Originally published on Trevor Trove on July 12, 2017
Sunday brought us apparently the first Great Balls of Fire pay-per-view because maybe it’s Vince’s favorite song from when he was a middle-aged man and wants this to be his legacy more than Wrestlemania?
Anyway, my impressions are in the video recap, with my written notes below.
Cruiserweight – Akira Tozawa (w/ manager Titus O’Neill) versus Neville. Tozawa with a couple diving headbutts.and strong early offense sealed his fate. Weak ending but decent heat from an attack on the Tozawas hung up on the rope.
Bray Wyatt vs. Seth Rollins – Bray’s 45-degree face plant on Rollins. No stakes. Commentary like “whoever wins here could take a big step in their career” makes me think of generic WWE 2K commentary. Subtle advertising for the bout featuring the cover athlete. Wyatt actually pulls off a win with the Sister Abigail after an eye poke.
Hardy Boyz promo – They definitely give Matt the mic more since Broken Matt. I also remember Jeff being the charismatic one on the promos growing up.
Enzo vs. Cass – Enzo promo all about Sinatra’s “That’s Life.” Between that and “Great Balls of Fire,” I’m fairly certain the WWE Creative team has traveled back in time and is trapped there. Cass dominates. The promo and a near count-out stretched this out longer than it needed. Cass will get the push. We’ll see where Enzo goes from here.
Tag Titles 30-minute Iron Man match – An immediate Brogue Kick and pin on Matt starts Sheamus and Cesaro with a quick 1-0 lead. Ten-minutes in and a double-team on Jeff puts Sheamus and Cesaro up 2-0. Some teamwork, a Poetry in Motion, Side Effect, and Twist of Fate on Cesaro gave the Hardy Boyz their first fall 13 minutes into the match. Cesaro throws Matt into a turnbuckle leading to a count-out. 3-1 to Sheamus and Cesaro. Matt finally gets a tag to Jeff and double team Cesaro for another pin. 3-2. Matt lands a Twist of Fate from the top turnbuckle on Sheamus. Ties it up 3-3. I definitely missed the tag that led to Cesaro being the legal man. But he landed a pin on Jeff to bring it up to 4-3. And that was all she wrote. Jeff landed a pin with less than 3 seconds left and not enough time to tie it up.
Women’s Title – Double-jointed fake-out was a great moment. Bliss is a great damn heel. Banks Statement but Alexa gets to the ropes. Ultimately, Alexa takes the loss via count out just like the Usos recently did, retaining the title in the process. Sasha then followed Alexa up the ramp and wound up jumping at her off the announce table with the double knees.
Intercontinental Title – Miz attacks Ambrose’s knee. Ambrose fights back. Miztourage interferes. Ambrose fights them off. Lands Dirty Deeds. Maryse gets Miz’s leg on the ropes to break the pin. Miztourage interferes again and Miz gets the win and retains.
Reigns vs Strowman Ambulance Match – Strowman no-selling the chair shots was solid. Reigns getting Strowman up for the Samoan Drop was sloppy but passible. Strowman going through the led wall. Reigns Spears himself into the ambulance. Roman beat Strowman down after the match and threw him in the back before driving the ambulance to the back and reversing it into a semi trailer.
Heath Slater vs Curt Hawkins – cashing in a Pay-Per-View check as compensation for their recent jobbing. And they don’t even show the end of the match.
Then back to the back to check on Braun for an extended jaws of life segment to cut the perfectly fine door off of the side of the ambulance.
Universal Championship – Joe throwing Lesnar through a table pre-match. Match starts and Joe gets some early offense. Lesnar lands a few suplexes. Joe sneaks a low blow. Cocina Clutch. Lesnar lands a few more suplexes. Another Cocina Clutch. But Lesnar lands the F5 for the win.