By Emerson Witner, WrestlingObserver.com & Wrestling Outsiders Podcast
Charlotte pinned Emma
Emma is out to kick off the show, wearing Bayley’s shirt and headband. Emma has officially turned heel, getting rid of the wacky dancing and she no longer does the pull up to get into the ring. Charlotte has absolutely no direction now that she is not the champion.
Emma kept ducking Charlotte and it led to the most unique move I have seen in a few weeks. Emma was on the apron and stuck her upper body through the ropes. Charlotte came up and threw her head down and Emma’s feet came up and kicked her in the head.
Emma spent the match working on the knee of Charlotte and then slapped on the Half Crab. During the Half Crab I was distracted by all the glitter all over the mat that came off Charlotte’s tights. Anyway, Charlotte got to the ropes and eventually hit Natural Selection for the win.
– After the match, Bayley came down to help Emma up and give her a really big hug. However, Bayley wouldn’t let go and gave her the Belly to Bayley Suplex, to the fans delight. Charlotte ran down to help out as Bayley took her shirt and head band back.
– The same Becky Lynch hype video from last week played again.
– Earlier this week, Michael Cole interviewed Kevin Owens, asking why Owens did what he did to Sami Zayn. Owens said everything regarding the title is personal. Being champion means more money and being able to provide for his family. Cole asked that if anyone else had been champion, other than Zayn, would he have done the same thing. Owens said that in two months Cole hasn’t even congratulated him on winning the title nor has anyone shown him respect in winning and being champion.
Cole congratulated him and then asked him again how he could do what he did to someone who was family. Cole angrily pointed out that Sami was his best man at his wedding. Owens got ticked off and said the truth is he can’t give Cole what he is looking for as a journalist, which is a juicy, controversial headline. What Owens wants the headline to be is “Owens provides for his family” and it ended from there.
Rhyno pinned Bull Dempsey
The Master of the Side Headlock is back and is here to do battle with the Man Beast. I could be mistaken, but it looks like Rhyno has gained about 15 pounds. But this match was all about Rhyno, as he hit the belly to belly suplex and a Gore for the win. The fans were into this short match.
– Rhyno took the mic after and challenged Baron Corbin to a match at Takeover.
– Sasha Banks was backstage, calling Fabulous Moolah the greatest Diva in WWE history….until she came along. Sasha gave Becky credit for being great, but she brought Becky to NXT and plans on making everyone forget about her.
– William Regal was milling about when newly signed Uhaa Nation came in and signed his NXT talent contract. This segued into a music video for him, even though they never named him, just saying he was coming soon.
– Enzo Amore and Colin Cassidy were supposed to come out for a match with Dash Wilder & Scott Dawson, but they didn’t come out, despite their music playing twice.
We went backstage where Buddy Murphy and Wesley Blake were putting the boots to Enzo and Colin, while Carmella stood there and screamed at them to stop. I am still convinced Carmella is turning heel.
– A Sami Zayn sit down interview aired. Sami said the main difference between the two of them is Kevin is a liar. This is personal and Sami is going to fight fire with fire. Sami said that this entire situation bothers him and it bothers him more that Kevin won’t tell him what this is about. Next week Sami is coming to the ring and wants Kevin to come out, look him in the eye and tell him why.
– They cut in to show what happened this past Monday with Zayn and Cena. They mentioned that they don’t know the status of Sami, but hope to have an update next week.
– Up next was a contract signing for the Woman’s Title Match for the Sasha Banks-Becky Lynch match at Takeover: Unstoppable.
Becky stumbled over her words a bit when running down everything she has done to get here. She built it around needing to do all these things to get here. Not a very good promo. Sasha used a stamp to sign the contract. She threw the contract at Becky and then threw her over the table, standing victoriously.
Sasha taunted the fallen Lynch, so Becky took her down and slapped on the armbar, causing Sasha to tap out.
– Alex Riley cut a pre-taped promo saying he is about to have a second knee operation and isn’t sure if all these risks he has taken, whether leaving Miz or leaving the announce table, has been worth it. He got mad about how when he was being laid out the fans chanted “Thank you Owens” and finished by saying these risks aren’t worth it and we won’t see Alex for a while.
– Dana Brooke did an interview backstage and wondering why Charlotte is in the Tapout commercial instead of her, setting up a match I don’t want to see. Mind you all Dana Brooke matches are matches I don’t want to see.
Hideo Itami pinned Tyler Breeze
Finn Balor sat ringside for this match, as he will join Breeze and Itami in a Triple Threat #1 Contender’s Match in 2 weeks at Takeover.
This is about the 84th time these two have wrestled on tv since January, with Hideo leading the series 82-1, but Tyler is on a 1 match winning streak. Tyler spent the first part of the match trying to avoid Hideo like the plaque, since he didn’t want to be kicked. Unfortunately for Tyler that strategy didn’t work.
There was not much to this match, as even after they actually started wrestling it resembled more of a high impact practice session being taped rather than a tv main event. They fought outside and Hideo accidentally kicked Finn when Breeze moved out the way. Back in the ring, Hideo immediately hit the running kick for the win.
After the match, Finn and Hideo had a staredown. Breeze attacked Hideo from behind, so Finn got in the ring and threw Breeze down. However when he picked Itami up, Breeze gave him the Supermodel Kick and gave Itami the Beauty Shot and was left standing.
That does it for this week. Until next week with the go home show for Takeover, remember to say your vitamins and take your prayers!