By Nicholas Jason Lopez

“Notes In Observance” features random thoughts and analysis on recent television shows. Quick results can be found at the bottom of the post. 

(Aired 6/15/15)

MGK Gets KO’d

– It was great to see all the Dusty Rhodes love with various throwback segments through the night that played his career highlights. Replaying the 10-bell salute from Money In The Bank was also appropriate. They should’ve stood with the shot longer to see the talent genuinely dancing to Rhodes’ theme song, Vince McMahon particularly.

– The first in-ring segment with WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose provided a strong start to the show. We expected Rollins to come out and gloat that he did everything on his own and that nobody could take that away and that’s what we got. Rollins did it in a funny, creative way with a list that had his name written several times over, also directly insulting his Authority mates. Just after putting over Ambrose’s rough and tough style and the grueling ladder match, he dished in some easy sports team insults for good measure to the Cleveland faithful. Liked that Ambrose came out and was all business, leading into the brawl. If you noticed, Rollins ran right to Ambrose and didn’t cower away. The brawl didn’t last long, but made an immediate impression that things weren’t finished with the two. Ambrose is an entertaining character and being witness to him holding the show hostage with a sit-in strike was best for business.

– Rollins’ egotistical tendencies continue to get the better of him and that was furthered explored on this show, as we saw him approach Triple H and Stephanie McMahon, depending on them to get rid of Ambrose, while they pointed out Rollins’ newfound independence. Triple H did a good job of teasing new potential contenders for Rollins as a way of getting back at him for his words. The seeds are so being planted for a feud down the road. Also loved the hook that the contender would be revealed at the end of the show.

– The Sheamus-Ambrose match was a welcome transition from the sit-in segment that gave us a different kind of match. We also expected a bragging Sheamus promo at some point in the night, so the sooner we got it over with, the better. It’s funny – Sheamus has all of these accolades through his career, but yet he just doesn’t have that “Mr. Money In the Bank” feel to him. What good that has come out of this was him obviously rubbing heads with The Authority, as it makes sense that the people who run the company would want to have Mr. MITB on their good side, especially when they have cast doubt upon their own protege champion. The match itself was good as it went on, allowing both guys to keep things even, yet not giving too much away. It almost looked as if things would go to the wayside once Sheamus walked out, but Randy Orton getting involved made it known that their program was only starting (yet again) and it at least gave it some relevance. Ambrose picked up momentum right after MITB with the win and Sheamus was protected with the Orton interference. Things were more physical after the match and we liked that Sheamus narrowly avoided the RKO.

– Liked the interaction between J & J Security and Rollins backstage, as it referenced what happened last week and tied it into the talk of title contenders. Of course, we all know J & J was probably not in the running, but them bringing up their victory made sense from where they came from. Props to Joey Mercury here for his mic work. He was bold and fearless, putting over that the record books would forever show Rollins’ loss.

– Okay, besides R-Truth being hilarious with his new “Royal Wardrobe” complete with a shower curtain, plastic crown and plunger scepter, this program with King Barrett leaves a lot to be desired. We saw shades of last week with Truth being shocked to find out he was in the match he thought he was sitting in commentary for. Of course, he went on to win said match in 22 seconds. Barrett is looking like a fool these days and despite him getting his heat back immediately after the bell sounded with a cold Bull Hammer Elbow and promo, nobody takes him seriously anymore.

– Leave it up to the undercard and Divas to make Machine Gun Kelly actually look like somewhat of a celebrity. Yeah, we went there. Seriously though, did we need all the Divas to goo goo and gaga over MGK like he was president or something?

– NXT Champion Kevin Owens continues to kill it these days. His promo, which addressed the Apron Powerbomb on Cena the previous night made sense in his own logic – that Cena was disrespecting him by putting the spotlight on himself even after winning the match. He took elements of truth and spun his own twist on it. Like we thought, he set his sights on the United States Championship and made it clear he wanted it. With his many references to Cena’s absence, it made sense for Owens to hold an “open challenge.” Dolph Ziggler coming out to take the bait set the stage for an awesome match. Ziggler’s promo made sense since he was the personification of “scratching and clawing” to success. In classic Owens fashion, he pointed out that the open challenge wasn’t for his championship, which actually helped the match’s predictability factor, since it’s honestly hard to picture Ziggler as NXT Champion. The match itself was great from start to finish, getting hot with the false finish after Ziggler hit his finisher and Owens kicked out, hitting his Pop-Up Powerbomb soon after. This was good all-around; Ziggler looked strong in defeat and Owens got right back on the winning track.

– As for the backstage segment with Paige, Divas and The Bella Twins, it was good in establishing that the Bellas more or less crashed Paige’s rally cry and pointed out her flaws, making everyone alienate her. Naomi held her own in this segment well.

– How many of you were excited for Orton-Kane? Anybody? Anybody? Yeah. Exactly. At the least, it furthered the bad blood between Sheamus and Orton, allowing Kane to use his job to tweak the match in his favor to allow Mr. MITB to get involved. This further solidified that Sheamus was doing The Authority’s dirty work for them and it should be interesting to see within the coming weeks where they go with that.

– As usual, great animosity shown between Rollins and Kane backstage, who again bickered. Let’s not forget it was Kane that started the Authority backlash against the champion. Rollins continued the bragging to anyone who would listen.

– Ryback being out on commentary for the Big Show-Miz match was more progression for this triple feud, as Show chopped Miz several times and threw Miz onto Ryback, allowing Miz to get back in the ring once Show and Ryback faced off, winning by count out. Miz’s over-the-top celebration was great.

– The Roman Reigns-Bray Wyatt promo exchange was good for what it was. Reigns established his anger and Wyatt’s “live via fog” promo was formulaic, though well-worded, clearly explaining his intentions, getting back for being taken out of the MITB picture weeks back. The “lasting image” of this so far was him lifting up the picture of Reigns with his daughter, giving this feud the needed personal edge. Despite this all, it’s hard to buy into this feud with anything positive for Wyatt, since he is always set up for failure.

– The Paige-Bella Twins 2-On-1 handicap match told the story of the twins being taken to the limit, but using numbers to their advantage. Paige looked resilient in her loss at least.

– No better time-filler than a concert, huh? To MGK’s credit, the performance was pretty good but the interaction with Owens was out of left field yet awesome at the same time. No better way to gain heat than powerbombing the musical guest off the stage, huh? Owens will probably later mention that MGK shoved him first, but we love that Creative is going this far to get people talking about Owens no matter what. It’s refreshing to see a top heel who can kick ass and back it up on the mic.

– So, guess we’re establishing that The New Day are on a losing streak as of late? The Tag Champion Prime Time Players do need a few more wins under their name to be established as true champions and it never hurts to team with Neville, right? As for their boxed promo, our hopes of a serious PTP went out the window practically. Shame. That said, it was all entertaining while it lasted and it was fun to see The Red Arrow shown in all its glory again.

– The fact that Ambrose was backstage throwing darts at a dart board with Rollins on it was funny. His interaction with Kane was interesting in how Ambrose tore down the corporate suit, tying into his drive to become Champion. This maybe sets up a match for Smackdown between the two?

– What can we say about the final segment? It was an excellent way to set up the return of Brock Lesnar and Paul Heyman to WWE TV, as Rollins’ newest challenge. It tied perfectly into Triple H and Stephanie wanting Rollins to prove himself by beating the best with the pressure turned way up and who’s a better test than the beast incarnate? Of course, our minds think back to when Steph suspended Lesnar on the Raw after WrestleMania, but the broadcast team did a good job of mentioning that an obvious deal was reached between Heyman and The Authority to make it happen. As the picture for Battleground gets more clear, with Rollins-Lesnar leading the way, there’s no telling just how good things can get. The staredown was excellent and you had to love the look that Trips and Steph gave Rollins once he backed out of the ring.

Quick Results

– Dean Ambrose def. Sheamus via pinfall

– R-Truth def. King Barrett via pinfall

– Kevin Owens Open Challenge – Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler via pinfall

– No Holds Barred – Kane def. Randy Orton via pinfall

– The Miz def. The Big Show via countout 

– 2-On-1 Handicap – The Bella Twins def. Paige via pinfall

– Six-Man Tag – Neville/The Prime Time Players def. The New Day via pinfall