MoS

I have hope that he is left alone to dominate in NXT. What gives me hope is reading @C.S.'s summary of the Mark Henry interview with Austin, where Henry said Lee is excellent but is still a work in progress. Henry is a company man and I doubt he would say something like that unless he knew the higher-ups agreed.

Matt Riddle put up a short video, denying the allegations and said he was guilty of cheating on his wife with the accuser. Their extramarital affairs are their personal business, but his story has changed already from "She is a complete psycho" to "I had a relationship with her but I did not do anything that she is accusing me of", which does not sound good for him.

I will see the match later today - it's early morning here and I need to go to bed- but really happy for Keith Lee. They should have put the rocket on his back in December itself, and I am glad they have done so now. He has so much charisma, excellent presence, I hope they book him the way they booked Asuka in NXT.

I loved the main event. Orange Cassidy is the best babyface in pro wrestling right now. I really liked the show overall. It's interesting they are using the Fight for the Fallen name for next week and yet so far they have only announced the world title match. The covid situation inadvertently turned out to be a blessing in disguise for the match. Taz's excellent weekly promos have turned the match from a good TV main event to something approaching a major league match.

I dunno if Kim is a good promo. Victoria perhaps.

Nyla having a manager is interesting. Is there a female legend who is a good promo and also a free agent?

I thought the match was underwhelming . Glad to see Lucha Bros get a win though.

Taz has the FTW championship! Did Heyman never trademark it in the first place?

That finish was brutal.

That Archer Kiss spot was awesome.

I LOL'd hard. This is one of those matches that will get a lot of praise but I got bored halfway through because it was just spot after spot, with no time to sink your teeth into any narrative.

Surely a guy who is all about kayfabe credibility like JR should stop constantly referring to TYB as arguably the best tag team in the world.

The only possible redeemable thing that can come out of this eye for eye match is if someone sets that match to this song -

Taz apparently has an announcement that's going to SHOCK THE WORLD

I thought they stopped advertising Kairi for tonight after doing so initially?

I think there was a story going on a few years back that Roman was still wearing the vest because Vince/HHH/some higher-up thought he did not have a very impressive body.

Jericho has too many stretches of mediocrity to go along with his lengthy hiatuses for me to consider him the best wrestler of the last 20 years. As an overall package though, he definitely, in some ways, is the most enduring wrestler of the last 20 years.

I would actually like someone who prefers Rollins to Reigns to talk about why they do so. I am not the biggest fan of Roman on this board, but to me, his offense is more snug and realistic than Rollins, he does not constantly take you out of matches with terrible expressions and spotty selling the way Rollins does, and while Seth has a bigger moveset, I don't get the sense that he knows how to time and structure it cogently into the match. He can literally do 3 top rope dives 10 seconds after selling his leg like it is broken. And while Roman has often been given terrible material on the mic to work with, as a promo he still blows away Seth.

Yeah, I wouldn't say it underwhelmed as much as it was almost a cruel tease of how hot it could have been. It's why as the match was happening, I kept hoping that Okada went over. Okada definitely is someone whose work "needs" the crowd than some other wrestlers. His offence is not brutal as much as it is almost graceful, and it's something that really needs a crowd going apeshit for it.

I have enjoyed the cup so far, but Okada has been underwhelming throughout to me. I saw some complaints about Okada beating Takahashi on Twitter, with people feeling he could have taken a loss here, but I am glad they didn't pull the trigger on that moment with no crowds.

This is the best thing ever

Bayley is still not close to what she could have been as a top face, but since they started teasing the Sasha feud, she has been great. It still feels like she is playing WWE Heel more than herself, but she has improved in that role as well. She should also wear that hat she was wearing on NXT all the time

I agree about women's wrestling being awesome right now, but I think as far as what drew the ratings, I would argue it's Sasha and Bayley. They have now moved ratings big-time for a number of weeks, as opposed to Charlotte, who one way or another did not make a difference. Rhea losing to Charlotte seems a more terrible decision with each passing week, cuz Rhea definitely could have been a breakout difference-maker. I am hoping they execute the next part of their story well, because they have done an excellent job this year so far of building up their split.

A depressing but brilliant article on this issue in general - https://www.fanbyte.com/wrestling/a-brief-history-of-creeps-in-professional-wrestling/ I cannot recommend it enough.

I have been a fan of both Thatcher and Lorcan for years, since they gained attention for having excellent matches with each other in EVOLVE. This did not touch their best matches, but it was still great. I loved Sasha-Shirai. Asuka popping out of nowhere and holding on to the belt was awesome. Looking forward to the tag match - have they announced it officially?