Review for WWE Super Showdown 2019

When Wrestling Observer gives their award for ‘Worst Show of the Year’ I will be stunned if Super Showdown does not win it. I will not go over my issues with WWE collaborating with Saudi Arabia and I am glad that this time it wasn’t just a Propaganda tool, but instead was a show filled with some of the worst matches I have ever seen.

The WWE Universal Championship between Seth Rollins and Baron Corbin was fine, just nothing special. The two work well together and though they had better matches it wasn’t unwatchable.

Match of the night was the WWE Intercontinental Championship between Finn Bálor and Andrade. This felt like a classic NXT-style match with lots of spots and action. Very exciting and I do wish there was more of this. This is one of the few highlights from this event and if I’m honest one of the few reasons to watch it again.

The next four matches range from poor, to unwatchable. Shane McMahon against Roman Reigns was painful. I never understand why people think someone like Shane can compete and often best people like Roman Reigns. It makes no sense and the match was awful. As was the Three on One Handicap match between Lars Sullivan against all the members of the Lucha House Party. This should have either been a squash to show how dominant Lars was or how creative the Luchas are to take him down. Instead this did nothing for anybody and was an awful match.

Randy Orton against Triple H was so long that I could not believe what I was watching. It should have been fine and both work well together as they always have, but the match did not need to go this long. Considering most of the matches were less than ten minutes I am shocked that this was the match that WWE decided to splurge all their time on and it really wasn’t worth it. As for the less nine minutes we got from Bobby Lashley and Braun Strowman? It was a heavy hitting slugfest which was fine, but utterly skippable.

The WWE Championship match between Kofi Kingston and Dolph Ziggler was fine, but was another match at the ten minute mark. It was fine and they both worked well, but it wasn’t the classic I expected from the two of them.

The inclusion of a 51-Man Battle Royal should have been a highlight. Instead it was just a mess. The problem was simply that 51 people is far too many to keep track of. There is a reason why these are usually 10 or 20 people or as with the Royal Rumble at intervals. The match was a mess and as soon as the commentators referred to ‘home town boy’ Mansoor you knew he was winning. This was a nice pop I suppose, but others in the match could have needed the win.

Finally, we get on to the main event, the match we had all been waiting for, a match so hyped up that it was almost like Ali and Foreman was being presented. In one corner, The Phenom, The Deadman, The Undertaker and in the other GOLDBERG!!! GOLDBERG!!! Both appeared in possibly the worst match I have ever seen and definitely one of the worst main events in years. I was shocked by how bad this was. Both should take some responsibility as they both seem unprepared and seeing both try their power moves and in some cases fail was scary. Goldberg’s Jackhammer on Undertaker was one of the most terrifying moments in wrestling. The match ended, after the bloody botch from Goldberg and you could tell that neither was happy with their performance. As well they should not be. This match made the awful match Goldberg had against Brock Lesnar at Wrestlemania XX look like a classic Steamboat/Flair encounter.

The set also includes the Kickoff match between The Usos and The Revival which was fine in general. Both teams work well together, I just wish it had been a match that meant something or was given more time for both teams to shine.

There are also a number of extra features to try and hype up some of the matches including Goldberg’s first time on Smackdown Live and Undertaker’s response which makes me even more sad at how badly that match turned out. The rest are just promos between Triple H and Randy Orton, Dolph Ziggler and Kofi Kingston and a tease of Brock Lesnar cashing in. All are fine in general, It is just a shame that they do not lead to an event worth watching.

There was nothing Super about this Show that really needed to be put down. I was shocked by how bad it was and if it wasn’t for the Finn/Andrade match it would have nothing worth watching. I really cannot recommend this to anyone and even the hardcore WWE fan who has to own everything may want to think twice before you pick up this awful show.