Pro WrestlingBy John Canton on

The WWE Super Show-Down pay-per-view event took place on Saturday night in Melbourne, Australia. It took place at 5 a.m. ET and I was one of those crazy people that watched the entire four-hour broadcast live. I am a morning person, but waking up at 5 a.m. was a bit odd. Once it got going, though, it felt like any typical WWE show.

This is where I pat myself on the back, because if you read my 10 predictions about Super Show-Down last week, you would know that I nailed every match prediction. I even predicted a disqualification finish correctly. That may seem easy because pro wrestling is a scripted entertainment show, but it’s rare to go 10 for 10 like that. I think the main reason for it being easy is because a lot of the card was very predictable with matches that you might see at a live event, which is why the term “glorified house show” gets thrown around by the fans. Five of the ten matches were tags and face teams won four of them because it was obvious they weren’t flying to Australia to lose the bad guys.

Super Show-Down was held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) with WWE announcing 70,309 fans in attendance. Keep in mind that they always inflate that announced number, so it was probably somewhere in the 60,000+ people range, but it’s not like WWE will reveal the real number. I thought it was a cool looking stadium although the crowd wasn’t loud for the whole night. There were times when they sounded too quiet. Perhaps it could have been due to the way the stadium is structured and how noise carries differently in a stadium like that.

Here are the results of the ten matches that took place over four hours.

  • The New Day (Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston w/Big E) defeated The Bar (Sheamus and Cesaro) to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Titles
  • Charlotte Flair defeated Becky Lynch by disqualification (Lynch is still the Smackdown Women’s Champion)
  • John Cena and Bobby Lashley defeated Elias and Kevin Owens
  • The IIconics (Peyton Royce and Billie Kay) defeated Asuka and Naomi
  • AJ Styles defeated Samoa Joe to retain the WWE Championship
  • Ronda Rousey and the Bella Twins (Nikki and Brie Bella) defeated The Riott Squad (Ruby Riott, Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan)
  • Buddy Murphy defeated Cedric Alexander to win the Cruiserweight Championship
  • The Shield (Roman Reigns, Dean Ambrose and Seth Rollins) defeated Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler and Drew McIntyre
  • Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz to earn a WWE Championship match
  • Triple H (with Shawn Michaels) defeated The Undertaker (with Kane)

Here are my ten takeaways from Super Show-Down going in order of when the matches took place.

10. The New Day will have a lengthy reign as Smackdown Tag Team Champions

The opening match saw the New Day “speed” duo of Xavier Woods and Kofi Kingston defeat The Bar to retain the Smackdown Tag Team Titles. I thought it was a solid opening match that went about ten minutes. I liked the finish a lot with Woods hitting a backstabber (two knees to the back) on Cesaro, leading to Kingston coming off the top with a double foot stomp (like Finn Balor does) while Woods held Cesaro in place. It was what I expected with the champs retaining.

I am not sure who is next as contenders for the Smackdown Tag Titles, but I’d love to see The Usos get back into the mix. Sure, they wrestled New Day a lot especially last year. I just feel like they are too good to not be in the tag team picture at all. Another team I like that has a lot of untapped potential is the three-man group known as Sanity (Eric Young, Alexander Wolfe, and Killian Dain). They have had a rivalry with New Day in the past, but it wasn’t for the titles.

The New Day won the SD Tag Team Titles on August 21, 2018 from the Bludgeon Brothers due to Rowan needing arm surgery. I get the feeling that New Day’s title reign is going to be really long, and by that, I mean they might hold the titles all the way to WrestleMania. They are already one of the best tag teams in WWE history. I’m not sure who will end this title reign, but I believe it’s going to be a significant reign.

9. Becky Lynch getting disqualified made sense because there are more matches coming against Charlotte Flair

This is what I wrote in the predictions for this match,

If there is one match on the card where I am tempted to go with a disqualification finish, it’s Becky Lynch defending the Smackdown Women’s Title against Charlotte Flair. I think sometimes you need to book one or two DQs on a show to tell the audience that just because it’s a major show, it doesn’t mean every match has to have a clean finish. For this feud to continue past this show, Lynch can’t beat Flair clean. If that happens, then Flair is out of the title picture and I doubt that’s going to be the case. This feud needs to continue.

I think they’ll get around 15 minutes, Flair will come close to winning multiple times, Lynch will be frustrated by it, and will get herself disqualified. If there is a pinfall result, I can see Lynch cheating to win, although if that happens, it will be harder to give Charlotte another title match. If it’s a DQ loss, Charlotte is justified in getting another title match.

I got the finish exactly right, because when Charlotte was looking to slap on the Figure Eight submission, Lynch grabbed the SD Women’s Title that was in the ring and hit Flair with it, leading to the disqualification finish. I was off on the match time because it went around ten minutes, so it was a bit shorter than I expected. The match was okay, but their Hell in a Cell match a few weeks earlier was better.

What’s up next is Lynch vs. Flair for the Smackdown Women’s Title this Tuesday on Smackdown. The stipulation was added that if Lynch is disqualified again, then Flair wins the title. My guess is they might do a double countout finish, which will piss off the fans, but it would set up a big match at Evolution on October 28, which is a much more important show than this week’s Smackdown. I think it’s possible that Flair wins the title back at Evolution to keep the feud going even longer.

8. John Cena and Bobby Lashley beat Kevin Owens and Elias in a match where Cena took no bumps

This was probably the easiest match of John Cena’s career. The heel team of Kevin Owens and Elias controlled the action by isolating Bobby Lashley for the entire match. After about nine minutes, Cena tagged in, hit his basic offensive moves including the Attitude Adjustment, and pinned Elias after some forward movement Chinese punch. Following the match, Cena did a quick promo about how his life is changing (meaning he is doing movies and less wrestling), but that WWE will always be his home.

Cena took no bumps in his first match since the Greatest Royal Rumble event in April. There are unconfirmed reports that he still has more filming to do for his movie with Jackie Chan in China, so he was likely told not to bump because that could lead to an injury.

The other story is that a lot of people talked about Cena’s new hairstyle by comparing it to fellow former wrestler John Bradshaw Layfield. It’s more hair than Cena has had during his entire WWE career. It is for his movie role with Jackie Chan, so there’s no telling how long he’s going to keep it.

As for Lashley, Owens and Elias, they were all treated like afterthoughts that were not nearly on the same level as a star like John Cena. That doesn’t help those guys at all.

7. The IIconics won their biggest match as a tag team in WWE and would be ideal women’s Tag Team Champions

The IIconics duo of Peyton Royce and Billie Kay are best friends that got into the wrestling business together. They also signed with WWE at the same time about three years ago. During their run on the main roster, they have had some fun moments, but mostly they have repeatedly been beaten by the likes of Charlotte Flair and Asuka.

In this match, the IIconics found the formula for success by actually winning a big match when Kay held Naomi and Royce hit her with a running knee strike for the win while Asuka was knocked down outside the ring. There are rumors that WWE might introduce Women’s Tag Team Titles and I think if they do, The IIconics are a team that would do well as the first champions. We will find out soon if WWE does that, because the women’s Evolution show is less than three weeks away.

The above video is cool because it was shown to the IIconics after they won their match. You can see how much emotion they had wrestling in their home country with their family in the crowd getting to see them in action. Even though they are heels, it’s nice of WWE to show stuff like that.

6. AJ Styles ended his rivalry with Samoa Joe with a submission win to retain the WWE Championship

It appears as though AJ Styles has conquered Samoa Joe as he retained the WWE Championship at Super Show-Down in the second longest match of the night at just under 24 minutes. It was a slow-paced match that the crowd wasn’t into for most of the first half, but they got into it a bit more as they introduced weapons like chairs and tables into the second half of the match.

The turning point of the match was when a table was set up in the ring, they battled by the turnbuckle, and Styles managed to get Joe onto his shoulders, leading to a move where Styles drove Joe through the table that was in the ring. That led to Joe selling a left leg injury for the remainder of the match, which led to Styles targeting the leg. Joe did get some offense and he nearly won a few times, but Styles made the comeback leading to the Calf Crusher submission. I thought it was the best match of the night.

Since Styles won clean, it’s unlikely that Joe is going to get another title shot, although he could always attack Styles on Smackdown to goad him into another match. Styles won his feud with Shinsuke Nakamura after several matches ended in controversial fashion and the same thing happened with Joe. I thought Nakamura would win the title and then I thought Joe would win it. I was wrong in both instances. That’s okay with me, though, because Styles is as good as anybody in WWE right now. I just didn’t expect AJ’s title reign to last this long.

The win by Styles continues his nearly year long reign as WWE Champion since he won the title on Smackdown on November 7 last year. Can he make it to one year? His next test will be at Crown Jewel on November 2, which I’ll mention a bit more later.

5. Ronda Rousey was victorious in a tag team match with the Bella Twins

The same formula that we saw in the John Cena tag match earlier also applied to this match. The difference was that was a men’s two-on-two tag match while this was a women’s three-on-three tag team match. The result was never in doubt, however.

The Bellas worked most of the match while The Riott Squad was in control of the action for most of it. Rousey got the hot tag, cleaned house for about one minute, and made Sarah Logan and Liv Morgan tap out at the same time while Rousey applied an armbar to each woman. Like the Cena match, it went around ten minutes.

As I have mentioned previously, the plan for Evolution is to have Rousey defend the Raw Women’s Title against Nikki Bella. It’s less than three weeks away, so look for something to be set up on Raw this week. The question is if Nikki will turn heel because you know Ronda won’t be doing that. I think WWE may take the approach of Nikki making the challenge as a face and the women trying to have the best match possible. While I wouldn’t call myself a big Bellas fan, I understand their value as a brand to WWE. A lot of fans do like them, especially those watching a show like Evolution.

4. Putting the Cruiserweight Title on Buddy Murphy in Australia was a smart move

The Cruiserweight Title doesn’t get the spotlight that it deserves because WWE puts them on their own show, 205 Live, that has a much smaller audience than both Raw and Smackdown. When they do get on a major PPV event, they are often relegated to the Kickoff Show, which some fans don’t watch. However, at Super Show-Down, they were put in a nice spot and had what many people felt was the match of the night. I liked Styles vs. Joe a bit better, but this one was right there.

The announcers did a great job of pointing out that Alexander was undefeated this year, making Murphy seem like the underdog. Murphy is from Melbourne and walked out with the Australian flag to a big ovation. He was treated like one of the biggest stars of the show, even though most people watching Super Show-Down at home likely don’t view him the same way.

Murphy and Cedric Alexander had a fast-paced match with a lot of cool moves. There was a big spot late where Alexander hit his Lumbar Check finisher and Murphy kicked out at two. That move is rarely kicked out of, so the fans reacted to it in a big way. Murphy came back to win with his neckbreaker called Murphy’s Law.

If they got more than 11 minutes, then it would have been one of the better PPV matches of the year. It was still fun to watch. I think maybe WWE should consider putting the cruiserweights on Raw again because it would help the 205 Live brand.

3. Dean Ambrose had a standout performance in The Shield’s win over their biggest rivals

The six man tag match with The Shield facing off against Strowman, Ziggler, and McIntyre was one of the biggest matches of the card. I thought they might be the main event, if only because WWE loves to put Roman Reigns in the main event of PPV shows. They ended up going third last, which was fine and it was a pretty good match with a predictable finish.

I thought the story of the match was very interesting with Ambrose as the focal point. There was a spot where Strowman, McIntyre, and Ziggler all stood on the apron at the same time while Ambrose was on the other side with Reigns and Rollins in the ring. It teased the idea of Ambrose attacking his buddies. Instead, Ambrose attacked Strowman, McIntyre, and Ziggler to show that he was still a key part of The Shield group.

The key spot late in the match was when Strowman was on a path of destruction out of the ring and Reigns saved him by giving Strowman a spear through the barricade. That was one of the best moves of the night. That left Rollins and Ambrose to battle it out with McIntyre and Ziggler, which led to Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds on Ziggler to win for the team.

In my predictions for the match, here’s what I wrote.

The Shield will get the win likely with Reigns pinning Ziggler. I highly doubt that Strowman would take the pin here. Perhaps Ambrose will get the pin to give him something to brag about since his buddies are already holding titles. Either way, I would be surprised if The Shield lost this match.

My feeling was that Reigns would win, which was wrong (see, I can point out my wrongs too!), but I did mention the idea of Ambrose winning. Looking back now, it makes perfect sense that Ambrose got the victory for the team because of Reigns and Rollins already holding titles. Ambrose can point out on Raw that he was the guy that won for the team and it will make him look like a bigger star because of it.

2. Daniel Bryan defeated The Miz in under three minutes in the most shocking result of the night

The reason why I called Bryan’s win over Miz the most “shocking” of Super Show-Down is because of how fast it was over. I was just getting ready to enjoy the match after about two minutes of action when Bryan snatched up Miz in a small package and the referee counted the three to give Bryan the win officially at 2:25.

Bryan winning was not a surprise at all because I picked him, but why was it that short? I don’t have the answer that, but the show ran exactly four hours, so I doubt it was a mistake from Miz forgetting to kick out or from the ref counting too fast. There may be some controversy, though, because The Miz posted on Instagram that his shoulder was up and the referee never saw it.

https://www.instagram.com/p/Bom195CBYeX/?taken-by=mikethemiz

What that could lead to is another Bryan vs. Miz match, but for now, all we know is that Bryan will challenge AJ Styles for the WWE Championship at Crown Jewel on November 2.

That’s going to be one of the best matches of the year if they get a lot of time. Just a guess, but I assume it will be a lot longer than three minutes!

1. Triple H beat The Undertaker in their “Last Time Ever” match because Shawn Michaels was a better asset than Kane was

The main event of Super Show-Down was also the longest match of the night, as 49-year-old Triple H and 53-year-old The Undertaker battled in a No Disqualification Match that lasted nearly 28 minutes. The reason I mentioned their ages is because that’s an extremely long match for wrestlers in their prime, much less two guys that wrestle a few times per year. I understand wanting to go long, but I think by going as long as it did, the quality of the match was hurt.

The No DQ stipulation was announced as the match began. It was a way to have a wild brawl complete with interference with Shawn Michaels getting heavily involved on behalf of Triple H while Kane was there to support his “brother” The Undertaker.

The match was met with a mixed reaction by a lot of fans. I think some people hated it because of how long it was and how slow the guys were moving. It was obvious that The Undertaker was exhausted during the match, while Triple H also showed signs of fatigue. It’s wrestling and they are selling, but considering their age it’s not a surprise that they had a tough time out there. To me, it wasn’t that bad. They brought back a lot of cool nostalgia moments from their rivalry. Weapons were used, like a chair by The Undertaker Triple H’s trusty sledgehammer. Kane was put through a table at one point. Michaels was getting attacked all around the ring. Was it an all-time classic match like what they did at WrestleMania 28? Nope, not even close to that. It had some fun moments, though.

I’ll go back to my predictions because I got this one right too.

How does Triple H get the win? I don’t expect it to be clean. I think it should be cheap, because if it’s cheap then it sets up the tag team match a lot easier. The way they can get there is have Triple H and Michaels cheat, but not in an over the top way. It will be something where they cause the referee to get distracted by Kane, which leads to Michaels hitting a superkick on Undertaker (that the ref won’t see), and Triple H hitting a Pedigree on Undertaker for the win. That sets up the challenge on Raw with Undertaker and Kane wanting to have a tag team match at Crown Jewel against Triple H and Shawn Michaels. It wouldn’t be a heel turn by Triple H and Michaels, and they can just say they did what they needed to do in order to win.

If I knew that it was going to be a No DQ match I would have modified it, but as you can see, I got it right. They went with the Michaels superkick into the Pedigree for the win, which was right out of the WrestleMania 28 match in 2012 when Undertaker kicked out of it. Undertaker won that match shortly after, but he could not come back to win this match.

It appeared that Super Show-Down would end with the four legends standing in the ring together with their arms raised as a sign of respect just like this.

Moments later, The Undertaker and Kane attacked Triple H and Michaels. Undertaker gave Triple H a Tombstone to lay him out. As for Michaels, they tossed him out of the ring and Undertaker gave him a Chokeslam through the announce table.

The reason for that ending is because WWE plans to have The Undertaker and Kane team up one more time against Triple H and Shawn Michaels at Crown Jewel on November 2. The match has not been announced yet, but it was reported several weeks ago, which I covered here. I think it’s likely that Undertaker and Kane win that match, and it’s also likely that WWE ignores the “Last Time Ever” phrase after shoving it down our throats for the past two months.

It was a memorable ending to Super Show-Down, but the major complaint I have is why is WWE spending 45 minutes on this match when all four men are just part timers? Focus on the current stars. Putting too much attention on the guys from the past is not a good way to tell your fans that the guys like Reigns, Rollins, and Styles are big stars like Undertaker, Triple H, and Michaels. It makes the current stars look like losers a bit, and that’s not a good thing.

Final Thoughts

I thought it was a slightly above average show with the highlights being the Styles win over Joe and Murphy beating Alexander. Most of the rest of the card was just average and predictable. There’s nothing you need to go out of your way to see if you missed it.

The next WWE pay-per-view event is the women’s only Evolution show from Long Island, New York on October 28. That is followed six days later at WWE Crown Jewel in Saudi Arabia on Friday, November 2, which will feature only male wrestlers. Survivor Series is one of the bigger PPVs of the year on Sunday, November 18 in Los Angeles. All of them will air live on WWE Network. It’s a busy time to be a WWE fan, that’s for sure.

About John Canton

John has been writing about WWE online since the late 1990s. He joined The Comeback/Awful Announcing team in 2015. Follow John Canton on Twitter @johnreport or email him at mrjohncanton@gmail.com with any comments or questions. For more of his wrestling opinions, visit his website at TJRWrestling.net. Cheap pop!

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2 thoughts on “10 takeaways from WWE Super Show-Down featuring John Cena’s return, four title matches, and a “last time ever” match”

  1. Here’s a very partial list of the WrestleMania matches I expect.

    Undertaker and Kane vs Triple H and Shawn Michaels, losers have to retire for good. (There will be no match between any of them at “Crown Jewel.”
    The Miz and Daniel Bryan in a streetfight, No DQ match, “I Quit” match, Steel Cage Match, or Hell in a Cell Match.
    AJ Styles vs CM Punk.

  2. Not to sound too critical, but the past 2 weeks on RAW Michael Cole had changed the phrasing from last match ever to last singles match between the two ever. So WWE hasn’t been lying. You just need to pay closer attention to the dreaded commentary.

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