Ratings:
Rey Mysterio & Sin Cara vs. Primo & Epico: **
Antonio Cesaro vs. Brodus Clay: 1/4*
Miz vs. Zack Ryder: *1/4
Ryback vs. Tensai: DUD
Eve Torres vs. Beth Phoenix: *
Santino Marella vs. Heath Slater: 3/4*
Sheamus vs. Damien Sandow: **1/4
Alberto Del Rio vs. Kofi Kingston: *1/2
Daniel Bryan & Kane vs. CM Punk & Dolph Ziggler: **3/4
________________
Reviews/Thoughts:
We're in Oklahoma City for this week's show. Cole and Ross announcing. Jim Ross Appreciation Night! Yes!
Heyman and Punk start the show, as they should. Punk heel promo talking about Cena and Foley last week. Punk says a match with Cena at HIAC still won't happen. Heyman calls for AJ's removal as GM immediately for violating terms of Board of Directors. Heyman nominates himself as new GM. Vickie and Ziggler come out to have their says. Ziggler suggests co-GMs Vickie and Heyman. AJ comes out and says Board placed her on probation and now has a coach. DANIEL BRYAN AND KANE TIME! YES! Dueling words with everyone! AJ makes a tag match with the four tonight. Sounds about right. Only took 20 minutes to do all that.
Mysterio & Sin Cara vs. Primo/Epico in a first-round tag team tournament match. Primetime Players scouting both teams (if they win their match Friday, they face the winner of this match). Fun lucha-style match here. Ross mixes Cara and Mysterio up (Rey now wears a tight-fitting shirt, Cara doesn't). Fast pace, awesome chemistry. Not too many huge moves in this short match, but virtually no downtime, either.
Brodus and Cesaro in singles action. "Appreciation" is Cesaro's word of the day to say in five languages. Cesaro with raw power to get Brodus with the Neutralizer and the win. I'll give a little quarter-star just for that. Real impressive.
AJ's executive coach has a long night. AJ and Kaitlyn backstage. AJ's sorry about all that stuff with Kaitlyn -- but she's really not.
Miz and Ryder next. Apparently Larry King is the social media ambassador tonight. Um, sure. Pretty standard match here with the signature moves hit. Miz with a buckle bomb and Skull-Crushing Finale for three.
We have a World Title debate with Sheamus and Big Show. Booker is the moderator. Show short and sweet with his speech. I agree that this is stupid. The questions used could be way better. Sheamus with the continual 45-second ribs on Show. Sheamus with a Tout using a Rey Mysterio mask. Good grief. Show ready to fight, Sheamus ready to fight. Show backs away. Yeah, I thought this segment sucked.
Ryback and Tensai, two big dudes here. Ryback wants to use that Shellshock but he and Tensai botch it twice. Finish changed to big lariat. Ryback keeps saying "stupid!" to Tensai like Orton did to Kofi a few years back. Well, if Tensai wasn't buried before, he may be now.
I like this team Rhodes Scholars. Cody and Sandow should be pretty damn good together.
Time for Divas action. Eve taped promo to praise the divas division. I did love that Beth/Natalya match on Smackdown, easily the best in a very long time. Beth looking for revenge after this whole suspension thing from Eve on Smackdown. Olive branch from Eve...sorta accepted. Beth's left shoulder into the post so Eve attacks that. As a note, that Brad Maddox guy is the ref again. Good physicality outside the ring, but thought the finish was a letdown...way too basic. Eve can just get her finisher in like that and get three? Boo.
Congrats to JBL on reaching the top of Mount Kilimanjaro. Huge feat. Sounds like he'll be back on color commentary next week. Love it. Please, more JBL!
Santino faces Slater next. Trying to get this new stable over between Slater, Jinder, and McIntyre. Tried to get some comedic stuff in, but nope, just looked stupid. Santino failed on the kip-up that the likes of HBK and Rock really popularized in WWE. Santino with a comeback. Cobra strikes, then Jinder and Drew storm the ring for the DQ. Sounds about right. Again, the whole point was to get this new group over. Ross wondering if Slater's the lead vocalist for the band, great lines again from JR. Drew's still the Chosen One, Jinder's the Maharajah, and Slater's the One Man Band, Baby!
Sheamus meets Sandow. Cody on commentary. Sandow likes to run away. Cody helps get Sandow the upper hand. Again, a deliberate pace to this one. Sandow shows an array of moves to wear Sheamus down. Once the champ got on offense, a bunch of near falls ensued. So impressive that Sheamus can skin the cat several minutes into the match. Sheamus catches Cody and tosses him in the ring. Nice double Brogue Kick for the win.
Cole in the ring for Jim Ross Appreciation Night. JR comes down the stage for his one. Punk interrupts the whole thing. Kudos to JR for keeping the term "jackass" alive and well. I LOVE Punk's use of "3:16" here, no longer for Austin, but for Punk's lengthy title reign. Punk with great stuff for heel heat, nice jab with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Ryback out to protect JR. Another staredown for Punk and Ryback, and Punk backs off again. Crowd really behind Ryback now. Vince really going with a full push now.
From what I read, they had the real appreciation night stuff after the show went off the air.
Del Rio and Kofi in singles action. Ricardo on commentary speaking more English these days. How do you say "boomdrop" in Spanish? "Ouch." Yup. ADR gets the cross armbreaker and the submission win.
AJ kicks the executive coach out of the arena, then becomes special guest ref for the main event tag match. It's "Days of our WWE Lives" here with AJ in the mix. NO lock on Punk. Looks like Heyman extends the rope just a bit for Punk to latch his foot on the rope. Heyman gets ejected, then Vickie. Ziggler exits, much like Punk did last time. Punk eats a chokeslam and Team Hell No wins.
Watch Punk cry foul on AJ again next week. But hey, I wouldn't mind Punk vs. Ziggler just for kicks.
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