Raw was held in Nashville this week as the build to WrestleMania continues. The event featured a Tag Team Championship match, a few promos, and a bunch of other stuff that wasn’t really music to most fans’ ears. Here are the pros and cons from this week’s episode of Raw.
Pros
As soon as they announced the Usos were planning to invoke their rematch clause, it was obvious fans were going to be in for another treat. As one would expect, the action was fast paced and frequently spilled over to ringside. Kidd’s heel work has been top notch over the past few weeks, frequently using his wife as a human shield in order to gain an upper hand.
The Tag Champs work so well together too, using combination moves such as a catapult into a big uppercut, and a Cesaro swing into a dropkick. Although the match didn’t end clean, it featured some solid action and was probably the highlight of the night. Kidd and Cesaro are the best team in the WWE by far right now. They should get these guys some merch and push them to the moon.
I loved the backstage segment between the Miz and Damien Mizdow. It was awesome (no pun intended) to hear the Miz talk up the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal and act like a win would elevate his career to new heights. (That worked out real well for Cesaro last year.)
Bad News Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler was a decent opening match. There were honestly only a handful of wrestling moves utilized throughout the match, with most of the action consisting of punches, rest holds, and brawling action outside of the ring. With that said, there were a few impressive sequences. Ziggler countered Wasteland twice, once into a DDT and another into a sunset flip. The sequence where Barrett ended up hitting Winds of Change was also nice.
The Show Off picked up the win after hitting the Zig Zag, allowing for Ambrose to show up and taunt Barrett with his Intercontinental Championship before staring Ziggler down. What are the chances that Barrett never touches his beloved title again? I’d usually say it’s about as likely as the Cubs winning the World Series this season, but they actually decided to crack open the checkbook over the winter so that might not be the best analogy.
#Axelmania. Enough said.
The Daniel Bryan/Roman Reigns promo was one of the more interesting moments all night. It was nice to see Daniel Bryan once again acting as the voice of the fans, saying, “The biggest Roman Reigns doubter is right here in Daniel Bryan,” while also echoing fan sentiments regarding Reigns only being in the main event because of his size and look. At the same time, he also put Reigns over for winning the match, ending the segment with a handshake.
Heyman’s interaction with Reigns was also intriguing, as he said he would put his money on Reigns over anyone, including guys like Hogan, Austin, and the Rock – anyone except Brock Lesnar, of course. Reigns was confident and composed during the back and forth with Heyman as he continues to improve on the mic. It’s easy to picture these two guys hooking up in the near future.
The Bray Wyatt promo was more of the same, but still entertaining nonetheless. I can’t wait for the Undertaker to show up respond to Wyatt’s challenge.
On Monday’s post-Fastlane edition of WWE RAW, a big Fastlane rematch was announced for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
On SmackDown, which will be taped on Tuesday night, there will be a six-person tag-team match featuring Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show taking on the trio of Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan.
– There is some talk going around that comedian and host of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart could end up being part of the storyline between Seth Rollins and Randy Orton heading into WrestleMania 31.
– Below is the “MizTV” segment with Paul Heyman from last night’s WWE Fastlane “Kickoff Show.”
WWE Fastlane was held in Memphis last night at the FedEx Forum. It was a fitting venue, seeing as they pretty much mailed it in for most of the night. After a night of action, we now have a pretty clear idea of what WrestleMania will look like in five weeks. Here are the pros and cons from last night’s WWE Fastlane pay-per-view.
Pros
After a night of non-finishes and botched endings, the main event between Daniel Bryan and Roman Reigns was an absolute treat. These two guys started off a bit slow, but once they got going, they really gelled well. Bryan’s wrestling style went so well with the brawling style of Reigns, and it was nice to see both guys getting support from the crowd.
A few of the highlights included Reigns countering Bryan’s dive to the floor into an overhead belly to belly suplex, Bryan countering the spear into a beautiful small package, and also Reigns turning a potential hurricanrana into a brutal powerbomb from the top rope. These two also employed some solid in-ring psychology due to Reigns selling Bryan’s kick to the liver as he tried to hit a Superman punch. Overall, it was an exciting match, both guys looked great, it ended clean, and it’s always nice to see a main event end in a handshake.
The tag team match was a close second for match of the night. These two teams have so much chemistry and it’s really a pleasure to watch them do their thing. Cesaro’s half crab Cesaro swing was cool, as was the combination of Cesaro’s suplex from the apron into a springboard from Kidd.
The Usos looked good as well, teaming up for a double team Samoan drop that I don’t recall seeing them bust out before. In the end, new champions were crowned after Kidd picked up the victory with a swinging fisherman suplex. After their victory, it was nice to find out that they are “still the new WWE Tag Team Champions” (perhaps suggesting the outcome was changed last minute, as the odds shifted after the “smart money” was in).
The Bray Wyatt segment was enjoyable. He had the crowd going nuts in anticipation of the Phenom, only to shatter their dreams by popping out of the coffin. Wyatt called himself “the new face of fear,” and said: “At WrestleMania, I will claim the soul of the Undertaker.” This feud should be entertaining, but it would have been nice to see Wyatt play up the fact that fans weren’t getting ‘Taker, as the company needs more dislikable heels right now.
I’m not totally sure how I feel about the Sting and Triple H segment, so I’ll go ahead and put it in the pros section. Triple H of course continued to bury a long dead company, stating: “My legacy is putting your legacy out of business.” He also threatened Sting with the Benoit treatment, saying he would wipe him from the history books if he didn’t cooperate. It was cool to see Sting use his signature black bat though, and Hunter was very intense throughout the segment. Overall, it could have been better, but it was a decent setup for their match at WrestleMania.
Finally, the Rusev and John Cena match was far from perfect, but it worked out well. There was some hard-hitting action throughout, including a big spinning side slam from Rusev. The action was slow-paced and methodical, but it was entertaining for the most part. It of course ended in another non-clean finish, but it worked well in this case. I have to say, seeing Cena stagger out of the arena was pretty satisfying, even though it means he will definitely get redemption at WrestleMania.
After months on the sidelines, Randy Orton made his return at the WWE Fastlane pay-per-view on Sunday night, which took place at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee.
During the opening match of the evening, which saw Seth Rollins, Kane and Big Show defeat Dolph Ziggler, Ryback and Erick Rowan, the heels continued to beat up the babyfaces after their victory until Orton’s theme hit.
Orton made the save, RKO’ing several people and going for the kill on Rollins, who was ultimately saved by the Big Show.
As we have been reporting for several months, Orton and Rollins are expected to work a program heading into WrestleMania 31.
Seth Rollins responded again to Jon Stewart on social media recently. Rollins offered to meet up with Stewart to work their online angle on “The Daily Show.”
If WWE and The Daily Show are in fact planning to further the angle between Rollins and Stewart, it could happen as early as this week, as Stewart is taping some new episodes of his show on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in New York City.
WWE does have RAW in Tennessee on Monday and SmackDown in Georgia on Tuesday, but could easily fly Rollins back and forth if needed. WWE will actually run New York City this coming Friday for a non-televised live event at Madison Square Garden, so there is plenty of time for Rollins and Stewart to work together.
Stewart is a longtime WWE fan who has attended many events in the past, including the WWE Money In The Bank pay-per-view last year in Boston, Mass.
The Road to WrestleMania will become a lot clearer after Sunday’s pay-per-view. Fastlane is available for free to all new WWE Network customers, and even those who previously cancelled their account and re-subscribed, so there’s really no reason to miss out on the action. Here is how I expect the event to play out.
Goldust vs. Stardust
Man, they really should have saved this one for WrestleMania, but I guess there is only room on the card for one tag team breakup storyline, and it looks like that’s going to be Miz and Mizdow. Expect these guys to put on one hell of a match, as they have been lobbying for it for what seems like years. After a solid ten-minute contest with a number of near-falls, Stardust will pick up the win with Cross Rhodes.
Result: Stardust via pinfall
Rusev (United States Champion) vs. John Cena
These guys have done a pretty good of building up this match over the past few weeks, and it genuinely seems like Cena is interested in winning the United States Championship, which is always a plus. It’s almost guaranteed that this feud is going to continue into WrestleMania, so I expect Rusev to pick up the win, but certainly not clean.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHA5g_T227k
Lana will become involved at some point, possibly distracting Cena long enough for Rusev to pounce and pick up the win via the deadliest finisher in all of wrestling (the distraction roll-up), or by using the title as a weapon to knock out Cena while the Ravishing Russian distracts the referee. This will set up a rematch at WrestleMania where Cena will most likely go over.
Result: Rusev via pinfall
Nikki Bella (Divas Champion) vs. Paige
Paige is the most popular diva in the entire company by far right now. They are going to want her to capture the title at WrestleMania. Nikki wins with help from her sister before dropping the title to Paige next month.
– Batista has signed on to appear in the new Highlander movie. He will play the role of The Kurgan. The synopsis for the 1986 version of highlander reads, “An immortal Scottish swordsman must confront the last of his immortal opponent, a murderously brutal barbarian who lusts for the fabled ‘Prize.'”
– AAA star Myzteziz (the original Sin Cara)will be using the Sin Cara name at a March 5th AAA event in Aguascalientes. He will be working a ladder match against Tigre Uno, Averno and Wagner Jr.
– After exchanging trash talk with The Daily Show host Jon Stewart, Rollins has invited Stewart to appear at Sunday’s WWE Fastlane PPV.
– As noted earlier today, comedian and host of “The Daily Show,” Jon Stewart responded to Seth Rollins’ comments about him from Monday’s RAW in a new video posted online. Rollins posted the following tweet shortly after the video was posted on TMZ:
The Daily Show host Jon Stewart has fired back at WWE Superstar Seth Rollins, who suggested that he should take over for Stewart when he steps down later this year, since Stewart makes the show “unwatchable.”
Stewart, who is a big WWE fan and occasionally references WWE on his show, released a video responding to Mr. Money In The Bank.
Stewart says Rollins screwed up when he turned his Shield brothers and aligned himself with The Authority, but slandering The Daily Show was the biggest mistake of his life.
– Toronto Blue Jays MLB players Marcus Stroman and Aaron Sanchez were among those that Roman Reigns was taking pictures with in the crowd during Daniel Bryan’s match on this past Monday’s RAW.
– There’s talk within WWE right now of pairing NXT Diva Zahra Schreiber with Baron Corbin because they both have a lot of tattoos. Zahra is the same NXT Diva who was involved in the Seth Rollins nude photo controversy last week.
– Below are some recent WWE attendance figures:
February 12th in Abu Dhabi drew 5,000 fans
February 13th in Abu Dhabi drew 4,700 fans
February 14th in Abu Dhabi drew 4,500 fans
February 14th in Tampa drew 7,000 fans
February 15th in Ft. Myers drew 4,500 fans
February 13th in Ft. Pierce for NXT drew 530 fans
February 16th in Orlando for RAW drew a sellout of just over 12,000 fans
February 17th in Ft. Lauderdale for SmackDown drew 8,000 fans
As the entire northeast freezes under a mountain of snow, the WWE decided to dip down to Orlando in an attempt to heat things up heading into Sunday’s Fastlane pay-per-view. The show featured eight matches, as well as appearances from Ric Flair and Dusty Rhodes. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from this week’s episode of Raw.
Pros
Seth Rollins vs. Dolph Ziggler was pure gold. Before the match, the two engaged in a hilarious back and forth, with Rollins laying down some burnsauce by telling Ziggler: “I know you fancy yourself a comedian but the only thing funny about you is that joke you call a career.” It was also hilarious to hear Ziggler question whether J&J getting him the wrong chocolates ruined his Valentine’s Day. Something tells me his Valentine’s Day was ruined for other reasons… As for the match, it was fast paced, full of spots, and exactly what you’d expect from two of the best workers in the business. Other than the J&J interference and non-finish, this was pretty much perfect on every level. I suspect a match between these two will be added to Fastlane after Smackdown. Here’s to hoping they give these guys 15 minutes and let them tear the house down. Highlight of the night by far.
I enjoyed the Dusty Rhodes backstage segments. The match between the New Day and Gold and Stardust was also nice, as it served as a nice juxtaposition between the brawling opening contest between Ambrose and Harper. Following the match, Stardust attacked his brother and called Dusty a “polka-dotted freak of a father.” I’ll admit, they’ve dragged this out forever and I wasn’t too excited at first, but I’m now getting into it.
Roman Reigns was the man last night. He sounded like a completely different person during his backstage interview before his match with Kane. His calm, confident, and collected demeanor is a stark contrast from the nervous guy we saw out there a few weeks ago talking about beanstalks while stumbing over every other word. His match with Kane was actually decent too, with Reigns winning via countout after hitting a big Spear. Daniel Bryan was on commentary during the match, with he and Reigns playing off of one another very well. It was also humorous to hear Michael Cole state: “Daniel Bryan is trying to steal Roman Reigns’ thunder. Roman Reigns just beat Kane, guys!” That means about as much as beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2015.
For a comedy segment, the Paige bit was actually hilarious. The outfit was funny, it actually served some sort of purpose in furthering her feud with Nikki Bella, the fans seemed to be enjoying it, and the match with Summer Rae was good for the time they were given.
The Dean Ambrose “weekend update” promo, where the Lunatic Fringe was parked at a desk looking like a shady used car dealer, was also entertaining. His match with Luke Harper featuring some nice, brawling action and was a good opening contest. JBL’s “we’ve got an air psycho” line had me cracking up, and his plot to force Barrett to sign the contract for Sunday was perfect. Nobody in the midcard deserves the IC Title more than Ambrose, and it looks like he’s going to find a way to capture the gold on Sunday.
Bray Wyatt’s promos are starting to become a bit repetitive, but I still enjoyed his work this week. He once again attacked the Undertaker, stating: “You’re an empty shell, and any fear that I once of you has turned into nothing more than putrid, hateful pity.” I can’t wait to see this program.
– Indy wrestlers Mia Yim and Leva Bates (NXT performer “Blue Pants”) worked as Rosebuds on Monday’s RAW.
– John Laurinaitis was backstage a last night’s RAW from Orlando. He was also on WWE’s recent tour of Abu Dhabi.
– After Titus O’Neil reunited with Darren Young on RAW, Heath Slater said he’s going to start focusing on himself, since he’s apparently no longer teaming with Titus.
I'm going to start focusing on ME!!! I'm better on my own… It's about time I get what I deserve… #MyTime
– The next episode of WWE Countdown premieres this Tuesday on the WWE Network and will look at the Top 10 most epic SmackDown moments of all-time.
– It appears that things are civil between Seth Rollins and NXT Diva Zahra Schreiber after their nude photos were leaked online last week. Zahra “favorited” a tweet from Rollins over the weekend about watching a movie while he was on tour in Abu Dhabi.
– Seth Rollins spoke about being in the ring with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar during the WWE press conference in Abu Dhabi on Thursday morning. Rollins stated the following:
“I have watched Brock Lesnar for a really long time and I thought I knew how strong he was, I thought I knew how fast he was. Being in the ring with him, he is a completely different animal. He is a beast. They call him the Beast Incarnate and that is real. Whether you are in the Octagon with him trading fists, or in the ring trading German suplexes it is on another level. It was a pleasure and I am glad I got to be in the ring with him and i think I proved to the entire world I can hang with the guy.”
– Finn Balor, who defeated Adrian Neville to become the new number one contender to the NXT Championship at last night’s NXT TakeOver: Rival special, posted the following photos of his body paint on Twitter.
It was reported on Tuesday that there has been no heat from WWE management directed towards Seth Rollins for his recent nude photo leak on social media, as WWE believed that Rollins’ accounts were legitimately hacked. Despite the fact that there is said to be no heat on Rollins, the WWE Superstar has reportedly faced repercussions as a result of the incident.
According to Reddit user MetsFan4Ever, who has broken multiple WWE stories in the past, there is talk of Rollins being fined a small amount of money because of the feeling that while the leak was likely a mistake on his part, he originally leaked the initial photo himself.
Triple H was said to be against fining Rollins in any form, however Vince McMahon felt someone needs to be held responsible and because he can’t punish any of the women involved, it has to be Rollins that bites the bullet.
Many within WWE have been under the impression that Rollins would cash in his Money In The Bank briefcase in June and become WWE World Heavyweight Champion, however now many are of the opinion that he won’t be champion any time soon.
The Rollins story received a lot of mainstream media coverage, however WWE officials were said to be particularly upset that Elvis Duran spoke about the topic for about 15 minutes on his morning radio show, which is a nationally syndicated show and one of the most-listened to programs in all of New York City.
In addition to the memo that we reported about being sent to all WWE talents after RAW telling them not to speak about the issue publicly, WWE also held a “social media etiquette” meeting in Dayton, Ohio at the WWE TV tapings on Tuesday night, as well as at company headquarters in Stamford. Talents were told to immediately remove any photos from their phones that would be considered risky.
WWE COO Triple H took part in a media conference call on Tuesday morning to promote Wednesday’s NXT TakeOver: Rival live special on the WWE Network. During the call, Triple H commented on the Seth Rollins hacking situation.
Triple H said that Rollins (real name Colby Lopez) apologized and called it an “unfortunate personal situation.”
“Colby has issued an apology to his family and friends. This is an unfortunate personal incident and that’s really all it is.”
Click here for more on the backstage reaction to hack and how WWE talent was told to handle it.
Triple H added that he hopes to have NXT touring regularly by the end of the year. They plan to run smaller buildings across the country. NXT’s first live events out of Florida will take place next month, with two events taking place in Ohio. He said:
“We’ve grown the brand enough now that I believe that going outside of the (Florida) region is the thing to do. My goal by the end of 2015, going into 2016 is have this be a completely touring brand no different than the main roster.”
He continued, “It will be in smaller venues, but a complete touring roster that gets them working every single weekend because that’s how you get better at doing this live in front of the world,” Hunter said.”
Triple H said NXT going on the road does not change the main purpose of the brand, which is to prepare talent for the main roster. It’s important for the talent to work in front of different crowds and learn how to work “on the fly.”
“I think it’s no different than a AAA baseball team – the goal is still to get up the bigs. The importance for me about the touring component is it just gives them an opportunity to work and not in front of the same crowds every week. It gives them the opportunity to fully tour,” Hunter said.
“And I think we’ve created a brand that is successful enough to take it around to a lot of different markets. We have a lot of interest in ‘bought shows’ where people are bringing us in and then we will also tour on our own.”
On Monday night during RAW, Seth Rollins’ social media accounts were hacked, posting a nude photo of NXT Diva Zahra Schreiber. The photo also appeared on WWE.com for several hours, since WWE embeds social media feeds on the Superstar and Diva pages. Shortly after that hack, Rollins’ fiancee Leighla Schultz tweeted two full-frontal nude photos of Rollins with a reference to Zahra Schreiber.
The backstage reaction to the situation is that there will be no heat on Rollins for the incident. WWE officials believe that Rollins’ social media accounts were “obviously” hacked and that he’s a victim in the situation.
WWE sent out a memo to the roster after RAW requesting they do not discuss or make reference to the situation publicly, because doing so would be “insensitive” to Rollins.
(Information from PWInsider.com was used in this report)
His official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts posted a naked photo of an NXT Diva. His fiancee’s Twitter account posted two full frontal nude photos of Rollins, with references to the NXT Diva.
Warning: The above audio contains explicit language.
A WWE fan named Lindsey claims she’s been carrying on a ‘sexting’ relationship with WWE Superstar Seth Rollins – and even met him at a recent WWE live event. Lindsey recently called in to the “Asked with Riv & Landin” podcast and talked about her illicit relationship with Rollins, who has been engaged to Leighla Schultz.
On Monday night as everything was going down with the Seth Rollins social media hack and Schultz tweeting explicit photos of Rollins, Leighla and Lindsey had the following interaction on Facebook:
Seth Rollins’ fiancée Leighla Schultz tweeted out nude photos of Rollins on Monday night in response to Rollins’ social media accounts sending out a nude photo of an NXT Diva. She captioned the photos with, “Zahra??” Her tweet has since been deleted.
A fan tweeted Leighla saying that it wasn’t her who posted the nude photos of Rollins, since she rarely uses Twitter. She responded:
Seth Rollins’ social media accounts were apparently hacked on Monday night.
Rollins’ official Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts posted a nude photo of young woman with the caption, “Zahra Schreiber” – a developmental talent at NXT.
The photos have since been removed but are still circulating on social media. A of this writing, neither Rollins nor Schreiber have commented on the situation.
– WWE has been nominated for a “Best Brand on Twitter” Firestarter Awards. Other nominees in the Best Brand On Twitter category include Home Goods, Arby’s, The Culinary Institute of America and Pretzel Crisps. Fans can vote at FireBrandGroup.com.
– Tonight on RAW, WWE will announce the next member of the WWE Hall of Fame’s Class of 2015. It’s expected that the inductee will be “The Crippler” Ray Stevens. Pat Patterson has been pushing for Stevens’ induction.
– Seth Rollins wrestled Daniel Bryan in the main events of this weekend’s WWE live events. Prior to the matches, Seth Rollins cut a promo saying that he was getting a “redo” from their match on RAW (since Roman Reigns interfered) and the winner would fight Roman Reigns at Fast Lane. Bryan won each of the matches. It’s possible we’ll see this angle tonight on RAW.
We’re all familiar with the WWE. It’s the most profitable and prevalent wrestling organization in the world, and the primary focus of our coverage here at SEScoops. However, what about the rest of the wrestling world?
I decided to compile a list of 25 non-WWE wrestling matches that every fan should see. In order to qualify, each match had to meet three conditions:
An organization other than the WWE put on the match.
The full-length match is available on YouTube.
The match is something every wrestling fan should see.
The matches are listed at random and not ranked. The intention here isn’t to inspire debate regarding where a match should be placed on the list, but simply to provide fans with the opportunity to catch up on some classic matches they may have missed over the past few years. Already seen every match on the list? Relive your favorite moments again. Never seen a single one of the matches? You’ve got hours of material at your disposal, so sit back and enjoy.
25. Hiroshi Tanahashi vs. Kazuchika Okada (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 9)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xy7KkH7NdY
24. Bryan Danielson (Daniel Bryan) vs. Jushin Thunder Liger (Ring of Honor Weekend of Thunder 2004)
23. Prince Devitt (Finn Balor) vs. Davey Richards (NJPW Circuit 2010 New Japan Alive)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HXyAM9-9gHc
22. Ricochet vs. Kyle O’Reilly (IPW 10th Annual Super Junior Heavyweight Tournament)
21. The American Wolves vs. The Briscoe Brothers (Indypendence Day 2008)