Jumpin said:
NXT Heatwave today (still behind, maybe I'll get to RAW as well).
Arianna Grace and Karmen Petrovic tag team is an "odd couple" type where one is a straight woman, and the other is Norma Desmond levels of histrionic - in fact, I'm pretty sure that's the direct inspiration for her character based on the faces she makes. Sunset Boulevard is a great film.
Oba Femi is Iron. Give him the F-5 as a finisher. He's the perfect guy to inherit it.
Sol Ruca was doing some Blue Blazer stuff with the ropes, brought back some memories (when I was a kid that stuff blew my mind)... Except she did a springboard 450 from the center of the top rope, which few wrestlers have ever been capable of.
I can't stop picturing a sober Macho Man Randy Savage while listening to Booker T's commentary.
Crowd is super into the Chase U match that I'm not watching, they're doing all the chants, and every now and then I hear a CRASH and "Holy Shit! Holy Shit!" I'll watch this again later when I can pay attention to the screen. Just kinda listening at this point.
Rest of the event was all very high quality and more traditional matches. The main event featuring Trick Williams, Shawn Spears, Ethan Page, and Je'Von, was probably the overall best of the traditional matches.
Some additional thoughts on Money in the Bank now that I've dwelled on it.
I watched the women's ladder match again last night, this time with my full attention. That match was very entertaining. I think the next generation is ready to take over from
Asuka, Charlotte, Becky, Baylee, and Sasha. Although, I think the veterans Naomi and Io Shirai still may have their biggest moments ahead of them.
That arena crowd was nuts (in my adopted country of Canada).
Is the signing of Randy Orton's theme a normal thing? This is the first time I recall hearing it, maybe I wasn't paying attention before.
Jacob Fatu, after looking up some more clips, I'm looking forward to seeing more from this guy in the future. I know Jim Cornette is a big fan of his. That's high praise.
Overall:
Great from top to bottom.
IMO (So far) the best matches were 1. The Women's Money in the Bank Ladder Match, 2. The Fatal 4 Way NXT Men's Championship, 3 (Tie). Sol Ruca vs Kelani Jordan, and Oba Femi vs Wes Lee would be fourth.
Weakest were the pre-show NXT Women's Tag Match - Ariana Grace and Carmen Petrovic vs Jack Jayne and Nyx (mostly because it was the shortest match of the weekend), followed by Priest vs Rollins for the Championship (though it was good from a story standpoint), Roxanne Perez vs Lola Vice, and probably Bron Steiner vs Sami Zayn. THAT SAID, these bad matches were on par or better than some of the best of the night in RAW/Smackdown PPV events from just a few years ago. All matches were entertaining.
The NXT event had better matches, but the gap between main roster and NXT is not even close to as high as it was 5-8 years ago when NXT's worst matches were significantly better than the best match on the main roster.
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