Sheamus Vs Cesaro - WWE Monday Night Raw (05/09/2016)

 

Match three and Cesaro has kinesio tape on his lower back as well as his shoulders, so that finish from the previous match is now canon in this series - His back is fucked.  I look forward to match 7 where Cesaro will be more kinesio tape than man. 

Cesaro comes out swinging right from the bell, going for a quick pin and a flurry of offence.  His desperation showing here, but one simple back body drop has him playing defence immediately due to his pre-existing back injury.  I can’t say the action is anything to go out of your way to see, but I’m digging the week to week story.  Commentary are doing a great job in pointing out that match #4 is scheduled to be just 2 days later on a live event in London and with such a short recovery time, plus a flight across the Atlantic, Cesaro will be in an even worse condition for that match.  Corey Graves suggests that if Cesaro can’t win this match, the clean sweep is on.

Sheamus shows as much mercy here as Anakin Skywalker shows to younglings.  He puts about 8 knees into the back of Cesaro, does 4 consecutive Irish Curse Backbreakers and then when you think he’s gonna execute the Celtic Cross, he drops Cesaro on his knee again for the first ever Celtic-Backbreaker I can remember seeing.  The referee asks if Cesaro wants to give up, but Sheamus runs in with the Brogue Kick to end this one at around 5 minutes for 3-0.  I think a back related move would have come off better here than Sheamus just winning with his routine finisher.  A celtic cross would have been perfect.  That’s nitpicking though.  This is such a fun Sheamus performance as a ruthless heel showing no mercy to his opponent.  I imagine this will be the match I’d recommend the least as a match to watch in a vacuum as it’s so short and there’s very little Cesaro on show (I did love him punching his way out of a cloverleaf attempt but that’s about it for impressive Cesaro offence), but it perfectly fits the story they’re telling and I look forward to seeing how they progress that story in London.

And now for my first gripe about this series - The worst possible way to book a best of seven series is to have someone go 3-0 up.  This matters less in a retrospective re-watch where you already know what the outcome of the series is, but in real time the 3-0 lead gives away the finish to the next three matches as the guy chasing is obviously winning the next three matches to avoid it wrapping up quickly.  Wrestling is always at it’s most exciting when matches are unpredictable, and now we’ve got three predictable outcomes coming up in this series.  While Guy Pearce in Memento would have a better shot at recalling the action of the 3^rd Elite/Death Triangle match than I would, Tony at least avoided the 3-0 problem.   

Sheamus Vs Cesaro - WWE Monday Night Raw (29/08/16)

We’re in Houston Texas for match #2 in the series.  There are a couple of interviews from both guys to give their thoughts on the series so far before this match starts; Nothing ground-breaking as you’d expect from these two on the mic, but I did have a wry smile at Sheamus saying Cesaro is just like Suicide Squad, a lot of hype and then he underdelivers.  If nothing else it’s a reference that lets you know we’re in the Summer of 2016.  If you would like another reference point, this is the Monday Night Raw episode where Kevin Owens wins the world title via Triple H assist. 

My interest in this match is seeing how they approach the 2^nd match of the series.  Do they just do a TV version of the match they had at Summerslam or attempt to put on something different?  That question is answered right from the off as they start the match quite differently to Summerslam with fast paced mat work with Cesaro going for some quicker pins – commentary declaring this is because he’s down in the series and needs the win more.  Sheamus takes a tumble out of the ring and lands elbow first on the apron and out of nowhere this match goes in another direction.  Cesaro now sees a new avenue for victory by targeting the elbow.  Cesaro works this over for a while, until unfortunately this story is rather forgotten about. 

The match for a bit then moves into more of a balanced affair that showcases the great chemistry between these guys.  The ducked Brogue Kick into the springboard uppercut spot was magnificent, as was the little details in how Cesaro escaped the Cloverleaf by using his strength to break the wrist grip of Sheamus.  Typically Cesaro's strength showcase spot comes in something flashier like the giant swing, but here he's calling on his muscles to get him out of submissions lying on his back.

Then we get to the finish which is the best thing about the match.  Both men are on the outside of the ring and Cesaro charges at Sheamus who counters with a backbody drop INTO the turnbuckle post and it’s an incredible bump for Cesaro to take spine first into the post.  Sheamus then rolls Cesaro into the ring, locks in the cloverleaf and Cesaro taps out immediately – whether that’s self preservation for the rest of the series or because his back is that fucked is up for speculation, but both scenarios absolutely work.  It’s both a very creative way to end a match, and a finish that starts a story that can develop through this series.  Not only is Cesaro 2-0 down, but now he has a back injury going forward.  

Overall I'm happy with the 2nd chapter of this series.  They worked a different style of match, they sowed seeds that may have consequences in the future and we got a memorable finish, much better than somebody else used the hammer this time.  

Sheamus Vs Cesaro - WWE Summerslam Kickoff (21/8/16)

So a lot has been said this week of the ongoing best of 7 match between The Elite and Death Triangle and how tricky these overindulgent teams will find it to have 7 consecutive matches that don’t feel like repeats.  I've watched the first two matches of that series and I've already had my fill, and when we all know this is leading to The Elite regaining the titles in the 7th match there's not much of a pull here for me to continue watching the series.  Instead I’ll spend my time rewatching a best of seven series from the (recent) past from two great wrestlers, Sheamus and Cesaro, as they found themselves at an impasse in their careers in the hope I'll find it more rewarding.  Sheamus was back as a singles midcard wrestler after the League of Nations fell apart, while Cesaro was sporting the 007 rip away tuxedo's and had been feuding over the Intercontinental Championship on Smackdown before his draft to Monday Night Raw in the latest brand split attempt.  My memory of WWE in the second half of 2016 was that Smackdown absolutely rocked, while Raw absolutely sucked outside of some Sasha and Charlotte matches, but surely this series would have been a highlight for the Raw brand during this time. Funnily enough Cesaro and Sheamus had two singles matches on Raw in early August with Cesaro winning both of them, so if you want you could consider this a best of 9 series.  

But I would prefer not to write 9 reviews, so I'm not counting those.

***MATCH 1***

So this best of 7 series is kicking off like Elite Vs Death Triangle at a PPV, however these guys are sentenced to the TWO HOUR PRE-SHOW where this match would have been a welcome relief from Booker T and Jerry Lawler breaking down the hot prospect Dolph Ziggler’s chances of becoming WWE Champion.  We get around about 15 minutes of action here (just one network commercial break to temporarily break up proceedings) and it’s obviously a very good standard of action.  They do some quick finisher teases at the start with the Brogue Kick and neutraliser attempts dodged and countered.  The theme of the match is that these are two very evenly matched wrestlers who keep cancelling each other out.  They beat the hell out of each other inside and outside of the ring and look to hit their big power moves when they can.  The highlight of the match had to be Cesaro doing his impression of Fenix and jumping from the steel post to the top rope displaying great balance and coming off with a gorgeous crossbody.  For a man of Cesaro’s size to jump onto the top rope and not fuck up the spot is impressive.  The Brogue Kick is countered into a sharpshooter attempt, but Sheamus jams a thumb in Cesaro’s eye to escape, posts him, and then lands the Brogue Kick to win the match.  Sheamus gets off to a 1-0 advantage in the series, but he has to cheat in order to get there. 

Overall we're off to a good start here.  This felt more like a very good TV match rather than a blowaway PPV affair, and on a night where AJ Styles and John Cena had an excellent match and Brock Lesnar busted open Randy Orton hardway in the main event, this wasn't the time for them to steal the headlines with their series.  A big tick in this series’ box is that there was no finisher kick out in the opening match. That’s a great thing to have in the back pocket for future finishes or big nearfalls.  I don’t want to feel like I’ve already seen these two do everything they could possibly do to one another in the first match.