Original Airdate: September
15, 2019
From
Opening WWE RAW Tag Team Title Match: Seth Rollins and Braun Strowman v Dolph Ziggler and Robert Roode: Braun starts with Roode, with Robert getting quickly and repeatedly frustrated when he can't get anything against the big monster. He and Ziggler try a distraction, but Braun fights that off, and hits Dolph with a big boot, then a corner clothesline. Over to Seth for a combo for two, but Rollins gets trapped in a double team as well, and isn't as lucky as Braun was. It ends with Dolph hitting a jumping DDT out on the floor, and Roode chucks him into the barricade for two. The challengers go to work on Rollins, but he manages to fight off a double team in the corner, and Dolph eats a falcons arrow. Tag to Braun, and it's avalanche time for Ziggler. He falls out of the ring, so Braun chases, and takes out Roode along the way for good measure. Back inside, Braun uses another avalanche to set up the front-powerslam, but Dolph blocks. Superkick sets up a DDT from Roode, but Braun powers out of it, and tags to Seth to superkick Roode. A second one leads to a sling blade, but a springboard dive misses, and Roode hits a spinebuster for two. Braun tries running in to help, but ends up missing his charge, and Roode hits Rollins with the Glorious DDT at 9:36. Competent, but nothing especially interesting here, and it was a total TV level match. *
WWE Smackdown Women's Title Match: Bayley v Charlotte Flair: Bayley looks like she's half asleep on her way to the ring. Like, even pilled up Shawn and Razor were showing more signs of life in the 90s. Charlotte with a big boot for two right at the bell, and Bayley wisely bails as soon as she kicks out. Flair chases her back inside for chops, but Bayley counters a bodyslam with a matslam. That just annoys
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: The New Day v The Revival: Xavier Woods and Dash Wilder start, and Revival immediately try a distraction, but Woods is too wise for them. Hey, dude has an actual master's degree in psychology... you really think you're gonna get him with that weak ass shit? Also, doesn't help that Wilder looks like Where's Waldo tonight. Who could take that seriously? New Day dominate Wilder with ease in the early going, but Big E gets into trouble on the outside, and the tide turns. Revival cut the ring in half on Big E, until he fights off a double team in the corner, and hits Dash with a belly-to-belly suplex. Tag to Woods, and he's running hot, Roseanne Barr the door! Scott Dawson takes a slingshot DDT for two, but Dash dodges a charge from Big E, and dives with a tope. Revival hit a quick combo on Big E on the floor, and that leaves Woods all by his lonesome. Despite that, Revival take their time with him, like morons. And then they win anyway when
WWE Women's Tag Team Title Match: Alexa Bliss and Nikki Cross v Mandy Rose and Sonya Deville: I'm honestly surprised they haven't put any titles on Rose and/or Deville yet, if only because they'd make great brand ambassadors. Like, they'd both be perfect fits to do the rounds on the morning talk shows, or whatever. Cross and Rose start, with Mandy dominating initially, but then getting cocky, allowing Nikki to throw a clothesline. Nikki's mocking of Rose's sexy dancing will haunt my dreams tonight, thanks. Tag to Sonya, but she falls prey to a double team from the champs, and Bliss suplexes her for two. Back to Rose for a blonde on blonde showdown, and you know Rose isn't much of a worker when freakin' Alexa looks like Owen Hart in there. And then a bunch of guys chase R-Truth out to try for the WWE 24/7 title, so Bliss schoolboys him for a try as well, but only gets two. Deville is able to nail Bliss as the JTTS parade clears out, and the challengers cut the ring in half on Freddy Boober. A slugfest between Alexa and Mandy results in a double knockout, and that's enough to allow the hot tag to Nikki. She drops Deville with a bulldog, then adds a sloppy side suplex. Looked like Sonya was trying to take a different move there, or something. Cross with a flying bodypress for two, and she tags back to Bliss to finish, but Rose crotches her on the top rope to prevent a dive. That allows Deville to slam her off, and the challengers hit a high knee/legsweep combo for two. Nikki dives in again, so Rose tries a high knee on her, but Cross dodges, and hits an elevated neckbreaker to retain at 8:05. This felt way too long, even at only eight minutes. Also, why was Nikki making Mandy stroke her own ass during the pin? ½*
WWE Intercontinental Title Match: Shinsuke Nakamura v Miz: Feeling out process to start, and they spill to the outside, where Miz gets distracted by Sami Zayn, and Nakamura is able to big boot him off of the apron. Inside, Nakamura pounds him with yes-kicks, and an enzuigiri sends Miz into the corner. Nakamura follows for more kicks, but Miz dodges, and is able to clip the knee to put a stop to that stuff. Miz with a series of kicks of his own in the corner, and a pair of cross corner high knees lead to a cross corner clothesline. Miz dives with a flying axehandle for two, and he goes after the leg to set up a figure four, but Nakamura counters to a cross-armbreaker. Miz shifts it into a cradle for two, and a DDT gets him two. Miz with his yes-kicks, but Nakamura dodges the big roundhouse, and schoolboys for two. Nakamura with an enzuigiri to put Miz in the corner for some stomping, and a sitout gourdbuster follows. He goes for the kill, but Miz dodges the charge, and quickly capitalizes with a figure four! Nakamura makes the ropes, so Miz tries the hold again, but this time Nakamura cradles for two. Miz responds by kicking him in the head, but Sami trips him up as he runs the ropes, and Nakamura throws a knee to the back of the head for a dramatic two count. He goes for the kill shot again, but this time Miz is ready with the Skull Crushing Finale, so Sami distracts the referee to prevent a count. That enrages Miz enough that he chases Zayn around ringside, but it backfires when he charges right into a kick from Nakamura at 9:33. This was watchable. Match of the night thus far at a whopping **
WWE RAW Women's Title Match: Becky Lynch v Sasha Banks: Is it me, or is Becky starting to look more like Toni Storm by the day? Lynch slams her around in the early going, so Banks tries countering a tilt-a-whirl into the Bank Statement, but Becky counters back to the Dis-Arm-Her, so Banks bails. Lynch responds by drilling her with a baseball slide, but an attempt at a dive off the middle rope on the way back in goes badly, and Sasha puts the boots to her. Banks pounds on her for a bit before working a bow-and-arrow into a surfboard, and a seated kneesmash gets two. Sasha's dressed like Ultimo Dragon tonight, and I'm not sure how I feel about it. Banks with a kneeling facebuster for two, and she takes Becky into the corner for a bow-and-arrow from the middle rope, but the follow-up dive ends badly when Lynch throws a dropkick to block. Both stagger up for a slugfest, with Lynch getting the better of it via clotheslines, and she chucks Sasha with a suplex. She drills Banks with a series of kneelifts, but a charge backfires when Banks slaps on the Statement. Becky escapes with a suplex, however, and a 2nd rope legdrop gets her two. Banks recovers and dives off the middle with a kneesmash for two, and seriously people, stop selling such major shock at kick outs off of basic stuff five minutes into a match. Statement, but Becky counters to the Dis-Arm-Her, so Sasha counters to a cradle for two. The momentum of the kickout allows Lynch to go back to the Dis-Arm-Her, but Banks is in the ropes to save herself, so Becky throws a seated dropkick instead. Becky goes up with a flying dropkick for two, but an attempt to put the boots to Banks in the corner backfires when Sasha grabs a lungblower. Another one leads into the Statement, but Becky gets into the ropes, so Sasha snaps her arm across the ropes as punishment. She sneaks a chair shot in behind the referee's back for two (cue more shocked reactions), then decides to just straight up beat Becky with the chair in full view of the referee, but he stops her. Becky gets the chair and swings, but Banks ducks, and Lynch ends up taking out the referee. With him out of the way, Lynch starts chasing Sasha around with the chair, and they spill into the crowd for a brawl. It's always hilarious to me when little kids start waiving and wanting to say hi to wrestlers when they're mid-brawl. Like, I get that they're kids, and it's cute, but seriously ya little punks. Back to ringside, Sasha manages to get control by tossing Becky into the barricade a few times, but another try at a chair shot backfires, and this time Becky properly goes to work with it. She slaps on a Dis-Arm-Her through the chair, and Sasha is openly tapping, but a bunch of officials run in to break it up at 19:16, but apparently Banks won by DQ somewhere around 14:00 minutes in. Though no one bothered to mention it. This was a pretty good match until all the bullshit stuff at the end. ** ¾
WWE Title Match: Kofi Kingston v Randy Orton: Well, nowhere to go but up after the SummerSlam match. I hope. Feeling out process to start. Kofi gets some shots in in the corner, so Orton bails to buy time, and stalls out in the aisle. Back in, they trade chops, and things are not looking any better than the SummerSlam bore fest thus far. I mean, we're over five minutes into the match, and I've summed up everything that's happened in, like, three lines. Kofi takes a spill off of the apron to but things firmly in Randy's control, and Orton hits a suplex out on the floor, then drops Kingston across an announce table. Back inside, that gets the challenger a few two counts, and at least Orton's 'shocked' face is more amusement than actual shock. Or, he's just a terrible actor. Not sure which. I'll rent 12 Rounds 2 and get back to you. Orton tries a corner whip, but
No Disqualification Match: Roman Reigns v Erick Rowan: Reigns attacks in the aisle before the bell, but gets clobbered with a clothesline as he tries to bring it in, and Rowan dumps him back to the outside for a tour of abuse around ringside. Rowan misses a charge into the steps, allowing Reigns to grab a kendo stick, but Rowan charges him with the steps to block a shot with it. They spill into the crowd next, where Reigns eats trash. Well, he often does with their booking, so he's used to it. Also, I get that this is no DQ, but what happened to the countouts? They brawl through the crowd for a while before returning to ringside, where Reigns hits the Drive-By, but gets drilled with a shoulderblock while prepping an announce table. Inside, Rowan works a bootchoke in the corner, and a bodyslam sets up an elbowdrop. Splash connects, and a 2nd rope backelbow gets Erick two. A sloppy uranage gets two, complete with shock face, of course. They spill to the outside again, where Rowan rams him into the post, and he stops to pull some padding off of the LED ring apron. He drops Reigns onto that for two, but a charge with the steps misses, allowing Roman a Samoan drop for two. That charge bit looked horribly phony, with Rowan running at him so high that he very obviously wouldn't have hit him even if Reigns didn't counter. Roman whacks him with the steps to set up the Superman Punch for two, and I'm really wondering whether they have side bets in the locker room during these shows to see who can do the most over the top shocked expression each month. Rowan bails, so Roman chases with another Drive-By, but ends up getting himself slammed through a table. Rowan hits him with the bell on the way back into the crowd, where Rowan puts him through another table via a uranage. He drags Reigns onto the entrance stage, but before he can swing a camera boom into him, Roman whacks him with a lighting fixture. Reigns then swings said camera boom into him a few times, and a Superman knocks Rowan down the ramp to ringside. Reigns chases him with a spear, but Luke Harper suddenly shows up out of nowhere, and takes Roman's head off with a big boot. They take Reigns inside for some double teaming, and Rowan clawslams him for three at 17:25. Not really my cup of tea, but it was certainly a better brew than that boring ass Kingston/Orton deal. Even still, not every top level match NEEDS twenty minutes, guys. Remember when they used to book around what would best suit the workers/match type. Yeah, good times. *
Main Event: WWE Universal Title Match: Seth Rollins v Braun Strowman: Braun immediately shoulderblocks him into the corner to set up a pair of avalanches, but Rollins manages to slip out of the front-powerslam to save himself. He throws a series of superkicks to put Braun down, and a quick flying frogsplash gets one. I'm loving the hundred yard dash booking of this thus far. Curb stomp, but Strowman catches him with a slam during the charge, then chucks him across the ring with hiptosses for a bit. Seth manages to stick and move with springboard high knees to rattle the challenger, but Braun catches him on a dive, and Rollins does a great oversell on a slam. That was some Mistah Poifehct shit. Seth ends up on the outside for Strowman to blast with his running shoulderblocks, and Rollins takes another oversell bump into the barricade. Strowman rolls him in, but Seth knocks that's not a good place for him to be, and he rolls right back to the outside. Braun goes to give him another of those shoulderblocks, but Seth sidesteps this time, and the challenger goes crashing into an announce table. Rollins tries for the countout, but Strowman is recovering, so Seth dives with a tope. Strowman recovers again, so Seth gives him another one, but Braun is still on his way to beating the count. Third tope, but Strowman catches him this time, so Rollins shoves him into the post to escape the front-powerslam. Superkick lays Strowman out on an announce table, so Rollins hustles to the top for a dive, but Braun pops up and shoves him off the top rope. Strowman goes up himself, but now Seth pops up for a superplex, but Braun shoves him off again. He balances himself (barely) for a flying splash for two, and he injures his leg on the way down. Might be legitimate there. I appreciate the effort, but guys that big were not meant to fly. Front-powerslam looks to finish, but Seth counters to a sleeper to save himself again, so Braun snapmares him off. Seth pops back up with a quick curb stomp before Strowman can recover, but it only gets two. Another curb stomp for two, and a third still only gets two. That should really be a murderdeathkill move, why wreck the spot like that? Fourth one, but Braun counters to the front-powerslam this time - only for the leg to give out. That allows Seth a pedigree, and he lands that fourth curb stomp for the pin at 10:54. This was fun, and worked because it didn't stretch itself out longer than it needed to, but instead opted to go at a fast pace. And this is a good example of how good workers don't need to sacrifice in-ring storytelling just because they don't get twenty minutes to play with. And then afterwards, Bray Wyatt shows up to hit Rollins with the Sister Abigail on the entrance stage to set up the next program, a la NXT TakeOver specials. *** ¼
BUExperience: Leslie Knope
DUD
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