Stiva

Theyve been Impact Wrestling for however long now and even the talent is still calling it TNA. Thats some rebrand.

Really strong Mania on the whole that was REALLY fucking long. My viewing was definitely helped by consuming it in 2 chunks, rather than live but even then, I was ready for it to wrap up after Nak/Styles. Mixed tag was probably MOTN with Ronda looking like an absolute natural and Steph giving off the greatest performance of her career. She should seriously just pack it in now, she's never going to top that. HHH/Angle were there and I thought HHH bumped and worked hard to cover Angle's deficiencies. Nak/Styles was a really well worked match in front of a crowd that was totally burnt out. The heel turn was a hot angle and I'm glad they're trying to inject some life into the feud since you can't sell a "Dream Match" twice. Even then, the Dream Match was cold as hell. Main event was a total clusterfuck and I can't believe that they're still throwing money at Brock, The dude is worthless; we're going to get a rematch with Reigns in a cage and then what? Another 5 minute main event opposite Lashley? The act could justify itself when they were thin on top but look at the workers they have in top positions now. Without Brock, your Raw main event scene could be Reigns, Joe, Braun, Lashley, Miz, Rollins and Balor. That's a group of guys that the crowd is into and pop for. Anyway, everything else was great. I'd have liked to see Asuka and Rusev go over but Charlotte is their golden girl and she's great in her own right so whatever. The Rusev result though. It's pretty ridiculous that the dude put together a great act with English, came up with a catchphrase that everyone loves, has a top selling merch item and is a bonafide mega worker and they won't do anything with him. Yet they're content to rake in the money from his shirts. I hope he does get his release and can work in places that will give him the chance to shine. I think I've focused on the negatives too much but the opener exceeded all expectations, the Cena/Taker angle/squash was pretty much worked perfectly, the Braun/Nicholas stuff felt like a bit of a let down but I'm not sure that they could have delivered anybody that would have satisfied, especially with the match they worked. The two women's matches were strong and I liked the three pre-show matches all in all. They need to shorten these shows right down but this was probably my favourite Mania since 30. Also, the show is long but Rusev losing pretty much killed the crowd. And then once Rousey was done, they just tapped out. That should have went last.

Roderick Strong just turned heel on a WWE broadcast. What a wild world we live in. Dunne/Roddy for the UK Title is something that can definitely headline a Network special from Manchester

Between Cole winning the ladder match and taking the early table bump, I wouldn't be surprised if he retains the tag belts here and they're heating him up for a run opposite Almas. If not Almas, he's Balor/Rollins first opponent for the IC belt

I don't want to say it but Paige looks totally fucking out of it in these promos for her biopic.

Would love to think that Rhonda at ringside is planting seeds for feuds with Ember and Shayna in the future

I'm taking that as one for one

As lame as Adam Cole may be, he's at least over

I dug Bloodsport, well, am digging since I still have the main to watch. I was fearing the worst when hearing about the early matches but I actually thought Kingston/Hot Sauce was really fun with Kingston donning the singlet and the pair of them throwing some mean strikes. The finish on the Stone/Masada match was really bad and I don't know if the ref went too early on that finish or if it was actually the plan but man, it killed things as it got going. Luckily, WALTER/Lawlor was awesome. Really made use of the size difference, the arm injury and managed to tease both KO and submission finishes down the stretch in a really fantastic way. The show length doesn't really bother me too much since on a personal level, I have an obscene amount of wrestling to get through but I also couldn't see myself sitting through an extra hour of it all. It's it's own entity and works in a shorter 2 hour blast. EDIT: Oh yeah, the Severn finish was blew but it was the same ref as Stone/Masada, right? Was it a rib to give him the shitty finishes? Is Riddle bringing back heel refs?

I cracked the fuck up at Brains Strowman. Every time they give the dude a segment like that (Elias and the double bass, for example), he knocks it out the park.

Doubful considering the Raw champs will be BRAUN and his mystery partner by then. Some kind of multi man match announced for Raw. Sami and Owens are signed by Kurt; Owens pins, idk, Scott Dawson. He and Sami rush off through the crowd and Braun obliterates every opponent and even his team mate. That seems like Raw after Mania booking to me.

Bryan and Shane win, KO and Sami leave Smackdown, show up on Raw the next night and win the Tag Belts.

If you only have time to watch one make it the Hell In A Cell. Agreed. One of my favourite WWE matches in the last 5 years. Great violent feel with a career best performance from Woods.

I've never thought about a mental image for Loss but I'm now imagining him as Boss Hogg and quite frankly, I never want to be proven otherwise.

I had heard of Jeff G Bailey's scorched earth promos and my god, they haven't disappointed. And neither did this. Both guys are very raw but the potential is definitely there, certainly with Styles who is just dripping with it. Both guys are kind of bland, even if they do have their share of solid attributes; Styles' bumping and grace was already crazily impressive already and the two of them knew when to hit those big moments and when to slow it down. A shame that Onyx didn't really amount to a lot more but maybe PWO2K will help his standing. Two things jumped out; I chuckled at Onyx getting backdropped into the crowd by a "Happy Anniversary" sign for some reason and Styles' backflip off Onyx in the corner was GIF-worthy.

Real hot piece of business here as CMLL continue to fire on all cylinders. Satanico is an all-time great bastard with my personal favourite moment being when he escaped a pin by just grabbing a fistful of Tarzan Boy's hair. Subtle but absolutely perfect.

Man, I had no idea Chyna was still with Jericho in the run-in to Mania. Really fun TV match that was so completely different to anything we were seeing on WWF TV, even just a few months prior and they were really smart in putting the Radicals in there with the guys they knew could go when given the chance. It's completely reinvigorated the midcard and their TV main events. I've always enjoyed Brian Christopher and Rikishi but I'm struck by how much I'm digging Scotty 2 Hotty on rewatch. Yeah, the Worm is beyond stupid but he's cutting a great pace, he matches up great opposite the Radicals and he just generally performs his role really well. I think 2 Cool as an act have done a lot for me over the past couple of months actually. About as hot a TV opener as you could hope for. Also, I cracked up at Chyna following Jericho and Dean up the ramp too. It's like someone told her that she had to stay within 5 feet of him at all times or she'd lose her heat.

Echo what others have said in that this had some really solid heel teamwork but fell completely flat. There were individual moments where it looked like a spark may light but it's disappointing that the match fell flat immediately afterwards. The first two that come to mind are the initial attack on Winger with the nasty looking table bump which just settled into a solid, yet uninspiring heel control segment and the second was immediately after the hot tag. Rather than being a chaotic finale, the finishing stretch felt oddly disjointed and anti-climatic. Gedo, Jado and Wing all looked good though so I'm hyped to see more of them as the decade rolls on.

I had a hankering for some early SMW and Dutch implying that Brian Lee will shoot up a public space one day will never not make me laugh. It's not enough that he hates the guy, he has to imply that he's a future serial killer.

I dig the (potentially) coke-fuelled, egomaniacal promos from Flair and Luger here. Luger's is definitely better considering it, you know, has a point but I liked Flair saying "I know what camera to look at, I'm Ric Flair" and him really loving the 4% body fat delivery. As said, the match is a big disappointment and another fine example of WCWs status as a total nostalgia promotion. Flair hits all of his spots, we get another poor, confusing finish and that's Nitro.

I increasingly think they should do something like that around a big UK show. They could probably charge a million bucks for the tickets and the UK fans would gobble that up. Bulldogs (or at least DBS), Johnny Saint, Lord Alfred Hayes, Regal, (I was going to say Haystacks Calhoun but he's already in). Maybe Big Daddy? Finlay? I would love to live in a United Kingdom where Johnny Saint gets the massive adulation he deserves but man, that's a crazy pick. Wrestling fans of the last 15-20 years are more likely to know Johnny Storm than Johnny Saint. Big Daddy would absolutely be the WoS pick on pop culture crossover alone but even then, that's reaching for a UK show. It'd be Regal, Davey, Finlay, Hayes, Adrian Street and I don't know, Lord Littlebrook as your inductees.

Kobashi comes into this with a bullseye around his waist and god damn, does it ever suit late-era Vader. After an initial flurry from Kobashi, Vader lands a sweet elbow drop to the ribs and he takes over. With the pace slowed, this really becomes the perfect match for Vader, who was obviously past his prime but when you give him a target, he's clearly still got enough to deliver in spades. That's not to take away from Kobashi who really puts in a masterful selling performance, maybe the best of the year thus far, retaining that stoicism in the face of the task ahead of him. A really simply laid out, expertly executed wrestling match with a satisfying finish. No complaints here.

I'm not able to add much more than anyone else but one of my favourite things in wrestling is watching a guy get made in a big moment and this might be the best version of that match you can have. In kayfabe terms, Jun is just a machine; he has the bit between his teeth and even when Misawa won't stay down, he doesn't stop, digs even deeper and comes up clutch when he had to. A month earlier, he failed with Vader and now he's toppled THE guy and nobody can deny him. An incredible match with no wasted moments.

Big Show will absolutely go in one day. He was a big capture in 99, had the big Mania match with Mayweather, a long run where he was one of the ultimate company guys ever while working alongside the likes of Lesnar, Cena, Eddie, Angle, Taker, Henry etc, thought of highly by just about everyone in the company. He's a total lock when he finishes up for good, I'd say. And he'd have an awesome speech, the dude is super likeable.

I mean, isn't this excellent booking in the long run? The whole narrative of this feud is that Lesnar is a part timer while Reigns busts his ass. Quickest way to get the desired reaction they want at Mania (i.e. Reigns cheers, Brock boos) is to pull something like this. You piss off a great deal of the live crowd, everyone in this thread is pissed at it, the narrative of Brock being a lazy asshole who is running down his contract is solidified and Reigns can win the title to cheers. If Brock is being an asshole, which is probably likely, it's a pretty incredible way of manipulating and working people to get what they want. Did Reigns work the house show? If it wasn't a long main event following Brock, I'll be surprised.