The Shield vs The Wyatt Family
Bit of a C-show treat to have their feud blown off on Main
Event. This wasn’t as good as the Elimination Chamber match the same year, but
I preferred this to the Raw match. Dean Ambrose was really good here, kicking
the bout off by smacking the sheep mask off Erick Rowan’s face. As the smallest
man in the match, this made him look tough as fuck. Following a brief heat
section on Rollins, the main heat of the match is on Ambrose, and he excels
here. Loved his facial expressions as he sold Rowan’s squeezing of his temples,
and as a wild, scrappy face, it allowed him to have hope spots naturally
interspersed in the bout. You can buy Ambrose as a “going down swinging” type,
and it felt totally in character when he’d make his comebacks. Rather than
Ambrose actually making the hot tag, things instead break down when Rollins
makes a save, as if this match was a powder keg just waiting to ignite. Loved
Luke Harper’s wildman tope, which sent Reigns flying over the announce table.
With Reigns down, Rollins does some great work as the face saviour, hitting
back-to-back dives to take out Rowan and Harper. More chaos ensures before
Ambrose hits Dirty Deeds on Rowan to win. Really great match. Also worth
pointing out Reigns’ post-match promo, where he’s so natural on the stick and
the crowd just eat it up.
Jack Swagger vs Dolph Ziggler
Really like Swagger, so it’s sad to see him weighed down by
Ziggler, who is just wretched here. This started really quickly, to the extent
that we saw the Swagger Bomb in the first 30 seconds. Things go to shit as
Swagger tries to do some basic leg work to set up Ziggler for the Patriot Lock.
Swagger chopblocks Ziggler’s leg from under him, but then Ziggler hits a load
of offence that is totally dependent on the leg – knee up to block another
Swagger Bomb, dropkick, Fameasser – just totally undermining any attempt by
Swagger to prepare for his finisher. Thus, when Swagger does lock it in,
plucking Ziggler from midair to grab the ankle, it has less impact when Ziggler
taps out. Would have been a better match if Swagger has faced literally anyone
else on the roster.
Rusev vs Sin Cara
This is days after Rusev was called up to the main roster,
so he’s still called “Alexander” here. Sub-one minute squash, with the leaping
kick and the Accolade finishing off Cara.
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