WWE: AJ Styles vs. Rusev Among Top 5 Matches of July
4) Roman Reigns vs. Drew McIntyre vs. Finn Bálor (Raw, July 16)
Regardless of your opinion on the current state of the product, it’s hard to deny that WWE does a pretty good job of consistently sprinkling in some quality matches on free television. The match Reigns, McIntyre, and Bálor had to kick off the July 16 episode of Raw is a perfect example of this trend.
McIntyre delivered the best performance of his current run, Bálor was great in his role as the fiery underdog, and Reigns brought his A game. There were a handful of memorable moments, and some great teases of a Bálor victory. Don’t let this match pass you by. Go back and watch if you missed it.
Rating: ****
3) AJ Styles vs. Rusev (Extreme Rules)
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After the extraordinary highs, lows, and messiness of the Styles/Nakamura rivalry, it was extremely refreshing to get a nice short, solid feud between the WWE Champion and Rusev.
It culminated at Extreme Rules in one of the better WWE Championship bouts we’ve seen in quite some time. The match told a great, simple story and was effective in cleaning AJ’s slate heading into Summerslam. It also finally gave Rusev a long overdue spotlight, while moving forward the Rusev Day dynamic between himself, Lana, and Aiden English.
Hopefully Rusev will continue to get more big opportunities to show all that he’s capable of. If WWE Creative does what’s best for business, sometime soon we will see the most magnificent Rusev day yet, and The Bulgarian Brute will get the coronation he deserves.