That Match Ruled!

The reason why I keep watching WWE programming even though RAW can be infuriating week in and week out is that all six hours of WWE programming have the potential to have PPV-quality wrestling. RAW had a really fun Miz/Bourne match and a pretty good US Title match between Carlito and Kofi Kingston. ECW always has good wrestling, even when Tyler Reks is in there slopping it up. Although Smackdown has Khali and Kane on the roster, they have top-notch wrestling all the time as well. When you have a roster with the Hardy Boys, CM Punk, John Morrison, Mike Knox, Charlie Haas, Finlay, the Hart Dynasty, Cryme Tyme, Rey Mysterio, Dolph Ziggler, Undertaker and of course, Chris Jericho, it's hard to have consistently bad wrestling on Friday nights.

This week's edition was no exception. The main event featuring the newly reunited Hardys and Morrison taking on Punk and the Harts was a really good go-home main event to help promote SummerSlam. Knox/Finlay was a fun brawl as well, although I really hate how the WWE is leaning on the castigo excesivo/5-count DQ finish anymore. However, the real show-stealer was the show opener. Jericho, Ziggler and The Big Show teamed up to take on Mysterio and Cryme Tyme, a match that previewed two big-time SummerSlam title matches.

I don't know what it was about this match that made it so good to me. Maybe it was the amazing tag team synergy showed by not only Cryme Tyme between themselves but with ReyRey too. Maybe it was Big Show cockily kicking JTG while he was down. Maybe it was the closing sequence where Show KTFO'd Mysterio and Ziggler picked the bones. Maybe it was a combination of everything. Either way, it was a match that belonged on a PPV and that the viewing audience at home was treated to for free.

For someone who doesn't have the money to throw around to buy every PPV, it's a treat to see that caliber of wrestling on a weekly basis. It's not new, either. Jericho/Cena in London, MVP/Orton on RAW, any number of the Jericho/Mysterio matches on Friday nights this summer and even going back pre-WrestleMania, Primo/Miz and the second Swagger/Christian match on ECW were all matches that felt like they were ripped from PPV telecasts and put on free TV. Even if the out-of-match shenanigans are sub-par, I can't fault a company that does in-ring action as well as the WWE does.

Of course, no one's going to confuse the WWE for NJPW, Pro Wrestling NOAH or even PWG or ROH. The style is toned down a lot, even if the German suplex and even moves like the Ranhei are trickling into matches nowadays. However, where head-dropping and death-defying moves are lacking, the company more than makes up for in supreme pacing, psychology and fluidity and cleanness. These guys are among the best in the world at what they do, and TNA could take a lesson on how to let their world-class athletes show what they're made of, both on free TV and on PPV.