WWE Superstars TV Report 3-20-15: The Lucha Dragons vs. The Ascension rematch, Adam Rose loses again
By James Cox, WrestlingObserver.com
Jack Swagger beat Adam Rose with the Patriot Lock in 3:47
They started the show with a big push on the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal at WrestleMania next weekend. After Adam Rose’s entrance, the break the usual format and cut to a promo video looking at Andre the Giant’s career which included talking heads from the likes of William Regal, John Cena and Chris Jericho. As a result, whenever there was a pause for some posturing in this match, instead of looking up and pointing at the WrestleMania sing, there was lots of pointing down at the trophy at ringside.
Swagger immediately floors Rose with three waist lock take downs which stun Rose and anger him. He comes back at Swagger with chops but he is then smashed down with a shoulder barge out of the ropes and then a series of knees to the corner.
Rose manages to toss Swagger over the top rope and then baseball slide kicks him to the outside. The announcers are keen, of course, to push the battle royal next weekend, but the ease with which the much smaller man threw the much bigger over the top rope did little to build the match.
Rose rolls Swagger back in and lands him with knees and elbows before locking in one of the most awkward looking abdominal stretches I’ve seen. Rose looks dwarfed by Swaggers huge limbs and so, after a few seconds in the hold, Swagger realises and just hip tosses Rose out of the way.
Swagger is then stunned by a knee and a missile drop kick but he kicks out of a pin attempt at two. Swagger then takes out Rose’s left leg, hits a huge scoop slam and makes Rose retreat outside. Swagger ducks outside and hits a running clothesline a la Brock Lesnar and then rolls him back in for a Swagger bomb.
The finish sees Swagger toss Rose up in the air like his former tag partner, Cesaro, does when going for a European uppercut, but instead, as Rose is falling back to earth, Swagger slaps on the Patriot Lock for the win.
The Lucha Dragons beat The Ascension with a senton in 8:26
In a rematch from last week on Superstars, The Lucha Dragons once again went over against The Ascension who continue to look like complete nobodies on the main roster after such a painstaking build up of dominance on NXT.
Kalisto and Viktor start things off, with lots of early indications to the crowd that this is a clash of styles. Kalisto flips all over to avoid the brutish Viktor. Konnor tags in and is taken down by a drop kick. Sin Cara tags in and hits him with top rope drop kick. The Ascension are then sent outside and The Lucha Dragons tease stereo suicide dives as we go to a break.
Sin Cara and Konnor are in together after the break. Konnor hits Sin Cara with a faceplant after a missed springboard cross body from the Mexican. Konnor and Viktor stomp the stuffing out of Sin Cara in the corner and, as Viktor is tagged in, we begin a long period where The Ascension isolate Sin Cara and cut the ring in half.
Sin Cara is chopped outside, smashed into dasher boards and then rolled back in for a cover. He kicks out at two and so Viktor puts on a rear chin lock. Konnor tags back in, dropping an elbow. He covers Sin Cara but can also only get two and so goes to rear chin lock of his own.
The crowd clap to show their support for Sin Cara who eventually powers out of the hold but Viktor tags back in. The announcers are largely disinterested and spend most of this pushing all of the WrestleMania events that will be going on next week in the Bay Area. Kalisto starts up a ‘lucha’ chant which takes but Sin Cara is still getting beaten up. Viktor uses a scoop slam and puts him in a half Boston crab as Konnor comes in to smash the defenceless Sin Cara with an elbow drop.
Kalisto comes into break up the pin and the crowd are clearly really behind The Lucha Dragons. Sin Cara tries a small package on Viktor off the distraction, which he kicks out of and the stomps a mud hole on him in the middle of the ring.
Sin Cara finally gives the hot to tag to Kalisto. He comes in with a springboard cross body, then hits a corkscrew cross body off the middle rope. He then uses a handstand headscissors takedown to spike Viktor’s head into the mat. Konnor storms in and is sent over the top rope. Kalisto pushes the ropes apart with his legs so that Sin Cara can hit Konnor with a tope through the ropes to the outside. Inside, Kalisto hits the Salida del Sol (now being referred to as the ‘STS’) on Viktor and then Sin Cara tags in and uses the senton for the win.