Or as it will forever be known in WrestlingClique lore, this is Blood Money IX
Seth Rollins Vs AJ Styles
To the surprise of no-one, I didn't enjoy this. This match did nothing to address my two chief concerns going into the title decider of 1) Seth Rollins character still stinks and doesn't suit a world champion and 2) Seth was 100% winning so how would I fall for any AJ Styles nearfall during the match. Seth Rollins dressing like Kat Slater and still acting like a buffoon this week didn't adhere me to him becoming a world champion again and I didn't bite on any AJ Styles nearfall, More concerning is that I didn't even think the in-ring action was that up to scratch for what I expect out of these two. Perhaps I've been spoiled with the last two weeks of the Best of the Super Juniors with the likes of Mike Bailey, Lio Rush and Titan performing high-end, fast paced action, but I felt like this match was running on 0.5 speed and there was zero intensity to what they were doing. There was nothing about this that made it feel like it was high stakes or the biggest match either man has had in years - maybe if I'm being generous the suplex on the apron by AJ was a bit out of the ordinary, but that's about it. WTF was up with that first curb stomp attempt where Seth just kinda stepped on AJ's hair. This was two directionless guys fighting over a consolation prize. This should have been Rollins Vs Balor and then it would have felt much bigger.
Becky Lynch Vs Trish Stratus
Now for a match I have plenty of positives to talk about because I thought this was a blast. Two great saudi enforced ring gears here with Becky in her Kill Bill getup, which suited the story to a tee as she's out for revenge, and Trish in gear that had 'THANK YOU TRISH' on that back that I found to be hilarious, obnoxious heel work. While not everything was executed well in this match, I loved the effort and willingness on show here. Becky coming out all guns blazing attacking Trish from the bell showed more personality in 1 second than we got in the entire Rollins/Styles match. You gotta hand it to Trish. She's not interesting in coming in for an easy nostalgia paycheck. She's here to do something with a bit more depth to it and go back to that heel character that worked so well for her in 2004, but against better wrestlers. She looked like she was having the time of her life out there catching up on the nights she missed out on in her career. When she put the fish hooks into Becky and had her Treehouse Ned Flanders forced smiling I was howling with laughter. She just gets it even if her coordination lets her down at times. I think maybe it's better to retire the Stratisfaction now because the last few times she's done it, it hasn't come off well. She absolutely nailed the Chick Kick though, just use that instead. That thing she did through the ropes grabbing Becky with her legs was very impressive too, just a shame Becky bumped like a cartoon character into the post. Trish's 'little things' were great all match, and the hair pull shortcut to escape the disarmher was such a good way to continue the match. Putting her with Zoey Starks as her heater/apprentice is a booking move I'm way in favour of because Zoey can go in the ring but has no personality so Trish will be a great guiding hand through her first program. Oh and the cherry on top, Becky got her nose busted open right at the end. I loved this, looking forward to their rematch. This got soooo close to my MOTYC list, but there were too many rough edges to get it on.
Gunther Vs Mustafa Ali
Remember when Ali challenged Theory for the US title in his hometown of Chicago and Theory just beat him? When Ali came out and they showed the video package of him visiting Mecca and I saw how much the crowd were into him I thought fuck my boy Gunther is in big trouble here. As much as I like Ali, I didn't want the great Gunther reign to end here because I know Vince has no trust in Ali and this would be a booking decision to appease one crowd so he'd drop the title straight away. Thankfully Ali is WWE's Tim Henman and he just loves to let these partisan crowds down. We got a concise version of the great Gunther match formula. Ali got chopped, he bumped like crazy (how good was that big boot off the apron?) he got his hope spots in and I was worked by the 450 splash, but ultimately Gunther was too strong for him and he put him down with the powerbomb right before the 10 minute mark. Again, another blast on this show.
Bianca Belair Vs Asuka
I don't have a tonne to say here as these two very good wrestlers had yet another very good wrestling match. I didn't think this was as good as the Wrestlemania match, but still full of charm. They've set the stall out on these two that they're both as talent as each other and this is probably the biggest test Bianca's ever faced during her long reign, but Wrestlemania proved that Bianca just has the edge. Asuka therefore has to slip further into evil clown territory, go for the braid more and look for a killer mist spit that will seal the title for her. There was an absolutely gorgeous counter from Asuka to transition a KOD into an Asuka lock. The finish was really creative with the mist into the hand and then rubbing the mist into Bianca's eyes as she goes for the KOD. This was the result this match needed as Bianca has nowhere else to go with this title reign and needed some adversary. Asuka on the other hand would have been dead in this new gimmick if she lost a 2nd time to Bianca.
Rhea Ripley Vs Natalya
Swaggering about in a garish new hat Natalya seemed to say 'look at me Jeddah, I've got a new hat'. I love that Dominik is now the only one that wears oversized t-shirts in the saudi womens matches. Rhea beats up Natalya and pins her in a little over a minute. Fucking awesome.
Not quite, but that was perfection.
Cody Rhodes Vs Brock Lesnar
Not as good as the Backlash match because there was no blood, Cody didn't win and the crowd wasn't as into it as Puerto Rico was. I also have a big issue with the finish because the babyface fading in a submission rather than tapping is so, so overplayed and a weak attempt at protection, and actually looks pretty dumb when it's a submission that isn't a choke. Why would you pass out to a kimura? If Cody can survive 4 minutes in a Kimura when he's got an injured arm then he needs to ask Vince if he can trade to UFC and win that world title instead. Everything else about the match was cool. Cody looked like a god on offence rattling off his Cody Cutters and Crossroads, and the cast gave his double axe handles and punches extra oomph. I enjoyed Cody going for that rollup victory again only for Brock to survive it this time, and my eye caught that Cody kept scratching Brock's back while trying to escape the kimura, producing lines of white in Brock's purple back. I'm not too disappointed in the result because this feels like a rivalry that will have a 3rd match probably with a big stipulation behind it. That's the one Cody has to win.
Sami Zayn and Kevin Owens Vs Roman Reigns and Solo Sikoa
The crowd are so into Sami Zayn it's incredible, and equally incredible is Roman getting wound up with the crowd's love of Sami so he starts shit talking the crowd. I thought they played off Sami's reactions really well and built up to a great hot tag with him. Owens and Roman have always been good opponents for each other, and the stunner rebounded into the spear was a great spot. I loved Owens giving him a spear back later in the match too. Michael Cole says it doesn't matter how Roman has reached 1,000 days, you just have to hand it to him for getting over the line in his title matches. I wanna rip what little hair I have out. No Cole, you don't have to hand it to him, stop burying the story here and diluting Roman's heat. Fans should be livid that Roman keeps cheating to retain the title against top babyfaces, but WWE commentary keeps playing it down. I can't imagine Mike Tenay saying 'you know what Don, you just gotta hand it to Jeff Jarrett, he deserves to be world champion after those guitar shots'.
That aside, the Bloodline story continues to deliver when it matters most in key moments, and just like they nailed the Sami turn at the Rumble, they nailed the Jimmy Uso turn here while Jey continues to be the best actor in the company with his conflicted, stockholm syndrome personality. In the end this was more about the angle than it was the really good tag match, because this might be the end of Owens and Zayn's part of this story as they celebrate with tag titles in the face of Roman, while we move onto the total dissolution of the Bloodline and see if Roman is able to retain the title now without The Usos help.
Not one of the strongest PLE we've had this year out of WWE, but still a good one.
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