10 Things WWE Is Still Awesome At

6. Great Matches

Brock Lesnar Paul Heyman
WWE.com

As dubious as the practise of giving away matches for free is - and as backwards as the thought of John Cena Vs. Shinsuke Nakamura taking place on SmackDown to determine who faces Jinder Mahal at SummerSlam is - it's a bit churlish to complain when they deliver, big time, between the ropes.

Cena Vs. Nakamura was a great, psychologically rich styles clash as good as all but the very top tier of NJPW's already seminal batch of G1 Climax 27 matches. AJ Styles Vs. Kevin Owens was all-action, far superior to anything they've managed on pay-per-view. It was refreshing to see so much of their signature offence deployed outside of the ring as both a spectacle in itself and a means of avoiding multiple false finishes - even if the contrived (and botched) ref bump was another flat finish in a weak rivalry defined by them.

WWE hasn't delivered one uniformly blow-away PPV in 2017. The closest candidates, Royal Rumble and WrestleMania 33, suffered from curious booking and bloated length, respectively, but we are at least removed from the dark days of 2009.

This time eight years ago, SmackDown boasted Slam Master J Vs. Charlie Haas and The Great Khali Vs. Ricky Ortiz.

Contributor
Contributor

Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!