WWE CLASH OF CHAMPIONS

Boston

MOJO RAWLEY vs. ZACK RYDER (6:55): The pre-show match. I don't regularly watch Smackdown...but are these two even on TV anymore? The last time I remember seeing Rawley was at Wrestlemania. Rawley was on fire (probably because he's never on TV and so he wanted to show his worth) but this was forgettable. 1/2*

DOLPH ZIGGLER vs. BARON CORBIN vs. BOBBY ROODE (12:45): Better than I expected, although triple threat matches usually are all action and thus usually good. The great Boston crowd even chanted, "This is awesome!" at one point. It wasn't, but it was decent. Ziggler won the title from Corbin here for some unknown reason. **1/2

THE USO'S vs. THE NEW DAY vs. CHAD GABLE & SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. RUSEV & AIDEN ENGLISH (12:54): This was the match of the night. The final five minutes or so were wall to wall action and big moves and pure entertainment. Gable was the highlight, doing some wicked suplexes. The crowd roared approval for Rusev and English for some reason (when two guys in WWE are floundering around they sometimes just put them in a joke tag team like they did Caesaro and Sheamus). ***

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. NATALYA "LUMBERJACK MATCH" (10:32): A mess. Flair did a top rope moonsault to a pile of women at ringside. That was about the only good part. Natalya did a post-match whining plea on the mic to the booing crowd for some reason. 1/2*

THE BLUDGEON BROTHERS vs. BREEZANGO (1:58): Harper and Rowan are now a cheesy, 80's style tag team with dumb, Dungeon & Dragons-esque outfits that look they were bought from a Xena: Warrior Princess basement sale. -No Stars-

KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN vs. RANDY ORTON & SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (21:37): So Shane and Daniel Bryan were refs for this. If Owens and Zayn lost they would be fired. So the end was kind of interesting when Bryan almost counted to 3 but was knocked over by Shane...then Shane stopped at 2 when counting a pin to have Owens and Zayn win (Shane hates them...I guess because he had a HITC match with Owens two months ago). Eventually Bryan retaliated and did a fast count and Owens and Zayn won and kept their jobs. The problem with this too long match was that there were two refs in the ring which meant all of the action was awkward. Owens did do a splash onto Nakamura on the announce table. Story wise it worked. **

AJ STYLES vs. JINDER MAHAL (23:04): Ugh. Jinder lost the title to AJ in Manchester last month on Smackdown. Jinder then went to India and lost to HHH. So I guess they decided to keep him at least sort of powerful by having him beat down AJ for the majority of this match. AJ is awesome but this was awfully boring. So how was Jinder's title reign? He won it against Orton in a ** match. Their re-match was **. Their third match in the Punjabi Prison got 1/2*. His Summerslam match against Nakamura got 1/2*. The re-match got *1/2. Fuck. I hope I never see him again. *

ROH FINAL BATTLE

New York City

MATT TAVEN vs. WILL OSPREAY (10:58): Good opener. Both guys did a bunch of crazy, top-rope dives. Taven, though, looked super sloppy in everything he did next to the master, Ospreay, though. Which just shows how great (and smooth) Ospreay is. ***

WAR MACHINE vs. THE ADDICTION (9:35): Kind of a squash, really. The crowd was super hot for everything early but got a little more tired and quiet as the night wore on. They did go ape shit for the fat men of War Machine when they did their big moves. This was average. **

JAY LETHAL vs. MARTY SCURLL (15:55): Good match. 2017 is definitely the year that Scurll became a star. Lethal's been a little boring lately but these two worked well together. Scurll is always a lot of fun to watch. It worked. ***

THE MOTOR CITY MACHINE GUNS vs. BEST FRIENDS (10:20): The MCMG's retained the tag team titles in a good match that ended a little abruptly in a fast, roll-up pin. Chucky T. and Baretta, the Best Friends, were just in New Japan for their Tag tournament and were probably the most entertaining team in it.
This match was short and fast and fun while it lasted. **1/2

SILAS YOUNG vs. KENNY KING vs. PUNISHMENT MARTINEZ vs. SHANE TAYLOR (17:25): Young won the TV title in this elimination bout. Young is the "last real man." I guess he voted for Donald Trump? Martinez came out in a coffin surrounded by zombies. This match was just okay. Young broke a beer bottle over King's head. Martinez did a bunch of over the top rope dives. Taylor apparently lost 100 pounds but still has an ass the size of an elephant. It was entertaining in spots. **

THE BRISCOE'S vs. BULLY RAY & TOMMY DREAMER "NEW YORK CITY STREET FIGHT" (16:30): Jesus. Dudley and Dreamer are still wrestling? And still using tables and canes and bleeding? This was supposedly Bully Ray's last match. The crowd fucking loved it...they probably cheered more for this than anything else on the show...which probably tells you something about why our society is so violent...or not, who knows? It certainly wasn't boring. They used lightsaber's (the new Star Wars came out the day this show was on), a cheese grater, a ladder, chairs, tables, etc. Bully fake bled. It was amusing. **1/2

THE YOUNG BUCKS & ADAM PAGE vs. DRAGON LEE, TITAN & FLIP GORDON (15:11): Pure spectacle, as expected. There wasn't really anything new here, just the usual schtick and high flying. Gordon is really one to watch. And Dragon Lee and The Bucks are three of the most entertaining wrestlers in the world. It never reached the nirvana stage that some Bucks matches hit, but it was still awesome. ***

DALTON CASTLE vs. CODY RHODES (12:55): Rhodes came out with blonde hair. He lost the title. I guess that's kind of a surprise since Rhodes was supposed to defend his title against Ibushi at the Dome in a few weeks. The problem is that Rhodes is a good heel but he's never in good matches. Castle has a great gimmick with his island boys but in the ring he's pedestrian. Rhodes bled, put Castle through the announce table. There was a ref bump. Rhodes' wife did a top rope jump onto the boys. Other than those highlights, this was mostly lackluster. *1/2

WWE SURVIVOR SERIES

Houston

ELIAS vs. MATT HARDY (9:15): This was the first of three pre-show matches. I didn't see this, although I will say that Elias' songs are one of the WWE's few highlights every week.

ENZO AMORE vs. KALISTO (8:45): Enzo retained the cruiserweight title, a title that seemingly becomes more or a joke every day. As a heel, Enzo on the mic doesn't work, and since he's never been good in the ring, he's a dead man walking. I did watch this and already forget it. 1/2*

KEVIN OWENS & SAMI ZAYN vs. BREEZANGO (7:45): The last of the pre-show matches. This pre-show started at 6 PM and the whole show ended around 10:45 PM. Zayn is great as a solo wrestler...so I was stupidly hoping this new heel push would mean the return of the great, Zayn solo matches (remember his matches against Nakamura and Cesaro on those NXT specials? Ah, memories). Nope. Now Zayn and Owens just team up in superfluous matches like this. And Zayn is not a good heel. He's too happy and smiles too much. It's like he just can't do it. 1/2*

THE SHIELD vs. THE NEW DAY (21:20): Decent opener, although nothing special. This match had less than a week's build which was a problem. The Shield just isn't as cool, exciting, or interesting as they were year's ago. This match had some good action but it could have been much better. **1/2

ALICIA FOX, SASHA BANKS, BAYLEY, ASUKA & NIA JAX vs. BECKY LYNCH, NAOMI, CARMELLA, NATALYA & TAMINA (18:35): The RAW team won when Asuka got the final pin to remain undefeated. This was just okay. I'm not the biggest fan of Survivor Series. 5 on 5 elimination matches are rarely good and I could care less if RAW or Smackdown is better. **

BARON CORBIN vs. THE MIZ (9:35): This was better than I expected. The Miz is the IC champion and Corbin is the U.S. champion. It was all action with no boring spots. Of course it wasn't! It was only nine minutes. Still, this was probably the best Corbin match I've ever seen...which, granted, isn't saying much. **1/2

THE USO'S vs. CESARO & SHEAMUS (15:55): Good, not great, and this probably should have been better. This was the RAW tag champs vs. the Smackdown champs. It got good late but never rose to anything PPV-worthy. **1/2

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. ALEXA BLISS (15:00): Ugh. Bliss is not an entertaining wrestler. She's the champ. Flair's the champ. So this whole show was matches with no titles on the line except the meaningless 205Live crown. Which made this a stupid, pointless show. This was boring but Flair tried. *1/2

BROCK LESNAR vs. AJ STYLES (15:25): Good match and the best Lesnar match in a long time. The first five minutes was an all Brock beat down. Then AJ came back and it heated up and then AJ of course lost. This was the one WWE match I dreamed about ever since AJ got here. Unfortunately it had five million things going against it. It wasn't the main event. It had two champions but wasn't for the either belt. AJ won the title two week's ago on Smackdown which meant this match had less than a two week build. The announcers kept talking about how if AJ won then Smackdown would have already "won" Survivor Series (winning more matches total on the show), thus making the last match meaningless, so of course AJ wasn't fucking winning. Still, it was pretty awesome for awhile. ***

KURT ANGLE, BRAUN STROWMAN, FINN BALOR, SOMOA JOE & TRIPLE H vs. SHANE McMAHON, RANDY ORTON, BOBBY ROODE, SHINSUKE NAKAMURA & JOHN CENA (33:20): This was good early but had a dull, flat finish. The Houston crowd was hot all night which was good (usually by this late hour they're asleep and inching towards the exits). Nakamura facing Balor got a monstrous reaction from the crowd. Cena and Roode did nothing. The Smackdown gang put Braun through a table. Shane was by himself at the end vs. HHH, Braun, and Kurt Angle. HHH turned on Angle and let Shane pin Angle. But then HHH turned on Shane and pinned him to win for RAW. Then Braun was mad at this stupid ending so he slammed HHH. Entertaining match with a stupid, McMahon-focused ending
that we're all sick of. **1/2

NJPW POWER STRUGGLE

Osaka

DAVID FINLAY vs. KATSUYA KITAMURA (5:32): This was a pre-show match. Kitamura is tanned and looks like he's on steroids. AKA he's dull. Forgettable. 1/2*

THE YOUNG BUCKS vs. TITAN & DRAGON LEE (7:18): Good match, obviously. Dragon Lee is awesome, Titan does some of the highest high flying moves in the business, and The Young Bucks are the most entertaining tag team in the world. This was short, for no title, but it was a hell of a lot of fun. ***

HIRAI KAWATO, JUICE ROBINSON, JUSHIN THUNDER LIGER, KUSHIDA & TIGER MASK vs. SUZUKI-GUN (5:19): Ugh. Another NWO-esque melee. Suzuki Gun is awful. Kawato, a Young Lion (meaning his outfit is a simple pair of black underwear), is one to watch, though. Dude's nuts. **

HIROYOSHI TENZAN, SATOSHI KOJIMA & TOGI MAKABE vs. CHASE OWENS, CODY & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI (8:11): Takahashi comes out with two prostitutes on these big shows...so there's at least eye candy during his boring matches. Cody has a new heel gimmick where he tries to make his opponents kiss his ring. Nobody ever does. There wasn't much else beyond that. *

RAPPONGI 3K vs. ACH & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI (15:11): Good match. This was the finals of the Jr. tag team tournament...which Sho and Yoh won even though they're the champs. Which means they won but don't get any sort of prize. They're facing the Bucks at the Dome for the titles. Taguchi is a comedian...which sometimes works. It didn't really work for this; what was supposed to be a highly competitive tournament final. ACH did some cool high flying and Rappongi 3K are fun. **1/2

GEDO, HIROOKI GOTO, KAZUCHIKA OKADA, TOMOHIRO ISHII & YOSHI-HASHI vs. BUSHI, EVIL, HIROMU TAKASHI, SANADA & TETSUYA NAITO (12:07): When Okada and Naito faced off this was good...which was most of the match, actually, setting up their Dome main event. The rest was the usual multi-person throwaway New Japan match. **

MINORU SUZUKI vs. TORU YANO "BULL ROPE MATCH" (15:21): Wow. NJPW is doing stupid gimmick matches now. And this was as dumb as they come. But a regular match with Yano would've been just as dumb. Suzuki Gun interfered. Goto interfered. A steel chair was used. They choked each other. Eh. 1/2*

MARTY SCURLL vs. WILL OSPREAY (17:28): Shocking. Ospreay just won the Jr. title last month and Scurll beat him for it tonight. They did it to set up a 4-way at the Dome with Takahashi and Kushida, but still, a one month title reign? I was looking forward to Ospreay/Takahashi for the belt. As for this match...it was stellar late. These two know each other like the back of their hand. I did think that their match earlier this year in the Super Jr.'s tournament was better, though. But the last five minutes of this was as good as it gets. **1/2

KENNY OMEGA vs. BERETTA (21:33): Good match. Beretta is crazy. Yes, this has been established. Earlier this year he did a flip from the ring to the floor and landed on his back. He also had thumbtacks put in his mouth by the Young Bucks who then Super Kicked him at a ROH show in the Spring. In this match he did a top rope flip to the floor through a table. Omega retained the U.S. title, which probably shouldn't exist (this company has way too many titles). Beretta was better in the tag team division. I doubt he could have a good singles match with anyone else. I guess we'll see. And post-match, Chris Jericho showed up in a video package to challenge Omega at the Dome. Ugh. I guess that's cool and all...but Jericho is a shell of his former self. And I really wanted to see Omega/Ibushi at the Dome. ***

HIROSHI TANAHASHI vs. KOTA IBUSHI (29:28): This was the match of the night. Ibushi did all of his crazy high flying leaps and dives and Tanahashi had the crowd in the palm of his hand throughout the high drama. It started slow and built to a great match by the end. After Tanahashi won, Jay White showed up to beat up Tanahashi and challenge him to a match at the Dome. Honestly? I'd rather have seen this match at the Dome than a Jay White match. But White did have a great match against Ospreay in NYC at ROH's War of the Worlds last Spring. And Tanahashi always brings it. So we'll see. It'll be a long two month wait. ***

WWE TLC

Minneapolis

Attendance: 13,381

SASHA BANKS vs. ALICIA FOX (11:00): This was a pre-show match. Sasha is still a star, still a crowd favorite...but her days of having great matches disappeared once Charlotte went to Smackdown. Alicia Fox is more comedic...so this was mostly just ridiculous and forgettable. 1/2*

ASUKA vs. EMMA (9:25): This was Asuka's debut on the main roster. She's a good worker, obviously, but so good that her matches are never good. If she ever wrestled a competitor on her level like Charlotte it might be good. Emma is decent, nothing special. It wasn't a squash but it should have been. *1/2

CEDRIC ALEXANDER & RICH SWANN vs. JACK GALLAGHER & BRIAN KENDRICK (8:00): Boy was this ppv reaching. Two 205Live matches and three women's matches. I usually enjoy the cruiser weight action but this was pedestrian at best. Neville quit the company recently, probably because they gave the title to Enzo. **

ALEXA BLISS vs. MICKIE JAMES (11:25): Bliss is cute but always in so-so matches. So we know what's important in the WWE. Mickie is past her prime but still works hard. This was just okay. *1/2

ENZO AMORE vs. KALISTO (8:45): Enzo won back the cruiser weight title. 205Live is a good idea on paper. Maybe they should just let the wrestlers do their stuff and not let lame story lines interfere. This was another mostly dull match. *1/2

FINN BALOR vs. AJ STYLES (18:20): Good match. The first one on this show and best of the night. Bray Wyatt was supposed to face Balor but Bray had a viral infection (Roman Reigns and Bo Dallas were also off the show because of this...which turned out to be the mumps...which is like chicken pox, right? The adult version? Man, where is Vince Russo? We could've head a Chemical Mask Suit match or Antidote on a Pole match). This was just two great wrestlers wrestling. No story line, gimmicks, or titles. And it worked. The one small problem is that, c'mon, this should've been the main event for the championship. When was the last time the WWE had a great championship main event with two great wrestlers? Brock Lesnar, the RAW champ, barely wrestles, and Smackdown's champ, Jinder Mahal, is more a marketing gimmick than anything. ***

JASON JORDAN vs. ELIAS (8:50): Elias, when he sings a song about how bad the city he's in is, is at least funny. But in the ring he sucks. And Jordan's flailing with the crowds everywhere. Not good. 1/2*

KURT ANGLE & DEAN AMBROSE & SETH ROLLINS vs. KANE, THE MIZ, SHEAMUS, CESARO & BRAUN STROWMAN "TABLES, LADDERS & CHAIRS MATCH" (35:25): Roman Reigns has the mumps. So instead of a Shield reunion we got the return of Kurt Angle. He came out in the crowd dressed with a black vest like a Shield member. Don't even ask me why this was a 5 on 3 match or why Kane and Braun Strowman were even in this because I don't know. The big spot was Dean and Seth jumping off ladders onto Kane and Braun on the two announce tables at ringside. Other than that there weren't any suicidal dives. The crowd did go nuts when Angle did his Olympic Slam and Ankle Lock. They even did a Kurt Angle-gets-hurt-and-leaves-but-returns-with-his-theme-music. The Miz brought out a trash truck by the Titan-Tron. Dean and Seth jumped off of it and then Braun Strowman was thrown into it and trapped. Kane put Strowman through a table by the Titan Tron and then dropped a pile of chairs from the ceiling on him even though they were supposed to be on the same team (Kane hit Strowman with a chair by accident earlier...so I guess that's why they're feuding now). Angle did an Olympic Slam to Cesaro through a table. So it was a long, sloppy cluster fuck. It was fun in spots and boring in spots. **1/2 

NJPW KING OF PRO WRESTLING

Tokyo

BAD LUCK FALE & LEO TONGA & YUJIRO TAKAHASHI vs. BUSHI, HIROMU TAKAHASHI & SANADA (6:44): Hiromu Takahashi is one of New Japan's most exciting wrestlers, so it's sad that he hasn't been in a solo match since June and his mega-push earlier this year has stalled (he will probably end up facing Ospreay at Wrestle Kingdom in January, though). He was, literally, the only one worth watching in this. And he didn't even really do anything! Sanada did a big top rope to the floor flip. And why does Sanada always have that permanent scowl like he wishes he was somewhere else? *1/2

HIROOKI GOTO & TORU YANO vs. MINORU SUZUKI & ZACK SABRE, JR. (9:18): Ugh. When will Yano retire already? He was doing commentary during the main event, so maybe (hopefully) soon. He won the match when Suzuki was counted out thanks to Yano's shenanigans. I kind of feel bad when real wrestlers have a match with him. It's like if Daniel Day Lewis would be forced to be on an episode of The Big Bang Theory. 1/2*

RAPPONGI 3K vs. RICOCHET & RYUSUKE TAGUCHI (14:52): The mystery team, Rappongi Vice 3000, turned out to be two guys I didn't even know, Sho and Yo, former Young Lions who wrestled in CMLL last year and in ROH as The Tempura Boys. They're young and fast and sort of fun to watch. I think a match against The Young Bucks would be suited better for them then this. They won the Jr. tag titles here. And while Ricochet and Taguchi are mildly amusing...it pisses me off that such a superior talent like Ricochet is stuck in a frigging comedy tag team low on the card. He should be the main event star. This had a few good high flying sequences but not much else. **1/2

KILLER ELITE SQUAD vs. WAR MACHINE vs. GUERRILLAS OF DESTINY (16:10): This was an elimination match for the tag titles, which Davey Boy Smith, Jr. and Lance Archer retained. It was kind of odd to see six non-Japanese wrestlers wrestling in Japan for the tag team championship. It was also lame that these three already had two back to back matches in September at the big shows. I guess New Japan has no idea what to do with the tag division...or just doesn't care. At least the Jr. tag division has been awesome the last few years, so there's that. This was at least entertaining. The winners put the fat viking of War Machine through a table to win, although the table more collapsed than broke and it looked stupid. Killer Elite Squad are a big, dumb, early 90's style of tag team. Which means they suck. But, hey, big guys doing big moves is usually at least watchable. **1/2

CODY, KENNY OMEGA & MARTY SCURLL vs. BERETTA, JADO & YOSHI-HASHI (13:42): The Bullet Club were amusing (even doing a 2-foot ring-post head stomp and then a 4-foot ring-post head stomp). So this was more comedy than anything. Beretta as a singles dude is still up in the air. He does some high flying suicide stuff which is good but other than that he seems lost. Omega is facing Yoshi-Hashi next week in Chicago at a ROH show for NJPW's U.S. title so those two fought early on. I suppose they could have a good match because Omega is the best wrestler in the world, but, you know, I'm skeptical. Yoshi-Hashi is pretty forgettable. **1/2

JUICE ROBINSON & KOTA IBUSHI vs. HIROSHI TANAHASHI & TOGI MAKABE (10:26): Tanahashi is facing Ibushi for the IC title next month in the main event of Power Struggle, so I guess he wanted to sell the shit out of it because he actually looked fast and good here. All summer he's looked hurt and slow because of his tendon tear or whatever the hell it was (Japanese people apparently never take vacations). This match was short and sort of

fun while it lasted. Nothing special. **

WILL OSPREAY vs. KUSHIDA (15:32): Good match, albeit probably only half as good as their brutal, epic Best of the Super Jr.'s final. Ospreay is just incredible to watch. He's one of those guy's that you watch no matter who his opponent is. He beat Kushida for the Jr. title here. His ridiculously melodramatic victory shock face was priceless. It's the fucking Jr. title, not a million bucks. ***

TETSYA NAITO vs. TOMOHIRO ISHII (23:56): Great match. Anti climatic...but stellar nonetheless. This was for the contract to be in the main event of Wrestle Kingdom...which the G1 winner already won (Naito). Which makes the entire G1 tournament completely pointless (it basically means the winner gets a semi-main event at King of Pro-Wrestling and perhaps the main event at WK). There were maybe one thousand near falls in this match and both guys landed sickeningly on their heads a dozen times. The final ten minutes or so were a typical NJPW frenzy with drama, brutality, kick-outs, and big moves. It wasn't Naito or Ishii's best match together...but it was by far the match of the show. ***1/2

KAZUCHIKA OKADA vs. EVIL (33:26): Evil is boring. And Okada tried his best but this turned out to just okay. Evil, since he's, well, evil, used a chair a few times outside the ring. Yawn. The final few minutes were good with reversals and near falls but, let's face it, Evil wasn't fucking winning the title. That kind of made this match ridiculously pointless. The end was good but it went way too long. And this sets up Naito vs. Okada for the title at WK, which I'm not too happy about. I wanted to see Omega/Okada 4. Naito and Okada for whatever reason have not had the greatest matches against each other. I'm much more looking forward to Omega vs. Ibushi at WK. And what does that say about the champ? **

WWE HELL IN A CELL

from Detroit

CHAD GABLE & SHELTON BENJAMIN vs. THE HYPE BROS (10:20): Shelton Benjamin is back. That's crazy. He hasn't been in the WWE in years. I vaguely recall him wrestling in Japan last year...but he certainly became somewhat forgotten after he left WWE. They threw him together with Gable since Gable's former tag team partner got the new, lame story line of being Kurt Angle's long lost son. This was a typical pre-show match that started at 7:30 PM. The show ended at 11:30 PM. Are they trying to be more like New Japan or something? I miss the days of these Smackdown ppv's being 2 and 1/2 hours long. * (out of ****)

THE USO'S vs. THE NEW DAY "HELL IN A CELL" (22:00): These teams had exceptional matches the last two times they wrestled on ppv. Unfortunately, this one wasn't as good. Blame the weapons. Their other matches were fast paced and exciting because of wrestling moves and action and near falls. This was more brutal and slow. They kept diving through the ropes into the cage wall and they used Singapore canes and handcuffs. The Uso's won the titles here when they did a double top rope splash onto Xavier and a chair. **1/2

RANDY ORTON vs. RUSEV (11:40): Kind of meandering. They really need to give these two some meaty story lines or something. The crowd loved Orton, though. So perhaps I'm just wrong. He won with, yep, an RKO outta nowhere. *

BARON CORBIN vs. AJ STYLES vs. TYE DILLINGER (19:20): This was the match of the night. And it may have been better if Corbin wasn't in it. On the pre-show, Daniel Bryan added Dillinger to this to make it a triple threat. Good move, as AJ and Dillinger work well together. And while AJ is the WWE's best wrestler by far, I doubt even he could have gotten a good solo match out of Corbin. Corbin won the U.S. title here. Yawn. ***

CHARLOTTE FLAIR vs. NATALYA (12:15): Natalya used a chair and got DQ'd. Charlotte is a good girl now and boring, although she did a cool top rope moonsault to the floor. *1/2

JINDER MAHAL vs. SHINSUKE NAKAMURA (12:10): It probably tells you something about Jinder, the champ, when his title match isn't the main event and only goes twelve minutes. He's fucking awful, that's what it tells you. But WWE is doing a tour in India in December and they want to start making money and fans in India because it has over a billion people...so we're stuck with Jinder as champ for awhile. The end wasn't bad. There was interference with Mahal's boys and a close, near victory by Nakamura but Jinder put his foot on the ropes. Other than the entertaining last minute, this was a bust. *1/2

BOBBY ROODE vs. DOLPH ZIGGLER (11:35): The WWE writers have apparently given up Dolph. He came to the ring with a black Titantron screen entrance. Roode has a nice entrance song but is a complete bore. This was forgettable. 1/2*

KEVIN OWENS vs. SHANE McMAHON "HELL IN A CELL" (39:00): The last five minutes were great. The previous 34...not so good. Shane delivered his ridiculously fake punches throughout. Shane did a ring long Van Terminator with a trash can to Owens. Owens did a running flip off the apron through a table at ringside. Eventually they got on top of the cell and delivered fake punches and a power bomb and a few other lame moves for what seemed like forever. Finally, Owens started to climb down but Shane climbed down and kicked him and Owens fell halfway off the cell through the announce table. Then Shane put Owens on another announce table and climbed back up and jumped off to deliver an elbow. But...wait! Sami Zayn pulled Owens off the table and Shane crashed down alone. So that was awesome. Shane jumping off the top of the cell has been done before but it was still cool to see. And Zayn, Owen's nemesis, helping him to get the pin at the end was at least something new and a good way to end the show. Zayn is a great wrestler so it's nice to see them give him something to do for once. Most of this match was a train wreck, however. Shane should have just jumped off the cell right away as that's all we wanted to see. And the jump was great but it's been done before. And while most of this was a mess, at least the terrific final minutes were worth it. **1/2