Just woke up from driving 19 hours in the past two days.
Wichita to Kansas City on Friday for a Red Sox-Royals game. Back to Wichita same night. Then Wichita to St. Louis for Backlash. Back to Wichita same night.
I had a fucking blast and perhaps it (well, no it definitely) will affect my ratings. But it was super fun. I'll leave my comments here soon!
Okay, my thoughts.
1. St. Louis/the state of Missouri is much more hick than I realized.
2. It was a perfect venue to generate more heel heat for Cena. In my entire section, myself included, maybe three people rooting for Cena.
Fatal 4 Way - Super wild match and very fast-paced. The rest of the matches for this event were pretty slow, so to start off with something so quick and violent was a good way to vary the pace before we knew what would be happening. I was rooting really hard for Drew, but kind of figured Fatu was retaining. I
do not like Priest getting the better of Drew in
any way. I feel so bad that Drew puts on amazing match after amazing match and cuts amazing promo after amazing promo, and never seems to win matches that are for the gold. Hopefully there's a change in that soon, but I doubt it. Cena has the Undisputed until the end of the year and Rollins is probably taking the WHC for the foreseeable future.
3.5/5
Lyra vs Becky - This one was so awesome to watch live. After watching the replay, I can understand why people were questioning the fans chanting "this is awesome" so early. I loved how technical this match was while still including plenty of emotion, false finishes, finishers, and kick outs. Even as a Becky fan who was rooting hard for her, I think Lyra retaining was the right result.
4/5
Dom vs Penta - This match was probably the one I found most disappointing. Not to say it was a bad match, was just pretty "meh." Dom and Penta are really talented and I enjoyed what I saw, but nothing about this match screamed classic or "holy shit!" I'll say I never saw the Grande interference coming, and love what they're doing with that character.
2.5/5
Gunther vs Pat McAfee - Tbh, Pat got way too much offense in. I like Pat a lot and didn't hate the match, I guess, but Gunther has the potential to be booked like the next Brock Lesnar. I don't need him to face Gunther to do some sort of squash match in order to re-establish him due to the bad finish at Mania. Gimme him against some sort of jobber and have him best the crap outta him. But aside from all that, I apprecaite the storytelling here. Sure, I'm rating this higher than Dom vs Penta, but that's because I can understand what they're going for here plot-wise.
3/5
Cena vs Orton - Y'all, I lost my fucking mind at this match. Even wearing Cena gear, I sang Voices at the top of my lungs. I held up the Word Life symbol in my left hand, and the HLR symbol in my right as Cena came out. I screamed my head off clearly in enemy territory. I cringily sang the rap to My Time Is Now. I just wanted to enjoy myself. Cena and Randy did what they always do- put on a match that I'll remember forever. Was it overbooked? Maybe. But I remember when every single Roman Reigns match included ref bump, cheating, and the Usos. For four years. Now it's my favorite of all time (next to Bray) doing the cheating and I fucking love it. I loved the R-Truth interference and they subtilely gave hints that it was going to happen. I also antagonized the people who booed Cena around me... just to have some fun. I yelled "HE IS YOUR CHAMPION" and "JUSTICE" as he won, haha! Just had to enjoy it. Can't wait to see Cena vs Truth. That will be such a wild continuation.
4.5/5
Overall:
4/5
Again, am I biased? Hell yes, I am. But I loved it.
