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Overall, I thought this was a really amazing production by the WWE team. Man, are these guys batting 100 lately?
* The women opening? Holy shit. Nothing says "we trust you" like being given the opening slot. The ladies looked great, but I wish they would cover up more. Mickie James could wrestle full-time in the La Luchadora suit. I liked that Becky only won with a roll-up, because it means we have more to tell in this story. You don't want to blow off your stories in this modern era of wrestling where you've got PPVs all the time, because more content is always better. A brilliant move getting away from traditional PPV to create more episodic content using PPVs.
* Brilliant storytelling in the Dolph vs. Kalisto/Crews Handicap Match. If you were thinking "Man, how do they tell the story of two babyfaces fighting one heel?", the egg is on your face, you stupid fucking cunt. Kalisto is so sympathetic getting tossed around like a loser, and Apollo Crews wiped that smile off his face. Brilliant stuff. The match was good too, and the ending made sense and was different. Different is always refreshing. It's just a shame that the crowd was racist and cheered Crews getting his ankle shattered. They should have their top white babyface express concern for him so that the people catch on and get that they are supposed to like Crews.
* The Tag Team Turmoil was brilliant booking again. Heath Slater & Rhyno might be the greatest odd couple team since Booker T & Goldust. That would actually be a dream feud and they could technically do it for WrestleMania. Breezango looked great here for a pair of jobbers. They really put these guys over by having them beat the two teams and being exhausted for the heels. It then made sense for the heels to lose to the fresh babyfaces. The attack on them made it believable that The Ascension could walk out with the belts, which was nail-biting drama. The crowd was so shocked that they couldn't even boo the heels or cheer for Alpha at that point. Brilliant stuff.
* I see a lot of people criticize Nikki Bella in the ring, but you know what? It really doesn't matter. She has CHARISMA! Did you hear how crazy those girls in attendance went for her? They worship her and the Bella brand. You need to help grow that by putting her in the ring with veteran talent like Natalya. Nikki is a legend that deserves to go into the Hall of Fame for all that she's done. Those reality television deals might get scoffed at, but they are keeping the WWE afloat while they expand their Network overseas. She is integral to the WWE. I can't remember the match, but I am sure it was brilliant stuff.
* Orton vs. Harper went on a bit long. I'm disappointed that they didn't kick out of each other's finishers more. If people are going to take Harper seriously, they need to have him kick out of 4 or 5 RKO's. His facial expressions are a bit ridiculous and take you out of the match a bit. Orton held this together as the veteran talent he is, and JBL went into overdrive telling people what a star Harper is going to be since Harper wasn't quite ready to convey that himself. But at 37 years of age there isn't much time for Harper. Maybe they should cut their losses?
* The Women's Title match felt like such a big deal. You deserve it indeed, Naomi. All those years of hard work in the Funkadactyls and teaming with Tamina. She's been a hidden gem for far too long, and she's got some of the best kicks and springboards this side of Rob Van Dam. She's got the charisma too, so I don't see why she can't be as big as RVD. Yeah, Bliss lost, which is a shame because she is the best women's wrestler in the world right now, but she will likely win the title back after Naomi triumphantly takes it into WrestleMania IN HER HOMETOWN and have many more reigns before the year is out. Everyone should relax and wait to see this become brilliant stuff. Naomi needs to watch her split-legged moonsault though. If she could just slow down while Alexa gets into position, that would be great.
* The Elimination Chamber was so much fucking fun. Can you remember a better Chamber? This may have been even better than Cena vs. Styles at the Royal Rumble. It had Cena vs. Styles at the beginning of the match. Honestly, I feel like this should have been given six stars. Super-smart move setting up Corbin vs. Ambrose. I think those two could have a wonderful WrestleMania encounter. Maybe Corbin can show of his motorcycle to Renee Young? I'm just shooting ideas out here. Brilliant stuff. The Miz was hilarious in this, and his kicks look almost as good as Daniel Bryan's. Bray Wyatt pinning John Cena and AJ Styles puts him over the Royal Rumble title match guys, and the guys on "that level" and I don't think even your most jaded WWE fan will be able to look back on his previous lack of credibility as anything to worry about going forward. He is the man now, but it's up to the youngster to make it work. So far so good. Let's see how it does against Randy Orton in the opening match of WrestleMania. A great low-pressure situation to trial Wyatt as a champion, and a great way to put over the rest of the card. Can you imagine the average fan? "Holy shit, the World Title is in the opening match? That means the rest of these matches are BIGGER than World Title matches?!?". Brilliant stuff.
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