Eivion

That is because they waited too damn long to do the Dusty Cup and Breakout tournaments. Everything ended up super close together instead of months apart like usual. They need to move Dom to Smackdown and make him US champ, maybe even join Legado del Fantasma just to fuck with Rey.

Trick/Melo vs. LWO was damn good as expected. Roxanne/Tatum was nice though it was annoying for half the match to be picture in picture. Doesn't feel like a Lyra heel turn is set, but I do like how Lyra defended Tatum post match. Lola/Elektra was solid while it lasted, probably the best Lopez have looked in singles. Despite the build they gave the match it felt like something they wanted to get out of way and move on from with Lopez moving up to Smackdown already. Vice isn't great or anything, but I do like how her MMA background blends into her wrestling. Will be interesting to see what she does with bigger, longer matches. Ridge/Lexis was solid though the crowd was pretty apathetic as King is a heel, and they haven't done well in building Holland as sympathetic figure in NXT. They really did fuck up with the Ilja injury stuff. The man would have gotten over more just being badass. The Chase U memorial segment and subsequent save by Jacy was all good, dumb fun. I dug the later backstage segment being used to set up Riley vs. Lexis. The Dijak/Gacy brawl throughout the show was fine. The final bit with them setting up the no DQ match was nice. I particularly dug Dijak's face as he realized Gacy was somehow not dead and wanted more after the big toss off the media truck. Fallon/Arianna was fun for Grace's regular reactions and cheap trick attempts. Was happy to see Grace pick up the win. With Lash and Jakara's interference if feels like they may be trying to build up teams for a women's Dusty Cup. Dar/Wagner had some decent moments but felt weird with them setting Wagner up as not really being up to snuff on the rules. Wagner not getting even one pin was a strange choice. Wagner is one of those guys I regularly wonder why he is in NXT/WWE. He is a solid wrestler, but it feels like they don't have real idea/place for him. Corbin and Bron continuing to bond was fun to see. The final segment between Ilja and Trick was decent. They are definitely pushing the idea that Trick's focus may be too split even if neither Melo or Ilja are trying to screw him over. Nothing bad match wise, but the only strong match here was the Dusty Cup semi-final which was so damn good. This has honestly been one of the better Dusty Classics. Weakest match was probably Bron/Corbin vs. Gallus, and even that was solid. The segments were generally decent, and there was a lot forward movement for Vengeance Day and future shows. Decent show, but there has definitely been better match wise.

Just saw Cross and Datto's vids on that. I have mixed feelings as it couldn't have come at a worse time given the layoffs last year and The Final Shape delay. At the same time I suspect it might have happened even in a good situation. At the very least it seems like Joe's replacement is a good choice since he has been with Bungie for decades and a part of a lot positive developments in Halo and Destiny. Sounds like a push the boundaries type so hopefully they give him some more freedom than usual.

That Punk/Drew segment is easily the best thign Punk has been involved in since his return. He got the crowd completely invested and behind him just for Drew to come out and be the greatest bastard he could be. It was wonderful and might be Drew's best heel work so far. DIY vs. Finn/Priest was pretty good with them dragging the crowd more and more into the match as it went on. The post match with Truth finally getting beaten down by all of Judgement Day and Miz's failed save was good to see. Awesome Truth vs. Priest/Finn should be good. Shayna/Zoey vs. Chelsea/Piper was fine while it lasted. The Cody segment felt decent but standard until Seth came out. Seth pushing for Cody to challenge him was actually done pretty well. It was impressive seeing Seth get a crowd that was actively chanting no at the idea despite liking both guys to be decently into it by the end. I'd still rather see Cody beat Roman, but they at least did a good job selling the potential of Cody/Seth. Jey/Bronson was a good uphill battle for Jey. Kofi/Gunther was damn good as expected, especially when Kofi finally started to build real momentum. The post match beatdown by Vinci and Kaiser was nice to see. Kabuki Warriors vs. Nattie/Tegan built into something pretty decent. Surprised they are dragging out the obvious coming breakup of Nattie and Tegan, but I also don't think the crowd quite cares enough about them yet for to be a big deal. Was nice to see them immediately follow up the Kabuki Warriors match with Bayley coming down with Io & Dakota ot talk up her grand plans for Damage Ctrl. Dug this getting weaved in with the Rhea/Nia feud. The fear on all of DC's faces as Nia destroyed Rhea was perfect. Presumably we are getting Rhea/Nia at Elimination Chamber. Will be interesting to see what Rhea can get out of a motivated Nia. Becky did well with Nia on New Year's day, but I feel like Rhea can do even better. Sami/Drew was another fine match between them. The finish was reminiscent of what Roman did to Jey in their first title match but just different enough and well executed. Drew continues to be a tremendous bastard. Loved that grin as he walked up the ramp post match. Too long as usual but a fair amount of good matches and segments to make it a worthwhile show.

That and Donald Trump buyout reaction really showcased just how dumb people can truly be.

With Punk out of Wrestlemania I'm all for Gunther dropping the IC title between now and then to take the World title off of Seth. With that first hour commercial free I really hope we get Kofi/Gunther during that period.

Not a Punk fan, but I kind of feel sorry for him that he gets injured just as he finally was getting the WM main event spot he always wanted. On the brighter side maybe it means Rhea/Becky gets that spot for Night 1.

PPV

R-Truth's Judgement Day segments are worth catching if they are on youtube.

They supposedly hashed things out last year before Punk returned from injury/suspension to AEW. There is even some backstage footage of them being friendly at one of the recent Raws. They started teaming again the past few weeks.

The Women's Rumble had some nice stuff like Bayley and Kabuki Warriors getting in a nice amount of eliminations, Nia's dominance, Naomi return, Jordynne Grace appearing, Live's return, and Jade's debut. Even if it went down around when it was supposed to its easy to see Kairi's elimination was screwup. That poor woman was hanging on for dear life with both of her feet. Only reason she wasn't out immediately was due to only one of her feet hitting the floor. Was glad to see Naomi show up so early and get the iron woman role. Grace looked impressive and got some decent time in. They did well building up Nia as beast so Jade could get her shining moment. There was a lot of roughness in this, but it was decently enjoyable by the end. The 4-way was about what you expect. Generally good action and some decent character stuff. Owens/Paul was good, probably MOTN. Dug a lot of the ways Logan Paul went after KO's arm, and KO had some solid selling. They dragged the crowd a decent bit into the match, and the DQ finish worked better for me than it normally might have. Still I prefer that type of stuff on Raw or Smackdown instead of a major show. Thought the Men's Rumble had better pacing and flow than the women's rumble. There was a lot more neat moments and less dead space until the last ten or so minutes. Was nice to see so much character and story bits hit upon. Bron's short run was great. Loved R-truth's moments. He may have gotten the crowd to be the loudest it was all night. Weakest part probably was the Cody/Punk ending. It made sense to go there and had some stuff that would normally be decent but damn could you tell how winded Punk was despite his late number. made everything feel so slow. Enjoyable match even with the weaker ending. Thought the show was pretty solid overall. Could have been better but the crowd was pretty so-so for most of the night. Not blaming them though as its usually a smarter crowd for PLEs/PPVs. Bayley winning was a nice surprise. Not sure it was the right decision with her still being in Damage Ctrl, but I can still appreciate as its something she has earned with the work and time she has put in over the years. Curious to see if they with Bianca/Jade for Wrestlemania. Would be a great moment for Jade, win or lose. I'm fine with Cody winning the men's rumble. He absolutely does have to finish the story with Roman to make this work and worthwhile.

Wasn't really expecting them to say anything. It will be more about the post Rumble conference to see if any have the guts to actually ask about it. Smackdown was generally solid though the recent stuff with Vince made it harder to enjoy as that cloud is just going to be there for a while regardless of what cleaning they do on the inside. Was nice to see Elektra Lopez debut and rejoin Legado. The women's tag titles match was good. Hopefully Kairi & Asuka's reign goes well.

I'm surprised they got him to resign so soon. I figured it would take a bit and few more sponsor threats. It already seemed like TKO wanted to slowly push him out even before this news likely due to some awareness of it. Glad Vince is gone though its far from over. More names have to be jumping or eventually pushed off as the lawsuit continues.

So yeah this pretty much has to be why Stephanie left when Vince forced his way back in. I actually forgot that at the end of that investigation the board unanimously voted for him to not return so anyone on it knew enough to at least want him gone.

I think the rumor was they kind of hinted to Dunn he was going to be fired eventually so he retired beforehand with some "dignity" I guess.

Despite saying you I was talking or at least thinking more in a general term as you aren't the only person I have seen mention people like the Rock and Cena. I'm sorry for targeting you with the quote. I do still think its at least bit wrong to jump to conclusions like this. It just feels like people are using it as an excuse to attack people they already disliked without much proof.

TWID is up. The Wishes missions are giving us the options of high level materials like shards and alloys, Dawning/Lost mementos, and Last Wish red border raid weapons. That last one caught me off guard and is nice to see. As someone who has never done a raid it would be nice to get at least one of the craftable weapons. The missions will be available until The Final Shape. 7.77 million community sword kills will lead to a free emblem.

They have at least 33 active women on the main roster as it is.

I feel like this is a bit of bs rabbithole to go down without anything confirming they were aware. It particularly bothers me since it blatantly targets specific people who you seemingly were looking to think bad shit about already while ignoring that there are plenty of nice guys who have been said to be friendly with or loved by Vince. You mention Rock and Cena, but leave out Owens, Danielson, Sami, and numerous others who have all been friendly with Vince. I'd say its best to wait till something more concrete actually comes out like with all the clues about Brock. Otherwise its just a witch hunt. I will say this I suspect for a lot for those people they likely didn't know or suspect anything until they were too deep in, either financially and/or emotionally. I think when this stuff came up back in 22 it was Danielson who didn't really defend Vince but also implied you kind of take the good with the bad when it comes to those you love. Basically he wasn't going to defend Vince, but he wasn't going to shit on him either. I suspect many of those people took up similar positions. Will say the recentness of all of this does explain now why everything happened back in 22 the way it did. I assume people who didn't know found out when they started putting together things for the sale/merger and tried out get Vince out as much and soon as possible. I recall at least one of the board members leaving when Vince forced his way back in. And Stephanie didn't stay for too much longer after either.

Not sure what they would really need him for that would want him. They pushed him away from creative and have enough people around with decent business sense.

So can TKO just fire him now with this news?

When Owens, Nakamura, Joe, etv. were in NXT the brand was basically transitioning from a developmental into a super indy. NXT may have started hitting bigger buildings again for PLEs/PPVs, but they seem to have no interest in returning to what the Black and Gold era became. Okada wouldn't be hitting NXT if he was coming. He would be on the main roster. Not sure why we are pretending Okada is coming to WWE at this point. WWE or anywhere else but AEW would be the more interesting option, but AEW is going to almost certainly give him more of what he wants than anywhere else. Okada isn't going anywhere else unless he is looking for some sort of challenge. Its more a developmental brand now than it was before sans the first couple of years. Its still technically a 3rd brand (always was realistically sans the competition show version), but they aren't pretending its Raw or Smackdown level in their eyes or the eyes of their audience.

Bron/Corbin vs. Axiom/Frazier was awesome. Just a great power based dickheads vs. fired up high flyers match. Corbin and Bron are so much better of team than anyone would have expected. Lash/Wren was a nice semi-competitive squash. Very nice showcase for Lash, and Wren has good babyface energy going off of this and her little segment with Fallon before the match. Dijak/Gacy never happened officially with the two just brawling around the ring. Dug Dijak putting Gacy down only for Gacy to rise with that crazed look and energy each time. Good segment. Lexis/Bearhill was alright. The Supernova Sessions with Lola and Lopez was decent for Elektra's promo. She showed some decent fire and got the crowd behind her a bit. Dragon/Scrypts was a nice showcase for both and decent continuation of the Family/OTM feud with the brawl towards the end. Blair/Karmen was alright. Trick/Briggs was solid. Ilja trying to will Trick on was interesting to see. Curious to see where they go with Briggs as he definitely was on the more heelish side though not all in. The finish was well done and added some decent heat to the whole Trick/Ilja/Melo drama. The contract signing between Roxanne and Lyra was far better than expected with the two trading some decent barbs for some extra drama. Tatum adds an interesting chaotic element with her attack on Roxanne post signing. Not the strongest show match wise save the opener but still a lot of solid moves forward story wise with a good amount of decent segments. The Dusty Cup semi-final was easily MOTN and a must see. This year's tournament has been one of the better ones quality wise from what I can recall offhand.

Doesn't feel like Becky is quite ready to retire like Michaels was. Beyond that there really isn't a Women's World title match that would mean as much.

This all seems so random and surreal. Will be interesting to see how things change. I'm curious if Raw keeps the third hour.