Results from last Sunday's Hell-In-A-Cell pay per view in Texas, some interesting news about the WWE Network and the death of a prominent figure from the fading days of the National Wrestling Alliance are some of the top headlines this week in squared circle news.
Seth Rollins pinned Dean Ambrose after outside interference by the mysterious Bray Wyatt during one of those inexplicable "lights-out" episodes in a somewhat disjointed main event at the HIAC ppv last Sunday night in Dallas. The bout had begun in rather odd fashion with Ambrose climbing to the top of the large steel structure and demanding that his adversary join him up there to commence with the festivities.
After initially dispatching reluctant henchmen Joey Mercury and Brian Noble to climb the cage and toss Ambrose off the top, Rollins had to scale to the top to do his own dirty work when his former Shield teammate got the best of the little guys in suits. That eventually led to Ambrose chasing Rollins down the side of the cell and the first big bump of the bout when both came hurtling down onto the Spanish and American announce tables.
With both men appearing worse for wear, stretchers were sent out to cart away the seemingly disabled performers, but Ambrose broke away from his and proceeded to toss Rollins off his as the melee continued. An assortment of assaults by both parties ensued. There were some brutal chair shots to the body and various and sundry spots that employed the cage as a weapon.
Ambrose utilized The MITB briefcase on Rollins, and Kane dropped by to spray Ambrose with a fire extinguisher before a blackout that ended with a lantern and a strange fog appearing before the lights went out a second time, with Wyatt then showing up to give Ambrose a uranage that allowed Rollins to score the pinfall victory. Wyatt closed the night by delivering a Sister Abigail on Ambrose to complete what seemed designed to be a shocking ending to the ppv, but felt a lot flatter than it must have seemed on paper at the creative meeting.
John Cena's rehabilitation continued with his victory over Randy Orton in a very good match also held within the confines of the HIAC apparatus. It makes Cena the number one contender for Brock Lesnar's heavyweight title. That is, if they can ever get Lesnar back to defend the belt. The MITB briefcase doesn't seem too important these days either, with no opportunities to cash it in. But hey, they gave Brock the deal they did.
Surprisingly, Dolph Ziggler went over strong in two straight falls of the two-out-of-three-fall contest with Cesaro. It started as a great technical match between two legitimate wrestlers who demonstrated exactly why wrestling (and not entertainment) should still be on the marquee. Nikki Bella bested sister Brie, and A.J. Lee retained over Paige. Sheamus kept the U.S. title over the Miz and Mizdow in one of those lame attempts at comedy that completely undermined the work done by Ziggler and Cesaro. Rusev forced Big Show to pass out from the accolade. Goldust and Stardust bested the Usos.
Recent numbers for the WWE Network subscriptions were not good. They decided to drop the six month commitment and allow people to go month by month. There was also a free month offer for November for new subscribers. That seems like a slap in the face to those who have signed up at the start, committed for six months, endured the streaming issues and did not get a free month. Am I missing something here? Like, maybe a free month?
Former NWA president Bob Geigel passed away this past week at the age of 90. He served several stints as the figurehead president of the alliance during the 1980s and was himself a wrestling star in the Central States territory headquartered in Kansas City from the 1950s thru most of the 1960s.
While TNA still has no new television deal announced, they did change their world title this past week on Spike with Bobby Roode upending Bobby Lashley for the gold in a bout taped a while back in Bethlehem.
(Shamokin's Bill Gilger "arranges" the interview each week with The Insider.)