DCW

1. Cactus Jack vs Triple H- Royal Rumble 2000 I'd been watching off and on since mid 99, when WWF seemed to take a stronghold in popularity in primary school. The tragic death of poor Owen Hart seemed to help drive interest in it, strangely enough. I'd noticed Foley via his promos and a completely different look/style compared to the majority of the WWF roster (me being a weird, chubby 12 year old helped on that front!) and the build-up to Royal Rumble 2000 made me a fully-fledged fan. I stayed up and watched semi-live (thanks Channel 4!) and was basically hooked completely from there until 04 or 05 when my interest waned as the show got terrible & I discovered alcohol & women. 2. The Rock vs Triple H- Backlash 2000. Should have been the main event of Mania 2000, but nevertheless it was still a cracking buildup, match and finish. A beer-gutted, neck still healing Steve Austin making his big return, blowing up the DX Express and waddling out to clatter everyone with awkward-looking chair shots to help Rocky be crowned as THE top new babyface was brilliant. Again, another Channel 4 showing which helped, as our Sky was regularly cut off in those days. I got a 'Layeth the Smacketh Down' t-shirt in Forbidden Planet soon after. 3. Rob Van Dam vs Jeff Hardy- Invasion 2001 I was all for the invasion angle at the time. A slighly older crowd in school had a VHS of Heat Wave 2000 where RVD wrestled Scotty Anton that I'd been given a lend of and RVD became my new teenage, smarky Power Slam reading favourite. This match was like nothing I'd seen on WWF TV before. RVD was charismatic, cool and could do amazing things like the rolling thunder, van daminator and the epic frog splash. Really great, and violent match with no real build, but it didn't matter cos RVD was cool as fuck & won the hardcore title, while the rest of the invasion crew were being jobbed out. Another Channel 4 special, as we were still poor! 4. Kurt Angle vs Brock Lesnar- Wrestlemania 19 I loved Angle at the time and was so looking forward to this match. I thought we'd get a screwy finish or a really quick squash because of all the rumours about how bad Kurt's neck was. But the mad bastard went and had a great match with a rookie who didn't know his own strength or limitations, as evidenced by the botched finish. Really enjoyed this match and it was the final Mania where I can still remember the entire card from top to bottom. We had a dodgy box by this stage, so could watch live on Sky. 5. CM Punk vs John Cena- MITB 2011 The 'pipebomb' promo & the forgotten contract signing the week after with Vince & general intrigue about what Punk would do hooked me back in & I was glad it did. Excellent match, the right outcome & made a proper star out of Punk, even if he never quite reached these heights again in my opinion. I'd always check back on whatever Punk was up to after this and dip in and out of it piqued my interest.

Bryan/Osperay was excellent, even with the slightly duff finish. Enjoyed Pac/Okada and the main event did what needed to be done to keep Strickland moving forward. As not a regular watcher of AEW, why was Jericho in his auld ECW getup? he's AEW's version of Xpac in 2001 in any event anyway. Really should head off on an extended world Fozzy tour for a while at this stage.

Or wrestlers could stop hitting each other in the head with chairs altogether. It is already rare enough on TV these days, thankfully. Wrestlers doing it on the indies or small part-time shows are utter idiots for still agreeing to do so.

What a pointless thing to hype. It confirmed Punk's story pretty much & made AEW look incredibly small time. Imagine WWE hyping & then airing 'controversial' footage of Danielson or Edge to no real end, after they both had left the company. TK shot himself in the foot for no payoff whatsoever. He really needs someone to give him a reality check and nudge him back to what his initial vision of AEW was at this stage.

If they are releasing the actual footage then this just makes TK look incredibly petty and thin-skinned. Also, couldn't choose a worse time to do it, considering WWE have just come off an incredible Mania weekend both commercially and artistically. If it's a swerve, its loltna levels of embarrassing shite. So goosed either way. Should focus on filling his arenas and making use of all the stars he's paid handsomely to take off WWE's hands instead.

Well, I fecking loved all that. WWE giving fans exactly what they want still feels so alien after the last decade or so of mean-spirited misery. Delighted for Cody & Roman. Fair play to Rock as well, he's really put in a shift these last few months when he absolutely didn't have to. Great stuff. Love the ring announcer too.

Ospreay is already too big a star for AEW, unless he enjoys performing in front of 12 lads and TK. Cheques are being signed I suppose. Mone is showing why WWE weren't arsed about keeping her/she'd already peaked. Dull on 2nd week in.