What we learned from WWE Great Balls of Fire 2017

There was no fire at Great Balls of Fire, but it was a great show, and multiple dudes did get kicked right in the Jerry Lee Lewis, so the pay-per-view mostly delivered on its name. Also, one wrestler tried to murder another wrestler by driving an ambulance into a tractor trailer.

Yeah, we should probably just get to unpacking this show.

This match sure happened. It wasn’t bad, but it also wasn’t memorable, which at this point describes far too much of Bray Wyatt’s career. Bray won with a poke in the eye that gave him the opportunity to put Seth Rollins away, and like Wyatt’s promos, this feud is set to just keep going.

What we learned: Don’t worry, this opening is about the only negativity you’re going to see in this recap, and just like whoever arranged the matches for the night, we’re getting it out of the way as soon as possible.

Enzo is a little dude who Cass turned on specifically because Cass was being held back by his loudmouthed friend. It shouldn’t come as any surprise, then, that Cass wiped the floor with Enzo in their first showdown since the split — Enzo gave a heartfelt promo beforehand, though, that is an example of why he’ll continue to thrive in WWE as a fan favorite even if the wins never start to pile up.

What we learned: Enzo stands no chance of getting revenge on Cass by himself, but maybe he can have someone fight in his stead at SummerSlam. That, or Cass is going to move on to the next thing while Enzo tries to figure out what a life without his seven-foot tall buddy is going to look like.

Alright, so here’s the other bit of negativity from the night: this match probably didn’t need to be 30 minutes long. That’s just me, though: there was plenty of praise out there for the pacing and structure of the match, so maybe you disagree. What we can all agree on is that the opening (Sheamus kicking Matt Hardy in the head immediately to score a quick pin) and the last 10 minutes or so, concluding with the Hardyz running out of time before they could secure the tying fall, were vital.

What we learned: Sheamus and Cesaro might not have been able to stop the Hardy Boyz in any capacity outside of a fluke fall at Extreme Rules before this, but they dominated throughout this match aside from the frenetic late-surge from the Hardys that just wasn’t enough to dig themselves out of the hole they found themselves in. Now, both teams can likely move on, even if it’s unclear who the next opponents for the champs will be given the turnover that RAW’s tag team division has experienced of late.

Alexa Bliss and Sasha Banks really looked like they were beating the hell out of each other, which helps play on the rumors that the two genuinely don’t like each other. It barely matters if that’s the truth of their situation: all that matters is that the performance they’re putting on makes those whispers sound believable, and believable wrestling tends to be real good wrestling.

Also Alexa used her double jointedness to fake a horrific arm injury so she could get the drop on Sasha and punch her in the face:

Alexa decided she was cool with taking a count out loss here, as she’d retain her title in the process. That infuriated Sasha, a post-match brawl ensued.

What we learned: This was so good, and is clearly building to a more high-profile, and maybe more dangerous, encounter between the two at SummerSlam. It’s great to see Sasha rise to the challenge and get an opportunity against someone who isn’t Charlotte Flair, and it’s similarly wonderful for Alexa to get another chance to defend her belt against one of RAW’s biggest stars.

Miz had his Miztourage — that’s a cleaned up and suit-wearing Curtis Axel as well as Bo Dallas in his Walter Sobchack cosplay — help him to a victory here. Maryse isn’t part of the Miztourage, of course, but Miz’s wife helped her husband to victory all the same. Really, the intercontinental title belongs to both of them, and it warms the heart to see that even their current spat can’t keep these two from working towards their greater goal of making everyone in the world hate them.

What we learned: Nothing, really: Miz and Ambrose have been feuding for what feels like all of our lives, and Miz scoring a victory because of outside interference and distractions is pretty par for the course. That doesn’t mean this was no fun, it’s just that we learned zilch from it other than that maybe this is the end of this feud.

This match was the best of the night, but you knew that was going to be the case going in to Great Balls of Fire. Ambulance Matches can be stupid in the wrong kinds of ways, but Strowman and Roman wrecked each other for an appropriate amount of time before Strowman flat-out put one over on Reigns.

Reigns went for a massive spear against the ambulance for maximum damage, but Strowman simply moved aside like he was a 6’8 Roadrunner to Reigns’ Wile E. Coyote, and then slammed the ambulance doors closed behind Roman after his spear’s momentum placed him inside the vehicle.

Then, well, things got weird. Roman beat Strowman up enough to lock him inside the ambulance after the match was already over, as Reigns refused to take the L. He didn’t just put Strowman in there for symbolic purposes, though. Roman slammed on the gas, brought the ambulance to the parking lot in the arena, and then crashed the thing into a tractor trailer:

You might be asking why RAW’s top face tried to straight-up murder one of RAW’s top heels with cars, but that’s the thing: once you try to murder a dude like this, you aren’t exactly a top face anymore. We very well might have just seen a double turn, the recklessly driven exclamation point to fans cheering for Braun and Roman’s slow, months-long descent into heeldom through badassery.

What we learned: Wrestling is real. Braun Strowman is real, he’s strong, and he’s my friend.

For real, though, Braun walked away bloodied under his own power after Reigns TRIED TO MURDER HIM WITH CARS. He’s the face, and you are correct to cheer him on Monday.

This was short, but equal parts violent and sweet. Joe got the jump on Brock again, taking him down before and after the bell, but Lesnar was never fully locked in to Joe’s submission, the Coquina Clutch. That allowed Brock to escape to land devastating German Suplex after German Suplex, and weakened Joe enough that, when it looked like Brock might indeed lose, he was still able to lift a mostly helpless Joe over his shoulders to deliver an F-5 and secure the 1-2-3.

What we learned: Samoa Joe might have lost here, but he wounded Brock Lesnar, and that is not something that happens often. Undertaker is an all-time legend who had to resort to dick punches and referee incompetence in order to score even one victory over Brock. Goldberg is another legend who broke a couple of Lesnar’s ribs with a spear, allowing him to finish what he started, but he eventually paid the price when that party trick didn’t work at WrestleMania 33. Samoa Joe hurt Brock in a way that John Cena and Randy Orton did not, in ways Seth Rollins and Dean Ambrose never had any chance to, and that’s what we’re supposed to remember.

Samoa Joe might have lost, but he has arrived, and everyone else on RAW should be nervous about that fact.