They beat Miz/Maryse, John/Nikki, and Daniel/Brie to advance in this "tournament."

Then again, it's just a Facebook poll.

But still!

Birthday Weekend Recap (9/22/16 - 9/25/16)

Thursday (9/22):

• For my actual birthday, we treated it like a regular day. Go to work and then go home.
• Earlier in the week, Vince bought 2 new dresses at EVER and a necklace at Old Navy at Town Square for me to wear for my birthday weekend.

Friday (9/23):

• Met with my Auntie Auring, Auntie Francine, Uncle Bobbit, my mom and my dad at Buffet@Asia for dinner.
• WE ARE NEVER EATING THERE AGAIN. That was suppose to be the nicest location with the better food quality over the other Buffet@Asia locations and it was just horrible. The food was blah. The food stations were poorly maintained, and they even had plastic plates and bowls out.
• My auntie Auring got the staff to surprise/embarrass me with a plate full of crappy coconut cake squares with a lit candle as the 2 waitresses sang to me. I got an envelope from my auntie with cash in it.
• After that, the clan all left for The Cannery to find a club to dance in. Vince and I went to Lowe's.

Saturday (9/24):

• We went to Vince's parent's place to drop off the truck early in the morning and it turned into home improvement day.
• Their washer was leaking so Vince had to help his dad. Then we went to Ferguson to buy shower faucet stuff, then to Floor & Deco to return stuff, then to Home Depot, and to Lowe's again. By the time we got home, it was 2:30. We had a short break to get ready before the 4 pm dinner at Gen.
• Aside from Josh, everyone was freaking late. Christine and Michael had trouble finding the place. Joel and Pam ran late (as usual), and Andrew and Joanne couldn't leave until their house viewing was done. We didn't eat til after 4:30 pm. Still, we all had fun and ate heartily for 2 hours. It's a good thing I brought cash because I covered Josh, Joel and Pam who forgot to bring cash.
• After dinner, Tanisha and her daughter Nix met up with us at our house and we had an official housewarming after dinner. We all just gathered around to talk and stuff.

Sunday (9/25):

• Went to Smith's to do some grocery shopping before heading to the Lion Habitat Ranch. I paid extra for the hand feeding for any lion.
• Awesome little side note: I was wearing my Dirty Deeds shirt and one of the staff members recognized it. He came up to us and talked to us and said that Dean Ambrose was here last year. He wasn't sure if it was him but the Tapout logo on his shorts gave it away and he took a picture with him. He said he just showed up out of the blue and no one else recognized Dean besides him. He also said he was there with his girlfriend who does Talking Smack (Renee!), and they wanted to see the cubs. He also mentioned Ryback and other local celebrities like David Copperfield and Britney Spears stopping by too. But he kept going on and on about how weird it was to see him show up out of nowhere, so it sounds like he made this guy's day :D
• I had to wait a bit for the trainer to get the food ready for the hand feeding. One of the staff members suggested picking Jesse, who's one of the male lions who makes a lot of growling sounds when he's hungry (that sounds nice). While we were waiting, one of the other lions in the cage turned around and pissed right at the crowd. One couple who actually got peed on practically shoved Vince out of the way.
• Vince has a video of me feeding raw meat balls to Jesse through through a plexiglass barrier. It was pretty scary to be that close to a full-grown lion O_O
• Went home to make some Spicy Coconut Chicken curry and watched Clash of Champions. To be honest, I thought the overall PPV was decent. The matches were great but I didn't agree on most of the matches' endings and shenanigans. New Day retained using Fracesca. Sheamus vs Cesaro's final best of 7 match ended in a ref stoppage after a pretty long and grueling match (both guys came out great btw), Reigns defeats Rusev to become the US Champion. And Owens retains thanks to Jericho and Stephanie sending out a second ref at the last minute to distract Rollins. Owens freaking won but the focus was on Rollins vs Stephanie. It honestly felt like RAW on Sunday. One major positive was seeing TJ Perkins' official PPV debut with an awesome new theme song.
  
  

What to expect for Monday Night RAW & Smack Down Live!:

Going to be honest here, I've actually stopped watching RAW a few weeks ago. I'll watch a few matches based on the east coast results but I'm not investing myself to watch from 8pm - 11 pm anymore. Conversely, I've been watching all of Smack Down and watching the wrap-up show, Talking Smack. So considering that I just described Clash of Champions as another episode of RAW, I can't bring myself to watch it live tonight. I'm bias but I'm more eager for Smack Down and their next PPV, No Mercy, since it has a better build.

Update!

Hey! So, I have a bit of time to do a quick update. I haven't blogged as much because we moved! To a house! And it was fucking exhausting! And financially draining!

We had to do everything in a week. I'm actually grateful that my work was able to grant me 2 days off on such short notice. We basically had a 5-day Labor Day weekend to move. Highlights include:

• Moving some stuff we had loaded into our car on Wednesday night and driving straight to the house after work
• Being greeted by a neighborhood cat named "Kitty"
• Getting a rental truck and moving all the heavy stuff on Day 1 (Thursday)
• Moving the smaller stuff with NO ELECTRICITY on Day 2 (Friday)
• Finding out that we almost left on bad terms with the San Moritz management due to miscommunication from their weekend staff members. Jennifer apologized for saying that we don't have to pay the second $895 (October rent) until someone moves in. Her manager Judy wanted to make sure we were properly moved out since we were long-time residents.
• Our 3 cats, Hibiko, Ayumi, and Tsukiko, becoming enemies for a few days because Tsuki segregated herself, and smelled different to them
• All of the neighbors coming to us to introduce themselves. We look like the youngest couple in the neighborhood.
  

So we're all settled in. We have a bunch of house projects to do for the next few months. It's nice to have an actual home :)

Also...

AJ Styles is the new WWE World Champion

I'm a little sad that Ambrose dropped the title at Backlash (which was a pretty great Smack Down PPV) but honestly, Styles really deserved it. It's an amazing accomplishment for someone that was in TNA, ROH, and NJPW, and now part of WWE in under a year. Ambrose didn't have a terrible champ run but he was starting to slip after Summerslam (thanks Ziggler). He is back on the chase again and he is absolutely pissed. Aloof champion Ambrose was fine. Angry and relentless Ambrose is the guy I became a fangirl of.

Dean Ambrose vs AJ Styles

I'm seeing a lot of excited chatter about Dean Ambrose vs AJ Styles for Smack Down's first PPV Backlash and the excitement is entirely focused on Styles beating Ambrose to be the new World Champion. Coming off a major win over John Cena from Summerslam, people are now clamoring for Styles to take the belt off of Ambrose, who conversely had one of the most underwhelming matches at Summerslam. Ambrose has been labeled as boring or lazy shortly after being called out by Stone Cold Steve Austin for resting on his laurels and that he needed to step up and show some passion. It's actually gotten bad over on Wreddit where people are wondering why Ambrose is the current champ and why does he deserve the title. They're forgetting why he got the championship in the first place.

Dean Ambrose has been working hard, nearly nonstop, since last year. When Seth Rollins was injured, he was pulled from the B-Show tour to headline the A-Show tour. When Roman Reigns needed time off for surgery, he stepped in to feud with HHH. He had a brutal but forgettable loss against Brock Lesnar at WrestleMania 32 and had silly but victorious wins over Jericho. When it came down to decide who to give the championship to amidst Reigns' suspension at Money In The Bank, they gave it to Ambrose over Rollins. He defended the title in a triple threat at Battleground and successfully defended it against Ziggler at Summerslam. Ambrose got the title because he deserved it for all the hard work he put in, for miraculously staying injury-free, and it was also a reward for the fans for sticking by him and never turning on him like they did with Reigns. WWE needed a genuine top babyface to be their next champion. And that trust carried over when he was separated from Rollins and Reigns at the draft and when he brought the title home to Smack Down.

Styles, just 7 months after debuting at the Royal Rumble, is now in the position where he's deservedly earned the title shot. There's no mistake that WWE wants to capitalize on Styles' momentum and make him the new face and champion of Smack Down. As for Ambrose, the reason he hasn't stepped up is because he has gotten comfortable and confident as champion. He didn't take Ziggler seriously and dominated him. There's a slow build they've been doing for both men that most people are overlooking. Ambrose overcame Rollins and Reigns to get to his spot. Styles overcame Cena to get there too.

I do see WWE pulling the trigger and having Styles win at Backlash. He's another guy that deserves it. To date, Ambrose has held the World Championship title a little longer than when he had the IC title (64 days). And he's currently on track to be the longest reigning champ this year (it'll be 83 days at Backlash). I'm happy with whoever wins honestly. Just a little saddened to see how Ambrose's first title reign is not well received 2 months later. Not that I'm going to let Wreddit change my opinion but damn man. Wrestling fans are never happy.

43 Days

It's been 43 days since Dean Ambrose became the WWE World Champion. Even saying that aloud sounds unbelievable but for a good reason. No one believed that Ambrose would ever get to be in the top guy spot where his fellow brethren, Roman Reigns and Seth Rollins, stayed at. He was viewed as a great utility guy; to help build interest and hype for a match and to take the loss in the end to put his opponent over. WWE held The Shield in high regards and was proud of its 3 Superstars, and yet the treatment they gave to Rollins and Reigns was never extended to Ambrose. WWE has a saying in the Performance Center that perfectly summed up what happened with Ambrose in the last year: "You're not here to fill a spot. You're here to take a spot." And that's exactly what he did.

Ever since MITB, Ambrose was viewed as a transitional champion. Skeptics couldn't buy him as a long-term champion like Rollins and Reigns, let alone a main eventer. In the final week leading up to Battlground, he had 3 successful title defenses and proved to be the best of The Shield. That is arguably a way more satisfying payoff for him and for his fans compared to his cash-in, and it built him up as a legitimate main eventer. And on Smack Down, where he was Commissioner Shane McMahon and General Manager Daniel Bryan's #1 pick, he was treated as a big deal alongside John Cena, AJ Styles, and Randy Orton. Even a transitional champ doesn't get this kind of treatment.

In less than 3 weeks from now, he and Dolph Ziggler are one of the headlining matches for Summerslam, which includes Seth Rollins vs Finn Balor for the WWE Universal Championship, and the brand-vs-brand match with Randy Orton vs Brock Lesnar. It's remarkable considering that just last year, Ambrose and Reigns were in a filler feud with Bray Wyatt and Luke Harper. Now he's finally earned WWE's trust in making him both the face of the company and a true babyface champ who doesn't get booed by the fans.

I actually don't mind whether Ambrose drops the title at Summerslam or at the Smack Down exclusive PPV, Backlash. As a fan, it was truly a wonderful payoff to see Ambrose become a champion and end his story with The Shield. I can't wait to see where else he goes from here.

Weekend Recap (7/29/16 - 7/31/16)

Friday (7/29):

• Ate at Sen of Japan for dinner. Their sushi selections were much smaller and more expensive from the last time we ate here.
• Went to Desert Breeze Dog Park for a Corgi meetup. I have never seen so many Corgis in person. Even though there was about 20+, it's still a lot. Vince talked to a couple of owners to get some info on where they adopted their Corgi or who there breeder was.

Saturday (7/30):

• Checked out 2 new houses today with Lorraine and Vince's parents again. We liked the first house we saw and Vince's parents put an offer on it. I hope we get it.
• Went to Tropical Smoothie for lunch
• Went to Costco and Trader Joe's to do some grocery shopping. Cooked an odd dish of chicken and pork belly tomato coconut curry.

Sunday (7/31):

• Web stayed home the whole day
• Only went out to U-Swirl to get some fro-yo
• Watched the end of "Preacher," which was revealed to be a prequel so that the second season will start following the comics.

What to expect for Monday Night RAW & Smack Down Live!:

Last week, RAW won in the ratings war. Coming off from Battleground, it had a better presentation, better use of their roster, a new WWE Universal Championship title introduced, and it saw a surprise title change with Sasha Banks defeating Charlotte. Smack Down, unfortunately, paled in comparison with their smaller roster and lack of titles for their NXT-infused Tag Team and Women's division to compete for. The best way I can sum it up is that RAW came off new and exciting whereas Smack Down came off like a shorter RAW. It also didn't help that JBL jumped ship to Smack Down's commentary table and horrible clashed with the wonderful Mauro Ranallo and the very blank David Otunga.

Both shows added 2 new matches for Summerslam with a surprise: Raw has Seth Rollins vs #1 contender Finn Balor for the new WWE Universal Championship title. People assumed Reigns would be going after Rollins for the title again. It was made very clear that WWE is still upset with Reigns and are going to cool off on pushing him again. Meanwhile, Smack Down has Dean Ambrose vs #1 contender Dolph Ziggler for the WWE World Championship. Yes, Dolph Ziggler has earned a legit title shot for the title. I'm excited for Ziggler, I still have a soft spot for him for what he did in Survivor Series 2014. The big problem is trying to build up Ziggler, who's had a number of losses and lackluster feuds for the last 2 years. Not to mention that he has lost in his previous matches against Ambrose for the IC contendership and for MITB.

One thing is for sure, WWE's PPV quality has been consistent post WrestleMania. And going by the leaked PPV schedule, there is going to be even more brand exclusive PPVs coming up along with more call ups from NXT to pad out the rosters. WWE is having one hell of a transition period into the New Era.

Smack Down Live! (7/19/16)

I want to get this out of the way. Monday Night RAW's main event match with Ambrose and Rollins ended in a double pin, which means the Champ retains. Rollins didn't win and Ambrose didn't lose. The TV ending showed Stephanie declaring Rollins as the winner, while the Network ending had Shane and Daniel debating the ending, asking the ref to view the finish, and declaring Ambrose as the winner. As a result of the finish, Ambrose and Rollins are having a title rematch for tonight on Smack Down.

I think I'm going to stop doing Monday Night RAW recaps. It's not because of the possibility of Ambrose going to Smack Down (fingers crossed!) but it's due to the fact there is way way WAY more WWE content to keep track of. Seriously, look at the schedule this week.

• Monday: RAW
• Tuesday: Smack Down Live!
• Wednesday: NXT and CWC
• Sunday: Battleground PPV

Yeah, that is a lot of WWE stuff. So, I'm not going to do recaps. I'll probably just do the PPV recaps instead. Probably, I don't know. I'm just a little worried on what's going to happen tonight again. It's looking obvious that Rollins is the #1 pick for RAW and Ambrose is the #2 Smack Down.

Will Ambrose actually lose the title this time before Battleground? Will Rollins and Ambrose be champs before Battleground? Will Reigns pin either one to become the new champ for the brand at Battleground?!

I take wrestling way too seriously, according to Vince -_-

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HE LOOKS GOOD IN BLUE!

Also, Ambrose won clean over Rollins for the Smack Down main event. Rollins was doing his Falcon Arrow combo which Ambrose got out of and quickly hit him with Dirty Deeds. Now I really hope he retains on Battleground this Sunday.

WWE Draft?

Let me state upfront that I don't know how the drafts - or any sports drafts for that matter - works. I don't understand the value of having a first, second, or third round pick. From what understand so far, being a #1 draft pick is a big fucking deal, being in the top 5 picks is all right, and anything after #10 means you're not that important. Going by that limited comprehension, it would seem obvious for the WWE Draft that Dean Ambrose should be the first pick. He's the WWE Champion after all. Or will he still be a champion before the draft happens this Tuesday?

WWE used the above image on his Facebook page, not his current image where he's holding the WWE Championship title. And they have been teasing non-stop that there could be a title change on RAW to help hype up Smack Down when it goes live. I'm really not liking the idea of having Ambrose's title reign cut short for storyline sakes and ultimately affecting the Shield Triple Threat main event for Battleground. If it means that Ambrose can somehow win and be the first new champion of the highly rumored second WWE Championship belt being made for Smack Down, then fine, I'll be happy to see that.

It still sucks to see that all the hard work Ambrose has done since becoming a champ last month will be undervalued for his first title defense. At the very least, let him be a champ until Summerslam. I actually don't want Rollins to get the title back so quickly because he already had a long run with it, and that's not including the additional time he was out for his injury and recovery. And Reigns should be kept far away from the title scene. He's the top guy that got suspended for a wellness violation, he should not have a top spot like Ambrose and Rollins upon his return.

"MAKE DARREN YOUNG GREAT AGAIN!": Monday Night RAW (7/11/16)

Last week's Monday Night RAW was considered a throwaway episode. Even though it got one of its lowest TV ratings, it was still the most watched show on cable, even though there wasn't much progression with the storylines. This would be somewhat considered a go-home show for Smack Down (as far as tapings go) because next week it goes live. The results can be found here.

This was a surprisingly solid episode of RAW (except for the main event and final segment in the third hour). There was a lot of wrestling matches that actually featured a lot of the talent, a few in-promos and segments, and best of all, there was progress with the brand extension. Long story short, Stephanie will be the commissioner for RAW and Shane will be the commissioner for Smack Down (sadly relieving Shane from co-running RAW). Both have to choose their respective General Managers next week or else Vince will choose for them.

RAW kicked off with immediately with the Battle Royal, where strangely most of the contenders were made of tag teams like The Golden Truth, The Vaudevillains, The Usos, The Ascension, etc. The final 3 ended up being Darren Young, Apollo Crews and Baron Corbin. Crews clotheslined Corbin and both ended up going over the the top rope, leaving Young as the accidental winner of the Battle Royal. Young's win was such a wonderful surprise that he got a crowd chant, plus it was a treat to see Bob Backlund lift him up like he was nothing!

One interesting segment was The New Day's anticipated visit to the Wyatt Family compound. It was heavily inspired by Broken Matt and Brother Nero's "Final Deletion" match, drawing more on the idea of having an all out battle outside the ring and arena. It was a serious and thrilling displa, to see the New Day drop their positive act to take on Wyatt, Rowan, and Strowman, who legit looked threatening and monstrous without his tank top. Obviously, the Wyatt Family overwhelmed the New Day but that was beside the point. Bray Wyatt is finally believable as a cult leader and the "Wyatt Family" is not just Rowan, Strowman, and Harper (who was not included). They are truly a threat and it will be interesting to see how this visit affects the bond of The New Day.

The best match of the night goes to Cesaro and Kevin Owens, where Owens refused to even come into the ring unless Sami Zayn (who was on commentary) is kicked out. Stephanie listed to Owens' request and orders the referees to escort Zayn out. Their match was spectacular and there was also storytelling in the moves they were using. Owens was working on Cesaro's neck for nearly the whole match, so instead of using his signature Pop-Up Powerbomb to take Cesaro out, he uses a rarely used move to win the match. As Owens was angrily ranting in Byron Saxton's headphone about being the best, out comes Zayn from out of nowhere to jump him. He throws Owens into the ring and signals Cesaro to do his swing, which he happily obliges. Knowing that Owens and Zayn will be separated, they're really making the most of this feud.

The best segment of the night goes to Seth Rollins: Investigative Reporter, who debuted his new talk show, The Rollins Report, with an exclusive sit-down interview with Roman Reigns. I feared that Rollins was going to do the same bit where he interviews a picture of Reigns on the Titantron with Rollins mouth superimposed and speaking with his voice. Instead, it was Rollins in a suit asking questions with Reigns' answers taken out of context from his various sit-down interviews with Michael Cole. It was fantastic and funny. It was a new take on Rollins' campaign to remove Reigns and have a one-on-one match with Ambrose, which prompted the champ himself to show up and praise Rollins for having fun for once. He immediately calls Ambrose and his title reign a joke, and goes on to reiterate that he's the best member of The Shield. This is admittedly one of Rollins' best promos since his return and he's far away from being the chickenshit heel he once was last year. His rant sparked something in Ambrose, leading to what would be hands down the best promo of the night and the best promo of his career.

This was not goofy Ambrose. No, this was Dean "Fighting Champion" Ambrose and he gave 2 distinctly different promos. The first is addressing that he does like to have fun because he's the top man, and no matter who comes and leaves, who gets suspended, who "chases fantasies in some other sport," at the end of the day, he's the guy still standing there. If you want to see how easily Ambrose can command the audience, listen to how he got the arena to stop chanting as soon as he switched gears and focused on Rollins, leading to his second promo where he gets dark about how far he's come and how far he'll go to keep the title. Rollins is visibly shaken, even taking a few steps back as he went on. Ambrose basically accepted Rollins' challenge to have a one-on-one match and it will take place next week in the go-home show.

A lot of matches were set for Battleground and it's already looking quite promising. The one thing I'm worried about is what they're doing with Ambrose again. They're giving him his first title defense on RAW against Rollins, and they're already hinting that he may or may not be champion heading into Battleground. Here's the thing; if Ambrose retains, then he's most likely staying on RAW. They can't draft him to Smack Down if he's carrying what's basically RAW's title. So if he's going to Smack Down, Ambrose has to drop the title. I'm a little sad by this possible scenario, because of the fact that he cut an incredible promo and then he's going to lose, which has been a consistent pattern with Ambrose (MITB being the exception). The positive note is that Ambrose got to be a champ and fittingly, he's the last sole WWE champion before they introduce a second title belt. The last few champion have been a heel and most recently, in the sad case for Reigns, a tweener, as a reaction to the fans not accepting him as a champion, even though he's been putting on decent matches. The fact that they plan to cut short the first true babyface's championship reign is troubling.

A fighting champion. Literally.

New WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose is going to have another busy weekend. As of this writing, he's either currently on his way or is already in Hawaii, getting ready to defend his title against Chris Jericho, Seth Rollins, and AJ Styles later in the evening. Ambrose had to fly out of Florida immediately after wrestling 2 matches and closing Smack Down. Half of the roster were already in Hawaii, some even a day earlier.

He's now behind Kevin Owens in wrestling the most matches for WWE in 2016 so far. Currently, Owens is at 101 and Ambrose quickly shot up to 98 for pulling double-duty again on this past RAW and Smack Down.

This has been Ambrose's schedule since last weekend (with links):

• 6/26 Sunday: Against Owens and Zayn in Jacksonville, FL and against Rollins in Orlando, FL
• 6/27 Monday: 15 minute match against Styles on RAW, then team with Big Show, Enzo & Cass against Rollins & The Club in a dark match 
• 6/28 Tuesday: A match against The Miz on Smackdown taping, then team with Zayn & Cesaro against The Wyatts in a dark match 
• 6/29 Wednesday: Fly to Honolulu, HI to have a match against Jericho, Rollins, and Styles 
• 6/30 Thursday: Fly from Honolulu, HI to Tokyo, JP
• 7/1 Friday: Against Rollins & Owens in Tokyo, JP
• 7/2 Saturday: Against Rollins & Jericho in Tokyo, JP
• 7/3 Sunday: Fly from Tokyo, JP to Columbus, OH
• 7/4 Monday: RAW
• 7/5 Tuesday: Smack Down

By the time he gets back to the states, Ambrose would have wrestled 9 matches in less than a week. His next day off is not until Wednesday. This has been an extraordinary few days for Ambrose, who's now the current WWE Champion until the brand extension. WWE has already dropped "World Heavyweight" for the title, implying they really are moving forward with having 2 titles for both brands. He's working twice as hard because, let's face it, WWE never built another top, full-time babyface after Ambrose. AJ Styles, Owens, and Rollins are up there as their current top level heels. Even though he's not wrestling the same schedule like he used to, Cena remains as their de facto #1 guy.

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Ambrose all smiles after defending his title at Honolulu, HI. Next stop, Tokyo, JP!

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Double Chinlock master at work!

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"Dean Ambrose is a fighting champion!": Monday Night RAW (6/27/16)

Welp, they actually did it. They acknowledged Roman Reigns' absence for the next month. This was actually acknowledged by Seth Rollins who kicked off Monday Night RAW, who said he wanted to talk about it even though he was advised not to and yet a prepared screenshot of Reigns' apology tweet was put up on the Titantron. Ambrose interrupted Rollins and, being a babyface and a bro, said Reigns made a mistake and he owned up to it, but was still looking forward to the triple threat. This prompted AJ Styles and John Cena (who's celebrating his 14th WWE Birthday, prompting that wonderful Ambrose reaction gif) to come out, saying they should be added for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship. Stephanie came out and added to Rollins' complaint, saying that what Reigns did was an embarrassment but the bigger embarrassment was having Ambrose as their champion. She went into full Authority mode and set up Cena vs Rollins and Styles vs Ambrose as the main event, where Cena and Styles will be added to the Battleground main event if they win. The results can be found here.

This was another enjoyable RAW, although it was still a struggle to stick with 3 hours. There was less wrestling again and more promo time. It was nice to see 2 Women's matches again now that Sasha Banks has returned. The 2nd match with Summer Rae and Becky Lynch never happened because Becky just went over to beat the crap out of Natalya on commentary. Corporate Kane returned to plead to Stephanie for the general manager spot again and was interrupted by Miz and Maryse, fresh from filming "Marine 5." Kane decides to invoke the 30-day rule, where a champ must defend the title if they haven't done so. Seeing how RAW was taking place in Tampa, FL, there was a lot of speculation that someone from NXT - notably Finn Balor - might show up. The Demon did show up to challenge Miz for the IC title, only it was Demon Kane. The New Day and The Wyatt Family continue to build more intrigue as Kofi and Big E were up to their usual shenanigans of making fun of their opponent while their most vocal member, Xavier, appeared to be scared and wary of Bray.

Jericho hosted the highlight reel with Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens. Zayn did his most passionate promo yet, being upset at Owens and himself for holding each other back in their careers. Owens came back with a vicious truth of his own, saying Zayn was never happy for his success all because he did it as his expense. They both agreed to have one final match together at Battleground because they know for sure they'll be drafted to different roster. Oh, and they both superkicked Jericho in the end.

Cena vs Rollins was a fantastic match, bringing memories of their feud from last year at Summerslam. I was rooting for Rollins to win, just so Cena doesn't get added to Battleground. Rollins wrestles like a babyface so you can't help but root for him. The match unfortunately had a stupid ending where Cena was distracted by The Club (decked out in noticeably new gear with Japanese kanji for their upcoming Japan tour this weekend) and Rollins taking advantage by using the pedigree on Cena for the win.

Styles vs Ambrose was the main event. This was probably one of Ambrose's best match in a while, where he was being technical against Styles and keeping up with him. Also, keep in mind that Ambrose had just wrestled 2 matches in 2 other cities the night before, so I was completely surprised to see him wrestling again. Gallows and Anderson showed up, making it look like Styles might win until Cena came to the rescue and Ambrose smoothly rolled up a distracted Styles to hit Dirty Deeds for the win. Rollins, who was on commentary, came up and Pedigree'd Ambrose while The Club beat up Cena to end the show.

Even though the thought of adding Cena and Styles sounded exciting for Battleground, I'm relieved that it's still going to stay as a Triple Threat. I'm also glad that WWE is not hiding Reigns' suspension and even integrating into a storyline. I did find it stupid - too stupid to even suspend belief - that Ambrose being a champion and current face of the company is the worst thing to ever happen than the company's #1 guy being suspended for a wellness violation. Also, said embarrassment is going to Hawaii and Japan this weekend to defend the title and still fly back to do RAW and Smack Down next week. Even if Ambrose is just a champ for this month until Battleground, he's setting a ridiculously high bar as their champion workhorse. I would have no problem if Rollins wins the title back but if Reigns gets it back, he better be a monster heel. Until then, it's up to Ambrose and Rollins to carry the feud again.

"You deserve it!": Monday Night RAW (6/20/16)

For the first time in a long while, a babyface champ - a genuine underdog with organic and consistent fan support - graced Monday Night RAW. WWE World Heavyweight Champion Dean Ambrose (that sounds really good to say) was greeted with "You deserve it" chants before addressing the WWE Universe. He talked about hard work pays off. Ambrose wondered aloud that if Seth Rollins is "The Man," Roman Reigns is "The Guy," does that make him "The Dude?" The crowd agreed and Dean liked it and said call me whatever you like but call me "Champion." Reigns comes out amidst boos to congratulate Ambrose and reminded him of his rematch clause. Then Rollins comes out amidst cheers screaming that he beat Reigns so he gets a rematch clause. Interrupting Shane O Mac sets up Reigns and Rollins as the main event, where the winner will face Ambrose at Battleground next month. The results can be found here.

This was an enjoyable Monday Night RAW, although more time was spent on promos again and there was less time for the wrestling matches. They also addressed the upcoming Raw/Smack Down Draft, which will take place when Smack Down goes live on 7/19. To further emphasized how important this draft was, the first match of the night with Zayn and Owens showcased why these bitter rivals needed to be separated. Zayn got a win but Owens continued to beat him down after the match ended and even when they came back from commercial break. There was also the addition of the RAW and Smack Down podiums on top of the ramp, meaning WWE will be welcoming back a number of former general managers vying for the position for each brand. Hell, even John "People Power" Laurinitis returned before Shane told him that he would be running Smack Down.

The one segment I was not happy with was the women's division, where for some reason, Charlotte is defending the title against Paige. It wasn't a 3-minute squash match but it felt poorly paced and was full of botches, notably from Dana Brooke. Paige loses to Charlotte and all of a sudden Sasha Banks shows up, coming to her aid to chase off Charlotte and Dana. Look, I like Sasha but I hate that they kept her away from TV for a long time and now she's gunning for the title again. Meanwhile, poor Becky Lynch is getting beaten up by newly turned heel Natalya.

Speaking of returns, Bray Wyatt returned with Erick Rowan and Braun Strowman. Luke Harper is still out with a serious injury. Wyatt was interrupted by The New Day, which prompted him to come up with a chant on his own: New Day... Falls. This is a very weird yet interesting match-up so if they really are going ahead with this feud, they need to find the right balance for both teams to make this convincing.

Reigns and Rollins' main event match had Ambrose sitting on commentary and man, he was on fire. He put his former brothers over and showed how fiercely protective he is of his title. "Karma's a bitch and I'm WWE World Heavyweight Champion." As for the match, it was actually better than their match from MITB, save for a failed spot where the table didn't break when Reigns tackled Rollins. The two were unable to get back into the ring before the 10-count, resulting in a draw. The crowd wasn't happy with that so Shane came out and said we still need a contender. Ambrose gets into the ring and tells Shane he'll take them both on right now. Shane admires Dean as a fighting champion and decides to set up all former Shield members in a Triple Threat as the main event at Battleground. Ambrose happily accepts and goes up to both of his exhausted brothers and starts trash-talking them. Reigns gets up and tries to talk to Ambrose, who quickly turns around hits him with Dirty Deeds, which actually scares Rollins. Rollins tries to Pedigree a weakened Reigns after Ambrose left the ring, only to be hit from behind as Ambrose hits him with Dirty Deeds too.

So on top of them finally building excitement for the draft, the big takeaway is that the "WrestleMania-worthy" Shield Triple Threat is actually happening. There's a lot of complaints that the event is being wasted on what's considered a B-PPV event. However, the brand extension is heavily hinting that Reigns, Ambrose, and Rollins might get separated, so Battleground might very well be their last time to be on the same roster together. This is going to be an interesting month for Ambrose, who's now going to shoulder the pressure and responsibilities as a WWE Champ and as the face of the company. He is going to get even more attention now. On top of that, his wonderful cheerleader of a girlfriend Renee is comfortably and proudly posting more pics of Ambrose. I'm not too worried about Ambrose if he ends up dropping the title at Battleground, I just want to see him have a good run as an official champ.

----------

HEY, SO BREAKING NEWS. 

ROMAN REIGNS WAS SUSPENDED.

HE'LL STILL BE AT BATTLEGROUND.

"This is important": Monday Night RAW (6/6/16)

Monday Night RAW kicked off with the most unique opening segment I've ever seen in a long time. Rather than the usual shot of the venue with the pyro going off, it started with Dean Ambrose walking towards the ring, where all 5 of the MITB entrants are perched upon 6 tall ladders, surrounding the MITB briefcase. They all had a funny banter on who was going to win, with Jericho reminding everybody who created this match before it devolved with everyone getting down from the ladders and beating each other up. This lead to a surprise appearance by the infamous former Smack Down general manager, Teddy Long. He tossed out interesting ideas for tag team matches before Stephanie McMahon interrupted him to get all entrants in 3 singles matches (Jericho vs Cesaro, Alberto Del Rio vs Sami Zayn, and Ambrose vs Kevin Owens). The results can be found here.

The other best segment of the night was the banter between AJ Styles, and John Cena. It was not just a typical heel talking down a face. There was a sense of truth in their promo, such as Cena calling Styles a dud for coming to WWE despite being heralded as the "hero of sports entertainment" and Styles flat out saying to Cena that "guys like you bury guys like me." Cena has somehow enlisted the help of The New Day to help him out, which makes sense considering Gallows and Anderson started feuding with them. Speaking of tag teams, thanks to a wonderful idea by Teddy Long, Stephanie added another match for MITB. There will a Fatal 4 Way for the title with The New Day, The Club, Enzo and Cass, and The Vaudevillains.

The absolute worst segment of the night goes to, no surprise, the women's division. Charlotte uncharacteristically issued an apology to the WWE Universe on how she treated her father but still maintained why she had to do it. She mentions that she took in Dana Brooke to be her protege, which saddens me that they had to go this route with her since Emma is still injured. Natalya and Becky came out to try to sway Dana from siding with Charlotte and of course, it doesn't work. There was dead silence for this segment and it pretty much showed that this whole Charlotte and Natalya feud is quickly getting stale. In a 3 hour show, there was no room for any women's wrestling. Not even for freaking Sasha Banks.

Neither Reigns or Rollins made an appearance tonight, which meant the world title was taking a break this week in favor of the MITB feud and Cena vs Styles. They ran 2 lengthy video packages that revisted their history together as The Shield as well as the beginning of their feud from their perspective. Rollins' video package incorporated some segments from his WWE: 24 documentary, which actually made Rollins come off a little different now than his chickenshit heel persona before his injury. No longer backed by The Authority, Rollins wants to prove that he can beat Reigns and he's been waiting 2 years to do it. Reigns video package, on the other hand, conveniently skipped his first 2 title reigns and his reliance on Ambrose and The Usos, despite him saying that he now stands alone. They even showed his WM 32 moment where he holds up the title to a thunderous applause that was clearly edited in. This was a great to build up their feud (and prevent Reigns from getting booed for cutting another promo) than that silly silent treatment they did last week.

To be honest, despite how this episode got mixed reactions by AV Club, I personally enjoyed it. Well, most of it anyways. I do want to note that Ambrose is being heavily featured again. He had a quick backstage segment with Owens, where he noted that Ambrose seems to be going off at the deep end more than usual. In addition to making another appearance on Sports Center with Coach, he has a scheduled match with Jericho on Smack Down. And the previous cancelled Ambrose Asylum (the talk show, not the cage match) returns for the go-home show with 2 very special guests. Once again, Ambrose is being positioned as the favorite to win MITB and they're making it obvious. It's funny that everyone wants to see this happen and knowing WWE, they'll go in a completely different direction and delay pulling the trigger on Ambrose. If he doesn't win, I'm fine with Owens, Zayn or Cesaro walking away with the briefcase.

"DAE think Ambrose is dull?"

So. It's finally happened. Fans are turning against Ambrose. Frankly, I'm surprised it's taken this long. And it's quite sad to not only see it happening but knowing the exact point when it started going downhill.

His match against Lesnar at WrestleMania was the make-or-break match for Ambrose, coming off from losing his IC title on RAW, losing at Fastlane, and losing at Roadblock. Realistically, Ambrose physically couldn't defeat Lesnar so everyone expected the two to go all out with their match, use the weapons that Ambrose picked up a few nights earlier, and maybe at the end, earn some form of respect from Lesnar and Heyman for being tenacious. This match had high expectations and it sadly became one of the most disappointing and forgettable matches coming out of WrestleMania 32. Lesnar dominated Ambrose easily and the only weapons used were chairs, a kendo stick, and a fire extinguisher. Neither Foley's Barbie or Funk's chainsaw were used by Ambrose and there was no blood, even for a match involving Lesnar.

Immediately following the aftermath, with no acknowledgement from Ambrose on his match against Lesnar, he entered a feud with Jericho. He resumed a program that was once hinted last year, when Jericho was Ambrose and Roman Reigns' third man against The Wyatt Family at Night of Champions. Jericho emerged from WrestleMania as the top heel after defeating AJ Styles in the rubber match (which seriously confused and pissed off everyone). Their feud was rebooted over Jericho's talk show getting cancelled by Shane and replaced with the Ambrose Asylum. After the death of Mitch the Plant and Jericho's $15k jacket, the two would go on to have matches for Payback and the first (and probably last) Asylum Match at Extreme Rules. Although Ambrose has won over Jericho twice now, the victories no longer mattered.

To date, Ambrose has had 3 back-to-back disappointing matches. It's hard to admit that, and it's getting harder and harder to defend why he should be worth investing when there are better, edgier babyfaces like AJ Styles and Sami Zayn on the main roster, new NXT talent getting called up, and a number of talent like Seth Rollins and John Cena coming back from injury. It looks like WWE is trying to build up Ambrose again, as he's 1 of the 7 qualified competitors for the MITB ladder match. He and Kevin Owens are big favorites to walk away with the briefcase, although most want to see Ambrose win so that they can build towards the much anticipated Shield Triple Threat match that was suppose to happen at WrestleMania before Rollins' injury. Even Dave Meltzer from Wrestling Observer admitted that "Ambrose's star has fallen after the Lesnar program."

This past week, WWE revealed that they are reintroducing the brand split. A draft will take place on July 11 before Smack Down goes live on July 19. My first thought was that Ambrose should absolutely go to Smack Down. Since WWE will never see him as a top guy for RAW, he and other talent will have a better chance at Smack Down. Besides, Ambrose seems to be given a lot more to do on WWE's B-Show, which seems fitting seeing how he has been headlining the B-Show team for the weekend live events for the last few months.

It's selfish but I want to see Ambrose win MITB. I would love to see either Owens or Zayn walk out as Mr. MITB but Ambrose needs this badly for his character and credibility. I can't see him feuding with Jericho again or anybody else. It'll be even better if he and Rollins are both chasing Reigns' for the title. It's just so weird that The Shield is heralded as the beginning of the New Era and yet Ambrose has to work his way to the top and fall back down whereas Rollins and Reigns are given those opportunities to stay at the top.

"A Title I Never Lost": Monday Night RAW (5/23/16)

Seth Freaking Rollins kicked off the special 1200th episode of Monday Night RAW because of course he would. Rollins went at length about how he's back to take back the title he never lost and that even though he got a lot of loving fan support, he doesn't need anybody to win (plus he threw all the fan letters in the trash and set it on fire!) His former brother, Roman Reigns would show up with the title, prompting Shane McMahon to come out and quickly setting both Reigns and Rollins as the main event for the upcoming Money In The Bank PPV. The rest of the show focused on 5 MITB qualifying matches. The results can be found here.

Want to know the best part of Rollins' return? They significantly downplayed Reigns. Yes, Reigns came out with the title and trash talked (off mic) with Rollins but other than that, he didn't say a word. He didn't even cut his usual "THE GUY" promo. All the talking was done by Rollins and Shane, who had to give a rundown for the audience on what Rollins has accomplished prior to his injury. Rollins reappeared in a backstage segment with Renee but got distracted when he saw Stephanie. He went in for a hug but Stephanie stopped him, saying that a lot has changed and so has their business relationship. Rollins did state he didn't need anybody, so it was telling how sad he looked when he didn't get a warm welcome from his "mother."

Unlike last year's MITB, which drew criticism for hastily putting in Dolph Ziggler, Sheamus, Kofi Kingston, Neville, Roman Reigns, Randy Orton and Kane, this year, they made the effort to have those entrants earn those spots in qualifying matches. 5 spots were filled tonight with 2 heels and 3 faces. No word if the remaining 2 spots will happen on Smack Down or next week's RAW.

• Zayn defeated Sheamus (who randomly started to feud with Apollo Crews)
• Cesaro defeated The Miz
• Jericho defeated Apollo Crews (who no sold the beatdown he got from Sheamus backstage)
• Ambrose defeated Ziggler (in a technical match)
• Owens defeated AJ Styles (CLEAN!)
  

This lineup is already interesting for several reasons: Cesaro is going to put on a spectacular show as usual. Owens and Zayn are involved so there's a damn good chance they're just going to find any opportunity to beat each other again. Ambrose and Jericho are squaring off again, meaning there's a scary chance Jericho could screw Ambrose over and win the match he created 11 years ago.

• RAW also marked the much-welcome return of Big Cass' tag team partner, Enzo, which meant they were resuming their feud against "Bub and Devon Dud." Enzo addressed the concussion and said it was a hard sneeze. I'm now extra worried for Enzo.
  
  
• Not sure if this is will be an actual feud, or it might be WWE's way of trying to quickly move on from Adam Rose being released, but the Social Outcasts attacked New Day as they were celebrating Raw's 1200th episode. Oddly enough, there were signs of The Vaudevillains.
  
  
• Charlotte, Dana, and Ric came out for an in-ring segment about the state of the Women's Title. It got off to a very shaky start, mostly because Charlotte got annoyed with the crowd chants, but Charlotte finally split from Ric Flair. She addressed the issues of how everyone thought she couldn't win without Ric and she wanted to prove them all wrong. This prompted Ric to cry of course and tearfully leave. Looks like Charlotte is making her own version of the BFFs with Dana on her side.
  
  
• Styles and Owens was the main event qualifying match. Before it started, Styles came out to praise Reigns for being a worthy opponent (the audience booed of course) but he also talked down about Gallows, Anderson, and The Usos for interfering and costing him the match. Gallows and Anderson came out to confront Styles and ended with him breaking up with The Club. Gallows and Anderon didn't take this split amicably.

This was a great episode of RAW that's quickly establishing the next PPV with matches and storylines that will organically build towards it. Now the biggest question is who will win the briefcase. Prior to Rollins' return, the popular choice for getting the briefcase was Owens just so he can screw with Zayn and Reigns. But when JBL mentioned on commentary about the possibility of all 3 Shield members being in the title picture, now it's shifting to Ambrose to be the favorite to win.

Speaking of which, Ambrose seems to have a slight attitude change following Extreme Rules. His match against Ziggler was technical, just like their previous match for the Survivor Series WHC tournament, and he looked quite serious. His fallout interview however showed Ambrose coming off quite indifferent. Seems to foreshadow something here.

WWE Extreme Rules 2016 PPV

Last night was WWE's Extreme Rules, the 2nd PPV to quickly follow Payback in the month of May. This was a more satisfying PPV than Payback and best of all, no on-screen injuries occurred! The results can be found here.

Rusev won over Kalisto to become a 2-time US Champion. RuRu came out looking like a monster heel again with his newly modified and brutal looking Accolade. I didn't think resetting him (and Lana's) character would do him any good but it turns out did.

The best match of the night was hands down the IC Title Fatal 4 Way match. Zayn and Owens' hatred for each other was the backdrop for this match, which probably wouldn't have been interesting if it only involved Cesaro and Miz. There were so many great spots, so many nearfalls, and Miz didn't look out of place at all amidst these former indy stars. I was really rooting for Cesaro to win, so I was a bit bummed when he didn't. Miz retaining makes sense because this leaves it open for other guys to go after the title and it frees up Owens, Zayn, and Cesaro.

The Asylum Match was the longest match of the night, clocking in at 26 minutes. It turns out that a short segment was cut from the show and added to Ambrose and Jericho's feud, resulting in an unfortunately long and drawn out match. I'll be honest here; I was bored watching this drag on. I didn't like that every "weapon" they grabbed was literally used once. It wasn't until Ambrose spilled thumbtacks unto the ring that it started building up. Ambrose dropped Jericho unto the tacks AND did Dirty Deeds on him to get another win. I have serious respect for Jericho, who went above and beyond to help put Ambrose over when WWE or Lesnar couldn't for WM 32. This one spot saved it from being the worst match of the night.

No, that goes to the Women's Title match with Natalya and Charlotte. Their match was actually quite good but due to the Asylum match running longer than it was suppose to, their match was shortened to under 10 minutes. Natalya looked like she was winning until she was distracted by Flair's entrance theme playing with Dana Brooke (poorly disguised as Flair) entering the ring to distract Natalya. Charlotte does the Figure 8 and forces Natalya to tap. Charlotte, Ric, and Dana all celebrate in the ring. Another title defense for the new Women's title that ended with Flair interfering.

The main event with Styles and Reigns was fantastic. They brawled outside the ring, unto the kickoff show's glass table, destroyed tables and barricades. Gallows and Anderson and the Usos showed up towards the end of the match and everyone was doing everything to make sure they're guy would win. Styles even went berserk and hit The Bloodline in the back with a steel chair. Just as Styles was getting ready to hit the Phenomenal Forearm, Reigns tackles him in mid-air with a spear for a definitive win. It was expected that Reigns would retain and he was getting showered in boos.

AND THEN CROSSFIT JESUS RETURNED

Rollins came back way earlier than anticipated, probably as quick as Cena's return (which is next Monday). He's going to get such a huge pop on Monday Night RAW. We're all cheering for a returning heel and are actively booing the company's top babyface champ. If Reigns is being intentionally built to be this kayfabe powerful, then it would make his defeat even more satisfying. There's no other person than can take him down a notch than the former champ who never lost his title.

"The New Error": Monday Night RAW (5/9/16)

This was another somewhat enjoyable episode of Monday Night RAW. I say "somewhat enjoyable" because a majority of the matches, while entertaining, had finishes that didn't make sense. I get that they have 2 more weeks left before Extreme Rules. It just seems like 50/50 booking is at play again. The results can be found here.

So here are the weird finishes to the following matches:

• Ziggler lost to Corbin
• Charlotte (C) lost to Paige
• Miz (C) lost to Zayn
• Rusev (#1 Contender) lost to Sin Cara
• Ryder lost to Owens
• New Day (C) lost to Dudleyz
• The Club lost to The Family via DQ
  
  

All the champs - with the exception of Reigns of course - just randomly lost in their respective matches. Corbin winning shouldn't be a big deal if it weren't for Ziggler randomly winning at Payback. Rusev lost to Sin Cara - SIN CARA - thanks to Kalisto interference. Miz lost to Zayn, making the IC title match a fatal 4-way. Ryder lost to Owens, once again reinforcing Ryder's almost pointless WrestleMania moment as a 1-time IC Champ. The most baffling is the third hour, which saw The New Day losing to The Dudleyz and the last-minute main event with Chris Jericho and Big Cass, set by Stephanie McMahon at the beginning of the show, never happened due to Ambrose's surprise appearance. The only other surprise was Dana Brooke making her main roster debut backstage in a segment with Emma and Becky Lynch.

The Reigns and Styles storyline is getting better and better each week. It's actually getting harder to tell if Styles would remain the steadfast babyface when everyone is using every opportunity to destroy each other. I mean both teams were nearly booed last night, though Reigns and The Usos got a much louder reaction. Speaking of which, it's important to note that the Bullet Club is now present across several promotions. The original leader, Finn Balor, is in NXT, "The Club" with Styles, Gallows, and Anderson is in WWE, and the remaining Bullet Club faction is strong in both NJPW and ROH, along with new additions Adam Cole and Adam Page.

I want to point out something quite odd here. The show started off with Jericho bragging about destroying Ambrose AND Mitch The Plant, whose death saddened the Twitter/Tumblr fans last week. WWE is not one to ignore something like this so they had Jericho display a quick montage of all the screenshots of everyone crying over Mitch, all while emphasizing numerous times that he severely injured Ambrose. When Ambrose returned, he destroyed Jericho's light up jacket which apparently costs $15k. Ambrose is exacting revenge on Jericho... over a potted plant. This was humorous to watch - and props to Jericho and Ambrose for doing their best to make this silly feud serious -  but it robbed the audience of a totally new main event match with another NXT newcomer against a legend. Did WWE intentionally move Reigns and Styles to the 2nd hour so that The New Day, The Dudleyz, Ambrose and Jericho will close out the third hour, where their ratings normally tank? AV Club thought their silly feud was the "shining star" of the show and F4W thought it was building up their feud well enough, while others have understandably thought this was getting sillier and stupider.

To be honest, I don't fucking care. I'm just happy see Ambrose every single time, regardless if he wrestles or not. It's easy to lose faith in the guy with how he's being booked and all but I can't not be entertained by him. Let's see how the go-home show next week will reverse all the 50/50 booking leading up to Extreme Rules. Also, I'm getting that damn poster... unless Ambrose is featured in Money In The Bank, I'm getting that too.

"The New Era": Monday Night RAW (5/2/16)

Now that Payback, the "first PPV of the New Era," has past, Monday Night RAW showed no signs of slowing down as they geared up for their 2nd PPV this month, Extreme Rules, which is a mere 2 weeks away. Unfortunately, the episode was a mix of rushing storylines and long segments. The results can be found here.

The major highlights were:

• Shane and Stephanie agreeing to work together to run RAW. She even presented Shane with a newly framed old photo of him and their dad that was crushed by Vince as a way to make amends.
  
  
• The siblings were interrupted by Kevin Owens who once again invokes his rematch clause for the IC title, only to get interrupted by Cesaro. Shane gives them a match (with Miz and Maryse on commentary). It resulted in a no contest once Miz interferred and Sami Zayn showed up. Zayn is now eyeing the IC title.
  
  
• Enzo's accident and concussion diagnosis was addressed by New Day. As a result, the Vaudevillains were awarded the match and will be facing against the New Day for the Tag Team Championship at Extreme Rules. The Vaudevillains got a heated reaction, proudly taking credit for Enzo's accident. The Dudleyz came out and said the tournament should just be restarted to find anther contender while Cass came out to declaring that he's going to avenge his family, resulting in an 8-man tag team match. Big Cass and The New Day defeated The Vaudevillains and the Dudleyz.
  
  
• Emma and Becky had a match! The two were originally suppose to have matches leading up to Payback but for some unexplained reason, their feud was put on hold (they feuded only through Twitter) and were never put on the card. Emma got a win over Becky with a freaking Michinoku Driver. WWE is clearly protecting Sasha, she hasn't had any televised matches on RAW or Smack Down in a while.
  
  
• A last-minute battle royal match was set up to determine who would be the #1 contender for Kalisto's US title. Notable faces included Apollo Crews, Baron Corbin, Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas, former League of Nations trio, Damian Sandow, and the return of Titus O'Neil. Notable absences were Heath Slater, Jack Swagger, and Ryback. Rusev and Ryder were the final 2 and, seeing how Kalisto's a face, Rusev emerged as the #1 contender. The reason why Ryback was not included  was due to ongoing contract disputes. It looks like Ryback will be joining Barrett on leaving WWE once their contract is up this summer.
  
  
• Stephanie was a guest on the Ambrose Asylum and said that he can ask her anything. Even though Ambrose saw through Stephanie's nice girl act, he agreed to have her on his show. Ambrose's "investigative journaling" eventually broke Stephanie and she decided to undo Shane's changes and cancel his show on the spot. Just as he taking his leave along with his beloved potted plant, Mitch, Stephanie announces that she was also bringing back The Highlight Reel, prompting Jericho to make a surprise entrance. Jericho one-upped Ambrose with The Codebreaker. And if that wasn't bad enough, Jericho took Mitch and slammed him unto the back of Ambrose's head. Twitter and r/SC were pretty upset.
  
  
• The now infamous (ok, not really) Chicago Screwjob was addressed. Not only that, referee Charles Robinson was addressed onscreen as "Lil Naitch," a nickname that was only used by online wrestling fans. Natalya was upset about screwed over and ended up doing a sharpshooter on Ric Flair. After the segment, Stephanie talked to Charlotte and Ric about setting up a rematch, this time making it a submission match to decide if the Figure Four or the Sharpshooter was superior. Also, Stephanie has banned Ric from being at ringside for the match.
  
  
• The main event saw Roman Reigns and The Usos vs As Styles, Gallows, and Anderson. The alignment of faces and heels are blurred, thus making their motivations completely understandable. In the 6-man tag team match, Not-Bullet-Club emerged victorious over Roman Empire. Gallows and Anderson gives a chair to Styles to take out an exhausted Reigns but he refuses to. The Usos takes the chair instead to attack Styles, resulting in Gallows and Anderson attacking them. Styles finally uses the chair to take out the Usos, which is the only thing Reigns sees when he recovers. He angrily Superman punches Styles, sets up the announcer's table and powerbombs Styles through it.

After breaking it down like this, there really was a lot of progress made, it was just a chore to get through 3 hours. I have to admit it that I'm liking this new storyline that Reigns is caught up in. It doesn't involve the Authority and the conflict is internal, or in this case, a faction that was made famous at NJPW who is now on the main roster. Extreme Rules appears to be having some Payback rematches and new matches being set up. Prepare for more stipulations! 

Speaking of which, looks like Ambrose is the poster boy for Extreme Rules! It doesn't mean he's main eventing a match or is the primary focus though. The Wyatt Family was the main focus for Payback but due to Wyatt's injury, they were unable to change the promotional materials, which is why the art direction is all about spooky woods instead of the shattered glass motif from the video packages. I found that odd considering they were able to quickly change the Toronto network special "March to WrestleMania" to "Roadblock" featuring Ambrose and HHH. With the Ambrose Asylum cancelled and Mitch killed off, hopefully Ambrose's feud with Jericho will be taken a lot more seriously.