Bayley, Iyo Shirai, and Dakota Kai took on Bianca Belair, Asuka, and Alexa Bliss in the opener. Bliss's entrance CGI thing is still the crazy Lilly doll, but she seems to be 100% back to being the old Bliss? I don't watch the weekly shows so I don't know that for sure...When the match began, Bayley got a massive face reaction from the live crowd as they serenaded her with the classic "Hey Baby" chant. As the match progressed, the in-ring action quieted down the crowd for a few minutes at the time, but any time Bayley was featured in the ring, the song re-started. Meanwhile, on commentary, Michael Cole got to "let loose" a little bit, mentioning Io Shirai's previously unspoken-of history with Asuka from Japan. The in-ring action seemed stilted at times with certain sequences not so much telegraphed as they just seemed to be being performed at three-quarters speed. A strike exchange between Shirai and Bliss was particularly awkward, Asuka literally disappeared for several minutes, and Belair slipped into the background for most of the match too, but Bayley's heel performance was great and when Belair got her time to shine, her offense looked tremendous (especially the military press and powerbomb she hit Kai with). I liked the finish too as the heels needed to go over and the fact that Belair ate the pinfall helps cement the Damage Control faction's credibility. Not the greatest six-person match I've ever seen or even close enough and maybe a couple minutes too long, but this wasn't terrible. (2/5)
In a nice moment, the family of Davey Boy Smith was welcomed to the show and Bret Hart was shown in the crowd to honor their match from 30 years back. It was then time for one of the most highly anticipated bouts of the evening - Sheamus vs. Gunther (aka WALTER) for Gunther's Intercontinental Championship. I haven't had much of a chance to review Gunther/WALTER's work due to him not getting much of a push on WWE's main roster pay-per-views, my disinterest in NXT UK, and WALTER not even being a featured guy in plain ol' NXT. Gunther was backed up by the reunited Imperium - Giovanni Vinci and Ludvig Kaiser - which was played like a big deal. Before the match began, Gunther and Sheamus' henchmen went to war around the ring as the two leaders of their respective factions locked eyes. It was a beautiful moment. As soon as the bell rang, Sheamus and Gunther started unloading on eachother, both men known for their clubbering blows. The crowd was super into this from the very start and while Sheamus and Gunther didn't need to bust out anything fancy, they did the simple stuff excellent and when the match called for a big spot - like Sheamus tumbling to the floor from the top rope - they knocked it out of the park. After just 5-6 minutes, Sheamus' chest looked like it had been rubbed with sandpaper, but he just continued to take them (along with some nasty kicks too). This is the sort of match the WWE needs to start putting on their major cards more often, just a straight up fight between two guys that know their strengths, play to them, and don't bother with overly choreographed sequences or too many cutesy counters or an unnecessary amount of false finishes. By the time they got to the big strike exchange, the toll the match had taken on both guys was palpable. One of the final sequences - which saw Sheamus miss a Brogue Kick and get hit with a Gunther powerbomb - was imperfect and needed to be salvaged via commentary, but it didn't mar things too much and they had the audience back moments later when Sheamus hit a powerbomb from the corner of his own. The finish saw Sheamus attempt a Brogue Kick but have to stop himself due to a lower back injury, then eat a second not-so-great powerbomb, before falling for good to a devastating lariat. I wouldn't call this a Match of the Year contender necessarily, but it was certainly one of the better WWE matches of 2022 and a great showcase for Gunther. (4/5)
The next match saw Liv Morgan defend her SmackDown Women's Championship against Shayna Baszler. I'm a big Baszler fan and have been disappointed with how she's been handled on the main roster, her best main roster run coming as part of a tag team with Nia Jax. At the same time, Morgan is in the midst of a major storyline and has been getting reactions (good and bad) on TV so I didn't have my hopes up that they would do a title change here. Baszler may not have had her arm raised at the end of this contest, but she did a fine job working as the dominant heel, her facial expressions showing real malice and cockiness and all of her offense looking sharp. Morgan bumped and sold, but not much else. I'd be much more into Morgan as the plucky underdog if she at least had a move or two that looked like they could reasonably swing the tide of a match or catch her opponent so off guard that she could get the quick win. Her finisher is not it, but that's basically all she connected with to earn the W. It just didn't feel earned to me after how much punishment Baszler doled out (and how little she had to suffer). I even would've preferred some sort of "slip on a banana peel"-type ending to at least build to a rematch where Morgan could actually get a win by outsmarting Baszler or using Baszler's overconfidence against her. I don't rate matches on what they should've been, I rate them on what they are, and this was inoffensive and in that slightly below average-to-average range. (2/5)
Rey Mysterio and Edge reunited - they were WWE Tag Team Champions on SmackDown something like 20 years before this, IIRC - to take on Edge's old faction, Judgment Day (Finn Balor and Damian Priest) in the next match. I've been lukewarm about Edge's post-retirement work as some of it has been tremendously bloated and overcooked and I was never much of an Edgehead to begin with (I'd be better described as one of Christian's "Peeps"). Mysterio is among the greatest babyfaces in the history of pro-wrestling and he still routinely outshines nearly everyone on any card he's on, but its no longer a guarantee. I like the team of Balor and Priest despite both guys being better in singles. Anyway...this one was really, really good. I love how Mysterio and Edge showcased not only their veteran instincts, but also a few throwback moves to their tag team run 20 years ago. It really felt like this was a true reunion of a classic team (even if they weren't really a classic team) and a battle of the Old Guard vs. The New. The crowd was the "6th Man" as they sometimes say in basketball as they were just HUGELY behind Mysterio and Edge and didn't cheer anything that Balor did (despite Finn being somewhat a "local"). To me, that just goes to show how much this storyline - despite its imperfections and leaps of logic - was over with this crowd. Ripley and Dominick were on the outside but didn't play into things too much until the finish as Dominick eventually helped his father and Edge get the victory...which didn't quite add up as, during their emotional post-match celebration, Dominick then kicked Edge in the balls and clotheslined his father to the ground as Judgment Day watched and laughed. I'm hoping that Dominick's heel turn has more to do with Rey not stepping aside or with Rey teaming with Edge instead of with his own son, but I think its going to be more about Dominick joining Judgment Day (which means that him causing Judgment Day to lose was part of the plan, which makes no sense). Still, ignoring the nonsensical aspect of Dominick's actions and subsequent heel turn, this was a really fun match and exceeded my expectations. (3.5/5)
Seth Rollins and Matt Riddle squared off in the night's penultimate match. The build to this was your standard wrestling fare until just last week, when Rollins made a "shooty" comment (that was definitely 100% approved by real-life creep Matt Riddle) about how Riddle's wife had divorced him and taken away his kids. This pushed their feud into "blurring reality," but because it was filmed on Raw and Riddle seems to live his life like an open book (with some pages grossly stuck to eachother), I didn't buy the angle at all. And, based on the crowd reaction, neither did the fans in Cardiff who spent most of the match serenading Rollins and booing Riddle. It didn't help that they wrestled this match like it was any other they could've had, both coming to the ring with their usual swagger and prancing about instead of, y'know, coming in like they actually wanted to hurt each other. Rollins has to be one of the most inconsistent "top workers" in modern wrestling - at least for me - as, depending on his opponent and what "version" of himself he's performing as, he can either be quite good or just inexplicably off-note. This was one of those off-note nights to me as Rollins laid the dramatic nonsense on thick. I get that this was part of his desire to play "mind games" with Riddle, but there was still a disconnect (especially with the Elton John-inspired jumpsuit he was sporting). Riddle is arguably just as technically skilled as Rollins and just as equally prone to no-selling and delivering aerial moves that are flashy but lack any real impact. I love Riddle's knee strikes and suplexes, but the Triple Lindy flippy move he does to the floor looks like something out of a gymnastic routine (and he barely ever connects on it in any way). I'm guessing they're prolonging this feud to get to a stipulation-based match at Extreme Rules but Rollins' victory seemed fairly decisive. There was too much good stuff to call this bad, but this just isn't my style of action. (3/5)
Main event time - Drew McIntyre challenging Roman Reigns for the Undisputed WWE Universal Champion. As expected, the crowd was massively behind McIntyre from the start and popped huge whenever it seemed like he might just somehow win the title. Reigns and McIntyre did a nice job of building up the suspense slowly, the match not really catching fire until about halfway through, but the crowd's enthusiasm and passion made even the slower parts work. After what Reigns and Lesnar did at SummerSlam, practically any match Reigns had was going to feel lesser in comparison but there's no denying that these two worked hard and that, by the end, the fans were biting on every false finish and went absolutely crazy for the teased Austin Theory cash-in, the initial ref bump, and then the debut of the third Uso: Solo Sikoa. I'm guessing that Solo's debut is going to lead to a big Survivors match at Survivor Series, but to me, that match is going to need some sort of real stakes to make me care. Booking McIntyre to lose in front of such a supportive, pro-Drew crowd is a decision worthy of criticism, though, to be fair, Reigns has had such a strong title reign that I fully understand why they want to keep it pristine until it is time to crown a new champion (and that Drew is just never going to be that guy). A good-not-great match that I don't think will age particularly well due to the crowd-deflating ending. Oh, and that post-match segment with Tyson Fury singing "American Pie"? Really, really dumb. (3/5)
This was one of the better WWE shows of the past few months, helped tremendously by a red hot crowd and the air of change brought on by the transfer of power from Vince McMahon to Triple H and Stephanie McMahon over the past six weeks. This was, in a sense, Triple H's biggest "coming out" party, though, to be fair, much of this card seemed to be in the works - especially the main event - when the show was first announced. Any which way, its Kwang Score of 2.92-out-of-5 is well-earned with only the opener and the SmackDown Women's Championship matches failing to deliver on their promise (which is unfortunate because, theoretically, I liked the fresh match-ups). The Gunther/Sheamus match was, rightfully, praised by Meltzer and near every other wrestling critic as the match of the night (and even the whole weekend, which also included the AEW All Out 2022 show on Sunday), but the Edge & Mysterio/Judgment Day tag shouldn't be overlooked either.
FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand
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