Iron Moose

this is the kind of analysis I really dig. I do think the venue setup is uniquely unusual, but yeah, a lot of things felt a bit off.

Ava should draft Dwayne, be told he's not available, and then stare into the distance and mutter "... no, he never is. " And then everything continues as expected.

Roxanne, through no fault of her own, strikes me as a real challenge to pull up to the main roster. I think another few months in NXT to figure out a synthesis of her current edge with faceness would help her a lot. I think the struggle is in finding a balance between regressing her character to be easier for a big audience to get to like and follow, versus bringing her up with her current, snarkier outlook. Witness the main roster struggles of KC2, Candice and Indi and Team Kick - a big part of why I think they've had trouble connecting is that a lot of their character development (that situates their current personas in opposition to their previous selves) happened years ago, effectively offscreen.

Meanwhile, on LVL UP: Riley Osborne d Kale Dixon - I will assume this was flippy and competent but I'm too tired for it right now. Karmen Petrovic d. Wren Sinclair, in another really solid base performance from Wren, possibly the best Petrovic has looked outside of her very chippy series with Lola. I think this suffered a bit from being face-face and I'm not sure what Petrovic is going for with her makeup, but she has some great kicks and counters. The commentary re Wren's Harry Potter fandom was off-putting and infantilizing, which seems to be happening more and more as the NXT Women's division skews younger, but that's a concern for another time. Hank & Tank d Javier Bernal and Drake Morreaux in a very big, dumb, fun display of horseplay.

Last time she was concussed she was out of action for quite a while, and shortly after she won the Rumble she had an interview where she spoke about her knees being in really bad shape. Last week, during the Liv backstage attack, she had her other forearm in a brace of some sort. It could be a lot of things, I guess. Anyway, they also announced that next week there's a battle royale to name the next women's champion. Not sure who they go with, but given the impending draft I'm hoping NXT gets a few people in the mix.

This also applies to Jacy's sudden re-heeling, turning away from Thea (when they were a genuinely fun team against Chelsea and Piper) and towards Jazmyn, and what seems like the plug being pulled on Thea/Riley.

it's also paternalistic, and a big part of Thea's character since the towel was thrown in has been asserting her independence.

Ruca/Davenport ended up being a very able Face Guts It Out performance, but I am a bit disappointed because I think the story called for Fired Up Face Loses Because They Stop Themselves From Going To A Dark Place. Blair shoved nine months of Sol's life into rehab and physio - I feel like starting mad or starting cold would have been preferable to the slower build we got. Wren continues to do lots of little things right; Grace's character work continues to delight. I hope Dolin's OK.

Solid episode overall. Nyx held up her end and it looks like we're building to a big tag with Kiana/Izzy/Jacy and Kelani/Fallon/Thea. If they pull in Nyx I guess the faces can bring in Brinley or Wren? Trick has IT. For the sake of Sol's character development I really hope she doesn't come out smiling next week and do her entire entrance routine. The story calls for anger. Stacks' match essentially being a kamikaze mission to hurt Ilja's chopping hand was smart.

Guest Ref Punk was an intriguing part of the journey, such that feels like it undermined the eventual Special Guest On Commentary destination. it was like the sound chip on the talking The Rock doll got stuck between "look at you now" and "MAMArhodes" Also if Mama Rhodes doesn't slap The Rock real hard during 'mania (or I guess whip him with the belt?) what are we even doing here

Shayna tries to get involved: And Punk enters the conversation (well, at least two conversations at once)

Meanwhile, on LVL UP WATCH THIS MATCH: Tavion Heights d. a debuting Saquon Shugars. Both look amazing here. They make a waist-lock takedown look DEVASTATING. Shugars actually makes a bit during a drop-down exchange look good, does some unusual diving elbows and legdrops, takes an incredible high back body drop and Heights does like nine straight gutwrenches and his throws look superb. Jaida Parker d. a debuting Lainey Reid. Lainey is described as a former hurdler with rodeo experience, "polite, respectful, and charming" and has some low-energy country twanging as entrance music, so I'm a little wary. Reid does Michaels' turnbuckle flip pretty well, and has a nice recovery from a diving sunset flip that goes a bit awry. This picks up a bit once Parker starts trash-talking; her striking is uneven but buoyed by her crowd work. Reid's small package is tighter than Carlee Bright's, but not as nice as Gigi Dolin's. It looks like she tries to finish with a kneebreaker out of the corner, but Parker seems to counter it and hits a... jumping leg lariat? running Famous-er? to win. OK overall. Eddy Thorpe d. Uriah Connors. Uriah, formerly Brogan Finlay, has a weird combination of high ponytail, cutoff jacket and tiny pants, making him seem somewhat unlikable. This is worked with a surprising level of parity until a successful Connors dive... after which Thorpe regains control for a bit, which seemed odd. Connors has some brief runs of nice offense before Thorpe puts him down with an elevated DDT. This was also fine! Doesn't feel likely that whoever Connors hits next gives him as much as Thorpe did here.

pre-Mania, he beat Sami after a bunch of bloodline melodrama at Elimination Chamber. pre-Elimination Chamber, he beat Owens at the Rumble with some distractions from Sami, and then we got some bloodline melodrama after. pre-Rumble, the bloodline won war games at Survivor Series. pre-Survivor Series, he beat Logan Paul after Bloodline interference at Crown Jewel. pre-Crown Jewel, he beat Drew at Clash at the Castle when Solo debuted. pre-Clash at the Castle, he beat Lesnar at Summerslam after a whole lot of interference (Bloodline and Theory) Very much same old same old.

With apologies for putting this into the universe: what if he cashes in during the tag?

He's done it a few times in NXT.