WWE CLASH IN PARIS

La Defense Arena, Paris

ROMAN REIGNS vs. BRONSON REED (22:07): This was the first time I watched a WWE PPV live in a really long time. It started at 2 PM on a Sunday and I had a cold so was basically laying on the couch anyway. The amount of commercials between matches is ludicrous. The show was 3 and 1/2 hours long with only six matches. I complain about all the commercials on college football, which started this weekend, but at least there's a good reason for that: they're on regular TV. This is a Pay Per View. We're paying to watch this. I have no idea what Peacock costs (I get it free because I have Xfinity), but it's probably around $10 a month. Why do we have to sit through twenty minutes of commercials between every match? I might've liked this show more if there wasn't so much dead time. And maybe that's the reason I thought to myself in the middle of watching this show: man, the WWE fucking sucks. They have big crowds at all of their shows now so they're certainly popular, but everything about this product feels stale, lifeless, sanitary, dull, and unexciting. Nothing about this show was truly bad, but it just feels boring right now. Are there any feuds that you care about now? The only match in the foreseeable future that I'm intrigued by is Brock Lesnar vs. Cena, and that puts a bad taste in my mouth because Lesnar is a part of Vince's sex trafficking lawsuit. I was so happy when Vince was finally gone from WWE because Triple H was supposedly a part of making NXT so great back in the day. He has not made the WWE better than Vince's product. RAW is a total bore now, filled with just as many commercials as it was on USA even though it's on Netflix, which costs like $17 a month. In some other universe, this match would've been fantastic. Roman Reigns has had good matches in the past and Bronson Reed used to be in New Japan (he beat Okada once...his claim to fame). But this match was mediocre at best. All of the entertaining stuff happened after the match. Roman won the match and was standing on the announce table celebrating. Bron Breakker came out of the crowd and speared Roman through the other announce table. Then Reed and Breakker beat up Roman. Jey Uso tried to make a save but was thwarted. Security ran out and medics put Roman on a stretcher but Reed still got up on the top  rope to give a splash onto Roman. This post-match melee was better than the actual match. The problem? Does anyone actually want to see a Roman vs. Bron Breakker match? I give them credit for trying to make new stars and build someone new up with Bron Breakker...but that would mean Roman Reigns would have to lose a match. He didn't here. I also kind of hope Paul Heyman retires soon, because as much as I like him, I'm really tired of his schtick these days. ** 

THE WYATT SICKS (DEXTER LUMIS & JOE GACY) vs. THE STREET PROFITS (ANGELO DAWKINS & MONTEZ FORD) (13:12): The problem with The Wyatt Sicks is the same problem that Bray Wyatt had. Their entrances are cool and the crowds like holding up their phones in the dark arenas, but when they start wrestling nobody cares. The Street Profits did some cool dives off the top rope. The crowd popped for those big moves. This arena was unique in that, unlike the indoor U.S. arenas, this one seats 30,000 people. All of the indoor basketball/hockey arenas only fit around 18,000. The crowd was good in that they chanted a lot and were loud for the stars. They didn't seem that into this or the next match, though. *1/2

BECKY LYNCH vs. NIKKI BELLA (13:06): Nikki looks great considering she's post-retired and older. I don't think she was ever a particularly great wrestler, though. The only massive botch was a kick off the top rope she delivered that was miles away from Becky and Becky didn't know if she should act like it hit her. Other than that, the match was fine but totally forgettable. Nikki still looks gorgeous, which is probably why they brought her back. 1/2*

RUSEV vs. SHEAMUS "GOOD OL' FASHIONED DONNYBROOK MATCH" (20:04): This was a hardcore match. It's really tough to watch these WWE "hardcore" matches when you see much better hardcore stuff every week in AEW and ROH. On Friday, ROH had a PPV at the ECW Arena. QT Marshall and the actor Paul Walter Hauser had a hardcore match that was actually much, much better than this match. There was a moment in that match when QT used a dustpan to pick up broken glass and cover a table with the glass, then gave Hauser a DDT from the top rope through the glass covered table. Hauser actually put QT on his shoulders and did a flip slam from the apron onto a ringside table. They also had blood, thumbtacks, and a barbed wire chair and barbed wire bat. This match had chairs, tables, a Singapore cane, a bar, and some barrels that they stood up on. I guess this is what you're going to get with hardcore WWE matches. Rusev was so adamant to getting out of AEW...I wonder if he's happy now? The match wasn't anything great but it held my interest. **1/2

JOHN CENA vs. LOGAN PAUL (26:24): Considering the Cena/Cody match at Summerslam was long, I guess Cena is now in the phase to have long matches before his retirement. 26 minutes doesn't sound that long, but this match felt like it went on forever. I used to really like Logan Paul's matches. I remember him doing a lot of crazy, high flying top rope maneuvers that were exciting and fresh. This match was fucking boring. Weren't Logan's entrances also pretty cool? He would come out on a zip line or come out flying a drone? Now he just walks out. Has he gotten stale in his old age? Heh. Dude's probably still in his 20's. I just looked it up. He's 30. Cena at least looks better in the ring lately. The second season of his show Peacemaker just started and it's fantastic...so it's probably good that he's retiring since his Hollywood career is so much more entertaining. Paul kicked out of an AA. Cena gave Paul a Styles clash (seriously, why is the Styles clash this legendary move now? Ospreay does it now and it always gets this gigantic pop). Hopefully Brock vs. Cena next month will be better. *1/2

SETH ROLLINS vs. CM PUNK vs. JEY USO vs. LA KNIGHT (24:49): This match was kind of underwhelming. The big story was that Becky Lynch came in wearing a mask at the end to prevent CM Punk from pinning Rollins. Everyone figures this is to set up CM Punk's wife, AJ Lee, returning and there being a mixed tag match between the couples. It makes sense to have Becky join Seth's heel group since Becky is a heel and literally Seth's wife in real life. It's something new at least. The only other interesting moment happened when LA Knight jumped off the top rope and went through the announce table (someone moved off it at the last minute). All of these wrestlers are pretty entertaining in ring, so I kind of thought this might be a lot better. The WWE is really in a slump these days, and I wonder what it's going to take to break out of it. **