Rowan defeated Daniel Bryan
6/10
- Second sentence in, "You see" from Rowan.
- Rowan cuts a promo on Daniel Bryan and Rowan.
- There's some new production and cameras. The frame rate is decreased.
- Bryan challenges Rowan and the match starts right out of the gate.
- A big body press outside the ring leads us to a commercial.
- Bryan is going low on Rowan as we come back from the break.
- Bryan works over Ryan's leg expertly, but gets cut off.
- Rowan hits a modifed Jackhammer. The guy is always innovating in the ring and trying different things.
- Rowan is really in control. He catches Bryan on a suicide dive, but Bryan takes over.
- It's great to hear the "Yes" chants again.
- Yes Kicks and Lebell Lock! Bryan takes out Harper at ringside, but he gets right back up.
- While distracted, Rowan hits a goddamn sloppy Iron Claw Slam that ties Bryan up into the ropes.
- Another one gets the pin for Rowan.
- This was a good match with a hot crowd. The crowds have been pushing a lot of these TV matches to "recommended viewing" on my arbitrary and pointless scale.
- Reigns has to make the save.
- Bryan asks the crowd if they want to see them kick Harper and Rowan's asses, and the crowd chants "Yes."
Backstage Crappenings
- Kofi Kingston does a sit-down interview with Michael Cole. There's nothing groundbreaking here.
Chad Gable defeated Mike Kanellis
SQUASH
- Chad Gable makes a short joke about himself and complains about not winning the last couple of weeks.
- Mike Kanellis cuts him off and says size matters, and he wants to prove that to his wife.
- This would have been better if Gable had someone interviewing him and Kanellis wasn't scripted to make a short joke right after Gable did.
- Chaos Theory, Ankle Lock.
- I'd love to see someone not monster-sized go on a string of squash matches. Why not?
- Elias returns on the TitanTron. He needed a break after being buried for so long. He sings about Gable being short.
Boss N' Hug Connection defeated Carmella & Charlotte Flair (w/ R-Truth)
5.5/10
- Charlotte asks if Truth has seen Carmella. Truth covers for her, but they chat about their match.
- Really happy to see Carmella back in the ring regularly.
- Bayley turns on Carmella with the quickness.
- Sasha Banks does the old "pretend I'm gonna hit a running strike and grab a chinlock" trick. Okay.
- Charlotte Flair gets the hot tag and applies a Figure Four to Bayley, but Sasha uses a Meteora to break it up.
- Carmella's offense looks a lot better this week than last week. Superkick Party.
- A tilt-a-whirl into the Banks Statement, and Carmella taps out.
- All of the Smackdown women -- a stacked roster, chase Carmella out as champion.
- Kairi Sane using her telescope while running was hilarious.
- Becky Lynch tosses around Boss N' Hug.
- To close the show, Sasha attacks Becky Lynch from behind.
Shinsuke Nakamura (w/ Sami Zayn) defeated Ali
6/10
- Ali almost EATS IT on a suicide dive and face plants outside.
- The action is fast and furious here. Nakamura gets one of his best sliding Germans.
- Ali connects with a superkick and Tornado DDT.
- Ali hits one of the wildest tope con hilos ever. Over the ref, almost over Nakamura, then rolled through it.
- Zayn distracts Ali long enough for the Kinshasa to hit.
- I like Graves mentioning that Ali allowed this to happen. It's true. Stupid babyfaces.
New Day defeated B-Team
N/A (Short)
- B-Team getting offense surprises me.
- They do the "B-Train," which Big E joins in on.
- Midnight Hour.
- New Day win. Harmless.
- They hug George Kittle.
- WWE has to get George Kittle across the ring from Gronk in a battle royal.
Kabuki Warriors defeated Fire & Desire
4.75/10
- Otis gets a selfie with Mandy and her Maxim magazine.
- Kabuki Warriors work really well together.
- Sonya dumps Kairi outside the ring hard.
- This is a commercial for a goddamn magazine and it's stupid in so many ways. One of which being that Kairi missed kicking it out of her hands.
- Walk The Plank.
- Kairi and Asuka get the win with a Codebreaker/Insane Elbow.
OWENS AND SHANE
- Shane McMahon brings out lawyers and Kevin Owens.
- He says if Owens drops the lawsuit, he's reinstated and gets his fine money back.
- Owens says he wants a match. McMahon wins, he drops the lawsuit and he's fired.
- Owens wins, Shane is gone.
- It's a ladder match.
Rating guide
10- Perfect, 9- MOTY Territory, 8- Excellent, 7- Great, 6- Good, 5- Average to above average, 4- Slightly below average, 3 or below: Poor
Each match starts at a 5 and slides up and down based on entertainment, execution, time, environment, reaction and stakes. The ratings are in no way an indication of a "star rating," which is a completely different system. A standard, non-offensive "TV match" lands at a 5. The gap between 5.75-6 is generally the largest, with anything reaching 6 being recommended viewing.
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