NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

from Osaka, Japan

 HIROYOSHI TENZAN, JUICE ROBINSON & SATOSHI KOJIMA vs. MANABU NAKANISHI, TERUAKI KANEMITSU & YUJI NAGATA (5:49): The pre-show match. Kind of an old man and fresh faces mix. Nothing too this, but semi-entertaining. **

DAVID FINLAY, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, RICOCHET & TIGER MASK vs. ANGEL de ORO, FUEGO, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI & TITAN (5:30): The Mexican team came out dancing. That was one of the more amusing things on this show. Ricochet was the other. He's so awesome that it's kind of a shame they fly him all the way to Japan just to be in a five minute forgettable match. But his awesomeness was on display for a short while. And, hell, I'd pay to see him face Bone Soldier. He's that good! **

BONE SOLDIER, CHASE OWENS & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI vs. TOGI MAKABE, HONMA & YOSHITATSU (7:36): Voicesofwrestling.com had a hilarious preview of this show where they ripped apart Bone Soldier and his feud with Yoshitatsu. Yes, Bone Soldier is awful. Honma is fading but still fun to watch. But, alas, this was pretty awful. *

GUERILLAS OF DESTINY vs. ISHII & YOSHI-HASHI (14:32): Shocking, but this match was better than the next one. Perhaps because the crowd got into it to cheer on Ishii and Yoshi-Hashi. There were some exciting near-falls and drama at the end. It was better than I expected, considering the Guerrillas fucking suck. **1/2

RAPPONGI VICE vs. ACH & TAJI ISHIMORI (18:49): This was the finals for the Jr. Tag Team tournament. The problem was that either of these teams would have been in a better match with the Bucks (ACH and Ishimori beat the Bucks a week ago in the tournament in a good match). ACH, from ROH, is a lot of fun, and him and Ishimori do some crazy high-flying leaps and jumps (their finisher is a double Shooting Star Press). But this went too long. Rappongi Vice will go on to face the Bucks for the titles at the Dome. **

KUSHIDA vs. BUSHI (15:11): Bushi just won the Jr. Heavyweight title...yet he lost it already. The end was odd. The ref just called it when Bushi was in a submission hold for awhile. Bushi is not the best cruiserweight, so I'm not sure why they even gave him the title in the first place. This was just okay. And is Kushida going heel? It seemed like it. Post-match, out came Kushida's Dome challenger, the arrogant, brash Hiromu Takahashi, who was wrestling spectacular matches in CMLL earlier this year against Dragon Lee. **

ADAM COLE, THE YOUNG BUCKS & KENNY OMEGA vs. OKADA, GEDO, GOTO & WILL OSPREAY (14:01): These four Bullet Club members are, right now, the most entertaining team in wrestling. Even the Japanese crowds love to yell, "Baby!" when Adam Cole does his stupid yet amusing, "Adam Cole...Baby!" refrain mid-match. And the Bucks are as awesome as ever these days. And Omega is perhaps the wrestler of the year. Add Okada to this mix and add Ospreay's super-jumps and cat-like speed and, hell, this was one of the most entertaining matches I've seen all year. All four BC members super-kicked Okada and Gedo and Omega pinned Okada to win. ***1/2

EVIL vs. SHIBATA (16:15): Wow. Evil, the boring brute, won the NEVER title here. I guess this is so Shibata can go and have his match with NOAH's Go Shiozaki without a title on the line. Either way, this was good but not great. Hard-hitting. Surprise ending. Probably Evil's best single's match this year...which isn't saying much.  **1/2

 HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. SANADA (21:33): Sanada never did sign a full-time contract yet with New Japan. Maybe that's why he always looks like he doesn't want to be there. And while he's tall and athletic...he has zero charisma. The end did have a good sequence where Tanahashi kept blocking Sanada's finisher. And we got a High-Fly Flow. It was average stuff. **

JAY LETHAL vs. NAITO (24:29): Lethal used to be entertaining and in good matches back when he was a high-flyer in the X-division in TNA and he dressed up as The Macho Man. He had the ROH title this year but lost it to Adam Cole and now he's a good guy again. The reason he was in this match was because Elgin was injured. And this ended up being a bore. Lethal just does not put on good shows in Japan for whatever reason. Naito is the type of wrestler who's usually only as good as his opponent...so this was long and mostly dull. It was for the IC title, which Tanahashi will challenge Naito for at the big Dome show in January. Towards the end there was some drama and near-falls and it started with Lethal doing three straight dives through the ropes to Naito on the outside. But the majority of this just didn't work.  **

WWE HELL IN A CELL

from Boston

CEDRIC ALEXANDER, LINCE DORADO & SIN CARA vs. TONY NESE, DREW GULAK & ARIYA DAIVARI (9:45): This was on the pre-show. Gulak used to wrestle in CZW and got to keep his name, which is cool, unlike Dean Ambrose (who was the CZW champ Jon Moxley). This was filler stuff, but at least entertaining. **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. RUSEV "HELL IN A CELL" (24:35): So the first match of the triple main event went on first at 8 PM. Hmmm. Do main events go on first? No. So why even call it that? This also ended up being the longest of the three Cell matches. They used a Singapore cane, a chain, and the ring steps. It was good but nothing too exciting. **1/2

BAYLEY vs. DANA BROOKE (6:30): This is why I hate the split...because we'd never see crap like this on a ppv. Bayley had some awesome matches in NXT. So far they haven't really given her much to do on the big stage. 1/2*

GALLOWS & ANDERSON vs. ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS (6:45): Ugh. Enzo is good on the mic. Maybe make him a manager like Paul Heyman? This was short at least. Gallows and Anderson are just awful in the WWE. 1/2*

KEVIN OWENS vs. SETH ROLLINS "HELL IN A CELL" (23:15): The big spot had Owens going through two stacked tables at ringside. Jericho snuck into the cell and helped Owens retain his Universal title. It was good, albeit nothing spectacular. **1/2

BRIAN KENDRICK vs. T.J. PERKINS (10:35): Lame. Kendrick is too old and too dull to be in this division let alone the champ. But the split dried up the rosters so they have to switch titles a lot to make things semi-fresh. So Kendrick faked an injury then drew Perkins in and made him submit. The cruiserweight division is the best thing about RAW...if they do it right. So far they're failing. *

SHEAMUS & CESARO vs. THE NEW DAY (11:15): The New Day lost by DQ but kept their titles. Maybe I should start watching Smackdown because I'm already sick of everyone on RAW. *

CHARLOTTE vs. SASHA BANKS "HELL IN A CELL" (22:25): Except for these two! With the split, we've already seen these two fight and change titles seemingly a billion times. But they always put on a show so who cares? The WWE could have made this an even bigger deal if they didn't keep bragging about how it was the first women's main event on a ppv and the first women's Cell match. Stop bragging and talking about it and just do it like it's same-old and it'd have been cooler. They both came out with big entrances; Sasha in a black SUV and Charlotte on a throne carried by men. They battled in the crowd before the match started and Charlotte power-bombed Sasha through the announce table. Cue the stretcher, paramedics, and story line! But Sasha got off the stretcher...to end up losing anyway...in her hometown. Way to end a show! This was sloppy as fuck (the last table break spot didn't break) but brutal and exciting. Charlotte is just awesome. She's already a fucking legend. **1/2

NJPW KING OF PRO-WRESTLING

from Tokyo

TIGER MASK W. vs. RED DEATH MASK (7:25): They didn't admit it...but Ibushi was wrestling under the Tiger Mask in this weird, cartoon pre-show match. Ibushi wrestled for the WWE in the Cruiserweight classic...but I guess he didn't want to sign full time with them? Either way, Ibushi did some cool, suicidal moves and it was decent. **1/2 (out of ****)

TOMOHIRO ISHII, WILL OSPREAY, YOSHI-HASHI vs. ADAM COLE, BAD LUCK FALE, YUJIRO TAKAHASHI (8:40): Jeez...why is the awesome high-flyer Ospreay always stuck in these forgettable low-card matches? Adam Cole is the ROH champ. Isn't this kind of slumming it? And without ROH, this show wouldn't exist, would it? Kyle O'Reilly, The Briscoe's, The Bucks, Jay Lethal, Bobby Fish, and Cole are all in ROH. Anyway, this match was probably the best of the multi-man tag matches New Japan loves that were on the show. **1/2

BOBBY FISH, RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA vs. BARETTA, JADO, ROCKY ROMERO & TORU YANO (8:10): Honma! He was once awesome. I guess he's gotten old (he is balding). Romero and Baretta are amusing to watch. This was just a filler kind of house show match. **

GO SHIOZAKI, KATSUHIKO NAKAJIMA, MASA KITAMIYA & MAYBACH TANIGUCHI vs. HIROYOSHI TENZAN, MANABU NAKANISHI, SATOSHI KOJIMA & YUJI NAGATA (12:49): Who are these people? Well, Go Shiozaki is from NOAH and will face Shibata later this year for the NEVER title. This was basic stuff. If you love hard chops and aging legends than you'd have loved it. *1/2

THE YOUNG  BUCKS vs. RICOCHET & DAVID FINLAY (12:47): The Bucks retained the IWGP Jr. Tag titles. Good match, although substituting Finlay for Matt Sydal, who apparently couldn't get a travel visa to Japan for some reason, didn't help. Ricochet was on top of his game. He always is, though, and is perhaps the greatest wrestler in the world in terms of excitement and high-flying. It's too bad he's never in single, main event title matches, just these random, cruiserweight melees. They did a cool deal early on where everyone was doing crazy flips onto the floor but their opponents were moving out of the way and they ended up landing on their feet. I guess, like any Bucks or Ricochet match, you hadda see it to believe it. **1/2

GUERILLAS OF DESTINY vs. THE BRISCOE BROTHERS (13:57): Tama Tonga and Tanga Roa won the IWGP Tag titles. Not good. I like the Briscoe's...but I'm not sure why, as they're never in great matches. The Guerillas are like The Uso's without the excitement. This was rough and tough but a little too dull. *1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI, JAY LETHAL, KUSHIDA & MICHAEL ELGIN vs. LOS INGOBERNABLES (11:42): Naito kicked Elgin in the face and broke his orbital bone, so who knows if their match next month for the IC title will still happen. This was decent, average stuff. Lethal did barely anything, but Kushida and Bushi were great together and Naito was a bit more energetic than usual. Surprisingly, the biggest draw in the company, Naito, was pinned by Elgin. **1/2

KATSUYORI SHIBATA vs. KYLE O'REILLY (18:09): Shibata retained the NEVER Openweight title. Early on they wrestled like they were competing in an NCAA wrestling tournament. Yawn. But by the second half they were destroying each other with brutal kicks. It was high intensity and hard-hitting as hell. Shibata really should be in the main event picture by now. He finished off O'Reilly with the sleeper hold. ***

KENNY OMEGA vs. HIROOKI GOTO (21:52): A stellar second half made this the best match on the show. Omega is probably going to end up being the best wrestler of the year considering how many great matches he's been in. Sure, he over-acts, but he's insane and fun to watch. He took a sick table plunge from the top rope and also did an over-the-top-rope suicide dive onto Goto ring-side where his one foot landed right on the metal guardrail. This match was for the title shot at Wrestle Kingdom in January at the Tokyo Dome, their Wrestlemania. The problem was that Omega beat Goto in the G1 final to already win that. So this was pointless but nonetheless a good match. ***

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. NAOMICHI MARUFUJI (28:00): Okada retained the IWGP Heavyweight title. The final few minutes were dramatic as hell, albeit nobody thought Marufuji, who isn't even a New Japan wrestler (he's in NOAH), would win the title (especially considering who ever won the title would main event the big Dome show in January). Marufuji was the big surprise at this year's G1 tournament, beating Okada to kick it off and having good matches with just about everyone. He's fun to watch. He's cat-like, does a lot of kicks to the skull, and has a cool finisher where he grabs his opponent by the neck, runs up the turnbuckles and flips over to deliver a DDT. Marufuji also beat the shit out of Okada. It was a little one-sided at the end. But Okada won with his Rainmaker clothesline. Not the greatest match, but the end was awesome stuff. **1/2

WWE NO MERCY

from Sacramento, CA

THE HYPE BROTHERS & AMERICAN ALPHA vs. THE ASCENSION & THE VAUDEVILLAINS (9:00): This was a decent pre-show match. Although I remiss about the glory days when American Alpha battled The Revival in NXT and were a lot more entertaining. **

AJ STYLES vs. JOHN CENA vs. DEAN AMBROSE (21:40): The first presidential debate between Trump and Hillary got the highest ratings ever for a debate. Tonight at 9 was the second debate so they decided to put the main event of the show on first at 8. It turned out to be a good match but not as good as it might have been later on. It just felt weird. Maybe the drama was missing? Or maybe I'm just sick of these three fighting each other. This wasn't as good as AJ/Dean from last month's Backlash or AJ/Cena from Summerslam. It felt rudimentary. Cena seemed sloppy. It was good, but really, a frigging Miz match was better. That tells you something. AJ hit Cena with a chair and pinned him to retain the title. **1/2

NIKKI BELLA vs. CARMELLA (8:05): Carmella was great in NXT with Enzo and Cass ("She's hot as hell and you can't change that!" Remember?). Now she's just a pretty face forgotten. This was at least fast paced. **

HEATH SLATER & RHYNO vs. THE USO'S (10:20): The coveted Smackdown tag title was retained by the ridiculous team of Slater and Rhyno. This was fast and fun, though. I guess I can't complain. Rhyno is still awesome. **1/2

BARIN CORBIN vs. JACK SWAGGER (7:30): Ugh. Why? -No Stars-

THE MIZ vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (19:45): The Wrestling Observer noted that this was the best match of The Miz's career. Granted, that's not saying much (has he ever even been in a good match?). This was an IC title vs. Career match. Dolph won the title so didn't retire. Two members of The Spirit Squad showed up to beat up Dolph because...why? I don't watch the B-show so who knows? That was the only lame part of this great match. A ton of pinfalls intensified the drama. It was high energy. And Maryse is the best eye-candy the company has. So it was a good one. ***

NAOMI vs. ALEXA BLISS (5:25): Seriously, this match was -* (minus one star). It was atrocious. The women's champ was injured so Naomi faced the challenger Bliss (who's very cute and somehow I've never seen or remember?). Just a God awful mess. I was embarrassed watching this.

BRAY WYATT vs. RANDY ORTON (15:40): Hmmm. This was the main event? I hate the split. The "big" finish had the lights going out and coming back on with Luke Harper in the ring (who just stood there). This caused Bray to deliver his finisher and pin Orton. Dull match. 1/2*

Talking Smack, a post-show talk show ran after this because the show was so short (it ended a little after 10:30). Shane O'Mac looked bored as hell but Daniel Bryan is fucking awesome; excited, funny, exuberant. Even not wrestling he's king. Now, seriously, quit and go wrestle in NJPW.

WWE CLASH OF CHAMPIONS

from Indianapolis

NIA JAX vs. ALICIA FOX (4:55): While this show was average at best, at least the card resembled a real WWE ppv card as opposed to Smackdown's Backlash two weeks ago. RAW tied it's worst rating ever last week which means I'm not the only soul who hates this split. But, if you love content, here was another extra long show for you. It ended at 11:07 PM and this pre-show match started around 7:40. It was another forgettable women's match. I thought they got rid of those? -No Stars-

THE NEW DAY vs. LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON (6:45): Maybe Gallows and Anderson should, like, come up with a team name. The Ex-Japs? The Thugs? The Bores? The New Day kept their titles again. Yawn. Their act, sadly, has grown stale. *

T.J. PERKINS vs. BRIAN KENDRICK (10:31): The WWE had a terrific cruiserweight tournament on the Network over the summer that finished with Perkins as the champ. The problem was making his first defense against the worst cruiserweight out there; Kendrick. Perkins is young and fast and awesome. So there's that. This was half as good as the three matches on the cruiserweight finale show, though. **1/2

CESARO vs. SHEAMUS (16:36): The final match of the Best of 7 series ended in a no contest. I guess let's forget it ever happened (good) or have another last match (bad). Cesaro did a through the ropes dive and landed on his head. It made me cringe. He's lucky he's not paralyzed. A lot of it was brutal and entertaining...but this whole series was utterly pointless (the winner gets nothing!). **1/2

CHRIS JERICHO vs. SAMI ZAYN (15:22): Why Jericho won is just about as baffling as why he beat AJ Styles at Wrestlemania. Does the WWE not believe in creating new, winning stars? Add that to the fact that Jericho hasn't been in good matches since the 90's and you got a fairly uneventful slog. At least Zayn is excellent. Why not...I don't know? Give him a better opponent? *1/2

CHARLOTTE vs. BAYLEY vs. SASHA BANKS (15:28): Good match but not as good as either one of their single's matches. The chemistry didn't really mesh. Charlotte's perfect moonsault on both of them was great, though. Charlotte pinned Bayley. It was light year's better than the women's matches of old. Which is a good thing. But lately they've hit a peak that's hard to reach again. **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. RUSEV (17:07): Reigns won the U.S. title here. It was average stuff. Did I mention the split sucks? *1/2

KEVIN OWENS vs. SETH ROLLINS (25:07): Mediocre. The end, with Jericho showing up and a ref bump, was good, but so much of this was pedestrian and these two just don't work well together. Rollins has a great move set and arsenal but, man, he's rarely in great matches. Perhaps he's the problem? **

WWE BACKLASH

Richmond, VA

APOLLO CREWS vs. BARON CORBIN (9:55): Corbin, the king of the pre-show. I was watching the U.S. Open final so I didn't see this (Wawrinka beat Djokovich in 4). Since the ppv ended at 10:38...why did they even have a match on the pre-show?

BECKY LYNCH vs. ALEXA BLISS vs. CARMELLA vs. NAOMI vs. NATALYA vs. NIKKI BELLA (14:40): Well, this is the Smackdown women's division. So...get used to being sick of seeing the same six women wrestle each other every week. If you weren't sure if splitting the company again was good or bad just look at this card and you're mind will be decided. Seriously, the split has made both shows worse and we're stuck with lame B-level ppv's like this. RAW is already worse and the ratings are low. I never even watch Smackdown (they did the split because USA was unhappy with the Smackdown ratings). This match was fast paced and entertaining but a bit too sloppy (Naomi, I'm looking at you). Lynch won the title. **1/2

THE USO'S vs. THE HYPE BROTHERS (10:11): This was the first match in the tag team tournament, a tournament that wasn't helped when Chad Gable was injured last week and his team, American Ultra, wouldn't be competing on this show. The split would work if one show had all the women and one show had all the tag teams. I guess the WWE isn't interested in logic so we're stuck with weak women and tag divisions on both shows. This match was forgettable. *

THE MIZ vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (18:22): The Miz had his best moment in years when he confronted Daniel Bryan on the post-Smackdown show, Talking Smack, a few weeks ago and said that if Bryan cared so much about wrestling then he should quit and go wrestle in bingo halls. The Miz was on fire in that promo. The problem? Bryan is retired...so any heat or great story line will never result in a match, so what's the point? And as for Ziggler...the new split seemed to bring up the idea that lower-card workers would get their deserved pushes. Ziggler was immediately put in the title match at Summerslam. The problem is that this Ziggler push so far has resulted in him losing to Ambrose for the title at SS and now losing to The Miz for the IC title. More like an anti-push. A burying push. And why was Smackdown's biggest star, Cena, not even on their first ppv? Questions, questions. Ziggler, anyway, was energetic. This was semi-entertaining. It didn't help that the WWE obviously added fake crowd noise to this ppv like the Yankees do on their Yes network. Lame. **

KANE vs. BRAY WYATT (10:55): Randy Orton was supposed to wrestle Bray. Instead we got a No DQ match with Kane and Bray. They used a chair and Wyatt jumped onto Kane through the Spanish announce table. Orton came out at the end to give Wyatt an RKO. *

HEATH SLATER & RHYNO vs. THE USO'S (10:02): So you want a reason why this split sucks? Your new Smackdown tag team champs are Heath Slater and Rhyno. Why they're even a team boggles my mind. And does Rhyno age? He's like the Jonas brothers in that classic SNL skit where they had a wizard that gave them the secret to youth. I swear if I go on youtube I'll find Rhyno matches from the 70's where he looks the same. *1/2

AJ STYLES vs. DEAN AMBROSE (25:01): Excellent match. It started slow but built up to a frenzy of big and sick moves culminating in a ref bump, an AJ low blow on Dean, and an AJ victory. He's the champ! Of Smackdown...which isn't all that great, is it? I remember two years ago when the WWE finally condensed the titles into one main title. I was so happy. Now we're back to two lesser titles. How far are we from them going back to Super Smackdowns and Cena showing up on RAW for no reason? I guess amidst the suck we did this great match...so there's that. ***1/2

WWE SUMMERSLAM

from Brooklyn

AMERICAN ALPHA & THE HYPE BROTHERS & THE USO'S vs. BREEZANGO & THE ASCENSION & THE VAUDEVILLAINS (14:32): This show was way too long! It started at 5 PM and ended at 11:05 PM. Granted, the first three matches were amidst the two-hour pre-show, but still. And it was already a hell of a weekend and month for MMA and wrestling. Last weekend, NJPW finished off their 19-show G1 tournament (and while it wasn't the best G1, Ishii/Okada, Naito/Omega, and Tanahashi/Okada were all match-of-the-year contenders). ROH had a ppv on Friday (Adam Cole won the title). EVOLVE had two shows with Cody Rhodes debuting. NXT Takeover Brooklyn II went down on Saturday night (Nakamura won the title). UFC had their biggest fight of the year on Saturday when Conor McGregor won his re-match against a bloody Nick Diaz. And NJPW had the finals of their Super-J Cup on Sunday morning (Kushida won). Exhale. Time to go outside and communicate with nature now. Or, at least, not watch the WWE pre-show matches. This was simple, same-old. American Alpha are exciting. *1/2

SAMI ZAYN & NEVILLE vs. THE DUDLEY BOYZ (7:55): The Dudley Boyz retired on the Monday Night RAW after Summerslam. What a last match! Seriously, Sami Zayn and Neville deserve better. *1/2

SHEAMUS vs. CESARO (14:10): A fan held up a sign at ringside that read "Cesaro Deserves Better." This was the first match in a Best of 7 series between these two. The only reason? To punish us fans, apparently. The winner doesn't even get anything. It was average stuff. **

CHRIS JERICHO & KEVIN OWENS vs. ENZO AMORE & BIG CASS (12:08): They seemed to waste a lot of big names in these early, lame matches. Sami Zayn vs. Cesaro could have been a better Summerslam main event. And Owens, one of the true heel stars, should have been in one of the numerous title matches. But no, they've teamed him up with Jericho because...they're both from Canada? Jericho and Owens are hilarious on the mic...but this was a RAW match, not a ppv match. I will say that Enzo and Big Cass are perhaps the hottest team to come out of NXT right out of the gate. Usually it takes time for fans to get familiar with the new NXT call-ups or "get" them or learn to like them or whatever, but Enzo and Cass were fan favorites right away. Unfortunately, they're not the greatest in the ring. Which meant that this match was mediocre. ** 

CHARLOTTE vs. SASHA BANKS (13:55): Good match. Probably not as good as the match last month on RAW when Sasha won the title from Charlotte, but super-entertaining nonetheless. Sasha really takes a beating, doesn't she? Maybe she needs to take lessons on how to take a bump properly or something. It sure makes her matches exciting, though, like her hurricanrana out of a Razor's Edge off the top rope on Charlotte. The ending was unique, too. Sasha had her submission finisher locked on and Charlotte rolled back onto Sasha and pinned her. Definitely a surprise, as Sasha hasn't had the title long. ***


THE MIZ vs. APOLLO CREWS (5:45): Ugh. Why? 1/2*

AJ STYLES vs. JOHN CENA (23:10): Spectacular. This was much better than the first match in June at Money in the Bank. It wasn't as good as Roman Reigns vs. AJ Styles II nor the first two Kevin Owens/John Cena matches from last year. It was very similar to the Owens/Cena matches, though, in that they brought out new moves and kept kicking out of everything. AJ won clean which was a big shock. I really hope we get to see an AJ/Lesnar title main event match someday. I can't be the only one dreaming of that, right? ***1/2

LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON vs. THE NEW DAY (9:09): John Stewart, the former host of The Daily Show, showed up as The New Day's 3rd man (since Big E. was hurt). The crowd did not like or want to see Stewart (and in fairness, he's been retired from TV for a year so...maybe people forgot him?). But Stewart does a hilarious Three Stooges/Marx Brothers type of zany/physical comedy that I found more entertaining than this dull slog of a match. Gallows and Anderson were boring in New Japan...which is hard to to! So I didn't expect them to work here. Big E. came out at the end when Gallows and Anderson were about to slam Stewart's balls into the ring-post. So the match ended up being a DQ win for the bad guys. And it was nice to see Stewart because, boy, that new Daily Show host is awful. **

DEAN AMBROSE vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (15:18): Ambrose got screwed. He finally won the title and then a month later they split the brand and now have two titles. And I guess giving Ziggler this shot is to appease the fans from three years ago who thought he should be pushed (he was, sort of, winning the title on a hot, post-Wrestlemania RAW and then getting injured). I doubt there are any Ziggler fans anymore. The crowd was a silent tomb during this match (and, to be honest, during most of this show...maybe because it was so long and maybe because AJ/Cena was the only match anyone wanted to see). Ambrose won. It wasn't terrible, just nothing exciting happened. They probably should have, like, pushed Ziggler and given this match a story line instead of it just happening all of a sudden. **

NATALYA & ALEXA BLISS & NIKKI BELLA vs. BECKY LYNCH, NAOMI & CARMELLA (11:07): Nikki Bella made her return (she was gone?) in too-short latex shorts. I guess these are the Smackdown women? Why they split the women's division is beyond me. Why they even did the split is beyond me. Now RAW is worse. And we're stuck watching 7 Smackdown and RAW ppv's that will obviously suck. Last time they did this it was a disaster. Ratings on both shows dropped. The Smackdown ppv's were horrendous. Remember, JBL had the frigging Smackdown title for like a year or something during the last split. My God we better not get a Baron Corbin year long title reign. And, back to this match...why isn't there a Smackdown women's title? Eh, who cares? 1/2*

SETH ROLLINS vs. FINN BALOR (19:24): Finn Balor won the RAW title clean. It's stupidly called the Universal Heavyweight title. The problem? Balor hurt his shoulder when Rollins power-bombed/threw him into the black crowd barrier wall at ringside. So Balor relinquished his title on RAW and next week there's a fatal four way for the title with Reigns, Owens, Rollins, and...Big Cass. Yep, I guess you know who they're pinning. Balor is out 4-6 months...so should be back for the Rumble. And Brett Hart was ranting on various web-sites how Rollins needs to change his style because he injures too many people (he broke Cena's nose last year and gave Sting a neck injury). Balor has been in some very good matches lately but this match was just so-so. I guess the two just didn't connect? The last few minutes were exciting, though, and I was shocked at the outcome. **1/2

ROMAN REIGNS vs. RUSEV: They beat each other up and the match never started. Reigns is turning into Cena. I don't like Reigns but I admit that he's been in some good, brutal matches. His second match with AJ this year was one of WWE's best of the year. And I don't like Cena but he usually pulls out good matches on the ppv's.

RANDY ORTON vs. BROCK LESNAR (11:45): Well...this happened. It was an okay match. Lesnar threw Orton at the Spanish announce table and it broke. Orton gave Lesnar an RKO on the announce table and it didn't break. They both kicked out of each other's finisher. The finale had Lesnar using his elbow to draw blood. This worked! Orton bled like a stuck pig from his head, the refs and docs came out, the ref called it a TKO win for Lesnar. Shane ran out and got F-5'd by Lesnar. Orton needed staples in his head. Weird, anti-climactic ending. The fans were bored, confused, and tired. I guess don't have this go on last if you're doing that finish? And, really, the plan was for Lesnar to elbow Orton until he got cut and bled for real? That's a plan? Orton was okay with that? Even Jericho apparently confronted Lesnar backstage post-match because he thought it was off-script. I think this all would have been better if this match had a story or a build beyond, "Hey, these two guys are wrestling for no reason at Summerslam." **