Perhaps, we— as wrestling fans — have fairly low expectations when it comes to WWE’s b-show PPVs, but Great Balls of Fire came across as a thoroughly enjoyable event, full of high-impact, fast-paced action with a handful of impressive matches. This is the kind of show the WWE should be putting out on a consistent basis, and it’s a relief to be able to talk about a show in such positive terms overall.
It wasn’t perfect, however, and there are still some questions that need to be addressed about where certain Superstars go from here. In order to get to grips with the action itself, here are 5 questions from Great Balls of Fire that most need answering:
#1 Should bathroom/beer breaks go on first?
Put simply, the feud between Bray Wyatt and Seth Rollins has been irrelevant. This is a perfect example of why you need more than just reputation and in-ring work when it comes to building a wrestling story. Bray and Seth are highly gifted athletes, and neither is that bad on the mic, particularly Bray, but even though you have all the pieces, they still need to be put together effectively.
When it transpired that the two former Sheild/Wyatt Family rivals would be opening the main show, I think many of us were gutted that we were being forced to take our bathroom break early, long before the beer had set in. The match itself was fine for what it was, and maybe in a few years when people look back on this PPV without any immediate context, they will assume this might have been a decent enough rivalry. How wrong they would be.
The only saving grace is that Bray Wyatt got a fairly clean victory, which is what he desperately needs right now. That being said, Seth is now in a very strange position, good enough to represent the WWE on the cover of 2K18, but not good enough to beat Bray Wyatt at a B-show. Considering this was their first match, we would normally be asking ourselves where they go from here; hopefully, it’s as far away from each other as possible.
Also read: WWE Great Balls of Fire 2017: Rating all the matches on the card
#2 Is Enzo the best talker since The Rock?
Enzo might not be the typical 5-star talent that WWE traditionally look for. He is by no means the biggest athlete on the RAW roster, and his in-ring skills are pretty average, but nobody can deny just how good The Certified G is on the mic.
We live in a time where WWE Superstars have to work with carefully scripted promos, and many are unwilling to stray too far from the lines through fear of getting into trouble with Vince. Enzo transcends all of that, putting his own spin on everything he says, making everything relatable but in a way that allows us to see right through him into his heartfelt desire and passion for the business. Dare I say it, but I don't think we have seen as good a talker in WWE since Dwyane Johnson himself.
It's right that Cass got the win here, and he needs to be the one to come out of this feud looking like a future main event star. But this does not mean Enzo should be left behind. Even if his matches aren't as good as somebody like Seth Rollins or Finn Balor, most of us would happily tune into an Enzo Amore feud over either of the aforementioned because we know we're going to be, in some way, emotionally invested in what is going on.
Of course, this current feud with Cass writes itself, but there's no reason to assume that all of Enzo's future rivalries aren't going to be as good. There is a place for Enzo in WWE, and it doesn't have to be in the main event. Considering how well he can hype up a rivalry, he needs to be the guy that helps others take that next step, a bit like Mick Foley was back in the day.
#3 Was this the best-booked match of the New Era?
Everything about the Roman Reigns Vs. Braun Strowman match has been received well by the vast majority of fans and for all the right reasons. While the dynamics of this feud, in general, have been all over the place, it does fit in with WWE’s current product where heels and babyfaces aren’t what they used to be. Strowman has effectively been turned face because of his position across the ring from the most detested ‘’face’’ in the company right now, and this match all but summed it up.
While it is still too early to tell whether this was an official heel turn from Reigns, the ending of this match worked perfectly and is probably an example of some of the best booking in WWE’s modern era. A clean win for Reigns would have upset a lot of people and done nothing for Braun going forward.
A straightforward victory for Strowman and Vince could not have utilised Reigns later on this year, or next year, against Lesnar. Officially, Braun will go down as the winner but not in a way that made Roman look weak or Braun too dominant.
After the match, we got what appeared to be a 100% heel move from Reigns, driving the ambulance back into a truck with Strowman inside. If this wasn’t a heel turn, it was pretty close to one.
And what about Strowman himself? Can we call this a babyface turn? The ending really did garner a lot of babyface sympathy for the Monster Among Men, and the fact that he was back on his feet after being freed from the ambulance was a stroke of genius. You could hear the fans cheer for him as he stumbled away into the night.
But again, it is too early to tell whether he can maintain this when he moves onto his next feud. Whatever the case may be going forward, we all need to appreciate just how well put together this match was.
#4 Why is Brock getting the Super Cena treatment?
Brock Lesnar Vs. Samoa Joe is a dream match, whichever wrestling promotion they are working for. Quite rightly, this has been one of the most intriguing rivalries of the new era, and the two men have delivered sufficiently. Joe is the kind of heel we don't see much of anymore in WWE; the self-proclaimed destroyer fears nobody and doesn't run away from any fight put in front of him.
The match last night started off with a lot of promise and soon descended into a typical Brock Lesnar brawl, which is still a welcome breath of fresh air considering how similar everyone's fighting style is these days. The ending, however, left many people scratching their heads. This was no typical ending to a Brock Lesnar feud; it was actually more like something we would expect from Hulk Hogan in the ‘80s or Cena in the ‘00s.
Joe had the upper hand for the majority of the match, looking like a true heel and making Lesnar the de facto babyface. It was right that Joe was made to look strong, but considering this is the first time we have seen Lesnar in the ring since his match with Goldberg at Wrestlemania, it was strange to see him in such a weak position yet again. The Beast has gone from unbeatable to very very vulnerable in the space of one calendar year.
This was perhaps the perfect opportunity to have a non-finish, Whether both men could have counted each other out or incapacitated themselves to the point where they could not continue, it really felt like we didn’t need a winner here at all. The fact that Brock gave Joe an F5 so suddenly to win the match took a lot of the air from the arena, and we are now left with a confused picture of what happens next.
Really, these two should continue to feud until Summerslam. Joe clearly did enough last night to show that he is capable of beating Lesnar, and the fans are still into this as a rivalry. Summerslam needs that big-time attraction match, and these two could be the men to deliver it.
#5 Is this the least we should expect from a WWE PPV?
Great Balls of Fire will go down as one of the most impressive WWE PPVs in quite some time, especially in terms of the non ‘big four shows’. But for older fans, we might be looking at GBOF and asking ourselves why we don’t get more of this in today’s product.
Back in the days of the Attitude Era, the product, in general, felt more impressive, more frantic and action-packed. This came across in PPVs too, even ones that were just there to fill time between the big four. We had much higher standards in 1999 when WWE was going toe to toe with WCW, but in this day and age, a lot of the PPVs are just kind of there.
Who can really remember much about Extreme Rules or Backlash for example? Would the WWE year have been any worse or better if those shows didn’t happen? These are not the kinds of questions we should be asking, but unfortunately, they are valid ones.
GBOF should be the minimum we expect from the biggest wrestling promotion in the world. It wasn’t a perfect show, but it did more than enough to get a pass from the majority of fans. We can only hope we see more of this stuff going forward.
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