Posted on 9/16/125 by Bob Magee
Show Recap —
Penta (wearing his mask but no makeup underneath), Stephanie
Vaquer, El Grande Americano, and Seth Rollins, Becky Lynch,
Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed were shown arriving. (It’s a
little weird that they show Penta without his face paint for
the sake of this gimmick of showing people arriving at the
arena.)
There was a recap of Jey Uso spearing LA Knight as Raw
concluded last week.
Back to the live show, Knight shoved Jey Uso as he arrived
with Jimmy Uso. Adam Pearce and some officials quickly broke
it up, and he demanded they see him in his office or their
paychecks would be missing zeros.
Despite some stars actively on the screen, the crowd was
already chanting for John Cena, who is scheduled to open the
show.
Joe Tessitore and Corey Graves are tonight’s announcers.
John Cena kicks off Raw
Cena was happy to be back on Raw and in Springfield,
Massachusetts. Cena informed the younger fans in the crowd
that he played football up the street at Springfield
College. He told the older fans he was an offensive lineman,
which is why they probably didn’t know this.
Being an OL meant you never got your name in the paper, you
got your ass kicked, and you showed up the next day prepared
to get your ass kicked again. Springfield College prepared
him for life in WWE.
Cena said he had friends and family in the building tonight,
and he wished his niece a happy birthday because she
couldn’t be here tonight. He acknowledged that there was no
stage because the arena was packed.
He enjoyed these moments with the fans and wanted to while
he could, because he had a tall hill to climb. His intro
called him the last real champion, but Brock Lesnar wanted
to end the last real champion.
He called Lesnar intimidating, “controversial,” and nearly
invisible. Fans chanted, “F—k you, Lesnar.”
Cena said Lesnar returned to WWE once again and again
targeted him. Cena could have used his influence to turn
down a match with Lesnar. Saying ‘no’ was safe, especially
with only six appearances left. The crowd chanted, “Whoop
his ass,” and “Thank you, Cena.”
As the fans chanted, Cena said they were the reason he said
‘yes’. He was the last real champion. He didn’t fight his
battles backstage, he fought them in the ring. Being the
last real champion wasn’t about holding a belt or fighting
in the main event. The last real champion didn’t take their
ball and go home. They fought with hustle, loyalty and
respect.
Cena admitted he was afraid of Lesnar and could fail—but he
would never back down. We would take the fight to the beast
because that’s what we did. On the history-making
Wrestlepalooza on ESPN, it would be the final showdown
between two generational titans.
Cena didn’t care how many suplexes Lesnar had in Suplex
City. He has taken Lesnar’s best shot for 20 years. His
jorts were stronger than Lesnar’s jeans. On Saturday, Cena
was ready for war.
*********
Pearce met with Jey and Knight. After some arguing, Pearce
agreed to Knight’s request to fight the Brons tonight, but
said he needed to pick a partner. Knight looked Jey in the
eye and said his partner would be Jimmy. Jey didn’t like
that, but there was nothing he could do.
Lyra Valkyria vs. Roxanne Perez (w/Raquel Rodriguez)
Rodriguez tripped Valkyria from outside the ring, so the
referee tossed her from ringside. Perez applied a cradle,
but the referee missed it because she was still arguing with
Rodriguez. After she left, Perez yanked Valkyria off the top
turnbuckle to take control.
(The match started as soon as they returned from a break, so
they were actually able to wrestle for about four minutes
instead of the usual 90 seconds before going to break.)
There were chants for both women during the break. Perez cut
off Valkyria’s comeback and hit a double knee drop for two.
Perez applied a crossface, but Valkyria powered to her feet
and hit Nightwing for the pinfall win.
— Rodriguez attacked Valkyria from behind after the match,
and Perez gave her a Pop Rox. Bayley ran out to make the
save. She wiped out Rodriguez and gave Perez a Bayley-to-
belly.
The crowd was happy to see Bayley, who was full babyface—at
least at first. She suddenly had a stern demeanour as she
stared at Valkyria, but she snapped out of it and turned
into hugger Bayley. She smiled and excitedly hugged
Tessitore, Graves, Alicia Taylor, and a bunch of fans. (So,
Bayley will indeed be doing a split-personality gimmick.)
Valkyria was nonplussed.
Match result: Lyra Valkyria defeated Roxanne Perez (9:06)
This match was just there to get Valkyria a win after losing
to Rodriguez last week and set up Bayley’s return.
********
Pearce met with Iyo Sky and Stephanie Vaquer backstage. He
made their world title match official for Wrestlepalooza.
They wished each other luck.
Asuka and Kairi Sane barged in. Asuka got in Vaquer’s face
and told her she wasn’t ready for Sky. Vaquer told her to
get out of her face, so Asuka told Vaquer she would face
Sane tonight. Sane was surprised to hear this, but she was
ready. Pearce made it official. Asuka giggled as she left,
before calling for Sane to join her. (Asuka is so good in
this role.)
********
Knight met with Jimmy Uso. Jimmy didn’t think it was a good
idea for them to team up. Knight said he could trust Jimmy
after he helped him last week. Jimmy said Knight put him in
a tough spot and politely declined being his partner. Knight
left.
********
They’ve removed the commercial break countdown timer, at
least for this week. I wasn’t sure if they were in a
commercial break or not, but I realized they were because
New Day cut a promo.
Xavier Woods and Grayson Waller wanted the Mexican Destroyer
banned. Kofi Kingston said his home state should be cheering
him, but he understood because his part of the state had
much more money than this piss-hole city. Kingston called
Pearce a tyrant and told the fans they should thank God for
him.
Penta vs. Kofi Kingston (w/Xavier Woods & Grayson Waller)
Kingston took control thanks to a distraction about a minute
into the match, and they went to break. Kingston cut off
Penta’s comeback attempt after the break with an SOS. They
traded strikes until Penta hit an enziguri. (Woods made
cracks to the fans about Shelbyville because they were in
Springfield.)
Penta set up for the Canadian Destroyer, but Woods
distracted the referee. Penta superkicked Waller before he
could interfere and chased Woods off the apron. Penta then
hit Kingston with a springboard Destroyer for the pinfall
win.
Match result: Penta defeated Kofi Kingston (7:30)
This was an ordinary match until the finish, which looked
awesome. Penta gets his win back over Kingston, who beat him
three weeks ago.
This was the second straight match with a distraction, and
this is now seven straight going back to last week.
********
Jimmy approached Jey as Jey was leaving a voicemail for
someone on the phone. Jey didn’t tell him who it was. They
had a disagreement after Jey told Jimmy he had to turn down
Knight tonight. Jimmy said he already turned down Knight,
but he also didn’t like the way Jey was bossing him around
as if he had the Ula Fala around his neck. Jimmy stormed
off.
After a break, Jimmy told Knight he would be his partner
tonight. Knight was glad to hear it.
There was a clip of Jey Uso throwing out the first pitch at
yesterday’s Boston Red Sox game.
********
AJ Lee & CM Punk go face-to-face with Becky Lynch & Seth
Rollins
Seth Rollins and Becky Lynch entered first (Rollins’ music
played first, followed by Lynch’s). Rollins took his time
introducing himself and Lynch. Rollins introduced her the
way he introduces himself, including calling her “Becky
freakin’ Lynch.”
AJ Lee and CM Punk entered to Lee’s music. Punk introduced
himself as Lee’s husband. He didn’t plan on wasting time
(like Rollins) with a long-winded introduction explaining
who she was. (The fans chanted for Punk at first, so he made
sure to feed them a line to get them to chant for Lee as
well.)
Punk referred to Lynch and Rollins as goofs (based on their
matching leather outfits) and said they must share the same
closet. They also came out to two annoying songs, but Punk
gladly put Cult of Personality on the shelf so they could
enter to Lee’s Let’s Light it Up (patting himself on the
back).
Rollins actually wanted to give Punk some credit because Lee
was the best decision he ever made—in his personal life.
(After some “Shut the f—k up” chants, the crowd chanted, “No
one likes you.”) However, inserting Lee into this was
something he would regret for the rest of his days.
Lee said the regret would be Rollins’. She wouldn’t even be
here if he hadn’t used his wife as a human shield.
Lynch said nobody expected Lee to come back, and she
couldn’t believe how irresponsible Punk was. She said Punk
only cared about three things: himself, Rollins’ title, and
AJ.
Lynch read Lee’s book and said she might have healed
mentally, but she wondered how she felt physically. Lynch
asked how her neck was doing and asked how Punk would feel
when she pummeled Lee’s face in. Lynch called Lee a
liability, not an asset.
Lee thanked Lynch for reading her book and said she didn’t
read Lynch’s. (The crowd sang Lee’s name.) Lee admitted she
didn’t know how her neck would hold up on Saturday. Lee also
said she won two titles on that same neck. (Lee made a
comment about Lynch looking constipated, so the fans chanted
for that, too.)
She didn’t know what she was going to do on Saturday. She’s
been known to make rash decisions. She was a Puerto Rican
girl from New Jersey—sometimes you had to shank a chick.
Rollins liked to have a plan, but Lee warned them that they
can’t plan for what they can’t predict.
Rollins laughed at the idea that he couldn’t handle Lee. He
called her a little girl. He may not be able to predict her,
but he could read Punk like a book. Rollins warned Lee that
Punk had a habit of leaving things when he was let down. Lee
better hope to God that Punk doesn’t leave her, too.
Lee slapped Rollins. Rollins said he wouldn’t put his hands
on a lady, but knew someone who would. Lynch was not on
board with this right now, so they argued. Punk and Lee
looked on, amused. Lynch and Rollins argued until Lynch
stormed off.
It was all part of the plan, of course, and Punk fell for
it. Punk went after Rollins, who escaped the ring. That left
Lee alone, so Lynch caught her from behind and hit a Man-
handle Slam.
Punk tended to Lee as he stared down Lynch. Lynch slapped
him and left with Rollins. The heels held their belts up
high as Punk checked on Lee.
********
There was a recap of Dominik Mysterio winning the AAA Mega
Championship. Byron Saxton interviewed Dom and asked him
about El Grande Americano. Dom responded, “Don’t worry about
it, sweetheart,” and called himself the Mega
Intercontinental Champion.
The interview was cut short by a nearby commotion. New Day
laid out Penta, and the War Raiders chased them off.
El Grande Americano (Ludwig Kaiser) vs. Dragon Lee
There was a cool sequence early on where Dragon Lee used a
leaping hurricanrana over the top rope to send El Grande
Americano off the apron. Dragon Lee followed with a flip
dive, sending both men into the announce table.
Americano took over during a break. (He tied Dragon Lee’s
mask to the rope during the break, which Kingston also did
to Penta during the earlier match.) Lee hit Liger Bomb for
two and a double foot stomp off the top rope for two.
The distraction/interference streak continued because a
mystery masked man attacked Lee. Americano hit a leaping
blockbuster for a nearfall.
AJ Styles marched out to even the odds. The masked man (Pete
Dunne) tried to hide under the ring, but Tessitore pointed
him out. Styles chucked him over the barricade.
Styles stood by the timekeeper’s area but was attacked by a
third masked person. The third person distracted the referee
while masked Dunne shoved Dragon Lee off the top rope.
Kaiser applied a deep submission, and Lee tapped out.
— The three masked men did the Spider-Man meme pose outside
the ring.
Match result: El Grande Americano defeated Dragon Lee
(10:12)
Three matches on Raw, three distractions. That’s eight
straight going back to last week.
********
Valkyria approached Bayley’s locker room door but stopped
upon hearing an argument. Bayley’s personalities were
arguing with each other until there was a loud bang against
the door. Valkyria hesitantly entered the room, and Bayley
sat calmly on a sofa. Bayley told her off for entering
without knocking and called her an idiot. Bayley stormed
off.
********
Rhea Ripley (who got a huge pop) approached Vaquer to wish
her luck and tell her that she’d be ready for the winner.
Stephanie Vaquer vs. Kairi Sane (w/Asuka)
The crowd was relatively quiet until Vaquer set up for
Devil’s Kiss, but Sane countered it into a roll up for two.
Sane followed with a DDT and went to the top, but Vaquer
followed her there. A battle on the ropes led to Sane
hitting a double foot stomp (the same one we saw in the last
match) for two. Sane hit consecutive spinning back fists,
but Vaquer came back with a headbutt and a dragon screw.
Sane rolled outside the ring into the arms of Asuka, so
Vaquer wiped them out with a dive off the top. Back in the
ring, Vaquer hit Sane with Devil’s Kiss and SVB for a nice,
clean pinfall win.
— Asuka hit the apron and got in Vaquer’s face, but Sky ran
out to get between them before anything could happen. Sky
settled Asuka down until she left.
Sky and Vaquer faced off and shook hands ahead of their
title match on Saturday.
Match result: Stephanie Vaquer defeated Kairi Sane (11:57)
********
There was a video package for Breakker and Reed.
A red-hot Asuka confronted Sky as Sane tried holding her
back. Asuka wanted to ensure Sky became champion, but Sky
wanted to do it on her own. Asuka continued screaming in
Japanese. She seemed to agree to Sky’s request, but she was
pissed.
*******
The announcers ran down the Wrestlepalooza card and let us
know how we can watch.
John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar
CM Punk & AJ Lee vs. World Champion Seth Rollins & Women’s
IC Champion Becky Lynch (mixed tag match)
IYO SKY vs. Stephanie Vaquer for the vacant Women’s World
Championship
Cody Rhodes vs. Drew McIntyre for the Undisputed WWE
Championship
The Usos vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
********
The Judgment Day met backstage. They toasted champagne to
congratulate Dom on his title win. (Finn Bálor’s glass was
all head, poured poorly by JD McDonagh. Bálor didn’t seem to
appreciate that.)
Bálor was still unhappy with Dom about the El Grande
Americano situation. He fired up at Dom until McDonagh
calmed him down. McDonagh asked Dom what Americano wanted
from him.
Dom didn’t think it was a big deal that Americano would
simply want the respect of the greatest Mysterio ever. Bálor
told him that he shouldn’t expect their help next time.
Bálor and McDonagh left together.
Rusev approached Dom. Rusev got in his face and told him he
was the next IC champion. Rusev smiled and told him to enjoy
his party.
********
LA Knight & Jimmy Uso vs. Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed
Knight and Jimmy worked well together early on and had
control until Reed headbutting Jimmy gave the heels control
during a break. The crowd chanted for Jimmy, who was cut
down by a Breakker suplex. Jimmy avoided Reed’s senton and
made the hot tag to Knight.
Knight gave Breakker a neckbreaker, but turning his
attention to Reed allowed Breakker to cut him off with a
knee strike. Reed tagged in, but Knight avoided a Jagged
Edge (DVD) and hit a reverse DDT and elbow drop. Jimmy
tagged himself in and hit an Uso splash, but Breakker broke
up the cover.
Knight clotheslined Breakker out of the ring, and Jimmy hit
Reed with a suicide dive. Jimmy went for another, but Reed
caught him with a forearm. Knight attacked Reed and sent him
back into the ring. Jimmy hit Reed with a superkick and
spear. As Jimmy went to the top, Breakker ran over Knight
with a leaping shoulder tackle.
Breakker went after Jimmy, but Jimmy kicked him off the
apron. The distraction allowed Reed to hit Jimmy with Jagged
Edge for the pinfall win.
— Breakker speared Jimmy after the match, so Jey ran out to
make the save. Jey attacked both Brons with a chair as the
fans Yeeted.
The crowd gasped as Knight grabbed a steel chair with Jey’s
back turned. Jey turned around and went face-to-face with
Knight. Knight dropped the chair, and Jey offered a
handshake.
Knight shook his hand—then dropped him with a BFT (as
payback for last week).
Match result: Bronson Reed & Bron Breakker defeated Jimmy
Uso & LA Knight (12:02)