Roman Reigns vs Samoa Joe-WWE Raw 6.2.2017.

Not seeing the hype on this one. Joe's beatdown was pretty pedestrian, too many shots that obviously missed, Reigns is willing to sell and bump to put someone over but he could only do so much. Transition watch: a Back Elbow from a rope running counter that worked due to the threat of Reigns' Jumping Clothesline (validated by him using it later in the match) and a simple irish whip counter. They did a pretty good job of building up signature spots in a manner that was used to be pretty common a few years ago using delayed gratification (ie. Reigns goes for a Samoan Drop, Joe reverses avoids it, runs the ropes, Reigns goes for the Samoan Drop again, Joe fights off>Reigns puts him down and Uppercuts him, leaving the Samoan Drop for Joe to use as a pop up counter for the Facewash) and that, Reigns' performance in general and a quality distraction finish entertained me well enough. **3/4

Braun Strowman vs Big Show-WWE Raw 20.2.2017.

As I've become gradually more obsessed with wrestling I've gone full circle to getting bored with a lot of it and watching a lot less of it, so I'm more interested in deconstructing the patterns present in certain styles, their merits and how much I can get ouf of them. This match looked unique enough in that the conclusions they'd come to appeared interesting.

The opening matwork was fun, though it's impossible to say for me that seeing GIF of them doing the same on house shows didn't lessen its impact. It's a double edged sword-if you don't practice a spot you might blow it, if you do it's gonna be as big of a deal for at least someone. The use of the irish whips and rope running was good-Show attempted the classic New Japan "hit a move after your opponent runs the ropes" cut off but Strowman avoided that and took him down instead, successfully used running moves and so on. Strowman's control segment was a little disappointing, throwing people around and beating them senseless is what really made me love him and he couldn't really do that against Big Show. The actual transitions were predictable, not to a huge detriment-but when you know a suplex counter is coming or that Big Show's Vader Splash wont' connect it isn't adding to the match. The finisher kick-outs worked in that they were unexpected for the occasion, unforced and added to the atmosphere of the match without going overboard. Strowman laid in some nice shots but I couldn't shake the feeling that even when the ideas were good (like Big Show attempting a desperate Chokeslam before being put away) there was just something a little artifical about it. I'm not sure I buy into the idea the crowd was constantly into it when they would go silent for long stretches before popping for the highspots, though that isn't really that much different than all other WWE wrestling that just has more highspots. **3/4

Braun Strowman vs Sami Zayn-WWE Raw 2.1.2017.

The Zayn that sells is much more interesting than the Zayn that does Half Nelson Chickenwing Suplexes and Michinoku Drivers, his grin before the match when Strowman's music was such a nice touch, Kevin Dunn did well. Strong performances by both men, Strowman's feats of strength were unique, looked great and Zayn bumped great for them, while the DDT counter was hardly the most original spot it was definitely well done as Braun just annihilated Zayn with a Forearm. The match had its limitations due to them adhering to a formula of "Braun dominates-Zayn reaches for a weapon-Braun fights off-repeat" in building the body of the match but it did play to both of their strengths and was definitely a step in the right direction. ***1/4

Braun Strowman vs Mark Henry-WWE Raw 13.2.2017.

Really fun and concise hoss battle with them smartly using the 5 minutes they had. I'm not the biggest proponent of sound effect strikes but they can work just like anything else and Strowman's were similar to Reigns' and Harper's who do them well too, the WSS weight shift was a smart counter you don't see often since there aren't a lot of wrestlers bigger than Henry that'd make that spot make sense. Henry catchin Strowman's arm when he went for the clubbing blow is something I could see annoying an all knowing WWE binge watcher if the "go for the move again once you've executed it correctly only to get it countered" pattern is super prominent in WWE (I'm not convinced of that, I think they vary things enough to that it isn't really an issue in general, only when someone telegraphs it) but Henry made it look so cool by milking the arm catch and following it up with a great fired up comeback. ***