Post by Slade on Mar 24, 2021 9:08:48 GMT -5
Date: March 1, 2021
From: Bell MTS Place in Winnipeg, Manitoba
Commentary Team: Michael Cole and Tony Schiavone
Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel
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On the heels of an important victory in last’s elimination chamber match, we start the show with Triple H coming to the ring to cut one of his long-ass promos about why he’s the best in this business. After 10-minutes or so, Mash-Up Wrestling Men’s World Champion Samoa Joe came out to the ring to inform Triple H that he’s going to kill him at Wrestlemania. Joe got right up in The Game’s face to make his point. Triple H didn’t back off, but he clearly didn’t appreciate it. Adding insult to injury, Joe turned his back and began to walk away after he finished saying his piece. Triple H took offense and struck him from behind with a double axehandle and pounded on his back with some forearm shots. He got Joe up against the ropes and went for a whip. Joe reversed it and took Triple H down with a running single-leg dropkick. Before Joe could do anything more to Triple H, he had rolled out of the ring. Triple H pointed at Joe from the floor and said he would get his soon. Joe welcomed him to try anytime.
AJ STYLES vs. BRIAN PILLMAN : Styles went for a Phenomenal Forearm, but Pillman caught his arm on his way down and turned it into a cross armbreaker. It looked like Pillman might pull off the win here, but Styles was able to scramble and stretch his body out just enough to get a toe on the bottom rope. About A minute later, after some more back-and-forth action, Pillman attempted to hit Styles with Air Pillman, but Styles caught Pillman on the way down with a hurricanrana as a counter. When Pillman got up, Styles gave him the ushigorishi and then put Pillman in the Calf Crusher. Pillman got to the ropes after about 20 seconds. It wasn’t long after that when Styles spun free from a hanging neckbreaker attempt and executed a Pele kick followed by the Styles Clash to get the win, thus becoming the first wrestler to advance to the next round of the Intercontinental Championship tournament. (18:27) -- Winner: AJ Styles
Mean Gene interviewed Chris Jericho, who had Jake Hager with him, in the backstage area, about his win over Bret Hart the night before and asked him how it felt to be challenging Hulk Hogan for the WWE Universal Championship here in his hometown of Winnipeg. Jericho said that no one should be surprised that he beat that decrepit washed up idiot, Bret Hart, and no one should be surprised when he defeats Hogan for the WWE Universal Championship right here in his city, in front of his family and friends. This is no fairy tale. This is real life and this is what it is like to be in the Inner Circle. Fairy tales and all your wildest dreams are a reality. That’s why the Demo God will be Le Champion at the end of the night. A backstage staffer handed Mean Gene a note and he informed Jericho that because of Sammy Guevara’s involvement in the match last night, it was been decided that tonight’s main event will be a triple threat match between Hogan, Jericho, and Hart. Jericho and Hager threw a fit. They called Mean Gene a stupid idiot, they claimed Guevara wasn’t there, and they vowed to murder Hart before he even entered the ring.
[IVORY vs. BAYLEY vs. SARAH LOGAN : Ivory executed a Samoan driver on Sarah Logan and made the cover, but Bayley broke it up at the count of two and immediately brought her to her feet for an arm trap headlock driver. Bayley quickly pinned her to get the three count to move a step closer to becoming the inaugural WWE Women’s Champion.(9:37) -- Winner: Bayley
EDDIE GUERRERO vs. “MILLION DOLLAR MAN” TED DIBIASE : It was about 5 seconds after the bell rang when Eddie Guerrero and Ted DiBiase locked up. About two seconds later, DiBiase appeared to win the grapple. Guerrero went flying backwards onto his back. DiBiase quickly covered him and the referee counted to three without so much as an attempt to move by Guerrero. It was shocking how quickly DiBiase won the match. In doing so, he moved on to the second round of the WWE Intercontinental Championship tournament. Guerrero, for his part, quickly left the ring and walked away as if nothing happened. (0:13) -- Winner: “Million Dollar Man” Ted DiBiase
DUDLEY BOYZ vs. WORLD’S GREATEST TAG TEAM : Bubba Ray and D-Von executed the 3-D on Charlie Haas, but Jim Cornette got onto the ring apron to distract the referee. Bubba Ray came over and started choking Cornette by pulling on his tie. As the referee tried to break it up, and even while being choked, Cornette threw his tennis racket to Shelton Benjamin, who hit D-Von between the eyes with it. Then, he gave him Paydirt and put Haas on top of D-Von. Benjamin knocked Bubba Ray out of the ring and gave him a slingshot plancha to keep him from breaking up the fall. With the win, the World’s Greatest Tag Team advance to the semifinals of the WWE Tag Team Championship tournament. (13:11) -- Winners: World’s Greatest Tag Team
Mean Gene meets up with AJ Styles to get a few words on his victory tonight and his thoughts on what happened to him at Elimination Chamber. Styles had nothing but praise for Pillman as an opponent but said that he feels like he’s at the top of his game right now and doesn’t think there’s anyone who can stop him from winning the Intercontinental Championship. As for the Elimination Chamber, Styles said that he didn’t see the attack by Guerrero coming. What Guerrero did to him was cheap. In an elimination match, you have to pick your spots. Styles saw his opening and eliminated Guerrero fair and square. If he ever got a chance to meet him in the ring, he would pay him back by giving him another loss.
Just then, Guerrero rushed Styles from behind, knocking him over with a swing of a briefcase to the back of his head. With Styles down, Guerrero put the boots to him. He picked him up and threw him into a wall and then gave him a brainbuster on the floor. Mean Gene asked him what the meaning of this was. Guerrero said Styles didn’t see that one coming either. He doesn’t appreciate being disrespected like that. Mean Gene asked what was in the briefcase. Guerrero said he just got paid enough money to buy himself a new El Camino. Mean Gene asked if he wanted to be Intercontinental Champion. Guerrero said he sure did, but he also likes making lots of money. And beside, he can win it anytime he wants but AJ Styles can’t. He promises that Styles won’t be wrestling for the title at Wrestlemania.
WWE UNIVERSAL CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH : HULK HOGAN vs. BRET HART vs. CHRIS JERICHO : The match ended up between a one-on-one contest as Bret Hart didn’t come out when his entrance music hit. During the match, our cameras cut away to a scene backstage where The Hitman and The Anvil were found by Owen Hart, Davey Boy Smith and Brian Pillman at the bottom of an emergency exit stairwell with their hands cuffed around the stair railings. Back in the ring, in the dying moments of the match, Jericho distracted the referee after doing a springboard dropkick to knock Hogan off the ring apron, while Jake Hager gave Hogan a belly-to-belly suplex on the floor. Hager rolled Hogan into the ring. When Hogan got to his feet, Jericho nailed him with the Judas Effect! He pinned Hogan. 1…2… the pinfall was broken up by Bret Hart! Within seconds, all hell had broken loose with the Inner Circle and Hart Foundation engaged in a huge brawl. Through the fog of war, after Jericho surprised Hart with a Judas Effect, he was clotheslined, given a big boot, bodyslam, and running leg drop. Hogan pinned Jericho and got the 3-count, defeating Jericho in his city and in front of his friends and family. (23:28) -- Winner: Hulk Hogan
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