KB8 Posted January 29, 2019 Report Share Posted January 29, 2019 The Rousey train keeps on rolling and this was the best Sasha's looked in aaaaages. I was hyped for this and it totally delivered. Everything around the arm was great. Sasha had a bunch of awesome and nasty looking ways of working it over and Rousey continues to be the best seller in the company. The ringpost spot to set it up was killer just for the visual of Ronda literally punching the lights out and she really never looked back from there. She had lots of great little moments around that busted up hand/arm, like throwing punches primarily with her left hand and never being able to throw rights without impunity (and she only threw a couple before abandoning the idea anyway), climbing the ropes using only her left hand, visibly leaving it hanging close by her side -- she never let you forget it was hurt and once or twice it prevented her from grabbing a submission she'd ordinarily have no trouble locking in. Sasha had about as many of those great little moments working from above and some of it was downright Finlayish. Stomps to the hand and fingers as Ronda tried to rope break the Banks Statement, using her own ring attire to get some extra torque on the crossface (as she was selling her own arm at the same time), driving her knee into Ronda's forearm as she tried to pull herself up by the rope. That armbar where she about had Rousey's elbows touching behind her own back was fucking disgusting, then she went even beyond that by adding in the joint-manipulation and finger-bending. I haven't really been interested in Sasha for quite a while, but it looked like she held a lot of this together on the offensive and it was a quality performance from her. Bunch of other cool parts as well, like Sasha hitting a tope early then trying it again later only to be caught and dragged into the armbar, and this might've been the best Rousey's throws have looked yet, she was just whipping Sasha around the ring one-handed and Sasha was snapping into bumps like a pro. Ronda's shit talking ruled yet again and the first time she picked Sasha up she made it clear that this was for all the folk who said she couldn't wrestle. It's still kind of amazing how she'll keep finding ways to hurl herself into submission attempts - like the cross armbreaker while draped over the top rope - and she'll bust out at least one strike per match that looks like it'd cave someone's face in. This time it was a step up knee coming off the ropes, but her body punches early on looked super tight as well and at one point she got surly and front kicked Sasha straight out the ring. Dug the finish too, especially Rousey's "this is over" exclamation between the gutwrench powerbomb and Piper's Pit. Loved this. Ronda is an absolute treasure and if she really does leave after 'Mania it'll feel like one of the biggest missed opportunities ever. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boss Rock Posted February 1, 2019 Report Share Posted February 1, 2019 Probably my favorite of the show. Tons of aggression from Sasha and had an answer for virtually everything Ronda could throw at her. The working over Ronda's hand was a great callback to the Bayley series and despite the fact there was no way Sasha was going to win, there was a brief moment they made me believe she could pull it off. Using her arm band was also pretty ingenious. The finish was a bit too out of nowhere and superhuman, but Ronda's selling throughout was still pretty great. This felt like an absolute war. ****1/4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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