WWE Super-Showdown 2018

Having this big WWE show take place in Australia was lovely for me, living in the UK. I got up at a reasonable time on Saturday, made some toast and a brew, and could just settle down to watch some wrestling. Lots of people called this a glorified house-show, which may not be inaccurate, but house-shows are generally great, just solid no-nonsense wrestling, so I was looking forward to this show. The end result was a show that wasn't groundbreaking, but was a fun way to spend a Saturday morning.

The Bar vs The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods)

Perfectly decent opener, solidly entertaining stuff. The New Day put forward their quickest team, and they spend the opening stages showing nice flowing teamwork until both get caught on dives by the Bar, and rammed into ringposts. Sheamus nicely stops the 10 Beats halfway through to stop the crowd singing along in a neat heat-gathering spot. Woods gets a nice flurry when he comes in off the tag, but rushes straight into an Irish Curse from Sheamus, which looked great. The Bar have some neat power spots, including Sheamus throwing Woods into a Cesaro uppercut. A Cesaro sharpshooter looks to have things won for the Bar, but Kofi saves and a fun Kofi top rope stomp onto a Woods backcracker gets the pin on Cesaro. Good stuff.

Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair

Both show some nice aggression early on, with Lynch yanking Flair from the ring by her arm (Charlotte splats on the floor, nasty bump). Loved Becky’s tilt-a-whirl into an armbar, with her cruelly torqueing back Charlotte’s fingers. This obviously is to set up the DisArmHer, but Charlotte does less work to set up for the Figure 8. She does a little – at one point stomping Becky’s leg when it’s stuck on the middle rope – but not very much, feels like it’s just being done to pay lipservice to her finisher. Flair’s spear looks like it folds Becky in half, prompting her to try and leave with the title, but Charlotte stops this with a second huge spear. The Figure 8 gets locked in, but Becky hits her in the leg with the title for the DQ. Disappointing finish aside, this was decent.

John Cena & Bobby Lashley vs Elias & Kevin Owens

Obviously, a lot of the post-match talk has revolved around Cena’s sensible dad hair and the fact he wasn’t allowed to bump because of a film he’s shooting, but I thought that kinda helped the match, made the build up to his hot tag feel greater. Lashley taking most of the heat is awkward, because he’s still not over enough to draw any sympathy from the audience, but I thought he was good here (really odd looking Thesz Press aside). He takes offence big here, bumping nastily through the ropes from a missed spear and taking a full-on Owens frog splash. Owens and Elias make a nice team, and Cena’s finally getting tagged in got a good reaction. Cena basically played the hits, finishing with the AA and his ludicrous new backfist finisher. Enjoyed this.

Billie Kay & Peyton Royce vs Asuka & Naomi

The Iiconics didn’t get as big a pop as I thought they would. This was brief, but harmless. The Iiconics are a bit patchy in ring, but Asuka and Naomi made a fun team, and there were a few neat moments. Loved Kay trying to hurt Naomi by catching a boot and throwing her to the floor, only for Naomi to land in a perfect splits, and this was paid off by Billie trying the same moments later with less impressive results. Asuka hits a weak looking German suplex on Kay after a brief Iiconics heat section, and Naomi hits a great split legged moonsault on Royce, before the pin is stopped. Kay drops Naomi facefirst on the apron, and a running knee from Royce gets the victory.

AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe

Remember when Joe fought Roman on PPV, and people claimed that Joe was being forced to work at a ponderous pace to get heel heat vs Reigns? I wonder what the excuse here was, because this was pretty plodding. It started well, both showing their aggression by fighting in the aisle and AJ quickly recovering from being thrown over an announce table to get right back into the ring. But this match goes over twenty minutes, and there’s not enough to this to keep it interesting. For a no DQ match, this is pretty pedestrian, with Joe walking through his offence at a glacial pace, though AJ tries his best to bump it into a more interesting bout. He takes a Joe standing elbow hard, bumps 360 degrees on a clothesline and takes a hard looking uranage onto a chair. AJ throwing Joe through a table looks awkward though, a really messy landing. Joe sells a leg injury from this point, and Styles zones in on it. Liked the springboard 450 he hit directly to Joe’s leg. Joe’s Kokina Clutch suplex is pretty wild looking too. Joe’s leg gives in on a muscle buster attempt, but he locks in the Kokina Clutch again, only for AJ to (clumsily) reverse it to the Calf Crusher for the tap out win. Like the fact Joe was near the ropes for this, but the No DQ stip meant that it did him no good. Other than that, this was disappointing.

The Riott Squad vs The Bella Twins & Ronda Rousey

This was a perfectly fine trios match. The early stages seemed to be setting up a “Bellas vs Ronda” scenario, as the Bellas only tagged each other and Ronda was left on the sidelines. This didn’t really play into the match though. There’s a brief Brie vs Liv section that I can’t imagine was the pairing anyone wanted to see in this match, before Nikki becomes face in peril. Lovely running knee to the face by Sarah Logan. Hot tag is made to Ronda, and she’s a great hot tag. Big judo throws to Morgan and Logan, some big strikes to Sarah and, though Liv saves Logan from an armbar attempt, Ronda soon locks them both into a double armbar for the immediate tap.

Cedric Alexander vs Buddy Murphy

Murphy is the hometown boy here, and gets a great reaction. This is a fantastic sprint, the career resurgence of Buddy Murphy has been one of the joys of 2018 WWE. Murphy hits an insane dive right from the start, and the pace doesn’t really slow from there. Both hit big spots: Cedric times a superkick perfectly and I loved Murphy constantly trying to climb to the top only for Cedric to use this momentum to hit a top rope Michinoku Driver. Cedric also hits his own big dive. For his part, Buddy gets two on a lovely sitout powerbomb (with a slightly sloppy cover, which fits the story of him being too overexcited in his hometown). There’s a neat sequence where Murphy keeps kicking out of some big moves successively, taking a standing Spanish Fly and a huge Lumbar Check. The pop on the kickout is huge. Cedric tries springboarding into the ring, takes a big knee to the face on landing, and the pumphandle driver gets the victory for Murphy. Huge pop for that, felt like a real feel good moment, and the match was really choice.

The Shield vs Braun Strowman, Drew McIntyre & Dolph Ziggler

Loved the face masks that the Shield wore to the ring, looked totally badass. This breaks down really early and Rollins gets isolated as the face-in-peril after an early Shield Bomb is thwarted. Of note Ziggler’s first move of the match is the shitty backslap DDT, and we get maybe too much Ziggler vs Rollins in the ring for my taste. I did like that Ziggler’s shit talking led to him doing something feckless shortly afterwards. Strowman misses a crap looking top rope splash and Ambrose gets the hot tag. Loved Ambrose bringing out something new, hitting a fallaway slam on Ziggler. We get a tantalising Reigns vs McIntyre section that made me want to see that singles match even more. Roman muscling up Drew for a one armed powerbomb was really neat. The Shield Bomb is thwarted by Strowman plowing through the lot of them with a big spear. Roman accidentally hits Ambrose with a Superman Punch to continue the hinted dissension, and this led to the big turning point of the match, as Rollins and Reigns are left alone in the centre of the ring with the heels surrounding them. Ambrose gets on the fourth side, hinting that he may attack them too, only to take out Strowman with a suicide dive. Lovely spot where Strowman looks to be about the charge through Ambrose on the floor, but Reigns takes Strowman out with a PERFECTLY timed spear through the barricade. Back inside, Ambrose hits Ziggler with Dirty Deeds to win. Good stuff here.

Daniel Bryan vs The Miz

I’ll be honest, I only kept half an eye on this match as I was making a (shit) omelette. Luckily, this was brief, so I didn’t miss too much. I do love Bryan getting the pin super quickly by locking Miz in a small package. Keeps the Miz looking strong, shows off Bryan as talented wrestler who can win at any time, and created a nice sudden finish.

Triple H vs The Undertaker

I’ve seen this match taking a lot of abuse on line, and I can see why. It’s very long. Too long. Neither guy is in good shape, with Taker looking exhausted on several occasions, and there’s a load of smoke’n’mirrors horseshit to cover up the limitations of both men. However, I didn’t hate this. I’ve never been a big fan of either guy, and I hated their last two WrestleMania matches, but I also had no expectations going into this. For two men with a combined age of basically 100, who are only out there to give a marquee match-up to this supershow, this was ok. I enjoyed Shawn Michaels’ role in this, sneakily running interference and setting up props for use in the match (with a painfully slow Kane easily kept at bay). The fighting outside is fine, bar the blown back bodydrop Undertaker tries on HHH, with admittedly a lot Taker dragging round HHH by the head, and I enjoyed HHH putting Kane through a table by hitting an elbow drop from the apron. The ref bump where Taker punches him out doesn’t make much sense, given the match is No DQ anyway, and Taker bumps embarrassingly for a Pedigree. HHH crushing Taker’s throat by placing a chair around it and stomping it looked nasty, and Kane making the save by pulling the ref out was really well timed. The supporting hoopla includes a load of chairshots, HHH getting out the sledgehammer and spots where Michaels and HHH save each other from tombstones, before a final Pedigree eventually puts Undertaker down. Not a classic match, probably not even a good match, but for trashy nonsense with two veteran wrestlers past their prime, it was still watchable.

WWE Main Event 19/08/2014

Sheamus vs Curtis Axel

Really good match, worked within their hierarchy. Sheamus lets Axel look really good here, whilst ultimately ending up the comfortable winner. Sheamus is very giving here, letting Axel power out of the 10 Beats, before Axel takes over after sending Sheamus throat first into the ropes. Lovely running knee to the head sends Sheamus out of the ring. Loved Axel putting Sheamus in the tree of woe, then hitting a running boot to the head from the floor. Looked nasty. Even when Sheamus tries a comeback with a slingshot shoulderblock, he gets caught by an Axel forearm to the face. In the end, Axel makes the mistake of slapping Sheamus repeatedly in the face, firing him up for a comeback. Sheamus basically rolls through him from that point, culminating with the rolling senton and a Brogue Kick for three. Well worked to give Axel the shine, but when Sheamus took control, Axel had no answer.

Nikki Bella vs Emma

This was Nikki’s first match after turning heel on Brie. Short, but effective as she runs through Emma pretty easily. Cranks in a front-facelock, rams Emma’s face into her knee then, after Emma misses a crossbody, just whacks her with the forearm and the Rack Attack gets the academic three. Effective.

Los Matadores vs Slater Gator

The Matadores are accompanied by Hornswoggle in a cow outfit as well as El Torito, for reasons unknown. This is fun stuff, with Slater in particular stooging about amusingly for the Matadores offence. Los Matadores make everything look so smooth, just a fluidity to their movement. Titus O’Neill coming in is the gamechanger, as he’s able to overpower Fernando, and send him flying with a big hurling slam. Slater gets taken down with an enormous flapjack, but after escaping a series of roll-ups, he nails a big implant DDT for the win.

The Big Show vs Erick Rowan

Exactly what you’d hope for from these two, nothing pretty, just two big boys battering each other. There’s a small run of Rowan working the Big Show’s leg after a chopblock to the knee, but they wisely decide that the crowd aren’t here for Erick Rowan’s limbwork, they want to see some big boy shit, and that’s what they get. Big clotheslines from both men, massive sounding chops by Show, running corner splashes from Rowan at full speed, even a side Russian legsweep by Show…just full on collision from both guys. Really good fun. Rowan even gets to slam Show for two, but as he tries raising Big Show to his feet, he gets caught with a sudden KO punch for the win.

WWE Main Event 12/08/2014

Seth Rollins vs Kofi Kingston

Two exceptionally inconsistent wrestlers here, but the stars align and this ends up being a decent match. The big problems Rollins has always had is that he wrestles like a face, but he looks and sounds like a whiny brat heel. Here, he’s a shit to poor Kofi, trash-talking him in the corner, stood on his back and forcing Kofi to look at his MITB briefcase. There’s a nice bit where he stops and smirks at the “You sold out” chants, and this brief pause gives Kingston recovery time to duck a clothesline and hit a neat springboard dropkick and a big dive to the floor. Seth works a brief heat on Kofi after slamming him into the barriers, but Kofi takes over when he evades a corner splash, hitting a pendulum kick as Seth leaps into the corner. Kingston is kept looking really strong, getting nearfalls from a corner crossbody and the SOS, to the extent that I thought he might win. He doesn’t, as Rollins stops a superplex attempt by sunset flipping into a running corner bomb, and the Kerb Stomp gets three.

The Usos vs Rybaxel vs Sheamus & Rob Van Dam

This is for the Usos tag title, and the Sheamus/RVD team really stands out as “We had nothing for these guys this week”. I’m not sure that the team added anything to the standard good Usos/Rybaxel match, but it did add an interesting riff on the psychology. As the heels, Rybaxel end up working a heat sequence, in this case on Sheamus when Ryback catches a Brogue Kick into a powerbomb. To stop anyone tagging in, Rybaxel can’t even cut the ring in half, they basically have to contain Sheamus to their quarter of the ring, and they manage to do this convincingly, with Axel doing this awesome little scrabble for purchase, using momentum to roll Sheamus away from the hot tag. Impressive stuff. In the end, RVD gets the hot tag and goes through the greatest hits. There is a nice rolling senton/rolling thunder spot by Sheamus and RVD, but aside from that Van Dam isn’t cracking out the new stuff. The Usos are slightly marginalised, but Jimmy gets to light up Ryback with a vicious sounding series of chops and Jey hits a big dive to the floor. Neat ending sees RVD push Axel off the top and nail him with the Five Star, but Jimmy Uso had already blind tagged Axel, and he followed RVD with his own top rope splash, getting the pinfall on Van Dam. Overall, good stuff.

WWE Main Event 15/07/2014

Emma vs Cameron

Not a match I was looking forward to, but credit where it’s due I thought Cameron showed some nice aggression here. She looked like she really disliked Emma, and getting boots up on the corner cross body looked nicely timed. Emma takes a big bump to the floor when she gets dumped attempting a tarantula. Emma gets the win though, when she gets a small package after Cameron was distracted by taunting Naomi at ringside. Short, but surprisingly effective.

Rybaxel vs Big E & Kofi Kingston

This is pre-New Day, but I think only a week or two before they formed. This was really fun, Rybaxel had become a legit good team at this point. Love Axel grape-vining a free arm with his legs whilst holding Kofi in a side headlock. The inevitable Big E/Ryback big lads face off is great, both guys move really well and it’s a fast paced little segment filled with unlikely leapfrogs and nice rope running. Axel might well be the MVP of the bout though, loved his running knee to the face of Big E and the diving clothesline from the apron that makes E the face in peril. It leads to a hot finishing run and a great end as Big E just hurls Axel upwards, he bounces off the canvas and straight into Trouble In Paradise for the New Day win. Great stuff.

Sheamus vs The Miz

This is right after the Miz came back and was working the “money maker” defending his face schtick. Sheamus is a guy who’ll totally blast you in the face, so this was a fun pairing. Miz works a load of fun avoidance spots that lead to him taking more punishments, like not being able to stop the 10 blows to the chest due to covering his face. Sheamus happily works some meaty sounding body shots whilst Miz is concerned with his face. This plays nicely to the end too, as Sheamus goes for the Brogue Kick, Miz cowers with his face covers, and Sheamus locks in a really tight roll up to win. Fun stuff.

WWE Main Event 08/07/2014

Another really odd episode of Main Event, headlined by Chris Jericho and Bret Hart on the Highlight Reel and opened by a Last Man Standing match for the US title. A really stacked C-show.

Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio

On first glance, a Last Man Standing match might seem like a strange stipulation for Main Event. After all, you wouldn’t expect two guys to go all out on a C-show, and thus there won’t be the same level of stunts to potentially end the match. The strange thing, as true as this is, the match benefits from this, resulting in a tighter, fast-flowing match. Even on a C-show, these are two guys who will lay in their shots, with Sheamus hurling ADR into the barricade and hitting a rolling senton on the floor early doors. The use of weapons here is restricted to a kendo stick, a chair and a table, but that actually adds to the violence, as both guys thrash the other with the kendo stick, including two nice diving top rope shots from Del Rio. I loved too how he begged off like a coward the second Sheamus got the stick from him. Lovely spot where ADR catches himself on the ropes to prevent him taking the Fuerza bump to the floor, but this instead leaves him in position for the 10 shots to the chest from Sheamus. Nothing here is overly complex, but it all looks painful. They build up to the table spot, before Del Rio locks in a crossarmbreaker on Sheamus. Sheamus powers up with one arm and slams Del Rio through the table for a 9 count, and the Brogue Kick gets the full 10. Really great match.

Nikki Bella vs Naomi, Natalya, Rosa Mendes, Summer Rae & Eva Marie

This is still during the “Stephanie punishes Nikki for Brie Bella quitting” storyline. This is hyped up as a 6-1 handicap, but Cameron is conspicuous by her absence. It’s odd to watch Nikki Bella getting dominated early by Rosa and Eva, especially as they do it with no shenanigans. Nikki gets a brief comeback, bossing Rosa with a forearm and rolling up Summer, but Eva comes in off a blind tag and gets the pin with a DDT. Remarkable. Naomi and Natalya never get in. 

WWE Main Event 17/06/2014

Rusev vs Santino Marella

As good as 30 second squash as you’ll get. Rusev blocks a Santino kick, hurting Santino’s leg, then hits a jumping kick and the Accolade to win

Paige vs Naomi

Face vs face match, with Paige only recently winning the Divas title. This wasn’t very good, both ladies looked pretty clunky in the ring, like they weren’t quite sure what the other was going to do. There were a few nice bits, such as Paige cutting off a corner bulldog with a clothesline and a really good nearfall as Paige rolls through a top rope crossbody. It’s just that every time they have to exchange a hold, it looks like they’re trying to remember what comes next but are failing to do so. Naomi gets the surprise win with an inverted DDT.

Sheamus & the Usos vs the Wyatt Family

This was pretty good, but I kinda expected better from the talents involved. It’s not that there’s anything wrong with it – it’s genuinely good all the way through – it just never heats up to quite the levels you’d expect. The best bits, as you’d expect, are when Sheamus and Luke Harper mix it up. They exchange some nice looking shots, with a mix of head shots and body blows. The faces control with some quick tags until Harper hits a throat thrust on Jey Uso. I like that, as the head of the family, Wyatt doesn’t get in the ring until they’ve got full control of one of their opponents. The heat on Jey is pretty fun, with a few hope spots sprinkled in. Loved him fighting out of the Wyatt’s corner, but then running directly into a Harper Michinoku Driver. The hot tag gets made only after Rowan misses a few moves, and Sheamus and Jimmy Uso both get to run wild off the hot tag. The end is pretty great, as Jey hits a big dive to the outside on Rowan, but Bray intercepts Jimmy as he goes to dive on Harper, fluidly hitting him with Sister Abigail for the win. As I said, nothing bad about it, just that it’s good rather than great.

WWE Main Event 13/05/2014

Damien Sandow vs Dolph Ziggler

This was better than I thought it was going to be, albeit not something I’d actually call good. Liked some of the things Sandow did, like the vicious little elbow he did on a rope break to take the advantage, which he sadly then followed with some weak blows. They did go to a chinlock very early, but Sandow at least made it fun with some shit-talking. Some bits were off – a drop toehold into the ropes saw Ziggler having to walk two or three paces before falling, but Sandow showed an aggressive side, which led to him dropping a few nasty kneedrops. The aggression proved his undoing, as he puts too much force into a back suplex, with Ziggler flipping to his feet and hitting a flash zig zag for the win. Surprisingly decent.

Emma vs Alicia Fox

The start of this is great, as Fox gets on the mic…and almost immediately hurls it at Emma’s face. She keeps attacking before the ref can ring the bell, then immediately hits a backbreaker when it does. She dumps Emma through the ropes to the floor, which looks nasty. Like Emma selling her wooziness at being beaten down, so she takes too long to hit her corner crossbody, meeting only knees. Suddenly, Emma pulls out a roll up from nowhere and wins. Real shitty ending to a fun match.

Sheamus vs Cesaro

Yeah, there’s no way these two were going to have a bad match, and they both put it all out there for Main Event. Love the aggression from both guys, both happy to take a blow and lay one out at the same time. I loved how evenly this was worked, but in a way that both guys were getting worn down by the beating they’d take. Neither guy gets a sustained advantage as they’re both hurting too much from the damage they’ve taken to fully capitalise. Some nice offensive spots by both guys, loved Cesaro’s draping DDT over the ropes to send Sheamus’ head into the apron, and Sheamus hit a rare top rope dive to the floor. Sheamus misses a Brouge Kick and before he’s got both feet on the floor, Cesaro deadlifts him for a swank German suplex. It felt like an odd time for them to fight – Cesaro just a few weeks into his Paul Heyman run and Sheamus only just winning the US belt – as neither guy felt right losing, so when they both head to the floor, you know we’re getting a double count-out. Really good bout though, as these two always have.

WWE Main Event 29/04/2014

Goldust vs Alberto Del Rio

Quick little match, but a fun one. Goldust is fired up after ADR beat Cody on the previous Raw, but this costs him as the referee has to separate them in the corner, giving Del Rio an opening. Del Rio keeps control but maybe takes too long to set up a superkick (including taking down his kneepad, which I’m sure doesn’t help a superkick). Goldust blocks and hits a leg screw, before hitting the Final Cut for the unlikely win.

Paige vs Alicia Fox

Pretty heated to start, few nasty sounding strikes on the apron before Paige ranas Fox to the floor. Nice big boot to the face by Fox. Love the two of them really battling over a suplex before Paige turns it into the Rampaige for the win. This was pretty choice.

Bad News Barrett vs Kofi Kingston

Another really quick bout tonight. Loved the superkick to the midsection of Kofi, which lifts him into the air. Kingston is still a guy with floaty light offence that never looks particularly good. The match ends with them outside, with Kingston trying to leap off the steps, only to fly right into a Bullhammer. Barrett rolls him in for the academic pin.

Sheamus vs Bray Wyatt

Wyatt, for all his faults, is a guy unafraid to have a big fight with a guy, and Sheamus is always happy to oblige, so it’s no surprise that this is pretty good. Loved Sheamus just grabbing Wyatt by the beard and punching him in the face. Wyatt’s senton always looks crushing, and I loved him trying a second time, only to land on Sheamus’ knees. Sheamus was fired up here, with a running knee into the corner having so much momentum he flew out onto the apron. Sheamus gets a few close nearfalls from White Noise and the Irish Curse, but with Wyatt due to face Cena at the next PPV, he was always going to win here. The end sees Sheamus try to Brogue Kick an interfering Luke Harper from the apron, only to get caught up on the top rope and Sister Abigail finishes. Great match.

WWE Main Event 21/04/2014

Proper good episode of Main Event. Four matches, all worth a watch. Good use of an hour.

Big E vs Alberto Del Rio

Pretty decent little sprint here. Both move pretty quickly to start, with Del Rio showing a vicious side as he tries to wear down the bigger man. Loved Del Rio headbutting his way out of a belly-to-belly attempt, followed by a vicious kick to the head. Also loved a really nice sequence where Alberto escaped the Big Ending, shoved Big E into the corner and immediately followed with an enzuigiri. Big E makes a comeback and, in a rather slick sequence, catches Del Rio on a tornado DDT attempt and hoists him onto his shoulder for the Big Ending. Dug this.

El Torito vs Hornswoggle

The commentary team only play this for comedy, which is a shame, as the match is pretty fun. El Torito in particular is pretty good on the mat, tying Hornwoggle up in a leglock. Torito looked great with a nice top rope crossbody, but Hornwoggle had some surprisingly nice bits too. Loved his vicious running kick to the skull. Torito goes for a moonsault, but is distracted by Heath Slater, causing him to miss and letting Hornswoggle hit the Tadpole Splash to win. Fun stuff.

Sheamus vs Titus O’Neill

This was pretty boss. Considering their respective place on the card at the time, Sheamus was especially giving to make Titus look like a beast. Right away, Sheamus takes a big pinball bump out of the ring to put over O’Neill’s strength. Loved how these two guys were both happy to lay in the blows, with the body shots from both making a lovely thwacking sound. Sheamus takes a big bump, as he tries to hit the slingshot shoulderblock into the ring, but meets a big forearm and tumbles to the floor. Really nice show of strength as Titus catches a top rope crossbody to hit a fallaway slam, which looked great. Even the end helped keep Titus strong, as he spends too long shit-talking Sheamus, holding him by the face, only to meet a quick headbutt and a Brogue Kick for the win. This basically ruled.

Ryback vs Jimmy Uso

Ryback and Jimmy also seem happy to lay in the blows on this match, so we’ve got quite a fun episode of Main Event this week. Really enjoyed Uso going for a big out of control dive early, knowing he’s got to take it to the Big Guy early. It’s slightly disappointing that we go to a break with Ryback out on the floor, and return to find Uso in the same position, takes away from the match a bit. Ryback’s control is pretty standard, punctuated with some really nice bits. Loved his massive spinebuster and the meathook clothesline always looks devastating. Uso kickstarting his comeback by powering out of a Ryback powerbomb attempt feels unlikely. The end sees Ryback hit the Shellshock after Curtis Axel distracts Uso, and this was a perfectly fine match.

WWE Main Event 01/04/2014

Been away for a couple of weeks watching the Euros in France, so thought it best to get something posted quickly. Not coming back to the best episode of Main Event however, as most of the show is dedicated to WMXXX hype, with only two matches on the show. Not a banner episode, I'm afraid

Sheamus vs The Miz

Good dynamic between these two here, Sheamus being the big, overwhelming face and Miz being the smaller sneakier heel. Loved some of Sheamus’ offence here, like his catching a boot attempt from the Miz and just pushing him backwards. Miz takes a big bump as Sheamus fallaway slams him into the ringside barricades. Sheamus is dominant for the opening parts of this match, with Miz unable to gain a prolonged advantage, until Miz is finally able to post Sheamus and cause some real harm. Miz isn’t great offensively, but Sheamus sells it well enough to carry this portion of the match. Wasn’t a big fan of Miz going for a 2^nd corner clothesline in the match, as it pretty much telegraphed that he was going to miss. Sheamus wins a decent bout with the Brogue Kick.

Tamina vs Nikki Bella

This wasn’t so good. This is before Nikki got really good and started throwing big shots, whilst Tamina has never really put it together. Nikki’s offence looks shaky early on, with her leaping corner kick and a flying headscissors not looking crisp. I did enjoy Tamina on the outside attacking Brie Bella unprovoked, before getting in a pretty much squashing Nikki with a superkick and a top rope splash. The dominant clean win was a surprise, the match being bland was not.

WWE Main Event 25/03/2014

Pretty disappointing episode of Main Event here. Fuck knows what I did to deserve two Ziggler matches.

Sheamus vs Alberto Del Rio vs Dolph Ziggler

Christian had won a four-way on Raw to face Big E for the IC strap on this episode of Main Event, but had picked up his career ending concussion, so the other three from the match had this triple threat to see who got the match. Nice little one-show angle. The problem this match suffers from is that you’ve got two guys really laying in their blows, putting in a sense of struggle when trying to escape holds, and it clashes with the wrestling style of Ziggler, who’s offence looks milky in comparison and isn’t the kind of guy who puts in realistic touches. Compare Del Rio punching at Sheamus in a failed attempt to prevent the rolling senton with Ziggler hitting his “opponent holds me in the air until I slap his back to let him know it’s time for a DDT” DDT. With Del Rio being the only heel, he controls a good part of this match, working over Ziggler and keeping Sheamus on the outside (I appreciated ADR going back to make sure Sheamus couldn’t get back in, rather than Sheamus mysteriously vanishing for ages as in most triple threats). Sheamus’s comeback is great, he’s a terrific offensive wrestler and I love how he builds up momentum, hitting more and more moves from the ropes so he’s like a big block of muscle crashing into his opponents. The end sees a really hot sequence between ADR and Sheamus, before Sheamus misses a Brogue Kick and ends up stranded on the ropes. ADR hits the backstabber, but Ziggler comes in to hit the Zig Zag on him at the same time. Even though Del Rio landed in exactly the same way that he was going to, this earns the win for Ziggler. Dolph really was a subtraction by addition to this match.

Natalya, Naomi, Cameron, Emma & Eva Marie vs Layla, Alicia Fox, Tamina, Summer Rae & Aksana

AJ Lee is on commentary, as this is just a brief bout to showcase the entrants in the “AJ Lee vs the world” match at Mania. Being so short, no-one really gets the chance to stand out, bar Layla looking awesome as a stooging heel. She’s not afraid to look daft to put her opponent over, even doing a goofy version of the Robot to counter Emma’s terrible dance. Eva Marie becomes face-in-peril, and surprisingly working heat on the least popular and least sympathetic member of the face team doesn’t generate much reaction from the crowd. Naomi gets the hot tag and immediately hits a terrible rana on Tamina. She improved SO much on her heel turn. It all breaks down, leaving Tamina to nail a superkick on Naomi for the win.

Big E vs Dolph Ziggler

This match really doesn’t work, as both guys seem to have trouble clicking. They’re in a strange boat where the bigger face IC champ is taking on a smaller guy who wrestled a ten minute match earlier in the hour, so they need to find a way to make sure Big E doesn’t look like a bully. Seemingly the solution they choose is for Ziggler to sell zero exhaustion from his earlier match, which has the unfortunate side effect of making Big E look weak as he ends up selling more than Dolph in this match. There’s too many odd moments here that don’t work: Big E jams his shoulder on the ring post on a corner charge, but this doesn’t get worked over or sold again in the bout. Ziggler’s offence is reduced to just dropkicks, whilst Big E keeps on hitting clotheslines. It’s just not a very good match, though I liked the ending: Big E throws Ziggler up in the air, causing him to splat on the mat and grabs him as he bounces upwards to hit the Big Ending for the win.

WWE Extreme Rules 2015

Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper

This was a pretty fun deal, and I liked Ambrose’s high-energy assault to start. The kendo shots on Harper sounded really nasty, but not as nasty as the suplex onto an open chair that Harper hits. Harper lawn darting Ambrose into a chair in the corner was pretty great. I really like that Ambrose has these quick flurries of energy when on the offensive, and the quick offensive burst that ended with his diving elbow drop was fun. There was a lovely spot on the outside where Harper tried to throw Dean into the ring, only for Ambrose to pivot his body on the apron and burst out with a clothesline. Really fun spot. They brawl to the back and, as Harper tries to escape in a waiting car, Ambrose dives into through the passenger window and off they drive…

Sheamus vs Dolph Ziggler

The first few minutes of Ziggler offence were pretty meh, including Ziggler hitting a horrible “carry me round” tornado DDT to the floor. As soon as Sheamus goes on offence though, things quickly improve, as Sheamus hits a lovely knee to the temple of Ziggler. Even a Sheamus chinlock looks great with how he cranks at Ziggler’s neck whilst holding it. Ziggler gets the odd hope spot, but this match is all about great Sheamus offence. I loved him catching a superkick, hurling Ziggler down and just flipping him into the Cloverleaf. Ziggler gets the win with a fluke roll up, but it’s Sheamus who comes out of this looking great.

The New Day vs Cesaro & Tyson Kidd

Xavier Woods was incredibly annoying as a face, so he’s perfectly suited to the role of heel cheerleader here. I actually saw a version of this match at a houseshow in Nottingham, so I wasn’t surprised that this was pretty great. Loved Kidd and Cesaro stomping their opponents to the beat of “New….Day Sucks”. Kidd hits a beautiful dive through the ropes, taking him straight through Kingston. This is actually the most I’ve enjoyed Kofi Kingston, as this heel role has given him a bit more of an edge. Now, he’s using his speed for quick cut-offs, which look more effective than they did as actual match-winning offence. Cesaro whipping his opponent from corner to corner, peppered with uppercuts, is a really neat face spot, whilst Big E spearing through the ropes to send Kidd flying to the floor is an ever-impressive bump. Kingston gets the win with a handful of tights on a roll-up, and I want to see this match every month.

Dean Ambrose vs Luke Harper

….and we return to these two guys as they drive back into the arena. Ambrose hits a great elbow from the top of the car onto Harper and a celebrating New Day, before the match returns to the ring. There’s a great visual as both guys throw chairs into the ring, and suddenly make eye-contact from opposite sides. The match ends with Harper trying an ill-fated top rope move, instead getting hurled from the top onto the chairs, and Ambrose hitting Dirty Deeds for the win. Fun deal.

Rusev vs John Cena

Given the PG nature of WWE programming, this was never going to live up to my ideal of a brutal chain match, but I did hope for something a bit better than this. This was fought under touch-the-four-corners rules, with lights to indicate the scores on each turnbuckle. The problem with this stipulation is that it makes the match pretty repetitive and dull, with lots of drama-free tug of war spots. I did enjoy Cena yanking Rusev into the ring post when they were brawling outside, mainly because Rusev took an insane bump into the steel. However, the match was typified by Rusev, a man not known for his high risk moves, climbing to the top rope solely so that Cena could pull him off using the chain. The match is pretty much a spectacle of watching two talented guys slowly walk between turnbuckles that they’d normally zip between, just to try and create some drama. The end sees both guys somehow tied on three posts each, both needing the same final turnbuckle to win. Rusev goes for it, is pulled back and nailed with the AA for the Cena victory.

Nikki Bella vs Naomi

This heel turn has worked wonders for Naomi. Showing her more aggressive side has slowed her down, eliminating some of the athletic, but sloppy, moves she used to do. Also, her statuesque form makes it convincing for her to boss other women in the ring. I thought her hitting a running bulldog through the rope to send Nikki face first into the second turnbuckle was great. She also hit a slick full Nelson bomb into a pin, which looked good. Nikki’s offence looked a bit weaker than usual here, with a springboard kick looking pretty milky, and we didn’t get to see her awesome forearm smash. Nikki gets the win with the Rack Attack after Brie Bella kicks Naomi behind the referee’s back. This was pretty good.

Roman Reigns vs the Big Show

From the get-go, you could tell this was going to be good, as both guys were clearly not afraid of laying in some punches. I loved Big Show refusing to use weapons, confident enough that his size made him enough of a weapon in his own right. It also allows Reigns to get some big pops whenever he brings out the plunder. Of course, when Big Show only gets an 8 count following the KO punch, he suddenly decides to start using the weapons after all. I like how smart Big Show is in breaking the count by rolling out of the ring, as it gets him back to his feet with the least amount of effort. There is a negative part where Big Show uncharacteristically goes to the top rope, which is clearly only so Reigns can throw him off. Show chokeslams Reigns over the top rope to the floor through two tables in a massive bump. Looked great. Big Show sets up more stuff over by the announce table, giving Reigns time to recover, and even when Show returns to the ring, Reigns can only take control by avoiding a Show offensive move, rather than via his own attack. Show rolls out to his feet again, so Reigns knows he has to down the Big Show outside of the ring. A huge spear through the Spanish announce table looks to have done this, but Show is able to get up at 8. This leaves Reigns little choice but to bury Show underneath the main announce table, which finally gets him the 20 count. Really great match, logically laid out and with some massive bumps by both men. With Reigns now having the match-of-the-night for three PPV’s in a row, can we now just accept he’s actually really great? 

Seth Rollins vs Randy Orton

This is a world title match in a steel cage with the RKO banned. The problem this match has is that no-one believes they’ll take the title off Rollins already, and no-one believe the steel cage will keep anyone out of the match. In fact, most of the match is a background to the drama between Kane, the external gatekeeper, and Rollins. I mean, I love Kane’s new “frustrated middle manager” gimmick, but it shouldn’t be overshadowing your brand new world champion’s first defence. That said, a lot of the action was good here. I dug Rollins, like a chickenshit, fleeing to try and escape at every opportunity, especially from an Orton slingshot. There was another moment where Rollins avoided Orton’s snap powerslam and tried to quickly escape while Orton was regaining his bearings. It also built up the later spot where Orton caught Rollins as he springboarded into the ring with a huge snap powerslam. Orton hit a lovely looking superplex, and I loved him doing the pose for the RKO, but hitting a pedigree instead, as a “fuck you” to the Authority. Ultimately though, it built up to a shitty end, as Kane gets in, J&J Security get in, Kane flip-flops between who he’s going to help and finally Rollins nails Orton with an RKO before escaping. It’s a shame that a decent match ends with the commentators arguing semantics over whether or not Rollins was allowed to use the move.