- Is Undertaker gone now for good, for real, fo' shizzle? I have never been a big Undertaker fan bar the 98/99 Deadman, the pre 1996 era was woeful, the 2000-08 ranged from bottom of the barrel to okay and 2008-2010 was good yes but since Wrestlemania 30 what's the point?
I haven't really been keeping up with WWE too much but I have a gist of the matches and hear Roman has been killing it.
November 22nd, 2020 from Orlando, Florida (I think)
AJ Styles/Riddle/Keith Lee/Strowman/Sheamus Vs. Jey Uso/Owens/Otis/King Corbin/Rollins
- AJs lot are RAW and Jeys lot are SMACKDOWN!
- It's quite amazing how bland the themes are now.
- I don't normally like hippie types but I like Matt Riddle, now Riddle just Riddle, bro.
- Strowman and Corbin are two people I would gladly pay to never see wrestle again.
Foot psychology as Owens attacks Riddles bare feet. Rollins says for the greater good then lets Sheamus Brogue Kick him for 3 (5-4) wait will they project Rollins into the match later like Ben Kenobi and tell Uso where to hit Strowman? We get a hoss battle between Otis and Lee. Stunners for most of the RAW team but a Styles Phenomenal Forearm eliminates Owens (5-3). Riddle hits a corkscrew on Corbin for the 3 count (5-2). Sheamus Brogue Kicks Jey but it only gets a 2. Otis cleans RAWs clocks until he's left with Strowman. Caterpillar to Strowman but Otis is caught up top and a Powerslam ends Otis' night (5-1). Uso dives on to Team RAW. Phenomenal Forearm is avoided as Lee blind tags in and a Spirit Bomb gives RAW the clean sweep. **1/2 It was okay but pales compared with previous survivor tag matches. As noted it wasn't bad but it wasn't really interesting in an engaging stories way.
The New Day Vs. Street Profits
- This is Champions Vs. Champions.
- Wait is Big E back officially with New Day already?
- Good heavens above the Profits are annoying.
- It's funny with The New Day as if you watch the promo where they formed they're now exactly what Xavier moaned about in the promo.
Even start between the teams but now New Day have Profits down at ringside. New Day are working over Ford. Dawkins makes the tag and cleans maison. A nice kind of double underhook neckbreaker on Xavier for 2. Midnight Hour gets 2 on Ford, nice little kayfabe but off of commentary as they wonder if it was only 2 due to no longer being done with the power of Big E. Dawkins blind tags in and a Doomsday Blockbuster gets 3 on Woods. **1/2
Bobby Lashley (w/ Hurt Business) Vs. Sami Zayn
- They are US and IC Champions respectively
Bobby is in control with the strength advantage. It's been pretty much all Bobby so far, Bobby Boy Smith with a delayed vertical. Sami and the Hurt Business exchange words at ringside. Sami tries to remove a turnbuckle pad but Shelton Benjamin stops him. Sami tries to claim MVP tripped him for a DQ but the match soon ends with Lashley winning with a Full Nelson. * Match worked well for their characters but on the entertainment scale not at all.
Reigns says if you can't get people to respect you then you can't be at the table and tells Jey to get his brother and leave the arena.
Asuka Vs. Sasha Banks
- Sasha as a face is hilarious, she's the most conceited face there is, basically a female Miz where she just doesn't have the feel of look of a face at all.
I'm not a fan of stupid coloured hair, any bar brunette/dark, blonde or ginger is ridiculous as far as I'm concerned, so this match is making me 'cray-cray'. Back Stabber gets Sasha 2. Asuka hits some strikes then gets 2 off a knee. GTS style move gets Asuka 2 again. There is stuff happening but nothing I can be bothered recapping bar the nearfalls, that's been a theme all night really as it's been a flat show so far. Sasha comes off the barricade into a Codebreaker. Back in a Back Stabber gets Sasha 2. A codebreaker gets Asuka 2, what's with the double knee offence in this match. They trade 2a during a pinball reversal sequence. Sasha gets a roll up out of nowhere for the 3 count. ***
---- I stopped at this point as the show was boring me to tears and in the interim on November 25th we lost a hero of mine, Rest In Paradise Diego Maradona----
Miz won a pre-show battle royal and Gobbelddy Gooker won the 24/7 title but now R-Truth has won it back.
Nia Jax/Shayna Baszler/Lacey Evans/Payton Royce/Lana Vs. Bayley/Bianca Belair/Ruby Riott/Liv Morgan/Natalya
- Natalya seems so out of place nowadays, she's not old but she's like a relic from yesteryear.
- Nia and Shayna are tag champions who don't get along as some Russo tropes still love
- Lana is the underdog and unwanted by her team due to being useless.
Hand spring moonsault gets Belair 2 on Royce. People seem to dye their hair now to be 'alternative' or whatever but it's that common now that aren't they just being the exact opposite? No eliminations so far showing how far women's wrestling in WWE has changed since the mid '00s-early '10s. Lana is told to stand on the ringsteps so as not to tag in. Everyone bar Lana takes turns coming in and all end up outside where Bagley is superplexed onto everyone. I thought we might get the Survivor Series 1991 finish where all bar Flair were counted out for the win. Royce beats Bayley (5-4). Natalya Sharpshooters Royce for the tap out (4-4). Evans misses a moonsault but hits The Woman's Right on Natalya for 3 (4-3). Belair Glam Slams Evans but is caught up top and brought down with the Spanish Fly but the pin is broken up. Baszler is unconscious from a choke and is pinned by Baszler, that was a notable finish to be fair (4-2). Crucifix by Morgan on Evans for 3 (3-2). Samoan Drop eliminates Morgan (3-1), Baszler pulled Belair off the apron so she couldn't break the pin, tag psychology. Belair handsprings in to Baszlers choke hold but she breaks it with a ropebreak but Baszler doesn't break the hold and is DQ'd (2-1). Nia is counted out but so is Belair giving Lana the win via countout (1-0). **1/2 Honestly it wasn't bad just a bit boring with the odd bit of tag match psychology I liked. They built Lana up in the weeks prior as the underdog who her own team didn't want, then had her win via fluke.
Roman Reigns (w/ Paul Heyman) Vs. Drew McIntyre
- Roman is the Universal Champion and Drew is WWE Champion, keeping up with recent tradition Drew regained the title just before Survivor Series from Orton to change the main event.
Good golly miss Molly Miz is the MITB holder, he's getting close to Ziggler territory where I can't help but wonder 'why is he still on the books?'. Roman takes a powder after a shoulderblock. Nothing else of any real note as no one gets the advantage and there's bits of 'dramatic' stalling but it's just dramatically lowering my interest. Snap suplex after some knees get a Roman 2. Drew fires off clotheslines and a release overhead belly-to-belly. Future Shock DDT is avoided. Superman Punch is avoided with a spinebuster into a jacknife cover for 2. Future Shock DDT gets 2. Claymore is countered with a Superman Punch but a follow up guillotine is countered. Spear is countered to Kimora, I think it is anyway as it looks like the one Brock used in WWE. Drew is Speared through the barricade but upon returning to the ring it only gets 2. Spear also gets 2, I shouldn't be annoyed still as its happened for seemingly years now but finishers not finishing is really annoying and this style of match needs to be phased out. Claymore but Roman is knocked on to the ref. Jey Uso is here Superkick to Drew and a Superman Punch and guillotine follow as a new ref appears, wouldn't he have seen the interference backstage and DQ Roman? Drew is out so the ref ends it.*** 'Twas like Undertaker/HHH at Mania 27, that's not a compliment, where they just seemed to do big moves and not much else of interest. Not a big fan of these match types.
Undertakers retirement ceremony now.
Shane McMahon, Big Show, JBL, Jeff Hardy (with UT related face paint), Mick Foley, Godfather, the Godwins, with a Bone Street Krew mention marking surely the first official mention on TV also Mideon is now bald, Savio Vega or at least Tazz cosplaying as him, Rikishi, Kevin Nash as Graves corrects Cole about the Mania featuring Diesel/UT but Cole was right it was Mania 12, Booker-T, Shawn Michaels; the He's Bald Kid, Ric Flair, HHH and Kane come out.
A video plays of Undertakers career.
Back to the ring as everyone is gone making that first part pointless as Vince is there and introduces Undertaker who makes his entrance and talks, there was a nice touch at the end as Taker posed they beamed in a Paul Bearer image and soundbite.
13.5 / 30 - One of the most non-descript shows I can ever remember. It wasn't a bad one by any means just boring and although it sounds weird, a boring show is worse than a bad one as bad ones can be entertaining in their unique ways and boring ones are well, they're boring.
The Undertaker thing was perplexing too in it's execution, they couldn't have the guys spaced out at ringside at least?, but that didn't affect the shows rating.
