The Thread Killer

Brian Solomon does outstanding research for his books. His book “Blood and Fire” about The Sheik is one of the most comprehensive biographies I’ve ever read, not just of a Pro Wrestler, but of any person (and I have read a ton of biographies.) The Sheik was notoriously private (he is one of those old timers who maintained Kayfabe with his own family) and Sabu said that Solomon uncovered things about his Uncle that even his family didn’t know. I’m not surprised to hear the Monsoon bio is good, I am looking forward to checking it out.

There’s no point trying to have a discussion about the current WWE product at PWO anymore. I still watch the shows and have plenty of opinions, but it’s pointless to share them, or try and have a normal conversation about WWE around here. It’s always just a matter of time before someone (usually people that don’t even watch the current WWE product) come swooping in and start blabbering about the same old boring shit. Saudi Arabia, Donald Trump, MAGA, the Vince lawsuit, blah blah blah. We’ve all heard it a million times already, but apparently you can’t talk about WWE without having to hear the same damn talking points again and again. I am not American, and I wouldn’t be a Trump supporter even if I was. I respect everybody’s right to have an opinion about politics, but this place was literally created out of the ashes of another forum for the express purpose of talking about just Pro Wrestling and leaving all the other crap out of it. My personal last straw was when I had to listen to crap about “Israeli Genocide” and AIPAC in the fucking WWE folder at “Pro Wrestling Only.” It was starting to look like we were about two steps away from certain people complaining about the Jews using their secret weather control machines to affect WWE booking. So I tapped out for good. I gave up. I’m done. I have been posting at PWO since before it was even PWO. I have been a member here since April 2005. That’s literally 20 years. But fuck it. I know for a fact from talking to other former members that there are a significant number of people who quit posting here for the same reason. The fun got sucked right out of this place, and there’s nobody in charge to keep things on point. Sad to see PWO die like this after such a long run, but it is what it is.

So apparently the injury to Cargill screwed up the finish to the Main Event last night. I remember as I was watching the match I thought something wonky had happened, but I only had one eye on that match because I was also watching the Jays/Rays game at the same time, so it didn’t have my undivided attention. Supposedly, Stratton was always supposed to go over, but Cargill was supposed to break up a pin, which she didn’t do. Even after she got busted open, Cargill hit her finish on Jax, and then Stratton dropkicked Cargill and went for the cover herself. Cargill was supposed to break up that pin attempt, but instead she rolled out of the ring and was being checked on by the doctor. So the ref makes the count, but once the ref realizes that Cargill isn’t going to break up the pin she just stops counting at 2, and Jax doesn’t even try and kick out. Apparently the fans started booing (I didn’t notice at the time because I had the sound muted…both because I was watching the baseball game, and because the commentary team was Michael Cole and Booker T, which I’m pretty sure is the commentary team in hell.) Stratton ended up going to the top rope, hitting her Moonsault for the win, but apparently that was not the planned finish. Apparently you won’t be able to see any of this on YouTube because they have edited the clip. What a clusterfuck.

DAMN Cargill posted a couple of follow up pictures of the cut on Instagram and it’s pretty gross. I’m not even going to repost them here because they might make people sick. That’s going to leave a nasty scar, and she’s going to be out for a bit, I bet.

Nia Jax strikes again. During the main event tonight on Smackdown, she threw Jade Cargill headfirst into the steel steps, and Cargill came up bleeding badly from a cut on her forehead. It was a pretty nasty looking cut, and there’s no way she had time to do it herself. Mind you, a lot of the blame for that probably needs to go on Cargill for not protecting herself.

This situation might be part of WWE finally figuring out that they have a real problem on their hands when it comes to their developmental system. I have actually been paying more attention to NXT over the past few months, and the picture is not pretty when it comes to the women's talent. Not that they don't have enough...they have way too much. RAW and Smackdown both have about 15-20 roster spots for women. And some of those spots are rightfully taken up by women who aren't going anywhere, nor should they. RAW Here are the "top" women's names on RAW. These are all women who have either held championships or been involved in angles that required TV time over the past 6 months... Stephanie Vaquer (Women's World Champion) Becky Lynch (Women's Intercontinental Champion) Asuka Bayley Iyo Sky Lyra Valkyria (although don't ask me why) Nikki Bella (again...don't ask me why) Raquel Rodriguez Roxanne Perez and Rhea Ripley (who is not only probably the top woman in the company, she's basically one of the top stars in WWE) On top of that you have huge names like Naomi and Liv Morgan who are out right now, but will be returning to top spots. Then you have middle of the road talent like Ivy Nile, Kairi Sane, Nattie and eventually Zoey Stark. Oh yeah...and Maxxine Dupri. SmackDown Top names on SmackDown... Tiffany Stratton (WWE Women's Champion) Giulia (Women's US Champion) Charlotte Flair (1/2 of Women's Tag Team Champions) Alexa Bliss (Other 1/2 of Women's Tag Team Champions) AJ Lee Bianca Belair Chelsea Green Jade Cargill Nia Jax Zelina Vega Plus on SmackDown you have Candace LeRae, Kianna James, Michin, Alba Fyre, Nikki Cross, and eventually Piper Niven again, hopefully. Oh yeah...and B-Fab. So here is my point... Both of those women's rosters are pretty much packed to the limit with talent. Even if you wanted to, I don't think you could realistically fit any more female talent in there, unless you made cuts to the existing rosters to make room. And there are no names on those rosters which are obvious potential cuts, except for Nikki Bella and maybe Maxxine Dupri and B-Fab. When you look at NXT and Evolve, it's almost ridiculous. There are 45 women in the WWE developmental system, and they have a whopping 2 hours of network TV to fill, and a show on Tubi. So essentially, there are pretty much no available Main Roster spots for the women, and a massive group of women who are basically sitting around, waiting to fill the spots. Now on top of that, you have the TNA Knockouts who are coming in and taking up NXT TV time. This is where I question WWE's strategy when it comes to their "NIL" program. The "ID" program is dumb enough, because that's basically just WWE signing independent female talent to keep them from going to AEW. But in the case of the NIL program, they are literally going out and recruiting female athletes who aren't even in the Pro Wrestling business and then training them to wrestle, only to have them sit in Evolve or NXT because there is nowhere to go. I remember the last time WWE released a handful of developmental talent, a lot of fans started freaking out about how unfair it was, since TKO/WWE could afford to pay them. Then reports started to come out that WWE had decided who to cut based on perceived level of effort and attitude. I said it at that time, and I'll say it again...what the hell is the point of having all this talent signed up, if you're not going to use them? When it comes to Jazmyn Nyx, I guess WWE didn't release her, but they basically low-balled her on a developmental contract offer, because they probably didn't see a whole lot in her. Based on the limited amount I saw of her myself, I can't honestly say that I disagree with that assessment. When it comes to the WWE developmental system, I always end up looking at the talent as falling into one of several different categories. - Talent who just need more work, but eventually will probably have the skill to make it on the Main Roster. Somebody like Sol Ruca. In time, I can see her being good enough to get called up. Hell, Jacy Jayne and Lola Vice both proved with their segment on NXT TV this past week that while they may be ready from an in ring standpoint, they still have a long way to go once you put the spotlight on them. Watching segments like that really remind you that you're watching a developmental territory. That's the kind of thing where NXT being on national TV really doesn't do these guys any favors at all. - Talent who are pretty much ready, but there's no room for them on the Main Roster. This is basically what happened to Roxanne Perez, who ended up stagnating in NXT for ages before she finally got called up. There have been plenty of other examples of people like that, as well. I look at Fallon Henley or Kelani Jordan in this way as well. If there was room on the Main Roster, they'd probably be fine (although they might not set the world on fire) but there is no room for them. - Talent who are probably good enough to be on the Main Roster, but are basically being kept in NXT to work with those who aren't. This phenomenon seems to be a bigger problem with male talent, with guys like Ricky Saints and Ethan Page, but you could easily apply this category to Blake Monroe and Jordynne Grace. These are people who are basically as good as they're ever going to get, it's not like they're learning anything in NXT, but they stay involved in major angles on TV, to the point where you know WWE must be hanging on to them for a reason. You also have to wonder if some of these people are better off being the big fish in the small NXT pond, because they might not shine on the Main Roster. - Talent who don't seem to be ready for the Main Roster...and probably never will be. This is definitely the category I would have put Jazmyn Nyx in, sad to say for her. And quite honestly...there is quite a bit of talent in NXT right now who probably belong in this category. The interesting thing is, the imbalance is pretty amazing because NXT has WAY more potential female stars than they do men. Like, it's kind of shocking. Not to be mean, but guys like Andre Chase or Josh Briggs probably don't even belong on TV, because...damn. They might make it to the Main Roster as an extra...but that's about it. This is going to come across sounding cruel, and I don't really mean it to be, but when it comes to talent like Jazmyn Nyx, WWE should probably be doing more of that, not less. I don't want to see anybody lose their job just to be cruel, but those female roster spots are at a premium, and unless WWE is considering starting a new all female TV show or something...I really don't understand their hoarder mentality when it comes to talent. Eventually something's gotta give.

Not gonna lie, since her return, WWE did a great job of slowing building Asuka’s heel turn, finally culminating with what happened during and after the Main Event on RAW tonight. Of course everybody saw it coming from a million miles away, but it was still really effective. It helps that Asuka is able to straddle that fine line between corny overacting and coming across like a complete psycho. I am very interested to see Rhea & Iyo vs. Asuka & Kairi now.

Maybe, but you combine that with the insane amount of muscle he has packed on, his apparent lack of cardio (how could you have decent cardio at that size?) and his advancing age, and it all adds up to a recipe for…yikes. As a friend of mine was saying, I don’t even know why the hell at his age and this stage in his life, Lesnar would even do that to himself? It’s not like he’s going to be wrestling enough to justify “getting into that kind of shape” and he reportedly doesn’t really care about the business anyhow. Aside from vanity, I can’t imagine why a person would put their body through that kind of abuse.

I also couldn’t help but notice that after about 90 seconds of physical exertion, Lesnar’s face turned red, he was sweating profusely, and he looked as if his blood pressure had skyrocketed to the point that steam was about to start blasting from his ears. For the people who hate Brock Lesnar and don’t want him around, you may be in luck, because he looked like his heart is about to explode. Seriously, there were some eerie similarities between how Lesnar looked last night and how the Warrior looked the night of his Hall of Fame induction…and we all know how that worked out.

I don’t know if anybody has seen the clip going around Twitter and YouTube, but Jey Uso managed to almost knock himself out and busted himself open with a chairshot.

Good Lord, Lesnar is massive. He’s definitely exempt from the Wellness Policy, or he got himself a Testosterone exemption like Orton and Styles.

No

Did not expect that finish in the MJF/Briscoe match.

I felt that FTR vs Copeland & Christian match was kind of underwhelming and didn’t really deliver the way I was hoping it would. I felt it was just starting to build some steam when the whole Stokely/Beth stuff happened and kind of wrecked the flow of the match. It was also shorter than I was expecting. I assume based on what happened afterwards that there is going to be a continuation, but I didn’t much enjoy that.