Iron Moose

Last time she was concussed she was out of action for quite a while, and shortly after she won the Rumble she had an interview where she spoke about her knees being in really bad shape. Last week, during the Liv backstage attack, she had her other forearm in a brace of some sort. It could be a lot of things, I guess. Anyway, they also announced that next week there's a battle royale to name the next women's champion. Not sure who they go with, but given the impending draft I'm hoping NXT gets a few people in the mix.

This also applies to Jacy's sudden re-heeling, turning away from Thea (when they were a genuinely fun team against Chelsea and Piper) and towards Jazmyn, and what seems like the plug being pulled on Thea/Riley.

it's also paternalistic, and a big part of Thea's character since the towel was thrown in has been asserting her independence.

Ruca/Davenport ended up being a very able Face Guts It Out performance, but I am a bit disappointed because I think the story called for Fired Up Face Loses Because They Stop Themselves From Going To A Dark Place. Blair shoved nine months of Sol's life into rehab and physio - I feel like starting mad or starting cold would have been preferable to the slower build we got. Wren continues to do lots of little things right; Grace's character work continues to delight. I hope Dolin's OK.

Solid episode overall. Nyx held up her end and it looks like we're building to a big tag with Kiana/Izzy/Jacy and Kelani/Fallon/Thea. If they pull in Nyx I guess the faces can bring in Brinley or Wren? Trick has IT. For the sake of Sol's character development I really hope she doesn't come out smiling next week and do her entire entrance routine. The story calls for anger. Stacks' match essentially being a kamikaze mission to hurt Ilja's chopping hand was smart.

Guest Ref Punk was an intriguing part of the journey, such that feels like it undermined the eventual Special Guest On Commentary destination. it was like the sound chip on the talking The Rock doll got stuck between "look at you now" and "MAMArhodes" Also if Mama Rhodes doesn't slap The Rock real hard during 'mania (or I guess whip him with the belt?) what are we even doing here

Shayna tries to get involved: And Punk enters the conversation (well, at least two conversations at once)

Meanwhile, on LVL UP WATCH THIS MATCH: Tavion Heights d. a debuting Saquon Shugars. Both look amazing here. They make a waist-lock takedown look DEVASTATING. Shugars actually makes a bit during a drop-down exchange look good, does some unusual diving elbows and legdrops, takes an incredible high back body drop and Heights does like nine straight gutwrenches and his throws look superb. Jaida Parker d. a debuting Lainey Reid. Lainey is described as a former hurdler with rodeo experience, "polite, respectful, and charming" and has some low-energy country twanging as entrance music, so I'm a little wary. Reid does Michaels' turnbuckle flip pretty well, and has a nice recovery from a diving sunset flip that goes a bit awry. This picks up a bit once Parker starts trash-talking; her striking is uneven but buoyed by her crowd work. Reid's small package is tighter than Carlee Bright's, but not as nice as Gigi Dolin's. It looks like she tries to finish with a kneebreaker out of the corner, but Parker seems to counter it and hits a... jumping leg lariat? running Famous-er? to win. OK overall. Eddy Thorpe d. Uriah Connors. Uriah, formerly Brogan Finlay, has a weird combination of high ponytail, cutoff jacket and tiny pants, making him seem somewhat unlikable. This is worked with a surprising level of parity until a successful Connors dive... after which Thorpe regains control for a bit, which seemed odd. Connors has some brief runs of nice offense before Thorpe puts him down with an elevated DDT. This was also fine! Doesn't feel likely that whoever Connors hits next gives him as much as Thorpe did here.

pre-Mania, he beat Sami after a bunch of bloodline melodrama at Elimination Chamber. pre-Elimination Chamber, he beat Owens at the Rumble with some distractions from Sami, and then we got some bloodline melodrama after. pre-Rumble, the bloodline won war games at Survivor Series. pre-Survivor Series, he beat Logan Paul after Bloodline interference at Crown Jewel. pre-Crown Jewel, he beat Drew at Clash at the Castle when Solo debuted. pre-Clash at the Castle, he beat Lesnar at Summerslam after a whole lot of interference (Bloodline and Theory) Very much same old same old.

With apologies for putting this into the universe: what if he cashes in during the tag?

He's done it a few times in NXT.

This is a good take.

Meanwhile, on LVL UP Lola Vice d Carlee Bright with a "Vice Grip" headscissor. Bright is a former cheerleader with an entrance theme that sounds a bit like Sixpence None The Richer, and her mother is apparently in the front row. Most of this works, but feels more like a demo than a scrap. Vice has a decent spinebuster and ends up bleeding from the mouth - possibly from a shoulderblock - but doesn't capitalize on it by firing up. Bright's inside cradle is not as tight as Dolin's from the weekly show, and she and Vice don't put much into a kickout, versus a release. Bright has a nice single-leg dropkick and ambitious cartwheel-knee thing, Vice quickly ends things by kicking her out of mid-air. There was an unfortunate lack of mother-taunting. Stacks and Luca Crusifino d. Javier Bernal and Drake Morreaux (an affable new guy wearing overalls, kinda swampy with a New Orleans vibe). New Guy's first move is to take down his straps, which seems unearned. It's solid, less of the cooperative vibe here, but the crowd dynamic is a bit off because New Guy is new and seems likable, and beating on Javier tiptoes over the line into getting crowd unhappy. Bernal has a weird top rope elbow leading to a bit of repetitive offense from Morreaux; Stacks and Crusifino come back with a more enegetic finishing run. This was a pleasant surprise; the new D'Angelo Family worked well together, Morreaux has some charisma. Sol Ruca d Wren Sinclair. Wren immediately goes up in my estimation by reacting to Ruca's entrance flip with some posing of her own that manages to come off as enthusiastic, rather than snarky. She continues to be actively in the match with, of all things, a hammerlock - Ruca reaches between her legs to try to break it, Sinclair moves her own leg out of the way to maintain it. We get a bit more standing grappling before an awkward spinout from Sinclair; she smartly brings things back on track with a leg pick and variation of the diving neck snap to a seated opponent. Some back and forth, eventually Sinclair puts some good struggle into getting out of a grounded headlock and we get a funky crossbody collision; a bit more back and forth leads to a blocked Snatcher attempt, duelling rollups and a Sol Snatcher finishes. Ruca helps Sinclair up after the 3, seems glad to be back. Good episode, worth watching. Did we know that Madi Wrenkowski had these incredible rock-solid go-with-the-flow, hold-everything-together fundamentals? She seems really young to give these player-coach vibes and I really want to see her work up and down the entire division now, and get a story that's not just "she's new and nervous and happy".

PAY FOR SEPARATE WAYS YOU COWARDS I feel like it might be leading to this year's Women's Dusty Cup? Fallon/Thea, Kiana/Izzi, Gigi/Ariana, Jacy/Jazmyn, Lash/Jakara all seem like they could bounce off each other pretty well.

Meanwhile, on LVL UP Generally high floor this week. Stacks d. a returning Kale Dixon with a curb stomp with the knee. Dixon doesn't get too much, but has some good strikes and makes a flatliner look reasonable, but pauses a bit much in the finisher setup. Stacks' character work comes through better than in his tags. Lola Vice d. Wren Sinclair with a backfist. This has surprising chemistry. It starts with Wren holding up a hand for a test of strength and Lola just punching it instead. Wren's attire says "completely new at this" but some sequences in her ringwork show a measure of genre-savvy that I think the audience appreciates: Lola blocks what would be a pinfall reversal sequence, Wren catches the the upward kick and turns it into a cradle. Wren has really good follow-through with her shoulderblocks and clotheslines - it feels like a number of other people would be doing the move in a vacuum; she slows down for a sec after each to better express the impacts. Lola does a bit more grappling than usual, reacts with indignation that's a bit more realistic than she usually does. Good stuff. J'Evon Evans d. Javier Bernal. Bernal has a new, somewhat goofy 80s rock outfit and entrance. Evans has a ton of potential and the crowd is really into him, some Wes Lee vibes. A few of their bits seem a bit forced, but both do well overall.

I recognize that the current spirit of the booking is against making fans really unhappy, but I still have this feeling that Becky and Rhea could cost each other their matches at EC, let someone else beat Nia at Mania and run Becky/Rhea without the title involved.

an image has allegedly leaked on the wwe website of the women's EC participants: which, although somewhat predictable, would probably be quite good.

well, that women's title match was fantastic.

Page said something about the whole f'n show, but nothing 100% clear.

I have this weird feeling that Becky and Rhea are going to use the Michaels-Taker II plot beats, which means Becky getting eliminated in the rumble, and then costing Rhea the title in Feb to make the Mania match non-title.

please God let Timeless Toni Storm see this

I'm shocked we haven't gotten to Gulak, Dempsey, Axiom, Thorpe or Bate as possibilities.

RKO is the ducked-Superman Punch follow-up. Spear goes into Powerslam. Meanwhile, on LVL UP: Von Wagner beats Luca Crusifino Elektra Lopez beats Brinley Reese in a pretty good (but basic) outing Gulak over Tavion Heights, also worth watching.

Meanwhile, on LVL UP: a clip show, with Thorpe/Chen, Lola/Ivy, Wendy Choo/Kelani Jordan, and Axiom/Tavion Heights all from earlier this year. Good stuff all around.

one idea I saw someplace was that Chase bet on Tiffany to beat Thea and then threw in the towel to ensure it happened.