Newark, NJ
RUBY RIOT vs. BAYLEY (10:10): Remember when Bayley was in good matches and cheered and a star? It seems like that completely vanished once she got called up from NXT. Is it that NXT has loud, hardcore, voracious fans? Or do they just have better writers? Probably all of the above, as Bayley has floundered meaninglessly for a long time and now she's losing to a nobody on the pre-show. 1/2*
SETH ROLLINS vs. THE MIZ (20:30): Good match. And not only that, this was light years better than anything else on the show. It was the lone bright spot in a sea of troubles. The problem was that this for RAW's IC title that Rollins has and The Miz was drafted to Smackdown. Smackdown already has the U.S. title so we all knew The Miz wasn't winning. Rollins has been on fire ever since that epic Gauntlet match on RAW before Wrestlemania. There were a ton of near falls (Rollins kicked out of The Miz's finisher twice which was stupid and what's the point of calling it a finisher again?) and the crowd was super hot. ***
NIA JAX vs. ALEXA BLISS (10:20): Ugh. Jax is a boring dinosaur and Bliss just isn't entertaining in the ring. This show pretty much destroyed women's wrestling tonight. Congrats. Jax retained the RAW women's title. 1/2*
JEFF HARDY vs. RANDY ORTON (12:00): So is it 2018 or 2008? Orton and Jeff Hardy would have (and probably did) head lined a show ten or fifteen years ago. Now they're legacy wrestlers, doing their moves and getting scattered pops amidst dull matches. Hardy retained the U.S. title. *
DANIEL BRYAN vs. BIG CASS (7:45): So let's bring back superstar Daniel Bryan to in-ring competition after three years...to feud with Big Cass. Jesus Christ. They've already pretty much killed any momentum he had. And since he's known to get hurt, why not just pull a Lesnar and only have him fight big names on big shows that matter? What the fuck was this? Cass belongs on WWE Main Event, not feuding with one of the companies best wrestlers. *
CARMELLA vs. CHARLOTTE FLAIR (10:10): Carmella's cute, sure, and could be a fun manager...but Vince don't do managers so we're stuck watching her wrestle. She's the champ because of the Money in the Bank contract and won here in a roll-up. This was so atrociously bad it wasn't funny. And yet it was still better than Jax/Bliss. 1/2*
AJ STYLES vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (21:05): So this ended in a double count-out when both men kicked each other in the balls and couldn't get up at the ref's 10 count. I laughed out loud at how stupid this ending was. It has to be the dumbest ending to a match ever. And they did a double count out last week in Saudi Arabia. What this match did prove was that after seeing them wrestle three times in a month...the magic is gone from their NJPW match. It wasn't bad but it just never turned into anything great. And with that bad ending it only made this a bitter pill to gulp down. **
BRAUN STROWMAN & BOBBY LASHLEY vs. KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN (8:40): This was short, pointless, and lame. The big dudes won and did a basic beat down. Owens and Zayn came across as chumps not stars. Lashley is a sloppy as a mud pie. I give up. 1/2*
ROMAN REIGNS vs. SAMOA JOE (18:10): I'm not sure why, but this show was really fucking long. This main event didn't start until 11:05 PM. You can say it's because this was a multi-brand show so they had to show everyone, but there were no tag team title matches nor a 205Live match. Lesnar, the RAW champ, didn't defend, either. I was super happy when they decided to get rid of the Smackdown and RAW only ppv's but now I'm questioning that assessment. This match was totally pointless since Joe is now on Smackdown and Roman is a) on RAW and b) a booed loser. This wasn't even for a title. This late the crowd was tired. The match was boring. This show was just awful. Joe put Roman through a table before the bell rang and that was about the pinnacle of watchability for this. *1/2