Stray thoughts as I go.
Trying to rehab Racist Hulk Hogan as a bumbling idiot who doesn't know the name of any arena in the country is a bold move.
Lesnar/Rollins was a much better match when they did it with Balor and Bryan and I really don't buy three curb stomps as enough to put Brock down, even if he did sell them like death. Balor's stomps and Bryan's kicks looked like better killshots and they didn't put him down. Kind of felt like Brock jobbing out of the territory but I'm sure they'll throw more money at him for a rematch in Saudi Arabia.
Orton stretching out a 7 hour show by taking twice as long to walk down a huge ramp is some of his finest heel work ever. But man, the match was a snorefest. We've seen everything Orton has to give at this point, especially as a quasi-top guy and Styles is in dire need of a shift to Raw to freshen up his work. The crowd clearly didn't have the attention span to stick with the slow pace, even if the work wasn't sub-par, they'd have been chanting and singing like assholes and quite why King gets trotted out when he clearly doesn't watch the TV is beyond me. I think a rematch with a gimmick could be a lot better but other than a few neat moments (Orton committing himself to the RKO fake-out was fun, the superplex was great), this seemed to drag on and on.
Rusev and Lana remain the most underutilised double act they have, the whole look is complete money. It's halfway depressing that even the Mania crowd can't be bothered to sing along to Nakamura's music anymore. Black and Ricochet felt like big deals with their entrances and a long series with The Usos would be great considering I I find Ricochet's actual work far more digestible in tags. Cesaro is such an incredible base, holy shit. The spot with Sheamus smashing everyone on the ring apron while Cesaro swung Ricochet around about 75 times was a great use of limited time and felt like the first real memorable spot on the card. If they're actually serious about focusing on tag wrestling, any combo of these guys should get given plenty of time on TV.
I actually dig heel Shane (as a character) whereas badass, walking tall babyface Miz is still as miscast as he was in The Marine. Shane's strikes look like the ones you'd throw when play-wrestling as a kid, Jesus, even if his general heel work is actually really solid. Papa Miz stepping in to throw down was great, I think he's my favourite pro-wrestling dad. The brawl into the crowd was kind of there but Shane's willingness to throw himself about onto concrete helps improve things and running down the foreign announce tables and hearing all the different languages shouting over each other led it an oddly convincing air of chaos. Shane could have an easy office job and spend time with his family, there's no need for him to go full-Foley but thank God he did because it actually made this really enjoyable, even if the actual execution of the brawling wasn't great. The pop when Papa Miz gets his shot in on Shane is going to be huge.
The inflatable tube men refusing to work made me laugh more than it should have. Thought this whole thing was largely dull, Nia being out of it so long actually hurt it since her presence would have offered something halfway different. IIconics are strong personalities and will be fun heels for The Sky Pirates to squash for the belts.
An all-timer of a video package for Kofi/Bryan and an awesome response for Kofi himself. Between Kofi and Becky, it's night and day how much more interesting and organic these matches are than the forced Rollins push. I dug the slow start with Bryan heeling it up with some nasty face scrubs and strikes with Kofi's spots getting peppered in here and there and man, what a bump to switch to Bryan in control, damn. Kofi just went full force into the table, that had to absolutely suck to take. Bryan getting to work as a heel wrestling machine in WWE is so great and the Boston Crab counter was an incredible spot. The whole heat segment feels like it could end at any point, simply because Bryan is being presented as a total world class pro wrestler. He's so good that he's counteracting for Kofi's general lack of credible singles offense by making all of it look fantastic and spacing it out perfectly. An absolutely incredible performance. Woods and Big E getting their big moment helping their boy was a great spot and the near fall on the kick was on-par with the one Bryan hit on Lesnar. It didn't feel like Bryan vs Kofi, it felt like Bryan vs an entire stadium. Like he was fighting against the tides of fate itself and he almost pulled it out. Great moment and the babyfaces cheering was an awesome touch. I hesitate to call it a carry job from Bryan but it really was a GOAT-level performance. Woods bawling like a baby watching his buddy win the big one is more evidence that The New Day can never ever break up.
I need to take it in two parts since this show is so long and I'll be amazed if anything matches Kofi winning the belt for a sheer emotional response
