Ratings:
Wyatts vs Big E and Shelton: ***1/2
Cruiserweight Battle Royal: **
Punk vs Bryan: ****1/4
Reigns vs Ziggler: ***3/4
Cena & Orton vs Bucks: ****
Wyatt vs Styles: ****
Show: 8.75
Thoughts:
Opening Tag: This was a nice way to kick off the show and it went really well in my mind for everything seemed to flow right and the pacing was shown to be at a good one. Nothing though too notable in this match other than the Tower of Doom that was executed in the match and I will say I was quite happy with Rowan and Harper getting the victory in this encounter
Battle Royal: This was alright and I didn't really like it all that much as it seemed really confusing and kinda hard to follow IMO. For at the beginning people were being thrown over the top rope but then got back in the ring right after as if they didn't get eliminated but then later on the actual form of the match took fold as then when people were being thrown over the top rope they were gone from the match and then it was easy to follow but then the match ended soon after and towards the end I was really pulling for Tatsu to win the Title as I feel that he'd be a good champ and the way you use him is just awesome for my viewing, but I guess Kofi winning and retaining the title was alright.
Punk vs Bryan: This of course I had high expectations going in and I'll say that this match met them to a certain extent for the match went really well according to how the story was being told going into this match. This match I really liked though for it wasn't what one would usually expect out of these two as it wasn't the forgone mat classic that people would come to expect but instead a different story was told and that it played into Bryan's paranoia and Punk was just looking to shut him up about Punk being the one who attacked him at KOT. Also I like that Bryan tried to avoid the GTS all throughout the match but in the end it didn't really work out as Punk finally was able to connect with the GTS to get the win.
Reigns vs Ziggler: Now the events leading up to this match was quite interesting for I didn't really expect this one to be a Stretcher match when the match was announced but they played to the stipulation really well as I thought this was the match was excellent as they didn't overuse the stretcher and brought the chair into play, playing off of events that happened in their previous battle as that made this more interesting and got me more into the match and things really picked up after the Samoan Drop off the Stage through the Table which was AWESOME in my opinion. In the end though, Dolph just couldn't put together the right formula to defeat Reigns and Reigns was able to retain the championship but what happened before the match and post-match really intrigues me as Heyman stirred up the pot in the dissension of the Shield and then Ambrose get the shot at the World Title in October at Lockdown but then decides to make a statement on Reigns post-match by running him off the stage.
Cena & Orton vs YB: This was really well done in my opinion for Cena and Orton really played into the Bucks' game but not too much to where it would cost them the match as Cena and Orton really show how good of a team they are as they had the winning formula to defeat the Champs and take the titles. I won't go into detail too much because this was almost a usual Bucks contest but Cena and Orton spiced it up and brought something new but the ending really stands out the most as Cena and Orton were able to dodge the Tandem Tombstone and Orton caught Nick with an RKO out of mid-air and Cena got Matt to tap out which I didn't really expect and I'm kinda glad that there was a title change here.
Wyatt vs Styles: Now before I into the match I will say that the promo leading into the match was just well done and I loved it as it gave an epic feel to the match. Now with that said I must say this match didn't really deliver to what I thought it could as I thought leading up to the match it was going to be AJ's time but obviously that was not meant to be as most of the match played out as AJ trying to overcome the monstrous Wyatt and well that was all good but i felt that this match could've been a lot better at least in my view that is because as soon as the 3 count was made and Wyatt was declared the winner, I was just left in shock as I felt the ending just came out of nowhere and that it wasn't built up that well. Wyatt getting the victory over AJ was alright as Punk came out towards the end and almost essentially cost AJ the title and then things really played out post-match as The Wyatt Family hit the ring and well when Rowan hit the Spin Kick on Harper and the full nelson slam on Wyatt and then revealed the SES jacket......I was left speechless as I wouldn't of ever expected him to turn on them and align with Punk but then Punk tries to Cash-In and well he tries to pin Wyatt right away but is unsuccessful and then nails a GTS to put down the monster that is Bray Wyatt and gets the Title, quickly runs out as Harper looks to take his head off and then him and Rowan along with AJ Lee head out of the arena in celebration.
Overall: I was first at ease with how the booking was going throughout the show but then post-match of the ME was just mind-blowing IMO. Although I will say that I am looking forward to how everything goes following this event as the main thing that really intrigued me the most was the theft of Bryan's IC Title as he sat there in the middle of the ring and just watched his title go up into the rafters of the arena as the AOTF esque screaming intro played which was really disturbing/shocking in my view. Overall though I thought this show was amazing and I liked this a bit better than Mania as this showed ended a few things, brought some GREAT matches and then had the story progression leading us into the next event...Amazing show overall.
