Stiva

Yeah, I think they need to find some venues with more unique looks, even if it means less people through the doors on a weekly basis. The last thing they need is something that apes the WWE set-up. With regards to the TV, I understand why they'd go live but I was kind of hoping they'd lean into their video package and promo stuff so you're not inundated with matches every week. The weekly grind of constant WWE TV matches is getting tiresome, even if most of them are objectively pretty good.

205 Live will be fantastic compilation material in about 5 years, so there's that. But yeah, there's a huge amount of wasted potential on that show, as shown with Buddy Murphy getting nothing on the main shows after having an incredible 2018. What it needs is someone with knowledge and creativity booking it out of Vince's orbit, kind of like Dusty did with WWECW at its best but do they even have anyone there that can do that these days? And with all the time they have on Raw and Smackdown, there's absolutely no reason that they shouldn't be integrated more intelligently on those shows. Gallagher alone has the charisma to pull off the 24/7 Comedy stuff while still retaining the aura that he could headbutt a man to death at a moment's notice. Then again, the booking and hierarchies are all fucked anyway so maybe it's best to have your own little awesome wrestling show live in it's bubble.

G1 is going to be pretty stacked, this year if you consider Moxley, Ospreay, Shingo and KENTA are would-be replacements for Elgin, Omega and co. As much as KENTA is probably done, you've got to think he'll be working his ass off throughout it all.

Man, I can't imagine why nobody wants to pay silly money to watch this main event scene. Say what you will about Corbin, he's correctly cast as smarmy heel asshole and cuts promos that suit that. They've got the World Title (sorry, UNIVERSAL Title) on a babyface who doesn't know how to cut a babyface promo, who, when going into a match with an injury, barely chooses to sell it, instead opting to dive around the ring like an asshole because that's how all his matches work and has a voice like nails down a chalkboard. Owens and Zayn were two guys who always got responses and were two guys that people wanted to believe would get a good push but that's been blown to hell too. At some point, I want them to go full Hall of Pain with Lars Sullivan and see if that gets us anywhere. At the moment, this show is like someone has hamstrung themselves while playing EWR and decided to injure all their actual stars so they have to make do, except it's just raw incompetence in reality.

Wait, Shane beat Roman? Even with the caveat of interference, what the fuck are these people doing?

The World Heavyweight scene is some wild booking right now. From Tyson Fury’s babyface turn leading to a heat-filled time limit draw to the complacent champion getting pinned by the local favourite, we’re running forward with 4 top challengers who have all been kept strong. The Fury/Joshua Team is something we thought we’d never see.

Yeah, NXT really hit such a high watermark of delivering on big shows that is almost impossible to keep up. Takeovers have been pretty much universally excellent since their inception so it’s only natural they’d drop at some point. Looking at the card for the coming Takeover, I’m almost sure it’ll be excellent but people are losing interest in NXT, precisely because they know that once the wrestlers get called up, everything they loved about them in NXT, is going to get stripped away and ruined.

I’d argue that Vince isn’t stuck in an Attitude Era mindset these days like people claim but he’s further back in the 90s. Everything they do now is the similarly, hokey shit, either played for laughs or given the bare bones of a story to absent-mindedly get from show to show. Even then, Jeff Jarrett showed more character motivation in one in-screen promo than Elias has in the past year.

I’m interested in the UK numbers considering it was at a much more affordable price over here. Albeit on a box office provider that I didn’t know still existed.

On my phone so won’t go too in-depth or repeat what too many others have said but this really did feel like a huge deal and the matches that needed to deliver, did so. JR bringing his A-game back in the booth was arguably more impressive than Dustin’s performance since we know Dustin can still go but I was convinced JR was done a decade ago. My one minor gripe is that I’d say the tag division needs some variation, these lightning-fast, athletic dudes need a Demolition to work off and to break the pacing up. Moxley felt like the superstar that he always should have been in WWE and really, compare the vibrancy, energy and crowd-reactions to this show with the dead-ass, limp WWE shows of this year and it’s night and day. I’m fully behind AEW from here on in.

Now, I really want to see USAs list of ideas. As for the 24/7 title, I can only hope that it leads to the return of on-location vignettes. I'm not saying I want a carbon copy of Crash vs. The Headbangers in a soft play castle but that's what they should be aiming for.

Have Adam Page issue an open challenge to any top-tier cruiserweight as a replacement, Jack Evans answers, he bends his ass back over to put Page over in a squash. Page takes the mic, bullshits somewhat, issues another challenge that is answered by John Moxley. The "match" is a total washout as Page takes a powder while Moxley stands tall in the ring but it means you retain the Hangman Page match as a major moment on the card, you retain Page going over and, with Moxley debuting in his orbit, you ensure Hangman Page is a serious contender going forward and you have another hook for the first TV show with a former WWE star showing up where the big boys play.

Yeah, Sami has to have the briefcase since it seems like the natural progression of his character and the promos he's been cutting. As for the women, I can see Becky beating Lacey in the opening match but succumbing to Charlotte later on in the evening. You would hope that Lacey Evans would cost Becky the title in order to keep her strong but I'll bet pounds to pennies that Charlotte gets a visual pinfall. Other than those two matches, the card seems as haphazard and slapdash as usual.

I'm glad we've got away from the trivial business of Ric Flair being hospitalised to go through the important business of dick waving.

I think the reveal on screen should have probably coincided with him being there live. He reveals himself on screen, the lights come up and he's standing behind whoever it is he's working with. That all depends on them having someone lined up for him of course.