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Triple H, October 2011:

“When I grew up, I hated Hogan. I thought he was terrible and didn’t like to watch him. I was like Punk in a way. I liked the Steamboats and Flairs and the ones that could go. Would I be right in saying that Hogan was the wrong guy to go with, and they should’ve changed directions and gone with Steamboat because he was the better wrestler? Ludicrous.” - Triple H. October, 2011.

Road to Royal Rumble 2016

Thursday, December 01, 2016

(Two notes – it’s the 11th anniversary of the Counterfactual, thanks for reading.  Two, the real world Trump election has consequences here; when we get to the build for Survivor Series 2016 and my election storyline plays out, I’ll discuss how I changed the finish because of Trump.)

Survivor Series was here.

(Stay to the end.  There’s a twist.)

The Road to the Rumble starts the following night – RAW again opens in Edge’s “office” as his Dario Cueto gimmick continues.  With him is Christian.  Here’s what we learn.

-Christian, who is on a job action, essentially walking out on WWF after Brock killed Joey at Summer Slam, says he is not returning yet. 
-Brock is returning as scheduled, his suspension lifts at the Rumble.
-Joey is not returning at all.  He has recovered from his injuries but is choosing to step away from the promotion.  Ranallo is now the permanent lead announcer. 
-Christian refusing to go back to work costs him his job.  Edge fires him. Edge looks like he's aged five years on this job. 

Here’s the card for the Rumble.  It’s a good show. 

WWF Title: Lumberjack Three Way Dance: Kevin Steen (w/Pac and Generico) v. Brock Lesnar (w/Devitt and Sombra) v. Nick Nemeth (w/ Sheamus and Barrett)

IC: Dean Ambrose v. Mystery Opponent

Mask vs. Mask: Pac v. Kalisto

Tags: New Day (Kingston/Langston w/Woods) v. Rusev/Dos Caras (w/GHB and Lana)

Chris Jericho v. El Generico

Women’s Title: Charlotte Flair v. Becky Lynch

Roman Reigns-Uso v. HHH-M

Loser Loses Identity Parking Lot Brawl: Luke Harper v. Harper (w/Bray)

Number One Contender Tables Match: Usos (Jimmy/Jey) v. Rhodes (Cody/Dustin) v. Dudley Boys


WWF Title: Lumberjack Three Way Dance: Kevin Steen (w/Pac and Generico) v. Brock Lesnar (w/Devitt and Sombra) v. Nick Nemeth (w/ Sheamus and Barrett)

Mask vs. Mask: Pac v. Kalisto

Chris Jericho v. El Generico

 -We learn about the parameters of the title match, the mask match, and Generico’s PPV debut during one in ring segment on the opening RAW.  Renee calls to the ring Steen, who is seconded by Pac, and then Nemeth, who comes to the ring with Regal/Barrett/Sheamus, and then Heyman, who arrives with Devitt and Sombra.

Steen kept his title with some aid from Claudio at Survivor Series, we learn that no one has heard from Claudio since he walked up the ramp the night before.  As a result we get this stip, a rematch between Steen and Nemeth in which each will be allowed two lumberjacks, who can get involved in any action on the floor.  Brock, you may recall, has a contractual rematch that necessitates his being placed in this match – his last shot at the WWF Title given his attack on Joey at Summer Slam.
Nemeth will have Sheamus/Barrett as his lumberjacks.  They lost the tag titles at Summer Slam and, demonstrating their commitment to Nemeth’s winning the WWF Title for Underground, don’t have a match at the Rumble to complicate their evening.

Steen will have Pac and Generico – Generico’s still on the shelf from the War Games injury suffered over the summer, but he’ll be cleared for the Rumble.  He’s cleared of all other commitments and now makes his PPV debut against #7, the Triple Crown Winner, Chris Jericho who returns to the WWF in this match.  Pac really heeled on Kalisto at Survivor Series, attempting to rip off his mask in response to repeated taunts from Steen, calling he and Claudio soft, calling them trash – as a result, the rubber match between the two will be a mask vs mask. Regal digs at Steen here – he’s broken Claudio, Claudio should have taken the deal to join Underground, when he left ringside last night he looked like a shell of himself.  Regal says Steen did that – and he did that with Pac as well, he’s broken them down to a state of unrecognizability.   Steen says Regal is scared – scared of what a vicious Pac will do to Kalisto, scared of what a tougher, harder, crueler GDI will do to Underground and the rest of the WWF.    

Brock will have Devitt and Sombra, both of whom have grown closer to Heyman in Brock’s absence.  Heyman dismisses both Nemeth and Steen, Underground and GDI – Heyman says when the unbreakable beast Lesnar returns, the Paul Heyman Guys will again be in control of the WWF Title.

Not a bad deal, right?  Generico's WWF PPV debut - Brock's return - and the blow off match to a hot Pac/Kalisto feud ends in a mask match.

We’ve got 3 other title matches.
 IC: Dean Ambrose v. Mystery Opponent
Tags: New Day (Kingston/Langston w/Woods) v. Rusev/Dos Caras (w/GHB and Lana)
Women’s Title: Charlotte Flair v. Becky Lynch

Ambrose took the IC from Bray at Survivor Series; he’s feeling himself and challenges anyone in the world to try to take it from him.  During the build, we get the debuts of both Rich Swann and Cedric Alexander, both of who lose to Ambrose.  Ambrose will take on another newcomer at the Rumble.

New Day took the tag titles at Survivor Series; their face turn continues against the heel group led by GHB.  GHB blames Obama for New Day holding the tag belts, New Day takes GHBs limo and calls it reparations.  It’s more comedic than not, with New Day presented as more knowing than the broadly ridiculous GHB.  Note, Lana seconded Dos Caras at Survivor Series, and in this build, when they wrestle as singles, she continues to do so – there’s one match where GHB can’t be there with Dos Caras and Lana still goes out there with him, she holds the ropes open for him, does the full valet thing.

Charlotte took the Women’s title from Paige at Survivor Series with Ric heeling on Paige and therefore busting up 4-Ground.  As mentioned in the Survivor Series write up, Charlotte then fires Ric the following night and is now a solo act.  Becky beats Paige definitively in this build as she takes on her former stablemate for the strap.

The mystery opponent options are the highlight in that block - probably lots of speculation about who that might be, particularly given what's coming at the end of the build (told you there was a twist).

And the remaining 3 matches:
Roman Reigns-Uso v. HHH-M
Loser Loses Identity Parking Lot Brawl: Luke Harper v. Harper (w/Bray)
Number One Contender Tables Match: Usos (Jimmy/Jey) v. Rhodes (Cody/Dustin) v. Dudley Boys

Reigns pledged to destroy all of Direct to Video; Orton went down Summer Slam, The Miz at Survivor Series and that just leaves Hunter.  He comes out of the executive suite to take on an asskicking babyface in Reigns. 

Sandow’s turning into Luke Harper’s doppelgänger finally comes to a head; their parking lot brawl prior to Survivor Series impacted both men and leads to this – a parking lot brawl at the Rumble in which the loser can no longer be Harper. It’s unclear the parameters of that, but the announce promises us a full identity tear down, one of these men will look very, very different the next time we see him following this match. 

The Dudley Boys returned to the WWF at Survivor Series to attack both the Usos and the Rhodes Brothers – the three teams will have a tables match at the Rumble – winners to go onto Mania to wrestle for the tag titles.  The veteran Dudleys - multi-time ECW, IWGP, TNA, and WWF tag champs want one last ride - both the Usos and the Rhodes Brothers have some desperation, will they get another shot if this one goes by?

That parking lot brawl is almost certainly a good match, it's another blow off to a long term angle and Luke Harper is a tremendous brawler.

Over on Dark Ride, we've got a multi-tag team feud:

American Alpha - managed by Swagger
The Revival - managed by Arn
Ciampa/Gargano - managed by Noble
Nicholls/Haste - managed by Dean Malenko

And we've got video promos by a man who says he's arriving after the Rumble - Austin Aries.

Aries cuts promos on Joe - says there's another former ROH and TNA champ, Joe's not a snowflake, Joe's not a unicorn - there's another - it's him, Austin Aries, and he's coming to Dark Ride right after the Rumble.

Finally, the twist.

In the last show before the Rumble, the go-home Fight Night, right in the middle of the show, there's an unremarkable match, say Killings v. Epico.

Out of the crowd, wearing streetclothes, without any build or fanfare - he just climbs right out of the crowd and into the ring -

---

Is Shinsuke Nakamura.

He tells Killings and Epico to beat it.  They do.

He takes a mic out of his back pocket and in broken English says...

"You...know who I am.  But you don't...know why....I'm here."

Nakamura smiles - and exits out through the crowd.

That's the buzz the rest of the night and the rest of the week on the programming on WWF Network (WWF Network has daily programming, think ESPN - there's pretty much always a couple of guys arguing about something).  Why did Shinsuke Nakamura - one of the great wrestlers in the world - show up in the WWF three days before the Royal Rumble?

With that extra kick - this sure feels like a show you do not want to miss.

WWF Title: Lumberjack Three Way Dance: Kevin Steen (w/Pac and Generico) v. Brock Lesnar (w/Devitt and Sombra) v. Nick Nemeth (w/ Sheamus and Barrett)

IC: Dean Ambrose v. Mystery Opponent

Mask vs. Mask: Pac v. Kalisto

Tags: New Day (Kingston/Langston w/Woods) v. Rusev/Dos Caras (w/GHB and Lana)

Chris Jericho v. El Generico

Women’s Title: Charlotte Flair v. Becky Lynch

Roman Reigns-Uso v. HHH-M

Loser Loses Identity Parking Lot Brawl: Luke Harper v. Harper (w/Bray)

Number One Contender Tables Match: Usos (Jimmy/Jey) v. Rhodes (Cody/Dustin) v. Dudley Boys

Call your cable company.  It's Royal Rumble 2016!


Survivor Series 2015

Tuesday, November 01, 2016


The build is here.

The 29th annual Survivor Series is in Atlanta.

(Dark – Devitt/Sombra w/Heyman d. Nicholls/Haste
              Joe d. Crews)

Your announce is Mauro Ranallo, calling his first WWF PPV, a decade after Joey Styles debuted at Survivor Series ’05, and Regal, calling his 11th. Regal doing the show without the counterweight of Christian should be really obvious as he cheers for the GDI guys, it’s particularly blatant in Pac/Kalisto and the title match.

Clips play of every opening tag match in Survivor Series history.
1. (1987) Killer Bees defeating Power & Glory
2. The Rockers defeating Demolition
3. Hulk Hogan/Dusty Rhodes d. Hercules/Ultimate Warrior
5.Beverly Brothers d. Natural Disasters
6. Beverly Brothers d. Nasty Boys
7. Heavenly Bodies d. Headshrinkers
8. Smoking Gunns d. Heavenly Bodies
9. Public Enemy d. Louie Spicoli/Marty Jannetty
10. New Age Outlaws d. Savio Vega/Bob Holly
11. Nation of Domination d. Godwinns
12. Hardys d. Brian Lawler/Scott Taylor
13. Hollys d. New Age Outlaws
14. Hardys d. Dudleys
15. Edge/Christian d. Hardys
16. Dudleys d. Hardys DQ
17. Dead Men Walking d. Bashams
18. Randy Orton/John Cena d. GHB/Anal Cysts Conway
19. Johnny Nitro/Joey Mercury d. DMW
22. GHB/Mark Henry d. Undertaker/Cody Rhodes
24. Empire d. Douchebags
25. Mark Henry/Santino d. Hunico/Mason Ryan
27. Wyatt Family d. Defiance
28. Fandango Curtis/Heath Slater d. Damian Sandow/Justin Gabriel

And this year…

1. Usos No Contest Rhodes
-All babyface matchup; both teams doing long journey storylines, for the Usos it’s injury and “inability to win the big one” – and for the Rhodes, it’s Dustin’s age and having lost his identity as a member of the Wyatts.  This spirited match ends with the return of another team – the Dudley Boys.

D-Von, a 10 time tag champion, including 2 WWF runs, has been gone over a decade – Bubba was just here in January, teaming with DDP for a one shot at the Rumble, Bubba’s got a dozen tag titles to his name, the most major tag titles of anyone in history.  They hit 3D on a member of both teams and it ends the match.  The Dudley Boys, with a truckload of titles, return to the WWF for one last ride.

Prior to the next match is a taped piece from earlier in the evening, it’s the two Harpers, the real one, Luke and his doppleganger (Sandow) brawling in the parking lot.

2. Dos Caras, Jr. (w/GHB and Lana) d. Luke Harper
-GHB cuts pre-match promo; telling the fans that taxes are too high – when they cheer he says not for you people, you barely pay taxes at all, but for me, and for giant corporations – GHB then sends out a squadron of uniformed personnel with collection plates asking the fans to pay their share.  The ones who make the least money should pay the most.  GHB announces literacy tests to remain in the country, and a couple of questions pop up on the video wall.  GHB says that it’s not enough to keep bad foreigners out – it’s time to send bad Americans out the door too.

Dos Caras returned to the promotion at Summer Slam, joining GHBs stable of men who are more American than actual Americans – he beats a clearly injured Luke Harper here, who is selling the pre-show parking lot brawl with the other Harper.  Lana’s appearance was unannounced, she’s Rusev’s wife, after all, but even though he doesn’t appear at all here, she plays the same ringside role she would play during a Rusev match, and she joins the postmatch pose with the other two men.

3. Roman Reigns Uso d. The Miz
After the Usos lost to Direct to Video at Mania, Reigns pledged to wipe them out; at Summer Slam, he punished Orton and here, he does the same to the Miz – Miz does his chickshit heel routine but he’s quickly caught and smashed by Reigns.  Roman’s full intensity, it’s a real world Goldberg act.

Postmatch, HHH-M appears at the top of the ramp – Reigns motions for him to come to the ring, but he retreats to the back.

4. Women’s Title: Charlotte Flair d. Paige
It’s a nice moment, Charlotte winning the Women’s Title in Atlanta.

Along with Becky/Sasha, this is half of 4-Ground, the stable advised by Ric; he’s done a good job at positioning himself as not favoring Charlotte, even when playing a role in the finish of her number one contender match at Summer Slam.

Here, Ric, as promised, doesn’t come to the ring at the beginning of the match, but makes his way down mid-way, he cheers for both women until he doesn’t, slipping a foreign object into Charlotte’s hand that she’ll use to deck Paige and get the fall and take the belt.  The Flairs celebrate in the ring – Becky and Sasha come to the ramp to shake their heads in incredulity – people said they should not trust the Flairs and they were right.

The next night ends Ric’s run when Charlotte dumps him.

Ric cuts promo – his rap in the build was family was more important than gold, that 4-Ground needed to stay together.  Here, he says he told the truth, it is about family, it’s about his family.  Ric says he is an 8 time World Champion, and none of them means as much as the 9th – the one he shares with his daughter.  Ric says he is the greatest of all time and the next stage of his career will be protecting Charlotte’s championship as long as he can.

Charlotte says the reason she knows the rest of 4-Ground is too stupid to stay with is they actually believe what Ric is saying.  They’re great wrestlers, but they didn’t grow up around the sport – they didn’t grow up knowing that family always comes second to gold.

Charlotte says she could share the championship with her dad, spend months, maybe years getting to spend the time with her dad she didn’t get to spend growing up, when Ric was winning those 8 world titles.

Or – she could choose gold.  And keep it all to herself.

Charlotte opens up the ropes – tells Flair his services, as manager and father, are no longer required.  She’s world champ now – the gold is all the family she needs.

Ric cries, like he would – Charlotte threatens to slap him around.  Flair exits and leaves the promotion.

But that’s tomorrow night.

5. Pac d. Kalisto
Kalisto upset Pac at Summer Slam; Steen really pretty cruelly began to refer to he and Cesaro as trash, and he responds by going full heel in this one against Kalisto – early in the match he goes for the mask; a real surprise to the young luchador, they’ve had a respectful feud, and that a fellow masked wrestler would try to unmask him is a surprise and he never really recovers.  Pac stays aggressive the entire match and wins decisively.

Every Tag Title match in Survivor Series history
1. (1987) Rougeaus taking from the Hart Foundation
2. Brainbusters taking from the Rougeaus
3. Rockers keeping over Rougeaus
4. Road Warriors taking from Orient Express
5. Road Warriors keeping over Boss Man/Slaughter
6. Steiners taking from Money Inc.
7. Steiners keeping from Rock & Roll Express
8. Bret/Anvil taking from Lex Luger/Bam Bam Bigelow
9. Razor Ramon/Diesel taking from Smoking Gunns
10. Marc Mero/Bart Gunn keeping over Doug Furnas/Phil LaFon
11. Rock/DLo Brown taking from the Road Warriors in a 3 way with New Age Outlaws
12. Rock/DLo keeping over the New Age Outlaws
13. Dudleys taking from the Hardys
14. Edge/Christian keeping over Hunter/Waltman
15. Dudleys keeping over Raven/Tommy Dreamer
16. Chris Benoit/Eddy Guerrero keeping over Jamie Noble/Billy Kidman
17. Shawn Michaels/Hunter keeping over Dudleys
18. Kurt Angle/Shelton Benjamin taking from Rob Van Dam/Rey Mysterio
19. Booker T/GHB taking from Randy Orton/John Cena
20. Sabu/Rob Van Dam taking from Dead Men Walking
21. Shawn Michaels/Hunter taking from The Superstar & The Sidekick
22. Edge/Blood Dragon taking from Weapons of Mass Destruction
23. Division One keeping over Steve Regal/Fit Finlay
24. Young Money keeping over Hooligans
25. Empire keeping over Mark Henry/Santino
26. Defiance keeping over Young Money
27. The Shield keeping over Mark Henry/PAUL
28. The Shield keeping over The Usos

So, there hasn’t been a tag title switch at Survivor Series in 7 years – now here’s the match.

6. Tag Titles: The New Day (Kingston/Langston w/Woods) d. Sheamus/Barrett
-Renee (backstage) Langston, The last two years you’ve come to Survivor Series as part of the tag champs, tonight you challenge for those belts – what’s the difference in mindset?
       -Langston: First of all…check your privilege….

New Day works like babyfaces, Langston debuts the hip swivel, they go over clean and take the belts to become the 97th tag team champs in WWF history.  For Langston, it’s his second run, for Kingston, his third.

Every IC Title Match in Survivor Series history
1. (1987) Randy Savage keeping over Rick Rude
2. Bret Hart keeping over Davey Boy Smith
3. Ted DiBiase taking from Rick Rude
4. Bret Hart keeping from Shawn Michaels
5. Roddy Piper taking from Bret Hart
6. Shawn Michaels taking from Randy Savage
6.Owen Hart taking from Shawn Michaels
       7. Shawn Michaels keeping over Sean Waltman
       8. Razor Ramon keeping over Sean Waltman
       9. Shawn Michaels keeping over Shane Douglas
     10. Cactus Jack taking from Vader
     11. Ken Shamrock taking from Cactus Jack
     12. Steve Austin keeping over Steve Regal
     13. Chris Jericho taking from Sean Waltman
     14. Steve Regal taking from Chris Jericho
     15. Taz taking from Tajiri
     16. Rob Van Dam taking from Shawn Michaels
     17. Chavo Guerrero taking from Tajiri
     18. Chris Jericho keeping over Chavo Guerrero
     19. Chris Benoit winning vacant title over Kurt Angle
     20. Shane Helms takes from Hunter Hearst Helmsley McMahon
     21. MVP taking from Randy Orton
     22. MVP keeping over Rey Mysterio
     23. Shawn Michaels keeping over Shelton Benjamin
     24. Johnny Nitro keeping over MVP
     25. Sheamus keeps over Johnny Nitro
     26. Nick Nemeth keeping over The Miz
     27. Dean Ambrose keeping over Kingston
     28. Luke Harper taking from Nick Nemeth

And now this year…

7. No DQ: IC: Dean Ambrose d. Bray Wyatt
-Ambrose becomes the 65th IC Champion, his second run with the IC belt, beating Wyatt in a largely ringside based brawl.  Wyatt’s alone – the build involved both men largely being alone, a singular occurrence in both of their careers, and as Harper (Sandow) was taken out in that pre-show parking lot brawl no one ever comes to Bray’s aid here – even given the No DQ stip.

Every WWF Title match in Survivor Series history…

1. (1987) Ricky Steamboat kept over Dynamite Kid
2. Randy Savage taking from Dynamite
3. Curt Hennig taking from Savage
4. Curt Hennig keeping over Kerry Von Erich
5. Ric Flair taking from Davey Boy Smith
6. Bret Hart keeping over Ric Flair
7. Bret Hart keeping over Lex Luger
8. Shawn Michaels taking from Owen Hart
9. Bret Hart keeping over Davey Boy Smith
10. Bret Hart taking from Shawn Michaels
11. Owen Hart winning the vacant title over Bret Hart/Steve Austin/Shawn Michaels
12. Cactus Jack keeping over Ken Shamrock
13. Cactus Jack keeping over HHH and the Rock
14. Chris Benoit keeping over Steve Austin
15. Kurt Angle keeping over Booker T
16. Kurt Angle keeping over Chris Jericho
17. Eddy Guerrero keeping over Brock Lesnar/Chris Benoit/Kurt Angle
18. Chris Benoit drawing Eddy Guerrero
19. Rey Mysterio keeping over Juventud Guerrera
20. CM Punk taking from Ric Flair
21. Rey Mysterio keeping over The Undertaker
22. Chris Jericho taking from CM Punk
23. Chris Jericho keeping over Chavo Guerrero
23.Chris Jericho no contest with Matt Hardy
                             24. Edge keeping over Jack Swagger
                             25. Nick Nemeth keeping over Mistico
                             26.  Bryan Danielson keeping over Rey Mysterio
                             27. Bryan Danielson drawing CM Punk
                             28. Cluadio Castagnoli keeping over Bray Wyatt

And this year

8. WWF Title: Kevin Steen (w/Claudio) d. Nick Nemeth
-What will Claudio do has been the focus of much of the build – what he does is he attacks Nemeth on the outside with a barrage of uppercuts, leading to the finish.  Claudio looks at the crowd as he walks back up the aisle, sadly pointing at them and yelling “hey”, almost as if the berating from Steen has broken his spirit.

For Steen though – it’s another victory, he holds the belt aloft over the protestations of an angry Regal as the show fades out…

…but how we close the show is a return to the image that closed WM, the building of a large metal structure, we’re now further along – there are multiple men building what is clearly a giant steel cage – that appears, maybe, to have…are they chambers….

I’ll be back next month, the 11th anniversary of the Counterfactual, with the build for Royal Rumble 2016 – the main event for which is a lumberjack 3 way featuring Steen defending the title against Nemeth and a returning Brock Lesnar.  See you in a month.


Road to Survivor Series 2015

Saturday, October 01, 2016

Summer Slam was here.

Survivor Series is coming next month from Atlanta.  Let’s put the following card together.

WWF Title: Kevin Steen (w/Claudio) v. Nick Nemeth
IC Title: Bray Wyatt v. Dean Ambrose
Tags: Sheamus/Barrett v. New Day (Langston/Kingston w/Woods)
Pac v. Kalisto
Women’s Title: Paige v. Charlotte Flair
Luke Harper v. Dos Caras, Jr. (w/GHB)
Roman Reigns Uso v. Miz
Usos v. Rhodes Brothers

The night after Summer Slam begins with Edge, representing the Championship Committee, suspending Brock for attacking Joey Styles at the conclusion of the PPV.  Brock doesn’t appear – it’s a vignette in an office (Lucha Underground style) with Edge and Heyman.  Here’s what gets established:

-Brock’s gone until the Rumble, at which time he’ll be able to exercise his rematch clause
-Brock’s also got a clause in his contract (thanks to Heyman) promising him a main event slot at WM 32, which is anticipated to be the biggest crowd in WWF history.
-Beyond those matches, Brock will never again get a WWF Title shot, so he’d better win.

Heyman looks at that as excessive, he’s heated about it – but Edge is heated about not being able to fire Brock, he couldn’t get agreement to do that from Shaun and Austin (the other two members of the committee).  Edge also tells Heyman that he doesn’t need to see him around until 2016.
Both men leave heated.

Also heated is Christian, who we learn is not showing up to work in Joey’s absence – Joey, we learn is hospitalized for a couple weeks, then we learn he’s resting comfortably at home – but he does not have a return date. 

He’s replaced by Mauro Ranallo, who some WWF fans will know from New Japan – which, you may recall, got a lot of promotional consideration from WWF in the build for Liger’s working dark at Summer Slam, clips of Renallo from NJPW have already appeared on WWF platforms. 

Ranallo will do Fight Night with Regal, but do RAW alone, as Christian refuses to come back out of anger that Brock was not fired for his actions; speculation builds about his future.

Heyman uses the time away to build his relationship with Devitt and La Sombra (primarily Devitt); every couple of weeks an IPhone video makes its way to the WWF Network showing them hitting random indie promotions – causing a stir, building excitement – we see some moments with Heyman giving advice to Devitt, telling stories about ECW, Devitt eagerly absorbs all he can about what wrestling means in the United States.

The last video is seen live during Dark Ride Wrestling (formerly called GVU) in the go home show, Heyman enters unannounced holding the phone – Devitt and La Sombra follow – Heyman says they aren’t here to watch – they’re here to fight – and they go over Nicholls and Haste, the former NOAH champs, making their debut.

More fallout includes what may be the last appearance of Ricky Steamboat.
Steamboat has an announced in ring promo on RAW a couple of weeks after Summer Slam.
He says he didn’t screw Brock.  He counted a fair 3 count as anyone could see.
But if he did screw Brock, he deserved it. 

Steamboat says he’s always been thought of by the fans as a good guy – something he’s learned over the years is maybe the good guy doesn’t always have to follow the rules, maybe the good guy just has to do what’s right.  And what was right was Brock Lesnar losing the WWF Title – even if it was to Kevin Steen.

Steamboat thanks the fans – and like Bret did at Mania, says he’s going home.  Flair happens to be at RAW that night and there’s a shot of them embracing in the back. 

Let’s talk some matches.

 WWF Title: Kevin Steen (w/Claudio) v. Nick Nemeth
 Pac v. Kalisto

Two GDI v. Underground matches.  Steen’s feeling himself, he’s the only man currently drawing breath in the WWF who has ever pinned Brock Lesnar and he’s happy to tell you about it.  His levels of browbeating Pac and Claudio reach their apex, he starts calling them trash, repeatedly, for their failure to use the cheating tactics he’s been advocating for months.  Pac has a rematch with Kalisto, Steen says he’s got to rough him up, put him in his place – Pac, even under the mask, evidences anger at Steen’s demeaning him.  Steen wants him to take that anger out on Kalisto.

Claudio, however, seems broken.  He was the happy warrior, bad thoughts seemingly didn’t penetrate him.  But after two pounding losses to Lesnar and now losing to Nemeth, he’s a shell – the “hey movement” a vestige.  Steen’s relentless in calling him trash, Claudio looks so sad.  So sad. 

Sad enough that, at one point in the build, Nemeth interrupts Steen yelling at Claudio.  Nemeth takes offense, says Claudio is his boy – and maybe he’d be happier with Underground.

We haven’t really had any jumps from stable to stable, other than Black being essentially forced to go to Underground – so this is really unusual and it becomes the main talking point of the build.  In the go home Fight Night Nemeth/Sheamus/Barrett beat Steen/Claudio/Pac, with Nemeth pinning Claudio.  Steen really goes after Claudio “trash, trash, trash, trash” – and Regal leaves the announce to hit the ring.

Regal has an Underground shirt which he hands to Claudio – he says they’d love to have him, and maybe after Sunday (Claudio is not wrestling, he’ll be in Steen’s corner in the title match) they will.
So – will Claudio turn on Steen becomes a story point as we head to Survivor Series. 

This also adds to Regal’s level of “cheerleading” on behalf of Underground, which he’s always done, even as an announcer – but now without Christian on the other show to needle him when he does it, Regal’s unchecked and taking a lot of liberties throughout all the builds.

Three more title matches

IC Title: Bray Wyatt v. Dean Ambrose
Tags: Sheamus/Barrett v. New Day (Langston/Kingston w/Woods)
Women’s Title: Paige v. Charlotte Flair

After a 2 ¼ year run, the longest title run for any belt in modern WWF history, The Shield lost the tag titles at Summer Slam when Langston turned on them, severely injuring Black in the process. 
Ambrose, the next time we see him, has a repackage – near music, new gear, he enters from the back – he says maybe people expect him to dedicate his life to avenging those who did him wrong. 

Nah.

Ambrose says “who should I jump – Langston and his 2 new friends, Sheamus and Barrett and all of Underground? – I’m crazy but I ain’t crazy.”

Ambrose says instead, he’s going after another belt he wants back – the IC belt.

And that starts Bray/Ambrose.  The Wyatt Family is now just Harper (Sandow) but he remains in a war with Luke Harper – Luke attacks Harper at one point in the build, they have a couple of wild brawls – both men generally looking over their shoulders. 

Meaning, Bray is sometimes alone, a rarity in his career – and Ambrose is now totally alone, having lost both of his partners in one night – so that becomes the storyline, two men used to having a family, two men who previously met in 6 man matches, now both seem a little vulnerable (Ambrose losing the Shield body armor reflects that).  Bray makes Ambrose nakedness explicit, his “mind games” with Dean center on Ambrose about to get exposed, about to show that he was the weak link, that the Shield was really about Black.  Ambrose is more action than talk, he shows that Bray isn’t as protected as he used to be by attacking him in various locations – say during a typical Wyatt vignette, Ambrose shows up in the barn to attack Bray.  That’s pretty cool, I think – picture one of those Wyatt family taped pieces, but it’s just Bray, he’s doing a spooky monologue and out of nowhere he’s jumped by Ambrose. 

The Shield, as mentioned, lost their tag straps when Langston turned – he immediately then turned on Sheamus and Barrett to join Woods and Kingston to form the New Day.  They’ve been a serious act, and Langston’s been a serious wrestler – but that starts to change now, he’s better at being a lighter character and New Day starts to lighten up.  One way to do that is with a catchphrase – and it’s going to be “Check your privilege” (privilege check also becomes the name of a maneuver)

So, for example, Woods might say that there’s never been black tag team champs in the modern WWF era.

Maybe that’s during an interview with Renee Young – who brings up Benjamin and Booker and, by the way, Langston.
Woods says they had white tag partners.
Renee beings up Young Money and Rock and DLo.
Woods says Rock’s Samoan
Renee says his dad is Rocky Johnson, Soul Brother Number 1.
Woods says “first of all….check your privilege”.

New Day in a subsequent promo reveals a Samoan heritage chart, with all the Samoans (including Joe) purporting to show how they’re all related. 

And – Kingston, say, loses a singles to Sheamus.  Renee asks him what happened – “first of all, check your privilege”

Eventually, that can be a babyface catchphrase with which the crowd chants.  That doesn’t happen yet, but down the road.

Sheamus and Barrett largely talk about beating The Shield, Langston turning on them is an irritant, they talk about the 2 ½ year title run they’re about to go on.  Sheamus and Barrett – tag team champions until 2018!  What could go wrong?

Despite what might be perceived as shenanigans at Summer Slam, Flair is able to keep 4-Ground together as two of its members meet for the Women’s Title.  He stresses that they are a family – and that’s the most important thing, more important that money or fame or even titles is that they stay a family and after Survivor Series, no matter who wins, that has to stay true. 

Flair says he won’t come to ringside for the title match, even though Survivor Series is going to be in Atlanta, and the people in Atlanta obviously have a special relationship with Ric Flair – he wants Paige and Charlotte to wrestle and however it goes, everyone should feel good about the outcome.  What could go wrong?

Here’s the rest of the card.

Luke Harper v. Dos Caras, Jr. (w/GHB)
Roman Reigns Uso v. Miz
Usos v. Rhodes Brothers

Dos Caras made his return at Summer Slam as part of GHBs stable; he cost Luke his match against Rusev and now the two of them square off.  GHB talks about building a wall between the US and Mexico with a door that goes both ways; great men like Dos Caras, Jr. come in – and losers like all you fans head out.  As mentioned earlier, there are a couple of brawls during the build between Luke Harper and Harper – just the idea of Sandow now living as if he were Luke Harper drives Luke to distraction. 

Reigns promised after Mania to destroy Direct to Video, he took Orton apart at Summer Slam and now the Miz is next.  Miz taunts and runs, ducks and hides during the build – Reigns, largely silently, just keeps moving forward.

Usos and the Rhodes are both making babyface returns at Survivor Series – we get highlight packages for both (Usos are exciting and young, still trying to become champs; Rhodes are finally back together, their father has passed away, and this is one last chance for the family name to earn some gold).  Pure babyfaces both – both teams stay away from TV except for the taped pieces until the end when they appear to shake hands in mid ring. 

That’s the show.

Over on Dark Ride, there’s a Samoa Joe/James Storm program that we talked about at Summer Slam that ends with Joe destroying him.  The Jack Swagger led American Alpha feuds with Jamie Noble’s duo Gargano/Ciampa.  There’s Crews, the Revival, there’s Asuka and Bayley, all on Dark Ride Wrestling, Wednesday’s nights on the WWF Network. Flair makes an appearance on Dark Ride with Arn, he calls out Joe - Flair's deferential, he knows Joe isn't ready to hear him right now - but Flair knows that he once looked Joe and his friend in the eye, shook their hands, and passed down the leadership of the greatest name in the history of wrestling - the Four Horsemen.

(if you followed TNA, you know this, there was a robust Horsemen group led by Bobby Roode and Joe, that's the friend that Flair refers to)

Flair says he saw what happened to Storm, but Storm isn't the same as this other guy - and all Flair wants to say to Joe is he knows that one day he'll be at home on his couch and the group running WWF won't be GDI or Underground or Paul Heyman Guys - it'll be the Four Horsemen.

Joe tells the old men to get out of his ring before he leaves them laying.

That’s your show.  Steen defending against Nemeth, the Pac/Kalisto rematch, Charlotte Flair challenging for the Women’s Title in Atlanta.  Call your cable company! 

WWF Title: Kevin Steen (w/Claudio) v. Nick Nemeth
IC Title: Bray Wyatt v. Dean Ambrose
Tags: Sheamus/Barrett v. New Day (Langston/Kingston w/Woods)
Pac v. Kalisto
Women’s Title: Paige v. Charlotte Flair
Luke Harper v. Dos Caras, Jr. (w/GHB)
Roman Reigns Uso v. Miz
Usos v. Rhodes Brothers

Every Counterfactual World Heavyweight Title Change

Thursday, September 01, 2016

At Summer Slam, Kevin Steen defeated Brock Lesnar to become the 54th WWF Heavyweight Champion.  Here is every Counterfactual world title switch (WWF, NWA, ECW, TNA).  Everything prior (or in TNA’s case, following) this list is the same as the real world.



WWF War to Settle the Score (’85) Ricky Steamboat d. Hulk Hogan

WWF Wrestlemania II (’86) Dynamite Kid d. Ricky Steamboat

WWF Wrestlemania III (’87) Ricky Steamboat (2) d. Dynamite Kid
NWA Starrcade (’87) Steve Williams d. Ric Flair

WWF Wrestlemania IV (’88) Dynamite Kid (2) d. Ricky Steamboat
WWF Survivor Series (’88) Randy Savage d. Dynamite Kid
NWA Starrcade (’88) Ric Flair (4) d. Steve Williams

WWF Survivor Series 3 (’89) Curt Hennig d. Randy Savage

NWA Starrcade (’90) Sting d. Ric Flair

WWF Summer Slam 4 (’91) Davey Boy Smith d. Curt Hennig
WWF Survivor Series 5 (’91) Ric Flair d. Davey Boy Smith
NWA Starrcade (’91) Jushin Thunder Liger d. Sting

NWA Superbrawl (’92) Brian Pillman d. Jushin Liger
WWF Wrestlemania VIII (’92) Bret Hart d. Ric Flair
NWA Superbrawl (’92) Ricky Steamboat d. Brian Pillman
NWA Starrcade (’92) Vader d. Ricky Steamboat

NWA Fall Brawl (’93) Ric Flair (5) d. Vader

WWF Wrestlemania X (’94) Owen Hart d. Bret Hart
NWA Slamboree (’94) Terry Funk (2) d. Ric Flair
NWA Fall Brawl (’94) Vader (2) d. Terry Funk
WWF Survivor Series 8 (’94) Shawn Michaels d. Owen Hart

NWA Superbrawl (’95) Sting (2) d. Vader
WWF Wrestlemania XI (’95) Bret Hart (2) d. Shawn Michaels

ECW November to Remember (’96) Shane Douglas (2) d. Sabu
WWF Wrestlemania XII (’96) Shawn Michaels (2) d. Bret Hart
NWA Slamboree (’96) Chris Benoit d. Sting
WWF Survivor Series 10 (’96) Bret Hart (3) d. Shawn Michaels

ECW Barely Legal (’97) Terry Funk d. Shane Douglas
WWF Wrestlemania XIII (’97) Steve Austin d. Bret Hart
ECW Hardcore Heaven (’97) Shane Douglas (3) d. Terry Funk
NWA Slamboree (’97) Dean Malenko d. Chris Benoit
NWA November to Remember (’97) Taz d. Shane Douglas
WWF Survivor Series 11 (‘97) Owen Hart (2) d. Bret Hart/Shawn Michaels/Steve Austin
NWA Starrcade (’97) Chris Benoit (2) d. Dean Malenko

NWA Slamboree (’98) Chris Jericho d. Chris Benoit
WWF Summer Slam 11 (‘98) Cactus Jack d. Owen Hart
NWA Starrcade (’98) Eddy Guerrero d. Chris Jericho

WWF Royal Rumble 11 (‘99) Owen Hart (3) d. Cactus Jack
NWA Superbrawl (’99) Chris Benoit (3) d. Eddy Guerrero
ECW Hardcore Heaven (’99) Tajiri d. Taz
WWF Wrestlemania XV (‘99) Cactus Jack (2) d. Owen Hart
NWA Fall Brawl (’99) Shane Douglas d. Chris Benoit
ECW November to Remember (’99) Masato Tanaka d. Tajiri
NWA Starrcade (’99) Jeff Jarrett d. Shane Douglas

NWA Superbrawl (’00) Ric Flair (6) d. Jeff Jarrett
WWF Wrestlemania XVI (‘00) Chris Benoit d. Cactus Jack
ECW Hardcore Heaven (’00) Rob Van Dam d. Masato Tanaka
NWA Slamboree (’00) Shane Douglas (2) d. Ric Flair
ECW Heat Wave (’00) Jerry Lynn d. Rob Van Dam
NWA Fall Brawl (’00) Rey Mysterio d. Shane Douglas

ECW Guilty as Charged (’01) Rob Van Dam (2) d. Jerry Lynn
WWF Wrestlemania XVII (‘01) Kurt Angle d. Chris Benoit
(title vacated)

TNA Inaugural Show (’02) Low Ki d. AJ Styles

TNA #3 (’03) Paul London d. Low Ki
TNA#4 (’03) AJ Styles d. Paul London
WWF Summer Slam 16 (’03) Eddy Guerrero d. Brock Lesnar

WWF Royal Rumble 16 (’04) Kurt Angle (2) d. Eddy Guerrero
WWF Wrestlemania XX (’04) Chris Benoit (2) d. Eddy Guerrero

TNA Final Resolution (’05) Christopher Daniels d. AJ Styles
WWF Wrestlemania XXI (’05) Eddy Guerrero (2) d. Chris Benoit
TNA Slammiversary (’05) AJ Styles (2) d. Christopher Daniels
WWF Summer Slam 18 (’05) Rey Mysterio d. Eddy Guerrero
TNA Turning Point (’05) Samoa Joe d. AJ Styles

WWF Summer Slam 19 (’06) Ric Flair (2) d. Rey Mysterio
WWF Survivor Series 20 (’06) CM Punk d. Ric Flair
(title vacated)

WWF Wrestlemania XXIII (’07) Booker T d. Executioner Lashley
WWF Summer Slam 20 (’07) Rey Mysterio (2) d. Booker T

WWF Royal Rumble 20 (’08) Shelton Benjamin d. Rey Mysterio
WWF Wrestlemania XXIV (’08) CM Punk (2) d. Shelton Benjamin/Johnny Nitro
TNA Lockdown (’08) Kurt Angle d. Samoa Joe
TNA Slammiversary (’08) AJ Styles (3) d. Kurt Angle
WWF Survivor Series 22 (’08) Chris Jericho d. CM Punk

TNA Slammiversary (’09) Samoa Joe (2) d. AJ Styles
TNA Final Resolution (’09) Nigel McGuinness d. Samoa Joe

TNA Slammiversary (’10) Kurt Angle (2) d. Nigel McGuinness
WWF Summer Slam 23 (’10) Edge d. Chris Jericho
TNA Bound for Glory (’10) Alex Shelley d. Kurt Angle
TNA Final Resolution (’10) Bobby Roode d. Alex Shelley

WWF Wrestlemania XXVII (’11) CM Punk (3) d. Edge
WWF Wrestlemania XXVII (’11) Nick Nemeth d. CM Punk
TNA Lockdown (’11) Frankie Kazarian d. Bobby Roode
TNA Slammiversary (’11) Samoa Joe (3) d. Frankie Kazarian
TNA Bound for Glory (’11) AJ Styles (4) d. Samoa Joe

WWF Royal Rumble 23 (’12) Bryan Danielson d. Nick Nemeth
TNA Slammiversary (’12) Austin Aries d. AJ Styles

TNA Lockdown (’13) Jeff Hardy d. Austin Aries
WWF Wrestlemania XIX (’13) Brock Lesnar d. Bryan Danielson
WWF Summer Slam 26 (’13) Bryan Danielson (2) d. Brock Lesnar

TNA Old School (’14) Austin Aries (2) d. Jeff Hardy
WWF Wrestlemania XXX (’14) Claudio Castagnoli d. Bryan Danielson
TNA Slammiversary (’14) James Storm d. Austin Aries
TNA Bound for Glory (’14) Low Ki (2) d. James Storm

WWF Royal Rumble 26 (’15) Brock Lesnar(2) d. Claudio Castagnoli
WWF Summer Slam 28 (’15) Kevin Steen d. Brock Lesnar


Summer Slam 2015

Tuesday, August 02, 2016




Summer Slam 2015 comes to you from Brooklyn.  Which, as maybe you’ve heard, is in the house. It is the 28th Summer Slam and the 114th WWF PPV. 

(Dark Matches have always been an element of the PPVs; collections of which were staples of the 90s tape trading movements. The WWF Network now has every dark match available for viewing – here, we see the dark matches aired live as pre-show matches, although without commentary.  I don’t hate wrestling without commentary to be honest – I also care less about crowd reaction than do others, but note here that going forward, all the dark matches air live on the Network as pre-show matches, even though the PPVs themselves are still actually PPVs – you can watch them on the Network a month later.

Prince Devitt d. Jushin Thunder Liger
Samoa Joe/James Storm d. Ciampa/Gable

It’s Liger’s long promoted WWF match, he does a second match on Dark Ride the following week, putting over La Sombra.  The second match continues a program, Storm is a mystery partner supporting Joe against a combined GDI/Underground team. Joe and Storm win, meaning Dark Ride 
Wrestling becomes the permanent name of the WWF Network show previously called GVU. 

The following week, Storm and Joe beat Gargano/Jordan – that’s enough to break up the G’s and the U’s, there’s squabbling after that loss which is going to lead to a Jordan/Gable v Gargano/Ciampa program, with Swagger and Noble as their respective mouthpieces. 

Storm cuts promo postmatch saying he and Joe are together – and together they run Dark Ride Wrestling – and together they can’t be stopped – Storm holds up four fingers (Storm was part of the final configuration of the Horsemen in TNA with Joe and Roode) and then Joe wipes him out.
Storm cuts the “is that how it is, you selfish prick” promo on Joe the following week.

Joe cuts a “yeah, I am a selfish prick, yeah, that is how it is – there’s no we, there’s no stable, this isn’t an invasion – this is Samoa Joe running this place on his own” response.

They have a match on Dark Ride – Joe goes over very strong and that ends Storm’s run.)

Your announce is Joey/Regal/Christian

1.       Ka$h Kingston (w/Woods) d. Tyler Perry Presents the Prime Time Players
-Bait and switch, it’s billed as the in ring debut of Woods in a tag team called The New Day, based on Woods’ catchphrase. But Woods remains in his professorial street clothes, cutting an in ring promo that he’s too woke to lay hands on these bougie brothers.  Kingston wins from the short side of a handicap match.

2. Number One Contender Triple Threat: Charlotte Flair d. Becky Lynch/Sasha Banks
-Paige is Women’s Champion, she grabs a headset and joins commentary; all four women are in a stable, 4-Ground, managed by Ric Flair.  This is one final to a finish – two important spots, one is Flair preventing his daughter from some form of rule breaking, say she’s trying to hold the ropes during a pinfall attempt and Flair breaks it up.  Flair was very public in not being happy this match was made, saying it was an attempt to drive a fissure into the stable, and has been preaching the need for the whole group to play fair and stay intact regardless of the result.  The build for match has seen Flair emerge as the manager of the stable and gain a lot of credibility by not promoting Charlotte at all; there’s no way to read 4-Ground coming into the match except that Charlotte is fourth. 

The second spot leads to the finish; Becky is down in the ring, Sasha and Charlotte are outside – 
Charlotte is on her knees doing the beg off spot, and Ric somehow gets in the way of Sasha taking advantage, say he accidently trips over Charlotte so he can take a bump – that puts him on the ground between the two women, Charlotte takes advantage and lays Sasha out, then returns to the ring, has a finishing sequence with Becky and gets the fall. 

Paige joins them in the ring – there’s some hesitance by all the women, but Flair consoles Sasha and Becky, tells them how well they fought, largely ignores Charlotte, and all seems fine is a bit uneasy as the group leaves the ring.

And now – a very special appearance by the senior US senator from the great state of Connecticut, Linda McMahon.

Linda comes to the ring, says it’s great to finally see women’s wrestling in the WWF – says it’s great to be in Brooklyn as New York has always been home of the WWF and the place with its most loyal fans.

And after a couple of additional platitudes, Linda McMahon announces her candidacy for the Presidency of the United States.

This is several years in the making, from her populist “tax millionaires+rebuild Infrastructure” campaign to her governing as an Elizabeth Warren style liberal to her book “Tonight…In This Very Country” detailing decades of wage stagnation and upward wealth distribution.  This announcement was expected, with McMahon providing the left flank challenge to Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders chooses not to run and throws his support behind Linda in her effort to become the first woman elected President of the US.

3.Roman Reigns Uso d. Randy Orton
-Following the Usos loss to Direct to Video at Mania, the latest in a line of big match losses for the Usos, Reigns essentially snapped, saying he would spend the next year killing each member of D2V dead.  He starts here with Orton and kills him dead, Orton’s off the booking sheet for at least a year, he’s left in scraps following this match.  Reigns yells “one down, two left” postmatch. 

4. Rusev (w/GHB and Lana) d. Luke Harper (countout)
-GHB cuts promo pre-match, says that a lady socialist like Linda McMahon, who just wants to give people health care and education and internet access and clean water, can run for President is exactly why the only real American men left – are Russians.

Finish comes when Harper (Sandow) comes to ringside – that just drives Luke nuts, he has no chill when it comes to his doppelganger, he chases him up the ramp, but never catches him – because as Lana distracts the official in the way you’d expect, someone emerges from GHBs limo which is parked on the top of the ramp…

…Dos Caras Jr.

Dos Caras wipes Luke out, by the time the official recognizes that, Dos Caras is back in the car, Luke is down, and a 20 count later the match is over with Rusev’s unbeaten streak intact.  Dos Caras comes to the ring postmatch and he poses with the rest of the group.  Dos Caras has returned to WWF and joined Rusev. 

5. Kalisto d. Pac
-Both men making their PPV debut; it’s the rookie, Kalisto who gets the fall in what is played as a sizeable upset.  They shake hands postmatch; Pac is noticeably frustrated, Steen has been pressing he and Claudio all summer to get tougher (and other euphemisms for turn heel) and Pac wrestled a totally clean match against a younger high flyer and got beat.  Regal is excited at the announce, standing and applauding for the Underground win. 

6. Number One Contender: Nick Nemeth d. Claudio Castagnoli
-Same essential story as the prior match, save for Nemeth’s matching Claudio in experience.  There are currently three former WWF Champions on the roster, one is the current champion Lesnar and these are the other two.  Nemeth and Claudio have built a friendship so despite Steen’s admonishment as expressed in the prior match, Claudio goes entirely clean.  Nemeth does not; he’s a tweener, and friendship isn’t as important as getting a shot at regaining that title. Nemeth grabs the tights to get his win, offers a handshake postmatch and Claudio accepts.  Regal again celebrates, high fiving Nemeth postmatch.  Nemeth will go to Survivor Series against the Lesnar/Steen winner later.  Claudio lost two straight matches against Lesnar and now loses to his friend Nemeth - like Pac in the prior match, it's an enormously frustrating night for stablemate Claudio.

SummerSlam IC Match History:
'88...Bret keeping his title over tag partner Davey Boy, who turned on him postmatch...
'89...Rude keeping the title over stablemate Hennig...
'90...Bret keeping over Jake...
'91...Bret keeping over Steamboat...
'92...Savage keeping over Jacques...
'93...Shawn keeping over Hennig...
'94...Razor keeping over Diesel in a no DQ...
'95...the first ever Summer Slam IC switch, Shawn beating Razor in a ladder match...
'96...Vader keeping in a wild brawl over Cactus...
'97...Cactus gets DQ'd in what was supposed to be a straight match against Shamrock in the Octagon, pouring thumbtacks all over the canvas...
'98...Austin wins the Triple Crown, submitting Shamrock...
'99...the first Summer Slam IC 3 way, Waltman takes Al Snow's title, DLo is the third man in the match...
'00...the first multiple falls match, Jericho takes from Eddy in a 2 of 3 falls...
'01...the unification of the IC, NWA US, and ECW TV belts, Tajiri winning all 3, beating Austin and Lance Storm...
'02...the titles remain unified, HBK taking his 4th IC title, beating RVD...
'03...Tajiri taking the titles from Rey...
'04....Jericho doing the Lizard King gimmick takes the belt in a three way over Eddy and Paul London...
'05...vacant...
'06...Hunter keeps over Leviathan with aid of the 51% Solution...
'07...Orton keeps over Kendrick...
'08...once again just the IC belt as the others are decommissioned, MVP keeps over Jeff Hardy...
'09...Shawn beats Rey to win his 5th IC title...
'10...Johnny Nitro takes from Matt Sydal....
'11...Sheamus keeps over Christian and then sends him shoulder first into the ringpost...
'12...title not defended...
'13...two defenses to make up for the previous year...Nemeth kept the belt over Christian and then lost to Ambrose...
'14...it took twenty years, but there was another IC ladder match at SummerSlam, Nemeth beating Jericho...


7. IC: Bray Wyatt (w/Harper) d. John Cena
-We continue to see the splitting of the Wyatts; first Luke Harper, then Dustin, now Cena – he didn’t intend to turn against the Family, but this match is positioned as the counterpoint to the women’s match, and instead of staying aligned, they bust apart – Harper (Sandow) plays the old Luke Harper bodyguard role early on – but Luke charges the ring and runs him off, leaving the playing field level to tease the possibility of a switch.  But it doesn’t happen, Bray wins and then gives Cena a postmatch beating.  Nothing on the booking sheet for at least a year for Cena.

SummerSlam tag title match history...
'88...the Rougeaus, Jacques and Ray with the Anvil as their bodyguard, kept over Demolition...
'89...the Rockers took the titles in a bloody battle over the Brainbusters who broke up postmatch...
'90...Kato and Tanaka, the Orient Express, took the belts over the makeshift team of Jannetty and Rude...
'91...the Road Warriors kept over Power&Glory...
'92...Money Inc kept their belts over the Road Warriors....
'93...the Steiners kept their belts over the Headshrinkers...
'94...the big man duo Luger and Bigelow kept their titles over those same Headshrinkers...
'95...the Smoking Gunns walked in and out with their belts, over the Harris Brothers...
'96...Bart had a new partner, Marc Mero, and they took the belts from Austin and Dustin Rhodes when Austin turned on his partner...
'97...the Road Warriors became tag champs again when they beat Owen and Davey Boy...
'98...a three way, Rock and DLo taking the belts from the New Age Outlaws with the other team being Hunter and Waltman..
'99...the Hardys beat Edge and Christian by DQ when Clique stablemates Hunter and Waltman joined E&C for a Hardys beatdown...
'00...TLC2, Edge/Christian taking the belts over the Hardys and Dudleys...
'01...the unification of the tag titles with NWA and ECW, the Dudleys beating Spike/Rhyno and DDP/Kanyon...
'02...a masked team which would reveal themselves postmatch as Benoit/Guerrero took the belts from Jericho and Storm...
'03...Hunter and HBK kept the belts over Dead Men Walking...
'04...rivals turned partners RVD/Mysterio took the belts over Flair/Leviathan...
'05...young tag champs Orton and Cena kept their belts over Bradshaw and Nick Dinsmore...
'06...the Dead Men Walking configuration of Hulk Hogan and PAUL kept the belts over Booker and Conway...
'07...the Superstar and the Sidekick took the belts from the LWO...
'08...Weapons of Mass Destruction kept their belts, beating Hunter and Edge...
'09...Division One took the belts from Dead Men Walking...
'10...Young Money kept over Dead Men Walking...
'11...Empire, Wade Barrett's original team, kept the belts over Nitro and the Miz...
'12...a rematch of 2010 and it came out the same way....
'13...the Shield came into Summer Slam two years ago with the belts, beat Defiance, and left with the belts....
'14...Orton again was on the wrong side of The Shield, this time as part of Direct to Video...

8. Tags: Sheamus/Barrett d. The Shield (Black/Ambrose w/Langston)
-It ends.  2 1/3 years later, the longest of any title reign in the Mania era.

It ends the way the Hart Foundation’s long run ended 30 years before, with the third man turning on the team.  Langston pulls Black off the apron, incapacitates him with a power move, sets him up on a table and splashes through it.  It needs to be enough that Black gets stretchered post-match. 

Underground doubleteam on Ambrose after the Langston attack on the outside leads to the fall.  Ambrose runs from the ring to aid Black, who is surrounded by ringside personnel – Sheamus/Barrett and Langston celebrate in the ring – it’s Barrett’s third tag title – that celebration ends when Kingston and Woods curiously make their way down the ramp, both applauding – Woods says that this is indeed a New Day for the WWF tag team division – and then Langston attacks Sheamus and Barrett, Woods and Kingston hit the ring and they lay out the brand new tag champs as Black is being stretchered away with Ambrose, not at all paying attention to the goings on inside the ring, is in tow.  Kingston/Langston and Woods pose over Barrett and Sheamus, all three men chanting “New Day…New Day…New Day…”

The Shield are busted up; Langston is a member of the New Day, Black is on his way to the hospital, and Barrett/Sheamus are the first new tag team champions since early 2013.

SummerSlam WWF Title Match history

'88...Dynamite keeps his belt over Savage...
'89...Savage keeps the belt over Bret...
'90...a cage match, Hennig keeping over Savage, Randy uses what becomes known as the WWF fork postmatch...
'91...Hennig was still the champ a year later, but dropped here to Davey Boy...
'92...Bret kept over Davey Boy in Wembley, HBK hit an elbowdrop on Owen through the announce table...
'93...a year later, Bret was still the champ, and he walked out with the belt after beating Razor...
'94...another cage match, this time it was the champ, Owen, successfully defending against Bret...
'95...Bret had the belt again, he kept it over Hakushi...
'96...HBK was the champ and stayed the champ, beating Owen...
'97...the title got held up after an Austin/Bret draw with Michaels as guest referee...
'98...Cactus won the title in a No DQ match after setting Owen on fire...
'99...can you believe there's a match without a Hart?...it was Career vs. Career, Cactus keeping the belt over Austin...
'00..Benoit kept the title here, beating the Rock...
'01...the WWF and ECW titles were merged here when Angle kept over RVD....
'02...a year later the NWA title was added too when Angle beat Rey...
'03...the culmination of a 64 man tournament for the vacant belt, Eddy beat Brock...
'04...in a 2 out of 3 falls match in Toronto, Benoit kept over Angle...
'05...another 2 of 3 falls match, Rey taking Eddy's belt...
'06...can you believe the Nature Boy won one last title...he beat Rey with the aid of the 51% Solution...
'07...this was the year there were 3 champs, the WWF champ was Rey, who took Booker's belt...
'08...the WWF belt was the only one left standing here, it was Punk's and he kept over Matt Hardy...
'09...Jericho walked in the champ and left the champ, beating MVP...
'10...Jericho was still the champ a year later, but lost to Edge, who won the Triple Crown...
'11...Nemeth kept his title here, beating Rey...
'12...Danielson was the champ here and kept over Sheamus...
'13...a cage match, Danielson regaining the title over Brock..Punk attacked Danielson with the WWF fork postmatch...
'14...Claudio was the man a year ago, he kept the belt over Bray Wyatt...

9. WWF Championship: Kevin Steen d. Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) (Special guest referee-Ricky Steamboat)
-The 54th WWF Heavyweight Champion is Kevin Steen.

So, Brock takes everyone lightly - save Danielson, he doesn't know who anyone else is.  It really only caught up to him once, in his title win over Claudio where Castagnoli's strength was a big surprise and almost got Brock beat.  Other than that, he's had his way with the roster in this run.

Steen surprises him a little here - he's willing to brawl and willing to bail to the outside; he's a heel, so cheating isn't bug, it's a feature, and much of the match is frustrating for Lesnar, despite his physical advantages.

Steamboat is the finish.  We establish with multiple nearfalls early that Steamboat has a little hitch in his three count, it's 1-2--3, with the slight pause before the third hand drops.  He has the same hitch for every fall - except the last one, when Steen gets the fall it's 1-2-3-kickout-too late-new champ.

Steen has won, GDI has the title again - in streetclothes the injured Generico is first from the back, he and Steen hug - Claudio and Pac, both a little sheepish given earlier events, come out later and shake Steen's hand.  Like Punk, Danielson and Claudio before him - Kevin Steen has won the WWF Title for GDI.

On the other hand - Lesnar, believing he has been screwed by a fast count, freaks out.  He rips up the monitors.  He breaks a camera.  He rips up a mat on the outside.  He grabs Joey Styles over the announce table and F5s him on the floor.

Thats a full freak out moment - Heyman grabs Lesnar forcefully, screams at him to leave as personnel and security swarm the area.  Christian and Regal both drop their headsets and shout at Lesnar - Joey appears dead on the outside - it is chaos and pandemonium as Summer Slam comes to a close.

I'll ]come back in September with a list of some type, then October for the preview of Survivor Series 2015, the main event for which is Kevin Steen defending the title against Nick Nemeth.




Road to Summer Slam 2015

Friday, July 01, 2016


Summer Slam 2015 is coming in August from Brooklyn.

Let’s reset. 

RAW is real world RAW, the show that drives story. We try to avoid too many in ring promos and the away from the ring stuff is designed to either appear raw or stylized, with no backstage stuff in the manner of real world RAW.  We do some blue screen promos, some ECW style Pulp Fiction segments, a lot of highlight packages and taped pieces.  The announcers are Joey Styles, Christian, and Renee Young doing Gene Okerlund’s old job. 

Fight Night is real world Smackdown, it’s all matches and highlight packages.  If there’s a promo it’s presented as spontaneous.  RAW should feel as big as it can, Fight Night should feel small, intense, you want to hear the impact of the blows, smell the sweat, flinch from the violence.  Joey and Steve Regal are your announcers. 

GVU is NXT.  There’s a name change coming.  GVU is GDI v. Underground which I’ll explain momentarily.  It’s at Full Sail, which we call WWF University.  Scott Stanford and Corey Graves is your announce. 

There’s other Network programming.  For years there’s been a livestream of developmental, it predates the creation of the Network and continues thereon.  Just a raw feed of training and in the house where many of the developmental prospects live.  Developmental is called Underground, and a recap show, Notes From Underground, appears on the Network where the best moments from the week are in clip form, like The Soup.  They do one segment where they do clips from the rest of the programming as well.

There’s a First Take/PTI style debate show where the issues currently existing in the promotion are debated, kayfabe intact.  There’s a straight news show, like a Sportscenter, which covers the entire sport, anything going on in every promotion.  There’s a sheet show which isn’t listed as programming, it’s “off the menu” and it takes a code sent out on twitter to access it.  It’s a total shoot, we’d start off by trying to either hire Meltzer or just broadcast his podcast and failing that we’d work our way down. No holds barred. 

There are events, such as a ten week counting down of the 100 Greatest Wrestlers of all Time, there are clip shows recapping “this year in wrestling” – where we go through the pivotal events of a past year, mini documtentaries, round tables like the one Okerlund used to host, list type countdown shows - I could go on – there’s plenty of original programming is my point. Every single day of the year there should be at least one piece of original programming on the Network.  

Let’s get to the build for Summer Slam.

Here’s the card, every match is made by the newest member of the Championship Committee, Edge.

WWF Title: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Kevin Steen (Special Guest Referee-Ricky Steamboat)
Tags: The Shield (Black/Ambrose w/Langston) v. Underground (Sheamus/Barrett)
IC: Bray Wyatt (w/Harper) v. John Cena
Number One Contender: Claudio Castagnoli v. Nick Nemeth
Pac v. Kalisto
Luke Harper v. Rusev (w/GHB and Lana)
Randy Orton v. Roman Reigns-Uso
Number One Contender Triple Threat: Sasha Banks v. Becky Lynch v. Charlotte Flair (w/Ric)
New Day (Kingston/Woods) v. TPPTPTP (Young/O’Neil)

Here’s how we get there.

The driving force through the summer is factional warfare.

GDI (Steen/Generico/Claudio/Pac)
Paul Heyman Guys (Lesnar/Kenta/Devitt/La Sombra)
Underground (Nemeth/Sheamus/Barrett/Swagger)

GDI stands for God Damn Independent; it’s a nearly ten year old faction started by Punk designed to be the proxy for an ROH invasion of WWF.  Steen’s a heel, the other three are white meat babies, Claudio was WWF Champion when Steen arrived, so even though Steen assumed a leadership role he deferred to Claudio’s desire to work in his chosen manner.  Now, however, Steen increases the pressure on Pac and Claudio to toughen up – GDI is down, currently and Steen says it’s due to their being soft.  Pac and Generico both wear masks, Pac is making his PPV debut at Summer Slam.  Steen browbeats Claudio and Pac pretty intensely, using all the codes for "be heels now" that you can think of.

If GDI is down, it’s the Paul Heyman Guys who are up, Lesnar is WWF Champion, Kenta beat Danielson at Mania in what appears to be his last match.  La Sombra is new, he shows up this summer to balance out the numbers. 

Here’s how long we’ve been doing a developmental storyline – the original head trainer was Taz. 

WWF University is also known as WWFU and most commonly referred to as Underground.  Once guys move through developmental and hit the main roster they’re affiliated, however Nemeth has been on opposite sides of the babyface/heel divide from former friends Sheamus/Barrett for years and just reunited to beat down The Shield at Mania.  Nemeth /Swagger establish themselves as tweeners during the summer, Sheamus and Barrett remain complete heels. 

They all meet in multiple combinations for most of the summer, Lesnar’s used sparingly, Steen and Generico never work as a two man tag, Nemeth and Claudio built a friendship the prior summer and that carries over.  Underground gets peeled off mid build when The Shield returns.  The Shield will defend their tag titles at Summer Slam as the longest reigning champions of any type in the Wrestlemania era, when they return they kill Swagger, that results in his leaving the main roster to go down to developmental to serve as trainer for Jordan/Gable.  Kalisto takes his spot.

The culmination is War Games, which we do every few years as needed – it’s GDI v. Paul Heyman Guys, the stakes are to get to name the special guest referee for Summer Slam.

GDI goes over, Steen gets the submission on Kenta, who is severely injured in the match.  Also injured is Generico, who fought through it, avoiding elimination, saving his team. Both men go on the shelf.  

In the subsequent RAW, we get the decision – GDI picks Steamboat as guest referee.

Steamboat has been involved with GDI since its inception, first as it’s chief antagonist as he was WWF Commissioner (currently, WWF has a Championship Committee, Austin, Michaels and Edge, all past Triple Crown winners…the Triple Crown means they’ve held all 3 WWF titles…the Championship Committee is rarely seen, rarely more than once for each man a cycle, Edge just took his spot at Mania which is why his profile is higher in this build) and a feud with Punk from their mutual days in both TNA and ROH carried over to WWF.  Eventually, Punk would beat Steamboat at Mania.  Eventually, Steamboat would become the owner of GDI, but divested himself over the past year. 

Steamboat appears with everyone from both factions and Edge in the ring.  Heyman, obviously is angry given Steamboat’s GDI association – but Steamboat makes clear his unimpeachable honesty and suggests that Steen is the reason he left GDI so we can add intrigue to that element of the match. 

The overall storyline of the match is Lesnar’s an unstoppable monster, beaten only by Danielson in this run, and the Lesnar matches clearly impacted all of his opponents, and how will Steen stand up to that onslaught?

The Shield’s held the tag titles for two years+, it’s the longest reign of any titleholder in the Mania era, and they haven’t been afraid to tell you about it.  But after their win over a reunited Division One (Nemeth/Swagger) at Mania they were attacked by Sheamus/Barrett with Nemeth and Swagger, both babyfaces, joining in.

That version of The Shield was Black/Ambrose – they’re largely who works in regular tag matches with Langston as their bodyguard who also works in 6 man matches, of which there have been many in this run (a really good analogue is the Hart Foundation, which was Bret and Davey Boy with the Anvil as the third guy; there were two primaries, but they also had a lot of 6 man matches and their title reign was Freebird rules).  At Mania, however, Langston lost a singles match to Rusev, so he was not present for either the record breaking win or the post match attack.  Ambrose and Black make a couple of references to that during the build – the build is fast, they take off most of the summer, returning at the top of August to kill Swagger and kick off the program where they swear vengeance on Sheamus/Barrett. 

Barrett and Sheamus were tag rivals turned stablemates when all of the Underground members on the main roster banded together in a big angle several years ago.  Barrett’s been tag champ, Sheamus has been IC champ, both have missed lots of time recently with injuries – this is their first tag effort together, both have been on the wrong side of The Shield during this run, as has been most of the roster. That's the thing - The Shield hasn't just squeaked by, they've been the Road Warriors, they've killed errrrybody.  

The Wyatt Family was Bray, Luke Harper (who was then called Harper) Cena and Virgil (Dustin Rhodes) – over the past year we’ve seen them split off, Harper added a first name, turned face and won the IC title.  He then defended it against Virgil, who turned face and returned to his old name.  The Wyatts added a man, Harper (stay with me) who is Damian Sandow (formerly of Underground, but now under the cult like sway of Wyatt) doing all the mannerisms and wearing the clothes of Luke Harper (Bray replaced Luke, see?).  Bray, with aid of Harper, took the IC from Luke at Mania.  Edge, as mentioned, puts the card together for Summer Slam – he brings the Wyatts (at this point, Bray, Cena, Harper) to the ring and says he was a tag champ who had to struggle to get singles opportunities.  He once felt lost in a stable (Edge and Christian are members of the Clique; the Clique was once in a year long feud with Team Angle, the enforcer for which was Regal, that animates the tension among the two color announcers; additionally, Regal is the leader of Underground, he became head trainer after Taz and then Rotundo left and is credited with the creation of the performance center.  Regal is an enormous figure in WWF; he is the template for the future of the promotion. Even in his role as color announcer, Regal makes no secret of his preference for Underground) and in the spirit of pay it forward, Edge says at Summer Slam, Bray will be defending against Cena (Cena’s a former tag champ, never had a singles shot).

That serves to do what you’d expect – Cena, unlike Dustin or Harper, doesn’t jump at the chance – he’s the most loyal to Bray, Cena's defining character trait has always been loyalty, so for weeks he says he isn’t going to do it or will lay down and give the win the Bray, but Edge needles him, that maybe it’s for the best, could be that rap that Bray laid on Cena that he was, in a different world, a multi time world champion movie star, was just a bunch of nonsense and as long as Cena doesn’t try to beat Bray, he’ll never have to find out.

It gets under Cena’s skin enough that by show time, while Cena hasn’t left the Family, he’s fired up to find out, to get what might be his only singles shot.  Bray takes it well, doesn’t look to smack Cena down, says win, lose, or draw, when the night is over the IC belt stays in the Family and everything is fine. 

Other than Lesnar, who is also the current champ, there are only two former WWF Champions on the roster, Nemeth and Claudio.  Edge puts them together, winner will wrestle for the WWF Championship at Survivor Series.  Nemeth is also the most recent Triple Crown winner, he’s been a babyface for awhile, but now becomes a tweener; a year ago, he and Claudio formed a friendship as they joined to battle the Wyatts, and they were able to keep that friendship all summer despite the factional warfare and Steen increasing his pressure on Claudio to stop being a pussy. 

Pac, in a mask, makes his PPV debut (international commitments, contractual holdups, that’s the kind of thing given as reasons for guys not doing PPVs) against young Kalisto, also making his PPV debut in what is expected to be a spot fest (not a pejorative).  Steen is glad Pac’s finally put his outside obligations being him and wants to see Pac really take advantage of the kid. Really work him over,

Luke Harper, as mentioned, lost the IC at Mania – Edge puts him in a match with the undefeated powerhouse Rusev, doing the Russian gimmick with Lana, but also with GHB (Bradshaw) as a wealthy right wing benefactor. 

The Usos failed again at Mania, they’re the always a bridesmaid tag team and at Mania they lost to the Direct to Video team of Miz/HHH-M and Randy Orton.  Reigns, coming off that loss and the other big match losses which have proceeded it, vows to exterminate each of the three members of D2V and that starts here with Orton. 

Paige is Women’s Champion, she’s in a stable, 4-Ground with Sasha/Becky/Charlotte.  Ric Flair, who returned to the promotion in the build for the Sting/Undertaker Mania match, now joins the act, sort of like how in a young musical act a parent might act as a manager – that’s the role Flair assumes for 4-Ground.  They adopt a Four Horsemen shtick, expensive clothes, limousines, VIP at all the clubs – and they do a lot of gang style beatdowns of every other woman in the promotion and developmental. There’s a couple of months of 4-Ground wiping out the rest of the women’s roster and establishing their personas within the group under Flair’s direction – Sasha’s the worker, Becky’s the enforcer, Paige has the strap and Charlotte….Charlotte largely lingers in the background.  There’s wariness that, given that Flair is her father, he will favor her, but there’s been no evidence of that and everyone trusts Ole’ Naitch.

Shawn, on tape, says he asked Edge if he could put together the women’s match – and what he wants to see is a Three Way Dance to determine the number one contender.  Becky v. Sasha v. Charlotte.
Flair does the full “I’m furious Ric Flair” bit – says WWF is trying to break apart the finest faction of women’s wrestlers ever created, says his women will stay together, that 4-Ground will remain intact regardless of who comes out ahead.

And that becomes the talking point for all of them – regardless of who wins at Summer Slam and who goes on to face Paige at Survivor Series, they will all stay together no matter what. 

The last match on the card features an African-American comedy tag act that is designed as a parody of what can be the minstrelization of black acts in wrestling…and also the New Day.

A couple years ago, we put together Tyler Perry Presents The Prime Time Players, Young and O’Neill, saying that we wouldn’t be using them on cards, given their working limitations, but they’d be out there, on the programming, doing comedy that could too easily move from parody to stereotype for me to feel good about trying to write it.

I’d suggest to you that’s an excellent way to think about real world New Day.

So, they’re here – taking on New Day which is Kingston and, making his in ring debut, Woods.
Except Woods can’t actually work the show, so he won’t be working, it’s a bait and switch.  New Day is doing a black identity gimmick, Kingston changes the name of Trouble in Paradise to Intersectionality.  They’ve got t-shirts that say #blackwrestlinglivesmatter.  Woods is a professor, strictly a manager type thusfar, but he makes his in ring debut (except not) at Summer Slam. TPPPTPTP clowns their seriousness, calls Woods Dr Harry Edwards, Woods asks Young and O'Neill which one is Step and which one is Fetchit.  And that's why it's better that I'm not trying to navigate that comedy space.  

That’s the card.  Two more items.

We’ve got two dark matches on the show – the first features an appearance advertised for months, Jushin Thunder Liger will appear in a WWF ring for the first and perhaps only time, he’ll wrestle Prince Devitt. There's been history of NJPW pieces on the Network to provide context for Liger and NJPW has gotten some plugs for the AXS show and PPVs. 

And then there’s Samoa Joe.

Joe made his WWF debut running in during the Sting/Undertaker Mania match.  He killed lots of guys and left without speaking.

He now starts to show up on GVU.

Unannounced, without music, he walks out just before a random match, say Tyler Breeze against an enhancement guy – he tells the enhancement guy to beat it – he does – he takes the spot, and kills Breeze dead. 

Renee Young tries to talk to him in the aisle, he blows by like she’s not there.

A couple weeks later he does it again, say to kill Baron Corbin. 

This time when Renee tries to stop him, he stares hard as if considering if he wants to speak, but does not.

A week later he’s called out by SG Ryback, who does Joe think he is to show up in his house, that kind of thing.  He challenges Joe to meet him next week.

Joe does, Joe kills him, Joe talks.

He says he’s been dominating this sport for a dozen years.  Longest running champ in ROH and TNA history.  He’s not a G or a U.  He’s the OG. 

And every year, WWF would call with a money offer – an embarrassingly low offer.  And he’d watch GDI grow, watch guys who he beat, who he was better than, win titles – and it fueled him with a darkness that he cannot express. 

Joe didn’t come to Mania to be a Horseman, to save his brothers – Joe came to Mania because he got paid; because in 2015, WWF finally made him a decent offer – and no surprise, it came on Bryan Danielson’s last day.  They needed Joe so they paid Joe. They finally needed Joe enough to pay him.  Joe says they could have gotten him in his prime.  They could have gotten the guy who wrestled Kobashi.  Could have gotten a Wrestlemania main eventer for years. 

Instead – they got the guy who now runs GVU.  You're not gonna see him in RAW, on Fight Night, on PPV.  Not gonna see him win titles.  That's not the Joe they got.  They got the Joe who owns GVU.  
This is my ride.  And it is a dark ride.

In fact – that’s what we’re calling this place now.  Dark Ride Wrestling.  GDI can come, I’ll whip their ass.  Underground can come, I’ll whip their ass. Anyone in the world can come to Dark Ride Wrestling, as long as they understand one thing.

Joe is gonna kill you.

The next week, all of the signage has changed, all of the advertising has changed, there's new theme music, it’s Dark Ride Wrestling, which pisses off everyone.  Jamie Noble returns to an on camera role after several years away; he was last seen as part of GDI.  Noble’s with Gargano and Ciampa, making their debuts.  He says he’s a former ROH Champ, just like Joe – and unlike Joe, he actually is a GDI OG.  And the idea that Joe thinks he can walk into the WWF and change the name of this show is the height of arrogance. 

Joe enters – asks Noble to pick a guy – he picks Gargano – they have a back and forth match, and Joe goes over. 

The next week, it’s Swagger making his debut as trainer for Gable/Jordan.  His arm is in a sling to sell the Shield beat down.  He says he’s a WWF tag champion, he’s actually main evented WWF PPVs, and for Joe to come in here and change the name is the height of arrogance.

Joe enters – asks him to pick – he picks Jordan, Joe beats him.

The next time we see Joe, he’s attacked by both teams, full four man beat down and Joe’s left laid out.

A dark match at Summer Slam is set, it’s going to be Gable and Ciampa teaming up against Joe and anyone he can get to work with him – if Joe wins, the show will permanently remain Dark Ride Wrestling.  If he loses, it reverts to GVU. 

One more item – a special announcement by Senator Linda McMahon (Linda won her first Senate election and has governed as an Elizabeth Warren style economic populist), Linda’s traveled the country for a year, doing talk show appearances, going to multiple states to speak, she wrote a best selling book, and now, in August, 2015, she’s coming to Brooklyn for a special announcement.

Whatever could it be?

So, here’s your card.

WWF Title: Brock Lesnar (w/Heyman) v. Kevin Steen (Special Guest Referee-Ricky Steamboat)
Tags: The Shield (Black/Ambrose w/Langston) v. Underground (Sheamus/Barrett)
IC: Bray Wyatt (w/Harper) v. John Cena
Number One Contender: Claudio Castagnoli v. Nick Nemeth
Pac v. Kalisto
Luke Harper v. Rusev (w/GHB and Lana)
Randy Orton v. Roman Reigns-Uso
Number One Contender Triple Threat: Sasha Banks v. Becky Lynch v. Charlotte Flair (w/Ric)
New Day (Kingston/Woods) v. TPPTPTP (Young/O’Neil)

Add in the appearance by Linda and, at least for those in attendance, the two dark matches, you’ve got a pretty good event.  Coming in August – Summer Slam 2015!

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