The Thread Killer

You said it. Tomorrow night is UFC 319 which has a kickass lineup. The Main Event is for the Middleweight Championship, between two guys who are undefeated in the UFC. All of the undercard fights are between ranked contenders, so the results of those fights will have definite ramifications on the rankings, and who might get title shots next. On top of all that the prelims feature the finals of this past season of The Ultimate Fighter. But it’s $70.00 and I don’t want to pay $70.00. If this card was taking place in 2026, I would get it as part of my Paramount+ subscription. A lot of the well-informed MMA press are reporting that this deal is basically Dana White and TKO throwing in the towel and waving the white flag against illegal streaming, because they know there are a ton of people out there who love the UFC product, but either can’t or won’t pay for the monthly numbered PPV’s. I for one will not miss pay-per-view.

Welp…so much for my “TKO isn’t going to get what they want in their next rights deal” theory. As of 2026, all UFC content moves to Paramount+ including their ridiculously priced monthly PPV’s. That means instead of having to shell out $70 - $80 for monthly PPV events, UFC fans will now get the big “numbered” shows as part of the $12.00 monthly subscription to Paramount+, probably around the time UFC 325 happens. Not to mention, as part of this deal, UFC will be airing select events on CBS Network television, which is crazy. A lot of the MMA press are speculating that this might spell the end for PPV events in general, because even Boxing is moving to streaming now. Between WWE moving their American PLE’s to ESPN for a huge bump up from the Peacock deal, and now UFC moving to Paramount for 7 years at 7.7 Billion, it looks like TKO is literally too big to fail at this point. This company is a monster.

Ugh, didn’t we already beat this topic to death in the Cornette Podcast thread, and the “Cancellation of Jim Cornette” thread, and the NWA Power thread?

Don’t know if it’s true, but the prevailing rumor right now regarding why Naomi was pulled from her match with Iyo last night is because she’s pregnant.

I love Steiner math. “You’re 47! And you’re 40! You’re like 100 years old combined!”

I wouldn't necessarily say that Endeavor ruined MMA as a watchable product. A lot of the issues MMA fans have with the UFC were in place when Zuffa still owned the company. The problem is, TKO are using the same blueprint now with WWE, and I don't think a lot of those things translate over from MMA to Pro Wrestling as well as some of the suits in TKO (namely Mark Shapiro) think they do. MMA fans were already used to the canvas in the Octagon (and the Octagon itself) being plastered with ads. They were used to the fight clock and replays being "brought to you by" different sponsors. MMA fans were used to huge delays between the fights, because of prolonged entrances and backstage interviews and promo packages for different fighters, not to mention movie ads and stuff like that. A lot of these traditions carried over from Boxing to MMA, to be honest. I think one of the reasons I haven't found the adjustment to the TKO takeover as jarring, is because I watch a lot of UFC shows and I was already used to all that stuff. I'm not saying I like it (I don't) but I'm used to it. Having said that, I think TKO assumes that there is a lot more crossover between the UFC and WWE fanbase than there actually is. Hardcore MMA fans tend to be men, aged 18-49 (every advertiser's wet dream demographic) and they are pretty much bloodthirsty jock goons. Look at your average WWE crowd. There are a ton of families and kids there. Not to mention, hardcore MMA fans tend to look down their noses at Pro Wrestling and Pro Wrestling fans. MMA fans are nowhere near as emotionally invested in the fighters, either. Sure, some fighters are more popular than others, but if a guy gets cut from UFC, then he's cut. UFC is much more of a heartless, cutthroat environment than WWE traditionally has been. The fans don't relate to the athletes the same way at all. I think TKO is going to have to realize at some point (if they want this to work) that the fanbases need to be treated differently...but Mark Shapiro is a total moron, so that may very well not happen.

Not that anybody here at PWO will care, but apparently this deal will only affect customers in the United States. Here in Canada, we never got Peacock to begin with, and I don’t think we’ll be getting this new ESPN stuff either. For International viewers, everything WWE is all bundled on Netflix: RAW, NXT, SmackDown, all PLE’s and the PLE/PPV archives. So I suppose, in theory if you wanted to see a PLE you could just use a VPN to log into Netflix. Apparently a lot of people have been doing that already because there are fewer ads as opposed to Peacock.

I was surprised somebody didn't end up bleeding in that match as well. They proved the night before with Gunther that they're not squeamish about blood anymore, although maybe they didn't want to do it two nights in a row, in both Main Event matches. Plus, Cena has a legitimate acting career, he probably doesn't need to be cutting up his forehead at this point, especially with only 9 appearances left.

Yeah that was rough, didn't she land right on her knees? And imagine what Michael Cole would have said if she'd been injured: "Oh my God, something has happened to Candice Michelle!"

There really is no distinction between any of those types of matches anymore, especially in WWE. I agree that back in the day, guys used to wear Street Clothes for a Street Fight, but these types of matches were rare at one point, and they sure aren't now. Last night alone, there were a bunch of different matches with no rules, which all had different names or different stipulations, but it amounted to the same thing. The opening match was a Triple Threat Match, which WWE has now decided are No Countout and No Disqualification, and if you didn't remember that, Michael Cole was happy to remind you every 30 seconds. The match after that was a "Tables, Ladders and Chairs" match...which is No Countout and No Disqualification. The only difference with those matches is that they go ahead and set the Tables and Ladders up for the participants before the match, and even leave some chairs laying around...but it's essentially the same thing. The next match after that was billed as a "No Countout, No Disqualification" match, which made it like the first two matches. The match after that was a Steel Cage match, which is No Disqualification, but you can actually win the match by escaping the cage, (which Solo did) so I guess in theory that match had slightly different rules. Dom Mysterio vs. AJ Styles was the only match on the card which was contested under "normal" Pro Wrestling rules. The Main Event was a "Street Fight" which is now essentially just a No Countout/No Disqualification match. I assume the only reason they billed the Main Event as a "Street Fight" is because they were already billing the Women's Intercontinental Championship match as No Countout and No Disqualification and they didn't want to book two matches with identical stipulations on the same show, so they changed the name. But these types of garbage/plunder matches are done so frequently now, there is literally no distinction between any of them. They just slap a violent sounding name on the match to try and distinguish it and hype it up, but it always amounts to the same thing. The only discernible differences in WWE is when they do the occasional "Last Man Standing" match which can only be won by a standing 10 count, or when they very rarely do a Falls Count Anywhere match.

I thought Night Two was okay. I didn't enjoy it as much as Night One. -> Women's World Championship: I thought this was pretty good, I guess. It was okay. If I was a star rating type of guy, I'd go *** 1/2. It was certainly nowhere near as good as Rhea/Iyo/Bianca from Wrestlemania this year, or as good as Iyo/Rhea from Evolution. Let's be honest...if you put Rhea Ripley and Iyo Sky in the ring, you're going to get a good match. And Naomi wasn't terrible. I appreciated her attempts at heeling, as cartoonish and over-the-top as she can be. They announced after the show that it's going to be Naomi vs. Stephanie Vaquer at the big show in Paris at the end of this month, so I hope they get busy heating Vaquer up before then, because she's pretty cold now. I still don't get the idea of having Naomi as your World Champion where there is such an insane amount of talent on the roster. Curious where they go with Rhea and Iyo from here. -> TLC for the SmackDown Tag Titles: This was pretty crazy. The standout spot to me was Fenix doing the Spanish Fly on Dawkins from the top, outside through the two tables. That was nuts. The spot with Ciampa hanging upside down above the ring was also nuts. Only problem was, there were too many damn people in this match. 6 teams in one TLC match is too many. And then on top of that, they had people running in. I barely saw Andrade during this whole match. (Except that sunset flip spot from the ladder onto the folded ladder, which looked like it almost killed him.) I'm not going to lie, if I'm being honest I preferred the TLC match they did on SmackDown right after Wrestlemania. In fact, that might be my favorite TLC match that I could remember. But this certainly wasn't boring so I can't say it was bad. -> Lynch vs. Valkyria for the Women's I/C Title: I'm pretty much over Becky Lynch at this point, I haven't enjoyed anything she's done since her return at Wrestlemania. And while Lyra Valkyria is competent, I find her to be a bland and unconvincing promo, and this whole feud between these two has done nothing for me. Plus. this match was "anything goes" (and did it really need to be?) so when they announced that this match was next, I decided to walk my dog and make something to eat. So I did. And when I got back the damn match was STILL GOING. I literally walked my dog, prepared food, and when I sat down the stupid match was still happening. This match did not need 25 fucking minutes, I'll tell you that much. But I have no comment on how good it was, because I didn't watch it. I texted a buddy of my mine and asked him how the match was, and he texted me back: "Long." -> Fatu vs. Solo for the U.S. Title: I have come to the conclusion that Solo really isn't all that great. He might be okay, but he certainly isn't good enough to justify the kind of push he's been given since last year's Wrestlemania. And they have surrounded him with stiffs, which really doesn't help. This whole angle is really cooling off Jacob Fatu so I hope this was the end of it, and they get him away from Solo and the "MFT's" as soon as possible. This really wasn't all that different from their match at Night of Champions. Sure, there was a cage, but this match was still unremarkable. -> Dom Mysterio vs. AJ for the I/C Title: This match was also the definition of "just okay." It wasn't really bad, but it wasn't really good. It just was. At least it was shorter than Becky vs. Lyra. The fans seem to really want to cheer Dom, so they probably either need to turn him, or have him do something to make sure the fans know they're supposed to be booing him. You can really tell AJ Styles is nearing the end, as well. -> Cody vs. Cena for the WWE Championship: This was definitely the best match Cena has been involved with on his retirement tour. It was better than his match with Punk last month, it was better than his match with Orton, and it was miles better than his first match with Cody at Wrestlemania. I guess part of that was due to it being a "Street Fight" which probably helped mask Cena's limitations, but he also looked a lot more motivated during this match. I still can't get over how much he overuses the "Attitude Adjustment." I swear, half of every one of his matches are made up of him either trying to set up that move and not hitting it, or he hits it and it doesn't work. It's comical. I could see an argument that this match went too long. And there were a ton of false finishes. But I appreciate the effort that went into it, and I enjoyed the match, so I'm not going to quibble. I'm very glad to see Cody with the Championship again. I think even WWE realizes that the Cena heel turn and title reign just wasn't working, so they finally gave in and killed it. The fans just don't want to boo Cena during his retirement tour, and he certainly hasn't been performing well enough to justify having him as your #1 guy...especially when you consider that he only has 9 or 10 dates left on his retirement tour. -> Brock Lesnar Returns: Quite honestly, I was not entirely shocked to see Brock Lesnar return. I have browsed some of the online reaction to his return, and it has ranged from mild disgust, to shock, to horrified outrage. One of the common refrains is: "How could they bring Brock Lesnar back? He's named in Janel Grant's lawsuit?" Yes he is, he's "named." But it's not a criminal complaint, and he's not a defendant in the lawsuit. Janel Grant is suing Vince McMahon and WWE. When the Justice Department asked Grant to pause her lawsuit back in May 2024, I thought maybe there was a chance McMahon might face some criminal charges (although I figured he'd either skate on the charges, or get a pardon even if he was convicted.) They opted not to seek an indictment (or they sought one and didn't get it, who knows.) But the minute it became clear that McMahon wasn't going to face criminal charges, I figured it was only a matter of time before Brock Lesnar came back. From what I understand (and I could be wrong) Brock Lesnar's contract with WWE was actually up, so if they brought him back now, that means they probably re-signed him. There was no legal reason they couldn't bring him back. They just waited for enough time to pass and for the outrage to die down a bit, and then they did what I always figured they were going to do. Bottom line is this...the allegation is that Vince McMahon was either asking or coercing or forcing Janel Grant to send sexually explict videos of herself to people, and two of the people named were Michael Hayes and Brock Lesnar. Apparently, this was part of McMahon's effort to entice Lesnar to re-sign the last time his contract was up. Lesnar allegedly responded with some sexually explicit and verbally abusive texts. That's it. Not even Janel Grant or her lawyers are alleging that anything more than that happened. So basically, Lesnar got emailed some explicit pictures texted to him, and responded with explicit texts. That doesn't classify as criminal behavior and it didn't even warrant him being a co-defendant in the civil lawsuit. Is it morally acceptable behavior? No. Is it bad PR for TKO? Maybe. But anybody who thought this was going to be enough to keep Lesnar from returning to WWE when he decided he wanted to, are clearly just fooling themselves. Do I care about Lesnar vs. Cena? Meh. The thing about Lesnar is, he never sticks around long enough to have any serious impact on the product one way or the other. He comes in, he does a couple of TV appearances to build up to his PPV/PLE match, and then he disappears again. I never really liked Lesnar, from the get go. I didn't like him during his first run in WWE, I especially didn't like him in UFC, and I haven't cared much about him during his WWE returns. His endless feud with Roman Reigns bored me. From everything I have heard about him behind the scenes, he's basically your typical jock bully and he treats people like shit. Color me surprised. I'm sure there will be a ton of shrieking and pearl clutching about Brock Lesnar returning, but I never figured this would end any other way. If you look at the larger issue with the Janel Grant lawsuit, the worst possible outcome for Vince McMahon is that he's going to have to write a big check. He's an 80 year old Billionaire who can easily afford it, and considering his history of drug use, he might very well be dead before that day ever comes. So if people are upset about Lesnar coming back...just wait until the Janel Grant lawsuit is "resolved." Nobody is really going to be called to account for this situation, and they never were. Especially Brock Lesnar. -> Overall Night One of Summerslam 2025 was definitely better than Night Two. There was really no need for a Tables, Ladders and Chairs match, a No Countout/No Disqualification match, a Cage Match and a Street Fight all on the same show. Aside from the Main Event, I found this show to be bland and average. I quite enjoyed the Main Event, although I am sure the return of Brock Lesnar will have ruined it for a lot of people. Looking at the two shows as a combined event overall, I liked SummerSlam quite a bit, especially in comparison to Night of Champions. I'm curious to see where they're going from here, and I am looking forward to big show in Paris at the end of the month, since those crowds are usually insane. I just hope WWE gives them a card worth going nuts over...but we'll see.

That’s pretty much a perfect description of Kross. I am legitimately baffled at who thought this was a good feud and that it deserved to be featured on not one, but two PLE’s?

I watched the show with a bunch of friends and their wives and kids, at a large social gathering. It was an interesting way to watch a WWE event, as opposed to the way I do it usually, watching either by myself or with another hardcore fan, and looking at it with a more critical eye, almost like I am looking for things to complain about. Maybe it was the festive atmosphere or something, but I went into Night One of SummerSlam 2025 with very low expectations, assuming I would not enjoy the show at all, (especially after Night of Champions) but I have to admit I really enjoyed it and I felt the show really over-delivered, especially considering the quality of the card. Maybe if I rewatched it looking for flaws I might find some and be less impressed, but as of last night, I thought it was a lot of fun. -> Reigns & Uso vs. Breakker & Reed: I loved that opener. They gave them plenty of time, and they worked the traditional Tag Team style for the most part, which made me very happy. There will be plenty of time tonight for matches with everybody in the ring all at once, doing whatever they want. But they actually did an extended face-in-peril/hot tag sequence during this match, and it made me very happy. Roman looks awesome, and that dive of his was insane. Like @sek69 said, he pretty much almost accidentally cleared the crowd, although he wisely grabbed Bronson Reed at the very last second and kind of dragged him down with him. Reed played his role great, and if Bron Breakker isn't ready for a Main Event push right now, he's certainly not far off. I've said it before and I'll say it again (and it's hardly a controversial take) but that kid is money. I know a lot of people online were clamoring for Breakker to pin Roman during this match to make it official and really establish himself, but I'm not sure a Tag Match was the platform to do that. Eventually, he needs to get a big singles win that really puts him over the top. Unfortunately, he apparently injured his knee during this match, so I just hope it's not too bad. -> Women's Tag Team Championship: Minor quibble, I don't know why they ran the Women's Tag Team Title match right after a Men's Tag Team match, but whatever. This whole angle continues to subvert my expectations. I totally expected Charlotte to turn on Alexa, and I certainly did not expect them to win the titles. I figured Rodriguez and Perez would hang on to those belts until Liv Morgan returns, especially since I figured Charlotte for betraying Alexa. Maybe they called an audible because the Flair/Bliss team seems to be getting so popular. There's no doubt that Charlotte seems to really want to be a babyface right now, so more power to her, I guess. This match was pretty good. It wasn't as good as the opener, but it certainly wasn't a bad match, so I have no complaints. -> Zayn vs. Kross: Ugh. I am so over this ridiculous Zayn/Kross angle. Please let this be the end of it. It was never good, it was never compelling, and the fact that this match ended up on SummerSlam while Penta, LA Knight, Sheamus, Rusev, Damien Priest, Aleistar Black and the entire RAW Tag Team division couldn't get on the show? To quote Gorilla Monsoon, "give me a break." I'm not as enamored with Sami Zayn as most people around here are, and Kross is just okay at best. This whole deal needs to go away now. -> Women's Championship: I never would have figured that Roxanne Perez and Asuka wouldn't be able to pull a watchable match out of Jade Cargill, but that Tiffany Stratton would be able do it. I fully agree with @NintendoLogic in that was definitely the best singles match Cargill has had in WWE. It wasn't exactly Flair/Steamboat (or Flair/Ripley I guess) but I'll take it. Maybe the agent/producer did a really good job of laying it out. Mind you, Cargill's power based style and Stratton's flashy gymnastic style seem to mesh really well together. It was hardly a great match, and as per usual there were a couple of moments where Jade looked totally lost in there, but it was miles better than I expected, or it had any right to be. And thank goodness, the right person won. The Women's division is not ready to have Jade Cargill and Naomi holding the respective World Championships, because neither of them are really good workers, in my humble opinion. My final observation is that, in addition to being less than impressive when she wrestles, I don't "get" Jade Cargill as a character. After Naomi turned on her, I assumed that she was meant to be a babyface. But she sure doesn't act like one. I remember that weird promo she caught after winning Queen of the Ring, which sure sounded like a heel promo. And I swear, it looked like while she was on her way to the ring last night she was arguing with the fans. IF she's supposed to be a babyface, she does a terrible job at coming across, and if she isn't, that's just weird booking. -> Orton & Jelly Roll vs. McIntyre & Paul: One of the main reasons I wasn't really all that enthused about this show is because of this match. I hate celebrity matches. I hated them when the WWF did them in the 80's, I hated them when WCW did them in the 90's and I hate them now. I was especially crusty about this match because I had literally never heard of "Jelly Roll" before she showed up on WWE TV. When I saw him, I thought he looked like some dumpy looking meth addict. But apparently TKO has made it clear that they love celebrities, cross promotion, and the media attention which comes with it, so here we are, I guess. As I mentioned, I was at a pretty big social gathering last night, and I'll be damned if all of the people there came into the room to watch this match...including the non-WWE fans, and especially the kids. I guess people have heard of "Jelly Roll" and I'm the one who is out of touch. (I can live with that.) All of the non-fans in the room absolutely loved this match, so what do I know. People kept talking about how much weight Jelly Roll has lost, so I assume he used to be a big fat guy? As far as the match? It was what it was. Like the Women's Title match, this was WAY better than I had expected it to be. I'll give Jelly Roll credit where it's due, he seems like a legit fan of Pro Wrestling, he did his best and he didn't treat this like a joke. Unsurprisingly, the MVP of this match was Logan Paul. I know a lot of people hate the guy for stuff he has done before signing with WWE, but much like with Jelly Roll, I had the luxury of not knowing anything about him before he showed up to wrestle. I know who his brother is, and I heard about that stunt he pulled in Japan a few years ago, but that was it. But I'm sorry, even if you hate Logan Paul...the dude is just a natural. He plays a great heel, his promos and facial expressions are outstanding and he's a freakish athlete. That spot with him leaping off the ring post, onto Jelly Roll on the announcer's table was done to perfection. Bottom line is, I actually found myself enjoying this nonsense, despite the fact that I went into it determined not to...so there you go. -> World Heavyweight Championship: This and the opening Tag Team match were the main reasons I wanted to see this show. What can you say? I loved the way they laid out this match. Gunther got to be Gunther at his all time Guntheriest. He basically beat the ever-loving crap out of Punk, using every move in his not unsubstantial arsenal, for what felt like about 27 of the 30 minutes of this match. He pretty much dominated Punk, and Punk did an awesome job of selling it. These guys were great together, it was a very intelligently worked match, and I definitely want to see more of these guys together. As far as the finish, I have no complaints. Firstly, love him or hate him, Punk is one of their top guys so there is no shame in him winning the World Championship. And as sek mentioned earlier, word has leaked that Gunther needs some sort of surgery on his nose (which they appeared to set up in this match with the spot on the announcers table) so this probably had to happen. Great damn match. I haven't perused the review sites or Twitter or Reddit today, and I'm guessing there are a lot of people who have complaints about this match, but I really enjoyed it. -> Seth Rollins Returns: If I was Triple H and Nick Khan, I would find out who leaked this angle to John Pollock and fire their ass. This could have been a real shocking moment, except Pollock broke the story around the time of Saturday Night's Main Event and pretty much spoiled it. Pollock is a known and respected name in Pro Wrestling journalism, so when he broke the story a lot of people believed him, and so as soon as Punk won the title I was waiting for Seth's music to start playing...and there it was. As far as the angle itself? I think it's a bad idea. I don't like Rollins as a Main Event guy. I find him annoying sure, but even worse I find him to be boring. I have joked about this here at PWO, but I swear, when Rollins is heavily featured on RAW, the shows always seem more boring and seem to drag. The thing is, the Netflix views and rankings seem to bear that out as well. The numbers are not as good when he is featured in the opening segment. But for whatever reason, Triple H seems to love this guy, so I guess we're getting a lot more of him...and for my money that's not a good thing. I am very curious to see where this goes from here, does Punk continue his feud with Rollins and go after the title, or does Gunther go after Punk for injuring his nose? And if that's the case, who ends up challenging Rollins next? There were rumors of a program between LA Knight and Rollins, but who knows what the status of that is. I'm interested to see...but since it involves Seth Rollins, my interest is kind of muted. Overall: This was a fun show, I'd say it was very good and really over-delivered. The only real stinker was the Zayn/Kross match, and the fact that yet another fun Main Event ended up being kind of spoiled by a "cash in." Thankfully, both Rollins and Naomi have cashed in their contracts, so we don't have to worry about that again until after next June. On paper, the show tonight looked like the better card (in theory) so we'll see how this pans out for Night Two.

So what’s your take on that supposed Cena face turn? It’s got to be bogus, right?

Oh man, that’s sad. I remember he and the Cuban Assassin fighting Chris Benoit and Beef Wellington, and later, The British Bulldogs. And he was such a great promo. Great Stampede memories.

As is usually the case when he does an obituary segment, I thought Cornette’s coverage of Hogan’s death was historically accurate, insightful and remarkably even handed, especially considering the fact that Hogan became a Trump guy over the past couple of years, and we all know how much Cornette loves Trump. I usually assume that if anything comes up that involves Trump on even a peripheral level, Cornette is going to totally lose his shit and start screaming profanities. What I found especially humourous was the follow up piece. The response to Cornette’s podcast about Hogan pretty much encapsulates Pro Wrestling tribalism and overall online discourse in general nowadays. On one hand, he had people that were angry he wasn’t more complementary towards Hogan and wasn’t just blindly praising the guy, and on the other hand, he had people that were irate that he even mentioned Hogan at all because they think his name should be blotted from the history books. Cornette sounded legitimately flabbergasted at the two totally divergent responses he was getting to the exact same segment. I had to wonder if he doesn’t pay attention when he uses Twitter, and I had to laugh at the irony that he has been one of the people who has helped contribute to the almost toxic levels of tribalism that exist in Pro Wrestling fandom right now. You helped create the zombies, Jimbo. Don’t act surprised when they bite you.

Now somebody needs to talk to him about his ring gear. It looks like a bad spandex superhero outfit, or a leotard with a speedo covering it, with half a fringe vest stapled to his butt. It’s distractingly weird. EDIT: I just figured it out…he’s wearing part of Colton Gunn’s tights over top of his own, so his gear matches Austin Gunn. It still looks really odd.

It happened three times during the show, I don’t think it was a production error.

Normally, when somebody who I didn't care for passes away, I tend to either not say anything at all, or at the very least say something kind of bland and non-committal. I've never been one to celebrate a person's death, as I find that kind of behavior to be tasteless and rather ghoulish, and I don't much like the idea of trampling on somebody's grave. But as a Pro Wrestling fan, what do you do with Hulk Hogan? I was a 14 year old kid when "Hulkamania" first hit, and I lived through the Hulkamania era. I don't mean to sound like the proverbial old man, talking about "back in my day" but suffice it to say, if you didn't experience the 80's Pro Wrestling boom firsthand, it's hard to overstate how popular Hulk Hogan and the WWF really were...especially in the Northeast where we had no exposure to Jim Crockett Promotions and "Southern" Regional Pro Wrestling. I mean...this dude was EVERYWHERE. The cover of Sports Illustrated, hosting Saturday Night Live, the Tonight Show. His merchandise was everywhere. Toys, T-Shirts, Vitamins, Posters, you name it. Basically, there was a good portion of time during the 80's where Hulk Hogan WAS Pro Wrestling. He ended up transcending his own industry and became a household name. At his peak, there was nobody on earth who didn't know the name Hulk Hogan. I have heard the argument made that Vince McMahon could have picked any number of musclehead Pro Wrestlers and slotted them into Hogan's spot, and they would have been just as successful. I'm not sure I buy that. I think Hogan was pretty much the perfect guy for that role, that he and McMahon were pretty much made for each other (in both good and terribly bad ways.) And let's be honest, while a large number of WWF guys got super-popular during the 80's, Hogan pretty much carried that entire organization on his back, all while working a schedule which is almost unbelievable when you look at it now. Back then, guys were literally working every night of the week, and twice a day on weekends. As I have mentioned many times here at PWO, I was a regular attendee at Maple Leaf Gardens, and they ran shows every three weeks. I can't even count the number of times I saw Hulk Hogan wrestle. Don Muraco, King Kong Bundy, Killer Khan, Kamala, tag matches with Andre the Giant, and most notably the "Big Event" where he fought Paul Orndorff in front of 62,000 fans in Toronto. Funny thing is, I was never a "Hulkamaniac." I never bought into the "Train, Say Your Prayers and Eat Your Vitamins" shtick, even as a kid. I had plenty of friends who did, but my favorite wrestler in that era was Jake Roberts...which probably tells you all you need to know about me as a kid. But facts are facts, Hulk Hogan was a hero to a lot of little kids back in those days...and I mean a LOT of kids. And he may probably go down in history as the most famous Pro Wrestler who ever lived. And you can certainly make the argument that he helped make the sport so popular, that a lot of the things many people still love about Pro Wrestling today can be attributed to him. And I do believe he deserves credit for that. As far as Hulk Hogan as a human being? His legacy is obviously much more mixed. I think he tended to be paranoid and selfish a lot of the time. The whole "That doesn't work for me, brother" mentality was definitely not a positive thing. And there is no excuse for some of his behavior later in life, the compulsive (and easily disprovable) lying for no discernible reason, the drugs, the exploitation of his own family for continued fame, and most notably of course...the racism. "Hulk Hogan" the character literally inspired a lot of little kids to work hard and act heroic. If only the guy who played that character had believed even a fraction of what he was saying, and tried to live up to his own supposed ideals, then we wouldn't have to have watched the slow decline and total collapse of the legacy of Hulk Hogan over the years. It's kind of sad that in his last major appearance in WWE, he was booed out of the building, but what's even sadder was the interview he gave on Pat McAfee's show about the incident weeks later. Hulk Hogan either actually believed that he had been booed because of things he had done as a heel 25 years earlier, or he expected the fans to believe it...and that's even worse. Not only was he a lying carny, but he wasn't even good at being a lying carny, and considering how much practice he had, that's almost worse. Remember that nostalgia run Hulk Hogan had after Wrestlemania 18? Do you remember that insane ovation he got in Montreal, on Smackdown in April 2002? (Not to be confused with the one he got in Montreal the night after Wrestlemania 18.) I wish he had just retired then. Before most of the bullshit interviews full of lies. Before "Hogan Knows Best." Before the sex tape, and the racist language came to light. I wish we could all remember Hulk Hogan fondly. It's sad that his legacy went to hell, but he did it to himself. I'm not going to feel bad about talking about all the bad things he did...because he's the one that did them, not me. Hulk Hogan could have been remembered as a great guy, but he generally didn't act like a great guy, so that's on him. I feel bad for the fans who loved the character he played. I feel bad for his friends and family. But I guess in the end, you reap what you sow. I texted one of my oldest buddies, who is a couple years younger than I am. He was about 12 when Hulkamania was "running wild" and he was a die hard Hulkamaniac (a fact which I have taunted him about relentlessly over the years.) I asked him if he had heard that Hulk Hogan had died. He said that he did, and he said that it made him surprisingly sad, but it felt like part of his childhood had died. And then he said something which pretty much sums this whole thing up: "When I was a kid, Hulk Hogan was my hero. Too bad Terry Bollea was a bad human being."

Having to watch Jon Moxley is like measuring the age of a dog. They say one year for a human is like seven “dog years.” Seeing Jon Moxley promos and matches are similar. Moxley might have returned a year ago, but it feels like it’s been seven years. So in order to balance this out, he should take a seven year hiatus.

I can’t believe they are booking The Hardys vs The Dudleys in 2025. Matt Hardy can barely walk, and D-Von hasn’t wrestled in years, because he had a stroke, ffs. Apparently D-Von has been doing DDP Yoga, lost almost 100 lbs, and is doing much better…but still. Does anybody honestly want to see these two teams face off at this point?

I was thinking the same thing when I looked at the card last night. On paper, that looks like a show worth seeing. But I also have faith in TNA’s ability to screw that up somehow. I think one of the main problems with the NXT/TNA relationship (aside from the obvious fact that it is not an equal partnership and is clearly designed to be to WWE’s advantage) is the shitty creative that has come along with it. Let’s face it. Hunter “Delirious” Johnson is a terrible booker, and despite the fact that he may very well have been one of the all-time greats as a performer, NXT creative has sucked since Shawn Michaels took over. He might be a decent coach, but NXT has done nothing since Michaels has been in charge that would lead me to believe he is capable of booking a compelling product. Doing an interpromotional storyline would be hard enough with a good creative in place, but with Johnson and Michaels, combined with TKO’s mission statement of screwing over every company they work with…yikes.

On top of everything else, it probably doesn’t help them that the Bash card was not one little bit compelling. When you are advertising a TNA contract signing on your PLE, can you really be surprised when people opted to watch the competition instead? I’ve heard good things about the Page vs. Saints Falls-Count-Anywhere match and I have been meaning to check it out. At the time, I opted to watch All In live as it happened, a decision I have mixed feelings about. The NXT show might not have been as good but it also wasn’t 6 hours, plus pre-show. The whole stupid concept of “running against” the competition really needs to go away now. It’s not 1988 anymore. Thanks to streaming, you can easily watch one show live, and then go back and watch the competing show whenever you want. You’re really not missing anything. The whole thing just comes across as being extremely petty and dumb on the part of WWE. And then Tony Khan apparently admitted that one of the reasons they ran so long with the AEW PPV was to cut into Saturday Night’s Main Event. TKO needs to accept that AEW is a thing, and isn’t going away. And although I don’t generally prefer their style of professional wrestling, there’s no way anybody with a brain can say that the industry isn’t better off because of AEW’s existence.

Evolution wasn’t a bad show, but the end to that Main Event was ridiculous. Sky and Ripley pretty much killed themselves, putting on an excellent Main Event, only to have it pretty spoiled by Naomi’s involvement.

I had assumed she was either injured or in the doghouse after she disappeared following Money in the Bank weekend. She worked both major shows that weekend, and then pretty much dropped off the face of the earth. I guess she must be in the good books still if she won that Battle Royal and is getting the shot at Clash in Paris.