Live on October 3, 2015, from New York, NY. Your announcers are Byron Saxton, Rich Brennan, and John Bradshaw Layfield.

MATCH 1: Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler vs. Rusev and Sheamus

Orton works over Sheamus to start, but Rusev makes him tag out after a poke to the eyes. Ziggler hits a dropkick, stinger splash, neckbreaker, and jumping elbow for two, but Rusev catches him in a bodyblock attempt and hits a spinning slam. The heels work Ziggler over, and a dropkick on Rusev gets caught and turned into a catapult into the corner. Rusev and Sheamus each hit bodyslams on Ziggler, but Ziggler soon comes back with his own bodyslams and makes the hot tag to Orton. Orton runs Sheamus over with clotheslines, a scoop slam, and a draped DDT, then tosses Rusev. Ziggler hits a superkick on the apron while Sheamus clubs Orton down. Brogue Kick on Orton misses, and a superkick followed by an RKO puts Sheamus down at 9:00. After the match, Rusev berates Sheamus for the loss and gets a Brogue Kick in return.

This was perfectly acceptable tag team wrestling to get the crowd going, and a much appreciated change of pace from seeing more singles matches between Orton/Sheamus and Ziggler/Rusev. Sheamus and Rusev’s post-match scuffle appears to be more of an “anything can happen” moment rather than any kind of face turn, which is disappointing because this incarnation of Sheamus is dreadfully uninteresting. Also, what’s up with all the bodyslams in Rusev’s matches? It’s never going to be a thing, sorry.

WINNERS: Randy Orton and Dolph Ziggler

RATING: **1/2

MATCH 2: Neville vs. Stardust

Stardust gets in some taunts after a shoulderblock, but Neville shuts him up with a few kicks to the leg and then somersaulting across the ring into a bodyblock. Cody takes back control with an enziguiri, and after playing with Neville’s cape, keeps him down with clotheslines, stomps, and shoulderblocks. Neville comes back with kicks after Cody misses a bodyblock, then hits a springboard moonsault to the outside. Cody catches him with a slam and goes to the top wearing Neville’s cape, but gets caught with a fist coming down. A superkick and the Red Arrow finishes off Cody at 7:20.

Another decent but uneventful match between two go-nowhere competitors. Cody always gives 110% and Neville’s agility is astounding, but when their contests put the crowds half to sleep, it’s not hard to understand why they’ve been crowded out of the midcard in favor of other wrestlers who get more of a reaction.

WINNER: Neville

RATING: **

MATCH 3: Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, and Alicia Fox vs. Paige, Charlotte, and Becky Lynch

Becky works over Alicia early on, then hits a pumphandle slam on Brie. She chases Brie outside but gets intercepted by Alicia and caught coming back in. Brie locks in a resthold, then announces that she’s in “Brie Mode” and hits a running knee for two. Becky catches Nikki with a roll up for two and makes the hot tag to Charlotte, who connects with chops, a neckbreaker, and a spear. She tries to finish with the Figure 8 but Paige tags herself in for a pin attempt. The faces argue, allowing Nikki to hit a clotheslines on Paige, leading to another heat sequence. Alicia hits a northern lights suplex for two. Paige clotheslines her and Nikki down and gets to her corner for the tag, but Charlotte and Becky walk away. Nikki’s Rack Attack finishes Paige at 8:35. Paige complains about the betrayal on mic after the match.

Another show, another decent six-person tag team match for the Divas. The Team PCB break-up is dragging on for a surprisingly long time, but the ending here was interesting and helped to further define the characters’ personalities for those who didn’t watch NXT. Many are already calling the Divas Revolution as a “failure,” but I’m inclined to label it instead as “progress” since the division is certainly in a much better place than it has been for years. We all know that the new divas can put on good-to-great matches every week, but obviously the WWE isn’t ready to give them more screen-time and so has continued to group them into easily digestible teams. With any luck, we’ll start seeing these teams break up soon and get some fresh new match-ups to enjoy.

WINNERS: Nikki Bella, Brie Bella, and Alicia Fox

RATING: **1/4

MATCH 4: Intercontinental Championship Match: Kevin Owens (champion) vs. Chris Jericho

Before the match, Jericho talks about some old friends at ringside, including Lance Storm, who he wrestled against in his first match 25 years ago on this day. Owens tries to beat Jericho down early but gets hit with a springboard dropkick and hammered into the announce table. He catches Jericho coming back into the ring, and a running senton by Owens gets two. Jericho fights back with chops and a double axehandle off the top. Walls of Jericho is fought off but an enziguiri by Jericho gets two. Owens fails to hit a Pop-Up Powerbomb but turns a Codebreaker attempt into a package powerbomb for two. Jericho comes back with the bulldog but a Lionsault hits knees. Owens hits the running cannonball into the corner but a senton off the top hits knees. Jericho capitalizes with the Walls of Jericho but Owens makes the ropes and throws him into the turnbuckle, then rolls him up for two. A Codebreaker gets two for Jericho. Owens catches him with a superkick but the Pop-Up Powerbomb is reversed into a rana. Jericho tries for the Walls again but Owens thumbs him in the eye and rolls him up for the pin at 8:10.

One would expect great things in a match between two fantastic wrestlers like Owens and Jericho, and while the match wasn’t an all-time classic or anything, it was certainly a quality outing and a worthy tribute to Jericho’s career on his 25th anniversary. Jericho never wins anymore and so the ending was never in doubt, but if one of the all-time greats wants to keep coming back to put on quality matches and put over the younger generation, you’ll never hear me complain.

WINNER: Kevin Owens

RATING: ***1/4

MATCH 5: Tag Team Championship Match: The New Day (champions) vs. The Dudley Boyz

The New Day does their usual funny promo before the match. The Dudleyz take turns dominating both men until Big E manages to hit a bodyslam on Bubba. His dancing celebration is cut short when Bubba sets up the Wazzup Drop, but Kofi distracts the ref and Xavier pushes D-Von off the top. The New Day work over Bubba in the corner with trumpet-motivated stomps, but Big E misses a splash and Bubba makes the tag to D-Von, who cleans house. Kofi misses a springboard and gets hit with 3D, but Xavier runs in for the DQ at 6:40. After the match, The New Day set up a table but take so long celebrating that the Dudleyz recover and 3D Xavier through it.

Why bother with doing an abbreviated and less impressive version of their Night of Champions match if you’re not even going to change the ending? I’d still rather see the Dudley Boyz as title contenders than any of the other tag teams in the division, but the booking of this feud is taking things nowhere fast.

WINNERS: The Dudley Boyz

RATING: *3/4

MATCH 6: Big Show vs. Brock Lesnar

Brock tries to take Big Show off his feet, but Big Show casually tosses him over the top rope. Show fights off a german suplex and hits three consecutive chokeslams, but it only gets two. Lesnar ducks a KO punch and hits three german suplexes, but can’t quite hold him up for an F5. Another german suplex and an F5 finish off Show at 4:05. After the match, Brock heads back down the aisle but returns for a belly-to-belly suplex and another F5. Once Big Show gets to his feet, the ring announcer tries to draw some sympathy applause by saying “Let’s hear it for the Big Show!,” but the crowd doesn't care.

Lesnar got a pretty sweet payday here by getting to wrestle for just five minutes and completely no-sell Big Show’s chokeslam. If the WWE wants to spend money to show off Lesnar’s strength and make him look like a million bucks, this is exactly how you do it. Whether that’s a good use of their money is up to them.

WINNER: Brock Lesnar

RATING: **

MATCH 7: United States Championship Match, steel cage match: John Cena (champion) vs. Seth Rollins

Rollins fights off a long headlock from Cena by throwing him into the cage twice. A splash in the corner gets two and Rollins tries to walk out the door, but Cena pulls him back in. Rollins tries to climb but Cena pulls him back down and hits a bulldog off the top for two. Cena starts to climb but Rollins throws him down and hits a jumping knee off the top for two. Rollins heads back up the cage, but he has to jump down to prevent Cena from crawling out the door. A sling blade gets two. Rollins grinds Cena’s face into the cage and climbs, but Cena brings him back down with an electric chair for two. They fight on top and Cena slams Rollins’ face into the cage to knock him off, but Cena’s leg drop off the top gets turned into a powerbomb by Rollins for two. They take turns throwing each other into the cage and Cena does the usual to set up the Five Knuckle Shuffle. Rollins kicks him away and heads for the door, then hits an enziguiri when Cena pulls him back in for two. Rollins’ own Five Knuckle Shuffle is stopped and Cena finishes his in response. Rollins slips out of an Attitude Adjustment onto the cage, but jumps off the ropes and gets caught in an STF. Rollins crawls to the door and chokes Cena on the bottom rope until he releases the hold, then they take turns diving for the door until Rollins slams it on Cena's head for two. Cena tries to slingshot Rollins out of a Pedigree, but Rollins catches the cage and tries to climb. Rollins’ superplex/falcon arrow combo gets two. They fight on top until Cena throws Rollins back to the mat, them jumps off the top for a tornado DDT for two. Cena makes for the door but Rollins springboards off his back to the top, then kicks the door into Cena's face. Cena goes for the Attitude Adjustment again, but Rollins lands on his feet and hits a superkick for two. STF is reversed into a crossface. Cena picks him up for the Attitude Adjustment once more but Rollins slips out and hits a low blow. Rollins gets to the top of the cage when Kane comes out and stands where Rollins would climb down. Rollins eventually chooses to splash Cena off the top instead of climb down and face Kane, but he misses and an Attitude Adjustment gives Cena the pin at 22:49. After the match, Kane comes in and hits a chokeslam and tombstone.

Cena and Rollins can do no wrong together on PPV, and this was a pretty fantastic cage match as the two focused on using the cage as an essential part of the story and made lots of exciting escape attempts. As with most of their other matches, this was marred by a bad ending and the unfortunate result of having the world champion once again lose to the holder of the secondary title. I remain befuddled by the creative team’s choices when booking Rollins. He’s constantly undermined by his compatriots and never looks dominant in any of his feuds despite clearly having the goods in the ring. Either make him a fluke champion and get the belt off of him, or even better, give him some wins and make a believable star out of him.

WINNER: John Cena

RATING: ****

Here’s one of two “return” pieces for RingsideNews, this one discussing the good, bad, and ugly from the Live at MSG show, all taken from a live perspective. It’s always good to get the perspective of someone who’s seen it live, and someone who’s watched from home.

Hope you’ve enjoyed. I may have some rust left, but the passion is still there! Think of me like, I don’t know, Hideo Itami returning from injury.