FMKK

As Dave was saying today, we kind of take this as normal because pro-wrestling but once you stop and think about it, it really is horrible. I found myself thinking when they announced it that I was excited to see what happens on Monday because then I would know that he's got good news. It's only when I thought back about it I realised how that's pretty disgusting.

I'd kind of love him to show up on AEW television at some point just to see what corny name they give him when they can't use Undertaker

I distinctly remember seeing his profile months ago when it was set up and wondering if it was real because it had no WWE mentions. I guess it could be as simple as him knowing that he's not wanted for Mania etc this year, seeing the writing in the wall in terms of in-ring, and getting what is probably a pretty damn big payout for this.

So we have Ric Flair, Sting and The Undertaker all announced for the AEW affiliated Starrcast as well as Foley and Rock tweeting congratulations to Jericho under a promo he did on the AEW feed.

There's enough of a character conflict between Ronda's background and journey and Becky's to build to a heated match but their problem is that there's just so many hours of content for them to fill between Royal Rumble and Wrestlemania that they have to throw in all this other stuff. It would be different if the Rumble was six weeks out from Mania or whatever. I don't hate what they're doing here and I think some of it is quite good, but it is a consequence of basically having too much time to fill.

Becky is obviously winning at Mania. The fact that people think she isn't means they're being successfully worked by WWE. That isn't a bad thing, but the problem nowadays is that people direct heat towards the company and the booking instead of the characters on-screen when they don't get what they want. This entire story arc began with Charlotte being shoehorned into Becky's match and taking the championship. They're setting it up that it's going to happen again, but this time Becky is going to overcome it and still win because she's stronger than she was last summer. It might not be perfect and there might be missteps but I think that's a perfectly credible and understandable narrative for them to build.

They just announced collaboration with AAA, which implies no work with New Japan in the near future.

But it isn't bad storytelling

That's interesting and it's something not considered at all. It's almost like they were justified in pushing him all along. Get Nikki on the phone and start shilling her damn wine brand on Raw immediately

If Twitter were reality, AEW have signed Orton, The Usos and The Undertaker just today. That's quite a bit of business lol.

I heard recently that Smackdown's second hour currently does a better rating in key demographics than it's Fox counterpart so there's no reason to suggest that their rating won't be satisfactory for Fox even if they just sustain that sort of number.

That could make her the biggest draw of all time practically

I can't believe that his hot comeback tweet was to say that he's shit in bed as well as in the ring. Good job bud.

Because her whole deal has been that Charlotte has gotten way more chances than her and she managed to get into Becky's matches both at Summerslam and Survivor Series. So she's afraid it'll happen again at Wrestlemania. You could say that she's being paranoid but, considering that they aren't fully portraying Ronda as a heel, it's fair to say that the story is that we're supposed to understand and empathise with her point of view even if not necessarily totally agreeing with it. Yeah there are a few elements that could have been done better but generally her push has been very well handled and it would be quite uncharitable to say that it doesn't make any sense.

Lol, for some reason Randy Orton to AEW is a big rumour online at the minute. That would be hilarious and I guess pretty interesting.

It's a call back to her being kept out of Survivor Series last year, which she referred to as 'Doctor Jail' on Twitter and potentially on TV as well. Maybe they could be more explicit about that but I think HHH was effective enough in explaining that last night. Charlotte was great at getting heat in that segment and Becky slapping HHH was a good moment but my God his promo could have done with them cutting like half the dialogue. That's just HHH I guess.

But it's so bizarre that they even thought she could be a bigger star than him other than Vince being horny for her

I wouldn't say he's my type but I can see why people would find Rusev attractive. He's handsome and he's charismatic and his accent is nice. Not that it should matter to anyone what he looks like if she wants to be with him. What a bizarre working environment.

I kind of enjoyed Alexa lusting over EC3 in their segment last night. I wouldn't be against them making that a pairing, although he seems like a natural heel and they want to push her as a face at the minute.

I wonder when their contracts are up. Or if they can buy themselves out in some way.

Yeah, his entrance is excellent. Great superhero vibe. I think I prefer him in these multi-man tags because cycling people in and out of the ring means he gets less time for his more egregious shit. The match was a complete spotfest but it was fun for what it was. Hopefully the results of this weekend is a sign that they're ready to push Dream as the star of the promotion.

That would work as a finish if it was the first match in a longer feud where Balor eventually gets his win but that doesn't seem like it's going to happen...

To me it's because her character is believable as an extension of her personality. It fits with her real life story and it comes across as pretty genuine, though exaggerated. So to a degree, she's someone fans can believe in on multiple levels. Further from that, she's been able to harness the idea of not being favoured by WWE, which is a sure fire way to get over in the modern era. But, in this case, WWE have actually identified that pretty early on and decided to run with her. So she gets the combination of the outsider credibility with the reality of the office being behind her and letting her come across like a badass etc.

I'm not sure how much more they really could've done with the perma-injured KENTA tbf

I hope we get Charlotte Flair heeling on Fit Finlay tonight for letting Becky into the match