Stiva

I don’t mean to sound dismissive and sexist but the women have got a lot better at taking battle royal bumps over the top rope

I assume Murphy losing is a precursor to him getting into the main roster. You can only hope he’s getting called up to Smackdown so he can rustle with Rey, Styles and Bryan

Buddy Murphy deserves so much better than the pre-show slot every month. He’s the kind of heel who should be in and around the midcard title scene of a show people actually watch. He always gets over on these pre-shows so he’s well worth a stronger push.

And wouldn’t you know it, seems like he’s being offered an NXT deal in WWEs attempt to tie up anyone that isn’t AEW bound

Lesnar wins at Mania but drops it the night after Mania. I don't know to who or how but I have a strange feeling that a big title change is going to be the story of the post-Mania Raw instead of a bunch of call-ups.

Andrade and Charlotte rocking the red carpet together. I kind of want them to run a program where Charlotte steals Zelina's man

Awesome match, great finish, thank God we're getting more. I guess Dream is NXT for a bit while longer.

Riddle/Dream is already star-making material for both men

Dunne/Walter was fucking incredible

Yeah, Cobb for Elgin is basically the most drastic jump in quality that I can think of. Wonder if Elgin gets offered an NXT deal or if AEW take him on.

That was halfway ambiguous. Allie got a straight up death scene after being Freddy-spiked

I've heard of jobbing on the way out of the promotion but Allie getting straight up killed off is something else entirely.

It was an excellent match but they really did a Ham-fisted job of the Mayweather/Big Show build too

I haven’t seen Raw yet but it seems to me that Reigns/Drew is a match that neither should be losing?

Man, I completely disagree. As much as I disliked PWG-Cena, I would have twice the confidence in him to have a good 8-10 minute match with Angle than I would in Baron Corbin. Surely, Angle's last match needs someone to bump around for suplexes, work submission reversal spots and make ridiculously over-the-top selling faces whilst in the ankle lock. That makes Cena the top option.

I don't disagree with any of that but I really do think they'll go Cena/Angle. Purely because they can craft a narrative relating back to Cena's debut but mostly because Angle can't do shit and he needs a good worker to guide him through a match these days.

Miz' Smackdown promo was money, man. I loved how he stayed consistent and in character, admitting he'd done some bad shit in the past but spun it into sheer babyface charm by telling us it was all for the love of a parent. It's amazing how a guy selling an angle and acting like he cares and is hurt by the heel's actions makes for so much more heat and interest in their match. Crazy, right? It was awesome to see someone actually rebel against the Authority with his "You don't own me" line too. Heel Bryan vs Face Miz is the route they have to go, even if I do want Kofi to get his moment.

Allie, of Impact, has signed on. Pretty solid pick-up, in my opinion. A solid worker for the Women's Division who I've enjoyed as a babyface over the past year or so. The heel stuff with Su Yung was a bit hokey but she should still be a good worker for their Women's Division.

There's so many individual matches to look forward to, so many instances of promoters plucking dream matches out of the air but nothing that compares to the first night insanity of Dan Maff vs Hornswoggle in a Street Fight.

You have to assume HHH is putting himself bang in the middle of the card, right before the crowd tire out to ensure the biggest crowd response. There's no way the main event gets a ton of heat since these shows are so long. And with 16 matches, marching the HOFers out and all the miscellaneous nonsense around the sides, this one is going to be the supershow to end all supershows.

The main of the Anniversary show was some wild business. The Briscoes were king-sized, bumping huge, bleeding big and driving the edges of the snapped canes into PCOs throat was ridiculously nasty looking. The botched piledriver bump was oddly aided by being fucked up because it looked like King slipped on Jay's blood, leading to the spill. PCO is certifiable; he keeps bumping like that on the ring apron then this run isn't going to last much longer. The Briscoes remain one of my favourite teams ever and, while I know they're loyal to ROH, I'd love one big run on a stage like WWE/AEW.

There's definitely an argument to be made that this is the greatest promo of all time. As said, it should have been the springboard to the Horsemen vs nWo but the next 18 months is pretty great in it's own right.

With hindsight, he was done when Brock didn't put him over in late 2017. That was the time.

Yeah, time has been really kind to this feud and these matches. Simple, well-thought out, well-executed matches that played to both guys strengths and made great use of Diamond Doll. The overarching story was classic undercard fare that got the crowd into it and also helped build into DDPs rise later on. It’s an underrated aspect of WCWs rise in 95/96 but it was another example of something that WWF weren’t doing well.

Yeah, even with skipping through the tags and the undercard, these shows are still a good chunk of time. I can’t imagine trying to watch all the NJPW possible, it seems like a hell of a commitment.