The match itself started off slow but from the point of the first fall to the end was absolutely thrilling. How do you make the final encounter even more thrilling? Push it into sudden death over time. He will most certainly thrive in this division and in this role.ģ0 MINUTE IRONMAN MATCH WOMEN’S TITLE: SASHA BANKS (c) VS. His immediate heel turn was the cherry on top. His inclusion to the cruiserweight division was only a matter of time and made the most sense. If he didn’t show up, there wouldn’t have been much to say about this match.

GOOD BOOKING: Neville turns heel establishes foothold Kendrick didn’t feel like much of a dangerous factor as he had been in his past few title matches. But with the odd psychology of Kendrick and his history with Perkins and with Perkins’ growing arrogance and his claims of Swann’s luck, you’d think the storytelling would be superb. A few slight missteps, especially in the beginning of the match, but on paper it good. TJ PERKINSīAD BOOKING: Little to no narrative despite a story TRIPLE THREAT CRUISERWEIGHT TITLE: RICH SWANN (c) VS. But in regards to the story’s narrative, this was the only way to go. Whether this allows for a swerve to happen later in the night in Kevin Owens’ match or not is up in the air. And in that aspect, there was only one way this was going and that was to continue the seemingly imminent breakdown of JerichKO. The manner in which he involves himself was the difference maker. So in that regards, Kevin Owens getting involved was the only thing that would really be looked at. And it was clear that if Jericho were to win this match, it wouldn’t be cleanly, otherwise that would’ve been bad booking. It’s too early for Triple H to get involved in the feud with Seth Rollins so that option was out. And in that context, I can’t say that this was good booking. But if you were to really look at it, Foley’s appearance not only ate up close to two minutes of that time limit, but also implied that Zayn can’t even survive on his own. And I understand that one can say that Foley served as the spark to Zayn’s second wind. Yes, I understand Foley’s appearance was to follow the narrative that has been set in this story. But in a singles match, his power-based and slow style can and will become boring.īAD BOOKING: Mick Foley interrupts the match In multi-man matches, he thrives well due to multiple men carrying the match. However, though Strowman being booked strong here was a necessity, it’s clear that he still has quite a way to go in singles matches. As long as Strowman is not cleanly pinned or submitted, WWE can still go forward with him being the residential beast. The blood in Zayn’s mouth was a nice touch. Strowman needed to be booked like a monster here. And that’s what it should be at this point. But the 10 minute time limit keeps that a “What if?” scenario. One could say that Zayn was conceivably on the way to an actual victory. With that being said, Zayn needed to survive, not win. Zayn has essentially settled into the role that Daniel Bryan left that of the underdog. If Zayn were to lose here, everything that was built up from the narrative with Mick Foley would have been a waste of time. Keeping Sheamus heel also allows the team to utilize dirty tactics in Sheamus to keep the titles while also having a positive reaction that Cesaro. If Sheamus were to turn face post-match, he would have likely become boring again. This is a seemingly small detail but such a significant part of why Sheamus & Cesaro making a successful and intriguing pair.

GOOD BOOKING: Sheamus is still the heel despite Cesaro’s face status Hell, even The Shining Stars can even get in on some possible contender status. Sheamus & Cesaro with the titles now opens a multitude of booking options, from next challengers in Gallows & Anderson to a possible heel turn for the New Day. Sheamus & Cesaro winning the titles also allows Sheamus to settle into a nice mid-card role and gives Cesaro some much needed gold momentum after months of being underutilized. It was only fitting that The New Day would finally drop the titles after setting the record for the longest reign in WWE history. This quickly turned out to be the cleverest trick in the book when Cesaro sacrificed himself to allow Sheamus the opportunity to cradle Kofi Kingston for the win. GOOD BOOKING: Sheamus & Cesaro win the titlesĪt first it looked like a swerve heel turn for Cesaro. Rusev winning by countout allows Big Cass to avoid a definitive loss and also slowly builds towards whatever storyline creative has with Enzo and Lana. So having him take clean pinfall/submission loses early would be tough to come back from. He’s serviceable on the mic and for a guy his size, he can really move. If there’s any indication of who WWE wants to eventually push, it’s Big Cass.

Roadblock end of the line results