Early grappling gave way to Rose earning the upper hand, grounding the more established competitor and working her over with body scissors, then a guillotine.
Much was made of Rose’s attempts to prove herself as a wrestler through her improvements, and for good reason.
The cerebral champion targeted her opponent’s arm, bit her, used a kendo stick and a sunset flip powerbomb as she dominated the action.
Belair avoided damage, delivered a senton to the lower back of her opponent, and finished The Role Model off with the K.O.D.
Kudos to Belair and Bayley for delivering a match that was innovative and creative, inside a steel structure that has been anything but in recent years.
Bayley looked like the cerebral, smart and focused former champion she is while Belair’s toughness again was on full display.
Bayley is almost certainly out of the title picture after a second loss to Belair, especially given the exclamatory finish here.
Outside of a few spurts of offense from Cesaro, Rollins dominated the action, seeking to avenge his WrestleMania 37 loss.
Rollins reestablished control of the match momentarily, but Cesaro delivered the swing.
From a strictly in-ring perspective, this felt like a better match than their WrestleMania showdown.
The Swiss Superstar was, just two months ago, as hot a babyface as there was in WWE.
Some will suggest there is no harm in losing to someone as established as Rollins, but The Messiah is creatively bulletproof.
The Goddess responded with laughter, smiles and further mind games.
Bliss is great with her facial expressions and has clearly bought into the storyline.
Bliss, like The Undertaker and Kane before her, believes in what she is doing but that devotion to the character only goes so far.
Owens appeared to be hampered by the arm injury and, if it was not legit, he did a great job of selling it.
As for Zayn, it was nice to see one of the company’s low-key MVPs pick up a quality PPV win.
Flair cheaply used the women’s title before the bell to distract Ripley and seized control from the opening bell.
Their styles mesh so well, and they have such solid in-ring chemistry that every match feels significant and can steal any given show.
First, the finish was awful.
By the time Ripley demanded her title at ringside, confused viewers were left wondering who they should be rooting for in this battle for women’s wrestling supremacy.
As much as it is cool to cite nepotism for The Queen’s success, she is at the top of the list of the best women’s wrestlers on the planet.
The Scot followed with a reverse Alabama Slam, driving his opponent face-first into a steel chair.
Later, a referee bump led to another official unlocking the door and entering the structure, only for MVP to follow and break up a pinfall attempt.
The same can be said for McIntyre and Lashley, who have perfected the heavyweight hoss fight.
Some will find fault with The All Mighty utilizing a schoolboy roll-up to win a HIAC match, but that’s why it was such a great finish.