2016 Ongoing MOTY List: Usos v. American Alpha

43. Usos v. American Alpha WWE Smackdown 9/20

ER: Real fun tag worked around a leg injury and cutting the ring off. Gable came into this with a "knee injury" caused by the Usos, and at first opportunity the Usos went right after his leg. But I love that instead of Gable getting his leg worked on the whole time, fighting valiantly through both Usos lying on the mat tugging at his wheel, instead the two Gable spots were used to keep Gable out of the match almost entirely, his big moment being an excellently timed save. Usos hung his leg in the ropes nice and early, leaving him hanging grossly from his knee, and he was gone. Match continued with Jordan gamely taking both Usos on but pretty quickly getting run over, double teamed. Go on a good run, turn around into a superkick. I fully bought the big splash finish, and then GABLE leapt back into my memory and onto the screen with an awesome save. But before long he crept back into the ring, and the Usos kind of did the flipside of a save, as Jey leaps across the ring to mangle Gable's knee as he gets unsuspectingly into the ring. Superkicks, end. I really dug this as it gave a lot to both teams (even with Gable being gone for long stretches), but it felt like there was still plenty left on the table for future matches. It felt like a real good beginning to even bigger things.

PAS: This was a lot of fun, asshole heel Usuos with bandanas and grills really freshen up their act. I played high school football in the Bay Area, I knew a ton of Samoan gangsters, and they were scary motherfuckers. That is a gimmick which always resonates with me. I think most of the work on Gable's leg was in the commercial break so we pretty much went straight to hot tag, and Jordan has some weaknesses but he is fun Rick Steiner style house of fire guy. I loved the crazy flying chop block on Gable's knee and how Jordan waved off a tag because he knew his partner was too hurt. Really neat variation on a tag trope, usually the super injured guy gets the tag anyway, but this time Jordan decided to take the bullet.

2016 MOTY MASTER LIST