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If we're being objective there's really three Triple H's. 1. In ring performer Triple H 2. Backstage political Triple H 3. Executive / NXT booker Triple H 1. In ring performer Triple H was one of the best technicians of the last 20 years. Now I will be the first to admit his intentionally slowed down territory heel act from 2003 - 2005 was a chore to watch. That character was heel and he was trying to be hated, but he did it in such an unenjoyably way. It was so unenjoyable that everyone universally despises it and it taints the objective view of his ring work. 1998 - 2002 Triple H was fucking awesome. The 1998 Rock IC Title feud and ladder match was very good. 1999 Triple H putting all the pieces together finally was fun as hell to watch. 2000 Triple H was the best in the world at the time having dope matches with everyone from Taka to Foley to Jericho and everyone in between. Plus that killer love triangle story. 2001 Triple H was just as good but the injury derailed him. 2002 Triple H was not quite as good, but he was so incredibly over when he came back that it carried him to a solid year. From 2006 on he was basically an amalgamation of the peak good Triple H mixed with bad territory Triple H. Never bad in the ring. But never quite hitting that peak run. But he still had great matches with Batista and Cena. Less great tag stuff with DX. Mostly bad stuff against Orton. Then you have part time Triple H who was still quite good. The Bryan WM match being the peak. Some good Undertaker WM matches. A few solid Lesnar matches. The bad Punk / Nash stuff. Overall his run in ring is pretty favorable if you're being honest. But what truly taints that is... 2. The backstage politics of Triple H are unparalleled. From latching onto The Clique, to marrying the boss' daughter, to complaining that Kurt Angle was too small to be believable... this is by far the worst aspect of his legacy. His slow Harley / Flair territory in ring stuff also coincided with him holding down a whole host of more likable performers. He was outspoken about not believing in Jericho, and Edge, and Booker, & RVD, & Angle. And when he finally did put someone over it was Goldberg who was universally hated at the time. Which multiplied the resentment. But then you do have to give him credit for going all out for the guys he did believe in. He put Benoit over strong as fuck. He put Batista over strong as fuck. He put Cena over strong as fuck (even if it was undermined by the choice to acknowledge Cena "can't wrestle"). As time went on he also undercut Punk among others. He squashed Booker again when Booker was at his absolute peak doing the king gimmick. Political Triple H is probably close to the most detestable political animal wrestling has ever had. But a lot of that has softened over the years because... 3. Executive / Booker Triple H is one of the best of the last 20 years. He took a floundering developmental program over and completely molded it into smart fan's ideal dream promotion. FCW was nothing. Games show NXT was nothing. But Triple H's vision merged them and turned them into the most fan friendly thing WWE has ever had. We can argue if his NXT prepared guys for the main roster. But that point is moot in my opinion. There's nothing that can prepare anyone for that. Because the "main roster" is literally just whatever Vince's whims are. They change constantly. And he only likes what he likes, regardless of how ready you are. We got a prime studio wrestling show mixed with a super indy mixed with some names that we never thought would get a foot in the door. The matches and characters that really worked REALLY FUCKING WORKED. Bayley, baby face Sami Zayn, ect. He revitalized tag wrestling in WWE (for a short period of time). He completely re-imagined women's wrestling by giving them the platform to do what they were always capable of. He went from probably the most hated personality in the business to being sent fruit baskets by those same ranting fans. Un-fucking-matched. He's not Rock/Cena/Hogan. He's not Undertaker/Andre/Lesnar. He's more like mixing the careers of Ultimate Warrior, Macho Man, & Pat Patterson. He's not on my mount rushmore for wrestling. But for me he absolutely is on the mount rushmore of executives / bookers / creative minds. Under rated and simultaneously over rated for in ring performance. Unparalleled for backstage political fuckery. But when both of those were out of the picture, one of the best fucking ever when using his mind for the benefit of others. Legit a legendary & iconic figure with no true equal. He's one of a kind. And in a lot of ways that's harder to accomplish than being an Austin/Rock transcendent figure. There's no road map for the shit Triple H was able to accomplish.

Here's a Verne story you might like Gordlow. In the late 90s when he was reffing for ECCW in British Columbia, me and 3 friends would drive up there from Seattle every month to go to the shows. On one show they had a ladder match for ECCWs cruiserweight title. For some reason neither guy was able to get the belt down as it was stuck on the hook it was hanging from. They powder outside, Verne climbs the ladder to get the belt loose. He loosens it and takes it off so he can hang it back up and we immediately start chanting "VERNE'S THE CHAMP! VERNE'S THE CHAMP!" which makes him laugh hysterically. The next month the same 2 guys were doing a promo arguing over the belt when Verne comes out, grabs the mic and says "You heard these people last month, I'M THE CHAMP!"

Wrestling is littered with guys who though they were better than they were. Hunter is possibly the best of that bunch, and one of the few who got to try to pull it off. He was a good character worker, but not the kind you build a promotion around. They tried it anyway. He had charisma, but not the kind to break out into mainstream crossover success. They tried it anyway. He was a good wrestler, but not a superworker whose strengths lent themselves to epic in-ring classics. They tried it anyway. He had a good physique. So they booked him in a posedown with Scott Steiner. He had a couple of storylines where he was devious and manipulative. So they dubbed him the Cerebral Assassin and had him... hit people with sledgehammers and play-act necrophilia. He was ultimately, ironically, a solid B+.

You guys briging up the Eliminators made me have to watch this again and laugh my ass off EDIT: NSFW for F-bombs

Oh dude... now I want Serena Deeb with Regal & Co.

NOT COOL that they had Hook no sell the curse. Not cool.

Would make sense as challenger for Jade Cargill. "A Storm is coming" [chuckles]

I think Triple H had fairly decent to good TV matches with Test, Big Show, Bubba Ray, Spike Dudley, Taka Michinoku, and Tajiri.

Apropos of nothing, but I think it’s possible WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT? is actually underrated.

Agreed. No-selling a head drop is one thing, but that was a bit much.

Danhausen will end HOOK's undefeated streak. The Casey knows.

When they were trying to set up a Hart Foundation vs NoD feud by implying that the Harts were racist, Bret refused to do it.

I demand that the fourth Chinatown movie be called The Two Jessicas.

Anyone that does an over-the-top defense of HHH full of questionable "facts" and actually uses the term "best for business" in the process is clearly a troll.

They're building him up slowly as they should. Talk of tnt titles after a few matches was silly, especially in AEW.

Triple Triple H. Regardless of anything else I think his place in wrestling will always be as one of the hardest working guys in the business. He was rarely in anything other than spectacular shape in ring, somehow stayed clear of the demons of the kliq, poured a ton of time and energy into NXT. My favourite Triple H thing ever is in (possibly season 1 of) Tough Enough and he is taking about intensity and back bumps. It’s hilarious but frightening at the same time.

I was thinking about this earlier, and I feel like if they can continue to juggle the roster effectively, the cycling of wrestlers in and out - combined with the company's willingness to let talent work elsewhere - can serve as a sort of ersatz territorial system, where talent runs less of a risk of getting overexposed by being on tv every week for eight years. Of course, there's no guarantee it works. They'll have to keep a lot of plates spinning, and there's always the chance of alienating people who feel like they should be getting tv time when they aren't. But it will be interesting to see how it pans out as the years go by.

Nah, he sucked.

Fun show that surpassed my expectations, the hot crowd really makes everything way more fun. Opener was a great big guy fight with way more intensity that I anticipated. Tag match was pretty good and Angels looked great, he’s very overlooked guy. Not sure if the Fuego vs. HOB was a planned program or if it just the result of the super hot sequence from last week but I’m glad we’re getting it. This was a fun segment and a pretty good lil promo by Fuego. Main event was great stuff with both guys coming off as HUGE stars with help from the crowd and the excess of personality from both. It’s refreshing to see how into the “mid card” the AEW fans are since there’s so much talent all over the show. I thought Ricky came off great and I’m again grateful that we’re getting him featured on a weekly basis now.

While they shouldn't have made any explicit reference to Sammy's line from Wednesday, Dan Lambert should have come out with his TNT title belt wrapped in clear plastic.

I disagree, all of those people could have been used effectively on the main roster if they moved them up with a plan. They pulled people from NXT, gave them new characters that didn't suit them and/or never pushed them in a way that made the audience care. That's not HHH's fault.

At this rate, "we fucked on it" should just be an AEW running gag. Fuego showing off his nice, newer car? Tay and Sammy slide in to casually mention that they christened the backseat an hour ago. Excalibur promoting AEW's first show in a new arena? Tay and Sammy interrupt him to explain how they did the deed in the bleachers there last week. Jade shows up and is proudly showing off her new cape? Tay and Sammy exchange knowing glances and slyly point out conspicuous wet spot on the back of it. And so on.

OK. Lets see if I can explain this. Meat in Japanese is "niku." The numbers 2 and nine are " ni" and "kyu" more or less. So the 29th is meat day, and to celebrate Mos Burger in Japan is offering special Okada Kazuchika collaboration burgers on April May and June 29th. If I manage to get one, I'll let you know about it. Maybe in the merch or food threads.

Blousons Noirs (Claude Gessat/Marcel Manneveau) vs Jacky Corn/Gass Doukhan Noirs were such a great heel act. Not long after this, a fan tries to attack the REF! for not doing a better job and they let the good guys take over again for a bit to cool things off. And here's Manneveau stooging like a king.

It has a genuinely good film noir plot, like it’s the unofficial third CHINATOWN film. But more to the point, no one has ever acted opposite animation as well as Bob Hoskins does in this film, and he was basically in uncharted territory at the time.

I always vehemently disagreed with the idea that Kane, Booker T, RVD and an old Scott Steiner were held back. Those were the contenders at the time to challenge Hunter and none of them were top level guys, they all reached whatever ceiling they had. RVD for example was given the chance to main event WWE and usher in a new era of ECW and he would rather get pulled over with drugs in the car than to take his role seriously. Hunter was a very steady performer they didn't have to worry about. RAW was in a transition period and Triple H was the last proven draw they had on that brand. Yes, he was a proven draw because his 2000 heel run was a very successful period. The Rock should get most of the credit but Hunter was the top heel he had to play off. Once WWE did get some fresh talent on the brand, Hunter put them over. He put over Batista on 3 consecutive PPVs and cemented his status. He put over Cena at WrestleMania as well. He did what was best for the business in those feuds. Of course he also protected his spot but show me a main eventer who hasn't.. Here's the deal. The IWC was jealous of the situation Hunter found himself in. They never let it go. They could cry until the cows come home about friggin' Kane not getting enough rub but does anyone want to stick their neck out for Glen Jacobs now? Maybe Hunter knew and did us all a favor ? Oh one more thing.. Goldberg. Fuck Goldberg. He ended Bret's career and never called to even check on him. Boo hoo he didn't win the Elimination Chamber and didn't look OP for a night.. poor Bill. He shouldn't have beaten The Rock either, a young Niners was there in attendance at the Worcester Centrum. We were all behind Hollywood Rock. At least Goldberg still gets the Saudi paydays. He survived. A real main eventer wouldn't view a blonde wig as a career changer. Imagine The Rock not being able to recover because he wore a blonde wig. Take it easy Hunter. Spend time with your daughters, thank you for all the memories and also NXT.

Here is a North Jersey native perspective on St. Peter's: I grew up about 15 miles from St. Peter's. Jersey City was labelled as a "hardscrabble suburb" today by the Washington Post. But I've never seen a dumber description. JC is a city on its own with its own history and unique culture. It's become a bit of an "it" town in recent years. But JC is all over the map. Literally. The city is shaped like some bizarre jigsaw puzzle. St. Peter's is on Kennedy Boulevard, which is the main road throughout the maze that is JC. It's in a rough part of the city. You know how college campuses are leafy and green? I'm not that familiar with the SPU campus aside from driving past, but I think it's like six or seven buildings on one street. My hometown is really diverse. I had friends who went to schools like Cornell and Georgetown and friends who went to community college. The big Catholic school in my part of the state is of course Seton Hall, which is a lot of middle class kids with a fair amount of kids whose parents went there. It's not that selective and big-ish. I thought I was going to go to The Hall my entire life before I wisely decided to go away for school. St. Peter's had a reputation of not being a "real" school. I hate that term so much, even though I probably said it. North Jersey is filled with a lot of schools that aren't "real" schools. There are the cheap two-year community college, and a few state commuter colleges that have 10,000 students or so. And there are also a few small private/Catholic schools that accept anyone and are struggling financially. My friends whose parents had some degree of money all went to "real" schools. If you were a kid whose parents maybe didn't have as much money, Rutgers is a "real" school for you. The state commuter colleges aren't elite level selective obviously, but they aren't guaranteed locks to get into. The smaller private schools need the tuition money and will essentially accept anyone, but they also are generous with financial aid. A lot of kids who didn't have parents who went to college went to those schools. I was an underachiever in high school. I had the aptitude to get into a "real" school but my grades were crap. I was "doomed" into one of the schools described above if I stayed local, and I got made to feel like crap because of that by some guidance counselor type people, because I'd have to go slumming with kids who were considered to be barely college material. Like I said before - I went away to college. And I went to a small Catholic college in Philly that accepts pretty much anyone and is struggling financially. La Salle is D1 and in the A-10, but we're bottom feeders. A lot of my friends were city kids who came from nothing. A lot of my friends had to work actual jobs while also in college, too. But what I learned about not going to a " real" school was that the faculty were there because they actually liked teaching and they had small classes. We didn't have TAs they could hand things off to while they chased clout at some stupid academic conference. And then I grew up and found my way and actually did well in college. And a lot of my friends were the first in their families to go to college, too. St. Peter's is THAT school. When they show the kids partying back at campus -- it's an actual diverse college. Those are kids who have to take buses to get to English class on time. Or they have a used car that barely works and they have to hope there's enough parking. Or they have to figure out how to take a mid-term because their manager is making them work that shift. And the Jesuits who run that school have a chip on their shoulder because they aren't at Boston College or somewhere like that and a decent amount of the faculty went there when they grew up in Jersey City and now they may live in Verona but they want to give back. Kids from SPU or Caldwell College or St. Whatever all have to send out resumes when they graduate. They compete for jobs with the kids who went to the "real" schools. It's not like there are huge active alumni associations where they can help you cut the line. Their student loan debt is a lot harder to deal with than someone who has parents they can fall back on (like me.) This is such an awesome awesome awesome ride. Kids who go to the SPUs of the world get overlooked but work harder than someone who was able to go to a "real" school. They really deserve this win for once. I hope they bury Duke.

Necks man up

Forgot to mention I laughed when Jericho made reference to all the “Keith Lee looks like the kind of guy…” memes that have been popping up in the last week.

O'Reilly and Fish are fantastic. Tho, not a fan of their weak take on 'Total Elimination'. I can't say that I've seen anybody perform that maneuver anywhere near as well as Saturn/Kronus. Jay Lethal's promo ability has certainly stalled his ascent in the past. That said, I don't feel any need for Lethal to win titles or be anything more than he already is. No need to criticize the Lethals, Neses, Kazarians, etc. for their middle ground roles and lack of upward mobility. They provide very well where needed. Happy to hear Nyla get a chance to work the stick again - often funny and underrated mic work. Speaking of which, terrific promo by Fuego. I love continuing the Fuego-HoB pairing. And stoked for the inevitable Stu/Uno/? bout. The production on this taped show isn't perfect, but seems to be improving. I dig how much they try to fit in. Production also helped save that referee's (didn't catch his name) placement botch for the finish of the Main Event. Had they chose that wide angle there would be a lot more complaints about referee stoopidity and Starks not being DQ'd. Yep! Swerve has personality in spades, and all the ability in the world. Regardless of any sloppiness I've enjoyed his work thus far. Whether he is able to move passed the unnecessary flippy dip don'ts will remain to be seen. There's a lot of special performers tucked into this exciting 2 on 2. The feel out thus far has been fun. I suspect exceptional results. God bless that supportive crowd in Austin!

For those who will be in Dallas next week, below is the announced show information for the MLW events on Thursday 3/31 & Friday 4/1 at Gilley's. Both are MLW TV tapings. Thursday is Intimidation Games, while Friday is Azteca Underground. -- MLW Intimidation Games - Thursday, March 31st - 7PM CT Gilleys - 1135 Botham Jean Blvd - Dallas, TX 75215 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mlw-intimidation-games-major-league-wrestling-tv-taping-tickets-167809118591 Triple Threat for the World Heavyweight Championship Alex Hammerstone vs. Jacob Fatu vs. Mads Krugger Davey Richards vs. Richard Holliday (with Alicia Atout) LA Park & LA Park Jr. vs. Gangrel & Pagano nZo’s Open Challenge Women’s Featherweight Bout Shazza McKenzie vs. Holidead EJ Nduka & Calvin Tankman vs. The Bomaye Fight Club World Middleweight Championship Myron Reed vs. Mystery Opponent Several mystery matches will be revealed night of event. Also scheduled to appear: Ross & Marshall Von Erich, Cesar Duran, Matt Cross, TJP, 5150, Hijo de LA Park, Gino Medina, Arez, Aramis and more! DAY OF EVENT INFO The schedule is as follows: 5:30 p.m.: Early entry for front row ticket holders 6:00 p.m.: Doors open for general public (all ticket holders) 7:00 p.m.: Showtime MLW Azteca Underground - Friday, April 1st - 2PM CT Gilleys - 1135 Botham Jean Blvd - Dallas, TX 75215 Tickets: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mlw-azteca-underground-major-league-wrestling-tv-taping-tickets-260726860057 Alex Hammerstone & Marshall Von Erich & Ross Von Erich vs. Mads Krugger & King Muertes & Richard Holliday (with Alicia Atout) Azteca Apocalypto Match LA Park vs. Jacob Fatu Bandido vs. Flamita 4-Way For National Openweight Championship Alex Kane vs. Puma King vs. ACH vs. Myron Reed KC Navarro vs. nZo El Dragon & Microman & Aerostar vs. Mini Abismo Negro & Arez & Mystery Partner Mexican Lumberjack Match Aramis vs. Gino Medina Octagon Jr. vs. Matt Cross Holidead vs. Chik Tormenta Plus Cesar Duran Meet & Greet! Also scheduled to appear: 5150, Davey Richards, LA Park Jr., Hijo de LA Park, Savio Vega, EJ Nduka, Calvin Tankman and more! DAY OF EVENT INFO The schedule is as follows: 12:30 p.m.: Early entry for 1st & 2nd row ticket holders 1:15 p.m.: Doors open for general public (all ticket holders) 2:00 p.m.: Showtime Estimated Run Time of Show: 3 hrs. What does my ticket include ? All tickets include access to the live Azteca Underground wrestling show and tour of Cesar Duran’s office. You must purchase add-on additional tickets for the meet and greets. The pre-show Lucha Lunch is exclusive to 1st and 2nd row ticket holders only.

That would be great. My first guess was Mia Yim.

THAT Lambert line (and his and Jericho’s previous misogynistic lines) was what bugged me, the rest was inoffensive but lame.

I think they could safely do a short run of Silver with the TNT Title, he’s over AF and looked at as someone who could credibly win or lose any mid/upper-mid card match.

There were a few people on one of the sections to the upper right of the ring from camera perspective who were getting the chants going all night. Also, to be fair, the rest of the Rampage card gave us a bit of a rest. But yeah, we were super hot for Starks and Swerve and they delivered. The Rhodes-Archer fight was fine, Dustin did his thing but live it was a little plodding at times, and it was just before it happened that we learned that there was a backstage story behind it (we don’t see most of the backstage stuff from Dynamite, but they showed a lot of it in the break between Dynamite and Rampage). I was stoked to see Dustin finally but I wanted a better match and opponent. Since @Gordlowmentioned it, I manifested both House of Black AND Hook in long, meaningless segments, I really need to reconsider my “powers”. The HoB-Dark Order feud might be good at least. Ten was probably the most over in the tag, and he and Silver are by far the most popular of the Dark Order. I like Kyle O’Reilly for some reason, he just seems like some dude who wrestles as opposed to a pro wrestler. Hard to explain, maybe the way he carries himself and his demeanor in the ring. Anyway, that was a fine match but again a let down from what all we had previously. Nyla had a squash. I appreciate Tony giving Nyla a push during their Texas shows. Main event was great, very competitive and sure there were a couple of awkward spots but they meshed really well and it did a good job of protecting Swerve and building Starks and the larger angle. Tangential, but if Jericho wants a Sports Entertainment faction Starks should be his #1 recruit. They didn’t give us a Keith Lee match, despite him building a chunk of his indie resume in Austin, but him and Hobbs just clubbering for a couple of minutes was fun. After the cameras were off, he and Swerve shook hands and I wouldn’t be surprised for a tag with those 4 next week, or soon.

Thanks! They were Glory By Honor, Scramble Madness, All-Star Extravaganza, and Night of the Butcher. I also ring announced Revenge on the Prophecy, Wrath of the Racket, The Battle Lines Are Drawn, Reborn Stage 2, and World Title Classic.

Because Survivor's a work and he knows how to politic? ?

The funny part about that clearly fake rumor is that this offseason has been so crazy, its actually somewhat believable.

Quite frankly, we call them "Championships", Pal.

It's reductive, but "second banana positioned constantly as a top banana" really describes the bulk of HHH's career. Popular, sure, but not as popular as X (where "X" is Rock, Austin, Cena, etc.). Decent worker when he would work to his strengths, but never the best worker (his '00 is both his best year and IMO quite heavily overrated, and I'd like to talk about whether he had a top-ten '00 worldwide, even) and rarely worked to his strengths. Made a babyface territory into a heel-dominated one and since he wasn't a touring champ, it sort of killed the company in ways that it still hasn't come back from. He has a peak as an executive that holds up artistically('14 - '16 NXT) much more than whatever you'd argue his in-ring peak was. I think his best analog in-ring is Edge. Decent enough, but not particularly good unless there's a bunch of plundah in the ring with him.

I think the CYN thing is tricky, because if you are an Extremely Online person then it's really clear that they are running the exact same rhetorical playbook as various shitty far-right internet chud groups. It's all the same phrases and winks and nods and not saying exactly what you mean. But I can also see it just scanning as eccentric weirdness if you're not already familiar with that milieu.

Hey everyone. Time for an update. I liked my neurologist more this time round and she thought I should go back on the antidepressant I was taken off. I started taking them again on the 10th of March. I noticed a difference particularly week one. I'm getting out more and sleeping less during the day. This Thursday was the start of my third week on them. My Dad, Sister, and my Doctor, Dr Jundi who I spoke to on Wednesday noticed change in me. My whole body does ache though from being more active and how my health has declined since the middle of 2020. I had a blood test which found I'm really low on Vitamin D so I've been given some tablets. Started those on Thursday. Sunday is Mother's Day in the UK. Special occasions are particularly difficult for the meaning of them but it's all the time loving and missing my Mum. I don't think I deal well with adversity so I'm nervous when that comes knocking again. My Dad's got a big health check this coming Monday, a prostrate exam. Me and my Sister have kept telling our Dad to get checked out and he's relented. My Wellbeing is a farce getting rung on my mobile phone with a withheld number so you can't ring back and not giving you a set time. My Wellbeing rang at the library, dentists and doctors so I was unable to take it. Like me, my Dad and my Sister say, you've things to do and can't be sat round a telephone all day. In closing I want to give thanks to posters who have given me messages of support and keeping things I've disclosed to here including posters who are Facebook friends as well. It's appreciated as mental health issues suck. Love, Paul xxx.

Phew. I loved The Batman. I did not love The Joker interacting with Riddler scene. It didn't feel organic. The deleted scene does feel more organic and adds a layer of desperation to Batman trying to solve the case. But boy am I not a fan of this Joker's aesthetic. Bald patches and scraggly hair from deformity? Big swollen up alcoholic nose? Jacked up teeth? Deformity causing the smile, kind of? No sir I don't like it. I thought the actor did an excellent job in the scene. I just hate the look. I agree it's Gotham TV level character design. I hope it gets tweaked before his next appearance. I think Heath Ledger knocking it out of the park has kind of warped how Joker is viewed. His take was way outside of the box, visually. Now they're trying to one up that look by going more disfigured. And I think that's a poor decision. At least out of the gate. It's better than scene kid gangster Leto version. But not by much. This is supposed to be the grounded version of Batman. But here you have a dude so mangled up he's probably need to be in a specialized care facility. 89 Joker, Dark Knight Joker, & even Leto Joker were all far more realistic than this one. Again loved his performance. And the scene. But that look is a swing and a miss for me.

I'm going to nominate Mike Awesome allowing Masato Tanaka, who is barely taller than the top rope, to powerbomb him over the top rope.

NAYLOR~!

Let's finish this. Edge had made his shocking return in 2020's Rumble. He proceeded to have the "greatest match in WrestleMania history" which was rich because it wasn't even in the top half of the matches on that show. Then he was going to challenge for the title and got injured. I've grown weary of this guy's schtick and am not thrilled he's now taken the 'special attraction' role that Cena & Rock had been filling in years past. But anyway, he won the '21 Rumble so he gets to go to the Mania main event. Daniel Bryan is basically done. He'd been hinting at retirement for months leading up to this and all but said this was going to be his last WrestleMania ever. In doing so, he also said he wanted to be in the main event. But, as a Smackdown member, that spot was filled by the Rumble winner and the champ. So, he got to be in an Elimination Chamber match for an *immediate title shot* at the champ. That didn't go great. He then got another shot at Payback, which again... didn't go his way. Well, he's now without a dance partner for his final WrestleMania and well, the fans want him in the title hunt and this worked before so... And now the champion... Roman Reigns. Having returned to action the previous summer after time away - depending on who you believe he refused to work with the pandemic raging out of control or he was given time off or some variation thereof - he beat the unholy fuck out of Bray Wyatt and Braun Strowman and took back the title he'd never lost. He made it abundantly clear he was now the alpha dog by beating the shit out of his cousin, Jey Uso, and adopted his new "Head of the Table" title in what has to date been easily the best move of his career. Well, it's Mania time, Edge wants his shot and the fans want Daniel Bryan to get his last shot, so we get a triple threat. It's so much fun when you get to see the man behind the mask, and Bryan lets his mask slip as he enters. This is going to be his last Mania, possibly ever, and he is clearly brimming with emotion. Counterpoint is Roman, coming out looking like the unnerving soulless killer that he's needed to be his entire career, his little toady cousin Jey, is in tow. Also Edge is there. What follows is a masterclass in putting over a monster heel champ. Edge and Bryan can't get on the same page long enough when Roman just starts plowing through them. Whenever they get some offense in, Jey sticks his weasely nose in and breaks it up. Edge finally has enough and gets Jey out of the way by planting him face first into the stairs outside sending him off to the back on a stretcher. Bryan and Edge go at it for a while, knocking down Reigns occasionally, but never focusing on him. Edge thinks Bryan stole his spot, Bryan thinks Edge is an unlikeable ass. (Hey they're both right!) So, their reward for not putting down the champ was his return to beating them both down. Roman and Bryan are the ones mostly in control in the 2nd act of this match. With Roman spearing Edge and Bryan sort of accidentally hitting Knee Plus on Edge. Eventually though the bigger and stronger Reigns takes full control and unmercifully beats up Bryan, culminating with a nasty powerbomb to the announce table. Edge finally is back with a surprise spear to Reigns and eventually Bryan and he are trading submission spots on Reigns. And in an absolutely badass moment, Edge has a chair-assisted crossface on WHILE Bryan applies the Yes Lock. They eventually headbutt each other back to a stalemate. That spot is notable in that it looked super cool, and Reigns looks like even MORE of a badass as he didn't tap to EITHER guy's submission finisher. Edge finally knocks Bryan out, hits a spear on Reigns and --- Bryan pulls out the ref on a 2 count. He's now clearly furious and desperate as he goes for a chair or three and waylays everything that's moving. He gets them ready for his super finisher the Conchairto and delivers to Bryan. BUT.... Jey Uso makes a surprise return and distracts Edge long enough for Roman to recover. He spears the FUCK out Edge, does his own Conchairto to Edge, and drags Edge's limp corpse onto the equally dead Daniel Bryan. Pack em. Stack em. Rack em. Reigns pins both men simultaneously to retain the Universal Championship. He celebrates as Edge and Bryan disappear into the ether. --- Boy did that last match save night 2. That final spot I'll all but guarantee came from DB's brain, as he knew he was on the way out. What "surprised" people though was that after he lost his retirement match in April, he'd go on to totally re-invent himself as, um, Bryan Danielson in AEW. The good thing though, was he shed the WWE aspects of his character and while not really modifying his appearance, he changed the way he acts, wrestles, and interacts with the crowd. Notably killing off the Yes movement. As of now, he's in a tag with Jon Moxley and they're probably going to skin the current champs, Jungle Boy and Luchasaurus, alive when they get them in a match. Edge finally decided to go back to his boilerplate "Psycho Heel" character, which is reminding me more and more that the dude has two modes. Intense face and intense heel, and that's all he's good for any more. And see that's the difference between Edge and Danielson. Because I have zero doubt that if he'd have jumped to AEW as was rumored back in 2020, he would have essentially been doing his exact same WWE stuff, just under a new name. Hopefully his WWE future involves him bringing up younger talent and putting them over. (Calling AJ Styles a 'millenial' recently makes me cringe though.) And Roman... well, I think it's safe to say he's in the prime of his career. He's definitely, 100%, the man right now. Like, there's no one on his level, which is a slight problem because they're about to unify the championships, and if he wins at this year's Mania (WHICH HE SHOULD), there's no one around to stop him. He's about 3 months away from passing Backlund (depending on how you cut there), and more than halfway to Pedro Morales. But literally, short of Okada defecting to WWE, there's no one employed by WWE worthy of stopping him on his road to being the 6th member of the 1000 Day Reign club. --- The rest of the show is fascinating, simply because of how different a position we are today. A solid 1/3 of the roster that appeared on this show now work for other promotions or are gone from wrestling completely. In the context of the world too, we're rapidly approaching 1,000,000 lives lost due to the horrifyingly stubborn nature of the people who refuse to get vaccinated and/or take basic precautions. It's weird, there's so much reason to despair, and yet, there's so much reason to hope. We'll see if this extends into a yearly thing. But one thing I do know is this, I do appreciate all of you continuing this journey with me. I hope you've enjoyed it as much as I have and I hope you all stay safe. Hopefully someday soon, we'll get to a new normal. Whatever that may be. End of Day 134. ?