Happy Holidays and welcome everyone to the fourteenth edition of Spandex and Suplexes: A Wresting Review. I cover a week that saw Seth Rollins’ continued takeover of WWE Raw, the continuation of the NWA Television Championship Tournament, and a massive triple threat match to determine who will face The Fiend for the WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. Also in this issue, I will be naming the winners of the first annual Spandex and Suplexes Year End Awards! Let’s get started.
Results:
1. Kevin Owens defeated Mojo Rawley in a No DQ match
2. Bobby Lashley defeated Cedric Alexander
3. Drew McIntyre defeated Zack Ryder
4. Aleister Black defeated Deonn Rusman
5. Buddy Murphy defeated Joe Asa
6. Ricochet defeated Tony Nese
7. Charlotte Flair defeated Chelsea Green
8. The O.C. (AJ Styles, Luke Gallows, and Karl Anderson) defeated Randy Orton and The Viking Raiders (Erik and Ivar)
9. Erick Rowen defeated Travis Horn
10. Rusev defeated No Way Jose
11. Rey Mysterio (c) defeated Seth Rollins by DQ after interference by The AOP (Akam and Rezar) to retain the WWE United States Championship
Thoughts: After the opening match where Kevin Owens defeated Mojo Rawley, Owens called out Seth Rollins and The AOP. Rollins extended his hand and offered to put their conflict aside, but Owens responded with a superkick to Rollins’ face. The AOP then jumped KO and beat him down with their leader, Rollins joining them. The Architect then finished Owens off with the Stomp.
In a series of skits that were taped over the weekend, WWE 24/7 Champion R-Truth got lost in Manhattan trying to find the Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree after receiving an invitation to be there. This turned out to be a trap set by Akira Tozawa. Tozawa, with a referee in tow, snuck up behind Truth and rolled him up for the three count to become the new 24/7 Champion. The new champ then made a run for it as Truth grabbed the referee to go chase him down. After running around the streets of New York City, Tozawa and Truth ran into Santa Claus at Columbus Circle. Santa tried to get them stop fighting and sent Truth over to his sleigh where there was supposedly a gift for Truth.
This turned out to be ruse though, as Santa wacked Tozawa in the face with his sack and pinned the Japanese superstar to become the new 24/7 Champion! This led to Tozawa and Truth teaming up and chasing Santa through New York until Santa collapsed from exhaustion at the Lincoln Center. This allowed Truth to pin Santa to become a 25 time 24/7 Champion. Tozawa was ready to fight Truth for the title, but the referee screamed at them that he had had enough of them making him run all over Manhattan in the freezing cold and he walked off. With no referee, Truth and Tozawa made amends and walked off together to go find this “big apple” everyone talks about.
This was very entertaining and some of the best 24/7 Championship skits in the history of the title. It was really fun and R-Truth once again showed his amazing comedic skills. Akira Tozawa was also great and got to show off his own comedic skills and added more layers to his character. I highly recommend you look up these skits online as I wasn’t able to cover every little thing they got up to.
In the main event, when it looked like Mysterio was going to finish off Rollins, The AOP interfered and attacked Rey causing the DQ. The Beastslayer and his two massive henchmen dragged Mysterio up the ramp and tried to send The Master of the 619 through the announcers table. Samoa Joe, who has been announcing for the past few weeks, got in the way and refused to move. Rollins acted like he had no beef with Joe, but then ordered The AOP to take him out. Joe did his best to fight them off, but the numbers disadvantaged and overwhelmed him and he got beat down. The AOP then lifted up the Samoan Submission Machine and gave him a double chokeslam through the table. Rollins finished off Rey with a Stomp on the stage.
This was an excellent post match beat down. Joe getting involved was very interesting and cool. It looks like his injury is nearly healed and he will getting back in the ring soon which is great. The resistance to Rollins and The AOP’s attempt to take over Raw is growing with Owens, Mysterio, and now Joe involved. It will be interesting to see in the coming weeks how much of an impact Joe will have in this storyline.
Overall, this was an interesting holiday edition of Raw. The show featured some great matches with Owens vs. Rawley, Lashley vs. Alexander, and The O.C. vs. Orton and The Viking Raiders all being highlights. The 24/7 Championship skits were hilarious and the main event post match beat down set up some interesting layers to the Rollins/Owens feud with Samoa Joe now involved. Another important segment saw Becky Lynch call out Asuka to challenge her to a match so that she can finally beat the only woman who has her number every time they cross paths. Asuka came out and accepted the challenge as long as Becky puts her WWE Raw Women’s Championship on the line to which Lynch agreed. This should be a fantastic match that I suspect will take place at the Royal Rumble.
Results:
1. Ricky Starks defeated Eddie Kingston in a NWA Television Championship Tournament qualifying match
2. James Storm defeated Royce Isaacs by countout
3. Melina, Thunder Rosa, and Marti Belle defeated Allysin Kay, Ashley Vox, and ODB
4. The Question Mark defeated Colt Cabana in a NWA Television Championship Tournament qualifying match
Thoughts: This was a solid episode of NWA Power with the focus being on the NWA Television Championship Tournament. In the first two matches in the tournament, Ricky Starks defeated Eddie Kingston and The Question Mark defeated Colt Cabana to advance. The next match in the tournament was announced for next week with Tim Storm taking on the man who led an assault on him last week, the NWA World Heavyweight Champion Nick Aldis. Storm then gave an excellent promo about how his body may be breaking down, but he still has something to prove. No sign of Marty Scurll this week. Perhaps he may get involved in the Aldis vs. Storm match next week.
Results:
1. Roderick Strong (c) defeated Austin Theory by submission to retain the NXT North American Championship
2. Isaiah “Swerve” Scott defeated Gentleman Jack Gallagher
3. Candice LeRae defeated Taynara Conti
4. Dominik Dijakovic defeated Bronson Reed
5. Bianca Belair defeated Shotzi Blackheart
6. Keith Lee and Lio Rush defeated Damian Priest and Tony Nese
Thoughts: This was a fun Christmas Day edition of NXT. Due to being a holiday special episode, there were no storylines advanced this week, but it did have some entertaining matches with the opening NXT North American Championship match and the main event tag match being the highlights. One big announcement that was made on the show was that at the upcoming Worlds Collide show, that will see NXT taking on its sister brand NXT UK, the most dominant group in NXT, The Undisputed Era (Adam Cole, Roderick Strong, Kyle O’Reilly, and Bobby Fish), will take on the most dominant team in NXT UK, Imperium (Walter, Alexander Wolfe, Marcel Barthel, and Fabian Aichner). This should be a hard hitting and excellent match to main event this big crossover event.
Credit: WWE
Results:
1. Braun Strowman and The New Day (Kofi Kingston and Big E) defeated Shinsuke Nakamura, Cesaro, and Sami Zayn
2. Carmella defeated Mandy Rose
3. Daniel Bryan vs. The Miz in a #1 Contender match for a WWE Universal Championship match ended in a double DQ after interference by Baron Corbin’s hired men.
4. Bayley and Sasha Banks defeated Lacey Evans and Dana Brooke by submission
5. Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz and Baron Corbin in a Triple Threat #1 Contender match for a WWE Universal Championship match at the Royal Rumble
Thoughts: The last SmackDown of the year focused on determining who would be the one to face “The Fiend” Bray Wyatt for the WWE Universal Championship at the Royal Rumble. The triple threat #1 Contender match featuring Daniel Bryan, The Miz, and Baron Corbin was originally scheduled to start the show. However, Roman Reigns attacked Baron Corbin at ringside leading to the match to be postponed to later in the show. Corbin refused to compete, claiming he was too banged up by Reigns. WWE officials decided that if Corbin refused to compete then Bryan and Miz would go one on one to determine the new #1 contender. The King of the Ring would not have this and sent his group of hired men to attack Bryan and Miz during their match to cause a double DQ.
Backstage, when Corbin was told that Roman had been asked to leave the arena, Baron suddenly decided he felt fine enough to compete. Furious at being attacked, Bryan and Miz ran to the back and attacked Corbin and his men. The triple threat match was then back on and would be the night’s main event. During the main event, Corbin’s ally, Dolph Ziggler interfered and superkicked Bryan. Roman Reigns made his return and took out Corbin and Ziggler. Reigns and Corbin brawled out of the arena, leaving Bryan and Miz to face each other one on one. After a back and forth battle between The Yes Man and The A-Lister, Bryan locked Miz in the Yes Lock, forcing Miz to tap out giving Bryan the victory.
Wyatt vs. Bryan at the Rumble should be a fantastic match as these two men have been shown to have excellent in ring chemistry together. I do wish they had been patient and done this at WrestleMania, but I guess they have different plans for The Fiend at The Show of Shows. I fully expect The Fiend to win and retain his title as I don’t see Wyatt losing until at least Mania if even then.
Overall, this was a solid episode of SmackDown with the opening six-man tag match and the main event being the highlights.
That’s it for this week’s review section of Spandex and Suplexes. Next, I present to the winners of the first annual Spandex and Suplexes Year End Awards with five categories.
Spandex and Suplexes Year End Awards 2019
Male Wrestler of the Year:
Chris Jericho
2019 Highlights –
1. Wrestled Tetsuya Naito at NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13 for the IWGP Intercontinental Championship
2. Defeated Kenny Omega at AEW Double or Nothing to earn a shot at the AEW World Championship
3. Wrestled Kazuchika Okada at NJPW Dominion 6.9 in Osaka-jo Hall for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship
4. Defeated Hangman Page at AEW All Out to become the first ever AEW World Champion
5. Defeated Cody Rhodes at AEW Full Gear to retain the AEW World Championship
Female Wrestler of the Year:
Becky Lynch
2019 Highlights –
1. Won the 2019 Women’s Royal Rumble
2. Main Evented WrestleMania 35 defeating Ronda Rousey and Charlotte Flair in a triple threat match to win both the WWE Raw Women’s Championship and WWE SmackDown Women’s Championship
3. Teamed with Seth Rollins at Extreme Rules to defeat Lacey Evan and Baron Corbin to retain her WWE Raw Women’s Championship and Rollins’ WWE Universal Championship
4. Defeated Sasha Banks in a Hell in a Cell match at Hell in a Cell to retain her WWE Raw Women’s Championship
5. Became the longest reigning WWE Raw Women’s Champion in history
Tag Team of the Year:
The Lucha Brothers (Pentagon Jr. and Fenix)
2019 Highlights –
1. Defeated LAX (Santana and Ortiz) on the 2/8 edition of Impact Wrestling’s Impact! to win the Impact World Tag Team Championships
2. Defeated Los Mercenarios (El Texano Jr. and Rey Escorpión) at AAA Rey de Reyes to win the AAA World Tag Team Championships
3. Wrestled The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) at AEW Double or Nothing for the AAA World Tag Team Championships
4. Defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) at AAA Verano de Escándalo to win the AAA World Tag Team Championships for the second time
5. Defeated The Young Bucks (Matt Jackson and Nick Jackson) at AEW All Out in a Ladder match to retain the AAA World Tag Team Championships
Match of the Year:
Kenny Omega vs. Hiroshi Tanahashi (NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13)
Event of the Year:
NJPW Wrestle Kingdom 13
There you have it folks, our winners of the Spandex and Suplexes Year End Awards 2019! 2019 was a crazy and exciting year for the world of Professional Wrestling. I look forward to seeing what pro wrestling has in store for us in 2020. Until next time, I’ll see you at ringside.
Nicholas Slade
Nicholas grew up reading J.R.R. Tolkien's books, watching Disney and Studio Ghibli films, and reading Marvel comics and Japanese manga. The superb storylines and characters ignited his passion for writing. He graduated from Full Sail University in 2015 with a BFA in Creative Writing for Entertainment. During his writing career thus far, Nicholas has had numerous short stories and articles published in an array of literary magazines and websites.
