Stiva

I agree with most of the points but I'm hoping that in the next couple of weeks, the angles and build ramp up as they did with Full Gear. But yeah, a real wheel-spinning show but NXT was largely the same, I thought. A bit of a calmer week after the frenzied couple of months. I will say that Moxley's Nick Fury eye-patch is a fantastic visual and may actually be contributing to his overness; a dude with an eye patch dispatching heels with a baseball bat is so great.

Orton is frustrating precisely because he can have moments such as Monday littered amongst long spells of mediocrity. This would be a perfect time to go on a Punting Tour 2.0 but I could see why they wouldn't want him going around kicking people in the dome.

We got the awesome dance to MVPs music, at least. I also popped for him saying "Who's this big fella?!" when he saw Keith Lee.

I can understand people hating the Brock section but I loved it. It felt like every guy coming out was someone who had been fantasy booked against him at some point and each encounter was a little microcosm of what they could do. It all built to that fantastic Drew elimination and really, he had to win after that or else it was basically the Maven spot 20 years on. And yeah, Charlotte winning was the lamest thing imaginable but they already book her like she's some kind of living legend, she was going to win a Rumble sooner rather than later.

Yeah, someone jobbing in the first match and then winning later on is an infuriatingly common booking idea of theirs and it's really annoying. Luckily, this doesn't have the double shitty whammy of the MITB briefcase but yeah, Roman gets screwed against Corbin and then eliminates Morrison and The Miz during the final 3 to win the Rumble.

You really have to respect the invention in some of these match-ups. Inspired thinking.

I'm in the Facebook group but turns out this is a much cleaner resource. Thanks to everyone listing things to save me the trouble of making my own, god bless you all.

I am far more on board with Matt Hardy leading The Dark Order than Scurll, to be perfectly honest.

Combined with Cody missing that week where the NXT show was super stacked, it's fair to say they've learned their fair share from HHH and Dusty.

I thought the bookends of this show were really fun but the middle really did drag. Jericho ragging on Elvis was fun but he should have really picked a worse band than The Beatles to counter with. It feels like Jericho would have said Ratt were better and bigger than Elvis but it doesn't matter. The women's match has been covered but where the hell did Dr. Luther come from?! I'm not doubting their talent spotting but it seems like the last two pick-ups have been Billy Gunn's kid and Luther when Mercedes Martinez is getting hoovered up by WWE.

Rey and Andrade have such astonishing chemistry, damn.

They’ve released the Memphis legends being “honoured” next week and Dave Brown’s name is on the list. If he’s not on Dark, then something has went wrong.

The Elite looking strong, an MJF promo, Dustin looking for revenge, Darby Allin looking strong, Baker pinned, Nyla being put over strong, nice use of characters in the backstage interviews and a renewed focus on the PPV build. PWO books Dynamite?

Dude is a genius. Popping the question straight after a wedding angle so they don't do it with him and Charlotte.

I want to say it was called WWE Vintage? I remember it showing before PPVs and after Raw.

A genuine issue with Dynamite is with how quickly they blasted through Cody/Jericho. Those segments were hot and carrying the show and without it, we're just left with heel stables recruiting people and a lot of guys treading water. Not to mention, it seemed like we were heading for Inner Circle vs. The Elite and that seems to have been shunted on the back burner. I wonder how much they're hoping to get through to the new year so the rankings can reset and they can start pushing people on unbeaten streaks and such (Hager should really be working squashes to build to an eventual turn on Jericho) but it really needs someone like Brodie Lee coming in and lighting things up. Not to mention Moxley having something to sink his teeth into. At first, I dug guys rotating in and out but it's time to start knitting everything together again; one of the coolest parts of the first few weeks was everything bleeding into everything else but now, it's becoming oddly compartmentalised. Has Dustin Rhodes even went after Hager for breaking his arm? Nyla Rose shows up once every 3 weeks for a squash and then is barely mentioned again. Darby Allin and MJF should be on the show every week since both guys have more than enough in them to not get burned out. It's definitely lost something but you can see where it would be easy to pick it back up again. I still say they need Clash of the Champions style specials in between PPVs to keep their focus; their best shows have been when they've had specific matches in mind to build to.

I thought this was exaggerated but it was actually even more awkward and forced in reality. He shoehorns "The MOVIE, The Irishman" in there in a way that sounds like he's learning to construct sentences for the first time.

Jericho/Jungle Boy was really great and Jungle Boy exudes such pure babyface charisma that he can't help but be a star. Everything else is beginning to feel really flat though; they need a hot angle or feud and they need it now. I popped for them having babyfaces coming to the aid of The Bucks and SCU, days after WWE got criticised for having nobody save Roman, though. I'm starting to think they need to find a way to feature Mox, MJF, Cody and Darby Allin every week, along with Jericho, since they're the clear stars

Scarlett will get every chance to succeed because...come on. If this was 2006, she'd be programmed in some seedy program with Vince almost immediately. They should just let Kross talk, give him a stable of aimless dudes with he and Scarlett at the top and go from there. The guy is a really solid talker in a place where there isn't too many.

Seems like she hinted at Killer Kross coming in on Instagram because this company needs even more people to be lost in the shuffle.

Statlander’s promo was the real comedy with the implication that she was just riding up and down in the cargo lift until the cameras were rolling for her to speak.

PCO as World Champ is the most interesting thing they've done in years.

FWIW, I also co-sign that period of TNA as being really good, though it still carries some of the TNA stink in some places but it's never enough to ruin the shows. The Styles/Bully Ray LMS is a total miracle match. The kind of match you can point to for when Styles became the best in the world.

Dynamite: 778,000 NXT: 778,000 I haven't read anything wrong there, both shows literally tied this week.

They're so close to getting the balance right, they really are. I really dug the first 45 minutes with the Jericho/Moxley promo bleeding into the Cody tag and then the MJF promo. It felt like they got over 3/4 things at once with interweaving threads and intrigue for next week. And then everything kind of ground to a halt. Sabian and Ford joining the Janela/Spears feud makes some degree of sense and God know it needs something to heat it up.