WWE Battleground: A new era begins

nL Live on Discord - WWE Battleground 2016!

The July pay-per-view for WWE is typically a forgotten one. Usually taking place between Money in the Bank and Summerslam, it functions primarily as a way to move things toward the second biggest show on the WWE schedule. However, due to the draft and a roster shakeup, "Battleground" ended up being one of the most compelling shows of the year.

From the beginning of the build toward the card, this show seemed to be a little bit more special. Announcing the Shield triple-threat right off the bat helped. The card that developed looked good on paper and may have exceeded expectations. The Kevin Owens/Sami Zayn match was easily the match of the night, and may end up being the WWE match of the year. However, we also got great showings from both six-man tag matches, and the Shield triple-threat was good as well. Of the eight matches on the main card, only two, at most, could really be labeled as duds.

While the matches were great, the moments may prove to be the defining points of the show. We started off with the women"s tag match, and Bayley making her WWE main roster debut to team with Sasha Banks. The crowd, which wasn"t going to accept anyone besides Bayley coming through that curtain, exploded when her music hit. That set the tone for the big moments throughout the night.

Another NXT star debuted as Mojo Rawley came out to defend Zack Ryder. While his debut may not have been the same elsewhere, he received a big hometown pop from the crowd in Washington, D.C. Seeing John Cena not just recognize Enzo Amore"s mic skills, but basically bow before them, is something that"s not going to be soon forgotten. Randy Orton"s return may not have been exactly what people wanted, but his No enhancements needed shot at Brock Lesnar is going to be talked about for weeks to come.

All of it led to the Shield triple-threat in the main event. Shockingly, the match went off without any shenanigans, despite all the authority figures being at ringside. Roman Reigns was booed louder than anyone else on the roster, and the boos continued every time he got in any offense. While he didn"t portray a heel, it seemed like they almost started to get into the crowd reaction. Eventually Ambrose and Rollins started double-teaming Reigns after Reigns started to string together some power moves. They even teamed up to powerbomb him through the announce table.

At the end, Reigns speared Rollins, but Ambrose was there to pull Reigns off and drop him with a Dirty Deeds, getting a clean pin on Reigns just days after cleanly pinning Rollins on Smackdown. The entire Smackdown locker room emptied out and celebrated with Ambrose, as he will keep the title on Smackdown.

"Battleground"has set the stage for the beginning of the new brand extension. We have Ambrose as the champion, some fresh blood, and some new feuds that need to be started. WWE provided a great start to this new era, now they just have to capitalize.

The rest of "Battleground":

-As mentioned above, the match of the night was clearly Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn. The two put everything into the match. It seemed at one point, after Sami had botched a moonsault to the outside, that the match might be in jeopardy due to an injury. However, the two soldiered on, and even brought the mistake into the match. The two know each other so well, and it showed. They brought in sequences we had seen before as wrestling fans; however, not all of it was from their WWE or NXT encounters. They brought some flashbacks to their Ring of Honor days, including Sami hitting a brainbuster (or BRAINBUSTAAAHHH) on the apron. The storytelling was truly beautiful during the match. At one point Owens basically begged Sami to stay down, but Sami didn"t, and finally, after multiple half-and-half suplexes and two Helluva Kicks, Sami ended up the victor. Will this actually be the end? Well, we"ll see. But if it is, it goes out on a high note.

-John Cena, Enzo and Cass beat The Club as Cena pinned AJ Styles after a Super-AA. The match was almost secondary to the opening promo though. Enzo was in rare form, and Cena was more than happy to be the straight man to Enzo"s antics. Cena didn"t talk at all, but his mannerisms as the promo stretched on really added to everything. I don"t want to say it was a passing of the torch moment from one great orator to another, because Enzo still has a ways to go, but the acknowledgment from Cena was a big thing.

-The oddest match of the night was the Intercontinental Title match. The match was slow, though that was almost expected, as The Miz wrestles a more old-school style, and Darren Young is trying to pattern himself after Bob Backlund. However, that wasn"t what made it on. Instead, the finish was rather baffling. After Backlund prevented Miz from leaving up the ramp, Maryse came over and slapped Backlund. Then, as Miz was pulled back into the ring by Young, Maryse fell down, pretending that Backlund hit her. That caused Miz to once again leave the ring and shove Backlund. Young came out, put the Chickenwing on Miz, and then the ref called for the bell. There was no announcement of what the actual result was, but according to WWE.com, it was a double DQ. Nothing that happened should have drawn a DQ, so that was an odd finish that I presume will continue the feud.

-Zack Ryder was unsuccessful in his attempt to win back the U.S. title. However, the important bit happened after the match was over. Rusev continued the assault on Ryder, which brought out Mojo Rawley. Rusev stared at Rawley, and then eventually backed down and left the ring. Ryder and Rawley are on a different brand from Rusev, so I"m not sure if the feud will continue, or if it was just a way to introduce Mojo to the crowd. Either way, it was good of WWE to debut him where they knew he"d get a pop near his hometown and just seven miles from where he played college football at the University of Maryland.

-The Wyatt Family beat The New Day in what may be the final match for this iteration of the Wyatts, as Braun Strowman was separated from the rest in the draft. This match, like so many others, featured some great storytelling. The best moment came when Xavier Woods and Bray Wyatt got to face off with each other. It seemed like Xavier would succumb to Bray"s influence, but instead he started teeing off on each of the Wyatt members. It wasn"t enough though, and Bray would eventually catch him with a Sister Abigail.

-Bayley debuted, but it was Sasha who picked up the pin against Charlotte, which should segway directly into the title match at Summerslam. It will be interesting to see exactly how they handle Bayley now. She wasn"t drafted, so it seems like she"ll stay away from the main roster for a little while longer. However, if there was anyone who doubted what sort of reception she"d get from the main crowd, that doubt is gone.

-Breezango beat The Usos in the preshow match.

Questions? Thoughts? Leave them in the comment section here, email me, or find me on Twitter: @TheAOster. You can also hear my podcast, Jobbing Out, at https://soundcloud.com/jobbingout

Source: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/pro-wrestling/ring-posts-blog/bal-wwe-battleground-a-new-era-begins-20160725-story.html

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WWE TV Ratings No Longer Reflect Popularity

Who does Dean Ambrose credit for helping him win the WWE World Heavyweight Title?: June 19, 2016

WWE"s (NYSE:WWE) falling television ratings suggest the company"s popularity is also declining, but Google Trends, house show attendance and merchandise revenue show otherwise.

There was a strong relationship between Google interest in WWE and WWE Raw TV ratings up until about 2013, when Google interest started to bow in the opposite direction of declining ratings.

When we take WWE Raw"s Live+SD TV ratings and average them by month, then standardize them like Google Trends metrics (by standardizing the highest instance as 100), then we see an interesting picture.

We see the correlation between the two data sets from 2008 to present is 0.2689, indicating a weak relationship between Raw"s TV ratings and Google interest in WWE across that time. (By the way, the correlation result for this and the other examples discussed later are exactly the same if we take the original non-standardized TV ratings dataset; standardizing the TV ratings data set to a standard of 100 changes nothing.)

If we look at just January 2008 through December 2013, though, the relationship is strong. For those years, Google interest and Raw TV ratings correlated well.

But if you look at the relationship after that point, you can see that the two data sets went in opposite directions.

What happened? The first thing you can point to is the launch of the WWE Network on February 24, 2014. But if you look at the graph at the top of this page again, you can see the correlation peaked and began disintegrating about in the middle of 2012, well before the launch of the WWE Network. Subscribing to the WWE Network, while it does give you access to thousands of hours of WWE content, it doesn"t give viewers access to episodes of Raw (or Smackdown) until 30 days after they originally air.

It"s plausible that the slight increase we see in WWE on Google is due to the product"s increasing presence throughout the internet and social media. It"s also plausible that a genuine decrease in popularity is masked by an increase in such activity. As I"ll discuss later, though, other metrics don"t corroborate a decline in popularity over recent years.

The graph for WWE"s Google Trends itself looks like this:

Click to enlarge

Source: Google Trends

That"s worldwide interest. If you look at interest just in the U.S., it"s very similar.

But what is the Google Trend metric? "Measuring search interest in topics is a beta feature which quickly provides accurate measurements of overall search interest," according to Google. When you measure interest in a search topic (such as WWE), Google"s algorithms "count many different search queries that may relate to the same topic". So when you select "WWE - professional wrestling company", Google is not just counting the search string "WWE" but lots of other strings that are related. It"s also important to understand the value Google Trends reveals isn"t an absolute unit; it"s a relative value, with the highest instance of interest standardized as 100, and all other instances compared to that standard.

Are Google Trends a reliable indicator of WWE"s popularity? Let"s look at Google Trends data for two similar businesses: Total Nonstop Action and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Click to enlargeSource: Google Trends

TNA is another pro wrestling company. Its decline in popularity and financial health is consistent with the Google Trends graph above.

TNA has been on cable TV with national exposure since 2005. Most of the time since 2005, it has been the number-two pro wrestling company in the country, albeit a very distant number-two to WWE. TNA was broadcast on Spike from 2005 to 2014. The peak in Google interest shown on the graph above coincides with January 4, 2010, when TNA loaded up their program in a move to Monday night to go head-to-head with Raw, scoring their highest TV rating ever, in a short-lived attempt to recreate the Monday Night Wars. After losing their deal with Spike, TNA moved to the lower profile Destination America for all of 2015 until that relationship was ended as well and it ended up on PopTV beginning 2016: a deal that provides them with no rights fees, only ad revenue. While ratings declined, the company"s financial welfare has reportedly declined as well. There are regular reports of talent and production crew members not being paid on time. Just recently, their live pay-per-view broadcast and television tapings had to be saved from cancellation by last-minute financial backing.

Click to enlarge

Source: Google Trends

UFC is the most popular mixed martial arts promotion in the world. UFC 196 in March of this year scored 1.5 million pay-per-view buys, nearly the highest in the company"s history. UFC President Dana White said it was the most successful event the organization ever promoted. That event coincides with the spike seen on the graph above for that time period. If the show only did 1.5 million buys, though, it"s interesting that UFC 100, which drew 1.6 million in July 2010, only drew 62% as much interest on Google.

What about other WWE metrics?

A decline in live event attendance in addition to TV ratings would be a more worrying sign for WWE"s popularity. But attendance over the last several years has been stable.

WWE reported in their Key Performance Indicators a 6,100 average for North American attendance for 2016 Q1, which is right on par with the norm.

2016 Q2 results will probably be released in early August. House show attendance sourced from the Wrestling Observer Newsletter for Q2 through June 11, shows attendance for those non-televised events is at a low point, with an average of 3,779 attendees per show.

John Cena is WWE"s lone proven difference-maker, among those who regularly work house shows. He"s been off of all house shows so far this year due to injury. He"s scheduled to return to regular touring beginning June 29. Investors should watch to see if WWE indeed reports a low North American live attendance average for Q2, which I would expect. And if WWE does so, investors should watch for whether there"s a recovery in Q3 and Q4 with Cena back on tour. If live attendance does not recover, that would point to a genuine decline in popularity, and other key areas of their business might suffer.

However, as the chart above shows, the decline in TV ratings over the long-term does not yet coincide with any long-term decline in either house show attendance or live attendance overall, which has fluctuated but remained stable. Nor does the decline in Raw"s ratings coincide with a decline in attendance for Raw tapings themselves, which have gone up slightly in the last few years -- again, as sourced from the Observer:

2014 WWE Raw attendance average: 9,5712015 WWE Raw attendance average: 9,6772016 WWE Raw attendance average (through June 13): 10,304

Merchandise revenue, if anything, has increased thanks to more online sales (all filed by the company under "WWEShop", whether they occur on WWEShop.com, Amazon or elsewhere).

In light of the fact that Google searches are up, house show attendance is flat, Raw attendance is slightly up, and merchandise revenue is up, I don"t believe WWE is declining in popularity. TV ratings are the only key metric in a genuine decline; reasons for that will be discussed further below.

In all this evidence, though, there is room for an argument that WWE has become more of a niche product over the last several years. It"s possible Google searches are up because the same number of people or fewer people are just searching WWE-related topics more often. It"s possible that merchandise revenue is up, not because more unique customers are buying, but because customers are buying more units and/or more expensive items. House show attendance being flat, but attendance to the more prestigious Raw events being slightly up is consistent with a fan base that is becoming more ardent. Developments like the WWE Network and the success of the NXT brand, which both appeal strongly to the most ardent fans, are clues as well. Investors should watch whether this pattern grows more over time.

All that said, WWE is in a quandary in regards to its lucrative TV rights fees and declining ratings. Television rights fees are the company"s largest revenue source. Because of that, TV ratings are still important.

To say, though, that WWE"s declining ratings are just an example of declines throughout television is skirting the issue. There are a number of critical subtleties:

Live sports ratings for the NFL, NBA and MLB, as well as mixed martial arts promotions, UFC and Bellator, are all stable if not strong in recent years. True, ratings for scripted programming are largely down. I think WWE is a hybrid of both live sports and scripted programming, so if all other things are equal, the "all ratings are down" effect should be afflicting them less so than other scripted entertainment and more so than other live sports.

Some think cord-cutting is affecting WWE"s ratings. But the ratings shouldn"t be affected by cord-cutting, because the ratings metric takes into account the percentage of households the channel is available in that view the program, so that homes that no longer have access to cable channels like the USA Network (the home of Raw and Smackdown) aren"t part of the equation.

Click to enlargeSource: Chris Harrington

Raw"s move from a two- to three-hour format in 2012 is indeed taking a toll. The anecdotal as well as the quantitative evidence suggests viewers are exhausted by the longer program. The third hour of Raw is the least viewed of the three almost every week.

Some say WWE"s strong push of digital and social media (e.g., the WWE Network, clips on YouTube and Facebook of everything that happens on Raw and Smackdown, next day VOD of Raw and Smackdown on Hulu, etc.) is cannibalizing the older media: television. I considered this a few weeks ago. Cannibalization of that kind must be happening to some degree, but it"s hard to say to what extent.

Last, but most importantly, WWE hasn"t created a difference-making star in over ten years: John Cena being the last one. Roman Reigns is the company"s new hope, but he"s been rejected by at least a portion of the fans, and has yet to show he makes a positive difference to any of the company"s known business metrics. The emergence of a new difference-making star to the level of past stars like Hulk Hogan, Steve Austin or The Rock, would blow all of these other caveats away; star power would override the winds of changing media and ratings would rise. The company"s inability to create stars in the last ten years has been its greatest shortcoming; until it remedies that problem WWE will always fall short of its true potential.

The Google Trends graphs in this article show ratings completely stopped correlating to Google searches certainly by early 2015. From there, ratings continued to decline, but Google interest didn"t. In fact, Google interest has gone up while ratings have gone down. The conclusion to draw from this is that ratings are no longer a reliable indicator of product interest. Of course, if genuine interest in WWE dramatically increased, we would see a renewed correlation between Google Trends and ratings.

"Ratings don"t matter" is the wrong conclusion to draw. From week-to-week, big changes in ratings still mean something in regards to interest within a small window, but over longer periods of time, they don"t. It would also be wrong to say that because ratings are down 10% from last year, there"s now 10% less interest in the WWE product. But most crucial, ratings do matter to TV partners who rely on WWE to sell ads and improve their rankings among other networks.

What will the future hold for the company"s TV rights fees -- 35% of all revenue in 2015 -- if ratings continue to slide? The next deal with major partners like NBCUniversal will likely happen around 2018: providing a few more years for ratings to sink further, or for WWE to cultivate a true star.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/3983054-wwe-tv-ratings-longer-reflect-popularity

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What Seth Rollins" return means for WWE and Roman Reigns

5 WWE Superstars you won"t believe tapped out

CLEVELAND, Ohio Former WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins made his return at Extreme Rules on Sunday night. And it couldn"t have come at a better time.

Aside from a fantastic four-man Intercontinental Championship match, Sunday"s pay-per-view was rather uneventful. However, after news broke Rollins was spotted in New Jersey (site of Extreme Rules), fans began to anticipate the superstar"s comeback.

Rollins arrived just after Roman Reigns defeated AJ Styles to retain the WWE Championship. Rollins delivered a pedigree to the champ, picked up the title and hoisted it in the air. The crowd at the Prudential Center went crazy.

When Rollins went down with a horrific knee injury last November, he was the WWE"s top villain. He was aligned with the Authority and generally considered a pariah among fans.

Yet, upon his return, Rollins takes on the role of a savior. WWE has struggled to overcome his absence, along with those of Daniel Bryan (who is retired), John Cena and Randy Orton. During that time, fans have refused to accept Reigns as the organization"s new face.

Judging from Rollins" pedigree, a move he"s taken from mentor Triple H, Rollins" character likely won"t change that much. But the fans clearly made their choice Sunday night. The phrase "Everyone but Roman" has now transformed into "We want Rollins."

What happens next is half up to WWE and half up to the fans. Vince McMahon and Triple H have shown a steady commitment to Reigns sitting atop the organization. However, they"ve shown just as much confidence in Rollins, who was always the standout in-ring performer in The Shield.

Rollins" injury may have just been the best thing that could have happened to WWE and Reigns. Reigns has slowly been working his way into heel territory, despite his insistence he"s not a "good guy" or a "bad guy."

Rollins" return finally provides WWE a proper adversary to engage in the kind of feud that could finally elevate Reigns in the eyes of the fans. Reigns and Rollins have a backstory. They"re former friends turned enemies and they have a tremendous amount of in-ring chemistry.

A feud between the two would, no doubt, paint Rollins as the fan favorite and Reigns as the villain. That may not be what WWE intended, but it"s what the company needs.

Having two talented young stars duke it out heading into SummerSlam in August is a winning scenario. Coupled with the return of John Cena and a probably appearance by Brock Lesnar at a big summer pay-per-view, WWE may be in better shape after Extreme Rules than anyone expected.

Source: http://www.cleveland.com/entertainment/index.ssf/2016/05/what_seth_rollins_return_means.html

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WWE stars to take the ring inside Glens Falls Civic Center

AJ Styles vs. Roman Reigns - Extreme Rules Match: 2016 WWE Extreme Rules on WWE Network
World Wrestling Entertainment Superstar John Cena, center, is accompanied by Make-A-Wish participants Rocco Lanzer, left, and and Evan Maher, as he visits the trading floor before ringing the New York Stock Exchange opening bell, Friday, Aug. 21, 2015. To date, WWE superstars and divas have granted more than 6,000 wishes. This was Cena"s 500th granted wish. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)

GLENS FALLS, N.Y. (NEWS10) The Glens Falls Civic Center has announced that WWE is returning to the GFCC.

They say on Sunday, July 17 at 5:00pm. The Summer Slam HeatWave Tour will bring the best in sports entertainment to the area.

WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns and The USOS will compete against The Club: AJ Styles, Karl Anderson, and Luke Gallows.

John Cena will take on Alberto Del Rio; plus your other favorite WWE Superstars will be in action including: Dean Ambrose, Chris Jericho, WWE Tag Team Champions New Day, WWE Womens Champion Charlotte, and more.

Tickets go on sale Friday, May 27 at 10:00 a.m. Tickets range from $15.00 to $100.00. Tickets will be available for purchase at the Glens Falls Civic Center Box Office, charge by phone at 1-855-432-2849, or online at: www.glensfallscc.com

Source: http://news10.com/2016/05/23/wwe-stars-to-take-the-ring-inside-glens-falls-civic-center/

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New Day vs. The Vaudevillains: Winner and Reaction from WWE Extreme Rules 2016

WWE Extreme Rules 2016: WHAT JUST HAPPENED!?

The New Day continued their march toward one year as the WWE tag team champions Sunday night at Extreme Rules by defeating The Vaudevillains in a competitive title match.

WWE shared a photo of the winning duo after Big E speared Aiden English:

WWE analyst Matts Madness and WhatCulture WWE offered their initial takes on the match:

After the match, English addressed the loss on Twitter:

After they had run through the tag team division, it appeared as though there was nobody left for The New Day to beat, but that changed following WrestleMania, when an influx of talent arrived to the main roster from NXT.

Chief among them were The Vaudevillains and the team of Enzo Amore and Big Cass. Those duos reached the final of a tournament to determine new No. 1 contenders for the WWE Tag Team Championships, but the match ended in disaster at Payback.

The bout had to be stopped after Enzo suffered a concussion, soEnglish and Simon Gotch became the No. 1 contenders.

That led to an entertaining feud between The Vaudevillains and the outspoken triumvirate of Kofi Kingston, Big E and Xavier Woods.

Much of the rivalry focused on English and Gotch espousing the virtues of the olden days, only for The New Day to counter with some opinions of their own, such as this one, courtesy of WWE Universe:

The New Day"s jocularity didn"t sit well with The Vaudevillains, especially when they mocked the throwback tag team with a time-machine gag.

The Vaudevillains crashed the party and attacked The New Day, after which English made a bold statement regarding the titles:

While The Vaudevillains entered Extreme Rules with momentum on their side and looked like they belonged in the same ring as The New Day, they ultimately fell short in their pursuit of the top prize in tag team wrestling.

Despite the defeat, The Vaudevillains are still in a positive position since they have lost just once on the main roster and could be in line for another title shot.

WWE is lacking in terms of heel tag teams, so unless Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson shift their focus to the championship scene or The Dudley Boyz get another crack at the straps, The New Day and The Vaudevillains may not be done with one another yet.

Putting the belts on The Vaudevillains and forcing The New Day to chase them could have created a more intriguing angle, but there was little incentive to change what has been working.

The New Day are consistently the most entertaining act on WWE programming on a weekly basis, and WWEagain showed its confidence in the group Sunday.

Follow @MikeChiari on Twitter.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2640657-new-day-vs-the-vaudevillains-winner-and-reaction-from-wwe-extreme-rules-2016

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Blizzard 2015: WWE 'Monday Night Raw' event in Hartford postponed

Check the latest CBS3 Springfield Forecast

HARTFORD, Conn. - After Roman Reigns won the Royal Rumble, fans were so upset they started a Twitter campaign to pull the plug on the WWE Network.

So far, that wish hasn't come true, but anyone hoping to see the match's fallout will have to wait. The impending snowstorm has forced the postponement of tonight's "Monday Night Raw" event at the XL Center.

Gov. Dannel Malloy, in anticipation of at least two feet of snow and four-foot-high snowdrifts, ordered a statewide travel ban starting at 9 p.m. Monday.

The three-hour wrestling event was scheduled to start at 8 p.m.

"Tickets for tonight's show in Hartford will be honored for a 'SmackDown' event this Thursday, January 29 that will air live on Syfy," the WWE said in a press release. "Fans with tickets to (Tuesday's) event in Boston will have the option of either exchanging tickets for an upcoming WWE event on Saturday, June 27 or obtaining a refund at point of purchase."

Stay with MassLive.com for continuing coverage of the region's first major snowstorm of 2015. You can also follow us on Facebook and Twitter.

Source: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2015/01/blizzard_2015_wwe_monday_night.html

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WWE SmackDown Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from ...

Rollins stalled to start the match, consulting with Jamie Noble and Joey Mercury at ringside before returning to the squared circle.

The competitors traded offense early, with Ziggler nearly scoring the victory off a schoolboy rollup. Noble, however, capitalized on a referee whose back was turned and pulled Ziggler to the mat viciously.

Back from the break, Rollins had control of the match, Irish-whipping Ziggler back-first into the post, something that had to further affect the body of the IC champion. His ladder match with Luke Harper was nothing short of a war.

Ziggler fought back, targeting the taped ribs of Rollins but falling prey to a stiff clothesline.

Rollins attempted to dive at a prone Ziggler at ringside but found himself crashing ribs-first into the announcers' table.

The Showoff scored a number of near-falls, including one off a big DDT, but Rollins managed to power out as Noble and Mercury looked stressed from outside the squared circle.

A superkick attempt by Ziggler was caught and Rollins answered with a kick to the side of the head, nearly scoring a victory of his own.

Ziggler sent Rollins flying over the top rope and into Mercury and Noble, and a Fameasser followed for two as the crowd nearly came unglued.

Mercury distracted the official while Noble delivered a cheap shot to Ziggler. This led to Mike Chioda tossing the security and Ziggler delivering the Zig-Zag for the pinfall win.

The IC champion celebrated to close out the show as Rollins, Mercury and Noble watched angrily from inside the squared circle.

Result

Dolph Ziggler defeated Seth Rollins.

Highlights and Quotes

• "Jamie is great security. No one ever said he was smart. He's great security." - JBL
• "I never complained about anything." - JBL
• "What a week, as much as I can't stand to say it, for Dolph Ziggler." - JBL
• "And he gets to sit down with me tomorrow." - Michael Cole
• "Then it's just going to get worse." - JBL

Grade

A

Analysis

The main event of Tuesday's SmackDown was an outstanding way to close out a very fun two hours of television.

Ziggler and Rollins have such incredibly chemistry with each other, and it shows every time they share the ring. Tuesday was no different, even if they did not have nearly enough time to put together a match as fans would hope.

Both are bumping machines, regularly going out of their way to make their opponents look good. They did that in spades Tuesday, despite bumps and bruises from some intensely physical matches at Sunday's TLC pay-per-view.

The near-falls kept the fans on the edge of their seats while the fact that both men are in the midst of considerable pushes kept viewers guessing as to who would emerge victoriously.

Ziggler winning was a nice surprise, as is his entire reemergence as a prime-time player in WWE. He is one of the hardest and best workers in the industry and has endured a lot of political maneuvering and creative inconsistency to make it to where he is today.

For the sake of the Intercontinental Championship, wins over Rollins and other stars of that stature are key. Ziggler, a workhorse, is exactly the guy to reestablish the credibility of the title and the prestige that once followed it.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2302341-wwe-smackdown-results-winners-grades-reaction-and-highlights-from-december-16

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WWE Raw Results: Winners, Grades, Reaction and Highlights from Dec. 15

Seth Rollins nearly won this by escaping in the match's opening seconds. John Cena managed to pull him down, and the two foes proceeded to slug it out.

After some help from J&J Security, Rollins briefly took control.He powerbombed the No. 1 contender into the turnbuckle, but Cena came charging back.

Throwing all of his signature moves at Rollins, Cena looked like he had victory within reach. Jamie Noble, though, held the cage door closed to prevent Cena from escaping.

A diving knee from Rollins wasn't enough for the win. Neither was Rollins driving Cena's face into the cage nor Joey Mercury slamming the cage door in Cena's face.

Cena clamped on the STF, but Rollins pulled him to the ropes and choked him. Noble and Mercury tried to drag Rollins out but settled for arming Rollins with the Money in the Bank briefcase.

That weapon couldn't keep Cena down. The former world champ soon prevented Rollins from escaping, slamming him in the center of the ring.

Brock Lesnar soon entered, immediately hitting a series of German Suplexes on Cena.

It looked as if Lesnar would attack Rollins as well, but Paul Heyman simply shook his hand. A grinning Rollins nailed Cena with a Curb Stomp and easily made his way out of the cage.

Result

Rollins wins via escape.

Memorable Moments and Quotes

Cena hits Rollins with a bulldog off the top rope.

Rollins kicks out of the Attitude Adjustment.

Cena hits a legdrop to the back of Rollins' head.

"This is what you asked for. This is what you wanted."Rollins to Cena.

Cena hits an Attitude Adjustment from the top rope.

"That is not a ghost; that is the top of the food chain."JBL on Lesnar.

Grade

A

Analysis

An outstanding match caps off a lackluster Raw.

Despite the win not being a clean one, Rollins benefits aplenty from this. Kicking out of the Attitude Adjustment is something only a small group of men has ever done. That alone boosts him.

It's the commentary team selling Rollins as amastermind that truly gives him momentum going forward. JBL and Company wondered if Rollins orchestrated this attack. Coming off as cunning adds to a persona that was mostly built on cowardice.

The mystery of Rollins' relationship with Heyman and Lesnar is enough to make fans want to watch next week, even if the rest of the show failed to deliver.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2300371-wwe-raw-results-winners-grades-reaction-and-highlights-from-dec-15

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WWE Raw: Live Results, Reaction and Analysis for November 24

Welcome to Bleacher Report's live coverage of Monday Night Raw for November 24.

Survivor Series exceeded all expectations and ended up delivering some of the greatest moments the WWE Universe has seen in months.

Not only did Dean Ambrose and Bray Wyatt have a great match, but the main event provided numerous opportunities for the crowd to chant "This is awesome!"

Dolph Ziggler was the hero of the night after he came back from a three-on-one handicap to win the Elimination Match and put The Authority out of power, but the big story everyone will be talking about is who helped Ziggler overcome the odds.

The icon Sting finally made his WWE debut at the end of the bout, delivering his signature Scorpion Death Drop to Triple H and helping to secure the win for Team Cena. Scratch that, for Team Ziggler.

We also sawthe Divas and Tag Team Championships change hands at SS. Nikki Bella defeated AJ Lee in an extremely controversial way after Brie locked lips with AJ and then Nikki took her out in a matter of seconds.

It seems like a pre-match kiss is never a good thing when AJ is involved. An even bigger, and happier, surprise came when The Miz and Damien Mizdow shocked everyone and defeated Gold and Stardust for the titles.

Mizdow has made this duo into one of the most entertaining acts in WWE today, so it's great to see him finally rewarded with his first championship after being so consistently good for so long.

It's going to be a big night on Raw. Hopefully they can follow that blockbuster of a pay-per-view with a good show.

Who will be in charge now that Triple H and Stephanie McMahon are out of power?

How big will the fallout be from Big Show's betrayal?

Will Dolph Ziggler finally get the push he deserves?

What can we expect now that Sting has officially appeared in a WWE ring?

And lastly, will we finally find out why Luke Harper and Erick Rowan have apparently started feuding?

Make sure to bookmark this page and come back Monday night at the start ofWWERawat 8 p.m. ET. Bleacher Report will have answers to these questions andlive coverage of all the action.

Thanks for reading, andfollow meonTwitter@BR_Doctor.

Source: http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2279133-wwe-raw-live-results-reaction-and-analysis-for-november-24

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