BRM Books Raw 1,000 and beyond

[Big Red Machine]

WWE.com reports that neither the Wyatt Family nor the team of Kane, Tensai, and Randy Orton will be at Raw tonight. They are being given time to cool down from their brawl. We will, however, hear from Randy Orton live via satellite, to get a response to the news that his actions last night caused his former protégé Bo Dallas to suffer a concussion (Bo will be out indefinitely). The Wyatt Family will have a match on Main Event and Kane, Orton, and Tensai will be banned from the building. Then, on Superstars, Kane, Orton, and Tensai will have a match with the Wyatt Family banned from the building. Both teams will be in the same building again on Smackdown.

Also signed for Raw are several big matches, including RVD vs. John Cena, Seth Rollins vs. Tyson Kidd, a big ten man tag team match, and a World Heavyweight Title match between Sheamus and Sin Cara, which Cara earned at Raw last week.

Also, Ryback has asked for some time tonight to address the man who defeated him last night at Extreme Rules: WWE Champion Daniel Bryan.


Raw: (5/5/2014)- Albany, NY
INTERNATIONAL AIRSTRIKE 2.0, THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS, & KOFI KINGSTON vs. THE EUROPEAN UNION, THE MIZ, ROMAN REIGNS, & ALBERTO DEL RIO (w/Ricardo Rodriguez & Aksana)-
Crazy, fast-paced opener. Babyfaces win clean in twenty minutes when Neville pins Barrett after a Red Arrow.

BIG SHOW vs. JINDER MAHAL- Big Show squashes Jinder

Evan Bourne calls out R-Truth, demanding to know why Truth turned on him last night at Extreme Rules. Truth does not come out, and when Bourne tstarts to leave the ring, Truth comes in through the crowd and attacks him from behind. Truth lays Bourne out with the Hat Rack Crack.

Renee Young interviews Daniel Bryan (& AJ). She asks Bryan what he thinks Ryback will say to him tonight. Bryan says he has no idea, but he has a tremendous amount of respect for Ryback, so will certainly hear Ryback out.
In the background, AJ is clearly in a lot of pain just from standing up, and while Dragon is talking, she occasionally lets out pained grunts. After the interview, Dragon convinces her to take a week off to heal herself up.

MARK HENRY vs. CODY RHODES-
Henry wins clean in twelve minutes with the World’s Strongest Slam.

Christian cuts a promo saying his loss to Tyson Kidd last night doesn’t matter because he’ll still win the WWE Title when his title shot comes around at Money in the Bank.

Ryback calls out Dnaiel Bryan. He says he doesn’t know what came over him after their match last night, but he is ashamed of the way he acted, and he wants to give Dragon the handshake he deserves. Ryback offers his hand, and Dragon, warily, takes it. They shake hands. No swerve.

SETH ROLLINS vs. TYSON KIDD (w/Natalya Neidhart)-
Tyson wins clean in twenty-five minutes.

Damien Sandow cuts a promo bragging about his victory over CM Punk last night, claiming that is a victory for intellectuals everywhere.

JOHN CENA vs. ROB VAN DAM-
Cena wins clean in fifteen minutes.

JACK SWAGGER vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (w/Vickie Guerrero)-
Dolph wins clean in twenty-five minutes. The announcers remind us that Dolph completely has Swagger’s number.
After the match, we get a reaction interview with Dolph. Vickie interrupts him, wanting to make her big announcement now. Dolph wants to wait. They argue. Dolph is pissed that Vickie could only get him a pre-show match on last night’s PPV. Vickie makes the big announcement despite Dolph telling her not to. The announcement is that he will be cashing in his return match for the WWE Title this Friday Night on Smackdown.

Randy Orton is interviewed via satellite. Orton says he is happy that he gave Bo a concussion. Bo turned on him, and thus Bo got what he deserved.

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Sheamus(c) vs. Sin Cara (w/Kalysto)-
Sheamus wins clean in twenty minutes. CM Punk is on commentary, and he talks about how special it is to be the world champion.


Main Event: (5/7/2014)
THE WYATT FAMILY (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, & Brodus Clay) (w/Dean Ambrose) vs. THREE JOBBERS-
Wyatts squash them. After the match Brya cuts a promo saying they will destroy all of the monsters like Kane, Tensai, and Orton who stand in their way. He does not mention Bo once.

DANIEL BRYAN vs. WADE BARRETT (w/Antonio Cesaro & Aksana)-
Bryan wins clean in twenty minutes. CM Punk is on commentary and talks about what it means to be a world champion.

We go to Dragon for a reaction interview backstage, but Dolph jumps him and beats him up.

MARK HENRY vs. KOFI KINGSTON-
Mark wins clean in fifteen minutes


Superstars: (5/8/2014)
DANIEL BRYAN vs. JTG-
Dragon squashes JTG, but then gets jumped by Dolph. CM Punk comes out to make the save.
KANE, TENSAI, & RANDY ORTON vs. THREE JOBBERS-
Kane, Orton, & Tensai squash them. Kane and Tensai cut promos about how they are going to beat up the Wyatts. Orton declines to cut a promo.

THE BELLA TWINS vs. ALICIA FOX & LAYLA EL-
Fox & Layla win clean in five minutes when Layla pins Brie.

SETH ROLLINS vs. ROB VAN DAM-
Seth wins clean in twenty-five minutes.

[Big Red Machine]

WWE.com announces that Seth Rollins will finally be getting another shot at the US Title after his previous title match a few weeks ago was ruined when the European Union attacked both Rollins and the US Champion Evan Bourne. That match will take place on next week’s Raw.
WWE.com also announces that WWE World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, WWE World Tag Team Champions International Airstrike 2.0, the European Union, Drew McIntyre, Christian, Paige, and Layla El will not be on Smackdown because they will be overseas promoting WWE’s upcoming tour of Europe.

At this past Sunday’s Extreme Rules PPV, John Cena praised up-and-coming WWE Superstar Roman Reigns for his in-ring ability. Now Cena will get to test that ability firsthand when the two face off on Smackdown!
Also on Smackdown, the Wyatt Family’s Luke Harper will take on Randy Orton. Will the few days of “cooldown” help to calm down the Wyatts’ feud with Orton, Tensai, & Kane?


Smackdown: (5/9/2014)- Buffalo, NY
LUKE HARPER (w/Bray Wyatt & The Wyatt Family) vs. RANDY ORTON (w/Kane & Tensai)-
The match doesn’t even get to start because when the Wyatts come out, they just bum-rush the ring, and we have a pier-six brawl. Security pours out of the backstage area to quickly break it up. Steph comes out on the ramp and orders them all removed from the building.

MARK HENRY vs. HEATH SLATER-
Mark squashes Heath like a bug.

Dolph Ziggler cuts a promo hyping up his WWE Title match tonight. He says he will win the title.

RYBACK vs. KOFI KINGSTON-
Ryback beats Kofi clean in ten minutes

BIG SHOW vs. MICHAEL MCGILLICUTTY
Big Show squashes McGillicutty

Daniel Bryan cuts a promo hyping up his WWE Title defense tonight against Dolph Ziggler. He says that his wife AJ might not be here with him physically, but she is here with him in spirit, and he will draw on her strength, as well as the strength of the WWE Universe to leave everything he has in the ring tonight, and to retain the title so that he and AJ can continue to live out their dream of being champions together.

CODY RHODES & JACK SWAGGER vs. THE BRAIN TRUST (w/Naomi)-
Cody & Swagger win clean in nine minutes when Swagger makes Otunga tap to the Patriot Act.

SIN CARA vs. EVAN BOURNE-
This match is billed as a battle of WWE’s top high-flyers. They trade some flippy counters for about two minutes before R-Truth shows up with a chair and attacks Bourne, causing a DQ. Cara tries to make the save, but he eats a chairshot from Truth. Truth then hits Bourne with the chair some more until Seth Rollins comes out with a chair of his own to chase Truth off.

JOHN CENA vs. ROMAN REIGNS (w/The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, & Ricardo Rodriguez)-
The heels get ejected from ringside early on, leaving just Reigns and Cena. Cena wins clean in thirteen minutes, but Reigns gets to look strong in defeat. Cena puts Riegns over once again after the match, and tells him that he doesn’t need the help of guys like Miz and Del Rio to become a champion.

Renee Young asks #1 contender Tyson Kidd for some thoughts on tonight’s WWE Title match between Daniel Bryan and Dolph Ziggler. Tyson puts both guys over, says it will be a hell of a match and that he will have his work cut out for him no matter who wins, but says that no matter who wins, they won’t be able to stop him from achieving his dream of being WWE Champion.

WWE TITLE MATCH: Daniel Bryan(c) vs. Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero)-
Give them a good thirty minutes to tear the house down. Dragon wins clean. CM Punk comes out to do commentary. He also says that he is there to ensure that Vickie doesn’t do anything shady.
After the match, Punk grabs the WWE Title belt. He teases that he is going to keep it, but then gets in the ring with Bryan. Punk tells Bryan that over the past week he has spent a lot of time watching Sheamus and Dragon defend their world titles, and he remembers how great it felt to be world champion and what being world champion meant to him, and he wants to feel that again. He talks about their past together- how they came up the same way, with the same goals (*insert indies/ROH references here*), so Dragon understand what being the world champion means to Punk better than anyone else does. Punk then asks Dragon for a shot at the WWE Title, and we go off the air with that.


The next day, even though it is a Saturday, WWE.com posts an article about all of this. The article reports that Dragon said he was willing to give Punk a shot at the WWE Title, but that many in WWE Management are against the idea. It is reported that WWE General Manager Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley will meet with her husband, WWE COO Hunter Hearst Helmsley, and the WWE Board of Directors over the weekend to talk it over, and she will announces their decision on Raw.

[Big Red Machine]

WWE.com announces tag team #1 contendership single elimination tournament that will play out over WWE TV for the next two weeks. The winning team will be named #1 contenders to the WWE World Tag Team Titles at Payback.
The teams will be:
The Prime Time Players
The European Union
Alberto Del Rio & Roman Reigns
Sin Cara & Kalysto
Cody Rhodes & Jack Swagger
Dolph Ziggler & Heath Slater
Seth Rollins & Evan Bourne
Ryback & John Cena

Interestingly enough, Bourne and Rollins are scheduled to face off on tonight’s Raw for Bourne’s US Title! In addition to that match, tonight’s Raw will feature a HUGE main event: a six man tag team cage match pitting Randy Orton, Kane, & Tensai against Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, & Brodus Clay of the Wyatt Family.
Also on Raw tonight, Drew McIntyre will take on the Big Show, Mark Henry will face Kofi Kingston, Christian will take on Kalysto, and WWE General Manager Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley will give us an answer about CM Punk’s request for a WWE Title match!
World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, WWE World Tag Team Champions International Airstrike 2.0, and Layla El will not be on WWE TV this week because they are still in Europe, promoting WWE’s tour next week.



Raw: (5/12/2014)- Greenville, SC

Raw opens with Steph coming out. She welcomes us all to Raw, then lets us know that Christian and Paige have had some travel difficulties, and it is likely that they won’t make it to the show in time. If they don’t , Christian’s scheduled match against Kalysto will become an open challenge.

She then gets down to the big piece of business for the night: Will CM Punk get a shot at the WWE Title. On Smackdown, the reigning WWE Champion Daniel Bryan told Punk he would give him a WWE Title match, but as many WWE Superstars have noted on Twitter over the past few days, CM Punk hasn’t won too many matches lately, and is, in fact, coming off of losses in his last two matches, both of which were Intercontinental Title matches against Damien Sandow, and both were at very high profile WWE PPV events.
Punk comes out and cuts another passionate promo about what it would mean to him to be the WWE Champion again. He says he’ll do anything for a title shot; even put his career on the line.
Steph strokes her chin thoughtfully and notes that the next WWE PPV will be Payback, in Punk’s home city of Chicago. Punk putting his career on the line for a shot at the WWE Title in front of the fans who have supported him so much along the way could be HUGE business.
Tyson Kidd, the man currently in line for a shot at the WWE Title at Payback, comes out and says that he’ll gladly let Punk have the title shot in his home town…
But he has an idea of his own he wants to pitch to Steph: Turn the house show booked for Calgary on 6/17 into a special, LIVE Tuesday Night Main Event, live on the WWE Network, and he’ll take his title shot there, in his hometown. He also notes that this would be the exact one-year anniversary of his non-title win over then-and-current-WWE Champion Daniel Bryan in a singles match on Raw, which was the biggest win of his career. Steph thinks it over, say she likes Tyson’s idea, and makes it official. It will Tyson Kidd challenging Daniel Bryan on a special LIVE Tuesday episode of WWE Main Event, exclusively on the WWE Network, on June 17th in Calgary, (dramatic pause) Alberta, Canada… on June 1st, on PPV and the WWE Network, at Payback 2014 in Chicago, Illinois, it will be Daniel Bryan vs. CM Punk: TITLE VS. CAREER!

Later in the show, we go to an interview with Dragon where he says he’s cool with all of this. He also gives us an update on AJ, saying she’ll be back on Smackdown.

ZACK RYDER vs. JINDER MAHAL vs. DAMIEN SANDOW (w/the Brain Trust)-
Sandow wins clean in six minutes, pinning Jinder after the Terminus.

We get a backstage segment with Dolph & Vickie arguing about Heath Slater. It is revealed that Vickie chose him to be Dolph’s partner for the tag team #1 contendership tournament even though Dolph didn’t want him. Vickie says that she sees a lot of untapped potential in him. Dolph thinks he is a jobber.

JACK SWAGGER & CODY RHODES vs. THE MIZ & ALBERTO DEL RIO (w/Ricardo Rodriguez & Roman Reigns)-
Babyfaces win clean win Swagger makes Miz tap to the Patriot Act in thirteen minutes. After the match, the announcers wonder if we will get a similar result if Cody & Swagger wind up facing Del Rio & Reings down the line in the tag team #1 contendership tournament.


ALICIA FOX vs. NATALYA (w/Tyson Kidd)-
Nattie wins clean in five minutes. The babyface announcers talk up how classy it was for Tyson to let Punk have the title shot in his hometown, and how cool it is that we will be getting a LIVE edition of Main Event from Calgary on June 16th, in which Tyson will be challenging for the WWE Title in his home town. JBL, being the heel, says Tyson is stupid for doing so because those two weeks between Payback and the LIVE Main Event from Calgary are two weeks in which Tyson could get injured, and then he might never get his title shot.

TAG TEAM #1 CONTENDERSHIP TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: The Primetime Players vs. The European Union (w/Aksana)-
PTP win clean in twelve minutes

Cena and Ryback cut a backstage promo. Cena puts over both Ryback and all of the other teams. Ryback talks about how they the biggest team and the strongest team, and thus will win the tournament, and then go on to win the WWE World Tag Team Titles!

MARK HENRY vs. KOFI KINGSTON-
Henry wins clean in thirteen minutes


WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Evan Bourne(c) vs. Seth Rollins-
The match never gets started because R-Truth jumps Bourne with a steel chair on the ramp. Seth Rollins tries to make the save, but he gets beaten down, too. While standing over Bourne’s prone form, Truth cuts a promo explaining his heel turn at Extreme Rules. He is pissed that Bourne started to team with Rollins after Truth got injured. Truth says that he was ready to go for Extreme Rules, and that Bourne should have kicked Rollins back to the curb and teamed with Truth in the tag team title match because he and Bourne earned that shot, not Bourne and Rollins.

Bourne vs. Rollins for US Title goes to a double DQ when Truth attacks them both. Truth cuts a promo explaining his actions at Extreme Rules


BIG SHOW vs. DREW MCINTYRE (w/Michael McGillicutty)-
Big Show squashes McIntyre.


Christian has not made it to the show, so this match is now…
KALYSTO’S OPEN CHALLENGE: Kalysto (w/Sin Cara) vs. Heath Slater-
On his way out, Heath says that he will use this opportunity to prove to Dolph that he is not a loser, and that Vickie made a wise choice to ask him to be Dolph’s tag team partner.
Kalysto wins clean in eight minutes, pinning Heath with his finisher.

STEEL CAGE MATCH: Kane, Randy Orton, & Tensai vs. The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Luke Harper, & Brodus Clay) (w/Dean Ambrose)-
The match is a big crazy brawl in the cage. Ambrose makes his presence felt by handing the heels weapons like kendo sticks and steel pipes though the cage. The heels win when Bray pins Orton after a Sister Abigail. Kane and Tensai continue to brawl with the Wyatts even after the match, and Steph has to send out security in riot gear to break it up.



WWE.com announces the card for tonight’s Main Event and for tomorrow’s Superstars
Mark Henry vs. Cesaro
Heath Slater vs. The Miz
The next match in the tag team #1 contendership tournament: the power of John Cena & Ryback vs. the speed & agility of Sin Cara & Kalysto
Also, Christian has asked for some time to address the WWE Universe.

For Superstars:
Yoshi Tatsu vs. JTG
The third opening-round match in the tag team #1 contendership tournament: Alberto Del Rio & Roman Reigns vs. Evan Bourne & Seth Rollins… and should R-Truth interfere in the match, he will be suspended without pay!
And a HUGE main event: Mark Henry vs. Randy Orton!



Main Event: (5/14/2014)
MARK HENRY vs. CESARO (w/Wade Barrett & Aksana)-
Henry wins clean in fourteen minutes

Christian comes out and says he is tired of waiting. He asked for some time to address the WWE Universe, and he wants it now. He is pissed off that CM Punk is getting a shot at the WWE Title. He says that he understands that he lost to Tyson Kidd at Extreme Rules, and because of those stipulations, Kidd would get a title shot before him, but he damn sure didn’t agree to wait until for everyone else to cut in line in front of him!
WWE Champion Daniel Bryan comes out and says that he has no problem defending the title against Christian at any time. WWE General Manager Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley comes out and says Christian has a point. She just talked with Tyson Kidd, and they both agreed that Christian could get a title shot before Tyson if he wants it. Steph says that in the interests of fairness, she will give both guys two days to prepare for the match and have the match this week on Smackdown!

HEATH SLATER vs. The Miz (w/Roman Reigns, Alberto Del Rio, & Ricardo Rodriguez)-
Miz gets the clean win with the Skull Crushing Finale, but Slater gets some good roll-ups in first.
Renee Young tries to get a reaction interview with Heath, who ignores her and runs over to where Dolph and Vickie were watching on the monitor. Dolph yells at Heath and tells him that he sucks. Vickie tells Heath to keep trying, and that she sees a lot of potential in him, and she knows he will make her proud and help Dolph win both the tournament and the tag team titles.

TAG TEAM #1 CONTENDERSHIP TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: John Cena & Ryback vs. Sin Cara & Kalysto-
The match is just what it is advertised as: size & strength vs. speed & agility. The finish comes when Kalysto goes for a crucifix roll-up on Ryback (which the announces point out is just what Dragon did to beat him at Extreme Rules), but Ryback blocks it, and starts to lift Kalysto up from that position up for the Shell Shock, but Sin Cara dropkicks him in the face, giving the needed momentum for Kalysto to complete the roll-up and get the pin on Ryback. The announcers put over what a HUGE deal this is for Kalysto.


Superstars: (5/15/2014)
TAG TEAM #1 CONTENDERSHIP TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: Evan Bourne & Seth Rollins vs. Roman Reigns & Alberto Del Rio (w/The Miz & Ricardo Rodriguez)-
Miz and Ricardo are ejected from ringside. The finish comes when Truth comes out onto the ramp to distract Bourne, allowing Reigns to spear him and pick up the win.

JTG vs. YOSHI TATSU-
The match doesn’t even go two minutes before the Brain Trust run out and attack both guys. Sandow then cuts a promo saying that if CM Punk is getting a title shot, then he, who beat Punk at the last three PPVs, including Wrestlemania XXX and a Falls Count Anywhere at Extreme Rules- and all for the IC Title, no less-, should get a title shot as well, and should get it before Punk. Steph comes out and says that he has a point. She tells him that he will challenge the winner of tomorrow’s Daniel Bryan vs. Christian WWE Title match in four days on Raw.

The announcers recap the surprising finish to last night’s Cena & Ryback vs. Cara & Kalysto tag team tournament match. Then we get a backstage promo from Ryback calling it a fluke and challenging “that little pipsqueak” Kalysto to a match on Smackdown.

Daniel Bryan cuts a promo saying that he has no problem defending the WWE Title against Damien Sandow, just like he has no problem defending the title against Christian on Smackdown. He says he is particularly excited for Smackdown because his wife AJ will be returning to WWE after taking ten days off to heal up her legs.

MARK HENRY vs. RANDY ORTON-
Mark wins clean in twenty minutes

[cero2k]

just wondering, are you planning on removing all the guys that have been fired?

[Big Red Machine]

just wondering, are you planning on removing all the guys that have been fired?

Definitely some of them. My thinking on this whole thing is that I have total creative control, including when people get let go because "creative has nothing for them." For a situation like Del Rio's, where it was 100% not a creative decision, I will be "firing" him on the date he was fired.
For the Black Thursday cuts, it is strange because it was certainly financially mandated, but all of the guys they released were (aside from 3MB and arguably Brodus), guys who creative had nothing for. I'll certainly get rid of some people, and I'll try to do it with a similar amount of guys and at similar card positions (which should hopefully mean similar money), but for someone who I am currently using like Brodus Clay, I'm not going to drop him just because WWE did if I feel I can use him a lot better and I can get rid of someone else instead. Others I might keep around until I finish whatever angle I'm doing with them and then let go after that.

[Big Red Machine]

WWE.com reports that Ryback vs. Kalysto has been made official and signed for tonight on Smackdown! Also as a result of last night’s episode of Superstars, we will see Yoshi Tatsu and JTG face off against the Brain Trust. In attrition to these two big matches, we will see Mark Henry vs. Big Show and a tag team title #1 contendership tournament match featuring Cody Rhodes & Jack Swagger vs. Dolph Ziggler & Heath Slater.
As if all of this wasn’t enough we will also see Daniel Bryan defend the WWE Title against Christian, with AJ Bryan returning to her husband’s side for the first time in ten days after taking time off to heel up an injury, and we will also hear from the man putting his career on the line for a WWE Title match in his home city at Payback: CM Punk.
Sin Cara will not be on tonight’s Smackdown because he is doing promotional work for WWE’s upcoming tour of Mexico this October. The European Union, Aksana, & R-Truth will not be on Smackdown because they are promoting next week’s tour of Europe.




Smackdown: (5/16/2014)- Greensboro, NC
JOHN CENA, THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS, KOFI KINGSTON, & TYSON KIDD (w/Natalya Neidhart) vs. THE MIZ, ROMAN REIGNS, JINDER MAHAL, CAMACHO, & ALBERTO DEL RIO (w/Ricardo Rodriguez)-
Babyfaces win in eight minutes when Tyson makes Camacho tap to the Dungeon Lock. The announcers hype up the tag team title #1 contendership tournament and Tyson’s upcoming title shot at the Live WWE Main Event Special from Calgary on June 17th, Punk’s Title vs. Career match at Payback, and the Tag Team #1 Contendership Tournament (which PTP have advanced in, which Reigns & Del Rio will be teaming in, and which Cena has been eliminated from after a shocking loss on Main Event when Kalysto pinned Ryback, and they also hype dup that match).

TAG TEAM #1 CONTENDERSHIP TOURNAMENT FIRST ROUND MATCH: Cody Rhodes & Jack Swagger vs. Heath Slater & Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero)-
Dolph refuses to tag Heath in. Dolph does his best to try to keep the match-up as himself vs. Swagger (and the announcers remind us that Ziggler completely owns Swagger’s number). Swagger manages to make the tag to Cody, and Cody quickly wears Dolph. The babyfaces make quick tags to keep themselves fresh to best take advantage of Dolph’s fatigue. After a double-down, Heath tag himself in while Cody manages to make the tag to Swagger, who immediately single-legs Heath and makes him tap to the Patriot Act. Total time is about eight minutes

MARK HENRY vs. THE BIG SHOW-
Big Show cut a pre-match promo saying he was sick of having “teammates” because he always winds up having to do everything himself, so now he will go back to being a singles wrestler and doing what his teammates at Survivor Series couldn’t do and defeat Mark Henry all by himself.
Mark Henry beats Big Show clean in ten minutes with the World’s Strongest Slam. After the match, Henry cut a promo saying that everyone else around here seems to be getting world title shots, so he wants one as well.

KANE & TENSAI vs. DREW MCINTYRE & MICHAEL MCGILLICUTTY-
The match goes a few minutes with the large babyfaces totally in control, but then the Wyatts came out and attacked Kane and Tensai for the DQ. McIntyre & McGillicutty bail. Kane and Tensai fight valiantly, but are quickly overwhelmed by the Wyatts’ superior numbers. The announcers wonder where Orton is, and conclude that the Wyatts must have jumped him backstage.

We get a backstage interview with Evan Bourne so he can respond to R-Truth’s accusations and actions over the past few weeks. Bourne is understandably pissed at Truth and wants to kick his ass. Seth Rollins shows up and says that Bourne should try to talk things out with R-Truth and save their friendship. Bourne points out that similar tactics didn’t work so well for Rollins and Ambrose. Rollins acknowledges this, but says that not being able to save his friendship with Ambrose is one of his greatest regrets. Rollins encourages Bourne to try to talk things out with Truth anyway, and Bourne gives in and says that he will try to do so on Raw.

KALYSTO vs. RYBACK-
Kalysto fights valiantly using his speed, but Ryback wins cleanly after he starts hitting some power moves, then finishes it off with the Shell Shock. After the match, Ryback stands over Kalysto and starts shouting “THAT’S HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE!” at him repeatedly. Cena comes out and gets between them, telling Ryback to take a chill pill.

We go backstage to Renee Young, who is standing by to interview Randy Orton, but before she can even ask a question, Kane and Tensai (both holding ice packs on their injuries and with some body parts taped up) come up to Orton and demand to know why he didn’t come out to help him when the Wyatts attacked them earlier. Orton tells that that he already got his revenge on Bo at the PPV, and that’s all he wanted. He did the matches last week because he was booked in them, not because he cared about fighting the Wyatts. Bray pinned him fair and square in the cage on Raw, and he is now done with the rivalry and will focus on rededicating himself to his own individual goals.

We get a pre-taped promo from CM Punk telling us that he is going home to Chicago to train for his big WWE Title match at Payback.

JTG & YOSHI TATSU vs. THE BRAIN TRUST (w/Naomi)-
Brain Trust squash JTG and Tatsu. Sandow cuts a promo saying that it doesn’t matter who wins tonight’s main event, because he will win the WWE Title in three days on Raw.

WWE TITLE MATCH: Daniel Bryan(c) (w/AJ Bryan) vs. Christian (w/Paige)-
Dragon wins clean to retain, knocking Christian out with the Busiaku knee in about twenty-five or thirty minutes. After the match, as the Bryans go to celebrate together, Paige clips AJ’s previously injured knees. Dragon rushes over to check on AJ. The announcers put over what a low-down, dirty, unsporting act this was. The shows ends with a shot of Paige retreating up the ramp, massively pleased with herself.

[Big Red Machine]

Over the weekend, Roman Reigns Tweets/Touts that he wants a US Title shot so he can become a champion. WWE.com announces that WWE Management has decided to grant him one because he pinned Bourne on Superstars. That match will take place on this week’s WWE Superstars, live from the UK.

WWE.com reports that Sin Cara met with WWE General Manager Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley yesterday to ask for a match against Ryback to get some payback for the disrespectful way that Ryback treated Cara’s protégé Kalysto after Rback defeated Kalysto on Smackdown. That match has been granted, and has been signed for Raw. When asked to comment on the match, Ryback said he was “looking forward to teaching that little pipsqueak a lesson.”

WWE.com is reports that AJ Bryan will not be flown to the UK for the UK tour as a precaution because of the injury inflicted on her by Paige last night on Smackdown




Raw: (5/19/2014)- London, UK
TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL MATCH: Cody Rhodes & Jack Swagger vs. Alberto Del Rio & Roman Reigns (w/Ricardo Rodriguez & The Miz)-
Swagger has Del Rio tapping, but Miz distracts the ref. Swagger, thinking his has won, releases the hold and starts to celebrate. This allows Del Rio to make the tag to Reigns and the match continues for a few more minutes before Reigns pins Cody with the Spear.

Paige cuts a backstage promo saying that she wants a shot at the Divas Title. In the middle of her promo, Dragon walks up to her and starts shouting at her. Security runs up and quickly gets between them, holding Dragon back.

LAYLA EL vs. ALICIA FOX-
Layla wins clean in her home country in six minutes.

Kane & Tensai come out to the ring. They say they don’t care if Orton wants to give up the fight. They still have a bone to pick with the Wyatt Family, and they are tired of waiting. The Wyatt Family comes out and we get a quick brawl which sees some weapon use, but the heel’s four-on-two advantage allows them to overcome the babyfaces and leave them laying.

Orton cuts a promo calling out the European Union. He says he wants revenge on them for giving him a concussion back in February. They accept his challenge for a match on Main Event, and warn him to be careful what he wishes for, or else he might wind up with another concussion.

RYBACK vs. SIN CARA (w/Kalysto)-
Cara uses his speed and Ryback uses his strength. Ryback wins clean in eight minutes with the Shell Shock. After getting the pin, he gets in Cara’s face the way he did to Kaylsto on Smackdown, repeatedly shouting “THAT’S HOW IT’S SUPPOSED TO BE!” Kalysto jumps in the ring and tries to pull Ryback off of his mentor. Ryback responds to this by turning around and giving Kalsyto a HUGE clothesline (which Kalysto takes a big spinning bump for) and then walks out, apparently calmer now.


KOFI KINGSTON vs. TYSON KIDD (w/Natalya)-
Tyson wins clean in twenty minutes, working over Kofi’s legs to take away his offense, then making him tap to the Sharpshooter.

Evan Bourne calls R-Truth out to talk about their issues. Truth apologizes for everything, says he overreacted, etc. etc. and wants to hug, but then kicks in the balls and lays him out with the Hat Rack Crack. Rollins comes out to make the save, chasing Truth off.

CHRISTIAN vs. MARK HENRY-
Christian enters first, and he goes over to the announce table and informs the announcers that Paige is not at ringside with him as usual because he sent her home for her own safety. He calls Dragon a dangerous psychopath who is liable to assault an innocent woman like Paige, and such a person is not fit to be WWE Champion, and thus should be stripped of the title. Once Christian has left, the announcers point out the hypocrisy involved in this demand, as when Christian was WWE Champion there was more than one time where he attempted to assault Bryan’s wife AJ, and actually did attack her during their double titles mixed tag team match at last year’s Night of Champions (which, like every other PPV, is available on the WWE Network for just $9.99 a month).
Mark and Christian have a good, long, match, with Mark subtly playing the babyface as Christian is forced to use tactics such as eye rakes to counter Mark’s massive strength. Mark wins clean in fifteen minutes after hitting the World’s Strongest Slam.
After the match, Mark grabs a mic and points out that he just beat a guy who was a top contender for the WWE Title just three days ago. Just like on Smackdown, he again demands a world title shot. This time, though, someone gives him an answer: SHEAMUS comes out and says that he’ll give Mark a shot at the World Heavyweight Title just as soon as they can get the paperwork filled out

Roman Reigns, The Miz, & Alberto Del Rio cut promos saying that Reigns will win the US Title from Evan Bourne on Superstars, and saying that it doesn’t matter who wins the second semi-final match in the tag team #1 contendership tournament. Reigns & Del Rio will win the tournament, and then go on to Payback and win the WWE World Tag Team Titles

BIG SHOW & HEATH SLATER vs THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS-
Dolph Ziggler & Vickie Guerrero are on commentary, arguing about Heath’s worth. PTP wins clean in six minutes, pinning Heath with their finisher. After the match, an angry Big Show gives Heath the WMD. Dolph says that Heath deserves this.

We go to Renee Young who is standing by for a backstage interview with Daniel Bryan. She asks him whether he will be able to put AJ’s injury out of his mind enough to focus on his title defense. Dragon looks sad and walks away without answering the question.

WWE TITLE MATCH: Daniel Bryan(c) vs. Damien Sandow (w/the Brain Trust)-
The announcers push the question of whether Dragon will be able to focus tonight because of AJ’s injury. He manages to hold it together and picks up the win via count-out after hitting the Busaiku Knee on the outside at around the twenty minute mark.

SHEAMUS & INTERNATIONAL AIRSTRIKE 2.0 vs. DREW MCINTYRE & THE EUROPEAN UNION (w/Aksana)-
Let them go for like 25 minutes and let the crowd pop for their local heroes. Maybe work in a spot where Aksana interferes so Layla has to run down and take her out. Neville gets the pin (because he is the most English) on Cesaro (because he is a heel who isn’t actually from the British Isles).

[Big Red Machine]

WWE.com reports that a new stipulation has been added to the US Title match Superstars between Evan Bourne and Roman Reigns: If R-Truth interferes in the match… or even shows up at ringside, he will be fired!

This week’s episode of Main Event will feature a taped message from WWE Divas Champion AJ Bryan.



Main Event: (5/21/2014)
RANDY ORTON vs. WADE BARRETT (w/Antonio Cesaro & Aksana)-
The match is fairly even until Cesaro gets involved while Aksana is distracting the ref, and gives Orton a huge European Uppercut to set up the Barrett Barrage for the finish in fifteen minutes.
We get a pre-taped promo from AJ saying that when she comes back, she’s going to kick Paige’s ass. (I’d have this play on TV, but not live in the arena so that the UK fans don’t boo my babyface because she is announcing her intention to kick their countrywoman’s ass).

Sandow in-ring promo. He claims that because Dragon didn’t pin him or make him submit, he should get another title shot. Steph comes out and says that she knows that Bryan will be willing to defend the title against Sandow again, but interests of fairness, she must point out to Sandow that while Dragon didn’t beat him in the middle of the ring, Sandow still did lose to Dragon, which should entitle Dragon to an IC Title match. She will give Sandow another shot at Dragon IF Sandow is willing to put his IC Title on the line. Sandow, thinking of the bruising Dragon gave him two nights ago on Raw, refuses.

Seth Rollins cuts a backstage promo calling out R-Truth for abusing Evan Bourne’s trust on Raw. Rollins said that he was the once who convinced Bourne to talk to Truth, and Truth took advantage of that, so now he is going to kick Truth’s ass.


TAG TEAM TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL MATCH: Sin Cara & Kalysto vs. The Primetime Players-
PTP win clean in fifteen minutes






Superstars: (5/22/2014)
PAIGE (w/Christian) vs. BRIE BELLA (w/Nikki Bella)-
Paige wins clean in seven minutes with Stretch Muffler.

Alberto Del Rio and Roman Reigns say they will win the tag team #1 contendership tournament. Reigns also says he will win the US Title tonight.

Renee Young interviews Damien Sandow and asks him why he didn’t put his IC Title on the line for another chance at being WWE Champion when Steph made the offer last night on Main Event. Sandow, using heel logic, argues that he is the IC Champion, and if the WWE Champion couldn’t beat him right in the middle of the ring, then that means that he is better than the WWE Champion, and thus his title is the more prestigious title, and thus not worth risking. When Renee points out that it was still Dragon who picked up the win in that match, Sandow brings up the Triple Threat Elimination match he had for the IC Title back in March when he defended the title against both Dragon and the then-WWE Champion Dolph Ziggler which he won by pinning Dragon (this was the match that was really just a set-up for Dolph to get intentionally DQed so he could injure Dragon going into their WWE Championship match at Wrestlemania). He reasons that because he pinned Dragon back in March, but Dragon couldn’t pin him, he is the greatest champion in the WWE.

SHEAMUS vs. KOFI KINGSTON-
Sheamus wins clean in twelve minutes.

Randy Orton cuts a promo saying that if Cesaro can’t keep his nose out of Orton’s matches, Orton will just have to break it for him.

The Prime Time Players cut a promo saying they will win the tag team #1 contendership tournament.

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Evan Bourne(c) (w/Seth Rollins) vs. Roman Reigns (w/The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, & Ricardo Rodriguez)-
The finish comes when Miz jumps up on the apron to distract Bourne and allow Reigns to set up for the Spear, but Bourne manages to side-step the Spear, and Reigns bumps into Miz, knocking Miz off the apron and allowing Bourne to roll Reigns up to retain the title. Miz and Reigns argue heavily afterwards. Del Rio and Ricardo try to make peace. Total time is twenty minutes.

[Big Red Machine]

Smackdown: (5/23/2014)- London, UK

R-TRUTH vs. SETH ROLLINS-
Truth wins in nine minutes after a low blow and a small package. He goes to beat Rollins down, but Evan Bourne runs out to make the save, chasing Truth off.

We get some sort of backstage segment with Jack Swagger and Christian, which results in them being booked in a match on Raw.

RYBACK vs. BRODUS CLAY (w/the Wyatt Family)-
Ryback wins clean in eight minutes, pinning Brodus after the Shell Shock. Unlike some of his recent matches, Ryback does not get in Brodus’ face or shout at him at all after the match. Bray just watches from his rocking chair at ringside and laughs.
KANE AND TENSAI CHARGE DOWN THE RAMP, ATTACKING THE WYATTS FROM BEHIND! (JBL calls them cowards for doing so, but Cole and Lawler point out not only how often the Wyatts have attacked from behind, but also the fact that Kane and Tensai are outnumbered, so this is merely using the element of surprise to even the odds). With this advantage, they are able to put a bit of a beating on Wyatt, Harper, and Ambrose, and Brodus is unable to help them because he is still selling the Shell Shock. Cole and Lawler assume that Ryback is going to help Kane and Tensai because they are all babyfaces, and are surprised when he bails instead. JBL defends Ryback by saying that it’s not his fight.
Eventually, the numbers game starts to catch up to Kane and Tensai, and the problem gets worse when Brodus recovers enough to join the fray as well. The Wyatts eventually overwhelm them and Kane and Tensai each go through an announce table (Kane can go through the Spanish one for the sake of the inside joke).

Sin Cara and Kalysto cut a promo on Ryback, saying that they don’t know what his problem is and they don’t care. John Cena shows up and apologizes to them for Ryback behavior, and that he doesn’t know what got into Ryback. Cara and Kalysto say that they want to teach him some respect.

THE BIG SHOW & CAMACHO vs. KOFI KINGSTON & CODY RHODES-
The match goes about five minutes. The finish comes when Camacho and Kofi are the legal men and are wrestling in the ring, while Cody and Big show fight on the outside. Big Show knocks Cody out with a WMD, and at about the same time, Kofi hits the Trouble in Paradise and gets the win. Show is too late to break the pin up, and he fumes angrily as Kofi celebrates. He picks Camacho up by the throat to chokeslam him, but Kofi sees this and delivers a series of quick kicks to the Big Show, causing Show to bail.


MARK HENRY vs. THE GREAT KHALI-
Mark basically squashes Khali. He then cuts a promo saying that he will win the World Heavyweight Title at Payback.

DOLPH ZIGGLER (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs. TYSON KIDD (w/Natalya Neidhart)-
Tyson wins clean via roll-up.

Paige cuts a promo saying that if AJ wants a piece of her, she’ll have to put the Divas Title on the line.


The Brain Trust come out to the ring. Sandow cuts a promo in which he reiterates his logic from Superstars on why he is the “top champion” in the WWE. He then makes an open challenge to anyone who thinks they can beat the “top champion” in the WWE. His challenges is answered by Sheamus… the World Heavyweight Champion, who cuts a promo about his now over-two-year-long reign as World Heavyweight Champion, and reminds everyone that he actually successfully defended his title against Sandow last Summer. Sandow says that this doesn’t count, and is certain that Sheamus won’t be able to do so again. Sandow wins by count-out when Sheamus gets distracted chasing off Otunga. After the match, Otunga laughs at Sheamus and gets in his face, so Sheamus gives him a Brogue Kick (to hopefully make the crowd happier after the European babyface champion loses).


RANDY ORTON vs. ANTONIO CESARO (w/Wade Barrett & Aksana)-
Cesaro wins after interference from Wade. I’d have this as the main event at the tapings, but air it as the semi-main.

TAG TEAM #1 CONTENDERSHIP TOURNAMENT FINALS: The Prime Time Players vs. Roman Reigns & Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez & The Miz)-
PTP get shined up, but the heels take control after heel shenanigans involving Miz and Ricardo. Darren Young is the babyface in peril. Miz and Ricardo keep managing to distract the ref at important times so that the either doesn’t see the babyface’s tag or allowing one of the heels to illegally prevent Darren from making the tag. They finally get caught and ejected from ringside, and Titus gets the hot tag and runs wild. PTP take control of the match, and are about to win, but Primo Colon shows up and distracts the ref while Epico slips into the ring behind PTP and creams them with a chair, allowing the heels to get the win, and the tag team title match at Payback.

[Big Red Machine]

Monday’s Raw will be one that you don’t want to miss! Here is what is on the docket!
CM Punk will address the WWE Universe in what may very well be his last appearance on Monday Night Raw.
A contract signing for the World Heavyweight Title match at Payback between Mark Henry and Sheamus
The Colons shocked the WWE Universe when they returned to WWE TV attacking the Prime Time Players, costing them the final match of the tag team #1 contendership tournament. We will hear an explanation of their actions tonight. We will also hear from the winners of the tournament Roman Reigns and Alberto Del Rio, and from the champions, International Airstrike 2.0
We will also see a rematch from the tournament when Sin Cara & Kalysto take on John Cena & Ryback, but this match won’t be as friendly as their previous encounter, especially when Ryback is in the ring.
Also, Jack Swagger faces off against Christian, and AJ Bryan returns to action after the heinous attack by Paige on Smackdown ten days ago.
And finally, a HUGE twelve-man tag team main event pitting the WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, WWE United States Champion Evan Bourne, WWE World Tag Team Champions International Airstrike, Cody Rhodes, and Tyson Kidd, against Dolph Ziggler, The European Union, the Miz, and the #1 contenders to the tag titles, Roman Reigns & Alberto Del Rio!


WWE.com reports that Camacho went to WWE General Manager Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley over the weekend and demanded a match against Big Show, and Mrs. McMahon-Helmsley has granted that match, which will take place on Raw.


Raw: (5/26/2014)- Knoxville, TN
We open up the show with some match announcements for Sunday’s Payback PPV:
TITLE VS. CAREER: Daniel Bryan(WWE Champion) vs. CM Punk- the announcers use this to hype up Punk’s appearance tonight.
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Sheamus(c) vs. Mark Henry- the announcers use this to hype up tonight’s contract signing.
WWE WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: International Airstrike 2.0(c) vs. Albert Del Rio & Roman Reigns (the announcers use this to hype up their contract signing on Smackdown)
And now, some newly signed matches:
WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: AJ Bryan(c) vs. Paige
KOFI KINGSTON vs. BIG SHOW
R-TRUTH vs. WWE UNITED STATES CHAMPION EVAN BOURNE (non-title)


Christian cuts a promo telling us that Paige isn’t here because she isn’t feeling well (the announcers think she’s just afraid of AJ).
CHRISTIAN vs. JACK SWAGGER-
Christian wins in twelve minutes when he distracts the ref by pulling the turnbuckle cover off, then hits Swagger with a low blow and rolls him up. Christian hurries backstage, obviously afraid of retaliation by Swagger. Byron Saxton tries to stop him for a reaction interview, but he claims he can’t talk because he needs to go back to his hotel to check on Paige.

Truth cuts a promo saying that because he beat Rollins, who is still owed a US Title shot, he should get a US Title shot first. He says that he can’t wait to take the title from that backstabbing piece of crap Evan Bourne. The announcers tell us that Bourne is still on his way to the building to explain why he isn’t out her confronting Truth, and they suggest that Truth wouldn’t be so full of bravado if Bourne were actually in the building. They assure us that he will be here on time for the main event, though.

AJ BRYAN (w/Daniel Bryan) vs. BRIE BELLA (w/Nikki Bella)-
AJ squashes Brie in one minute with the Shinning Wizard. She then cuts a promo telling Paige that she can have a Divas Title shot if she wants it, but she should be careful what she wishes for, because she just might get it.

A very pissed off Jack Swagger cuts a promo on Christian, demanding a rematch.

Kofi Kingston cuts a backstage promo in which he calls Big Show a bully who can’t accept responsibility for his own faults. Kofi says that he is sick and tired of watching Show harm others, so at Payback, he is going to kick some sense into the Big Show.

BIG SHOW vs. CAMACHO-
Before Show comes out, Camacho cuts a promo saying he is thankful to Kofi Kingston for saving him from Big Show last week on Smackdown, but now he is going to take care of himself. Big Show squashes in about a minute.

We go backstage to where Renee Young is interviewing Seth Rollins. She asks Seth what he thinks about Truth’s claim that by virtue of beating Rollins on Smackdown, he deserves to be #1 contender to the US Title. Rollins points out that Truth cheated to beat him, but says that he is willing to step aside if it means letting Bourne get his hands on R-Truth.
Randy Orton comes up to Seth and asks him if he will help him get his Payback on the European Union. Orton brings up the fact that the EU put Rollins through a table last month to try to convince Seth to team with him. Rollins says that he has moved past that attack and put it behind him. It doesn’t bother him anymore. That sort of thing happens all the time in wrestling. (While Rollins is saying this, Orton gets a disgusted look on his face)…
“But,” Seth says, “if you need a partner for a match, I’m always glad to help out.”

CM Punk comes out to the ring and cuts a promo. He acknowledges that this might very well be his final appearance on Raw. But, he says, it might also be the last time we ever see him on Raw… without the WWE Title around his waist. He says he has been in situations like this before, and in particular, he brings up both last year’s Judgment Day PPV, and Money in the Bank 2011. Both of those, he notes, were in Chicago. Just like Payback will be. Punk that’s the fans for their support over the years, and says that with his passion and determination, and their support, he will become the WWE Champion once again, and will remain champion for a long, long time. Sheamus broke his record for longest title reign of the modern era… well now it’s his turn to return the favor.

Mark Henry and Sheamus come out for their contract signing. Everything seems to be in order, and they share some respectful words back and forth. Just as they are about to put pen to paper, though, the Brain Trust comes out, and Damien Sandow demands to be included in this match on the basis of having gotten a count-out win over Sheamus on Smackdown. After all, he asks, what would a WWE PPV be without the best, most prestigious champion in the WWE?
Steph, who is officiating the proceedings, says that Sandow has a point about having beaten Sheamus, and she asks Mark and Sheamus if they would be okay with Sandow being added to the match. They say fine. We are told that a new contract will be drawn up and signed off-air, but the moment it happens, they will let us know about it on WWE.com


JOHN CENA & RYBACK vs. SIN CARA & KALYSTO-
Despite Ryback’s strangely aggressive behavior of late, he and Cena work well together, and he seems to be showing no signs of anger towards Cena. Cena and Ryback work the heel role in the match, and Si Cara plays the babyface in peril. Eventually he and Cena do a double-down after a desperation counter by Cara, and they both make their tags. Kalysto gets some quick offense in on Ryback, but then gets cut off by a big clothesline. Ryback whips him into the corner then following him in with a big shoulder to the gut. Ryback keeps pounding away on Kalysto in the corner and ignores the referee’s count, getting himself DQed.
Even after the bell has rung, he continues to pound on Kalysto, shouting about how he is bigger and stronger than puny little gnats like Kalysto. The ref tries to pull Ryback off, but to no avail. The now-recovered Sin Cara comes over to help his protégé, landing a few good punches on Ryback, but he is quickly cut off with a big clothesline. Ryback starts to stomp away at Cara as the ref once again tries to get him to stop.
Then John Cena comes over. Cena pulls Ryback away from Cara… but Ryback shoves Cena down, and then goes back over to put some boots to Kalysto. Cena gets back up, grabs Ryback by the shoulder and spins him around… then lands a BIG right hand! And another! Ryback fires back with a big punch of his own… but Cena ducks it, and dumps Ryback out to the floor with a HUGE clothesline.
Cena shouts something to Ryback about picking on somebody his own size. Ryback seethes angrily on the outside, but walks to the back instead of trying to go another round with Cena.


From this point on in the show, the announcers start plugging a special news report on the Network tomorrow night, with a bunch of big match announcements for Payback (as well as some panel discussion).

The Colons cut a backstage promo explaining their actions on Smackdown. They remind everyone that by virtue of beating them at Summer Slam, the Prime Time Players shut them out of the tag team title picture for a very long time. Now that PTP are no longer the champs and the Colons are back at full health, they have vowed to do what they can to keep PTP out of the tag team title picture. As they ar wrapping their promo up, PTP show up and they have a pull-apart brawl.


Kane and Tensai come out to the ring and call out the whole Wyatt Family and challenge them to a match. They say that it doesn’t matter if they have allies or not. They won’t give up the fight against Bray and his minions. Bray cuts a promo saying that he will soon tame them, like he has tamed so many other monsters. He says that it is easy for him to so because, as Kane and Tensai are now finding out, monsters don’t have friends.
A brawl ensues, and the heels use their numbers advantage to beat the babyfaces down until The Usos make their big return wielding steel pipes, to chase the Wyatt Family off.


DANIEL BRYAN, EVAN BOURNE, INTERNATIONAL AIRSTRIKE 2.0, CODY RHODES, & TYSON KIDD (w/AJ Bryan & Natalya Neidhart) vs. THE EUROPEAN UNION, DOLPH ZIGGLER, THE MIZ, ROMAN REIGNS, & ALBERTO DEL RIO (w/Ricardo Rodriguez, Vickie Guerrero, & Aksana)-
Babyfaces win clean in thirty minutes. The finish comes when Tyson hits Ziggler with the Blockbuster, but as he goes up to hit the move, Cody makes the blind tag and quickly leaps into the ring and steals the pin. Tyson gives him a “what the hell?!” look.


BIG PAYBACK MATCH ANNOUNCEMENT SHOW ON THE NETWORK: (5/27/2014)
(Obviously this is all taped earlier in the day, as opposed to during the Superstars/Smackdown)
The card for Payback, as it stands right now is…
TITLE VS. CAREER: Daniel Bryan(WWE Champion) (w/AJ Bryan) vs. CM Punk(career)
JOHN CENA vs. RYBACK
WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: AJ Bryan(c) (w/Daniel Bryan) vs. Paige (w/Christian)
KOFI KINGSTON vs. BIG SHOW
WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Evan Bourne(c) vs. R-Truth
THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS vs. THE COLONS (w/Rosa Mendes)
NO DISQUALIFICTION MATCH: The Wyatt Family vs. Kane, Tensai, & The Usos
SETH ROLLINS & RANDY ORTON vs. THE EUROPEAN UNION (w/Aksana)
JACK SWAGGER vs. CHRISTIAN (w/Paige)
In addition to this, there are expected to be tow other matche son the card which have not yet been 100% finalized. They will be:
WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Sheamus(c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Damien Sandow (w/the Brain Trust)-
They make sure to point out that the reason this hasn’t been signed is because Otunga is taking forever to look over the contract for Sandow.
WWE WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: International Airstrike 2.0(c) vs. Albert Del Rio & Roman Reigns-
A contract signing for this match is scheduled for this Friday night on Smackdown.



During the day on Wednesday, WWE.com announces (and WWE tweets… and why not have Steph do a Tout while we’re at it) that the contract for the World Heavyweight Title match at Payback between Sheamus, Mark Henry, and Damien Sandow has been finalized.

Main Event: (5/28/2014)
A lot of video packages to build up the PPV. A big recap of the match announcement show form the Network, a few new promos, and a replay of Punk’s promo from Raw. The only match on the show is the main event, which is…
RANDY ORTON & SETH ROLLINS vs. DREW MCINTYRE & MICHAEL MCGILLCUTTY vs. THE COLONS (w/Rosa Mendes)-
Colons win clean in twelve minutes, pinning Drew. Orton and Rollins seems to be functioning well as a unit.

Superstars: (5/29/2014)
Mostly the same deal as Main Event. The only match is the main event, which is…
RANDY ORTON & SETH ROLLINS vs. CODY RHODES & JACK SWAGGER-
Swagger and Cody win in fifteen minutes when the European Union interfere after a ref bump, and while Swagger is down. Cody plays possum when the Europeans show up, and once they are gone, he revives the ref and goes for the pin on Orton, which he gets. The announcers put over the idea that while Cody didn’t actually do anything against the rules, these are certainly morally questionable tactics.


The reason for making Main Event and Superstars mostly hype-shows for the PPV is to make sure that people know the card, as having most of the card released after the last Raw is a bit of a risk, but I want to see how well the “news/panel show” is received (hopefully surveys and stuff will be able to get some good data on this before Smackdown airs).

Smackdown: (5/30/2014) Atlanta, GA
A bunch of people (PTP, The Colons, AJ, Truth, Bourne, Orton, Kane & Tensai) cut promos talking about how, at Payback, they will get payback on their various foes.
Big Show cuts a promo saying that at Payback, he will take care of a mistake he should have taken care of months ago: he will end Kofi Kingston’s career.
The European Union cut a promo saying that it doesn’t matter who Orton brings with him, they will still kick his butt and give him another concussion. All Seth Rollins has done is line himself up for a beating as well.
We get a replay of the Punk promo from Raw. We then get an interview with Daniel Bryan making him if he is really willing to end his friend’s career. Bryan puts Punk over, but says that the title means everything to him.
The Usos cut a promo reminding everyone that it was the Wyatt Family who put them out of action, so they will now get their revenge on the Wyatts at Payback.
Mark Henry cuts a backstage promo saying that Sandow is just like Sheamus: a bug for him to squash, but Sandow is an even easier one. Mark says that Sandow’s inclusion in the match all but assures him the World Heavyweight Title.
Ryback and Cena have an in-ring confrontation. Cena accuses Ryback of throwing his weight around and being mean to those smaller than he is. Ryback reminds Cena that he is also smaller than him and vows to teach Cena the law of the jungle: bigger is better.
We get an in-ring segment where Sheamus calls out Sandow and mentions the fact that despite Sandow’s claims that he is the best, most prestigious champion in the WWE, it is Sheamus’ belt that is on the line, not Sandows. Sandow says that this is because Sheamus and Henry aren’t worthy of getting a shot at his IC Title. The segment ends with Otunga eating a Brogue Kick. Damien Sandow tris to flee up the ramp, but Mark Henr comes out and blocks his path, hitting him with the World’s Strongest Slam on the stage.
Christian cuts a promo hyping up his match with Jack Swagger at Payback, calling Swagger a loser and a crybaby, and saying he will beat Swagger again, just as easily.

CODY RHODES vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (w/Vickie Guerrero)-
Cody wins clean in twenty-five minutes. After the match, Renee Young tries to get a reaction interview from Cody and asks him about his questionable actions last night on Superstars, but is quickly cut off when Tyson Kidd shows up. He is angry at Cody for stealing his pin in the main event on Raw. Cody says that he knows that he needs wins in order to get a world title shot, and he is going to do whatever he needs to within the rules to get those wins. If Tyson wants to settle things in the ring, Cody would be more than happy to. After all, a win over a top contender to the WWE Title (Tyson has the shot coming up on the live special from Calgary on June 16th) should put Cody in line for a title shot as well.

We get the contract signing for the tag team title match between International Airstrike 2.0 and Reigns/Del Rio (w/Miz & Ricardo). The heels turn it into a brawl and put Justin Gabriel through the table. During all of the brawling, the contract gets destroyed. The announcers assure us that the match will still happen at the PPV, and that WWE will ensure that the contracts get signed before the PPV.

Also, people who aren’t on the PPV have matches. I’m in a bit of a time-crunch here.



WWE.com reports that Cody Rhodes vs. Tyson Kidd has been added to the pre-show for Payback.

[Big Red Machine]

At some point in the late afternoon, WWE tweets that there is something strange about the contracts for the tag title match tonight.


WWE Payback 2014 (6/1//2014)- Chicago, IL:

KICK-OFF SHOW:
Immediately as we go on air, we are told that International Airstrike 2.0 will defend the tag titles tonight, but rather than defend against Del Rio & Reigns, they will defend against Del Rio and Miz because Del Rio and Miz were the one who signed the contracts for the match that Ricardo went to Stamford to pick up over the weekend (and for kayfabe’s sake, we’ll say that Ricardo wasn’t on the house shows over the weekend). Hopefully we will get an explanation soon, when we hear from Miz, Reigns, and Del Rio on the kick-off show.

Tonight’s panel includes Dolph Ziggler, who isn’t wrestling on the show. Every time he is on camera, Dolph is grouchy and complaining about not having a match.

Byron Saxton interviews Damien Sandow. He asks Sandow how he hopes to win tonight against two much larger, much more powerful opponents. Sandow says he has a strategy.

CODY RHODES vs. TYSON KIDD (w/Natalya Neidhart)
Tyson wins clean in fourteen minutes

We go backstage to where Miz, Reigns, & Del Rio (and Ricardo) are standing by. Reigns is yelling at the others, especially Miz. Del Rio tells him to calm down. He explains to everyone that once they realized that new contracts needed to be sent out, he and Miz came up with an ingenious plan. They had Ricardo give the contract meant for Reigns to Miz to sign, meaning that while Neville and Gabriel have spent all this time preparing for Del Rio & Reigns, they will now have to face Del Rio & Miz instead… but Miz and Del Rio have been preparing for them, so they will have the advantage.
Reigns is very angry at being screwed out of a title match that he earned, but Del Rio and Miz tell him that they are all in this together, and say that this was done for the good of the group. They tell him it is just another sacrifice he has to make, all for the good of the group. They also tell him that even though he is angry, they fully expect him to “do his part” out there tonight to ensure that they win the titles.

MAIN SHOW:
THE PRIME TIME PLAYERS vs. THE COLONS (w/Rosa Mendes)-
The match is a lot more of a brawl than a wrestling match, with the ref having a lot of trouble keeping order. The Colons win clean in thirteen minutes.
WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: AJ Bryan(c) (w/Daniel Bryan) vs. Paige (w/Christian)-
AJ wins clean in eight minutes with the Shining Wizard
NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: Kane, Tensai, & The Usos vs. The Wyatt Family (Bray Wyatt, Dean Ambrose, Luke Harper, & Brodus Clay)-
Wild, crazy, match. Heels win just under twenty minutes when Bray pins Tensai after a bunch of weapons shots happen.

JACK SWAGGER vs. CHRISTIAN (w/Paige)-
They have a nice long wrestling match, to hopefully bring the crowd back by giving them something completely different than the last match. Paige cheats to help Christian by distracting Swagger, but is ejected from ringside. The finish comes when Christian tries the same trick he used in their match on Raw (pulling the turnbuckle cover off to distract the ref, then kicking Swagger in the balls), but Swagger is ready for it this time and catches Christians foot, then turns him over into the Patriot Act and makes him tap in sixteen minutes.

KOFI KINGSTON vs. THE BIG SHOW-
Kofi wins clean in ten minutes after hitting one Trouble in Paradise to stagger the Big Show, a second to knock him down to his knees, and a third to put him down for the pin.

RANDY ORTON & SETH ROLLINS vs. THE EUROPEAN UNION (w/Aksana)-
Babyfaces win clean in fifteen minutes when Randy ducks a Barrett Barrage and hits Wade with an RKO for the pin.

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Evan Bourne(c) vs. R-Truth-
Bourne wins clean in ten minutes. There is a lot of brawling and a lot of shouting back and forth.

We go backstage to where Byron Saxton is trying to get an interview with the Big Show, who apparently came backstage after his match and just sat down, and hasn’t moved since. Big Sow looks very sad. Byron asks Show what is on his mind, but Show just ignores him. Bray Wyatt walks up to Big Show and says that Big Show looks like he needs some “inspiration!” They walk off together.

WWE WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: International Airstrike 2.0(c) vs. The Miz & Alberto Del Rio (w/Roman Reigns & Ricardo Rodriguez)-
Reigns is still angry, but does appear to be a willing participant in the Reigns/Del Rio/Miz/Ricardo stable’s usual heel shenanigans. At one point, when Del Rio is being pinned after eating both babyfaces’ high-flying finishers, Reigns distracts the ref until Ricardo can break up the pin by hitting Gabriel with his microphone and Miz can run in and attack Neville, then drag Del Rio back to his corner, starting the heat. Later on in the match, after the babyfaces make their comeback, Miz eats both high-flying finishers. Reigns starts towards to the apron to distract the ref, but then hops down, allowing the ref to turn around and count the pin, giving Airstrike he win they have earned.

JOHN CENA vs. RYBACK-
Big-man power match. Ryback wins clean in twelve minutes with the Shell Shock (that’ll make the Chicago crowd happy).

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Sheamus(c) vs. Mark Henry vs. Damien Sandow (w/the Brain Trust)-
Sandow’s strategy is to stay away from the action whenever possible and try to steal pins after letting the two big men beat each other down. At one point he hits Mark with a Brogue Kick, but Otunga jumps on the apron and distracts Sheamus while Sandow slips into the ring behind him and pins Henry, but Sheamus realizes what is happening and break it up at the last second. The finish comes when Sheamus hits Mark with another Brogue Kick and the Brain Trust try the same thing, but Sheamus senses it coming and knocks Otunga off the apron, then turns around and gives Sandow a Brogue Kick as well. Sandow rolls out of the ring after eating the Brogue Kick, so Sheamus pins Henry and gets the win to retain his title in twelve minutes.

TITLE VS. CAREER MATCH: Daniel Bryan(WWE Champion) (w/AJ Bryan) vs. CM Punk-
Dragon wins clean in about thirty-five minutes, pinning Punk after the Busaiku Knee. I’d stick Ace Steel, Colt Cabana, Cliff Compton, and any other best buds of Punk’s in the front row. After the PPV goes off the air, I’d let Punk give a retirement speech, which you can then hype up that you have available on the Network as part of the post-show the next day.

[Big Red Machine]

The next month of TV is interesting, as we are trying to build up three different shows. The first of which is the WWE Network-exclusive LIVE Main Event from Calgary on Tuesday June 16th. The second is the June 23rd Raw, which will be Raw 1,100, and finally, obviously, the Money in the Bank PPV. While Money in the Bank gets hype, it receives very little build in the beginning of the month aside from some MITB Qualifiers.

BUILD TO THE LIVE WWE MAIN EVENT FROM CALGARY ON TUESDAY JUNE 17TH:

WWE & DIVAS TITLE PICTURES:
Tyson Kidd will be challenging Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title with the title shot he earned as a result of pinning Dragon during the Parejas Increibles match on the 4/28 Raw. In addition to this, Nattie is awarded a shot at the Divas’ Title as a result of beating AJ on the April 30th Main Event, which will also take place on the Calgary Show. The build to these matches plays on this being the anniversary of Tyson’s big non-title win over Dragon last year, the obvious fact that Tyson and Nattie both challenging for the titles in their hometown, and the idea that Tyson and Nattie are going to take the titles from AJ and Dragon, and in the process, do exactly what AJ and Dragon did by holding the titles as a married couple.

TAG TEAM TITLE PICTURE:
Airstrike first defend the title against Reigns and Del Rio. This comes about because Reigns is super-pissed that Miz stole his title shot, and Steph gives him and Del Rio a shot at the titles, so we get the match we were meant to have at Payback. Airstrike retain the titles after a miscue between Reigns and Miz on the outside allows them to pin Reigns.
Sin Cara and Kalisto pick up some wins (including an upset over Ambrose & Harper) and are awarded a title shot against International Airstrike 2.0 on the Calgary show. This match is built up as a battle of the high-flying tag teams.
The Prime Time Players and the Colons continue to feud. They have a rematch from the PPV which goes to a double DQ when the ref completely loses control of the match. They take turns screwing each other out of matches against Cara & Kalisto, and also brawl a bunch, leading to a Tornado Tag match on the Calgary show, with the winner getting a tag title shot at Money in the Bank.

US TITLE PICTURE:
Bourne and Truth continue their feud. Rollins is still owed a title shot as well. We wind up with a Truth vs. Bourne No DQ’s match for Bourne’s US Title on the Calgary show.

WORLD HEAVYWIEGHT TITLE PICTURE:
Alberto Del Rio picks up some wins (some clean, some with help from Miz or Ricardo or Reigns), and winds up being named the #1 contender to Shemaus’ World Heavyweight Title at Money in the Bank.

INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE PICTURE:
Sandow loses an MITB qualifier to Cody Rhodes, which also earns Cody a shot at the IC Title at Raw 1,100. Whenever he is asked if he is disappointed that he won’ be competing in an MITB match, Sandow no-sells it and instead claims that he is the greatest champion in the WWE and thus doen’t need to try to earn shots at other people’s titles.

MITB QUALIFIERS:
We have some. I’ll get more into some of those later. For the Calgary Show, we are advertising Cena’s MITB qualifier because if I’m trying to get people to buy this show on the Network, I should probably try to find a spot for Cena.

On the Raw the day before the Calgary show, it is announced that the final MITB Qualifier will be next week on Raw 1,100, and it will feature Dolph Ziggler taking on a returning former WWE Champion. Vickie says she has a scoop for Dolph on who it is. She whispers a name into his ear, and Dolph just about sh*ts his pants. He does the big gulp of fear, then puts his game face on and says that he needs to start training ASAP


Also, Wyatt Family stuff is happening. I’ll talk more about Bray and his influences in its own section because that is more of an overarching story or two throughout the month, rather than something that can easily be broken down into one pre-Calgary part and one post-Calgary part.


Live Tuesday Night Main Event Special: (Calgary, AB)- 6/17/2014
WWE WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: International Airstrike 2.0(c) vs. Sin Cara & Kalisto-
Fast-paced spotty opener. Tag Champs retain clean in fifteen minutes after hitting Kalisto with both of their high-flying finishers.

NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH FOR THE WWE UNITED STATES TITLE: Evan Bourne(c) vs. R-Truth-
Bourne wins in fifteen minutes, ending the feud.

Tyson and Nattie cut their big “we’re going to win the titles here in our hometown” babyface promo.

#1 CONTENDERSHIP TORNADO TAG TEAM MATCH: The Prime Time Players vs. The Colons (w/Rosa Mendes)-
Colons win when Rosa gives Primo brass knuckles while the ref is looking at Darren Young fighting Epico, and Titus gets KOed. Then Epico restrains Darren while Rosa gets the ref's attention so he can count Primo’s pin on Titus. Match goes about fifteen minutes.

MONEY IN THE BANK QUALIFIER: John Cena vs. Mark Henry-
Cena wins clean in twelve minutes

WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: AJ Bryan(c) vs. Natalya Neidhart-
Their husbands are not at ringside with them because they are warming up for their own match. AJ wins clean in twenty minutes. Nattie works over AJ’s legs really heavily but AJ picks up the win with a desperation Shining Wizard (think Tanahashi vs. Nakamura from this year’s Invasion Attack, but with boobs).
Both women are helped to the back after the match and don’t come out for the start of the…

WWE TITLE MATCH: Daniel Bryan(c) vs. Tyson Kidd-
They go back and forth for fifteen minutes. Dragon gets Tyson locked in the Yes Lock, but Nattie hurries down to ringside, giving Tyson the encouragement to make it to the ropes. Tyson starts to turn things around and takes over the match until he has Dragon in the Sharpshooter, but AJ comes out and gives Dragon the moral support to get to the ropes. From there they go into their big finish, with Dragon winning clean with the Busaiku Knee in fifteen minutes.

Jack Swagger picks up a bunch of wins, and we learn that he will challenge Daniel Bryan for the WWE Title at Money in the Bank (the wins all come before the Calgary show, but we hold off on the announcement until after it, so as not to take any attention away from that title match).


WWE.com announces that Money in the Bank will feature an NXT showcase match with NXT Champion Sami Zayn defending his title against Tyler Breeze.


BRAY WYATT STUFF:
The night after Payback, after Kofi Kingston wins a match, Big Show comes out to the ring, and after a tense staredown, he tells Kofi that he is sorry and offers him a handshake, which Kofi cautiously accepts. As it turns out, this displeases Bray, who was trying to get Big Show to become one of his monsters. When Kofi learns of Bray’s intentions, he tells Bray that this is not cool, and that if Bray was truly interested in helping people like he claims he is, he would be encouraging Big Show to let go of his anger and atone for his past mistakes, not hurt people. This causes Kofi to move into the Wyatt Family vs. Kane/Tensai/other babyface of the month feud.
Someone else on Bray’s radar is Ryback, who is increasingly disdainful of and disrespectful to smaller wrestlers, but is still respectful to bigger guys (though he hasn’t really joined their stable- he just seems to embrace Bray’s way of thinking… although the announcers debate whether or not Bray is manipulating him). This causes Cena, who is off-and-on feuding with Ryback, to occasionally join in the Bray feud. Starting with a big eight man tag (Kane, Tensai, Kofi, & Cena vs. Ambrose, Harper, Brodus, & Wyatt) which the babyfaces win when Cena pins Ambrose, the Wyatts go on a losing streak, including Kofi, Kane, and Tensai each beating one of Bray’s guys. On the Superstars after the Calgary show, they lose a six man to Kane, Kofi, & Tensai. After the match, Bray says that he thinks the world needs a reminder of how dangerous his monsters can be, so he has them hit a referee with a huge move or two.
As a result of this, they are suspended for a period of two weeks.

On the Smackdown following the Calgary show, PTP cut an angry promo telling the Colons that if brass knuckles are how they want to play, then PTP will play their game.



Raw 1,100 (6/23/2014)- Washington D.C.
The Colons assault the Prime Time Players after a match and injure them with steel pipes. International Airstrike show up to make the save wielding weapons of their own, but are too late to stop the major damage. Their dastardly work done, the Colons bail.
The announcers read a Tweet from Bray claiming that his influence will be felt at MITB.

WWE UNITED STATES TITLE MATCH: Evan Bourne(c) vs. Seth Rollins-
Bourne wins via roll-up

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Damien Sandow(c) (w/the Brain Trust) vs. Cody Rhodes-
Sandow wins clean.

We get a segment where Big Show calls Swagger out, apologizes him for throwing him off the stage back in December and puts Swagger over as the next WWE Champion!

MITB QUALIFIER: Dolph Ziggler (w/Vickie Guerrero) vs…. CHRIS JERICHO!
Jericho wins clean in twenty minutes.

On Smackdown, we get a segment where Dolph yells at Vickie for making bad decisions recently (signing Heath Slater as Dolph’s tag partner, for example), and for being a bad manager by failing to get him matches on the last two PPVs. He is DOLPH ZIGGLER! The show-off! He shouldn’t ever be wrestling on a damn pre-show like he did at Extreme Rules, and he certainly should never be completely off of a PPV like he was for Payback, and like he is for Money in the Bank. Vickie retorts that Dolph would have been on MITB if he had beaten Jericho on Raw in the MITB qualifier. Dolph blames this on Vickie, too, saying that she told him he would be facing Brock Lesnar, so he spent a week training for a completely different opponent. Dolph then fires Vickie, ending their four year professional relationship.

We also get an angle where Sandow calls out Kalisto and offers him an Intercontinental Title shot at Money in the Bank, thinking that he is too small and too inexperienced to be a threat to his title.

MONEY IN THE BANK RUNDOWN

WWE Money in the Bank 2014: (6/29/2014)- Boston, MA

WWE TITLE MATCH: Daniel Bryan(c) (w/AJ Bryan) vs. Jack Swagger
The build to this match is based on the fact that Bryan is a wrestler who wins by out-wrestling his opponents, but whenever he has faced an opponent who is technically skilled as he is, there hasn't been much of a size difference. Swagger is both as technically skilled as Dragon AND is significantly bigger than he is.

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Sheamus(c) vs. Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez, Roman Reigns, & The Miz)

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Damien Sandow(c) (w/the Brain Trust) vs. Kalisto (w/Sin Cara)

WWE WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: International Airstrike 2.0(c) vs. The Colons (w/Rosa Mendes)
After almost a year out of the title picture, the Colons finally get a long-awaited shot at the gold.

RYBACK vs. BIG SHOW

WWE TITLE MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: John Cena vs. Christian vs. Seth Rollins vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Roman Reigns vs. The Miz vs. Kane vs. Tensai

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton vs. Evan Bourne vs. Antonio Cesaro vs. Wade Barrett)

NXT TITLE MATCH: Sami Zayn(c) vs. Tyler Breeze
A big chance for two of NXT's brightest young stars to show their stuff on the big stage!

[Big Red Machine]

WWE Money in the Bank 2014: (6/29/2014)- Boston, MA

PRE-SHOW:
We are informed that Wade Barrett suffered an injury on Smackdown and will be out for six months. His spot in the World Heavyweight Title Contract MITB match will not be filled.

NXT TITLE MATCH: Sami Zayn(c) vs. Tyler Breeze-
Zayn wins clean in fifteen minutes. Erick Rowan attacks both men after the match, but he focuses more on Zayn.

We get a backstage segment with Del Rio, Reigns, & Miz (& Ricardo). Del Rio tells the others that their plan for tonight is teamwork. He says that Miz and Reigns need to put aside their differences tonight so that not only can they help him beat Sheamus and win the World Heavyweight Title, but they can ensure that one of the two of them wins the WWE Title Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match. Miz and Reigns exchange a very tense handshake.

We get a backstage segment with Kane, Tensai, and Kofi all agreeing to fight together if the Wyatt Family shows up and attacks them.


MAIN SHOW:
WWE WORLD TAG TEAM TITLE MATCH: International Airstrike 2.0(c) vs. The Colons (w/Rosa Mendes)-
Airstrike def. Colons to retain tag titles clean in fifteen minutes. The story of the match is the Colons trying to slow Airstrike down by cutting one of them off from the other.

WWE TITLE MONEY IN THE BANK CONTRACT LADDER MATCH: John Cena vs. Christian vs. Seth Rollins vs. Kofi Kingston vs. Roman Reigns vs. The Miz vs. Kane vs. Tensai-
The announcers speculate that, with Kane, Tensai, and Kofi all in this match, this will likely be where Bray Wyatt will make his influence felt, as he promised. Kane, Tensai, and Kofi are all looking over their shoulders at various times, waiting for interference, but it never comes. The other major story of the match is that Miz and Reigns manage to work together... until it comes time for one of them to try to get the briefcase, and which point they always argue until others come in and cut them off. After this happens a few times, they eventually come to blows.
Cena winds up picking up the win in twenty-five minutes.

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: Damien Sandow(c) (w/the Brain Trust) vs. Kalisto (w/Sin Cara)-
I’d have Sandow cut a pre-match promo just to put a bit of a break between this match and the crazy MITB match before it. Sandow wins the match clean in twelve minutes, but the announcers put over what a great showing it was for Kalisto.

RYBACK vs. BIG SHOW-
A good, slow, old-fashioned hoss fight. The announcers spend some time speculating about whether this match will be the match that Bray Wyatt has promised to influence, but the Wyatt Family do not appear at all. Ryback wins clean in fifteen minutes when he manages to get Big Show up for the Shell Shock.

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MONEY IN THE BANK LADDER MATCH: Chris Jericho vs. Tyson Kidd vs. Sin Cara vs. Cody Rhodes vs. Randy Orton vs. Evan Bourne vs. Antonio Cesaro-
They do spots. At one point about fifteen minutes in, Jericho is about to win, but Dolph Ziggler comes out and shoves the ladder over. Dolph then grabs a ladder and beats the sh*t out of Jericho, who is taken away by doctors.
About ten minutes after this, Orton is about to win, but Bo Dallas comes out of the crowd and pushes the ladder over. Cody Rhodes eventually wins the match at around the thirty minute mark.

WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Sheamus(c) vs. Alberto Del Rio (w/Ricardo Rodriguez, Roman Reigns, & The Miz)-
Miz and Reigns each individually help Del Rio cheat, but when they need to work together, the shenanigan in question is caught by the ref because they can’t get along. The big spot in the match comes after a ref bump when the heels have beaten Sheamus down. Reigns has Sheamus lined up for a spear and charges in, but as he does so, Miz goes to take a big swing at Sheamus’ head with a steel chair, and winds up stepping in the way, causing Reigns to spear him in the side. This buys Sheamus the time he needs to recover and he fights back against Del Rio and Reigns. He nails Reigns with a Brogue Kick, sending him rolling to the floor. Then the ref comes to and Sheamus and Del Rio go into their finishing sequence and Sheamus wins via Brogue Kick to retain the title.

WWE TITLE MATCH: Daniel Bryan(c) (w/AJ Bryan) vs. Jack Swagger-
Their mat-games are evenly matched in terms of skill, but Swagger has the big size advantage, so Dragon realizes that his best chance at victory is through strikes, so that becomes his main game plan. Throughout the course of the match, Swagger blocks a numbers of Dragon’s kicks and turns them into Patriot Acts, working over Dragon’s ankle. The finish sees Swagger set Dragon up on the top rope for the belly-to-belly superplex, but Dragon manages to catch him with a boot to the face, then leaps off the top rope and hits the Busaiku Knee, then crawls over, still selling his leg, and gets the pin in thirty minutes.

[Big Red Machine]

Here are my "Black Thursday" releases. Yeah, I know the date is off, but let's assume I did it on the day after MITB so it will still show up as money cut in the second quarter:

Camacho
JTG
Tatsu
Jinder
Teddy
Hawkins
McIntyre
Aksana
The Great Khali
Scott Dawson
Aiden English
Simon Gotch
Johnny Curtis

We wish them all well in their future endeavors.

[Big Red Machine]

Bray Wyatt sends out a Tweet saying that his influence was felt at Money in the Bank, and it will be felt more when he and his family return from their suspension on Main Event.



Raw (6/30/2014)- Hartford, CT

Raw opens with Steph and the Brain Trust in the ring. Sandow announces his most genius idea yet: A new tournament to determine the #1 contender to the IC Title. He says that the rules are complicated, but he will only explain them once and it’s not his fault if the WWE Universe is too dumb to understand. Steph looks at him disapprovingly after he says this, but motions for him to continue. He announces that it will be a two-block round-robin tournament. Between tonight’s Raw and Wednesday’s Main Event, there will be twelve qualifying matches, the round robin portion of the tournament will commence on Smackdown, continue on the weekend’s WWE Live Events and will conclude on Raw. Following that, on the next week’s Raw, the winners of the two blocks will face off for right to challenge Sandow for the IC Title at Elimination Chamber.
Steph then makes the exciting announcement that two of this weekend’s live events will air in their entirety live on the WWE Network. The show on Saturday Night will feature Block A while the show on Sunday Night will feature Block B. Both shows will start live at 7:00 pm (or whenever house shows normally start).
The wrestlers in the qualifying matches will be: WWE US Champion Evan Bourne, Sin Cara, Antonio Cesaro, Christian, Bo Dallas, Alberto Del Rio, Mark Henry, Chris Jericho, Kalisto, Kane Tyson Kidd, Kofi Kingston, Michael McGillicutty, The Miz, David Otunga, R-Truth, Roman Reigns, Cody Rhodes, Seth Rollins, Zack Ryder, Heath Slater, Jack Swagger, and Tensai.
She also announces that on Superstars, all of the wrestlers in Block A will face all of the wrestlers in Block B in a twelve man tag team match.
Steph then tells the Brain Trust that they will be wrestling the WWE World Tag Team Champions tonight… and that match will take place right after this commercial break!

INTERNATIONAL AIRSTRIKE 2.0 vs. THE BRAIN TRUST (w/Naomi)-
Airstrike win clean in seven minutes, pinning Otunga.

John Cena cuts a backstage promo about winning the WWE Title Money in the Bank Contract. He says he looks forward to becoming a fourteen-time world champion, surpassing Triple H for the second most all-time and wonders aloud if he has enough years left in his career to break Ric Flair’s record.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A QUALIFYING MATCH: Michael McGillicutty vs. Kofi Kingston-
McGillicutty wins clean in ten minutes. The announcers put this over a big upset because McGillicutty had been an undercard tag guy for most of the past two years.

We go backstage to Renee is who trying to interview the factions of Reigns, Miz, and Del Rio about their involvement in the IC Title Round Robin Tournament. They bicker about getting in each other’s way last night, resulting in none of them winning their big matches at Money in the Bank. Eventually they get it together and all commit to working together to ensure that one of them wins the tournament. Renee asks what happens if two of them face each other in finals. They say that if that happens, they will let the best man win.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B QUALIFYING MATCH: Tyson Kidd (w/Natalya Neidhart) vs. Roman Reigns (w/Alberto Del Rio, The Miz, & Ricardo Rodriguez)-
Nattie is able to help the ref catch the heels attempts at cheating and gets them ejected from ringside. Reigns wins clean in twelve minutes with a spear.

We go backstage to Chris Jericho, who is about to cut a promo, but he is interrupted by Dolph Ziggler. Jericho is about to attack Ziggler, but Dolph begs Jericho to hear him out. Dolph says that he knows that the two of them fighting is inevitable after what he did last night, but he says that they are both very career-focused athletes and proposes a truce until after they are done with the IC Title #1 Contendership Round-Robin Tournament. Jericho accepts, and they have a very tense stare-down and handshake.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A QUALIFYING MATCH: Seth Rollins vs. The Miz (w/Roman Reigns, Alberto Del Rio, & Ricardo Rodriguez)-
Rollins has the match won with flash pins several times, but the heels on the outside always distract the ref. Later, when Rollins has the Phoenix Splash set up, Ricardo distracts the ref while Del Rio pushes Rollins off the top. Miz then hits the Skull-Crushing Finale and gets the win.

Evan Bourne cuts a backstage promo saying that he would like to win the IC Title #1 Contendership Round-Robin Tournament and hold both the US and IC Titles.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B QUALIFYING MATCH: Cody Rhodes vs. Sin Cara (w/Kalisto)-
Cara wins clean in ten minutes with a roll-up.

Bo Dallas comes out to the ring and cuts a promo saying that last night Randy Orton felt his vengeance, and declares that Randy will have even more to answer for when his cousin Bray and the rest of the Wyatt Family return from their suspension on Main Event. Randy comes out to attack Bo, but Bo runs away. Randy picks up the mic and says that Bo is a dead man.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A QUALIFYING MATCH: Mark Henry vs. Tensai-
Henry wins the hoss fight clean in seven minutes.

Ryback cuts a backstage promo bragging about his victory over Big Show last night, claiming that he is the best in the WWE because everyone knows that the big-men are the best, and he has beaten all of the best big men.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B QUALIFYING MATCH: Jack Swagger vs. Alberto Del Rio (w/The Miz, Roman Reigns, & Ricardo Rodriguez)-
The heels on the outside try to cheat, but Seth Rollins chases them off with a steel chair. Swagger eventually makes Del Rio tap clean to the Patriot Act in fifteen minutes.

LAYLA EL vs. NIKKI BELLA (w/Brie Bella)-
Nikki wins clean with a spear in four minutes.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A QUALIFYING MATCH: Antonio Cesaro vs. Kane-
The announcers note that with Aksana released from her contract and Wade Barrett on the shelf, Cesaro is alone for the first time in his WWE career. They wonder what effect this will have on him. The answer is… that it is motivating him to prove himself more (that’s what the announcers theorize). Cesaro beats Kane clean in the middle of the ring with the Neutralizer in ten minutes.



IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B QUALIFYING MATCH: R-Truth vs. Chris Jericho-
Truth wins in ten minutes when Dolph breaks his word and runs out and hits Jericho with a Zig-Zag after a ref bump.

AJ and Dragon cut a backstage promo talking about how great it has been to live out their dream of being champions together and say that they will continue to do so for as long as they can. Dragon informs us that his ankle is still recovering from his tough match with Jack Swagger last night at Money in the Bank, and thus he is taking a few days off, but he assures us that he will be returning to action by this weekend.

SHEAMUS & THE USOS vs. CHRISTIAN & THE COLONS (w/Rosa Mendes & Paige)-
Babyfaces win clean in twenty minutes when an Uso pins a Colon after the Usos’ double splash finisher.




After Raw, Bray Wyatt sends out a Tweet saying that he is very angry that there will be some vengeance to be reeked when he returns from his suspension on Main Event.





Main Event: (7/2/2014)-
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A QUALIFYING MATCH: Dolph Ziggler vs. Heath Slater-
We get an early ref bump when Heath accidentally nails the ref with a clothesline. Ziggler hits the Zig-Zag, but the ref bump allows Jericho to come out and lay Ziggler out with the Codebreaker then rolls Slater’s unconscious body on top of Ziggler for the pin.

We go backstage to the Wyatt Family. Bray cuts a promo saying that he is very angry at Bo. He says that he didn’t authorize Bo to attack Orton at Money in the Bank. His “influence” at that PPV was Erick Rowan attacking Sami Zayn. He says that Orton wants vengeance on Bo, and Bray will not stop Randy from taking his vengeance. Bo must face Randy himself.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B QUALIFYING MATCH: Evan Bourne vs. David Otunga (w/the Brian Trust)-
Bourne wins clean with the Air Bourne in nine minutes.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A QUALIFYING MATCH: Bo Dallas vs. Zack Ryder-
Ryder wins by count-out when Orton comes out and chases Bo away.


IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B QUALIFYING MATCH: Christian (w/Paige) vs. Kalisto (w/Sin Cara)-
Christian wins clean in seventeen minutes in a strong showing for Kalisto.




WWE.com reports that two big grudge matches have been signed for tonight’s Superstars: Chris Jericho vs. Dolph Ziggler and Randy Orton vs. Bo Dallas! Also on tonight’s show we will and a twelve-man tag team match pitting the wrestlers in Block A of the IC Title #1 Contendership Round-Robin Tournament against the wrestlers in Block B.




Superstars: (7/3/2014)-
BO DALLAS vs. RANDY ORTON-
As soon as Randy comes out to the ring, Bo runs away. Orton gives chase and follows Bo all the way to the parking lot, but he cannot stop Bo from getting into his car and speeding out of the arena. Orton starts to curse angrily, and when Tom Phillips tries to get a reaction interview, Orton says he is “tired of this crap” and says that he is going to see Steph.

TWELVE MAN TAG TEAM MATCH: Block A (Antonio Cesaro, Zack Ryder, The Miz, Evan Bourne, Michael McGillicutty & Mark Henry) vs. Block B (Roman Reigns, Jack Swagger, Heath Slater, R-Truth, Christian, & Sin Cara) (w/Paige & Kalisto)-
We get a bunch of teases of Miz vs. Reigns, but they never come to blows, with Miz deciding to tag out each time (“for the good of the group”). The finish comes when Swagger makes Miz tap to the Patriot Act in twelve minutes.

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. CHRIS JERICHO- About fifteen minutes in, Jericho looks to be in full control of the match, so Dolph hits him with a blatant low blow for the DQ, then hits him with the Zig Zag. Dolph celebrates for a bit and starts to make his way up the ramp, but Jericho, still selling, asks for a mic. With beleaguered breath, he tells Dolph not to go anyway. “We’ve both been doing this long enough that we know how this winds up playing out, Dolph. We keep escalating and escalating until we wind up with some sort of violent match where we beat the crap out of each other until only one of us is left standing… so why don’t we cut out the middle and just finish it, right here, right now, so we can both get on with our lives? What do you say, Dolph? You and me- NO DISQUALIFICATIONS!”
The babyface announcer puts over Jericho’s bravery for making this challenge despite clearly being in worse shape than Dolph, while the heel announcer decries it as stupidity for the same reason. Steph comes out, and tells Dolph that if he is okay with it, she’ll make the match official. Dolph says okay, so we get a…

NO DISQUALIFICATIONS MATCH: Dolph Ziggler vs. Chris Jericho-
They go the limit of TV time remaining (which should hopefully be at least ten minutes), with Jericho coming out on top.

As they go off the air, the announcers inform us that a rematch between Bo and Orton has been signed for tomorrow’s Smackdown… but unlike tonight, it will take place INSIDE A STEEL CAGE!








WWE.com reports that tonight’s Smackdown may well be one of the biggest in recent memory. Not only do we have the first six matches in the IC Title #1 Contendership Round-Robin Tournament and a steel cage match between Randy Orton and Bo Dallas, but we will also see a big battle royale to determine the #1 contender to the World Heavyweight Title, big news for the Divas division, and singles match between Tyson Kidd and Sheamus, and Ryback and Chris Jericho!
Dolph Ziggler will not be on Smackdown tonight due to injuries suffered in his No Disqualifications match last night on Superstars against Chris Jericho.





Smackdown: (7/4/2014)- Newark, NJ
SHEAMUS vs. TYSON KIDD (w/Natalya Neidhart)-
The finish comes when Sheamus goes for a Brogue Kick in the corner but Kidd ducks it and uses the momentum of Sheamus’ foot hitting the turnbuckle to help him get and extra-quick school boy and upset the World Heavyweight Champion with a pinfall victory! Total match time should be about ten minutes.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Zack Ryder(0-0) vs. The Miz(0-0) (w/Ricardo Rodriguez, Roman Reigns, & Albert Del Rio)-
Miz squashes Ryder in two minutes.
Evan Bourne cuts a backstage promo in hich, as US Champion, he dedicates hi match tonight to the United States of America.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Heath Slater(0-0) vs. Christian(0-0) (w/Paige)-
Mostly a squash, but Slater gets one or two good roll-ups in. The match goes about four minutes.

Daniel Bryan cuts a promo saying he will be on returning to action tomorrow night for the WWE Live Events this weekend, which he reminds everyone are going to be on the WWE Network.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Mark Henry(0-0) vs. Antonio Cesaro(0-0)-
They bawl on the outside and wind up going to a double count-out.

Jack Swagger cuts a backstage promo where he, as an all-American American, dedicates his match tonight to the USA.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: R-Truth(0-0) vs. Roman Reigns(0-0) (w/The Miz, Alberto Del Rio, & Ricardo Rodriguez)-
Reigns pretty much squashes Truth in three minutes.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Evan Bourne(0-0) vs. Michael McGillicutty(0-0)-
McGillicutty pins Bourne clean in the middle of the ring with the McGillicutter to upset the US Champion in eight minutes.

We get a video package hyping up the debut of Emma next week on Raw!

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Jack Swagger(0-0) vs. Sin Cara(0-0) (w/Kalisto)-
Swagger wins clean in nine minutes, making Cara tap to the Patriot Act.
RYBACK vs. CHRIS JERICHO-
Ryback wins clean in ten minutes with the Shell Shock.

STEEL CAGE MATCH: Randy Orton vs. Bo Dallas-
Bo jumps Orton and gets some offense in early on, but Randy quickly makes a comeback and beats the living sh*t out of Bo, finishing it off with an RKO. He then picks Bo up and hits a second one. Randy starts to climb out of the cage, but when he is about three quarters of the way up, he sees Bo stirring and stops, then starts climbing back down. The Viper patiently waits for Bo to start to get up, and when he does, Randy runs across the ring and punts Bo in the head. Randy picks Bo’s body up and drags it towards the door. He lays Bo’s body on the steps so that Bo’s head is resting on the bottom rope, then gives Bo another big punt. This causes Bo to fall to the ground and technically gives Bo the victory, but Orton doesn’t care. He then goes outside and gives Bo’s head one last punt before walking away, never once looking back.

BATTLE ROYALE FOR A FUTURE SHOT AT THE WORLD HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE: Pretty much anyone who hasn’t otherwise appeared on tonight’s show is in this match, aside from Big Show, who isn’t allowed to be in title matches.
The big spot is a face-off between the Wyatt Family and the grouping of Kane, Tensai, Kofi, and Cena which turns into a big brawl. The last two guys left are Cena and Rollins, and we get an inconclusive finish with the ref’s arguing over who’s feet hit the ground first.





HOUSE SHOWS FOR THE WEEKEND (Don’t worry. I haven’t gone completely insane. I am only going to be doing the Round Robin Tournament results):

Friday (7/4/2014) Windsor, ON- Not broadcast live, but matches available on WWE the Network as VOD
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: The Miz(1-0) def. Evan Bourne(0-1) clean.
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Mark Henry(0-0-1) def. Zack Ryder(0-1) in a squash
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Antonio Cesaro(0-0-1) def. Michael McGillicutty(1-0)
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Jack Swagger(1-0) def. Christian(1-0) clean
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Sin Cara(0-1) def. R-Truth(0-1)
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Roman Reigns(0-1) def. Heath Slater(0-1 in a squash match)

SATURDAY:
7/5 House Show in London, ON (Broadcast live on the WWE Network)
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Michael McGillicutty(1-1) def. The Miz(2-0) clean
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Cesaro(1-0-1) def. Zack Ryder(0-2) clean in a squash
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Evan Bourne(0-2) def. Mark Henry(1-0-1) by count-out. The finish saw Bourne do a big dive onto Mark, knocking him down, then manage to get back into the ring before the ten count while Mark could not.

7/5 House Show in Bloomfield CO (matches available later as VOD)
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Jack Swagger(2-0) def. Heath Slater(0-2) in a squash
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Roman Reigns(2-0) def. Sin Cara(1-1)
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Christian(1-1) def. R-Truth(0-2)

SUNDAY:
7/6 House Show in Kinsington, ON (matches available as VOD on the WWE Network)
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: The Miz(3-0) def. Mark Henry (1-1-1) by count-out when Del Rio and Ricardo distracted Henry long enough to get him counted out.
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Michael McGillicutty(2-1) def. Zack Ryder(0-3) clean.
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Cesaro(2-0-1) def. Evan Bourne(1-2) clean.

7/6 House Show from Toronto, ON (Broadcast live on the WWE Network)
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Roman Reigns (3-0) def. Christian (2-1) cleanly in a good, long match.
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Jack Swagger(3-0) def. R-Truth(0-3) clean via submission.
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Sin Cara(1-2) def. Heath Slater(0-3) clean, but Slater a got a bunch of nearfalls, mostly via roll-up.

[Big Red Machine]

WWE.com reports that Bo Dallas sustained a severe concussion on Smackdown as a result of multiple punts to the heat by Randy Orton and will be out of action for a long time.



Raw: (7/7/2014)- Montreal, QC
We start off the show with the announcers hyping up some of the IC Title #1 Contnedership Round-Robin Tournament matches and what various outcomes will determine who wins the blocks. Block B is straight-forward: Swagger and Reigns are both 4-0, and they face off tonight with the victor winning the block and moving on to the tournament finals next week on Raw.
Block A, on the other hand, is much more complicated. Cesaro is 3-0-1 while Miz and McGillicutty are both 3-1. Cesaro faces Miz tonight. If Cesaro wins, he wins the block straight-out. If Miz wins, he needs McGillicutty to lose or draw in order to make the finals because McGillicutty owns the tiebreaker over him because he beat him.
To recap:
Cesaro wins the block if: He beats Miz OR if he and Miz go to a draw and McGillicutty doesn’t win his match.
Miz wins the block if: He beats Cesaro AND McGillicutty doesn’t win his match.
McGillicutty wins the block if: He wins his match AND Cesaro doesn’t beat Miz.

The show proper opens with Steph in the ring. She says it is time to announce her decision of how to resolve the issue of who should be the #1 contender to the World Heavyweight Title after the inconclusive finish of the battle royale on Smackdown. She first calls out the World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, then the two men involved in the finish: John Cena and Seth Rollins.
Steph shows a few different angles of footage and says it is clear their feet touch at the same time. Sheamus says he is willing to defend the title against both guys. Steph is about to make an announcement, but Tyson Kidd comes out and interrupts her. Tyson argues that he should be the #1 contender because he pinned Sheamus clean on Smackdown. Steph admits that he has a point.
Randy Orton then comes out and says that he would have won the World Heavyweight Title Contract Money in the Bank Ladder Match if it hadn’t been for Bo Dallas, and the says that because the MITB case is as good as a guaranteed title reign, he should at last be given a title shot as compensation for being screwed, and he wants it now that Bo is on the shelf for a LONG time. Steph says that he has a point as well.
Then Chris Jericho comes out and mocks Orton “I’ve only been back for a few weeks, so I don’t want to start whining, but that is all it takes to get a title shot around here, let me whine and be a sore loser, too.” Jericho points out that Dolph Ziggler screwed him the same way that Bo screwed Orton, but Jericho got screwed first, so if he hadn’t been screwed, Orton would never have been able to get screwed and come out here and complain. Orton is angry about Jericho’s comments, but Steph concedes that Jericho has a point as well.
Sheamus notes that the next PPV is Elimination Chamber and there is no Elimination Chamber match scheduled yet… and here he stands with five wrestlers all claiming to be the #1 contender to his World Heavyweight Title (what an amazing coincidence!). Sheamus suggests that they be the Elimination Chamber match for the PPV. Steph likes this idea and books it.


IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Evan Bourne(1-3) vs. Zack Ryder(0-4)-
The announers talk about how disappointing this tournament has been for Bourne, noting that h has lost to McGillicutty, Miz, and Cesaro (plugging the Miz and Cesaro matches as being available on the WWE Network). They also show us the finish of his victory over Mark Henry and plug the fact that that entire house show is available on the WWE Network.
Bourne beats Ryder clean in five minutes.

THE USOS vs. THE BRAIN TRUST (w/Naomi)-
Usos win clean in ten minutes, pinning Otunga after their double splash finisher.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Heath Slater(0-4) vs. R-Truth(0-4)-
R-Truth takes most of the match, but then gets cocky, allowing Heath to counter the Hat Rack Crack by landing on his feet behind Truth, then catch Truth with an O’Connor Roll for the upset win.

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. RYBACK-
Ryback wins clean in thirteen minutes. This would be almost a semi-squash with Dolph not really getting too much in aside from some bursts of offense utilizing his speed. This is more for Dolph to bump around for Ryback.
Renee Young tries to get a reaction interview from Dolph, but he refuses. She tries to get one from Ryback, too, and he is all too happy to brag about his win.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Cesaro (3-0-1) vs. The Miz(3-1) (w/Ricardo Rodriguez, & Alberto Del Rio)-
The announcers hype the various scenarios that everyone remaining will need to win the block.
Roman Reigns was not at ringside with his group because he was preparing for his big match against Jack Swagger. Miz picks up the win after cheating heel shenanigans from Miz’s pals. The announcers put over the idea that Miz has screwed Cesaro out of winning the block.

Tensai cuts a backstage promo vowing to fight against Bray Wyatt for as long as it takes.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Sin Cara(2-2) vs. Christian(2-2) (w/Paige)-
Christian wins clean in ten minutes.

EMMA vs. BRIE BELLA (w/Nikki Bella)-
Emma has a great showing in her WWE debut, holding her own with Brie for eight minutes, and only losing after Nikki interferes and hits her with a spear.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK A MATCH: Michael McGillicutty(3-1) vs. Mark Henry(1-2-1)-
Once again, the announcers play up the fact that McGillicutty must win this match to win the block, and if he loses, Miz wins the block.
They wrestle for a few minutes, and we wind up with a scenario similar to the finish of the Bourne vs. Henry match where McGillicutty has Mark down on the outside about half-way up the ramp (let’s say he did the Jeff Hardy run the barricade spot to knock Mark down). McGillicutty races back to the ring to get the count-out win, but before the ref can count Mark out, Ricardo Rodriguez runs out and attacks Mark, causing a DQ. Mark destroys Ricardo with the World’s Strongest Slam, but once the announcement is made, the announcers realize what has happened: McGillicutty has been DQed, and thus Miz has won the block. The announcers put over how Miz has screwed another superstar out of winning this block.

IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND-ROBIN TOURNAMENT BLOCK B MATCH: Jack Swagger(4-0) vs. Roman Reigns(4-0) (w/The Miz, Alberto Del Rio)-
Ricardo is not at ringside with the heels because he is receiving medical treatment. They wrestle for about fifteen minutes cleanly with Swagger managing to lock in the Patriot Act twice, but Reigns fights through the pain to get to the ropes both times. When Swagger locks it on a third time, Reigns taps… but Miz is distracting the referee! Del Rio runs in and hits Swagger from behind with an enzugiri. Swagger crumples, and Del Rio rolls Reigns on top of him for the pin. Miz lets the referee go. The ref counts the pin:
ONE!

TWO!



THRE-NO!
Swagger kicks out!

Reigns gets about another minute of offense in while still selling his ankle, but Swagger manages to catch him in the Patriot Act a fourth time and makes him tap to win the block in about eighteen minutes.

Tom Phillips asks Bray Wyatt for any comments on Randy Orton putting Bo Dallas out of action indefinitely. Bray says that Bo acted without his permission and he got what he deserved.

CODY RHODES vs. DANIEL BRYAN (w/AJ Bryan)-
Dragon wins clean with the Busaiku Knee in fifteen minutes.
Renee Young tries to get a reaction interview with Dragon. He tells her that he is feeling good, his ankle has totally recovered, and he is eagerly awaiting his next challenger.




Main Event: (7/9/2014)
RYBACK vs. ANTONIO CESARO-
Ryback wins clean in thirteen minutes.

THE BELLA TWINS vs. AJ BRYAN & EMMA (w/Daniel Bryan)-
Heels win in nine minutes when Brie rolls Emma up and grabs her tights for the pin. As AJ comes in to break it up, she gets speared by Nikki,

BIG SHOW & KANE vs. INTERNATIONAL AIRSTRIKE 2.0-
Airstrike use their speed while Kane and Show use their power. When Kane is in, he tends to take most of the action, but when Big Show is in, Airstrike seem to be completely dominating him as he tentatively stands there, trying to box defensively. Airstrike win clean in thirteen minutes, pinning Big Show after their double flippy-move finisher.



Superstars: (7/10/2014)
THE USOS vs. SIN CARA & KALISTO-
Usos win clean in seven minutes, pinning Kalisto after their big splash finisher.

Mark Henry cuts a backstage promo in which he complains that it is BS that he didn’t win his block even though he was never actually pinned. He says that he, not Miz, should be facing Jack Swagger in the IC Title #1 Contendership Tournament Finals on Raw.

BATTLE ROYALE FOR A DIVAS TITLE MATCH TOMORROW NIGHT ON SMACKDOWN- this is one of those “the whole division gets a chance” clusterf*cks. They do a spot where Nikki spears just about everyone. People eliminate each other. Stuff happens. Emma gets an upset elimination on Brie, then avoids a spear from Nikki, eliminating Nikki as well. While the ref is distracted, the Bellas come back in and eliminate Emma, leaving Naomi as the winner.

Ryback cuts a backstage promo calling Big Show “pathetic” for losing to small guys like International Airstrike. He says that he will show Big Show how to deal with flippy little pipsqueaks tonight.

EVAN BOURNE vs. RYBACK-
The match goes about eight minutes, with Ryback getting in most of the offense. At one point Ryback decides to start showing off and he picks Bourne up, carries him onto the apron, and gives him a press slam all the way to the announce table, which breaks. The referee determines that Ryback was intentionally aiming for the table and disqualifies him. Ryback just laughs it off. Bourne is helped to the back.

We go backstage to Tom Phillips, who is interviewing Bray Wyatt. Bray laughs and says “that is what I like to see.” He then cuts a promo saying that he and his guys will beat Kane, Tensai, Kofi, and Cena tomorrow night on Smackdown.

MICHAEL MCGILLICUTTY vs. CHRIS JERICHO-
Jericho wins clean in ten minutes, but the announcers put it over as another great showing for McGillicutty.




WWE.com reports that Evan Bourne was injured when Ryback put him through the announcers’ table last night on Superstars and will be out of action for an indefinite amount of time. While WWE officials are not yet ready to strip Bourne of the US Title, he does only have twelve days left to defend the title or else he will be stripped of the title under the Thirty Days Rule.

[cero2k]

Here are my "Black Thursday" releases. Yeah, I know the date is off, but let's assume I did it on the day after MITB so it will still show up as money cut in the second quarter:

Camacho
JTG
Tatsu
Jinder
Teddy
Hawkins
McIntyre
Aksana
The Great Khali
Scott Dawson
Aiden English
Simon Gotch
Johnny Curtis

We wish them all well in their future endeavors.

you really really hate the vaudevillians, don't you?

[Big Red Machine]

Here are my "Black Thursday" releases. Yeah, I know the date is off, but let's assume I did it on the day after MITB so it will still show up as money cut in the second quarter:

Camacho
JTG
Tatsu
Jinder
Teddy
Hawkins
McIntyre
Aksana
The Great Khali
Scott Dawson
Aiden English
Simon Gotch
Johnny Curtis

We wish them all well in their future endeavors.

you really really hate the vaudevillians, don't you?

Their matches aren't good, and I have no use for them. My tag team division has Neville/Gabriel, the Usos, Colons, PTP, Lucha Dragons, Otunga/Sandow, Cesaro/Barrett (when Barrett returns from his injury) whatever Wyatt Family combo I want to use, some combo of Miz/Reigns/Del Rio, Kane and Tensai have been working together for long enough now that I could make them a credible team... plus I've got the Ascension, KENTA/Devitt, and whatever other NXT combos I feel like throwing together. I just don't need them.

[Big Red Machine]

Tonight will be a can’t-miss edition of Smackdown. Not only will AJ Bryan defend the WWE Divas Title against Naomi, but AJ’s husband, the WWE Champion Daniel Bryan, will be in non-title action against the upstart Michael McGillicutty, who has put on a great string of performances over the past two weeks. In addition to this, we will see Emma take on Alicia Fox, the Usos face Roman Reigns & Alberto Del Rio, Cody Rhodes try to get a win back against Sin Cara, and the Bella Twins will collide with Natalya & Layla in tag team action, and The Viper Randy Orton will be in action against an as-of-yet undetermined opponent.
We will also hear from the two men who will face off for #1 contendership to the Intercontinental Title on Raw, Jack Swagger and The Miz, the World Heavyweight Champion Sheamus, the World’s Strongest Man Mark Henry, and the Colons. And this is all in addition to our big double main-event, which will first see the team of Dolph Ziggler, R-Truth, Antonio Cesaro, and Christian take on Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, & the WWE World Tag Team Champions International Airstrike 2.0, and then the Wyatt Family will face off against Kane, Kofi Kingston, Tensai, and John Cena!

Big Show will not be at Smackdown because he is feeling ill.


Smackdown: (7/11/2014)- Ottawa, ON
THE BELLA TWINS vs. LAYLA EL & NATALYA NEIDHART (w/Tyson Kidd)-
Bellas win clean in six minutes when Nikki pins Layla after a spear.

Renee Young is interviewing Emma backstage about her match with Alicia Fox tonight, but Emma is soon distracted by the appearance of her trainer, Lance Storm, who gives her some words of encouragement.

CODY RHODES vs. SIN CARA (w/Kalisto)-
The announcers set the stage for this match by reminding us that Cara defeated Cody last week on Raw in a qualifying match for the IC Title #1 Contendership Round Robin Tournament, so Cody has asked for this rematch. They go back and forth evenly for about three minutes, at which point Cara catches Cody with a wacky lucha roll-up of some kind and gets the quick pin. Cody walks, looking like he wants to kick himself.

Tom Phillips is backstage with Sheamus. He asks Sheamus if he regrets offering to defend his World Heavyweight Title in an Elimination Chamber match against five great competitors like John Cena, Randy Orton, Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, and Tyson Kidd. Sheamus says that of course he doesn’t regret it. In fact, he is excited by the chance to defend his title against so many great superstars. He sees this as his chance to really cement himself as one of the greatest world champions in history by not only holding the title for twenty-eight months, but for defeating the top superstars of the era all at the same time!


RANDY ORTON vs. HEATH SLATER-
Randy is completely no-nonsense tonight, and he completely obliterates Slater in about forty-five seconds.


Miz, Reigns, & Del Rio all cut a backstage promo together. Miz says that he will beat Jack Swagger on Raw and win the IC Title #1 Contendership Tournament, then go on to Elimination Chamber and win the IC Title. Reigns and Del Rio hype up their tag team match tonight against The Usos.

EMMA vs. ALICIA FOX-
Emma wins clean in six minutes, making Fox tap to the Emma Lock. After the match, Lance Storm comes out and raises Emma’s hand.

Mark Henry cuts a backstage promo in which he calls the IC Title #1 Contendership Round Robin Tournament a load of crap. Mark points out that he was the only wrestler in his block who was never pinned or made to submit, but somehow he came out of it with a record of 2-2-1 thanks to pathetic count-out wins. Mark claims that he should be the one facing Jack Swagger in the tournament final on Raw, and says that if that were to happen, he would beat Swagger and then go on to beat Sandow because he is too big and strong to be defeated by submission.

THE USOS vs. ROMAN REIGNS & ALBERTO DEL RIO (w/Ricardo Rodriguez & The Miz)-
They wrestle for about seven or eight minutes until The Usos hit their big double-splash finisher on Del Rio. They go for the cover, but Miz distracts the ref so that he can’t count the pin that would surely have ended the match. Even worse than that, Ricardo sneaks into the ring and clobbers the legal Uso in the back of the head with his mic. The other Uso tries to get Ricardo, but Roman Reigns cuts him off with a spear. Ricardo slips out of the ring while Reigns drags Del Rio on top of the legal Uso. Miz lets the ref go and he counts the pin:
ONE!

TWO!

THRE-NO!
KICKOUT!

Jack Swagger charges down to the ring and chases Ricardo and Miz away through the crowd. The Usos and Del Rio/Reigns wrestle for a few more minutes until Reigns has Jey Uso set up for a spear, but sprains his ankle while charging. Jey takes advantage of this by hitting a big superkick for a nearfall. In fact, Jey is so shocked that Reigns kicked out, that he just stares on as Reigns, hobbles over to the corner and tags in Del Rio. The announcers put Reigns over for being valiant.
Del Rio spends a minute or two wrestling what is essentially a handicap match before getting put down by the Usos big double splash finisher. Despite having an injured ankle, Reigns still tries to come over and break up the pin, but doesn’t make it in time.

Bray cuts a backstage promo to build up tonight’s main event (Wyatts vs. Kane, Kofi, Tensai, & Cena). He also talks about Ryback and Big Show, applauding Ryback for his new more aggressive attitude while telling Big Show to remember the things they have been talking about. The announcers wonder what that last part means.



WWE DIVAS TITLE MATCH: AJ Bryan(c) (w/Daniel Bryan) vs. Naomi (w/the Brain Trust)-
Early on we get a ref bump when Naomi ducks one of AJ’s dropkicks and it winds up catching the referee in the face. Sandow and Otunga try to interfere. Dragon tries to fight them off but is getting overwhelmed two-on-one until Jack Swagger comes out to make the save and chase the heels away from ringside. When the ref wakes up, AJ makes Naomi tap to the Octopus Stretch.


The Colons make an open challenge which is answered by the returning Prime Time Players. The match never gets underway as The Colons rush up the ramp to brawl with PTP, who are here for revenge on the Colons for injuring them a few weeks ago. The brawl is eventually broken up by security.

MICHAEL MCGILLICUTTY vs. DANIEL BRYAN (w/AJ Bryan)
Dragon wins clean with the Busaiku Knee in eleven minutes (though there is definitely a commercial break in the middle of this match). The announcers put over what a great showing it is for McGillicutty to be last eleven minutes with the WWE Champion.
After the match, Ryback comes out, claims that Bryan’s roll-up victory in their WWE Title match was a fluke, and challenges Dragon to defend the title against him at Elimination Chamber. Bryan accepts.


Jack Swagger cuts a backstage promo in which he reminds us that he made Del Rio tap out to qualify for the IC Title #1 Contendership Round Robin Tournament, he made Roman Reigns tap to win his block and advance to the finals, and now he vows that he will make The Miz tap out to earn his title shot at Elimination Chamber, where he will make Damien Sandow tap out to win the Intercontinental Title.



INTERNATIONAL AIRSTRIKE 2.0, CHRIS JERICHO, & SETH ROLLINS vs. R-TRUTH, DOLPH ZIGGLER, ANTONIO CESARO, & CHRISTIAN (w/Paige)-
Babyfaces win clean in about fifteen minutes when Jericho pins Truth. I’d have these guys structure the match so as to minimize interactions between Dolph and Y2J because they just got done feuding. I’d have this match be very fast-paced, and would also tape it last but air it on TV as the semi-main.

We go backstage to Steph’s office, where Steph makes a few announcements:
1. She officially names Ryback as the challenger to the WWE Title at Elimination Chamber.
2. She announces that Reigns, Del Rio, and Ricardo will all be barred from ringside for the IC Title #1 Contendership Tournament Finals on Raw.
3. She announces that the main event of Raw will be a battle of three of the greatest superstars of the past ten years- John Cena, Randy Orton, & Chris Jericho- taking on who she predicts will be three of the biggest superstars of the next ten years- Sheamus, Seth Rollins, and Tyson Kidd.

THE WYATT FAMILY vs. JOHN CENA, KOFI KINGSTON, TENSAI, & KANE-
Heels win clean in twelve minutes when Bray pins Tensai after hitting Sister Abigail (which I now realize I should have renamed the Monster Tamer, so assume that is the case from now on).



On Saturday morning WWE.com reports that Roman Reigns suffered a minor sprain of his ankle last night on Smackdown and has been advised to take this weekend’s live events off to recover. He will be replaced in all of his matches by NXT Champion Sami Zayn.
It also reports that the Colons vs. the Prime Time Players has been signed for Elimination Chamber, and that the Brain Trust have filed a complaint with Steph demanding to have the decision of last night’s Divas Title match changed to a DQ victory for Naomi and demanding that Naomi be awarded another title shot against AJ.

Over the weekend, WWE.com reports results from the house shows, including on Saturday night:
Miz & Zayn (w/Del Rio & Ricardo) def. Brain Trust by DQ when only a minute into the match, the Wyatt Family runs in. The heels all bail, leaving Sami to face the Wyatts alone. The Wyatts beat him down until Kane, Kofi and Tensai make the save, leading to an eight-man tag which the heels win when Ambrose pins Tensai.
On Sunday night, a similar thing happens, but this time the Wyatts win after Erick Rowan interferes, allowing Bray to pin Sami.
On both Saturday and Sunday night, the match between the Colons and the Prime Time Players went to a double DQ when the ref completely lost control of the match.

[Big Red Machine]

Late Sunday night, WWE.com reports that Jack Swagger was attacked from behind by an unknown assailant or assailants in the parking lot of the Wildwood Conventions Center after Sunday night’s live event, and will be out of action for an undetermined amount of time. WWE General Manager Stephanie McMahon-Helmsley says that she is trying to determine what to do about tomorrow night’s IC Title #1 Contendership Tournament Finals.





Raw: (7/14/2014)- Hampton, VA
PRIME TIME PLAYERS vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER & R-TRUTH-
PTP win clean in nine minutes, pinning Truth. After the match, they are jumped from behind by the Colons. The Colons beat them down in the ringside area with Primo beating on Titus and Epico beating on Darren. Epico whips Darren into the timekeeper’s area, wiping it out, but when he follows Darren over, he gets clocked with the ringbell. Darren, wielding the bell, runs over to make the save for his partner. Primo sees him coming and runs away, and this distraction also allows Epico to slip away.
As the Colons runs away, Titus grabs a mic and cuts a promo in which he calls them cowards (pussy is probably too far of a line to cross in WWE, but that would be my top choice) and announces that he and Darren want their match at Elimination Chamber changed to a Street Fight. The announcers bring up their double DQs at this weekend’s house show and the hatred between the two teams and agree that this is a good idea.
Then the Big Show comes out, mic in hand. The announcers and PTP are both puzzled at this turn of events. Show gets into the ring and offers PTP a heartfelt apology, for assaulting and injuring them back in February, for costing them the tag team titles (also back in February), and for blaming them for his team’s loss at Survivor Series.
PTP are stunned at this. Show offers them a handshake, and after a few seconds, Titus O’Neil responds:
“HELL NO we ain’t gonna shake your hand! After everything you did to us! Costing us the tag titles; putting us on the shelf for months… you’re lucky we don’t kick your ass like we did to the Colon. Now get the hell outta here before we change our minds!”
Big Show sulks off disappointedly, but seemingly understanding why PTP feel the way they do.

Cody Rhodes cuts a backstage promo in which notes that after he failed in his last attempt to win the World Heavyweight Title back in January at the Raw 21st Anniversary Show, he has been more focused than ever. He let himself and his father down not just by failing to win the title, but by not being able to live up to the promise he made to the people in Tampa- the fans who have supported him and his father before him for so many years- (back in October) that the next time he left Tampa, he would be the World Heavyweight Champion. On his father’s advice, he has been using that fact to motivate himself and keep himself focused on his goal of finally winning the World Heavyweight Title, and now that he has won the Money in the Bank Contract, he can make that a reality. He acknowledges that he won this same briefcase last year and failed, but he vows that this year he will not fail.
Strangely, the night after he won the MITB contract, he lost a match to Sin Cara… and it has broken his focus. He’s lost matches since he gained his new focus, but none of them have ever bugged him like this one has. It is always in the back of his mind whenever he is in the ring, and he can’t have that happen if he is going to defeat Sheamus and win the World Heavyweight Title. To fix this, he is asking Sin Cara for one more rematch, this Sunday at Elimination Chamber in Tampa, FL, and he promises the people of Tampa that he will defeat Sin Cara, and start his new road to the World Heavyweight Title.

THE USOS vs. KANE & TENSAI-
Usos win clean in twelve minutes, pinning Tensai after a bunch of superkicks and their double splash finisher. After the match, the Usos cut a promo in which they point out that they have beaten pretty much every tag team in WWE recently… but they haven’t had the chance to beat the one team they want to beat the most: The WWE World Tag Team Champions.

Bray Wyatt cuts a backstage promo in which he puts over Erick Rowan (who will be debuting on Raw tonight in a special showcase match) for being a good solider and answering Bray’s call at this weekend’s live event. Bray says that his team of Rowan, Harper, and Ambrose will destroy Sin Cara, Kalisto, and Sami Zayn, just like Rowan will destroy Zayn at the upcoming NXT special and take the NXT Title from him.
He then appeals to the Big Show to listen to him: “Do you see how they treat you, brother Big Show? The Prime Time Players… they are the monsters. The truly scary ones. The insidious ones who only come out when they let their guard down- but they are the ones who can do the most damage. If you want to get through to those monsters, brother Big Show, you must let out your own, because it takes a monster to relate to another monster… and if you want to tame your inner monster so you can use it to get through to those monsters the Prime Time Players, you need to listen to me: Bray Wyatt, the tamer of monsters.”


The Miz, Roman Reigns, Alberto Del Rio, and Ricardo Rodriguez come out to the ring, and Miz cuts a promo in which he says it was is such a darn shame that Jack Swagger got attacked at last night’s live event because Miz was really looking forward to beating him tonight…but, since Swagger can’t wrestle tonight as scheduled, there is really no other option than for Steph to come out and award him the IC Title #1 Contendership Round Robin Tournament Finals via forfeit. He goes on to talk about what terrible luck this was for Jack Swagger, and asks (with a huge smirk on his face) what kind of horrible person would do something like that.
Steph comes out to the ring, and before she can say anything, Miz starts to tell her that he will need tonight and the rest of the week off to train for his newly-won IC Title shot against Damien Sandow at Elimination Chamber.
Steph tells Miz that she is sick of his crap. She says she is exploring multiple options as to what to do about the IC Title #1 Contendership Round Robin Tournament Finals, and if Miz wants the idea of awarding him the match via forfeit to remain one of them, he and his pals had better shut up get out of HER ring right now!
Once the heels leave, Steph tells us that she has a few big announcements to make:
1. She spoke to Sin Cara, and he has agreed to Cody Rhodes’ challenge for a match at Elimination Chamber.
2. After having talked to the Colons, she has made Titus O’Neil’s suggestion official: The Prime Time Players vs. Colons match at Elimination Chamber will now be a Street Fight!
3. Speaking of tag team wrestling, she has decided that The Usos made a good point earlier tonight, and so she has awarded them a shot at the WWE World Tag Team Titles at Elimination Chamber.
As Steph starts to walk up the ramp, Naomi’s music plays. She tells Steph that Steph forgot to announce that she was overturning the result of Naomi’s loss to AJ Bryan in a Divas Title match on Smackdown, awarding the match to Naomi by DQ, and awarding Naomi another title match, as the Brain Trust had conclusively proved would be the moral and intelligent thing to do, based on the evidence and arguments they set forth in the official protest they filed over the weekend… but she’s sure this was just an oversight- as there is now way that an intelligent person like Steph could possibly come to any other conclusion than the conclusion that the Brain Trust came to-, so she would like Steph to make that announcement right now.
Steph tells Naomi that actually she really isn’t sure that the Brain Trust came to the right conclusion. First of all, the referee’s decision is always final, so Steph will not be overturning the decision. If she felt that there was evidence that there was cheating going on and Naomi deserved a rematch, she would certainly give her one… but in her view, AJ’s dropkicking the referee was completely unintentional. Furthermore, once the referee was incapacitated, it was not AJ who tried to take advantage of things, but rather it was Naomi’s Brain Trust compatriots who tried to interfere.
Naomi claims that they only did so because Daniel Bryan was making threatening motions and was about to interfere himself, and Sandow and Otunga only got to the ring first because they are so much fast that Bryan is, have better reflexes than he does, and better wrestling-sense.
Steph points out that Sandow and Otunga have much more a history of interfering in matches than Bryan does, so she doesn’t buy Naomi’s story, and won’t be naming her the #1 contender to the Divas Title at Elimination Chamber.
The Bella Twins then come out and say that they are glad that Steph isn’t naming Naomi the #1 contender because the real #1 contedner should be a woman who has won a bunch of matches recently, and in unison, they both say “and that’s me!”
We see a quick look of confusion on the Bellas’ faces, and then they both turn to each other in disbelief, each assuming she had had her sister’s support, but now no longer sure. The Bellas exchange a look, then turn back to Steph and Brie quickly tries to brush this bit of dissension under the rug by telling Steph “we both deserve to be the #1 contender,” while Nikki nods her head in an exaggerated manner to express her agreement.
Then Emma comes out and says that if anyone deserves a title shot, it’s her because the Bellas screwed her out of winning the #1 contendership battle royale on Superstars, so the title match that Naomi had on Smackdown should have been hers in the first place.
The Bellas point out that they have beaten Emma multiple times, so they deserve title shots before her. Naomi pipes up and says that there are no disqualifications in a battle royale, so the Bellas’ involvement should have no bearing on the fact that she won the match… unlike in a singles match, where a wrester, like AJ, for example- can be disqualified for many things- like, say, striking a referee.
At this point AJ comes out to the top of the ramp and says that she doesn’t care who she defends her title against at Elimination Chamber, but she would at least like to have some advanced notice of who her opponent will be so that she can train and scout.
Steph finally announces that there will be a #1 contederhsip match this week on Main Event, and that match will be Naomi… against Emma… against Nikki Bella… against Brie Bella!

RYBACK vs. ADRIAN NEVILLE (w/Justin Gabriel)-
Ryback wins clean with the Shell Shock in eleven minutes. Gabriel goes to check on Neville, and while he is doing so, Ryback grabs him from behind, hits him with a HUGE short-arm clothesline, then hits him with the Shell Shock as well. Ryback grabs the mic and cuts a promo pointing out that he just destroyed the WWE World Tag Team Champions by himself because they are small and he is large. He says he won’t lose to any of Bryan’s little-guy roll-up fluky crap and will destroy Bryan just like he destroyed these two pipsqueaks and win the WWE Title!

Renee Young is backstage interviewing the Big Show. She asks him about the Prime Time Players rejecting his apology earlier tonight and about Bray’s comments. Show talks about how disappointed he is that PTP didn’t accept his apology, and how he is starting to think that Bray might be right about things.
Kofi Kingston comes up to Big Show and tells him not to worry about PTP’s snub. They have a lot on their minds right now and the situation Big Show walked into tonight was already very heated, but they’ll cool off and come around eventually. He also tells Big Show not to listen to Bray because Bray only sees the worst in people and just tries to use that to further his own ends rather than help the people he claims to be helping.


MICHAEL MCGILLICUTTY vs. ALBERTO DEL RIO (w/Ricardo Rodriguez, The Miz, & Roman Reigns)-
Del Rio tells his pals that he’s got this one because it’s just Michael MCGillicutty and he is a chump. The others bide to Del Rio’s request and don’t get involved. Del Rio takes McGillicutty lightly, and it winds up almost coming back to bite him and McGillicutty gets a few very good nearfalls in.
Del Rio eventually gets the heat, but McGillicutty makes a comeback and manages to hit the McGillicutter, but when he is about to go for a pin, he sees Miz pop up on the apron. He runs over and punches Miz off the apron, then, just for good measure, turns around, charges towards the other side of the ring, and hits a big dive onto Roman Reigns. The referee yells at him to keep it in the ring, so McGillicutty gets back into the ring.
Del Rio is stirring now, so rather than go for the pin, McGillicutty picks him up and hooks him for the Perfect-Plex. While this is happening, Ricardo pops up on the apron and distracts the referee, allowing Miz to slip in from behind and hit McGillicutty with the Skull-Crushing Finale, then pull Del Rio’s body on top of him. Miz leaves the ring, Ricardo drops off the apron, and the ref turns around and counts the pin.
The announcers put over what a great showing this was by McGillicutty and say that he got screwed out of beating a former WWE Champion.

Justin Gabriel cuts an angry promo from the trainer’s room where he and Neville are being evaluated, challenging Ryback to a match.

The Colons cut a backstage promo saying that at Elimination Chamber, they will eliminate the Prime Time Players from the WWE… for good.

Steph cuts a promo from her office in which she announces that after seeing that last match, she has eliminated that option of awarding Miz the IC Title #1 Contendership by forfeit. She says she hasn’t decided who he will face yet, but that whoever it is will be pleased to know that everyone will be barred from ringside for that match.
She also announces Justin Gabriel vs. Ryback for Superstars.

DANIEL BRYAN & SIN CARA (w/AJ Bryan & Kalisto) vs. THE BRAIN TRUST (w/Naomi)-
Babyfaces win clean in ten minutes when Bryan pins Otunga after the Busaiku Knee. The announcers tease another AJ vs. Naomi title match and plug the Divas Title #1 Contendership match on Main Event.

We get a promo from Sami Zayn hyping up the next NXT Special and his NXT Title defense against Erick Rowan

ANTONIO CESARO vs. CHRISTIAN (w/Paige)-
Cesaro wins clean in twenty minutes with the Neutralizer.

Steph comes out to the ring, and calls Miz out. She announces that she has come to a decision as to who will replace Jack Swagger in the IC Title #1 Contendership Round Robin Tournament Finals. It seems logical to her that the most deserving person would be the man who finished second in Swagger’s Block… ROMAN REIGNS!

Miz flips a sh*t and starts yelling at Steph as she heads up the ramp. Reigns’ music plays and he comes down the ramp.
IC TITLE #1 CONTENDERSHIP ROUND ROBIN TOURNAMENT FINALS: The Miz (Block A Winner) vs. Roman Reigns (Block B Runner-up)-
Miz yells at Reigns as he gets into the ring, saying that Reigns doesn’t know his place in the pecking order and that this wasn’t his opportunity to take. Miz points at the mat and orders Reigns to “LIE DOWN! NOW!”
Reigns responds by telling Miz to “Eat shit” (BLEEP!)
The poor censor is just a fraction of a second too late. Everyone is stunned. The announcers quickly and vociferously apologize to the audience for Roman Reigns’ inappropriate comments, even as Miz responds to them by throwing a punch, which Reigns ducks before showering down punches of his own on the Miz. The announcers continue to apologize over the course of the match, which goes ten minutes and sees Reigns clobber The Miz with big punches, but Miz fights back and get the heat after dirty moves like eye-pokes.
In addition to apologizing for Reigns’ language, the announcers are also sure to point out that Reigns wasn’t on this weekends’ house shows, so we know that he wasn’t part of the attack on Jack Swagger.
The finish comes when Miz goes for the Skull-Crushing Finale, but Reigns counters it with a backwards headbutt to the chin, which stuns Miz and sends him stumbling backwards. Reigns then comes off the ropes with a big spear and pins The Miz to earn a shot at the WWE Intercontinental Title at Elimination Chamber.


Mark Henry cuts an angry promo, saying it is BS that he wasn’t chosen to replace Jack Swagger in the #1 contendership match because he wasn’t pinned or submitted all tournament! He alleges that Steph is purposely keeping him away from the belt because she knows that he would win it, and that no one would ever be able to take it from him.


JOHN CENA, RANDY ORTON, & CHRIS JERICHO vs. SETH ROLLINS, SHEAMUS, & TYSON KIDD (w/Natalya Neidhart)-
They go for a solid thirty minutes. Orton is very aggressive, and his teammates have to come in and pull him off of opponents in the corner multiple times so that he doesn’t get DQed. The finish comes when this happens another time, and when Orton turns back to his opponent, and Tyson Kidd, who had been getting beaten down in the corner, drops down, grabs Orton’s tights and pulls him face-first into the turnbuckle, hits him in the back with a dropkick, then rolls him up for the pin.



After Raw, WWE.com releases a statement that Raw, like all WWE programming, is a family-friendly show, and as a result of using non-family-friendly language on a family-friendly show, Roman Reigns has been suspended until this Sunday’s Elimination Chamber PPV.