My 9 year old son and I had a great time at the match, which was the first live match for both of us. Thought I’d give a viewpoint from someone who doesn’t watch nearly as often as most of you but enjoys having something to share with my son. I’m sure a lot of my terminology isn’t standard here so I hope you understand what I mean.
Randy Orton vs Miz w/Maryce
The Miz was fun to watch and really hammed it up more than when I’ve seen him on TV. The crowd was really into it from the start chanting for Orton while Miz kept running out of the ring to escape from him. Fun start to the night.
Eight man tag - Heath Slater, Rhyno, Mojo Rawley & Apollo Crews vs. Breezango and the Vaudevillains
This was one of my favorite matches from the night. I like the Vaudevillains as heels. That’s a fun shtick. I’m not sure I get Breezango though. Are they supposed to be strippers who also wrestle? A villiage people cover band who got lost on their way to a concert?
My favorite part of this match was when Rawley was working with one of the Vaudevillains. They really worked well with each other and sold the hits.
I’ve seen Apollo Crews a few times and he always seems like he should put on more impressive matches than he does. He has a great look but maybe he’s not as good with the moves? I don’t know, you tell me.
Watching this match it felt like these were guys who really wanted to impress the crowd and were working their asses off to put on a good show. With each tag in the crowd got more and more pumped up and excited. All the wrestlers were working their rolls even when they weren’t in the ring. If it were basketball I’d say they had great movement away from the ball. This fan appreciated it.
Kallisto vs Kurt Hawkins
The two wrestling leagues I’ve watched in the last year are WWE and Lucha Underground. I like Lucha more so it wasn’t surprising that I thought Kallisto was fun to watch.
Both the wrestlers were really interacting with the crowd during this match. (At least more than the other matches on the card last night. I’m sure it wasn’t as much as at the smaller arenas.) And I thought that was fun.
They set up a trampoline for Kallisto to make his entrance and he did a flip right over the top rope from the ramp. Later he did a cool move where we flew headfirst into the ropes and did a flight on the rebound.
The David and Goliath aspect of this match with the little guy Kallisto against the big Hawkins was a fun aspect.
I didn’t think the crowd gave this match as much cheering as it deserved, but I guess at this point their adrenaline was starting to wear off as they settled in for the show.
Bray Wyatt vs Luke Harper for the WWE SD championship
This match was a bit of a disappointment to me. My son had fun being a firefly during Bray’s entrance which was good.
After that it seemed like for the first 2/3rds of the match these were two guys who had someplace better to be. They’d throw a few punches then Harper would lie on the mat for awhile while Wyatt posed. Also from the start of the match Harper was acting like he’d already been beat up back stage or something and was staggering around the ring.
Finally for the last 5 minutes they showed some spark and threw some moves at each other.
6-Woman tag Match: Becky Lynch, Tamina and Asuka vs Alexa Bliss, Natalya & Carmella (w/James Ellsworth), Mickie James Special Guest Referee
After the Wyatt match this was a complete shift in mood. It was colorful, the wrestlers were energetic, it was a lot of fun.
Mickie James was the “Guest Referee” for the match and started things off by showing off how cute her referee costume was. Love Asuka’s cape, I know my daughter would want one if she saw it.
I thought Ellsworth did a great job playing to the crowd through the whole match. You don’t see him much during televised matches, but he really never stopped either working the crowd, interfering with he match, hamming it up with the wrestlers. He was fun to watch. The crowd loved it when Carmella took her gum out of her mouth and handed it to Ellsworth who popped it right into his own mouth.
The part Knowed Out mentioned where the heels all acted scared of Tamina was great. I think at one point two of them actually picked up a third and threw her into the ring so she’d have to fight Tamina and then ran away when she tried to tag out.
The match ended when Alexa upset Referee Mickie James. Mickie hit her from the front while Becky hit her with a chop block from behind setting up the submission. I thought that was a fun twist.
Dean Ambrose vs Baron Corbin for the IC title
About what you’d expect from this match. I enjoyed it but nothing surprising other than Corbin has, I’m not sure how to describe it, a lot more Ring Presence than I expected. I was surprised how much larger he was than Ambrose. A good straightforward match with a folding chair sitting in the corner like Checkov’s Gun until it was finally used by Corbin earning him the DQ.
One note here. I noticed that after their matches both Ambrose and Becky Lynch spent a lot of time with the fans, shaking hands, taking selfies, and signing posters on their way out of the ring. Even though Ambrose was “injured by a folding chair” so he was holding his stomach as he staggered around he made up up and down both sides of the ramp and around part of the ring before finally heading out. Lynch did the same and also tracked down a girl in Becky Lynch cosplay to make sure her family got a photo of the two of them together. Kudos to them.
AJ Styles vs John Cena in a Raleigh Street Fight
I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this match. Both wrestlers really worked hard and put on a good show and Cena is an impressive specimen of humanity in person. He made everyone else in the building feel flabby.
By my count they destroyed a folding chair, three tables, a metal crowd barrier, and found the opportunity to each knock each other down with the Microphone (which my son called a new type of Mic Drop). They were working in and out of the ring, up and down the ramp, and were even rolling equipment cases at each other.
At one point Cena picked up one of the metal staircases and threw it at Styles. Style jumped out of the way and it ended up sailing onto the ramp, landing right between two security guards, where it landed with a satisfying clang. I’m wondering what OSHA has to say about that one.
Cena threw Styles through a table to end the night and the crowd went home satisfied.
Nice job WWE. You earned my ticket money tonight.
