Post by Slade on Apr 29, 2022 14:40:12 GMT -5
Live from Smoothie King Center in
New Orleans, Louisiana
On Monday, March 28, 2022
WWE Commentary Team: Mauro Ranallo, Tony Schiavone and Corey Graves
WWE Ring Announcer: Howard Finkel
WWE Backstage Reporter: Mean Gene Okerlund
***
Samoa Joe defeated Pete Dunne by pinfall at 17:11 to earn the fourth and final spot for the RAW brand in Mania Mayhem at WrestleMania II. The Samoan Submission Machine and the Bruiserweight worked a stiff match. There were a lot of hard jabs, chops, and forearm shots thrown both by combatants. A variety of submission holds were attempted. Dunne performed a lot of joint manipulation, while Joe worked over Dunne’s head, shoulders, and neck. One could describe the match as a game of one upmanship as they traded submission holds, mimicking each other’s holds to try for the submission. They both applied their own versions of the STF, Indian deathlock, inverted Indian deathlock, and single-leg crabs. After trading long 2-count pinfalls, Joe attempted a powerbomb, but Dunne countered with a headscissors takedown transitioned into a cross armbreaker. Joe got to the ropes. Dunne hit him with an enzuigiri, then went to the top turnbuckle. Joe lunged into the ropes to trip him up, then took him off the top turnbuckle with the Musclebuster for the win.
Mean Gene Okerlund spoke to AJ Styles who said that he’ll make Finn Balor regret the day he decide to cut “The Phenomenal” AJ Styles out of the Bullet Club. Styles has already beat Karl Anderson and Doc Gallows, but defeating the so-called Prince will be the most satisfying victory of all. After he has gone three-and-o against the Bullet Club, they’ll finally see what the rest of the world already knows, which is that AJ Styles was the best bullet in the club.
“Macho Man” Randy Savage defeated Little Guido by pinfall at 4:51 after he executed his patented diving elbow drop on him. Savage also fought off Big Vito during the match, giving him a vertical suplex on the floor. After the match, Savage grabbed a microphone, and with a look of intensity unlike that which has ever been seen, he cut a promo warning the rest of the world of the consequences of targeting his manager, Miss Elizabeth. He said that ripping Triple H’s body apart, limb-for-limb, is all he cares about now. Winning the RAW World Championship will just nothing more than a little bonus at the end of the night. But hear him, and hear him loud and clear, after the Macho Man gets through with The Game, he’ll be so brutally disfigured that no one will recognize him ever again. Triple H is a dead man walking, and April 3, 2022, is the date they’ll print on his death certificate. Oh yeah!
Mean Gene spoke to Nyla Rose, who justified her actions towards the UWA Universal Women’s Champion Sasha Banks a week ago by saying that Banks needed a little taste of her own medicine. Rose said that she is the most fearsome woman in all of professional wrestling. At WrestleMania, she has more Beast Bombs in store for Banks. When she’s done with Banks, she’ll have to be carted away from the ring on a stretcher, while Rose walks away as the new UWA Universal Women’s Champion.
Harlem Heat defeated the Good Brothers by pinfall at 12:28 when Booker T pinned Karl Anderson for the 3-count. In the final moments of the match, Stevie Ray executed the Slapjack on Doc Gallows, and Booker T gave Karl Anderson the axe kick followed by a Spin-a-roonie. Then, he and his older brother gave him the Towering Inferno to finish him off. Harlem Heat looked poised and ready to challenge Strike Force for the UWA Universal Tag Team Championships at WrestleMania II.
Adam Cole came to the ring, accompanied by Bobby “The Brain” Heenan. Cole called out Eddie Guerrero for his actions interfering in last week’s main event. He said that Guerrero was a coward who deliberately cost him the win in that 6-man tag team match because he is too afraid to defend the Intercontinental Championship against him because he knows he can’t beat Adam Cole Bay-Bay. Eddie Guerrero appeared on the Titantron with the title belt slung over his shoulder. Guerrero said that last week was a lesson in how to lie, cheat, and steal from the greatest of all-time. And this week will be another. In that moment, Guerrero slid into the ring behind Cole while he was still looking at Guerrero on the Titantron, grabbed him from behind, and gave him a release German suplex. Guerrero stayed on him with the Three Amigos before giving him a brainbuster. Then, he climbed to the top rope and gave him a frog splash. Guerrero picked up the mic and said that Cole is too stupid to realize that he’ll always be several steps behind the Latino Heat, and he'll teach him one final lesson in the art of lying, cheating, and stealing at WrestleMania. Viva la raza!
Rhea Ripley defeated Ruby Riot by submission at 9:06 when she locked her in the Prism Trap. With the win, Ripley established herself as the number one contender and said it was time for her to finally get the RAW Women’s Championship in her hands. Bianca Belair was a special guest on commentary for this match. When the match ended, she entered the ring and clapped her hands for Ripley, then told her to be ready because the EST of WWE is on a whole other level.
Mean Gene Okerlund spoke to PAC to ask him about his plans for WrestleMania. He didn’t talk for long before The Bar arrived and complained that they weren’t booked for WrestleMania. Cesaro asked Mean Gene why he hadn’t asked them, and Sheamus said that The Bar was far more deserving of a match on WrestleMania than PAC. The Bastard said he would take them on. They laughed at him as he is without a partner. Pete Dunne walked in and asked, “Who says he doesn’t have a partner?” Sheamus and Cesaro laughed again, noting that they were such bad tag team partners in the past that they fought for two months afterwards, but then said they’d take them on.
Finn Balor defeated Stevie Richards by pinfall at 6:00 after he gave him the Coup de Grâce. Balor is primed and ready for a confrontation with his ex-Bullet Club mate, AJ Styles, at WrestleMania II.
A promotional video aired interviews with wrestling training montages of both Ricky Steamboat and Shawn Michaels, talking about and sharing their preparation for their match against one another at WrestleMania II. Steamboat and Michaels said they expected this would be the biggest match of their careers. The winner of this match will settle the question of who is the best wrestler on the grandest stage of them all!
Triple H defeated Tommaso Ciampa by pinfall at 13:07 after he executed the Pedigree on him. Ciampa came close to getting a victory over the RAW World Champion when he executed a Wilow’s Bell on him. However, his subsequent pinfall was interrupted when Bobby “The Brain” Heenan placed the Cerebral Assassin’s foot on the bottom rope. Ciampa lost his focus and left the ring to face Heenan, who backed away from him in fear. FTR was spotted quickly coming down the entrance ramp. With Ciampa distracted, Triple H nailed him from behind with a clothesline to the back of the head, then picked him up and whipped him into the steps and gave him a Pedigree on the floor. He rolled Ciampa into the ring and pinned him for the win.
After the match, Triple H got on the mic and cut a promo on the Macho Man as Dax Harwood and Cash Wheeler started to put the boots to Ciampa. This brought out the Hardy Boyz. “Macho Man” Randy Savage rushed to the ring, blowing past Matt and Jeff after hearing Triple H call Miss Elizabeth a D-rate slut. Before long, Adam Cole and Eddie Guerrero had also made their way to the ringside area to fight. The show went off the air with everyone still brawling, and referees and security officials struggling to contain them.