Commentator: Josh Matthews, Michael Cole & JBL
Championship’s roll call: WWE Champion: John Cena… World Champion: Dolph Ziggler… Intercontinental Champion: Wade Barrett… United States Champion: Kofi Kingston… Tag Team Champions: Team Hell No… NXT Champion: Big E Langston… NXT Tag Team Champions: The Wyatt Family… Diva’s Champion: Kaitlyn
Happy first birthday to my son Gabriel!
The Miz is already in the ring for MizTV; his guests are Randy Orton and Big Show. Miz pimps the Extreme Rules match at the Extreme Rules PPV; he calls it one of the most anticipated matches on the card. Clips of the RKO from Orton last week are shown. Miz asks his former tag partner if that is a preview for the PPV. Show calls him a snake who attacks from behind but at the PPV he can do whatever he wants. Show does not need a weapon since he has on the end of his wrist. He says it will be a TKO not an RKO at the PPV. Orton calls it a good story but a different ending; since the PPV is in St. Louis, his hometown, he is not losing in his hometown and the real ending is hoe the Viper struck down the Giant… and here comes Jack Swagger with Zeb Colter. Colter says Sunday will be memorable but not because of anything they do, because Swagger will make Alberto Del Rio say “I quit.” He goes onto one of his Southern conservative rants about “sneaking across the border,” “real Americans” and “Jack Swagger’s America.” ADR follows him out to the ring and tells Colter to shut up. I see we’re going full ass into promoting the big matches on the PPV. Del Rio says the only thing people will remember at the PPV is Ricardo Rodriguez saying “Alberto Del Rio” because Swagger will say “I quit.” Mark Henry comes out next to a big reaction from the fans. Henry tells y’all what we are going to remember is him settin’ world records pullin’ semis… and beatin’ Sheamus. He gets in and says that he is the strongest man in the world because that’s what he do. He keeps calling Henry “lumpy.” He pulls a strap out and charges the ring and a HUGE brawl ensues as the babyfaces clear the ring. Where’s Teddy Long to book the six-man tag? 5.5/10 As I said full ass in promoting the PPV, all the big matches are represented. Good opening. This is how you pimp a PPV forty-eight hours prior.
After the commercial break, Teddy Long comes out… and books the six-man tag main event. The fact that he came out post-brawl and right after a commercial is a very heel thing to do. Josh Matthews notes the “drunken with power” thing with Long.
The Usos vs. The Shield (w/Dean Ambrose): This has been building for a few weeks, starting on Raw a few weeks ago and bubbled over on Main Event this past Wednesday. Usos get the full Siva Tau entrance. Rollins and Jimmy Uso open the match and the Samoan opens kicking the crap out of him in the corner and tagging in Jey for a clothesline. Reigns blind tags himself in and hits a short clothesline off a blocked hiptoss. I’m pretty much certain that Reigns is related to the Usos but I’m not sure how. He takes over with methodical stomps in the corner but charges into a boot in the opposite one. The Samoan Avalanche connects and Jimmy runs in as does Rollins and the match breaks down. Jey is left alone with Reigns who promptly cuts him in half with a spear for the pinfall. Post-match, the Shield stomps the crap out of an Uso until Kofi Kingston comes to his aid and promptly gets his ass kicked as well. He returns with a chair and clears the Shield out with it. 4.5/10 Quick squash win for the Shield, which sells the chaos advantage they have in their Texas Tornado match for the tag titles at the PPV. Also this could set up the US title match with Kofi and Ambrose as a chairs match. Good PPV tool versus a good match.
Here are your winners… The Shield via spear pinfall
A video package selling John Cena versus Ryback at the PPV is shown. After that, in the back, Teddy Long is with the Miz but they are interrupted by Damien Sandow. He says that the world would be better if Miz hadn’t returned. He pitches the idea of the Damien Sandow Show. Long thinks it is good idea and then books him in a match with the Miz. You’re welcome.
More John Cena, this time ending the Shield’s undefeated streak, albeit via DQ.
Tons of Funk (w/the Funkadactyls) vs. The Primetime Players: Brodus and Young start off after the commercial break; he forces Young back into the corner and beats the crap out of him. Tensai tags in and he and Brodus hits a tandem sideslam/elbow drop combo. Young heads to the floor and Sweet T comes after him only to fell to an O’Neil forearm off the apron. The PTP begins rapid fire tags and O’Neil floors him with a boot. He jams some shoulder into the corner but misses a running shoulderblock in the corner (he bounced back five feet off that miss!) Double tags are made and Clay keeps Young down with a bunch of clotheslines and the T-bone suplex. The Funky Avalanche scores as does a powerslam; he actually gets three because O’Neil was a bit late making the save. Mike Chioda does not ring the bell despite JBL’s insisting that he should have (Layfield was right on that call). The match breaks apart after that and Young gets squished by a pair of splashes to get the three. 4/10 Brodus and Tensai get their win back from Raw. Perhaps this will lead to an actual feud not based on a title. The only other real decent feud not involving a title is Jericho/Fandango, speaking of which…
Here are your winners… Tons of Funk via double splash pinfall
Chris Jericho vs. Antonio Cesaro: I’m so glad they dropped the stupid yodeling thing for Cesaro and are making him back into a more serious heel; the WWE has a goldmine with him but has no idea how to spend it properly. This may be a first time match up but I’m not sure. They open with some wrestling (Y2J headlock and Jericho armlock). Cesaro pushes free so Jericho hits a dropkick. A WWE App cut-in shows Fandango and Summer Rae dancing where she “injures” herself again. Cesaro takes a powder on the floor. Back they trade punches in the corner; Cesaro gets some chops so Y2J nails a missile dropkick. Dropkick to the back and to the face on the mat follows; Cesaro rolls to the apron where he tries to suplex him to the floor. They trade suplex attempts and Jericho hits the springboard dropkick to finally take over. Back from commercial, Cesaro has a chinlock on. Jericho counters with a backslide for two; Antonio maintains his advantage with a chinlock and cravat. Jericho builds momentum with running shoulderblocks and a top rope sledge. Cesaro tries to slow him down with a chinlock and nearly gets forced into the Walls of Jericho. Chris fires back and goes for the Lionsault but Cesaro lifts the knees. The double stomp cleverly follows for the nearfall; he pounds away on the mat and lifts Chris up by his ears. Jericho surprises him with a enziguri to the back of the head and punches and chops. Antonio dusts out another move from his back, the tilt-a-whirl backbreaker to cut this comeback off. Jericho counters the Neutralizer with another Walls try but Cesaro kicks him off. Y2J to the top but gets caught with a European uppercut on the landing for a nearfall. Cesaro slaps the back of his head and goes for the deadlift gutwrench but Jericho turns that into the Walls of Jericho for the tap out. Post-match, Summer Rae appears on the stage dancing. Jericho sniffs out the ambush and is able to take Fandango out causing him to scurry up the ramp. Chris nails Cesaro with a Codebreaker to prove a point to Fandango. 6.5/10 Match was great but as Cesaro looked strong in the loss, up until the very end where he took the Codebreaker, made him look like Zack Ryder. I figured that Y2J was going over here since he has the PPV match on Sunday. As I said, the WWE has gold with Cesaro; they just have to figure out how to invest it properly.
Here is your winner… Chris Jericho via Walls of Jericho submission
The Miz vs. Damien Sandow: Sandow’s on/off tag partner Cody Rhodes is on commentary; he’s also facing Miz in the pre-show at Extreme Rules. Miz goes for a pair of side headlocks. Michael Cole suggests that Cody and Sandow may be more than just “best friends.” Sandow takes over with stomps in the corner; Miz hits a clothesline and Sandow heads to the floor where Miz hits a sledge off the apron. Back in the ring, Sandow takes over dropping some knees. All of a sudden, Cody grabs the house mic and DEMANDS the crowd stand up and appreciate Damien Sandow. Speaking of Sandow, he nails a vertical suplex and drops a kneepadless knee. A chinlock is countered with a jawjacker but Sandow keeps his control with a Bossman Straddle. He rapid fires some knees into the Russian leg sweep/Cubito Aequet combo for two more. JBL’s notorious obscure moustache references even go over Cody’s head on commentary. Miz begins a comeback to zero reaction and hits a running boot. He plays to the crowd to finally elicit a reaction; the Awesome Clothesline and top-rope axe handle sets up the figure-four leglock but Rhodes pops up onto the apron. Sandow tries to take advantage with a back suplex but it’s countered into the figure-four for the submission. 3/10 At least they are actually trying to build some heat for the pre-show match at the PPV. I’m not sure where they are going with the Sandow/Rhodes “relationship” but I hope it is done tastefully since I’m not in the mood to try to defend the WWE for a distasteful homosexual angle.
Here is your winner… The Miz via figure-four leglock submission
Kaitlyn vs. Aksana: These two have had some sinkers in recent memory. The secret admirer angle continues. Kaitlyn applies a front facelock and slaps her ass. Giggity. She then lands a vertical suplex and works the arm. Aksana tries to punch back but Kaitlyn counters into a reverse DDT… but Aksana slips free and takes over on O. John Matthews thinks the admirer is Sin Cara because all secret admirers are ugly and Cara wears a mask to hide his ugly face. Okay. Aksana hits a slingshot into the ropes and applies a chinlock. The commentators quickly make fun of Matthews’ brilliant analysis as Aksana kicks at Kaitlyn to silence. She crawls around on the mat and goes for another chinlock. Aksana goes for a Canadian Backbreaker but Kaitlyn slips free and nails a spear for the pinfall. 2/10 The most entertaining part of this match was the commentary. “Hello dear, I like your spear,” from Michael Cole even got Matthews to laugh. I think the WWE is taking some of the shackles off the commentators (especially on SmackDown), which is a good thing.
Here is your winner… Kaitlyn via spear pinfall
The ENTIRE Triple H/Brock Lesnar segment from Raw is shown.
Sheamus, Randy Orton & Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez) vs. Jack Swagger, Big Show & Mark Henry (w/Zeb Colter): They should have made this elimination style too, that would have been cool. ADR and Swagger open the contest; they wrestle on the ropes and Swagger clamps on a side headlock. He fires him off and gets a nearfall off a shoulder. He nails a soccer kick and gets two more; the step-up enziguri allows a tag to Orton (well he tagged himself in). Randy pounds on Swagger but gets his knee submarined and Jack takes over until he charges into a dropkick. ADR gets a tag back in and gets a nearfall; he hits the rope-assisted Backstabber. Del Rio busts out a topé and then heads to the top; Big Show provides a distraction allowing Swagger to armdrag him off and tag in the Giant. He mauls Del Rio in the ropes with a few cheapshots thrown in from Swagger. They isolate ADR in their corner and pound away. Henry comes in for the first time and head-butts a lot. Swagger tags in and fumbles the ball walking into a tilt-a-whirl backbreaker. Show recovers the ball with an elbow to the back to cut off the tag as we head off to break. We return with Swagger holding a spinning toe-hold. Del Rio kicks free, Swagger misses a charge… but Big Show prevents a reciprocating tag again. He goes for a powerbomb but it’s countered via ‘rana. Sheamus tags and floors Show with Irish Hammers. He goes up top but misses; Show tries a goozle but that is countered unto White Noise. Show counters the Brogue into a chokeslam… for two! The heels take over on Sheamus as Swagger drops a series of elbows to the chest; a bodyslam leads to a legdrop for two. The heels work him over for a while until Sheamus counters the Swagger Bomb into an Electric Chair. Orton tags and hits the stretch backbreaker and clotheslines and powerslam. Henry takes him out and the match breaks down. ADR takes Henry out with an enziguri; Sheamus a Brogue to Show on the floor. Swagger tries the Patriot Lock on Del Rio but Orton nails an RKO to get the pinfall. 6/10 Good tool to promote three matches in one fell swoop. The match was good too.
Here are your winners… Sheamus, Randy Orton and Alberto Del Rio via RKO pinfall
OVERALL 6/10 Pretty good go-home show to the PPV. The main event was fun and Cesaro/Jericho was entertaining as well. Good show this week.
