1) Dolph Ziggler vs. Christian vs. Sheamus vs. Alberto Del Rio - #1 Cont. Match for the IC Title
Fatal Four Way matches don't happen that often in WWE anymore, so this was sure to be a treat. These four guys put everything they had into this match and it showed. The crowd was hot throughout the whole match and made it feel super important. That helped the match a lot. Beyond the crowd, the action was great. Ziggler & Del Rio put on an outstanding match on Smackdown a few weeks back as did Sheamus and Christian so when you put all four of them together, it's no surprise that it would be as outstanding as this was. This match led the New York crowd to chant "This is Awesome!" That's all that needs to be said. Great match.
Match rating - 8/10
2) Damien Sandow vs. Sin Cara
After one hell of an opening match, the silliness begins as Scooby Doo arrives with Sin Cara. This segment gets even more dumb as Sin Cara beats Sandow in less than three minutes.
Both men are capable of so much more than this. Especially Sandow - he was challenging Cena for the World Heavyweight Title just a few months ago, now he's jobbing to Sin Cara. These are the type of things that frustrate me when it comes to WWE. Talent gone to waste.
3) Ryback & Curtis Axel vs. Los Matadores
Another quick match here, but I can't argue with it because it was done for storyline purposes. The Shield distracted Ryback and Axel because they beat them up last week on Smackdown. Los Matadores get the victory and The Shield triple powerbombed Ryback.
Instead of interviewing Triple H on WWE's website, Michael Cole conducted his weekly interview in the ring this week. Triple H once again did a phenomenal job by delivering an outstanding heel promo. He talked about people tweeting him about how much they disliked what was going on and such. The build towards Bryan/HHH has been great.
4) The Big Show vs. Titus O'Neil
Well, for the second time in a week - The Big Show defeats Titus O'Neil. I don't understand the logic of this at all. You separate Titus from Darren only to have him job to Big Show and Sheamus. O'Neil is loaded with charisma and talent. He has all the tools to succeed. What would it have hurt to give him the win? After all he's already beaten him once last week.
5) John Cena vs. Luke Harper
I was really excited for this match. Harper is very underrated, but he really came out and showed what he is made of here. The crowd chanted "Let's go Harper" heavily throughout the match and that added a lot to the bout. Cena and Harper went back and forth in a solid match that showed that Harper is main event worthy. Impressive performance from Harper here. The match ended in a no contest, but that didn't take away from how good it was. What happened after the match was amazing as the lights went out and when they came back on, Cena was wearing Rowan's mask while being tied up in the ropes. Bray then posed behind him and yelled "Follow the Buzzards!" Phenomenal stuff all around. From the match to the closing segment.
6) Naomi vs. AJ Lee
This match ended in a countout as AJ walked off from the ring. She was met at the ramp by Vickie Guerrero who announced huge gauntlet/invitational for the Divas Championship at WrestleMania. This segment did it's job of making progress towards Mania by announcing that match. So in that department, it was success. My only complaint is that Eva Marie is in it. Why?!
7) Dean Ambrose & Seth Rollins vs. Jack Swagger & Cesaro
The Shield are known for stealing the show and The Real Americans have been putting in strong performances as of late so this was a recipe for greatness. The crowd was hot for both teams and the action was intense. Rollins once again was the standout here as he did numerous impressive dives and maneuvers. Ambrose continued to play his character perfectly as Cesaro would slap him repeatedly, but he kept coming back for more which was awesome to watch. Just a wonderful match between two unbelievably talented teams. The ending saw The Shield give Cesaro a vicious beatdown. Reigns speared him then they triple powerbombed him through a table. Safe to say, this match and segment along with Cena and Wyatt's stole the show.
Match rating - 8/10
The closing segment featured Brock Lesnar and The Undertaker. Going into this I wasn't excited about the match whatsoever and unfortunately that remained the same. In my opinion, WWE needed to do something to make people think Lesnar could break the streak. Instead we saw Taker make Lesnar run off once again. The stuff with Taker appearing in the casket was cool, but aside from that this segment was anything special. It was enjoyable none the less, I just didn't feel like it accomplish what it needed to accomplish.
Overall thoughts: The Shield & The Real Americans along with The Wyatt Family & John Cena stole the show. They delivered the best matches and segments of the night. Although I can't fail to mention the outstanding fatal four way that opened the show as well as Triple H's great promo during his interview with Cole. The only negatives were the talent that got wasted tonight in the form of Damien Sandow and Titus O'Neil. Those are minor things though. The top few matches at Mania continue to be built perfectly and the rest of the card is shaping up well. Solid show overall with several outstanding moments and matches.
No comments:
Post a Comment