wrestling / TV Reports
Csonka’s WWE MITB Review 6.18.17
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Csonka’s WWE Extreme Rules Review 6.04.17
OFFICIAL RESULTS
– Kickoff Match: The Hype bros defeated The Colons @ 8:28 via pin [**½]
– Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Carmella won @ 13:30 [***]
– WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: The New Day defeated Champions The Usos @ 12:12 via countout [***¾]
– WWE Smackdown Women’s Title Match: Champion Naomi defeated Lana @ 7:30 via submission [**]
– WWE Title Match: Champion Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton @ 20:58 via pin [***½]
– The Fashion Police (Fandango & Breeze) vs. The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) @ 3:30 via pin [*]
– Men’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Baron Corbin won @ 29:50 [****½<]
Kickoff Match: The Colons vs. The Hype Bros: The Hype Bros are back together for the first time in six-months, as Ryder was out with a knee injury. The Hype bros controlled the opening minutes, but just as the Colons were sent to the floor, they battled back and attacked the previously injured knee of Ryder to take the heat as we took a break. Post break, the Colons kept the heat, working the knee of Ryder and keeping him grounded. The Colons worked a smart and technically good heat segment, it’s just hard for the crowds to care for them, Mojo got the hot tag, ran wild on the Colons. Mojo works a good and energetic hot tag, the Hype Bros then worked together and hit the Hype Ryder to pick up the win. The Hype Bros defeated The Colons @ 8:28 via pin [**½] I saw a lot of people calling for the heel turn by Mojo here, but that made no sense to me. They are owed a title shot (which was won in the match Ryder got hurt in), and need to build to that first, teasing that the boys are back together, that all is well and that’s when Mojo likely turns. As for the match, it was a perfectly solid kick off match with a good layout and the right team winning.
– They aired a great video package after the intros.
Women’s Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Charlotte vs. Carmella vs. Becky Lynch vs. Tamina vs. Natalya: Ellsworth is out with Carmella. Tamina runs wild to begin, clearing the ring and looking to climb, but Charlotte cuts her off. Natalya stops her momentum, allowing Tamina to work over Becky and then Carmella. Tamina controls the ring and wedges a ladder in the corner and catapults Natalya into it. She then tosses a ladder onto Becky; Charlotte cuts that off and attacks her with a ladder. Becky and Natalya fight over a ladder, and then take out Tamina with it. Natalya fights back after Becky shoves her down and slams Becky on the ladder. Natalya now looks to climb, almost has it but Charlotte stops her. Natalya kicks her to the mat, but Charlotte then snatches up Natalya, hitting the electric chair drop. Charlotte repositions the ladder, and climbs but Carmella stops that and traps one of Charlotte’s legs in the ladder, and climbs. Charlotte recovers and they trade strikes on top of the ladder. Charlotte grabs for the case, but Tamina shoves the ladder over and Carmella and Charlotte bounce off the ropes. Natalya attacks Tamina with a ladder, Becky is back but Natalya locks in the sharp shooter on her. Everyone brawls and Natalya takes out Charlotte with a butterfly suplex. Becky fires up and works over Natalya with kicks and looks to climb. Carmella cuts that off, and slams Becky into a ladder; Carmella follows with a head scissors. Carmella climbs, but Charlotte stops that and then takes out Becky. Tamina works over Natalya on the floor, Charlotte climbs but Tamina cuts her off and they brawl on the ladder. Charlotte then spears Tamina, who rolls to the floor. She then spears her to the steps, fights off Natalya and then climbs up top and hits a twisting dive onto Tamina & Natalya. Back in and Carmella climbs, but Becky cuts her off and hits a powerbomb. Becky now looks to climb as the crowd is behind her. Ellsworth is in and topples over the ladder. Ellsworth then starts to climb and grabs the case and tosses it to Carmella for the win… Or not as the refs argue over the finish. Ellsworth grabs the mic and announces Carmella as the winner. Carmella won @ 13:30 [***] They had a good match that felt completely ruined by a shit finish as Ellsworth climbed the ladder, and tossed the case to Carmella for the win. You can claim heel heat all you want, but there’s better ways to do it that don’t completely deflate the match. They were doing a lot right, had a hot crowd, no one died and I felt that they were creating some great drama. But I hated the finish, it was the perfect example of taking a match that was not only going really well but also looking to be legit great and turning it into a complete joke. The bottom line is that this was another potentially great WWE PPV match ruined by shit booking. It also doesn’t help that the Carmella/Ellsworth pairing does nothing for me, that Carmella is not good at all in the ring and that she gets no reaction from the crowds when she enters, but they are determined to push her and are hoping that this leads to permanent heat. It works as a heel finish, and may be what Carmella needs, but comes across tone deaf after all of the history talk and in terms of what the audience wanted. But my biggest issue is that it took away from what was working towards a great match, which has been a big issue with WWE PPV this year.
WWE Smackdown Tag Team Title Match: Champions The Usos vs. The New Day (Kofi & Big E) w/Woods: New Day ran wild early, working double teams and Big E hitting his apron splash on one of the Usos. The Usos eventually low bridged Kofi to the floor and then turned him inside out with a lariat. The Usos then suplexed Kofi into the post and took the heat. Good heat by the Usos, keeping Kofi isolated, and mixing in some basic punishment along with some heel shenanigans. Kofi finally got the desperation tag, and Big E ran wild. The big STO followed, and Big E covered for 2. Big E then did his crazy spear through the ropes and to the floor. Blind tag by the Usos, Kofi misses a high cross and they dismantle him knee; tequila sunrise locked in and Big E looks to make the save, suplexing an Uso on the floor. Kofi locks in a dragon sleeper, but gets distracted only to come back and hit the SOS for a near fall. Big E tags in, but Kofi eats a superkick and Big E tries to catch an Uso on the splash, drops him but picks him up and hits the big ending for 2 as the other Uso made the save. Woods distracts the Usos with trombone playing, Big E looks to run wild but the Usos cut him off but he fights back and tosses them to the floor. Kofi hits a huge trust fall dive onto the Usos. Back in, Midnight hour connects, but an Uso pulls his brother to the floor. The Usos take a walk and accept the count out to retain. The New Day defeated Champions The Usos @ 12:12 via countout [***¾] They worked at a great pace, delivered some excellent near falls, but it wasn’t as clean as it needed to be to be great. Overall a very good tag match with a finish to continue the feud (even if it came off a bit flat); there’s still a shelf life with the Usos as tag team champions and New Day didn’t need to win the belts just yet. They dominated for so long, so putting them into position to chase feels fresh for them.
WWE Smackdown Women’s Title Match: Champion Naomi vs. Lana: Naomi was all fired up and attacked at the bell, Lana fought back and avoided a high cross, covering for 2. Lana then attacked the knee, sending Naomi to the floor, but then rolled her back in and covered for 2. Lana then took the heat, suplexing Naomi into the ropes and continuing to attack the knee. Naomi fought back, and locked in an arm bar but Lana attacked the knee to escape. Naomi fought back, hitting a series of head kicks. Lana looked to attack the knee, but Naomi hit the rear view for 2. Lana kicked Naomi in the face, hit her sitout spinebuster, but Naomi kicked out right away…. and here comes Carmella, but she only teased cashing in. Lana covers Naomi for 2. Carmella chills at ringside, Naomi locks on her neck crank/spider twist submission and Lana taps. Champion Naomi defeated Lana @ 7:30 via submission [**] Not a bad match, Lana did much better in her main roster debut than anticipated. She hadn’t gotten rave reviews from her NXT live event work, but did very well considering this was a PPV match with a lot of pressure. Her selling really needs work, but it was perfectly solid. I know a lot of people were ready to shit on Lana, and I certainly didn’t expect much, but the match was fine. I’ve certainly seen much worse this year.
– TIME FOR FASHION VICE! Fandango is dresses like Don Johnson with a bog old school cell phone, with “Property of Paul E.” on it. They get scared by the fax machine, and then look at a VHS tape, featuring two mystery figures admitting that they trashed the office and challenging them to a match tonight.
OK, that was #FunnyAF! I only wish I looked half as good THEN as @WWEFandango looks with a phone pressed to his ear NOW! @WWE #PhoneGimmick pic.twitter.com/O14uVZt6fr
— Paul Heyman (@HeymanHustle) June 19, 2017
– Maria and Mike Kanellis make their debuts. They are here on Smackdown to show the power of love. And yes, they are calling him Mike Kanellis. They were doing a riff off of their Impact gimmick, down to Maria doing the first lady of wrestling deal.
– Larry Hennig, Greg Gagne, Baron von Raschke, Sgt. Slaughter, Bob Orton and Ric Flair are at ringside.
WWE Title Match: Champion Jinder Mahal vs. Randy Orton: The Singh brothers are with Mahal. Between the fans hating Mahal and this being in Orton’s hometown, they have a great environment early. Orton controls early, teasing an RKO, but Mahal takes a powder. Mahal back in but runs into a Thesz press and rights from Orton. Orton then dumps Mahal on the ropes and follows with the stomps. Orton then sends Mahal back to the floor, and follows with a clothesline. Orton then slams Mahal off the announce table and they work back into he ring, but Mahal fights off the draping DDT and sends Orton to the floor. Orton starts to favor his knee, and Mahal follows him out and works him over. Back in and Mahal keeps targeting the knee of Orton. Mahal follows with knee drops, and Orton rolls to the floor. They brawl in front of the legends, with Orton sending Mahal onto them and then pulling him back to ringside. Mahal then slammed the knee of Orton off of the announce table and continued to control. Back in they go, with Mahal continuing to target the knee. Orton fights back, hitting a sack of shit slam, and they roll to the floor. Mahal again attacks the knee, slamming it to the barricade. Back in the ring and Mahal hits the big boot, covering for 2. Mahal again grounds Orton, continuing his work on the knee and then hitting a knee drop, and then locking in the figure four. Orton struggle to try and turn the hold, and does. Mahal makes the ropes for the break. Mahal then clubs away at Orton, looks for another figure four but opts for a spinning toehold. Orton gets a roll up, which got 2. Mahal then cut him off right away with a clothesline. Mahal then sits Orton up top, follows and tells Bob Orton that this is for him and looks for the superplex, but Orton fights him off with a head butt. Orton now sits Mahal up top ad hits the superplex. We get a double down, and Orton slowly gets a cover for 2. They battle back and forth, throwing bombs but Mahal attacks the knee but runs into clotheslines. Orton then hits the snap slam. The draping DDT follows. Orton looks for the RKO, hits it and covers but the Singhs put Mahal’s foot on the ropes. Orton is pissed, and argues with the ref. The ref tosses them to the back, but they stop to argue with the legends. After a conference, they continue to argue with the legends and look to attack Cowboy Bob, but Randy makes the save and beats the Singhs down. Orton then bounces a Singh off of the commentary table and then grabs the other and dismantles an announce table and beats on the other brother. RKO on the floor to a Singh. Orton climbs on the announce table, and RKOs the other Singh through the table. Back in the ring and Mahal kicks out Orton’s knee and hits the Khallas to retain. Champion Jinder Mahal defeated Randy Orton @ 20:58 via pin [***½] The first 15-minutes of this match was quite good, much better than their first match with a hotter crowd and a more intense and aggressive Mahal, who looked great as he dominated Orton. This was the Mahal we need to see as champion, focused, aggressive and looking like he’s the superior guy instead of just a guy. And than after doing so much right, they basically did the same finish from the last PPV; Orton makes a comeback, takes out the Singhs and gets pinned. This was very good overall, but with less shenanigans and a more creative finish, it would have been better. Fuck it, lets do a Punjabi Prison match next.
The Fashion Police (Fandango & Breeze) vs. The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor): The Ascension… again? After some basic back and forth, The Ascension cut off Breeze and took the heat. They worked a really bland heat, Fandango then got the tag and ran wild. He hit the spin kick on Konnor, took out Viktor but ran into a spinebuster. The Ascension then worked over Fandango, but Fandango hit a small package for the win. The Fashion Police (Fandango & Breeze) vs. The Ascension (Konnor & Viktor) @ 3:30 via pin [*]
A nothing buffer match, but at least The Fashion Police won.
– Can someone hire The Fashion Police to find American Alpha?
– Corbin attacked Nakamura as he made his entrance and then beat him down with a ladder. He then hit him with a camera several times.
Money in the Bank Ladder Match: Kevin Owens vs. AJ Styles vs. Shinsuke Nakamura vs. Sami Zayn vs. Baron Corbin vs. Dolph Ziggler: The match begins without Nakamura, if only Shane McMahon and Daniel Bryan were around to keep order on their show. Everyone brawls on the floor as the crowd chants for Nakamura, who is now taken to the back. As the mass brawl continues, Sami wipes out Owens with a dive. Ziggler and Corbin work over Styles, grab a ladder and run over Styles with it. Corbin had enough of that teamwork, takes out Ziggler and continues to beat on Styles but Ziggler returns to wipe out Corbin with a superkick. Owens and Sami continue their fight, but Styles cuts off Sami; Ziggler ten runs up a ladder and takes out Styles, only for Corbin to wipe him out with deep six on the floor. Sami then hits an asai moonsault to the floor, wiping out Corbin but started to favor his knee. Owens cuts off Styles, who looked to set up a ladder and climb. He then takes out Styles and Sami with ladder shots. Owens then hits Corbin and Ziggler, sending them to the floor. Styles then cuts off Owens, they trade strikes and Styles teases the clash, but Owens sends him to the floor. Owens is alone n the ring and looks to set up a ladder, but Sami stops him. Owens stuns him off the ropes and then climbs up top and Sami cuts him off and slams him off the ropes onto an open ladder! Sami tosses the trashed ladder and brings in a newer and bigger one. He looks to climb, but Ziggler cuts him off. He then tosses Sami into a ladder in the corner, sets up the ladder and climbs. Sami grabs a leg and then tries to climb but Ziggler dropkicks him. Sami stops the superkick, hits the blue thunder bomb and climbs. Corbin stops that, slams Sami into the ladder but Styles is back and lays in leg kicks and a sliding forearm. Styles now climbs, but Corbin is back up and climbs with him. They trade strikes up top, Styles lays in strikes and Ziggler climbs and knocks off Styles. Corbin stops him, he climbs but Ziggler hits a zigzag off of the ladder. Styles and Ziggler battle, Sami is back and all three climb. Styles is on the outside of the ladder on the supports and gets knocked off as Sami and Ziggler battle up top. Sami then hits a HUGE sunset bomb, taking Ziggler down and both men are down. Owens pulls Sami to the floor, looks for an apron bomb but Sami fights it off and they brawl on the apron. Sami hits a DRAGON SUPLEX on the apron and Owens is dead. Sami back in and climbs. Styles then flies in with the springboard forearm and takes out Sami. Corbin pulls Styles to the floor and slams him off the announce table and then tosses him over it. Corbin then builds a ladder bridge, but Styles fires back but Corbin chokeslam him on the ladder, which did not bend or break. That had to suck. Sami then hit the helluva on Corbin and looks to climb. Ziggler rushes back in and gets kicked away. Owens is back, and low blows Sami! Owens climbs, but Styles puts a stop to that. Owens sends Styles to the apron and then they battle, USHIGOROSI TO OWENS ON THE LADDER BRIDGE! Styles rolls back in and has the case, but Ziggler pulls the ladder out and Styles hangs there but falls to the mat. Corbin tosses Ziggler, Corbin looks to climb but Nakamura is back! Corbin tosses a ladder at him, but misses. This crowd is lit as fuck, singing Nakamura’s theme as he runs wild on Corbin. Nakamura lays in the kicks and boots, the Kinshasa sends Corbin to he floor. H takes out Ziggler with two Kinshasas and then hits the reverse XPLODER on Sami. KINSHASA on Sami! Nakamura looks for a ladder, Owens tries to stop him and Nakamura takes him out with another Kinshasa. Back in and Nakamura climbs, but Styles is back and they lock eyes. They push the ladder aside, and then go wild with strikes and beat the hell out of each other. Nakamura locks in the sleeper, and hits the reverse XPLODER. Kinshasa is countered by the running forearm strike of Styles. Styles now looks to climb, but Nakamura is alive and also climbs. They battle up top, trading strikes as the crowd chants for both men. They keep trading, but Corbin is back and topples over the ladder, climbs and grabs the case and wins. Baron Corbin won @ 29:50 [****½] After a slow first portion, the final ¾ of the match was just excellent; from the weaving in of the recent feuds, the continuation of Sami and Owens trying to ruin each other, the comeback of Nakamura which gave the match amazing live and gave the crowd something to invest in and then the great face off of Styles & Nakamura (serving as a tease of the future match) to Corbin pissing ion everyone’s corn flakes, ruining the Styles & Nakamura party and stealing the win. Everyone played their role well, and at the end of the day, they produced one of the very best MITB matches with fun big spots and some great drama throughout. They have a lot coming out of this besides the Corbin win; Styles vs. Nakamura, Styles vs. Owens, Nakamura vs. Owens, and of course Sami vs. Owens.
“Mama says these my magic shoes. Mama said they would take me anywhere…”
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