December 2, 2015
Episode 309
(Taped on November 19, 2015)
City: Winter Park, FL
Venue: Full Sail University
Commentary: Rich Brennan, Corey Graves, Byron Saxton
Ring Announcer: Dasha Fuentes
Intro Video
“Roar of the Crowd” by CFO$
Match 1
Baron Corbin vs Tye Dillinger
(referee: Danilo Anfibio)
Dillinger seems to take Corbin lightly to start off and pays for it right away. Corbin just tosses Dillinger around the ring and basically does whatever he wants to him. Dillinger mounts a comeback with a Thesz Press and a side-kick, but he’s caught when jumping off of the second rope and takes End of Days from Corbin.
Result: Corbin wins via pinfall after End of Days (lifting reverse STO)
Time: 2:54
** A short, mostly one-sided match. The announcers kept talking about Corbin’s match with Crews at Takeover, and this felt like it was really just a promo for that match. **
Backstage
Apollo Crews is concerned with whether or not he can keep himself from tearing Baron Corbin apart next week on NXT.
Backstage
Alex Reyes asks Tommaso Ciampa about Samoa Joe’s change in attitude. Ciampa has nothing to lose.
Match 2
Nia Jax vs Blue Pants
(referee: Eddie Orengo)
Blue Pants is very happy and excited to be there, until Jax lays her out and starts to beat her down. She brutally tosses Blue Pants around the ring by her head. Blue Pants has some kicks that do very little, and Jax responds with vicious shoulder breaker and some elbow drops. Jax hits a Samoan drop and a leg drop to finish off Blue Pants.
Result: Nia Jax wins via pinfall after a running leg drop
Time: 2:08
** A squash match (literally and figuratively) for Jax. Jax has her eyes on Bayley, so it makes sense, but it doesn’t make this a very re-watchable match. **
Video
A taped interview of Dash and Dawson conducted by Tom Phillips. D&D have no respect for Enzo Amore and Colin Cassady.
Match 3
Adam Rose vs James Storm
(referee: Shawn Bennett)
James Storm starts off strong, backing Rose into a corner, but Rose comes back with a cheap shot to take control. Rose slows the match down a bit with a cobra clutch. Storm comes back with some speed and hits a nice running neckbreaker followed by a superkick.
Result: James Storm wins via pinfall after Last Call (superkick)
Time: 2:38
** A short match, but probably the best one so far tonight. The two wrestler managed to put some personality in the match and showed very different approaches which is cool. Adam Rose, the party pooper, slowed the match down intentionally while Storm sped things up and kept the pace up when he was in control. Not much to it, but they made good use of the time they were given. **
Backstage
Alex Reyes asks the Vaudevillains about disappointment. Gotch and English are disappointed that they are no longer champs, but they will beat Jordan and Gable tonight. Jordan and Gable disagree. Mostly because they are good. The real winner tonight? The fans.
Video
Video package of Sami Zayn defeating Neville a year ago. Also, he’s coming back.
Match 4
The Vaudevillains vs Jason Jordan & Chad Gable
(referee: Danilo Anfibio)
The two teams trade holds early in the match with Gable and Jordan getting a bit of an advantage. Jordan manages to take pretty solid control of English, but English sends Gable out to the floor when he tags in, changing the momentum of the match.
The Vaudevillains control Gable with some quick tags, but Jordan tags back in and starts to clean house. With the momentum back on their side, Jordan tags in Gable and hits Grand Amplitude for the win. After the match, The Vaudevillains refuse to shake Jordan and Gable’s hands.
Result: Chad Gable pins Simon Gotch after Grand Amplitude (assisted belly-to-back suplex)
Time: 5:26
** This was a good match between teams with different styles. Jordan and Gable really had control of most of the match with suplexes and holds, but Th Vaudevillains had a good showing with their tag team continuity. It was really too short of a match to be great, but it was good. **
Backstage
Alex Reyes asks Emma and Dana Brooke about their attack on Asuka. Dana gets worked up, Emma is much more calm and says it was just a warning.
Video
A mysterious guy plays a guitar in black and white video.
Match 5
Emma vs Liv Morgan
(referee: Drake Wuertz)
After a tie up that sees no one getting an advantage, Emma starts to take over. She uses some rough and dirty moves to control, hurt, and embarrass Morgan. Morgan goes for what looks like a version of a front face-lock which could have been a nice DDT or something, but it’s just a transition into a roll-through so that Morgan ends up on top of Emma. Her bid for a comeback is short-lived and she winds up in the Emma Lock.
Result: Emma wins via submission with the Emma Lock (Muta Lock)
Time: 3:49
** Morgan had barely a glimmer of a hope of any offense in this match. The match itself was short and a little methodical, but that makes sense since Emma is wrestling as a dirty, mean heel now. There was nothing really wrong with the match and it did its job (to build up Emma for her match against Asuka), but it wasn’t terribly exciting to watch. Just another promo for Takeover really. **
Ring Area
After the match, Asuka appears on the video screen working out with a heavy bag. She informs Emma that she’ll see her at Takeover. Emma does not look pleased.
Backstage
Alex Reyes asks Bayley about being attacked by Nia Jax. Bayley is willing to accept her challenge. Jax appears and smiles, then walks away. Then she comes back and throws Bayley through a door. She smiles again.
Match 6
Tommaso Ciampa vs Samoa Joe
(referee: Shawn Bennett)
Joe controls Ciampa’s arm and overpowers him early in the match. A big elbow puts Ciampa down in the corner and he looks like he’s in trouble. Ciampa decides to start a slap fight, a fight that he quickly regrets. Still, it seemed to get Joe angry and off his game, and Ciampa starts to get an advantage with his speed.
Ciampa gets Joe in a front face-lock and wraps his legs around Joe. He transitions into an arm submission, but Joe rams Ciampa into the corner and takes control. A scoop powerslam from Joe gives him total control. After a side-slam out of the corer, a muscle buster, and a Coquina Clutch, Ciampa is done.
Result: Samoa Joe wins via submission with the Coquina Clutch (rear naked choke)
Time: 6:36
** A good, hard-hitting match. They managed to build a little drama by talking about their history, and the way they went about the match was very entertaining. Joe was never really in trouble, but you wanted to pull for Ciampa. There were some very hard hits and solid wrestling in Joe’s strong style. Very good main event. Though it could have been longer. **
Show Impressions
A pretty good show, but again, I would prefer half as many matches if they made them all twice as long. I understand that Takeover is coming up and they need to build up the competitors by giving them strong showings, but I think the Ciampa versus Joe match showed that you can do that but still make the match longer and more entertaining.
Match of the Night
Tomasso Ciampa vs Samoa Joe
There’s really no question here. The tag match was good too, but this was better and no other match on the show can really compete with it because they were either too short or too squashy.