Stiva

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

I love Tony Khan’s absolute joy in announcing more titles and seeing people go mad about it. I assume we’ll be getting US Tag belts sometime in 2026

The only knock I have against Mercedes is that, god damn, how many “celebration” angles does she need? I get that it’s the heel gimmick but it has a WWE tint to it that feels very tired. This one worked better as she got her face in the cake which is always a good pop but yeah, I feel like these segments happens way too much without any real payoff

TK probably has an account on here too and I want to see his GWE 2016 ballot

I’m higher on Andrade than most, I think so I’m glad to see him. I don’t think they did Andrade/Omega in his last run so I’m happy to see that on Wrestledream

Say what you will about the Young Bucks but at least they knew that cybertrucks are embarrassing and used one to get heat.

Don’t really have an issue with Stephanie going in but god damn, the video package is going to be an all-timer in WWE bullshit

Toni dropping the World title so she can be first Women’s Tag Champs with Mina makes sense too

Man, Tony just bringing everyone back. I’m half expecting Pineapple Pete to join the Don Callis Family at this rate

Stat winning feels like it’s something TK has wanted to do for a long time so let’s see how it goes. She joins the Death Riders from here?

Also, I’ve had an inkling that the Mark Briscoe stuff is leading up to him finally having a deep run in the CC. The first one they made an effort to say he was finding his footing as a solo wrestler, he did better again in the second and now he’s finally won some big matches and has just beaten a bona-fide main eventer. I’m not sure he’ll win but I’d be willing to bet he’s in the Semis at World’s End

Orange Cassidy, PAC and Eddie Kingston isn’t a bad set of guys to make their return when you have some injuries

PAC and Gabe Kidd is the bad-tempered tag team I didn’t know I needed. Make it happen, TK

Kingston being back and teaming with HOOK is awesome though. Get Homicide in as their manager while we’re at it. It also means we’re probably getting Eddie vs Joe at some point

I liked that post-match angle in theory but not sure it worked for me in practice. Felt a bit too WWE-esque when this entire year has been so much better when AEW has moved away from it

We’re in Canada and Jericho matches have been all over the AEW YouTube in recent days so I’d maybe prepare for that. More importantly, we have Eddie Kingston! Including the Tailgate Brawl, you’re looking at one hell of a long show

What was the deal with Andrade leaving AEW? I always saw it as him going back to WWE to be with his wife but that seemed to fall apart as soon as he got there. Can’t remember anything too contentious with how he went out in AEW; he was in the first CC and got given a competitive match with Miro on his way out the door. Wouldn’t surprise me if Bandido vs Andrade was on the cards for Final Battle

Yeah, the eventual Daddy Magic attack and blade job is going to be king-sized. They can get some good mileage out of Garcia vs Nigel too as Nigel steps in to show his outrage. I do wonder if the end goal of the Death Riders is for Moxley to mould someone in his image and then be taken down by them. Garcia would fit the bill as the guy to eventually out-Mox Moxley down the line

Every time the Hardys try and do high flying spots, I cry inside. Especially considering those few brawls they did in AEW were great. Matt was throwing great punches and Jeff was using his reckless abandon to jump off balconies and take stupid bumps into merchandise tables. They were way better as 2020s Concession Stand Brawl specialists than TLC rehashers

Can’t deny that they played the eventual turn on MJF pretty much perfectly. He was really over for a bit after that. Also, DEAN 3 will be taking over the regular ROH slot this week which is fucking great. And I really hope it’s a way to introduce everyone on that show to an eventual regular ROH slot

Probably time to cut their losses on Wardlow. It’s not like the Don Callis Family doesn’t already have Archer if they want to give Hangman a big guy to run through and I’m sure WWE haven’t long released a roided up dude who can do swanton bombs

TK responding to the injuries by bringing back the heavy hitters is great. None bigger than Dalton Castle with The Outrunners. That has ridiculous skit potential

Collision has a “Taz Hardcore Hall of Fame Induction” segment booked and man, I’m sure it’s going to be played straight and respectful but it’d be wild if Hook turned heel by choking his dad out