Kev

Not disputing this in any way, but just wanted to highlight how utterly bizarre it is that they’re seemingly gearing up to really get behind Seth (after a decade+ of him consistently being a borderline top guy at minimum). If we factor in some accounting for longevity (e.g. Jinder doesn’t count cos he was a quickly forgotten, failed 6 month experiment), I genuinely think Seth may be one of their worst main event guys ever.

Geordie here. All of this is fair, no complaints. I’ve always kind of hated Pac’s constantly in gear thing, it feels like such a silly unrealistic detail, particularly in the context of Death Riders. But until @SturmCRF mentioned it, I’d never made the connection between that and the always topless Geordie stereotype. Now, I think it may be genius. I’m quite down on Pac as a character, but if he could channel even a small % of that archetype into his work, he’d be one of the best acts on tv.

I think another little wrinkle to the Hangman run-in at the end is that it teases Page as a potential game-changer on the face side. Although he’s lost his way since Swerve, he’s always been one of those “heart of AEW” type guys. There’s still hints of righteous intent to his character; seeking vengeance for perceived wrongs. So it isn’t a huge stretch to think that he’d perceive his old enemy, Moxley, running roughshod over AEW as a wrong that he needs to right. We’re not there yet, but that feels like it should be a big moment they’re building to. It’s like they’ve got the option of logically inserting Stonecold into the nwo storyline (obviously, the AEW sides of that analogy are nowhere near as over as the originals). Although they continue to fail to thread the needle on a lot of details, I’m still hopeful on this Death Riders story and I like the increasing sense of chaos and interweaving of feuds. The addition of a few bigger names into its vortex is hopefully a step in the right direction.

@username mentioned that the Cole/Matthews match seems to have been quite widely negatively received online. I suspect some of that has to do with Cole so overtly being positioned in the role of defiant babyface overcoming the odds, which is typically associated with the type of non-workrate friendly top WWE stars that your stereotypical workrate-epic-loving smark (who presumably make up a sizeable portion of Cole/AEW’s fanbase) are predisposed to dislike. Now, I’d actually argue that this is consistent with how Cole has worked for a long time (excessive nearfalls and shows of resilience, etc.) but it was previously done under cover of ostensibly being a sneaky heel. Despite the obvious super-indie influences, Cole is a very WWE-ified worker in many ways. There used to be a criticism of WWE for booking moments rather than telling stories (before the current wave of ‘this is cinema’ positivity), and I think that kind of encapsulates Cole’s work. The Matthew’s match had the big moments (ignoring the doctor’s orders to fight on and then the big 1 count kick out to demonstrate that he’s not fragile/still has the old Adam Cole in him). But the moments felt unearned in the context of the story they built around them (and considering they blew through these in his first match back). Cole is largely terrible at the context and detail, a big part of that being that he doesn’t project credibility. And yes, that includes his physique. He doesn’t look physically imposing or even like an in-shape athlete. That, in itself, isn’t an issue if you can project credibility elsewhere (ZSJ being a good example of that). But, it’s never really clear why Cole is supposed to be a good wrestler; he’s not a flyer, he’s not powerful, he’s not a technician/tactician (which is what he should be), etc. He’s maybe supposed to be a striker, but all he has is a few kick variations that he spams, which mostly look shit (he doesn’t get full extension on his superkicks and the boom finisher should be a devastating killshot but usually looks like a floaty video game animation). The Matthews match kind of laid this bare as Matthews looked more credible in every way, but Cole basically just blew off all the work to beat him while never looking like he’s better than Matthews at any aspect of wrestling. I’d suggest this should have been an opportunity for Cole to build himself as a sympathetic, resilient, and resourceful face; sneaking out a win by outsmarting his opponent. Instead he just defaulted to his same old spots and relied on contrived big moments to do the storytelling for him. The whole botched devil angle is a good metaphor for Cole as a worker; the broad strokes kind of make sense, but it all falls apart if you’re paying attention to the details in between.

MJF/Ospreay kept me entertained, but I’d definitely share @Zimbra’s criticism. For a match that went an hour, I’m not sure there was much of a narrative weaved in there, it felt a bit stitched together. The arm selling was really well done in parts, but also largely inconsequential. I was a bit disappointed that we got MJF’s big match, proving he can hang with the workrate guys routine. I’d have liked him to lean further into sneaky, dastardly shit to really cement this latest turn. There was a line in his heel turn promo about him destroying his body for you people, so him still doing that with the big table spot felt like a missed opportunity. I’d have loved a fake out and something like a “I don’t do that shit anymore”. He should ditch any high spots that’ll pop the crowd, that’s what the babyface is there for.

That Naito-Mox match should be enough for TK to put the Forbidden Door concept on ice for a couple of years. I know little to nothing of Naito and I’m assuming he’s washed now, but whatever appeal he might have had is non-existent now. Him being the best they have to give the rub of the Mox win doesn’t reflect well on NJPW. AEW’s existence over the last couple of years has sort of negated the need for FD as a standalone show, and NJPW really don’t have enough stars with any buzz for it to be a ‘dream match’ show anymore. That said it was still a decent show. All the other singles matches delivered to some extent, although the multi-mans were skippable filler.

Yeah, all the wording suggests this isn’t going to be Punk-related, just something to link into the FTR match. So they’re not technically doing a bait and switch as they’ve never actually mentioned Punk (or even said something like ‘footage of the altercation’). But it will definitely feel like a bait and switch (and they’ll only have themselves to blame). I think this would have been a perfectly fine *wink-wink* heel bit for the Bucks if they did the tease during the show, a couple of minutes before showing the footage. But it feels like they’ve backed themselves into a corner doing it like this.

I don’t understand a lot of the American sports references above so I could be mistaken, but are commentators being conflated with pundits here? Because hot take artist/heel pundits definitely do exist in real sports and are largely insufferable. But they kind of make sense in punditry as opinion is the entertainment in that setting, so the heel role creates a conflict to play off. But punditry isn’t the same as commentary. In real sports, commentators are mostly neutral, they’re not the primary entertainment, their role is to serve the action. Which is why I’d argue the heel commentary role mostly doesn’t work, as it’s often a distraction from the actual entertainment and just comes off as the commentator trying to get themselves over. Established heel continuing their heel character on commentary is fine. Commentator being a heel for the sake of being a heel is largely crap. And Nigel is fine-good about 80% of the time. But, yes, his heel shtick with Danielson and Christian sounds completely forced. Maybe it’s just more obvious as a Brit, but that just isn’t how people from London talk. It’s totally learned behaviour from watching too much WWF/E.

I’ve got no particular desire to see Ziggler in AEW, but I think putting him on the same level as Sydal does him a disservice. His first post-WWE run is still fresh enough that it’s mildly interesting to see him in a different setting, and there’s some name value there to wring out of him; there could be some intriguing matches and a win over him could mean something for some younger guys. I like Sydal, but he has zero credibility at this stage. A win over him is meaningless, there’s no intrigue.

I think this is actually a good route to go down and opens up different avenues. Gunther becoming a double champ means you can sneakily merge his greatest IC champ reign into a world title affair, and I’d argue that would elevate the fairly meaningless Seth belt. If Roman wins at Mania then you can potentially build to a big showdown of the dominant double champs. If Cody wins then there’s another still mountain for him climb still.

No idea who came first. Ventura is the other standard though. I think an updated Heenan/Ventura is pretty much what every heel commentator since is aiming for, but they usually miss the key ingredient of already being a well-established character. It’s like the commentator equivalent of dudes doing 90s puro head drop, fighting spirit stuff without the context that really made that meaningful.

Oh I get it all, it’s just incredibly hacky. I think I’ve mentioned here before that part of my issue is that, as a Brit, I’m overly conscious of other Brits doing such overtly Americanised schtick as it feels hugely forced and inauthentic. And I’d stand by the point that heel commentators are generally an outdated concept. Heenan is usually held up as the standard, but that made a lot more sense as it was an extension of his heel manager character. Nigel doesn’t have that wider role to play up to so what purpose is the heeling serving? I think the ideal modern variation is the heel sympathising commentator, like Taz. He can add heel psychology, explain motivations, etc. while still sounding like a real human and not putting too much attention on himself over the actual wrestlers.

This moment was good. But as a counterpoint, Nigel’s heel schtick is awful. It stinks of toxic WWE commentary from 2018-21ish. There’s no need for a commentator without any storyline background in the company to be making himself such a character. He’s so much better just doing straight colour with the occasional dad joke thrown in. (As an aside, heel commentators generally feel like a relic). I’m slightly more sympathetic if this is leading to a Danielson match. But if that is happening, I presume it’d be at Wembley with him as hometown hero, so the aggressive heeling seems counterproductive. Also, why the fuck has he insisted on running with ‘clam digger’ as an insult? (I’m being semi-rhetorical, I think I get it, it’s just terrible).

I think a variation on this could work, if they want to drag out the story while Cole (and maybe MJF) heal up until a payoff might actually be on the cards. Reveal Brit as the devil tonight with the Cole-adjacent goons, but don’t have Cole directly involved. Then you can transition to a ‘Is Cole in on it?’ arc for a bit.

I noticed that. I think Nigel was actually trying to rein him in. He’s quite good at actually engaging with JR’s grumpiness and forcing some storytelling explanation from it. And it would have made perfect sense here as MJF lost the advantage as he took too long playing to the crowd. But JR just refused to take the bait and quietly seethed instead. Speaking of Nigel, he’s a massive hit and miss for me. Doing straight colour, I think he’s excellent at adding to the in-ring narrative. But I hate his heel commentator schtick, it feels extremely dated and very WWE. As a Brit, I think I’m extra conscious of other Brits doing what feels like very Americanised character work, it comes off completely inauthentic.

I think Solo’s breath spray bit might be some of the worst shtick ever. Is it some sort of reference that I’m not getting? Commentary even did a whole bit on it here and got nothing out of it. It’s pretty much his only character trait and I’ve got no idea what it’s supposed to be. Is he a dude who’s overly self-conscious about his bad breath? That could kind of work if he was doing it sneakily, but the stupid laugh is nonsensical. He should at least have the good grace to spray it in opponent’s eyes to get some use out of it. It just doesn’t work on any level, and he was in there with the king of schtick, whose stuff works on multiple levels. Match itself was fine, I liked Cameron basically calling out the stupidity of the manager distraction trope, in the midst of pulling a manager distraction trope. I think the closing stretch of escalating near falls was the wrong choice though. Solo has zero credibility so there was no tension as a Solo victory was never a realistic proposition.

Not particularly relevant, but this reminds me of a line in Friends where Joey’s feedback from a failed audition is “not believable as a human being”, which is what I think every time I watch Seth Rollins doing character work.

I liked the show, but big agree on the WTF-ness of the Fox turn. They squeezed in 3 story beats (turn, Darby forgiveness, new partner reveal) when they only needed 1 (new partner). I actually like the Christian sub; it was both surprising in the moment yet completely logical, but I feel like this kind of kills any momentum or character arc for Fox. He’s always just been another flashy dude you can randomly throw out for a good match, the heel run was the first sense of him having an actual character and story, but this seems to slot him right back to ‘another dude’ status. Even if he has to take time out, I think they’d have been better off leaving this a bit more open ended. Have Swerve sub him out to his surprise, but without the full turn. Then you can either resume the heel run, with Swerve encouraging him to have more killer instinct, or you use that as the starting point to what we got here with him slipping up consistently, building to the full turn. As it was, it felt completely unearned. There’s easily a couple months worth of story they could have squeezed out of this. I’m by no means a Cole fan, but are we in agreement that him getting the belt and a massive heel turn is the way to go? In terms of building intrigue is this the best angle AEW has done yet? There’s so many directions they could take it and I really don’t know how they’re going to play it.

I’m really more lurker than poster here so not expecting this to generate much interest, but throwing out a shameless plug for my new music blog. Check it out at NoFrillsReviews.com. Links for the various socials on there as well to follow along. Apologies if this isn’t allowed. Cheers.

Just to circle back to the Bryan booking post WM30 chat. Kane as perfectly logical feud and the title run being doomed due to injury anyway are both completely fair points, but I’d still point to the Kane feud as a big backward step at that time. That Mania kind of felt like a potential new dawn - Bryan’s big win, the streak ending, Cesaro (seemingly) breaking out as a singles star and face Shield squashing the old guys (complete with a ‘there goes the Attitude era’ call on commentary). To go from that into a Kane title feud was such a ‘same old shit’ move. Kane is one of those guys that epitomises WWE’s post-WCW staleness for me. Someone who stuck around forever being consistently uninteresting. By 2014 he was at least 10 years past the point of being a credible main event threat (yeah, I know he had title runs between then, but they weren’t on the a-show), And, the ‘Uh-oh Kane is a monster again’ push was beyond played out. In short, Kane sucked and should have been nowhere near the title scene in 2014.

Totally agree on that. Although this talking point tends to get a weird amount of push back on here (for DVDVR I feel like the real Suzuki incident was suggesting they should do a video montage for him). When they’re bringing in YouTube regulars off the bench it just seems like a no-brainer to do a quick highlight reel of them winning, help establish what their finishers are/what is dangerous about them. Doing them as little character pieces with guys like The Gunns obnoxiously commentating over it would be a great touch as well. I really like the win-loss records as a tool to establish credibility BTW. I think the concept has been established enough now that you can start to play off it a bit more, like they did the little trophy thing for Shida’s wins. I like the idea of them playing off the ‘padding records’ thing with a heel taking obviously easy matches to build up a big win streak.

Just had the chance to catch up on this last night. Just skimmed this thread so I’ll probably repeat some talking points. Good show, if a little long. Four hours is just a bit too much for me. I think you could stand to trim a few minutes from multiple matches (and they’d probably be better for it). Mix up the pacing/match structures a bit (if everything is an epic then nothing is epic). And I’d have cut the Cody match from this. Darby/MJF - I really liked this. The big stuff all looked good as you expect from Darby, and there was some really well done counters. I think it made sense that it was worked fairly straight, rather than hate-filled as MJF thought he had a better chance in a straight wrestling match, and Darby was defiant that he wouldn’t let MJF break him mentally and would stick to his usual style (luckily Darby’s usual style is pretty aggressive anyway so there was still enough hate in it). I think this put over that MJF is actually a pretty good wrestler, but maybe a step behind Darby, and it’s his general dickishness (mind games, willingness to cheat) added onto his wrestling skills that make him dangerous. If I was to fault this, I’d say the sequencing towards the end felt a bit-off, having the slightly goofy pin exchange after the big tombstone spot didn’t really work for me. Wasn’t really into the tag title match. I was only half paying attention to the first few minutes so maybe I missed something, but it just felt like there was no structure - no obvious heat segment and no particular story to get into. Plenty of good looking stuff, but it just seemed like one long finishing stretch. It was more FTR plugged into a Lucha Bros match, and I think the opposite would be a lot better. Miro/Danielson - really good, in hindsight it probably worked that the finish was so sloppy looking, sold the danger of what Danielson was doing. Miro is probably the best vulnerable monster around currently and Danielson kind of has the opposite thing going where he’s sort of naturally vulnerable as a smaller guy, but he comes across as a killer and a realistic threat no matter the opponent. Street fight was good fun mostly, maybe could have been a bit shorter, but good finish, and they used plenty of breakups rather than kick outs off big spots. It didn’t particularly bother me here, but it struck me in the MJF match that he’s a much more interesting version of Cole. I’d say the characters/wrestlers are ballpark similar (sleazebag heel, who’s solid-good but no obvious standout skills), but MJF just projects his character into his work much better. Cole will bump big and take a beating, as he demonstrated here, but I find that he generally works far too evenly for a cowardly heel. One example I’ve noticed is his reliance on ‘you charge at me and I’ll kick you’ as his go-to cut off. I think he did that 3 times in this match. It’s just totally uninteresting. Cheat, be more of a dick. Cody tag was solid enough, using the reluctant partners thing to add a bit story, but I just didn’t care. What were the stakes here? Why should I care if PAC and Cody can get along? Neither are particularly likeable ATM. It felt like it was building to an angle, which didn’t happen. Could have done this on TV. And what was with that weird post-match attack of Cash getting in like 2 shots? I do think there’s interesting things you can do with Cody as heel who thinks he’s a face, but this isn’t it. It feels like it’s in limbo ATM, it needs to be better defined. I don’t think any of the other guys benefited from being involved in this. There’s a larger narrative being told with Cody but it almost seems independent of who he’s actually in there with. Womens title was a match. I think the thing about Conti being hugely improved/WWE dropping the ball on her has been overstated. I like when she leans into the more unique looking judo throw stuff, but still a way to go to put it all together. Her shocked face after every kick out throughout the match was pretty annoying (as an aside, that should mainly be a heel trait to sell the toughness of the face, not the opposite). And that’s kinda my main criticism of Baker, similar to Cole and in spite of her cheating, she works too strong for a coward heel. She kicked out of both of Conti’s finishers here, plus the new potential finish of the Gotch piledriver (making it feel a bit anti-climactic straight off). Punk/Kingston was a just a really good fight. This was relatively short but was totally satisfying for what it was trying to do. Selling by both was great and the exhaustion felt much more earned here, despite the comparative shortness. Guerrero spot felt a bit misplaced, but the Cena spot was a great fuck you. Like Punk has earned the right to do that cos, unlike Kingston, he made it and fought stars like Cena. I didn’t actually realise until this started, but having two multi-man street fights was a bit of a daft decision. Working the first 5-10 of this as a straight tag was equally strange, I’d have preferred if they just kept the tag format for this, even if they allowed weapons. Some ok stuff, but a bit of a mess and not as fun as the earlier street fight. I’ve little interest in Jericho and crew currently, the younger Inner Circle guys really need to get away from it. Main was good, I think I’d rate the opener, Punk, and Danielson matches higher though. I was a bit tired at this point so I was maybe a bit less invested. I just hope (and assume) the Bucks bit is leading to a splintering of The Elite rather than a face turn for them.

Just caught up, enjoyable show, some assorted thoughts. Punk Fish was really good. I thought the almost kick-out made perfect sense. Little touches like that, and Punk’s flying elbow off one leg, were the low-key highlights for me. I actually prefer Punk’s long tights look, for whatever reason I think it adds to the whole veteran vibe he has now. I didn’t really get them signing Fish, but I think his presentation has been great and he’s brought it. I think it’s another bit of really smart booking, having guys like him and Spears as mid-card JTTS means it isn’t always your future stars taking these losses. I’ve enjoyed Sammy’s title matches so far and this was again solid. He seems to have reined in some of his finisher overkill tendencies recently. As a face character though, he’s not really working for me since the initial stuff as a foil in the MJF-Inner Circle feud. It feels like he’s playing dress up in Jericho’s weird biker gang fantasy with the leather vest, and he still gives off a cocky little prick vibe more than anything else. I like the idea behind the Cody promo. Him maintaining that he’s a hero as the fans rebel against him is kinda where I’d go with this, but the execution here was too on the nose. I mostly enjoyed the main. In amongst Ghostbusters, donkeys and everything else - the thing I found the goofiest was Uno’s stupid ‘ref catches the leg’ neckbreaker. That’s a cute idea that should never have become a signature spot. Seeing Knox cluelessly shuffling into position telegraphed it even more.

Raw 2 June 97 Taker promo with Bearer, Bearer basically telling Taker that he’s in charge now. Bearer got a bit less hammy around this point and it was needed. Fuck Yeah! Sid is back. I thought he was done. He wants his Mania rematch tonight. Faarooq out as an afterthought to remind us he’s challenging at the ppv. Nice video package on Ahmed and Farooq’s never ending feud as they face off again. It’s decent enough but quickly breaks down with NOD/Taker interference, big brawl doesn’t result in a dq and Ahmed takes a pretty sick looking bump into the steps during the melee, allowing Farooq to roll him in for the pin. Ahmed gets a choke slam post-match after getting in Taker’s face. I still like Ahmed after seeing him a fair bit now on these Raws, probably best that his matches were kept short, but he bumps well and has nice explosive offence. I think this probably signals the end of him as an upper mid card threat. Bret announces that his KOTR match with HBK is off. This leads to more HBK/Austin arguing and they’ll now face each other at KOTR. There’s nothing classic here but Austin is great at this point. I think I said this in a previous recap, but just 100% in on his character, everything about him seems believable. Owen vs. Bob Holly for the IC title. This comes after Holly upset him in a non-title match a couple weeks back, they kinda killed this mini-story arc though by having Holly lose to D’Lo last week. It’s a nice little sprint, for the second week running Holly goes to the well too many times with the Frankensteiner and gets caught with a powerbomb leading to an Owen win. Another never ending feud reprise as it’s HHH vs. Goldust back for another instalment. This is good for the short time it gets, quick pace and intensity puts over the rivalry. Miscommunication from H and Chyna leads to a Goldust roll up win. I think keeping the full-on Goldust presentation was a mistake after they did the ‘reveal’ in the sit down interviews. I feel like the psychology of the Goldust character was kind of lost once they ‘humanised’ him, I’d have toned down the makeup/bodysuit and generally just tried to make him less gimmicky. I think that would have given him a better chance higher up the card. Tag Titles - LOD vs. Austin/HBK - the start of this is really good as Hawk overpowers HBK a few times until Austin is like ‘Fuck this’ and jumps in to start a brawl, which LOD again get the better of. Austin briefly gains control, showing he’s not afraid to heel it up with an eye poke and a low blow. LOD overpower them again, and that actually leads to some Austin/HBK teamwork as they realise the challenge they face, and they’re very much in the heel role here. They do an interesting variation on the ‘ref doesn’t see the face tag’ bit as Animal accidentally shoulder blocks Hebner as he charges in. This lets Austin hit Hawk with the belt, but only for a 2. Inevitably, it’s a fuck finish as Austin and HBK end up brawling with each other to a count out as the Hart Foundation lurk on the outside. Really enjoyed what we got, but once again it’s disappointing that an interesting match is cut short. The storytelling across shows in terms of building feuds is good, but the matches are too often a temporary distraction rather than really being part of the story and telling satisfying stories in their own right. Mankind sit down focusing on Cactus Jack and death match stuff, once again really good. This is maybe the best example of WWE using someone’s actual backstory and non-WWE history to help get them over. Obviously it helps that it was Foley, but when you see it done so well here it’s almost bizarre that historically and even to today, they tend to have such an aversion to this sort of stuff. KOTR qualifier - Savio vs. Mankind - this is pretty good, we get 2 Mankind bumps on the ramp and Savio almost overshoots a big dive to the outside within the first minute. It breaks down a bit at the end, with Mankind winning after Crush accidentally hits Savio with the heart punch (to the face). Crush and Savio brawl post-match as I think this version of the NOD is about to split off into Gang Warz. Sid vs. Taker. Surprisingly this ends clean with Taker pinning Sid in about 5 mins. A forgettable NOD attack post-match, again doesn’t particularly feel like it positions Farooq as a serious threat and it’s weird timing after they literally just did NOD in-fighting last segment. The match itself was worked pretty evenly, but such a quick, clean loss sorta feels like a burial for Sid considering almost every big Raw match ends on some sort of non-finish during this period and they immediately did a run-in at the end still anyway.

Raw 26/05/97 Austin/HBK with a quick in-ring promo hyping the tag title match, ends in a face off with LOD. That’s a match I didn’t know I wanna see. LOD vs. Pillman/Neidhart. The few minutes we get is enjoyable enough, but it ends on a run-in and a big brawl. Austin/HBK end up fighting again, I think this might be (one of) the first iterations of the ‘tag partners who don’t get along’ trope. I actually don’t mind it when it’s in the context of two top guys with common enemies. Later, Austin is attacked in the back by Pillman, Owen, and Bulldog. Off camera, it appears the same has happened to HBK, which leads to more arguing as HBK accuses Austin of not having his back. They’re laying it on thick, but it works as it’s basically the Hart Foundation playing their enemies off against each other. I think it’s a Raw in-ring debut for D-Lo, with no particular explanation of who he is, having previously been a nameless background member of NOD. He’s facing Sparkplug, who’s fresh off upsetting Owen last week. Holly stupidly cuts off some crowd participation by stopping his corner punches at 5 as he gets the early shine. This is a fun little sprint though, with Holly going for a Frankensteiner (having hit one earlier) but getting caught with a powerbomb for a D-Lo win. This is mostly there for Vince and Farooq on commentary to go back and forth on the race card shit. Segues into a quick Taker promo who basically dismisses a question about Farooq to hype his stuff with Bearer. Nothing in the build is making me want to see Taker vs. Faarooq, total filler title defence. Lawler then cuts the promo where he calls Goldust a f*g. There’s also a really shitty line about their daughter as well. I always considered King as mostly a comedy heel in WWF, but he’s actually a real piece of shit (the Jake alcoholism stuff in 96 is pretty bad as well). It’s weird, it almost seems more unnecessary because he was pretty much irrelevant by this point, not someone they really needed to get heat on. Lawler vs. Goldust. The crowd is mostly in favour of King here (which they explain as Indiana being Lawler territory due to USWA) and, again, it feels like that makes the pre-match promo more ill-judged, presumably knowing Lawler would get support. Lawler actually wins with feet on the ropes, Goldust then gets some shots in post-match. In a vacuum, the actual match was good, but completely counter-productive doing it in front of that crowd. Flash vs. Rocky. This is slightly directionless but there’s some decent back and forth including a nice counter sequence into the, still not a finisher, Rock Bottom. Anyway, it’s mostly a sideshow to the Headbangers coming out to join commentary and generally being dorks. They end up attacking both men, which the ref basically lets happen, leading to Rocky winning off a crossbody. More Mankind sit down stuff. There’s a bit about his balls swelling up like grapefruits (that’s a McMahon favourite isn’t it) after a hockey accident and it being the only time in high school that girls paid attention to his genitals. It got a smile out of me, I’m 33. They also talk about Snuka at MSG, lay the foundations for Dude Love, there’s a Mrs. Foley’s baby boy reference and they show various home video clips. This is all pretty significant backstory in building Foley’s legend. Good stuff. There’s a Hart Foundation promo, which includes Pillman seemingly hyping a match with Austin, but I don’t think there’s ever been any announcement about that happening. Vader vs. Ahmed. I liked this, although it felt too short. Some slightly sloppy striking as they do a sequence where Ahmed is ducking Vader’s punches, but it kinda works as two big men trying to throw and avoid quick strikes probably should be a bit sloppy. Ahmed hits a spinebuster outta nowhere for the win as Vader was in control. HHH vs. Rockabilly in a random heel heel matchup. They’re still playing up the Greenwich blue-blood stuff during HHH’s entrance, I thought that had pretty much been ditched by this point. Seems strange coming so close to DX forming. HHH wins off a pedigree, after Chyna slams Honky on the outside. The work here was fine, but it was heatless, weird booking choice. Austin/HBK vs. Owen/Bulldog. This is good, hot crowd, worked at a fast pace with plenty of hope spots and big cutoffs so it never feels like there’s any letup. Finish is a bit abrupt though as HBK hits the kick and Austin pins Buldog as we get new champs. I would have liked them to let the moment breathe to feel a bit more meaningful, but there’s an immediate post-match attack instead. That does lead to a nice moment though as, rather than save HBK, Austin uses this as his chance to get Bret one on one and attacks his previously injured leg. There’s been some Bearer shit a couple times through the show, promising to reveal his secret if Taker doesn’t ‘come back’. And the show closes on Bearer almost revealing, but Taker seemingly goes back to him by taking the knee. This stuff isn’t doing much for me, knowing it’s still a good few months before we get to Kane’s debut. Plenty of good stuff on this show, but also feels like plenty of inconsequential stuff. I wish some of these matches were given more time, there’s a lot of interesting combos but too much is done within a few minutes or with some kind of fuck finish.