WWE got 2017 off to a hot in-ring start with January, then had a pretty good February. March 2017 took a bit to get going, what with a so-so Fastlane PPV and focus on Mania build over in-ring matches, but the back half of the month closed things strong to the point where this ended up a good in-ring month too.
1. SmackDown Tag Team Title: American Alpha [c] vs. The Usos (SmackDown 3/21/17)
Tag team wrestling, man… at its’ peak it is one of the finest things professional wrestling offers. This was like 10 minutes long and everything had a purpose, up to and including balls out finish. Alpha out-wrestling Usos, a great cut-off, big bumps by face-in-peril Gable, Jordan doing apron work, crowd going crazy for hot tag teases… all good stuff. And then that FINISH. Liked how compact it was – they only had a few minutes with it but everything escalated perfectly – small near fall, counter to setup a bigger near fall, then a massive near fall with Jordan getting pulled to the outside that made the crowd legitimately gasp. A moonsault from the top to the floor by Gable was the cherry on top.
2. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman (Fastlane 3/5/17)
MONSTERS. THESE ARE MONSTERS. AND THEY ARE WRESTLING EACH OTHER!!! A star-making performance by Braun Strowman and a reliably great performance by Roman Reigns. Braun had all the big spots, big bumps, hit everything with gusto, and at the end he went to the top rope! Roman meanwhile sells everything like he’s been in a car crash, and his reaction to the spear kickout really put this over the top for me. Awesome finish too – two Superman punches have Braun on the ropes, they do some rope-running that you think will be a spear but BOOM Braun takes Roman out. Then Braun tries the top rope splash, misses, and goes down to a spear. So good.
3. Akira Tozawa vs. Brian Kendrick (205 Live 3/28/17)
Where did this come from!? Tozawa might be the most fun guy to watch in wrestling right now – he’s developed a ton of signature moves in his squashes the last few months, and starts this out by just BOOTING KENDRICK IN THE FACE and hitting all of them with a ton of intensity. After he does that this match becomes a gritty war, with Kendrick desperately trying to apply the Captain’s Hook and both guys just fighting and fighting for control – elbowing, slapping, whatever they can do. Tozawa hits a pump kick towards the end here that’s worth $9.99 by itself.
4. Roman Reigns vs. Jinder Mahal (RAW 3/13/17)
Fuck it – this is the greatest 2-minute match of all time. Roman and Jinder duke it out for 30 seconds in front of a hot crowd, Undertaker’s music hits to distract Roman, Jinder gets a BIG near fall, and Roman finishes it off with not a finisher but a signature move. Reigns is a special performer – his wobbles in between Mahal’s elbows early on, his aggression taking it to Jinder with the corner lariats. I know he has the spoon-fed push and gets booed, but nobody on the roster outside of Cena could have a crowd buzzing so much for THIS match.
5. Mustafa Ali vs. Neville (205 Live 3/21/17)
This has so much good stuff to it, even if it’s got a little feel of that 205 Live apathy. The early stuff wasn’t your usual hold-trading and wristlocking but worked around Neville being cocky and Ali being all fired up ready to prove himself. Then they take it to another level with big bumps by both guys and some glorious high spots. Neville is SO good right now – crisp, intense, making his opponents look great, and little subtle things that make me like him all the more. Check out his massive bump on Ali’s tilt-a-whirl DDT, or him aggressively shaking his fingers to make sure he wasn’t paralyzed after Ali’s springboard Spanish Fly. Ali was a mad man here too, great stuff.
6. Oney Lorcan vs. Andrade “Cien” Almas (NXT 3/22/17)
These two have the weirdest chemistry where they just hit each other really hard and will you into caring despite having no real reason to. They’ve had 2 matches under 10 minutes in the last few months that were really good, this went like 15 and was awesome. Highlights were Oney taking a powerslam off the stairs, Oney’s crazy-ass somersault plancha, Almas’ handspring double pele, the intensity on all of Oney’s running back elbows, and that last boot by Oney and the BIG lariat by Almas. Just a wild crazy blast of a match.
7. Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe (RAW 3/20/17)
Zayn and Joe are two guys who complement each other well and weirdly seem tailor made for good TV matches together if not epic PPV matches. Signature spots strung together, comeback, character… this hit all the right notes. This has a strong lengthy beatdown by Joe, with everything flowing well and delivered with seething disgust. Zayn as per usual sells his ass off – loved his sell of the seated chop to the back by just grabbing his mouth like “OH FUCK.”
8. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Neville [c] vs. Jack Gallagher (Fastlane 3/5/17)
A match that made me think, THIS is what the cruiserweights can be. You don’t want it to be all flying? Then let these two lads tear it up. I wasn’t into the first half of this but MAN did this close strong. Neville and Gallagher had to WORK to get the crowd into this and it was all the more impressive when they actually did. Jack took some wild bumps to get the folks popping and Neville having to pull out the Red Arrow was icing on the cake.
9. Luke Harper vs. Bray Wyatt (SmackDown 3/28/17)
Really liked this match – it was the brawl between these two former brothers turned rivals shouldhave been, and had a ton of great spots that kept the crowd popping. Harper was just a beast here, and I really liked that after he hit a tope to the outside he quickly tried to roll Bray back in for the pin, because he must beat his leader. Loved the finish as well, as Bray just STARED at Harper as if it was some kind of signature move and finished him with Sister Abigail.
10. Sami Zayn vs. Samoa Joe (Fastlane 3/5/17)
This was a 10-minute squash that had enough cool stuff to keep it interesting. Zayn as per usual sold and bumped his heart out, and he took the corner uranage as good as anybody. A solid match brought up another notch by being a great way to establish Samoa Joe on the main roster.
11. No DQ Match – If Zayn Wins, He Enters the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal, If Zayn Loses, He’s Fired: Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens (RAW 3/27/17)
Zayn and Owens can do a good No DQ match in their sleep a this point. Great brawling, big crazy spots, and they used all their signature moves well – setting them up and shifting momentum at all the right moments. Fun sports entertainment bullshit finish too, a fine way to spend some TV time.
12. WWE World Title #1 Contender Match: Randy Orton vs. AJ Styles (SmackDown 3/7/17)
In the grand scheme of things a very disappointing match, but these two – especially AJ – can just shit out a good main event at this point. It had some real cool stuff: Orton looking like a beast hitting the Exploder, AJ’s springboard fake-out on the RKO, and finally the springboard 450 leading into the pop-up RKO finish. Got pretty buck wild for the last couple minutes too.
13. Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman (RAW 3/20/17)
Great TV match – these guys have great chemistry where every time they square off it feels like a big deal. Lots of nice power spots and laid out really well, with everything flowing logically into the next thing and it all making sense. Braun’s a monster who bumps when necessary, while Reigns sells his ass off and knows when to turn it up. Epic struggle by Reigns for a Samoan drop on Braun towards the end here too. Quality stuff.
14. WWE Cruiserweight Title: Neville [c] vs. Rich Swann (RAW 3/6/17)
Way too cut up by commercials but this match had some great fast-paced moves and a beautiful somersault plancha by Swann early, followed by a tremendous finish that brought things home really hot.
15. NXT Tag Team Title: The Authors of Pain [c] w/ Paul Ellering vs. #DIY (NXT 3/1/17)
A good first half to a strong Authors of Pain/#DIY match. Enjoyed Ciampa being all fired up and the twist with him taking the beatdown as opposed to Gargano. Johnny’s tope was sweet and they were headed towards a fun finale before Revival got involved.
16. Gentleman Jack Gallagher vs. Neville (RAW 3/27/17)
An ideal squash match, with Gallagher doing all his shtick followed by Neville just wrecking him. Liked this a lot.
17. NXT Title: Bobby Roode [c] vs. Kassius Ohno (NXT 3/15/17)
A match ranking high moreso because it was given the chance to be a main event title match more than anything else. Like, this was pretty good, but just that. Liked bits and pieces – Ohno out-wrestling Roode early and throwing some great strikes especially. Roode’s beatdown on Ohno was a pretty big slog though.
18. RAW Tag Team Title: Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson [c] vs. Enzo & Big Cass (Fastlane 3/5/17)
High-endish Enzo & Cass tag, though the beatdown by Gallows & Anderson made me kind of sleepy. Enzo took some wild bumps and Cass’ big boot spot remains the best. Totally bought the Enzo & Cass win teases towards the end too.
19. Randy Orton vs. Baron Corbin (SmackDown 3/21/17)
A reliable Randy Orton TV match with a fired up opponent. Hope to see this with some more shine on it in the future.
20. NXT Women’s Title: Asuka [c] vs. Peyton Royce w/ Billie Kay (NXT 3/1/17)
Peyton can work an arm OK and has a nice spin kick, so Asuka worked her shtick around that and it ended up pretty damn good. Lots of nice counters towards the end, best Peyton’s looked on TV yet.
21. WWE Cruiserweight Title #1 Contender Fatal 5-Way Elimination Match: Austin Aries vs. TJ Perkins vs. Akira Tozawa vs. Brian Kendrick vs. Tony Nese (205 Live 3/14/17)
This was a solid if not somewhat uninteresting 5-way elimination match – had some good action, neat exchanges, but never really felt like it peaked. Lots of little highlights though… Aries vs. TJ, Tozawa’s bullet tope, Aries’ bump from the top to the floor, Nese driving Aries through the barricade, and Aries’ sell of the Bully choke.
22. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya (SmackDown 3/14/17)
One of those SmackDown TV matches that isn’t like, GREAT, but it got the point across and at the end of the day that’s the entire damn point. Becky’s all fired up, Natalya’s talking shit, Becky’s selling, Becky gets a comeback and wins – boom. The top-rope Disarmer roll-through was SWEET!
23. American Alpha, Rhyno & Heath Slater and Mojo Rawley vs. Dolph Ziggler, The Usos & Breezango (SmackDown 3/28/17)
Pretty standard WWE midcarder multi-man tag but they do these things really well. Crowd was going wild towards the finish, especially for the GORE!!!
24. Mustafa Ali, Gran Metalik & Lince Dorado vs. Tony Nese, Drew Gulak & Ariya Daivari (Main Event 3/29/17)
This is just 5-minutes long but they packed in a lot – Metalik has a fun run on Nese, Ali takes some big bumps, and they wrap it up real nice. A rare gem from Main Event.
25. Asuka vs. Priscilla Zuniga (NXT 3/22/17)
“Ember Moon, this is your head” – KICK!!!
Honorable Mentions: Loser Leaves NXT: Kassius Ohno vs. “The Drifter” Elias Samson (NXT 3/29/17), Bayley & Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte & Nia Jax (RAW 3/27/17), Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak (205 Live 3/15/17), If Nia Jax Wins, She Enters the RAW Women’s Title Match at WrestleMania – No DQ Match: Bayley vs. Nia Jax (RAW 3/20/17), Triple Threat Match: Johnny Gargano w/ Tommaso Ciampa vs. Akam w/ Rezar and Paul Ellering vs. Dash Wilder w/ Scott Dawson (NXT 3/29/17), Heavy Machinery vs. John Ortagun & Mike Marshall (NXT 3/29/17), Mickie James vs. Alexa Bliss (SmackDown 3/15/17), Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens (RAW 3/6/17), Akira Tozawa vs. Bryan Kendrick (Arik Cannon) (205 Live 3/7/17), John Cena w/ Nikki Bella vs. Fandango w/ Breezy Bella (Tyler Breeze) (SmackDown 3/21/17), Austin Aries vs. Noam Dar w/ Alicia Fox (RAW 3/27/17), Shinsuke Nakamura vs. TJ Perkins (NXT 3/8/17)
