As seen on Monday’s post-SummerSlam edition of RAW, legendary tag-team The Dudley Boyz made their WWE return, taking out WWE Tag-Team Champions The New Day.
The Dudley Boyz are now back full-time with WWE, and will be going on the road with the company for pay-per-views, television and live events. There’s talk that both Bubba Ray Dudley and Devon Dudley have signed multi-year deals with WWE, however that has not been confirmed as of this writing.
The Dudleyz were kept hidden before coming out on RAW on Monday night, as practically nobody knew they were there until they came to “Gorilla Position” before going out to the ring. Top WWE officials were obviously aware of the fact that they were back, as they had pyro, music and new merchandise ready.
It appears that The Dudley Boyz will be facing The New Day, and possibly The Prime Time Players, who they squared off with on RAW as well, at the September 20th Night Of Champions pay-per-view.
– The New Day won the Fatal Four-Way WWE Tag-Team Championship match at WWE SummerSlam on Sunday night, defeating The Prime Time Players, The Lucha Dragons and Los Matadores to become the new WWE Tag-Team Champions.
– “Arrow” actor Stephen Amell won his in-ring WWE debut at SummerSlam, defeating King Barrett and Stardust with his tag-team partner, Neville. The finish of the match saw Neville hit the Red Arrow for the pinfall victory. Amell actually did a pretty good job of executing some cool moves during the match.
– Seth Rollins debuted new, all-white ring gear in his “Title vs. Title — Winner Take All” match against John Cena at SummerSlam. Rollins would go on to win the match with help from Jon Stewart, who hit Cena with a chair and set up the chair for Rollins to Pedigree Cena on, making himself the new WWE World Heavyweight Champion and the new WWE United States Champion. Below is a photo of Rollins’ new ring gear.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is in town for WWE SummerSlam weekend. Flair is there primarily to watch his daughter Charlotte wrestle at SummerSlam, and apparently other members of the Flair family are also in town for the show. Former WCW star David Flair is among those from the Flair family that made the trip.
– WWE taped the following matches for tonight’s edition of WWE SmackDown:
* Ryback vs. Big Show
* The New Day vs. Los Matadores and El Torito
* Neville vs. Bo Dallas
* Brie Bella vs. Sasha Banks vs. Becky Lynch
* Randy Orton, Dean Ambrose, Roman Reigns and Cesaro vs. Sheamus, Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper and Kevin Owens
– WWE posted the following video of Triple H looking at the new Ultimate Warrior book, “Ultimate Warrior: A Life Lived Forever.”
The New Day — Big E., Kofi Kingston and Xavier Woods — recently appeared together as guests on Chris Jericho’s “Talk Is Jericho” podcast. During their appearance on the show, a lot of behind-the-scenes information about Vince McMahon’s plans for the group and his reaction when those plans didn’t go as he expected them to are covered.
The following are some highlights and notes from their appearance on the show.
On how the idea for The New Day began: “So I’m working on that character, trying to get something going and then I’m kind of realizing that, ‘oh, [Big] E’s not doing anything, he’s kind of coming off his I.C. title run and starting to float, so, you know what? I like E, he’s one of my good friends, lets see if we can merge him into this,’ said Xavier Woods. “So we kind of start working on something, literally weeks at a time, and we’re going into pre-tapes, filming things, pitching ideas and then we’re thinking, ‘something is missing from this, like, we need one more thing.’
“That’s when we kind of thought, ‘maybe Kofi’, but it was kind of a heel thing. We’re thinking, ‘Kofi has never been a heel – I don’t know if [WWE] would let him turn heel’. After talking about it for a while, we kind of approached them with what we wanted to do and rather than being this group that everyone thought it was going to be, like three angry black guys, it’s like, ‘no, it’s three guys who come up from kind of the same background, that just want more from life, more from their jobs, more from their friends, more from everything around them’. So we tried to take that mentality and get it across TV as best we could and we did.”
On WWE taking The New Day off of TV immediately after forming the group: “We got taken off [TV] and then we basically had to reevaluate and come up with something different,” Kofi Kingston said. “We were told we needed to go in a kind of positive, uplifting type of direction and we would be going into Vince [McMahon’s] office, pretty much every week for probably months.”
On Vince McMahon changing the idea to a preacher gimmick, and their reaction: “We kind of got frustrated too and then we didn’t go back to his office for a little while and then he called us back in, like, a few weeks later, and he’s like, ‘you know, guys, it [has] taken me a long time to come up with this, but I think I got it: I want you guys to be preachers’ and all three of us are like, ‘oh my god,'” said Kingston.
Kofi would go on to explain that the preacher gimmick was the exact opposite of what they wanted to do, however Big E. saw it as an opportunity. The trio then decided collectively that if they were super over-the-top with the gimmick, it would become a heel stable, which is basically what happened.
From there, Kingston claimed McMahon told him he felt The New Day preacher characters would be “the greatest babyface thing ever.” Woods noted that McMahon looked visibly emotional when talking about the group failing to get over as a babyface faction.
You can listen to the complete interview at PodcastOne.com.
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross recently updated the official Q&A section of his official website, JRsBarBQ.com. Below are some of the highlights.
On The New Day: “Very entertaining trio and I feel that they will soon be getting cheered. Good guys nonetheless who I wish the best for whether heel or face.”
On what makes a good “monster heel” in wrestling: “Even good, monster heels have to have an element of cowardice and bullyism to them. Pius, they have to cheat or tey are not a monster ‘heel.'”
On when The Undertaker should retire: “Time will tell, right? I’m for Taker staying as long as he chooses.”
On how painful Stephanie McMahon’s slaps are: “Steph is strong and she lays it in. Felt real to me.”
You can order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
On Monday’s edition of WWE RAW in San Jose, California, a big match was announced for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
In a six-man tag-team match that will be taped on Tuesday night, The New Day — Big E., Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods — will be taking on the trio of Mark Henry and the WWE Tag-Team Champions, The Prime Time Players — Titus O’Neil and Darren Young.
Make sure to visit SEScoops.com on Tuesday night for live WWE SmackDown spoiler play-by-play results coverage.
WWE taped the following matches on Tuesday night in Tulsa, Oklahoma for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
– Seth Rollins kicks off this week’s show by coming out to the ring. He talks about John Cena and what happened on Monday’s RAW. Eventually, Rollins is interrupted by Cesaro. Cesaro comes out for our first match of the evening.
– Cesaro def. Seth Rollins via Disqualification in the first match taped for this week’s SmackDown. Kevin Owens joined the gang on commentary during this match and became involved in the finish, which saw Owens attack Cesaro for the DQ. Rollins teased a showdown with Owens but they ended up double-teaming Cesaro instead.
– Los Matadores & The Lucha Dragons def. The New Day & The Ascension in eight-man tag-team action in the second match taped for this week’s edition of WWE SmackDown.
– Summer Rae and Rusev come out for a promo segment in the ring. They address what went down on Monday with Lana and the dead fish at RAW.
– Rusev def. Jack Swagger in the third match taped for SmackDown. Swagger got a big hometown pop since he is from Oklahoma. After the match, which Rusev won, he tried to attack Swagger some more, however Swagger ended up countering him and applying the Patriot Lock.
– Stardust def. R-Truth in the fourth match taped for this week’s SmackDown. Stardust was cutting a promo in the ring after the match when Neville ran out and attacked him.
– Cesaro & Dean Ambrose def. Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins in the fifth and final match taped for this week’s show. Cesaro picked Ambrose as his mystery partner. The finish of this match saw Ambrose counter a Pop-Up Powerbomb attempt by Owens, which allowed Cesaro to roll Owens up for the 1-2-3. This is how SmackDown will go off the air this week.
– After posting a tweet on Monday claiming the entire roster was scheduled to appear on stage for the opening of WWE RAW, The New Day’s Xavier Woods later corrected himself, referring to the incorrect post as a “tweet mulligan.” Woods tweeted the following:
– Speaking of Monday’s RAW, live correspondents have informed us that security was confiscating any signs related to the Hulk Hogan incident from fans inside the arena in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
The entire WWE roster will be gathered on stage for the opening segment of tonight’s edition of WWE RAW in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, likely for a promo segment involving The Authority — Triple H and Stephanie McMahon.
The New Day’s Xavier Woods tweeted the following about tonight’s RAW segment:
So apparently #TheNewDay and the rest of the roster has to be on the ramp at the beginning or #Raw tonight… No clue what's going on.
– WWE is scheduled to release their “Beast In The East” WWE Network special from Japan on DVD and Blu-ray in the United Kingdom and Australia on October 5th. In addition to the matches that aired on the WWE Network live special, the DVD will also feature the dark matches, which included Cesaro vs. Diego and The New Day vs. The Lucha Dragons.
– WWE Hall Of Famer Ric Flair is scheduled to make an appearance for Top Rope Promotions at their Summer Showdown 2015 event on July 31st. For more information, visit Facebook.com/TopRopePromotions.
– John Laurinaitis posted the following photo on social media that features Irish WWE performers Becky Lynch, Sheamus and Fit Finlay.
WWE taped the following matches prior to last night’s SmackDown television taping in Lincoln, Nebraska for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event.
– R-Truth defeated Bo Dallas in the first match taped for this week’s WWE Main Event. The finish saw Truth roll-up Dallas while Dallas was playing to the crowd. Apparently the fans were into hating Dallas in Lincoln.
– Some video replays are shown highlighting some of the action on this week’s post-Battleground edition of WWE RAW.
– JoJo interviews The Lucha Dragons backstage. The Lucha Dragons, who are scheduled to face Big E. and Kofi Kingston during tonight’s Main Event, focus their promo on The New Day.
– Big E. & Kofi Kingston defeated The Lucha Dragons in tag-team action. Again, the crowd was into hating on The New Day members, and were strongly into the high-spots that Sin Cara and Kalisto did in the match.
– The Prime Time Players defeated The Ascension in tag-team action. This served as the headline bout of this week’s edition of WWE Main Event, which the WWE Tag-Team Champions won via clean pinfall to end the taping.
Following Monday’s edition of WWE RAW from Indianapolis, Indiana, several new matches were made official for the upcoming WWE Battleground pay-per-view event.
Below is an updated look at the official lineup for WWE Battleground 2015:
WWE World Heavyweight Title
– Seth Rollins (c) vs. Brock Lesnar
WWE United States Title
– John Cena (c) vs. Kevin Owens
WWE Intercontinental Title
– Ryback (c) vs. Big Show vs. The Miz
WWE Tag-Team Titles
– The Prime Time Players (c) vs. The New Day
– Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt
WWE Battleground takes place on Sunday, July 19, 2015, live from the Scottrade Center in St. Louis, Missouri. Make sure to join us here at SEScoops.com on 7/19 for the best WWE Battleground live results coverage on the web!
As announced on this week’s edition of NXT TV, WWE will be holding a live WWE Network special from Sumo Hall in Tokyo, Japan on July 4th. Below is the full lineup for the show.
– Brock Lesnar vs. Kofi Kingston
– John Cena & Dolph Ziggler vs. Kane & King Barrett
– Kevin Owens vs. Finn Balor (NXT Title)
– Chris Jericho vs. Neville
– The New Day vs. Tyson Kidd & Cesaro*
– Nikki Bella vs. Paige vs. Naomi (WWE Divas Title)
– The Lucha Dragons vs. Los Matadores
* – Tyson Kidd may be pulled from this match due to injury.
WWE taped the following matches for this week’s edition of WWE Main Event prior to taping WWE SmackDown on Tuesday night in Norfolk, Virginia.
– Luke Harper & Erick Rowan def. Zack Ryder & Fandango in tag-team action to kick off the show. This was said to be a pretty basic tag-team opener.
– Bo Dallas def. Jack Swagger in a singles match to follow up. The crowd had a good time ragging on Dallas throughout this one.
– Alicia Fox def. Summer Rae in Divas action. This was said to be the same as any other Diva match you’ll see. The crowd wasn’t super-into this one.
– The New Day def. The Prime Time Players in tag-team action to close out the taping. The crowd did the New Day-sucks chant many times during this match.
– WWE announced during the Payback pay-per-view on Sunday night that The New Day will be defending the WWE Tag-Team Championship in the first-ever Tag-Team Title Elimination Chamber match.
– Also announced for the Elimination Chamber, which takes place in two weeks, is an Elimination Chamber match for the vacant WWE Intercontinental Championship.
New Day member Xavier Woods recently spoke with the PodNasty Wrestling Podcast about the recent E:60 feature he was a big part of it, as well as changes to his gimmicks over the years. Below are some highlights from the interview.
On why the militant stable was dropped: “Wrestling is a never-ending storybook so sometimes you start going one direction, but the beauty of it is we could go in whatever direct we want but things just changed. For what reason, I’m not exactly sure, but it’s WWE and you kind of just go with the flow.
“It ’s one of the things you learn when you get hired is it is an ever-changing and ever-evolving living breathing workism, so the best way to stay afloat is to just go along with the things that are occurring around you.”
?“I’m not sure why things changed, but in light of recent developments of New Day it’s great that they did because to me rather than someone just coming out and the character just being there, it’s nice to be able to see that character evolve over time.”
On why he thought The New Day would succeed as babyfaces: “We had a couple of different schools of thoughts. We thought this would occur, that people would be into it, because it’s maybe one of the only positive things on television, because you turn on the news and there’s death, murder, car crashes and everything,” said Woods.
“Here’s a positive thing with three guys, all college educated, all college athletes, all very eloquent so we’ll preach a positive message like ‘do well in life and go to school, make sure you work out you could be big and strong like E, make sure if you stretch a lot you can be flexible and agile like Kofi and make sure if you read your books you could be smart like Woods.’”
“And then we realized after a few months it turned into ‘people don’t like those who are happy.’
“So it’s kind of like a play on society, essentially, people of American society. Back in the 80s, if someone’s happy, someone’s doing well, someone’s getting hardships, you cheered for that person,” said Woods.
“But now it’s 2015, and they don’t like that. They want someone who’s grimy and who doesn’t like people and who doesn’t smile and isn’t happy and wants to punt a puppy across a football field. If that happened, people would be watching and it would get 3 million views on YouTube because it’s something that’s horrible so essentially society has created this thing where people like to see car wrecks, and they want to see a hot mess and they want to see a fall from grace. So if you don’t have those things people are going to boo you because that’s not entertaining to them, they want to see a mess, they want to see somebody fall on the sidewalk and bust their lip on the ground. They don’t like nice things.”
On why he’d choose a PhD over a WWE World Heavyweight Championship: “I feel like we have the opportunity as WWE Superstars to make some sort of impact on lives whether it’s one kid or whether it’s an adult,” said Woods.”
“Yes, guys have been WWE World Heavyweight champion, and it’s amazing, I take nothing from that at all. But if there’s a kid who’s out there in the world watching wrestling and they see me and they know I have my PhD while I was wrestling, that could possibly inspire them to not drop out of school, to not drop out of college, to go and obtain that type of educational status, and that to me means a lot more.”
WWE Hall Of Famer Jim Ross updated his official website blog on Tuesday afternoon, posting a number of thoughts on Monday’s edition of WWE RAW. Below are some highlights.
On Dean Ambrose: “I like the fact that Dean Ambrose returns to more relevancy as he’s now in the main event of Payback along with Seth Rollins, Randy Orton and Roman Reigns in a WWE Title bout that will feature the three former members of The Shield which speaks well to the productivity of WWE NXT. I’d love to see this be an elimination rules four way but it’s likely to be a traditional Fatal Four Way where the first man to score a pin or submission is declared the winner which means that the WWE Title holder has no championship advantage and cannot retain the title via disqualification or count out. These bouts can be feast or famine but have the potential to provide adequate drama in the expected Payback show closer.”
On The New Day: “Hopeful that New Day really studies some of the great wresting villain groups IE the Freebirds and others to ?begin to acquire the traits that will propel them to the next level. Opportunity is here for these three and with out of ring preparation and study they can become much more valuable to WWE as they are already easy to dislike which bodes well for antagonists. I’m much more encouraged by their current positioning than them being fan favorites but they n eed to learn a variety of villain nuances.”
On Lana’s rumored push: “Curious to see how this Lana/Rusev business plays out. Lana has ‘it’ and may end up being a bigger star than Rusev as stranger things have happened….see Sable and Marc Mero. I still like Rusev’s upside no matter his present creative role.”
On Bret Hart and Sami Zayn: “Thought the utilization of Bret Hart in Montreal was spot on as he gave Sami Zayn a magnificent “rub.” Zayn and John Cena had an excellent presentation that the fans genuinely cared about and it seemingly suspended the audience’s disbelief and the fans emotionally invested in their home towner who made his RAW debut. It played well on TV. Good booking.”
Check out the complete blog at JRsBarBQ.com. You can also order JR’s Bar-B-Q products online at WWEShop.com.
Raw crossed the border into Canada this week as Payback rapidly approaches. Ambrose found a way to sneak into the main event, Ryback and Bray Wyatt continued their feud, and John Cena issued his most epic open challenge to date. Here are the pros and cons from this week’s episode of Raw.
Pros
Randy Orton opened the show by discussing the upcoming Payback pay-per-view. He was only a sentence or two into his soliloquy before being interrupted by Roman Reigns. The two went back and forth for a few, with Reigns saying that Orton “won’t be standing” in two weeks. Orton then read his resume, eventually asking Reigns how many times he’s been a World Heavyweight Champion. Oddly enough, the New Day then interrupted the two, as they vowed to spread the “power of positivity” due to all of the negativity in the ring. Overall, there was some humorous dialogue during the segment, it was nice to see the company booking the tag team champs with the main eventers, and it set up a handicap tag match to start the show.
The opening contest was a three-on-two handicap match between the New Day and Orton and Reigns. During the opening moments, the action was pretty slow, with the faces working over Xavier Woods before Big E came in and hit Orton with a big belly-to-belly suplex. New Day controlled the pace after that, as they isolated Orton and made quick tags. After the break, Reigns took Orton’s place in the New Day’s corner as Xavier Woods attempted to wear him down with a side headlock. Reigns finally hit up Orton with the hot tag and he hit an amazing powerslam on Kofi Kingston after he attempted to utilize a springboard. From there, New Day was getting squashed with Superman punches, DDTs, and RKOs. Reigns and Orton couldn’t keep it together though, as Reigns accidentally hit Orton with a spear and cost his team the match. This match was solid because it made the tag team champions look strong as a cohesive unit, it furthered the tension between Orton and Reigns, and was a fundamentally sound way to start the show. It also set up the main event after Kane made an appearance and announced that Orton and Reigns would compete one-on-one to close the show.
Former members of the greatest stable in recent history collided when Seth Rollins faced off with Dean Ambrose. Kane made the match and announced that if Ambrose were to be victorious, he would be added to the main event at Payback. Ambrose took control early by hitting a massive clothesline at ringside. From there, he worked the champ over while the crowd totally ate it up. Rollins eventually regained control, dominating and dictating the tempo during the middle of the match. Ambrose came back after avoiding a springboard and hitting a tornado DDT. The Lunatic Fringe hit Rollins with a series of clotheslines before executing a bulldog and going into Air Lunatic mode by diving to the floor through the middle ropes. Both guys were able to taste victory with near falls before Rollins destroyed Ambrose with a brutal powerbomb into the barricade. In the end, Ambrose was seconds away from hitting Dirty Deeds before J&J interfered, but it wouldn’t matter as Ambrose would dispose of the goons, roll up Rollins for the win, and secure his spot in the main event at Payback. Awesome match and angle by having all three members of the Shield battle for the title.
King Barrett had a coronation ceremony of sorts after cutting a promo and declaring, “All Hail King Barrett.” No matter how many times they reboot this guy, he makes every gimmick work. He teamed with Sheamus in a tag team match against Neville and Dolph Ziggler. Barrett and Ziggler started the match, with the King pummeling the Show Off with clubbing blows and kicks to the midsection. The action would go to commercial rather quickly after Ziggler took control and sent Barrett sailing to the floor. Sheamus took control during the break and had Ziggler in a headlock after the action returned from break. Ziggler tried to mount a rally but got hit with a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Neville and Barrett would both be the recipient of tags, with Neville flying all over the place and dominating Barrett for the most part during a fast-paced frenzy. He wanted the Red Arrow, but Sheamus would distract Neville and allow Barrett to hit the Bull Hammer for the victory.
John Cena cut a passionate promo discussing how he will never give up before issuing another open challenge. None other than Bret “Hitman” Hart answered the call. Hart sadly wasn’t there to fight, but instead to introduce a “great wrestler.” Before he could introduce anyone great, Heath Slater interrupted the legend and got laid out for his troubles. The Hitman then introduced Sami Zayn, much to the surprise of the Montreal crowd and everyone watching at home.
The action was already underway after returning from break, with Cena reeling at ringside. The doctor checked on Zayn after taking a belly-to-back suplex – a move that was obviously done to make Zayn look strong in defeat. Cena and Zayn traded punches before Cena hit three of the Five Moves of Doom before Zayn countered the Five Knuckle Shuffle into a pinning combination. Cena once again was forced to retreat, allowing Zayn to launch himself over the top rope and take out the champ on the floor. Zayn’s inexperience would show as Cena caught him slipping and locked in the STF, even though the upstart challenger would reach the ropes and lock in the Koji Clutch from out of nowhere shortly thereafter. After Cena failed to hit the AA, it became apparent that they were setting up his signature DDT through the middle ropes on the floor, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. After a bit of hesitation, Cena connected with an AA, but Zayn would kick out at two as the crowd cheered. Zayn would eventually succumb to Cena, however, after the champ hit his springboard stunner and another AA. This featured so many memorable spots, the in-ring psychology was great, and it put Zayn over as a worthy competitor even in defeat as he prepares to become a permanent main roster fixture in the near future. Match of the Night, and probably one of the best matches of the year as well.
Ryback’s program with Bray Wyatt continued as he joined Renee Young for an interview. The crowd was dead at first and mostly chanted “Goldberg.” He at least made a good point with the Goldberg chants when he said, “If you ignore it, you just keep doing it.” The Big Guy talked about the adversities he’s faced in his career while talking some smack on Wyatt, eventually winning the crowd back as they joined him in a “Feed Me More” chant. The New Face of Fear then appeared on the big screen and cut a promo saying that Ryback will soon fade away. The segment wasn’t anything special, but both guys cut articulate promos and it advanced their feud, so it’s hard to consider it anything but a positive.
The main event competitors weren’t even making their way to the ring until 11 o’clock, so it was obvious this was going to be very short. Rollins and associates would quickly make their way to ringside and announce their various roles in the match. Orton went for an RKO within seconds but Reigns would avoid the attack. The action was brawling in nature, with few wrestling moves being utilized throughout the match. Rollins guested on commentary during the match and was pretty humorous. When Rollins joined the Authority last summer, he lacked confidence on the mic and some questioned whether he could be a solo star. He’s certainly proven all of the haters wrong over the past year. This would of course end in disqualification after Kane interfered and attacked Roman Reigns before the entire Authority went after Orton. Reigns would dive over the top rope and take them out before being sent into the ring post by Rollins. They isolated Orton and had the upper hand on both Orton and Reigns before Ambrose arrived to make the save. Rollins would take a spear, Reigns would fall victim to an RKO, and Ambrose would be the last man standing after taking out Orton with Dirty Deeds. The wrestling match itself wasn’t that great, but it was a solid way to end the show, put over the fatal four way main event, and perhaps most importantly, get Dean Ambrose back into the main event picture.
– WWE announced during the Extreme Rules pay-per-view on Sunday that at the upcoming Payback pay-per-view on May 17th there will be an “I Quit” match between WWE United States Champion John Cena and Rusev. Lana noted that this will be the final chapter in the Cena-Rusev feud.
– WWE announced an attendance of 14,197 for last night’s Extreme Rules pay-per-view, which took place at the Allstate Arena in Chicago, Illinois.
– Kofi Kingston posted the following photo of The New Day celebrating with their new WWE Tag-Team Championships backstage at the Extreme Rules pay-per-view last night.
Extreme Rules has come and gone, and fans were treated to a cage match, a sprawling Chicago street fight, and even some good old fashioned arse kissing. Without further ado, here are the pros and cons from Extreme Rules 2015.
Pros
If we are being completely honest, there wasn’t a lot to choose from tonight in terms of positives. If forced to choose a Match of the Night, it would have to be Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper in a Chicago Street Fight. The action was stiff and sprawling, with Ambrose beating Harper senseless with a kendo stick to start the match before Harper turned the tables and suplexed the Lunatic Fringe through a chair. After receiving a snake eyes into a chair propped up in the corner, Ambrose regained momentum after hitting an awesome clothesline from the apron. The backstage segments were refreshing, and it was nice to see this one continue later in the night. After two matches, the competitors returned in their car and interrupted the New Day’s victory celebration, with the action once again returning to the ring. From there, Harper buried Ambrose under a pile of chairs, but it would ultimately backfire, as Ambrose would suplex Harper onto the chairs and hit Dirty Deeds for the win. Overall, these two had great chemistry, Ambrose provided some humor, and it was a creative way to start the show.
The tag team match was definitely a treat tonight. As always, Kidd and Cesaro went together like peanut butter and jelly, teaming up for multiple combination moves throughout the match. Cesaro was the clear star of this one, displaying his strength by catching Big E in midcard and slamming him to the canvas. Just as it looked as if the champs would retain their titles, Xavier Woods distracted the referee and allowed for Kofi Kingston to grab the roll-up victory. Putting the titles on the New Day isn’t going to have anyone jumping for joy, but it will be nice to see Kidd and Cesaro chase the titles as babyfaces. Fans should be looking forward to these two competing again in the future, as they told a great story, pulled off a number of impressive spots, and the end sequence was believable.
It was announced that the King of the Ring would return on Tuesday night as a WWE Network exclusive. That’s sounds like something that is best for business.
Finally, the main event was sort of barely snuck its way into the pros column. These two ring technicians displayed solid fundamentals to start the match while Seth tried to sneak his way out of the cage. Rollins eventually took control after hitting the sling blade as both guys attempted to utilize the cage as a weapon early on. One positive in this match was that they were given sufficient time before the inevitable outside interference occurred, and seeing Orton hit a Pedigree was a nice change of pace. In the end, Kane of course interfered and helped Rollins retain the title after Seth hit Orton with an RKO. The commentators stupidly discussed whether Rollins was permitted to use the banned move after the match, as if it even mattered because the only two options were a win for Rollins or a disqualification victory for Orton – either instance resulting in Rollins keeping his title. Overall, this was your typical BS cage match, but it was one of the few highlights during an otherwise uneventful night, so here we are.
The WWE Universe will get its annual dose of extreme this Sunday at Extreme Rules. Every major title is scheduled to be defended, and nearly every match on the card features some sort of stipulation. Here are my predictions for this Sunday’s pay-per-view.
Tyson Kidd & Cesaro (Tag Team Champions) vs. The New Day (Pre-Show Match)
The New Day sucks, plain and simple. They belong on the pre-show, and there’s absolutely no way they capture the titles on Sunday. Kidd and Cesaro continue their run as champions after picking up the victory. I do not think they will do so via pinfall or submission, however. I believe the New Day will be on the verge of defeat, leading to Xavier Woods interfering in the match and the New Day viciously attacking the champs. This would further solidify them as heels, while also starting a face turn for the champions by building fan sympathy.
Winners: Kidd & Cesaro by disqualification
Dean Ambrose vs. Luke Harper (Chicago Street Fight)
This has the potential to be one of the better matches of the night. Expect the action to sprawl all over the area in something resembling a hardcore match from the Attitude Era, with multiple weapons being utilized along the way. In the end, Ambrose will find a way to win after incapacitating his opponent with Dirty Deeds, hopefully leading to a push where he goes after the Intercontinental Championship now that it appears Daniel Bryan will be on the shelf for a while.
Winner: Dean Ambrose by pinfall
Daniel Bryan (Intercontinental Champion) vs. Bad News Barrett
Bryan is injured and will not be competing on Sunday. That’s basically a guarantee. WWE is essentially engaging in false advertising by not announcing that this match will no longer take place. Expect some sort of backstage segment during the show where Bryan is attacked to write him out of the storyline.
Ring Of Honor performer Cedric Alexander recently spoke with the folks at the Jobbing Out podcast and had some interesting comments to make regarding The New Day faction in WWE.
“This opens up a whole different can of worms here, because everyone I know watching WWE is offended by The New Day,” said Alexander. “Extremely offended because of the whole racial thing. It’s like, `oh, we’re three black guys, we’ll sing, we’ll dance. You’ve got Kofi Kingston, who is a phenomenal athlete. Big E Langston is a gigantic, threatening man and Xavier Woods is extremely intelligent. So why make them sing and dance when they obviously can be more serious, I guess.”
Alexander continued, “When they first started this thing, it was like two or three weeks that they did it where Xavier would come out and be like a Malcolm X type of thing. He was preaching black power, without saying black power, which I think is fantastic because you don’t offend anyone. But when you’ve got three black guys singing and dancing, stereotypes get fed too much and I hate it.”
Original plans for the WWE Tag-Team Championship match at this Sunday’s WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view called for Tyson Kidd and Cesaro to defend the titles against The Lucha Dragons (Sin Cara and Kalisto), however that no longer appears to be the case.
Kidd and Cesaro got over so well at many of the live events during the recent WWE European tour, which has some speculating that it may have influenced some of the booking.
While it’s not clear yet whether or not Kidd and Cesaro will remain a babyface tag-team going forward, they will be working as the babyfaces against The New Day at the WWE Extreme Rules pay-per-view this Sunday.
– It was announced during Monday’s WWE Extreme Rules “go-home” edition of RAW that Kane will serve as the “gatekeeper” for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship steel cage match between Seth Rollins and Randy Orton, a match where Orton’s “RKO” finishing move is also banned per the stipulations for the bout. This basically means Kane will be in charge of the cage door, and will be somewhat of the outside-the-ring official for the match.
– The WWE Tag-Team Championships will be on the line during the WWE Extreme Rules “Kickoff Show” on the WWE Network this Sunday as well, as Tyson Kidd and Cesaro will defend the titles against The New Day.
– Finally, a WWE Divas Championship match between Nikki Bella and Naomi was made official for the Extreme Rules pay-per-view this Sunday.
Ring Of Honor wrestler Cedric Alexander recently spoke about the issue of racism in pro wrestling, citing WWE’s “New Day” faction as one of many examples he feels to be offensive and racist.
Regarding the WWE faction, Alexander said, “This opens up a whole different can of worms here, because everyone I know that watches WWE is offended by The New Day… extremely offended because of the whole racial thing.”
“It’s like, ‘oh we’re three black guys, we’ll sing, we’ll dance,” he continued. “You’ve got Kofi Kingston, who’s a phenomenal athlete, Big E Langston is a gigantic, threatening man and Xavier Woods is extremely intelligent. So why make them sing and dance when they obviously can be more… serious, I guess?”
Alexander concluded, “When they first started this thing, it was like two or three weeks that they did it where Xavier would come out and be like a Malcolm X type of thing. He was preaching black power without saying black power, which I think is fantastic because you don’t offend anyone. But when you’ve got three black guys singing and dancing, stereotypes get fed too much and I hate it.”
Check out the complete interview as part of the latest “Jobbing Out” podcast by going to GlennClarkRadio.com.
