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Tuna Boss

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  1. Seemingly leaving FTR off this show is bonkers.
  2. Honestly, my biggest takeaway is probably the extent to which the two night format works better than one 7 hour marathon. I really do think that a lot of the general good will towards these shows is down to the 3 hour run times. I'm sure that would be even more clear if they have future two night events with full crowds. There's numerous examples of matches dying on their arse in recent years because they occurred so late into the show. If there's any way they can pull it off, I think they must move to the two night model in the future.
  3. That's my order as well I think. The clear top three imo.
  4. I'd be down with them building up either Cesaro or Big E to beat Reigns. God knows what they'll actually do though. Probably just as likely to be Goldberg or Lesnar.
  5. So we got a 3 hour show with each hour feeling quite distinct for me. The first was dreadful but the second really good. I was ready for the third with it's two high profile matches to be something special but I came away thinking that it didn't reach that level. I had kind of had enough by 3am though so that probably played a part. Orton/Fiend was so so shit. I've paid zero attention to this feud until the video package they showed and you know what? By the time this began I was kind of ready for something completely wild and ridiculous. The Fiend's entrance was brilliant, including that little tribute to Brodie Lee. But then they kept that fucking red light on and had a completely unremarkable/dull 5 minute match. Bliss did something, Orton wins, then... nothing, as everyone is teleported away and the audience boos. It just felt completely lacking as a match, angle or spectacle. The only positive was that the match was over after 5 minutes rather than 15. Women's tag title match was another terrible choice to go on second. To go from that Orton/Fiend finish straight into Natalya & Tamina's entrance was such a downer. They had a 15 minute match for some reason. They probably had a decent match here and I noticed the crowd were genuinely getting into it but I didn't care at all. I kind of loved seeing Owens & Zayn have a condensed indie bombfest sprint in front of Logan Paul in a Wrestlemania setting. They've wrestled each other hundreds of times and it was evident how well they know each other in the ring. Lots of fun but it ended quite suddenly. I wondered why the women's tag title match got almost 15 minutes if this couldn't even get 10. Then Sami just kind of fucks off but we did get the stunner on Paul which was nice. Feel like a pop up powerbomb through a table would've been an even more satisfying pay off though. I found the Riddle/RVD/Khali segment amusing. Sue me. Sheamus & Riddle had a banger. These two beat the piss out of each other and there were a handful of memorable and great looking spots including that fantastic finish. I thought this match probably had the right amount of time but I wouldn't have been opposed to more. I was surprised that Sheamus won because I thought they were really getting behind Riddle. But Sheamus has been killing it in the ring lately and I'm all for seeing more of that. The shots of the bloodied Riddle post-match could hint at Riddle developing a more serious aspect to his character but I won't hold my breath. Big E's entrance was money and he looked like a superstar. This match was lots of fun with some brutal bumps and shots. I popped for Dabba Kato. I was surprised that this only went like 7 minutes, thought it felt longer. They really should have incorporated the drums more. I think Apollo needed the win more than Big E who can hopefully move on to bigger and better things now. MITB? Ripley's entrance didn't exactly snap, did it? I heard her on a podcast and she was so excited about Ash Costello playing her to the ring - oh well. I thought this match was good but once again ended too soon. The crowd actually appeared to be losing interest as it went on. Rhea should absolutely not be heel. Didn't buy it at all and I don't think the crowd did either. I really like Rhea but I felt like this was missing something. Hated the Bayley/Bellas/hosts segment. Reminded me of that awful post-match beatdown of the League of Nations at Wrestlemania in Dallas. Really thought the pay off was going to be Becky Lynch so when it turned out to be the Bellas I was disappointed. Then they ran off Bayley and celebrated with Hogan and Titus and it was rubbish. Main event was mostly a blast but I was having a real hard time staying awake by this point so probably didn't enjoy it as much as I should've done. I'll watch it again. The crowd was really into it. Bryan and Reigns impressed me but I really can't stand Edge at this point. Great finish with the BIG DOG going over huge. What a superstar he is. Not as good as night one. Match order and lengths probably the biggest reason. Pretty enjoyable after that first hour though.
  6. No pre-show matches. Last night they didn't even have any backstage interviews or anything. It's basically Booker T and JBL talking a load of absolute shit for an hour whilst Jerry Lawler makes the odd dead joke. Peter Rosenberg tries to make a decent point but JBL seems to legitimately despise him so he just scowls at him and runs him down. It's genuinely quite awkward. The video packages they do are usually great but I think all of them featured on the actual show itself last night so it really couldn't be any less worthwhile.
  7. Yeah I thought it was a mixed bag and it was quite interesting to see which talent were able to wing it and which weren't. MVP is another one that comes to mind as having done a good job. Seth Rollins on the other hand...
  8. - The weather delay being announced as soon as they came back from the show opening was almost tragically poetic. For a moment it just didn't look like this was going to happen. - The set is incredible. Absolutely loved it, particularly after the last big one at 35 was such a huge letdown. Top tier Mania set and I love the cannon pyro. - Hogan & Titus's introduction was both awkward and shite but I'm guessing they were dragging out what they were going to say in order to kill a bit more time and allow everyone to retake their seats. Titus looked dapper though. - Opener was great. They worked their asses off, especially Drew. There were a couple of moments later on where they looked a bit lost and perhaps it went a bit long. McIntyre missing the claymore because MVP shouted something was dumb but all in all I think they delivered a really good bout to open the show. I popped for Lashley retaining. I thought Lashley might have been more popular with the fans. Maybe Vince will change his mind and put THB back together. - Women's tag turmoil wasn't much. I don't think second was the best slot for this match. People were still chomping at the bit and ready for something more substantial to stick their teeth into. It took the wind out of things a bit. - Cesaro & Rollins had a banger that could have done with more time. Memorable spot with the stomp attempt countered into the spinning uppercut as well as that mad no hands spinning move Cesaro did. Big win for Cesaro I guess. - Omos was amazing. That was exactly what I wanted. I'm sure it was all planned and rehearsed extensively but everything he did looked great and he ooked genuinely unstoppable. I liked AJ calling for the one foot cover. Their future tag matches could follow the same template and be pretty entertaining. I don't know how long he'll stay hot as he likely becomes more and more exposed but for now it's working a treat. - I expected the worst from Strowman/Shane so was pleasantly surprised it wasn't completely dreadful. Strowman looked great in his entrance. Emerging from all that smoke roaring and looking absolutely jacked. I liked the spot where Braun ripped out the mesh. Big bump from Shane for the finish as you'd expect. Fine. - Kind of thought that Bad Bunny would impress after all the talk about his training in the performance center and that's exactly what happened. This was actually a lot of fun and the finish got a big pop. His entrance was suitably grand. Big Damian Priest got to look like a big deal alongside him. - Main event absolutely delivered. They needed to deliver a great match for this show to really be considered a success I think and they did that. This was a hell of a showcase for Belair. She looked like such a star. The roll through from the dive into the gorilla press walk up the steps was impressive, as was the delayed vertical suplex she did and the two 450 splash attempts. Sasha went for Belair's hair constantly throughout the match and so that brutal hair whip was a great pay off. It was such a good moment. I kind of wanted a few more minutes of this but it was still a genuine delight. - The show exceeded my admittedly quite low expectations. Pretty much everything delivered or overdelivered. It was a lot easier to watch at around 3 hours than usual and it was just a treat to see a wrestling show in a big stadium with fans after so long.
  9. Blackheart Lio Rush's entrance at Spring Break is one of the best things I've seen in wrestling this week. Great stuff.
  10. Set looks so good, thank God. 35's was such a disappointment that it really damaged that show.
  11. Smackdown was actually a breeze to watch. And I say that having watched barely any complete weekly WWE TV shows since coronavirus hit. Good promo work from DB, Edge & Reigns, a couple of solid "pre-show" matches and some nice hype packages. Sami Zayn interrupting the Pauls' sparring session and getting locked out was terrific, as was Reigns coming to the ring and stealing Jey's thunder as soon as he won the battle royal.
  12. Prelude was an enjoyable hour of wrestling. Nice rounds match between Bate and Dar to kick things off. I like the use of Trent Seven and Sha Samuels as seconds. Sha is a lot of fun. Bate's match vs. A-Kid should be a good one. A-Kid's accent is weird, sounds a bit like Hector Bellerin's. I wonder if that's just from wrestling in the UK these last few years or if he partly grew up here. Women's tag match was enjoyable enough with McKenzie picking up a big win on her re-debut. Meiko just giving up on her cover attempt on KLR because Isla Dawn was about to get in the ring to break it up was dumb and Meiko looked naive doing it. Aoife Valkyrie's black feather taunt is actually quite a neat idea. Gallus on the Noam Dar talkshow could be fun. I thought the iteration of this segment with Bate a few weeks back was really amusing. Main event was another great WALTER war. The match was definitely reminiscent of 90s All Japan as Nigel noted, comparing them to Hansen/Brody/Misawa/Kobashi. Love the way Walter leans right in on his pinfall attempts after the powerbomb a la Kawada. Rampage Brown put in a good showing and looked stronger than I thought he would in defeat. Feels more and more like Balor will be the one to beat Walter at the Dublin Takeover. Would be miles better if there's fans present but I'm guessing that's doubtful at this point.
  13. I'm a big fan of both guys but it didn't quite click with me. Just kind of passed me by. I didn't hate it or anything and I might like it more on second viewing.
  14. I think I'd go: Walter vs. Ciampa Shirai vs. Gonzalez Devlin vs. Escobar Tag Title 3-Way Gauntlet Eliminator Gargano vs. Reed Balor vs. Kross Cole vs. O'Reilly Dunne vs. Kushida Stark vs. Storm Ember/Shotzi vs. The Way Breezango vs. Dain & Drake
  15. Two nights of really good action and I enjoyed both but the first night was definitely the better show. I was into WALTER/Ciampa and Io/Gonzalez more than anything on this show. Probably the gauntlet and tag title match as well. Loved the finish to the ladder match. Great shot of Escobar standing atop the ladder looking down on the broken Devlin. The spot where LDF interfered and Devlin took a tumble to the outside was nuts too. Devlin did well to avoid injury. Cute post-match celebration with the other LDF members and his son too. Escobar is great but we all know he's toast as soon as he gets called up. I'll enjoy him while I can. Women's tag title match was fine. Most important thing is the champions retained. I feared they'd drop them here which wouldn't have done those belts any favours. Thought Reed looked very impressive over the two nights. I don't know how often he attempts the moonsault but that felt like a special moment so hopefully it was. I think Theory should have been involved more in the finish. I was surprised at the ease with which Gargano was able to eventually put him away. I wonder if Theory will turn on Gargano and be the one to dethrone him? Hell of a performance from Balor who I've done a complete 180 on over the last 18 months. This was the best I've seen Kross look as well. I was hoping Balor would somehow retain but it wasn't to be. Not particularly excited about a Kross title reign. Perhaps they'll do a rematch with Balor bringing back the demon "persona". Unsanctioned match was predictably way too long. I liked the security, pre-match lighting and referee's all black outfit. I didn't like the fact that KOR and Cole wore their regular wrestling gear and wrestled a pretty generic first 10-15 minutes. Things got better when the chain was introduced, although Kyle looked like an idiot when he threw the chain in and was easily countered. I will say that there was some stuff in this match that I loved. The spot through the ramp. The brainbuster on the steps was brutal. But there was a lot that I didn't like as well, which is usually the case with these 40 minute NXT "epics".
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