THE USO'S vs. DANIEL BRYAN & ROWAN (11:15): This was the pre-show match, which meant this came on a little after 6:30. Why these PPV's don't just cut the number of matches they have and start at 8 PM like normal is beyond me. And they wonder why they're ratings have plummeted and nobody cares about the WWE anymore. Daniel Bryan and Rowan just won the tag titles like a week ago (they were just given them by Shane but then did win a match later on during that Smackdown episode), so why they already lost them is a mystery. Maybe they realized that, hey, Daniel Bryan is a big star why are we going to put him in the frigging tag team division? Let's...uh...not do that. Either way, The Uso's are always in entertaining matches and this was pretty fun while it lasted. **1/2
BAYLEY vs. CARMELLA vs. DANA BROOKE vs. EMBER MOON vs. MANDY ROSE vs. NAOMI vs. NATALYA vs. NIKKI CROSS "MITB LADDER MATCH" (13:50): I suppose Nikki Cross was the star of this match. It's only really because she seemed to take the most punishment. Carmella got "hurt" and left but returned. Bayley, who crowds boo now and hasn't been given a push, like, ever, won and the crowd popped. Then they sort of booed again when she gave a speech. Maybe they pushed her to punish Sasha Banks, her former tag team partner, since Banks asked for her release, was denied, and has said she won't wrestle anymore for WWE so she's been M.I.A. for a month. This was short at least. Nothing too spectacular in this match. Naomi jumped from one ladder to another while they were both being held up by others then did a split to avoid the two ladders being thrown at her. I guess that was memorable. Eh. **
REY MYSTERIO vs. SAMOA JOE (1:40): Short! Joe beat Mysterio in like a minute at 'Mania so now it's the other way around. Joe bled. Not sure exactly what the point of this was. 1/2*
SHANE McMAHON vs. THE MIZ "STEEL CAGE MATCH" (13:10): Shane did not jump off of the cage...which is quite the shock. The Miz did pull him off the top and throw him down to the ring. The Miz won by escaping the cage when The Miz tried to suplex him off the top and failed and Shane fell to the floor while Miz held onto his shirt which came off. Shane as a heel is kind of amusing...but I really don't think he should ever be in another match. And where's Mr. Miz? He was the only redeeming thing about this feud. *
TONY NESE vs. ARIYA DAIVARI (9:25): The crowd chanted "boring" during this match. And it truly never heated up into anything great, as the 205Live PPV matches usually did when they featured great wrestlers like Buddy Murphy and Ali, who are both now on the main roster, although Murphy seems to have vanished off the face of the earth. *1/2
BECKY LYNCH vs. LACEY EVANS (8:40): The funniest thing about Lacey Evans is that her character is a Southern Belle. Dave Meltzer, on his podcast, was desperately trying to think of a modern Southern Belle in pop culture that the audience might know and couldn't think of one. I can't either. Maybe there was a popular Southern Belle in that 80's show Dallas? The point is that Vince, who probably loved this character, is fucking old and out of touch. And it's a stupid gimmick. This was for the RAW women's title. It was also an awful, boring, plodding match. 1/2*
CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. BECKY LYNCH (6:15): As soon as Lynch won her match, Charlotte Flair's music hit and Becky was flabbergasted. I suppose Lynch thought that her second match would obviously be later. It wasn't. This was for the Smackdown women's title (Becky won both titles at 'Mania). These two usually tear down the house...but since this was just a segment of three matches, they cut it short and had a pretty forgettable match with an ultra-lame finish. Lacey Evans came back out and hit Lynch when the ref wasn't looking, leading to Flair pinning Becky. *1/2
BAYLEY vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR (0:20): So after Charlotte pinned Becky, Charlotte and Lacey Evans beat up Becky Lynch until Bayley ran down to the ring and beat them both up and cashed in her MITB contract and beat Flair to win the Smackdown title. The crowd went wild for this (and this building was packed to the ceiling, at least on the TV side, which made the show seem special like a big time event). I kind of don't like same night cash ins because they're usually more exciting later on during a random TV show, but it was exciting. **1/2
ROMAN REIGNS vs. ELIAS (0:10): Elias should probably only sing and make fun of the city he's in and never wrestle. Even the WWE realizes this, as this match was ten seconds long. **
SETH ROLLINS vs. AJ STYLES (19:45): This started out super boring but ended up being excellent, dramatic, and super engaging by the end. It was so great by the end that I actually wish they had gone a bit longer, as the finish kind of came out of nowhere. Maybe these two are better off doing a thirty plus minute match. The crowd definitely peaked for this match. One particular spot was spectacular; Rollins went for the Curb Stomp and AJ reversed it into his finisher, the Styles Clash, but Rollins kicked out. Great match by the end. ***
LUCHA HOUSE PARTY vs. LARS SULLIVAN: So Lars Sullivan came in and beat up all three of the Lucha House Party for no reason. Lars also bled after doing a headbutt. *
KOFI KINGSTON vs. KEVIN OWENS (14:10): Kofi probably lucked out at 'Mania because he's not a particularly good wrestler yet at 'Mania the crowd was super hot for his match and made it seem better than it actually was. Even Owens, who has been in great matches in the past, couldn't get a good match out of Kofi even by doing pretty much everything and the kitchen sink. This wasn't bad or anything, yet just average. **
BROCK LESNAR vs. ALI vs. ANDRADE vs. BARON CORBIN vs. DREW McINTYRE vs. FINN BALOR vs. RANDY ORTON vs. RICOCHET "MITB LADDER MATCH" (19:00): Sami Zayn was supposed to be in this match but Braun Strowman hung him up by his feet and tied him to a fence backstage...which I guess is why Lesnar showed up at the last second in this match and won even though he wasn't in the match. Huh? Before Lesnar showed up, this was an entertaining match but a tad disappointing. Ricochet never did any gigantic, awesome leap from a ladder like we all expected (and like he did at last year's NXT ladder match). The big move of the match was Andrade doing a Sunset Flip Power Bomb from the top of the ladder on Balor through a ladder bridge. McIntyre tossed Ricochet out of the ring onto a ladder bridge set up between the ring and announce table. Corbin slammed Ali through the Spanish announce table. Balor got brutalized in this match. McIntyre bodyslammed him onto a ladder laying down in the ring and Corbin slammed him onto an open ladder laying on its side. Lesnar winning is good in the sense that it makes you want to watch RAW tomorrow to see what's going to happen...but it's also kind of lame because we all wanted Ricochet to win...or, at least, somebody actually in the match. This show had it's moments, although there probably was more bad wrestling than good. The Styles/Rollins match was good and the Bayley cash in was great and this match was entertaining. And now we march on to Saudi Arabia. God help us all. **1/2
No comments:
Post a Comment