Recently, as you may have seen from my last review of Elimination Chamber, I've been a bit down on WWE because at this point in the year, usually from May to July, WWE switch in to autopilot mode. When this happens, it's just WWE getting by until SummerSlam to bring in more money than they'd get from a B-PPV like Payback. So, going into this PPV I expected nothing else and that's what we were given.
I didn't watch the Pre-Show.
Sheamus(w) v Neville v Kane v Randy Orton v Kofi Kingston v Roman Reigns v Dolph Ziggler (***)
This is the main reason of why WWE is on autopilot. Sheamus...Sheamus. Is this 2010? Since coming back he's had two weeks of being interesting because of his new look and 'gimmick' but when he won, you could have heard a pin drop. The fact that Sheamus went over instead of Reigns, Neville, Ziggler or even Orton is absurd. Don't get me wrong, the only reason I care is because we're likely going to have a Sheamus title run in the next year which is ridiculous because he hasn't been over enough to lead the company in years. He's just stale. Yes he can wrestle but so can a lot of guys, he has a severe lack of character. "Are you not entertained?" No, I'm not. The match itself was just an average Money in the Bank match with not many big moments. I don't understand why they didn't give Reigns the briefcase because he's way more over than Reigns and even if some of the crowd dislikes him at least it isn't overall ambivalence.
What is interesting is that Bray interfered and attacked Reigns which should lead to a decent feud but it's not like it'll be anything special although it SHOULD be.
Nikki Bella (w) v Paige (**1/2)
The story going in to this match was totally non-existent. The story they were trying to tell is that Paige is rebelling against the diva dictatorship of the Bella Twins which would be good and interesting if they actually built up the Bellas to be controlling or manipulative but literally a month prior to this match they were faces. Since then, they've done twin magic once and because of that Paige has been cutting promos about how they control the division and keep everyone else down. It's clearly obvious that there is no effort put into the division because if there was some kind of forethought maybe they would have gradually built Nikki and Brie to appear as keeping others down and actually make this mean something. However, this is probably the best main roster divas match I've seen in a while which sounds complimentary but in comparison, it's hardly great. The end of the match was just stupid. As soon as the referee noticed that it was Brie that was pinned instead of Nikki, the bell should have rang for a DQ. Anyway, why should we care about this if they obviously don't?
Big Show v Ryback (**)
This was moderate. The best part of the whole segment/match was Miz turning heel on the crowd after first appearing as a face. I don't really have much to say because this was so irrelevant to everything but I would like to ask the question: Why are WWE still protecting Big Show when nobody in the crowd cares? The absolute ambivalence that is shown towards him even made me question whether he'd still be on TV if he was 3 or 4 inches smaller and my conclusion, no he wouldn't be. All he is at this point is a spectacle but he doesn't even draw either. Anyway, this was what you'd expect it to be. Not good, just alright.
Kevin Owens v John Cena (w) (***3/4)
Again, Kevin Owens and John Cena achieve my Match of the Night award, which I'm sure is their sole purpose of putting a good show so that I will give them a positive review. I didn't think this match was as good as the first one but I think that's because the first one I was more excited for to begin with. As expected, Cena got his win back which I was a bit afraid that it would make Owens seem like every other heel in WWE, but, what happened after the match proved that he isn't. Cena at first put him over by saying he deserves to be 'here' and all that kind of stuff which Cena never did with Rusev or Bray. Then, after extending for a handshake, Owens attacked Cena and powerbombed him on the apron which will hopefully be what people remember most. As it was with the last one, this felt like the main event, the crowd was most invested in this and the back and forth match made it feel like it had such meaning. Great stuff again.
Prime Time Players (w) v The New Day
So, at this point it's fitting to tell you that I didn't watch Money in the Bank live because I was drinking with some friends, and when it came to watching it the morning after, I ended up napping through this match and because I didn't care at all about the result, I didn't go back to watch it. I can't see why PTP won this match when The New Day are actually over as heels and the crowd reaction to PTP winning was total ambivalence yet again. The tag division at the minute is so diluted that I have hardly any interest in any of the teams, especially with Tyson Kidd and Cesaro not on TV because of Kidd's injury. I feel like The New Day are a lot more entertaining than PTP as well and that the only entertainment in the group is if they are being chased, which they obviously aren't anymore.
Seth Rollins (w) v Dean Ambrose (*** 1/2)
This was good but not great. I enjoyed the story that was told with Seth having to go it alone and because of that he seemed to become a lot more calculated in his offence, attacking Dean's leg. This match was given a lot of time (according to wiki, over 35 minutes) and because of that it seemed to take on the right pace as the momentum built and built instead of just having near fall after near fall which has become the WWE go to for a good match. The problem with this match, and with the last match they had, at no point did I feel like Dean was going to pull it out and win so because of that, a lot of the tension was missed. I think that's why Owens and Cena topped this for Match of the Night because even during the match it wasn't like Ambrose came that close to winning a part from the end which as soon as they got up there I felt was predictable.
So all in all, nothing in this PPV actually seemed to progress any storyline except for Owens/Cena and Rollins/Ambrose. The rest of the night was pretty dull and it's pretty obvious that WWE are just 'getting by' at this point until Brock returns and they can actually have some sort of excitement outside of the Cena/Owens segment. WWE's monotony at this point is saddening to say the least. I'll just leave this now because I don't want to bore you as much as this PPV may have.
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