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 10/26/15)

No One But Reigns 

– The opening segment with Triple H, Stephanie McMahon, WWE World Heavyweight Champion Seth Rollins and Roman Reigns was a good way to shed light on the previous night’s happenings (Rollins defeating Demon Kane to fire Corporate Kane as Director of Operations, Brock Lesnar defeating The Undertaker in a brutal Hell In A Cell encounter) and set up matches throughout the night to give this show an immediate goal – find Rollins a new number-one contender. Of course, given how the night ended up, not having Reigns in this segment would’ve made things less predictable, but he held his own here. Boy, could you feel the crowd’s energy drain when The Authority’s music hit? We were also surprised to see that Michael Cole was quick to talk about the bloody HIAC main event, even as we saw multiple still shots, with blood quite visible on both guys’ faces. On a storyline level, we saw Trips/Steph be proud of their little architect and announce an unofficial tournament using the previous night’s winners, where the winners of those matches would advance to a number-one contender fatal four-way main event to determine Rollins’ next opponent. With Lesnar not in the building, we were awaiting an explanation as to why he couldn’t be involved, but we never got one. Horrible. You guys couldn’t say The Authority sent him home because of the low blow or something of that nature? The Rollins-Reigns interaction was solid, as Reigns laughed off the idea of Rollins making it to the WWE Hall Of Fame and made it clear he was going for the Title.

– The Reigns-Kofi Kingston match started with a Big E/Kingston promo that targeted Reigns’ apparent lack of gold and good looks. We thought maybe The Authority would try to “up the ante” by making this a two-on-one handicap, but this was one-on-one. Sure, Big E was an outside factor, but we didn’t think Kingston was going to dominate as much or as long as he did. Reigns looked good though and the crowd was actually hot for him, which helped things. Reigns advances to the fatal four-way to the surprise of no one.

– Backstage, The Miz led an ensemble of random people backstage as he looked to beat Stone Cold Steve Austin in WWE 2K16, which comes out this week. Product placement much?

– The Cesaro-WWE Intercontinental Champion Kevin Owens match where the winner would move on to the fatal four-way match later saw a revisit of a recent feud. A pre-taped Owens promo saw him act super-confident, which was a snippet of his gold-obsessed NXT character. The action was entertaining as both guys got to be themselves. This might’ve even been better than their SummerSlam match. Cesaro did a lot of flying around like the barricade uppercut and then a sweet flying lariat off the apron. Interesting decision to have Owens go over the obviously popular Cesaro, but because it’s Owens, we won’t complain. The internet probably won’t either.

– The Paige/Charlotte/Becky Lynch backstage segment set up the first step of Paige’s overenthusiastic attempts to reconcile with her old Team PCB stablemates. Paige also had her share of self-obsessed behavior, talking about how everyone wanted to talk to her since her appearance on The Conan O’Brien Show. We also saw a clear threat/warning from Charlotte towards Paige that she was trying to believe her but hoped she wasn’t the one who attacked Natalya.

– The Six-Diva Tag between Team PCB and Team Bella was actually pretty good since the crowd was quite vocal for certain parts, even cheering for Lynch at one point. The story here was PCB failing and Paige finally attacking her mates, which came off well with this crowd. Liked how Cole put over Paige using the reunion as a way to set up her old team. This makes it abundantly clear which way Paige leans.

– The backstage promo between Zeb Colter/United States Champion Alberto Del Rio saw Colter talk about country unity and how he wanted to form a nation called “Mex-America.” Um, okay. Del Rio mentioned he wouldn’t let “a selfish entitled immigrant” like Neville get in his way of becoming WWE World Heavyweight Champion. Guess he’s a heel? Again, though – Mex-Americans? That’s what you guys come up with? Let’s get to why they banded together and why Del Rio always reluctantly shakes Colter’s hand.

– The Neville-Del Rio match where the winner would move on to the fatal four-way match was a fresh matchup thanks to Del Rio’s return and while Neville got to fly around, Del Rio simply made him pay for taking too many high-air risks. Del Rio remains undefeated and likely won’t take the fall in the main event. Only disappointment was that Cesaro and Neville weren’t considered to be in this main event. Even if they don’t win, just imagine how hot the crowd would’ve been for this.

– The Six-Man Tag between Ryback/The Dudley Boyz and Rusev/King Barrett/Sheamus seemed to serve no other purpose than to fill time and push this “international flavor” heel trio. The match was okay in terms of action and despite the signature Dudley face spots that saw them call for a table, the heels stole the win by pulling the tights before any broken wood could form on the canvas.

– For the purpose of continuity, we actually dug the angle with Bray Wyatt’s in-ring promo and the subsequent Wyatt Family beatdown of Kane. Wyatt’s promo was well-spoken and we loved how his tone went from whispers to shouts in no order. We also liked the “Undertaker’s demise is my personal resurrection” line, since it backed up his power obsession and how he needed more of it, though it started leaning towards Straight Edge Savior CM Punk territory. This was a good cue to have Kane seek vengeance only to face the same fate as Undertaker the night before, getting carried out to this foggy place backstage. Still wondering why nobody continues to try to make the save, but that’s nit picking.

– The Big E-Dolph Ziggler match where the winner would advance to the fatal four-way saw Tyler Breeze and Summer Rae sit by the announce table in a “VIP”-esque set-up with fancy chairs and food to distract Ziggler. The match itself saw a lot of Big E dominating until Ziggler found a way to reverse things and hit the Zig Zag for a pinfall. Surprised Breeze didn’t go for any attacks after the match, but hey, at least he’s on the main roster now. Marvel at that.

– The Reigns/Ambrose backstage segment saw Ambrose pep talk to Reigns about how close he was again to the World Title. Usual stuff.

– The second Miz backstage segment saw Miz playing WWE 2K16 again and Stone Cold Steve Austin actually showed up this time, since we figured Miz’s Stone Cold impression was initially too spot-on.

– The Number-One Contender Fatal Four-Way match between Reigns, Owens, Del Rio and Ziggler with Rollins on commentary gave us many elements coming together for a high energy, fun bout that the crowd was almost deafening over. It’s amazing what can happen when you build a show around new faces and this match was proof that it works when done right. Everybody had their own time to shine, particularly Owens, who almost looked like he’d pull off an upset, same situation with Del Rio. Excellent near-falls towards the end and though it seemed like people were waiting for Reigns to get the pin, they were hot for the finish regardless. Rollins talked up the contenders well during the match, getting the World Title’s importance over. His demeanor changing once it was Reigns revealed as the winner was priceless. The post-match staredown/face-to-face was solidly done and it obviously gives Survivor Series another marquee match.

Quick Results

• Winner Advances To WWE World Heavyweight Championship Number-One Contender Fatal Four-Way – Roman Reigns def. Kofi Kingston (w/Big E) via pinfall
• Winner Advances To Fatal Four-Way – Kevin Owens def. Cesaro via pinfall
• Six-Diva Tag – Team Bella def. Team PCB via pinfall
• Winner Advances To Fatal Four-Way – Alberto Del Rio (w/Zeb Colter) def. Neville via pinfall
• Six-Man Tag – Rusev/King Barrett/Sheamus def. The Dudley Boyz/Ryback via pinfall
• Winner Advances To Fatal Four-Way – Dolph Ziggler def. Big E (w/Kofi Kingston) via pinfall
• WWE World Heavyweight Championship Number-One Contender Fatal Four-Way – Roman Reigns def. Alberto Del Rio, Kevin Owens and Dolph Ziggler via pinfall