John Cena vs AJ Styles-WWE Royal Rumble 2017

This definitely wasn't a PWG stlye match. The beginning of the match was worked at a very slow pace with them taking bumps for weak strikes. You don't have 50 thousand fans going insane before the match starts at PWG either, so no need for that portion where you calm them down. And once they started with the workrate they did plenty of selling and didn't just move from move to move, and that there were touches like Styles doing so much cool kicking offence and Cena busting out Lariats and his most ridiculous Prototype facial expressions are probably what made me enjoy it more than their Summerslam match. It was a match very much built around the workrate, and they did have some nice build around their signature spots when they started with it (the Frankensteiner counter to the Backdrop Suplex was neat), but after a while I just began to wonder whether all of the Cena matches from 2011-2013 would really hold up. The submission countering can be interesting to see what stuff they come up with, but for a match really aiming at that excitement and flash it's completely devoid of drama, Cena hasn't been nearly as graceful in his finisher becoming less efficient as Choshu, Misawa and many others have where they'd adapt to it by treating it differently, coming up with other moves and so on. IDK, I hardly see greatness in Cena sloppily hitting dumb Electric Chairs and indy spots. Stlyes' offence wasn't any different either, nothing carried the sense of actually being a threat to ending the match. ***

Beth Phoenix vs Melina (WWE Royal Rumble 2009)

I watched this match because of a GIF. I vaguely remember this stuff, but the aesthetic of Melina's red carpet entrance, some weird Beth-Santino storyline and Lawler commentating it all in the manner of a 2009 diva match ended up being quite the trip. It was six minutes long, and I like short matches, so maybe my next endeavor could be revisiting the divas division before giving up matches in and then not watching wrestling for a month. A lot of the moves they do don't look polished, but it doesn't matter that much. Many of the men in WWE have had shitty strikes as well and have been given a pass, they're just quick transitions, it doesn't matter much in the WWE style. The lay-out was really interesting-you had Phoenix dominating by outpowering Melina and recklessly throwing her around, maybe she's actually the divas version of Rick Steiner. Melina's comebacks were brief and included doing really wacky springboard axe quicks, roll-ups and a La Mistica, I loved just how ridiculous the whole thing was and the finishing stretch was chaotic, some might be botehred that there are times where you're not sure what's exactly happening and the correct person is registering pain after a botch, but it has a certain charm when you know the match isn't going long and every move could legitimately end the match. And the aforementioned GIF included Phoenix holding Melina in a Stretch Muffler and kicking Melina in the head with Melina's own leg and yeah that spot ruled. Fun match. ***