WWE Great Balls of Fire 2017: Grading Hype Level for Each Match on the Card

WWE Great Balls of Fire 2017 will feature a number of very good storylines at work, and even those matches that, at first, fail the eye test have been built organically, creating more compelling matchups. 

But judging the match card is one thing. Looking at the build and the hype attached to each match is another thing. While WWE has done a very good job with some, it has fallen flat on providing the same treatment to others. 

It's not just about the freshness of the matches, but rather how the Superstars involved and the WWE craft the narrative leading up to their Great Balls of Fire encounters.

Take Raw's television counterpart as an example. Most, if not all, of the WWE Universe would gladly watch Kevin Owens and AJ Styles wrestle each and every week. Meanwhile, Randy Orton and Jinder Mahal has grown tiresome, and they're about to headline their third straight pay-per-view. 

So let's look at the hype level for each of the matches on Sunday's card, which as of Friday is constructed as such:

• Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe for the WWE Universal Championship
• Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman (Ambulance Match)
• Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks for the Raw Women's Championship
• Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt
• Neville vs. Akira Tozawa for the WWE Cruiserweight Championship 
• The Miz vs. Dean Ambrose for the WWE Intercontinental Championship
• Cesaro and Sheamus vs. The Hardy Boyz in a 30-Minute WWE Iron Man Match for the Raw Tag Team Championship
• Enzo Amore vs. Big Cass

Click through the slideshow to see each match's grade. Disagree? Leave a comment or take to Twitter. 

Enzo Amore vs. Big Cass

On paper, Enzo Amore vs. Big Cass is a no-contest. Cass should annihilate his former tag team partner and move on to his eventual singles push fairly quickly. 

But WWE is never so cut-and-dry.

Ever since he was revealed as Amore's attacker, Big Cass has delivered his best work yet. The loathsome, diabolical heel he's become has an extremely high ceiling in the company and could be positioned for a major push in the second half of 2017.

Amore has also delivered in the spotlight and is certainly the fan favorite now that he's an overwhelming underdog heading into Great Balls of Fire. Over the last two weeks, Amore's typical boastfulness has included hints of self-deprecation, a welcome move that makes Amore more of a personality than a caricature.     

It will be interesting to see how WWE goes about this match. On one hand, allowing Cass to gain the easy win would be best for his character moving forward, showcasing him as a merciless villain and providing the utmost heat on him moving forward. 

On the other hand, making Enzo seem too weak hurts his stock moving forward, especially considering he is already on the lower rung of in-ring talent.  

Hype Level Grade: B+

Neville vs. Akira Tozawa

Make no mistake: Titus O'Neil as cruiserweight division promoter has some legs. He's been expertly cast as Akira Tozawa's mouthpiece and has done masterfully helping build the challenger as a threat to Neville's title reign. 

However, for all the gifts Tozawa possesses inside the ring, there is little for fans to connect with other than a few in-match grunts. His story is lacking, other than being hand-selected and pushed by O'Neil as the next big thing in the cruiserweight division. 

As he's done throughout his championship reign, Neville continues to carry the promotion of the match. He is a Superstar heel who backs up his talk with win after win. It helps having someone like O'Neil to banter with, but come Sunday, O'Neil isn't the one who will be across from Neville. 

Having Tozawa more engaged in this build would have increased this grade. 

Hype Level Grade: B-

Seth Rollins vs. Bray Wyatt

There are no mincing words: Bray Wyatt vs. Seth Rollins is the worst-built feud in WWE right now. In fact, it's in the running for the worst feud of the year. 

There's been little build, little fan investment and little interest. That's a shame considering the quality of the Superstars who will do battle Sunday. 

Maybe WWE has put so little effort into this feud knowing that both men will deliver when the lights shine brightest, which is at the pay-per-view. Maybe the creative team figures that, once Great Balls of Fire ends, both men will be going their separate ways on the road to SummerSlam on August 20. 

Whatever the reason, the lack of dynamic between Rollins and Wyatt has made for terrible television and has given viewers at home a reason to get up from their couch. 

B/R's Ryan Dilbert summed it up best this week, writing, "Wyatt's feud with Seth Rollins has been tepid, far too reliant on esoteric rhetoric with little to back it up."

There's little doubt these two will have a good match at Great Balls of Fire. But the lead-up to that finale has been disastrous.  

Hype Level Grade: F

Cesaro and Sheamus vs. the Hardy Boyz

Another WWE pay-per-view, another Cesaro and Sheamus vs. The Hardy Boyz matchup. 

These matches would be more interesting if WWE separated the teams more on network television, but week in and week out, some combination of these four men have a match. 

Give credit where it's due: All four have done a tremendous job trying to sell their feud. They do have entertaining matches. But these two tag teams have been doing battle since WrestleMania 33, locking up against one another for three straight pay-per-views. In addition, there have been only four instances (on Raw or pay-per-view) where these teams were not involved in a match together (h/t ProFightDB.com), and none involved the Hardys:

Date	Match	Note
April 3	Cesaro/Sheamus vs. Big Cass/Enzo Amore	Raw after WrestleMania 33
May 8	Tag Team Turmoil Match	To determine No. 1 Contender
June 5	Cesaro/Sheamus vs. Health Slater/Rhyno	Raw after Extreme Rules
July 3	Cesaro vs. Finn Balor (singles match)	Hardy Boyz on commentary

Cesaro and Sheamus have, by themselves, kept this feud alive. The Hardy Boyz continue to play off nostalgia, which can only take an act so far. Cesaro and Sheamus have continually reinvented themselves throughout the tag team life, their most recent heel turn their best act yet.  

But without additional foils to test them, there's little to invest in. There's only so many times two teams can square off before becoming a tired act. Should this feud extend beyond Sunday's contest into SummerSlam, that will be the case with the Raw tag team division's top two teams. 

Hype Level Grade: C-

The Miz vs. Dean Ambrose

Speaking of long-standing feuds, The Miz and Dean Ambrose have been embroiled in a tug of war for the Intercontinental Championship since the beginning of 2017, stretching back to their time on SmackDown Live. 

The only reprieve for the two Superstars was during the Road to WrestleMania 33, when The Miz and Maryse were used as patsies for the eventual John Cena-Nikki Bella engagement announcement. 

The difference here, of course, is the mastery with which The Miz works. No other Superstar on the main roster today has the skills to sell quite like The Miz, which makes anything he does wildly entertaining.

His promo work, whether in the ring for Miz TV or during backstage segments, is so good he makes you forget he's going to wrestle Ambrose for the sixth time this calendar year, not including multiman matches both have been part of (h/t ProFightDB.com).

The build to this match has been scattershot, with silly premises and gimmicks like a man in a bear costume or the Ball family's involvement. Adding Bo Dallas and Curtis Axel to Miz's stable as The Miztourage is a good use of two underutilized assets, but unless the plan is to keep The Miz as intercontinental champion, there's little use for them moving forward.

Hype Level Grade: C

Alexa Bliss vs. Sasha Banks

After Alexa Bliss dispatched of Bayley at Extreme Rules, the Raw women's division took a bit of a nosedive as WWE figured out who would be next in line to challenge The Goddess of WWE.

First there was the ugly disqualification win by Bliss over Nia Jax on the Raw following Extreme Rules, then a series of multiwoman tag matches that accomplished nothing. 

Everything, however, changed two weeks ago when WWE gave these Superstars a chance to shine in a Gauntlet Match to determine the No. 1 contender to Bliss' title. Jax looked imposing before succumbing to Sasha Banks, who will challenge for the championship at Great Balls of Fire. 

The last two weeks have been a breath of fresh air following a lull after the last pay-per-view. Bliss continues to be the spotlight of the division, with Jax the heir apparent. Banks has succeeded in her role as interim challenger, which she is at the moment. 

This match gets knocked some points for the way WWE handled the women's division immediately after Extreme Rules but makes a strong push at the end to bump up the grade. 

Hype Level Grade: B-

Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman

Now we get to the heart of the Great Balls of Fire card: two matches that WWE has expertly hyped. Come Sunday, fans will be able to see whether the actual matches live up to these lofty grades. 

The first, Roman Reigns vs. Braun Strowman, has taken on the feel of a co-main event, a de facto No. 1 contender's match that will likely see the winner challenge for the WWE Universal Championship at SummerSlam. 

Reintroducing Strowman when it did, on the night of Reigns' planned SummerSlam announcement, worked to perfection. The giant is a perfect foil for Reigns, and WWE has been smart to allow, for the most part, The Monster Among Men to get the upper hand in the build. 

This past week's final showdown between the two on the Great Balls of Fire go-home show was a perfect climax, both men taking shots and falling off the stage through a table after a Reigns spear in a tumble that clearly took its toll on both. 

It's that kind of punishment fans will expect on Sunday and teases to what end each man will do to finally claim victory over the other in this feud. 

There is no doubt WWE wants both of these men to have a chance with Raw's top title at some point, even if fans continue to revolt against a Reigns push. 

Hype Level Grade: A

Brock Lesnar vs. Samoa Joe

The hype for the WWE Universal Championship match between Samoa Joe and Brock Lesnar should only be described in one word: nuclear. 

WWE has hit all the right notes in building this championship match, creating a bona fide challenger in Joe and showcasing the arrogance of Lesnar and his advocate, Paul Heyman.

Since claiming victory at Extreme Rules, Joe has been on fire. He's delivered in every spot he's been in, whether in matches leading up to Great Balls of Fire or delivering promos proclaiming himself the man to take down Lesnar. Taking the fight to The Beast, both verbally and physically, has paid dividends, creating the aura that he, in fact, could win this match. 

Heyman has done what he always does: He builds the match and the opponent as a credible threat, only to knock them back down when compared to his client. The difference here, of course, is that while other competitors have either shrunk when faced with the prospect of finally staring down Lesnar, Joe has thrived. 

There's little reason to believe Samoa Joe will actually win this match, but at the very least WWE has created a compelling case that he, in fact, could slay The Beast. 

Hype Level Grade: A+