It’s the final pay-per-view before Wrestlemania 34, emanating from the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. It’s a relatively promising card, and the road to Wrestlemania is now a lot clearer. So, let’s just jump right in and hit the action.
Kickoff Match: Tye Dillinger and Breezango def. Mojo Rawley, Shelton Benjamin, and Chad Gable – Has there been a more disappointing NXT call-up than Dillinger? Adam Rose, maybe? I don’t know. Mojo was right. Gable launches Breeze by his gooch to start things off – kind of weird, but whatever. Gable is leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else in this match. This guy can go. Shout out to Breeze and Fandango for whiffing on about a half a dozen dropkicks. Boo to the people chanting “you can’t wrestle” at Rawley. HE’S. TRYING. Dillinger pins Rawley clean to get the W. Fun, fast-paced match, albeit pointless. Rating: 5.5/10.
Main Show
Shinsuke Nakamura def. Rusev – Love the dueling “Nakamura” and “Rusev Day” chants. Crowd seems hot early, and for good reason. This one has some potential. The action was a little slow and methodical, but both of these guys are over so it didn’t kill the crowd. No clue why they wouldn’t add Rusev to the United States Championship chase heading into ‘Mania. Exciting exchange that see Nakamura work out of the Accolade, and the crowd is hot as the action kicks up. Rusev hits Nakamura with a super kick as he’s going for the Kinshasa, and Nakamura is folded in half. This is awesome. A Kinshasa to the back of the neck and a Kinshasa to the face seals it. Great opener. Rating: 7/10.
United States Championship: Randy Orton def. Bobby Roode – Understand how this program has felt a little flat. Orton’s been wrestling for nearly 20 years. Roode hasn’t really connected as a face. But, I don’t think this match was as boring as the rest of wrestling Twitter seemed to think. Thought this was an admirable contest between two (sometimes) thoroughbreds (when they want to be). Orton gets the win with a nice RKO. Jinder Mahal comes out afterwards to attack Orton – Roode DDTs both and it looks like we got a triple threat for ‘Mania. Rating: 7/10.
Carmella and Natalya def. Naomi and Becky Lynch – Carmella hits Becky Lynch with a superkick off the distraction. Meh – thought this was a fine enough showcase of the Smackdown’s Women Division. But, Naomi had a couple of bad botches. Yikes. I think I dozed off a bit during this one. Rating: 5/10.
Smackdown Tag Team Championship: The Usos vs. New Day (no contest) – These guys had one of the greatest rivalries of 2017. But, this match felt like they were just going through the motions. Superkicks all over the place. Copying each other’s moves. I’m going to say it – “yawn.” Thankfully, The Bludgeon Brothers showed up and laid waste to everyone. I think Xavier Woods might still be at ringside. Who knows? It set up the Smackdown Tag Team Championship path to Wrestlemania, but that’s about the extent of what this match accomplished. Rating: 5/10.
Smackdown Women’s Championship: Charlotte Flair def. Ruby Riott – I am actually all for Ruby Riotttttt getting a run with the strap. Did I get the appropriate number of t’s there? The Riottttttttt Squad showed up early, with Naomi and Becky Lynch coming out to even the odds. This is good stuff. Riott hits a brutal straight jacket with her knees dug into Flair’s back. Absolutely sick. Love Ruby talking shit, too – “THEY’RE GOING TO SEE YOU FAIL!”
Some great back and forth action and then Riott botches an awkward spot that looked like it was supposed to be some sort of Sister Abigail into the ropes. Weird. The Riott Squad teams up on Flair while the ref’s distracted, and all of a sudden, everyone’s ejected from ringside. After a few one-on-one moments, Flair clinches it with the Figure Eight. Best match of the night so far, but that isn’t saying too much. Asuka comes out, announces she’ll be challenging Flair. CHILLS. Rating: 7.5/10.
WWE Championship: A.J. Styles def. John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, Sami Zayn, Kevin Owens, and Baron Corbin – Hopefully this’ll save this boring pay-per-view. Starts off with Cena throwing AA’s all over the place, then some Cena-Styles action before the field gangs up on Cena. Early on, Styles is looking strong. The pace of this match is excellent so far – these guys are just putting the pedal to the metal to borrow a phrase from 1960s hot rod culture. No idea how Corbin hits that chokeslam backbreaker without breaking his leg in half. Ziggler reverses an AA into the famouser and boy – that was a thing of beauty. I can’t even keep up with this match. Shit.
Sick AA to Styles through a table. Great spot where Zayn offers to lay down for Owens, but Owens doesn’t buy it. These two start going at it and it results in Shane McMahon eating a super kick. High drama here folks. Owens nails a Pop-up Powerbomb on Ziggler, but McMahon pulls the ref out. Looks like we’re going to get some form of McMahon-Owens-Zayn match at ‘Mania. Corbin and Cena are playing tug-o-war with the steel steps for some reason. I don’t even know if this recap makes sense anymore things are moving so fast.
Awesome exchange to finish the match – Owens with a Pop-up Powerbomb on Cena, but he turns right into a beautiful Phenomenal Forearm from Styles, 1-2-3. Styles-Nakamura at Wrestlemania 34. Rating: 8/10.
Overall: I give it a 6.5/10. Pretty boring show – consistently decent matches, but felt a tad uneventful…especially given this was the last show pay-per-view before Wrestlemania. The main event and Women’s Championship were highlights, but wasn’t enough to make this show very memorable. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, though – much worse ways to spend a Sunday night.
Stoney Keeley is the Editor in Chief of The SoBros Network. He is a strong supporter of Team GSD and #BeBetter. “Big Natural” covers the Tennessee Titans, Alabama Crimson Tide football, the WWE, and a whole wealth of nonsense. Follow on Twitter @StoneyKeeley
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