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 12/21/15)

Slammy Awards 2015

– Maybe it’s the purpose of true “filler TV” with a dose of year-end nostalgia that makes WWE go back to the Slammy well. No, not the award show of the 90’s that at least garnered some relevance to storylines. This was an award show parodying an award show. Quit lying to yourselves, Creative. This was insufferable. Just imagine how the live crowd must’ve felt. More on that throughout the post. At the least, we were spared a campy Slammy-themed opening video with a recap of how WWE World Heavyweight Champion Roman Reigns won his Title.

– This week’s edition of “Reigns and Stephanie McMahon open Raw” didn’t pack the “slap” of last week, but WWE officials should be pleased that the fans were receptive to all things Reigns. Perhaps it’s Reigns’ new attitude at the expense of Steph’s angry facial expressions which come off funnier than intended? We’ll go with that. Oh yes – Steph calls revenge by making his “family” suffer – putting The Usos in a 3-On-2 Handicap match against the WWE World Tag Team Champions, The New Day and WWE Intercontinental Champion Dean Ambrose in a steel cage match against Sheamus. Oh, that dastardly Steph.

– Sure, Neville had a wonderful year and all, but Kevin Owens did have a reason to be upset in that beating John Cena in your first WWE match and becoming NXT and Intercontinental Champion within the year doesn’t earn you the “Breakout Of The Year” Slammy presented by Dolph Ziggler. From the moment Ziggler appeared on screen and with Owens being a nominee, we assumed the two would cross paths and right we were. For that reason, we’ll give this segment a thumbs-up since the Ziggler-Owens brawl fit their feud.

– So, The Wyatt Family-Team Extreme Championship Wrestling feud continues, only just replace Rhyno with Kane, who has previously defeated the Wyatts. The Dudley Boyz/Tommy Dreamer saved Kane from a Wyatt Family gathering on his carcass to set up an eight-man tag match, which the Wyatts decisively won, making it a third consecutive victory. At least they’re dominating, but they’re not helping The Dudley Boyz from feeling irrelevant upon their return.

– How many of you were surprised that Santino Marella still works for WWE? R-Truth can be comedy gold sometimes, but that was captured in the essence of the Slammy he won, nothing from him on this night. We guess a Slammy Award is important enough for Marella and Truth to fight over, so that’s a positive message. We guess.

– Another prestigious cameo appearance by Paul Heyman got our attention since he hadn’t graced our televisions for some time now. No, we weren’t taken to Shoot Promo Nirvana, as he simply introduced the “OMG Shocking Moment Of The Year” Slammy and vied for his client, Brock Lesnar (in his hometown mind you) deserving to win  most of the Slammys. Kalisto got the honor for his insane spot at TLC and his acceptance speech was decent, though it ended with “Lucha! Lucha!” which doesn’t help us view him in a bigger light. Owens’ music hitting following this moment had us thinking another angry tirade was about to be delivered, but it was only to indicate the next match was about to start.

– In perhaps the highlight of the show, we got to see Ziggler and Owens go 10+ minutes, translating from the brawl-like vibe to start to end in highly competitive fashion. This killed time in the smartest way possible: actual wrestling. Yes. Owens going over with an amped-up Pop-Up Powerbomb was the smart way to book this. Sure, these guys will get Intercontinental Championship shots on the Live SuperSmackdown the next night against Ambrose, but Owens should be looked at as the bigger threat and that was accomplished.

– Actually, highlight of the night goes to Seth Rollins coming to accept his “Superstar Of The Year” Slammy in all his clutched glory. He had a favorable reaction with some scattered boos, but quickly lit up his heel match to brag about his many accomplishments this year before saying he’d redesign himself and reclaim the belt he never lost, no matter who was Champion, mentioning Reigns by name, which makes us think this is the program Rollins returns to. A pleasant surprise to say the least.

– There was a hard push to make The League Of Nations look like fierce individuals in the second half, starting with the WWE United States Champion Alberto Del Rio-Jack Swagger match. With John Cena’s return announcement for the following week’s Raw at Barclays Center against Del Rio, it made sense for Del Rio to be built up for the encounter, decisively beating Swagger with his silly top-rope finisher. Sheamus got to show off his Brogue Kick to Swagger post-match as LON posed in an evil way over the fallen Swagger.

– Since Cena’s return was advertised for next week, we could let it slide that he wouldn’t come out to accept his Slammy for the “Hero In All Of Us” presented by Mark Henry. Did anyone else’s minds slip back to the fantastic fake retirement speech segment? Why couldn’t Henry break out the infamous pink blazer?

– The no-show parade continued as a Santa Claus-clad Bo Dallas would somehow suffice for Sting being unable to show up for his “Surprise Return Of The Year” Slammy. Right.

– The 3-On-2 Handicap match between New Day and The Usos was entertaining while it lasted, making up for the lackluster New Day promo that didn’t spread the funny butter on the bread like previous. The big development out of this was the Usos pinning the Champions, meaning that they’ll probably be in the running when New Day more than likely beats The Lucha Dragons on the Live Super Smackdown.

– Of course we couldn’t escape the night without one Steve Harvey reference, which we got when R-Truth incorrectly announced Paige as the winner of “Diva Of The Year” and called out the real winner, Nikki Bella. Paige was upset initially, but then heartily hugged her former rival? Nikki’s promo about being an inspiration to little girls everywhere was a step in the right direction but inconsistent with her “spoiled girl” persona. We just don’t know which Bella we’ll ever get. Sounds about right.

– The Rusev-Neville match continued the silly “Miz wants Neville as his new protege” storyline, as we witnessed Miz express on commentary how he wouldn’t take no for an answer as he saw potential in Neville. For a heel, his logic made sense though – why would you voluntarily help a guy who previously said he didn’t want it? For that reasoning, it wouldn’t had made sense for Miz to save Neville when he got beat down by LON after submitting to the Accolade. This was basically another chance for LON to continue to look strong in the night. Miz was primarily concerned with presenting the Slammy for “This Is Awesome Moment Of The Year,” which went to The Rock/Ronda Rousey, who were another no-show. WWE prides this on being “bigger than the Oscars” when half of the winners aren’t even in attendance. Ha.

– The Becky Lynch-Brie Bella match continued the silly storyline between WWE Divas Champion Charlotte and Lynch, as the Champ was cheering Lynch on at ringside for some reason. Wasn’t Lynch angry at Charlotte for not believing in her recently? Ugh. We can’t keep up. The latest development: Lynch wins on her own. Oh yeah and Team BAD watched backstage dressed up in black for the occasion for no reason. Yup.

– In the biggest low-blow to the live crowd, we saw Ric Flair (why wasn’t he out with Charlotte before?) present the “Match Of The Year” Slammy to The Undertaker-Lesnar, which Heyman came out to accept with Lesnar’s music blaring towards the end of the show in Lesnar’s own hometown. Terrible timing. Heyman did do his best to deflect the no-show heat, saying that Taker deserved recognition for picking a fight with Lesnar when not many people “wanted” him there like the fans did.

– The Sheamus-Ambrose steel cage main event was entertaining in retrospect given the circumstances. We liked how LON took out the Usos backstage convincingly before the bell to make their presence known. Sheamus and Ambrose have good chemistry and the cage environment helped embellish their styles. A little too melodramatic? Probably. It did have a good conclusion as Reigns came down to alleviate the numbers advantage LON had, which left a few tense minutes of Ambrose and Sheamus fighting at the top. Ambrose falling to the floor felt like a miracle, but it was a decent way of showing how LON couldn’t get the job done when it counted. Steph hadn’t gotten her slaps of the week accomplished yet, so she saved it for poor Tom Phillips backstage when he asked her for a reaction. Fair ending, but otherwise, typical campy, missable holiday filler.

Quick Results

• Kane def. Bray Wyatt (w/Braun Strowman, Erick Rowan, Luke Harper) via DQ
• Eight-Man Tag – The Wyatt Family def. The Dudley Boyz/Tommy Dreamer/Kane via pinfall
• Kevin Owens def. Dolph Ziggler via pinfall
• Alberto Del Rio (w/Sheamus, King Barrett, Rusev) def. Jack Swagger via pinfall
• 3-On-2 Handicap Tag – The Usos def. The New Day via pinfall
• Rusev (w/King Barrett, Sheamus, Alberto Del Rio) def. Neville via submission
• Becky Lynch (w/Charlotte) def. Brie Bella via submission
• Steel Cage – Dean Ambrose def. Sheamus (w/Alberto Del Rio, Rusev, King Barrett) via cage escape