This week’s Wrestlemenatry Weekly WrapUp is up early this week because of Fastlane tomorrow, and the fact that I had it written early.
Tomorrow I plan on having my Fastlane Predictions up before the show.
On another note, next weekend I plan on adding Lucha Underground to the Weekly WrapUp. I am behind on the second season, but will post a piece on the first four episodes Wednesday evening. Episode five will be covered in the WrapUp.
On to the WWE!
This is the RAW Go Home show for this weekend’s Fastlane Event.
We open up RAW super-hot this week.
Dean Ambrose makes his way to the ring, talks Fastlane and calls out Brock Lesnar! Bad Move Dean.
It isn’t Brock that comes out, it’s Stephanie McMahon. She calls Ambrose stupid for calling out Brock, but says if he wants an F5, he’s going to get an F5. Right Now!
Fatal Five way for the IC Title: Ambrose defends against KO, Stardust, Tyler Breeze and Dolph Ziggler!
Mrs. McMahon-Helmsley also put a caveat on the match, if Roman interferes Dean is DQ from the match and loses his spot in the Fastlane main event.
Dean would have been better served if Brock had come out, at least he would still be champion.
The Fatal Five way match was awesome. Everyone delivered and the ending sequence was terrific. Ambrose was going for the Dirty Deeds DDT on Stardust, Dolph delivered the Zig Zag on Dean mid-move taking both out. Tyler interrupts, throws Ziggler out of the ring, giving Tyler a clear path to a POP UP POWERBOMB . . .
Great opening half-hour, let’s hope the show keeps up from here on out.
This is odd, Michael Cole Announced that AJ Styles vs The Miz tonight on RAW is brought to us by GEICO?! What the hell??
Backstage things got interesting. Renee caught up with Dean. The Lunatic was on fire, he claims that all the Authority have done is inspire him, motivate him to win at Fastlane and Win at Mania (I would be good with that.)
We go briefly to ringside only to be spent immediately back to Renee. The Champ is there. KO is demanding Renee tell the world he was right when he said he would take the title back. This bully moment was cut short by Ziggler, who challenged KO to a title match at Fastlane.
KO’s response: Nah.
NEW DAY! As the New Day made their way to ring side, Michael Cole announced that the New Day would be guests this Sunday at Fastlane on the Cutting Edge Peep Show. Yes, The Cutting Edge Peep Show! Awesome.
New Day cut a promo ripping Edge and Christian for the Kazoo incident last year, than ripped into Mark Henry – who, according to Kofi – is the World’s Largest Booty Hole. (Really).
Out came Mark Henry, unamused.
Power versus Power: Big E versus Mark Henry. In what had to be the most annoying moment of the night, at one point Big E was pounding down on Mark Henry in a corner, while Xavier and Kofi were jaw jacking away at him.
Big E dominated a lot of the match, but was unable to put Henry away after two big splashes. The match ended oddly, with what looked like a Henry injury. Big E had Henry up for the Big Ending, Henry countered, fell to the mat and never got back up.
Bryon Saxton’s brought out Brie Bella for an interview. I assumed it was supposed to be about Daniel Bryan, but the interview got cut short with a little Flair.
Charlotte proceeded to belittle Brie, Nikki and Daniel, but claiming otherwise. Brie didn’t give into the mind games and point blank told Charlotte that Charlotte was obviously afraid of her (Brie).
Nice promo set up for their match and this was Brie’s best moment on the Mic in a long time.
It is time for the earlier announced match brought to you by GEICO, but first out comes Chris Jericho to add some flavor to the commentary for AJ Styles versus the Miz.
A lot of people rag on the Miz, but tonight you can’t. Miz – to even my surprise – hung with AJ Styles. This was a great match between the two of them that Saw AJ barely come out on top with a tap out by calf crusher.
After the match, Jericho grabbed the mic, but AJ cut him off. AJ tried to one-up Jericho and challenge him to Jericho v Styles III at Fastlane. However, Jericho got the upper hand, maybe everyone wants to see the match, but maybe he doesn’t want the match. We’ll find out on Smackdown.
Great segment to build up the feud. And a great cliffhanger to get people to tune into Smackdown.
Could this lead us to a Styles v Jericho v Miz match at Mania?
The Dudley Boyz cut another promo about who they are. The Baddest Tag Team on the planet. Not a nostalgia act, they are here to add to their legacy. The Usos aren’t here because of them. This was basically the same promo from Smackdown. Disappointing.
Paige is back! And in the ring against Summer Rae. Summer is back too, I guess.
Summer was on fire in this match and looked great. Almost winning the match. In the end though, as good and improved as Summer looked, she couldn’t quite handle Paige . . . wait, what just happened? Paige took too long showing off and Summer Rae rolled her up for a pin! Upset.
Honestly it looked odd, like it wasn’t the plan? Nice bit though.
If you didn’t know, his name is Paul Heyman. And you know the rest. Paul has something to say about Fastlane, and in an unusual move for Paul, he calls out Roman Reigns. He wants to say this face to face. Roman obliges him.
Paul cut a promo on an old subject, but fresh for this feud. Roman has a choice to make, his family, or his friend, Dean Ambrose. Choose one, lose the other. Roman thanks Paul, for speaking his mind, something most don’t do.
It was a nice little promo with a personal touch to build up Fastlane. Paul left . . .
And the Dudley Boyz hit the ring! Welcome to Dudleyville! Only Ambrose rushing to the ring saved Roman and they fought the Dudleys off. But Roman had other things to worry about, as Ambrose set him up for Dirty Deeds, but didn’t pull the trigger.
A message sent?
Bigger question: did the Dudley act on their own, or have the realigned with Paul Heyman?
Zack Ryder is on RAW! He looked great in a short match against Heath Slater, he dominated the match, but fell to Slater due to the Outcasts.
Honestly, the less said about the R-truth/Goldust vignettes, the better.
It’s official, brought to you by GEICO, it will be Kevin Owens versus Dolph Ziggler at Fastlane for the IC Title.
The Lucha Dragons team with Neville to take on the League of Nations. Only two of these are book for Fastlane, Kalisto and ADR, and they announced that their US Title match with be in the Pre-Show, not the main card.
The match went longer than I thought it would, and was better than I thought it would be. The league would win (finally) after ADR hit his stomp from the top rope on Sin Cara by jumping half way across the ring.
In Honor of Black History Month they aired a video on the great, awesome, one-and-only Booker T!
Apparently Becky Lynch had a confrontation backstage earlier in the night with Naomi and Tamina which we never knew about until just before a Becky versus Naomi match. The match wasn’t very good, as Becky got a quick submission win. A Team BAD beat down on Becky was interrupted in a very odd way. Sasha made her way to ring side, walked around, than entered the ring as Team BAD slinked off. Sasha never did anything, in fact I was expecting a turn, but that didn’t happen.
Hey, it’s the False God, Bray Wyatt . . . time to go to bed. Bray cuts another promo about being a god and paradise he can bring. Lame.
The Braun Stroman versus Big Show main event made very little sense in this show. Until the beat down on Show started and Ryback came out for the save! Not much of a save though, Ryback failed and suffered a beat down himself.
Then, from the depths of Hell (under the ring) came Kane! Big Show, Ryback and Kane fought off the Wyatt’s. This better lead to a match at Fastlane, otherwise it was just a waste.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Freaking great Go Home Show. Best RAW in over a year, perhaps since 2014.
LOW POINT OF THE NIGHT: The Divas
MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Fatal 5 Way
WRESTLER OF THE NIGHT: AJ Styles
IMPACT OF THE NIGHT: KO’s IC Title Win.
RATING: 8.5
SMACKDOWN
We open Smackdown with KO! Nice.
The new IC Champion is on commentary for the match pitting Dolph Ziggler and the Lucha Dragons against the League of Nations.
KO was great on commentary, at one pint even saying to Cole, “Where is Mauro? Did you realize he was better than you Cole and you fired him?” Great shot by KO. He’s right too, Mauro is better. But he’s just sick, not fired.
King followed this up with MC standing for Mental Case. King’s right too.
KO gets another great shot in at Cole, “Do you know what made Mauro sick? He heard your commentary Monday Night.” Love it. KO is killing it.
Cole tried to get one back at KO by reminding him that Kalisto has beat him recently. KO came with the fact that Cole only gives half the story, Dolph interfered.
Yes, we had a match. Yes, it was an okay match. The real story here is how great KO was on commentary. He put over himself, put over ADR and buried Kalisto and seemed to ignore everyone else in the match.
And somehow still found time to get digs in at Cole. KO even explained his disdain for Cole as, “I have disdain for idiots, but I’m not saying Cole is an idiot.”
Somehow KO even made King sound good this week. Then found time to distract Dolph, causing him to take a Brogue kick and get pinned.
League of Nations wins!
Sasha Banks made short work on Tamina in a throw-away match. Post-match Becky came down to save Sasha from a possible beat down, only to have Sasha push her away and walk off.
So much for Becky and Sasha’s UNITY!
Cole mentioned that Becky and Sasha have never team together . . . at least at this level. NXT is part of WWE, right? YES!
Backstage, Becky and Sasha seem to make up. Don’t believe it.
JERICHO is out in the ring to answer AJ’s challenge. He calls out AJ, but MIZ makes an appearance. He has a more importance announcement.
Jericho begs that it be MIZ quitting. He’s not.
MIZ’a major announcement: They have a match right now!
Jericho called out AJ again and didn’t have to wait for the man to make it to the ring. After being a little long-winded, Jericho told AJ he would have to find someone else to make his name with, the answer is NO.
Or was NO until AJ popped Jericho in the mouth. A pissed Jericho said AJ will regret that. Match on.
Nice piece. Short sweet.
However, I actually would have like to seen Jericho one-up AJ. No to Fastlane, but challenge him to Mania.
Backstage, Ambrose and Reigns have a Bromance moment heading into their match with the Dudleys.
Roman leaves and Ambrose has a very odd confrontation with Paul Heyman. Brock is here, upset and looking for Ambrose. Ambrose went Howling Mad Murdock on Heyman. Awesome seg.
Charlotte versus Natty. Best Divas match on TV in a while. It was back and forth until the figure 8 forced a tap out. Post-match Brie Bella makes her presence known, after Charlotte mocked DB with the Yes! chant.
Brie gained the upper hand, giving her the momentum going into Fastlane.
Ambrose/Reigns versus The Dudleys. The main event was going strong when Lesnar stuck! He took Ambrose down outside the ring. Reigns to the rescue, double team on Brock.
In the ring, Brock took both guys down with German suplexs, but he showboated to long. Reigns with a superman punch. Spear . . . missing Brock, Reigns takes down Ambrose instead. Ambrose responds with a Dirty Deeds attempt, but Roman counters into a Samoan Drop.
F5 from Lesnar! Ambrose and Roman laid out, Lesnar rolls out of the ring, triumphant.
Hunter’s Music hit. Stare down . . .
Could this be our Mania main event, Hunter versus Brock?!
Great build to the Fastlane main event, and possible look forward to Mania.
FINAL THOUGHTS: Excellent.
LOW POINT OF THE NIGHT: Tamina versus Sasha match.
MATCH OF THE NIGHT: Jericho versus The Miz
WRESTLER OF THE NIGHT: Jericho
IMPACT OF THE NIGHT: KO on commentary.
RATING: 7.5
TNA WRESTLING
IMPACTBefore we even get to the ring we get a major announcement. As EC3 is walking backstage, there is a face-to-face with Dixie. Dixie tells him that he will get his rematch for the World Title, next week, in London. It will take place within the six-sides-of-steel at Lockdown!
In the Arena, EC3 makes his way to the ring, something personal needs to be done.
That something personal was calling out the big bad, baby-sitting, breast feeding Tyrus. Tyrus talked a lot, about how EC3 is nothing without him. A fight ensues that Matt Hardy eventually jumps into, but EC3 runs them off with a steel chair.
Hardy lays down the gauntlet, Hardy and Tyrus versus EC3 and somebody if he can find a partner.
Spud anyone?
Eric Young is in the ring with Bram. EY seems to think he is some Jerry Lawler, JBL, John Cena hybrid.
First he calls himself the King, then God and finally challenges any man who thinks he is tough enough to take the King of the Mountain title from him.
Cue Beer Money. But it isn’t Roode taking the challenge, it’s Storm! Of course it break down into an all-out brawl and we never get a real match.
In the back, Drew Galloway offers his partnership to EC3, however, EC3 decides to stand alone.
Yes, it’s Maria. No, it’s Mike Bennett. I don’t believe in the ‘Miracle.’ So far he has really done nothing, and that didn’t change tonight. Bennett claimed Drew is a failure waiting to happen, that Angle is afraid of him and called out his handpicked opponent for tonight Mandrews.
Well, Mandrews looked okay, but fell in the end to Mike Bennett and the MIP (Miracle in Progress) another lame version of a Death Valley Driver (also called the AA).
Galloway came out to save Mandrews from a post-match attack.
Decay cut a promo on the Wolves, but were interrupted by another nut job who has something to do with Juggalo Girl. Sorry, but I just am not into Decay.
A quick interview with Drew Galloway ends with an attacked by Bennett laying out Drew.
What the Hell is Odarg The Great?? Um, Odarg backwards is Grado. NO!
Matt Hardy and Tyrus corner Spud in the back, and encourage him to stay out of their business.
In three weeks Kurt will wrestle his final TNA match against Lashley!
Monsters Ball for the World Tag Team championship. This match got a lot of air time. Unfortunately, it wasn’t exactly worthy of all that time. It was a decent match, but there were too many slow, down right boring parts. The violence and action there was, wasn’t quite enough for a match of this type.
The Wolves retained their titles in the end.
EC3 and Spud talk in the back, Spud taking charge in the conversation. Whether Spud was going to offer to partner with EC3 or not doesn’t matter, all EC3 wanted to tell Spud is that the match is for EC3 alone.
Madison Rayne and Gail Kim defeated the Doll House in a tag match. After the match they were saved from a post-match attack by Velvet Sky. Velvet then challenged Doll House to a Lethal Lockdown match!
Backstage my fears are confirmed when we find out that Sheri will face Eli Drake and Jesse Sorenson in a tag match with his new partner Odarg The Great - That damn Grado in a terrible mask.
Beer Money and EY/Bram are still fighting throughout the building. It finally ends with Bram and EY running off and Roode challenging them to Lockdown next week.
Pathetic. That is the only way I can describe the tag match between Drake/Sorenson and Sheri/Odarg (Grado) that saw Grado pin Drake while unmasked! Then hide under the ring and remasked, as if anyone wouldn’t know who this was. Just sad.
The main event did see EC3 go at it alone against Matt Hardy and Tyrus. Unfortunately it didn’t fair well, despite some flurries, the match was two-on-one. As EC3 is getting destroyed, Rockstar Spud’s music hit and out came Spud.
EC3 took the help and Spud turned the tide. Eventually EC3 would win the match pinning Matt and gain some advantage heading into their cage match next week.
Solid match.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
A very weak show that ending on a strong note.
LOW POINT: Odarg The Great. Sad.
MATCH OF THE NIGHT: The Main Event.
WRESTLER OF THE NIGHT: Rockstar Spud.
IMPACT OF THE NIGHT: N/A
FOR THE WEEK:
WWE delivered big going into Fastlane. TNA at least still has a TV deal.
LOW POINT OF THE WEEK: Odarg The Great.
MATCH OF THE WEEK: Fatal 5 way
WRESTLER OF THE WEEK: Jericho
IMPACT OF THE WEEK: KO’s IC Title Win.
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