Steventon

not personally a big fan of the song myself but nostalgia is very hot with young audiences, especially fake nostalgia for eras before they were born

Yeah I'm still digging the story and the angle this week was awesome, but it's undeniably a way to pad out Roman's reign. Maybe Roman will defend vs Jey again, but I'd be flabbergasted if his lost that, which means they will likely go another 3+ months with this angle without him having another viable challenger. It's hard to say Cody/Sami/KO 'won' if Roman keeps the belt until next Wrestlemania.

Well, it looks like New Japan is all in on Forbidden Door. fair play to Tony khan, his champion gets to go over Tanahashi, while Sanada gets Jungle Boy. Though I wasn’t expecting the IWGP belt to be defended at all. is Kenny’s belt the same belt that Cody held before or the same international title they had previously which nakamura had a run with? I am so confused by how many belts one promotion can have

Cole and WALTER had an awesome match in EVOLVE that no one saw because it was just after Cole had signed with WWE. To my earlier comment about enjoying Cole best wheneating a beating, see that match. Dude gets creamed.

Pretty ho-hum show this week, though I will say even as a Cole detractor I enjoyed the segment with MJF. Interested to see how that match goes and he's a decent scalp for MJF to claim in a TV title defence.

I think this is a big part of it for me personally. His offence is largely awful both in terms of moveset and the execution of it. He can bump and sell and is charismatic enough that he can be a fun punching bag - but that doesn't lend itself to the 30 minute workrate forced classic style him and a lot of his peers embrace. My favourite Cole matches have always been the ones where he's spent 90% of them getting splattered all over the place, but they're few and far between.

.....and why do you think that is?

Considering they have the Owen Cup coming up soon, this felt more like they were warming up for a tag team or faction competition rather than highlighting many singles guys. But the post-PPV show is usually an anomaly. I can't say I particularly love Callis or this angle but the heat he got - woof. That was nuclear.

Holy shit that Ilja vs Dijak match was great. Easily the best of Dijak's career and Dragonuv proves he's still one of the best in the world. I commented in the DoN thread that the Anarchy match had plenty of violence but not much room for the spots to breathe - and this was a great comparison to that. The violence wasn't quite as sick - no tacks, barbwire, etc - but it was so much more dramatic because they let the spots reverberate and both guys sold the beatings like a war of attrition. Just a stiff, hellacious grudge match with both guys showing tonnes of fire and elevating their games. It might have been my favourite WWE match of the year.

The end of the Battle Royale between OC and Swerve might have been the best thing on this show. OC rules. Cole vs Jericho was god-fucking-awful. Are people still clinging to the idea that Cole is somehow a world class talent? Yeesh. And the finish. And we have to have more of this and the terrible Outcasts vs Britt/Hayter feuds. Hayter vs Storm was as good as it likely could have been given Hayter's injury but still pretty underwhelming. Tag titles, TNT title and Trios matches were all fine. I am always bemused at how strong Billy Gunn gets to look in all his matches. Stat winning the title was a good moment but also felt super underwhelming for it to happen with no build. Jade just won a competitive match fairly, then lost an open challenge straight after. I get they want to protect her, but surely that makes her the face here? Just bad booking here. The world title match was good and everyone worked really hard. It was a bit too tropey for me and I never bought MJF losing but it was decent. AITA was the only match I was really into it, and even then it suffers from the same kind of PWG bloat that a lot of big AEW hardcore matches do where they just blast through all these horrifically violent spots without giving them time to really breathe. Still, there was violence and hate and chaos and that is what I'm here for, so thumbs up. The ending angle felt predictable but I guess the pop for Ibushi debuting will be mega so it's all leading there. I was quite looking forward to this show but honestly, I left wanting to see what CM Punk is going to do more than anything following up here

The best commentary line of the night was undeniably about Jose laying cable

I literally laughed out loud at Page's eyepatch. The pure schlockiness of it was just too much for me. The segment was well done, thought I am kinda with Drew that it's hard to buy the Bucks as tough guys standing toe to toe with the BCC. Crowd lapped it up though. No Callous explanation means I guess we just need to find out what the next swerve is before the PPV I enjoyed RUSH vs Jungle Boy but the finish specifically was baffling and I have to imagine that's on TK. Calling it now, the finish of White vs Starks is telegraphing The Chairman returning and turning on Starks at the PPV to join BCG Please please please - do not have OC lose this title in battle royale of all matches

Claudio vs Fenix and OC vs Garcia were a blast. OC's cumulative damage run is becoming something great and this might have been the best match yet. It felt like he really had to show toughness, skill, and guile to get that win. I am not that weird guy who keeps commenting on Dax Hardwood's body, but his beer gut is showing big time. I'm not sure Special Guest Ref is where I want Mark Briscoe to be, but I am sure he will be the best part of that match. Isn't Miro and Rosa returning basically showing that Collision is going to be B-Show For Disgruntled Talent? Christian is a heat machine in 2023 and I love it. I am here to see him carry Wardlow to probably his best match. I preferred the Julia Hart plunder match, warts and all, to the WWE spooky lighting trios match. When is Bray Wyatt joining the House of Black? Main event ruled. My only quibbles were: 1) for a match with such violence, some of the basic stuff like punches and knees were VISIBLY whiffed and looked bad and 2) the finish. I will see where it goes, but personally Callis does not excite me as an on-air personality and I don't think he adds much to the BCC act if that's what this is. Why would Callis work so hard to recruit Takeshita and have him save Omega from the BCC though? Good shout to the guy who predicted this by calling Callis bleeding as the pretence to this though. Have to assume the blow off here is Blood & Guts - Moxley/Danielson/Claudio/Wheeler/Callis vs Omega/Hangman/Bucks/Takeshita.

This show was so much FUN and the crowd were awesome. They need to run PR a PPV every year. Belair vs Sky was awesome. So great to see Sky get another big spotlight match like this and such a reaction. She is massively under-utilised as 1/3 of a heel faction, turn her and run her vs Ripley. Belair to her credit held up her end and I thought she did a great job selling the arm, minus almost spiking Sky with that slam. The ending shmozz felt unnecessary and was a bit of a shitball (are they running the same break-up angle as with the Bloodline?) but good stuff otherwise. I say with 100% sincerity that Rollins vs Omos was the most I have enjoyed a Rollins match in forever. Omos is not great shakes, but he's improving and plays his role well enough, and Rollins was forced to work a match with a clear story rather than the usual workrate finisher overload wankfest he usually does. Very cool that they gave Vega her moment here and you could see how much it meant to her. The match was so-so, because Vega is actually not a very good wrestler at all, but this was still a thumbs up because of the emotion of it. Bad Bunny might be my pick for best celeb wrestler ever. He's here because he loves it and it shows. I thought the way they worked this was actually really strong and it felt realistic in how much he took and was able to give back (relatively of course, it is pro wrestling). Credit to Priest too how a career performance on his side too. All the run-ins were a blast, this whole deal just felt like a love letter to Puerto Rican wrestling fans and it ruled. The only thing missing was a fireball but you can't have it all. The 6-man was good stuff and I am enjoying the Usos/Sikoa stuff to an extent, but agreed the guy who said it now feels more like the Bloodline are diong it to themselves than the babyfaces getting up on them. If it leads to Usos vs Reigns/Sikoa or something then fine, although that feels doubtful as they've stated in the past they have no desire to feud with each other, but otherwise it feels like Smackdown is just going to continue being The Bloodline Show. Main event was probably the best Brock match in a while thanks to the early beatdown from Cody and the the BLOOD!~ Does this match rule as much without Brock leaking like a faucet? Nah, but getting BLOOD in PUERTO RICO in a wwe MAIN EVENT in 2023 is fucking rad.

Sad news. I've spent the majority of my time in these circles as a lurker, reading other peoples' comments and opinions as a way of better digesting and understanding my own thoughts and feelings on whatever wrestling silliness was the topic of conversation. Even though I had little to no direct contact with Dean, I always enjoyed his commentary and insistence on writing like a total madman. As others have said, his pure enthusiasm was infectious and I am one of 100s if not 1000s who have likely been directly or indirectly influenced by his love and sharing of pro wrestling. For me, DVDVR is synonymous with DEAN. Condolences to his family and those that knew him, he seemed like a really great guy.

this surely will be a nonsense belt like an interim title that will be unified with others within the next year to lead to a WWE triple crown or something

Odds on Cody vs Brock being better than any of the Cody vs Seth or Roman matches?

Pushing JB and Sammy to the top and seeing how they do is a good idea and investing in the future, doing them at the same time and with Darby who's more-or-less in the same boat is the bad call. If this was JB having a big main event push on his own vs an established star, I imagine he'd fare better, but the perception is we now have a main event picture with not one but THREE guys who are not ready. That is a bad impression to make. Also, this would probably play better if this was leading to a B-level defence for Max on TV, but having this as a lead program heading into PPV feels like a step too far up for these guys to make. Agree with the guy who said JB really should have had a TNT run before this. The Cole - Jericho feud has instantly because an auto-snooze program for me, at least I can avoid both at the same time. I just wonder if the Acclaimed's angle with JAS will somehow intertwine. The brawl of the BCC vs Elite guys was pretty blah in execution, but I really liked the idea at least. Kenny being so serious after letting 'Carry On My Way Wayward Son' play out the goofy verse was a tonal shift. But I am here for Danielson-lead BCC thugs and Hangman returning to even the score (maybe Takeshita or Matt gets taken out?) should be a fun moment. I have been a Jay White sceptic for years, largely because the New Japan 40 minute main event faux epic with BC interference trope is such an antithesis to what I enjoy, but early signs of AEW Switchblade are promising. Is this leading to BC Gold vs Starks/Spears or will Spears turn and join BC?

The BCC vs geeks match was some Tenryu shit. Great destruction. Sting's promo ruled, though I was hoping it was going to lead to him challenging Max. The womens stuff, Jericho/Cole/Mogul/Lee stuff, Bullet Club Gold is all so blahhhhhh. That said, bringing White in at the mid-card and letting him get established feels like the right move rather than instantly putting him in a main event spot, especially when you have MJF at the top of the card already. I agree with the guy who can't get with OC using a punch as a finisher, but that was still a super smartly worked match. Cassidy is on a tear with this run.a

All the legacy WWE and UFC content (and the respective libraries they own) on a single streaming platform and consolidating live events operations sounds like a compelling proposition from a business perspective, I can see it. It will be a surreal day for WWE to no longer be a McMahon family business though.

Where would a Reigns run even go from here? He's literally beat everyone. What would be the point of him retaining here just to lose a rematch to Cody at the next PPV? It's time to wrap the Bloodline story in it's current form up.

Eh I'd say it's just an Usos thing, all their recent matches with the New Day and Street Profits were the same deal, one long finishing stretch. But ultimately the live crowd were into it so I'll be in the minority I'm sure.

Barnett vs Thatcher was awesome. Bloodsport main events usually deliver. I have no idea how Thatcher has been doing in Japan but this feels prime for someone in the States to pick him up and give him a push, you'd like to think a rub like that from Josh counts for something. Moxley vs Coughlan was OK but didn't land the way some of Mox's previously marquee Bloodsport matches have, a bit underwhelming.

Wrestlemania has always been more about the spectacle than incredible wrestling and it certainly delivered on that front. I really enjoyed the main 2 matches but everything else was 'fine' in the ring but forgettable. That said, it was a fun show. - Cena's entrance with the kids was so unbelievably awesome and wholesome. What a guy. In the ring he only knows how to repeat his trademark spots these days but he gets a pass for that, for being here because he loves it, and for putting over Theory. Compared to plenty of other one-match-a-year legends, he's so selfless. Theory showed nothing to justify the rub and has a garbage finisher though. - The tag team fourway was OK, pretty RAW quality match with a couple big spots and some stuff that looked questionable - I skipped most of Paul vs Rollins because Seth is insufferable, but you have to hand it to Logan. He gets to have a marquee match at Wrestlemania match against one of their top stars, gets his buddy in on the act, gets to cosplay all his favourite moves, gets to promote his shitty sports drink, and gets paid for the pleasure of it. I mean he has really grifted the grifters here. KSI in the outfit was good stuff though. - Womens 6-man was OK. More spectacle of Lita and Trish having a match in 2023 than anything good, the heels are a good unit but they can only carry so much. - Rey vs Dom had some good sections but way too much schmozz. I could have lived with the family melodrama, but that plus all the interference plus Bad Bunny getting a spot was too much for me. Hopefully there's a rematch. - Charlotte vs Rhea over-delivered! For such a cold match, this was real good. Charlotte, for all her flaws, can be a really physical worker when in the ring with someone who makes her rise to the occasion, and Rhea has long proven herself one of the best female workers going. I mean this was the stiffest match on the whole show. - God bless Kevin Steen and El Generico. Add them to the growing list of mid-2000s indy alumni who have gone on to become legends. I've been a low voter on this Uso's run - I think they peaked years ago - but the match delivered the emotional beats we all wanted. The Usos don't seem to have much idea how to structure matches, they feel like like they skip the first 2/3 and go straight to the big finisher-filled end run. I mean, we were less than 10 minutes into a near half hour match and already getting big nearfalls and guys selling exhaustion. No feeling out process, no 'middle' section or heat, just all final act. I'll say this though, their characters and emoting feel really organic, and despite Cole's worst efforts, there was no awful NXT face reactions to suffer through. Really though this was all about the babyfaces having brilliant timing and emotion, and delivering a super satisfying payoff. When was the last time the tag titles main evented a WWE PPV, let alone Wrestlemania with a massive payoff? 2000s indy scene might be my favourite era of wrestling, it was when I went from fan to super-fan in my younger years, and seeing another 2 guys who I've followed for close to 20 years get this moment was so, so wonderful. What an incredible scene.

Thought this was a pretty weak go home show. Disappointing to see the opening segment fall into the tropes of 'winning the big one' and 'walking out as champs' rather focusing on hatred, betrayal and ass-kicking. The main segment being Roman coming out just to say his lame catchphrase is up there with him and Brock playing tug of war. Yeesh. I'll give them the benefit of the down they were taking it easy the night before.