Los
Matadores vs Rybaxel
Really fun
opener here, I’ve been really enjoying Los Matadores on these C-shows. Loved
them totally outsmarting Ryback to start here, and Ryback sells the confusion
well as the matadors tag quickly and zip around him. Ryback yelling “stupid” at
a matador trying to sunset flip him, before missing a sitdown splash, cracked
me up. Axel takes control after a clothesline to the back of Fernando’s head,
and I really dug Axel’s control here. Everything looked to have purpose behind
it, especially a cracking knee to the head. Ryback preventing a hot tag by just
punching Diego in the head on the apron was the perfect move for him. Even
better, when Diego does get tagged in and runs wild on the hot tag, he makes sure
to dropkick Ryback off the apron as a receipt. Axel gets distracted by El
Torito, and that’s enough to get him rolled up for the Los Matadores win.
AJ Lee vs
Natalya
Divas title
match. The problem I had when AJ Lee fought Natalya is that I never bought Lee
being able to control Nattie as easily as she would. Against other women, it
didn’t feel unlikely that AJ could match them for power, or be able to outsmart
or outwrestle them, but I never bought it against Natalya. Natalya is stronger,
is at least as capable on the mat and is probably no slower than AJ. Even in
the early going here, Nattie is no-nonsense, dominating AJ on the mat with a
headlock and resisting all efforts to break it. We cut to a break with Natalya
dominant, and we return to AJ in control, though they at least show a replay to
highlight this was due to Tamina’s interference. I liked AJ’s plan of trying to
put Nattie out with two guillotine chokes, one coming from a great reversal of
a slam. Still doesn’t justify the unlikely sight of AJ powering Nattie over
with a clothesline (especially as Natalya decides to bump huge for it). Both
ladies gets their signature submission holds on, before Natalya badly
telegraphs an AJ flying knee by looking over at AJ when supposedly distracted
by Tamina, and the Black Widow gets the tap for Lee.
Dean
Ambrose vs Mark Henry
Another
title match, this time for the US title. There’s a lovely moment before the
bell when Henry stares down all three Shield members, and looks like the
hardest man on earth in doing so. It is a Shield distraction that allows
Ambrose to take over after an early Henry flourish, and I dug the diving knee
drop from the apron to Henry’s back from Ambrose. Ambrose works over the left
leg of Henry, and it looks really vicious. Kinda surprising, as Ambrose’s
execution is a lot more lacking nowadays. Henry’s selling is terrific
throughout, really selling the difficulty he was having returning to his feet,
as Ambrose hits a beautiful diving punch to the back of the knee. I like
Ambrose’s tactic here, as he uses the hurt leg as a vehicle to keep Henry down
and then punish him with punches, chokes etc. Henry’s comeback is great stuff
too, as Ambrose takes too long getting up to the top rope, so Henry uses a quick
blast of speed to get up and throw him off. Sometimes forge just how athletic Henry
is. The end sees Henry try a Vader bomb, but gets distracted by Roman Reigns,
allowing Ambrose to sweep him off the ropes and hit Dirty Deeds for the win.
Loved this.
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