Before I start on the matches, I'm a big fan of the little things, and I loved the lighting effects tonight with the darkened arena. It harkens back to going to the old live shows for me at the Corral when they would turn down the lights and darken the arena. I think when you turn the lights up, the fans tend to take over the venue and at times distract and hijack. With the darkened arena you could focus on the action in the ring.
Now onto the card
Trish Stratus and Lita Def Mickie James and Alicia Fox with Alexa Bliss
I love Alexa Bliss, and I love her creativity, they had her in a pre show interview with Sasha Banks, and she's such a cool articulate woman and I love that she's given creative license with her ring gear. Tonight she came out as Alice in Wonderland, with Alicia and Micky as other Alice characters. I would say that physically Trish and Lita looked great, but this was a seniors tour match and the pacing was fairly slow without a lot of offense from Micky and Alicia. Alicia provided the first major botch of the night in attempting to break up a pin attempt and completely mistiming it. Lita just isn't the Lita of the old days as she moved at a Glacial pace, Trish looked good and still throws the best phony punch in the business. But overall this was a ok match but it shows how far woman have evolved as wrestlers.
Final grade * 1/2 out of 5
20 woman battle royal winner Nia Jax
This tells you how fickle fans are as the Iconics tried to gain some heel heat by running down long Island then were instantly eliminated and the crowd boo'd. Frankly I love the Iconics. This match started out fairly sloppy as they worked to eliminate the older returning woman. I am pissed that Molly Holly was eliminated before one fricken Molly Go Round. There was a weird 7 second dance interlude between Ivory who for 56 is a wow and Carmella. Once they got rid of the veterans though this match improved and there were some nice exchanges between Moon and Asuka that lead to Asuka being tossed out. Eventually Nia Jax won, which I'm not a fan of because I would have rather seen an unexpected winner or Moon or Asuka getting that title match. I don't understand the push for Nia who has no cardio and is just terrible. Oh and WTF to no Nicki Cross?
Final grade ** out of 5
Mae Young final Toni Storm def Io Shirai
This match could have used a lot more time. The match also was lacking the frenetic paces of the semi finals. Don't get me wrong, it was a strong match, but at a slower pace. They had the early spot of the night as Shirai hit a top rope moonsault to the floor that took your breath away. Its clear that Storm is the future of the division, and the emotional ending was awesome to see.
Final Grade **** out of 5
Nattie, Bayley, Sasha vs Riot Squad
Sadly to me the Riot Squad are the ascension of the Woman's division, every time I watch them they are being jobbed out. There were lots of homages in this match. An early Hart Attack, Nattie hitting a powerbomb like her dad. Bayley with the Macho Elbow Drop, and Sasha hitting a frog splash. Liv Morgan continues to improve every week and showed a ton of personality. I'm just tired of Sasha and Bayley, I think I was ruined by the turn that wasn't a turn. While the ending was nice, this match really didn't belong on Evolution as it took time away from the previous match
** out of 5
Shayna Bazler defeats Kairi Sane to win the NXT Woman's Championship
I'm a big fan of Bazler who's just such a natural heel and at some point has to be an opponent for Ronda. Her offense just looks brutal, especially with the joint manipulation. Sane is a whole lot of fun to watch. This was maybe a little over booked with Duke and Shafir interfering which could lead somewhere with the four Horsewoman of MMA. But it cost Sane her belt as she lost consciousness in the Kirifuda Clutch instead of submitting. This whole match was a rare bit of strong booking as Bazler won like a heel, and Sane didn't quit. Overall a great match.
**** out of 5
Becky Lych retains over Charlotte Flair via countout.
This was a brutal, violent nearly perfectly booked and executed match. Both woman played their roles to perfection as Becky brutalized Charlotte and then did the cowardly beg off when Charlotte recovered. You get the sense that Paul Heyman helped booked this match as it was every bit as brutal as the old ECW matches. There were a few great spots. I loved the figure four by Charlotte on Becky using a ladder. The moonsault attempt to powerbomb that ended the match was pure perfect. This was a the next evolution of matches as it showed that woman can thrive in a hardcore environment. Full credit to the camera and sound crew who caught every impact and it showed that even though wrestling is a show there's a brutallity to it.
***** out of 5 match of the year possibility
Ronda Rousey def Nikki Bella with Brie Bella.
Ok, I was one of the people saying that this match needs to be a quick and brutal destruction of Nikki, I was wrong. This was actually far better then I thought it would be. This was the story of the veteran against the Rookie and Nikki and Ronda played it to a tee. Give credit where credit is due. Nikki probably had the match of her career tonight and she did a fantastic job of wrestling Ronda, and made this match very entertaining. Frankly this match needed Brie Bella on the outside creating chaos and an unfair advantage for Nikki and it worked.
I will say it over and over again Ronda does represent the evolution of woman's wrestling and she's really the most pure athlete in the division and showed it with some amazing feats including hoisting both Nikki and Brie on her shoulders aka the John Cena. Her selling ability is top notch, and that transitional top rope suplex into the arm bar was amazing to watch. If I have a criticism of Ronda is that you can really hear her calling the match and that breaks that wall of believably. The hard thing is that this match had to follow a match of the year match and that's tough to follow and the previous match might have burned out the crowds emotions.
**** out of 5
The end of the match showed Nia Jax watching Ronda celebrate
0 out 5.
Then in a nice match there was a curtain call with all of the woman which was great.
Overall this was one of the better ppv's of the year with the card getting stronger as it went along. The first match was a nice little match of returning veterans but not strong, but by the time we reached Becky and Charolotte we had seen the best that the Woman could offer.
Overall mark *** 1/2 out of 5
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
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It appears that shareholders have not responded well to WWE's decision to proceed with the Saudi Arabia show. Stock down 20% and Cena has backed out in protest. Story says Daniel Bryan is thinking about not participating as well.
Lets see, Shane won the tournament.
Lesnar beat the crap out of Strowman to regain the World Title.
The D-X vs BOD was a botch fest that featured HBK nearly killing himself, accidentally unmasked Kane, and HHH tore his pec
__________________
My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;
Yeah. Stroman with literally zero offense in the match. Corbin beans him in the head with the title before the bell rang, Stroman kicks out of like 4 or 5 F5's in a row. Second last one is an f5 over the top rop and onto the Floor. Stroman beats the ten counts. one more F5 and finally Lesnar pins him. Pretty much the dumbest thing ever.
I assume a rematch without Corbins influence is coming. I don't know. Putting the strap back on lesnar is the dumbest.
Oh, and somehow pull Hulk hogan out of the grave he was rotting in to make up for the MIA wrestlers.
The whole thing shouldn't have happened in the first place but when that greasy saudi moneys being thrown at you how can you say no?
