It all comes down to this – will Cody finish his story?
Seth Rollins (c) vs. Drew McIntyre for the WWE World Heavyweight Championship
Really terrific opener. Seth is banged up after his recent knee injury and the added complication of his Rock/Roman feud so he’s wrestles like a wounded animal here. They start fast. Drew nailing a Claymore for an immediate near fall was great and there was a desperation from both men (Drew to kill the champ and Seth to survive). Rollins didn’t really get any consistent offense in this at all so took a beating to his knee and just exploded with desperate finishers when he could. Punk was on commentary and did a great job of pushing the Drew feud while not taking away from the match too much. They did go a little finisher heavy at tims, but when it makes logical sense in the story, I don’t mind. Seth kicks out of like four Claymores and Drew looks ready to explode, but in a great bit of character progress, he settled himself and delivered one final finisher to win the championship. Another great match in this series between the two and good callbacks throughout. Seth showing emotion at losing the belt while also giving Drew his props after was perfect as well. ****1/4
Drew had a staredown with Punk and promised to end his career if he comes back before crotch-chopping in his face so Punk ATTACKED HIM with his arm brace! HERE COMES DAMIAN PRIEST! He nails McIntyre with the briefcase and cashes in NOW!
Drew McIntyre (c) vs. Damian Priest for the WWE World Heavyweight Champion
SOUTH OF HEAVEN! 1. 2. 3! PRIEST IS FUCKING WORLD CHAMPION. WHAT THE FUCK. PUNK HAS COST DREW HIS MOMENT! NR
Bobby Lashley and the Street Profits (Montez Ford and Angelo Dawkins) vs. The Final Testament (Karrion Kross, Akam and Rezar)
Snoop Dogg is on commentary for this because I guess he knows all about Philadelphia Street Fights or something. Bubba Ray Dudley is also special guest referee too. This was quite sloppy and chaotic, but kind of fits the gimmick so it’s fine. The highlight was Ford taking out AOP with a running dive out of the ring over the top turnbuckle. Kross threatened Bubba and got laid out by a spear from Lashley and Bubba calling the shots as Kross gets hit with a Dudley-esque headbutt to to the groin. GET THE TABLES STREET PROFITS! Comically, the table broke awkwardly so they had to get another one for Ford to hit a big frogsplash on Kross through it for the win. **1/4
AJ Styles vs. LA Knight
AJ has new theme music which makes me a little sad as his old theme was a TUNE. It’s quite a fast-paced brawling style from both men and Knight even busts out a springboard DDT in a nice moment. He then brings out an Avalanche German suplex and I’m wondering where the fuck this LA Knight has been. Knight wanted to hit a powerbomb on exposed concrete on the outside but Styles countered with the backdrop and they teased a count-out by the match continued. A solid finishing run saw Knight continually counter Styles’ big stuff and hit a BFT to win. A little out-of-nowhere was that ending but I liked how decisive Knight won to put him over. ***1/4
Logan Paul (c) vs. Randy Orton vs. Kevin Owens for the WWE United States Championship
Orton and KO start this as a team and anything Logan tries to do to split them fails. That’s until Orton tries to RKO Owens and we get a traditional triple threat from there. A nice spot saw Paul stumble on a Buckshot so Orton nailed his perfect powerslam and teased an RKO but it was too early. Owens pulled out a nice back senton/codebreaker combo and there were a few lovely pieces of multi-opponent offense. Logan got a great near fall from a brass knucks shot but an RKO is never far away of course. Orton went for a PUNT but FUCKING iShowSpeed in the Prime bottle pulled Logan away. THE FUCK IS HE DOING HERE. He barks at Orton, spewing out a bunch of fucks etc but Orton barks back and RKOs him through a table. That was WILD. A really nice finishing run here. Owens goes for a Pop-Up Powerbomb on Orton that’s countered really nicely into an RKO, but Logan pushes Orton out and nails Owens with a frogsplash to retain. Nice stuff and fun match. ***1/2
Iyo Sky (c) vs. Bayley for the WWE Women’s Championship
Bayley not bringing back the wacky inflatable guys is a BOO from me. A simple story going in here: Iyo wants to prove Damage CTRL never needed Bayley and Bayley wants to prove that she’s good enough on her own. It started pretty slow but really kicked into gear when Bayley come out of dive to the outside and started selling a knee injury. Iyo went after the knee in quite unique ways (lots of tree of woe stuff and kicks to the knee that were quite vicious) but Bayley managed to use her experience to wrestle back into it while protecting her injury. It turned into a counter game which is smart as they’ve wrestled alongside each other for over a year so they know each other’s game. Iyo’s Over The Moonsault? Avoided. Bayley’s Rose Plant finisher? Blocked. Tat played into a really nice finish too as a terrific counter sequence saw Bayley fight around Iyo’s resistance before coming back to the Rose Plant to win the title. Very good match with lots of in-ring story to tuck into. I reckon they probably have a better match in them with a more focused, and over story. ****
Roman Reigns (c) vs. Cody Rhodes for the WWE Undisputed Universal Championships
Well, here we go. This had SO many layered story beats in so I’ll try to hit them all. The opening minutes were all about confidence with Roman (rightfully) thinking he’s unstoppable while Cody knew he had to hang in there. Reigns busted out a Perfectplex which is fucking great. It turned into a really awesome brawl and Cody takes slightly too long getting the announce table set up leading to Reigns hitting a low blow and powerbombing him through it in a nice ‘champion quickly takes his shot’ moment. Everyone expected interference but it came in stages. Cody tried to hit a triple Cross Rhodes combo but it’s cut off after two by Jimmy Uso who is quickly taken out by his brother Jey (a nasty spear off the stage followed for them). Plan B for Reigns is Solo Sikoa but Cody kicks out of an awesome Samoan Spike/Spear combo in a big near fall. Cue JOHN CENA to take out Solo (and they do have history so it worked) but now, the Rock came out and he’s pissed. He stares Cena down and lays him out with the Rock Bottom. It’s now back to Reigns and Rock v Cody but wait, SIERRA HOTEL INDIA ECHO DELTA. SHIELD! Somehow, they convinced me for a moment that Mox was back until my brain started working again. It’s Rollins in Shield gear with a chair and Roman immediately cuts him with a spear because he knows Rollins by now and won’t be fooled and betrayed like 2014 again (remember that). GONG. THE FUCK?! It’s Undertaker (in biker gear) to chokeslam Rock and take out the Final Boss. As Cody gets back to his feet, Roman has the chair and looks set to take out Rhodes and retain but then he makes his vital mistake. He sees Rollins also getting up (with his back to Reigns like in June 2014) and Roman’s emotion takes over. He gets revenge for the moment the Shield broke up, the moment that has haunted Reigns emotionally ever since. He destroyed Rollins with the chair BUT THAT WAS SETH’S PLAN! Cody took advantage to finally hit the trio of Cross Rhodes for the 1, 2, 3! FUCK YEAH HE DID IT. Cody Rhodes has done it! The right winner. An awesome story that rewarded casual fans (Rock, Taker), regular fans (Usos, Cena v Solo) and longtime fans (Reigns, Rollins, Shield). Absolutely brilliant booking *****
DI Wrestling Reviews 