Randy Orton/Luke Harper vs. American Alpha vs. The Usos vs. Heath Slater/Rhino, WWE Smackdown Live (12/27/2016)

This was an elimination match for the WWE Smackdown Tag Team Titles.

On paper, this is a four way.

Certainly, the sections with three and four teams contribute in some regard. Heath Slater cleans house in an entertaining fashion before he’s eliminated. The brief Usos vs. American Alpha segment is once again delightful, showing how they should have been capable of so so so so so much more together, delivering on a natural chemistry and continuing their story without giving too much away yet. It’s the sort of thing we’d call masterful booking if that booking ever led anywhere further than a borderline great ten minute television match or two in the first quarter of 2017.

So the first half of this match is not without its charms.

However, really, this is the second part of the Wyatts vs. American Alpha series, and more than a fitting follow up to their previous meeting a month prior.

The major shift this time is simply trading out a wrestler who possesses the ability to be good in the right settings in Bray Wyatt with a generationally gifted powerhouse in Luke Harper. Predictably, the match is a little better, if only for those more vague Force Of Talent kinds of reasons. Fill up more of the match with all-time level talents, and the match winds up being better as a result. The shit is not rocket science, you know?

What remains from the first match — Randy Orton vs. Jordan and Gable — works as well as it did then, only with an even greater ease that comes with practice. Classic pro wrestling once more, big bumping heels and energetic babyfaces, overcoming not only size and experience advantages but taking out Crustpunk Bray Wyatt on the outside too, en route to overcoming what was established in the previous meeting. Once more, great basic storytelling, following up a first meeting that was all about setting the table as to whom everyone was by now having Our Heroes find a way past when the tenuous swamp zombie alliance first begins to break down, winning the titles in the process.

A tremendous middle part in the trilogy.

***+

The Wyatt Family vs. The Dudley Boyz/Rhino/Tommy Dreamer, WWE Raw (12/14/2015)

This was an Extreme Rules match.

It’s one of the surprises of the year out of WWE, as they get the full clearance to do everything WWE ever lets people do anymore, and it’s honestly kind of a hoot.vAfter a disappointing tables match (as most tables matches are) the night before, this is way more like it, and the match they needed to have for this to work, and to give the Wyatts not only a solid win, but a solid win in a match that’s even halfway memorable.

This being the best possible match for them isn’t just about the stipulation or it now being on TV, but the way that it’s allowed to break down and get chaotic. Spreading the thing out is as crucial as anything out. With the match spreading to all corners of the environment, the camera is able to jump over to whichever section is interesting at the moment, removing any real dead space or footage of people lying around for too long or clearly half assing it and waiting for a spot. This is also the only match on the show that gets to be as out of control and use the shortcuts that this match does, so they have full clearance to get as wild as possible, without the audience reaction being dulled by already having seen chairs and tables used already on the show. They get all of it. Moves off the stage through tables, the Braun Strowman barricade spot, chairs and trash cans whipped around at each other, all of it. It’s wild enough to just get past that overly sanitized feeling that’s permeated so much of WWE television while also carefully put and held together by a talent like Harper and experienced guys in a match like this like the old men, and allows the match to stand out.

Beyond just being fun as hell, it’s also put together in a way that makes as much sense as possible. The ECW guys (EV2.0 if this was TNA) eventually get picked off one by one, because they can’t really hang anymore. Strowman stampedes through Dreamer and the railing. The Dudleys get separated and fairly easily shut down. The one left who still has something is Rhino, and he delivers a charming little offensive attempt before getting surrounded and stopped.

After the Sister Abby, the focus goes instead to Rowan surprisingly. He splashes Rhino off the top through a table to win, which I guess is an attempt to try and build him back up for The Rock’s retirement match.

Genuinely really really fun, one of the major miracles of the year.

***

Kevin Steen vs. Rhino, ROH Death Before Dishonor X (9/15/2012)

This was for Steen’s ROH World Title, once again in some manner of no disqualification match.

It’s borderline as hell, but fun enough to get there. Rhino continues to work so much harder in this 2012 ROH run than you might ever expect and it’s the difference between “better than it could have been” and “borderline great” like this is. It’s two big boys who need their gimmick match crutches, but the match knows it and gives it to them. The biggest struggle is less that Rhino is old or that Steen isn’t working quite so hard in ROH as he might elsewhere, but moreso the crowd. It’s Chicago, it’s one of the last few old ROH towns still being run at this point along with New York and Philadelphia, and they aren’t having Rhino in this spot.

It’s rough, because Rhino’s been good. He’s a guy who’s certainly earned his spot. But it’s a big show main event, one of the big annual events, and Rhino just doesn’t really fit there. There’s a certain stink on him that’s hard to get off and it feels like one more silly Cornette thing. These two work hard and smart enough to have a real nice match in spite of that, but the crowd isn’t really interested in Rhino at all as any sort of credible challenger. They especially don’t care about the Rhino/Steve Corino relationship that’s in the background to this because Cornetteism has burned away most of the ticket buying fans who might have any idea what that even was, so when Rhino “finally” lays hands on Corino after 13 years, the Frontier Fieldhouse may as well be a crypt. Chicago became a nice little place for ECW in the later years, but this is a match you can really only run in Philadelphia if you want all of this to work. Even then, it’s a big ask.

Initial brawling is good, in spite of not being heavily gimmicked up right away. They earn the table bumps and the big chair shots, and Rhino is physical enough to push Steen believably. Big shortcut run at the end is a lot of fun. Steen sets Rhino up in front of the table so he can dodge the Gore when it’s headed his way and Rhino goes through the table. The second F-Cinq of the match gives Steen the win. The crowd doesn’t buy it as a finish, but the Piledriver ban is effective as hell, because the biggest pop of the match is for when Big Kev hits Truth with it right before that, being legal because he’s not a competitor.

Look, I get it. I’m not gonna sell you on a Kevin Steen vs. Rhino in 2012 if you weren’t already interested in Kevin Steen vs. Rhino in 2012, but this was p good

three boy

 

Eddie Edwards vs. Rhino, ROH Brew City Beatdown (7/14/2012)

another good little Eddie Edwards three boy.

ROH is building up Rhino for an easy title match against Kevin Steen in the fall, so Eddie’s job is again to heat up a past his prime but still useful veteran. This isn’t quite as good as the Homicide match three weeks prior, but Rhino still has something to offer and he’s in stunningly good shape. Simple work as Eddie tries to use speed and technique against the raw power. Everything they do goes back to that, and YET AGAIN, Eddie has this perfect grasp on how much a situation calls for. He has a winning formula, but he has to deal with Truth Martini too, and it opens him up for a Gore.

Again, this is a tree falling in the forest so it’s hard to say if it actually worked in getting Rhino ready for Kevin Steen, but it’s Rhino and you don’t need to do TOO MUCH to get people ready to see him in a World Title match at this level. Good little piece of work here.

***