WWE HIAC 2016 Review: One Heck Of A Show!

Hi, I’m Justin Watry. You may remember me from such classic columns as March 2012’s “WWE WrestleMania 28: Sheamus Should Defeat Daniel Bryan in Less Than a Minute” and October 2015’s “WWE NXT: Bobby Roode, You’re Next.”

Backstory

Posted six columns last week, knowing this one would be a WWE Heck on a Deck 2016 pay-per-view review. If you missed any of my stuff from the past seven days, check out my Twitter account because there was a lot of content. Now onto the wrestling…

Kickoff Show – Didn’t see any of the talking. The Packers/Falcons game ended just as the six man cruiserweight tag team bout was beginning. That is when I tuned in. The two non-wrestling fans I was hanging out with didn’t seem to care about any of the guys, mocked them, asked what the ‘division’ is, and overall ripped on the whole thing. Usually pretty fair to WWE and its programming. Not for this. Consider that a small sample size but also pretty telling of the current outlook for all these faceless cruiserweights on RAW in 2016. I actually liked what I saw and consider it a big improvement of the usual Monday presentation.

Roman Reigns vs. Rusev – I was fine with this as the opener. Many expected it would be. Like 2009 when there were THREE cell matches on the same show, it is only logical to start with the steel structure. Makes sense to me. Obviously, Reigns was going to retain. That part of the equation was known beforehand. What was NOT known was the quality of the match, and well, it was great. No surprise to anybody that has been paying attention. Reigns delivers again on pay-per-view. Rusev loses another feud but has a chance to look very strong on Raw going forward. His act has been refreshed from earlier this year. Win-win for both.

Bayley vs. Dana Brooke – On Twitter late Sunday night, I noted that the finish was pretty decisive here. That is my main takeaway. There was no BS. No Emma(lina) returning. Nothing. Just Bayley winning, ending this debacle of a story line and moving on. If she is NOT moving to the Raw Women’s Title picture next, I’d be shocked. She handily beat Dana on PPV, and unless Nia Jax is standing in her way, the path is clear.

Enzo/Big Cass vs. Luke Gallows/Karl Anderson – The heels needed the win. The faces really don’t. Didn’t care for the pre-match promo from Enzo and Cass. The live crowds love them. However, I find their material to be hit or miss. When they are on, it is awesome. When they are off, it is like ‘eh, just get to the match.’ Gallows and Anderson should have won the belts at Summerslam, but whatever, we are beyond that. Just don’t have them lose in two minutes on Raw again. Enough of that.

Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins – This story line has been more about Chris Jericho and his list than the WWE Universal Championship and Seth Rollins looking to get revenge. Remember when Triple H cost him the title? When Stephanie McMahon denied she had involvement? Or that bizarre week where they focused on Mick Foley and what HE possibly knew? All the doubting of lovable Steph, blah, blah, blah. This thing fell off the rails weeks ago. Luckily, we all knew they were quality wrestlers and would give us an entertaining bout inside the cell. We always knew that was coming, so we could deal with the buildup.

I liked this bout being in the middle of the pay-per-view because there was a HIGH chance of a heel winning due to interference. Get that over with here and let them do their thing. Both guys worked hard, and the Chris Jericho run-in was about as logical as one can expect during HIAC. Heels being heels, that was nice to see. With Rollins on a collision course with HHH and him losing many Universal Title matches in the past, it was pretty clear who was winning. With Survivor Series being a rare PPV in Canada, I would take advantage of the setting and make Owens/Jericho the title match. My fear is they will just be added to the brand split battle. That’d be pretty disappointing.

TJ Perkins vs. Brian Kendrick – If I was in charge, TJ Perkins would have won, been presented as an actual star on Monday night and reigned as champion for awhile. Really make him something special after his Cruiserweight Classic tournament victory. Sadly, I predicted a title change based on a number of factors – last week’s Raw being the clincher for me. Kendrick asking Perkins to lay down for him basically told us this exact ending was happening. Plus, you add in the heel losing before a pay-per-view (usually signals the opposite result happening in six days), Rich Swann saying he was going for the title next, and all the noise (or lack thereof) about the division needing a shakeup. Signaled the end of Perkins as champion. Predictable but maybe exactly what is needed – an actual heel to lead the division. My only criticism is Perkins saw through Kendrick all this time…but fell for his antics on Sunday. Ugh.

The New Day vs. Sheamus/Cesaro – Yep, another pay-per-view loss for The New Day. Another day of tag team champions though! I swear, this HAS to be a heel turn. I wrote about it last week, but am I the only one seeing this? No way can this be by accident.

The New Day did not defend their tag titles at Survivor Series, FastLane, WM32, Payback, and now Battleground. Just saying… #WWE

— Justin Watry (@JustinWatry) July 27, 2016

Also, the team lost at Summerslam and also lost last night at Heck on a Deck.

I mean, seriously! This is NOT me being a ‘hater’ or making things up. The New Day are supposed to be beloved faces about to break the record for longest reigning tag champs of all-time. Sorry, not buying it. This thing has stunk for months now. The match was fine, and I actually didn’t even mind the finish too much (I picked the champs to retain), but this is about the bigger picture.

Something is going on here.

Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte – The rightful main event and one that has been planned for a few weeks now. Make no mistake folks, the ‘reports’ from the past week about the pay-per-view main event slot debate have been garbage. Mick Foley spilled the beans weeks ago before quickly backtracking, probably because he got a talking to. The official WWE website had this listed as the top match on their website all along. The two women just main evented RAW earlier in October (guess who runs that show?). Even the ringside chairs in Boston were for them! Geez. Don’t believe the dubious rumors. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte was headlining from the get go. I would also add in another fact to confirm they were the main event, but it hasn’t been announced yet, so I will save it for another time. As much as everybody wants to foolishly pile on Vince McMahon in 2016, this was not one of those cases. The decision was already made during the buildup, and it was the correct one.

The women have deserved to headline a pay-per-view for some time now. I remember writing multiple columns last year saying it should happen. Ironically, days after that, it was announced Bayley vs. Sasha Banks would main event the next NXT Takeover live special. The truth is as awesome as this is for WWE, now that it has happened, it needs to be put on the back burner. For instance, let me ask all of you a question.

How many times has a women’s match main evented the weekly NXT show?

…

You don’t know, and I don’t know.

That’s the point.

It has now happened enough where it is no longer a big deal or even referenced. Just a normal thing that is not worth making a big fuss about. They belong there, so who cares? That SHOULD be the case now going forward. We got by the “first ever” occurrence, so now move forward without it even mentioning. Main event them when necessary. Heck, The Miz vs, Dolph Ziggler should have last month. The opportunity called for it, so do it! My belief is Becky Lynch vs. Alex Bliss should main event Smackdown next week (first ever for the blue brand). Do it. I would like to think we are beyond all the worrying and hype behind the decision. The women’s revolution was a took big steps back in 2015 (yes, it did), and officially evolved in 2016 to where the entire division is deserving of the main event spot.

Mission accomplished. Lots of crow being fed today.

As for the match, I loved the pre-match promo. I loved the entire feeling of anticipation all evening. I loved the atmosphere (BossTown) of the showdown. I loved the entrances. I loved everything about presentation before the bell rang. The cheap attack was brilliant and prefect to get fans to rally behind their hometown hero from the beginning. Charlotte was instantly the biggest heel in the world, and Sasha Banks was the reliant fighting champion. Yeah, most of us were aware of the Mick Foley 1998 flashbacks. Still, it worked.

Once the match officially began, it went just as expected. Both tried to top the other and cause damage while looking to prove they are the rightful Womens Champion. There was a scary feeling of fear for their safety based on past clashes but luckily, they kept it…kinda tame. Kinda but still a few spots were ridiculous. The tables did not cooperate (maybe due to them weighting less?). However, several tables have NOT broken before during make matches, so those things just happen. Bums you out but part of the show – live is live. Sometimes it works perfectly, sometimes it doesn’t. Oh well, can’t do anything about that.

Fit in fine as a pay-per-view main event in 2016. Was better than Bray Wyatt vs. Randy Orton. Was better than Kevin Owens vs. Seth Rollins. Maybe even more exciting that Brock Lesnar vs. Randy Orton. Sasha Banks vs. Charlotte belonged out there and proved all the doubters wrong. While not an all-time classic, history as made just as it was intended to. Women main evented a pay-per-view. My hope is the next time it happens, nobody blinks. Nobody mentions it or even makes note of it. When that goes down is anybody’s guess.

Now about the finish? Certainly not what I would have done. In the main event of a feud ender with the face in their hometown, um yeah. That screams for a clean Sasha Banks victory. Pretty simple. Basic Wrestling 101 rules there. Why switch the title AGAIN? To protect Charlotte’s one on one PPV record? Alright, this felt like a fair time to break that streak. Well, not to be sarcastic, but is Sasha hurt again? I ask seriously. Hopefully not. Also, with how quickly Bayley won her match, is WWE ready to go with her over Charlotte? A transitional reign or something. I don’t know. My prediction for months now has been we get Sasha/Bayley at WrestleMania 33 with a heel turn in early 2017 for The Boss. My guess is that is still the end game, but maybe the company is taking a few detours to get to the destination…

Summary: One heck of a show! Good cell bouts, nice mid-card fun, a fun Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg video package included, new Cruiserweight Champion crowned, and historic evening for wrestling. Questionable main event finish indeed but nothing to take away from the spectacle. Survivor Series is next for WWE. Not a fan of the RAW vs. Smackdown stuff, but I suppose it may be interesting. Brock Lesnar vs. Bill Goldberg is the true selling point, and THAT will be plenty of fun.

Self Promotion

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