The final PPV before Wrestlemania – thank God!
I’m watching this one with mixed emotions. I can see some of the directions that WWE writers want to go, but as a fan I really hope they don’t. This show will dictate several of the matches for Wrestlemania.
So, here we go-
Samoa Joe vs Sami Zayn:
Great opening match. Sami looked good against the guy they are going to be finally pushing. Samoa Joe is a great performer. He knows wrestling and seemingly has the total package in size and agility. Joe got the win with his choke hold, putting Sami out. What made Joe look stronger still was his kicking out of one of Sami’s finishers. Bravo!
As a side note, the announcers continued to comment about how Joe doesn’t like to be referred to as Triple H’s muscle. My prediction right now is they are building towards a Triple H vs Samoa Joe at Wrestlemania should Seth Rollins not be available.
Tag Team Title match:
Enzo is great on the mic but drags it out a little too much. Big Cass needs a new catch phrase to add to his vocabulary. Cass is getting there but isn’t ready yet. Still they have more personality than Gallows and Anderson. The match was a sleeper, predictable controversial ending to set up something bigger at Wrestlemania.
Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks
Wasn’t this supposed to be on the kick-off show? Decent match with Sasha finally getting a victory over Nia Jax.
Cesaro vs. Jinder Mahal
Umm really? I don’t know what match has been bumped from this PPV but there seems to be a lot of filler.
Good showing by Jinder in general but nothing truly vested in the match so it didn’t really get anyone’s attention.
Big Show vs. Rusev
Was it just me, or was Big Show favouring his left leg?
Show himself has said he has hardly won a match in the last few years. It was surprising to see him get a strong victory over Rusev, especially with his new haircut. I’m happy for Show, he’s in amazing shape and seems to be enjoying himself.
Cruiserweight title:
The first match of the night to truly have the fans fully engaged. “This is awesome” chants were heard and well deserved. Neville and Gentleman Jack put on a great match that I thought might have ended after one hell of a bump by Jack. Those who watched know what I’m talking about, for those who haven’t watched yet, Neville did a snap German suplex on Gentleman Jack which looked very awkward on landing. I’m sure he’s going to have a sore shoulder and neck in the morning. Jack was able to shake it off and continue the match showing both his guts and determination for the match and show. In the end Neville prevailed with his amazing athletic leap from the top rope.
Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman
It’s nice to see the crowd still boos Reigns when he comes out. It was even more entertaining to hear a smattering of “Strowman’s gonna kill you” chants as things began.
Two big men in a match is exactly that. Two big men. There isn’t a lot they can do outside of their basic repertoire. Strowman’s inexperience showed through as the match continued past the 2 minute mark. Applying nerve holds and chin locks to give him a chance to talk through the next steps was blatantly obvious. Strowman had a match with Sami Zayn at Roadblock that was a 10 minute challenge. Sami made Strowman look good and dominant throughout the match. Reigns couldn’t do the same. But I digress. Strowman did show some power and agility at the end when he climbed the top rope and leaped off. Sure he missed, but it was impressive none the less. Roman capitalized on the mistake and got the first pin fall win over Braun Strowman.
Women’s championship
Bayley and Charlotte came to fight. The match started with a surprising aggressive flurry from Bayley before Charlotte took over with her own aggression and athleticism. As much as I hate the fact that Charlotte “no sells” when a body part should be hurt, she truly is a very gifted athlete. Bayley’s inexperience showed through a couple times. Especially when Charlotte was tied up in the corner. I still don’t know what she was planning. It got very tiring hearing how many times she was 16 and 0 for PPV matches but with Charlotte losing to Bayley the announcing team had to make it seem like a monstrous feat. Of course it wasn’t a clean victory for Bayley as Sasha Banks once again got involved.
Universal championship.
Are you kidding me? Goldberg is the champion? Another minute match thus showing he still hasn’t developed any talent whatsoever. What kind of a contract did he sign?
I applaud Kevin Owens for doing the job and keeping the crowd in the match for close to 6 minutes before the bell even rang.
Sure this sets up Chris Jericho vs Kevin Owens for Wrestlemania but I think it could have been equally as good a match with Owens as the champ.
Wins/Fails/Summery
Overall it was probably one of the worst cards I’ve seen in a long time. There seemed to be some filler to make up time for some reason. At the time of writing this I can’t think of what match was missing so obviously it wasn’t important either.
My Win for the night: it’s a tie. Samoa Joe/Sami Zayn was great, as was the cruiserweight title match. Outside the ring I give a win to the guy with the sign early in the night saying Jack Tunney is my President. It made me smile as I’m sure many of the older Canadian fans did.
My Fail: Goldberg. C’mon, this guy doesn’t deserve to be champion after 15years away from the ring. Sure he’s training and in great shape but it’s obvious he can’t carry a match and now he’s the champ. Very disappointed WWE went in that direction when there were so many other options.
As a ranking: 1 bodyslam out of five, (only because of cruiser weights)
Wrestling Writer 