Well, it has already been a very eventful and newsworthy day in the world of professional wrestling. Will Payback add on to that? Only time will tell.
Speaking of time, let’s get to fast forwarding some of it. I have to get this out of the way so I can get a new start on Monday’s column. Oh, and there’s still a review column for AEW All Out tomorrow night. Busy times, but hey, it gets people talking.
Becky Lynch vs Trish Stratus – Steel Cage Match
This feud has moved almost as slowly as Lita moved in the ring when she was involved in it. For the love of Joe Pesci, this needs to be the end of it. Trish can move on to whatever it was she was doing before making this return, and Becky can move on to the mini-feud with Tiffany Stratton that is clearly coming.
For a while, it seemed like the crowd in Pittsburgh had grown weary of the feud, too, as they were pretty quiet for just about everything. Kudos to Becky and Trish for not letting that deter them, as they continued working an entertaining match, and it eventually got the crowd behind them.
Lots of physical action here. No blood, like a lot of people need from matches like this, but still lots of hard-hitting action. Trish is going to wear the battle scars of the cage for a while, as she had her face bashed against the steel over and over and over and over again, leaving her with gnarly bruises and welts in the middle of her forehead, and by the end, Trish had some bruises on her arms, too. Tons to like here. As I said, kudos to both women for doing their thing, and putting together one of WWE’s best matches of the year so far. 4.25 Stars, and that might be a bit too low, honestly.
LA Knight vs The Miz – With Special Guest Referee, John Cena
Man, these WWE live crowds continue to treat LA Knight like a really, really big deal.
I’ve said this about matches in the past, but this was a house show match. When I say that, I don’t mean that as an insult. If you’ve been to house shows, you probably aren’t going to see the five-star classics, but you’re going to see fun stuff that keeps the crowd happy, with nothing happening that is too offensive. That’s what we got here, with the addition of having a first-ballot Hall Of Famer in the Foot Locker shirt. The thing is… Knight is so popular that it doesn’t matter if he’s putting on great matches or not. At least it doesn’t matter now. Perhaps it could matter down the road if he becomes a main event guy and his matches are longer on a regular basis, but he seems pretty teflon for the time being. 3.25 Stars
Rey Mysterio vs Austin Theory – WWE United States Title Match
After the second half of the Steel Cage Match, a John Cena appearance, and an LA Knight match, the crowd was definitely exhausted here. Lots of quiet spots.
If we’re going to keep it real, this was another house show style match. It wasn’t bad or anything, but will you remember a single moment of it in a day or two? No, probably not. That’s not a knock on either Mysterio or Theory, mind you. People are just looking at other things right now. 3 Stars
Kevin Owens & Sami Zayn vs Finn Balor & Damian Priest – Steel City Street Fight for the Undisputed WWE Tag Team Titles
What a wild brawl this was. You want a tribute to Terry Funk? This match had it. You want multiple tributes to the professional sports teams of Pittsburgh? This match had them. You want blood, even if it wasn’t planned? This match had a lot of it. You want tons of PLUNDAH? This match had it.
Hectic. Chaotic. From bell-to-bell, there was so much going on here, and almost all of it was enjoyable and entertaining. Well, unless you’re someone who is tired of Judgment Day matches containing a metric fuckton of interference, that is. Those people aren’t exactly thrilled right now, as Dominik Mysterio got involved several times, followed by JD McDonagh getting involved, followed by Rhea Ripley getting involved. The match itself was really good, though, even if it didn’t end up the way I was thinking it would. 4.25 Stars, and again, that might be a tad low.
Rhea Ripley vs Raquel Rodriguez – Women’s World Title Match
In between matches, we had Grayson Waller hosting another episode of The Grayson Waller Effect, with his guest, Cody Rhodes. Cody was literally there to say a sentence or two, announcing that he used whatever backstage pull he has to get Jey Uso brought to Monday nights as the newest member of the Raw roster. Okay then. At least Jey has a better chance at becoming a World Champion now, so there’s that.
Of everything on the show, I think this will be the match that sees the most differing opinions from people. I know, for a fact, that some people really enjoyed it because of how physical it was. I also know, for a fact, that some people really disliked it because it was as slow paced as a match can be. Not that anyone should’ve expected El Hijo Del Vikingo vs Rey Fenix based on who was involved, but the pace even surprised me a bit. It was pretty much big shot, walk around a bit, big shot, walk around a bit, big shot, walk around a bit, and so on and so forth.
The match wasn’t bad at all. It was just, as I said, really slow, and the crowd didn’t seem to be that interested in many spots. I enjoyed watching two of the biggest and the baddest women in the business beating the hell out of each other, though. 3.5 Stars
Seth Rollins vs Shinsuke Nakamura – World Heavyweight Title Match
I have to point out how dumb the start of the build for this match was. We saw that segment where Nakamura whispered something in Seth’s ear, and how Seth reacted as if Nakamura had discovered an ancient, centuries-old secret about Seth’s family. That would be cool and all… if Seth didn’t have an interview a week or two earlier where he mentioned his back having multiple fractures in it.
Seth: My back is messed up.
Shinsuke: I know about your back, Seth.
Seth: HOW DID YOU LEARN ABOUT MY BACK?!?
That’s stupid. Sure, everything after that has been good, but the bad still needs to be pointed out.
Shout-out to WWE Hall Of Famer, The Great Muta, shown in the front row for this one. There’s lots of history between Muta and Nakamura, going all the way back to being on opposite sides of a New Japan tag match in 2004, and all the way up to Nakamura defeating Muta in one of the legend’s final matches on the first day of 2023.
In most scenarios, a match involving these two would probably feature a faster pace and more action. With the story being about Seth’s injured back, though, it makes a ton of sense that this was a slow-paced match. Well, it makes sense, other than the fact that Seth has been wrestling with lightning quick speed for four years with a messed up back, but is now damn near crippled simply because Nakamura watched a podcast interview.
I loved this match. Loved, loved, loved it. This was the Shinsuke Nakamura that fans have been waiting to see on the WWE main roster for years. Seth Rollins is, of course, Seth Rollins, who is one of the greatest in-ring performers to ever do it. There was a ton of physicality here, and Seth’s body is covered in welts, bruises, and rope burns. My pick for the best match of the night. 4.5 Stars
It would be difficult to ask for much more out of a non-“Big Four” event. Three of the six matches crossed over into “great” territory, and the “worst” match was still something I gave 3 stars to. Good stuff, WWE.