A Look into the Inaugural Great Balls of Fire

Goodness gracious-what a show! The first installment of WWE’s “Great Balls of Fire” show didn’t disappoint. We saw some great action, most of which took place during the second half of the event. Incase you don’t me, my name is Tom (better known as @heelstadium on Instagram) and I have been given the privilege to share my thoughts and opinions on the first ever “Great Balls of Fire” PPV. This article will be organized into multiple paragraphs following this opening where I will discuss what I liked, what I disliked, and where I believe storylines could be heading now that we have seen the conclusion of this event.

The Not So Good
Whenever I am asked if I want the good news or the bad news first, I usually pick the latter of the two. The main I had problem with this show was that although by the end of the night I felt I had not wasted my time, the first hour and a half or so just felt very dull. Two of probably my top five favorite wrestlers today in Seth Rollins and Bray Wyatt opened the show, but the match didn’t really have my attention. This is mainly because of the lackluster build leading up to Sunday’s bout. I was happy to see Bray pick up a win, something that has seemed few and far between since Elimination Chamber. It was a fine match. Just didn’t reel me in the way I was hoping it somehow could despite the absence of a big story. This mood didn’t necessarily change when the tag team title match arrived. I still couldn’t seem to find much of a reason to care other than the fact of the names in the ring. This was a solid match once I began to pay more attention around the fifteen minute mark. Sheamus and Cesaro were up three falls to one at a point in the match, but a combination of quick pins and classic Hardy comebacks set the stage for a tie score with a few minutes remaining. Ultimately, Cesaro would cover Jeff Hardy for his teams fourth fall, and time would play into the decision when the buzzer sounded during Jeff’s pinfall attempt. Like I said, the match was good. I just didn’t care about it as much as I would have liked to. A match not too much further down the card that I just didn’t enjoy was Dean Ambrose challenging Intercontinental Champion The Miz. We’ve seen this match many times before, and this definitely wasn’t the best one of their Smackdown originated rivalry. It felt rather quick, and after some help from Maryse, The Miz would retain his championship by hitting a Skull-Crushing Finale on Ambrose. I would like to see these two go their separate ways on RAW for some time. The feud just feels stale at this point. One final thing that kinda disappointed me was Samoa Joe failing to defeat Brock Lesnar. I wasn’t expecting a surefire title change, but I would have loved to see it. Joe proved tonight how much of a legitimate badass he is, and shined bright knowing he was in the ring with Brock Lesnar. There was a lot I liked about this match that will come up later, but right here I just wanted to make clear that if a wrestler jumps his opponent before the match to the point where they can barely get into the ring for the bell to sound AND delivers a low blow during the fight, I feel as though that should be the wrestler who walks out the winner. I’m not saying Joe didn’t look good, but how much better would he have looked winning? The match could have easily went longer, and the crowd was hot for it, so a rematch at Summerslam would have been very much accepted by the fans. The rest of the show pretty much fell into the “like” category for me, aside from Neville vs Tozowa which I missed. Neville did retain the Cruiserweight Title.

And The Good!
I tried my best not to complain more than I needed to, so here is what I enjoyed about Sunday night’s show. The lone women’s match on the card between Sasha Banks and RAW Women’s Champion Alexa Bliss is where the tide began to shift for me. This match was better than I expected, and that was very pleasing. In all honesty, I can’t find much interest in the women on either show in WWE at the moment, so me liking this match says something. I just think it was done right. Bliss worked the back of Sasha with some grueling backbreakers and such. She also did that weird double jointed thing with her arm that still amazes me before throwing a punch to Banks. Sasha looked in control toward the end, until the match reached an anticlimactic count out finish. It was perfect! The kind of competitor Alexa Bliss is shown to be is a smart heel who knows how to win at all cost and will do just that. The count out victory would lead to Sasha attacking after the match as Bliss tried to walk up the ramp, and ultimately finished in Sasha landing the double knees from the announce table on the raised part of the stage. All of this sets up a future match between the two, and I think that is great news. Also, something small that I just loved was Sasha giving Bliss a stomp or two after she hit the double knees and her music hit. Don’t know why, just thought it portrayed some emotion. Before hitting the next match on the card, I want to skip to the main event. I’ve already touched on my problems with the match, but other than that, I thought Brock Lesnar vs Samoa Joe was awesome. From the weeks of promising build that created a big fight feel, to the fact that this has been a dream match for years, I knew there was no chance in hell that it would totally disappoint. Joe would savagely attack Brock during Heyman’s introduction of his client, and the Samoan Submission Machine set the tone for what would be an intense, hard-hitting, MMA type match. The action would continue once the opening bell rung. We saw suplex after suplex, the coquina clutch, and an array of knees and other viscous strikes from both sides. The tone of the match was one we don’t get to see very often, and I loved every second of it. Moving along, here is where what was probably the highlight of the night for me. The ambulance match between Braun Strowman and Roman Reigns was a good one. These two have had one of the better feuds in recent memory, and tonight added to that case. A match that was dominated by spots outside of the ring (most of which involved either Strowman tossing Reigns, or running into another object) made for one of their best brawls yet. Some of my favorite moments were Roman hitting Braun with a chair multiple times, but each one not even making The Monster flinch in reaction until shouting “HIT ME YOU SON OF A BITCH!”. This would be followed by Strowman catching an attempted chair shot from Reigns and instead flinging Roman into the barricade multiple times as well as up the entrance ramp. Another one of my favorite spots was when was able to counter a running powerslam and send Strowman into and through the backdrop. The image just looked amazing, and the disbelief on Roman’s face as he watched Braun slowly recover told the story. They also repeated that spot where Braun threw Roman into the ambulance a couple weeks back on RAW. The original looked more brutal, but both were crazy to watch. As Reigns fought back and defended himself from being put inside the ambulance, he would throw a series of superman punches that would eventually leave Strowman half way in the vehicle. Roman looked to end in with a spear to send Braun into the back, but another awesome spot would occur when Strowman side stepped Reigns, sending him flying into the ambulance. Braun quickly shut the doors to the delight of the crowd, and was declared the winner. However, the best from these two was yet to come. Roman would swing the doors open from inside with Stowman’s back turned. When Braun came around, Reigns jumped from the back into a spear. It looked pretty sick. My first thought was, “Man, is that really how they are going to end this?”. I had no idea what was coming. Roman would slam the door on Braun multiple times before he fell into the ambulance. Reigns proceeded to slam the doors shut, and then hijack the damn ambulance Grand Theft Auto style! He would urgently drive it to the back and into the parking garage where he came to a stop. The camera caught the perfect moment where Reigns just looked into the side mirror of the ambulance. This was where what looks like a double turn took place. Reigns then slammed on the gas with the ambulance in reverse, and drove it straight into a production truck. I was shocked, the crowd was appalled, and Twitter went into a frenzy. Reigns gingerly exited the ambulance and walked away from the scene with looks of shock from those around including RAW GM Kurt Angle. Ignoring the WWE’s attempt to cut to a Slater/Hawkins match that was “impromptu” according to Michael Cole, we would soon come back to the scene of this mangled ambulance. The fire department would arrive and use tools to break the side of the vehicle open. Inside of the ambulance saw a bloody Braun Strowman, lying down and hurt. Despite a very strong effort to get Strowman onto the stretcher, Braun would disobey the medical staff and stumble through the garage. A striking image of his bloodied face was caught before he limped away, really showing the effects of the crash, but refusing to stay down. This transition into the Joe/Lesnar match was the apogee of the night. Many were saying it felt like something straight out of the Attitude Era, and I would have to agree. Tonight, Strowman and Reigns may have completed a successful and memorable double turn. What they definitely did was add another chapter onto the timeline of this storied rivalry. One that I can say with confidence, has solidified a spot as one of the most intriguing rivalry’s in WWE history.

What’s Next?
After what I consider a fun evening of action, I see many of these feuds continuing into Summerslam. I’m very curious as to what is lined up for both Braun and Roman, and I hope we get to see them both cross paths again soon. Alexa and Sasha are surely set for a rematch, perhaps in a no disqualifications setting. Seth and Bray are more than likely not done with each other. Sadly don’t have much of an opinion there. Don’t know if they are ready to move Cass and Enzo apart yet. We’ll have to wait and see. Cass claims he wants The Beast, so who knows. The tag team division looks rather stagnant. So unless The Revival are ready to go, we might get Team Extreme facing off against Shesaro once more. As far as Brock and Joe go, I said earlier I would love to see them square up again at the biggest event of the summer. However, the way in which Brock retained despite Joe pretty much doing everything in his power to win, I don’t think it will happen. Hey, I’m still down for Strowman or Reigns challenging Lesnar as well. That’s all folks! Remember to give me a follow on either Instagram or Twitter @heelstadium for nearly daily wrestling comments, content and more. Enjoyed writing this first article, thanks again to Mr. TWC himself Justin for granting me the opportunity and platform to do so. Also want to thank you for taking the time to read and I hope you all enjoyed this night in the world of professional wrestling. Have a good one.