10 Great Wrestling Matches You Didn’t Know You Wanted
Featuring Eva Marie (!) and David Otunga (!!!).
Generally, the discerning/experienced wrestling fan knows what to expect from most promoted matches.
If Brock Lesnar’s in the ring, in 2018, we’re probably going to see a German suplex, or eight. Baron Corbin is going to apply a rest hold, or nine. Andrade ‘Cien’ Almas is going to construct a deadly-looking, pulsating, certified banger (when he’s actually on SmackDown). Charlotte Flair is going to restore the lost art in selling in a WWE ring, creating a genuine atmosphere of anguish, which is all for nought, because Vince McMahon is as heavy-handed as André The Giant when it comes to telling us how great she is. Finn Bálor is going to get battered by a much larger opponent. The New Day, somehow, are going to find invention within WWE’s mass-produced episodic television model.
The Revival are going to shatter their perception as also-rans in stupendous 15 minute RAW battles before resuming their roles as total jobbers just seven days later. Perhaps that last one isn’t the best example.
And so on.
But, like an RKO, or a Vince McMahon whim, some fabulous pro wrestling matches come from out of nowhere…
10. Bayley, Sasha Banks & Natalya Vs. The Riott Squad - WWE Evolution
Filler. This was pure filler.
The Riott Squad were formed with one eye cast towards the first-ever Women’s Royal Rumble, and did nothing of note after the fact beyond cutting up some neckties backstage in dismal segments. Bayley and Sasha Banks by this point had been weakened so much that they didn’t have the strength to fight one another, and Natalya was just there, tacked onto the whole thing by virtue of being a babyface.
We’d seen variations of this match several times on RAW already, and those matches were not at all memorable.
This one was.
Natalya responded to Liv Morgan’s slap with a harder one, after Riott had taunted her with some cheeky character work, and that set the tone of the tale: after months of burial/anonymity, this match elevated the babyfaces in 15 minutes of triumph—but not before Bayley was crushed into the ring post in a novel spot. This built tremendously towards the heat portion; Bayley had dazzled and gained the sympathy of the crowd, who, electric all night, were now encouraged to dial up the volume yet further.
Sloppy at times, this just added to the drama; Sasha botched her role in a suicide dive nope spot, but was thrown so viciously into a barricade the Riott Squad must have temporarily mistaken for the padded TV version that any rolled eyes were covered in a grimace. Bayley finally reminded the crowd that she is a good babyface, not a total baby when, after a scintillating sequence of near-falls, she saved Sasha from a perilous top rope match-ender. She probably could have disarmed the gun before taking the bullet, but this was a main roster pay-per-view.
This was, in more ways than one, as good as it gets.