RingoPlaysDrums

I was worried this match would underwhelm because as much as Raquel has impressed as of late, she hasn't been tested much in big singles matches. I shouldn't have worried because Io worked her ass off and Gonzalez more than held up her end of the bargain, looking great in victory. The dive off the skull was nuts and it looked like Io landed awkwardly so I hope she's not done herself any lasting damage there. The moonsault false finish felt like a really big deal as well. In the end, a convincing title win for Raquel to end Shirai's impressive title reign that makes her look like a star. For now, anyway.

Another great WALTER title defence as this time he gets to face a large opponent who is closer in size and strength to himself. I've really liked Rampage Brown in NXT UK as this no nonsense grumpy old bastard. The big bomb throwing does remind one of All Japan and Nigel picks up on it too, referencing Hansen, Brody, Misawa and Kobashi. Really hot heavyweight battle which compliments the Ciampa match nicely.

Yeah, I loved this. Thought it was the one truly great match out of two nights worth of really enjoyable modern wrestling. Plenty of memorable spots like the chop that broke the table and Ciampa's never ending lariats. It's been mentioned a few times but I love the way WALTER doesn't react all shocked at failed pinfall attempts but just goes straight on to his next move. I like the way he leans into the pinfall attempt on the powerbomb a la Toshiaki Kawada as well. The finish was just a complete delight - after selling his preferred right hand throughout and using his left instead, he goes back to what he knows and is able to muster enough strength for one giant chop to finally put Ciampa away. Absolute war, I really liked the post-match Imperium coming out on the ramp as the bruised WALTER took his place in the line up for their signature pose.

Really loved Moxley/Barnett. Brevity and brutality, just how I like it. It was a frantic fight, especially from the moment where Barnett fell out of the ring and Mox just launched himself at him. A bloody Barnett just stomping a bloody Moxley into the mat for the finish but Moxley still wanted to fight. Great visuals.

I for one loved Sami Zayn interrupting the Pauls' sparring session before being locked out, as well as Reigns' music hitting immediately after Uso won the battle royal. Smackdown was actually more than watchable and served as a nice pre-show of sorts to Mania. Good promo work from Bryan, Edge & Reigns.

I was thinking last week that a Bayley talk show, possibly with Charlotte as the guest if she's okay, would be the way to go. There's also the possibility of a surprise Becky Lynch appearance.

Well that's instantly become something I really want to see.

Weren't there supposed to be episodes on XPW, FMW, Bruiser Bedlam and Kanyon this season?

Two nights of really good action and I enjoyed both but the first night was definitely the better show. Loved the finish to the ladder match. Great shot of Escobar standing atop the ladder looking down on the broken Devlin. The spot where LDF interfered and Devlin took a tumble to the outside was nuts too. Devlin did well to avoid injury. Cute post-match celebration with the other LDF members and his son too. Escobar is great but we all know he's toast as soon as he gets called up. I'll enjoy him while I can. Women's tag title match was fine. Most important thing is the champions retained. I feared they'd drop them here which wouldn't have done those belts any favours. Thought Reed looked very impressive over the two nights. I don't know how often he attempts the moonsault but that felt like a special moment so hopefully it was. I think Theory should have been involved more in the finish. I was surprised at the ease with which Gargano was able to eventually put him away. I wonder if Theory will turn on Gargano and be the one to dethrone him? Hell of a performance from Balor who I've done a complete 180 on over the last 18 months. This was the best I've seen Kross look as well. I was hoping Balor would somehow retain but it wasn't to be. Not particularly excited about a Kross title reign. Perhaps they'll do a rematch with Balor bringing back the demon "persona". Unsanctioned match was predictably way too long. I liked the security, pre-match lighting and referee's all black outfit. I didn't like the fact that KOR and Cole wore their regular wrestling gear and wrestled a pretty generic first 10-15 minutes. Things got better when the chain was introduced, although Kyle looked like an idiot when he threw the chain in and was easily countered. I will say that there was some stuff in this match that I loved. The spot through the ramp. The brainbuster on the steps was brutal. But there was a lot that I didn't like as well, which is usually the case with these 40 minute NXT "epics".

Night 1 was really good. I was not feeling Dunne/Kushida from the moment Dunne came to new not nearly as good entrance music. The match was shorter which is good for the opener but I still found it to go go go. That was where the disappointments ended though as everything else delivered. Loved the gauntlet and WALTER/Ciampa. The tag title three way was super fun silliness. The main event was great. Io is insane and Raquel more than held up her end of the bargain.

Does damn good Dynamite Kid impression too:

Have to be honest, Cassidy/Best Friends getting "Where Is My Mind?" as their theme has immediately enhanced my enjoyment of their act. I actually kind of loved the finish to the Arcade Anarchy match when that song hit and they celebrated in the ring and waved to Sue. I'm a big supporter of the faction model. Makes booking and storytelling easier. I hate that WWE has generally been so avoidant of them for so long. Part of me still wants the roster to be trimmed though.

I watched this match again recently and I just wanted to acknowledge: a) how fantastic it is, particularly after watching the Hansen/Jumbo triple crown formation and Jumbo/Tenryu title match from a couple of days later b) Smartmark15's excellent video essays for AJPW, including this one. Great job.

I love the Fast Lane 2015 match. Back when I still had hopes that WWE was moving in the right direction. It was also a time when a lot of fans (wrongly imo) didn't think Reigns was up to much in the ring as a singles wrestler. That was the match when he really began to prove everyone wrong (granted, he was in there with one of the all time greats but in 2015 he continued to step up). I didn't think they'd be able to reach those heights again but they may have done just that. Bryan's such a master. It's all the little things with him and over the course of 30 minutes there was a lot of those. I was generally alright with the finish as well. I'd have preferred something different but I don't think it damaged my overall appreciation for the match. I've struggled to really get into matches that have taken place in the performance center and thunderdome. This was one of the very few where I got completely lost in the action and forgot about the distracting brightness, video screens and irritating camera work.

I really liked this match. McIntyre's killed it in all the big matches I've seen of his over the last year. No surprise that he really brings it in a match with Sheamus. I liked the brawling in and around the video wall more than the Reigns/Owens LMS match from the Rumble. Towards the end you start to notice the bruises and scratches all over Sheamus. Then you notice them all over Drew. And they just keep on walloping each other. Extremely satisfying no frills war between two old pals who came up together. Great video package beforehand too. I hadn't seen any of the build but I didn't need to (in fact, probably best I didn't). I know they had two well liked matches on Raw before this. I need to check them out too.

Here's a group photo from the 2020 HOF ceremony that they filmed last night. Jushin Liger and William Shatner weren't there in person. Since there's no fans present and they're filming them now anyway I think they should just have aired the HOF ceremonies this week rather than next. There's already a lot on next week and I'd imagine a lot of people would've been more able to watch it rather than trying to squeeze it in alongside Takeover/WM.

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I'd usually prefer a Asuka/Ripley singles match. That was even more true at the time of the Rumble when Ripley was one of the final two. I was looking forward to Ripley and Belair simultaneously challenging two fairly strong champions for the belts. But it seems they decided to go with Evans/Charlotte with Ric involvement and to to hold off on Ripley's debut. Then Evans got pregnant so they had to change plans. Anyway, long story short, the Asuka/Ripley match is pretty cold as it is. Charlotte probably should be included - it doesn't water it down in the same way that her addition to Rousey/Lynch did. There's a bit more going on there with her involvement. Charlotte in general gets a bloody rough time from wrestling fans, I find.

Slow pace to this one. Some solid stuff but not a lot to write home about. I did like some of the strike/slap exchanges and I did like the finish which features Hansen going for the lariat to end things. Jumbo ducks and Hansen charges into the ropes, allowing Jumbo to roll him up for a flukey three. These two had previously had matches without finishes so this was a smart way to finally do a finish. Jumbo wins the belts but Hansen is coming for him.

Good match with a GREAT start. I watched this right after the Hansen/Jumbo match which unified the Triple Crown belts from two days earlier and it's noticeably more fiery and intense. The botched powerbomb which ends the match is quite scary as Jumbo gets the three count and continues to look over at Tenryu, visibly concerned.

I was going to say, the return match at WM 34 was definitely disappointing, although at the time I was just so pleased to see him back and looking healthy. I recently saw one of his PPV matches with Cass for the first time and found it to be pretty damn good, further proving what a miracle worker he can be. This discussion makes me want to go back and watch more of his current run that I've missed. Looking at cagematch, he's had TV matches with the likes of Andrade, Ali, Sheamus and Harper that I haven't seen and don't think I've even read about.

He's getting closer and closer to that top spot for me personally. I see there's been talk of him winding down this year so I hope he can have a great final couple of years to really cement things. He's given a number of interviews over the last year or so where he's listed wrestlers he wants to have matches with before he retires (amongst them WALTER, Gran Metalik, Riddle, Keith Lee, Regal's son Bailey). I'd love nothing more than him getting to have a little farewell tour of the company so that he can tick those names off his wishlist before he finally calls it a day. Seems unlikely though.

Great chaotic 10 minute match. It did end a bit abruptly for me as I went into it not knowing the length. Adonis's performance is notable. I liked him making a run for it early on as soon as he gets sent into the cage for the first time, desperately ripping off the top step and just suddenly JUMPING off the top of the cage onto Bruno. Crazy stuff. The finish was quite well done too. Tito's already on his way out and Bruno sees the chance (so that he doesn't risk leaving Tito alone with the heels obviously) and runs out the door.

I feel like the triple threat is the only match on the card with build that's made me actively want to see the match more rather than less. Great dynamic between Reigns, Edge and Bryan that harks back to Wrestlemania XXX. I'm glad they've realised that Edge is infinitely better as a heel and that 47 year old super babyface Edge is even worse than super babyface Edge from back in the day. Almost all the other matches on the card (which isn't half bad really) get less and less appealing to me with each passing week of programming. That said, Banks/Belair and Asuka/Ripley are still probably the biggest draws for me. Happy that Cesaro's getting a singles matches and we're finally getting Zayn/Owens at WM too.

There's a clip of Batista and Khali chatting away backstage in one of the Network documentaries about Batista's comeback in 2014. I don't know if they were supposed to have had heat back in the day but they seemed fine then at least.