Fatty Facesitter

👍 World title business - A show long narrative with actual wrestling as the key driver? Thank you very much indeed, don't mind if I do. I think this was a much tougher execution on Smackdown compared to Raw where you effectively have three hours to let things breathe as opposed to two, but that said, all three matches delivered as a collective. The opener had some nice transitions between the three veterans, the second triple threat was more intense and physical, and the main event closed proceedings in a satisfactory manner with a slow build to a relatively logical finish. AJ vs Seth will be a fitting beginning for the new strap and a match that has tons of potential. Nothing blow-away spectacular during this set of matches, but all perfectly solid between six dependable performers and it made for a strong narrative to tie the show together very efficiently.

👍 Bloodline business - I might be the only person on the forum that doesn’t mind the continuation of the Bloodline saga as it drifts into new territory. I like the direction this is going - at Night of Champions, Roman either continues to add to his overall legacy and as a consequence also further elevates Solo alongside him, which I suspect is what will happen. Or, if KO and Sami retain, it not only further elevates them as they both finally get a proper win over Roman (perhaps via Solo taking the fall or the Usos accidentally fucking it up for them), and then you’re staring at a mad, paranoid Roman who lashes out against the Usos and the whole thing completely implodes and sets a new course/direction for Roman’s plans over the summer, possibly with Roman/Solo taking on the Usos for the straps and then possibly even singles encounters against both for Roman's titles. Whilst it has certainly run for a while, I think if you take Cody out of the equation and look at this purely from a Roman/Bloodline perspective, there’s absolutely still some juice left in this. 

👍 Cameron Grimes/NXT callups - TO THA MOOOOOOOOOOOOON! A perfect introduction not only for Grimes, but in general for the Smackers NXT callups. Yes, Waller, Pretty Deadly and the women’s tag champions only had backstage cameos, but notice how they essentially retained their aesthetic and personas, even their NAMES were kept the same?! Vince lounging around in his skids at home and Hunter in the chair tonight I suspect. That Grimes squash on Corbin was the absolute perfect way to showcase both him and his deadly finisher on Smackers. Waller and Pretty Deadly are going to be such great shithouse heels on Fridays. Love it.

👍 Women’s tag titles - You know what, I’m in a good mood this morning and I didn’t see a lot wrong with this. Match was fine especially considering they had a tough spot on the card right before the main event, it further teased dissension the ranks with Damage CTRL, and they teased with the NXT women’s tag champions as well. Liv Morgan continues to be WWE’s most annoying personality, but otherwise there really wasn’t anything to complain about here really. Potentially two angles advanced for the price of one. 

👎 Bianca/Asuka business - I should say right off the bat that I’m bang up for this rematch and Bianca sold the most spray magnificently, so you could call that side of it all a thumbs up. The reason for the thumbs down is purely because they made Bianca look quite gullible when it came to shaking Asuka’s hand. I’d have preferred either a sneak attack, a brawl or an another alternative execution before the mist strike. They do love to give their hometown stars a hard time, don’t they? 

Overall - A very pleasant Smackers indeed. Two recommendations from me to heighten your viewing experience - watch it first thing in the morning spoiler-free as opposed to live, and do it when your other half surprises you with breakfast in bed. You’ll have a spring in your step for the rest of the day.

His last book, Nomad, was excellent, so I'm looking forward to this one. 

19 hours ago, Louch said:

Given a massive percentage of houses in America have a pool, and he’s the son of a Famous actor, they hardly had him doing Million Dollar man skits here. Nitpicky as you admit 

Absolutely, it's very nit-picky and he's earned the right to do what he likes with his dosh...personally I'd have bought a snooker table, but each to their own! You're absolutely right in that it's not a Ted Biase-esque presentation - but whilst nit-picky my point stands in that it did pose an awkward juxtaposition in the context of his verbiage...perhaps even subtle, intentional one. 

19 hours ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

To add to that I believe he lives in California which is almost a guarantee for there to be a pool. But I recognised it as where Luchasauraus filmed his skits a few years ago for BTE. Anyway, besides that agreed with almost all your review @Fatty Facesitter so well done on another cracking round up.

If I lived in California and had any money left over from having bought my snooker table and a new Hornby trainset, I'd probably use the left over money for a pool as well, or at the very least a hot tub. He can spend his cheddar on whatever he wants - it just felt like an odd background inclusion in the context of his promo. If it's a familiar location to BTE viewers then that makes a degree of sense. Perhaps some callbacks to older clips like that might have been a good addition to in that case. 

17 hours ago, Infinity Land said:

Honestly didn't mind this so much. There to tee up the announcement for the new show.  They've a string of "surprise" returns and NJPW arrivals still to come. And we've just seen the likes of Jay White and Roderick Strong debut to mixed reactions.

Miro got the desired reaction from me since he's been gone so long. Thunder Rosa felt more like balancing Miro out with some women's division representation. It was only at the weekend she was talking she might need surgery.

Jay White's debut was a really poor and wasted execution for my taste - it felt really lacklustre and it seems amazing to me that they haven't waited to insert him straight into the main event picture to some degree. Roderick Strong's debut I thought was well executed, but mixed reaction? He got a pretty tidy pop when he came out to assist his old comrade. Both Miro and Thunder Rosa's returns are worth far more than casually dropping by backstage to saunter off to a meeting room. There should vignettes to hype their first appearances back on screen, something in the main arena, basically anything but this. They got decent reactions and their 'proper' returns will still earn good receptions, but nothing would have been lost by having them not appear on screen here and the time being allocated to something else. 

18 hours ago, Nick James said:

All alternative lighting throughout matches is shit, regardless of the shade. 

Yep!

16 hours ago, LaGoosh said:

I absolutely love Daniel Garcia. The fact that he's only been in the business 4 years is pretty crazy. He's an excellent wrestler, doesn't have bad matches, is a better promo than you'd expect and absolutely understands character work and how to build that into matches. For all the talk of the Four Pillars I think Garcia actually has better long term potential than Allin, Jungle Boy and Guevara. He's only 24 but he gets it and the only way is up.

I've been up and down on Garcia up to now but I'm glad he's getting some love - I absolutely love his persona which is just so full of easily detestable shithousery. A proper weasel of a heel. World at his feet at 24. I'll still be posting about him on here when I get into my 50s if this site still exists and he continues at the rate he's going.  

9 hours ago, Daaaaaad! said:

Remember, you are not a salmon.

And it's Crank, closely followed by Crank 2. Spy would get a shout if it wasn't so crap outwith his deadpan performance. 

I completely forgot that this great advert existed, and I don’t know why but I never remembered that Statham was in it. What a wonderful find this is. 

Fun fact, Statham is not only an acting extraordinaire, but he’s a former athlete/diver and has represented Team England at the Commonwealth Games. Is there nothing the man can’t do?

Absolutely love the bloke - Crank tops it for me as it’s just complete madness throughout, will never forget watching that for the first time with a group of mates and all of us being in tears laughing at it. Delirious fun. I hope my rapidly receding hairline ends up looking roughly like his. 

EDIT - Every time I’m on a boat or by the beach or like last weekend for my brother’s stag do on the Broads, I’ll always send a picture to some mates and say “Sometimes a man needs to go to sea” after the end of Spy where he rides off on a boat…but doesn’t realise he’s on a lake. “Where’s the fucking sea?!”

A good listen, here’s a sample. Seems to be a in a really good place at the moment. 

👍 Bully Ray/Daisy Kill - Best crowd participation so far from this set of tapings. Daisy Kill’s ukulele gimmick is a lot of fun. Bully is a master at whipping the crowd into getting exactly the sort of response he wants. An angle rather than a match, but it was one of the more entertaining NWA segments of recent shows.  

👍 Aaron Stevens will always get a thumbs up from me. Always entertaining. 

👎 Latimer/EC3 - An absolute shower for several reasons. The match itself was slow, plodding and lacked any sense of urgency or a big fight feel whatsoever. The time limit is key here when talking about the sense of urgency - it felt like a total non/factor when it absolutely should have been a vehicle for both guys to pick things up doesn’t he stretch, yet they just laboured through it. And when the time expired, even Corgan comes out and refuses to let the match be restarted despite the crowd’s pleas, only pissing people off more. This is the opening match and the opening segment of the show - even the opening ident didn’t roll until after the match concluded. Unless you’re a sad fuckwit like me, what on Earth would make you continue watching after this? A crap match, a crap booking decision, a crap way to begin the show. Corgan, you’re having a bubble. 

👎 How many fucking matches have they taped at this absolute dive of a venue?! Jesus wept. It’s such an eyesore. I’m sick of seeing that absolutely miserable cunt in the front row in his bright blue t-shirt for every week now. 

👎 Morton/Jabbo - Jabbo does make the most of the clown gimmick in fairness and there’s some potential with it. I also liked the post-match dissension Morton with his young lad and they are clearly building to a confrontation there. But Jesus, not a match that would make TV on any other promotion. 

👎 BFT vs Tyrus/Adonis - Match itself was mostly ok, four big lads chucking each other around and all that. But another horribly uninspiring finish here and a seriously lacklustre ending to what was already a pretty tough show to watch. The start and end of your shows absolutely must capture and retain the audience’s attention, either in person or through the screen, and this lacked on both counts. 

Overall - This show continues to get worse and worse. Again, the way this episode opened and closed seriously irked me - a serious lack of effort, creativity and foresight from a booking perspective. If they’re not going to put the effort into the actual finishes and deliberately not give the audience something they want (using Corgan’s appearance after the opened as a case in point, where he literally, actively told them they weren’t going to get something they wanted) - why the fuck would anyone still by inclined to put in the effort to watch? It’s absolutely needless self-sabotage. They have this iconic brand and a good production crew in terms of great vignettes they put together, but the in-ring content is woefully inconsistent, feels painfully slow to watch and the actual set for this batch of tapings looks utterly fucking abysmal. What a shame - such a contrast from the early Power episodes. I’ll give it until the Crockett Cup and then call it a day reviewing this one. 

👍 Mox/Omega - Butter my bollocks, what a spectacle. Brutal in the absolute best sense of the word - a vicious, violent masterclass between two people who have an electric chemistry together. The Callis turn was a welcome development to close the show and I look forward to seeing where that goes. Lots of great spots but my favourite was Mox using the camera to batter Kenny and kissing it afterwards. The big clash between the BCC and The Elite is red hot now and although it wasn't quite tingling my testes at the beginning, it certainly is now. 

👍 Cesaro/Rey Fenix - An absolute ripper from start to finish and you’d expect nothing less from two seasoned pros. An opener that set the tone for what was literally a dynamite episode of Dynamite, if you'll pardon the rubbish pun. 

👍 Cassidy/Garcia - I’m running out of superlatives when it comes to that freshly squeezed beautiful bastard. Transitioning his comedy material to become more psychology based is something that I think we all take for granted, because it was actually quite a risky move and direction to take - if it goes wrong and goes too much the other way, you risk killing the appealing factors that made him so popular in the first place. Not only have they absolutely nailed it, but it’s made him an even better act, and James Cipperly the performer has evolved to the point where he has become when of the very best acts in the entire business, not just from a character perspective, but also between the ropes. Sells like a trooper as well - as if we needed any more reasons to adore the handsome bastard. He's so, so, so fucking good and the main reason I absolutely had to book a ticket for All In at Wembley - I'm a massive, massive, massive fan. This title run is just such a wonderful thing. By the way, Garcia held his own here too - I love his shithousing ways with the crowd and his daft hip swirls and I think the lad can go. Good match, good shit, good times. Did I mention I think Orange Cassidy is quite good? 

👍 FTR/LethalJJ/Briscoe business - God, this is just utterly gripping! It's both hilarious and dramatic at the same time in different instances. Briscoe being the special ref for the tag title match works perfectly, loved him passing the cups to people (and Double J kicking his out of the ring!) and then the brawl afterwards. The Dash piledriver to Mark while he was blindsided was another good plot development they can build on. This is some absolutely great shit they've got going on between the respective parties. 

👍 Julia Hart/Anna Jay - A good, fun brawl with both ladies busting a gut and putting in a huge amount of effort. A few weeks ago they had a terrible singles match on Rampage that lacked any intensity whatsoever. They addressed that brilliantly here and it paid off nicely. A couple of things for them to look at - Anna Jay moves around the ring a bit too casually for me and I’d like to see more work on the facial expressions from both. By moving with more of a sense of urgency and with some more emotion on her mug, it all adds to the sense of hatred for her opponent and does more to bring to that to life on screen. Also, not sure if the superplex onto the chairs at the end was executed they way they intended. Again though, a smashing brawl and a massive effort from both.

👍 Trios title match - Not a classic but a still a good encounter all the same. Right decision with Taylor taking the fall. 

👍 Quick note on the commentary - they're all such loveable rogues together. Excalibur is excellent as the lead and a great salesman for promoting the seemingly endless amount of upcoming matches across the different shows. Big Tone is just a delight. Tazz isn't everyone's cup of tea but he always makes me chuckle. The three of them together are having a ball calling the shows. Three bantelopes. 

👎 Pillars promos (Jungle Boy) - A few nitpicky bits from me. Jungle Boy is giving it the “I just want to be the best professional wrestler I can be” verbiage and complaining about MJF and how he conducts himself…and they’ve shot Perry’s interview next to a massive swimming pool. It’s an odd juxtaposition when you're trying to build someone up as babyface with a sort of 'he's one of your own!' mentality. Don't get me wrong, he's earned his pennies and he can spend on it on what he likes, good on him - it's more how AEW have shot and edited this particular piece that I'm critiquing. Also, Christian Cage praising him after they’ve been feuding? Not for me, Clive. With Darby, I thought they did a nice job for the most part with his, but at the very beginning he essentially said he was too good to be washing dishes or cleaning toilets. I imagine there’s a great deal of the viewing public working jobs they hate and many of them probably saved up their hard earned shit-pay dosh to buy his merch, so as a babyface don’t be giving it the Bertie Big Bollocks about being too good to work menial tasks. It was nice to have an in-person break from all four guys this week so we could focus on other talents, and while these promo did offer a continuation the overall story, you’ll forget about them pretty quickly. 

👎 Opening - Sorry but even if this isn’t ROH tele, having the ROH World champion not get any form of introduction and to be inserted into a cold opening is a mistake. It devalues him, the the title and the brand he’s the champion of. Also, I think the double jeopardy stipulation is a bit naff in this context. Match was great, the tag title match will bang, but this irked me. Nobody being billed as World Champion should get a cold opening. 

👎 Miro/Thunder Rosa returning to little fanfare to knock on Tony's door for a chinwag? Poor way to re-introduce them for me - you've got the potential there to really build those up for when Collision begins, or even when you bring them back to Dynamite. Cut both of these little backstage interactions, find a minute or so of time from somewhere else and you could have given Cesaro a proper entrance for instance. Calm the fuck down Tony, there's a good lad. 

Overall - An absolute blinder of a Dynamite. Not a bad match on the show, a huge development in what was a magic main event and other top stars like Orange Cassidy continue to deliver and then some. Some nitpicky gripes from me because I'm a smart arse, but otherwise a thumbs way up sort of show. I watched this during my morning commute and missed changing trains at London Bridge because I was utterly engrossed. 

On 4/30/2023 at 2:20 PM, Loki said:

👍 @Fatty Facesitter creating a fun new review format

👎 @Fatty Facesitter feeling he now has to review every single wrestling show with it.  MLW, fucking hell lad, don’t do it to yourself 🤣  It’s nice day out, or the snooker’s on at least.

Yep, definitely jumping the shark by including this one. I did watch last week's 'season finale' but I think I'll be leaving it here. But before that...

👍 Thomas/Hammerstone - I liked the Alex Kane promo at the beginning and this was a relatively good sprint considering Hammerstone is apparently injured. The Hammerstone/AK title match should be an interesting one. The BFC are quite over so they clearly have a knack for building up talent to be so well received by the audience. 

👎 SST/Mane Event - Bit of an eyesore, this one. Wasn't expecting a technical masterclass or anything but it lacked a big fight title match feel and it was a bit of a scrapy sqaush in all honesty. 

👎 Blake/B3cca - There's far better women's wrestling out there I'm afraid. I like Brittany Blake's commitment to her character though - that's a pretty good heel gimmick she's got going on. 

👎 Jacob Fatu/Calling Business - Deary me. First of all you've spent time building to this main event during the broadcast and when you finally get to it, it's clear that there was absolutely no plan to deliver on it. Secondly, The Calling is an absolutely crap attempt to do something with an ex-ECW legend in Raven and try to recapture some of that creepy aura around his persona, but it just looks so low rent. There was an awfully constructed brawl at the top of the ramp after the opening match which was poorly shot, and Raven just looked like a complete twattocks standing there without throwing any kind of punch or even just scarpering away like a carried. I know the poor sod's body is probably completely shagged and he's probably just happy to be there, but surely they can present him better than this? Just not my bag at all I'm afraid. 

👎 Presentation - The intro montage they have for the show is actually really well edited and quite eye-catching, and they also have some nice graphics. However, so many other production elements completely ruin the show and despite the cool name, it's anything but Major League. The old ECW Arena is a legendary venue, but for fuck's sake please, please cover up that ghastly floor. They go to so much effort with their stage up the ramp, the screens above the ring and other additional branding - can they not fork out a few extra quid to put more pads on the floor to cover up the badly worn paintwork on the concrete? Then there's the audio - the introductions, commentary, music and in-ring promos are mixed so badly against the crowd noise and entrance music and it just makes the whole thing a real ear-sore. It's possible that it's just the feed I'm watching from swo I'll happily rescind those comments if that's the case, but my point stands on the flooring! 

Overall - It's been a fun experiment reviewing the last couple of episodes of this one, but I'll be tapping out at this juncture sand leaving it there. I might pop back in for the PPV though. 

Loving your notes JLM, agree with pretty much the lot. 

4/5/23

👍 Athena/Risk - Athena's just bloody superb isn't she? Every week she's consistently been the best part of ROH TV. Although I've no issue with talent appearing on both AEW and ROH's output, she does feel very much like a unique performer that's more or less exclusive to ROH and as a result you've got a talent that people are genuinely excited to tune in and watch each week. Everything she does is great, from the execution of the moves to the way she barks at the crowd and how she works the camera. A real star in this women's title run and long may it continue. 

👍 Komander/Angelico - A mad flippy banger. Komander gets some stick but his stuff is just absolutely mesmerising to watch. They could do a lot worse than keep more of the lucha matches on ROH's output as it could become a unique selling point for the brand, especially if you make it a bit rarer on Dynamite's output. Orange Cassidy and Bandido making the save was a welcome surprise and I welcome any combinations of singles or tag matches that comes from this development. 

👍 Claudio/Eagles - A smasher of a bout. We know Claudio's talents but I was very impressed with Eagles - bags of energy and an exciting talent to watch. Despite the action being great, it seems a bit mad to me that you'd have your World champion work the fourth match of the show, let alone the fourth match of the show be a World title match? Might be something to do with how the taping schedule was on the night in relation to Claudio's work in AEW or the order in which items were recorded. Still, top action

👍 Joe/Daniels - A fun throwback from two key pillars of ROH's history. Only a short and sweet encounter this around, but still fun to watch all the same even if there wasn't a real sense of jeopardy involved in this particular title defence. 

👍 Ten man tag - Chaotic in the best possible way. Two nice bits of angle advancement coming from this too - The Righteous continuing to court Stu Grayson is bubbling nicely, and of course the vicious backstage attack afterwards from The Kingdom. 

👎 Romero/Moriarty - They were clearly going for an outside-the-box approach when it comes to the Pure Rules element and the finish suggests to me that we'll get a third match before long. Solid enough but too similar to last week and their approach to the Pure Rules and Big Bill's presence arguably created more confusion than anything else. 

👎 Vance/Cage squashes - Neither of these did anything for me. Nothing against any of the talents involved, but with Cage in particular I've seen the same squash match a few times recently and it hasn't actually led anywhere, i.e challenging a singles champion, cutting promos about demanding better competition, etc etc. Time for something different, please. 

👎 Sky Blue/Renegade - I want to get behind Sky Blue and I think there's bags of potential there. Right now though in the wider women's wrestling landscape, there are more polished in ring performers to watch across the different companies and I'm not buying her as a challenger to Athena. However, the match with Athena is something I have high hopes for, mainly because of the abilities of the champion to take a programme and match like this and make it something special, so we'll see how it all plays out. 

👎 Willow/De Lander - Agree entirely with JLM in that they had good chemistry. My only gripe is that similar with other ROH regulars, the regular 3-minute Willow bouts each week are getting a bit repetitive now, and unlike Athena I'm not seeing a huge amount of variety with each performance. That's not a knock on Willow at all by the way - it's more to do with the time she gets allotted each week. It's a lot easier for a talent like Athena to elicit a more varied output with more minutes to play with. Still, big fan of Willow and I think she'll go on to great things. 

Overall - More fine action this week and a great deal of angle/storyline progression which made for a far better mix this week. A bit too much repetition in some of the booking patterns with certain performers, but otherwise another enjoyable ROH TV episode. 

10 minutes ago, d-d-d-dAz said:

This is 100% true, but they’re still an absurd faction. They’ve each individually risen to the occasion and used the platform they’ve been given, but their whole act is completely incongruous with the performers forced to act the roles.

They need to shake the quasi-goth stuff and CGI hooded wallies in their entrance.

I feel like they’ve gradually done this though - when it comes to their promos etc now there’s barely any spooky goth bollocks at all. It’s still in the background as an aesthetic with the purple and some of the dark clothing and the occasional nod to it. But it’s miles away from where they were before.

Two key factors for the success - Edge getting removed from the picture as a stable member (and instead being used as an opponent effectively) and HHH taking the reigns on the booking and giving them all the platform to grow. 

Millwall fans created one of my favourite chants towards my own team - 

"I can't read, I can't write, I drive a tractor, I'm a Norwich City fan, and I'm a fucking wanker!"

Always gets a round of applause from our own terraces when they come to visit. 

16 minutes ago, Butch2000 said:

Go suffering from AIDS. Boom, it’s Freddie Mercury

@Weezenal Mercury is actually a good shout for a low maintenance costume. White tank top, white trousers if you have any. Draw on/gaffer tape or order a fake moustache. Grab a broom handle, attach a round bit of cardboard to it (like the bit you get in the middle of some loo roll) and stick a golf ball or something round at the end of it, then you've got a fancy microphone stick thing. 

Alternatively, find a Goat costume and tell them you're Teemu Pukki. 

3 minutes ago, gmoney said:

Die while shagging someone and say you are Adam Faith. 

Or the ship captain from Goldeneye.

👍 Bron/Trick - Decent enough main and a fun post-match interaction with Carmelo as they build towards Battleground. That springboard into the spear was a great visual. Nice to see Trick in a singles outing even if he took the L here.

👍 Big Duke/Bernal - I’m a sucker for all Chase U and Duke related activity so an easy thumbs up for the backstage segment and short but sweet in-ring encounter.

👍 Charlie Dempsey/Tyler Bate - Lovely stuff.  Effortless technical transitions that were beautifully executed throughout and very easy on the eye indeed. Bloody delightful. Plus, always a thumbs up for a Gulak sighting.

👍 Dragonov/Dijak - Both are a bit cringeworthy when it comes to their promos, but these boys can go. An enjoyable romp with a nice post-match spot with the steps.

👍 Eddy Thorpe/Damon Kemp - A good watch and a good heater for Thorpe. Sadly another match lacking any real heat or crowd interest in it for the most part, but they did ramp up the audience participation factor towards the end. It’s a missing piece of Thorpe’s NXT puzzle presently, but if they can nail that element then I think they’re onto a winner with him. Kemp has the makings of a great shithouse of a heel - very solid between the ropes and a good antagonist from a character perspective.

👎 Stratton/Dolan - I liked the strategy around Stratton focussing on Dolan’s injured arm and shoulder, and the former has bags of personality and an absolutely brilliant character that I think has massive potential. However, this had some really clunky moments including the setup for the finish, which is a shame when taking those other elements into account.

👎 Gallus/Dyad - Perfectly acceptable wrestling but totally heatless because of the heel/heel dynamic of the two teams and both trying to get the crowd behind them at different points to little response. Gallus are just such a dull act, and their inclusion in the Dyad has stripped all of the personality out of the former Grizzled young Veterans.

👎 Valkria/Henley - Again, acceptable standard but you could hear an ant pass wind due to the lack of crowd noise.

👎 Briggs/Jenson vs Walker/Ledger - Too short and meaningless to register on the Richter scale. Looks like Ledger may have lost a tooth in the process though. If genuine and as someone who’s just had a tooth removed himself, he has my sympathies.

Overall - A perplexing episode in truth. There's some good stuff in there from an in-ring perspective and only one match this week where you noticed any real clunkiness. But from a character and audience participation perspective this lacked any real must-see appeal or general enjoyment. The audience participation factor is really frustrating and it's an element I want to see them put some real focus on, because it would make the wider show much more popular, more watchable and be much more helpful for all talents involved from a character development standpoint and it would certainly broaden their wider appeal. 

10 hours ago, RIDDUM_N_STYLE said:

The hints weren’t for Theory, they’re for Ciampa as shown by Candace’s hesitation compared to Johnny’s excitement 

I thought they’d all since patched things up? Interesting though, hadn’t even considered him. 

10 hours ago, Tsurutagun said:

So they reunited The Way and left out the best thing from their time in NXT. Good luck guys

P.S I wasn't the only that liked Austin Theory's time in The Way as Indi's idiot brother right? 

 

I think they hinted at it at the end when they were disagreeing about someone coming back. I’m guessing they’ll tease this for an upcoming PPV now they are on different shows. 

5 hours ago, theringmaster said:

Natalya making the 'save'...in high heels... so it took an age and all the time Dana Brooke was still in the submission. This looked incredibly stupid, if she was making the 'save' she should be running down there, Kayfabe Dana should turn round to Natalya and say "Took your time...mate".

Excellent point. Very daft move. 

Conor McGregor has nothing on you from a promo perspective Branquey. Pissing myself, glorious. 

Dreamt last night that I was working in the same office as Finn Balor and that I'd accidentally sent out a work-wide email calling him workshy scum when it came to some of the more administrative parts of our wider duties. He'd seen it and wanted to meet up to discuss it (and probably beat me up). We were in the middle of an awkward mediation meeting, for some reason taking place with our manager on a basketball court, before I woke up. 

I've been over-analysing every email that copies in different people all day to make sure I don't catch anyone's wrath. 

👍 World title tournament matches - Lumping these all together. All three matches were enjoyable even if the final result perhaps felt a little too telegraphed. Seth is absolutely fitting winner though and at the risk of constantly repeating myself, he is absolutely the guy who they should be putting the strap on to begin with. His character has reached a point where he can comfortably work against heels or fellow babyfaces and retain a level of complete authenticity either way. His in-ring ability has never been in question but again, he can work with virtually anyone - large opponents, smaller opponents, celebrities, you name it. The complete package. 

👍 Cody - As @air_raid mentioned, they found a way to have him not discard the World Heavyweight title and yet not be involved in the title picture at the same time by the night's end. The booking makes total sense in that regard. I did say in my Backlash notes that I'd be happy to see them run Cody/Brock back - I wasn't quite expecting it to be so immediate, but that will be another corker to look forward to. 

👍 Trish/Becky business - Fine and dandy, love a bit of Evil Trish and Becky got one of the biggest pops of the night for her return. 

👍 Otis (Sorry, 'OhTEESE') - I'm a sucker for this angle. I was hoping the respective parties would remain on the same brand so they could carry this on into the summer. Otis is just such a loveable big oaf. Ali would actually be a great editing for MMM as a male singles start. As I've said before, I think the PositiveAli stuff will be a bit of a slow burner and take some time to catch on, but I can see them getting there with it. 

👍 KO/Sami vs Imperium - Fine and dandy. Gunther vs KO and Sami in singles action would actually be a good way to kick off Gunther's Raw tenure, and KO/Sami could potential team with Riddle again and we can get some banging six mans vs Imperium. Not a bad spot for all parties to be involved with in the interim. 

👍 Sonya/Chelsea - I quite like these two. They've got a good dynamic going on at the minute as a couple of snarky, sarcastic, shithouse disrupters and I think it's got some legs. 

👎 Brock promo - I'm surprised his promo is getting as much love as it is. To me, it felt like he was rambling and constantly repeating himself, unsure of where to get to next. Perhaps unnecessarily harsh, and I did enjoy Backlash and am totally fine with the rematch. But to me, once the beatdown was complete, the combination of his repetitive delivery and the stupid addition of crowd noise completely ruined the viewing and listening experience. Not my cup of tea, in all honesty. Heel Brock misses Paul Heyman as a mouthpiece. 

👎 Ripley/Dana/Natalya business - Not for me, Clive. Rhea gains absolutely nothing from beating up Dana, who with the greatest of respects is almost certainly going to be future endeavoured before long and has been rendered entirely heatless. Natalya is a solid hand but has the Dolph Ziggler syndrome of having been around forever and not being a viable, legitimate threat to either title. Sometimes it's better to have your dominant champion either not appear in the ring, or in some cases not at all - this didn't represent a way to build on her star aura. She's not just any performer and she now needs to be treated as such - each appearance needs to feel special and not by the numbers like this was (certainly not a reflection of work ethic - purely the booking). 

👎 Stark/Cross - I like both of them and this wasn't helped by a tame crowd, but even with the match being quote short I think still could have done with some trimming, or possibly some segments gradually building up to Stark's debut. Still, I have high hopes for her - a solid hand who will keep improving over time. 

👎 Dom Dom/Woods - Again nothing terribly wrong with this but there's already lots of god wrestling on the show and this ran slightly long for me. A good win for Dominik but the match lacked a tangible excitement factor for me. 

👎 Crowds - Piss weak tonight, a complete contrast from Puerto Rico. Also, the additional crowd noise they kept piping in actually hindered things further as opposed to improving it. Awful mixing. 

Overall - Bit of a transitional episode this week as Backlash and the excitement surrounding it were left firmly in the rear view and the new rosters began to take shape. The World title tournament matches were the main highlight - everything else you could live without seeing if you're pushed for time. It lacked the spice of recent episodes but there's at least some good developments in the pipeline. 

👍 Double J in general. 

👍 Briscoe/Vance - Decent brawl with Briscoe in particular really busting a gut. Nice moment with his family at the end. The only redeeming match item on this week's show. 

👎 Six-man opener - Generally fine but it felt like everyone was working at half-speed. I'm usually bang up for a tag opener and it nearly always gets a thumbs up from me, but it felt like they never hit top gear and there felt like a severe lack of consequence. 

👎 Cargill squash - Pointless and just another notch on her record. 

👎 Firm Deletion - Any Broken Hardy bollocks will always be subjective and your enjoyment of this really does depend on your tastebuds when it comes to these cinematic matches and how you feel about the wider Hardy universe/aesthetic generally. Some good comedy from Stokely aside, I thought this was an awful spectacle and reeked of a self-indulgent passion project which just didn't land. Excellent point from @jazzygeofferz on the commentary - what an absolutely ridiculous addition to proceedings that was (as if the whole fucking shower wasn't ridiculous enough in the first place). Way, way too much of a juxtaposition from AEW's regular output and it doesn't belong on television. I'd be completely and utterly embarrassed to be associated with the whole thing. They Hardys could retire tomorrow and it wouldn't be a moment too soon. As for Hook, their talents are wasted being part of this frankly absurd angle. Perhaps I've overreacting to what some people might view as daft and silly fun, but this has done nothing for anyone involved and I was embarrassed even watching it. A proper shower of shite, a ridiculous spectacle and a proper eyesore. Let this be the death of the cinematic match. Also, cringerworthy acting for the duration (though again, Stokely at least threw himself into the absurdity of it with aplomb).

Overall - An all-time crap Rampage mainly because of the Firm Deletion. I'm giving it until Double or Nothing and if the show doesn't improve, I'm out. No more Fatty Facesitter thumb reviews. That'll show them! 

5 hours ago, SuperBacon said:

It's nice to not have Norwich* up and down every bloody year. 

*Sorry to any Norwich fans, obviously I'd rather have you in the league than Arsenal or bloody Bournemouth. 

Totally fair - even I’m glad Nodge haven’t gone up this season. 

Compared to other clubs we’ve been very blessed to have some great memories particularly over the last 15 years or so - promotions including a great day out at Wembley in 2015, some big wins over the likes of Manchester City even when the rest of our Prem seasons went to shit. Even when we’ve been relegated, the business at large has been mostly positive when it comes to the wider infrastructure of the operational element of the club. 

On the pitch I think it’s been a really lacklustre season. I don’t lay the blame at the owners or Stuart Webber (Sporting Director). I lay it at the door of the playing staff. For the talent we have at our disposal, they simply haven’t given enough effort. They failed Dean Smith and they’ve failed David Wagner in the second half of the season. I’m sure both coaches could have done more and aren’t entirely faultless, but in every game I’ve attended this season there’s been a lack of zest and a lack of bite from a lot of our key protagonists. 

We are stagnating quite badly at the moment and I think it will take a couple of years to get it right at best - we’re due an Ipswich-style barren run in the Championship wilderness I think. To be fair, we’ve had many great moments in the sun in the last few years - football comes and goes in cycles. We’ll have another cycle eventually. 

👍 Crowd - Phenomenal. Genuinely, one of the best crowds across the two nights they've ever had. I hope they come back here every year. 

👍 Bad Bunny/Damian Priest - What a glorious, bonkers, brilliant spectacle this was. From the moment big Damian walked out in his spiffy white attire (I think the 😍 emoji would best describe @Devon Malcolm's feelings on this?) and Bunny getting the mother of all receptions, you knew this was going to hit different. I don't think I've ever looked forward to a celebrity match more, and not only did it deliver, but it exceeded expectations too. They don't deserve Bad Bunny - a serious grafter and you can tell he absolutely fucking loves this mad shit. But while he'll deservedly get the plaudits - Priest was absolutely fucking fantastic in delivering what I genuinely think should be considered a match of the year candidate. He seriously elevated the proceedings with he execution, his storytelling, his selling, taking a wild beating and working the crowd with aplomb. The cameos from Carlito, fucking Savio Vega and the rest of the LWO and Judgement Day mobs were great additions - similar vibes to the DX/NWO confrontation all those Wrestlemanias back. A wonderful celebration of the culture and just a massively entertaining spectacle throughout. Bad Bunny? More like the Duracell Bunny. He can GO, brotha. I've seen some people call it the best celebrity match they've ever done - but I think that's almost disingenuous to Bunny in particular. Nevermind the outside celebrity tag - he's a bonafide WWE superstar and performer, period. He can wrestle once a year or 100 times a year - he puts in the work, he respects and loves the business deeply and it shows in everything he does. 

👍 Cody Rhodes/Brock Lesnar - Superb brawl. I fear with some of the reaction there's a deep distrust of WWE's handling of Cody  with what happened at Wrestlemania and there's almost a reluctance to praise him or WWE's wider booking because they feel like they can't let go of how let down they felt with the Mania decision. I don't share that negative outlook with what transpired here. I love how he went straight for Brock and tried to unleash hell on him before he bell rang - he's been pent up for weeks trying to get his hands on him, why waste another second? He also knows full well what Brock is capable off and knows you have to fight fire with fire to get close to beating him. The pin that beat him showed great ingenuity and made for a clean victory. In Brock's case, he was booked well here and didn't come off weaker - he was still more than a match for Cody despite being rocked at the start by the attack and even getting busted open. He got caught and it happens. As for the blood, red = green and it made for a great visual. I'd be more than happy for them to run this back in future. Only minor gripe, Cody was quick to bolt down the tunnel. Wouldn't have minded seeing him revel in it a bit more before they went off the air. That aside, great main event. 

👍 Bianca Belair/Iyo Sky - Fantastic opener. A huge performance from Sky and the best of her career to date - a bit of a coming out party for her in terms of proving herself as a viable women's main event performer. They've gradually built this aura around Bianca as a performer who has that intangible big-fight-feel that surrounds her and she carries that star power and responsibility with a serious determination and panache. I also thought she handled the pro-Iyo crowd very well in the early going - she lent slightly into a heel role - enough to acknowledge the crowd were cheering for their opponent, but not enough to confuse the wider public watching someone act ridiculously out of character. It's a tough balance to strike but I thought she totally nailed it.  

👍 Rhea Bloody Ripley vs Zelina Vega - Not the most eye-catching when you analyse it from a technical perspective, but they had the crowd in the palm of their hand riding the emotional rollercoaster. That's a moment Zelina will treasure for her entire career - what a response! As I said with Bianca, Ripley too carries that big-fight-feel into her title matches now and it automatically elevates them as a result. 

👍 Omos/ Seth Rollins - A really good outing from both. The Omosapien had the best match of his career to date and you can see he's gradually improving and getting a better feel for how to work longer matches and interact with the crowd - lots of good back and forth with them here in this one. We all know Rollins is a talented soul, but he really made someone with a completely contrasting size and style look like a big deal here, selling his kickouts with that sort of startled look where you can't believe you can't keep the big lummox down. Some will say it will be difficult to build up Omos if you keep making him lose, but I think in this case it worked well enough that despite taking the fall you'd still totally buy him as a legitimate threat - if his opponents have to keep busting out the big guns and finding bigger, bolder ways to beat him, that can still buildup his aura if you want to make him a future world title contender. 

👍 Bloodline/Sami/KO/Riddle - Wasn't sure how I felt about this one for the most part as it felt like they plodded along a bit at times. I don't mind matches having a slow build to a crescendo, and this did also come just after the Bunny/Priest match, but there were some long pauses between interactions and it took a while for them to slip out of that funk. Still, it definitely picked up and turned into another enjoyable encounter. The Solo/Jey business is keeping the Bloodline storyline going in a positive way - it's enough of a nugget for me that it's counteracting the wider sense of apathy that's starting to become attached to the wider Roman/Bloodline dominance that's been present since Wrestlemania. 

👍 Sensational Savio - Think he deserves a Fatty Facesitter thumbs up of his own. Let me take you back to this backstage segment from 2015, where Roman Reigns and Dean Ambrose use his name in a jokey context as part of partner reveal (WWE YT vid - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3zlyzzH5rN0). I know this is just a backstage segment that was in jest in didn't even make TV, but unless I've missed something inbetween, that's one of the last mentions of him within WWE's output. Look at Bunny's face when Savio walks in backstage. And how badass did he look standing there ready to fight the Judgement Day? Admittedly he was a bit before my time and he could be a terrible bloke for all I know, but I thought this was a such a nice presentation of him and he probably never had a moment like that in his prime WWE career, so what a wholesome experience that must've been for him, especially with that reception. 

👎 US title triple threat - Nothing terrible, but on a show with lots going on this lacked as much spark as the other offerings and was too short to get close to reaching any kind of epic status. We really need to see some elevation from Austin Theory from a character perspective. It tells you something when one of the hottest crowds ever barely reacted to him when he made his entrance - one of the very few instances that's happened across the two nights they've run in that building. He's clearly capable and talented, but it's not clicking at the moment. Perhaps the roster shakeup might be what the doctor ordered. 

Overall - Meh, it was alright. 

Commandeering a mighty vessel on the glorious Norfolk Broads. Sun came out not long after this and my head is red except for hat line. Not a good look.

👍 Drone! Fuck me what an intro. 

👍 Crowd - Bloody fantastic. I think even if the product was in a terrible place they'd have still made a bunch of noise, but they had loads of good stuff to sink their teeth into here and they responded in kind. Bless them all - bodes brilliantly for Backlash. 

👍 Bunny/LWO/Judgement Day business - What a fantastic way to open and close the show this was. As if the crowd needed anymore of an incentive to be jumping for joy right out of the gate, the opening segment sent them into raptures and set the tone for the rest of the evening, while the main event produced a really fun mixed tag before the big showdown at the end. I'd held out hope for the LWO that they'd get their moment in the sun this weekend despite some TV losses, and what a rub that was flanking Bad Bunny and taking out the Judgement Day. Cool visual of Priest just standing there while everyone charged past him as he eyed his prey. Just a phenomenal bit of business all round and the crowd made it feel extra special. Great stuff across the board from all involved. 

👍 Cody - Another cracker of a promo from Codylicious. Still over like rover and his appeal to the audience here should leave nobody in any doubt about his ability to capture the hearts and minds of fans across the globe (even if there were a few 'we want Lesnar' chants at one point. STFU San Juan). He HAS to go over at the PLE. And I still firmly believe he WILL finish the story, and when it DOES happen, people won't be moaning about how it didn't happen at Wrestlemania - it will still be a biblical, feel good moment which will warm our cockles. 

👍 Viking Raiders/Good Brothers - Solid in terms of the in-ring element, but seriously elevated by the game audience who were still going bananas from the opening segment. 

👍 CAMERON GRIIIIMES BABY TO THE MOOOOON

👍 Street Profits/Imperium - Same as above really, solid and made better for the jubilant crowd. Profits on a good roll currently. 

👎 Baron Corbin sucks the life out any segment he's in. Automatic thumbs down from this point whenever he appears. 

👎 Kross/Nakamura - Probably the only thing on the show which didn't tingle the testes. Nakamura's entrance is a sight to behold, and again it was elevated here by the superb crowd. But I just don't feel the buzz when the bell rings with Nakamura. I don't dislike Karrion Kross as much as others and to be fair this match was far from horrendous - but it's just not something I felt a great deal of personal investment in. 

Overall - Excellent Smackers. Can they hold it there every week?