Mr.Showtime

With Adam Cole saying "Don't worry, I've got this" to Strong more than once a while back, then positioning himself for a title shot, and with no physical contact between Cole and Strong yet etc., it seems obvious to me that we end up with Cole with the title and Strong and the Kingdom as his lackeys.

I did enjoy the trampoline segment, and I haven't seen any RVD stuff since he left WWE so it was a treat to watch him back in action again, but I don't remember too much else right now. I wish Hangman had more to do, what a waste...

The Swerve segment was amazing. What a bastard.

I'm so glad I stopped looking at wrestling twitter about 6 years ago. To me, they're characters on a TV show and that's that.

I'm not a huge FTR fan and don't often pay attention when it's obvious/likely a match is going to be long, but that 2/3 falls last week was something else, I don't know how they put themselves through it.

Yep, I moaned a little in the SmackDown thread about last night's show but I think, I'm guessing, the PPV gave everyone mostly what they wanted, with a few surprises thrown in too. They really are the best at making you feel you're there for something special sometimes, and the dragged-out Roman entrance actually gave me time to sit there and think about the entire storyline - while watching Jey pace around in the ring, and spotting Sami and KO in the stands chatting in an animated fashion about what they were about to see. Again, they all played their parts perfectly.

I think the other highlight for me was the Cena appearance. I've never cared much for him at all, but you couldn't help but get sucked in to the feeling everyone's hometown hero was back in town, and he had nothing but good news to dish out. Grayson Waller waffled on for far, far too long before getting battered, but oh well.

Good stuff and I'm sure it came off great on the telly too. I hope everyone at the show had a fab time 

It wasn't a great show, for me. Very by-the-numbers with little reaction from the performers with the crowd, it just all felt very wooden. And stupid me thought a US title contender's match and a women's title match would last longer than they did - I left during entrances thinking they would go through an advert and missed the entirety of both. (I was being a bit slow to get drinks during the latter, I admit.) But did I think I'd actually missed anything? Nope.

The pre-show match was dull, and the tag title opener was bland considering the talent involved. Oh, and I hadn't listened to Grayson Waller outside of NXT before, but why was he so boring? He almost literally just said there's a PPV coming up, here's Logan Paul, and said nothing of note. Where was the personality? Anyone could have done it. Maybe I missed something. Again.

There were fun parts, of course, and yep the video packages still rule. And tonight will likely be a great watch. I just expected a little more oomph. Do wrestlers not try to rile up the fans while the cameras are off anymore? I suppose if they can just show merch adverts during the breaks it's easier for them.

Oh, talking of merch, did all the stands just have these mostly new London-themed items and a few Reigns or Cody t-shirts? Was there no retro stuff, or even new items featuring a bunch of the other stars that they have? Every stand I saw was very, very limited.

I hope everyone who went had a fun time, and don't be afraid to find a way around the queues this time around! Still looking forward to tonight 

Never thought I would go to another WWE event after WrestleMania 30, but looking forward to five nights in London and the two shows. At SmackDown I'll be the handsome lad in the bWo shirt if anyone wants to say hi. Outfit for the PPV to be confirmed. 😂

20 minutes ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I don’t know why people are getting pissy about Jamie/Toni. Jamie is pretty banged up and needs some recouping before Wembley and Toni finally gets an official title run.

I'm all for short match, or a screwjob-type title switch when the situation requires it, but it was really sloppy because they messed up the pre-match attack, with Hayter having to keep her arm up against the steel steps and telling them to hit it again, and then at the end of the match throwing herself into the exposed turnbuckle.

Weird and unsatisfying is correct!

I thought Jericho and Cole was poor with a dodgy ending; the way the Jade stuff panned out was beyond frustrating; starting with the battle royal didn't work for me (or the crowd I guess) although I liked the last few minutes; and the camera work was shoddy throughout and missed SO much, I felt.

Was the sound all over the place too for other folk? Entrances were hard to hear, the crowd was quiet, and you could hear a bunch of spots being called in-ring and I never usually catch that stuff. I also try not to moan about whatever commentary team they go for, but Jim Ross did not have a good one here.

Maybe worst of all, Jamie Hayter v Toni Storm was atrocious and if they really wanted that outcome to set up London, and with Hayter's injuries, they should have gone down the Christian/Jungle Boy route with a 3 second "match".

The world title match was fun but still suffered from knowing the likely outcome, and the main event was a decent enough watch, with my fave part being the exploding superkick! The rest of the bouts were fine (the tag, trios, and TNT title matches).

Don't wanna overthink it, but are Heyman and Lesnar secretly back on the same page? Heyman happened to pick a stipulation that only Brock didn't qualify for, and he of all people should have known that.

I can't believe I just saw that ending! I was in the arena when Taker lost his streak, and I felt almost the same watching this. What is the plan now? There must be one, right...?

Couldn't find a Hall of Fame thread but just wanted to pop in somewhere that Konnan was bloody great inducting Rey-Rey. Worth a watch, in my opinion

11 hours ago, Gay as FOOK said:

I laughed out loud when Butch jumped onto Gunther as soon as Gunther turned his head toward him.

Me too, it was Gunther's "What are you looking at?" and Butch already leaping over the table at him before the question had barely been finished 😂

I agree with the above, the iron man match was a great watch and it zoomed by. Hangman v Mox was a bunch of fun too, as was the trios match. The rest I didn't pay too much attention to.

You're right, I just can't help thinking that he's pissed off he's not winning more matches. Yet he doesn't seem to do anything about it. It's a stupid thing to focus on, I know!

Best Friends (the Chuck/Trent portion) must be so frustrated, in character at least but perhaps even really? They've been ping-ponging up and down the roster for years, not ever really near the top of the tag division, but striving and working away to the point where finally I thought last week Trent was going to earn them a shot in the title match at the PPV, coming up just short in the battle royal. A week later, and they've been beaten up backstage, replaced by their stable mates, and shoddy wrestler Danhausen and an injured OC grab the same PPV spot with relative ease. Trent always looks pissed off. When is he finally going to do a Wheeler Yuta and send them all packing? I'm not saying he should, and you could do a New Day and have them just go their separate ways while still being best buds, but... oh I'm thinking about this too much.

The Mox promo was superb, what a mad bastard. Enjoyed the short and sweet Danielson/MJF segment at the end too. I'm intrigued to see how MJF skanks his way to a win, and wondering how/why Danielson would just accept it afterwards if he is screwed.

Agree with most of the above about the ladder match (I was so worried about Hobbs at the end too!), the fun commentary, and the opener was a great match. I'm not always on board with Orange Cassidy's shtick but everyone involved, and the crowd, played their part beautifully on this show.

Oh, also laughed at Keith Lee throwing into his promo that he forgot his funny coat this week...!

As mentioned (I think in the opening post), I also got irked with Jarrett's return to WWE a few years back because I couldn't give a toss about his mid-90s track - it was all about Urban Cowboy to me! Him and Debra and Owen Hart just being nobs, and this tune was great. And it reminds me of other Attitude Era stars that Jarrett squared off against, especially the likes of D'Lo Brown, one of my all-time faves. But this track I think is an underrated one as far as WWE themes go.
 

My mate managed to snag tickets to SmackDown and the PPV today for me and some other friends. It's an added bonus for me as I've been living in Vietnam since 2016 and just happened to be coming home for a month in mid-June. The last shows I went to were Mania 30 and Raw the following night and that will never be topped, but it'll be some experience to be at a "proper" PPV in the UK and I don't think I've ever seen a ladder match live either. I'd have been perfectly happy just going to a bar and watching on TV but this will be something fun to look forward to

4, 6, 8, 9, 22

I just watched back the Jericho match for the second time, something I barely ever do. Say what you want about him, when he helps execute a great story in the ring there are not many who can top him. The crowd (and the commentary team) really, really added to it too. Great stuff all round.

Oh and god damn you, Hangman, you beautiful bastard...

I agree the MJF segment was a bit... bleh, but wasn't that their/his point? He spelled it out - they want everyone to go back to hating him. They shouldn't have done all the full babyface teases before the PPV and it's all been a mess, of course, but this seemed part of a reset. Yep, most of us would want to see MJF and Regal together, which is why they're not gonna do it (Edit: Erm, I just realised I don't even agree with my own point, the way I've described it here!). As said above, they've pivoted, probably found themselves in a corner with the Regal stuff (and the Firm before that) and are still scrambling to get back on track. I'm sure things will improve for MJF once he gets past Ricky Starks and has his first big challenger to chase him.

Oh, and insert more Hangman love here. And Jade - except for her segment falling off a cliff. I thought some well-known free agent or something was about to come out to challenge her.

I remember enjoying the NXT war games matches, or the majority of them at least. But I agree that these two were dull, except for the storyline elements in the men's match.

Was that the first time in a while there were only 2 people doing commentary for a WWE show? I don't usually pay too much attention to the commentators and don't get as wound up by them as others do, but there was something off for me with a lack of a third to play off the fairly straight Cole and Graves (Wade Barrett?). They sounded kinda bored. But then I hate Byron Saxton and it would probably have been him, right...

2 hours ago, Supremo said:

Nothing else on this show, in this company or in this entire industry matters compared to the best thing going today, which is the Bloodline. Another absolute top tier segment from the lads. Maybe the best one ever. I thought the T-shirt segment would never be topped, and yet here we are. A genuine rollercoaster of emotions. The drama, tension, excitement, actual gasps from the audience, all topped off when even Jey Uso broke character and started corpsing. Some of the best pro-wrestling television I’ve ever seen. I couldn’t stop smiling. This thing is a masterpiece. Looking forward to the skit where Sami legally changes his name.

I'm SO glad I caught this, it was amazing. The segment came after the opening match, check it out if you can!

Looks like the fight is off because of a failed drugs test! Well at least I got to read a fun write-up about it, cheers Wandy.

I noticed the show starting with another Bloodline monologue so I skipped through but looked at the thumbnail thingy as I did, to see if/when Sami would talk. I'm glad I did. Well played by all!

27 minutes ago, BomberPat said:

A typical AEW problem for this show is there was a lot of repetition of key spots, and spots with narrative significance too.

The Trios and Tag Title matches both had a result stemming from someone accidentally hitting their partner, while Jericho/Bryan and Punk/Moxley both featured the non-BCC member doing the BCC signature elbow strike spot, as well as Punk nicking Danielson's stomps 

Oh yeah, and weren't there THREE matches with someone getting spat on? Outrageous.