Summer & Alicia. In Boston the MegaPowers beat odd couple Slater & Harper, in Reading they beat Dallas & Maddox. Also in Fairborn after Slater loses to Fandango he does the "open challenge" bit, losing again to Truth. In Vegas the same fate befalls Rose, losing to Dango then Uso. Next night in Fort Wayne spare body Uso upsets Harper. Finally in Roanoke Tyler Breeze is on hand for the two losses drama, to Truth then to Jimmy, while in Reading Rose loses to the otherwise starving Zack Ryder. Oh rather, one half of the Hype Bros in NXT more often than not. MAIN EVENTS - NXT 5th in Fort Pierce Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch for the belt goes on last, next night in Largo Baron Corbin vs Tyler Breeze is the main. 11th/12th in Pittsburgh and Cleveland (spreading their wings!) its Kevin Owens vs Samoa Joe vs Finn Balor vs Tyler Breeze for the belt - proper main, that. 13th in Columbus its Owens vs Joe vs Balor, 19th in Jacksonville Balor pins Corbin, 20th in Lakeland Breeze avenges Largo, 26th in Cocoa its Vaudevillains vs Blake & Murphy vs Chad Gable & Jason Jordan non title, next night in Citrus Springs English & Gotch beat (as will be) American Alpha. THE CARDS Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch, vs Charlotte, and even vs Blue Pants for the belt all happen repeatedly. Busy girl. Blake & Murphy vs The Hype Bros happens more than once, Big Cass & Enzo Amore vs The Vaudevillains repeats, or Enzo, Cass & Carmella vs Blake & Murphy and Alexa Bliss is ongoing as is Vaudevillains vs The Revival. Hard-hitting - Baron Corbin vs Rhino is on both those big shows mid month. Tyler Breeze vs Corbin is often, Breeze wins more than you expect. Uhaa Nation (Apollo Crews) does jobs to Solomon Crowe which wounds me greatly. Braun Strowman vs Tye Dillinger repeats. Bayley & Carmella vs Emma & Dana Brooke happens more than once. Jason Jordan vs Bull Dempsey go 50/50 mid month and Bull also works Mike Rallis. VARIATIONS Starting at the top - in Cocoa future champ Balor beats Crowe. Decent name tag matches occur in Pittsburgh with Hype Bros vs Vaudevillains, and in Lakeland Cass & Enzo vs Blake & Murphy vs Jordan & Gable non title. Some great fun involving the future Iiconics - each gets a title shot. In Jacksonville it's Banks vs Cassie Lee while it's Emma & Brooke vs Jessie McKay & Devin Taylor, then next night in Lakeland we have Banks vs McKay and Carmella, Cassie & Taylor vs Alexa, Lina Fanene & Jasmin (Aliyah). In Fort Pierce the Duo lose to Charlotte & Bayley - said goodies beat Sasha & Cassie in Largo while McKay loses to Becky, and in Pittsburgh Bayls & Flair beat Emma & Dana, in Cocoa Charlotte's tagging with Devin to beat Cassie & Lina, then in Citrus Springs it's Charlotte & Gionna Daddio (Liv Morgan) vs McKay & Lina in Liv's first match in front of an audience. Otherwise, in Fort Pierce it's Dillinger vs Gable, Mojo vs Marcus Louis and Crowe vs Cal Bishop. In Largo - Mojo vs Dempsey. In Jacksonville - Breeze vs Dilinger, in Lakeland - Dempsey vs Louis, in Cocoa Louis BEATS Angelo Dawkins and Uhaa beats Axel Tischer, then in Citrus Springs Uhaa beats Elias Samson, it's Crowe vs Louis and Dillinger beats Steve Cutler. TVs 1st in San Antonio (just 8500) Samoa Joe drops Tyson Kidd in an unfortunately notorious dark match, and the Reigns push is non-stop, on one Raw they put him over Barrett, Henry (by count-out) AND Wyatt. Next night in Houston Braun Strowman beats Kenneth Johnson before shows, and Owens starts HIS open challenge for the NXT belt to get a rise out of Cena, pinning Ryder. 8th in New Orleans (9100) Owens beats Neville and a Coliseum dark main has Cena pin Wyatt. Next night in Lafayette there's loads of dark content - the PTB beat New Day non title (booo) before shows, the Lucha Dragons beat the Ascension after Main Event then at the end of the night Deano beats Wyatt - also Owens defends against Slater for Main Event, LOL. Money In The Bank has Sheamus win the briefcase (fated to depress everyone come Survivor Series), Cena get his win back from Owens, and the Prime Time Players win the tag belts which felt a little like a "thanks for your service" rather than acknowledging they're the best team. 17th in Buffalo Ryder vs Maddox curtain jerks, Rowan & Harper beat the Dragons between shows, then last thing Reigns & Ambrose beat Rollins & Wyatt. 18th at Full Sail we're finally taping NXT again - the wrestler I know best as Uhaa Nation beats Johnny Gargano dark, notable TV developments have Sasha retain the belt against Charlotte and Jordan finally finds Gable as his partner and they beat Elias & Cutler. 22nd in Indianapolis the Coliseum Video Tag Team Mega Match of the Month is Cena, Roman and Ambrose vs Rollins, Kane and Owens. Next night in Toledo its Fandango vs Maddox before shows and Swagger beating Barrett is pretty high profile for a mid taping dark match! Finally 30th in Hershey (only 4000) Breeze beats Chuck Lennox between shows. NON TITLE WHINING STOP THE FUCKING CLOCK : No champions are beaten in the match type in which they are champion(s) on any TV show or PPV/Network special in the month of June. DEPARTURE Unfortunately Tyson Kidd suffers a serious injury from a normal-looking Muscle Buster from Joe in San Antonio ; he never wrestles again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 28, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 28, 2023 (edited) JULY 2015 THE MAIN EVENTS In North America it's still Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose in a streetfight for the belt 4th/5th in Winnipeg (5500) and Rockford (just 2000), 10th in Philadelphia (with Cena on the undercard) before they swap crews and ends of the country - 11th/12th in Nashville and Knoxville, 17th/18th in Newark and Peoria and 25th/26th in Odessa and Amarillo ; 31st in San Diego just 3000 turn up for the first of the cage matches. 2nd at Singapore Indoor Stadium and 3rd at Sumo Hall (7700 is a bit crap) it's John Cena vs Kevin Owens for the US title, and 11th in Pittsburgh, 18th in Danville then 24th-25th in Bakersfield and LA - 10,000 gate at the Staples Center is better. 12th in Macon Cena's off so Randy Orton vs Sheamus transfers over from supporting Rollins - they support Cena in Cali then go on last in a streetfight 26th in Lawton OK - 2500 is decent for the market, apparently the Great Plains Coliseum only has a 3000 capacity. THE CARDS Randy Orton vs Sheamus is support for either Rollins or Cena at various points. Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt goes most of the month, Bray beats Mark Henry month end. It starts off with Ryback vs Big Show for the ICT then there's a couple of three ways again with The Miz. We start the month with Dolph Ziggler vs Kane in a streetfight then later Kane's actually losing to Cesaro - prior to that Cesaro has a few more matches with Kofi Kingston. There are several more of the Chris Jericho vs Luke Harper matches we've seen all year - oddly Harper also swaps wins with Jimmy Uso. Early month there's Henry vs R-Truth and The Miz vs Fandango (which repeats in California), Rusev vs Jack Swagger returns in Texas. King Barrett vs Cesaro occurs a few times early and late month, in Danville and Texas Barrett loses to Truth. Neville vs Bo Dallas goes most of the month but in the Far East he's also back with Kofi a couple of times and in Texas beating Stardust. The tag title is usually Prime Time Players vs New Day with a few defences against The Ascension too. Nikki Bella vs Tamina is the title match abroad then there are a few more of Bella vs Paige vs Naomi concurrent on the other crew to Natalya & Alicia Fox vs Summer Rae & Cameron (with Emma as the ref) or a few battle royals involving those five plus Layla - after the big NXT call ups we move to Nikki & Foxy vs Naomi & Sasha Banks, a couple of instances of Paige vs Tamina, an in Texas, Paige vs Layla - lovely bit of muffin vs Norfolk shortcake, I guess. Various other repeats are Fandango beating Adam Rose but losing to Swagger, the Lucha Dragons beating the Ascension in Tennessee, in Texas we add Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs The Ascension and Zack Ryder & Lucha Dragons vs Dallas & Los Matadores. There's also the "MegaPowers" of Damien Sandow & Curtis Axel vs Brad Maddox & Heath Slater or latterly Maddox & Rose. VARIATIONS Y2J does a job for Finn Balor in Ryogoku, in San Diego he beats - hehe - Owens. In Singapore Balor beats Barrett and Cesaro vs Big E sounds meaty, Owens beats Neville in Macon, in Lawton he loses to Cesaro by count-out. It's Sheamus vs Truth in Newark and Sheamus vs Uso and Cesaro vs Harper in Danville. In Philadelphia only Ryback defends against Henry. In Macon only, Ryder gets a cheque beating Dallas, in Peoria he loses to Rusev where there's also Fox & Cameron vs Emma & Layla. In San Diego we have the first instance of a six woman between the factions - Brie Bella, Nikki & Foxy beat Sasha, Naomi & Tamina, and Rusev beats Truth. In Singapore there's one reprisal of Dragons vs Matadores, next night at Sumo Hall its a contenders three way against New Day - won by Cara & Kallisto, confusingly - in Peoria its Dragons vs Matadores vs Ascension. Truth vs David Otunga is unique to Rockford. The MegaPowers beat Stardust & Slater in Peoria only and in Lawton only, Rose & Chad Gable. MAIN EVENTS - NXT 9th in Largo Blake & Murphy vs The Vaudevillains vs Enzo Amore & Big Cass for the tag belts goes on last, next night in Orlando Finn Balor vs Baron Corbin for the big belt main events, next night he's defending against Tye Dillinger in Jacksonville. 17th-18th in Cocoa and Venice we're back to Balor vs Tyler Breeze, 23rd in Fort Pierce its vs Solomon Crowe, 24th in Coral Gables its Balor vs Samoa Joe, 25th in West Palm Beach and 30th in Tampa it's Breeze again, 31st in Lakeland, Crowe. CARDS Blake & Murphy vs The Vaudevillains occurs repeatedly with different finishes including DQs and non title wins for English & Gotch ; month end there are also four-ways featuring Revival and American Alpha won by the Vaudevillains by DQ if the titles are at stake or clean if they aren't. Sasha Banks vs Carmella for the belt happens a couple of times early month. Tyler Breeze vs Tye Dillinger happens a few times when Tyler isn't on top but as usual Dillinger also works Bull Dempsey a few times. Baron Corbin vs Solomon Crowe (ouch) happens a couple of times. Bayley vs Emma vs Dana Brooke, Eva Marie & Lina Fanene (who will be Nia Jax) vs Cassie Lee & Jessie McKay (who will be the Iiconics) and Bayley vs Eva all repeat. Uhaa Nation vs Angelo Dawkins or Mike Rallis, or Rallis vs Dempsey plus Mojo Rawley vs Axel Tischer all happen twice too. VARIATIONS Largo has Alpha vs Revival, Gionna Daddio (Liv Morgan) & Lina vs The IIconics, Rallis vs Dawkins and Uhaa vs Elias Samson. In Orlando the Vaudevillains beat Blake & Murphy and Alpha non title, its Hype Bros vs Revival, Uhaa vs Tischer, Bull vs Marcus Louis and Dana vs Cassie. Jacksonville has two six mans of Cass, Enzo & Dempsey vs Breeze, Blake & Murphy and Rallis & Revival vs Hype Bros & Steve Cutler, Carmella & Gionna vs Lina & Cassie, and as if an antidote to so many tags, English vs Gable in singles. Cocoa gets Hype Bros vs Alpha, Cass & Enzo vs Revival, Corbin vs future buddy Rallis and Dana & Cassie vs Carmella & Lina. Venice it's Crowe vs Sawyer Fulton, Elias vs Cutler and Lina & Carmella vs Dana & Jasmin (Aliyah). In Fort Pierce Breeze pins Uhaa, it's Vaudevillains, Rallis & Cutler vs Blake, Murphy & Revival, Bayley & Jessie vs Lina & Dana, Dillinger vs Louis, Bull vs Preston Cunningham Jr (Josh Woods) and Elias vs Levis Valenzuela Jr (No Way Jose). Coral Gables features Dash Wilder vs Dawkins and Scott Dawson vs Dillinger in singles plus Breeze vs Bull. Palm Beach has Joe vs Dillinger, Uhaa vs Crowe and Revival vs Shoot Nation. Tampa gets Becky Lynch & Charlotte vs Dana & Emma plus Bayley & Gionna vs Lina & Jessie, Crowe vs Louis, Elias vs Bull and Uhaa vs Dillinger, finally in Lakeland there's Becky & Charlotte vs Lina & Jessie and Bayley & Gionna vs Dana & Emma plus Uhaa vs Cutler. TVs 4th at Sumo Hall is the Beast In The East show featuring Brock Lesnar (<9000 is an underperformance in that building) - Cesaro vs Diego (the one that's Primo) and Lucha Dragons vs Big E & Woods are bonus matches to what aired. 6th Raw in Chicago (10,800) there's no dark action but Cena's near-weekly TV defence of the US title is a 30 minute belter with Cesaro. Next night in Milwaukee Barrett pins Ryder before cameras roll, Axel & "Macho Mandow" beat Maddox & Rose after Main Event, and on SmackDown Ryback beats Rollins by count-out. 13th in Atlanta there's an actual Coliseum main event after Raw - Rollins beats Reigns by DQ. Next night in Birmingham its again Axel & Sandow vs Maddox & Rose, plus Natalya vs Layla. 16th at the NXT taping Lina beats Jasmin as a dark match and among the taped matches for TV Jesse Sorensen does a squash for Corbin, Joe beats Rhino and Bayley beats Lynch to earn her title shot for TakeOver Brooklyn. Battleground has Cena beat Owens in their rematch with the US title at stake and Rollins vs Lesnar go to a non-finish when The Undertaker returns and interferes. 21st in Lincoln Swagger pins Maddox and the PTP beat the Ascension, 27th in Oklahoma City we start the nonsense between Cena and Rollins where Cena defends the US title against Seth and beats him - plus of personal interest Sasha vs Paige gets 13 minutes and is pretty decent. Finally next night in Tulsa Cass & Enzo beat Maddox & Slater between shows. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Prime Time Players (tag team champions) by Matadores, Rollins (WWE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION) by Cena DEPARTURE This month we have the last matches for Layla before she announces her retirement having had surgery back in January. At least the lovely bit of muffin got to perform at home one last time in London on the April tour. Edited October 29, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sminion Posted October 28, 2023 Share Posted October 28, 2023 I hope this is the right place, does anyone have any recollections or footage of any of the WOS Wrestling Live Tour of early 2019, especially the last show in London? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 29, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 29, 2023 AUGUST 2015 We’re cool for the summer. THE MAIN EVENTS 1st/2nd in Hidalgo and Stockton it’s Seth Rollins vs Dean Ambrose in cage matches atop loaded cards, then streetfights to rather good gates 6th-8th in Brisbane (9000), Melbourne (15,000) and Sydney (11,000) then 15th in Detroit (5500 was doubtless disappointing) then 16th in ice hockey venue The Sanford Center in Bemidji MN (??) it’s a three way with Kevin Owens. 21st in Bridgeport right before SummerSlam The Man finally comes to work - John Cena & Cesaro beat Rollins & Owens. 28th-30th in Fort Myers, Orlando and Daytona Beach it’s back to the long-running Rollins vs Cena conflict, now for both the big belt and the US title - DQ finish. 1st/2nd in Ontario and Fresno it’s Chris Jericho vs Kevin Owens in a cage (foreshadowing!). 8th/9th in Victoria and Vancouver then 15th/16th in Sioux Falls and Fargo a Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt streetfight goes on last, and again 29th in San Juan (13,000) and 30th in Tallahassee. THE CARDS Chris Jericho vs Kevin Owens is both a main event in Cali and the opener in Detroit. Week one both Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt and Randy Orton vs Sheamus support Rollins vs Ambrose (the latter recurs in Bridgeport and month end) and there are two rounds of Cesaro vs King Barrett in California before Ortons back with Barrett in Australia, Cesaro battling Owens. Early month it’s Rusev vs R-Truth plus Luke Harper vs Jack Swagger. There’s Harper vs Truth in Oz. Mid month Sheamus is oddly beating Fandango, Cesaro beats Rusev - an upset, perhaps? - and Truth beats Barrett. From Bridgeport to month end, Dolph Ziggler pins Rusev, usually no DQ, and also month end Owens starts up with Dean Ambrose, Jericho is back with Harper and Cesaro slums it with Bo Dallas. Mid month the ICT is back on shows - it’s Ryback vs Big Show vs The Miz, then late month The Big Guy and Show one on one. Tag title sees Prime Time Players vs New Day all month either side of the switch - in British Columbia Big E & Kofi win show-opening battle royals to earn their shot. Finn Balor vs Adrian Neville for the NXT belt takes place in Oz, concurrent to Stardust vs Zack Ryder in Canada - what a different match that would have been in later years. Neville having beaten Dallas early month, he’s with Stardust mid to late month. We introduce some of the women’s faction battles with Naomi, Tamina & Sasha Banks vs The Bella Twins & Alicia Fox in Fresno and Bridgeport, plus “Team BAD” vs Paige, Charlotte & Becky Lynch in Canada and month end in Florida. It’s Jimmy Uso vs Miz in Vancouver and Fort Myers (Jey injured yet again) and mid month Jimmy pins Heath Slater. We also have Lucha Dragons vs Los Matadores vs The Ascension early month, in Oz Fandango vs Adam Rose, Swagger vs Rose mid month and in Fort Myers, mid month it’s also Lucha Dragons vs Ascension and Ryder/Damien Sandow/Curtis Axel vs Dallas/Matadores, month end Dragons vs Matadores and Truth vs Slater. Natalya & Emma vs Cameron & Dana Brooke fittingly - for a match I don’t care who wins - goes 1-1 for two shows then in Oz the Commonwealth connection actually knock off The Bella Twins - I’m stunned (no sarcasm) they put the Aussie over at home. Month end they’re wrestling each other for some reason. VARIATIONS In Ontario the Bellas beat Naomi & Sasha without Fox and Tamina. Same nights, in Hidalgo Fandango beats Slater and Axel & Sandow beat Rose & Brad Maddox, next night it’s a six man - same three victors. Jimmy Uso loses to Rusev in Victoria. In Detroit Paige & Charlotte beat Brie & Foxy, next night Charlotte & Becky. Testing live reactions to Bayley, she loses to Sasha in Sioux Falls and to Naomi in Fargo. Bridgeport is fucking stacked, one of the most loaded house shows (comparatively speaking) they’ve done for ages. As well as the Cena and Orton matches (plus Ziggler v Rusev and Bella vs BAD) there’s Jericho vs Barrett, Reigns & Ambrose vs Wyatt & Harper, PTP vs New Day vs Dragons and Ryback vs Stardust. In Florida we add NXT interest - in Fort Myers it’s Tyler Breeze vs Baron Corbin, in Orlando Jimmy beats Corbin and Swagger beats Breeze, in Daytona Swagger beats Corbin and Uso pins Breeze. MAIN EVENTS - NXT Few shows either side of TakeOver, 7th in Orlando Tyler Breeze vs Solomon Crowe (ew) goes on last, next night in Largo Mojo Rawley, Enzo Amore & Big Cass beat Breeze, Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson. 27th in Tampa it’s Finn Balor vs Tye Dillinger for the belt (though the tag belts go on last) and next night in Cocoa Balor defends against Crowe (ew), 29th in Fort Pierce The Vaudevillains & Jasmin vs Blake & Murphy and Alexa Bliss goes on last ; Jasmin is Aliyah if you'd forgotten. THE CARDS The Vaudevillains vs Chad Gable & Jason Jordan happens in Largo and in Cocoa for the belts. Apollo Crews vs Tucker Knight happens twice. Nia Jax & Dana Brooke go over Billie Kay & Peyton Royce (!) last two shows of the month. Errr…. VARIATIONS Highlights only - in Orlando Bayley & The Vaudevillains vs Blake & Murphy and Alexa Bliss will have been fun, Dash & Dawson beat Gable & Jordan (hoo!) and there’s a non finish in Carmella & Billie vs Eva Marie & Dana. In Largo Eva beats Carmella and Bayley tags with Gionna Daddio to beat Dana and Nia. Tampa is loaded - Samoa Joe beats Tyler Breeze, Bayley retains over Emma and the Vaudevillains close the show beating Blake & Murphy again. In Cocoa, the Iiconics as will be lose to Dana & Emma and Bayley beats Jax, and in Fort Pierce Bayley beats Mella. TVs 3rd in San Jose Raw draws a 10,000+ gate - notable happenings are Rusev crushing Mark Henry and the Paige/Charlotte/Becky group debuting the name "Submission Sorority" as Flair & Lynch beat the Bellas - a name they'll have to ditch when they realize what you find when you Google it. With safesearch off. Which years later is pretty ironic. By the week after they've been rechristened the horrifically unoriginal "Team PCB". 11th in Portland both Becky vs Sasha and Ryder vs "Joshua Kingsley" (Brad Maddox) occur before tapings. 13th at Full Sail Riddick Moss beats Elias Samson before the episodes are filmed, other highlights include Jesse Sorensen doing a job in the no-names half of an 8-man, Joe beats Steve Cutler, Gionna does a job to Sasha, Rhino & Corbin get DQd against the Ascension, Blue Pants loses a revenge match to Alexa, Martin Stone loses to Crews and (hoo!) Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa beat Bull Dempsey & Breeze in the Dusty Classic. 18th SmackDown taping in suburban Green Bay, Slater jobs for Wisconsin native Hornswoggle and Fandango pins Rose either side of Main Event. SummerSlam weekend is wildly successfully creatively and commercially - TakeOver Brooklyn is only marginally less attended than the "big one" (approx 15,500 to approx 15,700) and is a perfectly pitched show from start to finish including the only WWE appearance for Jushin Liger pinning Breeze in a well-received back and forth, the wildly popular Blue Pants assists the Vaudevillains in winning the tag belts from Blake & Murphy, Bayley finally wins the NXT Womens belt from The Boss in one of the best matches in recent memory, and Balor retains over Kev in a ladder match. SummerSlam I remember for an excellent open video and graphics (using a PG version of Cool For The Summer by Demi Lovato) and has a stacked card where bottom to top everything feels like it matters - there are titles or at least some bragging rights/stakes in every match, nothing seems to just be a match for the sake of having a match. Stephen Amell impresses, Rollins continues his morph into a Tanahashi cosplayer in nevertheless a very good match with Big Match John ruined by an inexplicable finish, and The Undertaker vs Brock Lesnar exorcises the demon (pun intended) of their Mania XXX mishaps with a dramatic match and a clever finish that leaves you wanting a conclusion to the rivalry. A triumph. Next night on Raw (a third consecutive 15,500+ gate) The Dudley Boys march out to a rapturous ovation to confront New Day - giving me false optimism that like the Outlaws before them, they'll have one last title run so they can give someone the rub by losing them.... not happening. Also Braun Strowman makes his debut with the Wyatts, looking slightly like Samwell Tarly on steroids. Next night at the Providence Civic Center Ryder pins "Kingsley" again dark and Joe & Balor beat the Lucha Dragons taped for NXT TV in the Dusty Classic. Finally 31st in Tampa, Charlotte wins one of those God-awful Beat The Clock challenges to earn a title shot at Nikki by crushing Brie in 100 seconds (LOL) and dark, old mates/enemies Cena & Orton beat Rollins & Sheamus. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Nikki (Womens champ) by Sasha, New Day (tag team champions) by The Dudleys. DEPARTURES Rosa Mendes' brief association with Adam Rose is her last televised work before getting pregnant and going on leave ; she'll be kept on in various roles until February 2017. Does Lilian Garcia count? She steps away the second time this month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 29, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 29, 2023 19 hours ago, Sminion said: I hope this is the right place, does anyone have any recollections or footage of any of the WOS Wrestling Live Tour of early 2019, especially the last show in London? This is as good a place as any, discussion of all non-televised matches welcome. I wouldn’t mind hearing any additional details about these shows on top of the bare results (available online at the usual places) - which show a regular title defence by recently-mentioned Justin Sysum against Rampage Brown, and the peculiarity of WOS changing their Women’s title four times across six shows in a little over two weeks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 30, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 30, 2023 (edited) SEPTEMBER 2015 Old habits… the “champ” is pinned or made to submit five times on TV this month. THE MAIN EVENTS 4th-6th in Hampton, Charlottesville and Fairfax its John Cena vs Kevin Owens in streetfights, then mid month the champ is back - 11th only in Edmonton its Seth Rollins vs Roman Reigns in a streetfight then 12th in Calgary and 13th in Jonesboro AR (umm, why didn't they book somewhere closer??) Rollins is back with Dean Ambrose though The Big Dog is on last. 18th in Montreal (just 5000) a combined roster show has the odd sight of Rollins losing to Ryback by DQ before intermission before Deano & Reigns go on last with Bray Wyatt & Luke Harper. Next night in Beaumont before Night of Champions, Rollins is losing to Cena by DQ. 25th in Toronto (<7500) and 26th/27th in Rochester and Syracuse we've again got Cena vs Rollins but this time only the US title is at stake, which Cena won back at the PPV - so of course, he's winning these by pin. 5th/6th in Wildwood and Salisbury its still Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt in a streetfight before they move to Seth's crew, then 12th/13th in Huntsville and Tupelo Randy Orton vs Sheamus goes on last. 19th in Waco its again Reigns vs Wyatt. 26th/27th in Cleveland (<5000) and Erie its Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs Bray & Braun Strowman. THE CARDS Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt continues as a main or as support to Seth.  Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper likewise is support early month (and Waco) and there's Sheamus vs Jack Swagger (also reprised in Waco) and Cesaro vs The Miz - week 2, Cesaro beats Harper, Chris Jericho vs Kevin Owens resumes in Alberta, and in Jonesboro and Beaumont Cesaro and Owens swap wins. Ryback vs Big Show for the ICT runs for two loops, Ryback vs Owens and Show vs Cesaro kick off in Beaumont until month end. Month end Y2J is back with Harper for three nights, Swagger's beating Miz plus Sheamus is back with Randy Orton in streetfights. It's Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev all month. We have New Day vs Lucha Dragons for the tag belts first week then New Day are back with the Prime Time Players (reprises in Toronto), week 3 and New York state its a three way with those damn Dudley Boys. It's Adrian Neville vs Stardust weeks 1, 3 and 4 and Fandango vs Adam Rose first week, Neville vs Rose mid month. For two loops it's Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs Sasha Banks & Tamina and Natalya vs Alicia Fox (including Beaumont) then in Montreal and Waco its Paige on one side and Naomi on the other for the six-woman grudge match between their respective factions. Month end Charlotte and Bex beat The Bella Twins and rudderless Nattie beats Naomi. They run Los Matadores vs The Ascension vs Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow early month, becoming Dudleys vs Matadores vs Dragons, won by Bubba & D-Von (obviously) and Konnor & Viktor losing to Axel & Sandow on the other crew. Month end the Matadores are losing to Axel & Sandow plus its Dragons vs Ascension in Beaumont and week four. It's R-Truth vs Bo Dallas for two loops, Jimmy Uso vs Joshua Kingsley first week, then week 2 Uso beats Heath Slater and when that's not enough for Heath, he's squashed by Mark Henry. VARIATIONS In Tupelo only Slater does three jobs - he loses to Swagger between Uso and Henry. Truth beats Miz yet again in Montreal. In Waco Rose loses to Axel, then to Truth, and Jimmy beats Dallas. Ambrose vs Wyatt in a streetfight is back on in Toronto only, it's also Braun Strowman beating Sandow and - explain this to me? - Axel tags with the Matadores' own mascot El Torito to beat Diego & Fernando - tiff? MAIN EVENTS - NXT 3rd in Orlando Bayley vs Emma for the belt goes on last, next night in Jacksonville old rivalry The Vaudevillains vs Blake & Murphy is the main. 12th in Gainesville its Finn Balor & Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin & Tyler Breeze, its Balor vs Breeze for the belt 17th and 19th in Houston and San Antonio either side of Balor vs Corbin in Austin (theatres and music halls, not big arenas). 24th in Lakeland Finn & Joe beat Dash & Dawson, 25th in Largo its Balor vs Tye Dillinger, next night in Fort Pierce Balor vs Joe vs Corbin. THE CARDS Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin repeats. The Vaudevillains vs Chad Gable & Jason Jordan for the belts recurs plus they retain twice over Blake & Murphy, the last champions. Bayley vs Emma is a regular title match, Emma also beats Carmella twice. Apollo Crews vs Tyler Breeze is quite even, Crews also beats Solomon Crowe several times and Tye Dillinger doesn't fare well against Crews OR Bull Dempsey. VARIATIONS - SELECTED Bigger name tags that all happen once are Revival vs American Alpha, Enzo Amore & Big Cass beating Alpha and Blake & Murphy AND winning a three way through the Texas run, Hype Bros losing to to Revival and to Alpha in the Dusty Classic, plus - fun - the Vaudevillains beat Corbin and future main moster mate Riddick Moss, in Jacksonville a fun 8-man has Cass, Enzo, Mojo and Zack beat Alpha and Revival. Bayley also defends against Dana Brooke, a three way with Dana and Emma, vs Nia Jax, Peyton Royce and Gionna Daddio. Nia & Dana vs Carmella & Peyton, Emma & Dana vs Carmella & Billie Kay, Carmella vs Brooke, Carmella vs Alexa Bliss, Emma & Dana vs the Iiconics all happen plus mixed action with Bull & Billie vs Nia & Hugo Knox, Billie, Bull AND Knox vs Nia, Crowe & Sawyer Fulton, and Bayley & Knox vs Brooke & Breeze. TVs 1st in Miami Ryder beats Heath between Main Event and SmackDown. 8th in Wilkes-Barre the Duds beat Slater & Brad Maddox (not “Joshua Kingsley”) dark then having lost non title to Ryback on Raw, Seth beats him in a lumberjack match. 10th at Full Sail, the Hype Bros beat Riddick Moss & Elias Samson to warm them up then in the tapings Sarah Dobson (Logan) does a job for Bayley and Corbin & Rhino and Balor & Joe win their Dusty Classic quarters. 14th in Memphis is a historically significant one - Sting goes to a brief non finish with Show then he and Cena beat Show & Rollins when The Stinger does his greatest hits on “The Architect” - two Stinger Splashes, the Scorpion Death Drop and a loose Scorpion Deathlock. Next night in Little Rock the Dudleys beat Slater & Maddox and Sandow beats Rose either side of tapings. Night of Champions has lots of news, not all of it good - Charlotte wins his first main roster women’s title from Nikki, Owens terminates the ICT reign of Ryback with a disappointing finish that virtually kills the revival of The Big Guy in one night, Cena regains the US belt that WWE champ Rollins needn’t have ever won, then Rollins pins Sting with another weak finish after “The Icon” suffers a legit injury, and worse still, spent force Kane emerges and drops the champ. Kane closing a PPV by this point was depressing as hell. Next night in Laredo Cena beats Rollins again in a US title rematch which thankfully is the end of Seth’s interest in the secondary title. At least on telly. Next night in Corpus Christi Dudleys beat Slater & Maddox again and Ryder beats Rose. Finally 29th in Albany Ambrose beats King Barrett between TVs… why the fuck was Dean not used for SmackDown?? NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month : Rollins (WWE CHAMPION) by Ryback, TWICE by Cena, AGAIN by Ambrose. DEPARTURE SO…. his three matches this month are the last for the company for Sting. His injury may initially need surgery which would be a career-ender. Come January he’s decided he feels fine and won’t have the surgery, but by Mania they’re putting him in the Hall Of Fame and he announces his retirement anyway. In the couple of years that follow Stinger tells them he’d love one more match, ideally with (here’s a shock) The Undertaker, even pitching the “cinematic” match idea, right up until Takers own retirement, and though he’s still under contract, they won’t use him again as a wrestler. Mid 2020 his contract eventually expires and he’s almost immediately picked up by AEW who (here’s another shock) use him a wrestler and almost inevitably, he can still go. What an odd case. Edited November 15, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted October 31, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted October 31, 2023 (edited) OCTOBER 2015 If ever you doubted “has Lesnar ever really been a draw”… you will know today. THE MAIN EVENTS It’s still John Cena vs Seth Rollins for Cena’s US title in streetfights 2nd in Trenton and 4th in Worcester either side of a cage match at MSG which while televised on the Network, we will still talk about ; “Live From MSG” with the added value of Brock Lesnar vs Big Show as part of Brocks “Go To Hell Tour” (a grand name for two matches and an interview) packs in a gigantic 19,224, pipping Punks gate from 2008 and touching distance to Stone Colds 19,506 from June 98. Knowing what we do about setup for TV production vs for a house show, it’s safe to say that for Brock at MSG they couldn’t have squeezed another human being in the building if they’d tried. 8th-10th we’re off chasing blood money again with three nights in Jeddah, first for another round of Cena vs Rollins for the US title, secondly Cena & Kane vs Rollins & Sheamus, then last night Cena tags with Chris Jericho and Cesaro to beat Big Show, The Miz & Luke Harper underneath Rollins vs Kane. 17th/18th Cena vs Rollins for the secondary belt continues in Lubbock and Abilene. It’s still Roman Reigns vs Bray Wyatt in a streetfight 3rd/4th in Bangor and Portland. 10th/11th in St Louis (just 4500) and Bloomington IL it’s Reigns and Randy Orton vs Wyatt and Braun Strowman. The Reigns vs Wyatt  streetfight is then given the burden of drawing the gates in Mexico 16th-18th in Merida, Mexico City (11,500) and Monterrey though I reckon Y2J might have helped. Finally 31st in Billings MT it’s Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs Bray & Braun in a streetfight. THE CARDS In the North East it’s Kevin Owens vs Chris Jericho, Dolph Ziggler vs Rusev is back on in Trenton to resume week 3 in Texas and there’s Cesaro vs Sheamus in Trenton and first night in Jeddah around Cesaro beating The Miz in both Maine and Mexico. Also starting the month in Maine there’s Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper (plus night 1 in Saudi) Braun Strowman vs Jack Swagger and Ryback vs King Barrett. There’s then Owens vs Ryback for the ICT (DQ) both second week and in Abilene, Mexico is loaded… what a fucking treat - The Undertaker & Kane vs Harper & Strowman plus Jericho vs Barrett and Sheamus vs Fandango. In Texas we add Ambrose vs Big Show. Adrian Neville vs Stardust is another sandwich month repeating in the North East and Texas. Mark Henry vs Bo Dallas also goes down early month. Tag team title starts as The New Day vs The Dudley Boys in the strongholds (concurrent to The Lucha Dragons vs Los Matadores vs The Ascension in Maine), moving to a three way with The Prime Time Players in the Mid West, then New Day vs Players vs Dragons vs Matadores in Mexico while in Texas Konnor & Viktor lose to Curtis Axel & Damien Sandow. Womens faction action has the PBC unit, Paige, Charlotte & Becky Lynch vs The Bella Twins & Alicia Fox ("Team Bella") early month while Natalya vs Sasha Banks runs in Maine, then Charlotte & Lynch vs Naomi & Tamina in week 2, then the six-woman of PCB vs Team BAD in Mexico while in Texas Natalya beats Nikki Bella - what a comedown for the last Womens champ. Otherwise, in Maine there's R-Truth vs Adam Rose and Fandango vs Heath Slater, in the Mid-West Truth vs Tyler Breeze and Slater loses to Jimmy Uso then to Neville, in Texas Truth vs Slater. Fandango vs Rose is also a time killer both 3rd night in Jeddah and in Merida (Sheamus isn’t there yet). VARIATIONS Unique to Trenton is Lynch & Charlotte vs The Bellas 2 on 2. Maybe I shouldn't count this from MSG as it was televised but fuck it - Randy Orton and Ziggler beat Sheamus & Rusev. A swap from MSG in Worcester has Zack Ryder vs Brad Maddox, plus it's Orton vs Sheamus and Owens vs Ziggler vs Rusev. In St Louis Henry beats Rusev (!) but next night the Bulgarian Brute is missing so Henry is the last stop for Slater after he loses to Uso and to Neville. Jeddah night 1 has Jericho vs Show, Swagger vs Miz, Kane vs Dallas, Dragons vs Matadores and Fandango/Axel/Sandow vs Rose/Ascension. Night 2 there's a return to Jericho vs Harper, there's Ambrose vs Miz, Cesaro vs Dallas, Swagger vs Rose, Show vs The Ascension in a handicap and Fandango/Dragons vs Axel/Sandow/Fernando - I assume Diego got injured, neither Matador works Night 3 where it's Ambrose vs Sheamus, Swagger vs Dallas and Dragons vs Axel/Sandow vs Ascension . In Lubbock Owens doesn’t make it so after Slater loses to Truth he gets flattened by Ryback. Billings starts numerous new runs - New Day vs Players, Sheamus vs Swagger, Ziggler vs Breeze, Truth vs Dallas, Charlotte & Lynch vs Banks & Tamina and Ryder/Axel/Sandow vs Fandango/Ascension. MAIN EVENTS - NXT They're all over the place! It's Finn Balor vs Tyler Breeze for the belt 2nd/3rd in Nashville and first of two nights in Louisville, next night the champ is back with Baron Corbin. 10th in Winter Haven Balor tags with the Vaudevillains to beat Tye Dillinger and Blake & Murphy, 15th in Cocoa it's Balor vs Dillinger, next night in Tampa Finn has a night off so Tye loses to Samoa Joe, next night in Orlando the six man breaks down then an mixed 8-person has all the champs of Balor, Gotch, English & Bayley go over Dillinger, Blake, Murphy and Alexa Bliss. 24th/25th there are two nights in Sacramento where Finn defends against Breeze then Corbin with Joe against the opposite heel, 29th in Citrus Springs its Balor vs Joe, then 30th in Gainesville - random - Finn teams with Enzo Amore against Dash & Dawson. I have no recollection of Dillinger as a main event heel, do you? THE CARDS Samoa Joe vs Baron Corbin is still happening, and Joe works Tyler Breeze more than once too. The Vaudevillains vs Dash & Dawson occurs a fair few times either side of the title change and Revival also work repeats with Chad Gable & Jason Jordan and Enzo Amore & Big Cass - losing before they have the belts but winning after they pick them up. For symmetry, American Alpha also work the Vaudevillains and Cass & Enzo more than once and shockingly, they lose all of those matches. Bayley vs Emma for the belt and Bayley vs Alexa Bliss both happen more than once. Emma also teams with Eva Marie to lose to two future champs - Gionna Daddio & Asuka (yes). Apollo Crews vs Tye Dillinger happens often, as does Crews beating Elias Samson, and he even beats Corbin a couple of times too. Bull Dempsey also gets wins over both Dillinger and Elias. There's a couple of Riddick Moss vs Levis Valenzuela Jr (No Way Jose) and Moss loses a few to the wrestling goalkeeper, Hugo Knox. VARIATIONS - HIGHLIGHTS In Tampa only the Vaudevillains retain in a four way with Blake & Murphy, Alpha and The Hype Bros, the previous night in Cocoa having the only instance of Alpha vs Blake & Murphy in a regular tag. Bayley finds time to win a three-way with Bliss and Emma in Nashville, beat Cameron in Cocoa, Eva Marie in Tampa and tag with Gionna and Adrienne Reece (Athena/Ember Moon) to beat Emma, Billie Kay & Aliyah in Citrus Springs. Other Womens matches of note have Eva beating Carmella in Nashville and Alexa second night in Louisville, Bliss & Peyton Royce (what a vivacious team that is...) beating Gionna and Athena plus Asuka vs Emma in Winter Haven, Asuka/Mella/Athena vs Emma/Royce/Cameron in Tampa, Mella losing to Emma but beating Bliss on consecutive nights in Sacramento, Asuka beating Peyton in Citrus Springs then Gionna beating Peyton and Billie losing to Nia Jax in Gainesville. TVs So.... we've touched on "Live at MSG" but my own personal highlight of Lesnar/Show is when Brock's shoving Show back into the ring you hear him say "He wants an F5" (referring to Vince) and Show clearly reply "Aww, what an old dick" and Lesnar just go "I know." LULZ. Ryder vs Dallas and Henry vs “Joshua Kingsley” go down as dark matches. 8th at Full Sail Hugo beats Alexander Wolfe dark then on the tapings "Evie" (Dakota Kai) and Kay Lee Ray both lose squashes to new monster threat Nia, Billie Kay loses to Asuka, Peyton to Bliss, Shazza McKenzie to Emma, they tape the Corbin vs Rhino grudge match, Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa lose to Gable & Jordan, a forgotten trial has James Storm go over Danny Burch with the 8 Second Ride and a dark main has Balor go over Dillinger. Phew! 12th Raw at the Rosemont a 10,000 gate is encouraging but Rollins jobbing to Kane in a lumberjack match isn't. Next night in Cincinnati Breeze beats Sandow before the tapings start. 22nd at Full Sail Adrienne/Athena beats Peyton in a match not used for TV, Nia squashes both Mella and Deonna Purrazzo, Emma beats MaryKate (who will be Rosie Lottalove elsewhere), Dash & Dawson relieve the Vaudevillains of the tag belts and Bayley retains over Alexa in a match I recall as being entertaining and heated. Hell In A Cell provides the usual great gate at the Staples Center (17,500+) and a load of developments - the Lesnar/Taker Cell match is decent but doesn't grab me since the winner for the "rubber match" is never in doubt and feels like a bit of a time-killer for Lesnar, aplified by the fact Seth's fucking about with Kane. The Duds lose their title shot at New Day which confused me, Ziggler/Neville/Cesaro vs Sheamus/Barrett/Rusev is far too much name value talent to throw away on a pre show match, and Reigns vs Wyatt is a good Cell match but ALSO feels like a pointless time-killer for Reigns before HE eventually gets pointed back towards the belt.... seriously, NO reason for Rollins to piss about with Kane. There ARE viable challengers. Speaking of... Cena comes a cropper in his open challenge when Alberto Del Rio returns and beats him for the US title, essentially picking up where he left off. Not a whole lot of dark matches this month on the TVs. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : Rollins (WWE CHAMPION) by Kane, New Day (tag team champions) by Reigns & Ambrose, Del Rio (US champ) AND Owens, obviously (IC champ) in a four-way with Ziggler and (winner) Reigns. I sense a pattern emerging. DEPARTURES None.  Edited November 15, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted November 2, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 2, 2023 (edited) NOVEMBER 2015 So, the champ is injured, what do we do now??? Best off giving Reigns an even worse case of Lugering than we did at Mania. He’s the next big thing, we simply MUST let the fans see what a loser he is. MAIN EVENTS 4th in Dublin (how fitting) Seth Rollins vs Kane in the no holds barred match goes down for the final time when Seth lands badly on a sunset flip powerbomb spot and totally knackers his knee, putting him out for an estimated 6-9 months and destroying plans for losing the belt to Reigns at Survivors and an eventual face turn to wrestle Hunter at Mania leaving Reigns likely to face Lesnar again. 5th in Cardiff they do Kane vs Big Show on top (awww fuck) before help is drafted in and Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose for the ICT takes over as main 6th-8th in London (<8500), Leeds and Birmingham (a good 10,500 at the NEC) and again 10th-14th in Belfast, Rome, Bologna, Leipzig and Stuttgart. 1st in Casper WY we have thee second and final of Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt & Braun Strowman before the tour.. it’s back to Reigns vs Bray 5th-8th in Glasgow, Badalona (12,000+ in Pavello Olimpic), Madrid and Liverpool, then 11th-14th in Brighton, Newcastle, Nottingham and Minehead (Butlins). Finally 28th/29th in Kansas City (9000 - decent) and Huntington it’s the new title run - ugh. Sheamus vs Roman Reigns with a poor DQ finish. I have a lot of time for Sheamus but here his title reign really stands out as a “huh??” moment around those of Lesnar, Rollins and Reigns. THE CARDS Constants on the tour are Kane vs Big Show in a streetfight, Dolph Ziggler vs Tyler Breeze, Ryback & The Usos vs Luke Harper, Erick Rowan & Braun Strowman, Adrian Neville vs Stardust, Lucha Dragons vs Los Matadores vs The Ascension and Bo Dallas vs Curtis Axel, then R-Truth in the old “heel loses then does an open challenge” cobblers. Before TVs it’s Finn Balor vs Sheamus, Cesaro vs The Miz, Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger, Fandango vs King Barrett, The Dudley Boys vs The New Day in non title handicap tables matches, Becky Lynch & Charlotte vs Brie Bella & Alicia Fox (ref’d by Paige which hardly seems fair) except in Cardiff and London Becky gets a singles match beating Brie, and it’s Charlotte vs Paige for the belt, plus Natalya & Bayley vs Sasha Banks & Naomi and Damien Sandow vs Heath Slater. After TVs there’s some shuffling. Only in Brighton, Belfast and Rome Cesaro and Sheamus swap wins and Miz is back putting over “king of the road” Zack Ryder plus there’s a tag title 3way with the Day, the Duds and the Prime Time Players, before for Bologna and Germany it’s back to a tables match, Cesaro’s back with Miz, Ryder beats Young and Sheamus and Titus head home. Otherwise, Del Rio vs Swagger vs Barrett, with “PCB” already on the rocks it’s moved to Charlotte vs Paige vs Fox for the belt and Becky & Bayley vs Sasha & Naomi, and Fandango & Sandow vs Slater and Adam Rose. Month end we move to Owens vs Ambrose vs Ziggler, Kane & the Usos vs Bray, Harper & Strowman, Ryback vs Rowan, Del Rio vs Neville, Balor vs Baron Corbin for the NXT belt, Becky & Charlotte vs Banks & Naomi and Ryder vs Dallas. VARIATIONS Casper is unique and many matches repeat from Billings last month - Dallas loses to Swagger after Truth, New Day vs Players, Sheamus vs Fandango, Charlotte & Lynch vs Banks & Tamina and Ryder/Axel/Sandow vs Fandango/Ascension. It’s Dublin Show beats Miz & Axel in a handicap as planned,  Cesaro doesn’t wrestle, Big E & Kofi retain the belts over the Dudleys. In Cardiff only it’s Miz doing double duty, losing to Truth after he does to Cesaro. In Glasgow before they accept the other crew needs some stars moved, it’s Owens vs Ryback for the ICT and its Ambrose that tags with Jimmy & Jey to beat the Wyatt Family, plus Swagger beating Barrett and Del Rio vs Fandango. MAIN EVENTS - NXT It’s the Revival on top! 5th in Lakeland and 12th in Winter Haven it’s Dash & Dawson vs The Vaudevillains with a heel DQ finish either side of the same shenanigans with Chad Gable & Jason Jordan 6th in Jacksonville and 14th in Sebring ; in between 13th in Orlando the two babyface teams tag with Apollo Crews in a huge 10 man elimination match against the champs, Baron Corbin and Blake & Murphy. 20th in Venice Corbin tags with recent rival Samoa Joe against Crews and the champ Finn Balor, 21st in Fort Pierce Balor is back defending against Tye Dillinger. THE CARDS Dash & Dawson vs Chad Gable & Jason Jordan is regular, supporting Balor in Fort Pierce as well as a main on its own, plus twice its Alpha vs Marcus Louis & Sawyer Fulton. There’s two instances each of both Nia Jax vs Aliyah and Billie Kay vs Gionna Daddio but again we’re light on consistency as they’re throwing a lot of shit at the wall to see what sticks. VARIATIONS - SELECTED Samoa Joe vs Angelo Dawkins in Winter Haven is the only other match for Joe, Bayley defending against Nia in Venice and Billie in Fort Pierce are her only road outings. Various opponents for Tye Dillinger in singles and tags but losing to Enzo Amore in Orlando, I didn’t expect. Rich Swann is on board, losing to Riddick Moss in Venice and wrestling a six man in Fort Pierce - the latter also has another round of Apollo Crews vs Baron Corbin. Women’s tag merry go round has Gionna & Adrienne Reece beat Aliyah & Emma in Jacksonville, Gionna & Asuka vs Emma & Cameron in Winter Haven, Gionna & Aliyah losing to Nia & Eva Marie in Orlando, a six woman in Sebring where Adrienne, Nia & Peyton Royce beat Emma, Cameron & Eva (ummm), Asuka & Carmella beat Eva & Aliyah in Venice and in Fort Pierce Emma & Aliyah lose to Asuka and “Liv Morgan” - using that name at last. Also Billie actually beats Nia in Jacksonville, there’s a fun six person in Winter Haven where Adrienne and Alpha beat Blake & Murphy and Alexa Bliss, Adrienne has to suffer a loss to Cameron in Orlando, and in Fort Pierce future Author of Pain Sunny Dhinsa loses a tag with Alexander Wolfe against The Vaudevillains. TVs A word on attendances - again, Raw in the UK (9th in Manchester) is well attended (11,500) but the next night in the same building only 6000 turn up for SmackDown. They do at least get Balor pinning Viktor dark but it's a fairly crap show with half the stars in Belfast and Reigns and Bray mysteriously not wrestling. 16th Raw in Greenville there’s a dark main where Reigns, Ambrose, Ziggler and Cesaro beat all four Wyatt Family…. by count out. Gotta keep those Wyatt’s strong for Taker, even dark!! 19th at Full Sail Levis Valenzuela Jr (No Way Jose) does a dark job to Wolfe, on the TVs Jesse Sorensen jobs to Crews and Blue Pants loses her final NXT match to Nia. Survivor Series features the total nonsense of Reigns finally winning the belt (as originally planned) by beating mate Deano to win the tournament then ending up flat on his back like a loser, getting cashed in on by stale-as-old-bread Sheamus. They've shit themselves that they have no heels because the Seth's hurt and the obvious foils for Reigns, Hunter and Lesnar, are both part time. It was a dreadful decision and I don't think I watched the product again until the Rumble because it was painful how badly they were treating their hopeful next big thing. 23rd Raw in Nashville I can’t not mention… Neville pins Mark Henry clean after the Red Arrow/British Airways. Mark shakes his hand in endorsement afterwards. Watching this now, it should have been a star-making win, but wasn't. Because WWE. 30th Raw in Pittsburgh Goldust is back on TV losing to Del Rio, Tommy Dreamer shows his mug to team with the Dudleys to go to a non finish with the Family minus Bray, then later dark Bray and Kane join the two sides for the Coliseum Video Tag Team Mega Match Of The Month. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten this month on TV : Del Rio (US Champion) by Ambrose, Owens (Intercontinental champ) by Reigns, New Day (tag team champions) by Lucha Dragons, Charlotte (Womens champion) by Brie Bella (Christ). DEPARTURES Being on the losing side of the Swann six man in Fort Pierce is the last booking for Solomon Crowe. As Sami Callihan he’ll be back on indies immediately. As recently as 2017 when I saw him wrestle live a few times, he was still rubbish. Brad Maddox is apparently released for calling a live crowd "cocky pricks" during a dark match. That's not very PG. Although by far not the least PG thing he's done concerning WWE or their intellectual property. Civil war! Here’s Balor vs Sheamus in Dublin ;  Edited November 15, 2023 by air_raid Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paid Members air_raid Posted November 6, 2023 Author Paid Members Share Posted November 6, 2023 DECEMBER 2015 MAIN EVENTS Still Sheamus vs Roman Reigns with a DQ finish 4th-6th in Johnson City, Augusta and Charlotte and again 12th in Lewiston ME where the best of both crews are on hand in front of <2500 fans. By 19th/20th in Inglewood CA and Winnipeg, Roman has won and is defending the belt and seems to OK at the gate Boxing Day in Detroit (9500), 27th in Rosemont (11,700!) and 30th in Baltimore. It’s Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose ALSO with an 80s DQ finish 5th/6th in Fayetteville and Florence. After Christmas - let’s pop a few gates - it’s Alberto Del Rio vs John Cena for the US title with MORE DQ finishes 26th/27th at MSG and in Hartford (10,000 there is fantastic for a sometimes fussy market) and 29th/30th at the Providence Civic (7000) and Toronto (9000 is excellent at the Ricoh/now Coca-Cola Coliseum which Wiki thinks should only hold 7600 for boxing or wrestling today - they didn’t book the Air Canada which is the bigger one). 28th in Allentown many top stars are at the Raw taping - Kane vs Bray Wyatt goes on last. THE CARDS Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens continues all month either side of their title switch. Week one it’s Kane vs Bray Wyatt concurrently with tag title match New Day vs Dudley Boys vs Lucha Dragons then into week 3 there’s an 8-man with Kane, the Duds and random Tommy Dreamer vs Bray, Braun Strowman, Luke Harper and Erick Rowan. After Christmas Kane vs Wyatt resumes and the rest is split off into a six man, sometimes a table match. Meanwhile New Day vs Dragons vs The Usos for the tag belts starts in Lewiston and continues until New Year. Dolph Ziggler vs Tyler Breeze is a sandwich month taking place early and late. Ryback vs Rusev goes on in Florence and Winnipeg then month end - good win for The Big Guy there. It’s Big Show vs The Ascension in a handicap early month then Show vs Mark Henry is back on… I forgive you if you don’t know who’s face or heel there at this point. There’s Alberto Del Rio vs Jack Swagger for the US title in Lewiston and Winnipeg, early month having The Miz vs Fandango after which Miz does an open challenge and then is beaten by Swagger. After Christmas Miz loses to Adrian Neville. Women’s title is Charlotte vs Paige early month (and Allentown) alongside Becky Lynch & Bayley vs Sasha Banks & Naomi (future tag champs) then 19th/20th with PCB over its randomly Charlotte, Lynch and Brie Bella beating Banks, Naomi and Tamina in an eliminator. After Christmas it’s usually Charlotte vs Paige vs Lynch plus Brie & Alicia Fox vs Sasha & Naomi. Otherwise early month has a revival of Goldust vs Stardust plus Hype Bros vs Bo Dallas & Adam Rose though Goldust works Bo in Charlotte, Lewiston and month end where Dallas also works Swagger instead of or as well as Dust. It’s also Harper vs R-Truth week one then after Christmas two or three rounds each of Titus O’Neil vs Stardust, Truth vs Rose, and a ten man of Ryder, Darren Young, Fandango, Damien Sandow & Curtis Axel vs Heath Slater, Los Matadores & The Ascension. VARIATIONS A fantastic exception goes down in modest Inglewood - Brock Lesnar gets his eye back in on an actual house show beating Del Rio by DQ. The rest thus ; in Charlotte for some reason Stardust tags with Rose while Goldie goes over Dallas per above. In Fayetteville there’s Strowman vs Sandow, Axel & The Prime Time Players vs Slater & Matadores and Rusev vs Neville, then in Florence extra bodies means Neville beats Slater, Sandow & Axel fall to Braun & Rowan, and the Players beat Diego & Fernando. In Lewiston there’s Ryback & Dudleys vs Strowman/Harper/Rowan plus Charlotte & Lynch vs Banks & Naomi and Truth vs Breeze. Inglewood also has Ziggler vs Miz - both Dolph and Rusev are off in Winnipeg so Miz loses to Ryback. Allentown it’s Fandango vs Dallas and the “MegaPowers” vs Matadores 2 on 2. Unique to Providence is Hype Bros vs Ascension. There’s Charlotte vs Becky in Toronto plus Titus & the Bros beat “Cosmic Wasteland” of Cody/Viktor/Konnor and Goldie/Jimmy/Jey upset Strowman/Rowan/Harper. Finally it’s Brie & Alicia vs Tamina & Naomi in Baltimore plus a 12 man has all three New Day tag with Slater and the Matadores to lose to Truth, Fandango, the Powers and the Dragons. MAIN EVENTS - NXT 3rd in Orlando it’s Finn Balor, Apollo Crews & Tye Dillinger vs Baron Corbin, Riddick Moss & King Constantine… who?? And why is Tye teaming with Balor?? 4th in Largo it’s another round of Balor, Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs Dillinger and Dash & Dawson then next night in Citrus Springs Revival get themselves disqualified against The Vaudevillains. Then we’re off on the first, hotly anticipated and very well received tour of Britain - 10th/11th in Newcastle and Glasgow it’s Balor vs Sami Zayn for the belt, thereafter a three way vs Corbin consecutive nights in Sheffield, Blackpool and Nottingham then 15th in Cardiff Corbin out and Samoa Joe is in on the way to TakeOver London. THE CARDS Samoa Joe vs Apollo Crews supports Balor most nights on tour, if you spot an odd man out in Newcastle and Glasgow Adrian Neville vs Baron Corbin is the bonus match for the Geordies to cheer their local boy and, umm, Glasgow too. It’s usually Dash & Dawson vs Chad Gable & Jason Jordan for the belts and Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs Blake & Murphy underneath. Bayley vs Emma for the belt runs nearly every night, likewise Asuka vs Alexa Bliss, plus Nia Jax vs Carmella (squash) in Blackpool and Cardiff - Asuka & Carmella vs Emma & Alexa having ran twice in home base Florida plus Jax beating the mononymous Daria (Berenato LKA Sonya DeVille). Bull Dempsey vs Tye Dillinger rounds off the tour undercard. VARIATIONS - HIGHLIGHTS Not much consistency in the pre-tour cards. In Orlando Asuka tags with Adrienne Reece and Aliyah to beat Emma, Cameron & Billie Kay, Cass & Enzo tag with Levis Valenzuela Jr to beat Dash & Dawson and Elias Samson and Rich Swann beats Alexander Wolfe. In Largo Alpha beat the Vaudevillains, Crews beats Noah Kekoa (Kona Reeves) and Peyton Royce has to job to Cameron. In Citrus Springs Cameron continues the good form beating Billie and Aliyah. In Sheffield only Asuka beats Carmella and Alexa has a night off. Unique to Blackpool Cass & Enzo get the title shot and Alpha go to the pay window vs Blake & Murphy. In Nottingham Bayley & Asuka beat Emma & Nia in a tag and Mella gets to beat Bliss. In Cardiff with Joe in the title match instead of Corbin, somewhat logically, Corbin loses to Crews. TVs 7th Raw in North Charleston I have to mention a crazy 4 way Survivors style match where Ambrose and the Bloodline (heh) beat “League Of Nations” Sheamus, King Barrett, Del Rio & Rusev plus Dudleys/Dreamer/Rhino and the Wyatts. Next night in Jacksonville not only do Shield/Usos beat the League in a relatively calm 8 man for that night’s SmackDown taping but also team with Kane/Ryback/Dudleys to beat the Wyatts/League in a 16-man tag (WTF) for Tribute To The Troops. Plus the women’s factions as were are dead - Paige teams with Team BAD to beat Charlotte/Lynch/Brie/Fox. TLC I don’t remember to be fair but Ambrose wins the ICT from Owens and Sheamus beats Reigns in screwy fashion again. 14th Raw In Philadelphia 12,000 turn up to finally see Reigns average his last Lugering and win his second WWE title in as many months. Next night in Newark an actual dark match has Bubba & D-Von beat Rose & Slater between Main Event and SmackDown. TakeOver London at the O2 is another wild success both commercially (10,000+ gate) and critically - everything’s well received with special plaudits to the title matches. 22nd in Des Moines Ryder vs Slater opens before the TV shows are taped, and 28th Raw (13,000 at the Barclays) Cena shows his face to beat ADR by DQ and Nev upsets Kev in 21 seconds in another match that should have MADE our Geordie a star but didn’t. NON TITLE WHINING Beaten on TV this month : New Day (tag team champions) by Lucha Dragons THREE TIMES, and by the Usos in a 2 ON 3 HANDICAP. A PERSONAL REPORT So, I attended the Blackpool NXT show, in the unique atmosphere of the Empress Ballroom (all the other shows were in "small show" configuations of medium sized arenas). Without doubt, this was one of the best times I've had watching live wrestling. It helped that the day was a fun-packed exploration of Blackpool with three buddies (including @jazzygeofferz) - we greatly enjoyed stopping by Coral Island and posing for whimsical photographs in front of "Slots Of Fun" etc. I was in somewhat of a sour mood in the pub by tea time having just watched a Hugo Lloris blunder gift all the points to Newcastle on the telly, but my mate (now boss) cheered me up with an arm round the shoulders and "Come on. Let's go and see Alexa." The crowd were fantastic, virtually the whole roster were over like Rover, especially the American Alpha lads who seemed buoyed by the 2 Unlimited chanting of each of their names, and in the Womens title match the "Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy Bayley" singsong was deafening. DJ Otzi would have been proud. There was also a special reaction for William Regal, having grown up in and always been billed as from Blackpool (despite being born in my part of the country). Overall the show was an unmitigated success and though shattered on the way home I was positively fizzing for the next time NXT could make it over here. DEPARTURES Merry Christmas, you kept your job.   Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.