This week’s main event saw what one hopes is the end of the feud between Damian Priest and Aleister Black, with them meeting one another in a Last Man Standing match that put both men over in their own respect. 

The action itself was fun, it was a TV stipulation match so there were no super crazy spots, no one was set on fire or anything, but the announcer’s desk and ringside area sure got their fair usage as Priest grew increasingly frustrated with throwing Black and around and him still getting up before the count. There were some specifically creative spots, with Priest and Black dueling with kendo sticks while Priest was searching for Old School with the weapon-in-hand, and then Priest dumping Black onto the announcer’s table in consecutive attempts to win the match, both times Black rolling his legs off the table and very limply standing up before the count while definitely leaning on said table for support. 

After it was made clear to him that there was no way of winning the match in the ring or in the ringside area, Priest took Black into the wider venue, clearly looking for a big spot as they climbed the equipment with a precariously planted table below. It was then that Zelina Vega, breaking the fourth wall as Black’s real-life wife – despite having spent more time as rivals than friends in wrestling – came between them and did the classic, “Oh no, please don’t hurt my husband,” only for it all to be a ruse for Black to cast a fireball – having rolled a Nat 20 – to send Priest crashing through the table and win the match. 

I am not a fan of putting people together on-screen purely because of their nuptials, and there is naturally the question of what this means for Vega’s own singles pursuits, given that so often does the wife find herself stood behind her husband, but at the same time it did provide a way of giving Black the much-needed victory while keeping Priest strong in defeat. For what it was, the Last Man Standing match was a fun main event that would really serve as a good way of closing their saga, said cognizant of the fact WWE likes to ‘revisit’ things when the well runs dry. Whether its consequences bode well for the future is another debate entirely, but for now it gets some love.

Written by Max Everett