BRM Reviews WWE Great Balls of Fire

All WWE/F Related Reviews and Discussions
Post Reply
User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

BRM Reviews WWE Great Balls of Fire

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 9th, '17, 22:08

WWE Great Balls of Fire (7/9/2017)- Dallas, TX

KICK-OFF SHOW:
I’ve actually got it muted on my TV while I watch Evolve 88 on my computer, but I couldn’t help but notice (damn you and your cute smile, Renee Young, for distracting me I’m trying to watch two half-naked men roll around on the mat together. Can’t you see I’m trying to watch Tracy Williams put Darby Allin in a wristlock?!) that, based on the graphic at the bottom of the screen, they appeared to be talking about the Punjabi Prison Match between Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal, a match which takes places Smackdown’s July PPV, Battleground- i.e. NOT ON THIS SHOW. If you’ve got enough time to hype a match for a PPV from the other brand, two weeks away, then maybe the pre-show doesn’t need to be so damn long. Or at least the boring talking parts. Maybe we could give some extra time to the wrestling match? Please?

The other thing I saw, as I came back from getting my pizza, was that Dana Brooke and Emma are going to do… something. Make a plan, I think. Whatever it is, it seems like it can only increase the chances of Alexa Bliss! retaining the title tonight, which is a good thing because I want Alexa to be the champion forever.
Also, I heard Renee Young refer to Dean Ambrose as “the most must-see Superstar today.” That’s a completely biased opinion. Don’t you just hate those?


WWE CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE MATCH: Neville(c) vs. Tozawa (w/Titus O’Neil)- 6/10
We interrupted this match for a commercial for the very service that nearly everyone watching this match is already using. And do they really think that if there is someone who isn’t subscribed to the WWE Network after a month’s worth of hype for BROCK LESNAR VS. SAMOA JOE, that the same stupid commercial we always see finally make them change their mind?
They had a fine match for the time they were given. Neville won debatably cleanly, but the move the move that ultimately put Tozawa down was the dreaded kick to the stomach, so Tozawa is dead anyway, no matter whether you thought Neville dumping Tozawa on his crotch on the ropes was intentional or not.

MAIN SHOW:
OPENING VIDEO PACKAGE- it’s got a 1950’s drive-in movie theme. You know… because championships and ambulance matches and SAMOA F*CK JOE VS. BROCK F*CKING LESNAR are all things that you should definitely be trying to get me excited for via stupid, kitchy humor.

BRAY WYATT vs. SETH ROLLINS- 7/10
Apparently the official name of Seth Rollins’ knock-off Rainmaker knee-strike is… “the spin-out knee.” It’s been MONTHS and they couldn’t come up with anything better than that? Really?
Both guys work the head. Bray got Rollins angry, and when the ref tried to pull Seth off of him because Seth was in the ropes, Bray poked him in the eye, then hit Sister Abigail for the win. Cole put a lot of focus on Seth losing his temper being the thing that let Bray set up the eye-poke. I’m not sure how that will play into the whole overarching “false prophet” angle, but if it does, this finish will have been an excellent way get there.

CHARLY CARUSO INTERVIEWS THE HARDY BOYZ- Matt’s stuff sounded obnoxiously scripted but that was on purpose because he was trying to slip his various broken buzzwords in to the promo. Jeff sounded much more natural, until that painful “we break bars” line at the end (and him saying it in unison with Matt only made it worse).

ENZO AMORE PROMO- a good promo, but this is a freakin’ PPV.

COLIN CASSADY vs. ENZO AMORE- 2.5/10
This was basically a squash. They did enough to make Enzo look like a fighter and Cass certainly looked dominant, so they achieved their goal, but the match gets a low rating because it was so one-sided and not particularly entertaining for most of it. I probably could have rated it as a segment, but I decided not to.

30 MINUTE IRONMAN MATCH: Sheamus & Cesaro(c) vs. The Hardy Boyz- 9/10
This was nothing more than a couple of extremely well done rounds of the standard babyface in peril stuff combined with a couple of excellently-designed falls. MAJOR props are due to whoever put this match together. That being said, it would have been nice if they had showed us that last tag between Sheamus and Cesaro because I sure as hell didn’t see it, or anything that even looked close to it.

WWE RAW WOMEN’S TITLE MATCH: Alexa Bliss!(c) vs. Sasha Banks- 6.75/10
Alexa worked over Sasha’s back while Sasha get going for the Banks Statement. They had what was on track to be a really great match until it was cut short by a terrible count-out finish. IT’S A F*CKING PPV! This is a TV finish.

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- Sasha was angry so she jumped Alexa from behind while Alexa was heading up the ramp. Sasha dove off of the announcers’ table and hit Alexa (who was down on the floor) with the Meteora, which looked extremely un-fun to take for Alexa. What was the point of doing this? To let Sasha get revenge on Alexa? Why does she need to do that right now? And if the reason for doing this big spot was to make up for the sh*tty finish then maybe you just shouldn’t have booked a sh*tty finish in the first place.

TITUS O’NEIL & AKIRA TOZAWA BACKSTAGE- the sound cut out on my WWE Network so I couldn’t hear what was said.

WWE INTERCONTINENTAL TITLE MATCH: The Miz(c) (w/Maryse & The Miz-tourage) vs. Dean Ambrose- 4.5/10
Miz worked over Dean’s knee but Dean didn’t sell it particularly well. Miz won through lots of dog and pony show stuff. At one point Dean had Miz beat put Maryse put Miz’s foot on the rope. While this is technically a heel spot, I was kind of happy that it happened because it confirms to us that Douchebag Dean’s plan to ruin Miz and Maryse’s happy marriage just so he can win a wrestling feud has failed.

AMBULANCE MATCH: Braun Strowman vs. Roman Reigns- 7/10
Braun Strowman, the most badass badass in the history of badasses, just went all Ishii on Roman’s chairshots to his (uninjured) arm… an unlike with Ishii, it doesn’t feel dumb and pointless because it didn’t happen at a totally random point in the match.
These guys had the great brawl you were expecting them to have, but that finish made Roman look like such an idiot. And speaking of things that don’t make Roman look good, next we got a…

POST-MATCH SEGMENT- WHO THE F*CK THOUGHT THIS WAS A GOOD IDEA?!
Roman comes out of the ambulance, spears the unsuspecting Strowman, beats him up, throws him into the ambulance, closes the doors, carjacks the driver, and starts driving away. You’ll remember that Roman had previously told Braun “I will drive you straight to hell” so I was getting really concerned that Roman had snapped and was going to drive the ambulance off of a bridge or something and commit a murder-suicide. Instead, he merely drove it into the parking lot, then backed up at high speed and slammed the ambulance into a parked car. Yes, really. ROMAN REIGNS JUST TRIED TO MURDER BRAUN STROWMAN.
They showed us everyone being concerned and them trying to open the ambulance to see if Braun was okay but they couldn’t do so and had to call the fire department. Meanwhile, they sent Heath Slater and Curt Hawkins out to the ring to have a match. The crowd predictably responded by chanting “WE WANT BALOR!” because Finn Balor inexplicably wasn’t booked on this PPV. I assume they were sent out there for this match so that we wouldn’t have to watching them waiting around until Braun was rescued, but once the “fire department” (whose truck actually said “U.S. Air Force” on the front) showed up, we cut right away from the match (although we were allowed to hear that Slater won) and got to spend several minutes watching them cut Braun Strowman out of the ambulance. They tried to Braun onto the stretcher but he fought them off and stumbled to the ground a few times, but he got back to his feet and limped away on his own, like the biggest babyface ever.
But yeah. ROMAN REIGNS JUST COMMITTED ATTEMPTED MURDER. And the closest anyone ever came to criticizing him for his actions was Corey Graves saying that attempted murder was going “a little too far.” No sh*t.

WWE UNIVERSAL TITLE MATCH: Brock Lesnar(c) (w/Paul Heyman) vs. Samoa Joe- DUD!
Joe jumps Brock before the bell and beats on Brock, ending with an STJoe through the Spanish (or maybe German) announcers’ table.
“Joe’s gonna kill you!” chants. Sorry, everyone, but it’s the other Samoan named Joe that we all need to be worried about committing homicide.
They did stuff all building around the Coquina Clutch… and then Brock hit the F-5 and won. F*ck that. I’ve been waiting over a DECADE to see two of the biggest badasses in wrestling go at it, and they don’t even go six and a half minutes? F*CK YOU, WWE! I gave them a pass at Mania because I figured maybe Goldberg didn’t want to go more than five minutes and WWE was stuck, but this one is total f*cking bullsh*t. After a month’s worth of awesome build they could have made Joe’s WWE career here with an epic match, even if he lost clean, but instead they decided to flush that build right down the toilet and bury Joe as a guy who couldn’t hang with Brock even when he assaulted Brock and put him through an announcers’ table right before the match.
At this point they’ve totally killed Brock as a draw for me because I don’t trust that I’ll get a real match out of him anymore. The only person I can see them letting him have a real match with is Roman when they finally give Roman that big win that will make us all start to like him all of a sudden. Is this really worth the money they’re paying Brock? To run away with the top championship for months at a time in between occasionally showing up for a disappointing match that barely goes longer than the combined total of its entrances?



Before the end of the women’s match I was thinking to myself that this might turn out to be a really awesome show, but then WWE had to ruin just about everything from that point on. How dumb can you get? I'm off to finish last night's EVOLVE show, where I know I'm going to get a real main event and some competent booking. F*ck WWE.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
Serujuunin
Posts: 2441
Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 19:56

Re: BRM Reviews WWE Great Balls of Fire

Post by Serujuunin » Jul 9th, '17, 22:15

Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 9th, '17, 22:08 MAJOR props are due to whoever put this match together. That being said, it would have been nice if they had showed us that last tag between Sheamus and Cesaro because I sure as hell didn’t see it, or anything that even looked close to it.
If it's anything like the big tag team matches from their heyday, the Hardys probably got together with Sheamus and Cesaro and hashed it all out on their own- that's what happened for most of the big TLC matches and the like, from what I understand.
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 9th, '17, 22:08At this point they’ve totally killed Brock as a draw for me because I don’t trust that I’ll get a real match out of him anymore.
Welcome to my life. I haven't been able to buy him as a draw since he came back, and the first match of his that I was excited for, they totally sh*t on. I'm out. Brock Lesnar is bottom-tier garbage.

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: BRM Reviews WWE Great Balls of Fire

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 9th, '17, 22:47

Serujuunin wrote: Jul 9th, '17, 22:15
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 9th, '17, 22:08 MAJOR props are due to whoever put this match together. That being said, it would have been nice if they had showed us that last tag between Sheamus and Cesaro because I sure as hell didn’t see it, or anything that even looked close to it.
If it's anything like the big tag team matches from their heyday, the Hardys probably got together with Sheamus and Cesaro and hashed it all out on their own- that's what happened for most of the big TLC matches and the like, from what I understand.
Yeah, but this was a different level of genius. If I remember right, Cesaro and Sheamus some semi-similar finish when they first gelled as a team where one guy got hit with the move but the other had gotten the tag and dove on the guy and pinned him, so my guess is one of them. Not that the Hardys aren't creative, but this felt very out of the ordinary. Like someone approaching things from an angle we don't normally see. The Hardys do that outside of the ring, but I've seen little evidence of them doing it inside of the ring, so that leaves Cesaro, Sheamus, or possibly an agent.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
Serujuunin
Posts: 2441
Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 19:56

Re: BRM Reviews WWE Great Balls of Fire

Post by Serujuunin » Jul 9th, '17, 23:59

Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 9th, '17, 22:47
Serujuunin wrote: Jul 9th, '17, 22:15
Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 9th, '17, 22:08 MAJOR props are due to whoever put this match together. That being said, it would have been nice if they had showed us that last tag between Sheamus and Cesaro because I sure as hell didn’t see it, or anything that even looked close to it.
If it's anything like the big tag team matches from their heyday, the Hardys probably got together with Sheamus and Cesaro and hashed it all out on their own- that's what happened for most of the big TLC matches and the like, from what I understand.
Yeah, but this was a different level of genius. If I remember right, Cesaro and Sheamus some semi-similar finish when they first gelled as a team where one guy got hit with the move but the other had gotten the tag and dove on the guy and pinned him, so my guess is one of them. Not that the Hardys aren't creative, but this felt very out of the ordinary. Like someone approaching things from an angle we don't normally see. The Hardys do that outside of the ring, but I've seen little evidence of them doing it inside of the ring, so that leaves Cesaro, Sheamus, or possibly an agent.
It could also be one of those instances where they bring out the best in each other, and a mixing of the ideas produced some really good ones. Quality teamwork!

User avatar
KILLdozer
Posts: 5930
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 22:54

Re: BRM Reviews WWE Great Balls of Fire

Post by KILLdozer » Jul 10th, '17, 16:06

Hey, I just saw that Bray Wyatt is 182-424-10.

Win, lose, and draws lol.
When they come, they'll come at what you love.

User avatar
XIV
Posts: 1802
Joined: Aug 19th, '13, 11:38

Re: BRM Reviews WWE Great Balls of Fire

Post by XIV » Jul 10th, '17, 16:10

Alexa's same trick was left just long enough that I forgot she could do it. Freaked out for a second then remembered with a fond smile that she could do that. Brilliant.

The main event was bullshit.

How monsterous does Braun look now!?

FOUR blood spots in one PPV. Though I suspect only the Braun one was fake.

Sheamus/Cesar and Hardyz was brilliant barring the fact Hardy did have his shoulder up at one point on that final pin.

Enzo's promo was great, but what's the point? Without Cass I fear he will drop into obscurity.

What the hell did Bo Dallas look like!? Axel put on a suit very in keeping with the Miz's whole appearance and character and Dallas just looked like every teenager's attempt at dressing up as the American Bad Ass Undertaker persona from 2002.

Oh and finally, I continue to be disappointed as Seth Rollins still fails to connect with he crowd. He's just not a very good long term face.

Oh, and yeah, Roman Reigns attempting murder on Strowman has to be punished tonight right? Right?!!
Have A Nice Day!

User avatar
Big Red Machine
Posts: 27378
Joined: Dec 16th, '10, 15:12

Re: BRM Reviews WWE Great Balls of Fire

Post by Big Red Machine » Jul 10th, '17, 16:31

XIV wrote: Jul 10th, '17, 16:10 Alexa's same trick was left just long enough that I forgot she could do it. Freaked out for a second then remembered with a fond smile that she could do that. Brilliant.
Exactly
XIV wrote: Jul 10th, '17, 16:10
FOUR blood spots in one PPV. Though I suspect only the Braun one was fake.
To be fair, neither Matt not Alexa bleeding was planned.
XIV wrote: Jul 10th, '17, 16:10 Sheamus/Cesar and Hardyz was brilliant barring the fact Hardy did have his shoulder up at one point on that final pin.
I didn't notice that. Maybe they'll use it to build to a rematch at Summer Slam, but I'm really not sure what type of match is left for them to do.
XIV wrote: Jul 10th, '17, 16:10
Oh and finally, I continue to be disappointed as Seth Rollins still fails to connect with he crowd. He's just not a very good long term face.
He's definitely a guy who would benefit from being asked to talk less. He got over as a babyface in ROH by getting the sh*t lariated out of him by Nigel McGuinness, not by his promos (which have vastly improved since then, but as a babyface he can still come off as whiny). If they knew how to build someone up by focusing on the punishment they can take then Rollins would be much better off. It's yet another way that WWE's orthodox adherence to their own ridiculous doctrines hurt the promotion.
Hold #712: ARM BAR!

Upcoming Reviews:
FIP in 2005
ROH Validation
PWG All-Star Weekend V: Night 2
DGUSA Open the Ultimate Gate 2013
ROH/CMLL Global Wars Espectacular: Day 3

User avatar
Serujuunin
Posts: 2441
Joined: Dec 17th, '10, 19:56

Re: BRM Reviews WWE Great Balls of Fire

Post by Serujuunin » Jul 10th, '17, 22:37

Big Red Machine wrote: Jul 10th, '17, 16:31
XIV wrote: Jul 10th, '17, 16:10 Alexa's same trick was left just long enough that I forgot she could do it. Freaked out for a second then remembered with a fond smile that she could do that. Brilliant.
Exactly
This was me too. I actually had to look away from the screen for a minute and then went "Wait..." And then I felt stupid for getting duped lol

Post Reply

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Ahrefs [Bot] and 6 guests