WWE EVOLUTION

Nassau Coliseum
Long Island, NY

TRISH STRATUS & LITA vs. MICKIE JAMES & ALICIA FOX (11:05): This was the WWE's first all-women's ppv. The reason behind it isn't great, though. The WWE is having a show on Friday in Saudi Arabia. This will be their second visit this year to Saudi Arabia. The first time they went the company got a lot of flak because women aren't allowed to wrestle on the show there. That's not the only thing bad/wrong about Saudi Arabia (alcohol, homosexuality, and porn are illegal, among other ridiculousness). A few weeks ago, Saudi Arabia had a U.S. citizen murdered in Turkey because he was a newspaper critic of them. But the WWE only cares about money. So here's at least a bone to throw the women that can't get a big pay day like Shawn Michaels and Brock Lesnar who are only wrestling in Saudi Arabia because the paycheck is so large. An all women's show! The WWE, granted, has made strides in the last few years at making their women's division less of a bra-and-panties, mud-pit melee type of a comedy farce. Sasha Banks, Charlotte, Asuka, Ronda Rousey, Becky Lynch, and Bayley have led the charge. They did a women's Royal Rumble this year and last year a women's Hell in a Cell match was the main event on that ppv. There was only one good match on paper on this card, though, and that was the only one that delivered. As for this opener? It was three old hags and Alicia Fox. It was okay but the crowd was super hot. The arena was as dark as a cave, probably because there were a lot of empty seats, but this was a hardcore crowd which was good. *1/2

BATTLE ROYAL (NIA JAX) (16:10): They always throw a monotonous battle royal on shows when they don't know what else to do it seems. I didn't pay much attention to this. It was the usual stuff. *1/2

TONI STORM vs. IO SHIRAI (10:20): Shirai was Stardom's big star in Japan. That's an all women's wrestling company. Of course she lost here, though, which seems fairly inept. This was the finals of the Mae Young Women's Classic...which I didn't watch and probably no one else did since it wasn't on RAW or Smackdown. The internet fans slobbered over this match when it was announced but it was way too short. Both of them did some crazy moves, though, like a top-rope moonsault to the floor and a suplex on the apron. They're both definitely future stars. **1/2

SASHA BANKS, BAYLEY & NATALYA vs. RUBY RIOTT, LIV MORGAN & SARAH LOGAN (13:10): Good match. The last great women's match was Bayley vs. Sasha at a NXT Takeover awhile back. So you'd think they'd put Banks or Bayley in a one on one match. Nope! Banks is great, perhaps the WWE's best women's wrestler. They've been sort of setting up a Bayley/Banks feud forever...so maybe pull the trigger. **1/2

SHAYNA BASZLER vs. KAIRI SANE (12:10): Good match. This was for the NXT title. Kairi Sane is awesome and gorgeous, a true WWE rare gem. Baszler is a UFC style brute. This was more entertaining than their Takeover bout earlier this year. The end had outside interference from Baszler's Four Horsewomen contingent so that ending sucked and blew. **1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. CHARLOTTE "LAST WOMAN STANDING MATCH" (28:40): The WWE doesn't have many half hour long matches. Maybe they should, as it takes time to build drama and emotion and tell a story. This was the WWE's best match of the year. NXT had better matches, but the WWE main roster hasn't had much to cheer about all year. This was awesome stuff. It was basically a tables, ladders, and chairs match. Becky elbow dropped through Charlotte on the announce table. Charlotte did a moonsault onto Becky on a table and it didn't break so she did it again but did a Swanton Bomb. They both dropped each other on a pile of chairs in the ring. They hit each other with Singapore canes. They brawled through the crowd. The finish had Lynch power bomb Charlotte off the top rope through a ring side table and Flair didn't beat the ten count. This was emotional and dramatic as hell. Also very entertaining. I do love plunder matches so perhaps I'm biased, but this still was definitely a high water mark for WWE women's matches. Lynch retained the title, and is still apparently a heel even though she was voraciously cheered throughout. ***1/2

RONDA ROUSEY vs. NIKKI BELLA (14:15): They created this feud out of thin air two weeks ago for no reason. They should have made the Lynch/Flair match the main event. Seeing Rousey selling for ten minutes was atrocious. Rousey kept her title. This was perhaps better than even I thought, albeit it still was pretty bad. *1/2

NJPW KING OF PRO WRESTLING

Tokyo

EL DESPERADO & YOSHINOBU KANEMARU vs. JYUSHIN THUNDER LIGER & TIGER MASK (9:51): When these four dudes waltzed out for the first match I was like, oh, jeez, a typical, random New Japan multi-man opener. I was sadly mistaken, as this was for the Jr. tag titles, which Desperado and Kanemaru retained. What a fucking title that is, as I'd forgotten who the champs were. It's probably because I loathe Suzuki-Gun. And where the hell is the Dragon Lee vs. Desperado mask vs. mask match we were promised? This was mildly entertaining. **

TOGI MAKABE & TOMOAKI HONMA vs. JUICE ROBINSON & TOA HENARE (10:20): Honma was almost paralyzed but is back and looks...the same? I guess a little rusty, but he's still doing diving head butts for some reason. This was just okay. The crowd still loves Honma, though, which at least made this a hotter match than it had any right to be. *1/2

BAD LUCK FALE, TAMA TONGA, TANGA LOA & TAIJI ISHIMORI vs. THE YOUNG BUCKS, HANGMAN PAGE & CHASE OWENS (12:06): Where the hell has Ishimori been? I know he wrestled for TNA/Impact at their last ppv...but he set the world on fire in June during the Super Juniors. Hopefully he'll face Kushida at the Dome. And The Bucks are always fun to watch, so there was that. **1/2

TOMOHIRO ISHII, HIROOKI GOTO & WILL OSPREAY vs. MINORU SUZUKI, TAICHI & TAKASHI IIZUKA (12:10): Ugh. Taichi. Dude comes out dressed like The Phantom of the Opera. He's the NEVER champ and is facing Ospreay next for it. Why does Taichi exist? And what's the point of Iizuka? He's like a chained animal set loose. Actually, that's his gimmick. Ospreay and Ishii were fun to watch. **1/2

TETSUYA NAITO, SANADA, BUSHI & SHINGO TAKAGI vs. KAZUCHIKA OKADA, TORU YANO, YOH & SHO (9:30): Takagi was the new member of Los Ignoberables that debuted. He's from Dragon Gate. He looked good. Match was okay. The set-up video for this match was hilarious, though. It had Los Ignoberables gambling and drinking in a private room while dressed in suits. They're so fucking cool! I guess. Although they were in the room alone. No girls. **

EVIL vs. ZACK SABRE, JR: Chris Jericho was dressed up as one of Evil's ring entrance zombie/ghost characters. He beat up Evil and unmasked and there was no match. Sabre stood at ringside at watched. This was amusing. **1/2

KUSHIDA vs. MARTY SCURLL (18:33): Good match. Kushida is the new Jr. champ. Takahashi broke his neck so he had to vacate the title. The last time these two wrestled on a big show it was for Ring of Honor in 2017 on a ppv and it was a bore. This was not super fast paced but it was well wrestled and entertaining. With Ospreay moving up in weight and Takahashi out, this division is fairly depleted these days, which is a shame. It was the greatest thing on earth three months ago. **1/2

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. JAY WHITE (20:40): This match was good and the post-match was good...but, c'mon, Jay White was not winning and going on to main event the Dome. So that took any drama out of this. The problem is that the G1 winner gets a title Dome main event match. Well Tanahashi won that but still had to defend his title shot against Okada last month and now White. What the hell is the point of winning the G1 these days? It's kind of like how winning the Royal Rumble became pointless once the February ppv was added. So the post-match had Jay White and Gedo joining The Firing Squad...creating a new, NWO style heel faction. Okada ran out and got beat up, too. Gedo is a great heel and they're pushing the hell out of White for some reason but he still can't win the big one. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. CODY vs. KOTA IBUSHI (34:13): This match was announced last week at the Long Beach show. I guess I'd rather see an Ibushi/Omega match at a bigger show where the end result isn't obvious (Omega was not going to lose the title after his Tanahashi Dome match was pretty much set up two months ago), so I wasn't too mad that Cody was meaninglessly added to this. And Cody added nothing to this. He detracted. It was still great in spots but a bit sloppy and a bit pointless. **1/2

WWE SUPER SHOW-DOWN

Melbourne, Australia

THE NEW DAY vs. CESARO & SHEAMUS (9:38): This show was held at a 100,000 seat cricket stadium. It was probably 75% filled, although they did have seats on the floor which, I assume, cricket does not. Plus the giant stage blocked half of the arena. They said the attendance was 70,000, which, even minus a few thousand since they always lie, is impressive. My question is: they actually get 100,000 to watch cricket? Really? Strange that there's a sport somewhere that fills a 100,000 seat stadium that the U.S. media doesn't cover or put on TV. I guess because we hate immigrants, right? Fuck cricket and all that? There are college football stadiums that fill close to that and I'm guessing Australia doesn't cover those games, so I'm not sure why I'm confounded. As for this show...it had some big matches and was entertaining, although, like the Saudi Arabia show, it wasn't anything particularly special besides a big crowd. The only title to change hands was the 205Live title, and that was only because Buddy Murphy is Australian. This opener, for the tag titles, was good but short, fun while it lasted but pretty forgettable. **1/2

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. BECKY LYNCH (10:50): Good match with a lame DQ finish. Flair had Lynch in the Figure Four and Lynch hit her with the belt to lose but retain. This was hard hitting and fast paced. I'm glad Lynch is finally getting a push because she's charasmatic as hell. **1/2

BOBBY LASHLEY & JOHN CENA vs. ELIAS & KEVIN OWENS (10:05): Cena hasn't wrestled in a long time. I forget the last time. Saudi Arabia, maybe. He has more hair now than usual so you can see his bald spot. His face looks hollow and he looks really old now for some reason. They've really destroyed Owens, though, right? Remember when him and Cena were having four star matches? Now Owens is a fat joke. This was like a RAW main event. *1/2

BILLY KAY & PEYTON ROYCE vs. ASUKA & NAOMI (5:45): Kay and Royce are from Australia. I guess that's why they were on the show because they're awful at everything besides looking pretty. Asuka is another one they've buried. Remember when she was a big, undefeated monster? Now she's like a comedy character. 1/2*

AJ STYLES vs. SAMOA JOE "NO DQ MATCH" (23:45): Good match, perhaps their best yet. Styles bled from the mouth. He put Joe through a table. A chair was used. I still wish AJ never left New Japan and Joe was still in Ring of Honor. **1/2

BRIE BELLA, NIKKI BELLA & RONDA ROUSEY vs. LIV MORGAN, RUBY RIOT & SARAH LOGAN (10:05): This was good when Rousey was in there. They better have her start wrestling Asuka or Lynch instead of all of these joke opponents that she whips around like rag dolls. Nikki Bella legit KO'd Morgan on RAW two weeks ago with a kick to the face, so it was kind of surprising she's already back wrestling. In a few weeks they're doing an all women WWE ppv...which, let's be honest, has the potential for being the worst wrestling show in quite some time. *

BUDDY MURPHY vs. CEDRIC ALEXANDER (10:35): This was the match of the night. Murphy is from Australia so the crowd was boisterous. Shocking to see a 205Live match have heat and noise. Good action, good near falls. This was pure action and Murphy won the title. ***

THE SHIELD vs. BRAUN STROWMAN, DOLPH ZIGGLER & DREW MCINTYRE (19:40): Ugh. If you watch RAW then you're sick to death of these six dudes. I watch RAW. RAW has had the worst ratings in their history the last two weeks. Either the audience is sick of these guys or it's just because Monday Night Football is back. This was like a typical RAW main event. Nothing memorable. *

DANIEL BRYAN vs. THE MIZ (2:45): Short! I guess they didn't want to go over four hours so they cut this short. Bryan wins a title shot against AJ. Unfortunately it'll be in Saudi Arabia and not a main event. At least this feud is over. Maybe. Probably. Still, it was Bryan's best ppv match yet this year. **

HHH vs. THE UNDERTAKER "NO DQ MATCH" (27:35): This was awful. And boring. 'Taker should not be wrestling. He tried to pick up HHH and slam him on a guard rail in the crowd but couldn't lift him. Shaun Michaels was a ringside and got involved, as did Kane. Michaels Super Kicked Kane and 'Taker. HHH elbow dropped Kane on a table. HHH kicked out of a Tombstone. Two ref bumps. What else? I guess the crowd was just happy to see two legends wrestling. Kevin Nash noted somewhere online that it says a lot about how bad the WWE is now that they have to put old guys in the main event. I disagree. AJ vs. Bryan for the title could have been the main event. Or Reigns vs. Bruan for the title. And those matches would have been better and the stadium would still have been packed. 1/2*