5 Best WWE Matches of the Week (2nd September 2018)
Superstars on 205 Live, NXT, unsigned competitors that were part of the Mae Young Classic, and SmackDown Live took part in this week's 5 best matches. Only one match on Raw was even close to making this list and will be listed on honorable mentions.
Honorable Mentions:
Braun Strowman vs Finn Balor (Raw 9/3/18): While this was a good match, Finn Balor was not as competitive as he was in other matches against Braun Strowman. Unlike other matches between the two, there seemed like Finn Balor had no chance of winning at all.
Rusev Day vs The Usos vs SAnitY (SmackDown Live 9/4/18): This was an action-packed triple threat tag team match that had the right winner. While it's great that Rusev & Aiden English won, would it have hurt for one of the Usos to be pinned? Killian Dain looked like a monster throughout this match, but why did Eric Young have to be pinned in this match? SAnitY has been struggling to gain momentum on SmackDown Live, so it would've been nice for them to be somewhat protected in this match.
Lacey Lane vs Vanessa Kraven (Mae Young Classic 9/5/18): This match told an excellent David vs Goliath story. However, a few botches from Lacey Lane took away from the quality of the match. This match was also the shortest of all of the matches on this episode (it was less than 5 minutes) and it did not have enough time to fully develop the story.
#5 Cedric Alexander vs TJP (205 Live 9/4/18)
TJP challenged Cruiserweight Champion Cedric Alexander to a match on this past episode of 205 Live in the main event. Although TJP hasn't been booked in the best way this year, he is certainly an excellent in-ring worker. TJP showed that when he faced the champ. TJP hit a vicious Apron DDT early in the match. TJP decided to work on the arm of Cedric Alexander throughout this match.
TJP then demonstrated his proficiency with submissions by locking in a Fujiwara armbar, an octopus hold, and an abdominal stretch (using the ropes). Cedric Alexander then started to make a comeback and hit TJP with the Neuralyzer, the Springboard Clothesline, and a suplex into a double knee gutbuster.
TJP also innovatively countered the Michinoku Driver into a roll up and the Lumbar Check into an elevated wristlock. TJP was able to lock in the TJP Clutch (kneebar) and almost made the champion tap out before he reached the bottom rope. TJP then locked in a cross armbar and Cedric
Alexander reversed it and hit a variation of the lumbar check to get the win. This was a great match and hopefully TJP will be able to gain some momentum in the future.