 Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes Confronted John CenaThis felt like a carbon copy of last week's opening segment with Cena heeling on the fans and not really explaining certain aspects of the turn and Rhodes interrupting him before Cena walked away. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed Cena's promo and it sounded a little less forced than last week's, but to make no mention of The Rock at this point is just ridiculous. On the bright side, Cena acknowledging his spinner WWE Championship belt and promising to leave WWE as the "last real champion" was cool. I'm just waiting for him to really rip into Rhodes and have the war of words I know they're capable of. Yes, they could be saving it, but I believe Cena is only advertised for next week's Raw and that's it before WrestleMania 41. I hope I'm wrong. The Usos def. A-Town Down UnderPart of me held out hope that Jey's mystery partner would be Scotland's own Joe Hendry, but admittedly, Jimmy made much more sense. Michael Cole mentioned this was the first time they've teamed in a standard two-on-two tag team match since Money in the Bank 2023. A-Town Down Under were hardly a threat, mind you, but the match was fine and the crowd was hot for the reunited Usos. Meanwhile, Jey vs. Gunther still doesn't feel like a World Heavyweight Championship feud worthy of WrestleMania. Their post-match angle was more of the same, and Jey seemingly slipping before attempting to Spear Gunther was embarrassing. Women's Intercontinental Champion Lyra Valkyria def. WWE Women's Tag Team Champion Raquel RodriguezFor as questionable as the booking of the Women's Intercontinental Championship has been, I appreciate that it's turned into a workhorse title with Valkyria having defended against Dakota Kai, Ivy Nile and now Rodriguez within the last month. The problem is that, despite this being a well-worked match, there was no reason to think Rodriguez was winning. Bayley made the save for Valkyria afterward, so it looks like she's next in line for a shot. I still doubt that matchup happens at WrestleMania. By the way, where the hell is Roxanne Perez? Women's World Champion IYO SKY, Bianca Belair and Rhea Ripley Attacked Each OtherMan, it's so disappointing that this was as uninspired as the other segments we've gotten with these women in the last two weeks. There's so much talent between the three of them that it really shouldn't be difficult to make the build to the inevitable Triple Threat at WrestleMania interesting. None of them are coming off well (especially Ripley), and this solely existed to set up SKY vs. Ripley in a rematch next week for the title with Belair serving as the special guest referee. Why not just make the Triple Threat official at this point? Why waste more time? El Grande Americano def. Dragon LeeAny time you put Lee and Chad Gable, er, Americano in the same ring together, they're guaranteed to have a great match. Sure enough, they delivered here in the time they were allotted and the crowd agreed with "This Is Awesome" chants. It was a nice win for "Americano," but I have no idea what these guys do at WrestleMania, if anything. As a result, this stuff feels like filler in the meantime. CM Punk Addressed Roman Reigns and Seth "Freakin" RollinsHilariously, this was the third segment in the last week and a half where someone said very little of note and simply advertised their next appearance for an upcoming show. First it was Paul Heyman, then it was Rollins, here it was Punk. To Punk's credit, this was more entertaining than their respective promos (his last line was particularly strong), but it also felt like a holdover promo until we get to the contract signing with him, Reigns and Rollins on Friday's SmackDown. Glasgow got to see him in person, so I'm sure they're not complaining. Intercontinental Champion Bron Breakker def. Penta by DisqualificationThe Intercontinental Championship headlining the show for a second straight week was refreshing to see, and Penta was much more compelling challenger for Breakker seeing as how he's been undefeated one-on-one on the main roster. I didn't think we'd see the title change hands so close to WrestleMania (though we've gotten enough title changes on television as of late that it was definitely possible), but this was a hell of a match before the expected interference from The Judgment Day. All signs point to a Fatal 4-Way at WrestleMania also involving Finn Balor and Dominik Mysterio. That'll be fun, but it lacks substance. Overall ShowI've largely defended the Road to WrestleMania so far and thought it was premature for fans to call it underwhelming shortly before/after Elimination Chamber, but this show was a tipping point for me. It featured a ton of formulaic booking and nothing that made me more excited for WrestleMania in the slightest. Both nights of 'Mania should be excellent, but the build has left a lot to be desired. Thankfully, there's plenty of time for them to bounce back, but they need to stop phoning it in for the overseas crowds and start amping up the anticipation for their biggest event of the year.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Categories
All
Archives
July 2025
|
RSS Feed