MoS

Yup, I realized this when I saw the quarter numbers of matches like Adam Cole v. Orange Cassidy and Jurassic Express v. Elite/Don-t-Call-Them-Undisputed-Era, matches which personally held no appeal to me and which also kind of bored the shit out of me when I watched them. But they did excellent quarter numbers, particularly in the demo, to the point where I would absolutely not be surprised if Adam Cole is the next challenger for the world title. If I were watching yesterday's show at a similar movie theater, it is entirely possible that the place would have been louder for the tag title match than the world title match, simply cuz in the former they attempted a lot crazier stuff, and until Fenix Sid'ing himself, were able to do said crazier stuff. The specific lightbulb moment for me was a spot where I think like all four of them including Luchasaurus, someone who outweighs everyone else in the match possibly combined, were on the top rope holding hands and then basically did a tumbling routine culminating in a crazy bump, and the fans went absolutely nuts for it, while I was just slightly bemused. This question of how to grow your fanbase while still properly servicing your existing fans is really at the heart of promoting. WCW ultimately went out of business because they just could not find a balance.

Yeah he posted with his arm, which while understandably instinctive, is also a rookie mistake. It's really unfortunate.

I believe it was one of those BritWres indies whose number Meltzer corrected from his initial reporting, from around 400 to like about 150, which is a significant revision.

There's a debate going on on Twitter about Ospereay's drawing power, Meltzer himself got involved here. Since Twitter is the last place you should go to if you want serious discussion, is there anyone who has studied his drawing power in detail, with context? Not just the NJPW shows but also the independent shows he headlines. There was some chat recently because Meltzer corrected his numbers for one of those shows, and the revised number was significantly lower.

Is Shawn really an HHH guy? Like, I know they are best friends, but I feel like Shawn was a Vince guy before he was an HHH guy. Vince has loved him since pretty much the first day of his (2nd) WWF tenure, we've all heard him on commentary during Shawn's matches. Feels to me that there's a far bigger possibility that Shawn is the Brutus to Hunter's Caesar.

Per Bryan Alvarez, Atlas is scheduled for an MRI and might be okay. Hopefully he is fine. A lot of injuries to start the new year, across promotions. Let's hope it's not a sign lol

Tony Khan said Fenix is hurt. There was an AEW tweet about it, but it has since been deleted. It's uncanny how this is almost invariably the case. Happened to Rey too

He is probably going to wrestle Danny Garcia soon once that program wraps up shortly

It seemed to me like signalling the start of a new era, with contenders eyes the young team. That's what they were selling on commentary too

Also, yeah, this. It was clearly presented and sold as the other teams setting their sights on the new target. Especially cuz the target has that Ricky Morton vibe about him, which makes it easier for heels to imagine all the bad shit they are going to do to him

I would have paid money for Taz to cut a promo right then and there just insulting JB and Luchasaurus. Now that is GOOD HEAT

Crazy match for those who are into such matches. Jungle Boy is definitely one of their big success stories and this feels earned. Ending the first episode of the TBS era with his ascension is a nice touch, although I would obviously have preferred if the world title match had gone last

Right as I say it, Rey Fenix hurts his arm. I hope he is not too injured

This is really not my kind of match, but I have to say that Rey Fenix is not a human being and I really want to watch him live

Yeah he is great in a tag team but he wouldn't cut it as a singles wrestler. Terrible instincts. Him and Adam Cole going punch to punch urgh

They started with a legitimate 5-star match on live TV, even if the rest of the show had been booked better - which it absolutely could have been - it would still have felt a bit underwhelming

See, especially with the loose cannon thing, watching the weekly Nitros (admittedly not in real time) it just never seemed like a big deal, more like an annoying distraction in between the important stuff. I am sure it was revolutionary for its time but I am not sure what actual potential that gimmick had.

I thought for sure it was Brody King. Made it anticlimactic

HHAHAHA I don't know if that was a botch or intentional, but that should be curtains for BPJ ever amounting to anything lol

Since this match is boring, it's also a good time for me to state that I find Brian Pillman incredibly overrated, especially his early 90s work.

He comes across as a complete dweeb, especially against someone like Black, who is actually cool

I don't know how you think it was shoehorned when it is something essential to both Punk's character and MJF threatening to start a "bidding war" every week. That finish looked weird but Jade has really good wrestling instincts. She is very green but she has a lot of potential. I actually hope she isn't pushed too much as a power wrestler cuz while she looks tremendous, she doesn't seem to have a lot of functional power the way Kris Statlander or Bianca Belair have.

That, plus Ruby's in-ring work has been really underwhelming so far

I thought this was perfectly set up for Kingston confronting Jericho. A real missed opportunity imo.

It's you who are deep in the wrestling bubble if you think WrestleMania means anything other than "oh yeah the wrestling thing that happens every year, Hulk Hogan and Austin and Rock used to wrestle there." No one is going to check out WWE because they heard WrestleMania somewhere