Wrestlepalooza took place this past Saturday from the Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana. The first PLE on the ESPN Unlimited streaming service, officially marking a new era in sports entertainment. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t too happy about this announcement initially and I haven’t fully come around to it yet either, it just felt money grubby. Especially when you consider the price of their tickets and everything else having been on the rise for quite a while, now you have to have 3 separate streaming services in the US just to keep up with the weekly product. Then, they had said initially that the launch over to ESPN wouldn’t be until next year and they wouldn’t be fully moved over there until Mania 42, giving everyone a little bit of time to let this news settle and come around to it. Well, that ended up getting scrapped and they rushed the launch to September 20th (this past weekend) and threw together this attempted mega show (Wrestlepalooza) in an attempt to get everyone to begrudgingly fork over their shekels and tune in. I was one of those sorry saps who did it because WWE has their chokehold on me (although they’ve burnt up some goodwill with me recently as well for how they’re handling the business side of things), so for all of you who have stronger wills or less desire than me, I’m here to report on the show and share my thoughts for you all. Let’s get into it!
The show was led off by John Cena facing off against one of the most feared and unstoppable rivals of his past, the Beast himself, Brock Lesnar. Cena made his entrance in tow with bunches and bunches of little Cena fans, decked head to toe in the merchandise and waving their “You Can’t See Me’s” at the camera, all before getting his special entrance announcement from Alicia Taylor in the ring. It really set the stage and gave the show that big fight feel right off the bat, but it also showed that perhaps Cena wasn’t taking Brock seriously enough and that proved to be the case. Cena was coming into Indy looking to celebrate, have a fun retirement party with the fans in Indy, and Brock was here to crash that. Brock threw Cena around the ring in the early goings of the match and showed the crowd he hasn’t lost a beat in his absence, looking more jacked and shredded than ever. He picked apart and dominated Cena for a lot of the match, but Cena’s heart and will wouldn’t let him go down easy. Eventually he took Brock off his feet with a handful of shoulder tackles before connecting with not one, but 3 Attitude Adjustments, and went for the pin. Brock kicked out at 2 though and that would prove to be Cena’s best hope of the contest. Brock soon took back over and hit Cena with 6 F-5’s before finally pinning him for the win. After the match, Brock came back to the ring and hit the ref with an F-5 before giving one more to Cena for good measure before celebrating in the ring to a chorus of boos. I don’t know how to feel about this match, I didn’t like it though, I wanted Cena to get his win back finally after the annihilation that Brock handed him at Summerslam 2014, but all we got was another annihilation. Now I begrudgingly want another Brock/Cena match, even though I really don’t because Cena is down to such limited time now, but he HAS to get his win back from him, especially now.
Next up, Bron Breakker and Bronson Reed of The Vision went to battle with Jimmy and Jey, The Usos with special guest referee, LA Knight. The Brons dominated the early portions of the match, isolating Jimmy from his corner and giving him a beatdown. Bronson eventually introduced a chair to the match, but Jimmy turned that against him and used the chair on Bronson, with LA Knight turning a blind eye and following up on his promise to be pretty lax on the rules throughout the contest. Jimmy finally got the hot tag to Jey, and he exploded into the match dropping the much more winded heels. Jimmy and Jey introduced a table into the ring and dropped Breakker with a pair of double superkicks and a 1-D but the 2 count was broken up by Bronson. Jimmy hit a Swanton Bomb onto Bronson before being dropped with a spear by Breakker, Jey followed up with a spear of his own and a Uso Splash, but Breakker still kicked out at 2. Jey and LA Knight started to argue and get into each other’s faces after that, and Jimmy tried to simmer the tempers. Bron capitalized off the distraction though by driving both brothers through the table with a spear, and Reed followed up with a Tsunami onto Jey for the pin and win. Next up, Stephanie Vaquer and Iyo Sky went to war for the vacant Women’s World Championship. Iyo took control of the early grappling contest and began to heat up her offense on Vaquer with the announcers questioning if Vaquer would be able to get it done at the biggest of stages in the women’s division. Vaquer would fight back into the contest however and attempted the Devil’s Kiss, but Iyo escaped and got her with a rollup for 2 followed up by a double stomp and crossface, but Vaquer was able to escape eventually. Vaquer got the legs up on Iyo’s attempt for the ‘Over the Moonsault’ and took out her legs with a dragon screw leg whip before connecting with the Devil’s Kiss. Sky got the upper hand again, connecting with a Spanish Fly, and driving her exposed knees into Vaquer’s face before going to the top rope for another moonsault. Vaquer dodged it again though, driving Iyo’s already damaged knees into the mat and allowing her the opening to hit a picture-perfect Spiral Tap corkscrew for the pin and win.
Iyo congratulated Stephanie after the match and she got emotional and went to celebrate with her dad ringside with her brand-new title in a pretty cool and touching moment after a really well-done match by both women. The married couples mixed tag team match followed, as Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch went head-to-head with CM Punk & a returning, AJ Lee. The early portions of the match were dominated by the Rollins/Lynch squad with Seth isolating Punk away from AJ and Becky adding extra slaps and punches to the downed Punk for good measure. They were really playing with AJ’s emotions and milking the hot tag into her because all things considered, this was her night more than anyone else’s in the match. She hasn’t been in WWE or a wrestling ring at all for that matter for 10 years and was stepping back in in a huge event for the company and was able to team up alongside her husband. Pretty cool vibes for her and Punk both, I’m sure. Becky yanked AJ off the apron and Seth had fun in the ring at her expense, mockingly skipping around her and her downed husband before being dropped with a GTS for his efforts. Punk then finally made the hot tag into AJ and she came in unloading the beatdown to Becky as the crowd went wild. Punk and AJ teamed up on Seth and Becky and hit double running knees and bulldogs, before applying duels submissions on the couple, AJ with the Black Widow on Becky and Punk with the Sharpshooter on Punk. Seth and Beck wouldn’t stay the victims for long though and eventually got the upper hand, hitting dual Pedigrees of their own on Punk & AJ, who kicked out at 2. The team up of couples and exchanging of finishers continued for a few until Becky dropped AJ with a Manhandle Slam and nearly picked up the win. As the match moved out of the ring, Becky and AJ found themselves on 1 announce table and Seth and Punk on the other. Punk had Seth up for the GTS, but Becky threw his wife directly into him, causing all 3 to go crashing through the table. Becky then drug AJ back into the ring and went for a Manhandle Slam, but AJ countered it into a Black Widow, causing Becky to tap out. Punk and AJ celebrated together afterwards. It’s been sweet to see how excited Punk clearly is for AJ and the reactions and adulation she’s been receiving from the crowd since her return. Next up was the main event of the evening as Cody Rhodes put his Undisputed WWE Championship on the line against Drew McIntyre.
Cody seemed to be dealing with hidden aftereffects suffered from a pair of beatdowns from Drew in recent weeks, moving a step slower than usual and holding his neck and shaking off his head after every move of even his own offense. Back and forth momentum continued, with Drew continuously regaining the upper hand. Eventually, he drug Cody to the outside of the ring and set him up like he was looking for another Claymore Kick on him through the front of the announce table (the same thing he did a handful of weeks back that took Cody out of action), but the referee got in the way and prevented him from capitalizing. When he finally did get the opportunity, Cody moved out of the way and Drew drove his own legs forcefully into the announce table, injuring himself in the process. Once back in the ring, the injury to Drew’s legs prevented him from capitalizing on a stunned Cody as he failed to hit a Claymore, and instead Cody capitalized. Hitting a Cody Cutter followed up by a Cross Rhodes for the pin and win to retain the title. This was a good match, don’t get me wrong, but it was about as predictable as they come when it comes to title matches so I’m just not sure it should’ve main evented the show. That’s a small nitpick and things like that don’t really, really matter because all the matches are aired and seen regardless, but the place on the card does have to make sense from a booking standpoint. Not that this doesn’t pass for a proper main event, it clearly does, but when you have Seth/Becky vs Punk/AJ and Brock vs Cena on the card, this just doesn’t seem like the match that would main event. Especially considering the build or lack thereof, not that the other matches I named had a much better build, but they do have the big name value and returning talent aspect in their favor. Alas, it was a good match even if predictable and the card was laid out the way it was.
Match ratings: 1-10 scale (.25 applicable)
Brock Lesnar vs John Cena- 5.5/10
Tag Team match: Bron Breakker & Bronson Reed vs The Usos- 7/10
Women’s World Championship match: Stephanie Vaquer vs Iyo Sky- 8/10
Mixed Tag Team match: Seth Rollins & Becky Lynch vs CM Punk & AJ Lee- 8.25/10
Undisputed WWE Championship match: Cody Rhodes (c) vs Drew McIntyre- 7.25/10
That’s all for this one folks! Like the page on social media or stay up to date with the website to see all my latest posts on the WWE, NFL, horror movies, and brand-new movie reviews! Thank you and have a great week ahead!
