Payback Kickoff
R-Truth vs. Stardust
We were treated to a bonus match tonight
in the kick off show with R-Truth taking on Stardust in a decent
match. I’ve always like Cody Rhodes and not been too keen on R-Truth.
Truth picked
up the victory to continue the apparent lifetime angle of Cody Rhodes
losing and getting frustrated.
The Ascension: Konnor & Victor vs. The Mega Powers: Curtis Axel & Macho Mandow
The
Ascension were a good team in NXT and had they just come into the main
roster as the same guys and not tried to compare themselves to
Demolition and the Road Warriors they could be top
contenders. Instead they have basically been buried. Sandow with
another gimmick that he has managed to get over and Axel has gone full
blown Hogan look-a-like. They haven’t allotted much time for this one.
Axel hulks up and hits the leg drop but that’s
about the all the offense he gets in. Mandow tries the big elbow and
is instead taken out with Ascensions finish and the pin fall loss.
Payback
Dolph Ziggler vs. Sheamus
Ziggler
once again in the opening match which is a testament to the work horse
that Ziggler is that he kicks off the show. The fans continue to rally
behind Dolph wanting desperately to see
him become the guy in the WWE, as do I, but I just don’t see WWE ever
getting behind him, which is unfortunate.
Hard
hitting battle between these two and Dolph got his revenge from Extreme
Rules with a PG-Era stink face. Ziggler head butted Sheamus and it
busted him open bad, I mean crimson mask bad.
Sheamus got the victory with a brogue kick while Ziggler was on his
knees.
2 out of 3 Falls
WWE Tag Team Champions: New Day: Big E & Kofi w/ Xavier Woods vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro w/ Natayla
New
Day should just be Kofi & Xavier Woods as a Tag Team, Big E doesn’t
fit and he looks awkward smiling and clapping his hands “dancing”
around. I like that WWE has been having more 2 out
of 3 falls as of late.
Kidd
& Cesaro pick up the first fall quickly with their big spin drop
kick combo. Woods tries to enact the Freebird rule to enter the second
fall but it is not allowed, that would have been
cool!
New
Day picks up the second fall after Cesaro is taken out from the Big E
spear to the floor, and then Big E hits the Big Ending while Kofi jumps
off the top rope and does nothing to add emphasis
to the finish. Have I mentioned I think New Days tag team finish is
dumb? Because it is.
Cesaro
went for what looked like was going to be Angel’s wings on Big E but he
couldn’t pull it off which is odd because Cesaro is freakishly
strong. New Day get the final fall when Xavier
Woods slides in and pins Cesaro with a small package. I really
thought this match was going to be better, it was a good match but the
time constraints really hurt it from building each fall.
Bray Wyatt vs. Ryback
I
really like Wyatt and his gimmick, he’s way over with the crowd, but he
is a heel through and through. Wyatt just did a version of the Pounce
taking Ryback down. I really like Monte Brown
and I thought the Pounce finish was really good as it was one of those
do to anyone of any size finishers. Wyatt has that suplex slam that he
does that is pretty neat, and it just a slight variation that makes it
unique. Wyatt gets the win with Sister Abigail
after Ryback hits the corner chest first that was missing the
turnbuckle pad. Glad to see Wyatt get the win, he needs it to maintain
the idea that he’s a threat as he hasn’t had the best win/loss record as
of late.
I Quit Match
United States Champion: John Cena vs. Rusev w/ Lana
I’m
glad they were very specific in the introductions that you “literally
have to say I Quit” to lose. No passing out, having the towel thrown
in, and ect. I hate the “tension” between Lana
and Rusev, it’s dumb. Rusev never should have lost the title, I’ve
enjoyed Cena’s open challenges every week and the matches he has been
having is great, but Rusev should be the undefeated evil foreigner and
not the verbally abusive boyfriend.
One
of my all-time favorite matches is the 1985 Starrcade I Quit match
between Magnum TA & Tully Blanchard for the United States
Championship, the level of brutality really raised the bar
for an I Quit match, I know this one isn’t going to come close to
living up to that, but so far they’ve only brought the stairs into play
and haven’t done anything that I would wager someone would quit over.
But then again, Flair beat Funk in his I Quit
match with the figure four.
Match
hasn’t been that good, it’s been very slow and methodical with big
bump, then asking if they quit, the answer is no, then another big bump
and repeat with a huge delay between moves.
Finally Rusev has the accolade on Cena, a maneuver were someone could
be coaxed into saying I Quit, of course Cena passes out so he can’t say I
Quit. Top rope has been undone, swear to god Cena better not win with
the “STF” using the rope for leverage, he’s
done that before.
 |
| Cena vs Umaga Royal Rumble 2007, choke not "stf" same difference |
That
was something; Cena applied that STF using the rope, again, and
according to Lana Rusev said I Quit in Russian so the ref called for
this bell.
As an I Quit match, this match sucked.
The Bella Twins: Diva’s Champion Nikki & Brie vs. Naomi & Tamina
Naomi
and Tamina got the win when Naomi threw Nikki off the top rope,
essentially the body slam Ric Flair has taken ten thousand times, and
pinned her. The match wasn’t very good. You have
the ladies down in NXT just killing it, matches so good that Sasha
Banks vs. Charlotte just main evented an NXT house show in Philadelphia,
and this is what the main roster is delivering.
King Barrett vs. Neville
Neville
won by count-out and then was attacked after the bell by Barrett. The
post-match beat down was more effective than the actual match. Neville
hit the german suplex, which broke the
scepter, then executed red arrow.
Fatal 4-Way
Champion: Seth Rollins w/ J&J Security vs. Randy Orton vs. Roman Reigns vs. Dean Ambrose
If Rollins loses the title then Kane is fired from his Corporate position in the authority
Of
course J&J and Kane got involved in this match very early on so it
was basically a 7 way match, but that’s not a surprise. At one point
they teased a Shield reunion as J&J were taken out
and Rollins, Reigns, and Ambrose triple power bombed Orton through the
announce table. Crowd popped big for that. Then of course Reigns and
Ambrose tried to do the same to Rollins through the Spanish announce
table, but Kane stopped them. So they power
bombed Kane onto Rollins through the Spanish announce table. The first
attempt the table didn’t break so at the audience’s request they did it
one more time and sent them crashing to the floor. Ambrose and Reigns
squared off for a bit before everyone got
involved again. Kane took out Reigns and Ambrose then ate and RKO
which allowed Rollins to hit the pedigree on Orton to retain his title.
It
was a good match, fun to watch, but I hated the pedigree finish, the
curb stomp is so awesome, I mean right after the RKO on Kane if he hit
Orton with the curb stomp it would have looked
so much cooler than the awkward Pedigree. Because let’s face it, if
anyone but Triple H does it, it just looks awkward.
Pretty good show, I’m sure many will be comparing it to the NXT Takeover special that is this Wednesday. Best match was the main event, followed by the tag match.
If you watched the show what did you think?
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