The Road to Royal Rumble 2022

Survivor Series

(Author's note - each December, I mark the anniversary of the Counterfactual with a note of thanks (thanks) and a discussion of the future.  Now that Vince is gone, I think I've got booking tenure, as this is my 17th anniversary here, and I've come to a decision.  

There's a confluence of events in 2025 which make it the obvious time to wrap.  

3 years from now is the 20th anniversary.  

A few months prior, Summer Slam with be WWF 150, my 150th PPV.  And just prior to that - Wrestlemania 40.  

That feels pretty conclusive, right?  Unless I'm going another decade to try to get to 50 Manias, this seems like an obvious end point.  

And so it is -- my current plan is Summer Slam as the last event, then do a wrap up post each month until December to say goodbye.  It could be I go to Survivor Series, the rationale being that Summer Slam is very often a limited roster, and I see a scenario where I want to do Mania my own way, and then it takes me both Summer Slam and Survivor Series to put the period at the end of the story.  

So - that's it, there's still some time here, another 3 Manias to go - but that feels strongly to me like the right answer)

Royal Rumble 2022 is coming to you from St Louis.

It's a 12 match card.

1. WWF Title: Sami Zayn v. Kevin Steen

2. IC: Shinsuke Nakamura v. Tyler Black (Special Guest Referee - Prince Devitt)

3. Tag Title: Holy Roman Empire (Roman Reigns/Chad Gable) v. New Day (Kingston/Langston) - if New Day loses, they must break up forever.  

4. Women's Title: Rhea Ripley v. Sasha Banks v. Bianca Belair

5. Brock Lesnar v. Matt Riddle (w/HBK)

6. AJ Styles v. Ricochet

7. Shayna Baszler v. Ronda Rousey (w/Heyman and Walter)

8. The Legendary Rey Mysterio v. Edge, The God of Carnage: Winner gets Spot at Legends Match at WM38.

9. Holy Roman Empire: (Lashley/McIntyre) v. Sheamus/Nick Nemeth

10. Bobby Roode v. Dominic Mysterio

11. 5 Minute Challenge: Fight Forever (Lynch/Flair) v. Mickie James/Natty Neidhart.

12. Defiance (Orton/Priest w/Crews) v. Street Profits

1. Zayn won the WWF Title at Survivor Series, that also nets him the Triple Crown, the coronation comes the following night at RAW when he receives the Triple Crown Cup in the traditional ceremony.  There's an edge to the proceedings, although Zayn is a babyface, none of the other babyfaces are thrilled.  Michaels, as a past Triple Crown winner, is at the ceremony, and he took a Steen superkick last night and perhaps holds a grudge at Zayn, who benefited.  Gargano and Ciampa are there, both because they were once in the GDI stable with Zayn, and to deliver the Triple Crown Cup on behalf of its last recipient, the now departed Claudio.  Steen sent Claudio packing last night in a loser leaves town - and when later that night he aided Zayn in winning the title, you could hardly blame them for thinking their might be some level of collusion. 

Not unhappy at all - Steen, he is last to arrive, he is wearing a suit, it's a formal event after all - all eyes are on him as he approaches Zayn -- and extends his hand.  Zayn doesn't accept - looking Steen dead in the face to tell him "I didn't need you last night."

And as he did last night - Steen shrugs his shoulders and exits.  

Over the course of the build - the whispers "if Steen doesn't interfere, Zayn doesn't win...maybe they were in on it together" clearly eat away at Zayn - the red hair starts to grow out for the first time in the run, he's not playing paranoia for laughs - he is the babyface WWF Champion, he draws the houses, top of the call sheet - but week by week, you can see the voices start to chip away at his psyche (he goes over Gargano and Ciampa in the build) until finally, he challenges Steen for the title match at the Rumble.

Their feud was done - Zayn beat Steen in the Cell at Mania - that's 8 months ago - but Zayn can't fully embrace the moment, Zayn accuses Steen of doing this intentionally, he knew Sami was going to win the title - he knew he couldn't stop it - so the way to undermine Zayn was to interfere - it's diabolical.

Steen shrugs his shoulders.  He doesn't feed any of this at all - but all that does is further intensify Zayn's paranoia until Zayn demands that Steen accept the title match at the Rumble.  

Thats the build -- the value of the match, besides the obvious, is their singles match at Mania was a specialty match - with all the Cell bells and whistles - and this is just going to be wrestling, so the match is sold both as rivalry/grudge match/the longtime story continues -- but also as the Zayn/Steen match for the wrestling fans - it's a wrestling fans grudge match.  

2. The Bullet Club alumni have controlled the IC title matchups since Mania, Nakamura won the four way at Survivor Series to take the belt from Styles - AJ moves out of this one - and Devitt moves to a referee slot - Nakamura and Black, who had the least strong bond in the Bullet Club worked together for much of the 4 way at Survivor Series - Devitt's a tweener (Nakamura a babyface, Black a heel) and there needed to be enough in that match at Survivor Series to establish a separate animosity from Devitt to both guys - so that as Devitt is made special guest referee here, that adds a wrinkle.  The other wrinkle - Black continues his quest - and it's a full on quest at this point - to win that Triple Crown.

The Bullet Club talk - continues here, and by the end of the build the matter of its returning to WWF is raised -- but who would be in charge?  Who?  Who?

3/9/12 - Survivor Series saw Reigns consolidate his power with the formation of the Holy Roman Empire (McIntyre/Lashley/Gable) he defeated his rivals in the 4 way and, after months/ and months/and months of Reigns beating them, telling them he was beating them, and telling them the reason why he was beating them is they were being held down by their stablemates and needed to join his team (and it's very much his team) McIntyre and Lashley took him up on it, turning on their stablemates Sheamus and Nemeth.  Gable came later - he won the elimination match to earn the tag title shot against the Usos, but his entire stable was gone, and so made a business decision, taking Reigns as his partner -- they defeated the shocked Usos as their family member and ally since entering the promotion Roman not only took their belts but directed a post match attack - that was joined by Gable as he fully turned.

Who did not take the deal was Langston - however, he didn't inform Kingston or Woods that the deal was in the offing, suggesting that he was at least considering taking the deal and leaving Woods in the dust (as opposed to leading him to safety) - that fracture in New Day is plastered over as they receive the title shot -- New Day and Usos are career long rivals and Roman turning on his own blood is taken personally by Kingston and Woods.  Usos do not appear at all post Survivor Series and New Day is here to message the betrayal by proxy. New Day demands - and gets - the title shot - but Roman says he's putting the nail in the coffin of New Day - that Langston should have jumped when he had the chance - that he did not seals his partners fates. If New Day loses - they break up forever.  

Not only that -- but Nemeth and Sheamus, who themselves were former stablemates, years before as the leaders of Underground - now team up to face their betrayors, McIntyre and Lashley.  A couple of very personal tag team matchups here at the Rumble.  Gable is essentially serving the IRL Zayn role here, there's less comedy, both because I like less comedy and because Zayn is a singular performer, but Gable as the square peg in a stable filled with round holes is the dynamic.  There's some comedy here, they'll find the right tone - IRL Reigns is the Reigns that has been used here for a couple of years, he rules this stable with an iron fist.  2 very personal, very personal tag team matches here at the Rumble - when added to Steen/Zayn and the Bullet Club continued feud - you can see the theme developing.

Unrelated to these two matches is the opening tag - Defiance and Street Profits took each other out at the elimination tag at Survivor Series - they hook up here, but with wrinkle - we're headed to St Louis, hometown of Randy Orton.  

7/4/11 Speaking of former stablemates going at it --- Ronda Rousey was last seen getting stretchered out when her stable turned against her, Rhea Ripley taking her spot in the Horsewomen.  She returned last night to destroy Duke and cost Ripley/Baszler the tag tournament final against Fight Forever (Lynch/Flair).  

In the aftermath, Baszler challenges her former friend/stablemate Rousey to meet at the Rumble - Rousey isn't present until the very end of the build - she's Lesnar, when you see her on TV it is an event and she is there to hurt someone.  Rousey's contribution to the build are vignettes, largely clips of her destroying the women's division in her first run (which she did).  The Horsewomen are now just Baszler/Ripley - but their strength in numbers history is still part of their promos.

There was an announcer shift after Survivor Series - not only was it Regal's last event as he left the promotion, it was Heyman's last event as an announcer, Nigel remains the Fight Night color man, but Wade Barrett returns after a long absence to the promotion in the RAW slot.  

Where's Heyman?

We find out in the final Rousey vignette. She's not coming the Rumble alone.  She's coming as part of a brand new alliance.  

A Dangerous Alliance.  

Into the frame step Heyman and the Dark Ride Champ, Walter.  And that's the new act.  Rousey's always framed as a big deal - a special attraction - she and Baszler were presented as longtime friends, allies, partners - like Flair and Arn level of friends - and so when Baszler turned on Rousey, stretchering her clean out of the promotion - that's a deep level of betrayal -- and the vignettes look to really hit those notes -- here are two dangerous women, violent women - meeting for the first time at the Rumble with the added wrinkle of Heyman and the Dark Ride Champ Walter now aligned with Rousey.  

Ripley, meanwhile, will be defending the Women's Title in a 3 way - Banks and Belair were tagging in the tournament at Survivor Series but had a disagreement -- they tag again early in this build and the disagreement boils over into a fight -- that fissure grows over the build so there's no concern this is a handicap match, we have a 3 way (Triple Threat Rules, so it's one fall to the finish) for the belt.  

Lynch/Flair have been unstoppable since teaming up in this run, in this build, they begin to challenge themselves by saying they not only can beat any two women in the world - they can beat any two women in the world in 5 minutes - and they began to do that, winning a series of matches very quickly.

That culminates in their being challenged by Neidhart - who says says she's bringing someone from another promotion - and a clip package supplied by Impact plays - it's Mickie James, Impact Women's Champion - the Forbidden Door is open - James coming to the Rumble to team with Neidhart in a 5 minute challenge.  

5/6 Can I interest you in some high profile singles matches?

Brock returned for a Heyman Hustle at Survivor Series, when asked who he wanted to fight, he said there was a guy around here who is supposed to be some great MMA fighter - and Lesnar is already on that corner.  Brock appears twice, once to F5 Riddle and Michaels - another to eat a Michaels superkick and get put in a submission hold by Riddle that is broken up by officials.  Michaels was on the business end of F5s 20 years prior which is part of the build.  If you think "that's a lot of physicality for Michaels, given his age - yeah, that feels right to me too, Rumble next year is San Antonio and I could see some physical angle then, but between now and then, this will be the end of that"

Styles/Ricochet is just for the workrate - all babyface matchup.  Seriously, this is a good show.  Workrate, deeply personal programs - Wrestlemania right around the corner -- this is the good stuff.

8/10 - The Mysterios are here -- we get the Triple Crown matchup - Edge and Rey - the winner heading to Mania for the Legends Match.  And young masked Dom, super green, coming back out of developmental to take on the veteran Roode.

That is a good show. Zayn and Steen, best of friends turned most bitter of enemies, with another chapter, Nakamura and Black, also former stablemates with another of their old comrades, Devitt, as the referee.  Roman Reigns puts his stamp on the Rumble - he and Gable look to make the sun go down on the New Day while former stablemates collide when McIntyre and Lashley take on Sheamus and Nemeth.

How about these matchups -- Styles v. Ricochet, Edge v. Rey, Brock v. Riddle?

The return of Rousey, Ripley defending against both Belair and Banks.  Randy Orton in St Louis - the Impact Women's Champ comes to the Rumble - It Is Going to Be a Happening!  Coming live in January

2021 Survivor Series

The build

Survivor Series 2021 comes to you from Brooklyn.  

It is the 35th Survivor Series, the 139th WWF PPV.

The announcers are Scott Stanford (6th) Steve Regal (26th, it is the end of his WWF run) Nigel McGuinness (13th)

(Dark - Roderick Strong d. Akira Tozawa, Ciampa d. Dragunov, Dark Ride Title: Walter d. Gargano)

The show opens with a piece of great NYC sports moments, say Desus&Mero (RIP) do the VO.  

So - there's Babe Ruth and DiMaggio and Mantle and Jackie Robinson and Willie Mays and Namath and Willis Reed and Reggie Jackson and LT and Jeter and Rivera, for example.  And then the clips of WWF moments in NYC - so, there's Bruno and Pedro Morales at the Garden, then clips from NYC PPVs:

From WM1, Steamboat holding the belt above his head

From the first SummerSlam, Davey Boy turning on Bret

From SummerSlam '91, a chain sequence with Bret and Steamboat

From X, a high spot from the Razor/Shawn ladder match

From Survivor Series 25 years ago, in 1996, Vader and Cactus trading full on blows to the head.

From Summer Slam '98, Steve Austin getting Ken Shamrock to submit.

From Rumble, 2000, the Dudleys putting the Hollys through a table on fire

From Summer Slam '02, Brock Lesnar just destroying The Rock

From Survivor Series '02, a high spot in the Van Dam, Michaels ladder match

From XX, Benoit/Eddy/Dean hugging as the show ends and the confetti falls

Rumble 2008, Edge turning on Jericho

Survivor Series 10 years ago, Foley leading the GDI crew and the Kings of Wrestling to the ring

Summer Slam 2015, here in Brooklyn, Charlotte/Sasha/Becky going nose to nose to nose

And then the next year, Summer Slam was back in Brooklyn, Charlotte and Sasha brawling outside the ring

Summer Slam 2017, Pac having to leave the promotion after losing the Steen

Summer Slam 2018, Styles and Tyler Black taking the belts from The Revival

1. WOMENS TAG TOURNAMENT: RHEA RIPLEY/SHAYNA BASZLER (w/Duke) d. BIANCA BELAIR/SASHA BANKS

-Ripley/Baszler/Duke are the remaining Horsewomen, Ripley is the Women's Champ, having beaten Banks for the strap and then successfully defended against Belair.  They go over here; there's a miscommunication between Belair and Banks, leading to Baszler pinning Banks, Banks is clearly irritated as they exit.  Ripley and Baszler will move on to the finals later tonight.

2. FALLS COUNT ANYWHERE: ROMAN REIGNS d. McINTYRE/LASHLEY/LANGSTON

-Roman cuts his promo, tells Brooklyn to acknowledge him and then promises, "the next time I ask you to do that, more of y'all are gonna do the right thing" - all the matches tonight are elimination matches, leaning into the "Survivor" aspect of the name of the show.  These four guys have been in the same spot as each other for years - during Covid, Reigns began to take off - challenging everyone on the roster, but most specifically these 3 other guys, to get on his level. That led to the other 3 (all babyfaces, Reigns is a heel) to join together and take Reigns out in this build - and that's the expectation here, but Reigns opens up by instantly eliminating Langston, within just a few seconds - so now it's a 3 way and fairly quickly the alliance between McIntyre and Lashley breaks down -- Reigns will get the falls over both men; Roman Reigns has elminated all 3 other men in a dominant performance.  There's something evident on the face of the other 3 men postmatch - they all look at Reigns with what has to be an...what's the word...I'm sure it'll come to me.

3. WOMENS TAG TOURNAMENT: BECKY LYNCH/CHARLOTTE FLAIR d. NATTY NEIDHART/LIV MORGAN

-This is a squash; Lynch had Flair have been good friends and better enemies, they've been aligned since their mutual return as a tag act mowing through opposition - they'll meet Ripley/Baszler later tonight in the tournament finals.  

4. SURVIVOR TAG: GABLE/BENJAMIN/RICOCHET/ALEXANDER/STREET PROFITS

                                     d.

                                     ORTON/PRIEST/VIKING RAIDERS/TWISTED SUN GODS

                                     SOLE SURVIVOR: CHAD GABLE

So, we start with a 6x6 elimination match; one storyline evident the Street Profits v. Defiance - they eliminate each other, they brawl, good opportunity for a double countout elimination - the other storyline is a Benjamin injury, he needs to be helped from ringside, the babyface team goes over, with Gable and Ricochet the two survivors - and that means they turn now and square off - the winner to earn a tag title shot later tonight -- and it's Gable, pinning Ricochet and earning that shot -- he doesn't celebrate, the Benjamin injury significant enough that it's clear he will not be able to wrestle again tonight.  

5. APOLLO CREWS d. SHEAMUS/NEMETH/WOODS

-Angle alert.  

So, this match is largely about postmatch.  Woods has to be eliminated first - and after he is, he is taken from ringside by an entering Langston, Woods is a little confused, Langston is insistant, they have got to leave ringside, and so they do.  Much of the match is Sheamus and Nemeth, both babyfaces, former stablemates, really beating the hell out of each other, it doesn't really matter which one eliminates the other, lets say Sheamus gets Nemeth and then Crews quickly rolls up Sheamus to win the match.  

Crews exits pretty quickly, celebrating up the ramp -- entering are Lashley and McIntyre, stablemates of Nemeth and Sheamus.  It appears that Lashley and McIntyre are consoling them.

They're not - they turn on their stablemates and lay them both out - Lashley and McIntyre viciously destroying Nemeth and Sheamus.  Post beating a lighting change, and on the video wall the words:

Holy

Roman

Empire

....and to the ring comes Reigns - he stands between Lashley and McIntyre, the three men holding their index fingers into the air - and its clear that a new alliance has been formed

(Reigns has been selling some version of "those guys are holding you down" to Lashley/McIntyre/Langston - and tonight is the proof, Reigns beats all 3 of them - while the stablemates all lose, you can't fight city hall - except Langston did, turning down the spot, and saving his stablemate Woods from the attack).

Intermission.

Time for a Heyman Hustle - with his special guest -- Brock Lesnar.

There should be a little tension, Heyman turned on Brock to join Walter, they're still together, Walter the Dark Ride Champion - but -- detente here, Brock knows who Heyman is, they're cool - Brock doesn't want to work with him again - but they're cool.  Brock's returning to the promotion at the Rumble, who does he want to fight?  He doesn't really care now that Danielson's gone, maybe his two buddies at some point (Steen and Black, Brock doesn't know their names) but he has heard a lot of talk about some other cagefighter being the new top cagefighter and that's irritating (he means Riddle, obviously) and maybe he comes back and whips his ass (Heyman tells him that he's talking about the WWF Champion Matt Riddle, Brock appears not to have known that, which tracks).  

It's Brock, back at the Rumble, opponent TBD.

6. LOSER LEAVES TOWN: KEVIN STEEN d. CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI

This wraps up Claudio, he and Regal leave the promotion on the same night.  

This should be a war - scratching, crawling - this, is, of course, a long and layered story - Steen sent former stablemate Pac from the promotion and now sends former stablemate Claudio to the same destination.  Steen takes no joy from this one - he didn't really want this fight, he's the heel, but after oGDI busting up after betrayed by Danielson this summer, and after losing in the cell at Mania to Zayn - Steen doesn't have the appetite for the old wars - this was a war brought by the babyface Claudio and Claudio loses.  

Steen looks for a moment like he wants to console Claudio postmatch - it's a lot of years of words unsaid - but Gargano and Ciampa come to the ring - and there's not really a moment for Steen, so he exits.  Lot of emotion from Gargano here, he and Claudio have been together for a long time - Claudio has gifted the Kings of Wrestling moniker to he and Ciampa - and the 3 men watch as Claudio's career highlights play on the video wall - he says goodbye to the fans and the 3 exit. 

7. TAG TOURNAMENT FINAL: LYNCH/FLAIR d. RIPLEY/BASZLER (w/Duke)

-Angle alert.  

The match ends when a masked person, wholly covered (ideally, they could have slid into the front row pre-match without a lot of crowd attention) reaches across the retaining barrier and yanks Duke over.  The person waylays Duke - just stiffs her to death (Duke's done, this is her farewell) Ripley is on the apron while Baszler is in the ring - eventually, Ripley and the referee become aware of what is happening - Ripley hopping from the apron and the referee distracted - this allows for a Flair/Lynch doubleteam on Baszler - the referee's attention is regained - and either Lynch or Flair, it doesn't really matter, gets the fall --- meanwhile, security has swarmed over the person attacking Duke, pulling them away - Duke writhing in tremendous pain - the mask is pulled off to reveal.....

Ronda Rousey.  

...Rousey was a heel in her first stint, leader of the Horsewomen, but when she lost her WM match to Asuka, the next night she was booted from the group, replaced by Ripley, doing a stretcherjob.  

It would appear she is back.  And she seems mad at her former friends.

3 title matches left.  Fun show.  

8. IC: SHINSUKE NAKAMURA d. STYLES/DEVITT/BLACK

-The 78th IC Champion is Shinsuke Nakamura.  It is his 2nd IC Title.

All about the Bullet Club, we see all sorts of Bullet Club spots from around the world, all 4 are in the match almost the entire way, when the eliminations come, they come quickly - Nakamura and Black, always rivals, team up and eliminate Devitt - then eliminate Styles - and then Nakamura takes out Black, keeping him from the Triple Crown - to win the title.  

9. TAG TITLES: ROMAN REIGNS/CHAD GABLE (w/ McIntyre/Lashley) d. USOS

-The 114th WWF Tag Champs is the Holy Roman Empire, represented by Reigns and Gable.

Reigns and Gable?

So - Gable had the shot, but had no partner - his entire stable just disappeared.  Benjamin got hurt during the match.  Then Lashley turned, clearly leaving Shoot Nation, and how he turned was by laying out Nemeth.  

And that's it - that's all of Shoot Nation.  

So, what's Gable to do?  As the announcers will explain, it appears that Reigns made Gable an offer - and that Gable has joined the Holy Roman Empire (HRE, there's a design that emphasis HE with the R standing for both Roman and Reigns) and then there are the Usos - right up until this very moment, Roman has never stood on the other side of the ring for Jimmy and Jey, they aren't just a team they are a family - and here Roman is, out of nowhere, challening for their titles.

Reigns and Gable go over - Reigns getting the fall  - and postmatch McIntyre and Lashley begin to stomp out Jimmy and Jey - Roman stops it --okay, Roman is drawing the line here, he isn't trying to stomp out his own family -- but that's not what's happening - what's happening is he's telling Gable to join them in the stomping.  Gable hesitates - Gable's always been a babyface, this wasn't a personality change tonight, this was a business decision - but part of this business is listening to Roman - and so Gable, McIntyre, Lashley stomp out Jimmy and Jey while Roman observes.

The 4 men then hit the index finger pose -- and now draped in tag gold - with Jimmy and Jey down - Roman once again takes the mic...

"Brooklyn, New York....Acknowledge Me."

Highlight package is every winner of the WWF Championship match at Survivor Series holding up the belt postmatch.

1987 - Ricky Steamboat

1988 - Randy Savage

1989 - Curt Hennig

1990 - Curt Hennig

1991 - Ric Flair

1992 - Bret Hart

1993 - Bret Hart

1994 - Shawn Michaels

1995 - Bret Hart

1996 - Bret Hart

1997 - Owen Hart

1998 - Cactus Jack

1999 - Cactus Jack

2000 - Chris Benoit

2001 - Kurt Angle

2002 - Kurt Angle

2003 - Eddy Guerrero

2005 - Rey Mysterio

2006 - CM Punk

2007 - Rey Mysterio

2008 - Chris Jericho

2009 - Chris Jericho

2010 - Edge

2011 - Nick Nemeth

2012 - Bryan Danielson

2014 - Claudio Castagnoli

2015 - Kevin Steen

2018 - Shinsuke Nakamura

2019 - Tyler Black

2020 - Ricochet

10. WWF TITLE: SAMI ZAYN d. MATT RIDDLE (w/HBK)

- The 63rd WWF Champion is Sami Zayn.  Sami Zayn has won the Triple Crown.  

We have some beats to hit.  About a third of the way through, Riddle is down outstide, Zayn looks to make a dive to take advantage, and Michaels just quietly slides his body in between, Zayn hesitates, Riddle recovers.  

Zayn being too nice a guy was part of the build - Zayn, as Generico, being too nice a guy, was the impetus for Steen's unmasking him, which unraveled that relationship.  

2/3 of the way through, a similar spot - and this time (timing is important, it needs to be quick) Michaels is superkicked cold by.....

...Kevin Steen.  Zayn stares at Steen - Steen stares at Zayn - Riddle staggers to his feet and Steen hurls him into the steel steps.  Steen shrugs his shoulders says "up to you" to Zayn and exits.  

Michaels is still down - Zayn leaps to the floor - he could check on the legend -- he could see how Riddle, attempting again to stand, is doing - or - he could do what he did - which is to attack Riddle, driving his head into the apron, just slamming it over and over and over again (this whole thing can't take more than a minute; I want the character layering for Steen and Zayn and am willing to give up a minute of the match to do it, but no more than that; it does possibly change the crowd reaction, Steen is a heel, he just attacked Shawn Michaels - Riddle is a babyface and now Zayn is just full on going after him -- but that's okay, we got the pure white meat babyface defeats the dastardly villain moment we wanted at the Cell in Mania -- this is just a little bit different, this is moving the Zayn/Steen story along)

From that point forward, Zayn is particularly aggressive, more brawling than wrestling, Zayn snarling at Riddle - Zayn into hyperdrive, Zayn gives every remaining drop he has in his body, just viciously, viciously going after Riddle --- they have the nearfall segment, and at the end - it's Zayn, with the brainbuster on the top buckle - for the 1-2-3.

The confetti comes down - a Zayn career highlight package to celebrate the Triple Crown win plays - it is Triumph here in Brooklyn at Survivor Series 2021 - Sami Zayn is WWF Heavyweight Champion of the World!

That's the show.  I'm back in a month for the 17th anniversary of the Counterfactual, the build for Rumble '22 -- and the plans (and there are plans) for how we will be wrapping this all up (in a couple years, it'll make sense).

Road to Survivor Series 2021 - Part 2

Part 1 is here

Survivor Series 2021 is November from Brooklyn.

This is really sold as a New York City show; there aren’t MSG PPVs anymore – so this is really home base for the promotion on a PPV level, it’s Sammartino, it’s Steamboat, it’s the WWF in NYC.

10 match show.  We covered 6 in Part 1.

1.       WWF Title: Matt Riddle (w/HBK) v. Sami Zayn

2.       IC: AJ Styles v. Tyler Black v. Shinsuke Nakamura v. Prince Devitt

3.       Tag Titles: Usos v. Tag Match Survivors

4.       Loser Leaves Town: Claudio Castagnoli v. Kevin Steen

5.       Falls Count Anywhere: Roman Reigns v. Drew McIntyre v. Bobby Lashley v. Langston

6.       Nick Nemeth v. Apollo Crews v. Sheamus v. Professor Woods

Here's the rest of the card:

7.       Survivors Tag Match:  Defiance (Orton/Priest)/Viking Raiders/Twisted Sun Gods

                                        v

                                        Blood Warriors International (Ricochet/Alexander)/Shoot Nation (Benjamin/Gable)/Street Profits

-The word "survive" is just used all the time in this card, bunch of 4 way matches, they're all gonna be elimination matches, and this match is a full on 6 x 6 elimination match, babyfaces v. heels, with a twist.

-Tag teams aren't eliminated together, it's a man at a time, and the last man to survive wins the tag title shot later in the evening - if there's more than one man who survives on the winning team - they immediately face each other - with the sole survivor winning that tag shot.  Orton leads the heel team, Ricochet the babyface team.  Perhaps there are team names, who knows what fun we have in this Thanksgiving Eve tradition?

8.       Womens’s Survivor Series Tag Tournament:

Rhea Ripley/Shayna Baszler v. Sasha Banks/Bianca Belair

9.       Women’s Survivor Series Tag Tournament:

Becky Lynch/Charlotte Flair v. Liv Morgan/Natty Neidhart

10.   Winners Match

-How about a tag tournament?  Lynch/Flair have established themselves as a tag act and so we're gonna build a tournament around them - Ripley's got the Women's Title, she and Baszler are 2 of the 3 Horsewomen standing - Ripley took the title from Banks and just successfully defending against Belair.

All of that - plus Walter defending the Dark Ride belt against Gargano in a dark match, a Heyman Hustle with Brock Lesnar, and it's Steve Regal's final night in the WWF.

WWF in NYC - Survivor Series 2021!  It's gonna be a happening!

Road to Survivor Series 2021, Part 1

Here's Summer Slam

Survivor Series 2021 is November from Brooklyn.

This is really sold as a New York City show; there aren’t MSG PPVs anymore – so this is really home base for the promotion on a PPV level, it’s Sammartino, it’s Steamboat, it’s the WWF in NYC.

10 match show. 

1.       WWF Title: Matt Riddle (w/HBK) v. Sami Zayn

2.       IC: AJ Styles v. Tyler Black v. Shinsuke Nakamura v. Prince Devitt

3.       Tag Titles: Usos v. Tag Match Survivors

4.       Loser Leaves Town: Claudio Castagnoli v. Kevin Steen

5.       Falls Count Anywhere: Roman Reigns v. Drew McIntyre v. Bobby Lashley v. Langston

6.       Nick Nemeth v. Apollo Crews v. Sheamus v. Professor Woods

7.       Survivors Tag Match:  Defiance (Orton/Priest)/Viking Raiders/Twisted Sun Gods

                                        v

                                        Blood Warriors International (Ricochet/Alexander)/Shoot Nation (Benjamin/Gable)/Street Profits

8.       Womens’s Survivor Series Tag Tournament:

Rhea Ripley/Shayna Baszler v. Sasha Banks/Bianca Belair

9.       Women’s Survivor Series Tag Tournament:

Becky Lynch/Charlotte Flair v. Liv Morgan/Natty Neidhart

10.   Winners Match

 

WWF Title: Matt Riddle (w/HBK) v. Sami Zayn

-I tend to like pretty heavy handed top card angles; matches are life/death, characters take wrestling very seriously; a world title match is basically the apocalypse and then we do it again in 3 months.  Riddle is not that – he’s not doing comedy, really, really not a fan of top card comedy, but because he doesn’t carry the weight of the world into the ring, he’s a real counterpoint to most WWF Champs.  Riddle’s cool, unbothered, untroubled, lacking the glass cutting intensity that is the template for my top card guys. 

Zayn’s bringing a lot of that weight of the world into this match – he went over Steen in the blowoff Cell match at Mania, gone since then, his demeanor in this face v. face matchup is it’s all been building to this – his whole career, all the “underdog El Generico” stuff – having to fight his way up the ROH card, fight his way to WWF, winning the IC and tag belts – surviving the loss of his mask, becoming a referee – climbing all the way back to beat Steen and stand on top of the Cell in the main event of Mania…..none of it matters if he doesn’t beat Riddle at Survivor Series in New York – win the WWF Title, win the Triple Crown – stand at the top of the sport. 

Riddle says cool – that’ll be good for you, probably you’ll lose, but it would be cool for you if it works out. 

Michaels is who adds the edge to Riddle’s programs – Michaels says Zayn doesn’t have enough asshole in him to win the WWF Title – he goes through a list of guys (including himself) and says you gotta be a little bit of an asshole to win this title, and Zayn’s just too nice, he’s never heard anyone say anything about El Generico other than he’s the best guy in the locker room.  The best guy in the locker room is rarely also the best wrestler in the locker room. 

So, that’s the program – no physicality between them, Riddle doesn’t get heated like that – Zayn’s heated, Steen’s argument for taking the Generico mask was Zayn had to get meaner to be the WWF Champ, he went over Steen – and here’s Michaels basically saying the same thing.  Does Zayn have it in him to take Riddle’s title?

 

2.       IC: AJ Styles v. Tyler Black v. Shinsuke Nakamura v. Prince Devitt

-Its Bullet Club time; these former stablemates, who have gone their separate ways, hook it up here for the IC belt – and that’s the program, it’s “I was the real leader” – “it’s your fault the Bullet Club broke up” “maybe one day..” – it’s variations of all the kind of talk that one might get, hints of reunions, hints of “we are never ever getting back together” – the Bullet Club talk isn’t going to stop until Wrestlemania, this is the start of a thing and not just a thing for this PPV, so we have to pace ourselves, but that is the story – the Bullet Club is a valuable legacy, a thing worth fighting over.  It's a workrate match; all four guys probably view themselves as best wrestler in the promotion - Styles and Nakamura have Triple Crowns; For Black, of course, he is still an IC short of the Triple Crown, meaning he could earn one at Survivor Series.  

 

3.       Tag Titles: Usos v. Tag Match Survivors

-Usos regained the tag belts at Summer Slam, with aid from Roman – and that’s the storyline, as they don’t have opponents yet.  Roman is at peak Roman, he is “I need to find people who can get on my level, who can even look up high enough to see my level” – and eventually, he directs that energy to the Usos.  They’re a little incredulous – they’re multi-time tag champs, but Roman says that’s because he’s always there to get them over the top – and that’s been fine in the past, they’re blood, he wants to help – but Roman’s a little busy now, times have changed, God mode and whatnot – and so the Usos are gonna need to step it up.  This is, understandably, irritating to the Usos, they make it clear they don’t want Roman near their title match.  Usos will be wrestling the two men who “survive” the 12 man tag earlier in the night, I’ll discuss that a little later. 

 

4.       Loser Leaves Town: Claudio Castagnoli v. Kevin Steen

Short version: Claudio and Steen were stabled with Generico and Pac; it blew up, Claudio and Pac on one side, Steen/Generico on the other – the feud ended with Steen beating Pac in a Loser Leaves Town.  The whole thing just seemed to take all the fight out of all 4 of them, more sad than triumphant by the time Pac walked out the door.  Lot of miles since then – including Steen/Zayn disrupting Claudio’s Triple Crown ceremony earlier in the year because they couldn’t stop fighting even for that short time.  Steen’s now alone – he’s been through another emotional breakup this year, the implosion of his stable with Black and Danielson – both he and Black are still heels, they didn’t fight – but look, the whole thing was just too much, the huge Mania losses, Danielson abandoning them in the War Games match over the summer, Danielson leaving the promotion.  There’s a lot of trauma here, Steen has been gone since that War Games match.  It’s Claudio who brings this fight – he/Gargano/Ciampa are doing their Kings of Wrestling babyface act – Steen gets programmed with Ciampa after Summer Slam, it’s a good, violent program, they both get wins – Steen goes over at the end, it leads to a Claudio save – and that leads to Claudio/Steen promos that recap their history – and Claudio just stops at some point and says no – how many years have just died in feuds with Kevin Steen – Claudio turned his back on the fans, on a singles career that made him a hugely popular WWF Champion and started calling himself Trash – all because of this poison, this toxicity that is Kevin Steen.  Claudio gets really personal – Steen destroys everything around him, it can’t be a coincidence that this last GDI blew up just like GDI blew up before – and the only thing they had in common was Steen.  Claudio says he isn’t going to spend the next year, two years, going back and forth like he did before, like Zayn just did.  One match – that’s it – Loser Leaves Town. 

 Steen doesn’t really want it – “just leave me alone, Claudio, damn” – but Claudio pushes it, and Steen says fuck it, lets go.  And so they’re gonna go; Steen's reluctance is important here - you want to see the evident wear on his face, in his gait, he should seem nearly empty - whereas Claudio is supremely motivated, supremely confident - Claudio is ready to finally, once and for all, rid the WWF of Kevin Steen.  

5.       Falls Count Anywhere: Roman Reigns v. Drew McIntyre v. Bobby Lashley v. Langston

6.       Nick Nemeth v. Apollo Crews v. Sheamus v. Professor Woods

-For years, there’s been some variation of Usos/New Day/Hooligans and more recently (like the last couple of years recently) Shoot Nation.  There’s been a separation – Reigns, McIntyre, Langston always circling each other as the representatives of their respective factions.  Those factions are programmed against in each other in multiple permutations in this build.

During Covid – Reigns found another gear – reflected in win after win – most recently back to back PPV wins over Lashley.  During that time, he’s been clear the rest of the roster isn’t at his level – he needs to see some improvement (the unasked question would be – why, why would he want better opposition – the subtext is AEW – it’s a wrestling war now, Reigns is really saying he’s the man to lead the WWF during wartime, but he needs aid, that’s subtext, but that’s the changed circumstance that might lead one to want to see WWF have more good wrestlers, were you a WWF wrestler who believes you are in a war). Reigns challenges Hooligans, challenges Shoot Nation, challenges New Day – someone, anyone, needs to get on his level. 

That eventually is too much – and McIntyre/Lashley/Langston just beat the hell out of Reigns after a promo during a RAW, that alignment is only temporary – eventually the program shakes out that we’ll have two four way matches at the PPV, the big men in one match, their smaller stablemates (plus Crews, from Defiance) in another.  Think of it as starting with Reigns v Everyone else and then everyone else getting mad at each other. 

We’re going to stop there for this month; I was going to make part 2 the best matches in SSeries history, instead, I’ll cut the build in half.  See you in October

Summer Slam 2021

The build is here

Summer Slam 34 comes to you from Las Vegas.  It is the 138^th WWF PPV.

(Dark: Nakamura d. Devitt, 

Kings of Wrestling (Claudio/Gagano/Ciampa) d. British Strong Style (Dunne/Bate/Seven), 

Dark Ride Wrestling Title: Walter d. Joe)

Cold open on Heyman w/Walter, post his dominant title defense over Samoa Joe, which does wrap up Joe’s run in WWE.  Heyman says you won’t see the best wrestler in the world later tonight, you won’t see him on Mondays, you won’t see him on Fridays, you sure as hell won’t see him in AEW (It's a wrestling war, lean into it) where you’ll see the best wrestler in the world – this man – Walter - is only on Dark Ride Wrestling, which is also, the only place you’ll see Paul Heyman.  Heyman drops the mic – Walter holds the title belt over his head – and we get the opening highlight package featuring previews of the four title matches to come tonight.

To ringside for the announcers: Scott Stanford, calling his 5^th PPV, Steve Regal, calling his 25^th, and Nigel McGuinness, calling his 12^th.

1. NO. 1 CONTENDERS MATCH: USOS (Jimmy/Jey) d. HOOLIGANS (McIntyre/Sheamus)

-Battle of two former champions; winners to go on later tonight to face Defiance for the titles, latest chapter in the long war that also includes the New Day – Hooligans, babyfaces, Usos, heels, but there’s been a lot of respect shown from both sides in the program, head nods of respect postmatch (Sheamus takes the fall).  Maybe one notes a glance by McIntyre of disappointment at his partner’s dropping the fall here, but it isn’t mentioned by commentary.  Usos will move on and face Orton and Priest later tonight. 

2. NO DQ: ROMAN REIGNS d. BOBBY LASHLEY 

-We're told that the Usos/Shoot Nation are barred from ringside.  Reigns/Lashley/Kingston/McIntyre have been grouped together for years, but since the start of the Covid era, Reigns has elevated, and he’s been clear that the rest of the roster needs to get on his level if they want to continue to sit at his table – he opens the match with his “acknowledge me” heat seeking promo – Reigns beat Lashley at Mania, so this match does a lof of outside the ring stuff – someone goes through the Spanish announce table, there’s fighting in the crowd – but again, Reigns goes over – the Usos return to the ring postmatch, the 3 posing – another big night for the Uso faction, and it’s not done yet. Nemeth/Benjamin/Gable come to ringside and aid Lashley to the back postmatch.

3. BECKY LYNCH/CHARLOTTE FLAIR d. ALEXA BLISS/NIKKI CROSS

-Becky/Charlotte/Banks/Paige were 4-Ground, they came up through the developmental ranks and really launched the modern women’s division.  They split apart, feuded in various combinations, the Flair/Lynch feud couldn’t be contained, leading to a Montreal Match at the Covid Mania where Lynch submitted to Banks and left the promotion for over a year.  Coincidentally, a Horsewomen attack of Flair the next night took her out of the promotion for over a year – upon their mutual return, Lynch and Flair have realigned, recognizing their feud had consumed their careers, their lives really, and launched a new alignment in the form of a tag team (there’s not a formal women’s tag division) this is basically a squash match, the story being how well Lynch and Flair are working  together (they’re doing an asskicking babyface thing – Flair cut her hair; think Blackpool Combat Club, they really lay some pipe to their opponents…in fact, tomorrow, they’re going to enter under the tag name Fight Forever, let’s sell some shirts, new music, new gear, Fight Forever, there was another name here first, this isn't a change, the other name was a placeholder - I've got another stablename to debut after Survivor Series -- the name I like, The Culture, which would be for a Black stable, is one I've been sitting on for a year and there's still no obvious entry point to use it) Cross takes the fall, it will lead on TV to Bliss splitting with Cross and joining Morgan.  Unclear where Lynch and Flair are going next, but it appears it will be together. 

4. TYLER BLACK d. LANGSTON

- Langston sends Kingston/Woods to the back while on the ramp, he's going this alone. The Shield was Black/Ambrose/Langston, they held the tag titles for two+ years until Langston turned on the team (a callback to the way Neidhart turned on Bret/Davey Boy decades before to end their long run) Black wound up turning on Ambrose to join the Bullet Club, and eventually run Ambrose from the promotion.  Langston would join New Day, they would eventually become babyfaces, while Black would become a shitbag heel and here we are.  For a year+ Black was aligned with Danielson/Steen in a GDI reboot, but all 3 men lost huge matches at Mania, and over the summer, Danielson turned on them in a War Games to join the rival GDI faction – Black submitted Danielson in that match, sending Danielson out of the promotion – the toll of that seems to have frayed the Steen/Black relationship, Steen has not been seen since War Games, the GDI carnage seems to have swallowed everyone whole.  Black wins the hard fought matchup, it’s definitive, the announcers selling hard that this may be the real end of the Shield rivalry, that Black stands atop the trio. 

 

Clip package: every Women’s Match at Summer Slam:

 

2014: AJ Lee getting the fall on Paige

2015: A number one contenders match, Charlotte/Becky/Sasha doing

2016: Women’s Title Match, Banks and Flair brawling around ringside, Flair taking Banks’s title

2018: Rousey stiffing the hell out of Flair inside the cage

2019: 4 corners tag match, Bayley hitting a high spot on Stratus

2020: Women’s Title Match, Banks taking Asuka’s belt – and Bayley getting the fall on Mandy

5. WOMEN'S TITLE: RHEA RIPLEY (w/Horsewomen) d. BIANCA BELAIR 

5

     -Ideally this has a big match feel – Belair’s hot, she’s beaten Baszler twice, she got the fall in the War Games match, she’s got all the babyface steam and the crowd would really want to see her go over here.  But she doesn’t – Ripley is the current killer heel champ, she took Banks’s title at Mania and she keeps it here – the other 2 Horsewomen were intimidating on the outside, getting in some stomps on Belair at a critical moment, but the finish is clean – Ripley getting the fall and keeping her belt to the disappointment of the crowd – even as hot as Belair was, it’s going to take something beyond that to take the belt from Ripley.

 

Each Tag Title Switch at Summer Slam:

 

1989: Rockers beating the Brainbusters in the cage

1990: The Orient Express taking from Rude/Jannetty

1996: Bart Gunn/Marc Mero taking from Austin/Dustin

1997: The Road Warriors taking the belts from Owen/Davey Boy

1998: Rock/DLo taking from the New Age Outlaws in a 3 way.

2000: It’s a TLC match, Edge/Christian take from the Hardys, the Dudleys and Hunter/Waltman also in that match

2002: Benoit/Guerrero, in the masks, taking from Jericho/Storm

2004: RVD/Rey taking from Flair/Batista

2007: Trevor Murdoch/Lance Cade taking from Juventud/Super Crazy

2009: Division One takes from Dead Men Walking

2015: The Langston turn – aiding Sheamus and Wade Barrett in taking from The Shield

2016: Trash taking from the Usos

2018: Bullet Club (Styles/Black) taking from The Revival

6. TAG TITLES: USOS (Jimmy/Jey) d. DEFIANCE (Orton/Priest w/Crews)

-The _113th__ tag champs in WWF history are The Usos, it’s their third title reign.  Crews gets in an interference spot early in the match – later in the match he attempts another one, Reigns comes to the ring and kills him dead, the finish is not long after – enouugh that the announcers put over Roman's crucial role in securing the title win. Reigns grabs both belts – lingers a long time in looking at them, before handing them to Jimmy and Jey and raising their arms in victory.

 

Every IC Switch in Summer Slam history

 

1995: Ladder Match, Shawn regains the title from Razor

1998: Submission Match – Austin wins the Triple Crown, submitting Shamrock

1999: Waltman taking from Snow, DLo also in that match

2000: Jericho regaining the belt from Eddy in a 2 of 3 Falls match

2001: Tajiri taking from Austin, Lance Storm in that match

2002: Shawn takes from RVD, its his 4^th IC Title. 

2003: Tajiri wins again, taking from Rey

2004: Jericho takes from Eddy again, London is also in that match

2009: Shawn’s 5th belt, still the record in 2021, he takes from Rey

2010: Johnny Nitro takes from Matt Sydal

2013: Dean Ambrose takes from Nick Nemeth

2016: Rusev takes Generico’s belt

7. IC TITLE: AJ STYLES d. REY MYSTERIO

-No switch this year – pure babyface matchup, just for workrate/historical purposes, the announce makes clear you never know when we might be seeing Rey Mysterio’s last shot at a singles title, the clip package just showed him in an IC match back in 2003 – this is 2021 – he’s fighting for the IC Title right now – but Styles is too much in the end, keeps his belt.

 

Every WWF Title Switch at Summer Slam:

 

1991: Davey Boy taking from Curt Hennig

1998 Cactus winning the triple crown, taking from Owen Hart in a match with a bunch of fire

2005 Rey winning the triple crown, taking from Eddy in a 2 of 3 falls match

2006 Ric Flair taking from Rey

2007 Rey regains, taking from Booker T

2010 Edge, who is about to challenge for the title in the main event, winning the triple crown, taking from Jericho

2013 Danielson, in a cage, regaining the belt from Brock

2015: Kevin Steen takes from Brock

2017: Samoa Joe’s last WWF match may have been in a dark match tonight – 4 years ago he won the WWF Title from AJ

8. WWF TITLE: CARNAGE MATCH: MATT RIDDLE (w/HBK) d. THE GOD OF CARNAGE EDGE

-No switch tonight – this is as wild a brawl as they can have – that’s what Edge does now, having taken the God of Carnage nickname from Wyatt at Mania and assuming some variation of the “powers” that go along with it (less IRL Fiend, more IRL Undertaker, but I see the potential for it to be silly as opposed to a value add to Edge and ideally the match layout reflects that – less “did Edge vanish” and more “Edge does the zombie sit up, how are you supposed to pin this guy”) – they use ladders, tables – whatever stuff that can be broken, let’s break – and at the end – Riddle gets the fall – keeps the belt – the show ends with Riddle and Michaels together in the ring – Michaels holding the bloody Riddle up as Riddle raises the title belt high.

 And that’s our that. 

Next month– the build to Survivor Series 2021; in October, the 20 best matches in Survivor Series history.  In November – Survivor Series 35, with the main event – Matt Riddle, defending the WWF Title against Sami Zayn.  

Road to Summer Slam 2021 -3 - The 20 Greatest Summer Slam Matches of All Time

part 2

This occurs in multiple platforms, as a clipped show on either USA or Fox, as a day of programming on Peacock with full matches shown with both original commentary and whatever new commentary/watch along commentary that makes sense.

This is a workrate list, not a list of importance, just flat a star rating ranking.

20. 2019 AJ STYLES d. PRINCE DEVITT (4.5 stars)

-Battle of the former Bullet Club stablemates; the babyface Styles went over and Devitt headed to Dark Ride Wrestling.

19. 1999 WWF TITLE: CAREER v. CAREER: CACTUS JACK d. STONE COLD STEVE AUSTIN (guest referee, HBK) (4.5 stars)

-It's their first WWF singles match; the two dominant wrestlers in the promotion, they had been circling each other for a couple of years; they won Triple Crowns on the same night - Jack kept the belt in a strong brawl.  

18. 2005 WORLDWIDE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL: KURT ANGLE d. SHAWN MICHAELS (4.5 stars)

-This is the IC/US/TV titles all in one, Angle and Michaels were the leaders of a long stable v stable feud with Angle as the heel.  Angle got this one with some aid from Shelton Benjamin.  

17. 2005 WORLDWIDE TOURNAMENT SEMIFINAL: CHRIS BENOIT d. CHRIS JERICHO (4.5 stars)

-And the next match on that 2005 Summer Slam card was the other semifinal, Benoit going over Jericho.  

16. 1989 TAG TITLES: CAGE MATCH: ROCKERS d. BRAINBUSTERS (4.5 stars)

-Arn and Tully took young Shawn and Marty to the learning tree in this bloody feud, the babyface Rockers got their revenge here, winning the tag belts, leading to the end of the Brainbusters run in WWF.

15. 1989 WWF TITLE: RANDY SAVAGE (w/Liz) d. BRET HART (4.5 stars)

-Later that same night, this all babyface match, Randy keeping the belt over Bret - the night ending with the Rockers and Randy celebrating as Bret looked on.

14. 2002 UNDISPUTED TITLE: KURT ANGLE d. REY MYSTERIO (4.5 stars)

-The match that unified all 3 major title belts, Rey was the last NWA champion, this is his debut, he comes to the promotion with that belt to face the babyface WWF champion Angle (who took ECW's belt from their last champion, Van Dam). It's as close as one could get to a real Champion v Champion matchup between NWA and WWF - Angle beats Rey and unifies the 3 World Titles.  

13. 2017 LOSER LEAVES TOWN KEVIN STEEN (w/Generico) d. NEVILLE (w/Claudio/Gargano) (4.5 stars)

- Sami Zayn, the former El Generico, defeated Kevin Steen, his longtime partner, in the Cell in the main of this year's Mania - 4 years ago, Steen ran their former stablemate Neville (the former and future Pac) out of the promotion as we saw this version of GDI explode.  

12. 1995 IC TITLE: LADDER MATCH: SHAWN MICHAELS d. RAZOR RAMON (w/Waltman and Hunter) (4.5 stars)

-Riddle and Edge are headlining Summer Slam 2021, over a quarter century ago we had a Clique intra-stable feud over the IC belt.  Michaels regained the IC belt from Ramon here, it was Shawn's 3rd IC Title and no one (other than Shawn) has ever won more.  

11. 2000 TAG TITLES: TLC2: EDGE/CHRISTIAN (w/Trish) d. HARDYS (w/Lita) and DUDLEYS (w/Stevie) (4.5 stars)

-It's Edge/Christian's first tag title, they were part of the Clique here and used aid from HHH/Waltman to win this one - two decades later, Edge is in the main event fighting for the WWF Title.

10. 1996 IC TITLE VADER (w/Hennig) d. CACTUS JACK(4.5 stars)

-The Vader/Jack feud from the NWA migrated here, Vader keeping his IC belt over Foley in a wild brawl that ended with Vader powerbombing Cactus off the ramp.

9. 1996 WWF TITLE: SHAWN MICHAELS d. OWEN HART (4.5 stars)

-Heck of a finish to Summer Slam '96, the Vader/Cactus match leading to this main event.  Shawn keeps the belt here over his longtime rival Owen.  Pillman and Austin brawled outside pre-match. Superkick.  Pinfall.  

8. 2010 BRYAN DANIELSON d. CM PUNK (4.5 stars)

-Danielson's PPV debut. Bret Hart, Ricky Steamboat, Steve Regal all part of the build to this match; Danielson devastates Punk, he is stretchered out postmatch.  

7. 1991 IC TITLE: BRET HART d. RICKY STEAMBOAT (4.75 stars)

-Speaking of Bret and Steamboat....his second run with the promotion ended in a failed attempt to take Bret's IC.  Pure babyface matchup, sharpshooter submission.

6. 2000 IC 2 of 3 FALLS CHRIS JERICHO d. EDDY GUERRERO (4.75 stars)

-Jericho/Eddy were each others biggest NWA rival and that continued when Eddy made his way to WWF, babyface Jericho took heel Guerrero's title here, taking the 2nd and 3rd falls.  

5. 1994 WWF TITLE: CAGE MATCH: OWEN HART d. BRET HART (4.75 stars)

-Owen's the babyface, he took his brother's title at WMX, he keeps it here in a match that saw the return to the promotion of Davey Boy and the Anvil.  This was an escape or pinfall cage match, Owen escaped to keep the belt.  

4. 1992 WWF TITLE: BRET HART d. DAVEY BOY SMITH (4.75 stars)

- Wembley. Bret kept his title over his former tag partner, sharpshooter submission.  Michaels elbowdrops Owen through the Spanish announce table, Savage/Flair/Hennig all involved postmatch.  

3. 2004 UNDISPUTED TITLE: 2 of 3 FALLS: CHRIS BENOIT d. KURT ANGLE (4.75 stars)

-Toronto. Babyface Benoit submits heel Angle (first submission loss for Angle) on the third fall to the delight of the Canadian crowd.  

2. 2005 UNDISPUTED TITLE: 2 of 3 FALLS: REY MYSTERIO d. EDDY GUERRERO (4.75 stars)

-All babyface match, Rey taking the title in Eddy's final match, Rey winning the Triple Crown. 

1. 2013 WWF TITLE: CAGE MATCH: BRYAN DANIELSON d. BROCK LESNAR (w/Heyman and Swagger) (5 stars)

-In the build to Summer Slam 2021, a babyface Brock Lesnar returned to the promotion after a year to destroy a heel Bryan Danielson and send him out of the WWF.  8 years prior, the roles were flipped, Danielson regaining the belt in a bloody brawl.  Postmatch, CM Punk attacked Danielson with the WWF fork and then dropped the elbow in a full nod to Randy Savage.

That's the full build.  Next month - Summer Slam 2021.  

Road to Summer Slam 2021 - 2

PART 1

Summer Slam 2021 takes place in Las Vegas.  Here’s the card.

WWF Title: Matt Riddle (w/HBK) v. The God of Carnage Edge (w/Keith Lee)

IC: AJ Styles v. Rey Mysterio

Women’s Title: Rhea Ripley (w/Horsewomen) v. Bianca Belair

Tags: Defiance (Orton/Priest w/Crews) v.

Tyler Black v. Langston (w/Crews/Woods)

No DQ: Roman Reigns v. Bobby Lashley

Becky Lynch/Charlotte Flair v. Alexa Bliss/Nikki Cross

Number 1 Contender: Usos v. Hooligans

 

RIDDLE v EDGE:

Matt Riddle won the WWF Title over Bryan Danielson at WM (Danielson then left the territory after losing in a War Games match after flipping to the Cole/Fish/O’Reilly GDI stable; all four men now gone). He’s a member of the Clique, managed by Shawn Michaels – the Clique’s a multi-decade long stable now which has been through multiple iterations.  Central to the identity of the stable is the members often face each other, sometimes brutally so, and that’s revisited here.  Edge beat The Fiend at Mania and assumed ownership of his “God of Carnage” name – and appears to have absorbed some level of supernatural power (either we go super realistic, Edge is a veteran using all his veteran tricks; or we go the other way, most of the time, we go realistic, this time, nah, he’s now the Undertaker).  Lee and Riddle came to WWF together to reboot the Clique under Michaels’ leadership. Riddle beat Lee in a showdown to see which of them would get placed in what turned into a Number One contender’s match at the Rumble – Lee went away for several months, but is back now.  Riddle winds up attacked by…we’re going to say the Viking Raiders, making their return to the promotion – they’re serving as goons for, let’s say Mustafa Ali.  With Riddle needing backup, Lee moves into that role, tag partner/bodyguard/muscle to protect the Champ. That program takes most of the summer (or more likely it leads to another similar program) – as we hit a month before Summer Slam; the number one contender is going to be revealed – and it’s Edge, he cuts slow, “rest in peace-like” promo in a face to face encounter with Riddle – the kicker being that Lee attacks Riddle from behind, leaves him laying – and Lee joins Edge – we get the full intra-Clique fight at Summer Slam.

STYLES v REY

IC is a veteran babyface matchup – both Triple Crown winners – if anything, Rey is a subtle heel here – Rey is the locker room leader, the judge of wrestlers court, the guy with the most respect in the back – and he’s aware of that.  He carries himself with that status.  Rey wears suits with his mask; so when they are doing any sort of a face to face, that’s how you should see Rey.  He’s a babyface, but he carries himself in such a way that might rub some the wrong way.  Primarily though – it’s a match with a couple of Hall of Famers fighting for a title. 

RIPLEY v BELAIR

The Horsewomen are down to 3 after losing the War Games match, Shafir now gone (or maybe it’s Duke, it doesn’t so much matter) – Ripley took the title at Mania; Belair beat Baszler twice and then got the War Games submission, so she comes into this match with a ton of steam (for the build to this match, see the War Games in part 1).  Bad ass heel champ, hot babyface challenger– they meet for the belt. 

HOOLIGANS v USOS

WINNERS v DEFIANCE

It takes two matches to settle the tag titles- Defiance won the belts at Mania, Orton/Priest will be the two members in the ring to defend the belt here (Orton gets to sweep up the pieces of Bray Wyatt over the summer before he leaves the territory to even up that score) they’ll face the winners of the opening tag match between two former champs the babyface Hooligans (McIntyre/Sheamus) and the heel Usos.

LYNCH/FLAIR v. ALEXA/NIKKI

There’s another tag match – it’s a women’s tag – Lynch and Flair returned to the promotion after a year away (see part one) both with new outlooks that were reflected in how well they worked together in that match.  It’s really their feud which resulted in the Montreal Match which ran Lynch from the promotion (until Banks, who “took” Lynch’s career in that match, brought her back) time away caused contemplation – and now they form a tag act, not about winning a belt (there are no women’s tag belts) it's about fighting, it’s about being a fighter and maybe trying to create something in the promotion (both former champs, are there new worlds to conquer?  Maybe there are, and maybe it involves tag team wrestling).  They go against the heel team of Alexa/Nikki.

BLACK v. LANGSTON

GDI goes from having two separate factions to being wiped from the promotion (maybe).

Understandably, losing the 3 top matches at Mania, then having Danielson turn, then having to fight that brutal War Games match has exhausted Black/Steen, the two men left standing (Strong is still in the promotion he’s gonna be enhancement) and its unclear what future they have – they lose a match to the New Day, Langston getting the fall on Black – and that sets up this match between former Shield stablemates; Black is on the backfoot – Langston smells blood – he looks to pick the bones of his former partner. 

REIGNS v LASHLEY

Finally (well, finally for the card, there’s a Dark Ride title match too) is a rematch from Mania, Reigns beat Lashley and now they do it again, here with a garbage stip.  Reigns has been on a monster role, really established during Covid – he challenges really the entire promotion to get on his level – there’s an AEW allusion here, Reigns intimates that maybe everyone in WWF got a little too comfortable being the only game in town – that’s okay, Reigns is here – the Big Dog is here – the Head of the Table – and he's going to force the rest of the promotion to rise to his level. 

Walter is the Dark Ride champ – Samoa Joe is the man who started Dark Ride – Joe left the broadcast team to fight with GDI in the War Games match and that transitions to Joe saying he is resuming his wrestling career and is throwing everything he has at beating Walter to regain his belt – that match will take place as a dark match at Summer Slam.

And that’s the show.

Next month, the top 20 matches in Summer Slam history.  In August – Summer Slam 2021.  

Road to Summer Slam 2021 - Part 1: War Games

Wrestlemania

Summer Slam 2021 is in Las Vegas in August; July will see a top matches in Summer Slam history countdown similar to the one done this year for Mania.  June will be the preview of the card (spoiler, the main event is Matt Riddle defending the WWF Title against fellow Clique Stablemate, the God of Carnage Edge) and this is a special War Games episode of...something, RAW or Fight Night or a standalone special on Peacock, whatever makes the most sense for business.  2 War Games matches, one Women's, one Men's.

Women's War Games: 

The Horsewomen (Ripley/Baszler/Shaffir/Duke) v. Banks/Asuka/Flair/Belair

(it won't be Asuka, she gets taken out and Banks, the team captain, can choose a mystery partner)

Stakes: Whomever submits leaves town

Men's War Games

oGDI (Danielson/Black/Steen) v. GDI (Cole/O'Reilly/Fish/Strong)

(oGDI agrees to the handicap stip)

Stakes: Losing team leaves town

Women's Match:

Ripley took the title from Banks at Mania; Flair returned from a year injury absence caused by the Horsewomen in a postmatch babyface save.  Her hair is short- she has none of the Queen Charlotte affectation, she's here to fight.  Belair and Asuka joined them; Asuka's a two time Women's Champ and was once the clear ace of the division; Belair's steaming her way through the ranks, having beaten former Champ Baszler twice on PPV.  

Asuka doesn't make it - she got taken out by a Horsewoman beating.  Full of hubris, the heel stable says if Banks can find anyone at all willing to risk their career by stepping into the War Games ring with the Horsewomen, she can be the new 4th member of her team.  

It's going to turn out to be Lynch (she'll be last woman to enter, of course) Becky lost the Montreal Match at the Covid Mania, leaving the territory, with the historical caveat being that the one person who could bring her back is the person who submitted her in the match, forcing her to leave.  This, of course, was Banks (we're storytellers, after all) and so Lynch is the mystery partner, reuniting the surviving members of 4-Ground, whose forming and separation, and battles have been the throughline of the modern women's division.  

They stand together in this match as babyfaces with the rising star Belair.  One story to tell is how well Lynch/Flair work together; their feud, their inability to stop fighting each other, was really the impetutus that led to the need for the Montreal Match - but both have been gone for more than a calendar and as we'll learn going forward, sometimes you don't know what you've got til its gone.

Each of them saves the other from a submission hold that would have ended their WWF run - which is a good way to demonstrate some trust - and at the end, it's Belair who submits Shaffir - that's going to earn her a title shot at Summer Slam; Lynch and Flair - they're going to team up in a women's tag match against Alexa/Nikki Cross, who are essentially enhancement.

Men's Match:

We say goodbye to many of our friends here.  

oGDI is gone for a few weeks after Mania; leaving all the promo time for GDI (they do a promo where they dress as oGDI, like DX as the NoD or the NWO as the Horsemen - I'm thinking Cole with a giant beard and crazy hair as Danielson, O'Reilly keeps switching t-shirts to represent Black's switching from stable to stable, and Fish and Strong both in fat suits as dueling Steens).  GDI goes hard not just at oGDI but at the entire generation of guys (save Strong) they go hard enough that it draws an irritated rebuke from Joe - Joe doesn't like any of the oGDI guys, for long established reasons - but the disparagment of the entire generation understably grates.  

oGDI gets one good unified moment upon their return so we can have a full 4 x 3 brawl - but it disintegrates in the subsequent weeks, they can't find the same page in the wake of such a terrible WM (they were all losers in the 3 top matches of the show) there's bickering, there's blame cast, whereas GDI is fully united - oGDI is entirely fractured, that's even more of a problem because the initial stakes (whomever submits leaves town) escalate to the entire losing team leaves town.  

Danielson's heelishness doesn't relent at all (Black and Owens need to soften for this build - we want to root for oGDI, when babyface announcer Joe takes their side, that's our cue to do the same) everyone is still beneath him, the only people less worthy of being in the arena than GDI are the idiot fans.  Even his own stablemates clearly are a lost cause; no one understands his delicate genius.  

Danielson is the primary driver of the escalation of the stakes - and also accepting that it will be a handicap match.  

Pre-match is a stretcher shot from the back - Strong has been taken out - looks like that's how oGDI evened up the odds.  

O'Reilly and Black start.

Then Cole.  Then Steen.

Then Fish.  Then Danielson...

Except....Danielson isn't there to fight with oGDI, he's there to fight for GDI; he attacks Steen and Black to make it 4 x 2; the announcers fill in - it wasn't oGDI that took out Strong, it was GDI that took out Strong so they could replace him with Danielson!  Danielson agreed to the handicap stip - Danielson escalated the stakes of the match - it's a set up - it's diabolical.  

Joe - at the announce - says it isn't happening like this - he tells Sanford and Heyman that he quits.  

He takes off his jacket and shirt -- and he enters the cage and fights with oGDI.

Something set up for several months is despite his being a longtime heel, Black had been in the positon to be on the short end of odds, having to face multiple men and doing so with fighting spirit - so when he's in that position again here, just fully firing up in a babyface way, the fans are primed for that - and it will be Black who submits Danielson -- meaning that he, O'Reilly, Fish and Cole will be leaving the territory.  

There's not a lot of joy here - Black/Steen/Joe stagger off separately - GDI leaves together - leaving just Danielson alone in the ring - the 3 time WWF Champion, the American Dragon Bryan Danielson will be leaving the WWF.

But not quite yet - because there's one more receipt.  

Heyman comes to the ring.  He cuts a pretty scathing promo - for years, for years - Heyman was part of a feud with Danielson based on respect; no matter what the stakes, no matter who won - it was two gladiators giving it all they had.  But Danielson gave that up at the Covid Mania - cheapened his legacy - joined up with those two jackals and ganged up against a man who collectively the 3 of them couldn't lace his boots.  

Danielson thought it was over then.  

Tonight.  Tonight it's over.

And then Lesnar's music hits.  

After over a year away, Brock Lesnar returns to the WWF - he stomps to the ring - Danielson begs off - it doesn't matter - multiple F5s and it is done.  

Dragonmania is dead.  Bryan Danielson leaves the territory and Brock Lesnar returns.

That's part 1. Back in a month

Wrestlemania 37

The Build

Wrestlemania 37 comes to you from Tampa.  It is the 137th WWF PPV.

The announcers are Scott Stanford, in his 4th PPV, Samoa Joe, broadcasting his 7th, and Paul Heyman, in his 21st WWE PPV as an announcer.  The only men to broadcast more - Gorilla (29) Cornette (23) JR (66) Taz (22) Styles (40) Regal (24).

There are four dark matches, reflecting their absence for over a year.  

Ricochet d. Shinsuke Nakamura

Gargano/Ciampa d. Dunne/Seven

Cole/O'Reilly d. Alexander/Tozawa d. Gable/Nemeth

Dark Ride Title: Walter d. Prince Devitt (Walter becomes the second 2 time Dark Ride Champion, the 14th Dark Ride title reign

The show opens in the inverse of the year prior - shots of empty arenas throughout the past year - darkness - and then cut to the sold out crowd - frenzied at the return of fans to the WWF, here at Wrestlemania 37.

We open with Jeremy Borash alone in the ring, WWF has had two primary ring announcers in the WM era, Howard Finkel and when he retired, Borash.  Borash introduces tonight's special guest - President McMahon.  

VKM comes down the ramp, the very popular 46th POTUS who led the country through the pandemic makes his return to his promotion after years away - he thanks the fans, thanks the country, says he's glad to be home - and oh, by the way, he brought a guest - see - the promotion for Mania was that President McMahon would be attending.  

It didn't say President Vince McMahon.

Enter Stephanie - Skip --- and President Linda McMahon.

Linda, one of the more beloved figures in the world, fell into a coma after her inauguration, leading to her VP, Vince, becoming President - but now - Linda's alive again - her first appearance - grown men sobbing in the stands - hugely emotional moment for the country.  Linda slowly makes her way to the ring.  Crowd chants "you still got it" - Linda eventually croaks out "Welcome to Wrestlemania" and we're underway.

That probably wraps up Linda, wraps up the whole political storyline; as I mentioned when Trump was elected, the original plan for a few years was a Vince heel turn after he became President, but "cartoonishly evil fascist billionaire" was then a little on the nose.  Life is long, it could be I'll circle back and find a way to turn Vince before one of us dies, but that's not currently on the booking sheet.

1. THE OPENING TAG: NO DQ: HOOLIGANS (McINTYRE/SHEAMUS) d. NITRO/MIZ

-Hooligans are wearing new "Kliq Killers" hockey jerseys; they go over their former partner Miz and Nitro in a spirited garbage match. Nitro's going to do some sort of program with Shelton and Harry Smith over the summer, then he's enhancement until leaving the territory.  

2. ASUKA d. NATTY NEIDHART (w/Tyson Kidd/Davey Boy Smith, Jr.)

-Natty used the knux to go over Asuka at the Rumble, turning heel - Asuka fights through attempted interference from Kidd/Smith and gets her revenge.  

3. CARNAGE LEGENDS MATCH: EDGE d. THE FIEND BRAY WYATT

-The Fiend was a creature of Covid, his matches being cinematic; that ends here, this match is in the ring, this match has to have a lot of smoke and mirrors (maybe literally, in fact, literally, let's have literal smoke and mirrors) some light changes, just a lot of nonsense, in the end Edge is going to, I dont know, set Wyatt on fire and hurl him into the abyss.  Edge now absorbs some of The Fiend's mystical powers, he's known as The God of Carnage Edge and going forward moves a lot closer to an Undertaker like supernatural figure.  Wyatt's going to put Orton over during the summer and leave the territory.

4. BIANCA BELAIR d. SHAYNA BASZLER

-Belair stays hot, beating the former women's champion Baszler, no postmatch beatdown, it's a full trumphant babyface Wrestlemania moment.

 

5. ROMAN REIGNS (w/Usos) d. BOBBY LASHLEY (w/Gable/Nemeth/Benjamin)

-End of the first half of the show - Roman cuts the first promo by a wrestler of the night as he hits the ring, does his "acknowledge me" stuff - says no one is on his level, not in the back, not in the sport, not in Tampa, not in 2021, and not in the ring tonight at Wrestlemania 37.  He goes over Lashley here; the announce is really heavily pushing Reigns as having found an entirely new gear during the pandemic, Joe particularly effusive about Reigns' future, saying we may be looking at a future WWF Champion right now.

Intermission - GDI cuts a promo - no matter what happens tonight - and they hope to see Old GDI win everything - Danielson, Black, Steen - they want to see Old GDI come out of Mania riding high -- no matter what happens they've seen their time come to an end.  This place is not big enough for the both of us - and tomorrow night - on RAW - that's going to be made clear.  

Intermission - Steve Regal comes to the ring; announces that this is his final year with WWF, thanks everyone, says as of January 1 he will be turning over Underground to the new director, who will take the development of future WWF wrestlers into the next era - his friend - Nigel McGuinness.

Nigel, making his return to WWF after being taken out in the Danielson/Dunne match comes down the ramp - shakes Regal's hand - waves to the people.  

Video Package: Each tag champion as they walked down the aisle entering WM

I-Iron Sheik/Nikolai Volkoff

II-Tito Santana/Brutus Beefcake

III-Hart Foundation (Bret/Davey w/Anvil)

IV: Rougeau Brothers

V: The Brainbusters

VI: Jake Roberts/Roddy Piper

VII: Road Warriors

VIII: Money Inc

IX: Steiner Brothers

X: Rougeaus

XI: Davey Boy Smith/Bob Backlund

XII: Steve Austin/Dustin Rhodes

XIII: Hart Foundation (Owen/Anvil)

XIV: Cactus Jack/Terry Funk

XV: Nation of Domination (Rock/DLo)

XVI: Dudley Boys

XVII: Raven/Taz

XVIII: Chris Jericho/Lance Storm

XIX: Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin

XX: Charlie Haas/Shelton Benjamin

21: Spreekillers (Helms/Rhyno)

22: Booker T/Bradshaw

23: Sandman/Tommy Dreamer

24: HBK/HHH-M

26: Division One (Nemeth/Swagger)

27: Defiance (Orton/DiBiase, Jr.)

28: Defiance (Orton/Cody)

29: Empire (Barrett/Ryback)

30: The Shield (Black/Ambrose/Langston)

31: The Shield (Black/Ambrose)

32. New Day (Langston/Kingston/Woods)

33: Steen/Generico

33: Trash (Claudio/Neville)

34: Usos 

35: Hooligans (Sheamus/McIntyre/Miz)

36: The Kliq (Edge/Nitro)

6. TAG TITLES: DEFIANCE (ORTON/CREWS/PRIEST) d. NEW DAY (LANGSTON/KINGSTON/WOODS)

The 112th WWF tag champs is Defiance, it's Randy Orton's 5th WWF Tag Title and first since 2012, that ties Orton with Tony Garea and Mr Fuji for the most WWF tag title championships in history, giving him claim as the greatest tag team wrestler of all time. Orton gets the fall on Kingston, who himself has been tag champ 4 times and that becomes the focus of this matchup - when you consider all their title reigns with multiple partners, Kingston and Orton might be at the top of tag team specialists ever.  RKO - pinfall.  

Video Package: The history of guest referees at Mania. Some are outside as opposed to actually counting falls.

I-Muhammad Ali

II-Pedro Morales

III-Pat Patterson

IV-Superstar Billy Graham

V-Dusty Rhodes

VI-Andre the Giant

VII-Andre the Giant

VIII-Lex Luger

IX: Jerry Lawler

X: Mr. Perfect

XI: Roddy Piper

XII: Jim Neidhart

XIII: Ken Shamrock

XIV: Mike Tyson

XV: Pete Rose

XVI: Bob Backlund

XVII: Hector Guerrero

XVIII: Brock Lesnar

XIX: Bill Goldberg

XX: Steve Austin

21: Dean Malenko

22: Dr Death Steve Williams

23: Steve Austin

24: Ric Flair

25: Jimmy Snuka

26: Ted DiBiase

27. Road Warrior Animal

28: Mick Foley

29: Bruno Sammartino

30: Jake Roberts

31: Dusty Rhodes

32: Edge

33: Kurt Angle

34. Rey Mysterio

35. Sami Zayn

Hunter then comes to the ring - special guest referee for the women's title match; the last time Hunter was involved as a wrestling personality he did a stretcher job for the Horsewomen, so given the Horsewomen's tendency to get involved, he's thought the right choice to maintain order.  

7. WOMEN'S TITLE: RHEA RIPLEY (w/Shaffir/Duke) d. SASHA BANKS (Special Guest Referee: HHH-M)

The 13th modern WWF Women's Champ is Ripley; Hunter turns he misses some interference, fails to notice Ripley grab the tights, and when the Horsewomen attack postmatch, he just walks away smirking.  Damn that Hunter (shakes fist).

Belair and Asuka run to the ring for the postmatch save - the babyfaces are just getting their foothold when Baszler runs down to make the Horsewomen complete - they've got  4x3 advantage until...

Charlotte Flair comes down the ramp - Flair gone for a year since a beating at the hands of the Horsewomen - she's changed her appearance - shaving off most of her long hair - it's a no nonsense angry Charlotte Flair - and she joins the babyfaces to beat back the Horsewomen.  

Video Package: Each IC Champion as their hand was raised at the conclusion of the match

I-Roddy Piper

II-Randy Savage

III-Randy Savage

IV: Bret Hart

V: Rick Rude

VI: Bret Hart

VII: Bret Hart

VIII: Randy Savage

IX: Shawn Michaels

X: Razor Ramon

XI: Razor Ramon

XII: Vader

XIII: Cactus Jack

XV: Al Snow

XVI: Eddy Guerrero

XVII: Steve Austin

XVIII: Rob Van Dam

XIX: Rey Mysterio

XX: Eddy Guerrero

21: Edge

22: Fit Finlay

22: HHH-M

23: Randy Orton

24: MVP

25: Rey Mysterio

26: Matt Sydal

27: Sheamus

28: The Rock

29: Nick Nemeth

30: Nick Nemeth

31: Bray Wyatt

32: El Generico

33: Brock Lesnar

34: Shinsuke Nakamura

35: Ricochet

36. Angel Garza

8. IC: AJ STYLES d. CLAUDIO CASTAGNOLI/TYLER BLACK

This is a Triple Threat Match, one fall to a finish - AJ pins Claudio, regaining the IC to become the 77th IC Champ in WWF history.  It's AJ's 3rd IC Title placing him just behind Michaels with 5.  Black was looking for the Triple Crown here and his frustration at losing without getting pinned is evident.  Another title switch here at Mania 37.  

Video Package: Each WWF Title match just before the bell rings....

I-Ricky Steamboat v. Barry Windham

II-Ricky Steamboat v. Dynamite Kid

III-Dynamite Kid v. Ricky Steamboat

IV: Ricky Steamboat v. Dynamite Kid

V: Randy Savage v. Bret Hart

VI: Mr Perfect v. Randy Savage

VII: Mr. Perfect v. Randy Savage

VIII: Ric Flair v. Bret Hart

IX: Bret Hart v. Razor Ramon

X: Bret Hart v. Owen Hart

XI: Bret Hart v. Shawn Michaels

XII: Bret Hart v. Shawn Michaels

XIII: Bret Hart v. Steve Austin

XIV: Shawn Michaels v. Owen Hart

XV: Owen Hart v. Cactus Jack

XVI: Cactus Jack v. Chris Benoit

XVII: Chris Benoit v. Kurt Angle

XVIII: Kurt Angle v. Mr. Perfect

XIX: Kurt Angle v. Brock Lesnar

XX: Kurt Angle v. Chris Benoit

21: Eddy Guerrero v. Chris Benoit

22: Rey Mysterio v. Chris Benoit

23: Booker T v. Executioner Bobby Lashley

24: CM Punk v. Shelton Benjamin v. Johnny Nitro

25: Chris Jericho v. Shawn Michaels

26: Chris Jericho v. Steve Regal

27: Edge v. CM Punk

27: CM Punk v. Nick Nemeth

28: Bryan Danielson v. Chris Jericho

29: Bryan Danielson v. Brock Lesnar

30: Bryan Danielson v. Claudio Castagnoli

31: Brock Lesnar v. Claudio Castagnoli

32: AJ Styles v. Kevin Steen v. Dean Ambrose v. Nick Nemeth v. Brock Lesnar v. Kalisto

33: AJ Styles v. Austin Aries

34: Shinsuke Nakamura v. Brock Lesnar

35: Shinsuke Nakamura v. AJ Styles

35: AJ Styles v. Tyler Black

36. Tyler Black v. Brock Lesnar

The primary reason the Cell match is last is so we don't have to take it down, this Mania was sold as having a double main event - and so there's an atmospheric change before the next match.

9. WWF TITLE: MATT RIDDLE (w/HBK) d. BRYAN DANIELSON

The 62nd WWF Champion is Riddle - the storyline here is a torch passing - Riddle's younger, more athletic and his shootfighting background really adds to his ability to grapple and strike with the veteran Dragon.  Each time the announcers can sell the idea that this is not the young Danielson but instead a veteran who is recognizing his own wrestling mortality, that's the story to tell.  Riddle is cool, I think is the best way to describe his character - he's not doing comedy, not doing goofy - but he's also not intense, he's able to grapple, strike, take the title belt from an inner circle Hall of Famer Danielson and feel an ease at doing it - that's a frustration for the Dragon, and as the match goes on - the frustration builds - Danielson tries every single heel trick he's cultivated for the past few years - and Riddle bats them away.  Michaels has a spot - Danielson "inadvertantly" knocks him out on a dive, the same way he ended Nigel's run with the promotion - but later in the match, when Black sprints down the ramp with the aim of interfering - he's knocked dead cold with the superkick by goold ole' HBK.  Riddle gets the pinfall and becomes WWF Champion.

Big Kliq celebration - everyone they can get returns - there's Scott, there's Kevin - etc...other than Christian/Billy, who are gone, and Edge, interestingly, they fill the ring - faces, heels, it's the full Kliq celebration for Matt Riddle - now carrying the torch for the family as WWF Champion.

Danielson has one more match - in May I will come back for a special War Games edition of Friday Night Fight Night, a show centered around two War Games matches that will wrap up...several wrestlers.

In Memorium (clips, stills of notables who have passes subsequent to last yrs WM)

Luke Harper

Road Warrior Animal

Kamala

Pat Patterson

Mr Wrestling II

Tracy Smothers

Bullet Bob Armstrong

Danny Hodge

Hana Kimura

Howard Finkel

Rollerball Rocco

Shad Gaspard

Tiny Lister

Tracy Smothers

Zavier

Barry O

The Natural Butch Reed

Jim Crockett Jr

The video packages allow for the Cell to be put up; Steen/Zayn is a long, long, long program and this is the blowoff - so there can be a sizeable video package.  

10. HELL IN A CELL: SAMI ZAYN d. KEVIN STEEN

It's just the 4th Cell match ever - Cactus/Shamrock; Jericho/Christian; Edge/Matt - those last two being the blowoffs to long, bitterly personal feuds and that's this.  It's a match literally years in the making and a can't miss for anyone invested in these two guys.  They proverbially leave it all in the ring, as many callbacks to their entire history together as is possible - three specific spots - there has to be the big bump, both guys take it - it's as big a bump as they can manage.  Three - Zayn has to get super violent, Steen's premise was El Generico didn't have enough angry, not enough mean to go to the next level - tha'ts been increasingly coming out of Zayn - and that's what will allow him to turn the tide of this match; Zayn has to be vicious in the way that Generico wasn't, giving Steen the ability to say that he was right all along.  Three- the finish will involve Zayn pulling the Generico mask from his tights, putting it on - it's El Generico who gets the pinfall to end the feud.  

Mania ends with El Generico climbing to the top of the cage - standing on top of the cage - El Generico - blooding running freely through the mask - El Generico standing on top of the world of wrestling as the show ends.  

3 part build to Summer Slam starts next month with the War Games special.