By Steve Khan, WrestlingObserver.com
– Air Date: July 30, 2015 (July 29 in Canada)
– Location: BOK Center in Tulsa, OK
The Big News:
Cesaro pinned Kevin Owens in a tag-team main event.
Show Recap:
Seth Rollins came out to start the show. They aired clips of John Cena beating him on Raw and footage of Rollins breaking Cena’s nose. Rollins was greeted with “You tapped out” chants.
Rollins said he reached his breaking point on Raw and his rage got the best of him, which is why he broke Cena’s nose and sent him to the emergency room. He cut to the footage again, this time in slow motion. They also showed the photos from the website of Cena’s busted face.
Rollins laughed and called it gruesome and beautiful. Cesaro interrupted because he didn’t want to hear Rollins go on and on (and on and on) like he does every week, and reminded Rollins that he tapped out. Rollins said he didn’t tap, it was a strategic move because he has bigger things to worry about than Cena’s little US Title.
Cesaro mentioned that he and Rollins have a rematch later but said he could make Rollins tap out right now. Rollins accepted his challenge. Rollins was given some pretty bad dialogue here.
Non-Title: Cesaro beat WWE Champion Seth Rollins via DQ
Cesaro tried a sharpshooter but Rollins escaped the ring and Kevin Owens sauntered out to join commentary. Phillips asked Owens about his interview from the website. Owens said he wasn’t going to repeat himself and Phillips can just go watch it.
Owens told Phillips he should call the match like he’s being paid to do. Owens said he broke his nose in his first NXT match but nobody was talking about that. Owens reminded Phillips that he was there for that but wasn’t calling Owens a hero like Cena.
As Cesaro went for the big swing, Owens asked the announcers if they remember when he said Cesaro should watch is back. Owens then left the announce table and attacked Cesaro for the DQ. Rollins looked annoyed at first but they double teamed Cesaro briefly and left. Owens was great on commentary.
8-Man Tag Match: Lucha Dragons & Los Matadores (w/El Torito) beat The Ascension & The New Day (w/Xavier Woods)
New Day cut a fun promo before match—which I can’t really do justice—saying they should be number one contenders if they beat both the Lucha Dragons and Los Matadores tonight. I believe they called Big E, “Big Wool” because he’s a heavy sweater. Prime Time Players were on commentary again and Darren Young wore glasses and had a clipboard to take notes.
Heels got the heat on Sin Cara until he made the hot tag to Kalisto. Torito took out Woods with a 619 (around the ring post). Los Matadores took out Konner with dives and Kalisto pinned Viktor with a rollup. New Day berated Viktor afterwards. They could probably make better use of Kalisto who really stands out even in limited action.
Backstage, Rich Brennan caught up with Kevin Owens who was leaving the building. Brennan informed Owens that he was teaming with Rollins to face Cesaro and a partner of his choosing. Owens didn’t know this, but said whoever teams with Cesaro is going to be sorry.
They aired a video package for Becky Lynch. She called herself the best and was gunning for Nikki Bella’s diva’s title. Lynch also said that she teamed with Paige because she’s known Paige since she was 13 years old.
Luke Harper and Bray Wyatt did a promo. Wyatt said they were going to fix a mistake and asked Roman Reigns if he could trust Dean Ambrose the way Bray trusts Harper. I think that’s what he said, anyway.
Rusev (w/Summer Rae) beat Jack Swagger via submission
Before the match, Rusev ranted about Lana and is mad at himself for falling for a backstabbing Russian-wannabe. Rusev casually told Summer that they would take Dog Ziggler for a walk after he crushes his opponent. They were about to kiss, but Jack Swagger interrupted. Rusev was great again.
Jerry Lawler asked why they named the dog “Ziggler,” and would love to see puppies on SmackDown, so he’s a little behind. A fan yelled “Get out of my country!” at Rusev. Simmer down, guy.
They had a surprisingly long match here in Swagger’s home state. It felt long and boring at first, but to their credit, it picked up and was pretty good by the end. The crowd was sort of behind Swagger was well.
Eventually, Rusev hit a superkick and applied the Accolade. Swagger almost fought out of it, but Rusev squeezed it in and Swagger tapped.
After the match, Rusev was about to kiss Summer, but he noticed Swagger getting to his feet. Rusev charged at him but Swagger countered with a slam and ankle lock. Rusev crawled out of the ring to escape. Swagger posed and they played his music. Weird.
Backstage, Brennan asked Cesaro if he found a partner. Cesaro looked at his Tyson Kidd armband and said, “not here.” Cesaro said he has a problem with both Rollins and Owens and doesn’t care if he has to fight alone.
Stardust beat R-Truth via pinfall
Stardust won with Cross Rhodes, which he is now calling The Queen’s Crossbow, another Green Arrow reference. After the match, Stardust told Truth he’s failed this city and tried to put a Stardust mask on him (the one they sell for kids) while calling out Neville. Neville ran out and caught him with a dive. Stardust managed to bail through the crowd. The crowd didn’t care about any of this, not even Neville running out.
Backstage, Sheamus cut a nothing promo. He doesn’t like Randy Orton.
They aired a video package for Brock Lesnar/Undertaker and announced that Lesnar would be on Raw.
Cesaro & Dean Ambrose beat Kevin Owens & Seth Rollins via pinfall
Cesaro entered ready to fight on his own, but Ambrose came out before the bell rang. He ran right after Rollins, of course, and the heels bailed just in time for commercial.
The heels worked over Cesaro for a few minutes until he tagged Ambrose, who ran wild on Rollins. Owens got in Ambrose’s way allowing Rollins to hit him with a turnbuckle powerbomb. He followed with a flying knee and superkick but Ambrose kicked out. Ambrose dodged a senton from Owens and tagged Cesaro who hit a Swissblade.
Rollins tried to interfere but Cesaro got him in the big swing swing and sharpshooter. Cesaro then clotheslined himself and Owens to the floor. Ambrose took out Rollins with a superplex and clothesline. Owens caught him with a superkick and went for the pop-up powerbomb, but Cesaro rolled up Owens for the win.
Cesaro celebrated like this was a big deal, jumping on the announce table to pose to the crowd. He hugged Ambrose and the show ended.
Final Thoughts:
Rusev vs. Swagger was the top of the hour segment, which tells you all you need to know about this show. Cesaro getting another win is nice, but this was an otherwise missable show. You could really feel how light they were on talent the way certain segments were dragged out. Despite the light crew, the main event was only about 10 minutes.
Also, no women’s match tonight. The revolution will be televised only some of the time.
