sek69

This is like a WWE New Year's Dash show setting up all the Mania angles.

Yeah, the last time Hogan came back there were multiple stories about how the locker room wasn't really wild about it and the crowd reaction was tepid at best since at least half the crowd seemed uncomfortable cheering a guy exposed as a racist shitbag. They pretty much have to, for multiple reasons. If they try to rug-pull his deal they know he's not afraid to sue them over it, and if they try to force it to happen Jesse is absolutely the guy who will cut a promo on Hogan and bury the shit out of him.

Loyalty to business partners is a big thing in Japanese culture so him going off script like that (even in the attempt to sell an angle) was going to cause an issue.

Also Dustin Rhodes having a match in the Tokyo Dome in the year of our Lord 2025 is fucking wild when you think about it.

I agree the women should be higher up on these shows, but I'm still kind of shocked that women in NJ shows is actually happening. Not to give them a pass but they're pretty new to this whole women's wrestling thing it's going to take a minute to get the hang of it.

So I was reading the luchablog and CMLL was dropping a hint on their news show that they would be working with Stardom, which is interesting since they normally work with talent agencies and freelancers. A pairing like that is gonna bang pretty hard.

Oh I absolutely prefer the way things are now, but it just seems like HHH took the lessons of everyone hating Vince's booking to heart to the point it feels like he's gunshy.

So Tiffy finally cashing in after months of teases made me think about how a criticism I keep seeing about the HHH Era is how it seems storylines are getting drawn out too long now. It sounds like a crazy thing to complain about after decades of Vince tearing up scripts every day and starting over, but it does seem at times we've gone too far the other way.

Real ones remember the best use of that song anyway:

The Dynamites/PPVs from 2019 are up on MAX now, with the rest set to be added on a rolling basis. While I know MAX doesn't quite have the reach of something like Netflix worldwide, but I think this is quietly going to be a boon for AEW to be able to get eyeballs from the growing audience that either stopped watching linear TV or never did in the first place.

Okada-Ospreay was amazing, two of the best to ever do it showing why they are in fact two of the best.

Mox has been pushed as an unhinged violence enthusiast since the start as his AEW debut was him murdering Kenny. His current character seems like the next evolution of that so it's fine by me.

With AEW streaming on MAX and Raw on Netflix in 2025, it feels like we've crossed the Rubicon in terms of traditional TV being the primary source of income for national promotions. Especially when WWE's all but said they'll probably want to have Smackdown on Netflix at some point, streaming is going to the focus of the next media deals when they come up for renewal. It's a fitting bookend to how programming from the local rasslin' territory was the way a lot of early TV stations filled their airtime up cheaply.

My thought process when they announced that was "well that makes no sense, but fuck it, that match is gonna bang"

I was surprised as well, that was one of those things I just assumed happened at some point Also it looks like they are hyping Penta showing up on the first Netflix show with the "0" vignette on Raw tonight

Cody finally willed the Winged Eagle into existence, good for him!

JFC it looked like Iyo knee'd Liv's nose off her face.

took me a little longer than it probably should have to notice the refs were in the old school powder blue shirts with bow ties

ITS PAT

No matter what else happens, them bringing back "Obsession" for SNME makes this show a success in my book.

The weirdest part is this all came about when some higher up at Anthem suddenly decided they HAVE to sign her right the fuck now. Everything else about Tessa aside for a moment, who does that?

She may have made up with La Rosa Negra, but this was not welcomed fondly by most of the TNA roster since she's never showed any sign of remorse for (allegedly) being a bully to everyone in a 10 mile radius. She tried to garner sympathy for her mental health issues after everything blew up, only for damn near every female wrestler on social media to clap back at her pointing out it was the consequences of her actions coming home to roost. Jordynne Grace was reportedly especially not pleased at this, and it seems like she's going to be feuding with Tessa before she leaves to go to WWE. Also the comparison with Punk has one tiny problem: Punk's a proven draw and merch seller and in wrestling (like all sports) you have more leeway to be a prick if you make money. If Tessa was some needle moving star then I could see it being worth the risk, but you're pissing off your locker room for someone who won't impact (lol see what I did there) business one bit.

Speaking of Toni Storm, she seemed to be caught off guard at the reaction to her returning and was visibly trying to hold back tears. Also forget the Rampage thing, why did she come back in her old gimmick? The Timeless bit seemed like it still had some life, and having Mariah just kill it by winning one mach seemed an almost disrespectful way to end something that was over.

its basically a scramble match where everyone tries to get pinfalls, and when someone gets pinned they go in the penalty box for 2 minutes. It sounds TNA as hell but it works.

Vaquer was CMLL women's champ, which didn't used to mean much, but the people running the company now have been making a solid attempt at making their women's division mean something. She had a cup of tea in AEW and had a banger with Mercedes, and her and (barring something unexpected happening) Gulia are going to set the new standard for women in NXT.