C.S.

Not that I'm here to defend Sasha's intelligence, but didn't she do that to take care of her disabled brother?

The booking is a confusing mess, because Charlotte certainly isn't a face herself. I'm cool with heel vs. heel, if that's what it is, but the direction is far from clear. Not sure why Rhea isn't just a face, as that seemed to be working well enough for her before. Come to think of it, it might be mine too. Certainly the best ladder match in years.

The fact that some of you are actively wanting more Bobby vs. Drew means this must've been a success somewhere to someone. It was good while it lasted, but I'm personally sick of the pairing and more than ready to move on. I know it's fashionable to blame Charlotte, and I'm not discounting how stale and overexposed she is (I'm sick of her too), but when fans come back, I think it's going to be exposed very quickly that Rhea isn't over at all. Completely ice cold, has no discernible character to speak of ("punk girl" or whatever the fuck her look is supposed to be isn't a character), and they've either fired (Ruby Riott) or under-utilize (Nikki Cross) people who have similar personality traits but do it much better. I think Rhea does have potential and upside - she'll probably be fine in the long run - but for everyone who ever bitched about Roman Reigns' early face push, well, Rhea's feels even more inorganic (on a smaller scale). After losing to Charlotte at WrestleMania, Rhea spent the rest of the year treading water in NXT. Then she lost the Royal Rumble (which was the right call) and was subsequently rushed into a push and title that felt forced the entire time. Yeah, a lot of that is WWE's incompetence sabotaging her (being cast aside in NXT) and bad luck ruining a great arc with Charlotte from one WrestleMania to the next (because of Charlotte's Covid - or whatever it was that took her out of the match), but she has hardly hit a home run the way Bianca has with similarly middling material to work with.

Alex Riley goes after Cena and Rock about unionization https://411mania.com/wrestling/alex-riley-shots-john-cena-rock-wwe-sports-entertainment-union-match/ He's the worst kind of advocate. Someone who may have a valid point or two but expresses it in the most counterproductive, ass-backward, damaging way possible and comes across sounding like an unhinged idiot.

Was hoping Jinder or someone else would cost Drew the match.

The matches that should have had the Cell - Seth vs. Cesaro and KO vs. Sami - didn't. Boggles my mind. I'm sure the actual wrestling is fun, but I'm officially checked out. It's on mute and subtitles are on. There are no stakes here. Absolutely nothing matters. They could've rolled dice to book the winners and it wouldn't make a difference. Feels like such a holding pattern show before crowds come back.

For a show with a later start time, the last thing we need is seemingly 20 minutes of video packages.

The first 10 minutes of the preshow on Peacock had a CDN error with a cute cat. Fortunately (or unfortunately?), it's working now. I am honestly not very hyped for Hell in a Cell. Not a single match on it has earned the Cell stipulation, but that's far from a new issue with this show. Giving away Roman vs. Rey on Smackdown was a real-scratcher - foregone conclusion or not. In the old days, they would've given Rey the feel-good win on SD and had Roman regain it two days later at HIAC. While I'm generally not a fan of such hotshot title changes, WWE really could do with something unpredictable right about now.

Disco has been one of the the most obnoxious wrestlers on Twitter for a while now. Smug as fuck despite always sounding dumb as fuck. Just a total chud.

What is the link? I wouldn't mind following it.

So, what would stop her from using Dewdrop (correct spelling) in AEW/TNA/the indies? (Besides it being a fucking awful name, of course.)

Samoa Joe is back in NXT (in a non-wrestling role as GM Regal's enforcer). No idea why he was ever let go in the first place.

Man, this really is the best bang for the buck ever... In addition to the book itself, there's a podcast and now links to all of the matches. I'm looking forward to diving in.

I'll honestly admit I was distracted during the last two matches. I probably missed a good one between Raquel Gonzales and Ember Moon, but what flashes I saw of the main event did little to reel me in. I was going to post exactly this, so thanks for doing it for me.

Match wasn't pretty, but it sure was fun. Wrong guy won IMO.

This post-match segment is the shits - it died an instant death with Mercedes' obvious height advantage and cheesy screams.

That feels like it ended just as it was getting started. Poor Mercedes Martinez.

MSK does nothing for me. Is it just me? I mean, their ringwork is fine, but I have no idea who the fuck they are as characters or why I should care about them. (Not a problem unique to them in NXT/WWE, but still...)

Only on certain devices. Not on Roku yet. If it was a 15-20 minute sprint, it could be fun. But it will be a 40-minute "epic." Zzz. Am I the only one who sees absolutely nothing in Karrion Kross?

Bronson Reed saying Santos Escobar should've "stayed in his lane" in the Cruiserweight division instead of challenging for the North American Championship encapsulates everything that's wrong with this company.

NXT Championship Fatal 5-Way Match: Karrion Kross © w/Scarlett vs. Kyle O'Reilly vs. Adam Cole vs. Johnny Gargano vs. Pete Dunne NXT Women's Championship: Raquel Gonzalez © vs. Ember Moon Winner Take All Six-Man Tag: NXT North American Champion Bronson Reed & NXT Tag Team Champions MSK vs. Legado del Fantasma Million Dollar Championship Ladder Match: Cameron Grimes vs. LA Knight Women's Action: Mercedes Martinez vs. Xia Li

Found this free book through Reddit: Professional Wrestling - The Theatre of the Absurd: I Never Wanted to be a Big Star by Tom Rocky Stone, aka Steve Hall I've never heard of this book or the author, but it sounds interesting - and free is free! https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B096YBR7FF/

The Bellas say it's because their babies are getting older and they don't want to raise their kids on camera when the kids have no say in the matter. Commendable.

While I think it's questionable to trust your body to a bingo hall nobody like Nick Gage, I will say in Cardona's defense that he desperately needs to reinvent himself. The Zack Ryder "woo woo woo" shit is completely played out. Displaying a different side of his character/personality isn't necessarily a bad thing, and it might get promoters to see him in a new light. Similar to the dead in the water CJ Parker becoming Juice Robinson, Cody reinventing himself with the list of dream matches after Stardust, etc. (Different situations there, but same overall effect.) Case-in-point: This is the most anyone has talked about Zack Ryder/Matt Cardona in years. Even his AEW/TNA stints were met with apathy and crickets.

Supposedly Cardona's action figure hobby/business is lucrative. This Gage thing sounds like Cardona doing what he wants to do now, having fun, and giving no fucks because he's already made his money.