This was for the Usos’ WWE World Tag Team Titles.
It’s an absolute god damner. One of the most underrated matches of the year for the biggest company in the world, both because of a totally understandable malaise many people had because of how things collapsed after Mania 30 (WeeLC not withstanding) but also because the two-of-three-falls stipulation on the rematch grabbed more headlines and attention. However, this is a blast too and if memory serves, actually the better match. It’s both a perfect pay per view opener and also pitch perfect tag team formula work.
The two pay per view run between these teams (and the extended Wyatts vs. Usos/partner series on television for months beforehand) was the last real gasp of great formula tag work in the WWE for some time, in any sort of extended way. The logical leap to take is that it’s simply that Luke Harper is so great in this match, but this is laid out with the same creativity that so much of the best Shield matches were too. It’s never the thing you immediately expect, there’s always some great twist or turn right around the corner that you never immediately see coming.
The logical leap is hardly wrong though. Luke Harper is SO GREAT in this.
Every piece of offense is mean and crisp and unbelievably cool. He’s the best big man of his generation not just because he was imposing or because he did cool things, but because he could do both at once. These very different things held in each hand and perfectly balanced. So often, me and people with opinions like mine will get on big guys for doing too much or for prostituting their size for easy pops, but Harper is always just on the right side. He has his big dive, but his cool stuff never betrays his size or makes him less imposing. The dive itself is brutal and feels like this desperate sort of a thing, the big weapon that he has when a situation gets out of hand. This isn’t a great match because of Harper. Rowan holds his own and The Usos have turned into genuinely a very very good tag team, bordering on great, but this is a much less great match with someone else in Harper’s position.
Mostly, it’s another one of these matches where everything just goes correctly. It’s lean enough that none of the three non-best in the world level guys are exposed. The crowd is hot enough to elevate the proceedings. Everyone involved, save one bit early on from a Uso, is on their very best behavior, It’s the crispness on offense, good selling on defense, but then also this real energy that the great matches in this style demand.
There’s also a nice little story they tell. Luke Harper is the general and always pulls out these great counters and cut offs. Rowan follows the game plan and they seem unbeatable, until Harper gets taken out for a minute or two at the end. Rowan’s lost without Harper showing him plays or without Bray Wyatt barking in his ear, and he fucks it all up. He tries to up top for some reason, and he gets caught. The Usos break out a rare double superplex, and a rarer version of the splash finish, where each man hits a splash in succession instead of two at once, and it’s enough. Rowan looks great, he’s a hard guy to keep down, but his weakness is that he’s an idiot. It’s the perfect sort of underdog win, exploiting this minute defense in heroic fashion. The Usos come out smarter and tougher, they make Harper look smarter than he did coming in, and Rowan comes out looking just a hair tougher too.
A rare best-of-the-year level gem from the WWE following WrestleMania 30, and among the best work in the career of everyone involved. There was more to this rivalry than just the more famous two of three falls match the next month.
HANDWERK 