Dot Net staffer Haydn Gleed and Dot Net reader Chris Mangalaparathy are at the WWE Raw event in London, England at 02 Arena. They are passing along the following combined report on the Raw taping for tonight’s television show. Refresh the page for their latest updates.
Lilian Garcia sang “God Save The Queen” before the taping… Michael Cole came out to boos, of course,. JBL came out to cheers and bopped Byron Saxton on the head with his hat. The crowd ate it up…
The Ambrose Asylum was setup in the ring as the Raw music played. A LOUD Byron Saxton chant went up which he acknowledged. The Raw music and video played, followed by huge pyro….
Dean Ambrose came out to a great reaction. He said there was a report of a monster in the Thames next to the o2, he said I know I didn’t even know Braun Strowman could swim. He pointed out James Cordon’s parents in the crowd. Ambrose introduced his first guest Shane McMahon, who danced on the ramp. He high-fived the fans, and climbed in the ring. The crowd cheered Shane O Mac loudly. Shane grabbed a mic and Dean said grab a seat, but there were no chairs.
Dean built up Shane and said he’s done done crazy things, but he introduced the bump from Mania on the big screen. The crowd chanted Shano to the Ole song. Dean asked what are Shane’s goals. Shane said its all about the fans, and there’s a new agenda. He mentioned a few wrestlers like AJ Styles and Sami Zayn and said its time for opportunities.
They were infuriated by Kevin Owens mic in hand. He said you can talk about this being a new era, but in his opinion this is the same crap he’s seen before – someone with a personal vendetta against him. He complained about being thrown out and claimed he was right about Sami Zayn last week and he don’t belong near the top. This brought out Sami, who said Owens can claim he is riding his coattails, but as far as he can remember he got to WWE first.
As Sami was talking, Jericho came out and heeled on the crowd. He ran down everyone in the ring except for Kevin Owens, who he said was right about Shane. Jericho said he didn’t like him back in the day, he still doesn’t like him. Shane said its all about new opportunities. Everyone started arguing until Dean stopped them.
Shane announced matches at Payback between Jericho vs. Ambrose and Owens vs. Zayn. He stepped out of the ring and all four wrestlers faced off with the babyfaces getting the better of the heels. Before they all went to the back, Shane announced that tonight’s main event would be Owens against Ambrose, and said Zayn vs. Jericho would take place immediately…
1. Chris Jericho beat Sami Zayn. After a commercial for Tapout with a lot of grunting, Zayn and Jericho were in the ring. The crowd chanted Ole. A decent match, with Jericho getting the clean win with the code breaker. About 15 minutes in length…
Backstage, AJ Styles was about to be interviewed when he was interrupted by Gallows and Anderson and they hugged. They said they appreciate AJ giving them a recommendation to WWE and it’s great to be there. They walked off together…
2. Enzo Amore and Big Cass beat The Dudley Boyz to advance to the finals of the tag tournament. Cass and Enzo made their entrance and went through their spiel which the crowd joined in. Hey diddle diddle, Enzo has got a riddle, he said there is dud in Dudley Boyz. Fun stuff. The crowd loved them. The Dudleys came out with full pyro. The Dudleys gained the initial advantage and worked over Enzo, who eventually got the hot tag to big Cass after a good five minutes. Cass cleaned house. Cass threw Enzo across the ring onto one of the Dudleys for the 1-2-3…
A graphic showed Roman Reigns, which led to boos (we’ll see if those are edited when the show airs)… An advertisement for NXT at the Download Festival was shown, and it looked awesome.
Roman’s music played and the crowd did not react positively (except for the lady sitting next to Haydn). Roman came out down the ramp and some in the crowd gave him the finger. He grabbed the mic and the crowd continued to boo loudly. He again repeated the same line about good guy, bad guy the guy, etc. He called AJ Styles phenomenal. He said this is the era of the Roman Empire and the crowd booed again.
This brought out AJ and the crowd stood on their feet. Styles is over in the UK. Huge chant of AJ Styles. He told Reigns that he thinks he is one heck of a champion. He said he has gotta admit to beat Roman he will have to have the match of his life, but having the match of his life every night is what one him championships all round the world and why WWE hired him and why he will win at Payback. The crowd chanted Yes.
Roman started talking but again the crowd chanted boring and booed and drowned him out. Styles finished by saying that he wants to be liked and be the champion and he left the ring. As AJ was walking up the ramp, Gallows and Anderson ran through the crowd and beat up Roman as AJ looked confused…
After more commercials, Dolph Ziggler made his entrance and sat on commentary. The Dre was setup next to the announcers table. Next up, Fandango made his entrance in the only place he’s over (I still don’t get it). They showed Roman walking backstage. He was asked for his thoughts, but AJ cut him off and insisted that he didn’t know that was going to happen. They went back and for… With Fandango already in the ring, Baron Corbin came out….
3. Baron Corbin beat Fandango. Corbin won with End of the Days..
Miz and his wife were shown backstage before more commercials….
The Miz made his entrance and walked to the ring. The Miz TV set was setup in the ring as we saw a Primo and Epico vignette. Marysse spoke French and told us to stand up and respect Miz. The crowd did not. The Miz welcomed us to Miz TV. He ran down Prince William and his wife and said they are hotter then them. They showed a picture of the royal baby and called him plain. He held up the Intercontinental Title and said his baby is prettier.
Miz started making out with his wife when Cesaro’s music hit and the crowd popped big. Cesaro stepped into the ring and addressed the Miz, and said the only Royal Miz would be is a royal pain in the ass. Miz called Cesaro a support actor as the crowd chanted boring. Miz spouted a monologue. It was a take on the movie Taken. Random. Miz got the what treatment. The gist was he offered Cessaro to give up his IC Title shot at Payback. There was a very funny moment with Cesaro telling him when my hand goes up your mouth goes shut. He also said in honor of Roddy Piper, I came here to chew bubblegum and kick ass, and I’m all out of bubblegum. Miz teased fighting him but chickened out.
Miz introduced Cesaro’s opponent for the night, Rusev who came out with Sheamus and Del Rio. Cessaro said Shane changed the match, and it will be The League of Nations and The Miz vs Cessaro and New Day… The U.K. Like themselves a bit of New Day…
4. Cesaro and New Day beat Sheamus, Rusev, Alberto Del Rio, and The Miz in an eight-man tag match. Xavier Woods played the trombone a lot. This was essentially the time filling match with it going roughly 15 minutes. The heels isolated Kofi Kingston and stopped the hot tag on several occasions. Eventually, Kofi got to Cessaro, who gave everyone European uppercuts. The crowd ate it up. Cessaro climbed to the top and hit a beautiful crossbody for a near fall then teased the Swing, but it was cut off. Big E hit the Big Ending on the Miz before Cesaro finished off Sheamus for the clean victory…
Backstage, Charlotte and Ric Flair were interviewed. Natalya turned up and said Ric helped Charlotte, but she still made Charlotte tap. She said she will have Bret Hart in her corner to help even the odds…
5. Natalya, Paige, Becky Lynch, and Sasha Banks beat Charlotte (w/Ric Flair), Summer Rae, Naomi, and Tamina. Natalya made an entrance as Lilian announced this will be an eight women’s match. The crowd was firmly behind the British and Irish ladies. Becky Lynch was being worked over by Summer Rae for a portion of the match. No, you didn’t read that wrong. Late in the match, Natalya had Charlotte mid-ring in the Sharpshooter and Charlotte tapped…
A shot was shown of AJ backstage with Anderson and Gallows before we saw The Usos with Shane… The Vaudevillans made their entrance followed by The Usos. This is the second semi final of the tag championships….
6. The Vaudevillains beat The Usos to advance to the tag team tournament finals. The early part of the match was dominated by the Usos. After the entrance, though, people seemed to lose interest in the Usos and used this match as the toilet break. In somewhat of a surprise, The Vaudevillains won to setup an NXTerrific final between The Vaudevillains and Enzo and Big Cass…
A video from earlier in the day of Apollo Crews backstage. The Outcasts said that Apollo is the new member of the Social Outcasts, which Apollo was not cool with. He said he will join the Outcasts… if one of them can beat him tonight, otherwise they have to leave him alone forever….
7. Apollo Crews beat Heath Slater (w/Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas). Crews entered to a decent reaction. Apollo completely dominated the match until Slater threw him shoulder first into the ring post. The crowd are started to flag a bit (insert three hours is too long rant here). Apollo made his comeback and went through his move set. He hit a beautiful moonsault off the ropes into Curtis Axel and Bo Dallas. He hit the spinning power bomb for the three count…
As Apollo Crews was making his way back up the ramp, Kevin Owens made his entrance and they had a quick stare at each other. Kevin Owens climbed in the ring and stared at the crowd…..
After a Mania advert and a London one night only network special in September. They advertised that there were still tickets still available for Smackdown tomorrow…. Dean Ambrose made his entrance as they promoted AJ Styles on Miz TV for Smackdown…
8. Dean Ambrose beat Kevin Owens. Both men started strong and hit each other with forearms. Ambrose gained the initial advantage before the match settled down with Owens on offense. The crowd chanted Fight Owens Fight. Later in the match, Owens hit a splash from the ring apron to Ambrose on the outside. Dean barely met the count. Eventually, Ambrose came back with an ax handle to the outside. The match ended after a number of near falls, including Owens hitting a mighty looking duplex into the ring. Owens went for a big splash from the top rope, but Dean got the knees up. Ambrose hit Dirty Deeds for the 1-2-3. As Dean was celebrating in the ring, Jericho came out through the crowd and hit Ambrose with the Codebreaker. That’s where it looks like the show goes off the air…
In the dark main event, Dean Ambrose and AJ Styles beat Kevin Owens and Chris Jericho when Styles pinned Jericho.
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