mobanmarketBy Steve Khan, WrestlingObserver.com
– Airdate: May 7, 2015 (May 6 in Canada)
– Location: Canadian Tire Centre in Ottawa, ON
News:
Dean Ambrose and Roman Reigns teased dissension, while Erick Rowan and Luke Harper might be reuniting.
Show Details:
SmackDown started and they showed Tom Phillips and Byron Saxton as the only commentators and my heart almost stopped. Crisis was averted, though, because Jerry Lawler was in the ring. Lawler tried putting over the King of the Ring tournament but didn’t do a great job. He then introduced King Barrett.
Barrett said Lawler is no king, he only calls himself one, but Barrett is a true king because he beat three men within 24 hours. Barrett demanded Lawler say “All hail King Barrett” but he refused. Barrett ended the interview and sized up the Bullhammer but Dolph Ziggler made the save. Ziggler said Barrett looked like a renaissance fair reject threatened to drop him
Every time Wade says “All hail King…” I automatically think “King Booker.” It’s been a few years I guess, but Booker was so over-the-top with it that it’s hard to forget.
King Barrett vs. Dolph Ziggler
Lawler ranted about Barrett being a pompous king. Lawler admitted being the same way back in 1993, but that ended with Lawler getting his own foot shoved in his mouth. Shortly after a commercial break, Ziggler hit a fameasser but Sheamus ran in for the DQ. They double teamed him until Neville made the save. After yet another commercial, a tag-team match was under way.
King Barrett & Sheamus vs. Dolph Ziggler & Neville
One of the commentators accused Lawler of being jealous because he’s no longer the only king. Lawler said there have been many kings over the years and he “co-existed with all of them… except for Bret Hart.” Funny line. I was actually expecting Lawler to say that about Bret and it was great when he did.
The heels worked over Neville until he made the hot tag. Ziggler hit a jumping DDT and superkick, each for near falls. Ziggler tossed Sheamus to the outside and Neville nailed him with a crazy corkscrew plancha. Barrett tried using a school boy with his feet on the ropes, but Neville knocked him off the ropes and Ziggler hit Zig Zag for the win. Ziggler pinned the new King, and everything stays the same.
Backstage, Dean Ambrose told Renee Young that he doesn’t care about rules or schedules or authority. He’s all about chaos, he’s the guy they least suspect to win. He’s the guy “they” don’t want and he just might walk out of Payback as WWE Champion. Ambrose said “they” won’t be happy if he shows up for tonight’s contract signing.
They pushed popularity of the WWE Youtube page. And it is popular, because why would you watch a 3-hour Raw when you can see all the highlights in a few minutes online?
Luke Harper vs. Fandango
Harper did his own very slow-motion version of Fandango’s dance, then killed Fandango with a boot. Fandango came back with a dropkick, spinning heel kick and tornado DDT. Harper got right up and pulled him off the top rope, hit a superkick and discus clothesline for the win.
After the match, Erick Rowan marched out seemingly to confront Harper. Rowan instead attacked Fandango and hit him with a full nelson slam. Rowan left and Harper stared at him. Rowan got no reaction on the way out, but fans did pop when he attacked Fandango.
Lana was in the ring and she appears to have her own music now. Lana seemed flattered by the fans cheering, but she politely asked them not to cheer for her. Rusev came out and sent Lana to the back. Rusev called John Cena’s victories flukes and miracles. He accused Cena of showing Sami Zayn mercy but Rusev won’t show mercy at Payback. Rusev said he would confront Cena on Raw. This wasn’t much of a segment.
Backstage, Roman Reigns told Renee that he’s been at odds with Randy Orton since day one and he hates everything about Seth Rollins. He called Ambrose his brother, but knows Ambrose will do whatever it takes to win. Reigns said he would win the title.
The New Day vs. Tyson Kidd, Cesaro & Ryback w/Natalya
Earlier, they explained that New Day challenged Kidd and Cesaro to a 6-man tag match with a partner of their choosing. Of course, there was no promo from New Day and there was no promo from Kidd and Cesaro explaining their choice. Ryback just came out and the match started.
Cesaro had Kingston up for a delayed vertical suplex. Big E entered so Ryback got him up in one as well. With two delayed suplexes going at once, Kidd got Woods ready for one. Kidd has a sense of humour I guess, because he waited for Cesaro and Ryback to land their suplexes before hitting a regular snap suplex. Crowd popped.
Kidd hit a flip dive on Woods, Cesaro hit a suicide dive on Kingston, and Ryback hit Big E with a shoulder block. Big E was able to gain control after ramming Kidd into the barricade. Ryback made the hot tag and hit a spinebuster on Kingston. Cesaro tagged in and hit his running turnbuckle uppercuts. Kidd hit an elbow drop off Cesaro’s shoulders but Big E broke up the cover.
Ryback knocked him and Woods out of the ring. Bray Wyatt’s creepy video flashed for a moment. That distracted Ryback who was knocked down by Big E. Cesaro took out Big E with a botched DDT off the barricade. Kingston rolled up Kidd holding his trunks for the win. The bulk of this match was good but the ending was a complete mess.
Backstage, Randy Orton told Renee he doesn’t lose sleep over strategy, he plans on dropping whoever is closest to him, no matter who it is. Orton knows he’s up against all three former members of The Shield, but has a feeling one of those members won’t make it to Payback.
Emma vs. Naomi w/Tamina
Naomi and Tamina did an in-set promo where they both said everyone is about to find out what they can do. Naomi won with Rear View. Naomi and Tamina attacked Emma afterwards, and Tamina gave her a superkick.
Backstage, Seth Rollins told Renee the same thing he says a hundred times on every show every week. Rollins got no reaction and a couple of people could be heard yelling “Boring!”
Los Matadores w/El Torito vs. The Lucha Dragons
El Torito appeared to be dancing to The Lucha Dragons’ music. This match actually went through a commercial break. After the break, Sin Cara tried a suicide dive through the legs of Kalisto, but they basically fucked up. Sin Cara’s shoulder caught Kalisto’s leg and he almost crashed and burned. Ugly. Sin Cara eventually won with a small package on Diego. After the match, Diego shoved down El Torito and the three of them argued.
WWE Championship Contract Signing
Kane introduced all four men in the main event at Payback. Rollins stayed on the stage with J&J Security. Everyone else went to the ring. This took 6 minutes. Kane tried to start but Ambrose told Rollins to come to the ring, calling him Justin Bieber, and telling him to bring Frodo and Bilbo with him. (I still don’t understand the Bieber connection, but the fans chanted along.) Rollins said he was never a fan of Ambrose’s sharp tongue, but it was better than listening to Reigns who couldn’t put a sentence together.
Reigns said he would kick Seth’s ass and signed the contract. Orton and Ambrose also signed and Ambrose threatened to drag Rollins down to the ring. Rollins said Kane has the authority to sign for him, but he didn’t, so Rollins walked down. J&J grabbed the contract for Rollins so he could sign it outside the ring.
Rollins tried to stir things up between his opponents. He claimed Ambrose thought Reigns couldn’t wrestle, and Reigns thought Ambrose was a Roddy Piper knock-off. He also claimed Reigns and Ambrose said Orton had everything handed to him. Rollins finally got in the ring shoved the contract into Kane’s chest and they got into an argument.
This distracted them from Dean Ambrose, who flipped the table over against the turnbuckle. Rollins and Kane turned around and appeared nonplussed. Ambrose said we all know what’s going to happen anyway and called dibs on the table. The crowd laughed. Ambrose tossed Mercury into the table but it didn’t break. A brawl broke out with everyone involved. Ambrose tossed a leather chair at Noble, hitting him right in the face. He then hit Kane with a suicide dive.
Back in the ring, Reigns tried to spear Rollins but almost got Ambrose. Reigns held up, but Rollins dropkicked him into Ambrose. Orton went for an RKO but Rollins escaped the ring, and Orton slid out as well. Ambrose was livid at Reigns, which I didn’t buy for a second, and they argued. Orton popped back in the ring, hit Ambrose with an RKO, and Reigns hit Orton with a superman punch. Rollins hit Reigns with a flying knee and superkick and posed with the title to end the show.
Final Thoughts:
This wasn’t much of a show and it was missing the usual good main event. They did do the contract signing instead of saving it for Raw, so there’s that. If you enjoy seeing guys take turns hitting their finishers, then be sure to check out the clip on Youtube later.
Also, after Ziggler, Neville, Barrett and Sheamus had yet another match tonight, I decided to look up what Neville has done on TV the last two weeks. Here are the results:
Ziggler/Neville beat Barrett/Sheamus (SmackDown)
Barrett/Sheamus beat Ziggler/Neville (Raw)
Barrett beat Neville (KOTR/Network)
Neville beat Sheamus (KOTR/Network)
Neville beat Luke Harper (KOTR/Raw)
Neville beat Barrett (Extreme Rules)
Ziggler/Neville beat Barrett/Sheamus (SmackDown)
That’s 6 different shows over 2 weeks. They’re doing the some combination of the same match over and over and over. And somewhere, Vince McMahon is looking at the ratings, furrowing his brow in a vain attempt to understand the situation.
Match Results:
Dolph Ziggler beat King Barrett via disqualification
Dolph Ziggler & Neville beat King Barrett & Sheamus via pinfall
Luke Harper beat Fandango via pinfall
The New Day beat Tyson Kidd, Cesaro & Ryback via pinfall
Naomi beat Emma via pinfall
The Lucha Dragons beat Los Matadores via pinfall