This show could be literally anything, depending on how it is treated. I hope that we get a couple of great matches.
Smackdown Tag Titles - New Day vs The Bar
This was a fun way to kick off the show, even if it felt like they never hit top gear. Any time the New Day go with a Big E-less team it is immediately slightly less great in my mind. ***
Smackdown Women's Title - Becky Lynch vs Charlotte Flair
Why does WWE always use the picture of Charlotte that looks like a wax model for their promo shots? As is customary, Charlotte gets booed because Becky is awesome. This match was as fun as you would expect, right up until the super cheap finish. ***
John Cena & Bobby Lashley vs Kevin Owens & Elias
Elias plays a short rendition of Thunderstruck, which is nice. This might be the most obvious outcome of any match this year. Cena is out in his new gimmick, Mark Wahlberg impersonator. The majority of this match was Lashley doing the work for his team, and it was fine. Cena got the tag and won in short order with the new 6th Move of Doom, a punch. **
Asuka & Naomi vs The Iiconics
This was pretty dumb. I don't really get where they are going with the Asuka/Naomi team, especially as they lost here. The match was immediately forgettable. *1/2
WWE Title, No DQ - AJ Styles vs Samoa Joe
Always nice to have what should be your company's top title in the middle of the card. Luckily the match was really good. Both men worked their tails off for this and they told a good story that had callbacks to their earlier stuff and ended their current story well. They sold the hatred effectively by working the match at a more deliberate pace and it worked for the situation. ****
Ronda Rousey & The Bella Twins vs Riott Squad
Once again, I have no real idea what the upside is to pairing Rousey with the Bellas. It was a match. Rousey tapped out two women simultaneously. **
Cruiserweight Title - Cedric Alexander vs Buddy Murphy
This is a home town game for Murphy. This was the match I was looking forward to the most. Murphy has been a revelation this year, having great matches on a regular basis. This was another one. They were only given 10 minutes here but they used every second of it. While it wasn't the best match these two have had, it was still a joy to watch, and Murphy winning the title is a wonderful thing. ****1/4
The Shield vs Braun Strowman, Dolph Ziggler & Drew McIntyre
The Shield come out cosplaying as Noob Saibot. This was a fun brawl that teased the Ambrose heel turn well without resorting to it. It wasn't anything I'll remember in the future but it's worth a watch. ***1/2
Daniel Bryan vs The Miz
The promo package lasted longer than the match. I'm glad we are gonna get Styles vs Bryan for the title but this seems like a waste. NR
No DQ - Undertaker vs Triple H
Have you ever been to the pub and seen two old guys having a scrap? They try to put a fight on but they keep falling over each other. This was that but someone decided it needed to last nearly 30 minutes. This was an absolute shit show and it is a shame to see these men reduced to this. Do yourself a favour and don't bother with this. DUD
Overall Grade - C+
While there were a couple of matches in the middle of the show that pulled the overall quality up, you can't escape the fact that this felt like a glorified house show. Probably because it was. That main event was atrocious too. The only thing of note from it is that I have realised that bald Shawn Michaels somewhat resembles Nick Gage and that is hilarious to me.
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