– Air Date: October 15, 2015 (Oct 14 in Canada)
– Location: U.S. Bank Arena in Cincinnati, OH
The Big News:
In Dean Ambrose’s hometown, The New Day stood tall over Ambrose and the Dudleys.
Show Recap:
They announced two matches for tonight and Roman Reigns came out. They recapped his match with Braun Strowman on Raw, and plugged his match with Bray Wyatt at Hell in a Cell.
Roman Reigns beat Bo Dallas via pinfall
Bo Dallas said there is nothing wrong with Reigns being scared just because he is facing a man he continues to come up short against. Dallas said, unlike Roman, he survived Suplex City and Reigns would leave on a stretcher. (Bo never mentioned Bray Wyatt by name.)
Bo got some offense on Reigns which was completely unconvincing. Fortunately, Reigns turned Bo inside out with a clothesline and followed with clotheslines in the corner. Bo called for a timeout and offered a handshake. Reigns shook his hand and Bo kicked him. Reigns no-sold that and hit a Samoan Drop, superman punch and spear for the win. Besides Bo’s few moments of offense, this was fine.
After match, Reigns said Bray Wyatt calls himself the devil and Reigns believes it. I normally don’t write everything out word-for-word, but this is really what Reigns said next: “When I look into Bray Wyatt’s eyes, I see nothing but pure evil. I can see him in the depths of hell, screaming that he’s the devil!”
Reigns said he would bring the fight to the devil in the cell. He went on, “Because the only way to stop the devil, is to ride straight into hell.” This was so dumb. Bray appeared on the screen humming, “He’s got the whole world in his hands.” Bray said Reigns has his virtues, but his sins will do him in. Bray said he would deliver Reigns a prophecy on Raw. Reigns looked concerned.
King Barrett & Sheamus beat Cesaro & Neville via pinfall
Stardust and Ascension were in the front row and Stardust held up a small “Stardust Section” sign. Neville sent the bad guys to the outside and Cesaro launched him over the ropes to knock them down. Heels had the heat after a break. Booker said Sheamus was Scottish and nobody corrected him.
Neville eventually made the hot tag to Cesaro who hit Sheamus with running uppercuts and a dropkick. Cesaro took out Barrett with an uppercut on the outside and hit Sheamus with the spinning springboard uppercut for two. Cesaro went for the big swing but Sheamus brought the briefcase in the ring. As the referee tossed it out, Barrett hit the Bull Hammer from behind and Sheamus rolled up Cesaro for the win.
Backstage, Summer Rae said Monday wasn’t the first time she had to put a man in his place and it won’t be the last. Summer said, unlike some people, she can keep her personal and professional life separate. (She was talking about being referee, not posting stuff online.)
They showed a video from earlier today of Byron Saxton interviewing Dean Ambrose, who was unpacking his bag in the locker room. Saxton said he asked the fans who the most unconventional superstar or [women’s wrestler] was and Paige beat out Ambrose in the voting.
Ambrose said it would be nice to win a contest, but Paige really is crazy. As this was happening, Ambrose unpacked a Slammy, keys (perhaps dungeon keys), a slinky, balloon animal, a globe and an 8-ball from his bag. He couldn’t find something and left. Saxton saw a [corporate sponsor] candy bar and Ambrose came back, grabbed it, and took a bite with the wrapper still on. The product placement was lame but Ambrose was good here.
Non-Title: IC Champion Kevin Owens beat Zack Ryder via pinfall
Ryder got some offense but Owens won quickly with a pop-up powerbomb. Ryback was at ringside and they essentially explained that he was too pissed off to do commentary. As soon as the match was over, Ryback jumped in the ring and Owens bailed. Ryback couldn’t leave the ring once he got inside for some reason, so they just stared down as Owens held up his title.
They aired a 3-minute video recapping the Seth Rollins/Kane stuff from Raw.
Backstage, Paige tried to apologize to Natalya. Paige was practically in tears, explaining that she won the title right away, which set expectations too high and brought a lot of pressure. Then Charlotte became champion and Nattie started teaming with Charlotte and Becky and Paige was sad.
Natalya sarcastically asked if Paige wanted a hug. Paige said she wanted to make things right, like back at NXT when they were friends. Natalya seemed to believe her and went into her locker room. (Yes, Natalya has her own locker room.) Both women were good here, particularly Paige.
Dolph Ziggler beat Rusev via pinfall (Special Referee: Summer Rae)
Rusev got the heat immediately and had control for a while. Ziggler countered a fallaway slam into a school boy and Summer fast-counted, but Rusev kicked out anyway. Rusev argued with her and Ziggler caught him with a dropkick.
Rusev rebounded with a superkick but Summer took her sweet time to make the count. Ziggler kicked out at 2.5, which made him look pretty weak considering how long it took for the count. Rusev got in Summer’s face again, so she slapped him and Ziggler hit a Zig Zag for the win, with Summer fast-counting again. So the heel got screwed and the face looked like a geek.
After the match, Summer told Ziggler that they both got screwed by Rusev and Lana. She reminded Ziggler that the two of them had chemistry and tried flirting with him. Ziggler said he has chemistry with a lot of girls. He said he doesn’t want to play games and he left.
Backstage, Renee Young asked the Dudleys and Dean Ambrose if they could work as a team to overcome New Day tonight. Bubba reminded her who the Dudleys are, and called Ambrose a combustible element on his own. Bubba told Renee to touch Dean’s arm to prove it. She hesitated, but touched his arm and all three yelled “Boom!”, which the crowd found amusing.
D-Von said they would celebrate their 10th tag team title win at Hell in a Cell. Ambrose said New Day took a wrong turn and ended up in Dudleyville, the kind of place where you’d get your wallet and shoes stolen, just like his hometown of Cincinnati. Ambrose said they would 3D the New Day and Bubba said they’d get sent straight to the Lunatic Fringe (perhaps he should’ve said “Ambrose Asylum”?). They yelled “Boom” again in Renee’s face and left. She was not amused.
Luke Harper & Braun Strowman beat Prime Time Players via submission
Wyatts got the heat on Titus who hot-tagged Darren Young. Young gave Harper a neckbreaker on the ring apron, which I’m sure is as fun as it sounds. Young tried to knock Strowman off the apron, but he didn’t budge, and Harper caught Young with a superkick. Strowman used The Hug on Young for the submission win.
Non-Title: Divas Champion Charlotte (w/Becky Lynch) beat Alicia Fox (w/Nikki & Brie Bella) via submission
The pinky swear thing that Charlotte and Becky do needs to stop. Charlotte doesn’t appear to enjoy doing it either. Fox had the heat until they each did a big boot. Charlotte came back with chops, neckbreaker, spear and Figure Eight for the tap-out win.
After the match, the Bellas jumped Charlotte and Becky. Paige ran out to make the save and cleared the ring with help from her old team. The crowd cheered and a small “Paige” chant started. Charlotte and Becky appeared nonplussed.
After a break, Paige caught up to Becky and Charlotte backstage and said how great it was for Team PCB to be back together. Becky said Paige did some horrible things but Paige just wanted to make up for it. Charlotte said they’d take it one day at a time and Paige was fine with that. Some officials ran by and Paige left. Becky and Charlotte followed the officials into Natalya’s personal locker room and she was laid out, selling her mid-section.
They aired a video package for Undertaker vs. Brock Lesnar.
Dean Ambrose & The Dudley Boyz beat The New Day via DQ
New Day said they’ve dropped everyone they’ve faced — John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Randy Orton, D-Von Dudley, Booty Ray Dudley, and Cincinnati’s own filthy street urchin Dean Ambrose. Kofi Kingston said the power of positivity was science. He said you could even call it geology because New Day “rocks” and they started chanting.
Ambrose was really over and had a new t-shirt specifically for Cincinnati. New Day used a referee distraction to take control on D-Von and did their usual stomping spot in the corner. It went on for even longer than usual. D-Von hit a neckbreaker on Woods and made the hot tag to Ambrose.
Ambrose took out Kingston with a suicide dive and clotheslined Woods and Big E. Ambrose hit a flying elbow on Woods for two and followed with a double underhook suplex off the ropes. Big E knocked him down but Ambrose avoided a splash and tagged in Bubba. Everyone took turns hitting moves, but Woods pushed Ambrose off the top to the outside.
Dudleys hit Kingston with a 3D but Woods broke up the cover using the trombone for a DQ. New Day attacked the Dudleys, and Woods used the trombone as a weapon, destroying it in the process. Woods, who had a bloody nose, gave Bubba a shining wizard and Kingston followed with Trouble in Paradise. They finished off D-Von with Midnight Hour.
Everyone, including myself, was expecting Ambrose — a human cockroach who beat Seth Rollins a few weeks ago — to jump back in at the end but that never happened. New Day posed with the titles and the trombone and the show ended.
Final Thoughts:
Pretty much an average show. I would’ve put Ambrose over in his hometown. That being said, one positive for this show was that featured acts all got wins: Reigns, Owens, Harper & Strowman and Charlotte. The first two in squash matches and the latter two in convincing fashion. The New Day got put over strong as well and were positioned to be taken seriously. I know it’s sad that WWE needs to be given credit for simple booking, but here we are.