DMJ

- Both ladder matches were fine. Not great, maybe not even good, but fine. To me, the women's match showed just how much of a gap there continues to be between the experienced "big time" performers (like Bayley, Sasha, Charlotte, and even Naomi who were all needed here) and the rest of the women. I'm only theorizing but it seems to me that, in NXT and on the indies, you are far more likely to see men wrestle gimmick matches than women. This leads to a real disparity in experience levels working with ladders so that while Becky Lynch looked fairly comfortable (because she's wrestled a bunch of gimmick matches over the years), Raquel and Lacey and Liv did not, which resulted in some really sloppy-looking moves and notable apprehension/telegraphing. That Shotzi bump, for example, looked like it could legit have crippled her and I'm just thinking, maybe its because, as much as you shouldn't be "teaching" performers to get used to bumping on ladders, there's also a major difference in experience (and size) between Shotzi doing that bump and, say, Kevin Owens or Sami Zayn (who had done countless dangerous bumps for years before they were even in the WWE). Even in the Men's match, it felt like Madcap was just there and not exactly doing anything special while someone like Ricochet, Balor, or Kofi would actually have added something to the match because, y'know, they're good at working with ladders. Its a conundrum because these performers won't get better at these types of matches unless they get opportunities, but the learning curve also means that they're going to suck at them the first few times they do them. (And, also, because they're inherently more dangerous, you don't want Madcap or Lacey Evans getting those "ladder match reps" in on house shows.) - Liv winning and then cashing in was great and much needed and made even more sense when we saw who won the Men's match. I can also understand why they wanted to give Liv her moment rather than having Rousey turn heel or attack her after handing her the belt. Hopefully, though, they will have Rousey turn sooner than later because she's just so much more natural as a heel. The match with Nattie was pretty decent, I thought, but I'd also say it was maybe the first time Rousey worked a match as a wrestler and not an MMA bad-ass, which kinda defeats the point of her being a special performer. Say what one will about Lesnar's matches - and when they're bad, they're baaad - but he'd never have a 50/50 match against someone like Nattie (and 50/50 might even be generous as Nattie controlled large parts of the match with submissions). Instead, against Bryan and AJ, it took a ton of effort and cunning to get Lesnar off his game and inflict any kind of damage. Rousey made Nattie look tremendous in a way that was kinda inconsistent with, well, everything we've ever seen and know about these two. - Having Theory added to the match last minute made it pretty obvious he was going to win. Why else would he have been added if not for that reason? What a bad call. I actually thought the Theory/Lashley match was Theory's best that I've seen - mostly because he was the chickenshit heel getting his ass kicked by Lashley, who was mega over with the crowd. Quit while you're ahead, WWE, and just give us a continuation of that rivalry because it was working. Instead, we now have Theory with the briefcase and, as others have noted, he's basically a more technically proficient Miz. I personally don't think the backlash is about him being Vince's "chosen one" (though there is that) but because Theory is just not that interesting. He's essentially gimmickless or, if you do consider "Guy who takes selfies" as a gimmick, a guy with a very thin gimmick. He doesn't have a catchphrase. He sent dirty texts to a 13 year old. He's a good in-ring worker at a time when good in-ring workers have never been in more abundance in the WWE. I can understand wanting to build up new stars, but y'know, there's also something to be said for acts like Sami Zayn and Bobby Lashley who have been killing it recently and getting huge reactions and maybe, just maybe, haven't actually hit their ceiling.

I thought the consensus was that one of the Orton/Christian matches was Orton's best? I rated their SummerSlam 2011 match very highly on a semi-recent rewatch. I don't think I've seen the Over the Limit match, but may have to check it out sometime as a cursory Google search reveals that match is also considered very good (if not better than the SummerSlam match). I hate to turn this into a match review, but I think SummerSlam 2011 is clearly the "peak Orton" performance just because it highlights everything that one could consider to be Orton's strengths. Specifically: Orton's never afraid to be vicious or to fight dirty (because he's the uncaring Viper) but he is a better in-ring babyface, character traits be damned. Christian was a bastard in this feud so Orton is 100% the face here which means that while Orton does nasty things to Christian, he's always got the fan support. Orton is also a guy who does a great job of "getting his shit in" (i.e signature moves) without them feeling shoehorned in or perfunctory (the anti-Kurt Angle) and this match has them all at least teased while still very much feeling like the counters and reversals and pacing are all organic. If you're looking for proof of how Orton does all the "little things" right or an example of him pacing a match deliberately to build suspense without boring the crowd, this is the best example of that. Its non-stop action, but its not action-for-action's sake. Everything is sold. There's plenty of breathing room between the shifts in momentum. They take a weapon that had been overused and maybe undersold to the point of losing most of its legitimacy (the kendo stick) and make it seem like the most brutal tool ever created. Triple H wishes he had a match against Orton this good but he couldn't have, even though its not like Orton wasn't capable (my impression is that when those two fought, Triple H was in the driver's seat as he was the "mentor" while this match seems like a genuine collaboration between peers). Now, the match isn't perfect - in my blog review, I noted that I didn't like the finish - but in terms of a performance, from character work to execution to playing to the crowd, I think this was Orton's best singles match and I'm not sure what other matches would necessarily be close to it. Orton is a guy with a number of "should've been" classics based on who he got to work with extensively over the years - the aforementioned Triple H, John Cena, Daniel Bryan, Undertaker, Shawn Michaels, Rey Mysterio - but this match with Christian is that one notch above any of those that I've seen.

I think Roman Reigns has too much upper shelf stuff for me to see him as not having had his best match. Both Fastlane matches against Daniel Bryan, vs. Lesnar at WM31, some of the Shield six-tags, his two big matches against AJ in 2016, I remember at least one of the Strowman matches being really fun...When all is said and done, it'll be very easy to list 5-10 matches of his that represent the best of modern WWE. Booker T is more what I was thinking. The King Booker run was my favorite of his, but none of the matches from that run jump out at me. He had some good-to-great matches with Benoit, sure, but, again, there's not one specific match that I think is a "masterpiece" or really even close to one. I'll put Drew McIntyre's name on the list, though. He's had some good-to-great matches, sure, but not a single match that I think you could point to as being a Drew McIntyre Clinic or masterpiece.

Has it ever been discussed/mentioned whether Nick Khan has any sort of history, cursory knowledge, or dare I say, passion, for pro-wrestling? Because if you're Nick Khan, your biggest takeaways from WrestleMania is that the WWE would do better business if they just went ahead and made it Celebrity Deathmatch. I mean, based on crowd reactions, Logan Paul and Johnny Knoxville and Pat McAfee were right up there with Roman Reigns and Kevin Owens in terms of crowd reaction. In Nick Khan's eyes, why would the WWE need to look for the next Seth Rollins or AJ Styles when next year's WrestleMania can be headlined by Bad Bunny or the LA Rams' Cooper Kupp? And I understand that they need other wrestlers to fill their weekly TV shows yadda yadda yadda, but in terms of who they're really building the business around, I can totally get see why they see more value in Ronda Rousey and Logan Paul and less in Big E and Bayley, even though I'm not sure the numbers really support it.

- Love Orange Cassidy using the Jefferson Starship song. I didn't know it was his old music on the indies, but the song always reminds me of Wet Hot American Summer and now I feel like I'm finally connecting the dots that Cassidy's character is partially based on Paul Rudd's character in that movie? Or, if that's the not the case, the vibe is the exact same. Any which way, I also dig Ethan Page and Dan Lambert and like everyone else I'm baffled as to how you can have all these pieces and parts and the TNT Championship right there and somehow that title means absolutely zilch. I mean, in any other promotion, one would assume that OC's win would mean a match against Sky is on the horizon, but Sky is busy with Wardlow, who lost pretty much all of his heat in the span of a month. (And I say that as someone who believes he could easily get it back, but that winning a cold TNT Championship isn't the solution.) Again, just seems like have all the right ingredients for a solid midcard title feud but its just not coming together. - Jade Cargill and the Baddies are such a great act, but I didn't like Stokely Hathaway's post-match promo as he said that despite Cargill issuing an open challenge, Athena nor Statlander stepped up. Its nit-picky, but I wish commentary had been prepared for that line and said something like, "Athena and Statlander did apply, but were denied because ____" or if there had been a backstage segment explaining why they had not signed up or that they were beat to the punch. Like every other major US wrestling promotion of my lifetime, AEW has once again proven that it is way, way easier to develop and build-up a strong heel woman who gets heat, but babyfaces are much tougher to come by and lines like that don't help. - I was a bit puzzled at the lack of fire in the Bloods and Guts match. Just seems like they built it up over and over and we still didn't get the pay-off (which is also true of Jericho not tapping). Maybe they're saving it all for an Eddie/Jericho match down the line, which would be perfectly fine too. Its hard to feel disappointed by what we saw, which was a super violent match. That one guy from 2.0 looked like he was in need of a transfusion by the end and the other guy taking a back bump into the tacks was gnarly. Claudio got to shine too. Speaking of which, Claudio vs. Garcia seems like it could main event a show in the next few weeks/months and there's no reason to think it won't be a capital-B Banger.

Kane is also a huge "Back the Blue" guy (like his "brother"), which also strikes me as odd considering that the police have been used as a tool of oppression for as long as they've existed as an institution and are often immune from prosecution/accountability for aggression. So, yes, he's definitely the typical pseudo-intellectual selfish white Libertarian caricature who thinks the government should stay out of his business/home/bedroom, but absolutely should be policing everyone else's because women, people of color, working/lower class, and left-leaning people can't be trusted to "do what's right."

When we did this last time, I had a very WWE/WCW-centric list with a very small number of 2000s Indie/TNA/ECW/international talent just because, at the time, that was what I was most knowledgeable about and comfortable ranking. Kane didn't crack my top 100 but I had room for Buff Bagwell and Tom Zenk. Even if I hadn't tried to educate myself a little over the past few years and watched some of the more hyped AJPW, NJPW, and territory matches and strictly watched WWE (no AEW) since the last time we did this, Kane still wouldn't make my list. Simply put, since when we did this last time, I've seen Becky Lynch, Bayley, Charlotte, Roman Reigns, Bobby Lashley, Cesaro, and probably a half-dozen other WWE/NXT wrestlers earn a spot on my list like this before Kane would ever move up. There's just nothing I've seen - new, old, or in-between - that would propel him past those people. So, no, I contend that if Kane is making anyone's list, it's likely that he's on there as a "nostalgia pick" more than anything. Being "WWE-centric" wouldn't be enough. You'd have to be "WWE Attitude and Ruthless Aggression Era-centric," in which case, sure, I guess I'm willing to say Kane was probably in the top 100 WWE wrestlers active between 1997 and 2007. Maybe.

And there it was. Basically a message to shareholders that he wasn't going anywhere? With that, I turn it off and move on with my Friday night. What a nothingburger.

The hubris here is just mind-blowing. Reigns/Riddle was already a big match if you're a WWE fan, but this is certainly going to increase the viewership from those of us who don't tune in regularly. I mean, how can one look away from this trainwreck?

Not that I see this as being something that could bring the empire down but Vince (and John Laurenaitis) are back in the news for being sex creeps. Vince having an open marriage hasn't been a secret since that Playboy interview years ago, but an investigation into whether he paid hush money to one of his ex-girlfriends (consensual or not) is still going to be embarrassing. The summary I read suggests he "gave her" to John Laurenaitis as a "gift" at one point. Stephanie picked a great time to not be the face of the company if this gains any sort of mainstream traction.

I know that Hardy's style of wrestling hasn't helped his addiction and certainly played a big role in his reliance on pills, booze, and whatever else...but I don't think Jeff Hardy's drug addiction and alcoholism isn't singularly caused by wrestling a dangerous style. The idea that if Jeff just stuck to wrestling "safe" matches in WWE or did 24/7 comedy matches he wouldn't be a drug addict/alcoholic doesn't pass the smell test to me. Jeff Hardy's had no less than a half dozen "wake up call" moments in the past 20 years - a huge drug bust, getting kicked off a plane, 3 DUIs, a public intoxication charge, the Victory Road incidents, two firings from the WWE - and they've come at all different points of his career, dating back to 2003 and lord knows what incidents we don't really know about before then. Granted, at all different points of his career he has wrestled the "Jeff Hardy style" so I'm not denying some causal relationship in his need to self-medicate based on his bump-heavy style...but I think there are layers beyond it. Just like Jake Roberts, who didn't wrestle a dangerous style. Just like Chyna, who barely wrestled. Tammy Sytch. Louie Spicolli. If it were just a dangerous style, RVD and Spike Dudley would be notorious addicts. I know we've all faced hardships in our life, but losing your mom to brain cancer when you're 9 years old and essentially joining the circus (entering the pro-wrestling business in the mid-90s) at 16 are probably just as big of factors in his addiction as going through tables and leaping off ladders for the past two decades.

I was thinking all day about how this show needed a big story. Was hoping it would be Sasha and Naomi returning, or at least Cesaro. I'd even take Bray. Something. So, I guess we got one? I know its apples and oranges, but somebody in Vince's camp has to get into his ear about how there was zero buzz for Backlash and there was zero buzz for this show and, a week ago, wrestling fans across the country were very much excited and amped for multiple matches and storylines going into an AEW pay-per-view. This show's most anticipated match is either a rematch from the past 2 pay-per-views (Rollins/Rhodes) or the Women's Triple Threat match - mostly because Asuka has been out for so long and she's so damn good that her inclusion feels like the freshest breath of air in a long time (including Rousey's return). The rest of the card looks like it will be just fine, but "just fine" is why RAW hit another record low rating this week. Man, could you imagine if WWE actually returned to a real pay-per-view model? I'd love to see the number of actual live viewers for some of their premium events. I think it'd be a very interesting stat to compare to AEW's pay-per-view #s. (Yes, I know, this is a B-level show and AEW doesn't run monthly PPVs so the comparison wouldn't be fair, but, hey, its not like WWE doesn't have the talent, airtime, production resources, or media presence to make their monthly PPVs feel special - they did it for years and years in the late 90s and early 00s and even semi-recently had some good stretches.)

I alluded to what I would do above, but I'll fantasy book a little here just because... MJF randomly pops up every couple of weeks, sneak attacking and bloodying "Tony's guys"/ex-WWE guys - babyfaces like Dustin Rhodes and Matt Sydal, but also heels like Bobby Fish. He could also use his "millions" to buy airtime on the show ala the nWo. This would, of course, make it even clearer that this is not really a "shoot" of any kind, but as someone else posted above, the cat is out of the bag with that after last night anyway. Then maybe he goes after Keith Lee and Lee, tired of the attacks, tells Tony Khan to book a match between himself and MJF. You don't even need Tony Khan to appear on-screen for that and it doesn't break the storyline at all. Then you can even run the same story as before on a smaller scale: Will MJF actually show up to face Keith Lee? Or will he no-show to try to get himself fired? The tricky thing there is that you don't want to go the Russo way and make it about "following scripts" or laying down. That is where these angles become the stuff that kills a company (see Jarrett/Hogan at Bash at the Beach). If MJF is going to wrestle, it needs to be clear that he still wants to prove he's the best against any opponent because that's also part of his mission. I also read one fan posit that it would be beautiful if FTR turned on Punk to help MJF win the title some time down the line, but I could also see Hangman eventually coming down and being the "Who's Side Is He On?" Guy. That being said, I hope that they keep this storyline insular and don't overcrowd it. You don't need to revamp the entire company around one storyline.

As with many of MJF's promos, the conviction was strong enough for me to like it (though I don't think it was an "all-time great promo"). I agree that I wish he would've "named names" a bit, but I can understand why Tony Khan would've been angry about doing it. The last thing a Keith Lee or Swerve or some other "ex-WWE" babyface needs is to have one of your best mic workers and biggest stars come out and say these guys have bigger deals than they're worth. You already have plenty of internet voices calling Andrade and Lee and the others "flops," you don't need to put that on TV. Whoever said this reminded them of Flair's "Fire Me! I'm Already Fired!" promo, I got the same vibes, though this was more coherent. I'm also willing to see where this goes before I call it a huge misfire. The live audience clearly was engaged. There is a "buzz" around the promo and I think the majority of the AEW audience on social media/rSC liked it. It could be unpopular here, but I always remember that when I first started reading/posting here how shocked I was to read educated, well-explained criticisms about how Shawn Michaels and Kurt Angle were overrated. I soon grew to see those criticisms as valid despite years of hearing/believing they were among the greatest workers of all time. God bless PWO, but I think the "objective truth" is probably somewhere in the middle re: MJF's promo. It wasn't an all-time great promo, but don't tell me it wasn't riveting or over with the crowd. I'm hoping that this leads to MJF trying to get fired every couple weeks (not every week, mind you) by doing run-ins and using his money to buy airtime ala the nWo. I know that sounds really WCW-ish and stupid, but its clear now that this is all a scripted work so, to me, it's better to "go for it" than to try to fool me into thinking MJF is going to be given a live mic despite telling the Boss to fuck off. For example, have MJF come out and decimate a Dustin Rhodes (we know Dustin will bleed for him and is still capable of great matches) or Christian one week. Then, someone like Kyle O'Reilly so that its not just babyfaces/heels - he's going after anyone who he sees as ex-WWE or undeserving of their contract or as one of "Tony's guys." The idea that there are no matches that can come from this seems a bit premature. As for Wardlow...I really wish they would've had him answer John Morrison's challenge. I know they were in LA so Morrison was likely to be more over with the "hometown" crowd than in other cities, but I like the idea of Wardlow maybe being a bit of a tweener for now, just taking out whoever (especially someone like Morrison, who has at least some name value).

Its a weird story and I'm not sure what will eventually come out about it, but I don't think its as simple as the WWE thinking they were going to sell 65k seats and not getting anywhere close. I think there's more to it. For example, there's some hubbub on r/SC that Nick Khan and Allegiant Stadium were hoping to sell closer to 25k-30k because the arena is sitting empty otherwise and the WWE was likely getting a "good deal." So maybe something bigger is now taking that date? I'm not sure what that would be - NASCAR? Springsteen? - and why it would be getting penciled in just 2 months prior, but that's one theory. Also, I know here in Cleveland, I was gobsmacked to learn that comedian John Mulaney was going to be performing at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse, the same arena where the Cavs play, in September. Mulaney is a popular stand-up, sure, but as far as I know, the biggest venue he's ever performed in in Cleveland is about a fifth the size of the FieldHouse. I assume that, again, the Rocket Mortgage people are looking at Mulaney's ticket sales and saying, "This guy is selling out a 3500 seat theater up the street on a random Wednesday, so if we have him play here, maybe he'll sell another 1000 tickets and we'll have 4500 people here on a night when the Cavs are out of town. He's never going to sell 20,000 tickets, but why let the State Theater get that business when that could be us?" So what changed? Did Allegiant Stadium get a better offer or does Vince maybe not like the idea of running a show in any stadium/arena that's only a third full? I can totally see Vince thinking, "I'd rather be able to say we sold out a 17k-seat arena than sell 20k tickets in a stadium that holds 65k," especially as I feel like this was very much his strategy multiple times through the 80s and 90s. Like, I'm not sure how valid those attendance numbers are for AWA SuperClash I or WrestleRock 86' but, according to wikipedia, those shows did 20k+ tickets sold while the stadiums they were held in had capacities twice as big. It made those shows seem like flops despite them, if these numbers are accurate, having fairly decent attendance (more than WrestleManias IV and V, mind you). Just seems like there's some more analysis and insight that I'm curious to hear before I look at this as the same thing as what happened with WrestleMania VII.

Late to the party, but put me in the camp that thinks this is MJF perpetually "working." To a hardcore AEW fan, it is heelish to spout off about being "underappreciated by AEW" (who are seen as a 'babyface' promotion) and to speak so confidently about how if he went to WWE, he'd be the biggest star there. But the pesky reality is that MJF, as much as he carries himself like a star, is still under 6 feet and would probably seem to Vince like a great manager or maybe even commentary guy rather than an actual main event level wrestler. I mean, if its to be believed that Adam Cole - a good-not-great promo - was going to be used as a manager, then MJF, a guy that is most known for his promos (even if his in-ring game is maybe underrated) has very little chance of being seen as anything more than that by Vince. I'm an MJF fan, but everything we've seen in the WWE over the past 4-6 months has pointed to Vince and Nick Khan very clearly wanting to build the future around guys and gals with legit sport backgrounds and size because they believe charisma and TV presence can be taught. That's why Pete Dunne is "Butch" and they changed NXT entirely. Its why Bron Breaker (who I also like and is at least billed as 6'0'') is being seen as the future and why Madcap Moss (6'3''/245 lbs) is a bigger priority than Finn fucking Balor (who happens to be a really good wrestler with many years of good wrestling ahead of him and a very handsome face and a relatively big fan base and a resume of proven success but is also 5'11 and under 200 pounds). Kudos to MJF for trying to get a bidding war going and I hope he succeeds...but, yeah, I don't think Vince is going to back up the Brinks truck for someone he sees as a manager.

And while we'd have to actually know Naomi's salary to really know, as a fan of B-movies, someone with Naomi's "name" from both her WWE run and her Total Divas years means that she's not going to starve making Lifetime or Hallmark movies or straight-to-streamers. As others have said, being a working actor can be quite lucrative, take way less toll on your body, and allows you much more freedom to pursue other jobs (she could still work indies and conventions, for example). So, yeah, Naomi might not land a dream job with Marvel like Batista did or be the next Rock, but I could see her landing a few roles here and there that will likely be more than enough to keep her not only making money but healthy and happy. Again, we'd have to know her current salary though and compare that to SAG minimums, for example.

No way does the WWE let Sasha Banks out of her contract. I wouldn't be surprised if she's off TV for awhile, but I also think that this is somewhat cyclical with her. The slight irony is that her last departure was over the Women's Tag Titles too, right? Just seems like trick me once, shame on you, trick me one, shame on me. The WWE has never and will never give a shit about those championships so if that's your main gripe, you're arguing with water not to be wet. I'm guessing there's some frustration here unrelated to those titles. Sasha has been used not too dissimilar to a Bret Hart at times. When they need her to carry a program, or hell, an entire TV show for a whole summer - like she did with Bayley not too long ago - she's treated like a big star and is prioritized on TV. When they needed someone to put over Bianca? That was Sasha at Mania last year. But when Becky and Charlotte and Ronda are around or Vince has his heart set on putting over a new talent (even someone worthy like Belair), I could see Sasha feeling like she's always the one who fades into the background. As for Naomi...I don't get it as much. Naomi seems like she's been somewhat groomed to eventually take Nattie's spot as "den mother." She's not the world's best wrestler, but she's been with the company forever and has been up and down the card. I can definitely see her getting swept up in a conversation about the Women's Tag Titles and then finding herself in a much more heated argument because, for Sasha, this isn't about something much more. Of course, this is all conjecture. It just would strike me as weird that Naomi, one of the longest tenured wrestlers on the roster, would walk out on a show considering how many times she's probably had her matches or segments cut down to less than 5 minutes or cut off the show entirely. With the amount of TV shows they put on each year, she's probably done more jobs than the Brooklyn Brawler ever did too.

TK just announced Dante Martin vs. Rey Fenix tomorrow night in the Owen tournament. As expected, fans on r/SC and elsewhere are losing their collective shit. I'm not even a massive fan of either guy, but even I'm excited to see this. And it does feel a bit like a "dream match" of high-flyers or a throwback to the best of WCW's cruiser era. I know making comparisons to WWE is old hat, but no matter how much people hyped matches on 205 Live, I rarely found myself seeking those much-hyped matches out. I just didn't care enough about the wrestlers involved. Being secluded on their own separate (read: irrelevant) show or being "spotlighted" a handful of times on RAW as something "different" (read: lesser) didn't work. And why would it? Practically everyone on the WWE's roster was doing dives or other aerial moves and, much of the time, the 205ers were treated as wholly separate lesser characters wrestling for stakes of little consequence.* In the WWE, you'd never see a competitive match pitting Gran Metallik vs. Seth Rollins or TJP vs. Kevin Owens. In AEW, meanwhile, Dante Martin may not be a top guy but we've at least seen him in ring with major acts like the BCC, Young Bucks, and Adam Page. He feels like he could be a guy who could one day win the TNT or Tag Titles. And because AEW has adequately built-up Dante Martin as a hard-working, plucky babyface and Rey Fenix is coming off a sweet return on last week's show and they both have built a resume of good-to-great matches over the past few years with credible opponents and the match has stakes of consequence, I'm hyped. * The clearest example of 205 Live workers being "lesser" is the fact that, despite being under 205 pounds, guys like Finn Balor, Rey Mysterio, Kofi Kingston (Google says he weighs 212, I say bullshit) and others who the WWE saw as actually being real main roster stars weren't a part of the division at all. The implication was that they were too good for the division, too big of stars, etc. It was a division built around a championship that nobody of any stature wanted.

^ Why do you say so? I haven't found it to be noticeably "dead" on Rampage very often. To me, AEW is really all about the card. The weeks where Rampage feels weak to me are usually when its featuring storylines/feuds that, to me, feel a bit directionless and tired. For example, I like everyone involved in the Team Taz/Lee & Swerve feud but its just not super interesting. Same for the Darby/Andrade feud. I feel like the past few months have featured those storylines much more prominently on Rampage than on Dynamite and I'm not sure they actually were good enough to carry those shows. Nothing about them felt unique or special and "star making," which sucks because pretty much everyone involved in those feuds has "star" written all over them. Just a weird example where the ingredients are there for a great dish, but the finished product is not as good as what you'd expect. Here's hoping that this week and last week was them wrapping up older storylines and getting things starting for DoN as I'd love to see some fresher pairings. I'm not sure what those pairings could be/would be, but BCC, Darby Allin, Jurassic Express, Malachai Black, Lee & Swerve, Guevara, and others are all due for some new dance partners.

I'm willing to admit some recency bias but I've really loved Punk over the past few months more than Danielson, but as others have said, that has plenty to do with Danielson working more tags and Punk having two absolutely awesome opponents semi-recently in Dax Hardwood and Dustin Rhodes (and its not like the Penta match was anything less than good either). Comparatively, we've been seeing the Danielson and Moxley (and now Wheeler) squaring off against *checks notes* the Gunn Club and the Varsity Blonds. So, maybe like when Punk was wrestling QT Marshall for no apparent reason, this is just a stretch where the idea is to put them on TV, establish Yuta (which has been successful) before the team hopefully moves on to an actual feud with some credible opponents. I've never been much of a fan of six-man/trios championships, but with AEW so faction-based and so many of these factions actually being over, it really isn't that crazy of an idea.

- Cargill doesn't need to be part of BCC. I know her work isn't great (yet?), but she carries herself like a star and I love how "alpha" she comes across, treating Smart Mark Sterling as basically her underling. I don't think she's ready for extended promos or big storylines, but she's really maximized the 1-2 minute backstage segments she's been given. No need to bungle that up by putting her in a stable where she'd probably be simultaneously showcased less but also exposed as not being up-to-snuff or "fitting in." Even Yuta still has quite a bit to prove as, sure, he's coming off a great match with Mox, but looking ahead, he now has to keep up with with arguably two of the top 4-5 most over, most experienced wrestlers in AEW (hell, of the past decade in any US promotion). - Guevara and Tay are definitely turning heel. I think what we're seeing now is Tony wanting to finish a storyline before moving on and, as we just saw with Wheeler Yuta, I do think Tony likes to map things out and "run his offense" rather than just switch things up the minute something doesn't work. Obviously the live crowds and social media are not into Sammy and Tay as babyfaces, but they're also locked in a feud with the company's most despicable heel group (a group that is also a really bad candidate for a "double turn" angle). So, I expect that we'll get Sammy vs. Sky on TV within the next few weeks (Sammy promised to have some sort of big surprise for next week that will make Lambert's group agree to the match) and that's where really good news comes in for Tony Khan. The fans turning on Sammy is actually a huge benefit as, if Sammy was over as a babyface, the amount of shit he's talked would necessitate him winning the match because he'd otherwise be totally castrated...But because the audience dislikes Sammy so much right now, the heels can outsmart him, Sky can retain, PVZ can prevent Tay Conti from making the save, and it won't hurt Sammy nearly as bad because Sammy's future doesn't really hinder on credibility anymore as it does heat. A week later, Sammy can blame his loss not just on Lambert's crew and their treachery but also on the fans who are jealous of him and Tay Conti. As for Sky, keeping him and All Ego and Lambert heel isn't too hard when you have guys like Samoa Joe and Keith Lee around to challenge for the title. There's just no real reason to rush through this storyline when, no matter what you do, the audience is not going to be cheering for Sammy Guevara in his current persona and it may take awhile for them to ever cheer him again.

Very solid first night. A few thoughts... - I found it interesting that the Corbin/McIntyre match, from the pre-match videos to the Moss interference that basically turned the tide from a dominating heel performance, really was all about Happy Corbin and not at all about Drew. You insert Ricochet or Damian Priest or whoever in that match and its the same match. Going forward, I'm not sure if its not Corbin who gets something resembling a bigger push than Drew but, based on who the match was "about," it was 80% Corbin and 20% McIntyre. - I disliked the Cody/Rollins match. It was 20 minutes of All Ego Wrestling to me. The best part was Cody's return, but from there, it just felt like any other Seth Rollins "Crossfit Jesus" showcase/self-conscious epic, needlessly long and didn't do anything for either guy. There's an old showbiz saying that you leave your audience wanting more, but they opted to give us everything and it was too much for me. This wasn't like Punk or Daniel Bryan's debut in AEW. Tony Khan wisely built - even if just for a week or two - towards Bryan/Omega and Punk's first match. With Cody, we didn't just get a return match, we got a long, back-and-forth match where his opponent, who, in kayfabe would've been completely unprepared for Cody Rhodes, was not only prepared for him and countered all of his signature moves, but initially laughed at him as he made his way down the aisle and then kicked out of his finisher. I get that Cody Rhodes is not the wrestler that's going to come in and steamroll someone like Lesnar or Ultimate Warrior at WrestleMania XII, but this match could've been 10-12 minutes, Rollins could've sold being unprepared (which would warrant the continuation of the feud), and Rhodes could've got the big "welcome back" win and that would've told a story that would've left me wanting more. They did the opposite. Another example of why I just don't "get" Rollins. When he's a heel, he works like a babyface that has too much grit and toughness and doesn't act cowardly or cheat enough for me. When he's a babyface, he puts on too much of a showy, "flashy" performance for me to want to root for him. Biance and Becky went 20 minutes because the match warranted it, the "epicness" earned after months and months of build. This match went 20 minutes because they wanted to go 20 minutes to prove they could "go" despite it not serving any purpose. Obviously, it wasn't a "bad" match; Rollins and Rhodes and nearly everyone in the WWE these days are too good to have actively bad matches. But it was the wrong match to have (to me). - ...Which brings me to the crowd. They enjoyed it all. Watching from home, the amount of time between matches feels endless but I'm guessing that when you're there, that amount of time may actually work in favor of the show (especially one where each match goes 10+ minutes). As a guy who went to countless local indie/punk/rock shows from my teens through my 20s and well into my 30s, it was not uncommon to go to a show with 4 bands on the bill. You'd show up at 9 or 9:30 and the first band wouldn't even be on and you'd wait till 10:15 and that band would play for 20-30 minutes. Then you'd wait another 20 minutes, smoking cigarettes and drinking beer and doing whatever else, and the next band would come on and do another 20-30 minutes and so on. This WrestleMania was kinda like that, with a half-dozen segments that went 20-30 minutes. At home, the lack of variety was noticeable to me, but had I been there, I probably would've been much more into a match like Cody/Rollins going long. - Speaking of the crowd, can you imagine Flair/Rousey at a place like MSG? I liked the match more than most - though, I'm way less harsh on Charlotte than many - but this was the biggest genuine heel/heel match since WrestleMania XX and at least that match had Steve Austin in it to get some cheers. People hate Charlotte because she politicks and is sloppy in the ring and also because she trolls the audience with her moonsault and other moves (if you don't think she's fully aware that her moonsault has become a "thing," you should check out some interviews with her where it's quite obvious she's fully aware of her social media reputation). People hate Ronda Rousey because she called wrestling fans "ungrateful idiots," called pro-wrestling itself "fake" on multiple occasions, and we can go on...But this match had "big fight feel" and was worked physically and aggressively and, fuck it, I liked the goddamn professional wrestling finish. Is it enough to get Rousey over as a face? Of course not. But that's basically impossible anyway. I still liked Charlotte beating Rousey because Charlotte knows how to use a ref bump to get a W and Rousey, not being a "real wrestler," doesn't. Unlike Rollins/Rhodes, this match has me interested in seeing the next part of the story. I know I may be in the minority and I'm not surprised that this match has been called "the worst of the night" by nearly everyone, but those poor reviews are also unsurprisingly vague and void of any real criticisms. What about this match didn't work? Was it really 'boring"? Criticize the very idea of booking a heel/heel match as a WrestleMania bout and I'm not saying this was as good as Belair/Lynch, but, geez, if this is a "bad match" then a viewing WrestleMania IV should probably be considered the 7th circle of hell. - Is it just me or did anyone else like the SD Tag Title Match more before you knew that Boogz got hurt? Without that knowledge, what I saw was Rick Boogz attempting a Double Samoan Drop, an inherently risky move, having his knee buckle, and then the Usos capitalizing on his failure to go after Nak, deliver a sick combo of an awesome superkick (with one Uso holding Nak in place by his hair) and then hitting their finishing move. If there was more that was supposed to happen before that, sure, it kinda sucks they couldn't do the full match, but it didn't need anything more than we got. It was a damn good opener that, with Boogz "taken out" by his own inexperience/over-confidence on the big stage for the first time, made perfect narrative sense. On a show loaded with false finishes (most good, even), a straight forward tag match without too many needless false finishes stood out to me.

I actually found her speech a bit grating. I think it was "overwritten" as they say. Maybe she speaks that ornately in real life, but to me, it came across as unnatural, especially as, at tiimes, it seemed like she was over-enunciating. That being said, I did think it was cool when the fans chanted "You deserve it" for her as obviously the reaction to her being inducted was "mixed" at best on the internet/social media. And, having seen how deeply moved and appreciative Booker was to see his wife get that moment, I think turning the HoF into a participation trophy isn't really all that big of a deal. I mean, a guy like Tyson Kidd or Alicia Fox are not necessarily wrestlers/performers with Hall of Fame credentials, but its nice to think that one day they might get their moment too.