Csonka’s WWE Super Show-Down Takeaways

WELCOME back to column time with Larry! Today, I am going to discuss the WWE Super Show-Down event (Review Here). This was the latest special international event from WWE and drew a reported 70,000 (likely for entertainment purposes only number) fans. I have some takeaways from the show I’d like to discuss today. Feel free to share yours in the comment section. Thanks for reading! It’s wrestling, we love it and will disagree. The only rules are to “have a take, be respectful, and don’t be a dick.” Thanks for reading.

i think john is transforming into… a republican pic.twitter.com/RTrDe55aiD

— Boo! haha j/k (@BossMoz) October 6, 2018

I CANNOT UNSEE THIS: That is all.

BUDDY. FUCKING. MURPHY: In all honesty and without hyperbole, I think that Buddy Murphy is not only the comeback wrestler of the year but that his career resurgence has been one of the best things to happen in 2018. Following his short run with Wesley Blake in NXT, Murphy became (pardon the pun) a forgotten son. The good brother Buddy Murphy was lost, stuck floundering on the coconut loop of Florida shows at most, and couldn’t find NXT TV with a WWE Network subscription. Sure he had Alexa Bliss to come home to, but professionally his career had stalled and was going nowhere. It’s one of those stories of a talent going to management repeatedly, pitching ideas, being shot down, and reportedly on the bubble and almost cut. He made one last pitch when Triple H took over 205 Live, legit offering to cut weight and work on 205 Live. Triple H took over, Enzo was gone, and a tournament for the new champion was started. Murphy, a surprise entry, and a guy most forgot was even under contract was part of that, impressed, and earned a full-time spot on the brand. Since then, he’s done nothing but deliver consistently in high-quality TV matches as well as some of the company’s best matches of 2018. If you’ve been paying attention and have good taste in wrestling, the Juggernaut is no longer the best-kept secret in WWE, he has arrived, and his hard work paid off with not only a championship win but one in his hometown in front of a huge crowd. The success of Buddy Murphy is absolutely one of my favorite stories of 2018, and by the end of the year, may top my list.

WWE Threw Us a Curveball & I Was REALLY Wrong: In a way, I should have seen this coming (not the short match, but the Bryan win), but I think I got a bit too caught up in my own fantasy booking (maybe not fantasy booking, but I had a hard vision on where this was going, and I was wrong). I had Miz winning here, further ruining Bryan’s comeback and moving on to beat AJ Styles for the WWE Title. From there I expected Miz to pull the chicken shit deal where he refuses to defend against, leading to Bryan winning the Rumble of Elimination Chamber to get that title shot. Boy oh boy was I wrong here. Bryan was coming off of several losses, and got revenge. Miz attacked the ribs of Bryan that were hurt on Smackdown, they did some back and forth, and Bryan countered a skull-crushing finale into a small package and won clean as a sheet in under three minutes. Now I understand that live fans in attendance that were looking forward to seeing Bryan and Miz and were frustrated that Undertaker’s entrance lasted longer than this match, and I can’t blame them. If you paid to go to the show and you feel robbed, I won’t argue with you. Personally, I like a lot of this. Bryan gets some sweet revenge and a WWE Title shot against AJ Styles at WWE Sweet Saudi Money II. I also really love the flash pin/surprise finish as they don’t do it often so it actually comes off as a real shock, and was Bryan proving he could outwrestle Miz and win clean, which Miz claimed Bryan couldn’t do and would fail again. I’m guessing that Miz will cost Bryan his title shot at WWE Sweet Saudi Money II, possibly leading to a triple threat with AJ vs. Miz vs. Bryan, possibly at TLC, which doesn’t sound horrible at all. If that’s the plan then you have some different ways to go. Miz could win the title and my original plan is still viable, Bryan wins and it ends in a different version of what I envisioned, likely a Miz screw job of Bryan or later on a MITB win by Miz, or finally, AJ just retains and continues on with his long title reign and moves onto someone fresh.

Undertaker vs. Triple H: I had no grandiose expectations heading into this match, I knew that it was all about building to HBK’s return, and was hoping for a fun and intense brawl. The no DQ stipulation was added moments before the match, but I expected this to be a smartly worked match between two veterans and figured that all of the shortcut and smoke & mirrors could be in play. But still, the thought of The Undertaker vs. Triple H in 2018 wasn’t exactly exciting, I thought that these two were smart enough to work enough of a smart match before they get to the real point of this match (building to HBK’s return) and that it will be solid and maybe even good. I had faith in these former top stars; I thought that they were smart enough to pull this off because there is ALWAYS room for legends to be used on a big card, when used properly. Look at NJPW’s use of the third generation stars/New Japan Dads; Liger, Tiger Mask IV, Kojima, Tenzan, Nakanishi, & Nagata. All former top guys, all former decorated champion, stars of the 90s that are still loved by fans and still working today. They help work with the young lions and also help advance the future stars of the company. They have enough star power, clot, and skill left that them winning matches, gaining an occasional low-level title shot, or main eventing a special Korakuen Hall is no problem, and at the same time, when they put someone over, it also means something. Some will take this the wrong way, but this isn’t a WWE vs. NJPW thing although some will try to make it that. This is me explaining that I have no issue with any company using former big-time stars in appropriate roles. Undertaker and Triple H still have star power, they are loved, and they still have something to give to the business, under the right circumstances. For as much as I like Triple H for his work with developmental, and a lot of his vision as a businessman, he still has flaws when it comes to laying out his big-time matches. He still, to this day, gets in this Ric Flair mindset where he has to work these overly long vanity matches, and while the matches have good ideas, the execution often fails, like his Mania match with Reigns. The match felt so damn long like it would never end…

They didn’t use all of their experience to their best here, and I thought that this was an absolutely atrocious professional wrestling match, bordering on embarrassing. This was a HHH vanity match, it had all the bells and whistles, and even that couldn’t save it. In 2018, there is no way, under any circumstances, that these two should be going anywhere 28-minutes. It was slow, they were falling all over themselves at times, and Taker looked like he was about to have a heart attack. And when it was over, I felt as if I woke up from a long coma. I had to shave, my daughters had moved out & got married, the cats were dead, my wife traded me in for a pair of 20-year-olds (and good on her); I thought that time stood still as I was pulled into this vortex of absolute shit, and then it kept going at a glacial pace. If I wanted to pay $10 to watch two 50-years olds have a sloppy and shitty brawl that looked faker than the spottiest spotfest, I’d stroll down to the corner bar on a USC vs. Clemson night. I know some don’t think that it was bad, and there are actually some that think it was a great and heated match. That’s the beauty of wrestling, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure. All I know is that I have reviewed over 600 shows so far in 2018, covering over 3000 matches, and this was easily one of the biggest pieces of dog shit the world of wrestling has produced this year. When you watch and review as much as I have over the years, the really great and really bad stick out with ease, and this stuck out in a bad, bad way…

– End Scene.

– Thanks for reading.

“Byyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyye Felicia!”