WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

Los Angeles

THE USO'S, THE NEW DAY, LUKE GALLOWS & KARL ANDERSON & THE COLONS vs. BOBBY ROODE & CHAD GABLE, THE REVIVAL, THE B-TEAM, LUCHA HOUSE PARTY & THE ASCENSION (22:20): This was the pre-show match. A pre-show, I might add, that was two hours long. Jesus Christ. This match was fairly decent. It had a lot of action. The highlight was when Gable gave one of the Uso's a German Suplex off of the top rope down to the floor onto everyone. That was pretty nuts, and something I don't think I've seen before. The Smackdown team won here, which was weird because by the end of the night the announcers were constantly mentioning that Team RAW went 6-0 on the show and it was a clean sweep. Did they forget about the pre-show? Or does the pre-show not matter? Whatever. **1/2

MICKIE JAMES, NIA JAX, TAMINA, BAYLEY & SASHA BANKS vs. NAOMI, CARMELLA, SONYA DEVILLE, ASUKA & MANDY ROSE (18:50): Nia ended up being the sole survivor. The she-beast. Last week she punched Becky Lynch in the face and broke her nose and gave her a concussion, thus deleting the Ronda Rousey vs. Becky Lynch match from this show. So instead of punishing Nia for a stupid thing they've seemingly rewarded her. How nice. This was just okay. **

SETH ROLLINS vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (21:50): This was the best that Nakamura has looked in forever. The match started slow, though, but by the end it turned out good. The only recent Nakamura matches that have been any good have been when he faced AJ and now Seth. So I guess he's only good when he's facing the elite. **1/2

AOP vs. THE BAR (9:00): AOP are the tag champs. Remember they were popular and pretty entertaining in NXT and now they suck? Yeah, weird. This was by far the worst match on the show. I've been sick of Sheamus and Cesaro forever and I guess they don't have good matches anymore, either. 1/2*

BUDDY MURPHY vs. MUSTAFA ALI (12:20): This was perhaps the match of the night. Both guys are nuts and it was big moves one after the other. Ali gave Murphy a Spanish Fly off of the announce table to the floor. And they both did big over-the-rope-to-the-floor dives. This was fun. Murphy retained the Cruiserweight title. ***

DOLPH ZIGGLER, DREW MCINTYRE, BRAUN STROWMAN, FINN BALOR & BOBBY LASHLEY vs. THE MIZ, SHANE MCMAHON, REY MYSTERIO, SAMOA JOE & JEFF HARDY (24:00): NXT Takeover on Saturday night was awesome. The best match was Gargano vs. Aleister Black, but pretty much every match on that show was awesome except for the main event War Games match that was a little too boring in spots (and too long!). But the hot L.A. crowd for Takeover made the show. And I was surprised that tonight's crowd was almost as hot. They were super loud for this match and it helped to make this a good match. Samoa Joe got pinned fast by McIntyre. Shane O'Mac did a top rope elbow drop onto Braun through the announce table. Then Shane did two Coast to Coast Van Terminator's minus the chair (the second one was ruined when Braun slapped him down midway). Shane was great in his day, but, c'mon, he's too old to be doing this shit. Mysterio looked great. It was very entertaining. **1/2

RONDA ROUSEY vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR (14:40): This match was okay but the post-match was awesome. Becky Lynch was injured so they threw in Flair to face Rousey. The Flair/Rousey match has been rumored to be the Wrestlemania main event so it was kind of a surprise that they did it here on five days notice. But they still might do it because this set up a revenge match. Flair turned heel by hitting Rousey with a Singapore Cane and causing a DQ. Then she went crazy, hitting Flair with the cane and a chair then putting Rousey's head in a chair and stomping on it all the while the officials were going crazy trying to stop it and the place was going nuts. Awesome angle. ***

BROCK LESNAR vs. DANIEL BRYAN (18:50): Ah...the dream match, a few years too late. So Bryan beat AJ for the title and turned heel on Tuesday on Smackdown. So we got a five day build for this match. Okay. Bryan did kick Lesnar in the balls and did taunt him pre-match, so I guess that was his only heel antics. But the crowd wanted Bryan to win so he was sort of still a good guy in their eyes. This turned into a good match once it got into a back-and-forth match, but before that it was ten minutes of Lesnar destroying Bryan with suplexes and the crowd a silent tomb between chants of, "Same old shit!" The only good Lesnar matches have been the ones that are even and back and forth, and so eventually Bryan got going and kicked him in the balls then did some flying knees and put him in the Yes Lock and the crowd was wild. This probably wasn't as good as last year's AJ/Lesnar match but it was pretty similar, and at least this one was the main event unlike last year when AJ and Lesnar were mid-card. Bryan's a heel and the champ now so at least his return has gotten some momentum going. **1/2

NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

Osaka

RYUSUKE TAGUCHI, CHRIS SABIN, ACH & TOA HENARE vs. JYUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, TIGER MASK, VOLADOR, JR. & SOBERANO, JR. (6:10): A lot of these guys were in Japan for the Jr. tag team tournament for the last few weeks, hence why the two CMLL dudes were in this match. Soberano, Jr. slipped on the ropes numerous times during the tournament but still did some pretty cool flips and dives. Volador, Jr. is always exciting and the crowd loves Taguchi and ACH. This was short and fun. **1/2

TAMA TONGA, TANGA LOA & ROBBIE EAGLES vs. TOGI MAKABE, TOMOAKI HONMA & KUSHIDA (7:39): Honma's still doing multiple diving head butts...even though he had a neck injury. Perhaps he's suicidal. Eagles is from Australia and was in the Jr. tag tournament. The tournament was his New Japan debut. He's great, albeit a B-version of Ospreay. Taiji Ishimori, who wasn't in the match, hobbled out on crutches and hit Kushida with a crutch. They're set to face each other at the Dome. This was short and fairly entertaining. **1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA & BERETTA vs. JAY WHITE & BAD LUCK FALE (4:32): This was to set up the White/Okada Dome match. So it was just Okada and White going on at it and Gedo interfering. White has turned into a pretty entertaining heel...but rarely transfers that into a great match (the one exception this year was the Juice/White match in San Francisco which was awesome). **

KENNY OMEGA & KOTA IBUSHI vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI & DAVID FINLAY (9:47): This was more to set up Omega/Tanahashi at the Dome than anything. Usually a Golden Lovers tag match would be incredible, but they played it safe here and it was just okay. Omega's facing Findlay in California for New Japan next weekend at some low key Young Lions match. I barely know who Findlay is yet he's been in the company for years. Ibushi looked incredible as always, though. **1/2

ROPPONGI 3K vs. YOSHINOBU KANEMARU & EL DESPERADO vs. BUSHI & SHINGO TAKAGI (15:55): Good match by the end. Roppongi won the titles here. This was the final of the Jr. tag tournament. And yes, what's the point of having a tournament when three teams are in the final anyway? Half the teams made the final. And they're doing this match again at the Dome. Shingo Takagi is the new dude from Dragon Gate. He's great. He's more brute force and pain than high flying, though. **1/2

HIROOKI GOTO vs. TAICHI (15:02): Ospreay got hurt so they threw Goto into his spot then gave him the NEVER title. Hmmm. We were going to get Ospreay/Ibushi at the Dome and now that's out. Fuck. That's two straight years that Ibushi gets a dream match at the Dome scrapped (he was rumored to face Omega last year). As for Taichi...he fucking blows! Hilarious entrance, though. There's that. Maybe he should just enter and leave and never wrestle. 1/2*

TOMOHIRO ISHII vs. MINORU SUZUKI (19:21): This was supposedly for the British Heavyweight title...which they didn't bring to the ring. So was it? Ishii retained either way in a brutal match that was good but not great. Suzuki is aging fast and these two have had better matches against each other in the past. **1/2

TETSUYA NATIO vs. ZACK SABRE, JR. (20:12): I guess I'm not a big fan of Zack...because the wrestling fans loved this match and I was bored. I do admire the fact that Zack's submission style of wrestling is different...but, unfortunately, it's a little too slow for me. This was good in spots but didn't really have the heightened drama at the end that it needed. **

CHRIS JERICHO vs. EVIL (21:40): Ugh. Will New Japan fire Jericho already? He's old and fat and all he does is brawl and breathe heavy and his matches are sloppy as fuck now. It didn't help that he was facing Evil, the dullest of the dull. Jericho retained the IC title and is set to face Naito again, this time at the Dome. I suppose it wasn't Crown Jewel-esque awful, but it certainly wasn't good. *

WWE CROWN JEWEL

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

SHINSUKE NAKAMURA vs. RUSEV (9:30): This show was live at 12 noon Eastern on a Friday. I suppose I could go on and on about how awful Saudi Arabia is...but what's the point? The U.S. has been doing business with the country for years no matter what terrible things they do (public beheadings, murdering newspaper critics, banning homosexuality, alcohol, and porn, treating women like slaves, starting a war with Yemen, etc.), and so is it that surprising that the WWE still does shows there? The show ended up being perhaps the worst WWE show of all time, if that's any consolation. This match was on the hour long pre-show. Shockingly, the name of the country was never mentioned during the broadcast. They did have Renee Young doing commentary without a head scarf, though. Progress! They showed the crowd a lot; kids, women in burqa's. I feel so bad for those people. Then again, they're born there, they grow up there, maybe they don't realize how prison-like it is. Or do they? And what're they gonna do? Rebel and be imprisoned? Killed? Hard to enjoy a wrestling show with that doom hanging over it. And this was the start of the endless, boring, pedestrian matches on the card. Nakamura retained the U.S. title. 1/2* (out of ****)

REY MYSTERIO vs. RANDY ORTON (5:30): Mysterio is back and looks great. Weird, because he was great in the late 90's...what the fuck? Is he immortal? Orton lost then beat him up post-match. This was a first round match in the "Best in the World" tournament that had only North Americans and was eventually won by someone not in the tournament. *1/2

THE MIZ vs. JEFF HARDY (7:05): This was like a house show. No one really did much and the matches were all short except for the main event. This was a part of the soon to be forever infamous "Best in the World" tournament. *

SETH ROLLINS vs. BOBBY LASHLEY (5:30): Another tournament match. Lashley sucks. He's so big and dumb and plodding. He is old, so I guess that's one excuse. Rollins might be WWE's big star now that Roman Reigns is out battling leukemia. *

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. KURT ANGLE (8:10): Angle looked as good as possible considering he's old and broken. This was another tournament match. The crowd chanted, "You suck!" when Angle entered. That was amusing. *1/2

CESARO & SHEAMUS vs. THE NEW DAY (10:30): These teams have had some great matches in the past, but, man, this sucked. It was dull. The New Day came out on a big, flying carpet type of rig. *

THE MIZ vs. REY MYSTERIO (11:15): The second round of the tournament. The Miz won. I wonder if Mysterio is questioning his WWE return at this moment. *1/2

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. SETH ROLLINS (13:05): This is the blood feud that no one cares about. Ziggler won which means we're getting a Ziggler vs. Miz final to crown the best wrestler in the world. Huh? *1/2

AJ STYLES vs. SOMOA JOE (11:15): Daniel Bryan was supposed to wrestle AJ for the title here but he refused to go to Saudi Arabia (even though he wrestled there in the Greatest Royal Rumble event earlier this year) so they had AJ beat Bryan clean on Smackdown before this show. This was probably the best match on the show, though it was short and just okay. **

BROCK LESNAR vs. BRAUN STROWMAN (3:15): Roman Reigns has leukemia so he had to leave the WWE and forfeit the title. So this was for the title and Lesnar won quickly after Baron Corbin, RAW's GM, hit Strowman in the head with the title then Lesnar delivered five or so F5's. Strowman kept kicking out for awhile but he still got destroyed. Lesnar was suppose to be going to the UFC so I'm not sure why he won the title here. *1/2

SHANE McMAHON vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (2:30): This was the final match in the "Best in the World" tournament. John Cena wouldn't go to Saudi Arabia so he wasn't in the tournament. So maybe you would think that, well, it's not really the best wrestlers in it, anyway. Well it got worse. The Miz got injured so couldn't wrestle, so Shane announced he would wrestle here even though he didn't wrestle in the first or second round, wasn't in the tournament, and is a GM, not a wrestler. Shane quickly won then ran around with the trophy. This was apparently set up to turn Shane heel eventually. What a stupid fucking story. This is the best they can come up with? 1/2*

HHH & SHAWN MICHAELS vs. KANE & THE UNDERTAKER (27:45): Shawn Michaels returned to wrestle for the first time in eight years. That would normally be a big deal, but with the whole Saudi Arabia controversy swirling around everything, his return was kind of an afterthought. He's bald now and did a moonsault off the top rope and landed hard on his face. HHH injured his pec muscle and now needs surgery. Kane's mask/hair came off during this match. My God was this a disaster. The crowd cheered for a lot of it but that was just because they were probably happy to see these stars in the flesh. This show and this match were atrocious. And yet, the WWE signed a ten year deal with Saudi Arabia so we'll be seeing shows like this every year for too long. -No Stars-