Fyah
Sasha Banks is the woman that I know and love her to be. She saved Bayley from Absolution Monday night leading to the two trading blows. The animosity spilled over into the Women’s Battle Royal when the Boss was out played by her best friend getting tossed out when she assumed she was going to get a handshake to most likely do the same to Bayley.
Flexibility is the word for the match between Vanessa Borne and Kairi Sane. Borne’s ability to fold herself damn near in half made Sane’s offense looks that more forceful. At the same time, she showed a level of intensity that didn’t make her come across as a dominated competitor.
I didn’t call the ROH tag title match as it played. That doesn’t mean that I was disappointed, though. Jay Lethal and Hiroshi Tanahashi danced with the Briscoes for what seemed like half an hour. Lethal hit his spots per usual as he has been known to put on a show when he’s in the ring with a Briscoe.
Listen, I was so ready for a Kenny King/Austin Ares feud. Nonetheless, I should know better as Ares is too over on the ROH scene for that to happen and King not get buried. That takes me to the World TV Title match; that dam K-I-N-G added brawler to his repertoire before falling to Silas Young. Add a Wakanda salute and a shooting star press, and you have a fyah worthy performance.
Brandi Rhodes took that table bump.
The Wrestlemania roll continued for Naomi as she outlasted all of the women in the battle royal; I’d say that was pretty fitting as she’s been relegated to backstage promos for the past few weeks.
The hard work has paid off for Cedric Alexander as he was finally given the reigns as the Cruiserweight champ. The match featured two guys who made their Mania debuts after mulling in the division for the last few months. I’m interested to see where this goes with him; 205 Live can only go up from here.
A spot of the week contender has to be Velveteen Dream. He did not get lost in the shuffle during the NXT ladder match, and seeing him work from post to post dropping purple rainmakers up to dropping one from the ladder was absolutely amazing.
I can’t mention the ladder match and not mention Ricochet. His NXT Takeover debut left me speechless. There were too many moments to run down here. Go watch the match for yourself.
The mean girls saga climaxed in New Orleans when Nia Jax finally got to challenge for Alexa Bliss’s title after we first heard her intentions over a year ago. Both of her foes were laid to waste as Jax became the new Raw Women’s Champion.
Meh
Over on 205 Live, Jonathan Pierce tried to out heel and out flex Tony Neese.
As the Bobby Lashley road on Impact comes to an end, we watched him face Brian Cage to put the big man over.
Johnny Impact figured he’d done enough until Kongo Kong rained on his parade. Impact got the best of Kong long enough to stand tall in the end.
An “impromptu” match saw Jonathan Gresham duel with Best Friend, Chuckie T to open Supercard of Honor. Considering the amount of action that followed it, this was a perfectly paced match to kick off the night. The little girl behind us did not feel that way, but she was surely satisfied by the end of the night.
The ladder match for the ROH 6 man title was easily one the matches of the week, and for what it’s worth, I do not recall many memorable spots from Scorpio Sky. I would put that on him as I know he did his part to carry the match to its finish. It is a suggested watch for sure though.
The Andre the Giant Battle Royal did feature Titus Worldwide and Shelton Benjamin. I do recall Apollo getting eliminated early with nothing memorable, but Titus did manage to eliminate a few noteworthy competitors. Benjamin? I remember seeing him walk to the back but never saw him removed from the ring.
The Dusty Rhodes Classic did not have two time winners in the Authors of Pain; them not taking the closing pin in the match is probably a sign of some future happenings for the trio.
I’ve had to tell myself that the only reason that I feel some type of way about Ember Moon dropping her title is because I’m just being biased and thirsty. The majority of her class of women have moved to the back of the scene at NXT, and it’s time for the next class to do work. Shayna Bayzler is going to lead that front as she was the runner up in the Mae Young Classic. What’s next for Em-BAE?
The New Day and the Usos competed in a match. The rules were murky. They did not win; end of story.
Boo
I was sure that Impact was about to put Moose on; nope! His title shot is now in the hands of Eli Drake, and the Nation has nothing to show for it. It’s back to the pack again.