NXT cancelled its NZ shows. Not selling enough tickets?
Yay Team Smackdown.
Orton with a Stone Cold edge is money… but not in the PG era
NXT cancelled its NZ shows. Not selling enough tickets?Clearly. I don't think they've done anywhere near the level of ticket sales they were expecting - Melbourne still has seats available in every section bar ringside and that is one of their 2 best markets in Oz, possible given they're running a lot of places the main WWE tour doesn't even go that they might be doing OK in places like Canberra, Gold Coast and Newcastle. Certainly over on BogFooty, there is a lot of disappointment about the reddit hype/leak of a Takeover (probably either by someone from WWE or the promoter TEG Dainty) that didn't eventuate and a fair amount of fans over there just won't bother going to any event that isn't a TV taping or PPV/Takeover - neither of which we're going to get anytime soon, if ever.
They didn’t sell out Boston and New York dates this week and their fans are usually rabid, so this isn’t just an Oz thing. I just think they’ve gotten used to selling out shows without having to do anything more than announce the date, which is starting to not happen now that the roster is going through a transition phase and has lost their 2 biggest draws. I think they’ll have to sit down and adapt their promotion and touring philosophy if they want to keep selling out venues - possibly may want to avoid weeknights for a few months until they’ve rebuilt the depth and actually announce a card before the date. Having Aries and Hideo out also doesn’t help a shallow upper card and 2 of their mid-tier acts that people might be willing to pay to see have to kept off the A tour so the B/Florida tour has reasonable main events for the week.
Japan’s clearly being better run and promoted - they actually have a card. Oz just has 1 match announced and that is only for Melbourne.
Here’s the Japan card so whilst not all the matches will be the same, barring injuries this is probably all the people touring (minus the 3 special attractions for Japan), based on the card, 2 established acts and a new one aren’t coming which might cause some disappointment.
Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Samoa Joe for the NXT Championship
Tye Dillinger vs. Bobby Roode vs. Elias Sampson
#DIY vs. Tajiri and Tozawa
Tino Sabbatelli and Riddick Moss vs. The Revival
Oney Lorcan vs. Andrade Almas
Liv Morgan and Aliyah vs. Peyton Royce and Billie Kay
Also appearing
Asuka
Hideo Itami
TM61
Buddy Murphy
Wesley Blake
Ember Moon
No Sanity, Authors of Pain or No Way Jose - presumably working the Florida tour or some of them may’ve had visa issues. Nice of H to have Moss on the tour, whilst Hideo gets to apologise for not being able to wrestle because some moron (Moss) spiked him into the mat.
They needed to tour here before pulling almost all of the top talent out. That, or bring some of the recent call ups back just for a tour. If Enzo/Cass or American Alpha were coming I’d be much more tempted.
Outside of Joe/Nak and The Revival/DIY the whole roster is a bit meh at the moment. Others show promise but don’t do much for me.
NXT may be “meh” at the moment but there’s basically zero chance anyone sane could enjoy watching 6 hours of Survivor Series over today’s Takeover (which was very good, and included a MOTY candidate).
TakeOver spoilers in match announcements for the Melbourne show:
http://i0.wp.com/www.pwtorch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/post/2016/11/Poster-NXTMelbourneDec9_3x2_600.png
WWE announced that the Dec. 8 Melbourne, Australia event will headline with a rematch between Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe for the NXT Title in a cage. The graphic for the event says it will be filmed for WWE Network content. Also, Peyton Royce challenging Asuka for the NXT Women’s Title.
NXT may be “meh” at the moment but there’s basically zero chance anyone sane could enjoy watching 6 hours of Survivor Series over today’s Takeover.TakeOver spoilers in match announcements for the Melbourne show:
http://i0.wp.com/www.pwtorch.com/site/wp-content/uploads/post/2016/11/Poster-NXTMelbourneDec9_3x2_600.pngWWE announced that the Dec. 8 Melbourne, Australia event will headline with a rematch between Shinsuke Nakamura and Samoa Joe for the NXT Title in a cage. The graphic for the event says it will be filmed for WWE Network content. Also, Peyton Royce challenging Asuka for the NXT Women’s Title.
Survivor series is going to be 6 hours?!?
I will just fast forward to the goldberg v.s lesnar match when i get home from work
Well, two hour pre-show plus four show main show.
11.5 hours over a three day stretch is nuts (and then Smackdown the next day, NXT the next…)
Got damn take over was good.
Revival/DIY need to keep fueding. Forever. Though, DIY go alright against each other too.
I love Dillinger. Not because he’s good but because that gimmick is so over it’s hilarious.
10
10
10
10
10
Just watched the lesnar vs goldberg match. Im not going to lie i popped huge at the match
Was all kinds of nonsense. The right kind of nonsense.
Don’t think any of the elimination matches were particularly good. Disappointed there was no real push for American Alpha.
Hope Zayn and Miz can keep fueding tho.
Just watched the lesnar vs goldberg match. Im not going to lie i popped huge at the match
I’m just in shock they did that to Lesnars character
Will be interesting to see where they take it from here
Thought the elimination matches were all pretty damn good. Fast forwarded the cruiser weight
match
Just glad this one clocked in under 3 n a half hours
Even less if you forward all the BS ads etc
I only watched 2 matches, the raw main event guys v.s the smackdown main event guys. Thought it was ok but nothing too special. So happy to see Bray be the man at the end. Shane looked legit hurt from that spear.
Roman still sucks. Major LOL at the crowd chant of “romans sleeping”
And goldberg v.s lesnar. I saw on the time on the network that there was only like 10min left of the show before the main event. Thought- its just going to be another lesnar squash match. Which it was, but certainly not in the way i expected. Was awesome
I havent actually reacted to a pinfall like that since Rock beat Cena years ago. For those few seconds i was actually emotionally invested in wrestling again, was great.
Watch them screw it up tomorrow.
My call (spoilers, obviously)
10-Woman Survivor Series Match: Raw vs Smackdown
WWE know who THE woman is, with Bayley launching the main show. Poor Alicia being the one to follow her…
Nia Jax’s eye shadow: WTF?!?
Have none of Smackdown ever been in a tag match? If your parter is going to be counted out, you pick them up and throw them in! Lame.
Raw then let Jax be submitted. Morons.
Seven of ten kicked out, and Bayley seen zero action. Oh the anticipation…
LOL, Bayley is the first to cheat, as you should, and save Charlotte. Bizarro world.
And Bayley wins the match, quick and clean one-two-three on Becky.
Crowd goes mild for Charlotte beating Bayley down post-match.
Intercontinental Title Match: Miz (c, Smackdown) vs Zayn (Raw)
Mind you, crowd are a bit flat as they can’t immediately grasp how they should react to a ridiculously babyfacy Canadian babyface with endearing music… versus Miz. Maybe the acoustics suck.
Crowd continue to refuse to count along, just going TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN!
His loss last night was almost as GLORIOUS as Maryse.
10-Tag Teams Survivor Series Match: Smackdown vs Raw
Hmm, Enzo demonstrates the acoustics aren’t THAT bad.
The two teams here clearly demonstrate that booking is more important than star power.
Thank deity Gable is there to do the thinking for Jordan, who scrambles out of the ring when he’s meant to be doing the pin.
Oddly, Bullet Club are allowed to be competent/dominating, till Enzo’s inattention screws it all up.
TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! Yes, fourteen clubbing tens from Sheamus.
There were a lot more BAYLEY SECTIONs than there are CESARO SECTIONs. He does get the same role of eventually coming in and clearing house.
TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! TEN! Yes, approximately twenty-two tens for the Cesaro swing, until they dissolve into applause.
SHARPSHOOTER by Cesaro to eliminate the Usos for the win and claim sole survivor status.
Cruiserweight Title Match: The Brian Kendrick (c, Raw) vs Kallisto (Smackdown)
The refs must want to curse out the crowd every time there’s a count-out going on.
Match ends when Corbin runs in and kills them both. Because he hit Kendrick first, Brian retains and is stuck on Raw.
10-Man Survivor Series Match: Raw vs Smackdown
JBL defends Ellsworth… There are no words.
It’s A-Grade bullshit that Ambrose comes out after Styles. And as soon as Ambrose’s music finishes, the crowd make that very clear with an AJ STYLES chant.
LOL, crowd absolutely boo the crap out of Reigns’ entrance.
Jericho maintains an aloof sneer as the crowd pops huge for him.
Opener of Styles vs Owens is a huge tease. Crowd sucks it up.
Jericho-AJ.
Rollins-AJ. We’re just exploring dream matches here. AJ goes heel and tags Ambrose in instead.
Lots of stalemates to start with.
Jericho tags in to demand the stupid idiot pays back his $15,000 for the ruined LED jacket.
Gobbledegooker reference.
More TEN chants for the punches in the corner.
HERE COMES THE MONEY. He’s not going at that pace for long, I’ll tell ya.
Oh, what a stupid crowd, distracted from booing Reigns by a few TEN strikes in the corner. Soon as he stops they resume booing, and he tags out quickly.
All-in brawl after a dozen minutes. McBigFace Strongman finally does something, wandering around with Ambrose for so long he gets punked out by AJ — McStrongMan is a stupid idiot.
(Neither of the Wyatt Family have been tagged in yet.)
AJ and Ambrose repeatedly work well together to clear the ring of Raw trash, which ends in them fighting each other. Go figure. That allows McStrongMan to pin Ambrose and generally go on a rampage. Finally, Bray confronts him, but after a tease Wyatt is also thrown out.
RKO out of nowhere! Orton and Bray lay McStrongMan on the announce table, and HERE COMES THE ELBOW. Table demolished.
McStrongMan is about to get back in the ring at the count of TEN (real ten, not just TEN) when TWO HANDS come out from below the ring and hold his foot. McStrongMan is eliminated. He destroys Ellsworth in retribution, though.
Twenty-five minutes in, only two eliminations.
At some stage Jericho got a bloodied nose.
When AJ and Jericho go at it, the crowd still won’t boo AJ.
AJ sucker-punches Owens, who charges in and whacks him repeatedly with The List of Jericho and a pop-up power-bomb… and gets disqualified. Crowd not impressed with that call. BULLSHIT BULLSHIT BULLSHIT.
Jericho goes nuts collecting the scattered pages of The List… and gets RKOed. And Rollins and Reigns don’t notice the pin a metre behind their back as they watch Owens depart.
Team Raw = Team Stupid Idiots.
Two versus four now. I have a horrible feeling Reigns will be sole survivor. Why?
Reigns comes in for the hot tag… BOOOOOOOO. This never gets old.
AJ kicks out of Niagra Driver from Reigns.
Superman punch intercepted. Shane comes in, starts beating up both Reigns and Rollins. Yeah nah.
Shane speared in mid air by Reigns, shoulder up at two but ref eliminates him anyway. The match takes a little pause as they shuffle the dead body out of the ring.
ROMAN SUCKS. ROMAN SUCKS. ROMAN SUCKS. ROMAN SUCKS.
Roman saves Rollins on the outside. BOOOOOO.
They’re being very Shieldy, as they prepare to put Randy through the Spanish table. AJ in for the save.
Ambrose run-in to beat down AJ.
STUPID IDIOT the crowd chant at Ambrose.
Shield beat down security and refs. Crowd pop, but also boo.
AJ driven through the Spanish table Shield-style.
Remember when Shield vs Wyatts was the hottest thing ever? Here we go again, after a few years of stuffing up each of the individuals.
HARPER AT RINGSIDE.
He can’t afford to get caught by the ref, but the crowd pop when he flattens Reigns outside the ring as the ref watches the action within it.
A very short THIS IS AWESOME chant.
RKO OUT OF NOWHERE!
It’s Reigns vs Bray and Orton.
Sister Abigail blocked, Superman punch, spear coming… BOOOOOOO (though it’s more of a defeated BOOOOOO at this stage).
Orton intercepts to take the bullet for Bray, Sister Abigail, Smackdown WIN.
THANK FARK FOR THAT.
That was a surprisingly non-lame Survivor Series match. Apart from that STUPID IDIOT helping Reigns. 52 minutes bell to bell.
Ha, I forgot there was one match left. 17 minutes left in the show, before ads and commentator intro and video promo and two entries. Match gonna be short.
Nice to hear Tenay and the Weasel and JR in the promo.
Vince Fantasy Match: Goldberg vs Lesnar
Initial pop for Lesnar quickly subsides. Goldberg chant is there but is certainly from universal. He steps through the sparks with just over 7 minutes to go. Bell is rung with 5:17 to go.
After initial kerfuffle, Lesnar turns his back while getting up and is speared. A second spear. Jackhammer. Match lasted 86 seconds.
What a crock of ■■■■ that was. Even Big Show lasts longer than that in his Wrestlemania gimmick matches, and would be smart enough to roll out of the ring after either spear.
Hey, at least Bray got a win!
Major LOL at the crowd chant of "romans sleeping"Ah, that’s what that chant was. Cheers.
So… that stupid idiot Ambrose is gonna die. Just a question of whether Undertaker or AJ kill him first.
Im pretty sure they were chanting yes yes, not 10 10. Though neither chant really makes any sense in those situations.
I shook my head at the jericho elimination. Reigns is probably a metre away yet has his back turned. I could understand that happening to a heel, but to one of your supposed golden boys that just made reigns looks beyond stupid. His facial expressions are really bad as well.
There was a move where storman chucked AJ over the top rope, but aj’s legs hit the ropes first,could of been very very nasty.
DJR, are you writing up your recaps for a website or something? Pretty detailed
Yeah I’m waiting to hear word if Styles was okay after that throw.
Sasha Banks and Kofi’s eliminations were up there for worst of the night.