A lot has been said about what this show means and doesn’t mean. How great it is, how gross it is, something about Saudi Arabia, etc etc. I’m tired. People a lot smarter and cooler than me have said stuff. Also people I am like 99% positive are dumber than me have said stuff too. Sometimes the world is cool and sometimes it is disappointing. I just want to watch some quality women’s wrestling.
The Kickoff Show was a Kickoff Show, though the red carpet felt like the most low rent red carpet possible. Ronda Rousey being all relaxed and making bad Grinch jokes on the red carpet was awesome.
A live performance to kick off the show, a dimly lit crowd – This. Is. NXT?
Loved loved loved the pops on this show being girls screaming their god damn heads off before the rest of the crowd caught up a couple seconds later.
1. Trish Stratus & Lita vs. Mickie James & Alicia Fox w/ Alexa Bliss
The GOD LIKE pop for Trish was AMAZING. This was one of those WWE matches laid out for maximum fun and it was a blast: Trish and Lita got their stuff in for You Still Got It chants, Trish and Mickie had their showdown and Trish hit a Stratusteiner, Alexa Bliss interfered leading to a beatdown on Lita, and Trish got the hot tag and win. The crowd being way into everything gave it a big time atmosphere – Lita might be a step behind in-ring but the crowd was popping for her like she was 2002 Abdullah the Butcher.
Trish looked great, honestly incredible for someone out of the ring for so long – the moves looked good and she was working a character like the pro she is. Foxy looked amazing too, bumping big and adding little mannerisms to everything. Her “WHAT!?” after Trish’s first takedown cracked me up. She is ALWAYS working… except when she had to make that save near the end, oops. Fun fun fun. ***1/2
2. 20-Woman Battle Royal for a Shot at a Women’s Championship
Oh man – the POP for Michelle McCool. For Carmella! For Kelly Kelly! For TAMINA!!! The nostalgia here was high-ish, but it was a pretty typical Battle Royal with a bunch of fumbling around and awkward eliminations. Some fun MOMENTS! though: The IIconics talking shit and getting eliminated by legends, the past vs. present showdown, Sonya and Mandy as the Legend Killers before Mandy eliminated Sonya, Lana going for her Nia/Tamina spot too early, R-Truth marking out in the crowd for Carmella’s dance break, Asuka/Ember showdown being over huge, and Ember being ecstatic to finally get the better of Asuka. They might’ve even gotten Ember over, if only for a night. Well until she lost to Nia Jax. **
Nia doing an emotional in-ring interview after all the weirdness that happened after the last one she did – dsffjsfddf.
Rhea Ripley’s slow clap for the Mae Young Classic finals video – amazing.
Referee Jessika Carr getting a shoutout was very cool.
3. Mae Young Classic – Final: Toni Storm vs. Io Shirai
This was a match that was good as far as introducing these two to the masses but given the level of their work in the MYC, a disappointment. Still, it’s a weird spot, like when all the sweet 205 Live guys went to a big arena and everybody forgot to remind the big impatient live crowd who they were.
Still though, these two are very good and seeing them show their stuff off on this stage was great. Going with holds from two unknowns early could easily fail but these two can rassle and the crowd was game. Also, Storm side-stepping Io’s drop-down and hitting a low dropkick was so so cool. Io Shirai continues to be a wonder – the double handspring backflip, moonsault to the floor and springboard sunset flip are impressive on their own but she hits them like a comic book superhero. Then they just kind of hit some big stuff before a couple very good near falls. ***1/4
4. Sasha Banks, Bayley & Natalya vs. The Riott Squad
What we needed here was some good old-fashioned 6-man tag team wrestling. And I’ll be damned, we got it. This ticked all the boxes and was a fine match. I’m glad Sasha got to take one insane bump on PPV with that Doomsday Device. I’ll tell you what, though – ultimately building to a Natalya hot tag as a key point in the match is a strange thing to do. Insane tope by Bayley for that finish!! **1/2
If they really wanted to put the women over, you invest in a god damn pirate ship for Kairi Sane at this pay-per-view.
5. NXT Women’s Title: Kairi Sane [c] vs. Shayna Baszler
These two have a magnificent dynamic, a dynamic so magnificent that I have decided to use the word magnificent. And they always use the dynamic to its fullest. There needs to be way more of this on WWE TV, and I don’t necessarily mean the Billy Robinson stuff. These are two defined characters that play up who they are within the confinements of the squared circle for the entire time they are in it.
Love Shayna – just running at Kairi with a straight knee, doing some limb torture, always going back to an arm submission. Love Kairi – the firing up during the strike-fest, the arm selling, the undeniable underdog charisma. And love how everything between these two is just so real – pushing each other away during grapples, Kairi not kicking out but powering out of covers, Kairi just running at Shayna full speed with a spear.
The finish was good stuff too. Kairi setting up the elbow, Shayna rolling outside, and Kairi pivoting to a massive crossbody was tremendous. The Jessamyn Duke and Marina Shafir interference was kind of Suzuki-gun level, but Kairi’s struggle in that last sleeper was brilliant. Great match. ****
6. Last Woman Standing – SmackDown Women’s Title: Becky Lynch [c] vs. Charlotte Flair
The intensity, baby. It’s all in the intensity.
This was excellent – they brought the hyper-speed wrestling early and then it just devolved into a chaotic brawl with big time selling and WWE’s trademark weapons used to their fullest: Becky pasting Charlotte with a kendo stick, Charlotte screaming on chairshots, Charlotte just hammering Becky on a table to setup the moonsault, Charlotte selling a bodyslam on a ladder like death, and Becky hitting a legdrop off a ladder through a commentary table. It was all crazy and fun and ugly in a good way. Sure nobody brought out a broken beer bottle but this was awesome.
The Figure-Eight in the ladder was a little goofy, but they couldn’t just not do it.
Charlotte’s Rise from the Dead and the super powerbomb through a table was a suitable finish. It was great to see Big Match Charlotte again and hey Becky Lynch is pretty good too. ****
7. RAW Women’s Title: Ronda Rousey [c] vs. Nikki Bella
This was a good match with the expected stretch where Ronda got caught and got beat up for a while, which I guess is necessary but still feels weird. Stone Cold should mansplain to her how to appear like a badass while still taking heat. The Ronda comeback including kick that practically went through Nikki’s stomach was very good. Nikki took her time on the beating but when it was time to eat shit she did it like a champion.
The crowd was going crazy for the Rack Attack near fall – it felt like a Japanese crowd in the last 5 minutes of a G1 Climax final. The super armbar finish was insane and I hope Nikki is OK. ***1/2
Everybody coming out at the end like the Street Fighter movie was very bad but also very good. That’s where we are at. Progress is good and also confusing, and everybody is talking to each other all the time and possibly affecting it as it happens. What a time.
An awesome thing that happened and if they actually spent time fleshing out all the characters on this show it should be an awesome thing that happens way more often. The big matches delivered and everybody got TIME. It was also nice to see a WWE show this year that wasn’t a TakeOver that delivered in the ring and didn’t do anything all that annoying. 9/10
