*On Raw we were given the first round matches of King of the Ring which had Sheamus (defeated Dean Ambrose), Bad News Barrett (defeated Dolph Ziggler), R-Truth (defeated Stardust) and Neville (defeated Luke Harper) all advancing. The bracket for tonight’s show actually has some potential to it.
*Michael Cole, Jerry Lawler and JBL are on commentary tonight.
*Match times are not exact.
*We open the show the show with a memorial image dedicated to the late Verne Gagne who just passed away recently, followed by a quick King of the Ring history. Winners shown include Edge, Triple H, Steve Austin and Booker T featured prominently before they show us the four remaining men in the tournament. For some reason, they think the fans believe R-Truth might win.
*Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler opens the show from the stage welcoming people to King of the Ring. Apparently the WWE Network has won awards? That strikes me as strange. Lawler describes the rules of the tournament and we get a recap of how each of the four men advanced. Barrett beat Dolph Ziggler after a distraction from Sheamus, R-Truth beat Stardust clean, Sheamus won via disqualification against Dean Ambrose when Ziggler attacked Sheamus and Neville decided to fly to the moon and back with a Red Arrow to beat Harper. So tonight, we have Sheamus vs Neville and Bad News Barrett vs R-Truth, as well as the finals of the tournament.
*We get Byron Saxton interviewing the last winner of the King of the Ring, Sheamus, about his match against Neville. Sheamus says he’s going to become a two time King of the Ring winner. He gives Neville credit, saying he truly does defy gravity, but says nobody can defy gravity when they’re unconscious. He says he’s going to make every little guy kiss his arse. Please, no more Sheamus bum.
*Renee Young is interviewing Neville now, he talks about how he was the longest reigning NXT champion. He seems a bit nervous in the promo and it’s hard to buy. He said he’s spent his whole life defying expectations like he defies gravity and vows to show Sheamus what a little guy like him can do.
*WWE King of the Ring 2015 Semi Finals: Neville vs Sheamus
Sheamus is out to the ring first and then “The Sensation” Neville. Sheamus starts by mocking Neville’s height before he pushes him into the corner and starts toying with him. Neville isn’t happy with it and starts with some hard shots to Sheamus. Sheamus tries to whip Neville into the corner but Neville does a million handsprings out of it. Neville hits a kick combo and hits the ropes but is caught by a nice backbreaker by Sheamus. Neville actually shoves Sheamus to the ground and pays for it with some big knee strikes to the gut. Sheamus hits another Irish Curse backbreaker and Neville is reeling. He tries to fight back, but Sheamus juts pounds on his back and hits a running knee to the face of Neville and plays to the crowd with the “Are you not entertained!?” thing he does. Sheamus locks Neville in a side bear hug, but Neville starts fighting out so Sheamus slaps him and whips him into the ropes. Neville ducks a clothesline and hits a forearm and starts taking control until Sheamus fights back yet again and tosses Neville to the apron. Sheamus goes for his rope lock forearms, but Neville starts fighting back so Sheamus shoves Neville off the apron and he hits the announce table HARD face first. Referee starts counting and Neville makes it in at nine to Sheamus’ confusion. The assault continues in the corner before Sheamus just tosses Neville across the ring and shouts “little fellas don’t belong in my ring.” He goes for the White Noise and connects, but doesn’t go for the cover. Dolph Ziggler comes out to the stage with a microphone and reminds Sheamus that Ziggler got the win at Extreme Rules. Sheamus turns around and goes for a Brogue Kick, but Neville ducks and hits a kick followed by a Red Arrow for the win!
Official Result: Neville via pinfall @ 7:00
*Ziggler continues to remind Sheamus about what happened at Extreme Rules and the stipulation being Sheamus having to kiss Ziggler’s ass. He says he’s here to collect and charges the ring. Sheamus is able to escape, but then runs back in after collecting himself. The two keep brawling until a group of referees break it up Sheamus is busted open pretty seriously over his eye. Makes Sheamus look like a bigger badass here. Blood being seldom used rarely can be very effective like this.
*We get a preview of the new WWE Network exclusives airing this week, including Mick Foley’s Cheap Pops tomorrow night and Chris Jericho’s podcast with Stephanie McMahon after Smackdown on Thursday.
*Renee Young is backstage with Bad News Barrett. She called Neville beating Sheamus one of the biggest upsets of KOTR history. She asks if he’s intimidated by R-Truth, but he spends the interview mocking him. He says Neville is going to be “The Man Nobody Remembers.” King Bad News Barrett is too long of a name for me.
*Byron Saxton is with Truth now, and Truth is talking about spiders and facing your fears. He said “staring fear in the face is the dumbest plan of all.” He said his plan is to become King of the Ring and will ban spiders when he is King. It’s actually kind of funny. He says he’s going to build a castle with a drawbridge and a moat to keep the spiders out, but he forgot about the water spiders. He says Barrett isn’t invited to the castle unless he has spider killing experience. Entertaining promo by Truth.
*WWE King of the Ring 2015 Semi Finals: R-Truth vs Bad News Barrett
R-Truth is out first followed by Barrett. JBL says “why don’t you just drown the water spiders.” If those do exist, I don’t think drowning them would work, John. Barrett tries to lock up but Truth tries to roll up him up quickly but only gets a two count. Barrett takes advantage for a minute with some strikes, but Truth starts dancing and rolls up Barrett for another two count before Barrett hits a big boot for a two count. Truth is getting choked in the middle rope before Barrett hits some big knees with Truth sitting on the middle rope. He hits another big boot that sends Truth to the floor. Barrett slams his head into the apron a couple of times before rolling him back into to lock in the most devastating submission of all time, the reverse chin lock. Truth to everybody’s shock escapes, and takes control with a couple of clotheslines and a sit out front suplex for two. Truth goes for the axe kick, but Barrett moves and hits the ropes before Truth hits a big leg lariat for another two count. King brings up Truth’s castle idea again to silence from the other announcers. Truth hits his spinning forearm strikes for another near fall. He really spins a lot with that. Barrett was against the ropes and Truth I think was supposed to go for a clothesline, but he kind of awkwardly jumped into Barrett’s arms. Barrett shoved him off and hit the Winds of Change for two. R-Truth hits the Lil Jimmy but Barrett got his foot on the bottom rope. Truth can’t believe it as Barrett rolls outside. Truth tries to bring him back in, but Barrett rakes the eyes and slides in before hitting a Bullhammer for the win.
Official Result: Bad News Barrett via pinfall @ 4:30
*The announcers remind us the finals of the 2015 edition of the King of the Ring is down to Neville and Bad News Barrett. Side note: The last 3 King of the Ring winners (including Neville/Barrett) have all been foreigners.
*We get a video tribute to Verne Gagne. It’s very well put together as WWE tributes always are. Jerry talks about Gagne booking him to be the AWA World Champion in a touching moment.
*Renee Young is backstage with Dolph Ziggler. She shows footage of Ziggler costing Ambrose a possible victory in the first round of the King of the Ring tournament by attacking Sheamus and causing Ambrose to be DQ’d. He talks about costing Sheamus his match tonight against Neville. He says he’s tired of Sheamus taking advantage and bullying guys smaller than him. He promises that Sheamus has only gotten a taste of what it’s like to be in the ring with Ziggler. He says he’s going to kick Sheamus’ arse.
*We’re shown a quick recap from the Extreme Rules kick-off show where Neville defeated Bad News Barrett with the Red Arrow.
*Byron Saxton interviews Bad News Barrett. Barrett says it’s unfortunate he has to face Neville after immediately beating Truth, but says he’s on a roll and Neville can’t stop him. He says he’s going to take the his rightful place on the throne and become the King of the Ring.
*WWE King of the Ring 2015 Finals Match: Neville vs Bad News Barrett
Neville is out to the ring first to a nice pop. Barrett comes out to basically no reaction, but he was also literally just out there, so that could play a part in it. Recaps are shown quickly of Neville and Barrett advancing.
Barrett takes advantage quickly by attacking Neville’s injured ribs, but Neville fights back with a headscissors and a heel kick before hitting some kicks. He goes to hit the ropes, but Barrett follows him and clotheslines him to the outside. Barrett follows and continues to work the ribs with a body slam on the floor followed by ramming rib-first into the ring apron. He rolls him inside for a two count and continues attacking the ribs in the corner. He lays Neville across the top rope and keeps hitting him before backing up and charging with a huge knee to the ribs. Barrett hits an awesome slingshot backbreaker that he used to use more when he first came in through NXT. Modified bow and arrow by Barrett with a knee in the back of Neville, but he escapes. Barrett goes for the slingshot backbreaker again, but Neville flips out of it and hits a series of kicks before hitting the ropes. Barrett tries to follow him again, but Neville ducks and sends Barrett to the outside. Neville goes out to the apron and hits a huge top rope Asai moonsault. Back inside, Neville hits a springboard missile dropkick before hitting another combination of kicks and strikes followed by a low dropkick. Beautiful deadlift German suplex by Neville gets a two count as he starts trying to feed off the crowd, but they’re pretty silent. Neville hits a corner forearm and hits the ropes for another but runs right into the Winds of Change for a Barrett near fall. Barrett goes for Wasteland, but Neville escapes for a moment, but Barrett is able to connect it anyway for another two count. Barrett couldn’t believe it and he set up for the Bullhammer, but Neville dodged it and went hit a big kick to the head. He goes up for the Red Arrow, but Barrett moves out of the way and hits a huge Bullhammer for the win!
Official Result: Bad News Barrett is the 2015 WWE King of the Ring via pinfall @ 7:00
*Wade Barrett is the new King of the Ring and he’s given his robe and crown. Jerry Lawler asks him how it feels to be King. He said he will rule his kingdom with an iron fist and a Bullhammer.
*End show
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