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Well … you could call that one, could you?
Brock Lesnar left the first-ever Day 1 pay-per-view as your new WWE champion to end a wild Saturday for the company. The Beast found himself in the fatal five-way match for the belt after his scheduled Universal title match with Roman Reigns was canceled after The Tribal Chief tested positive for COVID-19.
Lesnar surprisingly won by pinning defending champion Big E after an F5. While there are interesting places for WWE to go, the result feels like a total shift from everything the company originally built around match and an abrupt cord-cutting on Big E’s feel-good reign – similar to what Lesnar did to fellow New Day member Kofi Kingston.
The shocking championship victory (but is it really) was part of a mostly encouraging night in Atlanta. Here are five takeaways from WWE’s start to 2022.
Not again
We will never know what was supposed to happen had Roman Reigns not tested positive for COVID-19. (A heartfelt get well soon to the Universal champion). But now, it’s about where do we go from here with Lesnar as the new WWE champion. Did the uncertainty about the return of Reigns, whose leukemia is in remission but still makes him high risk for the virus, make WWE feel it needed a star of Lesnar’s caliber to carry the only world championship in play right now?
There are plenty of opponents waiting for Lesnar, most notably Big E and Lashley, who finally got to step in the ring for the first time with The Beast. Long-term, do we get Reigns vs. Lesnar with both belts on the line? Do you have Xavier Woods win the Royal Rumble and challenge Lesnar to avenge him beating Big E and Kingston? How does Paul Heyman fit back into this? Does he rejoin Lesnar after being fired by Reigns? Even with the fun possibilities, it stinks to see Big E’s title reign end without a true feud and to someone who doesn’t need the strap after lining up Rollins, Lashley and Owens as viable opponents for the former champion.
The match itself was a fun sprint with Owens and Rollins trying to team up to win and Lashley almost immediately spearing Lesnar through a barricade. Lesnar took enough of a beating early that you almost forgot about him until he quickly got back into the match for a flurry of F5s. Lashley tried to beat Lesnar with a Hurt Lock, but couldn’t get it completely on before Big E broke it up. The champ hit Lashley with a Big Ending and then tried to do the same to Lesnar, but The Beast countered in an F5 for a win few some coming and will likely garnered mixed reaction. Remember when this match was just supposed to be Big E vs. Seth Rollins?
One mistake is all it takes
Whether you agree with Becky Lynch winning nor not, she and Liv Morgan delivered a main-event level match. This was the best performance of the New Jersey native’s career. There was no hesitation in anything Morgan did. She wasn’t thinking, she was just wrestling with aggression and confidence, including a sunset powerbomb with Lynch on the top rope. She sold the urgency of someone trying to win her first title in WWE.
Lynch’s own selling and bouts with frustration of not being able to beat Morgan only put her challengers efforts over more. The Man finally won as Morgan made one mistake. She got caught going for Oblivion on the ropes. Lynch countered into a Man-handle Slam for a clean 1-2-3, though it appeared she was trying to get her feet on the ropes and could not reach. It would have been the second time Lynch bent the rules to beat Morgan.
With all that being said, WWE continues to be hesitant to have up-and-coming talent beat any of the Four Horsewomen for a championship. Even with all the efforts they put into trying to get the audience behind Morgan, including a fantastic video package, they have yet to cash in the story. You can bring up Nikki A.S.H. and Bianca Belair, but both went on to short reigns and lost to Four Horsewomen.
If you want the audience to truly believe in a new babyface, you need to have them beat the odds and complete the story sometimes. You can’t validate and make new stars in a thinning women’s division if you don’t.
(Beth) Phoenix Rises
The thought when Maryse entered The Miz’s feud with Edge was it would lead to a mixed tag match between the the couple and Edge and his wife Beth Phoenix. We appeared on the road to that after Phoenix, the WWE Hall of Famer who just finished up her work at the NXT commentary desk, showed up at Day 1 after Maryse was continually harassing her husband Edge in his match. Phoenix looked great and fierce as she chased away Maryse and got a distracted Miz speared by Edge for the win.
Say what you want about these WWE mixed tag matches – this one potentially happening at the Royal Rumble – but consider it a win anytime you can get someone of Phoenix’s caliber back in the ring. Maybe it leads to some singles matches for her down the road now that she’s done with NXT.
The Miz-Edge match itself was solid and felt like an excellent setup for Phoenix’s arrival, which the Miz’s face and the camera work really enhanced. This was Edge and Miz’s first singles match since Jan, 31, 2011 on Raw. The Rated-R Superstar, who came out to the old Brood theme, has won all four one-on-one meetings.
MOY Candidate on Day 1
The Usos vs. The New Day truly is one of the greatest rivalries in WWE history and we are lucky that there are still chapters being written and they unsurprisingly delivered another superb one. The slower-paced match for these teams, which opened the show, really centered around high-impact spots and all the near falls. Near the end, Kingston ran into a kick from Jey while trying for Trouble in Paradise then a splash from Jimmy, but kicked out. Three straight rollups, the third after SOS, by Kingston all came up empty as well as King Woods flying into as assisted backbreaker with Kington holding Jey. Woods also broke up a cover after a double Uso Splash.
It took The Uso’ breaking out their version of the Dudley Boyz’ 3D – Pat McAfee called it the 1D for one and done – to finally win the match and retain the SmackDown tag team championships. Claiming victory with something your longtime rivals have never seen from you makes so much sense. These two teams are incapable of having a bad match together.
Bad Break
During the Kickoff show, Ridge Holland had to be taken to the back with a broken nose and did not return after Ricochet’s knee hit him in the face on a 450 with a toss assist from Cesaro very early on. The other three really adapted well, though it did sound like Sheamus laid in the 10 Beats on Ricochet a little heavy. Sheamus won the match with a White Noise on Ricochet on the outside and then a Brogue Kick to Cesaro. Sheamus will have a lot to brag about after winning basically a handicap match and hopefully Holland can return soon after a gnarly and unfortunate injury
Other matches
RK-Bro defeats The Street Profits to retain the Raw tag team championships
New Day and The Usos left these teams a tough act to follow and this one didn’t reach the bat and probably wasn’t meant to. There was a little bit more of an entertainment feel to this match with RK-Bro coming out with the group Migos, who sat ringside and Montez Ford doing some dancing upon entering the match. RKO-Bro, who was over with the Atlanta crowd, won with Riddle tossing Ford up to Orton for an RKO. The two teams shared a moment with the Atlanta-based Migos when it was all over.
Drew McIntyre defeats Madcap Moss
Moss, who was volunteered for this match by pal happy Corbin, did a great job bumping for McInytre – the winner via Claymore. Crowd was not into this match, even after the hot tag team opener, outside of general rooting for the babyface McIntyre and few high-impact spots. This all isn’t likely over since McIntryre will still need to get his hands on Corbin, after he attacked him backstage after the match.
Notes
WWE has appeared to replace the term pay-per-view with premium live event. Not against because these shows are not traditional pay-per-views.
“Jackass” star Johnny Knoxville appeared to put his hat in the ring as an entrant in this year’s Royal Rumble in a pre-recorded video
Biggest Winner: Brock Lesnar
Biggest Loser: Big E
Best Match: The Usos vs. The New Day (SmackDown tag team championship)
Grade: B+
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