Iron Moose

between that, the kip-up out of the flying space tiger drop, the backflip out of the poison rana (which is what finished Sol at Heatwave) and the imploding sol snatcher halfway across the ring (because Kelani had the regular snatcher scouted and blocked it two or three times), the OMG WTF SOL contingent was well fed that night. I would also say the struggle for the crucifix bomb and the single-leg crab were less flashy but highlights nonetheless, and both are improving on their strikes and between-move spaces.

... if they're trying to get Lyra over as nu-Becky with a broken nose callback, I don't think it'll work...

... and respond with a bald joke rather than engaging.

Dani Palmer has also been released. From her Instagram post: "It's a bittersweet feeling to be officially closing out my athletic career, but I can truly say I went til the wheels fell off..literally lol. " (she underwent two hip surgeries in early 2024) I enjoyed her performances and thought she had very good intuitions about playing to the cheap seats. She stood out in the NXT gymnast corps by somehow slowing down some of her flips and tricks. I will wonder how she would have fared on main. (she also posted some nonsense conspiratorial things in Instagram stories that she seemed to really believe, so that dampened my willingness to enjoy her performances quite a bit. )

Coming up on NXT: Tatum & Gigi v Lyra & Becky Roxanne v Stephanie

Unless you really like anyone in them I feel like you can safely skip the opener and the Dark State tag, everything else was unambiguously worth it.

They ran a post-show bit of Roxanne harassing the winner of the Women's Championship match. Those two face off on Tuesday. (I don't think it's 'Roxanne turning against Cora' as 'Roxanne is crashing out and Cora puts her out of her misery'. )

... wait, shouldn't Thunder Thighs be Rosa and Statlander?

Harley's being incredible again https://www.instagram.com/aew/reel/DIRioihJtcg/

The math is a bit tricky, but I think it'll be a big tag with MetaGirls, Roxy and (Wren or a loser of next week's qualifier) against Fatal Influence and (a loser of next week's qualifier). I'm guessing we get some combination of Lola, Cora and Karmen, and then ... I don't know. Nikkita or Ariana?

... if it includes unsuccessful Bucks interference to get Hangman more oriented against the Death Riders that's not the end of the world...

I don't think Blair/Bea won any WWE gold either. Nor Thea, nor Jack Cartwheel, but I feel like calling them AEW wrestlers is a bit of a reach. anyway! Broadly agreeing with Elvion, but I think I preferred Roxanne-Kelani over Zaria-Lash. The latter had a few bits that seemed too cooperative or too giving; Roxanne wrestled a really smart match and Kelani mostly held up her end of it. Glad someone else called out the Meiko tribute cartwheel knee. A bit worried that Zar-uca will cost each other the title in the ladder match (and honestly a bit surprised that people like Lola and Cora, who feel like World title contenders, are in the mix for the NA title)

Calling it for tonight's NXT:

quietly dropped last September, I think. Might have had something to do with tweets by a partner alleging that she was abusive.

There's a photo of Giulia at a restaurant with Riley Osborne and Bea Priestly (Blair Davenport) that was posted to Riley/Bea's Instagram Stories in the past day. In that photo, Giulia seems to have one of those knee scooter things next to her (and Riley is in a boot cast, there's a wheelchair in frame, and Riley's caption is "excuse the surgery foot").