Steventon

As much as we all (rightfully) gave the whole Death Riders program a lot of stink, do we largely agree the payoff was worth it? Even having the belt in the suitcase, which was kinda dumb at the start and not well explained, let to an epic reaction when Hangman finally showed it for the first time in ages. The belt got a pop.

One of the biggest wrestling PPVs ever in the States headlined by a bloody gorefest death match. Sick. The main event was basically AEW's version of Roman vs Cody with all the schmozzy run-ins, only this was better in almost every way. The show was too long. Didn't need 2 Casino Battle Royales, let alone 2 going 30+ mins, but I guess they wanted to get everyone on the show somehow. Most of the under and mid card matches were fine, but the 3 main events all delivered. I thought for sure Mone was winning so Storm retaining was mega. As someone who was turned off by NJPW 7 star wankfests, this was easily my favourite of the Omega vs Okada matches. The disgusting violence of the main was overshadowed by the booking and story, and that was a good thing here. I was verynot on board with Hangman being the guy to start with, but to be fair they hit all the right notes to make this story and turn back to the light side work, and this was some god damn amazing pro wrestling as a result.

I'm not being crazy, they definitely have ran a Mox vs Hangman TDM before right? Maybe a steel cage match could have made more sense with 1) an attempt to stop interference (which can still schmozz your way into anyway) and 2) Hangman winning the blow-off vs Swerve in a cage

I was very very on board with Darby being the one to dethrone Mox over Hangman, but the last month or so have really made it clear he has to be the one. They've literally built the entire main thread including Ospreay and Swerve around Hangman getting his redemption and saving AEW. They even had that promo from Ospreay where he said 'i thought i was the one, but it's him'. To go this far and not do it, on your biggest show, would be a colossal flop after all this time and effort into the Hangman redemption story. It'd be Brock Lesnar beating Reigns at WM34. What happens after ALL IN is going to be interesting. They surely must be fighting the urge to have Ospreay win the belt at Forbidden Door in London. But do they go with just Hangman vs Ospreay? Or Hangman vs Swerve vs Ospreay? Or am I just getting ahead of myself...

Punk doing the 'cosplay as my opponent' WWE trope for Cena's hokey heel turn in Saudi Arabia may be the most soulless shit I've seen in a long time

There may have been some passion in the AEW run, given how utterly mailed in his entire WWE run has been since, this probably tracks.

Ah I didn’t clock the location, yeah that is more likely then

So... apparently Bryan Danielson returned at the Collision taping to squash Max Caster in an 8 second dark match. I'd say the chances of him being at All In just skyrocketed

WWE's youtube had the title "Seth Rollins reveals the End Game to the WWE Universe" or some such for his long HHH-cosplay rah rah promo on RAW. I watched it and had no clue what the end game for this angle is. Does he just want the title (like every other guy), is he trying to cement his legacy, or what? The writing and storyline for most of this is real dribble. On the other hand, I thought both Goldberg's and Gunther's promos were great and did as good of a job hyping that match as you could hope for

When Punk beat Seth he seemed to take his title of Biggest Corporate Yesman. also has it been explained if/why Reed buried the hatchet with Seth? Last I remember they were feuding and Seth cost him the LMS match against Braun, but can’t remember what came after

Well that certainly was *one way* to pull the trigger on the Jacob Fatu face turn - in the middle of a clusterfuck ladder match he wasn't even a part of Have to assume Lyra is winning the blow off at Summerslam vs Lynch, which would actually be a good job at making a new star in the division. However if she loses again... total opposite Can we all agree the current main event picture for this company is a total snore right now? Seth Rollins as a MITB-holding faction-leading top heel feels like someone got ChatGPT to do the booking

Becoming a comedy guy was almost certainly the best thing to happen to Truth. Him as a serious heel would have had no legs or staying power past that initial push, let alone over years. He wasn’t a terrible in ring guy, but he was never anything special and not one of the better workers on the roster. Maybe I am being forgetful, but I can’t recall any skits which were borderline racist, he just played an aloof (but lovable) idiot. Shit like his promo thinking he was in MITB and claiming he had arachnophobia is far more memorable and was more entertaining than any actual match I can recall of his. he had a good run and career in WWE, probably over achieving due to his personality and sense of humour. You could easily keep him around as a comedy guy for another 5 years, but it’s also no big loss to cut him at this stage in his career. Hopefully he does some stints elsewhere and has made enough money to have it easy. I’d love to see an AEW appearance, but he may be too much of a WWE loyalist for that.

So who is going to be Ricochet's crew? Are FTR too much of a contrast to work with his act?

It took me 3 days to get through watching the show but it was a blast. Womens matches were great, though only real moan is having them both end in quick roll-ups out of nowhere felt a bit janky. But great matches and Toni vs Mone is the biggest match they can run. Have to imagine Mone is winning to lead to someone finally dethroning her - I don't think Toni gains much from being the one to beat her, nor does she really lose much at this from eating an L to Mone. Hayter is awesome, hopefully she isn't cycled too far down now FTR vs Garcia/Nigel going 20+ minutes was a choice and probably not necessary. It felt like they were plugging the faces into an 'FTR epic' formula for a while, which is all good, but maybe not needed against a retired commentator. Ricochet vs Briscoe was a ball. This is the best Ricochet has ever been in his career. Second the praise for Okada vs Speedball. This felt like one of the really good matches Okada was having with lower tier challengers in his first or second run in NJPW rather than the forced 40+ minute epics. Both guys looked great, very well structured match with Okada actually bringing a good heat section and plenty of control. Probably the best Okada match in AEW so far. AITA is basically a massive party every year now. Which is awesome. It has totally gained it's own identity as a match. I could not tell you where I would rate it vs others or any match on the show, but it was a blast. A wonderful clusterfuck. I will be in the minority, but the main event didn't do a ton for me until the final section. Felt like they were just going through moves and filling time without much structure until the epic final act. But it gave the crowd what they wanted and Hangman came out as The Man. People commented that they maybe should have put a rocket on Ospreay when he first signed, but I think him coming so close to the big win a couple times now has made him more compelling and will be make it more satisfying when he does win the title (hopefully at FD). Even if it went long and some matches should have been shaved, the overall MOOD of the show was so positive

did i miss something or were they not building up ricochet vs kevin knight a few weeks ago?

he came across slightly more impressive than tonga loa but beneath tama tonga, which is a pretty low bar

In the year 2025, who could possibly care about Seth Rollins, Top Heel?

Not much I can add others haven't already said. Even here in the UK where ECW wasn't quite as big, Sabu's reputation proceeded him long before I actually saw a match of his. A true legend in the purest sense of the word. Transcendent to the point where an entire discourse existed around him for decades. The one thing I think about Sabu now is how much of true icon of the underground he was. He was the opposite of mainstream. Didn't cut promos, did unpredictable wreckless shit, didn't give 2 fucks about looking pretty or having tight execution, embodied violence, the list goes on. Polar opposite of corporate and what a company like WWF/E would want. And yet became a legend on his own terms, in the pre-internet age. Punk as fuck. I wish we had more Sabu's. In 2025, we have guys who can hit the most incredible highspot sequences perfectly, and we get table bumps and chairshots every PPV, but no one truly captures the sense of unpredictability, danger and awe that Sabu did. One of the most iconic underground wrestlers of all time.

very dull, very mid show Jey Uso is maybe the most over-pushed guy of the last few years. none of his charisma translates in the ring at all, does basically nothing in any of his matches apart from the same 2-3 moves and the spear riffed from roman, doesnt really sell, doesnt even really take any bumps. Not a performance that felt worthy of a big win like this. guess they need to keep forcing the anoa'i family legacy. compare to jade cargill, who is still kinda green even after all these years, but at least her charisma comes through in the ring and she tries to mix in a new big move for a big match. Grande vs Fenix was a fun spotfest with a clever gimmick finish. the reverse 450 was wild. Fully agree with EVA's take on Tiffany vs Charlotte. Charlotte has actively stunk for a couple years now but leaning into her role as a grumpy heel veteran gatekeeper is the pivot she needs. Tiffany is mechanically fine in the ring but lacking that *something* to make her matches exciting. Main event was exactly what we all knew it'd be - 30 minutes of guff filler and finisher kickouts before a swerve. Is Paul Heyman siding with Seth Rollins really a big enough or exciting enough angle to close out a Wrestlemania show with? I mean, Jey Uso might have flopped in an actual main event spot, but Gunther's reign ending feels like a way bigger, more worthy moment. but nope got to keep pushing the roman reigns soap opera as the centre of the promotion

Yeah but Punk vs Rollins has been done recently, and Roman vs Rollins has been done in the past and can be re-heated up at any point. Right now in this match, he is shoehorned in at the detriment of a bigger match.

To add to that, why is Seth even in this match? Triple threats are never, ever as interesting or epic as a 1-1 match and Punk vs Roman is a HUGE match. Heyman being in Punk's corner would mean more if it was a straight match between him and Roman. But who really cares about what corner Heyman is in, apart from the people who think everything Roman is involved in is THIS IS CINEMA. It's now a match with 3 guys and the main focus is the manager.

Men's wild card has to be Jarrett you'd think? Unless he was already in and I missed it

White turning feels pretty telepgraphed now with Mox out of support and Jay bootlicking Cope. Hopefully I'm wrong. Megan Bayne is great and should have a rocket strapped to her as the next challenger for the May/Storm winner How many matches on this PPV are going to have blood? Ospreay vs Fletcher, MJF vs Page, Swerve vs Ricochet, Storm vs May and Moxley vs Cope?

maybe on the retirement tour cena turns back and we get THRICE IN A LIFETIME vs rock

It would be interesting if Cena's rationale is like Taker's in 2002 when he turned - he's spent his whole career being the corporate kiss ass and gave his soul to the big bosses, and now Cody think he's better than that?