This Week's WWE and UWE

John Cena vs CM Punk, WWE RAW 1/17

Man both these guys are great. Epic staredown at the start of the match makes this feel like a huge clash of the titans worthy of being on PPV. Both guys really brought it and seemed super-motivated, working at a fast-pace, putting a tonne of force into every strike and every bump. Cena’s punches and body-blows were great. So much great shit in this; Cena’s strength spots, Punk cutting Cena off just at the right times, the STF counter to the GTS, Cena countering a superplex with a fucking headbutt, etc. Punk busts out the best looking Koji Clutch I’ve ever seen, and Cena sells it like he is dead afterwards, even falling on his ass after catching Punk in mid-air for the posting spot. Also worth noting they got a bigger nearfall off Cena’s legdrop (which has never won a match) than any ROH main event gets. RAW finish brings it down, but this is RAW, and for a teaser of a PPV match between the two, this was awesome.

Chris Masters vs Curt Hawkins, WWE Superstars 1/20

This was a decent short match. Hawkins sticking to sitting in the same hold for most of a four minute match was weak, but otherwise he was solid. Masters was his usual good self, and I dug the finish that put over the Masterlock big.

David Hart Smith/Darren Young vs Zack Ryder/Primo, WWE Superstars 1/20

When did the black John Cena stop looking so green? The kid seems to have improved a lot; he was really fired up and hit his brief flurry nicely. Working with Regal probably helped. The rest of this was ok, didn’t care for much outside Smith’s powerbomb and “call me”.

Yoshi Tatsu vs Tyson Kidd, WWE Superstars 1/20

This was a good match. Started with some nice chain-wrestling; nothing complex, but all pretty smooth and I enjoyed it. Kidd’s legwork was good but made even better by Yoshi’s selling. Tatsu selling the leg by hopping during his comeback was more than you’d see from anyone actually in Japan, and the finish was pretty good too and helped Kidd save face in defeat.

Rey Mysterio vs Cody Rhodes, WWE Smackdown 1/21

This was pretty meh. Too short, and for a cruiserweight match with a flier getting his leg worked over this wasn’t half as good as Yoshi/Kidd.

Drew McIntyre vs Trent Barretta, WWE Smackdown 1/21

This was even more fun that last weeks squash. Drew looked great, and Trent looked as good as I can recall him being. His kicks were stiff and the bumps he took off the mid-air powerbomb and the finish were huge.

Negro Navarro/Solar vs Psicosis/Histeria, UWE 1/19

This fell into the “good but nothing special” gap but I still enjoyed it. Nice matwork at the start between the two teams, with Navarro in particular looking like a real maestro and pulling out some cool unexpected counters. I haven’t watched Histeria in a couple of years and it was nice to see him still looking good. Rudo’d it up with his stooging and mask pulling on Solar and throws some stiff chops.

Black Terry/Los Traumas vs Rocky Santana/Sadico/Robin Maravilla, UWE 1/19

This was pretty great and seemed to one of those matches driven by role-playing. Santana wants Terry, but Terry is like the head kingpin and the Traumas his henchmen. Rocky and Terry start on the mat, and their body language tells the story. While they trade holds evenly, Rocky is visibly working for every advantage, whereas Terry is just so casual and seems to brush Rocky off. “Yeah, I’ll just trap your legs together then stomp on then, what of it?”. Later on one of the Traumas held Rocky in place so Terry could casually pick his shots. The Traumas were fucking great in this. Their beatdown during the second fall was brutal, beating the shit out of everyone and busting out the apron double-stomp and riling up the fans to boiling point. Combine it with their looks and they are probably the most intimidating guys in wrestling. There was one great moment where Sadico briefly got the upper hand on T1 by going after his injured shoulder, only for T2 to run in and go bezerk on him for it. All of the Terry vs Rocky interaction was excellent, from Terry treating Rocky like garbage early, to Rocky later getting in a big flurry on him, to the final showdown between them with the crowd fully behind Rocky. Sadico was also great. Another big early MOTYC from Black Terry, who is increasingly becoming an all-time great with every month.