Stiva

So, looks like Andrade’s situation is now sorted out and he’s free to sign up anywhere. The best bit of the story is that RUSH hooked him up with a lawyer who sorted it all out and if that turns out to be Beast Mortos, it’s up there with the best wrestling stories ever

When was that awesome Bunkhouse match against Danielson and Claudio? That’s when I first noticed it so maybe I’ve crunched the timeline together a bit. Anyway, MJF is back with more edgy promos.

Fletcher is such a strange one because as soon as he went solo, he just took off massively. I enjoyed Aussie Open well enough but never thought that either stood out but Fletcher went solo and overnight, he’s a world class heel, a good promo and suddenly has a great look. Fair play to whoever saw it in him because I certainly didn’t

None of these fuckers can act and whoever has convinced them that they can needs trialled and convicted

Hunter is losing his touch. 15 years ago, he wouldn’t be seen dead associated with this Cena run, now he’s taking credit for shit booking. He’s fell off

Anyway, not to intentionally double post but Final Battle was another fantastic ROH PPV. Mercedes dropping her first belt to Red Velvet was really good, Moriarty vs Nigel was a phenomenal bit of work and Deonna Purrazzo as Heel Pure Champion should finally give her something to sink her teeth into. I hope that Kingston vs Woods was the beginning of them shuffling Woods into more serious territory for 2026 as I think he’s someone that has way more value than the third guy in The Premier Athletes. For 2026 in general, I hope ROH gets an influx of new indie talent. I know they have a ridiculously big roster as it is but it’s probably time to cycle some older heads out and get some new guys in

I’m in the complete minority with Harley in that I find her promos and backstage skits unbearably annoying but I think she’s actually improving pretty quickly in ring. I could live without ever seeing her do poorly performed comedy for the rest of my days, even if I do acknowledge that’s why she’s over in the first place. I did like how she did in the angle with the Death Riders and Statlander though so maybe she’s way better at the serious stuff than they’re letting her be

I have no real opinion on Copeland either way but he’s useful to have around. And, for better or worse, Cope and Christian is something they would be pretty negligent not to do as it’s obviously a big deal for people at large. The eventual FTR rematch will probably be really good and they’ll put over a young team when they do drop the belts so I have no problem with it. Plus, he decided to work a random match with Griff Garrison and if that’s not in the spirit of AEW, then what is?

That Eddie promo really hit home how much he was missed in that 18 months or so. An absolutely king-sized promo

Yeah, the whole DR story is that the others can get the job done and Moxley can’t. I have no doubt that this all ends with Darby beating PAC on the way to the semis of the CC

Yeah, that’s just a wild collection of great matches. Darby/Okada will be fucking great if Okada turns up. Roddy Strong is a great pick for this too. He’s probably just going to eat pins but he’ll have a great match with everyone in the Blue League. I sincerely hope Moxley loses every match; they’ve started on this story, they may as well continue with it and I assume it leads to Claudio assuming control of the Death Riders

Joe has been so great since he came back in the summer so I’m all in on him getting another run. Hangman is still the guy, title or not. Plus, HOOK turning means we’re getting Joe vs Kingston at some point and that’s just swell. Right as Eddie doing the “injured guy takes time to build back up on return” story reaches the end and he looks close to 100%. A few surprising results tonight but no bad ones and gives things a bit of a shake-up as we go into the end of the year. I’m looking forward to The angle where the Death Riders put Moxley out to pasture and we get the Moxley/Darby team that they hinted at right back at the start of AEW

That was my first thought when I watched the Lashley match. He’s definitely entering late and winning. As for THS as a whole, I’m fairly ambivalent. Shelton has been oddly really good as a power athlete throwing guys around but Lashley hasn’t really lived up to any early potential and I imagine the reason he isn’t a single guy is because he’s “selective” about jobbing. The MJF stuff was terrible but MJF swings from excellent to unbearably bad from program to program so I’m willing to give THS half a pass there. I do wonder where they go after this feud with The Demand though. The OPPs?

Nothing says Number 2 promotion liking giving your World Title to a dude that the actual Number 2 promotion thought was surplus to requirements

Blake Christian is a really good promo too. I think they could definitely be a really good heel tag team going forward but I fear they’ll be lost in the shuffle like CRU and Top Flight