The sole purpose of a “go-home show†is to sell viewers one last time as to why they should order an upcoming pay-per-view.
A good “go-home show†does all that and more.
This wasn’t a good “go-home show,†not the least bit.
Not to mention it was also a three hours.
Nevertheless, the show was live in Boston and The Rock was scheduled to appear, along with another surprise guest. This had tons of potential to be a great show.
Matches:
Sin Cara/Kofi Kingston vs. Cody Rhodes/Hunico: Plentiful action here. Kofi and Sin Cara dived from the top turnbuckles onto Hunico and Rhodes on the floor below and there were some nice exchanges of dropkicks and crossbody splashes. Eventually, Rhodes hit the Cross Rhodes on Kofi after Sin Cara took out Hunico on the outside. It should be noted that Rhodes had new music and wrestled without the mask.
Dolph Ziggler vs. Mason Ryan: In a grand total of a minute and three seconds, Ryan tossed around Ziggler, Vickie got on the apron, Ryan walked over to her and she slapped him and caused a DQ. Ziggler escaped the ring before John Morrison ran out and threw him back in, which allowed Ryan to hit Ziggler with his full-nelson slam. Post-match stuff made sense, but they couldn’t give Ryan and Dolph five minutes to wrestle before all that?
Sheamus vs. Jack Swagger: These two were evenly matched and tested each other’s limits for seven minutes before Sheamus connected with the Brogue Kick for the pinfall.
Kelly Kelly vs. Natalya: The entire 49-second match consisted of Kelly’s booty bump in the corner, Beth Phoenix distracting Kelly on the outside, Natalya nearly locking in the sharpshooter before Kelly won with a small package. What was the point of that?
Alberto Del Rio/Mark Henry vs. CM Punk/Big Show: Plenty of hard hits, but the main highlight was Big Show’s rare use of a superkick. Del Rio scored the pin on an unconscious Punk after Henry hit the World’s Strongest Slam. Not the best match, but the heels going over was the right decision.
Randy Orton vs. Wade Barrett: This match was just there to push the five-on-five on Sunday. While it’s okay, it’s also rather predictable. Orton went for the RKO on Barrett before Barrett’s team attacked and then Orton’s team joined in the brawl and it was Orton’s team clearing house of Barrett’s.
Final thoughts: The show’s main problem was lagging segments. They didn’t create any interest whatsoever to viewers to make them want to see any kind of payoff this Sunday. The opening segment should’ve focused on what’s set to happen Sunday, not a ridiculous contest to see if JR would keep his job, even if Punk was fantastic again. There were 5 matches and only three of them featured more than a minute of wrestling. Sure, they can’t give away too much for free before one of the biggest shows of the year, but it can certainly be better than what we saw tonight. The Foley-Cena “This Is Your Life†segment bombed. It wasn’t funny like the original and was just a waste of time. There was little storyline progression, which was disappointing. The final segment with The Rock wasn’t bad, but even he couldn’t save this show. WWE had better step up their game on Sunday, because tonight’s show did them no favors.
Leave a Reply