Stiva

I saw that Charlotte's return is "planned" and if it isn't just "Charlotte is number 30 in the Royal Rumble" I'll be amazed.

That's exactly what I thought of when I saw Khan's promo. It feels like a trial run and he really isn't a bad promo, all things considered. Omega's title collector gimmick is a great idea but trying to book when and how he loses/wins the titles seems like a headache I could never want,.

Seems like he's had a nightmare year from a personal POV (on top of everything else). Right before Christmas as well, awful. I'm glad they've done another great rating but it feels like a lot of this show was built on promos that would deliver clarifications or further directions on storylines and not a single one did that.

Thanks, I hadn’t seen any news on it. I was worried that he had quietly left for a second which would break up my favourite AEW team

That’ll be why he hasn’t wrestled since then and Silver got a mini singles push, obviously. I thought this show started well enough with that ridiculous opener and then got steadily worse. The Shaq/Brandi stuff was muddled, as was the Cody/Sting angle. Sting can’t possibly be a heel, I can see Shaq being the babyface but Cargill definitely isn’t but Brandi is acting heelish despite having a broken arm. Let’s streamline this thing a bit. At least it’s giving a lot of the women something to do. What’s the deal with Santana? Is he carrying an injury? Or something more personal since he’s been in the pre-tapes (I believe) but hasn’t actually appeared in-ring since the Best Friends match, I believe. There’s only so much goodwill they get from delaying the Omega announcement across two separate shows. Moxley coming back next week, driving through that gap in the stadium, of course, seems like an obvious angle. For some reason, the live Dynamite shows always feel better paced than their taped shows.

Glad Marko is adding something to the mix where he can be smashed in the head by a guitar to set up a feud somewhere down the line. Dustin dropped a good promo and Rebel’s fake laugh is fantastic. Solid segment. Apparently Nyla and Vickie are going to be aligned with Shaq and Jade Cargill for the feud so I’m assuming Cargill is too green to carry too much of the in-ring portion of it?

This is my thinking tbh. I have mixed feelings about Impact vs AEW but I’m not sure anyone saw it coming and it’s a hell of a hook for next week. I’m guessing Sting is number 4 for War Games with Team Taz and I’m looking forward to Moxley living out his Stone Cold dreams by smashing into Impact in his muscle car. As mentioned, the women’s division will improve immensely and we may also get The North working in the tag ranks. I dig the general chaos and excitement of it all so mission accomplished.

Oh well. That’s what I get for not watching these marathon Dark shows every week

The real joy of Dark this week was me discovering Peter Avalon’s new music. Fantastic. The gimmick probably needs a bit more money pumper into it; I want to see Pretty Peter vignettes, a string of beauty queen valets, t-shirts with his face on, Pretty Peter masks on the AEW merch store. Book it, TK

I don’t want Mox to lose just yet but suit-wearing, dickhead Omega has won me over these last few weeks. I’d be reluctant to switch the belt since I don’t think Omega has any face challengers lined up off the top of my head but it’s the first title match in a long time that I genuinely have no idea which way it’ll turn so I’m pumped.

I dig the idea of Sliver being the one who breaks the Dark Order’s chains since he’s already getting over and he’s great fun in-ring. Rather him than bloody Colt Cabana

God, what terrible news. I loved Rave; his dedication to being a fantastic, slimy heel on those workrate heavy ROH shows was always fantastic and he was so young there too. Could have and should have been a top heel for the rest of his time. One of the best Southern territory heels who was sadly born too late

Nothing wrong with a non-finish if the feud is heated up more coming out of it. A decade of WWE doing it wrong doesn’t invalidate 30 years of evidence it can be done right. Providing you’re not doing them all the time, you don’t lose any of your fans trust, especially if you give them the match with a definitive finish down the line which I’m sure they will.

I know they hate doing DQs and schmozz finishes but this could really do with one and then building again for the PPV.

Just want to say that I’m English and Peter Shilton is a boring old, lead-legged, racist, wife-cheating dickhead and I’m glad Maradona punched one past him. I didn’t watch NXT.

I really hope Miro manages to rediscover what he had since sheesh... I’m into baby face Archer though since he’s already been the monster challenger for both titles and I assume he’s going to settle into a gatekeeper role now. I dig how simple they’ve kept the Moxley/Omega build; some good shit talking and Omega cementing his heel turn and that’s all you need. I assume Cody is finally going to get his War Games against Team Taz?

Sydal is good but I wish they’d go out and sign guys who don’t flip and fly. Top Flight are now in the tag ranks and they were gutted about losing Ben Carter who fit that mould too. Go out and get more guys like Butcher and Blade to have some variation in the shows.

Really dug that show; angles kept trucking nicely, the Hobbs turn was a nice impactful one and the Rosa/Baker pull apart was a genuinely hot angle in a division that has been desperately needing one. The Inner Circle and Jericho coming immediately after the Moxley mystery attacker angle makes me think it was them who laid him out and hatred of Moxley is what’s uniting MJF and Jericho. Omega looked great in that suit though, great heel look. Top Flight looked very accomplished for their age, even if that opener was hilariously choreographed from start to finish but if it means more Jack Evans on TV, I’m all for it

I actually thought they struck a good balance this week in the sense that it felt more like 1995 Saturday Night in that it ended up featuring people in ways that felt useful instead of just a parade of squashes. The Waiting Room has definite potential but I’d say it needs something in there for someone to be hit with/put through. I really do hope we actually get an extended Jack Evans run on Dynamite as a result of it. Im also getting a kick out of old and slowed down Frankie Kazarian building matches around strikes. I think it’s the most I’ve ever enjoyed him.

In ring, this done nothing for me outside of the awesome Bunkhouse match. Dustin could work a great one of these in his sleep but the other three were great. Butcher flying into everything was fantastic and Blade’s willingness to bleed buckets was quite something. QT Marshall is so good though; nailed everything you would want out of someone in a match like this. It was almost Dustin-esque. Brian Cage is clearly the least interesting of the duo even if Sydal is still fun. These interminable attempts at getting Spears over need to stop but a Sky/Spears team might actually make them bearable. I’m sure Pentagon/Fenix is for someone but it’s definitely not for me, even if I think Fenix is absolute money as a future top baby face. The Cody segment was bizarre; they let Cargill speak for way too long, Brandi slipped into a completely different promo style and the Team Taz beat down all seemed very rushed. If the plan is Cody and Brandi vs Shaq and Cargill, then we’ll see what Cody is made of, I guess. Glad PAC is back though; I might be in a minority of loving angry little bastard PAC but he feels really fresh after his enforced break.

Very wary of Yukes making any wrestling game after their last few WWE games before they removed themselves from it but who knows if that was THQs restrictions fucking things up? I’m into a mobile TEW style affair though, it’s the one thing that I’m amazed nobody has made a crack at on phones.

Pretty much everything delivered and in some cases, over delivered. The tag match was too long by about 5 minutes, I’d say but the teams matched up so well that I’m definitely down for a rematch. The main was fantastic; Kingston really is special and seeing him have that moment in a major PPV main event was brilliant and they brought it with the violence. I wonder if they’re going to stretch out Omega/Moxley until Revolution, they get some placeholder feuds in the mean time. Some stray thoughts: Bin Serpentico and give me the Luther/Gangrel team we all need. Feels like Team Taz needs a third member for the eventual Cage/Starks/??? Vs Darby/Cody/Hobbs match. Darby getting the big win was probably overdue but Arn was so great at ringside; absolutely criminal that he wasn’t on WWE TV for all those years. Callis showing up for commentary gives me hope that we can get the Impact women on this show, not to mention Callis leading The North into the tag division. Bunkhouse match with Butcher and Blade and NN is going to be so great. Those four guys will pull it out of the bag, I have no doubt.

I’ll echo what others have said about the Bucks and their insistence on thinking they’re more intelligent than they are getting in the way of things again. I will say that it’s more bearable than their attempts to be funny but if a match ever needed a simple build, it’s The Bucks vs FTR. If this thing had a crowd, nobody would know who to get behind. Dug the two tournament matches again, even if Kenny Omega’s facial expressions are somehow even worse as a heel. Wardlow still isn’t the polished article but he and Page put together a nice little match that kept both strong. Nyla/Shida again on PPV is the very definition of panic booking to get the women on the card. They’re really struggling for the lack of a second show, even if they are starting to run angles on Dark and reference them on TV. Moxley/Kingston is doing it for me though. Two good talkers talking at each other, a personal feud referencing personal histories leading to a bloody PPV main event. Full Gear looks like a solid show, top to bottom but I wish Cody vs Darby had more than one week of build behind it, especially since it feels like Darby has to win to transition to the feud with Starks for the title

Enjoyed the show as per, especially the first tournament hour but is that ending angle supposed to put sympathy on a team who have spent a month attacking non-wrestlers and throwing money around like arrogant dickheads? Should FTR, the heels, be the ones giving them their just desserts?

Thought just about every segment worked except that Jericho/MJF bit. MJF doing bad comedy and over rehearsed acting is exactly why everyone soured on the Moxley program. Coupled with Nick Jackson’s awful hidden camera style facial mugging over the last few weeks, there’s been some terrible acting in a promotion that has skilfully avoided it so far. I’m all in for Private Party besting the Bucks again though; that feels like something they could keep going with them being the Bucks’ bogey team. Kingston should give Moxley his most engaging feud yet; the plan should be to give Eddie a mic every week while Moxley dispatches his stablemates and you’ve got a main event, baby. Could do without a repeat of Cassidy/Cody since neither man should be losing. The time limit draw worked to protect both guys so running it again doesn’t seem to help. If we’re building to Darby winning the belt, him finally beating Cody feels like it should have more build behind it.