Dolph Ziggler def. Baron Corbin (C) and Bobby Roode – United States Championship
I’m surprised in a plethora of ways here. First, I’m obviously surprised at the winner. Ziggler was added in at the last minute without any real reason why, and I didn’t see him having any shot at winning this match, as I believed the primary feud was between Baron Corbin and Bobby Roode. But I suppose this gives Ziggler something to do for the time being at the very least. Or perhaps this is merely a transitional run. Either way, getting to the match, this was about as quality as an opener could get, and considering the absolutely terrible build this match got, this match way over-delivered. I suspected this was going to be the match that would open the show next to the tag match, but they did a great job of maintaining a consistent pace throughout the match, and Roode and Ziggler’s involvement carried the pace of the match.
There was one particular sequence I loved, at that was when Bobby Roode hit Ziggler with the Glorious DDT, and Corbin attempted to steal the pin, but Roode threw him out, which I’d like to believe was a play on to the triple threat US Title match at Hell In A Cell. The crowd was also into it, and rightfully so because this was a high-paced, energetic and fun opener. Considering the lazy booking, this match had a sense of urgency. ***1/2
The Usos (C) def. The New Day, Aiden English/Rusev and Shelton Benjamin and Chad Gable – Smackdown Tag Team Championship
Not sure what was in the water, but everyone seems motivated tonight for some reason. This was another quality match that featured great near-falls, crowd psychology, and the chemistry between all four of the teams. I personally would have had Aiden English and Rusev win here just for the sake of capitalizing on the momentum the team has built up, but The Usos winning, I think, was ultimately the right decision in hindsight. They are the top tag team of 2017, and the appropriate move for me was to have them maintain the titles to end the year. I sincerely believe Rusev and Aiden’s time is coming. It has to come because the crowd has become very immersed in their gimmick. The ending portions of the match, with Rusev, constantly coming up short on winning and Gable’s crazy suplexes were also fun to watch too. I think Aiden English may damn well have a concussion after what he took. Overall, I enjoyed myself here, and it ended with the right team winning for the moment in my opinion. It took a while for the match to find a groove, but it got going in a big way once it did. It’ll be interesting to see how things progress from here. ***
Charlotte (C) def. Natalya – Smackdown Women’s Championship (Lumberjack Match)
Wasn’t expecting much out of this match, to be honest with you. The factor that everyone was going to look at in this match was the role that the lumberjacks were going to play, and we obviously saw them interfere, including a tease from Carmella that she would cash in. Overall, their interference didn’t matter obviously as Charlotte overcame it all. The in-ring stuff was pretty average if you ask me. There wasn’t anything redeeming about it to bring it to the level of the matches that preceded it. I also don’t know what Natalya’s post-match speech was for, as I’m certain it wasn’t a retirement speech, but whatever. The women’s division for Smackdown really isn’t interesting at the moment, and Charlotte needs someone new to work with to see what she can work with. She’s only capable of doing so much. It was boring, kind of sloppy and the ending didn’t make sense either. *1/2
The Bludgeon Brothers def. Breezango
It was what it was and it was what it should have been. A squash match. Breezango, for all they’ve done this year and getting their gimmick over towards the spring and summer season, I’m disappointed they end the year going back to doing jobs. I got nothin else. No rating.
Kevin Owens and Sami Zayn def. Randy Orton and Shinsuke Nakamura – If Owens and Sami lose, they are fired (Special Guest Referees: Daniel Bryan and Shane McMahon)
The winners of this match weren’t surprising at all. I was just waiting to see how long it would take for the foolishness in the match to begin, and it didn’t take long. Two referees in the match just threw everything out of whack and the flow simply wasn’t there. The crowd was stone cold for the majority of it and it wasn’t until the cheap method of getting a pop, being revealing the announcer’s table, did the crowd elicit a reaction of something major. We all knew that when it came down to it, Bryan and Shane would fight over the pinfalls and all of that. Kevin, being the sly heel that he is, pushed D-Bry into Shane, which caused everything to unravel. What I fail to understand is why Daniel simply couldn’t tell Shane that KO clearly shoved him from behind to shut him up instead of just having Shane yell at him for a perceived wrongdoing. I really couldn’t get into it at all because the story didn’t involve the wrestlers so much as it was the non-competitors. It went on too long if that was the finish that they were getting at, they sort of just existed, and I’m not sure how great a match is if the finish makes me audibly laugh. Couldn’t care less who turns heel out of this because neither is a full-time WWE competitor.
While it wasn’t horrible per say, I just couldn’t get invested in it, because it was predictable and there was nothing entertaining about the referee shenanigans. This was the overbooked mess I feared it was going to be. *1/4
AJ Styles (C) def. Jinder Mahal – WWE Championship
I was fearful that WWE was going to put the title back on Jinder simply because that’s the kind of thing I’d expect WWE to do, but thankfully they came to their senses, and we enter WrestleMania season once again beginning with AJ Styles as the standard bearer and the WWE Champion. In this bout, we had a battle of body parts and the match was going to be determined by who could sustain more pain to that area more. With Styles, it was his ribs. With Jinder, it was his legs. Jinder has worked a very basic heel formula in all of his matches for this year, so it would be up to Styles to be a bit more creative and carry the flow of the match. If I were to do things again in hindsight, the tag team match probably should have been the main event. Not because it was the biggest or best match of the night, but because the most fluctuating characters and storylines were present in that match. That would explain why the crowd really couldn’t get into it, because not only do the Singh brothers have more heat than Jinder, AJ can’t carry someone who works Jinder’s style to a match beyond four stars or so. Despite that, it was a basic back and forth and fine for what it was. I also liked that AJ got a submission victory, forcing him to change it up a bit, as we haven’t seen him win an important match with the Calf Crusher in a while. The Singh Brothers proved to not be such a big deal in hindsight, and overall it was an okay ending to an okay night. The Jinder experiment was…er…intriguing, but I believe it would be best for all parties to move on. We can revisit Jinder again once he works on, well, everything. Bring on Styles vs. Nakamura. ***1/4
Conclusion:
The last PPV of this year was a microcosm of WWE’s performance on PPV this year for the most part. Nothing great, nothing downright terrible, just meh. The show started off well enough with two straight energetic matches, but again, just like all of this year, the momentum couldn’t be carried through the entire match. We sort of hit a wall with the women’s match because it couldn’t match the energy of what came before, the squash match didn’t help, and we got the predictable overbooked fiasco in the tag team match. Styles/Mahal was okay, but it wasn’t something I’d probably enjoy watching again. Thumbs firmly in the middle for Clash of Champions 2017.
