For Great Justice

Great ending. Insofar as triple threats go, this is a smart, logical storyline where all these dudes have years and years of reasons to hate each other. Maybe a little less on the Punk-to-Reigns end, but they’ll clean that up.

Outstanding work Matt. I couldn’t have summed it up any better: this belongs on THE comp. It reminded me of the WM 17 main event in how the storyline beats were baked organically into the execution and production of the match. Maybe even more organically than that. Truly an all time classic, in the top 0.001% of matches ever wrestled

Storm/May was one of the 20 or so best matches I’ve ever seen in my life, the MOTY and the best feud ender since…shit, I don’t even know. Most wrestlers spend their entire careers dreaming of telling a story and having a match like that. My biggest congratulations to everyone involved in that masterpiece (in the very literal definition of the word). Elsewhere, Swerve has been so non-adjacent to the Death Riders thing for so long that I think this IS the start is the pivot.

Yeah I think that’s the move. Cena drops it back to Cody in the Fall and we get a two month epilogue as babyface Cena culminating in a Cena-themed December PPV in Boston (or a stadium somewhere else) for the send off

Travis Scott was there so randomly that I’m actually convinced that they wrote that part for Drake, but his team didn’t go for it. A heel turn there making perfect sense, also (and going thermonuclear viral)

Oh yes. 100x yes. And this problem is bigger than just wrestling - indoor arenas of the 2020’s are the soulless, heartless stadiums of the 1970’s. Yea, I understand standardization and how that benefits leagues and touring groups. But the world desperately needs the Camden Yards of arenas to kick start a revolution. Maybe the Sphere and the new Clippers arena are the start of that. Its awful.

I will be very interested in seeing what they do with May after, presumably, Storm wins and this feud is over. The track record here is NOT good. Baker, Rosa, Hayter all fell off a cliff after losing the title and never successfully transitioned to a next hot story/feud. This happens on the men’s side all the time, too, though it isn’t as glaring. TK can write some killer chapters, but successfully transitioning from one to the next and having a full-blown book is very rare.

Holy shit they’re going to do the Mr. Socko / Cobra spot with the puppet and it’s going to get the biggest pop of the night, aren’t they

How much fun was this show? Austin was red hot for everything! MJF/Hangman, the Harley video, a Baybe/Stat tease…this show rocked. My personal new favorite thing is the crowd singing the Hurt Syndicate’s theme song throughout the match while they murder dudes. And I haven’t bought a wrestling shirt in years but that yellow one is fire (and Buck Robley approved). They seriously have that vibe of “baddest ass dudes on the roster, for real” right now….which makes the whole Death Riders nonsense even more hilarious

Ricky’s certainly a Performance Center kind of guy. I dunno. He’s just always been a “playing a pro wrestler vs being a pro wrestler” dude to me, and the clip I saw of tonight came across that way too. Hope he kills it, but I’m a low voter

I agree. And Okada has been generally available. To keep the analogy going, Okada might be Kevin Gausman (not what he used to be, but healthy) while a guy like Adam Cole is Stephen Strasburg. Cole main evented Wembley / Strasburg won a World Series, so I think that analogy works.

Hologram RULES My man is the most Blitzkreig dude ever and I’m all in

The thing I really like about Jacob Fatu is that he has that authentic dangerous vibe about him that someone like Sabu or Abdullah the Butcher had. You can’t teach it, and I was worried the glossy WWE production would ruin it, but it hasn’t so far. He’s one of those guys that sort of sticks out above/beyond the worldmaking of the show as a violent, dangerous dude.

Different tastes and all. I mean, agree Jey needs to deliver in a big singles match, and that’s a huge deal, but 2025 Arn Anderson just won the Royal Rumble. I think that’s awesome. (Maybe Jey couldn’t lace up Arn’s boots, but Arn never yeeted with 60k people either…) (…though that would be amazing)

We probably should talk about this more given that Nikki turned into Shibata by the end of her original run. Not sure who I want to see in the ring with her but I’m in on a Grumpy Old Man Strong Style Bella run

I really dig Jey Uso winning. He’s been the main character of WWE for years, sort of like Hangman in AEW. He has been in and around everything. Deserves it.

I’m only joining that kind of thing if Al Isaacs is running it, personally.

I know I’m not the only one that does the Wolverine Looks At Picture meme of Arcade Anarchy while I’m watching Death Riders bullshit

And yeah I think Harley Cameron is the most multi-talented person to come through wrestling in a few years. It isn’t 2003 Rock level of “yeah..this guy is too good for this”, but it’s kind of like that.

I’d be all for the Hurt Syndicate mercy killing the Death Riders, by the way. Like run a show long angle on Dynamite where to start the show somehow DR costs them the tag titles (Yuta stooging, e.g.) to [whoever]. Then run a flash angle where they clearly don’t know who they messed with, world title challenge accepted, flash title match for Lashley later that night, Lesnar/Cena Summerslam squash, new champ, Death Riders go away for a couple of months, Syndicate are your new top heel act with Swerve, Hangman, Omega chasing

Tony loves show-closing Death Riders bullshit in front of dead crowds almost as much as he loves tournaments Hurt Syndicate was glorious, though

Anyone ever see 2025 MJF and Above Average Mike Sanders in the same place? Believe the kids call it “losing aura”. My man Max is a JAG.

You ain’t lyin. Tony is booking Back to the Future 2 and instead of having the character take the Almanac, Biff goes back in time and…gets a job at the nearest car wash.

Beating a dead, buried, exhumed and buried again horse here, but I have no idea what Tony is doing with this title / main event picture. And I can’t fathom the idea of having “time traveling cyborg returning from the glory days of AEW yore” Omega returning and….immediately assimilating back into a feud with Callis. Like what are we doing here?

Between the house metal theme and the taunts, Penta’s debut gave me big “La Parka is the most over guy on Nitro” vibes. And that’s awesome.