WWE Wrap-Up
This week in WWE: Roman Reigns and Cesaro steal the show
Dec 13, 2017, 9:07 am
Reigns defended his Intercontinental Championship against Cesaro in the best match of the week. Photo by WWE.com
This is a weekly look at the action in the WWE:
Raw
Samoa Joe opened Raw explaining that he’s not impressed with The Shield, no matter how impressive they have been throughout the years. He continued to instigate Reigns until he finally made his way to the ring, and the two proceeded to brawl in what turned out to be a trap. The Bar ran through to crowd and aided Joe in his assault on Reigns. Ambrose and Rollins raced down in attempt to save their brother, but the ambush proved to be too much as Joe and The Bar stood tall at the end of their brawl. Paige and Mady Rose defeated Mickie James and Bayley continuing Absolution's dominance in the Women’s Division. Matt Hardy and Bray Wyatt shared a promo as animated as their on screen personas. The Mizterouge mocked Finn Balor as they traveled to the ring before Axel’s match against Balor. The former Universal Champion got the last laugh, though, when he defeated Axel vis his Coup De Grace.
Seth Rollins took on Sheamus in the first of three matches between those in the brawl in the opening segment. Michael Cole made a point to explain that no one else could get involved in any of these matches. Rollin’s Superkick and knee combo helped him seal the win. Due to Rich Swann’s indefinite suspension, a new Cruiserweight Fatal 4-Way between Neese, Alexander, Ali, and Daivari occurred to determine who will take on Drew Gulak in a number one contender match. Alexander won the match after hitting Daivari with a Lumbar Check. He will be facing Drew Gulak next week on Raw.
Roman Reigns defended his Intercontinental Championship match against Cesaro. The Swiss Superman worked Reign’s shoulder the whole match. The near falls were timed perfectly, but Reigns is THE BIG DAWG for a reason. A spear later, he defeated Cesaro to retain the Intercontinental Championship. Absolution, finally, gave Asuka the beating they’ve been threatening her with for weeks. The entire women’s roster came down to the ring to help Asuka, they have had enough of Absolution. Samoa Joe took on Dean Ambrose. Jason Jordan would stick his nose where it did not belong and cost Ambrose the win when he distracted the referee. One Coquina Clutch was all Joe needed to defeat The Shield Member. The ring crew reinforced the ring before the monstrous main event between Braun Strowman and Kane. As it turned out, the reinforcement was not really necessary as both men got counted out after brawling outside the ring. Strowman hit Kane with a Running Power Slam as Corey Graves wondered who will be facing Brock Lesnar at the Royal Rumble since there was no winner to this match.
Highlight of the night
Roman Reigns vs Cesaro was a really, really, great match. There’s no doubt in anyone’s mind that Cesaro is an extremely talented performer, but let’s stop pretending like that is not the case with Reigns as well. This was the most memorable TV match in a while.
SmackDown Live
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens passed out fliers for their Occupy SmackDown Movement, a protest to Shane McMahon. AJ Styles welcomed fans and explained why he cannot wait to defend the WWE Championship at Clash of Champions. The Singh Brothers came to the ring to ask AJ Styles to allow them to support him at Clash of Champions. Styles, of course, did not fall for their antics and beat them out of the ring, much to Mahal’s dismay. Charlotte took on Ruby Riott. Charlotte’s challenger at Clash of Champions, Natalya, interfered with the match causing it to end. Riott Squad began attacking Charlotte as Natalya watched. Naomi returned and raced down to save Charlotte. As the Riott Squad retreated, Carmella, Tamina, and Lana attacked them from behind. Bobby Roode gave Dolph Ziggler a taste of his own medicine when he interrupted his match and hit him with a Glorious DDT. He gave one to Baron Corbin, too, for good measure. The Bludgeon Brothers defeated another enhancement tag team. Before their match, it was announced that they will be taking on Breezango at Clash of Champions.
Zayn and Owens started the second hour with their Occupy SmackDown protest. Daniel Bryan came to the ring and addressed their “protest”. They tried to explain how Bryan’s 2014 Occupy Raw inspired them. Bryan explained that his protest was for the people, not like their protest. He announced, he too, would be a guest referee in their match at Clash of Champions against Orton and Nakamura. Rusev and Aiden English followed up last week's upset this week when they defeated the Tag Team Champions, The Usos. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Kevin Owens closed the show with shenanigans. Somehow, the referee got knocked out, and Daniel Bryan gave fans a preview of Sunday as he refereed the remainder of the match—which Kevin Owens won.
Highlight of the Night
Daniel Bryan inserting himself into the Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn match at Clash of Champions. Does it make any sense for their to be two refs? Absolutely not. This seems to be the beginning of the dissension between McMahon and Bryan, though. I would be lying if I were to say I was not intrigued.
How do they Compare?
Raw is on an absolute roll. The Shield anchored the show with three awesome matches. Strowman and Kane delivered an awesome brawl, and, with Royal Rumble still over a month away, it was fine that there was no decision. SmackDown, on the other hand, has a Pay Per View this Sunday with Clash of Champions. For a “Go Home Show,” this felt like major rehash of last week. Sure, Rusev and Aiden English picking up another win is cool, but it only makes sense to give them a couple of wins before losing on Sunday. Clash of Champions will be this year’s last Pay Per View, and I do not think it will be a proper indication of the good year WWE has had. Raw gets the win this week, and I think I am ready for another superstar shakeup, SmackDown needs it.
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Cam Smith’s reaction to making the Astros Opening Day roster is priceless
Mar 25, 2025, 4:16 pm
It’s go time! While the Astros are not the juggernaut they were over the more than half-decade stretch from 2017 through 2022 that yielded regular seasons with 101, 103, 106, and 107 wins, four American League pennants, and two World Series Champions, as the saying goes, they ain’t dead yet. There is no superpower in the American League West the Astros need to overcome. In fact, the American League as a whole is grossly inferior to the National League. As a result, a fifth Astros’ AL title in this era is not some absurd fantasy, though it is certainly unlikely. But winning the pennant is unlikely for every AL team, so if you’re a fan of the Astros there is nothing wrong with a “Why not us?” mentality. On the other hand, the floor for the 2025 Astros is lower going into a season than it has been in almost a decade. The lineup has numerous question marks, and if the terrific trio atop the Astros’ starting rotation (Framber Valdez, Hunter Brown, and Ronel Bronco) runs into injury or performance issues the Astros would have serious problems. That the Texas Rangers and Seattle Mariners both finish ahead of the Astros is clearly plausible. Play ball!
Astros history lives in these moments
It is simple fact that time marches on, but it is still amazing that the Astros are beginning their second quarter-century of play at what for its first two seasons was called Enron Field, then for the past 23 seasons Minute Maid Park, and now Daikin Park. That’s 25 seasons in the books, at least 26 more to come, with the Astros a few years ago having extended their lease through 2050. In non-specific order, I have twenty easily come-to-mind most spine-tingling moments at the ballpark. If you want 25 for 25 years, I leave five more to you.
Not all spine-tinglers on the home field are generated by the home team. Here are three produced by visiting players. In 2001, Barry Bonds smashed his 70th home run of the season to tie Mark McGwire’s single season Major League record. We know what went into the home run numbers of that era, but it was still jaw-dropping stuff. Bonds would finish the season with 73 homers. Game five of the 2005 National League Championship Series, with the Astros one out from winning their first ever pennant, Albert Pujols launched a Brad Lidge hanging slider that might still be airborne if not for the glass wall above the train tracks. It may be the most instantaneous crowd delirium to utter silence moment ever. It turned a 4-2 Astros’ lead into a crushing 5-4 loss. But, the next game Roy Oswalt pitched the Astros to that pennant in St. Louis. Lastly, the second game of the 2013 season, Rangers’ pitcher Yu Darvish retired the first 26 Astro batters before Marwin Gonzalez smacked a ball through Darvish’s legs up the middle for a base hit. Soooooo close to a perfect game. Only 22 perfect games have been thrown in MLB’s modern era (1900-today).
Now to Astro achievements. Fudging a bit by including Roger Clemens since it’s not for one specific moment. But the Rocket’s starts with the Astros were events. Speaking of Hall of Famers, Craig Biggio’s 3000th hit is an obvious list-maker. Jeff Kent is not a Hall of Famer but he was better in the batter’s box than any second baseman elected after Joe Morgan. Kent won game five of the 2004 NLCS with a bottom of the ninth three-run bomb to end what had been a scoreless game. Alas, the Astros would lose the next two games and the series in St. Louis. The crowd went much wilder over Kent’s homer than over Chris Burke’s series-winning homer over the Atlanta Braves in a 2005 NL Division Series. Burke’s homer came in the 18th inning, so sheer exhaustion held down the decibel level a little. A sleeper for the list occurred earlier in that same game, when Brad Ausmus of all people hit a two-out game-tying homer to get the game into extra innings.
Four no-hitters have been thrown by Union Station. Working backwards: Ronel Blanco last season, Framber Valdez in 2023, a combined job started by Aaron Sanchez in 2019, and the first in 2015 by Mike....yes, Fiers.
And now to the grandest home park moments of this Platinum Era in Astros’ history. Carlos Correa authored two of them, each in a game two of the American League Championship Series. In 2017 he doubled home Jose Altuve with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. That came off of Aroldis Chapman who shall appear once more in this column. In 2019 Correa tied the series at one win apiece with a walk-off homer. Yordan Alvarez also gets a pair of entries. You know, Yordan hit just .192 in the 2022 postseason. But talk about making your hits count. In game one of those playoffs, ALDS vs. Seattle, it was a two-out three-run walk-off blast off of Robbie Ray to give the Astros an 8-7 win. Then in the final game of those playoffs, it was a sixth inning gargantuan three-run launch to dead center turning a 1-0 deficit into a 3-1 lead.
That leaves four moments that are 100 percent non-negotiable entries. While not dramatic (4-0 final score), the payoff warrants inclusion of the Astros winning Game seven of the 2017 ALCS over the Yankees. Similarly, while the moment of victory lacked drama (4-1 final), how could one exclude the Astros winning the World Series on home turf in 2022. Finally, for my money the two most pulsating, goosebump-inducing, viscerally exciting moments at 501 Crawford Street. In one of the most scintillating games ever played in any sport, Alex Bregman’s bottom of the 10th inning single gave the Astros’ their epic 13-12 win over the Dodgers in game five of the 2017 World Series. Then in 2019, Jose Altuve’s game six homer ended the ALCS (I warned you Aroldis).
Here’s to the new season! Join Brandon Strange, Josh Jordan, and me for the Stone Cold ‘Stros podcast which drops each Monday afternoon, with an additional episode now on Thursday. Click here to catch!
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