Stiva

I really have had my fill of this production style now. The women having to do their entrance poses while standing in the lobby was preposterous; are we even supposed to pretend these are real people now? Bryan rounding the corner shouting "Is everybody ready for a fight?!" was funny though; that dude knows he's bulletproof.

“Scarlett” seems a fine name to me. Shortening that one is way less stupid than taking guys first names from them. Lest we forget MURPHY

The main event was so ridiculous once it got backstage that I loved it. Matt Hardy's demented face while driving the cart with Omega hanging out the window was an amazing visual. The balls on Sammy to just jump into it too; it was like a Jackass stunt.

Wasn’t the MITB match filmed a couple of weeks ago? So, how does that line-up with AJ coming back? Was that the plan all along? Or was the MITB filming story incorrect?

I think he booked that hot Smackdown run right after the 2016 draft where he made do with a pretty ragtag bunch. I have no idea where he went after that but I presume he's working under Heyman?

My dream future of NXT is Keith Lee as the unconquerable babyface with Stokely Hathaway bringing in guy after guy to go after him. In a world without COVID-19, Keith Lee, WALTER, Riddle, Dunne and Fantasma would be an awesome main event crop on the men's side while they can finally send The Undisputed ERA to bore me on Smackdown instead.

Cody/Darby was good but I wasn't feeling the finish. It felt like overly cute when I was hoping the leg work would play into things a bit more. The idea of tweaking the knee on a bridge is a very neat idea and a natural way to begin limbwork. MJF having a string of minor, career-threatening injuries is fantastic; I was hoping we'd get weekly dispatches from him and Britt Baker and they haven't disappointed. Having Havoc, Sabian and Chuck Taylor all in one match seems like some kind of cosmic punishment, especially considering the stand-out stars in both groups are the seconds. Still, if you have to use Havoc and Sabian, getting a month-long feud designed to put the Best Friends over seems like the best case scenario. And that was a great TV main event. I really wish Dustin Rhodes could wrestle forever but if he can coach the young guys to be half as good as him, AEW will be fine. Seriously. That was an incredible segment; I cracked up huge at the reveal of Raven having her name on her tights and Britt still getting it wrong. It's a shame that her character work is miles ahead of her in-ring work at this point.

I'm not even sure you believe that. Go look back at the threads during Bryan's run to Mania and tell me that AEW has half of the laser focus WWE had then. People were dissecting entire Stephanie promos.

Solid show but it definitely peaked with the opener. I don't see a lot in Wardlow other than MJFs muscle, especially when Brodie Lee is also squashing dudes, looking better doing it. The less said about Kenny Omega letting job guys get sustained runs of offense on him when he's supposed to be a main eventer, the better. They're doing the best with what they have but man, it has to suck featuring Jimmy Havoc every week because he lives in the area. Does Jimmy Rave still live in Georgia? They should have brought him in for these tapings.

Some worrying news from MJF, fingers crossed whatever the surgery is heals him.

Not sure if anyone is still watching this week-by-week but I can fully recommend seeking out the Mike Jackson vs. Johnny Swinger match for a 70-year-old guy who is in better shape than most of us, I'm sure.

It genuinely wouldn't surprise me if they had completely forgot Lars Sullivan is on the books. They have such a bloated roster that someone will slip through the cracks, WCW style.

This show remains an incredibly easy show to watch and get into. The opener was fine and achieved what it needed to but I hope they got plenty of these Jake interviews in the can. Hearing him monologue to a backdrop of his client kicking the shit out of people is great. Britt Baker's promo was fantastic and I also hope that they continue to encourage the wrestlers to send in their own videos during lockdown. Things like that and The Bubbly Bunch, even the Techniques with Taz are, if done with good production values and the right performance, are still engaging ways to fill out the shows and aid in character and story development. Sammy Guevara remains my favourite guy in the promotion, I think. He's pretty much knitting everything together really well and Jericho's psychosexual fixation with him only adds to his whole gimmick. Also, Jericho and Tony are a brilliant pairing. Like said, they're clearly having a blast together and the way they naturally gel has made them AEWs best commentary team so far. "The Sex God always ends up on top!" popped me big. I didn't really need to see Chuck Taylor in a long singles match but the ending bullshit was entertaining enough and I suppose it makes sense to put Havoc and Sabian together to fill the quarantine tag ranks out a bit. The main was a bit of a disappointment considering it's hype; the in-ring segments were good but I thought the actual empty arena brawling was a let-down and plodding. I appreciated them laying it in, though and the finish was a nice, uncomplicated killshot. Still, I wonder where Moxley goes for Double or Nothing. It seems too early for Brodie Lee so maybe they do Hager/Moxley II?

Not the Fink The best to ever do it

Yeah, I'm very cognisant of the times we're in and just how much everything is going to be shaken up and how many lives will be affected but it's also quite therapeutic to do a bit of fantasy booking in my head. It helps distract from the more depressing reality that's outside the window.

I can't remember the last time I watched All Japan. What recent stuff should I dig out during this lockdown?

I'm all for Rusev showing up in New Japan.

If they furlough the NXT UK workers then, yeah, they'll get 80% of their wages from the government and WWE should kick in the remaining 20% Though, if they fire them outright, I'm fairly sure they won't be entitled any other government assistance than the welfare system so I really hope someone in WWE explains to Vince the furlough system before he just cuts the entire roster adrift.

I assume 205 Live is now just going to be rolled into NXT proper? I imagine Maverick is the first of many cruisers cut, not to mention NXT UK.

The list sucks for the people getting released but I count, at least, 10 of the current list who would be much better utilised and more useful elsewhere. EC3 and Maverick could slip into Impact into their old routine with no problem, Logan, Anderson, Gallows, Rush and Finlay seem like great picks for AEW, though they probably aren't in a position to expand their roster that much. You have to think Kurt Angle comes in as a special ref for something on PPV down the line Heath Slater has a great indy run in him, I'm sure. What is more alarming is that I had no clue Daivari was working as an agent. Hoarding wrestlers is one thing but hoarding agents is another.

I cannot imagine the sheer lack of taste anybody would need to find any part of Gargano and Ciampa anything other than a cringe-inducing embarrassment. Fake Christian Shawn Michaels’ attempts at bombastic, melodramatic redemption as displayed through amateur dramatics and tortured match lengths are a black mark on modern professional wrestling.

Baker/Shida really got going after a lacklustre opening moments and I really hope Britt’s ring-work catches up with her character work soon as she really does have great presence and charisma. Her asking Tony for help was hilarious. They seem to be in a bad place since it appears Nyla can’t work these takings so this whole feud feels like killing time without really leading anywhere. Putting the Rankings Report is an awesome idea! They should have really done it all along, even though they want people to get onto their social media accounts to find them. The Hager/Moxley video was fantastic but I do wonder where Moxley goes after Hager. Then again, these times make planning nearly impossible. The Spears/Cody package was a good piece of business too. Funny how having all the guys in this tournament talking about how they want to win it and how important it is makes it feel like essential viewing. I could live without seeing Nakazawa ever again and he only ever shows up once every 3 months. The Brodie Lee vignettes where he lampoons Vince McMahon quirks seem like they don’t have much shelf life but then again, Vince has a bottomless supply of quirks. As for Lee, he still seems rusty but I dug Lee Johnson against QT Marshall on Dark and his bumping here was on point. He’d be a great, regular jobber for them. Another fun episode but the skeleton crew feels like it’ll get really stretched if the reports of them taping enough to last until May is true.

As said, not using Bart Gunn is a perfect example of Vince throwing his toys out of the pram because the world hasn't bent to his will. I thought this was a solid episode; Gunn comes off as a solid dude who just happened to punch hard enough to kill most men but my biggest question coming out of it all was: Does Godfather smoke weed?

This is a cool curiousity to see a German crowd shout chants they've heard on ROH tapes while Danielson gets a strong WCW Pro main event out of a green guy. WALTER isn't quite a lump but he only really has the hard chops and a fun comeback sequence but Danielson finds a way to make the match interesting with great leg-work and heel mannerisms. He really had perfected the gimmick of being the best and knowing he was at this point and there was really nothing much else for him to do but chance his hand in WWE. WALTER would improve dramatically but you can almost see Bryan having this match with Brodus Clay on a 2012 Superstars.

Not to distract from Sullivan talk but isolation means I can watch some long matches and Backlund/Valentine in the draw is an incredible long match. When they worked 4 different Full Nelson reversals in the opening minutes, I knew I was in for a good one.