Welcome to the inaugural Great Balls Of Fire results post. If you have the WWE Network, you can watch this show anytime, and I would recommend it ten times over. I’m looking to create a fresh approach to wrestling review posts, so I’m going to compare my prediction for each match with the actual end result, and add in some analysis as well.

If you haven’t read my predictions post, you can find that here.

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Cruiserweight Championship – Neville (C) vs. Akira Tozawa

Prediction: All hail King Neville

Result: Neville is still your Cruiserweight champion. Neville has been dominating the Cruiserweight division for the entire calendar year, and he wasn’t going to lose his title on the pre show of a show called Great Balls Of Fire. These two got around 13 minutes and had a really fun match, which is something we should always be saying about the cruiserweights. I’ll never understand why they’re only given a few minutes of time on certain Raw’s, especially when they always deliver in spots like this.

Neville winning with a transition move was an interesting choice, and makes me think these two will square off again soon. Best parts of the match for me were Neville kicking Tozawa in the head to the ‘AH’ chants by the crowd, as well as former NXT champion Neville studying current NXT champion Bobby Roode and rolling out of the ring after Tozawa hit his Senton finish. Solid show opener.

Bray Wyatt vs. Seth Rollins

Prediction: Seth Rollins

Result: Here was my reaction to Bray Wyatt defeating Seth Rollins:

Bray Wyatt picking up a win at a PPV?? #WWEGBOF pic.twitter.com/UruczZRc2t

— The Average Nobodies (@AverageNobodies) July 10, 2017

There was a meme circulating on Twitter prior to last night’s show, and it was a sobering graphic of the Bray Wyatt character. His career win loss record was 182-424-10 heading into last night’s match, which tells you everything you need to know about Bray. I don’t care how good of a character he is, you can’t lose 70% of your matches and expect fans to take anything you say seriously. While it was nice to see him win last night, it’s hard not to think that this was a ‘win the battle, lose the war’ situation. Bray’s wins always come with a disclaimer, because we’ve seen him lose so many big matches in the past. These two clearly have great chemistry in the ring, but if this feud is continuing, they’re going to need to create a more compelling build.

Enzo vs. Cass

Prediction: Double DQ brawl

Result: Cass wins. I was hoping for a double DQ brawl for this match so the feud would extend to Summerslam in Brooklyn, but that might’ve been asking too much. Cass should always maul Enzo, especially in his current role, and I thought this was a nice progression for heel Cass. Enzo cut another amazing, impassioned promo before the match, and his character work over the last three weeks should not go unnoticed. He knew he had no shot going into this match, but he wasn’t going to give up until Cass literally knocked him out. I don’t know where Enzo goes from here, but I hope the people in charge are paying to attention to how crowds have been responding to him.

Tag Team Title Match: Cesaro/Sheamus vs. The Hardy’s

Prediction: Time limit draw

Result: Cesaro/Sheamus successfully defend their titles. I thought this match was executed perfectly within the stipulations, especially when you have one of the best baby face teams of all time in The Hardy’s. They’ve always thrived when fighting from underneath, so having Cesaro & Sheamus got up 2-0 10 minutes in was a smart choice. The Hardy’s weren’t able to tie it up until very late in the match, and by that time they had pretty much expended all of their energy.

I loved that Cesaro won the deciding fall by outsmarting the Hardy’s with a bling tag and a quick pin on Jeff after he hit Sheamus with the Swanton. Cole explaining that Cesaro/Sheamus would win the tag titles if the falls were tied after 30 minutes took the wind out of my sails a little bit, because if came to it there definitely should’ve been a sudden death fall, but that’s a minor complaint for an otherwise entertaining half hour match. Now if we could just do this match again with The Revival subbed in for The Hardy’s my life would be complete.

Women’s Championship Match: Alexa Bliss (C) vs. Sasha Banks

Prediction: Alexa Bliss

Result: Sasha Banks via count out. This was the only decision of the night that I wasn’t a big fan of. I don’t mind heel champions utilizing the DQ/count-out finish to retain their title, but it always feels a little cheap when it happens on a pay per view. I didn’t like it when the Uso’s did it at Money in the Bank and I didn’t like it here. The match itself was decent, and we learned that Sasha Banks doesn’t watch Smackdown as she fell for the Alexa Bliss double jointed stunt that she pulled on Becky Lynch. Before the match could really get going Bliss got herself counted out, which caused Sasha Banks to whoop some ass after the match. I have to imagine these two will continue to feud, possibly with a no DQ match on an upcoming Raw or at Summerslam. Hopefully Nia Jax gets added to the story too, because everything is better when Nia Jax is throwing women around.

IC Title Match: The Miz (C) vs. Dean Ambrose

Prediction: Miz

Result: Miz, with a little help from the Miz-tourage. First of all – I love the Miz-tourage. Curtis Axel decided to wear his finest vest, while Bo Dallas dressed up as a mix of Stevie Van Zandt & The One Man Gang. LOOK AT HIM:

Photo: WWE

The match was OK, but these two needed to stop wrestling each other months ago. There are no more stories to tell. Also, I understand Ambrose is this lunatic character, but when Curtis Axel, Bo Dallas and Maryse are all at ringside, you should probably expect some outside interference. The two things I wanted from this match were The Miz to leave with the title and for the match to have an ending that would finally finish this feud. I guess 1 of 2 things aren’t bad, but I am not looking forward to watching these two continue to interact and wrestle until the end of time.

Ambulance Match: Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

Prediction: Braun Strowman

Result: Braun Strowman, although not as definitive as I would’ve liked. It’s probably too much to ask to have Braun continue to physically dominate Roman Reigns, but I liked how Braun won this match with his brain instead of his brawn. Braun hurt himself running at Reigns and taking off an ambulance door, so when Reigns was sizing him up for a match clinching spear, he turned the tables on Roman and dodged it, causing Roman to dive into the ambulance and lose the match. Watching these two continue to battle has been a ton of fun, and goes to show you that certain guys can wrestle each other for a long time but still keep it entertaining. Braun and Roman are the opposite of Miz/Ambrose, and I wouldn’t mind watching these two do battle over and over again.

My favorite spot from the match was Roman hammering Braun with steel chairs, Braun eating those chair shots while simultaneously screaming “hit me you son of a bitch!”. That’s some star making stuff right there. The real story happens after the match, as Roman escapes the ambulance and beats up Braun, shoves him into the ambulance and drives him backstage. While Curt Hawkins & Heath Slater have an impromptu match, Roman literally commits attempted murder, as he backs the ambulance into a trailer with Braun Strowman inside. I loved everything about the post match attack, and it had an Attitude era unpredictable feel to it, and once again made Braun Strowman look like an unstoppable monster. Reigns is also kind of justified in his actions, because Braun did try to murder him via ambulance tipping, so he’s just returning the favor. The lasting image of this match will be Braun, beaten and battered, still standing and still ready to tear Roman Reigns apart. Fantastic moment.

Photo: WWE

Universal Title Match: Brock Lesnar (C) vs. Samoa Joe

Prediction: As great as Joe has been, 100% healthy Brock Lesnar isn’t mortal. Lesnar retains in a brutal fight.

Result: All you could ask for, as Samoa Joe looked like a star but Brock Lesnar ultimately won.

How cool is it that Samoa Joe has been on the main roster for 6 months and was fighting in the main event against Brock Lesnar for the top title on Raw? Not only that, but Joe was situated as a legitimate threat against one of the most fierce competitors in WWE history, and he not only held his own last night, but he kicked Brock Lesnar’s ass for almost the entire match. I loved everything about this match, and while it would’ve been cool and shocking to have Joe win, I think Lesnar winning was the right call. Similar to Joe’s wonderful run in NXT, he came into the match with a plan and executed it perfectly.

He attacked Lesnar pre match to weaken him, and never wavered in his assault on the champ. The only problem is that Brock Lesnar is not a mortal man, and Joe was never able to lock in the Coquina Clutch. This was a simply laid out match that forced Lesnar to actually wrestle and work for the first time in forever, and I liked how the match ended on one finisher. If Joe was able to lock in the Clutch before Lesnar was able to hoist him up for the F-5, he would’ve been the new champ. Lesnar was able to nail his finisher first, so he won, but not before he took a beating. Great main event.

-Ryan