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Welcome to my live, ongoing blog for WWE Night of Champions, which is being held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
A personal note: I’m asking everyone reading this coverage to consider joining me today in donating to Vibrant Emotional Health, formerly known as the Mental Health Association of New York City. VEH have, for over 50 years, promoted and supported the emotional and mental health of those in NYC. I am asking that anyone who is able to do so please help me today in honoring my late friend Roney Leroy and donate in his name. For more on what Vibrant Emotional Health does or to make a donation, as I have, visit www.vibrant.org. Either way, thank you for indulging me. Onto the coverage.
We get the traditional opening segments showing everyone walking somewhere as they arrive for their matches. Usual formula, again.
Big reaction for Sami Zayn live in Riyadh when they showed him. GUNTHER and Cody were each booed when shown.
Triple H voiced over the opening, so he can have some ESPN TV time.
Jey Uso vs. Oba Femi opens us up. Uso gets the usual electric reaction coming out through the audience. No Jimmy with him.
They did a big entrance for Oba. The crowd was super into chanting for him. Say what you will about WWE running there (and I have), the audience is always joyous about having them there.
Will this match be about ascending Femi to the Summerslam main event or will this be setting up Brock-Oba 3? We will see soon enough.
Early on, it's all about Oba showing off his monstrous power and wrecking Jey. Jey tried to fight back but was beaten on the floor. He shoved Oba into the ring post and nailed some dives but the idea was Femi was still not taken off his feet. He smashed Jey going for a third dive. Lots of Oba chants, almost like the Goldberg chants of the late '90s in WCW. Oba went for a chokeslam but Jey escaped and nailed some offense,. Femi still doesn't go down. Jey finally takes him down and hit a top rope splash but Oba kicks out at one. He smashes Jey with a chokeslam and almost gets the pin.
Uso attacks the mid-section and smashes him with a spear. He goes for another splash off the ropes and this time, gets a two count. Uso cinched in a sleeper and scissorred Femi's body. Oba fought to his feet and just tossed Jey off. Puny human, Oba smash! He nailed the sit-out powerbomb and scored the pin. Match played to Oba's strengths and was OK.
Nick Aldis hands Oba the King of the Ring crown. Oba cut a solid promo about winning.
Oba will main event Summerslam. My guess is that unless they pull some shenanigans with Brock Lesnar to divert him (which they should NOT do), Oba challenges Roman Reigns for the World Heavyweight title. We'll see if I'm right.
No commercial breaks during the match. We are 20 minutes in now.
Michael Cole said over 18,000 fans are in attendance. This is not the venue they will use for Wrestlemania next year. They'll be in a stadium for that.
Danhausen came out on stage. He said it was his first time here and it's been very wonderful. I guess we'll see the Internet turn on Danhausen now. He said he came into some money and is continuing his experiments. Liv Morgan's ring introduction cut him off and she came out. She told Danhausen that he owes The Judgment Day a lot of money and needs to pay them back or he's in a lot of trouble. Danhausen said the only person in "Trouble, Trouble" (playing off her theme song) is Liv and cursed her. Oh boy, here we go.
Liv Morgan vs. IYO SKY is up.
Usual full body suits for the women. The crowd was super into each as they came to the ring.
IYO played some games with Liv early on. Morgan cut her off with a rana. They battled to the floor, where IYO hit a bodypress off the guard rail. Morgan cut off SKY and went after the leg, because you can't fly if you can't stand. Morgan scores several two count and drill IYO with strikes. IYO fought back and they battled back and forth with punches, IYO went for a missile dropkick but was caught and slammed down. Morgan stomped her and cinched in a Boston Crab but IYO slipped out and drilled her with a double stomp. IYO nailed a flapjack. She worked over Morgan's arm and finally caught her with a missile dropkick.
IYO scored several pinfall attempts. Liv escaped a double underhook suplex attempt and drilled SKY with a backstabber. Morgan went for a dive but was caught with a forearm. SKY Asai moonsaulted to the floor. SKY nailed a double underhook into a backbreaker but Morgan kicked out. SKY went for another moonsault but was shoved off, crashing down to the steps. She began selling her knee with Morgan attacking the extremity like an Anderson. Morgan pulled at the leg with a single-leg Boston Crab as IYP wailed in agony. IYO kept fighting back even as her knee was giving out.
Morgan drilled SKY with a springboard into a Codebreaker. They battled to the top, Morgan was knocked into the ring, hit with a moonsault and pinned. Well, Liv was cursed!
IYO is the Queen of the Ring and I am guessing she will now challenge Liv for the title at Summerslam.
Good. solid match with a nice story. I'm glad they didn't do Danhausen making something explode or such silliness. That's fine for undercard stuff but not with what's supposed to be a main event.
Nick Aldis presented IYO with the crown. She declared she was the Queen and challenged Liv for Summerslam. It's an easy story to sell. The champ was pinned by her top contender and now has to defend the belt. Fine by me.
They aired a promo for Fanaticsfest featuring names who have canceled off, including Drew McIntyre and Randy Orton. Oops.
Next up is Bron Breakker vs. Seth Rollins inside a Steel Cage
Rollins was out first and Riyadh had a good time singing his song. Rollins tossed a bunch of weapons in the ring quicker than you could say New Jack.
They sat across each other with chairs. Are they going to do the Necro Butcher deal where they sit there and punch each other?
They are NOT. They charge and begin brawling. Rollins was sent into the cage but caught himself and dove off. He tried to throw Bron into it but Breakker blocked and hit a German suplex, then repeated the feat. He is a Steiner, after all! Breakker pressed and slammed Seth to the cage. He began caning Rollins. Breakker kept wrecking Seth until being caught with a powerbomb. They battled back and forth. Rollins caught Bron with a running clothesine. He began tuning up Bron with the cane. Bron was thrown into the cage over and over. Rollins went to the corner but Bron caught him and began wailing away. He nailed a top rope Frankensteiner onto chairs in the ring.
Breakker sat Rollins in a chair and hit a clothesline from the ropes. The announcers claimed he flew 3/4ths of the way across the ring. Breakker began ripping apart Seth verbally, telling him he was going to die. He even sounds like his family. Rollins escaped certain doom and superkicked Breakker, but was speared hard in the center as he was setting up for the stomp. Close two count. Bron kept wrecking Seth and placed him on a table. He teased coming off the top but went to the top of the cage. Seth met him and they battled there. Is someone going off the top of the cage?
Seth ducked back down to the buckles and superplexed Breakker off the top of the cage through the table. He immediately was bleeding from his eye as it appeared a corner of the table caught him as he crashed through it, sending it upwards. There was a lot of of blood. Rollins went for the stomp but Breakker lariated Rollons, then speared him. The crowd chanted, "This is awesome" They showed a close-up of Breakker's face (this is how you know it's a new company) and it appeared the cut was right near the eye socket, so he's lucky it wasn't his eye itself.
Breakker tried to escape but Seth screamed at him to be a man and find out who you are. Lots of Roman Reigns-esque usage of verbal taunts here. Breakker missed a charge and smashed through a table in the corner. Rollins hit a pedigree AND a stomp but Breakker still kicked out. Rollins came off the top with a stomp and pinned Breakker clean.
Seth wins and I can see a lot of people wondering why the hell that was the finish. They wouldn't be wrong in my eyes. One loss won't hurt Breakker but the appearance of being under a glass ceiling certainly will.
WWE United States Champion Trick Williams vs. Ricky Saints is next.
Of the two, Trick got the much larger reaction coming out.
Ricky Saints blindsided Trick Williams before the opening bell while Trick was still wearing his entrance jacket. Trick battled back, took off his jacket, and blasted a seated Saints in the corner with a series of kicks. He looked to end things early with the Trick Shot, but Saints wisely rolled to the floor to avoid the move. Outside the ring, Saints grabbed the white kendo stick from Lil Yachty, slammed it against the ring steps, and then dropped to the floor. With Trick distracted, the referee focused on the chaos involving Yachty and ultimately ejected him from ringside.
Back inside the ring, Saints trapped Trick's arm and confidently walked the ropes with his Old School-style taunt before driving Trick to the mat. Rather than going for a pin, Saints paused to strike a pose. Michael Cole questioned the decision, while Barrett argued that Saints wanted to inflict more punishment before trying to finish the match. Saints then scored a two count with a sunset flip. Trick regained momentum with a backbreaker, but Saints answered with a neckbreaker for a near fall. Moments later, Trick countered another offensive attempt with a second backbreaker. The pace quickened as the two exchanged punches and kicks at center ring. Trick won the striking battle and followed with a neckbreaker for a two-count. Saints responded with the Revolution DDT and connected with a top-rope elbow drop, but it still wasn't enough to put Trick away.
Match is OK thus far but don't get the impression the fans live think there's a chance of Trick dropping the title.
Saints built momentum with a clothesline off the second rope, then planted Williams with a Cross Rhodes for a close two-count. The crowd, which had been energetic throughout the night, was unusually quiet during this stretch, as a brief chant for Saints failed to gain any traction. Williams answered with a pump kick, but Saints quickly responded with a forearm. Williams regained control by catching Saints with a hangman's neckbreaker for another near fall. Saints escaped the Trick Shot and spiked Williams with a tornado DDT before delivering an awkward-looking elbow drop from the top rope that still resulted in a near fall. Saints countered another uranage attempt with a knee strike, but Williams slipped under a clothesline and connected with the Trick Shot out of nowhere to score the pinfall.
Trick retains.
Yachty returned to cane Saints and then hit a People's Elbow on him.
This was just sort of there and didn't do much for anyone involved. It almost came off like Saints had heat and was being punished for something!
Next up is WWE United States Champion Tiffany Stratton vs. Jade Cargill
The story early was Jade's power taking out Stratton's attempts early on, including catching her with a powerbomb. Stratton tried to mount a comeback after being tossed out of the ring but was hit with a Black Hole Slam. Shout out to Abyss! Stratton was manhandled and some of this looked rough but finally hit a Samoan Drop and went to the top for the Prettiest Moonsault Ever but Jade pulled her knees up. She powerbombed Stratton again...and my Disney+ crashed. Well, that was odd. Michin and B-Fab arrived to interfere but Chelsea Green rolled out under the ring adn went after them. Jade grabbed Chelsea and pulled her into the ring. Jade went to get the U.S title belt but Charlotte Flair arrived and grabbed it. She nailed Jade and Stratton scored the pin with the Moonsault.
Tiffany retains and they set up a six woman tag for down the line. Again, just OK.
They really need a strong main event to close out and make this a memorable show.
The main event: WWE Champion Cody Rhodes vs. GUNTHER vs. Sami Zayn
Sami received a hero's welcome. Cody's entrance was cheered and then he was booed during the ring introductions. This Sami City.
They are doing the usual Triple Threat deal. GUNTHER was sent out early so Sami and Cody battled. GUNTHER pulled Sami out and tossed him to the ring steps so now it's the other two battling as Sami sells.
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