Last night’s PPV was filled with some amazing moments, and it proved to be a much better PPV than I was expecting. I didn’t get a chance to watch the preshow match for a few reasons, but I know that Buddy Murphy and Akira Tozawa tore it up. The cruiserweights are all among the best wrestlers on the roster today, yet for some reason, they are almost always relegated to the preshow, and I will never understand it.
The Women’s Tag Team Elimination Chamber match may have started off with a few sloppy moves, but as the match went on all the participants got in their grooves and showed why the women are tearing it up these days. I was surprised at just how well Carmella and Naomi work as a team, even though they haven’t been a team for that long. It really shows how far each wrestler has improved, since coming to the main roster. The Iconic Duo were there usual amazing selves in the ring and showcased some good tag team moves. Sonya Deville and Mandy Rose did well in the match, though Rose did start off with a couple botchy moves, she more than made up for it during the rest of the match. The Riott Squad individually had some good offense but didn’t really seem to come together well on any tag team moves. I will say the same about Nia Jax and Tamina, who honestly felt like the most unprepared tag team, which honestly wasn’t shocking, as I think Tamina could have been more of a versatile wrestler back in the day, but honestly, injuries have kind of slowed her in the ring. When it comes to Nia Jax—look I think for those on the Friendoverse Facebook page, and for those that have read some of my other blogs, you all know that I feel that Nia Jax needs to go back to developmental with her friend, Alexa Bliss. Last night, I just had a bad feeling that creative was going to give the tag belts to Tamina and Nia Jax. If they’d have given the belts to the Iconic Duo or the Riott Squad, I’d have been ok with it, but I am so glad that Sasha and Bayley won those belts. It’s not that the other tag teams didn’t deserve the belts—well most. It’s just the four horsewomen more than many on the women’s roster have carried the banner, and have risen to the occasion time and again. If anyone truly deserves to be the first Women’s Tag Team Champions of the modern era, it’s Bayley and Sasha.
The Smackdown Tag Team Championship was actually not a bad match. The Usos were great in the ring, as usual, and the Miz and Shane did well too. It made the match far better than it had a right to be. I’m actually glad that the Usos won. I really like them, and they are another example of the potential of the Tag Team divisions of both Smackdown and RAW, if given a chance to shine.
The WWE Intercontinental match was ok. Finn Balor did his best in the match and showed why he deserves to be a champion. Even with the WWE’s restraints, he always tries to put on some good matches and succeeds the majority of the time. Though he hasn’t been used well in his current run in the WWE, Bobby Lashley is a very good wrestler and was the last time he was in the WWE. Lio Rush should be in the Cruiserweight championship race, but for some reason creative has him playing ‘Chester’ to Lashley’s “Spike’, and I don’t’ understand why, because Lashley isn’t bad on the mic if given something competent and not stupid to say. My issue was with the stipulations in this match. If Lashley is supposed to be this total badass that can compete with the likes of Lesnar and Riddle, why would he need to have Rush as a handicap on his side against Balor? Even if Finn is supposed to be this crazy strong wrestler in the ring, Lashley should still be up to the challenge. Even if Finn had pinned Bobby, if the match made both wrestlers look strong, fans would have appreciated the feud and the match more. I am glad that Finn won the belt though. I cheered my head off when he won.
The match for the RAW Women’s Championship was nothing but an avenue to continue the Becky, Charlotte, and Ronda feud, and frankly, it was a disservice to Ruby Riott. Ruby is a very competent and fun wrestler to watch in the ring, but honestly, she and the rest of the Riott Squad haven’t been treated very well since making it to the main roster. They have a good gimmick of being the punk rock mistresses of mayhem, but for some reason, creative doesn’t want them to run with it. It’s as if at first they tried it, but then creative changed their minds on it, in favor of allowing the Riott Squad to languish in mid-card purgatory. At least they realize that Ruby was a competent opponent to have in this farce of a match, but man, why a squash match? I did, however, love Rousey’s Sonya Blade inspired gear. She should wear it more often. I also loved when Becky Lynch came out in a reverse ‘Kill Bill’ or ‘Bruce Lee’ looking gear and proceeded to waylay both Charlotte and Ronda on supposedly one leg. Though it did get her heat back, to be honest, if not for the way they fouled up this stupid apology subplot in this feud, last night’s angle wouldn’t have felt like a resurgence. It would have just been a continuation of the awesomeness that is “The Man.”
The DQ match between Baron Corbin and Braun Strowman was the “pee break” match of this PPV. It really had no other purpose, because no one wanted to see this match. I personally am tired of seeing Strowman vs Corbin, Corbin getting squashed, Strowman getting squashed. It’s a feud that I have no interest in at all, and I think most wrestling fans feel the same way. Frankly, I think maybe creative needs to look into having a comedy match for the “pee bread” match instead. The audience would find it fun and have a good time watching it, and so would fans at home, and also fans wouldn’t feel like their time was wasted. This match was so boring, and it wasn’t because of Strowman. I honestly don’t like Corbin at all now. He went from being a badass, wannabe monster heel that I, as a fan wanted to see in a feud with Strowman; to being a mille-mouthed whiny heel with flourishes of his former wannabe ways overshadowed by his partnership with McIntyre and Lashley. That sucks frankly and almost makes him unbelievable in his words on the mic and unwatchable in the ring. Honestly, I paid little to no attention to this match, because I knew that McIntyre and Lashley were going to interfere. It’s their MO recently, so I didn’t expect much else.
Kofi Kingston has always been an amazing wrestler. He has always seemed to me to be a man and wrestler almost ahead of his time, or maybe one of the wrestlers in the forefront of the high-flyer resurgence within the WWE with wrestlers like Matt Sydal, John Morrison (or whatever he’s calling himself nowadays) among others. He has always been a top-shelf wrestler, having held the Tag belts multiple times with the New Day and as apart of the tag team Air Boom with Matt Sydal (known as Evan Bourne in the WWE), and as well as holding the United States and Intercontinental belt during his tenure in the WWE.
Last night, during the Elimination Chamber match for the WWE Championship, I really was rooting for Kofi. Although all of the participants were good in the ring and during the match, I really wanted Kofi to win and finally get his first, well-deserved reign as the WWE Champion. When he lost last night, it just sucked the wind out of those in the audience, as well as us at home. I mean I pretty much figured Bryan was going to win, but man did I want Kofi to win, and I wasn’t alone. There are calls on the wrestling interwebs for Kofi to get a title shot against Bryan for the WWE Championship at WrestleMania and I, for one champion that rally cry. Man, if anyone deserves a shot, it’s him. Hell, it wouldn’t bother me if it was a triple threat between Kofi, Ali, and Bryan, for the title, and I am actually past tired of the triple threat stipulation because for at least the past nine months it’s been used way too much.
What do you think? Leave a comment.
