WWE Great Balls of Fire!

WWE Great Balls of Fire

Dallas, TX - July 2017

CHAMPIONSHIP RUNDOWN: Brock Lesnar is the WWE Universal Champion, the RAW Tag Team Champions are Sheamus and Cesaro, the RAW Women's Champion is Alexa Bliss, and the Intercontinental Champion is The Miz.

COMMENTARY: Michael Cole, Corey Graves, and Booker T

I don't typically review the Kickoff match of these shows, but with Neville defending against Akira Tozawa, I opted to start my viewing experience a little early. I'm not 1000% sure I made the right move - while Neville and Tozawa worked hard and both were certainly over enough with the Dallas crowd, the fundamental problem with the Cruiserweight division remains: the cruisers don't do anything or enough special to make their matches stand out. I've watched a fair amount of WCW's mid-to-late 90s cruiser action and those bouts look nothing like what was happening in the main event. It wasn't just that you had guys doing moonsaults and hurricanranas left and right, it was the way they sequenced the moves and reversals in lucha fashion to keep things fast-paced from beginning to end. This match started too slow for me, with not nearly enough high-flying action, but improved drastically in its final 4 minutes. Sadly, I didn't find the finish all that convincing and would've preferred a more definitive end. (2.5/5)

Bray Wyatt vs. Seth Rollins opens the show proper. Decent back-and-forth work early until Wyatt was able to send Rollins into the stairs and then the barricade. Rollins looked like he had a chance to regain control when they went to the top rope, but ended up brought to the mat with a big superplex. A dueling chant breaks out as Wyatt continues his attack and then slows things down with a headlock. A missed senton gave Rollins the opening he needed to get some offense of his own, but Wyatt proved elusive, countering nearly everything Rollins had for him. In a bit of a shocker, Wyatt scored the pinfall after a poke-in-the-eye and a swift Sister Abigail. This was a bit of a weird match to start on considering as, on paper, it felt like a heel winning to start the show (not always a great idea), but because Wyatt is half-over as a face (and Rollins is only half-over as a face too), it just felt kinda "there." Lukewarm reaction to a lukewarm match. (2/5)

Matt Hardy and Jeff Hardy are backstage to cut a promo about their match-up tonight. 

Enzo Amore makes his way down the aisle for the next bout, a grudge match against his ex-best friend Big Cass. Enzo does his usual pre-match shtick and then cuts a fairly lengthy promo comparing the words of Frank Sinatra's "That's Life" to his own life. Not every point sticks, but the passion was there. Big Cass comes out next and has nothing to say, staring dead-eyed at his former tag partner. The bell rings and Enzo tries to take the fight right to the 7-footer but is very quickly sent to the mat. Cass proceeds to dominate, hitting a fallaway slam and a big splash in the corner as the crowd chants "asshole." Cass gets even more heat by launching Enzo to the outside of the ring with a gorilla press slam and then drilling him with a big boot back in the ring. Completely one-sided squash match, which is what it needed to be. (2.5/5)

The WWE's first (maybe?) 30-Minute Tag Team Ironman Match is next - The Hardys challenging Sheamus and Cesaro for the RAW Tag Titles. Within the first minute we have our first pinfall via a Brogue Kick to Matt. After an initial flurry from the Hardys, the champs proceeded to control the next ten minutes, Jeff working as the face-in-peril for a good amount of that time. With Matt Hardy knocked to the floor by a Cesaro boot, the heels went up 2-0 via a double-team slam, the crowd fairly deflated at this point. Matt came in on the hot tag and finally scored some offense for his team, but couldn't get more than a 2 count or his efforts. Tagging Jeff back in, the brothers cut the lead in half with a Poetry in Motion followed by a Side Effect followed by a Twist of Fate onto Cesaro. Minutes later, Jeff took to the air, using Matt's back to springboard himself over the top rope and onto his opponents on the arena floor. Matt followed, brawling with Sheamus, but the decision bit him when Cesaro tossed him into the steps, knocking him out and giving the heels a count-out fall to go up 3-1 with 12 minutes to go. Over the next few minutes, Cesaro and Sheamus maintained their control, cutting corners left and right but doing so without getting DQ'd. Somehow, though, the Hardys would score the next fall with a clever split-legged pinfall from Jeff onto Cesaro. A Whisper-in-the-Wind couldn't tie things up, though, the clock winding down to the 6 minute mark. A minute later, a tornado DDT looked like it could've done the job, but it only got 2 as the crowd definitely perked up for the closing stretch. A moonsault got another 2, the crowd booing heavily when Cesaro broke up the fall. A loud "Ref, You Suck" chant (I think) broke out, but it was silenced by a Twist of Fate from Matt on Sheamus from the top rope to tie up the match with under 3 minutes left. Jeff went to the top next, but Cesaro pulled his partner out of the ring, allowing Jeff to hit them both with a giant splash. A small "Delete" chant started right before the Hardys would strike a should've-been-fall with a double splash from opposite corners. With under 60 seconds left and the score still tied, Jeff hit his Swanton on Sheamus, but Cesaro made a miraculous cover and went running, the Tag Team Champions managing to steal the winning pinfall. Overall, pretty good, but not a match I'd be too eager to revisit. Like many Ironman bouts, the first third was a bit slow, the second third was a bit more exciting as the faces got some offense in, but the match didn't really go to its highest gear until the last 5-6 minutes. (3/5)

The RAW Women's Championship was next - Alexa Bliss defending against Sasha Banks. I really dug this match from beginning to end, Bliss and Banks pulling out every stop to defeat each other including an excellent, gasp-inducing spot that saw Bliss pop her elbow out of its socket in order to feign an injury. I've since learned that this same tactic was used in a match against Becky Lynch months ago, but kudos nonetheless for waiting to bust it out a second time on pay-per-view. The ploy led to Bliss dominating for an extended stretch before Banks got her comeback in. Both women deserve praise for how hard-hitting and well-executed their offense was. It can not be understated how big the difference is between what these two did in the ring and the kind of women's wrestling that was going on 15 years ago. Sadly, the same can not really be true for the men aside from the fact that there was more blood and weaponry back then. This match was on its way to earning a potential spot on my Top 10 of the Year list when the disappointing finish happened. While I'm looking forward to seeing a rematch (and absolutely loved the post-match spot that saw Sasha hit double-knees on Alexis to the a, had this one ended with a definitive pinfall, albeit even a cheap one, I would be more likely to recommend it. (3.5/5)

The Miz defended the Intercontinental Championship next against former champ Dean Ambrose. The Miz having an entourage is a brilliant move for everyone involved and this match stood out because of their involvement more than anything Miz or Ambrose did. Ambrose is an interesting worker to me, not because I'm really interested in his character work or matches but because I find him to really fluctuate in his energy and charisma level based on who he's working with. Against AJ last year, Ambrose was sympathetic and had star quality. Here (and against Ziggler last summer), I was indifferent to pretty much everything he did. The Miz remains one of my current faves and deserves to be paired up with a hotter babyface as he continues to get solid crowd reactions and had a dynamite year on the Blue Brand in 2016. (2.5/5) 

Ambulance Match time - Reigns vs. Strowman III. The crowd seemed maybe 60-40 in favor of Strowman, cheering the monster on for his initial dominance. Reigns tried his best to rally multiple times, using his speed to try to get quick strikes in, but Strowman caught him at every turn (sometimes literally) and slammed him back to the mat. With all his might, Reign was able to get Braun up for a Samoan Drop and followed it up with Drive-By to Strowman's injured elbow, taking over on offense with help from a steel chair. On his third and fourth swings, though, Braun no-selled the pain (maybe the most babyface thing I've ever seen) before tossing Reigns into the barricade and dragging him towards the ambulance. Brawling on the entranceway, Braun attempted to lay Reigns out with a powerbomb but had to settle for just tossing him mercilessly into the side of the ambulance. Unable to get Reigns into the ambulance, Strowman ate a Superman Punch but retaliated with a series of strikes utilizing a stretcher board and an effortless toss back onto the stage. Attempting to heave Reigns through one of the video walls, Reigns used Braun's momentum against him, sending the monster through the wall as a "This is Awesome" chant broke out. With both men sucking wind, the match proceeded in relative sluggish pace until, in a last ditch effort to spear Strowman into the ambulance, Reigns miscalculated his opponent's fatigue and ended up sending himself straight into the van. Though Strowman got the win on paper, Reigns would have the last laugh, driving the ambulance out of the arena and into the garage, where he proceeded to back it up, at full speed, into the back of a TV truck! Absolutely ridiculous ultra-violent stunt featuring a Jamie Noble cameo. Really entertaining stuff and another must-see encounter from these two. (4/5)

An "impromptu" match followed, Heath Slater taking on Curt Hawkins for no other reason than to play into the gravitas of the previous angle. A "We Want Balor" chant broke out within the first 10 seconds, unsurprising considering his popularity and noticeable absence on the card. Cool production trick when the sound of ambulances being plugged into the PA system to purposely draw attention away from the in-ring contest and put it on the fire engine coming to try to save Braun Strowman. As a match, this was a zero, but as an angle, I'm not at all opposed to how this segment played out. (+1)

Main event time - Samoa Joe challenging Brock Lesnar for the WWE Universal Championship. Before the bell could ring, Joe took the fight straight to Lesnar, attacking him from behind and sending him crashing through the Spanish Announce Table. Lesnar's secret weapon for this most recent run has been his selling and facial expressions, which was uncanny in the early going, not unintentionally reminding viewers of his loss to Goldberg last November. From here, we got the intense grappling and stiff strikes fans were hoping for, Joe locking in the Kokina Clutch early but not tightly enough to bring Lesnar down. Brock then hit a series of big suplexes, each one taking something about of both men. Attempting a fourth, Joe wisely clung to the ropes and pulled the ref away, giving him the opportunity to strike a dastardly low blow. After a two-count, Joe attempted another Kokina, this one even tighter than the first. Using a sick amount of strength, Lesnar was able to escape via a sideslam, following it up moments later with another series of suplexes! Lesnar tried to finish him with an F-5, but Joe countered it into a Kokina Clutch, this time trying to hook him with his legs as well. Looking beet red, Lesnar was somehow able to muster the strength to escape the clutch and hit Joe with an F-5 to seal the victory in under 10 minutes. Others have written it and I'll concur - too short to be truly "great," but great enough for its minutes to be no less than very good. (3.5/5) 


With a Kwang Score of 3.06-out-of-5, the WWE's first annual (?) Great Balls of Fire show was more hit than miss, with several above-average matches and at least one that I would consider "must watch." Rollins/Wyatt was the night's low point, as expected, as their feud was cold when it started and has only gotten colder the longer its gone. On the flip side, Braun/Roman might be the storyline of the year and, after what occurred Sunday, the fact that it might not end any time soon sounds like a good thing. The outcome of Joe/Lesnar suggests we're not going to get a Round 2 at SummerSlam as some were suggesting, but I'm okay with that as long as Joe is positioned into a decent spot after being one of RAW's most captivating performers for the past month. I've read plenty of other critics praising the tag match, but I'm typically not a fan of Ironman matches so I'm not surprised I hold the unpopular opinion of thinking that it was good-not-great. 

FINAL RATING - Watch It...With Remote in Hand