Seth Rollins defeated Baron Corbin to retain the Universal Championship:
I rather liked this match. I liked the story of it, how Corbin kept trying to intimidate and threaten the referee, until finally he had enough and pushed him back.
ETA: I forgot to mention that Brock Lesnar tried to cash in on Seth Rollins after the match, but Seth held him off after Paul Heyman came in and tripped over the ropes. Seth got to give Brock an epic chairshot beating, and I loved it.
Finn Balor defeated Andrade to retain the Intercontinental Championship:
Perfectly acceptable match. I didn't figure they'd job The Demon to Andrade, and they didn't.
Shane McMahon defeated Roman Reigns:
I agree with the result. Shane's gonna get what's coming to him eventually, though. I wonder if Roman will also lose to McIntyre in a couple of weeks.
Lars Sullivan defeated Lucha House Party (Gran Metalik, Kalisto, and Lince Dorado) by DQ in a three-on-one handicap match:
Not a good result for someone's first match on the main roster. Especially if you're trying to make Lars look like a beast. The luchadors got disqualified because they were beating on him two-on-one. Lars got his heat back after the match by beating all three of them down individually, but... meh.
Randy Orton defeated Triple H:
Match went on too long, but the right guy won. Hard to believe it had been almost 10 years since the last time these guys have battled one-on-one.
Braun Strowman defeated Bobby Lashley:
At this point, I was eager to get to Kofi's match, so I skipped this.
Kofi Kingston defeated Dolph Ziggler to retain the WWE Championship:
Well, you mess with the bull Xavier, you get the horns. Good match, and I'm looking forward to seeing the rematch in a steel cage at Stomping Grounds, even if I did jump to the conclusion that that's what Dolph was going to ask for, 20 seconds before he said it. (If he thinks a steel cage match is going to prevent outside interference, he needs to watch more videotapes.)
Mansoor won the 51-Man Battle Royal:
Ha! Pandering at its best. I had to look at the Wikipedia results page to even know how to spell the guy's name. I skipped watching this match, too, eager to see The Undertaker vs. Goldberg.
The Undertaker defeated Goldberg:
Man, I would have loved to see this match in 2004. This was a complete and utter botch-fest in 2019 between two guys who no longer have any business being in the ring. Goldberg got concussed; Undertaker botched a Tombstone; Goldberg botched a Jackhammer.
(edited by ekedolphin on 9.6.19 1822) "The word 'trust' just isn't in your vocabulary, is it? Good try. Nine out of ten for effort." --Captain Picard, "Star Trek: The Next Generation"
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Co-Winner of Time's Person of the Year Award, 2006
Originally posted by KevintripodWatching that Goldberg/Undertaker match was so cringe worthy that I was begging in my mind for it to mercifully end.
My interpretation of the look on Undertaker's face was, "It's one thing that they dragged my sorry old ass out here (for, no doubt a substantial amount of $$$). But to have to do all the heavy lifting to carry this guy?? C'mon!!"
At least since they've moved the royal family's seating area over to the fixed camera side, that element of things doesn't look as appalling as the first show there did.
My question is where is the tipping point between WWE wanting to please the Saudi royals, vs the Saudi royals booking whatever they want & Vince accommodating.
I had the show on in the background -- yes, I still pay for the network -- & did not exactly see anything that resembled the "Wrestlemania quality" buzzwords that they've been reciting the last few weeks.
Originally posted by emmaMy question is where is the tipping point between WWE wanting to please the Saudi royals, vs the Saudi royals booking whatever they want & Vince accommodating.
Has to be getting close to when the Saudi royals pull out their check book and ask CM Punk "How much?".
Thanks for the recap. I'll say this for WWE: They sure do make it easy to skip these Saudi shows. Mansoor is probably the most interesting thing to happen on this show. He's been on NXT and NXT UK a few times, and pandering or not, he's a guy with some real potential. I don't think we'll see him on the main roster for anything other than these hometown shows any time soon, but he's worth keeping your eyes on.