Current Watch List:

• Dolph Ziggler vs. Bad News Barrett (WWE)
• Ryback vs. Rusev (WWE)
• Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan (WWE)
• Daniel Bryan vs. Kane (WWE)

Matches Watched:

Dolph Ziggler vs. Wade Barrett
United States & Canada
WWE

The pre-commercial break segment of the match was rather weak.  There was half-assed arm work from Barrett that meandered along.  After the commercial was a bit better.  Dolph hit a nice chin breaker and Barrett went hard into the post with a missed shoulder tackle.  Dolph is one of those guys the fans like when he comes out and they like when he wins, but they seem indifferent about everything he does in between.

Ryback vs. Rusev (WWE)
United States & Canada
WWE

A couple of neat moves in this match.  Rusev’s knee lift to Ryback’s chest connected really well, so much so that WWE showed a rare close up, slow motion replay of a strike.  Ryback’s Bobby Eaton tribute slingshot back drop suplex was awesome.  They slugged out in the end and threw each other room, just like you would want from these two.  Nice snug, fun work and I liked the ending with Ryback sneaking into win by count out.  Rusev is great and Ryback worked hard here.

Luke Harper vs. Erick Rowan
United States & Canada
WWE

Harper and Rowan should have had a mini-feud working second matches on PPV cards or something instead of being thrown together with no build.  This was a quick match but they did a lot in the short time period.  Harper managed to hit a rana on Rowan.  Rowan’s spin kick looked good.  They worked a big man sprint with Harper catching Rowan with a sudden lariat for the finish.  I like the idea that not all three of the guys won their matches.  Rowan would just be another body in the Rumble to be tossed out mid-match, so might as well keep him out to give the storyline a little more juice

Daniel Bryan vs. Kane
United States & Canada
WWE

Much better than their match from the previous week.  You could have taken this same basic outline of a match, inserted another babyface, and it would have been a struggle.  Bryan has a sense of timing, not to mention a legit connection with the fans, that really nobody else in the WWE has right now.  This was a usual Kane match with a lot of the normal WWE tricks involved, but Bryan times everything so well and brings enough extra spark to matches like this so that they really work.  The reaction when Bryan won was a legit, happy reaction.  This was a toss away match with a predictable outcome that Bryan managed to turn into something just a tiny bit more.  It wasn’t better than average but even getting what he got out of it was a huge accomplishment.  WWE TV is so much better with Bryan back on it.