2018 Day 6

Sasha Banks v Asuka (WWE RAW, 1/29/18)

I thought this was pretty pedestrian up until Sasha did what she'll do and nearly kill herself on a dive. It wasn't bad or anything, they got nice and chippy and I liked Sasha just taking it straight to Asuka, reputation be damned. There was a great bit where she maybe bit off more than she could chew and Asuka steamrolled her with a strike flurry. But then came the dive and everything after that was really good. I don't know how long Sasha will be able to keep doing things like this before she breaks her neck, but she's sure determined to ride her luck. Asuka's spinning back fist/roundhouse kick combo was brutal and Sasha took those shots clean in the face like a loon, then Asuka went and did a Sasha by crashing on her own missed dive. It wasn't as wild as Sasha's, but she took a nasty bump off the apron on the way down. The speed with which Asuka reversed the Banks Statement into the Asuka Lock would've been the most impressive thing in the match if Banks hadn't Jerry Estrada'd herself through the floor a few minutes earlier.


Drew Gulak v Mustafa Ali (WWE 205 Live, 3/20/18)

Really nifty match. Maybe not quite as good as the best Kendrick matches from the CWC, but it still feels like one of the better 205 Live matches yet (as I've clearly seen an abundance of them). This had some real bite to it, mostly thanks to Gulak. Straight away he was yanking Ali around by the wrist and driving him to the mat, like he was in a shitty mood and happy taking it out on Ali. He was throwing a bunch of nasty stomps, punting Ali really hard in the chest, picking Ali up by the MOUTH, it was all good stuff. It meant Ali had to get mean in return and he wound up slapping Gulak really hard across the face and throwing some nice stomps of his own. We got a couple huge bumps from Ali, firstly as he comes off the top and almost smashes his face off the ring apron. That eventually set up a crazy backdrop off a table to the floor, then he took a running post bump and a big heave over the barricade into the timekeeper's area. The commentators were selling the story of him having to stand up to Gulak by essentially being as much of a bastard as Drew, but sometimes if it's not in a guy's nature to be that then it'll backfire. And well, it backfired. That he came back by showing some babyface guts and going to his bread and butter was a nice payoff.