| The Beast in the East | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 Promotional poster featuringBrock Lesnar | |||
| Promotion | WWE | ||
| Date | July 4, 2015 | ||
| City | Sumida, Tokyo,Japan | ||
| Venue | Ryōgoku Kokugikan | ||
| Attendance | 8,646[1] | ||
| WWE event chronology | |||
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The Beast in the East was aprofessional wrestlinglive event produced by the AmericanpromotionWWE. It took place on July 4, 2015, at theRyōgoku Kokugikan inSumida, Tokyo,Japan. In addition to itslive broadcast on theWWE Network streaming service,J Sports also carried the event live inJapan.
Seven matches were contested at the event, with two of the matches shown exclusively on J Sports. The main event sawJohn Cena andDolph Ziggler defeatKane andKing Barrett. In other matches,Chris Jericho wrestled his first televised match sinceNight of Champions in September 2014, defeatingNeville,Finn Bálor (in his "Demon" persona) defeatedKevin Owens to win theNXT Championship, andBrock Lesnar, for whom the event was named after, defeatedKofi Kingston.
The Americanprofessional wrestling promotionWWE originally scheduled ahouse show event to be held on July 4, 2015, at theRyōgoku Kokugikan inSumida, Tokyo,Japan. The promotion then decided to air the event as aWWE Network special and titled it The Beast in the East due to the event featuringBrock Lesnar, whose nickname is "The Beast," and due to the event taking place in Japan.[2] In addition to airinglive on the WWE Network,[3][4] the event also aired live onJ Sports in Japan. Replays of the event aired on J Sports 4 in Japan withon demand viewing available on both the WWE Network and J Sports.[5] To date, the show is the only time in WWE's history that an event was broadcast live from Japan.[6]
The card consisted of five matches, that resulted from scripted storylines, where wrestlers portrayedvillains,heroes, orless distinguishable characters in scripted events that built tension and culminated in a wrestling match or series of matches, with results predetermined by WWE's writers.[7][8]Storylines played out on WWE's primary television programs,Raw,SmackDown andNXT.
On May 28, 2015, it was revealed that Brock Lesnar was scheduled to appear at the July 4 live event in Japan.[9] This would mark Lesnar's first non-PPV match for WWE since 2004. Lesnar reportedly requested a spot on the show so he andBrad Rheingans could go to Tokyo to visitMasa Saito, who was in bad health.[10] WWE then released a promotional video announcing that the show would no longer be a house show, and would be broadcast live on the WWE Network.[2] One day later, WWE revealed the entire match card for the show. One of the matches scheduled for the event,The New Day vs.Tyson Kidd and Cesaro, could no longer take place due toTyson Kidd suffering an injury, which was expected to take him out for over a year.[11][12] Kidd & Cesaro were replaced byThe Lucha Dragons.
Kevin Owens defended hisNXT Championship againstFinn Bálor at the event. AtNXT TakeOver: Rival in February 2015, Owens had captured the NXT Championship while Bálor won a tournament to become number one contender.[13] On the March 25 episode ofNXT, Owens prevailed over Bálor, who had dispensed with his 'Demon' facepaint, saying that he didn't need the 'Demon' to beat the champion; in the match Owens took advantage of a (kayfabe) leg injury.[14] However, Bálor earned another title shot atNXT TakeOver: Unstoppable in May when he beatTyler Breeze.[15] Bálor vowed that at Beast in the East Owens would 'meet the Demon'.[16]
Hideo Itami andTatsumi Fujinami were also advertised to appear.[17][18][unreliable source]
| Role | Name |
|---|---|
| Commentators | Michael Cole |
| Byron Saxton | |
| Ring announcer | Eden Stiles |
Dark matches were held, whereCesaro defeatedDiego by submission and TheLucha Dragons (Kalisto andSin Cara) defeatedThe New Day (Big E andXavier Woods).
The first match wasChris Jericho facingNeville. Neville kicked out of a mid-air Codebreaker. However, after Jericho countered aRed Arrow attempt, Jericho forced Neville to submit to theLiontamer for the victory.
Next,Nikki Bella defended theDivas Championship againstTamina andPaige. In the middle of the match, Paige executed the Rampaige on Nikki, only to get a near-fall. Tamina superkicked Paige, which was the last of Paige for the match. Nikki pinned Tamina after aforearm smash for the victory to retain the title.
After that, Brock Lesnar facedKofi Kingston. Lesnar dominated though being dropkicked to the turnbuckles twice, but it didn't stop him from executing three German suplexes. In the end, Lesnar pinned Kingston after aF-5 for the victory. After the match, Lesnar would deliver moreGerman suplexes and another F-5 on Kingston.Big E andXavier Woods appeared, but Lesnar ultimately executed F5s on both Big E and Woods.
In the fourth match, Kevin Owens defended the NXT Championship against Finn Bálor. Owens mocked John Cena, with whom he had a running feud, with Cena's trademark shoulder tackles, spin-out powerbomb, and Five Knuckle Shuffle. However, Owens became one of the very few people to kick out of theCoup de Grâce. Balor pinned Owens after a second Coup de Grâce for the victory to win the title.
The main event wasWWE United States ChampionJohn Cena andDolph Ziggler facingKane andKing Barrett. Barrett and Kane pretty much dominated throughout the match. In the end, Ziggler performed asuperkick on Barrett and Cena performed anAttitude Adjustment on Kane for the pin.
The Beast in the East received generally positive reviews from critics. The Owens-Bálor match was highly praised.PWInsider.com's Mike Johnson called it "a great main event level" match.[19]PWTorch.com's James Caldwell gave the match a four-and-a-half-star rating, the highest rating of the night.[20] 411Mania.com'sLarry Csonka praised the look of the show, saying it was far away from "the usual and sanitized WWE TV event".[21]
At the 2015San Diego Comic-Con on July 9, a Bálor-Owens rematch for the NXT Championship was scheduled for thenext NXT TakeOver show in August 2015.[22] Owens later requested for the stipulation of aladder match, saying that he did not want to suffer NXT General ManagerWilliam Regal costing him the title in a situation alike theMontreal Screwjob. Though Bálor never had competed in a ladder match before, he accepted the stipulation[23][24] and defeated Owens.[25]
| No. | Results | Stipulations | Times[29] | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1D | Cesaro defeatedDiego by submission | Singles match[Note 1][26] | 8:13 | ||||
| 2D | TheLucha Dragons (Kalisto andSin Cara) defeatedThe New Day (Big E andXavier Woods) | Tag team match[Note 1][26] | 6:31 | ||||
| 3 | Chris Jericho defeatedNeville by submission | Singles match[27][unreliable source] | 16:20 | ||||
| 4 | Nikki Bella (c) defeatedTamina andPaige | Triple threat match for theWWE Divas Championship[27] | 7:03 | ||||
| 5 | Brock Lesnar defeatedKofi Kingston | Singles match[27] | 2:35 | ||||
| 6 | Finn Bálor defeatedKevin Owens (c) | Singles match for theNXT Championship[28] | 19:25 | ||||
| 7 | Dolph Ziggler andJohn Cena defeatedKane andKing Barrett | Tag team match[27] | 23:50 | ||||
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