RedTwoster

Given the difference in numbers between the two factions, it immediately made me think that the Death Riders would end up bringing in at least one new member. I'd love to see Danielson join their ranks one more time too, but I imagine that's unlikely.

Where have you seen that? Makes sense, I suppose. Puts him in an awkward position should they ever sign his son, though. Has WWE ever been in a situation when one of their head bookers has had to deal with the fact their child is an active wrestler? Obviously Shane McMahon wrestled from time-to-time, but that's not quite the same.

Honestly might be my favourite spot of the year - then there was the speed of that big swing he did, actually insane. The death of PAC has made me consider more closely people like Claudio, who are consistently brilliant yet I had never really thought of them as being one of the best of all time. He absolutely is, though - consistently creative, explosive and exciting to watch. On top of that, I don't watch the guy and think of him as ex-WWE, even though he was very firmly established there. He's really shown his ability in AEW without having to significantly reinvent himself.

I was going to ask the same thing, I don't think Shawn Michaels' NXT has been particularly good, and at times it's veered into proper Vince McMahonery with the kind of gimmicks and skits he'd have gone wild for - Joe Hendry popping out of a fridge when someone said his name and Chase U, for example. Some people probably do enjoy that kind of thing, particularly if they have a nostalgia for 1992-1995 WWE, but it's not for me. It'll be semi-interesting to see who replaces him in NXT, though - I'd have to assume Punk would be the frontrunner if it wasn't for the fact he's still an active performer. But bloody hell, who'd have thought four years ago that we'd be in a situation in which CM Punk was not only back in WWE, but he was a genuine contender for a corporate job in the company. And a Saudi regular.

Thankfully it was brief, which is probably for the best. It’s such a cruel illness. Even though he was 86, but he never seemed that old. Going bald early made him feel kind of timeless. It does suck getting older, everyone you like dies.

Bloody autocorrect!

I couldn't disagree more - they teamed together last time to overcome a greater evil, and the way they built to it, with Swerve admitting he deserved what he got, was magical. The bad blood didn't disappear, but there is and always will be a bizarre somewhat toxic connection between the two. Teaming doesn't make them best friends; rather, it means they accept that no matter what they do and where their careers go, their actions towards one another means they will forever be linked.

It's funny that this is where your mind went, because I had been wondering if Brodido vs. Swerve and Hangman might end up being what happens, with King blaming Hangman for what happened to his partner being the start of longer-term animosity. New Level vs. Swerve and Hangman could absolutely happen - the one thing I don't see happening any time soon, weirdly, is another Swerve/Hangman singles match. It'll happen one day no doubt, but for whatever reason I don't get the impression that's where the story is heading. Perhaps I'm wrong, but I can't see the other four men washing their hands of the pair of them and leaving them to it.

I totally agree with this. Fletcher doesn't feel like a Kane-type challenger, he feels like a star on the rise, much as MJF did when he wrestled Moxley for the belt for the first time, or Hangman when he wrestled Jericho. I wouldn't rule out them doing something shocking and putting the title on Fletcher, although I think it's more likely that a loss will lead to whatever his next steps are with the Callis Family, given his growing detachment from them. I'm already struggling with The Cut, and I'm sure there will have been quite a few people who tuned in this week wondering what happened to The Last Outfit. But fuck, they already reek of that short-lived stable MJF had with Stokely. They give themselves a name so bad, it's dropped just hours later. They add an ice cold tag team to the act and head into a feud with what is now probably the biggest babyface stable in the company without really being established as a dangerous entity themselves. Heck, they're a collection of losers. While The Gunns are a great heel act, the rest of them really struggle with it. I'm trying to cut them some slack given that the rushed nature of this almost certainly stems from the tragic passing of PAC, but I'm not convinced this is going to work. I also hope it doesn't lead to a highly predictable CC in which it's obvious they're leading up to a Moxley vs. Jay White final. On the whole, I really enjoyed Dynamite - and once again, the Mercedes/Marina confrontation was electric. I genuinely don't know what you do with Marina here - as far as presentation and general presence goes she probably is someone you'd want to put the World Title on, but taking the title off Mercedes right now seems like a really bad idea. Whatever the case, I'm really excited about this match. Yeah, as soon as Excalibur said it was main eventing, it felt pretty clear who was winning. I'm glad to see Aminata win, but I still think they have some way to go to establish her at the level she can get to. She's very good on mic, tremendous in ring and has an unmistakable star quality to her, but given how she's been treated up until now, I think they have work to do to build her into the main event wrestler she can absolutely be.

Don’t think there’s a more appropriate thread than this one, for this bizarre nugget (link to wrestlinginc) - according to Conrad Thompson and Fightful, Nick Khan spoke to Vince Russo about returning to WWE. I can’t even criticise him for this one, I’m as intrigued as presumably he is at just how disastrous this would be. Do it, Nick!

Yeah, if I was going wild with it, Omega is a no-brainer. I wouldn't be shocked to see him do it before he retires, but whether he should is another matter entirely. Heck, if it was his retirement year, stacking the competition to have him face some of his greatest rivals would be a great way to go. Then again, maybe the way to do that would be that while keeping it manageable would be to have him win the Owen, then main event All In, wrestling for the World title one last time in his final match, finishing his career in the main event of the show that spawned the company he helped create.

I'd like to pretend it was a clever joke on my part, but I switched the brackets around and forgot to replace him. As punishment for my sloppiness, I've included Roderick Strong instead, softening the blow somewhat by making him my designated loser.

Right, after struggling to do this earlier I'm going to try pull together my brackets. No logic to it other than there being matches and pushes I'd like to see. Blue: Jon Moxley - As reigning champion, he clearly has to be in here. Even if he wasn't, I'd want him included, though. Ilja Dragunov - I'd have him win this group, although I'm not certain I'd have him win the whole thing. Bandido - one of the best wrestlers on the planet, maybe THE best wrestler on the planet. Why wouldn't you include him? Daniel Garcia - I was split on whether or not I'd like him to meet Moxley in the final, or whether I'd want to have them in the same bracket; before settling on this as the more interesting scenario - I'd have the final match of the blue group be Moxley/Garcia, with it also being the decider for which man goes through to the next stage. Garcia wins in an upset. Nick Wayne - He beat Chris Jericho! Of course he deserves a place in the CC. Watching Moxley absolutely maul the little shit would be lovely. Lee Moriarty - One of the most underrated wrestlers on the AEW roster. He's obviously not going to win this group, but I'd have him pick up some big wins, including one over Moxley. If I was in charge, this guy would be in line for a big push in 2027. He can go in the ring, he's very good on the mic and he has a great look. Gold: Hangman Page - He can't win the World title (...for now) but winning the Continental Classic is surely something that should be on his 'to do list' for the time being. He's qualifying from this group. Brody King - He's never had a singles match with Hangman Page, amazingly. Time to sort that out as the two trios team mates come to blows. Takeshita - He wrestled Hangman once, back in 2022 before he was really established - but that's it. Similarly, he's only wrestled Brody King once in a 12-minute match. Kevin Knight - You could argue that last year's CC was Knight's breakout year. I'd have him break out even further by winning this bracket, undefeated. Mistico - I'd love to see what he'd do in a setting like this. The answer would probably be 'lose more than CMLL might like' but still...I'd have him pick up a few big wins. Roderick Strong - *vomits* I'd have him lose every match in under 2 minutes. We'd then have Knight vs. Daniel Garcia and Dragunov vs. Hangman. I think I'd go with a final of Hangman vs. Garcia, with Garcia picking up the win, followed by a Death Rider celebration and the opportunity for Garcia to pay tribute to both PAC and Andy Williams.

If they're going to do it annually, I'd prefer they treat it like classic Survivor Series matches, where it's people in separate feuds teaming up for the sake of this one match; or maybe you have two 'team captains' who draft their teams or something, with some kind of incentive for winning the match, even if it's another trophy. I'd happily do away with it completely though, I hate War Games-style matches. But if they really must...change the format somehow. He's great! He's a brilliant shithead lackey heel, you really want to see him get punched in the face. I think their programming has improved enormously since Rampage died, and I do wonder if it's partly down to Tony Khan not having to spread himself as thinly as he clearly did. Maybe there are other reasons. Collision more than fills the void for me, but if they were to add something new, I'd rather it be instead of ROH, with it being a show on which you see up-and-comers make a name for themselves. A show that gives wrestlers time to find their characters in front of an audience and try out new things kind of like how Dark once did (would The Acclaimed have risen in the way they did without it?)

Yes, but those days are long behind it. Its a bit like No Man’s Sky in that its been fixed and now completely lives up to its initial promise - it’s gone from being a broken mess to objectively being one of the greatest open world games of all time.

I think we probably will. You're right - it clearly was geared towards that, but I don't think it's reliant on Wembley even if that's the reason for its existence. The tournament worked well enough, although there was room for improvement - I like the idea of an early round upset, perhaps even the reigning champion crashing out in the first round - maybe you also add qualifiers in which lower card wrestlers can work their way into contention or something. There's the foundation of a better idea here, I think.

There's an absolutely tremendous sale on the Switch/Switch 2 e-store right now. Some highlights... MIO: Memories in Orbit (£11.89, was £16.99) Not every Metroidvania has to be soulslike. This one is. However, it's also really fucking good. I enjoyed it more than Silksong, and I also thing it's one of the most beautiful looking games in the genre. There are also modifiers that make the game easier, if you want to use them including a pacifist mode which stops enemies from attacking you unless you attack them first (outside of bosses) allowing you to focus on the excellent-but-challenging platforming. The Midnight Walk (£12.49, was £24.99) I don't really understand why this game has flown under the radar in the way that it has. I suppose at its heart it's a bit of a walking simulator, with elements of games like Little Nightmares in it but it's so atmospheric and the Tim Burton-esque visuals are just stunning. I felt really engrossed by the world it thrusts you into, which has a twisted dark fantasy style to it - it's a really good Halloween game actually, and for this price I'd not hesitate to recommend. Vampire Crawlers (£7.99, was £9.99) Not a huge discount, but this is one of my favourite games of 2026, so I'm going to include it. If you hate deckbuilders, don't be put off. I hate them, but this is a very creative twist on the genre that really feels like a Survivors game while simultaneously feeling very different. I've ploughed hours into this and it's the kind of thing you can pick up in between games for a quick run or two (...or ten) and have a lot of fun with. If you like Vampire Survivors, I suspect you'll also love this. I certainly did. Cyberpunk 2077: Ultimate Edition (was £59.99, now £23.99) It may well be cheaper on other systems, I'm not sure - but this is one of the most incredible ports I've ever seen and is now my favourite way to play Cyberpunk. For £23.99, you're getting the main game and its lengthy DLC and it's portable. I still find it absolutely wild that I can play this on a handheld system. The physical version contains the game on cart, so given the size of the download that may be a better option for you - but still, it's a great price for an incredible port. Tales of Arise - Beyond the Dawn Edition (£22.49, was £44.99) The best Tales game in quite some time, with an interesting premise and very fun gameplay. If you're unfamiliar with the series, it's an action JRPG where you play a slave in a metal mask, whose identity is unknown (even to him...yup, it's that old amnesia trope) who teams up with a woman who can't be touched without inflicting pain on the person who touches her. While there are cliches, the story kept me playing it an I enjoyed my time with it quite a lot. Some of the later bosses have ludicrous amounts of HP, but don't let that put you off if you're a fan of this genre. Crystal Project (£8.24, was £10.99) An open world JRPG with an emphasis on exploration more than it has on storytelling. And one person made it, which is quite incredible. It's light on story, but I had a lot of fun with this - I think there might be a demo of it too, which will give you an idea as to whether or not you'll gel with it. It's just a fun game with a large world to explore and plenty of things to do. It's kind of unique and I'm surprised no one else has tried to make a game like this. There are loads of other great discounts too on games like Indiana Jones, Oblivion Remastered and Orbitals - it's well worth browsing the shop before the sale ends. EDIT: One more add, as I've just noticed it's on sale: Small Saga (£11.99, was £14.99) It's small in every sense - the main character is a mouse and the game itself is under 10-hours long. It's a turn-based RPG with a nice little story, beautiful visuals and a very manageable run-time. The face I've edited my post to include it should tell you that I really enjoyed it. I will say that there's little challenge to it, but that wasn't a negative in my book, I'm not always looking for that. Well worth your time.

I suppose it's difficult at this point in that the CC is now established, and people love it. We're all buzzing about it here and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't invested in the outcome. If you change things up and make it about winning a trophy, do they then ditch the belt? I'd be fine with it being defended in the Continental Cup and in the CC and not outside of that. I don't even know if there's value in making the CC for a World Title shot, given that, because of the timing, it couldn't be at their biggest show of the year, All In, which could, I suppose, make the CC feel less significant. They've done something really weird here in that they've created a tournament everyone loves, with a prize that people aren't particularly invested in.

And only one goalkeeper, ever.

I was thinking that - it would be fun to see him have one last run as a heel before, in a complete role reversal, Christian Cage returns as an arsehole babyface to bring his career to a close. Whatever happens, I really want one final Copeland/Christian match to be the thing that brings his career to an end, it feels far more appropriate and emotional than any other possibility. And they've had some strong matches together in AEW, there's no doubt in my mind that it would be really good. Yeah, as soon as there were rumblings of a continental cup, I assumed that's exactly what was going to happen this year - the addition of a second annual tournament hadn't crossed my mind! 100% this - I'd love to see The Bucks take part in separate brackets this year. Watching them wrestle a run of singles matches would be really fun, giving us matches we've never seen before.

This is a brilliant summary of Jay White's heel mic work. He also has a tendency to say something, seemingly finish his thought but add another few words at the end that extends the sentence unnecessarily. He also brought elements into his promo I felt detracted from it. The misogynistic comment about Marina Shafir completely undercut her at a time she didn't really need it. She's feuding with Mercedes Mone right now, so you don't need someone telling her to drop the 'act' and smile more. The reason Marina works so well is that she doesn't feel like an act, she's genuinely terrifying and everyone has treated her as such - face or heel. It's the cheapest of cheap heat. The Last Outfit was a terrible name that made little sense, The Cut is equally bad. What does it even mean? They're great, I don't think they've ever had a bad match in AEW, and they've had great matches against teams you wouldn't think were capable of that. I do wish they'd do something different with a best of five series or two out of three falls every so often, and have someone win in a clean sweep rather than split it evenly. Watching FTR cope with that kind of defeat would have been really interesting given how dominant they typically are.

Yes, I’m so used to ‘wrestling bollocks’ being applied quite justifiably to WWE bollocks, whereas I thought this was really well done! I’m glad you enjoyed it, but you’d have had every right not to! Is it just me who plans a firework celebration and has t-shirts made every time I get one over on a colleague, then?

I think it’s easy enough to explain away. He had his driver pull up beside the truck deliberately so he could do all of that. As far as the t-shirt goes, it was only a surprise to the viewers, clearly everyone else knew about it. The pyro wasn’t magic, Wayne had organised it all because he’s an arrigant prick - how else would the cameraperson know to be there when he arrived? Wrestling can be full of logic gaps, but I don’t think there were any here!

I bloody miss Eddie Kingston. Now that it's clear his lack of visibility is a choice he has made himself, I'm optimistic that one day he'll feel ready to be in a more prominent position. Totally off topic, but Eddie Kingston vs MJF and Eddie Kingston vs Swerve Strickland are probably the biggest dream feuds AEW could possibly offer me.

I wouldn't be surprised if New Level were the two that pitched it - they must be loving the freedom to go absolutely insane after spending that much time in a toned-down environment. I honestly can't wait for this match, I'm so excited and I never thought I'd say that about a Texas Death match!