Hello WWE fans, today we will look at the results of recent WWE shows, Io Shirai and Kay Lee Ray going after the WWE NXT Women’s Championship, and Jim Ross discussing WrestleMania 12’s Triple H-Ultimate Warrior match.
RESULTS
WWE Friday Night SmackDown
3/18/22
Rick Boogs & Shinsuke Nakamura defeated Los Lotharios (Angel & Humberto)
Drew McIntyre & The Viking Raiders (Erik & Ivar) defeated Happy Corbin, Jinder Mahal & Shanky (w/ Madcap Moss)
Liv Morgan & Rhea Ripley vs. Naomi & Sasha Banks resulted in a no contest
Ridge Holland (w/ Butch & Sheamus) defeated Kofi Kingston
RESULTS
WWE RAW
3/21/22
The Mysterios (Dominik & Rey Mysterio) defeated The Dirty Dawgs (Dolph Ziggler & Robert Roode)
Omos defeated Apollo Crews & Commander Azeez in a, “Two On One Handicap” match
Natalya & Shayna Baszler defeated Liv Morgan & Rhea Ripley
Finn Balor defeated Austin Theory
RK-Bro (Randy Orton & Riddle) defeated Alpha Academy (Chad Gable & Otis)
Mixed Tornado Tag Team: Dana Brooke & Reggie defeated Akira Tozawa & Tamina in a, “Mixed Tornado Tag Team” match
AJ Styles defeated Seth Rollins via disqualification
RESULTS
WWE NXT 2.0
3/22/2022
Solo Sikoa defeated Roderick Strong (w/ Malcolm Bivens) in a “WWE NXT North American Title Qualifying” match
Tony D’Angelo defeated Dexter Lumis (w/ Duke Hudson, Indi Hartwell & Persia Pirotta)
Elektra Lopez (w/ Joaquin Wilde & Raul Mendoza) defeated Fallon Henley (w/ Brooks Jensen & Josh Briggs)
Bron Breakker defeated Robert Roode (w/ Dolph Ziggler)
Grayson Waller (w/ Sanga) defeated A-Kid in a, “WWE NXT North American Title Qualifying” match
The Creed Brothers (Brutus Creed & Julius Creed) (w/ Ivy Nile & Malcolm Bivens) defeated Grizzled Young Veterans (James Drake & Zack Gibson)
Gunther (w/ Fabian Aichner & Marcel Barthel) defeated Duke Hudson (w/ Persia Pirotta)
Io Shirai & Kay Lee Ray defeated Dakota Kai & Wendy Choo in a “Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic 2022 Final” match
Io Shirai & Kay Lee Ray’s Women’s Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic 2022 win was well-earned, and they were a great team throughout the tournament. The winners were supposed to get a shot at the WWE NXT Women’s Tag Team Championship, and Shirai and Lee Ray’s post-match announcement that they would be cashing in for a shot at the WWE NXT Women’s Championship at NXT Stand and Deliver instead was a pleasant surprise.
In January, I explained that Shirai and Lee Ray should have been a part of the, “Triple Threat” match for the championship at New Year’s Evil- the upcoming match at Stand and Deliver makes up for that. And in February, I showed that NXT’s viewership numbers are higher when Io Shirai is WWE NXT Women’s Champion. And as for Lee Ray, her accomplishments both within and outside of the WWE bubble show that Lee Ray would be a great champion as well.
MORE WWE
On a recent episode of Jim Ross’ Grilling JR podcast, he discussed the Triple H-Ultimate Warrior match from WrestleMania 12, a match that was Warrior’s return to WWE and was a squash match, won by Warrior. The match can be seen here.
I remember this match, and I think fans would have enjoyed it more if it had been more competitive. In the past, squash matches were a standard in pro-wrestling programming. If you wanted to see a competitive match, you usually had to either go to a house show or watch a PPV/”Saturday Night’s Main Event”/”Clash of the Champions”. But in 1996, WCW was changing the standard of pro-wrestling programming via “WCW Monday Nitro”, where competitive matches were featured instead of squash matches.
However, I guess Warrior was an old-school wrestler with an old-school mentality and felt that a squash match was the best way to make a return. Plus he always seemed to prioritize his character over the pro-wrestling industry itself- that’s not surprising, since in most cases in business if you don’t look out for yourself, no one else will. What is surprising though, is how much political power Warrior had- he was the one to decide on the day of the event that it was going to be a squash match, and did not suffer any repercussions later.
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