Here is the card:
Brock Lesnar vs. John Cena for the WWE Title
Chris Jericho vs. Randy Orton
Sheamus vs. Cesaro for the U.S. Title
Dolph Ziggler vs. Miz for the Intercontinental Title
Usos vs. Goldust & Stardust for the Tag Team Titles
Paige vs. Nikki Bella vs. AJ Lee for the Diva’s Title
Mark Henry vs. Rusev
????? vs. Seth Rollins (The Big Show was Rollins’ surprise opponent at last night’s house show so it might end up being him)
Also, click inside and hit refresh for up to the minute match results and analysis that will be on top of the page.
Goldust & Stardust vs. The Usos for the WWE Tag Team Championships
Goldust & Stardust won the titles after Cody rolled up Jey and held the tights after getting his knees up on a splash attempt. This match felt more like a house show match than a PPV match to be honest. They got a lot of time and most of it was back and forth with the exception being a heat sequence on Jimmy. The announcers obnoxiously tried to get over the terms “cosmic twins” and cosmic key” throughout the match. The crowd actually cheered Stardust when he tagged and its clear the heel turn of the Rhodes Brothers is not working. I don’t think the fans want to boo them (12:47) **1/4
Cesaro vs. Sheamus for the WWE U.S. Championship
Sheamus retains with a Brogue Kick. Match started off with a dead crowd until about halfway through when Cesaro destroyed Sheamus with an European Uppercut. After that, these two beat the tar out of each other and working some incredibly crisp and fast-paced sequences until the finish. Cesaro, in defeat, still looked great in this match with his moveset. He is so underutilized right now that it isnt even funny. (13:06) ***1/2.
Backstage, the Big Show gives Mark Henry a patriotic pep talk.
Country Band Florida Georgia line join the announcers booth.
Miz w/ Damien Sandow vs. Dolph Ziggler w/ R Truth for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
The focus of this was on the commentary with the announcers talking with Florida Georgia Line, who eventually beat up Sandow, and hyping up their appearance on this year’s “Tribute to the Troops.” It was actually hard to focus on the match with the excruciatingly bad commentary but the match itself was subpar and worse than usual between these two. The finish came when Ziggler super kicked Sandow off of the apron but Miz used a reverse rollup and grabbed a handful of tights to get the win and the belt. This is the second title tonight that has changed hands with a heel grabbing tights on a rollup (9:25) *1/2.
We are shown footage about Roman Reigns’ surgery including quotes from Reigns himself along with his doctor.
Seth Rollins is in the ring. He runs down Reigns and calls him out for not being a real man. He orders the ref to count to ten then raise his hand in victory. Rollins then issues an open challenge when a cab is shown pulling up to the arena backstage and the crowd pops when it turns out to be Dean Ambrose. We do not get a match but rather Ambrose beating the piss out of Rollins around the arena. The Authority and a mix of agents and security run out and eventually stop Ambrose when HHH tosses them a zip tie as they carry Ambrose to the back. Seems like they are going with Ambrose/Rollins and Hell in a Cell and that is a good choice and would mean more than a match without build on this show.
Mark Henry vs. Rusev w/ Lana
Lillian Garcia sang the National Anthem before the match and did a mighty fine job plus it pumped up the crowd…….until about 30 seconds into the match. Slow and lumbering match, which was expected to be honest. Rusev got the win with the Accolade after he failed to put away Rusev after hitting the World’s Strongest Slam. JBL kept pushing on commentary that Henry let down America and they might go with that angle for him because this feud seems over. At least it should be over after the heel wins cleanly (8:23) *1/2.
Randy Orton vs. Chris Jericho
Orton got the win with an RKO in midair. The finished was way too telegraphed. Jericho wrestled his best match in this run. They got the crowd into it as the match had no build but these two are capable vets so it should not be too surprising. No idea where they go with Orton after this. (14:50) ***1/4
AJ Lee vs. Nikki Bella vs. Paige for the WWE Diva’s Championship
AJ won the belt after making Paige tap to the Black Widow. The match itself was fine but there was little heat. I give credit to Nikki as she did a better than expected job as a heel in the match. Plus, she took a crazy back bump to the floor. Sadly, the AJ/Paige feud looks to continuing (8:22) **.
John Cena vs. Brock Lesnar w/ Paul Heyman for the WWE Championship
Lesnar retained the belt with a DQ finish. Rollins ran in and hit Cena with his MiTB briefcase after Cena hit Lesnar with a 4th AA. A lot more even than their SummerSlam match. Not a fan of the finish as this show has been hyped as a one-match show with this rematch heavily hyped and promoted. And as a main event, especially someone like Brock who works a limited schedule, a rematch isnt always in the works. I think they go with Cena vs. Rollins at the next PPV based off of Cena’s facial expressions at the end as he acted like this was his last chance against Brock. But they actually have a few ways to go at Hell in a Cell so that could be good. In hindsight, this finish could look a lot better if they book strongly going forward (14:50) ***