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HOUSTON — On The ’Zo Train, there is no room for such niceties as sportsmanship or fairness. There is only victory by any means necessary, and Enzo Amore rode that ticket once again to a successful defense of his WWE Cruiserweight Title on the Survivor Series Kickoff.
As expected, chicanery was the entire cornerstone of Muscles Marinara’s offensive strategy. Amore was intent on using the ring to his advantage, charging Kalisto into the corner, bouncing his throat off the ropes and executing a sprinting shoulder tackle to The King of Flight as he was stuck in the Tree of Woe. It wasn’t illegal per se, but an underhanded game plan that directly contrasted Kalisto’s gritty, by-the-book effort to reclaim the title he lost thanks to some similar funny business at WWE TLC.
Amore’s efforts did come back to haunt him briefly when he went for a repeat of his Tree of Woe tackle and missed, giving Kalisto a brief opening that he exploited to the cusp of a Salida del Sol. But Enzo escaped and got the better of a brawl on the ring apron, yanking his challenger face-first into the turnbuckle to set him up for a match-ending JawdonZo.
Such a strategy will likely earn Enzo some disapproval from a WWE Universe who want a champion that retains his title the old-fashioned way. But for Enzo, all that matters is getting the win — even if, tonight, he was lucky just to survive.