May 10th, 2020
Orlando, FL ///// Hartford, CT
What an interesting night we are in for. The two ladder matches are gonna be held in WWE's corporate office in Connecticut as the superstars will have to climb each floor and get to the roof where there will be a ring, ladders and the briefcases.
1) The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) (c) vs. Lucha House Party (Gran Metallik & Lince Dorado) vs. John Morrison & The Miz vs. The Forgotten Sons - WWE Tag Team Title Match
Absolute barnburner to kick off the show. The New Day are the greatest team of the modern era so should we be surprised? Lots of action and spots. Some good near falls/teases that made you think this could go either way at any given moment. The Smackdown tag division hasn't slowed down or failed to deliver one bit amidst this crisis that has forced all shows to be held in an empty arena. New Day retains when all is said and done.
Match rating - ***3/4
2) R-Truth vs. Bobby Lashley
Truth was supposed to be facing MVP, but he gets squashed by Lashley instead.
Match rating - *
3) Bayley (c) (w/ Sasha Banks) vs. Tamina - Smackdown Women's Title Match
This wasn't as rough as I expected. Tamina managed to somewhat hang with Bayley, at least in my opinion. It still wasn't much, but good effort from both. Bayley retains.
Match rating - **
4) Braun Strowman (c) vs. Bray Wyatt - WWE Universal Title Match
Alright so anyone who knows me knows I have no real good feelings towards either of these two. But I will say this, Bray has won me over a good bit this year. Between the awesome match with Daniel Bryan at Royal Rumble and the fun house spectacle with Cena, Wyatt and his booking has been far from bad in 2020. I can't say the same for Braun who I've grown sick of. The story here is sorta cool though, given the history with Strowman being in the Wyatt Family in the past which I forgot about. The action here is good and they kept me interested the whole time. Strowman teasing becoming the black sheep again was cool also. So hell yeah. Harmless and pretty solid match here. Strowman retains unfortunately and that's the worst thing about it imo. I'd be so down for a Wyatt/Fiend title run at this point and that is something I never thought I would say.
Match rating - **3/4
5) Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Seth Rollins - WWE Championship Match
Fuck yeah, this was sick. To me, Drew & Rollins both work a similar style when it comes to big matches and they clicked super well with it here and hit a home run. I wish this would've had a crowd because it was so well worked. Rollins debuted new theme music that I didn't really care for, but that was the last thing on my mind when this match was over. Awesome back and forth contest with Drew slinging Rollins inside out across the ring with a release german off the ropes. Lots of cool moments here and big exchanges. Drew kicks out of the curbstomp and manages to hit the claymour kick finally and put Rollins down for the count to retain the title in his first defense. This was so much better than I ever expected it to be and picked up heavy down the stretch. Rollins reluctantly shakes McIntyre's hand post match as the champion thanks him. Who's next for McIntyre? I really hope it's Jinder.
Match rating - ****
6) Money in the Bank Ladder Matches
Daniel Bryan vs. AJ Styles vs. Rey Mysterio vs. Aleister Black vs. Baron Corbin vs. Otis - Men's MITB Match
Asuka vs. Carmella vs. Dana Brooke vs. Nia Jax vs. Lacey Evans vs. Shayna Baszler - Women's MITB Match
Well. These matches happened. Simultaneously. It was entertaining, but also a little more on the side of 'what the fuck is going on here' type stuff. Funny moments like AJ & Bryan getting kicked out of Vince's office, Paul Heyman eating and both the men & women ruining that by starting a food fight, and my favorite moment - Corbin's trash talking to AJ Styles as he entered. On the women's side, Asuka really shined here yet again. From the jump she was the star as she was hiding on a platform as all the other women lined up during the introductions and dove down onto them and made a run for the elevators. This was something to behold and I didn't really like it as much as the Boneyard match or even Firefly Fun House, but it happened. The winners of each match were pretty shocking. SUPER happy for Asuka, no one deserves it more considering the effort she's been putting in lately. Otis is an interesting call. The mark/fantasy booker in me wanted AJ Styles to win, but I can't complain about a wildcard choice, I just can't help but feel Otis will be an afterthought in two years.
Final thoughts: Over by 9:30, a great WWE Title match, a spotty tag title opener, and an interesting main event held in WWE Headquarters. I can't complain about much about this show although there's only one thing on it I'll watch again, I'm sure the two main events will be talked about forever as it will probably never happen again so I'd say this is worth a look. Curious to see what's next for everyone with Backlash coming up on June 14th! STOKED to see Backlash being a thing again.
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