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Welcome to the first 2022 WWE Premium Event blog of the year, or whatever they are now calling PPVs in order to have their own jargon!
I hope everyone had a great, safe New Year's Holiday.
The Roman Reigns COVID-19 positive is obviously an unfortunate situation. I wish the company had announced it further out than a few hours before they went on the air given he wasn't on any of the Holiday Tour shows, but that's just me. As of this writing, I haven't heard of any other talents who were scheduled for the show but are now off.
The opening bout on the Kickoff Show is Cesaro & Ricochet vs. Sheamus & Ridge Holland. Holland got popped hard by Ricochet in the face during a rotation and was getting looked at by a medical official. It's not ballet! There was quite a bit of blood on the mat, but my guess is WWE's ring crew will switch that out ASAP. Holland was removed from ringside as they believed he suffered a broken nose. This left Sheamus, the heel, in a handicap situation, which is backwards to be sure but it's not like you can plan for an injury.
Sheamus mauled Ricochet across the the chest. Holland will not be returning to the ring. That poor guy. Cesaro makes the save and cleans house. Sheamus made a comeback and won, which made him look super badass since he was overcoming two opponents. Obviously not the initial plan here but it was solid, minus Holland getting smashed up.
We are starting out the PPV proper with The Usos vs. The New Day for the Smackdown Tag Team Championship, so we are pretty much promised a great bout. It's the usual good work between the two teams early on. Woods pays tribute to his hometown. Pat McAfee eloquently told us they were going "ass to face" with the Usos' offense on Kofi. Thanks Pat. Woods finally gets the hot tag and cleans house on Jimmy Uso. I never., ever get tired of watching these teams go at it. It's the closest thing to a modern day version of the Rock N' Roll Express and The Midnight Express. These teams will be the definitive tag team feud for WWE this generation.
Jimmy smashes Kofi into the ringside announcing table. Lots of close near falls on Woods, who keeps on surviving. Jey Uso's facial expressions really have improved so much over the last few years. They measure each other with punches but Woods finally drills him Uso to take him down. Kofi channels Ricky Steamboat with an awesome flying bodypress for another close near fall. They had the crowd right in the palm of their hand at this point with big pops for all the moves and near falls. It was infectious to watch. Lots of crowd chants. They are in a great groove!
Pat MacAfee just stated Gable Steveson was sitting ringside. We reported earlier today he would be there at the show.
There are big portions of the crowd standing for every near fall at this point and damn, this is a really damn fun match. The Usos unload with superkicks squared and double Superfly Splashes on Kofi but NO, Woods breaks it up. The Usos take out Woods as he goes for a pescado and then hit Kofi with The Dudley Death Drop (!) for the pin. The Usos retain in a damn fun match.
Well, if the rest of the show sucks, we still got to see the first great WWE match of the year tonight!
They are airing a Big E personality profile for those of us with Peacock Premium while everyone else is seeing ads for This is Us or something.
Big E said he's ready for everyone in the match and wants to take everyone down, including Brock. It was a good promo.
Kayla Braxton interviewed hip hop stars Migos. They have been fans since they are kids and happy to be here.
Madcap Moss vs. Drew McIntyre is up next. Drew deserves a hell of an accolade from the company as he worked TEN matches for the company in the last week on the Holiday Tour. Talk about a warrior.
Happy Corbin was wearing a sweater that looked like Winnie The Pooh died on it.
This is easily the highest profile match for Moss to date in the company. He bumped all over for Drew, including a big overhead belly to belly suplex on the floor. Moss gained control and worked over Drew. It was very much an old school babyface vs. heel deal with the babyface getting the early shine and then the heel scoring the advantage and getting heat on Drew.
Drew tried to make a comeback but was crotched going for a superplex. He made a comeback and nailed the Claymore kick for the pim.
This went exactly as it should have gone. Moss did a good job in his best outing to date and Drew got the spotlight at the end. All that said, the finish was never in question so it's not like there was high drama from bell to bell.
More thoughts on Page 2!
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