House Show/TV tapings random happenings

[Jazzy G]

That was a great day out. I think the album on my Facebook is called "Pastries & Cakes Takeover Blackpool" #YoullNeverBakeAlone

[HarmonicGenerator]

I was at the Newcastle NXT show and was it really nearly eight years ago? It was great seeing PAC wrestle at the Arena after watching him in various leisure centres and theatre venues. American Alpha were mega popular. And we got our cheap seats upgraded because it hadn’t sold especially well.

Kona Reeves… haven’t read that name in a long while. What happened to him?

[air_raid]

12 hours ago, jazzygeofferz said:

That was a great day out.

It was.

 

[Jazzy G]

Wasn't it around the time of the Emma shoplifting thing as well? I do recall Sami Zayn getting a big pop when he turned up unexpectedly in the main event. 

[air_raid]

20 minutes ago, jazzygeofferz said:

Wasn't it around the time of the Emma shoplifting thing as well? 

Err, well, it was within 18 months or so of it.

On 10/13/2023 at 6:54 AM, air_raid said:

JULY 2014

DEPARTURE

Hilarious story you may have forgotten - Emma is briefly fired when she’s arrested for shoplifting, which they retract when they realise it’s an overreaction. She does one day of community service for the accidental infraction which she and her lawyers put down to a faulty self serve till, which I find very plausible. No contracted WWE wrestler, Australian or otherwise, is going to steal a $20 iPhone case.

 

[tiger_rick]

16 hours ago, air_raid said:

DECEMBER 2015

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.

We went to the Sheffield Arena show. Have a feeling we really enjoyed it but, my only actual recollections are of the American Alpha song being great and Big Cass missing a big boot, that was still sold, by a distance of about one Yokozuna's arse (1996 Yoko).

[air_raid]

JANUARY 2016

THE MAIN EVENTS
Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens for the ICT is out main 3rd in Corpus Christi, 8th-9th in Houston (just 7000) and Bossier City there's a rare treat before intermission - Brock Lesnar vs Sheamus, before on last Ambrose vs Owens which continues as a main event 10th in Monroe, 16th/17th in Charleston WV and Canton before their match is moved to support Reigns' crew ; 30th/31st in Chatanooga and Tupelo it's new main event Kane vs Bray Wyatt.

3rd in Hidalgo and 9th-10th in Montgomery and Mobile its Roman Reigns vs Sheamus for the belt - yes, Sheamus wrestles Lesnar and Reigns on the same day in different cities, ouch. 15th/16th it's two 11,500 houses in New Delhi for Reigns vs Big Show and then vs Rusev - that's his new feud 23rd in Estero and 30th-31st in Macon and Columbus. by which time the belt is no longer involved. Because it's on Triple H.

THE CARDS
Kane vs Bray Wyatt and Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens both happen supporting Reigns main events when the other doesn't headline the other crew. Chris Jericho vs Alberto Del Rio occurs four nights as Y2J continues his reduced schedule. Del Rio also defends the US title against Kalisto twice in the Mid West. Ryback vs Rusev still sounds hard hitting and is more big wins for The Big Guy at home and defeat one night in India. New Day vs The Usos for the tag belts goes through all three versions of New Day in Texas, Alabama and Estero. Month end, Ryback and the Usos run against all three of New Day. Ryback colliding with Big E, ouch. Jack Swagger vs Sheamus was probably very watchable mid month and Neville vs The Miz is a pretty big deal upset for the Geordie against a former and future WWE champ. Dolph Ziggler vs Tyler Breeze goes most of the month yet again. Tommy Dreamer & The Dudley Boys vs Braun Strowman, Luke Harper & Erick Rowan runs early and mid month, month end Big Show replaces Dreamer which was no doubt clubbering good fun - but when did Show turn face?? Womens title match early month is Charlotte vs Becky Lynch, in India it's rather conspicuously Charlotte vs Summer Rae, month end its Charlotte vs Becky vs Paige, which I'd really like to have seen. Other womens matches are Brie Bella vs Tamina (ref'd by Summer), while Charlotte's abroad Lynch beats Tamina, month end Tamina teams with Sasha Banks to beat Brie and Alicia Fox. Otherwise, Titus O'Neil pinning Stardust is a sandwich month, early month it's R-Truth vs Heath Slater, Kalisto tagging with little Torito to beat Los Matadores, Swagger vs Bo Dallas and Goldust & Fandango vs The Ascension. Mid month Cody jobs to Truth, and all four "Social Outcasts" - Slater, Dallas, Curtis Axel and Adam Rose, beat the Ascension and Matadores in an 8-man clusterfuck. Month end, Rose & Dallas beat the Ascension 2 on 2, Slater & Axel lose to Truth & Damien Sandow, Fandango decides to lose to both Darren Young AND Swagger, and the Hype Bros beat Diego & Fernando.

Randy Orton is still out with a shoulder injury.

VARIATIONS
Kane vs Big Show and Ryback pinning Wyatt are two pretty huge exceptions in India. First night in New Delhi Big E and Woods retain over the Prime Time Players and the Usos ; next night the Usos team with Ziggler to beat all three New Day and Breeze gets himself pinned by both the Players in back to back singles matches. There are a couple of variations on local talent wrestling Chad Gable & Jason Jordan - one night one Kishan Raftar pins Jordan then Jeet Rama pins Gable, next night Raftar beats Gable by DQ when their buddies jump in and the Indian lads win the impromptu tag. Otherwise - there's Truth vs Dallas, Strowman vs Fandango and Bayley vs Naomi in Corpus Christi, and ADR vs Swagger, Axel & Sandow vs Rose & Slater, and Kalisto vs Viktor in Hildalgo. In Montgomery Neville beats Dallas who hasn't had enough and then loses to Swagger, next night in Mobile Neville pins Rose. A similar situation befalls Slater in Monroe ; after his usual loss to Truth he asks for more (LOL) and gets fed to Ryback. Unique to Estero, Strowman pins Axel. Finally, Kalisto vs Miz for the US belt happens in Chatanooga but neither wrestle next night in Tupelo.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT
What a fucking mess this is. 8th in Tampa Finn Balor tags with Bull Dempsey to beat (random) Tino Sabbatelli & Tye Dillinger, 9th in Citrus Springs Balor tags with Enzo Amore & Big Cass to beat Sabatelli and The Revival. 14th in Milwaukee Finn retains over Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin, 15th in Ashwaubenon (still Wisconsin) then 16th in the afternoon in Chicago its Balor vs Sami Zayn, evening he's back with Crews and Corbin. 29th in Pittsburgh Balor beats Samoa Joe, 30th in Royal Oak (Michigan) Balor beats Joe, Corbin and Crews.

NXT actually does B shows(!!) - 14th-15th in Winter Haven and Cocoa its Hype Bros vs Vaudevillains on last, 16th Mojo and Ryder beat Alexander Wolfe & Sunny Dhinsa (Akam from AOP). 29th in Largo the Bros beat Blake & Murphy, 30th in Venice, Asuka vs Emma actually goes on last.

THE CARDS - FUCKING MESS
The Revival vs Enzo Amore & Big Cass for the tag belts is nearly every night. Apollo Crews vs Baron Corbin goes 50/50. Sami Zayn vs Tomasso Ciampa was likely very good. Bayley vs Alexa Bliss for the belt goes down in Ashwaubenon, Chicago afternoon and Pittsburgh, Bayls upsets Nia Jax in Milwaukee, Chicago evening and Royal Oak. Asuka vs Emma, Bliss losing to Carmella and Eva Marie pinning Peyton Royce all happen repeatedly - also Nia tags with Eva to beat Royce & Carmella. Elias Samson vs Bull Dempsey is common and Elias vs Tye Dillinger happens more than once, as does Levis Valenzuela Jr vs Riddick Moss and Manny Andrade (yes, THAT Andrade) vs Moss in Tampa and Venice. Hugo Knox vs Angela Dawkins happens in both Cocoa and Venice.

VARIATIONS - FUCKKKKKKK
It's clear they want a look at as many talents in as many combinations as possible, and that's ballache. This is all I can be arsed to mention - Tampa has a big six man where Crews teams with American Alpha against Dawkins and Revival. In Pittsburgh Alpha beat the Vaudevillains, next night in Royal Oak Jordan & Gable beat Revival by DQ, Enzo & Cass beat English & Gotch. Ciampa is with Dillinger in Ashwaubenon and Dempsey on the afternoon show in Chicago. More outings for Johnny Gargano - it Pittsburgh he's with Zayn, in Royal Oak he's with Elias - which naturally leaves Zayn and Elias' usual opponent Dillinger with each other. The excellent Andrade works Oscar Vasquez (Magno from NWA Mexico) in Cocoa, Christopher Girard (Oney Lorcan) in Fort Pierce and Dawkins in Largo. Bayley's only exception is beating Peyton in Citrus Springs. Asuka beats Billie Kay in Tampa, teams with Liv Morgan to beat Emma & Cameron in Fort Pierce, and beats Daria Berenato in Largo. Nia is back with Carmella in Pittsburgh. We have a very attractive trio of Alexa, Eva and Peyton vs Morgan, Aliyah and Adrienne Reese in Tampa, in Citrus Springs its Eva, Emma and Billie beating Morgan, Carmella and Reese, in Winter Haven Billie, Berenato and Cameron beat Morgan, Aliyah and Reese. Adrienne is then in singles against Cameron in Cocoa and Billie in Fort Pierce. In Largo Billie tags with Emma against Morgan & Aliyah, in Venice Liv and Aliyah tag with Sara Lee against - what a brilliant superficial/egotist stable this would have been? - future Iiconics Peyton & Billie, and Miss Mandy Rose. Future star Elias is with Rich Swann in Tampa, former main roster member Alex Riley is with Crews in Citrus Springs. In Venice, there's Josh Woods vs Gzim Selmani (Rezar from AOP) and Swann, Bull and Kenneth Crawford (Montez Ford) vs Girard, Sawyer Fulton & Steve Cutler.

TVs

4th in San Antonio Reigns wins his last defence for now against Sheamus on Raw despite Vince being the ref. 7th the NXT tapings have the bonus of main roster Big Show vs Heath Slater and Lynch beating Natalya, taping highlights are Santana Garrett losing to Asuka, Gargano losing to Joe and Ricky Starks (yes) does a tag job to Cass & Enzo. 11th in New Orleans Kalisto relieves Del Rio of the US title. 12th in Lafayette between tapings the Matadores beat Luke Hawx (Altar Boy Luke) & Matt Lancie and Bertie gets the belt back. 22nd NXT TVs Andrade beats Swann in the dark opener, former TNA regular Jesse Sorensen does a job for Elias, future AEW star Deonna Purrazzo loses to Asuka, and Santana loses to Emma. 24th the Rumble is very memorable - Kalisto takes the belt back, Sasha returns and gets a huge face pop for attacking Charlotte, AJ Styles debuts in the Rumble and Reigns loses the belt to Hunter in wonderful baddie fashion - albeit after spending a chunk of the match not in it. Hunter's arrival, though obvious, was brilliantly done, although I'd have had him enter at number 31. Next night on Raw Styles has his first match with Chris Jericho, 26th in Tampa, Breeze gets squashed by Mark Henry and for SmackDown AJ pins Curtis Axel. 27th NXT taping has Billie doing a job for Adrienne/Ember dark, Dawkins & Crawford/Ford tag to lose to the Hype Bros, Purrazzo loses to Emma, Sorensen to Ciampa, Gargano goes over Elias and Mary Dobson (who will be Sarah Logan) loses to Alexa.

NON TITLE WHINING
Beaten on TV this month : Charlotte (Womens champ) by Lynch, Alberto (US champ) by Kalisto (DESPITE THREE SWITCHES HAPPENING ON TV THIS MONTH ANYWAY) New Day (tag team champions) by The Usos.

DEPARTURES
I don't think so.

On 11/7/2023 at 9:12 AM, tiger_rick said:

Have a feeling we really enjoyed it but, my only actual recollections are of the American Alpha song being great and Big Cass missing a big boot, that was still sold, by a distance of about one Yokozuna's arse (1996 Yoko).

Jesus, that's a miss and a half. 660lb as announced or 804lb when he checked in with Marjory Dawes though??

Edited November 22, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

FEBRUARY 2016

No title on the road again. Lame.

THE MAIN EVENTS

It’s Roman Reigns vs Alberto Del Rio 6th/7th in San Jose (just 6000) and Abbotsford BC. That continues on a tour of Germany (where the WrestleMania Revenge tour won’t stop this year) 10th-13th in Bremen, Köln, Mannheim and Magdeburg. It’s Reigns vs Sheamus in a streetfight 20th in Youngstown then when Reigns gets a break Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens carries the A show 26th-28th in Denver, Louisville (7500) and Evansville.

It’s Dean Ambrose vs Bray Wyatt, now for the ICT, 5th/6th in Calgary (4000) and Penticton BC then 13th/14th Bray loses to Chris Jericho in Fresno (5000) and Bakersfield. With Deano in the A towns Wyatt’s again stuck losing to Kane 27th in Cape Girardeau and 28th in Jonesboro.

THE CARDS

Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens continues as sometimes a main and sometimes support on and off but Dean vs Rusev becomes our usual ICT match on tour. Dolph Ziggler vs Tyler Breeze runs thrice more then either side of Germany where Dolphs with Owens. AJ Styles vs The Miz for two solid weeks is a perfect way to ease The Phenomenal One into WWE style then late month AJ beats Breeze. It’s Ryback & The Usos vs The New Day (all 3) then overseas Ryback is out and Big Show is in. Sheamus vs Mark Henry gets added month end as does Kalisto vs Alberto Del Rio and a return to Ryback pinning Rusev, only after Rusev has crushed Fandango then issued an open challenge. There’s The Dudley Boys & Titus O’Neil vs Heath Slater, Adam Rose & Fandango early month with Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs The Ascension as a sandwich month then Bubba & D-Von beat Rose & Slater plus its Baron Corbin vs Dango vs Viktor in Cali. Adrian Neville & Kane vs Luke Harper & Erick Rowan is a bit random in Fresno/Bakersfield, month end Kane is back with Bray Wyatt in Denver as well as 27th/28th main events, and Neville's back beating King Barrett. As if all that isn't enough overlap to make your head spin.... month end Braun Strowman, Harper and Rowan beat Show, Cass and Enzo AFTER Cass & Enzo beat Konnon & Viktor.

There are two rounds of Paige & Natalya vs Naomi & Tamina and Charlotte vs Becky Lynch for the belt is a sandwich month, it’s Charlotte vs Paige abroad and Becky, Nattie & Sasha Banks vs Tamina, Naomi & Cameron in California. Month end we move to Naomi and Tamina losing to The Boss and Summer Rae. It's Lucha Dragons vs Los Matadores for the first two loops. Early month it’s R-Truth vs Stardust (resumes in Denver) and Goldust vs Darren Young, then in Germany two assignments each for Breeze and for Bo Dallas where each either loses once to Jack Swagger or twice in the open challenge format to Truth and to Goldie. Month end Stardust finds himself losing to Sin Cara and the ever-confusing form of Zack Ryder has him jobbing for Corbin, plus Dallas & Slater beat Young and Damien Sandow. Who’s fallen like a stone.

VARIATIONS 

In Calgary it’s Y2J/Kane/Show vs Harper/Rowan/Strowman, in Penticton neither Jericho or Strowman work. San Jose gets Brock Lesnar vs Rusev and Swagger vs Curtis Axel then in Abbotsford Rusev beats Axel then loses to Swagger. In Bremen only Ziggler beats Rusev (again). Unique to Youngstown is New Day vs Dudleys vs Usos for the belts, Ryback/Kane/Show vs Strowman/Harper/Rowan, Becky & Sasha vs Naomi & Tamina and Rusev vs Neville. In Denver there's Sasha vs Naomi, Ryback vs Harper to a DQ then Strowman/Harper/Rowan beating Ryback and The Usos, and Stardust loses to old rival Neville AND to Truth. Finally it's Truth vs Axel in Louiville and vs Rose in Evansville.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

16 NXT shows this month... is that a record? Really spreading the wings here. 4th in Memphis its again Finn Balor vs Baron Corbin for the belt, 5th in Nashville to a remarkable 1100 its another chapter of Balor vs Samoa Joe. 6th in Indianapolis Sami Zayn vs Joe vs Corbin goes atop two title matches on a short but loaded card. 11th in Jacksonville Zayn tags with Enzo Amore & Big Cass against The Revival & Riddick Moss, next night in Tampa Dash & Daws lose non title to American Alpha then 13th in Palatka they retain against The Hype Bros. They’re up North! - 18th in Upper Darby PA and 20th in Albany it’s Balor & Austin Aries vs Joe & Corbin, 19th in Asbury Park Aries is out and Zayns in. 25th in Orlando is one of those mixed tag mains NXT never shied away from - Balor & Bayley beat Joe & Nia Jax, next night in Largo its Revival vs Alpha for the belts, night after in Sebring the girls are on last - Bayley vs Asuka vs Alexa Bliss vs Emma.

B shows - 5th in Lakeland while the bigger names are elsewhere there’s still 8 matches from the lesser, newer and upcoming guys, topped by Hype Bros vs The Vaudevillains. 6th in Bartow the same main but 2/3 falls. 18th in Crystal River there may be some big names in the North East but at home base I don’t think anyone felt short changed by The Revival vs American Alpha vs Blake & Murphy - again non title, again won by Jordan & Gable, then next night in Gainesville (you lucky fuckers) THE tag title match of this era of NXT is on again, and it’s 2/3 falls.

THE CARDS

The Revival vs American Alpha for the tag belts is the big feud for the belts including a few 2/3 falls matches including that stacked show in Indianapolis. Sami Zayn vs Manny Andrade (oooooh) and Zayn vs Elias Samson both repeat, and two losses to Elias are among the matches for Patrick Clark - he ends up being Velveteen Dream. Bayley vs Alexa Bliss is Bayley's most common defence (also goes down in Indianapolis), Asuka vs Emma happens repeatedly early month, Nia Jax vs Billie Kay repeats as an early month squash, Bayley also defends against Nia, Asuka vs Bliss also recurs for another month and Asuka also beats Eva Marie more than once. Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs The Vaudevillains is back on, Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa vs Blake & Murphy was probably decent. Peyton Royce vs Liv Morgan is a sandwich month, inbetween Peyton loses to Carmella and there's also a couple where Emma beats Daria (Berenato). There's Apollo Crews vs Tino Sabbatelli early month and Apollo beats former main roster star Alex Riley a couple of times, he also wrestles Andrade more than once. Levis Valenzuela Jr vs Christopher Girard repeats.

VARIATIONS

Zayn losing to Joe in Memphis but beating Corbin in Nashville stand out, Sami beats A-Ry in Upper Darby. Austin Aries vs Elias is Aries' assignment in Asbury Park between those tags. There's Revival defending against future longer term enemies DIY and Alpha vs Blake & Murphy both in Memphis, in Orlando there's a fantastic "top contenders" four-way where Jordan & Gable beat the Vaudevillains, Blake & Murphy and Cass & Enzo, in Sebring Rich Swann & Tucker Knight are the most random tag title challengers of all time. Bayley vs Morgan for the belt is unique to Palatka and in Asbury Park Bayley beats Eva again. Tampa has a revival of Enzo, Cass and Mella vs Blake, Murphy & Bliss, and Alexa beats Billie in Memphis. The Hype Bros beat Blake & Murphy again in Jacksonville and The Tribe (AoP under their real names) in Tampa. Mandy Rose & Adrienne Reece beat Mandy's future bestie Daria & Aliyah in Lakeland, Adrienne loses to Liv in Jacksonville and Nia in Tampa. Emma & Dana Brooke reunite in Gainesville to beat Aliyah & Sara Lee, same night Daria loses to Nia, then next night in Orlando Aliyah & Liv beat (woot) Billie & Peyton.

TVs

2nd taping in Memphis the Hype Bros actually beat the Dudleys dark and for telly the still very new Styles pins Miz. Week after in Portland Cass & Enzo beat King Khash & Randy Hawkins (?) dark and then the Styles/Jericho rematch is broken up by Rose & Axel leading to a tag match (playah) won by “Y2AJ” and at the end of the show the rematch takes place properly, won by CJ. Much as I approved of Y2J as AJs first run from a match standpoint I was disappointed they put a televised loss on him so soon after debut. 15th Raw in Anaheim (nearly 12,000, a week after a 10,000 gate in Seattle) AJ beats Miz again and Owens regains the ICT from Ambrose in a five corners match. Fastlane is chiefly remembered as only the penultimate stop before this year, oddly, as they’ll still squeeze Roadblock in month after - AJ beats Jericho in the rubber match which annoyingly isn’t the actual decider in their feud, and Roman beats Lesnar and Ambrose to confirm his status as Mania challenger to Hunter - match serving also to set up Lesnar vs Ambrose, which is either plan C or D by now for Brock depending on what you believe, with the office preferring Hunter as a clear cut bad guy for Reigns to beat in his big night, and Brock having said no (not for the last time) in working Bray and the inevitable spooky bollocks build. 22nd Raw in Detroit (near 10,500) AJ & CJ beat Axel & Slater, night after in Indianapolis Goldust beats little brother dark and for SmackDown they team with big Mark to beat all 3 New Day. Finally Leap Day Raw in Nashville (nearly 10,000) Neville pins Viktor and Nattie beats Summer Rae both dark and Y2AJ beat Big E & Kofi non title. I will note - the execution of the Phenomenal DDT on Kofi in at least one of the New Day matches was one of the smoothest spots I’d seen this side of Eddie vs Rey from 1997, and the best the move has ever looked.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : New Day (tag team champions) by Reigns & Ambrose, again by Y2AJ, Charlotte (Womens Champion) by Brie Bella (AGAIN)

DEPARTURES 

None (jumped the gun on one)

 

 

Edited November 10, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

MARCH 2016

It’s March, there’s a main roster PPV on the Network, it isn’t WrestleMania. And it’s on a Saturday. Your world no longer makes sense, does it?

MAIN EVENTS

Romans still off so 4th in Minneapolis features both our early month mains then 5th/6th in Cedar Rapids and Moline it’s still Kevin Owens vs Dean Ambrose for the ICT with a DQ finish. 11th in Montreal (7000) just for the natives its Kev vs Ambrose vs Sami Zayn, 12th/13th in Atlantic City and Hershey its Kev vs AJ Styles for the ICT (2/3 falls in New Jersey). 18th-20th the Big Dog is back - it's Roman Reigns & Dean Ambrose vs Sheamus & King Barrett in Syracuse, Buffalo and Binghamton. 25th we're at MSG (a decent 13,500) its Reigns & Ambrose vs Triple H & Sheamus - ooo. 26th-27th in Richmond and Washington it’s back to Sheamus & Barrett.

5th/6th in Cedar Rapids, Saginaw and Kalamazoo it’s again Kane vs Bray Wyatt in a streetfight. 13th in Erie only they stretch the roster a touch, Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper is the main. 19th/20th in White Plains and Wilkes-Barre it becomes Kane & Big Show vs Wyatt & Braun Strowman... at this point I'm grateful those guys are only ruining one match instead of multiple. 26th in Trenton it’s Bray and Erick Rowan.

THE CARDS - NEW FORMAT

That first week looks like this - AJ Styles vs The Miz continues. Dolph Ziggler & Big Show vs Braun Strowman & Luke Harper sounds like a time-killer for everyone involved. Tag title is New Day vs The Dudley Boys vs The Usos. It's now Adrian Neville vs Sheamus plus Kalisto vs King Barrett for the UST. Womens title is still Charlotte vs Becky Lynch. We've got Rusev vs Sin Cara, Ryback vs either of The Ascension and a six-woman of Paige, Sasha Banks & Alicia Fox vs Naomi, Tamina & Cameron. There's also two undercard tags of Fandango & Damien Sandow vs Stardust & Tyler Breeze - they've been wildly inconsistent booking Fandango as face or heel. Finally, Darren Young & Jack Swagger vs Adam Rose & Curtis Axel - is this the biggest fall by a holder of the Big Gold Belt?

Week 2 we've got Kane & Show beating Strowman & Erick Rowan (streetfight in Hershey and goes on last), it's back to Kalisto vs Alberto Del Rio rematches, there's New Day vs Sheamus & Barrett for the titles, a new six man has Ziggler & the Usos vs Miz & the Dudleys, Charlotte vs Natalya for the belt, Sasha & Becky vs Naomi & Tamina, plus Ryback vs Breeze, Goldust vs Viktor and Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs The Revival shows up, non title. Rusev vs Cara continues.

Chris Jericho vs Swagger kicks off in Erie and continues week 3 into New York state, Styles is back with Breeze, UST is now Kalisto vs Ziggler vs Rusev, Mark Henry beats The Ascension in a handicap, there's Ryback vs Rowan, Harper goes over Zack Ryder, Fandango/Young/Sandow beat Stardust/Heath Slater/Rose, Epico's injured again so it's Sin Cara vs Diego (Primo), Becky vs Naomi ends in DQ leading to tags, it's still Charlotte vs Nattie and back to New Day vs Dudleys vs Usos. Goldie beats Bo Dallas in White Plains and Trenton.

Month end it’s Kane/Show vs Wyatt/Rowan all three nights, Owens repeats with AJ at MSG plus it’s AJ vs Breeze in Richmond, it’s Kalisto vs Rusev, Miz vs Swagger and Ryback vs Sin Cara - the first regular booking that actually reflects that Ryback has been a heel on TV for a month. It’s still Charlotte vs Natalya, New Day vs Dudleys vs Usos and Sasha/Becky vs what’s left of Team BAD.

VARIATIONS 

In Minneapolis only it’s Ryback vs Neville, Kalisto vs Sheamus and New Day vs Usos for the belts. R-Truth beats Slater in Saginaw and Dallas in Kalamazoo. Montreal has the big one - Brock Lesnar vs Bray & Harper in a handicap dry run for Roadblock, plus Swagger over Stardust. In Erie Stardust loses to Zayn then issues an open challenge whereupon he's crushed by Mark Henry. Syracuse has a combined roster so some unique matches - Kalisto vs Harper, Kane & The Usos vs Bray/Rowan/Braun, Stardust LOSES to Fandango, and New Day retain over the Dudleys in a straight tag. In Wilkes-Barre only, instead of Naomi & Tamina its Naomi & Fox that lose to Sasha & Becky (umm, isn't Alicia a face?) plus Goldie beats Axel in Wilkes-Barre and Rose in Washington. Owens vs Zayn one on one only happens in Richmond which also gets Hype Bros vs The Ascension. In Washington there’s Owens vs Styles vs Zayn. Unique to Trenton are Strowman going over Henry, Ryback vs Fandango, Alicia vs Summer Rae and Stardust losing to Sin Cara again. Ziggler vs Miz runs yet again at MSG, a packed card full of grudge matches, 4 title matches and everyone of value you could name bar Taker, Cena (injured), Orton (injured) and Rollins (injured).

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

3rd in Columbus (1400 at Lifestyle Communities Pavilion) it’s Finn Balor vs Samoa Joe for the belt, 4th in Cleveland (1400 inside Agora Theatre) it’s a four way vs Baron Corbin vs Apollo Crews. Next we have two giant days back in Columbus at the Convention Center as part of the Arnold Sports Festival - on 5th Balor retains over Corbin in the sixth match and Sami Zayn pins Joe on last of a 17 match card(!) and next day a mere 12 matches conclude with Balor & Zayn vs Joe & Corbin. 10th in Jacksonville it’s Balor & American Alpha vs Corbin & The Revival, next night in Palatka Finn gets a break so Bayley vs Asuka vs Billie Kay vs Peyton Royce goes on last, next night in Fort Pierce Balor & Crews beat Corbin & Tye Dillinger. It’s again Balor vs Joe 17th in Coral Gables, again Balor vs Corbin 18th in West Palm Beach, and Balor vs Joe vs Corbin 19th in Wauchula. Bit shuffled month end, its Crews, Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs Corbin & Revival 24th in Largo, it’s Balor and the Hype Bros vs Dillinger and The Vaudevillains night after in Venice, 26th in Orlando a night of three fairly odd title matches ends with Finn defending vs Riddick Moss.

B shows! 4th/5th in Citrus Springs and Bartow (big names in Ohio) Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs Blake & Murphy goes on last. They also run double shots at home 18th/19th - Cass & Enzo beat The Vaudevillains in Tampa and Cocoa.

THE CARDS

Sami Zayn vs Samoa Joe repeats as does Zayn vs Baron Corbin and Sami wins the lot. The Revival vs American Alpha happens multiple times as does Alpha beating The Vaudevillains early month which night one of Arnold Sports seems to be top contenders for later that night. Alpha also slum it with Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton in Largo and Palatka. Bayley vs Emma repeats throughout the month and Asuka vs Alexa Bliss in Ohio as does Bayley vs Asuka vs Billie Kay vs Peyton Royce in week 2 back in Florida plus it’s Bayley vs Nia Jax a few times scattered through the month. On the second round of B shows and in Tampa Asuka tags with Liv Morgan to beat - Fire And Desire! - Mandy Rose & Daria. Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs Blake & Murphy is still happening. Apollo Crews vs Riddick Moss is both nights of Arnold Sports (to repeat later in Venice), week 2 Tye Dillinger beats Moss twice, later on he’ll lose a couple to Manny Andrade. Hype Bros vs Wolfe & Fulton and Carmella vs Daria repeat on B shows, week after Mojo beats Alex Riley a couple of times. Patrick Clark & Kenneth Crawford twice beat The Tribe.

VARIATIONS - SELECTED

Zayn vs Dillinger only happens in Cleveland, I bet Zayn vs Andrade in Wauchula was smooth. Likewise Andrade vs Rich Swann in West Palm. Austin Aries beats Steve Cutler in Tampa and Blake in Cocoa. Revival defend against Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa in Cleveland then random as you like, reward for those wins over future AoP for future Dream and future Montez is a crack at the champs in Orlando. DIY beat the Vaudevillains in Columbus, Gargano beats Moss then loses to Dillinger night 1 of the Sports Festival then to Jason Jordan night 2. Other random singles matches have Chad Gable beat both Moss and Scott Dawson on night 2, Dash doesn’t wrestle. Bayley also finds time to beat Bliss in Cleveland, Aliyah in Largo and Mandy in Orlando AND team with Carmella to beat Billie Kay & Emma in West Palm - Mella’s form against the same opponents continues in Largo teaming with Liv. Alexa loses one singles match to each Iiconic on the two nights of Arnold Sports, Billie beats Mandy but loses to Nia night 1, Peyton squeezes in a loss to Eva Marie night 1 and teams with Asuka to beat Mandy & Emma night 2. Nia beats Morgan in Fort Pierce and Carmella in Wauchula, plus she teams with Eva to beat Billie & Peyton Royce in Columbus then Billie & Mandy in Cleveland. Liv beats Daria in Jacksonville, Asuka beats Billie in Venice. No two matches the same for Elias Samson this month, amongst his lot this month are losses to Andrade in Citrus Springs, Swann in Wauchula and A-Ri in Venice.

TVs

1st in Atlanta Neville beats Breeze before the shows. 7th Raw at the Rosemont (10,000) “Y2AJ” come up short in their tag title shot which is the catalyst for Jericho to turn on Styles - I hope nobody bought the t-shirt! Roadblock on Saturday 12th is far from filler - having said “no thanks” to Bray for Mania Lesnar conclude the feud started in the Rumble by smashing Wyatt & Harper, and there’s drama galore in both the NXT tag title match and Triple H vs Ambrose. 14th Raw in Pittsburgh (11,000) there’s another outing for Hunter as he beats constant Authority agitant Ziggler. Next night in Cincinnati Swagger pins Tyler dark and AJ loses his first televised match with Kev. 21st Raw in Philly (14,000+) there’s a proper Coliseum Exclusive main - Reigns, Ambrose, Ziggler and Zayn(!) beat the Wyatt Family in their entirety. Finally 28th at the Barclays double taping (nearly 14,500) Jericho does his semi regular pinfall loss on TV to a babyface needing a win - in this case, Ryder. Gates for TV tapings are up dramatically since the Rumble. Read into that what you will.

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Owens, obviously (Intercontinental champ) by Ambrose, Charlotte (Women’s champion) by Sasha

DEPARTURE 

Those two six woman tags for Cameron are her last two matches in the company (shrug) before her release in April, and indeed her last matches anyway for years until AEW as part of their crusade to capture any talent WWE aren’t using, have a look to see if she’s worth using. I mean, was she ever?

FEEDBACK PLEASE 

For those that read - is the better format where I go through what the roster does in a rough order of where they are on the totem pole, or a week by week rough outline of the cards? Also, variations - how much detail is necessary? With NXT it’s so slapdash I already restrict it to particularly interesting ones e.g people who made it, tryouts or the developing Women’s division because honestly how many individual Sawyer Fulton or Aliyah matches could anyone possibly care about… but main roster wise should I trim it back to only what’s particularly interesting or should I continue mentioning every time R-Truth only wrestles Bo Dallas once in any given month?

Love a shaky fan cam... but hey, full match, and it's a good match.

 

 

Edited January 15 by air_raid

[DavidB6937]

I enjoy reading whatever you do. But I wouldn't blame you for trimming it a bit in places where it gets a bit samey!

[air_raid]

APRIL 2016

Roman is installed back as champ which means the belt is going on the WrestleMania Revenge Tour... as am I! Plus NXT get their biggest house show attendances to date and one of them has a big moment in their history.

MAIN EVENTS

13th in Milan only (10,000+ gate) Bray Wyatt is our challenger but he does his ankle in so thereafter it's Roman Reigns vs Sheamus for the belt 14th-17th in Firenze, Amsterdam, the NEC (nearly 11,000) and Nottingham, then 19th-22nd in Manchester (nearly 12,500), Belfast, Dublin, Sheffield (nearly 10,000) and Glasgow (nearly 12,000).

We've got a couple of B show blood money cards - 14th at Dubai Duty Free Tennis Stadium (3300 capacity) it's The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler vs Dean Ambrose vs Sami Zayn for the ICT, next night it's the same without Zayn, and the same three way repeats 17th in Leeds as they squeeze one house show in before Raw. 20th/21st in Newcastle and Brussels, remarkably, it's Dean Ambrose vs Triple H (with Deano winning) then 22nd in Paris (11,000) and 23rd in Malaga its Dean & Sami beating Hunter & Kevin Owens.

THE CARDS

AJ Styles vs Chris Jericho will have gone down well. The Miz vs Dolph Ziggler and Kalisto vs Ryback are two regular title matches. Kane vs Rusev makes it onto a couple of early shows, before London Raw it's The Usos vs The Dudley Boys plus New Day vs Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan for the tag belts, Big Show vs Los Matadores recurs night 2 in Dubai and in Leeds, then after the O2 New Day vs Dudleys vs Usos is back on and Kane tags with Show against Strowman & Rowan. Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens occurs one night in Dubai and several in Europe. It's usually Cesaro vs Stardust throughout, except Cesaro does beat Rusev in Nottingham and Dublin. Charlotte vs Sasha Banks vs Becky Lynch (naturally) for the belt goes on throughout the tour.

Fandango vs Damien Sandow happens night 2 in Dubai (tag partners' tiff after night 1), in Leeds and again in Malaga, inbetween Alberto Del Rio beats Sandow then the old open challenge schtick has Bertie actually upset by Fandango... probably questioning why he came back at this point. Sin Cara vs Tyler Breeze runs throughout - before tapings Tyler's also losing to Jack Swagger, after London Swagger does jobs for Rusev (other than Dublin where Jack's back beating Breeze). After TVs we add Zack Ryder & Darren Young vs Bo Dallas & Heath Slater and Goldust vs Curtis Axel.... R-Truth vs Bo Dallas occurs both nights in Dubai and in Leeds, saving me from making the choice from last month's post as to whether it needs listing as a variation. Finally, all nights on their side of the tour there's a terrifyingly bad-sounding 8-woman of Paige, Natalya, Alicia Fox & Eva Marie vs Naomi, Tamina, Summer Rae & Lana.

VARIATIONS

Unique to Milan before Bray gets crocked, Kane beats Strowman by DQ, Swagger jobs to Rowan and New Day beat Sheamus & Rusev. Night 1 in Dubai there's one more of Styles vs Owens, Show pins Del Rio, Goldie beats Slater and "Sandango" beat Los Matadores. Night after Kalisto gives Del Rio a rematch and Styles goes over Ryback. In Leeds Styles & Zayn tag against Owens & ADR. Swaps in Nottingham have New Day retain over the Duds, the Usos beat Rowan & Strowman and Kane drop Stardust, in Dublin Cody loses to Sin Cara, and in Malaga instead of the double duty nonsense Del Rio is added to Kalisto vs Ryback.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

7th and 9th in Concord NC and 9th in North Charleston its Finn Balor & Shinsuke Nakamura vs Baron Corbin & Tye Dillinger, inbetween in Columbia Nakamura is out and Austin Aries is in. 14th-16th we’re back to the wild inconsistency up and down the card - in Citrus Springs Bayley & Mojo Rawley vs Nia Jax & Samoa Joe sticks out, next night in Orlando Nakamura pinning Joe sounds alright, then in Fort Pierce with both Joe and Shinsuke off Mojo tags with Alex Riley to face The Revival. 21st in Lowell (near 2500!) Joe BEATS Balor to win the NXT belt, next night in Kingston RI 3000 turn up to see Balor & Nakamura vs Joe & Elias Samson, then 23rd at 94 Raw favourite the Mid-Hudson Civic Center in Poughkeepsie Joe retains in a three way with Balor and old enemy Aries. 30th back in Florida, Balor, Dillinger & Manny Andrade beat Joe and The Revival.

There's a bit of a B show 1st in Dallas the afternoon of TakeOver for all the guys not wrestling on the big card - Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs The Vaudevillains main events, and the overall wrestling value for the those fans is through the roof! While a lot of the big names are in the Carolinas, 8th-9th in Gainesville and Largo the Bayley vs Nia Jax rematch is the biggest match - title no longer a factor but Bayley wins anyway. 22nd/23rd in Tampa and Jacksonville you wouldn’t call anything a main event but on last Tye Dillinger loses to Alex Riley 22nd and No Way Jose 23rd.

THE CARDS

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Elias Samson runs two month end shows where Nakamura isn't main event. American Alpha vs The Revival tag title rematches go all month including some best of 3 falls. Austin Aries vs Manny Andrade (JESUS) runs in both week 1 and Lowell. Asuka vs Peyton Royce is on and off, week 3 Alexa Bliss gets shots too. Peyton also loses to Liv Morgan in Dallas and Citrus Springs and Eva Marie vs Carmella runs early month. Month end Bayley & Mella beat Peyton & Dana Brooke twice when Asuka is with "Five Feet Of Fury." Early month there's also Alex Riley vs Wesley Blake and No Way Jose vs Riddick Moss - Jose will also beat Josh Woods in Fort Pierce and Tampa. In the last round of B shows, TMDK vs Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton (TMDK will eventually be rebranded as TM-61) and Angelo Dawkins vs Tino Sabbatelli both go 1-1, plus Christopher Girard vs Mojo Rawley in the North East, won by Girard.

VARIATIONS - HIGHLIGHTS

Dallas has Billie Kay beat Mandy Rose and Andrade and Jason Jordan work double duty beating Tucker Knight and losing to Moss respectively before TakeOver. It's Nakamura vs Andrade (fuck) Asuka vs Eva, Elias vs A-Ri and Carmella vs Peyton in Columbia. In Gainesville Joe beats Mojo which actually goes on last, and Sara Lee & Aliyah beat Fire & Desire (as will be) of Mandy & Daria - next night in Largo Joe drops Sabbatelli and Sara & Liv beat Daria & Aliyah. Nakamura vs Dillinger, Asuka vs Adrienne Reece and Andrade vs Elias stand out in Citrus Springs, Alpha defend against Wolfe & Fulton. In Orlando there’s Bayley vs Daria and Alpha vs Moss & Sabbatelli. In Fort Pierce Asuka actually defends against Aliyah plus Nia & Mandy beat Morgan & Reece. In Lowell Tomasso Ciampa actually loses to Girard as he does Aries in Kingston and Andrade in Poughkeepsie. In Kingston, logically, with Asuka back with Peyton, Bliss teams with Brooke to lose to Bayley/Carmella. Finally in Cocoa, Asuka & Adrienne beat Nia & Mandy and TMDK beat the renamed Authors Of Pain.

TVs

Friday 1st the month starts with TakeOver : Dallas and what a fucking start this is. Andrade beats Girard and Apollo Crews beats Elias in dark matches, and the card proper is so good that while all five matches would be worthy of mention normally I'll limit myself to saying that American Alpha and Asuka win gold, and Nakamura vs Zayn wildly exceeds expectations, and I'm speaking as a massive fan of both wrestlers. I've never seen a debut match where the obvious "strong opponent to put over debutant strongly" result is executed so well - a tremendously competitive match in front of a rabid crowd, where you forgive that we all knew Nakamura would win, because they successfully created doubt along the way. Potentially, Shinsuke will never again look as good under the WWE umbrella as he does here. And that's on Zayn. Saturday night in Dallas they tape three weeks of telly, with interesting jobs by Deonna Purrazzo (to Nia) and Tessa Blanchard (to Alexa) and they tape Shinsuke going over Elias and Dillinger. Probably not much needs saying about Mania except another show where certain guys probably felt aggrieved by their spot. Ryder getting his moment was cool (only because Neville was injured otherwise he wouldn't have even been in the match), but The Rock technically wrestling again (his last match) and making me look stupid "around these parts" for insisting he'd never wrestle again, Jericho senselessly winning the Styles feud, the League Of Nations pointlessly beating the tag champs in a six man then looking like losers for legends... there's a lot I wasn't pleased about. Diamond Dallas Page and Tatanka being in the battle royal you may not have noticed next to Shaquille O'Neal. Oh, and The Undertaker being left with a completely random match with Shane because Cena was injured and he didn't fancy another match with Bray (who Lesnar also turned down)... fucking hell. So proud Big Dave turned them down for this pile of shit. This was also the last Mania I stayed up to watch live. It was fucking exhausting. Next night on Raw Cesaro comes back and looks like he's going to be presented as a main eventer but the actually top contender spot is won by AJ, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows turn up, Corbin steps up to main roster, and Miz cuts Ryder off. 12th taping in San Diego Styles continues his match towards the belt by knocking off ADR. 18th at the O2 for Raw (13,700+ sellout is a dramatic improvement) yet again a phantom face turn for Paige is evident, as she teams with Sasha, Becky and Nattie to beat Charlotte, Naomi, Tamina and Summer Rae, and a proper dark main has future title rivals Styles & Ambrose beat future best buds Jericho & Owens. Next night bucks the trend as the same number of bodies show up for SmackDown! 25th Raw in Hartford Anderson & Gallows win their first TV match against the Usos (good scalp), finally next night in Manchester NH Titus O'Neil beats Breeze before the shows.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten this month on TV : The Miz, obviously (Intercontinental Champ) by AJ and AGAIN by Reigns, Kalisto (US champ) by Ryback

DEPARTURES

After being kicked out of the League Of Nations post Mania for being the “weak link,” Wade Barrett asks for and is granted an early release from his contract that’s up in June - he later claims he’d decided in August he wasn’t going to renew, suffering from creative burn out. Who can blame him, after having the brakes put on “Bad News Barrett” the way they did? Clowns. Haven't I mentioned Alex Riley before? His match putting Shinsuke over for TV is his last in the company and last wrestling match anywhere for many years. The pre-show multi-woman for Brie Bella is it for her, she's off to be a mum and won't be back til the 2018 Rumble.

A PERSONAL REPORT

I went to the show at the MEN. Honestly, while Reigns vs Sheamus was a boring time-killer on TV, I looked forward to the two of them hitting each other really hard for real. I was also psychotically looking to Charlotte vs Becky vs Sasha. Having been a huge fan of "The Boss" since the start of her pursuit of Charlotte for the NXT Womens belt, I went to the merch stand for her t-shirt and accidentally came away with rings and shades too - what a sight I was! It wasn't quite on the level of the Cena-topped shows I'd been to in Birmingham in previous years and nowhere near the quality of the NXT show back in December but it was enjoyable and I didn't write off going to see WWE live again.

OK, it's not fan cam. OK, you've seen it. But still. There are other versions up with entrances etc but they are far too typically-WWE-over produced compared to this version of the finish ;

ENJOY.

 

 

Edited November 24, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

MAY 2016

There's a departure this month that will make you go "Woah." Or maybe "WOOOOAAAAAHHHHH."

MAIN EVENTS

6th in Bismarck we're an Irishman light so its Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens (!) before more rounds of Reigns vs Sheamus 7th/8th in Rapid City and Sioux Falls. It's still Reigns vs Sheamus 13th at the delightfully named Minges Coliseum in Greenville then 14th/15th in Raleigh and Columbia - how random is this? - Reigns teams with cousins The Usos to beat Chris Jericho, Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows. Roman continues to shuffle, beating AJ by DQ 20th in Utica then Sheamus 21st in Albany, then its Reigns vs Styles throughout 27th-29th in Springfield, Peoria and Madison.

7th/8th in Las Cruces and Rio Rancho its Dean Ambrose vs Rusev then 14th/15th in Roanoke and Charlottesville both are thrown in with Kalisto in three-ways for the UST before another Ambrose vs Rusev 21st in Reading. 28th in boyhood hometown Winnipeg, Chris Jericho beats Deano in a streetfight then next night in LaCrosse Ambrose is on last with Alberto Del Rio.

THE CARDS

AJ Styles vs Kevin Owens in the Dakotas and Reading alternate with Owens losing to perennial friend or enemy Sami Zayn in the Carolinas, Albany and Illinois/Madison. The Miz vs Cesaro is our US title match early month and Greenville then it becomes a three-way with Sheamus, by week 4 Sheamus is putting over Apollo Crews. We have New Day vs Kane & Big Show vs Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan for the tag belts early month, Kane & Show vs Strowman & Rowan then goes down in Roanoke, Reading and LaCrosse while mid month and in Winnipeg New Day defend against The Vaudevillains. Week 1 UST is Kalisto vs Alberto Del Rio before it earns main event status in Virginia. The Usos vs Karl Anderson & Luke Gallows runs in Greenville and New York, month end an NXT presence has the Hype Bros lose to the Club and Enzo Amore & Big Cass beat The Dudley Boys. Additionally Dolph Ziggler vs Baron Corbin and Charlotte vs Natalya for the belt both run for two loops, Charlotte/Nattie repeats in Albany and month end but Ziggler beats Bo Dallas on both New York shows. Month end Corbin goes 1-1 with Cesaro.

Mark Henry & Darren Young vs Anderson & Gallows and Sami Zayn vs Stardust go for the first week, in week 2 Stardust is losing to Crews. Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks vs Emma & Lana is on in Las Cruces and Rancho Relaxo then in Virginia Paige plus Dana Brooke make up numbers in a six-woman. Otherwise week 1 has Cass vs Diego, Sin Cara vs Fernando, Goldust vs Viktor, Hype Bros vs Dallas & Curtis Axel and Titus O'Neil vs Fandango, then the week after Goldust vs Fandango, Sin Cara vs Viktor, Titus & Jack Swagger vs Axel & Dallas, Cass vs D-Von which continues in New York where it's also The Shining Stars (Matadores' new name) against Titus & Sin Cara. Goldust vs Tyler Breeze starts in Reading and continues week 4 - which also includes Titus vs Viktor.

Bray Wyatt is still injured, likewise Randy Orton.

VARIATIONS

In Charlottesville Kane vs Rowan is a one on one while over in Columbia after Stardust loses to Crews he issues an open challenge to "anyone from Columbia" so Show comes out (OK, Aiken is only an hour from Columbia) and flattens him. Unique to Utica is Charlotte vs Lynch for the belt, in Albany only Heath Slater issues an open challenge and is turned back by Zayn. Reading is filled out with Kalisto vs Del Rio vs Cesaro, Lynch vs Summer Rae, Swagger vs Viktor and Crews vs Axel. Winnipeg having Y2J, we find new US champ Rusev vs Kalisto vs Del Rio, no Kane means Show beats Rowan one on one, there's Epico vs Sin Cara and a six-woman has Paige/Sasha/Becky vs Summer/Lana/Dana. Next night in LaCrosse its a straight Rusev v Kalisto rematch, the Shining Stars are added to the New Day/Vaudevillains tag title match, and the six-woman is split into Sasha vs Summer and a tag.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

It’s wild how quickly they’ve become a fully fledged touring roster. It’s Samoa Joe vs Finn Balor for the belt 5th, 7th, 12th and 14th in Salina (Kansas), Tulsa, Seattle and Portland (OR) all before crowds of 1000-3000 around Balor & Shinsuke Nakamura vs Joe & Tye Dillinger 6th in Oklahoma City (1200) and Joe vs Austin Aries 13th in Spokane (1000). 20th in Venice Nakamura vs Elias Samson is a fairly random main, 26th in Lakeland Joe defends against Dillinger, next night in Cocoa it’s Balor & Nakamura vs The Revival.

Others carry the load back in Florida while the main eventers are in the mountain states ; it’s The Revival vs TMDK 6th in Citrus Springs, and Dash & Daws lose to The Vaudevillains 7th in Orlando. Manny Andrade vs Tye Dillinger goes 50/50 12th-13th in Bartow and Largo, 14th in Jacksonville they unite to beat constant tag title contenders Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton. 

It makes me wonder looking at the diminished cards in those Florida community centers and armouries, if the fans turning up month in month out realized at the time they’d been outgrown, having been the very foundation of NXT and the first platform for numerous future stars to perform in front of fans for the first time.

THE CARDS

It’s Shinsuke Nakamura vs Tyler Breeze or Elias Samson and Austin Aries vs Tye Dillinger or Mojo Rawley usually. Tag title has American Alpha vs Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton most often or giving rematches to The Revival. Women’s title is Asuka vs Alexa Bliss while it’s Bayley back and forth between Bliss and Nia Jax. We also have repeats of Manny Andrade vs Christopher Girard, No Way Jose vs Buddy Murphy and Adrienne Reece vs Peyton Royce although Adrienne also beats Mandy Rose in Bartow and Cocoa. Lower down it’s Tucker Knight vs Tino Sabbatelli and Patrick Clark vs Dan Matha.

VARIATIONS - HIGHLIGHTS 

Balor & Nakamura vs The Revival in Spokane is the biggest. There’s Alpha vs Knight & Sabbatelli in Spokane and their first defence against Authors Of Pain in Lakeland. There’s further defences for Asuka vs Bayley vs Bliss in Salina, vs Eva Marie in Oklahoma City and vs Nia in Seattle plus Asuka & Carmella beat Nia & Peyton in Venice and her & Daria lose to Nia & Lana in Cocoa. There’s Bayley vs Eva in Tulsa and Bayley vs Mandy in Venice plus Bayley & Liv Morgan vs Lana & Nikki Glencross (Storm/Cross/ASH) in Lakeland. It’s Aries vs Wesley Blake and Breeze vs Jose in Oklahoma City, Jose vs Elias and Mojo vs Murphy in Spokane, Elias vs Mojo in Citrus Springs, “Andrade Almas” vs Elias in Lakeland and Dillinger vs Murphy in Cocoa. TMDK knock off AoP in Largo but under their tweaked TM-61 handle lose to Wolfe & Fulton in Lakeland. Other notable women’s matches are Nia vs Reece in Citrus Springs, Nia & Mandy vs Daria & Aliyah in Orlando and Carmella vs Peyton in Bartow. Finally in Jacksonville it’s Reece vs Nikki and the very attractive team of Peyton & Mandy lose to Carmella & Aliyah in Citrus Springs and to Mella & Daria (how wrong) in Jacksonville.

TVs

1st of the month Payback is only notable for Kalisto vs Ryback on the pre show (see below) and a pretty good Reigns/Styles title match. No idea why New Day vs Dudleys is only a dark match 3rd in Kansas City. 10th in Des Moines the increasingly-invisible Ziggler beats Viktor in a dark match - Survivors 2014 might as well have been 1994 at this point. I mean, Sting was there after all. 16th in Greensboro Stardust loses to Ryder for Superstars which is the last match of the character. 17th in Greenville Nattie vs Eva is a dark match before the shows, 19th they're taping NXT TV at Full Sail. With only two shows to get in the can before the next TakeOver they give the live audience added value with Almas vs Sabbatelli and Alpha vs AoP before the taping and Reece vs Glencross and Balor/Nakamura vs Joe/Dillinger after it. Extreme Rules packs in a number of pointless title matches involving no hoper challengers (Nattie, Vaudevillains) and entertaining but samey rematches (Ambrose v Y2J, Reigns v Styles) plus Rusev regains the US title by beating Kalisto. 24th in Norfolk Apollo pins Viktor before the shows and there's a proper Coliseum Video Tag Team Match Of The Month after SmackDown - Reigns and the Usos beat a rather random Sheamus/Club trio. Finally, 30th in suburban Green Bay the Dudleys do a nice job on Raw to Cass & Enzo but to this day I don't know why Bubba & D-Von didn't get one last reign so they could put someone new on the map by losing the belts one final time during this run. 

NON TITLE WHINING 

Beaten on TV this month : Miz, obviously (Intercontinental champion) by Zayn, again by Cesaro, New Day (tag team champions) by The Dudleys, Charlotte (Women’s champion) by Paige, Kalisto (US champ) by Del Rio. So, that's only Roman they protected this month. Figures.

DEPARTURES

While serving his second Wellness suspension Adam Rose is investigated for domestic violence and tampering with a witness - charges he's eventually acquitted of - and requests his release, which is granted. Damien Sandow is released just days after appearing in the battle royal on Raw, which shocks people so much his name gets into the top 5 “trending” on Twitter in the US. Proof positive that for the longest time in WWE it doesn’t matter, really, if you get over - the company will let you go if they want to, whether it makes sense to us, the viewers or not. Ryback goes home, frustrated with all things creative, not least being his storyline-driven match with Kalisto being bumped to pre show at extremely short notice. He gets released in August.

Finally - the big one - Cody Rhodes, suffering from burnout and creatively unsatisfied, requests his release and is almost immediately granted it - he says that the conversation with Trips was earnest enough to convince Hunter that he was being straight up, that he wasn't angling for more money or a belt, he wanted to leave and go his own way. The story doesn't need retelling, you all know what Cody did before his eventual return, but in a business where so many swallow their pride to keep getting an easy cheque, Cody gambled on himself - and he won.

Here's some footage from that main in Bismarck. Maddeningly, he's cut out the finish. But it's still worth watching some of the sequences between the three ;

 

 

If you don't mind phone footage, here's Reigns vs Styles from Utica.

 

 

 

 

Edited November 28, 2023 by air_raid

[air_raid]

JUNE 2016

Everybody remembers the title switching to Rollins and an immediate cash in from Ambrose, but I don't think anybody remembers why... Roman gets himself a Wellness suspension at the worst possible time. For many guys, this would have been terminal for plans to be "the guy" going forward. But the plan's the plan. Also, NXT roll into Liverpool and so does your author - which isn't good for MY wellness.

MAIN EVENTS

3rd in Odessa it’s Roman Reigns vs AJ Styles vs Seth Rollins then 4th/5th in Lubbock and Amarillo Sheamus is also in the mix, then back to just the triple threat 11th/12th in (too hot, hot damn) Jackson MS and Baton Rouge and again 17th/18th in Salt Lake City and at the Staples Center (a disappointing 8500) in the last two shows before the PPV. After the PPV and a same-night cash in, the belt has passed through all three of The Shield and Dean Ambrose vs Seth Rollins is our title match 25th in Boston (<5500) and 26th in Orlando - Ambrose is an absolute hero on 26th, working a title match vs Kevin Owens vs Sami Zayn on first in Jacksonville (tag belts on last) then getting himself over to Orlando to go on last!! Yes, Boston and Orlando were supposed to be Reigns vs Rollins. 29th in Honolulu 6500 is poor for the market but what a main they got - Ambrose vs Rollins vs Styles vs Chris Jericho!

4th/5th it’s Dean Ambrose vs Kevin Owens in Tulsa and Lawton then 10th-12th in Waco, College Station and Lake Charles it’s the three way with Sami Zayn, all prior to Deano winning the WWE title.

THE CARDS

Week 1 has ZERO variations apart from that one Sheamus-less main event with consistent shows in Oklahoma and Texas ; big name tag still going on of Big Show & Kane vs Braun Strowman & Erick Rowan. The tag title match is still New Day vs The Vaudevillains and UST is Rusev vs Sin Cara. Womens title continues as a rather pointless Charlotte vs Natalya and we've still got Dolph Ziggler vs Baron Corbin and Enzo Amore & Big Cass vs The Dudley Boys. There's also R-Truth vs Tyler Breeze, Becky Lynch & Sasha Banks vs Dana Brooke & Lana, Apollo Crews vs Darren Young and some random tag guys in singles matches - Karl Anderson vs Jey Uso, Cesaro vs Primo and Jack Swagger vs Viktor (repeating in Orlando). Week 2 it's Rusev vs Titus O’Neil (WTF) twice for the US title, he also gives Kalisto the rematch in Waco - which comes around again in Boston. Cesaro vs Alberto Del Rio and Crews vs Sheamus are up and running, Epico returns to tag with his bruv and BEAT Ziggler & Swagger. Anderson’s now with Jimmy Uso, extra bodies mean the other womens match is Lynch/Banks/Summer Rae vs Dana/Lana/Eva Marie now, plus there's Zack Ryder vs Viktor and Goldust vs Fandango which recurs in Jacksonville. Tag and women’s title matches unchanged plus the Dudleys and Wyatts tags which both repeat in Jacksonville, and the tag title match reprises in Honolulu.

Into week 3, Dean Ambrose vs Chris Jericho in a streetfight is a hell of an addition for Salt Lake and LA. Sami Zayn vs Kevin Owens straddles weeks 3/4 and only happens in LA and Boston. It's Anderson & Luke Gallows vs Lucha Dragons and Summer suffers another case of heel/face inconsistency - the six-woman becomes an 8-woman where she teams with Charlotte, Dana and Lana to lose to Lynch, Banks, Nattie and Paige. It's still Rusev/O'Neil and Cesaro/Del Rio, Ziggler vs Corbin is back on - that one makes it to Hawaii too. Week 4, The Usos vs Bullet Club runs 25th/26th and Honolulu. There's Corbin vs Ryder twice and Cesaro vs ADR rolls on, the rest is a jumble.

Randy Orton is still injured, no idea why The Miz is not on the road. Intercontinental champ, no less.

VARIATIONS 

In Waco only Kane beats Rowan by DQ which leads to the usual tag, and Viktor loses to Sin Cara then issues an open challenge leading to his usual loss to Ryder. An NXT presence month end has Finn Balor & Shinsuke Nakamura vs Samoa Joe & Austin Aries in Orlando then Nakamura vs Kev and Asuka defending her belt against Nattie in Hawaii. Summer's schizophrenia and other Womens shuffling has hometown girl Sasha, Becky & Summer beat Charlotte, Natalya & Eva in Boston, then Summer, Sasha and (heyyyyyyy, HEY) Bayley beat Nattie, Eva & Dana in Orlando while Lynch & Paige beat Charlotte & Lana in Jacksonville followed by Charlotte vs Becky for the belt in Honolulu. Otherwise... Boston has "The Golden Truth" beat "Breezango" (FFS), The Shining Stars vs The Prime Time Players (!) in Orlando, New Day vs Vaudevillains vs Lucha Dragons is the tag title match that goes on last in Jacksonville, and in Hawaii Titus pins Curtis Axel.

MAIN EVENTS - NXT

We've got Finn Balor & Shinsuke Nakamura vs Samoa Joe & Elias Samson 2nd in Evansville then it’s back to Joe vs Balor for the belt 3rd/4th in Nashville & Atlanta. The UK & Ireland tour kicks off with - I think most of us forget this - three days at Download. Friday night they only squeeze in three matches, none of which could be called a main event, but Saturday amongst 11 matches Balor tags with almost-local Hugo Knox to beat The Revival on 6th then on last is Nakamura & Andrade Almas vs Joe & Baron Corbin. On Sunday a slightly more pedestrian 9 match card ends with Andrade & American Alpha vs Bobby Roode & Revival but on 5th is the match that will main event on and off the rest of the tour - Finn Balor & Shinsuke Nakamura vs Samoa Joe & Austin Aries - it goes on last 13th in Belfast, 15th in Liverpool and 17th in Plymouth either side of two more Joe vs Balor title fights 14th in Dublin and 16th in Bournemouth. Month end is a bit slapdash, 23rd in Largo night before TVs it’s Nakamura and American Alpha vs Tye Dillinger & Authors Of Pain, 25th in Cocoa AoP and Roode lose to Mojo Rawley & TM61. Finally 30th in Winter Haven Thorne/Haste and Miller/Nicholls tag with Hideo Itami to beat a very thrown together Joe, Wesley Blake and Tino Sabbatelli.

B shows! 2nd and 4th in Tampa and Fort Pierce its Austin Aries vs Wesley Blake either side of Crystal River where Asuka vs Alexa Bliss vs Nia Jax for the belt goes on last, while the other big guns are elsewhere.

THE CARDS

Shinsuke Nakamura vs Buddy Murphy goes early month then on two nights of the tour with the big title match, Shinsuke pins Bobby Roode - “Glorious” also beats No Way Jose and Angelo Dawkins a couple of times each otherwise. It’s American Alpha vs The Revival for the tag belts prior to the switch at TakeOver, Alpha vs Alexander Wolfe & Sawyer Fulton kicks off Saturday of Download, and continues in Dublin and Liverpool when Revival take nights off from giving Jordan & Gable the rematch. On tour Asuka vs Peyton Royce starts Saturday at Download too and alternates with the “Empress” defending vs Nia Jax vs Alexa Bliss picks back up from Crystal River (Alexa having no better luck than the last tour). Bayley vs Daria and Carmella vs Peyton occur early month then on tour BayMella alternate between beating Nia & Alexa and Peyton & Nikki Glencross. Nikki vs Liv Morgan sandwiches the month in Fort Pierce and Cocoa too. It’s Andrade Almas vs Angelo Dawkins week one then over here Almas beats Tye Dillinger usually, concurrent to Hugo Knox vs Wesley Blake, and Knox vs Dillinger goes 1-1 on other nights. Early month repeats also include Jose vs Tino Sabbatelli and Patrick Clark vs Dan Matha.

VARIATIONS - HIGHLIGHTS 

It's Dillinger vs Murphy in Evansville, Jose vs Dawkins, Dillinger vs Sabbatelli and spare man Elias vs Andrade in Nashville as well as Bayley/Carmella vs Peyton/Daria conflated into a tag, in Atlanta Dillinger beats Corey Hollis and Elias is off. There's Asuka & Adrienne Reece vs Nia & Mandy Rose and Bliss vs Liv in Tampa, Reece vs Rose in Crystal River (where TM61 beat Wolfe & Fulton too) and Bliss vs Reece in Fort Pierce. Download has Nikki vs Peyton on Friday, Carmella vs Nikki then later Bayley & Mella vs Nia & Nikki and Alexa vs Peyton on Saturday. On Sunday it’s Bayley vs Nia, Knox vs Blake, Alexa vs Nikki, Bayley vs Peyton and Asuka vs Carmella for the belt. On the tour odd man out Austin Aries actually loses to Jose in Dublin and to Almas in Bournemouth (I bet that was good) and unique to Plymouth BayMella beat Alexa & Peyton (hubba hubba) and Asuka beats Nia in singles. Otherwise it’s Knox vs Wolfe and Jose vs Blake in Belfast, Almas vs Blake in Dublin, Jose vs Dawkins in Bournemouth and Wolfe vs Dawkins in Plymouth. In Largo TM61 beat Dawkins & Clark, “Ember Moon” beats Daria and a big six woman has Asuka, Bayley & Carmella beat Nia, Alexa and Mandy. Almas beating Dawkins and Daria beating Billie Kay are the highlights of a very low key Cocoa undercard and in Winter Haven, Aries beats Mojo, Alpha resume beating Authors Of Pain, Bayley teams with Aliyah to beat Fire & Desire and Ember pins Billie.

TVs

6th Raw in Oklahoma City Jericho does his regular telly pinfall loss to a babyface, this time Cesaro. Next night in Wichita the Dudleys are on dark duty again losing to Truth and Goldie before cameras roll. Next night at Full Sail Ember beats Peyton dark before another fantastic TakeOver where five great matches include the tag belts heading back to Revival and Joe beating Balor in a cage. Next night they tape TVs before jetting off for the UK/Ireland tour which starts the very next night at Download - no wonder so few wrestled on the Friday night - Tucker Knight beats Clark/Velventeen, Ember pins Mandy and Joe pins Oney Lorcan as bonus matches around the ones used on telly, which include Tessa Blanchard losing to Mella, Deonna Purrazzo to Bayley, and Johnny Gargano & Tomasso Ciampa keeping up their momentum beating Hype Bros. Money In The Bank (14,000+ in Paradise just outside Vegas) features a great double whammy of AJ knocking off increasingly-part time John Cena for the first time with help from his Bullet Club mates, and Roman dropping the belt to hated enemy Rollins who then gets cashed in by same-night briefcase winner/wanker Ambrose. Next night in Phoenix Roman draws with Rollins in a contenders match then disappears on suspension. 21st in Tucson Golden Truth beat Breezango before shows, and after the taping Deano, Zayn and the Usos beat Seth, AJ and the Good Brothers. 23rd in Full Sail, a very lucky 250 fans see the taping of the first round of the Cruiserweight Classic, an extraordinarily eclectic mix of established names from around the globe AND random guys you'll never again hear much about, which includes wins for returners like Yoshihiro Tajiri and Brian Kendrick, debuts for some of the Brit pack, wins for hopeful (for WWE) signees Akira Tozawa, Gran Metalik (b/k/a Mascara Dorada), Zack Sabre Jr and Kota Ibushi. As the two biggest names in the tournament, the bracket strongly suggests a Sabre/Ibushi final. We'll see. Next night, still at Full Sail, Tye beats CWC standby Kai Katana dark, and an absolutely loaded NXT TV taping has Bayley beat Alexa and Nia for separate episodes, Alpha come up short in a blinding 2/3 falls crack at Revival then lose their first TV match with AoP, Joe beat Rhino and Nakamura beat Balor in a number one contenders match in everything but name. 27th Raw in Tampa (8000) Cena does another pinfall job, this time to Seth when all three of "The Club" distract from ringside, then later Styles loses his first big TV match with Ambrose, and finally Zayn beats Lorcan dark before the shows and a dark main has Deano, Cesaro and Sami beat Strowman, Rowan and - back from injury at last - Bray Wyatt.

NON TITLE WHINING

Beaten on TV this month : Charlotte (Womens champion) by Paige, The Miz, obviously (Intercontinental champ) by Ambrose.

DEPARTURE

OK, so it's not a release, but for the longest time this will feel like a slow burn firing waiting to happen.... these will be the last house show matches you read about from Paige for a very long time. After a month in which she beats Charlotte non title, loses in her title shot then on the 27th Raw teams with Sasha to knock off Charlotte and her gopher Dana, she disappears from TV and road, getting drafted to Raw in July when they re-initiate the brand split. We'll learn she has a neck injury, then come August she'll get herself a Wellness suspension. Come October (whoops) she'll land ANOTHER suspension for, she says at the time, a prescription drug for which she could produce her prescription, while company confirms and she'll later admit, it was for an illegal substance i.e. recreational drugs. A bi-product of her self-destructive relationship at the time with you know who. Hurtling into train wreck territory she'll experience further embarrassment we don't need to elaborate on in March which further hinders her, before finally being medically cleared in September 17 ahead of an eventual return to TV that November.

I mean, its not great quality but... yeah, seeing these four all mix it up is great.

 

A PERSONAL REPORT

My third trip to a WWE-promoted show in 7 months - definitely the most engaged I’ve ever been - saw me jump at the chance to go to the second NXT tour of the British Isles. With no show in either of my usual “bases” of Manchester or Birmingham I bought a ticket to the Liverpool show safe in the knowledge that I could get the last train home and that the confirmed names guaranteed me at least one or two good matches. Main memories of the card thus (4500 is sparse for the Echo but decent for NXT house shows at this point) ; Hugo Knox was ridiculously over in his home country, getting a great singalong chant of “Hugo Knoxy baby” (think the tune of Don’t You Want Me by The Human League) and his split-legged moonsault finish was a good way to pop the crowd for an opener, in the women’s tag I instantly decided Peyton Royce was the sexiest gal I’d ever seen in a live wrestling show, and while I was happy to see Alpha wrestle again, it was HUGELY frustrating to see champs Dash & Dawson confront them after their win but then not actually wrestle on the show (nor did they in Dublin) - cowering away from Jordan & Gable and having no match later. Good heel work maybe, but I couldn’t help but feel short-changed especially knowing they were defending the belts on other nights. If you’ve got a night off just go to the pub, lads, don’t prick tease the paying public when you’ve got no intention of wrestling. Neither Wolfe nor Fulton left any impression on me, other than Poundland AoP who were being presented as a real threat to Alpha. The main event tag was a great match which I looked forward to immensely despite having seen all four wrestle live already for (arguably) the companies they’d made their names for and with far greater stakes - it was especially interesting seeing Nakamura opposite Aries - and ultimately I enjoyed the show. It was a bit game-of-two-halves really, enjoyable but unlike Blackpool a shade forgettable - I had to look up the results to remember some of it - which is kind of what you come to expect from a house show but in this case, the bar had been set unfairly high by Blackpool and despite the star studded main event tag, nothing could live up to that. By the time the 2017 tour comes around, Leeds is my nearest show and based on the names coming over (it's bulked up heavily by natives) I will decide to give it a miss (as will many North West fans, 2500 at the First Direct which holds more than four times that) and reading the results, absolutely nothing jumps out that I'm sorry to have missed.

Nice video of the NXT Liverpool show I went to, including some finishes (including the main event) plus singing happy birthday to Bayley, which I'd forgotten about ;

 

 

[HarmonicGenerator]

The Cruiserweight Classic was something wasn’t it? Mad to think they had the likes of Sabre and Ibushi popping over for a match or two at Full Sail.

[air_raid]

9 hours ago, HarmonicGenerator said:

The Cruiserweight Classic was something wasn’t it? Mad to think they had the likes of Sabre and Ibushi popping over for a match or two at Full Sail.

It was supposed to be a full blown talent grabbing exercise. They wanted to sign a ton of new lads that represented the best guys in the world they could get who happened to be in that weight class to make a new show they knew serious wrestling fans would want to watch. The centrepieces they wanted were Sabre and especially Ibushi - who had given them every indication he’d be interested in signing, so they pencilled him in to win, to showcase their new star. Of course, Kota being Kota, he ummed and ahhhed about actually signing and his attitude was “maybe a bit later” because he was having characteristic second thoughts about schedule and exclusivity I.e lack of freedom to explore other things in wrestling as a whole. Plans changed for the CWC when they realised he wasn’t signing soon, he never did, 205 Live ended up what it was.