It’s the last brand exclusive PPV before Summerslam and it’s the least hyped I’ve been for a PPV in a while. Just haven’t been that interested in the card, but I’m sure there’s still some fun to be had.
Kick-off Match – Aiden English vs. Tye Dillinger
Decent little match, better than their previous encounter and they were given more time, but they still stuck to a formula so it was nothing special. English gets the surprise win whilst Dillinger continues to be held back, even though he deserves better and should be getting to do better things.
Winner: English(via That’s a Wrap) **3/4
Match 1 – Smackdown Tag Title Match: The New Day vs. The Usos (c)
Very good opener between these two, had a big finishing stretching with some good dramatic nearfalls. Woods actually hit his coast to coast elbow drop for the finish and it actually looked pretty cool compared to other times he’d done it and its looked naff. Overall it was a very fun match and good way to start the actual show.
Winners: New Day(Coast to coast elbow drop) ***3/4
Match 2 – Baron Corbin vs. Shinsuke Nakamura
Good match with a bit of an anticlimactic finish. Corbin gets some control early on, then Nakamura comes back and it gets more back and forth until Nakamura goes for the inverted exploder and Corbin low blows him to get DQ’ed. I mean Corbin’s a heel so the finish made sense, it was still a little naff. Match wasn’t the best of paced but I still think they worked it well and delivered an enjoyable match.
Winner: Nakamura(via DQ) ***
Match 3 – Smackdown Womens Title 5 way elimination No.1 Contenders Match: Natalya vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina vs. Lana vs. Charlotte
Decent little match between these two, bit of a mixed bag in terms of action, there’s a portion where Lana and Tamina have control of Charlotte which as you can imagine wasn’t the best at all. Feel like they rushed through the eliminations and should have spread them out a little more and would have liked to have seen Charlotte & Natalya go a little longer as the final two, but the match was fine overall.
Winner: Natalya(via schoolboy roll into bottom turnbuckle) **3/4
Match 4 – US Title Match: AJ Styles (c) vs. Kevin Owens
This was a very good match, but what the fuck was that finish?!. So Owens stops Styles doing the Style Clash by throwing him at the ref and taking them out, they then start exchanging submissions as the ref slowly starts recovering. Styles finally gets Owens in a crossface and Owens rolls him up in the pin, Styles just stays in the position as the ref slowly comes around makes the 3 count to give Owens the win and the belt. The execution of it was completely off, don’t think that was meant to be finish at all. Rest of the match was very enjoyable and well done with some fun exchanges and action.
Winner: Owens (via rollup) ***1/2
Match 5 – Flag Match: Rusev vs. John Cena
Stupid gimmick aside, this was actually quite a good match that exceeded expectations, they pulled out some big moves, had a big end table spot and did well with their time. Crowd were also quite into it too which helped alot. Not the quickest paced of matches but it was enjoyable and had a few laughable moments, for match that I had no care about this was solid stuff.
Winner: John Cena ***1/4
-They have the Fashion X-Files segment and Ascension to try to say it was them the whole time but Breezango know that it’s not the case and tell them to go. Things then go dark and Breezango get attacked with Fandango getting pulled off screen. To be continued. fun stuff as usual but unfortunate that the pay off is delayed.
Match 6 – Sami Zayn vs. Mike Kanellis
Perfectly fine match, nothing special, pretty much sums up Mike Kanellis. I have nothing more to say.
Winner: Zayn (via Helluva Kick) **3/4
Main Event – WWE Title Punjabi Prison Match: Jinder Mahal (c) vs. Randy Orton
Well this was pretty good, certainly lengthy but worked well enough. Crowds interest seemed to be in and out while they were in the first cage, but once they were outside of it crowd appeared much more lively, to be fair though it looked like they had a horrible view with all the mesh of bamboo in the way. Of course the Singh Brothers got involved and the one took a big bump of the outer cage through the announce table which was fun and then Great Khali made a surprise return to helped Jinder retain his title. Match was too long and their previous match was better, but this was still quite enjoyable overall.
Winner: Jinder Mahal ***
Well that’s probably the weakest PPV of year. It wasn’t bad and I did enjoy, but it was just lackluster with a few odd finishes. Tag match was definitely the best match, everything else had it’s moments but was mostly just fine. Lets hope they can improve things in time for Summerslam.
blazin' hart Reviews 