WWE TLC 2019

I wasn't planning on watching this live, but Spud's sleeping - so I might as well do that and then I won't miss anymore time with her after the event to skim through it. BARON CORBIN'S GONNA PAINT A PICASSO TONIGHT! Oh Booker... A TLC Edition of the Funhouse airs. New Day vs. Revival is up for the SD tag titles. I'm amazed the WWE-logoed belt holder has been given a wacky name like the WWE Belt Buddy. E misses the apron splash on a ladder, while Kofi eats an atomic whip into the ladder on the apron off a trust fall onto FTR.

E eats a ladder dropkick to the balls in the corner. Cole hypes INNOVATION!...as Kofi does the spot that destroyed Joey Mercury's face. E gets a stretch muffler to Dawson while Kofi bonks the knee with a ladder. Kofi lands on the rope after getting knocked off the ladder and hits a sorta-tornado DDT and then a tornado kick! SHATTER MACHINE OFF THE LADDER! E sets up some ladder bullshit all over the place. E puts Dawson on a ladder and goes up and then eats a superplex that sends Dawson through the ladder and not E. Dash splashes E and we see the internals of the collapsing ladder. They trap Kofi in a ladder away from the belts. BIG ENDING OFF A LADDER TO WILDER! Kofi bonks Dawson with a belt and sends him into the fallen ladder. Kofi grabs the belts and they win. THIS RULED!

King Corbin says stuff backstage AND DAMN IS HE TALL! Andrade is shown lowing to Humberto  on the pre-show with Zelina's help backfiring. Great - a setup where no one gets over. Murphy gets a new Generic CAW theme. Murphy does Black's sit mid-ring. They have a sit-off. Stiff stuff here as Black gets busted up and King eats a shot in the melee. Apron battle leads to Murphy getting shoved into the post and then a teep into a giant V trigger from Black for 2! RUN-UP TEEP TO THE JAW BY BLACK! Tons of buckle head trap superkicks in the post lead to a powerbomb for 2. Kamigoye leads to a Black Judas Effect and another strike exchange leads to a Black Mass outta nowhere. This was a lot of fun - make them a team though, they're going to kill each other as rivals.

Viking Raiders come down and THIS MATCH IS PRESENTED BY KFC AND A FAMILY GETS TO EAT AT A RINGSIDE TABLE. Now time for wacky family fun! The OC answers the challenge and yammer on about their trophy. Rowe plants Karl after Karl trips over him. Karl locks in an ASRAWROLLSON Chinlock. Floor brawl and a double countout. Now that's shit. They Shield-bomb The OC through the KFC table. Okay then. Professional Actor Mike Mizanin emotes about THE FIEND INVADING HIS HOME! THIS. THIS MATCH WITH TWO WEEKS BUILD. IS MIZ'S MOST PERSONAL MATCH IN HIS ENTIRE CAREER! HE IS FIGHTING AS A MAN PROTECTING HIS FAMILY!

A long Corbin-Reigns video airs that takes up about 50 years. Roman beats up the goons for a bit. Corbin rains down kneeling elbows to the chest - just like LG did before. Corbin is the most boring okay-ish worker I've ever seen. Hulk Hogan in 2011 was able to have a better match than this. AND HE COULDN'T MOVE AND COULD BARELY BUMP. Cole hypes up HARD-NOSED SPORTS ENTERTAINMENT! Dolph takes Roman out with a "SUPERMAN KICK" to save Corbin from a drive by. More goons run down. Then The Revival. It's like Taker vs. Yoko at the '94 Rumble, only a lot more boring. Dawson's plan of stand around and do nothing somehow backfired. BIG DOG SOARS! Chair and a zig zag hits. End of Days into chair ends it right around New Years 2021.

Bray vs. Miz is up and recapped thoroughly. THIS IS ABOUT DANIEL - WHO'S LIKE FAMILY TO THE WWE UNIVERSE! Why can't WWE be taken seriously again? Crazy Mr. Rogers is a more over babyface than anyone else. Bray stands on the table for a while. WHY ISN'T MIZ JUST RUNNING AFTER THIS MAN AND KICKING HIS ASS!? Miz puts Bray in the rope and nearly gets DQed. Bray eats a pair of shotgun knees and an awesome lariat before the Finale hits. Bray laughs it off. Miz going for...shades of Shayna and Penta here and failing. Shoulder snap leads to Bray smashing his shoulder into the barricade to pop it back. NO! NOT THE GERMAN DESK! THAT'S THE HARDEST OF ALL FOREIGN-LANGUAGE DESKS! Sister Abigail on the floor for Bray. Miz beats the count at 9. Mid-ring Abigail wins for Bray...so then why wasn't the title on the line?

THE FIEND appears on the tron! Bray grabs the giant hammer from before that Cole has apparently never seen before. Bray yells HE'S HERE before a MYSTERIOUS MAN IN A MAROON HOODIE HITS A KNEE PLUS! Bryan's got his 2012 look back with short hair and stubble - good, he looks way younger. CORNER DROPKICKS AND ANOTHER KNEE PLUS! Bryan lands the stomps to the chest and TEASES THE MALLET! BUT THE LIGHTS GO OUT AND Bray disappears. He slams the mallet near the belt and not on it, despite the camera shot making you think he would do that. This was weird, but still better than the match.

IT'S TIME TO GET PERSONAL!? We just saw a match with Miz defending the honor of his wife and daughter! A TMZ TV show-style parody in 2019. Really now? A billion teases are done for table breakage and to their credit, they avoid it. Rusev grabs a barricade and bonks him before eating a chokeslam through it. King rattles off a few terrible wedding jokes. Lashley doesn't get him through a table on a spear, but does on a suplex on the other side in a great save and ends it.

Montez tells Lashley to get a vastectomy before a brawl between King Corbin and his goons and Roman and SD's faces. Becky and Charlotte's tag title match is up. Kairi gets tossed around a ton on various announce tables. Facebuster into the ladder from Becky to Asuka. Kairi goes under the ring and they pull her out and she blasts them with a fire extinguisher. Asuka gets a rope and goes all Texano Jr. on them. They trap Charlotte in an office chair and try to keep her in with a kendo stick, but she fights free. They tie a rope to the ladder and use that to trap Becky. I hope a train doesn't suddenly appear. Joe compliments Kairi's sailor knot and Charlotte exploders Kairi into the barricade.

Charlotte takes a nasty elbow bump on the ladder with Becky on it and gets muted. Insane elbow off the announce table leads to Becky getting her knees up. Becky frees herself and we get a lot of shrieking. Charlotte and Becky put the Warriors in chairs and land stereo things - and make sure to hold off running until they're in-sync. How nice of them.

Legdrop off the second rope to the floor through a table from Becky to Asuka. They double-team Kairi and toss her into the post. They try to double suplex her, but she gets a double DDT counter. Charlotte cusses some more and sloppily powerbombs Kairi through a table. The Warriors get beaten up with chairs to boos. Vic talks about fatigue setting in...sadly only for the women here and not viewers. Asuka powerbombs Charlotte off the apron to the floor through a table - that'll teach her to not go for goofy moonsaults and flips. Becky climbs up, but Asuka uses the rope and pulls Becky down! Asuka grabs the belts and wins. THANK GOD THIS IS OVER!

Or not! The wacky brawl from earlier is back! Corbin eats and a spear in the crowd and that's it. All righty then. That sure was an ending to a show that would never end at far too many points in time.

AEW Dynamite 11-27-19 - Sky vs Jericho for the Title

Batman Returns is the pre-Dynamite movie and a ton of fun to watch - maybe a bit terrifying in theaters at 8, but a tremendous film. A giant celebration is setup for Jericho with SOULTRAIN JONES! He botches every single line he tries to deliver and...yeah that's not too shocking. High-dollar setup for the celebration - far bigger than TNA, where they'd get the c-string junior high band. Jericho offers up 50 cent coupons off his shirt and they've actually made A LITTLE BIT OF THE BUBBLY!

PNP comes down with a box of random crap. Sammy unveils a loving photo of the two of them and Santana gives him anti-itch cream. They give him some flip-flops and A LITTLE BIT OF THE 40! Hager brings out a goat named Chris Jerigoat. They unveil the giant box and it's Ted Irvine, who gets booed in his Rangers getup. Ted says the Blackhawks suck and then reveals Rangers custom jerseys for everyone. But not Soultrain!

Jericho has Justin Roberts come out and talk about Chicago before burying the high school he came from. Jericho is thanked by TNT and AEW brass, but Jericho didn't like his tone. SCU takes off their band member getup and beats up Soultrain Jones. HOW DARE THEY BEAT UP WRESTLING LEGEND SOULTRAIN JONES! Marco joins the announce team as part of the All Elite Fleet. Dasha is taking Justin's place now. Cassidy is out in a turkey suit, and unlike TNA's, they spent money on it. Fenix and Penta jump them before the bell. Cassidy flies and Exalibur gets out "We're really going after that over 50 demographic!" Marco can almost be heard.

Double team wheelbarrow drop gets 2. Fenix is still in his hoodie for some reason. Chuck gets a rolling half crab, but eats a superkick. Dudebuster hits Fenix and that ends it. Cool - they're getting that move over. Marco's "that. was. hot..." was something else. State Farm paid, or something, for Marco on this and they'd better get change. "Thanks guys, I appreciate it. Love you guys..."Bea Priessley's out and her graphic showcases not only her win/loss record, but her goal for the match. I like that.

She'll team with Sakura to face Statlander and Shida.Whole lotta nothing to this, with Sakura beating Statlander with a mic stand. Mox says he declared war 6 months ago and if anyone wants to try him, they're welcome to.Cody comes down with his usual ungodly amount of pyro. JR talks about Cody being number 1 before and is down to 3. He's got a giant scar over his eye now and he's facing Matt Nicks. Excalibur says that Cody may not be eligible for a title shot, but he's still able to be ranked - like a football team that can't get a shot, but they're still in rankings. Cody hits a second rope springboard cutter and a figure four ends it. I like it - get another finish over. Cody tells MJF that they don't have to wait - he wants him now before THE BLADE debuts from under the ring and rabbit lariats him. The Butcher comes out too and they land a suplex/backstabber combo. Good stuff! THE BUNNY ALLIE is their manager and she's a leather-clad heel. GREAT!

Omega vs. Pac is up. Great fast action to start. Terminator dive hits and he gets 2 off a snapdragon. Black Arrow misses! V trigger hits and Omega gets a crucifix for 2 and then turns it into another one for 3. Good, short match. MJF's out with Wardlow and we get an inset promo about the diamond ring costing $45,000 - and it doesn't belong on some white trash hick from VA. JR throws to a promo from Page and they delay airing it. Page says he isn't a ring guy - but he'll give it to MJF by shoving it up his ass.

Page lands a tope suicida and a moonsault off the top to the floor. MJF pokes the eye, but eats a discus lariat for 2. Buckshot hits, but Wardlow prevents the win and MJF hits a super-shitty Crossrhodes to win. DDP comes out to one big more TNT intro with pyro! DDP says that he doesn't approve of what MJF has done, but he's the bigger man and MJF talks shit before Wardlow steps up and DDP says a 63 year old will kick his ass.

Dustin comes out and says that Hager broke his arm and now he wants his blood! Sammy and PNP come down to attack, but Matt and Nick save before a triple shattered dreams. Dark Order ad airs. Sky uses his speed to get the better of Jericho before a Jericho dropkick gives him an edge. Pair of cutters from Sky leads to a dragon clutch. Hager comes down and gets attacked before a schoolboy gets 2 for Jericho. SCU prevents Hager from attacking and a TKO gets 2.9! Judas Effect misses, but the walls ends it. Jericho goes to attack, but MOX COMES DOWN! This will be far better than them feuding over a potted plant.

NXT Takeover 11-23-19 - War Games

Closing out the pre-show is SCOOPS ROBERTS saying he doesn't know who the last member of Team Ciampa is - but he knows he's here. So how does he know he's here if he doesn't know who it is? Then Pat McAfee and his business shorts come down and cut a Rock Lite promo saying that tonight will be the greatest night in history - so he's Tony Schaivone of 2000 without the 15 years of credibility to back that up. The women's War Games, which should main event, is the opener. The female announcer is THE FUCKING BEST. Rhea Ripley is over too.

Io and Candice start off and Io lands a couple of 619s in-between the rings and lands a shotgun knee shot. Bel Air comes in late to take out Candice, but eats a reverse rana with a delayed reaction. CAGE BOMB BY BELAIR! Billion rope-run dropkick by Io with Belair holding her in a camel clutch. Ripley's out and has TRUCULENT TOYS! KLR comes out and grabs chairs to add to the garbage cans and she teases a table, but puts it back. A tower of doom onto a chair bridge is teased, but that's ended and the chairs are moved and then Rhea just throws everyone on the chairs.

Dakota Kai goes out and then goes in to kick Tegan's ass! Cage door slamming on the head and knee a bunch. Well that spot's killed dead. A cage door spot lit a territory up for years and now it's just a women's match heel turn spot. Loving heel Dakota tho! She attacks Regal and then swears before tearing the brace off and beating her up more. THIS IS TREMENDOUS! Shayna gets out and chuckles as Rhea's team is down Dakota and Tegan.

Mauro says War Games is officially on 4-on-2 with the heels having the lead. Shayna stomps on the hand and gets handcuffs. Rhea Ripley is a shockingly great babyface. Rhea takes down Shayna and lands really light shots while Candice trash cans folks for a bit. Ripley gets the cross lock on Io up top while Shayna gets the Kirafuda on Candice up top. Bianca tosses Candice into Rhea!

ShiraiSualt gets 2! Candice kendo sticks Bianca, who sells by randomly jumping around like she's walking on coals is a bit odd. Io goes up top and then we get more brawling and an avalanche poison rana by Candice gets 2! Io moonsaults onto Bianca and Candice off the top of the cage. Shayna gets the clutch on Rhea, but Rhea escapes by handcuffing herself to Shayna to break Shayna's grip and Riptides her through a chair bridge! This was... a great story told very oddly and sloppily.

Riddle vs. Balor is hyped a bit. Balor's PAC Jr.'s starter kit is tremendous. Priest vs. Dain vs. Dunne is up and it's doomed after that last match. This match should matter more since it's technically a top contender's match and one that results in being on the Survivor Series, but it doesn't. Lots of just weird do a move onto one guy so he lands on another spots. Falcon arrow from Priest to Dunne onto Damo. Priest razors edges Dunne onto the announce table. Dunne lands a corner running forearm, but eats one and then Damo eats a Deadman Dive from THE ARCHER OF INFAMY before Dunne moonsaults on both off the top.

Damo lands the OWA for 2.9. Damo puts Dunne in a tree of woe and then throws Priest into him before cannonballing them. Vader Bomb to Priest gets 2 thanks to Dunne, WHO WAS RIGHT THERE. Bitter End on Damo gets 2. Priest gets a finger snap up top and he bumps on the apron before Dunne superplexes Damo. Bitter End on Priest gets 2.9 thanks to Damo. END. Dunne eats a sleeper drop and lands on Priest to win. Well that was a cold finish - good match though.

AEW Dynamite 11-20-19

I love the show starting off with rankings just casually being thrown into things - they now just feel natural.  One great little thing that helps Dynamite feel fresh is that they change their graphics each week based on the venue - so beyond that one tiny touch making each show feel somewhat more important and more localized, the graphics never seem stale. Fenix vs. Nick Jackson starts the show off, with Fenix getting all the pyro.

Things start crazy with run-up armdrags being avoided, then shoved off into high kicks that are ducked and then they prevent each other from getting into the ring. Big chops from Nick lead to Fenix getting a handspring standing headbutt. Nasty somersault cutter on the floor leads to Nick holding his teeth. QUICK, CALL BRITT! Ropewalk rana is avoided and Nick lands a run-up knee in the corner and then a running basement knee for 2. They exchange attempts at teeter-totter top rope ranas before Nick lands one for 2!

Superkick from Nick leads to a tree-fall sell into a nip up superkick from Fenix! Nick lands a forearm shiver combo, but Fenix dazes him and lands a ropewalk rana off the apron to the floor! They fight on the apron more and Nick lands a high kick and an APRON GERMAN! Nick gets a destroyer for 2 and then turns it into a sharpshooter! Fenix avoids a tombstone into a cradle and then superkicks him down before a springboard solebutt. Muscle buster hits and wins it. THIS WAS NUTS! Nick wants a handshake, but Fenix has none of that.

Britt's out to face Hikaru Shida, who has one of the few great themes in the company. Britt damn near necked herself on a Japanese armdrag. Yikes. Crowd busts out a "SHE'S A DENTIST!" chant, which is further proof that she should just be a heel. During the break, Britt's nose gets jacked up. Slingblade into a pumphandle kinda-flatliner for 2. Pendulum DDT on the middle rope gets 2 for Britt - good stuff there. A fan yells for Britt to give her a root canal. Lockjaw is avoided and the credenza gets 2. Falcon arrow for Shida gets 2.9! Running knee ends it for Shida. This was okay-ish, but got good towards the end.

 JR throws to a Dark Order video to help explain the group. FINALLY! A guy gets bullied on the
subway before an ad airs to make the group out to be a cult of sorts. Great - before, the Dark Order was stupid and now they're a wacky cult. Hopefully The Leader shows up in a spaceship at BATB. Page is out for the Dynamite Dozen battle royal. So does the winner of the battle royal jump up in the rankings or something? If not, shouldn't WRESTLING LEGEND SOULTRAIN JONES be in this to win it and pawn it for some fuck money?BILLY GUNN IS HERE!

CD distracts Penta leading to him being taken out by Chucky T. Havoc staple guns the gut of Billy and then to whatever is nearby of everyone else. Billy Gunn is a great big man movez guy - not a great worker, but he's perfect in matches like this. He really can't go even in tags anymore though - he was blown the fuck up in the Outlaws 5 years ago. Spears takes Janela out with a chairshot when he's up top during the break.

ORANGE RUNS WILD ON BILLY before getting thrown out by MJF. "SUCK MY DICK!" maybe...don't say that... Wardlow distracts Billy and Page hits the buckshot and throws Billy out after a Marty sell. Jungle Boy gets a running rana and an HBK '95 near-elimination! IT'S PAGE VERSUS JUNGLE BOY TO...no, MJF hid under the ring and eliminates Jungle Boy and poses! Tremendous! Jericho and Hager are largely in PIP backstage for him coming out for the announcement and humiliate the Librarians.

 
Sky's win over Jericho last week is shown. It amazes me how great the AEW Title looks on Jericho, and he says that he was fined last week. He said it wasn't conduct befitting Le Champion, so he apologizes. But he can't say he's sorry - so he has TELL 'EM BIG HURT say sorry for him here, and in every other sentence, it would be said. Tremendous! Jericho has a big announcement and because next week's show is at a venue with two hockey teams, he will have a big thank you Thanksgiving celebration for himself. He promises games, clowns, and an aquarium and he's very (sorry) it won't be in Indianapolis but they can see it on TV.

SCU comes out and Sky says that not only did SCU defend their titles, but he pinned Jericho and gave him his first loss in AEW. A giant YOU GOT PINNED chant breaks out. His DMs have been blowing up and his high school ex Melody Parsons is going out with him, leading to a Melody Parsons chant. Jericho says that she's gained a lot of weight, and Sky says that's okay, he likes big butts and he can't deny.

Jericho says that Sky's a great tag team specialist, but he isn't in Jericho's league. Jericho says that this is all cuter than baby Yoda, and Jericho gives Sky one week to train to face him after SCU fakes him out by saying that they need a few months to prep. Kaz tries to goad Jericho into making it a title match, so Jericho demands it be one. Sky says Jericho may not think he has a chance, but he's been waiting 15 years for a chance like this and he'll turn Le Champion into Le Bitch! Inner Circle beats down SCU. Cutler and Nakazawa get beaten up trying to make a save. Judas Effect lands and KOs Sky. Marko comes down and gets beaten down. Then Jungle Boy. AND THEN A GIANT CHANT FOR LUCHASAURUS! They tease a Hager-Saurus brawl before Hager just leaves.

Peter Avalon is in the ring to get killed by Luchasaurus. High kick hits before a tombstone facebuster ends it in mere seconds. PERFECT! Well, it could've used more kicks and flips, but it was short and effective and that's good until he's 100%. PNP's LAX homage is so great - weird to have them as heels paying tribute to a friend, but it does kind of work in that they're layered characters and not just one note. Private Party is so ungodly over given how little ringtime they actually have.

Exalibur talks about Matt Travis training Private Party and inspiring LAX to get off the streets. TREMENDOUS spot with PnP going back and forth with repeated tags and swapping members off a delayed suplex for 2. It's such a simple spot and so perfect. Back rake after they take Quen's top off and a Boston crab leads to a superkick from Ortiz. Outside-in Code Red gets 2 for Kassidy when Santana pulls the ref's leg. Quen dives onto him, but his back is too hurt for Silly String. Pop-up Batista bomb into a buzzsaw kick gets 2 for PNP. Hanging stunner and a superkick gets 2 for PNP! Nick takes a slapjack away from Ortiz before Gin and Juice ends it!

Dustin runs wild on Sammy and PNP with his cast. Kenny trains with Nakazawa and says that he's not really a promo guy, but he's lost his marbles and he's found the cause - All Out when he lost to Pac. He let his guard down and Mox cleaned the scraps up. Jr sends it down to the YOUNG DAPPER YAPPER Justin Roberts. Darby is shown skateboarding around with a MOX bodybag. A precession brings it down to the ring.

Mox comes down and Darby just darts out like a bullet with a tope! Big brawl in the crowd. Mox carries him in a fireman's carry and F5s him over the barricade to the floor. Mox bounces Darby off with a crossbody attempt. Shotgun dropkick hits hard for Mox! Big biel by Mox. It's weird to see him working as a giant, but it works. Mox holds him for a series of trapping chops. A back elbow leads to a tree fall sell by Darby. Mox is taking him way too lightly here - I can see a Kid/Razor situation here.

Mox gets a cloverleaf before turning it into a deathlock STF. Mox is sent into the steps hard. Tony puts over next week's show at Sears Centre. Mox goes for a superplex to the floor, but Darby traps the fingers in the turnbuckle link and then Mox shoves him down hard. Mox's X plex is avoided due to the bad finger being bitten by Darby - so he just does it with the other arm. Tremendous! BARREL ROLL TOPE BY DARBY!

Bodybag is brought in and Mox lands a giant lariat. Mox puts him in the body bag but the ref takes him out of it. Standing diamond dust hits, but Mox gets a bossman slam. Darby avoids the Shift, but only gets 2 off a schoolboy and 2.5 off a yoshi tonic! COFFIN DROP INTO AN RNC BUT Darby cradles him for 2! SUPER PARADIGM SHIFT HITS AND WINS IT. GODDAMN THIS RULED! Tony calls it an ass-kicking match and he's damn ride.