A weird month. A down period for WWE outside of the last week or so, and no real stand-out MOTY type match. But some great TV work from Roman Reigns, fun multi-person gimmick matches, a couple Oney Lorcan shoot fights, and a lot of random TV matches made it all worth it.
1. Roman Reigns vs. Bray Wyatt (RAW 6/5/17)
Physical, heated professional wrestling with a hot crowd and incredible last five minutes, peaking with Roman Reigns just repeatedly throwing headbutts at Bray Wyatt. Roman has quietly become the best wrestler in the world. Positioning is key, but no match on any WWE card has consistently as much heat and physicality as what he is doing right now. He’s a great big match wrestler (unless he’s wrestling Taker..), but he really shines in these random RAW TV matches where he takes a few things from the guy he’s working and plugs it into a hot match with a crowd buzzing the whole time and a crazy-ass finish with great near falls despite the inevitable spear always on its way. Guy sells his ass off too, and he does that here, both little stuff (his eyes rolled in the back of his head off a lariat on the outside!) and just generally looking completely wrecked as he takes a beating.
2. Roman Reigns vs. Samoa Joe (RAW 6/19/17)
Similar to the Wyatt match, with a killer beatdown by Samoa Joe and a distraction finish thanks to Braun Strowman returning in a god damn ambulance. Roman sold his ass off, timed the big near falls well, and these two came up with a lot of fun little wrestling sequences. Loved this one: Uranage attempt by Joe > Reigns armdrags out > Reigns Superman punch for 2 > Reigns tries the spear but Joe blocks it with a kick > Joe finally hits the uranage for a big near fall. Roman hit the spear at one point and Joe got his foot on the rope at 2.9, then rolled outside to sell, which I thought was just incredible. There were plenty of big gimmick matches in June 2017, but Roman’s TV work stood above them all as the most impressive, quality professional wrestling. It was like watching Hulk Hogan on Saturday Night’s Main Event if all the wrestling looked like it actually hurt.
3. If Ambrose is DQ’d, He Loses The Title – WWE Intercontinental Title: Dean Ambrose [c] vs. The Miz w/ Maryse (Extreme Rules 6/4/17)
Perhaps the most classic of professional wrestling matches from WWE this month – 20-minutes of wrestling, built slow, Dean sold his ass off, and they had an AWESOME finish that milked every little thing it could out of the DQ stipulation.
4. Money in the Bank Ladder Match: AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens vs. Dolph Ziggler vs. Baron Corbin (Money in the Bank 6/18/17)
A shot of whisky of a professional wrestling ladder match – went down smooth, made for a fun night, but not quite sure it stood out among all the other ones. Lots of Big Crazy Spots, AJ Styles’ awesome dangle off the briefcase, and the Nakamura return was awesome… but something has to give with WWE and the ladder match. Needed a little more meat to it to be truly awesome, but damn was it fun.
5. Kalisto vs. Apollo Crews w/ Titus O’Neil (Extreme Rules Kickoff 6/4/17)
Kalisto and Apollo Crews have been doing jack for a long time, Apollo especially, but here’s the match that reminds you why once upon a time people were excited about them getting signed. Just two guys KILLING IT. Great, balls out spots that dropped jaws even in 2017, and an all-time great managerial performance by Titus O’Neil, who added to the fun by being an absolute mad man on the outside.
6. Hideo Itami vs. Oney Lorcan (NXT 6/28/17)
This was another Oney Lorcan match unlike anything you ever get to see on WWE TV. It’s really two matches, as they have a 30-second match where Oney goes right after Itami and legitimately BREAKS HIS NOSE, then they restart it later and my god do these two fucking FIGHT. It’s as if Oney Lorcan elbowed the KENTA back into Hideo Itami. Legitimately felt like a fun MMA fight or something, just two guys throwing SHOTS.
8. Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson vs. The Revival (Main Event 6/28/17)
YEAH, I MISSED THE REVIVAL THIS MUCH. This was a legitimately great match hidden away on Main Event. Gallows & Anderson (especially Gallows) play big time babyfaces, while Revival work like they never left. It felt very WCW syndication, just a good solid match with both guys playing their roles, a lot of fun little moments (mostly from Dawson), heels bumping big, and Gallows clearing the ring like he’s Road Warrior Hawk.
7. SmackDown Tag Team Title: The Usos [c] vs. The New Day (Big E & Kofi Kingston) w/ Xavier Woods (Money in the Bank 6/18/17)
A true PPV-quality tag team match – fun spots, solid tag beating, sweet finish with a lot of great near falls… The Usos are having a hell of a run these days at putting together amazing tag finishes.
9. Fatal 5-Way Extreme Rules Universal Title #1 Contender Match: Roman Reigns vs. Seth Rollins vs. Finn Balor vs. Bray Wyatt vs. Samoa Joe (Extreme Rules 6/4/17)
Another WWE multi-man match that was super FUN!!!! and also maybe a little bit empty. Reigns and Balor looked great, Reigns might have had a great mini-match with every single guy in this thing. Really wild finish too. A match that was very good in the moment, just nothing memorable or anything.
10. Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Carmella w/ James Ellsworth vs. Tamina (SmackDown 6/27/17)
A lot like the PPV Money in the Bank match, with a lot better individual moments and payoffs – Carmella teasing the win, the Becky/Charlotte showdown, and everything about the Ellsworth interference was high-quality sports entertainment.
11. Last Woman Standing Match – NXT Women’s Title: Asuka [c] vs. Nikki Cross (NXT 6/28/17)
This was total chaos and the rare WWE Last Man Standing match that didn’t feel like a goofy stunt show, but a legit brawl. Insane bump for the finish, oh man.
12. Hideo Itami vs. Oney Lorcan (NXT 6/7/17)
Oney Lorcan can’t have a bad match because he doesn’t have matches he has FIGHTS. This is no mere wrestling match it is an assault caught on camera. Itami takes shots to the gut, boots to the head, chops to the chest and slaps to the face. Percy Watson also at one point says Itami is wrestling “Kobayashi style.”
13. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Dolph Ziggler (SmackDown 6/20/17)
A fun wrestling match that had minimal bullshit – all grappling, kicks, and knees – this is no time to be some mark pro wrestler. Nakamura sells his little heart out here too.
14. WWE Title: Jinder Mahal [c] w/ The Singh Brothers vs. Randy Orton (Money in the Bank 6/18/17)
Hometown babyface vs. dickhead heel and his henchmen – baby, you’ve got a stew going. Though this does have like eight straight minutes of Jinder Mahal working over Randy Orton’s leg, it also has a hot start and a hot crowd and a hot finish and that’s pretty cool.
15. Gauntlet Match – Winner Faces Alexa Bliss at Great Balls of Fire for RAW Women’s Title: Bayley vs. Nia Jax, Nia Jax vs. Mickie James, Nia Jax vs. Dana Brooke, Nia Jax vs. Emma, Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks (RAW 6/26/17)
This is here for Nia Jax vs. Sasha Banks… all the Nia squashes preceding it were fine, but oh MAN did Nia vs. Sasha have HEAT and cause this whole gauntlet match to end up a pretty compelling 20-minutes. Nia ended everybody in short order, then just wrecked Sasha until Sasha had to resort to just choking her out to finish her. Tremendous.
16. Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Charlotte Flair vs. Becky Lynch vs. Natalya vs. Carmella w/ James Ellsworth vs. Tamina (Money in the Bank 6/18/17)
A solid stunt show helped up a bit by the spectacle of it actually happening. Liked the first quarter of this a lot actually, but then it just kept going and never had a real MOMENT and lost a lot of steam. Still though, it’s a WWE MITB, there’s enough fun stuff to keep ya going.
17. AJ Styles, Shinsuke Nakamura & Sami Zayn vs. Kevin Owens, Dolph Ziggler & Baron Corbin (SmackDown 6/13/17)
WWE doesn’t do a lot of main event 6-mans because there really aren’t that many name guys on each roster. I like it when they do though. This was just everything it had to be … Sami took a beating and played an epic face-in-paril, while everybody at some point got their shit in.
18. Finn Balor & The Hardy Boyz vs. Cesaro, Sheamus & Elias Samson (RAW 6/26/17)
They kept the action moving, crowd popping, hit some fun character and in-ring spots, Josh Duhamel was on commentary. This was good.
19. Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin (SmackDown 6/27/17)
Sami Zayn and Baron Corbin have good chemistry but this is here more than anything for Sami Zayn’s fucking INSANE corner bump. I mean, good solid match, you can see Corbin getting better in real-time, but my god that corner bump.
20. Lince Dorado vs. Neville (RAW 6/26/17)
Lince tries to do some high-flying bullshit, so Neville just kicks his ass and taps him out. Amazing. Perfection.
21. Rich Swann vs. Neville (205 Live 6/20/17)
Most of 205 Live is really treading water, but this is a good match – Neville is a cock, while Swann wrestles like its’ the match of his life. Felt weirdly realistic for a match that had a moonsault in it.
22. The Hype Bros vs. The Colóns (Money in the Bank Kickoff 6/18/17)
Great formula tag, hit every note it needed to. Mojo’s “running in place” spot while Primo chopped him and Zack’s sell of the knee after he hit a neckbreaker are highlights.
23. Steel Cage Match – RAW Tag Team Title: The Hardy Boyz [c] vs. Cesaro & Sheamus (Extreme Rules 6/4/17)
Fun but stupid WWE cage match. The ‘escapes only’ stip took me out of this match more than I would have liked. It’s 2017 god damnit – how am I supposed to buy one brother leaving his own kin alone in a cage with these two monsters all in the hopes of his brother surviving so they can win a fictional championship? It also had some cool shit in it too though.
24. Cedric Alexander vs. Brian Kendrick (Main Event 6/28/17)
A snug-ass match between Cedric and Kendrick, with Kendrick laying his beatdown IN until Cedric just cracks him with an elbow and goes on a run.
25. Mojo Rawley vs. Jinder Mahal w/ The Singh Brothers (SmackDown 6/6/17)
A mid-80s WWE enhancement match, completely basic stuff but everything clicked. Sometimes it’s the simplest match that’s the best match.
Honorable Mentions: Rhyno vs. Kalisto (Main Event 6/21/17), 2/3 Falls – RAW Tag Team Title: Cesaro & Sheamus [c] vs. The Hardy Boyz (RAW 6/12/17), WWE U.S. Title: Kevin Owens [c] vs. Chad Gable (SmackDown 6/20/17), Dean Ambrose vs. Elias Samson (RAW 6/12/17), Naomi vs. Tamina (SmackDown 6/13/17), Kassius Ohno vs. Aleister Black (NXT 6/21/17), Charlotte Flair vs. Natalya (SmackDown 6/13/17), Triple Threat Elimination Match – NXT Women’s Title: Asuka [c] vs. Ruby Riot vs. Nikki Cross (NXT 6/14/17)
Akira Tozawa vs. TJP (205 Live 6/13/17), The New Day (Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods) & Breezango w/ Big E vs. The Usos & The Colóns (SmackDown 6/13/17), Rhyno & Heath Slater vs. The Miz & X (A Bear) w/ Maryse (RAW 6/12/17), Drew McIntyre vs. Rob Ryzin (NXT 6/14/17), Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak (205 Live 6/27/17), Mustafa Ali vs. Drew Gulak (205 Live 6/20/17), Ember Moon vs. Peyton Royce w/ Billie Kay (NXT 6/21/17)
